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"You know, for being Water Tribe, you sure have a Firebender's passion running through you. Spirits help me, you've got a fiery heart more hot than the sun.".
They said that the hardest element for the Avatar to learn was the one most opposite Their personality, and Korra thought- and most people would agree- that that opposite would be the peaceful, calming, defensiveness that was Air.
Air, she thought, did not make her feel connected with Aang at all; it only showed their differences more clearly and made her feel more of a failure. The meditation was serene at best, yet it just…wasn't her. It made her feel a bit weak, meek, soft, if she was being brutally honest. Not that Airbenders were at all weak, because they weren't! They were incredible! It just…wasn't her- she didn't think she could be calm if she tried, and she very much felt as though she were the Fire Nation Cycle of the Avatar, instead of Water Tribe. Airbending left an insecure hole in the pit of her stomach- failure for the first time in her life. It did take her the longest- pathetically so, she thought- to master, while the others came so naturally, which was something the Order of the White Lotus had never let her forget.
Avatars were supposed to bend their native element first, as per the Cycle. ...That wasn't quite the whole truth for her case, though…
She might have been Aang, but how could she ever hope to be Aang's legacy? While she did indeed consider herself the most spiritually challenged Avatar; she had good reason to. She never told her friends this, but water, although native, wasn't the first element she bent- fire. It had given her parents a heart-attack. Little, five-year old Water Tribe her, eager to show her parents she could bend for the first time….and what came out of her gloved hands, was but a blazing burst of light, dancing in the ball of her palms.
She said it made her feel alive.
For a short time after this discovery, a rumor had spread throughout the Tribe that Korra might not be Tonraq's; whispers of doubt on Senna's faithfulness to her husband fell like snow- even Senna's friends had not even considered the fact that Korra might just be special. Some people even threatened to harm Korra, as to not spoil the lineage of the Tribe with infamous Firebending genes; cursed feelings about the war, even fifty-five years later, still lingering. Very few cared to realize the Cycle was now Water; many all over the world, still in denial at whom was considered one of the greatest Avatars throughout all of history, dead. How was the new found peace to be kept?
Of course, Senna and Tonraq didn't tell their daughter any of this. They only told her it was okay to bend fire when she was from the South Pole, because she was special.
But Tonraq and Senna knew. Tonraq, although startled at first, as well as Senna, had never once doubted or questioned his wife. Because they knew. They knew that their daughter being born after right after Avatar Aang had past, and how the lights had danced in the sky, illuminating the igloo where the newborn Korra lay in her mother's lap, was no coincidence.
They knew. But that didn't mean they were prepared. She was still their baby girl. How could the White Lotus force them to let her go? She was only five and needed to stay will her parents! They wondered how it took the Order five years to find her.
Korra, although nowhere near the master of fire at age five, preferred it over all the others. She always said it gave her life, energy, drive, ambition. She thought that fire defined her, was who she was.
But she didn't understand. Why did everyone say she was "special"? She just liked bending fire, was that so bad? Lots of people were Firebenders, right?
But...she was Water Tribe, supposed to be water. She felt there was something wrong with her-very wrong because people kept staring at her, wouldn't let their children play with her. She must have done something bad, bad, bad. But, the bald man with the funny arrow on his head in her dream had just kept smiling at her and said it was okay what she was doing; had said she was a good girl and not to be afraid of her bending because very soon, she would understand what it meant. And Mommy and Daddy had said she was special; and she did feel special, yet didn't understand what they or the man in her dream had meant until she bent another element.
The water didn't speak to her until a year later, under the full moon, with Yue's guidance to help her; the waves played in tune with the flick of her writs.
She knew she was the only one in the world who could do this. She knew she was meant to save the world.
Love, the water gave her; love and passion, pride.
It was then she understood. She wasn't just a girl. She was the Avatar, and was meant to bring peace and balance.
"Mommy, Daddy...please don't be mad...but I think I'm like Aang. I saw him when I was sleeping! I think I'm the Avatar. Is that bad?"
"Oh, baby...No, no, it's not bad at all," Senna whispered, tears in her eyes, "We think you are, too. But just remember, sweetie; no matter how the rest of the world sees you, you will always be Korra to us first, okay? You will always and forever be our beautiful baby. Don't let anyone tell you who you are inside; do you promise you always remember that?"
"Yes, Mommy! I promise!"
She wanted to be a Firebender, master fire and only fire, couldn't stop from lighting a blaze in her hand and watching it sparkle. Wondering if somehow, the Cycle had been messed up. But she knew because she was the Avatar, she had to master all the elements in order. And because she was Water Tribe, as much as she didn't want the water, she knew she had to master it first.
When earth came, the stubborn ground rumbling beneath her commanding muscles, it caused her to have a stubborn streak. Leaving dirt on herself for hours without bothering to wash it off, taking mud baths for relaxation and trying to go barefoot as a Master had suggested. Earth made her unyielding in the face of an enemy, resilient to pain, strong like moose-lion, unafraid. She didn't care; being encouraged to get down and dirty was an opportunity she wasn't going to pass up, and the faster she got to lean Firebending, the better.
She didn't know how to describe it, but when she was Firebending….she just….the power in her veins, not needing any external source, but the eternal energy she could create, up from the pit of her stomach, out of her mouth like a dragon, was like no other feeling she had gotten with the other two. It made her feel incredible. The fire was always in her- literally. It would never fail her.
Maybe that's why she had been so drawn to Mako, maybe that's why she loved him so much. Or maybe some things were just meant to be.
"You know, for being Water Tribe, you sure have a Firebender's passion running through you. Spirits help me, you've got a fiery heart more hot than the sun."
She could never remember who told her that, but that person's words always stuck with her, running true.
Why would she want to glow like the moon, when she could blaze like the flames, like a heartbeat?
...Like him?
His chuckles, as she finishes her tale about her discovering her identity and her experiences with the different elements, vibrate his Adam's-apple, making her blush as the flame's light from her palm reflects in his eyes.
"Wow, so fire really was the first element you ever bent?" he grins, teeth sparkling, shaking his head in admiration, "That's just...wow. Don't take this the wrong way," he rubs the pad of his thumb across her delicate jaw line, sending blissful shivers though her, "but that explains a lot about you, Kor."
"Hmmm..." she leans into his touch, "Like how I'm so friggin' hot?" she quips.
A sexy eyebrow raises, coming with the cute snort that only she can create, and he grazes his lips across her cheeks, "Definitely. Now everything makes total sense. But," he draws his mouth to her ear and whispers, "would you blame me if I dared to say you're on fire?"
Giggles can't help but escape her blushing cheeks, "Nah, I'd say you're a lovable, cheesy dork," she whispers back,"and that Bolin did not get his sense of humor from you, Cool Guy. But please, go on..."
Her runs his fingers through her undone hair; the chestnut waves running free and wild like an ember, gliding just past her collar-bone like honey.
She takes her hands from his chest and creates a shimmering orange glow in her palms, showing him her life within, her beating pulse that never dies, flicks coiling in and out with tiny sparks of red and yellow.
This is me, she wants to tell him.
Fire is Life.
He cups his hands around her blaze and breathes; the light dances and bends, changing into a heart, with flickering embers floating up and up, until they wisp away in the air.
She presses her forehead against his, cool skin touching, chi- paths intertwining, and exhales: a new flames is born in her hand and continues to grow like a tiny star.
"Watch this," she tells him, eyes watching his reaction.
Just then, the flame in her hand, shimmers and turns from a light of orange-red, to a bright, violet-purple, as vibrant as a plum.
His eyes go wide, blinking fast and awe-struck. He looks at the new purple-plum fire, as if it were something else, eyes flicking to her, and back again.
His mouth hangs open for a moment and her smug smile only gets wider.
"W-what...? H-how did you-" he can barely contain his wonder, "Korra, that's amazing! How did you do that?"
She smiles and closes her eyes in concentration, and it happens again.
Grass-green sparks crackle in her hand, green as his brother's and father's eyes, emeralds shining back at him; and he just stares at it, eyes threatening to tear, seeing fire as if he's never seen any fire before.
For the first time, this flame the is making heat, this ember, pulsing with consuming power, capable of killing... is...good...
Is... beautiful.
For the first time in his life, fire is beautiful.
It was Life.
How could something so destructive, be so beautiful?
"I'm just that awesome, Cool Guy." she kisses his forehead, "You're the only one I've ever showed this to."
He can't speak; something inside him breaks and sings and cries out in joy, intermixing with all that he used to think fire was and ever stood for.
But, Mako, I wanna be a Firebender like you and Mommy!
No you don't, Bolin. You don't. Fire is death, Bo. It killed Mom and Dad. Just because I can bend it, doesn't make it cool. It might keep us warm at night and cook food, but all it really does and can do is destroy.
The green now changes to sea-blue; the color of her soul, dancing, dancing; swimming for him, heating his face, as if he could touch Life itself...
"Fire isn't just destruction, Mako." she says to him, looking him straight in the eyes, "Fire is Life. When bent with love, it's Life. It gives life to anyone who treats it with respect." and she tenderly takes his hand in hers, and transfers the flame into his hands; he holding it now, his chi pulsing with her blue glowing soul in his trembling fingers...
Fire is Life, Mako, baby. Never forget that. Never forget who you are. You are capable of bending Life inside you.
Yes, Momma. But, Momma...do you really think I'll be a Firebender like you one day?
I really do think so, sweetie. Now, how do Firebenders get their inner fire?
Up through the belly and out from the breath like a heartbeat!
That's my little man.
"Mako? Mako, careful."
His eyes snap up to meet hers now, slightly startled, and he realizes he has made her blue life-fire grow huge, bigger than ever before.
He felt alive.
Maybe that's why he had been so drawn to Korra, maybe that's why he loved her so much. Or maybe some things were just meant to be.
Suddenly, he closes his fingers and the fire dies away with a hiss of smoke.
They both stare at each other for a moment, gazes boring into each other, their matching breaths the only sound in the room.
"Say something." she whispers.
"You." he suddenly takes her face his hands, noses touching, "You give me life. You are my life." Tears are running down his face, anyway.
And with a gasp, their mouths crush into each other, tongues joining together, tieing their souls. He cups his hand on the back of her head, drawing her closer, drinking her in, and she moans as she presses in harder, fingers tangling his hair, both glowing with Life.
"And you're mine."