I was sure we’d find a master here to teach us.
Chief Arnook, leader of the Northern Water Tribe,
threw a big celebration in our honor that night.
“Tonight we welcome our brother and sister from
the Southern Tribe,” the chief announced. “And they
have brought with them the Avatar.”
Everyone cheered. I waved and bowed, but I felt
kind of silly doing it. After all, I still had a lot to
learn about being the Avatar. We also met the chief’s
daughter, Princess Yue. Sokka liked her—a lot!
The chief then introduced me to Master Pakku,
a great Waterbender who would become our teacher.
Early the next morning Katara and I headed for
Master Pakku’s training field.
“I’ve been waiting for this day my whole life!”
Katara said.
I was excited too, though I could have used a few
more hours of sleep! But when we arrived at Master
Pakku’s the next morning, I got the shock of my life.
“Here in the north, it is forbidden for women to
learn Waterbending,” he announced. “Women learn
from Yagoda how to use their Waterbending for
healing purposes, not for battling.”
Katara was upset, and I was really annoyed. This
wasn’t fair! If Master Pakku wasn’t going to teach
Katara, then he wouldn’t teach me either. I was ready
to walk away and forget the whole thing. But Katara
was wonderful, as usual. She reminded me how
important it was for me to learn Waterbending so I
could save the world. It’s just like her to think first
about what’s best for everyone else, even when her
own heart was breaking. She’s the sweetest girl I’ve
ever met!
Anyway, I agreed to start my training, and boy,
was Master Pakku a tough teacher. I tried really hard
to do what he said, but he was always criticizing me.
That night Sokka asked me how Waterbending
training was going. I was still really upset about
what Master Pakku did to Katara. Sokka suggested
that I teach Katara what I learn from Master Pakku,
which was a brilliant idea! At least I thought it was,
until Master Pakku caught me doing it. He said
I disrespected him and was no longer welcome as his
student.
Well, Katara went straight to Chief Arnook, who
said Master Pakku might take me back if Katara
apologized to him. So she went to see him. Like I said,
she is the sweetest girl. To go to all that trouble for
me! But then Master Pakku called her a little girl, so
she challenged him to a battle! When Katara believes
in something, there’s no stopping her!
Turns out that Master Pakku was very impressed
with her fighting skills. And get this: Once long ago,
he was in love with her grandmother! Master Pakku
finally agreed to train Katara, and we were able to
study together—just what I wanted.
Right when I was about as happy as I could ever
remember, the Fire Nation attacked the Northern
Water Tribe! I hadn’t been there to help when the Fire
Nation attacked my people, but this time I vowed to
stop the Fire Nation!
They launched flaming boulders at the Northern
Water Tribe’s outer walls. I leaped onto Appa, and we
flew down to their ship. I destroyed their catapults
one by one and stopped their boulders. Even Appa
helped!
By the time I returned to my friends, I was
exhausted.
“I must have destroyed a dozen Fire Nation ships,”
I told them. “But there’s just too many. I can’t fight
them all!”
“You can do a lot more than fight, Aang,” Katara
said. She always believes in me, even when I don’t believe
in myself. And she makes me feel like I’m special, not
because I’m the Avatar, but just because I’m Aang.
Princess Yue told me that the Waterbenders get
their strength from the moon and the ocean. I thought
that if I could contact the Moon and Ocean Spirits,
they might be able to help us.
Princess Yue took Katara and me to the water
oasis, the center of all spiritual energy in their land.
I sat quietly and meditated in front of a koi pond,
trying my best to reach the spirit world. In the pond
a black fish and a white fish circled each other, again
and again. I focused on the two fish, concentrating
on trying to get into the spirit world.
After a few moments my tattoos began glowing,
and I felt the weird sliding sensation that I always
felt before crossing over. The spirit world looked
like a creepy jungle, which I slowly moved through.
Looking down into a pond, I was shocked to see not
my own face, but the face of Avatar Roku, who was
the Avatar before me. I asked him where I could find
the Ocean and Moon Spirits.
“The ocean and moon are ancient spirits,” Avatar
Roku told me. “Long ago they crossed over into
the mortal world,
taking
mortal
forms. You must
speak
with
the
ancient spirit, Koh.
He can help you.”
This Koh guy
was really weird and
dangerous.
Avatar
Roku told me that if
I showed any emotion,
Koh would steal my
face! I like my face. I’d
like to keep it around
for a while, so I was very
careful. Koh told me that the Moon and Ocean Spirits
were actually the black-and-white koi from the pond,
and that someone was trying to kill them. I had to
stop that from happening.
I returned from the spirit world only to discover
that my body had been taken by Prince Zuko. But
Katara and Sokka showed up on Appa and rescued
me. I don’t know where I’d be without them. They
put themselves in danger for me, and I know I’ll never
reach my full potential as the Avatar without their
help. And they’re pretty good in a fight, too! Katara
has really become an amazing Waterbender, and she
kicked Zuko’s butt and knocked him out!
I knew that Zuko would die if we left him as he was,
but even Prince Zuko doesn’t deserve that. So we put him
on Appa and took him with us. Then we hurried back
to the oasis. There, a Fire Nation admi
ral named Zhao
had stolen the white koi—the Moon Spirit. The moon
burned a dark red and the Waterbenders grew weak.
“Destroying the moon won’t just hurt the Water
Tribes, Zhao!” I argued. “It will hurt everyone, even
you. Without the moon, everything will fall out of
balance.” Even Zuko’s uncle, Iroh, agreed with me.
I guess sometimes I can show wisdom as the Avatar.
But Zhao turned around and shot a fireball into
the pond anyway, destroying the fish! At that moment
the moon vanished completely from the sky!
A great anger rose within me. I was not going to let
the Fire Nation win! I was not going to let the world
end this way! I waded out into the pond, focusing all
my energy on the black fish that swam in a lonely
circle by itself. My eyes and tattoos began to glow,
and I felt myself slip into the Avatar state.
I touched the black koi—the Ocean Spirit—and
merged with it to form the Ocean Spirit Monster. We
became one being, made of water and light, built from
the anger of the ocean in physical form. Because I was
in the Avatar state, I could control the movements
of the Ocean Spirit Monster, and together we were
unstoppable! We used Waterbending to create huge
tidal waves, which wiped out the Fire Nation’s ships.
I came back to the oasis and fell out of the Avatar
state. The black koi shrank to its normal size and
returned to the pond.
Then a really sad thing happened.
Princess Yue gave life back the Moon Spirit. Yue
was born sick, and the Moon Spirit had given her life.
Now that the Moon Spirit was sick, Yue decided to
give her life back to the moon. After touching the
dead white koi, Yue floated into the sky, and the moon
returned to its place among the stars. The white koi
came back to life too, joining the black koi in their
endless circle. But Princess Yue was gone.
Chief Arnook was proud of the princess, but also
sad. Sokka was sad too. I was glad that I was able to
help save the Northern Water Tribe. And I was very
thankful for my two great friends, Sokka and Katara.
Wherever my travels would now take me, I was really
glad that they’d be by my side.
Especially Katara!
Originally the southern
and northern tribes
lived as one at the
North Pole. Following
civil unrest, a group of
warriors, Waterbenders,
and healers left to start a new
tribe at the South Pole. From that time on, the two
tribes evolved very differently. Before the Fire Nation
War, the Southern Water Tribe lived in a beautiful,
bustling city built out of the ice by Waterbenders.
It was destroyed by the war, and since so many
Waterbenders died fighting, the art of Waterbending
practically
disappeared
because
there were no trainers left. The
Southern Water Tribe split
into smaller groups and
scattered across the South
Pole, building simple sealskin
tents or igloos made of ice to
live in.
The larger Northern Water Tribe lives
in one enormous city of ice, built by Waterbenders.
Here is more information that I culled while
living with the Water Tribes of the North and
South Poles.
Several miles wide, the Northern Water Tribe was
built on the shores of the North Sea at the North Pole.
Surrounded by ice cliffs and a giant frozen tundra, the
city sits in a horseshoe-shaped cove beneath towering
white cliffs and is dominated by large temples. It has
a huge, multilevel structure built into the landscape.
To gain entry to the great city, a group of
Waterbenders must Waterbend in group formation,
which opens a curved gateway, allowing visitors to
float into the city in boats. Once inside, the vessels
must pass through a series of locks. The Waterbenders
fill each lock with water, which raises the level of the
boats. Then they bend the water out of the locks,
which lowers the crafts to the level of the city.
They serve as the city’s “roads.” In addition to its
elaborate canal system, the Northern Water Tribe’s
city is filled with beautiful fountains and waterfalls.
In the center of the city, a long set of white stairs,
with towering waterfalls on either side, leads up to
the temple and the Waterbending training grounds.
The highest structure is the chief’s temple, which
stands like a monument representing strength and
power. Within its hallowed halls the chief and his
chieftains make important decisions about the tribe.
CUSTOMS AND CULTURE
The Water Tribes follow different customs,
traditions, and rules. The people of the larger northern
tribe have a greater sense of culture than their brothers
and sisters from the South Pole, but along with
their larger city and longer cultural history come a
stricter lifestyle and a greater sense of conformity.
Members of Water Tribes participate in coming-of-
age rituals. When girls in the Northern Water Tribe
reach the age of sixteen, they already have arranged
marriages to boys. The match and ceremony are
arranged by their parents, after which the groom-
to-be gives his future bride a betrothal necklace.
As you already know, when boys in the Southern
Water Tribe reach the age of fourteen, they participate
in the rite of passage known as ice dodging. In
the Northern Water Tribe, only boys and men
can train to be Waterbenders. Girls and women
who have Waterbending abilities are taught to use
their skills only for healing, never for fighting.
Although the members of the Southern Water
Tribe live a more simple kind of life, they tend
to be more open-minded. They allow girls and
women to train as Waterbenders and do not
force girls to enter into arranged
marriages at the age of sixteen, like
they do in the north. They
are free to marry whomever
they choose.
AND SO AS I WRITE
my closing and then seal this scroll, the Fire Nation
War rages on. The Northern Water Tribe has just
survived a
massive attack by the Fire Nation’s
fleet, thanks to the Avatar and the Ocean Spirit.
Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation is
considered an outcast by his father, the Fire
lord. He is continuing his quest to find the
Avatar, traveling not on a powerful Fire
Nation ship, but on a small wooden raft.
Master Pakku, the Waterbending master
of the northern kingdom, along with other
Waterbenders, has set out for the South Pole. They
hope to help rebuild the Southern Water Tribe.
Aang will now learn Waterbending from
Katara, who is on her way to becoming a
Waterbending master. Sokka, Katara, and Aang
have set off on Appa to journey to the Earth
Kingdom. There, Aang hopes to find a master
to teach him Earthbending as he continues his
journey to fulfill his destiny as the Avatar.
Now you know all that I can tell you so far.
Please show this only to those whom you would
trust with your life. I must ask you to keep these
sacred scrolls safe and hidden from prying eyes. The
knowledge you have gained is a powerful tool, and
the fate of four nations now depends on you. . . .