The Spark of Hope

The Kingdoms were in a constant state of worry, each new day that passed meant that the Fire Nation would slowly grow in power and expand ever outward in their bid for conquest.

The Water Tribes in the North and South Poles had no interest in banding with each other even before the war started, the luck they had in not getting targeted yet did nothing to change that as the North Pole tribe had their soldiers at home to protect them while the South Pole was not as lucky to have their's stay.

The Earth Kingdom on the other hand was more then confident that they could stop any and all attempts on breaching the walls of their capital; Any other nation or kingdom that would openly boast and pride themselves on being the impenetrable city were destined to be humbled. However with their unwavering resistance and the news that even the great General Iroh could not break their defences, that revelation made it hard to refute those claims.

The more peculiar tidbit of information was that the Air Nomads that dotted the nations had all but vanished to the most remote of temples in the mountains with no feasible way to get there unless the other nations had other ways to fly.

In these dangerous times and with the looming threat of the war growing more and more tempestuous; there was one last glimmer of hope, a beacon of light that could protect the world…

The Avatar; Master of all four elements and the key to restoring balance to all nations was now missing. Since the Fire Nation started with their war; they took their focus into trying to recruit the Avatar to their efforts or remove them from the equation entirely, so far it looked like the end result pointed towards the latter option until one day; the time when the Avatar was meant to be revealed had passed, no one knew who the new Avatar was but one thing was for certain: The Avatar will return…

They had to…

Drifting down the bank of an icy river; a pair of kids from the Water tribe rowed along in a canoe, in the hopes of fishing for food or at the very least trying to hunt.

"I still don't know why you bugged me to take you as well." The boy grumbled as he eyed the water with each row; hoping to find a fish. "You could've easily stayed behind, it'd be a lot easier for your practice since you won't fall."

The girl rolled her eyes as she read a scroll; "Sokka… I keep telling you that if I'm gonna become a better Waterbender, I need to test myself since we only have Gram-Gram's village and if I go with you, I can train without worrying about hitting the kids." The girl pointed out as she pocketed the scroll and started to weave her hands in a fluid motion above the water; watching it slowly bob and rise before becoming a tendril sticking out of the water.

"I still think Waterbending's a hokey thing, what're you gonna do…splash someone with cold water?" Sokka would joke but when the girl accidentally flubbed her hand, it made the tendril dart outward and smack him across the jaw; "You did that on purpose, Katara…." He grumbled as he rowed again.

"It was an accident, but you did deserve that." Katara chuckled before trying to adjust herself again and attempt to waterbend; "Besides, at least if I become good at this…You won't be the only one that'll defend the village should anything happen." She added with a hint of optimism.

"Ha, come on…I'm THE warrior that's been positioned to guard our tribe! I can kick anyone's butt and nobody is gonna touch us, not even if the Fire Nation decide to show their face here." Sokka bragged as he swung the oar outward.

"SOKKA, WAIT! YOU'RE GONNA-"

CRACK!

Katara sighed in resignation; "…Break the oar…Good job, oh genius Warrior brother of mine…." she groaned and then pinched the bridge of her nose; "We only had one oar with us and now we're stuck!"

Sokka nervously laughed a little when he realised what happened; "You know…We're surrounded by water…You ARE a Waterbender, maybe you could paddle us?" He would mention as he tossed the broken oar into the water.

Katara closed her eyes and focused her thoughts before starting to sway her arms forward and backwards like she was pushing an invisible cart; "In…And out…" She repeated to herself in between deep breaths to keep in rhythm.

The Canoe started to move on it's own, a little slower then Sokka's rowing but it was still able to move; "Well, I know what you can do if we can't get in contact with the North Pole..You could be our Canoe driver from now on!" Sokka joked and grinned widely as he was proud of that one.

"Zip. it…" Katara growled through grit teeth as she tried to keep her focus. "I'm not gonna spend the rest of my life using Bending for menial tasks around the village, I want more for it than just this…" Katara admitted as she kept her rhythm going on the water.

"Katara, You know I love you right? If you want us to stay safe and keep using your magic Bending, then keep it quiet…The last thing we need is for the Fire Nation to come back to finish rounding up." Sokka mentioned cynically; "Besides, there's not really a whole lot anyone else can do to make a difference with that big a dream…And last time I checked you weren't the Avatar."

Katara's bending stopped and that drove both the canoe and the conversation to a halt; "You know, Sokka…I really wasn't asking for much except that you could have faith in me to try and become a better Waterbender!" Katara yelled at Sokka as this really struck a nerve to be pushed to the sidelines without a chance. "Maybe you could say something supportive! Or perhaps, you know….Act like a good brother?!" She continued to yell; however as she got more and more into her tirade, the water around them got choppy and even make the ice around them crack under the pressure.

"Uh…Katara?" Sokka tried to interject but unfortunately for him, Katara was not going to take it.

"But no! You just have to put down my Bending! Try to turn me into an attraction for the Village! All because you want to keep your ego high as a Warrior for an enemy that's NEVER! COMING! BACK!" She snapped and yelled at him; causing the iceberg to fully break and collapse into the water, sending waves of water to push them out of the valley and into an open part of the water.

Sokka jumped over to protectively hold on to his sister and ensure that she didn't fall overboard. "HANG ON!" He yelled out as he gripped onto her coat and the side of their canoe; "Katara, I don't know if you can! But try and steady the water, otherwise we're both gonna go for a swim!"

"I'll try!" She yelled back as she tried to steady her breath and utilise that same fluid motion she had before to try and keep the boat from tipping. The water that threw them about started to calm down and return to the steady and gentle waves that rocked the boat before; "Okay, we should be fine now…" Katara sighed a breath of relief; "Look, I'm not asking you to humour me about this whole "Being a better Waterbender" thing…I just want you to believe in me, that's all…" Katara admitted as she sat back up; "I might've overreacted a little but you really need to understand that I want to do right with this ability." 

However there was no response, in most normal cases that Katara was trying to talk genuinely to Sokka, he was jokey and otherwise sarcastic, but this time the only thing that she could hear was the sound of the water.

"Sokka? Look, I'm sorry about the water going nuts but I'm trying to be nice…here…" Katara tried to get his attention but she trailed off when Sokka turned her head to where he was looking; behind the broken down iceberg was a large metal ship that had crash-landed on a bed of ice and it looked like it had been recent too; "Is that…."

"Yeah…It's a Fire Nation ship…" Sokka confirmed as he looked to the top of the ship and saw the familiar flag waving in the open wind; "The currents must've knocked it out of the sea and into the ice….Probably from your little outburst." He added as he watched the ice slowly crumble from the remnants of the smashed block.

"It's quiet…I don't hear people on it…Something like this would've put people on alert from hitting icebergs." Katara thought to herself as she noticed that there was a lack of noise coming from the ship. "Sokka, we need to head back…I don't think we should be out here…"

"What do you mean? We should go check it out!" Sokka mentioned as he docked the boat and climbed out onto the solid ice; "Worst case scenario; If the Fire Nation ARE here then we've gotta stop it before they find the village…At best, it's an abandoned ship and we can get supplies from what's left." He explained as he headed towards the beached wreckage.

Katara was about to reprimand him for his logic on the whole thing but the more she thought about it; he did make a good point. "Alright…But a quick in and out, we take whatever we can and head home…this isn't a sightseeing trip." Katara compromised with him as she followed soon after, watching the penguins dive into the water while they walked towards a nearby ladder to climb up on deck.

The two quietly walked across the open space and peered over the side; it looked like the ship hadn't been pushed onto land but had instead been dashed against the wall of ice and forced up onto the ice during Katara's outburst; "Dang, Katara…You really showed this ship what for…." Sokka quipped as he used his boomerang to pry open a hatch into the ship.

"Sokka, I will give you the bigger portion of fish if you stop talking about my Waterbending for five minutes…" Katara mentioned as she climbed in after him; the interior of the ship lit up red and the doors looked open. "No bodies and not even a sign that people lived here…I don't understand it…" She said as she peered into one of the cabins, noticing that it looked almost untouched.

"Maybe we found a ghost ship out in the tundra? doomed spirits of the Firebenders lost at sea, forever cast into the ice for their evils." Sokka proclaimed dramatically but a hiss from one of the pipes made him yelp in fright, causing Katara to laugh.

"I doubt that…Wait…This one looks different…" Katara mentioned as she found what looks to be a cabin for the ship Captain; it was in disarray from the jolt but the two could definitely see the discarded clothes, empty boxes of what looked like rations for a good few days strewn about the place. "I don't know about anywhere else in the ship but it looks like there's at least one person on this ship besides us."

"I found nothing!" Sokka groaned as he walked in to meet Katara; "I found the armory but it's empty, either this ship isn't a military one or no one packed anything." He mentioned before noticing a book tossed to the side; "What's that?" He would ask his sister as she picked it up and flipped through the pages to the beginning.

"08-xx-xx: I decided to start keeping track of things while I'm at sea…I don't know what to write about though, I crossed a line…I don't know what it is that compelled me to jump on the first ship I could find but all I do know is that I can't stay in the Fire Nation anymore, not after this…"

Katara read through more of the passages, curious about the writer but more confused; "It sounds like whoever wrote this didn't come here on purpose…or even by choice.." She mentioned as she continued to read. Most of the entries were about patrols; watching for Fire Nation ships, the faint desire for home and one constant question that lingered on the pages: What happens next?

"14-xx-xx: I've been at sea for over a week now…All I've seen for miles and miles of ocean were Fire Nation ships, thankfully most of the soldiers there would give up when they find out this ship doesn't have anyone here…"

"Another one…Looks like this guy's either a traitor, a rebel or a runaway…either way, I don't think he wants to be found." Katara mentioned as she handed the book to Sokka.

"Well, whoever they are...They smashed into an iceberg so discretion kinda jumped out the window there." Sokka added sarcastically as he flipped to the end of the journal before slamming it shut; "Anyway, let's go check out the captain's deck, they may have a map on where this person was heading or at the very least…a decent batch of intel on the Fire Nation."

Katara watched Sokka vanish down the hall with the sounds of snow boots clashing against metal floor and kept mulling over her surroundings, pocketing the journal for now and then following after him; "Did you find anything at all? Any food or weapons?"

Sokka grumbled to himself; "Well, all the food I managed to scrounge up won't be enough to share with everyone and that's even if it hadn't spilled all over the place in the crash." He mentioned; elaborating on how every speck of edible food was either thrown about or just plain not enough.

By the time they had reached the Captain's Bridge, the two siblings could see how much of the crash had affected it; the maps and charts that were lining the walls were torn up and slumped on the floor along with the various instruments being damaged from the sudden jerk in direction.

"Sokka…Sokka, look down there!" Katara would say in a hushed whisper as she pointed to a more human looking pile collapsed at the helm; though they couldn't tell who this person was since he was face down, the outfit he wore did nothing to hide the fact that he was indeed Fire Nation.

He wore what looked like a Fire Nation soldier's uniform minus the armour; which seemed to consist of a red and black robe and black boots along with a red sash around the waist. When Sokka grabbed his spear and used the pommel to turn him over; they could see it was a boy who either looked the same age or just barely older than they were.

"A kid? No one's running this ship but a kid? Okay, now I know someone's messing with us." Sokka remarked as he looked around the bridge in the hopes of finding any plans or hidden secrets that they could use while Katara looked the boy over.

"I think he's okay, just knocked out…We should probably take him with us back to the village." Katara mentioned as she noticed a rather large group of bumps and scrapes that normally come with a ship crashing.

"Oh yeah! Great idea, Katara…Bring the enemy soldier into our home because he has a few booboos." Sokka grumbled sarcastically as he glared down at the boy; not giving him an ounce of consideration. "He'll wake up and as soon as he sees us, it's gloves off and fire on!"

"Sokka, we don't even know if he's a Firebender at all…Plus the guy looks pretty banged up; I don't think he's gonna wake up for a while and even then, we're not gonna be letting him walk around without someone watching him." Katara would point out as she gazed up at her brother, contrary to what he said; she knew how dangerous Fire Nation could be.

"Fine, but once he wakes up then we question him…I don't like the idea of any friends of his showing up to come get him." Sokka relented as he vanished to go get some tools to make sure he didn't get any ideas when he woke up; leaving Katara alone with their mysterious new prisoner.

"No other soldiers or any weapons to use…who exactly is this guy?"

—A couple of hours later—

There was a groan from a nearby bundle as Katara was making up a warm towel and placed it on the exposed head; "Well, look who's awake…" She remarked with a rather curt tone as she gazed down at him.

The rather groggy looking soldier was now currently cocooned in several wraps and his wrists tied together so he couldn't move or bend if he could at all. "Wh…Where am I?" He would ask as he tried to move and started to struggle when he realised that he was tied up pretty tight.

"I wouldn't if I were you…You took a pretty hard hit and we weren't sure if you were a Bender or not, better safe than sorry." Katara explained; "Now the better question is what are you doing around the South Pole? Because you're a long way from home…" She glowered at him as the questioning began.

"South Pole…I'm this far out?" He asked as he tried to crane his neck and look around his "cell"; aside from the rather sour looking girl, it looked to be a fairly standard tent. "Look, I'm not trying to find trouble; I just wanted to get directions to get to the Earth Kingdom and I kinda…got lost…" He explained with a rather nervous look since he realised just how ridiculous it sounded.

"Uh huh…So you decided to come aaaaaall the way out here to try getting to the Earth Kingdom, that's a stretch even for us, buddy." Sokka would say as he entered the tent with his full warrior paint on; "As you can see, we're not exactly a prime military force…So what were you doing out here? Reconnaissance? Espionage? You planning on slowly melting the island into the ocean?!" He accused with a pointing finger poking at the bound up boy's cheek. 

"No! Nothing like that, I just…I've been trying to find a way to get there but the storms got worse and the patrols picked up." The soldier explained as he seemed to be trying to keep calm while Sokka held his boomerang to his face.

"So you're a runaway…that explains the empty ship, but why run away? surely you'd want to be on the winning side of the war." Katara pointed out as she crossed her arms; "Besides, in case you've forgotten; the Fire Nation aren't exactly well liked, especially for someone wearing their uniform."

"That's…kind of a long story to explain…" The soldier explained as he tried to convince the two though it was clear that his reticence did little to convince them that he wasn't suspicious.

"Then how about you simplify it before we throw you out into the wilds?" Katara threatened but that seemed to draw a chuckle out of Sokka at her proposition.

"And what? Let him get mauled by the oh so vicious Penguin Seals? That's a bit of a stretch, even for you." Sokka rolled his eyes but then heard the sound of cries from outside as another voice rang out in the village which compelled both him and his sister to go investigate.

"Natives of this Water Tribe Village! We are hunting down the people who have attacked a Fire Nation ship!" What sounded like a rather young soldier declared to the crowd of women and children as Katara and Sokka came out to see what the fuss was about.

"So did you want me to tell you now or later that I told you so!" Sokka said to Katara in a hushed whisper as he kept a cautionary eye on the ponytailed boy who was glaring at the crowd with his one good eye and his burned other eye.

"Quiet!"

"We know that someone nearby had run this ship aground since a distress flare went off to signal it's location and you're the only village for miles so you better confess now before things get worse for you here!" The Soldier growled as he eyed the group of natives.

The tension in the air was palpable as only the cold wind broke the silence of the group and with it, Katara stepped forward; "I did it! I'll accept the responsibilities so just leave the rest of the village alone!"

"Katara! What are you doing?!" Sokka yelled out as the Fire Nation Soldier turned to them with his full attention.

"Finally the culprit, so on to my next question…What were you doing? Were you looking to steal tactics? Take a hostage perhaps? Because I can assure you that we do not take thieves lightly." He would grimace as he then grabbed Katara's arm; "As for the rest of you…let this be a warning to what happens when you cross the Fire Nation!" He yelled but then swiftly moved around when he heard the thundering steps of someone rushing to him.

"Get your hands off my sister!" Sokka yelled as he threw his boomerang at the Soldier's head with a loud yell. However his Sneak Attack only served to make the soldier duck under him and then swept his leg back to kick Sokka straight in the face, knocking him into the snow.

"Gotta admit, you're pretty stupid if you think that poor excuse of trying to get the drop on me will make me rethink anything." The Soldier sneered as he made a flame spark and form a small fireball in his hand before aiming at the prone Sokka; "I guess you better get used to being an only child…" He muttered darkly, however a combination of the returning boomerang and Katara's subtle tripping with her Waterbending caused the Soldier to get knocked for a loop and hit the ground with his helmet skidding into the snow.

Sokka took his chance to grab his boomerang and then pulled Katara away from the now bare faced soldier who had a very disdainful glare on his face along with a very angry looking scar across the left side of his face; "Uh…I think you got a little something there, buddy." 

The Soldier growled in anger as he pulled himself out of the snow with fire blazing in both hands; "I swear to every being in existence, I'm gonna burn you AND THIS VILLAGE INT-"

"Zuko?" Another voice called out as the other boy peered out from the tent, seemingly recognising the soldier who was just about ready to start a firestorm on the village. "What are you…doing here?" He asked with a confused face that slowly turned into one of recognition.

"Jin? I could…Ask you the same thing…What happened? I heard you ran away and you have most of the Fire Nation looking for you." The Soldier now named Zuko would mention as the introduction to what looked like an old friend seemed to have calmed him down a little from his tirade.

"It's a little of a long story, but why are you here?" Jin would ask; "These people haven't done anything wrong….Have they?"

Zuko shook his head; "My ship was patrolling when we saw a signal flare light up nearby…This village is the closest to it so we need to make sure they're not planning anything drastic."

"We wouldn't do that! You've done enough already, why would we want to give you more of a reason t-"

"Sh! Don't!" Sokka pulled her back to shush her and stop her from causing any further animosity, especially moreso since Jin's arrival had stopped Zuko from turning the village into a melted waste.

"In any case, you're going to come with me….It's good to see you and all but I can't ignore that you're currently a runaway and your parents aren't going to be sitting idly…." Zuko mentioned as he gestured for the soldiers to fall back towards his own ship.

"I highly doubt that you're only here to pick me up and send me back." Jin pointed out as he tried to keep the focus on him; "Because I know you and Azula were still allowed in the council chambers before I left."

"Well, there is ONE other reason that I am out here, My father told me that I had to restore my honor to return…But in order to do that, I have to find the Avatar…Even if it's a myth or a fool's errand, I'm not going to give up trying to get home." Zuko mentioned as he raised his hand with fire in hand to start setting the village alight but flinched when he saw Jin step in front of him suddenly. "What are you doing? They attacked me while I was questioning them."

"After they helped me when my ship crashed? I can't stand by…No…I WON'T stand by and let you hurt these people when they had nothing to do with the ship!" Jin hesitated with saying this briefly but quickly found his nerve even when he was staring down a palm full of flame.

"Jin…You realise what you're doing by defending them?" Zuko warned him as he didn't lower his arm; "If they can tell me where the Avatar is, then I can use that as my one chance to get back home…Me and Uncle can finally walk with our heads high."

Jin grimaced a little; Zuko being out here was one thing but if he had Iroh to help him then he didn't want to cause too much of a scene, "If…If I come with you to help find the Avatar, will you leave this Village alone? There's nothing here that can harm the Fire Nation…" He would ask as he tried to bargain with Zuko to let sleeping dogs lie, earning him some modicum of respect from Katara and from Sokka as they heard him stick up for them.

"You'll be coming with me regardless, but I still need to make an example out of that one warrior boy for assaulting me…Give me one VERY good reason why I should leave any of them alone!" Zuko demanded harshly as he started to get impatient with Jin's words and insistence on stopping him.

"Because Zuko…I am the Avatar…"