A fiery confession and a moonlit connection.
For the first time in years, Korra was finally embracing that fierce, wild avatar she always was on the inside. She unleashed a powerful amount of her bending mix with her icy magic: her flames were icy white, she could bend both the snow and the earth underneath the ground simultaneously, and turn the earth into ice itself, her winds were icy cold blizzards that could freeze an entire tree in seconds.
She was high up on her new home on the mountains, she stood high up on the hill, unleashing her powers. She created a blizzard wind and she "surfed" on it all the way around and down the mountain.
Her feet landed safely on the snowy plane where her wolf friend, Naga was happily waging her tail. But Korra wasn't finished there: she unleashed her white flames and admired the way they sparkled in the sunlight. She created her own firework display in the sky. This whole game had gone on all day long, Korra had so much bottled up inside of her that she just couldn't contain it any longer. All the stress, all the fear, all the worry of anybody getting hurt with her powers….gone!
Korra leaped into the air as she bended snow, earth, wind, and fire as they all danced and circled around her, in one final performance, all elements unleashed into a bright snowy explosion. Sparkles of snow landed all around the mountainside.
Korra's smile could not be hidden. She never felt more alive, "WOHOOO!" she cheered loudly, "That was amazing! I never knew I could do all of this!"
Some would think it was sad she was alone, but she wasn't entirely. Naga was there, and in the long run other winter creatures came to live at her castle too. They were so naturally drawn to her. There was a snow owl that Korra named Owlowiscious, and a lynx she named Lotus….after the flowers Mako use to give her every year on her birthday.
The creatures all gathered around her as Korra kneeled down to pet each of them. She then looked over the horizon and her smiled shifted into a frown…she started thinking about her brother and everybody else.
"I wonder how everybody's taking my big secret…..I bet Aang really hates me right now."
Lotus purred on Korra's leg.
"I don't blame him. They all probably hate me too…..even Mako."
Naga whimpered at her friend's sadness. A single tear escaped Korra's eye but she wiped it away and smiled.
"But it's for the best. Aang will take over as the Avatar and everybody will be safe from me. Here I can go as crazy as I want and nobody will get hurt ever again. Win, win right guys?"
The creatures all looked unsure at her words. Korra pouted and placed her hands on her hips.
"Aw come on, help me out here."
Owlowisicious landd on her shoulder and nuzzled her face.
"Thanks, Owlowisicious."
Then Naga jumped on Korra, tackling her to the ground and and started licking her face, making the avatar laugh. At least she wasn't entirely alone. And of corse, she was free at last.
(~)
The sun was slowly setting, and the friends and their snowy buddies were already getting tired.
"How…much….further?" Aang asked between breaths. Katara looked up at the mountain, "We should be there by tomorrow." she said.
Bolin groaned as he got on his knees and then fell face first into the snow. "I can't go on anymore. You all go without me." he said, his voice muffled in the snow.
"Bolin's got a point." said Katara, "And even if we did travel all night, we won't have enough strength to keep climbing when we reach the top."
"So what do we do?" Mako asked.
"What do you think we do? We set up camp."
"Out here? In the snow?" Toph asked in disbelief.
"Don't worry, Kat and I know an abandoned cave nearby." Sokka said, "We'll be nice and warm in there"
Bolin lifted his face up from the snow, "Thank you!"
The friends followed the siblings to where the cave was.
"I see the cave!" Appa happily said.
The two snow buddies ran quickly inside.
"Hey it's very nice in here!" Momo shouted from the inside.
(~)
The kids all made themselves confutable within the cave, Katara returned with some firewood and Mako started the fire with his bending. Momo and Appa marveled at the beautiful sight.
"Wow, so that's what warm looks like!" Appa was so close to the fire, Aang quickly took the two away from it.
"Whoa, whoa, no, no, no, no, no!", the avatar took the two snowy friends outside of the cave far from the fire, "You two need to stay out here."
"Why?" Momo lowered his snowy lemur ears in sadness,
"If you stay near the fire you'll melt."
The two snow buddies groan sadly.
"Awww, but we wanted to tell stories." said Momo sadly.
"You still can. Just stay near the entrance but don't' get inside. Okay?"
Appa and Momo then smile happily, "Okay!"
(~)
The sun had set and the moon shined high up into the sky. Mula decided to stay outside with Appa and Momo. The borealis lights shined in the sky above them.
"Look Mula, the shy's awake." Appa said pointing to the sky.
Inside the cave, the friends were all gathered together by the fire while eating warm soup that the siblings had made. Toph was the first to start the conversation, "Okay, so now that we know were getting closer to Korra, any ideas on what we're gonna do when we see her?"
"I've been thinking about that and I've got the perfect plan." Aang said. Toph rolled her eyes, "Oh, this otta be good."
"What ya got?" Bolin asked his friend. Aang opened his mouth to tell them his plan.
"I…" they all looked at him anxiously awaiting his answer, "…..am going to talk with my sister!"
The entire cave fell silent, "That's it?" Asami asked.
"Thats it!" Aang replied with a smile. Katara arced an eyebrow, "Seriously?"
"The fate of our ice business lies in you having a heart to heart chat with your sister with powers that can freeze a whole city?" asked her brother.
Aang simply shrugged his shoulders, "Well, yeah. What did you think we were going to do?"
"I don't know, but…talking?"
"It does kind of make sense." Toph said. Everybody looked at her with curiosity. "I mean, out of all of us, Aang is the least person Korra has ever spoken too or tried the best to avoid because she's still traumatized by the accident. So maybe if she hears what he has to say, she might snap out of it."
"You really think so?" Bolin asked his fellow earthbender.
"I did say "might"."
"Believe or not, Korra was always pretty stubborn." Mako added, "She's got a good heart, but she's stubborn."
"No kidding." Aang muttered under his breath. He knew as well as anyone just how stubborn his sister could really be.
"I still think you need a better plan than that." Sokka said.
"Oh? well what do you have in mind mister "idea man"?" his sister asked sarcastically.
"Well, I don't know but all I do know is that talking probably isn't the best way to go here."
"What other choice do we have?" Mako asked.
"I'm just saying, what if she doesn't want to talk? You know, most people who disappear into the mountains want to be alone. Korra's up on a mountain. Hint, hint!"
"Nobody wants to be alone." Aang protested.
"Well, maybe Korra's an exception."
"No offense Sokka, but you don't know her as well as we do." said Mako, "Korra left because she didn't want anyone else to get hurt. Not because she doesn't care."
"No offense dude, but you said so yourselves; she's become pretty distant with you over the years. You sure you know her now as well as you knew her back then?"
Mako lowered his gaze. As much as he hatted to admit it, Sokka did have a point. And it was something that has lingered on the back of his mind for years. Katara felt sympathy for Mako, as did the others. She didn't want her brother to say anymore.
"Sokka, I think that's enough."
But her brother unfourtunatly did not listen and kept on talking, "In fact, how do you know Korra didn't cause this whole winter curse on purpose, just to get people off of her back?"
Mako's eyes widened and his blood started to boil. Bolin covered his face with his hood for he knew all too well what his brother had going through his mind.
(~)
"So those are defiantly not fireflies?" Appa asked Momo as they kept on gazing up at the sky, "Nope."
Then both Sokka and Mako came rolling out of the cave wrestling each other. Mako had the upper hand as he wrestled in Sokka's grip in attempts to punch him in the face. The others rushed towards them, both their younger siblings watched in horror, crying out their brothers' names.
"Mako!"
"Sokka!"
The two boys kept fighting each other in the snow, each trying to get the upper hand on the other. Sokka at one point managed to pin Mako down, but the firebender was stronger and more experienced in hand to hand combat and managed to overpower the non-bender, pinning him to the ground. Sokka held on to Mako's fists, trying to keep him from punching his self proclaimed 'beautiful' face.
"You take that back!" the firebender demanded as he held the non-bender down.
"I was just being honest!" Sokka protested. Katara and Bolin tried to separate their bickering older siblings by pulling on Mako's jacket.
"Mako get off of him! He didn't really mean it!" said Bolin as he struggled to pull his brother away from Sokka, but Mako was persistent.
"I'd like to hear that from him!" he exclaimed angrily. Sokka tried to get the firebender off of him, grunting as he continued trying to keep the punched away, but his strength was slowly slipping way, "Seriously! Why do you defend her so much!"
"Because, genius I lOVE HER!"
Suddenly, all fell silent. Everyone was silent, their eyes widened in shock, but none of them were as shocked as Mako was. The firebender slowly lowered his clenched fists and stood up, moving away from the ice harvester. He couldn't believe what he had just said. He knew he always had romantic feelings for Korra, but had never said the word "love" about someone out loud. In fact, ever since his father passed away….he hardly ever said it. His heart was racing and his hands were shaking, he was overwhelmed with a mixture of shock, relief and embarrassment.
"I-I'm sorry, I have no idea where that came from." Bolin couldn't believe what had come out of his brother's mouth. "Bro, this is the first time you've said the worlds "I love" about someone."
"I knew it! You do love Korra!" Katara cried out. Aang narrowed his eyes at her, "Katara, not helping right now."
"Oh…sorry."
Mako scratched the back of his neck and Sokka looked at him with regret, "Look, man I'm so sorry. I was just voicing out my opinions. I didn't mean to offend you or Korra."
"No, no it's fine. I got carried away.", they all looked at the firebender with much sadness, "We should probably get some sleep. Good night." Mako said before walking back to the cave, leaving the others with surprised and concerned looks.
"Wow….are things always this dramatic with you guys?" Momo asked.
"Story of our lives." said Toph.
(~)
Latter that night, everybody was sound asleep in the cave, the fire was out so the snow buddies could stay inside the cave. Aang was outside looking up at the lights in the sky leaning onto the side of the cave.
"Couldn't sleep?" Katara asked as she sat next to him.
"No. I've got a lot on my mind." he replied.
"Well be careful, don't want you damaging you're brain." she said jokingly.
"Ha, ha, very funny." Aang said sarcastically.
"So, what's bugging you? Besides Mako's sudden outburst and nearly killing my brother."
"I was just thinking about Korra…..and my parents." he said the last part very sadly as he looked up at the night sky, the lights still dancing in the sky. Katara felt empathy for the boy, "…you know, I heard stories about your parents. Your mom was Raava, a former ice spirit, right?"
"Yeah. How did you know?"
"My uncle use to be close friends with her."
Aang's eyes widen in surprise, "You'e kidding! Your uncle knew my mom?"
"Yeah. I never got to meet her in person, but he always did say she was kind, warm and loving."
"Yeah she was. She always tried to make Korra feel she wasn't alone….you know, every night before bed, my dad would tell me stories about past avatars and their heroic adventures."
"Really?"
"Yeah. My favorite one was about my great-great-grandfather, Avatar Roku. Dad use to say that he was the bravest avatar of his time. He even fought this wicked dark spirit named Vaatu."
"I think I've heard of him. Wasn't he that spirit who had the power to adsorb the life force out of plants and stuff?"
"Yeah. At first his powers were suppose to extract poison and illnesses from plants and animals to help them. But in time he became rogue, and started absorbing the life force out of all wildlife in forests around the world. Avatar Roku managed to stop him. Most spirits are immortal, but Vattu was one of those rare mortal spirits. Roku managed to stop him by waterbending water from the spirit oasis in the north pole to destroy the darkness within him. But, when that happened, some essence of Vattu's powers got absorbed into a dagger that Roku always carried around. Vattu actually tried to stab him with it before he was destroyed. Ever since, Roku hid the dagger away were no one could find it. Some say, that with Vattu's powers, the dagger could absorb the very life source of any being it stabs and the one holding it will have that very life-force as well."
Katara's eyes sparkled with interest at the story, "…wow…"
"Yeah. Mom use to get so angry with dad because she though those dreams would give me nightmares."
The two teens laughed, once the laughed died down they both simply sat there in silence for a few seconds. Thought Katara would probably never admit it out loud, Aang was beginning to grow on her. He was a funny little guy with an eye for adventure. Sure he was a bit naive…okay a lot naive but his optimistic nature had a way of growing on you.
"I wonder if Azula's looking at the sky right now." he said as he looked up. Katara slightly frowned. She had nearly forgotten all about his "fiance". She still though the whole thing was crazy.
"You're seriously going through with the whole weeding deal?" she asked.
"Well yeah. I don't care if you guys think it's crazy"
Katara sighed before speaking, "Look, Aang I really don't think that-"
But the waterbender quickly stopped on her tracks once she saw his innocent face. She still knew he was making a bad choice. If he really wanted to be with this Azula girl he should at least take the time to get to know her better before jumping into marriage. But she figured he wasn't going to change his mind. Apparently stubbornness runs in his family.
"You know what….never mind. I just hope everything…works out for you."
Aang smiled happily, "Thanks Katara."
"You…can call me Kat."
Aang's face gleamed, "Really? I thought only friends could call you that."
Katara shrugged shoulders, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, don't get too exited about it, alright."
But the avatar was still smiling and Katara slightly sat a few inches away, "Will you stop smiling like that, you're creeping me out."
"You like me. You really, really like me!", The young avatar wrapped his arm around Katara and embraced her in a side hug. The waterbender squirmed in his grip.
"Not a hugger, not a hugger!"
Aang released Katara, who was blushing from embarrassment, "I'm already regretting being nice to you"
"Ha, ha, ha,….so, out of curiosity: how did you and your brother end up here in the mountains, anyway?"
That's where Katara drew the line, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down there pal, I don't do back stories."
"Aww, come on. I shared a part of my past with you, now it's your turn."
Katara pouted her lips, "You're really not gonna let this go, are you?"
"Nope!" he said with a smile.
Katara groaned, "Fine….I was born in the south pole. Our parents moved to the city about a year after Sokka was born. Things were great….then one day, when I was seven and Sokka was nine, we all went out to dinner…."
As Katara continued, Aang noticed how her voice slowly became softer and her expression saddnened.
"We took the short cut. Then a bunch of thugs ambushed us. One was a none bender and another was a firebender. Dad tolled me and Sokka to hide. The most I remember is hearing that horrible struggle and the light from the flames…after a whole thing died down…..they were gone. The thugs….and my parents."
Aang could feel his heart break for her. It was a story he could relate to.
"I'm so sorry." he said.
"Well, afterwords, we kept walking around the city, then we came a cross the ice harvesters and well….we just followed them around. That's kind of when we met Mula. They kind of took us in. Then one day we got separated from them and we were found by Iroh and our adopted parents, May and Jim and we've lived with them ever since. It's not a fabulous life but, it's a good life. Simple and all, but I like it that way. Plus around these parts you never know what new adventure you'll find. I mean, I'm in one right now: going to meet an Avatar who cursed the land in an eternal winter. What could be more thrilling than that?"
Aang couldn't help but laugh. "Yeah, I guess. So I guess we've got more in common than we thought, hu?"
"Weeeeeeeeeell, you're a little too idealistic for my taste."
"Hey!"
"But, I guess you're okay."
The two teens laughed when Aang playfully nudged her arm. Katara then punched his arm, but it was a playful punch.
The two just sat there looking at the night sky.
(~)
Awwwwwwwww! How sweet! What I really wanted from Frozen was to show a bit more of Anna and Kristoff bonding, like how they did with Flynn and Rapunzel, so their love for each other would feel more real, ya know. I'm glad they ended up together and it's clear their love is very much the real thing, I just wish they had "showed" it more, ya know?
Well, until next time.
God bless, *kiss, kiss*