Come the next morning I woke early. Leaving the tent I go check on Appa to see him still asleep. *Time to finish the job.* I approach the beast and dominate his mind. Turning him into a subservient pet.
Once all the girls awoke I grouped them all together and modified each of their spirits to give them the remaining elements and modified their love for each other. I didn't make it as high as their love for me though, gotta set boundaries.
We clean up the camp site, no one even questioning the disappearance of Aang, then head out towards the north pole. While en route we see a couple of fire nation ships heading the same direction.
I dive off of Appa and plummet into the water between the ships. Activating my Avatar state, while downgraded without the chain of past lives, with it's power increase I bend massive waves of water raising the boats up and freezing them in place, sending spikes all throughout the interior as well.
Shortly after my display of excellence some water tribe benders came from behind some ice bergs. "Avatar! It would be my pleasure to welcome you to the northern water tribe." The leader of the group makes himself known. We follow him back to the tribe.
On arrival we are lead through the streets on a tour of the place until we're lead to a venue where a feast is being held in my honor. It would have been for Yue's birthday as well if we showed up at the cannon arrival time, but I don't like wasting so much time.
"Tonight, we welcome the Avatar to our tribe!" The chief toasts. Some minutes later the chief motions for me to stand. "Avatar, to what do we owe the honor of your visit."
"I'm here to seek out a spar with your most capable benders. I'm also here to help you fight off the impending fire nation invasion. They should have a massive fleet headed this way as we speak. It should arrive by the full moon after your daughter's coming of age."
A commotion bursts out in the room, the chief stands, bringing the room back to silence. "How accurate is your information?"
"It's guaranteed. They are aware of the sacred Oasis with Tui and La as well. They learned of them from Wan Shi Tong's library before burning the section about the fire nation."
Gasps echo within the venue yet again. "We thank you for bringing this information to our attention. While we undergo preparations we'll arrange sparring matches with our master's for you as well."
The feast comes to an end in spite of it still just beginning. Within the hour Pakku approaches me. "Young Avatar, I have elected to be your sparring partner for the days to come. I will also be available to educate you in water bending outside of our spars."
I offer him a bow. "Much obliged master Pakku. I look forward to exchanging pointers with you. If you're available right now I'd like to begin as soon as possible."
"An eager student, I'm glad to see a mind hungry for knowledge. Let us go to the training grounds and we can perform our first exchange. I'd like to see how far you've come without a master."
I follow him to our battleground. Once everyone already there clears out some space for the both of us the match begins. *As a personal handicap I wont use blood bending or elements other than water.*
Pakku launches the first strike, a simple wave of water. As it comes near I cycle it around me and back at Pakku as a barrage of icicles.
Pakku erects a barrier of ice and snow to take the barrage. Performing a flourish of movements he launches torrents of water from various directions, all targeting me.
Before they make contact I raise an orb of rapidly rotating water around myself that takes and incorporates the water from Pakku's attack. Splitting the orb open I launch the same attack back but with twice the volume of water.
Our exchanges continue as such for a good few minutes until our movements seem to mirror each other's. After getting comfortable I begin to gain a progressive upper hand until Pakku can no longer keep up with me at all.
Whenever I take the offensive Pakku can only pray that he can make it through unscathed. At the end of our second hour of exchanges he calls for an end to the suffering. "Young Avatar, a moment, I fear there is nothing I can teach you. At the start of our spar you were sloppy, but by the end your skill put even me to shame. I normally wouldn't recommend this, but with your learning speed, maybe you'd like to check out the healing course?"
"I would in fact like that. Healing is a must for any Avatar." Once he catches his breath he guides me to the class for healing. It's populated by mostly little girls, the oldest being maybe six.
"I'd have expected a larger class with how useful healing is." I say as I take my seat.
"It's unfortunate that you had to see our class so empty. Interest in the healing arts has dwindled over the last few decades. No one has respect for the sacred art and very few children have the determination to continue training past a few weeks." The elderly woman leading the class explains for me.
Unlike combat oriented bending, healing took me the greater part of a week to pick up. Three days in everything clicked and my learning was rapid, and with my knowledge of blood bending I discovered that healing and blood bending aren't exactly that different, it's just that one is more support oriented. My knowledge of energy bending also helping with the strength of my healing. I've become able to practically rebuild a person's body so long as they still have a heart beat.
At the end of the week I was invited to the chief's home. An invitation I was more than happy to accept. On arrival I was greeted by the man himself. "Thanks for coming Sokka. I was hoping to speak with you."
"Well, I'm all ears."
"It's my daughter, I was hoping you can act as her personal guard when the fire nation attacks."
"I wouldn't be opposed."
He sighs in relief, "You have no idea how much relief you just brought me. Also, my daughter was hoping to actually meet you. She's currently at the spirit oasis, If you're up to meeting her then I can show you the way."
"Oh... I'd love to meet her, please, lead the way."
The chief leads me to the entrance of the oasis and doesn't follow me in. Climbing through the entrance I arrive at the oasis to see Yue just staring at the pond and mimicking water bending motions.
"If you want to be a bender I have a way to grant the ability."
She jumps with a high pitched yelp, turning to see who spoke. "Avatar Sokka! I've been meaning to talk with you, but you're always so busy."
"Yeah, training to be the best is quite time consuming. Me aside, I want to hear your response to my offer. If you'd like to be a bender I can grant you the ability."
"It's been my life long dream to be a water bender. Of course I'd like to. What would it take though? It can't be as simple as just snapping your fingers."
"It's not that simple, it's actually very complex. I learned energy bending, which allows me to give and take bending away from someone. It's quite energy consuming but it's nothing a nights rest won't fix."
"Then by all means, don't hesitate on my account." She approaches me, standing in front of me, her head just reaching my chin.
Repeating the process that I'm more than familiar with I grant her all the elements with the normal manipulations, making her mine. "That should do it. Welcome to the bending world Yue."
She stands in stunned silence for a moment as she takes it all in before jumping into me with a hug. "Thank you so much! I can't believe my dream has finally come true! You're just the best!" She plants a kiss on my cheek before realizing what she's done and hastily separating from me. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to..."
I cut her off with a finger on her lips. "I don't mind, I'd be more than happy to reciprocate." I raise her head up by placing my hand beneath her chin and give her a deep french kiss, which she immediately returns.
Taking a second to breath I keep her from going for more by trapping her in a tight hug. "Calm down princess. We still have some time before I can proclaim you as mine before the entire tribe. For now, let's work on the defenses of the oasis."
I make an enclosed earthen perimeter, to prevent access to the fish from above or below, but keep the oasis as a whole still accessible. The fish are still visible and can be seen through some of the small openings on the barrier but none of the holes are big enough to allow a blast of powerful fire through without it being strong enough to destroy the wall itself.
With that complete I head back to the chief with Yue in tow. "Your daughter is quite the conversation partner. It's a shame I never got the chance to speak with her before."
"I'm glad you've taken a liking to her, that makes it easier to say it. Would you remain in the north as my daughter's personal guard?"
"No, I've got a world to balance, I can't just remain in one place while the rest of the world gets destroyed. However, I've taken the liberty of awakening your daughter's latent bending abilities."
"You what? Yue, what's he talking about?"
Instead of using words Yue shows with her actions as she moves the snow around her and releases a burst of flame. "He gave me bending father! I'm finally able to live my dream and practice bending!"
"That's, that's great honey. I'm so.... proud?" He hugs his daughter, the thoughts seeming to stall in his head.
"I will train her personally alongside my other travel companions until we've dealt with the upcoming invasion. If your men catch sight of their ships before they get to close let me know. I would like to perform a solo offensive before they even have a chance to strike." With that said I begin heading towards the training grounds, Yue following behind me without a word needing to be said.
We train together for a few days until Pakku tries to interrupt by taking the water Yue was bending from her control. Before he can do anything further I use blood bending to grab him and bring him to his knees.
"You like this move, Pakku? I call it blood bending. I use the water in your own body to force you to move like a fragile puppet. The best part is, that I can freeze your insides instantly if I want to. Isn't it truly magnificent?" I release him from control so he can respond.
He struggles to stand, the fear of God in his eyes, "my, apologies Avatar. I didn't mean to interrupt your training. I will abstain from bothering you further." He limps away like the coward he truly is.
"Now, please continue Yue."
With no further interruptions Yue and the other girls' training continues until the day I receive a message stating that the fire nation fleet is closing in.
I leave my ladies to their own devices as I left to intercept the fleet. In a matter of hours of surfing across the ocean surface the fleet comes into view. To avoid detection I dive under the water and approach the nearest boat. Hopping aboard I destroy the crew with blood bending, freezing them from the inside out.
For dramatic effect I drain the blood from some of them and use it as my bending water to go from ship to ship. I take out more than 20 ships until Zhao shows himself, the fool that he is. I destroy him just as easily as the rest. I continue my slaughter until Zuko and Iroh show themselves.
"Avatar! You're going too far. While the fire nation is not completely innocent you can't just massacre them with such callous indifference. Every life has an intrinsic value and a right to redeem themselves." Iroh preaches upon my deaf ears.
"You know, Zhao was planning to kill the moon spirit. That would have caused far more harm than my little massacre."
"Then you have done your duty. Zhao is dead, he can't target the spirit any longer. Anymore slaughter would serve no purpose! Look! The fleet is already beginning it's retreat. You no longer need to fight."
I sigh at this, growing impatient. "I'll stop my assault. However, since you are here I will use you to increase my own power. I'll use only fire bending. If you don't disappoint me I'll even let you and your nephew walk out of here alive."
"If this is how it must be." Iroh takes his stance.
We enjoy a lengthy stare down until Iroh opens the fight with a bolt of lightning. Mimicking the motions from the show I catch it and redirect it to the sky.
Iroh stares in stunned silence before engaging with medium range fire blasts. Combining my knowledge of energy bending with fire bending I effortlessly part the torrents of flame around me.
Seeing that he can't take it easy on me he increases the intensity of his attacks, coming into close range while also utilizing his fire breath to keep me from taking advantage of any typical openings.
Once I switch to taking the offensive the old man's skill really shines. He redirects all my attacks and even manages to break my balance a few times. Our exchanges repeat themselves until we both step away for a breather.
"Your skill is quite impressive Iroh. The benefits I can gain from our fight will be limitless. There are few I could think of that can be your equal, especially if you were to get back in shape."
"Such high praise, however, I'm undeserving of such high regard."
We continue fighting until Iroh can no longer keep up as her runs out of breath, struggling to breath as our exchanges continue. Feeling satisfied with my improvements I stop engaging. "You did not disappoint me. I look forward to seeing you fight when you're in better physical condition."
I jump off the boat and return to the northern water tribe, cleaning the blood from my body on the way. Once I reach the tribe the chief calls me over. "Avatar, I heard good news from the scouts that witnessed your assault. To think you forced an entire fleet to retreat single handed. You never cease to amaze!" He comes up to me giving me a hug.
"It was nothing. Since this threat has been dealt with I was thinking of actually asking something of you." I return his hug with a pat on the back.
"Before that I have something to tell you. The tribe had a meeting while you were out and we came to an agreement. You will be the man whom my daughter shall marry, all you need do is agree." He separates from me as the guards nearby part to reveal a bashful Yue that is dressed to impress.
"Of course I agree. I'd be insane not to!" I rush up to Yue and sweep her up into a princess carry and kissing her on the lips in front of everyone.
Clearing his throat the chief continues, "so, what was it you were going to ask of me?"
"Well, I wanted to bring Yue with me on my travels. However, since she's me betrothed I suppose it's no longer necessary to ask for permission." I let Yue stand on her own.
"I can't wait to see the world with you Sokka." Yue hugs me, planting her face into my chest.
"I'm not so sure about all that...." Before the chief can finish me and Yue rush off to the other girls and hightail it out of the north pole before anyone can try and stop is.