Sokka's pov
"I'm not one to complain, but can't Appa fly any higher?" I felt restless.
"I have an idea. Why don't we all get on your back and you can fly us to the North Pole." Aang snapped.
Tch, "I'd love to!" I flaunted my back towards him, "Climb on Y/N!"
"Uh-huh" She replied absentmindedly. She must be tired.
"See! Even Y/N's feeling the agony."
"Look, we're all just a little tired and cranky because we've been flying for two days straight." Katara mediated.
"And for what?" I groaned, "We can't even find the Northern Water tribe. There's nothing up here."
"AHH!" A spike of ice shot up from the water— and we narrowly escaped. They came one after the other and we barely managed to avoid each one. One of them caught Appa's feet, he was frozen in place. A few boats emerged behind the surrounding icebergs, and they bounded Appa to the ocean.
"They're water benders." Katara said as the boats approached us. "We found the water tribe."
"More like they found us." I joked.
"What is your business." An elder man inquired.
"We're Sokka and Katara of the Southern water tribe, we are with the avatar and his guardian." Katara answered.
"Our sister tribe! Well why didn't you say so earlier?" He joked, "let us lead you into our home." They unfroze the ice on Appa and they guided us towards their tribe.
"There it is!" Aang pointed towards the towering ice wall ahead of us, the water tribe insignia was emblazoned on the wall. I was captured by the sight.., my first time seeing our sister tribe.
"The Northern water tribe." Katara gazed.
"We're finally here." I stated.
The benders created an opening on the wall and guided us inside. We swam into a enclosed pool, with more benders standing on the walls above, they poured water into the pool and lowered the wall in front of us, revealing the ethereal city of Agna Qel'a. Ice structures as far as the eye could see, seeing the greatness of the water tribe exhilarated me.
"I can't believe how many waterbenders live up here." Katara said, equally as spellbound.
"We'll find a master to teach us no problem." Aang replied.
"Isn't it amazing, Y/N?" I asked.
"Yeah, it is." I felt the tinge of sadness muddled with her reply. 'What's wrong?' She'd been like this since we got to the North Pole, but I knew if I asked I wouldn't get a literal answer.
We swam along the city's canal, and a boat passed by. Y/N's face ran cold and my gaze followed her eyes. White hair, blue eyes.. I made note of the girl on the boat as I shifted my focus from her towards the guy in her company. He had skin fairer than typical water tribesmen, gray eyes and dark brown hair. Is she looking at him? His gaze landed on us; Y/N flinched and hid from his field of sight. Strange.
"Are you okay?" I whispered in her ear. It was as if she couldn't hear me, her chest rose and fell as sweat accumulated on her face. "Are you okay?" Worry seeped from my voice, and I laid my hand on her shoulder as an attempt to comfort her.
"What happened?" Katara asked.
"What's wrong, Y/N?" Aang followed. The sound of Aang's voice snapped her out of her trance.
She looked around and took a deep and calming inhale, "I'm okay." She caressed my hand with her own and I felt the slight shakiness of it.
•
•
"Tonight, we celebrate the arrival of our brother and sister from the Southern tribe." The chief stood beside us and announced us before our banquet. "And they have brought with them two very special people, one of which many of us believed disappeared from the world until now.. the avatar— and his guardian." The room filled with cheers. "We also celebrate my daughter's 16th birthday." He stepped aside and the white haired girl from the boat entered the room. "Princess Yue's wedding is set for next spring." The cheers reverberated around the room.
"Thank you, father. May the great Ocean and Moon spirits watch over us during these troubled times." The princess spoke.
"Now, Master Pakku and his students will perform!" The chief announced and the 3 waterbenders on the stage displayed their excellent control of their bending. Princess Yue sat beside Y/N, "Greetings Princess Yue, I am the avatar's guardian, Y/N."
"Very nice to meet you." Yue replied.
"Are you excited to get married?"
Her eyes sparkled, "I'm elated!"
"You're not scared to wed so young?"
"Not at all, especially if it's with Kota." Yue smiled. "I've known Kota for many years and I know he'll make me very happy."
"He wants to see us at sunrise." Aang exasperated as he came back to our table, the chief had introduced him to Master Pakku.
"That's good." Y/N stood up. "I'm actually pretty tired, so I'm going to hit the sack." She left the banquet and shortly after, the same man from Yue's boat approached. That's weird, I pondered on Y/N's strange reactions.
"Happy birthday, my princess." He bowed in front of Yue and presented her betrothal necklace.
"Kota..." Yue breathlessly admired the necklace's design, "it's beautiful."
"Congratulations, Princess Yue." Katara smiled.
"Congratulations, Princess." I stood up, "I'm done for the night." I left the banquet and headed towards our guest room. Is Y/N in love with Kota? No, I shook my head, why is she avoiding him?
I walked into our room. Y/N was peacefully sleeping in her bed. I knelt beside the bed and ran my fingers through her hair, I wish you'd tell me what was wrong.
•
I conducted a plan to figure out what was bothering Y/N.
"Why'd you guys leave so early?" Katara asked as she walked into the room.
"Nevermind that, I have a favor to ask you." I replied.
"What's wrong?" She recognized the seriousness in my tone.
"Get Yue and her fiancée to hang out with us, only us two."
Her face contorted and 'are you serious?' was plastered across her face. "Do you like Princess Yue?"
"Huh?" I reacted in disbelief, "No."
"Between us, Y/N was worried about you falling for the princess."
Is that why she was acting so strange? Have I done something to make her worry? I looked over to
Y/N's sleeping body. How could I love anyone who isn't you?
"I don't have eyes for anyone else, Katara. I can't go into the specifics of it, but I really need you to come through on the favor."
"Alright, I will."
•
•
It was now evening and I waited for Katara at our meet-point.
"How'd your first day of training go?"
"It didn't." Katara rolled her eyes, "that old fart refused to train me cause I'm a girl and I was stuck learning how to heal."
"Master Pakku is blind, you're practically a boy."
"Hey!" She punched my arm, "I'm helping you, so show some respect."
"Sorry, sorry." I chuckled.
"Greetings." Princess Yue approached us, with Kota walking beside her.
"Princess Yue, Kota." Katara bowed her head and I followed suit.
"What brings us here today?" Kota asked.
"Sokka and I were hoping to connect with our culture during the time of our stay. We would be honored if you taught us the customs of the Northern Water tribe."
"We'd love to!" Yue smiled. "What should we show them first?" She asked Kota.
"Have you guys tried Ice pops?" He asked.
"What's that?" I replied.
"See for yourself." They took us to a shop and bought 4 cones filled with ice drops. When the ice made contact with my tongue, it set them off into explosions. Harmless, delicious and entertaining explosions as I ate them. Wow, we should have this in our tribe. They took us to various other spots and showed us things we had never seen in the Southern water tribe.
"How'd you know she was the one?" I found an opportunity to strike up a conversation with Kota.
Kota gazed at Yue, who was standing out of earshot with Katara. "I knew there was something special about her as soon as I laid my eyes on her and when I got to know her, she proved me right. Was it the same for you?"
"What do you mean?"
"You have the same love stricken sparkle in your eye."
Finally. "Yeah, Y/N is the most amazing person I've ever known." I gauged his reaction, surprise, confusion and.. sadness.
"Her name's Y/N?"
"Yes,.." this was the moment where I would confirm my suspicion, "but why do you go by Kota if your name is B/N?"
His eyes widened, "how do you know that?"
I furrowed in surprise, I wasn't expecting to be right. If B/N wasn't a dream then who is he? There's no way he's her brother. What's his connection to Y/N?.. why did she lie to me? "Who are you"
"That name is behind me, and don't ever mention it to me again." He walked to Yue and they left.
"Sokka, what happened?" Katara asked.
"I'm not sure." My head was spinning trying to connect the dots.
•
"Where'd you guys go?" Aang asked as we arrived in the room.
"Princess Yue and Kota gave us a tour." I flopped onto my bed.
"Cool! Did you guys have fun?"
"We did, but I'm still bummed cause Master Pakku won't teach me." Katara chipped in.
"Aang, you should teach Katara." Y/N suggested.
"Why didn't I think of that?!" Katara's spirit lifted. "At night, you can teach me whatever moves you learn from Master Pakku. That way, you have someone to practice with, and I get to learn waterbending. Everyone's happy!" She dorkily explained. "Come on Aang!" They rushed out the door.
"How'd it go on the tour?" Y/N sat beside me.
"I loved it. I saw the greatness of the Water Tribe." She laid her head on my shoulder as we sat in silence. I looked down at her and we locked eyes. Her beautiful eyes consumed me. She was my light. I studied her face, and her swollen eyes pained me. "Are you okay?"
"Not really." She sighed and wrapped her arms around mine. "Kota reminds me of B/N and I got emotional."
She doesn't know?
"I got reminded of.." she pursed her lips. Of someone you'll never see again.
"Was B/N a person?" She was taken aback, but she didn't look surprised. I could read her like a book, 'should I tell him?'
"How'd you know?"
"Kota is B/N."
"What?" She breathed out. "What did you say?"
A million thoughts raced her mind in her disbelief of realization.
"Kota is B/N." The door burst open, "Master Pakku caught us!" Katara gasped for air.
"He said he won't teach me anymore!" Aang followed behind her.
"We have to talk to the chief tomorrow! He can't do this." She exclaimed.
•
•
"What do you want me to do, force Master Pakku to take Aang back as his student?" One of the elders of the counsel spoke.
Y/N stayed in our room, too shooken about last night's commotion.
"Yes. Please." Katara replied.
"I suspect he might change his mind if you swallow your pride and apologize to him." The chief suggested.
"Fine." She spat.
"I'm waiting, little girl." Master Pakku taunted her.
"No!" She balled her fists, "no way am I apologizing to a sour old man like you!" She shattered the two urns in the room. "I'll be outside if you're man enough to fight me." The room gasped.
Katara stormed out of the room and we followed behind her.
"Are you crazy, Katara? You're not gonna win this fight." My goodness, she's a bomb.
"I know. I don't care." She stripped her coat.
But she's my sister. "Beat some sense into that guy."We exchanged smirks. Pakku approached the ledge of the stairs we had walked down from.
"You showed up." Katara said. Pakku walked down the set of stairs and passed us.
"Aren't you gonna fight!?" Katara yelled.
"Go back to the healing huts with the other women, where you belong." Pakku degraded.
Katara whipped the back of his head. "Coward!"
"Fine." He stopped in his tracks, "you want to learn to fight so bad, study closely." He summoned the water in the pools nearby toward him and knocked Katara's running body back. We watched as Katara held her own against the bending master, but was ultimately defeated.
"This fight is over." Pakku walked from the fight scene and stumbled upon Katara's fallen necklace. "This.. is my necklace."
"No it's not, t's mine! Give it back." Katara demanded.
"I made this 60 years ago... for the love of my life—for Kanna." He reminisced.
"My gran-gran was supposed to marry you?"
"I craved this necklace for your grandmother when we got engaged. I thought we would have a long happy life together. I loved her."
"But she didn't love you, did she? It was an arranged marriage."
"Gran-gran wouldn't let stupid customs run her life. That's why she left.. it must have taken a lot of courage."
"I'll train you." He yielded.
•
I stood outside our door. I was ready to finish last night's conversation. I tilted the door knob and entered the room. She looked back at me, and flashed a meek smile my way. "Who's B/N?"
—
It's a real bitch birthday today 😛🙏🏽🔞 I appreciate the readers who wished me a happy birthday