Author Disclaimer: I do not own a thing concerning "The Legend of Korra." Bryke owns all!

Author's note: More abuse, more abuse! When I have to make with the abuse like Bryke, it makes me a little sad. Going to have to simple it down. And yes, it is common for indoctrination methods to give the target a new name but for simplicity's sake, she'll still be Korra or Avatar.

"Alternate Years"

Chapter four "The Warlord's Tool"

P'li sat on the shaded porch of the manor and watched Ghazan with the Avatar. Little Korra had her feet splayed in a strong stance and Ghazan tapped the ground with a switch to match her movements. She moved quickly, lower lip pooched out in concentration. Furrowed earth moved behind her stomping progression. She had begun her firebending and now Ghazan wanted to see what she could do in earthbending. Both at once, why not?

They were overlooking past Avatar training by starting two elements at the same time, but they weren't too concerned with the Avatar cycle of elements.

They would train her as they saw fit.

Padding footsteps approached from behind her and P'li almost jumped when a large hand settled on her shoulder. She glanced up into Zaheer's patient gaze and noted the softness in his eyes when she relaxed. She laid her hand over his and squeezed. Zaheer moved to sit beside her.

"She's going to be a prodigy," he commented, sweeping his gaze toward Ghazan and Korra. Ghazan had assumed his own stances and the child copied him. The earth roiled beneath their feet. P'li nodded, sweeping her gaze over her lover. His tunic was unbuttoned, exposing a taut stomach and chest lined with muscles. She loved his body and the way it felt against hers. Not like all the others before…

And he knew what had happened before he saved her from the Earth Queen's warlord. His understanding and patience made him a man among men in her eyes. It was inevitable she had grown to trust and love him.

"She is. I guess most Avatars show promise as children," she commented. Zaheer picked up on her statement and put his arm around her shoulder. P'li leaned against him, half-closing her eyes. She had been tormented so many times years ago that child-bearing would never be a possibility for her. Zaheer would never get a child from her. That he stayed with her showed the depths of his love. He ran a thumb across her brow, smoothing her bangs away.

"Most do, I suppose. Under our guidance, she will be something more," he promised. P'li nodded, hearing the deeper promise in his words. Their goal for the Red Lotus would bring about a greater good for the world. Unwanted tyrants would be eradicated with the raw power of the Avatar.

Once she was fully trained. They had her; her future was at their talent and disposal.

"She will be. Are you going to be merciful or a torment to her today?" she mused. Zaheer laughed, kissing her brow.

"Nice for now. She'll want to see that in the future if she's punished. So; nice for now," he promised. Korra waved to him and run up to the porch ledge.

"Good morning, Master Zaheer!" she called. Her cheeks were flushed pink with her exertions. "Did you see? I can earthbend!"

"You can," Zaheer agreed, a small smile pulling his lips. "Is Master Ghazan finished for today?"

Korra looked back over to the tall earthbender and waited. He tapped his switch on the ground beside him. She shook her head.

"Nope. He wants me back," she said. Zaheer nodded.

"Go to it," he said. Korra beamed at the smile he gave her and jogged back to Ghazan's side.

P'li's eyes were thoughtful as she watched the child enthusiastically practice her earthbending. "I get the feeling she'll be a very strong woman."

"The physical parts of bending seem easier," Zaheer agreed. "I can teach her some things from Air Nomad philosophy, but when it comes to the actual airbending….."

P'li shook her head. "I doubt Tenzin will agree to aide our cause." Their luck only one other airbender existed. And he would be one of several forces hunting them down. No luck there.

Zaheer laughed humorlessly. "He would rather die than aide us. We'll get over that obstacle. We need not actually know airbending to help teach her."

"Half-baked training for that element," P'li lamented. Zaheer held his hands in an airbender gesture.

"I've studied forms. It'll have to do with a lack of airbenders to pull to the Red Lotus," Zaheer sighed. He watched his girlfriend, eyes soft. "I felt my bed empty this morning."

"I started there; where I went after is my own concern," P'li said, more haughtily than she felt.

"We've been together so many years…." Zaheer took her hand in his. "If you ever need more time, I understand."

"Only some time for myself," P'li flashed a half smile. "You taught me that."

Zaheer smiled. "I did. And I love you."

P'li pecked a kiss against his lips, feeling his stubble against her face. "I love you more."

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"Get up, girl!"

P'li opened her eyes and grimaced. The warlord's mustachioed soldiers were opening her cage again. Bright sunshine hurt her eyes and her thin legs were bruised. She sat up and waited for them to unfasten the manacles from her ankles. Her wrists were kept manacled and her brow was covered with a leather strap, kept in place with smaller chains.

She stood, taller than the tallest soldier, feeling his hatred roil up to her. She was only fourteen but she was taller than everyone else. It must be why they always tried to dominate her.

"You're needed at the front. And then Lord Wing wants to see you," he grinned darkly. P'li shrugged one thin shoulder, even as cold revulsion spread through her skinny form. Her thighs quaked but she made herself walk evenly to the front of the lines of soldiers. Her lineage was Fire Nation, given her touch of bending, but her robe was a tattered green with faded gold edges; colors of the Earth Kingdom. Faded as it was, it stood out against her pale skin. Her bare feet sank into the burning sand as she moved. She paused beneath a standard bearer. The insignia of the Earth Kingdom monarchy rippled against the light morning breeze.

"There she is!"

"They're going down!"

"It's all she's good for….."

The usual rabble of voices whispered excitedly as Lord Wing's captain stopped at her side. He reached up and unlocked the chains around her scalp, drawing the leather band off.

"That band of desert benders. Strike now," he ordered. P'li squinted, making out the band on the horizon who certainly didn't look like a challenge to the Earth Queen's army. In fact, they seemed to be fleeing FROM the army.

A bowl of half-warm food and maybe a glass of water tonight would await her if she obeyed. And maybe only Lord Wing's clammy touches. P'li watched them, unblinking, and stared hard. A stream of fire erupted from her third eye, and traveled across the dunes, straight and true, hitting the sand bender's caravan. Screams of pain and agony drifted across to the army. Most of the bodies were down, smoking in the sand, but a few were trying to rise.

"Again," The captain ordered. P'li closed her eyes, opened them and struck again. Now no more targets moved. Cheers rose among the ranks of soldiers.

"Hurray! She got 'em!"

"Victory to the Earth Queen!"

"You did well, P'li," the captain said. He reached up and grasped the back of her neck with a thick hand. P'li gasped, struggling slightly in his iron grip. "Now let's get you to the Lord….."

P'li was led, half walking, half dragged, to the largest tent in the army. Soldiers were posted on guard outside the front and they leered at her as she was shoved to the flap. P'li caught herself and straightened. The guards unfastened her wrist manacles. She was allowed to be unrestrained in the Lord's presense; it was understood retribution would be swift if she attacked him. P'li ducked into the dim tent and stood tall.

Lord Wing was reclined on a pile of plump pillows scattered over two rugs criss-crossed over the sand. He was smoking from a hookah and drinking from a round cup cradled in his palm. He was a massive man, stout in chest but even he was nowhere near as tall as she was. His impressive form was dressed simply in a lounging robe, his armor resting on a chair in the corner. P'li stood silently, waiting to be addressed. She had learned years ago not to talk back to him.

"Ah, there's my little wonder," Lord Wing grinned around the hookah pipe between his lips. "Cmere, cmere."

P'li edged closer to the rug, toes digging into the sand. Her lordship was already half drunk, his cheeks bright red with inebriation. She knew what was coming and rested her hands on the lapels of her robe. She loosened the clasps and let the robe open. Wing drank in her skinny form and focused on her small breasts.

"That's more like it. Get over here…."

P'li let her robe fall and crawled onto the pillows. Wing's large hand ran from her breasts down her stomach and parted her legs. She closed her eyes.

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Two years later, Zaheer's team had pushed the Earth Queen's army back, freeing prisoners and slaves alike. She had been selected at random and didn't know what was to come with her new masters. Zaheer had told her and the other rabble they had a choice. They could go home, walk away, or join them if they wanted. P'li had been taken from her family when she was eight. She had no idea if they were alive or dead. So she had stayed.

It had not been an easy transition. She wasn't manacled for sleep and she could eat whenever she wanted. Zaheer had alighted, finding out what she could do with her bending. To see the interest in his eyes was refreshingly new. And he was an apparent leader of the Red Lotus, so she thought she had to visit his tent. That first try, Zaheer had closed her robe and led her away from his sleeping quarters. She had stood outside, shaking and confused. Why didn't he try to lay with her?

Zaheer rebuffed her at every turn for the next several months. When she finally was angry enough to strike him, Zaheer had locked eyes with her and they grappled physically. He was shorter, but stronger. She was taller and possessed the fury of a youth lost.

"What's so wrong with me?" she had demanded. Zaheer frowned, holding her hands in his as they shoved against each other. He couldn't bend, but his brawling was formidable. He could handle his own. Their grapple had gone to the grass but Zaheer was having a hard time enough of it trying to keep her off him. She was incensed enough to not to care if he could be stronger.

Several of the Red Lotus had emerged from their tents and sleeping areas and began to guffaw at the wrestling pair. It pissed P'li off to no end but she had the upper hand and was using her wiry strength to advantage.

"Come on, Zaheer, be a man!" an older Red Lotus laughed. P'li snarled at him and Zaheer flushed with anger. He rolled his shoulders and shoved up hard at the irate woman.

P'li felt herself rising up and he was pushing her up, shoving her on her back. P'li flipped him off angrily and rather easily. Before he could move, she was on top of him again, straddling his waist and pressing his arms above his head.

Zaheer watched her with a kind of weariness she was unaccoustomed to. "I know what you've been through, P'li. You're just acting like I want what everyone else ever wanted of you."

P'li felt a flush stain her cheeks. She slammed Zaheer's hands above his head into the dirt, growling. "Shut up!"

"You have to accept it to move on," Zaheer said sagely. His youthful face looked up into hers, sorrow in his gaze. They ignored the hooting and catcalls. He lowered his voice, his words for her alone. "Only then can you be free. And don't think laying with me will make it all go away. I'm not looking for that from you."

P'li had stalked off, snarling, but alone during the night, she knew he had to be right. She was still behaving as if she were chained up. And the offer to lay with her had been what she was used to offering to receive a few hours of sleep and a meal.

Zaheer behaved as if she were his equal and a friend. Friend…. She had never had one. She didn't even know what the word meant. But the easy words he shared with her and small smiles told her that's what it meant. Then Ghazan and Ming-hua had joined them. The four of them were always together, always planning. She had never felt like she had a role, but now she did with the Red Lotus.

They had finally slept together almost a year later. P'li was getting used to not expecting anything when Zaheer had laid a single flower in her lap, and left her staring at it. Being courted was completely outside of her frame of reference, but Zaheer was the first man she knew that didn't take anything she wasn't willing to give.

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That was then. This was now.

P'li stood over the Avatar, watching her practice her breath control. P'li extended her hands in a resting pose and Korra created a fireball between her own palms. P'li gestured and Korra pushed her flame toward her. P'li captured it between her palms. The flames danced between her digits evenly. Korra laughed in delight.

"What else can you do?" she asked inquisitively. P'li gave a smug smile and pointed to the far garden wall. It was made of stone and twenty feet tall.

"Watch that spot," she said. When Korra turned to stare, she let the flame combust from her third eye in a swift stream. It collided with the stone wall, erupting in an explosion. Stonework scattered the garden. The Avatar laughed, clapping her hands. Three servants ran from the porch area and beat out the smoking fire from the wall then scattered at P'li's stare.

"That was amazing! Can I do that?" she wondered. P'li shook her head.

"I am a combustion bender. Your firebending is different," she said. Korra reached up for her hand and P'li took it.

Dusk was coming on and at this time of day they settled into a routine of dinner and bedtime. Ming-hua didn't think it was right for the Avatar to sit with them, but Zaheer allowed it every once in awhile. Isolation was key to putting what you wanted into the mind but sometimes a human touch would also bring the results they wanted. Tonight, though, was not a night for her to sit at the large square table with her masters.

Korra took her bowl of rice from the cook and sat in the corner of the kitchen. P'li ruffled her hair and took her own bowl to the dining hall. Zaheer, Ming-hua and Ghazan were already eating. They hailed her and a few other Red Lotus moved into the room to join them.

"The Earth Queen has mobilized her forces in the west. Apparently there is a rumor the Avatar was taken there," Zaheer said evenly, reading from a scroll. It had been delivered by messenger hawk earlier that day. Their benefactor sat beside him and stroked his beard.

"Tonraq must have gotten support from other leaders for help in searching for his daughter. Word from Republic City is that Councilman Tenzin is leaving his duties to join him," he commented.

"That's surprising; I thought the Earth Queen didn't care much for the past Avatar," Ghazan wondered. Ming-hua nudged him with her shoulder and he poured her another cup of tea.

"She didn't," Ming-hua said. "I wonder what game she's playing by helping them."

"She always does anything solely for her own advantage," P'li agreed. The Earth King had died quite a few years ago and the reports of his daughter's ruthlessness were damning. P'li only had to remember to know what she would do to others under her banner.

"P'li?" the child's voice sounded from the doorway to the dining hall, small and tentative. Zaheer looked into P'li's eyes.

"Bedtime. No story," he said. P'li nodded and stood up. She met Korra at the door and took her hand.

Korra hummed tunelessly as she changed into her nightgown in the small room they had allotted to her. P'li helped comb her hair and tidy her bed roll.

"Can you tell me a story tonight?" Korra asked excitedly. It had been a few weeks, but she seemed to remember hearing a story. From her parents….

"Not tonight, Avatar," P'li said evenly. The look of disappointment on Korra's face was palpable but she remained strong. "Maybe if you're good."

"I'm always good," Korra protested, but she crawled into the bedroll. P'li covered her with a few blankets.

"Have you used the facilities?" she asked. Korra nodded and pulled the blanket to her chin. Her door was locked every night and after the first few nights, it didn't seem strange. It was to protect her, Master Zaheer had said. So she had to use the restroom before being locked in. P'li noted to herself to bring a chamber pot the next night.

"Yes. G'night, Master P'li," Korra yawned. P'li let her hand linger on Korra's head, smoothing her dark hair back.

"Good night, Avatar."

P'li decided to take a bath in the manor's bathhouse. She caught a glimpse of Ming-hua dressing with her water arms as she was coming in.

"Need any help?" she asked her erstwhile friend. Ming-hua slapped the tub water with her water arm and retracted it into her canteen.

"No, thanks. Say goodnight to Zaheer," she teased. P'li smiled ruefully at her and tied her hair up.

"I will…..say goodnight to Ghazan?"

"Screw you, P'li," was her response. P'li wondered if she and Ghazan really had a relationship or not with their strange bickering, and let it go. She had her own to enjoy.

Zaheer was reading a scroll in their bed when she arrived. She nodded at the guards in the hall and slid shut the door to their room. Zaheer was dressed in loose fitting pants and tunic, seemingly ready for sleep. A lantern burned dimly beside him, throwing shadows on his stubbled face.

"There you are. You wouldn't believe what we've acquired…." Zaheer began, ready to show off his new airbending scroll when P'li shocked the words from him. She wore only her bed robe, black with red trim, and it laid open, revealing her curves and taut stomach. He stared at her hungrily and P'li smiled to see his mute appeal. He shrugged out of his tunic and rose to take her into his arms. Her arms settled around his neck as his face pressed to her breasts. She sighed when his mouth latched onto her nipple, sucking gently.

End for now

End notes: Poor Korra! Next chapter will have a bit on the search party front. I like making the baddies more human, although Bryke already did a good job at that. Tell me what you think. I hope you enjoyed.

Sincerely, pen

4/5/2016