They met with their fists raised against one another. Behind one, stood compassion and forgiveness; behind the other, solitude and anger.

The Blue Spirit hid his anguish behind a large, white smile while the Painted Lady covered her kindness in red war paint. Neither wanted the other to know their truth.

He was ferocious and she, tenacious. Their fists clashed like a waterfall against rigid rocks. A thousand times they fought each other, and a thousand more, side by side.

A mother lost to an angry nation, and a father taken away by war, the Painted Lady and the Blue Spirit both endured hardship. Setting aside their differences, the two united and the war finally simmered.

But she had obligations to a hero, and he didn't know how to be one.

Soon, the Blue Spirit had to take a bride, and when he went to ask the Painted Lady for her hand, she was already engaged to another.

He married a royal, and her, a hero, but when the moon was full in the sky, the Painted Lady snuck away in the night, shrouded in the paint of a forgotten war, and the Blue Spirit was always waiting for her, his smiling mask in place.

For years they rendezvoused in secret, their respective spouses none the wiser. The Blue spirit asked her every time, if she regretted her decision to marry another, but the Painted Lady never answered.

One day, the Blue Spirit's wife grew sick, and he begged the Painted Lady to heal her. Although she tried her hardest, she could not save the noble woman.

All alone, the Blue Spirit asked the Painted Lady to stay with him, but she could not leave her husband.

When she went to see him again at the next full moon, he wasn't there.

She went back, every full moon, waiting for him, but he never came.

They say she stills waits for him, whenever the moon is high, praying that someday he might change his mind, that he might be there again.

"That's a terrible story," Korra chirped, rustling in her covers. The young Avatar had already been put to bed, but refused to settle. Her mother smiled down at her and stroked her forehead.

"It is sad, but it's time for bed now."

"Why?"

"Because I said so."

"Okay, but will you sing me the song? Please?"

"Alright, but then bed. You begin training with Master Katara tomorrow and you don't want to be too tired."

"Alriiiiiight."

Two lovers, forbidden from one another

A war divides their people

And the world divides them apart

Donned a mask to be together

Whether they should

Or not