Northern Water Tribe

'Cold'

As Kain opened the door he felt a blast of frigid air hit his body. Even with wearing the thick water tribe clothes he still felt the frost. He was suddenly very grateful for Quiella's scarf and gloves.

Moraq looked at his reaction and laughed, "Don't worry, the air is no longer as cold if you stay outside for long enough. Come on, lets get going."

Kain shivered slightly before numbing himself and walking outside. He looked around and saw hundreds of houses, big and small dotting the city. He looked to his right and saw a massive wall made out of ice.

He stared at the city with amazement before looking left and seeing the massive palace towering over all of the other buildings.

Maroq walked outside too but his faced turned slightly red as he realized he had forgotten to say something, "Ah, I seem to have forgotten to tell you our location. Welcome to the Northern Water Tribe. The greatest water nation fortress in the world."

He then started walking across the road, "Come on then, follow me. I'll tell you more about this world as we walk to see if I can jog your memory."

Kain nodded before following along, still lightly shivering from the cold.

Moraq said to him, "Well I hope you know about the basic things, like the four nations and the fire nation war?" Upon seeing Kain nod he continued, "Well you'll know then that the war has been going on for 97 years as of now. The air nation has been completely annihilated and the water nation..." Moraq sighed, "Because of the war the water nation has been reduced to two main tribes, the northern tribe, which we are in right now, and the southern tribe."

With barely concealed rage he said, "The Southern Water Tribe has been in peril for the last thirty or so years. Apparently the last waterbender in the southern water tribe was taken away sometime in the last twenty years. And yet the northern tribe refuses to help them, even though we have already proven that we have the ability to fend off attacks from the fire nation."

He sighed before saying, "Sorry if you feel that I've been rambling. The point is, that the fire nation has caused massive damage to the water nation and specifically the southern tribe but the chief refuses my plea to help the southern tribe no matter how many times I beg him."

Kain had been nodding along to the information Maroq had told him but the last part caught him off guard, "You have been applying to help the southern tribe but you keep getting rejected?"

Maroq sighed and said, "Yes, even with my status as a commander every suggestion of mine relating to sending aid or help has been overturned, even though we might be able to repel the fire nation far better with the aid of our sister tribe.

"You're a commander?" Kain said with slight surprise.

"Ah I forgot to tell you about that too. I'm sorry I'm just very forgetful sometimes." Maroq said laughing.

"That reminds me, We're going to have to eventually fix your waterbending problem. You might even need to learn how to water bend again from the start.

Kain frowned, "So where should I begin my training? Do I go to a waterbending master and learn from them?"

Maroq chuckled, "There's no need right now, we have all the time in the world. You should probably familiarize yourself with the other tribe members first."

They stopped in front of a one story tall house. Kain watched as Maroq knocked on the door and called out, "Tarrik, open the door. It's me Maroq."

A person replied from the inside of the house, "Alright, wait up."

Kain heard the sound of footsteps getting closer as a man opened the door. The man, Tarrik had brown short hair and a lean and skinny figure. He had an annoyed expression on his face as he said, "What is it now Maroq?"

Maroq smiled and dragged Kain to his side, "Hey look. The kid I found in the ice woke up." He pointed to Kain, "Tarrik this is Kain Owen a waterbender that can't seem to remember anything." he then pointed to Tarrik, "Kain this is Tarrik, a waterbender and part of my crew."

Kain looked at the seemingly unimposing man, 'So this guy is a waterbender? I guess this is the guy Maroq wants me to learn from in the future.'

He extended a hand to Tarrik, "Nice to meet you" he said with the nicest tone he could muster. It would not be good to antagonize who he expected would be his future waterbending teacher.

Tarrik shook his hand with a hint of suspicion in his eyes, "So you're the... guest that Maroq found in the ice? And you just so happen to have a memory problem." He said tensing up.

Maroq, seemingly noticing his friend's behavior replied, "Ah don't be so harsh on him Tarrik he's a nice kid." he pat Kain's back, "He won't harm anyone here, I've already confirmed that he's a waterbender."

Tarrik still looked a bit tense, but with his friend's reply he no longer looked as hostile as before, "Very well, I'll believe you. But you should probably bring him to Chief Arnook, considering that he is a waterbender."

Kain wasn't surprised hearing his words. He knew the situation in this world. It was very likely that all non-female waterbenders would be drafted to join the fight against the fire nation. As a waterbender himself he knew that it would not have taken long anyways for the northern tribe to attempt to recruit him interference from Maroq or not.

Hearing his friends words Maroq's face turned red once again as he blushed, "Oh yes... I forgot about that. I will be taking him there immediately."

Tarrik sighed, seemingly used to his comrade's forgetfulness, "Alright, alright it doesn't matter if you're a few minutes late. Just go there now."

As he said that he turned his back on them before shutting the door.

Maroq turned to Kain, "Well, I guess we should get going then." He then started walking towards the royal palace, with Kain following behind him.

Kain felt quite nervous as he thought about the chief, 'I hope the chief believes my story. If he thinks that I am sort of fire nation spy I might find myself on the end of a blade.'

Maroq, noticing Kain's nervousness said, "Don't worry about it kid. The chief may seem intimidating but he is a nice person once you get to know him. I have no doubt that he'll believe your story."

Maroq's words had no affect on Kain as he kept stressing. 'I should make sure my story is consistent. I can't make any mistake or I might get accused of being a spy.' he sighed, 'Maybe it would have been easier to just tell them I was from another world. Then again that would have been far more suspicious than just randomly losing my memory.'

As they walked to the temple Maroq introduced Kain to all of the few people he could find outside. It seemed that it was currently quite early in the morning, and so many people were still fast asleep.

The villagers who were initially cautious of him turned far more friendly after Maroq vouched for Kain's innocence. It seemed that Maroq was trusted by practically all of the tribe members.

Suddenly Maroq stopped. Kain looked ahead and saw that they had already arrived at the base of the royal palace.

Maroq looked at him with a smile, "This is where the chief, Arnook lives. This palace was built even before the war and is the pride of our nation."

Kain had seen the palace in the show obviously, but only after seeing it in person was he able to truly appreciate the beauty of the massive palace.

"Kid, you ready to meet the chief?"

Kain looked up at Maroq before nodding his head. The two of them continued inside the palace.