𝐁𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐃𝐈𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍, sokka

seven.

  kierah, katara, aang, and sokka were standing on the deck of the ship from the northern water tribe that they were traveling on. they had gotten a ride with master pakku, kierah's parents, and some other waterbenders and healers who were on their way to the southern water tribe.

"katara, kierah," master pakku says. "i want you to have these." he hands each of them a small flask. "these contain water from the spirit oasis. the water has unique properties, so don't lose it."

"thank you, master pakku." katara hugs him.

  kierah does the same, before turning to her parents.

"i love you guys," she says, hugging them.

"we love you too," her mother says. "be careful."

"we'll send a messenger hawk if anything goes wrong," her father says. "it should find you wherever you are."

"okay." kierah climbs onto appa.

"fly to the earth kingdom base east of here," master pakku says. "general fong will provide you with an escort to omashu, where aang can begin his earth bending training with king bumi safely."

"yip yip!" aang says, and appa takes off.

"say hi to gran-gran for me!" katara calls.

  kierah waves goodbye to her parents, then returns to clutching the side of appa's saddle.

"are you okay?" sokka asks her.

"yeah, i'm fine. i've just never been up this high before."

"it's perfectly safe up here," katara says.

"yeah, even if you fall, either aang or appa will catch you," sokka says brightly.

this makes kierah clutch the side of the saddle even tighter, if possible.

"sokka!" katara says.

"what? that was encouraging!"

katara just shakes her head.

***

  the rest of their journey passes uneventfully. kierah nods off a few times, talks to katara for a while, and watches sokka interact with momo. kierah is about to fall asleep again, when sokka suddenly stands up, shaking the saddle a bit.

"there it is!" he cries.

  kierah rubs her eyes, and peers over the side of the saddle. she sees the earth kingdom base, and some people standing waiting for them. appa lands near the people, who kierah can now see are soldiers and a man she assumes must be general fong.

"welcome, avatar aang!" general fong says. the team clambers off of appa. "i am general fong, and welcome, all you great heroes! appa, momo, brave sokka, mighty katara, fierce kierah..."

"mighty katara? i like that," katara says, pleased.

silently, kierah agrees with her. a few weeks ago, she never dreamed she would be known as fierce.

  fireworks then go off, the soldiers having launched them with their earthbending.

"not bad, not bad," sokka says, trying to be cool.

kierah punches him in the shoulder.

"what?" he hisses in pain.

"don't be stupid," kierah whispers to him, before turning to follow everyone else inside. general fong leads them into a large room.

"avatar aang, we were all amazed at the stories of you in battle at the north pole. i can't imagine what it feels like to have such devastating power," general fong says, stroking his beard.