*。☆。
★。＼｜／。★
˚ ₊ ♡ ❰  MIRACULUM ❱
*✧ ─── ❝ ❪ BLACK SNOW ❫ ❞

⋆ 🌪. CHAPTER FOUR ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*
˚ ₊ ♡ 112 a.a ─── book one: water

"I CAN'T BELIEVE WE COULD HAVE BEEN FAMILY." KATARA STATED AFTER A MOMENT OF SILENCE. Uki and Katara were seated beside each other in the snow. The sun was shining brightly, and for once, Uki found herself at Master Pakku's training grounds without the fear of repercussions. "I would have had another family member that could waterbend."

Uki smiled sadly at Katara, happy that the girl wasn't mad about the fact Pakku was her grandfather. The two had never seen eye-to-eye when it came to her bending. She was talented and a natural, Pakku had said it himself when she was six and came running to him eager to also start the lessons like other waterbenders from her tribe. But he forbade her from doing so━ just because she was a girl. After that they had drifted away like two broken plains of ice in the ocean.

"We might not be family Katara." Uki began, placing a comforting hand on the younger girl's shoulder a kind smile on her face. "but in a way we are sisters."

Uki's serious expression started to fade back into her happier persona, "Besides, I can finally start training with Pakku thanks to you!"

"Well... it wasn't only me." Katara offered, thinking back to the amazing fight she witnessed between Uki and Pakku. The Southern Tribe girl knew Uki was a waterbender, but she had never expected her to be so skilled without official training. "You are really talented."

Despite the compliment, Uki's features twisted, a flash of sadness in her eyes as she regarded the younger girl. "When I was born, no one thought I would survive." She started off, voice calm, "A storm raged, no flames that could conquer the cold my father and mother and some other tribe members had been trapped at sea. My father would have never allowed my mother to come if he knew this would happen. I came earlier than expected." She chuckled. "Even as a baby I was eager to prove myself quickly." She looked up at the sky, where a faint sign of the moon still was. "But I was saved. My mother believed La saved me and blessed me. As I grew older, I grew an affinity for waterbending, it came natural to me, felt like breathing. I did it without thinking." She chuckled dryly. "So when they told me I couldn't because of our customs, it was like a piece of me did die."

She breathed in a shuddering breath, "I was scared, for years to do anything. So I studied instead. I learned about the story of Tui and La from my father, but I learned even more from the books my family had collected over the years and I learned about the spiritual side of bending, about the energy it took. I learned about Peng, which is a prerequisite for every other skill. It's the strength and fluidity that comes from doing the physical work. I learned how to loosen my body by sinking my Chi to help release and direct my energy where I need it. And to always move with intention and purpose—Yi. I learned how to do that, without applying it into my waterbending. It broadened my knowledge immensely. And later, I started to care less, I wanted to waterbend, it was my birth right and my blessing. So I started to do so in the night and learned how my ancestors once did. Push and pull, Tui and La. The moon and ocean spirits."

"It sounds like you know a lot about the history of waterbending." Katara murmured. "I never had anyone to teach me. No other waterbender to show me."

"That must have been hard." Uki spoke softly.

Katara moved to clutch her necklace, the shimmering blue pendant bright against her tan skin. "It was. " She pondered for a moment. "Maybe you can teach me about it? Before we leave the North Pole?"

Uki hummed, a wave of sadness crashing over her at the thought of the trio leaving. "Yeah." She replied before redirecting her eyes to the ongoing fight between two waterbending students of Pakku. Sangok was clearly the better between the two boys as he easily rendered his opponent useless by freezing him to the ground.

"Katara!" Pakku spoke up, nodding for the girl to get up and face Sangok.

Uki grinned, holding her fist up for Katara who bumped her own against hers, both girls smirking.

It had been no surprise when Pakku finally let them join, that they were the two best pupils there. They were dedicated and passionate about their bending, unlike some who just relied on pure talent. "You got this Katara." Uki shouted after her friend as she stood ready in a waterbending stance. Blue eyes fixed on Sangok who lazy smiled at her.

Sangok made the first move, moving his arms downwards before thrusting his hands up to summon a globule of water that he froze in the air. He grinned, as if he already won the fight when he pushed the ice ball towards Katara.

But Katara moved with the ice ball, letting it pass her before she guided its movements herself. She turned the ball back into water, and twirled around to gain momentum. With a mighty push, she send a large wave of water at Sangok, who was send in the air by its power.

All Katara did was bawl her fist to encase the boy in ice, rendering him motionless.

"Nice one Katara!" Uki gleefully shouted while Pakku approached the girl from behind.

"Nice try pupil Sangok." Pakku tutted, "A couple more years and you might be ready to fight a sea sponge."

"Anyone else up to the task to fight Katara?" Pakku asked as he looked at his pupils, most of them soaked, frozen or shuddering in fear━ all but Uki who had yet to step up to fight.

"Uki?"

Uki grinned, jumping to her feet and cracking her knuckles. "This is going to be so much fun!" She gleefully exclaimed, a clear contrast to all the others that had went against Katara.

The two girls quickly went into different waterbending stances, as they face each other. Uki focused her attention of her Chi and Yi, letting her weight settle and align her body. Both wearing large grins as they waited for the other to attack first. They both favoured defence over offense.

"Today please!" Pakku bellowed in annoyance.

Uki ice coloured eyes glinted dangerously in the sunlight. "Whatever you say gramps." She jested before rushing forward, two streams of water by her side. She moved her hands forward, the two large streams morphing into shards of ice that rapidly approached the younger waterbender.

Katara crossed her arms, creating a large wall of ice that shattered Uki's attack, but before Katara could do anything, Uki had already propelled herself in the air with the help of an ice pillar erecting from the ground.

Uki smirked at the girl's wide eyes when they made eye contact as she flew over her head. She spun around mid-air, kicking her leg out to send a jet of water at the girl.

Katara braced herself when she was pushed back, her body slamming against her own ice wall.

The girl grunted, moving her arms up to raise a small column of ice, and using it to send discs of ice at Uki.

Uki, rapidly ducked around the sharp objects, heaving heavily as she became overwhelmed. "Don't murder me you crazy woman!" The brunette shouted as she quickly ran around, moving a large body of water with her to protect her from Katara's assault. "I value my life!"

As she ran, Uki moved her wrist, flicking it to send smaller jets of water at Katara who ducked out of the way and hid behind a small wall of ice.

Taking the chance, Uki moved closer to Katara, riding a wave of water she turned into ice the moment she collided with Katara's ice wall.

The large collision threw both girls back several feet as they panted heavily.

"Wanna call it a tie?!" Uki shouted out, constructing a small pillar of ice to rest against.

"Yeah." Katara heaved as she let herself fall down on the snow.

Pakku grinned as his two students gathered their bearings, both beyond exhausted from their excessive fight.

"Would anyone care for a rematch?" Pakku wondered as he turned towards his other pupils.

They all groaned and shook their heads when Uki and Katara approached Pakku, excitedly chatting about each other's moves.

"Katara, Uki, you both have advanced more quickly than any student I have ever trained," He praised them proudly and the two grinned, eyes lit up with pride, "You have proven that with fierce determination, passion and hard work, you can accomplish anything━ " He turned his gaze to Aang, who was rolling around in the snow, creating balls of air to elevate his flying lemur, "Raw talent alone is not enough."

Uki held back her laughter at the sight of the young avatar, but Pakku had other things in mind.

"Pupil Aang!"

The boy quickly sprung up, hands behind his back as his grey eyes focused on Pakku, his pet lemur Momo falling to the ground when the ball of air disappeared. "Yes master Pakku?"

"Care to step into the sparring circle?" He inquired, his tone deadly serious, "I figured since you've found time to play with house pets, you must have already mastered waterbending."

"I wouldn't say mastered, but check this out." He hastily bended the snow around him, and as it clung to his body, it looked as if he had turned into a living snowman.

Katara and Pakku glared at his childish antics but Uki couldn't help but smile, a soft chuckle escaping her mouth.

The sound made both Pakku and Katara glare at her and she smiled innocently at the pair, "Come on, you have to admit. It looks pretty funny."

"This is no place for dilly-dallying Uki." Pakku scolded her.

"Come on gramps!" Uki laughed as she stepped next to Aang, trying to imitate him as she twisted the snow around her own body, "Who knows when this trick will come in handy!"

*。☆。
★。＼｜／。★
𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝙘𝙖𝙣𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙠 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝙗𝙧𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩
𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦, 𝘐'𝘭𝘭 𝙨𝙞𝙩 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝙙𝙖𝙧𝙠

─ lewis carroll

AFTER AANG FINALLY GOTTEN SOME TRAINING IN, THE LESSON HAD ENDED, KATARA AND UKI HAD REMAINED SEATED IN THE SNOW, EXCHANGING TECHNIQUES AND SHOWING EACH OTHER DIFFERENT TRICKS WHILE Aang was rolling around in the snow. His laughter bringing both girls to smile as they looked at his carefree expression.

"So what happens when Aang masters waterbending?" Uki wondered as she looked back at Katara, absentmindedly moving water around her fingers.

"I suppose we need to look for an earthbending teacher." Katara spoke up, hand clutching her necklace.

"oh...right." Uki sighed, letting the water drop from her fingers. "I hope you find one quickly." She offered the younger girl a weak smile.

"You know..." Katara started slowly, "Maybe you could come with us? You're a very skilled bender, I'm sure we could use you on the team. And you can teach us more about the history of waterbending."

"I don't know..." Uki muttered, "I have never left my tribe, what if something happens and I'm not here?"

Katara smiled sympathetically at the older girl nervously fiddling with her fingers. "But by helping Aang, we can make sure nothing will ever happen again." She paused, "I would really like to have you with us Uki."

Uki hummed, not replying immediately, "I'll think about it."

Katara nodded, but smiled dazzlingly bright, only for her eyes to widen in fear when snow came falling down, but it was no ordinary snow. It was ashen-grey coloured━ soot.

"What's going on?" One of Pakku pupil's spoke up fearfully as more black snowflakes came falling from the sky.

"What's happening?" Another called out frightened.

"The Fire Nation." Katara breathed out in realisation as she quickly stood up, Uki following suit. "They invaded our tribe a long time ago. This fell from the sky when they came." She spoke worriedly as she looked at Pakku.

The waterbending master nodded at her in acknowledgement. "You!" He pointed at Sangok, "Get the other waterbenders. Bring them to the Palace." He turned to Katara, Aang and Uki. "You three, go to the chief."

"No, I have to find Yue!" Uki exclaimed worriedly, remembering the white haired girl was on an activity with the Southern Water Tribe boy.

Pakku nodded in agreement, before everyone dashed away.

Uki ran through the streets, skidding over the ice at a fast pace as she ran towards the other circle of the city where one of the high watchtowers was located. The warning drums were already echoing through the sky, and tribe members were rushing towards the palace for safety.

Climbing up the icy steps, Uki leaned over the railing, eyes scanning the surroundings as more soot fell from the sky. She breathed out in relief when she saw Yue's familiar white hair in the streets as she was pulled along by Sokka.

Jumping over the railing, Uki caught herself with a small whirl of water to ease her landing. "Yue!" She called out as she approached the running pair.

"Uki!" Yue exclaimed in relief jumping into her friends arms.

"Come one we have to keep moving." Sokka urged the duo and Uki nodded, grabbing Yue's glove covered hand to pull her along.

"Did you see what is out there?" Uki wondered as they followed the crowd towards the palace.

"I've never seen so much soot." Sokka stated sadly, "There must be a lot of Fire Nation ships."

Uki frowned as the steps towards the palace came in sight, and they quickly ascended the stairs before Yue suddenly stopped.

Both Sokka and Uki stopped to stare at the princess in confusion.

Uki frowned when she noted Yue's glazed eyes focused on Sokka.

"What's wrong?" Sokka inquired as more tribe members passed them. "We have to go."

"No Sokka, wait." Yue began, "I can't see you anymore."

Uki felt uncomfortable standing next to Yue and looking at Sokka's crestfallen expression.

Uki knew how much Yue actually like the Southern Water Tribe boy. They had talked well into the night about the so-called activities and the way Yue spoke made it clear she was enamoured by the boy.

"What...?" Sokka breathed out, "We're just friends?" He tried to argue, even though all of them knew the boy was lying.

"I wish we could be just friends..." Yue spoke solemnly, "But I like you too much, and it's too confusing to be around you. I'm marrying someone else." She turned around.

Sokka's shoulders slagged, "You don't love him, do you? You don't even seem to like him."

"But I do love my people." The white haired princess spoke firmly.

"You're not marrying them!" Sokka exclaimed in disbelief.

Yue swiftly turned back around, "You don't understand. I have duties to my father, to my tribe. I have to do this." Tears had gathered and were ready to spill as she pushed passed Sokka to run up the stairs. "Goodbye!"

Sokka stood speechless with Uki only a couple steps below him. Slowly the brunette approached the boy to place a comforting hand on his shoulder. "She loves you, she really does..." She paused "But she loves her people more."

With those words, Uki rushed up the stairs to follow her friend into the palace.

She ran through the beautifully decorated halls, and towards the place Yue surely would seek comfort. Pushing passed a couple of servants, Uki gently opened the door to Yue's bedroom.

The white haired princess stood by her window, gazing out at it and staring at their city. As if might be the last time she ever would.

Before the Fire Nation would burn down their home.

Uki didn't say anything, for no words could comfort her friend at this moment. So instead, all she could do was hold the white haired girl as she shook, softly singing a tribal song that always brought the princess comfort.

"Thank you for being here." Yue whispered.

Uki smiled, gently and comfortingly, "Of course."

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