Katasi stood atop the his village's wall, watching the Fire Nation ship draw closer out of the ocean mists. As the only young man in the village, and the only waterbender in a generation, it was his responsibility to protect the women and children from whatever evil the Firebenders had in mind this time. Plus, in a way, it was an act of redemption. He and Aang had set off the trap that had brought this invading ship to the village, and it was his sister's previous words that led him to realize the need to make up for such a stupid mistake after being forced to stay behind when Aang had been banished.

Katasi heard the shifting of snow to his left. He turned to find his older sister standing beside him atop the wall, wearing...a full face of war paint and a warrior's uniform? He hadn't seen her in such a look since she tried to go with their mom. "Sokka, what are you doing?"

Sokka, despite her ridiculous appearance, had that patronizing look that Katasi suspected all big sisters used on their little brothers. "Helping you. It's not like you're a real warrior. You were too little to be taught anything when Dad died and Mom left to fight in the war—"

"I am too a warrior—"

"And you're not a real waterbender —"

"I am too a waterbender!"

"—because the only thing you know how to do is move some waves around and catch fish since Dad couldn't find you a teacher," Sokka finished authoritatively. "What are you going to do against that Fire Nation ship?" She gestured to the incoming vessel, which had drawn a lot closer during the brief argument.

A lot closer.

"Run!" Katasi shouted.

He and Sokka jumped off the wall as the warship slammed into their village's little ice construct. It crumbled into snow behind the siblings, flowing out into the village and so cushioning their fall, their heavy bodies sinking into the mess. In too much of a hurry to bother digging, Katasi threw out a hand, and the snow covering him flew away; that was pretty much the extent of his bending ability. Katasi quickly went to help his sister as the warship's prow hissed and opened into a ramp.

"Thanks," Sokka wheezed as Katasi helped her up. Her makeup had been washed off by the snow, making her femininity more obvious.

"Looking real frightening there, big sister," smirked Katasi.

"Sexist," Sokka sniffed.

The pair turned at the sounds of footsteps. A soldier, fully armored and wearing an open helmet, stormed down the ship's ramp. Two soldiers, similarly armored and hidden behind skull-like face-plates, followed behind him.

Targets.

Sokka let loose with a high-pitched screech that reminded Katasi of an angry arctic hen, and charged at the lead Fire Nation soldier, the young one. Katasi couldn't help but wince. His older sister was bearing a spear, but holding it the completely wrong way, with both hands at the weapon's butt and the rest of the weapon extended haphazardly into the empty air. Sokka had always shown an academic interest in how their tribe's weapons worked, but their father had tried to encourage his daughter's intelligence and mechanical aptitude instead.

That probably wasn't the best choice, in retrospect.

The young Fire Nation soldier grabbed the spear just below the point, and yanked. It came easily out of Sokka hands, and the girl tumbled forward into the snowy ground. He snapped the spear in two and threw the pieces away, then kicked Sokka in the head when she tried to get up. This time she didn't move.

Katasi wanted to attack, but couldn't bring himself to overcome his fear.

The Fire Nation soldiers turned their attention to the rest of the gathered villagers, who had stupidly come out of their tents to see the invaders. "Where is he?" the leader demanded in a strangely feminine voice.

No one answered.

The young soldier snarled and lunged for the villagers. Katasi thought about attacking, but before he could, the soldier had grabbed hold of Gran-Gran. "He'd be about this age? Master of all elements? I know you're hiding him!"

Katasi had no idea what the soldier—he sounded like a teenager—was looking for, but that was the worst case scenario. If they had what he wanted, they could give it to him and then he might leave, but this time, appeasement wasn't an option. They had no choice but to fight and win.

Katasi gritted his teeth, straightened his arms, and shoved with all his might in the Fire Nation teen's direction. "Let go of her!"

A splat of snow splashed into the young soldier's face.

With a raging roar, he thrust his fist out and a fountain of flame ignited into the air. The shear concussive force of the blaze's sudden appearance in the air knocked Katasi off his feet. Back near the Fire Nation ship, Sokka rubbed her head and moaned as she slowly regained consciousness.

It was then that Aang decided to make her entrance and returned from her banishment on the back of a penguin, swiping the soldier's feet out from under him and sending him flying onto his back. As he got back up with a scowl on his face, his helmet having been knocked off by the attack, Katasi and the rest of the village saw it wasn't a he but very obviously a she. The girl had an horrific angry red scar on the majority of the left side of her face, and Katasi would almost feel sorry for her if she wasn't attacking his village. Almost.

"Looking for me?" chirped Aang casually, cheerfully, hands resting on the staff that held her glider. The lead firebender looked more than a little shocked. Not surprising considering she'd begin looking for someone Gran-Gran's age.

"You're the airbender?" she breathed, then her voice rose to a shout. "You're the Avatar?!"

Now it was Sokka's turn to be dumbstruck from her place sitting in the snow. Aang, this hyperactive little weirdo, was not only one of those supposedly long-dead Air Nomads, but the Avatar, master of all elements? No way.... Meanwhile, Katasi was the same for a different reason. This little girl? The Avatar? This adorable little thing (not that Katasi liked her that way, but sometimes she just couldn't be cuter with her childish personality and exuberance) was the Master of All the Elements?

"I've spent years training for this encounter. Training. Meditating..." The firebender scoffed as she and Aang slowly circled in the space they had, sizing each other up. "You're just a child—a skinny little monkey of a boy!"

Aang cocked her head to the side, eyes narrowed just a bit despite her offhand tone. "Well, you're just a teenager. Besides, who ever said I was a boy? I'm a girl!"

"A girl?" Princess Zuleika stepped back and sneered. "This just doesn't get any better." With that, she attacked her with fire, but Aang quickly spun her staff around to extinguish it. The princess fired again, but this time when Aang tried to redirect the fire aimed at her, some flames escaped, flying towards the villagers as they cried out and tried to avoid being burned. She stopped abruptly, worried for the innocent villagers filled with her new friends.

"If I go, will you promise to leave everyone alone?" she asked, lowering her staff. Still in a firebending position, Zuleika paused, surprised she'd willingly hand herself over for the small village, but then straightened and nodded stiffly. One of her soldiers took the airbender's staff and led her onto the ship.

Katasi rushed forward. "No, Aang, don't do this!"

Aang glanced over her shoulder. "Don't worry, Katasi, it'll be okay. Take care of Appa for me until I get back."

🌊

As the villagers began to repair their village, Katasi stood watching the Fire Nation ship disappear over the horizon after they had departed with their captured prize. 

It was stupid, he knew, but for some reason he felt inexplicably guilty and furious with himself. Aang gave herself up to save them… a sacrifice she wouldn’t have had to make, if only Katasi had been strong enough to protect them all. 

She shouldn’t have had to make that choice!

Sokka came up beside him, and before she could speak, he tried to convince her to join him on his plan. “We have to go after that ship, Sokka. Aang saved our tribe; now we have to save her, " he said, sounding weary and deeply troubled yet determined.

“Katasi, I—”

“Why can't you realize that she's on our side?” he went on exasperatedly, overriding his sister's interjection. “If we don't help her, no one will. I know you don't like Aang, but we owe her and I—”

“Katasi! That’s not the problem!” Sokka yelled, rolling her eyes. Why did her brother always get so emotional? “Okay, calm down first—”

“Oh, that’s rich. You, telling me to calm down when you —”

“Anyways. Remember how our mom and all the men left to go fight the Fire Nation a couple years ago? Well, they haven’t come back yet.” She hurried on upon seeing that look in his eyes:

“Katasi, I know that they will come back someday. I’m just saying, if all the men of our tribe have been out there risking their lives for two whole years, what good do you think some prepubescent, gangly little girl-nun is going to do, huh?”

“That ‘gangly little girl-nun’ is your Avatar, Sokka!” Katasi exploded.

“My Avatar? Hey, back up. I'm just a girl with a boomerang; I didn't ask for all this flying and magic and—”

“She’s our world’s only chance against the Fire Nation," Katasi murmured, his blue eyes going misty with suppressed tears. “Sokka… for so long I haven’t been able to hope for anything, not even for our family to be together again. In Aang, though… I think I’ve finally found something I can believe in.”

…I was afraid that’d be the case, thought Sokka as she sighed, and after a moment’s hesitation she pulled her brother into a tight comforting hug. It'd been a while since they had gotten along after the men had left.

I don’t want to see your hopes crushed. But I’m afraid they will be.

But the world seemed suddenly full of dreams and possibilities, and if Katasi went… she had no choice but to tag along. What kind of big sister would leave her bro in the lurch like that, anyway?

“Sooo… Katasi. Are you gonna talk all day, or are you comin’ with me?”