(Originally posted May 20, 2023 on AO3)

Zuko woke up shivering. He winced as he sat up slowly, stretching his back in an attempt to release the tension that had built up from sleeping on the cold, rocky ground. Even after months of this, he would never get used to it.

It had been two and a half weeks since they had left Crescent Island for the South Pole. They had spent that time laying low, periodically moving around the islands that surrounded the Southern Air Temple. Iroh had suggested they do this in the event Zhao had managed to follow them, as they didn't want to lead the Fire Navy directly to the Southern Water Tribe.

"Zuko, remember your breath of fire," Iroh said, crouching down next to him. "Breathe in..." he instructed. "And hold for one, two, three... and exhale. Feel the heat generate from your lungs."

Zuko did as he was told, and a small burst of flames exited his nose as he breathed out. He did this a few more times until he finally was able to warm up somewhat.

He looked over at Aang, who seemed perfectly awake and somehow not cold at all as he packed up his things in Appa's saddle, and narrowed his eyes. "How in the name of the Spirits are you not freezing to death right now?"

Aang's head perked up, and he looked down at Zuko with a smirk. "Ah, if it isn't my old enemy: grumpy morning Zuko."

Zuko's eyes narrowed further in annoyance. I'm not that grumpy in the mornings. "Seriously. Is it an Avatar thing?"

Aang laughed and shook his head. "Nope, it's an airbender thing. I can use airbending to regulate my body heat. It's very useful."

"Must be nice," Zuko grumbled. His fire breath helped, but he wasn't able to make the cold feeling go away completely.

"Cheer up, hotman," Aang said as he hopped off of the saddle and floated down onto the ground next to Zuko. "Today's the day we're finally going to the South Pole!"

"Why would that cheer me up? The entire continent is a block of ice."

"Because it's a new nation to explore! Well, new to you guys. But I guess also new to me considering I haven't been there in nearly a century."

"Uh huh," Zuko replied while stifling a yawn, only half-listening. Despite the slightly grating nature of Aang's cheerful attitude this early in the morning, he had to admit that he was happy his friend was behaving like his usual self again. After everything that had happened the past few months, for a time, Zuko had been seriously worried that the airbender might not ever be the same.

He turned to Iroh, who was humming the familiar tune of "Four Seasons" to himself as he rolled up his sleeping bag. "Uncle, are you absolutely sure it's safe to go to the South Pole now?"

"Yes, I would say so," Iroh replied. "We haven't seen any signs that Zhao has followed us, nor that he is searching the area. We do still need to keep a lookout for Southern Raiders, however. With no more islands for us to stop on between here and our destination, we will be much more exposed."

"Right..." Zuko muttered. He wasn't thrilled about that. They weren't exactly being inconspicuous with a giant flying bison as their current mode of transportation. Thankfully, they had somehow managed to avoid the notice of the Raiders so far, even when they had camped on Whale Tail Island last week, which had been an amazing stroke of luck as far as Zuko was concerned considering that was where the Raiders' main outpost was located. "Let's get this last flight over with, then."

Surprisingly, by another amazing stroke of luck, they did not come across any Raider ships on their journey, and it did not take as long as Zuko had dreaded before he spotted the white expanse of the southernmost continent in the world. He scanned its horizon for any signs of the village Aang had described from his dream, but the tundra appeared to be wholly devoid of life in general. How anyone would choose to live in such a cold, barren environment was beyond him. He had hoped that he wouldn't have to return to this part of the world after he had found Aang in the iceberg.

They continued to fly west along the coastline for a few hours, but still did not see any signs of human activity or civilization. While Iroh studied their map, Zuko began to nod off from where he was leaning on his arms on the edge of the saddle. Suddenly, his head snapped up when he heard Aang gasp.

"What is it? Southern Raiders?" Zuko exclaimed, whipping his head around.

"PENGUINS!" Aang yelled with a jerk of Appa's reins, and Zuko and Iroh both fell over in the saddle as the beast made an abrupt descent towards the ground.

"Aang, careful with the landing!" Iroh shouted, holding the map in place on the floor of the saddle to keep it from flying out.

"Oops!" Aang yelped when he turned around to see the state his companions were in. "Sorry guys!" He steadied Appa and landed them gently on a snowy patch of ground surrounded by large formations of ice and rock.

Zuko shot his friend an annoyed look. "What was so important that you had to land us like that all of a sudden?" he demanded.

Aang chuckled guiltily. "Sorry, Zuko. I just spotted some penguins and got excited."

"Penguins?" Zuko repeated, raising an eyebrow.

Aang's eyes widened, and a huge grin spread across his face. "I'll show you!" He jumped off of Appa's head with a gust of airbending, Momo flying down after him to land on his shoulder.

"Aang, shouldn't we prioritize finding the village? We really don't have time for... whatever this is."

"We've been flying for hours! We deserve to have some fun," Aang insisted, and held up his hand towards Zuko. "Come on! Take my hand."

As he stared at the Avatar's open palm, Zuko suddenly felt his face and ears begin to burn. He reached down to grab hold of Aang's hand to climb down from the saddle, and when he landed on the snowy ground, he quickly let go of it.

What is wrong with me?! he questioned internally. Why did such a simple gesture provoke such an intense physical response in him?

"You too, Iroh! Come on!" Aang called up to the former general.

"Actually, if it's alright with both of you, I'm going to stay here and study the map some more," Iroh replied. "I'd like to try and pinpoint where exactly we are so we don't get lost. I'll join you in a bit. Just don't go too far."

"Got it!" Aang replied brightly. "Take good care of him, buddy," he instructed Appa with a pat, and the bison roared once in response. He then turned to Zuko. "Follow me, hotman! I'm gonna teach you the ancient art of penguin sledding."

Zuko's eyes narrowed upon hearing the familiar phrase as he followed his friend through the walls of ice. "Wait a minute..." he mused, coming to a realization. "Didn't you mention something about penguins when we first met?"

"Did I?" Aang stopped and turned around, hand on his chin as he searched his memory. "Oh yeah! I woke up in your arms, and the first thing I asked you was to go penguin sledding with me, right? But you never gave me an answer..." He sighed and shook his head slowly in a dramatic fashion.

In your arms... The phrase echoed in Zuko's mind, and his cheeks started burning again. He cleared his throat and tried his best to act normal, silently willing his face to cool down. "Could you blame me? I'd just found a random kid frozen in an iceberg, and the first thing he says to me is... that? I didn't even know what penguin sledding was. I still don't."

Thankfully, Aang did not seem to notice anything was amiss, and chuckled as he turned around to continue walking. "You'll see."

Zuko tried his best to listen to what his friend was saying as he continued to talk about the various other animals he and his friends used to ride, but he couldn't keep his thoughts from straying back to the strange physical reactions he had been having around the Avatar recently.

At first, he had just ignored them, but they were becoming increasingly more frequent as the weeks went on. They didn't happen all the time, but when they did, it was usually for a reason Zuko didn't understand, like when Aang was just doing something he normally did.

"Here we are!" Aang said, interrupting his thoughts. They had arrived at the edge of a large snowy slope, where hundreds of black-and-white animals were waddling around. "Look at how many there are!"

Zuko took note of this, still feeling just as confused as before and wondering what exactly the Avatar could be planning on showing him.

"Watch and learn, Zuko." Aang tiptoed over to one of the creatures, then jumped, startling Momo, who chirped irritably at the airbender and flew to perch onto Zuko's shoulder instead. However, the penguin seemed to realize what was happening and quickly dove out of the way, causing Aang to fall onto his stomach in the snow. "Dang it," he muttered, and tried again with another penguin only for the same thing to happen again. "Dang it!"

Zuko smirked as he watched Aang continue to try and fail to grab a penguin. "I'm watching, but I don't really understand what I'm supposed to be learning."

"Ha ha," Aang replied monotonously from where he laid on the snowy ground. "I don't get it! The penguins I used to ride were never this slippery!"

"Sure they weren't."

Aang flipped himself over and sat up, Momo jumping into his lap, and opened his mouth to argue, but it suddenly snapped shut when he spotted something behind Zuko.

"Don't move," an unfamiliar man's voice said from behind him, and Zuko froze when he felt something pointy resting between his shoulder blades.

"Easy," Zuko said carefully. "We don't mean any harm."

"Yeah, we just wanted to ride the penguins!" Aang added.

The man was silent for a moment. "Two kids traveled all the way out here just to go penguin sledding?" he replied at last, sounding suspicious, but also almost... amused?

Aang nodded vigorously, still looking at the man behind Zuko.

Zuko cursed himself for leaving his broadswords in Appa's saddle, and racked his brain to think of some way he could get out of this situation. It was far too risky to use firebending without knowing the intent of this man, and he had no idea if there was just one person behind him, or twenty. He looked down at Aang, then sighed, slowly raising his arms to indicate he was not going to fight them.

"Don't hurt him!" Aang demanded.

A different man walked over to Aang and gently pulled him up from the ground, seeming slightly startled when Momo crawled back up onto Aang's shoulder. "Easy, kid. We aren't going to hurt either of you." The man wore a thick, fur-lined blue coat. The top of his long, dark brown hair was pulled back into a ponytail, and his eyes were dark blue. "Where are your parents?"

"We don't have any," Zuko quickly lied. "We're on our own right now"

"And we're lost," Aang added.

"I see," the man next to Aang replied, a skeptical but concerned look passing over his face. "If that's the case, should we take them back with us, Hakoda?"

The man who had been behind Zuko walked around to stand on the other side of Aang. He was holding a spear, and was also dressed in a fur-lined blue coat. While similarly styled, his hair was a bit shorter than his companion's, and he had two beaded braids of hair on the left side of his head. He had a short beard on his chin, and his eyes were a lighter blue color, vivid as the ocean.

He stared at the two boys, eyes narrowed, though Zuko did not see any cruelty in them. "Yes, let's take them back. Seems you two could use a warm bed and some food, and we've got plenty. Do either of you have a problem with that?"

"I definitely don't!" Aang replied cheerily, nudging Zuko.

"Me neither," Zuko added. He didn't really have much of a choice at this point, as he didn't want to arouse any further suspicion. He just hoped his uncle would somehow be able to figure out where they had gone.

"Good. Follow us."

"Excuse me?" Aang asked the bearded man as they walked through the snow. "Where exactly are you taking us?"

The man called Hakoda glanced back at him over his shoulder. "To our settlement. I can tell by your friend's face that you're not thrilled," he gestured to Zuko, who was shivering again and scowling. "But we couldn't just leave you kids alone out there, penguins or not. Polar bear dogs have been seen in those parts recently." He was silent for a moment, then spoke again. "Plus, to be honest, we don't often come across foreigners in the middle of our tundras, and we can never be too careful these days. Not to say that we suspect you of anything, but the Fire Nation has a lot of tricks up their sleeve."

Aang's eyes widened, and he nodded. "I understand. We've had our own fair share of run-ins with the Fire Nation recently. You can never be too careful."

Hakoda and his companion stopped briefly, glancing at one another in surprise and concern. The former's eyes gravitated momentarily to Zuko's face, most likely looking at his scar. Zuko noticed this and turned away with a frown. Hakoda seemed to have realized what he had done and cleared his throat awkwardly before turning back around to continue walking.

"So, where are you boys from?" Hakoda's companion asked.

"We're from... Kyoshi Island," Aang replied, thinking quickly.

"Kyoshi Island?" Hakoda repeated.

"Yep! It's pretty small, so I wouldn't be surprised if you haven't heard of it."

"Uh huh," Hakoda's companion replied, clearly not wholly convinced.

"It was attacked by the Fire Nation," Zuko said in a low voice. Technically, this was the truth, as Zhao did attack the village when they were last there.

"I'm... very sorry to hear that," Hakoda replied, genuine sympathy in his voice. "The Fire Nation has destroyed much of what we hold dear."

Aang glanced at Zuko, whose expression was unreadable, and wondered how his friend was feeling right now. He hoped he wasn't beating himself up or blaming himself for any of this.

"Are you sure about this?" Hakoda's companion whispered, though Aang could just barely make out what he was saying. "They're just kids, yes, but it's clear they're hiding something."

"It's alright, Bato. I'm sure they have their reasons. I'll speak with them when we get to the village," Hakoda replied, pointing ahead of them with his gloved hand.

Aang's eyebrows shot up when he saw the familiar plume of smoke in the distance. That had to be it: the village from his dream!

When they at last arrived at the village walls, they stopped at a large, double-doored ice gate that had the symbol of the Water Tribe carved into it. Hakoda signaled to someone in the watchtower to the left of the gate, and the person, who was wearing a helmet fashioned in the shape of a wolf's head and holding a spear, nodded curtly. After a moment, with a great rumble, the gates were pushed open from the inside.

After they had entered the settlement, Hakoda led them to the side and began to speak with Bato again, completely out of earshot this time.

Zuko nudged Aang with his elbow. "Aang, what do we do?" he whispered anxiously as the two Water Tribesmen spoke to one another.

"This is the village from my dream, Zuko. We're in the right place! I'm sure once we explain to them what's going on, they'll understand."

"Explain? Do you seriously think they'll just believe you right away?"

"Anything you two would like to share with us?" Hakoda interrupted, turning around. Bato smirked and shook his head from where he stood behind him.

"Please, Mr. Hakoda, sir. I promise we aren't Fire Nation spies," Aang pleaded.

Hakoda looked at him with a slightly amused expression. "Mr. Hakoda. Now that's one I've never heard before." He turned to his companion. "Why don't you go update the rest of the warriors on what we've found. I'll take care of these two."

"Yes, chief," Bato replied with a nod, and walked off.

Aang's eyes widened. "You're the chief! That's great! I really need to talk to you!"

"Well, you can talk to me all you want in just a minute," Hakoda replied. "For now, follow me."

Aang turned to Zuko and grinned. "See? I'm sure everything will work out."

Zuko did not seem to have the same optimism. He eyed Hakoda warily as they followed him through the village streets.

Eventually, they came to a stop at a large igloo in the center of the village where the plume of smoke they had seen from the distance had been emanating from. Hakoda stopped at the entrance of the igloo and gestured for the two boys to enter.

The inside of the igloo was surprisingly very warm. Aang cringed slightly when he noticed how many animal pelts were covering the walls and floor. He understood their purpose and likely cultural significance, but as a monk who had sworn to hold all life sacred, he couldn't help but be a little bothered by the display. He hoped Hakoda hadn't noticed his reaction.

"Okay, kids," Hakoda said as he entered the igloo behind them. "I'm gonna give you a chance to talk. And to tell me the truth, because something tells me that there's a large part of your story you've been leaving out."

Aang and Zuko both looked at one another, Zuko's expression unsure. Aang patted his friend on the arm to reassure him and turned back to Hakoda with a nod.

The chief gestured for them to sit on the pelts next to the fire. When they had done as they were told, he sat down in lotus position across from them, while Momo hopped off Aang's shoulder to explore the rest of the room.

"So. First, can you explain to me what exactly you two were doing in the middle of the tundra?" Hakoda asked.

"We wanted to ride the penguins," Aang said.

"Yes, we could see that you were certainly attempting to ride the penguins when we found you. But like I said earlier, that can't have been the sole reason you ventured out there. You two are very clearly far from home."

"We really were in the tundra to ride those penguins," Aang reiterated. "But we actually came to the South Pole to find your village."

Hakoda's brow furrowed. "And why would you need to find our village?" he asked with a wary look.

"Well... it's a long story. And it may sound kind of crazy. But I swear it's the truth."

Hakoda remained quiet and nodded, waiting for him to continue.

"So... uh... I'm the Avatar."

Hakoda blinked several times, then laughed. "Nice joke, kid. The last Avatar died over a hundred years ago. The cycle was broken."

"It's not a joke," Aang said with a frown. "I really am the Avatar! Look, I'll prove it! Momo, marbles." With a snap of his fingers, the lemur crawled back over to him, fished into his shirt pocket, and produced his bag of marbles. Aang dumped them into his palm, then used his airbending to make them spin like he had on Kyoshi Island.

Hakoda's eyes widened considerably, his jaw dropping. "You're... you're an airbender!"

Aang nodded.

"But no one has seen an airbender in nearly a hundred years. We though they were extinct..."

Aang tried to ignore the sting of emotional pain he felt in his chest upon hearing that statement. It was still difficult for him to get used to the fact that he truly was the last of his people. "I'm... the last one," he replied weakly.

Sympathy flashed in Hakoda's eyes, and he placed his hand on his chin. "Even so, how can you be the Avatar? You can't be older than my son. How old are you, twelve? Thirteen?"

"Twelve and a half," Aang answered. "But technically I'm much older than I look. Ninety-six years ago, my Avatar Spirit froze me and my bison into an iceberg. I was in there that whole time until my friend Zu-" Zuko nudged him with his elbow. "Uh, Lee, here, found me six months ago."

Hakoda continued to stare at him, blue eyes still wide. His gaze shifted to Zuko. "You've been pretty quiet so far. Your friend is telling the truth?"

Zuko nodded vigorously. "He is. I swear," he replied, meeting the chief's gaze confidently. "We've had several encounters with the Fire Nation over the last few months. They know he's returned, and they want to capture him and take him to the Fire Lord. But we managed to lose their trail several weeks ago on our way here," he added quickly when he saw the concerned look on the chief's face. "And not just the Fire Nation knows. I'm pretty sure the rest of the world knows."

Hakoda was silent for a moment longer as his eyes moved back and forth between the two of them. Eventually, he sighed and shook his head. "You were right. All of this does sound crazy, quite frankly, but... I believe you."

Aang breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you," he told Hakoda genuinely. "Honestly, I'm surprised you haven't heard about me being back yet. Zu- Lee's right. The rest of the world knows."

Hakoda looked down with a frown. "Our tribe... we don't have much contact with the rest of the world these days. It's been too risky to trade with foreigners with the Raiders prowling our northern waters."

The Southern Raiders? Aang thought.

Hakoda seemed to catch the recognition in Aang's eyes. "They're ruthless, and relentless. They've been a thorn in our side for the past eighty years. We haven't even been able to contact our sister tribe in decades because it's too dangerous to get a message out. Not that they've bothered to send anyone to come help or even check on us, anyhow," the chief muttered indignantly. "We've been lucky the past couple of years, though. The Raiders leave the villages alone for the most part, so we don't run into too much trouble with them these days unless we venture too far into the South Sea."

"There are other villages?"

Hakoda nodded. "We have small settlements scattered all over the continent. Ours is probably the largest, and we're not that big at all. We've got the Raiders to thank for that." He sighed, shaking his head. "When my mother was young, our settlement was once a city nearly as large as Agna Qel'a in the north. I wish I could have seen it."

"I'm so sorry," Aang said, looking at the chief with sympathy. "I know how much the Fire Nation has upset the balance of the world. And I know what it's supposed to be like. In my time, the four nations lived together in harmony, and I didn't even know there was a war going on until I got out of that iceberg." He looked down guiltily, then back up at the chief with a determined expression. "But I swear I'm gonna make things right. That's actually one of the things I came here to talk to you about."

Hakoda looked back up at him, eyebrows raised again. "Ah, yes. We haven't even gotten to why you came searching for our village."

Aang nodded. "I've been having some intense dreams recently. It's the same every time: I'm standing in the middle of the village, but it's completely empty. Then, I start hearing screams, but there are still no people. The falling snow changes from white to black, and then everything is engulfed in darkness." Aang shuddered as he remembered the vivid dream. "I know it's a vision, and that I'm supposed to help you. Did anything I just said stand out to you?"

"The black snow," Hakoda replied grimly. "It's how you know a raid is about to begin. It's caused by the soot from their damned ships." His fists tightened, and he seemed to grow increasingly distraught the more he thought about it.

Aang and Zuko glanced at one another. Aang could guess that the Fire Prince was probably thinking the same things he was. Was a Southern Raider attack going to happen soon? How much time did they have? And how were they supposed to help?

Zuko turned to Hakoda. "If the Raiders are going to attack, we'll help you fight them off. Sir," he added hastily.

"Do you know when this raid will happen?" Hakoda asked.

"No, unfortunately," Aang replied, slumping his shoulders.

Hakoda's lips pursed into a thin line as he seemed to contemplate something for a few moments. "Regardless of when it's coming, we must begin preparations immediately. Though we've never had the Avatar on our side before... Maybe this time it could be different," he murmured to himself. He cleared his throat and looked back up at them. "We are grateful for any assistance you could provide, Avatar..."

"Aang."

"Avatar Aang."

"Just Aang is fine," Aang replied with a kind smile.

Hakoda returned his smile, though it looked to be a tired one. "Well, I appreciate you two telling me the truth. Sorry about the whole... sneaking up on you thing." He pushed himself up off of the ground. "And I'm sorry to be leaving so abruptly, but I really must inform my warriors about this. We need to send a lookout to make sure the Raiders aren't on their way now."

"Oh, before you go, there's another thing I wanted to ask," Aang said quickly, standing up as well. "I've mastered airbending, but I need to start the rest of my Avatar training as soon as possible. Do you know any waterbenders who could teach me, by chance?"

Hakoda froze for a moment, then turned around. Aang could see there was a deep sadness in his eyes. "I'm... sorry, Aang. The Fire Nation either captured or killed all the waterbenders in the Southern Tribe a long time ago."

"Oh... I'm sorry," Aang said, feeling guilty. His question had clearly emotionally affected the chief.

"It's alright. I regret that we can't be of more assistance to you." He prepared to exit the igloo, but stopped for a moment. "You two can stay here for as long as you like. Just don't go outside the gates alone, please. For your own safety. I'll be back soon."

Aang and Zuko nodded in unison, and Hakoda bid them farewell as he left the igloo.

"Well... that went better than I expected it to," Zuko said, pushing himself to his feet. "I'm not surprised there's no waterbenders here. Though there was something... off about the way he said it."

"Zuko, he probably lost a waterbender he knew. It's got to be painful to think about," Aang scolded with a frown.

The Fire Prince at first blinked in surprise at Aang's harsh tone, then looked down guiltily. "You're probably right... Sorry. Everywhere we go we meet more people who were hurt by the Fire Nation."

Aang softened, and put his hand on the firebender's shoulder. "Hey. You didn't do any of this. Don't beat yourself up about it."

"I know..." Zuko said. "But my family is the reason all of it happened and keeps happening. I just keep wishing I had learned the truth sooner. That uncle had said something sooner..." He suddenly perked up, eyes widening. "Uncle! We need to go find him so he knows we're okay!"

"But Hakoda said we shouldn't leave the village."

"Well, let's go find him and tell him we need to go back out."

"Dad, have you seen my fishing rod? I can't find it anywhere. I promise the hook incident won't happen agai-"

Aang and Zuko suddenly found themselves exchanging wide-eyed stares with a young Water Tribe boy who had just entered the igloo. He looked to be around their age, and while his hair was styled in a pulled-back ponytail similar to Hakoda's, the sides and back of his head were shaved.

The boy stared dumbfounded at them for a moment longer, then seemed to remember himself, grabbing a spear that had been leaning on the wall next to him and pointing it directly at Aang's chest. "Who are you? And what are you doing in my house?"

"Oh, hi! I'm-" Aang started, but before he could finish speaking, Zuko walked in front of him, gently pushing him back, and with one swift movement, pulled the spear from the boy's hands and broke it in half over his leg. The pieces clattered to the ground, and the boy stared at them, mouth agape.

"My spear!"

Aang quickly pulled the Fire Prince back and switched places with him. "Heheheh... sorry about my friend. And your spear," he chuckled awkwardly. "He just does things without thinking sometimes. I'm Aang, by the way!" he said with a wave of his hand. "And this is Lee!"

The boy's eyes narrowed as he looked back and forth at the two of them, and he began to fish in his coat pockets, eventually whipping out a smaller metal weapon. "I'd like to see you try and break my trusty boomerang!"

Aang stared at the weapon. "Uh... no offense, but I think this room is too small for you to use a boomerang in."

The boy's eyes narrowed even further. "There's more than one way to use a boomerang. I could always just hit you with it."

Zuko chuckled darkly from behind Aang. "Go ahead and try. See what happens."

"Sokka, what's taking so long? Did you find your fishing rod?" another voice asked from the doorway, and a young girl, only looking to be about a year younger than the boy, entered the igloo. She had pretty, bright blue eyes, and her hair was styled in two loops that connected from the front of her hair to the back. She seemed startled when she saw the three boys standing in the middle of the room, but did not appear hostile. The boy, who Aang assumed was Sokka, was holding his boomerang directly in front of Aang's nose, while Zuko was standing with his arms folded next to them, glaring at the Water Tribe boy like he was going to murder him any second.

"What on earth is going on here?" the girl asked, hands on her hips. "Sokka, why are you pointing a weapon at two unarmed kids?"

"Katara!" Sokka exclaimed. "These kids are in our house! You don't find that at all suspicious? What if they're Fire Nation spies?"

Katara's brow furrowed. "Well... they couldn't have gotten into the village unless dad or Bato allowed it. So I seriously doubt they're Fire Nation spies."

"But that's why they're called spies, Katara. They sneak in, and you never even know that they're actually working for the enemy until it's too late!" Sokka huffed and folded his arms. "As a girl, you wouldn't understand the complexities of espionage and warfare. My warrior instincts are telling me- Hey!" he shouted as Katara slapped the boomerang out of his hands.

"That's sexist," she said, glaring at him. She then turned to Aang and Zuko. "I'm sorry about my brother. He can be a bit of a meathead sometimes. I'm Katara."

Aang smiled. He liked these two siblings already. "I'm Aang! And this is Lee," he gestured to Zuko, who nodded curtly.

Katara smiled back. "Nice to meet you. It's rare that we get outsiders in the village. Did my dad bring you here?"

"Yeah, he and Bato did," Aang replied. "We were trying to catch some penguins to go sledding on, and they found us."

Katara laughed and looked at him with a curious expression. "Sledding... on penguins?"

"Yeah! You mean you guys have never tried it?" He looked at both of the siblings.

"No. We've got more important things to worry about around here," Sokka said matter-of-factly.

"Like what?" Zuko asked sarcastically.

"Like keeping this village safe from outsiders," Sokka replied, glaring at Zuko.

Suddenly, seemingly from out of nowhere, Momo launched himself onto Sokka's head, and he yelped, grabbing the lemur. "What is this thing?!"

Momo cocked his head at Sokka, looking at him inquisitively.

"It's so cute!" Katara said.

"No it's not! It just tried to attack my face!" Sokka argued.

Aang laughed. "That's Momo, my flying lemur!"

"Flying what?" Sokka repeated. As if on cue, Momo wriggled out of his grasp and flew behind Aang to land in Zuko's shoulder. "Who are you guys? And why are you so weird?"

"Sokka!" Katara rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Just ignore him."

Before anyone could say anything else, the sound of a bell being struck repeatedly sounded from outside, and Aang suddenly felt a spike of fear. Had the Raiders come already?

Katara and Sokka looked at one another for a moment, demeanor completely shifting as both of their expressions turned to ones of panic, then ran back outside, Aang and Zuko following close behind. Aang looked up at the sky, expecting to see the black soot flurries from his dream, but there were none. Instead, he spotted Appa flying overhead. The bison landed in front of them in the middle of the street, Iroh holding the reins, a serious expression on his face.

"It's a monster!" Sokka exclaimed fearfully, cowering behind his sister. "A big, fluffy, flying monster!"

Katara, however remained standing where she was, gazing up at Appa with an amazed expression.

Iroh, who looked quite anxious, quickly hopped off of Appa's head. When he spotted the two boys, he jogged over to them and breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank the Spirits you two are safe. I was worried sick!" he scolded.

"You guys found us!" Aang exclaimed happily, and instinctively, he used airbending to propel himself into the air and onto the bison's head, giving his animal companion a big hug.

"Tell them to call off the alarm!"

Aang lifted his head up to see Hakoda ordering his warriors as he ran towards them.

"It's okay, everyone!" the chief reassured several villagers who had exited their homes and were murmuring to one another with fearful expressions.

Aang noticed that Katara and Sokka were staring at him with dropped jaws, appearing very similar to how their father had looked at him earlier.

"You're an airbender!" Katara breathed in awe.

"A what?" Sokka asked confusedly.

"He's more than that," Hakoda said, resting a hand on his daughter's shoulder. "He's the Avatar. And he's here to help us."