Chapter 4

The silence that engulfed the dinner table that night was eerie as the family of four ate, the only sounds coming from the sounds of their chopsticks hitting their dishes. After their argument, Korra and Sota had taken to ignoring each other, neither saying a word as they made their way home in angry silence. Their only form of communication was the hateful glares they would give each other.

As soon as they got home, Sota greeted his mother and father respectfully, apologizing for being so late. Both reassured him that it was fine, not noticing Korra's look of irritation as she put away her parka and made her way to the table. She only paused to greet her father with a hug, having missed him during her training.

Senna wasted no time in bringing out the hot meal she had prepared for them, making sure everyone got a generous amount of stew and rice to fill their bellies. The two parents made light conversation with each other as Tonraq talked about his day and about how excited he was that Korra was home. The young Avatar smiled lovingly at her father but didn't miss the hate filled look Sota gave her before averting his eyes and staring back at his food as he continued to eat.

Tonraq then asked Korra about her training, and much like she had done earlier with her mother, Korra obliged, giving him the full run down of how it was going and how she was progressing, though she did it with much less enthusiasm than she had with her mother. As she finished up, she noticed that her drink was swishing around in her cup on its own before icing over and freezing solid. Her eyes narrowed as they locked onto her brother's identical ones, daring him to even try to go through with the very clear threat he was trying to place before her.

The two siblings sat, unmoving as their eating had stopped. Senna and Tonraq paused in their own eating, confused at the behavior of their children. It was at this point that they realized that something was wrong between the two and that they were upset with each other. Senna wondered if something had happened between the two when she had sent Korra out to find Sota. What other explanation could there be for their behavior, especially since usually the two could barely keep food in their mouths when they saw each other, especially given how rare it was now that Sota had begun his own waterbending training and Korra's Avatar training had become more intense.

"Is everything alright, kids?" she asked, looking back and forth between the two. "Normally you two are so lively when you see each other, your father and I can barely keep up with what you're saying. But you haven't said a word to each other since you got home."

"Did something happen on the way back?" Tonraq asked, just as concerned as his wife.

"Nothing's wrong," Sota said quickly though very calmly. The two parents looked at him, convinced for sure that something was up. Korra noticed this as well, and though she would have loved to watch him squirm under their parents' gazes, she knew that they wouldn't push him to open up to them and that she'd have to handle this.

"Nothing happened," she said, turning her gaze back to her food and picking up a delicious piece of fish from her stew, engulfing it greedily. "Sota and I just decided that it would be better to be a bit more polite and well-mannered while eating. After all, it's always best to respect our elders, isn't that right?"

Sota narrowed his eyes at her once more, irritated that she was trying to weave her way under his skin. Unfortunately, it was working and working well. What made it worse was that her composure was completely calm and collected, the exact opposite of what he was feeling which consisted of nervousness and stressful anxiety.

Realizing that his parents were waiting for his response, Sota nodded his head. "Yes, that's right."

The two fell silent once more, keeping their gazes away from each other for the time being so as not to arouse more suspicion from their parents. Tonraq and Senna, though confused by their children's behavior decided it was best not to press the issue for the time being and to let the two of them cool off.

The table was silent once more as they all returned to eating. As Korra picked up her still frozen drink, melting it back into its original form and taking a large gulp from it, she spoke once more, keeping her eyes down.

"So, Sota. How's your waterbending training coming along?"

"It's going well, Korra," he said, not looking at her either. "Master Taku said that my progress is going very well and that I might be good enough to move onto more advanced techniques if I keep up the work I've been doing."

"So, all that extra training is pay off?" Tonraq asked with a prideful smile at hearing how well his son was doing. Sota nodded his head to his father, happy to see the smile on his face, and prepared to smile back, but didn't get the chance to as Korra continued speaking.

"Extra training, huh? What have you been teaching him, Dad? Icing moves? Bending motions? Self-defense?" Korra asked, putting extra emphasis on the last part. Sota finally looked back at her, glaring at his sister.

"What do you mean, Korra?"

"I mean, does Sota-"

"Dad's been helping me with my stance changes and how to put more power into my moves. I'd be more than happy to give you a personal demonstration after dinner if you'd like," he said in a very calm and cool manner, though the threat was still very hot and noticeable to her.

Korra quickly slammed her dishes back onto the table, startling her parents as she and Sota once again locked gazes, her anger now very clear and present. Leaning forward, she asked, "Are you threatening me!? You know, I was trying to do this as civil as possible, but if you wanna drop all the pretenses, that's fine with me!"

"Alright, enough you two!" Senna declared, pushing her daughter back down into her seat. "Korra, calm down. I will not have you two fighting in my house. Now, one of you better explain what's going on."

"Sota's been getting his ass kicked by a kid in his class and is too chicken to say anything about it!"

"Korra!" Sota shouted in anger, a sense of betrayal and hurt creeping into him.

"Watch your language, young lady," Senna reprimanded before turning back to her son, a look of worry and concern on her face. "Sota, is this true?"

Sota remained quiet as his family's intense gazes bore down on him. His mind raced with possible ways that he could get out of this, but now that it was already said, there was no way his parents were going to believe anything he said now that wasn't the truth. Especially if Korra mentioned that she healed his injuries from earlier.

Giving a stiff nod, Sota kept his gaze down as his mother gasped and his father gapped at him, shocked.

"How long has this been going on?" Tonraq asked his son gently.

"Since I started training with Master Taku a few weeks ago," he said, still refusing to look at anyone. "The other kids can't stand me and usually ignore me if they can. Everyone except Urroq; he's the one that's been beating me up all the time. He tells everyone that I get special treatment and that I'm really a bad bender…all because I'm the Avatar's brother." His words were harsh as he glared at Korra who continued to look at him intently; she wasn't letting this go until he told them everything and something was done about it.

"When was the last time he beat you up?" Tonraq asked as he tried to remain calm, a sense of anger bubbling up in him as well at the thought of someone trying to hurt his son.

"…after class earlier today…Korra fixed my wounds."

"Korra, you knew about this and didn't tell us?"

"No, I didn't know. At least I didn't until I found him earlier after he got the crap beaten out of him," she said.

"Looks like I'm going to have to have a talk with your teacher then," Tonraq said, getting to his feet and preparing to head out the door.

"Dad, wait, I-" Sota tried but was interrupted again.

"I'm gonna go find that kid and give him a serious piece of my mind," Korra said as she too got to her feet.

"Korra, no," Senna declared as she stood as well, leaving only her son still in his seat. "You're not going to go out there and cause more trouble."

"Trouble started when he thought he could get away with hurting my brother. When I find him-"

"NO!" Sota shouted as he finally joined his family by standing as well, nearly knocking the table over in his angry rush to his feet. "I don't need or want your help! You're just going to make everything worse!"

Without another word, Sota shoved past her, grabbing his parka and running out of the hut, his parents calling out after him. Tonraq prepared to go after him but was cut off as Korra beat him to it, running out of the hut and ignoring her parents as they called out her name as well. Their cries fell on deaf ears as Korra focused solely on one thing-protecting her little brother.

"Urroq!" Sota shouted down the hill toward the older boy as he entered the clearing. Sota knew he'd find him here with a bunch of other kids, tossing snow and water at each other. Urroq paused in his next attack, turning to look at Sota as he made his way toward him.

A large grin spread across his face as Sota stopped in front of him looking angry. "Well, well. It's the runt. What are you doing here? Came for another lesson?"

Sota didn't say anything to him as his stance shifted into an attack position, surprising the other kids who had stopped their playing to watch the confrontation go down between the two. Urroq raised an eyebrow in surprise but couldn't help laughing at Sota's attempts at being tough.

"Look, why don't you get lost and go home. You're not wanted here," he said, turning his back and waving Sota off. However, he didn't get far as Sota raised water into his hand, launching it at Urroq in the form of a whip. The water quickly struck the older boy in the back, pain flaring up into him. Turning around in anger, Urroq soon lost his balance as Sota brought the whip back and struck again, this time wrapping it around his ankle and pulling it upward, resulting in his opponent facing the darkening sky.

Sota pulled the water back, getting into position again, and posed, ready for attack again as he spoke, "You're not going anywhere. You. Me. Now!"

Urroq growled in anger as he pushed himself up onto his feet and glared at the younger boy. Finding his own balance, Urroq gave a mighty stomp which caused the ground around him to splinter and crack as he too brought water up in preparation for battle.

The other kids suddenly began to feel very nervous about what was about to go on. "Um…we should probably get going. It's getting kinda late, guys," one of the boys said, pointing upward to the sky which was starting to show the first signs of night as the moon started to come into view and the stars began to twinkle. "You coming, Urroq?"

"Scram," he called, eyes never leaving Sota. "I'm gonna teach this runt once and for all where his place is."

"Are you su-"

"I said scram!" he shouted, startling them all. No one else questioned him again as they all made their way back toward the village, some of them placing bets on what was going to happen. Most, unsurprisingly, were putting money on things that suggested the result would end in a gruesome beating for Sota.

The two benders continued to stare at each other for a few moments, each of them feeling the power of the moon making them more powerful as it slowly rose into the sky.

"I hope you're ready to beg for mercy, runt, because this'll be the last night you ever try bending again."

"We'll see who's begging when I get done with you!" Sota yelled, launching a large ball of water at Urroq who quickly intercepted it and launched it back at him, adding his own power to it. Sota caught the water but felt himself slide back from the strength of his opponent who was smirking at him darkly. Jumping into the air and slamming his fist to the ground, Urroq created a small shockwave as a fissure started to open up. Sota felt himself falling off balance, but quickly scampered out of the way as Urroq followed this up and launched another attack at him.

Looking up at him with in anger, Sota could only pray to the spirits that he hadn't just made the biggest mistake of his life.

It had been over an hour already, and Korra still had no idea where her brother was or where to find this kid who had been bullying him. She ran from one end of the village to the other and still hadn't found any sign of them, and it was getting late. The moon had already risen and was high in the sky above her, giving the snow a lovely white glow, though that meant little to her right now.

"Ugh, this is hopeless!" she shouted in annoyance. "This would have been so much easier if I had Naga with me instead of at the Compound. How am I supposed to-"Korra paused as she heard the sounds of a struggle going on not too far from where she was. A loud scream of pain reached her ears, and she instantly felt both dread and hope fill her. "Sota!"

Korra wasted no time following the sound which led her to a large open field of snow. Her eyes fell upon the only two people in the clearing, one of which was her younger brother. Sota was looking more than a little worse for wear as he tried desperately to push himself up but was failing as his arms shook from exhaustion and various injuries that she could see even from her spot on top of the hill.

Anger replaced her dread as it flooded her body with each step down the hill, preparing to attack the boy as he towered over her brother with water raised in his hands for another attack.

Urroq grinned, his few injuries barely even being noticed as he prepared to strike Sota who was now on his hands and knees, exhausted, sore, and bleeding as he breathed heavily, struggling just to keep himself up.

"Say your prayers, runt!" he shouted, bring his arms down, the water following through. Sota looked up, fear in his eyes as everything seemed to move in slow motion for him.

"Sota!" Korra screamed in fright she pushed herself to run faster, though she knew she would never get there in time or be close enough to them to stop the attack.

Sota could feel his body moving on its own as his brain tried to process what exactly it was going to do. His hands shot up, not in defense, but into an attack position, as if it were going to attempt to intercept the water again. In the back of his mind, Sota knew that this was not going to work as he had tried to do it more times than he could remember in this fight, yet he could still feel his own Chi, flowing through his arms and upward. However, what happened next surprised not only Sota, but both Korra and Urroq as well.

The water came splashing down, falling uselessly on the ground between the two boys who had both stopped moving. Korra too had stopped moving, coming to a dead stop a few feet from them, her eyes wide in disbelief and fear.

Sota could feel his body shaking relentlessly, his gaze shifting upward to Urroq's terrified eyes, trying to figure out what exactly was going on. He could still feel his bending working, but the water had hit the ground already, so what could he have been holding on to? There was clearly no water being bent, so what was? Sota could still see Urroq's body, which was now shaking and twitching violently, in the same position it had been moments ago when he prepared to strike him, but he was still not moving.

Was he taunting him? Pretending to not be able to move so that Sota would believe that he would leave himself open to an attack? Did he really believe that he could be that weak?

Sota could feel his anger growing at the mockery, and shifted his hands down, preparing to grab more water to attack. However, as Urroq gave a pain filled grunt, falling to his knees, Sota's anger vanished in an instant, replaced with pure fright.

Why had that happened? That wasn't right. Sota gingerly moved again, flexing his fingers, and raising his hands, only to see a similar reaction come from his bully as his back bent and his head jerked back with a loud scream echoing from him as well as loud, disgusting popping noises. Sota could feel the color drain from his face as the pieces finally started to fall into place in his head.

He was bloodbending.

Sota could feel panic start to bubble up in his body as he thought of all the trouble he was going to be in if anyone found out that he was bloodbending, an illegal act of waterbending that he shouldn't even know how to do. What was he going to do!?

His gaze fell back down upon Urroq who was still twitching and convulsing painfully in the snow. This was all his fault, Sota decided. It all started with him, and he had caused Sota to do this. And yet, here he was, completely helpless and under Sota's mercy now.

Sota could feel the urge to make him pay for all the torment he had put him through building up, working its way to his fingers, begging him to do it more and to make him really suffer. He had Urroq right where he deserved to be; right where he always ended up, at someone else's mercy. Even though he knew it was wrong and that he shouldn't feel this way, Sota wanted to do it more, to hurt him more and to really test his power on him.

"How does it feel," he growled menacingly as Urroq stared into his eyes in fear. "How do you like feeling helpless and at someone else's mercy, you jerk!?" Urroq said nothing, only grunting in restraint as he continued to twitch uncontrollably. This only fueled Sota's rage as he shouted, "ANSWER ME!"

"P-please…" Urroq begged, his voice shaking. This surprised Sota for a moment, but he somehow enjoyed hearing the weakness in Urroq's voice. However, what he hadn't expected was to see tears rolling down the boy's face. "No…m-more…" he begged.

"Sota!" came the shouting of his name, startling the boy. Looking up, he came face to face with his older sister as she stood behind Urroq. The fear had left her face, being replaced by both worry and disappointment, something Sota could see it in her eyes, which only seemed to shake him more to the core when she spoke again. "That's enough, Sota. He's had enough. It's over. This isn't you."

"Korra?" he said, voice finally reaching him again and shaking as tears of his own began to fall down his face. "Korra…" he repeated, sadness and desperation etching her name, shaking, and eventually breaking, his resolve.

His arms dropped lifelessly to his sides as he stopped bending, releasing Urroq who quickly crumpled to the ground as his body went slack. Sota felt his body grow weak as his knees gave out, forcing him to drop to the ground once more. Korra was in front of him instantly, dropping to her own knees as she let her little brother drop into her open arms with no resistance. As moisture ran down her face, Korra, though surprised in herself that she had started crying without noticing it, clutched him tighter to her as he lay, unmoving as his half closed eyes stared vacantly into the night. The moon reflected into his gaze, it's beauty almost like a taunting reminder of the terrible power it proved him moments ago.

Everything was quiet as the two siblings remained still like that, neither noticing as Urroq shakily got to his feet and backed away in fright before turning around and taking off into a full-on sprint out of the clearing.

Time ticked away as they continued to sit in the field, neither paying attention to it as Korra rubbed circles into her brothers back in a soothing manner. Their tears had long dried, but the streaks remained untouched on their faces.

"Korra…" Sota finally said, he voice small and sad, almost as if he were in pain. "I'm sorry…"

"Shh…" she soothed him. "It's ok, Sota. You didn't mean to. It was an accident."

"Korra…I liked it…" he said as the feeling of it replayed in his mind as well as the look of fear it brought. "The power…it felt good, Korra. I liked how it felt to make him suffer, to be the one in control…I liked hurting him, and…I'm so scared, Korra…I'm scared of this feeling, and I'm scared…of what's going to happen to me…"

Korra said nothing, eventually helping him to his feet and preparing to take him home to heal him but stopped at the sight of lanterns coming over the hill toward them. A group of people were heading their way led by both her father and Urroq, making Sota's body immediately go rigid next to her as he held onto his sister for dear life.

"Korra, Sota!" Tonraq said as he reached them, gingerly hugging them as he knelt down. "Thank goodness we found you two."

"Dad," Sota said, but his voice cut off as he looked back to the ground, shame filling his mind. How could he look his father in his eyes after what he had just done? Sota shook as the tears started to flow again. Tonraq pulled his son to him, holding the young boy while still being careful of his injuries.

"It's ok, son. Everything's going to be fine now," he reassured.

"Dad…I- "

"He's a bloodbender!" Urroq shouted to the crowd, shocking everyone, including Tonraq who turned back to the older boy in surprise.

"What? That's impossible. Sota can't be a bloodbender," he said, to which many of the crowd agreed.

"But he is! He was bloodbending me earlier!"

"Hard to believe that he had done anything to you considering how uninjured you seem to be in comparison, while Sota looks as though he can barely stand," Master Taku said, eyes narrowed in accusation. Urroq flinched away from him, turning back to Sota, thought Tonraq's gaze had a similar effect on him. Looking around them, his eyes quickly fell onto Korra who was still clutching her brother.

"There, ask her! She's the Avatar, she knows what bloodbending looks like, and she saw the whole thing!" he said, pointing to a now startled Korra. "Tell them, Avatar."

Korra looked to her father who gave her a questioning look. "Well, Korra? Did you see what happened?"

Korra paused for a moment before speaking. "Yes, I did. And what I saw was this kid towering over my little brother and beating him up. I tried to get to Sota before he could do anything to hurt him worse than he already had earlier, but it's pretty obvious I didn't make it in time. When he saw me coming, he ran off and just left Sota here in the snow," she said, narrowing her own eyes at him.

"She's lying! You're the Avatar! You're supposed to- "

"Don't tell me what I'm supposed to do!" she shouted at him.

"You're just trying to protect that monstrous little- "

"That shall be quite enough," an elderly voice said. Everyone turned as Katara made her way through the crowd and toward the Avatar and her brother. Sota took a shaky step back as the elderly waterbender came up to him and touched his bruised face while her eyes burrowing into his own. The two locked gazes for a few seconds before Katara turned away from him and back to the crowd.

"The accusations are false," she declared. "This boy has great potential for bending, but even he is not powerful enough to use a technique like that at such a young age." Looking back to Urroq, she continued. "It's clear that what Avatar Korra has stated is true; this boy, caught in hurting another, ran away and fabricated the bloodbending story in an attempt to take the pressure off of himself."

"Much like I suspected," Master Taku said, grabbing Urroq and leading him away. "I think it's time we had a word with your parents about this."

"But Master Taku, I swear, I'm not lying!" Urroq protested as he was dragged away. The rest of the crowd began to disperse, leaving only Katara, Tonraq and his children in the clearing.

Katara quickly bent water into her hand, activating her healing power before delicately working on Sota who flinched every so often.

"Thank you, Master Katara," Tonraq said gratefully.

"Yeah, thanks a lot," Korra said. "We really appreciate you sticking up for Sota."

"I simply did what I know was the right thing to do," she said. "Bloodbending may be a horrible thing, but I know what happened was an accident."

Sota and Korra gasped as they looked into the knowing eyes of Katara, while Tonraq looked at them questioningly.

"You…you knew…" Sota said, not questioning her wisdom.

"I could sense it in you when you I touched you. I always knew you would grow to be a powerful bender, Sota, but never had I imagined that you would be able to do something like this at such a young age."

"Master Katara-" Korra began, but was stopped as her master held up her hand, silencing her.

"I will not reveal Sota's bloodbending abilities to the tribe, Korra. As I said, I know what happened was an accident, and not something that he intended to do. However," she paused, addressing all three in seriousness. "You cannot let it happen again. This one incident will no doubt cause some to fear you, and the tribe will only grow more suspicious if it does. Should it come to that, there won't be anything even I can do to help you."

Her next words were directed directly at Sota, whose eyes were wide in fear. "You're a very strong bender, Sota, but don't let that power corrupt you. You can do great good with what can you do, but you can also do great evil. Only you can truly decide which path you will take."

Sota nodded his head, though his eyes still held fear and uncertainty. What if he couldn't control the power? What if he hurt someone he cared about? Or worse?

Korra placed her hand on his shoulder, forcing him to look up into the smiling faces of her and their father.

"Don't worry, Sota. I'll be there with you every step of the way to help. I promise," she said confidently.

"Because it's you job as the Avatar?" he asked quietly.

"No," she said, shaking her head. "Because it's my job as your big sister. I'll always look out for you."

A small smile came to his lips as he replied, "And I'll always look out for you too, Korra."