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This story details the childhood of my character Tahlia. I hope to post more stories about her later.
DISCLAIMER: I do not own the rights to The Legend of Korra. Credit for the series goes to Brian Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino. This is purely a fan work, and is by no means to be associated with official material.
WARNING: Contains spoilers for The Legend of Korra.
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The Northern Water Tribe
“Oof!” She squeaked as she landed on her rump. Undeterred, she jumped back up and began brushing her thick brown hair into a neat braid. Proudly, she surveyed herself in the mirror.
“Perfect!” She announced happily. Quickly, she pulled on her warm leather boots and coat and rushed out to the kitchen, where her mother could always be found.
“Mom, can I go and see Aunty Kymma and Uncle Kodarr?” She asked excitedly.
Her mother turned from her work to look at her.“My, you’re already dressed and ready to go, aren’t you?” She laughed. “Why so excited?”
“Tarrlok and Noatak have a free day, so they invited me to come and play. We’ll have snow ball fights, and make forts, and have races! It’s going to be so fun! Can I go, Mom, please?”
Smiling, her mother bent down and kissed her forehead. “Alright, Tahlia. You can go. But you stay right with them! And listen to what Noatak tells you. He’ll watch out for you.”
“Okay, thanks!” Tahlia said, hugging her mother. She dashed out the door and headed for her cousin’s house.
As she went, Tahlia thought about all the fun that they would have that day. Tarrlok and Noatak were the best cousins anyone could ask for. They had taugh her all sorts of things, like how to use a staff, how to build an igloo... Noatak had even showed her how to form a snowball with waterbending. Tahlia wasn’t very good at it yet, but she was learning.
It wasn’t long before Tahlia reached their house. Kymma was busy hanging clothes to dry on the line, and saw her coming. “Good morning, Tahlia! I see you’re up bright and early today.” She said, smiling.
“Yup!” Tahlia said, coming over to greet her. “Tarrlok told me to come early.”
“They’re out back right now with a few of their friends.” Said Kymma. “Have fun!”
“Thanks, Aunty Kymma!” Tahlia called as she rushed around to meet them.
Tarrlok’s eyes narrowed in concentration as he focused on the game. Across from them, husky young boy was waterbending an ice-ball in neat, smooth circles between his hands. Suddenly, he whirled around, flinging the snowball forward, just to Tarrlok’s left.
Tarrlok lunged in an attempt to block the ice-ball, but he missed and crashed into the snowbank. The ball whizzed past him and landed in the rectangular pit behind him. The rest of his team, which consisted of three other young boys, groaned.
The husky boy and his team laughed, jumping up and down in their victory. “Yes!” He cried. “Another score for Team IceWolf!”
“Not so fast!” Came a voice. Confused, the others turned around to see Noatak standing with his hand outstretched, and the snowball hovering just an inch above the pit. He took advantage of the other team’s momentary disbelief to bend the ice-ball into the opposite pit, where it landed with a crash and shattered into hundreds of pieces.
“Yay! Great job, Noatak! Way to save the game! Go, Team TurtleSeal!”
Noatak smiled. “That gives us the extra point we needed. We win, Hayau.”
Hayau, the husky boy, shrugged. “Good game, Noa’. Wanna play again?”
“Okay!” Said Tarrlok. The other boys readily agreed.
“Wait for me! I want to play too.” Tahlia called as she dashed around the corner. Turning, Tarrlok smiled. “Hey, Tahlia, you made it!”
But Hayau frowned. “Ah, you invited a girl?”
“Yeah, what’s the problem?” Noatak asked testily.
“We’re playing rough. Girls don’t like to play rough!” Hayau protested.
“Tahlia’s different. Besides, she’s our cousin!” Tarrlok said.
Hayau crossed his arms. “Well, she’s too young to play with us. Look how short she is! She’d never keep up. She’d just get in our way.”
Tahlia frowned. “That’s not fair! Why can’t I play? Just ‘cause I can’t run as fast as you doesn’t mean I can’t play with you!”
“Calm down, Tahlia. He’s just being a bully.” Noatak said, placing his hand on her shoulder. Turning to Hayau, he said, “I’ll tell you what. I’ll give up my place in the game, and team up with Tahlia instead. Since you think she’s too weak to play, the two of us together should equal one player. Does that sound fair?”
Hayau shrugged. When it came to fair, Noatak was pretty unmoveable. “Fine. Do what you want.”
“Thanks, Noatak!” Tahlia said, hugging him.
Noatak smiled and patted her back. “We’ll show him.”
“On your mark...” Hayau said, bracing himself. The other players crouched, ready for the game to begin.
“... Get set.... GO!” Hayau finished. The boys leaped into action, each vying for controll of the new ice-ball as it whizzed across the playing field.This time, Hayau was determined was determined not to lose. He ran forward, dodging the TurtleSeal players and aggressively snatching the ice-ball from their hands. He continued running, taking aim and preparing to bend it into the TurtleSeal pit.
The other players ran as fast as they could to keep up with him. Tahilia struggled to run through the snow, but it was too deep for her.
Beside her, Noatak grabbed her hand. “Come on, Tahlia! Now’s our chance!”
Tahlia put an extra burst of energy into her run, trying to keep up with him.
Noatak looked up and saw the rest of his team attempting to keep Hayau from their goal-pit. But Hayau wasn’t taking no for an answer. When Tarrlok jumped in front of him, he arms held high to block the ice-ball, Hayou roughly shoved him aside and into the snow. Noatak frowned.
Kneeling down, he said to Tahlia, “Come on, Tahl’. We can’t let him beat us, can we?”
He motioned for her to climb on his back. Obediently, Tahlia did so, and he quickly got up and started running. Tahlia laughed as they picked up speed.
“Come on! Let’s get ‘em!” She shouted.
They reached the rest of the group just as Hayau was about to throw the ice-ball into the goal-pit.
“You ready?” Noatak asked.
“You bet!” Tahlia replied.
With that, Noatak dove down, landing on his back and sliding in front of Hayau. Before he hit the ground, Tahlia jumped up and used her waterbending to knock the ice-ball out of Hayau’s hands and into the air.
On the other side, Tarrlok was ready. He jumped up and grabbed the ball, sending it spinning into the IceWolf’s goal-pit.
Once again, the TurtleSeals burst into a cheer as Noatak picked himself up and brushed the snow off of his coat. Beaming, he took Tarrlok and Tahlia’s hands and held them in the air.
“We win!!!” Tahlia and Tarrlok shouted.
“Still think she can’t play, Hayau?” Noatak asked smugly.
Grumbling, Hayau admitted that he had been wrong. “Alright, fine. So she can play. You were right.”
Noatak winked at Tahlia. “That’s the way to show him. You’re one of the team, Tahlia!”
Tahlia smiled, and was about to say something, when she was interrupted by her uncle, Kodarr, appeared behind them.
“Tarrlok, Noatak!” He shouted.
Poor Tarrlok nearly jumped out of his skin. The smile on Noatak’s face quickly disappeared as they both turned to face their father.
“Yes, Dad?” Tarrlok answered.
“Don’t you remember? We have another hunting trip tonight. It’s time to get ready to go, if we want to do some hunting before nightfall.”
With a barely perceptible sigh, Noatak nodded and started walking toward the house.
“Come on, Tarrlok.” He said.
Tarrlok waved goodbye to his friends. “Bye, guys! Sorry we have to leave so soon. We’’ll see you later!” he turned to Tahlia. “Bye, Tahlia. That was a great save you did!”
Tahlia smiled. “Thanks. Bye, Tarrlok, bye Noatak. Have fun on your hunting trip!”
But this time, neither of them answered her. Both of them just turned and followed their father back to the house.
Tahila sighed, and turned to go back to her own home. For some reason she could never understand, Tarrlok and Noatak both changed when it came to hunting trips.
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Tune in next time for Part II !
-Rayne Speryll
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