Mako was a hunter.
It was in his blood and ran through his veins. His father caught the great white stag of the North; his grandfather the elusive white panther of the West; his great-grandfather the vicious white crocodile of the East.
His target was the mysterious white polar bear of the South.
He followed the rumors to a small village further south than he had even been before. Rumors mixed with folklore until it was impossible to determine what was true and what was not.
Some said the bear could turn invisible.
Others said she was so strong she could swipe her paw in your direction and knock you off your feet.
Still others said she didn't exist at all.
He found lodging at a small inn run by a local couple and their daughter. He picked this particular inn because of the daughter's ice blue eyes. Nearly everyone else in the village had black or brown eyes, with the occasional gray and green. She was unique, set apart.
So was he.
"You have the most remarkable eyes," he told her one day as she set his dinner in front of him.
She startled, nearly dropping the soup bowl. "Thank you," she said after a moment.
"Tell me your name?"
She bit her lip, glancing toward her parents, who were busy with other guests. "Korra. I'm Korra."
Mako smiled. "Mako. Nice to meet you."
She shyly returned his smile, and retreated to the kitchen, where she stayed the rest of the meal.
After that, he looked for her whenever he had the chance, which was not often. She helped at meal times and occasionally ran errands for guests or her parents, but most of the time she was nowhere to be found.
He never saw her socializing with others their own age, and rarely outside the inn. The only time he could remember seeing her someplace else was a week after he'd arrived, the night of the full moon, when he'd taken to the woods to map the area. He'd ventured farther than planned, and twilight had fallen just as he arrived back at the inn.
Korra was sprinting through the snow, her face set and jaw clenched. He'd never seen her like that. She was also so shy and flighty around people. He stopped in his tracks to watch her, realizing after a moment that something must be wrong.
"Hey!" He called out to her. "Korra! Are you okay?"
She spun around, eyes wide and nearly tripped. When she saw who called her, she squeezed her eyes shut, shook her head, and ran even faster into the mists of the forest.
Mako first instinct was to go after her – the forest wasn't safe. He hadn't seen any tracks of the polar bear, but there were plenty of other animals that would be all too happy to make a meal out of the petite girl.
He took flight, her fresh footprints easy to track. But the girl was fast. Faster than he would have guessed, and he couldn't catch up with her. He tracked her for nearly an hour before coming to a stream where her footprints disappeared all together.
She was smart, too. Mako searched up and down the stream, but couldn't find any sign of her, and it was full night by that point. He was worried.
He retraced his path back to the inn, hoping she'd found a way past him and would be waiting there.
She wasn't.
When he told her parents, they shared an indecipherable look before telling him not to worry, she knew how to take care of herself. He should go to bed and get some rest.
Reluctantly, he retired to his room. He slept restlessly, the girl's face haunting his dreams, mixing with the visions of the beasts his family was famous for killing. It would be all to easy for her to be killed as well.
The next morning, he rose early for breakfast hoping for some sign of Korra.
He felt an inexplicable surge of relief when he saw her dishing out bowls of rice, looking as unharmed and lovely as ever.
He tried to catch her eye, but she staunchly avoided him. He knew he should leave her alone – he was here for the hunt, not for a girl – but he simply couldn't.
He resolved to talk to her after breakfast – just to make sure she was alright – and then he would devote himself one hundred percent to the hunt so he could leave before he got too attached to her, ignoring the fact that it might already be too late.
Waiting outside the back entrance where he knew she would use to haul in more firewood was not pleasant. It was cold and the wind bit at his cheeks, but he was a patient man. He would not be defeated.
She did appear, and jumped when she saw him.
"Korra," he said, grabbed her arm so she couldn't run away again. "Please, I just want to make sure you're okay. What happened last night?"
Her pale blue eyes searched his face. There was so much she clearly wanted to say.
"I'm…fine," she finally answered, lowering her face. "Don't worry about me."
"That's a lie," Mako said sharply. "Tell me."
She raised her face, looking at him with a fierceness he'd never seen in the girl before. "You're here to hunt the polar bear, aren't you." It wasn't a question.
Mako was confused. "Yes, but what does that –"
"Then it's better if we keep our distance from one another." Her voice grew as cold as the wind.
Mako narrowed his eyes. "I don't want to keep my distance from you. Korra, there's something about you that just… draws me to you."
Her face softened momentarily and Mako thought she would break into tears for just a second before the hardened mask was back in place.
"I can't." She said. "It's not safe."
"Is someone hurting you? I swear, I'll – "
Korra laughed, a hard, bitter sound. "No, no one is hurting me. If anything, I'm the one… No. Please, leave me alone."
She wrenched her hand away and ran back inside, her chore forgotten.
Mako stared after her, his heart and fists clenched.
Fine, he thought, if she doesn't want my help, then I'll leave her alone.
—-
He found prints in the snow that very same day and threw himself into the hunt, forcing himself to forget about Korra, as impossible a task as that was. He saw her eyes in the clear sky and her frightened face continues to haunt his dreams.
After I kill the bear, he thought, then I can worry about Korra.
He tracked the giant paw prints to a cave, hidden in the snow banks. It was warm inside out of the snow and wind, but didn't look like it was used often. There were no signs of kills or waste, and he saw a few lemmings dart through the darkness; no animal would dare stay in here if it were truly a home to the polar bear.
Still, it was the first solid piece of evidence he had, and he left his room at the inn. He refused to let this bear slip through his fingers, and the fact that he was distance from that girl was an added bonus.
Time passed slowly. He hunted for his meals, and spent the rest of his time exploring the area. He'd almost given up hope when a full month had passed with no sign of his prey.
Then, everything changed.
The forest grew still around him as night approached. There were no bird calls or wolf howls; even the wind in the trees seemed to fall silent.
Mako readied his rifle, the eerie silence unnerving him.
The moon shone above him, illuminating the snowy branches and falling in moonlit patches on the ground.
He heard the soft crunch of snow underfoot, whipping around to face the sound.
His quarry had come to him.
The massive white bear plodded slowly through the snow, her massive muscles rippling under a thick coat of pure white fur. Her black nose sniffed the air, little puffs of breath forming in the cold night air.
Mako took aim.
She looked in his direction, and their eyes met.
Hers were a brilliant ice blue.
Mako hesitated. The bear charged and he fired.
The forest exploded with the echo of the shot.
The first shot went wildly wide, but the second ricocheted off a rock directly in front of the creature's forepaws, causing her to rear back. Mako reloaded, taking careful aim as the bear backed up, growling at him with her teeth bared.
The third shot caught her back leg. She howled in fury and pain, thrashing about and knocking down several trees in the process.
He waited impatiently for her to stay still long enough to get a clear shot in, but she refused to submit to the pain her leg must have been causing her. She fixed her piercing eyes on the hunter and something in them make Mako pause.
Korra's face came to mind, and he couldn't put his finger on why. He shook his head, trying to clear her image away, but then he heard the faintest whisper, a plea.
"Mako…." It called. "Please…don't hurt me."
He nearly dropped his rifle in shock. The bear let out a keening howl that made his hair stand up straight.
"You couldn't possibly be…" he whispered as all the stories flooded his memory.
Not natural…disappears into thin air….a cursed creature….stronger than any mortal bear….
The bear whined, and Mako lowered his gun.
They stared at each other, neither daring to move. Hours passed and the only sounds were the bear's soft moans and the occasional crunch of snow as Mako shifted.
He didn't know what to do. He didn't dare kill the beast when something supernatural may be at play, but he couldn't leave either. The thought of the shame that would fall on him if he let the bear escape rested heavily on his shoulders, but he couldn't bring himself to pick up his gun.
Finally, the sun rose and the moon set and everything changed.
He blinked and the bear was gone; in her place was Korra, shivering and naked and clutching her left leg.
"Korra!" Mako shouted, running over to her and quickly tearing off his coat to cover her.
He lips were blue as she looked up at him, her eyes filled with pain and despair. "Do you…do you understand now?" She whispered.
"Oh, Korra," he didn't know what to do. "I'm so sorry. Here, let me get you to the cave and I'll fix your leg before we go back."
She was light in his arms, her skin warm to the touch though she continued to shiver.
He gently set her down on his makeshift bed, covering her with blankets and whatever else he could find.
He always travelled with a first aid kit – hunting was a dangerous pastime – and was extremely grateful he still have the medicine and gauze he needed. He cleaned her wound in silence, glad the bullet was not lodged in her body, and wrapped it tightly.
"There," he said. "You should be good as new before long."
She drew her leg inside the blankets without a sound.
Mako looked at her for a long moment before finally gathering the courage to ask, "Why?"
Korra fixed her icy blue eyes on him. "I was born like this. It's no curse, no one did this to me. It's just part of who I am, who I've always been and who I'll always be."
"Who knows?"
"My parents, of course. No one else."
"No one?"
"No one."
"That must be very lonely."
Korra paused. "Yes."
"I'm sorry."
"For what?" She gave him a hard look. "For shooting me?"
He winced. "Well yes, but also that you were born with such a hard lot. I wish I could help."
"It's my lot, and I'm strong enough to deal with it on my own. I don't need any help."
Mako put a hand on her shoulder, squeezing gently. "You may not need it, but I'd like to give it anyway. You don't have to be strong all the time, Korra."
"Why?" It was her turn to ask. "Why would you want to help me? Why aren't you running away? Why didn't you kill me?" Her face was open and her expression confused.
"I don't know," he confessed. "I told you before, I'm drawn to you. This whole time I've been away, I kept thinking about you. I know I barely know you, but there's just… something I can't explain."
"I turn into a bear during the full moon," she responded dryly. "I know all about things that can't be explained."
Mako smiled, glad to see her sense of humor. Now that he knew her secret, she wasn't the shy girl from the inn, she was something much stronger, more irresistible than he could have imagined.
"Now what?" she asked, pulling her blankets a little tighter.
"Well, we need to get you back to the inn. What do you normally do?"
"I keep a stash of clothes not far from there, and slip in just after the sun rises. It's usually so busy in the mornings that no one notices."
"I can take you there," he offered.
"And then what?" she straightened her shoulders. "Are you going to leave town and never come back? Are you going to wait for the next full moon and change your mind? Or are you going to find another white creature to hunt?"
Mako's stomach twisted in knots. "What do you mean, another white creature? My family has been hunting them for generations, it's our legacy."
She looked at him for a long moment, before pity flashed across her face. "You don't know, do you? Each white creature is like me – human most of the time. The whiteness is a mark of the Spirits at work."
His stomach lurched and he felt like he was going to throw up. "So you mean… my family…"
She didn't need him to finish before nodding slowly.
He ran to the cave entrance and emptied his stomach in the snow. Korra rose to stand beside him, her blankets still tight around her shoulders. She laid a gentle hand on his back.
"I'm sorry," she said.
"I had no idea," Mako rasped, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. "I swear."
"I know."
"I can't go back."
She didn't say anything, her hand still resting between his shoulder blades.
"Can I… can I stay here? With you?" He turned to her then, unshed tears at the corners of his eyes.
"You would want to?" She didn't bother masking her surprise.
"Please."
"You did shoot me, you know. I can't let you off the hook that easily."
Mako's face twisted in pain and Korra instantly regretted the joke.
"Of course you can stay," she said quickly. "I'd like that."
—-
Mako moved back into the inn after that, and true to his word, never left the village – or Korra's side - again.
AN: This was written for Makorra Week with the prompt "Fantasy." Hope you liked it!