1 | Flow Like Water [Avatar: The Last Airbender]

Two

        You kept yourself occupied for around thirty minutes before you heard the crunching sound of footsteps in the frozen snow. You stood up so fast you felt dizzy, the water soaking your hand.

        Sokka and Katara!

        You looked at each of your siblings, exhaustion evident on their faces, and ran towards them. You couldn't stop your temper from boiling over.

        "DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW —" you started before stopping yourself; you closed your eyes for a second and took a deep breath. You crossed your arms and with a shake of your head, you looked at them sternly, like a mother scolding her children. "You two. Explain. Now."

        "It was Sokka."

        "It was Sok — wait."

        Letting out a sigh, you enveloped your siblings in a tight hug. "Even though I'm mad, I'm glad you two made it back safely."

        Your gaze shifted behind over your siblings' shoulders and you slightly gasped.

        There was a young boy behind them.

        Immediately pulling away from the hug, you narrowed your eyes at the boy, inspecting him from head-to-toe . . . like predator studying its prey. He was bald, you noted, wearing a long-sleeved yellow shirt that extended to the knee.

        Over the shirt were a loose, orange shawl and an orange belt-like wrap around his waist. He wore brown pants under the shirt, and long red boots that reached his knees were pulled over the leg draping. The arrow on his head and hands struck you as odd.

        Tearing your gaze away from him, you focused your attention back toward Katara and Sokka. "Who is this boy?"

        "He's not just any boy," Katara stated, clasping her hands. "He's an airbender."

        Your eyes widened slightly upon hearing Katara's statement, but somehow you managed to keep a neutral expression. Though you looked completely calm, on the inside you were completely bewildered. You looked at the kid in disbelief.

        Last time anyone had seen an actual airbender was over a hundred years ago, right before the war began. Most, including you, thought they were extinct, wiped out by the Fire Nation. But apparently, that wasn't the case.

        You shook your head and scoffed, "That's impossible."

        "No, it's not," Katara insisted.

        She then began to explain to you what happened on their fishing expedition; she and Sokka accidentally steered their canoe into a rip current, where it was crushed between ice floes.

        Sokka blamed Katara for their predicament, and she began to yell angrily about his inconsiderate behavior, gesturing emphatically as she did so.

        Unknown to her, she was involuntarily waterbending, and she accidentally cracked a massive iceberg directly behind her. A large, spherical underwater portion bobbed to the surface, revealing the boy and a flying bison named Appa, both trapped in a state of suspended animation.

        Katara grabbed Sokka's club and shattered the iceberg to free them. But as she did so, a vertical column of bright blue light shot up from their position into the sky like a beacon. Aang offered to escort them home on Appa.

        "Giant light beams . . . flying bison . . . airbenders . . ." you murmured in a distant voice.

        "[Name]?" Katara's voice brought you out of your thoughts.