The Legend of Korra: Skarloey Kail
Chapter 3
Korra had been out searching for Skarloey for several hours at this point, and she was getting close to giving up on him. She had checked every home, every building and every alleyway in the entire city. Naga hadn't been much help either, she hadn't been able to find Izera's scent anywhere that the two had looked. Korra turned, exhausted and headed for home, but stopped when she heard a familiar voice.
"Korra," the voice rang out and she turned around to find Asami in the doorway of a shop across the street. Naga slowly shuffles over to Asami so the girls can talk, Korra rather wished that she hadn't.
"Hey…Asami," she says yawning and wiping her eyes out.
"You look awful, what's got you up this late?"
"I was headed to sleep hours ago but the guy that was staying in my house caused me another problem..."
"Oh yeah, Bolin told me about the incident this afternoon, what happened this time?"
"He left something at my parent's house and I'm trying to find him and return it to him."
"What does he look like? I'll look with you?"
"Thanks," Korra said surprised, she didn't think Asami would ever want to do anything alone with her, let alone so late at night. "Hop up."
Asami climbed onto Naga's back and sat on the saddle behind Korra.
"He has long straight black hair, green eyes and wears a long black coat, the only place I haven't checked is the docks so I guess we should head there.
"Ya, from what I have heard, he sounds like the kinda guy who would sneak into a locked down shipyard just to sleep if he had to," Asami laughs out and rolls her eyes.
"He certainly is," Korra grumbles out, still annoyed with Skarloey, and was growing even more annoyed by the fact that she knew that in the end she would forgive him and ask him to come back to her house because of what he mother had said. 'I guess as the Avatar I really can't have too many friends who are willing to fight for me…maybe I overreacted earlier…we'll see.' she thought to herself as Naga headed for the docks. "It's sad really…deep down he seems like a good-hearted guy, he means well but he does bad things for good reasons, he takes the harder path without ever considering an easier alternative."
"Sounds like another hard-headed man…"
"Normally I would hate someone like him but…I can tell, underneath it all, he really does care about his comrades, my mom thinks having him as a friend would be a real privilege."
"I suppose, can't have too many people who are willing to protect you. What did he leave at your house?"
Korra reaches into her pocket and grabs the locket, but before she can show it to Asami a Northern Soldier calls out to them.
"What are you doing at the harbor?"
"I'm the Avatar, I need access to the Harbor to search for…something I left on the ship I arrived on."
"You have one hour, any longer and I'll have you and your friend removed from the area."
"Alright," she says as Naga passes by the troop and into the docks.
"I wonder what ship brought him here…bet he is on that one."
"He's an Earth bender right?" Asami asks.
"Yeah?"
"Look for an Earth Kingdom ship, also, since he doesn't have much money it is probably an older ship, a cheap looking ride."
"Good thinking," Korra says as they walk down the line of docks.
They come across a ship that fit's the bill and Naga immediately begins sniffing around and heads toward it. "Found something girl? Is it Izera?"
"His name is Izera?" Asami asks, thinking that it is a girl's name.
Naga barks in agreement and the girls run up the ramp and onto the ship's deck as Naga continues to sniff around. She finds a heavy door and begins to scratch at it. Korra opens it and sees that it leads down below the deck and that it is pitch black.
"No Izera is his pet Tiger-Wolf," Korra laughs a little, beginning to cheer up now that she may have found him. "Stay out here and keep watch, I'll go find him, we don't want any northern troops to find him."
"Good idea," Asami says as she leans up against the wall and begins to pet Naga.
Korra produces a ball of fire above her palm and proceeds down the now dimly lit stairwell. Once at the bottom she yells out to find Skarloey. "Skar!" Her voice echoes in the darkness of the corridors. "Skarrrloooooeyy!" she yells with a hand cupped around her mouth. "Skarloey you here?! It's Korra!" Korra then hears Asami stumbling around at the top of the stairs, followed by her running down them to find Korra. "Asami? You alright?"
Asami grabbed Korra's shoulders and Korra sees that she is breathing heavily and looks like she has seen a ghost. "What did you just say?!"
"What is wrong with you?"
"The name Korra! What is his name?!"
"Jeez chill! It's Skarloey now let go of me," she says as she nudges Asami off of her.
Asami raises her hand to her forehead and her face goes pale, she looks as though she might throw up.
"Asami what is up with you?" Korra asks as she walks to Asami and puts one hand on her shoulder and grabs hold of Asami's hand with her other.
"Skarloey…Kail?"
"How did yo-"
"What are you returning to him?" Asami cuts Korra off.
"Uh…" Korra steps back and reaches into her pocket and pulls out the locket, showing it to Asami. She sees Asami's eyes light up and go wide, "Asami what has gotten into you?"
"Can…can I?" she asks as she reaches out for the locket. Korra nods and hands it to her and Asami opens it up, seeing the picture of the young girl and her eyes water up.
"Asami, why are you crying?"
"Korra, did you look inside this locket?"
"Yes, It's a picture of a little girl, her initials are A.S. righ-" her voice trails off as her eyes go wide, and Asami holds the locket up beside her as if comparing the small picture to her own face. "WHAT?!" Korra yells as her jaw drops. "How did I miss that?!"
"Jesus Korra quiet down I was trying to sleep…" the girls turn to a dark hallway, Korra's fire illuminating Skarloey's face, causing him to put his arms up in front of his eyes, surprised by the light.
"Ugh, come on, point that someplace else…" he yawns out.
"Sorry," she says lowering the flame slowly, still dumbfounded.
Skarloey wipes out his eyes but stops when he hears another voice, unaware that there was another person with Korra. "Skarloey Kail, is it really you?" he hears as he immediately wakes up and looks to the other girl.
"Asami? That you?" he says squinting in the dimly lit room, seeing a glint in her palm.
"It's really you…" Her expression quickly changed to anger in no time flat before yelling at him, "Why did you attack the northern troops?!"
"They started it, they attacked my friend first," and soon enough Izera padded up behind him, and then to Asami, smelling her to familiarize the new scent.
"So this is Izera then?" Asami smiles as she holds her hand out to the Tiger-Wolf, which is quickly sniffed and then licked.
"Yeah, I adopted her about a month after you left…"
Asami then walks to Skarloey and hands him his locket, he then put it back on and tucked it into his shirt. Asami then reaches into her shirt and produces a locket exactly like Skarloey's.
"You've had that under your collar this whole time?" Korra asks.
"I barely ever take it off, only when I'm in the pool back home or in the shower."
The three teens pack up Skarloey's belongings and headed back above deck.
"We'll make a distraction for the troops so you can get out of the harbor unnoticed," Korra tells him. "When you get out head back to my house."
"Actually…would you mind if he stayed with me?" The two give Asami a surprised look and go quiet. "Well I mean, I'm staying alone so I have more room then Korra does, plus as Mako told you, you shouldn't have to deal with anything right now, you have enough going on."
"I don't mind where I go, you know that," Skarloey says to Korra.
"Hey if you want him to stay at your place I'm not gonna argue, go ahead," Korra smiles to them, knowing it's about more than what they told her.
"Okay, meet me at my place then, it's right next to the igloo the guys are sharing."
Korra and Asami get the attention of the guards and Skarloey and Izera manage to slip away. Around fifteen minutes later, Korra drops Asami off at her igloo before heading home, finally, to get some much-needed sleep.
Asami walks in to find the lights out, and the fire pit in the center of the room lit and burning nicely. Izera has fallen asleep beside the fire and her head rests in Skarloey's lap, his hands running gently through her fur. She stands in the doorway up against the frame, watching him with a smile.
"She seems like a nice companion."
"She is, I wouldn't have made it this long without her."
"What happened to you Skarloey? What changed about you? I even went back to your house a few years ago to find you, but you were gone, I asked around the town and everyone refused to talk about your family."
"My father leaked information to fire nation rebels and got us banished. Mom left with him and I left with Izera to get away from him."
"That's terrible, why did they banish all of you? You didn't deserve that, you were just a kid." She walks to his side and sits down with him. "Why didn't you come to republic city? You must have known that that's where Future Industries are located? Why didn't you come find me?"
"Getting into Republic city isn't easy for someone without a passport, or any money or a ruined family name…I missed you Asami…"
"I missed you to…" She says as she leans into his shoulder before sighing and shaking her head. "Can I just ask for one thing?"
"Anything."
"Take this slow…I know when we were kids we had a real spark but…we were kids, it's been seven years. We have both changed a lot, and I don't wanna rush into any more relationships…"
"I agree completely, hundred percent." he smiles to himself and takes her hand in his.
That night Skarloey sleeps on the floor with Izera and Asami sleeps on a bedroll on the opposite side of the fire pit.
The next morning, Skarloey wakes, hearing Asami talking to the pair of brothers he had met the night before.
"Guys I need to go to see Varrick and discuss the deal for Future Industries, wanna tag along?"
He hears them both agree before he sits up, feeling Izera lick his cheek softly. "Good morning girl," he whispers as he scratches behind her ears and stands up. "Morning," he yawns out to the group before putting his long coat back on. "Mind if I come too?"
Mako and Bolin hadn't noticed Skarloey before this point and objected to the idea.
"What are you even doing here?" Mako asked.
"Look, Mako, I invited him to stay here so don't start, we know each other."
"How do you two know each other?" Bolin chimes in.
"We will explain later, let's get going," Asami says rolling her eyes and the group of three boys follows her into town. On the way, Skarloey and Asami explain to the boys how the two of them had met.
When Asami was young, only twelve years old, her father brought her on one of his business trips for the first time. They had rented a house in the middle district of Ba Sing Se, and were scheduled to stay for a few months to oversee the start of production on Hiroshi's new invention. During this time Asami was given a guide to take her wherever she wanted to go. One day she saw Skarloey in the street outside his house, feeding a stray raccoon-cat. Skarloey had always loved animals and she soon found that he would do this nearly every day. Purposely walking by his house every day just to watch him feed any animals that happened to be around his home. When she finally got up the nerve to talk to him, the two hit it off right away, and by the time Asami knew it, her time in the Earth Kingdom was up. They had developed into quite the pair of friends, and soon realized that they liked each other a bit more than any pair of friends ever should. Before Asami left, she had the pair of lockets made, and each of them had promised to find the other when they had grown up.
When they arrived in Varrick's house they found it empty and decided to wait for him. When Eska and Desna showed up with their Northern escort, Skarloey stayed on the couch and sat behind everyone else who was standing up, to hide from the troop's view. Soon enough the pair left, closely followed by Mako, leaving to go find Korra.
Later, at the trial, Skarloey sits outside in an alleyway beside the courthouse, seeing as he is wanted by the authorities as well and shouldn't go inside.
After a worryingly short trial, Skarloey sees the group of suspects, minus Senna, surrounded by Northern troops and closely followed by Korra and Senna. He watches as the troops are piled into a truck and driven off, and notices that Korra and Senna hop up on Naga's back and head after the truck, leaving Mako in the dust.
Skarloey walks up to Mako as the people thin out and head home, "I take it the trial didn't go well…" he ventured.
"How perceptive of you…" Mako sighed.
Later that afternoon, Korra bursts through Asami's door and walks up to them both, sitting around the fire. "Korra? What's up?" Asami asks.
"I need to borrow Skarloey."
"Forrr?" He asks skeptically.
"Muscle, I'm going to knock some sense into the judge and get my father's sentence changed."
"What? Korra you can't just-" Asami begins before being cut off by Korra.
"I'm sick of people telling me what I can and Cannot do! I'm the Avatar! I can do whatever I want!"
Skarloey smiles to himself before standing up, "Common Izera," he says as the Tiger-Wolf stands to attention and follows Skarloey outside, followed by Korra, surprised she actually got him to help her.
"Skarloey!" Asami huffs.
"It'll be fine Asami, don't worry, we won't ruff him up too bad.
"Speak for yourself," Korra retorts with a wicked smile on her lips, beginning to finally relate with Skarloey.
The two mount their guides and set off after the judge, "How do you know where he will be?" Skarloey asks.
"I asked around, he is heading for the other end of the town in a Sautomobile, we should be able to catch him. He is using the mountain ring road and you can't get a car going really fast up there without crashing."
"Then we better pick up the pace huh?" he leans forward into Izera's back, "Alright Izera let's go!"
Izera's pace quickens and Korra can't believe such a small mount, compared to most, with such a heavy rider could get up to those speeds. Korra found Naga having issues keeping up after a few minutes. Skarloey noticed this and eased back to let Korra keep up with him. Not long after, the two caught up with the judge, Korra having Naga run alongside the car and body check it into the drifts at the side of the road.
"Alright Izera, play along with Naga," Skarloey whispers and Izera begins to follow Naga's lead, intimidating the judge until their farce had produced all the results that Korra had wanted.
Afterward, the two found everyone back at Varrick's and explained everything that had happened. Skarloey sat down as the gang began to discuss what to do about it all, and how to save Korra's father from prison. When they had finally decided on a plan they turned to Skarloey.
"We don't wanna attract any unwanted attention…Skarloey you should stay here…"
"Fine, just be careful alright?"
Once the group had left the room, Varrick tried to strike up a conversation with Skarloey, as Bolin began to prepare everything to transport Ping Ping.
"So kid, you're on the run from the troops too?"
"Yep."
"Rebel?"
"Might as well be."
"Then we're allies, my friend! Help Bolin with this and then skedaddle to my boat, I hear you're pretty good at sneakin around so you should have no problem getting past the troops."
"Right, got it," he says, standing up to help however he can.
Skarloey did as instructed and soon enough made his way to the boat, and waited for the others to arrive. Afterward, the whole group arrived, almost all at the same time, they got the boat underway. Skarloey watched as Asami, Mako, and Korra left on the plane and as Korra went into the Avatar state and water bent them a path through the blockade. However, Skarloey turned around to find one of the unaffected ships turning to face them and one of the deck guns lining them up. He ran out onto the deck and quickly took a firm stance, raised his left hand and then brought it down as fast as he could, hands and fingers fully extended, in a chopping motion, before transitioning to a motion where it looked as if Skarloey was trying to rip something in two. Everyone then watched in awe as the ship's hull visibly cracked crudely down the center, before the metal began to screech and moan as Skarloey tore the ship apart, using the crack as a seam. Once everyone was back on board the ship, Korra's father and the men were safe and dropped off back outside the Southern borders and the boat had outrun Eska, the group began to search for Skarloey on the ship. They found him in one of the ship's many bedrooms, bunking down for the night, Korra immediately speaking up.
"How did you do that," Korra laughed out, clearly excited.
"Do what?" he asked, a bit tired.
"Metal bend that massive ship in half, something that big and something that far away must've been almost impossible!"
"Practice…people expect a lot from you when your father is a general, I wanted to join him in the army but that obviously wasn't how it worked out. I trained my whole life to be as good as I could, and in the end, it was all for nothing."
I wouldn't say that," Korra said quietly. "If not for you, that ship could have fired on us and ended our journey right then and there. Far as I am concerned, you have earned your spot in the group Skarloey, and…I would be honored if you stayed with us…thank you…" Korra whispers out as she turns to leave the room with a warm smile on her face. Everyone else follows her out, agreeing with her the whole way.
Skarloey lies down beside Izera and smiles to himself. "Thanks, Korra…" He whispers to no one before heading to sleep.
End of Chapter 3