Author note: Just a quickie one shot. I did the cover in 20 minutes :I
"Hyaa! Hyaaaa! Take that you mook! I'm a warrior! Dakkadakkadakkka!" The little child yelled once and again as she directed blasts of fire towards her sifu.
"Avatar Korra! Stop this foolishness already and get back to earthbending." He shouted in turn.
"But there's no earth here, practicing stances is boring! And it's dang cold, I wanna make some fire and eat fish with mum and dad!" She replied, sticking her tongue out as she punched fire here and there.
"There's nothing to burn either, so that is pointless, and you will see your parents at the end of the day. Practicing will keep you warm until then." The beardy man in green reproached.
"What if I make a fire outta you, huh?"
The girl's threat alerted the earthbending master, who adopted a protective stance, only to realize that he really was in lack of something to bend, due to the several meters of snow which covered the White Lotus Order shelter in winter.
"Ai-yaaaaa—"
The master closed his eyes and kept his stance firm, ready to endure whatever she would throw as battling physically could end worse. Fortunately, Katara's timely arrival completely cooled Korra down.
Literally.
"Hhhhhh! Sifu Katara! Lemme go! Lemme go!" Korra wriggled inside the block of ice where her waterbending master had trapped her, only letting her head out.
"Don't you think that's a bit—"
"Problems with earthbending again?" Katara asked gently, ignoring any complaints.
"Well, she has the attitude down, but she's always in her own little world. There's no way I can teach her if she's serious about turning me into ashes." He sighed.
"I see." The old woman nodded slowly. "I will have a talk with her."
Just as she said this, the block of ice began trembling and cracking. That is, until it exploded, throwing icicles everywhere, which didn't turn into massive destruction weapons thanks to Katara's fast intervention.
"See, see, sifu Katara?" Korra asked once and again as she ran towards the woman. "I can blow up stuff with my mind! I'm Comb Action man!"
"Well, you're definitely unlady like, but—"
"Shut up, old man!" The Avatar yelled again. "I'm not a lady! I'm a warrior! Hyaaa!"
"…The talk has been advanced." Katara sentenced as she grabbed Korra's tiny hand, after watching the almost ridiculous scene.
"Whaddya wanna talk about, sifu Katara?" The hyperactive child asked as they settled down in a little cliff in the outer wall of the camp.
"Let's see, um… Ah, yes." The old lady nodded to herself. "Korra, dear, don't you ever feel a bit… lonely?"
"Lonely?" She echoed, looking down to a small pile of snow which she was modeling. "There's you, mommy, daddy, and a lot of friends." She looked up with big blue eyes filled of curiosity. "Why would I feel lonely?"
"Well, all the people at the compound are a little too old for you." Katara explained, wearing a weary smile. "We aren't as energetic as you are. A child like you should be playing with other children."
"Other kids, huh?" Korra pondered. "Can I go met them?"
"No, Korra." Katara sighed. "You know you're not allowed to leave the compound."
"Then, why don't you bring some? We can all play together in here! Oh! Oh! Wait! We can ask the mantistork to bring some babies!"
The waterbending master began laughing at the kid's increasingly crazy ideas, and once she was done, she just shook her head patiently.
"I was thinking that maybe, just maybe, if you're ready, since this is something only for very big and strong children…" She made a dramatic pause. "You could get an animal guide."
"A… pet?"
Korra's eyes were almost gleaming when Katara answered a "guess you can think of it that way."
"A pet… yes, that'd be AWESOME!" The kid began jumping up and down, prompting Katara to grab her hand to make sure she didn't fall. "Oh, can I choose?"
"It's your animal guide, your best companion; you must choose it."
"Hmmmmmmmmm…" Korra sat down with her legs crossed and began rubbing her chin. "A polar bear mole…? A turtle seal…? Huh…" The girl began scratching her head strongly, messing it up completely. "AAAAH! I can't think of anything! …Wait! What if I go out to see what animal I want?"
"Korra…" Katara answered with a reproachful tone.
"But… you said…"
"I know, dearie." Katara patted Korra's head. "But if we tell the guards, they won't let us get out. I'm sorry, maybe when you're older." She sighed. "What about I bring you some arctic hen to look after until then, hm?"
Korra didn't say anything, opting instead to frown and nod sadly as they walked back to their house.
The little child couldn't sleep at all that night. She just stared at the ceiling of her room, thinking about how great it'd be to have an animal all for herself to play with. She thought and thought about it so much that she reached a decision: it didn't matter what the guards thought. She needed to find her animal guide.
Thus, she grabbed a few pieces of meat, put them in a bag, and set out to the adventure, making a hole under the walls while the guards slept. She'd be back before they knew.
…Or so she thought.
Korra had been outside the compound a few times, always accompanied by a horde of guards and her family, so she didn't have a clue of where she was going. Everywhere looked the same: ice, water, ice, snow, water, ice, ice, animals which didn't catch her attention, water, blizzard, snow, water, ice.
Fortunately, she had fire to keep warm and meat to keep her tummy full. At least until she ran out of it. When this happened, a whole day after having left, she didn't have any more options than sitting down by a wall of ice to try and sleep.
"I'm so hungry…" She muttered to herself, hearing her stomach growl desperately. "Where do they keep food here? Where are mommy and daddy?" She began sniffing, making her nose hurt because of the slight frostbite on it. "Mommy, daddy…"
Tears were already flooding her eyes when a little growl caught her attention. It came from a snowball a few steps away.
Korra would never admit being scared, but she did jump away after seeing the snowball suddenly move toward her, sniffing the ground all the way. As it got closer, the kid finally could see that whatever that thing was, it was too fluffy to be a snow ball.
"Arf!" The fluffy thing waggled its… tail?
"What are you…?"
It suddenly sneezed, revealing a lot more of hair under a big layer of snow, a snout and eyes, as well as two floppy ears. It had big fore legs and thin hind legs. Using the surprise it had caused Korra, it suddenly sank its face in her bag, probably searching for any remains of meat.
"Hey! No! Don't do that!" Korra grabbed the animal by its sides and lifted it. "You little thief! I don't have food for me, how am I gonna have food for you?"
"Hnn, hnn…" It whined. Upon lifting it, the kid discovered that the little creature was really, really skinny. It probably hadn't eaten in days.
"Oh, you poor thing… You're… you're alone, aren't you?" She said, affected by the sigh. "I'm sorry. I really don't have any food left, but you can stay with me for a while."
"Hnn…" The animal complained again, as it trembled a bit. Seeing this, Korra made a little flame appear on her hands, to warm them both.
"Hey!" She suddenly exclaimed. "That's it! If I throw fire to the sky, they'll find me! They'll get mad at me for leaving, but that's okay if they gimme food! And you… you can be my animal guide! It'll be awesome!"
As soon as she said this, she hugged the animal with one hand and began throwing blasts of fire upwards with the other, making it so it could be seen from far away in the night. Only a few minutes after, a group of guards found her, and picked her up, insisting that she left the animal, which they called 'a dangerous polar bear dog cub!'. Korra refused to let it go, claiming that they both were hungry, and so the guards had to take them both in the end.
"A polar bear dog." Everyone said, impressed, while Korra stood against a wall thinking about what she did.
The heads of the White Lotus Order opposed this completely; however, Katara and Korra's parents, who were more aware of Korra's strength, actually backed the idea of keeping the animal as a test. In the end, everyone agreed that it might be a good animal guide; however, Korra would have to take full responsibility of taming an already somewhat grown wild animal.
"Alright, you'll be living with me!" Korra sentenced that same night. "I will train you, and pet you, and love you, and play with you every day! Baths ain't included. But first… you need a name!"
"Woof?" She perked her ears up slightly.
"How should I name you? Hmm…"
Thinking and thinking more, the young Avatar eventually fell asleep.
"Augh! NO! NO! Get off my bed!" Korra yelled as she woke up, only to find the creature sleeping by her side. "NO! Down doggie, down!"
And that was only the start.
Polar bear dogs were one of the few untamed animals which roamed the world, and the little, stubborn Korra was convinced she could be the first to ever achieve that goal.
A dreamer she was not.
"NO! Don't!" She yelled as the dog stuck her snout on Korra's dish.
"NO! Don't do that!" She yelled as the dog began munching Korra's ponytail.
"NO NO NO NO NO!" She yelled as the dog… used any corner as a toilet.
No, just no. That was the word she said the most, yet the polar bear dog refused to heed, continuing to act wildly once and again. And so a month passed, and Korra's energy and optimism about taming her dear animal guide began fading away as well as her few bad ideas for a name.
"No, no, no." She repeated once and again, dejectedly. "Please, no, don't do that." She sighed and sighed, but the animal refused to listen, so Korra tried less and less.
And less.
And less…
Until she stopped trying. She would give the dog up; as much as she loved playing with it, it only caused her a lot of trouble, and she didn't feel any… special bond or something with it.
"I'm sorry, buddy." She whispered. "But…"
The polar bear dog began scratching the door of her room.
"NO!"
Suddenly, the dog stopped and turned towards her. Korra was so shocked that she stopped as well, afraid to move a muscle.
"…No?" She asked again, which made the dog bark and ran towards her, sticking her tongue out and wagging her tail. "No?" The dog barked again. "No!" And the dog answered once again, licking her face. "Ahahahaha!"
"Hey, everyone!" Korra yelled as she kicked the door of her room opened. "I did it! I tamed it! Look! NO! NO!"
"Woof! Woof!" The animal kept jumping around her, sharing her happiness, until the kid fell exhausted and clang to its furry neck.
"No!" She said happily, once again. "No, no… haha…"
What Korra really said, wasn't obviously no. In her language, she only yelled 'Naga' once and again and again, so much that the name stuck. And that was the beginning of a wonderful friendship, which no one could ever break. The bond of a girl and her polar bear dog, who kept destroying furniture and destroying hairstyles for the rest of its life.
Figures.