Sokka thought that Katara must have hit her head. Maybe the ice had fallen on her and he just did not notice. At least, this was what he thought before he saw the boy as well. As the waterbender had said, there was a bald-headed boy laying on his back on the ice. He had tattoos. Sokka had never seen tattoos on another kid and their design was unfamiliar to him. Katara cautiously froze some water so that she could step closer to him. Her brother reached out for her.
"What are you doing? He could be dangerous," Sokka said, hopping onto the ice to follow.
"He's unconscious," Katara reasoned. "How dangerous could he be?"
"We don't know where he's from or anything else about him. He could turn into a polar orca!"
The girl shook her head at him. "He's not going to turn into a polar orca, Sokka. I just want to make sure he's okay."
She got to the larger area of ice and was promptly joined by the young warrior. He pushed her behind him and took out his machete. Quickly, Katara whacked his arm.
"You can't use that on him."
"Not the sharp part," Sokka explained. "I'm just going to poke him."
"How's that going to help?"
Without waiting for an answer, Katara went over to the sleeping boy. It looked like he was starting to stir awake and she did not want his first experience with the Southern Water Tribe to be someone hitting him with a machete. She held up a hand to prevent Sokka from coming over and he begrudgingly agreed. Hearing a soft sound, Katara turned back to the stranger. His eyelids were beginning to flutter open. The boy's eyes widened more, then he looked around.
"Wh-where am I?" he asked.
"You're in the Southern Water Tribe," Katara informed him.
"Don't tell him that!" Sokka said in a harsh whisper. "He might be a spy."
"I'm not a spy," the newcomer said, sitting up. Suddenly, he seemed worried and began looking around quickly. "Where's Appa?" he asked, more to himself.
"Who's Appa?" Katara asked.
"He's my flying bison. I came here with him, but I can't…" The boy trailed off, face brightening as something caught his eye. "Appa!"
The siblings turned to see where he was looking. When they saw the giant animal, their eyes widened and Sokka fell back on the snow.
"What the heck is that thing?!"
"A flying bison, remember?"
"That doesn't help it make more sense."
"Why wouldn't it?"
"Because what would a bison be doing out here?"
"I was flying with him."
Sokka stared at the boy with a blank expression. He walked over to his sister and took her hand.
"Okay, I think it's time we left."
"Where are you going?" the smaller boy asked.
Katara started to answer him, but Sokka shook his head.
"Don't tell him. He might follow us."
The pair stopped walking as a strong wind went past them. In shock, they gawked as the boy balanced on a ball of air and moved from his location to in front of them.
"I won't follow you if you don't want me to," he said, "but I thought it'd be fun if we played a game or went sledding on some otter penguin."
Neither sibling could answer him, both being in too much of a state of disbelief at what they were witnessing. Katara found her voice first.
"You're an airbender?"
"Yep, I got my tattoos and everything. Fun, right?"
"B-but how…"
"What's your name?"
"Um, I'm Katara."
"That's pretty. I'm Aang. What's your name?" he asked, looking at the other boy.
"He's my brother, Sokka."
"I always thought it would be cool to have a brother."
"It's okay. Some of the other brothers in our tribe are nicer than he is."
Sokka finally recovered slightly from his surprise. "Her name's not Katara, mine's not Sokka, and yours probably isn't Aang, spy."
"I'm not a spy," Aang insisted. "Why do you think that I am?"
"How else would there be a random airbender here with a random bison? It's a setup, but we're not falling for it. Did the Fire Nation capture someone from the Northern Water Tribe to freeze you? They probably said they'd pay you or are you their servant?"
"I like the Fire Nation–"
"Ha! You admit it! Spy!"
"No, I didn't! I just said I like it. I like the Earth Kingdom too and the Water Tribes, but no one from any nation has ever paid me while I was visiting and I'm definitely nobody's servant."
Sokka still looked doubtful and Katara went over to Aang.
"I believe you. We just haven't seen any airbenders. We thought they were all gone."
"Why would you think that?"
The girl's expression became hesitant. She was not sure how to tell him, but she also was not sure how he did not already know. Before she made up her mind on how to deliver the news, Aang used a blast of air to propel himself onto Appa's back.
"I can give you two a lift to your home," he offered cheerfully.
"Okay!"
Sokka sighed at Katara's enthusiasm as she happily went over to the new animal. She hopped onto the saddle before he could stop her.
"Come on, Sokka," she encouraged. "We might never get to ride on a flying bison again."
Grumbling under his breath, the boy climbed up and crossed his arms. The others were too happy to notice and Aang held the reins attached to the saddle.
"Yip yip!"
Sokka lifted an eyebrow at him. "You've got a weird sneeze."
"It's my signal for him to start flying. Appa, yip yip!"
Slowly, the animal lifted his head and jumped. Katara and Sokka felt their stomachs go into their throats as they splashed into the water. The splash caused a big wave that soaked Sokka.
"How did it not get either of you?" he asked, frowning.
They both shrugged and he started wringing out his sleeves.
"Sorry to break it to you, Aang the not spy, but this isn't flying."
"He's just tired from being in the ice for so long," the airbender said, patting his friend's head.
"And I guess we'll just pretend that's not weird enough on its own," Sokka commented, looking suspicious.
Aang shifted a bit under the skeptical gaze and Katara frowned at the other boy.
"Leave him alone, Sokka. He's probably tired too. We can ask him questions later." She paused. "But I do have to tell you that the Fire Nation is in our tribe, so when we get there, try to not get spotted. I don't know what they'd do if they found another airbender."
Though he did not understand her concern, Aang nodded. "Okay, but why is the Fire Nation in your tribe?"
"They took over and now they're looking for the Avatar."
The boy's eyes widened some and his grip on the reins tightened. "Why?"
"Probably to kill him," Sokka answered. "Seems in line with what they've been doing."
He noticed as Aang's face turned ashen, but the boy switched subjects and began talking with Katara again about sledding. Though Sokka did not feel any less suspicious, he decided to wait. When they got closer to the tribe, the warrior-in-training had Aang stop.
"This is where we are. If you go too much further, someone will see this thing."
"Appa," Aang corrected.
"This Appa thing then," Sokka said, rolling his eyes. "He's giant. The soldiers will see him, so we're going to have to get off here."
"He's right," Katara added, sliding off the bison.
When she got close to the water, she turned some of it into ice again for her and her brother. Aang's eyes widened and he grinned.
"You're a waterbender! Fun!"
Sokka brought a finger to his mouth, shushing him. "Keep it down. No one outside of our tribe can know that."
"Why?"
"They'll try to kill her."
Horror flashed on Aang's face. "Just for being a waterbender? What's been going on while I was in the ice."
"A lot if this seems strange to you," Sokka commented, squinting at him. "Just when did you get stuck there?"
"I don't know."
Katara's eyes lit up and she turned to the nonbender. "Dad would probably be excited to find out that there's an airbender with us. Maybe Aang could help with the attack."
"What attack?" the boy asked, back on the large air ball.
Sokka just looked at him for a few moments. "I don't know if I'm ever going to get used to that." He shook his head, refocusing. "As far as you know, there is no attack." Turning to Katara, he added, "Let's tell Dad first and see what he wants to do."
"I'll stay with Aang," the girl volunteered, warranting a frown from her brother. "What? He'll probably make you dizzy by spinning around in the air. Besides, I think his airbending is cool."
Hearing this, Aang beamed proudly. Sokka let out a sigh at the two of them.
"Fine, but the machete comes back out if he hurts you."
"I won't hurt her."
"You better not," the brother warned, a serious look on his face.
Hesitantly, he left the other children and found his dad in their hut. Hakoda was looking over the plans, a hand on his chin and his eyes quickly shifting to different places.
"If Bato goes there, he could have the high ground," he mumbled before noticing the boy's presence.
"Dad, Katara and I found an airbender."
The chief could only blink at him initially.
"An…airbender?" he finally asked. "Where was he?"
"In an iceberg apparently. Maybe we can thaw some more out to fight with us. We've got a bunch of icebergs. There's no telling how many are around here."
Hakoda was struggling to process what he had heard. Seeing this, Sokka just took his hand and led him to where the others were. The chief saw the airbender markings and could not hide his expression of pure shock.
"You're an airbending master?"
"Yep! I'm Aang."
"You're so young."
"I did a lot of training with Monk Gyatso and the others."
"The others?" Hakoda echoed, confused.
"Yeah, the other airbending masters have been teaching me for as long as I can remember." He paused, frowning a little. "Katara and Sokka said that there's going to be an attack."
Sokka shook his head, looking at his father. "Katara did. I didn't."
"Tattletale," the girl complained.
They bickered as Hakoda kept trying to consider what to do next. Finally, he made his decision.
"We'll have the attack as planned, but Aang won't be part of it. He's just a child like the two of you."
"What about those other airbender icicles?" Sokka asked, pointing towards where they had found the stranger.
"There aren't others in the ice," the newcomer informed him. "I didn't come here with anybody."
Disappointment filled Sokka and Katara had a sad look on her face as she looked at Aang, then her family. This was quickly understood by the father.
"Aang," he said, "you're welcome to stay with our tribe."
"Thanks, but I'll probably head home after everything is done here."
There was a pause which perplexed the boy. He lifted an eyebrow at the family.
"What?"
"It's getting late. Let's discuss plans tomorrow," Hakoda said, trying to stall so that he could think of a comforting way to tell the boy what had happened.
Agreeing, the trio of kids followed him back to the village and huts. Once there, they saw Gran Gran who was starting dinner. She glanced at them curiously before looking completely shocked.
"An airbender," she said quietly.
"Yes, Ma'am. I'm Aang," the boy happily greeted, bowing.
The grandmother glanced at the rest of her family, sharing her feeling of bewilderment with them.
"Welcome then, Aang," she said. "I'm adding the finishing touches to our pickled fish."
Sokka licked his lips and Aang tried to not let his face scrunch in disgust.
"Uh, do you have any meatless options?"
Sokka's jaw dropped. "I knew there was something weird about you. 'Meatless option.' I've never heard of anything so despicable."
Aang began defending his dietary stance when Gran Gran pulled the chief out of the hut.
"Does he know, Hakoda?"
"It doesn't seem like it."
"We have to tell him."
"I know. I'm just trying to think of how to do that."
Gran Gran put a hand on his shoulder, then entered the hut again to finish cooking, also considering something meatless for the visitor. Hakoda prepared a place for the boy to spend the night and would have told him about the other Air Nomads in the morning had he not been gone when everyone awoke
"Where'd he go?" Katara asked, disappointed.
"Off to the firelord probably," Sokka said, getting a throwball tossed at him.
"Maybe he tried to return to one of the Air Temples," Hakoda mentioned.
"But if he does, he'll see what happened to them and be devastated," Katara said miserably.
The chief also hoped that would not be the case, but he could not focus on it for long. He had to get ready for the day and continue training the warriors. Hakoda left to take care of this and soon, it was time for Sokka to head to the shipwreck. He got there at the same time as the firebender.
"Hey, Zuko. You should've been here last night. We saw the weirdest kid…what's wrong?"
Zuko's gaze was not on Sokka but on something behind him. Someone. With wide eyes, he stepped closer, then froze, unsure what to do.
"You," he said slowly, "found the Avatar."
