the legend of khione || korra

the revelation

KHIONE

Khione hated feeling useless. 

It seemed to plague her wherever she went, no matter what she did. She knew that she was letting her control slip; her carefully constructed apathetic demeanour, the tighter her arms dug into Korra's waist. But the truth was, Khione hadn't felt such intense pain from her leg in a long time. Still, she thought, I won't complain. She would grit her teeth and bear the burden, because that's what she'd done her entire life.

They'd been searching all night for signs of Bolin. Korra had worked Naga to the bone and the poor thing was panting roughly, her pace slowed to a snail's crawl. Thanks the spirits, Korra had finally come up with the idea to wait for the equalist protesters that flocked to Republic City Park nearly every day.

Khione had practically collapsed off of Naga and into Korra's arms, her knees buckling below her, before she'd managed to stand up. She waved off Korra, slowly limping towards a nearby fountain. There, she eased herself onto its rim, filling up her water pouch to the brim. Then she slowly limped back to Korra and Mako, who were sitting against one of the large evergreens.

She stretched out beside Korra, who sat in silence, shoulders hunched. Gingerly, Khione removed her brace and rolled up her pants, before letting water from her open pouch envelop her right knee. The familiar glow of water seeped into her bones, and Khione let out a sigh of relief as the pain began to subside to a dull ache. All the best healers in the world hadn't been able to fix her limp, or the pain that always came with it.

"So, why is Bolin running around with the Triple Threat Triad anyways?" Korra asked tentatively, finally breaking the silence.

"Well, we used to do some work for them, back in the day." Mako admitted sheepishly.

Korra looked extremely surprised.

"What! Are you some kind of criminal?" She accused.

"No! You don't know what you're talking about. I just ran numbers for them and stuff. We were orphans out on the street, I did what I had to do to survive, to protect my little brother. " Mako scowled, crossing his arms defensively.

"I'm sorry. It must've been really hard." Korra apologised. "Can I ask, what happened to your parents?"

Mako sighed. "They were mugged, by a firebender. He cut them down right in front of me. I was eight."

"Bolin is the only family I have left, and if anything happened to him..." Mako said.

"I'm sorry," Khione said quietly, her eyes fixed on her leg. "I know what it's like to lose family. But what happened to you and your brother is cruel."

Mako paused, his expression softening.

"You've lost family?"

Khione hesitated, and for a second, she thought about refusing to answer.

"My mother died when I was born. And my father... he's dead to me."

Her words had lost that softness, replaced by a clipped edge. She shook her head, done with this conversation. There was no use lingering in the past, and certainly no point in mourning what could've been. She shifted away, pouring the water back into her pouch with a flick of her wrist.

"Get some rest. I have a feeling we'll need it."

...

"Equality now! Equality now! We want equality now!"

Khione shifted, blinking owlishly as the voice rang through the park. She'd been staring off into space, lost deep in thought, unable to sleep. Now, she stretched languidly, before rebuckling her brace. She hoisted herself up, testing her knee carefully. It felt much better; the pain had receded significantly.