Blinded, she fell. Not in control like she expected, but whatever her fall was, it was quick, short, and oddly enough into sea water. It was hard to forget the salty taste, even after a rough landing.

Not that it was much comfort as she felt the waves crashing against her and found herself shoved against the sea floor before the water receded. She took the chance to gasp for air… and the moment she finished inhaling another wave crashed into her. The wave knocked her further inland.

When it finally stopped after countless crashes, she was lying on her back, cold, sore, and barely able to see the night sky above her as she groaned.

She was a muscular young woman, dusky skinned and black haired, though the hair was a tangled mess after what she had gone through. Her blue tinted clothes were torn, and she found herself wishing she had her parka.

So she used the next best thing, instinctively, a short puff of flame shooting out of her mouth as she regained control of her muscles. Well, that's something, she thought as she could feel the warmth catching up to her and eventually pushed herself up to a sitting position and looked around.

She was on a beach – that much she had figured out when she washed ashore – but the cliffs were not the familiar ice walls from home or even the public beaches at Republic City, but seemingly untamed despite the heavily fortified castle town and port in the distance. Though, the architecture was strange and alien to her.

"Well," she muttered to herself, "what have you gotten yourself into now, Korra?"

There was no answer. Korra didn't expect one either being alone on the beach. She reached around, seeing what she had with her and quickly found that all she had was her clothes. Nothing else.

"Could be worse," she muttered as she lay there in the cold, wet sand. Her body ached from exhaustion, but she knew she had to find shelter. No matter how much she just wanted to fall asleep here, she didn't know how long she had until high tide happened. And even ignoring the tides washing over her, it was cold and she was exposed to the elements.

So she pushed herself up to her feet against the protests of her weary body and made her way towards the settlement in the distance. The moon began to shine from behind the clouds, almost full.

Cold as it was and with how much her body ached from the wear and tear she had taken, there was something reassuring - and not just the moonlight. She was alive, and hopefully that meant her friends were too. Though, she had to wonder what they would be thinking. The last they saw her, she was supposed to be restoring the whole Avatar cycle with Raava as Harmonic Convergence came to an end. Now she had no idea where she even was.

The path up to the city was simple, at least once she found a dirt road. It was not well traveled, though she suspected it was a side trail while the main beach access was the port itself. The main road was not much better, however, just with stone markers along the sides and tracks grooved into the dirt from constant use.

She finally reached the town after an hour of slow walking, and had to stop as she realized just how primitive it was. There was light… from torches. The gate was an iron portcullis. And even weirder was the style – straight wood with some roofs topped with thatch, others with what looked like layers of dark hides to her. None of the patterns were familiar, though. And then there were the banners – she couldn't make out the colors, just that they were a dark red. Something was barking, though she couldn't identify what it was as she approached the gate and a guard looked at her.

The guard was wearing chain mail with red cloth over it, a shield strapped to his back and a sword holstered on his side. He looked up at her, his hair mostly hidden by the flat topped helmet he wore.

"Late traveler eh?" he said as he gestured inside. "Better come on in; going to be cold. Nearest tavern's a half block in to the left."

"Where… where am I?" she asked.

"Oh, here?" he asked, tilting his head at her. "Welcome to Praven, traveler. 'fraid I'm not allowed to answer questions, though, you'd have to find my sergeant." He tilted his head as he seemed to notice her clothes. "Foreigner, huh? Haven't seen that garb before. Eh, better head inside." The guard shrugged and just pointed inside again.

"Right," she said as she stumbled towards the city. It was late at night and no one was in the streets. She stumbled towards the direction she assumed the guard had been talking about. Not that she thought a tavern would help – she had no money on her. Unless she could find answers there.

A sharp noise caught her attention as she turned down a dark alley. She knew it all too well from the back alleys of Republic City. Someone was dumb enough to draw a knife on her.

"Who's there?" she demanded as she assumed a basic firebending stance.

She received no answer, however, and instead a mugger wearing ragged clothes leapt out of the shadows with a long knife. Korra sprang to the side immediately despite her tired body screaming against the pain and the mugger missed her. Adrenaline and experience with pain took over, however, and she faced her attacker.

"Bad idea," she said as she brought her hand back and shot her first forward – not to punch him… and there was only a small whiff of flame. "Huh?" she asked in surprise.

"All out of fire, eh?" the mugger said as he came at her again. She reacted, stomping her foot on the ground to try and kick up a piece of the earth below but all she could do was lift a pebble briefly.

"Come on!" Korra muttered angrily as she went through a whole set of moves, just lifting the pebble a bit higher and launching it at the mugger at a pitiful speed.

"Okay, first time I've seen two in one," the mugger admitted as it bounced off his shoulder with a faint clink, "but still, hilariously weak."

He swung at her again and she rolled to the side, trying to use airbending to boost up but all she could do was do a short jump and create a faint draft in a normally impossible direction.

"Fire, dirt, and air? What are you?"

She glanced at a nearby puddle as she landed and the mugger was closing in on her and quickly tried to waterbend it into his face. All she did was lightly splash him and felt something cold and sharp cutting across her right thigh.

"All four, seriously?" he asked as she collapsed to the ground from the surprise before he tackled her and held the knife over her throat. "Well then, this'll be a memorable mark."

She didn't give him the chance to plant it in her throat, reaching up for his knife hand and forced it to the side before he could shove it down. The blade stuck into the ground just to the left of her head and she immediately followed it up by head butting him. The mugger staggered back in surprise before Korra knocked him off and rolled up, entering an unarmed fighting stance as the mugger came at her again.

This time she skipped bending entirely and went right for just avoiding the first swing and using the momentum that the mugger had poorly put into his attack to shove him into the wall behind her head first. He hit the wall with a thud, groaned, and slid down. He was unconscious.

And as the adrenaline ebbed from her body, her limit well and truly reached, Korra collapsed to her knees and her hands hit the dirt before she fell face first into the ground, head quickly turning as she settled. The only reassuring part was that it wasn't mud.

She heard footsteps rushing over and felt a hand run against her shoulders briefly before whoever it was stood where she could see his sandaled feet.

"It's good that I found you," the person said and Korra's eyes shot wide as she looked up as much as she could, seeing the brown robe the man was wearing.

The face, however, caused her to stare. "Iroh?" she asked raspily.

"Welcome to Calradia, Avatar Korra."

XXXXXXX

"So," Korra finally asked Iroh as he put a tea kettle on over the fireplace. She had cleaned up and Iroh had given her some warm food to eat in the hour since he had found her. "Do you know what's going on? You've been dodging that problem."

He nodded slowly. "Harmonic Convergence. The final merging between you and Raava did not go as expected."

"What do you mean?" Korra asked as she felt a pit forming in her stomach.

"When the two of you merged, something happened. The boundary between worlds was… weakened. Then strengthened. Like a wall torn down, then rebuilt."

"So… I can't go home again?"

"Home is what you choose it to be," Iroh said as he rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "However, the effects of Harmonic Convergence are difficult to know. The Spirit World is in turmoil now, a hive of confused bees whose nest was suddenly changed. I offered to deal with some minor troubles, hoping to ease some of that turmoil."

"Wait a second," Korra said as she blinked. "Me being cast into a whole new world is minor?"

Iroh shrugged idly, as if he didn't understand why either.

She still sighed in exasperation, shaking her head as the reality caught up. "So, I'm stuck here."

"For now, though you may be able to do much good here. This is a world which sorely needs an Avatar."

"What do you mean, do they have problems with the balance between spirits and the material too?"

"No," he said as he reached under the table and pulled out a map of the local political boundaries. The tea kettle began to whistle as the water boiled and Iroh turned, taking the kettle off of the fire and pouring two cups. "Here, it is not jasmine tea, but a good drink does much."

"I don't suppose it'll help my bending?" Korra asked. "I mean, it's not gone, but it feels…"

"Weakened," he answered as he passed her a cup. "Strength comes in many forms, some only truly appreciated when they are the only ones available."

"So, my bending's been reduced to almost nothing?"

"No, but it was weakened during Harmonic Convergence. It will heal, as a muscle given to atrophy heals with time and use, but for now… yes."

Korra nodded as she took a sip from her cup. The tea was rather strong for her taste, but it was still good. "So. Calradia... looks divided."

"It is," Iroh said as he looked down at the map and pointed to the central nation, colored in orange. "This nation, which you are in now, is called Swadia. They are a proud people, their knights feared as the ultimate cavalry in the realm, and they are well known for their ambitions to expand their borders like wildfire."

He pointed to the south, in green. "The Rhodoks are strong and resilient. These mountain and hill men might not be the most sophisticated, but they are stubborn and unyielding, and proud of their achievements. Few can move them if they do not wish to be moved."

To the east of them and the southeast of Swadia, in yellow. "The Sarranids are swift but strong, much like the Sandbenders of the Si Wong Desert. They believe in their own survivability, having endured the harsh desert sands and grown strong in their adversity."

He pointed to the north of the desert and east of Swadia, which was in a dull pink. "The Khergits are born in the saddle, free willed and nomadic, though they have started to settle down too. But even as they do, they remain free souls, flowing like the wind across the steppes." He smirked, "They're also some of the only Calradians who really appreciate good tea."

Korra briefly rolled her eyes in amusement as Iroh took a sip from his cup before pointing back on the map. This time to the northwest of the Khergits and northeast of Swadia, a winter tundra colored in a faint grey. "The Vaegirs are unruly and disorganized, but they have a harmony of diversity. What they lack in regiment they make up for in variances of opinion."

And finally, he pointed to the direct north, which was back to the temperate climes that seemed to be the norm in the western half of the continent. "And lastly, the Nords. Fierce, fearless, and expert traders and seamen, they are direct and to the point, well at ease with travelers, staunchly loyal to their friends, and unrelenting to their foes."

Korra frowned. "I'm seeing some parallels here. The way you described some of them, I could of sworn you were talking about the Earth Kingdom when you mentioned the Rhodoks."

Iroh chuckled. "Indeed, there are some similarities." His face hardened. "But these are not the balanced lands you came from, but a world at war. It comes on and off again, but these truces are often just lulls to rebuild and recover for the next battle. And while issues between nations sometimes sparked into conflict, save for the Hundred Years War they were rarely lengthy. Here, they displace villages even as small scuffles."

"And they haven't incurred the wrath of the local spirits?" she asked as she considered some stories she had heard.

"There are few, if any, here. I myself will only be here for a short while longer. I am mostly here to help you acclimate yourself. And perhaps some others…"

"Others?" Korra asked. "What do you mean?" She had to find out who else she may know was there – she was going to need friends in this place if it was bad as she thought it was.

"All good things are worth the wait, Avatar," Iroh said with a warm chuckle before drinking more of his tea. "But, you must be careful. This is a place where the Avatar is an unknown, though if you introduce yourself as a foreign peacekeeper they should understand the rough idea. Still, an unknown king carries no weight in foreign courts."

She snorted. "I hardly carried any weight back in Republic City, so that's not new." President Raiko's dismissal of her warnings immediately crept to mind.

"Perhaps, but you should not expect any aid purely because you are the Avatar."

Korra nodded slowly. Reasonable enough - this was a place that never had the idea. "And Raava?"

"Restored, but the two of you… are not able to connect. I believe the connection the two of you had still exists, but it's just not strong enough to bridge the gap between worlds."

Somehow, that was reassuring. She wasn't sure why though. Korra chalked it down to just being glad that Raava had survived after Vaatu was defeated. "What about other benders? As in, benders here, not anyone else who got dragged over."

"Bending is something that exists here in Calradia, though as a fairly rare phenomenon." Iroh gestured to the window. "It is a curiosity, not a skill of life for many. Calradians are young in their usage, discovering its wonders and dangers. They are capable of the same feats both of us know of, but they lack the millennia of accumulated knowledge that we both learned."

"I'm guessing it's not distributed like it used to be. I mean, no Fire Nation or anything like that."

"Calradia does indeed lack that, though there are some generalities. The Rhodoks have mostly earthbenders, and the Khergits mostly airbenders. The Sarranids tend towards earthbending as well, but mostly in the factor of sandbending style. The rest of the bending population is a mix, though firebending is predominant amongst the Swadian nobility. However, it is less common here."

Korra mulled over the information as she finished her tea. "You mentioned others? From home, that is."

Iroh nodded. "A friend is a great boon, more than food, more than weapons, even more than bending. One friend of yours is close and another is in need, but you will have time to meet both of them. However," he put his empty cup of tea down and stood. "Calradia is a dangerous land, and some beliefs here are what we consider to be archaic."

"Such as?" she asked as she stood and followed him into the next room.

"For one, they are rather… traditional, in their views on women."

Korra groaned. "Brilliant."

"Though like all things, this waxes and wanes. Some will care little for it, others will be quite insistent. Right now, however..." he opened a closet and Korra's eyes went wide.

Inside was a set of armor, a pattern she knew all too well. Southern Water Tribe battle armor. The wolf head gear used in the Hundred Years War and for some time after. Alongside it was a bow with a full quiver, a sheathed hunting knife, and a shield - all of Southern Water Tribe make. A water skin was also included to complete the set.

"What's this for?" she asked as she picked up the helmet and realized it was perfectly sized for her.

"Calradia is dangerous," he explained. "Your skills served you well in the past, but arrows care little for experience, duty, or honor."

Korra nodded. "And it helps sell the idea I'm a foreign peacekeeper, huh?"

"Somewhat. The bow is a tool, not unlike a hammer. Potent as a way of destroying, or a way of providing." He gave a slight smirk and she understood what he meant immediately.

Korra reached for the main piece of the armor and grabbed it, looking through it. It was sturdy but flexible, permitting her full movement while also protecting her. Wouldn't of helped against Vaatu, she thought as she put it back, but against thugs or arrows… definitely.

"I also have this," he said, handing her a small bag and she heard the jingling of coins. "Denars, the local currency. A hundred of them."

"Compared to a yuan, how much?"

"The value of money is misunderstood by many, but you might consider them similar."

"Fair enough. I'm guessing I am going to need some lodging at some point."

"Quite possibly," he said with a nod as he gestured towards a small rucksack that looked like it was meant to go onto a saddle. "This also has some rations – dried meats, bread, the usual."

"What's the meat?" she asked curiously as she walked over and opened the rucksack.

"Beef."

"From what, a boar-cow, ostrich-bull, what?"

"Just a normal cow."

Korra paused as she was rifling through the sack. "This is going to be one of those weird places, isn't it?"

Iroh chuckled. "From a certain point of view." He glanced outside. "However, if you want to find one of your friends, a local merchant's brother was kidnapped. Your friend is being held with him."

"Should I talk to the merchant?"

"In a way, you are. I seem to have… assumed his place." Iroh shrugged. "As I said, Harmonic Convergence has led to strange circumstance."

"He's okay, right?"

"He is. I believe that he thinks that he is offering you a job to find his brother. He'll probably want you to hire five people to back you up, but I believe your fighting skills are far more advanced than what he thinks."

"Yeah, finding five goons is a bit hard with only a hundred yu- er, denars," she said as she considered one of the stories Mako had told her about Triad pay for their thugs. A hundred would usually only be two or three goons doing one hit.

"You can rest here tonight. This is a lot to take in, and everyone needs to rest after an ordeal."

He's right about that, Korra thought as she considered how much she had gone through that day. "Thank you. For everything."

"No, thank you. For stopping Vaatu."

Korra smirked. "Well, I have to thank Tenzin and Jinora for that one, I think."

Iroh smiled. "There is still some more tea, if you'd like some," he said as he left the room.

"I think I'll just get some sleep," Korra answered as she sat down on the small cot, looking through the supplies given to her. She estimated that she had about a month's worth of food, if she only had to feed herself. Water was something she would have to refill on the way, but she believed that she had enough waterbending ability left to get it into the water skin easily.

There was more in the rucksack, miscellaneous items including the handheld telescope she had kept from the Equalist crisis, a needle and some thread of the same color as her cloths, and a few other small mementos like a badge with the Fire Ferrets' team logo or a white lotus tile, but there was a distinct lack of toiletries. One look around gave her a good idea why. Calradia likely never heard of things like toothbrushes, toilet paper, or other supplies. Well, no one said road life was easy, she thought as she closed the sack and turned to the rest of the gear she had been given.

The armor seemed to be the genuine deal, the same as her maternal grandfather's gear that was probably still in her parents' home. He was too young to fight in the Hundred Year War, a mere toddler at its end, but he had become a soldier in the revitalizing Southern Water Tribe and had his share of battles with pirates. This armor, however, was new, not scarred like his had been.

Either way, it was a touch she appreciated. A connection to home.

She pulled out the bow next. She had been shown how to use one as it was a common hunting tool in the Southern Water Tribe, but she never practiced archery extensively. It had just seemed redundant to her with bending available. She strung it, aiming at the wall without an arrow notched, drew the string back and released it.

"Ow!" she muttered as the string slapped against her wrist. The wool cuff she wore had protected it, but not nearly as well as a proper armguard. She rolled her eyes. First thing about using a bow she forgot was basic safety? Somehow that seemed fitting as she unstrung the bow and put it back.

The shield was well balanced, she found as she swung a few punches to get a feel for having a shield around her arm. That general weapons overview is paying off, she thought with a smirk as she thought back to her weapons training that had started while she waited for her firebending instructors. But given it was only a broad overview, she had no doubts that she would be nearly useless in a proper shield wall from the Hundred Years War or before. Her main contribution would have been her bending.

After making sure everything was put away properly, she sat back down in the cot and glanced at her thigh, where the mugger had sliced her. She had tended to it earlier and it was bandaged, but she had a feeling that healing it via waterbending was not an option yet. Oh well, she thought as she laid back in the cot and drifted to sleep.

XXXX

"So, who's this 'other friend' you wanted me to meet?" Korra asked the next morning as Iroh lead her outside the city.

She had put her hair back up – there was a few changes of clothes for her in the closet as well, including her parka, all repaired – but she had put the armor on at Iroh's recommendation save for the helmet, which she held under her arm.

"A friend you've known since you were a child," Iroh answered as they rounded the bend and a large, white animal rushed towards her.

"Hey, easy!" Korra shouted as she found herself forced to the ground and being subjected to repeated licking of the face, the helmet rolling to the side as it fell out of her hand. The giant polar bear dog finally stopped as Korra gently pushed the animal back by the nose.

"Good to see you too, Naga," she said as she picked herself up.

"I can do little more to help you," Iroh said as he looked back to the city before pulling something from his sleeves. "However, I have one more gift, consider it a thank you for what you've done. A special map and pen. The pen can erase as well, so you can adjust the map as you need to mark things."

"Wow," Korra said as she looked at it. It even had the looters that had been mentioned on it. "So, I'm on my own from here?"

"You are, but I think you will find a role here." Iroh said as he pointed towards the city. "This land is torn asunder, and it desperately needs help. The bandits and looters who hold your friend and the merchant's brother hostage are a symptom. The kings of this land look to each other, fighting over petty disputes, and their lords sometimes take their problems to the field as well."

"And let me guess – bandits roam free in the meantime?"

Iroh nodded. "Finally, be careful. No man or woman is immortal, and everything comes to an end. Even the most resilient of us can find death if we are not wise in choosing our battles."

She nodded slowly. "I understand. Anything else?"

"Only that it was an honor to be of help. Perhaps you will be able to visit sometime?"

Korra chuckled. "I definitely will, if I can still connect to the Spirit World here."

Iroh smiled. "It would be good to have visitors again. Perhaps acting their age?" He smirked and Korra rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly as she remembered that.

"Yeah, hopefully…"

Iroh bowed slightly, then walked out of sight.

Korra looked to Naga and smiled. "Well girl, time to explore a new world."

XXXXX

Author's Notes:

- Welcome to Calradia, Legend of Korra fans. I'll admit, the last season heavily inspired this idea. Now, why explore it in Calradia rather than the native setting? Simple: Calradia lent itself far better to what I want to do, and Harmonic Convergence was the perfect way to put Korra and allies there. Sure, the spirit portal with Kuvira would work, but I didn't want to only have Kuvira as another native for Korra to interact with, I wanted something broader and with more room to select who to bring in. Allies and enemies alike.

- However, this will predominantly be Calradian in setting. Things from Avatar will proliferate, but Korra won't be taking an army of screaming Nord Huscarls, charging Swadian Knights, and sniping Rhodok Sharpshooters to Republic City or anything like that. That said, expect Calradia to evolve as a result of these changes - after all, I need to keep Team Avatar from being overpowering.

- In regards to that, this is pretty much my main motivation for wrecking Korra's bending when she landed in Calradia. So she's not going to overpower the more-or-less original setting with her power since she IS at an army wrecking level, especially as pure outside context. That said, while I gave Calradia bending, it's hilariously weak due primarily to lack of institutional experience. They're not stupid, they just don't have the ten thousand years of tradition that Korra, Mako, and Bolin grew up with that lets kids on the street become potent benders in their own right. By making Korra build back up, at least Calradia has a chance to learn about it.

- Iroh's appearance, in all honesty, is that of an author's tool. A method of dealing with most issues of the insertion and explaining things to characters so we avoid chapters of not having any clue as to what is going on. Plus, he seemed like the guy who would handle it as someone humans are quite familiar with as a historical persona. And hey, more Iroh is always good. :D

- Speaking of that, the map is basically the same thing. A spirit did it, that's all I've got to say.