Avatar Katara

Avatar Day

A/N I'M SORRY RANGI! AND KYOSHI!

Katara woke up to the sound of stampeding hooves. A group of war rhinos were circling the camp, soldiers on their backs.

Katara shut her eyes. She did not feel like dealing with anything before breakfast.

"Give up!" the lead soldier spat. "You're surrounded!"

Katara sighed and got out of her sleeping bag. "It's not even sunrise!" she grumbled. "Let me have breakfast first."

The leader sneered. "Do you want to know what's on the menu, pretty girl?"

Gross. "I'm fourteen!"

The man didn't answer. Maybe he was too surprised by her age, or maybe the fact that he was facedown in a pile of mud and gasping for air had something to do with it. Rina had her bag packed. "Come on!"

Sokka hadn't even gotten out of his sleeping bag yet, moving like an earthworm towards Sang, where Rina and Katara were running. A man with Yuyan tattoos fired three flaming arrows that pinned the back of his sleeping bag to the ground. Sokka freed himself and ran.

Then Katara realized something was missing. The box of scrolls was still sitting on a tree stump. "My scrolls!"

"My staff!" Rina cried. Her staff was leaning against the stump.

Both of them leapt off Sang and ran.

One of the soldiers threw his halberd at her, but she froze it in ice. She scooped up the scrolls and sprinted for Sang.

Another soldier removed a stick of dynamite from his belt. Rina narrowed her eyes, wishing she'd listened closer when Malu lectured her about explosives. She just barely batted it deeper into the forest, where it exploded.

"Fly, Sang!" she yelled as soon as she was on his saddle.

The leader fired a blast of flame at the retreating bison. "Wait!" Sokka cried. "My boomerang!"

"There's no time!"

"Oh, I see how it is. There's time to get your staff and Katara's scrolls, but no time for my boomerang?"

"That's correct!"

---

The seaside town was pretty, but Sokka was still in a funk.

"I'm sorry about your boomerang," Katara said. It was all he had left of their dad, just like her necklace was all she had left of their mom.

"I feel like I've lost part of my identity," Sokka moaned. "Imagine if Rina lost Sang, or you lost...your Avatar-ness. Or your hair loopies."

The merchant Rina was haggling with put a basket of food on the counter. "Alright, here's your produce, ponytail guy."

"I used to be boomerang guy." He put some money on the counter.

The merchant looked at it, surprised. "Hey, Water Tribe money!"

Katara just realized that might be a problem, since they were in the Earth Kingdom. "I hope that's ok."

"So long as it's money. Have a nice Avatar Day!"

Katara's interest was piqued. "Avatar Day?"

"You guys are going to the festival, right?"

Katara grinned.

---

Festival music played and green banners fluttered in the wind. "There's a holiday for the Avatar," Katara said, her voice full of wonder as she looked around. "Wow."