Avatar: The Last Airbender Book One; Water

Chapter Eighteen: The Waterbending Master

Sokka looked at us, complaining, "I'm not one to complain, but... can't Appa fly any higher?" Appa growled deeply at Sokka's insensitive complaint, letting his toes drag in the icy ocean below us. Everyone was exhausted and rather cranky from flying for two days straight with no stops. But we had to keep going because we were so close to the Northern Water tribe.

"Not one to complain, huh?" I looked at my brother, my eyes narrowing, "Seems like you do quite a bit of complaining."

Aang turned to Sokka in frustration, "I have an idea, why don't we all get on your back and you could fly us to the North Pole." He snapped.

Sokka looked at him over his shoulder, "I'd love to!" He pointed to his back and wiggled his butt, weirdly, "Climb on everyone! Sokka's ready for take-off!" Momo hopped onto his back and chirped happily.

"Look, we're all just a little tired and cranky because we've been flying for two days straight," Katara stated, looking between all of us as I pouted with my arms crossed across from her. Sokka was still glowering to himself near the back of the saddle, and Aang was looking irritated upon Appa's head.

"And for what?" Sokka asked in annoyance, "We can't even find the Northern Water tribe! There's nothing up here!"
Up front, there was a sudden sloshing sound of water moving about. We all looked in the direction of the sound and found the water was shooting up toward us and freezing into spikes. Aang immediately took action and steered Appa away from the spikes, only for us to eventually get knocked down by one and frozen in water.

We all stood up in shock to find six Water Tribe boats surrounding us.

I smiled brightly as I exclaimed, "They're waterbenders! We found the Water tribe!" They soon unfroze Appa and began to lead us toward the Water Tribe.

Aang stood suddenly when he saw something ahead only minutes later, "There it is!" he announced.

"Wow!" I was beaming when I saw the magnificent ice wall of the city. Our culture's tribal crest was engraved into the front of it.

"The Northern Water Tribe," My sister breathed in pure awe.

Sokka also looked floored, "We're finally here." We'd all thankfully been wearing our winter coats again since the Northern Air Temple, preparing for a climate more like back home. And we were far from disappointed.

As we approached the outer wall, the waterbenders lowered a part of it so we could have access to the city itself. Appa slowly entered by swimming through the gap in the wall and all of us were quickly frozen in astonishment as we looked around the magnificent city. Once we exited the entrance tunnel, more waterbenders appeared on either side of us and lifted us up with waterbending.

Katara and I both shared looks of excitement, "I can't believe how many waterbenders live up here!" My sister confessed in fascination.

I even smiled at her and Aang, "Exactly! We'll find a master to teach us, no problem!" Aang nodded in agreement, still staring at the sights of the city. As Appa swam through the river-like canals in the city, people rushed over to the sides of the streets above us to wave and shout greetings. Some even ran and waved at us over the rails of the bridges.

The city was one of the most beautiful things I'd ever seen, absolutely stunning. I would live here forever if I had the chance.

I shook my head in disbelief, "I can't believe how massive this place is."

"Yeah, it's absolutely beautiful." My sister also mentioned.

"Yeah... she is." I heard Sokka mumble. I turned towards him to find him staring in pure awe after a boat as it passed by us. I looked at it and saw a girl around his age with beautiful white hair sitting on it. I snorted and shook my head, not even five seconds of being in the Northern Water Tribe and my brother was already mooning over a girl.