Korra pulled on the reins and Asami shifted forwards into her back as the camel came to a halt. "We're here."

In the grand scheme of things, a month and a half was barely the blink of an eye. Even so, that was long enough for the village in front of Korra to somehow feel... different. The snow capped igloos were exactly as she remembered. The worn down paths of ice that she had traversed countless times. All of it the same and yet foreign at the same time. This place hadn't changed, Korra realized as she continued to look at the place where she had grown up. She had. The woman who had left for Republic City wasn't the one who had come back. Republic City had changed her. Asami Sato had changed her.

Korra shook her head to clear it and tapped her heels against the camels sides. The creature grumbled, but moved forward nonetheless. It didn't take long for the approach of a single camel to be noticed and a handful of figures in fur outfits identical to hers appeared from between the buildings and moved towards them. Each of them brandished a club carved from bone and sporting strips of leather wrapped around the handle. The other hand was empty, but no less dangerous since that only freed it for bending water, Korra knew. She stopped the camel at a distance and dismounted, opting to hold the reins as she approached.

"Should I get down too?" Asami asked, clearly made uneasy by the fact men with weapons in hand were fast drawing near.

"Stay there. They're more worried about me since I'm dressed like them. They already can tell you're an outsider." Korra dropped the reins and threw her hood back to expose her face as she walked on ahead, her hands up in the air. "It's me! Korra!"

One of the men strode forward and threw his hood back. His beard was thicker than the last time she had seen him and he had put on weight, but he was still easy to recognize. "It's good to see you again, Nalon."

Nalon looked her up and down then glanced up at Asami. He turned and waved at the others and they lowered their clubs as he turned back to face her. "Likewise, Korra. I wasn't sure if I'd see you again, but you look healthy. And you as well, Asami Sato." He called out while returning his club to its spot on his belt. "How did you fare on your trip? The entire village will want to hear all about it."

Korra went back to grab the camel's reins before leading it towards the village. The men who had accompanied Nalon turned about and headed in the same direction. "Better than I was expecting it to. There's a ship full of food and supplies at the bay where Asami found us. We'll need every camel available to haul it here. There's also a group of men a few hours ride from here. Their leader is a man named Ansen. He has some requests, but they require all the chiefs to be present."

"Do they?" Nalon scratched at his beard and gave her a skeptical glance. "Gathering all of the chiefs in one place is no easy task even if the plains have been quiet the last few months. He should speak to Tonraq before trying to summon the others."

"Where is my dad?" Korra asked as they passed by the first building. From somewhere nearby she heard the sound of kids laughing, no doubt concerned with less serious matters than the one on her mind.

"At home, most likely. He took part in the last four hunts so he's earned a break from the latest to go out. I'm assuming that's where you got this camel from?" Korra nodded and Nalon frowned. "If you have food like you claim then we'll be fine with a smaller harvest from this hunt. If you wish to speak to your father then I can take this." Nalon held his hand out for the reins.

"Thanks Nalon." Korra handed them over then moved to stand on on side of the camel. "Okay, let's get you off of there." Korra extended a helping hand to Asami as the other woman swung her leg over the camels hump with a faltering and stiff motion. She dropped down and one foot slipped on a bare patch of ice, sending Asami stumbling backwards into Korra's waiting hands.

"Okay, lesson learned. Getting on the camel is easy. Getting off, not so much. Thanks for catching me, Korra."

"Don't thank me just yet." Korra said as she started to unfasten their packs from the rear of the camel's saddle. "This next part might be worse."

Asami raised an eyebrow at that, but Korra's only answer was to hand Asami her pack. Once Korra had retrieved her own gear she set off down the winding path. After a pair of turns she was standing in front of an igloo with the same weathered ice and lack of any distinguishing features as the rest. Korra grabbed a sphere of ice from a hollowed out cranny next to the thick layers of fur hanging in the doorway. She rapped it against the side of the igloo twice before placing it back in the hole. A woman's voice rang out in response. "Come in."

Just past the doorway was a barrel whose outer surfaces were more flaking patches of orange than the silver it had been when first forged. In it were spears, each with a differently shaped head and a club like the ones Korra had seen earlier. Past it the igloo opened up into severals rooms, each of them separated from the other by more curtains. The hides from half a dozen different species covered the floor and a middle-aged woman sat cross-legged on the floor in the first room. A curved tooth the length of one's forearm lay next to a rock at her feet. Her skin was the same shade of skin as Korra's and they both had the same cyan eyes. Their dark brown hair was styled in similar fashion though the other woman's pigtails were far thicker and longer. She clambered to her feet and bustled right up to Korra. The woman only came to Korra's shoulder, but that didn't stop her from engulfing Korra in a hug that almost lifted her off the floor. "Korra! It's so good to see you!"

"I missed you." Korra said as she returned the embrace. After she let go Korra turned towards the third person present. "This is my mother, Senna. Mom, this is-"

"You must be Asami Sato." Senna said as she moved to greet her. "Tonraq told me that you were beautiful, but I see that hardly does you justice. Come in, come in, take those packs off. Have a seat. I'm sure there's lots to talk about."

Korra gratefully leaned her pack against the wall before taking Asami's and placing it right next to hers. "Is Dad here, Mom? Nalon said he didn't go on the latest hunting trip."

"He's in the craft room." Senna replied with a quick look in the direction of said room. "Do you want me to go get him?"

"No, that's fine." Korra waved her off as she headed towards the room in question. "You two should get to know each other in the meantime. Me and Dad have some things to talk about."

Her father was sitting on a block of ice and two pieces of pelt were on his lap. In his hands was needle and thread of sinew with which he was sewing the separate pieces together. Around the room were other stacks of pelt as well as bone and metal handles waiting for a head to be attached. Korra waved her hand in the air and a layer of ice sealed the two of them inside.

For weeks now Korra had been imagining this conversation in her head. Things she wanted to say, answers to questions she had. The possible directions it could take, what her fathers responses might be. In the end dozens of possibilities, if not hundreds had emerged, and the sheer number of paths had become impossible to predict. The only certain thing about this conversation was how it would begin.

"I talked to Unalaq."

Tonraq raised his head at the sound of her voice and he set the needle and thread down. His face remained impassive, but there was a stiffness to his shoulders that hadn't been there before. "I haven't heard or spoken that name in twenty-five years. I suppose it was inevitable that you ran into him, though. What did he tell you?"

Korra flicked her wrist and a block of ice like the one her father was sitting on jutted out of the floor opposite him. She took a seat and folded her arms. "He told me that a woman named Katara crossed the ocean and asked the Northern Water Tribe for help. That his father refused to help, but you called them cowards and that you would help even if they wouldn't and you left with Katara."

"Anything else?" Tonraq's face remained devoid of any emotion or other signs that he was affected in any way.

"He said that I shouldn't marry Asami. That if I married someone from the North then we could reunite the Water Tribes. I told him no."

Tonraq blinked slowly and shook his head as if he had been expecting to hear something like that. "Of course he did. Twenty-five years and my younger brother hasn't changed one bit..."

"What do you mean?"

"My brother is many things. Intelligent, cunning, selfish, manipulative and a liar. Anything that comes out of his mouth has enough of the truth in that you can't call him out, but enough falsehoods to persuade you to do what he wants. Katara made the journey like he said. She asked for help and my father refused and I left. What Unalaq didn't tell you was the role he played in all that. He convinced my father that Katara was a spy sent by the Fire Nation to weaken us. He told me that we should help and that I was the best person to do it. When I spoke out in front of the court, my father refused and sentenced me to death for attempting to help the enemy. I did leave that day, but Katara and I had to fight our way out. He must have seen an opportunity to gain more power when he realized you didn't know who he was and what he had done."

Korra leaned forward and buried her face in her hands. She had gleaned onto the fact that Unalaq had been trying to use her. Even so Korra had been blind to the depths of his deception and how far back in time they extended. The only thing that had saved her from falling into Unalaq's trap had been her burgeoning feelings for Asami at the time. Without them she would have walked straight in and not realized what was really going on until it was too late. Even so, Unalaq was almost a complete stranger and being lying to by such wasn't exactly devastating. To be honest, it was the sort of thing she had expected. Unalaq wasn't the only person in their family to lie to her though.

"Why?" She whispered while looking up at her father. "Why didn't you tell me? Why didn't anyone tell me that you were from the other Water Tribe. Twenty summers and no one ever said a thing about it. You, Mom, Nalon. Someone must have known. And that's not even the worst part. You knew about Katara all along." Korra rocked up to her feet and stormed towards the far wall before whirling back towards her father.

"You were there!" She shouted, a familiar fury possessing her. It had been lurking past the range of conscious thought. Lying dormant and bitter over its impotence and inability to exhaust itself on its source. A person halfway across the world and beyond the range of any means of communications. Until now. "You knew they turned her down! And when I suggested the same thing, you said nothing! You could have told me, but you didn't! You let me go off on a fool's errand even though you knew someone had already tried and failed!"

Korra's fist slammed against the wall and the ice all around them started to shake and droplets of water fell unnoticed onto her shoulders. "Why?"

For as long as she could remember, Korra had always been looking up at her father. As a little girl Tonraq had seemed an impossibly huge giant who she worried might step on her by accident. That fear dissipated as she got older and was replaced by the knowledge that her father was merely huge. The largest man she had seen in the South Pole and Republic City alike. But now, for the very first time, she felt the larger of the two. Tonraq's shoulders had sagged and his head bowed forward as he shrank in upon himself in an instant. "Because I failed you as a father. If I close my eyes I can still see how full of life you were as a girl despite growing up in a never ending war. That day when... I remember you opened your eyes and the light in them was gone."

Tears dripped from Tonraq's face as he continued to speak, his voice full of shame. "You were so young yet you had grown up far too soon. Ever since that day I've blamed myself for what happened to you. Fathers are supposed to protect their children and when you needed me the most, I wasn't there."

"What does that have to do with what I asked!? You felt guilty so you decided to get rid of me the first chance you got? That's some real great parenting there! Dad." Korra's shoulders heaved and cracks appeared in the walls and the roof as she glared down at him.

"No. That's not what I'm saying." Tonraq said as he looked up at her. His voice remained quiet and flat despite the barbs being shouted at him. "I started teaching you to fight so you could protect yourself in the future, but I didn't know what else to do. Afterwards you were so angry and it was everything I could do to keep you from lashing out. I never stopped trying to help you, but nothing I said made a difference and you continued to get worse over the years. When Asami Sato showed up it was as if my prayers had been answered. At least in part. I wasn't happy about the thought of you marrying some stranger from the outside world, but I thought maybe she could help you where I failed. Even if meant taking you away from your home. So I kept quiet and let you leave because I thought it was the best thing I could do. I understand if you're angry at me, but I didn't know what else to do."

Korra slowly sat back down on the block she had created and let out a long sigh. That wasn't an answer she had ever reached while trying to predict this conversation. In truth almost all of her predictions had involved her gaining the upper hand on her father in a war of words that inevitably resulted in tricking him into confessing that he had wronged her. What she hadn't expected was for him to admit it so readily. He hadn't lied or tried to dodge her queries. Instead, Tonraq had readily told her the truth about everything regardless of what it might do to their relationship. "I just don't get it. Why were we attacked for so many years? You came from the North so you must know what the rest of the world looks like. The South Pole is just a big chunk of ice. There's no gold or silver here or dirt for farming. The only goods we have are fur and fish and you can get those anywhere. What was the point? To any of this?"

"When did hatred ever make sense?" Tonraq asked. "It consumed the Fire Lords and world suffered because they hated anyone who was different than them."

A droplet of water fell onto Korra's shoulder and she looked up at the ceiling. Cracks ran all throughout it, enough so that the building's integrity was at risk. She waved her hand and the ice shifted as it dissolved and reformed itself into a solid surface once again. Korra turned her head towards the doorway she had sealed shut earlier. It stood open once again and two women were standing in it. One a waterbender and the other not.

"How much have you heard?" Korra asked, the anger draining out of her and weariness remaining behind. Her life used to be so simple. Hunting and fishing. Training with the others in her village for the inevitable then fighting to survive when the attack came. Hunt, train, fight. Hunt, train, fight. At least that's how it had been. Her life now was so much more complicated without such a plain routine to follow.

"Enough."

A pair of arms wrapped themselves around Korra, squeezing her tighter than they had ever done before. She buried her face against a shoulder covered in black hair and squeezed its owner just as tightly in return. Her father had gambled correctly. If Korra hadn't left then she never would have set foot on the path she was currently on. Instead she would have remained in the South Pole, her anger and hatred festering until it consumed her like it had the Fire Lords. Republic City had been the answer. Asami Sato had been the answer Korra needed even if she hadn't known it at the time.