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Chapter Text

Korra stood on the docks of Wolf Cove, bouncing on her toes and vibrating with excitement. After five agonizing weeks, Asami was finally coming back to the South Pole, to help celebrate one of the most stressful Winter Solstices in recent memory. Sure, Korra appreciated the historical significance of the occasion and all, but with her best friend nearly on the horizon, history could take a freaking backseat. 

It occurred to her that she might need to calm herself down, or run the risk of slipping into the Avatar State. Was it possible to do that from excessive happiness? Either way, it would probably be safer to relax. It’s not like she knew how the Avatar State worked.

After their disastrous failure of an offensive, the North was forced to begin an immediate retreat, seeing as how the bulk of their army was captured and their navy had been severely weakened. They were dragging their feet a bit at first, but another bombing run with the biplane convinced them to pick up the pace, and the South was fully victorious within days.

True to her word, Asami had stuck around for a while to run Varrick Global and help rebuild, and they made some spectacular progress while she was there. Unsurprisingly, the spirits calmed down after the fighting stopped, meaning Future Industries was able to finance a tidal wave of reconstruction. At this point, it seemed like half of Wolf Cove was either built or owned outright by Asami, and she wasn’t sparing any expenses along the way. She had already started construction on an ambitious new assembly plant for those fancy electric Satomobiles, which would go a long way in helping the young nation stand on its own two feet. 

But because every sunny day had a cloudy lining… or something like that, the southerners' victory also carried new challenges; specifically, they now had an army of prisoners to worry about feeding, and that little problem couldn’t exactly wait to manifest until Asami was done rebuilding their economy from scratch. And so, she returned to Republic City to help secure the flow of investment and humanitarian aid to the South. 

With Unalaq and his thugs kicked back to the North Pole, the Southern Water Tribe was functionally independent, but nothing had been formalized. After over two months in limbo, a delegation from the North was coming to sign a peace agreement, like some morbid substitute for the Glacier Spirits Festival. Hopefully, the ‘spiritual energy’ or whatever would put Unalaq in a good enough mood to give them more than just peace. The North and South had too many pre-existing connections to stay antagonistic, so Tonraq was going to push for normalizing trade and travel between them in exchange for Unalaq getting his military back.

Fortunately, that joker wouldn’t be gracing Wolf Cove with his conspicuous vanity until tomorrow. Instead, Korra was awaiting the arrival of their neutral mediator, President Raiko, who was being personally escorted by the queen of international transportation on the lavish mobile headquarters of Future Industries Logistics (previously referred to as Varrick Global Industries). Say what you will about Varrick, but the man knew how to travel in style.

“You look like you have to go to the bathroom,” Senna remarked. 

Korra forced herself to stop fidgeting, and tore her eyes away from the horizon to turn around towards her mother. “I don't,” she denied pointedly, “I’m just a little excited, okay?”

“I was talking to Naga.”

“Oh.” Naga looked like she was in the same emotional condition as her master, panting expectantly and nervously tapping her front paws. “Well, she has every right to be excited, too.” Korra abandoned her position at the edge of the pier to go hug her friend's voluminous neck. “You looking forward to seeing Asami, girl?”

Naga barked powerfully in reply.

“Don’t get her worked up already,” Tonraq warned. “What if she’s late?”

Korra waved away her father’s concern. “Please, this is Asami we’re talking about. You really think she’s going to go slower than we expect?”

To reinforce her argument, Naga stood up and approached the water, barking relentlessly. Korra peered into the distance and, sure enough, saw a speck that could definitely pass as Asami’s yacht.

It would take a few minutes for it to arrive, though, and Naga’s barking was already starting to draw annoyed looks from the assorted dockworkers and tribal leaders nearby, so Korra started scratching behind her ear and shushing her. “It’s okay,” she reassured, “calm down, girl.”

Naga obediently closed her mouth, though she still huffed air through her nose regularly like she was trying to bark discreetly. Frustrated, she lied down and rested her head on the ground, forcefully wagging her tail and occasionally whining.

They both waited there impatiently for those final torturous minutes as Asami’s ship pulled up. Now, Korra believed the convention was to wait on land and allow the travelers to disembark before greeting them. However, Naga did not have so fine a mastery of the social graces, so she scrambled to her feet as soon as the ship was moored, and leapt onto the gangplank at the earliest opportunity.

Tonraq and Senna both shot Korra parent-looks to condemn her lack of control over Naga, but she just shrugged unashamedly and jogged onto the ship behind her. Frankly, she thought Naga had the right idea in this particular instance. 

And there on the deck was Asami. She looked as put-together as ever while desperately fending off Naga’s assertive tongue. Bolin was right beside her, trying to render whatever aid he could. And Korra was just watching them both like an idiot, grinning so hard she felt like she’d pull a muscle in her cheek.

She pushed her way past Naga and lifted an unprepared Asami in a hug, and was herself subsequently lifted by an ecstatic Bolin. “Korra!” he cried. “It feels like I haven’t seen you in forever!”

Korra giggled as he set her back on the ground, and she set Asami back on the ground in turn. “I missed you too, Bolin. You’re looking good.”

He tugged proudly on his dark green, fur-trimmed suit. “Well, I’ve got to look smart if I’m going to pass as Asami’s mobile butler.”

Asami shook her head with a smile. “It’s called a personal assistant.”

“But butler sounds so much more fancy. Like it’s an official title!”

“It is an official title,” she explained. “One you do not have.”

“Ah, whatever,” he dismissed. “Ooh, Korra!” He held up a finger on each hand to indicate she should wait for something. “You’ll never guess who’s on Raiko’s security detail!”

Bolin sprinted off towards the ship’s upper decks, and Korra, seizing her opportunity, pulled Asami into another hug. Naga, dissatisfied with the amount of attention she was receiving, yapped at them demandingly, so the two women parted with a laugh and began lavishing her with pets. “You know,” Korra began, “she pouted for a week after you left.”

“So did I,” Asami smirked.

Korra snorted. “Well, I think after we wrap all this up, I’ll be able to come back to Republic City pretty soon.”

“Really?” Asami checked their surroundings. Raiko and his entourage were still hiding in their heated rooms, and the shiphands offloading the luggage were giving them a relatively wide berth. “Have you mastered waterbending already?” she whispered.

Korra glanced around as well and leaned in conspiratorially. “Katara says I should be able to move on soon. I knew most of the forms before we even started, so recently she’s been letting me work on advanced stuff. Steam, plants, healing, that sort of thing. Oh, check it out!”

Korra looked up to make sure their conversation was still private, and once satisfied, made an attempt at the trick she had been practicing for hours. She subtly condensed some water from the air into her palm, and gingerly fashioned it into a flawless ice rose.

She couldn’t really pin down the emotion on Asami’s face, but Korra was pretty sure she was impressed. “Neat, huh?”

Asami nodded faintly in reply, still transfixed by her handiwork. Having successfully demonstrated her finesse, Korra tossed the rose off the side of the boat and into the water.

“What did you do that for!?” Asami shouted.

The strength of that reaction completely blindsided Korra. Thankfully, the shiphands were still ignoring them despite the escalation in volume. “I’m sorry,” she apologized, “did you want to keep that? ‘Cause I can make another one whenever.”

Asami opened her mouth to respond, but then pursed her lips and broke her gaze. “Nevermind,” she grumbled.

They both returned their focus to petting Naga together. Asami was clearly stewing, to the point where Korra thought she might need to apologize again. “Do you want me to make another-”

“Have you been keeping up with your firebending?” Asami cut in, with a far less amused tone of voice.

“Oh, uh… yeah.” Apparently, the pleasantries had been completed. “I think working on my waterbending is actually making my fire more powerful, for some reason. I’ve even been experimenting with earth and air, though those are still pretty rough.”

Asami hummed her approval. “And have you been doing your assigned reading?”

Korra rolled her eyes. “Yes, mom.” She received a piercing glare for that comment. “I mean, yes ma’am.” Despite her earlier advice to not worry too much, Asami had been taking the whole Avatar thing very seriously. She prepared a curriculum to help Korra study up on politics, spirituality, and history, which would have been much appreciated, if they weren’t the most boring subjects in the world. Well, history could be kind of fun, but besides that.

Mercifully, before Asami could press her interrogation any further, Bolin reappeared dragging a very uncomfortable junior detective behind him. “Look, it’s Mako!” he presented.

Bolin unceremoniously shoved his wooden brother towards Korra, and then both he and Asami, and even Naga, backed away from them so Mako could properly reunite with his ex.

He was unmistakably there against his will, but nonetheless stood his ground, cleared his throat, and began an obviously rehearsed speech. “Good evening, ma’am,” he opened. Apparently, when writing this, he hadn’t expected to run into Korra so soon, because it was barely noon. “I’m happy we have a chance to reconnect, though I wish it were under less weighty circumstances.” Man, his delivery was bad. “While I regret the manner in which we last parted, please know that I look back on our time together fondly. I am sorry for any pain I caused you-” He glanced at Asami, who gave him two encouraging thumbs up. “-and if you were willing to forgive me, I would like to think of us as friends.”

Well, that was truly pathetic. It took tremendous willpower, but Korra successfully donned a scowl and crossed her arms. “You’ve got a lot of nerve, showing your face here!”

“Korra,” Asami gently chided.

“No, I’m sorry, Asami, but he can’t just come crawling back after what he did and expect me to welcome him with open arms.”

She stomped up to him, watching every muscle in his body tighten as she did, and poked a finger in his chest. “I will have my satisfaction. I challenge you…” She paused to escalate the dramatic tension. “To an Agni Kai!”

Rather impressively for the climate, he began to sweat. “But, uh…” he stammered, “you’re not a firebender.”

She narrowed her eyes and tilted her head to the side. “Aren’t I?”

His mouth hung open as he scanned his memory to substantiate her presumed bending status. “No?” he tentatively confirmed.

Korra cradled her chin and hummed in thought. “Well, in that case, I guess you’re safe.” She patted him twice on the cheek and strolled away to rejoin her parents on land.

******

The next day, Asami found herself in a grand meeting hall at the Southern Water Tribe Royal Palace. It was filled with a handful of mingling dignitaries and their associated staff, including Bolin, who was peppering Korra with a long series of questions. Asami had barely gotten any time alone with her since returning to the South, and unfortunately, she likely wouldn’t until a peace treaty was signed. If there was one downside to the booming housing market, it was that Asami no longer had a good excuse to keep living with Korra in her childhood home. Hopefully, Raiko would be capable of shutting up long enough to let the important people work out all the details in a timely fashion. Then, Asami would be able to go back to savoring her slow mental deterioration in the face of Korra’s intractable obliviousness.

“Who’s that?” Bolin asked, pointing into the sparse crowd.

“That’s Anak, my dad’s number two,” Korra answered.

“Uh huh,” he nodded. “And who’s that?”

“That’s my beloved Uncle Unalaq,” she said dryly.

“That’s him? He doesn’t look happy.”

“Oh, that’s just his face,” she reassured. “Though I wouldn’t be surprised if all this was making him a little grumpy.”

“Right, right. And who are the girls with him?”

“That’s a guy and a girl, and they're my cousins, Eska and Desna.”

“Of course, I knew that,” he postured. “Which is Eska and which is Desna?”

Korra didn’t answer, and instead ducked her head down and blushed in embarrassment. Asami scoffed a laugh, not particularly blindsided by Korra’s lack of social awareness. “You don’t know, do you?”

She blushed harder, which Asami found way more charming than it objectively was, and tried to mount a defense. “Well, I’m pretty sure the one wearing eye shadow is the girl, but Eska and Desna are both kind of girly names.”

“And… what, it just never came up which was which?” Asami pressed.

“No! Trust me, you will not have to refer to them separately. It’s like they’re one creepy, emotionally-stunted entity. I once saw them go into a bathroom together.”

Asami wrinkled her nose in disgust at the mental image. “Wouldn’t your dad know?”

“Of course he would, but it’s not like I can ask him. It’s been too long.”

“I could find out for you,” Bolin offered. “I’ll introduce myself, and they’ll have to tell me their names.”

Korra hugged herself while she considered that proposal. “I’m not sure if I’m comfortable asking you to do that. They’re pretty scary.”

“Oh, it’s fine,” he dismissed with a wave. 

Before Korra could protest further, he marched over confidently and began chatting. He lasted a full fifteen seconds before his veneer of affability broke, and after another twenty, he made a hurried retreat, looking traumatized.

Upon his return, he stared at the ground with wide eyes. “How did they pinpoint all my insecurities so fast? Am I really that easy to read?”

“Yes,” Asami confirmed.

“Did you find out their names?” Korra asked expectantly.

He shook his head slowly. “They just said, ‘We are Eska and Desna’. In unison.”

Korra released a disappointed sigh and patted him on the back. “Well, it was worth a shot.”

Their attention was drawn to the front of the room by President Raiko, who announced it was time to begin their ‘discussion’. Bolin wished them both luck before joining the other service staff and security personnel, including Mako, at the edge of the hall.

Asami suspected that, as mediator, Raiko was somehow involved in planning the seating arrangement, because it was a little showy. There was a full-sized table at the head of the room just for him. It abutted another two full-sized tables which faced each other, one for the North, and one for the South. They were far enough apart that you would have to raise your voice to be heard by everyone, which would be a reasonable choice if this were a public meeting. Raiko, being a consummate politician, likely did not grasp the concept of closed-door negotiations.

The delegation for the North consisted of Unalaq and his two children, along with some sour-faced official Asami believed was named Hotah. Anak, Korra, and Tonraq would obviously speak on behalf of the South, and they had flattered Asami with an invitation to join them. She did, after all, represent the nascent nation’s largest private interest.

Once everyone had taken their seats, Raiko cleared his throat and rose to begin his dispositionally compulsory declamation.

“Before we get started, I would like to thank you all for allowing me the opportunity to participate in this historic summit. My own country was born from the ruins of wars, and through our rise, we proved that the strongest bonds of fraternity can be forged from the embers of conflict. Why, I believe it was Avatar Yangchen who once said-”

“Why are you speaking this way?” Eska or Desna interrupted. “I can assure you that there are no reporters in the room.” They might have been on opposing sides, but Asami was so grateful she could have kissed her.

“Eh… yes,” he floundered. “Quite right. Perhaps it would be wisest to get straight to business.” Though he no doubt resented having lost the chance to bloviate, he sat down meekly and examined some of the papers set before him. “Let's see… I believe the primary matters at hand are repatriation of prisoners of war, and formal recognition of Southern independence, correct?”

“Wrong,” Tonraq disputed. “We already are independent. The North lacks the strength to challenge our sovereignty, so we’re independent whether they recognize us or not.”

Desna or Eska - the guy one - huffed in offense. “If you have any doubts about our power, we could easily reinstate the blockade to clear them up. Our navy is still unrivaled.”

“So is our air force,” Anak chimed in with a grin. “Asami, how many biplanes do we have at the moment?”

“We’re up to twenty-eight now, if memory serves. Plus four airships as of last week.”

“I see,” he pondered facetiously. “And, just out of curiosity, how many biplanes did it take to cripple the Northern military last time?”

Asami smiled politely. “I believe that was one biplane. And that was a commercial model, mind you. We’ve made a number of improvements to the armor and maneuverability of our latest-”

“Alright,” Raiko cut in. He turned from her to the Northern table. “Am I at least correct in thinking your top priority is reclaiming your captured military personnel?”

“No,” Unalaq easily rejected.

“Of course I’m not.”

“I have been very explicit about my goals from the beginning,” Unalaq resumed. “The South is a spiritual wasteland, and I would be doing a disservice to my people as Chief of the Water Tribes if I allowed that to continue.”

“You know, it’s funny that you should mention that,” Korra interjected. “Because our dark spirit problem seemed to clear up nicely as soon as you left town. Isn’t that interesting?”

He deliberately turned his focus onto Korra. “While the cessation of conflict may have granted a reprieve, your problem is hardly ‘cleared up’. Unbalanced spirits continue to rage in the Everstorm; a holy site which ought to serve as a blessing for your people is now an object of fear. The South persists in plundering its natural resources and indulging in petty commercialization, which will no doubt worsen, since you have chosen to so closely align yourselves with-” He spared Asami a judgemental glance. “-capitalist influence.”

She could hear Korra's fists tighten. If past experience was anything to go by, Korra was about to do something inadvisable, so Asami decided to jump in before things got out of hand. “I’m not sure what you expect the South to do about that. The Everstorm has been around for decades.”

Unalaq bowed deferentially. “An excellent point, Miss Sato. It will be challenging. But in our recent conflict, the South has proven itself to have unexpected resources.” He leaned forward in his seat and stared at Asami intently. “Why, I even hear from some of my soldiers that, during the final battle of the war, you and my brother managed to find protection in the form of a young firebender. One with more raw power than any they had ever seen. The same one, I suspect, who dismantled my airship fleet. Perhaps such a great master could weigh in on this issue?”

Ah, monkey feathers.

Depending on what he was trying to imply, his current line of questioning could definitely be a problem. If Unalaq's soldiers described a young, muscular woman accompanying Asami and Tonraq, it wasn't exactly a feat of deductive prowess to figure out who it was. And the fact that woman bent fire like she had a comet behind her might yield some dangerous corollaries. So Asami didn’t respond, leaving the entire room awkwardly hushed. Unalaq's delegation stayed quiet, and Raiko was mostly just confused by the weird tangent, meaning the ball seemed to be in the South’s court.

Once the silence grew intolerable, Raiko coughed to draw the attention of the hall. “I’m… not sure now is a good time to be introducing new parties to the negotiations.”

“Quite right,” Unalaq agreed. “In fact, I believe the opposite is called for.”

“Excuse me?”

Unalaq stood to address everyone present. “I would like to speak to the following people alone: Tonraq, Korra, and Asami Sato.”

Raiko nervously shifted his gaze between the delegates. “I’m not sure-”

“Okay,” Tonraq granted.

The esteemed president of the United Republic made the impressively judicious choice of closing his mouth. With an uncertain nod, he rose from his seat and, along with everyone else, uncomfortably shuffled out of the room. Bolin caught Asami’s eye as he left and mouthed an incomprehensible question, so she just shrugged as if she didn’t understand what was going on. She was pretty sure she did, but he didn’t need to know that.

Once they were alone and all the doors clicked shut, Unalaq sat back down and folded his hands on the table, looking purposefully at Korra. “Would you now feel comfortable being honest with me?” he asked.

Korra quirked her lips, then threw her hands up in defeat. “Alright, you got me! You found out my big secret! I’m adopted!”

Unalaq shook his head with a soft smile. “Please, do not patronize me, Avatar Korra.”

Yep, that was definitely a problem. He addressed her with such unshakable confidence, it likely wouldn’t help to deny it. And so Korra didn’t, instead following her father and Asami’s leads in silently simmering.

Unalaq held up his hands submissively. “Don’t worry, I haven’t shared my conclusion with anyone, and I have no interest in doing so. But I will, if necessary.”

“So what?” Asami bluffed. “It's not like we're actively trying to keep it a secret, and even if we were, the world will find out soon enough, anyway. You think we care if you make unsubstantiated claims?”

“Are you kidding?” Korra contradicted in a panic. “I'm not ready for people to know about this yet! I don’t even know what I’m doing! There’s so much I still need to catch up on! I… I…”

Asami turned towards her, holding up a hand to conceal her face from Unalaq, and began glaring daggers at her.

“…I would… not… care if you told people,” Korra tried.

Asami smacked her forehead in frustration, as Tonraq began his own tactics. “If Korra’s Avatarhood was public knowledge, her support would lend even more credibility to Southern claims of independence.”

“Indeed, brother,” Unalaq conceded. “I’m not trying to level any threats, I am merely interested in soliciting the Avatar’s services.”

“Services?” Korra repeated. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

He sighed wearily. “It’s as I’ve been saying this entire time: I am concerned about the well-being of the spirits. I would like you to cleanse the South Pole of the Everstorm, and prove you can act as a spiritual protector for our people.”

“Sure, buddy,” she rebuffed. “Every time you’ve talked about spirits, you’ve been using them to make power plays.”

“Then I will do the contrary.”

“Huh?”

Unalaq opened up his arms invitingly. “I will give you everything. Independence, recognition, free trade. Even reparations. All I expect in return is that you bring balance to the spirits plaguing your home, which, as the bridge between the physical and spiritual worlds, is your responsibility anyway.”

Korra looked at her father and friend for guidance. Asami, at the very least, was plenty confused by now. This guy made Varrick seem trustworthy by comparison, but his request was undeniably reasonable, so she decided the best way she could help was by asking probing questions. “Why do you care so much about what happens to the South Pole?”

He appeared to be amused by that. “Is it not obvious? The South Pole is intimately connected to the North Pole, and both are connected to the Spirit World.”

Korra was nonplussed by that answer. “I get enough vague spirit mumbo-jumbo from the books Asami gives me. Just say what you really mean.”

“I did,” he insisted. “I’m being perfectly literal.”

She visibly worked to piece together the implications of that statement. “Wait, like… connected-connected?” Unalaq nodded. “Then no way! I didn’t deep fry your army just to open up a backdoor to the South for you.”

“What will I do?” he challenged. “What threat will I pose to the South, protected as it is by its biplanes and Avatar? It’s not like I can bring my battleships through. In fact, to avoid the blasphemy of carrying weapons into the Spirit World, I would prefer to make demilitarization of the poles a condition of our treaty. After all, the North would be the one taking the risk here, what with your new technological benefactor.”

That much, at least, Asami knew to be true. Unalaq’s men couldn’t even make any inroads when fighting was taking place near the coasts, where his troops were supported by his expansive navy. And that was before Future Industries had armed the Southern military to the teeth, or Korra realized she could fight with more than one element. If the North tried anything, the long, arduous trek from the South Pole to Wolf Cove would be one giant killzone, where their air force would be free to run roughshod over whatever Unalaq was stupid enough to send their way. All things considered, opening up a land bridge between their tribes was a strategic sacrifice for the North.

As far as the spirits were concerned, though, they were well outside of Asami’s wheelhouse. It’s not like she read any of the books she assigned. So she kept quiet while Korra deliberated his offer, grinding her teeth loudly and tapping incessantly against the table as she thought. It was probably a full minute before Korra spoke again.

“What’s your plan?”

******

Korra jogged into the final ice cavern and doubled over to try to catch her breath. She and her uncle had run into dozens of dark spirits on the way here, but Korra managed to make it past all of them by the skin of her teeth. Unalaq was nowhere to be seen, so she guessed he was in the process of purifying them. Either that, or he was dead.

Unfortunately, she had no such luck. After a few moments, he strolled in calmly behind her and reverently studied the ground on which they were standing. To be fair, the ground was pretty interesting. It was a sheet of clear ice through which she could see some bright blue sphere, which was quietly thrumming with muted power. 

“So…” she began, “now what?”

He took a deep breath, accompanied by a small but satisfied smile. “Now, you open it.”

She looked down to study the orb. “I don’t see a handle.”

His good humor dissipated, replaced by his regular contempt. “The Avatar should be able to open the spirit portal with a touch.”

That sounded suspiciously simple. She stooped down to the floor and poked it. Unsurprisingly, nothing happened. “So much for that. Any other ideas?”

“You obviously have to be in the Avatar State,” he cut out.

“Why would that be obvious?”

He cradled his forehead in his hand. It was off-putting how similar he looked to her father when he did that. “It requires a tremendous amount of spiritual energy to break the barrier between the physical and spiritual worlds. Did you really think you would be able to pull that off by yourself?”

“Then I don’t see why you dragged me all the way out here,” she rebuffed. “I’ve already told you I don’t know what I’m doing. You think I’ve mastered the Avatar State?”

He harrumphed haughtily. “I made no such assumptions. But mastery of the Avatar State is not required to use it.”

She stifled a laugh, then remembered that she had no qualms about offending Unalaq, and so laughed with vigor. “What, you want to trigger the Avatar State reflexively? You know how that usually goes for people standing nearby. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I would be fine if you got pasted by-”

“That is not what I am suggesting,” he interrupted joylessly. “With sufficient focus, the Avatar State can be entered momentarily, a technique which requires no mastery. In fact, there are recorded instances of it happening before Avatars are even aware of their position.”

“Oh.” Well, that was significantly less fun. “So how do I do that?”

“I believe I can help you achieve the necessary focus through guided meditation.”

She instinctively dropped her head back and groaned petulantly. “Seriously? Meditation? I suck at meditation.”

He grimaced in annoyance. “Hence why it would be guided. You do recall that I am a master of spiritbending?”

She furrowed her brows. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’m not a spirit.”

“Ignoring the fact that the Avatar is, by nature, part spirit-”

“Wait, really?”

“-spiritbending can be performed on humans. It is a form of healing, after all. If you are unable to find balance yourself, I can help you.”

She narrowed her eyes doubtfully. “And that’s it?”

He released an exasperated sigh. “That, Avatar Korra, is it.”

To her shock, that really was it. A few minutes later, she stepped out of the glowy thing her uncle called a ‘spirit portal’, and took in her surroundings. 

“So this is the Spirit World,” Korra observed. She was standing in a field of scarred, rocky ground, broken by puddles of crystal clear water, the center of which was occupied by some angry-looking old tree. “I kind of assumed it would be more… interesting.”

Unalaq walked up beside her and hummed critically. “Take care how you speak, child. This is the holiest location in either world. We are privileged to be standing here.”

Korra rolled her eyes. “Maybe it would be less depressing if I had better company.”

“Please remain focused on the task at hand, Avatar,” he snipped. “We are still in danger.”

Right, the dark spirits. There was another freaky-looking ball in the distance that Korra assumed was their target, but unfortunately, their way was blocked by two more massive specters, loitering near the tree.

She cupped her mouth to project her voice. “Yo, dirtbags!” It drew the spirits’ attention. “You think you’re scary? I got moles darker than you!”

That seemed to hurt their feelings, because they promptly rushed at her. With a burst of flame, she leapt over them as they approached and started a dash for the Northern spirit portal. Seeing as how fast those things were, there would be no way for her to make it all the way there, but she didn’t actually have to. She was just the distraction, after all. Good ol’ Uncle Unalaq was already spiraling golden streams of water towards the spirits. He caught them both with ease, and began the purification process.

Korra halted her sprint and made sure to pay attention to what he was doing, since this technique would probably come in handy later. As far as she could tell, though, he was just waving his arms around. She might be able to duplicate the motion of the water, but she couldn’t begin to tell you how the glowing worked.

The spirits dissolved into mist, and Unalaq bowed at them humbly, an adverb she never thought she would attach to anything he did. “Go in peace.”

“Is the blessing really necessary? They did just try to kill me.” She delivered her question like a complaint, but she was genuinely curious if that was a required part of the process.

Unalaq pursed his lips and shook his head. “It is a tragedy that the Avatar has so little respect for the spirits. I truly wish I had not allowed Southern culture to decay so severely.”

Korra huffed, unwilling to acknowledge that his criticism of her spiritual acumen was probably valid. “Yeah, whatever.” 

Her run had taken her closer to the tree, which was even more gnarly up close. It emanated that same darkness that had infected the other spirits, except its energy felt more… familiar. Older, too.

And definitely bad. 

“I’m starting to think this plan might not be such a good idea,” she worried.

He came up behind her and rested a hand on her shoulder. “A sense of foreboding is justified. The corruption caused by the South runs deep, even here. You see why I was so insistent about addressing our people’s spiritual sickness.”

She smacked his hand off her. “Are you seriously still trying to defend your dumb war?”

He raised his hands in surrender. “That was not my intention. The war may have been a mistake, but surely you can understand my desperation. With the rightful protector of the spirits absent from her duties, I felt it was up to me to take her place.”

“Are you trying to imply this is my fault?” she cried.

“Again, that was not my intention.”

She huffed and folded her arms in defiance. “I’m still not sure about opening the Northern spirit portal. Something about all this feels… off.”

In a feat of facial flexibility, his frown deepened. “Need I remind you that you agreed to open both portals? I am offering you and your father everything you wanted. Even if you feel no obligation to protect the spirits, certainly you wish to aid your home.”

She certainly did. Everything in her conscious mind was telling her to go along with it, but whatever else she had in there was screaming at her to stop. “You already got what you wanted, didn’t you? You said you wanted the Everstorm gone, and it is.”

“That fact should prove to you that opening the Northern portal is the right thing to do,” he admonished. “You saw how much spiritual energy was released when you opened the Southern portal. Even with the South as impious as it is, your skies became filled with the rejoicing of spirits. Would you really deny such a blessing to the North, because you have a grudge against me?”

Korra scowled at him as cruelly as she could. She may have the spiritual instincts of a sea sponge, but even she could tell how much richer the South Pole felt with the Everstorm gone. Maybe this was the right thing to do. But boy, did it not feel like it.

“If this blows up the Spirit World or something, please be warned that I will personally tear you limb from limb with my bare hands.”

Unalaq smiled cordially. “I would expect nothing less from the Avatar.”

Chapter Text

It took a couple of weeks, but Asami finally began to see the wisdom behind the Avatar’s choices. At first, she was highly critical of Korra’s approach to reconciliation. Asami was worried her strategy would blow up in their faces spectacularly. But Korra could be quite convincing when she turned up her charm, against which Asami had very little resistance. 

Mako was really fun to mess with, after all.

“So when do you think we’ll have our Agni Kai?” Korra wondered. “I know I’ve been pretty busy for the past month, what with the peace summit and everything, but once the treaty is signed, my schedule will be wide open.”

Mako was standing at attention on the edge of the Royal Palace’s courtroom, stoically staring into the crowd that had assembled to commemorate the formal end of the Water Tribe Civil War. Officially, he was ‘scanning for threats’ and ‘doing his job’, but it was obvious he was just trying to avoid engaging with Korra, who was leaning casually against the wall beside him. Over the last few weeks, Korra had managed to run into him a few times, despite his valiant efforts. And yet, not once had he allowed himself to behave like a normal human being around her. Not that she was making it easy for him.

“I’m on duty, ma’am,” he grunted. 

Korra rolled her eyes. “Well, of course we’re not going to have our Agni Kai until you’re off duty.” 

He took a deep breath while clenching his jaw. “You aren’t a firebender,” he drew out.

She perked up. “Ooh, thanks for reminding me. Asami?”

“Yes, Korra?” She was leaning just as casually on the other side of Mako, surrounding him completely with foes.

“Do you think you’ll be able to build a flamethrower or something that I could use to defeat Mako in ritual combat?”

Asami cradled her jaw. “That shouldn’t be too hard. When do you need it by?”

“That’s what I’m trying to figure out!”

“Weapons aren’t allowed in Agni Kais,” Mako cut in. “It’s bending only.”

Korra shrugged. “In that case, I guess I’ll just have to rely on my waterbending.”

Bolin gasped at her suggested solution. “You’ve been a waterbender this whole time?”

“No,” Mako answered, “she hasn’t.”

“Oh, come on,” Korra droned. “You guys hired me as Hasook’s waterbending master, remember? How would I have taught him waterbending if I weren’t a waterbender?”

Bolin nodded his head with awe. “Yeah, that makes sense.”

Mako pursed his lips so tightly, they nearly buried themselves in his nose. He cleared his throat loudly and stepped away from the wall. “Excuse me, ladies. I believe I have to… check the perimeter.”

Korra wouldn’t let him escape that easily. “You know, if you really need to pee, you can just say so. We won’t tell.”

His departure stalled briefly as bore that one last remark, but he shook it off quickly and continued on his way, not deigning to look back.

“This may be a ridiculous question,” Korra admitted, “but he does know I’m kidding, right? He doesn’t actually think I want to challenge him to an Agni Kai?”

Asami hummed in thought. “He should have been able to put it together by now, being a detective and all, but I wouldn’t make any assumptions. He’s surprisingly hard to underestimate.”

“If you’re really not mad at him, why don’t you just tell him that?” Bolin suggested. “He doesn’t believe me when I do it.”

Korra waved him off. “That’s no fun. Besides, it’s not like he’s given us a chance to have a sincere heart-to-heart about our emotions. I’ve barely seen him all month.”

“Neither have I,” Asami observed. “I thought we were getting along pretty well after all that stuff with Varrick, but recently, it’s been almost as bad as when we were dating.”

“I wouldn’t take that personally,” Bolin recommended. “I think you just haven’t seen him because he’s still scared of Korra, and you’ve spent, like, ninety percent of your time with her.”

Oh, right, that made sense. While it was a reassuring sentiment with respect to Mako, Asami was a bit concerned that even Bolin had noticed her heightened attachment to Korra. Did people think she was being clingy?

“It’s not like I’ve been glued to her side,” she lamely and inaccurately defended, “we’ve just had to work together closely to get this peace deal finalized.”

Korra shoved herself off the wall. “Speaking of which, we should probably head to our seats. It looks like we’re about to get started.”

They were, in fact. Asami obediently followed her, avoiding eye contact with Bolin, and took a place by Korra’s side at the head of the courtroom, near the podium. Not because she was clingy, but because they had assigned seating.

******

“So there I was, shrouded by fog, surrounded by an army of mutant catgators. The helmsman was down, so all I had to defend myself was his peg-leg and barrel of petroleum jelly!”

Tenzin loved his brother. Really, he did. He just wished he could have done so from a safe distance.

Bumi and Kya had both come to visit him on Air Temple Island, which, frankly, seemed unnecessary. Maybe this year’s Glacier Spirits Festival had been canceled, but he would see them at the next one. If he didn’t know any better, he would suspect his mother was somehow responsible for inflicting them on him. Though, come to think of it, she was ultimately responsible for both of them period, so Tenzin thought he had every right to blame her for his current state of distress. His siblings made him yearn for the days when Korra lived there.

Tenzin and his children were enjoying their evening meditation together, with the exception of Rohan, who was still a bit young to meditate. Bumi had offered to babysit him while the airbenders were indisposed, which in theory should have been helpful. However, his idea of babysitting was to haul Rohan into the courtyard across from the meditation pavilion, and loudly regale him with specious tales about his career. He could have taken him anywhere on the island, but he just had to bring him within earshot of the people trying to meditate.

In spite of himself, Tenzin couldn’t help tuning back in to his story. “Once the catgators had accepted me as one of their own, I slipped through their ranks and started making my way back to Omashu, still naked and covered in jelly.”

“Oh, that is enough!” he protested. “I will not have you filling Rohan’s head with your fatuous nonsense!”

“What’s it to ya?” Bumi calmly challenged. “He can barely even talk.”

He hated it when Bumi stumbled into making valid arguments. “That is not the point! For all I know, he’s absorbing your brand of tomfoolery via osmosis. And besides, can’t you see we’re trying to focus!”

“What, you can’t handle it?” he needled. “But you’re so monk-ish and spirit-ey. I thought airbending masters were supposed to be able to meditate through typhoons.”

“Bumi, the average typhoon aspires to rival your output of hot air.”

“Say, that reminds me. Rohan, have I ever told you about the time my ship was caught in a tornado? I managed to surf the water spout on an oversized lute all the way to the peak of Mount Makapo!”

“Bumi!” Tenzin snapped. “I really must insist that you stop disturbing us!”

“I actually kind of like it,” Ikki unhelpfully offered. “It’s like white-noise.”

“Thank you, Ikki,” Bumi gloated. “At least some people around here appreciate my contributions.”

“Don’t take it personally, Bumi.” Oh, great, Kya was coming to add her two yuans. “Master Tenzin here is probably just insecure because he can’t meditate as well as his kids.”

“That is not- '' He stopped himself before he flew off the handle. That was exactly what they were hoping for, and he couldn’t allow them to get the upper hand. “I am proud of the progress my children have made. But they won’t be able to make any further progress with you two babbling their ears off.”

Meelo decided to pipe up, though he still maintained his polished form. “Personally, I’d like to hear the rest of the story about the tornado.”

“Ooh, that one was a doozy,” Kya agreed. “Have you told them about the cult of volcano worshippers yet?”

“Whoa!” Meelo cried. “Spoilers!”

Tenzin growled as he scrambled to his feet in a huff. “Well, I suppose if nobody here is interested in properly meditating, we might as well call it a day early. I wouldn’t want to keep you from storytime with the honorary catgator.”

“Thanks, Dad!” Ikki and Meelo both shouted as they bolted off the pavilion. 

Bumi grinned at Tenzin to rub in his victory. “Hey, Jinora!” he called. “You comin’?”

Very admirably, Jinora ignored his goading. It looked like she didn’t even register it. She was still in the lotus position, perfectly at peace. “Sorry, Bumi,” Tenzin commiserated disingenuously. “It seems there are still some on Air Temple Island who value the spiritual disciplines.”

Kya crossed her arms and quirked her lips in thought. “I’m not sure that’s it, Tenzin. I can barely even feel any of her aura.”

Tenzin rolled his eyes. “Not this again…”

She ignored him and approached her niece. “Jinora, honey? Are you in there?”

“Of course she’s in there! Where else would she be?”

Kya poked her on her cheek. It seems she was even more dedicated to ruining their meditation session than Bumi was. Though, it was a bit strange that Jinora hadn’t responded at all. Tenzin cocked his head to the side as Kya poked again, even harder. When she had supplied sufficient force, Jinora rigidly tipped backwards and fell onto the pavilion decking, still not so much as breathing unevenly.

Kya hummed in cheerful surprise. “Well, that’s new.”

******

Jinora was growing a little bit concerned about Furry-Foot’s behavior. The dragonfly bunny spirit had latched onto her robes almost as soon as she arrived in the Spirit World and started dragging her off to who-knows-where. She had spent enough time here that she thought she had a lay of the land, but the forest they were in was completely unknown to her. This place was a lot bigger than she realized, apparently.

“Come on, Furry-Foot,” she griped. “I need to get back to the physical world soon. My meditation session is probably almost over.”

That seemed to upset it greatly. Furry-Foot chirped insistently and began pulling even harder.

“Well, I don’t have all day! How long is this going to take?”

It released its hold on her and began squeaking loudly in exasperation while stomping around. Apparently, spirits were capable of losing their patience, which struck Jinora as strange. Surely time couldn’t be too much of an issue for them. Why wouldn’t this be able to wait until tomorrow?

Eventually, the spirit decided to crouch down in front of Jinora and wiggle its backside expectantly.

“You… want me to get on you?”

It chirped merrily, so Jinora, not having any better ideas, hopped on its back. Truth be told, she had always sort of wanted to ride it anyway.

The spirit carefully rose through the trees, and once it had cleared the tops of them, sped off towards a mountain in the distance, which was surrounded by some pretty impressive storm clouds. “We’re not going to that thing, are we?”

Furry-Foot chirped dismissively, which wasn’t exactly a yes or a no. Jinora couldn’t help but feel a little helpless. She had flown plenty before, of course, but never without her airbending. Normally, she trusted Furry-Foot implicitly, but it was clearly distressed right now, so who knew what was going on?

The closer they approached the mountain, the more nervous she got, until Furry-Foot stopped near the foot of it and began to lower them down, to Jinora’s great relief. They were descending onto a beautiful meadow, and oddly enough, there was a modest yet handsome building in the middle of it. 

She hopped off Furry-Foot and approached curiously, the time-pressure now completely forgotten. A table had been set out in front of the structure, occupied by a single elderly… man? She didn’t know there were any other humans in the Spirit World. Come to think of it, he looked kind of familiar.

He rose to meet her when she neared. “Welcome to my tea shop!” he greeted jovially. “It’s been a while since I had guests from the physical world.”

She sat down slowly at the table with mouth hanging open, because she didn’t know what else she could possibly do to respond to the sight she was seeing. “General Iroh?”

He chuckled as he seated himself across from her. “I’m not surprised Katara’s granddaughter is so sharp. She was always a clever one.”

She blinked a few times. Maybe she wasn’t actually in the Spirit World. Maybe she had fallen asleep while meditating, and was dreaming. “You know me?”

“Only by reputation. I’m sorry I couldn’t invite you earlier, but word tends to travel slowly here, even if it’s of interesting new visitors.” He smiled with a radiant tinkle in his eye. “If there’s one thing I miss about the physical world, it’s the gossip.” 

She nodded, then remembered her manners. She bowed to him in the traditional Fire Nation style, and introduced herself properly. “I’m Master Jinora. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

He returned her bow. “Likewise, Master Jinora. Please, try some tea. I’m very proud of this blend.”

Iroh poured her a cup from an ancient teapot, producing an aroma so fragrant, it felt like Jinora was already drinking it just from the smell alone. She had an extraordinarily long list of questions, and now many of them focused on the logistics of cultivating spiritual tea leaves. 

After thanking him, she took a probing sip, and resolved then and there that she would be a regular customer of Iroh’s tea shop, assuming she could find it again. “This is amazing,” she murmured with awe.

He glowed at her compliment. “I’ve had a lot of time to work on it. I’m happy I could share it with you.”

Jinora returned his grin, then looked back to her cup. She felt like she had to mentally prepare herself to drink more, it was so delicious. As much of a distraction as the tea posed, though, she needed to remain polite when in the presence of such esteemed company. “So… how did you come to open a tea shop here? It’s a rather unusual location.”

He laughed mightily in response and shook his head with a grin. “While I would love to talk about myself, I believe we’ll have plenty of time for that later.  For now, I’m afraid we have more important things to discuss.”

“We do?” she worried.

He nodded, still with a smile, but slightly more somber. “We do,” he confirmed. “But first… would you like to know where this teapot came from?”

******

It had taken weeks, even with the twins keeping Raiko in check, but they had hammered out a spectacular treaty. Unalaq had gotten his army back, along with a bevy of protections for the spirit portals, cultural traditions, religious institutions, the environment, et cetera. Tonraq had gotten recognition, free trade, open borders, a mutual defense clause, and even a few Northern-made battleships. Most importantly, Unalaq was willing to formally admit to being the aggressor, which would go a long way to repairing trust. True to his word, he had given them everything they wanted with scarcely a second thought, much to the chagrin of his advisors and children. It seemed like he was barely even invested in the negotiations.

The war only lasted about a month, and the participants had deep historical ties with each other, but it was still extraordinary how well things had gone. And so Raiko got involved to assert his showmanship, refusing to let the signatories merely sign the treaty; no, they had to sign the treaty in front of as many cameras as possible, after as many speeches as could be endured in one sitting.

So after taking her seat beside Korra at the front of the courtroom, Asami spent the next forty-five minutes diligently ignoring Raiko’s prattle, until a round of polite applause indicated he was done inflicting himself upon them.

He was followed up by Unalaq, who was generally even more verbose than Raiko, but at least had a habit of getting to the point within reasonable time-frames. And so, Asami decided it was best to pay attention to his speech, on the off-chance he said something substantive. 

He approached the lectern at the head of the room and looked out over his audience, seeming much less condescending than he really was. Actually, Asami might go so far as to say he appeared happy. At the very least, he frowned with less vigor.

“Hello, my friends. I consider it an honor and privilege to speak to you today, as we celebrate a new era for the Water Tribes. For as long as I have been Chief, I have strived to protect my people, and ensure we can live in harmony with each other, our world, and the spirits. Through cooperation, we have been able to realize those dreams better than I ever could have imagined. Thanks to the purification ritual I performed at the South Pole, the Everstorm has finally been lifted from your home.”

Oh, of course. That’s why he looked happy. He was going to make all this about himself. Asami spared a glance at his two children to see how they were taking his revelry. They looked like they had jointly sucked an entire lemon tree.

“The spirits have returned to dance in your skies, which I take to be proof that destiny will always reward the persistently faithful. But the unity we have achieved through this summit must only be the beginning. Moving forward, I hope to show you… I hope… to show…”

His sanctimoniousness failed as his self-indulgent speech drifted to a halt. The crowd began to whisper in curiosity at his change in demeanor. For those present who had suffered the misfortune of personally dealing with him, his current state was downright alarming. Nothing could phase him when he got going.

Asami realized he was staring fixedly at something in particular at the far end of the hall. She followed his gaze towards some unremarkable spectators sitting near the back. Well, not so unremarkable. The one with the hachimaki was bizarrely tall.

Finally, Unalaq spoke again, his voice trembling with fear.

“Zaheer?”

A simple-looking man in simple-looking robes rose from his seat and called out a response.

“It’s good to see you again, old friend.”

The restrained murmurs that filled the chambers were broken by two crisp pops, followed by a thunderous blast.

Chapter Text

Jinora studied the piece of simple, yet sacred ceramic. “So the Avatar was in here?”

“The Avatar Spirit,” Iroh gently corrected. “The Avatar is more than just Raava.”

“Right,” she agreed. “And now the… anti-Avatar Spirit is escaping his prison.”

“When Harmonic Convergence comes, he will. Only the Avatar will be powerful enough to stop Vaatu.”

She slumped onto the table between them and rested her chin on folded arms. “Then I’m not sure how I can help you. I don’t even know who the Avatar is.”

That was, apparently, new information to Iroh. He stroked his chin contemplatively, kind of like how her dad stroked his beard. “That does make things more difficult. You’ll need to track them down quickly.”

“I don’t see how I can!” she complained. “Nobody’s been able to find them. A lot of people say that there isn’t a new one, and that Aang was the last Avatar.”

He grunted a laugh, almost like that was supposed to be a joke, which Jinora didn’t entirely appreciate. “I wouldn’t bet on that. I don’t know of anything powerful enough to open the spirit portals other than the Avatar.”

“Could there be something else out there that you don’t know about?” she suggested.

“Maybe,” he conceded, “but I don’t think it matters either way. Beings like Raava and Vaatu can’t really be destroyed. The Avatar Spirit must be out there somewhere, and I’m quite sure she isn’t here in the Spirit World.”

She nodded in thought. “Meaning she must be in the physical world.”

He toasted her reasoning with his mug. “Like I said. You’re sharp.”

Jinora giggled at his praise, then straightened up in her seat. “Thank you for your wisdom, and for the tea, General Iroh.”

He bowed deferentially with a playful expression. “Anytime, Master Jinora. And please, feel free to call me Uncle Iroh. I consider us to be family. Your grandfather was like a brother to my nephew, who was more like a son to me.” He mused on that web of connections. “Actually, I suppose that would make me more like your great-grandfather than your uncle, wouldn’t it?”

******

Korra crawled back above her table to see what was going on. Thanks to her proximity to the blast, her ears were ringing and her insides felt weird, but she had otherwise been able to protect herself reflexively with her firebending. 

Of the Southerners, she sat closest to Unalaq, meaning her bending had shielded them from significant harm. The Northerners across from them hadn’t fared so well. Unalaq’s children both looked to be badly burned and out cold, while Unalaq himself… Korra couldn’t really figure out what was left of him amidst the rubble.

As Korra’s hearing returned, she became aware of a chorus of victims hacking the smoke out of their lungs. Asami slowly pulled herself up beside her to begin warily scanning the crowd, which had descended into pandemonium. 

At the moment, though, Korra wasn’t too focused on the crowd, but rather, on the way Asami was wincing in pain when she moved. “Are you alright?”

Asami tore her eyes away from the chaos to meet Korra’s. “Yeah… no. Um…” She gestured at her arm, in which was lodged a small piece of the podium.

Korra breathed a sigh of relief. Her friend was clearly in shock, but it appeared to be from the attack itself, not any serious injuries. She drew some condensation from the air and held it against the shrapnel, using the flow of the water to gently extract the wood while healing the wound left behind.

A rush of medics and soldiers was descending upon them to secure and treat the injured, but Bolin’s panicked cry pierced above the tumult. “Asami! Korra!”

He was shoving his way towards them, and Asami stood to address him. “Where’s Mako?”

“He went after them!” he yelled.

Korra and Asami both snapped their attention towards the seat Zaheer had been occupying. Between it and the courtroom’s exit was a conspicuous trail of destruction and fallen guards.

Korra withdrew her hand from Asami’s now intact arm. “Did you bring your weapons?”

Korra, Asami, and Bolin sprinted along the path the attackers had carved, littered with shards of ice and molten rock. Whoever these people were, they were cutting through the Royal Palace’s security like it was butter. 

Eventually, the three of them made their way outside the palace, onto a snowfield which had been used as a parking lot, where Zaheer and his people were loading onto a truck under the watchful protection of their giant firebender. Korra drew some water to herself and was about to slice their getaway car in two, when she noticed Mako lying on the ground behind some cover, clearly hurt. 

As Korra and Bolin dashed over to Mako, their targets peeled out away from the Palace and towards the mountains. Mako looked a bit dazed and had some burns on his hands, but otherwise seemed unharmed. Korra got to work on healing him up while Asami charged over to the snowmobile she came on, opening up a rear compartment and withdrawing her satchel and coat.

Korra finished with Mako’s hands and started on his head, in case he had been concussed. “Are you hurt anywhere else?”

“No,” he reassured, still in the process of returning to his senses. “Their combustionbender packs a wallop, but I made it out okay.”

She glanced around at the unconscious bodies that littered the field. He had been the only one capable of absorbing the combustionbender’s explosions, meaning he was the only backup they’d find. “I need you on your feet, okay?”

He nodded weakly as Korra wrapped up her healing, and Asami’s snowmobile roared to life.

******

Korra clung to Asami as their ride flew across the tundra. Mako had commandeered another snowmobile and was following close behind with Bolin clinging to him even tighter. It had taken them a few minutes, but the superior maneuverability of their vehicles allowed them to catch up to Zaheer and his posse. They neared the truck as it passed between two sheer cliffs that boxed them in. If they could cut them off here, there would be nowhere for them to run.

Korra looked ahead and clocked a frozen arch in the distance that stretched across the wide canyon. She reached out as she and Asami sped along the snow, collecting water as they went. Once she had gathered enough, she used their considerable velocity to help hurl the liquid forward. It collapsed the ice bridge and brought it down right in front of their enemies’ path. The truck just barely managed to come to a halt in time.

The four pursuers slowed to a stop, dismounted their snowmobiles, and readied themselves to face the terrorists. Mako and Asami’s hands glowed brightly, while Korra and Bolin surrounded themselves with water and earth, respectively.

And finally, Detective Mako’s profound observational skills kicked in.

“Korra, you’re bending!” he marveled.

She and Asami shared a look. Korra was still not inclined to reveal she was the Avatar, especially given their current proximity to a group of assassins, and now was not the time for a lengthy conversation, so they both simultaneously arrived at the same conclusion: the safest way forward would be gaslighting.

“Yeah, so?” she replied.

His fire dwindled and he dropped his stance. “Since when have you been a bender?” he demanded.

Korra shrugged. “Since always.”

“Yeah, Mako,” Asami agreed, “I feel like we just had a conversation about this.”

“Yeah, bro.” Miraculously, Bolin was on the same page. “Weren’t you paying attention?”

Mako’s entire body recoiled indignantly, but he was prevented from further argumentation by the rev of the truck’s engine, which pulled a u-turn and rushed towards them. They all dove out of its path as it plowed through their snowmobiles and approached the entrance of the canyon. But, before it could make it very far, its hood sparked with electricity, and the truck sputtered to a stop while smoke began pouring from it.

Mako hadn’t lightingbent it, meaning there was only one possible culprit. A bewildered Korra spun towards Asami. “Was that you?”

She nodded nonchalantly, and seeing how confused the benders were by her feat, pulled one of her coin-sized batteries from her bag. “I just tossed a couple of these at it as it passed.”

Korra scoffed sharply. “You said those things couldn’t shock me!”

Before Asami could explain the specifics of her redesign, the doors of the truck swung open, and its occupants emptied into the snow.

The leader, Zaheer, stepped in front wielding a bo staff. He was flanked by a scowling lavabender, a towering combustionbender, and a literally unarmed waterbender. They were blocking off the only exit, and none of the vehicles were functional, meaning Korra and her friends were now the ones penned in.

Bolin turned to his employer, looking perplexed. “Why exactly did we follow them here?”

Asami ignored him and elected to try to rectify their current plight with the most reliable tool she had: high explosives. She chucked a firebomb which detonated powerfully, and while it was held at bay by the combustionbender, the blast gave the reluctant Team Avatar cover to approach. They charged towards the flames and picked their targets.

Their leader dashed towards Asami to prevent her from employing any more of her arsenal. She sent some bolas and a grenade at him, but he easily batted both away with his staff. So she resigned herself to hand-to-hand combat and lunged to meet him with cackling gauntlets. If she closed the remaining gap, she’d be able to lay him out with a single touch, a fact which Zaheer seemed to be acutely aware of. He stayed close enough to keep her from safely using another firebomb on him, but remained committed to negative jing, using his staff to create space and drifting smoothly around every strike Asami attempted. 

She caught the staff itself, but it proved to be too poor a conductor of electricity to endanger its wielder, and locking herself to it only gave Zaheer an opportunity to force Asami away with a cutting jab. Stumbling backwards, she decided that she would be most useful targeting someone less slippery. So she tried to pull away from him and flick one of her batteries at the combustionbender, but Zaheer leapt towards its flight path and knocked it out of the air with his staff.

Most people would struggle to even see the battery in the dark, and he had intercepted it with ease.

Meanwhile, the aforementioned combustionbender was in the process of pummeling Bolin. He erected fortifications for himself, but none of them could withstand more than one or two of her attacks, forcing him to constantly change his position and rebuild. Anytime he had a moment to breathe, he would try to lob boulders at her, but she shattered or dodged everything he had. She was fighting almost like an earthbender, planting her feet and only making the bare minimum movements required.

To try to take advantage of her limited mobility, he ducked behind some shelter and shot a wide rock at her, large enough that it would be hard to avoid. Predictably, she incinerated it with a thought, breaking it into countless tiny shards of stone. Bolin jumped over his cover and kicked the legion of smoldering pebbles towards her. None of them were large enough to injure her, but there were so many that one lucked into striking her forehead, stunning her combustionbending.

“Ha!” he gloated, less than a second before raising a pillar of earth to hide from a scorching jet of heat. He was compelled to flee completely when she sliced his protection in half with a fire whip. He may have taken out her combustionbending, but she still hit like a freight train.

Bolin might have been on the back foot, but Mako was doing much worse. The waterbender would have been leagues above him even if they were on a level playing field. As it was, they were in the South Pole, enduring a freezing winter night, surrounded by snow. It was all he could do to stay in one piece, having to rely on bursts of flame to propel him around the battlefield and out of her reach. Jet-stepping was keeping him alive, but it was also exhausting, so he was going to have to find a new strategy soon.

These people were clearly beyond dangerous, and they had just murdered a world leader, so Mako felt like he had no choice. He rocketed onto some high ground and cleared his mind.

Now, typically, a bolt of lighting would instantly win any fight, especially against a waterbender. But when he shot one at her, a wall of ice and snow rose to meet it, and somehow blocked it. It shattered under the heat of his strike, but the charge didn’t travel to its target. Apparently, water, when frozen, doesn’t conduct electricity. Rebounding from his surprise quickly, Mako leapt over another stream and resumed his barrage of lightning. He wasn’t making any progress, but it was the only thing he had which could put the waterbender on the defensive. Hopefully, his chi would hold out long enough for him to get help from someone else.

To be blunt, though, none of them stood much of a chance. There was only one member of their team who could really hold her own, and she was essentially working with three arms tied behind her back.

******

Korra was fighting a lavabender. Because facing multiple bloodbenders wasn’t bad enough; no, she had to deal with this creep.

She was sending cascades of water, and he was meeting her with equal flows of lava, causing violent outpourings of blistering steam. Neither of them would run out of ammunition or stamina anytime soon, and they were cooperatively raising an increasingly dense fog. Their super-heated duel was extremely dangerous to bystanders, so Korra attempted to steer the fight as far from her team as possible, and he was smart enough to go along with it. 

The massive waves weren’t working, so she tried to increase the pace of her attacks, slicing at his feet with water and stabbing at his head with ice. His reaction time was insane, though, so he precisely evaporated every blow, progressively worsening their visibility. The area around them was turning into a slag-covered sauna. Pretty soon, she wouldn’t even be able to see him, to say nothing of how sweaty she was getting.

Eventually, Korra grew frustrated and summoned a wave so as to surf away and clear the air. She pulled in the immense cloud they had generated as she went, forming a thick ring of water around her and simultaneously opening her sightlines. 

By the time she came to a halt, the earthbender seemed to have given up on attacking her directly, but he was still executing bending forms. She realized with dread that her retreat had taken her right next to one of the canyon’s cliff faces. She spun around to find it covered with lava and descending upon her.

She threw all the water she had collected towards it, along with as much snow as she could gather. With another flood of steam, the lava quickly solidified into a massive wall of obsidian. She turned once again just in time to find glowing earth hurtling towards her. 

She grabbed what water she could in a panicked attempt to block it, but this latest attack was nothing but a compact, tightly spinning disc of lava. It cut through her ice and continued on its path, much cooler but just as fast. The simmering rock slammed into Korra, searing her through her parka and throwing her against the glassy crag she had just formed.

For an earthbender, he was shockingly fast. Before she had a chance to recover, he tackled her and shoved her deeper into the mountainside, which crumbled at his command. With a twist of his arm, he solidified the rock that surrounded her, encasing almost her entire body in earth. Earth that she could bend. Her earth.

He smirked confidently, thinking she was trapped. “You sit tight,” he ordered, before strolling away to lend support to his allies. Korra’s eyes snapped towards her friends, all of whom were already floundering. If the lavabender made it back to the fight, they’d be toast.

So this was it. Korra had only been able to keep her dumb secret for three months. She really hoped she could have taken him out with only her waterbending, but he was completely outclassing her. Thus, she was forced to whip out a few more elements, including the most important element of all.

The element of surprise.

With a grunt of exertion, she ripped herself out of her rock prison and staggered towards the center of the canyon. The lavabender turned curiously at the noise, then flinched backwards when he saw that she was free. He looked completely baffled by her escape, and Korra wasn’t going to give him time to figure it out. She thrust her hands forward, unleashing an overwhelming torrent of wind.

He shot through her air and bounced across the snow, right through the ongoing battle. The rush itself produced enough of an echoing boom to draw the attention of everyone in the canyon, to say nothing of the sizable earthbender that was screaming and skidding in their midst. The combatants all stared at him as he tumbled between them and crashed into the ruined truck, covered in powder and knocked out cold.

Once he had completed his journey, all eyes slowly turned back to Avatar Korra. Were she not fighting for her life against a group of assassins, she would have laughed. Friends and foes alike were all absolutely dumbstruck.

Except, of course, for Asami, who took advantage of the momentary pause in hostilities to shove her gauntlet right into Zaheer’s bewildered face.

With him down, Korra began launching an aggressive volley of boulders at their combustionbender, who regained her composure and began dodging impressively, until she was waylaid by bolas from behind and promptly knocked off her feet by a mighty stream of Korra’s flame.

The remaining opponent surged forward, carried by an army of liquid tentacles. She sent a deluge at Korra, who graciously accepted the offering and sent it right back at her. She managed to duck under Korra’s counterattack, which conveniently put her closer to the firebomb on the ground that Asami had tossed. The water surrounding her helped insulate the explosion, but the blast still sent her flying. Very helpfully, she landed right at Korra’s feet, allowing the Avatar to employ her favorite technique by far: manually punching the daylights out of someone.

Once again, bending kind of felt like cheating.

After the waterbender went acceptably limp, Korra looked up to find Asami jogging towards her, panting heavily and looking unjustifiably annoyed.

“I thought you said your earth and airbending were ‘rough’?” she complained, clutching a stitch in her side.

“I said they were rough, not weak,” Korra clarified.

She shook her head reproachfully. “You really need to be more specific in the future.”

Korra rolled her eyes. “You’re welcome, by the way.”

Asami chuckled breathlessly and waved away Korra’s self-congratulation. “Eh, I had ‘em.”

Korra smiled as she surveyed the ravaged landscape. She had never used multiple elements in real combat before, and it was so much easier than fighting fair. Even with that little taste, it was hard to imagine going back to just one, or worse yet, none. Frankly, she kind of resented how natural it felt.

Still, this was the part of being the Avatar that Korra could see herself getting on board with. Dropping mountains on people.

Unfortunately, being the Avatar also meant dealing with other people knowing about it. People like the unconscious terrorists, the ramifications of which she could worry about later. Or like Mako and Bolin, who still hadn’t moved an inch since her airbending demonstration. They looked as rigid and frozen as the rest of the wilderness, both gazing aimlessly into the distance.

“Are you guys alright?” she called.

Neither reacted immediately. It seemed like they hadn’t even heard her. Eventually, though, the expression on Mako’s face transitioned from shock to gloomy trepidation.

“Does this mean we’re really going to have an Agni Kai?”

******

“Can’t you do anything, Kya?” Tenzin demanded.

They were both in a dark room underneath the temple, accompanied by Pema, Bumi, and Jinora’s lifeless body. She had been unresponsive for hours, as Kya continually probed her chi with healing water, and Tenzin was close to tearing his beard out.

“I’m not sure what you want me to do,” Kya defended. “Her body’s fine.” 

Bumi patted his shoulder and made an attempt at comfort. “I don’t see why you’re so worried. She’s probably just looking around the Spirit World.”

He harrumphed. “That’s exactly the problem. The Spirit World can be treacherous to navigate unsupervised without any experience.”

“Then why don’t you just meditate into the Spirit World and find her?” Pema suggested.

He didn’t answer her. Or, more accurately, he didn’t verbally answer her. His silence implied an answer that he wasn’t willing to admit out loud.

“Oh, wow,” Kya gaped. “I was kidding about your kids being better at meditation than you.”

“You see why I’m concerned!” he shouted. “She’s on her own in there, and we don’t have any way to help her.”

“I still say she’ll be fine,” Bumi maintained. “You know, she’s an airbending master, too. You may be her father, but it’s not like you outrank her.”

“The Air Nation doesn’t even have ranks!”

“Exactly.”

Tenzin sometimes regretted not having hair, as he currently felt an overpowering urge to rip it out of his scalp. “It’s not a matter of training, it’s a matter of experience. Master or not, she isn’t prepared to cope with the kind of forces that lurk in the Spirit World!”

Bumi opened his mouth to reply, when Jinora bolted upright from her bed. Her head bounced around the room to regain her bearings, then focused in on the four adults staring at her with wide eyes. 

“I was just in the Spirit World, and I met Uncle Iroh this time, and he told me about a crazy powerful spirit named Vaatu, and he’s going to escape from the Tree of Time, and if we don’t find the Avatar before Harmonic Convergence and get them to close the spirit portals, the entire world will be consumed by chaos!”

Tenzin tried very hard to process all that, he really did, but his mind kept snagging on one part. “‘This time’? You’ve been there before, and you didn’t say anything!?”

“Dad!”

Chapter Text

Jinora had taken a seat in Tenzin’s office while she regaled her father, as well as Kya and Bumi, with a more detailed version of Iroh’s warning. And she had been swaddled in a blanket for some reason. When did that happen?

Regardless, she had just completed her tale, and now was waiting for them to respond. Or even react. They all sat around calmly, the only sounds being Tenzin obsessively stroking his beard, and Bumi scratching various surfaces on his body, or tapping on the bureau he was leaning against. 

“Well?” Jinora prompted. “Harmonic Convergence is just a few days away. What are we going to do?”

Tenzin began stroking his beard and rubbing his scalp. She had never seen him do both at the same time. “This is… quite troubling,” he understated. “You’re certain about what you heard?”

“Yes!” she cried. “Uncle Iroh was very specific.”

Her mother chose that moment to enter the room, bearing a steaming mug that she handed to her daughter, eliciting great confusion from its recipient. “And what’s with the tea and the blanket?” Jinora demanded.

“You were just in the Spirit World,” Tenzin pointed out uselessly. “I’m sure it must have been a harrowing experience.”

“No, it wasn’t,” she contradicted. “I rode on a bunny and shared some tea with one of my heroes.” An awful idea then occurred to Jinora, who took a sip from the mug she had been given to test it. “Aw, man,” she complained. “Now mortal tea tastes terrible.”

Pema cocked her brows. “Is my ‘mortal tea’ really that bad?”

Jinora’s eyes widened in fear. “I mean, it’s great! Thanks, Mom.”

Tenzin rose from his seat, still stroking his beard. At this point, it looked less contemplative and more like a nervous tic. “I’ll have to travel to the Northern Water Tribe to speak to the head of the White Lotus. Surely, if anyone knows where to find the Avatar, it’s him.”

“I’m not going to pretend like I understand even half of what you guys are talking about,” Bumi prefaced, “but didn’t Iroh say the Avatar was the only one who could open a spirit portal?”

“And unless the press corp in Republic City has really gone off the deep end,” Kya added, “they’ve been open for a month.”

“So… that’s good, right?” Pema supposed. “That means the Avatar is alive and well, and probably in one of the Poles.”

“Yeah,” Bumi agreed, “but that’s not what’s bugging me. I thought the official line was that Unalaq opened the portals in some fancy ritual. Now, I’ll admit, I only skimmed the article-”

“All the more reason for me to go to the North!” Tenzin insisted. “The treaty should be signed by now, and Unalaq’s probably already on his way home. If he didn’t open the portals, at the very least he’ll know who did.”

Kya scoffed. “You trust that slimebag?”

“Of course not, but I assume he has a vested interest in making sure the world isn’t consumed by chaos.”

Jinora raised a hand to draw attention to herself. “My understanding is that the portals were opened as part of the peace summit, which took place in the South. If they were opened from the South side, doesn’t that make it more likely that the Avatar is in the South Pole?”

Pema patted her daughter’s shoulder. “That’s a very good point, sweetie.” She then looked at her husband expectantly, tacitly endorsing Jinora’s hypothesis.

He sighed and slumped back into his seat, cradling his head and looking stressed to the point of desperation. “It is a good point. But I don’t have time to check both places, and the North is much closer.”

“You do remember the spirit portals are open now, right?” Kya confirmed. “You can just walk from one to the other.”

Tenzin glowered at his sister. “I’m not sure I want to rely on a passage through the Spirit World being safe, especially with all the dark spirit problems the South has been having.”

Bumi chortled. “Well, then, it seems like your solution is obvious.” Everyone in the room stared at him curiously, implying the solution was not, in fact, obvious. “You take a glider to the North Pole, and I will take Oogi to the South Pole.”

“You?” Tenzin objected groundlessly. “What will you do?”

“Ask around, same as you. I can talk to Mom and her friends. Say, have I ever told you guys about the time I beat Korra in arm wrestling?” 

Kya laughed. “Okay, that one, I don’t believe.”

Tenzin bolted upright with a wild look in his eye. “You believed the story with the tornado-lute, but that was a bridge too far?”

Jinora silently mouthed, ‘Tornado-lute?’ to herself in utter confusion.

“To be fair,” Bumi qualified guiltily, “Korra was only twelve at the time.”

“I knew it,” Kya gloated.

Tenzin folded his hands together and placed them against his lips while he inhaled deeply, then exhaled with enough force to disrupt some of the papers on his desk. He looked to be in an even worse state than when Korra set the women’s dormitory on fire.

Jinora decided she needed to pull him out of whatever spiral he was in. “Dad, it was a good idea. Let Uncle Bumi help.”

His daughter’s voice had the intended calming effect. He closed his eyes, nodded, and sat back down. “You’re right, Jinora. We could use all the help we can get.”

“I can stay here in case the Avatar is in Republic City,” Kya pitched. “I’ll… take out an ad in the paper, I guess.”

Jinora nodded. “And what can I do?”

Her father narrowed his eyes. “What do you mean? You already told us everything, correct?”

“Yeah, but… that’s not it, is it? I can still help.”

He sighed, then paid her a weak smile. “I know you can, but you’ve done more than enough. The best thing you can do now is stay safe.”

Jinora’s mouth fell open in offense. “Okay, first off, I’m totally qualified to do more. I know just as much about spirits as anyone, and I was the one who meditated into the Spirit World in the first place!”

“That’s not really my issue,” he clarified.

“Secondly,” she continued, “you literally just said you need all the help you can get, remember?”

“Yes, but-”

“And third, if we don’t find the Avatar, there isn’t going to be anywhere safe! So what’s the point of keeping me here?”

Nobody could really deny the accuracy of her arguments, so Tenzin looked to his wife for assistance. Pema kneeled down next to Jinora’s seat and took one of her hands. “Sweetie, you may have saved the world already just by telling us about this. It isn’t your responsibility to do anything else. You’ve given your father and Uncle Bumi everything they need to get started, and I’m sure they’ll have the Avatar kicking that spirit back where it came from in no time.”

“It’s not about responsibility,” Jinora insisted, “it’s about wanting to keep the world in one piece. What if we find the Avatar, but they’re not ready? What if they can’t close the portals in time? Shouldn’t they have as much backup as they need?”

Tenzin’s beard-stroking resumed, this time more authoritative than manic. “The Avatar is the rightful bridge between the physical and the spiritual worlds. If there’s a problem with the spirits, it is their destiny to confront it. And if history has proven one thing, it’s that they will rise to meet any challenge they face.”

“Wha… I…” Jinora rested her forehead on her hands while she tried to fathom her father’s position. “You’re just going to bet the fate of the world on the Avatar being able to fix everything by themselves?”

He pursed his lips. “I’m afraid we don’t have much of a choice.” Before Jinora could protest further, he rose definitively from his seat. “I appreciate your warning, but we have very little time to argue. Bumi and I need to leave as soon as possible.”

Tenzin strode purposefully from the office, and Jinora remained pouting in her seat while her mother and aunt followed him. They needed to help him prepare for his big, important mission, after all. Suspiciously, Bumi remained leaning against the bureau with his arms crossed, appearing perfectly at ease.

Once they were alone, Jinora stopped her performative pouting to glare at him. “You know I’m going with you, right?”

He chuckled good-naturedly. “Please,” he scoffed. “You think I’m dealing with any of this by myself? I’d have stuffed you in a potato sack if I had to.”

******

Katara had been solicited to attend to the wounded, and Korra was helping her father deal with the fallout of the attack, so Senna offered to treat the many scrapes and bruises endured by Asami, Mako, and Bolin during their fight. Asami had very prudently requested that they be sequestered in a private location while being healed, so Senna took them all to Tonraq’s office, which was in an otherwise empty wing of the Royal Palace. Their seclusion meant Bolin, who was still effusing over his discovery, was allowed to remain ungagged.

“I can’t believe it!” he gushed. “This is awesome! Korra is the Avatar!” 

Actually, he had been saying basically those three sentences in different configurations for the past five minutes, so Asami was beginning to consider breaking out the gag after all.

“We get it, bro,” Mako finally cut in. Senna was working on a nasty gash he had on his shin, but Asami suspected his moodiness had little to do with physical pain. She couldn’t figure out why he was moping so much about their deception; it’s not like he had made any attempts to stay in the loop with Korra’s life.

Mercifully, Bolin’s curiosity won out over his enthusiasm. “Yeah, I have so many questions. How long has she known? It’s got to have been a while if she’s mastered all the elements.”

“She hasn’t fully mastered any of them,” Asami corrected. “And we’ve only known for a few months. She found out after we defeated the North.”

“Really?” Mako challenged skeptically. “Are you sure about that?”

She crossed her arms to match his uncalled-for confrontationalism. “What exactly are you trying to imply?” She was trying to come off as defiant, but she was also genuinely unsure of what his problem was.

“How did the two of you defeat Amon, again?”

Oh, right. They had slightly lied to him about that. While he and Korra were dating.

Asami dropped her gaze and inaudibly mumbled an answer.

“What was that?” Bolin asked innocently.

She rolled her eyes with a huff. “Korra bent fire, okay? That’s how we were able to get the drop on him, but it’s not like we knew at the time she was the Avatar. We just thought she was illegit…” Senna looked up from her work to focus on Asami as she completed her thought. “...I mean, adopted.”

Mako scoffed and shook his head. “Are you telling me that the whole time we dated, she knew she was a firebender and didn’t say anything?”

“Wait,” Senna interrupted, “you’re Mako? As in, Korra’s Mako?”

Every drop of blood in his face evacuated so as to non-verbally answer his ex’s mother. “Uh… well…”

Having received implicit confirmation, Senna nodded with an understanding smile and withdrew her water from his leg, leaving the sizable laceration unattended. She then moved to Asami and began healing a negligible bruise on her elbow.

“I feel like you’re missing the point, bro,” Bolin denounced. “Korra is a firebender. When we get back to Republic City, she can take your old spot on the Fire Ferrets!”

“Korra has more important things to be doing than pro-bending!” he protested, to the great offense of Bolin. “Speaking of which, why wouldn’t you guys tell anyone? There are a lot of people out there looking for the Avatar.”

Asami shrugged. “Why would we? There’s only one major geopolitical conflict going on right now, and she’s already stuck in the middle of it. There’s not really anything else for her to do besides train, which she can do without making any announcements.”

“But why not?” he pushed. “She has responsibilities now. She can’t hide from them forever.”

She made an attempt to impress upon him the absurdity of his position by donning the fiercest scowl she had ever formed. Senna joined Asami in her efforts, and with their strength combined, what little remained of the color in his face drained away. 

Come to think of it, he may just be suffering from blood loss due to the wound on his leg.

“This is Korra we’re talking about,” Asami seethed. “She’s not going to ignore anyone if they need help, but this is a big change for her, okay? You know how people treat the Avatar. Everyone in the world will be clamoring for her to solve all their problems, and I think she’s right to want to be prepared before she jumps into that headfirst.” She pointed at the two brothers chidingly. “I am doing my best to keep Korra from freaking out about this, and the last thing she needs is you two being dramatic or making demands on her.”

Bolin hugged himself, looking ashamed. “So no pro-bending?”

“I don’t think so,” she affirmed. “She’s stressed enough as it is. Just… please try to treat her how you normally do, okay? Except for you, Mako. You’ve been a total weirdo.”

Mako grimaced, but both of them nodded obediently.

Despite their commitment to normalcy, Asami had doubts that her request would be fulfilled. Especially when Korra and her father entered the office, which induced Bolin to leap from his seat and pull Korra into an ecstatic hug.

“Korra! You’re the Avatar! Can you believe it?”

She extricated herself from his grip and paid him a shallow smile. She had never achieved Asami’s proficiency in pretending. “Yeah, it’s pretty crazy.”

“I just can’t get over it! I am friends with the Avatar. Do you have a Team Avatar yet? Can I meet them?”

Korra frowned. “I mean…” She gestured at the occupants of the room. “You guys are kinda it.”

“Really?” Bolin narrowed his eyes and turned around to look at his brother, who had also risen and was standing stiffly at attention in a unique combination of disheveled and uptight. “Oh, that is sad.”

Asami agreed with his sentiment, which is why she thought it would be best to change the subject. “How bad is it out there?”

“It could have been a lot worse,” Tonraq answered. “So far, Unalaq is the only fatality. Eska and Desna are still out, but they should be fine in a couple of days.”

“What about the prisoners? Are they giving you anything?”

He shook his head. “They haven’t said a word since their capture.”

“Well that’s good, right?” Bolin supposed to the confusion of all present. “It means they won’t tell anyone about Korra being that Avatar.” The clarification elicited nods from his listeners. That was a bright spot.

Mako, who had very prudently unlocked his knees and gone at ease to avoid passing out, directed a question to Tonraq. “Do we know anything about their motives?” He spoke very exclusively to Tonraq, diligently avoiding eye contact with Korra. Honestly, what did Asami expect?

Korra gave Mako a once-over and cried out before her father had a chance to answer. “Mom! Why isn’t he healed?” He was still releasing a small but steady flow of blood from various openings, while Bolin and Asami had been completely put together.

Senna looked up from her work, which at the moment was treating an ingrown hair on Asami’s leg, to glare at Mako. “He knows what he did.” 

Korra buried her face in her hands. “Mom, can you not? I don’t have a problem with Mako.” As proof, she crossed the office to shove him back into his seat, collecting some water while she did, and began addressing his injuries herself.

“To answer your question,” Tonraq began, “we have some of the story, but I don’t think we have any of the important parts.”

Mako was now distracted and perplexed by Korra’s treatment, as well as her declaration that she didn’t have a problem with him, so Tonraq took a seat at his desk and continued his explanation for the members of Team Avatar that were still paying attention. 

“Their names are P’Li, Ghazan, Ming-Hua, and Zaheer. According to Judge Hotah, they’re escaped criminals who were a part of some terrorist group led by Zaheer. Hotah sentenced them to death over two years ago, but they broke out before they could be executed.”

“What did they do?” Asami asked.

“That’s just it,” Korra griped. “The charges were conspiracy and treason, but Hotah wouldn’t give us a single useful detail. He just said, ‘the evidence was clear’,” she quoted, adopting a poor imitation of his gruff voice. “Whatever that means.”

“Given the lack of specifics, they might not have had any evidence at all,” Tonraq hypothesized. “Judge Hotah has been in Unalaq’s pocket for years, so if he wanted Zaheer out of the way, execution would be an easy way to do it.”

Bolin began rubbing his chin very seriously. “But why wait so long to attack? I mean, if I were a crazy terrorist who had just been wrongfully convicted and sentenced to death by one of my enemies, I’d want to get revenge as soon as possible. You know, hypothetically.”

Korra shrugged. “Maybe they were laying low?” she offered.

That wasn’t much of a reason, and didn’t gel well with their recent actions, which were the polar opposite of laying low, so the room fell into silence as everyone contemplated the mystery. 

Asami chewed on her lip, the early stages of an uncomfortable theory forming in her mind. “How long ago exactly were they tried?”

Tonraq thought for a moment, then replied, “About two years and four months ago.”

She nodded uneasily. “Right before Korra’s sixteenth birthday.” Right before the new Avatar should have been announced.

Korra looked warily between her father and Asami. “You think this has something to do with me?”

“Maybe indirectly,” Asami suggested. “I’m just trying to think of why they would attack now. Unalaq doesn’t have much going on besides making peace with the South, but that benefits everybody. And Zaheer doesn’t even look like he’s from the Water Tribe, so why would he care?”

Senna, having run out of blemishes to care for, put away her water and stood upright. “It had to be something to draw them out of hiding after all this time. What else would it be?”

Tonraq began massaging his forehead as realization dawned on him. “They did just open the spirit portals.”

“Something Unalaq said only the Avatar would be able to do,” Asami added.

“Wait a minute,” Mako gaped at his healer. “That was you?”

Korra ignored him while she slowly digested Asami’s proposal, then grunted resentfully. “I knew that would come back to bite us!”

“It’s just an idea,” Asami hedged. “We still don’t know-”

Her train of thought was derailed by someone rapidly pounding on the office door.

Bolin’s burgeoning butler-instincts kicked in, as he immediately rose to answer. He walked over and opened the door to greet their visitor. “How ma- EUGH!”

It was Eska or Desna, with globs of mascara running down their cheeks, still covered in partially-treated burns and emanating pure fury. They must have dragged themselves here as soon as they woke up.

Ignoring Bolin’s discourteousness, they directed their bloodshot eyes at Tonraq. “I demand you extradite P'Li and her co-conspirators to the North for immediate execution.” Based on the voice, Asami deduced that it was the brother.

Tonraq shared a concerned look with his daughter. Giving up the prisoners carried risks. Their motives were still unclear, especially with regard to the Avatar, whose identity they now knew. “I’m sorry for your loss, Desna,” Tonraq commiserated. “But executing them right now may not be wise. We need to interrogate them further, to find out whether they were working alone.”

“I don’t care whether they were working alone!” the twin apparently called Desna cried. “They murdered the Chief of the Water Tribe, and nearly killed his successors. My sister still hasn’t woken up! They deserve to die!”

Tonraq sighed empathetically, and stood from his seat to approach his nephew. It hadn’t occurred to Asami until now that he had just lost his brother. “Alright,” he agreed, “but transferring them to the North will take time. They’ve already escaped custody once, so we’ll need to take every possible precaution. Asami?”

She jumped upon hearing her name. “Yeah, Dad?” Oh, son of a hog monkey!

“How quickly can you retrofit a ship to contain them?” he asked, completely ignoring her blunder, to Asami’s great relief. “We’ll need specialized, climate-controlled cells for each.”

While transportation would be difficult, this was likely intended partly as a stalling tactic, so Asami awkwardly cleared her throat and tried to err on the side of conservatism with her estimate. “We may need to bring in a security specialist-”

“No!” Desna intervened. “We’re moving them now, and we don’t need any ships! Just bring them through the spirit portals.”

Tonraq shook his head regretfully. “We need to keep them under armed guard, and the treaty explicitly prohibits bringing weapons or soldiers into the Spirit World.”

Desna clenched his jaw tightly while he stared down his giant of an uncle. “I don’t recall signing a thing.”

Tonraq pursed his lips and placed a hand on Desna’s shoulder. “I know you’re upset, but creating this peace treaty was the last act your father performed.”

“It was his last act because of those monsters!” He backed away from his uncle and regained his rigid posture, though it lacked his usual composure. “And,” he cut out, “because of your clearly inadequate security.”

Tonraq became downcast. “I’m sorry we let this happen, but-”

“You know,” Desna started, “I do find it curious that no Southerners were killed in the attack.”

Everyone froze, to the point where you could hear a pin drop. He was an unstable sixteen year old child, who had just lost his father and become head of state. And he was coming very close to threatening a renewed war.

“What are you trying to imply?” Korra dared.

“Oh, please,” he sneered. “You were just as close to the podium as I was, and yet you barely have a scratch! For all I know, you hired them to do your dirty work. Hence why they so easily slipped past your men.”

“Why would we do that?” she defended. “Unalaq was giving us everything we asked for! Even if we wanted him dead, couldn’t we have just waited another fifteen minutes for the treaty to be signed?”

“Not to mention the fact that we were the ones who captured his killers,” Asami added. “Why would we take the risk of apprehending our own assassins after they had escaped?”

“I never said you barbarians were smart!” Desna spat. He marched up to his uncle and shoved his relatively diminutive finger into Tonraq’s chest. “And you’ve always been jealous of my father.”

It was obvious what was happening. Neither of the twins ever wanted to give the South its independence, and now they were in charge. Exactly zero percent of Desna’s rational mind was engaged; he was understandably outraged, and he was going to take it out on anyone he could.

“Please don’t do this,” Tonraq appealed. “This peace treaty is your father’s legacy.”

His plea seemed to calm Desna, but for all the wrong reasons. He reclaimed his usual placidity, the mourning and spite having been supplanted by pride. “I am my father’s legacy,” he evenly declared, before turning and leaving the room.

The office fell quiet once again, as everyone struggled to accept what had just happened. The North and the South were enemies once again.

Unsurprisingly, Bolin was the one to point out a silver lining.

“At least we found out which twin is which.”

Chapter Text

“What do you mean, you can’t let us in?” Bumi whined.

When Jinora and Bumi made it to the South, they figured their first stop should be the Royal Palace to talk with Chief Tonraq. What they didn’t anticipate was the two humorless soldiers blocking off in their path. Jinora never caught their names, so they will be referred to as male guard and female guard.

“We’ve been on lockdown ever since the attack,” male guard explained.

Bumi and Jinora shared a worried look. “What attack?” he asked.

Female guard scoffed. “You don’t know? Unalaq was assassinated two days ago, just before the peace treaty could be signed.”

Male guard rolled his eyes at the inconvenient timing. “Meaning the war’s back on, apparently.” He delivered that frankly horrifying news like he was talking about the weather.

“You don’t seem too broken up about it,” Jinora observed critically.

He shrugged. “Overtime is overtime.”

“None of that matters!” Bumi complained. “We’ve got to get the Avatar to fight a tree within the next day or the entire planet will explode!” He really had not paid attention to Jinora’s story at all.

“We’re on strict orders,” female guard rebuffed. “No one in or out except for essential personnel.”

“Surely, those orders wouldn’t apply with the fate of the world at stake,” Jinora appealed.

“Besides,” Bumi added, “don’t you think you could make an exception for Katara’s son and granddaughter?”

Female guard narrowed her eyes suspiciously. “Maybe. But how do we know you two are who you say you are?”

Both Bumi and Jinora recoiled in bewilderment. Somehow, she didn’t think they would have to prove their identities. Not willing to trust verbal arguments to penetrate the guards’ helmets, Bumi merely gestured dramatically at his niece, who was wearing airbender robes and covered in tattoos.

“How do I know she’s really an airbender?” female guard rejoined. “You could be a Northern spy in a clever disguise!”

Jinora had to bite down hard on her lips to resist the urge to say something sarcastic. She held out a hand and formed a miniature twister in her palm.

“Yeah,” male guard conceded, “that would do it.”

Female guard glared at her partner. “We’re still under orders. If they want to get in, they need to file a request with the Head of Security.” She turned her steely gaze back to the intruders. “His mailing address is-”

She was interrupted by a burst of air, as Jinora leapt over both guards and crashed right through a third story window. Her father could file the necessary paperwork later.

******

Korra wasn’t stupid. She only agreed to open the spirit portals after she, her father, and Asami had conducted a thorough risk analysis to determine how much of a threat the North could pose. The South might be outnumbered in terms of population, but Future Industries had supplied them with enough hardware to wipe the floor with the Northerners, even on a level playing field. 

As it was, the only staging point the North had for a grounded invasion was the South Pole itself, which did not exactly bless them with many tactical advantages. The surrounding area was deathly cold even in the summer, and it was a long trek through blistering snow to get to any Southern population center. It would have been nearly impossible to mount an attack in the winter even if they had their entire army at their disposal.

Luckily, hostilities had resumed before the South had expatriated most of their captured troops, meaning the North was operating at barely half strength. Not to mention the fact that every Northern soldier knew how the last invasion went, and was probably unhappy about being dumped into a frozen wasteland to fight an unwinnable war when peace had been a hair’s breadth away.

It only took a day for the South to rout them.

The afternoon after Unalaq’s assassination, Eska and Desna rushed their delegation back through the spirit portals, ignoring vehement protests from both the Southern leadership and the medical staff treating them. As a precaution, the South’s airships had been sent behind them to patrol the South Pole, and sure enough, a hastily cobbled-together Northern army was trudging through it that evening. The rate at which it was assembled implied the soldiers were already stationed near the portal, which could be read generously as a precautionary measure on Unalaq’s part.

The airship crews called out the enemy positions over radio, allowing a task force of mecha-backed Southern troops to block off their path by morning. Before the North could even get to them, the biplane fleet made a few demonstrative bombing runs around their lines, evaporating what negligible morale the invading forces had. They turned tail immediately, and by midday, had retreated to build a defensive encampment around the Southern portal itself. 

Meaning, contrary to their father’s wishes, Eska and Desna had turned the spirit portals into an army base. If they could scrape enough of Unalaq off the courtroom walls to bury him, he’d probably be turning in his grave.

That afternoon, Tonraq invited Korra to his office to help plan their next moves, and she had asked Team Avatar to come with her. Such terms as ‘morning’ and ‘afternoon’ are used loosely, of course, when dealing with such extreme latitudes as are found at the South Pole, but it was after they had all eaten lunch.

“I’m confused,” Mako began, surprising no one. “You guys said the Northern army doesn’t stand a chance against the South’s, right?”

“Right,” Korra agreed.

“So why are we letting them dig in on the South side of the portal? It doesn’t seem smart to give them a foothold down here.”

“It’s not that simple,” Tonraq stated somberly. “I’ve tried to pick a fight around a portal before. It angered the spirits so badly, they nearly destroyed Agna Qel’a. I’m not ordering an attack unless we have no other choice.”

“And we definitely have a choice here,” Asami added. “They don’t represent that much of a threat right now. If Eska and Desna have proven one thing thus far, it’s that they’re not exactly strategic masterminds.”

“Plus,” Korra piled on, “all the things that make it hard for the North to get to us make it just as hard for us to get to them. Even I can feel the cold so far south.”

Bolin whistled in amazement. “Man, that was a really bad suggestion, bro.”

Mako ground his teeth and pushed forward. “In that case, why are we meeting now? If we can’t do anything about the Northern army, doesn’t that mean we’re stuck waiting until Desna and Eska come to their senses?”

“Possibly,” Tonraq admitted, “but that carries risks as well. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Spirit World being militarized angers the spirits anyway, in which case we may need the Avatar to intervene.”

Korra thought that was an entirely sensible idea. It legitimately took ten seconds of everybody staring at her for her to remember that she was the Avatar, meaning they were asking her to run point on fending off potential dark spirit attacks.

“Who, me?” she clarified superfluously. “What do you want me to do?”

“I mean, spirit-type stuff seems like it should be in the Avatar’s wheelhouse,” Bolin pointed out. “Right?”

“Wrong!” Korra insisted. “I hardly know anything about spirits. I’ve read, like, two books, and that’s it.”

“What about spiritbending?” Tonraq suggested. “Do you know how that works?”

She shrugged. “Barely. I’ve seen Unalaq do it, but all I know is that it’s a type of healing. With him gone, I’m not sure I can figure it out myself.”

“Aren’t you supposed to be the bridge between the physical and the spiritual worlds?” Mako pressured.

Korra clenched her fists and her jaw. “Yes, but that doesn’t mean-”

“Says who?” Asami interrupted.

Well, that was an odd thing to ask. Her listeners glanced around at each other in confusion, as Asami leaned casually against the wall and refused to elaborate.

Korra decided she wanted to see where Asami was going with this. “What do you mean, ‘says who’?”

“I mean exactly that,” she reiterated. “Who says it has to be your job? The fact that Unalaq can spiritbend proves it’s not an Avatar-exclusive ability, and if it’s a sub-skill of healing, then you’re not even the most qualified to learn it. Kya or Katara would both be more obvious choices.”

That was… all technically true. But even though Korra felt out of her element, it seemed kind of cowardly to ask other people to fend off the spirits, when that was one of the two things the Avatar was expected to do. The other being maintaining balance, which, frankly, Korra hadn’t done a bang-up job of doing so far, either. Isn’t the whole point of being the Avatar that you’re never out of your element?

“I don’t know.” She hugged herself and massaged her arm. “Isn’t it my destiny or something to take charge of all this spirit stuff?”

That question looked like it greatly annoyed Asami. “Says. Who?” she cut out.

“Everybody?” Korra correctly answered.

Asami rolled her eyes. “You know that’s not what I’m asking. I just think-”

A muted crash in the distance echoed through the halls of the Royal Palace. 

The occupants of the room exchanged concerned looks, until another sound could be heard, this time much closer. Korra jumped out of her seat and exited the office, followed promptly by her father and the rest of Team Avatar. Now that they were outside, they could hear indistinct shouting and the familiar sounds of their security responding to a breach. Korra was just about to move out to help respond to the threat, when a blur of yellow and orange dashed into their hallway and bounced off the wall to help change direction more quickly.

The blur sped towards them, carried by a rush of wind, until it careened right into Korra and captured her in a tight embrace.

“Hey, Korra!” Jinora cheered.

“I… what…” she stammered. “Jinora?”

“That’s me,” she confirmed, before releasing her hold. She took in the people standing behind Korra, and bowed deferentially towards her father. “It’s an honor to meet you, Chief Tonraq.” Her gaze landed on Asami, which stifled her enthusiasm. “Hello, Miss Sato,” she greeted meekly.

Asami crossed her arms and cocked her eyebrows antagonistically. “Jinora,” she replied frostily.

That was an unusual exchange, but Korra would sort out the origins of Asami’s weird feud with a thirteen-year-old monk later. “Jinora, what are you doing here?”

“I came with Uncle Bumi to find the Avatar.”

Well, that couldn’t be good. “Why do you need to find the Avatar?”

She opened her mouth to answer her, but was interrupted by someone who sounded a lot like Bumi crying out. “Jinora! Help!”

He charged into the same hallway and slammed into the wall, stopping for a moment to catch his breath before shoving himself off of it just in time to avoid a deluge of water. He barrelled towards them, and was followed shortly by two Southern soldiers who were pursuing him.

“Halt!” one of them ordered.

“What the heck?” Korra shouted. “Why are you attacking Commander Bumi?”

Bumi doubled over once he reached them, panting heavily, while the two soldiers jogged closer. “It was her idea,” one of them accused.

The other one scowled at him before addressing Korra. “We were given orders not to let anyone enter.”

“And you couldn’t make an exception for Katara’s kid?”

“That’s what I said!” Bumi whined.

The angry guard became appropriately embarrassed. “Given recent events, I didn’t want to take any liberties with regard to the interpretation of our orders.”

Tonraq stepped forward to answer her. “Is that so, Lorel? Because I believe your orders were to stay at your post, and yet here you are.”

She blanched. “Yes, sir,” she conceded, before retreating in a rush, dragging her partner behind her. 

Once they had gone, Bumi clutched manically at Tonraq’s parka. “You gotta help us find the Avatar quick, or else the world is going to end tomorrow!”

“Pardon?” he responded skeptically. He’d met Bumi before, and had been made aware of his penchant for exaggeration.

“Uncle Bumi’s right,” Jinora agreed. “If the Avatar doesn’t close the spirit portals before Harmonic Convergence, an ancient spirit named Vaatu is going to escape from his prison in the Tree of Time.”

Well, that raised more questions than it answered. Was Korra supposed to know what she was talking about? Were any of them?

Fortunately, as the member of their group with the least ego, Bolin took it upon himself to seek redress for their ignorance. “Okay, first off, what’s Harmonic Convergence?”

Jinora floundered a bit. “It’s this… astronomy thing. The details don’t really matter, the point is that it’s tomorrow.”

“Right, of course. And the Tree of Time?”

“I don’t know,” she flustered, “some really old spirit-tree.”

“Got it,” Bolin confirmed. “Follow up question, is it really the end of the world if this Bato guy escapes? I mean, how bad can he be?”

“Vaatu is the primordial spirit of chaos, who’s locked in an eternal battle with the Avatar Spirit, Raava. If he gets out and defeats the Avatar, he’ll unleash ten thousand years of darkness upon both planes of existence.”

“Uh huh, uh huh,” he nodded in understanding. “Well, I hate to disappoint you, but none of us have any idea who the Avatar is.” He grinned proudly at Korra, who was on the verge of having a nervous breakdown.

“Well then, we have to find them!” Bumi declared. “Whoever they are, they opened the portals, and they’re gonna have to close ‘em back up!”

Korra raised her hand tentatively. “And, just supposing, you know, hypothetically, that the Avatar doesn’t know how to go about closing a spirit portal. What would we do then?”

“We’ll die,” he bluntly replied.

“The Avatar has to know how to close the spirit portals,” Jinora insisted, “since they must have opened them in the first place.”

“Right, right… right,” Korra admitted tensely. “But what if she kinda, sorta had a little bit of help when-”

“She?” Jinora narrowed her eyes at Korra. “How do you know the Avatar is a woman?”

Oops.

Korra bit her lip and stared at the ground, willing Jinora to evaporate from existence, or at least say she was joking about the whole ‘world ending’ thing. She was perfectly aware that everyone was waiting to see how she would answer Jinora’s question, but Korra had no plans to do so. Maybe Asami could come up with something that could get her off the hook here?

Eventually, Bumi chuckled. Then, he started to laugh. In short order, he descended completely into hysterics, cackling frantically and slapping his knee.

Jinora gawked at his inexplicable mirth as he reined himself in and wiped tears from his eyes.

“Oh, man,” he sighed, “we are all going to die.”

******

Korra was the Avatar.

“Can’t you just tell, uh… Esna… and Deska what’s going on?” Uncle Bumi flubbed.

Jinora was sitting in Chief Tonraq’s office with Avatar Korra.

“I can imagine how that conversation would go,” Mako drolled. “‘Please, abandon your military installation so we can cut off your only access point to our territory. Trust us, it’s for super-important reasons’.”

Korra and her Team Avatar were strategizing together.

“Assuming we have to take the spirit portals by force,” Asami calculated, “we’ll need to use airships for transportation, since traveling over land would take too long. But those are still relatively slow, meaning we’ll have to leave as soon as possible.”

Avatar Korra was sitting there, bouncing her knees and silently fidgeting.

“Why take an airship? I could get us there lickety-split on Oogi,” Bumi offered.

Jinora had known the Avatar since she was four years old.

“Ooh! I’ve always wanted to ride on a sky bison!” Bolin enthused.

The fate of the entire world rested on Avatar Korra.

“Oogi can’t carry an army,” Chief Tonraq rejected. “We’ll need muscle if we want a chance of breaking the North’s fortifications.”

Avatar Korra finally spoke. “Jinora, can you please stop staring at me?”

Right, she had been doing that for the past five minutes straight, hadn’t she? “Sorry,” Jinora mumbled, while casting her gaze to the ground. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Asami glaring daggers at her.

“Just so I’m clear,” Mako checked, “our plan is to rush the enemy on hostile terrain with whatever troops we can organize in the next few minutes, and hope we can come up with a way to close the spirit portals once we get there?”

Avatar Korra looked like she was about to throw up.

“You’re staring at me again, Jinora.”

“Well, I’m sorry!” Jinora blurted. “Does nobody else think this is crazy? Since when is Korra the Avatar?”

She shrugged timidly. “Since birth, unless something really wacky happened to the Avatar cycle.”

“And you seriously don’t know how you opened the portals?”

“Jinora!” Asami snapped. She scowled at her with enough spite to make the Si Wong Desert sweat.

“It’s okay, Asami,” Korra pacified, “it’s an honest question. And I kind of know how. It had something to do with the Avatar State, but Unalaq was also helping me with water.”

Jinora screwed up her face in confusion. “What was he doing with water?”

“I don’t know,” she wavered. “Spiritbending, I guess. I was supposed to be meditating at the time, so my eyes were closed, but I could hear swooshing… and then I felt all glowy… and then the portal was opening.”

That didn’t exactly give Jinora a lot of details to work with. 

“You two can try to work out the specifics on the way,” Asami reproached. “None of this will even matter if we can’t get Korra to the spirit portals in time, so let’s focus on getting that done, shall we?”

Mako held his chin and adopted a deliberately contemplative expression. “Even if we do make it in time, who knows how long it will take to secure the portal itself. Depending on how many troops the North has at its disposal, we might not be able to take it at all.”

Tonraq sighed heavily. “Then we don’t worry about taking it.”

Korra furrowed her brows with worry. “Dad?”

He stood up from his desk and began pacing. “We send in the biplanes to soften up their defenses, which should help scatter and confuse the enemy. If our men follow up with a concerted frontal assault, the North will likely lack the coordination to realize it’s bait. If they overextend to respond-”

“-that gives me an opportunity to slip into the Spirit World behind them,” she finished.

“That gives us an opportunity,” he corrected. “I’m not letting you go in there alone.”

Korra frowned sympathetically at her father. “You can’t come with me. The Southern forces will need you to lead the attack.”

“Are you kidding?” Bumi dismissed. “They’ll have a world-class commander at their disposal.”

“Who?” Bolin asked, to said commander’s great offense.

“And, I’m sorry, Korra,” Asami added, “but you are not going alone. There’s absolutely no way I’m letting you out of my sight until I know you’re safe.”

Korra hummed a rueful laugh while glowering at the floor. “I don’t know if ‘safe’ fits into the job description anymore.”

That was an absolutely undeniable statement, so no one made any attempts to contradict her. There was a beat of silent discomfort that permeated the room, as Asami gnawed her lower lip anxiously. Come to think of it, she looked like she was in nearly as bad a state as Korra. 

And then, Asami rolled her shoulders, suddenly abandoning every visible trace of unease, before striding calmly towards Korra’s seat. Asami knelt down beside her and took one of her hands in her own, wearing a surprisingly convincing smile.

“We’re going to be fine,” she affirmed. “The North won’t know what hit them. You’re going to close up the spirit portals, and we’ll be back here in time for dinner.”

Korra returned her smile, less convincingly, but with a touch more sincerity. “Sounds like a plan.”

Chapter Text

Asami was an engineer and business magnate. She was nineteen years old, had very little spiritual acumen, and wasn’t even a bender. And yet, here she was, flying an airship straight into a warzone so she could toss the love of her life at the greatest supernatural threat the world had faced in ten thousand years, with a deadline to stop it only a few minutes away. Notwithstanding Asami’s best efforts to insulate Korra from this Avatar garbage, they had all been tossed right in the deep end with essentially no time to prepare. 

In spite of all that, Asami was not freaking out. Because Korra was definitely freaking out, and if both of them were freaking out, who would be the voice of reason? Bolin? Mako? Jinora?

No, Asami was perfectly relaxed, and she would be until all this was over. Then, she could settle into a comfy sofa in front of a warm fire, with Korra beside her and Naga at her feet, and enjoy a nice, long hemorrhagic stroke. 

Maybe she was being overdramatic. The situation was obviously stressful, but things were going well so far.

They had been given very little time to mount an attack, but they were nonetheless able to assemble a decent primary assault force. It consisted of half a dozen mechas and over a hundred troops, loaded onto three airships, led by the inimitable Commander Bumi on his trusty steed, Oogi. Sky bison may be airbenders, but Bumi assured everyone that they were not compelled to take any vows of pacifism.

Despite only occupying the Southern portal for less than two days, the North had managed to erect some pretty impressive fortifications, which Asami thought was adorable. They were building little walls like it would keep the biplanes away. It didn’t, of course, and by the time the bombing was over and Bumi started his advance, the Northern troops were as disoriented as predicted. Reinforcements began pouring in through the portal to meet the Southern forces, which really only added to the general chaos. 

Still, it was a bit surprising that nobody seemed to notice the fourth airship in the Southern fleet descending on the North’s backline. Admittedly, it was just a small scouting vessel, but it was still an airship. They weren’t exactly stealth craft.

It touched down and deposited its payload: Chief Tonraq and the fledgling Team Avatar, including one grumpy, airsick polar bear dog. They weren’t more than a stone’s throw from the Southern portal, but no Northerners were around to pay them any mind. They had been almost embarrassingly easy to out-maneuver.

Bolin, apparently, wanted to confirm they had gone undetected. “Hello?” he loudly whispered, causing Mako to slap a hand over his mouth. Their insertion team waited a moment to see if anyone would respond, but the only sounds they heard were indistinct shouts and faraway action.

“Like I said,” Asami smirked, “we’ll be back by dinner.”

Korra grunted in agreement, lacking Asami’s feigned good cheer. 

“We better get a move on,” Jinora said. “Harmonic Convergence is almost here.”

Wait, Jinora?

“I thought you were supposed to stay on the airship!” Asami hissed.

She shrugged casually. “What am I going to do there?”

“Jinora, get back on the airship,” Korra ordered with a determined set of her jaw. “I’ve got a job to do.”

She marched towards the portal, if not confidently, then at least with some resolve. Jinora obediently remained where she was as everyone else made to follow her. They made no attempt at subtlety, but Korra was able to lead them through the charred ruins of the encampment and right up to their destination before someone finally noticed them. And that ‘someone’ just so happened to be Eska.

She and Desna were stationed by the portal and had been screeching orders at their men, directing them towards the perceived front lines as they came in from the Spirit World. Asami thought it was fairly strange that the two heads of state would personally come to oversee this meaningless conflict while still recovering from their injuries, until it occurred to her that any other officer with functioning neurons would have called for retreat long ago, meaning they would have had to take charge if they wanted to keep up the fight. By the time Eska spotted them and alerted her brother of the intruders, he had already sent off the latest squadron of Northern troops, meaning, for the moment, they were alone.

“Tonraq!” Desna snarled. “As the rightful Chiefs of the Water Tribe, we command you and your rebels to surrender!”

Lacking the presence of any backup, it was a completely toothless threat, but Tonraq still deigned to respond. “Please, Desna, we need to get into the Spirit World. We don’t want to-”

Before he could complete his appeal, the rightful Chiefs were chucked into the far distance by an eruption of snow.

Korra dropped her simple but effective waterbending stance, and gave her father a side-eye. “We’re on a short time-table, remember?”

Without another word, she ran straight into the portal, and Asami was right behind her.

The Spirit World was not at all what she expected. It somehow felt both more and less real than the physical world, and yet, it was surprisingly… normal. She wasn’t a spiritual person herself, so she didn’t exactly have the terminology to describe what she was feeling, but what she saw looked strangely ordinary. Some rocky ground, an old tree, and a battalion of Northern troops approaching them. 

Oh, that was a problem.

Bolin stomped heavily to raise them some cover. “Everybody, get down!”

Team Avatar dove behind his defenses just in time to avoid a flurry of water and ice. After they weathered the first volley, the benders rose to return fire, and their barrage was much more effective. At the moment, Asami didn’t even feel particularly compelled to help them out. Tonraq and Korra were sending powerful streams of water that the enemy benders were struggling to redirect, and the former Fire Ferrets were precisely sniping their targets, while Jinora was shooting wider flows of air that slowed the enemy advance.

Wait, Jinora?

“Airship, Jinora!” Asami shouted. “Remember?”

She sent one last blast of wind and turned to rebut her critic. “We don’t have time to argue about this,” she pointed out, “or time to fight all these guys. Korra!”

Korra ducked under a bevy of ice daggers and braced herself against the rock wall. “Yeah?”

“Vaatu needs both of the portals open to escape. Just close the Southern portal while we keep the North busy.”

“Won’t that trap us here?” Bolin worried.

A particularly coordinated salvo of water started to crack their protection, prompting Bolin to break off his offensive efforts to reinforce it.

“It only needs to be closed during Harmonic Convergence,” Jinora explained. “We can open it back up in a few minutes!”

Korra nodded. “Alright, you guys got this. Asami, come with me.”

Before Asami could ask why on earth her presence would be required to close a spirit portal, Korra leapt up and dashed towards it. She huffed in frustration and followed her, as the rest of Team Avatar spread out to encircle the remaining Northern troops.

She jogged up behind Korra, who was staring intensely at the pillar of light. “Do you know how to close it?” Asami asked.

Korra took a deep breath, and after a beat of silence, turned around to her with fire in her eyes. “I need you to try to kill me.”

…

Well, that was the most ridiculous thing she possibly could have said.

Perhaps Asami misunderstood. “I beg your pardon?”

Korra rubbed her mouth and nodded gravely. “I have to be in the Avatar State to close the portal, but I don’t know how to do that on my own, so I need someone to come really close to killing me, and hopefully, it’ll kick in as a defense mechanism.”

Asami groaned and buried her face in her hands. “Hopefully? Is that seriously your plan?”

“I don’t know what else to do!” she cried. “Did you seriously expect me to be able to master the Avatar State on the way here?”

“Korra, even if that did work, all it would accomplish is getting me killed. It’s a defense mechanism, remember?”

She slapped her forehead in realization. “Right, duh,” she conceded. Korra looked past Asami towards the ongoing combat. “Hey, Mako! I need you to come try to kill me!”

“No!” Asami chided, while waving away the confused look Mako was sending them. “If you get pushed into the Avatar State like that, you won’t have any control over it, meaning you won’t be able to use it to close the portal. Why not just try meditating?”

Asami winced as a particularly shrill howl of agony rose above the incessant din of battle, courtesy of Naga sinking her teeth into one of the Northern waterbenders. 

“Do these seem like ideal circumstances for a meditation session!?” Korra roared. “We don’t have a lot of options here! I can try to take control of the Avatar State once I’m in it.”

“Then have Jinora try to kill you!”

Korra seemed repulsed by that suggestion. “She’s thirteen years old! Why do you have such a problem with Jinora?”

“She’s a little twerp!” Asami answered reflexively. “But I’m not trying to get her killed, it’s just that as an airbender, she has the most mobility out of all of us, meaning she’s the one most likely to survi-”

“What are you two talking about!?” the aforementioned twerp screamed. She could really come out of nowhere.

Korra crossed her arms and pouted. “We’re trying to figure out how to get me in the Avatar State, but someone won’t let Mako try to kill me.”

Jinora scoffed in exasperation. “Are you kidding me? What about the meditation tips I gave you? Have you tried those?”

“Meditation sucks!” Korra yelled. 

Jinora looked stung by that proclamation. “Meditation is delightful,” she insisted. “You just haven’t done it right.” Because of course she would make this all Korra’s fault.

“Well, I’m sorry I never took the time to learn,” Korra jeered. “I didn’t really think I would ever find myself in this situation! I mean, who would have thought the fate of the world would rest on me being able to meditate? I was writing parking tickets, like, six months ago!”

Asami shoved Korra out of the way of an errant water stream from one of the Northerners that was dueling Tonraq. It looked like the enemy numbers were starting to dwindle, so maybe Korra would be able to focus in spite of them.

Asami held onto Korra’s shoulders and locked onto her eyes, trying to project as much confidence and calm as possible. “Korra, you’ve got this,” she encouraged.

“No I don’t!” she instantly denied. “I’m not going to magically fix everything because you believe in me. I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this before, but I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I’M DOING!”

And just like that, they ran out of time.

A pulse flowed from the spirit portals, which began to slowly bend towards each other. Their rate of change increased until they converged into a blazing point right above the Tree of Time. They droned with unimaginable power, throwing off arcs of energy while North and South pressed into each other. It got louder and louder until the two opposing sides were united into a single shock of color, as the yellow and blue conjoined into a vibrant gold. It was like they had finally landed on a resonance frequency on which they could agree.

Oh, that was probably where the name ‘Harmonic Convergence’ came from. 

Energy began to spark between the arch above and the Tree of Time, which started to glow red. That indescribable feeling which pervaded the Spirit World became more pronounced, and much less pleasant. There was a moment of silence, and then a deafening crack, as Vaatu burst from his prison after ten thousand years of waiting. Meaning they had failed. 

“Huh,” Asami remarked. “He looks like a cross between a squid and a bedsheet.”

Jinora glared at her as Korra remained fixed on what was, apparently, her immortal rival. He was oozing an icy rage and… laughing? He didn’t exactly have a mouth, but Asami could perceive arrogant laughter seeping and vibrating through her like it was coming from her own chest. The Northern soldiers prudently made a hasty retreat through the portal they came from, leaving Team Avatar alone with the spirit of chaos.

Asami felt it form rich and sonorous words. “It’s been a long time, Raava. Nothing could have-”

Korra blasted him with the largest plume of fire Asami had ever seen. It silenced him, but as far as she could tell, did no real damage besides knocking him back a bit. He flew towards Korra, who readied herself for a fight, but his approach was stunted by another outpouring of flame, followed up by a massive boulder. Mako and Bolin were pummeling him from behind, so he turned and shot one of his inky tendrils towards them. They launched themselves out of the way, as the remaining benders jumped into action.

Tonraq leapt on a wave to circle Vaatu while firing impressive jets of water. Jinora opened her glider and darted into the sky, swooping around the spirit like a spiderfly and sending out occasional airbending slices. And Korra was simply marching boldly towards him, bending enormous projectiles of every element in quick succession. Asami couldn’t imagine what it would look like to injure Vaatu, but she was pretty sure they hadn’t done it so far. And yet, the constant bombardment from every vector battered him about and prevented him from effectively countering.

Okay, so this guy, for all his reputed spiritual strength, was vulnerable to physical attacks. Which was odd, but at least explained how the original Avatar had defeated him in the first place.

That worked just fine for Asami. She could do physical.

She began sprinting towards him, but the pace of combat was too quick for her to keep up with on foot. The benders all had ways to augment their movement, so they could maintain their pressure as Vaatu moved around the battlefield, and could avoid his limbs as he lashed out spastically. If Asami wanted to contribute something, though, she’d need to go faster. So she broke off her pursuit of him and charged towards Naga, who was stationed at the sidelines and barking threateningly. Asami hopped onto her saddle and drove her into the fray.

The continuing barrage of elements meant that as they neared Vaatu, more and more stray debris was cascading around them, forcing Naga to juke and dodge with such agility, Asami was having trouble staying mounted. Their proximity also meant that the palpable feeling of discord and uneasiness that Vaatu emanated was reaching a fever pitch. Before long, they were as close as Asami felt comfortable getting, so she reached into her satchel and chucked one of her firebombs.

Honestly, she was hoping for a more dramatic reaction. She built those things, and they packed a wallop, but despite the considerable size of the explosion, it merely jostled Vaatu backwards like all the other attacks Team Avatar was sending. But there wasn’t much else she could do to contribute, so she urged Naga forward and tossed another. It landed higher up on his… body? Right on the bright reddish spot at the center of his ‘face’, which, Asami supposed, correlated to his rendition of an eye. Whatever it was, the second firebomb knocked him much farther back.

She was unsure if she had accomplished anything, but she could tell the emotions Vaatu radiated were joined by an increasing sense of irritation. Maybe, if Korra couldn’t unlock the Avatar State, they could annoy him to death.

Unfortunately, the annoyance they precipitated started to feel like it was being directed at Asami, who, at the moment, was also the closest, and still riding straight towards him.

A black arm shot at them, slamming not into Asami, but into Naga. It completely halted the polar bear dog’s advance and forced her into the ground. Asami, on the other hand, was a loyal adherent to the laws of motion, so she preserved her forward momentum and was hurled right into the tendril that was grappling Naga. 

She caught onto it midair, which kept her from hitting the ground, but also meant she was now up close and personal with Vaatu’s form. His all-pervasive darkness was nearly overpowering. She delivered a charge from one gauntlet to the other, causing the appendage to wither between her hands and retract, freeing Naga and unceremoniously dropping Asami.

By the time she landed, Naga was already retreating towards the portal they came from. Truthfully, Asami didn’t really blame her, given how horrifying direct contact with Vaatu was. While she was now stranded right in front of the ancient progenitor of chaos itself, she wasn’t too concerned. Korra was storming towards her, propelled by water and flinging massive surges of flame.

“Don’t you DARE touch Naga again!” she bellowed. “Now get back in that stupid tree!”

She was successfully beating him away with her tantrum, but it still didn’t seem to be weakening him. In fact, so far, the only thing that had shown much of an effect was the electricity from Asami’s gloves.

Oh, right, of course!

“Korra!” she called out, partially drawing the Avatar’s attention. “If Vaatu is the spirit of darkness, he should be vulnerable to light! Which is just one form of energy! The electrical current from my gloves would have created a field of EM radiati-”

“PLEASE GET TO THE POINT!”

Asami pulled out her entire arsenal of glowing crystal batteries. “Shock him!” she commanded, before tossing her inventions upward.

Korra seemed to catch on, and propelled them with a rush of wind right into Vaatu’s body.

They sunk into his flesh, if it can be called that, and collectively created a surge of power that almost sounded like a thunderclap. And finally, finally, one of their attacks did something. It wasn’t much, but there was a definite hiss of pain.

Unfortunately, Asami was now out of ammunition, and Vaatu looked fine. Much angrier, maybe a bit smaller, but otherwise fine.

“Mako!” she shouted.

“Got it!” He didn’t miss a beat, and began channeling bolts of lighting towards the spirit. It stunned Vaatu, briefly, but didn’t seem to have much of a lasting impact. He whipped an arm towards Mako, who jet-stepped out of the way and resumed his onslaught of electricity. Asami, however, thought she had a more direct method of generating light.

“Everybody get ready to close your eyes!” she yelled, while taking off her satchel of weapons and grabbing it by the strap.

Korra nodded in understanding. “Pull!”

On her order, Asami flung her bag as high as she could. Right as it passed in front of Vaatu’s face, Korra nailed it with a precise shot of flame.

Asami had loaded an additional six firebombs in that things, along with two dozen cherry bombs, which were specifically designed to each produce a blinding amount of light. The detonation was almost deafening, and created enough of a shockwave to cause Asami to stumble to the ground. It occurred to her that, when she replaced her satchel, she desperately needed to upgrade the fireproofing.

With some trepidation, she reopened her eyes, and was momentarily relieved to find that Vaatu had been sent reeling.

The problem was, once he recovered, he started coming right back towards her, gleaming with darkness and fury. And, worryingly, his color had shifted from a muted red to a glowing violet. She scrambled up and just barely managed to leap out of the way before a roaring beam of pure energy slammed into the ground at her feet. 

It wasn’t a direct hit, but it was close enough that the impact sent Asami flying. The force of it lurched through her, pounding her insides worse than bloodbending did. She spun through the air and landed in a pool of water, dazed and horribly nauseous. She hauled herself out of it just in time to see three of those awful tendrils swinging right at her, at a literally breakneck speed.

Okay, now Asami was comfortable freaking out. She didn’t have time for her entire life to flash before her eyes, but there was more than enough material to cover over the last year alone. The constant escalation of utter nonsense she had endured was surreal. She had gone from formal dinners and pro-bending matches to fighting terrorists, triads, armies, assassins, and now this wispy behemoth. She had gone from being an heiress, to being worth less than the average vagabond, to being the second-richest woman in the world. She had unknowingly become the Avatar’s firebending master and best friend. She had lost her father, built a new family, and fallen in love with some dorky, chiseled idiot.

Worth it.

Asami curled up to brace for Vaatu’s almost certainly fatal strike, but it never came.

Instead, all she felt was an overwhelming tsunami of wind rocketing over her. Despite being nothing but air, it was almost as loud as the cherry bombs, except it was able to sustain its pressure on her eardrums. It continued its abundant flow for a solid ten seconds before it began to abate.

When Asami lowered her arms to regain her bearings, Vaatu was nowhere to be seen.

The rest of Team Avatar was running towards Asami with shock written on their faces. There was now a stiff, constant breeze, which was starting to include cutting droplets of water. And there was a dazzling source of light somewhere behind her.

Asami turned around to witness Avatar Korra, in all her glory. If she thought Vaatu exuded power, she hadn’t seen anything yet. 

“Wow,” Bolin marveled, as much in a daze as everyone else at seeing their Korra turn into the most dangerous force in existence. “She mastered the Avatar State already?”

“Nope,” Asami denied. “She sure didn’t.”

They were all at least thirty feet away from her, but it was close enough for them to start feeling a blistering heat. The air condensed below Korra and lifted her upwards, along with vast quantities of earth. Her light was so intense, Asami could barely even look at her.

“Hmm,” Bolin acknowledged. “We should run, shouldn’t we?”

“Yep,” Asami agreed.

As Vaatu returned to face his eternal nemesis, Team Avatar sprinted back into the Southern portal to let the spirits work out their differences by themselves.

******

“Well, hey, Lin!” Kya called out. “Long time no see! What brings you to Air Temple Island on this fine afternoon?”

When Lin moored, she assumed she would have a few minutes to prepare herself before dealing with Kya’s theatrics. However, the woman in question was apparently on her way to the ferry herself, meaning Lin had the misfortune of running into her almost as soon as she stepped off the docks. As such, she wouldn’t have the luxury of crafting a pleasant demeanor to decorate her interrogation; Lin would have to go into this cold.

She handed Kya her copy of The Republic Reporter. “I’m here because of this.”

“Oh, delivering newspapers, now?” she teased. “What, you couldn’t cut it as police chief?”

Of course she was going to make this difficult. “You took out full page ads in every paper in the city.”

Kya nodded and hummed confirmation. “I haven’t checked the penal code in a few weeks, but I’m pretty sure that’s not against the law.”

Her normal intimidation tactics probably wouldn’t work on Kya, so she snatched the paper back and opened it up to spell it out for her. “‘Avatar wanted to prevent the impending end of the world. If you are the Avatar, see Kya at Air Temple Island for details as soon as possible’.”

“I hate to break it to you, but you’re a bit old to answer that ad.”

She clenched her jaw in frustration. “I want to know what kind of game you’re playing at here. You’ve spent an enormous sum of money on a joke with a very unclear punchline.”

Kya chuckled. “I don’t think you’re in a position to criticize anyone else’s sense of humor. But if it makes you feel any better, I didn’t use any of my money on it. I just stole from Tenzin.”

Lin raised a brow incredulously. 

“Oh, don’t give me that look,” Kya warned. “I wasn’t stealing from the Air Nation, just his personal savings. He had plenty of money stashed away from his councilor’s salary.”

“‘Had’?”

“Advertising is expensive,” she dismissed. “Besides, what else is he going to spend it on? He’s a monk.”

Lin sighed and began massaging the bridge of her nose. “And why did you feel the need to bankrupt your own brother?”

“I believe the ad was perfectly clear.”

“So the world is ending?” she challenged.

“Yep! Sure is. Speaking of which, will that be all? I really need to be on my way.”

Lin crossed her arms combatively. “And where were you planning on going?”

“Well, the Avatar never showed up here,” Kya explained, “and Harmonic Convergence, AKA the end of the world, is happening about now. The way I figure it, either one of my brothers tracked down the Avatar, and we’ll all be fine; or they struck out too, in which case we’re all toast. Either way, I need a drink, and believe it or not, there isn’t a drop of liquor anywhere on this island.”

Lin was well within her rights to arrest Kya. She had just confessed to felony larceny. But Lin somehow suspected Tenzin would be reluctant to press charges, and more to the point, there was a slight possibility her ridiculous story was at least partially based in truth. 

Especially when a current of energy washed over the entire city, shrouding the clear summer day as if it were night, and filling the skies with ribbons of dancing radiance.

She couldn’t explain why it was her immediate instinct, but Lin decided to glare at Kya as if this were all her fault. As she stared upwards, mesmerized by the apocalyptic light show, Kya’s implacable swagger fractured slightly with traces of genuine fear. 

She looked back down and smiled weakly at Lin. “So how ‘bout that drink?”

******

It took very little time for Vaatu to realize his strategy wasn’t working.

He was trying to fight fairly, but Raava had given that up when she merged with that human. It had been enough to tip the scales in her favor last time, and she had gained the experience, wisdom, and power of hundreds of lives since then. Meanwhile, he spent the last ten thousand years stuck in a tree.

Vaatu had considered trying to copy her approach, but the one human ally he had discovered did what all humans do, and died before he could be useful. He tried defeating her on his own, but her allies had proven to be surprisingly distracting. And ever since Raava shifted into the Avatar State, she was moving with screaming speed and firing searing heat right through him. She had only landed three hits so far, but he had already been reduced to half his prior size.

So now, he was running.

He wasn’t sure what his plan was moving forward, but he knew that he couldn’t get close to Raava without that fleshy mortal tossing half the Spirit World at him. Thus, he was fleeing as fast as he could, trying to avoid, or at least delay, her wrath. 

Unfortunately, there was nowhere in this realm to hide. The Spirit World was Raava’s domain as much as it was his. She was tearing through mountains and forests in her pursuit of him, and she was transforming the remnants of her destruction into weapons to use against him.

That left only one place to retreat: the physical world. But thanks to her union with humanity, that would put him at an even greater disadvantage once she tracked him down, since he wouldn’t be able to draw strength from the Spirit World’s energy. In a material battle, he would lose.

He would not go back into that forsaken prison, but he didn’t see any way to gain the upper hand. Until it occurred to him that there were sources of spiritual energy in the physical world. There were fewer than in the Spirit World, but they were there. If he could tap into them, he could even the playing field.

So he did his best to avoid Raava’s ongoing rampage and flew back towards the spirit portals, to make his last, desperate attempt at victory.

Chapter Text

“I’ve heard good things about the Komodo Tavern,” Kya suggested, “and if memory serves, you’re a fire whisky gal. I’ll defer to your judgment, though, since you’re the native.”

“We aren’t going out for drinks,” Lin snapped. She was on a speedboat and skipping across Yue Bay towards Downtown, and for some unknown reason, Kya had joined her. “I need to get back to headquarters to deal with this.”

“Deal with this?” Kya repeated. “What exactly are you planning on doing? Did you miss the part where I said the world’s ending? At least I’m offering practical suggestions.”

Now was probably not the time to attack Kya. She was a waterbender, so it would be much better to wait until they weren’t on a boat and had returned to solid ground for Lin to arrest her. “Why don’t you just fill me in on what’s really going on, alright?”

“Well, it all started ten thousand years ago with a pair of powerful spirits named-”

“You know what? Nevermind. How about you skip to the part where you give me a solution?”

Kya scoffed incredulously. “I already told you, the only one who can stop this is the Avatar. Unless you know who that is, there’s nothing for us to do, hence my proposal. I’m actually considering some plum wine.”

There was a flash of light behind them, and both women turned to determine its source. A massive, dark red spirit was flying over Aang Memorial Island. 

Kya hummed in somber consideration. “Come to think of it, maybe plum brandy would be better,” she amended.

The spirit drove a dozen jet black tendrils into the calm bay below it. After a few moments, a low rumble began to rise from all around them. Kya and Lin turned back towards the mainland just in time to see an army of vines burst from the ground and begin to consume the city.

By the time they made it to the docks, it seemed like half of Downtown was covered in greenery. Lin and Kya jumped off their boat and almost immediately encountered a fleshy, green sac, glowing dimly and with vines hanging off of it. It was transparent enough to let Lin see inside, and as if the rest of this situation wasn’t ridiculous enough already, there was a man in there.

“What is that thing?” Lin demanded. “Is he alright?”

Kya furrowed her brows and pressed a hand against it. “His aura is still strong, but… it’s getting weaker.” She met Lin’s eyes with poorly concealed horror. “He’s being drained.”

They sprinted across the pier and ran up the steps towards the street above. It was abandoned, apart from the dozens of identical sacs strewn about the sidewalks.

******

When Korra came to, she was alone. She was on her knees and a bit sore, but otherwise felt perfectly fine. The spirit portals above were still joined, so Harmonic Convergence wasn’t over yet, but Vaatu was nowhere to be seen. In fact, her surroundings were eerily silent. It took her a few seconds to realize what had happened. She had just fully entered the Avatar State for the first time.

By the looks of it, Team Avatar was wise to have departed. This area of the Spirit World had already been barren and scarred, but now it looked like one big wreck. The landscape around her appeared to be mostly muddy rubble. The one exception to that was the Tree of Time… which was still empty.

So where was Vaatu?

In a panic, she bolted into his ancient prison. Yep, it was definitely empty. Had she defeated him? Was all this over? How would she even find out? 

Apparently, the Tree of Time would tell her. Visions of Vaatu began to materialize all around her, showing him in Republic City of all places. Not only had he escaped, he had somehow made it halfway around the world and was unleashing ten thousand years of pent up aggression. Meaning Korra was now a failed Avatar.

That must have been some kind of record. She had only been the Avatar for three months.

No, she was still standing. That meant she could still do something. People were getting hurt, so she had to do something. Right?

Unfortunately, any time her brain made an attempt at formulating a ‘something’, all coherent thoughts collapsed into fuzzy static. This entire situation was so absurd… she couldn’t even come up with a metaphor to describe how absurd it was. She hadn’t really had time to wrap her head around being the Avatar in the first place, and now she was expected to finish the Avatar Spirit’s timeless struggle against her existential counterpart? What genius decided all this was Korra’s job? The fact that the fate of the world would rest on something so arbitrary and random and unfair and stupid-

“You should remember to breathe.”

Oh, of course he’d show up now.

She recognized the voice instantly, even though she had never heard it before. It was both foreign and familiar, and completely infuriating. To be fair, he had given her some much needed advice.

So she inhaled deeply, tightened her fists, and turned around to meet Avatar Aang. For some reason, part of her expected him to show up as a teenager, like his statue in Republic City, though admittedly, that wouldn’t make much sense. He was standing there calmly, almost as if the world wasn’t ending because of her. 

“Seriously?” she shouted. “You couldn’t have shown up, like, twenty minutes ago?”

He smiled monkishly, which did little to subdue her frustration. It mainly just creeped her out with how similar he looked to Tenzin. “Don’t blame me,” he defended. “You’re the one that doesn’t want me here.”

“Are you kidding me? We could have avoided all of this if you guys had given me some Avatar State juice to close the portals!”

“You didn’t want our help,” he pointed out. “You wanted us to take over for you.”

She released a loud, sustained grunt, primarily because he was one hundred percent correct. “So why are you bothering me now, huh?”

“This is the Tree of Time. People have been bending the energy of the universe here since before history even began. There’s no better place to connect with the past.”

“Well I’m not interested!” she barked. “I never asked for any of this, so unless you’ve got some sage Avatar wisdom that can help me fix everything, why don’t you shove it?”

His brows rose ever so slightly. Enough for Korra to realize what she had just said, and to whom she had said it. She just told Avatar Aang to shove it.

She buried her face in her hands and slumped onto the ground. She didn’t have the emotional capacity to cry at the moment, so she simply made miscellaneous groans of irritation and self-pity.

By the time she whined herself out and looked back up at Aang, he had joined her on the ground in an annoyingly flawless lotus position. “You know this is my fault, right?” she pouted. “None of this would have even happened if I hadn’t opened those dumb portals. I make one decision as Avatar, and it blows up the planet.”

“It’s not blown up yet.”

“Oh, wonderful,” she snipped. “And how do you propose I keep it that way? Beat Vaatu?”

“Well…” He cocked his head slightly with confusion. “…Yes.”

Alright, sure, that was a fair point. It was her job or whatever.

Korra sighed indulgently. “I’m not… the Avatar.”

Avatar Aang glanced down at himself, and pulled at his robes to confirm his own substance. “Unless I got very lost somehow, I’m quite certain you are.”

“What I mean is that I’m not that person, okay? I wasn’t built for all this. I’m just Korra.”

“And Korra is the Avatar,” he rebutted. “It’s part of who you are whether you like it or not. You were doing ‘all this’ before you even realized who you were.”

“That’s different!” she insisted. “Back then, I wanted to fight and help people because it was the right thing to do. Now, I have to do the right thing because it’s my job, and if I make a mistake, it’s everybody else who pays the price. And I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I make a lot of mistakes!”

“All part of the Avatar experience,” he joked. It did not improve Korra’s mood, so he pursed his lips and tried a different tactic.

“What you’re feeling isn’t unusual, or even unhealthy. The Avatar has always been faced with impossible problems, and we’ve always known we can’t handle it alone. That’s why the idea of anyone finding out about your position scares you so much. You’re trying to run from being the Avatar.”

“Well, duh!” she scoffed. “Can you blame me?”

“Of course not. I did the exact same thing. I left my people to be slaughtered by the Fire Nation, allowing the world to be plunged into a hundred years of war.”

Korra huffed and propped her chin on her fist sulkily. “That’s not really the same thing, now is it? If you had stayed, you would have been killed along with the rest of the Air Nomads, and then where would we all be?”

“Exactly,” he agreed. “What you perceive as a failure may simply be what is necessary. The Avatar is powerful, but even we can’t fight against fate.”

“So all this was supposed to happen?” Korra challenged. She gestured at the visions that were still swimming around them. “Vaatu is tearing the city you founded in half as we speak! And you’re telling me that it’s all going to work out for the best?”

He nodded serenely. “I have faith.”

Which was such an aggravating answer. “Well, maybe you shouldn’t. Maybe fate is just a jerk sometimes.”

He laughed while shaking his head. “Fate is most definitely a jerk sometimes, especially to the Avatar. But I still have faith in it, and in you.”

She dropped her gaze and quirked her lips morosely. “That’s great and all, but you still haven’t told me what I’m actually supposed to do here.”

Aang’s good-natured expression became more sympathetic. “I don’t think I can,” he admitted. “I’m sorry, Korra, but you’re the Avatar. You just have to deal with it.”

Korra groaned and fell on her back. She wasn’t certain what she wanted Aang to say, but it sure wasn’t reconfirmation that all of this was on her. She still hadn’t mastered the Avatar State, and without it, Vaatu could shrug off nearly anything she threw at him. So how was she supposed to beat him? He was nearly invincible, and he could fire those beams of…

Korra snapped upright. “What did you say people did here? Before history or whatever?”

Aang narrowed his eyes. “I said they bent the energy of the universe.”

It wasn’t much, but it was something. Korra nodded resolutely and rose to her feet. “I may be the worst Avatar ever, but I’m good at bending.”

He paid her a satisfied smile as he stood up, as if he had been proven right about something. He approached Korra, placing a hand on her forehead and another on her heart. “Since beginningless time, darkness thrives in the void, but always yields to purifying light.”

She sensed that light flow through her, somehow making her feel heavier and lighter at the same time. 

“And for the record,” he added, “you're not the worst Avatar ever.”

Korra returned his smile weakly as he dropped his hold on her. “Kuruk?”

“I’m not making any accusations.”

She chuckled at him before jogging out of the Tree of Time. Things were still grim, but not quite hopeless. She had a gameplan now, though there was still one problem. She turned back to Aang, who had followed her outside. “Did you happen to see how Vaatu got to Republic City so fast?”

He pointed up at the arch, towards a place about halfway up its length.

Right, portals. That would do it. “Thanks, Aang.”

“Anytime, Avatar Korra.”

She grinned at him, then took a deep breath to steel herself. With an explosion of firebending, she launched herself towards the arch above to meet her fate.

Really, this shouldn’t be so impossible. History was filled with tales of great bending masters who could bury armies, evaporate buildings, and summon typhoons. She had every reason to think she could match their strength, if she put her mind to it. Korra was the Avatar, after all.

******

As far as Lin could tell, Kya was trying to heal one of the glowing cocoons. Now, Lin may not be a healer, but she couldn’t imagine why that would possibly help. And sure enough, nothing was happening.

“We’re wasting our time,” Lin grumbled. She released some of her metal cables and slashed at another sac. But before she could hit it, vines burst from the ground and caught the wire en route. They started pulling it down through the earth, and while Lin initially tried to fight it, there was no way to resist. She released the rest of her cabling and let it get dragged underground.

Kya pulled her back, looking frustrated. “Were you seriously just going to slice one of these things open?” she scorned. “The vines are feeding off of their souls. We have no idea if breaking that kind of connection willy-nilly is safe.”

“It’s not like you’ve been doing any better,” she defended.

“Oh, I’m sorry if I seem out of my depth, here,” Kya jabbed. “It’s not like I can look this up in a medical dictionary.”

Lin grunted and turned to the bay. That spirit had almost tripled in size since it first came, and had become much more vibrant, its color shifting from red to violet. Lacking any better ideas, she started marching back to the docks.

Kya caught up with her and matched her pace. “And where do you think you’re going?”

“That thing is the source of the vines. If we can take it out, maybe it’ll free everyone.”

“Well, that’s a great theory,” Kya allowed, “but how exactly are you planning on ‘taking it out’?”

“I’ll throw a rock at it,” she dismissed.

Kya rolled her eyes. “Earthbenders, I swear…” she muttered to herself.

They made it back to their speedboat, into which Lin stepped. 

And immediately fell on her face.

“Nice stance,” Kya weakly taunted on instinct. 

Lin picked herself up off the hull and quickly realized why she had tripped. The boat was inexplicably sinking. Or, wait… the boat wasn’t sinking, the water was. The entire bay was slowly lowering.

She glanced up at Kya, who was drifting farther away thanks to the change in sea level, and staring into the distance with slack-jawed awe. Lin followed her eyes to see a colossal wave, far too large to be natural, or even believable, speeding towards Republic City’s attacker. And it was getting faster. 

It eventually gained the attention of the dark spirit, but by then, it was too late. The mountain of water concentrated into a single point, which began to glow like fire, and shot into the spirit with mind-boggling velocity. 

******

Well, Korra had done it.

Not that she had defeated Vaatu, of course. He was torn from his roots, but seemed relatively intact. No, what she had done is pull off a legendary feat of bending all by herself, no Avatar State involved. It was a show of strength that was easily the caliber of one of the great masters. Toph Beifong herself would be proud.

And as Korra stumbled onto the raft of ice she had formed, desperately gasping for air through searing pain, she realized something very important.

She was not Toph Beifong.

Korra had definitely pulled something, but Vaatu was unlikely to give her much time to recover. He looked a lot bigger than he did in the Spirit World, and was glowing with that same energy he had shot at Asami. “I was wondering when you would find me, Raava.”

Korra staggered to her feet and tried to pretend like she wasn’t about to pass out from wildly overexerting herself. This would only work if she could goad him into letting loose. “Raava isn’t home right now,” she called out. “It’s just you and me.”

He laughed arrogantly. She couldn’t tell if he was just being a jerk, or if he had correctly seen through her bravado. “Alright,” he allowed.

Vaatu shot an arm towards her, so Korra yanked the ice below her upwards to launch her into the air. She then responded to his attack by launching a concentrated jet of flame from her feet. It blasted into him and sent Korra flying right over Aang Memorial Island, creating some much needed distance. Unfortunately, it also depleted what little of her breath was left, meaning she’d have to avoid firebending for a while if she wanted to stay conscious.

So when Korra fell into the bay, she swiftly bobbed to the surface, gulped down some air, and raised a vast field of steam around her. If Vaatu couldn’t find her, maybe she could take a quick break.

Once concealed, she created some more ice and crawled onto it, clutching at her shrieking sides. Her heart was pounding in her ears, but she tried to ignore it and listen for Vaatu’s movements. It took her a second to remember that he didn’t make any noise when he moved. Come to think of it, he probably didn’t even use vision in the traditional sense, so what was she trying to do by hiding? Spirits, she was out of it.

Before she could regain mastery of her senses, a dark tendril shot through her fog and whipped into her, sending her skidding across the surface of the water until she slammed into a beach. She used her earthbending instinctively to absorb some of the impact, but there was only so much she could do. Korra ignored the sharp pain shooting through her back, and pulled herself out of the sand to check her surroundings. She seemed to have landed on Air Temple Island. How about that.

She jumped to her feet and, though she wobbled a bit and had stars in her vision, was able to solidify her stance before Vaatu got back to her. She had lost her hair wraps, but apart from that was in one piece. “Is that the best you got?” she postured. He was towering over her now, and radiating indignation.

Korra broke the cliff face behind her into three boulders, which she fired in quick succession: the first missed, the second grazed, and the third hit solidly, throwing Vaatu across the bay and into the water. Rather conveniently, Korra’s limbs were starting to go numb. Some good old fashioned shock would be helpful in coping with her now diverse set of internal injuries.

She leapt off the beach with a rush of wind and let a wave carry her towards her spiritual counterpart. He began to rise from the ocean, but with a low kick, Korra froze the water around him, locking Vaatu in place.

“I didn’t say you could leave!” she taunted, before firing a salvo of water and air.

“Raava,” he addressed, sounding cool but with a touch of frustration. “Are you really going to let this human fight your battles for you?”

“Raava can have what’s left of you!” Korra concentrated a stream of water into as narrow a point as she could, and stabbed it into his weird diamond eye. It had enough force behind it to draw another hiss of pain from him, and tear most of his body from the ice, save for a few tendrils.

While her breathing was almost under control, her entire body was shaking, and she had an unidentifiable taste in her mouth. She wouldn’t be able to last much longer, so she needed to end this soon.

Korra lifted herself upwards on a waterspout to look down on Vaatu. He tried swinging at her, but she beat his arms back with blasts of air, and countered with a precise and controlled fire missile. Another hiss, and growing sense of rage.

She scraped together whatever defiance and fury she could muster, and crammed it into a final, pleading scream. “Neither of us are going in peace, Vaatu! NOW GIVE ME YOUR BEST SHOT!”

And to Korra’s great relief, he did. 

Vaatu brightened and charged with energy, before pouring it out of himself and into Korra. 

Whatever fatigue and discomfort she may have been feeling was completely forgotten when she reached out and tried to control his energy. It seeped into her and charged her with strength she didn’t know she was capable of. For all she knew, she may have been in the Avatar State. She couldn’t imagine feeling more powerful.

The beam was so furious, she couldn’t hope to contain it. So she let the momentum it carried pull her into a tight spin, and used the rotation to wrap the energy around herself. It flowed like a ring of water, except it was impossibly hot. Despite being dense and heavy, it seemed like it could slip from her grasp and escape if she let up her concentration for a split second.

It was also so dazzling, she couldn’t keep her eyes open without being blinded. But she didn’t need to see Vaatu any more than he needed to see her. His presence was flagrantly unmistakable. Everything he felt bled into his surroundings, and to Korra’s satisfaction, she could tell he was beginning to feel genuine fear.

She channeled her spin, and every shred of energy she had, into a strike at Vaatu.

As soon as his beam left her, her body’s agony reasserted itself with a vengeance. The current of light pulled Korra forward and sent her careening towards the ice she had created. If she had the slightest bit of vitality left, she could have used bending to soften the blow. As it was, she crashed into the unyielding ice like wet meat slapping against pavement. She cried out through gritted teeth and writhed in misery. But she didn’t know if her job was over just yet.

Korra rolled onto her side and tried to pry open her eyelids. Her vision was fuzzy and doubled at first, but eventually, something crystallized. The mountain that previously towered behind Vaatu, now smoldering and at a third its prior height. It took a tremendous force of will, but she lifted her head up and turned it to where Vaatu was supposed to be.

There he was, now a weak, muted red, and split cleanly in two. His two halves began a gradual descent, gaining speed until they smashed right through Korra’s ice sheet, dissolving into nothingness as he fell into the ocean below. 

Nice. Job well done.

Korra allowed herself to go completely limp, pain coursing through her limbs and holding her down like a weight. The ice was broken up now, and the gentle waves were tossing the remnants around, but she couldn’t be bothered to care. Even when she started to slide, and one of her legs slipped into the water. She probably didn’t have enough in the tank to prevent herself from falling in, so why try? That was going to have to be somebody else’s problem.

She’d finished her part already. She was done.

******

“Do you see them?” Kya asked.

Lin was trying, but it was still fairly dark, and they were far from the lights of the city. She was almost certain she had steered the speedboat to the right location, but there was nothing except water and ice. “Are you sure they stuck around?”

Kya pursed her lips. “Maybe not, but I feel like we would have noticed if they surfed away or something. I haven’t spotted any movement since Vaatu went down.”

Oh, that was its name. “I can try moving us-”

Lin was interrupted by a loud splash, and turned to find Kya absent. At least it allowed her a moment’s peace and quiet. This entire day had been bewildering, but they were almost through it. After all this time, the Avatar had finally come out of hiding, and clearly had control over the four elements already. If they were still breathing, Lin was about to meet them, and she didn’t know how to feel about that. 

Less than thirty seconds passed before a pillar of water rose over the boat and deposited Kya, who was cradling a woman in her arms. She quickly set her down and, with two fluid motions, pulled the water from her lungs. Kya drew some more water to her hand and pressed it against the Avatar’s chest. 

“She’s alive,” Kya confirmed, “but she’s in bad shape.”

With her other hand, she cleared away some of the Avatar’s wet hair, revealing…

“Korra?” Kya marveled.

If the rest of this wasn’t enough to convince Lin she was trapped in some horrible nightmare, that sealed the deal. 

“Oh, of course it had to be her!”

Chapter Text

“Korra!” Asami’s cry echoed around the Spirit World, mixing in with similar calls from Mako and Bolin. Their efforts had been fruitless so far, but maybe if Asami just screamed a bit louder, Korra would hear her. “KORRA!”

By the time they had retreated from the Spirit World to let Korra wipe the floor with Vaatu, Bumi and his men had pushed the North back to their encampment and had them completely surrounded, despite the South's disadvantage in numbers. Apparently, he was as skilled a commander as he claimed, though his victory reportedly involved some fireworks and the assistance of the South’s army band. Regardless, once Team Avatar appeared on the North’s backlines and started attacking them from the rear, they promptly folded. Eska and Desna, who were still unconscious thanks to Korra’s waterbending demonstration, were also taken into custody.

So while Bumi secured the area and finished rounding up all the prisoners, Asami marched right back into the Spirit World to find it completely empty. A fight had definitely taken place, but there was no sign of its participants. The rest of Team Avatar filed in behind her and fanned out for a thorough search, but so far, they had come up empty. 

“Korra! Where are you?” Asami’s throat was starting to feel raw and sore, but she was unable to stop yelling. Doing so would be tantamount to admitting that they had moved from the ‘we’re looking for Korra’ stage to the ‘Korra is missing’ stage, which Asami’s was not emotionally prepared to deal with. “Korra!”

Jinora descended from the skies on her glider and landed next to Asami. “I looked all over. She’s not in this part of the Spirit World.”

Which was much more definitive than Asami thought was justified. Jinora could have missed her. So she ignored her claim to continue shouting. “Korra! Can you hear me?”

“Asami, she’s nowhere nearby,” Jinora annoyingly reasserted. “If she could hear you, she would have answered already.”

“I don’t recall asking for your opinion, Jinora,” Asami snapped.

She felt a massive hand come down to rest on her shoulder. It belonged to Tonraq, whose eyes were filled with exhaustion and empathy. “We’ll find her, Asami.” He turned his attention to Jinora. “Why don’t you head up again? You’ve got the best shot at spotting Korra from the air.”

Jinora quirked her lips and nodded, before blasting off again.

“You don’t seem to like her,” Tonraq correctly observed.

Asami plopped onto an ageless root and buried her face in her hands. Korra had vanished without a trace, and with Asami's brain being seriously ill-equipped to process this spirit stuff, she was struggling to produce explanations for her disappearance. They had thrown her at Vaatu, and now he and she were both gone. All because it was her ‘destiny’ as the Avatar to face him, or whatever.

“Why did it have to be her?” she begged.

Tonraq sat down next to her and folded his hands. “Korra is the strongest person I know. I’ve never been thrilled with the idea of her being the Avatar, but she’s certainly built for the job.” He smiled grimly at Asami. “Vaatu may be older than time, but he’s never run into anyone like her. She’ll be fine, and we will find her.”

She couldn’t tell if he was in denial about the risks that came with Avatarhood, was putting on a brave face for Asami, or legitimately had that much faith in his daughter. She could definitely understand his position, though. Korra had always been a figurative force of nature, and now she was a literal one. Seeing her go into the Avatar State was one of the most terrifyingly beautiful things Asami had ever seen. 

“It’s weird,” she admitted. “I’ve known she was the Avatar for a while, but I guess it never really sunk in until today. In my mind, she’s just been Korra.” Asami gestured at the razed landscape around them. “Then, all of a sudden, her eyeballs are glowing and she’s fighting an ancient spirit to save the world.”

He nodded slowly. “She was quite a sight, wasn’t she?”

“Yeah,” Asami said with a weak chuckle. She agreed completely with his statement, but she suspected he meant something rather different by it than what Asami had in mind.

Then she leapt to her feet on instinct. Something was making Naga whine. 

Asami sprinted towards the source of the sound, which just so happened to be the Tree of Time. Naga was in its center, surrounded by strange projections, and staring at one of the larger ones. It showed Korra, in a speedboat, floating in Yue Bay. She was being attended to by some random healer and Chief Beifong, of all people.

And she looked hurt.

“C’mon, girl!” Naga obediently rose, so Asami hopped on and urged her back towards the Southern portal. 

“Asami?” Bolin called out in confusion as she rode past. “Where are you going?”

“To Korra!”

******

When Korra came to, she was in a small, dark room that she didn’t recognize. She was on a bed that wasn’t very comfortable by conventional standards, but its possession of an actual mattress implied that she was not on Air Temple Island. Some daylight was fighting through the curtains, revealing a modestly appointed guest room. Too fancy to be Mako’s apartment, and too cheap to be the Sato mansion. 

Korra tried to pull herself upright, but the full-body ache was sufficient to remind her of what she had gone through. She groaned and fell back onto her pillow. Most of her surface area was bound in compression wraps, and there was also a pervasive odor of peppermint and hemp, meaning she had likely been treated with a salve. She felt like garbage, until it occurred to her that, by all appearances, the world still existed. Korra had won.

She started to laugh softly, and though it was strongly protested by her core, she couldn’t stop. She was sore all over, but the laughter seemed to be restoring some life to her. Maybe she’d be able to get up and figure out where she was.

Before she could weigh that possibility, the door to the room cracked slightly, and then was opened fully by none other than Lin Beifong. Which was not who Korra expected at all.

“Oh, hey, Chief,” she greeted.

“Avatar Korra,” Lin returned.

The title still sounded awkward, but it was starting to grow on her. Korra glanced around. “This is your place?” The Chief nodded. “It’s nice.”

She shrugged in response. “It’s close to the hospital Kya’s been volunteering at, so she’s been able to check on you pretty often.”

“Huh,” Korra mused. “So Kya knows too?”

“She does.”

Korra hummed in thought. “So… why aren’t I in the hospital right now?”

Lin waved away her question. “I thought we should keep things quiet until you woke up. You seemed to want to maintain your privacy. I can respect that.”

“Oh.” Lin was apparently full of surprises. “So no one else knows?”

She shook her head. “No one besides your posse. They got back in town a few days ago.”

Well, that was curious. Korra could have sworn her posse was all in the South Pole, last she saw them. “How long have I been out?”

“About a week.”

“Wow.” Come to think of it, that checked out. “It feels like I pulled every muscle in my body,” Korra observed.

“Not quite. Kya tells me your cheeks were in decent condition.”

She smiled to test Kya’s prognosis, and found it accurate. “Thanks for looking after me, I guess.”

“You did save the world,” Lin pointed out. “We’ll just call it even.”

Korra was compelled to raise an eyebrow incredulously. “Really?” she challenged. “I practically kill myself battling darkness itself, and you think we’re square because you opened up your spare room for a few days?”

There the old Lin was. She crossed her arms and adopted her customary scowl. “You’re more than welcome to leave if you’re dissatisfied with the accommodations.”

“Yeah,” Korra agreed, “I’ll get on that. Just give me a sec to get dressed and go for a quick jog.”

Lin rolled her eyes, and allowed her glower to be corrupted by a subtle smirk. “I will appreciate getting you out of my hair.” She stepped back through the door frame and raised her voice. “Especially if it means getting my couch back!”

Korra cocked her head in confusion, before hearing a loud thump from outside that sounded suspiciously like a body hitting a floor, followed by someone stomping down a hallway. 

Asami bolted into the room, fully plowing over Lin and knocking her out of sight as she did. “You’re awake!” she exclaimed.

“Yeah, I’m- gaugh!” Asami evidently forgot the extent of Korra’s injuries, because she dashed to her side and yanked her into a gripping hug. The cry of pain served as a reminder, though, which caused Asami to inelegantly drop Korra back onto the bed with a thud, drawing out yet another groan.

“Oh, spirits, I am so sorry!” she groveled. “I just got really excited.”

Korra nodded and tried to grin through her grimace, as she took in the sight of her friend. Asami was wearing a tanktop and slacks that she assumed were borrowed from Lin, because they were a bit short on her. Man, Asami was tall. She wasn’t wearing makeup, which wasn’t too surprising if she had just woken up, but the truly shocking thing was the state of her hair. It lacked its typical aromatic, silky-smooth perfection, and instead looked like normal human hair. Plus, its multitude of untamed extrusions indicated that sleeping on a couch did not agree with it. 

Korra’s grin widened. Finally, proof that Asami was mortal. “Going for the wild look, huh?”

She flinched, then spun to look in a mirror on a desk near the bed. Mortified by her own appearance, she coughed into her hand and began slinking back towards the door. “Um… I’ll just be a minute.”

“Whoa, no way!” Korra insisted. She reflexively tried to get up to keep Asami from leaving, causing her to hiss in pain at the ill-advised exertion. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you feel bad. I’m really happy to see you too, okay?”

Asami remained, but cast her eyes down and started fiddling with her hands while she rambled. “I know I must look awful, but after you went into the Avatar State, we all left the Spirit World, and then you were gone, and I didn’t know what happened to you or if I was ever going to see you again, but then you’re here, and you wouldn’t wake up, and I wanted to move you to the mansion, but then Kya wouldn’t be able to check on you as often, and she couldn’t even tell us how long your coma would last, and Lin doesn’t have any of my normal products, I mean, I think she uses a bar of soap to wash her hair, so I had Bolin bring some stuff from the mansion, but he forgot my leave-in conditioner, and I-”

Though Korra was amused, and slightly unsure what was wrong with using soap to wash your hair, she cut Asami off. “You look perfect,” she affirmed. “Trust me, the wild look suits you.”

Asami replied by gracing Korra with that extraordinary smile of hers, as sincere as she’d ever worn it. Unfortunately, it was shortly banished by an authoritative frown. “You aren’t allowed to push yourself that hard ever again, you hear me? Next time, just let the world end.”

Korra grunted a laugh. “I’m not going to let the world end. That’s where you keep all your stuff.”

She shook her head, not letting her seriousness relent for a moment. “I can make more stuff. Please, promise me that you’re not going to scare me like that again, okay?”

Korra would have loved to, she really would have, but she couldn’t. Obviously she couldn’t. She was the Avatar, for spirits’ sake. So instead, she let her smile weaken and dropped her gaze. “How are things out there?”

Asami bit her lip and studied her, slowly reconciling herself to Korra’s lack of answer. “They’re fine,” she replied, clearly withholding information.

Korra sighed in disappointment. “I have to know what’s happening. I mean, it’s kind of my job now, right?”

Asami winced at that declaration, and turned her attention to her hand, which at some point had apparently found Korra’s. She released her hold and cleared her throat before responding with a touch of business-casual formality. “Do you want the good news, or the bad news?”

Korra shrugged, satisfied that her trapezii were able to perform that action with only a dull twinge of pain. “Let’s start with the bad news.”

Asami nodded, then pulled up a chair to Korra’s bedside. She sat down slowly and considered her response, intermittently smoothing out her unkempt hair. “Well, the city took a fair amount of damage in the attack,” she began. “Vaatu created a bunch of spirit vines, which kidnapped people and fed off their spiritual energy.”

Korra’s eyes widened in panic. “They did what?”

“It’s okay,” she reassured, “the victims were released when you defeated Vaatu, and there don’t seem to be too many lingering after effects. The real problem is the vines themselves. Nobody’s quite sure how to clear them out. If you cut them, they grow right back. A few neighborhoods practically look like a jungle.”

“What’s wrong with a jungle?”

“Well, they don’t usually show up downtown. Some buildings got torn up, meaning there are a lot of displaced residents, including Mako.”

“Did he find a place to stay?”

“He’s actually staying with Bolin at the Sato mansion.”

The way she phrased that reminded Korra that Asami was not staying at the Sato mansion with them. Why hadn’t she gone home? It’s not like Korra was going anywhere.

Before she could ponder that question too deeply, Asami moved along with her updates. “Apart from that, there’s not too much to complain about. The only other problem is that, thanks to your heroics in the bay, people know there’s a new Avatar.”

“Uh, how is that a problem?”

“Oh, um… well,” Asami stumbled while trying to craft a diplomatic explanation. “Just the normal complications we expected. There are some people who want the Avatar to take care of everything for them.”

She nodded in understanding. “They want me to get rid of the spirit vines.” Actually, Korra could imagine their list of demands being much longer than that. The Avatar stays in the dark for eighteen years, then comes back just to trash the previous Avatar’s city. They probably hated her.

“You don’t have to worry about that right now,” Asami consoled. “I meant it when I said things were fine.”

She harrumphed skeptically. Asami was undoubtedly leaving a lot of stuff out, but Korra was too tired at the moment to fight her. Honestly, she probably couldn’t take Asami even at full strength. “Alright, then,” she conceded. “So what’s the good news?”

Asami’s smile returned with manufactured vigor. “First off, you saved the world. Please don’t brush past that one.”

Korra rolled her eyes good-naturedly. “Yeah, yeah, I got it. Anything else?”

“Well,” she began, crossing her legs and leaning back, “with its second invasion failed and their leaders taken prisoner, the North has entirely abandoned its military efforts. Your dad is confident he can get them to sign whatever he wants, now.”

“Finally,” Korra groaned.

Asami hummed in agreement. “Furthermore, since the first negotiated peace fell through, Raiko didn’t get any of the political brownie points he was expecting from his position as mediator. Combined with all the spirit vine problems, his approval rating is in the dumpster.”

“Very good.”

“And speaking of spirits, a fair number of them have taken up residence in the spirit wilds.” She shrugged indifferently. “Something about the city being charged with ‘spiritual energy’, whatever that means.”

“Uh…” Korra worried, “couldn’t that definitely be bad news?”

“Maybe,” she admitted. “They’ve certainly scared a few people, but the airbenders seem delighted, and I’d rather defer to their judgment where spiritual matters are concerned. At the very least, the spirits I’ve run into seem… nice. If a little cranky.”

Well, that was a weird mental image. Spirits being a common fixture, in Republic City of all places, isn’t something Korra ever imagined happening. And the idea of Asami just casually chatting one up on her way to work was actually kinda funny.

“What else… what else…” Asami searched. “I think Future Industries is going to get the contracts for rebuilding the city. We’re the logical choice, since we have experience fixing up Wolf Cove. I commandeered Lin’s office to draw up some designs, and they came out rather spectacularly, if I do say so myself.”

“Wait, you’ve been working from here? And sleeping here? Why would you-”

“Oh!” she interrupted quickly. “Uh, Bolin’s back to being a pro-bender. The arena is hosting a charity tournament to help fund reconstruction efforts, and with Future Industries’ backing, we’re going to be able to hire a world-class firebender for the Fire Ferrets.”

“Okay…” That was good news, but she seemed more enthusiastic about it than was strictly necessary. 

“And last, but certainly not least,” Asami wrapped up, “I’m pretty sure we’ll be able to keep a lid on the whole Avatar thing.”

Korra narrowed her eyes, both in confusion and suspicion. “What do you mean by that?”

“You know,” she dismissed, “I think we’ll be able to keep it quiet. I can keep Mako and Bolin in line, I don’t think Kya or Bumi are interested in telling anyone, Lin seems to actively want you out of the picture, and I had Katara talk to Jinora before we left the South. Your secret should be safe.”

“Yeah,” Korra granted reluctantly. “That’s cool, but… isn’t it about time I stopped running from this?”

Asami’s artificial smile began to deteriorate rapidly in response to that question. “You haven’t run from anything. I really shouldn’t have to remind you of this, but you saved the world. You deserve some time off.”

That was one perspective. Another perspective was that the world was only in danger in the first place because of Korra. If she hadn’t opened the spirit portals, Republic City would still be in one piece. “I need to take some responsibility eventually, don’t I? I mean, I feel like I’m ready now.”

Asami searched Korra’s eyes, her face contaminated by growing worry. She opened her mouth to say something, then held her tongue. With a heavy sigh, she reassumed her veneer of good cheer. “We can talk about it later, okay? Right now, I’m just happy you’re alright.” She stood abruptly as if she was about to leave already. “You focus on getting better, and I’ll worry about all the details. In the meantime, can I get you something? Tea?”

She was trying to change the subject. Korra didn’t want to let her do so, save for the fact that some tea sounded fantastic right about now. “Sure, tea would be great.” 

“Anything else?”

Korra probed her mind for a moment, and was able to recall another pressing need. “You know, you never finished your hug earlier.”

Asami’s facade was fractured by some genuine bashfulness. “Um… I’m not going to hurt you again, am I?”

Ah, monkey feathers, she probably would. “Good point,” Korra pouted. “I think the only parts of me that are still intact are my cheeks.”

For some reason, Asami flushed brighter upon hearing that. She crept forward with evident trepidation, and leaned in to plant a quick peck on her cheek. Korra's eyebrows shot upwards, causing Asami to realize retrospectively that Korra had not intended to ask for that. 

She blurted out in a rush, “Okay feel better bye!” before bolting through the door. 

******

That afternoon, Korra’s friends stopped by to check on her and offer some comfort. Bolin had to be physically restrained from hugging her, and Mako seemed to be overcoming a bit of his endemic awkwardness, but Jinora was as problematic as ever. She kept pestering Korra with a long series of very specific questions about spirits, energybending, and her conversation with Aang. Asami could tell that Korra was starting to feel drained by her cross-examination, so she shooed all of them away to let Korra have a healing session.

Kya exited Korra’s room a few minutes later to address the visitors. “She really appreciated seeing all of you, but it tuckered her out. She just needs some rest.” Which was convenient, because it afforded Asami an opportunity to address a concern of hers.

“How long until she’s back on her feet?” Bolin asked. “Now that she’s a bender, I kinda want to try sparring with her, but I want to do it before she gets too good, so I have at least some chance.”

He impassively ignored Asami’s glare. “She’ll be able to get around in a few days,” Kya answered. “But nothing too strenuous for at least a couple of weeks.”

“Well, I should head back to the island,” Jinora announced, before standing and grabbing her glider.

Asami rose to obstruct her path to Lin’s balcony. “I didn’t say you could leave yet.”

She recoiled slightly, but didn’t balk. “I need to get back before anyone notices I’m missing. Technically, I’m supposed to be grounded until the next Harmonic Convergence.”

“Do I look like I care?” she retorted. Jinora seemed stung, and while that did produce a notable amount of satisfaction, Asami realized she had probably been a bit too harsh on her recently. “I’m sorry,” she forced out, “I just have something really important I need to talk about.”

Jinora’s brows furrowed, and she yielded with a nod before returning to her seat.

Asami stood in the center of the room to address its occupants. Lin was doing dishes in the kitchen, but she was close enough to hear. “I want to make sure we’re all agreed that Korra’s Avatarhood should remain a secret for the time being.”

Her listeners exchanged puzzled looks before Mako piped up to ask the obvious question. “What do you mean when you say it ‘should’ remain a secret? Isn’t that up to Korra?”

She sighed languidly, because he was clearly correct, but she wasn’t in a position to admit that. “Ultimately, yes, but what we say can influence what she chooses. We all know she’ll have to come forward eventually, but I think it’s rather obvious that right now is potentially the worst time possible. I want to confirm that none of you will be putting any pressure on her.” She punctuated that statement by sending a pointed look at Jinora.

Realizing she was about to come under scrutiny, Jinora responded defensively. “Look, I just don’t see why we have to be so sneaky about it.”

“You remember what your grandmother said, don’t you?” Kya reminded. “Korra can take her time if she wants, and none of us should be forcing anything on her.”

Jinora shook her head, readying herself to double down and tempting Asami to toss her out a window. She was an airbender, though, so that probably wouldn’t accomplish much. “I don’t get why all of you are treating this like it’s so terrible,” Jinora challenged. “Korra is the Avatar! This is good news, isn’t it? Why is Gran Gran okay sweeping that under the rug?”

Kya smiled sadly. “Because she saw firsthand the kind of toll being the Avatar takes on someone.”

“I mean, I get that it must be a lot of work, but Avatar Aang went on adventures around the world and defeated the Fire Nation-”

“And was almost killed a bunch of times, and had multiple nervous breakdowns under the stress, and didn’t get to spend near as much time with his family as he would have liked, and died long before any of his friends.”

Jinora’s mouth snapped shut. Hearing Kya list all that out soured Asami’s mood even further than it already was, but it also strengthened her resolve to protect Korra from that fate as best she could. No, Korra was going to die of old age in her sleep, the same night as Asami, after eighty years of marriage. “So are we all clear?” she reiterated.

“Can I at least tell my parents?” Jinora proposed. “I don’t like lying about what happened in the South, and my dad has been really-”

“Your dad,” Asami cut out, “has been clamoring for the Avatar to come forward more loudly than anyone. He’s one of those people that expects the Avatar to solve every problem in the world. He’ll toss Korra to the White Lotus the first chance he gets.”

For a moment, it looked like Jinora was about to protest further, but she didn’t. What Asami said couldn’t really be disputed. 

Bolin raised a hand cautiously. “What if Korra can help with some of our problems? The city kind of has a lot to deal with right now. Couldn’t we use an Avatar? A lot of people are counting-”

Mako, ever sensitive to existential threats against his brother, grabbed his arm and shook his head to silence him. Asami crossed her arms and bit her lip while she tried to come up with an acceptable way to explain her position. Because, unfortunately, Bolin had a point. The Avatar belonged to the world. But frankly, she wasn’t interested in giving Korra up to the world just yet. Asami had dibs.

She took a deep breath to calm herself, then gestured through the window towards the rest of Republic City. “Nobody out there really wants the Avatar’s help,” she explained, “they want somebody to blame. I mean, have you guys been reading the paper lately? They don’t care that the Avatar saved all of them from Vaatu, or that she nearly died in the process. Raiko and everyone else who’s actually responsible for taking care of this place have been using our Korra as a scapegoat for every petty complaint they can come up with.”

“I haven’t been doing that,” Lin pointed out from the kitchen.

Asami ignored her. “They want Korra to get rid of all the vines, and close the spirit portals, and somehow restore bending to Amon’s victims, and root out any lingering Equalists, and quell the resurgence of triad activity, and make the Water Tribes allies again, and a bunch of other stuff that Korra doesn’t know how to do. And you want to know what the worst part is?”

“The vines?” Bolin suggested.

“The worst part is that Korra would try. You all know her. Even before she knew she was the Avatar, she made everybody else’s problems her problems. If she picks up the paper and sees headline after headline saying she’s obligated to fix the world, she’ll kill herself trying to do it, and blame herself when she fails. So what good will it do to tell people she’s the Avatar? It’ll just give them a target on which to fixate their anger and selfishness.”

“Okay, you may have a point,” Mako allowed, “but if you’re right about Korra feeling responsible for all this, then she’ll want to come forward anyway. It’s not like we can keep her from reading the newspaper.”

Asami chewed the inside of her lip ruefully. They were finally getting to the point. “We can try.”

There was a beat of silence as everyone digested Asami’s real request.

“To be clear,” Mako spelled out, “you’re not asking us to support her if she chooses to remain hidden. You want us to actively encourage her to secrecy, while also concealing relevant information from her?”

She took a step towards him and leaned forward imposingly. “Yes.”

“Okay, cool,” he surrendered. “Just… wanted to check.”

Chapter Text

Korra being awake and on the mend took a huge weight off Asami’s mind, but it also brought new challenges. For starters, she insisted that Asami relocate to the Sato mansion and reclaim her actual office at Future Industries. It was clearly more of a sacrifice for both of them than either would admit out loud, but Korra wouldn’t be dissuaded, so Asami was eventually forced to concede. Itsuki had kept things running smoothly at the main offices during her extended leave of absence to the South, and with his help, they were able to turn her sketches into an unbeatable bid to reconstruct downtown within a few days. 

Korra herself turned out to be easier to manage than anticipated. Obviously, she wanted to stay up to date with current affairs, but Asami had foreseen that problem and come up with an ingenious solution. A brilliant way to keep Korra pacified and in-the-know while also ensuring she wasn’t unnecessarily exposed to the city’s childish whining. Other than that, she just needed to make sure that Korra stayed happy and distracted. Pursuant to that end, she reassigned Bolin from being her personal assistant to being Korra’s, and he had a boundless talent for wasting time. At last count, they had rewatched The Adventures of Nuktuk four times.

Still, Korra was getting more mobile with each healing session, and within a week, the dreaded day came when Kya released her from her care. She’d be much harder to keep track of, now. In spite of that, Asami was up for the challenge and in high spirits as she and Bolin made their way to pick up Korra from her ‘prison’, as she called it. As previously decided, they were waiting on the sidewalk below to greet her when she came down.

“I’m not going to lie,” Bolin admitted, “I’m still a little surprised you let me drive your car.” He was leaning casually against her gorgeous convertible Satomobile, the very first all-electric prototype Asami had built with her new batteries. Yes, it was irreplaceable, but Bolin was trustworthy, and she was offended by the implication that she would think otherwise. He even parallel parked flawlessly.

“What do you mean?” Asami asked. “I’ve seen you at the track behind the Sato mansion. You’re a perfectly capable driver. Besides, I specifically designed this car to be user-friendly.”

“Oh, sure, I know what I’m doing, but I just assumed you would have a problem with it.”

Asami narrowed her eyes. “Why would I have a problem with it?”

“You know, because I don’t have a driver’s license.”

Of course he didn’t. She cradled her forehead in frustration, but decided it wasn’t worth getting upset about. “Yeah, well, I wanted to ride Naga here.” The polar bear dog in question saw Asami’s consternation and immediately offered comfort, nuzzling against her and completely messing up her hair. It nevertheless proved to be highly effective comfort, drawing a giggle and compensatory petting from Asami.

“She’s fun to ride, isn’t she?” he agreed. “I can’t believe I waited so long to try it! I tell you, I’m really going to miss having her at the mansion. I’ve always wanted a pet.”

“Oh, please. You were terrified of her at first.”

“Hey, she is objectively pretty terrifying,” he defended, “so I think I can be forgiven for taking a few days to warm up to her.”

Asami turned to face Naga head on while scratching her roughly behind both ears. “I just don’t see how anyone can see that smile and not fall in love instantly.” She looked back over her shoulder at Bolin. “You’re just not an animal person.”

“I am totally an animal person!” he objected. “I just always imagined myself having something… I don’t know, smaller. I didn’t even know people kept polar bear dogs as pets.”

“Oh, they don’t.”

Bolin was uncharacteristically silent in response to that, causing Asami to break away from petting Naga and turn towards him. His laid-back posture belied growing unease. “They don’t?” He pointed at Naga. “But there she is. A pet.”

“Yes, but as far as I know, she’s the only one in history. Really, it was a miracle that she didn’t rip Korra to pieces on sight.” Asami smiled affectionately at her while continuing to massage the scruff of her neck. 

“I’ve actually researched this. Polar bear dogs are easily the most vicious, dangerous, and blood-thirsty predators in the South Pole. Practically every tribe passes down horror stories about the atrocities they’re capable of committing. They’re tougher than arctic hippos, faster than buffalo yaks, and stronger than snow leopard caribou. Even if it were possible to escape them, their keen senses can track quarry down across vast tundras. It’s said that if you cross paths with one while unprepared, your only hope of survival… is to pray.”

Naga chose that moment to bark thunderously, causing Bolin to shriek and fall back into the convertible. She stood up and wagged her tail while looking attentively at the entrance to Lin’s building. Korra would be coming out soon, and with Naga this excited, Asami had to prepare.

“Bolin,” she called, “help me hold Naga back so she doesn’t kill Korra.”

For the first time since seeking employment with Asami, he disobeyed one of her orders. Bolin remained frozen inside Asami’s Satomobile, staring down Naga with wide eyes, only moving enough to lock the car’s doors. 

Alright, she was on her own.

“Naga, look at me,” she commanded. Their eyes met, and Asami tried to project as much authority as she had in her. “Stay.”

Asami heard a door open behind her, the sound drawing Naga’s gaze. Impressively, she didn’t move much. Her rear haunches twitched, she released a droning whimper, and her tail swung so wildly it dented a nearby car, but she stayed put. Asami quickly memorized the license plate so she could pay for the required bodywork.

“Who’s my good girl?” Korra cried. She would take this secret to her deathbed, the one she’d share with Korra, but for the briefest euphoric moment, Asami thought Korra was talking to her. She charged into Naga and wrapped her in an embrace with much more animation than Asami expected.

“Korra, be careful!” Asami worried. “Kya said you’re supposed to take it easy for at least another week.”

She rolled her eyes while petting Naga and disregarding the sloppy licks being applied. “Kya needs to stop worrying so much. I feel great! I probably could have busted out of this joint days ago if I wanted.” Korra turned her full attention back to her polar bear dog. “And I bet you missed me, didn’t ya, girl?”

Naga barked again, eliciting laughter from Korra and leery eyes from a few passersby across the street.

“Since you’ve been such a good girl, I got you something.” She ordered Naga to, “Sit!” before taking a package from her pocket and unwrapping it to reveal some braised turtle duck that Asami knew for a fact was Lin’s and very high-end.

Korra tossed it to Naga, who snapped at it powerfully, her teeth clicking loudly upon impact with each other. She swallowed it without even chewing.

Asami cleared her throat to cut short the happy reunion. “So now that you’re a free woman, where would you like to go first?”

“Air Temple Island,” she replied without a moment’s hesitation. 

“A fine selection,” Asami commended. “Any reason in particular?”

“Well, I have to stay somewhere while I’m here. And I want to talk to Tenzin about going easy on Jinora. It’s not right for her to be punished when she helped save the world.”

Asami bit her lip anxiously, and not just because she appreciated having Jinora out of the picture recently. No, it was because they had reached their first real hurdle. She confirmed the sidewalk was currently empty and leaned in close. “Alright, but… keep in mind that you can’t tell him what really happened. Our story has been that Bumi and Jinora explained the situation to Da-” She winced. “To your dad, and that we don’t know if or how he tracked down the Avatar.” 

“Okay, yes, but, and hear me out on this,” she hedged in response to Asami’s preemptive frown, “if we tell anyone, it should be Tenzin, right? His father was the last Avatar, so he kind of has a right to know. Plus, he could teach me airbending!”

Asami sighed. She knew this would involve compromises, and one of them would have to be helping a sworn enemy. “How about you try to get Jinora out of trouble first? If that’s really your goal, telling him that she’s been lying would probably be counter-productive.”

Korra grimaced guiltily. “Right. It was probably unfair of me to put her in this position in the-”

Asami placed a hand on her arm. “You did not do that. You were in a coma. We decided that discretion was called for, and I still stand behind that decision.”

Korra nodded sulkily, so Asami started pulling her to the car. Some wind in their hair would improve both their moods, and she’d been itching to show off her invention for a while now. 

“Can’t I take Naga?” Korra objected.

“You remember what Kya said,” Asami gently chided. “Nothing strenuous for a week, and I’m sorry, but that does include riding Naga.” She furrowed her brows and looked up towards Lin’s apartment. “Speaking of which, where is Kya? Wasn’t she supposed to give you your final check-up before discharging you?”

“She did,” Korra confirmed. “I think she mentioned wanting to wait for the Chief to get back from work.” 

“Huh.” That was odd. Asami could not imagine Lin being a uniquely hospitable host, and could speak to that opinion with firsthand experience. “Well, whatever.”

She walked around to the driver’s side, while Korra begrudgingly hopped into the passenger seat and turned around to see Bolin cowering in the back. “Oh, hey, Bolin,” she greeted.

Once she sat down, Asami addressed him as well. “I need you to take Naga to the ferry, okay?”

Bolin blanched and remained quiet.

“Oh, come on,” Korra prodded. “You’re not still scared of her, are you? I thought we got over that.”

His mouth moved, but no words were produced.

Asami leaned back in her seat and adopted a commanding smirk. “Don’t be so worried about Naga,” she recommended playfully. “She’s killed fewer people than I have.”

She realized that joke was in staggeringly poor taste the moment she made it. She furthermore realized that she had just taken a slight epistemological risk, so she glanced at Naga’s master to confirm whether her comparative estimation was accurate. Korra shook her head somberly to indicate that it wasn’t, and Bolin’s complexion bleached fully.

Korra leaned in towards Asami. “What are your thoughts on exposure therapy for treating anxiety?”

“I’m not familiar,” she confessed. “Could you provide a demonstration?”

Korra grinned and released two sharp whistles while pointing at Bolin. Naga scrambled over to the car, latched onto Bolin’s jacket before he could react, threw him onto her back in one fluid motion, and then bolted down the street. His cries of terror lingered long after they passed out of sight.

“Unorthodox, but I like it,” Asami decided. 

She inserted her keys into the ignition and turned, producing a still alien silence. 

Korra peered at the car. “Um… I think it’s broken.”

“It’s an electric car, remember?”

“An electric engine doesn’t make noise?”

Oh, Korra. “An electric car doesn’t have an engine.”

She narrowed her eyes in confusion. “Wouldn’t that kinda hurt its performance?”

Asami’s confident smirk returned as she disengaged the parking brake. “Oh, you just watch.”

By the time the ferry dropped them off at Air Temple Island, Asami had gotten her hair back under control, Korra had recovered from her dazed exhilaration, and Bolin’s puffy eyes had mostly returned to normal. With Naga in tow, they made their way up the stairs to the main plaza, and found Tenzin’s family surrounding Bumi, who was executing some rudimentary airbending forms that even Asami could tell were rough.

“Korra!” Tenzin greeted enthusiastically. “When did you come back to town?”

Not wanting to take any chances, Asami answered for her. “She just got in.”

He bowed at her with an atypical grin. In fact, she had never seen him in such a good mood. “It’s a pleasure to see you too, Miss Sato.” He turned back to Korra, beaming with excitement. “You’ll never guess what just happened!”

With a widening smile, she gestured at Bumi, who was still waving his arms about. “Bumi started airbending?”

“Well… yes.” He deflated slightly, but quickly regained his energy. “Isn’t that amazing? Who would have thought it could possibly take someone this long to unlock their bending abilities?”

“Hey!” Bumi protested in the distance.

“It just changes everything!” Tenzin glowed. “Of course, for the good of the Air Nation, he’ll have to settle down and have children now.”

“HEY!” Bumi protested louder.

“How did you even find out?” Bolin asked, which was a profound mistake. Everyone else had realized by now to never urge Bumi to tell a story, when there was anything of substance to discuss.

“You see, Mako,” he began, “it all started when Jinora introduced me to a spirit friend of hers that I named Bum-Ju. Short for Bumi Junior. He… oh, where did he get to? He was right here a second ago.”

Tenzin waved away his brother's tangent. “It doesn’t matter! Long story short, he fell off a cliff and started airbending.”

“Well, congratulations, Bumi! I’m really happy for you.” Korra leaned in and simpered. “Maybe now you’ll be able to take me in a fight.”

“Oh, please!” he postured, apparently forgetting that Korra was the Avatar. “Let’s arm wrestle right now!”

Tenzin held out his hands to stop them. “Later! Bumi needs to work on honing his new airbending abilities,” he admonished dramatically.

“He isn’t the only one,” Lin called out from behind. In yet another convenient twist of fate, she and Mako were marching up the stairs towards them. “We’ve gotten multiple reports of new airbenders popping up all over the city.”

New airbenders. 

Popping up all over the city.

…

Well, that didn’t make any sense at all.

“What is that supposed to mean?” Asami demanded. “Are they springing up out of the ground?”

Mako shook his head. “As far as we can tell, former nonbenders are spontaneously manifesting the ability to bend air. I wouldn’t have believed it myself if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes.”

Korra crossed her arms. “Seriously? People are just becoming airbenders out of nowhere? How is that even possible?” Mako shrugged, so she turned to Lin to corroborate his story, who nodded with her normal gravity.

Korra then gave Asami a wicked side-eye, her mouth corrupted by an impish smirk.

Oh, no.

Oh no oh no oh no oh no oh no…

“Well, that’s crazy!” Korra declared ostentatiously. “Gee, I wonder if that might happen to me! Could I be an airbender?”

Without another second of consideration, Korra threw herself into an airbending form. It was more practiced than Bumi’s by a hair, but the main difference was the Avatar-level onslaught of wind that burst from her hands and crashed through the courtyard, tearing a timeworn oak from the ground on its way out and chucking it into the ocean.

Even Korra seemed shocked by its intensity. Tenzin and his family gaped at her display of power, save for Jinora. She, like the rest of Team Avatar, had her face buried firmly in her hands.

******

Korra was quite proud of herself for her quick thinking, but for whatever reason, Asami got a fearsome look in her eyes and pulled her to the side the first chance she got. Tenzin started talking to Lin about tracking down the other airbenders, while Bumi resumed his forms with renewed determination and jealousy. With them distracted, Korra and Asami were able to make their way to the other side of the plaza, followed nonchalantly by Mako, Bolin, and Jinora, allowing them all to hold an impromptu Team Avatar meeting.

“Are you insane?” Asami whispered furiously. “What were you thinking?” 

“What?” Korra defended. “This feels like a perfect compromise! I can start getting some real airbending training, with Tenzin none the wiser about the whole Avatar thing, just like you wanted.”

“You do remember that you were seen bending water after Unalaq’s assassination? You know, at that very public ceremony filled with cameras?”

She hadn’t thought of that, but frankly, she didn’t care all that much. If people found out, they found out. However, Korra knew that argument would not be well received, so she shrugged dismissively. “I’m sure it’s fine. The South Pole’s on the other side of the world. What are the odds somebody who was there runs into me here?”

“You realize that event was covered extensively by Republic City newspapers, don’t you?” Asami hissed. “Just like a bunch of new airbenders will!”

“You are also kind of a public figure,” Mako pointed out, “so you’re likely to draw some attention regardless. Combined with your age and nationality, theoretically anyone would be able to figure out that you’re the Avatar, including Tenzin.”

“Thank you, Mako,” Asami gloomily acknowledged. 

“Look, it’s not that big a deal!” Korra placated. “I’m sure everyone will be so excited about the new airbenders, they’ll forget all about the search for the Avatar. The press already seems to be moving on from that story, anyway.”

Jinora’s face contorted skeptically. “Really? Because last I checked-”

“You just need to lay low,” Asami cut in, before sending a harsh scowl towards Jinora. “Korra does have a point. The media tends to have a short memory, and they’ll have a field day with the new airbenders.”

Bolin raised a hand in question. “Yeah, about that. Has that ever happened… ever?”

“Not in over ten thousand years,” Jinora answered.

Mako cradled his chin contemplatively. “The timing does seem a little suspicious.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re connected,” Jinora agreed. “With the portals open during Harmonic Convergence, a huge amount of spiritual energy was released into the world. Maybe that’s why this is happening?”

“Huh,” Korra mused. You know, she was so excited about her creative airbending ruse, the weight of this development hadn’t really sunk in. There were new airbenders. There would be a new Air Nation. The five of them stood around mutely as they processed the change.

Before the Hundred Year War, the Air Nomads had always occupied a unique role in maintaining balance amongst the four nations. They weren’t as populous or powerful as the others, but thanks to their nomadism, they were omnipresent on the world’s stage. Without airships or steam engines, airbenders were really the only group that frequently traveled between nations. They were a unifying force, and that allowed them to tether the physical world to the spiritual. Even the most impious Earth Kingdom peasant would always be willing to open their home and hearth to an air nomad, in exchange for nothing more than a blessing and a prayer.

When Korra first agreed to open up the spirit portals, she knew intellectually it would bring the physical and spiritual worlds closer together. And with Unalaq dead, they’d stay close for the foreseeable future. It hadn’t really occurred to her back then how many problems that might cause, or how many of those problems could be solved by the rebirth of the Air Nation.

Suffice it to say, it was a lot to take. “Wow.”

“Korra!” Tenzin called out, drawing them from their collective rumination. He jogged over buoyantly and locked his arm with hers. “Come! We have to discuss your upcoming induction to the Air Nomads!”

“Uhhh…” she droned, looking back at her team in panic as he dragged her away. “My what now?”

“You’re an airbender now,” he exposited gleefully, “an astoundingly powerful one, I might add, and there are many responsibilities that come with that. You are an inheritor of a rich tradition stretching back thousands of years. You’ll help me rebuild the Air Nation from the ground up, until it reaches its former glory, far surpassing my father’s wildest dreams!”

He led her inside as he rambled and seemed to be escorting her to his office. In fact, Korra was starting to get the distinct impression that she was being kidnapped. “Whoa!” she protested while yanking herself from his side. “Look, I’m thrilled about this too, but I’m not an Air Nomad. I’m Water Tribe, through and through.”

“You were,” he corrected matter-of-factly, before placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. “I know it will take some getting used to, but I believe in you.”

Belief didn’t have a thing to do with it. “What will take getting used to?”

He began counting off expectations on his hand in escalating degrees of repulsiveness, indifferent to her mounting alarm.

“Well, you’ll have to move back onto the island and begin receiving airbending instruction.”

“Okay…”

“Oh, you’ll get your own sky bison, too! It’ll be bonded to you for life.”

“Actually, I’m really more comfortable getting around on Naga.”

“We’ll teach you airbending philosophy, honing your spiritual instincts and showing you the ways of pacifism.”

“Are you kidding? Punching is one of my favorite things!”

“You’ll need to transition to a fully vegetarian diet, of course.”

“But meat is my favorite thing!”

“If all goes well, you’ll one day shave your head and receive your tattoos!”

“Oh, heck no!”

“We can get started immediately, if you’re up for it. How does a meditation session sound?”

“Alright, STOP!” she ordered. 

He finally took notice of her now acute horror, causing his steadfast zeal to begin a pathetic collapse. “Korra, I…” He broke off his sentence with a dejected exhale and motioned for her to enter his office, waiting until they had both taken seats before continuing. 

“I know this isn’t exactly up your alley, but it is important. The world has been out of balance for nearly two hundred years. With the new Avatar shirking his responsibilities, it's up to us to pick up the slack.”

Oh, boy. She really hadn’t expected him to play that card, and he had done so with a surprising selection of pronouns. “Uh… ‘his’?”

“Yes, according to Lin’s description, but that’s not the point. Since he’s ignoring his duties, it’s more important than ever that we fulfill ours to the best of our abilities.”

She dropped her gaze and fidgeted her hands. Asami would kill her, but she might not have a choice here. “Would you want the Avatar to help rebuild the Air Nation?”

Korra wasn’t predicting any particular response, but she was still shocked when he scoffed incredulously. “Please,” he dismissed. “With the city falling apart and the nation up in arms, attaching his name to airbenders would likely do more harm than good.”

She furrowed her brows, nonplussed by his reaction. “Really? Because I was reading an interview you gave-”

“Oh, I’ve had to be tactful to the press, of course, but I won’t lie and say I’m not disappointed by the Avatar’s behavior. My father would never have stood for this kind of carelessness. The idea that he’s been out there this entire time, long enough to gain control over all the elements, and yet never thought to come forward? His negligence baffles me to no end.”

Ouch. Fair enough, but… ouch.

Korra swallowed thickly and nodded. Maybe Asami had a point all along. She really needed to stop trying to disagree with her. It never ended well.

“Please, Korra,” he appealed. “You have an obligation here.”

She took a deep breath and met his eyes. “I’m sorry, Tenzin. But I have other obligations too. I grew up in the Southern Water Tribe, and my father is its Chief. You really want me to leave it behind to join the Air Nation?” 

“I’m not necessarily asking you to reject your own culture. You’ll just… have another one.”

“A very different one,” she pointed out. “Being a warrior and a hunter is a huge part of mine. We use pelts and bones for practically everything down there. I mean, one of my fondest childhood memories was when my parents took me on my first tiger seal hunt.” She smiled nostalgically as she remembered that day. “I was the one who got the killing blow, so after we dragged it back to our igloo, they let me drain and butcher the carcass. I’ll never forget what it was like to taste the liver while it was still bloody and warm, or how much fun we had afterward playing catch with the bladder.” 

She refocused on Tenzin judgmentally. “Would you really want to keep me from doing that with my kids to celebrate their sixth birthdays?”

He grimaced nauseously. “Em… to be honest-”

“And what about Naga? She still needs to be fed meat.”

“Well… she seemed fine with the vegetarian meals we prepared for her when you last stayed here.”

Despite the seriousness of the situation, she couldn’t help but laugh at his joke, until she noticed that he was being sincere. “Wait, those were for Naga? She’s a carnivore! That would be animal abuse!”

He blanched. “Then what did she eat?”

“What do you mean, ‘what did she eat’? She’s an even better hunter than I am, and there’s plenty of game on the island and in the bay.”

He covered his mouth with his hand in dismay. “So that’s what happened to Poki.”

“And besides,” she pressed, “it’s not like I could swear an oath of non-violence in good conscience, even if I wanted to. I’ve spent most of the past year as either a cop or a soldier.”

His sorely unmissed lecture-face made an inauspicious comeback. “If Avatar Aang’s life proved anything, it’s that there are ways to fight for what’s right without resorting to taking life.”

“Yeah, but not always,” she argued. “What if Sokka hadn’t destroyed the Fire Nation’s airship fleet? What if the White Lotus hadn’t been willing to liberate Ba Sing Se? Spirits, I wouldn’t even be alive right now if Asami hadn’t killed Amon. Are you really telling me they were all wrong? And that Aang was right to mutilate Ozai, like that was any less cruel?”

It looked like he was about to engage in a debate with her, but he held his tongue. Instead, he sighed wearily and rose from his seat. “I’m truly sorry we couldn’t come to an agreement on this,” he mourned, “but I can respect your decision. Good luck, Korra of the Southern Water Tribe.”

And while she relished winning the argument, Tenzin conceded with a measure of formality that worried her. “Um… that’s not it, is it?”

He cocked his head curiously. “What else would there be?”

“Well, I still wanted to learn airbending from you!”

He flinched in surprise, then groaned in irritation while rubbing his scalp. “You just told me that you didn’t want that!”

“No I didn’t!” she insisted. “I only said that I didn’t want to become an Air Nomad. You can still teach me how to bend, right?”

“Of course not!” he rejected. “You can’t just arbitrarily divorce airbending from airbending philosophy! Why would you even want to? You’re clearly capable of blasting your enemies away, if that’s all you’re interested in.”

“But I…” She was about to say that she could already rely on fire for that, but restrained herself. The only airbending moves she knew were nearly useless, because they were all just less spicy versions of firebending techniques. Korra couldn’t get by as Avatar simply using air as a crappy substitute for fire when she was out of breath.

She stood up to face him, growing frustrated. “Look, don’t play dumb with me. You and I both know that airbending is way more than that. There are so many cool things you could show me! Wind running, air scooters, gliding-”

“All of which are inextricably tied to the concept of negative jing,” he rebutted. “What good will it do you to augment your mobility like that if you’re still planning on punching your way out of every situation?”

Which was such a ridiculous question, she grabbed onto his robes and pulled him close to make sure she drove her point home. “So I can punch people… but faster.”

He tore himself away from her and straightened his gaudy vestments. “I’m sorry,” he commiserated genuinely. “I’m not trying to discourage you, but my highest duty must be to the Air Nation. Forging an entire society from scratch will be bitter work. I don’t have the luxury of splitting my attention between reconstructing my culture, and serving as a common bending instructor for family friends.”

Unfortunately, that made complete sense. Which meant Korra was back at square one.

She folded her arms and pouted. “Okay, you’re right,” she admitted. “I'm sorry for being pushy.”

He smiled warmly. “You’re forgiven. And please know, even if I can’t help you on your journey, that I am very happy for you.”

She scoffed a laugh. Not because she didn’t appreciate the sentiment, but because it was entirely unjustified and undeserved. 

Tenzin started to move to the office door, reminding Korra that she still hadn’t addressed her original reasons for coming. “Uh… there were a few other things I wanted to talk about.” He stilled and gave her his attention. “I thought you might want to cut Jinora some slack.”

His eyes wandered as he searched his memory. “Oh!” he recalled. “You mean about that Harmonic Convergence fiasco?” He began stroking his beard contemplatively. “I suppose that as the only other airbending master remaining, she’ll be invaluable in helping guide the new recruits.”

Korra narrowed her eyes. “She was also just trying to save the world.”

He shrugged. “Alright, fine. Anything else?”

Her next request was a bit presumptuous, so she hugged herself and blushed as she made it. “Can I - I mean, if it’s not too much trouble - could I have my old room back?”

Tenzin pursed his lips sympathetically. “Based on what Lin told me, there are likely dozens of new airbenders in Republic City alone, to say nothing of the other nations. I believe we’ll need all the space we can get.”

Meaning, on top of everything else, Korra was now homeless. Delightful.

“Well… congrats,” she offered feebly. 

At least Tenzin was happy.

Chapter Text

When Korra made her way back outside, Bumi and the airbender kids had run off, likely to train, while Asami was talking seriously with Mako and Bolin. She was passively petting Naga as she spoke, and Bolin was noticeably keeping his distance from both. So much for exposure therapy.

“Hey, guys,” Korra greeted as she approached.

“What did Tenzin say to you?” Asami inquired gravely.

“He wanted me to join the Air Nation.” Korra shrugged forlornly. “I think I really disappointed him. I probably should have talked to you guys before outing myself as an airbender, huh?”

Asami chewed on her lip and huffed air through her nose. “What’s done is done. We’ll make it work.”

“So where to next, boss?” Bolin asked. He glanced at Korra. “Or, bosses, I guess. Actually, am I still Korra’s personal assistant?”

“You were my personal assistant? I thought we were just hanging out.”

“I mean, that’s kind of what I do as Asami’s personal assistant, too.”

“Sweet gig,” Mako grumbled ruefully.

“We’ll go wherever Korra wants to go,” Asami answered.

“Wait, really?” Korra checked. “Why?”

Asami was taken aback slightly by that question. “Korra, you’re still recovering. You do remember what you went through, right?”

“Don’t you have, like, the largest business in the world to run?”

“Well… technically, Fire National Gas and the Royal Mining Corporation are both a bit larger, but personally, I don’t think they should really count, since they’re both nationalized-”

“That’s besides the point,” Korra interrupted. “I think if my airbending demo proved anything, it’s that I’m not still recovering. I told you already, I feel great.”

“You were in a coma less than a week ago,” Asami pointed out. “I would just feel more comfortable if we kept you company.”

Korra crossed her arms defiantly. “I don’t need to be coddled.”

“That’s not what this is,” Asami reassured. “Believe it or not, I actually enjoy spending time with you.”

Korra quirked her lips and studied her three friends. They had already done far more for Korra than she was in a position to return, Asami especially. “Look, you guys all have more important things to do than babysit me. I’ll be fine.”

Asami's eyes widened, and she opened her mouth to protest. “But-”

“I’ll be fine,” Korra repeated definitively. “Come on, Naga. Let’s go.”

Once Korra managed to ditch her team, it occurred to her that she didn’t really know where she was going. She didn’t have a job or a place of her own. Come to think of it, she didn’t even have any cash on hand to feed herself. When she came here through the spirit portals, she only had the clothes on her back and a mostly-empty wallet. Maybe she did need to be babysat.

She knew she had some savings left from when she worked as a cop, though for the life of her, she couldn’t remember exactly how much. So she figured, lacking anything better to do, she would head to the First Republic Bank to check on her account. Hopefully, she’d have enough left to lease an apartment somewhere.

When Asami was driving her from Lin’s place to the docks, Korra noticed that she took a highly circuitous route. As she rode Naga towards her bank, she realized why. It seemed like every major street had giant vines running across it, which also explained why there had been so few cars on the road. Korra could imagine that navigating the city now was like trying to find your way through a labyrinth. Fortunately, Naga could hop right over all the obstacles, and got her to their destination in short order.

The bank’s building happened to be at the edge of what looked like a forest. Seeing that in the middle of the city was surreal, and combined with the lack of foot traffic, it gave the area an otherworldly feel. The bank itself had vines coursing through it, running up its side and burrowing into the walls. Honestly, it looked kind of cool.

Korra ordered Naga to stay and walked inside, waving at the teller as she entered. “Hey, Ru!”

“It’s a pleasure to see you again, Korra,” she politely responded. “I thought you moved out of town.”

“I did, for a while.” She glanced around the branch, which seemed to be empty apart from one other employee in the back. “Slow day?”

Ru sighed dejectedly. “Not unusually so, I’m afraid. Many of our customers have been scared away by all the spirits outside.”

“There are spirits here? Where?”

She cocked her head curiously. “Didn’t you see them when you came in? They’re all over the spirit wilds.” 

“Nah, it was real quiet out there.”

Ru hummed in thought, then shook her contemplation away to reclaim her professionalism. “So what brings you in today?”

“I just wanted to check my balance. And maybe withdraw some money, if I have any left.” She reflected on her complete lack of possessions in the city. “Also, I might need a new checkbook.”

Ru nodded. “Just give me a moment, please.”

She ducked into the back, leaving Korra alone. The overhead lights weren’t on, but there were a few cracks in the wall created by the vines that let some daylight through. They were just lucky it hadn’t rained since Harmonic Convergence.

About a minute later, Ru returned with a file that she handed to Korra. “Where would you like us to send the checkbook?”

“Oh,” Korra mused as she opened up the file. “I’m kind of homeless at the moment.”

Ru pursed her lips empathetically. “I’m sorry to hear that. I can give you some traveler’s checks, if you’d like?”

“Yeah,” she murmured absentmindedly as she read her balance. Then reread it. Then reread it again. “Um… I think you gave me the wrong file.”

Ru tilted her head and leaned closer to check the papers. “No, that’s definitely your account. It was flagged for an audit recently, so everything’s been double-checked.”

“Huh…” 

Korra was interested in running a few audits of her own.

******

Though Asami was smarting from Korra’s dismissal, it was actually quite fortuitous that she sent her back to Future Industries. Utilities Commissioner Ke Xin had made a surprise visit to discuss the reconstruction of the city’s infrastructure. Itsuki had taken the meeting in Asami’s absence, and by the time she popped back in, his frown was as stony and deep as she’d ever seen it. So she led both of them to her office and sat them down across from her desk to talk things out civilly.

Ke Xin was a slender, fashionable man, and Republic City to his core. He was a member of the United Republic’s first generation of citizens whose parents were also born in the United Republic, meaning he was one of the few city residents who had no substantive ties to any other nations. Asami thought he was a likable man, all things considered, but he was still a career bureaucrat. Not that Asami had a problem with bureaucrats, but Itsuki certainly did, so she appreciated the opportunity to mediate their conversation.

At least, she appreciated the opportunity at first. They had been spinning their wheels for a while.

“It all comes back to cost,” Ke Xin re-reasserted. “I can’t get the other Commissioners to even consider Future Industries with the numbers you gave us. Your preliminary bid is nearly fifteen percent higher than your closest competitor.”

“Because it’s ambitious,” Asami re-re-reminded him. “If the expense was the only thing that mattered, you might as well award Cabbage Corp.” She and Itsuki both scoffed in disgust.

“Cabbage Corp isn’t the only company undercutting you. Earthen Fire Industries and Keum Enterprises both submitted bids lower than yours, and theirs were also far more… traditional.”

Itsuki rolled his eyes, looking crankier than ever. “You’d be crazy to trust cost estimates from Keum.”

“Fair enough,” he allowed, “but even if he runs well over-budget, his proposal would still be much more economical than yours.”

“It’s more economical because it’s unrealistic,” Asami replied. “Our plan is the only one that will actually work, so all this hand-wringing about marginal costs is moot.”

Ke Xin raised an eyebrow in challenge. “What if we do find some way to clear out the vines? All of a sudden, your plan doesn’t seem so practical anymore.”

“Alright then,” Itsuki conceded. “If you come up with a way to get rid of the vines, you’re more than welcome to let Keum gouge you to his heart’s content. Or maybe you’d rather have Cabbage Corp tape the city back together?”

Asami waved away his snappishness. “To be blunt, Commissioner, I’m not sure how wise or productive it is to plan the city’s fate around hypotheticals. You can keep pushing back on cost as long as you’d like, but let’s face it, you don’t have much leverage to negotiate at the moment. Based on the information we have now, Future Industries is the only viable choice on the table.”

Ke Xin crossed his arms and silently mulled over Asami’s argument, giving her hope that they were nearing the end of this ordeal of a meeting. Eventually, Ke Xin sighed wearily and rose from his seat. “I’ll speak to the other Commissioners. We’ll take a fresh look at Future Industries, but please know that you are at the very bottom of the list unless it becomes clear the vines are here to stay.”

Asami reined in her smirk enough to transform it into a polite smile, and stood to shake Ke Xin’s hand. “That’s good enough for me.”

Ke Xin almost made it to the door before it swung open swiftly. Korra had come to visit, and Asami’s immediate elation was quelled when she saw how furious the Avatar looked.

“Did you give me two million yuans?” she demanded.

Asami flushed brightly as her mouth fell open. Not because she was shocked by the question, but because she wasn’t shocked by the question. She had done a lot of things over the past few weeks, and where Korra was concerned, they possessed ambiguous degrees of sanity. Had she given her two million yuans? It seemed like the kind of thing Asami might do.

The longer she thought about it, the angier Korra seemed to get. “That should not be a hard question!”

“Hi,” Ke Xin greeted, taking Korra’s rude intrusion in stride. “I’m Commissioner Ke Xin. And you are?”

Korra paled when she realized she had just interrupted something. “Uh, sorry. I’m a friend of Asami’s.”

“So I gathered,” he joked. “Clearly, Asami treats her friends well.”

Asami coughed into her hand and hoped her rosy complexion had returned to normal. “Commissioner, it was a pleasure speaking with you, as always. Itsuki, could you show him out? I believe Korra and I have some things to discuss.”

Itsuki shrugged stoically, and wordlessly retreated from the office. Ke Xin followed him, sending Asami a concerningly knowing look as he left.

As soon as the door closed, Korra was back on her case. “I don’t need your charity, Asami.”

“Now hold on a minute,” Asami warned. “What makes you say I gave you any money?”

“I went to check my balance, and there were over two million yuans in the account, which I definitely didn’t make on a beat cop’s salary. I checked the transaction history, and almost all of it came from Future Industries.”

“Future Industries?” That somehow both relieved and alarmed Asami. “I don’t think I had anything to do with that.”

“You don’t think!?”

Well, she hoped not, at the very least. “I wouldn’t raid company funds to give you money, Korra. That would be felony embezzlement.”

“Then how exactly did it get there?”

That was a good question. Asami scanned her memory to find an answer, and when one occurred to her, she slumped back into her seat in relief. “Oh, thank goodness.”

“What?” Korra pressed.

Asami chuckled and massaged her forehead. “The patent.”

Korra’s face screwed up in confusion. “What patent?”

“The one for glowing crystal batteries. You came up with the idea, so when I took out the patent, I put both our names on it. Future Industries had to lease the rights in order to use them in the new line of Satomobiles, and I guess I never looked too hard at the contract.”

“But… but…” Korra stammered. “But I didn’t invent those! That was all you!”

“Eh,” Asami waffled. “I wouldn’t have come up with them if it weren’t for you, so it only seemed fair for you to get some of the credit.”

“But I didn’t do anything!” she shouted. To Asami’s surprise, she seemed even more irate than before. “I shouldn’t get any credit!”

Asami flinched at Korra’s unmerited volume. “And why not?” she rebutted. “You’re as much to thank for their creation as I am.”

Korra gripped the sides of her head. “That is so obviously false! You actually made them, and I still don’t even know how they work! I mean, those things are going to be a huge deal, right? You deserve all the credit!”

“No I don’t!” As soon as the words left Asami’s mouth, she realized how silly they sounded. She was probably going to have to give Korra an explanation that was a bit more honest, so she closed her eyes and slowly rubbed the bridge of her nose. “Look, I’ll admit they were mostly my idea, but I would have felt awful taking sole responsibility for them. I just… I don’t want anyone to think that I owe my success to taking advantage of other people.”

The indignation on Korra’s face melted into concern. She took a seat across from Asami, wearing a dangerously compassionate expression. “Why would anyone think that?”

Asami hummed a bitter laugh and gestured around her. “You see where we’re sitting, don’t you? I didn’t build this company, or Varrick’s, for that matter. And you know the circumstances surrounding the latter acquisition were… dubious. The only thing I really made were those batteries, and I would just hate for anybody to point out that I got those from someone else, too. So, yeah. I wanted to give credit where it’s due.”

Korra’s jaw flexed, as her anger instantly returned. “That is so stupid.”

“Uh… excuse me?”

“You heard me!” she insisted. “When you inherited this company, it was worth less than nothing. The only reason it’s still standing is because you’re the smartest and toughest person in the world!” She announced that frankly absurd superlative with such conviction and passion, Asami almost believed it herself. “All Hiroshi left you was a mess, and all Varrick did was try to rob you. But you beat them both, saved two countries in the process, and now you’re worth more than either of them ever were!”

Korra petulantly crossed her arms and stared Asami down haughtily. “So don’t you tell me that you owe your success to anyone else. That’s stupid.”

Wow. Everytime Asami thought she couldn’t get any deeper… 

There really wasn’t much she could say to that, so Asami nodded lamely and tried to swallow some of her emotion. “Okay.”

“Okay,” Korra repeated. “Now are you going to take your money back?”

Of course that’s what she would want. Asami smiled, feeling like all her affection was about to burst from her chest. “It was never my money, it was the company’s. And I’m not sure on what legal grounds it could take it back even if it wanted to.”

Korra pouted grumpily, which was such a ridiculous reaction to being given two million yuans, Asami started to giggle. Korra was initially taken aback, and she looked so adorable all offended like that, Asami started laughing harder. Eventually, Korra began to see the humor in the situation, and pretty soon, they were just two grown women, sitting in a fancy office, cackling at nothing in particular.

Eventually, they were able to get themselves back under control.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to laugh like that,” Asami apologized while carefully wiping tears from her eyes. “You just looked so disappointed and cute.” Korra blushed brilliantly at the compliment, a fact which Asami tucked away for later use. “If you really don’t want to keep the money, I can help you find places to donate it.”

“Thanks, that would be great,” she agreed. “And I’m sorry for barging in here like that. I didn’t interrupt anything important, did I?”

“No,” Asami assured, “we had already wrapped that up. It wasn’t even a very useful meeting. One of the Utilities Commissioners was just coming to complain about our bid to rebuild the city.”

“What was there to complain about? I thought you had that in the bag.”

“Oh, we do. The city’s just dragging its feet because it doesn’t want to pay for it. Future Industries is the best, but that doesn’t always mean the cheapest.”

“Huh. But you’ll definitely still get it?”

“We will. That, I’m still confident about.”

Korra nodded gently, and started looking around Asami’s office, head bobbing all the while. She was clearly struggling to formulate her next plan of action.

Asami cleared her throat. “So, what were you thinking of doing with the rest of your day?”

Korra puffed her cheeks and blew out a breath. “I guess I’ll need to find a place to stay.”

“What do you mean? I thought you were going to stay on Air Temple Island.”

She waved away that notion. “Tenzin didn’t want me to move back in if I wasn’t willing to join the Air Nation.”

Asami scowled. “That seems a little vindictive.”

“It’s not like that,” Korra chuckled. “He just expects the temple to fill up soon with all the new airbenders.” She sighed wistfully. “It makes sense, so I’m going to have to get an apartment in the city. Apparently, I can afford one.”

Asami bit her lip and hummed contemplatively. “That might be difficult. With all the displaced, I don’t think there are any available units left.”

Korra narrowed her eyes while she considered that problem. After a few seconds, something occurred to her, and she frowned with distaste while blushing a vibrant crimson. “Um…” she began, haltingly, “would it be okay if - I mean, if it wouldn’t be too much of a bother - and I know you already took in Mako and Bolin, so you definitely don’t have to… like, it wouldn’t hurt my feelings or anything-”

“Yes!” Asami squeaked. 

******

Korra had managed to procure shelter, even if it was embarrassing to have to rely on Asami’s generosity again. Still, living at the mansion with the entire team would be fun, if nothing else. Plus, she wouldn’t have to worry about the temple’s scratchy blankets, communal baths, vegetarian meals, or startling lack of Asami. Come to think of it, why had she wanted to move back onto the island in the first place?

Now, all she needed to worry about was finding something to do with herself. The way she figured it, the Avatar should be helping people out with their greatest needs. Right now, that meant putting the city together, but as per usual, Asami had gotten ahead of her on that account. If that was already being handled, all that was left for Korra to do was to make sure that people were safe while the city was being rebuilt. She remembered reading in the paper that there had been an uptick in crime recently, and given her past work experience, the solution was clear. She should rejoin the police force!

So Korra made her way to headquarters to talk to the Chief about getting her old job back. Unfortunately, she was physically prevented from entering Lin’s office by her old nemesis: Lin Beifong’s assistant, Shinju, who had her arms crossed and looked as sour as ever.

“Hello, Shinju,” she opened politely. “I just wanted to chat with the Chief real quick. Won’t be too long.”

“That’s not happening. The Chief isn’t available for meetings with the public, and you don’t have any airbenders to sic on me this time.”

Korra stifled a laugh at the irony of that statement. “Just trust me, she’ll be fine talking with me.”

Shinju raised an eyebrow confrontationally. “Her orders were specific to you. She doesn’t want to see you.”

Korra’s mouth fell open at the insult. She was the Avatar, for spirits’ sake, and Lin couldn’t spare her two minutes? “Unbelievable,” she scoffed. Korra stormed off, but she wasn’t about to take this lying down. Shinju wasn’t budging, though, so she tried to come up with a way to get to Lin that didn’t involve assaulting her assistant. It was tough, though, because assault would be such an easy solution, and her mind kept returning to it. 

After a while, her randomly wandering gaze settled on a tempting resource across the bullpen. So she marched towards it to recruit it in her efforts.

“Hey, Mako. Are you busy right now?”

He jumped upon hearing her. “Korra! What are you doing here?”

“I wanted to talk to the Chief about getting my job back.” She exchanged a nod of greeting with the metalbending officer Mako had been talking to, who she assumed was his partner, before looking back at Mako. “I need your help getting into her office.”

Mako cradled his forehead. “Can you give us a minute, Slate?”

As ‘Slate’ left, she restrained herself from showing signs of amusement. Once he was out of earshot, she whispered to Mako, “That name is kind of on-the-nose for an earthbender, isn’t it?”

He sighed as he straightened his posture and adopted a very Mako-like expression. “How can I help you, ma’am?”

“Oh, not this again!” she cried. “I thought you were over being weird.”

“I’m not-” He interrupted himself to lower his voice and lean in towards Korra. “I’m not being weird, I’m being professional.”

“If that’s what you want to call it.”

“My point is, I’m on the clock, and you’re a civilian. So if you’re about to ask me for help, it should be something in line with my job as a detective, so you don’t get me fired.”

“It’s not like I need you to break the law or anything. I just need you to get me a way past Shinju.”

“And how do you propose I do that?” he challenged.

“I don’t know, distract her or something.”

“Distract her how?”

“I don’t know, Mako,” she repeated deliberately. “You know her better than I do, don’t you? You could try…” She had to roll her eyes as she forced out her proposal. “You could try flirting with her?”

He recoiled as if she had slapped him. “I’m not going to do that!”

“Ah, come on,” she goaded. “You’re a guy, and she’s kind of cute, isn’t she?”

“That is not my issue with the idea. For one thing, she’s a coworker.”

“We literally dated as partners.”

He floundered to respond to that undeniable argument. “Okay, fair point, but it still isn’t a good idea. I wouldn’t even know how to do it.”

“Oh, that can’t be true. How did you used to flirt with me?”

“I didn’t,” he cut out. “The closest we ever got was bickering. Hence us breaking up.”

Right, that checked out. “Well then, what do you suggest I do? I’m not leaving without seeing the Chief.”

He released a drawn out exhale and stared into the distance as he considered that ultimatum. Eventually, his eyes returned to Korra’s. “Her office has windows, doesn’t it?”

“What in Hei Bai’s name do you think you’re doing?” Lin shouted.

“Hey, Chief,” she returned while still mostly hanging out the window. Lin was sitting across from some scrawny, exhausted-looking man of Earth Kingdom descent. “Hi, I’m Korra.”

“I’m Daw,” he introduced. There was a brief hesitation before he continued by admitting, “I’m one of the new airbenders.”

“Oh, no way!” she enthused. “I guess I am, too. Has Tenzin talked to you yet? I bet he’s real excited to meet you.”

“No, I-”

His answer broke off as Lin abruptly stood and stomped over to the window. She grabbed Korra’s collar and yanked her inside, depositing her on the floor in a heap. 

“Thanks, Chief.” Korra scrambled to her feet and dusted off her trousers. “My arms were getting kind of sore.”

“I distinctly recall Kya telling you to avoid doing anything strenuous,” Lin rebuked. “Now, I’m no doctor, but I think scaling the side of a building would qualify.”

“I mean, it wasn’t too hard now that I can bend. I only fell a couple times.” She turned her attention back to Daw. “It’s pretty awesome, isn’t it? Not many people know what it’s like to get bending after being a nonbender.”

He shook his head regretfully. “I just want things to go back to normal.”

“Yeah, I sometimes feel that way too,” she agreed. “It’s a lot to get used to, but you know what helps me? Trying to focus on all the ways I can help people now that I’m a bender. I like the way a friend of mine put it. She said-”

“KORRA!” Lin hollered. The Chief was one of those people who always radiated a constant penumbra of annoyance, which concealed the fact that, up until this moment, Korra had never seen her honest-to-goodness mad before.

Lin took a deep breath while pinching the bridge of her nose. “Daw, could you give us a moment? Korra won’t be very long.”

He exercised his burgeoning negative jing by obediently slinking out of her office, leaving Korra alone with the Chief, and now genuinely fearing for her safety.

“What do you want?” Lin snapped.

“Look, I’m sorry for breaking up your meeting, but I need to talk to you about what I’m supposed to do for work now.”

“You came here for career advice? Why in the blue blazes should I care?”

Korra rolled her eyes. “No,” she drew out, “I want my old job back. If I’m the Avatar, then I should be protecting people, and that seems like the simplest way to do it.”

Lin scoffed hatefully. “That’s what you want? You’re responsible for bringing balance to the world, and your solution was to become a beat cop?”

“Well, I don’t know what else to do! My dad’s handling the North, Tenzin’s rebuilding the Air Nation, Asami’s fixing the city, so what’s left for me? I need to do something.”

“Good luck with that. But there’s no way I’m letting you anywhere near a badge.”

“Why not?” Korra cried. “You know I’m qualified, and now I’m even a bender, just like you wanted!”

“That’s exactly the problem,” Lin spat. “I had my doubts about letting you join the force the first time around, and now I find out you have the strength to level city blocks? And you want me to let you loose on street thugs?”

Korra was getting frustrated, but she lowered her voice to ensure they weren’t overheard. “Obviously, I wouldn’t be going all out on them. As far as people here are concerned, I’m a former nonbender turned airbender, right? I’d just be using air, which is, like, the least threatening element.”

“Oh, wonderful,” she snipped. “Some idiot wielding Avatar-level power in life-or-death situations, relying solely on an element she has no experience controlling. I can’t imagine that going horribly wrong.”

Which was, yet again, an excellent point. Meaning, for the fourth time that day, Korra had to concede defeat. “Alright, alright, it was a bad idea. But then what am I supposed to do?”

“For starters, you can get out of my office.” She stomped over to the door and threw it open. “Mako!” she barked. “Come escort your girlfriend outside. If I see her again, it’s your neck.”

“She’s not my girlfriend!” he protested in the distance.

“I don’t get why the Chief is being such a jerk! I mean, I get why she wouldn’t want me back on the force, but did she have to be so nasty about it? And why wouldn’t she even see me?”

“I’m not sure, ma’am,” Mako answered evenly as he led her outside. “Have a nice day.”

“Hey, what’s the big rush?”

He screwed up his face in frustration. “It’s like I said. I’m on duty.”

“Mako, I know for a fact that you’re allowed breaks, and I’m willing to bet two million yuans that you haven’t taken any yet.”

“I haven’t taken any breaks because I’m busy. Triad activity is way up, there’s looting all through the spirit wilds, and even some of the Equalists are starting to make trouble again. We’ve been slammed all week.”

Korra frowned. “Is it really that bad?”

He froze for a beat. “No!” he denied unconvincingly. “Nothing you have to worry about.”

She was actually very worried. “If it’s that bad, why wouldn’t the Chief want my help? This should be up my alley, shouldn’t it?”

Mako shrugged joylessly as he glanced around the empty parking lot. “If I had to guess, she feels threatened. Protecting people is her job, and with your new - uh, title - she probably wants to mark out Republic City as her territory.”

Korra scoffed. “Well, that feels petty.”

He pursed his lips and nodded noncommittally. “To be honest, it is kind of her territory. Public safety is the responsibility of the police, not you.”

“Then what exactly is my responsibility, huh?”

“I don’t know,” he wavered. “Even if you were a more traditional Avatar, it’s not like you’d be patrolling the streets to break up bar fights and write tickets. You wouldn’t even have known you were the Avatar until two years ago, right? Odds are, you’d still be mastering the elements.”

She harrumphed. “Well, I tried getting Tenzin to teach me airbending, but he shot me down.”

“That’s not the only element, and he’s not the only master.”

Korra perked up. Now that he said it out loud, it was so obvious. “You’re right. He’s not the only airbending master!”

Chapter Text

“I know you’re my airbending master, so I’m not trying to challenge your authority or anything, but… could we do literally anything else in the world?”

Jinora rolled her eyes as she led Korra towards the abandoned spirit wilds. Korra had shown up at Air Temple Island early in the morning to recruit her as an instructor, and Bolin wouldn’t be back to pick her up until that afternoon, meaning she was in Jinora’s charge for most of the day. That was going to be a hassle to deal with, even ignoring the grave responsibility of teaching the Avatar airbending. 

When Asami had suggested that they essentially lie to Korra about the state of the city, Jinora was obviously opposed in the strongest terms. And when it became clear she wasn’t budging, Asami had switched up her tactics. They weren’t lying to Korra. It was clearly important, for the fate of the world and whatnot, to keep Korra in good spirits in the face of a monumental amount of stress. So wouldn’t it be perfectly rational to steer Korra away from the most vitriolic voices in the press if they could? What good would it do to expose her to unnecessary hate?

It seemed like a convincing enough argument at the time, but once Jinora returned to the temple, she started to get the distinct impression that she had been handled. Especially when she was sent a list of ‘approved’ media sources Korra was allowed to access. 

After that, she just wanted to keep her head low and focus on the new Air Nation, but since that was off the table, she’d settle for keeping Korra away from people in general. Hence their presence in the spirit wilds. “Look, Korra. If you want me to teach you airbending, you need to trust me. Meditation will help.”

“I know, it’s just…” she waffled, while rubbing the back of her neck. “I don’t really understand how it will help. I mean, I didn’t have to meditate for fire or water. And I know you airbenders are all spiritual or whatever, but it’s the same basic concept for air as the other elements, isn’t it? You wave your arms around, and stuff starts moving.”

They hadn’t even begun training yet, and Jinora was already getting frustrated with Korra as a pupil. “You can already move air around, but that’s not enough to master advanced techniques. Airbending is a lot more spiritual than the other bending disciplines, so connecting to your spiritual side is a prerequisite.”

“Okay,” Korra drew out. “But supposing, hypothetically, that I don’t really have a spiritual side. Then what am I supposed to do?”

Jinora sighed wearily as she hopped over a large root and started pushing her way through a dense curtain of vines. “You’re literally part spirit. Plus, if you get good enough at meditating, you could reconnect with Avatar Aang. I can’t think of anyone more qualified to help you in your spiritual journey.”

“I guess that’d be nice, but I still don’t even know how that happened the first time. He just kind of showed up.”

“Yeah, that was unusual,” she admitted. “I hypothesize that you were able to connect to him thanks to the massive amount of spiritual energy flowing through the Tree of Time during Harmonic Convergence. That’s why we’re here. The wilds are charged with way more spiritual energy than anywhere else in the United Republic.” And because Jinora’s father would probably think she was wasting precious time by giving private instruction to Korra, but that was neither here nor there.

“Really?” Korra glanced around now that they were in the thick of it. “How can you tell? It kinda just seems greener than the rest of the city to me.”

As a teacher, Jinora was supposed to believe that there were no such things as silly questions, yet she still couldn’t help but giggle. “Well, if you haven’t noticed, it’s swarming with spirits, for one thing. But trust me, once you connect to your spiritual side, you’ll be able to feel the difference.”

“You know, my banker said the same thing, and I still don’t know what either of you were talking about.”

“Your banker told you that you needed to connect to your spiritual side?”

“No, she said the wilds were swarming with spirits, but I still haven’t seen any. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a spirit that wasn’t corrupted.”

Jinora opened her mouth to reject that patently ridiculous statement, until she finally took in her surroundings. There wasn’t a spirit in sight.

“That’s really weird,” Jinora wondered. “Last time I was here, I could barely take a step without tripping over a spirit.”

“Huh. Maybe they’re all asleep? Do spirits sleep?”

“Not to my knowledge. As an airbender, they should be drawn to me. And as the Avatar, they’d definitely be able to sense your presence, so I don’t see…” Jinora broke off her train of thought before she said something she shouldn’t.

Unfortunately, it was too late. Based on the way Korra’s face collapsed, she had put together the same theory Jinora had. “Are the spirits avoiding me?”

All evidence seemed to suggest they were, but Jinora wasn’t going to say that out loud. “That’s ridiculous,” she lied. “Why would they be avoiding you? You’re the Avatar. The bridge between the physical and the spiritual.”

Korra hugged herself shamefully. “Yeah, but… the last time I was in the Spirit World, I think I kinda trashed the place.”

Jinora quirked her lips in pitying consideration. “You think they’re afraid of you.”

Dropping her head into her hands, Korra released some undefinable cross between a groan and whine. “Some bridge, huh? The Avatar is supposed to do two things: maintain balance, and deal with spirits. And apparently I’m completely useless at both.”

“You’re not useless at either!” Jinora reproached. “You’ve already done plenty of good, and you’re not even done with your training. Once you get a handle on all this stuff, imagine the kind of things you’ll be able to accomplish.”

Korra huffed slowly and drew her hands away from her face. To Jinora’s relief, it looked like she bought it. “Alright,” Korra conceded. “Let’s get started.”

******

Asami was not particularly well-rested. Korra had moved in the previous day, which would make her much easier for Bolin to keep tabs on, but it also meant most of Asami’s evening was spent ensuring that she didn’t start sparring with someone. Korra seemed to have no respect for the extent of her injuries, and it was driving Asami insane. She was so rowdy and energized, Asami was beginning to think she’d have to tie Korra to her bed to get her to sleep.

And she diligently refused to pursue the train of thought that mental image tempted, well into the wee hours of the night.

Which is why Asami spent most of the day incessantly massaging her head as she waded through cost estimates with contractors and commissioners alike. They spent a lot of time talking only to end up in the exact same place: with Future Industries as the only option.

By late afternoon, she was beat, and itching to go home. The home she now shared with Korra, by the way. Which is why it was such a tragedy when Sho Lin buzzed on the intercom to announce the arrival of yet another grouchy city official.

“Chief Beifong is here to see you. Shall I let her in?”

Shall she indeed. Asami didn’t really know where she stood with Lin. They weren’t exactly friends, but had also fought together in a war and shared an apartment for nearly a week, placing them firmly in a gray area of familiarity. If this was a social call, Asami wasn’t in the mood. If this was business, she was even less in the mood.

Before she could decide on an answer, though, the doors to her office swung open and Lin marched right through. Asami really needed to install some platinum locks.

She took a deep breath to steel herself and plastered on a business formal smile. “How can I help you, Chief?”

Lin plopped down across from Asami’s desk and checked over her shoulder to ensure the door was closed. “I’d like to talk to you about Korra.”

Asami’s eyebrows rose. “Oh?”

“I’m concerned about her behavior. She broke into my office yesterday-”

“Imagine that,” Asami quipped.

Lin paused to grunt and clench her jaw. “The point is, she’s getting antsy, and I’m afraid she’ll get herself into trouble. I’ve already got enough to deal with, and I don’t need an Avatar-sized problem on my plate right now, so as far as I’m concerned, she’s your responsibility.”

Asami glowered at her. “That doesn’t seem fair. I’m not her keeper.”

It was Lin’s turn to raise her eyebrows, her expression dripping with incredulity. 

“What?” Asami demanded. “I’m not.”

Lin rolled her eyes. “I don’t care what she is to you, I’m telling you to keep an eye on her. Something tells me you will anyway.”

Which was a very dangerous thing for her to have said. “I’m not sure what you’re trying to imply, but if you’re intimating that Korra is anything but a-”

“Like I said,” she cut in impassively, “I don’t care.” 

Asami’s mouth snapped shut as she studied her. Remarkably, Lin seemed to be telling the absolute truth… and it was making Asami consider her in a whole new light. “No… you don’t.”

Lin met her gaze and allowed Asami to stare her down for a lengthy minute. “Good talk,” she declared, while rising from her seat.

“You don’t care… at all,” Asami marveled. “About me, or any of us.”

Lin crossed her arms and subtly tilted her head, betraying a slight amount of curiosity. “No,” she agreed, “I don’t.”

Asami had been stuck in an uncomfortable situation for a while. She had a decent support structure behind her, but it just so happened that she couldn’t go to any member of it about her most pressing personal concern. Korra was obviously off the table. Talking to Tonraq or Senna about it would be mortifying. She doubted Bolin would be able to keep a secret from his friends. And even if she put any stock in Mako’s advice, asking him for it would be a farce. 

If she couldn’t go to them, that only left acquaintances, but there were few she could trust to be discreet. If any potential confidant was at all invested in her situation, there was always a risk that they would repeat what she told them. As absurd as it was, Asami was a public figure, so her nonstandard affections would be a scandal if they ever got out. Which meant that, up until now, she hadn’t put a voice to what she was feeling. 

Lin, though… Lin didn’t care about her in the slightest.

“I’m going to talk to you about an emotional problem I’ve been dealing with.”

Any trace of curiosity on Lin’s face evaporated instantly, replaced by a pained scowl. “Not interested.”

Asami leapt to her feet before her prospective sounding board could make a move. The least gossipy person in Republic City had just barged into her office, and Asami was going to take advantage of that fact. “Lin, I betrayed my own father to defeat the Equalists. I likely saved your bending and your life when I killed Amon. I captured the entire senior leadership of the Triple Threat Triad for you. I rescued President Raiko from being kidnapped under your watch. I resupplied your department with world-class airships and patrol cars. Not long ago, I helped save reality itself from chaos incarnate. Within a few weeks, I’ll begin rebuilding your city. And if I’m not mistaken, you drove here in one of my fancy new electric Satomobiles. I think you owe me ten minutes of your time.”

The Chief remained locked in place, not budging a single muscle. The only motion Asami could detect was an eventual narrowing of her eyes. After another minute of stubborn silence, she responded plainly. “No.”

She turned to leave, but Asami reached across the desk and grabbed her arm. Lin whipped her head back around, eyes brimming with indignation, until they fell to look at the hand Asami had used to latch onto her. She was wearing her gauntlet.

“Am I supposed to believe that you’re going to shock me if I try to leave?”

Asami nodded firmly. “It’s at a low enough setting that it won’t leave any permanent burns, meaning there would be no physical evidence. It’d be your word against mine.”

“I’m the Chief of Police!”

“I’m rich.”

Lin had no comeback for that. With unbridled loathing and overwhelming reluctance, she gradually lowered herself to retake her seat. “What do you want, Sato?”

Asami took a deep breath as she also sat down, still keeping her grip on Lin’s forearm. There was no turning back at this point, but it nonetheless took a tremendous force of will to form her next words, mainly because they sounded so immature and girlish. “I have… a crush.”

“No kidding,” the Chief scoffed.

Asami frowned. “Am I really that obvious?”

Lin snorted in amusement. “You only left my apartment once while Korra was in her coma. Upon leaving, your exact words were, ‘If I see one bed sore on her when I get back, I’ll slit your throat in your sleep’.”

“I think it was reasonable to be a little concerned!” she defended. “You don’t exactly give off a caring, maternal energy.”

“Mako was taking you out for dinner. How was she going to develop a bed sore in an hour?”

“Alright, fine!” Asami barked. So she had apparently been a lot less clandestine than she had hoped. “Does that mean everyone knows?”

“I doubt it,” Lin shrugged. “Relationships like that don’t get a lot of visibility here, so unless you’ve been in one, you’re not looking out for them. As far as most people are concerned, they don’t exist.”

“You figured it out pretty quickly,” Asami noted.

Lin flustered atypically. “You realize I’m a detective, don’t you?” she snapped.

Asami raised her ungauntleted hand placatingly. “Okay, okay,” she conceded. “So what do you think I should do?”

“Well, you see, when two people love each other very much-”

“That’s clearly not what I’m talking about,” Asami rejected. “Should I tell her how I feel?”

Lin gave Asami a skeptical once-over. “Honestly, I’m shocked you haven’t already. You seem like you’re used to getting what you want.”

She briefly considered the possibility that that was a jab about intergenerational wealth, until she realized she was speaking to a Beifong. “Yes,” Asami admitted, “normally, I would be more open about something like this. But I haven’t really gotten a chance to, yet.”

Lin didn’t respond.

“We’ve all been kind of busy, you know. It’s not like there’s been a convenient time for me to talk to her about my feelings.”

Lin still didn’t respond.

“Okay, you want to know the truth?” Asami acquiesced. “I’m scared. Happy? There’s nothing more complicated or elaborate than that. I’m just afraid of what she’s going to say.”

Lin opened her mouth, and Asami couldn’t stand what was about to come out of it.

“And I know exactly what you’re going to say! ‘Rejection is a part of life’, or ‘the worst she can say is no’, or some other insipid drivel like that, but it doesn’t apply here. You want to know why?”

“I’ve already told you that I don’t care.”

“Because I can’t afford any mistakes with her. If I were to mess up our relationship, or spirits forbid, lose her, I’m not overstating things when I say that my mental state would immediately and irreparably collapse.”

That got a reaction from Lin, even if it was just the negligible elevation of one eyebrow. “That doesn’t seem particularly healthy.”

Asami burst out in manic laughter. “Don’t you think I know that?” she giggled ominously. “I am barely holding it together here! For Yangchen’s sake, why else would I be talking to you about this?”

To her abundant surprise, Lin’s chilly visage was corrupted by what Asami could only assume was her version of pity. It wasn’t a good look for her. 

Lin sighed, as if finally resigning herself to the fact that she would have to engage in this conversation. “What makes you think telling her will mess up your relationship?”

“Nothing!” Asami proclaimed. “I know she loves me, and I have every reason to suspect that, on some level, she’s in love with me. But that’s not quite the same thing as being romantically attracted to me, and that’s what I want. Don’t pretend that us both being women doesn’t complicate things. For all I know, she might not even be capable of reciprocating that kind of attraction!”

Lin ground her teeth and nodded seriously. “If you ask me,” she replied deliberately, “Korra has never thought of you that way. She’s one of the least restrained people I’ve ever met. If the thought of you as a partner had ever occurred to her, she’d be behaving like a… well, like you.”

And there it was. Asami had no basis on which to doubt her prognosis. She was a detective, after all, and she had read Asami like a book. Meaning that Asami was, in all likelihood, condemned to a life of pathetic pining at an achingly close distance.

She slumped back in her seat, letting her hold on Lin’s arm relax. “So she’s not attracted to women.”

Lin frowned in a very Lin way. “I didn’t say that.”

“Oh, give me a break, Lin.” She gestured vaguely at herself. “I own a mirror. If she was even the slightest bit into women, she’d be all over this.”

Lin cleared the throat awkwardly, but didn’t dispute her claim. “I said she’s never thought of you that way,” she clarified. “I didn’t say she wasn’t attracted to you.”

Asami perked up, instantly afflicted by a flash of hope, her face begging Lin to continue.

“You’ve never seen Korra watch you leave a room,” Lin explained. “She is neither subtle nor respectful.”

Asami released a stifled, high-pitched squeak in response, and the Chief seemed put off by her sheepish reaction. “Don’t tell me you’re feeling modest now!”

Asami bit her lip while staring intently at her desk. “That is not the word I would use.” She just needed a moment to process this. She had a chance. Lin Beifong, the world-class detective, seemed to think she already had it in the bag. 

Which made this entire situation a thousand times more terrifying.

When it became apparent Asami wasn’t planning on saying anything, Lin rolled her eyes in frustration. “You just need to have an honest conversation with her.”

Asami shook her head immediately to shoot down that proposal. “No, I can’t do that.”

Lin’s face scrunched up with mounting annoyance. “And why not?”

“First rule of cross-examination: never ask a question you don’t know the answer to.”

“You’re not in a courtroom,” Lin sharply retorted. “And I already told you that she’ll be receptive to your… advances.”

Asami stood up and began pacing around her office. “There’s a big difference between being physically attracted to someone, and being willing to have a relationship with them. I mean, there must be a reason she hasn’t considered it yet. Again, don’t pretend that us both being women doesn’t complicate things. I’m the CEO of the largest private company in the world, and she’s the Avatar. A marriage between us would draw a lot of attention, most of it bad.”

Lin’s mouth fell open. “How’d you get to marriage already? And what makes you think anyone else has to know?”

Asami scowled fiercely at her. “What did you think I was talking about, here? Some low-key, covert fling?”

“I’m not suggesting anything tawdry, I just don’t see why your private affairs are anyone else’s business.”

“This isn’t some infantile, schoolgirl infatuation! I’m in love with Korra, and I want to spend the rest of my life with her.” Asami realized that this was the first time she had admitted that out loud, but as intoxicating as the words felt on her lips, she pushed forward promptly. “How much of a coward would I have to be to keep that hidden if I don’t have to? To not act on it fully, as a matter of convenience?”

Impressively, Lin’s veneer of annoyance heightened its flagrancy at that argument. “Why do you people make such a big deal about coming out?”

“You people?” Asami cried.

“I’m just saying. Some of you act like if you’re not willing to call a press conference, you’re not serious about a relationship, and I’m sick of it. You know it’ll be more trouble than it's worth, so why insist on putting yourself through all that?”

“Because Korra is worth the trouble!” she shouted. “It’s not like we’ll be arrested, or anything. I’m in a position to be open about how I feel, so why wouldn’t I?”

Lin folded her arms and leveled Asami with her ironclad glower. “Then what exactly are you waiting for, Sato?”

She froze in her tracks. The Chief had her there.

“Okay, you’re right,” she admitted. “But I still don’t want to take any chances. I just need to figure out some way to convince her before I ask.”

Lin shrugged, but declined to weigh in on the problem. After a few moments of silence, Asami was forced to reiterate her dilemma. “Well?” she demanded.

Lin was taken aback. “‘Well’ what? Are you seriously asking me how to flirt with her?”

Asami was struck speechless by the sheer, incomprehensible simplicity of the question. She ambled over to the chair next to Lin and lowered herself into it, slack-jawed with awe. “I’m making this too complicated, aren’t I?”

“Quite,” Lin concurred.

“I know how to flirt. I’m good at flirting.”

“I’m very happy for you,” she deadpanned.

“Come to think of it, I’ve kinda been flirting with her already, haven’t I?”

“You’ve been staggeringly overt. If she hasn’t noticed by this point, you’d have to propose before she puts two and two together.”

“Right… meaning I could start properly seducing her with no real threat to our friendship.”

“Probably. She’s not exactly detective material.”

“I can trick Korra into a relationship.”

Lin’s eyes narrowed in concern. “That’s not what I was suggesting.”

Asami ignored her, nodding with growing enthusiasm. “I’ll gradually escalate our level of emotional intimacy and displays of physical affection, slow enough that she doesn’t notice, like a badgerfrog in a pot of boiling water. If she expresses even a hint of discomfort, I’d break it off, of course, but if she doesn’t… who knows how far I could go? By the time she figures out what’s happening, I’ll have her completely smitten.”

“I cannot stress enough how little I was suggesting that. My recommendation was an honest conversation.”

“And we’ll have one,” Asami agreed with a grin. “But I’ll start by taking her out to dinner. Maybe hold her hand while we talk, and throw in the odd kiss on her cheek. Maybe those kisses would move a little off-center, over time.” The more Asami talked, the more appealing her plan seemed. She’d basically be able to date Korra without taking any of the emotional risks of open communication. “I mean, she can’t stay in denial forever. If I keep pushing gently, she will fall in love with me. And when we finally have our honest conversation, she won’t even have the opportunity to reject me, because we’ll already be dating!”

“Oh, that has to be the most idiotic, manipulative, cornball idea I’ve ever heard! I thought you were supposed to be some kind of genius. Why on earth would you want to-”

Her rant derailed when Asami calmly returned her gauntlet to Lin’s forearm. The Chief glanced down at it, then huffed in annoyance.

“You know what? Nevermind. That sounds like a great plan, and I fully support you.”

Asami paid her a radiant smile and released her grip. “Thank you, Lin. It was a pleasure speaking with you, as always.”

Chapter Text

By the time Korra got back to the Sato mansion, she was hankering for a fight. Not because she was angry with anyone other than herself, and maybe the stubbornly absent Avatar Aang, but because she needed some way to work out her irritation, and punching a sandbag wouldn’t cut it. Fortunately, Mako and Bolin were both home, and with Asami still stuck at the office, there was no one to keep her from trying her hand at sparring. She’d never gone up against either of them with the benefit of her bending, and she couldn’t wait to show them a thing or two. So Korra dragged the brothers to the mansion’s gymnasium and got them to start gearing up.

“Why do you suppose Asami would have so much bending equipment down here?” Bolin wondered. “She is a nonbender, right?”

Korra raised an eyebrow incredulously.

"What?" he defended. "Don't pretend like that's a dumb question, Avatar Korra."

“Her father,” Mako answered. “Hiroshi might have hated benders, but he was more than happy to use them. He’d bring in benders for Asami to train with so she could practice fighting them.”

“Right,” Bolin nodded. “That’s really sad.”

Korra slipped on her headgear and straightened her wolftail. If there was one thing that could have made her mood worse, it was talking about Asami’s various traumas. “Enough reminiscing about the past.” She strolled onto the training mat and adopted a comforting waterbending stance. “Now, c’mon, guys. Give me your best shots.”

Her impending victims exchanged a worried glance, before Bolin cautiously raised a hand. “Um, both of us?”

“And why are you in a waterbending stance?” Mako asked. “I thought you were trying to learn airbending.”

“Airbending is dumb!” Korra snapped. “Jinora, the little twerp, wouldn’t even let me start bending until we had meditated for, like, two hours! And somehow, it got even worse when we actually got to the bending part. Do you guys have any idea how slippery air is? Or how finicky it is to control when you’re powerful enough to blow your own head off by sneezing the wrong way? The first time I tried gliding, I sent myself through two buildings because I got a cramp in my foot!”

Mako crossed his arms and frowned at her critically. “If your airbending is that rough, why do you want to go back to practicing with water?”

“Because water makes sense! I like water. I’m good at water. I don’t have to jump through any stupid hoops to connect to my spirituality or whatever, because I’m already mostly made out of water.”

Bolin nervously cleared his throat. “And why are we both attacking you at the same time?”

Korra sighed and hung her head back limpy. “I’m tired. I’m frustrated. I need a good fight, but I’ve been using my brain all day, and I don’t want to have to bother holding back.”

Mako and Bolin both immediately started stripping off their protective gear. 

“Oh, no way is that happening!” Bolin cried.

“Hey! Cut me some slack, you guys,” she complained. “I need this! Can’t you help a girl out?”

Mako glared at her accusatorily while working off his gloves. “Just how stupid do you think we are? Does my face have ‘stupid’ written on it?”

“Nope, it sure doesn’t, bro.”

He threw his helmet onto the mat. “We are not going to pick a fight with a cranky, unrestrained Avatar using her native element, just so you can work out your insecurities on us.”

And as infuriating as that was, it was probably the smartest decision either of them ever made. Korra groaned indulgently and fell back onto the training mat, splaying out on the ground as she did.

After a few seconds, when it became clear she wasn’t about to make any aggressive actions, Bolin inched towards her tentatively. “Was it really that bad?”

Korra hummed affirmatively, still staring blankly at the ceiling. “Yeah, but that’s only part of it.”

Bolin looked up at his brother communicatively, and following some unspoken deliberation between them, they both approached and sat down at her sides.

It was a bit stilted and poorly delivered, but Mako managed to force out a question. “What’s getting you down?”

Korra shrugged indifferently. “I don’t know, a lot of things?”

The brothers both nodded. Neither of them seemed interested in pressing follow up questions, but Korra was still upset, and if they weren’t willing to fight her, maybe venting would be a good substitute. 

She grunted with exertion as she performed a sit up, then rested her arms loosely on her knees. “The spirits are afraid of me.”

“Oh, that’s pretty cool,” Bolin offered inappropriately. “That means they won’t give us any trouble, right?”

“I guess, but it’s definitely not cool. I’m the Avatar. I’m supposed to be the bridge for spirits, not a spirit repellent.”

“What makes you say the spirits are afraid of you?” Mako asked.

She scoffed. “You guys saw the Spirit World when I was through with it. Why wouldn’t the spirits be afraid of me? I kill the most powerful one, wreck their home in the process, dump a bunch of them into the physical world afterwards, and now they’re all avoiding me like the plague.”

“Aw, come on,” Bolin encouraged while resting a hand on her shoulder. “I’m sure you’ll figure something out. You’re new at this job! There are bound to be a few hiccups along the way, right? I mean, when I first started working for Asami, it was, like, all hiccups. I knocked over a rack of old wine bottles, got bleach on a lot of her clothes, blew out one of her walls, I got lost a bunch of times-”

“Seriously, bro? I thought Asami hired a cleaning service to show you what to do.”

“Yeah, but for some reason, the people they assigned to teach me kept quitting. I guess there’s a lot of turnover in the service industry.”

“My job’s a little different from yours, Bolin,” Korra interjected. “If I mess this up, people get hurt. I can’t afford to learn how to do things by process of elimination.”

“Sure, but what I’m saying is that you should cut yourself some slack. You can’t expect yourself to know how to do everything right away. Your job is also a lot more complicated than mine.”

Korra rubbed her eyes haggardly. “Look, I know this will take time, but I feel like I’m already running behind. I found out I was the Avatar nearly two years later than I should’ve, and I’ve been playing catch-up ever since.”

“You already defeated the Equalists and the Northern Water Tribe,” Mako pointed out.

“Are you kidding?” Korra rebuffed. “I mean, I helped, but Asami did almost everything. I didn’t defeat anybody.”

“What about Vaatu?” he suggested.

“Oh, you mean the giant spirit I let out of his prison? The one who tore downtown to pieces?”

“Alright, I’ll admit things could have gone better in theory, but they also could have gone a lot worse. You have been playing catch-up, and doing so during a once-in-an-eon crisis, but we’re all still standing. Don’t pretend like that isn’t impressive.”

“You know, you’re a lot more emotionally supportive now that we aren’t dating.”

“Don’t try to change the subject,” he scolded. “I mean, take airbending. You came in here angry enough to murder two of your friends because… what, you’re too powerful? Did you really think you were going to master perfect control over a new element in a day?”

When he put it that way, it sounded really stupid, but… “Kinda, yeah. Fire was a lot easier to get the hang of, ‘cause I could sort of get by on raw power alone, and waterbending just came to me so naturally once I unlocked it. I just thought that airbending would be similar. It looks a lot like waterbending, doesn’t it? All loopy, fluid-ey motions?”

Mako seemed offended by her argument, furrowing his razor-sharp eyebrows. “Do you really think that firebending is only about raw power? Mastering it is just as complicated as any other element.”

“Oh, great,” she drolled, “thanks for the reminder that I still haven’t really mastered fire, either.”

He groaned while running his fingers through his hair. “You realize it’s normal for Avatars to take years to master all the elements, right? It's not like you have a Fire Lord to defeat, or anything. You don’t have to cram it all in at once.”

She sighed wearily. “I think that’s the part that’s really bothering me. People are having problems now. I don’t want to wait around for a decade of training to start helping them. The city’s in shambles because of me, and I’m the freaking Avatar. There has to be something for me to do.”

Mako shared a concerned look with his brother. “Like what?” he hesitantly prompted.

And that was the crux of the issue. She had absolutely no idea. All of her friends were doing way more to clean up her mess than she was, even Bolin.

Oh, duh!

“I could join the Fire Ferrets! You’ve got that charity tournament coming up, right?”

Bolin gasped in delight. “That would be awesome! We already hired another firebender, and she’s actually pretty good, but since you can bend water too, we could always get rid of-”

“You guys remember that Korra is supposed to be one of the new airbenders, right? There’s no airbending slot on a pro-bending team.”

“Ugh!” Korra whined. “Again with all the secrecy. Why is it so important that nobody finds out I’m the Avatar?”

“It just wouldn’t accomplish anything,” Mako dismissed with suspicious speed. “What would you do as an official, public Avatar that you can’t do now?”

“I don’t know… Maybe I could help get rid of the vines?”

“How?” Bolin posed innocently. It was a very annoying question, because she didn’t have an answer for it.

Since her silence implicitly answered Bolin, Mako pressed his argument. “This is exactly what I’m talking about. I know you want to fix everyone’s problems, and that’s great. But if you tell people you’re the Avatar, and that you’re here to fix all of their problems, then they’ll expect you to do it. Don’t make promises you can’t keep.”

Korra nodded contemplatively. “So what you’re saying is that I need to figure out how to get rid of the vines first, and then come forward as the Avatar.”

“That’s not really what I-”

“What are you three doing!” Asami loudly demanded. They all leapt to their feet in shock and spun around to face her wrath.

Bolin put a hand on his chest dramatically. “Having a heart attack!”

Asami was mad, and seeing as how it was Korra’s fault, she should probably intervene on the brothers’ behalf. “I asked them if they could spar with me, but they turned me down.” Because they’re cowards, she added silently.

“Korra, you’re still recovering. If you keep pushing yourself like this, you’re going to get hurt.”

“No, I’m not,” she insisted, trying to come off as reassuring. “You should have seen me airbending earlier. I might not be good at it yet, but I was pulling off some crazy powerful moves.”

“That doesn’t exactly make me feel better,” Asami sternly rejoined. “Why were you airbending in the first place? Did Tenzin agree to teach you?”

“No, I was training with Jinora.”

“Jinora?”

Korra should have known better than to invoke her name in Asami’s presence, especially while she was already upset. Asami took a deep breath, and Korra tensed to prepare herself for what she was about to endure. 

Now, Korra could have handled righteous fury. Well… okay, no, she couldn’t have, but it would have been better than what she was seeing now. 

Once Asami released her breath and unclenched her fists, she started… smiling.

It wasn’t a malicious smile; not quite sincere, either, but definitely friendly. It was one of Asami’s carefully constructed, disarmingly charming half-smirks that she probably used in boardrooms and bars alike to bend hapless victims to her will. 

“Mako, Bolin; could Korra and I have a moment alone?”

Korra opened her mouth to object, but they were already sprinting out of the gym. Again, because they’re cowards. Asami started strolling over to the equipment locker while shrugging off her jacket.

“Uh… Asami? What are you doing?”

“You said you wanted to spar, didn’t you?” She sat down on a bench to slip out of her heels. “I’ll admit, I’ve been under some stress lately, and it may have made me a touch overprotective. If you say you’re fine, then I suppose it’s only fair to give you a chance to prove it.”

So this is how the Avatar cycle ends. “Um, ‘prove it’?”

“Mmhmm.” By now, Asami had stripped to her slacks and a thin tank top, and began strapping on protective pads. “The way I see it, you’re going to push yourself no matter what I say, aren’t you? I’d be much more comfortable if I was the one testing your limits, instead of some bender. I mean, what’s the worst that could happen with me?” She looked Korra head to toe while tightening her gloves. “It’s been a while since I’ve had the chance to pin you down.”

Korra tried to swallow, but for some reason, her mouth was feeling exceptionally dry. 

Korra really thought she was back at a hundred percent, but that was evidently not the case. When she and Asami had sparred in the past, they would always be pretty evenly matched. They had received a similar amount of training, and most of their other tactical advantages canceled each other out. Korra had greater bulk, while Asami possessed much better reach. Korra was the superior grappler, but Asami had an imposing repertoire of kicks. This time, though? 

Vaatu had been a push-over in comparison.

Asami toweled herself off as she approached the bench on which Korra had collapsed. Somehow, her hair still looked perfect even when she was drenched in sweat. “Congratulations,” she said, while handing Korra a bottle of water.

“Are you kidding?” Korra panted. “That was humiliating!” Not just because she lost, but also because she was pretty sure Asami had gone easy on her. She normally tried to keep Korra at a distance, but her strategy this time was to get right up in Korra’s space. By all accounts, Korra should have been able to overpower her through brute strength, but for whatever reason, she could not stay focused.

“Yes, it was humiliating,” Asami smirked, “but you’re still in one piece. You have my blessing to continue your airbending training.”

“I don’t need your-” Korra stopped herself before she said something unwise and untrue. Instead, she struggled to sit upright and snatched the offered water bottle. “Thanks,” she mumbled.

Asami sat down next to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulder. Korra always thought her skin felt freezing, but thanks to their previous exertion, Asami was almost as warm as she was. It felt kinda nice.

“You’re welcome. And I’m sorry if I’ve been fussy lately.” She started slowly rubbing Korra’s arm, which felt kinda nicer. “I’m not sure you realize how terrifying it was for me when you threw yourself at Vaatu. I don't know if I could have handled it if anything happened to you.”

Korra smiled wistfully, and shrugged. “Don’t worry about it. I appreciate you looking out for me.”

In a ghastly betrayal, Asami removed her hand from Korra and stood up, measuring her studiously. “Still, I want to make it up to you.” She crossed her arms and bit her lip as she pretended to consider her options. “Hmm… how about I treat you to dinner? Tomorrow night, eight o’clock, Kwong’s Cuisine.”

That offer excited Korra way more than it had any right to. She supposed it had been a while since a friend had taken her out. Bolin stopped doing so before she even started dating Mako, and she never knew why. Their low-key, friendship-type dates were way more fun than the date-dates she had to go on with Mako.

Needless to say, it was an appealing prospect, but there was just one problem. “Uh, Kwong’s? That’s a pretty classy place, isn’t it? I didn’t exactly pack any dress clothes before coming here.”

“I’ll take care of that. All you need to do is show up.” She threw her towel on her shoulder and flipped her astonishing hair. “So… it’s a date?”

Only a fool would ever try to turn Asami down, and Korra was no fool. “I guess so.”

Asami nodded with a smile, satisfied at Korra’s answer, and turned to saunter away. Before she could leave the gym, though, she suddenly froze in her steps and snapped her head back over her shoulder. By the time Korra’s eyes rose to meet her gaze, Asami was grinning with her signature unrepentant smugness. She released an amused hum and continued her exit, this time putting even more swing into her step.

Well, that was a pretty weird interaction. Asami truly was a mystery, and sometimes, Korra felt like she would never get to her bottom.

Or… the bottom of it. 

The mystery, that is.

…

She needed to lie down.

******

During their first day of training, Korra was potentially the worst student Jinora could have imagined existing. Trying to get her to meditate had been like pulling teeth from a spider bat, and she constantly tried to jump ahead to intermediate forms before she had even learned the basics. That all might have been tolerable, were Korra’s attempts at airbending not so mortally dangerous for bystanders. More than once, Jinora had to rely on her hypersensitivity to dodge incoming rubble. If she hadn’t been the Avatar, Jinora probably would have written her off already.

On day two, though, Korra was much more agreeable. In terms of her bending itself, she was still unpolished, but was able to muster sufficient patience to actually listen to Jinora this time. She even managed to learn a few simple forms. But the truly shocking change was her sudden and incomprehensible willingness to meditate. Not only had she enthusiastically participated in their morning meditation, she also requested a second session after they had finished their training. Feeling quite pleased with her student, Jinora led her inside the lobby of an abandoned apartment building, and they took lotus positions across from each other.

Since she had been such a docile pupil today, Jinora decided that Korra would be fine meditating on her own for now, and so slipped out of her physical body to pop into the Spirit World for a bit. Her hope was that one of the spirits would be willing to explain why they had been avoiding Korra. Unfortunately, while they were all perfectly polite to Jinora, not a single one was willing to even discuss the Avatar. It was like the subject was taboo. As soon as Jinora brought it up, they would clamp down. Eventually, she grew frustrated and returned to herself, slightly discouraged at her own failure.

But when Jinora reopened her eyes, she realized there were far more compelling reasons to be discouraged. Specifically, it was now clear that she had been wildly overestimating Korra. Because instead of sitting calmly and trying to focus, Korra was squeezing her eyes shut and sharply pounding the side of her head. 

“Come on out of there, old man! I know you don’t have anything better to do! You’ve been dead for eighteen years!”

“Korra?”

Her eyes sprung open, and a furious blush crept up her neck. “Sorry, I, uh… I thought you were in the Spirit World.”

“I was,” Jinora confirmed. “What have you been up to here?”

Korra cleared her throat and straightened her posture, as if to convince Jinora she hadn’t just been behaving like an idiot. “I was simply trying to reconnect with Avatar Aang.”

Jinora nodded. “Right… and your plan was to yell at him?”

Korra threw up her hands, abandoning all pretense as quickly as she had adopted it. “Well, your way wasn’t working either!”

“Korra, reconnecting with your past lives is one of the most challenging things for an Avatar to learn to do. You were only able to pull it off the last time under extremely unique circumstances.”

“Well, I’d say our circumstances are still pretty unique, and I need Aang’s help to deal with it. I mean, what’s even the point of me being ‘Avatar Korra’ if the ‘Avatar’ part isn’t going to pull its weight around here? I’m tired of having to do everything myself!”

“Uh huh,” Jinora placated. “And what do you need Aang’s help with?”

“I need him to tell me how to get rid of all these stupid vines!”

Jinora’s eyebrows shot up her forehead. “Really? Why?”

“What do you mean, ‘why’? Nobody else seems to know how to get rid of them, and blasting them with fire didn’t do anything, so I figured if anybody would be able to help me, it’d be him, right?”

“No, I get that part, I mean why do you want to get rid of the spirit vines in the first place?”

Korra’s face scrunched up distastefully. “Why wouldn’t I? These things tore up the city!”

“Yeah, but they also brought a lot of spiritual energy to the city.”

“I don’t even know what that means!” she cried.

Jinora huffed and ran her fingers through her hair. Sometimes, she really wished she had a beard to stroke. “Korra, there’s a reason all the spirits have been living in the wilds. The vines are practically made of spiritual energy. If you get rid of them, you’ll be taking away the spirits’ home.”

Korra gesticulated at their surroundings. “These used to be people’s literal homes! And they lost them because of me!”

“Yeah, except…” That was actually a pretty good point, but Jinora didn’t want to admit defeat just yet.

Sadly, before she could come up with a counter-argument, Korra shoved herself to her feet with an irritated grunt. “Whatever. Have fun with your vines.”

“Korra,” she admonished, “we should talk about this.”

Korra paused by the exit and sighed sullenly. “Maybe later, okay? I really do appreciate your help with all this, but I have to get ready for my date with Asami.”

She then strolled out the door without another word, almost like she hadn’t just casually dropped a massive bombshell on Jinora’s head.

Korra needed to get ready for her date with Asami.

Jinora scoffed a laugh as she stared aimlessly in the direction Korra had left. “Oh, that is way better than throwing yourself in a volcano.”

Chapter Text

Later that evening, Korra was fiddling uncomfortably with her dress as some placid hostess led her through Kwong’s. With the day she had had, she was really looking forward to a night out on the town with Asami. Korra thought it would be a chance to blow off steam, but so far, steam had only been building. To be blunt, a lot of what was happening to her was confusing. To provide a noncomprehensive list of things that made no sense:

-Asami had invited her to a very fancy restaurant seemingly out of the blue.

-The fancy restaurant had a dressing room in the back ostensibly dedicated for customer use.

-Even though Bolin drove her there, he was apparently under orders not to join them.

-Asami had gotten a chic, surprisingly flattering dress tailored for Korra within the past day.

-As a corollary of the above point, Asami somehow had Korra’s measurements.

-Despite half the city being shut down, this fancy restaurant was still open for some reason.

-Apart from miscellaneous wait staff, the restaurant was entirely empty.

“So…” Korra began. “Where is everybody?”

“You are currently our only guest,” the hostess responded.

Korra nodded while glancing around. “I’m surprised you can afford to stay open with so few customers. Should I be worried about how much you’re going to charge me?”

The hostess didn’t seem to register Korra’s joke. “We won’t be reopening to the public until next week. Your meal tonight is provided at the request of our new owner.”

“New owner?” Korra repeated.

She answered her question by gesturing politely to a secluded corner booth, which indirectly precipitated the cessation of Korra’s heartbeat. Asami was its sole occupant, sitting perfectly composed and wearing a truly spectacular red dress. Korra had seen her with a lot of different looks, everything from comfortably adorable, to effortlessly gorgeous, to painstakingly stylish, and she assumed that she had witnessed the full spectrum. But when treated to the sight of Asami in that silk qipao, hair pinned up and practically sparkling, she was forced to confront the fact that, somehow, Asami had never really been trying until now.

As soon as Asami locked eyes with Korra, she blessed her with a flawlessly painted smile, and rose gracefully to meet her.

“Hello, Korra,” she warmly greeted. “I’m loving the dress. I should have found an excuse to get you in formal wear months ago.”

Korra shook her head numbly. “Nuh, uh.”

Asami raised an eyebrow. “Excuse me?”

Eventually, Korra’s brain was able to kick back into gear. “Sorry… I just feel kind of stupid trying to pull off this dress when you’re looking like that.”

Asami gave Korra a low chuckle, and her glittering smile somehow widened. “You’re sweet.” She leaned in and planted a quick peck on Korra’s cheek, which did little to fortify her already crumbling composure. “But don’t sell yourself short. You look beautiful.”

Very helpfully, she took Korra’s hand and led her to her seat. The hostess handed them their menus, some other waiter came to pour them some water, and Asami spoke to him about… well, who knows what? Maybe ordering drinks? Korra was vaguely aware that she was staring at Asami, but it really couldn’t be helped.

“See something you like?” That question threw Korra for a loop, until she realized Asami was looking at the menu. “I’ll warn you, this place specializes in gourmet food, which is code for ‘small’. I had them add some water tribe dishes in more reasonable portions, but I’d still recommend ordering more than one meal.”

“You own this place?” 

She hummed affirmatively, still smirking at the menu. “I own a lot of things, nowadays.”

Korra marveled at her regal surroundings. Extremely regal, come to think of it. “And you opened it up just for the two of us? Even with the city still all messed up? Doesn’t that seem kind of…”

“Extravagant? Gaudy? Wasteful?”

Korra held up her hands fearfully. “I don’t mean to imply any-”

Asami interrupted her with an artful laugh. “Oh, Korra. I just knew that would be your first concern. You’re always so thoughtful.” She set down her menu and rested a frigid hand on Korra’s shoulder. “If you must know, this is just a soft opening. It’s standard practice. You invite a smaller crowd to try everything out before the real reopening, to make sure your kitchen’s working smoothly.”

“Uh… ‘crowd’? Then why’s it just us?”

“I’ve seen you eat, Korra,” she quipped. “But if you’re worried about food waste, don’t be. Anything left over from tonight will be donated, per new company policy. Just enjoy yourself.” 

“Oh, wow. Thanks.” Korra picked up her menu, but something was niggling at her ear. “I’m not… I mean, if I’m thoughtful, then you’re more thoughtful. I know how much food goes to waste around here, but I was just going to complain about it. You’re the one actually helping people.”

Asami’s ever-present smile became a bit more somber. “Korra, I don’t know how many times I’ll have to remind you, but you’ve helped plenty of people already, me more than anyone. I only made that policy change because I knew it’s what you would want.”

Korra frowned. “I don’t believe you,” she replied definitively. “I think you like helping people because you’re a nice person.”

“Oh, I’m exceptionally nice,” Asami agreed. “But, once again, I don’t want you to sell yourself short. I’ve never met anyone as selfless as you.” She took Korra’s hand in her own, and gently rubbed it with her thumb. “You may not realize it, but you bring out the best in me.”

Korra would have liked to contradict her, but she was feeling a bit warm at the moment, for… well, for a lot of reasons. So instead, she awkwardly cleared her throat and started reading her own menu.

They had a few minutes to deliberate before the waiter came back to take their orders. Asami assured her that she would appreciate as much feedback as Korra was able to give, especially since so many of the water tribe dishes were new, so they ended up collectively ordering about half of the menu. As one waiter scribbled furiously on his notepad, another came with a bottle of wine and a mixed drink that Asami had ordered for Korra, which was apparently called the ‘Avatar Special’. Frankly, that was a bit much, but Asami seemed delighted by her witticism, so Korra accepted it gratefully. Once the wait staff had left, they were left completely alone, in a private corner of an empty restaurant. 

Asami took it upon herself to try to kick start their conversation. “So how was your day? Still training with Master Jinora?”

Korra narrowed her eyes as she tried to discern whether that question was a trap. There was no detectable malice when Asami said Jinora’s name. There may even have been a base level of respect. 

Korra decided to answer truthfully but proceed with caution. “Yeah…” she drew out. “She taught me a few new forms, but it feels like I spent most of the day trying to meditate.”

Asami cocked her head curiously. “How does one ‘try’ to meditate? Is there a way to fail at meditation?”

Korra scoffed. “If there is, I’m sure I’ll find a way to do it.” Asami’s smile fractured in concern, and it was such a tragic loss, Korra immediately tried to reconstruct it. “I’m so sorry! I really don’t mean to be a downer, I’m just frustrated that I can’t connect to Aang, or get the hang of all this Avatar stuff, and I’m just… frustrated. Sorry.”

Thankfully, Asami's smile returned, this time laced with empathy. “You have nothing to apologize for. I’m sure you’ll figure it all out. It’ll just take-”

“-take time.” Korra finished. “Yeah, I know. I guess I was just hoping I’d be able to get rid of all the vines.”

Asami stilled almost imperceptibly. “Oh?”

Korra furrowed her brows. “What, you have a problem with that, too?”

Asami’s mouth slowly opened as she tried to put together a response. Eventually, she sighed and took a drink of her wine. “You do whatever you think is best,” she answered. “But let’s not worry about it too much right now. I brought you here so we could relax.”

“Right,” Korra agreed. Relaxing. 

She could do relaxing. 

Probably. 

“So… how has your day been?”

“Oh, it’s been wonderful,” Asami assured. “I got to spend most of the morning in the company’s workshop, I had a startlingly productive lunch meeting with Raiko, and I have the Utilities Commission right where I want them.”

Korra grinned involuntarily. It really was fantastic seeing Asami so confident in her business after everything that had happened with Hiroshi. “Right where you want them, huh? Does that mean you found a way to cut costs like they wanted?”

“Quite the opposite, actually. Hopefully, I’ll be able to add a restructuring of the power grid to our bid.”

Korra snorted. “You don’t do anything by half measures, do you?”

“Why would I?” she lightly challenged. 

“Oh, I’m not complaining.” Korra decided it would be a good time to try the drink Asami got her and… wow, that was strong. “So what’s wrong with the power grid?”

Asami quirked her lips suspiciously. “Do you really want to talk about civil engineering right now?”

“Yeah,” Korra replied with surprising honesty. “I can’t promise I’ll understand any of it, but… it’s fun seeing you get excited about stuff.”

Asami hummed in amusement while taking another sip of her wine. “Alright then, but don’t say I didn’t warn you. To answer your question, nothing’s wrong with the power grid per se, but all the new airbenders got me thinking.”

“Airbenders? About what?”

“Wind turbines.”

Somehow, that made perfect sense for Asami. “You mean like windmills?”

“Sure, but hooked up to electric generators. The concept has been around for a while, but in the past, you couldn’t scale it up to power a city because wind flow is so variable.”

Korra couldn’t help but chuckle. “You know, you once told me that if there were more airbenders around, you’d find some way to monetize them. At the time, I thought you were joking.”

Asami rolled her eyes playfully. “I was joking. Airbenders were merely my inspiration. The whole advantage of wind turbines is that it’s passive energy collection, no benders involved.”

“Oh. So… what’s changed?”

She leaned in, her enthusiasm growing. “I realized we could use our battery technology to regulate the distribution of electricity. You know, store it up when winds are strong and release it when they’re not. Based on my projections, we wouldn’t be able to generate all our power with them, but they’d be a highly cost-effective supplement. Plus, if we integrate enough batteries into the grid, we can almost completely eliminate the threat of brownouts.”

“Wow. That’s pretty cool.” Korra was impressed, but the reminder of their old conversation about bending raised a concern for her. In fact, it was so obvious, she was shocked she hadn’t thought of it earlier. “Uh… don’t take this the wrong way - and again, I’m not trying to be a downer - I guess I’m just a little worried, but if you’d rather not talk about it, it’s fine…”

“What is it, Korra?” Asami took her hand reassuringly. “You can talk to me about anything.”

“Right… right…” Korra took a deep breath to prepare herself. “So… you didn’t get airbending, did you?”

Asami recoiled. At first, she stared at Korra like she had grown a second head, though gradually, her expression became completely blank. 

“Asami? Are you okay?”

Eventually, she shook her head to reclaim her senses. “Sorry, yeah. I’m just a little surprised that that never occurred to me.”

“So you haven’t, like, checked or anything?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. How does one check if you’re a bender?”

Korra laughed weakly. “You’re asking the wrong person that question.”

“Yeah.” Asami was slowly bobbing her head, now deep in concentration. “I suppose it doesn’t really matter to me anymore.”

“Oh. Well, that’s good.” Hearing that was a relief, even if it made absolutely no sense. “Don’t get me wrong, you can definitely take care of yourself either way.”

“I can,” Asami agreed, “but that was never my primary concern.” 

Korra nodded tentatively. “In that case… why doesn’t it matter anymore?”

Asami refocused on Korra, and her smile returned with renewed affection. “Because now I have you. Why would I ever need to bend anything myself when I have the Avatar at my side?”

Korra had to match her smile, even if that suggestion was sappy and impractical. “I mean, I know we’re living together, but I don’t think I’ll be able to spend all of my time at your side.”

Asami raised an eyebrow with a combative smirk. “Afraid you’ll get sick of me?”

That ridiculous notion made Korra giggle with a troubling lack of dignity. “No way! I just figured you’d be busy fixing the world as a captain of industry, while I’m stuck doing…” Her smile faded when she realized she couldn’t finish that sentence with anything specific. “…Well, I don’t know,” she shrugged.

Asami instantly became serious. “Hey.” She started rubbing Korra’s arm soothingly. “Don’t worry so much. You’ve already done a lot, and if the world needs you again, I know you’ll be ready. You can take it easy for now.”

Korra’s frown deepened. “What is that supposed to mean? You want me to loaf around your house doing nothing while you take care of everything for me?”

“Oh, of course not,” she dismissed. “I know you’ll keep training and studying, won’t you?”

“Well, yeah…”

“So there you go. You’ll continue preparing yourself to be the greatest Avatar in history, and I’ll always be there to help you.”

“Always?” Korra challenged.

Asami nodded while releasing Korra’s arm to return to her wine. “Itsuki ran things remarkably well while I was gone, and our newly acquired logistics unit is almost completely assimilated into the core business by now, so after we get started on rebuilding the city, I’m thinking I’ll take a less active role in management. We’ll be able to spend a lot more time together moving forward.”

Asami was clearly trying to reassure her, but it was having the exact opposite effect. Unfortunately, they had to halt their conversation to allow a group of waiters to come to the table and offload the abundant first course they had ordered, so Korra kept her mouth shut and tried not to panic until they were left alone again.

Once they regained their privacy, Korra resisted the overwhelming temptation to immediately start stuffing her face in order to share her discomfort with Asami. “I don’t want you to give up your company just to babysit me. I’ve already made you do way more for me than you ever should have had to.”

Asami was taken aback, then released an exasperated sigh while massaging her temples. “For the last time, I am not babysitting you, I like spending time with you. Why is that so hard for you to believe?”

“You just-”

“Also, I’m not ‘giving up my company’. I’ll still be the owner, whether or not I’m the CEO.”

“Yeah, but-”

“And for your information, you’re not the only reason I want to step away from that role. You know I’d much rather spend my days in a garage than in a boardroom.”

“Alright!” Korra held up her hands in defense. “I surrender.”

Asami relented, pursing her lips and turning her attention to their food. “Well, good,” she confirmed.

They started on their meal, and Asami wasn’t lying. The portion sizes were laughably small. They had enough in front of them that Korra wouldn’t go hungry, but it was distributed among so many plates, she was forced to take her time with her food, something she was not in the habit of doing. That was slightly off-putting, but it would allow them to maintain their conversation while they ate, which Korra supposed was the point.

“For the record,” Asami added, “you haven’t ‘made’ me do anything for you. I don’t know where you would get such a silly idea.”

Korra grunted a laugh. “Isn’t it obvious?”

“No,” she firmly rejected. “You’ve been my closest friend, my inspiration, and my hero.”

Korra dropped her silverware on her plate and groaned quietly. That had been a really nice thing for Asami to say, but it rubbed her the wrong way regardless.

“Korra?” Asami broke off eating as well to rest a hand on her back. “What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know,” she stalled. “I guess… I guess I’ve been kind of feeling like I’m your sidekick or something.”

Asami opened her mouth to protest, but Korra wanted to complete her thought. “Just hear me out, okay? I know that you wouldn’t have been able to defeat the Equalists or the North without me, but let's face it: you were the one who defeated them. Any random firebender could have taken my place. You were the hero, and I was just… there.”

That further aggravated Asami, but Korra had to keep pushing through. “And no, I’m not forgetting about Vaatu. I’m not saying I still feel like your sidekick, and even if I did, I wouldn’t exactly be complaining. Anybody’d be lucky to be the sidekick to someone as cool as you.

Asami nodded carefully. “So… what’s the problem?”

Korra sighed heavily, looking between the expensive dress Asami had given her, the criminally delicious meal she had treated her to, and the opulent surroundings that Asami now owned. 

“I mean, besides my parents, I don’t think anyone’s done as much for me as you have. You’ve protected me, and trained me, and saved my home. And after all the Vaatu stuff, you helped take care of me, you let me move in with you, you’re feeding me, you’re providing for me,” she gestured around the restaurant, “you did all this for me. At this point, it doesn’t even feel like we’re just friends. It’s almost like…”

Asami was leaning in close by now, hanging on Korra’s every word with rapturous focus. “Yeah?”

This was humiliating to talk about, but Korra needed to speak her mind. 

“…Well, it’s almost like I’m your pet.”

Asami drew back, blinking a few times in confusion. “Excuse me?”

“Think about it,” Korra reiterated. “That’s basically what you were saying earlier, wasn’t it? When you said you wanted me ‘by your side’? I’m supposed to hang out in your mansion, play around in your gym, and keep you company while you work. I’d be like your house crococat.”

“That’s not… You…” Asami stumbled over her denial, then grunted in annoyance. “I’m not going to apologize for wanting to spend time with you.”

“Hey, I like spending time with you too, but you’ve been doing a lot more than that lately. Doesn’t it seem kinda messed up that I’m pretty much completely dependent on you now?”

“We’re friends!” she insisted. “You’re not ‘dependent’ on me any more than I’m ‘dependent’ on you! I just so happen to have money, and I like doing nice things for the people I care about. You do remember that Mako and Bolin moved in with me too, don’t you? Are they my pets?”

Korra shrugged defensively. “At least they have jobs.”

“You have a very important job,” she lectured, “but it’s never been a paid position. The Avatar has always had… benefactors. Is it so wrong that I want to be that for you?”

“So that’s all this is?” Korra rejoined. “You’re my benefactor?”

“Absolutely not!” she exclaimed. “You’re my…” Her indignation began to deteriorate into vulnerability. “You’re my best friend, Korra. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

Well, now Korra just felt like a jerk. “Okay, you’re right, I’m sorry,” she conceded. “You’re my best friend too.”

Asami exhaled in relief and looked back to her food, which was already starting to get cold. She chewed the inside of her cheek apprehensively. “Was all this too much?”

Ah, so Korra was a jerk. “Oh, spirits! No, of course not.” She slid closer to Asami and wrapped an arm around her. “That’s not what I meant. I really appreciate all the stuff you do for me. I just wish I could… I don’t know, pay you back somehow.”

Asami readily snuggled closer, leaning her head on Korra’s shoulder. “You’re my hero, Korra, remember? You’ve already saved my life.”

That was technically true. She’d done that a few times, actually. “Look, I’m sorry for being such an idiot. I guess I don’t know exactly what I’m doing here.” Korra sighed deeply, readying herself to make another embarrassing confession. “To tell you the truth, I’ve never really had a girlfriend before.”

She felt Asami’s entire body tense up next to her, even her breathing coming to an abrupt halt. She stayed frozen at her side for a few seconds, until she slowly extricated herself from Korra’s hold. Raising a finger to instruct Korra to wait, she grabbed her wine glass off the table, and downed the remainder in one audible gulp. Asami took a long breath in, then let it out just as gradually, remaining intently focused on the plates in front of them. 

“Come again?” she softly squeaked.

“Well, growing up, I was mostly homeschooled, we never got to visit my mom’s old tribe that often, and all the other women in my life were way older than me. You’re the first real girlfriend I’ve had to talk to and hang out with. Apart from Naga.”

The glass in Asami’s hand shattered.

******

Okay, there had definitely been a few bumps along the way, but all in all, this was turning into a decisively successful first date. Conversation between them flowed easily the entire time, Korra couldn’t have been more complimentary about the meal, and she practically drooled every time she looked at Asami’s dress. Asami had really laid it on thick, but her opening salvo of flirtation had been enthusiastically received and reciprocated. Almost concerningly so. 

The atmosphere at Kwong’s had been unquestionably romantic, and Korra seemed perfectly comfortable with it, but she had also remained as stubbornly platonic as ever. It made Asami wonder how far she would have to go before Korra realized they were dating. If things kept progressing at the rate they were, they’d be making out passionately within a few months. Was Lin really not exaggerating Korra’s density? Would Asami have to propose marriage to get her on the same page?

Honestly, she could live with that.

After they had finished eating, in harmony with the romantic timbre of the evening, Korra suggested that they drive to the City Park for a moonlit stroll. Asami briefly considered changing out of her heels into her emergency flats, but she didn’t want to pass up the opportunity to tower over Korra even more than she usually did, and so resolved to power through any discomfort. She whirled them there in her spectacular Satomobile, took Korra’s hand, and led her into the park.

At which point Asami realized she should have scouted out potential secondary locations beforehand.

“This, uh… this place has looked better, hasn’t it?”

Korra was understating things. An unprecedented amount of litter was strewn about the ground, and the bridges had all been tagged with Equalist graffiti. From where they were standing, they could see nearly a dozen tents and hovels across the landscape that had been cobbled together to accommodate the city’s influx of homelessness. Asami should have foreseen this before bringing Korra here. Of course this place would be a nexus of all the city’s problems, and of course the park officials would be overwhelmed by it.

“You know what, Korra? The Little Water Tribe isn’t far from here. I’m sure we could find a place to get some drinks. Or if you’re still hungry, there’s this amazing dumpling place-”

“We need to do something.”

Asami released the remaining contents of her lungs in a miserable groan. “Korra, we can’t do anything now. It’s almost midnight, and we’re in formal wear.”

Korra began nodding incessantly. “Right… right…” Asami was in no way reassured. Korra was staring intently across the unkempt park while rubbing her hands together nervously, and her breathing was growing noticeably shakier. It looked like she was about to have a panic attack, so Asami retook her hand to try to ground her.

“It’s alright, Kor-”

“How can you say that?” she blurted. “Look at all these people! They’re living like this because of me!”

Asami glanced around to confirm that no one was nearby. The trajectory of this conversation was getting dangerous, both in terms of content and volume. “They’re still alive because of you, Korra. You saved the-”

“Stop saying that!” she ordered. “Vaatu only escaped because I chose to open the portals!”

“That wasn’t solely your choice, Korra,” she reminded her. “We all agreed it was the best decision given the information we had at the time.”

“Well, we were wrong! You guys aren’t supposed to know anything about all this spirit stuff, but I’m the Avatar! This is my job and I’m supposed to be responsible, but I’m just… hiding!”

Asami pulled Korra closer and lowered her voice. “You are not hiding!” That statement would have probably been more convincing if Asami wasn’t whispering. “And you are being responsible. You nearly died protecting people, Korra.”

She shook her head petulantly. “I need to come forward as the Avatar.”

Asami felt her stomach churn, its now abundant contents threatening to escape their confinement. “What will that accomplish, Korra? You’re not going to rebuild the city yourself.”

Korra tore her hand away. “Right, that’s your job, just like everything else.”

Asami clenched her jaw. “I’m not going to apologize for-”

“You shouldn’t!” Korra cried. “You’re doing everything perfectly!” She dropped her gaze and bit her lip to hold back tears. “I’m the one who made the mistake.” 

Asami tried to approach to offer comfort, but Korra backed away, hugging herself and diligently avoiding eye contact. She tried not to be hurt by that rejection, and rededicated herself to projecting calm. “Korra, I wouldn’t call opening the portals a mistake. I mean, it cleared away the Everstorm, it brought back the spirits, and it probably created the new airbenders, right? And the city will be fine! You know, there’s a reason I’ve been so excited about my bid. We’ve had a lot of problems historically with, uh… with managing… sustainable…”

Her reassuring monologue slowed to a halt when she realized Korra was completely ignoring her. She was no longer merely downcast, and was instead focused on something in particular on the ground. Asami followed her sightline, and saw the most alarming piece of litter she could have imagined.

An old copy of The Republic Reporter.

Asami stooped down to grab it, but it was carried away by a sudden gust of wind and caught by Korra, who stared at the absurd headline with confusion and concern. “‘Avatar Approval Rating Hits New Lows’? Why haven’t I heard about this?”

Asami floundered awkwardly to answer that question without outright lying. “Because… c’mon, Korra. That’s not a real story. I mean, a poll? Really? That’s front page material? You shouldn’t take it too seriously. The Reporter is practically a gossip rag.”

“‘According to testimony previously provided by Police Chief Lin Beifong, the derelict Avatar could be seen fleeing from Yue Bay following the combat’,” Korra read aloud. “‘While Beifong was never close enough to provide a precise description, she claims the Avatar is most likely a man, or - quote - a weirdly muscular, man-shaped woman’?” Her eyes rose to meet Asami’s, brimming with indignation. “What is her deal?”

Asami winced. “I don’t think she meant anything by it, she was just feeling cranky. I, uh… I may have threatened to kill her earlier that-”

“There’s a petition to have me arrested?”

Okay, there was no way she was getting out of this. Asami was now officially in damage control mode. “It’s just a crackpot petition. No one important is actually considering it.”

“It says here it has over a thousand signatures.” Korra opened up the newspaper to look at the articles inside, and Asami didn’t have to see any of them to know what kind of hateful tripe they contained. “And the Equalists are calling me a public enemy?”

Asami tightened her fists. She’d actually read that one, and legitimately considered tracking down the idiot who wrote it. “This is exactly what I’m talking about, Korra. A reputable publication wouldn’t have even considered giving a terrorist organization a platform on which to spread-”

“Tarrlok wants me to restore people’s bending?” Korra recoiled from the page in bewilderment. “Is that even something I can do?”

Asami sputtered. “Well, I don’t… I don’t know. If you ask me, they shouldn’t be printing that kind of idle speculation. It’ll only get people’s hopes up for something that may not be possible.”

“Asami, practically every article in here is about the ‘missing’ Avatar.” Korra turned the paper to check the front. “This is only from a few days ago. Wasn’t the press supposed to have a short memory? Isn’t that what you said?”

“Yes, it’s supposed to, because it’s supposed to be reporting on current events, not making stuff up about things that happened weeks ago. You shouldn’t let them get under your skin.”

Based on the growing anger Korra was wearing, the Reporter had bypassed her skin entirely and was working its way down to the bone. She stopped reading the paper in order to lock on Asami, who was flushed from both frustration and fear. Ever so slowly, the expression on Korra’s face transitioned from fury to something hard to pin down. Asami’s breath hitched when she realized what the emotion was.

Suspicion. 

“You know, when I was recovering at Lin’s place, Bolin would bring me a copy of The Elemental Times every morning, and none of this stuff was in there.”

“Well… are you really surprised a paper called ‘The Elemental Times’ leans more pro-Avatar?”

Korra pursed her lips, some of the anger returning. “That’s the same paper you get delivered at the mansion, and at Future Industries.”

“Yes, I prefer that paper. So what?” she challenged.

Korra took a deep breath to strengthen her resolve. “Asami, I’m going to ask you a question. And it’s a crazy question, so I’m sorry if I’m out of line here, but I have to ask it.”

Asami knew exactly what was coming, but that didn’t make it hurt any less.

“Who owns The Elemental Times?”

The shame on Asami’s face said more than enough.

Korra took another step back, working a hand into her hair. “Oh, you have got to be kidding me. Since when?”

“Please don’t make me answer that, Korra.”

“Seriously!?” she yelled. “You bought a newspaper just to keep me from finding out how much this city hates me?”

“You’re making this sound worse than it is,” Asami tried. “Thanks to our foreign holdings, Future Industries has fared much better than most companies based in Republic City, many of which were at risk of shutting down. We’ve made a lot of acquisitions recently, and yes, some of them happened to be newspapers.”

“Oh, great! So you’re saying it was convenient for you to lie to me? Well, I’m glad you didn’t have to go out of your way!”

“I didn’t lie!” she lied. “Everything printed in The Elemental Times was true. But so long as I have any editorial influence, I’m not going to let it print things I know to be inaccurate or… unproductive.”

Korra stared at her in shock, righteously gobsmacked at what Asami now realized was a comically elaborate deception. She withered under Korra’s scrutiny, which was now verging on amazement. “Asami, that’s actually, clinically pathological. You get how insane that is, right? For spirits’ sake, Mako wasn’t so controlling, and we were dating!”

There were a lot of layers there, and most of them made Asami feel like death. And… yeah. She was crying. “Please, I… I wasn’t trying to control you, I was just… I wanted to protect you.”

Korra laughed at her. Spitefully. “Right. You don’t want me to get hurt, so it’s fine for you to lie to me, is that it? ‘Cause I can’t be trusted to make my own decisions, can I?” Her brows furrowed like she had just realized something, and then she looked down at her gorgeous blue dress. “I’m not even a pet to you, am I?” she marveled. “I’m like a toy! Some doll for you to keep at home and play dress up with!”

This entire conversation had been a rollercoaster so far, but that was the real punch in the gut. 

Like father, like daughter, apparently.

Asami had been rendered speechless, so Korra threw away the paper and folded her arms defiantly. “I’m coming forward as the Avatar.”

Desperation forced Asami’s mouth back into motion. “No, Korra, please,” she begged. “Let’s talk about this. That won’t solve anything.”

“I don’t care!” Korra shouted. “I’m going to own up to my mistakes. People have a right to be mad.”

Asami flinched in horror. “Wait… that’s what this is about? Penance? You feel guilty, so you’re going to offer yourself up as a punching bag?”

Korra stiffened her jaw and nodded with familiar determination. The kind she wore when armies couldn’t dissuade her from doing what she wanted to do. “I have to take responsibility for my actions. I’m the Avatar, and I…” She sighed wearily. “I just gotta deal with it.”

There was nothing left to say, so Korra turned and marched away. 

She only got a few paces before she froze, then backtracked to scoop up the newspaper she had discarded on the ground. She shoved it into an overstuffed trash can before resuming her exit. 

The city was in ruins, but Korra still couldn’t bring herself to litter.

Asami felt another flare of affection stab deep into her chest. Those were practically routine at this point, but this time, she had to admit to herself why it hurt so badly. Because behind all Asami’s confidence, all her perfection, and even all her anger, there hid a frightened, six year old child who had never been strong enough to save her family. And now, Asami wanted nothing more than to protect Korra from a selfish, ungrateful world that didn’t deserve her.

Asami may have truly loved Korra, on some level. But beyond the agonizing misery of love, she felt an overwhelming impulse to shield Korra from her own fate, no matter the cost; an irresistible need to keep her sweet, wonderful Korra safe and sound. 

It was possessive, and ugly, and cowardly, and Asami decided that she hated it.

Chapter Text

Jinora was awoken well before dawn by somebody pounding incessantly on her door. It was made from shoji paper, so whoever was on the other side of it was at risk of punching right through. Jinora rubbed some of the latent sleep from her eyes and rose to answer. She trudged across the room and slid the door open.

Then slammed it shut in terror. She was wide awake now.

She could hear Asami sigh from the other side. “Jinora, please open the door.”

“I don’t have to,” Jinora rejected. “I know you hate me. And don’t try to break it down. Airbenders can scream very loudly.”

“I’m not here to hurt you. I just want to talk.”

“Then why do you have your bag of weapons?” she challenged.

“My bag of… Jinora, I don’t have my satchel. All I have is a clutch.”

“Does it have weapons in it?”

There was a beat of silence. “…I mean, no more so than usual.”

Jinora summoned her staff from her bedside on a gust of wind. “If you come back later, we can talk in a public space with lots of witnesses.”

“C’mon, Jinora. If I really wanted to hurt you, would I have announced my presence like this? I would have snuck in through your open window.”

Jinora glanced at the referenced window, which was indeed open. Meaning Asami must have scoped out her room at some point. She was not particularly swayed by her argument.

Before she could verbalize her misgivings, Asami piped up again, sounding uncharacteristically vulnerable. “Please… it’s about Korra.”

Jinora bit her lip, trying to repress her sympathy for the sake of good sense. Unfortunately, her airbender instincts won out, and she begrudgingly reopened her door.

Asami smiled politely in greeting. Now that Jinora could get a good look at her, it was obvious she had been crying. “Good morning, Master Jinora.”

Her delivery was reserved enough that Jinora no longer felt like she was in danger. In fact, Asami seemed genuinely distressed. So she set down her staff and motioned to invite her in. Jinora closed the door behind her and led her over to her bed so they could have a seat.

“Is Korra okay?” Jinora began.

Asami nodded gloomily while messing with her nails. “We, uh…” She cleared her throat to banish the lump that was obstructing it. “We had a fight.”

It was a bit of a risk, but Jinora decided to place a comforting hand on Asami’s arm. “Did you guys break up?”

Asami drew back in surprise, then hummed a contrite laugh. “We were never really dating.”

“Oh.” Jinora was unsure if she believed her, but she wouldn’t press the issue. “Do you wanna talk about what happened?”

She quirked her lips regretfully. “I made a mistake - well, a lot of mistakes - and she ran off.”

“She’s not here!” Jinora insisted. “If I knew where she was, I would tell you, believe-”

“I know,” Asami interrupted. “That’s not why I’m here.”

“Oh, uh… do you need my help looking for her? See if I can spot her from the skies?”

“I already tracked her down to the spirit wilds. Not far from here, actually.”

“Oh, cool.” Jinora’s head bobbed up and down as she tried to imagine why Asami of all people would be seeking her out after a break up. “And you’re here because…”

“Korra decided to come forward as the Avatar.” 

So that’s what the fight was about. Jinora was still undecided on whether it was the right decision, but Asami needed reassurance either way. She seemed resigned to the fact, but also crushed by it. “Maybe it won’t be that bad. You knew it was going to happen eventually, right?”

“No,” Asami denied. “I said it out loud, but I never really believed it. In my head, it was always just going to be the two of us.”

Jinora pursed her lips. “She’s not going to stop caring about you just because she’s the Avatar.”

Asami closed her eyes and took a deep breath before responding. “That’s not what I need your help with. If she’s going to do this, we need to be there to support her. A lot of people are angry at her, and I think we have an obligation to try to smooth things over.”

Jinora slowly nodded her approval. “How so?”

“We have to help her come up with a way to get rid of the spirit vines.”

“But we can’t! The wilds are the spirits’ home! If we get rid of them-”

In a truly shocking turn of events, Asami gently rested her hand on Jinora’s to silence her. It was an effective strategy, because her mouth snapped shut and her eyes dropped to stare at the contact, bewildered by its existence. “I agree with you,” Asami conceded. “I don’t want the vines gone any more than you do, but this should be Korra’s choice. She is the bridge for the spirits, isn’t she?”

Jinora really hadn’t expected Asami to pull rank, but it was probably the only strategy which would have worked. She groaned evasively. “Even if I wanted to help, I wouldn’t know how. It’s like I told Korra, they’re made of spiritual energy. You can’t just erase that from existence.”

“Under normal circumstances, yes,” Asami allowed, “but couldn’t you find a way around that with bending? I mean, Korra found a way to kill Vaatu.”

Jinora narrowed her eyes in thought. Something astoundingly obvious had just occurred to her. “I’m not sure she did. Uncle Iroh said beings like Vaatu can’t really be destroyed.”

Asami waved away that objection, apparently uninterested in its implications. “One way or another, she got rid of him. And Korra told me about other spirits Unalaq managed to dissipate using spiritbending.”

Jinora shrugged. “That might work, I guess.”

Eventually, Asami caught up to her own logic with a start. “Oh, right.”

There were a few seconds of uncomfortable silence, as Jinora glanced around the room, trying to figure out if Asami needed anything else. There didn’t seem to be much for them to talk about now, but Asami was still sitting there, ostensibly unsure how to make a graceful exit.

“So you really aren’t dating Korra?” Jinora wondered. Asami lowered her eyes and flushed slightly. “Do you want to be dat-”

Asami jumped to her feet. “We’re not talking about this.” She stormed out of Jinora’s room, leaving her alone to consider the possibility that this had all been some unusual dream.

******

Korra had been in a dreadful mood, was stuck in her ridiculous dress, and lacked an actual bed. A good night’s rest had never really been in the cards, but it still took a few hours before Korra admitted to herself that she wasn’t going to fall asleep lying on the ground in the spirit wilds. Having nothing better to do, she decided to try her hand at meditation. If she was going to become a proper Avatar, she’d have to get the hang of it eventually, right? So she shambled towards the apartment building Jinora had brought her to and sat down in the lotus position, exactly where she had the day before.

And to drive home the fact that Korra could never successfully do what she wanted to do, she fell sound asleep almost as soon as she started.

After what felt like five seconds, Korra was jolted awake, snorting inelegantly and falling on her back. Her heart was pounding, but that mainly seemed to be due to how unaccustomed her body was to waking up in that position. Someone had knocked lightly on the doorframe of the ruined building to rouse her, so after staring at the ceiling for a few seconds to calm her breathing, she struggled to sit back up in order to greet the intruder.

And of course, it was Asami.

“Sorry,” she apologized. “I didn’t mean to disturb you.”

Korra was still sore, both from their argument and the unusual position in which she’d slept. More than anything, she really didn’t enjoy the feeling of being mad at Asami, so her presence was highly unwelcome at the moment. “How did you find me?”

Asami moved to the other side of the doorframe and motioned for someone to take her previous place. After a beat, Naga shuffled into view, looking pleased to see her master.

“Traitor,” Korra accused.

“I’m not here to pick a fight,” Asami placated. “If you want to come forward as Avatar, then… then I support you.”

Oh. Well, that was way easier than Korra was expecting. Her mind basked in a flood of relief, but her mouth wasn’t quite so quick to forgive. “So why are you here? Come to put me back on my leash?”

Asami grimaced in shame. That was obviously what Korra was going for, but it still made her feel sick to her stomach. 

“No, Korra. I don’t want to ask you to do anything, or even give you any advice. I think I’ve lost that right.”

Korra furrowed her brows. “Then what do you want?”

“To help,” she answered decisively. 

Asami nodded at someone else outside, who promptly revealed themselves. 

Kya walked into the lobby with a forced smile, and waved awkwardly at Korra.

******

Once Asami made her proposal, and offered a change of clothes, Korra immediately became rejuvenated. Maybe not rested or refreshed… or even fully awake, but she was moving around faster. Unfortunately, that rejuvenation only manifested in enthusiasm for mastering spiritbending, and did not incline her to forgive Asami. Instead, she completely ignored her to focus on the prospect of eliminating the vines. Asami knew forgiveness was an ambitious goal anway, but it never hurt to hope. Except for now, of course, when hope felt excruciating.

With Korra and Kya indisposed in a high-level waterbending workshop, there wasn’t much left for Asami to do. It’s not like she could contribute that much to the conversation; healing didn’t have any combat applications, so her trainers had never bothered teaching her a thing about it. So once the benders got into the thick of it, Asami ambled over to Naga and curled up against her, slowly massaging her muscular hide. It had never occurred to Asami that if things with Korra didn’t work out, that would mean she wouldn’t get to see Naga. As if the rest of this situation wasn’t awful enough.

Korra was amazing, as per usual. She had only seen Unalaq use spiritbending a few times, but she seemed able to duplicate the motions almost instantly. In less than five minutes, she was consistently creating the desired double helix. So that was step one down. 

She subsequently began a discussion with Kya about chi and energy paths, which all flew right over Asami’s head. It was like they were speaking another language. Whatever conclusions they reached eventually proved to be effective, as after an hour of attempts, Korra managed to charge the water spirals with healing energies. Which wasn’t what they were going for, but it was closer. 

“I don’t get it,” Korra griped. “Healing makes sense to me, you know? It’s grounded and physical. I don’t see what part of it is supposed to help with spirits, or even what it has to do with spirits.”

“Ah, come on,” Kya tutted. “I think you’re making spirituality out to be more complicated than it has to be. What do you even think a chi path is? It’s a flow of spiritual energy.”

“Okay, sure, but chi paths flow through the body. I understand bodies. All this spirit stuff is so vague. Like, where am I supposed to be directing the energy?”

Kya hummed in thought. “You may have a point, there. This is probably going to be hard to figure out unless we have a spirit to test it on.”

“Oh, duh!” Korra exclaimed. Fortunately, their location afforded them plenty of potential samples, so after looking around for a second, Korra marched to a table on the other side of the lobby. It had vines growing on it, coiling up a flower vase in its center. She swirled her water around the vase and its vines, but the streams glowed with the same muted blue they had before.

“Well, that changed nothing,” Korra observed.

Kya folded her arms and quirked her lips contemplatively. “Maybe we’re focusing too much on the healing part. When you heal, you’re opening up energy pathways, but that shouldn't do much for a spirit, since they’re already made of spiritual energy.”

“Okay…” Korra droned. “Then, what does spiritbending even have to do with healing?”

“Honestly, you’re the one most qualified to answer that. You said Unalaq used spiritbending on you, right?”

“Yeah, but that doesn’t feel like it's the same thing as what we’re trying to do. He wasn’t purifying me, he was helping me find balance.” Her eyes narrowed as she considered her own statement. “Though, come to think of it, he never called dark spirits ‘dark’. He always said they were ‘unbalanced’.”

“Alright, that’s a start. Let’s assume what he did to you is similar to what he did to dark spirits. Do you remember any specific energy pathways he was manipulating?”

Korra shook her head. “It wasn’t specific at all. I just felt glowy.”

“Huh,” Kya mused. “Maybe that’s all there is to it.”

“Glowiness?”

“I’d call it spiritual energy, but glowiness works fine, too. You said he called the dark spirits unbalanced, right?”

“Right.”

“So what makes them unbalanced?”

“…Darkness?”

Kya chuckled warmly. “Sure. Let’s say spirits are made of glowiness and darkness, or positive and negative energy. If a spirit is unbalanced, it would have too much of one of them. In the case of dark spirits, they would have too much negative energy. Even if you could use traditional healing techniques on them, it wouldn’t do anything, because you’d just be opening up more chi pathways for negative energy to flow through.”

Korra snapped in giddy realization. “So what they need is more glowy energy!”

“More positive energy, yes.”

“Right.” Korra’s smile slowly faded. “So where is that supposed to come from?”

“I guess it’d have to come from the spiritbender, or at least be channeled through them. Like a blood transfusion, except with energy.”

“Oh, cool. So, uh… how do I do that?”

“You want my honest answer?”

Korra nodded in response.

“I don’t have a clue.” Korra groaned exasperatedly, but Kya ignored her to elaborate on her confusion. “It’s just not something you do with healing. I’ve only ever opened up chi pathways in specific people. I couldn’t begin to tell you how to transfer chi between two spirits.”

Korra pouted, which, when combined with the bags under her eyes, was obviously adorable, but also indicated to Asami that they might have hit a wall. Which was weird, because it seemed to her that the solution was pretty straightforward. That could merely be because she didn’t fully understand this conversation, but seeing as how the actual benders were just stewing silently, she might as well pipe up.

“Isn’t that a lot like firebending?” Asami conjectured.

Kya looked thrown by that idea, but Korra cocked her head curiously as she evaluated the comparison. “What do you mean by that?”

“Well… I’ve never bent fire, of course, but my understanding is that a firebender draws upon their reserve of chi and projects that energy outwards. Isn’t that basically what we’re talking about here? Except, with spiritbending, you’d be channeling your energy via water, instead of fire.”

Korra glanced at Kya, who shrugged impartially. So Korra focused on the floor, jutting her jaw forward and tapping her foot absentmindedly while she thought. After a while, she started running through the motions, choppily waving her arms around in rough approximations of spiritbending. After practicing a few times, she recollected her water and gave it a real shot.

Of course she nailed it the first try. 

The spirals surrounded the vine-wrapped vase and charged with energy, glowing brightly despite being tinged by… well, Asami wasn’t exactly sure. Regardless, the vines obediently slumped off the vase and retracted from the table. 

Asami rose to her feet and grinned. Feeling ambitious, she dared to rest a hand on Korra’s shoulder. “It worked! You did it!”

“Yeah…” Korra seemed much less excited than anticipated. “It felt kinda strange.”

“I can imagine,” Kya agreed. “Firebending and waterbending are opposing arts. Trying to integrate their styles sounds like a nightmare.”

“I bet it’s a hybrid technique,” Asami hypothesized, “like lightning redirection or lavabending, or an airbender’s heat regulation. It’s probably much easier for the Avatar to master than-”

She broke off her speculation when the vines on the table leapt upwards, shattering the vase and melding with the flowers it contained, growing almost to the ceiling. The blooms multiplied and expanded, emanating a comforting warmth and filling the room with a sweet, heady fragrance.

Which was certainly an unexpected outcome, but… 

“It’s beautiful,” Asami murmured.

Korra was not so impressed. She grunted animalistically in frustration, pounding on the verdant table with her fists. “I must have done something wrong! You know, the water didn’t look as bright as-”

“I don’t think you did,” Kya interrupted. “You were trying to balance it, and its aura does feel more balanced.” She gaped at the lush tower Korra had created. “I mean, it’s definitely not dark.”

“So now what?” Korra shouted. “Are you telling me I can’t do anything about the vines? I can only make it worse?”

“You didn’t make it worse, Korra,” Asami soothed. “Look at it. What you just did was amazing.”

“Who cares if it looks cool? I failed! Again!”

“You haven’t failed at all,” Asami rebuffed. “You learned potentially the most advanced waterbending technique there is in one morning. You need to stop fixating on the problems and focus on all you've accomplished.”

“I haven’t accomplished anything! Ever!”

“Korra, you know that’s not true. You-”

“No, stop,” Korra ordered savagely. “I know exactly what you’re going to say. You’re going to give me a long list of stuff I defeated, aren’t you?”

Asami was absolutely going to do that, meaning she wasn’t really able to answer Korra, who plowed ahead with mounting fury and critical sleep-deprivation. “I came to Republic City because I wanted to help people, but every single time I try, something’s stopping me. You’re the one who told me we’re supposed to use bending to create things, not just fight each other, right? Well, what have I created?”

“You, uh…” That was actually an excellent question, so Asami stammered to change the subject. “Oh, c’mon, Korra. You can’t pretend that defeating terrorists and dark spirits doesn’t help people.”

“But haven’t you noticed a pattern here?” Korra demanded. She began pacing around the lobby and flailing her arms as she ranted. “I come to Republic City, and I’m completely useless until there are Equalists to punch. So we beat them! But once they’re gone and I join the police force, can I help anybody then? No, of course not! I’m stuck tracking down spineless weasel snakes hiding in the dirt. So I quit and try to help my dad keep peace with the North. Am I any good at that? Obviously not! I actively make that situation worse! But once there’s a war, I have people to punch again!” 

Korra threw up her hands in sarcastic celebration. “Hooray! Fighting! Because that’s the ONLY thing I’m good for, isn’t it? I make a peace treaty that falls apart, I capture assassins after they kill their target, and now that Vaatu’s gone, I’m supposed to crawl away and do nothing until there’s someone for me to fight again, is that it?”

“Of course not!” Asami insisted. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what she had been encouraging her to do all this time. What even was the Avatar’s job? ‘Maintaining balance’ seemed pretty non-specific.

Korra folded her arms and glowered resentfully. “Tenzin and Jinora are rebuilding the Air Nation, Bolin’s raising money with that charity tournament, Mako actually gets to protect people now, Kya’s volunteering at the hospital, and you…” She floundered in wonder. “I can’t even wrap my head around all the stuff you’ve done! Everyone gets to help people except for me! Maybe I’ve saved people, but can you seriously point at a single person whose life I actively improved?”

Kya, who Asami had forgotten was in the room, decided to jump in before Korra completely lost it. “What about the new airbenders? They wouldn’t even exist if you hadn’t opened the portals.”

“That was an accident!” Korra roared. “And the only new airbender I’ve met didn’t even want his bending! But I told him to focus on the good he could do with it!” She cackled viciously at that notion, as Asami shared a disturbed glance with Kya. “Isn’t that just a riot? Not to mention the fact that if I hadn’t opened the portals, Vaatu wouldn’t have escaped in the first place!”

“But you defeated Vaatu before he could do any permanent damage,” Kya argued.

“So is that all I am?” she demanded. “Is that all the Avatar is supposed to be? Insurance? Someone who’s useless ninety percent of the time, but you still keep around in case there’s another crazy spirit attack?”

A burst of wind came from outside, and moments later, Jinora dashed into the building.

“Oh, Korra, thank goodness! You have to help! A crazy spirit is attacking Air Temple Island!”

And just like that, Asami was back to hating the sight of Jinora.

Korra froze in place, pursing her lips and clenching her fists. She stared blankly at the panicked and confused monk, with an undercurrent of exhaustion and rage roiling beneath her impassive eyes. Korra took a slow breath in through her nose, and exhaled it the same way.

Her silence persisted, so Asami took it upon herself to ask follow up questions. “What kind of spirit?”

Jinora was off-kilter thanks to Korra’s lack of response, but she turned to answer Asami all the same. “He just looks like some old guy, but he’s using these super powerful spiritual attacks. He said he wants revenge against the Avatar.”

Korra interrupted her by inhaling through her nose more sharply than before, and shakily releasing the breath. The temperature in the room was now noticeably higher. She was holding her fists so tightly, her entire arms were bulging and flexed.

Asami continued her interrogation. “Is the island being evacuated?”

Jinora was now very concerned by Korra's behavior, but nodded weakly. “Yeah, except my dad’s staying to buy time for everyone to escape.”

Korra pulled in another current of air, this time using bending to augment the force of her respiration. Her arms and shoulders were both defined and sinewy by now, and her hair was literally starting to smoke. Every part of her body was tensed.

She still hadn’t budged, so Jinora urgently prodded her. “Korra, we need your help! What are you going to do?”

Whatever it was, Asami couldn’t help but feel sorry for that spirit.

******

Tenzin could really use an Avatar right about now. But he didn’t give that prospect very good odds, meaning he’d have to figure out some way to deal with this himself.

An ancient, hunchbacked man in royal vestments, surrounded by a dark red aura, had planted himself in the middle of Air Temple Island’s training courtyard, and was tossing around beams of pure energy. Tenzin was struggling, but he could avoid them for now. After dodging a particularly powerful strike, carried out of its path by a rush of wind, he tried sending a series of air blasts at the spirit, only to have them blocked completely by some ethereal barrier. 

The spirit retreated into his own shadow, disappearing from sight with a sickly laugh, but Tenzin knew this wasn’t over just yet. He held his ground, sensing the air for the slightest disturbance.

To his knowledge, humanoid spirits typically came from the physical world, and ascended to the Spirit World after their deaths. Meaning, whoever this attacker was now, he had most likely been an ordinary man at one point, with ordinary motivations. Perhaps discovering those could help him end this conflict.

“Who are you?” Tenzin called out. “What do you want?”

An echoing growl rose from the stone below. “I am Hundun, and I seek revenge on the Avatar.”

“Yes, yes, you mentioned the revenge part already.” As a general rule, Tenzin would prefer to treat spirits with reverence, but that ship had sailed when he almost killed Ikki. “How exactly has the Avatar wronged you?”

“The Avatar,” he spat, his voice dripping with disgust, “mortally wounded my brother. I have been trapped in the Spirit World for countless ages, searching for the secret to immortality, so that I may become whole again.”

The explanation clarified very little. If he’d lived in the Spirit World for countless ages, wouldn’t he already be functionally immortal? And if he was pursuing immortality, that would imply he hadn’t actually died yet, which might further imply he wasn’t fully spirit. But Tenzin would sort out his taxonomical classification later. “Then why have you come here? I don’t know where the Avatar is. No one does.”

Hundun grumbed in irritation. “Yes, that has been rather inconvenient.”

Tenzin felt something behind him. He launched himself upwards just in time to avoid a massive boulder, which flew underneath him and smashed through the rotating gates.

Once Tenzin landed, he turned towards the source of the projectile. Hundun had reappeared, and was grinning at Tenzin greedily. “So I intend to kill the previous Avatar’s son to draw them out of hiding. Once they reveal themselves, I shall lure them into the Spirit World, where my strength will increase ten-fold!”

It was quite helpful of him to lay out his plan like that. If murdering Tenzin was Hundun’s only immediate goal, he could simply glide away once he was sure the evacuation had been completed. It had been long enough now that the island was most likely empty.

But before those plans could crystallize in his mind, Hundun stretched out his hand and released a flow of snake-like spirits. Tenzin used wind running to avoid them, racing across the courtyard as the animal spirits dashed ineffectually in his wake.

“You cannot hope to defeat me!” Hundun gloated. “My power has been growing for a thousand years! I shall be the Avatar’s reckoning! Now, prepare to-”

He abruptly broke off his soliloquy and his attack to narrow his eyes curiously. Tenzin came to a stop, and after a few moments, he figured out why there had been a pause in hostilities. The entire island seemed to be gently shaking.

Hundun spun around just in time to face an eruption from the ground. A shock of blue burst forth, and with speed even Tenzin struggled to comprehend, it drove a blindingly fiery fist into the spirit. The strike landed with such force, it sounded like a bomb going off.

Hundun shot across the training area, crying out in pain as he skidded over the stone. He soon managed to dig his feet into the earth, bringing himself to a stop just before the tree line. And suddenly, his quest for immortality made a lot more sense.

The spirit’s robes had been torn away, revealing the mortally wounded brother. It was a conjoined twin, connected back-to-back with Hundun, ashy and decayed but still animated by pure hatred. 

The strike had dazed them, but they rose uneasily to address the Avatar. Standing tall on four legs, the two spoke in one unearthly voice. “Finally, we meet again after all these-

“SHUT UP!” Korra screamed. 

Wait…

Korra?

Tenzin snapped his head back to the other side of the courtyard, his mouth hanging open in amazement. 

There stood Avatar Korra.

And he had never seen anyone so furious.

“Does it look like I care?” she bellowed, while repeatedly and petulantly stomping her feet. “You wanna hurt people, and I have to fight you! Join the freaking club!”

Hundun raised a hand charged with energy, but before he could do anything with it, one of Korra's stomps opened the ground beneath him. He and his brother sank into it down to their knees and let out a groan of agony. Tenzin wasn’t surprised. That kind of burial technique was tricky, and could easily shatter bones if done sloppily. 

And if there was one word to describe Korra’s current state, it was ‘sloppy’.

“How messed up is that?” She marched towards him while drawing water out of the air. “You’ve got a corpse stuck to your back and I’m not even curious about what your deal is! That’s just normal for me now!”

Hundun fired a rock at her, but she rolled underneath it and sped towards the twin spirits on a jet of flame, while hardening her water into ice. She wielded it like an enormous bludgeon, swinging it at them with enough strength to tear them from the ground and send them flying back into a massive oak.

“You’re not even the weirdest set of twins I’ve run into!” she yelled. “I’ve got cousins creepier than you!”

The decomposed brother was facing her now, and lifted his hands to defend himself, so Korra ordered the mighty tree behind him into action. It groaned as its thick, aged limbs bent down and wrapped around the spirits’ four arms. They were pulled against the trunk, held aloft so as to break their connection with the earth.

With her victims thusly restrained, Korra continued her tantrum, punctuating every sentence by punting sharp slabs of earth at her enemies.

“I have had to deal with mechs!”

Kick.

“And three-eyed giants!” 

Kick. 

“And multiple airship fleets!”

Kick.

“I have had lava thrown at me!”

Kick.

“And been tossed around by my blood!”

Kick.

Despite the onslaught of stone, the twins finally accumulated enough dark energy to rip away from their bindings, collapsing into the rubble that had accumulated below them. Stretching out their arms, they summoned two enormous specters, which towered over Korra on both sides.

“Oh, wow, how creative!” she marveled insincerely. “Angry spirits! Gee, I’ve never seen those before!”

Korra defiantly threw up her arms, and Tenzin heard the ocean rise at her command on far ends of the island. She drew her hands in forcefully, and two streams of water whizzed from the distance towards her, one from her left, and one from her right. The currents were filled with penetrating light, while also somehow radiating darkness. They crashed through the corrupted spirits, ripping them apart into nothingness.

With those dissipated, she released the water from her service and refocused her wrath on the twins. “You two are nothing new. Just the latest in a long line of jerks I’ve had to deal with. And you wanna know the sad part? The most well-adjusted one was VARRICK! And I didn’t even get to fight him!”

With a frustrated shout, Hundun’s brother summoned a bolt of energy and shot it into Korra. To Tenzin’s surprise, she didn’t even attempt a dodge. Instead, she caught it easily, let it flow around her, and sent it right back the way it came, twice as bright as before. The twin spirits were blasted back against the oak with sufficient momentum to snap it like a twig, and careen right past it into the overgrowth.

Korra howled with manic laughter. “You think dark energy is gonna surprise me? That’s NOTHING!” She gesticulated spastically towards the bay. “I was fighting a gigantic, purple KITE right over there less than three weeks ago!”

A boulder emerged from the forest, and all Korra did to stop it was hold out her hand. It shattered when it met her unyielding palm, raising a cloud of dust all around her. A water whip emerged from the haze, and stretched into the woods to drag the wearied spirits out.

Hundun and his emaciated brother were lifted right over Korra and slammed into the center of the courtyard, fracturing the stone underneath. The water whip picked them up again and yanked them towards its master.

Korra caught Hundun by his throat and drew him in close, so she could shriek right in his face, flames pouring from her mouth with every word.

“GET AN ORIGINAL GIMMICK YOU HACK!”

Then she picked them both up, and with a primal, blood-curdling cry, hurled the pair away at a mind-boggling rate on a booming explosion of wind, clear across the training grounds and into the dining hall. They must have hit a load-bearing wall, because the entire structure promptly collapsed on top of them, burying both in a heap of splintered lumber. Not yet satisfied that they were down for good, Korra crafted a gleaming ball of fire and chucked it after them. It detonated mightily on impact, vaporizing the remaining debris and forcing Tenzin to brace himself against the shockwave.

Korra’s chest was heaving from her exertion. Her skin was covered in sweat and dirt, and her teeth were bared ferociously. As far as Tenzin could tell, she hadn’t even noticed him. Come to think of it, he had nearly forgotten himself, content to stand there dumbly as an idle spectator to her rampage.

She strode aggressively towards the smoldering wreckage, and Tenzin, not having anything better to do, followed her. Once she got close, she executed a basic but effective airbending form which cleared the smoke from the remains of the building. Hundun and his brother were stuck in the midst of the embers, buried up to their waists in ash, both limp and defeated.

Korra gathered some of the remnant water from the ground and sent it spiraling around them, while paradoxically enriching it with light and darkness at the same time. The twin spirits themselves began to be consumed by that same self-contradictory energy, which Tenzin felt as much as he saw. It was marvelous to witness, but soon became far too brilliant to watch. He held up his hands to shield his face from its oppressive glow, and by the time he was able to reopen his eyes, the spirits were gone.

With the crisis over, the Avatar finally turned to meet Tenzin’s bewildered stare. As she caught her breath, her outrage began to dwindle, and her body began to relax. She glanced around the ravaged courtyard with confusion, like she was just taking it in for the first time. When she looked back to Tenzin, it was with some undefinable mix of indignation and shame. 

He didn’t know what to say to her, or how to process any of this, and that stupefaction must have shown on his face. Korra sighed heavily while drooping her shoulders and lowering her eyes. She turned her head towards the razed dining hall, where the spirits had been purified, glaring at it with more annoyance than anger.

Korra huffed in exasperation before offering a final blessing. “Go in whatever the opposite of peace is, douchebags.”

Without so much as a word to Tenzin, she rocketed away on a discharge of flame, which sent her right over the dining hall and into the Bay below. 

Tenzin remained stuck where he was, as he struggled to wrap his head around what had just happened. He stayed that way, frozen in place for who knows how long, until police airships descended behind him to secure the island.

That poor spirit had planned his revenge against the Avatar for a thousand years, only to be annihilated in less than two minutes by a woman who never even learned his name.

Chapter Text

Korra lazily braced herself against the railing on the pro-bending arena’s western deck. She had been staring at Aang’s stupid, self-righteous monument for about an hour now. He was just standing there pompously, lording it over Korra how pacifist and beloved and better-than-her-at-everything he was. And he looked so young, too. Way younger than her, and he’d already done enough to deserve a skyscraper-sized statue. 

Meanwhile, Korra had just finished blowing up a temple. 

She was starting to reconsider coming forward. Maybe it was dumb of her to think she could ever be a real Avatar. 

Before she could wallow for too long in her own failures, she heard heavy, familiar steps approaching her from behind. Moments later, Naga nuzzled her substantial nose against Korra’s arm.

Korra closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Hey, Asami.”

There were a few seconds of silence before she quietly replied to Korra’s greeting. “Hey.”

She offered no follow up, so Korra turned around to get a look at her. Asami’s hands were clasped in front of her, and her eyes were locked on her feet. She seemed guarded to the point of genuine fear, which was fair, all things considered. Korra had been giving her a hard time lately. Even if it was entirely justified, she’d need to correct that eventually, but at the moment, Korra was fully preoccupied with self-pity. 

That being said, she’d always appreciate Asami’s company, so Korra turned back towards the bay and shuffled over a bit, in an unspoken invitation for Asami to join her. It took another few seconds, but she did, and they both stood side by side while studying Aang’s towering form. Naga, disappointed by the lack of attention Korra was giving her, huffed resentfully and curled up behind her, pressed against Korra’s legs.

“You saved Tenzin’s life,” Asami pointed out.

Korra’s eyes shifted to Air Temple Island. Smoke was still billowing off of it, partially obscuring the police airships above. “Yeah,” she agreed. “And let me guess. You already offered to repair the temple.”

Asami didn’t say anything, but out of the corner of her eye, Korra was pretty sure she saw her nodding in affirmation of Korra’s hypothesis. 

Asami had a bad habit of fixing everything she touched, including Korra. But this time, she seemed willing to allow Korra to stew in silence. Meaning, if she wanted Asami’s help, she’d probably have to ask for it. Part of her still wanted to feel embarrassed or humiliated to be so reliant on Asami, but Korra was well past having any pride. And so she took the first step.

“I think you know,” she opened, “that it took me some time to get used to being a bender.” Again, Korra was pretty sure that Asami nodded in agreement. “I spent so much of my life wanting to prove that I could do good as a nonbender, and then, all of a sudden, I can’t. Because I am a bender. I’m the bender. And it just felt like, at that point… I don’t really have an excuse, y’know? I have to do good.” Korra chuckled gloomily to herself. “I mean, I’m the Avatar. There’s absolutely no reason for me to feel helpless. But I’ve just been… spinning my wheels all this time. And the more I do, the more I seem to make things worse.”

Korra wallowed contemplatively for a few moments, before she realized that she still hadn’t gotten to the core of her problem.

“I know that I’ve done good, okay? I get that. You don’t have to keep telling me. But… everything I’ve accomplished, every fight I’ve won… it’s just ‘cause I’m a bender. It’s like that’s all I exist for. Bending stuff. And then there’s you, and you’re, like, everything I ever wanted to be. You’ve changed the world in so many ways, and… you’ve done it all as just Asami. I wanted that too, and I'm starting to think I'll never get there. I mean, sure, I may have done plenty as the Avatar, but as Korra?” She huffed ruefully. “I haven’t gotten anything right yet.”

Asami let that statement marinate for a good minute or two. 

Korra knew she’d say something eventually, but she was wildly unprepared for what that ‘something’ turned out to be.

“Republic City was founded during a surge in urbanization that followed the Hundred Year War. Like most of the new, post-war cities, its growth was carefully planned and managed according to a grid layout.”

Korra turned towards her with a cocked eyebrow, but Asami remained focused on Aang’s statue as she continued her lecture on civil engineering with cautious determination.

“A grid system has a lot of intuitive appeal, but it isn’t a natural way for cities to grow. The multiplicity of intersections slows down traffic, and the homogeneity of its design can stifle economic diversity. If every street looks the same, the businesses those streets can support start to look the same too, which makes it hard for entrepreneurs to find a unique niche, and makes small businesses much more likely to fail. This has contributed to an over-centralization of economic power within wealthy mega-corporations, such as my own.”

Korra sighed wearily. “Asami, I swear… this better be building up to something.”

“It is,” she assured. “I’ve been trying to keep you from focusing on the extent of the damage Vaatu caused, and I think that was a mistake, because it’s prevented you from seeing all the potential benefits.”

Korra scoffed incredulously. “A giant force of pure evil wrecks half the city because of me, and you’re saying that’s a good thing?”

“Vaatu wasn’t the spirit of evil, he was the spirit of chaos,” she corrected. “He and his vines were powerful enough to tear down every building within city limits, but to my knowledge, there weren’t even any fatalities. He tore up roads and powerlines, but most of the real destruction was confined to infrastructure.”

“I’m still trying to figure out how that’s a good thing.”

Asami formed a modest smile and turned her eyes towards downtown. “Why do you think I’ve been so excited about my bid? Vaatu threw the city into chaos, but cities that grew organically, like Hari Bulkan or Ba Sing Se, are chaotic. I wanted to take advantage of the vines, and build around all that new greenspace. It’d be messy, but… well, that’s kind of the point.”

Korra had certainly never thought of it that way. Trying to plan for chaos seemed kinda… self-contradictory. She furrowed her brows, a series of uncomfortable questions forming in her mind. She joined Asami in studying the skyline before she put a voice to the first. “You never wanted to get rid of the vines, did you?”

“I wanted to support you, whatever your decision was. But… no, I didn’t.” Asami took a deep breath before resuming her explanation. “That was why I was so confident our bid would win. Everybody else was planning on spending half their budget tearing away all the vines, and then putting the city back together exactly as it was, all neat and orderly and… perfect.”

Which brought them to the second uncomfortable question. “So when you were making your bid, you were banking on the fact I’d fail? That I wouldn’t be able to clear the vines?”

“I didn’t even know you’d try. All the reconstruction bids were mapped out before it became obvious the vines were here to stay. I just… wasn’t trying to turn back time. It’s like trying to uncrack an egg once it’s broken. No matter how good an engineer you are, you can’t fight entropy.”

And that raised a third uncomfortable question. “So, when you were helping me figure out spiritbending - I mean, if it had worked, and we’d have gotten rid of the vines - you would have been sabotaging your own company’s bid?”

Asami shrugged. “Like I said. I wanted to support you.”

This would happen every once in a while, and Korra never really understood it. Asami would do something incredible or selfless, and Korra would feel this wonderful, visceral pain in her chest. “You’d support me even if I was wrong?” she challenged.

Asami laughed blithely. “Of course I would. I guess that’s what I’m building up to, here.” She turned her head to look Korra in the eye. “As the Avatar, you’re going to have to make a lot of decisions. You’ll never have all the information you want, you’ll never be able to predict all the consequences, and you’ll never be able to make everyone happy. You decided to open up the spirit portals, and if you ask me, it was the best decision you could have made given the information we had at the time.”

“A lot of that information was wrong.”

“Sure,” she permitted. “There were definitely complications, but you handled them. And now, I’m going to rebuild the city better than ever, there’s a new Air Nation thanks to you, and as I understand it, the world is flowing with more spiritual energy than it has in ten thousand years. So as far as I’m concerned, your choice was the right one. People will complain about all the changes, but…” Asami shrugged indifferently. “…Well, screw ‘em.”

That was just glib enough to draw a chuckle from Korra. Maybe it made her feel less guilty, but it still didn’t make her feel exactly good. “That seems kinda messed up, doesn’t it? I’m making that decision for everyone, just ‘cause I’m the most powerful bender?”

Asami nodded slowly. “Honestly, yes. It is messed up. I wish it wasn’t all on you.” She took a deep, exhausted breath. “But what I’m realizing is that there are some things only you can do; decisions only you can make. I know you didn’t ask for it, but it’s the truth.”

She was absolutely right. Korra didn’t ask for it. “You realize that still means I’m only useful because I can bend.”

“No,” Asami instantly rejected. “I know you didn’t work for your bending, but neither did Mako, or Bolin, or Tenzin. Does that discredit all the good they’ve done?”

“Of course not!”

“That's correct, it doesn’t," she agreed. "So I’m asking you to extend that same generosity to yourself. It may seem unfair that some of us are born with bending and others aren’t. But so long as you have it, you might as well try to do good with it. That’s all any of us can do.”

Korra pursed her lips contemplatively. “Besides nonbenders, you mean.”

“No, nonbenders too. Do you think I worked to become a Sato? Everything I have, from my education, to my training, to my company… it’s all because of my name. Who I was born to.”

Korra ground her teeth, some of her prior annoyance flaring up. “I already told you, you don’t owe your success to anyone else.”

“Oh, c’mon, Korra,” she drolled. “Look, I know I had to work hard to get where I am, but there are people out there who work harder, and yet still spend their entire lives poor. None of it is really fair. So if you think I should be proud of my accomplishments, despite all my advantages… then so should you. Because we’re both just doing our best with the tools we have at our disposal. It’s nice to think that we choose our own destiny, but so much of it is nothing more than luck of the draw. What makes someone a good person is how they play the hand they’ve been dealt.”

In her head, she knew Asami was probably right, just like she usually was. Maybe someday, Korra would even believe her. But her argument, that the world was simply unfair, and there was nothing they could really do about, was a palpably bitter comfort. Korra quirked her lips as she returned her focus to the smoldering Air Temple Island. “So is that just how things are now? Making world-changing decisions, and fighting for my life to deal with the aftermath?”

“I don’t know…” Asami admitted. “Maybe.” 

And that was the truly frightening part. Because Korra was many things. Powerful. Tough. Maybe even smart, by some definitions. But she’d be willing to bet good money that nobody would ever consider her wise. “What if it isn’t enough next time? What if I make a decision, and it’s just the wrong one, no matter how hard I fight?”

“I’m sure that will happen eventually,” she agreed unsympathetically. “Every Avatar makes mistakes. They’re only human, after all.”

Korra hummed a bitter laugh. “I’m not, actually.”

Asami bobbed her head in consideration. “Right,” she acknowledged. “Well, speaking as someone who isn’t part spirit, making mistakes is fairly normal for us mortals. I’ve proven that over the past few weeks, if nothing else. And do you know what we humans do when we make mistakes?”

Korra shrugged as her answer.

“We keep going,” she finished. “Just because something’s a mistake doesn’t mean good can’t come from it. Even my-” Asami paused, and uneasily cleared her throat. “…Even my father.”

Korra’s head snapped to look at her in awe. It was the first time she’d called Hiroshi her father in months.

“He built a lot of weapons, and they hurt a lot of people. But once you tear off all the dangerous parts, you’re still left with some revolutionary inventions. We’ve been using the mechas to move cargo in Varrick’s warehouses, and we have plans to use the biplanes for a high-speed parcel delivery service. Even my reconstruction bid repurposes the Equalist tunnels to set up an underground rail network.”

And once again, Asami seemed to be in denial about how amazing she was. “But that’s not because of Hiroshi’s mistakes. If those machines do any good, it’s because you’re a good person.”

Asami nodded contemplatively. “Maybe,” she allowed. “But you’re a good person too. If you keep trying, and keep fighting… then I have faith that things will work out for the best. You might break some stuff along the way, but that’s a part of life.” She reflected for a moment, then released an undignified snort. “I mean, you gotta break a few eggs if you want to make an omelet.”

And hearing someone as cool and classy as Asami say something so uncharacteristically corny… it got Korra to smile again. That deep, intense smile only Asami could draw from her. Sometimes, it felt as if Korra’s love for Asami was so unique and vibrant, that it transcended mere friendship. It was almost like…

Super-friendship.

Korra looked back towards Aang’s impressive statue, wondering if it was fate. Maybe it was an unspoken perk of being the Avatar, that you’d somehow run into these unimaginably perfect people. People who’d always stay at your side and know exactly what to say.

If that was the case… maybe this Avatar gig was worth it.

They stood shoulder to shoulder with Naga at their feet, looking out over the crystal blue bay, and enjoying the warm ocean breeze.

And then, out of nowhere…

“I’m that person, you know.”  

Korra narrowed her eyes, silently asking Asami to elaborate.

“Earlier, you asked me to point to one person whose life you actively improved. Well… that’s me.”

“Yeah, but-”

“No,” Asami interrupted definitively. “I’m not talking about how you inspired my batteries, or saved my life from Amon. Because you’re right. Any old firebender could have done those things.”

Korra dropped her gaze, staring at the water below as it broke against the deck supports. “So what did I do?”

Asami took a deep breath before she answered. “You were there for me when no one else was.” Her voice was a bit uneven, but clear and convincing. “I might not have communicated effectively how much that meant to me. What a difference you made in my life. I guess that’s why I’ve been so… crazy, lately. I rationalized my behavior very well, but ultimately, I was trying to make you dependent on me. Because I feel dependent on you. And that terrifies me.”

Korra didn’t respond, mostly because she didn’t know how. The idea that Asami, of all people in the world, would be dependent on her, was ridiculous.

“If I’m honest, I may not know how to… love someone, in a healthy way.” Asami swallowed thickly before resuming her confession. “I’m not trying to, you know, excuse my actions, or anything. But… when I lost my mom, I sort of clung to my dad. And that felt okay, because he clung to me, too. But then, one day… he stopped. And that’s when you showed up at my door.”

This conversation was taking a very concerning turn. But before Korra could come up with something reassuring to say, Asami continued.

“I was trying to force you to see me the same way I see you, regardless of what you wanted, and that was wrong of me. I can’t hold you responsible for my emotional wellbeing anymore.”

And not only was that statement flat-out wrong, she delivered it with an air of finality that outright alarmed Korra. She turned to look at her, and was further horrified. Asami had been speaking with such conviction, Korra never even bothered to notice the tears that were streaming down her cheeks.

“So,” Asami resolved, “if you feel it would be better for us to go our separate ways, then-”

“Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!” Korra shouted. “Since when was that on the table!?”

Asami was taken aback by her outburst. “I’m just saying, I would understand if-”

“Oh, heck no!” Korra insisted. “Are you kidding me? We had a fight! It happens! I mean, don’t get me wrong, what you did was messed up, but I’m not going anywhere! Weren’t we supposed to be family?”

She released a shaky laugh in relief, but bit her lip and kept pushing it. “That doesn’t make you bound to me. You know how much I love you, but… let’s face it, we’re not really family.”

It’s like she was trying to make Korra mad. “I thought you said we get to choose our families.”

“I was wrong,” she answered readily. “No matter what I want, I’ll always be my father’s daughter, and you… you don’t owe me anything.”

Korra crossed her arms and scowled at her. She wanted to be sensitive to whatever Asami was going through, but she had to make her displeasure known. “Well, I say I do owe you something, because we are family. I’m sorry, but if you’re stuck with your father, then you’re also stuck with me. Forever. End of discussion.”

Asami pursed her lips in a pained smile. “You can’t promise that.”

“Actually, I just did.”

“It’s not just…” Asami grimaced. “You’re the Avatar. You have other obligations, and…” 

She couldn’t complete her thought, but the dejected look on her face explained everything. This was one of those situations where Korra was being insensitive. Because Asami was used to losing people she cared about, and Korra’s job description involved regular mortal danger.

Meaning there were two paths forward for Korra:

She could try to be more understanding about Asami’s fears, and be honest with her about the dangers involved in Avatarhood.

Or she could double the crap down.

“Well, screw that,” Korra announced.

“Um…” Asami drew out. “Pardon?”

“You heard me! I, the Avatar, do solemnly promise that I will always be there for you, no matter what, forever.”

Asami sighed. “You almost died just a few-”

“But I didn’t!” Korra argued. “I took on darkness itself and won. What else can the universe throw at me? I’m the Avatar, for spirits’ sake, and I’m telling you, right now, that I’ll always be there for you. Forever. Period.”

That got a quiet giggle out of her. “Careful, there. I might hold you to that.”

“Good,” Korra assented. “And as the Avatar, I furthermore declare that we are family, and that you’re stuck with me. Forever.”

Asami’s good humor waned, so Korra concluded that it was necessary to reinforce her position. “And don’t you tell me that we can’t choose family! I mean, that’s kind of what adoption is, right? Or marriage?” For some reason, the latter comparison in particular tickled Korra greatly. “Yeah, it’ll be like you’re my wife!”

Asami did not seem to find it so amusing, and groaned exasperatedly. “You have got to stop saying things like that.”

Oh, right. Now that Korra was running it back in her head, that was a pretty weird thing to say. So she rolled her eyes and tried to play it off cool. “Okay, that was obviously a joke,” she hedged. “It’s not like I was being serious.”

Asami just groaned louder. “You have to stop saying stuff like that, too!”

Korra cocked her head curiously. She might not know exactly what the problem was. “Um… stuff like what?”

“Nothing,” Asami sighed. “You’re just… really dumb sometimes.”

Korra laughed shamelessly. “Well, duh!” she admitted. “You should’ve thought of that before you got stuck with me. Forever.”

Asami laughed with her, but there was a tinge of reservation lurking behind her mirth that worried Korra. She reached over and held Asami’s hand in her own. “Are you sure you’re alright?”

Asami took her time to consider the question, and then nodded with tentative certainty. “Maybe not… but I’ll do better.”

Which wasn’t the answer Korra was looking for at all. “Do you wanna talk about it?”

She shook her head good-naturedly. “I think it’s something I have to figure out myself.” Asami stepped away from the railing and grabbed onto both of Korra’s hands, her perfect smile now unrestrained. “But once I do, I promise that we’ll have an honest conversation.”

Korra narrowed her eyes suspiciously, but held her tongue. Family members were allowed to have boundaries. “Well, I’m here whenever you need me.”

Asami’s eyes gleamed with a hint of mischievousness. “Oh, trust me. I fully intend to take advantage of that fact, wife.”

“I’m not living that down, am I?”

“Nope, you sure aren’t. I’m holding onto that one ‘til death do us part.”

By the time they returned to Air Temple Island, the dining hall had mostly stopped smoking, all but one of the police airships had departed, and a few acolytes were sorting through the rotating gates to see what could be salvaged. Tenzin was off in a corner with Lin, whispering heatedly about something. Probably Korra. 

She knew there were a lot of people in the city who were angry with her, and would make their displeasure known when she came forward. But this conversation was the one that worried her most.

She tightened her grip on Asami’s hand in an unspoken request for emotional fortification, and approached Tenzin with what she hoped was confidence.

Lin noticed them first - seismic sense and whatnot - and her attention led Tenzin to spot them. He started when he realized who it was, but kept his mouth shut until they neared.

He bowed ceremoniously when they arrived. “Good afternoon, Avatar Korra,” he greeted respectfully.

Asami rubbed her eyes with her unoccupied hand. “For Yangchen’s sake…” she muttered.

He appeared slightly put off by her frustration, but not knowing its cause, he rededicated himself to his formality in addressing Korra. “I would like to thank you for your service in defeating Hundun and his brother.” Oh, that was… one of their two names. “Your protection of the Air Nation is appreciated. Chief Beifong has appraised me of the situation with regard to your-”

“Oh, bleeding hog monkeys!” Lin snapped. “You know you’ve met her before, right?”

Korra sighed. Lin was right, of course, but not particularly helpful. Honestly, after suffering a nervous breakdown in front of him and incinerating a good chunk of his home, Korra felt relieved he was only stiff and awkward. “Why don’t you give us some space, Chief?”

“My pleasure,” she promptly agreed. Lin marched off to file her paperwork or whatever she did, while glaring incredulously at Korra and Asami’s joined hands for some reason.

In a dreadful turn of events, Asami then dropped the aforementioned point of contact. “I’ll give you some space, too.”

Well, that was a betrayal. What was the point of Asami being her pretend-wife if she wouldn’t serve as a buffer during unpleasant conversations?

Tenzin got right back into it as soon as they were gone, forcing Korra to tear her eyes away from Asami as she left. “What I’m trying to say is that, having learned more of the unique circumstances surrounding your Avatarhood, it’s come to my attention that I may have been…” He glanced around meekly at the rubble surrounding them. “…insensitive. To the stresses you’ve been under. I may have said some things that, in retrospect, were quite-”

“It’s okay, Tenzin,” Korra interrupted. “You had a right to be upset.”

He clenched his jaw and took a slow, labored breath. “I was upset. But… not at the Avatar. Not really.”

That didn’t clarify much, and also didn’t sound entirely true, so Korra waited patiently for him to continue.

“When I was five years old, my father wrote me a letter which described his position in the world. He told me that his soul would be reincarnated into a new Avatar when he died, and that it would be my responsibility to serve as their airbending master and mentor.”

Korra was confronted by the comforting notion that perhaps Aang wasn’t that much wiser than her after all. Because that sounded like a legitimately wild thing to put on a five year old. It would explain why Tenzin was so… the way that he was. Maybe it sounded better in context.

Regardless, it was clear that she needed to mollify Tenzin before he got too deep into his unnecessary apology. “Yeah, that sounds great!” she appeased. “You know, if you’re still interested in mentorship, that is. I’d get it if you’re busy with the new Air Nation and all, so-”

“You have it backwards.”

Korra didn’t see how she did, and her confusion must have shown, because he elaborated.

“You’re not obligated to accept me as a master or a mentor. I am at your service, if you desire it.”

“Um…” she droned. “Why wouldn’t I? I kinda thought we were friends.”

He pursed his lips. “We are friends. But clearly you’ve made great progress without me. I suppose that’s why I may have been a bit… harsh, earlier. If I was upset with the Avatar, it’s because they never sought out my guidance, never needed me to become fully realized.” He sighed penitently. “I felt like I had failed my father.”

Korra scoffed a disbelieving laugh. “Wait, what? Fully realized? Are you kidding?”

He narrowed his eyes. “No?” he drew out in partial question. “Have you not fully mastered the Avatar State?”

“The Avatar State? I’ve only got, like, one element down! And it’s just water, which is basically cheating.”

He looked flabbergasted by that revelation. “But you defeated Vaatu!”

She shrugged. “Aang unlocked my energybending, so I just annoyed Vaatu until he gave me some energy to bend.”

He rubbed his scalp in wonder. “You spoke to my father? And you took on the spirit of chaos himself, all on your own?”

“I guess. But you’re missing the point! You still get to serve as my airbending master!” Her enthusiasm waned when she thought about the logistics of that prospect. “Actually, technically Jinora’s already my master. Do I have to, like, transfer or something? Do I need her permission? I don’t really know how all this stuff works.”

“I’m sorry, she’s your airbending master?” he gaped. 

Korra snorted in amusement. “I mean, what else would she be?”

“I thought you said you had only mastered waterbending! You should be studying earth next! What do you think you’re doing, messing around with air?”

“Oh, uh…” She was familiar with the tradition of following the elemental cycle, but she didn’t know it was a hard-and-fast rule. “Does it make a huge difference?”

“Of course it does! I can’t believe Jinora would allow that. I know my mother wouldn’t have. Didn’t you think to consult her before moving on from water?”

“Well, I guess I haven’t checked in with her since leaving the South Pole. I’ve been… kinda busy.”

And there it was. Generally speaking, she hated it, but at this moment, seeing it was like welcoming back an old friend.

The Tenzin lecture-face.

“What you’ve been doing is identical to what my father attempted in his youth. He tried to skip to the end of the elemental cycle as well, though for him, that meant studying firebending. But because he went out of turn, he lacked the tools to control his flame, and he nearly burned off my mother’s hands.”

Korra chuckled. “Yeah, that sounds about right. There were a couple of times during our airbending lessons where…” She realized now might not be the time to admit to almost killing his daughter. “…Where it was hard to control my airbending.”

He nodded with academic tact. “The cycle exists for a reason. Because air is the element of freedom, an airbender will typically struggle to restrain fire. And because air is the least substantive element, they will also struggle to master earth, the element of substance. That’s why their next element must be water.”

“Sure, but… doesn’t that theory break down for me? I’m a water Avatar, but my first element was fire, the complete opposite.”

“True, though I doubt that order was ideal. I agree, your personality may be… fire-adjacent, but you’re still a waterbender first and foremost. An Avatar’s native element might not always be the easiest for them, or their favorite, but it will be the most natural one for them to master.”

“Hey, I wasn’t trying to imply that water isn’t my favorite. I might have discovered fire first, but it can be exhausting, and you always have to keep track of how much breath you have left. Waterbending just feels so intuitive, and versatile, and familiar, and okay, I get your point.”

He hummed in approval. “And after water, earth is the logical next step for a native waterbender, because earthbending philosophy is just as focused on reaction and adaptation as waterbending is. But waterbenders also exert the least direct control over their environment. Instead, they seek to conform to it. Reining in elements as wild as air or fire, without the strength and decisiveness engendered by earth, sounds like a nightmare.”

“Whoa! I’m plenty decisive!” she objected.

“Perhaps. But I’d imagine fire was nonetheless quite difficult to learn to control, despite being your first element, wasn’t it?”

Regrettably, that was an excellent point. “I mean…” she mumbled, “I suppose it was a little challenging at the beginning.”

Tenzin cocked his head curiously at her sudden defensiveness, before gasping in realization. “The fire in the women’s dormitory!”

“Alright! Note taken! We don’t have to dig up the past.”

He smiled compassionately, and dropped the subject to studiously stroke on his beard. “You do have a point, though. I’ve heard of Avatars having blocks with certain elements before, of course. Kyoshi needed extreme duress to connect to fire, and Roku famously struggled with water. But I’ve never heard of an Avatar having a block with their native element, especially one as…” He surveyed the wreckage around them. “…physically gifted as yourself.”

She was unsure whether she should take that as a compliment. “Yeah, well, as much as I like water now, I’m not surprised it took me so long to figure out. I’ve never been a very ‘go with the flow’ kind of person.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure. You’ve been dealing with a remarkable number of changes in your life, and if you ask me, you’ve dealt with them admirably.”

Korra smiled guiltily and nodded at the husk of the former dining hall. “With a few notable exceptions, huh?”

He gently waved his head around with a noncommittal expression. “Maybe so,” he conceded. “But I would still be proud, if I were you. Without your native element, it was a miracle you were able to connect to another one at all. And since then, you’ve already defeated the primordial spirit of chaos and helped birthe new nation.”

“Ugh,” Korra groaned. “Please don’t refer to me as ‘birthe’-ing anything.”

“Don’t try to deflect,” he chided. “I’m being sincere.”

“I know,” she grinned. He still seemed a bit stiff, but all-in-all, this conversation had taken a large number of weights off her mind. So she leaned in and gave him a gentle punch to loosen him up. “Look at you, being all mentor-ey and supportive.”

He smiled through a grimace while rubbing his arm where she’d hit him. “Like I said. I’m at your service.”

Which made Korra feel pretty lucky. So, yeah… this Avatar gig might be worth it after all.

But pretty soon, his attention was drawn away by something behind Korra. She turned around to see Asami and Lin rushing back, and this time, Mako was with them. 

“Hey, Mako!” Korra welcomed. “What brings you here?”

“Uh, hey.” He nodded in greeting at Tenzin, then focused on the charred ruins she had created with evident concern. “Are you… feeling alright, at the moment?”

Korra rolled her eyes. “I’m doing fine, Mako. I took down another crazy spirit and got myself a new mentor.” She turned and offered Tenzin an amiable smirk. “I think I’m ready to come forward as the Avatar.”

When she looked back at Mako, he was wincing apprehensively. “So, about that-”

“Oh, come on!” Korra complained. “We’ve been through this already!”

“I’m just saying,” he waffled, “you might want to keep laying low for a while.”

She crossed her arms and glowered at him bitterly. Her instinct was to be annoyed, but unfortunately, his trepidation was mirrored on Asami’s face. Come to think of it, even Lin looked worried. “What happened?” Korra demanded.

“Well,” he hesitantly began, “there’s good news and bad news. We just got a radio call at headquarters from the Southern Water Tribe, and apparently, your dad worked out a deal with the North. In exchange for their release, Eska and Desna agreed to sign the peace treaty as-is, and give the South everything they have on Zaheer.”

“Oh. Well, great. Does that mean we know what he was up to?”

“We do,” Mako confirmed. He uncomfortably cleared his throat before resuming his debrief. “According to their files, he’s the leader of a terrorist organization called the Red Lotus. The list of charges was… lengthy, but one of them caught Tonraq’s eye.”

Korra was growing dissatisfied with the rate at which he was disseminating information, so she glanced at Asami, who mercifully cut to the chase. “They were accused of plotting to kidnap the Avatar.”

Right. Of course they were.

“Okay, that’s… not great,” Korra allowed. “But how much of a threat are the Red Lotus supposed to be with Zaheer behind bars?” 

“That’s the bad news,” Mako answered. “Part of the deal was to extradite Zaheer and his team to the North, and they, uh…”

“Zaheer’s an airbender, now,” Lin finished. “They all broke out in transit yesterday.”

Right. Of course they did.

Earlier, Korra asked Asami what else the universe could possibly throw at her at this point.

Turns out, the universe has a wicked arm.