This is a rewritten version of my ATLA Fire and Ice story. I had to rewrite due to certain issues, so for those of you who have already read my last one PLEASE don't spoil it for the new readers. Reviews are always loved!

DISCLAIMER: Any scenes, characters, dialogues, settings, storylines, etc. you recognize from the show are NOT owned by me! They are the property of Brian Konietzko, Michael Dante DiMartino, Nickelodeon, and Viacom! I DO NOT OWN AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER! Any original characters and original content are mine!

Chapter 1: "The Boy in the Iceberg"

I could hear the elders whispering from inside the hut. I sighed deeply and reluctantly entered. The elderly women immediately stopped talking, some glared disapprovingly at me while others stared in disappointment. I couldn't tell which one made me more uncomfortable. They were all sitting in a half-circle and in the middle was a mat which I assumed was for me.

"Sit down, Talia" said Kana, Katara's grandmother.

I obediently sat in the small area that was meant for me.

"Do you know why you're here?" asked Hana. She was also my least favorite of all the elders. It seemed like no matter what I did she would always point out that I had done something wrong, whether it was starting a fire or cooking fish.

"No," I answered bluntly, earning myself an even colder stare from her, but I didn't change my answer.

"You're here because of what you said to the children" Hana told me.

"I was just telling them—"

"We know what you've been telling them" Hana interrupted. "It's unacceptable. How can you fill their heads with such nonsense?"

"They miss their fathers" I told the elders. Some of them looked away sadly. I didn't enjoy seeing the men of our village go off to war any more than these women had to watch their sons sail away. "I told them they'd be back after we win the war. It's not nonsense" I continued to explain.

"You are filling their heads with false promises. You can't promise them that all their fathers will be back" one of the women to the right said.

"She's right," Kana agreed softly. "You can't lie and say we'll win this war when the Fire Nation has nearly conquered the entire Earth Kingdom" she said.

"I was only—"

"You're the eldest girl in this tribe and you are expected to be more responsible than this. I believe I speak for everyone when I say that we are very disappointed in you" Hana told me "I'm sure if your mother were here, she'd have much more to say on the matter"

I raised my head so fast it hurt my neck. I glared at Hana hatefully and stormed out of the hut without waiting to be dismissed. I was never disrespectful towards them, even now I was surprised by how quickly I stepped outside the hut. My hands were clenched in a fist and I felt my heart beat faster.

My mother was raided by the Fire Nation along with the other people from our village. My friend, Avani, had been raided along with them. Avani wasn't a waterbender though, so I didn't know why the Fire Nation would take her. It happened years ago. No one could forget it and no one spoke about it. It was a painful memory; a scar we all wore.

There were only two waterbenders left in our village. There was my friend, Katara, and me. The only problem was that she doesn't know I was one. I was passionate about waterbending as much as she was, but I practiced secretly. Ever since my mother found out that I was a bender, she refused to tell anyone or let me practice. She would constantly tell me that I'd be captured by the Fire Nation and locked up forever. For the longest time I would brush her off as being paranoid, sometimes even get angry with her. It wasn't until that horrific day I finally understood. I still practiced secretly while keeping her warning in mind.

"Hey Talia!" Katara said, bringing me out of my thoughts. I turned around and smiled before returning the hello. "So…what did Gran-Gran want to talk to you about?" she asked.

I sighed and put my hands on my hips, glancing briefly at my sister and some of the other younger children playing in the snow right outside the elders' hut.

"Ryo missed his dad and started crying. When he said that, some of the others started missing their dads and crying too. The elders got upset with me when I tried to calm them down. They said that I was filling their heads with false promises and lies about their dads coming back. They think the Earth Kingdom is too far from saving at this point"

Katara frowned. "How can they say that?" she said in disbelief.

I shrugged. "I don't know. I hate to admit it, but they were right about one thing. How do you explain a hundred year war to a bunch of toddlers?" I said, kneeling down and throwing all the little twigs in one place to start a fire. Katara crouched down next to me and started to help.

"I don't think Gran-Gran and the others meant to get upset with you, maybe they're just scared" she said hopefully.

I huffed a breath and began to rub two sticks together. "Yeah, maybe…" I agreed absentmindedly. When one end of a stick ignited I placed it on top of all the other twigs.

Katara put a hand on my shoulder and smiled. "I have an idea. Why don't you come fishing with me and Sokka? We could use your help. Besides, it will take your mind off things" she suggested.

I bit my bottom lip for a moment. "As long as Sokka doesn't say anything stupid" I finally said.

"I can't promise you anything" she said, shrugging her shoulders. I chuckled, but agreed to come with her.

Katara walked back over to her brother who was preparing the canoe as I walked over to Sienna to tell her I was going fishing with the two of them. She barely turned her head when I called her name, but I knew she heard me. I walked back over to Katara who was placing a woven basket inside the canoe. I placed two paddles underneath one of the benches and climbed inside. Sokka climbed in front of me with a spear in one hand and a paddle in the other. Katara and I pushed the boat away from the edge as Sokka began to paddle.

"Hope you're ready to take notes, because I'm gonna show you how to catch a real fish" Sokka said proudly.

I rolled my eyes. "I can hardly wait, Sokka" I told him and leaned against the edge of the boat.

To be honest I wasn't a huge fan of fishing. Though by coming, I was spared another lecture of being a "big responsible girl" by the elders. I was sixteen which in their eyes made me about forty. You feel a certain pride when you're one of the oldest kids in the entire tribe, but it wears off pretty quickly. Sokka had certain responsibilities too since he was the oldest guy in the group. We split the work, but even then I somehow ended up doing his half. But I'd get back at him one way or another. Things haven't been easy since the raid. Now I spent most of my time taking care of my sister and doing my part to help our tribe.

The canoe drifted lazily past giant icebergs. I leaned against the edge and watched the ripple of water trailed behind my hand for second before disappearing. I didn't know how long we'd been out here, but when I saw the sun moving farther and farther west I knew it would start getting dark soon and after many failed attempts Sokka still hadn't managed to catch a single fish.

Sokka didn't take his eyes away from the water as he stared at a little fish that swam alongside the boat with his spear raised. I exhaled deeply and stared up at the sky. "We should start heading back soon. It's about to get dark" I told him.

"Hang on, this one's not gonna get far" he said, hungrily staring down at the fish.

"You said that half an hour ago when you tried catching that other fish" I pointed out. He turned his head for a split second to glare at me then went back to hovering his spear over the water. I heard a small plop to my right. Katara was waterbending a fish in a small bubble. She beamed as the ball of water hovered.

"Nice catch, Katara" I commented with a grin. I grabbed the woven basket as Katara waved the ball over the canoe. "Carefully..." I said, holding the basket so the fish could fall in, but at the same time Sokka moved his whale tooth spear and popped the bubble. I dropped the basket as the ice water landed on my head.

Katara widened her eyes in shock and gasped while Sokka turned his head in confusion and then burst out laughing while holding his stomach.

"What's so funny?" I retorted, brushing away a wet lock of hair that was sticking to my cheek.

"Nothing, it's just when Katara plays with magic water I'm usually the one who gets soaked" he laughed.

I put my hand in the water and splashed him, drenching only one side of his parka. "And you still are" I said, crossing my arms over my chest and grinned as he stopped laughing.

"Sorry about that" Katara said as I wrung my hair. She picked up the fish that had apparently dropped inside the canoe and threw it inside the basket. At least we had caught something. "And Sokka, I've told you a hundred times it's not called 'magic water'" she said with her hands on her hips.

"Yeah, yeah, I know, it's called 'waterbending'" he replied in emphasis. "And I told you a hundred time to keep your weird powers to yourself"

Katara crossed her arms over her chest. "You're the one who makes muscles every time you see your reflection" she pointed out.

I laughed as Sokka gave his sister a look. Before he could say anything, the canoe jerked towards the right and nearly sent me flying off. All three of us looked ahead to see that our boat had caught with the current and we were headed right for a field of ice. Sokka and I grabbed the paddles as two icebergs nearly crushed us from either side. Pieces of ice hit either side of our canoe, knocking the paddle out of my hand. As Sokka tried to control the boat, the water became rougher.

"We need to get away from the icebergs!" Katara shouted.

Sokka didn't listen and we were led right into the thick of it and were hit by more ice. Our canoe wasn't going to make it. As soon as I heard the first crack I jumped out on the ice to my left and Sokka and Katara did the same right as the canoe was crushed.

"Remind me again why I came with you guys?" I groaned, rubbing my head. Happy I survived sudden death, but now were stuck in the middle of nowhere. "How're we supposed to get home?" I asked, looking around.

"You should've turned left" Katara told her brother as she stood up.

"Or you could've used your magic water to get us away" Sokka suggested dryly. Both of them completely oblivious to main problem.

"You're blaming me for this?!" Katara demanded in disbelief.

I stood up and brushed the ice off my legs. "Guys, let's focus on getting back to the village first and then you two can argue" I said rhetorically. I was glad my clothes hadn't torn. That would be unpleasant.

I looked around. The piece of ice were standing on was stuck in between two icebergs. The other enormous bits of ice were several feet away, too far to make a jump for it. Katara walked over to the edge of the ice and looked over our situation too. I heard her give a thoughtful 'hmm'.

"Do you have an idea?" I asked her.

"A thought, but I don't know if it'll work" she replied, "I could try waterbending to push this ice out. Unless you know another way" she suggested.

I shrugged my shoulders. "I got nothing" I admitted sadly.

She exhaled and began to move her arms back and forth. Small waves of water sloshed against the ice and the iceberg, but we didn't move.

"Oh please, it'll be hours before we get out of here. By which time we'll probably be dead" Sokka remarked dramatically.

"If you have a better idea we're all ears, Sokka" I told him dryly.

He groaned. "I knew better than to bring you guys fishing" he muttered, but I heard him and apparently so did Katara because she had stopped waterbending and stared at him annoyingly.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I demanded.

"Look Talia, all I'm saying is you guys should stick to what you do best: cooking, sewing, etcetera, etcetera" he remarked "You guys are good at that kind of stuff and leave all the fishing and hunting to the men"

I honestly hated Sokka's stereotype and sexism towards women as much as Katara did. I'd much rather learn to fight than learn to sew. Katara looked much angrier and annoyed than I was. Sometimes I felt bad she had to deal with him more often than I had to.

"Do you really believe the situation would've been any different if you had gone by yourself?" Katara demanded, throwing her arms back angrily in exasperation. The water behind us sloshed and hit the iceberg. There was scraping noise and the ice we were standing on began to rock back and forth. She stopped and turned around questioningly. "Did you hear that? I think I moved the ice!" she said.

Katara ran back to the edge and started to bend the water one more time with all her might. The wave was bigger and the ice we were standing on began to rock more.

"Katara, wait, that's not—!" Sokka yelled, then stopped. There was a deafening crack and it travelled to the top of the giant iceberg.

Sokka whimpered and my eyes widened as it cracked open. I held on to the edge of the ice as an enormous wave of water pushed us back. As Sokka and Katara had their eyes shut, I subtly bended the water to the side so the ice wouldn't flip over. I slowly crawled on the other side of Sokka.

"Okay, waterbending us out of sticky situation was probably not the best plan" Sokka said.

"For once I might actually agree with you" I muttered "But that doesn't mean you're always right" I added when he smiled smugly.

"Wait a minute" Katara said "Are you telling me I broke that iceberg?" she said in wonder.

"Yeah, are you happy now, Katara?" Sokka said sarcastically.

Before either of us could move the water in front of us started to glow. It looked like something was coming to the surface. All three of us gasped and slowly crawled back and the ice we were standing on was pushed back by giant glowing iceberg. We stood there staring, dumbfounded.

Katara gasped. "There's someone in there!" she exclaimed.

I took a small step closer and squinted. Sure enough there looked like someone was inside and meditating. "Is he..." I began to say. Before I could finish my sentence he opened his eyes and they glowed. He had arrow tattoos on his head and hands, they were glowing too. I gasped. "He's alive! Should we help him?" I asked hesitantly. This wasn't something you see every day.

"No, he might be dange—hey, Katara!" Sokka shouted. Katara had grabbed the machete from her brother's back and sprinted towards the iceberg. I followed after her with Sokka not too far behind.

Katara began hitting her brother's machete against the ice, making small chips in it. This is gonna take a while I thought. There was a quick hissing noise and a bright light exploded from the top. What the…? I thought as the light shot up in the sky. I wondered if our tribe could see it. Slowly the light began to circle over our heads and blew a gust of cold wind in our faces. I put a hand on Sokka's shoulder as the glowing boy slowly stood up. The light over our heads vanished as he wobbled and slid down the ice. Katara was the first to move and caught him before he hurt himself.

I crouched down next to her. "Is he still alive?" I asked.

"I don't know" Katara answered.

He couldn't have been older than twelve. The boy mumbled before slowly opening his eyes which first landed on Katara. He blinked a few times before completely opening his eyes.

"Have you ever ridden a flying bison?" he asked her.

I raised an eyebrow and looked at Sokka who only shrugged.

"Um…no, actually I haven't" Katara replied, confused.

The boy stood upright or…floated upright, I guess… which caused Sokka to hold his spear out in defense. Katara gave him a look. This kid seemed harmless…and confused. He glanced toward me before looking at his surroundings.

"Where am I?" he asked curiously.

"Er…you're in the South Pole" I told him as I stood up.

"South Pole?" he repeated to which I nodded. He looked around him again, his eyes wide. "Where are the penguins?" he asked eagerly.

"What?" I asked, not sure if I heard him right.

"Penguins!" he said excitedly. "They're black and white with—"

"We know what a penguin looks like" Sokka said impatiently.

He smiled widely, but then frowned as he looked around him. "Wait a second, where's Appa?" he asked. Before I could ask who Appa is, there was a low groan and the boy gasped before hurriedly climbing to the top of the ice without slipping. "Are you okay, buddy?" we heard him say.

I was the first to move to the other side of the ice to see an enormous bison with an arrow on his head similar to the one the boy had on his. He hung down next to the bison's mouth as he tried to wake him up. Katara and Sokka followed me a minute later and stared at the enormous creature. Sokka's mouth hung open. The bison's tongue lifted the boy up about two feet. He laughed and hugged the animal around his snout. Katara and Sokka continued to stare, apparently still taken aback by the giant animal.

That is too cool I thought to myself. "Can I pet him?" I asked the boy curiously.

"Sure if you want" he said, taking a step to the side.

"Talia, don't…" Sokka said to me. I ignored him and petted the bison's white fur on his head. "What is that supposed to be?" he added, still apparently dumbstruck.

"Appa's my flying bison" he explained happily.

Sokka rolled his eyes. "Oh, have you met Katara? She's my flying sister" he said sarcastically before glancing back towards me. "Talia, get away from him. He might have a disease"

I gave him a look as I petted Appa's snout "Look at him Sokka, does he look sick to you?" I asked.

Appa let out a low growl as I scratched his nose. His snout began to quiver. I stepped to the side as he let out a loud snot filled sneeze right all over Sokka. He groaned in disgust and frantically began to use the snow to clean away the green slime. I grimaced, but at the same time had to bite down on my tongue to keep myself from laughing. Katara put a hand over her mouth, whether to keep herself from laughing or to keep her vomit down, I wasn't sure. Sokka put a hand to his face and the green slime stretched on his mitten. He glared at me as if to prove his point.

"Oh, that doesn't prove anything. It was one sneeze" I pointed out.

"So are you guys lost or something?" he asked.

"Actually we were—" I stopped when Sokka jabbed his spear in between us, nearly hitting me in the face.

"Are you crazy? Don't answer him!" Sokka snapped. "Hiding in an iceberg? You're a Fire Navy spy aren't you?" he accused.

I swatted his spear away from the boy's face. "Oh he's definitely a Fire Navy spy, Sokka. Just look at that crazy look on his face" I said mockingly.

Katara sighed and shook her head. "Sorry, we haven't been properly introduced. My name's Katara, this is my brother Sokka, and our friend Talia" she introduced. "What's your—" Katara didn't finish her sentence because the boy had raised his finger to stop her and his nose quivered. Without any warning he gave a loud echoing sneeze. The icy wind blew around our faces. He had flown maybe twenty feet in the air and I watched as he slowly came sliding down the broken iceberg.

"Uh…bless you?" I said confusingly, wondering if I saw right. I looked back at the two to see if they saw what I saw. They mirrored my expression.

"Thanks" he said, rubbing his nose. "My name's Aang" he added casually.

"What just happened?" Sokka asked in disbelief.

Aang looked at him in confusion. "I sneezed" he replied.

"And went flying in the air. How did you do that?" he asked incredulously.

"Are…are you an airbender?" Katara asked skeptically.

"Yup" Aang nodded.

I glanced over at Katara who had the same disbelieving expression I did. We were obviously thinking the same thing. An airbender. How in the name of spirits was that possible?

"Airbenders, flying bison, glowing icebergs…I'm definitely hallucinating now. Stuff will start making much more since once I'm back home" Sokka rambled, walking towards the edge of the ice.

I put my hands on my hips. "And how're you going to do that exactly?" I asked.

"So are you guys lost?" Aang asked.

"No, not lost. Just stuck" I explained.

"Well, if you want, Appa and I could help you out" Aang offered as he spun in the air and sat on top of the bison's head.

"Sure! I think the village would love to meet you" Katara said happily, running to one side of the bison.

I hesitated. "Uh, is it safe?" I asked, petting the bison's head again.

"Of course it is. Trust me" Aang said

It was against my better judgment to just ride on some stranger's flying bison, but Aang looked okay. I gently climbed on Appa's back as Aang helped me inside the saddle strapped on Appa. It was surprisingly comfortable.

"If you guys think I'm going to ride that fuzzy snot thing, you're both crazy" Sokka objected.

"By the time another monster comes around to help you home you'll probably be frozen to death first" Katara told her brother as Aang helped her climb in next.

Sokka was about to object again but closed his mouth in defeat and followed our example. I just hoped I didn't go flying off. Aang took his place on Appa's head again and grabbed the reins.

"Have you guys ever flown before?" Aang asked.

"We've never been on a flying bison before" Katara told him.

"Okay, well, you better hang on tight then first time flyers! Yip, yip!" he said. The bison, Appa, jumped up in the air and instead of flying, he landed in the water with a big splash. Katara moved towards the front of the saddle.

"Some flying" Sokka said sarcastically. "Ow!"

"Don't be mean" I told him. He groaned as he rubbed the back of his head, where I hit him.

"Don't worry, Appa's just a little worn-out. After he's rested for a bit we'll be flying in no time" Aang said eagerly.

He was quiet for a moment. I leaned back and tried to make myself comfortable. Guess we were having leftovers for dinner. I glanced up at the sky. I would've loved to see the celestial lights right about now.

"Why are you smiling at me?" I heard Katara say.

"Oh, was I smiling?" Aang asked nervously.

Sokka tilted his head back and groaned. I giggled. Sounds like Katara found herself a little crush. I enjoyed the ride as Appa continued to float across the river. I made a note to practice more waterbending after dinner and putting Sienna to bed. The sun began to set slowly and the sky turned into a deeper shade of blue. I heard Sokka snoring above my head.

"Hey Talia?" Katara whispered next to me.

I propped myself up on my elbows. "Katara, what's up?" I asked softly

"I've been thinking. Aang's an airbender and all, right? Do you think he knew the Avatar?" she whispered so quietly I barely heard her.

I blinked and sat up. I hadn't really thought about that. When the Air Nomads went extinct a hundred years ago, people believed the Avatar was an airbender. That was a good question and now I was definitely curious. "I don't know Katara. He might've" I whispered

Katara looked over at the end of the saddle hesitantly. "Should we ask him?" she suggested.

"You ask" I told her. Katara crawled towards the front of the saddle again and I followed. Aang was staring up at the sky. "Hey, Aang" I said.

"Hi, everything okay?" he asked.

Katara glanced over at me. "Yeah, everything's fine. Talia and I were just curious about something" she explained.

"What is it?" he asked.

"We were thinking, since you're an airbender and everything..." Katara started to say. "Did you know the Avatar?"

Aang blinked and propped himself up on his elbows. "Uh, no, I knew people who've met him, but I've never met him before" he said apologetically.

"Oh, okay, well, we were just wondering" Katara said in disappointment. "Sleep tight" she told him.

"Good night" he answered back, before glancing over at me.

I wasn't so easily convinced. He was hiding something. "Are you sure you didn't know the Avatar?" I asked suspiciously.

He shook his head. "No, I didn't" he said hesitantly, before lying down on his stomach.

I sat back down next to Katara. "Katara, I think he's hiding something" I told her.

She raised an eyebrow at me. "Hiding something?" she repeated "Like what?"

"Look, this might sound crazy, but what if he's the Avatar?" I said in theory "I mean he is an airbender"

She frowned. "Don't be stupid. If he was, why wouldn't he tell us that he's the Avatar?" she pointed out.

I don't exactly know how an Avatar's mind works, Katara" I said. I still wasn't convinced. It bothered me the whole way back to our tribe. I stared at the celestial lights above my head to keep my mind off of it. It didn't help so much. I wanted to know what happened to the Avatar just as much as Katara did. It was the one subject we always talked about. Things haven't been easy for either of us since her mother died and my mother was raided.

I raised my wrist above my head to look at the bracelet I had. The small beads were so white it was almost blinding, in the middle of it was a pale blue stone. It had been a gift from Avani. All I had left of her was a bracelet that I never took off and my mother's necklace which I gave to my sister. I never told anyone, but I was silently holding onto hope that by some miracle they were alive, somewhere. I sighed and closed my eyes for about a minute when I was shaken awake.

"Get up, we're back" Sokka's voice said to me.

I sat up and stretched my arms. The village was several feet away from us. The thought of my comfortable and warm bed made me slide off the bison's back. Katara was carrying a sleeping Aang towards her tent. I headed towards my own where Sienna was already fast asleep. I kissed my sister on the forehead before climbing into my bed. I folded my hands behind my head and stared at the ceiling of our pitch black hut.

A hundred years.

We've been at war for a hundred years. It made we wonder how much longer it would last. I envied Katara sometimes. She was always full of hope. That's not to say I wasn't. I held onto hope too, but I would also wonder how much longer until even our village wasn't safe anymore. Would the Fire Nation kill us? Lock us away? Would we be separated?

I glanced over at Sienna and felt a shiver run up my spine. I sighed and turned over on my side with my head resting on my arm. I didn't want to think about it. She knew we were at war, but she was too young to understand all of it. The Fire Nation wasn't going to take her away from me. It's not going to happen. I won't let it.

I closed my eyes and let sleep take over.

"Get up! Talia, get up!" I heard my mother's voice said.

Mom? I thought groggily. Her voice sounded frantic and scared. The same way it did that horrid night.

"Talia, get up!" Sienna's voice shouted in my ear.

I groaned in slight disappointment as I turned to see my little sister in her thick parka and fur boots. "What's wrong Sisi?" I yawned. She grabbed my wrist and began to tug me outside the tent.

"You've gotta see this!" she said excitedly.

I grabbed my own parka and pulled my boots on as Sienna pulled me along outside, causing me to stumble a little. "What is it?" I asked, still half-asleep. I was outside just in time to see Aang fly right into Sokka's snow tower.

"Aw, you missed it!" Sienna whined disappointedly.

I watched as Katara helped Aang stand up on his feet. He had some sort of orange contraption in his hand. It reminded me of a bird. A heavy pile of snow fell from the snow tower and on top of Sokka. I ran over to help him.

"And I thought it was hard enough having a waterbender for a sister" he muttered as I pulled him up. "Now you two can waste all the time in the world together" he said before storming off.

"You can waterbend?" Aang asked Katara in amazement.

"Um, kind of. Only a little" she said modestly.

"She can" I concluded for her. "Katara's just being modest. She's a waterbender in training" I explained. Katara's grandmother came and told her she had chores to do and pulled her along. Sienna ran to join the other kids, leaving me alone with Aang. He smiled at me and I returned it. "Did you sleep well?" I asked.

"Yeah, I did" he answered with his childish smile.

"Are you hungry?" I asked "We have some leftover fish. It's not much, but it's better than nothing" I told him.

Aang rubbed the back of his head uneasily. "Uh, actually, I don't eat meat" he explained.

"Oh," I said awkwardly. "Sorry, we don't have a lot of fruits around these parts" I admitted

"It's okay, I'm not really that hungry" he said "So, listen, I don't mean to offend you or anything, but are you a water tribe too?" he asked.

I blinked and folded my arms across my chest. "Of course I'm a water tribe" I replied.

Though, I didn't exactly blame him for asking. I was different from the other people in the water tribe. My appearance wasn't like everyone else's. I didn't have beautiful mocha colored skin like Katara and everyone else in the tribe. Mine was fair. My hair was a light brown color instead of dark. Instead of gorgeous blue eyes, mine was hazel with flecks of yellow. I stuck out like a sore thumb in the village.

Aang rubbed the back of his neck. "Sorry" he said guiltily "I shouldn't have…"

I sighed. "It's fine, don't worry about it" I answered, sitting down in the snow "I can't exactly blame you for asking. I'm kind of the black koala sheep of the village"

He sat down next to me. "I wasn't suggesting—"

"Aang, I said it's fine" I repeated, giving him a smile. "I better go" I added, standing up and walking back to my tent. Aang stood up and went to entertain the younger kids. I took out the leftover fish we had and placed it on a stick over the fire. As I cooked I could hear the small children laughing loudly outside. I honestly never heard them laugh so hard before. It made me curious about what Aang was doing. I put aside the cooked fish and walked outside just in time to see Aang sprint after a penguin, leaving a trail of gusty wind behind him as Katara followed.

"What was that all about?" I asked Sokka, who seemed much more frustrated than he usually was.

"Can you believe that guy?" he said "He's acting like he's never heard of the war" Sokka told me.

I rolled my eyes at him. "You're hilarious, Sokka" I said sarcastically.

"No, I'm serious" he replied "He's never heard it before! I'm telling you he's a Fire Navy spy" he said before stomping off.

"And I'm telling you that you're being ridiculous!" I called as he walked away.

Sokka walked off to gather all of the toddlers, or rather, 'soldiers of our village'. I searched around for my sister. Sienna was outside our tent and waving something around in her hand. I widened my eyes and ran over to her. "Sienna!" I scolded, grabbing my dagger out of her hand. "What do you think you're doing?" I demanded.

"Showing people my cool weapon" she replied

"Sisi, I told you never to touch this. You know better than to run around with knives. You could hurt yourself" I lectured

"I'm nine! I know how to use a knife, Talia!" she objected, reaching for the dagger. I held it out of her reach.

"Sienna, I don't want to see you with this knife ever again. Do you understand me?" I said in a motherly voice that sounded a lot like our mother's. "Go play" I told her.

She stuck her tongue out at me and ran to her friends. I sighed and looked at my dagger. It wasn't just any old knife. I sat down inside the tent and removed the cloth around the handle that hid the Fire Nation insignia on it. This knife belonged to my father. People believed my father was from the Northern Water Tribe and that's why I was so different in appearance. That's a lie. My dad had been a firebender. No one knew. No one in the entire village knew who or what my father actually was. I never knew him, let alone what to think of him. I didn't know the story. I had no clue as to how I was conceived and I didn't want to think about it. The thought of the possibility my mother might have been raped made me cringe. Or could they possibly have loved each other? I didn't have the slightest idea. For some reason, I couldn't bring myself to throw away the knife. Few years passed as my mother took care of me. I was six when she met someone else here in the village and then had Sienna. Sisi was actually my half-sister. She didn't know it though and I hoped she wouldn't have to.

End of Chapter 1. Did you enjoy it? Please review!