AUTHOR'S NOTES: The title here is a bit of a double-meaning considering the escalating conflict not only between the two Water Tribes, but also between Korra and Unalaq, and more so, between Tenzin and his siblings. There's a lot going on behind Korra's back actually; and in particular there's much more to Kya, Bumi, and Senna (particularly the latter) than meets the eye. These aspects will be revealed in the very near future.
Happy Reading!
BOOK THREE: WATER
CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED TWELVE: CIVIL WARS, PART 1
=The Southern Air Temple…=
While it had not escalated to the point of hostilities by any means, the tension between Tenzin and his siblings had been on the rise for the last few days as well. Having grown up with him, Bumi and Kya knew 1001 ways to get under his skin, and since (at least according to one of Kay's sarcastic quips) "he made it so easy", he was subjected to similar types of antagonizing that he had been subjected to in his youth.
This had resulted in Tenzin unlocking the Avatar Chamber and seeking solace next to the statue of his father. On the left stood a stoic statue of Avatar Roku, with his arms together standing nobly and on the right stood a wild-looking statue of Korra, balanced on her left sole and the toes of her right foot, with her arms out on either side and her fingers spread wide. Her stony expression and wild hair made her look much fiercer than Tenzin knew the real Korra actually was—most of the time.
"What's this?" A female voice made Tenzin cringe, and he recognized it as his sister's, "is old man Tenzin missing the new Avatar now too?"
"Perhaps I am," Tenzin stood up for himself, "I wasn't perfect, but I did the best that I could in teaching her airbending, meditation, and how to cope with her traumatic past."
"But let me guess," Kya sneered, as Bumi stepped in next to her, "you got so absorbed with your 'duty' to Republic City and to Dad's legacy that you let her fall by the wayside. It's not like her uncle's a total creep or anything… trust me." the sarcasm was blatant in her tone.
"Hehe," Bumi chuckled, "Duty."
"What are you, five years old?" Kya shot a sour look at her older brother.
"Kya," Tenzin sighed, glancing back at Korra's Avatar statue, "you're right. Perhaps I didn't spend as much time with her as I should have. I wish I could be as good a mentor, leader, and father as Dad was to us."
"Tenzin," Kya gestured, "your problem is that you're exactly like dad. He was so focused on saving the world and doing his duty—don't laugh—that he never had time for us."
"After the Equalists slew three of the councilmen and crippled the United Forces," Tenzin shot Bumi a look, "I was under a lot of pressure. Dad was the same way, even if the circumstances were different."
"He always had time for his precious little airbender though!" Bumi teased, pinching Tenzin's cheek much to the airbender's annoyance.
"Dad loved us all equally," Tenzin shook his head, "besides; it all happened a long time ago. Why are we even talking about this?"
"Because you seem to have this grandiose delusion that we had a perfect, happy go-lucky childhood," Kya explained, "Guess what? We didn't."
"Tell me you aren't trying to chastise me for not being Korra's supervisor." Tenzin groaned. "You've barely met her more than a few times yourself."
"I've met her," Bumi pointed out, "and for as smart and confident as she looks, there's a glint in her eyes that spells trouble, little brother. My soldiers and officers call it shell-shock... You can cope with it and often times make it look like it's been resolved… but if even the slightest thing goes awry… it could all come crashing back down."
For a moment there was silence as Tenzin contemplated Bumi's words. Korra had without a doubt suffered from severe physical, mental, and psychological trauma on multiple different occasions, and while the young Avatar seemed to rebound stronger and more vigilant every time, now Tenzin's mind was filled with doubt. What if Bumi was right? What if Korra's confidence was a charade that was hiding a much deeper underlying problem that had never fully been resolved?
=The Southern Water Tribe…=
Korra slept fairly peacefully that night, but was in for a fairly rude awakening the next morning, which was only compounded by the Avatar's general disdain for the hours of 4AM to 11AM. There was a ruckus from outside that caused Korra to spring up and at least get half-dressed before peeking outside to see what the commotion was.
Asami woke up a moment later to a rather nice view of Korra bare from the waist up, her eyes taking in the chiselled contours of Korra's back before she too snapped back to reality.
"What's going on out there, love?" she called out.
"As much as I hate to say this," Korra growled as she shut the curtains, "we probably ought to get dressed. This is definitely not good."
A few moments later Asami and Korra headed outside and found Northern Water Tribe soldiers patrolling the streets like they owned the place.
"I need to find Unalaq," Korra turned to Asami, "did you want to come with me, or…?"
"I'm not sure how much of a help I can be here," Asami admitted, "but I'd much rather tag along than get arrested by some corrupt politician's cronies."
"Mmm…" Korra chewed her lip, "yeah, I'd rather not think of that incident again...I'm sure I can talk some sense into my uncle though or at least find out what's going on."
Asami followed Korra as she zigzagged through the streets to get to the capitol building. She scoped out the city as she went and noticed the troops throughout it, and even a large naval blockade in the harbour in the distance. That raised many red flags for the Avatar, but she did not react just yet. As she so often did in political situations, Korra let herself right in, and Asami managed to slip by without incident since the focus was all on Korra. She let her have her privacy when Korra went to confront Unalaq, however.
"Uncle," she found Unalaq right where she had expected to, "what's going on? What are all these Northern troops doing here?"
"Opening the spirit portal was only the first step on getting the Southern Water Tribe back onto its righteous path," Unalaq explained, "but there's still more difficult work to be done before our tribes are fully reunited."
Korra held her tongue for a moment as she remembered something her father had spoken about during the banquet a few days prior.
"He better not be planning what I think he's planning..."
"Occupation?" Korra remembered her own response.
"Tenzin once described you as a 'ruthlessly clever girl'... and I'd expect nothing less from my daughter." Her eyes widened for a moment.
"There's more going on than I'm seeing here, and that's not okay," Korra asserted, looking Unalaq in the eye. "Uncle, why did you bring your troops down from the North? For them to get here this quickly means it had to have been orchestrated beforehand."
"It was," Unalaq admitted to Korra's slight surprise, "I wanted them to arrive shortly after you opened the portal because now that it is open, we need to protect it from people who would seek to do it harm—intentionally or otherwise."
"So you orchestrate a military occupation?" Korra tilted her head. Uncle, I can understand your intentions, but I know enough about the South to know that they're not going to settle for this. It's sending the wrong message, and the fact that you've blockaded the harbour makes things worse. It's making ME uncomfortable too."
"Oh? And why is that?" Unalaq dodged her first remark by focusing on her 2nd one.
"I think you know why." Korra shook her head, "It makes me claustrophobic; the idea that you're caging us in like this. It's not okay."
"I am their chief." Unalaq explained, "I'm uniting; not invading."
"I understand that, but your methods need a bit of refinement if the reaction of the people is anything to go off of." Korra explained, "I tore through town just to get here and I could feel the tension in the air. If this keeps up and goes the way I think it might go, then we could be looking at a civil war. Surely no one wants that, yeah?"
"You have truly grown so much in the last three years, Avatar Korra," Unalaq smiled, "Had this happened when you were 15 I figured you would just charge headlong into the conflict and try to settle everything with a display of power."
"I mean that's still an option," Korra quipped, "but I like to at least pretend that I've matured a bit over the last three years and so I'm trying to find a more sensible alternative option."
"Indeed," It was unclear if Unalaq was trying to butter up Korra or if Korra was trying to butter up Unalaq, but this game of wits was not Korra's first, and so she held her own. "But I need you for something far more important, Korra."
"What could be more important than preventing a civil war?" Korra was growing more and more suspicious by the minute.
"There is another portal in the North," Unalaq began, "Once you open it, spirits and man will be able to move freely between the North and South in a matter of seconds."
"Okay, so two things:" Korra held up her hands, "first of all, the solstice just ended… how will I get the power and attunement to be able to bend it?"
"Easy," Unalaq assured her, "the spiritual energy is much stronger and more potent in the North. Now that you've opened the Southern Portal, your own energy is much more powerful as well. You sell yourself short so often, my dear."
"Secondly," Korra continued, nodding to acknowledge Unalaq's answer, "being able to haul people from North to South sounds like a really convenient excuse for you to pour the rest of your armies into the South Pole for this occupation. Like I said: I REALLY don't like that idea; and I'm afraid if things go the way they're going now we're going to go to war."
"If the Water Tribes were at war," Unalaq warned, "the other nations and the United Republic will take sides. The dark spirits would thrive off of the negative energy, and the world would be thrown into a battle between spirits and man. That would be catastrophic."
"I've seen that happen before," Korra mused aloud, "Through the eyes of others, I mean. Three of my past lives and Zeruda have mentioned it before, but I don't agree with their methods. How would we stop a war like this, uncle?"
"We?" Unalaq raised an eyebrow, "No, Korra. This is a war only the Avatar can prevent."
"I'm usually the one starting fights," Korra pouted, "I don't know how to stop them."
"Surely you jest," Unalaq did not buy it, "you're quite the charismatic woman, Korra. You don't even need to take a side in this conflict, and in fact—you shouldn't."
"Why not?" Korra played with her hands, "Uncle, I can't just sit by while your troops invade my tribe. You're dodging it, but I'm not going to let it slide."
"Korra," Unalaq assured her, "this is only a brief movement until we can ensure the portal will not be disturbed. But as the Avatar you must remain neutral in this conflict. You will naturally want to support your people, but showing favouritism will not help our tribes find unity."
"Maybe I'm not cut out for all this Avatar business after all," Korra sighed, "I couldn't even placate the spirits; what makes you think I'll be able to pacify two Water Tribes with this kind of tension looming over everyone's heads? I'm just gonna exacerbate the conflict the same way the Interregnums did, and then… shit! What happens if one of my successors starts another Interregnum Cycle and becomes the next Zeruda?"
"You have too little faith in yourself, Avatar." Unalaq put a hand on her shoulder, "Firstly, the Interregnums were and are very influential people who did a lot of good for the world despite their reputation. Secondly, I have faith in you. I have no doubt that you will become the most admired and revered Avatar the world has ever known."
"Thank you uncle." Korra sighed with a slight smile. "Looks like I've got a whole day ahead of playing mediator. Huh boy…"
Fortunately for Korra most of these peacekeeping endeavours were simply calming down riled up Southerners or occasionally telling vigilant or overzealous Northerners to stay in line. However, for some Southerners including Korra's own parents, the very occupation from the North was enough to spark their ire. Also in on this secret meeting were Varrick and Zhu Li, and Lightning Bolt Zolt's lackey, Risha. No one present knew of Risha's affiliation with Zolt, much less Zolt's affiliation with Korra, other than that Risha's "boss" had "special interests" in the South.
"Thank you for coming, everyone." Tonraq sighed, "I know these last few days have been very troubling, and that for many, the post-festival celebration was where many of us drew the line. Even despite my daughter's best efforts to hold things together, it seems that this is going to keep building up until it reaches full-on war unless we intervene."
"I've got to say," Risha cooed, "she's doing a remarkable job. Here I half expected her to start using bloodbending or something to keep people in line."
"Not that we'd need that kind of subversive behaviour," Tonraq objected, "much less from our daughter—and even less so from the Avatar."
"That's a troubling thought," Senna frowned, "The Avatar, a bloodbender… It was outlawed for a very good reason, Risha."
"What's troubling is the fact that we even have to consider it at all." Risha pouted.
"Troubling?" Varrick looked up as he took his 5th cookie from a nearby plate, "Troubling is when I get that itchy rash that won't go away and Zhu Li's not there to scratch it for me. This is shocking. Nay; it's sickening! But these kale cookies? Opposite! Zhu Li, remind me to get the recipe for these later!"
"What's your point, Varrick?" Tonraq narrowed his eyes in a way that Korra would have done,, although unlike her, he did not pout as he did so.
"My point," Varrick started piling the cookies onto a plate, "is that Unalaq has already booted our leaders and chieftains out of the palace. How long before he starts telling us what kind of cookies we can eat?!"
"Probably a couple days." Zhu Li's expression remained stoic.
"Rhetorical question, Zhu Li; try to keep up! Varrick snapped, "Not to mention that I've got a cargo ship full of halibut that's rotting, thanks to this harbour lockdown. Who wants to buy a ship full of stinking fish!? Seriously… that's not rhetorical. I need to sell these fish!"
"This is already problematic as things stand, really," Risha pointed out, my boss needs that port opened, and I'm pretty sure the Avatar's girlfriend needs it open too for her deal with Mr. Varrick. I can understand stifling trade for a few days as they sort out all that spiritual mumbo-jumbo, but this just doesn't make sense. Think about it, Senna… how have the last few days been…?"
"She's got a point," Senna clutched a sheathed blade in both her hands, "first they tell us we have to have permission to hunt arctic wolf cubs, then they tell us how many hunting knives we're allowed to carry at one time, and now they arrest our tribespeople for partying too hard?" she paused, taking a swig from her hip flask, "I say we go down to City Hall and give them a piece of our minds! And by minds I of course mean DEADLY WEAPONS!"
Any further remarks were drowned out by cheering from the other Southerners, all of whom seemed to like Senna's idea, including Tonraq.
"You're brazen when you drink, love." Tonraq put an arm around his wife and pulled her close. "I'd almost even say fierce."
"Damn," Senna groaned as she sunk into Tonraq's arms, "I hate that I do it too, but there were valid points here. This is a straight up occupation, and Unalaq's got Korra wrapped around his finger. I can understand her not wanting to go to war with the spirits, but that doesn't mean she ought to kowtow to the North just because of that."
She paused, squirming a little so that she could look her husband in the eyes. "Tell me, love; am I unreasonable? Is this my own fears starting to act up and make me unnecessarily on-edge?"
"I forgot if I ever told you or not," Tonraq shook his head, "but that time when I pulled Korra away for a moment during Unalaq's banquet, I warned her about this exact thing: occupation. Now my fear has become a reality and Korra's trying to play the mediator. She's going to burn herself out trying to keep the peace in a situation where the only solution is for the North to back out of this uncalled for occupation, in a circumstance where said occupiers won't step down."
"Then we really need to act," Senna's eyes locked onto Tonraq's, "because if Korra burns out, we're going to all be in a big damn world of hurt—and if she's forced to continue down the road she's going on… she WILL burn out."
"That's settled then," Tonraq looked up at the cheering and bantering of the rebels at the meeting, "we attack the fort at dawn."
