Chapter Text
Water. Earth. Fire. Air.
Long ago, the four nations lived together in harmony.
Then, everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked.
Only the Avatar, master of all four elements, could stop them, but when the world needed him most, he vanished.
A hundred years passed and I discovered the new Avatar, an airbender named Augustus.
And although his airbending skills are great, he has a lot to learn before he's ready to save anyone.
But I believe Augustus can save the world.
—
Mattholomule balanced his oar and took a deep breath.
He was going to do it this time.
He was going to become the youngest tribe member to complete his ice dodging challenge.
So what if he wasn’t old enough yet? So what if his older brother (and all the other adults) were gone now!?
He was going to do this. Prove his strength, and stop the other teens from teasing him ever again.
Instead of the usual sailboat and tag-along spectator, Mattholomule had taken his personal fishing canoe. It was smaller, more mobile, but with less speed and only one paddle to maneuver with.
Approaching the ice floe field, he gripped the paddle tightly and squinted, surveying the crashing sea before him. It was now or never.
He lined up with a gap between two large ice sheets and charged forward, paddling with all his strength. These two floes were large enough that he had quite a ways to go before he cleared the gap, but their movement was ever shifting and his path was closing before his eyes. Just a little more speed - almost there! Just three more seconds, two, one… He cleared the ice the same moment the sheets crashed into each other, the force of the impact creating a wave that both propelled him forward and sloshed water into the boat.
He started heaving a sigh of relief, but pulled himself back to attention - he was in the thick of it now. Surrounded by flat ice floes, bergy bits, and tall craggy chunks of floating ice. Using the momentum from the wave and his paddle to push off of a smaller oncoming ice chunk, he dodged around the larger one straight in front of him. Bobbing and weaving between small chunks, feeling the flow and power of the ocean.
Okay, yeah. This was difficult and required all his concentration, but he thought he was finding a rhythm. Not only that, the end of the ice field was in sight! Just a little further now…
—
He thought back to all those times that Bria Glandus had teased him. She and her cronies always shoved him into the snow and sneered at him. They laughed at him and told him he could never be a successful hunter. So what if he had only brought back small prey so far! He had the skills… Not that anything he said could get through to them.
Things only got worse after his brother left to fight in the war with the adults. His brother had been his only family. One day Bria jeered that Mattholomule had been abandoned and he lost it. He lunged at her, but was held back by the other two. He flailed his limbs at her in anger, and of all things, that was the first time that he used waterbending.
He splashed a puddle one foot towards Bria.
The other kids’ laughter had chased him all the way home. From that day on he was known as “Puddle Bender” and they belittled his uncertain bending abilities, in addition to their tried-and-true taunts.
—
The freezing waves rammed into Mattholomule’s vessel and snapped him back into the moment. Frigid droplets splashed at his face and stung his eyes. He swiped his sleeve over his eyes to clear them. His vision focused, only to show he was rapidly approaching one of the larger ice chunks in the field.
Mattholomule threw all his strength into veering the canoe, pulling against the current.
The air resounded with a dull thud as the stern smacked into the ice, cracking apart.
It had only caught the tail end, and he was just so close. Mattholomule pressed forward, he had to. Not just to prove himself, but now his very survival was on the line!
The canoe was already taking on a little water, but if he could just make it past the next few ice floes he would reach a calmer area and have time for emergency repairs.
Paddling harder he steered around the back end of the chunk he had hit and darted into the ice once more.
There was his exit. A gap between the ice!
Mattholomule was breathing hard, but he continued onward, the ice floes closing in once more.
As he started passing through, the ice shifted. The two floes were now hurtling towards each other - and him. This time there was no avoiding it. The collision was massive, completely obliterating his boat and tossing him through the air.
—
Mattholomule landed with a soft thud, mostly cushioned by his heavy winter clothes and the surrounding snow.
Hot tears hissed trails down his cheeks. He didn’t even notice the pain as they froze in place. Frustration at the failure roiled in his chest and temporarily overrode any logical worries like returning home.
“RrraaaaahhHHHHH!!”
He shouted and pounded on the sheet of ice where he landed.
“It’s. Not. Fair!”
Each word was punctuated with two fists slamming down.
Enraptured in his pain, Mattholomule didn’t notice the ice rupture a bit with each blow.
A resounding CRACK rang out as the sheet of ice split, finally drawing Mattholomule’s attention. His eyes snapped to the large crack in the ice as it leapt forward, running towards the towering ice shelf before him.
Eyes wide, Mattholomule had little time to react. He shielded his face with his arms as the imposing giant cracked and crumbled, debris tumbling around him.
He peeked out from behind his sleeve as the mist of ice shards settled. Mattholomule breathed a sigh of relief. He was still alive.
With barely a moment to relax, he noticed the ocean before him was bubbling, and… glowing?
Mattholomule leans forward to observe the water, which was more disturbed than ever. Bubbles forming and popping like a boiling pot, the strange light spreading out to encompass a wide swath in front of him.
With a massive fwoosh a round, globe-like iceberg shoots up from the depths, splashing him with water and slowly bobbing to a stop before him.
The whole structure is glowing, but Mattholomule can make out shadows in the center. Cautious but curious, he draws his club from his back, takes a few steps forward, and peers at this strange entity.
The ice is clear and transparent to an unusual degree, and the blue glow has remained strong and vibrant save for that one shadow. It’s a person, he realizes with a start. A person, with glowing markings of the same color. They look like… arrows?
Entranced by the beautiful enigma, Mattholomule hardly even realizes he’s reached out, stretching a gloved hand forward to gently trace the ice.
“How’d you get in there,” he whispers under his breath.
BAM
Suddenly, glowing blue eyes shoot open, staring straight into his brown ones.
“A-aauugh!”
Mattholomule loses his footing from sheer shock, stumbling backwards while swinging his club, with the full momentum of his fall behind it. The weapon strikes true and the ice wall cracks, then gives way as a forceful gust of wind pours forth, pushing Mattholomule to the ground. That small gap was all it took. The iceberg quickly splits along its towering height before crumbling, unleashing a pulse of blue energy in its wake.
Mattholomule watches the light dissipate in wonder, until movement draws his gaze back to the remains of the iceberg. A swirling mist of ice dust floats down, billowing around the figure, a young boy he could see now, their eyes still glowing brightly.
“S-stop! Who are you?”
Mattholomule scrambles to stand and pick up his club, holding it out towards the being. He meets the boy’s glowing gaze for one beat, two… The contact breaks as the youth’s eyes flutter closed, and he slumps down. The stranger tumbles down the incline, rolling and sliding until he comes to a stop at the base of the mound, as if he had just decided to rest there for a moment.
Mattholomule inches closer, and pokes the youth’s foot with his club. The boy groans and stirs.
“I need to ask you something,” he rasps weakly.
“What?”
“Please, come closer.”
“What is it?” Mattholomule grabs onto his outstretched hand.
The boy slowly blinks, then opens his eyes wide and flashes the widest, most dazzling smile Mattholomule has ever seen. “Will you go penguin sledding with me?!”
“Uh, sure? Wait, what?!”