The Calling

"Come. You must come to the Eastern Air Temple. Korra, your destiny awaits."

Thud.

Tangled in her sheets, Korra attempted to free herself from the annoying material. She was irritated that she was losing sleep because of these weird dreams. Just when her dreams of Amon taking her bending away subsided, this dream with a freakishly looking old man pops up.

Honestly, she climbed back to her bed, why can't I dream of something nice? Like Mako? She growled and tried to go back to sleep. Dang it!

The next morning, Jinora found it odd that Korra was not in her bed. Korra was not a fan of mornings and usually needed help waking up in the morning for meal time. The bed was not made and her water tribe outfit hung from the other side of the wall. Where could she have gone so early?

Jinora went back to the dining area and informed her father. The White Lotus guards stood on guard and said that they have not seen Korra since she went back to her quarters last night. Tenzin thought she might be at the arena but thought it best to send a search party.

Something was hitting her stomach. Korra turned. Now it was hitting her lower back. What the hell is that? Korra turned some more, expecting to roll off her bed but nothing came. And why does it feel like something's stuck to my face?

Paranoia finally sunk in and made Korra open her eyes. She was stunned to find that she was nowhere near her bedroom. Or the Air Temple. The soft waves on the shore nearly hit her and she stood up shaking sand from her clothes, face, and hair. She looked around. There was only one pair of footsteps on the sand. Did I sleep walk? She turned around and saw the temple behind her. What a crazy night! First a weird dream, then falling off the bed, and now waking up on the shore. What was happening to her?

Pema felt relief rush through her body as she saw Korra walking in the door. She had been trying to do her daily chores but she could not help but be distracted with worry for Korra. Nobody knew where she was and now here she was walking up the door looking as confused as her.

"So you mean to say you were sleepwalking?" Pema asked for the third time. Korra looked confused too but that was the only explanation she could find. The guards and Tenzin were informed that Korra was back, safe and sound.

The sleepwalking incident happened several more times. And each time, Korra ended up getting closer and closer to the water. She also realized that she'd been having the same dream every night as well. She thought it best to seek Tenzin's advice.

Tenzin could not have been any more confused than she was. Increasing her guards at night did not help to monitor her sleepwalking. The guards mentioned that she just simply disappeared. They stood on guard by her door and by the window. They would have seen her if she did go out. But they didn't.

Korra finally told Tenzin about her dreams. "Do you think it's the spirits trying to tell me to go to the Eastern Air Temple?"

Tenzin contemplated this thought for a while. He remembered the story that his Uncle Sokka mentioned before about his father's disappearance before the big battle to go to the spirit world. Maybe it was Korra's turn now. But he could not help to feel worried.

"We shall see." He came to a conclusion. "I will accompany you myself to the Eastern Air Temple."

Everything happened so fast. Korra haven't even mentioned the strange things happening to her to Mako and Bolin. And in less than 4 hours, she and Tenzin were leaving for their journey. Hopefully, they won't be gone for too long. But something in her told her that she needed to see the brothers and say goodbye.

She stood in front of an even grumpier Mako with his ruffled hair sticking out in all directions. He was rubbing his eyes but at the same time glaring at her. "Do you have any idea what time it is? Some of us need to work in the morning, Avatar." Mako didn't move from the door, intent on kicking the girl out and going back to his bed.

"Hi to you too." Korra managed a small smile. When Mako didn't reply and his eyes remained close while leaning on the door, Korra spoke up again. "So, um, I came to… to say that.."

"Just spit it out."

"I came to say goodbye."

They said at the same time. Korra was staring at her shoes, her right arm holding her left elbow. Mako's eyes opened and revealed shock – his mouth hung open.

"Wha-what? What? What are you talking about?" He sputtered.

"Tenzin and I are going somewhere to investigate something." Mako was mad. First, she came at the arena in the middle of the night, woke him up, and now she can't even tell him the exact reason why she's leaving. So infuriating!

"Care to elaborate more on that, Ava-tar?" Mako stressed the last word. He assumed this was an avatar responsibility and he hated this part of Korra. It meant leaving him and Bolin out of the loop.

Korra refused to look at Mako and instead, fixed her gaze on the wall. "I can't." She and Tenzin discussed that it be best that no one knew about their journey. Not even Pema or Katara knew about this.

However, this angered Mako even more. He wanted to shake some sense into Korra. He counted to ten just like how Asami taught him to do when he got mad at Bolin these past few weeks. "How long will you be gone?"

"I don't know."

"Why do you have to go?"

"I," Korra paused. She honestly didn't know. All she knew was the old man told her that her destiny awaits. "Don't really know either." She let out a defeated sigh. "Look, all I know is that I need to do this. And I came here to let you guys know and not to worry." Mako saw her attempt to smile but failed miserably in his eyes. He knew her far better than this by now.

"And if I don't come back a couple of days before the finals, then it's best that you guys find another waterbender for the team." It broke her heart to say that but she had to be fair to them. ProBending was their future and she wouldn't stand in front of their dreams.

She was surprised at Mako's next reaction. He reached out to her and pulled her in a tight embrace. "Don't be stupid. I trust you. You'll be back by then." He hugged her tighter. "Besides, you wouldn't wanna miss the chance to slug Tahno." Mako felt the first real smile reach Korra's lips.

"Look, I know I told you that it's complicated right now. With you, me, and" Mako paused. "Asami. But we'll sort this out. Just like me and Bolin did." Korra looked up and smiled. "We're a family." Mako added.

Later that morning, Mako stared at the giant Bison that flew on the horizon knowing full well that a part of his heart left with it. He needed to sort things out with Asami. And he had an idea of what he really wanted in his life.

Korra stared at the arena while on the Bison. Tenzin was in charge of steering for the first half of the journey while she was supposed to catch up on sleep. She remembered feeling Mako's tight embrace and how his hair tickled her face. She will come back to Republic City soon. She'll see her family once again and she'll be in Mako's loving arms.

A/N: A prequel to my original thought. I actually ended up writing this one first and didn't expect it to be this long. The old man in Korra's dreams is Pathik, the guru who was supposed to teach Aang how to control the Avatar state.