Chapter 1

A New Life

Avatar Korra had defeated Chief Unalaq during the Harmonic Convergence. With that, the War of the Water Tribes had come to an end and the Southern Water Tribe has been liberated from the North, with Tonraq as the rightful new Chief.

Korra was enjoying breakfast with her parents and some new officials in the dining room of the Southern Water Tribe palace. The new officials were the former Southern Water Tribe rebels who fought with Tonraq against Chief Unalaq during the civil war. Some of them were actually Tonraq's close friends ever since he moved to the South. Malek is Tonraq's closest buddy and was his right hand man during the rebellion against the Northerners. Now, Tonraq appointed him general of the Southern Water Tribe Army.

Korra turned to her father and asked, "So, Dad, after you got banished from the North, how hard was it for you to adjust to your new life in the South? I mean, you were royalty and then you suddenly had no choice but to live a much simpler life than you used to."

"It certainly was really hard," Tonraq replied, smiling. Korra's mother, Senna, and the new officials chuckled.

"Tell me more!"

"Sure!" Tonraq agreed.

"As someone so used to living a luxurious life of a royal crown prince," Tonraq began, "living a simple life is very difficult for me. I thought it was so demeaning. I have to admit I used to think that Southerners are beneath me," as he reminisced how he came to embrace his new life twenty years ago…

Tonraq messed up.

He only wanted to protect his tribe.

Those bandits were attacking the Northern Water Tribe. What was he, prince of the Northern Water Tribe, heir to the chiefdom, and general of the tribe military, to do? Fight them back, of course. Attack, capture and imprison them as they deserve, so that they will not damage the tribe again. At all costs.

The bandits fled into the sacred forest, where spirits are said to dwell. If they thought he will not go after them just because they hid in a holy place, they thought wrong. He successfully led the troops and captured the bandits. But the forest was destroyed in the process. Angry spirits later rampaged the Northern Water Tribe and only Unalaq was able to calm them down. The tribe was heavily damaged.

And this is what he got for his efforts to protect the tribe: banishment.

Before, he would arrive on the Southern Water Tribe on a large, grandiose royal ship. He went there along with his family for a vacation, political business, or to attend the Glacial Spirits Festival. He would be welcomed with fear and respect by the Southerners aware of his royal blood. He would stay there for a week and go back to the North with his family.

Now, he was going to the Southern Water Tribe by his small sailboat. He would be there not for a vacation, political business or to attend a festival. Rather, he would stay there for life and be forbidden to go back to his precious homeland in the North, ever.

This is humiliating, Tonraq thought, how would they react if they found out that I was banished?

His exhausting journey from one end of the world to the other is almost over. He could see the Southern Water Tribe skyline from where he was, and the tiny lights that lit up the buildings by the sea.

There was a gentle but icy breeze. The gentle waves kept pushing his boat toward the land.

Minutes later, his small sailboat docked on the harbor. The harbor was empty, save for a few big ships and a lot of small boats.

He wasn't excited about getting off his boat.

There were people on the harbor, walking around, some of them carrying cargo. Tonraq decided to drag himself out of the boat.

A few people noticed him and ran towards him. "Prince Tonraq!"

Tonraq sighed sadly at the title that used to make his heart burst with pride.

"Don't call me 'Prince' Tonraq anymore," he told the Southerners.

"Why not?" One of them asked.

"Because…" he choked back tears, "I was banished."

The Southerners gasped.

Later, Tonraq was sitting with a few Southerners around a small bonfire, eating soup along with them.

"So, what happened? Why were you… banished?" A young man named Malek asked him.

There was silence. Everyone's eyes were on Tonraq, who didn't know how to say it. He just couldn't move on. He held his soup bowl tightly.

"I… got banished because… I accidentally destroyed a spirit forest back in the North."

The silence after he said that was a lot more awkward than the first. An eccentric man spoke up, "Seriously? You were banished just for that?"

The rest of the Southerners laughed, to Tonraq's confusion.

"What a stupid father you have!"

"Just for the spirits?!"

Tonraq joined in their laughter, realizing that they weren't laughing at him after all.