Responses to Reviews:
RonaldM40196867: I'm not a big shipper, I like the three canon ones (Aang and Katara, Sokka and Suki, Mai and Zuko) because I think they're neat. I like some other ships though, and I also like Sokka and Yue- which I know will present me problems later in this story once Suki appears. I'm not keen on doing a love triangle plot.
TORONTOSUN: Thank you! I'm trying to do them justice but also doing a different version of them to canon because there hasn't been a war.
As Always, Please Review!
The north was burning, and Yue was running. Men in red materialised around her, some of them laughing, others initially looking scared but then contorting their faces with rage once she got close. She heard explosions and thunderclaps and screams, only to run straight into Firelord Ozai. He raised a hand, looking downright bored as he prepared to smite her-
She awoke suddenly, sweating despite the cold. Champo's bison was still soaring over the featureless northern ocean. The coast was dimly visible in the distance in front of them. Looking back, nothing of the north could be seen.
"Are you alright?" Katara asked gently. "You didn't look like you were having a good sleep."
Yue noticed that both of the southerners looked miserable.
"No, I wasn't," she admitted. "Did you get to sleep?"
They both nodded.
"Not for long though," Sokka added.
Yue looked over the side of the bison for a long while. Then she turned back.
"Why?" She asked. "Why is the Fire Nation doing this?"
"I don't know," Katara shrugged. "They've suddenly turned evil?"
"I don't think it's sudden," Sokka pointed out.
"I'm not sure it's evil," Yue added. "There must be something else."
"Are you really making excuses for the people who tried to kill us last night?" Katara demanded.
"Of course not!" Yue replied. "I'm just trying to understand."
Katara sighed. "I understand. They're evil."
"Not all of them," Sokka pointed out. "One of them helped us."
"Did he?" Katara asked. "Or did he just lead us into his sister's trap?"
"For what it's worth, he seemed genuine," Yue interjected. "And I think I'm pretty good at reading people."
Katara frowned, but didn't answer. Sokka, meanwhile, leaned forward.
"What about all the rest of the Fire Nation?" He asked. "What will they think of this?"
But Yue just lay down flat in the saddle, and stared up at the sky.
"I don't know," she said. "And I'd rather not think about it until we reach the Air Temple."
There was a long silence. From her position Yue couldn't see Sokka or Katara. Eventually, Sokka found something to say.
"Would you still like to do an activity?" He asked. Yue sat up suddenly and stared at him.
"What kind of activity?" Katara asked suspiciously.
"I don't know, that's what we were trying to decide last night before the- before, you know."
"Really? You two were about to go on a date?" Katara asked innocently. Sokka went bright red immediately, and Yue could feel her own cheeks burning. But she shook her head.
"The only activity I need to be doing is learning the elements," she said sadly. "Beginning with water."
"Oh, that's convenient!" Sokka replied brightly. "My sister is a great healer."
"Not only a healer!" Katara thwacked him lightly with her arm. "I can fight!"
"Can you?" Sokka didn't sound sure, earning another thwack.
"Alright, you can fight!" He held his hands up.
"I can do the water whip!" Katara told him, intensely.
"And?" Yue prompted.
Katara deflated.
"Just the water whip. I want to learn though!"
Yue nodded. Clearly the South was pretty similar to the North in that respect.
"We can learn together then!" She offered. "If you want to, of course."
"Really?" Katara asked. "Won't that mean coming with you?"
Sokka glanced between them.
"Well, yes," Yue nodded. She realised she hadn't considered the possibility they might not want to go with her.
"After all, every Avatar has a team of friends, don't they? Aang had Bumi and Kuzon. I've never had friends before, but I suppose- if you want- you could join me?"
Katara and Sokka glanced at one another. Then Sokka grinned.
"I'm in," he said.
"And so am I," Katara agreed. "I'd love to learn waterbending with you, Avatar."
Avatar. There was that word again. Being called it in the cold light of day suddenly made it feel a lot more real. Yue was the Avatar.
"Great!" She chirped, warmth flooding through her. For the first time, she had companions her own age.
"Is that why your hair is white?" Sokka asked abruptly. "You being the Avatar, I mean."
"Sokka! You can't just ask someone why their hair is white!" Katara admonished him, but Yue just shook her head.
"I don't mind," she said. "We're friends, after all."
She pondered his question.
"No. At least, I don't think so. The Avatar spirit is not the only one to take an interest in me."
The moon hung above them, still visible in the morning air.
"When I was born, I was very sick," she told them. "The healers were not sure whether I would even survive, and nothing they tried worked. Until my father did something drastic."
She stared at the moon intensely as she spoke, not taking her eye off it.
"We have a garden in the north," she said. "A place where the boundaries between the human and spirit worlds are blurred. My father took me there, and Tui the Moon spirit took pity on me. It healed me, some of its essence is within me, and it also changed the colour of my hair. That's why it is white."
There was another long silence.
"Do you think that will give you cool bending powers?" Sokka asked.
"That's your takeaway?" Katara demanded of him.
"One of the nations is trying to kill us. It's a valid question!"
"I don't know," Yue confessed. "The moon is only half of a pair. Moon and ocean, Tui and La. The moon pulls and the ocean pushes. One cannot function without the other."
"So that's a maybe."
"Yes Sokka," Yue nodded. "It's a maybe. I should probably focus on actually bending something- anything- before that."
"Look!" Katara pointed in front of them, past where Champo sat piloting the bison. He had taken no part in their conversation. By now the land had drawn closer, and Yue could see mountains jutting into the air. As they crossed over the beach and began flying over green fields and great forests, one mountain seemed to jut further than the rest. But as Yue got closer, she could see that the mountain was in fact the spires of a great building, set on top of a mountain high above the plains. She knew they were fast approaching their destination; the Northern Air Temple beckoned.
