Desna and Eska

"water"

- You amuse me. I will make you mine.

Desna and Eska are the twin son and daughter of Chief Unalaq and the cousins of Avatar Korra. Eska is the current Princess of the Northern Water Tribe. They traveled to the Southern Water Tribe with their father to attend the Glacier Spirits Festival.

Meeting Bolin
In 171 ASC, Desna and Eska accompanied their father to the South Pole for the Glacier Spirits Festival, and they stood silently by as their father and their uncle, Tonraq, curtly greeted each other.

As the children of the Chief of the North, they sat at the table of honor during the royal banquet that was thrown in honor of their father. There, they attentively listened in on the conversation Unalaq was having with Korra, though remained silent the entire time.



After dinner, they attended the festival carnival, where they stood solemnly, gazing with disinterest at the passersby, before Eska was approached by Bolin, who was trying to charm her. Eska intently stared at him, causing the earthbender to become unnerved, and Desna monotonously stated that he thought Bolin was trying to establish a bond with his sister. Amused by the idea of spending time with someone of such a different cultural background, Eska promptly stated that he now belonged to her. However, when Bolin asked if she wanted him as a boyfriend or a slave, she remained ambiguous and ordered him to win her prizes.

Journey to the South Pole


Some time later, the twins accompanied their father, Korra, Mako, Bolin, and Tonraq to the center of the South Pole, where Avatar Korra would open the Southern Water Tribe's dormant spirit portal to stop the dark spirit attacks. Desna and Eska were set to travel on an arctic camel, though when Bolin rode arrived on a snowmobile with a side car, Eska inquired whether or not the side car had the capacity for two passengers. Bolin eagerly told her that it sure did, interpreting her question as Eska wanting to ride with him, though she had intended it as Bolin driving both her and her brother as passengers, much to Bolin's chagrin.

As the party later made their camp for the night, Korra asked Unalaq if he had a theory as to why the dark spirits are attacking. Bolin got scared, and scooted closer to Eska, putting his head on her shoulder. She dryly stated that he did not need to worry as she would protect him, dubbing him her "feeble turtle duck".



As the group moved on again, they were ambushed by dark spirits, one of which entered the snowmobile's engine, causing the machine to go haywire, sending the twins and Bolin speeding toward a mountainside. The twins grabbed Bolin and hopped off the machine before it crashed. They let Bolin slide down the slope on his own, while they used their bending to create some ice shoes and skate down the mountain in perfect control, stopping with the rest of the group. As Bolin came to a halt there too, his snowsuit was entirely inflated, and Eska helped him to deflate by puncturing his coat with three ice spikes.

After Korra managed to restore the Southern Lights and emerged from the forest unscathed, Bolin was the first to hug her. However, Eska broke it up by waterbending an ice wall between the earthbender and the Avatar, sliding the former back to her, demanding to know why he was initiating physical contact with another woman. Bolin nervously smiled, and Eska released him, before walking away with her brother.

The Northern invasion


As the Northern forces began to occupy the South, Desna and Eska were traveling through town in a rickshaw pulled by Bolin. In an attempt to joke around, Eska stated that she would hate to leave the "quaint" Southern Water Tribe. When Desna inquired whether she was sincere, she immediately expressed her relief over leaving the South, as she immensely disliked it. As the twins started chuckling dryly, Eska commanded Bolin to laugh at her joke as well. As they halted before a building, Eska descended from the rickshaw on a makeshift stair that Bolin bended for her. When Bolin expressed how sad he would be when she left, she corrected him by stating that he would accompany her to the north to live out the remainder of their lives in "icy bliss".

From that moment on, Eska continuously threatened to ice Bolin up and feed him to dolphin piranhas whenever the earthbender attempted to break up with her. That night, Desna and Eska accompanied Bolin, Mako, and Korra on a date.

The arrest
After the news about Varrick being the leader of the rebellion against their father, Desna and Eska set out on a search for the businessman in order to bring him to court. One stop they made was the entrepreneur's house where Mako, Bolin, and Asami were waiting for him. The three soldiers that accompanied them searched the entire room while the twins explained to the gathered threesome what was going on. As the search proved to be futile, Eska proposed to her brother to continue their hunt elsewhere. He promptly left the room, though as Eska was about to do the same, she turned back to Bolin, snapping at him that he should, as her boyfriend, bow when she left a room. As the earthbender instantly complied to her command, she affectionately commented that he was cute when he groveled.



During the trial of the Southern rebels, Eska was in a room somewhere in the courthouse. During the judge's recession, Bolin cautiously asked her whether or not they could talk. As she granted him permission to talk freely and listened to how he told her that he felt the spark between them had faded. She agreed to his assessment of their feelings, though as opposed to taking it as a breakup like it had been intended, she took it as a reason to engage herself with him, seeing a marriage as the only thing that could save their relationship. The princess promptly tied a betrothal necklace with a skull on it around Bolin's neck, announcing they would be wed at sunset that evening and that he had permission to express his joy through tears. She subsequently led him away, guiding him by the necklace, and gave him a new attire and style, so that he would match her own long regal robes of the Northern Water Tribe

After Eska found herself stood up at her wedding by Bolin, she learned of his escape together with Korra, Mako, and Asami on Varrick's yacht. Enraged and hurt, she gave chase, propelling herself through the water with a powerful wave in order to keep up with the fast moving ship.

Personalities
Desna and Eska show very little emotion except for boredom, which is attributable to their shared distaste for most people, places, and things. This distaste extends to Korra, whom they look down on due to her Southern Water Tribe heritage, despite her being the Avatar and their paternal cousin. They speak in a very monotone and matter-of-fact tone, seemingly over-analyzing whatever situation they are in. When they do show humor, their laughs are very awkward and choppy.



Eska has also demonstrated herself as possessive, as she dragged Bolin away from Korra while the earthbender was embracing the Avatar. She also told him that he would come with her to the Northern Water Tribe, where they would live out their lives together and threatened to freeze him and feed him to dolphin piranhas whenever he tried breaking up with her. She also forced Bolin to marry her, and gave him a restyling so that he matched her more in appearance. After she was stood up, she broke her characteristic emotionless state by crying and tracking Bolin down in a fit of rage.

Abilities


The twins are very powerful waterbenders, able to cooperatively accomplish incredible feats of waterbending, such as launching entire icebergs at opponents. They were not to be underestimated on their own either, as Eska displayed the ability to create a fast moving wave that could easily propel her through the water to track down a fast moving motorboat. They both display a great deal of agility, as they were able to leap from a snowmobile and slide down a hill yet remain unscathed.

Trivia

 * Desna and Eska have been described by the writers as "androgynous, creepy twins".
 * They are the third pair of twins shown in either series, the first being Poi and Ping, and the second being Lo and Li. However, they are the first set of twins to be not only fraternal, but also of different genders.
 * They are also the first known twins to both be benders, as only Poi was an earthbender, and neither Lo nor Li were firebenders.
 * The twins seem to be able to communicate without saying a word to each other.
 * Korra states that they are "creepy", and that they "smell like a [grandmother's] attic".
 * Bolin was infatuated with both twins, as he initially failed to realize that Desna is male.
 * Eska is the only known female waterbender from the Northern Water Tribe to freely use combative waterbending, as the tribe considered the idea as taboo until 100 ASC, only allowing female waterbenders to use their abilities to heal.
 * Desna and Eska are some of the few Water Tribe members not to have blue eyes as theirs are gray.
 * Both twins share with Mai the singular constant boredom and distaste of pretty much everything around, along with the seemingly monotonous voice.