Off the shore of the world's coldest desert, amidst a gathering of massive icebergs jutting high out of the ocean, was a solitary craft. The vessel was just wide enough for a single person to sit and long enough for even a tall man to lie down. Its hull was made of hide that had been stretched taut then lashed onto a frame wrought of wood. A single person dressed in bulky furs covering them from head to toe sat in the middle of the craft. Next to the occupant's boots rested a spear and two woven buckets filled to the brim with fish. An almost total silence hung in the air save for the faint splash of an oar dipping into the glacial water. The boat passed beneath an archway of ice and exited the mass of icebergs when its occupant dug their paddle into the water and came to an abrupt halt.

Further ahead in the bay was a ship, perhaps twenty times as long as the other and its top deck was nearly as high in the air as the icebergs lurking nearby. Dark windows lined the upper levels and its white hull was all sleek lines that curved to a rounded point at the bow. There was another small boat beached on the shore and a solitary figure stood nearby. The person in the boat eased their oar into the water so as not to make a sound and moved backwards towards the area they had come from.

The figure on the shore was a man with a wool cap pulled down over his ears. His pants and jacket were both made of the same thick gray canvas . His gloved hands were tucked into his armpits and he shuffled his feet in hopes of keeping his legs warm. Puffs of white mist floated in front of his face as he started to pace in an effort to keep warm. When he turned around a woman with a spear in one hand was standing there. Long dark brown locks of hair framed both sides of her face was standing there and her cyan eyes narrowed as she glared at him. She thrust one arm forwards, fingers curled into a fist.

A thick column of water rose up out of the ocean and arced through the air as it slammed against his torso before he could react. Air rushed from his lungs as his back hit the ground with a loud thud. "Roll over and put your hands behind your back."

Her voice was harsh and full of stark anger. He started to roll over before stopping with a grimace. "I think you broke some of my ribs."

She jabbed the spear towards him, but stopped short of skewering his larynx. "Be quiet. One more word and you die." The woman crooked the fingers of her free hand and a patch of snow by her feet dissolved into liquid as it flew up into the air. She flicked her fingers and the water flew towards the man, wrapping around his chest and arms before hardening into ice. Her forearm moved upwards, raising him off the ground before setting him on his feet. Her spear pointed inland. "Move."

As he turned to face the direction indicated the waterbender waved her hand at the ground. The footprints she had left during her approach began to shake. In seconds the compacted snow had been loosened and resettled until it was even with the surrounding area. She threw a glare towards the man and he started walking while trying to ignore the stabbing pain in his side, a task exacerbated by having to walk on icy ground covered in a thin layer of snow. As they walked she continued wiping out the trail they left in the snow.

Several minutes later and the two were climbing up a sloping ridge. After getting to the top the man came to an abrupt halt. On the other side of the ridge, out of sight of the shoreline, were a score of white domes sitting adjacent to a large patch of bare tundra. Most of them were small save for the one in the middle. It was as large as all the others put together and several camel yaks were crunching on greenery spread on the ground in front of it. Men were scattered throughout the domes. Some were busy working carcasses with knives while others packed meat and other parts that had frozen overnight into hide bags. Several of the men weren't doing anything aside from talking animatedly to each other as they glanced at the central igloo. She grabbed the back of the man's jacket and pushed him forward down the slope towards that group. "Nalon!"

A wiry man with a thin black beard turned as his name was shouted. "Korra? Bolin? What is going on?"

"Why are you all just standing around?" Korra pointed her spear back towards the ocean. "There's a ship out there! We should be breaking camp and getting out of here... wait, Bolin?" Korra blurted out after realizing Nalon hadn't just been speaking to her. "Who is Bolin?"

"That would be me." Korra's head turned towards the man she had attacked earlier. To her surprise, there was still some cheer, albeit strained, on his face despite having his ribs broken then being taken prisoner. He shambled towards Nalon, putting the man between him and Korra. "I don't want to bother you guys, but my side really hurts and it'd be fantastic if you keep her from killing me."

Korra's eyes flicked back and forth between Bolin and Nalon before she thrust her spear into the snow. She waved her hand at Bolin and the band of ice around his chest trickled down the front of his jacket as it dissolved into water. Nalon knowing Bolin's name meant they must have spoken and chosen to leave him at the shoreline at some point. The obvious question was why and it would be best to get the answer from the person responsible for that decision. "Do what you want with him."

Korra strode past them before pushing past the thick curtain hanging in the entryway of the central igloo. Dozens of hide bags and baskets full from the efforts of the hunters lined the walls of the igloo. In the middle, sitting cross-legged atop a pair of furs were two people. The first was the largest and tallest man in their hunting party, perhaps of the entire Southern Water Tribe. There might be some who were near as heavy, but none of those scant few had muscles anywhere near as thick as his. A pointed beard covered his chin and his dark brown hair rested on his shoulders. He turned to look behind him as she came in. "Hello, Korra."

"Hello, dad." Korra replied as she looked at the chief of her tribe, her father. Over the years she had seen a myriad of emotions on his face. Rage, grief, adoration, determination and fear just to name a few, but now there was one that she hadn't encountered before. Disquiet. Korra swung her attention towards the other person present and the only possible reason why her father seemed troubled. Their neck and everything south of it was hidden beneath a bulky canvas coat and pants, both the same dull gray. Despite that, a single look at the woman's heart shaped face with its high cheekbones and ruby lips was enough for Korra to realize she was looking at the most beautiful woman she had ever seen. Glossy raven tresses spilled out from underneath a wool cap, her face was near as pale as the snow and a pair of light green eyes was looking back at her. "Who is this?"

Left unspoken was the word outsider, but the woman seemed to pick up on it if that faint sardonic smile was any indication. "This is who you were speaking of, Tonraq?" Her father nodded and the woman gave Korra an appraising glance as she switched the position of her legs. "Well then, I suppose I should start from the beginning then. Would you care to take a seat? This isn't a short conversation."

Korra glanced at the space available next to Tonraq before folding her arms across her chest. The woman waited a few seconds, but Korra didn't move. "Okay then... well my name is Asami Sato and I have some good news for you. The Fire Lord has died."

Her legs started to buckle and Korra rushed to sit down lest they give way beneath her. The sister who had bested her brother to claim the throne was gone. The Fire Lord who had ordered her raiders to kill everyone instead of searching for waterbenders was no more. Her forces had harried the Southern Water Tribe without relent until they fled inland. They had taken up shelter in the most remote locations they could find. Places of such intense cold that any person who could bend fire found themselves unable to do so. Even that hadn't been enough to dissuade them and they came with sword and spear, axe and bow, determined to achieve their grim task. Their ships patrolled the shores night and day, hoping to find the hunting camps that kept their people from dying of starvation. The faceless enemy who haunted Korra's dreams as far back as she could remember was gone. Azula was dead. "How?"

"I don't know." Asami said with a shrug. "There hasn't been any official word, but plenty of rumors over the last month. Heart attack, stroke, poisoned, fell and hit her head. What we do know is that the Fire Nation called all of their forces home and there's reports of fighting in the capital city."

Korra looked to her right towards her father. "This explains why we haven't seen any ships and why there hasn't been any attacks the last month..." Her voice trailed off and she turned her attention back to Asami, suspicion rising within her. "So why are you here? You wouldn't go to the trouble of finding us and letting us know that Azula is dead out of the goodness of your heart."

Asami's eyes widened and she stared at Korra for several seconds, taken aback, before answering. "I guess we'll save the pleasantries for later..." Her back straightened and there was a briskness to her voice that hadn't been there earlier when she spoke again. "I'm from a place called Republic City. It's a metropolis in the northwestern Earth Kingdom. I'll spare you the details, but ever since Azula took the throne she's completely ignored the colonies except for demanding soldiers and taxes. Other than that they've been governing themselves for the last seventy years and now that Azula is dead... we're completely on our own."

"What does any of that have to do with us?" Korra asked, unsure where Asami was going with this. "We haven't had contact with the outside world in decades, aside from Fire Nation soldiers trying to kill us."

"The United Republic, that's what we've named ourselves, is in an unusual position. We're part Fire Nation and part Earth Kingdom, but we don't belong to either nation. After a lot of... discussion, we've decided the best way forward isn't to be a part of either nation. Instead we want to be a place where members of all four nations are welcome. To accomplish that we've formed a council that will have representatives from each nation on it."

"So that's why you're here? To try and find someone to represent the Southern Water Tribe on this council?" Korra mused. "That sounds easy enou-"

"That's not quite all." Asami said as she cut Korra off. "We want stronger ties to the other nations than that. We want to formalize these alliances through..." A red tinge appeared on Asami's cheeks before she almost whispered the last word of her sentence. "...marriage."

Korra's mouth worked silently as she stared blankly at Asami, her mind working overtime to try and process that. After several long moments had passed her head panned towards her father. He might be the most respected chief in the Southern Water Tribe, but he was already married. That could only mean the person Asami was talking about marrying was... "Would you excuse us, Asami?" Korra asked, her voice far calmer than it had been earlier.

"S-sure, I'll be outside." Asami got up to her feet and was out the door in a flash.

The instant after the woman stepped outside Korra bunched her hand into a fist and moved it sideways across her chest. The snow-blocks making up the doorway collapsed inwards sealing father and daughter off from the people outside. "Is that what the two of you were talking about when I wasn't here!? Do you really think you could talk about me marrying anyone, let alone an outsider, behind my back!?"

Korra slammed her fist against the ground and the walls of the igloo began to shake and flakes of snow fell as she glared at her father. Tonraq looked around him at the walls and ceiling before raising his hand into the air and curling his fingers. The structure shook a moment longer before growing still. "Of course not, Korra. If I had known what she intended to discuss then I would have waited until you returned to camp."

"What were you planning to discuss with her?"

"It's like you said, Korra. There haven't been any ships or attacks recently so when Nalon saw their ship, he realized it was a chance to get information."

Korra's eyes flicked towards the wall as she looked away from her father, hoping to conceal her chagrin. That was the exact reason she had brought Bolin here. She hadn't seen any sign of injury to Asami which meant the woman had come of her own free will. If Korra had bothered to talk to Bolin then odds were that he would have done the same thing without her needing to attack him. She had more important things to worry about at the moment, however. "Did you learn anything besides what she told me?"

Tonraq shook his head as he frowned at the spot where the door had been. "No, I'm afraid not. The story she told you was the same as the one she told me down to the last detail. Either she's a good liar or she's telling the truth…"

Korra's brow furrowed while she stared down at the floor, thoughts rushing by as she considered the choices in front of her. "It doesn't matter whether she's lying or not. We don't know what's happening in the world and accepting her offer is the best way to find out."

Her father rubbed at his beard, as if trying to find the right words, before replying. "Are you sure that's what you want to do? If your goal is information then we can build you a boat capable of crossing the ocean and you wouldn't have to... marry this woman."

"I get it." Korra said as she put a hand on Tonraq's shoulder. "You taught me that people should marry for love. However, you've also taught me that a chief has to put their people first. If I do this then I can find out about this so-called United Republic and I can try to get in touch with the Northern Water Tribe. If Azula really is gone and the war is over then I can do more to help us rebuild out there than I can from here."

"It could be a trap."

"Maybe, but I've fought my way out of plenty of tough situations before. This is worth the risk though. Any other objections?"

"Aside from figuring out what I'm going to tell your mother? No. I just wish that you weren't the one who has to do this."

Korra waited a moment longer, but nothing more was forthcoming and she rose to her feet. She waved her fingers at the curtain and the blocks behind it separated themselves from each other. "Would you come in, Asami?"

The other woman stepped back into the igloo and fixed her gaze on Korra. "What is it?"

As Korra stepped forward she realized the other woman was taller than her and she had to look up to meet those green eyes. She took Asami's gloved hands in hers and took a deep breath to steady herself. "So we've talked it over and I accept your offer. I'll marry you."

For her people's sake.