Bella [AANGXOC]

Chapter 1: The Boy In The Iceberg ✔

The shard of ice leaning up against the igloo was reflecting my face.

Unlike most of the people in the South Pole, I wasn't very dark, my hair wasn't brown, and my eyes weren't blue. Instead they were green, my skin was incredibly pale, and hair was a very dark shade of black. There was a reason for this, but not one I regularly or intentionally visited.

My parents were born here, my grandparents, however, weren't. It's not the happiest story in the world, but neither is Katara's or Sokka's or most of the kids around here. Our generation and the one before that were all born during the war.

War doesn't often breed goodness. Goodness or happy stories. But I was content with my life, with the routines and the easygoing days. What more could I actually ask for?

Seeing the sunlight slowly creep through our makeshift curtain doorway, I decided it was time I'd wake Katara up. Before it was too late.

She was still asleep in a mess of pelts and brown hair. That was one thing we had in common: long hair.

"Katara." I grabbed her shoulders and shook her awake.

Her eyes popped open and she sat up quickly.

"Get up, or we're gonna miss him," I told her.

She scrambled out of her bunk and slid over to the mirror to complete her daily routine.

Katara, Sokka, and I were the oldest kids in the village. We were also more or less siblings—Katara and Sokka were siblings, I was more of an adopted kind—so the three of us got to share our own igloo. Complete with four different bunks. Two on the North and West walls, while a chimney sat on the East one.

It was homely.

"Ok, ready. Let's hurry." Katara turned around and grabbed my arm, pulling me out through the curtain.

She'd done her hair in the usual way, with two loops on either side of her face. I preferred just to let mine do what it wanted. Which often meant bedhead.

Katara and I ran through the village, passing by the young kids who were running around and waiting for breakfast. The women, who were gathering snow for water. And the elders, who were trying to keep the rowdy children seated.

All the men had left a long time ago, including Katara and Sokka's dad, Hakoda.

We made our way beyond the confines and slid down a snow bank.

Sokka was there, in his little fishing boat, just about to take off.

Although Sokka was two years older than Katara, and three years older than me, he wasn't in charge of our trio. It was more like he and Katara fought for dominance, while I tried to remain neutral in the epic battles of their siblingship.

"Oh, come on!" Sokka yelled once he saw us running towards him.

"You can't leave without us," Katara said once we reached him.