Book 1: Water

Episode 1: The Boy in the Iceberg

Irina was sitting at her computer watching Avatar The Last Airbender episodes on the nickelodeon website. She was starting at the beginning and clicked on 'The Boy in the Iceberg' and as the opening came on she began to talk along with 'Katara'.

"Water... Earth... Fire... Air... My grandmother used to tell me stories about the old days, a time of peace when the Avatar kept balance between the Water Tribes, Earth Kingdom, Fire Nation, and Air Nomads. But all that changed when the Fire Nation attacked."

At this point Irina giggled and made little dun dun dun noises. OK she was a total Team Avatar fanatic.

"Only the Avatar mastered all four elements. Only he could stop the ruthless Firebenders. But when the world needed him most, he vanished. A hundred years have passed and the Fire Nation is nearing victory in the war. Two years ago, my father and the men of my tribe journeyed to the Earth Kingdom to help fight against the Fire Nation, leaving me and my brother to look after our tribe. Some people believe that the Avatar was never reborn in the Air Nomads and that the cycle is broken, but I haven't lost hope. I still believe that somehow the Avatar will return to save the world."

As Irina said those last words the screen started to glow. She narrowed her eyes and leaned closer. What the eff?

Suddenly she felt herself falling forwards straight through the computer monitor and her last thought was 'damn this isn't some freaky go back into memory Harry Potter thing is it?'

In the waters of the South Pole, amidst the ice, is a small boat floating with a teenage boy name Sokka and his sister, Katara.

"It's not getting away from me this time." said Sokka. He had a spear in his hand and was watching a spotted fish in the water closely. "Watch and learn, Katara. This is how you catch a fish."

Katara used her Waterbending to catch a fish behind him and Sokka got angry at her for getting him wet when he accidentally popped the water.

Suddenly the boat bumped into ice and they realized they had hit an area filled with wavy water and lots of ice.

Katara screamed at Sokka while he attempted to manoeuvre them out of harms way. Unfortunately they finally crashed and were forced to jump onto one of the icebergs.

"Ugh leave it to a girl to mess things up!" Sokka grunted.

Katara stood up angrily. "You are the most sexist, immature nutbrained..."

Katara was so angry she could hardly speak. Her anger was boiling over, and without meaning to, she was Waterbending the giant ice block behind her.

"I'm embarrassed to be related to you! Ever sense Mom died I've been doing all the work around camp while you've been off playing soldier!"

"Uh... Katara?" Sokka tried to speak. He could see the iceberg cracking.

Katara interrupted him, "I even wash all the clothes! Have you ever smelled your dirty socks? Let me tell you, NOT PLEASANT!"

"Katara! Settle down!"

"No, that's it. I'm done helping you! From now on, you're on your own."

Finally the iceberg cracked and sent them tipping over. A glowing ball of giant ice came up when the finally regained their balance.

Katara shouted, "He's alive! We have to help!" Katara grabbed Sokka's boomerang and began hacking the ice where the frozen boy with glowing tattoos was... frozen.

As it suddenly burst open and the beam of light (that we all know and love) shot into the sky, a scream was heard from above.

The ice broke open and the boy with the glowing tattoos swayed for a few moments before falling over, the glowing fading away. At the same time Irina fell down a slab of ice and crumpled on the ground. Sokka and Katara looked at each other with bemused expressions.

Sokka ran over and half carried, half dragged the girl over to lay her down beside the boy. He then began poking the boy with the soft end of his boomerang.

"Why isn't he frozen?"

Katara pushed him away. "Stop it!"

Irina opened her eyes and sat up. But then lay down again as she got a head rush. "What the hell?"

"How did you get here?" asked Katara.

"Who are you? Why did you fall from the sky?" Sokka began poking her now.

"Hey! Watch it!" Irina quickly stood up and took a few steps from him. As she did, she noticed her jeans and tank top had been replaced with soft pants, gloves, a thick tunic and thick boots. In other words, perfect for the south pole.

Then she froze and got a really good look around her. She first saw Sokka. Shaven with a ponytail? A boomerang? About fifteen? Then Katara... Brown hair, hair loopies, about my age. This is to freaky. And finally she saw the boy who was previously frozen and a half strangled scream came from the back of her throat. AIRBENDING TATTOOS? Bald kid at twelve years who was frozen in the iceberg. No friggin way!

"Are you OK?" asked Katara.

Before Irina could answer, the boy stirred and Katara turned her attention back to him. Irina leaned against the giant slab of ice and faced away from the other three, a hand to her head. OK she didn't feel dizzy anymore, she couldn't feel a fever. She pinched herself and winced. Not dreaming. She turned back to the others right in time as Katara was leaning over the boy.

The boy jumped up and shouted "Will you go penguin sledding with me?"

Irina almost had to stifle a laugh. Yup that sure sounded like an Aang.

Katara was surprised. "Umm... sure!"

There was a low rumble and Aang (well Irina wasn't sure but considering the evidence, how could it not be?) climbed over the ice and shouted "Appa! Buddy you're OK!"

Yup. That proves it. My imagination has gone freakishly haywire and now I'm in the world of Avatar. While it's kinda scary I might as well enjoy it, Irina thought.

The other three climbed over the ice and Sokka and Katara's jaws dropped in shock. Sense Irina was an Avatar fan, she kept her mouth shut, but she did have to admit, she was impressed. Appa was huge. Bigger then one of those giant campers. What was a good analogy for Appa's size? Irina mused for a few moments. A small house? Well, you get the point. He's big.

"Do you guys live around here?" Aang asked us.

Katara opened her mouth but Sokka jumped in front of her. "Don't answer that! That beam of light could have been meant to signal the Fire Nation!"

Katara pushed him out of the way and walked over to Aang. "The paranoid one is my brother, Sokka. I'm Katara and this is..." she had been turned toward Irina but froze. Irina remembered she hadn't told them her name yet. But did she dare tell her real name?

"What was your name again?" Katara asked.

"Uh... my name is.. Irina." Irina said. She could think of an excuse if that name was to weird.

"Never heard that name before." Sokka commented suspiciously. Irina's heart sank.

"That's because my family has a tradition. We pick a really uncommon name to name the children." Sokka was still frowning at her so she quickly said, "Like my mom! It's crazy, her mother named her, uh, Hermione."

Katara shrugged and turned back to Aang, "Whats your name?"

"I'm A... aaaahhhh... ahhhhh... aaah aaah aaah AAAACHOOOO!" He flew into the air and slid down the ice before coming to a stop in front of them "I'm Aang."

Sokka's jaw dropped. "You just sneezed. And flew ten feet in the air."

Aang looked confused. "Really? I thought it was higher."

Katara gasped. "You're an Airbender!"

"Sure am!" Aang said proudly.

"We've never met one before." Katara said.

Aang offered them a ride on Appa to the South Pole. Irina and Katara were eager, but it took awhile to convince Sokka it would be alright. Finally they were off.

They arrived in the Southern Water Tribe village in early morning. Aang had fallen asleep so Sokka carried him into a tent while Irina fed Appa something that Katara gave her and Irina assumed it was supposed to resemble food and Katara hurried off to wake and rest of the tribe.

While the tribe assembled together waiting to meet the visitor, Katara and Irina went to wake Aang.

"You go in, Katara." Irina said, "I'm just gonna hang out here."

"OK." Katara said, then she ducked under the flap. From within Irina heard Katara waking Aang up. She heard a slight intake of breath and knew that Katara had seen his Airbending tattoos.

The came out with Katara dragging Aang by the arm and Aang tripping over his feet while trying to put on one boot and hold his staff/glider at the same time. Irina laughed and ran after them.

Katara stopped and swept an arm out. "Aang, this is the entire village. Entire village, Aang."

The small group of people shuffled uneasily.

"Why are they all looking at me like that? Did Appa sneeze on me?" Irina snorted under her breath as Aang checked for bison snot. Seriously what was wrong with her? She was laughing at nearly everything Aang did. Well it wasn't like she could help it! Mike and Bryan had created an original character who brought laughs. She couldn't wait to see Sokka's funny side.

Katara's Gran Gran (who Irina had met earlier) stepped forward. "No one has seen an Airbender for a hundred years. We thought they were extinct until my granddaughter and grandson found you."

Aang looked confused. Irina zoned out. She had heard this many times while watching the episodes. She knew what they were saying. A few minutes later Aang snapped his glider open, flew into the air and ended up bashing into a watch tower. Irina yawned while the kids and ran around Aang excitedly. She needed to get more sleep.

Later in the afternoon she joined Sokka while he was doing his training of the four year old 'warriors'.

"Perhaps you could demonstrate for them?" Irina suggested.

Sokka gave her a flirty grin, "Don't worry about it Irina, I know what I'm doing."

Irina smirked, "Whatever you say 'O Wise One." she put her hands together and gave him a mock bow.

One of the little boys perked up and ran to Irina, "We wanna be like you Irina!"

Irina's eyes widened in surprise but she quickly stood up, "But I'm still learning my self."

Suddenly all the kids were forming around her and begging her. Sokka crossed his arms and glared.

"Um I guess I can show you a few moves." Irina had taken years of gymnastics and martial arts and a couple years before, had switched dancing and acting.

One of the kids turned around and yelled "She's gonna teach us how to kick butt!" And they all cheered.

"Hold it!" Irina said, "That's lesson number two. The first and most important lesson is to be gentle. At the same time we're being tough." And she slapped her fist into her hand.

"How can you be tough and gentle?" the first boy asked.

Irina suddenly realized this was turning into some weird Mulan thing. Did she have to sing next? The words kept pouring out of her mouth, her body kept moving, all without her control.

"I know it does sound a little funny, huh? But the world is full of opposites, and so are you. To be a good warrior, you must bring it all into balance."

The kids looked confused, and without her permission, Irina's body dropped of its own accord to her knees. "Let's see if this helps." she said. She put a hand to the ground and one in the sky. "Earth, sky." Hands to the side, "Day, night."

She leaned into one of the kids and put a finger to her lips, "Sound and silence." She put her hands over the girls' eyes, "Dark," she opened her hands, "and light!"

Somewhere in the background she heard the music playing, and she still didn't have control over her own mouth. Oh well, she shrugged internally, I'll go along with it. Another happy thought: she was glad her mom had insisted on singing lessons too, stating that 'Irina is a natural'.

Irina stood up and her singing began. Leading the kids through the village her body sang 'Lesson Number One'. Sokka followed them with his mouth hanging open in shock. Katara and Aang had gone penguin sledding and a part of her knew that this was where the fun ended, because soon Zuko and the Fire Nation soldiers would arrive to find the Avatar and kidnap Aang. She had to admit that she was a little excited for her first look at Zuko. All those fan girls wishing that Zuko was a real guy and here she was, getting to see him!

As she sang the last note and the kids did some neat jumps and hit the ground, a shot fired into the sky, from where the frozen and abandoned Fire Nation ship was. Sokka gasped and grounded his teeth. "I knew he was trying to signal the Fire Nation."

Irina felt the blood drain out of her face. Soon Aang and Katara would arrive, and so would Zuko and other Firebenders, and she knew they could be in danger depending on how things went along. Maybe the whole Harry Potter back in memory thing was only fun in theory.