Thursday, December 1, 66 AG,

Today is my birthday. The fifteenth year in which my parents celebrate my birth. But I am not sure that I feel joy on this seemingly momentous occasion, for this day holds memories of both adoration and fear.

I know this story as thought I had experienced it at a time in which I was old enough to comprehend it. It has been told and retold throughout my home and throughout the world for as long as I can remember - and even before then. It is a story that lives with me, lives in me, every day of my life. I am reminded of it every time I see my reflection in a pool of water, every time I wake up every morning, every time I fill my lungs with air.

Fifteen years ago, at the midnight hour dawning this day, I came into this world. But my parents' elation was short lived, just as was their child. I was born without breath, without life. My parent mourned for me. Their precious black-haired, blue-eyed baby girl was gone before she ever seeing the faces of her mother and father. I was their first child, their only child. My parents were heartbroken. They prayed to God, they begged Him to spare me.

And He did.

That next night, my late grandfather appeared to my mother in a dream. He told her that God would spare her baby, but that she must heed the Lord's instructions carefully.

"Anything," my mother told him.

So that same night, at the midnight hour, my mother woke my father and together they went to the palace's Baptismal Oasis, the most spiritual place in all of the North Pole. The pool was hidden behind an ordinary door, in plain sight, you might say. The North is mighty cold, yet , somehow, that one room was as warm as the beaches of Ember Island. The room was made entirely of ice, a sort of hollow cylinder that stretched as high as the tallest palace turret and opened up to the sky, so that the moon could be in full view when it passed over. Below it was a sort of pool, in which was lush, green island of sorts, within which was another pond. Inside this inner pond are two fish, one very light, and one very dark, that circled each other endlessly. Their names were Tui and La, said the Lord. He put these fish in the pond to keep the balance between dark and light, sun and moon, evil and good, death and life.

As instructed, my parents knelt beside the pool and prayed again. The Lord then told them that Tui and La had been given some of His power, and that this power could be given or taken from the fish. My parents held me and hugged me one last time before laying me in the water. Immediately the white fish began to emit light, to shine. My eyes opened and I began to cry. And almost as wonderously, my hair turned from black to a lucid white, a white clearer than the glow of the full moon.

My parents were so overjoyed with my second chance at life that they proclaimed the story of my resurrection and miraculous first breaths to the entire Northern Water Tribe and declared December 2 as a national holiday set aside to celebrate the Lord and all of his mercy. The initial celebration lasted two weeks.

But now, fifteen years later, I cannot say that I feel happy. I do not mean to say that I am ungrateful, I simply have a sense of foreboding, as if something terrible has happened, or that there is something worse yet to come.

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Katalana: Hey guys, this is the author speaking - er, writing. First of all I just want ya'll to know that I am a completely amateur writer, but hope to one day be an author. I have always loved (and recently became obsessed with) the Avatar series, both The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra, and have so many ideas for fanfics that I just need to find the time to write them! This is not my first fanfic, but it IS my first one published. I know this first chapter isn't exactly like the series, but I have several reasons for that. My main reason is that I'm not all that fond of spiritualism and the whole "The fish gave me life & now I'll give it back and become the Moon Spirit" thing. I hope that doesn't upset anyone too much because I'm trying to make it as accurate as possible while including my strong Christian beliefs. Hope ya'll enjoyed this first segment & I hope to get another one done soon! (Also, this was a relatively short chapter for me, so expect more in the chapters to come.)