Out on the open water, a small canoe bobbed with the beat of the waves. The gentleness of the air was like a lullaby, coaxing one of the boat's passengers to sleep. Water lapping around them, a peaceful—
"It's not getting away from me this time! Watch and learn ladies," Sokka declared as he glanced toward the two girls sharing the boat with him. The eldest of the trio shot up from her sleepy daze, a little guilty for resting while the siblings took the lead on their hunt for fish. But she was so close to falling asleep, a few minutes couldn't hurt, right?
So much for peaceful. Sokka wasn't gonna let that happen.
"This is how you catch a fish."
y/n and Katara shared a look before peeking over the edge of the boat. A fish swimming peacefully below the surface took their attention, leaving the boy performing for himself.
Katara, ever so eager, didn't hesitate when slipping off her gloves. She let out a breath before using her water-bending abilities, scooping the fish out of the water.
"Sokka, look!" The girl exclaimed while controlling an orb of water, the fish still swimming within.
"Shh, Katara, you're gonna scare him away. Mmm, I can already smell it cooking." Of course, her elder brother failed to acknowledge the feat. At least y/n seemed impressed with her catch.
Y/n sighed, growing tired of his dismissiveness. "Sokka, she caught one, you dumbass."
He drew back his spear, too distracted by his hunt to notice what was going on behind him. But y/n knew exactly what was about to happen, backing away. She leaned back into her new seat, ready to view her next source of teasing material. He was about to make a fool of himself, no doubt.
"Hey!" Katara shouted.
The end of his spear ruptured the bubble of water, just as y/n expected. The boy now thoroughly doused in frigid seawater, she couldn't stifle the chuckle that slipped past her lips. Granted, her feet got caught in the crossfire, but Katara was kind enough to use her abilities to dry them off.
"Why is it that every time you play with magic water, I get soaked?" he complained still dripping wet. It seemed only fair he suffered for his crimes.
"It's not magic. It's waterbending. And it's..." Katara started.
Sokka cut her off, "Yeah, yeah – an ancient art unique to our culture, blah, blah, blah... Look I'm just saying that if I had weird powers, I'd keep my weirdness to myself."
"You're calling her weird?" Y/n commented, still leaning back as comfortably as one could on a wooden dinghy. "She's not the one who makes muscles at herself every time she sees her reflection in the water."
Making muscles at his mirror image topping the frigid water below, she sighed. Y/n wouldn't have been able to stop herself from rolling her eyes if she were dead. Upset by the taunt and disappointed that she wasn't impressed by him, Sokka glared the eldest down.
Katara, while holding her tongue, slipped her gloves back on. She too couldn't stand her brother's vanity and was surprised he was still trying that shtick. She thought he'd understood by now that his 'muscles' would never impress y/n, no matter how obvious he flaunted them. Oftentimes, Katara had to question if he was actually older than her because he certainly never acted like it.
A sudden jolt to the boat knocked the three into reality. A current caught the canoe, pulling it further into the landscape, picking up speed at an alarming rate. Sokka grabbed a paddle, in an attempt to steer through the terrain ahead of them. Ahead, two icy masses were creeping closer to each other, and their small boat was headed straight toward it.
"Watch out! Go left! Go left!" The girls panicked shouts echoed between the towering ice caps. Any essence of serenity the atmosphere once held dissipated completely.
The boat bounced off the icebergs coming at them from all sides. Their dodge-and-evade tactic would only work for so long. Just in the nick of time, the three leaped from the dinghy only to watch their only means of transportation be destroyed. A set of icebergs smashed together, crushing not just the boat but each other. Splinters of wood and ice drifted out of sight, leaving them abandoned.
With a huff, y/n crossed her arms, slumping in defeat. Her favorite fishing spear was on that boat, now lost in the freezing depths of the water below. She was not looking forward to breaking in a new one. That particular spear had been hers since she was ten years old. She had grown rather fond of it.
"You call that left?" Katara broke the silence.
"You don't like my steering. Well, maybe you should have 'waterbended' us out of the ice," Sokka replied.
"So, it's my fault."
"Ugh, I knew I should have left you two at home. Leave it to some girls to screw things up."
"Excuse me?" y/n questioned.
"You are the most sexist, immature, nut-brained – ugh! I'm embarrassed to be related to you!" Katara screamed.
Behind her, the water raged, waves towering and huge. The landscape felt her wrath. A massive iceberg started to crack. Sokka and y/n watched on in horror, the fracturing only reaching further into the ice. Sokka winced and y/n's jaw went slack.
"...Ever since mom died, I've been doing all the work around camp, while you've been off playing soldier."
"Ah... Katara..," y/n attempted to intervene. While she understood the girl's anger, this display was much too dangerous considering the situation they were in. She needed to calm down or they'd be in even deeper trouble.
The girl didn't pause for a breath, "I even wash all the clothes, have you ever smelled your dirty socks? Let me tell you, NOT PLEASANT!" She stomped, the cracks growing larger.
"Katara! Settle down!" Sokka warned.
"NO! That's it, I'm done helping you. From now on, you're on your own!" With one final throw of her arms, the waves crashed, and the iceberg splintered right up the middle. With a heavy collapse, the fragments' waves pushed the group away. They gripped the edge of their ice raft before they could slip into the icy depths below.
"Okay, you've gone from weird to freakish, Katara," Sokka admits.
"You mean, I did that?" She couldn't believe her eyes.
"Yep, congratulations."
A bright blue glow appeared beneath the surface. Freighted, they retreated, at least as much as they could on their raft. An iceberg even larger than the one Katara destroyed emerged, the source of the glow.
The three looked on in utter confusion. They wondered at the glowing orb, noting the odd refraction within. The silhouette of a person shown through.
The body within opened its eyes, piercing them all with their intense blue radiance.
Katara was the first to react, "He's alive. We have to help." Grabbing Sokka's club, she approached the iceberg.
"Katara! Get back here!" Sokka cautioned, but no matter how serious he was, she wasn't listening. While he was often childish and impatient, he wasn't one to act recklessly. But his sister was different in that way. "We don't know what that thing is!"
Not even a second later, y/n followed. They were her responsibility after all.
Katara reached the iceberg and began beating it with the club to no avail. With growing aggression and determination, she continued. Suddenly, a gust of wind escaped the ice mass and it cracked and rumbled. A pillar of bright blue pierced the sky and above, a beautiful sea of light formed. The glow danced above them.
Icey and bitter, the wind burnt y/n's skin cold, and she was forced to close her eyes. As it died down, Sokka raised his spear toward the iceberg where he, the boy within, crawled out.
"Stop!"
The light faded and the boy fainted, tumbling to the ground. Before he hit the ground, Katara caught him. Sokka tapped the boy's head with the blunt end of his jaw-bone spear.
"Stop it!" She pushed him away, guarding the unknown boy. After resting him against the iceberg, the boy, bald with arrow tattoos on his head and hands, came to.
The tattoos seemed familiar to y/n, not that she'd seen them or the boy before. But she couldn't shake the feeling that she knew them from somewhere. She could only recognize feelings of boundless curiosity from her childhood... and the soft voice of her mother talking her to sleep.
"I need to ask you something," the boy rasped.
Katara's attention piqued even more, "What?"
"Please, come closer," he beckoned. Sokka approached, cautious, ready to act if necessary.
"What is it?" Katara asked once more.
"Will you go penguin sledding with me?"