What war?
It was bothering me that I couldn't figure out what he meant by that. He should know about the war, right? Especially since it's been going on long before I was born. Unless he's really, really, sheltered.
Katara ran by the mouth of the igloo, so with nothing better to do, I left my bag in my bed and ran after her.
"Katara!" I yelled as I caught up. She didn't really slow down. "Where are you going?"
"To find Aang. I'm sure he can teach me something."
"Ok..." I replied.
If only I was a waterbender like her, maybe we could figure out something together.
We slid down a mound of snow and found Aang with a bunch of penguins on the other side.
Never had I seen someone try to tackle a penguin. First time for everything.
Once he noticed us, he smiled, "I have a way with animals."
The penguins were avoiding our area.
"Aang, I'll help you catch a penguin, if you teach me waterbending." Katara smiled at him.
"You got a deal!" Aang smiled back and airbent himself off the ground. "Just one little problem, I'm an airbender, not a waterbender. Isn't there someone in your tribe who can teach you?"
Katara looked down at the ground.
If only there was. I can't imagine the happiness it would bring her.
"No. You're looking at the only waterbender in the whole South Pole."
I had long since given up on coming up with ideas for her. Not even the oldest people in our tribe could teach us anything to do with waterbending. It just felt completely hopeless.
"... turn right at the second glacier. It's on the other side of the world."
"But you forget, I have a flying bison. Appa and I can personally fly you to the North Pole. Katara, we're gonna find you a master."
Hold on, now. I tuned out for one small second and now we're going to the North Pole?
"That's—I mean... I don't know. I've never left home before..." Katara actually seemed to be considering this.
Leave the South Pole? That seems way outside the realm of reality. I know, one hundred percent, I'm definitely dying here. No matter what I want.
"Well, you think about it," Aang shot me another smile, "In the meantime, can you teach me to catch one of these penguins?"
Catching penguins turned into penguin sledding, and I can honestly say that I've never had this much fun in my entire life. But I have been penguin sledding before, so something tells me it's more about Aang being fun.
Because I was starting to learn that Aang was very, very fun. And funny.
The three of us landed in a pile of snow and laughter at the bottom of the hill. We slowly climbed out and waved the penguins goodbye, giggling.
Everyone stopped laughing when Aang noticed the ship.
I had honestly completely forgotten that it existed.
"What is that?" Aang ran up to it and we followed behind.
"A Fire Nation ship. And a very bad memory for our people," Katara answered him.
We stared at it for a couple of seconds.
I remember very clearly, when Katara and I were really young, and when we had just each lost a parent, we'd sit next to this ship and pretend we had captured it ourselves. We'd pretend that we had single handedly stopped the war.
Aang started walking a little closer.
"Aang, stop! We're not allowed to go near it," Katara reached a hand out to stop him but even she wouldn't step into the shadow of the ship.
"It could be booby-trapped," she added.
He simply turned around and said, "If you want to be a bender, you have to let go of fear."
Of course she does.
Katara grabbed my arm and walked both of us towards the opening.
The ship was ice cold and silent. The only sounds were our footsteps and a couple squeaks that came from down a hallway.
The three of us explored the ship silently, peaking our heads into rooms and trying not to step in places where the metal was damaged.
We came into a small room that was filled with weapons. Aang looked confused.
"This ship has haunted our tribe since Gran Gran was a little girl. It was apart of the Fire Nation's first attacks." Katara practically whispered.
Aang turned around from the weapons and looked genuinely stressed and confused. "Okay. Back up. I have friends all over the world, even in the Fire Nation. I've never seen any war."
I was honestly dumbfounded at this point. If what he was saying was true, then... then...
"Aang... how long were you in that iceberg?" Katara asked him.
'How long' echoed in my head. If he's never seen any war, it's got to be a very long time.
The world was slowly shrinking in on me, the burden was becoming heavier and heavier. There aren't any other airbenders in the world, are there?
Aang picked up a spear and set it down. "I don't know, a few days maybe."
Katara and I met eyes before she said anything else. We both knew how long he was in that iceberg, and it was not just a few days.
"I think it was more like a hundred years," She said.
"What? That's impossible. Do I look like a 112-year old man to you?" He held up his arms to prove his point.
"Aang, the war is a century old. You don't know about it because... you were in there the whole time," I told him.
And that means there are no more airbenders. It's just me and him. The amount of stress that had replaced the new relief I got today was unprecedented.
I watched it slowly dawn on him as he sat to the ground.
"A hundred years. I can't believe it."
We sat down on either side of him.
"I'm sorry, Aang," Katara said.
After one hundred years, it was Katara, Sokka, and I in our little rickety canoe that broke open his iceberg. What kind of luck is that?
And what kind of luck is the last two airbenders in the entire world finding each other after one hundred years?
I can't possibly deserve that role. What am I going to do now?
"Maybe, somehow there's a bright side to all of this," Katara continued.
She was taking this surprisingly well. Although, I'd never seen anything truly surprise Katara.
Aang smiled and turned to Katara, and then to me, "I did get to meet you guys."
Katara and I smiled.
"Come on, let's get out of here," Katara stood and pulled the both of us up with two hands.
We were just on our way out when Aang tripped and ran into us. I wouldn't have thought much about it, but as soon as he tripped, a metal gate closed off the exit.
"What's that you said about booby traps?" Aang asked.
And then every single clock and alarm went off inside the ship, smoke and steam exploded from rusty pipes and an explosion went off at the surface.
We ran to a window and watched a flare make its way up into the sky and then explode into a bright light.
That's really bad. For the most part the Fire Nation leaves us alone. I can imagine because it takes so much effort to get out here, and there isn't much of the South Pole left. But we just directly antagonized any Fire Nation ship still out here.
It's really, really bad.
"Uh, oh..." Aang mumbled.
I frantically searched around for another way out until my eyes landed directly above me. A perfectly circular hole that we could fit through.
I jumped up, grabbed a hold of the edge, and pulled myself up. Katara and Aang followed behind me.
We were way too high above the ground to jump, we'd have to—
An arm snaked around my waist.
What's happening.
"Hold on, tight," Aang said. He popped open his glider and pulled me in even closer.
Guess we're doing this now...
Katara held onto the back as he shot off from the ship. The gust of wind pushed my hair back sharply and kept my eyes closed. I could hear Katara screaming faintly. But all that was running through my mind was exhilaration.
This is fantastic!
When Aang stopped rising, I could open my eyes. We were way high above the ground, and speedily making our way back towards the snow field, over the small mountain we sled down, and back to the entrance of the village.
Eventually Katara stopped screaming and Aang landed us three nicely on the snow.
I could only turn to Aang when we landed and return a smile just as bright as his was.
Katara was kneeling in the snow, panting, and holding a piece of ice to her face.
"Never again, never, ever, again," she whispered to herself.
Right on cue, the entire village came running towards us with Gran Gran and Sokka leading the group.
All the little kids giggled and ran to greet Aang. But I was seeing everyone else's faces, and genuinely dreading what they were going to say.
Maybe no one saw the flare? I mean, nobody's ever out here. Right?
Sokka burst from the group, "I knew it! You signaled the Fire Nation with that flare! You're leading them straight to us, aren't you?"
Exactly to our left, over the water and under the sun, the flare was still falling in the distance.
Katara immediately came to his defence, "Aang didn't do anything! It was an accident."
"Yeah, we were on the ship, and there was this booby trap, and well... we boobied right into it." Aang only made his case worse.
"Girls, you shouldn't have gone on that ship. Now we could all be in danger," Gran Gran stared at the both of us.
I was silently hoping the earth would swallow me whole.
"Don't blame them. I brought them there. It's my fault."
Sokka stepped forwards, "A-ha! The traitor confesses! Warriors," he addressed the kids, "...away from the enemy! The foreigner is banished from our village."
It burst from my mouth before I could stop it, "What!?"
Katara hands closed into fists, "You're making a mistake."
"No, I'm keeping my promise to dad. I'm protecting you from threats like him."
"Aang is not our enemy!" Katara gestured to him. "Don't you see? Aang's brought us something we haven't had in a long time—fun."
Oof, Sokka's not gonna like that.
"Fun!? We can't fight firebenders with fun!"
Aang spoke up, "You should try it sometime."
Sokka turned to him, "Get out of our village now!"
If these two could just stop fighting.
Katara looked back at Gran Gran, "Grandmother, please, don't let Sokka do this."
"Katara, you knew going on that ship was forbidden. Sokka is right. I think it best if the airbender leaves."
Well if that's the case then I guess I should be leaving too. How is this possibly fair to anybody?
Like Katara was reading my mind, "Fine, then I'm banished, too."
"What?" I asked for the second time.
Katara grabbed Aang's hand and started leading him to the bison.
"Where do you think you're going!?" Sokka called after her.
"To find a waterbender. Aang's taking me to the North Pole!" Katara yelled back.
"I am? Great. But what about—"
I ran to catch up to them, "Katara, you're not thinking clearly—" I tried to talk some sense into her but she pushed me aside.
She can't travel to the other side of the world out of impulsivity. If she's really going to do this, I'm making sure she goes the right way: after she's made up with Sokka.
"Katara, would you really choose him over your tribe? Over your own family?" Sokka interrupted my thoughts.
Aang turned to Katara, "Katara, I don't want to come between you and your family."
I walked to catch up with them and Katara took my hand as an apology.
"So... you're leaving the South Pole?" She asked him. "This is goodbye?"
Wait—
"Thanks for penguin sledding with me." Aang smiled at both of us.
I can't let him leave. We're the only airbenders in the world. I have to make him stay, right? It feels like an obligation. But is it my duty to do that? I have no idea what to do.
I wish my parents were still alive so they could tell me.
"Where will you go?" Katara asked him.
"Guess I'll go back home and look for the airbenders. Wow, I haven't cleaned my room in a hundred years. Not looking forward to that."
A large pit settled at the bottom of my stomach.
Aang airbent himself up onto Appa.
My tongue felt tied to the top of my mouth.
"It was nice meeting everyone," Aang called out to the group still behind us.
"Let's see your bison fly now, Air Boy!" Sokka lovingly called back.
"Come on, Appa, you can do it. Yip yip!"
Appa didn't do anything.
One of the kids ran back over to us, "Aang don't go. I'll miss you."
"I'll miss you, too." As he said it, his eyes drifted over to me.
I've never so quickly connected with anyone else.
It's eerily similar to how my grandfather described it when he first saw Buniq. An instant connection. And when she left that day, he felt like a part of himself was leaving with her.
For goodness sake, we're both airbenders! Why is it so hard for me to say something?
Eventually the moment ended and Aang turned around on his bison, "Come on, boy."
After watching him leave, I finally understood exactly how my grandfather felt that day.
Gran Gran walked up behind us and put a hand on Katara's shoulder. "Katara, you'll feel better after you—"
Katara turned sharply, "Are you happy, now? There goes my one chance of becoming a waterbender!"
She marched back in the direction of the village.
I spared Gran Gran an apologetic glance before quickly hurrying after her. I had to do something else first.
I found Katara standing in the middle of the village, staring into the fire.
I stepped in between her and the fire, "Katara?"
Her eyes were void of any anger and it made me feel a little bit better about what I was going to do.
"What?"
"I have to tell you something... about me."
She straightened and appeared empathetic, "What is it?"
There it was again. That feeling. Why was this so impossibly hard? It's not like she's going to hate me for this, and it isn't something terrible.. It's just something... that I am. It's not hard, just say it!
"I..."
My tongue was tied, my legs felt weightless, and everything became very, very hot.
Then she started looking worried, "What is it?"
Before I could take another delve into my psych something in the distance threw me off and a different kind of anxiety overcame me.
"Oh, spirits!"
Katara's eyes went large and she grabbed my shoulders, "What is it!"
"No, look!" I pointed behind her.
In the distance and behind the fog was an image so familiar it was dizzying. A Fire Nation ship, on the water, speeding towards us at high speeds.
We had ten minutes, more or less.
The village was suddenly an image of chaos and I completely forgot about confession time.
Sokka dressed up in his warrior outfit and everyone in the entire village gathered around the fire.
The protocol for this was to get everyone outside of the tents, since that's what the soldiers ordered each time and the village learned quickly to do that before they got here.
And also to strategically hide anyone that needed to be hidden.
Of course, that last part didn't apply after Katara's mom...
The point was we didn't have anyone to hide anymore.
...Except that we did. Katara's a waterbender. What if they found that out? What if they found out we tricked them all those years ago?
But it's also entirely possible they're just here to mess with us for a bit about the flare.
I leaned over to Katara while we waited for the ship to arrive, "Katara what if they found out."
She looked at me with an incredulous look, "That's impossible."
I desperately hoped this was for the flare.
Sokka stood at the front of the village with his war paint on. He refused to move, even as the ship was drawing closer and closer.
He can't be stupid enough to let the boat run him over, can he?
The ground began to rumble as the ship ripped through the ice, and he still hadn't moved.
"Sokka get out of the way!" Katara screamed at him.
Sokka was pushed back by a pile of snow and landed at our feet. The ship finally stopped just before sailing right through the wall.
Apparently, he is that stupid.
The last time a ship visited us, I was five, and I didn't quite remember it. I always wished that I could, but now that I see this up close and perfectly vivid, I really wanted it to be a foggy dream.
The ship's front unlatched and fell down into the snow, creating an opening, and revealing at least six people.
Six people dressed in red armor.
Like the idiot he was, Sokka instantly sprang from the ground and ran at these people with his dull club.
He was immediately kicked to the side by the lead guard.
Katara and I gasped, but he was still kicking around in the snow, so we knew he was okay.
That same lead guard walked down to us and got close enough for us to see his face.
He was obviously very young, around Sokka's age. Also, there was a crazy scar over his left eye.
"Where are you hiding him?"
I blinked. What in the world did that mean?
Then it dawned on me, it's not about the flare, it is about Katara. But they thought it was a man?
I grabbed her hand and she squeezed it back.
Quite suddenly, Gran Gran was ripped from Katara's side by the same man. A deep hatred settled in my throat.
"He'd be about this age, master of all elements!"
Now, that, had us really confused.
Why, out of any place and person in this whole world, was this teenager looking for the Avatar, here.
Really can someone tell me what's going on?
Gran Gran was thrown back at us and Katara and I held her back up.
I had another strong urge to pummel his ugly face into the ground.
And then, like the universe was testing my self control, the boy whipped his arms through the air and a lash of fire spit out at us, everyone stumbled backwards and the kids screamed.
"I know you're hiding him!"
Sokka came back into play with his club, the boy simply flipped Sokka onto his back.
Sokka turned back around and threw his boomerang.
I watched the sweet revenge happen when the boy celebrated too early, thinking Sokka had missed, and instead was hit in the back of the head by Sokka's boomerang.
The boy's fists glowed with fire and I realized I had also celebrated too early. We really shouldn't be fighting back.
And then, out of absolutely nowhere (I think the universe was just playing around at this point), Aang came flying on the back of a penguin and knocked the brat off his feet.
To say my heart jumped at the sight of Aang again would be an understatement.
Aang turned to us and smiled, "Hey, Bella. Hey, Katara. Hey, Sokka."
"Hi, Aang. Thanks for comin'" Sokka mumbled.
Bratty Boy regained his composure and stood from the ground. His soldiers dispersed to the sides, and him and Aang locked eyes.
Aang slammed his staff to the ground and covered all the firebenders in snow.
"Looking for me?"
"You're the airbender? You're the Avatar!?"
~
Editing these old chapters is exciting. Great thrill to be able to visit the beginning of this character, again.
Also very cringey holy god how was anybody reading this back then my eyeballs would've caught fire