Chapter Text
Pavi slowly reached for the girl who was her mirror image. The girl did as she did, their eyes widening as their fingers touched-
Blue
A blue as bright as the sun flared between them and Pavi cried out, pulling her hand back from the girl's as she stumbled back-
And slipped, falling backward into snow. Pavi gasped at the sudden chill. She curled in on herself, shivering. The air was so cold it stung! She gasped again and covered her mouth, trying to pull her clothing tighter around her as she.... looked.... around....
Whoa.
This was more snow and ice than she'd ever seen, in, well, ever! Floating mounds of snow stretched out as far as her eyes could see. The skies were the clearest, prettiest blue ever. She took another way too cold breath.
"Where are we!?" the other girl's cry pulled her eyes from the skies. Pavi turned to look at her. The girl had fallen too. She pushed herself up, her eyes big and scared as she looked around. "What happened?"
"Are you okay?" The unexpected third voice made them both spin toward it. An older girl and boy who Pavi had never seen before were looking at them like they were the weird ones. And what was with their clothes? It was all blue fabric and white fur made in a bulky way. Why weren't they wearing Elloran style clothing and colors? The boy took a step back and then pointed his spear at them.
"Don't move!" he told them.
"Sokka, stop it!" the girl said. Her blue eyes were as pale as the ice around them. But how was there ice? And so much snow! It wasn't winter in Ellora! And where was the training ground?
"How did you get here?" the boy demanded as he prodded at Pavi with the tip of his spear. "Why aren't you frozen?"
"I don't know where here is!" she responded.
"Karthik!" the girl who looked like her called out. "Karthik, where are we?"
"Sh!" Pavi shushed her, eyes darting across the snow mounds. "Stop it! If he comes, he'll put us in the Brigade!"
"What's so wrong about that?" the girl asked. "At least I could bend if he put me there! But no!" She scowled. "It's always, 'it's not time yet, Nisha.' 'Be patient, Nisha.' I'm tired of being patient! Karthik, come here!"
"Be quiet!" the boy told her.
"Sokka!"
"She's calling reinforcements!" The boy pointed his spear tip at Nisha. "Stop doing that!"
"You stop doing that!" Nisha told him. "He's not reinforcements; he's my mentor!"
"He's what?" Pavi asked, wide-eyed, as the boy sputtered.
"Well- We don't want Fire Nation mentors either!" What mentors? What was the older boy talking about?
"What're you talking about?" Nisha asked. Pavi was happy she wasn't the one who'd have to ask. "Karthik's not a firebender, he's an airbender! Everyone knows that!"
"An airbender?" the boy asked. He laughed then, lowering his spear. "You're not spies, you're sun ice addled!"
"Which is why we should be taking them home, Sokka! Look at them," the older girl said, "they're not even dressed for the cold! What kind of tribespeople would let them hunt while wearing that?" Pavi frowned at her. Her clothing was perfectly good! She'd even sewn together some of the frayed stitching the other day! Her clothing was fine.
"Meow?" Pavi grinned in relief at the familiar soft sound of confusion. She turned just in time to see Geet peer over the larger snow mound.
"Geet!" she called out. Geet and the other cat-monkey made their way down to her and the other girl. She heard a faint gasp from behind and found the taller girl looking at the animals in confusion.
"What're those?" Pavi didn't know why, but she shot a look at the girl who looked like her. She was happy to see the girl returning her look. Who didn't know about cat-monkeys? Both the older boy and girl stepped closer to each other when Geet made a sound of curiosity and padded closer to them.
"It's okay," Pavi reassured them. "This here is Geet!"
"And this is Ruhi," the other girl said.
"Your cat-monkey has such pretty dark fur," Pavi told the girl.
"Thanks!" The bright expression on her look-a-like's face faded. "But where is Karthik?" She clutched her hands to her arms as she shivered. "He'd never leave me like this. And what is this place?" Pavi shrugged and looked at the older two for answers. She found them sharing a look just like she had done with the girl.
"Their boat must have capsized," the older girl said. Pavi cocked her head. What did that word mean? "That they didn't freeze was a spirit blessing." The older girl looked at her and the other girl. She gave a warm, reassuring smile. "Come on, we'll take you to our home. I'm sure one of the younger kids has some spare clothes their mom won't mind giving you. Once you're warmed up, maybe you could tell us more about what happened?" Pavi looked away from those pretty blue eyes. She put her cheek to Geet's side so she could avoid the boy's gaze too.
"I don't know what happened," she said.
"I.... don't either," the other girl admitted.
"That's okay," the taller girl reassured them. She gave another warm smile. "We'll figure everything out together." Pavi wanted to believe her, but.... Everything was so different. How had the stuff around them changed so quickly? Why had it changed? "Do you want to come with us?" the girl offered. Pavi glanced back at her look-a-like. The other girl considered it before straightening her shoulders and nodding. "Good. Let's go home." Pavi kept her eyes on Geet as they all set out together. She didn't want to see if the boy was still looking at them like he had before. The snow around them was pretty but different. Pavi didn't know if it was good different or bad different. She rested her hands in Geet's fur as she and the other girl followed after the two older children.