A/N. The first chapter did well, so, I wrote a second chapter during the weekend lol. I still keep to my Katara POV / Aang POV, so this one is from a rather confused airbender!
"Otter penguin sledding! Surely you do that here? I was told the Water Tribes do that!" The airbender grinned at the girl in front of him. She looked at him with confusing in her deep blue eyes, and he couldn't help but notice she was pretty. Well, pretty was an understatement.
The fur-lined hood of the girl's parka hid most of her head, but Aang did see a few strands of dark brown hair escaping and falling over her forehead. Her nose turned slightly upwards, and the full lips trembled in a small smile. It looked as if she wasn't really accustomed to smiling, but then again, the dark blue eyes were filled with so much kindness it seemed to spill over to her face, brightening it up.
All in all… Aang thought he had just met the most beautiful girl he had ever seen.
"Only children do that. Adults have to work." The young man spoke harshly, and the airbender managed to pry his eyes away from the girl's face, to look at the other person standing next to him. He was tall, and Aang did notice the broad shoulders and the suspicious look. He seemed rather…well, hostile.
Bending the air beneath him, Aang pushed himself upwards, gently landing on his toes and straightening. He stepped towards the young man, but he just lifted the spear and pointed it straight at his chest.
"Don't move another finger! What in La's name did you just do?" It sounded brave enough, but Aang heard the slightly panicked undertone. Frowning, the airbender tried to smile reassuringly.
"Just some bending, nothing to worry about." Turning back to the girl, Aang felt his lips twitch straight back into a smile, "So, there are otter penguins around?"
The girl just looked at him with an unreadable expression. First, he thought he had done something wrong… Pasang had warned him that the Water Tribes had very different customs, and he did remember Tashi lecturing him about staying away from the women in the tribes, except if there was a good reason. Was that perhaps why she was looking at him like that?
"Yeah…" The girl seemed a little bothered, "The idiot with the spear is Sokka, and I am Katara."
"The searcher and the water droplet." Aang grinned. Tashi, who taught foreign cultures at home had drilled the common language of the Water Tribes right into his mind, even though he apparently didn't need it. The two in front of him spoke the language of the Earth Kingdom perfectly… Sure, it was the diplomacy language of the world, and most people spoke some, but this sounded far better than just a little knowledge of it.
"Exactly!" The girl, Katara, smiled, "See, you idiot? Would he know these things if he meant any harm?" That part of the sentence was directed at the man.
"Perhaps the Fire Nation teaches such things to spies!" Sokka bit back.
"Spies? Spirits, they have no need for that, why should they?" Aang shook his head, but the spear hadn't moved an inch.
"Well, in that case tell us what you were doing, hiding in the ice! And the light, was it a sig…" the warrior's voice faltered as a long, loud groan could be heard from behind them.
"Oh! Appa!" Aang slapped his forehead, "Sorry buddy, I completely forgot to introduce you!" He quickly turned around, racing up the icy slope toward the small crater. How had they managed to get here? He remembered the storm, the water around them as they crashed into the ocean… Perhaps they had washed ashore here? That seemed the most logical explanation!
"Oh Appa, Appa… Sleeping right through everything!" The airbender laughed as he reached the rim and looked down to see his Sky Bison sleeping at the bottom of the crater, his tongue stuck out and his paws clenched tightly around the great tail.
"What… is… that?" Sokka had clearly followed him to the crater, and now, there was some clattering, and Aang glanced sideways. The spear the man had been carrying was rolling down the slope, apparently having been dropped by the gloved hands.
"Oh, that is Appa!" Aang laughed, "My flying bison!" sliding down from the rim, he managed to stop himself right in front of Appa's head with some airbending. Poking the bison underneath his eyes, Aang began to ruffle the bison's cheek to wake him up. A loud groan followed, and a sleepy eye half opened. The bison blew some warm air at him, pushing Aang a little away.
"Oh, you are okay!" The airbender laughed.
"I repeat. What is that?" Sokka asked in a rather irritated tone.
"I told you," Aang turned around, seeing that Katara had joined the man and had put a hand on his arm, "My flying bison!"
"Sure… And this is Katara, my flying sister." The man gestured at the girl, who looked rather offended. But Aang, for some reason, felt rather relieved when Sokka said sister. Why, he had no idea. At least he knew their names now, and that they were siblings!
"I'll send you flying you idiot." He heard the girl mutter, and once again, Aang had to admit… even annoyed she looked pretty. Appa's soft groaning began to build up, and suddenly, the airbender realized what was about to happen.
"Down!" He shouted, crouching as fast as possible. He saw that Katara did the same, but the young man looked as if he was about to protest. Before he could utter a word, however, Appa sneezed very loudly, sending air and snot in ever direction at the height of his snout. That was why Aang had warned… The snot flew right over his head, and neither did it hit the girl… But a rather greenish particle smeared it across Sokka's face.
"Please… tell… me… That isn't what I think it is." The warrior muttered darkly, and Aang straightened, rubbing his neck with his left hand as his right grabbed his left elbow.
"It's not… not… snot." The airbender tried to smile at the young man, who looked completely appalled as he removed the substance with a gloved hand, throwing it on the ground. As he watched how Sokka grumbled about something, Aang felt a slight itch tremble its way upwards from deep within.
"Ap… Appa… Your sneez-sneezing is contagi-agi…" The sneeze that exploded from his own nose wasn't much better than the one that had come from his bison, although he hoped there was less flying snot involved. Letting his bending propel him up a few feet, the first thought that crossed his mind was that he hoped there had been no disgusting snot landing on the girl… Sokka was already drenched in it, a little more couldn't hurt. But it would be embarrassing if Katara was covered in it too…
As his feet touched the ice once more, he was once more met with the tip of the spear a few inches away from his face.
"You… just jumped ten feet into the air." Sokka growled, "What are you?"
"He's an airbender!" Katara's voice sounded from behind her brother, but to be honest, Aang had all his attention at the spear point that was aimed at him. Without looking away, he nodded.
"Sure am! Aang, airbender from the Southern Air Temple!" He spoke as he saw a hand appear from behind Sokka, forcing the warrior to lower the spear, "Thanks!" He smiled weakly at the girl who had forced it down.
"Giant beam of light. Airbender. A flying bison… I got midnight sun madness, or I'm dead and this is one of La's hells. A personal one, with a guy flirting with my sister and talking nonsense. Yay…" Sokka turned away and slid down the slope, back to where the ice met the water, leaving Aang with the girl.
Feeling extremely awkward at what the young man had just said, Aang once again rubbed his hand over his neck, not looking at the girl that stood rather close. Glancing towards her with a quick look, he saw that apparently, the girl didn't seem to have to same embarrassing feeling as he did. To be honest… She seemed not to have heard her brother. No… She was looking at Appa in wonderment, and Aang felt the awkwardness quickly fading.
"Sorry about Appa, he is far cleaner than some other bisons! The wild ones are a smelly lot… But the ones we get as companions are far less troublesome! Well… They do make a lot of manure, and stable duty is never fun at home, but…" Aang began to ramble, before quickly shutting up. Here he was, trying to impress the girl… with a story about cleaning stables… Good going.
"He's wonderful." Katara smiled softly, raising a hand for a moment before quickly dropping it.
"He won't bite." Aang said when he noticed the gesture, and without thinking about it, he grabbed her hand and put it against Appa's cheek, right beneath his now completely opened left eye. He could have sworn he heard a small intake of breath from the girl, but it was probably the wind.
"He seems nice." Katara smiled, and suddenly, Aang realized he still had his hand on hers. The girl glanced at him, and Aang felt it was… well, it seemed a little shocked. Shooting an apologetic look at the girl, he quickly stepped away. Well, this was what he presumed Tashi had meant when telling him to stay away from girls at the Water Tribe. Perhaps it was something cultural, but Aang knew that in any place in the world, touching someone without asking if it was okay… Well, was not okay.
"Alright, we have to get going Katara, if we want to reach home by nightfall. Say goodbye to the weird kid and let's go." Sokka appeared at the rim of the crater.
"Yay…" He heard Katara mutter under her breath, and Aang couldn't help but wonder… How had the two actually got here?
"You have a boat?" He asked. He had not seen one at the edges of the big chunk of ice… Perhaps they had another way to travel between the ice sheets?
"We had a boat. Only Sokka crashed and sunk it." Katara shot a dark look at the young warrior.
"Only because you gave the wrong direction!"
"You didn't listen!"
"I knew what I was doing!"
"As if!"
"Well… Appa and I can bring you home, if you need to." Aang tried to smile as he stood between the two bickering siblings.
"We don't ne-" Sokka began to talk, but Katara quickly interrupted her brother.
"We would love a ride! Thanks!" Those words were accompanied by the most beautiful smile he had seen from her ever since meeting her… ten minutes before. Before, it had been soft, shy smiles… But this one quite genuine Aang gathered. Feeling his own lips form into a wide mile, he pushed the air around him to jump gently into the air, landing softly on Appa's head. The bison shook his head a bit, as he always did when he wanted to tease him. Katara quickly grasped one of the ropes hanging from Appa's saddle and pulled herself upwards.
"Are you crazy!" Sokka quickly crossed the distance and came to stand close to where Katara was trying to climb into the saddle, "We are not getting on that fluffy snot monster!"
"Are you hoping for another ride? Another airbender with another monster? If you want, freeze to death. I am getting the comfortable way home!" As the girl said that, Aang quickly made his way up the saddle from Appa's head to give her a hand. Extending his fingers, he couldn't help but feel good at the smile and the hand that grasped his own. Pulling her into the saddle, he quickly gestured to Sokka to do the same.
"Better this than swim, I guess." The warrior grumbled as he climbed up the ropes, ignoring Aang's hand. Tashi had warned him the Water Tribes had other manners than the Air Nomads, so Aang didn't mind. As the two siblings settled on the saddle with rather apprehensive expression, the airbender clacked his tongue twice, sitting back on Appa's head. As he grabbed the reins, the bison slowly stood up on his six legs, shaking a little, probably to concentrate.
"I guess you have never flown before?" Aang asked, glancing over his shoulder. Sokka had sat down, leaning on the bags Aang had tied to the saddle the day before. Katara, however, sat at the front, clutching the rim of the saddle as she shook her head.
"Alright! Yip yip!" the airbender shouted, a little harder than absolutely necessary. Appa gave an annoyed groan, jumped up into the air… And glided straight back down again to land with a splash into the water. As ice cold water washed over him, Aang rolled his eyes. Behind, the damage seemed rather less horrible as he didn't hear indignant sounds.
"Yay… a gliding bison." He heard Sokka mutter. Quickly grabbing one of Appa's horns, Aang used it to hook his knees around and hung upside down to level himself with the bison's eyes.
"You are making me look bad in front of the pretty girl, buddy." He whispered softly, hoping the girl in question wouldn't hear him, "Please… I'm sorry for making you fly after your nap. But couldn't you… well, do me a favour? I'll get you melons for it."
Appa's brown eyes looked at him with accusation in them, clearly not impressed by the bribe. Instead of taking off, he began to swim lazily towards the shore in the distance of the bay. Sighing, Aang climbed back up and sat back down, turned to the saddle.
"You are from a village around here?" He asked the siblings. If they had never met an airbender, that must mean they weren't from the capital of the Southern Water Tribe, for he knew for a fact that Gyatso had travelled to it several times. His mentor had told him that the council of Elders of the South always met in a place called Wolf Cove, and the older monk had visited it for some of the councils, to serve the Air Nomad ambassador.
"We are from the village." Sokka answered irritably. Well, Aang guessed he meant the centre of one of the subtribes… Perhaps that was good! If he visited Wolf Cove, the Elders of the Air Temple would learn of it sooner than later… And he would prefer to stay hidden as long as possible. But perhaps he could find one of those arctic owl hawks… And sent a letter to Gyatso, making sure the old man knew he was alright.
"Our village is right over there." Katara added, more helpfully, as she pointed a little off to the left from where they were going.
"You heard her buddy. A little in that direction." Aang padded the bison behind his ear, and Appa corrected his path. As they paddle along quite nicely, the airbender felt his thoughts return to the Air Temple. Gyatso would be worried sick… Even with the note he had left for the old monk. Even Pasang or Tashi would worry, even if it were for different reasons he guessed. Tashi would worry that Aang was missing his lessons, while Pasang… Well, he would worry for that reason.
"How are you not freezing?" Katara's voice sounded closer now, and looking around, the airbender saw that the girl had come to sit on the rim of the saddle, turning her back on her brother. Over her shoulder, he saw that Sokka had begun to sharpen the spear with his eyes fixed on him. Gulping down the slight fear he felt seeing the ice cold eyes, he turned back to the far warmer and friendlier ocean blue eyes.
"Airbending. The monks all do it, and Gyatso taught me how to do it. Cold is in fact just air, frozen by the temperature around us. So, he showed me how to make some sort of cocoon around my skin, only letting the air in that wasn't frozen. Look!" He extended his arm to the girl, letting the air expand around him so that the bubble enveloped her too. The eyes grew wider as she let out a real laugh.
"That is incredible!" Aang's lips twitched into a grin as she said that. It made his heart go slightly faster, receiving the compliment from this girl. As he kept his eyes on her, he couldn't help but notice that her own eyes were truly the deepest blue he had ever seen. Aang had met some of the members of the Northern Water Tribe in Omashu as they had stayed with Bumi's parents, but they had not had that kind of eyes. Their eyes had been more like Sokka's, swirling pale blue with a suspicious look in them… Katara's eyes, however… He could not even try and find anything remotely mistrustful about them…
"What are you smiling about?" Katara suddenly interrupted his mesmerizing, and Aang realized he had been gawking at this girl like some of the guys at the Air Temple had done when the Eastern Air Temple novices had visited. He had not been part of them. He had been starring from behind Appa.
"Oh… hehe… Was I smiling?" He stuttered, quickly turning from the girl to look at the shore that approaching quite fast. He also noticed that the sky was already growing darker, even though… well, it had to be in the afternoon… Right?
"Gran Gran will have dinner in an hour or so." Sokka seemed to direct his sentence to the girl behind Aang, but for some reason, the airbender didn't think he was included in the conversation, so kept his eyes on the coast as the siblings talked. This was the first time he saw this much ice… And there was some strange, brutal beauty in it. That nature managed to create and changed such a thing as water… It was a wonder. Sure, waterbenders could make lots of things out of ice, but there was something so beautiful about nature creating something that even benders couldn't recreate to the smallest detail.
"Probably, as the sun is going down… Long evening." Katara seemed to agree with her brother.
"Too long. The children are going to be annoying."
"You chief among them?" Aang suppressed a laugh at the retort from the girl.
"You know what I mean. They'll get moody and so on… But Gran Gran will want an explanation about him." The airbender guessed that by him, the warrior meant Aang.
"Oh, don't worry about me, I'll go if you don't want me to stay." Aang quickly interjected, only to be interrupted by Sokka who held up a hand to still the protest Katara had seemed to form on her lips.
"You can stay the night. I'm not some sort of monster, I don't send people out in the dark around here. But people work around here for their food, so you'll have to do something." The warrior sounded rather… Well, nice. Aang had had the impression that Sokka would rather see him go, but it surprised him he was actually being invited to spend the night.
"I'll help your… grandmother?" He glanced at Katara who nodded, confirming who this Gran Gran was, "With the cooking! I even have some things in the bags underneath you that could be useful!". Aang had actually raided the supply cupboard, so there was more than enough… He had guessed that he would need something for when he came to the Water Tribe, as Gyatso had often told him that the Tribal diet was rather… Unique.
"Really?" Sokka perked up, and Aang realized that the guy wasn't that bad probably.
"Yeah, honeycombs, moonpeaches, that sort of things. There are also some dumplings, and some rice." Aang gestured at the bags. Gyatso had always taught him that sharing was essential when someone opened their home to them, so he didn't mind. If his mentor would be aware where he was, he would probably bring him a steady supply of food from home on his "search trips". For Gyatso would keep his secret, of that, Aang was sure.
"I suddenly love the freak." Sokka muttered as he opened a bag.
"Sokka! You can't go looking through his stuff!" Katara objected as she grabbed the bag and pulled it shut, making a knot in the cord.
"I don't mind. Oh! I believe this is our stop!" Aang realized as Appa's paws touched ground. The smell of wet fur overwhelmed his nostrils as the bison stepped out of the water onto the snowy shore, but he didn't mind. Jumping down, he let the reins drop as his feet sank into the snow. Laughing, Aang let himself fall face first into the white surface.
"Are you crazy! You will get a cold!" He heard the girl shout at him when he lifted his head. Bending himself up, he proudly showed the imprint he had made at Katara.
"Look, I made a snowmaang." He laughed as he looked at the expression on the girl's face. First, it looked confused, before she realized what the joke had been, and then, she snorted out loud a laugh that was so genuine Aang almost blushed.
"That isn't a snowman. That is a… well, a rather poor self-portrait." Katara shook her head as she climbed down, followed by her brother who seemed annoyed once more. The girl came stand beside him, using a gloved hand to wipe the snow away from his shoulders and face.
"Seriously, walking around… like that… And jumping down in the snow. You are worse than Sokka. He at least knows when to dress… appropriately." Katara muttered.
"Come on Sis, you can play mother when we are back at the village." Sokka began to walk away, but Aang did catch something the warrior muttered as they began to follow him, "As long as that is all you will play at."
This time, Katara had also caught the words, and Aang dropped a little bit back as the girl went to walk alongside her brother, whispering angrily at him. The airbender watched the two as they made their way to a place where small trails of smoke revealed the presence of a group of people, but Aang didn't see the great walls of ice he had been promised by the monks. Perhaps that was more something up north. Here it seemed that the environment alone was enough defence…
As they neared the place where the smoke had come from, Aang saw that there actually was a wall… Well… Wall… That was a big word for the embankment with a very, very, shallow ditch in front of it. The airbender had thought that the wall would be manned by people, but there was no one standing guard…
"Stay here." Sokka suddenly lifted a hand, "They surely think we'll come back from the waterfront. They won't trust us coming from here, and certainly not with him with us."
"As if they will be guarding anything. The moment you turn your back they go back to fool around, you know that." Katara sighed. Fool around? Everything Aang had heard about the Water Tribes had indicated that they were rather… well, dutiful. It seemed rather unlike the stories he had heard…
"Alatuk!" Sokka called out loud as they neared an opening in the embankment, "Alatuk, I'm going to ration your seal jerky if I catch you slacking off!"
No response. It seemed rather severe as punishment to Aang, but then again, he had nothing to say about this. He had no idea how guard duty worked, or even how important it was out here. Perhaps their stores were raided each night by animals from the tundra behind them.
Grumbling several words that would have earned Aang a stern talking too, Sokka ran inside the settlement.
"Sorry about him… He takes his duties rather seriously. Come on, I'll introduce you to the village." The girl grabbed his arm and began to drag him inside, and as they entered the village… Well, it was unlike anything Aang had even seen. Behind the "wall", there were several small igloos huddled in the middle of space enclosed by the embankment, and around the igloos, tents sprouted out of the snow. Several were high enough to stand in, and seemed spacious, while others were only small enough for two or three people to lie down in. Great baskets were stacked in neat piles next to one of the bigger igloos, and there was a long building close to the centre.
All in all… It looked like nothing he had even seen. Whereas the air temples shot into the sky, and the cities of the Earth Kingdom built grandiose centres, and the Fire Nation coated everything in marble and gold… This felt alive.
Alive with the work of people, the lives they lived and the joy and sorrow they felt. It felt alive with the strength of a community that weathered the harsh living conditions together.
"I know it must seem a little desolate." Katara murmured, and in her voice, Aang heard something akin to embarrassment, "But it's home."
"It's wonderful." He grinned at the girl, genuinely meaning it, "Every place is different, but believe me, I would trade everything Ba Sing Se has to offer for this."
"Oh, you are kidding, right?" Katara stopped walking, looking at him with a surprised expression, "My grandmother told us about those places. I would give nearly anything to see them!"
"Well… If you want, Appa and I are right here. You could ask your parents if it would be alright to come with me." Aang suggested without thinking. As soon as he saw the rather incredulous look on the girl's face, he swallowed thickly, wishing he hadn't said anything. What an idiot he was! Tashi had warned him not to be too friendly with Water Tribe girls… It wasn't in their culture or their traditions to allow women… Well, freedom. And here he was, offering it straight away to the first girl he met at the South Pole. Good thinking Aang…
"Come on." He saw the slight tremble in the girl's lips as she smiled a rather fake smile. Of course he had screwed it up… As they began to walk past some tents, the airbender noticed the people inside of them, and also noticed that most of them were women. Well… Actually… All of them. He also saw that as soon as they noticed him, a look of utter surprise crossed their face, followed by a fearful expression… That didn't seem good…
He heard mutters behind them as they made their way to one of the bigger igloos. Probably the one the girl's family lived in, as they approached, Aang saw Sokka appear from between the tents and duck straight into the entrance of the igloo. The airbender couldn't make out what was being said as they came to stand in front of the building, but what he did hear was the warrior's voice, answered by a voice sounding quite old. After a few moments of silence, Sokka reappeared once more, with in tow a woman that had sounded older than she was. Around seventy, Aang guessed…
The old woman, who he supposed was the sibling's grandmother, looked him up and down, a rather curious expression in the eyes that looked a lot like Sokka's…Cold ice chunks in a dark face. It didn't look reassuring…
Perhaps she was the village's Elder? The airbender thought that only men were Tribal Elders, but then again, the south had always been a little more progressive than the north… Quickly grabbing his elbows with his hands, he bowed down from his waist in the sign of respect Tashi had taught him to use with the northerners. Perhaps it was different here, but at least, he would have shown he tried.
"Uv…Uvanga Aang" He managed to utter. The Water Tribe languages had been in his lessons, but he had never said he was good at them.
The woman didn't seem too impressed to be honest.
Answers:
Aliyaallen3635: Thank you! I really like to try and imagine what the character could have been thinking, and give my own twist to it.
Vapor23: Haha, don't be ashamed, it makes me feel proud! I love to see my stories are enjoyed by people!
Kalaong : Exactly, that is why I wanted to get this story out. I have put Aang through way too much shit to him returning to a goofball in AoA lol.
StarJem18 : Well, I will of course change things, cut out some things and add some, but broadly it will follow Book 1.
Ashley Barbossa : Oh, there will be lots of Kataang in here, because aged up characters travelling together will