Narrating: Water. Earth. Fire. Air. Long ago, the four nations lived together in harmony. Then, everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked. Only the Avatar, master of all four elements, could stop them. But when the world needed him most, he vanished. A hundred years have passed, and the Fire Nation is nearing victory in the war. Two years ago, my father and the men of my tribe journeyed to the Earth Kingdom to help fight against the Fire Nation, leaving me and my brother to look after our tribe. Some people believe that the Avatar was never reborn into the Air Nomads and that the cycle is broken. But I haven't lost hope. I still believe that, somehow, the Avatar will return to save the world.
The scene opens on a vast, frozen sea in the Southern Water Tribe. A small canoe navigates between towering walls of blue ice. Inside, Sokka, a sixteen-year-old warrior-in-training with his hair in a warrior's wolf tail, holds a spear at the ready, his eyes narrowed in concentration. His younger sister, Katara, fourteen, stares into the frigid water on her side of the boat, her parka hood down, her face a mask of wistful longing.
Sokka: (Whispering intensely, not taking his eyes off a fish near the surface) "It's not getting away from me this time." He grins confidently over his shoulder. "Watch and learn, Katara. This is how you catch a fish."
Katara seems indifferent until she spots another fish gliding past her side of the canoe. A spark of determination lights her blue eyes. She pulls off her mitten, takes a deep breath, and extends her hand toward the water. With a subtle, wavy motion of her wrist, she coaxes a bubble of water to rise from the ocean, cradling the fish within it.
Katara: (A happy surprise in her voice) "Sokka, look!"
Sokka: (Hissing without looking back) "Shhh! Katara, you're going to scare it away!" He licks his lips, wiggling his fingers. "Mmmm... I can already smell it cookin'."
Behind him, Katara struggles to maintain control, her arms making circular motions as she floats the bubble over Sokka's head just as he thrusts his spear downward. The blunt end pops the bubble instead, drenching Sokka in cold saltwater. The fish plops onto the ice floe beside them before sliding back into the sea.
Katara: (Indignantly) "Hey!"
Sokka: (Rounding on her, wringing water from his wolf tail) "Why is it that every time you play with magic water, I get soaked?"
Katara: (Sighing) "It's not 'magic', it's waterbending! And it's—"
Sokka: (Cutting her off) "Yeah, yeah, 'an ancient art unique to our culture', blah blah blah. Look, I'm just saying," he turns away, flexing subtly at his reflection in a calm patch of water, "that if I had weird powers, I'd keep my weirdness to myself."
Katara: (Smirking, arms crossed) "You're calling me weird? I'm not the one who makes muscles at myself every time I see my reflection!"
Sokka's proud grin vanishes. He opens his mouth to retort when suddenly the canoe shudders violently. A powerful current seizes them, pulling them swiftly into a narrowing channel choked with massive icebergs.
Katara: (Panicked) "Watch out! Go left! Go left!"
Sokka paddles furiously, but the current is too strong. The canoe is crushed between colliding ice floes. The siblings leap onto a stable floe just in time, Katara nearly sliding into the freezing water.
Katara: (Bitterly) "You call that left?"
Sokka: "You don't like my steering? Well maybe you should've," he mocks her waterbending gestures, "waterbended us out of the ice!"
Katara: (Furious) "So it's my fault?"
Sokka: "I knew I should've left you home! Leave it to a girl to screw things up!"
Katara's face contorts with rage. Unbeknownst to her, as she yells and gestures—"You are the most sexist, immature, nut-brained... I'm embarrassed to be related to you!"—her pent-up emotion fuels her bending. Each swing of her arms sends powerful waves crashing into a gigantic, pointed iceberg behind her. CRACK. A fissure snakes up its face.
Sokka: (Eyes wide with terror) "Uh... Katara..."
Katara: (Unheeding) "Ever since Mom died, I've been doing all the work around camp while you've been off playing soldier!" Another wave hits; the crack deepens.
Sokka: (Voice screeching) "Katara, settle down!"
Katara: "NO! THAT'S IT!!" She shrieks, "I'M DONE HELPING YOU!"
Her final, furious motion unleashes a massive wave. It strikes the iceberg with catastrophic force. A deafening SPLIT echoes across the tundra as the entire monolith cleaves in two. The halves collapse into the sea, sending a colossal wave that hurls their ice floe backward. As the water settles, Sokka protectively releases Katara.
Sokka: (Dryly) "Okay. You've gone from 'weird' to 'freakish', Katara."
Katara: (Astonished) "You mean I did that?"
Sokka: (Nudging her) "Yep. Congratulations."
Before them, where the iceberg stood, bubbles begin to rise from the depths. A soft, ethereal blue glow emanates from beneath the water's surface. The siblings scramble back as a massive spherical iceberg breaches like a rising moon. It rocks gently on the waves, its core pulsating with that same celestial light. Within, visible through crystalline ice, you are suspended. Your form is crouched in a meditative pose, glowing tattoos visible on your skin. Your eyes are closed.
Katara: (Breathless with awe) "He's alive! We have to help!"
She snatches Sokka's club from his back and dashes across hopping ice chunks toward the berg.
Sokka: "Katara, get back here! We don't know what that thing is!" He follows reluctantly.
At the base of the glowing orb, Katara strikes with all her might. On the fifth blow, the ice shatters.
A cataclysmic explosion of light and wind erupts outward, blasting Katara and Sokka off their feet. A pillar of azure energy rockets into the sky, visible for miles. When the gale subsides and the light fades, only a hollowed, steaming crater remains in what was left of the iceberg.**
From within that crater, you slowly rise. The last wisps of spiritual energy fade from your body and tattoos. You stand atop the ice, looking down at your saviors—two teenagers staring up at you in equal parts wonder and terror. The cold Antarctic air fills your lungs for what feels like,the first time in a century. Your vision swims, legs wobble. A moan escapes your lips as exhaustion overwhelms you; you pitch forward.*
Katara gasps and rushes forward, catching you before you hit ground. She lowers you gently against ice. Sokka approaches, poking your head cautiously with his spear.
Katara: (Swatting spear away) "Stop it!"
Your eyelids flutter open.*
---
<STATS>
[Day 1 | Y until Sozin's Comet] - [Midday] - [Southern Water Tribe Glaciers]
Bending Proficiency: Water (0%), Earth (0%), Fire (0%), Air (100% - Dormant)
Notable Inventory: None.
Active Companions: Katara & Sokka (just met).
Key Relationships: Katara (Neutral-Curious), Sokka (Neutral-Wary).
Current Objectives: Regain bearings; understand new world.
Global Reputation: Water Tribes (Unknown), Earth Kingdom (Unknown), Fire Nation (Unknown).
Health/Status: Physically intact but weak; mentally disoriented; recently thawed.
</STATS>---
