Freezing- Kataang

Chapter 2

A few days have passed for Aang in the tribe, where he just adjusted his body to the cold and didn’t accept the old women’s ideas of him wearing warmer clothes and even when he tried to explain, they didn’t seem to understand, they kept being worried about him.

The airbender stood up with his boots in the snow, staring at 3 tall men. “They look so serious” Aang complained mentally and sighed memorizing their faces, he missed his people so much, everybody from the water tribe was either way too friendly or treated him like he was some sort of enemy that they should not speak with. The chief’s children fell right into those two categories. Sokka seemed to be really excited about the architecture of the temples, completely ignoring all of Aang’s philosophical ideas or beliefs, while Katara on the other hand just.. seemed busy? She helped the other women cook and clean and in her free time, she stayed in her room, not talking to anyone. The airbender thought that was interesting and if he had the chance to actually talk to her in private, he would ask her about it.

—We are gonna be your masters, Avatar Aang.

One of the eldest masters spoke, making Aang jump in surprise, because he was too distracted about his daydream.

They all said their names, one by one: Pakku, Ikya and Tukkuk. They started explaining the theory of waterbending and Aang got extremely bored and tried his best not to yawn, but failed, and got a scolding look from Pakku, that was slightly shorter than the other two.

—I’m sorry to interrupt you.

Hakoda said gaining Aang’s attention immediately and when he saw Katara near him, her eyes glowed in admiration and she seemed like she couldn’t stand still.

—You said you’ll also train the last waterbender from our tribe while you’ll train the avatar.

The middle-aged man smiled proudly. “she looked so pretty” Aang thought a smile rising on his face at the idea that Katara will train with him.

—Of course, where is he?

Ikya said, making Hakoda back down confused. The girl bit the inside of her cheek and gulped worried. She couldn’t miss out this opportunity, it was her only chance to learn waterbending from a teacher.

—She’s right here.

The Southern Tribe chief said, still confused and the tension between them seem tight. Hakoda put his hand on his daughter’s shoulder, pushing her slightly in front of him, like he was showing her off.

—You never mentioned that she was a girl. In our tribe, we don’t train girls.

Hakoda frowned at him and he was ready to speak up, but his daughter was faster.

—That’s unfair!

She said in a loud voice, receiving a gentle squeeze on her shoulder by her father, as a small warning to be respectful, but Katara had none of that.

—These are our rules.

The eldest said in a serious tone, still pretty calm. Aang looked at them doubtful, in their temples, yes, they made some small differences between men and women, but they only existed so that nobody will feel uncomfortable, the thought of the masters not wanting to train someone just because of their gender seemed like hypocrisy in his eyes. Everybody, no matter their personalities or beliefs deserves to be trained in their own element.

—And this is our tribe!

Katara shouted, desperation taking over her, as her face was getting redder and eyes shined, like they were almost ready to left some tears. But the waterbender would not cry in front of them, she got even more mad, but this time at herself for feeling so emotional.