Katara trudged through the snow, stifling a yawn. Why had her father woken her at this spirits-forsaken hour? Couldn't it wait until morning? She got precious little sleep as it was. The workload never seems to lessen. Since the end of the war the Southern Water Tribe had been trying to rebuild itself after they were pushed to the brink of extinction. It wasn't easy.

"I don't understand why this is so important. So the old woman felt something weird. Wooo. Spooky." Ukiuk was his usual haughty self; even more so now because of the late hour.

"Have some respect. That's the tribe elder you're talking about. If she says she felt a disturbance in the spirit world there must be something going on." Despite the fact that she felt much the same way, Katara wan't about to give Ukiuk the pleasure of agreeing with him.

"Whatever. If you ask me she ate something bad and got a little indigestion. Can't say I blame her. The food here isn't top caliber, if you know what I mean."

Katara bit back a sharp retort. Losing her temper wouldn't solve anything.

As the last Southern waterbender Katara was under a lot of pressure. Many of their Northern brothers and sisters had come to help. Some had even moved their entire lives to the south permanently to renew the population. Many of the newcomers from the north were waterbenders as well, steeped in their own culture and traditions. This caused much tension between the two factions. Some Southerners believed that they didn't need the high and mighty North to come save them. They would get along just fine on their own, thank you very much. At the other end of the spectrum, some of the Northerners had not come out of the goodness of their hearts, but because of political motives. Most of these were noblemen in the North who wanted to demonstrate how kind they were and how much they cared for the poor savages living in the South.

Ukiuk was one of those. He was from a minor noble family who wanted to grow in popularity among the aristocracy. Therefore they sent one of their sons, a gifted waterbender, to give aid to the South. Ukiuk made little effort to conceal his disdain for the Southerners. His distaste manifested in many ways, from thinly veiled criticism to outright insults. The chief and elders turned a blind eye to these infractions. Waterbenders were scarce in the South, even now. They needed every one they could find.

Ukiuk was also the cause of Katara's bad mood. Her father, Chief Hakoda, had suggested he go with her to investigate the elder's premonition. Katara would have refused, but the look in her father's eye had discouraged all arguments. At least she had Kimmik to keep her company. The hulking polar bear-dog belonged to the community and was used mostly for hunting and tracking.

"You Southerners and your superstitions. I bet we'll find nothing at all. Have you ever even seen a spirit?"

"Actually, I've seen several."

Ukiuk's patronizing smirk renewed Katara's determination to find whatever it was they were looking for and prove him wrong.

Nose to the ground, Kimmik suddenly gave an excited huff and took off. Katara ran after him, yelling. "Kimmik, heel! Stop! Come here, boy!" The aging polar bear-dog paid no heed to the orders and continued on his way.

"Slow down, you foul creature!" Ukiuk was also having trouble keeping up.

Eventually, Kimmik slid to a halt and began frantically tearing into a large snowdrift. Finally catching up, Katara called him off. She had a better way to move the snow and she didn't want him in way.

Her practiced muscles falling into the familiar stance, Katara extended her arms, feeling the frozen water all around her. With a slight gesture, the mound of snow levitated, moving in concert with Katara's movements. Much work rebuilding the village had kept her in practice after the war's end. Letting her chi flow freely, Katara directed the snow over her head to a point behind her, hoping it would land on Ukiuk. There was something lying in the snow. Spirits, was that a body? Rushing forward, Katara knelt before the figure and felt for a pulse. It was very weak. The young man's skin was unnaturally pale and cold to the touch. He needed immediate medical attention. She decided to use a trick she learned from one of the professional Northern healers. With a swirling motion, she gathered the snow around the young man, liquefying it in the process. Trying to keep the water as warm as she could manage, Katara tapped deeper into her chi, releasing the innate ability of water to heal from within it. The cocoon of water began to glow softly in the darkness, rejuvenating the man's frostbitten skin and keeping his blood flow steady.

Ukiuk came up behind her, covered with snow and frowning petulantly. Katara fought back a smirk. The snowdrift had done its work.

"Very unprofessional of you, I must say. What would your father say if he found out that you're an incompetent that endangers her team members?" Ukiuk said, brushing the snow off his parka. It was an empty threat, and both of them knew it. Hakoda knew very well how efficient his daughter was.

"Oh, please." Katara said, easing the young man off the ground and onto Kimmik's broad back. "The only unprofessional thing around here is your attitude. Accidents happen. Walk it off."

With a dark expression, Ukiuk stormed off. "Have fun walking home alone," he called out behind him. "Peasant" he added, just loud enough for Katara to hear.

Anger rose hot and volatile in Katara's chest. She almost froze him in a block of ice before she got a hold of herself. Violence will solve nothing. Violence will solve nothing. She repeated the mantra until Ukiuk was out of sight.

Taking a deep, calming breath, Katara turned her attention to Kimmik and the mysterious man on his back. How had he gotten here? He was wearing a Water Tribe parka, but he didn't look Water Tribe. Did he get lost? Why did the tribe elder feel such a powerful disturbance around him? Questions and theories running through her head, Katara began to head home.

It was cold. That was the first conscious thought that ran through David's head. The second was that wherever he was, it stank. He tried to open his eyes, but all he could see was a dark blur. As his vision slowly returned to normal, he groaned, rubbing his eyes. He was in some sort of igloo. The walls were made of tightly packed snow and various pieces of primitive hunting memorabilia were scattered around the small room.

He became aware of another person with him. She was asleep, sprawled on an uncomfortable looking chair. She was dressed strangely, yet the bluish parka she wore seemed familiar. It was just like…

Suddenly, the fog cleared from his mind. He was in a story! Up until that point, David had harbored a slight suspicion that he was the target of an elaborate prank. There was no denying it now, however.

The woman coughed in her sleep. Jumping, David realized he was in an awkward situation. He was a complete stranger here. How was he going to explain how he got out in the middle of nowhere? He had no idea where he was. What was this world like? What kind of people were here? This was a story, anything was possible. Was there magic?

David's panicked thoughts were interrupted by a long sigh. She was waking up. What should he say?

The young woman opened her eyes. She smiled, her brown face friendly. "So, you're awake."

David forced himself to smile back, struggling to keep calm. "Where am I?" That seemed like a reasonable question.

"You're in the Southern Water Tribe village," she said. Water Tribe? Well, that would explain the blue clothing. The furnishings, as well as the woman herself, seemed vaguely Inuit. "Where are you from?" she asked, "The Earth Kingdom?"

"Yes," David said, thinking furiously. "I was on my way here, actually. I had heard so much about the Water Tribe, so I decided to go see if the stories were true."

The woman gave a rather unladylike snort of derision. "Unfortunately the stories are rather far off. The war has left us weak and small in number."

"Yes, the war," David said, nodding sagely. "It must have been horrible here."

A shadow crossed her face. "It was. I lost my mother to the Fire Nation."

Fire versus water. How symbolically appropriate.

"I'm so sorry."

"Don't be." The woman made a visible effort to smile. "It's in the past. We must keep moving forward."

People of water, earth and fire. Was there a nation of air as well? He might as well assume so. The symbol his pendant had showed him was beginning to become clear. Four nations, four elements.

"I'm Katara, by the way."

"Nanook." David cringed inwardly at the cliché name. It was the first Inuit name he could think of.

"Nanook? That's a Water Tribe name. I thought you were from the Earth Kingdom."

"Well, my family always said that we had Water Tribe blood. They wanted to keep the old traditions."

"Oh. Well that's nice."

David breathed a sigh of relief. Crisis averted.

"It's time for a healing session," said Katara, heading toward a large tub of water built into the floor. "Can you get up alone?"

"I think so." David slowly sat up in bed. His face reddened as he realized he was wearing nothing but a strange loincloth. "Where are my clothes?"

"Your parka is over by the door. The rest of your clothes were worn to rags when we found you."Katara said. "Don't worry, I'll get you some new ones, but for now, just come over here and lay down in the water."

Hiding his embarrassment, David walked over to the tub. He could see nothing special about it. Maybe this "session" was some sort of ritual. Deciding to indulge his host, David eased himself into the lukewarm water. Katara sat in front of him in the lotus position with her eyes closed, waving her arms in wide, sweeping gestures. So it was a ritual. David wondered how long it would take, he was getting cold.

His eyes wandering around the room, David's eyes rested on the water. It was glowing. With a yelp of alarm, he scrambled halfway out of the tub. Katara's eyes flew open. "What's wrong, Nanook?"

"The…the water! It was…"

"Oh, I'm so sorry. I should have known. The healing properties of water aren't well known outside the tribes. It's totally fine, it's just an advanced form of bending."

"Bending?"

Katara nodded. "I'm a waterbender."

"Waterbender…right." It appeared there was a form of magic in this story. Curiosity overcoming his alarm, David lowered himself back into the water. "Do you think you could show me some more waterbending afterwards? If it's not too much trouble."

"Of course," she said, resuming her strange arm motions. Her waterbending "I'd be happy to."

The glowing water felt so good. It loosened David's muscles and brought him a feeling of peace and content. He came out feeling rejuvenated and energized. It was much easier for him to walk.

Katara demonstrated her waterbending, lifting up the water from the healing tub without touching it. Her movements were graceful, yet powerful. Flowing, yet strong. David was hypnotized.

Katara laughed at his awestruck expression. "I take it there aren't many benders where you come from," she said, returning the water to its place with a flourish.

Shaking himself out of his trance, David tried to formulate a response. "None, actually."

"None at all?" Katara asked, surprise in her voice. "How do you survive out there?"

"We make do." David hoped she wouldn't probe too deeply about his home. He couldn't afford anyone finding out who he was. He had no idea how they would react. These were powerful people, they could react violently. Especially to someone claiming that their power was fictional.

David tries to steer the conversation toward safer topics. "Anyway, I'm here now. I'll see the sights; maybe I'll help out a bit. You said the war almost destroyed this place."

"Yes, but I don't think you'll be able to help much," Katara said with a rueful smile. "That job is mostly handled by waterbenders."

"I have Water Tribe heritage. Who knows, I might be waterbender." David walked over to the tub with a grin, waving his arms in a mocking approximation of Katara's flowing gestures from before.

Katara laughed at his antics. "Stop it. You're embarrassing yourself," she said with a wide smile.

David was only half joking, however. The strange man, Edmund, had hinted at powers granted to him by the rose-carved pendant; maybe it would grant him waterbending. Unfortunately, it seemed his hypothesis was mistaken. The water didn't move an inch.

Still chortling to herself, Katara escorted David outside. "Come on, Nanook. I'll show you around.

"…and then it reared up in front of me, its mouth was huge! It was about to swallow me whole! But I wouldn't go down without a fight, no sir. I grabbed my spear and…"

"Oh lay off, you big liar."

Ugalik cut off his story midsentence. "I swear it's true! That tiger seal was enormous. Come to think about it, it might have been a spirit." He began musing to himself. "A spirit, eh? Must have been. There's no way a seal could grow that big." Apparently having convinced himself, he began bouncing up and down excitedly. "Amaruq! I just fought a spirit! And I lived!"

Amaruq rolled her eyes. They were very expressive, Ugalik noticed. He'd noticed many things about her after she arrived from the North.

"What would you know about spirits?" Amaruq said.

"Enough," said Ugalik, a touch of defensiveness coloring his voice.

She wasn't convinced. He needed backup. "What do you think, Nanook?"

"Well, it was pretty big," the newcomer said uncertainly. "Even if it wasn't a spirit it was still really tough to fight." Ugalik flashed a grateful smile at the young man. He could always depend on him to make his stories sound more realistic. Not that Ugalik would ever tell a lie, especially to Amaruq, but extraordinary things happened to him so often that he frequently found it hard to convince anyone that they actually occurred. Like that time he saw Amarok himself stalking the tundra with his pack of wolves, hunting for those foolish enough to go hunting at night. Needless to say, nobody believed him. They were probably just jealous that he was the only one to see him.

"I'll prove it to you. I remember where we lost it. I can take you there and show you its tracks."

"Fine," said Amaruq with a seemingly exasperated sigh, but Ugalik could see the tiny smile in those eyes. She'd come around. They set off together, Ugalik practically dragging Amaruq behind him in his hurry.

David watched the two rush off into the dark, snow-covered wasteland, smiling. It was good to see them getting along so well for many reasons. Not least of which was that there were many barriers separating the Northern and Southern cultures. To have a strong friendship, maybe even more than just a friendship, between members of opposite sides would go a long way to calming the storm.

Ugalik and Amaruq were already too far away to see in the gloom. It was always dark this time of year. The only hint of daylight came at about midday. He had been in this strange place for three days and felt he had gotten to know it quite well.

"Nanook!" a voice called out. It was Katara, half running to catch up with David. "How are you?" she asked, smiling. "Do you feel better?"

"Yes, thanks to your healing skills." David still wasn't used to the strange ability which seemed pervasive in this world. Several other residents of the village had this power. Waterbenders, they were called. Over the last few days David had been doing his best to get Katara to tell him about this world without arousing suspicion. He hadn't been able to get anything useful out of her. Maybe today he would have more luck.

"You know, I was wondering. You seem very skilled at your craft. Who taught you?"

"His name is Master Pakku. He lives in the Northern Tribe."

"Why couldn't you learn from master here? There seem to be enough waterbenders. Are they better in the North?"

Katara's smile faltered. "Every waterbender you see here apart from me is a Northerner. I'm the last Southern waterbender in existence. The Fire Nation captured and killed all the others."

"But even so, why risk yourself by traveling across the world during a war just to go learn?"

"Well, there was another reason to go."

David felt that today, finally, he had struck gold. "Really?"

"I was the one who travelled with Avatar Aang and helped him defeat Firelord Ozai," she said proudly.

David feigned astonishment. "You're that Katara? I assumed you just had the same name."

David was walking a dangerous line. He surmised from the tone of Katara's voice that this Avatar was a prominent figure, but he had no idea who, or even what he was.

"Yup. That's me."

"You've got to tell me all about it! I've only heard stories before now, but you were actually there! You can tell what really happened." David hoped he wasn't laying on too thick.

"All right, calm down." Katara said, laughing. "You sound like Kimmik at feeding time."

David grinned sheepishly. "Sorry. It's not every day I get to meet someone so famous."

"Don't exaggerate, I wasn't that great." She seemed slightly embarrassed.

"So give me some juicy details." David cajoled her. "What happened on the way?"

"Well, after Aang and I trained at the North Pole we had to go to the Earth Kingdom so Aang could learn earthbending…" Earthbending? This was new. Knowing now what he did, David felt he could safely assume that there was a power for each Nation and each element. That would fit in better with the symmetry he had observed so far. "…and so when Toph asked for the belt back, my idiot of a brother completely forgot that she was blind and tossed it to her. It wasn't touching the ground, so she couldn't feel it. It hit her on the head!" Katara chuckled. "Ah, memories"

David made an effort to laugh along with her, although he hadn't heard the whole story. "How good can she be if she's blind?" he asked, picking out a topic from what he had heard.

"Those were the last words of many great warriors from around the world, many of them benders." Katara wore an amused expression. "If you judge an icefield by what you can see, be prepared to feel its bite. She's the most powerful earthbender in the world, something she likes to keep reminding us. The rumors about her are true. She can see through vibrations in the earth, she discovered metalbending when she was eleven and she dueled King Bumi to a standstill."

This time David did not need to pretend to be impressed. Someone with such skill was certainly worthy of admiration.

"I still can't believe that she's running a metalbending academy all by herself." Katara had a faraway look in her eyes. "I remember when she was just a little girl."

A metalbending academy? That might be worth checking out. David filed the information away for future reference.

David and Katara were approaching a group of several young Northerners. David noted with distaste that the oldest of the group was Ukiuk. David had met him a couple days ago. He had had some rather hurtful things about the South. David had ignored him; everyone else did. Apparently the council couldn't send him back without insulting the noble family Ukiuk hailed from, something that the South couldn't afford. Also, he was a waterbender, and they needed all the help they could get. For those reasons he was tolerated, but only barely.

The young nobleman noticed the two drawing close and began talking to his companions in a loud voice, obviously intending for them to hear. "I've heard that these Southerners actually believe in all the spirit stories. I guess somebody forgot to tell them that spirits exist only in old wives tales and children's bedtime stories." His group of sycophants nodded in agreement, a couple of them being so bold as to laugh out loud. He glanced around at the many workers helping with the building, trying to return their village to a livable state. "These primitives aren't just inefficient, they're lazy. Look at those ones! Disgraceful."

David gritted his teeth. These people were his friends. To hear them belittled by this arrogant man with a oversized sense of entitlement was almost too much to take.

"Nanook, just ignore him." Katara placed a restraining hand on his shoulder. "I know he deserves it, but it's not worth the risk."

"I've even heard they marry within their own family." Ukiuk continued his stream of abuse. "That might explain why they're so unappealing to look at. Well, at least most of them," he said, looking suggestively in Katara's direction. She didn't react.

Finally, something snapped within David. This had gone on for far too long. He shook off Katara's hand and stormed toward Ukiuk.

"Ah, what's this? Why so upset? Surely an outside eye can see that what I say-"

"How dare you?" David felt as if he was spitting sparks from his mouth.

"I beg your pardon?"

"What right do you have to make such accusations? These people just survived a war! Have some respect. You came here to help, yet all you do is gripe and moan." David gestured at Katara. "She's rebuilding an entire society from the ground up, and all you do is complain."

"You have no idea what you're talking about, stranger" Ukiuk said with a snarl. "You're not even Water Tribe."

"My family is from here!"

"Even worse. You're a half-breed."

"I care about this place. I care enough to defend it from a stuck-up, entitled idiot with delusions of grandeur!" David punctuated his remark with a violent shove.

Ukiuk lost his balance and toppled over backwards. "You…you insolent little fool!" His face darkened. There was fire in his eyes. "How dare you insult a scion of the North!" He scrambled to his feet and made a sharp gesture. A large sphere of water rose at his command and hurtled towards David.

Ducking beneath the missile, David closed the distance between them in order to reduce the effectiveness of Ukiuk's power. He threw his weight into a blow to the waterbender's face. Ukiuk fended him off with frightening ease. It seemed he was an accomplished hand-to-hand fighter as well as a waterbender. He had about as much chance to beat him as an otter-penguin had to fly. After trading several blows, Ukiuk knocked him down to ground. David lay there, stunned.

"I'll teach you to insult me, you filthy half-breed!" The fire in Ukiuk's eyes blazed. There was murder in those eyes. He gathered an enormous globe of water around David's whole body, lifting him up off the ground, smothering him. He began to panic, his vision fading. He could vaguely see Ukiuk's distorted face through the water. The waterbender had a sneer on his face, mocking him even as he suffocated.

In one moment, David's fear was eclipsed by rage. This bully thought he could abuse his power and hurt David's friends. It wasn't fair. He had to do something.

Something surfaced in the sea of anger. A voice. It whispered to him, the sound of it simultaneously deep and dark as the ocean's depths and cold and clear as water falling over stones. Not realizing what he was doing, David reached out around him, feeling the water, sensing it in his mind. Power flowed from his hands into the water. He gathered himself and pushed outward.

The water flew outward in an explosive wave, gathering around Ukiuk and sealing him in a clear block of ice.

The crowd around them stood, dumbfounded. Vaguely, David could hear them break out into an excited babble with Katara's voice rising above the rest. He couldn't hear what they were saying. Was it important? He didn't think so. Did the world really have to spin around like that? It was making him dizzy. It was really inconsiderate of…

Blackness.

Groaning, David opened his eyes.

"Well, here we are again." Katara's voice was cold.

Looking around, David saw he was in the same igloo he woke up in when the tribe found him.

"What happened?" David's head was pounding. It felt like a porcupine had taken up residence in his skull.

"I was hoping you could tell me." Katara sounded upset. "Why didn't you tell me you were a waterbender? If you have Southern Water Tribe blood, then that means that you are technically a Southern waterbender; it means that I'm not the last one. You know how much that means to me."

Slowly it all came back to him. "I didn't know, I swear. I never was any sort of bender," he said honestly.

Examining him closely, Katara's expression relaxed and a huge smile burst on to her face. "I'm not the last one!" she exclaimed. "You're part of the Tribe now. Welcome, brother."

Relieved, David smiled alongside her. He was truly happy that he had been accepted by the Tribe, they were almost like family now. He thought back to the exhilarating moment when he had bent water. He wanted to know more about it.

"Will you teach me more about our heritage and power, sister?" he asked in the same formal tone Katara had used a moment ago.

"Gladly, brother."

A/N: I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. Now that we're in the Avatar world proper I should probably start giving disclaimers. So, here goes.

Disclaimer: Avatar the Last Airbender and its characters belong to Nickelodeon.

How was that? Be sure to comment on my incredible disclaimer writing skills in the review section. Oh, also reviews about the story itself will also be appreciated.

This story will be part of a much larger arc that I am writing with friends. It's going to be awesome!

See you guys later!