THE AVATAR'S BIG SISTER .
── ☆ ☆ ☆ ──
𝐈𝐓 was thirteen years ago when the swirling winds of the south had encircled around the deeming fate that had awaited for my little sister and I, though the difference between the two was disparate. One had brought a confirmation of a new savior to the volatile nations that has changed dramatically since the time of Avatar Aang. The other one, however, was unintended. A grave consequence to one's mistake—my mistake.
[ FLASHBACK —- twelve years ago ]
I was seated up straight on my twin-size bed, gazing curiously at the young seven year old girl in the mirror. I couldn't help dragging my hand through my long, dark brown hair with a bright grin. When Korra discovered she could firebend, she almost burned half of my precious locks that I took much pride on. I was forced to cut it short—you can expect that I was sobbing like crazy during it. Ever since then, I took extra care of it and made sure to avoid her thrashing flames.
You know, speaking of that, everyone always said that me and my little sister were like two different people. Complete opposites, if you suppose.
I apparently was the typical "girly girl" stereotype, profoundly enjoying fashion and beauty. Korra, on the other hand, was always getting messy and never hesitated when it came to a good fight regardless who it had been with. But, no matter the differences, we always had the best sibling bond—which was quite rare to see.
I snapped out of my thoughts when I heard several sharp knocks on the front entrance.
"Someone's at the door!" I shouted loudly so my family members could hear. After a brief moment, several voices sounded from the living room. With a raised brow, I climbed off from my bed and quietly sneaked into the living room, where three adults had been deep in conversation with my parents.
I quickly hid behind the couch, realizing the trio had been part of the White Lotus as the elderly man in the middle cleared his throat and begun to speak. "What makes you so sure your little daughter is the one?"
Mom and Dad both glanced at each other with small, knowing smiles. "Korra! Please come in here!"
I turned my head to the entrance to the hallway, expecting her to be wadding out from her room before letting out a silent gasp as my attention snapped toward the wall behind the White Lotus members suddenly exploded, making a rigid hole and revealing none other than Korra.
"I'm the Avatar and you gotta deal with it!" She exclaimed her most used line ever since she found out she could bend the three elements.
It was quite annoying, but the three adults were too mesmerised by her performance as she demonstrated her bending : water by using a nearby puddle that for some reason appeared in our hut, rock using some of the wall she blew out, and fire with her own two fists.
"Well then," The old man breathed out in awe after she was done. "your daughter will be in full protection of the White Lotus, and she'll come with us to the Southern Water Tribe Compound, where no danger can affect her."
I watched as Mom and Dad's once worried faces turned into small relieved smiles. Mom then leaned forward and suddenly whispered something to Dad, his smile dropping. "Er—right, you're sure she'll be protected carefully? Ever since we found out about that kidnapping attempt that almost got my other daughter into serious trouble, we don't—"
"Like we said, she'll be in full protection of the White Lotus." A woman who stood behind the elderly man, reassured them softly.
"Wait, you didn't let me finish. My other daughter I mentioned, Katrina," Dad paused to glance at Mom, who nodded as if she was telling him that it was alright.
"Katrina! Can you come in here for a second?" He suddenly called out for me, making me startled. I slowly stood up and hesitantly walked out of my hiding place, also letting out a small yawn. Hopefully they would think I was sleeping behind the couch and totally not eavesdropping on them.
Mom placed a comforting hand on my shoulder, looking back at the three adults. "We were wondering if the White Lotus could also take her in for protection."
"Ah right." The old man hummed in understandment. "I don't blame you two."
"Yes, that's right." She abruptly paused to glance at me, her smile faltering a bit. "And, well, also one other thing. Like Korra, she's also. . .special."
"Special?" The leader echoed in confusion, before sarcastically chuckling, "What? She bends the other elements too?"
I hung my head down, trying not to blurt my- "I actually blood bend!"
[ END OF FLASHBACK ]
So, there it was. I unintentionally sealed my fate with doom and adversity that day my lips had carelessly blurted out my secret to the members of the White Lotus and it's leader, that not only can I bend the element of water, but also perform it's deadliest form: bloodbending.
Major plot twist, huh? An seven year old can do the most darkest branch of waterbending. Only one person had been aware of my capabilities, and that was Master Katara. When I hesitantly told her, she wasn't furious at me, but merely disappointed in herself. All-in-all, she was grateful that I was safe and sound.
I begged her to not let my parents know about this; they've always wanted a normal life with a normal family. Of course, with Korra showing signs of becoming the next Avatar, the idea had flown right outta' the window. The last thing they needed was to find out their other daughter had been rebellious and decided to learn a forbidden bending, which apparently could get you into jail.
But, funny story. She actually informed them—but it was all with kind-hearted intentions. She trusted that my parents would understand and she took the blame upon herself, saying that it was her fault for introducing the topic to a very curious child and assumed any scrolls containing that knowledge were all burned. Expect for one.
I remembered when Master Katara told me about her past bloodbending ability. I had become so intrigued by it, I tried to find anything about how to bloodbend, but she warned me to never ever do it. Unfortunately, that didn't stop my peaked interest.
One night, I stumbled upon that particular scroll in our tribe's small library. It stated that almost everything had water in it, including in the blood of humans. All you had to do is grab hold of it and you were guaranteed become the most strongest and powerfulest against the thing you had been in control of.
I wasn't fascinated by doing it on humans, however. I just wasn't that type of person, so I decided to secretly practice it on the nasty creatures of the South: snow rodents, every time the full moon came. It was going really great, until that one night.
That one full moon night where I killed someone. My grave and terrible mistake. Would you believe me if I said it was out of defense? I was walking home and felt someone closely walking behind me. Too close. . .
[ FLASHBACK —- two nights ago before the white lotus arrived ]
A strangled scream escaped my throat as I felt a sudden tightness against my mouth. My eyes widened as reality hit me in the head in mere seconds, realizing that someone, a man it had seemed, was dragging me back. My eyes closed shut as a few more screams escaped from me, trying to fight back from the man's firm grip that was now around my waist and shoulders.
I forced myself to open my eyes when I felt my feet being lifted off from the ground. My eyes went round as I noticed I was about to be hauled into the back of a truck. A mixture of heart-racing fear and sudden adrenaline rushed through me, my limbs giving up on me from thrashing and fighting. No one was there to help me.
Then, I made contact with the soft, pillowy ground of the empty street with a loud grunt. My head snapped towards the man, who looked like he was frozen, his eyes screaming with fear. I watch in unprocessed shock as his limbs then start to tremble badly.
'Make a run for it, Kat.' I thought to myself, but my body dismissed the thought. A sudden wave of power ran through the veins of my arms.
"You tried to kidnap me. . ." I found myself saying to the man, disgust tugging my face downwards into a bitter scowl. His once bronze skin was now deathly pale and his limbs were disjointed, but I didn't feel any remorse as I grasped tightly at the familiar water in the hot blood running inside is body.
"W-what are you d-doing. . .to me?" He managed to choke out.
A buzz of furious thoughts were rushing inside my head, but they couldn't match the anger I felt inside my stomach. I unconsciously clutched my fist tighter with a scowl that momentarily curved up into a mischievous grin, feeling satisfaction at the man's cries of pain. I didn't feel like myself. I felt like someone had taken over me, someone who was deeply enjoying the scene unfold in front of her.
Then, the transparent gray clouds in the sky appeared visibly amongst the moonlight, and took the spotlight, covering the moon in it's shadow. It was then I realized what I was doing. With a gasp, the control I had was released, making the man drop sluggishly onto the snow.
A hand instantly covered my mouth, burning tears formed as I gawked at the unconscious figure who had spots of blood trickling out of his lips and seeped brightly into the snow, like fresh black ink against a scroll.
[ END OF FLASHBACK ]
It still hasn't comprehended in my mind that I was about to be kidnapped and killed a man in mere minutes. I wasn't even aware of the strength my ability has held, how it determines how it will play just by the state of your emotions. It was a hard reality check for me, and I assumed I understood what I did wrong. But, my actions had placed me in danger of being arrested and sentenced to jail. However, as an alternative created by Master Katara herself, I was to enroll in the White Lotus bloodbending program. Essentially, the point of the program was to guide people who had bloodbended and let them into the real-world as a changed citizen, so-to-speak.
It may have sounded nice, however there were significant downfalls for such a secluded program hidden from the public eye. There were instances where a person who had wrongly bloodbended would be assigned to at least two White Lotus staff members, and ironically that person's victim just so happened to be that staff member's cousin or sister or son. The grief and fury of that staff member could lead to aggression against that person, hence abuse and ill-intentions weren't exactly uncommon. Some staff members, however, were just plain evil against bloodbenders. Practically looked down upon bloodbenders like literal scum.
At one point, I assumed that my status of being the sister of the Avatar would prevent the staff members from retaliating against me, but that wasn't the case. In fact, it was worse that the sister of someone whose destiny is to protect the four nations meddle with such a disgusting matter, let alone kill someone with it, even if it was self-defense. Their psychological and physical torturing would never let me forget it.
It was common for the prisoners, as I called us, to think that I hated my little sister for being the reason why all this had happened. Since the only reason why I was in a ploy to be kidnapped was all because she was the Avatar, and I was merely a pawn in their games to get Korra to themselves. Sometimes after a long day of misery, I would find myself entertaining the idea. But then my mind immediately goes to my sister's excitement whenever I attended a session of Korra's Avatar training during my breaks, and her annoyingly confident smirk she sends when she mastered a bending skill, or at night, when she sneaks away from her strict guards to the comfort of my room because of a nightmare.
Those memories always remind me that Korra was simply a child. When it came to being the Avatar, she didn't have a choice, but she embraced it wholeheartedly. I was her comfort during the hard times of dealing with the stress of not being able to fulfill her expectations the elders had of her, and she became the reason for existing during the times when I was silently struggling with the idea.
Two sisters, yet two different battles we had to face inside the same place.
I had miraculously made it to twenty years of age, my bloodbending lessons finally over. I've came out mentally and physically different than when I first started; my precious childhood years gone to a pitiful waste. But sometimes I let myself pretend that I wasn't broken. That I was a normal, bubbly twenty-year old that still loved things such as fashion and all the romance and adventure books that kept her entertained in her own world when boredom ensued instead of as an excuse to escape from her difficult reality.
But, there was no point burying myself in deep bitterness, as the development assisted me into becoming almost like a second parental figure to my little sister, Korra. It was much needed since our mother and father didn't live with us in the Compound, but in the same village and house from before. They'd visit monthly, but never daily or weekly for the reason in case someone who would be interested in capturing the Avatar would follow them and find out the secluded hiding place.
All throughout my time, I had watched Korra grew up to be an ecstatic, hot-headed, stubborn girl who was nearing adulthood, and almost finished with her Avatar training with only one more element needed to be mastered.
Although her water, fire, and earthbending skills were great, she still had a lot to learn before she can go out into the open world. But, I believed Korra could save the world from falling into any chaos that could ensue and bring peace and balance for years to come. And I'll hopefully be right behind her in support with every big leap of the way as her older sister.