Tale Of Two Avatars

The Waterbending Master

Flying for two days straight already, it was safe to say that all of us were bored straight out of our minds. I was busy meditating, as I had been doing the previous day with my eyes closed, my heart beat attuned to nature's harmony and the voices around me drowned out, only focused on my breathing. 

I feel my concentration slipping when Sokka begins speaking, "I'm not one to complain, but can't Appa fly any higher?"

I feel Appa descending lower and I open my eyes, seeing that his paws were already skimming the surface of the water below us. 

Aang turns back and glares at Sokka, "I have an idea! Why don't we all get on your back and you could fly us to the North Pole?!" 'I barely see Aang get this irritated.'

"I'd love to," Sokka hunches his back and points to it, shaking his rear tauntingly. "Climb on everyone, Sokka's ready for take off."

"Sokka," I growled softly, my anger simmering. "I'd watch how you act for the next few seconds because I can easily airbend you off Appa and right now, I'm quite tempted to do so."

Katara waves her hands up, shifting looks between the three of us in exhaustion. "Look, we're all just a little tired and cranky because we've been flying for two days straight."

"And for what? We can't even find the Northern Water Tribe," Sokka protested. "There's nothing up here."

Katara, too lazy to retaliate, laid her head down in boredom again and let it rest on Appa's saddle. I sighed, shaking my head and getting back into my meditative position, prepared to immerse myself into another round of meditation before I heard some slushing in the water beneath us. 'What the?'

I peek over the edge of Appa's saddle curiously along with Katara, seeing the water rise up suddenly and form jagged ice spikes. Aang screamed in fright, as do the rest of us. Aang quickly yanked the reins to the right to avoid the spikes but unfortunately, ice spikes emerge right in front of us this time and Appa does not dodge them in time, his underside skimming the spikes and he loses control as a result.

Appa lands in the water and just as he was about to swim, the water around him freezes. Boats carrying several people dressed in Water Tribe robes surround us, staring at us curiously. 'Hold on.'  I observe them again and for some reason, I found that their gaze was transfixed on me. Murmurs spread around them like wildfire before one of them spoke up. "Are you Suzume?"

"Uh yeah, I am and why are you all staring like that?" I questioned, prompting further hushed discussions. 'They probably know my name just because I'm the Avatar.'

"It's impossible, she disappeared for a hundred years! She couldn't have survived!" One of them shouted. "And she couldn't have become the Avatar! I don't believe it, after what she did." 'What did I even do?' 

Using a gust of wind at the base of my feet, I leap high up in the air and land back down on Appa gracefully. I then move through the stances, shifting the water currents beneath me and creating a huge wave of water, I crash it against the ice that held Appa captive. "I'm here now, am I not? And yes, I am the second Avatar."

I cross my arms, staring at their dumbfounded features expectantly.

"It really is you," One of the elderly Northern Water Tribesman smiled. "You don't look any different than you were a hundred years ago. Welcome back, Suzume." 'What? I'm from the Northern Water Tribe?'

I see Aang, Katara and Sokka gaze at me in shock as the waterbenders around us break the ice that bound Appa, escorting us back to the Northern Water Tribe. 

"Suzume, you're from the Northern Water Tribe?" Aang asked in excitement. "I can't believe it!"

"I don't know Aang," I shook my head. "I didn't know I was from the Northern Water Tribe."