Her name is Korra.
Fire Lord Zuko sighed and put down the paperwork in front of him, fingers going to their usual place right on the bridge of his nose. Beneath the various reports and detritus of ruling a nation that littered his desk were three items, all of equal importance. One was a recent letter from Katara. Another was a newspaper clipping that showed a picture of smiling family from the Southern Water Tribe; a mother and father and their little girl who was holding one fist up in the air in what could be triumph. The third item was a rather short missive from the current Grand Lotus, slightly singed.
It said, in what could be called polite terms, that they had found the Avatar; that she was under the good care of the Order and would remain so, that she would start training with the resident Waterbending Master, and that there was no need for the Fire Lord to send any sort of help since they had plenty of bending masters that could be summoned when needed.
That had been one month ago. Two months after the newspapers had informed the world of the Avatar's return.
Katara was the one who had finally let him know the girl's name. The Order was being rather secretive about everything and about Korra, her letter had said. She would stay in the South Pole for her Waterbending Training. It was commendable how dedicated they were to Avatar Aang's last wish, to keep the Avatar safe.
Zuko moved to pick up a missive from the clutter, something about the Navy's activity against smugglers around the United Republic of Nations. But his mind was somewhere else.
The Avatar was a four year-old girl. A four year-old girl who had just been told she was going to be the most important person in the world.
The Avatar is twelve years old and an idiot.
It didn't bode well, if Avatar Kuruk's history was any example. As far as he knew, the Water Tribes did not hold to the tradition of informing the Avatar of their identity at the proper age. At least not the Northern Tribe. Months after Avatar Aang's passing, (it still seemed like yesterday when he received that news, still hurt to think about it) they had already claimed to have the next Avatar, and had continued to insist that the Avatar had been born into their tribe until Korra's existence had been revealed.
Zuko had to trust that the White Lotus knew what they were doing. They were good people, dedicated to keeping the world in balance. He'd seen their dedication first-hand for years, from the Hundred Year War to the founding of the United Republic, and all of the crises that had arisen since.
Still. Their secretive handling of Korra left a bad feeling in his gut. He hadn't even been invited to meet the girl, for Agni's sake!
With that in mind Zuko put the Navy report he was holding down, then pulled a fresh sheet of paper from a drawer with one hand while pushing aside the mess in front of him with the other. Katara would be expecting a reply. It would be rude to keep her waiting.
He had a promise to keep to an old friend.
AN- And so I have bravely tossed this out into the wild. With a quick dedication to Harp (aka PlaidButterfly) I would like to ask, if there is anyone who likes this plotbunny, I'd love to have a beta to help me change this one-shot into proper storytiems.
