AUTHOR'S NOTES: One of my favourite things about Korra as a character is that both of her parents are not only alive and well, but that she is on good terms with them. That's extremely rare for epic/fantasy protagonists in many cases, and so to me I find it particularly sweet and endearing. Also, I feel like there were dozens of missed opportunities for some fun little familial interactions between them, and so odds are we'll find Tonraq and Senna popping in here or there throughout the series.
Happy Reading!
BOOK ONE: POWER
CHAPTER THREE: A RITE OF PASSAGE
Korra spent a couple more hours back in bed before she got up and got properly dressed for the day. Heading out with her trusty companion Naga, who had grown up with her this entire time, she set out into the frozen wilderness with no destination in particular.
The Southern Water Tribe was not an ugly place, but it was cold and sparsely populated. Korra was a friendly enough person to most people, but there were only so many people in the small and reclusive Southern Water Tribe, and those 'pretentious White Lotus babysitters' (as Korra often referred to them as) that came by to hover over Korra and observe her every action were infuriating. Unsurprisingly they had disciplined her rather heavily after she straight-up slugged one of the Masters in the face for "getting too damn close", but even they had at least some patience with her.
She had mixed feelings on Nakkoa and Kwan though—or at least Nakkoa. Kwan wore her emotions on her sleeve and Korra wasn't even sure the woman knew how to lie. Nakkoa on the other hand, reminded Korra of herself in several ways: vibrant, lively, and very up-front about her desires. Perhaps she was a bit impulsive, much like Korra was, but it was hard to tell. Every time she saw Nakkoa next, there was something new to learn about the firebender.
She reached into her bag and tossed Naga a slab of dried meat she had brought along.
"I wanna see what's out there beyond the ice," she told Naga, since no one else was out there to listen to her. "And as great as meat and fish are, some variety on the cuisine side of things might be nice too. What do you think?"
Naga barked, making quick work of the meat slabs Korra had thrown her.
"But I mean, shouldn't I get to choose how to live my life?" She asked as Naga tilted her head. "I'm the Avatar. We serve the world; not any particular nation or organization. How can I serve the world and help keep it in balance if I'm not even allowed to see it?"
Naga snorted, before sitting down at Korra's side.
"And if the White Lotus doesn't like it, I'll tell 'em to choke on a bag of rocks," Korra put her fist into her palm. "Tomorrow, Naga, we're going on an adventure!"
Naga let out a mixture of a bark and a happy growl, and Korra scratched her head affectionately in response. The Avatar had always been something of an eccentricity, both from a world perspective, and even on an individual incarnation basis. Korra had her quirks just as her predecessors Kuruk, Kyoshi, Roku, and Aang all did. And then there were those "Interregnum Avatars" that Nakkoa often teased her about, the few times Korra actually got to talk face-to-face with that mysterious woman. All Korra knew about The Interregnum Avatar Era was that it was a time period of 20-21 different Avatar incarnations that essentially ruled the world in an 'Avatar-ocracy'.
Korra contemplated what it would be like to rule the world as the Avatar, although at this point they were little more than wild fantasies of a teenaged mind; nothing that would ever actually be realized even after she became a fully-realized Avatar herself. She wasn't about to take over the world, although hearing about these Interregnum figures made her wonder what they were like—and made her excited about tapping into the spiritual aspect of being the Avatar so that she could make contact with these past lives. Most likely she'd spend a lot of time with Avatar Aang or Avatar Roku, although she wondered what it would be like to go far enough back—to trace back hundreds of years of Avatar incarnations to find one of these mysterious Interregnum characters and find out how they had ascended to power; either to sate her own curiosity, or to teach a lesson on certain aspects of history that should never be repeated. She was especially curious because knowledge of these figures seemed to be becoming more common—and how awkward was it that everyone around her knew about her past lives besides her? To Korra, that was all the more reason she needed to leave the compound and seek her fortune. She wasn't about to learn about her past lives by staying all cooped up.
She returned to her hut before nightfall, where her mother was preparing dinner.
"Have a fun day out there?" Senna asked, somewhat rhetorically.
"I did," Korra shrugged her left shoulder as she shed some of her heavier coats and the bag of supplies she had taken out there in case of emergencies (and to have something to snack on while she was out there). "I also thought a lot about what Nakkoa told me."
"Just remember," Senna reassured Korra as she stirred her stew, taking a big whiff of the scrumptious meaty aroma that it emanated, "you can always come home if you get overwhelmed. The Avatar normally didn't leave home until he or she was 16, so not leaving home two years early isn't going to make you look bad in history."
"Well, I don't want to go down as the worst Avatar in history," Korra shook her head. "Someone's always got to be the worst, whether recent history remembers them or not."
"And yet you have your whole life ahead of you," Senna reassured her, "it would be unfair to judge you for your first 14 years, and don't for a moment think this is the end."
The idea of losing Korra… well, no respectable parent ever wanted to outlive their child.
"You and dad don't know anything about the Interregnum Avatars, do you?" Korra looked up again as she sat down. "I feel like everyone knows about them except for me."
"Other than Nakkoa's interest and arguable obsession with them," Senna admitted truthfully, "We don't. Perhaps not every Avatar was as good and upstanding as Avatar Roku or Avatar Aang, sweetheart, but this path is yours to take. We're more than happy to guide you as best we can, but you make your own fate, and you blaze the trail of your own destiny."
"So if I say that I want to go with Nakkoa tomorrow, you'll say…" Korra raised an eyebrow.
"Be careful," Tonraq chimed in as he appeared in the doorway, "Nakkoa is a shady character, but I trust you with Kwan. "I know my litle girl well enough to know when she's determined to do something though. You get this look about you, and develop a single-minded fixation on your goal. In a way, it's admirable. In other ways, as your mother will surely tell you—it's good old-fashioned Water Tribe stubbornness."
"Damn skippy I'm stubborn," Korra laughed, referencing an in-joke she had with her father. "It's just… for all the times I've been rebellious or spiteful or whatever… I don't want it to feel like I'm running away. I love you both, it's just…"
She sighed, running her hands through her thick hair as if racking her mind for the right words.
"It's just, I've been craving the idea of seeing the world and becoming a proper Avatar. I can't do that in some White Lotus prison."
Korra made it no mystery how she felt about the White Lotus Compound. While the amenities were state of the art, she was not allowed to see outside the walls unless she was going home for the night. There had also been plenty of days where she had spent the night there, and frankly, the little Avatar was getting stir-crazy.
"Then we'll tell them what you decided to do." Senna cracked a smirk, "and they will just have to… in the words of a certain Avatar… 'deal with it', no?"
Korra giggled. "Hey now, those are words to live by, and you gotta deal with it!"
"And so we shall, Korra," Senna smiled. "So we shall."
Korra wasted no time the following morning accepting Nakkoa's offer, much to the firebender's delight. The remainder of the day was spent making preparations, both on Korra's part and also on Nakkoa's part. The ship would leave 'first thing tomorrow morning' according to Kwan and Nakkoa, and Korra didn't want to miss it for the world.
She was ready to go by the early evening, but was also informed by her father that there was an important "Rite of Passage" she had to undergo before leaving.
"Dear, if it has anything to do with the cliff and the ocean…"
"It's a necessary evil," Tonraq chuckled, betraying his intention immediately.
"What cliff and what ocean?" Korra tilted her head.
"It's a rite of passage for any self-respecting waterbender in the Southern Water Tribe," Tonraq explained, "you have to see it to properly understand it."
Korra followed her father, and her mother also followed them, slightly grudgingly. There was a large cliff overlooking a deep part of the water below, and this was where the little family ended up before Tonraq was willing to explain anything.
"Now," he looked Korra right in the eyes, "you strip to your smallclothes."
"Uhh, what?!" Korra wasn't exactly embarrassed about her figure, but not only was the idea of disrobing in front of her parents a slightly weird notion, but also the idea of stripping down in the frigid tundra seemed weird.
"Allow me to demonstrate." Tonraq stripped to his smallclothes before rushing towards the cliff, springing off the end and flipping through the air before plunging into the water below. Korra watched skeptically, but Tonraq launched himself back up the cliff in a waterspout a moment later, laughing and shaking his grizzled hair vigorously as he landed.
"It's invigorating." he explained, "your mother, as adverse as she is to it now, was a champion in her day. I'm sure she wouldn't mind also leading by example."
"You owe me," She retorted as she undressed much slower and more gracefully than Tonraq, who was reclothing himself at this point. "As ridiculous and impractical as it may be, Korra, your father is right about it being a tribal tradition that any waterbender worth her salt must complete at some point in their life. And if you think you're tired right now, you won't be after a jump." To prove her point, Senna followed suit, reducing her attire to little more than her smalls before also one-upping Tonraq by doing a backflip off the edge, pivoting into a graceful swan dive as she disappeared under the water with a remarkably small splash. She also launched herself back up when she was done, sighing somewhat contentedly before getting dressed again. Korra was still a bit apprehensive.
"I take it you're not gonna let me talk my way out of this?"
"We put up with you for 14 years," Tonraq laughed, "you can do this one little thing."
Korra began to strip down even slower than her mother, but was eventually shivering in nothing but her undergarments and her boots. She was used to the cold, but it was windier than usual today and she normally had warm clothes to keep the wind from biting her warm skin.
"Gotta lose the boots too, girl," Tonraq laughed, "what kind of monster are you?"
Korra removed her boots and hopped back and forth from foot to foot as her feet touched the ice that they were clearly unaccustomed to. She shivered her way over to the ledge, suddenly wondering if she was afraid of heights. She crouched before springing, turning her movement into a surprisingly graceful dive as she plunged down the cliff and into the frigid water below.
She might have gone into the Avatar State with the shock, but whatever the case, she bent the water around her and forced herself back up onto the edge of the cliff, her teeth clattering and her parents laughing at the skinny teen standing there in her smallclothes with wide eyes and a comically cold expression on her face.
"R-r-r-rite of p-p-passage… m-m-my ass…" she cursed as she shivered her way over to her clothes and began to put them on.
"Blame your father," Senna couldn't help but crack an amused smile.
"Dad, I'm b-b-blaming you." Korra stuttered as she slowly started to warm up again. She produced flames on her hands to expedite the process, and despite her original attitude, both Tonraq and Senna managed to get her to laugh about it as they made their way home, to the point where even Korra was giggling about the whole incident by the time they reached the hut.
Like most waterbenders, Korra felt a connection to the bright moon in the sky, feeling almost drawn to it on some evenings such as this. It was a nice change of pace from the wild afternoon of jumping off a frigid cliff in her underwear.
She gazed out over the horizon, perched atop one of the small walls that fortified the tribal city, wondering both what was out there, and second-guessing if this was the right thing to do. She had been made aware that both Nakkoa and Kwan had less than pleasant histories despite both only being in their late 20s or early 30s at most, but Kwan in particular seemed repentant, and if Nakkoa had committed any crimes since leaving prison, there was no evidence of such. The White Lotus seemed particularly alert about them, but even they couldn't deny that turning over a new leaf was not a possibility in any man or woman's life.
Korra was shaken from these thoughts by the voice of an old woman.
"Nice night for an escape, isn't it?"
Korra jumped, spinning around with surprising agility for someone whose footfalls and movements were generally heavy and rigid.
"Katara!?" Korra had the tone and expression of someone who was hiding something, although considering that Katara both knew of her intentions and her date of departure, the elder seemed unfazed by these actions.
"Did you think you were the only one who wandered the tribes at night?" Katara retorted.
"Well, no," Korra shook her head, her lower lip sticking out ever so slightly, "but I feel like this is right. I have to leave—I have to find my own path as the Avatar."
Katara closed her eyes, putting her hands together as she gazed up and then down again.
"I know you do." she whispered. "Aang was the same way. His time has passed though. He and many of my friends are gone. It's time for you and your generation to take over the responsibility of keeping peace and balance in the world."
Korra paused for a moment, and Katara approached her, putting an old hand on Korra's shoulder. "And if it means anything… I think you'll be a great Avatar just as Aang was."
"But I'm not Aang," Korra shook her head, the feeling of trying to fill Aang's shoes weighing down suddenly very heavily on her, "and I know I can't be him either, and saying that to… well, his wife—is just kind of…" she scratched the back of her head.
"I do not expect you to be Avatar Aang." Katara offered Korra a reassuring smile as she gently took Korra's arm and pulled it down. Her hands slid down Korra's forearm before they clasped her hand. "He will always be special to me in a very intimate and personal way, but not even I expect you to become Aang. Avatar Kuruk was not Avatar Yangchen. Avatar Kyoshi was not Avatar Kuruk. Avatar Roku was not Avatar Kyoshi. Aang was not Roku, and you are not Aang. It is the natural way of the Avatar Cycle for each incarnation to differ from the last, and that is how it should be."
"Have you ever heard of the Interregnum Avatars?" Korra blurted out to Katara's surprise.
"I have." She replied, although the way her face sunk hinted that they were not a pleasant subject, "although they are entities of a bygone age that are best left in the past. Why do you ask? Do you fear becoming like one of them?"
"I don't even know who or what they were," Korra admitted, "I… maybe I've just been listening to Nakkoa too much. What do you think of her?"
"I believe she means well, although I am unsure where her heart lies. Her sister Kwan seems much more genuine though. If I were to trust only one of them, it would be Kwan."
"So are you saying that following Nakkoa up north is a bad idea?" Korra frowned.
"I would advise caution," Katara admitted, "but that is more from the notion of you leaving the tribe for the first time. My brother was always the cautious one, even that day we found Avatar Aang. There was certainly no way I would have guessed that the two of us would wed some years down the road." She gave a fond smile, remembering those fond days.
"I'm glad you understand," Korra couldn't help but smile. "It means a lot."
"My advice," Katara nodded with a smile of her own, "is to be yourself, rather than try to be someone else. Do that, and I'm sure you can make the Legend of Korra as well-known and well-revered as the Legend of Aang."
Korra's confidence returned and she threw her arms around Katara in a gesture of thanks. It was tricky with Katara, because deep down, Korra knew that one of the most important days of her life: her birth—was also one of the saddest days for her: Aang's death. Despite it all though, she was excited for tomorrow and what it would bring. Tomorrow she was going to see the world.
AFTERTHOUGHTS: The "Interregnum Avatars" mentioned several times in this chapter play an important role in the story as a whole, and so we (as well as Korra) will learn a lot more about them as the story progresses. I did promise "more past lives/Avatar history", and I intend to deliver on that front—in due time.