AN: I haven't written an Avatar-related fanfiction in years. However, the introduction of The Legend of Korra has sparked my muse again. Also, I haven't participated in Kataang Week in years too. But the entire Avatar series will always be half of my childhood, so no worries. I'll love it always.

Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender or the Legend of Korra. That credit goes to Mike and Bryan and Nickelodeon.

Day 1: Beginnings

When Katara of the Southern Water Tribe was younger, she always dreamed her life would end up as something like this:

She would live her normal life in her normal home with her normal non-adventurous family. She would forever live in a world where the threat of the Fire Nation loomed on the horizon and the black snow would keep coming, unless, of course, they were a good torn-up Southern Water Tribe. Then, if her father ever returned (and she and her brother desperately hoped he would), maybe their life would be a little bit happier with a touch of normal. Well, more normal.

Then, when Katara was of marrying age, she would find a man, and a good one at that. She would hope that he was a waterbender so that he could teach her how to properly hone her skills, or she would hope that she would somehow find a master in the icy tundra. But most likely as per her too normal lifestyle, she would never marry a waterbender and she would have to teach herself waterbending. Her husband would be a warrior, but even so, she would make sure he would be one of the best.

She would have a normal husband even then and she would most likely never leave her home. Katara would probably have a few children. Maybe one or two, give or take, and there would be absolutely no excitement in her life. The War would never end in her lifetime and the Avatar would never return.

And that was it. That would be her life.

Well that is until she and her brother Sokka found Aang in an iceberg in the South Pole of all places. Suddenly, her life was not as set in stone or as predictable as she previously thought it to be. Sokka and Katara decided that they would, indeed, leave their own home to help the Avatar master all four elements. Now, if she had thought this when she was a little child, she would have thought herself insane.

Powerful benders, someone like her travelling to the Northern Water Tribe, Sokka actually putting his boomerang to use…

This had to be some kind of dream.

And so, that brought her back to square one. Katara of the Southern Water Tribe was currently fighting for her life against Fire Nation soldiers that had somehow discovered the trio plus giant flying bison and a lemur, near a river adjacent to Aunt Wu's village.

Yes. She was living it up.

"Katara! What are you doing? Get out of the way!"

Her older brother shouted at her to duck but she was oblivious to the whirring fireball that was about to come crashing into her face. A second later, the warrior's newly sharpened boomerang whizzed by and slammed the offending firebender in the helmet. The poor man never knew what hit him. As Sokka would say, "Pun intended."

The only airbender (and Avatar) in their group created a blast of air at the incoming fire in order to direct it elsewhere. He then pick axe kicked another wild shot of wind at the handful of soldiers that were marching their way.

Katara shook her head in an attempt to remove the fuzziness from being knocked onto the ground. She immediately stood up and bended the water from the river, creating a tentative but effective water whip that knocked down several nonbender soldiers and subsequently freezing their bodies in awkward positions. Some were stuck to trees while others were twitching and spread-eagled on the dirt.

The waterbender smiled in satisfaction. Well, that was until she saw Aang almost get hit by multiple fire blasts at once. Her heart sank. What if he got hurt? What if he got burned? Would she have to watch someone she cared so much about suffer again?

The fourteen-year-old snarled and prepared an onslaught of water from the river in that single moment and time felt like it was either ticking by at a snail-sloth's pace or it was standing still altogether. But suddenly, Aang pushed out a great protective shield made out of his native element. Winds rippled the pebbles on the ground and leaves waved in circles around the soldiers still standing. Reminiscent of his battle with the volcano not even a day previously, the Avatar displayed a massive amount of bending prowess.

The enemies were pounded backward simultaneously and grunted at the harsh impact. Tremendous and intimidating waves of cerulean water rose up above them, threatening to crash into their uniforms and possibly cause a greater extent of damage. Aang stood determined before them, arms raised in tandem with the liquid element and the soldiers quivered on their knees.

"RETREAT!"

The frightened adversaries wasted no time on quickly scampering away from the scene, unwilling to face the wrath of the Avatar.

Sokka grinned like a madman and slapped his younger friend on the back. "Got to hand it to you, Aang! Your bending is freaky powerful! No one would want to fight you if they weren't crazy!"

Trying to regain her composure, Katara ran up to the duo and grabbed Aang by the shoulders. "You aren't hurt, are you? You're okay? No burns?" She bit her lip and took a deep breath. "But that was amazing!"

Her brother shoved her out of the way. "Eh. Stop fussing over him, little sister! He's got some skills in waterbending too!" Then, he beamed mischievously and poked his sibling in her side with an elbow. "Kinda like that manly man waterbender man you always dreamed about when we were little. Huh? You know? Like your dream man?"

Blushing furiously, Katara dumped water on her annoying older brother who went on to whine in protest. But, she couldn't help but think back to what Aunt Wu said about her marrying a powerful bender and the realization Sokka made that Aang was definitely a powerful bender too…

She blinked rapidly, but could not banish the thought. Although somehow, she secretly liked thinking about it.