Everyone in the Northern Water Tribe heard the drums that night. It was an unusually clear night. Peaceful. You could see the stars. Provided you were awake for it, but not a single person could sleep through every drum in the city being pounded on at once. This happened very rarely. As the world had been at peace, it had been several centuries since it had happened. It would only happen for two events. An approaching battle- or the birth of an avatar.

    They had known that the next avatar would be from the Water Tribes, so every child that had been born within the last week had been brought to the Spirit Oasis, in hopes of a result. That night, they finally got one. The child of Crystal and Suluk had been identified by the Moon and Ocean. The new avatar. A girl. Conflicted feelings on that matter had been expressed in the palace after she was identified.

    "A girl? This goes against our customs Suluk!" A middle aged waterbender said.

    "There have been female avatars before, Kanik." The child's mother, Crystal, responded.

    "Crystal." Suluk said firmly. "Do not disrespect a master. Especially since I actually agree with him for once."

    "What?" Crystal said, stepping back. "How can you say that? She is the avatar, and she is your daughter!"

    "I know that Crystal!" Suluk then did his best to calm down. "However, I fear it may be difficult to find her a teacher because she is a girl. It would have been easier were she born male."

    "She's the avatar! Who said anything about it being easy? Besides, this way, she won't be trained by a sexist male with no business near my daughter!" Crystal snapped.

    "Crystal! Enough!" Suluk shouted. "I'll find a trainer that will accept her. She doesn't have to even know that she's the avatar until she's older anyway."

    "Well thanks to the ceremony you're insisting on, everyone will know, and it won't be a secret." Crystal told him. Suluk sighed.

    "Perhaps so. I'll send out a notice." Suluk said. There was a knock on the icy doors to the room they were in. The waterbending master sidled over to open it, anxious to stop standing awkwardly there while the couple quarreled. He pulled open the doors, and several more masters filed in. They all did their best to crowd around Crystal, who was holding the child.

    "A girl?" One of them echoed Kanik's words from earlier, earning a fierce glare from Crystal. Several of the masters gave the child looks of distaste, knowing that she would have to learn to fight with waterbending, not just heal. One of the elder's rubbed his forehead.

    "The chief isn't going to be pleased." The elder said. Just then, there was a knock on the door.

    "The chief!" One of the master's hissed. They filed into two lines, making a path for the chief, to the parents of the new avatar. The doors opened again, and the chief made is way towards the family. When he approached and saw the child, Chief Iluq made no attempt to hide the frustration he felt that the new avatar was a girl. His seven year old son Arrluk showed the same emotion. However, two year old Miki showed nothing but happiness and awe at seeing the new avatar. The chief sighed.

    "Well I suppose there's nothing we can do now. Let's get this ceremony over with." The chief said. He then proceeded to lead the procession out of the room and into the huge icy hall, reserved special occasions such as this. He placed himself and his family on the right side of the balcony overlooking the hall, then gestured for the waterbending masters to stand to the left. Crystal and Suluk took the center, Crystal still holding her child. The whole tribe was spread out below them.

    Most were bleary eyed from being woken up, but the hall seemed to fizz and buzz with a hum of energy, the sense that no matter how tired they were, the people seemed to recognize the importance of the occasion. Crystal could feel almost every pair of eyes trained on her. Or rather, the sleeping child in her arms. The chief nodded to Suluk.

    "This is a momentous event, my fellow citizens of the Water Tribe! You all have probably guessed why. Something has happened that has not happened in many centuries for our Tribe! The avatar spirit has come to us. It has blessed my child." Crystal then stepped forward.

    "Tonight, the new avatar was born!" she called to the crowd. "For the first time, allow me to present my daughter, Avatar Naomi!"

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Here we go! We'll see how much I can write with high school being what it is, but a promise longer chapters than this prologue.

-Phoenix