The White Lotus

do what i got to do

Korben

"Korra, wake up."

I pull the blankets over my head, but it was the smell of food that convinced my body to get up.

"Mom I told you to call me Korben. What if you accidentally call me that out in public and I answer?"

I walk over to the woman standing in the kitchen. I could see the dark circles under her eyes and the pain she was trying to hide.

"Mom, did you take your meds?"

She looked sadly towards me.

"I ran out of the pain medication last night so I didn't get much sleep."

I took her face in my hands.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"You were asleep and I know how hard they work you at the docks, so I didn't want to wake you."

"I'm going to the pharmacy to get your meds before I go to work I'll be back."

I grabbed my boots and jacket and begin to walk out the door.

"Sweetie please eat something before you leave!"

I ran back giving her a kiss on the cheek before she shoved the jelly covered toast into my mouth.

"Be safe sweetie!"

My father died a few years ago in a work accident. The company gave us some money, but when Mom got sick it seemed to vanish so quickly.

There wasn't much they could do for her condition and it caused her a lot of pain, which meant she couldn't work.

I was still Korra then and I tried to find a job, but no one wanted to hire a girl at the docks and I wasn't cute enough or girly enough for jobs girls normally got.

For a time I managed to receive the money to pay the medical bills and meds by doing something I really didn't want to remember, but it got me by.

For that small amount of time I thought I could be happy, but like everything good in my life, it wasn't long before it was ripped from my life.

Finding myself unable to find a job again I decided I had to take a chance and become who the employers were looking for, a man, and that was when I became Korben.

Korben was a baby face kid, but he was strong and worked harder than most of the grown men. It didn't take long before I had applied for a job and got it.

I was able to pay my mother's medical bills and medications to give her a good life like before, but the docks were never steady.

I got laid off yesterday and I hadn't found the courage to tell my mother. The least I can do is make sure she has her pain meds and I had already decided to spend the rest of the day looking for a job.

As I was made my way back home with meds and a few snacks for my mother I ran into Bolin.

Bolin had been my partner for the majority of my time at the docks, but he had gotten laid off a few weeks before.