Godspeed Avatar

The Boy in the Iceberg

Water. Earth. Fire. Air. My grandmother used to tell me stories about the old days: a time of peace when the Avatar kept balance between the Water Tribes, Earth Kingdom, Fire Nation and Air Nomads. But that all changed when the Fire Nation attacked. Only the Avatar mastered all four elements; only he could stop the ruthless firebenders. But when the world needed him most, he vanished. A hundred years have passed, and the Fire Nation is nearing victory in the war. Two years ago, my father and the men of my tribe journeyed to the Earth Kingdom to help fight against the Fire Nation, leaving me and my brother to look after our tribe. Some people believe that the Avatar was never reborn into the Air Nomads and that the cycle is broken, but I haven't lost hope. I still believe that, somehow, the Avatar will return to save the world.

The water rippled as two teenagers sat in a boat. Sokka and his younger sister Katara were out fishing. Sokka sees a fish near the boat as he says "It's not getting away from me this time. Sokka grins confidently over his shoulder in the direction of Katara. "Watch and learn, Katara. This is how you catch a fish."

Katara ignores him as she waits for her own fish. Katara expression changes to surprise as she looks down into the water over her shoulder, another fish quickly swims by her, close to where she sits. She shoots a quick glance toward her brother, removing the glove from her left hand. She stretches her arm out in the direction of the fish, taking a deep breath. She starts making a wavy motion with her wrist, moving her hand up and down. Sokka, still focused wholly on the fish in front of him, is completely unaware of what is happening behind his back. As Katara continues to move her hand, the water in front of Katara starts to ripple. Suddenly, a bubble of water rises up from the ocean containing the newly trapped fish. Katara happily surprised says "Sokka, look!Sokka"

Sokka whispers "Sshh! Katara, you're going to scare it away." He licks his lips and wiggles his fingers, not taking his eyes off the fish. "Mmmm ... I can already smell it cookin'."

Behind Sokka, Katara is still making circular movements with both her arms, suspending the bubble of water that holds the fish in the air and moving back and forth. Katara struggles with the water as it passes right in front of her. "But, Sokka! I caught one!" The bubble containing her fish slowly drifts around her and over Sokka, who is still oblivious. As the bubble hovers over his head, Sokka raises his spear to strike the fish he was following. He bursts the bubble of water with the blunt end of his weapon, causing Katara to lose control of the water; it rains down on Sokka, soaking him. "Hey" Sokka says as he lets out a gasp of discomfort, the fish tumbles through the air and Katara follows its arc with her eyes as it flies over her head and splashes back into the sea. Sokka rounds on his sister, placing his spear perpendicular to the rim of the boat as he yells irately.

Sokka mad says "Why is it that every time you play with magic water, I get soaked?"

Katara sighs lightly before answering in slight annoyance. "It's not "magic", it's waterbending! And it's ..."

Sokka cutting her off says "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."

Sokka grabs his warrior's wolf knot with his left hand as he turns away from her, wringing the water out of it. Katara crosses her arms at him.

Katara raises an eyebrow skeptically as she says "You're calling me  weird? I'm not the one who makes muscles at myself every time I see my reflection in the water!" Katara smiles smugly at her brother as he is flexing at his reflection in the water and grinning confidently. His happy look vanishes upon hearing his sister's remark and he turns around slowly, meaning to face her. Before he can say anything, however, the canoe suddenly shudders. As they both try to keep from falling over, Sokka whirls around toward his end of the canoe with a frantic look on his face.