This fic is also on my tumblr blog where my username is Kuno-chan and my blog name is Dragoness Ramblings.
Disclaimer: Legend of Korra belongs to Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko
A Deal with a Devil
Nima's breath hitched.
A deal.
She'd been a pirate for sixteen years and after those sixteen years, short as they seemed to however old Tianmei was, she knew her way around deals too intimately. The bargains that pirates struck had a tendency to be corrupt, unfair even, but deals nonetheless. Her father had made them many a time for supplies, passage through territory, even parlay when they were outmatched by a bigger fish.
Nima herself dealt with the nature of bargaining. Sometimes taverns wanted to hire her as entertainment when they heard she was in town. They'd come to the ship in humble posture and greedy eyes and Nima would make them pay for their hunger, holding out her palm for literal coin. Her father, always hating that side of her dancing, made sure they paid very well seeing as he was going to have to "dispatch some of his crew for protection" the night thereof.
Yes, she was very familiar with deals which was why she knew that this wasn't just going to be some throwaway favor. Why bring a girl back to life unless you needed her for something important?
"Tell me." Tianmei interrupted her thoughts. "Do you know the story of the eight goddesses and their gifts?"
Nima nodded.
"Recite it to me."
As a child, her mother used to tell her that tale as a bedtime story when the waves were too calm and wouldn't rock her to sleep. So, reluctantly, Nima told it the way she did. "Well, I…" She swallowed hard. "At the dawn of time, Kuruk was the King of the Gods. He had a wife and seven daughters. None of the daughters came from his barren wife, but he loved each of them dearly. To show his love, he gave each of them a gift. Gifts each fit for their might and beauty and greatness." Nima felt the tale unravel itself and roll off her tongue, no longer an effort to tell the story. She knew it by heart and felt her mother's heart mercifully close when she said it. "Meishenme, Kuruk's barren wife, was given a loom where she could weave all of life, any life, to her heart's content. It's why there are waves and tides. When she is spinning, the waves crash and flow. When she is not, they are calm. Canyue, the youngest of the sisters and goddess of the moon, was given a hearth of white flames to warm her in the night and where she can craft stars in her idleness. That's why the moon glows. Qilaq, the second youngest, was given a beautiful mirror that breaks any illusion. She uses this mirror to help judge the souls that come to her and so that they may also understand her judgement. However, as a kind goddess, she broke off a shard of the mirror and threw it from the heavens for man to find so that we may better ourselves before our time comes."
"Tie Sanjiao was rightfully given a whip for her to rule in hell. She reserves it for only the most wicked. The true, unremorseful monsters of man that have no chance at redemption. Like Qilaq, she stripped a thread of leather tail from the whip and hurled it down to earth so the wronged may seek their own retribution. Older than her and known for her unrivaled beauty, Wujin was given a veil made of moonbeams as long and endless as all the seas combined. In an act of benevolence towards the world, she severed a piece of the veil and wove it's threads into the waves. That's why the sea shimmers. After her was Amaterasu. She was given a torch made from the flames of the sun. A fire that would never go out. As a warning to all life, she lit the mountains and filled them with fire so that we may never forget our place in the world. The second oldest sister was Bei Xian who devoured her brother, Xian, in the womb and emerged the sole born child. She was given a trident that could bend the will of any creature on earth, land or sea."
When she stopped, Tianmei raised her brows and gestured for Nima to go on.
She'd only stopped because her throat was tired after talking so much. Still, she cleared her voice and went on.
"Finally, there was Kinguyakki, the oldest sister. She was given a mighty sword made from the fangs of a kraken and claws of a dragon. A symbol of her dominion over sea and sky. She used the sword to cut the land apart, creating the four nations. After that, she also used it to wage war on the primordial gods, brothers of Kuruk who sought the power of him and her sisters. She defeated them, and cast them into the core of the earth where they would be imprisoned for all eternity. With peace restored to the cosmos and her superiority proven, she no longer saw a use for the sword among gods. As a result, Kinguyakki shattered the sword into several pieces and scattered these pieces across the globe, ensuring that no other - mortal or god - may use it against her."
After such a long story, Nima loosed a breath. How had her mother told her that story so many times and not gotten tired herself just saying it?
"And the last bit of the tale? Or shall I divulge that? The conquerer part?"
"What?"
Tianmei sighed, almost rolling her eyes. "Honestly." She cleared her pretty white throat and smiled again. "It is also said that whoever joins the sword back together shall obtain power to make them a conqueror of men. This, my dear, is where you come in."
Nima paused, then blinked.
"...me? But I don't want to be a conqueror of men…?"
"Not you. Well, yes you. You're going to get it for me."
Nima's mouth fell open.
"M-me?" she sputtered. "Why me? You're the witch! Can't you do it yourself?"
"Why, of course I can, but are you really in a position to refuse me?" Tianmei grinned. "You're a girl who I brought back to life and, well, that means you belong to me. Think of your life as if it's a house. You were forcibly kicked out by someone. Then, I come in and allow you to live in it, but the house still belongs to me and you play by my rules or I'll kick you out too. I have the deed to your life, my dear. You literally owe me for it. And you may only be allowed to keep it under certain conditions."
Nima nearly whimpered, but still stood her ground. "But why me? I don't understand what I can possibly provide to help you…"
"Your circumstances are very unique, simply put. Unique in a way that happens only when stars align if you may. You see, my dear…" Tianmei's gaze focused hard on Nima. "You literally cannot refuse me. Should you be foolish enough to do so, then, you'll die. Again. You are bound between the lines of life and death by magic far more ancient than all the kingdoms of the earth and just as forbidden I'm sure in some contexts. Yet, you are still very much alive. Complicated pieces of work, but, in a phrase, you must take my deal if you wish to continue living. Refusing me will break the chain of life and that only leaves death to reel you back in. Take my deal and successfully fulfill it, then and only then will the chain of death be broken, leaving you completely free to live your life as if you never died in the first place. You can almost consider what we're doing right now a proposal."
Nima nearly dropped to her knees. So… her life was on probation? She had to buy back her own life? Her stomach clenched uncomfortably when Tianmei mentioned dying again. Would she bleed out again? Would her wounds reopen and the blood start-
She couldn't even think of it as the overriding feeling she'd felt of being utterly alone and helpless came back. This sea witch was making her bargain for her own right to continued breathing.
"I still don't understand why you chose me… why didn't you just let me die and then chose somebody who has a lot more skills that may be useful to you? I just got lucky. Why would you go use me instead of doing it yourself?" she breathed.
Tianmei shrugged. "Why should I put myself in danger when there's you to do all of that for me?"
Those amber eyes gleamed wickedly and Nima saw their single word answer.
Expendability.
And, that, was when Nima realized the simple fact that she was simply a hound dog. How many pieces could she find before she stopped being useful? Tianmei probably didn't even think she'd find them all. Just enough to make her work less hard.
Nima swallowed down the urge to vomit.
She wanted to tell Tianmei to just be done with it. Go and take her deal somewhere else and return from wherever she came. Let her go back to being not alive.
But she needed to know about her family. Were they safe? Were they okay?
And she chilled thinking about Captain's Quil's triumphant eyes at all the blood that had poured from her. Oh, gods, all that blood that had burned out of her body. She'd choked on it.
No, she couldn't. She couldn't even bring herself to think about it because the fear had been so overriding. Every primal sense of survival had come alive, screaming for her to do something to save herself. Never expecting her to fail and let her own heart stop beating.
She couldn't.
"Now, my sweet." Tianmei's beamed like a cat ready to eat it's mouse. "I'd like to know your answer."
"Is the deal bound by blood?" Nima let a breath. "I have a few conditions of my own."
Tianmei raised her perfect, dark brows. "Oh, study do we? My, aren't we smart? Where did you pick that bit up?"
"Wild guess. Pirates make blood oaths all the time and it has to mean a lot more with magic, right? Plus, you said you used blood to bring me back. Figured it might mean something.
"Delightful girl." Tianmei hummed. "Oh, alright. I suppose I'll be generous to my little thief. What, pray tell, are these conditions of yours?"
Nima sighed through her nose. "First of all, you have to keep your word. If I complete your task, then you have to let me live. You won't have any hold over me anymore and I'll be allowed to live my life no strings attached." Tianmei nodded. Nima went on. "Secondly, you have to provide me with a trump card. Something I can use in case I fail or get stuck."
Tianmei's brows went high this time. She repeated, "A trump card."
Nima nodded. She'd never gone to go find any legendary weapons before, but even simple raids on other ships were prone to situations where life or death was in question. "Surely, someone as powerful as you can provide me with something to bail me out in case something happens."
"I'm impressed," Tianmei squinted at her, still smiling. "See, I knew I saw something in you... you really do have the mind of a pirate, don't you, girl? Your kind never engage unless they have some kind of advantage on their side."
Nima didn't respond and Tianmei sighed.
"Oh, alright, very well." She looked over Nima up and down, searching. Her eyes rested on Nima's feet. "That anklet. Give it to me."
Looking down, Nima had forgotten that she was wearing her Uncle Imaru's anklet still. In fact, she was both surprised and grateful that it hadn't been lost during her… misfortune. Nima frowned at her. "Why?"
Tianmei arched a brow. "Would you like your trump card or not? This is a favor. Not a god given right, after all."
After a moment, Nima hesitantly slipped the gold anklet off her foot, the single black jewel embedded dutifully on the band. When she finally handed it over, Tianmei spoke a long incantation of a foreign language Nima didn't recognize and handed it back after the anklet pulsed with smoking, colorful light just once. The witch nodded.
"There. Consider that your trump card. Enfusing spells with jewelry is an old beloved pastime of many witches. It's so handy."
"What does it do?" asked Nima, inspecting the anklet before carefully putting it back on her foot.
"Think of that anklet as a charm. A very powerful one, courtesy of my own personal might. The road to uniting the Kinguyakki's treasure is long and dangerous. Where others have tried, they have all, to my knowledge, died. You may also meet death yet again." Nima froze and Tianmei went on. "That anklet has a portion of my power with it. Like a skin of water if you will. Should you once again experience the supposed to be final note of life, this anklet will reverse it under certain conditions. First being, your head is on your body. Even I can't help you if you've been decapitated. Second being you dying in attempts to honor our deal. Third and finally, you have to have been killed by an outside force. If you end your life with the intention to die then the magic is void. If you die trying to escape me then the magic will not work. Death doesn't like being cheated and neither do I."
"See, this anklet is now an official negotiation between us and the magic binding our agreement will allow it to do all the things I've just done for you, but the catch is that it's all about timing and condition. When using this, you have one shot. That is to say, you must be wearing it for it to work. So, if you know what's good for you, you won't take it off. That being said, try very hard not to die. Magic likes to be interpretive sometimes. Especially strong stuff like this."
"How can you do all of this?" Nima felt a little sick listening to all of Tianmei's non-stop jabbering but she was curious. "I've never heard witches who can do all this stuff. Bringing people back to life… nobody can do that... can they?"
Her Uncle Lefty had always told her that while witches could be very scary and very powerful, they had rules to follow. After all, they were still only mortal. She was just about positive bringing people back to life willy nilly was among those things. Let alone being powerful enough to perform such a feat. Something about this particular witch, however, seemed very off from the beginning. Right from the moment Nima laid her eyes on that trail of smoke where her legs should have been, something just seemed not necessarily wrong… but not right either.
Then again, maybe this was just among the many things she hadn't been told.
Tianmei looked at her nails, clearly pretending to be inspecting them. "You could call it my specialty. But I don't exactly owe you an explanation. If I told you I'd probably have to actually kill you and you don't want that do you? That'd be just a little counterproductive."
Nima immediately shook her head.
"Good girl. Now, then, I don't have all day. Here is the official deal: You will search for all the sword pieces of Kinguyakki's sword. Once I properly claim my prize, you will have all that you have asked for. You may live and will no longer be magically binded to me. If there's nothing else…"
Tianmei crawled through the air again, winding like a leaf in the wind toward Nima, her trail of smoke wisping around her. She gracefully landed in front of Nima, an unrolled scroll of parchment having conjured itself from nothing appearing in her long nailed fingertips. On the scroll were the terms of their agreement in an old dialect of common that her Uncle Otaku loved reading old age legendary literature in.
"Do we have a deal?"
And there again was the predator, staring her down with a smile that promised hell either way. In Tianmei's other hand, a writing quill twisted into life, bone white feathers adorning the end. It floated above her palm as she extended it to Nima in encouragement.
"Go on…"
The whisper caressed the tendrils of her hair and the soft of her skin like an unholy prayer. Nima looked between the pen and the scroll. This contract was going to be her life until she completed it and, by gods, she was terrified. Terrified beyond belief and still hoping to every god listening that this was just a dream. Just a terrible nightmare and she'd wake up in her room with her purple bed sheets and her family up on deck getting started for the day. But with a trembling hand and a last glance at Tianmei's intently focused eyes, Nima grabbed the quill out of the air and brought the red dipped brush tip to the parchment, signing the characters of her name in what she suspected to be blood. Whether it was her own blood or not, she had absolutely no intention in finding out. With the last stroke of ink to paper, the pen yanked itself out of her hand and disappeared into dust once again.
Tianmei's eyes widened slightly with a manic satisfaction as she looked the contract over again and then one last time. The parchment rolled up on it's own and disappeared as the pen had and Tianmei twirled high over Nima's head, grinning as if she were on top of the world.
"Climb into the boat and it will take you to Huiyanshan just south of Lushe," she told Nima.
"Okay... " Nima nodded. "But where do I even start? How am I supposed to find these pieces?"
Tianmei shrugged. "How should I know? it's your job to figure that out. Though I suggest starting with coming into contact with the mermaid population up in those parts. They have odd knowledges."
"...mermaids."
"Yes, mermaids. Good luck, my dear," Tianmei waved with her fingers. "And now, hold your breath."
And then she disappeared with a snap of her fingers and a little twirl. Nima was about to call out for her to get her out of this bubble, but then, with the source of it's magic now absent, the structure began to collapse.
Panicked, Nima managed to inhale a gulp of air as sea water sloshed in, filling the space and throwing her around until she was fully submerged. She kicked her limbs around until her legs were treading water and she reached for the light of the surface. Up and up she swam, away from the wreckage she hadn't realized had been below her until now and toward the boat Tianmei had said would be there waiting for her.
She'd almost run out of air by the time she made it to the surface and threw an arm over the side of the boat as she emerged, audibly gasping. Inside the small boat built for two was only a single brown cloak. With considerable effort, she climbed into the simple boat and snatched the cloak around her. Looking around, it was still bright, the sun overhead, and she saw only sea. Sea and distant land far ahead of her.
There were no oars to row nor a sail for the wind to catch, but once she'd gotten settled in, the boat began to navigate itself toward the shore.
-:-:-:-
"Dad…?"
Rama tried not to squirm, his father's back to him. The sun was setting and Taani was up from her long nap now, seemingly okay after what his medically inclined Uncle Longshot had best described as a "meltdown" of had always been rare for as long as Rama could remember. Or, at least, not common for her whatsoever. They'd only occurred a couple times over the years and they'd always come under serious social and emotional duress. Whatever the case, even Rama was no help. After making sure that Taani was eating dinner just fine, he'd come up to the deck after seeing his father wander up as everyone else went down to the dining hall. Knowing his father, it was probably a bit of a habit at the moment.
Nima just being gone all of a sudden and never coming back was the hardest thing he'd ever faced in the world so far. How could she just be gone? And why would his family not tell he or Taani exactly how she had gone?
He could only guess the answer was pretty horribly. And that… that made him sick just from not knowing. That his big sister had probably died worse than most people ever deserved to and…
His heart sunk low.
He hadn't even told her how much he loved her and, gods, he'd never realized before all those time he teased her to get lost how much he'd miss her. It was something he never had to think about. Now, a few days and many tears later, he still felt the burning hole torn in him.
She was just gone. Dead. Like a puff of smoke.
It wasn't fair.
But after Taani's meltdown, he also realized it might not have been quite fair to blame his father for her death. No matter how much "factually" they might be true. Maybe it wasn't right to take his anger out on somebody who was going to blame themselves for the rest of their life.
The recent days had been full of nothing but pain and right now he just wanted something to feel better.
HIs father turned around to look at him and flashed a weak smile.
"Hey, buddy," he said quietly. "What you doing all the way up here? Shouldn't you be eating dinner right about now?"
Rama shook his head. "Not hungry…" He took a step. "Can I be with you instead?"
As an answer, his father smiled again - albeit somewhat sadly - and lifted an arm to free up his side. Unable to help himself, Rama walked into him, throwing his arms around his father's torso and screwed his eyes shut, willing himself not to cry again.
"I'm sorry…" he croaked.
His father put his arm around him, holding him tight. "You have nothing to be sorry for. I-"
"Yes, I do," said Rama, voice cracking. "It wasn't your fault. I just-I… I didn't know what else to do. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry..."
He felt his father hold on tight to him and put his other hand on the back of his head. Rama felt tears slide down his nose and onto the side of his father's shirt. For a moment, they just stood there and held onto each other.
"You have nothing to be sorry about, do you understand me?" His father said gently. "Because you were right. It is my fault that this happened."
Rama shook his head fervently. "No! No, it was't! It was Captain Quil's fault. He…"
Looking up, he could see his father smiling sadly at him still.
"It was, but as a father I also have to take responsibility. And you know what happened."
Feeling more tears fall down his cheeks, his father wiped them away with his thumb and Rama buried his face in his father's shirt, his body shaking with sobs.
"I love you, Dad," he said, his crying muffled in his father's shirt.
His father bent down just low enough to kiss the top of his head. "I love you too, son. I hope you know that. I love you and your mother and… and your sisters so much."
Rama nodded firmly, but didn't dare look up at his father in an effort for them both to maybe save a little face. He had a hunch that they were both probably crying.
And the stage is set. Tianmei makes her deal and now next chapter things getting rolling a little bit more. Also, I'll admit, that I liked writing Rama and Kai working things out. It was a bit of a relief to write, actually!
This story hasn't gotten quite as much as attention, but for those who are reading, I really appreciate it! I love it when you guys drop those reviews and they're really what's keeping me going and keeping me writing! Again, this fic hasn't gotten much attention and I really appreciate every word of feedback you leave even if it's just pointing something out! Thank you for reading! Tune in for next chapter!