𝐁𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐃𝐈𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍, sokka

four.

the next morning, kierah gets out of bed, having slept very little the night before, due to worrying about what would happen since master pakku caught her and aang teaching katara waterbending. she gets dressed, and then heads out to meet katara, sokka, and aang (at least she assumed sokka would be there), so they can head over to meet chief arnook and master pakku.

  kierah spots katara, aang, and sokka waiting for her over by the bridge. she walks over, says hello, and then the four of them walk over to meet the chief. they walk into the room where the chief and master pakku are waiting, only to see the entire royal family there as well, including princess yue. kierah is relieved not to see her parents.

  chief arnook speaks up first. "master pakku has told me his side of the story," he says, looking at katara and kierah. "now i would like to hear yours."

  kierah and katara glanced at each other, before kierah motioned to katara to go first. after hearing katara's story and then kierah's, chief arnook nodded thoughtfully.

"i believe master pakku would take aang back as his student if katara and kierah apologize for disrespecting his teachings, and kierah promises not to waterbend again."

"fine," katara says angrily, kierah nodding in agreement. "if that's what it takes to get you to take aang back as a student."

  master pakku smiles one of his evil little smiles, then says, "well, i'm waiting little girls."

"no!" katara and kierah yell in unison. they glance over at each other in surprise, before kierah adds on, "no way are we apologizing to a sour old man like you!" as two pots of water burst and the floor begins to crack, katara snaps, "we'll be outside if you're man enough to fight us." then the two girls turn around and storm out of the building.

  though kierah is literally seeing red now, she hears aang trying to be the peacemaker by saying, "i'm sure they didn't mean that." kierah then heard sokka say, " yeah, i think they did."

  while kierah is angry and upset, she is also a bit exhilarated. she's always been confident and snarky in her head, but this was one of the first times she's ever actually done it out loud. she turns to katara as they head to the courtyard. "are you prepared to have to actually fight a master waterbender?"

  katara nods, her face set. "i don't expect to comepletely beat him, but i'd like to wipe that smirk off his face."

"me too," kierah says.

"kierah, katara, wait!" they hear aang call from behind them. finding that they had reached the courtyard, the two turn and wait for aang and sokka to catch up.

"katara, kierah, are you sure about this?" aang asks when he and sokka catch up.

"yes." katara says firmly, taking off her parka and handing it to sokka. kierah does the same, leaving them both in just their tunics.

  the small crowd that had formed parted to reveal master pakku, chief arnook, and princess yue, among others.

"so, you decided to show up?" katara says to master pakku. master pakku ignores her and starts walking away.
"aren't you going to fight?" kierah snaps at him.

"go back to the healing huts with the other women where you belong," master pakku sneers at the two girls.

  out of the corner of her eye, kierah sees katara clench her fist, and then send a water whip right at master pakku. he stops walking.

"fine. you want to learn to fight so badly? study closely!"

  katara and kierah sprint towards master pakku, both holding water in their hands, ready to send it at him, when he bends two streams of water from a nearby pool and sends them at the two girls, knocking them both backwards. he then brings the water back, and encircles himself, katara, and kierah in a ring of water.

"don't worry, i won't hurt you!" he calls.

  kierah redirects the water surrounding them away, accidentally hitting sokka in the process. "sorry!" she calls over to him.

"it's fi-LOOK OUT!" sokka yells back to her.

  kierah spins to see a disc of ice coming straight towards her face. she ducks, the disc barely brushing a piece of her hair that had come down out of the braid when she was knocked backwards. she straightens back up to see katara standing in one of the pools of water, shooting discs at master pakku. kierah sees one almost hit him, but unfortunately he moves in the nick of time.

  katara climbs out of the pool, and sends a stream of water right at master pakku. he sends a much larger one right back at katara, knocking her back several feet, winding her. katara's hair had also come down out of its braid, leaving it hanging around her face. kierah runs over and helps katara up from the ground, and then forms two snow pillars, which master pakku then dissolves into a mist.

"well, i must say i'm impressed," master pakku says. "you two are excellent waterbenders."

"but you still won't teach us, will you?" kierah asks him.

"no."

  from where she is standing beside kierah, katara sends a wave of ice straight for master pakku, but he simply raises himself onto a pillar of ice to avoid the attack. he then liquefies the pillar, and charges straight at kierah, who retaliates with a powerful stream of water sent right for him. master pakku freezes kierah's stream of water, and slides down it back towards katara, striking her with water, knocking her necklace off in the process.

kierah and katara move next to each other, knowing they were stronger together. they send streams of water at master pakku, which bounce off an ice wall he quickly forms in front of him from where he is standing on the side of one of the pools.

  master pakku then bends a huge tower of water out of the pool, turns it into ice shards, and sends them down towards katara and kierah, trapping them both in a prison of ice. the crowd gasps, as master pakku strolls away casually.

"come back here!" katara yells. "i'm not finished yet!"

"yes, you are," master pakku says, starting to walk away, before he spots katara's necklace and bends over to pick it up. "this...this is my necklace," he says.

"hey, give that back, it's mine!" katara cries.

"i made this sixty years ago for the love of my life, kanna," master pakku says sadly, as if he is remembering the past.

kierah and katara finally manage to unfreeze the ice, and then katara steps forward and says incredulously, "my gran-gran was supposed to marry you?!"

"i carved this necklace for your grandmother when we got engaged. i thought we would have a long, happy life together. i loved her."

"but she didn't love you, did she?" katara says, no longer yelling. "it was an arranged marriage. gran-gran wouldn't let your tribe's stupid traditions run her life. thats why she left. it must have taken a lot of courage."

  kierah hears a sob from somewhere over to her left, and turns to see princess yue crying and running away. she sees aang whisper something to sokka, and sokka run after the princess. kierah hopes sokka won't be too upset when she finds out about princess yue's engagement. she hasn't known him, katara, or aang for very long, but they've already become some of the best friends she's ever had.

𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚏𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚒𝚜 𝚘𝚞𝚝!! 𝚒 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚝𝚛𝚢 𝚝𝚘 𝚐𝚎𝚝 𝚊𝚗𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚊𝚝 𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚝 𝚋𝚢 𝚊𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚠𝚎𝚍𝚗𝚎𝚜𝚍𝚊𝚢 𝚗𝚎𝚡𝚝 𝚠𝚎𝚎𝚔. 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚔 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚐𝚞𝚢𝚜 𝚜𝚘 𝚖𝚞𝚌𝚑 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚖𝚢 𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚛𝚢, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚙𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚎 𝚟𝚘𝚝𝚎, 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚜𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚎!
-𝚌𝚊𝚕𝚢:)