Disclaimer: I do not own Legend of Korra.

"I never want to see that psycho of a queen ever again." Asami shudders at the memory and tries to shake off the past few hours of her life, that was ruined by Her Majesty herself. "Ever."

The queen was completely, utterly insane. As well as disgusting, irritating, unhygienic, and if Asami were in charge, the list of what was wrong with Her Royal Highness would drag on and on. It was barely an exaggeration either. Earth Queen Hou-Ting had made it practically impossible for anyone not to lose their minds after just moments in her presence.

The brothers also had had enough of the Queen. Mako had expected to their visit to be short and smooth-sailing. After all, all they needed were a few papers and they could have been on their way. Of course, it wasn't quite so simple.

The queen was acting all looney, talking non-stop, to no one in particular. The trio could barely squeeze in the time to tell her who they were in between the short breaths after every sentence, much less get her to hand them what they wanted.

"Listen, you piece of trash! You better shut-" Asami shouted directly in the aged lady, anger spinning way out of control. The brothers didn't blame her, they were doing everything they could not to attack the wrinkled woman themselves.

Earth Queen Hou-Ting was absolutely oblivious to the frustrated teens and was, fortunately, unable to hear the rude, furious rants from the heiress. Carrying on with her obnoxious dances and shouts to the skies, Team Avatar knew it was hopeless.

"It's as if she's on cactus juice." Mako slid his palm down his face,mumbling under his breath, irritated. He couldn't help but continue glaring at the lunatic who was currently holding a conversation with the beige ceiling. He turns his attention to a mess of cups in a corner of the room for the first time. "Oh you've got to be kidding me!"

They didn't need to be told to leave when they finally got a hold of the signed papers from a helpful servant, and dashed out the door in a hurry. A few more seconds with the horrid woman, supposedly of the royal family, Mako would have set the grand palace on fire.

"Thank Agni that's all over," Bolin lets out a humongous sigh of relief. Asami hops on the sky bison parked outside the palace gates. "Come on we have to go. We just wasted 4 hours in there."

The other two followed suit, and Wen Wen started to fly into the clouds. Their search was about to begin.

Korra trained in secret. After work, she would head to a bare plot of land. It was the perfect spot to practise her bending without anyone asking questions. As far as she knew, earth benders didn't have blue eyes or tan skin. If she was ever discovered, she would be held for questioning and experiments. She, of course, couldn't afford that; she had three people to provide for. There was a huge weight on her shoulders (though less of a burden than being the avatar, it was a burden all the same). Isolated, with nearly nobody who passes by, was her own private training ground.

After a few days of testing the limits of her newfound bending, she came to the conclusion that she was pretty good at it. The movements seemed to come to her naturally, and she was able to control the element with ease. Even in a short period of time, she had learnt to summon many earth pillars from the ground at once, and clearing them with nothing more than a simple swipe of her foot. She knew the skill was generally difficult, always surrounded by countless of earth benders, yet she couldn't help but execute the technique perfectly, without a flaw. Her gut feeling was telling her of her potential to be a great Master. Already being one, though, completely slipped her mind.

Today, however, was the day she got caught in the act. Tossing around ginormous chucks of rocks like they were pebbles, Korra was making a whole lot of noise. It would have been odd for anyone not to check out what the ruckus was about.

A teenager was amazed by the obviously impressive earthbending visible from a distance, and decided he was going to confront this prodigy.

"Hey-" Korra immediately jumped at the voice of the stranger, instinctively bending a boulder over his head and threatening to crush him, all in one swift motion. Shocked at how things turned so quickly, he threw his arms up in the air in surrender. "Woah, no need for that!"

Korra took a good look at him. She had recognised him from her trips to the market. Tall, dark hair, and more handsome than she'd admit to herself. The butcher's son, she realises, proceeding to release the chunk of earth towards the right.

"Thanks." The boy dusts of his shirt before he continues. "You are an incredible earthbender, I must say. I'm Katsuo."

She shakes his extended hand and simply replies, "Xuan. And thank you."

"Xuan? Aren't you Old Man Shen's adoptive daughter? From the Water-" Katsuo stops mid-sentence. "How is it that you can earth bend?" He raises an eyebrow questionably, suspicious. "And why are you out here alone? Practising? Are you hiding something? What about-"

The blue-eyed beauty stops the overflow of questions by admitting defeat. "Sh! Fine! I'll tell you." Her explanation was detailed, and included how she herself didn't know the reason behind her miraculous ability of earthbending despite being of Water Tribe roots.

"Please, don't tell anyone," She pleaded with the green-eyed teenager.

"Don't worry, I won't." He pauses shortly before quickly adding, "but only on one condition."

The ex-Avatar had a feeling that was the case. It was rarely different, and she had gotten way too used to it. "Alright, what is it?"

Katsuo flashes a smile, "You'll have to accompany me to this year's Harvest Festival next week." The edge of Korra's lip raises just a tiny bit.

"I would love to."

After a day of fun and laughter at the festival, Katsuo and Korra became really close, spending most of their time together. They would chat, exchange some earthbending tips at times, and just hang out.

'Xuan' was just starting to fall for the sweet, funny, witty and absolutely down-to-earth 19 year old when he kissed her. And that was what started their relationship. Her parents were ecstatic for Korra, knowing what a great and caring guy he was to their 'little girl'.

And as for her secret, he kept every last word. Never even uttering it in his sleep. Having a guy like Katsuo as a boyfriend was a blessing from Yue herself, and Korra couldn't remember the last time she was so happy.

But then again, there was a lot that she couldn't remember.

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Sorry this was a little late (although it's technically still January like I promised), but not only did I lose the original chapter I typed, school homework is piling up (you guys are probably sick of this excuse from everyone else too) and competition season starts in 2 days which means 3 hours of training every stinking day after school.

Also I decided to split the idea for this chapter I had into 2 separate chapters, so this one is slightly shorter than normal.

Ps. What do you think of Katsuo?

Thanks for reading!