"Aang! You came back!" Katara was yelling excitedly. Y/N sputtered, jumping out of the snow, and shaking it off herself.

          A young boy was getting off of a penguin, smiling widely. He wore strange clothes, ones way too cold for the South Pole, and had arrow tattoos on his forehead and hands. Arrow tattoos...

          "What did you do?" Y/N asked immediately, turning towards Sokka and Katara. Sokka crossed his arms, and Katara frowned up at her sister, raising her finger up to shake it at her. 

          "We didn't do anything. Why do you always have to assume it's us? We just found Aang in the ice! He's an airbender!"

          "Well, they did go to the shipwreck." Sokka commented. 

          "Excuse me?" Y/N snapped.

          "Finally." Prince Zuko spoke, and Y/N looked back to see the Aang kid facing off with the prince. "I've waited for this moment." They circled each other, and Y/N pulled her siblings back, deciding she would kill them later.

          Zuko quickly shot two quick bursts of fire, Y/N's anxiety skyrocketing as the flames came close to the villagers. Someone is going to get hurt. Y/N bent a wall of ice between the kid and her village, knocking the Airbender over in the process. 

          "Enough!" She yelled, a tremble of shameful fear in her voice. "Move your fight elsewhere, you unnecessarily endanger the lives of innocent people." The boy, Aang, stood, picking up his staff and glancing at her apologetically.

          "My mistake." He said, bowing slightly before turning towards the impatient prince. "If I come with you, will you leave these people alone?" Zuko silently nodded, and Y/N broke her wall, watching warily as Aang was taken away. That could've gone bad in all the wrong ways.

          "Wait, no!" Katara yelled, running forwards, but Y/N grabbed her by her hood. "We can't just let them take him, Y/N! He came back to protect us! Let go of me! Aang!"

          "Shut up. He caused this in the first place, and this guarantees your safety. You aren't dying for a random 12 year old monk." Y/N hissed, pulling her sister back.  The ship quickly left, and Y/N released Katara, who had surprisingly remained silent. 

          "You're a monster." She said quietly, smacking Y/N's hand away and rushing back towards their shared igloo. Y/N didn't move as the village slowly dispersed. I did the right thing, dad. I'm protecting them.

          "She won't talk to you for days unless we go after him." Sokka commented, walking up behind her. 

          "I think I can sleep at night knowing that." Y/N sighed, looking over at her twin. He had that look in his eye. "No. You are not going after them. You two are staying here, where I can keep you safe."

          "I defended the village fine on my own, you did nothing! We can't let Aang get taken away because of us!" Sokka's outburst was unexpected, and at first Y/N failed to speak. 

          "I'm doing my best to serve my tri-"

          "Yeah, well, we don't need it. I'm sick of you babying us all the time. You aren't dad, and you'll never be like mom, so stop trying and leave us alone already! Who am I kidding, you never listen to us anyways." Sokka threw up his hands, his voice rising to a yell before he stormed off after Katara.

          How long has he been holding that in? Y/N wondered, watching him go in shocked silence. He never gets that angry. 

                             —|〰️〰️〰️|—

          An hour later and Y/N couldn't find either of her siblings. She could easily imagine Katara still being angry enough to hide from her, but Sokka? She was actually starting to worry.

          She tried doing her chores to get her mind off everything, and try to relax. Nothing worked. 

          "Gran Gran." Y/N burst into her tent, not even asking for permission to enter. "Where are Sokka and Katara?" Gran Gran looked up from her conversation, frowning at her.

          "It is rude to interrupt in such a way, child." She said sternly. "But if you must know, they have set off to peruse the Avatar."

          "THEY WHAT?!" Y/N exploded, torn between getting answers, and tearing out of the tent that very instant. 

          "Hush, calm down." Gran Gran shushed. "It is their destiny. They should follow where it leads them."

          "They are following a fire nation battleship." Y/N said, her attempted calm voice breaking and quivering violently. "And you couldn't give me a heads up? I need to be there to protect them!"

          "I knew you would never let them go. Follow if you must, but you must learn to let go."

           "Let go? I promised dad- gah!"

                             —|〰️〰️〰️|—

          She would never catch up this way.

          A canoe was way too slow, and even with her limited waterbending skills, she would not catch up in any amount of time. She cursed under her breath, glaring at the endless ice around her. The smoke from the ship was easy to follow, but she was losing it.

          Hours later, the smoke was gone, and she was beginning to lose hope, wondering if she should turn back. That's when she saw it.

          The fire nation ship, wedged into an enormous iceberg and not running. 

          Y/N arrived a few minutes later, taking a deep breath and stealthily moving alongside the large metal hull, grabbing a ladder and making her way up.

          "Hey!" She had only been on the deck for a few moments before a  soldier spotted her. She bent some water up from the ocean below to block the fire, keeping it in the air by bending it in circles around herself.

          "Where are my siblings?" Y/N demanded. "I'll give you one chance to tell me." The soldier backed up.

          "They aren't here anymore." Zuko's sudden voice made her jump, almost dropping her water. What?

          "What do you mean?" Y/N asked. "They came for the Avatar."

          "And they got what they came for, and left this mess on the way out." Zuko gestured angrily at the ice all over the hull of the ship. "Left on the Avatar's flying bison."

          "Flying bison?" Y/N instinctively looked at the sky. This is a problem. I'll never catch up. 

          She was snapped back to her senses by the sudden blazing heat. She barely dodged the fireball, leaping aside with a small yelp, then letting out an angry growl.

          "Stop this! I have a proposition." Y/N tried to compose herself.

          "Save it for someone who cares." Zuko swept his leg around, causing a roaring wall of fire to rush towards her. Her eyes widened, and she quickly dispersed her water to put it all out, making it all instantly turn to steam.

          "I can free your ship and ensure it gets to land safely." Y/N offered. "My waterbending will prove much faster than digging or melting your way out." Zuko frowned, relaxing his stance and studying her.

          "And why should I trust you?" He asked. I have his attention.

          "You want the Avatar, yes?" She relaxed her stance as he nodded. "I want my siblings brought home safely, and they've run off together. I need the transportation, and help to capture them." 

          Zuko paused for a moment, then cautiously walked towards Y/N, stopping just short of a foot in front of her. She cocked her head to one side curiously.

          "You have yourself a deal, waterbender. But no funny business. I will be monitoring you closely, and if you betray me, I will kill you." He said coldly, saying each word slowly. He threatens me. A little smile crept across Y/N's face as she looked up at him, getting closer, and whispering.

          "Oh, I'm not worried."