Prologue

Year: 157 ASC

The dull thud of a snowball hitting the wall would have startled any sane person, but to four year old Korra, it was music to her ears. This was the ever so familiar sound of her best friends beckoning her arrival to come outside. In response, she did the signature signal- three knocks, a pause, and two more knocks- and made her way outside. However, slipping past her mother was a task in itself seeing how she was stationed in the middle of the hut cooking. With every shred of grace in her body, which wasn't much, she slowly crept towards the door. She was three feet away when Senna cleared her throat. "Did you honestly think that I didn't see you sneaking past?" she called from over the brewing sea-prunes.

"If I say yes?" Korra responded.

"You know you're on punishment, young lady." she replied back as she tasted some of the meal. "Ms. Kirachi still hasn't forgiven you for setting fire to her furs."

"I said I was sorry!" Korra whined. "And how was I to know that the wind was going to blow the flames westward?"

"No excuses. You know better than to be firebending in public. People will talk."

"Aw, come on, Mom! Please?" she whined again.

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"Please!"

"Spirits, Senna, let her go already." Tonraq said tiredly as he walked inside the hut with the latest catch from his hunt. "Her friends are outside freezing, and quite frankly I do believe that that is very rude of us." he winked at his daughter as he finished his words.

Korra giggled. She knew that it was unlike her mother to be anything but a polite and perfect housewife. Senna huffed in defeat as she turned and face her husband and child. They were both as stubborn as they could be, and she knew better than to challenge them. "Fine, but only for a little while. It's starting to get dark and I don't want you catching a cold."

"We live in the arctic tundra; catching a cold is inevitable." Tonraq joked as he poured himself some of the stewed prunes.

Senna shot him a look, but he shrugged it off. "Just, be safe and don't stay out too long." she said as she pulled the parka over her child's head.

Korra beamed as she shot out of the hut and ran towards her friends. Katya, the oldest at five-and-a-half, stood watching her younger sister, Atauni, play with a penguin-otter. "Hey, guys!" Korra cried as she neared them.

They both turned towards her and waved, Atauni nearly being swallowed up by her thick parka. Korra laughed at how innocent the three-year-old was. She was all smiles and giggles, never having a troubling thought in the world. However, Katya was a different story. She was surely the most mature youngster that the Southern Water Tribe had seen in a long time. She was calm, insightful, and the brightest mind one could ever see in someone so young. Korra thought to herself at how they managed to go together so well: her being the rambunctious tomboy, Atauni being the happy-go-lucky beam of sunshine, and Katya being five going on fifty.

"What took you so long?" Katya asked as she mindlessly tossed a snowball in her hand.

"Parents, as usual." Korra pouted at the snowball. "I see your training is going well, Miss Prodigy." she purposely emphasized the last word in scorn. Though Korra had started waterbending around the same time she did, Katya had managed to pick it up without any struggle. Meanwhile Korra had faced a few bumps in the road before successfully flowing through the basics.

"Hm, I suppose." she replied mockingly as she stretched the ball out into a small stream.

Korra's face grew heated. That was a move that most young benders completed around the age of seven or eight, and her she was playing with it like it was nothing. She was the Avatar. She was the one who should be completing moves with such ease long before any normal bender. "I'm going to be leaving soon." she said sullenly as she looked at Atauni, still playing with the penguin-otter.

Katya dropped the whip. "How soon?"

"In a couple of days. The White Lotus said that it would be best to start my training as soon as possible."

"Well, that sure is soon. Couldn't they have waited a few years or something? I mean, what about your home, Korra? What about us?" her expression was calm, but after a year of knowing her, Korra knew that a piece of her heart was breaking.

"Why so sad?" Atauni asked, clearly finished with her animal play.

"Korra's leaving." she said brokenly.

Atauni's big, blue eyes widened in shock. "Where you going?"

"Away." was her reply.

"Why?"

"Because I have to, okay?" Korra bit back. The young girl seemed to stop for a moment, then her eyes began to swell with tears. "I'm sorry, 'Tauni." Korra said as she hugged the crying girl. "I didn't mean it like that." A pair of arms stretched across Korra as she felt Katya hug her as well. It was then that Korra's own eyes began to swell, with tears burning her eyes.

"We'll miss you," Katya said quietly, "sister."

"And you, sister."

Over the course of the year, they had somewhat become like sisters. It started like that when Korra had first helped them out-run a wild polar bear-dog that Katya had accidentally hit in her early waterbending years. From then on, they made a promise to protect each other. The tribe was, in fact, one big family. And through the year they fought, made up, and played as sisters would. Nothing could tear them apart. Except for Korra's recognition as Avatar. To the White Lotus, as it had seemed to her when they took her away to the Compound, the Avatar's duties were more important than the bounds of sisters.