Winding Legacies: A 'The Legend of Korra' Rewrite

Kuvira's Lost Days

Mrs. Shah's foot bounced rhythmically against the floor. Her glasses slipped down the bridge of her nose as she tilted her head toward Kuvira's stubbornly crossed arms. "Do you really have nothing to say for yourself?"

Kuvira twisted herself even further away from her teacher and the boy to her left. She couldn't tell whether he was crying or just had a really weird breathing pattern, either way, she didn't really care. Nothing was going to make her take back what she said.

Mrs. Shah sighed and leaned back in her chair. Pushing her glasses upward with a strict finger, she turned to the other kid. "Min, are you alright?"

"No," he sniffled.

Kuvira rolled her eyes as he roughly swiped his entire forearm against his nose. That's what he deserved for licking at the Earth Queen's heels. Mrs. Shah carefully studied both of the kids for a few long moments before realizing that no amount of reconciliation was about to occur. So, she sent Min on his way home, telling him to have his parents come visit her whenever they could.

She hadn't let Kuvira leave, though, and frowned tiredly at her from underneath the frames of her glasses. "If this instance is submitted formally, this will be the fourth time you have had to be assigned to a different class. They will not allow you to have a fifth."

Still, Kuvira kept her gaze averted.

"Look, I think it is safe to assume that you learned these things from your parents, and I am in no way trying to challenge how they raised you, but if you keep getting in trouble for saying the things you do, the Earth Queen's Enforcers will hear about it. And they will not bother punishing you, they will go straight to the source."

Holding her breath, Kuvira blinked rapidly. Slowly, she turned in her chair to face her teacher, a tight coil setting in her jaw. Her stomach sank as she asked, "Why won't they hurt me?"

"Because you are young and you have so much time to change how you see the world. Those my age often do not get that luxury. The Enforcers know this and they respond accordingly."

She had thought correcting those kids would make her parents proud, but what good would that do if the Enforcers took them like old Mister Erun from down the road? "I'm sorry, Mrs. Shah. Please don't report this."

"I'm afraid it is out of my hands now, but I will urge Min's parents to consider an alternative consequence than reporting the incident. In the future, though, it would do you well to think before you act. A deer-rabbit blindly bounding down the streamside can only fare so well against a cunning fox-bird waiting for it in the trees."

Kuvira fought the urge to smile. The Deer-Rabbit was her favorite book that Mrs. Shah had taught them and she had gotten the highest marks on all of their assignments on it. She was even allowed to keep the copy she had borrowed to read at home. It sat proudly on her nightstand, a reminder that even the smallest animal in the forest could come out on top.

"Thank you, Mrs. Shah."

"It is my pleasure, Kuvira."

Her parents hadn't been as calm as Mrs. Shah had been despite her grave annoyance at Kuvira's continuous outburst. For weeks, they wouldn't let her go play out in the streets with the other kids. She was to remain inside, either cleaning every inch of every room or listening to her father as he rambled about how the Earth Queen managed to amass as much power as she had.

She used to be excited to hear her father tell her all he knew. It was like getting a peek into a world that she wouldn't get to know. But since Mrs. Shah told her that bad things could happen because of talk like that, she couldn't bear to hear her parents sound so jovial over their hatred of the Queen.