Empress Of The Old World {Legend Of Korra}

See Me

Emotions running high after being reminded of her past, Sukara closed the journal. Placing it lightly back on top of the other papers, she turned to find the man who had shown her this place eagerly waiting in the corner.

"What do you want from me?" Sukara asked, a dangerous quietness in her tone, tears of rage and pain starting to appear on her waterline.

"My father told me about all of this," he told her, stepping closer, "about our families history. You're my ancestor."

"I'm not," Sukara chuckled, coming quite quickly to the conclusion that the man didn't know as much as he thought he did.

"But, it says--" he started but Sukara waved him off.

"Listen kid, I don't have any kids," Sukara explained, "I never have. My brother died, childless and alone. My father was an only child and my mother's brother died young so, no risk of cousins either. You're not a descendent of mine."

"But, I'm of Mushi's line," he stuttered, looking like his whole purpose was crumbling around him, "he survived in this canyon through the end of the old world. Look."

He pointed at a carving in the wall behind her. Sukara hadn't looked around that much, she had been focused on the journal. She turned to see the little carvings in the rock and sure enough there was little rock Mushi climbing down a cave and hiding from the Lion Turtles.

"Slick son of a bitch," Sukara mumbled as she traced over the carving with her finger tips.

"Mushi wrote about you in his journals after hiding," the man told her, trying to get to admit what he had been told his whole life, "he got married. He referred to her only as Sukara. His empress."

"As usual, Mushi is full of shit," Sukara told him, simply not caring for the strangers heartbreak of being lied to by her old second in command, "and I really hope his actual wife didn't read his journals. Now, are you going to tell me why you were attacking spirits to get my attention? Or did you not think to just talk to me?"

"I've learned a lot about spirits," he said, slumping himself down on the ground, "after you came out of the ice, I wanted to know how to help you and thats when I started to learn more about Vaatu. I read that in order to make him stronger you have to create dark spirits. And if you were going to create a new empire then you'd need the Avatar out of the way, and you'd need Vaatu to be at full strength to do that."

As he spoke, explaining what he had done, the glare on Sukara's face grew deeper and angrier.

"The forest is a spirit wild," he continued, "without the vines its hard to tell but it appeared after the portals were opened. If you cut down the trees its like cutting into spirits. Nothing worked them up like that did."

"Let me get this straight," Sukara said, her voice shaking with rage by this point, "you attacked spirits, strengthening Vaatu. Giving me nightmares and this emotional instability that I can't control. Brought me here, hoping that showing me everything I hate about myself would lead to me attacking my friend and not your death?"

"That pretty much sums it up yeah," he said, his head hanging low, feeling like an idiot.

"And you're not even going to fight back?" Sukara asked, everything he did was odd to her. Nothing about his actions made sense.

"How can I?" he said, lifting his head a little to look at her, "you're an Avatar, and I can't even bend."

"You've got to be kidding me," Sukara exclaimed, almost laughing, "you did all of this for a man that would have hated you so much that he would've killed you on sight. Are you stupid?"

The man hung his head in shame again. There was nothing he could do now.

"Mushi was an asshole, yes," Sukara said, shaking her head. As she spoke, she made two swift and solid movements, causing the man to be encased in rock first, then hit down to keep him in position with the second. "but he wasn't stupid. And he never would have done this."

"You're gonna kill me," he said, his voice starting to shake.

"Yes, I am," Sukara told him, her tone trying to maintain a cold calmness but the rage and emotion shook it anyway, "as we're in the Earth Kingdom, I thought we'd keep it traditional."

A sharp touch to the ground and a raising of her arm, a pillar of earth shot up diagonally. Hitting him in the side of the jaw, twisting his neck until it broke.

In the silence that ensued, Sukara turned away from the body. Not wanting to look at what she'd done. Her eyes travelled the carved wall and landed on the depiction of her own execution. Her mother standing above her in the stone. The image only made everything worse. Sukara screamed, breaking the silence. In a rage, she raked through the carving, destroying it. As the tears fell, she allowed herself to errupt, bending what she had to get rid of the hollow. Burying it in fire and stone.