Chapter 1: Ten Years Old

Korra sat silently at the low meal table in the White Lotus compound. She thoughtfully spooned the precious broccoli broth into her mouth as the toes of her leg fidgeted beneath the table. She had long since grown out of her insatiable impatience with everything and, at the age of ten, her White Lotus sentries were relieved to see a more pensive side to her.

Korra was currently deeply engrossed in her earthbending training and it happened to be something particular her tutor had said to her earlier that day which found itself ingrained within her head, insistently rolling over and over again like a forsaken mantra:

"Be not what what your surroundings dictate you be, but rather what you are."

Although she knew it was supposed to reference molding the earth to shape and conform it to her will, she found herself contemplating the statement in other contexts.

It was mind-boggling, but she was obsessed with it. She couldn't quite figure out why that one statement had struck her so profoundly and why she was sitting here quietly at the dinner table, obsessing over its delicate meaning and fragile nuances.

Be not what your surroundings dictate you be, but rather what you are.

Was there really a difference? Korra wondered, frowning at the swirl of clear liquid in her bowl. Is there a person inside of what you've convinced yourself to be? A layer of truth beneath a supposedly superficial covering, imposed upon you by an intangible and external oppressor?

Her earthbending teacher was, granted, 'very old and very wise,' a description she would commonly attribute to a certain old-persons; Korra had certainly met very many old persons, and as such, would point out the many different types of them which existed, if anything, just to simplify and categorize them in her head.

They were interesting. Some were snarky, some were irritated, some were as impatient as her, while others were dramatically kind, and others simply hid their kindness behind and exterior of aloofness. Her favorite type was the last sort, for they were trickier to figure out at first and oftentimes gave her a joy of time to contemplate.

Her earthbending teacher had many different pebbles of knowledge he would often impart unto her. Having been six years old when she first heard the first pebble drop to the ground, she very infrequently kept them in mind. However, at ten years old, she began to realize that she may now regret having flicked them aside so easily.

Be not what your surroundings dictate you be, but rather what you are.

Is there a difference? Korra wondered, frowning again.

The screen door off to the side of the room slid open with an audible sound, breaking Korra out of her thoughts. She looked up and saw Master Katara, her old face wrinkled and visibly saddened, walk in. Korra had been quiet recently for more than just a surprisingly thought-provoking statement from her earthbending master; Master Katara's brother, Lieutenant Sokka, had recently passed away.

When she had snuck into Master Katara's room and caught her weeping, Korra had been struck speechless. She had never thought that strong-willed Master Katara would be able to succumb to childish weaknesses. Korra had only willed herself to stop crying—for her mother and her father—in the early days of moving into the compound, after speaking to Master Katara.

Seeing Master Katara cry, had inexplicably sobered Korra. The fact that not everyone was strong; that everyone had their weaknesses, stunned her into silence. Out of respect, she had been particularly careful to not make as much noise or as much of a disturbance during her training for the past few weeks. She had sat still, sullenly, thinking about what Master Katara might have been feeling like for the past few days. How would she feel if she found out that her dad suddenly died?

Perhaps that why Master Fei Zhung's message had gotten through to her.

Katara walked in and Korra visibly stilled and waited for her to approach and sit down. Conspicuously checking her dear mentor's face, Korra decided that Master Katara was, indeed, feeling better.

"Korra, dear, how are you feeling?"

The girl in question blinked. She never truly understand what she was meant to say in response to general questions that were, undoubtedly, meant to just serve as fodder before the real subject of the discussion came out.

"Uhm, fine Master Katara. How are you feeling?"

Katara settled a kind, sad smile on Korra.

"Better now, thank you. I just wanted to let you know that Fire Lord Zuko will be at the Southern Water Tribe very soon. He is here to offer his condolences. He is also very eager to see you, especially since you probably barely remember the last time you two met."

Korra nodded dumbly in response. She was going to meet Fire Lord Zuko. The Fire Lord Zuko. The one in all of the story books—the man who single handedly defied his father and was banished to capturing the missing Avatar Aang, before double-crossing his sister and helping the Avatar take down the Fire Nation. The Fire Lord Zuko.

Of course, she was already very well acquainted with The Master Waterbender Katara. But still. This was different, because Master Katara was, well, Master Katara. Korra had almost always known her and saw her everyday, so it was really hard (yet not hard, at the same time) to attribute her to all of those old tables. But Fire Lord Zuko was much further removed. She had only heard of him all that he had done; a myth.

Jaw open, Korra blinked, nodding dumbly when one of her guards suggested she dress in the nice clothes that would be lain onto her bed in half an hour.

She would be meeting The Fire Lord Zuko.

Fire Lord Zuko was not what the young Avatar Korra expected. She couldn't fathom why she didn't expect this coming, considering Master Katara was old and wrinkly too. But, he was old and wrinkly too.

For some strange, stupid reason, she had expected him to look dashing and young like in all of those pictures in all of those scrolls.

But still, he stood tall, and proud and strong, and even though he was old... He was scary.

Thats what she first thought. Until he came over and looked at Katara and his face changed completely and somehow, he seemed really silly and vulnerable even though he was so tall, and Master Katara looked younger than she'd seen ever seen her before.

They spoke in hushed, personal voices for a while as Korra stood in the corner of the room, eyeing the old, imposing, and supposedly valorous man suspiciously.

And suddenly, he turned around and within a second, locked eyes with her. It was kind of scary how suddenly he did that—she was caught in her suspicious staring of him. But his face didn't look so awkward and silly and embarrassed anymore, like it did when he first began to speak to Master Katara. His face was completely blank and his eyes were very, very intensely locked onto hers. Thus, it came off as rather scary.

"Is that her?" he asked Katara in bewildered surprise, as if Korra wasn't standing right there.

Although Korra seethed in the back of her mind, in reality, she was mildly intimidated, mostly because she had heard so many stories of his firebending prowess. She could firebend a little... and maybe take him on... but at the moment, really wished that firebending training came first instead of water and earth. Hands clenched behind her back, she gulped.

For some reason, wearing a soft and pretty dress, styled with White Lotus designs and markings, made her feel considerably more vulnerable than when she was in her normal water-tribe gear. So it took her a moment until she furrowed her brows dangerously and jut her bottom lip out.

"I'm Avatar Korra. And you're Fire Lord Zuko." She dragged her pupils up and down his form before coming back up to his face. "I think I could take you on. Wanna fight?"

A muffled snicker suddenly came from somewhere far off in the back of the room, behind Master Katara, in the opposite corner of the room from where she was standing.

Unnerved, Korra twisted her body to look around the large, imposing figure of Fire Lord Zuko to assess whoever was standing right there behind Master Katara. Before she could though, Fire Lord Zuko stood forward and stepped toward her.

Korra was broken out of her attempt to address the unidentified laugher because she was suddenly lifted high into the air by two strong, large hands.

Suddenly, the fear came flooding back into her and the contrived confidence rapidly dissapated. Fire Lord Zuko had lifted her up off the ground and had brought her to his eye level.

She was staring at fierce, tired golden eyes, which were scrutinizing her face thoroughly. She took another deep gulp.

And suddenly... his face changed and softened. It was similar to the look he had given Katara as soon as he had gotten close enough to inspect her face; it was reverence.

A small quirk of Fire Lord's Zuko mouth made Korra suddenly think that maybe he really was handsome and dashing like in those scroll drawings, before he turned all old and stuff.

"Hello, Avatar Korra," Fire Lord Zuko finally said, full-out smiling now. His eyes glistened for some strange reason, and Korra decided this old man wasn't all that scary anymore. He did, afterall, help Avatar Aang defeat the Fire Nation and end the Hundred Year War.

Still dangling from his grip from under her armpits, Korra took the opportunity to scrutinize his own face.

"You're older than I thought you would be," she said candidly to him. At that, Zuko grinned wide at her, up close to her face.

"You're much powerful than I thought you would be," he replied. For some strange reason, Korra felt herself blushing in anger.

Zuko smiled at her once more before finally setting her on the ground. One of his hands remained on her back and he turned around to have the both of them face back to Master Katara and the unidentified laugher.

"Korra, this is my grandson, Iroh."

Korra blinked once again, looking up at another tall Fire Nation person. Pale skin, inky hair, and another set of gold eyes. He was much younger though.

Iroh... Iroh... General Iroh was Zuko's Uncle and was a White Lotus guardian who had also turned his back on the Fire Nation to helped Aang end the Hundred Year War.

The thought struck him that she had expected him to be much older than Fire Lord Zuko, and then she realized that the boy in front of her was probably just named after him.

He was much taller than her too, but not as tall as Fire Lord Zuko was. For some reason, Korra now felt an attachment to the big man with the kind eyes and thick flowing red robes, whose hand was still resting on top of her shoulder blades and encouragingly moving her forward to the dining area.

Iroh looked funny. His neck was too long and his arms were too dangly on his sides. And he looked angry all the time. But, it was no matter, since Korra decided she would much rather entertain the company of Fire Lord Zuko, who, unlike her White Lotus Guards, paid attention to absolutely everything she said and didn't seem like he was just pretending to listen.

Zuko had said that he would be staying at the Southern Water Tribe for two weeks. There were several reasons Korra was especially happy about this: these two weeks had essentially turned into vacation weeks. Her parents were allowed to visit whenever she wanted, and her earthbending training schedule was less consuming because Zuko insisted on giving her some miniature firebending lessons and tended to do so sporadically and whenever he pleased.

And, as a Fire Lord, he had to be accommodated. The only reason, Iroh said, that Fire Lord Zuko had even been able to come here was because the Fire Nation was more or less completely in the capable hands of his daughter.

All in all, Korra was pleased. Fire Lord Zuko was interesting for an old person, even if sometimes he would freeze up and become very awkward around Master Katara, or when he would stare at Korra with the keenest look on his face sometimes—as if he expected her to spontaneously do something.

After the first two days though, Fire Lord Zuko became extremely busy with White Lotus work and Korra found herself inexplicably free with an unsettlingly large amount of spare time in her hands—a strange feeling because her White Lotus tutors always like to give her extra reading material as homework when she was not in combat training.

With nothing to do, she wandered out past the White Lotus Sentry gates, staying within careful view of their watchtowers lest to release their irritating wrath upon herself, and caught sight of the red-cloaked young Prince of the Fire Nation sitting moodly ontop of a hard ice-cased boulder of snow.

Upon closer inspection, Korra noted that he had simply burned the snow surrounding the boulder to give himself a seat upon which to sit. Somehow, the thought of him doing that made her giggle. What a silly way to compose a seat for yourself when you could just build it with two hands.

Iroh shifted and turned, looking over his shoulder to see the young Avatar Korra, laughing and covering her giggles with her three-fingered mittens. He sighed, turning back away from her to go back to gazing at the horizon. The sky in the south pole at this time was curiously a perpetual mix of light orange and murky blue, even in the midst of noon. And as much as he hated this abominable mixture of cold and wetness, it was a pleasant and pensive place to think. And this, for him too, was something of a vacation. He would thank his grandfather for taking him along for the trip, however much he loathed the climate.

"Hello, Prince Iroh," Korra politely greeted him. She folded her hands behind her back, seeming to be the perfect visage of innocence. In reality, she was bored and wanted someone to play with. The older boy seemed much too moody and surly though, so she doubted he would humor her.

His pupils slid to the side, and then back to the front.

"Good evening Avatar Korra. Is there a reason you are out so far here, today?" the Prince asked, seeming to not pay her much favor or attention. Korra frowned.

"No. Just bored."

"Oh."

"What're you doing out here?"

"Thinking."

"Thinking of what?"

Iroh let out a deep sigh, closing his eyes. She would obviously not care much to respect his privacy.

"My problems," he stoicly stated. His problems were stupid.

"Oh. You have problems?" Korra asked quizzically, tilting her head. She moved forward and waterbended snow up to make herself a seat of her own two feet a few feet away from Iroh's.

Iroh regarded her casually before responding. "Yes. Why wouldn't we have problems? We each and all have problems." No matter how ridiculous, pointless and futile they are, Iroh muttered under his breath.

Korra frowned. After a long silent moment between them, she spoke, "So what problems are bothering you now?"

Iroh sighed. He didn't have many friends, save for one or two, back at home. And this was a young, small Avatar who lived all by herself in a training compound in the middle of nowhere. It wouldn't hurt to tell her, would it?

"See, I... I have this... This girl I like..." Iroh said quietly, his ears turning red. She was ten-years old. She wouldn't tell anyone else. And wouldn't know enough to make fun of him either. This was as safe as he could get.

"Oh." Korra nodded in understanding. "Like the way Aang liked Katara, or Suki liked Sokka."

Iroh frowned. His situation was not comparable to those epic romances. The embarrassing thing is that this couldn't even compare. After hesitating bit, he awkwardly corrected her.

"Not quite. She... doesn't actually know."

Korra's eyes widened in surprise. "Then tell her! Dummy."

Iroh's face reddened completely. He was sixteen years old and being told off by a ten-year-old.

"Its... not that easy!" he exclaimed loudly and pointedly getting up from his seat.

"Why not?" she bluntly asked. Iroh shook his head. If only his life were as easy as hers; if only if he could be as blunt as her.

But he couldn't be. He wasn't all that important. He was very important, yes, but not the extent that everyone had to listen to his whim. He was important in the way that every single thing he did had to be proscribed.

"She... she doesn't actually know that I exist."

"Then, uh, talk to her?" Korra suggested in a voice that severely irritated him.

"Easy for you to say. When should I do it? In the two second time-space I'm moving from the right wing to my lesson in the central house? Over the heads of thirty people in the nobles' dining halls?" he quipped sarcastically before his voice softened, "I've actually only just... seen her." It was severely embarrassing to admit he'd never even spoken to the girl he was in love with.

Korra nodded, pretending to understand when, in private, she was extremely confused. So he just didn't couldn't talk to her? That was a shame. She enjoyed reading the stories about Sokka and Suki's romance; they made her feel all fluttery inside. It all just seemed so perfect. But from what the Fire Prince was saying, confessing was much harder in real life than how the romantic scrolls made it sound.

Playing around with a snowball in her hand, she suddenly got the urge to chuck it at him.

"Hey!" he yelled, his eyes fuming.

"You needed to cheer up," Korra shrugged. "You're a prince. Can't you just ask your mom or dad to give you some free time to hang out with her?"

Iroh scoffed. "Yeah, right. They're not in charge of my training at all. The curriculum is for all Princes and Princesses. Grandfather didn't have to do any of it because he was banished, and Mother simply loved studying so she didn't mind it. Its not like I hate it, but I'm so tired and all I ever do is study. Modern calligraphy, classical art, modern art, ancient scripts, the history of war, political science, civil engineering, bending science, martial arts, painting... If I had a token of free time in my day... I barely even have any friends."

Korra looked at him curiously as a long moment passed between the two of them. Her days were scheduled too, but she didn't seem to mind the way that he did.

After a moment, Iroh looked up to see the young Avatar gazing at him thoughtfully with a briefly confused look on her face. He then realized that her life was probably proscribed in pretty much the same way. The only difference was that she was allowed to have a smart mouth, whereas he had to look the part of a Prince as well.

"You.. You don't get it," he whispered. "Not only because you're young, but also because you're so secluded," Iroh glanced around at their surroundings, "You're surrounded by snow in a compound. You don't see other kids and wonder what it would be like to be them. When you grow older, you might wonder, but you probably won't care as much because it won't be slapping you in the face everytime you turn a corner and notice someone your age doing something that you can't," Iroh's voice grew more and more bitter as he spoke. "'Do this, be that' is all I ever hear. It doesn't matter if I'm 78 by the time I receive the crown, because I've gotta train anyhow. I'm tired of studying. I'm tired of not being able to do anything else."

Korra was about to interrupt when he abruptly cut her off again. "And besides. You're the Avatar. You aren't the same as everyone else. You're better. Theres a reason for you being seperated. But for me..." Iroh hesitated. "I was just born lucky, or unlucky, however you choose to see it. At the end of the day, any other firebending guy could do what I do. I'm not special just because I was born into royal lineage. It doesn't mean anything—at least, not really."

Korra quieted before speaking. "Thats like saying I was born lucky, too."

"No," Iroh said. "You're the Avatar. You're just... you. The spirit world gave you your fortune. You've always been you. There was no other chance for you to be anyone else."

This one conversation, Korra knew, would remain in her mind for as long as she couldn't find answers to all of the questions that this angry 16-year-old boy was posing to her. She had a feeling it would take more than a small amount of time.

"There was no other chance," Korra repeated his words softly, looking down at the snow contemplatively.

Maybe her earthbending master was wrong. Maybe her surroundings made her; maybe that was who she is and always would be.

Maybe there would be no chance for her to change or mark her own life.

For the first time in her life, she realized what a depressing thought the idea truly was.

A/N: This story will indeed have time skips and Mako will be showing up in the context of the actual series pretty soon. :) I do not intend to alter the cannon prior to Episode 10 at all.