Avatar Kansa: The Third Avatar

Chapter 1

"Kansa!"

I smiled. Nothing could've stopped me now. I felt I could fly. I always dreamed of flying. Feeling weightless in the air. The clouds beneath me. I glanced behind me at my twin sister, Kata. There she was, on her penguin, trying to will it to catch up to me.

"Are you that speck in the distance?" I turned around, squinting. "You're so far behind me. Kata, you've got to go faster!" I laughed as she shook her head.

"You need to work on your insults," she shouted back disappointedly.

We finally came to a slow stop, snow kicking up at our feet. We held our hands over our eyes, shielding them as they adjusted to the sunlight reflected off the snow. The cold bit at our pink noses. When Kata slowed, snow kicked up onto my fur coat.

"Hey!" I shouted. She only giggled.

"Well, your fault," she shrugged. "You stood right there."

I closed my eyes, took off my glove, and waterbended the snow off me and onto Kata. She was quick, however, and she reflected more snow back at me. At this point, the penguins had gotten bored and made their leave, leaving us no protection from each other.

"You're on, Kata," I laughed.

"Good luck. You're no match for my waterbending skills," she mocked.

Before I could lift a finger, Kata sent a wave of snow my way. I dodged, sending a chunk of ice up from the ground and slicing thin discs, sending them over one by one. She lifted a wall of ice where my discs would get stuck. She then lifted several more walls up, creating a snow fortress almost instantaneously.

"Now that's not fair, Kata! I can't make a snow fortress!"

Kata only shrugged. "Well, I'm the eldest and I pay attention when Mom is teaching."

"You only beat me by four minutes. Only four!"

She shrugged. "I guess I'm just a waterbending prodigy."

"Yeah, right." We both glanced up at the sun. It was nearly noon.

"We'd better head back. We still have to check on Gran Gran," Kata finally said.

I huffed. "She's the reason we're all stuck in this place. If it wasn't for Gran Gran, we'd be off on some tropical island with the other waterbenders. Instead, we're here in the North Pole freezing to death."

Kata gasped. "Don't talk about Gran Gran that way. She is a brave woman who left her home to start a new nation where no one will find us. Not even the Avatar."

I laughed. "You don't really believe in that stuff, do you? The Avatar died a long time ago. Besides, you think some 'all powerful' being is going to waste time picking on you? That's my job."

"Hilarious." Before someone could make another snarky remark, we heard the sound of another horn echo across the snowy plain. Our eyes widened. What could this mean?

Kata and I sprinted as fast as we could back to our village. We knew our parents wouldn't be pleased that we were late, but we had to check on Gran Gran first and foremost. I knew I had to. Today was my turn. If I didn't, I'd have to dread it until tomorrow.

I waved goodbye to my sister as I raced just outside the village to my grandmother's ice hut. I threw the tarp open only to find the senile old lady sitting ever so still. She smiled at me.

"Hello, Shinyu. It's nice to see you," she said. I sighed, sitting at her side, filling her some water.

"Gran Gran, it's me, Kansa. Not Shinyu."

"Oh, Shinyu, you are very funny. Nothing will ever change with you. Well, maybe that's not necessarily true."

I sighed again. Outwardly, Gran annoyed me beyond reason whenever I saw her nowadays. On the inside, however, I wouldn't let anything happen to her even though I felt like she had wronged me somehow. Whenever I tried to find the origin of this feeling, though, I couldn't trace it to a specific experience. I couldn't explain it. Even though she never got my name right, she was my favorite person besides Kata. When I'm with her, I want to tend to her every need, make sure she's safe. When I'm not, though, I dread going to see her. It's almost as if I'm a different person when I'm around her.

As I waterbended some tea into some teacups, Gran Gran smiled. "Shinyu, your bending has come quite a long way since I taught you all those years ago."

"Gran, you didn't teach me to waterbend. My mother did. Kanya?"

Gran chuckled. "Shinyu, Kanya wasn't around yet. You're being crazy. Joke time is over."

"Gran-"

"Shinyu, you need to leave. Stop calling me Gran Gran! It's Kona. Now go!"

This was why I dreaded visiting her. She was losing her memory and was furious every time I tried to correct her. I bowed my head graciously and stood, leaving without a word. I pulled my hood up as it had begun to blizzard. I wondered if this was Gran Gran's doing. She was a powerful bender growing up. Some say Kata will follow in her footsteps. I prayed she wouldn't. I couldn't bear seeing Kata in Gran's state of mind.

I trudged through the storm until I finally made it back to my village. I glanced around. No one was out. The only place with smoke coming from it was the chief's igloo, though it was the only thing I could see in the storm. The horn must have sounded to signal a meeting, though it usually didn't. A new tradition, perhaps? I knew my entrance would bring relief and anger at the same time, so I treaded lightly. I slowly opened the tarp, only for everyone to freeze and turn to look at me. I swallowed. The chief stared me down as I made my way up to the front, taking my seat next to Kata.

"Sorry I'm late," I whispered to my sister. "What's this about?"

She shrugged. "I think it's for our birthday," she said. "We are sixteen, after all. Perhaps he's already picked our husbands for us."

I cringed at the idea. "Unfortunately, that's not out of the realm of possibility."

The chief, Haraka, stood, silencing the room. He smiled, trying to make light. "Today is a momentous day! It is on this day sixteen years ago that my daughters were born. Festivities will follow. Now, this is an important year. My eldest, Kata, will join me and become my right hand. She will rule beside me until I am gone, so she is fully prepared to be your chief. Let us all welcome her as our future chief!"

The village roared with cheer. I couldn't help but grin as I watched my sister beam with pride. I couldn't have been happier.

Just then, every torch and candle had been blown out. We were left in almost complete darkness. We thought it was just the storm, but the storm had already cleared. The tarp blew open to reveal eight old men, four dressed in blue, the others dressed in orange and yellow. The ones dressed in blue were our village elders. The others were, much to our shock, outsiders.

"Chief Haraka," the Head Elder spoke. "We have some news to tell you."

"Who are these people? There have been no outsiders since we came here seventy years ago. What business have you here?" my father demanded.

The strangers' leader stepped forward. "We have reason to believe that the Avatar is in our presence." We all gasped.

Each child in our tribe was told the horrors of the Avatar. How he would reek havoc on all. How he forced all of us from our homes on the islands to this icy wasteland. How evil and maniacal. He had so much power and used it poorly. Grandfather would tell the stories to the youth himself when he lived. Now my father carries on his legacy, as Kata will do one day. But now was the time to panic. The Avatar/ Among us? How awful. We were all on alert.

"Where?" my father demanded. "Who is the Avatar?"

The Elders and outsiders all pointed at who they thought the Avatar was. The all had one same answer.

Me.