Chapter Seven: Tradition
Senna glanced at Tonraq's snowmobile, which idled loudly on the ice and produced enough exhaust to make Korra's eyes water. "You do know where you're going, right Chief?"
Tonraq pursed his lips and heaved a sigh, turning off the snowmobile. "Traditionalists. The only thing worse than a snow yak is a dog. You excluded, Naga." He reached out to rub her nose, and Naga wagged her tail in response.
It took about fifteen minutes to hitch together a dog team to a traditional sled. The supplies that Tonraq had strapped to his snowmobile were also transferred to the sled. Tonraq's displeased expression evaporated when Senna gave him a kiss. She turned to pull Korra into a hug. "Enjoy yourself."
"Thanks, Mom."
"I'll keep an eye out for any letters from Asami."
Korra started. She sent a quick glance to her mother, trying to sense ulterior motives for that statement, but Senna had already turned back Tonraq.
The dog team set a pace that had Naga moving at an easy lope. She grinned into the wind, enjoying her work. Every once in a while, she'd look over her shoulder to grin back at Korra, which made Korra tip fingers into her nape and rub. She loved her polar bear dog, and she was damn glad they'd found each other in this life.
Their journey was easy but long, taking most of the daylight hours. They stopped for the night at a mostly-deserted village. It was a little eerie, even when a few older women greeted them and welcomed them into a larger igloo to use for the night.
"Where is everyone?"
Tonraq glanced at her in question after he pulled off his parka jacket. They'd both already stripped from their snow-covered boots, leaving them in the lower entrance to the bone-and-wood igloo. "They're on the ice hunting seal. That's where we'll be going tomorrow."
They both glanced up as an older woman stepped into the hut carrying a hot pot of something that smelled meaty and delicious. She set it on the coal pit and bowed. "What a pleasure to have you both."
"Stay and eat with us, auntie," Tonraq said politely.
She smiled but declined. "I have an old husband to feed, Chief Tonraq. Please let me know by radio if you need anything else tonight. Avatar Korra, it's an honor to host you."
The stew consisted of whale steak. It was chewier cut of meat that had been cooked long enough to make the meat tender and flavorful. She and her father ate most of it. Tonraq belched, and Korra did her best to match his volume. With that, he roared in laughter. "There is no better daughter in this world," Tonraq said with a grin.
"Love you too, Dad." She settled into half-lotus. "Would it be okay if I go in the spirit world for a bit?"
"No problem, sweetheart."
Her passage into the spirit world was easy. She found herself at the Tree of Time and focused on traveling swiftly through her surroundings. It was more force of will or desire than traveling: if she wanted to be at a place badly enough, she slipped into that place. The fluidity of the exchanges would have stumped her as a child, but it was becoming second nature now. The forests, deserts, and places that even she would not risk were becoming familiar, as well as a few of the friendly residents. She didn't know the name of any spirits yet; that was a more intimate information exchange that the human one.
Instead of allowing the spirit to lead her to Zaheer, Korra focused on Zaheer's spiritual energy and tugged herself through the spiritual plane to reach him. He was sitting up, watching as she approached. She chose to walk the last few meters to him.
Today he was in a grassy clearing surrounded by red trees that sprouted blue butterflies as she walked by. At his gesture, she sat down across from him, mirroring his half-lotus posture. The blue-green grass was soft like fur on her fingertips.
"Hello, Korra."
"Hi. How are you?"
He cocked his head as if to say, Why are you even asking? Ignoring her question, he asked, "Shall we talk about economics today? Capitalism, socialism, and such?"
"Uh. Why not?"
They spoke at length about the distinctions in these economic policies. It made Korra's head spin, especially because Zaheer didn't seem to favor any of them. At her inquiry, he explained that the Red Lotus had been about the de-establishment of government, meaning they did not care for any economics. "I suppose you would say that what we stood by was what your tribe did once quite well: trading a product for a product, one family to another in times of need."
Korra was drawn bitterly into the thought of how little the White Lotus had taught her—even as she cautioned herself not to believe everything he said without verification. It was just that he hadn't lied or embellished anything from their last conversation. She wished she could argue more about capitalism, but he shot down her weak assertions. "Why was I never taught any of this stuff when I was a kid?"
Zaheer gave a hard scoff. "Why would the White Lotus teach you anything about the politics and economics of your own people? Suntoq is no segregationalist. He believes that the South is only worth as much as it's an extension of the North. He and Unalaq were licking their chops over the thought of a highborn Northern Water Tribe Avatar. They got one, alright, one from the South, borne from a disgraced Northern prince—a situation by Unalaq's own making."
"Master Suntoq knew Unalaq?" Suntoq was the long-established leader of the White Lotus. The thought of him working with Unalaq made her blanch, especially with the memory that Unalaq was once a part of the Red Lotus.
Zaheer nodded, losing his smile. "If not close friends, they at least shared quite a few future goals for the world."
There was nothing that she could say about that. She dropped her face into her hand and shook her head. She felt trapped, a concept she considered learned helplessness. Hit a dog long enough, he won't realize there's an escape. She'd been the dog in her childhood. The escape for Republic City had been her ultimate bid, and she may not have gone through with it without Katara's permission. At Tenzin's word, she would have slunk back to the South to live behind closed walls again.
Finally, Korra managed to ask, "Why?"
"Conjecture: an unbiased Avatar, most likely. Unbiased and not part of the South. You may argue Avatar Aang's biggest weakness was his connection with the Air Nation. He refused to kill even those that would have been better dead. He stripped bending from people, something even his apologists have trouble justifying."
"Ozai and Yakone."
"To name a few." Zaheer's implication was, of course, that there had been many more. He continued, "The White Lotus gained a great deal of reputation and financial success by donations for perhaps that reason."
"I don't understand."
"More conjecture and rumors… But if the White Lotus kept you separate, they could rent out your time and experiences. Perhaps if Fire Lord Zuko wished to have you visit him, he would be asked to donate to the White Lotus in your name. With an impending attack, such a visit could be cancelled for your safety."
Korra sank into herself and cradled her head as that thought rang through her. There was no way her past was shaped this way. No way. She didn't want to waste time thinking about it anymore. She wanted to push it away and pretend she'd never heard it. Once again, a soft whisper to not trust Zaheer came through. She wiped her face roughly and lifted her head to look around.
A spirit that slinked slowly along the clearing, its edges blurred with darkness. It seemed off. Was it an extension of the darkness that last conversation pulled out of her? "Things have seemed darker recently."
"Yes," Zaheer agreed. He frowned at her for a pregnant moment before saying, "There seems to be a pervasive darkness."
"Any sources?"
"I have yet to find one. Surely there must be one. Our presences should uplift this place, not darken it."
"I've been feeling tired when I come back into my physical body."
"Yes," he agreed, to Korra's surprise and against her hope.
Zaheer shifted, raising his eyebrows. "I must go. I smell tea."
"Zaheer!"
He paused in his exit.
"Can we try for the same time in three days?"
"No doubt I'll be here, Korra."
When Korra settled back into her own body, she felt the ache in her back, the numbness of her backside, and the tingles in her hands. The discomfort rooted her firmly in her own body again. She shifted and opened her eyes to find her father watching her with his jaw clenched in clear anger.
"Was I gone too long?"
"Zaheer?" he asked.
Korra was shocked.
"You said his name. How is he able to go in the spirit world?"
"It's not a problem, Dad."
"Not a problem? Did you forget what he did to you?!"
Korra shook her head. She was confident in her answer. "No, and I won't ever forget. But he can't hurt me anymore. He has no power in the human world, and he can't match mine in the spirit world."
Tonraq slowly relaxed. His eyes flickered across her face as if he were seeing her for the first time. "You've changed so much in the last year. Whatever it was that you did or saw or discovered… Korra, I'm proud of how you've grown. But I'll always see you as my baby, and I'll always want to protect you. It worries me that Zaheer can reach you at all."
"He helped me recover, Dad. He has a lot to teach, even if I don't agree with some of his lessons."
Tonraq sighed. "You have to trust your instincts, sweetheart. If you feel unsafe, don't risk anything."
"I have guardians. The spirits are a bigger presence than you realize."
He took another deep breath and released it; as he did, his lips turned up into an unhappy smile. "Very well."
She had trouble sleeping that night as she remembered Zaheer's quiet words. Conjecture, he'd said, but his conjecture made more sense than anyone else ever had. It gave a reason to the prison that was her childhood. The reason was almost too ugly to bear.
They set off several hours before the sun rose the next day. Naga, whose belly was full of whale flesh, moved a little stiffly at first, probably because she'd slept out in the cold the night before. Her hips tended to bother her in the cold even though Korra used heatbending to ease pain in those joints. There wasn't a hut in this village that was large enough for her so she'd burrowed into the snow like wild polar bear dogs.
She warmed out of her stiffness, and by the time the sun was up, she was panting happily next to Tonraq's dog team.
They came upon the camp in the late morning. It was well populated, unlike the quiet village they'd left to the elders and children.
"Welcome, Chief Tonraq." The man who greeted them was grizzled and white. Or maybe it was just ice frozen in his beard and eyebrows. He had deep wrinkles in the corners of his eyes and heavy laugh lines. His eyes were almost clear, and he judged Korra with them for a moment, but only after he'd taken a long, long look at Naga. He bowed to Korra finally. "Avatar Korra, what an honor."
"Korra, this is Chief Tukkuk. Chief Tukkuk, my daughter."
Korra dismounted Naga to bow properly. She took Tukkuk's forearm in her hand, and he squeezed hers in reply. "It's a pleasure to meet you. I hope your hunt is going well."
He snorted faintly through his nose. He used a colloquialism to give an affirmative answer: "The spears are sharp and seal hide soft. I suspect that's why you're here, Chief Tonraq."
"Part of the reason, Tukkuk. We'll speak of it tonight, but we're happy to hunt alongside you today. You're welcome to all of the supplies I brought with me."
"We welcome the help and the supplies."
Korra followed them as they walked through the camp that consisted of igloos and tents. She'd never seen a seal hunt; from what she knew about it, there wasn't much to see. Men sat at breathing holes waiting for a seal to surface or they sat in their kayaks with a harpoon ready. Probably a combination of both if the majority of the adult village was out here now.
"Avatar Korra, this is my eldest son, Nukkuk."
The man was younger than Korra expected, maybe only a few years older than she was. He looked like his father, though his eyes were darker blue. He gasped and jerked when he saw Naga but quickly regained his composure to lower his head and shoulders in a bow. Korra knew what kind of gut-reaction a massive polar bear dog could strike in people; Naga was one of the biggest around. She smiled softly at his reaction and responded in time with a bow. "I'm happy to meet you, Nukkuk."
"It's an honor to meet you, Avatar Korra."
The chief said, "Nukkuk will be happy for help on his hunt."
Nukkuk seemed more surprised than happy. He looked up at his father with wide eyes and dropped the sled rope in his hands. "O-of course. I welcome any help."
"Can Naga come?"
He turned wide eyes to Naga, who nuzzled against Korra's ear. "Yes, sure."
"Keep your eyes sharp, son," Tukkuk said. He turned away, and Tonraq followed, though Tonraq turned and gave Korra a wink as he departed. That was a little odd.
"Naga can pull your sled."
"Ah, great." Nukkuk was unwilling to step closer, so Korra took the sled rope from him and secured it to Naga's saddle. She'd been trained to drag burdens, and one as light as this wouldn't cause her any problems.
"Would you like to meet her? I promise she won't attack you."
Nukkuk's larynx bobbed with his nervous swallow. He laughed just as nervously. "I guess I should. It's just, we see polar bear dogs and run. And she's really big."
"Thanks. I kept her lean when she was a puppy, but she just kept growing anyway. Naga, sit. Down."
Naga went down on her belly obediently, watching Korra for another cue. "Be gentle."
Naga replied with a grin, making Nukkuk's step forward stutter. Probably the size of her white teeth. "Let her smell your hand."
His hand shook as he held it out, and Naga's nose twitched as she scented him. She grinned again and gave his fingers a lap with her tongue, making him flinch.
"See, she's a sweetie. Good girl, Naga!" Naga lapped at Korra's face and gave a puppy-like yip. "Up, girl."
Nukkuk wasn't completely relaxed, but he was comfortable enough to walk beside Korra as they turned in the eastward direction. "I've always wanted to meet you, Avatar," he said after a time. "Your name is pretty infamous around here."
"That sounds bad."
"Not really. People just can't decide if you're a traditionalist or a progressionalist."
"I don't know what I am yet, honestly."
"What's it like in the spirit world?"
Korra was a little surprised by the question. She glanced towards the sun as she considered her answer. "Different but the same. There are places that are a lot like places on earth. And other places that no spirit will go. Things are more fluid."
"And the spirits?"
"You don't see any out here?"
"No. Not really. I guess we're a little isolated."
"Maybe you will sometime. The spirits have turned out to be true allies."
"There's talk of dark spirits," he said after a minute of silence.
"Talk or sightings?"
"Talk of sightings," he clarified with a tight grin. "Whale spirits, maybe. Some elders think it's from overhunting, some blame technology."
"Where are they?"
Nukkuk shrugged. "I don't know. It's all rumors from one tribe or another. It's always a cousin's friend or a neighbor's family member."
It was disturbing, even when he said, "I don't know if any of it's true."
"If you hear anything concrete, write me about it. I need to know." Whale spirits… Korra needed to spend more time in the spirit world, with more spirits. But you didn't ask a spirit if they'd seen any dark spirits. It broke some sort of etiquette, some sort of odd hierarchy. Korra still felt so new to them.
Beside her, Nukkuk nodded to her request. They walked along in silence for a few more minutes as Korra worried at her thoughts like a loose tooth. Finally, Nukkuk glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. "You're taller than I expected."
"My dad's pretty tall." Sometimes she forgot when she was with her friends; they were all so dang tall they made her seem short.
"Good point."
Korra laughed, surprised at his bashfulness. "I'm just a normal person, you know. Call me Korra."
"Well, um, Korra, this is our stop. You want to hold the spear?"
"Sure." Korra took the spear from him and turned it over in her hand. It was a harpoon, actually, with the tip threaded with strong sinew. She fiddled with it, studying the sharp barb that slid out of the shaft. Then, she followed Nukkuk to sit at the seal hole.
At least her parents had told her about this. Sit in silence and wait for a chance seal surfacing. They sat away from the sun to avoid casting a shadow in the hole. Nukkuk didn't speak, and Korra didn't either. The sun slowly crept across the sky. Naga slept on the ice well away from their spot.
If Korra had learned how to hunt seal as a child, she would have had plenty of patience for Tenzin's meditation training. An ache set in her back and arm from holding the spear, but she remained as she was, falling into an odd sort of meditation in that moment. When the seal surfaced, it was as though she'd known it would happen, and the harpoon landed true, slicing through its eye socket hard enough to pin the head against the ice as it thrashed its final moments away.
"Good strike," Nukkuk said, almost in shock. He snatched up his hook and managed to grasp the seal by the flipper to help Korra heave it out. The seal was huge, nearly ten feet in length, and it required both of their greatest effort to get onto the ice. It had a beautiful striped coat.
"Wow, not bad for my first seal."
"Your first?" Once again, Nukkuk was shocked by Korra. "This is your seal, then. We'll have to celebrate!"
Korra laughed, suddenly giddy from her hunt. "It's not a big deal."
"Sure it is!" He handed her a knife. "Make the cut so we can collect the blood."
Korra removed her parka jacket, knowing this was going to be hot work. Her first cut was sure, and the sharp blade sliced deep into the neck. Nukkuk had a water skin ready to catch the fresh blood that flowed in swishing bursts from the neck. "If you can bend it, it helps," he prompted, with bright red blood already covering his hands.
Korra obliged, taking the hot fluid in her hands to direct it into the wide snout of the water skin. It was shockingly grotesque practice to drag the blood from the carcass through the laceration; this was a different kind of bloodbending, at least. This activity drove home the uncomfortable knowledge that Korra was more than capable of bloodbending. Nukkuk inserted a thin metal rod into the water bladder and stirred to grab any clots, nodding Korra towards the carcass again. "Do you know how to skin it?"
"That I know how to do." Korra bent to her task, making a clean cut from chin to groin and around each lower leg, which she broke at the joint, ignoring the jerks and twitches of the carcass. She peeled the skin away, trying to leave the precious blubber on the skin and preserve the edge of her knife by cutting from the underside of the pelt.
Nukkuk bent to help her, and between them, they made short work of the pelt. They took a moment to marvel at the pelt, flippers attached, spread out on the ice. It was beautiful.
"You want the belly or the pluck?"
"Belly," Nukkuk replied.
She cut through the soft tissue and freed the scapula from the body on either side, dropping the upper arms out of their way.
Then Korra bent to the jaw and sliced along the inner mandible, freeing the tongue through the bottom of the mouth with a bit of grunting and swearing. From this angle, she couldn't see the face twitch as she cut through nerves.
She placed her knife in the cartilage of the larynx and popped through on either side. After that, the trachea, esophagus, and muscles peeled away easily from the neck. She paused to cut through the sternum. It was hard work, and she was sweating freely by the time she split the chest and broke the ribs. The pluck—trachea, lungs, and heart—came out easily after that, and Korra walked the heavy bundle—dripping a copious amount of steaming blood—to ice out of the way.
"Don't forget the eye," Nukkuk reminded her. He shook his head, apparently in appreciation. "Always less messy with a waterbender."
In contrast to his words, their hands were covered in blood. Korra tilted the head up and sliced at the tissue around the intact eye before sliding her knife around the edges. The final few cuts were oddly the hardest; she scraped her knife against the skull as the eye was half out. When she'd freed it, she pinched the tissues around the eye under her knife and wiggled it, peeling the eye free. By the time she'd finished that, Nukkuk had freed the bulk of the abdominal cavity and diaphragm from the carcass. He bent to work on the kidneys, which were trapped in a bunch of fat in the abdomen.
The hardest part was now Korra's task: remove the ribs. She sharpened her knife again, then bent to cut along the spine, making harder cuts until she wiggled the ribcage and broke the chest cavity away. The other side was harder because there was nothing to pull against. By the time she'd managed, Nukkuk had finished his tasks completely, including removal of the back flippers.
"Head or gut?" she asked.
"Head," he said.
Korra nodded, thankful to have the easier task now. She rubbed her hands clean in the snow and separated the organs from each other. She removed the gallbladder from the liver out of personal preference and set the big, brown liver beside the knobby kidneys. She opened the stomach and separated it from the small intestines, and then the small intestines at their junction with the colon. A gentle sweep of waterbending simplified the intestinal and stomach cleaning process. She took the opportunity to sit and braid the intestines for future cooking.
The pluck was the messiest part by far. She sliced the tongue, esophagus, and heart away from the trachea and lungs and searched for the sweetbread. The animal didn't have one, which was too bad. She loved that part of a seal. The heart, tongue, diaphragm, and esophagus would certainly be eaten.
"Does your tribe eat the lungs?"
Nukkuk nodded. "Yep. Just cut each one off at the root."
The 'roots' of the lungs were fibrous and difficult to cut, but she managed. That done, Korra glanced up. Nukkuk broke the lower jaw away from the skull. He handed Korra both. "Yours, hunter."
She grinned at his evident delight. The skull wasn't much to look at: no eyes, no skin, no jaw. But she did see her kill in it. With a sigh, Korra stood and released the skull back into the ocean. It sank slowly into the darkness of the ocean. "Thank you, seal."
The jaw she would keep, maybe to make a necklace from the triple-pointed teeth.
Nukkuk sliced a strip of muscle from the spine and handed it to Korra. She sampled it. Chewy, brassy, the taste of a wild animal that most of Republic City's meats didn't have. She nodded to him. "You too."
He sampled a piece for himself with an approving smile. She cut a large piece from the liver and divided it in half. "Blessings to you, cousin," Nukkuk replied. He was right, this was the choicest part of a seal. Korra sighed as she tasted it. This was perfection: sitting on the cold ice, under the warm sun, with blood and flesh of a newly killed seal in her mouth.
She looked at her palms, sticky with dried blood, blood traced deep into the creases of her hands, and had an odd moment of realization that she hadn't thought of the reeducation camp at all. This was different: no suffering, no waste, no pleasure in the killing other than it had been a quick, easy death. She pushed her hands into the snow and rubbed the blood from them. The darkness of that thought was there, but it didn't choke her. The memory was there, but her panic wasn't.
She still wanted the blood off her hands and out of her mouth. The fear was there—that this would become panic and horror. She tried not to let it. Someone had done this to humans; they'd probably butchered them just like this...
Nukkuk's voice startled her. "This is a good day."
She looked from him to her hands and quickly finished scrubbing them. She ate a few mouthfuls of snow to rinse some of the taste of iron from her tongue and tried to focus on the fact this was a seal. She kept thinking: seal, seal, seal as they went through the arduous task of dividing the strips of meat and bone. Finally, they loaded the butchered seal onto Nukkuk's sled.
Naga had watched the entire butchering quietly, though her wide, dark eyes had been fixed on Korra. It was a clear begging expression. Korra, whose stomach was still settled even if her mind wasn't, picked up the long, thin strip of muscle taken from the neck and held it out. Naga was motionless, her eyes fixed on the treat.
"Sit."
Naga sat.
"Relax."
Naga went down on her belly and rolled onto her side, watching Korra for affirmation she'd supplied to correct response for the command. Korra set the meat on the snow, gave her release signal, and said, "Good girl."
Naga demolished it in less than ten seconds, and she licked her chops happily as Korra hitched the sled to her saddle.
She and Nukkuk dropped their parka jackets on the sled and walked in their wool shirts. The air was cold, but the sun was comfortably warm. "Hard work."
"Good work, though," he said. "We worked well together."
"No arguing over jobs."
Nukkuk grinned for the first time, showing a flash of straight white teeth. "Yes, indeed."
They walked in silence for a few minutes before he spoke again. "If you're looking for a partner… I am too. I have a good home in this village, and I'll probably be chief when my father steps down."
It took Korra a moment to understand his implication. "Nukkuk, you seem like a nice guy, but I'm not looking for a husband. I'm kind of set on someone else."
"Ah." He shrugged and smiled. "I thought I should at least ask. You're a nice woman, and we did work well together."
"Are you open to friendship?"
"Aren't we friends already?"
He had such a gentle unassuming way that Korra choked down her disbelieving laugh. If only asking Asami were that easy. "Yes, I guess we are."
Nukkuk smiled at that and started another thread of conversation about the constellations they used for navigation on clear nights. When they caught sight of the make-shift seal camp, he jogged ahead to announce, "Avatar Korra got a seal!"
His delight was a little embarrassing, but the crowd of people processing their own seals took notice as they approached. Tonraq stepped up with Chief Tukkuk beside him, and they both looked at the seal carcass approvingly.
"Her first seal," Nukkuk clarified.
Tukkuk was clearly surprised, but Tonraq's smile only widened. "Good kill?" Tonraq asked Nukkuk.
"Very good, clean blow."
Tonraq's smile only grew. Korra felt a weird touch of pride at her father's approval.
"The seal is yours, Avatar," Tukkuk pronounced.
"I'd just like to keep the pelt and the jaw. You're welcome to everything else." She knew exactly what she'd do with this sealskin.
"Thank you for your generosity."
A few of them, including one young woman, helped Korra strip the blubber from the pelt to be stored for future use. After a few minutes of Korra shaking the hair from her eyes, the woman stopped in her task, wiped her hands clean in the snow, and yanked Korra's hair back into a half wolf-tail hard enough to raise tears in Korra's eyes. "You need beads in this hair," she chastised.
As it turned out, they considered her first seal an opportunity for a party. They cooked up most of the carcass that night and ate until they were stuffed. It was a party alright, even without any booze to go along with it.
Despite the happy atmosphere, there was some serious discussion. Tonraq and Tukkuk both seemed to know what it would be about before it happened; maybe the tribe did too because they quieted when the conversation went more serious.
"You know why I'm here, Chief Tukkuk."
"Yes, Chief Tonraq."
"Your tribe has violated the laws protecting the breeding grounds of the seals this spring."
"Two young, inexperienced hunters. They have been punished." Tukkuk's eyebrows drew over his eyes.
"No more pups are to be killed, on or off the breeding grounds."
Tukkuk's only protest was: "International law has no place in our lands."
"International law protects us and our resources from other countries overhunting: our whales, our seals, our walruses. If other countries must comply, so must we. That's why the Southern Water Tribe has paid your fine for this offense. If it happens again, you will have to find the funds. But if you wish to make a statement about Internation Laws, please either attend a council session or write us a letter. I'll read it to our elders, and we'll discuss whatever you have to say."
Tukkuk nodded. "I will send you a letter. It won't happen again, Chief Tonraq."
And so that was over. Korra marveled at how well her father could bring about these agreements. Tukkuk had known why Tonraq came and hadn't been happy about it, but her father had spoken through that disagreement with sympathy and firmness. One day Korra hoped she could have the same manner.
Korra leaned against Naga's warmth within the largest tent the village could provide. Half a dozen men and women were murmuring quietly or already asleep. Korra shifted the old-fashioned oil lantern closer to use its light and opened up the letter she'd received the day before they left.
Dear Korra,
I'm so glad you're learning about your culture there in the South. I envy you in one way. My mother was from the Fire Nation, but I never felt a part of that culture. Born and raised in Republic City to a man that seemed to have no cultural identity makes me feel like I don't have roots.
That was maudlin, wasn't it?
As for children, I can't imagine ever being prepared to shoulder the responsibility of one. Tenzin's children are enough to scare me into never wanting one. Maybe if I'd met Jinora as a baby I wouldn't be so scared.
I've made great progress on my snowmobile design, and in a way that could impact the entire automotive industry. You were the inspiration for the design, believe it or not. We'll see if the patent comes through and if we can get a working prototype out. Because of that, I've admittedly been working too many hours, but I found time to visit with Bolin, Mako, and Opal. It was a good night, and we all miss you.
By the way, what is your favorite type of tea? I'll send a parcel if you tell me what you like.
Thank you for the pictures. They were beautiful. Did you take them or purchase them? Did you carve that little walrus yourself? He's sitting on my bed-side table, grinning at me right now.
Love,
Asami
Another 'love'. Korra folded the letter back and slipped it into the water-proof leather case in her bag. She would write a reply when she got back to Harbor City.
She felt nostalgic or maudlin or wistful, but whatever the feeling, it pushed her to step outside the warm tent and into the cold of the night air. The moon was a sliver, casting little light on the ice. Korra used her waterbending more than her sight to carry her towards the edges of the shorefast ice. It was an easy walk, despite the natural waves and shifts of the ice carved by wind and snow.
She stood at the lip of ice and stared into the inky darkness of the sea. It was oily that night, darkness that seemed to shift and slip above and below the water.
Then, there was a flicker of purple light.
Korra stared; the hair rose on the back of her neck. Was that a humanoid figure, dragging a tentacle from the arm? She heard the click of chains. Was it…? She cast a harsh burst of firebending, and the shadow melted away into just ocean and ice.
Her fire cast its shadow into the darkness that came behind it. Korra retreated from her spot, pushed away by her unease and fear of what lay beyond her sight. She didn't want to see what might be hidden there.
When she slept tucked close in the warmth and light of the tent, she dreamt of dark shadows and eerie clicks.
"There's a fishing line we need to check today," Tukkuk said. He and Tonraq exchanged an odd glance, but Korra didn't think much of it. She was ready to go back out on the ice again that day; the darkness of the previous night seemed so far away now. Her hands had cracked from rubbing tannin into the dried seal hides all day; she wanted out from that task.
Nukkuk volunteered to go along with them as well. Dragging up fishing line was a difficult task, apparently. The line in question was about a mile away from their base camp on the ice, making it an easy walk.
"There." Tukkuk pointed at a bright splash of orange on the ice, marking the fishing line.
"Do you put these out a lot?" Korra asked.
"We keep them in during the winter. We don't make the trip inland for spawning char, so these are our fishing grounds."
They assembled in a line, each wearing thick gloves to protect their hands from the hard line and sharp hooks. They heaved the heavy line in coordinated pulls, with Tonraq at the front, closest to the ice hole. Despite the several hundred feet they pulled up, there weren't many fish on the line and only a few of those were keepers. They had to be getting close to the end when Tonraq turned to Korra, who had been coiling the line behind them.
"Korra, come up in front of me and give me a hand."
Korra obliged. She'd mainly been removing fish from the line, not pulling it, so she settled in front of her father. On their request, she pulled. Whatever was on this last bit of line was heavy. Korra leaned forward when there was enough slack in the line and pulled again while poised over the hole. When she looked up as they yanked, she was horrified to see a giant gray shark head burst out of the hole.
She yelped and immediately let go of the line. There was nothing but instinct that fueled her to swing a burst of fire at the shark. She staggered back into her father, who fell to the ground. Unlike Korra, Tonraq was roaring with laughter.
The shark didn't seem to be bothered by her fire, though its skin began to steam. Its teeth were tiny but numerous and serrated. Its eyes were tiny and terrifyingly dark.
"Shit, you jerk! Dad!" She swung a hand and smacked him in the arm, but he only laughed harder. Tukkuk and Nukkuk were snickering more quietly, and they were composed enough to cut the line and free the shark. "You planned this!"
"You fire punched it! I wish I had seen your face!" He dissolved into more laughter, holding onto his stomach.
"I should firepunch you." She smacked him on the stomach this time, and Tonraq dissolved into the closest thing a man of his size and timber of voice could get to a giggle.
"I'm telling Mom."
"She'll laugh too! Hahaha!"
Later, she supposed it was good they left on a laugh. There didn't seem to be any tension what for Tonraq coming out as basically a verbal warning to the tribe. Even if that laughter came at her expense, she wasn't upset.
Tonraq cleared his throat as they approached the deserted village the next evening. "You aren't mad at me, are you?"
"Nah." Korra laughed now as she thought of that shark popping out of the ice. "That was a good prank. Did you find it on the line earlier?"
"Yes. I asked Tukkuk if we could leave it on for another day. Those sharks don't move too much so it's not a big deal he was hooked that long."
She shook her head. "Well played. I'll have to remember that one."
"I'm proud of you sweetheart. First day hunting and you get a beautiful catch."
"Do you think Mom will show me how to make gloves and boots and a hat out of the pelt?"
"I think so." Tonraq nodded to the bag on his sled. "I found a few polar bear dog bones too, if you want a gander at them." He cleared his throat and glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. "I'm sure Asami will think sealskin is soft."
Korra jerked upright and turned a shocked look to her father. He raised an eyebrow and smiled. "Well, your mother and I guessed from the letters, but your reaction confirms it. You told Nukkuk you're not looking for a husband, but are you looking for a wife?"
Korra snorted. "We aren't even close to being there. I have no idea if she's willing to think about me that way."
"Don't worry. Keep pursuing her, and she'll break down. I courted your mother for two years before she caved."
"Two years, huh?" Korra laughed. "Surprised you stuck it out, Dad."
"I was so in love with her, I would still be trying to this day."
"Stalker."
He threw back his head and laughed.
"Anyway, I'd like the bone if I can have it. Maybe I can make stuff for my friends." Mako had mentioned breaking his last pocket knife. Bolin would probably like a legitimate Nuktuk necklace. Asami… Asami would get the sealskin. That is, if she could get Asami to send her shoes and gloves for sizing purposes.
Korra glanced back at her father. "So you're really okay with it?"
"I like her. I like Mako too, but Asami has a good head on her shoulders."
"And the fact she's a woman?"
Tonraq shrugged. "Living this long in the South has changed me. When I was your age, I would have been upset, but what does it matter if you love each other and take care of each other? I want you to be happy, Korra." He glanced at her. "Does that bother you?"
"No. I'm just a little afraid that reaching for more will hurt our friendship."
"It will strengthen it," Tonraq replied firmly.
Korra wished she had his confidence. "Two years, really?"
"Really."
-TBC-
