Chapter Five: The Island Of Kyoshi, Part One

"Did you hear the news? The Avatar is on Kyoshi!"

Little girl, Warriors of Kyoshi

"Can't Appa go any faster?"

Katara's narrowed glare from the front of the saddle did little to faze Sokka, even as she waggled her whalebone needle at him. "You could stand to be a little more patient. It was impatience that got you in this mess, remember? Besides," She glanced back down at the navy pair of pants she was mending with a slight smile, "Do you want to arrive too soon on Kyoshi Island with a big, gaping hole in your crotch for everyone to see?"

Aang sputtered a laugh from his perch on Appa's head at her indelicate wording, and Sokka let out a cry. "That was not my fault! The little monstrosity was going for my eyes!" He sulked as he scooted over to the rolled up sleeping bags and used them to shield his bare legs from the stinging wind. "It's a lucky thing the pants were the only thing that got ripped apart!"

The 'little monstrosity' in question happened to be a flying bat lemur that had inexplicably decided to attach himself to the Water Tribe boy back at the Southern Air Temple. Aang and Katara had been inside the Inner Sanctuary for a long time before they had realized that Sokka still hadn't shown up, and just as soon as they set out to look for him they had heard him shouting. Running towards the sound of his startled cries, they found the flying lemur wriggling out of a traumatized Sokka's tunic with a pilfered apple in it's mouth. The hilarity of the scene prompted the two young Avatars to forget about their sadness and fear for the time being, something that was sorely needed after their depressing tour of the Temple. It seemed that Momo (so named by Aang for the creature's apparent fondness for the last of the moon peaches that grew in the orchards) was going to be a permanent pet, despite all of Sokka's attempts to discourage him from following them.

The incident that had involved the pants was simply a fight over breakfast earlier that day, and Momo purred happily as he gazed at the sulking Sokka with guileless green eyes and munched on another sheepnose apple from atop the basket. In short, everything had returned more or less to normal, and the late afternoon sunlight shone and sparkled beautifully on the water as they headed towards their first real destination.

Sewing, while not her most favorite thing to do, gave her time to think about everything Aang had said to her back at the Air Temple. It was reassuring that he thought so highly of her and her abilities, even when she was so unsure of herself and her Avatar status. Maybe... maybe she could pull this whole Avatar thing off. Like Gran Gran said, wise elders always started off as silly children, and that becoming wise and knowledgeable took time and experience. If this trip to the North Pole didn't offer some experience and take time, she didn't know what would. And maybe I'll be able to work more on my waterbending before we get there, she thought to herself, the needle flashing up and down as she methodically stitched up the last of the tears, nearly done with her seam. Maybe I can apply airbending moves to waterbending and create whole new forms! They both have a flow to them, after all. Wouldn't that impress my future master!

"How much longer, Katara?"

She set her work down with a huff, her self indulgent visions of creating new waterbending forms obliterated by Sokka's petulant whine. "Maybe if you want it done so badly, you should do it yourself." She snapped, irritated.

He scowled, becoming irritated as well. "What? I can't do that! Sewing's women's work."

"Women's work?!"

"Oh look," Aang called nervously, hoping to deflect what was shaping up to be an ugly argument, "We're almost here! See the Elephant Koi?"

Thankfully, a pair of elephant koi chose that very moment to jump from the water below, the late afternoon sun shining brilliantly on the spray and their slick yellow and orange scales. The water tribe siblings and Momo leaned over the saddle to gawk at what was arguably the largest fish they had ever seen- the first one almost looked as if it was almost as large as Appa!

"Aren't they great?" Aang enthused, "They're real fun to ride. They're super slippery, so it's hard to hang on, but that's what makes it fun!"

Katara turned a incredulous grin at him. "You used to ride fish? I thought it was just hogmonkeys!"

Sokka choked in amusement. "Aang rides fish?!"

Aang merely laughed, guiding Appa lower as they approached the island. "Hey, don't knock it until you try it!"

Katara was intrigued by the idea, but ten minutes later, after they landed on the beach and she got a better look at how large the fish really were, she decided that riding fish just wasn't her style. Surprisingly (or perhaps unsurprisingly, given his new task by Dad) Sokka backed her up on staying put. "No offense Aang, but if Katara gets eaten by a giant goldfish the next Avatar will never live it down." He rolled up the map and stuck it into his belt, shrugging as if to say 'just saying'. "It would be the most humiliating death ever!"

Katara giggled as she took off her parka and slid down Appa's tail, landing with a spray of sandy earth before running to the beach itself, eager to explore the new terrain. When she looked back at a trailing Aang, however, she was mildly surprised to see that his previous grin had faltered and fell, his expression becoming shuttered and he walked to her side. She mistook it as disappointment, and nudged his shoulder once he caught up to her. "Come on, Aang," She smiled reassuringly, "If we come across another animal that won't throw, eat, or maim me I'll be sure to ride it then, okay?"

Aang bit his lower lip as he studied his boots, only vaguely noticing the red speckled spidercrab as it scuttled right through his slightly translucent feet. He was hesitant to tell her that since the devastating visit to the Air Temple, he had been unable to stop brooding about everyone he had let down and failed. His entire race, within a short time just... gone. No, not just gone, murdered, every single one of them; unless some had assimilated into the Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation until they, through the generations, lost touch of who they were until they ceased being altogether.

Death might not really be the end, but he hated the idea that he could be the cause it. And the idea of failing his best friend and getting her killed...

...well, it just didn't bear thinking about. He weakly laughed it off after a few moments. "Heh heh, yeah. Something less dangerous and, um... humiliating if you get eaten by it?"

'Less humiliating if you get eaten by it'? Ugh. Aang resisted the urge to smack himself on the forehead. What is wrong with me?

Thankfully, Katara didn't notice anything wrong with his reply, and the issue was promptly forgotten as she breathed in the salty sea air and took in the lay of the land with all the wide eyed enthusiasm of a tourist. She took her time inspecting the beach and all it had to offer, laughing at Momo as he too joined in on the exploration, and slipped a tiny white cat's paw shell into her belt as a souvenir before wandering back towards the tree line where Appa and Sokka waited. Looking at the path that coiled it's way through the fragrant firs and the brilliantly colored crimson and gold beeches and maples, she was delighted to see that it was clearly man made. She waved a pretty orange maple leaf with delicate yellow veins at her brother, who hopped down from the saddle at last. "You were right, there are people here after all!" She said, gesturing at the path and handing him the leaf as he joined her. "I'm so excited! Do you think that they'll like us?"

Sokka inspected the leaf with momentary interest before flicking it over his shoulder, the leaf fluttering through Aang's face and out the back of his head by accident. Her brother patted her back reassuringly, though a smarmy grin couldn't quite be contained. "Of course they will! We're children of the great Chief Hakoda, and you're the Avatar to boot! What's not to like about us?"

"It depends."

The three children gasped, and peered cautiously up into the trees where the disembodied voice had come from as Sokka drew his boomerang and Aang and Katara pressed close together with their hands raised in defense. Bits of emerald green and white could be seen here and there in the thick canopy, the only visible clue that there was anyone there at all as the voice spoke again. "Who are you really, and what are you doing here on our shores? If we find you to be Fire Nation spies, we'll throw you and your giant pet to the unagi!"

Appa growled at the threatening tone the (surprisingly young, surprisingly female) voice had used, the sound rumbling deep in the bison's chest like distant thunder. Katara was a little alarmed at the mention of the ominous sounding unagi, but the boys had caught on to another part of the mystery speaker's words. "Wait, what do you mean 'we'?" Sokka asked, unwisely lowering his boomerang a bit as Aang floated up into the trees to get a look for himself. The water tribe boy slowly smiled as he pieced it together, lowering his guard completely and crossing his arms mockingly as he laughed. Imagine, a young teenaged girl climbing trees, and pretending she was tough! "By the sounds of it, there's only one of you and three of us- and you're a girl! You can't scare us!"

The moment those words had slipped from his lips, a pained "Oof!" followed as a boot smashed square between his shoulder blades and dropped him like a jackalope. His face was ground painfully into the dirt and his arms were forced behind his back in one swift motion as the face painted girl (for it was indeed a mere girl) pinned him down with her knee and used his own belt to lash his wrists together. Katara shouted his name in horror, but had no time to help him as Appa bellowed a startled roar at more green clad, face painted warriors dropping down from the trees. The one to leap directly above Katara wasn't so successful in trying to take her down, however, for the young Avatar channeled her alarm into one sharp, punishing blast of air that slammed into the attacker's chest, sending the girl flying before she landed heavily with a pained cry several yards away.

Aang swiftly left the trees and shoved the leader (or what appeared to be their leader) off of the now thoroughly trussed up Sokka, and dragged him back behind Katara and set to work on untying the knots as she blasted two more warriors away with a smooth, windmilling motion. The leader slipped on the fallen leaves in the path as Sokka was yanked out from underneath her, and she turned a stunned look to Katara, mistaking the twelve year old to be the culprit. Wide, disbelieving green eyes never leaving her, the older girl raised a gloved hand and shouted "Hold!"

The five other warriors that were still standing all froze at her command, and held their twin metal fans in a defensive position while Katara held her arms out in the standard ready stance, casting a quick glance behind her to ensure that Sokka and Aang were fine. Aang spared a moment to give her a quick thumbs up, while Sokka looked as if he wished the ground would swallow him whole. Appa, further behind the boys, offered a threatening growl meant for the attackers, while Momo clung to one of the bison's curved horns and chattered furiously.

Satisfied that they were fine, she turned her full attention on the surprised warriors, her own anger over being attacked by allies softened by surprise of her own as she really saw them for the first time.

All the warriors- from their leader to the youngest one that she had first airbent at- were girls! Not women, but young teenagers, the youth unmistakable even behind the sweeping wings of red and black that graced their eyelids and brows set against the stark contrasting white of the rest of their faces. The girls all wore the same emerald green kimonos, supple leather armor plating on their chests, and tasseled metal headbands, all designed to make each member indiscernible from the other in the confusion of a fight. However, now that they and Katara were still, she could easily see that each girl was different- hair was a big factor, with some girls piling it in elaborate buns, tails, or braids, while the youngest one had her hair cropped a few inches above the shoulder. A few had varying brown (or even auburn) shades, while most of the others had jet black hair. Most noticeable to Katara were the eyes, made up of greens and browns that were clearly Earth Kingdom, and even the few that had blue were different- they were darker, more of a deep navy with hints of steel gray instead of the clear, deep ocean colors of home.

Her eyes never leaving Katara, the leader bent to help up the three girls who had been blasted away with airbending; picking twigs and leaves out of their hair and steadying them before she put a hand up on her own dark up do, grimacing at the fact that one of the chopsticks that held her elaborate bun had fallen out in the confusion. With half her hair slouching comically to the side and her ferocious expression absent in the wake of shock, she seemed to lose most of her original frightening aura as she stared at Katara in disbelief. "You... you're an... an Airbender?"

Oh. Katara lowered her arms at last. Of course they would be surprised. She wasn't exactly what anyone would first think of when they thought of airbenders, with her dusty brown skin, dark braided hair and blue clothes all announcing her water tribe blood. She cleared her throat, trying to hold her head high like Dad did during tribal councils as she struggled to come up with of a good way to tell them who she was without getting laughed at. As she took a deep breath, a strangely familiar, authority driven confidence bloomed somewhere within her chest, and suddenly all of her uncertainty fell away as she spoke the words that every Avatar had spoken before her. "Yes. I'm the Avatar."

The rest of the evening was interesting, to say the least.

It turned out that the girls were a part of a small network of unwed female warriors on the island that modeled themselves after the famed Avatar Kyoshi, and appropriately called themselves the Kyoshi Warriors. They formally introduced themselves as they escorted their new guests, and explained that due to them and three other squads the island had been permanently untouched by the war, even with all the traffic they got from rowdy fishermen and traders. The leader introduced herself as Midori, and the seventeen year old seemed to have an easy way about herself once she dropped the 'I'm going to gut you with a spoon' tone of voice. The youngest one, named Suki, was the same age as Sokka, and as it turned out she was the same girl that Katara had blown more than fifteen feet away. She waved away Katara's concern and apology with good grace, though she grimaced and winced with every movement of Appa's saddle. "It's okay, really," She sucked in a sharp breath as Appa avoided a dip in the path-turned-road and the saddle lurched slightly. Despite the pain she was in from having a few badly bruised ribs, her dark blue eyes were clear of any resentment toward the younger girl. "I'm going to get hurt a lot more before I become the next leader."

Sokka offered an unintelligible grunt from the opposite end of the saddle and settled for glaring at her as he rubbed his chaffed wrists. (Suki was the only one unfortunate enough to need to ride in the saddle, and Sokka figured he'd be darned before he walked among a bunch of prissy female warrior wannabes). She cast a questioning look to Katara, who sighed and waved her hand, her voice both soothing and scolding. "It's okay, he's just upset that a bunch of girls took him down is all."

Midori snorted, glancing slyly up where Sokka swayed in the saddle. "Get used to it, kid. You're not in the Water Tribe anymore." Sokka's countenance darkened, and he crossed his arms tighter across his chest. "You're going to find that a lot of women do more than cook and clean. Hell, look at your sister! She's the most revered being in the entire world, and she's a little girl!"

Choosing to ignore her shock over a young woman cursing so casually, Katara grinned, looking appropriately bratty as she glanced up at her brother. "You mean I don't actually have to sew your torn up clothes? I think I'm going to like this Avatar stuff after all!"

"Bite me."

She giggled, taking a moment to scritch Momo under his chin as he finally hopped down from Appa's horn and onto her shoulders, curling up with a contented, chirruping purr. Glancing up at the girls, she was met with several openly awed looks, like she was a legend come to life. I suppose in a weird way I am. She thought as she offered them a tentative smile before looking awkwardly away. They've been hearing all kinds of stories and legends about the Avatar since they could breathe.

The thought bothered her the more she mulled it over. These girls were thinking that she was some big hero, and frankly Katara had never done much of anything that could be classified as heroic (aside from that one time she and Aang had stopped the spirit Sedna from killing Dad). What if... what if everyone found out what she really was: just some silly little girl from the South Pole that knew nothing about the rest of the world, who could only bend two elements so far, and-

Stop it, She scolded herself as they turned the last bend in the road and came upon the sight of the Kyoshi Warriors' home village, They must like me! I'm their Avatar. Besides, these girls like me well enough. Everyone else will too.

She had no idea how true that last part would turn out to be.

As soon as they entered the village and Katara's identity was publicly announced, the young Avatar was startled to find that not only did the villagers like her, they couldn't seem to get enough of her. As the crowd gathered, people pressed in from all sides and swarmed up to and around her, asking questions (so, so many questions!), touching her reverently as if she radiated some kind of holy power, and (in one case) screaming/cheering with downright terrifying enthusiasm before falling over, foaming at the mouth.

She looked up at Aang in a silent plea for help as an irrational fear of strangers suddenly overtook her, but the spirit boy could only shrug helplessly as more and more people vied for her attention. Looking back at Sokka, Aang could see the boy's mood darken further as the people chattered on about their new Avatar, seeming to dismiss his presence altogether until the village leader, Oyaji, declared that the Avatar and her bother be allowed to freshen up while a feast was prepared in her honor. It was at that point all interaction between the three children ceased as Katara and Sokka were whisked away by the women and men respectively, and it wasn't until it was very late that night they had a chance to escape the hullabaloo that was the ensuing feast, absolutely exhausted. Sokka wearily stalked over to his bed, stuffing his face with his (admittedly very tasty) thimbleberry jelly filled pastry before flopping face downward into the bed with a tired groan. Momo snuck a few nibbles of the ruby jelly that oozed from the treat while Sokka's face was hidden by his pillow, his words slightly muffled. "I hope you've had your fun, Katara. I can't wait to leave this place."

Sitting on the adjacent bed, Katara slipped off her moccasins (they found it was just warm enough here on the island to forgo their mukluks and parkas), before setting to work sliding her beads off her hair loops and untying the strip of leather that bound the end of her braid. Aang walked over to the sturdy looking chest that was under the windowsill and sat on it, propping his hands under his chin and his elbows on his knees. "Why do you want to leave?" He wondered aloud, "They're giving you guys the royal treatment! How could you possibly find that a problem?"

Katara finished unbinding her braid and her bun, shaking out her long hair before chewing on her bottom lip pensively. "Well, it's not so much a problem, Aang," She began, "But it's just so odd, being..."

"Being what? The center of attention? Showered with gifts and food? Followed around like you have your own gravitational pull?"

Katara dropped her hair beads and tie into the pouch she kept in her belt before she looked up and frowned at her brother's bitter tone. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Sokka sighed, rolling over on his side and drawing up a blanket around his ears as he kicked his boots off with a heavy clump. "Nothing." He muttered flatly. He felt guilty for feeling so jealous; he knew it was wrong, that Dad would be so disappointed in him, and that Katara couldn't help being what she was... but he couldn't help feeling like he got the short end of the stick. Watching his reincarnated figure of legends little sister be adored by perfect strangers simply because she was a reincarnated figure of legends ... well, it made him mad. Most of the time he was fine with it, but today made him realize just how much more special Katara was than him. She was able to stand and fight while he was ambushed by a teenage girl (something that really stuck in his craw), and he was the one who was supposed to protect her!

It was the accumulating negative emotions building up inside that lowered his discretion, and he found himself speaking words that he never had any intention of saying. "It's just that Dad made everyone at home treat you the same and you seemed fine with it, and yet while you're here getting undeserved worship by the very same people who tried to jump us, you're lapping it up with a spoon!"

Aang winced at the unusual harshness, and an angry red bloomed across Katara's cheeks and along her ears at the 'lapping it up with a spoon' comment. Stung, she crossed her arms and childishly decided to fling her hurt right back at him. "You know what? I think you're just jealous that no one paid any attention to you, except to tell you to take a plate to Suki while she was in the infirmary!"

Aang groaned and dropped his face in his hands.

"No I'm not!" Sokka snapped as he reared upright, any and all discretion flying out the window as his voice rose higher and higher in the heat of his frustration. "I've got nothing to be jealous over! Give me one good reason why I should be! What have you ever done to deserve all this Avatar worship, except have a freaky freak out over Mom and destroy our home, magically be able to toss around air, and talk to your invisible past life/boyfriend like a crazy person?!"

The room dripped heavy with the poisonous words and stunned all three children; and though Sokka instantly regretted saying them, they were impossible to take back. Katara's eyes welled up as his hurtful words wrapped themselves around her heart like an invisible jellyfish tentacle and sank in it's venom. A long moment spiraled out where those words mixed with Dad's, as well as the questions that she was bombarded with earlier at the feast:

"Your parents must be so proud to have raised the Avatar!"

~"I should have known what she was, and have her be sent away to the North Pole to be raised and trained!"~

"What did your mother think, letting you travel the world all alone? She must miss you!"

~"Kya is dead because of Katara, do you understand!?"~

"Can you show me some bending, Avatar Katara?"

~"What have you ever done to deserve all this Avatar worship?"~

Katara's voice finally unstuck itself from her throat after a small eternity. "What have I done?" She parroted bitterly, her eyes burning bright with tears, "I've done nothing! And you know what? I've never asked for any of this! I never meant for any of this to happen, I never meant to be born and steal all the attention you obviously want! I'm sorry!"

Sokka groaned, his hand holding the side of his head like it hurt. "Katara, that's... that's not what-"

"You meant it!" She surged to her feet, not caring that she was openly crying at this point. "You know you meant it, so don't try to butter me up! Why else would you say it?" She pulled on her moccasins and blindly groped for the door frame as she ran out.

If there had been a door within the frame, it would have slammed.

The room was silent for a single moment before Sokka threw his hands in the air and groaned aloud in frustration. "Augh! Why did I say that!? I'm such an idiot!"

Aang agreed with the sentiment, and proceeded to let Sokka know by whopping the older boy upside the wolf tail. "Do you have any idea what you just said to her?" He yelled, not caring that Sokka had no way of hearing him. "You've just made things worse!"

The water tribe boy yelped, rubbing his head and glaring over his shoulder where he assumed Aang would be. "Ow! I know, I know! I said some things that weren't so nice, but you gotta see it from my point of view too. All this Avatar stuff... it changed everything, from the moment I found out about Mom. Katara's always been more special, ever since she was just a waterbender, and now... well, you know. Bad enough she's better than me at fighting, I've got a whole island of girls who got me beat! Do you know what that does to a man's pride?"

Aang crossed his arms and sat next to him with a sigh, the only visible cue for Sokka that his sister's invisible past life was there at all was the slight dip in the mattress.

Aang knew what Sokka meant- really, he did. However, being in Katara's position before had made him more than a little biased. It was a terrible burden to be the Avatar. Sokka would never know what that would feel like, and frankly, Aang was happy that the water tribe boy lucked out in that department. Still, he understood what Sokka was going through, even if he himself had never been shown up by a bunch of female warriors. "Even so, that wasn't very nice."

Sokka was staring intently at the area where Aang was sitting. "I don't want to apologize to her just yet!" he lamented, as if he had heard what Aang just said. "She'll chew my head off. Plus... that means I'll have to apologize to that one Kyoshi Warrior too, and I'm not going to do that!"

Aang lightly flicked the boy's arm.

"Cut it out! Fine. I'll apologize to Katara when she gets back, but those girls ought to be apologizing to me. That Suki girl was obnoxious when I was made to take that plate of food to her in the infirmary. She deserved getting her dessert stolen by me for saying what she said!"

Looking down at his hand where he still held the aforementioned pastry, he was disappointed to see that Momo had licked off all the frosting and most of the jelly filling. With a growl he chucked it across the room for Momo to finish, and morosely flopped back onto his pillow, wondering helplessly how he was ever going to make things right between himself and his sister.

Unseen, a figure moved away from beneath the window and stole away into the darkness.

Author's Note: I can't seem to write a happy, relaxed chapter to save my life, can I? Sorry for the angst. Sokka's outburst has actually been a long time in coming, since he's been wrestling with living in the shadow of the Avatar since Kya died. However, no matter how many times I've revised this, it just seems a tad rushed. Sorry guys! I'll try to go over it again at a later date. I just hope that Sokka came across as well as I had envisioned it in my head. I needed to establish that Sokka has deep running issues with being the brother of the Avatar- and all of them are perfectly natural and in character for him to feel in this scenario. At this stage, he and Katara haven't yet learned how to depend on one another and work as a team like in Canon, and this is going to be the first step before they can get to the kind of closeness that was shown in the show.

I made a minor edit, Katara should be twelve now instead of eleven, since her birthday was in the winter and this is late spring. Fixed that mistake.

The side mention of Katara and Aang saving Hakoda from Sedna is going to be explained much later on, probably during a campfire story when Toph becomes part of the gaang.

Next chapter introduces Captain!Zhao, which I'm excited about, and we'll see our kiddos start to relax and have a good time (and get some of these issues sorted out!) before moving on.