"Korra, please." Tenzin let out a sigh, his hands tensing at his side as he watched his student get knocked back time and time again by the air bending gates. He knew how frustrating it was for her. To have greatness expected of her, and then have a simple turn through gates knock the confidence right out of her. "You just need to be patient. Close your eyes, feel the air, listen to the movement of the gates. You cannot continue to run in headfirst."
"Great idea Tenzin," She scoffed, "Let me just do that. Amon will totally understand if I need a moment to close my eyes, feel the air, and listen to his movement so that I can beat him. Why didn't I think of that before?"
"Your sarcasm has been noted." He walked forward, extending a hand to help her up as she fell back out of the gates, "What's on your mind, Korra?"
"I just think I need some time alone." She brushed the dirt off of herself; "I need to figure this out in my head."
Tenzin nodded, letting his cape fall around his arms. He knew how hard it was for Korra to admit defeat, to speak of her shortcomings, but he knew what she was capable of. He knew that this was merely a block—but he didn't know how to break through it. How do you teach a teenage girl, who has been locked in a compound her whole life, what it means to be free?
"Very well then, Korra." He put a hand on her shoulder, "I urge you to meditate on it, if all else fails or your bottom gets too sore."
"Very funny." She shot him a look as he walked away. She could've sworn she saw him crack a smile, which was just wonderful. She was glad he found this funny. That he found complete Avatar failure, simply hilarious.
She watched the gates spin with the powerful wind Tenzin had created so easily with the flick of his wrist. The air could go anywhere it wanted, wrap around whatever it wanted, and nothing stopped it. When it found a dead end, it went a different way. Korra cracked her knuckles and took a deep breath. Be the leaf. If you find a dead end, go a different way. She ran quickly into the apparatus, meeting a gate and pivoting on her heel, but soon found herself in the center, completely surrounded by spinning gates. She was boxed in, which way did she go? If she turned left, she was met with a gate, turning right brought the same end. If she went back the way she came, she'd never get to the other side. But she didn't know which way was forward. She was trapped.
She didn't know how to be free.
Her heart started beating quickly in her chest, her movements becoming jagged and her hands clenching into fists. She had to get out. She needed to get out, by any means necessary. She bounded forward, feet heavy on the ground, letting the gates hit her in every direction until she was sent flying out of the gates and back first onto the dirt.
"Ouch." Bolin remarked as he ran from the steps over to her, extending his hand forward, "You know, I think the point is to land on your feet."
"Yeah, well, tell my feet that." Korra groaned as Bolin pulled her to her feet and brushed the dirt off her arms, "What's up? Are you enjoying the island?"
"Yeah, it's great! Those small monk children could make a living as tour guides." He rested his hands on his hips and furrowed his brow, "So what is this contraption? Air bending training device?"
"More like torture device." Korra scratched her head, "It's supposed to teach me how to move like air. How to 'be the leaf.'"
"That's stupid. You are not nearly green enough to be a leaf." He shook his head.
Korra let out a booming laugh, one that shook the gates as they slowed back down. There was always something so light and airy about being around Bolin. It was completely different than the brooding seriousness that followed his brother. Bolin actually smiled, let his emotions paint his face freely, there wasn't a single thing about him that was contained. She always admired that about him.
"You know, you should try laughing more often." He smirked, "Serious doesn't work as well on you as it does Mako."
"You can't beat the original Mr. Doom-and-Gloom at his own game." She shrugged, watching the gates die down and stop. They distracted her, haunted her, and constantly pulled her attention like she was on a rope.
"What do you say we get out of here and do something that's not going to break your neck?" Bolin suggested grabbing her hand and pulling her towards the docks, "I've got the perfect thing in mind."
"What about Tenzin? Mako? Asami?" Korra asked, her body bouncing down the stairs as Bolin pulled harder.
"Who cares!" He smiled back at her, "TEAM AVATAR, AWAY!"
-o-o-o-
"This was your plan?" Korra raised an eyebrow as Bolin split a tree into two slabs and handed one to her, "Mountain boarding?"
"Don't knock it 'till you try it." He flexed his muscles as he stood on the board and squatted down slightly on light knees, ready to go, "Let an old pro show you how it's done."
"After you, oh boarding master." She crossed her arms and watched him lean forward and go sliding down the mountainside. It wasn't until his board caught a stone and sent him barreling down a few feet, the board still lingering behind. "That was impressive, bravo." She clapped, "Oh Master Bolin, show me the ways of the boarder."
"You sass me now woman, but it's harder than it looks." Bolin rubbed his butt as he walked back up the mountain towards her, extending his free hand back down the mountain, "After you, m'lady."
She grabbed her board and threw it down on the ground, stepping back a few paces before bolting towards the board, jumping on it with all the vigor an Avatar could muster and started down the mountain. She bent the uneven ground in front of her and slid with about halfway down before vaulting off of the board and landing with both feet firmly on the ground. "That was fun!" She laughed, picking up her board and starting back towards Bolin.
"Fun?" He threw his hands up, "That was so totally wicked! Where did you learn to board like that?"
"I dunno, never done it before." She shrugged, "It's a lot like penguin sledding though, back home."
"You penguin sled too?" Bolin grew wide-eyed before getting down on one knee, taking her free hand, "Korra of the Southern Water tribe, will you marry me?"
"Get off your knee and show me what you've got oh wise Bolin of the…attic above the pro-bending arena?" She cringed at the bad joke and pulled him to his feet.
"Ouch. Rejection." He smiled, "And that's Master Bolin of the attic above the pro-bending arena. Please learn to respect those who are clearly more skilled than you are."
"Is that why I got further down the mountain than you did?" She questioned.
"Oh aren't you clever?" He playfully glared at her, "You get named the Avatar and all of a sudden you think you're the best thing since the Satomobile. Well let me tell you, woman. Bolin came to win."
He cracked his knuckles, pulling his arm across his chest to stretch and cracking his neck to either side. His announcer voice erupting from his serious demeanor, "This is the pass of a lifetime. If the amazing Bolin doesn't make this, it will be the end of the world as we know it. And he's off!"
Bolin ran for his board, copying Korra's style of entry and started down the hill. He bent the earth in front of him and even pulled a ramp from the depths halfway down the mountain. He lowered his body before launching off the jump, doing a 360 before bending another ramp to let him safely back onto the mountain. He jumped off the board with his hands pumping in the air, occasionally waving at the fans he had made of the trees. "He nails it! The amazing Bolin has done it again! This is history in the making folks. History in the making!"
"Big deal!" Korra called after him, "I bet you I can jump a ramp twice as high without having to bend another one to land on!"
"Oh do you really? Do I sense a little bit of Avatar jealousy?" He sauntered up the mountain like a champion, "You can't beat the Bo-man."
"The Bo-man?" She questioned.
"The Bo-man. Master of boarding," His eyes smoldered, "and seduction."
"All right, Bo-man. I bet you a bowl of noodles that I can make that jump, twice as high, without a second ramp." She put her hands on her hips, "What do you say to that?"
"I say bring it on." He laughed, "Buh-ring it on."
"The Avatar never backs down from a challenge." She smirked, grabbing her board and setting herself up for the run. She took a deep breath and bounded off towards the board, her feet coming in contact with the slab before racing off down the mountainside. She flatted the ground in front of her, picking up speed, before softening her knees for the oncoming ramp. She readied her body as she and the board shot off the ramp and high into the air.
Korra had never felt like this before. The way the air caught her off of the jump, the sound of Bolin cheering her on from the top of the mountain, it was a feeling that warmed her more than fire bending ever did. Her hair was blown out of her face, her eyes closed taking in the sensation that she was flying. Nothing could touch her up here; no one could control her up here. It was a freedom she had never known before. She could breathe up here, without the pressure of the world on her shoulders.
"Korra!" Bolin yelled her name and her eyes shot open. Sure she was flying all right, but that ground was coming, and it was coming fast. She raised her hands to make another ramp, but quickly remembered her challenge with Bolin, and she wasn't about to lose. So where was there to go? If she hit that ground, it would break more bones than she cared to think about.
She was trapped, again. Nowhere to turn.
"Korra! I'm serious, just make the ramp!" He yelled after her, but she unclenched her fists, closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She just wanted to keep flying. She just wanted to keep moving. She just wanted to keep feeling like this.
Her arms swung involuntarily and in a split second, her body and the board began to spin as if in a whirlwind. Air filled her lungs and she awaited the imminent drop, but it never came. She peeked through an eye, and she was floating over the ground, levitating on a ball of air beneath her. A huge smile exploded across her face, "No way!" She yelled, "Bolin! Look I'm—"
Before she could finish the air vanished and she fell from her board onto bushes below. Bolin raced down towards her as fast as his legs could carry him, hooting after her pumping his arms in the air. "Ladies and gentlemen, Avatar Korra has made history here this evening!"
"You gonna stand there or help me out?" She scratched her head as she tried to crawl out of the bushes.
"Sorry about that." He smiled, grabbing her hand.
"I can't believe that just happened!" She stood, wiping her arms and legs off, "I have to tell Tenzin, he's going to be so…what are you staring at?" She asked Bolin, who was staring at her in wonder and amazement.
"Oh nothing. It's just…" He laughed, picking a leaf out of her hair and holding it up next to her face, "I think I see the resemblance now."
A/N: Thank you guys for reading! Reviews are wonderful! :)