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Korra reclines against Naga and nibbles a freshly roasted piece of fish. Naga’s fur glistens in the sun, still wet from swimming and fishing. Korra squints her eyes as the sun grows brighter and decides to move underneath the shade of the sturdy awning covering half of her boat. Naga stays where she is laying, content to nap in the morning sun after filling her belly with fish. Korra uses her waterbending to fill a clay cup with water from the air around her. She takes a sip and looks out her small telescope at the horizon. The tiny sliver of land had grown larger since she had first spotted it the other day. None of her maps could tell her where she was. The waves had taken her deep into uncharted territories. For months, she had been content to let the currents take her wherever they wanted, but now she takes control of her sail and guides herself and Naga towards this strange new land.
Korra fingers the edges of the Future Industries logo at the base of her telescope. It was a gift from Asami before she had left on her voyage. Korra still didn’t know how Asami found out she was leaving. She had stolen out to the harbor in the dead of night with only Naga and a basic pack of supplies on her back. Korra had expected Asami to plead with her to stay but instead Asami merely shoved a small, soft parcel into her hands and wrapped her in a hug. Korra remembers how firm her arms had been; she always forgot how strong Asami was underneath all her layers of elegant sophistication and well-bred culture. Soft hair pressed against her face and she smelled the hints of perfume that always lingered around her. Velvet in her rough, calloused hands. Korra sighs and takes another sip of plain water.
The unspoken exchange. I need to go. I know.
Korra stands up and walks out into the sunlight. Naga raises her head in curiosity but continues laying on her side. Korra takes a deep breath and taps into the eternal energy that flows and ebbs between her body and her surroundings. She moves her arms with practiced ease and her boat shoots forward across the sea. It moves so swiftly that occasionally the boat’s underside only barely skims the surface of the water. Wind makes the sail billow and aids the waves that are bringing the promise of dry land closer and closer.
As the beach nears, Korra slows down. Before the front of her boat hits the beach, she and Naga jump out. They begin tugging on ropes to bring the boat onto the shore, and drag it all the way to the dense tree line that borders the sand. Korra uses bending to hide the boat underneath a dome of earth. She shoulders her pack and jumps into Naga’s saddle. Korra ducks low into the saddle as tree branches grasped at her long, unkempt hair. She is sure her hair ties are somewhere in her bag, but she doesn’t feel like attempting to dig through the scattered contents to find them.
Soon the trees stop and Korra is met with the sight of unbroken fields of spring green grass. The grasslands were greener than anything she has ever seen, even in the spirit world. The wind gently tugs at her hair and sends ripples over the idyllic plains. Naga pants happily and takes off like a fluffy juggernaut across the rolling grasslands. Korra laughs as she holds on tightly to Naga’s saddle. It’s hard to describe the feeling of riding on top of an overjoyed polar bear dog galloping at top speed. Asami once said it was like riding an avalanche.
Korra could see pink mountains and trees in the distance to the northwest. Naga thunders past a lone tree standing amongst the verdant grass. Tall mountains of ice and snow rise in the distance towards the northeast. Naga seems intent on going towards the land of pink, and Korra spies a large cream colored castle emerging from above the treetops.
Korra begins to smell something sweet as they near the pink trees. It reminds her of the air during the Glacier Spirits Festival when all sorts of vendors peddled delicious, warm confections for smiling, wide-eyed children. Korra almost begins to miss her family when Naga suddenly leaps into the air and snatches a large clump of puffy leaves in her maw. Unfortunately, Naga is about as graceful as Korra herself, and a large swatch of the gooey pink substance falls down on top of the two of them. Korra quickly learns the trees are topped in fact with cotton candy, not leaves. Naga and Korra are covered head to toe in a sticky, sugary mess. Naga seems quite pleased with herself and happily licks her fur. Korra is about to yell at her oldest friend before her face was met with a slimy kiss from Naga’s tongue. She can’t help but laugh and summons some water to wash off the cotton candy as best as she can from her arms and clothes.
Korra jumps off Naga and the two of them begin walking at a more relaxed pace. Naga cheerfully licks her chest and front legs, trying to extract every last bit of the sugary treat clinging to her. Korra decides to pull down a clump of cotton candy to munch on herself as they walk. After months of nothing but fish and the occasional patch of floating seaweed, Korra thinks she can eat cotton candy forever.
They find a break in the forest and an actual path that leads to the castle gates. Before they reach the gates, Korra hears a scream and sees a blue man and pink woman fly by over the tops of the trees. Korra feels the flames of a thousand winter campfires coalesce into the soles of her feet and rockets herself into the air towards the yelling pink lady and the cackling old man. As she catches up, she sees the woman’s hands and feet are encased in ice. Korra increases her speed until she slams into the blue-cloaked flying man. The old man is knocked off balance and falls into the cotton candy forest. Korra is able to catch the woman before she follows him. The woman’s hair mashes into Korra’s face and to her surprise is made of some solid gooey substance instead of individual thin strands. It smells like those new Varrick Chews that were starting to become a hit in Republic City.
Korra lands next to Naga and uses her bending to melt away the ice encapsulating the pink woman. Naga seemed intensely curious about her and excitedly sniffs her entire body, making wuffling sounds and wagging her tail madly.
“Down, Naga,” Korra says and Naga obediently moves away from the woman and goes off to find something or other to eat. Her ability to find food sometimes baffled Korra.
The pink woman pats down her clothes and readjusts her crown before saying, “Thank you for saving me from the Ice King, Miss-”
“Korra.”
“Thank you, Miss Korra. You can call me Princess Bubblegum. I’d like to invite you to dinner at my castle as thanks for rescuing me from that creep.”
Princess Bubblegum’s voice reminds her of someone else’s and she has to brush away feelings that arise unbidden. Without missing a beat Korra replies, “That sounds great. Naga and I just got here so we’d love to take you up on that offer.”
“Excellent. Well just follow me. Oh, and make sure your dog doesn’t eat any of my citizens or buildings.”
Before Korra could wonder about Princess Bubblegum’s strange request, Princess Bubblegum grabs her hand and leads her to the nearby city. Her hand is so small compared to Korra’s and it’s smooth and delicate. But it’s still forceful, unyielding. Naga follows behind them, looking at the princess thoughtfully.
When they walk through the gates, Korra can’t believe what she sees. Everyone inside the city is a giant version of some type of dessert or candy. Princess Bubblegum giggles at Korra’s slack-jawed appearance and says, “Welcome to the Candy Kingdom.”
Princess Bubblegum guides them to the castle in the center of the city. Smiling toffees and cakes wave at the princess and call greetings at Korra. Luckily, Naga seems to know she can’t eat them, but that doesn’t stop her from trying to snuffle everything in sight. When they arrive, a little man made of peppermint ushers them inside. The leaves Korra and Naga with him, excusing herself so she can finish reviewing some paperwork before dinner. She instructs Peppermint Butler to give them one of the spare rooms and to bring them to her private dining hall for dinner.
Peppermint Butler leads the two of them to a spacious room. He shows them the adjacent bathroom and leaves them with a stack of fresh towels and some soap that smells like strawberry candy. Korra strips off her clothes and takes her first real bath in months, not counting the occasional swims in the ocean with Naga. The bath water is caramel-colored, like watery molasses. She empties the tub and refills it with fresh new liquid after most of her layers of sweat and grime slough off her skin. Korra washes her filthy clothes and momentarily considers just burning them. But she decides first impressions are important and even though the candy people don’t wear clothes, Princess Bubblegum does. Not for the first time Korra wishes she had planned out her journey more carefully or at least had the presence of mind to bring a change of clothes. With a flick of her wrist Korra dries herself and her quantitatively if not qualitatively cleaner pants and tank top.
Miraculously, Korra manages to stay almost mostly dry while washing the filth out of Naga’s fur. Peppermint Butler enters the room right as Naga furiously shakes off all the offending clean water from her coat. If he is shocked by the mess he hides it well and merely informs Korra that dinner is ready. Korra quickly cleans the room as best as she can as she follows Peppermint Butler out of the room. Naga eats one of the lamps before she exits and Korra hopes that no one will notice.
As they walk down the hallways Korra examines the portraits hung carefully on the wall. Most of them picture Princess Bubblegum but some of them depict other candy people and creatures that Korra has never seen before.
Peppermint Butler knocks on a door to announce their arrival and Princess Bubblegum’s gentle voice calls them in. Peppermint Butler shuts the door behind Korra and Naga and runs off to perform one of the hundreds of tasks needed to keep a castle and kingdom running smoothly.
“Welcome, Korra. Thank you again for saving me from that gross creep Ice King.”
Korra feels slightly awkward, alone with the princess. Naga might be her best friend, but she doesn’t make for good conversation. The room is lit by dim candlelight that flickers when Korra sits down. The princess had the foresight and conscientiousness to even prepare a place for Naga to sit.
“Yeah, I was thinking about him earlier. Shouldn’t we do something about him? I could go beat him up for you or something,” Korra uncomfortably trails off and looks down at her plate.
The princess giggles. It reminds Korra of the small windup music box Asami keeps on her dresser with the dancers that spin in circles when you wind it up.
“No, that won’t be necessary, Korra. The Ice King may be powerful, but he’s usually pretty much harmless. He’ll probably just forget what he was doing in the first place and fly back to the Ice Kingdom on his own.”
“But if he wants to kidnap you, shouldn’t you lock him up or something?”
“Maybe I should, but I made a promise to an old friend to not hurt him and to kind of just let him do his own thing,” Bubblegum says, looking past Korra. “So anyways, what brings you here? When you rescued me you were covered in dried salt. You must have been at sea for quite some time.”
“Yeah, I didn’t even know this place existed. I just needed to get away from everything and think about some things.”
“I know that feeling,” Bubblegum sighs and pokes at her spaghetti, “But I have my citizens to take care of. I can’t just go galavanting all around Ooo whenever I want like some people.”
The room is almost silent. Only Naga’s chewing can be heard. Princess Bubblegum blushes and says, “I’m sorry for that. That wasn’t directed at you or anything,” she looks down at her lap and taps her fork against the plate with a delicate clink.“Oh dear, I’ve made things awkward,” she says to no one in particular and tugs at her hair.
She coughs and changes the subject, a skill that she has honed and mastered over the years. “So how long are planning on staying around here. I can give you a room in the castle if you don’t have anywhere else to stay. There’s plenty of room here.”
“Oh, well, that’s very generous of you Princess Bubblegum,” Korra replies and looks down at her food. She’s never seen noodles prepared this way. They’re covered in some sort of tomato-like paste. “I’ll probably have to take you up on that.”
Naga barks in agreement before going back to gnawing at her meal. Korra has no idea what animal it could have come from, but Naga seems to enjoy it.
“It’s no problem at all. And call me Bonnibel.”