Welcome.
For those of you about to read this story, first let me tell you, this is based on a popular headconon that has been spreading it's way through the LoK fandom. It was originally used to determine the origins of Eska and Desna; now it is used to give Unalaq an appropriate motive for fusing with Vaatu and wanting to end life as we know it.
This story involves romance and implied sex between a spirit and a human. Those who do not agree can click away now. All those who do and are still reading this, please enjoy~
"I love you as certain dark things are to be loved: in secret, between the
shadow and the soul."
-Pablo Neruda
He first saw her while praying at the river.
She had risen up from the water like a ghost from her grave, her silky black hair falling around her shoulders. She seemed to wear the night as a dress and the evening fog as a shawl, the stars dancing around her like fireflies. The water curled around her like it made her, created her, lapping at her feet like a loyal dog to its mistress. Her skin glistened, dark and tantalizing in the moonlight, and as she turned to look at him, two icy blue irises starred straight into him.
And when he was starring in awe, she looked down at him and asked "Why are you crying?"
He could not find his voice at first, so shocked he was, so she asked again "Tell me; why are you crying?"
"...Because I am praying." He answered in a soft voice.
"Why do you cry as you pray?" She asked him then.
He smiled timidly and sadly. "Do you ever feel as though no one can hear you?"
Now she smiled. "I am a very old spirit, sir. All those I once knew have gone." She knelt, so she was at eye level with him. "There is no one to hear me anymore."
He hesitated. "...I am Unalaq, son of the chief of the Northern water tribe."
She smiled at this too. "And I am Neolani. Spirit of the water and mist and rain."
Unalaq smiled. "It's comforting to know someone heard me."
...
He visited her often. And she was always waiting for him.
They would sit by the riverside and share stories. He would tell her stories of his childhood and family and many great battles, and she would share with him stories of the spirit world.
He had at one point tried to tell his father and brother of the lovely spirit woman, but they had shrugged it off as dream and delusion, not believing a word he said.
One day, after a particularly heated argument with them on the existence of this spirit-woman, Unalaq went to meet Neolani still fuming from the confrontation.
"You are angry." He looked up and saw her sitting in the branches of a tree, surrounded by shimmering mist.
He sat at the base and sighed. "It is nothing."
She said nothing, and when he looked up at her, her soft blue eyes bore into him like they could see into his deepest thoughts.
He waited a long while, and then gestured for her to come down. He patted the root next to him. "Sit by me." He said.
Neolani jumped gracefully down and sat close to him, still not saying anything. He stared at her for the longest time, before he gently smoothed his hand over her cheek.
"You must be real." He whispered. "You must. There is no way you could be a dream. No one could dream up such perfection."
She smiled subtly. "Is that what troubles you?" She asked. "That I might be a dream?"
Unalaq nodded, but did not answer. Instead, he pulled her close to him and buried his face in her shoulder, her long hair smelling of the sweet morning dew.
She smiled and hugged him as well. "I assure you, Unalaq..." She whispered. "I am not a dream you will wake up from. Through wind and storm and sunny day, I will always be in this forest, always waiting for you."
He said nothing in reply at first, simply ran his hands through her hair or over her shoulders, as if to give truth to her words. Then, he pulled back ever so slightly, and whispered in her ear "I love you."
...
Several months passed them by. In his time with Neolani, she taught him how to charm the spirits using a technique similar to water bending. And he, in return, taught her water bending, despite her insistence that such a talent had never been needed in the spirit world. Really, she hadn't protested much against learning the art, anyway.
And of course, he had hoped, while forging the plan for his brother's exile, that the gifts he'd taught her would help her in defending herself against the rebels.
They didn't.
He looked over the forest. It was a wreck, completely destroyed. Trees had been knocked down and branches littered the ground. The stream, when he approached it, looked like it had been blown up, with riverbanks having been destroyed and large, dead logs blocking the water's flow.
When Neolani emerged from the stream, now littered with tree branches and dead leaves and animals, she crawled out like she was in terrible pain, and when he rushed to her she collapsed in his arms, crying out from the agony it caused her just to move.
"What happened, my sweet?" He asked her, letting her head rest on his shoulder.
She was breathless. "Those pillagers...they have destroyed our home, my home! My river is polluted with the blood of the woodland creatures. The air is smoky with gunpowder-" On cue, she began to cough violently.
"Neolani, don't strain yourself." He told her.
But she went on. "Help me, my love." She whispered.
He held her close and whispered "I will see to it they pay immensely for their actions."
...
Several days later, Unalaq's brother, Tonraq, was exiled from the Northern tribe. That left only Unalaq to succeed the throne when his father died.
Still, Unalaq spent most of his time in the forest, or what was left of it, helping to repair the damage done, though it was extensive, and helping Neolani recover.
One day, as the two were working to clear a portion of the stream, he saw her struggling to clear the water, the glow around her beginning to waver, and he grew worried. Gently, he took her hand. "Please don't strain yourself." He whispered in her ear. "You'll be injured further."
"If I do not clear the water and restore the land to what it was..." She gasped "I will never recover."
"You won't recover if you use up all your energy on that, either." He insisted. "Please rest, I can take care of it for now."
Neolani hesitated, but she nodded. "Alright."
He led her to sit by a tree and continued on with restoring the river's flow.
Neolani smiled. "You've learned quickly." She said.
Unalaq smiled back at her. "So have you."
She shrugged. "Spirit water is much harder for a human to handle." She smiled again. "It is almost like you are one of us now."
"And you?" He asked. "You are the most human spirit I've ever met. True, you are much more wise and beautiful, but you aren't cruel at all like the spirits from the legends I was taught."
"Thank you." She said simply. "Although you know I could never live among the humans."
Unalaq stopped. "Why not?"
"I'm a spirit." She said. "Our worlds were separated 9,982 years ago. If I were to abandon my place in my world to come here, I would become a ghost, and simply fade away."
"...Is there any way to keep you from..." Unalaq dared not say the word.
"If our worlds were whole again, spirits and humans could live together like we did before." She shook her head. "But that cannot be. And besides, I would miss my world if I were to leave."
"But if our worlds joined again, you could be both here and there." He turned towards her.
Neolani smiled at him. "You know the story of Vaatu and Raava. We are separate for a reason."
Unalaq looked away. "I don't want to be separate from you." He whispered.
She stood up. "But that is the beauty of places like this." She sang. "These are the small places where our worlds CAN join. It is through this place that we can be together."
He smiled and took her into his arms, although in his mind, these few hour visits were becoming not enough for him.
"I want to be with you..." He whispered "Forever."
...
It had been two long years since Tonraq was banished. Like every year, the northern lights appeared in the sky, and Unalaq stood watching them from his balcony. Behind him, a dark voice bellowed "Well?"
He shook his head. "Neolani told me that the joining of our worlds was impossible."
"She has lived a secluded life." The voice answered. "She does not know what could be. If this is done-"
"It can't be." Unalaq countered, although his voice was heavy.
"If this is done," The spirit continued "She will be with you...for the rest of eternity."
Unalaq's eyes widened.
"She can rule beside you as your queen. There will be nothing stopping you from being with her."
He said nothing, still in shock.
"...You should go to her now; she will be waiting for you." The spirit began to fade. "Think about my offer. But don't tell anyone, even your lover."
As the shadow disappeared, Unalaq opened his eyes and looked around, seeing that he'd fallen asleep on the balcony. Silently and with wide eyes, he stood slowly, possibilities reeling through his head.
...
Neolani was waiting for him when he got there. He had to stop and simply take in her beauty for a moment, the color of the northern lights making her glow with radiant light.
She smiled and embraced him. "I'm glad you came, my love." She said. "I wanted us to watch the lights together."
He smiled. "I'd like that." He looked around. "This place has been almost completely restored."
"It is all thanks to you." She said. With that, she took his hand and began to wade into the water.
He chuckled. "How come we're standing in the river?"
"You can feel the energy of the lights coursing through the water." She whispered. "It's magnificent."
Sighing and smiling, he pulled off his shoes, ignoring the bitter cold of the snow on his feet, and waded into the warm water with her.
For quite a while they stood, watching the lights and, yes, feeling the spirit energy bounce off the river's current and radiate through them. Unalaq stood slightly behind Neolani, and in the light, she looked as though she was not a spirit, but a goddess.
Gently, he grasped her shoulders and embraced her from behind. The sweet smell of morning dew enveloped him once again, and he softly kissed her neck, unable to refrain.
She did not pull away, and when she did, she turned to face him, and their lips connected in a soft kiss. His hands ran down her shoulders and down her back, his hands running through her sleek black hair.
He pulled away. "I love you." He whispered. "I will always love you."
"As do I." She replied. "Until the wind and tide run dry as rock, I will love you."
Suddenly, his winter clothes felt much too hot, and he threw away his jacket and shirt, leaving his chest bare. He kissed her again, soft and sweetly, and the two of them collapsed into the water.
...
The lights still danced above them; however they were growing dimmer as the hours passed. The two lovers lay on the riverbank, the warm water covering them like a blanket.
Neolani kissed Unalaq's chest, gently working her way up his neck to his lips. He kissed her hungrily and his arms trapped her in a tight embrace.
She chuckled and pulled away slightly to lay her head on his chest. "It was beautiful..."
Unalaq smiled. "You sound sad, my love, is something troubling you?"
Neolani sighed and looked up at the fading lights. "It's sad that it was over so soon. If only it could have lasted longer."
"Not to worry, my sweet." He sat up, pulling her onto his lap. "The lights will be back. And even then..." He kissed her neck gently. "We don't need them to fuel our love."
...
It was morning when he returned, and the dark spirit was waiting for him in his room, its silhouette present only in the wall mirror.
"Did you have fun tonight?" It asked him.
Unalaq didn't answer.
The spirit "humphed." Crawling closer, it said "Have you thought about my proposal?"
"Yes." Unalaq said simply.
"And your answer?"
Unalaq bit his lip; his mouth set in a hard line, and took a deep breath.
"No."
"You raise me up so I can stand on mountains,
You raise me up to walk on stormy seas,
I am strong when I am on your shoulders,
You raise me up, to more than I can be."
-Secret Garden