Chapter Text
Location: Wolf Cove, The Southern Water Tribe.
Temperature: Too cold.
The Water Tribe cutter docked at the icy pier. Sokka stood at the bow. He was wearing his Councilman robes (which were not insulated enough) and striking a pose he had practiced in the mirror for three hours. He called it "The Returning Hero."
"Behold!" Sokka shouted to the small crowd of villagers. "I, Councilman Sokka of the United Republic, Chairman of the Terra-Team, and Inventor of the Submarine, have returned!"
He strode down the gangplank with majestic purpose. He slipped on a patch of black ice. He flailed, did a windmill with his arms, and face-planted directly into a snowbank.
"Welcome home, Sokka," Katara sighed, walking past him.
A large, warm hand grabbed Sokka by the back of his tunic and hauled him out of the snow. Chief Hakoda stood there, grinning. He looked older, a few more grey hairs, but his eyes were bright. "Nice entrance, Councilman," Hakoda laughed. "Did you invent that move, too?"
"It was a tactical roll!" Sokka sputtered, wiping snow off his face. "Dad! I’m an elected official now! You have to respect the-"
"Sokka!" Gran-Gran shuffled forward. She ignored his robes, she ignored his title. She reached up and pinched his cheek with the grip strength of a crab-spider.
"Ow! Gran-Gran!"
"You look thin," Gran-Gran criticized, twisting the cheek. "Are they not feeding you in the big city? You look like a dried fish."
"I’m lean!" Sokka yelped. "It’s muscle definition!"
"Hmph," Gran-Gran released him. She handed him a bucket and a rusty knife. "The seal-jerky needs descaling. Get to work, Councilman."
Sokka stared at the bucket. "But... I have a meeting with the Elders about trade tariffs..."
"After the jerky," Gran-Gran ordered. She turned to Aang. "Avatar Aang."
Aang bowed low. "Gran-Gran! It’s an honor to—" Gran-Gran pinched his cheek too. "You got taller," she noted. "Good. You can reach the top shelf in the pantry. Go get the dried fish."
Aang rubbed his cheek, beaming. "Yes, ma'am!"
Finally, Gran-Gran looked at Toph. Toph was standing on the dock, clutching Katara’s arm like a lifeline. She looked miserable. "Why is the ground moving?" Toph complained loudly. "Ice isn't a rock! It’s just... angry water that stopped moving! I can't see anything!"
"Hello, little Earthbender," Gran-Gran said kindly. "Welcome to the pole. Do you like stew?"
Toph paused. "Is it meat?"
"It is entirely meat."
Toph grinned. "I like this place."
***
That night, they squeezed into the Chieftain’s hut. The fire was roaring, and the stew was thick. Hakoda sat at the head of the table, listening to Aang recount everything that happened in the Republic (with heavy embellishments from Sokka).
However, there was a problem. Aang and Katara were sitting next to each other. They weren't just sitting, they were... intertwined. Aang’s hand was under the table, holding Katara’s. Katara was leaning her head on his shoulder. At one point, Aang waterbent a piece of seal-jerky directly into her mouth, and she giggled.
Sokka slammed his spoon down. "Okay! Enough!" He pointed his spoon at them. "I am trying to eat my dinner, and I am surrounded by a pink aura of oogies! Stop looking at each other like that!"
"Like what?" Aang asked innocently.
"Like you want to merge spirits!" Sokka gagged. "Dad, tell them! It’s improper! It’s unhygienic!"
Hakoda took a sip of tea. He looked at Aang (the Savior of the World) and Katara (his daughter, a Master Waterbender). "I think it’s nice," Hakoda shrugged. "Young love. Reminds me of your mother and I."
"Thank you, Hakoda," Aang smiled. He looked at Katara. "See? Your dad is cool."
"I am cool," Hakoda agreed.
"I am sensing elevated heart rates," Toph announced from across the table. She chewed on a bone. "Aang’s heart sounds like a hummingbird on caffeine. It’s annoying. If he beats any faster, he’s going to vibrate through the floor."
Aang turned bright red. "I am just... excited to be here! The... altitude!"
"We are at sea level, Twinkle Toes," Toph deadpanned.
***
An hour later, the hut was getting crowded. "We're going to go... train," Aang announced, standing up abruptly. "Yes," Katara agreed, standing up too fast. "Waterbending forms. In the moonlight. Very technical."
They practically ran out the door.
Sokka narrowed his eyes. "Training. Right. I give it ten minutes before they start making snow-angels." "Ten minutes?" Toph scoffed. "I give it five."
Location: A secluded glacier, half a mile from the village.
Aang stopped running. He looked at Katara. The moonlight hit her face, reflecting off the snow. She looked beautiful. "So," Aang breathed. "Training?"
"It’s cold," Katara smiled, stepping closer. "Maybe we should build a shelter first."
Aang grinned. He stomped his foot. He bent the snow around them, swirling it into a perfect, domed igloo. He added a bench. He added a skylight. Katara bent the moisture out of the air inside, freezing the walls into solid, wind-proof ice. Then, she pulled a few coals from her pouch and breathed a small fire into life in the center.
It was cozy. It was private. They sat on the ice bench, wrapped in furs.
"I missed this," Katara whispered, looking at the fire. "Just... quiet."
"Me too," Aang said. His voice had dropped a little, that new, deep register that he was still growing into. "In Republic City, I have to be the Avatar all the time. Here... I can just be Aang."
Katara turned to him. "I like ‘just Aang.’"
Aang looked at her teal-blue. He leaned in, and they kissed. It started sweet, the kind of kiss they had shared a hundred times, but then, Aang put his hand on her waist, pulling her closer under the furs. Katara’s hands tangled in the collar of his tunic. The kiss deepened, and it wasn't just sweet anymore, it was... urgent.
Aang felt a rush of energy. He was happy; he was overwhelmed; He was sixteen and in love with the girl of his dreams. The energy swelled in his chest. His tattoos began to glow.
"Aang," Katara murmured against his lips. "It’s getting warm."
"Mmm," Aang hummed, not stopping.
"No," Katara pulled back slightly. "Aang, look up."
Aang opened his eyes. They were glowing bright white. He looked up. The ceiling of the igloo wasn't ice anymore. It was dripping. The sheer radiant heat coming off his Avatar State was turning their shelter into a sauna.
"Oh," Aang blinked. The glow faded. "Oops."
Drip. A massive drop of freezing water landed right on his nose.
"You melted the roof," Katara laughed, wiping the water off his face. "You literally melted the roof because you got too excited."
"I can't help it!" Aang defended, his face burning. "It’s the Cosmic Energy! It responds to emotion!"
"Uh-huh," Katara smirked. "Cosmic Energy."
She leaned back in to kiss him again. And that’s when the wall exploded.
CRASH.
A massive chunk of ice flew inward, shattering against the far wall. Toph stood in the opening, looking annoyed. Sokka stood behind her, his hands clamped firmly over his eyes.
"FOUND YOU!" Toph yelled. "I told you, Snoozles! Five minutes!"
"MY EYES!" Sokka screamed, pointing blindly at them. "KATARA! PUT YOUR PARKA ON! THINK OF YOUR ANCESTORS!"
"I AM WEARING MY PARKA, SOKKA!" Katara yelled back, scrambling away from Aang. "WE WERE JUST TALKING!"
"Talking doesn't melt a structural dome!" Sokka argued, peeking through his fingers. "Look at this! It’s a puddle! Aang, stop going Avatar State on my sister!"
"I didn't mean to!" Aang squeaked, pulling his collar up to hide his blush.
"That’s it," Sokka declared. "Curfew! Back to the hut! I am separating you. Toph, you’re on guard duty. If Aang tries to waterbend a love-note, you rock-block him."
"With pleasure," Toph grinned, cracking her knuckles.
Later that night, the chaos had settled. The Gaang was sleeping in the main hut. Sokka was snoring, Toph was kicked back with her feet on a crate, and Aang and Katara were on opposite sides of the room (per Sokka’s orders), but they were looking at each other across the firelight, smiling.
Sokka rolled over in his sleep, muttering. "Stupid Zuko... bet he's having boring tea parties... probably sleeping on silk sheets..."
Aang looked out the window at the stars. The Southern Lights were dancing with green and purple ribbons in the sky. It was peaceful,.. it was safe. "I hope they're okay," Aang whispered to the air. "Zuko and Nia. I hope they're just... bored."
***
The next morning, Sokka slammed a blueprint onto the breakfast table. It was drawn on a piece of dried seal skin with charcoal. "Listen up, Team Avatar," Sokka announced, wearing his wolf-helmet (which was crooked). "Our defenses are weak. We have benders, sure. but what if the enemy has... anti-bender shields? We need artillery."
Hakoda squinted at the drawing. "Son, is that a catapult made of whale ribs?"
"It is the Snow-Launcher 3000," Sokka corrected. "And today, we test it."
He pointed a spoon at Toph. "Toph. You are the target."
Toph grinned, revealing her perfectly aligned teeth. It made her look feral yet stunning. "You're going to shoot ice at the blind girl?" Toph asked. "Bold strategy, Snoozles. Let's see how it pays off."
***
Location: The Great Ice Shelf.
Teams:
- Team Science: Sokka (Commander), Hakoda (Moral Support/Laughing).
- Team Bender: Katara, Aang.
- Team Chaos: Toph (Freelance Agent).
Sokka had built his fort. It was impressive. Thick walls, crenellations, and the Snow-Launcher 3000 sitting in the center. He loaded a snowball the size of a cabbage.
"Range... forty meters!" Sokka shouted. "Wind... brisk! Fire!"
THWACK. The lever snapped. The snowball launched. It soared through the air, a majestic arc of white death.
Toph stood in the open field. She didn't move. She waited until the snowball was three feet away. Then, she dropped flat. Whoosh. The snowball sailed over her head and hit Aang directly in the face.
"I'm hit!" Aang yelled, falling over dramatically. "The humanity!"
"Friendly fire!" Sokka screamed. "Recalibrate!"
"My turn," Toph said. She couldn't bend the ice. But she had discovered something important: Packed snow is heavy. She scooped up a ball of ice. She waited. She felt the vibrations of Sokka frantically reloading. Step. Step. Trip. She threw.
It wasn't a lob. It was a fastball. CRACK. It hit Sokka’s helmet with a sound like a gong. Sokka spun around twice and fell into his own ammo pile.
"Sniper!" Sokka wheezed. "She's using echolocation! It's cheating!"
"It's skill!" Toph yelled back.
Suddenly, the snow around Toph began to rise. Katara stood up from behind a ridge. She moved her arms like she was conducting an orchestra. Ten snowballs lifted into the air, then twenty, then fifty.
"You guys use hands?" Katara smirked. "That's cute."
"RUN!" Hakoda yelled, abandoning his son and diving behind an ice pillar.
Katara unleashed hell. It was a blizzard, because the snowballs flew at machine-gun speeds. Sokka’s fort disintegrated. Aang (who had recovered) started airbending the snow back at her, creating a vortex of white powder. Toph, realizing she was outgunned, simply dug a hole and hid in it, occasionally popping up to throw a rock she had brought from the mainland.
It was total, glorious chaos. Sokka was screaming orders nobody listened to, Aang was laughing so hard he couldn't airbend straight, and Katara was ruling the battlefield like a vengeful ice queen.
The battle ended when Toph got bored. "I'm done hiding!" Toph yelled from her foxhole. She jumped out. She ran toward Sokka’s ruined fort to deliver a finishing punch.
She stomped her foot down to brace for the strike. THUD.
The sound wasn't right. Usually, the ice shelf sounded like a dull thump. This sounded... hollow, metallic, like a drum.
Toph froze mid-punch. "Freeze!" she shouted.
Everyone stopped. Sokka was holding a snowball. Aang was mid-air.
"What?" Katara asked, lowering her arms. "Give up?"
"Shut up," Toph ordered. She dropped to her knees. She put her ear to the ice. She slammed her fist down again. CLANG.
"That's not ice," Toph whispered. "That's metal. There's a roof under here."
Sokka dropped his snowball. The scientist brain took over. "A roof?" He ran over, sliding on his knees. He pulled out his boomerang and started chipping at the ice. "Under the glacier?"
"Move," Katara said. She stepped forward. She made a cutting motion with her hand. A precise water-whip sliced through the thick layer of ice. She lifted the slab away.
Underneath, buried by forty years of snow, was a hatch. It was rusted. It bore the insignia of the Fire Nation Navy. But someone had painted over it with a blue Water Tribe crescent.
"A Fire Nation ship?" Aang asked, leaning over the hole. "Did it crash?"
"No," Hakoda said, walking up behind them. His face had gone pale. He recognized the markings. "That's not a ship, that's a bunker."
"I’ll open it," Toph said. Using all her strength, she started to metalbend the ship out of the snow, while Katara and Aang waterbent the snow to give her space. She then made an opening in the roof with one swift move.
They looked down, and a ladder descended into the dark.
"I'll go first," Sokka said, grabbing a torch from his belt (he always had one, "just in case"). He dropped down, his boots hit metal, and he lit the torch.
The light flared up, revealing the room. It wasn't a bunker, it was a Library.
Shelves carved into the metal walls. Waterproof scrolls stacked floor to ceiling. Fire Nation technology repurposed to hold Water Tribe history.
Sokka walked to a desk in the center. There was a logbook open. dust coating the pages. He blew the dust away. He read the last entry. Year 79 AG. Commander: Shareen Tang.
Sokka’s eyes went wide. "Tang?" he whispered. "That's Nia's name."
He read the entry aloud, his voice echoing up to the others. "The raid is scheduled for dawn. The orders are to burn the scrolls. To erase the culture. I cannot obey. We have sealed the archives in the lower hull. I have told the men it is a quarantine zone. If Fire Lord Azulon finds out, I will likely be executed, but history must survive, even if we do not."
Sokka looked up at the hatch, where the faces of his friends were peering down. "Guys," Sokka said, his voice shaking. "Nia’s father didn't just raid the South Pole… he saved it."
One by one, they dropped into the belly of the metal beast. The air inside was stale, smelling of cold iron, old paper, and the faint, ghostly scent of coal dust.
Sokka held the torch high. The flickering light danced over the metal walls. It wasn't just a storage room. It was a sanctuary. The soldiers, Shareen’s men, had welded metal racks to the walls. They had wrapped the Water Tribe scrolls in oilcloth to protect them from the humidity, and they had built crates for the bone carvings, lined with straw.
"This isn't a dump," Hakoda whispered, running his hand over a crate. "This is a museum."
Katara walked to a shelf. Her hands trembled as she reached for a scroll wrapped in blue seal skin. She untied the leather cord, unrolled it, and her breath hitched. "It’s the Moonless Dance," she whispered, tears welling in her eyes.
"Mom used to hum this. She said the words were lost in the raids." She traced the ink, faded, but legible. "They aren't lost. They're right here."
Aang walked to the back of the room. He found a rack of parkas with ancient designs and intricate embroidery that no one in the village knew how to make anymore. "He saved the art," Aang said softly. "Shareen didn't just hide the scrolls, he hid the identity."
Sokka was still at the Commander’s desk, reading the logbook. "Listen to this," Sokka said. "Entry: Day 40. The men are restless. They ask why we are guarding a pile of 'savage trinkets' instead of fighting. I told them that a soldier destroys, but a warrior protects. If we burn their history, we burn our own honor. We are the Fire Nation, we are supposed to bring light, not darkness."
Sokka looked up, his eyes shining. "He sounded like Zuko," Sokka said. "Decades before Zuko was even born, Nia’s dad sounded just like him."
Hakoda took the logbook. He looked at the signature. Commander Shareen Tang. "We called them monsters," Hakoda murmured. "When the raiders came... we thought they were all monsters. But this man... he risked execution to save a song he couldn't even sing."
Toph was standing in the middle of the room. She had her hand pressed flat against the floor. She wasn't looking at the scrolls. She was listening to the metal. "It’s crying," Toph said abruptly.
"The ship?" Aang asked.
"The metal," Toph corrected. "It’s been buried under the ice for nearly thirty years. It’s heavy, it wants to breathe." She stood up. She cracked her knuckles. "We’re not leaving it here."
They climbed back out of the hatch, the wind blowing. "Toph," Sokka said, looking at the endless expanse of snow. "This is a Fire Nation Cruiser. It weighs four thousand tons. It’s buried under thirty feet of solid ice."
"So?" Toph spat to the side. "I moved a library in the desert. This is just a big canoe."
She walked about fifty feet away from the hatch. She spread her feet wide, settling into a deep Earthbending stance. "Twinkle Toes, Sugar Queen," Toph barked. "Get the snow off the top. I can't lift the ice and the ship. I’m good, but I’m not the Avatar."
Aang and Katara nodded. They stepped forward. They moved in sync. Waterbending forms. They pushed. A massive wave of snow and ice peeled away from the buried hull, revealing the rusted black iron of the deck.
"Okay," Toph muttered. "Here we go."
She closed her eyes. She visualized the ship. The keel deep in the ice, the ribs. the rivets, the library in the belly. She reached out with her senses until the metal felt like an extension of her own skin.
Grip.
Toph gritted her teeth. She slammed her hands together. "UP!"
The ground shook. A deep, groaning CREAK echoed across the glacier. Slowly, agonizingly, the ice began to crack. The bow of the ship broke the surface. Rusted, scarred, but whole.
Sokka watched, his jaw unhinged. "She's actually doing it… she's bench-pressing a battleship."
Toph roared with effort. She twisted her hands, pulling the metal up from the earth. The ship rose. Ten feet. Twenty feet. Ice shattered and fell away from the hull. With one final, earth-shaking THUD, Toph slammed the ship down onto the surface of the ice shelf.
It sat there. A dark, jagged monument against the white snow: The Lost Library of the South.
Toph panted. "Okay," she wheezed. "Lunch break."
By sunset, the entire village had gathered. Elders were weeping as they walked into the hull. Children were running their fingers over the scrolls their grandparents had told them about. Gran-Gran stood before the logbook. tracing Shareen Tang’s name.
"We will send a message," Gran-Gran said, her voice firm. "To the Fire Nation."
"To Zuko?" Aang asked.
"To the girl," Gran-Gran corrected. "The granddaughter. She needs to know that her blood is welcome here. She needs to know that her father was a hero of the Water Tribe."
Sokka smiled. He looked at the ship. "I'll write the letter," Sokka said. "I'll tell her... I'll tell her the math worked out."