Avatar Katara

The Siege of the North Part One

"I know what you're all thinking." Anuri didn't bother giving Chief Arnook a chance to speak. "I'm banished. Yes, I know that too. Quite a mistake, in my opinion, but I defied our tribe's traditions and dishonored my father. What I don't quite understand is this."

Anuri had been taken to see Chief Arnook. Apparently she had urgent news, but it still took two days before Chief Arnook allowed her to see him.

"Water is the element of change," she carried on. "So why are we so stuck in the past? For too long the traditions of the tribe have limited us. Halved our army size," she added under her breath. In her normal tone, she continued, "I have word from a reliable source that the Fire Navy is planning an attack on the Northern Water Tribe. If the Avatar masters all four elements, there is no stopping her. The Fire Nation knows this, and they want her in chains. But you already knew that. "

"We did," Rina agreed. Sokka and Katara weren't allowed in the meeting, so she represented their team.

"And I'm sure that your scouts have reported that a large fleet of Fire Nation ships is headed your way."

"We do not send out scouts," Chief Arnook said coldly. "The city has been isolated for decades."

"Ever since the battle of Garsai," Anuri observed. "The battle that took my father, the woman I considered my sister, and many men of my tribe. But their sacrifices went to waste, Garsai was taken, and the Northern Water Tribe removed itself from the war. I do not hold this against any of you, of course." She said this as if they should be relieved. Rina had to suppress a grin at the way the men on the council grew angrier and angrier.

"But the fact remains, the Fire Nation has broken the treaty. They are attacking. They will attack today, if my estimates are correct. Why now, so close to the full moon, I do not know. Perhaps they fear the Avatar is growing stronger with each passing day, although unless something has changed in my absence, that is not happening."

"She is," Rina said. "She called Master Pakku a sour old man and beat him up. Then he realized that her grandmother was his ex-fiance."

"Chief Arnook," one of the councilmen said. "Surely you won't listen to this disgraced woman."

The council began to argue before Chief Arnook finally silenced them to deliver his verdict. "I believe she speaks the truth. Whatever information you have, tell us now, and we will plan our defense. The rest of you are dismissed."

---

Katara circled Nenzahn as Master Pakku and the other students watched. He was the only student she hadn't beaten yet.

Then Nenzahn fired a volley of icicles. Katara melted them and threw them back at him. He easily redirected them back at her, adding in more icicles.

Katara threw up an ice wall and broke them all into icicles. Nenzahn dodged them in the same circular movements Katara had seen Rina practice. Airbending moves.

Well, he wasn't the only one who knew how airbenders fought.

Katara mimicked the motions she used to kick up wind, but bending water instead of air. Nenzahn was focused on sending the water back at her, so he didn't see the wave of snow she pulled up until she froze him in it.

He melted the ice. "Nice job."

Katara beamed.

Master Pakku clapped. "Wonderful bending, Nenzahn. In a few years, you might even be able to fight a sea slug."

---

98 years ago

Aang and his friends had been shot down over the sea. Well, that was putting it a little dramatically. Appa was alive, but they'd crash-landed in the Northern Ocean. Aang entered the Avatar state and managed to freeze himself, Appa, and his friends in a block of ice.