a Introduction Long ago in time of peace the Avatar kept balance between the four nations of the world the Water Tribes the Earth Kingdom the Fire Nation and the Air Nomads In these nations there are people who have mastered the ability to control their culture's native element an art form known as bending They call themselves Waterbenders Earthbenders Firebenders and Airbenders only the Avatar can manipulate all four elements When an Avatar dies his or her spirit is reborn into a bender of the next nation in the cycle of Water Earth Fire and Air This cycle provides a natural balance keeping any one nation from growing more powerful than the others As you know the four nations lived in peace for many generations But all that changed one hundred years ago when the Fire Nation attacked The leader of the Fire Nation at that time the
powerful Firebender known as Fire Lord Sozin had secret ambitions to take over the world by conquering the other nations When Avatar Roku died knowing that the next Avatar would be a child who needed training and maturity before he or she grew powerful enough to oppose him Fire Lord Sozin secretly began to build a fleet of massive ships and train an army of Firebenders and soldiers Throughout the years the Fire Nation's armada grew strong while the other nations remained ignorant Then using the energy of a passing comet Fire Lord Sozin attacked the Water Air and Earth nations at the same time Only the Avatar had the skills to stop the ruthless Fire Nation But when the world needed him most the Avatar did not appear Following the natural cycle since Avatar Roku was from the Fire Nation the next Avatar would come from the Air Nation Sozin's army wiped out all of the Air Nomads so the Avatar could never return Or so the world believed The war has raged for one hundred years The Air Nomads were believed to have all been wiped out Most of the great cities of the Southern Water Tribe were destroyed Many of the Earth Kingdom's cities were taken over by Fire Nation soldiers and hope was beginning to fade from the world Until the day the Avatar returned
This first legend was passed down by Katara the Waterbender who along with her brother discovered the Avatar and helped set him free The Avatar Returns LEGEND 1 My name is Katara I'm a member of the Southern Water Tribe I'm fourteen now I was told that my mother died when I was eight during a Fire Nation attack on my village Two years ago my father and the other men of my tribe journeyed to the Earth Kingdom to help in the fight against the Fire Nation He left me and my older brother Sokka to help look after our tribe Some people believe that the cycle was broken and the Avatar was never reborn But I always believed that somehow the Avatar would return to save the world
Sokka and I were in our canoe fishing among the ice floes I'll show you how to catch a fish Katara Sokka bragged That's my brother He thinks he can do everything better than anyone else But I was born a Waterbender and although I have no training I can still make water do some pretty neat things and I was not going to let Sokka catch the only fish that day Using my Waterbending abilities I shaped a bubble out of water and caught a fish inside it Sokka look I cried Shh Katara Sokka whispered You're gonna scare the fish away My brother can be so infuriating sometimes The great fisherman wouldn't even bother to look at the fish I had caught
