Penguin Sledding
In which we visit the South Pole and go Penguin Sledding!
I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender or The Legend Of Korra, but I do own an intense love for Meelo
….
Aang and Katara were yet again up at an incredible hour. They had gotten back from their trip to Ba Sing Se a few days ago and were currently finishing packing for their trip to the South Pole. They had decided they wouldn't wake their children up yet; they would let them sleep until they had to get on Appa. Aang was waking up Appa and Katara was preparing food for the trip.
When the mammoth bison was awake and fed, and Katara had prepared enough food to last their journey they gently woke up their children.
"Kya" Katara said in a quiet voice, trying to wake her up slowly.
"Kya sweetie, it's time to get up" she said once again and saw Kya begin to stir. She slowly woke her up and then moved onto the twins. The twins were harder to wake up but she eventually managed, at last she lifted Kasami from the cot in which she slept and they piled onto Appa.
….
The children were too sleepy to even think about bending the clouds on the way there- they had promptly fallen back asleep! Katara had thought this would happen so she had packed lots of extra blankets.
They had been planning to make this trip for a while now but Katara wasn't sure Kasami was old enough to brave the harsh cold- Aang bought her back to reality by reminding her that she had grown up in that very same harsh cold. Katara agreed with his logic but made sure to pack lots of extra parkas and warm clothing for Kasami and her other children.
….
They reached the South Pole with little interruption- well at one point Tenzin wondered what it would feel like to fall into a cloud so he had promptly and fearlessly thrown himself off the saddle, Aang luckily had his glider and caught him before he hit the grown.
When they landed they saw that a small welcoming committee had formed, Aang was humbled that the village would do such a thing. Katara was the first to jump off Appa and run into the arms of her father and grandmother
"Dad! Gran-Gran! It's so good to see you!" she exclaimed enthusiastically
Aang helped Kya, Tenzin and Gyatso off Appa before picking Kasami up and carrying her over to where greetings were being exchanged. Some of the members of the village hadn't seen Kya in a very long time and hadn't even seen Tenzin, Gyatso or Kasami at all! They fawned over all four children fussing that they weren't warm enough or inviting them to have a meal with them. Pakku was still proudly boasting that he was sure Kasami would be a waterbender and he was expecting to see a sign in the next few years, although she wouldn't be able to train or refine her skill it wasn't uncommon for children to show their bending skill at an early age.
Aang walked over to Hakoda first
"Hello Chief Hakoda" Aang said politely, bowing out of respect
Hakoda just laughed in response
"Please Aang, no need for formalities" he said before pulling his son-in-law into a hug
Aang chuckled before returning the hug
"So what are your plans for the visit?" Hakoda asked Katara when he had let go of Aang
"I'm not sure…what do you think we should do Aang?"
Aang smiled mischievously before replying
"Let's go penguin sledding!" he exclaimed and before long Kya, Tenzin and Gyatso were begging Katara to let them go penguin sledding too
"Ok!" laughed Katara as she fell to the ground from the sheer force of her children
"Would you be able to take Kasami if we go now Gran-Gran?" she asked
"No worries dear, she will be safe with me"
And with that Aang ran off to try to find a penguin with Tenzin and Gyatso following close behind using their airbending enhanced speed
Katara smiled at her daughter who was looking up at her expectantly, Katara led her over to where they could get fish, she knew that Aang wouldn't have thought of this and she laughed out loud at the mental image of Aang trying to catch a penguin with his bare hands as he had many years ago.
"What's funny mummy?" asked Kya looking at her mother who was bent over laughing
"Oh sweetie, you'll find out when we take these fish to your father and brothers"
….
As Katara and Kya ambled their way to where Aang and the twins had run off they caught sight of them, Kya burst out laughing as well.
Aang kept leaping at the penguins trying to catch one but they would run off before he could and he would land in the cold snow. Tenzin and Gyatso were trying a different approach and they were imitating the penguins trying to befriend them. It was truly a funny sight
Katara passed a fish to Kya and whispered instructions in her ear
"If you show the penguins this fish they will all run over to you and daddy and Tenzin and Gyatso will be confused"
Kya giggled and took the fish, within seconds there were penguins on all sides of her
"How come Kya gets all the penguins?" demanded Gyatso
Aang looked at Katara curiously; Katara took pity on him and threw him a fish
"I forgot about the fish!" yelled Aang loudly as he drowned in a sea of black and white.
Katara laughed at her husband's theatrics before passing a fish to Tenzin and Gyatso, before long they each had a penguin.
….
"Ready, Set, GO!" Aang yelled as he launched himself off an iceberg down an icy tunnel, Katara, Kya, Tenzin and Gyatso were soon to follow on their penguins.
Katara could hear her children's screams of joy and she smiled, she was full of nostalgia rushing down the ice on a penguin- she hadn't done it since she and Aang had when she had first found him. Her mind was soon filled with memories of what she liked to think of "Her first un-official date" with Aang.
It truly was magical, it gave her a sense of weightlessness, the sun reflected through the ice and made it seem like they were in another world. Katara vowed that she would take Kasami when she was old enough.
She glanced to the side where she saw Aang laughing, she noticed he suddenly put on a burst of speed- so had the twins! Katara and Kya were left behind them as Katara realised they were using their airbending to speed up.
"Two can play at that game" She thought before using her Waterbending to melt the ice into a giant wave, the wave carried her and Kya over the three boys and when they were in front of them she let the wave come crashing down on Aang
Serves him right for trying to cheat.
Katara, Kya, Tenzin and Gyatso all laughed as Aang started to spin out of control and his penguin began trying to fly away, his penguin had become wet and it was slippery so it slipped out of his grasp very quickly.
He was left lying there on the ice very dizzy, he was shaking, Katara rushed over to him to see if he was suffering because of the extreme cold.
She approached his shaking body but realised he was laughing!
"Haha… well played…Katara" he managed to choke out between fits of laughter, the laughter was infectious and soon Katara was laughing as well.
Kya, Tenzin and Gyatso was bemused when they came over to see why their parent were both on the ground in fits of laughter but soon Kya began giggling and the twins started laughing too
….
That night they were staying in their very own tent, many of the igloos that the people of the Southern Water Tribe had once lived in were replaced by tents.
Katara was amazed at how advanced her childhood home had become, years ago they would of refused to advance, they would refuse to change, but now they had begun advancing, slowly but steadily. They had never been the most advanced in the world and they were still far behind compared to the rest of the world but Katara liked it, it wouldn't seem like home if they suddenly became a miniture Ba Sing Se.
Luckily Kasami didn't seem too affected by the cold so she fell asleep reasonably quickly, although Kana didn't show it Katara privately thought that she really enjoyed spending the day with her great granddaughter. She told Aang and Katara of how Kasami actually seemed to like the taste of sea prunes (To the disgust of Aang) and how much she reminded her of Katara and Kya, Katara was over joyed to hear that Kasami reminded her of her mother and her great blue eyes filled with tears- proud tears.
It had taken a little longer to get Tenzin and Gyatso to sleep but eventually the excitement of the day wore off and they were able to lie still enough to fall asleep.
And it was with the anticipation of the next day that Katara found herself lulled to sleep.
A/N I am sooo sorry about the horrendously long time it took me to update! It won't happen again! (I hope) as always thank you all so much for your reviews. They are absolutely inspiring and help me to write, if you have any suggestions please leave them!
SheWolfQueen: Thank you, I would love to see how that dance goes!
MuuTacoMono: Thank you, I'm so glad you like it! I try to keep it interesting
AceyJacey: Thank you, I liked the idea too! Haha it's hard not to love Iroh! The name PandaLily is partly because I was listening to the song "Panda lily" from the episode "The Fortune-teller" and I also have a Panda lily themed chapter planned (It might be the last chapter!) Sorry it took so long to get this out, I really appreciate your continued support.
Beak beak: Thank you, those are some really great ideas! I may use some, sorry for the time it took to update!
PS: I have a twitter account, candle_22 so you can come have a chat!
PPS: Korra.
*foams at mouth*
That is all.