Disclaimer: I do hereby disclaim all rights and responsibilities for the characters in this collection. Kudos to Bryke, indeed.
Pairing: Howl/Korra,Tahno/Korra
Genre: Romance/Friendship/Drama
Word Count: 2,428
Rating: PG-13/T (Maybe M for language?)
Prompt: Tahnorra Week — Day 3: Moonlight. The 1sentence challenge table, theme set: Gamma.
Summary: And this is the real beginning. — Howl/Korra, Tahno/Korra. "break the ice" universe.

Author's Notes: Just playing around. This is something that I've been dabbling with on-and-off since the end of May. I just think that both of these characters (plus the bloodbending brothers) are the most fascinating in the series. Part of this came from my love for the headcanon that Tahno was a streetfighter who was sponsored and pulled in off the streets just like Mako and Bolin). I also think it would mean so much as a social commentary to have pro-bending be nothing more than a cover for big organized crime (Thank you, aiffe, author of 1,000 Yuans, for such fantastic and creative insight!), but I decided to play around with a slightly different approach this time. Also, as always: I don't pretend to utilize proper grammar. My days of abiding by English standards are on hiatus.

MUSICAL INSPIRATION: "Born to Die" by Lana Del Rey (because I'm currently obsessed). Also, just blast "Heartlines" by Florence + The Machine. Always.

Born to Die

#01 – Ring
Water, earth, fire, air; his heart stills as her heart beats, and so it begins anew.

#02 – Hero
A young, curious Tahno expresses his confusion with less tact than his teacher had hoped for ("I don't get it—how could the most powerful bender in the world be a girl?"), and she has a very strong feeling that it will require a power much greater than herself to ever dull the sharpness of his tongue.

#03 – Memory
Before Tahno is even old enough to properly pronounce the word "marriage," he decides that if he can't be the best, then he will have the best, and this is the argument he proposes to his classroom on the morning he declares that one day he is going to befriend the Avatar.

#04 – Box
But declaration or no, he still strives to win, and even during the simplest of games does Tahno easily catch what others struggle to see at all—weaknesses, flaws, triggers, hesitation—and it's said that no one has ever seen a child so young play the way he does; to Tahno, a person is merely a moving target, and they see early on that this boy—this prodigy—is a natural-born fighter.

#05 – Run
When Aang received the news—it's you, you are the one, you are the Avatar—it took no time at all before he realized how very little he wanted such responsibility, and so he took off into the wind; when Korra realizes what she is and what that means, she doesn't bother waiting for someone to come and find her—she proudly claims her title at the tender age of four, fists wound tightly, fire blazing.

#06 – Hurricane
They watch as his skills improve with each passing year, and they tell Tahno that one day not too far from now, when this budding Pro-Bending business gets booming, he will swoop in and take the whole world by storm.

#07 – Wings
Since grooming underage youth for professional fighting was made illegal by Fire Lord Zuko's reconstruction legislation sixty-five years ago, nine-year-old Tahno is sent off to complete his training as an "apprentice" at one of Republic City's up-and-coming gyms; it isn't just about shipping him off to the big city, to the golden arena, or to the open ring—it is about getting him into a world that is better than the one into which he had been born.

#08 – Cold
Korra sits atop the highest wall on the training compound and, while she has lived here for years now, this place—this fortress, this prison—still feels no closer to home, and she wonders for the first time in not-so-many days what it might be like to see a flower bloom in the springtime.

#09 – Red
She can hear what they say about her, you know, when they think she's not listening; to this, she thinks, I can't help it if I'm just not afraid of a little fire.

#10 – Drink
He is thirteen when he has his first taste of alcohol; it is cheap and burns through his senses like he is flooding his throat with disinfectant, but the trainers just laugh boisterously, and their rough, meaty hands pat him on the back encouragingly as the poison slugs its way down.

#11 – Midnight
There are plenty of White Lotus members—everywhere, all the time—but there is one member who is fairly close in age to hers; one night he finds her alone on the rooftop, near tears, and when she orders him to go away he joins her instead, silently coming to rest just a little ways away and simply sits with her, staring up at the brilliant night sky.

#12 – Temptation
Even though she knows that any opportunity to make friends in such an unwelcoming terrain is precious, and that she should try a little harder to be forgiving, she can't help but smirk with satisfaction at the rude village boy's snowball-stained tears.

#13 – View
It is not when Korra plays pranks or laughs that Katara sees some of Aang in this new Avatar; it is when she sees the fresh light of hope and trust and belief glowing within the young eyes of someone so utterly fascinated with life.

#14 – Music
His praises are sung by everyone, and all too soon they become expected.

#15 – Silk
And the only thing better than hearing his talent lauded, Tahno thinks, is hearing the sound of his own voice.

#16 – Cover
Even at age fifteen, even after having proven herself a determined fighter, even while she is still locked away in an impenetrable fortress deep within the most treacherous terrain on the planet, the Order of the White Lotus watches her like a hawk; they claim that it is for her protection, but some days it's so much that she wants to scream at them, to remind the guards that she is not Aang and that she will not run and she will not be afraid, but Katara is always nearby, so she bites her tongue and tells the guards that she and Naga will not be gone for long.

#17 – Promise
"I teach you this only out of necessity, and you must swear to me that you will never use it," Katara tells her gravely, and it is as if Korra can see the full moon reflected red in her mentor's clear, clear eyes.

#18 – Dream
"I'm sorry, no—I just haven't been able to—I mean, I can't... Aang hasn't come to me yet."

#19 - Candle
Fire Lord Zuko supports the White Lotus' decision to keep to tradition and to begin her real firebending training only after her earthbending mastery is complete, and he announces as much while visiting her on her sixteenth birthday; however, after dinner Zuko slips a single wrapped candle into her parka's pocket with a scroll of breathing exercises and a wink, and Korra hides her smile while Sifu Katara pretends not to notice.

#20 – Talent
Tahno is undoubtedly a natural when it comes to bending—he could easily master the art in any of the waterbending disciplines, if he were to choose to—but instead his time is spent being trained and groomed for greatness from a bitter war veteran who does not rely on guidelines or rules or trusting others to play fair and who emphasizes thinking outside the box.

#21 – Silence
She finds the White Lotus member—that boy, he's just a kid, like me—crying silent tears in the stables one night and—as he runs away from the pen, away from her—it is the first time in a very long time that she is reminded that the nameless protectors who watch over her endlessly are all people, all unique, all human.

#22 - Journey
The first time that Tahno slips up in the ring, he is made certain—blasts of water, spikes of ice, waves of blistering steam—to never forget it.

#23 – Fire
Though her preference is obvious, Korra never dares speak it aloud; Katara promises that she will always care about her little Avatar, no matter what, but Korra has learned a thing or two about her mentors over the years—and she knows how difficult it can be for the people of the compound to love her—so, for Sifu Katara, she tries to make things just a little less difficult.

#24 – Strength
"Put your back into it, boy, you bastard swamp scum."

#25 – Mask:
Korra doesn't really understand how she's gotten roped into helping Katara with organizing the boring historical records in the first place, but she is still eager to show the old woman the wooden face of the Blue Spirit she's found among the archives; perplexed, she watches Katara trace worn and wrinkled fingertips over the chipping faded paint and thinks she understands even less when Katara, without warning, suddenly gives Korra the rest of the day off.

#26 – Ice
"I promise you they're blue... when you're close enough to see them clearly," he whispers low, eyes locked onto the dark-haired girl in the dim light of the noodle bar he's begun to frequent; she laughs breathlessly, almost noiselessly under the indistinct chatter of life that surrounds them, and leans in close across the table.

#27 – Fall
Tahno had never really met his parents, so when his trainer—his coach, his father, his tyrant, his gateway to freedom—suffers from a sudden heart attack and is found dead by none other than this barely-a-man prodigy, keeled over and stiff on the floor in the gym locker room, he's not quite sure what to feel.

#28 – Forgotten
Tahno rarely thinks of his young promise to befriend the Avatar; that boy—that young, naïve, stupid child—is gone, lost in the littered streets of back-alley gyms of crying women and rusty knives, and Tahno—who walks along streets paved in gold, who drinks the wine of the gods, who is a king among men—will never look for that little boy again.

#29 - Dance
"My name is Howl," the young boy whispers, his voice barely breaking the silence of the snow.

#30 – Body
It is said that "wine hath drowned more men than the sea," which Tahno thinks is a load of shit; when he tries to take a swing at the noodle-making bartender who tells him so and winds up in a headlock, he decides that it might be an appropriate time to reevaluate.

#31 – Sacred:
"I have nowhere else to go," Tahno reluctantly admits, his arrogance seeping out through his shrug like a silk scarf slipping off his shoulders because he is lost in so many ways, and it's not like he's ever really been trained in humility; Narook only nods, his stern eyes softening in a way that Tahno is not used to seeing, and says, "Then stay."

#32 – Farewells
They knew that this wouldn't last forever and Korra and Howl know that it would better to end this now, before anyone can get hurt; they decide to simply remain as friends.

#33 – World
The time for action is coming—nobody seems to understand this, but she can feel it in her blood.

#34 – Formal
"Katara, please, how is this supposed to—I don't even know where it ties up—this is so not practical!"

#35 – Fever
She can feel the weight of time passing by like never before and she channels all of her energy and focus into training and fighting, knowing that the Council will jump on any excuse to postpone her assessments; "I just want to get away," she confesses to Howl one evening, and only too late does she understand the repercussions.

#36 – Laugh
It'd taken Korra a year and a half to see him as human, a day to see him as a man, and one joke to see him as a friend.

#37 – Lies
The first night she lies with him, it's in a cocoon of warm blankets among the straw in the darkest corner of the stables.

#38 – Forever
Her first is with her sworn protector, a secret friend, a boy thrust into responsibility and service far too young, a man named Howl; late at night, during the times when it's safe to catch whispers in the dark, she tells him that he can trust her, because when she tells him that she will love him forever, the spirit within her knows it to be true.

#39 – Overwhelmed
But: "You'll be leaving soon, to a place where we may no longer be necessary," Howl reminds her, and no matter the number of lumps in her throat, Korra can't deny it.

#40 – Whisper
"I hear that they will be releasing him into the arena soon," gossips one bettor to another, and it is not long before the preparations in the books are made.

#41 – Wait
Though they have sworn to protect one another, their allegiances must always lie elsewhere first—he to the Order of the White Lotus and she to the greater good of the cosmos—and it is with Howl that Korra learns a very important, very difficult lesson, one which Avatar Aang never mastered: being the Avatar means always, always putting the needs of others before your own.

#42 – Talk
There is a great deal of debate as to whether or not she is even ready to test for her firebending examination, and she wishes that Fire Lord Zuko were here to support her, but much of what she's done her entire life is proven people wrong, and she's not about to stop now.

#43 – Search
Though he is known only among the most inner circles of hell, he knows that the world has been awaiting his arrival for years, and he shall not keep them waiting any longer; flyers are posted, sources are contacted, bargains are struck, figurehead teammates are selected, and—finally—Tahno the Wolfbat flies free.

#44 – Hope
"I'm sorry, Korra—your airbending training is going to have to wait."

#45 - Eclipse
Three years, three championships, three titles pass by, but Tahno is always at the center of it all; it's like the moon has passed over the sun, and he's been so preoccupied that by the time he takes a moment to look around him, the sun is no longer there, already hidden away, and the moon—what was once supposed to bring strength and purpose to his soul—is nothing but a deep blood red.

#46 – Gravity
Pro-Bending is what centers him, it's what grounds him, thrills him, feeds him, but—is this all there is?

#47 – Highway
The voyage to Republic City is a long, long, long one and, quite honestly, she sleeps for most of it; her waking hours are filled with excitement and anticipation, but in the quiet, lonely night hours, the sharp sadness of Howl's goodbye still haunts her, and as she passes the time training in the cargo hold, she is filled with a bitter longing.

#48 – Unknown
Somehow, they both—Korra of the Southern Water Tribe and Tahno of the White Falls Wolfbats—still think they're ready for whatever it is that lies ahead of them.

#49 – Lock
They lock gazes in a crowded, dusty noodle bar downtown, and since Korra is so distracted that she can barely pay attention to Bolin anymore, she just has to ask, "Hey, who's that creepy guy over there that keeps glaring at us?"

#50 – Breathe
Toe-to-toe: he breathes out as she breathes in, and this is the real beginning.

End Note: Please review! :)

"Wine hath drowned more men than the sea." — THOMAS FULLER