I do not own The Legend of Korra.
The city had really changed over the years. These odd boxes on wheels called Satomobiles replaced ostrich-horses for transportation. Numerous gadgets and inventions had been made to industrialize the city even more than the Fire Nation had ever been. It was beautiful and horrifying all at the same time. Black smoke clogged my throat, assaulting my nose like the numerous dark spirits that resided here permanently. Yet there was nothing I could do about that. The people here had more or less lost touch with nature, so there was no stopping the spirits. That wasn't the reason I had come, though. The reason was that I heard the Avatar was here and I needed to meet her. It was Aang's request all those years ago, and I was determined to fulfill it.
The city was in shambles! What had happened here? Not even thinking about it, I flew to Air Temple Island to see if Tenzin and his family were all right.
The sight of the island nearly caused me to fall out of the sky. Craters littered the ground. Parts of the temple were destroyed, and others were being repaired. Tears blurred my vision, forcing me to land. This wasn't how I had left it only a year and a half ago!
The moment my feet touched the ground, metal cables wrapped around my wrist and legs, causing me to face plant on the ground.
"What—?"
My vision went black as I was knocked unconscious.
Voices floated around me, none of them familiar. They must be the guards that had taken me out. Things must be really bad if Tenzin had guards now! Then another voice cut through the fog of my reawakening brain.
Mako.
The last time we had seen each other hadn't been on very good terms, so I wasn't surprised by the hostility in his voice. What surprised me was that he was telling the guards that I could be a threat and to have me chained up until I could be interrogated. It irked me a bit, but I've learned to let things like this slid off of me and just go with the flow.
Luckily, before I could be taken away, another familiar voice made its presence known, and this one was much friendlier.
"Hey! What are you doing! She's a friend! Let her go!"
Leave it to Bolin to come to the rescue.
"Mako what are you doing? Why are you letting them do this?" he asked his older brother, a little anger coloring his voice.
"We don't know if we can trust her Bo. It's better to have her restrained and interrogated," Mako responded coldly.
"She saved our lives! How can you say that?" Bo exclaimed, now furious. Bolin furious was a little scary. "Let her go now," he ordered the guards, and, shockingly, they did.
As I was laid gently on the ground, I forced my eyes open just in time to see Tenzin, Lin, and the new Avatar running over to investigate what had happened.
"Sorami!" Tenzin exclaimed, showing a rare loss of control of his emotions as he scooped me up in a hug. "What happened?" His question was aimed at the guards and two Pro-Benders.
"We didn't know who she was, so we tied her up and knocked her out," the head guard explained. "The Firebender said she couldn't be trusted, so we were about to take her to the interrogation room, but the Earthbender said she could be trusted and ordered her release." Tenzin shot a hard glare at Mako.
"She is family. You are forgiven this time because you didn't know, but do not let this happen again," he said to the guard, though the warning was for Mako, who silently turned and stalked off, leaving the rest of us to stare after him, some confused, some angry, and me sad.
After the tension dissolved and I was back to my full consciousness, we all gathered in the main house to introduce me to the new additions, including the Avatar. Pema had had another baby boy, and I was instantly attached to the little Airbender child. Of course, he was too young to exhibit any Airbending powers yet, but the energy was distinct. He would be a powerful one, maybe even more powerful than Aang had been. He seemed attached to me too, for the moment he was set in my arms, he snuggled into my chest, gurgled happily, and promptly fell asleep. I smiled down at the little bundle, a little sad that I was unable to have a child of my own.
I was distracted, though, when Tenzin put a hand on my shoulder and turned me to face the new Avatar. She was from the Water Tribe, the fact evident in her purely Water Tribe attire. Her dark brown hair was done in a simple wolf tail with two more hanging in her face, framing her cerulean eyes. She was quite beautiful, but her body was toned and muscular, showing how training had hardened her.
"Sorami, this is Korra, the Avatar."
I smiled, shifted baby Rohan to one arm, and hugged her with my other. She stiffly returned my hug.
"Sorry," I apologized, realizing her discomfort and releasing her. "I've been waiting to meet the new Avatar for quite some time now."
"Korra, Sorami is technically your sister," Tenzin told her. I could tell that Korra was rarely rendered speechless, but at Tenzin's words, speech deserted her.
It took about an hour to inform everyone in the room about my immortality and connection to Korra. She took it well, quite like Aang had, though her "sisterly love" was more like a long lost friend type love. I was ok with this, though. She was only my sister though spirit, so I didn't expect to have the same relationship to her that I did with Aang.
"I guess we have some catching up to do," she said with a smile.
I returned that smile, excitement bubbling in my chest. It was like meeting Aang all over again!
"So…what was up with Mako when you first got here?" Korra and I had taken a walk to the beach to chat and get to know each other.
I sighed and began my short story on how I met the Pro-Bending brothers.
"We had met when the boys were really young. I was wandering around getting used to the feel of the city when I came across two orphans shivering in a back alley. Bolin was terribly ill, which wasn't made any better by the extreme thinness of the two. Mako was trying his best to help his brother get better, but I knew it wouldn't happen if they didn't get off the street, so I healed him and began to put things in motion so they would get into Pro-Bending and off the streets.
They didn't see much of me for several years, but Mako and I ran into each other one night as he was walking home from work, a bundle of medicine in his arms. I told him that I was a healer and that I could help with whatever illness he had. As we walked, we got to know each other…or he got to know me more like it. I already knew about him since I've been keeping tabs on them whenever I visited the city.
I soon learned that Bolin was sick again, but this time it was worse. I found out when I got there that a dark spirit had latched onto him and was slowly killing him. I got rid of the spirit and helped nurse him back to health again. During this time, Mako and I grew very close. He said I reminded him of someone who helped them back when they were little, which was me, though he didn't know it. Eventually, he developed romantic feelings for me, and that's when I knew I had to leave. See, I try to avoid romantic relationships because I can't have children, not to mention he was young and still had his entire life ahead of him.
So I left. I never really left, of course, but I made sure that he never saw me. I kept making sure that his rent stayed paid and that he had a job. I even helped pay for his Pro-Bending fees. I knew he was distraught from my leaving, but it was for the best. The last I saw him, he was doing well with Pro-Bending and was content, if not happy. That was a year and a half ago. Now I come back and the city is in shambles!"
Korra's face darkened at the end of my story. "That was Amon's doing."
I never heard that name before, but as she told the story, I felt my face fall into a matching glare. This Amon character was psychotic! The really awful part was I was there when Aang took care of his father, Yakone. That was horrible enough, but this was beyond anything that Yakone had ever done! Taking away people's bending without being the Avatar? That's pure evil!
"Luckily I can reverse his damage," Korra told me, making me relax a little.
"As can I. You won't have to do this alone," I said with a small smile, though I knew my eyes were still dark.
She smiled back. "Thanks. I'm slowly learning how to accept help, so your offer sounds pretty good right about now," she responded.
A few days went by. Things settled in nicely. I helped Pema entertain the kids so she could have a break now and then. I also helped Tenzin train Korra. I made friends with Asami, caught up with Bolin, and chatted with Lin. It was like having a family again.
When Korra needed to go to the city to begin returning bending to the hundreds of people Amon stole it from, I went with her to help, though she insisted that I only help giver her energy so she wouldn't pass out from exhaustion. I was happy to comply.
Near the end of the session, one particularly downtrodden man knelt in front of her.
"Well well Tahno. Never thought you'd kneel just for me," she teased, the tiredness evident in her voice.
"Very funny Uh-vatar," the man retorted half-heartedly.
Korra's features softened. "Are you ready to bend again?"
His eyes gave her his response. She positioned her hands and channeled her energy into him, her eyes glowing in the process. As she channeled her energy, I gave her some of mine, sensing how low hers had dipped. When her eyes faded to normal, she swayed slightly.
"Go on," she invited the young man, who was skeptical. Yet his skepticism turned to unabashed joy when the water followed his commands. He didn't even think twice when he threw his arms around the unsteady Korra, thanking her profusely.
"You're welcome," she replied with an exhausted smile. He released her and walked off, practically glowing with joy.
When he was gone, I went over to Korra and grabbed her arm, providing her with something to lean on.
"You've done well today, but you're probably going to sleep all through tomorrow," I told her as I helped her walk down the stairs.
"I don't care. I've made a lot of people whole again today, and when I get my energy back, I'll do it again. I don't care how long it'll take. Everyone's gonna get their bending back, no matter what," she said with tired determination.
I chuckled softly, pulling one of her arms around my shoulder so she had more support. She leaned into me gratefully.
The moment she was safely atop Naga, her polar bear-dog, she was asleep, making me smile. She was nothing like Aang, but I was still glad I met her.
At long last the first chapter of the next installment of Immortal Avatar is up! I plan for this story to be just as long as the other, but the chapters will be longer (around 2,000 words or so instead of a few hundred). I hope you all enjoy this story as much as you did the other!