Korra
The first memory I have is of a tall gate in front of a big castle, several people coming towards me, and being in intense pain. "Help me..." I whispered, right before passing out.
I awoke with a start, sitting up so suddenly that I yelped in pain. I had a bandage around my head, another completely wrapped up and down my right arm, and my chest and stomach completely wrapped. I had on tattered garments, but nothing else. The only things keeping me decent were the bandages.
I looked around the empty room. The only thing in it was the cot I had been sleeping on, a dead fireplace, and a small nightstand. The door was closed, and from the window, I could tell that it was early morning.
I didn't know who I was, where I was, or where I had been before that room. I couldn't even remember where I was from. All I remembered was pain, a castle, and people.
"I must be in that castle that I saw before." I muttered. I wasn't sure were I was, or whether or not I was safe. I looked in a small drawer and found a dagger in sheath attached to a belt. I unsheathed it and looked at the silver blade. It felt familiar somehow.
I strapped the sheath around my left thigh, held the dagger in my left hand, and walked to the door. I listened for a sound, then opened the door and leaned my head out. There was nobody out in the hall. I walked out and stalked along the side of the hallway. The end of the hallway led out into a grand entryway. Again, I saw nobody.
I hurried down the staircase and hid next to the entry to another hallway when I suddenly heard sharp footsteps coming down that same hall. From the shadow, I could tell that it was a man. He walked into the entry way, and I stuck my foot out, tripping him. He fell to the floor, and I rolled him over, kneeling on his chest with the dagger held to his throat.
"Where am I, and why am I here?" I asked him sharply.
His bright amber eyes looked into mine as he answered smoothly, "You are in the palace of the Fire Nation, and you are here because you stumbled across my gate wounded and dying, Korra."
"This is your palace? And why did you call me Korra?"
"That is your name, is it not? It was engraved on the dagger that you are holding to my throat. And yes, my palace, for I am the heir to the Fire Nation, Prince Mako. And I have to say that you are being rather rude to the person who pulled you from the rain."
"You're the prince?!" I exclaimed, getting off of him at once, "I am sorry." I bowed my head.
"Do you remember anything?" he asked, getting up and brushing off his wrinkled clothes.
"No I don't remember anything, not where I come from, who I am, or even what my name is. The only thing I remember is the moment where I passed out at the gate, and waking up here..." I fell to my knees suddenly, gasping in extreme pain. I put my hand to my stomach, and came away with blood.
The prince leaned down and took my good arm and put it around his shoulders, and put his other hand on my other hip, helping me up and getting me to put all of my weight on him, "You silly girl, you've opened up your wounds again with the exertion you put on them. We have to get you back to your room." He helped me all the way back up the stair case and helped me sit on the bed. He ran out of the room, calling for the medicine man. The medicine man came running, and made it to me within seconds of the prince calling.
The medicine man changed my bandages while the prince turned towards the wall so that he couldn't see me but could still talk to me. "You really don't remember anything about yourself?"
I winced as the medicine man changed my stomach bandage, but managed to spit out, "No, nothing."
"You don't even remember what your name is?"
"No. What did you see when you found me? Did I have anything besides this dagger with me?"
"You were in tattered clothes, bleeding from several wounds, and that dagger was the only thing with you."
The medicine man finished bandaging me up. I got up and grabbed the stack of clean clothes, but stopped short when I saw what they were, "Could I get some different clothes? I don't like whatever this is." I asked, holding up some piece of cloth that had some sort of fabric gathered in a circle at the bottom.
The prince turned around with a confused expression, "That is the proper garments for ladies to wear. That's a dress, and the other thing is a corset." He said, pointing at the other piece of clothing. It looked like something to go around my stomach, with bones sewed onto it giving a rigid structure.
"These look like death contraptions. And I don't think that it's a good idea to put that corset thing over my wounds."
Prince Mako looked down sheepishly, "Of course…but what would you like to wear instead?"
I pointed at my tattered garments, "Can you get me some new... whatever these are…, and some kind of loose fitting upper garment?"
"Like a tunic? Sure." He turned around and called something out of the door to someone. A couple of seconds later, a woman came in with some new clean clothes, but stopped short when she saw me. "Korra, meet Lydia, the head lady-in-waiting." She got ahold of herself and bowed deeply before coming over and handing me the stack. She walked over and stood at the edge of the cot, clearly waiting for something. Prince Mako and the medicine man got up and walked out of the door, with the prince calling behind him, "Korra, get dressed, and then Lydia will bring you to breakfast."
I quickly changed, pulling off my tattered tights and putting on the new ones, and then I carefully pulled the tunic on, minding my arm and head. Lydia pointed at a pitcher and a bowl, obviously meaning for me to clean up. I washed my face and combed my dark hair to where it was silky smooth and cascading around my face. Once I was dressed and clean, Lydia wordlessly turned around and walked out the door. I took the hint and followed her. She led me down the winding halls into a vast open chamber, with a long table in the center, surrounded by twenty or more chairs, even though there were only three people sitting at it. One was Mako, and the others were one man, about a year younger, and a woman a couple years younger than the both of them.
They all stopped talking the moment that I entered the room. Mako waved me over, while the other two just simply stared at me, dumb-founded.
Once I reached the Mako's side, he stood up, "Korra, this my brother," he said, first gesturing to the man like himself, "This is Bolin. He is only a year younger than myself. The other is Lady Asami Sato, who is my arranged fiancé." He turned back to the two, "Bolin, Lady Asami, this is the Lady Korra, who stumbled across the doorstep to our castle, wounded and bleeding."
Mako and Bolin definitely looked similar with their dark hair and similar features, even though Bolin was more stocky, with Mako more lean and tall, but they had startling different eyes. Bolin had emerald green eyes, while Mako had amber eyes, so bright I would swear that I was staring straight into the bright fire that is Mako's soul.
Asami was a small, slight girl, with dark brown hair, and fierce green eyes. She was wearing the torture devices that I had refused to wear, but she made them look elegant and sleek. I wasn't sure what to make of her, but I knew from her intelligent eyes that she wasn't a pushover.
Bolin and Asami regained their composure, standing up to bow towards me. I nodded at them, for lack of not knowing what to do in return. They all sat down and I followed suit, sitting next to Mako, across from Asami, who was sitting next to Bolin. Two servants came out with heaping trays of pastries and fruit. They sat it down, and I piled fruit onto my plate, not daring to touch the pastries. They couldn't be good for me, especially with all of my injuries.
I looked over at Mako and cleared my throat, "How long have I been asleep?"
He glanced over, "Only two days."
"And I know this may be blunt of me, but why did you two look absolutely dumbfounded at the sight of me when I walked through the doors?" I asked, finally looking over at Mako's brother and betrothed. They both stared at me for a long second, with their similar emerald green eyes.
Bolin was the first to speak, "You are very unusual." From the sharp look Asami gave him, Bolin was the one who foolishly said what he thought, even if it was the absolute truth.
Asami tried to fix the foolish mistake, "Lady Korra, what he means is that you are very brave."
I looked at him, "What do you mean?"
"You are wearing men's clothes for one and you have a dagger strapped onto your thigh."
"I only see those 'women's garments' as torture devises, and I wouldn't be able to stand having them go over my wounds. And I didn't even realize that I had strapped on the dagger when I got dressed."
"But you are a woman!" Bolin exclaimed.
"How does that make any difference?"
"Women are not supposed to have wounds, or have to strap a dagger on so often that they eventually forget that they are wearing it. They are supposed to leave the fighting to us men." Mako chimed in.
"So then, what are women for?"
Bolin chimed in, "They are for waiting for us. We go off to fight, while the women stay here and wait for us to return safely."
"So we are trophies?" I asked, raising my eyebrow.
"In a sense, mainly because we cannot fight." Asami said.
I don't know why I had this reaction, but a feeling in my gut told me to prove her wrong. I was confident that I could show her differently. "Would you like to test that theory of yours?"
Asami stared, "What do you mean?"
"I'm saying that we have a contest. Say, three different areas for us two to compete and show the other which gender can fight."
Mako nearly choked on the glass of water that he was drinking, "WHAT?"
Bolin held out his hand for me to shake, "Deal."
Mako stared, "No deal! Korra, you will only worsen your injuries."
"Then we can wait till my injuries have healed! I will not back down on this, Mako. I don't know why I take such great offense to all of this, but I just know that I do. Bolin, we will have three contests in the areas of sword fighting, hand-to-hand combat, and one of your choice."
Bolin looked thoughtful for a second, "Archery. That's my choice."
"I agree. Thank you for the meal. I will be leaving now. Bolin, I'll be back once my injuries have fully healed." I stood up to leave but was startled when Mako stood up suddenly and angrily.
"Where are you going to go?! You are injured and you have no memory of who you even are or where you are from! You have no money, no food, and no clue where you are! So sit down, shut up, eat, let us take care of you, and stop being so god damn stubborn!" Mako shouted. As he did, the torches in the room flared up immensely with his anger and frustration.
"Don't you dare shout at me like that! I don't care if you are a prince, you don't get to tell me to sit down and shut up!" And with that my anger too flared out of control, and all of the water in the room started to rise into the air- out of the goblets, out of the food…and with the people too.
I felt my eyes widen as Mako, Bolin, and Asami each rose about a foot into the air, all with painful expressions on their faces. As the horror in me started to rise as I realized that I was the one doing it, they and everything else lowered. As soon as it was all back where it started, my knees buckled, and I fell too. I felt arms encircle my waist as someone whisper that everything was alright. It was Mako.
I looked up at him, into his bright amber eyes, "What was that?"
He looked down, "Your birthgiven power, Your Highness. I know who you are, Princess Korra."
AN: OK so HEYYY haha this is my very first fanfiction. I can't believe how long it's taken me to get this going. So how this happened…uh let's seeeee…I started this story for NANOWRIMO (sp?) and it never went anywhere, and so with a little tweaking, I turned it into a Legend of Korra story. Anyways, I'm glad to answer any questions about anything going on in the story, and I'll take any criticizism. PM if you want to ask me anything or just want to talk to me, and REVIEWS are ALWAYS WELCOME people. I just started summer vacation, so I should have this story a-rockin-and-a-rollin XD later people
-Dawn