31 The Southern Water Tribe

Xiao opened the door to his tiny cabin that the merchants rented to him for the journey, only to be met with a familiar biting cold that immediately sent shivers down his spine.

In response to it, Xiao simply circulated his energy throughout his body like he did in the North, and immediately warmed up.

'Master once told me that the nation to suffer most over this hundred year war besides the air temples was the Southern Water Tribe. I'll keep my identity under wraps for now then.' Xiao thought, donning a black and violet checkered kimono he had tailored in the Earth Kingdom on the way here.

He walked up to the railing on the side of the ship and looked towards the once powerful Southern Water Tribe.

Compared to the pictures he'd seen in the history books his master had shown him, the sight was depressing.

It consisted of a circular wall made out of snow with a few towers lining the edges. It looked to have been constructed by a child, like it could collapse at any moment.

Xiao sighed when he saw what was inside the wall. A small village containing maybe ten thatch huts. A few small fires were scattered around, but overall it looked like an encampment more than a village.

It was nothing when compared to the Northern Water Tribe.

"Thanks for bringing me here." Xiao said, smiling to the captain. The man smirked. "No problem kid. You sure you don't want to just stay with us? We could use your protection during our travels." He asked hopefully.

Xiao sighed. During the trip they were attacked by a few bandits and pirates, but they were easily taken care of by him.

"No, sorry. I have things to do so I can't continue to sail with you guys." He said apologetically. The captain smiled, shaking his head.

"It's fine. Thanks for your help anyway. If you ever need help, just ask. I'll see if I can do anything." He said. Xiao nodded and thanked him once more, before leaping from the ship and setting foot on the ice and snow of the Southern Water Tribe.

'I guess you could say I've traveled the world now…' he thought with a small smile, before setting off towards the village entrance, which was simply a gap in the wall.

He entered the village, and received stares from the occupants almost immediately.

'Odd… It's mostly elderly, women, and children here… I guess all the men went off to war…' he thought to himself, taking in the curious gazes of the onlookers.

Soon, he was approached by a guy around his own age carrying a iron boomerang accompanied by an extremely old woman.

The boy wore thick animal furs and had a complexion unique to the water tribes, with blue eyes and tanned skin. He also had a small ponytail that his black hair was tied up in. The sides and back of his head were shaved.

"Who are you? Why are you in our village?" The young man asked, his eyes narrowedas he stepped forward. The old woman put a hand on his shoulder and he backed up a bit, but Xiao could tell he was suspicious.

Xiao smiled. "Hello. My name is Xiao. I have travelled the world and this is one of my last destinations.I am supposed to wait for someone here, so until then I hope you can let me stay." He replied calmly.

The boy still seemed suspicious but the old woman nodded. "Very well. However, if you cause trouble here we will have to ask you to leave. And we will have to have Sokka here watch you. Is this fine?" She asked, her voice slow and creaky, much like an old ship in need of repair.

Xiao nodded his head. "That is fine. Thank you for allowing me to stay." He replied to her. The old woman nodded.

"Sokka, show him to where he will be staying." She ordered the young man next to her. He nodded and beckoned for Xiao to follow.

"Just to be clear, I don't trust outsiders." The newly named Sokka said over his shoulder as Xiao followed him.

"I understand. I swear to not cause trouble." Xiao's replied easily. He didn't plan on it either. There was no be if it for him to do so, especially in such a small and quaint village.

Eventually they reached a shack that was slightly larger than the others. 'He must be related to the chief in some way.' Xiao thought upon seeing it.

Sokka swept aside an animal skin, allowing Xiao to enter. Inside, on the walls held various tools meant for crafting, and in the center there was a small pit for building a fire. On the far side, there were two mats with various. Furs covering them.

Sokka went to the side and grabbed an animal fur. He set it down near the entrance to the tent, far away from the other two beds.

"You'll sleep here." He said. Xiao nodded.

Then, Sokka went to leave.

"Where are you going?" Xiao asked as he left.

"I promised my sister that we'd go fishing today." He replied.

Xiao smiled. "Can I come? It's been a while since I last did some fishing." He asked.

Sokka looked at him skeptically before sighing and nodding his head. "Why not? I don't see a problem with it." He muttered, gesturing for Xiao to follow.

"Just so you know, my sister is a freak. Be careful around her." Sokka said as they made their way towards the docks.

'What does that mean?' Xiao thought, tilting his head. When they reached the docks, a girl was sitting there, gazing out at the water.

"Hey Katara!" Sokka called out.

The girl turned around and saw Xiao. "Who is that?" She asked, pointing at him.

Sokka dragged his palm down his face. "This is Xiao. He's a traveler and apparently he is going to wait in our village for someone." Sokka replied, taking a side glance at Xiao.

Katara's gaze shifted from Sokka to Xiao. "Who are you waiting for?" She asked curiously.

"My master." Xiao replied. Katara's eyes widened slightly, and a hint of hope flashed in her eyes.

"Are you a bender?" She asked. Xiao nodded.

"Then can you te-" before Katara could finish her sentence her mouth was covered by Sokka. "Sorry about that, my sister is a little weird. I didn't know you were a bender…"

Sokka spoke quickly, however when he spoke of Xiao's bending his voice became doubtful.

"Yes, I am a bender." Xiao replied. He decided against telling them what element it was he had control over, for obvious reasons.

"I see…" Sokka muttered. Eventually he shrugged and jumped into the boat, followed by Katara and finally Xiao.

"Could you push off the dock? Also I may need your help moving this thing." Sokka asked Xiao.

Xiao nodded and shoved off the dock. The boat skimmed over the ocean's surface, and Sokka gave Xiao a paddle.

They both started rowing out to sea, many chunks of ice were surrounding them so they pushed off them to avoid crashing.

Finally they stopped amongst the ice and Sokka took out a small string with a hook attached and set a small chunk of meat onto the hook, before lowering it in the water.

Xiao did the same and they started fishing. Katara simply sat there, feeing bored. She had wanted to practice water bending, but with this outsider here that wasn't an option.

Together, Sokka and Xiao caught quite a few fish.

"You're quite good at this!" Sokka commented as Xiao pulled up yet another fish.

"Really? I guess I have practice doing it after spending a year in the Northern Water Tribe." Xiao said, rubbing the back of his neck with a smile on his face.

"Wait, you've been to the Northern Water Tribe? What's it like? Are there water benders there?" Katara asked, causing Xiao to swear a little.

'She seems excited…' he thought.

"The Northern Water Tribe is massive, and probably just as cold as here. It has a sprawling city and a massive palace surrounded by a gigantic wall of ice. As for if they have water benders or not, if course they do! I actually befriended many of them while I stayed there!" Xiao said.

Katara soaked up all this knowledge intently while Sokka continued fishing, as if ignoring the two. However Xiao could tell he was listening because he got a few fish to bite without reeling them in.

They talk for a while, and the sun reached the apex of its journey through the sky.

"Alright, I think we should head back." Sokka said, gazing at their large haul of fish.

Xiao nodded and went to grab his paddle, only to realize something.

"Hey, aren't we drifting a bit two fast?" He asked, noticing the water flowing a little too quickly and roughly underneath them.

"Now that you mention it…" Katara muttered, gazing at the water.

"Paddle for your lives!" Sokka yelled, before starting to paddle desperately against the water, followed by Xiao. However their efforts seemed to be in vain, as they made no progress.

The ship started crashing. Into chunks of ice. "Just try to steer the ship away from the ice! Don't worry about escaping now!" Xiao shouted over the roaring rapids. Sokka nodded and they started keeping the boat from crashing into any more ice while Katara tried, and failed miserably to, give them directions.

"Right! No wait left! No wait right!" She continuously changed her mind, causing both Sokka and Xiao to become frustrated.

"Just shut up already!" Sokka shouted angrily. However he was distracted for a moment missed an ice chunk. The boat, which was moving quite fast at this point, crashed and the three flew in the air, before landing roughly on a flat piece of ice.

"Dammit Katara!" Sokka shouted. "This is all your fault!" He said angrily.

The two siblings started arguing, like siblings do, so Xiao just ignored them and looked around.

'We should be able to go back the way we came if we simply go west from where we are now…' he mused.

Suddenly, he was knocked from his thoughts when a loud crack sounded. He whipped around to see Katara yelling at Sokka.

"I've done all the work around here! While you've just been playing soldier! So don't you dare say that this is my fault! You know what? We're so different, I'm surprised I'm even related to you!" Katara shouted, and to Xiao's utmost surprise, each sentence's ending was punctuated by her swinging her arms backwards aggressively, causing massive cracks in the giant iceberg behind them to appear.

"Uh… Katara…" Zuko muttered fearfully. But it was too late, the iceberg crashed downwards, causing the ice they were all standing on to almost flip and knocking Xiao off of it in the process.

'She's a water bender? But didn't they all die during that raid?' He wondered, confused as he fell into the water.

'Damn this is cold!' He exclaimed, his eyes shooting open allowing the freezing salt water to flow into his eye sockets.

'It burns!' He exclaimed, holding his eyes. Xiao immediately started circulating energy and swam up to the surface, using his combustion bending to propel himself upwards.

Because of this, his shoes were destroyed so he was now bare foot.

"Dammit you two! Why'd you have to start fighting like that! I could have drowned!" Xiao shouted as he clawed his way onto a piece of ice, the water on him turning to steam because of the heat.

He rubbed his eyes for a moment.

However, just as he opened them a blinding light shot into the sky, causing him to shut them once more and cry out in pain.

'Why me…' he whined internally.

——————

{A/N}

Long Chapter.

Just to be clear, I am aware that this is slightly off canon. A lot of things will be since Xiao is here.

I hope you like the Xiao/Katara/Sokka dynamic, I think I wrote it quite well.

Next chapter Aang will finally make his debut! Be prepared I guess.

Third chapter today. I don't think I can keep up this pace. Some days I'll post 1-3 chapters, and others I'll post none. Depends on my mood really.

Although I intend on posting at least a chapter a day, so don't worry too much.

Anyways,

See you next chapter.