Chapter 1: "The Spear and the Iceberg"

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Underneath the water, a fish swam up from the depths. Not a particularly large, nor beautiful fish, but good enough for dinner. Searching for a meal and finding none, the creature began its descent back into the cold depths. A spear of pure ice pierced the water's surface and filleted the fish. Score one for Aya.

The blunt end of the ice spear was held by a skinny girl, her skin brown and her hair sliced above the shoulder except for two blade-like bangs in front. With a triumphant smile on her face, the girl brought the fish onto the boat, dumping the poor creature into a small barrel.

Two barrels sat in the middle of the wooden canoe that Aya and her brother, Sokka, were sharing. One barrel, Aya's, had enough fish inside to get their tribe through the next two days. The other, Sokka's, was woefully empty aside from two sorry specimens. And Aya had slipped one of those into his bucket so Sokka didn't feel too bad.

"You've got a long way to catch up, brother," Aya said with a song in her voice. "at this rate, it'll be next summer before you've caught enough fish to equal my haul today."

Sokka furrowed his brows, his spear trained on the water's surface. "You're just getting lucky. And you're cheating."

"Cheating how?"

"With your magic, or whatever you call it."

"My waterbending." Aya often had to correct her brother on this point. "Which I used to make the same tool you're hopelessly flailing about with."

"Fine. Waterbending. It's still cheating."

"You're the one who said girls couldn't hunt or fish, and I said I would prove you wrong. Now you're making up excuses because you made yourself look like a big oaf." Aya smirked and wrinkled her nose at her brother. Shame Sokka was facing the other direction, because he hated when Aya did that. "You know, I'm going to lead this tribe one day. A girl."

"No way. You're younger than I am."

"I'm also more competent."

"Alright, that does it." Sokka slammed his spear down into the boat, his face fuming. He pointed off into the distance, towards a field of jagged ice poking out from the water. "We're going to row this boat out through that. Now, that's a two-man job. If we can get through there without crashing the boat, I might admit that girls have some merit as hunters."

"You're on. I bet I can just waterbend us through."

"Oh, really?" Sokka sat down in the canoe, arms crossed as if expecting a show. "Go ahead. Show me your master waterbending skills."

Aya let the ice spear in her hand dissolve, concentrating on the cold seawater below the boat as she began moving hands in a rhythmic motion. There were no waterbending masters in the South, and no waterbenders at all because those thugs who called themselves Fire Nation Navy, so Aya drew on what she had learned through sheer trial-and-error.

Some things, like crafting ice from water, came easy. Others, like bending the water itself as she was trying to do now, did not.

The tip of the boat rose, a swell of water rising beneath and leaning the canoe precariously back. She pushed the water up, then pulled…and the boat promptly dropped back down. Aya's barrel of fish leaned over and spilled in Sokka's lap, the boy groaning loud as his face scrunched with disgust.

"Wow," Sokka said. "that was truly impressive."

"Shut up."

"You going to grab the other oar or what?"

Honestly, this was the height of stupidity. Why did Aya need to prove herself? But she could never resist a challenge, and a chance to wipe that big, goofy grin off her brother's face wasn't an opportunity she could afford to pass up.

They rowed towards the jagged ice. Moving the oar through the water was hard work, but Aya wouldn't let on Sokka that she was struggling. But, little by little, the boat began to glide through the sea until rowing was like pushing through air.

"Guess this isn't as hard as you made it out to be."

"Don't worry, it's about to get a lot harder," Sokka said, voice laced with worry. "We're caught up in a real strong current. Hang on."

The waters were unusually choppy here. Maybe one of the icebergs littered around the South Pole had broken apart, or perhaps this was the sign of a coming storm? They were still in the dead of winter, making the former theory unlikely.

Regardless of Aya's thoughts on the matter, the canoe slipped further into the current and picked up speed, the minefield of ice fast approaching. Drawing on what little they knew of deft canoe maneuvering, Aya and Sokka darted their craft around the spears of ice. Any one of them would tear their vessel apart, leaving them stranded in freezing waters.

The nose of the canoe hit something large, and the siblings went flying. Wood shattered, filling the air with splinters. Aya landed back-first on soft pack snow, Sokka falling face down into the powder. Aya scanned for the boat and found what was left of the craft. The front end was completely wrecked.

Well, they weren't in the water, at least. They were still stranded, on an iceberg with a curious spherical shape in the center, so they would simply die more slowly now.

Aya brushed some snow off her sleeve. "I can't believe I let you talk me into this asinine contest."

"You're the one who agreed to it."

"I suppose that makes me just a little less of an idiot than you."

"Why didn't you waterbend us through the rocks, then? If you're so smart, surely you should have figured out how to move water from one place to another by now."

Aya stomped her foot into the hard pack snow, a plume of anger rising in her. "You know what? You are the most idiotic, imprudent, irresponsible person I've ever met! The fact that we haven't found you frozen in a – "

Cracks formed in the ice behind Aya as she continued her rant, though as angry as she was, the sound of the ice breaking was as distant as the Earth Kingdom. Sokka pointed at the disaster unfolding behind his sister, but Aya was too absorbed in her rant to listen.

"Aya…"

"No, I refuse to be a party to a helpless buffoon such as yourself any longer! No more sewing the holes in your clothes, no more preparing your food – "

"Aya…"

"From now on, you're on your own!"

A rift formed in the ice. Aya whirled just as the ice split apart, her eyes going wide as a bright shaft of light erupted from the iceberg. She reeled back, Sokka stepping in front of her, her brave but foolish brother pointing his spear at the spectacle as if he could cut through the light somehow.

In the light, the silhouette of a humanoid figure materialized. Strange arrow shaped tattoos glowed on the figure's body. Aya supposed, in a way, this was a fortuitous turn of events. Better to die quickly than to gradually starve and freeze in the middle of an ice flow.

The light went out. The glowing markings on the silhouette, revealed to be a boy only a little younger than Aya, darkened and dimmed. He wavered and fell. On instinct, Aya went to the boy, cradling him in her arms. Why was Aya so protective of him all of a sudden, she wondered? He could still be a threat.

"I need to ask you something," the boy said, his grey-colored eyes meeting Aya's. "It's very important."

"Yes? What?"

"Do you want to go penguin sledding with me?"

"Uh." Aya was taken aback. "I didn't know people did that."

"Sure they do." A swift current of air lifted the boy to his feet, the wind ruffling Aya and Sokka's clothing. "I'm close to the South Pole, right? Where the Southern Water Tribe is? Oh man. I accidentally went north, didn't I?"

"No, you're close to the South Pole." Aya averted her gave. "Or what's left of it, anyway."

Behind her, Aya could hear Sokka getting audibly frustrated at the conversation. A spear tip jutted itself into view, pointed right at their mysterious visitor. "Hold on. Why were you in a giant iceberg? And what's with those clothes? And those tattoos?"

The boy looked at his arm, as if noticing his own tattoos for the first time. "Oh, you've never seen airbender tattoos before?"

"Air-what?"

"Airbending. You know, like waterbending? Or earthbending? Or firebending?"

"Yes, I know that airbending existed at one point, thank you. It's just that your story is a little suspect since there's, you know, no more airbend-ers."

"Well, you just met one."

"Prove it."

The boy held up his index finger, sniffed, and then sneezed. A torrent of air lifted the boy into the sky, before floating back to the ground as if he were made of cloth. Sokka's face was pure astonishment.

"You just sneezed and flew into the sky."

"Yeah," the boy said, brushing snow off his clothes. "I told you I was an airbender."

Aya narrowed her eyes at the boy. There was overwhelming evidence of the boy's airbending claims, but the 'iceberg' they found him in…it was clearly formed by a waterbender – the perfect spherical shape and the way the water rushed around him before the sphere froze were tell-tale signs. But there weren't any waterbenders left in the South Pole capable of such a feat.

"Anyway," the boy said. "I'm Aang, and behind me is my flying bison, Appa."

"Your flying what?" Sokka asked.

A loud roar rang out from behind Aang. Over the crest of their little floating ice island, a great furry beast emerged. Sokka leveled his spear at the beast, but Aya did nothing as the bison descended towards Aang and licked him with a tongue larger than he was. The beast, Appa, looked at her brother's stick of carved bone and wood like it was a curious toy, and then licked him as well.

"He won't hurt you," Aang said, rubbing behind one of Appa's ears. "isn't that right, Appa?"

Appa yawned, which Aya hoped meant 'yes' in flying bison.

"You know what?" Sokka said, dripping with bison spit. "I think this is all some weird fever induced dream. I'm just going to go dump freezing water on myself until I wake up."

"Sokka," Aya said. "just because you've never seen an airbender or a flying bison before doesn't mean they don't exist. Dum-dum."

Aang raised an eyebrow. "You guys have really never seen an airbender before?"

Aya and Sokka exchanged a quick glance, and then Aya spoke. "They all disappeared, Aang. About a hundred years ago."

"That can't be right."

"Coincidentally, that's also the last time the Avatar was seen. Who should have been an airbender, according to the cycle." And Aya gave Aang a soft, knowing smile.

"The Ava-what?" Sokka asked.

"Maybe the airbenders got skipped?" Aang said. "Or the cycle's broken or something?"

"Mm-hmm."

"Can we just get off this iceberg?" Sokka said. "We can figure out who or what this kid is when we get back to the village. It's bad enough our entire haul for the day is gone."

Aya folded her arms.

"I guess we'll have to take the flying bison that supposedly doesn't exist."

"Sure thing," Aang said, jumping up onto Appa's back. "Appa will have us there in no time, once he starts flying."

"There's no way that thing flies," Sokka said, shaking his head. "It's too big."

"Appa's not a thing, he's a bison."

"Whatever."

Aya was already climbing onto Appa's back, after making sure the bison wasn't going to throw her off or try to bite her. Appa didn't react to Aya's presence, so she hopped on after Aang. "Sokka, regardless of whether the bison can fly or not, I don't see any other way of getting home. He can swim, I assume."

After a moment's hesitation, Sokka dragged his feet over to Appa, pulling himself into the bison's saddle. The young airbender looked back at the two of them, making sure they were settled in. For what it is worth, Aya wanted to see this bison fly, but she found the prospect as unlikely as her brother did. Not that Aya would give Sokka any validation.

"Alright," Aang said, grabbing the bison's reins. "you guys ready?"

"Let's just go already," Sokka said. "I'm cold and hungry."

"Appa, yip-yip!"

Upon hearing 'yip-yip', Appa jumped from the iceberg…and landed right into the water. With a loud groan, Appa began swimming in the general direction of their village. Sokka gave an exaggerated fake yawn.

"Wow," Sokka said. "that was truly impressive."

"He's just tired. You'll see." The boy met Aya's eyes, a nervous smile crossing his face. Aya was staring, she just hadn't realized it in time. "What's wrong? Is something on my face?"

"No." Her eyes darted away. "Do you know how long were in that iceberg, Aang?"

"I don't know? A few days, maybe?"

"Well, if you unaware of the airbenders disappearing, then naturally you would have to be from the same time period. A hundred years ago."

"Oh, come on," Sokka said. "you're saying this kid's like a hundred-and-nine years old?"

"I'm twelve. And not a hundred-and-twelve. Twelve."

"Sorry, Aang," Aya said. "it's just…strange as it sounds, it's simply what makes the most sense."

The boy turned back around. He was deep in thought. Something Aya had said rang of truth, even if the boy didn't want to admit it.

"Really know how to bring a guy down, huh?" Sokka said in whispers. Aya glared at her brother, but he kept speaking. "Aang, I'm sure it's not that big a deal. Aya makes wild theories all the time. It's kind of her thing."

Aya lowered her own voice to a whisper. "It's not a theory if it's correct."

"I guess," Aang said, lightness returning to his voice. "I can't wait to see the Southern Water Tribe. I've never been there before. What's it like? I bet there's a lot of people."

At Aang's words, Aya and Sokka exchanged an embarrassed glance and sunk deeper into the saddle.

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Another day sailing through a cold, unforgiving wasteland. Prince Zuko didn't understand how the scattered Water Tribe peasants could stand living here.

He sat in his cabin with his legs crossed in front, the fires of candles growing and shrinking with his every breath. An exercise to teach control, according to Uncle. While often a lazy, tea-obsessed old man, Uncle was also the only Fire Nation general to come within striking distance of taking Ba Sing Se. He must have had some idea of what becomes a master Firebender.

Zuko wasn't a master, as much as the mere thought of his own inadequacy infuriated him. Aside from Uncle, he was denied the best teachers, and hunting the long missing Avatar didn't afford him an abundance of opponents. He supposed he could spar with the crew, but he needed them to keep the ship running. The few times Uncle would spar with him, the man swatted him aside like a mosquito-gnat. And Zuko could tell he was going easy.

Today, Zuko would learn the advanced forms. He would order Uncle to teach him if he had to.

The door to Zuko's cabin groaned as it swung open. Zuko didn't deign to speak, waiting for the intruder upon his meditation to speak.

"Prince Zuko," Uncle's voice said. "there's a matter that requires your attention."

"What is it, Uncle?"

"I think it is something best seen rather than told."

The issue was obvious once Zuko stepped out on deck. A giant pillar of light had sprouted from the ground, somewhere due south. Most of the crew, who were supposed to be attending to their assigned tasks, stood practically mouth agape at the phenomenon. They didn't know what to make of the light, but Zuko did.

"It's him, Uncle."

"It could be a her, Prince Zuko. Or it could just be the southern lights, playing tricks on us."

"Whatever." Zuko grabbed the nearest crew member, turning him about-face. "Stop gawking and set a path for the light. All of you."

Zuko spent the rest of the day training. Breath, forms, attack, defense. He even did laps around the ship until the freezing air practically made his throat burn. Uncle sipped tea from a chair, occasionally offering guidance but otherwise just observing. The crew bustled around them, scouting for imperfections in the ship and feeding their hungry vessel a steady supply of coal.

After enough waiting, Zuko went up to Uncle. It was now or never. "Alright, Uncle. I'm ready."

"Ready for what?"

"For you to teach me the advanced set."

Uncle Iroh raised an eyebrow.

"You still don't think I'm ready?"

"I did not say that."

"I need to know more advanced forms if I'm to face the Avatar."

"We don't know what the light is, Prince Zuko. No one's seen the Avatar in a hundred years."

"It's him. I can feel it."

"And you think training the advanced set for one day will give you the edge against a fully realized Avatar?"

"It might."

The old man sighed and shook his head. "Very well. But first, let me finish this delicious tea and roast duck. It would be a shame to waste it."

Seeing as Uncle was more amenable than planned, Zuko tried not to let his displeasure show through. Every moment wasted waiting was a moment that could have been spent preparing. But Uncle was an old man who moved in his own time. Zuko couldn't do much but yell and bluster when he wanted Uncle to pick up the pace.

Uncle spent much time talking about breath and control in his lessons. Dragons, the original firebenders, brought forth fire from the breath, and they only burnt what they meant to. Many novice firebenders never truly controlled their flames, they merely let it fly before they could burn themselves. While this might be adequate for a rank-and-file soldier, anyone striving for a higher level of mastery needed to be more conscious.

Too much talking and not enough doing for Zuko's taste. He didn't need a lecture, he needed to know how to fight. He could go to the Fire Nation Royal Academy for Boys to hear an old man drone on…if he weren't exiled, that is.

"The Southern Water Tribe has been decimated by Fire Nation raids. I don't think even a single waterbender remains among them. Still, they are a proud people with a rich history."

Zuko huffed. "Uncle, I'm not writing my father a history report on the Southern Water Tribe. I want to send him the Avatar."

"And there lies your problem, Prince Zuko." Uncle waved his half-filled teacup at the boy. "You think too rigidly. To you, there is only one way to do anything. It will not weaken the understanding of your own culture to learn of others, nor will learning of the other bending styles weaken your own firebending. On the contrary, it will reinforce it and make it stronger."

"So you think the people of the Southern Water Tribe will be amenable after a hundred years of Fire Nation raids?"

"All I know is that too many people choose to take their learning all from one place. I cannot speak for the people of the Southern Water Tribe, but I imagine they share as dim a view of you, as you do of them." Uncle Iroh gave Zuko an appraising look, as if doing a quick assessment of the boy and his capabilities. "The Avatar, in theory, commands all four elements. If one hopes to defeat him…or her, how can they do so if they only understand one?"

-[[[]]]-

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Appa swam into what remained of their village a little after midday. Aya could already see the children and mothers lining up at the edge of the village, as this was the most eventful day for them since Dad and the other warriors left to fight in the war. Maybe, if Aang could get Appa to remember how to fly, Aya could see him again. If he wasn't already dead.

Their Southern Water Tribe village was in sorry shape, but Aang didn't seem to notice or even care. His face was lit up with wonder as he maneuvered Appa to shore. There was what would very generously be called a watchtower facing the North, a child's rendition of what a Northern Water Tribe watchtower must have looked like. Only not made by a child, but a certain boy of fifteen-years.

Gran-gran, the siblings' grandmother, walked up to shore as the kids jumped off Appa's back. "Where's the fish? And where's the boat you took?"

Sokka smirked. "A giant bison rolls up to the village, and all you can ask about is the fish?"

"I can eat fish, I can't eat bison. Don't think your new friend would take kindly to it."

"Sokka challenged me to a rowing contest," Aya said. "and we got swept up in an ice-flow. That's how we found Aang." And Aya gestured towards the young Airbender, who waved and gave Gran-Gran a big, goofy grin.

"It's nice to meet you, Aang," Gran-Gran said, smiling. "though you have rather poor timing, seeing as we're all going to starve because of my foolish grandchildren."

"Calm down, Gran-Gran," Sokka said, shaking the snow out of his tunic. "we've got plenty of seal jerky and sea prunes, and a couple days' worth of fish. I'll go out again tomorrow, without Aya."

"Please," Aya said. "I had a whole barrel's worth of carp and bluefish. You only had two."

"Yeah, because you cheated."

"Bending is not cheating, dum-dum."

"You two, honestly." Gran-Gran shook her head at the two. "Must everything be a competition? What will your new friend think of all this bickering?"

Aang rubbed the back of his bald head, still grinning from ear to ear. "I've seen worse. Don't worry."

All of the children and mothers of the Southern Water Tribe were still staring at Aang like the boy had just grown antlers and a tail. A few of the kids were in a state of nervous excitement, clearly wanting to run up to Aang and pester him with a million questions, but were held back by their anxious caretakers. Aang noticed as well, as his smile began to wane.

"Why's everyone staring at me?" Aang asked. "Are my clothes dirty? Do I smell bad?"

"Well," Gran-Gran said. "no one's seen an Air Nomad in a hundred years, much less an airbender."

"Yeah, Aya and Sokka said that too. But we can't be that rare, right? There's an air temple probably four days flight from here."

Gran-Gran gave Aya and Sokka a significant look, and Sokka put his hand on Aang's back and began guiding him towards one of the huts. "Come on, let's get you situated. You're probably hungry after being a human icicle for however long."

The women and children dispersed after the two boys left, though a couple of the kids had to be restrained from following after them. Gran-Gran approached Aya, her face belying the gravity of the situation, and the dearth of knowledge that Aang seemed to have about the current world.

"You haven't told him?" Gran-Gran asked.

"How do you tell someone that their entire people have been wiped out, Gran-Gan?"

"I understand, it's just…" The old woman frowned at the thought. "do you think he's…?"

"He has to be. He wasn't in an iceberg, Gran-Gran, he was in a perfect sphere of ice. Only a bender can do that. And the light that came out of it…"

"I know," Gran-Gran said. "but who else saw it is the question. People must have seen that display for leagues around. That's what I'm afraid of."

"Do you think he could teach me waterbending? Then I could find Dad and…"

"Aya, your father wanted you both to stay out of the war." Gran-Gran hummed to herself and took a deep breath. She wasn't happy about the situation. "I know how you feel about the Fire Nation, but that's why Hakoda and the other tribesmen went off to fight. So that you and Sokka wouldn't have to, when you come of age."

"But I want to fight, Gran-Gran. What they did to Mom – "

"You wouldn't say such things if you truly knew what the war is like." Placing her hand on Aya's shoulder, Gran-Gran gave her a warm smile. "Come on, let's go get dinner started. You'll feel better after a full meal."

Aang acclimated well enough to the tribe after a fashion. He amazed the children with some sort of 'air scooter' technique where he essentially sat on a ball of air and zoomed around, kicking up snow and ice everywhere. The kids got the idea to try the technique themselves, but of course, they weren't benders and even if they were, they would be waterbenders. Even so, their mothers were more than happy to let Aang babysit while they took care of their chores.

Dinner came and Aang began getting questions about his origins from some of the mother, around the fire where they ate in Gran-Gran's home - where he came from and such. The boy's demeanor turned dourer at these questions, and while he more-or-less answered them, Aya could tell there was a giant tangle-mine in his life's story he was trying to dance around.

The tribe seemed to accept Aang's existence as a strange quirk of fate. His appearance and circumstance was strange, but in a world of spirits and endless war, they accepted the explanation. But Aya had to know more.

After dinner, Aang went off to feed his bison, grabbing some food he knew the beast would accept with Gran-Gran's permission. Aya followed after him, far enough to be out of earshot from anyone in the village, to where Aang had sequestered Appa. She sat on a nearby snowbank and waited.

Feeding the bison a few strips of uncut seal jerky, Aang petted Appa's fur as the beast groaned. Seal jerky must not have been his favorite food.

"I know, Appa," Aang said. "but it's all we've got right now. I don't think they can grow fresh apples down here.'

Appa groaned, or yawned? The bison's voice was so deep and guttural that Aya honestly couldn't tell.

"I'm not sure we're going to do." Aang shook his head, his expression downcast. "You really think all the other airbenders are gone? I can't believe something like that would happen. Did they just disappear, or …?"

The bison blew air out of his nose, blowing some flakes of nearby snow away.

"It was the war," Aya said, finally.

Aang jumped into the air, floating back down when he turned and saw Aya.

"Sorry, I wanted to talk to you away from the village." Aya held her hands up as a peace offering. "I didn't mean to startle you."

"It's fine," Aang said. "But what war? Air Nomads aren't really warlike people."

"They weren't." Aya looked off to the side. "Though maybe that would have served them better. I can tell you what happened, if you want. But I get the sense you might not want to hear it."

Aang was silent for a moment. He was torn between wanting to know the truth and living in a sort of optimistic ignorance. Finally, the boy shook his head and sat beside Aya.

"Tell me," Aang said.

"Alright," Aya said. "a hundred years ago, a man named Fire Lord Sozin pretty much went to war with the rest of the world. No one knows why. But, as his opening strike, the Fire Nation Army attacked the Air Temples in a surprise attack. As far as the world knows, no one made it out. No one, except for you, Aang."

"But…" Judging by Aang's reaction, he was having a hard time understanding why someone would even do such a thing. "Why would they attack the Air Temples? We weren't enemies with the Fire Nation."

"Because the last Avatar, Roku, either died or disappeared. And the Air Nomads were next in the cycle." Aya sighed. Even telling the story was hard. "If I had to guess, the greatest threat to Sozin's ambitions was the Avatar."

"I just…" Aang met Aya's eyes for a moment, then turned away. "There must be some airbenders out there. Somewhere."

"Maybe they found somewhere to hide. You know, until the war passed."

"Maybe." And just like that, Aang's eyes lit up and he jumped to his feet. "Yeah, they must have. And I'm going to find them."

Aya leaned forward. She was pushing too far, but she had to know. "Aang, can I ask you something?"

"Sure, go ahead."

"Are you the Avatar?"

The boy froze for a moment, then his face became a picture of apology. "I…I'm not. Sorry. I mean, I know he must if been an airbender if…if Roku is gone, and I knew people who him, but it's not me."

"Oh." Again, Aya felt Aang dancing around that tangle-mine, but she decided not to press him. "I just thought, if you were the Avatar, you might be able to teach me waterbending. And then I could join my father, my brother and me. And fight in the war."

"Why would you want to fight in a war?"

"Because…" Aya looked away. From what Aya read, Air Nomads were pacifists. She couldn't expect Aang to understand her reasoning. "I just want to help end it. And I want to make sure my Dad is safe."

"Well, I wish I could teach you. But I'm an airbender." Aang's face broke into a smile. "There must be someone in the tribe that can teach you waterbending. Right?"

"There's not. I'm the last waterbender in the Southern Water Tribe." Aya gritted her teeth at the thought. "The Fire Nation made sure of that."

"Maybe you can come with me, when I go to find the other airbenders. Once Appa's strong enough to fly again, we can travel to the Northern Water Tribe. There's bound to be waterbenders up there."

"I'd like that," Aya said. "but I don't want to leave Sokka behind. He would probably fall into a crevice and freeze to death without me, the big dum-dum."

"We can ask him tomorrow." And then, like one of the village children asking for permission to go play, Aang grinned and shifted from side-to-side. "And maybe we could go penguin-sledding too?"

"Tell you what. If you teach me what you know about bending, even if it's airbending, I'll take you penguin-sledding."

Aang scratched his head. "Deal. I thought you didn't know how to penguin-sled?"

"True. But I know where some penguins are."

-[[[]]]-

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Prince Zuko stood on the deck of the ship, near the bow as the vessel cut through the cold, southern waters. His hands behind his back, the boy's thoughts were fixed firmly on the near future, and hopefully what would come after. Validation, acceptance, and reunion. A successful voyage home and warm congratulations when Zuko finally returned home.

Who was he kidding? Life was never that simple for him.

Most of the crew was asleep, but Zuko's thoughts prevented him from restful slumber. All of the crew but one, as heavy steps rang out on the deck behind him.

"Prince Zuko," Uncle Iroh said from behind him. "Tomorrow could be a big day for you. You need rest."

"I can't sleep, Uncle."

"Regardless, you need to try." The old man walked up towards the bow beside Zuko. "I imagine a battle against someone who can bend all four elements is hard enough for a master bender at full attention. It will be impossible if you're half-asleep."

"Father always said Fire was the strongest element."

"Yes, my brother would think that." The old man locked eyes with Zuko. "Fire has within it the capacity for great change. Whether for good or bad. In any situation and in any battle, always remember this, Prince Zuko.

Prince Zuko sighed. He wasn't in the mood for Uncle's nuggets of wisdom right now. "I need some time to think, Uncle. Alone."

"Very well." Zuko heard footsteps trailing away, and then they stopped. "I will brew you a pot of calming tea. Your sister will never forgive me if you fall in battle, Prince Zuko. I must do my part."

As Uncle left, Zuko looked down into the moonlit water. He imagined a warm, smiling face staring back at him. For a brief moment, Zuko smiled, before his lips turned down into a scowl.

"I don't need your help," Zuko said to the reflection. "I'll show you, and Father. I'll do this on my own."

And the Prince sent a ball of fire into the water, futilely, but in the brief flame and steam a different place emerged, the fire sent in anger and frustration turning into a stable flame atop a candle wick, on a fine wooden desk elsewhere, in a different place. A delicate hand wrote in symbols and characters on open scroll paper, the ink and the script that follows perfectly controlled.

"Water. Earth. Fire. Air. My tutor used to tell me stories about the old days: a time of peace when the Avatar kept balance between the Water Tribes, Earth Kingdom, Fire Nation and Air Nomads. But that all changed when the Fire Nation attacked. Only the Avatar mastered all four elements; only he could stop the Fire Nation Army. But when the world needed him most, he vanished.

A hundred years have passed, and the Fire Nation is nearing victory in the war. But the fighting has stalled, and the war seems endless, and the Fire Lord is considering drastic measures. Two years ago, my brother and uncle left home to help find the Avatar. Some people believe that the Avatar was never reborn into the Air Nomads and that the cycle is broken, but I haven't lost hope. I still believe that, somehow, the Avatar will return to save the world."

A girl smirked, dripped her quill back into the inkwell, and crossed out the last line.

"I still believe that, somehow, the Avatar will return…to help the Fire Nation save the world."