I'm back with another lovely piece of fanart by the great Yinza! This is a sister-piece to this one right here, both from the upcoming chapter 3 of songs of surrender, my Oban Star-Racers / ATLA & LOK fusion AU. This one is meant to represent the duality of Don Wei in this fic -- Waterbending Master and innate Bloodbender from Yakone's genetic line, protector and murderer, famous businessman and member of a shadowy death-cult dedicated to a spirit of eternal darkness. Korra's last disciple/son and Canaletto's hunting wolf.

As soon as I realized that Korra was going to die in a Red Lotus terror-attack (by then completely a cult of Canaletto, who effectively subsumed Vaatu's role for this fusion AU) and that it would be an unambiguous murder (rather than a supposed accident that he would blame himself for), I knew that Don would work like hell to avenge her. With Aikka solidly an ally to Eva and Jordan (as a member of their team) for the whole fic, I needed another "caught between very dangerous divided loyalties" character. Or rather "caught serving another master out of temporary convenience." And Don, consumed by vengeance enough to join the Red Lotus for it, was the perfect candidate. Pros: gets him much faster out of his circling-the-drain suicidal phase after Maya's death. Cons: gets him involved with aforementioned shadowy death-cult, in a bid to climb the ranks and destroy the thing right at the source (spoiler alert: that doesn't go according to plan).

Bonus: Maya's death also having been orchestrated by Canaletto and the Red Lotus comes out much earlier than it did in canon, acting as the plot-equivalent of a nuclear bomb.