- Which means she's perfectly positioned to see the enormous beam of light - a searing white veering into a faint afterimage of blue - that pierces the sky in the distance.

That's it. That's what she's been searching for, she can feel it-

Zuko starts shouting for the helmsman to change course.

The light fades. 

Right before her aunt emergesfrom below decks. 

"What did you see, niece?"

"It's the Avatar. It has to be."

They've had sightings and rumors before that didn't come to much, but... "What was it?"

"A pillar of light, shooting into the sky."

"Don't get your hopes too hung on this," she warns, "The lights out here can behave strangely, and the spirits are stranger yet. But it is worth investigating." She shakes her head. "I'll remind the helmsman about navigation concerns... And you keep an eye out for spirit activity."

(Zuko's heard - mostly from the grumblings of the sailors - a lot of stories about spirits like wisps of light leading ships astray and into more treacherous waters. No one likes being assigned to the South Pole, and not just because of the relentlessly frigid air.)

"This was more than that," she insists.

"We'll see." She - gently - clasps Zuko's shoulder.

This is a good day, maybe, so she doesn't pull away. Still doesn't lean in.

She doesn't hold her for long - she does have responsibilities here. 

They'll also need to move with as much speed as is safe to reach that point before night falls - it's too dangerous to sail in the dark here. 

Zuko will continue to stand watch.

Elsewhere, a little bit earlier...

The sun's just starting to rise - after an incredibly short night; they'll be getting to midnight sun pretty soon - and Amaruq is already dutifully packing up a canoe with a basket for fish and other supplies for a long day out on the ice. She'd laid in a lot of supplies for the village the last few days, but fish freezes well and there's a sense that she's avoiding Gran Gran after their most recent hushed argument - Amaruq is a difficult teenager, the women of the village whisper. 

Her older sister is probably the only one who'll spot more supplies than strictly necessary for a gathering and fishing trip - ones someone intending to be out longer might take along. Maybe she's going on an extended hunt, but... 

Taqqiq meets her by the canoe.

"Hey sis."

"...Hey."

"I'm heading out. ...Fishing. Aren't you busy today?"

"Fishing on top of a cliff?" She nods at the ice axes and coils of rope.

"...I want to scout good locations first. The ice floes have been shifting with it being summer and all."

"I should go with you, then. It'll be safer with two."

"I'm alright on my own. Really."

"You're going to leave me all alone here?"

"You have - responsibilities. Here. That don't involve following me everywhere."

"Nothing that can't wait while I spend some quality time with my favorite sister."

She's getting tense, almost on the verge of angry. (The same way she gets before fights with Gran Gran, but - she usually tries to avoid exploding quite as quickly at Taqqiq. (And she's trying to be quiet, right now. To not shout.))

"I'm fine, Taqqiq."

Quietly, "I don't want you to have to go alone."

"...Oh."

"...Okay."

Smile.

Tiny return smile! 

Is Taqqiq packed? Amaruq wants to get going as soon as there's enough light to navigate by...

She's got enough essentials to go with what Amaruq has.

They can get going right away, then. (Amaruq's not saying goodbye.)

Fair enough.

They've got a lot way to go, too... At least the summer means the sea is relatively free of ice. 

...Though not entirely free. But so far it's manageable; they'll just have to be careful not to get hemmed in anywhere. 

She can talk and steer/ nudge along the canoe with waterbending at the same time, at least. "I... Wasn't expecting you to come with..."

"You didn't ask."

"...I didn't want to hear the answer."

"You've got - responsibilities here." The two of them seem to be the only ones who think women can fight or hunt at all; nevermind that the only men in the village are under ten or over sixty. 

"My responsibilities to you are more important."

Tiny smile. "As my big sis?"

"Family first."

"...Thanks."

"I just - I need to get out of there." Before she does more than just scream.

"So this is an adventure without a destination?"

"North Pole, maybe - I need a teacher at this point."

"Might need a couple more fish to get that far."

"The ocean should have plenty."

"Good thing we can fish."

"One thing I'm very good at." She waves her hand over the water and a small rippling wave rises under it. 

"And for everything else, there's Boomerang."

"Planning some hunts?"

"Of course."

"We'll see what strange beasts dwell between here and the North Pole, then," she teases. 

"The other half of why I'm joining you."

"New and interesting cuisines?"

"There's got to be more to life than steamed fish and tiger seal blubber."

"Maybe we can find some actual spices..." Those are basically mythical in their village, and probably were even before trade got as bad as it is. 

"That would be incredible."

"We'll stop in a few ports on the way."

"Good plan."

Unfortunately canoes aren't set up well for shoulder bumping...

Also unfortunately, they probably need to pay attention to navigating - the ice floes are getting denser, and they've hit a pretty strong current. They'll need to be careful to not get trapped...

Yeah, this is a real maze. That will grind them into pretty pink paste if they're not careful.

Might be best to pull up on a more firm chunk, until the current works itself out... And Amaruq might be able to break up the ice? 

There's a lot of it...

Well, she can at least try. And once the current dumps them in a larger channel, the thinned out ice will disperse better. Hopefully. 

Well. They can give it a go.

There's a sturdy-looking iceberg over there, that even has a convenient point they call pull up on. 

She'll paddle in that direction, then.

They get there safely (though Amaruq has to shove away a few chunks of ice on the way). The thing they're on does feel steady, so, after a chance to catch her breath... Amaruq will start trying to break up the ice between them and their exit. 

Taqqiq will keep watch for anything unexpected cropping up.

Amaruq's having some trouble with aim. She's definitely getting the ice around them... And the ice behind them, just a little. 

As long as the ice beneath them stays okay...

Seems to be! 

...Though the ice behind them has moved from cracking to, uh, glowing. 

Uh. "Amaruq... Is that you?"

She turns to look, and reflexively takes a step away from the now glowing glacier, stopping her waterbending. "I don't think so?!"

The glacier continues to glow brighter! And now it's cracking even more loudly than it had been. Sounds like it might be about to break apart, actually. 

"We should move."

Yeah she's getting the canoe. (The rest of the water isn't much better but at least it isn't glowing.)

They don't manage to get into the canoe, though, before the top of the iceberg shatters, revealing - 

A perfect sphere of ice, and the glow is coming from a person - 

Or a person-shaped spirit, at least.

A person-shaped person, even, just before the sphere erupts in a blinding beam of light.

What the fuck!!!

She pulls her sister down to dodge any flying chunks of ice from the glowing explosion. And squeezes her eyes shut, because fuck that's bright. 

The wind mostly blows the shards up and over, and the glow doesn't last that long.

She looks up when it fades.

Blink blink.

Oh hey, people! Hello people! She waves enthusiastically.

Uh, what?

She... Waves back? "Who are you?"

"I'm Dechen!" She leaps gracefully across the remaining ice over to where Amaruq and Taqqiq are. "It's nice to meet you!"

The energy is a bit infectious. "I'm Amaruq, and this is my big sis, Taqqiq. Nice to meet you too." Pause. "So... How did you get in the iceberg?" And she takes a closer look at the girl. "...And do you want a coat?"

She's dressed in light silk robes, dyed bright orange and yellow. She also has blue arrow tattoos on her forehead and arms. "Nope! I like being able to move." She twirls demonstratively.

"Aren't you cold?"

"Nope!"

Lucky. 

"But,  anyways - how did you get in the iceberg? And what's up with the glowing - ?" The girl doesn't look like a spirit, but Amaruq's pretty sure benders don't glow, even masters...

"Oh. Uh. It's kind of a long story? And not very fun."

"Well, we're a bit stuck until this ice disperses, so we've got time."

"You're a waterbender, right? Can't you just," she makes swooshy motions with her arms, "clear it out?"

"Yeah that's what I was trying to do when I broke the glacier... I'm still learning."

"You must be pretty strong to have done that, though."

Smile! "Not much help without control..."

"This could be good practice."

"If I don't break the ice under us..."

"Someone could have seen that light, you know. We might not be alone for long."

" - Yeah. One of the other villages spotted a Fire Navy ship recently." Trade's limited nowadays, but - news spreads as best it can.

"Fire Nation?"

"Yeah - it's been a little bit since they raided us directly, and normally they'd come in the fall, but I don't really fancy them realizing there's still any waterbenders here."

"...I'd better go wake Appa up, then."

"There's someone else in there?"

"Kinda technically? Appa's a sky bisoncat."

" - A what?"

"A sky bisoncat. I guess you probably don't have those here."

"Nope!"

"You're in for a treat. Be right back." She hops over to whence she came.

Appa grumbles and tucks their nose under two of their front legs.

Poke. Pokepoke. Pokepokepooooooke.

Grumble groan.

"Appa come on we have to go before the Fire Nation gets here." Again.

One large eye slides open with a much angrier groan.

"Aaaappppppaaaaa...."

They grumble and slowly clamber to their feet, and then streeeeetchhhhh - 

Yes! Here we go.

She doesn't exactly hop energetically into the air - she's tired, alright - but she will lumber up.

Amaruq, meanwhile, has clambered over the rim of ice to look down into the crater, possibly spoiling any planned reveal. "Woah," she says, examining the sky bisoncat with clear surprise (and interest). "It can swim?"

"If they feel like it!"

Huh. Sky bisoncat. That's. Yep, that's what this animal is. No other word for it, really.

"The ice's dispersed enough that it shouldn't be a problem for something that size." Just for their little canoe.

"How about it, Appa?"

Mrow! (That's probably a 'yes.')

"Great! We should go pick up their stuff first..."

Their stuff is still all in the canoe, which is really light and designed to be picked up and carried around. It'll be easy enough to get the whole thing on Appa's saddle. 

And enough room for everyone to sit, still!

Appa's pretty big. 

That's how sky bisoncats are.

"Do they get bigger?"

"Not much. Appa's pretty near full-grown."

"Neat."

"What makes it a sky bisoncat," Taqqiq wonders.

"Good question." She gives Dechen a curious look. 

"You might want to hold on to something..."

She'll grab the saddle? 

Taqqiq has a sudden bad feeling.

"Appa, yip yip!"

Appa flaps their tail - and then with a rumble, almost a roar - they leap, pushing off with all their legs at once - and the ice falls away below them as they take flight. 

Whoa!

Whoa!!

Dechen loves this part!

She can see why!!!

Amaruq leans over the side to watch the ocean fall away below them. 

"Okay, question answered. Can we go back down now please."

"But this is fun! And fast!" Amaruq twists around to grin at her sister. "You know, we'd make it to the North Pole much faster if we flew the whole way."

"Human beings were not designed to fly through the air."

"Sky bisoncats are, though."

Taqqiq has Doubts about the veracity of that statement.

"Flying being an abomination of nature is half the fun!"

"What's wrong with paddling? Paddling is perfectly reliable. Time-tested. Predictable."

"Slow and boring."

"There's nothing wrong with that!"

Dechen giggles. "And Appa hasn't even shown off their loops yet!"

Interested noise! 

"I think we should tie the canoe down more securely before we do any loops." And maybe also the Taqqiq. She maybe be Boomerang Girl, but she's not a boomerang girl. If she falls off the bisoncat, she's not coming back.

"We can wait until you and the canoe are safely on land, even," she teases.

"That would be nice."

"Never say I don't look out for my big sis."

"Uh huh."

She laughs. And to Dechen: "Where were you going originally?"

"Oh.. I was- looking for a... waterbending teacher."

"You're a waterbender?"

"Sort of."

"You don't look much like a waterbender."

"How can you be 'sort of' a waterbender?"

"Well, actually...."

"I'm the Avatar."

" - What, really?"

"Mhm," she nods. "I already mastered airbending, that's why I have the tattoos. Next is supposed to be water."

"Can you prove it?" Also she wants to see airbending.

"Which part?"

"The all of it."

"I can do some airbending for you, at least. Watch this." She holds her hands out one above the other like she's holding something invisible, then starts wiggling them in small circles going opposed directions. A faintly-visible globe of moving air begins to condense between them, whistling softly. Once it coalesces fully, Dechen changes the pattern slightly and the whistle begins to play a tune.

Cool!!!

What happens if she sticks her hand into the spinny ball?

It feels like it's trying to get blown off her wrist. Also the music is disrupted.

Awww...

She pulls her hand back out.

It takes Dechen a little bit to get the song back in tune.

It's a good song!

Thanks!

But... If Dechen's looking for a waterbending master - so's Amaruq. There's no one else left in the South, but the Northern Water Tribe's supposed to still be going strong. They can look for a teacher together!

Yeah! It'll be an adventure.

Great! This'll be so much faster than paddling.

Guess that means she'll have to get used to the sky bisoncat.

It's a giant sweetheart. Amaruq can tell this sort of thing. 

Yeah, yeah. She just... needs some time to get used to it.

She'll get there eventually.

Appa's very lovable. Dechen's not worried.

Appa's already taken over Amaruq's heart.

Giggle!

She leans over the side of the saddle to pet the fluff.

Pleased mrrr!

This is going to be great.

Yeah, it will. 

Meanwhile, the Wani continues its course to the beam Zuko saw.

Her single minded intensity is possibly the only reason she spots an odd creature - definitely not native to the area - lifting off from the area around the base of the beam, climbing up into the sky. 

...Wasn't the Avatar supposed to have some sort of flying steed? A tigeryak eagle, or some such.

She wants to follow it.

Keeping up with a flying creature like that will be difficult, and they'll have to keep an eye on the engines - but it should be possible to get at least a heading.

They'll have to land at some point.

Information on the flying animals of the Airbenders is scarce, though - they're not entirely sure how far the creature can go without a break. But at it's size - it's unlikely to be far.

They have charts. They can check for likely islands.

And if nothing else, they know roughly how far humans can travel without needing to get off their mount.

So that defines a search radius.

And a good lookout on the highest tower could track them fairly far.

Then they need to get someone up there.

Iroh can go, if Zuko trusts these old eyes.

Yeah. That'll work.

She'll keep a good eye on their target, then.

"...Thank you, Aunt."

"It's my pleasure, niece."

Tiny smile.

Bigger return smile! 

Maybe her luck is finally turning around.

Her Aunt will help her, either way. 

Mm.

And she heads off. 

Zuko will go get the maps.

Her second in command has already pulled the relevant ones together for her, and is reviewing nearby islands with a navigator. 

Still, she wants to see for herself.

"Yes, ma'am." She steps away so Zuko can take her place.

Zuko nods in acknowledgement.

They don't actually have the South Pole that well mapped - for one thing, a lot of islands are actually floating glaciers and tend to move around - but they've got the nonfrozen parts nearby, and if they assume the Avatar isn't going to be taking breaks on an ice field there's only so many landmasses in range, though exact range depends on how fast the mount can fly and the prevailing winds. 

Which are things they'll hopefully learn over the course of the chase.

Good.

Then for now, they should focus on keeping up.

Her lieutenant has gone to ensure exactly that. (She runs an exceptionally tight ship; impressive, given Zuko's crew are mostly sailors on punishment duty, or ones who fell out of favor with the Fire Lord or his admirals for other reasons.)

Zuko will admit to herself that she would be in a much worse position if not for the lieutenant. There should be more officers like her, she thinks. The Fire Nation would be better for it. Zuko is an exile, and she still does her job.

It's not a relationship that admits of closeness. Which is fine.

Part of the problem is maybe that doing her job is how she ended up here.

Zuko doesn't exactly have access to personnel records.

It could maybe be guessed from how others speak of her, but the crew aren't exactly eager to gossip around Zuko either. 

Still, right now - she's doing her job. 

That's all she asks.

Meanwhile: "We've got a problem."

"What kind of problem?"

She points behind and below them! "Fire Navy kind of problem."

"The bad kind. Okay. We'll have to shake them."

Good thing she has two Water Tribe members with her. Amaruq knows this area better than nearly anyone. 

And Taqqiq is her competition.

Though it'll still take some determined flying to get out of sight. 

That's Dechen's area of expertise. And Appa is fast and strong.

And there's a strong fog rolling in over the ice as the sun begins to slowly and ponderously set. 

Good camouflage. She'll make sure it closes up smoothly behind them.

It cooperates! (For now at least.)

"Bad luck for them to have been so close." At least they're headed away from the village.

"They might be working up to more raids..." Firebenders are strongest in summer, but apparently really, really don't like the midnight sun, so tend to hit in either spring or fall.

"I hope not."

"...They'll be less likely to go after the village without me there."

"Hopefully, yeah."

"...The Fire Nation is targeting waterbenders?"

"...Yes? If you're an airbender - and the Avatar - you should. Like. Know that."

"They weren't. Last I knew."

"...How long were you in that iceberg?"

"Uhhh..."

"What year is it?"

"Like, a hundred AG I think? Something like that." Amaruq doesn't actually keep close track of official calendars.

"I think a long time, then."

" - No one's seen the Avatar in more than a hundred years. I'd thought maybe it just cycled around again somehow, but - "

"You're the one from back then, aren't you? The one that vanished."

"That's me," Dechen says with a half-hearted smile.

Okay Amaruq is not the one who's good at social here and the Avatar apparently doesn't know about all the genocide. Including of her own people.

She sends Taqqiq a 'help???' look.

"So there's kind of a lot of history you missed out on."

"Things didn't get better, did they."

"...Not really."

"They got... A lot worse."

Sad.

"Do you want to wait until we land to hear about it?"

...Yes, that thing. She wants that.

Dechen nods.

Yeah. Probably a good idea. 

They'll continue onwards, then.

Meanwhile: "I've lost sight of them - helmsman! Take caution with this fog - !"

They don't have time to be cautious, they're going to lose them-

Zuko heads to the prow and starts punching fire to try burning off the fog.

It's not very effective. 

"Niece," her aunt says, warningly, "Impatience will not help."

She stops.

"Neither will anything else, apparently."

"We have a heading now. That's more than anyone's been able to say for a hundred years."

"It's not enough."

She touches Zuko's arm softly. "Niece... Let's let our men do their part of the search. You and I can work on your form."

She doesn't want to train, she wants to capture the Avatar. So she can go home.

"Fine."

Training is, at least, unlikely to hurt that goal (and might tire her niece out enough that she'll listen to Iroh more).

It usually does put her in a better mood, yes. Even if she can't land a hit on Iroh more than three tries in ten, when her aunt takes Zuko seriously.

Even three times in ten is a very good start (and better than just about anyone but the masters, Iroh doesn't say) - though Iroh's job as her teacher won't be done until it's ten in ten.

That's a ways off.

Closer than she might think.

Maybe.

Iroh will work on bringing it even closer.

"Thank you, Aunt."

"My pleasure, niece."

Another round?

Iroh's up for a few more, even.

Good.

They'll see what tune Zuko is singing when Iroh has finished working her into exhaustion. 

Won't be singing at all. She usually doesn't.

One of these days. 

Not happening.

She says that now, but...

But she will also say it later, yes.

They'll see. 

They will.

Which is when a call from the lookout comes - they've caught up to their target. 

Finally.

Zuko hurries up to see.

The sky bisoncat ended up having to land and take shelter - snow isn't falling yet, but there's heavy clouds building up overhead, with the threat of high winds. The thick fog meant neither party saw the other until they were nearly adjacent, too, so the ship is very nearly in firing range of the Avatar's party. 

Zuko will lead a shore party. Stay quiet until the signal is given.

A plan that's somewhat interrupted by one of the teenagers spotting her ship. "Fire Navy!" Amaruq calls. 

Oh no.

Charge!

She tries to hit them with waves of ice! ...This is pretty enthusiastic as an attack, but not the best aimed. 

Zuko's got enough strength as a firebender to counter the bits that are a danger to her, at least.

And her troops are drilled for exactly this - multiple blasts of fire at once can match even the best firebender's raw power. 

Though they might have trouble matching Iroh's finesse - she keeps the ice away from their troops with flicks of her hand, though she doesn't go on the offensive just yet, instead looking over their opponents with her brow furrowed.

Oh shit oh shit oh shit, what do they do what do they do-

Air blast!

"Avatar!" Zuko shouts, picking herself back up.

Probably they should get on the bisoncat! - Though Amaruq needs to stay on the ice to keep using her waterbending. "Fuck off!"

"Back off, waterbender. I'm not here for you."

"You're the one chasing us!"

"Not you. Her."

"I'm not going to let you bastards kill her too!" 

"That's not what I'm going to do."

"You're fucking Fire Nation! You really expect me to believe Fire Lord Genocidal Dickhead doesn't want the Avatar dead?!"

Okay, enough talking. That never works anyway.

All right nope nope nope that's an angry firebender right there. Not good. Dechen flips over to deflect the fire with a wind shield. "Amaruq, run!"

-Wow, that's actually a nasty burn scar for a firebender. Wonder what happened there.

"You guys get on Appa!" she shouts back, throwing ever larger and more forceful spears and walls of ice at the firebenders - finally overwhelming a handful of the common soldiers. There's massive cracks in the ice spreading from under her feet, too, and the fire is only making those worse - 

- Especially near the firebenders themselves. 

"Watch your footing!" Iroh shouts, as the ice begins to creak. 

No, no- not when she's so close-

"Niece, get back - !" Iroh gestures for the troops to retreat to the ship as she nimbly leaps over to Zuko - grabbing her just as the ice under them starts to break. 

The ice under the waterbender isn't faring much better!

She's got her own agile savior though, no need to worry.

And Appa's more than ready to take off as soon as everyone's aboard! 

Let's get out of here.

Iroh seems to feel the same, at least as far as getting back to the ship and off the crumbling glacier goes. 

She was so close, though.

"It's not worth your life, niece."

That doesn't sound true.

- She's going to nudge them out of view of the sailors for this conversation (after organizing pursuit, of course, but they'd already lost the Avatar in the fog by the time everyone made it back to the ship safely; there's little chance they'll catch up like this).

"Returning home won't mean anything if you only return to a pyre," she says, quietly. 

"That won't be less than what meaning I have now."

"It would be. Niece - "

If Zuko dies, Iroh's marching into Caldera City to kill the Fire Lord with her own hands, and damn the consequences.

"You matter to me, and I can't sit back and watch you die."

"Then I need to get stronger."

"You need to take care of your own life, too."

"Getting stronger will help me do that."

A bit wryly: "Strength can't substitute for wisdom."

That seems like a non sequitar to Zuko.

She pokes her niece. "Strength won't help you if you don't know when to use it, or when to retreat."

Mrrrrr.

Softly: "You should have retreated on your own from that, niece."

"I almost had her."

"Knowing when it's worth it to press on is part of wisdom. It wasn't worth it then; her position was strong, and she was already close to her mount."

"Teach me wisdom, then."

"I will."

Hm. All right.

"To start..." She hums. "We can talk about that fight in detail."

"Debrief. Okay."

They can sit down over a nice cup of tea, how about?

Always with the tea...

It's good for you! And a nice, revitalizing cup of black tea helps jump start the brain.

Zuko doesn't like the taste. Or the way it makes it her feel like she has to get up and run around.

Well, surely as she acquires wisdom she'll come to appreciate it.

Honestly not sure if that's worth the price.

Brat.

She's well within her rights to not enjoy the hot leaf juice.

Iroh clearly hasn't educated her properly then.

Apparently.

She'll work on it over time. 

Fiiine.

But first: debriefing.

Right.

Well, at least she doesn't have to drink the tea if she's talking.