𝐁𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐃𝐈𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍, sokka

two.

the next day, kierah wakes up in the best mood she's been in in a long time. she gets out of bed, gets dressed, and heads to the kitchen area to get some breakfast. after breakfast, she gathers her paper, ink, and brush, then heads to her alcove. she watches master pakku teach and then leaves a few minutes early so she can practice the forms herself.

she finds a small secluded area on the ocean, and sets up her paper in front of her. she slowly works her way through each of the movements, just working on her form at first.

then she decides to try, with water, the most basic move. the goal of the move is to form water into a sphere, and then launch it at something, in this case, a tree trunk. kierah slowly pulls water into her hands from the ocean, and is able to form it into something sort of resembling a sphere. but when she tries to launch it at the tree trunk, the water just splashes down onto the ground near her feet. kierah shakes her head in disgust and tries again, frustrated with herself. once again, the water just splashes down onto the ground.

kierah knows that she shouldn't expect to master waterbending on her first try, but she was just hoping that maybe she was going to be amazing at waterbending, and turn out to be some sort of prodigy. kierah tries the move again and again, but every time the water just splashes right in front of her. eventually, kierah gets so angry and fruatrated with herself that she throws her hands out, intending to toss the sphere she had formed at the ground. but to her surprise, the sphere of water launches right at the tree she had been aiming for the whole time. kierah jumps up, fist-pumping the air.

"YESSSS!!"

kierah forms another sphere, and hits the tree trunk smack in the middle. she continues practicing the move for another hour or so and then heads back to her house with a huge grin on her face.

***

   over the next few weeks, kierah masters moves such as the water whip, ice spears, streaming the water, and the ice creeper. she continues to watch master pakku's lessons, and has basically compiled her own waterbending scroll by now.

kierah finally mastered the water cloak move after master pakku did a lesson on it the day before. kierah was in a great mood that day, so when she got home and her mother reminded her about princess yue's 16th birthday dinner, even that couldn't dampen her mood. she had nothing against princess yue, but normally she hated large gatherings that required her to mingle with the other "noble" families of the northern water tribe. today she thought she might actually enjoy it though.

  her mother picked out a new white and blue tunic for kierah to wear under her new blue parka. she then braids kierah's hair and ties two hair loopies with blue string to frame kierah's face. when kierah and her mother go outside their home to wait for kierah's father, so they can all walk to the dinner together, one of her mother's friends, kilah, comes up to them.

"have you heard?" kilah says to kierah and her mother excitedly. "the avatar and his friends arrived, and they're going to be at princess yue's dinner!"

"really?" kierah's mother exclaims. "why did they come here?"

"i think the avatar needs to learn waterbending from a master," kilah replies.

  kierah tunes them out as the two women begin to make small talk. she wonders what the avatar will be like, and if she'll have a chance to meet him and his friends. after kilah waves goodbye to kierah's mother, her father finally arrives, and the three of them head off to the dinner.

once they arrive, kierah notices that their seats are across from princess yue's and the avatar's. she is also seated right next to mianna, from healing lessons. since the dinner hasn't started yet, kierah turns to mianna, and the two of them make small talk until the chief stands up and asks for everyone's attention.

"good evening, everyone. thank you for coming to celebrate my daughter's sixteenth birthday. but it seems that we also have another reason to celebrate tonight. many of you may have heard the rumors about the avatar having returned. well, i am pleased to tell you all that the avatar has, in fact, returned, and he and his friends are here with us tonight!" chief arnook announced, while ushering forward three people from behind him.

  the smaller boy had airbending tattoos, leading kierah to believe that he must be the avatar. the girl looked to be about kierah's age, maybe a bit younger, and was dressed in typical water tribe fashions, as was the other boy, who looked to be a little older than kierah. the avatar then stepped forward and introduced himself as aang, and his friends as katara and sokka. they then sit down next to princess yue as the chief introduces master pakku and his students to give a demonstration.

having seen the waterbenders perform many times before, kierah instead turns her attention to the avatar and his friends. aang, the avatar, is talking to his friend katara, while his other friend, sokka is talking to princess yue. kierah isn't surprised to see him attempting to flirt with the princess, as most of the boys in the tribe already had. what kierah was surprised to see is that princess yue was actually flirting back. kierah knew it wasn't officially announced yet, but most everyone knew that the princess would eventually marry hahn, one of the northern water tribe's most talented warriors.

  even though kierah didn't know sokka, for some reason she didn't want him to get hurt. and she knew princess yue didn't intend to hurt him either. she could tell that yue didn't love the idea of an arranged marriage, but she couldn't do anything about it.

  "well," kierah thought, "that's one thing the princess and i have in common." she continued to talk to mianna for the rest of the dinner before heading back to her house and going to bed. kierah is pretty excited to see how good of a waterbender the avatar is tomorrow at master pakku's lessons.

***

the next morning, kierah is waiting in her alcove for the avatar to arrive. when he does, katara is with him, and kierah strains to hear what they're saying.

"good morning master pakku!" aang calls.
master pakku drops the water he was bending, turns around, and then spots katara.

"i'm sorry, i think there's been a misunderstanding. you didn't tell me your friends was a girl. in our tribe, women are forbidden to learn waterbending," master pakku says after aang introduces katara.

kierah can visibly see katara stiffen up. "what do you mean you won't teach me? aren't there any female waterbenders in your tribe?" katara says indignantly.

"here the women learn how to use their waterbending to heal. you are welcome to attend that lesson if you would like."

aang then steps forward and tells master pakku that if he won't teach katara, then he won't learn from
him.

"fine." master pakku says. "good luck finding another waterbending teacher."

"wait!" katara cries. "aang didn't mean that."

  she walks over to aang and says something to him quietly that kierah can't hear. she sees aang nod his head grudgingly and turn back to master pakku.

  kierah watches katara stomp away and, in that split second, kierah decides to go after katara. she saw how alike she and katara were, and decides that maybe having an ally in defying her tribe's traditions wouldn't be so bad.