Chapter Text
Book One: Earth
Prologue
Earth.
Fire.
Air.
Water.
170 years ago, the Fire Nation started a war with the entire world. Thousands of lives were taken, and no one came away unscathed. The Avatar, Master of All Four Elements, who was supposed to manage the balance of the Four Nations, was nowhere to be found. The war raged on for 100 years, and with no one in his way, the Firelord, Ozai, almost won. But, 70 years ago, Avatar Aang reappeared and defeated Ozai. The new Firelord and Aang’s Firebending master, Zuko, made reparations with the world and, together with Avatar Aang, restored harmony to the world. The Earth King Kuei gave up a portion of the Earth Kingdom and, together with the Fire Nation and Northern and Southern Water Tribes, formed the United People’s Republic, a multicultural haven where all the people of the world can intermingle and be one with one another. The UPR’s capital, Republic City, became the most populated city in the world and a flagship of technological innovation and peace.
Chapter One: The Search
It was a cold winter night in Republic City, and the mourning bells were tolling. Normally, they were reserved for the deaths of public figures or war heroes, but tonight, their tolling was for a much more somber purpose. The Avatar was dead.
The world mourned the death of their savior, who ended the Hundred-Year War, but there was no time to waste. Since the end of the Hundred-Year War, it has been the Order of the White Lotus’s sworn duty to find and help the next Avatar master the elements. The next element in the Cycle of Reincarnation was Water, which meant that the next Avatar would be a Waterbender. So, 4 years after the death of the Avatar, the White Lotus set out for the Northern Water Tribe. A messenger hawk was sent to prepare the Northern Citizens for their arrival, as every child born on the day of Avatar Aang’s death would be tested to determine if they were the one.
Every baby would be given hundreds of toys to choose from, every kind imaginable, from swords to fake animals. Every Avatar has been chosen this way, because every Avatar has chosen the same 4 toys. A clay turtle, a propeller on a string, a wooden hog-monkey, and a wooden hand drum. Many children chose some of these relics, others did not choose them at all. But not one candidate chose only the four toys that would make them out as the next Avatar. So, the White Lotus moved on.
The next stop was Republic City. Newsletters were passed out and newspapers were printed, asking all parents hailing from the water tribe to bring their 4-year-old children to the Republic City Avatar Temple to be tested. Not a single child was chosen. Lots of mothers in the city demanded for their child to be retested, but the White Lotus Representatives were already gone.
Finally, the Three Representatives arrived at the Southern Water Tribe. This wasn’t necessarily their final chance to the Avatar, but it would be very embarrassing to have to travel back to the north pole and redo the whole process.
Tonraq and Senna were spending a quiet night in their igloo. Senna had just gotten their daughter, Korra, to lay down and go to sleep, and Tonraq was trying to feed the family polar bear-dog, Naga, whom they kept outside.
“Hey, honey, will you pass me a knife? Naga isn’t eating her food. It might be too big for her, so I’m going to cut it up a bit and try again. Thank you very much,” Tonraq said, leaning through the open window
“Close the window, you’re letting all the hot air out!”
“Yep! Sorry, babe!” He closed the shutters with a click. The snow crunched beneath Tonraq’s boots as he trudged his way over to Naga’s small igloo. He had left a small fire going to keep her warm and provide light, but from the looks of things, that had gone out while he was getting the knife. Damn, he thought, now I’ve gotta go back and get the spark plates. Naga perked her head up at the sound of him approaching and started wagging her tail. Even at just a few months old, she was already big enough to topple you over if she got too excited.
It was about then that Tonraq heard footsteps coming from down the path. Naga leaped out of the Igloo and growled deep in her chest.
“Hello?! You had better show yourself, before Naga decides she’d rather have you for dinner!”
Three cloaked figures stepped out of the shadows and into the light from the house. The tallest of the three lowered his hood, revealing a wrinkled and tired visage .
“Good evening, sir. We are members of the Order of the White Lotus. We are just here to talk.”
“Korra. Korra, honey, wake up” Senna shook her child awake. “There’s someone i would like you to meet.”
Senna walked into the living room, leading a sleepy Korra by the hand. Korra walked behind her mother, leading a stuffed bear-seal by the hand. It was an extremely cute sight to behold.
“Korra, these men are from the Order of the White Lotus. They are here to give you some new toys to play with.”
The visitors had since taken off their cloaks, exposing the navy blue and silver robes underneath. This might have been a bad idea, though, as one of them was already shivering. The south pole wasn’t a good place for a Firebender.
“Hello, Korra,” he said while kneeling to her eye-level, “My name is Osamu. These are my friends, Ratna and Biming. We have some gifts for you.” The man to the right of Osamu, Ratna, apparently, set down the giant bag that was slung over his shoulder. Despite his attempts to set it down lightly, the bag hit the ground with a thud. Biming upturned the bag, revealing it’s contents to be hundreds toys. “Please, pick a few that you like. You can have as many as you want.”
Korra looked to her parents for affirmation. “Go on, dear,” urged Tonraq. Korra got down on her knees. None of these look very fun, Korra thought as she picked up a wooden ostrich-horse. She rifled through the rest of the toys, picking out the ones that she found the most appealing. After finishing, she wobbled towards her parents, 4 toys in her hand.
“Let me see what you have, child.” asked Biming, a port-bellied man. Korra held her four choices in her outstretched hands. Biming was awestruck. “Now, you’re sure that you don’t want any other toys? You can choose all of them if you want.” Korra shook her head. “I want these ones. The Hog-Monkey is cute.” she replied. Biming hastily looked to his comrades, eyes wide and full of excitement. “No,” whispered Senna, her voice full of disbelief. “It’s impossible,” remarked Tanroq. He looked down at the toys in his daughter’s hands. They were a clay turtle, a wooden hog-monkey, a hand drum, and a propeller on a string. The Avatar relics.
“I’m afraid you are wrong, Mr. Tanroq. Your daughter, out of hundreds, picked only 4 toys. Specifically, the 4 toys picked by every Avatar that has come before her. It must pain you to hear it, but your daughter is the Avatar.”