Tonraq walked back home after a long search. He'd been tracking a wild beast with some other men of the tribe for quite some time now. And the other men had insisted that he stay back that night since they were very close to finding the creature. But he'd refused point blank because he simply had to get home. His little girl was finally home for a few days before she had to go back to her training. So he'd left knowing that he'd be pounced on the minute he opened the front door. He paused as he thought about this for a moment and smiled. Then he pushed the door open.
"Dad!" he heard his daughter scream as he entered the igloo. Korra jumped right at him and he caught he mid jump and laughed with her.
"Look at you!" he said as he brushed her messy brown hair away from her face. "You've grown! How's my little girl doing?"
Korra simply shrugged at this. "You've changed a bit, too, dad," she said as she playfully tugged at his beard. Tonraq laughed heartily at this.
"So tell me what you've been up to!" he said.
"Not much... Master Katara tries not to work me up too hard... but the others say I gotta train harder," she pouted.
"I'm sorry, sweetheart... I wish I could help," he said sincerely as she wiggled out of his arms and climbed up to sit on his shoulders.
"Nah, training's fun... I don't mind," she laughed.
"Well at least you're enjoying yourself!" he said as he heard his wife come in.
"There you are! Korra and I have been waiting for you all afternoon!" Senna said as she gave him a quick kiss.
"We're close, but we'll have to go again tomorrow. That Polar Bear Dog isn't getting away this time!" he said sternly.
"A Polar Bear Dog? Can I come, too, dad?" Korra asked eagerly.
"Absolutely not!" Senna yelled. "I know you love animals, Korra, but Polar Bear Dogs aren't like penguins! They'll kill you if they get the chance!"
"Youre mother's right, kiddo... But I promise we'll go penguin sledding before you leave, okay?"
"Fine!" she huffed as she slumped on her father's shoulders.
"Come on , now, Korra!" Senna said as she lifted her off Tonraq's shoulders and sat her down at the dinner table. "Time for dinner."
Dinner was usually quiet for the couple, but they were delighted whenever their daughter was home. She kept them talking and laughing... It made them miss her all the more when she was away in that White Lotus compound for training.
"So why're you hunting the Polar Bear Dog?" Korra asked her father.
"She attacked some of our people, Korra... and injured them badly. We can't have a beast like that lurking around," he asserted.
"But they wouldn't attack just like that!" Korra retorted.
"Not all animals are like that, Korra," Tonraq said with a defeated smile on his face.
Korra simply shrugged and went back to gulping down the rest of the Sea Prunes in her bowl.
"Tell you what... Why don't we go fishing early in he morning tomorrow before I join the others for the hunt?" Tonraq asked.
Korra's face lit up as she said, "I'd like that!"
As Tonraq rowed the kayak deep into the icy waters, Korra scanned below for some fish to catch. She was usually good at it, too. They'd already caught about a dozen... and they were headed back to the glacier so they could get home. Just as they were about to tie the kayak up to it's post, they heard a deafening roar.
"What was that?" Korra asked as she looked around.
"Stay here, Korra," her father said sternly as he grabbed his spear and rushed towards where the roar had come from.
Korra sighed as she placed the basket of fish down and plopped beside it in a huff.
She didn't know when, but her eyes had closed on their own. All she knew was that she awoke to a very strange slurping sound.
At first she saw something white and furry. It was still hard to make out because she was still a little groggy. She rubbed her eyes and squinted to clearly see the creature that was in front of her. It's fur was as white as the snow it stood on... It had strong forelegs, but it's hindlegs were thin... like a wolf's or dog's. With a sudden jolt, she realized what it was. She was staring at a Polar Bear Pup. It was slightly bigger than she was. And she knew it could overpower her easily if it wanted to. But at the moment, it seemed too busy emptying the basket of fish to care.
Korra's first instinct had been to run, but something about this creature fascinated her. She couldn't explain it, but something inside her told her that she had nothing to fear from this creature. As she slowly made her way to it, she tried to be as discrete as possible. But the way her boots crunched into the snow made her wince at every step. The pup still seemed too busy to care. Just as she was close enough to pet it, there was a loud crack beneath her boot and a chunk of ice gave way.
Then several things happened at once.
The pup stopped eating and turned around. It's big, brown eyes were fixed on Korra. Immediately, it pounced and pinned Korra to the ground, whose eyes were now widened in fear. Her father had been right. These were wild creatures. They didn't care who stood in their way.
But the next second the pup simply jumped over her and bolted away from where she stood. She tried to keep up with it, but it had disappeared somewhere deep into the glacier. She was left staring at the spot where she'd last seen it.
"Korra!" she heard her father yell suddenly.
"Coming, dad!" she said as she ran back to where she'd been asked to stay.
"Where'd you wander off to?" her father asked curtly.
"I just... went exploring," Korra said meekly. For some reason she didn't want to tell her father that she'd just found the creature he'd been looking for.
"And lost all our fish," Tonraq laughed.
"I... I'm sorry," she said.
"No harm done. The fun was in spending time together, anyway, right?" her father asked as he picked her up.
"Yeah! So, did you find the Polar Bear Dog?" Korra asked.
"We sure did! That monster won't be bothering us again!" he said. Korra's heart sank a little at this. She hoped that it wasn't the pup she'd seen.
"So how big was it?" she asked.
"She was huge! Took ten of us to bring her down!" he commented.
"Oh," Korra sighed as she felt a little relieved. But she also felt sad because she had a feeling that it had just lost it's mother.
And so they made their way back home. But as Korra lay in bed that night, she wondered where the pup was... and hoped that it was safe.
Korra sat on the edge of the river where she'd last seen the pup with a basket of fresh fish. She was hoping that it would come back for food... But as it got close to mid day, Korra lost patience and was about to leave. As she turned, she spotted the creature she'd been looking for. It was staring at her with it's big, brown eyes, and even flinched a bit as she bent down. Korra noticed this and simply held out a fish for the pup to eat. The pup slowly made it's way to her and sniffed at the fish first. Then it opened it's mouth so wide that it made Korra flinch just a bit, but she threw the fish into the pup's mouth. Korra smiled as it happily ate the rest of the fish she fed it.
When the basket was empty, the pup looked at her expectantly. When she didn't feed it any more fish, it walked towards her and sniffed her all over for more fish. Korra laughed as the pup's muzzle tickled her.
"I don't have any more!" she said between fits of laughter.
The pup stopped sniffing at her parka and looked at her curiously with those big, brown eyes. Korra tried to reach out and pet it, but the pup backed away and ran off in the other direction.
"No, wait!" Korra called after the creature, but it was gone. She sighed sadly as she made her way home for dinner.
"Where have you been?" her mother asked her as she opened the door.
"Just... exploring. I don't get to do that very often," Korra lied.
Senna smiled sympathetically as she sat down with her daughter and hugged her.
"You were always a free spirit. No one could tell you what to do. And that hasn't changed one bit," she told her. Korra simply smiled at this.
"Master Katara told me the same thing... She says it's what makes the other masters think I can't control myself," Korra laughed.
"Well, you are a little impulsive," Senna commented. "But that's not always a bad thing. It's how you've survived training for the last two years."
"Yeah... I don't know what I would've done otherwise. It gets lonely sometimes," she admitted reluctantly.
"Korra-" Senna began, but Korra looked away.
"I don't... have any friends... or... anyone my age to talk to. Someone who's there just for me... and not because I'm the Avatar," she said bitterly.
Senna's heart went out to her daughter. She never knew how alone she'd been. "I'm so sorry, Korra... Should I... talk to your trainers about this?"
"No! I don't want them to think I can't handle it," Korra said.
"But then... then how can I help?" Senna asked her.
"Just keep visiting. It helps," Korra said as she smiled slightly.
"That we can definitely do. I promise," Senna said.
"Thanks, mom." Korra replied gratefully as she hugged her mother.
"Come on in, now. Let's have dinner," Senna said as she picked Korra up and sat her down at the table.
For the second night in a row, Korra found herself thinking about the pup she'd recently met... She was going to find it again tomorrow, for sure.
When Korra woke up the next morning, she ran out the door and smacked right into her father's leg. "Whoa! Easy there, kiddo! Whaddya say we go penguin sledding now, huh?" he asked her.
Korra winced. It was definitely a tempting idea, but she had to see that pup again.
"Sorry, dad... Not today... Maybe later, okay? I just wanna explore a bit today," she lied.
Tonraq quirked an eyebrow at this. "You're... saying no to penguin sledding?" he asked her.
"Yes," Korra replied in the most assertive way she knew how.
"Fine," Tonraq relented after a minute. "Have fun, Korra. I'll see you at home for dinner, okay?"
"Sure, dad," she said as she gave him a fleeting hug and ran away as Tonraq watched suspiciously.
"What's going on?" Senna asked him.
"I think our daughter is hiding something," he told her. "I'm gonna go check on her."
When Korra skid across the ice to slow herself down, she found the pup waiting there already. Korra used her waterbending to catch a few fish so the pup could eat. And the pup did just that. Korra watched as the pup happily ate all the fish she'd caught. And she wondered what it would've been like for her to be free and not worry about training all the time. She was so lost that she didn't even notice that the pup had finished eating and was sitting right next to her.
"You don't know how lucky you are, do you?" Korra asked the pup with a smile. The pup simply tilted it's head curiously.
"I guess you think I'm the lucky one... No one's hunting me down," she pondered out loud. The pup let out a low, understanding growl at this.
"Do you always sit and listen like this?" Korra asked with a laugh. The pup barked a little vehemently at that and looked away, so Korra took that to be a no.
The next second, Korra had hugged the pup and taken it by surprise. The pup wiggled out of her grip and backed away a little... surprised at being hugged by this little girl. But when it looked at the disappointment in the little girl's face, it simply had to do something... so it took a step forward and nuzzled the little girl's face. The girl squealed with delight and hugged it's face...
Korra was simply delighted that the pup trusted her enough to let her pet it. She never would've thought she'd find a friend in a Polar Bear Dog, but this little pup seemed more attentive to her than most of her trainers combined. It wasn't that her parents didn't love her... It was just that most of the time, they were too far away to help.
Korra laughed as the pup toppled her over and licked her affectionately. For a brief moment she got a full view of the creature's belly.
"Definitely a girl," Korra thought with a slight smirk as she hugged the pup's neck.
It took Tonraq a while to find his daughter's little footprints in the snow. He tried to be as discrete as possible, not wanting to alert Korra to his presence. But at the moment it seemed like she was quite ahead of him. It seemed to him that Korra had gone to the same place where they'd tied their kayak up after their little fishing trip.
"Now why would she come back here?" he asked himself. Then he froze in his tracks. He'd just found out why. His little girl was playing with... with a Polar Bear Dog.He didn't know what to do for a second... She didn't seem to be in danger... but the next second, the pup had pinned Korra down. Tonraq was simply blinded with fear as he charged at the creature with his spear.
Her first warning came when the pup had suddenly stiffened. Korra suddenly heard the crunch of boots against snow getting louder and louder. She pushed the pup off of her and bent a thick fort of snow around it. But the minute she turned and saw who it was, her heart sank
"Dad, no! Please! She isn't dangerous!" she yelled just as Tonraq prepared to melt the snow fort around the pup.
"She?" Tonraq yelled, outraged. "Korra this is a wild beast! It's mother injured several of our kinsmen! And you're defending it?"
"Yes!" Korra fired back. "This is their home, too! We can't just kill them just because we think they're dangerous! They deserve to live their life, too! You killed her mother! Now she's all alone because of you! How should that make her feel?"
Tonraq stood there, stunned at his daughter's words. He didn't know how to react to that.
"Please, dad... She's been nothing but friendly to me! And you know why? Because I never threatened her! They're just as scared of us as we are of them! Why can't you see that?" she yelled.
"But... Korra they... they've harmed so many of us!" Tonraq protested.
"As we've harmed them!" Korra yelled. "We've driven them out of their own homes, dad! How is that fair?"
Tonraq sighed and relented as he knelt down to level with his daughter. "Korra, I just... I just don't want you to get hurt," he said in a worried tone.
"She won't hurt me as long as we don't hurt her," Korra said assertively.
"Fine," Tonraq said after a minute and then looked at the pup. He threw his spear far away and lowered the fort Korra had made for it.
The pup looked up at him with pleading, big, brown eyes. He simply had to smile. He pet it apprehensively at first, but grew more confident after letting go of the fear he'd come to associate with this creature.
"Can I keep her, dad?" she asked him.
"Well, we're going to have to ask your mother, aren't we?" he replied with a smile.
And so they walked back home with Korra constantly hugging and petting her new friend. Tonraq smiled as he saw how happy his little girl was. Soon, they were home. Korra was a little worried about what he mother had to say, but she didn't expect her to scream the way she did.
"What... what is that thing doing here?" she shrieked.
"That thing, Senna, is our daughter's new best friend," Tonraq said with a chuckle. "It seems the pup has taken a liking to her, too. And she's friendly."
To drive the point home, the pup sniffed at Senna's parka and wagged her tail.
"Say hello to Naga, mom!" Korra announced happily.
"Naga? Why would you name her that?" Senna asked with a short laugh.
"Well, she doesn't exactly have to obey me... We're just going to learn to understand each other. That's what friends do, right?" Korra asked brightly.
Senna smiled as she bent down to look at Naga and said, "Welcome to the family, Naga!"
And since that day, Korra never had to be alone... for she always had a fierce, loyal companion in Naga.