Loosely inspired by the first book of the Song of Ice and Fire series: a Game of Thrones. I'm still wondering why I decided to start a new fic in the first place?

Yue

The Southern air was cold and crisp, and had a lingering smell of fish and smoke. The sky was somewhere between gray and white and blue and the sea below the ship was blue in a way that Yue could not quite describe.

It did not look like home.

She pulled her parka closer to her body, but it was merely an unconscious gesture. She had Tribal blood, she could stand the freezing temperatures of the south pole. Her mother had once told her that the people of the North and South had ancestors that had been carved from ice. When others shied away from the cold, they embraced it.

Her ship eased closer to the dock, nestled easily between the carrier and military ships of the southernmost nation. From her position at the bow, Yue saw a cluster of blue and violet standing on the platform, awaiting the arrival of the northerner. She squinted at the group, trying to discern features. Five of the eight people were soldiers, she could tell that from the spears strapped to their backs and their posture. One of the others was a girl, she was smaller and wore a skirt under her parka.

The metal ramp at the prow of the began to descend towards the platform and Yue gripped the railing, feeling the cold metal through her gloves. She wondered if she should feel excited, being in the south for the first time in her life, but no such emotion came. Her father had told her it was to become more in touch with their sister nation, it was necessary and a proper princess would take such a task with pride.

"Are you ready, Princess?" A voice over her shoulder said and Yue nodded without looking up. Yugoda, her nurse and confidant. The old woman had been at Yue's side since she was baby and Yue couldn't imagine being without the woman. "I know this seems unfair, but it's for our tribe. And you've never been a weak woman, Yue. Remember you have the spirit blood in you."

Yue turned to face Yugoda, seeing the elderly woman's face crease into a sad smile. When she was younger, Yue had loved hearing the story of her birth, as selfish as it seemed. She had been born with a patron spirit, the Koi fish that was her family's symbol. The spirit had dyed her hair permanently white as a baby, causing her people to name her the Winter Princess. "Yes," Yue said, "I'm ready."

Yugoda took Yue's hand and the northern guards that accompanied them moved to their side. The old woman guided Yue down the ramp to the platform, towards the southerners that awaited them. As she placed her foot on the platform , Yue tugged her hand away. A true princess of the ice did not show uncertainty.

Two men and the girl broke away from the group and approached. The older man was tall and well-built, with dark skin and brown braids adorned with warrior beads. The other was perhaps a year younger than Yue and shared the same handsome looks with the older man- his father.

The last of the trio was the girl. She seemed to be on the cusp of womanhood, her eyes large with an unusual combination of both curiosity and suspicion. Yue wondered if she and the girl would get along, if southern girls were like those in her homeland. She wondered if this girl would make her life in the south worse than it would already be.

"Princess Yue," The man addressed her and put his forearm across his chest in a salute to her. The clasp of his parka was carved in the shape of a Polar Bear Dog, the family symbol. "Welcome to our tribe. I am Chief Hakoda," he gestured to the younger boy, "this is my son, Sokka, and my daughter, Katara."

The chief's children seemed to study her. Sokka, the son, was the first to soften his features and smile. His sister stared at Yue with scrutiny before grinning, as if deciding that this strange princess was welcome in her land. Yue's shoulders relaxed in relief.

Yue dipped into a respectful bow and saluted all of them. Her mother had told her that the southerners would seem odd yet familiar, and Yue decided that was true. "I am honored to be here," she said and held her chin up.

Hakoda looked beyond her, at the sea, and Yue noted that he and Katara had the same eyes. "The guard will ensure that your possessions arrive to your rooms in the palace. You'll have to walk, the south doesn't have the luxury of canals to carry us everywhere in the city."

Yue thought she heard something sharper in his voice, something like disdain and mockery but she wasn't sure. She looked at the chief's children again and saw no signs of malice in their features. Perhaps, Yue thought, this year in the south would not be so bad.

The chief's guards surrounded them as they moved off the platform and onto the hard-packed snow. Yue looked towards Yugoda, who smiled encouragingly. The northern princess stepped closer to the southerners. Sokka looked at her. "You're welcome here," he said, "just wait until the evening feast, you'll see."

Katara nodded in affirmation. "Our dad told us you were coming a while ago," she said, "but we're not for much fanfare. But I suppose you already knew that."

Yue listened to the crunch of the snow and ice under her boots. The sharp smell of fish and meat was not so apparent anymore and Yue figured that perhaps they had left its source behind or her nose had simply gotten use to the scent.

The ice road before her opened and Yue looked up. Before her was the south's citadel, carved from ice and stone, weathered by countless winters. It was gray and white against the blue sky, a harsh contrast that did not quite become an eyesore. It seemed to fit, Yue thought, in a strange way.

"Welcome to IcePoint," Sokka said. "In all its frigid glory."

"Katara," Hakoda said and his daughter turned to him. "Why don't you show Yue and her nurse to their chambers? Your brother and I will attend to another matter."

The young tribal princess nodded and as the massive entrance of the citadel opened, she gestured for Yue and the old woman to follow her. She led them inside, her boots moving over the gray stone floor. She shed her parka as she walked, throwing it over her shoulders. Yue did the same, instead draping her coat over her forearm.

"Your chambers are across the courtyard," Katara explained as she led them around a corner, running her fingers along the smooth walls. "They're facing the moonrise, I thought you might like that."

"Yes," Yue admitted and she decided that IcePoint was well enough. The palace had none of the elegance of her home, none of the extravagance that the North was known for. The palace in the North was tiered and beautiful, sparkling when the sunlight hit the ice. This place, and the city surrounding it, had been built for necessity.

Katara stopped before a door and pressed her hand against it. "This is the entrance to your chamber," she said, "your nurse can stay across the hall," she pointed before opening the door of Yue's suite.

The first room was small and plain, with only a low table to fill it. Katara stepped through it and guided Yue to her bedroom. It was much larger in comparison, and Yue found that someone had taken the time to elaborately design the room.

The room was royal blue and violet, with white Koi fish dancing along the walls. The single window faced the open land beyond the citadel, exposing the snow and far beyond that, the mountains of the south. Yue ran her hands along the wall, feeling her breath hitch. "It's lovely."

Katara shrugged, "It was partly Sokka's idea, especially the Koi fish. After Dad told us you were coming, he said we should try to make you feel welcome. It must be weird, so far away from home."

"I've traveled around the world," Yue said and Katara raised her eyebrows. "It wasn't terrible, though. I spent most of the time learning about healing from Yugoda."

At that, Katara seemed to listen. "You're a bender?" She asked and it was only then that Yue noticed the leather pouch at her hip. "You can waterbend?"

"No," Yue said and the southerner seemed to deflate. "Are you?"

"Yes!" Katara said and smiled, "my father is letting me learn combat bending like the warriors, I heard that girls aren't allowed to learn how to fight in the north. Is that true?"

Yue nodded and Katara pulled a face. "That's not fair," she said, "We're just as capable." She made a spiraling gesture with her wrist and the water from her leather pouch slithered out, hovering in the air just above her hands.

Part of Yue felt as though she was watching something forbidden. To even consider teaching a girl to fight was wrong in the north and Yue had never questioned it. Her father would have never allowed her to do such a thing, not even when she had been touched by the moon spirit.

Katara guided the water back into her pouch. "What's the north like?" She asked and sat on Yue's bed, smoothing out the wrinkles around her.

Yue considered her answer for a moment. "It's different," she said, "It's...pleasing to the eye and to the spirit. We have a lot of rituals and festivals for the spirits, expecially in winter and summer. It's home." She shrugged, "sure the roles are more traditional, girls can't fight and most marriages are arranged but...it's home."

"My parents had an arranged marriage," Katara said, "kind of. My grandparents arranged for them to meet each other, because everyone knew they would fall in love." Her face seemed to fall. "According to what I've been told. My mother died when I was little."

That explained why Yue had not seen the chief's wife. "I'm sorry," she said and wondered if Katara resembled her mother, whoever she might have been.

Katara touched a leather choker at her neck, brushing the stone pendant. Yue figured that it had been her mother's. "It's okay. There's lot of women to take her place, like my grandmother and her friend. It wasn't so bad. We're Polar Bear Dogs, we're a pack, we stick together."

Yue reached for Katara's hand, taking note of the differing shades of brown. Her nails were long and carefully shaped, as opposed to the nonchalant filing on Katara's. "Care to show me around IcePoint?"

The younger tribal princess looked up and stood. "Of course. You have to see the height of IcePoint and then a polar dog just had a litter, you can pick one out if you'd like. You'll be here long enough to see it grow up."

Yue was not particularly fond of polar dogs, but she agreed nonetheless. The year would not be so long, she told herself, it would not be so long.