Blood spilled on snow as Tonraq is entrapped in ice pillars. Unalaq looks at him with a face completely devoid of emotion. Tonraq spits more blood as he attempts to speak, but Unalaq goes for the finishing blow, killing his older brother once and for all. It wasn't enough for Unalaq to become the chief. He wanted to have his niece and raise her as his own. He wanted to command the one-man army that is the Avatar.
Both Water Tribes are ruled by the chief in the northern tribe. The Chief chooses someone from the Southern Water Tribe to act as a representative of the South Pole, or simply approves of whoever the South has chosen if he deems them fit. That person will have the title of Chief, but no decision can be absolute without the approval of the Chief in the North. The Northern Water Tribe is comprised of many different noble tribes who intermarry and form allegiances with one another. It used to be ruled by Chief Arnook during the final years of the hundred year war, whose daughter has given up her physical body to save the Moon Spirit during the siege of the North. As he had no apparent heirs, which even if he had, the noble families would need to approve of the heir becoming their new Chief, the new Chief of the Water Tribes was decided to be Uluaq. He looked every bit Water Tribe in skin tone and height, and so were his two sons. The Tribes enjoyed a prosporous time under his rule. He trained his two sons in the northern bending style and had always tried to instill the most valuable trait for water tribesmen in them, the value of family and love for community.
Unalaq had always viewed his older brother as a wall to break through. Their father's teachings never really got to him. Tonraq excelled at many things that he too did, but men always looked up to Tonraq and used him as an example to follow. It was as if everyone knew Tonraq was the eventual next Chief, a thought that he never much cared for. This prompted Unalaq to build up his political savvy and strengthen his relationship with older members of the noble families. They were the decision makers. New generations will need to listen to them and follow their ways and then pass them down to the next generation, that was always the way of the Northern Water Tribe.
The people of the Northern Water Tribe are deeply religious folk. They take pilgrimage into the deepest parts of the northern tundra in search of enlightenment and to seek knowledge unknown. On one evening, before Tonraq set out on his own pilgrimage, Unalaq alerted him of barbarians who sailed from the northern parts of the Earth Kingdom. The barbians were hunting in sacred ground, a forest said to be a place of strong spiritual presence. Tonraq, ever so strong and bold, set out to stop them singlehandedly. The ensuing battle brought destruction to the forest, an act that greatly angered the elders of the tribe. It was then decided that Tonraq should move down south, never to return north again. This has greatly affected Uluaq and in less than five days, he passed away in his sleep, and the next chief was decided shortly after. Unalaq's reign has begun.
Tonraq was given enough supplies for the journey, but proceeded to throw everything away as soon as he arrived in Earth Kingdom land. The only possession he kept was his personal ice dodging ship that he built prior to completing his rite of passage at 16. He would hunt for food and camp alone at night, enjoying the journey and lamenting what the attitude will be like once he arrives down south. He doesn't want to be a leader nor get involved in politics, he doesn't want to be responsible for anyone but himself. On the way, he stopped at a small fishing harbor on the western parts of the Earth Kingdom where the temperature was affected by the cold southern breeze. The people were dressed in winter greens and blues, and there were a handful of southerner traders, so he didn't much stand out. He thought it was perfect to sell what he had gathered during his travel for Water Tribe money. The only way to buy land in both tribes is with Water Tribe money. The money won't be enough to buy land, but it might be enough for a head start… or supplies at least, he thought to himself as he approached the harbor to anchor his ship.
"Would you buy my stock for Water Tribe money?" Tonraq asked one of the southern traders. "Water Tribe money? You planning on going down south?"
"I am, actually. How is the South Pole nowadays?" "Cold as always, and a lot of money to be made… if you're an industrialist that is." The economy indeed bloomed drastically after the hundred year war. It was first spearheaded by Chief Hakoda with aid from the North, they were able to erect new cities in place of old villages. Sokka, Hakoda's son, was then elected Chief after his father's timely death, and he sought to industrialize the Southern Water Tribe. Factories, new docks as well as new technologies were introduced to improve the living conditions and help it become an equal partner in world politics. After Chief Sokka passed away, no chief was selected, or approved to put it more bluntly. The approval was constantly halted and delayed by the Northern Water Tribe and the south remained without a formal leader. They had elected their own leader democratically but no official documents were sealed.
A woman approached the trader as he was handing Tonraq Water Tribe currency. "Excuse me, I'd like to sell you what I have for Water Tribe money as well." Though she looked light in complexion, she had deep blue eyes common in Water Tribe folk. She was slightly shorter than Tonraq but stood next to him as if they both shared the same height. She wore brown wristbands and green bands on her chest, covered over by a long outerwear tied at the waist and short pants that looked like undergarments, the color of leaf green. She had two front pigtails wrapped by single beads and the back was tied at the end. He glanced over to catch a glimpse of this person, and curiosity got to him.
"I don't really have much left of Water Tribe money, but I'll buy from you with what I have, ma'am." "Thank you."
It was dusk. Tonraq thought it was best to camp for the night and leave first thing in the morning. At night he couldn't help but think of the woman he saw earlier. Was she also headed to the southern tribe? It didn't look like she had company, but he didn't know that. At dawn, he readied his ship to set sail, and caught another glimpse of the same woman wandering around the harbor. In a moment, she approached him. "Are you going to the South Pole?" She asked. "Yeah.." "Do you mind if I hitch a ride with you? I can pay." "Sure, come on in.." He thought she was bold to ask him straight away, and he was right that she didn't have company. He was so used to traditional women of the northern tribe not making the first contact with a man, let alone travel single. He isn't a northerner anymore. Why should he care about those customs, everything he had heard of the south sounded different from the ways they lived, so he should be more open, or get used to it.
She sat at the front of the ship while he steered it from the back. Calling it a ship is a bit generous as it was almost the size of a boat, big enough to compare to a catamaran, but it was safe for travel on oceans. They didn't talk. She was looking ahead and so was he. Flying fish came rushing against the ship's direction, and so Tonraq let go of the helm to raise the water beneath the ship to create a large wave to avoid the flying fish tearing away the sailcloth. She observed him take a hard stance and raise both arms up. The water started moving up slowly, mostly around the back of the ship. The ship looked like a bowl getting filled in with flying fish crashing their heads on the ships floor. She got up and performed the same stance, balancing the wave beneath the ship with her waterbending. Tonraq was indeed surprised. She's a waterbender too.
Now both bending in sync, they slowly relaxed their stance once they sailed past the pesky fish. "Hey.. I- I didn't know you're a waterbender too," Tonraq spoke, thinking finally. She smiled nonchalantly "I am, though I can't say the same about you. Kinda figured you were Water Tribe from the look.." "Hahaha yeah…"
"My name is Senna." He adored her boldness. She was so new to him, so different, so unafraid, so forthcoming, so him. "I'm Tonraq!"
Senna is at an abandoned dock located far away in the outskirts of Whale Harbor, one of the cities in the Southern Water Tribe. With seven year old Korra in her arms, she waited long for Tonraq but northern soldiers were close to finding them. She must leave now. Tonraq urged her to leave and not wait for him. She wanted to run back for him, but their daughter was her main responsibility right now. The boat engine was readied and they hurried off into the ocean.
"Mommy they're coming!" Senna looks behind them, one of Unalaq's ships is closing in. The boat won't do anymore. She knows she can waterbend them a lot faster, but not on this boat. Unlike a gondola, this one is too heavy. "Sweetie you have to hold on to me and never let go, okay," "..okay" little Korra is sensing the seriousness of their situation. Senna ties her tightly on her back, and propels off on an ice board. Her form is straight, using rigid hand motions to move with great speed.
Five men follow. They hardly catch up to them, sending ice projectiles targeted at Senna's hands and feet. She swerves to their direction, turning the area around her into ice. The first one to catch up is gutted by an ice spike from below. The next man jumps up with a water whip readied, she turns the ice around her into a water cloak, absorbing the whip and shooting icy bullets at him. She quickly levitates with a pillar of water coiling and shifting around her lower body. The three remaining come to freeze the pillar, but she swiftly extends ice spears to their guts. One man goes for the defense, punching the incoming spear and turning it into snow, and Senna quickly descends on him on top a drill-like ice structure, finally finishing all five.
Unalaq is watching from the ship as the water turns red. "Stop the ship." "But sir you saw-" Unalaq jumps off, and the captain stops the ship. There are baleen whales moving up ahead, making their way back to the northern hemisphere after finishing their seasonal winter breeding migration in the southern hemisphere.
Before Senna and Korra reach closer to the whales, which Senna thinks will be the perfect cover once they move past them, Unalaq manages to catch up to them, bending a large tsunami-like wave slowing Senna's propulsion. The wave is preventing Senna from going on top of it. She tries to float up with a water pillar, but the wave disturbs the pillar. They fall, diving all the way down, the cloth holding Korra on Senna's back is untied by the impact of the fall to the ocean surface. The waters around them are pulled by the movements of the herd.
Little Korra is sucked through a vortex, her body turning right and left, up and down, but the rush of the moment isn't making her forget her freediving training with her father. She manages to steady her position underwater. With everything that's going on, there was a sudden moment of quiet. Her eyes meet the eye of a young whale calf, both staring at each other with interest, but the moment catches up to her and she quickly breaks through the surface with a gasp, "Hahhhh!" inhaling sharply. She is surrounded by the large pod, their movements pushing her as she swims. "Mom! MOOOM?!"
Senna and Unalaq are on top of one whale, Unalaq running after her, his arms cloaked in whip-like tendrils. He tries to grasp and strike her and she evades him. They run to the top where the blowhole is. Senna skips over, right when Unalaq tries to do the same but is hit by the spout, causing him to shoot up to the sky. She overhears Korra's screams and slides down to catch her and propels off, holding little Korra in her arms while she glances at the herd over her mother's shoulder.
"He's coming toward us!" Korra shouts. He plunges into the ocean from high up in the sky without a single splash. Senna continues skimming through the water's surface towards a nearby iceberg, but is suddenly pulled down below. Korra crashes on the iceberg, she looks back at the water waiting for Senna to follow, but neither Senna or Unalaq surface yet.
"Hahhh!" Senna emerges, "stay back! Go!" she gestures to Korra. Unalaq emerges to the surface from behind her, standing straight. First he moves his left hand to freeze Korra. "NO," Senna tries to strike him with a water whip but he quickly strikes back harder, and then again, and again, rendering her powerless. She can't fight back anymore. He trips her over, gets on top of her and places his right hand over her mouth, with water slowly creeping in, covering her face in a choke bubble. Senna's hands are clawing at his face, scratching and pulling, her legs kicking. Unalaq is unaffected, "For once, shut up! If you listened to me from the beginning, none of this would've happened. Tonraq is DEAD, and it's better if you join him too. She will be fine with me. I will raise her as my own. She will have everything she wants. She will lead us, and I will be right there with her every step of the way."
Is this how our story goes, Tonraq? We were supposed to live a normal, happy life. Raise our kids and teach them together. Her limbs became heavy, her frantic movements slowing as the strength drained from her body. She looks over to her daughter completely frozen in ice, her heart pounding furiously as she struggles for breath. Tears mix in with the water around her head.
POOF! Shards of ice shoot at Unalaq, gouging his left eye and shoving him away from Senna. Korra rises from the ice with a surge of energy coursing through her, her eyes wide open, now glowing with an intense white light. Her form was rigid, her back straight and her limbs extending outward. Her hands are raised in front of her, palms facing each other as if holding an invisible sphere of energy. Her fingers were splayed wide, and her posture exuded a sense of immense anger. The snow around her began to swirl, lifting her body off the ground. Though her uncle's eye is bleeding, he watched as the scene unfolded before him. He was in awe. He had never witnessed such raw, unbridled power. This is what he came for. His mouth fell open "Yes Korra, you can do so much more! I can teach you!" With a sweep of her arm, she englufs him in water and swings him through the air, each swing sending him careening wildly, colliding each time with the icy ground, until his back cracks. Click, "Ah!" he gasps for breath, his chest heaving with the effort.
"KORRA!" a strange new voice echoes. Her movements stop. The snow swirl holding her up fades, and so does the glow. Her eyes close and she falls. Her mother catches her. "Korra! Sweetie! Korra!" no answer. She was breathing alright, but completely unconscious. Senna takes her and leaves before Unalaq's ship finds them.