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Chapter Text

The Avatar was nowhere to be seen after the Fire Nation's forces - boosting upon their own comet-enhanced flames, rocketing up from the mountainside and catching the Nomads blind in relentless fury - obliterated the four Air Temples, and all who lived within them.

Fire Lord Sozin pondered as he surveyed the reports from the attack. The Fire Sages, useless as they tended to be, had failed to deliver a straight answer as to whether-or-not the Air Nomad Avatar was alive. It was frustrating - more than that - it was maddening to the man. Wasn't their entire job card meant to be serving the Avatar? How could they not even discern whether he was alive or dead?

Mark my words, the Fire Lord thought, I'll set about fixing the Fire Sages next.

It's not like fighting a 12-year-old would be a problem for the Fire Lord. Sozin, even in his seventies, was still far from physically weak. No - he was strong. Some might even go as far to say he was still quite in his physical prime, despite what his white hair might've told you. Having led the assault on the Temples with his own hand, personally heading the destruction of the Eastern Air Temple, Fire Lord Sozin felt as powerful as ever under the comet's glow. Surely able to best the Avatar without a thought, should he be alive and should he be found.

But. The lack of a straight answer from his own sources regarding the air child's potential whereabouts, and the irritation that subsequently, naturally followed, resulted in Sozin having to decipher the truth for himself.

Either the Avatar was currently somehow still existing, in hiding in some strange coma-adjacent Avatar Spirit sleep state, or, more realistically, he had passed on in some unusual manner and the Fire Sages simply didn't know what to do or say about it. Perhaps the act of slaying an Avatar beneath the comet's glow had messed up their internal Fire-Sage-y systems, whatever they were.

While, in another world, he may have dedicated himself to the pursuit of hunting said coma-adjacent-Avatar-Spirit-sleep-state Avatar for the rest of his days, just in the rare case he did survive the onslaught, Fire Lord Sozin decided with little hesitation that it was probably the safer bet to pursue the alternative course.


The Air Avatar was gone - and that likely meant dead - and so, Sozin should not act as though he still exists, but rather,


act on a world where a Water Avatar is next.


Why hold on hope for someone who wasn't there, after all? With all likelihood, the Fire Sages could have simply been blindsided by the Avatar reincarnating in some funny way - given Sozin's ongoing theory that killing the Avatar under the comet's glow had messed something up. Still, the Sages weren't entirely useless. They had, at least, given Sozin some indication that wherever the current incarnation of the World Spirit was residing, it was centered around the South.


Somewhere in the Southern Seas, to be specific.


The Avatar must be at the South Pole, the Fire Lord mused to himself.


Which means the Avatar Spirit likely reincarnated into the Southern Water Tribe.


Thus, Fire Lord Sozin had a plan on what to do next.



Roku had failed to see the light of Sozin's quest, with all likelihood, because Sozin had not been able to instill his vision within the other man at his most formative age. While Roku was off traveling the world in his late adolescence and early adulthood, Sozin himself had spent all those years learning. Observing. Seeing the world for what it was, and how to help it. And it was not like the man could've ever swayed anyone as soft-bellied as an Air Nomad to his side, hence the need for their eminent extinction.



Perhaps, though, if the Water Avatar was raised under the Fire Nation banner... They would succeed where Roku had failed.

Chief Akiak of the Southern Water Tribe was unsure how to feel, having stood face-to-face with the Fire Lord under the cover of his tribe's tent and survived. The world, still reeling from the sudden and indiscriminate massacre of the Air Nomads, was unprepared and fearful of the Fire Nation’s next maneuver, and the Southern Water Tribe was as blindsided by any from both the event itself and what came after.

A messenger hawk had been sent several days ahead of the Fire Nation ships suddenly arriving in his water, informing the Nonbending chief that this was a ‘peace talk’ - but one could never be too sure when speaking to Sozin’s Fire Nation.

Even still, despite said affirmation of peace, it was hard not to see this meeting for what it was.



A request for surrender, of the most full and encompassing sort. But not just that.



Akiak reread the terms of the discussed treaty - over, and over, and over - weighing his options.

It was true that, fundamentally, the Southern Water Tribe would absolutely fall utterly and entirely to the Fire Nation if they put an ounce of military might into securing the tribe. The Southern Tribe did have a substantial Waterbending population - and one that did not suffer from the sex-discrimination practices levied at healers vs. warriors that the North did - but, truly, what were meager ice walls and bone spears in the face of metal ships and fire-blasting armies?

The Industrial Revolution of the Fire Nation had taken place over the latter half of Avatar Kyoshi’s days, and the exponential increase in wealth and prosperity across the tropical archipelago only continued during the era of Roku.

While the Earth Kingdom struggled with instability due to its massive size, its usually less-than-fair terrain (considering the amount of arid plains and deserts large-and-small across the gargantuan continent) and the utter disdain the average citizen had for the top levels of governance (even after Avatar Kyoshi had founded the Dai Li in the wake of the worst and most widespread peasant revolt the country had ever seen, in an attempt to help Ba Sing Se keep order), and the poles were rather limited in size and influence due to the harsh conditions and lack of natural resources found in the region, the Fire Nation’s tropical, resource-rich islands had long since been the world’s most populous nation, with by far the highest median of wealth per capita. And thus, it had been no surprise that it had the resources and motivation enough to claim the islands around it, then the seas, and then begun taking colonies, that the other nations simply lacked.



The Air Nomad genocide was itself an unprecedented and unnatural tragedy the likes of which the world had never seen - while tensions had been high with the Fire Nation for some time, and how the government of Ba Sing Se was supremely ill-equipped to even challenge the Fire Nation plucking its land for its colonial expansion - no one saw the outright elimination of a culture, particularly one as nonthreatening and pacifistic as the Air Nomads comin in a hundred years.

But even worse than the loss of a culture - at least in Akiak's eyes - was the loss of the Avatar, the potential last hope for balance in the days of conflict. Sure, the Avatar would surely be a child now, but the rest of the world hadn't even seen the Air Avatar yet. They weren't supposed to see him for another four years. 

Maybe he was secretly in hiding, waiting for the right time to re-emerge. For things to align just right so he can realize his destiny and bring the world back to order. 



...That was likely a pipe dream, though. If the loss of his entire culture didn't spur the Avatar to action, what would?

What should he do, then, Chief Akiak thought?

Ba Sing Se wasn’t coming to save the South. The Avatar wasn’t coming to save the South. The North, most certainly - considering the Southern Water Tribe had originally been composed of refugees from the North that seceded thousands of years ago - had a disdain for the South written into its very identity.



No one was going to save the South. 



So, should the Chief pointlessly let his tribe bleed dry over generation after generation, sending them up for decades of meaningless agony in the face of a totally unwinnable battle against a nation with far more material wealth and military manpower, or accept a peaceable surrender here-and-now, and allow themselves to fall into a different fate?



It’s not like surrender meant extinction, after all.



The Fire Nation would claim the Southern Water Tribe - its people, its borders, its Waterbenders - as its own. The Tribe would be spoiled with the material gains of their colonial mother, and the Tribe would have the full might of the Fire Nation protecting it from any who sought to do any of its members harm.

The Waterbenders would join the Fire Nation’s own armies - as warriors, and as healers - and its nonbending warriors would too be taught the skills of the Fire Nation. Of spears of metal and swords of steel, of bows and arrows, of manning its naval craft and building its ships just as any other colony did.



What was the better option?

To reject the Fire Lord - the Fire Lord who just massacred an entire culture over the span of a single night in a move that completely and utterly blindsided the entire rest of the world - and doom his people to a potential century’s worth of pain and agony?

Or to simply submit, and do all he can to keep the people safe under this new rule?




It’s not like he wouldn’t be leading his nation anymore - he would simply transition from being chief to being Governor. He would be charged with upholding the laws of the Fire Nation, just as the Governor of any colony would. But, just as the Governor of any colony has a say in running its borders, Governor Akiak would still be the South Pole's sovereign. Acting as its people’s chief, and acting as its people’s champion, even in the wake of new order.



Thus, the next day, after a long, solemn council with the men of the tribe, the decision was made.



The Southern Water Tribe would declare her surrender, and would open her doors to her future benefactors.

Chapter Text

Katara considered herself a loyal citizen of the Fire Nation, and a patriotic subject of Fire Lord Iroh. Just as every other Waterbender, Nonbender, and Firebender of the South Sozin Colony did.

She had been prodigy enough to train under Master Hama - hero of the Fire Nation - in her Waterbending, which was one thing. She who had battled alongside of then-Crown Prince Iroh and his son in the glorious siege that brought the Earth Kingdom to its knees. The siege which nearly failed when Dai Li agents - under the command of the cruel, crooked Grand Secretariat Long Feng - had grievously injured and tortured his son, Lu Ten.

Indeed, it was Hama who - in a moment of true and utter courage, despite her advanced aging, somehow managing to Bend the very blood inside the human body itself, cast under the full moon's glow - was able to provide healing aid to the catastrophically injured then-Prince Lu Ten, prior to his eventual facial reconstruction. 

Lu Ten did not walk again until after the Dragon's Siege had concluded, and yet, it was Hama and Hama alone who had exerted effort most valiant in ensuring the Fire Nation's total victory over Ba Sing Se, and the near-total end of the war in the Earth Kingdom.

It was not a clean, nor perfect victory, considering the damages levied upon divine blood, but even still, Hama was forever known as a hero for what she did. And so, Katara got to experience the awe and respect that came with being Master Hama's protege. She had done all she could, and thanks to her efforts the now-Crown Prince had lived to preach her name. Katara’d seen pictures of Lu Ten years later, after the fact - everyone did, when leaflets about his engagement were posted across South Sozin - and, despite the obvious marks the bite of Earth Kingdom savagery had left on him, the current Crown Prince of the Fire Nation had still lived to tell the tale all by a South-Soziner's hand. And it wasn't like South Sozin was disrespected, or anything - it was a very prominent place for shipbuilding, as the ice fields allowed plentiful space for the creation of huge naval harbors - and helped Firebenders armies train in the most inhospitable conditions possible, during the sunless months, but the legends of what Waterbenders could do sent the popularity of the place into the stratosphere.


And Katara got to take in it all, being the one-and-only Waterbender to study under the Master herself.


Sokka - Katara's slightly older and slightly less mature brother - had, upon seeing a picture, described Crown Prince Lu Ten’s half-scarred face as looking 'super cool'. And specifically the missing eye after his near-death encounter with the Dai Li, wherein a eye was outright torn from his socket by the cruelty of the Grand Secretariat 'even cooler', but that was a side note to save another day. The point was, the Fire Nation Royal Family, and particularly, the Crown Prince Iroh, had declared himself forever indebted to Hama and her family after the battle was won, and, as such, Hama was a name every Fire National - South-Soziner or not - knew almost as well as the Dragon of the West, or Lu Ten - Dragon of the Seas.


A name even more recognized now that Iroh was Fire Lord.


Indeed, after the total victory over Ba Sing Se nearly five years ago, Crown Prince Lu Ten had been betrothed to Hama’s own granddaughter - Yuka - and the gesture alone was one celebrated across all the colonies, for she would become the first colonial - let alone the first South-Soziner - to be welcomed into the Royal Family itself. Their wedding had still yet to be held, but that was mainly due to governmental matters being slowed with the ongoing military and political force to stabilize the occupation of Ba Sing Se - The Dai Li’s apparent total willingness to switch sides after General Iroh had personally struck down their leader with lightning in revenge for the Grand Secretariat’s near-killing of Lu Ten had helped speed up the process slightly, but not entirely - and the death of Fire Lord Azulon three years ago combined with the ascension of Fire Lord Iroh did also make matters more complicated, as the Dragon of the West held several different opinions on how to tackle reconstruction compared to his father.

Still, no mainlander, colonial, or South Soziner saw the Earth Kingdom as more than a beast still in need of taming. Rumors of the Dai Li harboring a secret heir of the Grand Secretariat never totally disappeared from the radar, adding fuel to the fire, but still, it seemed the Fire Nation’s Steward Regent over the city was doing well enough in his task.

So, with all likelihood, Crown Prince Lu Ten and Lady Yuka’s marriage was likely still a few years away, after Sozin’s Comet had blessed the world with its light once more. But if there was one reason for Katara to be even more patriotic than most, it was the fact her people were going to be represented in Royalty. Officially. Her family's friend. If things kept going well, there could even be Imperial Waterbenders in the Royal Procession one day, just as there were Imperial Firebenders!

It was hard not to sigh wistfully at the thought. Her own martial art recognized at the highest stage. Waterbending healers had long been kept in the palace - why not fighters?


Iroh had expressed interest in the idea before, and so, if Katara herself got to do as much as serve the Royal Family, she would have to credit it all to her wonderful Sifu.



Katara’s family - that being, her mother - Lady Kya - her brother Sokka, her Gran-Gran Kanna (A migrant from the Northern Water Tribe who, like many other Northern Women, Bending and Nonbending alike, sought asylum within the more progressive society the Fire Nation had brought to South Sozin) and Governor Hakoda himself, had been longtime friends of Master Hama. When Kanna arrived oh-so-long ago, Hama had been her very first friend, and it had begun a lifelong connection the two women shared in earnest. Master Hama always tipped her hand in the family’s favor - whether that be training Katara herself in Waterbending, adding onto proper combat technique with both healing and the Bloodbending art that had saved Hama's one-day-grandson-in-law’s life, or giving Sokka a glowing recommendation forwarded to his own eventual Master, Piandao. The man had come all the way down to South Sozin to train the boy himself, and over several years of learning training and discipline, Sokka had become a master swordsman in his own right.

But, even without the prestige that came alongside being a friend of Hama - future Royalty - Katara had many other ties binding her loyalty to the Nation she loved more than life. Her father - Governor Hakoda - and her mother, Lady Kya, had taught her many things, but most importantly, to always look out for her fellow citizens, from the trusted elders to the wounded soldiers to the littlest of children, and to, most of all, never turn her back on people who needed her. The Waterbender had taken that lesson to heart in her younger years - taking it upon herself to do whatever volunteer work she could for her tribe - even going as far as helping in the hospital maternity wards on occasion!

Yet, today, the day before Katara's life was surely going to change forever, there was one tie to the Fire Nation she was thinking of most of all.



As primitive as the Northern Water Tribe was, they seemed to have recognized that as the last non-Fire Nation aligned presence on the world, that they needed to break from their isolationist ways and actually make peace with the Fire Nation, lest they were to fall in a siege that would take far quicker to conclude than the Dragon's 707-day affair. A reality that had long been silently recognized, even as they tried to crack down on outside contact both due to war and due to wanting to halt more women from leaving the tribe’s walls in search of a better life under the Fire Nation flag. And so, they had made a concession with South Sozin, just about two years ago. That they would offer - in exchange for the sparing of the Tribe from the Fire Nation occupation and it not having to pay fealty or taxes to the same degree as a colony, granting it a limited state of independence - the hand of their Princess to be given to a South Soziner of eligible or similar rank.

Governors were practically Royalty in the Colonies. The only eligible man of South Sozin to be betrothed to a Princess was, naturally the governor’s son - Sokka, Katara’s own brother - and so, he was subsequently betrothed to Princess Yue of the North Tribe. As much as Katara had her barely-disguised disdain for the stupid customs of the North, she hoped, for her brother’s sake, that the marriage would be pleasant enough.

Apparently - as the gossip Katara heard at the spas with her friends had suggested - the Northern Tribe did not feel comfortable treating with the Fire Nation directly, and marketed the marriage to its citizens as a ‘reunion’ of  the 'Water Tribes.' “They act like we never moved on from being some sexist, backwater independent like the way they’ve always been,” the Waterbender had chided. And Katara still very much disliked their foolish, openly sexist 'traditions'; they wouldn’t even allow any girls in the initial meeting party between Princess Yue and Sokka, and said they would reject any treatise made with another woman in the room, meaning Katara wasn’t allowed to come with her own brother to the Northern Tribe!

How… disgusting! No wonder Gran-Gran ran from that terrible place. Katara voiced her resentment to her mother, and her friends, but never her father or brother. She, as much as the North disquieted her - how could you even call yourselves true Waterbenders if you behaved like that, considering the feminine Moon Spirit was the first Waterbender! - never wanted to jeopardize the potential peace her family was going to secure for Fire Lord Iroh, and so, she knew she'd feel dirty calling the arrangement into question.

So, as much as she despised the North, Katara did everything she could to channel that into supporting her brother, rather than needlessly tearing things down.



They met their first - and only - time over two years ago - that was, Yue and Sokka - and a vessel primarily comprised South Soziners, headed by a mainland-born Naval Commander Fire Lord Iroh had charted to lead them, was to bring them there. Sokka and Yue had, at least in whatever way Sokka had described, had “hit it off pretty okay, actually," at least at first.

However the Commander of the peace fleet to the North, by the name of Zhoi or Chao or something, had almost jeopardized the mission entirely, acting under some strange declaration of ‘destiny’ to ‘kill the moon’. He had attempted to lead a squadron of men to ‘some spirit-y place up there’ - Sokka’s words, not Katara’s - before his own men turned on him after he attacked a Northerner unprovoked. He was promptly executed by his second in command, Lieutenant Jee, putting an end to him, but the gesture had shaken the Northern Tribe enough to send Sokka and co. home early.



So, over the past years, the betrothal was never formally called off, but it never went forward in any particular way, either.



Even with Fire Lord Iroh’s various placations - attempting on numerous occasions to summon Chief Arnook to the Royal Palace personally, to share a nice cup of tea for the Northerner to air his grievances at the Dragon while speaking freely man-to-man - the North returned to its isolationist ways for just over two years. It had only been in the last three months when the North finally got its head out of its ass again, after they realized that maybe, - just maybe - Zhao was just a lone psychopath acting upon his own idiocy and not representative of the Fire Nation itself or under any hidden orders from the Fire Lord.

So, they decided to try again with a ‘new first contact’ between Yue and Sokka, while the Chief would finally take up Iroh’s offer of ‘a calming cup of jasmine tea.’


Which was nice.



Also nice was the fact that Iroh didn't allow the North to dictate the size and gender makeup of the Fire Nation's meeting party, meaning Katara could act as representative of South Sozin. 

Even nicer was, due to fact that Chief Arnook wanted to meet Fire Lord Iroh while keeping Yue in arm’s length, Katara - Representative of Governor Hakoda - and Sokka would be going to the Fire Nation itself to meet with Yue.



In the Royal Palace!



And not only that, but the famed teenage Prince and Princess - Zuko and Azula - were coming to South Sozin tomorrow personally to escort Governor Hakoda’s children themselves!



Katara had trouble stemming her excitement at the idea, as soon as her parents had informed her of it. Zuko was coming! And Azula! Every good Fire Nation girl loved a royal, didn’t they? She’s grown up with Gran-Gran’s tales of the world's past and stories of the Fire Nation’s greats in equal measure and form. From Sozin’s brave and decisive victory over the Air Nation Army brutes, to Azulon’s incredible battles against the Earth Kingdom - where Waterbenders and Firebenders first fought side-side-by-side - to Iroh’s decisive victory at Ba Sing Se, granting the Fire Nation total control of the formerly-Impenetrable city. Ever since the engagement and the plans had been finalized, Katara was squealing with delight at realizing she was going to meet the Royal Family!


The Royal Family were Katara’s heroes, especially ever since being so kind to Master Hama, and it was a truth just as sure and true in her heart as the truth that some Earth Kingdom child would surely call the long-lost Avatar their hero.

And, naturally, Katara had begun doing research. Research of the utmost sincerity and caliber, in an attempt to learn all about the man and woman who she was going to be meeting.


That research was, of course, Katara discussing gossip about the Royal Family in the spas of South Sozin’s Upper District, surrounded by her friends. And, sure enough, sessions of get-togethers, sleepovers, and spa days later, Katara had a general understanding of the Royals.


Prince Zuko, it seemed, had a very interesting reputation. After then-Crown Prince Iroh’s return from Ba Sing Se, the future Fire Lord had taken him as almost a surrogate second son. One of the most-often repeated stories of Prince Zuko was when, at the age of 13 - only a year younger than Katara was now - he attended Fire Lord Iroh’s first War Council. A cruel and wicked-hearted general had suggested a terrible plan to secure a particularly rebellious Earth Kingdom province. That being, a plan to sacrifice the army's 41st Division - made up of new recruits! - as ‘fresh meat’ to stem an Earthbender attack, as cover so more experienced troops could mount an attack from the rear.

The noble Prince, standing up for what was right, had declared he would not let such a cruel act occur in his Uncle’s Fire Nation. The General, Bujing, had challenged the Prince to Agni Kai in response - brave as ever, and much like the Fire Lord himself with his reign of compassion, the Prince accepted - and when the battle came, the Prince struck the general down with a single blow, summoning the strength of lightning he didn’t know he had.


Zuko had come out of his first Agni Kai completely unscathed and, after the act of the Prince blasting lightning directly into the monster’s skull, no one else quite could stomach the idea of challenging him.


Ever since, Zuko was hailed as a hero by the military - a Royal who cared for the individuals he was meant to serve - and Fire Lord Iroh had allowed him to attend more meetings, both War Council and more general trade discussions. The people began to love him. To revere him. Soon enough, he was embarking on expeditions to-and-from the colonies with his elder cousin, Crown Prince Lu Ten, or shepherding vessels or ships to personally oversee their safe voyages on Fire Lord Iroh’s behalf.

A sixteen year-old bachelor, many noble families and provinces had sought to give their daughters' hands to him. Though apparently, Zuko had always shaken his head, believing his hand best reserved for later at the current time. It was no surprise that a man like him, who had now been long-used to travel overseas, a man who liked to oversee things personally and support his nation with body and mind, was coming here himself to personally give Sokka and Katara safe passage to the homeland.



What was a surprise, however, was who was coming with Zuko. Zuko’s sister. Although, considering her apparent reputation, Fire Lord Iroh might have, understandably, thought it’d be good for her to get out of the house for a little while.



Princess Azula - the first Firebender to ever ignite the Azure Flame, and a master lightning-wielder despite her young age, supposedly Zuko’s equal, if not his superior - was a fellow prodigy Katara was more than excited to meet in the flesh. She wasn’t as well renowned to the public eye as Zuko, for - despite her rather impressive roster of abilities - she had seemed to be more of a palace creature than her brother.

Why that was? It was possible that Fire Lord Iroh wanted to keep at least one member of the Royal Family close to home while Prince Zuko and Crown Prince Lu Ten oversaw expeditions, yes, but it was more likely she was staying at the palace as she was perhaps tied up in… other things.



Supposedly, around the time of Azulon’s death and the Fire Lord’s ascension, rumors had begun to circle the palace of the Princess taking in two girls - childhood friends, noblewomen, servants, warriors, the stories were ever-numerous and ever-changing - away from their family situations to live with her at the palace. Apparently one of the girls was escaping some kind of betrothal contract with an older man, while the other was seeking some sort of purpose outside of her family’s shadow. Katara shuddered when her friends first told her that particular story. South Sozin had no Princesses to run to, and she was very happy that her mother was so adamant that Katara would never be married off without consent.

Although, rumors associated with a Princess ‘claiming’ two girls her age as her own, taking them from their families, and them becoming permanent residents of the palace - supposedly spending as much time as possible together, even sharing the same bedroom according to some of the more wilder tales - became as any would expect.



The current gossip, while it might be slightly misquoted or rife to misinterpretations considering the distance from the mainland Fire Nation, surrounded the idea that, quite plainly, the three girls were sleeping together. That the two noblewomen had become some sort of unofficial consorts of the Princess.



At least, that was the most savory of ways to put it.



So, according to rumor, Zuko was a bright, bold, compassionate Prince, a loyal servant to his nation serving at home and abroad, every-bit the protege of the beloved Fire Lord Iroh - a Fire Lord known far and wide for his advice, his tea, and his compassion with those in suffering ever-since the traumatic experience of nearly losing his son - while Princess Azula was both an unrivaled Firebender and, apparently, home to unrivaled game.

Opinions were more mixed on the Princess compared to the universally adored Prince. People of South Sozin couldn’t decide – was Azula a war machine stuck in a time of peace, was she a powerful Firebender wasting her time on perverse impulses, or was she a spoiled royal that flaunted her excessive power with hedonistic displays of grandeur? It wasn’t that the keeping of multiple female bedmates had never been seen in the Royal House, but it was simply… Well, quite unusual for a Princess to be the one doing it.



No family quite wanted to levy a marriage contract at Azula the way they often tried with Zuko after rumors of her and her permanent ‘guests’ first spread, and yet, Azula seemed all the happier for it.



It would be a lie to say that some of Katara’s friends found the idea of being picked up and whisked away from their lives, from the crushing expectations or neglect of their families, by a beautiful Princess a fairly appealing prospect, but Katara, blessed with a happy home and loving parents she was more than grateful to have, didn't quite see the same appeal in escapism. Still, she hoped the Princess would make splendid company, as she hoped her brother did.

She was very, very much curious to meet the heroic prince, Zuko, that everyone had been talking so much about. She couldn't help it. Who wouldn't be obsessed with the supposedly-very handsome young man (not that Katara had spent any time looking for art of him, and if she were, it was totally just to make sure she knew what he looked like before the trip, No Other Reason) who won an Agni Kai in a single shot?

The practice of Agni Kais couldn’t be copied one-to-one between Waterbenders, but a general approximation called a ‘Water Duel’ had been made - a dual on a small iceberg, ending when someone fell into the water at the sides of the arena rather than a scar - so Katara was vaguely familiar with the practice. See, she was only learning all this stuff about Zuko. And his heroism, and the way he stuck up for others, and all of that. For Research. For Research.


It wasn’t like Katara was totally wowed and impressed by a power Firebender, or anything, known for demonstrating kindness and compassion to his citizens - much the same values Katara had been instilled with from an early age - that happened to be single. Nope. Totally not.


Would the rumors match the reality of the Prince and Princess that Katara was bound to meet so soon? The Governor’s daughter didn’t know, but the Governor’s daughter was excited to find out.
She didn't think anything could possibly take her attention elsewhere from the prospect.
That anything more important than assisting Sokka, and meeting the Royal Family in the flesh, could ever come up.

And yet, she was contemplating the matter with Sokka, during an early morning brother-sister sparring session, as they tended to do - Waterbending vs. ‘Swordbending’, as the Governor's son called it - the day before the Royals’ arrival, when something had happened. Something that may-or-may not had made Katara's potential fantasies about handsome Princes and powerful Princesses feel so suddenly unimportant.

The children of Governor Hakoda were engaged in a particular conversation at the time.

“So. You ready to see the Northern girl again, Prince Sokka?”

“Hey!! I had tried to correct them when the Northern chief first called me that!”

“Mhm… And that correction sure did show when I checked Hawky and received a message sent for ‘Prince Sokka’ from the chieftain of the North!”

“Hey! Hawky was just doing his job. It wasn’t his fault if they got my title wrong all because of my rugged good looks!”

“Rugged good looks? You make muscles at yourself every time you look at your reflection!”

“...And so what if I do? Yue said she liked them! At least, the last time I saw her, which was, y'know, also the first time I saw her!”

“Well, Yue isn't here. And you shouldn’t be checking out your own reflection in fight, Sokka!”

“Hey! We’re just training! It's not like an actual battle, or anything.”

“It's supposed to feel like a battle! And in your time doing a little self-reflection, I could have used ice and broke your sword's blade from its hilt!”

“Hey! I made this myself after my last summer with Piandao!! You wouldn’t destroy my sword, would you?”

“...You wouldn’t destroy my sword, would you?”

“...Maybe if you did less TALKING, and more FIGHTING, you’d find out!”

“Less talking? Really? Coming from the girl all so ‘Mom-do-you-know-anything-about-that-powerful-Firebender-Prince-Zuko’ ‘Dad-have-you-ever-uh-corresponded-with-Prince-Zuko-I-mean-about-picking-me-up-maybe-I-could-talk-to-him’ ‘Hey-Hama-do-you-know-anything-about-the-Princess-and-uh-also-maybe-Prince-Zuko-Whose-Coming-To-Get-Me-REALLYYOUDO-And—”

“Shushushushsush!!”

Katara had promptly sent a wave so far as to splash Sokka off the training ground and into the water. Of course, after the satisfaction of getting a smile seeing her now-soaked big brother (before she used her own Waterbending to lift the sea and splash Sokka back onto the ground) cowed and humbled before her eyes, something slightly unexpected happened.

Something very sudden, and very massive, began to shift from the water, after Katara had pushed the ocean in such a particular way. The gesture of sending the water in an 'upward' motion had clearly triggered something. and instinctually, the Governor’s daughter held Sokka back from the water’s edge as something glowing and blue began to shine from beneath the ocean floor.



After an enormous, building-sized splash soaked both siblings, and Katara held on tight to keep her brother from disappearing beneath the waves - for real this time - the siblings' jaws dropped at the sight of what lay before them.


Katara’s large wave - and the subsequent act of pulling on the ocean itself to drop Sokka back onto land - accidentally may have pulled up a large, glowing, blueish iceberg-like structure with a vague person-shape inside it up from the ocean floor.



Now, Katara was not an idiot. She knew that something was… Unusual about this. And she, like every other South Soziner, like every good Fire National, had reason to suspect it was Avatar-related. He was supposedly last reported to be located somewhere in the Southern Seas, after all.



And so… It wouldn’t hurt to crack open that iceberg, would it? Just to get some better visual confirmation on whatever it was, would it? Maybe even stop the Avatar before he potentially broke his shield and went on a rampage against the world's rightful rulers?

Even when Sokka protested ‘Katara, we don’t know what that thing is!’ she stayed the course, and splintered the iceberg into a thousand pieces with nothing but a push and pull of her arms. Even when a bright blue light shattered into a sky - creating a beam that shone so high as to ensure that Prince Zuko and Princess Azula would see it on approach to South Sozin -  she stayed the coarse, and let the light fade around her before taking several, determined steps forward.

So, when a boy emerged from the iceberg, glanced up at her, and asked “would you like to go penguin sledding with me?”, a boy whose blue markings and yellow-orange clothing so distinctly resembled those of the Air Nation Army soldiers Katara had studied in school (the creatures who disguised themselves as noble monks while harboring totally unnatural religious practices - the sex-segregation of their temples being no better than the misogynist cruelty of the Northern Water Tribe, and the ripping of every single infant from their mothers’ arms, preventing them from ever forming a familial connection being even more perverse and disgusting), Katara did what any loyal citizen of the Fire Lord would do.



Katara wasted no time knocking the Air Nomad out with a good push of snow sending him careening, before hitting his a good smack of ice, and finally, tying him up with the help her brother - who liked to keep ‘quality rope’ on his person - and deciding to personally bring the boy in the iceberg back to the South Sozin Prison Complex for interrogation.

What feat could any Fire National boast above taking down the Avatar without even a single blow? Now that would be a talking point when the Royals came into town. And surely, she'd have to share it, for if this truly was the Avatar, then, well, Katara had just secured the last ever potential threat to the Fire Nation with nothing but her own Bending and brother.



Whatever that weird six-legged cow moaning so annoyingly from within the remnant iceberg was, it could wait until later.