The Lost Scrolls: Water (Avatar: The Last Airbender) Read online

  I was sure we’d find a master here to teach us.

  Chief Arnook, leader of the Northern Water Tribe,

  threw a big celebration in our honor that night.

  “Tonight we welcome our brother and sister from

  the Southern Tribe,” the chief announced. “And they

  have brought with them the Avatar.”

  Everyone cheered. I waved and bowed, but I felt

  kind of silly doing it. After all, I still had a lot to

  learn about being the Avatar. We also met the chief’s

  daughter, Princess Yue. Sokka liked her—a lot!

  The chief then introduced me to Master Pakku,

  a great Waterbender who would become our teacher.

  Early the next morning Katara and I headed for

  Master Pakku’s training field.

  “I’ve been waiting for this day my whole life!”

  Katara said.

  I was excited too, though I could have used a few

  more hours of sleep! But when we arrived at Master

  Pakku’s the next morning, I got the shock of my life.

  “Here in the north, it is forbidden for women to

  learn Waterbending,” he announced. “Women learn

  from Yagoda how to use their Waterbending for

  healing purposes, not for battling.”

  Katara was upset, and I was really annoyed. This

  wasn’t fair! If Master Pakku wasn’t going to teach

  Katara, then he wouldn’t teach me either. I was ready

  to walk away and forget the whole thing. But Katara

  was wonderful, as usual. She reminded me how

  important it was for me to learn Waterbending so I

  could save the world. It’s just like her to think first

  about what’s best for everyone else, even when her

  own heart was breaking. She’s the sweetest girl I’ve

  ever met!

  Anyway, I agreed to start my training, and boy,

  was Master Pakku a tough teacher. I tried really hard

  to do what he said, but he was always criticizing me.

  That night Sokka asked me how Waterbending

  training was going. I was still really upset about

  what Master Pakku did to Katara. Sokka suggested

  that I teach Katara what I learn from Master Pakku,

  which was a brilliant idea! At least I thought it was,

  until Master Pakku caught me doing it. He said

  I disrespected him and was no longer welcome as his

  student.

  Well, Katara went straight to Chief Arnook, who

  said Master Pakku might take me back if Katara

  apologized to him. So she went to see him. Like I said,

  she is the sweetest girl. To go to all that trouble for

  me! But then Master Pakku called her a little girl, so

  she challenged him to a battle! When Katara believes

  in something, there’s no stopping her!

  Turns out that Master Pakku was very impressed

  with her fighting skills. And get this: Once long ago,

  he was in love with her grandmother! Master Pakku

  finally agreed to train Katara, and we were able to

  study together—just what I wanted.

  Right when I was about as happy as I could ever

  remember, the Fire Nation attacked the Northern

  Water Tribe! I hadn’t been there to help when the Fire

  Nation attacked my people, but this time I vowed to

  stop the Fire Nation!

  They launched flaming boulders at the Northern

  Water Tribe’s outer walls. I leaped onto Appa, and we

  flew down to their ship. I destroyed their catapults

  one by one and stopped their boulders. Even Appa

  helped!

  By the time I returned to my friends, I was

  exhausted.

  “I must have destroyed a dozen Fire Nation ships,”

  I told them. “But there’s just too many. I can’t fight

  them all!”

  “You can do a lot more than fight, Aang,” Katara

  said. She always believes in me, even when I don’t believe

  in myself. And she makes me feel like I’m special, not

  because I’m the Avatar, but just because I’m Aang.

  Princess Yue told me that the Waterbenders get

  their strength from the moon and the ocean. I thought

  that if I could contact the Moon and Ocean Spirits,

  they might be able to help us.

  Princess Yue took Katara and me to the water

  oasis, the center of all spiritual energy in their land.

  I sat quietly and meditated in front of a koi pond,

  trying my best to reach the spirit world. In the pond

  a black fish and a white fish circled each other, again

  and again. I focused on the two fish, concentrating

  on trying to get into the spirit world.

  After a few moments my tattoos began glowing,

  and I felt the weird sliding sensation that I always

  felt before crossing over. The spirit world looked

  like a creepy jungle, which I slowly moved through.

  Looking down into a pond, I was shocked to see not

  my own face, but the face of Avatar Roku, who was

  the Avatar before me. I asked him where I could find

  the Ocean and Moon Spirits.

  “The ocean and moon are ancient spirits,” Avatar

  Roku told me. “Long ago they crossed over into

  the mortal world,

  taking

  mortal

  forms. You must

  speak

  with

  the

  ancient spirit, Koh.

  He can help you.”

  This Koh guy

  was really weird and

  dangerous.

  Avatar

  Roku told me that if

  I showed any emotion,

  Koh would steal my

  face! I like my face. I’d

  like to keep it around

  for a while, so I was very

  careful. Koh told me that the Moon and Ocean Spirits

  were actually the black-and-white koi from the pond,

  and that someone was trying to kill them. I had to

  stop that from happening.

  I returned from the spirit world only to discover

  that my body had been taken by Prince Zuko. But

  Katara and Sokka showed up on Appa and rescued

  me. I don’t know where I’d be without them. They

  put themselves in danger for me, and I know I’ll never

  reach my full potential as the Avatar without their

  help. And they’re pretty good in a fight, too! Katara

  has really become an amazing Waterbender, and she

  kicked Zuko’s butt and knocked him out!

  I knew that Zuko would die if we left him as he was,

  but even Prince Zuko doesn’t deserve that. So we put him

  on Appa and took him with us. Then we hurried back

  to the oasis. There, a Fire Nation admi
ral named Zhao

  had stolen the white koi—the Moon Spirit. The moon

  burned a dark red and the Waterbenders grew weak.

  “Destroying the moon won’t just hurt the Water

  Tribes, Zhao!” I argued. “It will hurt everyone, even

  you. Without the moon, everything will fall out of

  balance.” Even Zuko’s uncle, Iroh, agreed with me.

  I guess sometimes I can show wisdom as the Avatar.

  But Zhao turned around and shot a fireball into

  the pond anyway, destroying the fish! At that moment

  the moon vanished completely from the sky!

  A great anger rose within me. I was not going to let

  the Fire Nation win! I was not going to let the world

  end this way! I waded out into the pond, focusing all

  my energy on the black fish that swam in a lonely

  circle by itself. My eyes and tattoos began to glow,

  and I felt myself slip into the Avatar state.

  I touched the black koi—the Ocean Spirit—and

  merged with it to form the Ocean Spirit Monster. We

  became one being, made of water and light, built from

  the anger of the ocean in physical form. Because I was

  in the Avatar state, I could control the movements

  of the Ocean Spirit Monster, and together we were

  unstoppable! We used Waterbending to create huge

  tidal waves, which wiped out the Fire Nation’s ships.

  I came back to the oasis and fell out of the Avatar

  state. The black koi shrank to its normal size and

  returned to the pond.

  Then a really sad thing happened.

  Princess Yue gave life back the Moon Spirit. Yue

  was born sick, and the Moon Spirit had given her life.

  Now that the Moon Spirit was sick, Yue decided to

  give her life back to the moon. After touching the

  dead white koi, Yue floated into the sky, and the moon

  returned to its place among the stars. The white koi

  came back to life too, joining the black koi in their

  endless circle. But Princess Yue was gone.

  Chief Arnook was proud of the princess, but also

  sad. Sokka was sad too. I was glad that I was able to

  help save the Northern Water Tribe. And I was very

  thankful for my two great friends, Sokka and Katara.

  Wherever my travels would now take me, I was really

  glad that they’d be by my side.

  Especially Katara!

  Originally the southern

  and northern tribes

  lived as one at the

  North Pole. Following

  civil unrest, a group of

  warriors, Waterbenders,

  and healers left to start a new

  tribe at the South Pole. From that time on, the two

  tribes evolved very differently. Before the Fire Nation

  War, the Southern Water Tribe lived in a beautiful,

  bustling city built out of the ice by Waterbenders.

  It was destroyed by the war, and since so many

  Waterbenders died fighting, the art of Waterbending

  practically

  disappeared

  because

  there were no trainers left. The

  Southern Water Tribe split

  into smaller groups and

  scattered across the South

  Pole, building simple sealskin

  tents or igloos made of ice to

  live in.

  The larger Northern Water Tribe lives

  in one enormous city of ice, built by Waterbenders.

  Here is more information that I culled while

  living with the Water Tribes of the North and

  South Poles.

  Several miles wide, the Northern Water Tribe was

  built on the shores of the North Sea at the North Pole.

  Surrounded by ice cliffs and a giant frozen tundra, the

  city sits in a horseshoe-shaped cove beneath towering

  white cliffs and is dominated by large temples. It has

  a huge, multilevel structure built into the landscape.

  To gain entry to the great city, a group of

  Waterbenders must Waterbend in group formation,

  which opens a curved gateway, allowing visitors to

  float into the city in boats. Once inside, the vessels

  must pass through a series of locks. The Waterbenders

  fill each lock with water, which raises the level of the

  boats. Then they bend the water out of the locks,

  which lowers the crafts to the level of the city.

  The city itself is connected by a series of canals.

  They serve as the city’s “roads.” In addition to its

  elaborate canal system, the Northern Water Tribe’s

  city is filled with beautiful fountains and waterfalls.

  In the center of the city, a long set of white stairs,

  with towering waterfalls on either side, leads up to

  the temple and the Waterbending training grounds.

  The highest structure is the chief’s temple, which

  stands like a monument representing strength and

  power. Within its hallowed halls the chief and his

  chieftains make important decisions about the tribe.

  CUSTOMS AND CULTURE

  The Water Tribes follow different customs,

  traditions, and rules. The people of the larger northern

  tribe have a greater sense of culture than their brothers

  and sisters from the South Pole, but along with

  their larger city and longer cultural history come a

  stricter lifestyle and a greater sense of conformity.

  Members of Water Tribes participate in coming-of-

  age rituals. When girls in the Northern Water Tribe

  reach the age of sixteen, they already have arranged

  marriages to boys. The match and ceremony are

  arranged by their parents, after which the groom-

  to-be gives his future bride a betrothal necklace.

  As you already know, when boys in the Southern

  Water Tribe reach the age of fourteen, they participate

  in the rite of passage known as ice dodging. In

  the Northern Water Tribe, only boys and men

  can train to be Waterbenders. Girls and women

  who have Waterbending abilities are taught to use

  their skills only for healing, never for fighting.

  Although the members of the Southern Water

  Tribe live a more simple kind of life, they tend

  to be more open-minded. They allow girls and

  women to train as Waterbenders and do not

  force girls to enter into arranged

  marriages at the age of sixteen, like

  they do in the north. They

  are free to marry whomever

  they choose.

  AND SO AS I WRITE

  my closing and then seal this scroll, the Fire Nation

  War rages on. The Northern Water Tribe has just

  survived a
massive attack by the Fire Nation’s

  fleet, thanks to the Avatar and the Ocean Spirit.

  Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation is

  considered an outcast by his father, the Fire

  lord. He is continuing his quest to find the

  Avatar, traveling not on a powerful Fire

  Nation ship, but on a small wooden raft.

  Master Pakku, the Waterbending master

  of the northern kingdom, along with other

  Waterbenders, has set out for the South Pole. They

  hope to help rebuild the Southern Water Tribe.

  Aang will now learn Waterbending from

  Katara, who is on her way to becoming a

  Waterbending master. Sokka, Katara, and Aang

  have set off on Appa to journey to the Earth

  Kingdom. There, Aang hopes to find a master

  to teach him Earthbending as he continues his

  journey to fulfill his destiny as the Avatar.

  Now you know all that I can tell you so far.

  Please show this only to those whom you would

  trust with your life. I must ask you to keep these

  sacred scrolls safe and hidden from prying eyes. The

  knowledge you have gained is a powerful tool, and

  the fate of four nations now depends on you. . . .