Chapter Text
Water, Earth, Fire, Air. My mother used to tell my stories about the old days, a time of peace. When the avatar kept the peace between the Water Tribes, Earth Kingdom, Fire Nation, and Air Nomads, but that all changed when the Earth Kingdom attacked. Only the avatar mastered all four elements. Only she could stop the ruthless earthbenders, but when the world needed her most, she vanished. A hundred years have passed and the Earth Kingdom is nearing victory in the war. Three years ago, my father and the men of my tribe journeyed to the Earth Kingdom to help fight against the earthbenders, leaving me to look after my tribe. Some people believe that the avatar was never reborn into the Fire Nation, 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.
Yue sat in her canoe out on the ocean, shimmering icebergs surrounding her. Over her shoulder she saw Kuto, her best friend since she was tiny, grab one of their fishing lines.
She didn’t grab one, but instead turned to face the other side of the canoe, taking off her thick, restricting gloves.
Kuto raised an eyebrow but a moment later gave a warning “Just don’t get any water in the canoe, and make sure to put it all in the middle, it would not be good if we capsized”
“I know, Kuto,” she said with a smile “I know what I’m doing”
Kuto shook his head slightly, but said nothing, turning instead to the water.
Yue watched vigilantly, waiting for a fish to come within range. She spotted one, slowly swimming over, she stilled and made sure not to make a noise. The fish kept swimming until… there! She shakily lifted the fish into the air with her waterbending, carefully transporting it to the middle of the canoe, where she froze the water to ice.
“I did it!” Yue exclaimed, quieting immediately when she remembered where they were
“Good job,” Kuto said with a smile
She managed to get a few more fish like this, placing the blocks of frozen fish in the middle of the canoe.
Another fish came over, a big one this time, Yue smiled, waterbent it up, and lifted it, swirling it around in a loop.
“Don’t get cocky”
“I’m not I-” she was interrupted by her block of fish ice being let go too soon, the large block slammed onto her side of the canoe, causing it to tip and all her fish blocks to slide over, flipping the canoe on its side.
“Ahhhh!” Both teens screamed as they flew into the freezing water, paddling quickly to the surface.
“Where’s the canoe?” Kuto panic-asked as they looked around
“I don’t see it” Yue replied in a similarly panicked tone
“There” Kuto pointed, but all Yue could see was ice “We can climb onto the ice so we don’t freeze in the water looking for our canoe”
Yue nodded, and the two swam off in that direction.
Once on the ice, the two began to look around at their surroundings, Yue’s fear rising as she noticed the distinct lack of their canoe anywhere
“Yue…” Kuto said nervously, looking behind her
The large iceberg behind them was cracking, the cracks growing as Yue took in the sight.
“Are you doing that?” Kuto asked, bewildered
“I-” the cracks grew and spread with the fear Yue was doing a fairly good job of not showing “I think so”
The iceberg cracked, splitting and sending their ice floating quickly backwards.
When the currents finally stopped Yue looked up. A large, almost glowing sphere of ice was bobbing gently on the water, a small, dark blob inside. She squinted, realizing with a jolt that, that was a person .
“There’s a person in there!” Yue exclaimed “We have to help them!”
Kuto nodded and the two struggled to steer their ice over, but eventually made it.
Kuto grabbed his spear from its sheath on his back and ran up to the ice and began hitting it while Yue did her best to open it with waterbending, though their combined efforts only yielded a few cracks.
Then, the ice burst with light, a beacon up to the sky. When the light dissipated the ice was cracked open and a boy with pale skin and dark hair stood atop it, his eyes glowing with blinding white. Yue looked on with awe until his eyes stopped glowing and he fell. Yue moved to catch him, carefully setting him down on the snowiest spot she could find, and looked at him with concern in her blue eyes.
The boy slowly opened his eyes, a stunning gold the likes of which Yue had never seen.
The boy groaned into awareness and looked around “Where…”
“You’re at the North Pole,” she said
This seemed to startle him into awareness and he quickly ran over to the once-ball of ice “Druk?” he called
Yue and Kulo exchange a glance before following him into the ice. A creature, a bright red coil with wings, stirred. It was bigger than a polar bear goose, and much longer.
“Come on Druk, wake up buddy,” the boy said, rubbing its head
The creature opened its eyes, a bright gold like the boys, and yawned.
The boy smiled “That’s my boy”
“What is it?” Yue asked, wonder in her voice
“He’s my dragon, Druk,” the boy said, then looked them in the eyes and took on a more serious tone “It is imperative I speak to the chief of the tribe immediately; I have overheard plans to invade the Fire Nation and I got lost, I need help before this terrible invasion starts.”
Yue and Kulo exchange a perplexed glance “Well” Yue said “I’m the acting chieftess of the tribe and… I think you're confused, the Earth Kingdom whipped out the Fire Nation a century ago”
The boy's eyes widened in shock and sadness “No” he whispered “No, it can’t be true”
Yue frowned, unsure how to help “Maybe we can get you back to the village and figure out what’s going on” she offered
The boy nodded, but didn’t seem to be thinking much about it. After a moment he looked around “You don’t have a boat” he noted
“No, we lost it”
“We can take Druk then” Yue looked up at the dragon, doing her best not to show her elation at the idea
“That might be best,” she said in her best calm chieftess voice
After the three popped on the dragon, he tried to take off but failed.
Yue frowned “Is he ok?” she asked, noticing the dragon's expression
“Yeah, he’s just tired from the flight here” the boy pet the dragon’s head sympathetically “I promise as soon as we get to the village you can rest while I figure out what to do”
The dragon groaned but kept swimming.
“You never did tell us your name,” Yue said after a while
“Oh,” he said “Zuko”
“Nice to meet you Zuko,” Yue said “I am Yue and this is my friend Kuto”
“It’s nice to meet you too, Yue and Kuto”
Toph stood on the deck of her ship, a hard expression on her face as she stared out into the void. Then, at a moment’s notice the entire crew became eerily quiet and whatever movements they made (if any at all) were not detectable through her earth sense.
“What is it?” she demanded
“Your highness,” one of the men said, shakier than earth soldiers typically sounded, even in the cold “There was a beacon of light in the sky”
Toph’s eyes widened, then narrowed “That can only mean one thing” she turned to the crew “Set a course for that light” she announced “We’re capturing the avatar” she finished as she turned back around, mostly to herself
Most of the rest of the ride went on in silence until they finally reached the icy shore of the village, the tired dragon flopping onto the ice before immediately popping up with a yelp.
It took longer than usual to reach the village, Druk needing constant coaxing to move forward after the long swim, but at last, they reached the village entrance.
“Yue,” her mother said, sprinting over “we were worried when you were gone so long” then her eyes shifted to their new acquaintances “who’s this?”
“Mother, this is Zuko and his dragon Druk, we found them frozen in a weird ice ball, Druk gave us a ride home”
Her mother's eyes narrowed “Where’s your canoe?”
“It capsized” she sighed “Along with all the fish we caught”
Her mother frowned, then shook her head with a smile “Come now, we have dinner to eat” then she looked at Zuko “You’re welcome to come”
“Oh, I don’t need to, I wouldn’t want to be a burden,” Zuko said
“Nonsense, you are perfectly welcome, besides, it would be impolite not to feed our guest”
Zuko looked like he wanted to protest further but he gave in and allowed himself to be led into the igloo at the head of the village. Her mother seemingly already prepared dinner, a meal with enough for three smaller servings.
“I need to speak to both of you,” Zuko said once they all sat at the small table in the middle of the igloo
“What is it?” she asked
“I was visiting the Earth Kingdom yesterday and I overheard plans to invade the Fire Nation, they will never expect it, we need to go warn them or-or something,” Zuko said, becoming more awkward as he went
Mother looked about as bewildered as Yue felt.
“Zuko” Yue started gently “How long were you in that ice?”
“I don’t know” Zuko answered, confused “Maybe a few hours”
“I think it might have been closer to a hundred years,” Yue said gently
“That-That's not possible,” Zuko said
Then it hit her. In the stories the Fire Nation had hair as dark as night and skin as pale as snow, their eyes were gold like the sun. The description had always struck her as a mere tale for children, but it matched the boy before her perfectly.
“Zuko-” she started softly, but what could she say? On some level she understood, but not like this, there were new waterbenders and the non-benders were all still alive, she hadn’t lost anyone she knew, her family, her friends, her people, her fellow benders, they were all still here, he had experienced a pain she could never understand, and to pretend she could would only serve to disregard his pain. “I’m so sorry” she settled on, though words of ununderstanding sympathy couldn’t help as much as someone who knew, who understood.
Zuko shook his head, a few stray tears running down his cheeks “It’s not possible, no one could wipe out an entire nation, no one could have that power”
Yue stopped talking, if he didn’t want comfort who was she to force it on him?
After a few minutes of silence, her mother finally said “So, what would you like to do?”
“I guess I’ll stay here and figure out what to do,” he said “Druk needs rest anyways”
Her mother nodded “Of course, I’ll make sure a guest tent is prepared for you, and I’ll see what I can do for your dragon”
“Thank you,” Zuko said, then bowed, deep and low, before walking out.