Power Like No Other

Chapter 8:North Pole

In the weeks of travel to the North Pole, Zuko, Katara, and Uncle Iroh developed a steady routine. In the morning they ate breakfast together, and spoke of this and that. Around noon Katara played Pai Sho with Uncle Iroh for an hour, learning from him was fun, and while she never won a game, she enjoyed their time greatly. In the afternoon Zuko and Katara sparred, this particular event was now something everyone on board started to take part in, the crew had even started placing bets on who they thought would win that day. Fighting with Zuko was like a beautiful dance. Katara found that it was very natural for her now, to fight with Zuko. Despite the fact that their elements were complete opposites, they balanced each other out.

While Katara enjoyed her time with the uncle and nephew during the day, her nights were not so pleasant. Nightmares from her past had begun to haunt her. Her mother's death was on constant replay every night, as well as her time on a Fire Nation ship a decade ago. The crew to Zuko's ship was kind enough, they held no malice towards her, but she still could not look at them without getting flashbacks to that time. Sleeping in a room with no windows did not help either. Most nights she slept very little, others she did not sleep at all. On those nights she would go up the deck and lay on her back, staring at the stars and moon for hours. Those were the nights that she let her thoughts take over, her doubts and fears, and anything else that came to mind.

One morning, Katara woke and found that the boat was not moving anymore, the sound of voices drifting through her door. It was Zuko and his Uncle. Katara dragged herself out of bed, her body sore from yesterday's spar with Zuko. She opened the door just as Zuko lifted his fist to knock.

"Oh, you're awake." Zuko said as he awkwardly tucked his hand behind his back with the other one. "You are going to want to dress warmly, we have arrived,"

"What?! Why didn't you wake me sooner!" I did not let him answer as I pushed past them, running through the hall and up the stairs. I was hit with frigged air as I came to the top of the stairs and through the door. It's like I walked through a portal, into a different world. Everywhere I looked I was assaulted with snow and ice. The blue of the sky and sea, I had never seen anything like it. I had never felt so overwhelmed in my life, it was beautiful. It was like there was a shift inside me, I felt deeply connected to this place and we had not even been let into the city yet. All of a sudden I felt something warm and slightly heavy settle on my shoulders, I looked over and found Zuko standing next to me, it was his cloak that was now on my shoulders. "You looked cold," that was all he said as we both looked out at the massive wall of ice that stood before us.

Something caught my eye as I stared out at the water, I dashed forward, grabbing hold of the railing and leaning over the edge. My heart was racing, my knuckles turning white from gripping the railing so hard. Below us, moving at a steady pace, were three boats. Each one had a platform. The front of the boats curved up forming these almost wing-like shapes, two on each side. Standing on top were men dressed in heavy, blue, fur lined coats that I recognized as seal skin. And they were water bending, moving the boat in perfect sync. I thought the day would never come, when I was given the opportunity to see more water benders. How could I? When I was the last of my kind, the last of the Southern Water Tribe. I stared, in a daze, these water benders were practicing forms I had never seen in my scroll. They stopped for no one, and did not spare a glance at our ship. All of a sudden the sound of a horn filled the air, and my gaze was taken from the water benders to the wall of ice before us. The wall had a large carving in the center of it, the symbol of the Northern Water Tribe. A crescent moon with waves almost seeming to come out from the moon. As my gaze lifted further, I was awestruck by the city that my eyes beheld. Even from where I stood on the boat, you could see the palace, which was made from complete ice. I had heard tales of the great city of ice that sat hidden within the North Pole. But seeing it in person was very different from hearing stories. We all watched as the wall opened up, and out came a larger boat, this one coming straight for us. When the boat was only about 100 feet from us did the thought cross my mind that I was still in my pj's. Too late, the boat had reached us and our men were getting a docking board ready.

The Northern Water Tribe walked up the plank, leading them was a young man of about 19 with broad shoulders, he stood tall and proud. His hair was dark brown, much like my own, his eyes sapphire blue, again also identical to my own. I swayed where I stood when I saw the boomerang stuck out from over his shoulder, and the Southern Water Tribe symbol he wore on his clothes. Or his hair, his hair. I had never in my life meant someone that wore their hair as he wore his. Shaved tight to the skull, with the top long and pulled back in a ponytail. There had only ever been one person that I had known that wore their hair in such a way, Sokka. The man that walked towards us was my brother Sokka.

                                                                                     ***

When chief Arnook summoned me to tell me that there was a Fire Nation ship sitting outside our walls, I honestly thought he was joking. I mean come on, a Fire Nation boat sitting outside our walls? What are the chances? But when a wall guard came rushing into the counsel room telling us that they had stopped, and seemed to be waiting for passage, and had lifted a white flag. My jaw dropped in shock.

Chief Arnook looked at me with a very serious look on his face, a sense of dread settled in my stomach. I knew what was about to come.

"You will be going to meet them, Sokka."

And there it was. I sighed heavily, knowing that there was no way I was going to get out of this.

"Yes Chief."

With that a boat was prepared and we made our way out to the Fire Nation ship. They let us up with no problems, and once on the deck, my eyes first met with a man about a year older than me. Who I knew immediately was Prince Zuko, the scare on his face gruesome and ugly, kinda hard to miss. The man standing next to him must be General Iroh. His short frame and big belly gave him away. My eyes then traveled to a third figure that stood just in front of them. A woman. Her eyes were wide, and she kind of looked like she just got out of bed, her hair being slightly messy and wild. A dark cloak was draped around her shoulders, it blew in the wind, showing me that she had in fact just woken. No shoes on her feet and the fact that she was still in her pj's. But my eyes locked onto something else entirely. A necklace, with a dark blue ribbon as the chain, an almost transparent perfectly round stone as the charm. And on that stone, was the symbol of my people, the Southern Water Tribe. I almost did not recognize it, it had been a decade since I had last seen it, but I remember well. My mother used to wear it all the time, I never remember a time she took it off, even for bed.

I jerked my head back up to look in the eyes of the woman who wore it.

No.

It was not possible.

She was dead. I had accepted that fact years ago.

And yet here she stood, though much older, and taller, and alive. Katara, my sweet baby sister, who I watched get taken away by the Fire Nation 10 years ago stood before me with the Fire Nation prince.