Chapter 1: The Boy in the Iceberg*
Katara sighed and settled herself more deeply in the back of the canoe, watching her older brother as he leaned over the edge, eyes fixed on the shadow of a fish moving just beneath the surface of the water, spear held poised to strike. Sokka was muttering to himself under his breath- whether urging the fish closer or debating with himself how to cook it when he caught it she was too far away to tell, but the sight brought an amused smile to her face. Sokka could be a show-off, and was sarcastic rather more than was good for him, but he was Katara's brother and she did love him- the moreso now because of the fact that, despite his faults, he was one of the only people in the South Pole she could stand to be around.
A sudden flash in the water on her side of the boat caught Katara's interest- another fish swimming along by the side. Swiftly, an idea formed in her mind- she wasn't technically supposed to be doing this, but it didn't seem likely she'd get another chance any time soon. Glancing back at Sokka, making sure he was thoroughly occupied, she stood up slowly and smoothed down her apprentice healer's furs, and then removed one of her gloves and stretched out a hand over the water.
Instantly the water responded to her movements and began to rise, forming a bubble around the fish- she hadn't been trained in this kind of bending, but the natural affinity for the element was there, just as it had been her whole life, and she relished the chance to actually make use of it for once. Slowly, responding to Katara's motions, the water rose above the canoe, the fish swimming frantically inside it.
Unfortunately, Sokka chose that exact moment to try and spear his own fish- which might have succeeded if the butt of his weapon hadn't smacked into Katara's water, throwing off his aim and sending cold liquid cascading down over both of them while the fish, grateful for its freedom, flopped back over the side and out of sight. Shaking himself off, Sokka slowly turned towards Katara.
"What were you thinking?" he demanded. "Katara, you know you're not supposed to be doing that. If your Master saw you…"
"Master Sasiko's not here, Sokka," she shot back. "I'm sick of not being allowed to learn real waterbending! Maybe the Northern Tribe doesn't train girls to be anything but healers, but Gran-Gran says that's not how our tribe did it back when we still had benders. Besides, I thought you were getting tired of Northern Tribe warriors treating you like a kid."
"I am, believe me," Sokka said. "But this alliance with the North is important to Dad, and I don't want to do anything to screw that up- and you shouldn't either."
"Easy for you to say. You're old enough that you'll be able to go off and fight with Dad, the other warriors, and the Northern fleet soon. But under their stupid rules, I won't ever be allowed to be anything but a healer. It's not…" Katara never got the chance to say what the situation wasn't. The canoe suddenly rocked in a powerful current, and then it and the two Water Tribe siblings were being pulled along at a tremendous pace through a narrow, iceberg-choked stretch of sea. They attempted to regain control of their craft, but to no avail. The canoe slammed against a particularly large and unpleasant hunk of ice and splintered. Wet and exhausted, Sokka and Katara climbed atop the ice and surveyed their surroundings.
"I knew I shouldn't have let you talk me into taking me along," Sokka said, staring at the water where the canoe had been.
"What, because I'm a girl?" Katara demanded. "Listen, Sokka, I'm starting to get really tired of hearing that. Master Sasiko says I've got one of the strongest waterbending talents she's seen- I could use that to be out helping Dad fight the Fire Nation, but instead I'm stuck running errands for her and it doesn't look like that's going to change any time soon…" As Katara spoke, her temper built and she began to gesture more dramatically with her arms. The iceberg looming behind the young waterbender responded to her anger and began to shake and crack. Sokka stumbled backwards, eyes wide.
"Katara," he began, "watch out!" Even as he finished speaking, however, the iceberg shattered completely with tremendous force, sending shards flying and causing the water to churn angrily around it. Both siblings collapsed onto their own iceflow and held on as tightly as they could until the water settled, their eyes still wide as they stared at the empty place where the iceberg had been.
"Wow," Sokka breathed. "I really hope that's not what you do to your patients."
"Ha, ha," his sister responded, but she still couldn't tear her eyes away from what she had unleashed, awed and more than a little afraid. Slowly, Katara and her brother began to pull themselves back to their feet, but before they could move more than that the water began to churn again and glow a strange, unnatural blue. A ball of ice was rising to the surface- the strange glow emanated from it. Child of the polar seas though she was, Katara had never seen anything quite like it before. As she stared into the ice-ball, her eyes managed to make out two figures inside- a large animal of some sort, and a boy who looked almost like he was meditating. Suddenly, the boy's eyes snapped open- they burned with a blue-white light, and Katara realized that he was the source of the glow.
"He's alive! We have to help him!" Grabbing Sokka's club from where it was slung across his back, she ran to the ice and began striking it frantically, ignoring his protests that she should stop. Katara threw as much strength of body and bending into every blow as she could- and suddenly the ball of ice broke apart, releasing pillar of blue-white light that shot upward into the sky, further than the eye could follow, visible from miles away.
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Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation lowered the spyglass from his eye as the bolt of light continued to shoot into the heavens from an unknown source and allowed himself a rare smile. "Finally," he said. "Azula, you need to come look at this! There's only one thing it can mean."
"That the celestial lights are unusually active this time of year?" a cool female voice said from behind him. Zuko turned to see his sister approach with a predator's casual, deadly grace. Stopping at her brother's side, she took the spyglass from his hands and began to study the light herself. "I'll admit its strange, but there's no guarantee it's what we're looking for- at least, not until we examine it more closely."
Zuko growled. "Don't be ridiculous, Azula. That light's not natural. It must be coming from some powerful source- it has to be him."
Azula lowered the glass and turned to face her brother, leaning on the ship's rail. "Oh, I'll certainly give you that it's unnatural, but just because it is doesn't mean that it's the Avatar. Running off after hunches gets you nowhere; the cunning warrior uses her mind as a weapon at least as much as her body or bending."
"Her?" Zuko asked, not bothering to hide the irritation in his voice. Azula only arched an eyebrow and shot him an expression that said that in her opinion there was only one "cunning warrior" aboard their warship, and the pronoun she'd used was a perfectly appropriate description.
"Still," the princess mused, "there is a chance you're right, and if we passed up a real lead- well, explaining that to Father wouldn't be an enjoyable experience." She turned to the crew and raised her voice. "Helmsman, make for the light. Let's find out if my brother isn't on to something for once."
The princess left the prow and moved back towards the main body of the ship, the winter cloak she war swirling behind her. Zuko watched her go with a scowl, then shook of his irritation at family and turned back to the fading pillar of light- where he was certain their true target waited.
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Katara and Sokka stumbled back from the exploding iceberg, Sokka doing his best to shield his sister from the light and flying shards of ice with his body. Finally, after how long they couldn't say, the light began to dim and both turned to see a shadow moving inside it. Sokka leveled his spear at the figure, but before he could react further it slid to the ground and collapsed before the Water Tribe siblings. The strange light from its eyes and tattoos dimmed, revealing nothing more or less than a young boy with a shaved head, his forehead and hands tattooed with a strange arrow pattern and his clothing that of a monk.
Katara ran forward and grabbed the boy, lifting him up out of the snow. Sokka hovered behind her, spear still at the ready, but she looked over her shoulder and shot him a glare, warning him to stay back. Turning back to the boy, she leaned in closer and saw that he was beginning to stir.
His grey eyes opened a fraction as he saw her, and his lips moved, giving voice to a weak whisper. "I need to ask you something."
"What?" Katara asked.
"Come closer," the boy whispered, and Katara bent in towards him- before suddenly his eyes snapped fully open and his head raised, his whole demeanor changing.
"Will you go penguin sledding with me?" He asked in a voice that was much stronger, and seemed almost chipper. Katara, taken aback by the sudden change, could only think to pull back and stammer that yes, of course she would. Inside, her mind was whirling. The boy obviously wasn't Water Tribe- how did he even know about penguin sledding in the first place, and what in the name of the spirits had he been doing inside that iceberg?
The boy leaped to his feet- no, Katara thought, leaped was a poor word- he almost glided- and glanced around, while Sokka backed up with a startled shout, still brandishing his spear. "What's going on here?" the stranger asked with interest.
"That's what I'd like to know," Katara said, studying him intently. "Listen, I'm a healer- well, technically, an apprentice- and I'd like to take a look at you. Being in that ice can't have been good for you- how long were you in there, anyway? Do you feel sick, or dizzy, or anything? "
"No, I feel fine," the boy said, examining himself thoroughly. "Are you really a healer? That's great- the monks always taught us that it was a really noble thing to do." He looked back at the iceberg. "I don't really know how long I was in there. A few days, maybe a week?" He shrugged. "I'm Aang, by the way. What's your name?"
"I'm Katara." She motioned at her brother. "And the guy who's gaping at you like a landed fish right now is my big brother, Sokka."
At that comment Sokka seemed to recover himself. "All right," he said. "What was that light all about? Were you trying to signal someone? You're a spy for the Fire Nation, aren't you? Answer me!"
"Oh, leave him alone, Sokka." Katara turned back to Aang. "You're not a spy, are you?"
"Not that I know of," said Aang, looking baffled. "And why would the Fire Nation need spies, anyway?"
"Why would they need…" Sokka began, then ended with a choke, apparently at a loss for words. "All right, kid, you can act all innocent if you want to, but I still think we should take you back to the village and let the warriors figure out who you are and what you want." He looked back at the water where the canoe had sunk and sighed. "Or at least, that's what we would do if we had any means of transportation."
"Transportation!" Aang smacked himself on the forehead. "I almost forgot. Appa!" Turning around, he darted up into the remains of the shattered iceberg, where something inside was making groggy rumbling noises.
"All right," Sokka said. "Who or what is that?"
"Appa!" Aang said happily from inside the ice. "You're all right!" His head popped up again from over the edge of the iceberg. "Appa's my sky bison. He's big enough to take us all back to your village." He turned back towards the crater. "Come on, buddy. Yip yip!"
"Sky bison?" Sokka mouthed, and even Katara felt a little dubious at the sound of that name. Shortly thereafter, however, they both found themselves riding on the back of an immense, six-legged, furry legendary creature as it paddled through the water, along with a boy who had been frozen in ice without suffering any ill effects and now claimed he was an airbender. Sokka murmured under his breath that this was obviously one of those days. Katara found she couldn't quite bring herself to disagree. **
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Zuko stood on the ship's tower, leaning against the railing and eyes fixed on the darkening horizon, when he heard his sister's footsteps approach from behind him. "What do you want?" he asked without turning.
"To tell you to get some rest," Azula said. "You're not going to capture the Avatar by doing nothing but stare at the sky, and if you don't get any sleep you'll be no use to anyone."
"Why do you care?"
Azula laughed darkly. "Why Zuko, do you honestly think I can't be concerned about my only brother's wellbeing?" She paused. "The truth is that if we do go into battle tomorrow, I don't want my back watched by someone who's half asleep. And so you see my reasons are, in fact, purely self-interested."
"Figures," Zuko muttered. "But I don't feel like sleeping. We need to do this- Father's counting on us, and I will show him that I am a son he can be proud of."
Azula sighed. "Very well. Your choice, but I, for one, am going to bed. Good night, Zuzu."
Zuko gritted his teeth at the taunting nickname and remained on the tower for some time longer, before finally reluctantly taking his sister's advice and heading down to bed.
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Aang floated in darkness on Appa's back as stormclouds swirled around them. The only illumination came from occasional flashes of lightning around them, and Appa roared as he struggled to fly straight despite the storm's winds. Then they were falling, and Aang heard himself scream as the ocean rushed up to meet them, and the cold dark waters swallowed them up…
Aang woke suddenly to the sound of Katara calling his name. Sitting up, he looked around and saw that he was laying on a pallet in a hut that seemed to be made from animal skins. Katara was kneeling by his side, looking concerned. "Where are we?" Aang asked her.
"In the village," she told him. "We got here last night, but you were already asleep. Come on- everyone wants to meet you, and, well… some people would like to ask you some questions."
"Sure," Aang said, jumping to his feet and pulling on his shirt. His airbending staff lay nearby- Katara or Sokka must have moved it from Appa's saddle- and he picked it up and followed Katara out into the tribe's village.
As he stepped out into the sunlight and took in the people gathered there, the airbender blinked in surprise. In the Air Temples, he'd learned that the Southern Water Tribe, while never as large or prosperous as the Northern Tribe, was still a large and successful nation, but this village was tiny, and most of the people were either children or older women. A group of maybe a dozen men stood slightly apart from the rest, but their clothing was different and they carried spears. Aang blinked as he studied them- he thought they looked more like they were from the Northern Tribe than the Southern, but that was probably just because he hadn't been paying attention to Monk Gyatso enough when they'd talked about the Water Tribes.
"Aang, whole village," Katara said, "whole village, Aang." She gestured to an old woman. "This is my grandmother."
"Call me Gran-Gran," the woman said wearily as Aang bowed to her.
"This is Master Sasiko, who teaches me healing," Katara continued, motioning to a middle-aged woman who stood next to her grandmother and who was regarding Aang curiously. You'd almost thing she'd never seen an airbender before or something. "And these are the warriors who are protecting our tribe while my father is away, and their leader, Hakka." Here Katara motioned towards the Northern-Tribe-looking men; their leader stepped forward and faced Aang.
"All right, young man," he said; his voice was calm and even, but hardly warm. "It's my job to keep this village safe, and I want to ask you some questions about who you are and where you've been. We can't afford to take any chances. Understand?"
"Yeah," Aang said. "I'll tell you whatever you want me to, but… when you're done, can I ask you a few things? Cause there are things around here that aren't making much sense."
"Well, that depends on the question," Hakka said. "We'll see. So- Aang, right?- you told Sokka and Katara that you're an airbender. Would you mind demonstrating that?"
That question hadn't been what Aang had been expecting, but this was something he was more than happy to oblige. "Watch me," he said, grinning, and then snapped his staff's wings open and called up a gust of wind to bear him and it into the air. Looking down below, he could see children jumping and clapping, Katara smiling broadly, Gran Gran, Hakka, and Sasiko staring in undisguised amazement, and Sokka, who had come to stand beside Katara and was now rubbing his hands in his eyes frantically as if to make sure what he was seeing was real. Aang smiled broadly down at the village and circled it once- and then slammed into something hard and cold. Having not been paying attention to where he was going, he'd apparently crashed into the village wall.
Leaping lightly down, folding in his glider, and airbending snow off himself, Aang stepped forward to face Hakka. "That's… very impressive," he said. "so, I guess you're not from the Fire Nation, then, and I don't think you're a spy."
"Wait," Aang said, holding up a hand. "That's the second time I've heard about Fire Nation spies, and I'm confused. Why would the Fire Nation want to spy on anybody else? What's going on here?"
"Why would the Fire Nation want to spy on us?" Sokka put in, his tone one of utter disbelief. "Because they're trying to take over the world! Spies help you do that!"
"Take over the world," Aang repeated in shock. "I don't know anything about that. How long has this been going on? How long was I in that iceberg, anyway?"
"The War has raged for nearly a hundred years," Gran Gran said sadly. "Ever since the Air Temples fell. As an airbender, you must have heard…."
Aang backed up, eyes wide. "A hundred years," he breathed, shaking his head. "The Air Temples fell? No- that can't be possible. It just can't be!" He looked pleadingly at Katara, but she only shook her head, her eyes wide and sad.
Backing up slowly from the village, Aang leaped into the air on his glider and soared away. He didn't know where he was going, but he needed to be alone, needed to find some way to take this all in.
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As Aang flew off, Katara rounded on Hakka. "Are you happy now?" she asked. "You scared him off." She whirled on Sokka. "And you didn't help."
"How was I supposed to know the kid didn't know about the Fire Nation?" Sokka asked in exasperation. "Everybody knows that!"
"Obviously, Aang doesn't," said Katara. "I'm going after him!" She could hear Master Sisiko and Gran-Gran calling out after her, but Katara blocked them out- she hurried from the village in the direction the airbender had gone, knowing that right now, more than she could imagine, he needed a friend.
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Azula spun on the deck of the warship, punching and kicking and sending great blasts of fire shooting across it, causing nearby sailors and soldiers to duck or dodge out of the way. The princess was almost in a trancelike state when she practiced this intensely- it was doubtful she would even be aware if she hit one of her crew, or that she would care if she was. Zuko watched his sister from a safe distance, and while she was often difficult to get along with (and had been an absolute terror when they'd been children) he had to grudgingly admit that when it came to firebending, she was tremendously impressive. Zuko was the more skilled of the royal siblings with the blade, but in terms of bending ability, Azula was his unquestionable superior.
There were times when he resented that.
Azula finished her routine and turned to face her brother. "Enjoying the show, Zuzu?" she asked. "Pick up any tips?"
"Why do you drill so hard, Azula?" Zuko asked, ignoring her. "I've seen full-grown masters who aren't as obsessive about it as you are. You're already better than anyone else your age- what are you trying to do?"
"Skills must be practiced or lost," Azula said in a superior voice. "But if you must know, I'm trying to learn to create blue fire.*** Father told me that it is the hottest, purest form of fire a bender can control. Only the most powerful can use it."
Zuko suppressed a twinge of jealousy- Father certainly never gave him private bending lessons- before he spoke. "I heard Uncle say once that blue fire is a waste of time. There's nothing you can do with it that a master bender couldn't do with regular fire. He said only people with too much time on their hands and too much vanity bothered with it."
"Did he?" Azula asked coldly. "Well, just because Uncle is Fire Lord doesn't mean he knows everything. I'll show you vanity." Quickly she drew in a deep breath and then spun, beginning her drill once more. Zuko sighed and shook his head, going back inside the body of the ship to retrieve his swords and get in some practice with them before the very likely event they found battle today.
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Katara found Aang out in the tundra, sitting against Appa's side and with his head hung. He didn't react as she approached and sat down next to him. "You really didn't know?" she asked quietly.
Aang shook his head. "No," he said. "A hundred years. That's how long I was in that ice, and the Fire Nation destroyed the Air Temples and is trying to take over the world? I should've been there; I should've done something!"
"Aang, don't blame yourself," Katara told him, putting a hand on his shoulder. "You're just one person- what could you have done against the whole Fire Nation? They're powerful, and they're ruthless- my mother died one of the times our tribe got raided." They both sat quietly for several moments after that; the air was heavy with shared sorrow.
"Tell me what happened," Aang finally said, his voice soft.
"Well, your people fell first," Katara said. "The Air Nomads- I don't think they stood a chance. The Earth Kingdom fought for longer- Ba Sing Se just fell a few years ago. I've heard there's still an Earth Kingdom city and its king that fight, but I don't know either of their names. A few years ago, my father Hakoda, our Chief, sailed to the Northern Tribe to make an alliance- Water against Fire. His fleet and the Northern fleet combined and are still out there somewhere, fighting. As part of the deal, the North sent Hakka, some warriors, and Master Sasiko came with them to be our healer- and teach me waterbending healing." Katara sighed. "Too bad that's all I get to learn. Apparently, the Northern Tribe doesn't approve of girls doing any other kind of waterbending, and I have to follow their stupid traditions."
"That's silly," Aang said. "My people taught anyone who could airbend."
"Your people had the right idea," Katara said. "I mean, healing is great and all, but I could do a lot more. I want to make a difference, and I can't do that here. Even Hakka's warriors are mostly just for show- Sokka says that Dad and his men are much better than they are, and nobody really expects the Southern Tribe to get attacked again. We don't have anything the Fire Nation wants anymore. At least Sokka will get to leave and go fight with Dad in a couple of years. I'm stuck here."
"You never know," Aang said. "The monks always told us that the future was always in motion. You can never know what's going to happen."
"I hope you're right." Katara stood. "So, are you ready to go back to the village?"
" I think so," Aang said. "You want to ride on Appa again?"
"Sure," Katara said. She clambered up onto the saddle after the airbender, and after he took the reigns and gave his cry of "yip yip" they were suddenly, impossibly, in the air, as the ungainly six-legged bison moved effortlessly through the sky and back towards the village.
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"Azula!" Zuko called out, gesturing with one of his swords. Azula paused in her firebending and turned in the direction he was pointing- and her eyes widened as they took in the distant, and yet unmistakable, form flying above the nearby frozen wastes.
"A sky bison," she breathed. "They're supposed to be extinct- they were only kept by the Air Nomads. And the Avatar…"
"Is supposed to be the last Airbender," Zuko finished. "We've found him."
"We have." Azula's lips curled into a smile as her gaze followed the sky bison. "Now we only need to follow him to his hiding place, and we'll have him."
*In cases where the plot does not significantly diverge, I'll be using episode titles for chapter titles. In this case, the general events surrounding Aang's unfreezing are very similar to canon, even though the specifics are different. Later chapters where the altered timeline causes significant diversions will, of course, have different titles.
**I streamlined this bit partially because the specifics of Sokka and Katara meeting Appa wouldn't be hugely different in this AU, and partially because the scene's visual humor I didn't feel would translate will to writing.
***Yes, this Azula is somewhat weaker than canon- she's still a scarily good firebender, particularly for her age, but she can't make blue fire and isn't as good with lightning. This was done partially because the presence of Canon!Azula would make the Fire Nation Avatar Hunters too powerful too early, and partially for in-story reasons we probably won't get to until this series' version of "The Storm".