Prompt Post 2.0
With the season finale behind us I figure we'll have an explosion of prompts soon. So, new prompt post. Please post any new prompts in this post. But you can always find fic or fill more prompts in the original prompt post.
Rules!1) One prompt per post, please! If you have multiple prompts, no worries, just make separate posts for each. Please ( Read more... )
Rules!1) One prompt per post, please! If you have multiple prompts, no worries, just make separate posts for each. Please ( Read more... )
An iceberg. Nothing unusual, here--or it shouldn’t have been. At first, they could only make out the pale tip, jostling the bit of land they’d abandoned. Then it kept rising, and it wasn’t just pale, it was glowing.
Noatak suspected spirit shenanigans.
“Come on, let’s check it out!” Tarrlok said brightly.
He’d never fought a spirit before. “All right,” Noatak said. Tarrlok blinked. “You do the left, I’ll take the right.”
They bent the water on either side of the floe, propelling themselves towards the still-rising, still-glowing iceberg. Then they lowered their hands in unison. Noatak thought he could make out two dim shapes within the iceberg; he flung out an arm in front of his brother.
“Stay back.”
“But--”
Noatak silenced him with a glare. Tarrlok subsided into grumbling obedience, and Noatak stepped forward. His eyes narrowed as the iceberg finished rising, towering over them in all its uncanny blue-white radiance. He peered into it--the larger of the shapes looked like a polar beardog, of all things. Well, that could be a spirit. The figure beneath the beardog, though, looked vaguely human.
He leapt over to the base of the iceberg, trailed at a cautious distance by his brother. The humanoid figure resolved into the shape of a--a girl? Yes, a girl in Water Tribe gear, wearing her hair almost exactly as he did, her legs crossed, fists pressed together, and eyes shut.
“What?” said Tarrlok, aptly summarizing both of their thoughts.
Maybe it was just the corpses of some unfortunate travellers, preserved by the ice? But there was something oddly . . . alert about their posture, as if they’d never fallen unconscious at all, just--
The girl’s eyes flew open. Noatak lifted an eyebrow. She had no irises or pupils, or even whites; where they should have been, there was only blue-white light, glowing the exact same shade as the iceberg.
Reply
Wearing Water Tribe clothes. And his hairstyle.
Noatak lifted his arms. Behind him, he could feel his brother shaking, but Tarrlok didn’t say anything. That was the thing about Tarrlok; he almost never did say anything. No matter how terrified or miserable he was, he'd follow Noatak anywhere without a word of protest. That made it easy to overlook how pathetic he could be, sometimes. It made it easy to hate their father, too.
“I can help,” Tarrlok said, scrambling forwards, until he stood just behind Noatak. Noatak just sighed and nodded. They’d only begun to chip at the iceberg, though, when it burst into a cloud of snow, throwing them both back. The boys crouched down and shielded their faces, squinting as the snow raced up the iceberg, slicing it neatly down the middle, then enveloping the entire thing. A bolt of light shot towards the sky.
Noatak, still crouching, wrapped an arm around Tarrlok, fingers digging into his brother’s shoulder, and the other in front of them, ready to bend. Tarrlok was too stunned to protest.
They glanced at each other nervously, then got up, dusting themselves off.
“What’s that?” Tarrlok breathed.
The girl, her eyes still glowing, crawled out of the crevasse. Noatak stepped in front of Tarrlok, both hands held ready.
No spirit magic confronted him. The girl’s eyes fluttered closed and she collapsed, her body sliding down the remains of the iceberg. Instinctively, Noatak reached out to catch her. Tarrlok stepped out to help him settle her against the base of the iceberg.
She gave a small moan. Her eyes opened half-way: normal eyes, now. Normal Water Tribe eyes, her irises a clear blue-green. She blinked up at Noatak.
“You’re . . . me?” she said faintly.
Tarrlok snickered.
“Shut up,” said Noatak. “No, I’m not. Who are you?”
She blinked at them several more times. Then her eyes opened wide and she smiled.
“I’m Korra!” she announced, jumping to her feet. She rubbed her hands together, then with a frown of concentration, lit a flame on them.
“You’re a firebender!” Tarrlok gasped. His brow furrowed.
Both brothers backed up, lifting their hands and eyeing her suspiciously. Brown hair in three tails. Brown skin, blue eyes. Water Tribe clothes. Firebender.
It didn't make any sense, but that didn't matter. Somehow a firebender had gotten here, gotten to the North Pole when nobody else had ever managed it. Noatak swallowed. He’d never bloodbent another human before. He’d figured for a while now that Yakone would be his first. Well, he should be able to. One human couldn't be harder than a dozen other animals, at once, with his mind.
“Well, yeah,” said Korra, closing her hands on the fire. She looked at them and only grinned more broadly. “I’m the Avatar!”
Reply
Korra laughed. “I guess you weren’t expecting me?”
It was, unusually, Tarrlok who pulled himself together first. He snapped his mouth shut, lowered his hands, and swallowed.
“Uh,” he said. “No?”
Noatak scowled at her. “How do we know you’re telling the truth and this isn’t some Fire Nation plot? Stay away from her, Tarrlok, she could be a spy--”
“A spy? Me? But I’m Water Tribe!”
They stared at her. Tarrlok backed away, into his brother. At any other time, Noatak would have pushed him away and told him to stand up for himself. Now, he just clapped a hand on Tarrlok’s shoulders.
Korra rolled her eyes. “Fine. Water.” She twirled a small stream through the air. “Earth.” She moved a few crumbs of earth up off the sinking cliff, then cupped a flame in her hands again. “Fire. Just like the sages are always going on about.”
“She is the Avatar,” whispered Tarrlok.
“She’s right here!” Korra said, putting her hands on her hips.
Tarrlok blinked. “Well, sorry. Everyone says you’re extinct. The Avatar, I mean. It’s just … um. Surprising. Dad--”
Without a word, Noatak turned and ice-walked to their floe, dragging a more-than-usually-compliant Tarrlok after him.
“What are you doing? Where are you going? You can’t leave me here!” Korra shouted after them. Then, without missing a beat, she added, “You’re waterbenders! That’s great!”
Noatak didn’t let go of Tarrlok’s arm, just dug his fingers in more deeply.
“Something’s not right.”
“Come on, Noatak. You saw her bend. The glowy eyes were probably just some Avatar thing.”
“Of course they were some Avatar thing,” Noatak snapped. “I can see what’s in front of my face. But she’s . . . strange.” They both glanced at her. She had her arms crossed over her chest and was tapping one of her boots on the ice. Noatak was abruptly convinced that, despite her display of three elements, she didn’t know how to ice-walk; if she had, she’d have marched right after them.
“She thought we might be expecting her,” Tarrlok said slowly. He looked up at Noatak. “But the Avatar’s been gone for a hundred and fifty years.”
“Let me think." Noatak rubbed his cheek. "Okay, the Air Nomad Avatar died the first time the comet came, that’s about a hundred and forty years ago now. Everyone thought the cycle ended then, but maybe it didn’t.”
“I think we’d have heard if there’d been a Water Tribe Avatar,” said Tarrlok, furrowing his brows.
“Not if it was in the South Pole. So either that one died in the raids--say, around thirty years later, and then there’d be an Earth Kingdom Avatar--”
“That nobody ever heard of either?”
“There’d have been a huge rebellion if they’d known they had an Avatar. So he must have been kept secret, but didn’t live long enough to do anything. Let’s go twenty years. And after that--”
Tarrlok swallowed. “The Fire Nation.”
They fell silent, just imagining the Fire Nation with an Avatar at their beck and call. Unless even a Fire Nation Avatar was too much of a threat. Maybe the Fire Lord would have thought that if he killed the Avatar this time, with no Air Nomads to reincarnate into, the cycle would be over for good.
“Then Air--I don’t know how that would work. I guess it could have skipped past.”
“She didn’t bend air,” Tarrlok pointed out.
“She’s not even much of a waterbender right now,” said Noatak. He threw a scornful glance in her direction, just in time to see her climbing back the iceberg, almost as if she were looking for something. He just shook his head.
“She bent all three of the others, though. Maybe air’s just gone.”
Noatak paused. “Yeah, could be. And then back to the Water Tribe. That could work. Maybe it’s kept cycling through, and they’ve all died young.”
Tarrlok gave him one of his odd shrewd looks. “But you don’t think so.”
“All the Water Tribe Avatars would have to be in the South Pole,” Noatak said. “It wouldn’t be fair. Especially when this is the only place where one might actually have a chance of growing up.” Absently, he chewed his lip. “And she thought her being Water Tribe really meant that she couldn’t be a spy. Where does she think they come from?”
Tarrlok snickered. “Imagine someone actually from the Fire Nation trying to sneak in.”
They both laughed.
Reply
“I don’t know,” Noatak admitted. “Well, I’m not sure. But I think she might have been in that iceberg for a long time. A very long time. If I'm right, then we have a lot to explain. And that’s not even bringing Dad into it.”
Tarrlok’s eyes rounded. “D’you think he’ll teach her bloodbending?”
“Is that seriously the worst thing you can think of?” Noatak snorted. “Besides, we can only do it so well because it’s strong in our family. Even if she’s the Avatar, she doesn’t have that. But she might be able to learn. And if she can’t, three bloodbenders and the Avatar against the Fire Nation is still as close to a fair fight as he’ll ever get. He’ll want to keep her.”
“She’s not a thing,” Tarrlok said.
“We’re things, to Dad.” Noatak tried to shrug it off. The familiar chilly detachment was creeping back into his blood. Even Tarrlok didn’t look particularly disturbed. He knew what their father was almost as well as Noatak.
A sudden roar nearly startled him out of his skin. Tarrlok started so violently he just about tumbled off the floe. Noatak snagged his parka and they both turned towards the iceberg to see a polar beardog clambering over the top, encouraged by the Avatar. Noatak had forgotten all about the other creature in the iceberg.
They retraced their steps, and Korra gave them a smug look.
“Done gossiping? This is Naga, my best friend.”
“Your best friend,” Noatak said flatly, “is a polar beardog.”
“That is so cool,” said Tarrlok.
Korra grinned down at him, visibly unthawing. “Yeah, it pretty much is. Naga, this is … um. Sorry. I don’t know who you are.”
“I’m Tarrlok. This is my older brother, Noatak. We were on a hunting trip, only I broke the cliff with waterbending.”
“Seriously?” said Korra.
Naga shook herself dry, drenching all of them. Noatak, always fastidious, dried himself and his brother off, and left Korra to take care of herself.
“Waterbending is the most powerful thing in the world,” he said coolly.
“I like firebending best,” said Korra, tossing her head.
Noatak’s eyes narrowed. “The Fire Nation’s that way,” he said, pointing south. “I’m sure they’ll be glad to see you.”
Reply
“Join the club,” said Noatak, unimpressed.
Tarrlok glanced between his brother and the Avatar.
“Noatak,” he said, his voice shrill, “it's getting late. Dad'll . . . well, he'll do something. Especially if we don't come back with anything.”
He was right. Sort of. Noatak suspected their father wouldn't care about much else once they showed up with the Avatar-but still, it was always better safe than sorry with Yakone.
“Good point,” he said. He glanced at the Avatar. “You and your pet do know how to hunt, right?”
Korra just crossed her arms.
“If that's a yes, you help us and we'll take you home to our village. Or you can just stay here, I guess.”
Tarrlok looked uncomfortable. “He doesn't mean it. Noatak, we're-”
Noatak jabbed him in the ribs.
“Fine,” said Korra.
“You can stay for dinner! And whatever else you need,” said Tarrlok, offering a tentative smile.
“Well-”
“You've got to be hungry.”
Naga roared, and Korra laughed, rubbing the beardog's side. “A little. We must have been in there awhile.”
After another brief argument, Korra climbed onto Naga's back, and tossed up both brothers behind her. Noatak, rubbing his arm, was almost certain they'd have bruises. She was strong, anyway.
Rather to his surprise, Naga made no attempt to dislodge him or Tarrlok. Usually animals didn't like them. He decided to return the favour by subtly helping her along, keeping her massive quantities of blood pumping just fast enough to keep her alert. It took enough of his concentration that he left the water bubble entirely to his brother. Tarrlok could use the distraction, anyway-Noatak could tell that he was terrified of the beardog, though desperately trying not to show it.
“I could have done that, you know,” Korra pointed out. “I know how.”
“It's okay,” said Tarrlok tightly. Noatak kept a firm grip on his anorak, just in case.
Korra glanced over her shoulder and grinned down at Tarrlok, ignoring Noatak altogether. “Well, you're a really good waterbender. Maybe you could teach me that ice thing?”
“Thanks,” said Tarrlok, flushing. Naga sniffed at the edges of the bubble with considerable suspicion. “But Noatak's the prodigy, not me. You'd be better off with him.”
Korra wrinkled her nose, and Noatak pretended not to notice.
“Which one of you just sliced up the cliff?” she asked.
“Well-”
“Tarrlok's good enough, he's just stupid sometimes,” Noatak said, jabbing his brother in the back. “Like now.”
“Ow!”
Korra gave a surprised laugh. “Well, you both seem all right to me.”
It sounded like a peace offering. Tarrlok looked back at him.
“See, Tarrlok? Even the Avatar agrees with me,” said Noatak. “Okay, I think this is far enough. Can you pull up here, Korra?”
“Sure.”
The polar beardog surfaced and Tarrlok lowered his hands. Sure enough, the land wasn't much higher than the sea, here. Naga scrambled out of the water so fast that Tarrlok and Noatak both hung on to Korra for dear life, then gladly jumped off after her. Naga threw herself on the ground, nosing the snow and making what Noatak could only assume were blissful noises.
Korra laughed again. “It's been awhile since we saw land. So, what are we looking for? I've never hunted around here before. And where is here, anyway? Please tell me it's some part of the Northern Water Tribe.”
Noatak and Tarrlok exchanged bewildered glances.
“Well, yes,” said Noatak. “We're from the Northern Water Tribe. And we'd like tigerseals, if we could get them. That's why we came this far south.”
“This far south?” Korra looked thrilled. “Wow. This is great. I've been looking for this place for ages. I thought there'd be more buildings, but-that's okay. As long as there are waterbenders. And obviously there are.” She waved at them.
“If you mean the city, it's pretty far east of our village,” said Noatak. “But there are waterbenders everywhere.”
“Good enough,” Korra said, prodding at Naga. “In fact, you've got to have a teacher, don't you? I bet he could finish my training and then I can master the other three elements and defeat Fire Lord Sozin!”
Tarrlok choked.
Reply
Leave a comment