Chapter Seven

Apologies for the long wait, but I finally got the chance to update both stories at once so that's why I held off. Plus my leg tacked on with all the usual stuff kept me busy. Now please, don't knock this chappie because it's short. It's supposed to be short, but they won't all be this way. Anyway I hope you all like it. Enjoy!

And thank you very much for the reviews; Tsukikage1213, Nephertiri, Realfanficts

Chapter Seven

The Watertribe Princess

Katara swept both cups and the kettle off the table. She then threw down the scroll encased in an ivory tube.

"There! Happy now?" Katara stormed out of the kitchen, slamming doors behind her. Shandrey turned her glare away from the doorway and down to the scroll. She picked it up, letting it roll about in her hands. Why was this thing so important? Carefully she popped open the ivory container and found a ragged piece of parchment inside. Her fingers carefully eased it out of the container, fearing that it was so old that might crumble in her hand. It was then that Shandrey recognized the type of parchment she held. It was ancient yes, but also designed to withstand the test of time by just adding water. With a quick movement of her hand Shandrey eased a single drop out of her tea and let it fall to the parchment. Like a rejuvenating force, it spread throughout the entire scroll. With a small smile Shandrey unrolled it and found herself halted by yet another barricade.

Katara swiftly ran throughout the many earth made walls and corridors, searching in vain for a way out. More than once she gruffly pushed past someone as they tried to make their way in. Finally Katara's eyes sighted the starry sky and she accelerated. Her judgment of the threshold's surface was somewhat misplaced, as her foot caught in small hole and Katara fell to the ground. With a small moan she picked herself up.

"Are you alright child?" Katara turned her head up to see an older yet fair woman holding out her hand. But Katara, in her anxious state, was not so receptive of help at the moment.

"I'm not a child! Leave me alone!" She ran past the woman and continued on down a sloping hill. The woman sighed and shook her head, quietly mouthing; 'well, really.'

Katara's feet now moved because gravity had taken over and she knew if she suddenly stopped her face would once again hit the ground. She let her speeding legs carry her all the way to the bottom of the hill, which rested at the bank of a flowing river. Naturally Katara fell to her knees at the shoreline. Her heart beat like a great drum and she felt like screaming at the top of her lungs. The waterbender dipped her hand into the water and brought some up to her face. As the droplets fell from her face and back to the water she noticed something reflecting brightly. Gazing upward she saw that it was only the moon. Yet as she watched the glowing orb she couldn't help but feel like at least one friend was still with her. Katara's head fell back down with a gasp. She fought back raging tears, ever reluctant to give in.

"Aang, what would you do."

"Never give up." Katara snapped her head up and she was quickly on her feet. A voice had spoken to her, yet as she looked about she saw no one. Revolving around her was a ready water sphere.

"W-Who said that?"

"I am here." She now heard the voice behind her. But upon turning back to the water found that she saw no one. Katara grew impatient and from the river summoned another sphere.

"Show yourself!" Ask and ye shall receive was a vast understatement. For once again Katara's eyes were drawn to the moon's reflection. Except this time, from her perspective, it rose out of the water and hung brightly in mid air. Like a warm wave Katara felt her anxieties and fear melt away. Her jaw hung ajar and her arms fell limply to her sides; thusly her two spheres followed suit. Slowly the orb began to move away, farther out towards the center of the river. Katara was mesmerized and followed it without question, not noticing that the water beneath her shoes turned to solid ice. Like a child being led by the piped piper Katara steadily walked behind the graceful orb. A half mile away from the shoreline she finally reached the center, for the orb stopped. It then began to expand, larger and larger. Katara, still hypnotized, did nothing. Finally the orb grew so large that it completely enveloped the waterbender and the river around them.

Within the orb's confines Katara lay on her back, sleeping soundly. With a stir, she woke and slowly sat up. She rubbed her eyes like she had merely been day dreaming. Though the orb just narrowly covered her it looked as though the space inside stretched for miles. Katara raggedly stood up, looking around at the strange setting. Mist covered the ground and it was pleasantly warm.

"Where am I?"

"Do not be afraid." There it was again, the calm and soothing voice that had captivated her only moments ago. From the mists before Katara formed a human outline. From there a young woman very familiar to Katara came into being. The Waterbender's mouth fell open again.

"Yue?"

Yue pleasantly smiled. "I am glad you remember me." Katara backed up slightly. Was she seeing a ghost? "Do not be afraid."

Katara shrugged. "Wh…W-Who's afraid?" Yue did not answer. "What did you do to me?"

"I summoned you here."

"And where is 'here'?"

"We speak now on a plain between the living and the dead. In actuality you're body remains dormant on the shoreline." Katara nodded.

"Oh really, well that's….that's strange." Yue stood perfectly still but held a stance of composure and balance. She kept her hands laced together. "I don't understand, is Shandrey you? Or is she not?" The words sounded even more absurd upon leaving Katara's mouth. Yet Yue appeared to take them in earnest and answered Katara's question.

"We are indeed the same. She is I, reincarnated. And it is with regret that through missteps of my own, that Shandrey has inherited a heavy burden; namely her family and her past."

"But why me?" asked Katara insistently. "I don't belong here. I have friends and family who are counting on me. They need me."

"Time is a construct without limits," answered Yue with a minor shake of the head. "You were brought here for the same reason Shandrey is the person she is today. And as per your predisposition, destiny and fate have little to do with it."

"Well you better not say its all 'free will'. Because I sure didn't choose to come here."

Yue formed a chair from the mists around her and took a seat. "You are here Katara, because without you Shandrey cannot prevail against a rising evil." Katara folded her arms.

"What are you talking about?"

"You now know of my Water Tribe heritage as well as mystic history, yes?"

"There were always rumors that people like you existed among some the villages of the Northern Water Tribe."

"Shandrey is my descendant as you know but I was not without an opposite, in my days among the living." Katara now frowned in wonder. "Shandrey's own late sister is the reincarnation of a Fire Nation sorceress-"

"Wait a minute," interrupted Katara. Yue paused. "Firebending or any other bending isn't magic. It's a skill and a discipline."

"Of that I am well aware," stated Yue calmly. "But I speak not of her bending, which by itself was exceptional. Some referred to me as a Water Tribe princess. I excelled in the areas of healing and protection. But Hotaru, a close protégé of Princess Azula, twisted her mind by delving into dark qi magic. But before her powers could fully develop she was killed."

"And you brought me here because……we're celebrating that or something."

Yue smiled. "No Katara. Hotaru's body may have been destroyed but her life essence endured. The ceremony you interrupted just prior to your journey was of a gathering of zealots who came to worship Hotaru as a goddess."

"You don't say…."

Yue continued, "It is their goal to one day bring Hotaru back into physical being and lead them on a crusade to conquer the world."

"Wait, how do you know about that? The ceremony."

"Your friends returned to my village, and informed me of your fate." Katara's face fell. They thought she was dead. "I of course knew the truth, but my explanation would have fallen on deaf ears."

Katara chuckled to herself. "Yeah, Sokka and Aang aren't the brightest pair."

"You must listen closely," said Yue. Katara returned to the land of earnestness. "Hotaru's modern day worshipers may be more discreet but they are just fanatical as ever. You and Shandrey must unlock the scroll Master Pakku gave you, and above all prevent it from falling into Hotaru's hands."

"But-"

Yue rose to her feet and held up a silencing hand. "Please forgive me Katara, but this is not the time for uncertainty. If you and Shandrey fail, then Hotaru will be a force that cannot be stopped."

"But how do I get home?!" shouted Katara. Yue sighed.

"That is something the both of you must discover together. I must leave you now, but we will speak again."

"No! Wait!" But even as Katara protested Yue had already begun to disappear among the soft mists surrounding them. The world around Katara turned to bright light until her vision was completely clouded.

--

Katara's eyes easily opened, just as though she had had a good night's rest. Just as Yue said, Katara found herself lying on the beach before the river. The water looked as normal as ever, save for the large crescent moon reflecting on its surface. She considered the possibility that it had all been a dream, but if that was so then this whole ordeal might as well be.

Shandrey poured herself over the unrolled scroll over and over again. It was disappointing that an obstacle in her way was that she could read few to none of the characters inked on the page. She placed a hand up to her temple amidst a look exasperated miscomprehension. Even if she consulted a tome dating as far back as possible, it would take months to translate the entire page. Shandrey let her shoulders sag and she blew a stray hair away from her face. A low creaking ahead of her grabbed her attention and she saw Lee slowly making his way into the kitchen. Shandrey let her hand fall back down to the table.

"Lee, what are you doing up?"

"This is not the time for me to stay idle."

She shook her head. "Unbelievable, Lee you had a hole in your leg. If you don't rest you're bound to re-injure yourself." He sat down across from Shandrey regardless of her protests. She decided to ignore his stubborn attitude for the moment. As it was Shandrey appreciated someone to hear her current plight. "This could be anything."

"This is what our attacker sought from Katara?"

Shandrey nodded. "Yes, for now I haven't a clue as to why. I mean, it's obviously very important but….I wish I could know why." Lee looked at her wondrously. Shandrey looked up and caught him staring. "What?" she asked with a smile.

"I haven't seen you this absorbed by a mystery in years," replied Lee matching her smile.

"Well you know how curious I am," she said with a suggestive wink. "Also you know this will drive me insane until I figure it out."

"Indeed."

"I'm just hoping however it this adventure ends it turns out better than the last one we had." He now saw that her frivolity was fading, to be replaced by something that resembled remorse.

"Do you still think of her?" Shandrey trained her eyes back to her husband. "Your sister…" Shandrey pushed the scroll aside and sat back fully in her chair. "Telepathy is not required to know that you do. I only hope that don't blame yourself for what happened."

"You weren't there," she said quietly. "Just before she died I saw something in her eyes…" Shandrey looked into empty space, trying to picture the scene within her mind. "It was as though her true self had finally woken up after so long, and was wondering why I had killed her."

"That may be perhaps, but before that moment Moira was completely beyond control. There was nothing you could have said or done that would have convinced her to give up her power."

Shandrey shrugged. "Well we'll never really know for sure, will we?" The two heard a few knocks on the doorway and there stood Katara. She kept her eyes averted from her hosts. After several silent moments Katara finally cleared her throat.

"I'm sorry."

"I'm not sure I would act any different," said Shandrey. She pulled a chair out and with a smile invited Katara to sit down. Katara accepted, taking a seat beside Shandrey she pulled the scroll closer to her line of vision. Shandrey and Lee exchanged glances. "So, what changed your mind?"

"I….you'll just think I'm crazy."

"That is most doubtful," said Lee. "You will find that we have seen a great many of fantastic and strange things." Katara nodded.

"Ooookay…then here it goes. I was walking out by the river and a dead Water Tribe mystic appeared to me and told me that I was brought here to help you save the world from the ultimate evil." There was a sudden thick silence. Katara drummed her fingers on the table, expecting one of them to say 'Okay, you're crazy'. However Shandrey seemed to know whom she was referring to.

"What else did she say?"

"Hang on; you don't think I'm crazy?"

"You are referring to Yue aren't you?" asked Shandrey.

Katara almost gasped out loud. "Wait! So it's true? You really are the reincarnation of Yue." Shandrey smiled again and nodded her head.

"Yes I am. Now what did she say? Was she the one who brought you here?"

"No…, at least I don't think she did." Replied Katara uncertainly. "But she told me of a sorceress called 'Hotaru'." Both Shandrey and Lee let their mouths fall open at the name. "My friends and I crashed a party that was being held in her name. Apparently there are some quacks out there who worship her."

"There has been nothing of Hotaru for many centuries," observed Lee.

"I would imagine she's been lying as low as possible," said Shandrey.

Katara, who had been studying the scroll, finally set it down. "So you opened it."

"We can't seem to make any sense of it. I was hoping you might be able to help with that." The Water Tribe youth scanned up and down the page. It was a script that wasn't widely known beyond the more prominent and elite members of the Water Tribe hierarchy. However it was time to put Master Pakku's quick training to use. Katara placed a finger along the characters and read. She held both Shandrey and Lee in deep suspense with little effort.

"It……speaks of the 'Soul of Waterbending'….a temple where it can be resurrected." As Katara spoke Shandrey's eyes perked up. "Pakku went through a lot of detail with me but he didn't mention any 'Soul of Waterbending'. What does it mean?" She turned a curious look to Shandrey. The ebony haired waterbender kept darting an exciting gaze between Katara and Lee.

"Shandrey?"

"It means we have a journey to make," she said with notable excitement. "And if I'm right, then no matter where we go we will run into Nayia." Lee looked away pensively. Both Lee and Katara were temples of confusion. Shandrey shook her head and stood up. "The 'Soul of Waterbending' is a reference to earthbound center for the Water Tribe's power." Katara stared up at Shandrey with disbelieving narrowed eyes.

"You mean...the Moon Crystal?"

"Yes."

"But Shandrey," said Lee now rising. "The Moon Crystal has been destroyed, and the other corresponding crystals are lost in history." Shandrey waved her arms abotu to silence him.

"Look, if I'm right then it doesn't matter if some or all of the crystals are gone." Katara took up the scroll, hoping that maybe some special clue would jump out to her as well. "What we're looking for may be more fantastic and farther away than we ever imagined, but it's not out of our reach. And it's not out of Hotaru's reach either."

"So where do we begin?" posed Lee. Shandrey could only guess that Ring was but one of many twisted surprises that Hotaru had at her disposal.

"We're going to need help, probably the closest thing to the Avatar that we have." At this Katara's spirits perked up. She was on her feet faster than she could make ice. "Pack for a long trip, we're off to Jerusalem."

Just wanted to establish some things about our main characters. You can bet the story's really gonna take off after this. Bet on it. Laters!