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Yue isn’t supposed to be here, watching the Avatar’s training, but she is anyway. After her evening jaunt into the prison, she’s feeling rebellious. She blends in easily with the crowd of onlookers, her fellow tribespeople too busy craning their necks for a glimpse of the legendary airbender to notice her among them.
The Avatar comes bouncing out of the guest quarters, chatting amicably with the woman from the Southern Water Tribe. Yue’s gaze slides to her, noting how her clothes, while simple, are more suited for free movement than any of her dresses. She notes how her stride is purposeful and her back is straight.
This woman, Katara, walks like she’s meant to be there. Like she won’t take no for an answer. Like she won’t accept anything less. Yue is fascinated.
All her life, she’s heard nothing but how women are meant to be healers, or how her duty to her tribe is to marry well and produce a strong heir. She’d taken it to be the truth. After all, what other choice was there? It’s not like she would be any good at ruling. So others had told her.
She remembers her illuminating conversation with the Fire Nation prisoner, Zuko, about his sister. Things are so different in the Fire Nation, where everyone receives training, where anyone can be a prodigy. If the Fire Nation, their enemies, can be like that, why can’t the Water Tribe?
She’s jolted out of her thoughts as Pakku pushes through the crowd to his student. He frowns when he sees Katara, next to him.
“Aren’t you supposed to be in the healing huts with the other women?” he asks.
A frown fills Katara’s face. “I’m not here to learn healing, I’m here to learn to fight.”
Pakku shakes his head, crossing his arms. “We do not teach women to fight here. If you want to learn something, go to the healing huts.”
Katara is scowling, now. “Excuse me? I fought my way here from the South to learn, and you’re just going to send me to the healing huts? Why? Because I’m a woman?"
“Exactly. That is our way, and you would do well to respect it” Pakku says. He turns to Aang. “Now, for your first lesson -”
“I won’t accept that!” Katara shouts, interrupting the master. “Just because I’m a woman doesn’t mean I can’t fight.”
“She’s right,” Aang adds. He sounds as chipper as he has since Yue had met him the day before, but his face is serious. “If you won’t teach her, then - then you can’t teach me, either!”
Pakku sighs deeply. “Fine. Fine! If you won’t respect our traditions, I won’t teach you. Go teach yourself waterbending.”
Aang looks conflicted for a second, but Katara’s face fills with righteous fury. “Teach myself waterbending?! I have taught myself waterbending! Everything I’ve ever learned I’ve had to teach myself. You won’t teach me because of your stupid rules? Fine! I can do without you.” She glances at Aang and softens slightly. “But Aang needs you. He’s the Avatar. He needs to be the very best, and he needs to learn quickly, to fight the Fire Nation, so he needs a master.” Her eyes narrow and she glares right back at Pakku. “But don’t think for a second that if we didn’t have a war to fight, that we would need you and your stupid, stuck-up, stupid rules!"
She stomps her foot and a nearby fountain erupts, spraying water over the crowd of onlookers. Yue gasps at its coldness. She had been frozen, watching the exchange, eyes wide. Everything she had ever known, the rules that had governed her tribe and her existence, is being challenged right in front of her. The realization that her tribe could have been wrong, that the roles women are supposed to play in society should maybe not be as rigid as they are, shock her just as much as the water does.
After her waterbending display, Katara turns and stalks away. Aang looks after her for a long moment, then turns to Pakku with a frown. “I’m only staying because Katara’s right, and I need to learn how to waterbend to fight the Fire Nation. But she’s also right about everything else.”
Pakku scowls, then suddenly turns and sends a water whip hurtling at the Avatar.
Aang startles and throws up his hands. He manages to brush away some of the water, but most of it hits him full in the face. He spits some out of his mouth.
“We have a lot of work to do,” Pakku grumbles. “I’ll train you, because you desperately need it. But do not challenge me like that again.”
Pakku shifts into his teaching personality, as Yue is used to after observing him train their warriors for years. Some tensions remain, but Pakku is a seasoned instructor, and Aang, while still upset, is a willing student.
Yue gazes off to where Katara had disappeared. With one last glance at the Avatar, she slips away from the crowd and heads off after her.
She finds Katara around the corner of a building near the healing huts, pacing back and forth, grumbling angrily to herself.
She looks up when Yue draws nearer, eyes widening in surprise when she sees who it is.
“I apologize,” Yue says, although she’s not sure what she’s apologizing for.
Katara shakes her head. “It sucks, right? Not being able to do what you know you can because of others’ ideas about what you’re capable of.”
Yue hums. “You were very moving, out there, standing up to Master Pakku like that. He’s very set in his ways.” She casts her gaze over her shoulder, to the palace. “We all are, it seems.”
“It doesn’t have to be this way,” Katara says. “You could change things. Anyone can, really. You just have to stand up for yourself.”
Yue smiles. It’s soft and uncertain, she’s not totally sure yet, but she’s more sure than she had been her whole life. “Maybe.”
“I believe in you,” Katara says with a smile.
Yue’s heart beats very, very quickly at that.
Katara turns to consider the healing hut. “It’s not that I don’t want to learn healing. It came in handy in the Earth Kingdom, and it would definitely help to know more. But I don’t like that it’s my only option, you know? Why can’t I be both a healer and a fighter?”
Yue steps closer, following Katara’s gaze. “It’s the way we’ve always done things,” she says, but even as she speaks the words, she realizes she doesn’t believe them.
Katara turns to face her. “Just because you’ve always done something, doesn’t mean you should just keep doing it.”
Yue smiles sadly. “It would be nice to have some things change around here. The elders would never accept it, though.”
Katara’s smile turns slightly sharp. “Sometimes the old farts need a little push.”
She turns back to the healing huts and sighs. “Aang desperately needs a teacher, though, a real one. I don’t want to risk that. So I’ll go along with their rules.” She winks over her shoulder. “For now.”
For a long while after Katara enters the hut, Yue stays where she is, cheeks red and heart pumping. She feels more invigorated by that discussion than she has in a long while, and that includes sneaking into the prison. She can’t stop thinking about Katara’s words, and that little wink at the end - her cheeks flush anew just thinking about it.
Yue is so lost in her thoughts, she’s almost bowled over by Katara storming out of the healing hut. “That was a quick lesson,” she says.
Katara’s eyes are wide. “My grandmother was born here, in the North!”
Yue tilts her head. “She was?”
Katara nods, one hand touching her necklace, almost unconsciously. “She left when she was only a little older than me. And I think… And I think I know why.”
Yue finds herself trailing after Katara as she marches back to the training grounds, where Aang is working his way through the water whip.
Pakku sees her approach, and a deep frown forms on his face. “You are supposed to be learning healing. Go back to the hut with the other women.”
Katara freezes. “No. You know what? I don’t think I will.” She turns back to look at Yue, a determined frown on her face. She nods once, then refocuses on Pakku. She moves her arms, and a ball of snow pulls itself out of the ground and hits him in the chest.
Pakku scowls. “If you want to make a point, you would be best served not waterbending wildly.”
Katara clenches her fists. The fountains surrounding them freeze. “Wildly? You want to see me bend wildly? Let’s see what kind of master you really are.” She hurls a water whip at him, to the shock of the small crowd still gathered to watch Aang train. Pakku lazily waves one hand and disperses it.
Undeterred, Katara tries again, and her whip seems stronger, this time. Pakku narrows his eyes and gets into a fighting stance. After each of her strikes, he grows a little more serious, until he’s facing her as he would any of his students.
Her will alone, however, does not seem to be enough. She ends up surrounded by a wall of ice spears, caught and unable to waterbend. Pakku marches up to her, fury on his face, and Yue is momentarily worried for her. But then his eyes seem to catch something.
He reaches out and gently touches the pendant around her neck. Her grandmother’s, Katara had said. “Where did you get this?” he asks, suddenly quiet.
“Gran-Gran gave it to me,” Katara retorts.
“Your Gran-Gran,” Pakku echoes, still quiet. “Kanna. Oh, Kanna.”
“You knew her?” Katara is quiet herself, now.
“I carved this for her, a long, long time ago.”
Katara is silent for a time. “She left because of you and your ways,” she says finally. “She left because she wanted something more for herself than what you would let her have, and she found it in the South.”
“I know.” Pakku runs a thumb over her necklace one more time, then turns away. His expression is somber. “I know.”
The ice around Katara melts, but she doesn’t move to attack. She puts one hand to her necklace.
There’s a long silence. “Fine,” Pakku says.
“Fine?” Katara echoes.
“I’ll teach you. Kanna left because of our rules, and I regret that every day, but, still, nothing has changed. Nothing would have made her stay. And so I will teach you, because she would have wanted me to.”
“It’s too little change, too late,” Katara says, not unkindly.
“I know,” Pakku agrees somberly. He straightens. “I better see you bright and early tomorrow morning. No slacking, now.”
Katara straightens, too. “I’ll be there.”
As Pakku walks off, Katara turns to Yue, her eyes sparking. She rushes over and grips Yue’s hands between hers. “I can’t believe it! I did it!”
Yue can’t help but laugh. “You did!”
The two of them stand, grinning at each other, until there’s a shout as the Avatar and Katara’s brother come running to congratulate her as well. Yue lets Katara go, almost reluctantly, smiling as she watches her embrace the two.
She allows herself a few more minutes to admire Katara’s face, flushed with pride, before she turns and heads back to her chambers. Throughout her nightly routine, all she can think about is Katara, how amazing she had been, how amazing she had looked. She finds herself looking forward to watching Katara train under Pakku.
The next day, Yue finds herself by the training grounds just when the waterbenders are wrapping up their training. She spots Katara right away, working her way through some footwork. Despite the complexity, she doesn’t falter once, and her movements are as graceful as any master.
“Go get some lunch,” Pakku grumbles nearby, startling Katara out of her concentration. She falters, but catches herself quickly and shoots him a small grin.
She notices Yue standing by the entrance, and her grin brightens into a huge smile.
Yue finds herself smiling back. “Would you like to get lunch with me?” she asks. She hadn’t planned to, but once she says it, she knows there’s no one else she would rather be spending a meal with.
“Sure,” Katara replies, pulling her heavier outer parka over her shoulders. “You know the city best. What’s good?”
Yue leads the way to her favorite vendor. The old man smiles when he sees her, as always, and his smile broadens when he sees Katara, wide-eyed and curious right behind her. The man hands her a wooden plate topped with seasoning and fish fresh off the fire, warm and hot. She hands it to Katara, who takes a cautious bite. Her eyes light up.
“That’s so tasty! What is it?”
Yue smiles. “We call it sugudai. Our fishermen caught the fish this morning, so it's extra fresh.”
“What kinds of fish do you have up here?”
As Yue and Katara discuss Northern Water Tribe cuisine, they drift away from the vendor, making their way through the streets. Yue is so lost in conversation she doesn’t even notice they’ve found themselves near the nonbending training grounds until she hears a loud and, unfortunately, familiar voice.
“Princess Yue! What are you doing out here?” Hahn calls, giving her a wave from where he’s leaving his training, jacket folded over his arm.
Yue forces a smile onto her face. “Hello, Hahn, how is training?” she asks, avoiding his question. She can safely assume he didn’t really care about her reasons and had only asked out of decorum.
As she had predicted, he doesn’t even seem to notice she hadn’t answered his question. He launches into a complicated and long tale of what he had been up to that day, which Yue immediately tunes out. She turns to Katara, shrugging apologetically, and Katara responds by grabbing her wrist and breaking into a run, pulling her down the bank of the river and away from Hahn, who is so engrossed in his story he doesn’t even seem to notice their departure. They stop on a nearby bridge, gasping for breath after their sudden sprint. When she has her breath back, Katara begins laughing, and Yue finds herself laughing right along with her.
As their laughter calms down, Katara shakes her head. “What a self-absorbed jerk. Who even was that guy?”
“Hahn,” Yue says, her grin losing some of its luster. “One of our warriors. And - and my betrothed.”
Katara’s grin vanishes. “What? You’re marrying that guy?”
Yue nods. “It is my duty to the tribe.”
Katara shakes her head. “But you clearly don’t want to. Can’t your father do anything? Can’t you?”
“My father is the one who initiated the match in the first place.” Yue smiles wryly. “And you well know how much control a woman like me would have over things.”
Katara clenches her fists. “This is exactly what my Gran-Gran was trying to leave. An arranged marriage that she hated and could do nothing to stop. All these years later, and nothing’s changed.”
“Nothing’s changed,” Yue echoes quietly, looking away. She loves her tribe with all her heart, she truly does, but some things wear on her.
Katara gives Yue a gentle smile. “You could change things. Look at me, a woman training with the men. And I’m just a Southern guest. Imagine what you could do as the daughter of the chief, and then chief yourself.”
Yue finds herself smiling back. She’d been considering it, wondering if she truly has that power, but she finds herself believing it for the first time. Something about Katara’s certainty bolsters her confidence.
The mood lightened, the two of them continue to wander the city, talking. Yue is fascinated by the differences between the Northern Tribe and the Southern Tribe, and Katara just as much. By the time she has to head home and help her father with dinner preparations, Yue’s head is spinning with just how different their sister tribe is.
She bids a fond farewell to Katara, and is just about to turn and leave, when she’s stopped by a hand on her arm.
“Will you come visit me again?” Katara asks, suddenly hesitant. “And do this? Again?”
Yue smiles. She wants nothing more. “Of course.”
The next several days find Yue outside the training grounds, watching Katara wrap up her training. She finds herself coming earlier and earlier to watch, admiring Katara’s fluid movements and complicated forms. She knows enough about waterbending to see how quickly Katara is improving, but that comes secondary to just watching her move.
After training, Yue takes Katara to try a new dish. She’s grown up eating here her entire life, and knows every recipe like the back of her hand, but watching Katara discover every new thing is like rediscovering it for herself. Katara is so endlessly fascinated by her native food, and she’s proud to share it with her.
Meal eaten, they walk the streets together, talking. They share stories of their childhoods, fun ones, and Yue is treated to tales of Katara’s time in the Earth Kingdom. She’s never left the Northern Water Tribe, and any description of another place fills her with excitement.
Katara tells her about some jerk she’d met in the forest named Jet, and she feels an familiar, dark feeling stir inside her. She knows jealousy well from years of watching the other members of the tribe live out their dreams and leave her to her duty. Just hearing about the guy makes her angry, and she’s so glad when Katara says she froze him to a tree and left him behind. “I would punch him if I knew how,” she says.
Katara lets out a surprised laugh, then pauses. “If you knew how?”
Yue shrugs. “You know I would never have learned anything close to fighting.”
Katara brightens. “I can teach you! I picked some basics up growing up with a brother like Sokka.”
Yue blinks in surprise. “You would? I - I would love that.”
Katara’s eyes twinkle, and she grabs Yue by the hand and leads her to a path under a bridge, out of the way of passerby. Yue blushes at the contact, hand automatically shifting to intertwine their fingers.
When they arrive, they separate, and Yue briefly mourns the loss. Katara takes her other hand in both of hers and gently folds it into a fist. “Remember to keep the thumb out,” she says, “and use your knuckles instead of your fingers.”
Yue tries to pay attention, but her mind is focused on Katara, and her hands around her fingers. She isn’t wearing gloves, and she feels every one of Katara’s calluses, rough against her otherwise smooth skin. When Katara brushes a thumb over the back of her hand, Yue feels a thrill throughout her body.
Katara breaks away to show Yue the proper form, and ends up behind her, one arm around her forearm to guide it and one arm around her waist to keep her steady. Yue wants to listen, but all she can hear is the sound of her own heartbeat in her ears. She’s aware of every inch of Katara’s skin, even though her clothing.
Katara steps away to let her try herself, and Yue shivers at the loss of contact. Despite her brain having been decidedly elsewhere during Katara’s explanation, she throws a decent punch into the soft snow wall Katara makes for her. She finds herself grinning, exhilarated, and her grin only grows as she sees the pride in Katara’s shining eyes. They smile at each other for a long while, and then Katara takes a step forward, as if she’s going to -
“So that’s where you’ve been!” A voice calls from above. It’s Katara’s brother, Sokka, leaning over the railing of the bridge.
Katara jolts and takes a step back to get a better look at her brother, and Yue shakes herself out of her daze. That had been - they had almost -
“Oh! Princess Yue!” Sokka seems to have noticed her, too, and he grins, waving wildly, now hanging precariously off the edge. “How’s it been? I haven’t gotten a chance to -”
He leans too far and topples off the side. Katara lets out a huff, but manages to pull up water from the river to catch him and set him gently down on the path.
She stops short of drying him off, and he moans about his wet clothing. Katara catches Yue’s eye and rolls her eyes, sending Yue into a fit of giggles. Sokka looks up from his complaining, and starts to laugh, too, and soon the three of them are close to tears.
“Okay, I deserved that,” Sokka says good naturedly. “I hope to see you around, Princess.”
He flashes a wink at her, and Katara pulls a tendril out of the water to lash at his backside. “Alright, alright, I’m leaving!” He heads off, waving a hand behind him. “Jeez.”
Katara groans once he’s gone from their sight. “Sorry about him.”
Yue lets out a chuckle. “It’s fine. He’s harmless.”
Katara rolls her eyes.
The two begin to walk again. Yue wants to go back to practicing, but whatever moment they had had, it’s gone. They don’t speak, but their silence is comfortable, both of them thinking. Yue keeps running through those precious few moments in her head, when Katara had stepped closer, when she’d thought she’d been about to -
Her recollection is interrupted by a deep bellow. They’ve wandered close to the stables, and Katara leaves her side to embrace the Avatar’s massive bison. She glances over her shoulder.
“Appa’s friendly,” she says, grinning and stroking its head.
Yue hesitantly comes closer, reaching out her hand. The fur beneath her fingers is soft, and she finds herself smiling as she clumsily strokes the beast.
“Do you want to ride him?” Katara asks.
Yue looks up, surprised. “What?”
Katara grins, determined, and hurries around the bison’s side to tie up his saddle. “I’ve flown on him loads of times, it’s incredible!”
Yue imagines herself high in the sky, with nothing beneath her but this beast, and feels a little ill, but nods anyway. If Katara asks her, she thinks she would do just about anything.
Katara tightens the last strap on the saddle and clambers on expertly. She reaches down a hand and pulls Yue on as well.
The saddle is surprisingly sturdy. Yue sits close to the front, next to Katara, who gently pulls on the reins. Appa lumbers out of the stables, the saddle barely swaying at his movements.
Yue is amazed. When she has to travel by ship, she always feels sick from the swaying, but she feels perfectly fine now.
Katara shoots her a grin. “Yip yip!” she cries.
Before Yue has a chance to ask what that means, Appa slams his massive tail on the ground, and suddenly they’re in the air. Yue clutches the side of the saddle and watches the city she’s known her entire life grow smaller beneath her. The ride is still smooth, barely any disturbance as they navigate the air currents out over open water.
Yue turns away from the city to watch the sea stretch out beneath her, wide and empty, and then turns to Katara, eyes shining. Katara is watching her with a small smile, something unreadable in her eyes. Yue finds herself blushing.
“What do you think?” Katara asks softly.
“Beautiful,” Yue responds, just as softly. She’s already forgotten about the view.
Katara leans closer, and Yue does as well. A hand comes up to gently cup Yue’s cheek, and her eyes flutter closed.
She’s surprised, then, when she feels Katara’s hand tense, and then pull away. Her eyes fly open to see Katara’s gaze focused on something over her shoulder, eyes wide in horror. She spins around to see what Katara’s seen.
The sky is no longer its normal blue, but is now quickly becoming a sick, inky black. Off in the distance, just coming over the curve of the horizon, she sees them:
Fire Nation ships. Lots of them.
The invasion is about to begin.