Kuvira sat in her chair, her knees tucked her her chest, her eyes glued to her book. It had been almost two years since she had lived in the Bei Fong household. The rest of the family was downstairs, holding a party for Baatar Jr. It was his birthday, or something. She wasn't particularly keen on going. The Bei Fong kid and her never really got along. Besides, there were so many people down there. She preferred not to deal with it.
Besides, Miss Su had collected the most magnificent library. There were books from all over the nation! Fiction, historical, epics, poems. There was even a book owned by Avatar Kyoshi herself.
Kuvira loved reading, ever since she learned how to. It was her own little escape. Whenever she was feeling small, she would make her way into the library, and read the first book that caught her eye.
Normally, she liked to read heroic tales of daring. Brave heroes going up against power crazed villains, the ensuing battle, and good triumphing over evil. Sometimes she even imagined herself in the place of these heroes. She would pretend she was the fearless protagonist, putting their life on the line to change the world for the better! In those moments, she wasn't a weak little girl. She was a hero.
But this night was different. As she scoured the library shelves, there was a book that caught her eye. It was tucked away in the corner of the book case, the edge of it's crimson cover sticking out. She pulled it out, and found that it was a history textbook from the fire nation. She shrugged, and picked it up. She might as well read a page.
She opened it, and looked at the date. She gasped.
It was a history textbook from the Ozai era. This history textbook was written during the 100 year war. Curiosity getting the better of her, she made her way to a chair, and began her read.
It was absolutely fascinating. The book was the history she had been taught, but with a slight slant to it. Everything was worded to make the fire nation seem grand. When it talked about the war, it didn't present it as a deranged conquest of power. It presented the war as if it was a good thing. She had never heard about the war from a positive perspective before. It was shocking to her, reading such a thing. She didn't there was anything out there presenting the fire nation's actions as a good thing.
She realized that, during the war, the fire nation saw their conquest as just. As far as they knew, their actions were benefitting the world. That's when she had a realization. The fire nation didn't see themselves as villains. In fact, in their stories, they were the heroes. At the time, they saw themselves as the brave protagonist, while the Avatar was the villain attempting to put an end to their righteous quest.
Up until that point, she had seen things as very black and white. Their was good, and their was evil. She had held a naive viewpoint that villains knew they were evil. However, reading this textbook, she realized that wasn't the case.
History, she realized, was written with the bias of the winners. The great villains of the world weren't villains. They were losers. In that regard, heroes weren't heroes. They were winners.
She looked back to the book. It still baffled that the fire nation saw their actions as good. How could anyone become so blinded by power.
She closed her book. In that moment, she promised herself two things.
The first: She would be on the right side of history. When history textbooks spoke of her, she would be painted as the hero.
The second: She would never be corrupted by power.
I just finished marathoning the last three seasons of Korra, and I'm kind of in love with Kuvira. She is such a fascinating character, I wanted to write a little one shot for her. I'll probably write more stories about her in the future, but in the meantime, have this reflection. Hopefully, some other Kuvira fans enjoyed this one.