Avatar: Reborn in Ice

"Killed?" Katara frowns.

"Sure. What do you think happens to the benders they catch? I had to lead several rescue missions whenever a patrol was overwhelmed. We didn't always make it in time."

...

"Sure. What do you think happens to the benders they catch? I had to lead several rescue missions whenever a patrol was overwhelmed. We didn't always make it in time."

Her entire face and body language shuts off then, going carefully still. Sokka seems to know what that is about. After a minute or so, during which the baby has reacquired Sokka's boomerang, she gets up and leaves. I'm not sure if it's Aang or Sokka who had better go and handle that. Aang seems like the type to want to help, but isn't actually able to because he doesn't have advice to give that would help her. Sokka… well, he's her brother and clearly the superior choice in this case. Both because he knows what has her so upset, and he might have been involved himself and dealt with it already. I don't see him going deathly still in any case.

"Sokka?" I ask, distracting the kid from his boomerang with a snowflake on his nose.

"Yeah?" he's staring into the flames. Maybe he hasn't dealt with it himself yet.

"Why are you not going after her?"

"No. You should go," he stares at me.

"What? Why would I do that?" the kid climbs back into my lap, seemingly understanding that I'm the source of the snowflake.

"Because you're the one who upset her," Aang says.

I frown. Well. How was I supposed to know that it was a sensitive topic? Does she feel threatened? I sigh. I had better find out.

I lift the kid onto my shoulders, holding his tiny feet, so he doesn't slip off. He giggles and falls backwards, swaying to the tact of my walk, upside down.

Katara is near a small spring that I discarded as source for water because of its small size and slow trickle. She is perched on a boulder, knees drawn to her chest, chin on her crossed arms. I go to lean against another opposite her. The kid wants to be put down, so I let him. He goes to investigate the spring.

"Katara."

No reaction. Wonderful. How I love teenagers.

What would get through to her? An apology, perhaps. Something vague. "I'm sorry for being insensitive."

He head shoots up, eyes wide. Then, they narrow dangerously. Does she think I'm that much of a prick?

I sigh, rub a hand over my chin. In for a penny, in for a pound. "I realise I might not be treating you… very nicely. So, I'm sorry for that, too."

She jerks. "You're really apologising?"

I smile, "Sure. But I'm not only here for that. If you… would like to talk about it…" I see her rising eyebrows, "Ah. Well, the offer stands."

I lean fully against the stone at my back and watch the kid splash about with the spring.

"I… the benders in our village were all taken. My mother-" she cuts herself off, takes a deep breath and continues, "I had no one to teach me. And when we came to the North Pole I had to fight for my teacher to teach me. And you… you just-! Argh! You seem to just know everything! And your bending! I just… you make me feel so… weak."

And angry. But. I should honour her vulnerability in telling me the truth. "It's… Katara. Most of what I do, I taught myself. Sure, I had Pakku to guide me for years, but from the time that I understood the basics, I could advance to bending with my fingers only. It's the sequences and katas that you need the Master for. And you've got them down pat. I know I've not explained anything to you, but Katara, I thought you'd rise to the challenge. I thought you thrived off of it. Evidently, I was wrong. And I'm sorry for assuming."

I'm a big, fat liar. But what else is new?

Her teeth clack together audibly as she closes her gaping mouth. "Challenge?"

I shrug. "I've never really had anyone to compete with. I was the kid genius with a penchant for causing chaos. I had a lot of free time."

"Sokka… Sokka said you drank with the Chief."

"I do. Did. He's… a friend, I suppose."

She frowns harder. "Sokka said you behave like what you think we need."

I slide down the boulder to sit. "Look, Katara, there really isn't that much to it. Aang needs someone who doesn't care how powerful he is or what responsibilities everyone else thinks he has. Sokka needs someone who isn't twelve or his sister. You need someone who doesn't need you to be their mother."

"Mother?" she sounds indignant.

"You care. That's not a bad thing. But it's not your responsibility to be a mother to Sokka, you know? And Aang only ever knew his teacher Giatsu. Me? Well, I'm older than all three of you and I grew up with my mother," I look up at her. "You can relax a bit. We're not going to starve, or die just because we're silly and a little stupid."

She looks away. Then she narrows her eyes and looks back at me to ignore my previous words. "You said… responsibilities everyone else thinks Aang has. What… Don't you think…?"

I shrug and lace my fingers to gather some water in the cup they form from the air. Sometimes the touch of water is comforting. "I don't blame you for it. I don't think Aang does, either. You grew up with the stories about the Avatar and how he would make everything right one day. That's pretty clear a message to teach children: somebody else will save you. It's a neat little trick. Not only is there hope, but it also absolves everyone from doing something about it themselves. I don't think Aang couldn't do it, far from it. But eventually, it comes down to what Fong demanded. Everyone wants to be saved now. By a twelve-year-old."

She reels back as if stung. Yeah. I don't envy Aang. If even his friends think he needs to defeat the Fire Lord, he won't even think of another way. Of course, this is the path everyone sees, but when it comes down to it, one needs only one assassin. A good one, granted, but really. And once that man is gone, his insane daughter will ascend the throne and go crazy. Crazy enough to be usurped perhaps.

Katara is blinking back tears. Great. Objective make Katara un-upset: not achieved.

I grimace. "Katara. No one ever told Aang that he could just not. Besides, he feels responsible himself. He blames himself for the death of his people because he ran away. The Avatar, after all, would have had the power to save them, no? Regardless of what he could've actually done at his age, he blames himself. At the same time, I don't think the Air Nomads couldn't have just run. Something trapped them in the Temples. Then the Avatar would be in either of the Poles and might have actually died along with the slaughter of the South and reincarnated in the Earthkingdom."

She gapes. Clearly, she hasn't thought about this. I suppose that, when you're told something as a child, you don't ask for the 'how's behind the 'why's. I have no evidence at all to support this theory, but one day I'd like to ask Iroh if he knows of any documentation.

"But… he can't just not. The whole world…"

"We would certainly have to unite all still-free people, lead them effectively against the Fire Nation and mobilise a revolt from inside as well. Yeah. Lots of people would die. They have been for the past hundred years," I pause and look at the clouded sky. "Aang is twelve. He might be capable in a few years, but we don't have that much time. And even if he were capable, does that mean he has to?"

There is more silence, after that.

I don't have an answer to that moral conundrum, either, so it's just as well. All I know is that Aang is twelve and he has nightmares. And he's brave and joyful and free… and running from a lot of things, including his own trauma. He may be powerful already, and brimming with potential as a bender, but that doesn't mean he should have to fight a war on his own or at all.

"Besides, the only one who will ever save you is yourself. There might be soldiers or friends or people who fight and as a consequence, you might not have to. But doesn't it matter that you could have? Doesn't it matter that you could fight for your own freedom? Doesn't it matter that the one who can make the choice between life and death for you is yourself?"

"Not everyone chooses to die," she protests.

"Not everyone chooses to live, Katara. Some people just watch. Go through the motions. What's life worth, living it without purpose or freedom?"

"Nothing, to you, evidently."

I laugh softly. "You get to decide. What's enough for you, Katara? What do you want? Who are you?"

The water forms a little sculpture of Yue. "She was just finding it out. She sacrificed herself for us. She was what we'd call a leader. In a way, a saviour. Is that what Aang is supposed to do? Sacrifice. If so, then I don't want him to be the Avatar. I want us to save ourselves."

Yue glitters in her light.

I melt her back into a blob of water.

...

Don't forget to throw some power stones :)

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