Avatar - The Last Airbender (Storyteller Version)

Chapter 1: The Boy in the Iceberg

On the edge of the South Pole, two siblings — a boy and a girl — paddled their canoe through frigid waters. The boy's name was Sokka, and he was 15 years old. His sister, Katara, was 14. This morning the children were fishing among the ice floes. Sokka, who proclaimed himself to be an expert at catching fish, was prepared to snare one with his spear. But Katara, being a waterbender, had other ideas. Waving her arms in a circle, Katara used her special powers to shape a bubble out of water and catch a whole fish. Sokka, however, paid no attention. He raised his spear and was just about to drive it into his catch... when he accidentally burst Katara's bubble! The water splashed down on him and the fish quickly escaped.

SOKKA: Why is it that every time you play with magic water, I get soaked?

KATARA: (Exasperated Sigh) It's not magic, it's waterbending. And it's—

SOKKA: 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!

KATARA: You're calling me weird? I'm not the one who makes muscles at myself every time I see my reflection in the water!

Suddenly, a rapid current caught the canoe, pulling it downstream past floes and icebergs which seemed to be closing in on them.

KATARA: Go left!

Sokka paddled desperately, but the canoe shot to the right and crashed into three huge chunks of ice! Katara and Sokka were thrown from the canoe onto a large ice floe. Neither one of them were hurt, but the canoe was shattered. Katara glared at Sokka.

KATARA: You call that left?!

SOKKA: You don't like my steering? Well, maybe you should've waterbended us out of the ice!

KATARA: So it's my fault?!

SOKKA: I knew I should've left you home! Leave it to a girl to screw things up!

Katara thrashed her arms wildly at Sokka.

KATARA: You are the most sexist, immature, nut-brained... I'm embarrassed to be related to you!

(Ice Cracking)

KATARA: Ever since Mom died, I've been doing all the work around camp while you've been off playing soldier!

SOKKA: (Nervous Gasping Under the Above)

In her rage, Katara didn't notice a towering iceberg behind them! With each angry word and thrashing of her hands, the water spouted and splashed against the iceberg—which began to crack! Then fissures tore through the center of the iceberg, splitting it in two! As it collapsed, a wave larger than anything Katara had summoned gushed against the siblings, washing them and the floe they were still on across the ocean.

SOKKA: Okay, you've gone from "weird" to "freakish", Katara.

KATARA: You mean I did that?

SOKKA: Yep. Congratulations.

Without warning, the water began to bubble and then, glow with a bright bluish hue. Seconds later, something erupted to the surface. It was a massive, sphere-shaped iceberg. Looking closer, Katara spotted what appeared to be a person trapped inside it—a 12-year-old boy with glowing arrow-shaped marks on his bald head, hands, and feet. His eyes opened, emanating the same brilliant light. Both Katara and Sokka were shocked.

KATARA: He's alive! We have to help!

Eagerly, Katara grabbed Sokka's spear and struck it against the iceberg. After five blows, the spear broke through the surface! The iceberg cracked and then split apart in a tremendous explosion. A pillar of blue light burst from the iceberg's core and shot into the sky like a beacon, emitting ripples of light. Before Katara and Sokka's astonished eyes, the brightness dissipated, and the boy strode out of the steam, his eyes and arrows glowing. Then, without warning, they, too, vanished. The boy fainted and dropped down the crater. Katara rushed forward to catch him just before he hit the ground. The boy drowsily opened his gray eyes and gazed at Katara's amazed face in wonder.