Chapter Text
The end of the airbending master Tenzin comes less by legendary battle and more by a five-foot-six girl yelling at him.
Korra slams open the door to Tenzin's study at Air Temple Island.
"Raiko," she says, out of breath, "is a little bitch."
"Language," Tenzin says, shutting his book.
Korra sighs very loudly and crosses her arms. "That's why the city needs you to step up."
They've had this argument at least three times now. The aftermath of Korra tearing the world open had been disappointing but unsurprising. Greed is what runs Republic City. From the pickpockets, to the triads, to the politicians.
"Korra." Tenzin pinches his nose. “I have a duty to my people. I need to be their leader as an airbending master."
Three weeks. Three weeks after Kuvira had attacked Republic City was all it took for Raiko to declare the spirit portal private property and agree to construction work. He needs the money, and contractors pay a pretty penny. Rebuilding Republic City isn't cheap now that there's a massive housing crisis. Not to mention how Raiko's Public Enemy Number One since he sold out the city to Kuvira. Election season is only three months away.
"You—" Korra points a finger at Tenzin "—are choosing to abandon your duty! You know you'd win for president. You're Avatar Aang's son."
Tenzin looks away. “It’s not such a simple choice, Korra.”
"That," she says, pointing out the window, "is a ticking time bomb in Raiko's hands. What happens if some jackass decides they want to start construction in the spirit world? What happens if the spirits start attacking Republic City because said jackass only cares about their bottom line?"
"And that's just the city," Korra continues. "What about Ba Sing Se? The entire Earth Kingdom? Raiko's not ready to handle that, let alone handle it well. I'm responsible for making sure that the world doesn't just—" she gestures with her hands "—fall apart. I feel like I'm about to see another crisis happen if I don't do something now. That's my responsibility—my choice." And yours.
That seems to get to Tenzin. He looks out of the window, the bright beam of the portal. It might as well be a second sun.
Korra gets tenzin. But she also doesn’t. Some people just have a greater capacity to bring change into the world. She, the Avatar, does. Tenzin does, too.
Tenzin sits down in his chair. He looks very old and small in that moment. "I'm old enough to know I can't do everything. I can't be the leader of the Air Nation and of this city."
There's a pinprick of heat against Korra's neck. She thinks she can almost hear someone saying something distantly.
“Korra,” Tenzin says sharply. The sunlight is very bright on her face all of a sudden. A bead of sweat trickles down her back.
There’s a faint noise she can’t make out just yet. It’s this insistent ringing sound. The light from the portal is too bright.
"There's been an explos—" she starts, and then the world goes white.
I named you Ro, her father liked to tell her, because I wept great tears of joy when I first saw you.
It is when she sets her daughter on a boat to faraway lands that she understands. Ro stands between gleaming sandstone minarets and doesn’t cry. This was not her fault nor her burden to bear. Ever since the man who called himself Wan died, there has been no peace. Spirit-beast they called him: possessed by a spirit so great it made Wan divine. Ro scoffs at that. Divinity is not one man or one spirit. Besides, for all Ro knows the stories about Wan’s great feats are just great stories. She has never met the man; he died the same season she was born.
So she watches her daughter disappear into the horizon. She had given her daughter a kinstone. Yellow, the colour of their people, the colour of the sweet sea-breeze that takes her daughter away.
Ro runs her thumb over the edge of her half in her pocket. See how our two kinstone pieces connect to each other like a puzzle? She wraps her fabric around her mouth like sandbenders do and puts all thoughts of her daughter to rest. She is an Architect of the Sacred Geometry. And something in her blood is singing at the idea of her next project: four wind-temples at each corner of the world to protect her people.
She turns around. There’s a blue-eyed woman with short brown hair. She seems surprised that Ro can see her.
Ro smiles, not very kindly, and says to Korra, “Are you still listening? The choice was never in our hands.”
"Ugh," Korra says, wiping the crust from her eyes and sitting up. Her neck hurts like a bitch. Like when she sleeps on a bad angle and Asami has to massage it out for her. The ground beneath her feels of smooth stone.
"Tenzin?" Korra says. They're in some little shaded alleyway with traditional-style wooden apartments. Too old for even the oldest parts of Republic City.
She gets a groan in response.
"Tenzin, get up." She says, peeking out of the alley. There are ostrich-hose carriages and people dressed in bright green haggling loudly over dumplings. She catches a man in a wide-brimmed hat dressed in black and the Earth King's insignia. Dai Lee.
"Tenzin," she hisses, "we're in Ba Sing Se."
"Funny joke, Korra," he says flatly as he massages his back.
"I'm not joking." She jerks a thumb in the direction of the market. "We were caught up in that explosion and now we're... in Ba Sing Se."
Tenzin furrows his brows and straightens his robes. "I don't understand why—or how this is even possible."
It had been a bright white light, hadn't it?
"Oh," Korra says with dawning horror. "The portal at the North and South pole lead to each other in the physical world. But the spirit portal in Republic City didn't lead anywhere, right? And the explosion—it had to be the spirit portal."
Tenzin raises his eyebrow. "But why would it lead here? And we don't even know if that was the portal exploding or why the explosion happened."
"We need to send a radio signal back to the City.” Korra walks towards the crowd. "I'll just go in and tell them I'm the Avatar and we can find out what the hell happened."
"No! No," Tenzin says. He licks his lips. He does that when he's about to tell you bad news. "Korra you're not—we're not—exactly... welcome in the Earth Kingdom."
Korra looks at him blankly. She looks back at the crowd. There are people tallying their vegetable sales with an abacus and loud, rickety carriages running down the street.
"People think you overthrew the queen, causing mayhem. Then you overthrew Kuvira, who was a beacon of stability for a lot of these people and..." Tenzin trails off. The less said about Wu the better. "It's best if you don't announce that you're the Avatar."
"Alright I get it," Korra says. What’s the Avatar around for if not to be blamed for every shitty thing that happens in the world?
They find their way onto a crowded street. There are little shops and merchants lining the streets. The streets are free of trash and patchwork clothing. Not the lower ring, then. Tenzin and Korra bump and push their way through the crowd of green. If this is what all big Earth Kingdom cities look like, no wonder earthbenders are so cranky. Korra never really got used to the number of people, growing up in the South Pole. Republic City’s size had culture-shocked her for a good three months after moving. That city is nothing compared to Ba Sing Se.
Her mind wanders. What the hell happened in Republic City? What could have caused the portal to explode like that?
“Hey Tenzin, does it bother…” Korra starts and stops. She glares at some dude on the street who’s staring at Tenzin like he’s got horns growing out of his head. Have these people never seen an airbender?
“What?” Tenzin says. “Oh, look at this."
Korra almost stumbles into Tenzin as he comes to a halt.
"I used to come here as a child," Tenzin says with a smile. "Iroh had a teashop somewhere in this district."
There are little jasmine flowers growing on the side of the street, between teashops. It can't be good for business to have this many teashops clustered together. What had Bolin said? Bad business sense.
"He was quite old when I was a child, so it was really special when he would make tea for us. What was it called again?" Tenzin says. "The Jade Dragon? Something like that."
"Jasmine Dragon," Korra reads the name from the big bold lettering.
"Exactly. How did you—" Tenzin follows Korra's gaze.
"They’ll have a radio!" Korra says. And tea. She will need tea for the shitshow waiting for her in Republic City.
It's a quaint little shop. There's a couple hunched over a pai-sho board, tea forgotten. There's a wall with all these different kinds of tea and spices. Small flowers and newspapers line the tables. Strange to think Fire Lord Zuko worked in a quaint, little tea shop.
"Coming!" someone shouts from the back.
An old man emerges from the back door. Tenzin freezes before Korra does. The man is three paces away from Korra when recognition strikes her.
"And what can I get both of you?" Iroh adjusts his apron and points to the menu on the wall.
"Iroh?" Korra manages to get out, voice incredulous. What the fuck.
"Have we met before?" Iroh says. He glances at the couple in the back, but they're engrossed in their game.
Tenzin's gone still next to Korra, eyes wide with shock. Korra takes a deep breath. When the world throws weird shit at you, as the Avatar, you just have to look it in the eye and face it.
"No, no, sorry, you just seemed familiar," Korra says with a bright smile. The one that Bolin says is kind of scary but he's joking of couse. "Me and my friend would love to order some tea. Literally any tea."
Iroh looks from Korra to Tenzin then back to Korra. He nods. "Of course, take a seat."
Iroh disappears behind the counter. Korra stares him as he disappears. Tenzin slides out a chair and wordlessly sits down.
"Well," he says. "We're clearly in the Spirit World, or some weird corner of the Spirit World. Iroh is clearly meant to be our guide or something,"
Tenzin picks up the newspaper from the table.
"I don't get why things are so.. different from the other times. The world here feels real somehow," Korra says. " And I don't know why he didn't recognise me."
"Korra, I don't think..." Tenzin turns the newspaper around.
"What?" she scans the room. If this is the spirit world then it's more unpredictable than she thought. Iroh returns with a tray of tea.
Tenzin wordlessly hands Korra the newspaper. It will rain this week. Onion prices will be up. And then she looks at the date.
"Uh," Korra says. That's not... Someone forgot to add seventy years, right?
"I hope you like your tea!" Iroh puts the tray on the table. "It's jasmine—my favourite."
There's a piece of ice sinking into Korra's stomach. It's like the time she went iceberg-dodging alone. Her father had told her not to do it, so of course she did. She'd drifted far enough that she couldn't recognise the landmarks anymore. The panic had sunk in then. It wasn't that she'd hit an iceberg. It was that she hadn’t hit an iceberg yet. She's on an iceberg now, isn't she? Floating seven decades away from home.
The static in her ears fades. Iroh is saying something to Tenzin.
"...you play pai sho?" he says with a twinkle in his eye.
"...Yes?" Tenzin says.
Iroh leans back and claps his hands. "Ah good! You know it's strange so many young people these days don't play."
Iroh sets open the smaller-sized pai-sho board on the table.
He sets down a tile in the center. Some kind of a flower. "A game?"
Tenzin looks at the board, at Iroh, then back at the board. Tenzin nods, a look of steely determination in his eyes.
They both play in silence. It almost looks like a dance, with how fast they're both placing and removing pieces. Asami had once tried to teach Korra how to play pai-sho. It was a disaster because Korra was eighteen and had even less patience than she does now. It was also a disaster because, as it would take Korra years to realise, it had been Asami's ass-backwards way of flirting with her.
A triangle forms. Then another. Tenzin's almost slamming tiles onto the board now. They aren't just triangles, they're—
"The White Lotus," Korra breathes. Tenzin's eyes are wide.
"That was a good game," Iroh says, packing away the pieces immediately. "It would be my honour to show such a skilled player some of the new teas I've imported. They're in the back room, I'm afraid."
Tenzin gives a slow nod. They follow Iroh..
The first thing she notices is the aroma. She smells cinnamon and jasmine and allspice. The second thing she notices is the number of large tea blocks stacked in the back room. There are a few cushions and — of course — another pai-sho board set by the window. They sit.
"It is good to meet another member of the White Lotus," Iroh says. "My name is Iroh."
"Iroh of the West," Tenzin says with a rueful smile, as if that might have been an inside joke once. "I am Tenzin, and this is Korra."
Iroh gives a sad smile. "Yes. Fate has a sense of irony."
He meets Tenzin's eyes. "I must admit I have not seen another airbender. Let alone a master." Iroh looks outside the window. "Well, apart from the Avatar I suppose."
Korra jerks in her seat, eyes wide. That's not—that's not possible. There's only one Avatar at a time. Last Korra checked she's still alive.
Tenzin raises his eyebrows. He swallows and says, "You've seen Avatar Aang?"
There has to be an explanation. The Avatar cycle is one long thread continuing from the beginning of time till the end of time. A knot in the thread should not be possible. The world should be ripping itself apart. And yet, she's in a teashop that smells of cinnamon with a kindly old man. Korra cycles through possibilities, none of which make sense. Is she still the Avatar? Is this all a trick? What happened to Raava?
"Well, yes," Iroh says, waving his hand, "there was a large celebration for him not that long ago. How long have you two been in the city?"
"We just arrived today," Korra says quickly. "We didn't know that the... Avatar was in Ba Sing Se."
Korra turns to Tenzin. Tenzin’s gaze is focused outside the window; somewhere far beyond this moment. Her stomach clenches.
Tenzin looks at Iroh. "It's... I need a moment outside to process this."
He gives Korra a look that tries to be reassuring but the line of his mouth is too sad to be anything but grief. And then, like the airbender he is, he leaves.
Iroh sighs. "I'm sorry young lady, I seem to have upset your friend."
"Yeah," she shrugs. "It's a lot to take in."
"Yes, well..." Iroh looks at his hands. "I am well aware of the scars of history and my role in leaving those scars."
Korra hesitates. Fuck it. “It wasn’t your fault.”
Iroh sighs. “Yes, it was. I could have… well, that is all now in the past, I suppose. I made my choices and I must live with them.”
Korra opens and closes her mouth. Iroh’s choices didn’t matter in the end, did they? He laid siege to Ba Sing Se, yes. But in the end, good prevailed, right? Iroh in her time was remembered as a hero. One who was absolved of his sins.
"You know," Iroh says, cutting through her thoughts. There's a smile in his voice. "You have a firebender's hands."
"...Huh?"
Iroh holds up his hands for Korra to see. They're wrinkled and scarred. "You see the little callouses where we bend fire? If you want to find a firebender, look at their hands."
Korra looks down at her hands. She sees them. "I guess I do."
Iroh bows his head. "May you have Agni's blessing."
Korra's face heats up. He thinks she's a Water Tribe bastard firebender refugee who found her way into Ba Sing Se. Her face turns red red.
"I—" she starts.
"UNCLE," a boy slams the backdoor open. "Did you break the Oolong tea blocks we got from Omashu?"
Korra turns to see—
"Zuko!" Iroh says. The subtle tenseness in iroh leaves him. Korra watches the joy on his face. She remembers Tenzin's face whenever he sees his daughters.
Zuko looks at Korra, then the pai-sho board, then at Iroh with an accusatory gaze. Korra stares. The baby fat in Zuko’s cheek melts into cracked red skin. His scar had suited him in adulthood, in a way. It made him seem like Zuko The Firelord, the man who tore down the hundred year war and built Republic City. This Zuko is just a boy barely out of puberty.
“Uncle,” Zuko scolds, arms crossed, “you can’t just play pai-sho all day. We have customers to serve.”
Zuko notices Korra staring at him and glares at her in kind.
“This,” Iroh says, “is my nephew. You should join us, you know.”
Zuko sighs dramatically and goes about finding the jars of dried herbs and spices. Under the annoyance, Korra catches a glimpse of a smile. Iroh also shakes his head, a smile on his face. The first time Tenzin came to one of Korra’s pro-bending matches, all she could see from the arena was his stiff and stern posture. Later, Lin had told Korra that Tenzin hadn’t, in fact, been able to stop grinning like an idiot.
Speaking of—
"I should go," Korra says, standing up. "I need to get my friend back."
"Of course," Iroh says. He sets the heel of his hand on his fist. A Fire Nation greeting. Korra bows, returning it. She rises to see Zuko looking at her with alarm. She gives him a grin and leaves, leaving him spluttering. She hears Iroh's laughter follow her out.
She walks the length of the dusty street hoping to find Tenzin. It's not like him to wander off and he's likely to be near, anyways. She slips in and out of alleyways. One smells sickly sweet because a shopowner decided to line his store with bright hibiscus flowers. There's a tired old man with a book sunbathing in another alley. And Korra is very, very lost in all of it. Republic City is dense squares and rectangles stacked on top fo each other. Ba Sing Se is a bowl of noodles that shift position when you move your chopsticks. Fuck. Getting lost in another city, in another period of history, and losing her only companion in the span of an hour.
How hard can it be to find an errant airbender? Well... considering the last time she went out looking for airbenders...
"Fresh potato and aubergine fritters!" a woman calls out, pulling Korra out of her reverie. Focus.
"Hey," Korra walks over to stall. She aims for her bestselling smile, hoping none of her panic comes through. "Have you seen my friend? He's tall, bald, a little wrinkly and wears too much orange?"
The woman turns her focus away from flipping the fritters to Korra. She's young, but the kind of youth marred by lines of stress and age. Her bright blue eyes look very annoyed.
"No," the woman looks at Korra square in the eye. "I don't. Now, please and kindly fuck off."
Korra raises one eyebrow. Play it cool. She can't get into an argument with this woman. "You're gonna lie to another Tribe member?"
The woman's eyes widen. Bingo. She has seen Tenzin. She frowns at Korra and, for no reason at all, grabs Korra's arm and yanks her into the stall.
"What are you—"
"Shut up," she snaps. The Water Tribes were once small villages in the corners of the world. Honour and honesty were paramount. Lying to your Tribe meant death. The Tribes aren't small villages anymore nor will lying get you killed, but the honour code remains.
"Girl." The woman's still holding Korra's arm. Her tone is flat. "I don't know where your friend is."
She has this glint in her eye that Korra thinks she should get but doesn't.
"The men," she clarifies, bringing her voice lower.
"What men?"
The woman's grip on Korra tightens.
"The Dai Lee?" Korra says. There’s a war here. Of course, there’s a war here.
"Tui's scales, be quieter," the woman hisses. She looks to make sure no one heard them.
"I have to go find him," Korra says immediately. "I just—just point me to where you last saw him."
The woman shakes her head. "No one sees the people the Dai Lee takes."
The ice in her stomach is back again. She's alone between the icebergs. She's alone in the Earth Kingdom again. She's alone in this strange place in this strange world and she feels utterly powerless which is bullshit.
"I'm going to find him," Korra says, firmer this time.
The woman finally lets go of Korra and sighs. "Girl. It's not going to happen. You're not the Avatar. You can't just snap and make the world do what you want it to do."
"Oh," Korra says. The Avatar always has political sway. "Of course. I need to find the Avatar. He’ll help me find my friend."
"I just need to find my way to the Upper Ring to find him, thanks!" Korra ducks out of the stall, She starts walking.
The logistics of meeting the Avatarwill make her head hurt if she thinks about them too long. If the world hasn't split itself apart yet, she reasons, it won't if she meets Aang. And it's not like she has to tell him about all of this, right? She can just say she needs help finding her airbender friend and be on with her life. It's not like she can go to the Earth king and demand the Dai Lee be stripped of their power. The Avatar's supposed to be the link between humans and spirits, but as Korra has come to learn, is also the link between government and citizen.
Korra stumbles her way through a crowd. She catches a flash of yellow gold—Tenzin?
"Hey!" she calls out to them. She pushes her way through to find...
"What business do you have with the Kyoshi Warriors?" someone with a distinctly not-Tenzin voice says. It's a bunch of girls with golden headresses and thick facepaint.
"Sorry," Korra rubs the back of her neck. The one who Korra assumes is the leader of the three stares her down. "You looked like someone I knew. Wait—you're the Kyoshi Warriors. You know the Avatar, right?"
"Ugh," another one groans, moving to leave. "Not another Avatar fangirl."
"No! No no that's not—okay, so," Korra takes a deep breath. This is a golden-goose egg and she's not going to drop it. "I'm looking for a friend of mine. Tall, bald, has a bunch of blue tattoos, orange airbender robes. I thought the Avatar could help me find my friend."
The leader of the Kyoshi warriors tilts her head, and says in a slow, practiced voice, "You're looking for an airbender. I thought those were dead."
"He's not dead," Korra says. She meets the leader's unflinching stare. She has the same look in her eye that Lin and Kuvira did when they cut you down to size. "I need you to help me find him before the Dai Lee do something to him."
The girl's brow twitches. "And how am I supposed to belive that you're not making this up?"
"Listen." Korra clenches her fists. "There's a tea shop—the Jasmine whatever—full of eyewitnesses." The girl's eyes narrow. "Now. Are you going to help me find him or not?"
The smallest of the three girls puts her gloved hand on the leader's arm. Something passes between the three girls and the leader nods.
"Fine," she says in a clipped tone. The girl sounds like she has a stick up her ass, honestly. Like she expects people to grovel before her
The leader falls in step with Korra and the other two Kyoshi warriors walk behind him. The leader guides Korra into the mouth of a side alley.
"Now," the girl says.
"What—" Korra manages before someone jabs her along her spine. There's lead between her limbs making them too heavy to move. She stumbles to the ground, It's always the fucking chi-blockers, Korra thinks. And then the world goes dark.
Kyoshi wanted to go visit the air temples with her mother when she was a child. Wanted to. It turned to ash in her mouth the moment her mother abandoned her in some backwater Earth Kingdom town. Then Kelsang had come, with his gentle smile and tattoos and filled up the spaces her mother’s stories had sat in. Ro and her child. Kelsang and Kyoshi. The story repeats.
She sits in a pond in one of the gardens at the edges of the Southern Air Temple after being banished from the Earth Kingdom. What a strange way to fulfill her childhood dream.
Her mother had said the airbenders were upside down—the Western Air temple was even built upside down! She told kyoshi stories of the people who built the air temples. Sacred geometry, Kelsang later said. Architects who designed geometry that followed the laws of the universe and hence broke them. It made perfect sense to Kyoshi. Her mother was a daofei—an outlaw—with airbender tattoos. Kelsang was the peaceful airbender who buried a mountain of people. And Kyoshi, well, Kyoshi is a violent force trying to cause peace.
She looks at herself in the pond. Grey eyes; red makeup; green armour.
Someone steps behind her. A girl says, “I’m looking for my way home.”
Kyoshi turns around. The girl could be Kuruk’s sister for how similar they look.
“It is not up to you whether you find your way or not,” Kyoshi says. “Being the Avatar means surrendering yourself to the forces of destiny.”
The girl scowls and turns away.
The world is a jagged blend of jade when Korra comes to. There's something moving. Water sloshing up and down. The back of her neck feels cool. And wet.
There's a green and blue shape moving in front of Korra. Korra mumbles, "Kyoshi?"
The alley. Chi blockers. Tenzin. Korra jerks upright. The pain in her head explodes.
"I was healing you. Stay still," a girl says.
Korra blinks up at a teenage girl in water tribe garb. She bends her water back into her waterskin. She looks so out of place against the green crystals. It reminds her of Zaheer's prison. And those hairloops—
"Where are we?" Korra says. She swallows. Master Katara. Katara is bent over her with an annoyed expression.
"Princess Azula's prison for her royal guests," Katara scoffs. She puts her hands on her hips.
Korra tenses. Zuko's crazy sister Azula? "The Kyoshi Warriors?"
"Azula was impersonating them," Katara says, then pauses. "Who are you, anyways?"
"I'm looking for my friend," Korra says. She looks at the crystallised patterns in the wall. She can't look Katara in the eye for this. "He's an airbender and I think the Dai Lee took him and..." Korra looks around the vast cavern. She can keep it together. "And I need to find him."
Katara's eyes are wide when Korra turns back to her. She looks surprised, then a flicker of joy passes through her eyes before she shuts it down.
Katara walks up to Korra. It's hard to be intimidated by a twelve-year-old but Katara does her best. "If you are lying to me—"
"I would never lie about this," Korra looks Katara square in the eye. "And I would never lie to another Tribe member about this."
Katara studies Korra for another moment, then nods.
"I'd help you find him but... I'm not exactly an earthbender." She shrugs.
Korra smiles. "But I am."
Katara makes a noise of surprise. Korra rolls her shoulders out like Lin does. Korra and Bolin have picked up Lin’s weird bending tics over the years.
"Let's go this way," Korra says. She rips through a wall. Green shards go flying to reveal a dimly lit corridor.
Katara follows Korra. It's a narrow passageway. Ba Sing Se is a hundred cities built on the bones of each other. It's a funny thing to think about—a city being mummified. As if it's a living, breathing thing and not a few slabs of stone and concrete. But then again, Suyin always said that the earth sings to you if you stop long enough to listen to it.
"You're from the Water Tribe," Katara says, "and you're an earthbender?"
"Yup," Korra says, popping the p. Act casual. Stick to the plan: find Tenzin, pretend she's an earthbender, get the hell back home. Do NOT get involved in the war. She’s not going to be responsible for accidentally making a choice that leads to the Fire Nation winning.
Katara doesn't comment on that. Some people are still a little weird about firebenders marrying earthbenders or waterbenders. Mako and Bolin get looks whenever they go to the interior Earth Kingdom. It makes sense that people are a little weirder about those kind of things in the past.
"It's strange that there's no Dai Lee," Korra says. She thinks they're descending lower, but she can't be sure. There are rows upon rows of empty cells. She just needs Tenzin to be in one of those.
Katara scoffs. "They're helping the Fire Nation's invading Ba Sing Se." She looks at Korra. "I'm going to help you find your friend then I need your help to find the surface. I'm not going to let Ba Sing Se fall."
Korra's step falters. "They’re invading Ba Sing Se?"
Katara gives Korra a smile with no humor. "Exactly."
"You can't do it alone," Korra says. She knows Ba Sing Se fell to the Fire Nation right before the end of the war. If she could stop that from happening...
Katara gives Korra a real smile this time. "I'm not. I have some friends to help me."
Before Korra can say anything, Katara says, "Wait was that a gust of wind? We're close to the surface then?"
It comes again, a light brush against Korra's hair. It tastes stale. Someone's moving the stale air.
Korra sprints down the empty cells until the breeze becomes stronger. There's someone with red and gold robes.
"Tenzin!" Korra says, pushing the bars of the cell aside with metalbending. Katara makes another sound of surprise at that.
"Korra," he says, getting to his feet. Korra draws him into a hug. He gives her a gentle pat on her back. The way Tenzin bends is just as familar as his awkward hugs.
Korra pulls back to look at him. He looks tired and bruised but not too worse for the wear.
"Tenzin, this is Katara," Korra says stepping away to reveal Katara. "Katara, this is my friend, Tenzin."
Katara's staring at Tenzin like he has a second head. She says, “You’re… really an airbender?”
"Katara," Tenzin says, voice thick with emotion. He bends, hands raised in greeting the way the Water Tribe does. "It is my honour to meet you."
"I..." Katara seems to regain herself and bends. "Mine too. I have a friend—he’s an airbender. I know he would want to meet you."
Tenzin's looking at Katara with this awful expression, somewhere between joy and sadness. He looks like he's going to say something when—
"What the hell was that?" Korra says. The ceiling above them shakes. Flakes of dust fall on Korra.
"We need to leave," Tenzin says. "Before this place collapses."
"Got it," Korra says and gets to work. She steps through firebending forms as she bends open a tunnel. Firebending is all positive jing, Tenzin had said, precise and offensive. Airbending is negative jing, She never cared about any of that until she saw Bolin earthbend like a firebender.
They ascend in silence. The earth continues shaking as they do. And then, there's a crack of light. There’s a voice coming from the cracks in the earth and Korra’s stomach sinks as she realises it.
"The Avatar," Azula says in her manicured tone, "is no longer, thanks to my brother, Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation."
Korra crawls out to the sweet air and Azula's voice reverberating around the royal courtyard. Full of Dai Lee. Fuck.
Korra exhales. They’re in the white stone courtyard . Fifty odd Dai Lee and a crazy princess and—Zuko? She can feel a large lake somewhere eastward. If they can get there the Dai Lee won't be able to track them underwater.. Tenzin pulls out his whistle for Oogi and blows into it.
"Tenzin, not the time," Korra grits out.
"This will be fun," Azula grins and launches herself towards Korra, fire blazing in her wake.
Korra tosses chunks of earth at her. Azula avoids easily. Korra inhales.
Fire-fist. Block. The snap of earth buckling. Each firebender’s fire has a unique taste. Mako's is the gentle scent of campfire, while Azula's is charred and promises death.
Azula yanks Korra's away. Azula inhales. It's on instinct that Korra kicks her away with a gust of air before Azula can fry her face off.
"Huh," Azula says, wiping her mouth. "What kind of a freak are you?"
Korra inhales. It's a firebender's breath. "One that's going to be a pain in your ass."
Heat singes Korra’s face. A plume of blue fire encompasses her. Korra splits it apart with her own fire.
There's an enormous wail. The very earth shakes as some beast descends on it.
"Korra! Get on!" Tenzin shouts. Korra turns back to see—a bison?
Crack. It's a sloppy mistake on Korra's part. She even sees it coming. Azula’s kicklands true. But there's this awful pressure between Korra’s ribs—between her back. It's like her very being has been struck by a cord of lightning.
Korra wheezes. Azula smirks. There's something electric in her eyes.
A gust of air blows Azula backwards. Korra gasps as Tenzin grabs her. The pain in her body comes and goes in waves. Tenzin pulls Korra up and towards the bison. Korra can't focus. Clumps of earth fly around them.
There's the sensation of something soft shifting beneath her fingers. Then there's wind against her face. It's cold. She doesn't remember feeling this cold even at the South Pole.
"Korra?" someone's saying her name. Tenzin.
Korra gasps, "My chest. I feel like—there's poison. Or fire. Or electricity. I—" she inhales. Exhales.
"Korra?" Tenzin's voice is frantic.
And then the pain recedes. All at once. It knocks the air out of her chest and she doubles over. It does not bring relief. She's still so cold. The point in her back emanates ice. The only warmth is Tenzin's hand on her shoulder.
She looks up. She's sitting on the lip of a bison's saddle.There are voices behind her arguing but she pays them no mind. Katara's sitting in front. There's an airbender boy in her lap. He could be Jinora's twin, but she knows he's not. She knows him. And he's not breathing, and Katara's breathing ragged sobs.
"Katara," Korra says. She slides down to the front, despite Tenzin's voice of protest.
"He's not breathing," Katara says. Sacred water glows between her fingers but it's not enough. "I was too late."
"No," Korra says. Her voice is firm. There's the voice of the Avatar, the one that convinces politicians and officials. And then there is the Voice of the Avatar, the Divine Voice. It has only been Korra and Raava's voice. She feels them now, the lost generations of Avatars. They are with her now, speaking through and with her. It's an impossibility but not one she cares for now.
"It's not," Korra says. Her being is full of light. It itches to pour out of her and into the world beyond. It is Korra's right to take the sacred water from the waterbender and set the order of things right. She sets to her work. It could be a moment or it could be an eternity, but the body under her fingers starts to breathe in fits and gasps. She pushes further, knotting back muscle and nerve. She knows it is not her place to touch his spirit. Once the Voices are satisfied, they leave her.
Korra feels heavy. Like she was a very small vessel used to contain something far too large.
“Well, fuck,” says some little girl’s voice behind her.
Korra closes her eyes and lets Katara catch her.