Skyrim: Korra Alone

Chapter One

Korra awoke slowly, bright blue eyes blinking to try and expel the blurriness that prevented her from seeing much. After a couple of seconds her vision cleared somewhat, enough to gauge that she was lying down on a hard rock floor. It was dark, she could only see a couple of sources of dim light a short distance away, but she could certainly see well enough to recognize the tell-tale pattern of the bars that segmented the light.

She tried to move her arms but found that they were bound tightly behind her, along with her feet. To make matters even worse, she was finally able to taste the dry, thick cloth of a gag that filled her mouth.

Her vision had fully returned now. Korra's eyes darted around the room, trying to take in every detail. She was in the center of a good-sized wooden cage, one of two in a relatively cramped stone space. The walls looked damp and uneven; it was possible that she was underground, in some sort of cave perhaps? Two wall mounted torches were the only items illuminating the darkness, casting long shadows of the items throughout the room.

Korra looked to her right and saw a woman hunched over a wooden table not far from the cages. A collection of cloth pouches were scattered along the table, from which the woman was withdrawing and sorting some round golden pieces, possibly coins. Korra noticed the colorful gleam of a few gems mixed in with the dim golden shine as well. The woman was dressed in a motley set of rough metal armor, leather straps tightening and fastening the otherwise too-large set. She immediately noticed the shape of a scabbard hanging off of her left hip. Her shoulder length black hair was tied off in a rough ponytail that had managed to tuck itself into the armor below the neck. Was she the one who had put her in this cage and restrained her?

She tried to flex her hands again, and found to her relief that her bonds were not metal, but cloth. She would have been in trouble if they were metal, because she would have needed to be able to move to metalbend those off. But with cloth, all she needed to do was summon a hot jet of flame in her palms, then angle them upwards towards the binds…

Out of the darkness on the right a figure silently appeared with what seemed to be a bow drawn straight at the woman hunched over the table, arrow locked into place and ready to fire. Korra halted her firebending and looked at the new arrival, a nearby torch illuminating the figure's front.

Judging by the flat, broad-chested, and strong-shouldered shape of the figure's upper torso, Korra assumed that it was a man. Unlike the metal-armored woman counting her coins, this man was dressed in what appeared to be brown and black leather. The chest piece was covered by a weave of small, interlocking metal rings, and a black hood darkened the man's face to the point where Korra couldn't make out any details other than a dark-colored beard.

The woman must have noticed a change in the lighting as she started to reach for the hilt of her sword but was stopped dead in her tracks by the voice of the man.

"Draw that sword and you get an arrow in the back of your neck," he growled, voice low and threatening. The woman stayed her hand, and the man said, "Now turn around, slowly."

The woman turned around and Korra was able to get a good look at her taut, dirt covered face, lips parted in a scowl.

The man flicked his bow in the direction of the second cage, and said "The blacksmith, is she alive?"

Korra looked at the second cage and for the first time noticed that there was another figure there, laying facedown in the corner and restrained much like she was. She was wearing a long dress, and in the meager light Korra was able to tell that her face was darker colored – just like hers. However, she wasn't moving.

"Yeah she's alive, just unconscious. Collecting a ransom wouldn't really work otherwise," she said, the distaste dripping off of her words.

The man tilted his head in Korra's direction, face still shrouded by his hood. "And the girl? Where'd you find her?"

"She was passed out in the leaves just outside our cave. Looks Imperial, hoped she might be some wealthy merchant's daughter."

"Do you have the key to their cells?" asked the man.

The woman nodded, reached into a pocket and withdrawing a small key.

"Toss it over here and I'll let you get out of here alive," commanded the man.

The woman threw the key to the man, who didn't make an effort to pick it up. Instead he lowered his bow and called over his shoulder, "Ulfberth!"

From out of the shadows behind the hooded man came another very large, and judging by his facial expression, very angry man. He was wearing just a plain metal chestplate that bared his massive arms, was sporting an impressive beard, and wielded a menacing looking two-handed hammer. He let out a fierce battle-cry and charged towards the woman, hammer raised.

"Nonono wait!" she managed to stammer out before the metal head of the man's hammer reduced her head to pulp.

Korra recoiled in absolute horror. She wasn't exactly a stranger to the death, she had seen P'Li's demise and more or less took the life of Unalaq herself, but this? To see that woman so… brutally killed… Korra couldn't even bear to look towards the body, just seeing the blood trails trickle down the rock floor was enough.

The great-bearded man returned his hammer to his back and walked over to the cage containing the other woman. The hooded man returned his own bow to his back and bent down to pick up the key before walking over to the second cage. He fiddled around with the lock and the cage door swung open, rusty hinges squeaking all the way.

"The Guard has a cart waiting at the cave entrance to take you and Adrianne back to Whiterun, Ulfberth," said the hooded man.

'Ulfberth' held out his arm towards the hooded man, who took it in a firm forearm grasp. "Adrianne and I owe you a great debt Aerethorn."

"You owe me nothing Ulfberth," said the hooded man, Aerethorn. "Now go, tend to your wife."

Ulfberth ducked into the cage and withdrew a small dagger, cutting off the woman's bindings. He then picked her up very gently into his muscular arms and nodded at Aerethorn before walking out of sight.

Aerethorn sighed, looking around the room before his gaze settled on Korra. He moved to her cage and fitted the key in, which unlocked the simple mechanism and allowed him to swing the wooden front open. He reached to the right hip and withdrew a small blade, moving towards Korra.

She tried to wiggle away from Aerethorn, which caused the man to stop his advance towards Korra. He held up his hands in a gesture of peace and said, "Relax. I'm not going to hurt you, just get your bindings off. Before walking forwards again he slid the hood off of his head, revealing a light-colored face framed by shoulder-length black hair. It was hard to tell in the dim lighting conditions, but it looked to Korra like he had grey colored eyes, and there was a small scar running along his defined jawline.

Korra could feel the coldness of Aerethorn's blade as it pressed against her wrists, and felt the sawing motion as the sharp edge cut through. He did the same thing to the cloth binding her feet, and as he backed away Korra reached up and undid her gag.

"What's your name?" asked Aerethorn, who had moved towards the wooden table and placed a small pack down on it. As he started to transfer the coins, gems, and various pouches into his pack Korra saw a much larger sword than the one the now dead woman had slung over his shoulder in a simple scabbard, right next to a wooden bow. A quiver of arrows was hanging in the small of his back, with the dagger that he had used to cut her free hanging at his right hip.

"Korra," she said, stepping out of her cell and grimacing as she accidentally glanced at the dead woman's body.

"Where are you from Korra?" asked Aerethorn.

Not wanting to give up that much information she avoided the question, instead asking, "Where am I?"

Aerethorn looked over his shoulder, aware of Korra's redirection. "A bandit hideout about an hour's travel from Whiterun." He went back to taking the coins, then said "The leader told me that they found you unconscious out in the woods. Do you remember how you got there? Drank too much? Got attacked by a deer?"

Korra reached back to the last thing she remembered…

… Kuvira's out-of-control super weapon had centered right on her... Without thinking Korra rushed in to get between the beam and Kuvira and reached out her arms… As she entered the Avatar state she felt the energy from the spirit weapon flood into her body like water from a burst dam. Pure, unadulterated, unfiltered energy, the likes of which Korra had never experienced before. She tried to channel it, redirect its power in some way that wouldn't destroy her… Suddenly, all breath left her lungs, her hearing reverted to a deafening whine… and her vision went entirely white…

That's the last thing she could remember. Did the energy of the spirit blast force her unconscious? She was in a dense spirit forest when she intercepted the beam, that could have explained how she was found in the wilderness, but that still left a lot to explain. Who had felt the need to bind her and lock her up in such a way? In such an ineffective way as well, it would have only taken a couple of minutes to burn through the bindings and the wooden bars with her firebending.

Whiterun? Where was that, somewhere in the Earth Kingdom that she hadn't been to? It was the largest nation after all… And who were these people? Ulfberth? Adrianne? Aerethorn? Such strange names… Where were her friends? If she was still in Republic City they should have found her by now, Asami, Mako, Bolin, Tenzin, somebody. She distrusted that the man acted like he hadn't heard of her, it was almost universal knowledge that she was the Avatar.

"No, I don't remember passing out," said Korra.

"Well, alright then," said Aerethorn, having taken the last of the gold and re-shouldered his pack. "Do you have a home? A family? Somewhere I can take you? You look Imperial to me, there must be some reason you're in Skyrim."

"Skyrim?" said Korra, the word unfamiliar in her mouth. "No, I need to get back to Republic City. They'll be looking for me."

Aerethorn's dark brows furrowed, confused. "I'm not familiar with a Republic City, you must be referring to a city in another province. Is that a new name for Cyrodiil, or perhaps another one in the Imperial province?

"No no," said Korra, not believing that the man had never heard of it. "Republic City, one of the largest cities in the world?"

Aerethorn just shook his head, "The name is still not familiar to me. If it truly was one of the largest cities in Tamriel I doubt that would be the case."

Korra was getting somewhat frustrated at this point. "You keep throwing around these words, Imperial, See-ro-dil, Tamriel, stop! Just tell me where I am, now!"

"Like I said, a bandit hideout in the hold of Whiterun, part of the region of Skyrim, a province of Empire of Tamriel."

"Enough with the games!" shouted Korra, raising her hands in the direction of the man. "Stop lying to me, or else!"

"I could not be telling more of the truth!" exclaimed Aerethorn, exasperated.

Korra nearly screamed in frustration, the stress, unfamiliarity, and confusion of the situation clouding her mind. Angry orange flames jetted out of her tightly-clamped fists and she said through clenched teeth, "I'm going to ask you one… last… time. Where. Am. I?"

"The answer is the same," said Aerethorn, widening his stance and moving his hand closer to the hilt of his sheathed dagger.

She had enough, and Korra started to rush towards Aerethorn, flame daggers leading the charge.

"CALM YOURSELF!" he shouted, and Korra stopped dead in her tracks. His voice, the command was so powerful, so forceful that it shook the walls and floor of the cave around them. Korra could describe it like being hit in the chest by a rock and having all the air forced out from her lungs. She extinguished her flames and fell down to a knee, trying to catch her breath.

"You are scared, alone, and in clearly uncomfortable in your current location. You don't remember how you got here, and you don't know me or any other person you've seen. The places you speak of are unfamiliar to me, and the ones I speak of are unfamiliar to you. Does all of this accurately describe our current situation?" asked Aerethorn.

Korra simply nodded, still breathing heavily.

"I am not your enemy Korra," he said, using her name for the first time. "I want to help you. I want to help get you back to your Republic City, but in order to do that I need you to put some faith in me. Can you do that?" Aerethorn walked over to Korra and offered her a hand, which after a second of deliberation Korra took to help her up.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

"Yeah, just…

"Frustrated?" asked Aerethorn, to which Korra nodded. "I understand," he said. "In fact, just recently I was in a position very similar to yours. Come, let us get out of this dreadful cave."

Aerethorn took one last look at the body of the bandit leader, then turned back towards the exit of the cave. He took a torch from its scone on the wall and motioned for Korra to follow him.

The pair started to make their way along the path back towards the entrance of the cave, passing by a number of dead men and women on the way. Korra didn't want to look, but it wasn't exactly hard to notice the telltale shafts of arrows sticking out from various points in their bodies. She made the connection easily enough, as the other man, 'Ulfberth' or whatever, wasn't carrying a bow.

"Did you… kill these people?" Korra asked.

"Yes," Aerethorn responded. "They were all bandits as well, the same ones who imprisoned you and Adrianne."

"Adrianne, she was the woman in the other cage. Who was she?" said Korra.

"She a blacksmith in Whiterun, the central city of Whiterun Hold. The man that was with me, Ulfberth, he's her husband," answered Aerethorn.

"The woman said they found me in the forest, do you know how they captured her?" asked Korra, curious.

Aerethorn paused for a couple of seconds before answering, "There was… an attack on a watchtower just outside of the city. While most of the guard force was away these bandits snuck into the city and attacked her at her forge. Ulfberth told me that he was at the outer city gate, watching the fight at the watchtower, which was why he wasn't there to protect her."

They passed through a small rock passageway into a larger room, with another opening which radiated white, natural light rather than the soft reds and oranges of the torches or lanterns scattered about the cave.

They stepped out of the caves into the outside world, and Korra lifted up an arm to shield herself from the bright light.

"My Thane, you're back," said a woman's voice that Korra didn't recognize.

She looked in the direction of the voice, eyes now adjusted to the increased brightness, and saw a woman about as tall as Aerethorn dressed in lighter colored metal armor with fur padding underneath. She wore a wood-and-metal shield on one arm, and held a one-handed metal sword pointed downwards to the ground in the other. Korra could see the tip of a wooden bow peeking out from behind her shoulder as well, along with the feathered ends of a group of arrows that was probably in a back-mounted quiver.

"Korra, this is my Housecarl Lydia. Lydia, Korra," introduced Aerethorn.

The two woman nodded at each other, and Korra saw that she had the same fair-skinned complexion that Aerethorn had. Her hair was roughly the same length as Aerethorn's as well, yet it was dark brown with a braided segment near the left side of her forehead. She had full lips and dark brown eyes, and Korra could see through the lack of armor or sleeves that she had some significant arm muscles.

"Where to now my Thane?" asked Lydia.

"Back to Breezehome," he said. "Korra here seems to be a long way from home, so we're going to try and find out how we can help her. Lydia, you know the way back, stay with Korra and try to answer any questions she has. I'll scout the path ahead, those bandits in the cave may not have been the only ones around here."

Aerethorn pulled his hood over his head and drew his bow, setting out along the lightly traveled flattened grass path through the forest until the foliage had totally obscured him.

Korra had to admit, wherever she was, it certainly was beautiful. Tall pine trees towered over her, fine green needles gently swaying in the light wind. Colorful flowers and shrubs dotted the forest ground, and she could hear the musical chirps and whistles of some avian creatures. She could definitely tell that there was a slight chill in the air, but the rays of sunlight that shone through the trees were warming enough.

"Follow me Korra," said Lydia, sheathing her sword in her hip scabbard and starting along the path.

"You called Aerethorn 'Thane'," said Korra, falling into place besides Lydia. "What does that mean?"

"The name 'Thane' is an honorary title presented by the jarl of a hold to individuals of high esteem," answered Lydia.

"What's a Jarl?"

"The Jarl is the ruler of a hold. Jarl Balgruuf is the ruler of Whiterun Hold, for example."

"I'm sorry," said Korra, reaching back and rubbing her head near her ear. "This is pretty embarrassing, I feel like I don't know anything…"

Lydia looked at her and smiled, saying, "Not from around here?"

"Yeah," said Korra, slightly smiling as well.

"That's perfectly fine, I'll be happy to answer any questions you have," said Lydia warmly. "Now, 'Korra', that's an exotic sounding name. Certainly a pretty one though."

"Thank you," said Korra, Lydia's kindness giving her some comfort. She didn't mention that the names 'Aerethorn', and 'Ulfberth' sounded just as exotic to her as well.

"Well as I was saying, the Jarl of Whiterun Hold, Jarl Balgruuf, has named Aerethorn a Thane of Whiterun for his heroic deeds."

"Heroic deeds?" asked Korra, "Is it because he helped rescue that blacksmith?"

"No," said Lydia, "Although that certainly won't hurt his standing with the Jarl. What he did was the most amazing things I have ever seen. He killed a dragon."

"A dragon?" Korra parroted, in disbelief. Under Firelord Sozin firebenders had hunted dragons to near extinction, and the only one that Korra was aware currently existed was the one that Firelord Zuko had. "From where I come from, dragons are extremely rare."

"It's been thousands of years since one has appeared in Skyrim," said Lydia. "The first time I saw Aerethorn was when he came to the Jarl's palace, Dragonsreach. He came bearing news that a dragon had destroyed the town of Helgen in a nearby hold. At first we couldn't believe it, I mean, a dragon? I personally thought that he was crazy. But not shortly after one of the town guards came rushing in and said that a dragon was attacking the Southern Watchtower. Aerethorn ran out along with some more guards. The Jarl ordered me to stay within the city so I ascended the closest part of the walls to the fight and watched."

The trodden grass path that they were walking on ended at an intersection with an actual road paved with stone and cobble. Lydia headed left, looking back to make sure Korra followed and pushing some stray hairs behind her hear. The road was bordered on either side by more trees, and in the distance at a curve in the road Korra could see what looked like a lantern mounted on a roadside pole.

"The fight was incredible," continued Lydia. "The dragon itself was a terrifying force of nature, raining down fire from the sky and snatching guards from off the ground and the top of the watchtower. The beast had killed at least ten people by my count before Aerethorn ran up, centering himself in the middle of an open field as if goading the dragon to come and fight him."

"That sounds insane," said Korra.

"I was thinking the same thing," said Lydia, chuckling. "But it worked. The dragon stopped circling and landed right in front of him and it was barely a second before the beast breathed a torrent of flames down upon him, the same which I had seen burn alive several men before him. However, Aerethorn emerged alive and angry. He had his greatsword drawn and charged the dragon, slicing open its two eyes and blinding it. The dragon's roar of pain was so loud it actually shook the walls of Whiterun. It tried to take off, but not before Aerethorn had jumped upon its scaly neck and plunged his sword through the back of its head."

"Wow…" breathed Korra, not knowing what to think. She was starting to think of Aerethorn in a whole new light. A much more cautious, wary light. If this man could kill dragons…

"And believe it or not, that wasn't even the most incredible part. After the dragon had been slain, its skin started to… burn off. As it did a whirlwind of red-orange energy surrounded Aerethorn and gradually filtered into him, disappearing completely. Afterwards he came back to Dragonsreach and the Jarl named him a Thane. I was assigned as his Housecarl, word reached of Adrianne's kidnap, and now here we are."

"And a Housecarl is…?"

"A bodyguard more or less. Except I don't get paid, and the position is permanent. And I don't just protect the Thane, but also his house, family, assets, anything of his with my life."

"Jeez," said Korra, "That sounds a bit extreme. Having your entire life signed away to one person? What if it turns out that Aerethorn is insane, or evil or something?"

"Well, hopefully that's not the case," said Lydia, trying her best not to think about that. "And I know it may sound 'extreme', but that's just how things are. My mother was a Housecarl, so my path has been chosen for me since the minute I was born."

"I can certainly understand that, your path being chosen for you," said Korra.

Lydia just smiled at her with her lips and continued walking. After a couple of minutes she looked at her and said, "I don't mean any offense, but you look a little worse for wear."

Korra looked down at her clothes and body, seeing that Lydia was indeed right. The battle against Kuvira in Republic City had been rough on her to say the least. Her dark blue sleeveless tunic was torn, burned, and dirtied in several places. Her skin wasn't much better, and the cut on her left cheek that Kuvira's liquid metal scythes had given her during their fight in her super-weapon's control room still stung. She hoped that wherever they were going at least had some water that she could wash herself with.

"Yeah," said Korra in reply to Lydia's observation. When she didn't say anymore Korra was surprised, and grateful, that the other woman didn't try and pry any more information about who she was or where she came from. She wasn't exactly in the mood to talk about it yet.

The pair walked along the road in silence for a while, although Korra's mind was racing with questions that she didn't know the answers to. While she was trying to wrestle the massive spirit energy beam, what had really happened? Did it really transport her here? To this strange land that she didn't recognize? What had happened in Republic City? Were all her friends-Asami, Mako, Bolin, the airbenders and metalbenders-were they alright?

They rounded a bend in the path and Lydia's face lit up into a wide smile. "There it is, Whiterun. My birthplace, and in my opinion, the best city in all of Skyrim."

Korra saw the city, placed at the top of a hill and surrounded by vast expanses of rolling plains on every side. The same kinds of cobble roads that they were currently walking on crisscrossed throughout the plains, passing by the houses to large farms, windmills, and other buildings outlying from the main city. She could see the wind swaying the tall grasses of the fields like waves in the ocean, and if she squinted she could also see what looked to be people and animal-drawn carriages travelling along the roads.

Then there was the city itself. Surrounded by large, rounded walls on all sides the only real parts of the city she could see were the roofs of some buildings, and then of course the towering sight of what she assumed was the Jarl's palace centered on the very top of the hill. Just behind the top of the sharply angled roof of the palace Korra could see snow-capped mountains on the distant horizon, a brilliant orange-yellow sun just barely peeking above the mountain tops, casting the entire plains below in a warm golden hue.

"It's beautiful," said Korra, truly meaning what she said.

"Isn't it?" said a familiar male voice from behind them. Korra turned, surprised to see Aerethorn standing a bit behind them on the side of the road, near the forest. She wasn't surprised by his appearance, rather by the fact that she didn't notice him coming up to them.

"The Central City," continued Aerethorn, stepping parallel to her and Lydia. "The largest and most important trading hub in all of Skyrim. These fields and farms you see here, they make up some of the largest in all of Skyrim. Elsewhere throughout Skyrim the land is either too mountainous, cold, marshy, forested, or otherwise resistant to farming. But Whiterun, this perfect combination of flat lands, plentiful sun, and fertile soil has turned it into the breadbasket of the entire province."

As Korra kept looking at the beautiful lands of 'Whiterun' she saw something that seemed out of the ordinary. She had seen a few tall stone towers scattered about the landscape, but this particular one was leaning some and was completely missing the uniform, turreted top that the others had. Stone debris littered the area around it as well, and although she couldn't make out the fine details she could definitely see what looked to be the skeleton of a huge creature sprawled out amongst the broken rocks.

Remembering what Lydia had told her earlier, Korra asked her pointing to where she was looking, "Is that the Southern watchtower?"

The Housecarl nodded and Korra looked to Aerethorn. "And is that… the skeleton of the dragon? That one you killed?"

The slight smile that Aerethon had disappeared, his gaze not moving from the city to their topic of conversation. "Yes, that is the one I killed," he said, voice low. "Come, it is only a short while longer."

Aerethorn started walking down the road, not turning to wait and see if the two women were following him. Lydia glanced and Korra and shrugged, the shoulder pauldrons of her armor rasping together. She started after Aerethorn and Korra followed after a couple of seconds, wondering if she had said something wrong judging by the way that Aerethorn reacted.

The trio made their way down the winding road, Lydia talking about the various buildings that they passed or saw. There was Honningbrew Meadery, Chillfurrow, Battle-Born, and Pelagia Farms, and the Whiterun Stables.

The Stable in particular caught Korra's attention, especially the large, four-legged animals that occupied the several open-air stalls.

"Hey Lydia, what are those?" asked Korra, pointing towards the animals. They had thick necks and long heads, with medium-length dark brown hairs running down their necks. Korra counted five, all of them black with swishing tails the same color as the hairs on their necks.

Lydia looked confused for a second before she realized what Korra was really pointing to. "What, those? Those are horses."

"Horses," repeated Korra. She guessed that since another animal wasn't incorporated into the beast's name that they were 'pure' animals, which were pretty rare. The ostrich horses of the Earth Kingdom sprang to her mind but from what she was seeing right now they looked almost nothing alike. To start, these horses had four legs instead of two, and instead of three sharp talons had what looked like tough hooves. The head was certainly different as well, completely lacking the beak. The body was larger, and the neck didn't arch up as much as the ostrich horses did.

"Have you really never seen a horse before?" asked Lydia, smirking at her.

Korra shook her head, saying "No, at least none that look like this."

"Wow, you really aren't from around here," said Lydia.

The group walked past the stables, a small farmhouse on the left, and up a cobbled path past some patrolling men in armor covered with leather cloth and helmets that covered their entire faces. As they passed by one of them Korra could see on the man's wooden shield an etched figure of what looked like the head of one of those horses she saw a little bit ago. She guessed that they were guards of some sort.

The ascending path hooked to the right and through a drawbridge before what Korra guessed was the main city gate. Another guard stood atop a walkway above the drawbridge, and she saw two more standing by the large wooden, metal reinforced gate.

"My Thane, welcome back," said one of the guards as he saw Aerethorn, moving to open one side of the city gate.

"Have you seen Adrianne?" asked Aerethorn.

"Yes. She was awake when the cart carrying her arrived, but last I heard she was getting treated for a head wound at the Temple," he answered.

The guard's head turned towards Korra, and he said, "Who's the girl?"

"We found her imprisoned with Adrianne. We're going to try and help her get home," said Aerethorn.

The guard just nodded, standing by the open gate.

They passed through the gate into the city proper, giving Korra her first view of Whiterun. The cobble path nearly immediately forked, one pathway going straight and another hedging left after a wooden building and up some stone stairways. Though the buildings that she could see looked wooden, they were certainly not lacking in craftsmanship. Large pillars and support beams braced the buildings at perpendicular or slight angles, and the wooden paneling for many of the walls was beautifully decorated by other wooden pieces or even metal.

The first two story building to her right caught Korra's attention, mainly because of the slight heat eddies she could feel brushing over her skin. Connected to the outside of the building was a large stone circle filled with hot red and black embers. Scattered around the stone circle was a large, flat stone bench, a metal anvil, some buckets of water, a rack holding a stretched piece of hide or leather, and a wooden seat built around a circular stone wheel. A metal sign hung down from a horizontal pillar with what looked like an anvil cut into the center. Some etched, interconnected lines decorated the bottom of the sign. Korra guessed that they were words, but of a language she couldn't read. A little behind all of that was a conical stone or metal object, of which Korra could see some molten metal ever so slowly pouring out into a collection bin underneath it.

Noticing the direction of Korra's gaze Lydia said, "That's Warmaiden's, one of Whiterun's weapons and armor smithys. It's owned by the other woman that those bandits had captured, Adrianne."

Korra nodded, watching as Aerethorn started walking straight down the cobbled road. Farther down the path Korra could see some people walking around, but the closest people to them were a pair of guards that were approaching from down the stone stairways to their right. Korra thought that they might be going further into town but she was proven wrong when Aerethorn withdrew a key from a pocket and slotted it into a the door of the house just past Warmaidens, a modest two story abode compared to some of the other buildings around.

He opened the door, motioning for her and Lydia to step inside. "Welcome to Breezehome," he said, smiling.

Korra stepped through the door and was greeted to a very warm, homely atmosphere. A little past the doorway a large fire pit sunken into the floor softly crackled, light grey smoke wafting upwards towards an opening in the ceiling. Near the edge of the fire pit was a cooking pot suspended by some metal rods, and above the fire some plants, fish, and cuts of meat hung down from hooks embedded into a wooden frame. Some cabinets and shelves, and a small bookshelf decorated the walls to either side close to the door, and further into the room Korra could see a wooden stairway leading up to a second floor.

A couple of chairs a bit behind the cooking pot and a long table with a bench at the back right of the room made up the furniture of the first floor. The stone floor was nicely cut into even diagonal squares and there were a couple of simple rugs underneath the table and chairs. The fire gave the house a comfortable warmth and a very appetizing smell was just now hitting Korra's nose. She guessed it was coming from the cooking pot.

Her stomach loudly growled and she suddenly realized how hungry she was. When was the last time she ate? Or drank for that matter? It was a couple of hours before Kuvira's army had arrived, and then there was the battle itself that had undoubtedly burned a lot of her energy. Plus, who knows how long she had been unconscious from the spirit blast and asleep in that cell?

Aerethorn and Lydia started unfastening the belt of their scabbards, hanging up their swords, bows and quivers on some weapons racks near the entrance. Lydia set down her shield underneath her weapons but both of them kept their armor on. Korra couldn't help but notice that their daggers still hung on their hips.

"Korra, please come sit," said Aerethorn, leading her over to the table near the back of the room. "Are you hungry?"

It was like he had read her mind. Or at least, maybe hear her stomach. "Very, actually."

"Lydia, could you get us some of that stew you were making?" asked Aerethorn.

"Of course," she said, stepping towards a shelf and taking two bowls. Walking over to the cooking pot she ladled in some thick looking liquid into the bowls before bringing them over to the table. "I hope you like steak."

"Absolutely," said Korra. She saw a metal spoon in a cup on the table and grabbed it, then dug into the stew. It was delicious, soft chunks of tender steak combined with crunchy vegetables in a hearty sauce. Aerethorn put a mug filled with water in front of Korra, then went to eating as well. Lydia got her own bowl and sat down as well, and the three ate in silence for a few minutes. After they were finished Lydia cleared their dishes, putting them into a bucket filled with water, then sat back down.

Aerethorn looked at Korra and said, "Well, now that you're out of that cave perhaps we can try to figure out what we're going to do again. Can I go over what we know again so that Lydia is in the loop?"

"Yeah, that would be good," agreed Korra.

"Okay," started Aerethorn. "Ulfberth and I found Korra in the cage next to Adrianne, bound and gagged by the bandits. The bandit leader told me that they found her passed out in the forest near their hideout. Ulfberth took Adrianne and I cut Korra free of her bindings, then tried to figure out where she was from to see if we could help her return home. However, she didn't recognize any of the names I was telling her. She's never heard of Whiterun, Skyrim, or even Tamriel. She then tried to tell me where she needed to get back from, a Republic City or something, but I have never heard of such a place."

"I've never heard of a Republic City either," said Lydia.

"It's one of the largest cities in the world…" said Korra, frowning.

Aerethorn stood up off the bench, walking over to the bookshelf searching through it before coming back with a parchment scroll in his hand. He smoothed it out over the table, putting some cups on the edges to keep it from rolling back up again, and Korra saw that it looked like a map.

"This is a map of Tamriel, the continent that we are on. There are nine provinces in Tamriel: High Rock, Hammerfell, Morrowind, Elsweyr, the Black Marsh, Valenwood, the Summerset Isles, Cyrodiil, and Skyrim, where you are now." Aerethorn pointed to each region as he said their names. "Tell me Korra, did you recognize any of those names? Or even their geographical shapes?"

"I don't understand these words, and no, these shapes aren't familiar," answered Korra.

"You don't understand as in… you can't read or?" said Aerethorn.

"I can read," retorted Korra hotly, perhaps a little too much so. "I'm sorry. Yes, I can read. But I don't understand this writing."

"I am sorry as well, I didn't mean to anger you. It's just that most people I've met in Skyrim aren't able to read," said Aerethorn. "So you don't understand our written words, yet we speak the same language. That's very interesting."

Aerethorn turned the map over, revealing a larger map where Tamriel wasn't the only thing displayed. Though it was still took up a significant portion of the parchment, a landmass nearly as big as Tamriel lay just to the east. Some other smaller landmasses dotted the outer edges of the map.

"This is a map of Nirn, the world as far as we know it. This continent to the east of Tamriel is called Akavir. This body of water that separates the two is known as the Great Padomaic Ocean. To the north of Tamriel is Atmora, to the west is Yokuda, and to the south-west is Pyandonea. Do any of these names sound familiar?"

"No. Do you have a blank piece of this paper? And something that I could write with?" asked Korra.

"Of course," said Aerethorn, going back to the bookshelf and and getting what she asked for. He laid down the paper for her and gave her an inkwell and quill.

For the next few minutes Korra tried to recreate a map of her own world to the best of her ability, her unfamiliarity with using a quill and inkwell causing her to leave a few more blotches that distorted the geographic lines she was drawing.

After she had finished she said, "Now this is a map of where I am from. At least this is the best I can draw it. This is the Fire Nation, this is the Earth Kingdom, this is the Northern Water Tribe, this is the Southern Water Tribe where I was born, and these here are the Air Nomad temples. Then of course there is Republic City here, created from former Fire Nation colonies that they gained during the Hundred Years War."

Korra looked at Aerethorn and Lydia only to find confused expressions painted on both of their faces.

"I see both of your faces, I promise I'm not making this up," she pleaded.

"I believe you Korra," said Aerethorn. He reached up a hand to rub his light beard and continued, "There are some scholars who say that there is more of Nirn to be discovered. Maybe these are just lands we know nothing about yet?"

"I don't know," said Korra, "We've mapped the surface of our world nearly completely and never came across your continents."

"The Fire Nation? Earth Kingdom? These are such strange names for continents," said Lydia.

"I was thinking the same thing," said Aerethorn, "Why are they named like that?"

"They are named that way because that's where their respective benders come from. For example, Fire benders come from the Fire Nation, Earth benders from the Earth Kingdom, and so on."

"You'll have to explain what a 'bender' is," said Aerethorn.

Normally Korra would have been surprised that they didn't know what a bender was, but given their current trend of confusion she kind of expected it. "A bender is someone who can manipulate one of the four elements, Fire, Earth, Water, or Air. They 'bend' them to their will, sort of."

"Like a mage?" asked Lydia.

"There are mages which can manipulate fire and frost or ice, but I have never heard of one that could manipulate the air or the earth itself," said Aerethorn.

"Yeah, I guess like a mage," said Korra.

"So, which one are you?" asked Aerethorn. "You said you were born in the Southern Water Tribe, so I would guess that would make you a water... bender?"

"That's right," said Korra.

"Well, what can a water bender do?" asked Lydia.

"Let me show you," said Korra, lips upturning in a smile. She reached out a hand towards her half-filled water cup and with a smooth wrist motion drew the water up out of the cup and into the air.

She closed her hand into a loose fist and formed the floating ball of water into a sphere, then moved her arm around slowly in a circle causing the water to float lazily through the air in the same pattern. She bended the water sphere around Aerethorn and Lydia's heads, taking note at Lydia's smile and Aerethorn's raised eyebrows as their gaze followed the water.

Korra turned the ball of water into ice, then back to water and with a whip of her arm sent it knifing towards the front of the room and back in the blink of an eye.

"Wow, I've never seen anything like that," said Lydia, a hint of amazement in her voice.

"What about the other type of benders? Fire, Earth, and Air you mentioned?" asked Aerethorn.

"Well, benders can only bend one element," said Korra. "That's why it's called the Fire Nation, because the benders born there can only bend fire. The same applies to the other nations."

"But that doesn't apply to you, does it?" said Aerethorn, eyes narrowed slightly.

"What do you mean?" asked Korra, feigning innocence. She had been hoping that Aerethorn hadn't been as observant as he obviously was. There was almost no doubt that he was referring to her use of flame daggers when she had tried to charge him earlier in the bandit's cave.

This put Korra in a difficult position. She wasn't exactly thrilled about possibly revealing her identity as the Avatar if Aerethorn started asking the questions that Korra thought he would start to ask. She had just met these people, and letting them know how important she was could be a bad decision. What if they used that information to try and harm her in some way, or hold her for ransom or something? Though Korra didn't have doubts in her ability to subdue the two if they tried anything like that, it would still leave her completely alone in this unknown land. However, she could downplay the significance of her status as Avatar…

Although, what if she was honest? If she told them she was the Avatar and what that meant, maybe it would help convince them of how important it was to try and get her home. Aerethorn had been hospitable enough, and Lydia seemed to be of good character…

Korra just didn't know. She wanted to be able to put some trust into the two, but her mind couldn't help but wander to what could go wrong. She thought back to the cave and how two simple words from Aerethorn had stopped her in her tracks like a large rock to her to her abdomen. That had scared Korra, never before had mere words so physically affected her like that. And if he had truly killed a dragon of all things... Something in her gut told her that Aerethorn was dangerous if one got on his bad side. Lying to him if he knew she was lying probably wouldn't help any. Maybe he didn't notice though, and all of this thinking was for nothing. She hoped at least.

"I saw you using flames earlier in the cave," started Aerethorn, "And you just bended that water around, yet you said people could only bend one element. So unless my eyes were deceiving me, you must be some kind of exception."

Well, that settled that question. Aerethorn had definitely noticed. Now came the important part, whether she tried to play off his observation or told the truth. After a couple of seconds she made her decision.

"You're right, I am an exception," she said, sighing slightly. "I'm the Avatar. I was born with the ability to bend all four elements, and where I come from I'm supposed to be the force of balance that keeps the peace between them."

Aerethorn's expression lightened and he said, "Can you show us? The other types of bending I mean."

Korra nodded, getting up out of her seat and walking over to the fire pit. Raising her arm she drew a gout of flames from the fire pit into the air and swirled it around a bit, being careful as to not accidentally set fire to the mostly wooden house. She returned the fire back to its pit and turned back to Aerethorn and Lydia, then opened a palm upwards and summoned a small ball of flame in her upturned hand.

"That doesn't…. hurt does it?" asked Lydia, a hint of concern showing in her face.

"No," said Korra, shaking her head, "I can't be hurt by my own flames."

She extinguished the flames and looked towards the cut stone floor. Widening her stance, she sharply jetted her arms at the stone floor then shifted them up, lifting an entire cut of tile into the air. After looking to make sure that Aerethorn and Lydia were watching, she gently placed the cut of stone back to where it was before.

"So that's Earthbending," said Lydia.

"Stone, dirt, rock, pretty much anything that counts as ground I can bend," said Korra.

"There's one more right? Airbending?"

"Uh huh," confirmed Korra. She pointed a finger at Lydia and sent a light breeze flowing around her head, the air blowing her hair around. She did the same thing to Aerethorn, and although Lydia's reaction was a wide smile his was more of an annoyed squint.

Korra smirked at Aerethorn and said, "That's probably the weakest gust of air I could send at you and you're squinting your eyes like you're in the middle of a blizzard."

"If that's the case, were your other 'demonstrations' just basic bending techniques?" he asked.

Korra nodded, and Aerethorn just scratched his beard as if he was in thought. There was some semi-awkward silence for a couple of minutes before Korra asked, "So, what do we do now? I need to get back to my home."

"I want to help you Korra, but in order to do that we need to try and find someone who may know of lands other than what is shown on those maps. For all we know your Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation might just be across an ocean that hasn't been travelled yet."

"Well, any ideas on someone like that?" asked Korra.

"A couple. Our best bet would probably be travelling to the Mages College in Winterhold," he said.

"Mages? As in magic?" asked Korra, "How is a school for magic going to help us?"

"The College isn't just a place to learn magic, it is home to some of the smartest and most well-read individuals I've ever met. The College library, the Arcanium, contains the largest collection of books in all of Skyrim. There's a chance there may be some knowledge about your homelands there, or someone who knows at least something."

"Okay, well how far away is this College?"

"About three days by horse, a week on foot. But we won't be leaving tomorrow, I'll have to purchase supplies, temper our weapons, saddle our horses, and make some other general preparations. By the time all that is done it will late evening, and I don't want to start our travels right before nightfall."

"A whole day?" said Korra, frowning. Being gone for that long, what would happen? Kuvira's superweapon had been destroyed, but she still had the rest of her army. A lot could happen in five days.

"I know you want to leave as soon as possible, but we have to take time to prepare," repeated Aerethorn.

"I know, I'm just worried that's all," said Korra.

Aerethorn nodded in understanding. "How about you clean yourself up and try to get some sleep, I can tell you're tired."

Korra had been feeling relatively fine up until that point, but Aerethorn's words seemed to have reminded her brain just how fatigued she really was. Her head started to throb, her chest offered a little more resistance than usual when she tried to breathe, and her feet felt like they were made of concrete as she shifted them around.

"Yeah, okay. That sounds like a good idea," she said.

"The washbasin is over there," said Aerethorn, pointing towards a room opposite of the large dining table where there was a large metal tin filled with clean water and some soft-looking cloths. "Lydia, whenever Korra is done show her up to the main bedroom. I'm going to go to the Temple and check on Adrianne, and I'll sleep at the Bannered Mare tonight so you can have the spare bed. Goodnight, I'll see you two in the morning."

The two watched as Aerethorn left through the house's only door, and Lydia smiled at Korra as she went to the washbasin.

After cleaning off the dirt, grime, and dried blood to the best of her ability she followed the waiting Lydia up the short stairway to the second floor. The Housecarl led her to the right, and through an open doorway Korra could see a queen-sized bed in the center of the room. Lydia motioned her inside and Korra looked around, seeing a small table in the corner paired with two chairs, a large wooden chest with a heavy-duty metal lock securing it, and a sharp-looking metal axe that hung on a weapons plaque on the wall.

She looked closer at the axe and to her surprise she could see slight, very dim waves of some greenish energy traversing along the length of the blade.

"I'll be in the other bedroom, so if you need anything don't hesitate to wake me," said Lydia.

"Thank you Lydia," said Korra, and the woman just nodded and closed the door behind her.

Korra made her way over to the bed and all but collapsed on top of it. She dug her way under the covers of the bed feeling her soreness and fatigue already being soothed away by the soft, warm furs and linens of the bed. As her eyes closed and she drifted off to sleep she found herself hoping that she would simply wake up in Republic City, and that this whole experience had just been some strange dream...

Starting off a little slowly, I know, but that's how I want to do it. Expect the pace to pick up a little in the upcoming chapters. Also, if you want to know what Aerethorn looks like check out these pictures!

imgur . com-/a/0LRpa (Remove the spaces to either side of the "." and the "-" as well)

(Pretend like those fish things on the belt aren't there)

Also, Aerethorn is pronounced like air-uh-thin.

Thanks for reading!