35 Northern Water Tribe

"B-boss, please calm down!" said Kaliya who was already in a panic as she started sweating.

"M-Mr. Uchiha, please calm down!" Shouted Lei, sweating like a pig as the temperature kept rising.

"You are telling me, that some dimwit idiot from the Northern Water Tribe, and a member of your own family… Gave you all of those scars and caused you to lose an eye?!" Madara was livid.

"I-it was an accident! W-we were fighting at night and we weren't paying attention… it was a full moon, and… in the end, he felt so much guilt that he himself aided me to escape the tribe…" she touched her eyepatch and lowered her head in shame.

Madara was still fuming but managed to calm down, though his sharingan was still on.

"Name."

"B-boss, he is my uncle, p-please don't do anything rash..." she pleaded weakly.

"NAME!" he shouted in anger.

She lowered her head and clenched her fists feeling powerless. "P-Pakku…"

The name echoed in Madara's ears and his sharingan started to spin faster.

'This fucking bastard…. I already disliked him for his behavior in the series… and now I discover that before Katara there was another one who suffered even more… and this one is someone that I cherish…. Oh… Iroh… you will have to find another waterbender for your White Lotus… this one won't be able to bend even his own back when I'm done with him!'

Madara took a deep breath, calmed himself a bit, and walked away from the pilot's cabin towards his own room and wasn't seen for the rest of the trip.

Kaliya stood beside Lei, looking at the closed metal door in silence.

"I hope Mr. Uchiha calms down… We should be reaching the Northern Water Tribe in 20 hours." Said Lei while wiping his forehead and neck with a handkerchief.

Kaliya felt incredibly torn right now, on one hand, Madara was pissed and angry because of what happened to her… on the other hand… it was her own uncle and the last living member of her family outside of herself.

"I-I hope that Boss calms down..." she said as she sat down in a corner and lowered her head.

The rest of the trip felt agonizing, it was a heavy oppressing atmosphere that accentuated the silence even more, almost to the point of making it... suffocating.

The next day Lei rang a bell which echoed throughout the whole airship, indicating that the Northern Water Tribe was already in sight and they should be landing in a few minutes.

Madara finally showed up with a calm and serene expression, but his sharingan was always on and it made them believe that for the past 20 hours he didn't deactivate it.

------------------------------

It was noon, the sun today was shining bright in the sky, very few clouds could be seen and if this was any other place in the world, one would be able to hear birds chirping.

The capital of the Northern Water Tribe, also known as Agna Qel'a, was considered one of the wonders of this world, a whole multi-tiered city built on the ice, with waterways that seemed to resemble the canals found in Italy, while the design of the arched bridges connecting the two sides of each canal resembled those of Venice, and the Architecture of most of the city is strikingly European. Looming over the city are giant ice cliffs from which it was originally built.

It was a normal day for all of the tribesmen of Agna Qel'a when one of the watchers on top of the huge ice wall that blocked the view of the city from outside spotted something making its way towards them.

Running towards the nearby station he signaled the alarm and many soldiers climbed on top of the walls to keep an eye on the thing in the sky.

"Chief Arnook! We spotted some flying balloon ship coming towards us! It resembles the Fire Nation regular ships," said one of the captains to a tall middle-aged man that had bright blue eyes, long dark brown hair with typical water tribe blue adornments, and a well-kept beard.

Turning around the man called Arnook looked at the captain and nodded.

"Tell me everything, but first alert the waterbending masters to get ready to strike if needed."

"Yes Chief!" the man spoke to some of his subordinates and went back to Arnook to tell him the details.

The whole city was in minor chaos as the Airship drew closer and closer, flying around while looking for a flat place to land.

All the waterbenders were ready to attack at a moment's notice but Arnook raised his hand.

"Don't attack yet!" he shouted.

"But Chief, they probably are from the Fire Nation!" said one of the masters.

Arnook shook his head "I see no Fire Nation insignia on that ship, and they are way too prideful to use such underhanded tactics to attack us, not only that… this ship is here alone, there's no one else spotted either in the sky or on the sea."

After the ship landed and was surrounded, the ramp opened and a trio walked outside.

The first one to come outside was an average-looking man with long brown hair and a black tunic with green and yellow details, the clothing style itself was very common in the Earth Kingdom.

Then came out a woman covered in scars with an eye patch, this one made Arnook raise his eyebrow because he recognized her instantly, though her clothes were very outlandish for a water tribesman, the colors and adornments were there.

Then came the final one, a young man by this world's standards, he was tall and had long spiky pitch-black hair and wore black and red robes with silver details and gloves with a few adornments. Just by looking at his complexion and specific aesthetic traits of his face, hair, and clothing style Arnook could already judge a few things about him. 'Firebender… or at least from the Fire Nation.'

As the trio walked outside, the Earth Kingdom man whistled

"This is quite the welcome… Kaliya are you sure we should've come here?" he said while turning to the woman.

'Kaliya, huh? So, it's really her…' thought the Chief.

"…Honestly, I'm starting to reconsider me idea right now…" she said with a wry smile, which made a vein pop on Lei's forehead.

"You had two whole days to figure that out and now you are regretting it?! Damn woman!!" said Lei while huffing, can anyone blame him? To the Northerners, he might be behaving like a mad man, but he endured a whole day of the heavy atmosphere inside his ship while piloting their way here. He was quite on edge right now!

Taking a step ahead while being followed by two waterbending masters, chief Arnook introduced himself. "Greetings, welcome to the Northern Water Tribe." He said, trying to break the ice.

Lei sighed and scratched the back of his head while walking toward Arnook. "Thank you for not attacking us right away, we came here for the sake of our comrade here," he pointed towards Kaliya from over his shoulder.

Arnook nodded and looked at the three of them, then looked at the ship "Is it just the three of you?" he raised an eyebrow in suspicion.

Lei chuckled and nodded. "Yes, this is our private Airship, we are not from the Fire Nation or any other hostile force."

Arnook had an amused look on his face "You say that but… that one over there," he pointed towards Madara. "He is a firebender, isn't he?"

As his voice fell, every single soldier took their battle stances ready to pounce on the trio.

Lei was about to talk but was interrupted by Madara.

"Ho… You barely even know me and you already want to attack me…" said Madara while walking towards the Chief.

Arnook looked at Lei, who he had thought was the leader, and asked "And who is this?"

Lei could only give him a wry smile 'Chief… if you value your city… stop poking the hornet's nest… please…' he coughed "Ahem, this is our leader, Madara Uchiha… and as you have guessed… he is a firebender."

The moment he said those last words every single soldier rushed towards them, even the masters were already bending water preparing to attack.

In a split second, Arnook looked towards Madara and saw inhuman red eyes, with comma-shaped details spinning slowly as he looked towards the crowd already rushing towards him; he saw something in those eyes and shouted instantly.

"STOP!"

Although all the guards, masters, and soldiers hated the Fire Nation to the core, the culture of the Water Tribe was deeply imprinted in their beings, and the Chief's words were absolute. So, they stopped mid-rush, and the masters slowly stopped bending water but kept their guards up.

Madara was amused by their behavior, looking around he was not even bothered by their numbers or hostility, he was just scanning their faces one by one and he reached a conclusion.

'He is not here….' He narrowed his eyes dangerously and clenched his fist behind his back.

Kaliya was also looking around subtly, trying to locate her uncle, and was very relieved that he wasn't around, yes, she lost her eye because of him, and these scars were also part of the package, but she knew it was an accident, how one might ask? Well... she saw his reaction after it happened and she knew he wasn't faking it… Especially since he even helped her to escape afterward.

After looking around she looked towards Arnook and walked toward him

"Long time no see… Chief..."

The man looked at her with a conflicted light in his eyes. "Welcome back… Kaliya… Mind telling me why you are running around with Fire Nation people after all that you have been through?" he said while staring at her burned scalp.

She chuckled "I mind, it's me business and nothing related to ye or ye tribe… but for the sake of me homeland, I shall answer that question." She pointed towards Madara. "This one is probably the biggest threat for the Fire Nation in our world… except for the Avatar of course… but that one has been gone for a while.."

Everyone was confused, the Chief was even more confused, partially because of what she said, but mostly because the last time they spoke years ago, she was filled with anger and resentment, but now she was calm, the only weird thing he could see in her eyes was… Worry?

"Tell me the details, please..." said Arnook, understanding that he had no command over her after she left, and trying to be forceful wasn't really his way of doing things.

She snorted. "We talk later, what kind of host are ye, letting us wait here outside where it's cold?"

One of the masters came closer to the Chief and whispered, "We can capture the firebender while you talk to that lass, Chief."

Arnook shook his head, he felt some fear when he looked at Madara's eyes, it was like the spirits were warning him to not mess with this one… as the Chief, he was very attuned to the spirits and took their warnings very seriously. "No, they are with Kaliya so they are our guests."

At that time the trio had some thoughts.

'Thank ye Chief, ye have no idea the disaster ye avoided.' Kaliya.

'Phew, that was close... If they triggered Mr. Uchiha's bloodlust here after that trip…' gulp. Lei.

'…What a pity… I really wanted them to give me a reason…' snort. Madara.

The soldiers were dismissed, but they went back to their posts while on full alert after discovering that one of their guests was a firebender.

As they walked through the streets and canals of the capital, Lei kept looking around like a tourist, in awe by the Northern Water Tribe aesthetic, clothing and culture. Kaliya looked around with nostalgia, although she didn't want to come back here, now that she is back, she noticed that she kinda missed it.

Madara on the other hand kept staring around like a predator, scanning every person's face as they walked through the city.

'I will fucking find you.'