AUTHOR'S NOTES: I can't have been the only one to find it unsatisfying that we got no closure on Sokka. As such, he shows up a bit in this story. However, when Katara said he "was gone", in this case he's more referring to the fact that in his older age he's become a bit senile. There's only so much genius a man can handle, right? That aside, here's where we also get a glimpse of Republic City for the first time. Korra gets a few adventures here before we take her to the Red Lotus proper, and next week's chapters are all going to be quite entertaining. Also as a side note, any time Korra meets a new past life, I'll track it at the bottom of the chapter where it occurred. As such, I've updated the footer of Chapter 7 to reflect this change.
Happy Reading!

BOOK ONE: POWER

CHAPTER TEN: WELCOME TO REPUBLIC CITY

Korra was in awe. She had heard legends of Wang Fire from some of the older citizens of the Water Tribe. Many claimed that he was actually just Katara's older brother Sokka, but the man hadn't been seen in the Tribe for years, and even Katara had always asserted that 'her brother was gone'. Wang Fire was a man whose legend had been blown perhaps out of proportion, but even in the Water Tribes and the Earth Kingdom, the name had a reputation, and while many of his glorious feats had been attributed to or connected with Sokka in one way or another, it seemed that no one wished to prove that they were one in the same.

"THE Wang Fire?" Korra raised her fists to her cheeks excitedly. "No way!" The idea that Korra had just met a celebrity (despite her being something of one herself) was still an amazing concept to her, perhaps because of how young and inexperienced she was.

"As surely as the great hero Sokka of the Water Tribes found his trusty boomerang after the 100-year War!" Wang Fire tugged his beard both for show and as if to prove it wasn't fake.

"So I've heard all the stories even down south," Korra explained, "and I just have to know—what's your relationship to Sokka?"

"Sokka's a fine man," Wang fire rolled his shoulders before stroking his beard and resuming staring intently at Korra, "and he has imitated me many a time. You know what they say, Avatar: imitation is the best form of flattery."

"Isn't it 'imitation is the sincerest form of flattery'?" Korra tilted her head.

"Same thing," Wang Fire shrugged. "But whatever the case, I have business to attend to. Some advice: Never travel through Si Wong on foot, and never get involved with a waterbender during that special time of the month!"

"Waaaaait, what 'time of the month'?" Korra narrowed her eyes. She may have been young and fairly naive, but that crack didn't escape her.

"Full moon of course!" Wang Fire replied with a confident puffing of his chest. "I don't know what you thought I was ramblin' about, lass; but you need not worry. Good day!"

Korra's right eye twitched oddly as Wang Fire stumped away. He was an eccentric fellow, or maybe his humour was just over Korra's head.

True to Kwan's theory, Korra was indeed restless, and it was starting to grate on Nakkoa.

"What do you expect us to do?" Kwan reasoned, "throw her overboard? She's energetic, and she's cooped up on a little boat with no one her age and no friends except us and maybe that weird old guy she sometimes talks to. Sister, I love you and I understand you're the smart one more times than not, but you gotta look at it from her perspective. She was cooped up in a prison compound for 10 years, and now she's restricted to a little ship in the middle of the ocean which has restrictions of its own on it too. Of course she wants to get out and go somewhere."

"She wasn't this restless in the cargo hold," Nakkoa riposted, "maybe we should have shoved her into the trunk of a Satomobile in the cargo hold and let her out after we landed. She didn't seem to mind it on the way to Gaoling if I recall correctly."

"But do you understand her reasoning?" Kwan reasoned, "She's just a kid. Do you remember when you and I were about that age?"

"If I recall, that was shortly after mother died and we joined the Red Lotus." Nakkoa replied with a matter-of-fact tone. "And that was 3 years after father's death and us getting tangled up in Triad business, so I'm not sure that's the best example."

"Except that actually proves my point," Kwan retorted. "The Triads thing took our minds off dad, and the Red Lotus became family after we lost mom too. We were wild and lost, and you in particular felt that it'd be best to keep us busy. Korra's the same way: she needs to stay busy, and she just needs proper training."

"Her polar bear-dog is better disciplined than she is," Nakkoa laughed.

"Well it's not like we're doing much to humour her apart from promise her more power than she'll know what to do with," Kwan quipped. "And come now, she's civilized."

"Only barely," Nakkoa reminded her, "I guarantee the first thing she's going to do when we reach port is take off on that beast and race through the streets."

"I don't even think she'll take that long," Kwan laughed, "once she sees the port she'll probably dive overboard and then either swim or bend herself to shore."

"You want to put that claim to coin?" Nakkoa reached into her pocket, twirling coins between her fingers in a similar way to how she would do so with some of her knives.

"I see no reason why not," Kwan laughed, "200 yuans says she jumps ship before we land."

The two sisters shook on it before returning to their business.

Ultimately, the voyage to Republic City was not too eventful. Fortunately for Korra (as well as for the sanity of the two sisters), there was candy to sate Korra's sweet tooth, which had only grown more prevalent as her boredom amplified, but all in all, Korra felt like she didn't really do anything except stroll the decks, stare out into the ocean, and occasionally run into Wang Fire again. Late one evening though, both Nakkoa and Kwan were alarmed when they saw Korra's boots and clothes in a pile and no sign of their owner.

"The fuck!?" Nakkoa and Kwan chimed almost simultaneously as they exchanged dumbfounded looks. They glanced over the deck and a moment later a small splash disrupted the otherwise fairly smooth water, and there was Korra, laughing as she stared up at them. The ship might have slowed down somewhat in the evening, but there was still no way anyone could swim that fast on their own, and with the lazy way Korra seemed to just be floating on her back and still keeping up with them, both sisters suspected waterbending.

"Korra," Kwan called out, "what even…"

Korra did not reply, however, and instead launched herself back up onto the deck of the ship with a stupid grin plastered all across her face. Fortunately for everyone involved, it seemed Korra had at least kept her undergarments on before taking the plunge. She had also kept the blue band around her upper right arm, but little else.

"Any particular reason you disrobed?" Nakkoa raised her eyebrow.

"It felt better that way," Korra shrugged, "this deck's hardly half as high as the cliff back home, and the water is so warm I can actually swim in it!"

"Cliff?" Nakkoa narrowed her eyes.

"Waterbender thing," Korra called back, "Rite of passage; you wouldn't understand."

"I won't ask," Nakkoa shook her head. Korra just giggled and stretched, her thick hair sticking to most of her face, but her exposed form revealing contours of a very athletic frame, even at 14.

"Show-off," Kwan bit her gums to keep from laughing.

"Come on," Korra reasoned, shaking her head and body like a dog before trying to wring out the remaining water out of her thick mop of hair, "that's the most excitement I've had since the Earth Rumble arena! There's nothing else to do here!"

"Well, don't get too restless," Kwan warned, "We dock tomorrow fairly early."

"I might actually tolerate a morning if we do," Korra riposted as she bent most of the water out of her smallclothes and threw it back overboard. "Believe it or not, I'm restless."

"Oh, trust me." Nakkoa rolled her eyes for dramatic effect, "we believe it."

"Well, I'd totally recommend a swim," Korra shrugged as she got dressed without any real fanfare, "but I guess since you aren't waterbenders, that might complicate things."

"We'll have plenty of time for leisure soon enough," Kwan chuckled. "Don't you worry."

Kwan was also the one laughing the next morning as Republic City came into view. Korra looked like a kid in a candy shop as the towering skyline and colorful cityscape came into view, and before either Kwan or Nakkoa could stop her, Korra had climbed up on the railing and dove right off the ship, fully dressed and everything. Brash and reckless as she might have been, she was not entirely stupid, to the point where her candy bag and most of her other supplies were with Naga rather than on her person waiting to get ruined by the water.

There was little to see in the dark water beneath the surface, but Korra still felt exhilarated to be submerged in water where she didn't have to worry about losing her extremities or have half her face frozen off if she lingered too long. Using waterbending to keep a small pocket of air around her nose and mouth (which she had held there from the moment she hit the water) she plunged deeper and deeper, also propelling herself forward using the water around her.

She chalked it up to her affinity as a waterbender by birth, but Korra made a mental note to go swimming more often. Perhaps there would be time in the future to do exactly that. For now though, she aimed for the port town, also kind of testing herself to see how long she could stay underwater with her pocket of air.

Nakkoa and Kwan had not exactly seen it happen, but were just in time to see Korra's form plunge deep enough into the water before she disappeared.

"Someone owes me 200 yuans," Kwan held out her hand with a smug grin on her face. Nakkoa shook her head in disbelief as she dropped coins and bills into her sister's hand.

"I'm impressed that she didn't take her candy pouch," the firebender chuckled as they approached port. Both sisters let out an amused laugh as they watched for signs of Korra's return to the surface. Sure enough, about 5 minutes later, a small brown head covered with a mop of dark, wet hair emerged with an exhilarated gasp of breath, as she casually swam the rest of the way to shore.

"Wanna make bets on how quickly she's gonna run off?" Nakkoa raised her eyebrow as the ship docked in port.

"And lose my newly-earned 200 yuans?" Kwan laughed as she watched Korra climb out of the water from the corner of her eye, "perish the thought! She's gonna call Naga in just a moment and they're gonna take off."

Almost as if Kwan had put Korra on strings like a puppet to dictate her next moves, Korra shook herself off (surely augmented by bending considering how much water came out of her clothes and hair), she put her fingers to her mouth, whistling loudly. Naga barrelled past the sisters, reuniting with her master before the devious duo took off into the heart of Republic City.

"Well," an old voice from behind Nakkoa quipped as he smoked an odd pipe, "that certainly didn't take long at all."

"Are you stalking the Avatar or something?" Nakkoa eyed the man accusingly.

"Oy now," Kwan hit Nakkoa's arm, "That's the great Wang Fire, sister. Show some respect!"

"Aye, listen to that lass," Wang Fire widened one of his eyes as he stared right at Nakkoa. "But really, I'm just here for the same reason anyone comes to Ol' Republic. The fact that I met the Avatar on my voyage was just a highlight of my trip. Spunky little kid, ain't she?"

"Very," Kwan nodded, "so all the more reason we need to find where she ran off to."

"Well good luck with that!" Wang fire waved them off, and thus with that, Kwan and Nakkoa took off, leaving Wang Fire putting his hands together and watching them, before briefly lifting a hand to stroke his beard. Whatever was on his mind was unclear, for he quietly took a right in contrast to the left the sisters had taken, and disappeared.

For a girl who had grown up in a mid-sized town locked in the frozen tundras of the south pole, Republic City was such a striking contrast to everything she knew. Even Gaoling, for as big and lively as it was, didn't even begin to compare. The Southern Water Tribe Capital was a fishing boat, Gaoling was a battleship, and Republic City was a full-blown carrier, when comparing sizes of these settlements. Korra didn't even bother trying to tell Naga where to go. She knew that Naga had just as little of an idea of where to go as she did, and so there was no telling where they'd end up. Korra was too busy looking up, down, left, right, in front, and behind her as they moved, and so in a way, she was glad Naga was her navigator.

Even during the day, there were bright lights in every direction, accompanied by colorful signs, colorful people, and busy streets lined with Satomobiles not unlike the ones Korra had slept under on their voyage from the South Pole up to Gaoling.

Two things crossed Korra's mind as they blindly pushed through the city, and neither Kwan nor Nakkoa were among them. One of these thoughts was that that surely a city this massive had to have some sort of pit fighting arena or something. Another notion was that surely, somewhere in this town there had to be a glorious emporium where Korra could blow her money off on candy. If there were so many newfangled confections in some backwater Earth Kingdom town, she could only imagine what a massive melting-pot metropolis would have to offer.

She eventually found herself outside a huge flashy building with a large sign that read "Blackstone Hotel & Casino". Korra trusted Naga not to wander too far, especially since the lot across from this building was vacant which in turn meant Korra's trusty companion wouldn't have to wait on the sidewalk or street corner as Korra poked around this flashy building to see what it was. Not that she had any idea what she was getting into, but much like her first excursion into Earth Rumble XIII back in Gaoling, what was the fun in learning new things without taking a few risks?

Nakkoa and Kwan took nearly half an hour before they were able to track Korra down, and that was mostly due to Nakkoa expertly asking around about a girl and a polar bear-dog. As they got closer, more people said things to the flavour of "I've seen a polar bear-dog running around a vacant lot near Blackstone Casino, but there wasn't a girl with her…"

"Fuck." Nakkoa swore after a third individual made this same claim. "Naga's across from a casino, and the Avatar is nowhere to be found. The kid has money, and is attracted to shiny things. Take three wild guesses where she probably is."

"If we're lucky, she'll run out of money and then come storming out with that pout on her face," Kwan laughed, "if not… we might have to poke our heads in there and see what she's up to."

Naga barked upon seeing Kwan and Nakkoa, and while Kwan decided to stick around outside and play with her a bit, Nakkoa decided to poke her head inside.

"If I had a yuan for every time this kid ran off," she muttered to herself, "I could buy this building right out from under Mr. Varrick and still have enough change for a night on the town. Is there anything that she won't try at least once?"