A series of one shot/ drabbles pre and during Legend of Korra. Eventual inclusion of Team Avatar, may be au to book 4. Based off of writing prompts from tumblr. I dont own any characters except for ones I make.
The Blue Dragon
Cause
"She knew how to put one foot in front of the other even when they hurt. And she knew there was pain in the journey, but there was also great beauty."
Veronica Rossi, Under the Never Sky (via soulsscrawl)
Cries of a newborn child fill the air, the father bursting inside the room where his wife holds his newborn daughter.
Full head of jet black hair, silver eyes like an ancestor on his side, she was beautiful. The couple's two year old son stumbled in, shying away from his new sister.
Reza chuckled and his son's reaction.
What are you gonna name her?
Reza shares a look with his wife, a firebender with the fire of her soul in her eyes. He met Liara at a firebending festival, and they have never separated since. It was a happy marriage filled with love, yet the economic crisis on their hands was getting to them.
Also the fact that the rebellion was ransacking villages.
And that their son, Killian, showed no promise of bending fire at all.
I think Zarra, after your mother, Reza.
Reza knew that he was a nonbender, and he loved his son, yet seeing his daughter, he just knew.
She would be a firebender.
They watched as Killian and Zarra played, tackling each other in their yard. Liara smiled at their closeness, how she could see the bonds that shaped her children's lives.
Reza took to training their children the purpose of control and patience, and watched as he taught them self defense, and practiced sword and staff fighting.
Zarra was a very observant child, for she spent hours watching her parents firebend with the soldiers. One day, a blue flame appeared in the palm of her hand, and her brother changed.
Reza and Liara were overjoyed, and Zarra quickly progressed through her training. Attaining a very talented mastery of firebending, she kept her shy and gentle personailty, but was quite skilled with her katana sword passed down throughout the generations. From firebender to firebender.
Killian was less than happy for his sister, for he started to eye just getting her out of the way.
There was a waterfall with a huge, winding river with strong currents. No one really knew exactly where it ended. Zarra always hated water. She never liked it, but she never feared anything before.
It happened when she was 16, her brother about to enter the United Forces. She had let her jet black hair grow to her waist, and her silver eyes reflected her pale skin. She always had her katana with her, and kept it strapped to her body. Zarra also hid the firebending scar on her thigh. She was just hiking with her brother when they rested by the waterfall, sening the change in the air, sister turned towards brother, as hepainfully gripped her shoulders and flung her over the water fall. His controted face of anger and suppressed rage would be with her the rest of her life, as would her shocked and mostly betrayed look ingrained into him. Her body was swept by the currents, which she fought against until her strength ebbed from her, fate tied with the spirits.
Killian watched for a minute, his hands clenched and feeling an undescribable gnawing at the pit of his stomach.
Her screams echoed through his life. Tearing at the sanity of his mind.
He returned to his parents, her silver eyes watching him.
Reza and Liara colapsed in grief, pain for their daughter's supposed death. Liara felt a small peice of dread that Killian was lying that she fell, yet she kept her wondering silent was they tried to move on.
She could barely move, her clothes torn up by the rocks, her hair ragged and many, many bruises, scraps, cuts and mostly, water. The beach surround her, and after a while, she managed to sit up, coughing out the water in her lungs, and shakily stood up, unsheathing her katana, the only tie to her family left.
She could never go back, that she knew. For her brother, the one she trusted with her life, betrayed her.
Attempted to kill her. But really, he killed a part of her that she wasn't sure could come back, ever. Love. Trust.
Zarra hobbled off the beach, hands shaking as she tried to forget the water.
She couldn't stop to wonder how she was alive.
She managed to get to the Fire Naton Capital, where a kind old woman named Ni gave her new clothes and helped Zarra recover. She was in Harbor City, which harbored the poverty striken citizens and criminals. Gangs as well.
Zarra put on her black jacket and pulled the strap that held her katana on her back. She breifly touched the handle and left Ni's restarunt and inn.
Zarra took a route with many people in it to avoid getting in the middle of the gang turf wars right now. It was a celebration of sorts today, and Former Fire Lord Zuko was meeting with citizens at the Harbor City Square to talk about improving the life and conditions in the slums. People were auditioning to the Fire Lord their firebending skills so that they could swing the man to their gang faction side.
Meaning that all out chaos was going to unleash itself.
She never thought much of the Fire Lord, only that he helped end the greed and hubris that empowered the Fire nation to commit genocide.
Firebending wasn't about fueling anger and hate, it was about controlling life.
Zarra seemed to be the only one with that philosphy.
The square was packed with people. A stage stood with the Firelord's symbols and decorations, the red flags waving in the wind, the Fire Nation Flames almost alive. She inhaled, then exhaled towards the line where firebenders stood to show Zuko's gaurds their talent so that they might see him before the conference. As the line moved forward, the tension in the air grew heavier as each of the canidates were refused. The two main gangs, Crimson Eagle Hawks and Azure Tiger Monkeys were getting close to their boiling point. Zarra wasn't affiliated with either gang, having no interest, so members of both gangs glared at her as she waited for the gaurds to admit her in.
You shouldn't be here.
Yeah, don't want a weakling like you getting hurt.
They laughed at her, continuing to taunt her. Zarra just ignored them to the best she could. She didn't wish to be brash.
Inhale. Exhale. Going to be fine. Maybe.
The group stepped closer to her, one with his regular flames ready, underestimating her completely. As he punched fire at her, Zarra absorbed the flames in her palms while dodging, executing a fluid circular motion to redirect his fire back to him. Once he stepped back, the group went to converge on her, so she inhaled a breath of air, calmed herself of anger, and exhaled a breath of blue fire, causing the gang members to cry out, and the crowd stunned to silence in awe. Before they fled, Zuko's gaurds handcuffed the gang members, and the gaurds told the crowd that the conference is to start now. They stared at her as she went back to join the crowd. She was just trying to survive, nothing more than that.
The Fire Lord's carriage came to a stop, and the crowd was whispering, no applause when he emerged and stepped to the podium. He was tall, and his hair was white, along with his beard. He wore traditional Fire Lord robes, his blood red cloak flapping in the breeze as he spoke of how he promised to improve the quality of life.
Violence is not the answer. I thought of that once. That Violence, that killing the Avatar was the anwser.
It is not. I will restore peace to Harbor City! I wish to create harmony for this city for everyone to not live like the lower ring in Ba Sing Se. I will help you, if you are willing. He bows to the citizens, and leaves after some time, confused by the silence and whispers of the people, void of happiness.
It unsettled him.
Zarra slipped away from the square before the Fire Lord left, for she noticed the stares and whispers about the blue dragon.
If they called her that she would be a target. She shook her head and headed back to Ni's, preparing to leave as Zarra didn't want to endanger her.
They said goodbye. Ni gave the teen, now 17, a medallion passed from her ancestors. Zarra went to refuse the gift, yet Ni looked her in the eye and persisted:
My children were killed. I have no one left that I consider closer than you, Zarra. I'm greatful that you showed up at my door, young one. Thank you.
Thank you, for everything, Ni... Goodbye.
Once she left Ni's place, Zarra traversed the streets until she found a solid bench to sleep on that night. Looking at the stars, she couldn't help but wonder about her parents.
I hope they're alright.
She fell asleep on the bench with a journal on her lap titled 'Ideas to Change the World'.
The sun barely rose when Zarra awoke, stomach growling.
With no yuan at all.
She decided to ignore her hunger, as she'd been through a near death experience with her brother, and stretched, relief when her joints righted themselves in place. Zarra went into a waterfountain and cupped some water in her hands, washing her face. She went to the middle of the suare, where most of the people passed through, and found a space for herself. She let out a blue fire in her palm, staring at it as the sun rose and people went their ways.
Hey.
Zarra looked up in surprise, where a little girl no more than ten stared at her with wide eyes.
You're the one who scared the gangs away? Zarra stared at the noble clothes the girl wore, not from around here, and a boy who arrived, his clothes too big and tattered.
Can you show us? Can you show us? Please.
Zarra looked at them with a smile in her eyes. She never liked seeing children so hopeless, the boy reminded her of her present, the girl with what her future could have been.
Of Course. Zarra stood up.
Stay back, okay? They nodded and complied.
Inhale.
Exhale.
She put herself into her stance position. Zarra learned it in a dream, where a man taught her how to dance like a dragon in flowing moves. She willed her fire, and blue burstes from her hands as her spun and executed a sequence of moves, attraching a crowd of people when she ended her show with a breath of blue fire towards the sky.
They were stunned. And there was cheering, something that hadn't been heard in Harbor City for a very long time.
That was amazing! The girl smiled.
How did you do that? The boy tugged on her coat sleeve. Zarra wondered how to answer that. How do I approch this? She wondered she was trying to stay unnoticable, but her resovle caught her by surprise.
Once it was only the three of them, Zarra explained truthfully of her answer.
Most of us believe that it is our anger and hate that leads us to firebend, that our physical strength and force will make us superior. That is not the source of firebending. The source of fire comes from within, the belief that it is not anger and hate, but compassion and love that is the true source of fire. Believe in life, and make yourself an equal to all other people.
It doesn't matter of air, the freedom, earth, the strong and fomidable, or water, the element of change and time. All are balanced and created equal, until we believe that any element is superior to the others. The Avatar is the peacekeeper, the balance between all four elements, and by bending each one is what keeps the world from falling into chaos.
Think of fire as life. Not power or a tool. Think of fire as the compassion inside you, and I'm sure you'll be a great person someday.
The sun rose to its highest peak at noon, and Zarra was alone. The children left a while ago, taking the words she spoke and keeping them in their memories. The carriage rolled to a stop in front of her as Zarra looked up is surprise as Fire Lord Zuko, white hair and beard and all, stood in front of her. Zarra stood quickly and bowed, then met the firelord's eyes.
Your name?
Zarra, Lord Zuko. He regarded her quiet manner.
You bend using blue fire?
Yes, have been all my life.
He fiddled with his hands, a bit nervous at the propose that he would ask of her. Zuko finally let it out, just hopeful of what he could do to help her.
I wish to have your insight, and I want to help you, Zarra.
He watched as her eyes light up, catching the glimpse of hope.
I am honored.
He motioned to the carriage, and Zarra followed him inside, starting a new path, forgetting, just for a moment, her pain with each step.