"You're still sure about this?" he asked me quietly.
"Yes," I said as we walked down the hall to the elevator, the two guards waiting with apathy.
"You're not...scared?" he persisted. "Or nervous?"
I shook my head. "No." I wasn't nervous, but he was. "Should I be, Master Rohan?"
Rohan ran his fingers though his head of spiked hair with an aggravated sigh. He was unusually young to be a master. Well, technically he wasn't really a master.
"I thought I told you to stop calling me that," he hissed.
"Just because you're not an airbender," I told him, "doesn't mean you need to feel ashamed about it."
He sighed again, rubbing his stubbly chin. "That doesn't stop me from feeling like a disappointment to Dad in every way I can be."
"You are who you are," I said. "You can't change that. Even if Tenzin did hate you, that shouldn't matter. It doesn't matter."
Rohan shook his head with a dismissive smile, most likely not getting what I meant. "Where do you get all this from?"
"Korra," I told him as we stepped into the elevator.
Apparently he hadn't actually expected me to answer. He nodded in understanding, then sighed in recollection. "I didn't know her for long, but what I do know is that she was one of the wisest people I've ever known. Possibly in the world. History, even."
"She is," I said.
One of the guards hit the lever, and the elevator started lowering, creaking and riveting with age.
"Why don't you want me to do this?" I asked Rohan on the way down.
He rubbed his chin. "It's...I just...What do you expect to see?"
"Anything," I said. "The United Republic's corrupt to the core, and the Water Tribes are going to destroy themselves if they keep trying to claim more territory. Korra's not sure what to do, and I'm not sure what to do, so I need help from anyone I can find."
"Even her," Rohan mumbled.
I nodded. "She practically rebuilt the Earth Union by herself, and Korra always talks about her. She was the only person who cared about her, who saw through what she did."
I glanced at one of the guards as he shifted, holding a food tray with...not enough food on it, just a small loaf of bread and an apple. No water.
"You didn't answer my question," I said to Rohan.
He sighed. "Alright. Well, I...I don't think you'll like what you see."
I furrowed my brow. "What's wrong with me not liking what I see?"
Rohan scratched his cheek. "Another thing you've got in common with Korra is, um...audacity."
"Audacity?"
"It's not that you don't think, it's just that...you don't always think things through?"
I raised a brow.
Rohan sighed. "Just...just don't do anything rash again, okay? The last thing we need is for you to get arrested by Chief Kanto for real this time. Alright?"
"That beggar was innocent," I muttered as the elevator came to a squeaky stop.
We walked out into a large dark cavern. There was a...a wooden cage, hanging, suspended by platinum chains at each of its corners. One of the guards earthbent a stone bridge towards it.
"Kid," the other one with the tray said, "don't get your hopes up. I haven't heard her say a single word for as long as I've worked here."
"W-What?" I asked.
"You'll see."
I looked at him in confusion, then at Rohan. The usual nervousness in his eyes was growing.
Not going to like what I see?
I held my breath as we started walking down the bridge.
Once we reached the cage, the guard with the tray set it down next to the thick wooden bars. He knocked on the frame. "Lunch is here."
We waited, but nothing happened.
The guard sighed and shook his head. "See what I mean? You can say anything. Watch." He cupped his hands around his mouth, yelling mockingly, "Hey, Great Uniter! Your banquet has arrived!"
Still, nothing happened.
"Yeah," the other guard said. "I'm not even sure why we keep her here anymore. I don't know what happened. I heard stories that she used to just...scream, cry 'til she went hoarse, whoever was around. But one day she...just stopped. Dunno when or why." He uncrossed his arms. "She'll smell the food soon enough. Good luck trying to get anything out of her, kid. You got ten minutes."
The two guards walked away to wait next to the elevator.
I looked at them, then back at the cage.
What? What on Earth did they mean? Smell her food? Hasn't talked?
Cried? Screamed?
Not going to like what I see...
I knelt down next to the tray as Rohan shifted behind me. I couldn't make out much in the darkness of the cage, but it looked like...someone slumping in the corner.
"E-Excuse me," I tried to say to her.
She suddenly flinched. Spasmed, really. I flinched back as well. I felt Rohan's hand on my shoulder.
She crumpled onto her hands and knees, still not making any noises besides disjointed quivers of breath. She started shuffling her way towards me to get her food.
As her face came into the light better, I saw that her greying gnarled hair had fallen over her face, and also that she had a little mole underneath her right eye.
As she came closer still, I saw that her pale face was surprisingly smooth for a sixty-year-old. It was then that I remembered something that Rohan's sister Jinora once wrote: An old person with a smooth face hasn't seen enough smiles throughout their life.
It absolutely hurt to remember those words as I looked into Kuvira's vacant eyes.
It hurt even more to watch her snatch her food from the tray.