"Will you go penguin sledding with me?" Said a young boy who looked like a monk, his grey eyes sparkling with mischief. The tan skinned girl he addressed cocked an eyebrow at him. Snow was falling in her dark hair and her hair adornments that could only be described as loopies blew in the soft cold breeze. "Come on it'll be fun." He turned his attention and waddled behind an unsuspecting penguin. The girl laughed a slight blush turning her cheeks pink. "Got one!" He exclaimed wrestling a penguin to the ground. The girl shrugged and snuck up on one of her own.
"Ok ready!" She called positioning herself on her penguin. With a flourish they were off. The boy felt the energy of the wind around him, he manipulated it easily allowing himself to gain speed. The girl, a little ways behind, was laughing harder than the boy suspected she had in a long time. "I haven't done this since I was a kid." She laughed.
"You still are a kid." He replied. The boy and his penguin went off a jump and he was falling... falling...
"Korra wake up." Pema whispered shaking Korra out of her dream. She blinked and shook off the last remnants of the dream from her mind. It may seem odd to some but it wasn't the first time Korra was that young boy in her dreams. She wasn't always sledding in her dreams, sometimes she was flying high in the sky on a flying bison. The wind rustling through her red and yellow monks robes.
She peeled back the covers and softly padded through the room she shared with Pema's children Ikki, Meelo and Jinora, to help with breakfast. It was common place for Korra to be awake before the other children in order to help out Pema. She felt it was the last she could do after Pema and her husband Tenzin adopted her after her parents were killed in a raid by the purification committee looking for the avatar.
"Are you nervous?" Pema asked when Korra came into the kitchen.
"No, why would I be?" Korra replied taking out a piece of fruit from the icebox to cut it.
"Today is the reaping." Pema lit the stove burner with a match.
"It'll be ok, it always is, I only have one more year after this, I can make it." Korra recited more for her own benefit than Pema's. "Jinora is worried though, we had a long talk about it so I think she's ok now." A comfortable silence came upon the pair.
"Do you think you're going to miss it?"
"Miss what?"
"You're bending." Korra's slicing paused.
"Oh, that. I don't think so. Everyone says I'm going to be better off without it anyways." Again she repeated the rhetoric that she tried her hardest to believe.
"Tenzin still talks about it from time to time."
"Why? Neither of us were ever trained."
"He says he misses the ability to feel the air currents and the power they contain." Pema looked over and noticed the way Korra's shoulders tensed.
"That's exactly what's so dangerous though." She said in a rush going back to cutting the fruit. "We get addicted to the power until it consumes us. Its better if we stay more in control of ourselves that our element."
"I guess I understand that. I was never a bender and I've always wondered what it felt like to be about to feel the elements and tap into them if needed." Pema shrugged innocently and put some eggs in the pan.
"No, you're lucky. When you walk down the street you don't have people looking at you like you're going to start a riot, or that you have some sort of disease they might catch. I can't wait until tomorrow and I can finally feel normal."
"I wonder if The Avatar will ever come back."
"The Avatar? Don't be crazy Pema that's just a fairy tale."
"No it really does exist. Tenzin's grandmother knew him."
"Wait, she did?"
"Yup, It he was a great airbender that stopped the war against the Fire Nation." Korra tried her best to hide her interest. "After Amon took over, he killed the next avatar, a young waterbender girl, before she was able to reach potential. His "committee" has been searching out the avatar and killing him or her ever since."
"Wow, that's terrible." She stumbled her words "I mean."
"See Korra you're instincts still tell you that bending is good."
"No its' not, bending has been the cause of every major war in history. Remember what you just told me about the fire nation war, that was started by power hungry benders. Ever since bending has been outlawed there have been no wars."
"A warless world doesn't always mean a peaceful one." The room fell into silence and Pema and Korra finished preparing breakfast. Meelo ambled into the room rubbing the last amount of sleep from his eyes.
"Good Morning," He yawned crawling into his seat at the kitchen table.
"What are you doing up sleepy head?" Korra asked taking the seat across from him.
"Couldn't sleep, Jinora keeps waking up crying." Korra felt a pang of guilt for not noticing.
"I'll go talk to her." Said Pema
"No Its ok, I'll do it, I know what she's going through." Korra got up and walked out of the room.
"I guess you're right." Pema sighed feeling helpless when it came to her first born.
"Jinora." Korra whispered. The cover hidden lump shifted as Jinora moved to face her. "What's wrong, Meelo says you've been crying."
"Oh that." She looked away embarrassed. Jinora was always the strongest of her siblings, she never wanted to show that anything got to her. She was like Korra that way. Pema was a good mother, strong, reliable, caring but, with her husband away most of the time working for the government of republic city, when it came to matters of bending the task usually went to Korra.
"It's ok if you're scared. I am a little too." Korra pulled the younger girl into a hug.
"You don't think they'll pick you will they?"
"Possibly," Jinora paled "But most likely not. There are hundreds of benders in republic city, chances are it's not going to be me or you." She realized the girl and smoothed back her short brown hair. "Now, I think your mom has breakfast almost ready so let's go get some food." She got up off of Jinora's bed and the young girl followed her out of the room.
"Ikki, breakfast is ready." Korra announced, the youngest of Tenzin and Pema's daughters let out a groan.
Meanwhile across town Mako shook his brother awake. "Time to get up Bo."
"Five more minutes" Bolin groaned rolling over on his sleeping roll. Mako looked outside the window for any signs of equalists. The street outside was a bustle with people getting ready for that afternoons reaping. The brothers had to get out of the house they were staying at and fast. It is not safe to be in the house of a known bending sympathy group even if it was the best place for them in the cold spring nights. Finally not able to wait any longer Mako pulled the blankets off of Bolin causing his brother to groan and shiver at the rush of cold air.
Within a few moments the two were ready to go. Mako opened the door cautiously looking around for any equalists he pulled his red scarf over his face to keep out the cold and the two were out light ghosts leaving behind to trace.
Mako found an alley way where the two hid their small amount of belongings. Nothing they had was worth stealing anyways. The boys walked out into the street to join the crowds like they belonged. After a short walk Mako and Bolin entered the main square, Mako scowled at the stage that was set up for the reaping. Even though it was early the square was already full of people gossiping and benders begrudgingly registering. The whole sight made him sick, especially the young ones being coaxed by their parents to fill out the forms that could lead to their death.
"I'm gonna go ahead and get in line." Bolin said breaking his brother's thoughts. "Might as well get this over with."
"Ok Bo, I'll get us some breakfast." The younger one nodded and walked towards the sign that said boys.
Mako walked over to a vendor tent and dropped some coins on the counter. "What'll it be today comrade?" said a boy a little older than Mako flipping some stir fry on the stove.
"Three dumpings." Mako said leaning against the counter watching the crowed.
"Only three?"
"I'm not very hungry today." a scowl came across his features.
"It's sick isn't it. They all think their doing the right thing." he dumped three fresh dumplings on a plate in front of Mako.
"Yeah, some outcome for a city built on the idea of benders and non-benders living together."
"I don't know what's more sad. The way the ideals have changed or the fact they think this is benders and non-benders living together."
Mako nodded. "I'll see ya, Sae."
"Take care Mako." He saluted his friend.
There was a large banner over the square that read registration; there was a line for the boys and a line for the girls. Korra walked with her arm around Jinora through the bustle of people. "We'll see you after." Korra said to Pema. Jinora gave her mother one and siblings one last hug.
"You'll be ok." Pema whispered in her ear.
"They're going to want to know your name, age, and your element going to take a little blood to make sure you're telling them your true identity. It'll hurt a little but not much. Then you're going to go stand with the other 12 year olds and I will go stand with the 18 year olds. Then they will read the names and it'll be over soon. I'll find you after and we can go home." Jinora nodded too scared to do anything else and she got into the back of line behind Korra.
"Asami, 17, Earth." Said a pretty dark haired girl in front of Korra. She winced as the middle aged woman pricked Asami with the needle a small drop of blood fell onto the paper and the girl walked away.
"Next" said he man for the line right next to Korra. A boy walked forward stiffly, to the front.
"Mako, 18, Fire." He didn't even make a face when pricked with the clean needle and like he did this every day, he walked to join the other boys. Like Korra, this would be his last reaping.
"Name." Said the woman on the other side of the table. "Name." She said again more insistently snapping Korra out of her daze.
"Korra, 18, Water." she prepared herself for the needle.
"Interesting, not many members of the water tribes in Republic city." Eyeing her with intent. Korra didn't regale her with her story; she knew the only reason why the woman noticed was because it would make for more difficult odds if she were picked as a tribute. Water was a very powerful element in situations where water was abundant but in a desert type arena, which there had been in the past, Korra's chances would be slim to none.
Korra walked towards the other 18 year old girls but waited for Jinora to make sure she got through everything ok. She didn't know why Jinora would have any problem, but it was that mothering instinct that came over to her when it came to Tenzin and Pema's children.
Mako looked around at the other boys waiting in the holding area. He felt like an animal at the market waiting for a buyer to pick him out to take home and eat. In a way that was exactly what the reaping was, only the reaping didn't take into account who would make the best meal. He scanned the crowed and gave Bolin a reassuring smile when their eyes met.
He hoped more than anything that there was a way to change the law. Make it legal to bend. He thought about how his fire bending could be used for good. He could create power for the city through the lightning he could produce when he concentrated hard enough. He thought about the healing abilities of water benders, and how Bolin could use his earth bending to create such feats of architecture that haven't been seen since The Equalists took over. He knew such daydreams were futile and as much time as he spent helping the sympathizers nothing was ever going to change without the avatar.
A tap on a microphone brought everyone to attention. "Attention everyone." Said Mr. Hiroshi Sato, a man that Mako knew of and hated with a passion. When Sato found out that his daughter was a bender he put her out on the streets. Luckily, a sympathizer family adopted her and took her in. No one on either side had mentioned the incident since.
Sato's daughter Asami was a good friend of the brothers and always referred to the man as Sato, Hiroshi, or occasionally that bastard, never dad. "The time has come to find out who will become Republic Cities tributes for the 55thh annual Bending Games." A group of surrounding equalists cheered and Mako felt like he might be sick
"Let us begin with ladies first." He walked over to the pink bowl filled with spinning pieces of white paper. Sato grabbed one and cleared his throat. "Asami, from the Earth Kingdom." He said just as he would recite a grocery list. The square went silent, the usual cheers and wails of family members were completely absent as Asami walked calmly to join her father at the stage. The two shook hands as if they were strangers and Sato had not just sent his own daughter to die.
"Next we have." He dug his hand around struggling to catch another piece from the girl's bowl. "Korra, from the Water Tribe." a slow round of claps from the audience began and more joined as the shock of the Satos wearing off. Those cheering were either equalists or happy it hadn't been their family member reaped.
Jinora turned completely white; never in her worst nightmares did it end in Korra being reaped instead of her. Jinora almost jumped up in volunteer because she knew that's what Korra would do if the situation were reversed but she knew that she couldn't. If either of them could make it out of the arena alive it was Korra.
Korra walked up to the stage where she shook hands with both Sato and Asami. She thought it silly that the proper thing to do was to shake hands with the people who very well may be the cause of her death.
"On to the boys." Sato walked over to the other side of the stage. "First we have Petra, of the Fire Nation." Petra was a large boy who looked about 15 years old with spiky jet black hair and the golden eyes of a fire bender. He strutted proudly to the stage and shook hands with Sato and his competitors before taking his place at the far left of the stage.
"Last but certainly not least we have" several members of the audience made a drumming sound on their legs. Sato chuckled as he grabbed the last small white strip from the boys bowl. "Bolin, from the Earth Kingdom." Mako's whole world stopped as his baby brother, his only family walked nervously to the stage. The shock quickly wore off.
"I VOLUNTEER!" Shouted Mako pushing his way through to the front. "I VOLUNTEER!" He said again. "Bolin doesn't have to go I volunteer." He said out of breath taking the steps up to the stage.
"Well I haven't asked for volunteers yet but this one's gun ho." Sato laughed like a demented version of Santa Claus. "What's your name son."
"Mako, Fire Nation." Bolin walked forward to talk to his brother.
"You don't have to do this." He whispered sharply looking his brother straight in the eyes.
"I made a promise to Dad, I'm going to do whatever it takes to keep you safe."
"Mako, you don't-" He pleaded.
"Yes I do." Mako's face was stone. "Now get down there." Bolin left the stage in a haze he never thought in a million years that it would come to this.
"There you have it folks the four tributes of Republic City. Asami, Korra, Petra, and Mako." The crowed of equalists cheered. The tributes were ushered into the cities Hall of Justice, Mako couldn't help but laugh at the irony of the name; what happened here was anything but just.
Korra looked out the window of the holding room. "Five minutes" said a stern equalist man. Tenzin and his family filed in nervously. Jinora ran ahead to give Korra a hug.
"This can't happen you have to win." Tears were streaming freely from Jinora's eyes.
"There's 24 of us Jinora, and only one can come out."
"You can do this, you're smart, you're brave."
"I don't think I can. Have you seen the others? That Petra has had to of had some training with his bending. I can barely pick up a glass of spilled water."
"You have to try. Promise me."
"I'll try, you have my word."
"Yeah kick those fire bender's butts." Meelo hopped around the room kicking the air around him causing Meelo to rise off the ground. In any other situation Pema would have scolded her son but at this moment the lightheartedness was a blessing. Pema walked over to Korra and hugged her.
"No matter what happens you will always be my daughter."
"Times up." Said the equalist.
"See you soon." Tenzin placed a hand on her shoulder. Korra wrapped her arms around the air bender for a hug.
"Thank you so much for everything."
Bolin walked into Mako's room and immediately gave his brother one of his infamous bear hugs. "It's going to be ok." Said Mako. "Everything will be fine." more for Mako's benefit than his brother's.
"You know where to get food, and you can find a job at the market to make some money. Asami's parents will make sure you're ok."
"Come on Mako, I'm almost a man. I can take care of myself." Bolin flexed his muscles "Mako, can you do me one favor?"
"Anything."
"Give Sato hell for me." Bolin winked before giving Mako one last hug and with that Mako was alone. He stared at the closed door ahead of him for a moment and he realized that this would be the last time he would ever see Bolin. For the first time since the death of his parents Mako broke down and cried.
Asami sat in her holding room looking out the window. Her parents were out of town for a meeting somewhere in the Earth Kingdom so she wasn't expecting them to say goodbye. She almost hoped that Sato might come in, he owed her at least that much, but nothing. Asami sat completely alone.
The tributes were ushered onto a train by masked equalists. In the main car sat a man in a suit who each of the tributes recognized as Iroh, Victor of the 50th hunger games and Son of the Fire lord Mai. Iroh stood up and ushered them to sit down around a table laid out with delicacies from all the four nations. Mako had never had so much food available to him in his entire life.
"Sit, eat, we have much to discuss." the four sat around a table and piled things onto their plates. "You all know the basics of how this works. This year the ceremonies will be held in Ba Sing Se. We will arrive on Monday; you will be presented later that evening. Then you will have training for the next two weeks. You will train for survival together and then your elements separately. At the end of the two week period you will have your evaluations and that night your final interviews where your scores will be revealed. The day after will be your first day in the games. I will be your chaperone and advisor, any questions?" the tributes were silent. "No good." With that Iroh got up and left the car.
"Don't you think it's a little weird that it seems like only people like Iroh win this thing?" Asami asked
"No." Said Petra. "Iroh is a member of the imperial family of the fire nation, it's obvious that he's going to win."
"So just because someone is rich means that he's going to win the games." Asami challenged.
"Yeah basically, it does." Petra said with his mouth full of food. "I wouldn't be complaining, princess; everyone knows the Sato's are loaded. But then again my father didn't-"
"Watch it." Mako spat his fist hitting the table. Korra jumped at the outburst and the table went silent she excused herself and walked into the next car in the opposite the way Iroh went. She found herself in a sitting room with a couch and a TV she flipped through the channels trying to find something to distract herself until she saw a recap to the days reaping.
"Such dedication." Said a commentator discussing the reading of Asami's name "It's that kind of dedication that would make Amon proud."
"And then a volunteer too." Said the other.
"Normally I don't give much thought to Republic City it's so central that there isn't much of a strong bending community."
"Which is wonderful but unfortunate for the tributes who come out of there." Korra noticed a presence in the room when she saw that it was Asami she flipped off the TV in a rush.
"It's ok." She said taking a seat beside Korra. Asami had the kind of looks that knocked ten points off your self-esteem just looking at her, even girls like Korra who never gave much thought to outward appearances. "I know that everyone is talking about my family. I don't even care anymore."
"I still shouldn't"
"Shouldn't what? Watch what someone has to say about it on TV? Its ok Korra, you need to stop apologizing for everything. I can tell that you're too strong to act so meek all the time. If this is some ploy for the games you need to do a better job, you're not fooling anyone."
"I'm sorry, I mean things got a little..."
"Intense in there? Mako can get a little intense sometimes. He's just over protective with the people he cares about."
"Oh so you two are..."
"Dating? No we're just friends we've known each other since I... since we were little kids."
"Too bad there's no fighting between tributes before the games. Petra deserves it."
"There's the truth. Yeah Mako should have hit him. Petra was asking for it."
"We need to come up with an angle." Said Iroh in the chair across from Mako the next morning during his "training session."
"An angle?" he said unconvinced.
"Yes, this bruiting firebender routine has been done so many times." Mako scoffed. "What do you like to do for fun?"
"Fun?"
"Yes Mako fun?" he said tired
"I like to slash tires on equalist vans."
"That's not illegal."
"Um I like to play craps in the alley."
"Gambling is illegal too. You're lucky that at this rate you're going to die in the game so I can't report you."
"Why don't you? I won't die then. Don't you get some bonus if your tribute lives?"
"Because sending you to jail will be more paperwork. Now fun..."
"That is what I do for fun." Iroh let out an exasperated sigh.
"I have an idea." Iroh said after some time. "What about Asami?"
"Asami? What about her?"
"Yes it's perfect. I've got it the star-crossed lovers of Republic City. This will be the best romance since the story about the girl and the enemy firebender who threw herself into a volcano."
"But Asami's my friend. I don't like her like that."
"You want to go home right?" Mako nodded. "Ok then now you do. Goodbye." Iroh waved off Mako who stalked off into another compartment.
"He's all yours." Mako said grudingly walked past Korra. She looked after him but walked into meet Iroh anyways.
"Korra, come in." Iroh greeted her much more cheerfully than he had the night before. "Sit down let's talk." Korra sat in the plush chair across from him. "So I hear you are originally from the South Pole, is that correct?"
"Um yes."
"So how did a young water bender like you end up so far from home?" He leaned forward in his chair
"My parents were killed during and equalist raid." She said flatly.
"You say that so calmly, like it happened to someone else. Why is that?"
"I don't know, I guess it happened a long time ago. I don't really remember much about them." For some reason she felt her mind wander back to the dream, the cold Antarctic wind blowing across her skin.
"Did it upset you that the equalists killed your parents?"
"Yeah, but if it didn't happen I wouldn't have met Tenzin and his family."
"But the equalists stole your family from you."
"I guess, but I have a new family now."
"Do you think you are better off with that family than your own?"
"I don't know, I think it would be easier on them if they didn't have to worry about me. But I help Pema and Tenzin in anyway I can to make up for it."
"Korra, answer me honestly. Do you want to win?" He took a sip of wine from his glass and placed it onto the end table next to his chair.
"Yes."
"I don't believe you." He locked his cold amber eyes on her own. She could still see the fire blazing in them under the surface. "I think you have a fighting spirit; you just need to stop feeling like your existence is a burden on those who you care about. You have just as much of a right to win these games than anyone else, maybe even more so."
"I know." Korra said plainly.
"Do you know what will happen to your family if you don't come back? Poor, Pema forced to take care of those three air benders on her own." She was about to ask how she knew Pema's name or the fact that Tenzin had three children but then she remembered that Tenzin was a representative of Republic City, and Iroh, being a member of the imperial family, would have known Tenzin. "If you are such a big help to Pema, your loss and the grief it would cause would be more devastating on their well-being that your care." Korra had never thought of it that way before.
"Besides, those children are the last of the air nation, equalists can be restless and I know plenty who would love to exterminate an entire element from the globe." Korra heard the laughter of the boy from her dream in her ear. "If you win, it could mean the difference between their life, and their death." Iroh picked up his wine glass and swirled its contense. Korra watched the liquid move, no she was feeling it move, she was also aware of the way the air swirled as Iroh inhaled and exhaled. She could feel the heat from the coal engine in the front of the train, the way the stones on the track outside were disrupted as the train rumbled past. All these sensations muddled Korra's head causing her to feel dizzy.
"I have to go." She muttered getting up and running from the room. She ran past a bewildered Mako and Asami talking covertly in the hallway. Past Petra lighting bits of paper on fire in the lounge.
Finally she took refuge in the bathroom, locking the door behind her. She looked in the mirror her face was flushed. She turned on the faucet and splashed cold water into her face. When she looked up again she saw her eyes flash like silver fire behind her in the mirror she saw a man dressed in red and yellow robes, a blue arrow tattoo covered his bald head. She turned to face him but saw no one. She turned back to the mirror, her eyes had returned to their normal blue and she man was gone. She fell onto the floor, taking deep breaths and feeling her pulse slow back to normal. Korra though she must be having some sort of nervous break, it was normal to go a little crazy under so much stress. Nothing was wrong. Yet she still couldn't get rid of the feeling that some wall she had tried so desperately to build was falling down around her.
