A rush of fire bloomed in the training grounds as Korra battled against her opponents, taking them on almost too easily as I watched from the rooftop, a slanted smile situated on my face as I watched her trials. Below me were my grandmother and the Fire Nation tutors that had been teaching Korra for the past three years and were now assessing her for her final test. It looked like it was going pretty well, I mean, Korra is kicking ass out there. It's almost not a challenge for her at all. Folding my legs I leaned back on my hands, watching as Korra took out her last opponent then cheered in celebration.
The old farts down there argued that Korra didn't exactly exercise any restraint in her fighting, using pure physical attacks and had neglected her spiritual training. I guess they're right, but hey, that's just Korra for you. She's not exactly the spiritual type. Give her a good brawl and she'll be happy. Katara, my grandmother, persuaded the old geezers that Korra was more than ready for the next stage of her training, so Korra was happy about that and after quickly thanking her masters, she dashed off.
Her head instantly turned up towards me where I grinned, winking to her as I took off also and ran along the roof before I spiralled in the air with a quick twist of my feet, sending a wave of snow down like a slide which formed to ice and I jumped on board, skating down to Korra's side where we both whooped in celebration. "Yeah! Did you see all that Kanna? I totally kicked their butts and now they're finally letting me advance to air-bending! I can't wait, I get to learn from Tenzin himself!" Korra could barely catch her breath as I punched her fist with mine, grinning.
"That's right, I totally knew you could do it, no big deal am I right?" I answered as we went to go see Naga. "My uncle will probably come straight away, I just hope he brings all my cousins so I can finally see them after so long. The youngest I've never even met before." Korra asked me again about my cousins so I told her about Jinora, Ikki and Meelo, or at least I told her what I knew. I also told her about when I'd first met my uncle and how I thought he was a stern old man but was actually pretty nice and hadn't minded me climbing all over him and pulling on his robes since I had only been four at the time. Korra laughed at that as I helped her clean out Naga's kennel, the two of us working together effortlessly.
Once the bed was clean Korra saddled up Naga and we both jumped onto her back, my hands holding onto Korra's waist as she had Naga race forwards. "You ready?" Korra called and I grinned, already working my hands.
"You bet, we'll be in so much trouble for this!" But it was worth it, so totally worth it. With the snow bridge that I created Naga leaped on top and I quickly formed the ice with a sharp movement, laughing as we raced over the heads of the White Lotus guards, grinning as I turned and waved. "We'll be back soon, just going for a little exercise!" I cheered as Korra laughed, Naga landing safely on the other side of the wall where I turned around in the seat then dropped my hands, making the bridge collapse and several shouts sounded indignantly where they were covered in snow. I grinned, giving Korra the thumbs up before I spun around in the seat once more and we were off.
Naga could carry our weight easily, both of us being very slight and we pulled up our hoods as we raced across the white plains, snow building up all around us as we ran freely without the boundaries of the complex around us. It was nice to stretch our legs and I know Naga enjoyed the running as well. After a while I jumped off and skated beside her, grinning up at Korra who took this as a challenge and egged Naga onwards. Lowering my stance I used my water-bending style to push myself along the ice, skating effortlessly before finally we reached the huge cliff were the ice met the ocean. Instantly I froze, drawing back a little to keep a safe distance away. "That was great! Just what I needed after that test." Korra exhaled a yawn, cracking her shoulders before rubbing Naga's neck. "So you really think Tenzin will be here soon?"
"A couple of days at most if he's flying on his bison." I answered with a nod. "Though it kind of sucks you can't go to Republic City to train there, wouldn't it be great to see more of the world?" I said as we both sat down to watch the sunset. "I mean, Avatar Aang travelled the world to learn all four elements and he did some amazing things as he went. I still think they're wrong to keep you locked up here in the south, I mean what's the worst that could happen?" Korra grinned at me.
"I know! I totally want to go see the world. The moment my Avatar training is over, you and me will go out and see everything that there is. Maybe we could even follow the same journey Aang and Katara took with Toph and Sokka, wouldn't that be cool? We could go to Kyoshi, Kangaroo Island, everywhere!" She flung out her hands and fell onto her back, still smiling ecstatically. "Being the Avatar is hard, all these rules and stuff. Aang didn't have these rules."
"I'm fairly certain he had a few. He just didn't listen to them most of the time." I shrugged before also falling onto my back so that I was beside Korra. We turned our heads to look at one another before smiling, hands linking together naturally as we lay in the snow. We were quite happy and peaceful there, eyes closed as we listened to the distant rushing of water below until suddenly Naga slathered her tongue over our faces, making us both squeal and yelp in disgust. "Naga!" We chorused before laughing, throwing snow at her which she artfully dodged before it then turned into an all out war.
We played until the sun had set and we were left with our dusky night where it never fully became dark, the sky painted with orange and pastel hues. We took our time returning, however when we got back the masters looked at us both with angry disapproval. "Avatar Korra, you know that you are not to leave the compound without express permission!" They berated her as I jumped off, dusting the snow from my sleeved coat whilst Korra rolled her eyes.
"We were just exercising Naga, no big deal." She argued however this only made them angrier.
"You are the Avatar and that means you should not act so recklessly!" They continued before pointing the finger at me. "You! You are a bad influence and should not be encouraging these bad antics. It is one thing that you are the granddaughter of Avatar Aang and Master Katara, we have given you plenty of chances but this cannot continue! Unless you both begin to obey the rules, you shall be separated!" Instantly our faces dropped with alarm and Korra immediately sprung down from Naga's back and faced her masters.
"You can't do that, you can't control every aspect of my life the way you want! It's not your decision despite what Avatar Aang might have wanted. I deserve the freedom to choose my friends and since you would never let me spend any time with the other kids, Kanna is the only friend I have!" Korra roared, growing increasingly furious with every word and the snow began to rush around her, fire bursting in her hands at her fury. "You just try to take her away from me, I won't let any of you touch her!" The masters all backed away in shock and horror, staring at the fury of Korra's wrath so I quickly anchored my arms around her waist, making her start in surprise and instantly it all disappeared as I embraced her.
"It's alright Korra, they're not going to send me away. They can try if they want to but they'll have to fight me every step of the way, okay?" I soothed her anger with my soft words, dropping one hand to hold hers as I gave her a smile. "It's been a long day so how about we heat up some water for a bath and relax for a while? You've probably overstretched your muscles again since you're holding your shoulder awkwardly. I'll heal it for you." With me distracting her from the others Korra nodded her head, agreeing that it was a good idea. She gave a sloppy and rather disrespectful bow to her masters before slicing out her hand, a rush of snow flying over them and I gasped before bursting out laughing as Korra grabbed my hand and we ran, Naga bounding after us. We were terrible together, I couldn't blame them for being fed up with us.
Once Naga was happily back in her home Korra and I went to our room where we used our water-bending together to fill up the bath in the floor and heated the water to the perfect temperature before stripping down and settling inside. "Ah, that's so much better." Korra exhaled happily as I finished tying up my hair before I began to heal her shoulder which she had pulled, sending her into a relaxed state as I then washed her back for her. "Sorry I lost it out there, I didn't mean to get so angry." She apologised, face a little crestfallen with guilt so I poked her ribs.
"Don't worry about it. They're all just stuck up jerks. When Avatar Aang was around, they were probably still in diapers anyway and they just think that they know everything." I reasoned, making Korra look a little brighter as she turned her head back to look at me.
"True, it's kind of weird though. In my past life, I was your grandfather." I nodded my head in agreement, frowning slightly.
"Yeah, even after all these years I can't get my head around that." Suddenly smiling I water-bended a load of water and dumped it on Korra's head, laughing as she yelped before then turning on me. After a small outbreak of war we finished washing, Korra scrubbing my back for me before finally we got dressed again to go to bed. We had adjoining rooms though we very rarely slept separately, electing to bunk together for the company or even sometimes sneak out to sleep with Naga so that we were against her warm and comfortable fur. As I lay next to Korra she instinctively curled into me so I smiled sleepily and tucked my arms around her, thinking how cute she was when she slept as she enjoyed being cuddled more than anything. All that tough guy bravado, I knew her better.