Chapter 5: The Start of Our Destinies

"Yue, are you even listening?"

The Northern princess was far from paying attention, occupied with maneuvering her hands in the gushing waters of the pond a little ways away from the otter-seal caves. She was busy coaxing a baby turtle-sloth over to where she was sitting; the turtle-sloth had supposedly strayed far from its mother and had taken up all of the princess's attention and affection since the last hour, making Ahnah's talk with her daughter much harder than she'd expected.

It seems Yue's efforts were finally bearing fruit, however; the turtle-sloth was attracted to the slight glow that accompanied the princess's bending beneath the water, and it broke out of its seclusion and swam clumsily up to her, paddling with its long arms. Before long, it threw his arms around her neck and huddled against her, hugging her. Yue smiled and carried the sloth in her arms like it was a human toddler, giggling softly as the sloth tried to nip at her long locks, clearly failing given its lack of teeth.

"You can't eat that, little guy," she cooed and bent the water off of the sloth, gently rubbing its head and back to calm it. She walked over to the side of the pond where its mother lingered and set the sloth down, slowly prying its persisting arms off of her. The mother turtle-sloth swam over to the baby and brought her arms around it, gently curling one of her arms around the baby and wading back to her litter by the glacier.

Ahnah watched her unkempt daughter, shaking her head, "Are you finished now?"

"Hm?"

The chieftess sighed patiently before standing up and walking over to the princess. "Look how messy you've made your beautiful hair. Who told you to go rolling in the permafrost for that creature?"

"It washes out, Mother," Yue ran a tendril of water through her hair and dried it instantly. "See?"

Ahnah, unmoved, took her seat behind the princess and gathered her extensive moonlight locks, running her fingers through the princess's hair as a makeshift comb, "How many times should I tell you? A sophisticated tribeslady keeps her hair braided. If Master Pakku was to see you now, he would have a heart attack."

Yue didn't stop her mother but already felt too exhausted for a talk.

"Yue, you're going to reach marrying age soon. It's about time you take this seriously. You need to stop all these games."

"Please," she huffed, "May we have this conversation the day I do reach marrying age?"

"Dearest, we need to have this discussion at some point. How much longer are you going to put it off?"

"The idea of having a set 'marrying age' is a myth, Mother. I'm still young!"

"Our ancestors chose this age for a reason. They're very wise, and they've seen much of the world. What did we ever see? We never stepped past these ice walls."

"How do we know for sure if they ever made it past these walls? What if they were never wise, to begin with?"

"Yue," Ahnah's voice slightly rose in reprimand.

"All I'm saying is that times are changing. We can't rely on what our ancestors thought and breathed and lived. We can't keep saying they were right." Furrowing her eyebrows, "Marriage can't be the only thing in store for me. I have greater responsibilities…"

"What other responsibilities could you possibly have?" Ahnah frowned, feeling a ferocious jolt of fear in her heart, "Just because we allowed you to learn waterbending doesn't mean you have some greater destiny out there. We wanted you to protect yourself, that's all there is to it." Tying her daughter's hair together, "Listen, dear. Marriage is not as scary as you think. Your father and I were in an arranged marriage, and look at us now. We've cultivated so much love and respect for one another, and you are the symbol of our love. We want you to have what we have."

And when she didn't receive a response for the next several seconds, the chieftess placed her hand on her daughter's shoulder, tilting her so she could face her, but she fumbled backward at the sight of her daughter's glowing eyes.

"Arnook!"

Katara took an instant liking to the frozen kid's sky bison, Appa, who couldn't seem to resist covering Sokka with either snot or saliva. She also took an instant liking to the frozen kid himself— emphasis on kid, for the boy was but a twelve-year-old bald, tattooed Air monk and was probably one of the last of his kind, and whether he knew or didn't know of that fact, he laughed in the face of gravity, grabbed every opportunity to make fancy tricks with his glider, sneezed ten feet in the air on a seemingly regular basis and took pride in making people of all ages laugh— even if it meant whisking his savior away on the back of an otter-penguin and slipping and sliding through the entire Southern tundra. He also occasionally made googly eyes at Katara and spent a significant chunk of his time impressing her, but Sokka was more confused than not to really dig deeper.

The airbender was a proponent of the wild, the free, the fun— a perspective that the South had long forgotten in its struggle to survive. But fun isn't going to win us the war, Sokka grumbled, digging through the recesses of his brain, trying to extract a memory in which he was allowed to be a kid for once as the remains of his snow-sculpted watch tower collapsed on his wolf-tail.

"I sense he's filled with much wisdom," Katara's eyes lit up, her hands clasped as she watched the boy play with the children.

And Sokka could only huff. Wisdom, huh? The boy was no different than the tribal children they had to babysit. At least the children were somewhat able to pick up a machete or a club in their "training," but this monk was as peaceful as a snail-whale. He was the type to dance around a mosquito-wasp's stinger for hours than swat it away. The look on Katara's face was annoyingly persistent, and no words had to be spoken regarding her obvious maybe-just-maybe look, but Sokka knew that the kid wasn't built for war, much less Avatardom— Avatarship? Whatever.

Sokka will not deny, however, that Aang either had supernatural shenanigans built into him or was the strongest of humans on this planet, for the monk managed to do something that no one other than Sokka and Katara could do to this day: he picked up the famed moonstone. It had started off innocently enough with Katara eagerly showing the monk the family tapestry of the Moon Spirit. The monk was quiet for several minutes as he stared at the tapestry, simply saying, "She seems very familiar." His gaze shifted to the moonstone at the altar, which drew his utmost attention and even glowed a bit more in his presence. His tattooed hand reached for it before anyone could warn him of its unusual properties.

Needless to say that several jaws and cooking vessels dropped as soon as he lifted the stone and held it in his palm with no difficulty.

Aang pleaded ignorance of the stone's mystery, expressing surprise and great interest in the tribefolk's tales that followed regarding the stone, its discovery, and the subsequent miracles that took place following its formal installation in Chief Hakoda's home. Kya gave her account of how it saved her life in a Fire Nation raid, how the family and the tribe began offering prayers to the moonstone before commencing anything, and how the Fire Nation had left them to their relative peace ever since the incident.

But the only thing that completely confused the airbender was the overarching obviousness of why these raids had been happening.

"A war? With the Fire Nation?"

Sokka raised his eyebrows, "You're kidding, right?"

As it turned out, the monk was certainly not kidding; this, he demonstrated a while later after he nearly got himself and Katara killed by moseying around the booby-trapped Fire Navy ship and setting off a flare. Sokka, though, was of the opinion that it was all a trap, that he was a spy sent by the Fire Nation.

"They sent him here to get inside details about our stone! And now that he has the information, he signaled the Fire Navy!" Sokka scowled. "This traitor is banished from our village!"

And to his incredulity, his baby sister took the monk's side.

"Katara, would you choose him over your tribe? Your own family?"

It took a Fire Nation raid that followed minutes later and the obnoxious harping of the Fire Lord's scarred, banished son for the grand reveal that Aang was, in fact, the Avatar; that he was, in fact, actively hiding that truth; and that he was, in fact, willing to let himself be taken away for the sake of the village. And as an added bonus, it certainly humbled the Southern warrior when this kid of twelve years did, in fact, save his village and his fifteen-year-old ass.

Katara watched the world's last hope being dragged away, screeching, "He saved our lives, we have to save his!" And Kya, while helpless, was taken over by the fear of what would happen to her children if they went after the ship. Sokka let go of all of his skepticism with a sigh and got to work on preparing his canoe for a rescue mission.

But it was Kanna who saw that there was more to their mission than just that. Her grandchildren shared their destiny with the Avatar's, and great success awaited them. That success could only be achieved if they partook in the monk's ultimate goal. What mattered now was convincing Kya.

"Your children have a long journey ahead of them," the older woman told her daughter-in-law. "It is best if they prepare to leave now."

Kya could not contain her horror and fear, the weight of the recent raid and the lingering trauma from the past raid holding her down. She shook her head, "I can't let them leave. Hakoda is off fighting and left us all behind…. And now I have to send them away, too? They're children, Mother, I can't…"

"They will be alright, Kya. This is their destiny. We have always known that this day would come."

The Southern chieftess tried to hold back her tears but failed. Kanna placed her hand over the chieftess's shoulder. "You remember what the shamans and the moon priests have told us? Katara and Sokka will live long, happy lives with their families. You want that for them, too, don't you? We all want that. But we can only see that come to fruition if we make certain adjustments. Parting is necessary now if we are to remain happily and safely together in the long run."

And as much as Kya did not want to admit it, she knew Kanna was right.

"We are sending the moonstone with them anyhow. As long as it is with them, nothing will happen to them. Trust me, Kya, everything will be okay."

Kanna's waves of tough love won the battle, and before long, Kya is seen throwing herself at her children, her arms wrapped around them. They hugged her back in a tight grip.

"We'll miss you, Mom."

"I'll be missing you, too. I'll always be thinking about you." She dried her eyes, pulling away, earning a groan of what seemed like reassurance from Appa. Kya pet the beast's fur before facing her children again, "Promise me you will write to me."

"We will," they smiled.

"It's not going to be an easy journey," Kanna told her grandchildren, "But I know you two can do it. Keep a watchful eye on each other."

Sokka nodded, staring at the moonstone in his hands. He reached into his pocket and pulled out some strong thread he'd grabbed earlier. He wound the thread around the stone, tying it meticulously and making sure the stone did not slip out before tying the thread around himself like a necklace. The stone disappeared beneath his tunic, resting against his chest.

"This stone came looking for us," Kya told her children. "It is our guardian. A ray of the Moon Spirit. Keep this stone close to you. The Goddess's blessings are always with you."

"There is something different about this time."

Arnook and Ahnah turned to Shaman Kirqut, who briefly cast a look in the direction of the sleeping princess's room, "She was not the only one glowing this time. The temple was glowing, too. That had only happened one other time," turning back to the leaders, "When the princess was born."

"What does this mean?" Arnook pressed.

"Well…we still don't know what is triggering her glow for us to say anything. To this day, we are not sure if it is random or if there is a reason behind her entering her empowered state." Turning to the chieftess, "Did you notice anything off about her? Any signs that she was about to enter that state?"

"Not that I know of," Ahnah shook her head. "I was only talking to her about something and suddenly…"

"What were you talking to her about? Anything distressing or upsetting for her?"

"I was just telling her about the next steps she should be taking. She's reaching marrying age, and she needs to be more careful and still.

The shaman thought for a few moments before sighing, "I don't see how that conversation can trigger any fight-or-flight response for it to be a trigger." Shaking his head, "I'm afraid I just don't know. But I do think it is necessary to keep her from getting stressed out."

"Th-Then I won't bring up marriage anytime soon," Ahnah said shakily.

"How can we not bring this up?" Arnook frowned, "This is a very important part of her life—!"

"For a while, Chief Arnook," Kirqut told him. "Just for a while."

But nothing fueled their confusion and alarm as greatly as the surge of an intense glow that returned from the princess's room, lighting up the corridor as well as the entirety of the connecting chamber in which they conversed.

The first time they saw Aang summon his powers in a glowing state sent chills down their spines. He was a wonder, a force of nature. The coursing power shown visibly on his face reminded Sokka of the woman who frequented his dreams: her face either hidden in the dark or glowing to the point of him not being able to turn in her direction. The young warrior was persistent in finding out what role this woman would play in their journey when the Avatar was already found, but in the shock of the moment, he could only gawk at Aang until the glowing stopped and the young monk collapsed from exhaustion, having thrown overboard a vast majority of Prince Zuko's crew. Knocking the Fire prince's head brought Sokka a much-needed satisfaction as he climbed atop Appa, the trio escaping with relieved grins.

Appa had eventually whisked them away to safety, and the peaceful interlude that followed, while promising the start of a life-long friendship, also triggered a much-needed conversation.

"Why didn't you tell us you were the Avatar?"

And Aang had given them a helpless look, "Because I never wanted to be."

And if anything, that reminded them— along with melting an abrasive Sokka, especially— that he was but a kid still figuring things out, still wanting escape in a world of war. A war that he didn't know about, which Katara explained in her hypothesis that he was frozen for a hundred years. As of now, the only plan they had as of now was to go to the North Pole, where Katara and Aang might find a bender to train them.

And of course, figuring out Avatar things along the way, probably. Hopefully.

"Are you sure you're the only one?"

Aang turned to Sokka, "The only what?"

"There isn't anyone to help you or… No co-Avatar, I guess? No one else…?"

"There can only be one Avatar at a time, genius," Katara rolled her eyes, "My brother's real knowledgeable about these kinds of things."

"Hey, I have visions, alright?"

"Visions of your stupidity?"

"Visions of that girl…whoever she is…" Frowning, crossing his arms, "You know what, forget it."

"Oh cheer up. I'm sure you'll get to knock firebender heads along the way. Just focus on that."

"I would like that…" he relented eventually, tucking his moonstone necklace inside of his shirt and his additional thoughts in the back of his mind. "Alright, sign me up."

Against his will, Zhao made his way to the bowsprit of the capital ship of the Fire Navy's newly-created Dragon Division. Being the commander of the Western Fleet of the newly-named Phoenix Division, he was tasked to officially welcome the former captain of the Southern Raiders into his new rank of admiral for the competing division. It was a difficult task, however, for someone of Zhao's bloated ego, for Yon Rha's predecessor and trusted confidant had finally amounted to the position of not Zhao's professional competitor but his superior.

Zhao, while fuming over his rival's radical success, nevertheless held his head high, brushing at his sideburns before he entered the room where Admiral Azimaz waited for him. The younger man eyed the Phoenix Division's commander, wearing a victorious smirk.

"Lord Agni himself must be shocked to see you here, Commander Zhao," Azimaz drawled, "What can be said about myself?"

"I'm supposed to congratulate you, but I fail to see what's so special about splitting the Fire Navy in half," Zhao brushed the dust off of his shoulders, "To think you were the captain of a tiny, rather insignificant fraction of the Southern Fleet. Your sole purpose was to raid a peasant village in the Southern Water Tribe and capture its waterbenders."

"Why would I not rise to this position? I worked sincerely. Unlike some people who earned their positions by fucking the wives of the selection committee members."

Unmoved, "That does not change the fact that you must be unqualified. For years, you've been sitting on pathetic inactivity. I'm honestly not sure if you can handle such complicated missions."

But Azimaz's victory grin did not falter. He stood up and sauntered over to the commander, "I did tell you I will become your equal one day. But who knew I would be your superior in one blow?"

Zhao clenched his fist and held it against his side, trying to keep himself under control.

"Did you honestly believe the Fire Lord and his associates will honor a nonsensical mission to remove the moon instead of sincere officers and their duties? Do you think lunatics deserve greater status in society than hard-working blood?" Chuckling, "Zhao the moon slayer? More like Zhao, the dragon's bitch."

A couple of Azimaz's crew members laughed. The reaction normally would've brought a loud roar out of Zhao's mouth, but the commander was forced to hold in his rage, knowing his position would be at stake if he made a wrong physical move.

"You speak of me splitting the navy in two, but hasn't the navy already been split, Commander?" Azimaz asked, his tone dripping with mockery. "Up until yesterday, the world continuously spoke of the two prongs of the now-Phoenix Division. One led by the banished prince himself, and the other by an overly zealous commander on a quest to wipe out the fucking moon. But alas, both are leaders of questionable honor. Agni, the Lord on High, was disappointed with you."

Questionable honor. "You're comparing me to the Fire Lord's useless son?"

"I'm only saying that both of your efforts come nowhere close to what our prong has planned. Our esteemed Dragon Division will serve as the true honor and pride of the Fire Nation, not a series of blind crew members subject to the commands of manchildren."

Zhao narrowed his eyes. "By Agni, do I look forward to the day I drag you to the depths of hell and watch you squirm atop pyres of failure."

"Aww," Azimaz laughed, "You remind me of Prince Zuko. You two could be brothers."

A furious glare took over Zhao's features. Without another word, he turned and marched out of the room, his face plastered with an insulted glower. Azimaz, in the meantime, enjoyed every moment of the interaction.

"Ready our usual course," he commanded his lieutenant only to be told that Prince Zuko's fleet was just recently scouring the South Pole."

"Oh." Shrugging, "We were wanting to visit our old moonstone friends anyhow."

"Do you think they found something? Or someone, sir?" the lieutenant asked.

Azimaz did not seem too alarmed, taking his seat again and pouring himself a hot cup of tea, "It's been a while since I've joined General Iroh for tea." Taking a sip before, "Let's give them some company. I'm sure they'll be very happy to see us."