Creation began on 06-14-13
Creation ended on 06-23-13
The Legend of Korra
Past and Present Winds
A/N: Here we go with the second chapter. Hopefully, things will get greater in this sequel to the previous story. I will try to ditch the identity identification crud between Avatar Korra and the Sky Bison Korra. Let's do this!
"…Urgh!" Korra grunted, still unable to get through the Airbending gates.
It had been at least three weeks since she and Yue had arrived in Republic City and Air Nomad Island to get the young woman trained in the art of Airbending before she went to the city to aid in restoring the order and peace there. The young Avatar-in-training still had difficulty in learning the art, though Rohan continued to show patience in teaching her, which made Yue relieved to avoid her great-granddaughter yelling in fury at not yet performing Airbending yet.
Yue, in the meantime, watched her from a distance as she helped around the island's garden and fed the lemurs and bison. She didn't enjoy seeing Korra fail each attempt to pass through the gates unharmed, but practice makes perfect, and the more effort you put into what you wanted to achieve, the better you learn from your errors.
"Korra," Rohan uttered to the young Avatar-in-training, "let's call it a day and you get some rest."
With a sigh and a few bruises on her, Korra nodded in the positive and bowed her head to her teacher. In all honesty, she had found it easier to meditate than to do anything else in her Airbending training; every time she tried to pass through the gates, she got hit by them, and now she had a few bruises on her wrists, back and legs.
-x-
Knock-knock. Yue knocked on the door to Korra's room.
"Korra," she uttered, "might I come in?"
"Yes, Yue," she heard her respond, and slid the door open to enter.
"I see you've healed your bruises."
"The Waterbending healing method cures nearly everything."
"Heh-heh," Yue chuckled, sitting on the edge on her bed and seeing Naga outside her window. "You'll master Airbending in due time, Korra."
"Thanks, Yue," Korra expressed, giving Yue a weak smile.
"You know what you need?"
"Huh?"
"You need a breather. A small getaway from your training. What do you say we go around Republic City tomorrow? You and me?"
"Are you sure that's a good idea?"
"Yeah, and you look like you could use a break from running through the gates."
"Eh-heh-heh! Yeah."
-x-
"…I feel like I was cooped up on the island for a long time," Korra told Yue, as they wandered around the streets of the city. "I feel so alive out here."
They were near the park when Yue and she saw a gathering of people at a platform with a man shouting through a megaphone.
"What's going on here?" Yue wondered out loud.
"…Join the Equalists, and we'll tear down the bending establishment!" They heard the guy say to the people, which caused Yue to place a firm hand on Korra's left shoulder and take her away from the crowd to avoid unnecessary conflict.
"Well, that was certainly awful," Korra told her.
"One thing at a time, Korra," she responded, now that they were far away from the park. "One thing at a time. More training first, then dealing with the trouble here."
"Say, I can see City Hall from here," the young woman expressed, changing the subject, which then made Yue take notice of their current surroundings. "Yue?"
The world around her was still, with old memories that caused her great discomfort replaying themselves in her mind. This section of the neighborhood down the street from City Hall made her uneasy with what happened here years ago.
"Sokka!" She heard herself yelling to her husband.
"Yue!" Sokka had yelled back.
"Sokka!"
She covered her face with her left hand, shutting out the uneasiness she was feeling. So many times, she wished that awful had never happened, to have it all be just some crazy dream.
"…Yue?" Her great-granddaughter's voice broke her from her memories of that day, snapping her back to the present. "Are you alright?"
"Huh? Oh, yeah, Korra. I'm fine now." She answered her, but the truth was that she was far from fine. "Um, let's go get something to eat, okay?"
As they walked down the street, away from City Hall, toward Narook's Seaweed Noodlery, the young Avatar had noticed that her great-grandmother seemed disturbed to be in that part of the neighborhood down from City Hall, like something happened to her down there that just rose up from her past. She suspected that, due to having a minor recollection of Aang's memories of that day, it involved the death of her great-grandfather, whom she never got to meet.
"…Just hurry up and hand over the payment for this week's protection, old man," they both heard and saw a young man in a suit, accompanied by two other men in suits, ganging up on an elderly man holding up a phonograph to the trio.
"Uh-oh," Yue gasped, and the four men looked at the two women; they had, unintentionally, stepped into the territory of the Triple Threat Triads, who were harassing non-benders. "We'll just be going."
She turned Korra and herself around to walk back the other way, but then the ground in front of them rose up and formed a wall, blocking their escape.
"Say, don't we know the old lady from somewhere?" One of the suits asked, referring to Yue herself. "Yeah, she's that woman from the Northern Water Tribe. A living legend, able to bend two elements instead of one."
"Yeah, that's Lady Yue," added the suit on the middle suit's left. "I thought she died years ago. She must be over one-hundred-fifty years old."
"She's probably worth a lot to her relatives," the third suit chuckled, which made Korra disgusted at the three that blocked their escape.
"Gentlemen," Yue tried to implore the men to see reason; she was still a powerful bender, but her body wasn't in good condition for strenuous activities, excluding traveling. "We don't want any trouble."
"It looks like trouble found you," the three told them.
"Wrong," went Korra, standing in between her and the Triple Threat Triad members, "it found you!"
Assuming an Earthbending stance, Korra bended the ground beneath them and created a hole, causing them to fall into a tunnel system. The three groaned in agony as they hurt in places unprotected from their fall.
"Thanks, Korra," Yue praised, and then turned over to the old man. "Are you okay, sir?"
"Yeah," he answered, just as the police arrived.
-x-
Thankfully, due to Korra's intervention, the Metalbending Police Force had arrested three more members of the bending triads, and thanks to Yue and the phonograph store owner, Chung, explaining what had happened to drove Korra to cause minor damage to the street, the young Avatar wasn't charged with property damage or taking the law into her own hands. The three Triple Threat Triad members would be facing jail time for the next ten years. The Chiefs of Police, Po Kong and Dai Gui Beifong, thanked the girl, and that was that; there was no need to have the city know that the new Avatar was around just yet. Even Chung had no clue if Korra was just wearing Water Tribe attire to hide her Earth Kingdom heritage or whatever.
"Maybe this is something we shouldn't let Tenzin and the others know about for now," Korra suggested to Yue, as they were led out the station.
"Yeah," Yue agreed with her, feeling relieved of some weight that came with the fear of being threatened with kidnapping and held as a hostage for ransom. This city has gotten rotten with instability in the years Aang's been gone.
They decided to finish the day out in the city by going to see a match over at the Pro-Bending Arena, and as a means to forget what had almost happened earlier in the day. They were lucky that they had gotten there on time, as the ticket vendor was about to close and had the last two tickets to see the match between the Fire Ferrets and the Golden Temple Tigerdillos. Unfortunately, they had only been to the arena just once when they arrived, and they (mainly because of Yue's faded memories of the arena) didn't remember where the stairs to the seats were.
"Oh, dear," Yue sighed, pulling her head's left front lock of hair back. "I wish we had come back here several more times when we arrived."
"Hey, you two!" They turned around and saw a large man in a suit approaching them. "What are you doing in my gym?"
"Just…looking for our seats, sir," Yue explained. "We have our tickets."
They showed their tickets and he directed them to where they needed to go to catch what was left of the match going on before leaving them alone. When they arrived at a door, Korra thought they had found the stairs to the rows of seats and opened the door, despite Yue suggesting they knock first. They walked in…and found three young men, around Korra's age, all dressed in red and bone-white uniforms with protective padding.
"Why don't you ever think before doing?" Yue groaned.
"Oops," Korra chuckled.
"Hello, ladies," the boy that seemed to be a little younger than the other two, greeted the pair. "Are you lost here?"
"Um, yes, sir," Yue answered him, explaining that they were looking for their seats to watch the match.
"Oh, well, um…if you like, you can watch the match from up here," the boy expressed, pointing to a viewing balcony, where they could see the Pro-Bending match ring, which was without a single competitor in sight.
"Um, okay," Korra accepted their offer, "but where are the players?"
"You're looking at them," the boy that seemed about Korra's age, responded with a tone of seriousness, pointing his right thumb to himself.
"You three are the Fire Ferrets?" Yue questioned, viewing this as unbelievable; she hadn't expected to meet Pro-Benders in person today.
-x-
The match was in its final round, with the Fire Ferrets taking a major beating, but something Yue was able to deduce as the Waterbending member of the group not working well with the Firebender or Earthbender, whom were working well against the Tigerdillos that were pushed back to the edge of their side of the stadium. The Fire Ferret leader, revealed by an announcer to be called Mako, used his Firebending to force the three Tigerdillos off and into the pool below the stadium, effectively winning the third and final half of the match.
"Whoo-hoo!" Korra and Yue cheered.
I guess it wasn't a bad thing that we got lost, Yue thought, enjoying a drink of water in the Fire Ferrets' prep room until they returned.
"Their Waterbending member, Hasook, doesn't seem to work well with Mako and Bolin," Korra expressed, wondering how the group ever made it this far in the tournament with him.
"Probably frustration," her great-grandmother suggested; she knew that wanting to win matches in the Pro-Bending tournaments put great measures of expectations on each member of the participating teams. "These matches get intensive."
When the Fire Ferrets returned, Yue was about to thank the Earthbending member, Bolin, for his hospitality, but then Hasook and Mako were conversing mildly about how the match could've gone the other way and that Hasook had done more harm than good. But Hasook told Mako to get off his case and he left the room once he grabbed his bag.
"Sorry about that," Bolin apologized to the ladies.
"It's okay," Yue responded. "That was a great match you won. The way the bending is performed in these challenges has progressed remarkably."
"Yeah. When you live in a city like this, the way bending is performed has be careful, precise and such," Bolin explained.
"Yeah. Waterbending has to be aggressive, precise and fast-paced, due to the limited availability of water," Yue revealed, which made her displeased with the way Waterbending was demonstrated in the United Republic, as it was mostly fueled by negative emotions (and she wasn't much of an anger-expressing person on any level, whatsoever). "Earthbending has been reduced greatly to just using projectiles to limit potential damage to the grounds and buildings, focusing on speed and evasion, and its sub-skill, Metalbending, is the primary method in use, since it causes little to no collateral damage. But Firebending, like Airbending, hasn't changed much over the years."
"Except that the United Republic Firebenders mostly employ the sub-skill of lightning generation, with the exclusion of those affiliated with the bending triads," Korra cut in, something that seemed to make Mako cough with discomfort.
"But they can choose whether or not to employ the use of such a sub-skill, Korra," Yue expressed, enforcing that every bender with a sub-skill in their bending arsenal could choose whether or not to use such abilities. "Goodness, where are our manners. We haven't been properly introduced. My name is Yue and this is my great-granddaughter, Korra."
"I'm Bolin," Bolin introduced himself, "and the guy with the temper tone is my big brother, Mako."
"Hello," Mako greeted them.
Although the rest of the audience had left the arena, Yue and Korra stayed a bit longer, mostly because Korra wanted to know how the Pro-Benders bended during the matches, something Bolin was willing to show her.
"It's so simple, even seven-year-old Earthbenders could try this maneuver," Bolin had explained to Korra, before showing her how he Earthbended with stone discs being targeted at nets when he practiced in the gym.
"Incredible," she expressed.
"Though, I'm not sure how my Earthbending will translate into your Waterbending, but I'm sure we'll figure it all out."
"Oh, that's okay," Korra told him, being smug. "I'm actually an Earthbender."
Cough! Yue gasped! She was hoping that Korra could keep quiet about her status as the Avatar until after she had achieved her Airbending training.
"Something wrong, Ms. Yue?" Mako asked her, as he brought her another cup of water.
"My Korra can tend to get carried away sometimes," she expressed, hoping that the girl wouldn't go on about her bending abilities.
"You might as well just say who you two truly are," Mako told her. "You're well known in Republic City's history books. You're Lady Yue of the Northern Water Tribe."
"…That you were a Water Tribe…gal," they heard Bolin say to Korra.
"Nope, you're right," Korra assured him. "I'm a Waterbender…and a Firebender."
"Okay, now I'm confused," Bolin expressed, not understanding her.
"Oh, Moon and Ocean Spirits," Yue sighed in defeat, and Mako and she approached the two. "To clarify what Korra is explaining to you, Bolin…"
"She's the Avatar, her great-grandmother's the sister-in-law of the previous Avatar, a Waterbender and an Airbender, and you and I are a pair of idiots," Mako finished.
"Both are true," Korra mockingly added in.
"No…no…no way," Bolin expressed, awed at who he was standing in front of. "You're the Avatar."
-x-
After swearing the brothers to secrecy about Korra being the Avatar, Yue and she were on the way back to Air Temple Island. It was surprising to both ladies when they found out that the brothers actually lived in the Pro-Bending building.
"Sorry about that, Yue," Korra apologized to her great-grandmother, as they walked on the calm water back to the island.
"It's okay, Korra," she told her. "Just…try to refrain from revealing your Avatar status until after you've performed some Airbending. If the city knew you were here before you've mastered all the elements, you'd be at a disadvantage. Just because you master three of them doesn't mean you're untouchable."
Korra sighed in agreement and they continued to Waterbend their way home by freezing their steps toward the island.
"Korra?" Yue went. "Shall we go back to further your bending skills another time?"
"Huh?"
"You've mastered traditional bending. As long as we're gonna be here in the United Republic, you should get lessons from Mako and Bolin on how to bend like the Pro-Benders. There's only so much you can do with the traditional style of bending."
"But, Yue, you don't like the way Waterbending has changed around here."
"But…it's better than that other sub-skill of Waterbending that you've learned only to resist if necessary…should you ever deal with it in the future."
"Yue? Earlier today…when we were out in the city…you recalled something that happened to you a long time ago, didn't you? You seemed upset about it."
When they reached the base of the island, Yue sighed and explained that she had a hard time putting behind her the awful memories of the last time she was in the city. This made Korra worry about her; there was always the subtle fear in her family that what had befell Sokka could happen to any one of them in the future. And there was her predecessor Avatar's memories of what happened, but there were gaps in the memories, like bits of history in the Four Nations that weren't well documented in the past.
-x-
GASP! Korra awoke in the late hours of the night, before the rising of the sun, from an awful nightmare that didn't make any sense to her because it happened so fast that she forgot most of it.
"Grr?" Naga whimpered, getting her attention.
"It's okay, Naga," she assured her Polar Bear Dog companion. "It was only a bad dream."
The two remained awake for the last half-hour of the night, watching the sunrise and the new day begin for Air Temple Island's inhabitants.
"Oh!" Korra gasped, bumping into a male member of the Air Acolytes. "I'm sorry, sir! I didn't mean to bump into you…"
"Accidents happen, Ms. Korra," he cut her off kindly, offering a hand to help her off the ground.
She accepted, and then realized that she had bumped into Jinora's husband, Jin. Appearance-wise, the Air Acolyte was quite handsome, with brownish-red hair, gray eyes, well into his early-thirties, but probably around the same age as his wife and probably well-muscled underneath his Air Acolyte robes.
"Are you alright? You look like you didn't get much sleep last night." Jin spoke, a bit worried.
"Oh, just a little bad dream, nothing serious," Korra told him, and then went to the Airbending training grounds to meet with Rohan and the three Airbending girls under his tutelage.
"Are you ready to begin again, Korra?" Rohan asked her, but then noticed she had slight circles of darkness under her eyes. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," she assured him.
In the garden, Yue was picking ripe peaches with Pema, Ikki and several Air Nomads and Air Acolytes. Yue herself hadn't slept well last night, either. Her past caught up with her in her dreams, fabricating cold events in the form of an awful nightmare. In the end, everything within the dream came to a head with just one major climax: She lost the only man she ever loved, and it tore her up inside.
"Yue?" Ikki called out to her. "Maybe you should go get some more rest."
"Oh, no, I couldn't," Yue expressed. "I'm fine, really."
"Really, Yue, I must insist that you go rest some more."
Yue sighed in defeat and bowed her head before setting down the basket of peaches collected so far and walked away. She didn't want to feel like she wasn't contributing her share of help just because she had one bad dream…or bad memories that were starting to come to her in her dreams.
"Urgh!" Yue heard Korra grunt, having gotten hit by the spinning gates again. "Oh…"
For a few hours, the two were resting in their rooms, feeling revitalized and full of new energy when they awoke. And Yue calm, free of the emotional weight from earlier, while Korra simply felt like she could take on an army.
"…How do you two feel?" Tenzin asked them, seeing leave the women's dormitory of the temple.
"Better," they answered him.
However, even with the good rest, Korra was still unable to pass through the spinning gates; she was still trying to force her way through the gates, something that wouldn't benefit her in her training. Yue could've told her many times that there was hardly any force in Airbending; the element of freedom was all about evasion, the path of least resistance. And now that she thought about it, the sight of the gates became tempting to her, and she was still flexible in the art.
"Excuse me, Rohan?" She asked, seeing Korra get back up. "Is it possible for me to try to get through the gates?"
"Uh, sure," he answered her. "If you're well enough, that is."
"I'm well. Plus, I haven't gone through the gates in a long time."
Korra became curious as to why Yue was interested in going through the gates, though it might've had something to do with Rohan's teaching her of the movements required of Airbending.
"In Airbending, you always have to be able to be seek alternative paths to take, whether you're in a battle or other situation where resistance is met. And in a moment's notice, you have to be able to shift into the path where there is less resistance than what's in front of you. Since you're just starting, it's okay if you don't understand any of this right now. In time, you'll be able to perform the movements, even if you don't fully understand them." She remembered him telling her.
The three Airbending girls used their bending to spin the gates again, and Korra watched her grandmother go through them. But unlike herself, Yue was doing better! She watched her in awe and envy as Yue looked like she was dancing, and dancing well for a woman pushing over a century and a half. With every step she took, every turn she made the moment she felt wind in her face, and she wasn't even looking where she was going, Yue avoided the gates with such grace, such elegance that she could've been a bending instructor as well as a dance instructor. When she came out of the other side of the gates, unharmed and all, Yue took a moment to catch her breath, feeling exhilarated.
"That was great," she expressed.
"I see you still got it, Lady Yue," they all heard Tenzin, who saw his aunt go through gates. "Not bad."
"Why, thank you," she responded to him.
Korra wanted so badly to do what she did and pass through the gates without hitting them, and it took all of her effort just to keep from trashing them. She knew she was trying to force her way through, but it was hard to let go of force and focus on subtlety. She thanked the spirits that Rohan has shown great patience with her efforts, but she was considering giving up.
-x-
It was about a week since the day Yue and Korra went on their day off to hang around Republic City, and as the sun went down, Meelo had looked around the island…and found no trace of who he was looking for.
"Yue, have you see Korra?" He asked Yue, who was feeding her bison.
"Grrr?" Korra growled in confusion.
"He didn't mean you, Korra," Yue told her. "No, I haven't seen her since this afternoon. Why?"
"I've looked everywhere on the island, and I can't find her. Rohan's worried that she might've run off because she hasn't made much progress with her training." He explained.
Yue wondered for a moment and thought of places where Korra might've run off to, but had to find out if it was only her that ran off.
"Did she take Naga with her?" She asked him.
"No, Naga's still in her room," he answered her.
"I'll get Rohan, and we'll go look for her."
"Do you know where she might've gone?"
"Just one place. I just hope I'm right."
-x-
If she had to give up on Airbending, there was better substitute than Pro-Bending in her mind. She had already gone to the arena two nights after the night she and Yue met Mako and Bolin, learning of the ways bending is performed in the city, and had progressed a bit in the arts. So, before she could break the ice to Rohan that she was going to give up, she had to see another Pro-Bending match and just let go of training.
Even Yue could get past the gates without any effort, she thought, now heading toward the prep room reserved for the Fire Ferrets. Of course, it was easy for her. She's had years to achieve mastery of the disciplines required for Airbending. She even had the years needed to master Waterbending, and, honestly, she and Katara are better than me at Waterbending. I still waste my sources and neglect to carry a Water Skin.
When she entered the Fire Ferrets' prep room to wish them luck on their upcoming match to get into the tournament, she found only Mako and Bolin, with Hasook nowhere in sight.
"Did I miss your match?" She asked them, confused. "It looks like you guys just lost, big time."
"No, we haven't lost the match tonight," Mako answered her, "though we might as well have lost it. Hasook is a no-good no-show!"
A second after being informed, a man, one of the bending referees, showed up behind Korra and informed the Fire Ferrets that they had five minutes left to come out and play or face getting disqualified and losing their chance to participate in the championship, and then left them alone again.
"Uh, couldn't you get one of them to participate in your team?" Korra suggested, looking over on the other side of the arena at the opposing team's prep room.
"No," went Bolin. "The rules state you can only work with one team."
Then Korra got another idea!
-x-
"…What makes you think Korra would come here?" Rohan asked Yue, as they reached the front doors of the Pro-Bending building.
"Korra idolizes Pro-Bending," Yue explained, "and we were here a few times. It's…her passion."
"Oh. Tonight's match-up is the underdog team, the Fire Ferrets, against the competing team, the Pinnacle Palace Platypus Bears."
"Huh?!"
"I was studying up on Pro-Bending after I had earned my Airbending tattoos. I know the names of the teams currently existing."
"That explains it all."
They ran through the halls, and Rohan, who had looked at maps and blueprints of the building in his studies of Pro-Bending, knew where to go better than Yue had a hard time remembering where to go. When they reached the audience, the crowds were going wild with either excitement or disgust. There were even some that were struck with awe at what was happening.
"Hold on a minute!" A man's voice over the loudspeakers around the whole stadium came about. "Did that Waterbender just Earthbend?!"
A Waterbender Earthbending? Rohan thought, realizing that Yue was right that Korra would be here.
"You have got to be kidding me! She's the Avatar, people, playing in a Pro-Bending match!" The voice bellowed again, and Yue and Rohan were left half shocked that everybody there had found out about their world's harbinger of order and peace…and half angry that the guy announcing this revelation had said it so loud that their ears hurt; however they felt about Korra being revealed would have to wait until another time.
"Rohan?" Yue asked her great-nephew.
"Yes, Yue?" He responded.
"Maybe we should just sit down and see how Korra fares against the Platypus Bears," she suggested to him, deciding that she could reprimand her great-grandchild another time when the match was over.
He agreed with her and followed her down the steps to where she felt the announcing voice couldn't hurt their ears. They then heard a referee's voice announcing that the Fire Ferret's Waterbender, the Avatar, would be allowed to continue so long as she only used Waterbending; this showed Yue and Rohan that even in this day and age, the Avatar was an exception to many things.
"Yue, it's only a possibility, but maybe this could help Korra with her Airbending teachings," Rohan then suggested to his great-aunt.
"Are you sure?" She questioned, not wanting to be judgmental about his assumption that Pro-Bending could help aid Korra in becoming an Airbender.
"During our practice sessions with Ibuki, Yuki and Kyoko, I've tried to install within Korra that Airbending is all about taking the path of least resistance, to seek an alternative route in whatever situation you find yourself in. Since she was only starting out, it was okay if she didn't fully understand the meaning behind so."
"And you believe that this will demonstrate to her the path of least resistance? That she will use her Airbending teachings against the opposing team?"
"It's a possibility, Yue."
Yue turned away from him and back to the ring where the Pro-Benders were fighting.
"For Korra's sake, I hope you're right about this," she told him; as much as Korra needed to show that some of the Airbending lessons had managed to sink into her consciousness, she also wanted the brothers she and Korra met to participate in the championship happening this year, and if aiding them for some reason would also help, then she could live with the people knowing that their new Avatar was in the city.
-x-
Korra was in big trouble! Mako and Bolin were boxed in on the first zone of the ring by the Platypus Bears' Waterbending member while the Earth and Firebending members were trying to hit her to win the match once she was at the third zone. She hated that the lessons she had picked up from the brothers wasn't helping her at all in this predicament. As much as bending had progressed and evolved in the United Republic, she could use some of that ancient, traditional style of bending.
As an Earthbending disc came her way, seconds away from making contact, the Avatar suddenly shifted her body to the left, just like an…
"Huh?!" Yue gasped, seeing that stance from long ago. "Rohan, was that what I think it was?"
"She did it, Yue," he expressed, chuckling.
The two Platypus Bears continued to hurl fireballs and stone discs at Korra, but all she did was shift and turn, dodging each attempt. She couldn't believe it, but all the sudden…everything Rohan had been teaching her seemed to be put into motion with her movements. She felt like she was dancing, like how they often did in the ballrooms of Ba Sing Se, and she'd never been to Ba Sing Se in her life! There was no force, no trying real hard involved, just moving with the calm breeze, like a leaf in the wind.
As the announcer went on about how she was moving with a different style of fighting, the Platypus Bears were becoming exhausted that their Waterbending member had to assist in dealing with Korra, but even he was no match for the Avatar's evasion. And when all three were left worn out, they all received a grand defeat from the Fire Ferret brothers, who had plenty of strength to win the match!
"And the Fire Ferrets have won their spot in the Pro-Bending Championship Tournament!" The announcer proclaimed, and the audience went wild with excitement.
Yue cheered like a mad woman, with Rohan remaining calm, though he couldn't help but feel proud of Korra being able to put the lessons learned to good use.
-x-
"…You were awesome, Korra," said Bolin to the Avatar, as the brothers were packing up for the night. "Where did you learn to move like that?"
"Oh… I have two teachers that are currently teaching me the art of traditional bending," she explained, which was a half-truth; while Yue wasn't really her teacher in the art of Airbending, she couldn't let go of her passing through the spinning gates so gracefully. "So, uh… I guess I'll see you around."
But before she left, Mako reached out to stop her and had his left hand on her left shoulder.
"Korra," he started. "I, uh… Well, since Hasook isn't likely to return…would you be considering becoming the Fire Ferrets' new Waterbending member?"
"Really?"
"Yes."
"I, uh…"
"You should go for it, Korra," the three turned to the door and saw Yue standing there with a smile on her face. "You always said you wanted to Pro-Bend and everything when you're not training to be the Avatar. And you did good out there for your debut match."
"Hold on a minute. You were out there watching me?" Korra asked her.
"Yeah. You were starting to move like an Airbender in the final round. You keep facing your opponents like that…and you'll be nearly untouchable."
Korra smiled and told Mako that she was in with the Fire Ferrets.
On the way back of Yue's bison, the young Avatar wanted to know what made her think to look for her at the arena.
"When Meelo came to me asking if I've seen you, and that Rohan was worried, well, I figured you would go to see a Pro-Bending match," Yue explained her deduction to her. "Korra? If I made you feel less than a bender when I wanted to go through the spinning gates myself, I apologize."
"No, it wasn't anything like that," Korra responded. "I've never seen you as proficient in Airbending as I've seen you in Waterbending back when I was little. It was like you were dancing past the gates."
"You'll get through those gates, Korra, even if it means I have to go through them with you."
"Oh, really?"
"Yes, really."
"Grrr," growled the bison Korra, as she flew toward Air Temple Island in the light of the moon.
A/N: Well, I'll stop this chapter right here. The next chapter will be a shorty/quickie and then the next one will be enriching a little bit. Read and review.
