Winding Legacies: A 'The Legend of Korra' Rewrite

The Three Year Gap, Month Thirteen: Bolin

Hey journal,

I know it's been a while. I'm writing to you because I can't really write to anyone else. Apparently, you can't maintain a mysterious and secret aura while also spilling all your inner thoughts and secrets to whoever you sit next to on the train. I think that's a little ridiculous, but I'm trying to fit in more with Kisuta and Opal. Their whole lookalike situation kinda freaks me out, and they're both so intense, so I think it would be better for me if I just acted like them. Or, at the very least, it might make this all way less unnerving. I really shouldn't've checked up on Aiyi and Duya after I sent them on their way from Kyoshi Island. Minding my business would have really paid off right about now.

I also really miss my friends. I know I didn't actually talk to them all that much before, but man is it boring not hearing from them. Even hearing about Mako's weird college stories would be better than infiltrating Earth Kingdo

Bolin pursed his lips. That certainly would have been a terrible thing to put in writing. Luckily, he painted over it with heavy-handed scribbled strokes and it was all gone.

Almost.

"Why journaling?"

Bolin quickly snapped his notebook shut before Opal's prying questions could encourage her to turn her keen gaze to what he almost just wrote about. "Why not journaling?" Opal gave him a strange look but didn't question his behavior any further.

"I dunno, I've just always found that it does nothing but let emotions fester, usually for the worst."

"True, but it also just lets you get everything out there. That way, you can let it go."

Opal smiled thinly. "Letting go would be nice."

"Yeah, but I gotta admit, even I haven't gotten to that part yet. Maybe one day." He was content to just leave it there, but he couldn't help but hold the curious look in Opal's eyes. It seemed as if there was more she wanted to say, yet she didn't move to say it. "What?"

"Nothing," she said hurriedly at first. Then, she took a quick look over to the opposite side of the train car where Kisuta, Aiyi, and Duya all curled around each other, and said, "I was just wondering where you met Aiyi and Duya. They seem like sweet kids."

Bolin rolled his eyes. "Sweet's certainly a word for it. I met them out in the Earth Kingdom. I think they thought they were saving me from the corrupt law as I now know it. I didn't really understand it at the time, but I'm glad they were willing to help. I can't say that I would have done the same when I was their age."

"Really?" Bolin nodded.

"Why, were you an upstandingly moral person when you were a preteen?"

Chuckling, Opal shifted slightly in her seat. They both shared a deep booth in the train car simply because Kisuta thought it would be better for them all to be together rather than separated. Not that he minded. As much as they both intimidated them, he didn't really like to be alone.

"I wouldn't say that, but I definitely wasn't dooming helpless people to the whims of the corrupt law."

"Oh, then what were you doing when you were younger?"

"You say that like I'm old. I'm only twenty."

Bolin pretended to wrinkle his nose in disgust. "That's basically ancient to an eighteen-year-old." Oapl kicked his shin as a quiet roll of laughter threatened to spill across her lips.

"Whatever." Pulling her knees back toward her chest, she began to say, "When I was younger, I was nearly getting caught by Enforcers trying to sabotage important Earth Queen proceedings, may she not rest in peace."