Wherever We're Together (That's My Home)

Challenge from Evilevergreen. Requirements:

1. Story must be about Kana's (Gran Gran) life around the time she is told about her arranged marriage to Pakku.

2. What are her adventures as she leaves for the sister tribe of her village?

3. How does she meet the man she will eventually marry and why did she keep her engagement necklace from Pakku?

Note that I live out in Australia, so we haven't seen all of the seasons. I've only seen season one and most of season two, but I don't think that Gran Gran would make much of an appearance so I feel fairly safe with this one. I get to make up personalities! Whee!

Pakku, Kana and anyone else from the series doesn't belong to me. Challenge belongs to Evilevergreen. Title of the fic is from the Billy Joel song You're My Home. Told (at this stage) from Kana's point of view.


(Edit: Kudos to YoukaiFate for pointing out the anonymous reviews thing, and to Kimba for pointing out that I mixed up the names. Hopefully they're both fixed now.)

It was always cold at the North Pole. As a child I could run about in it and play with the other children, but by the time I was ten I was expected to be above that. It was a few months after my thirteenth birthday, and I was meant to be focusing on finding a potential suitor. I was sick of it already.

The lessons in deportment were bad enough, but when my grandmother tried to talk to me about bedcraft, I ran out of the house, covering my ears. I still wanted to play with the boys, not kiss them. I knew that I had a few drawbacks to overcome in finding a suitor, and that it would be easier to do it sooner, before the boys all had wives, but I didn't want to know about all of that.

You see, in a generation of several powerful waterbenders, I had no talent at all. I didn't have enough to even be a healer, the expected role of females. I learned the non-bending parts as instructed, all the while fuming over the prissy girls who could clean their hands and heal wounds with a flick of the wrist. Add to that the fact that I was clumsy, and it was hard to see why any man would want me.

Well, that's not quite true. My father was the chief's cousin, so my marriage would bring my husband considerable stature within our community. Then there was my looks. I already held the promise of beauty. And finally, my talent. I had a wonderful story-telling voice. I couldn't sing to save my life, but I knew how to tell stories - a talent more fitting to a travelling bard than to a young lady.

So I spent my time trying to learn to be a gentle, kind, gracious young lady, instead of the rebellious, hotheaded youth that I was. It wasn't easy.

My closest friend at the time was Yugoda. She was a highly skilled waterbender, an excellent healer already, very pretty, and she was also an expert at courtly behaviour. She never showed off, instead she tried to back me up and help me to fulfill my wants. Ursa is the one thing that I have missed most about the North Pole.

One day after healing classes, Yugoda came up to me, slightly flushed and eyes sparkling.

"Kana, you have to come see! Master Amaro's set the novices to sparring, using only their bending. It's going to be beautiful!"

I smiled at my friend and nodded.

"You'll take any excuse to see waterbending, won't you Ursa?" I gently teased. I knew that she sometimes wished she had been born a boy, so that she could do proper bending. It saddened me that one so talented was so restricted. But there was nothing to be done. The way things were was the way things were.

We ran to the top of the palace, where we could overlook the training courtyard easily. It was a beautiful sight, watching the boys duelling with water. It fairly took my breath away, especially when one boy who was fighting with dual ice-swords melted the blades and tripped his opponent. I laughed, seeing the young Arnook fall onto his back, then stopped as his opponent turned to look at me. Even from that distance, I could tell that Pakku was judging me.

Pakku always unnerved me, right from the first time we met. He was a few years older than I, and the death of his parents had made his mind age further. It had been left to him to raise his younger brother and sister, Hokaka and Hoku, and while he had done a wonderful job, he had sacrificed his own childhood to do it. Now that the two youngsters were old enough to look after themselves for long periods of time, Pakku had thrown himself into his waterbending studies. No one in the city could deny that he was the most skilled of our generation, but he still unnerved me. Every time he looked at a person, he seemed to be judging them, to see if they were worth talking to. I hated to think what would happen if he decided a person wasn't worth his time, and avoided him as much as was possible. This had been fairly easy, as our paths were unlikely to cross by themselves.

Until I laughed at the future chief Arnook, and drew the attention of the boy - no, the man - that I wanted to avoid.