Chapter 2: Tea, Gifts, and Something Else

Katara's tent was the biggest in the village. Some people said that it took over a thousand pelts to build. Korra thought it would take more. She wanted to peek inside to explore the huge tent, but Korra stood by the entrance outside waiting for Lin Beifong. There were several others from the tribe who had heard the news and gathered; interested to see the miracles of the Avatar.

Katara poked her head outside and invited Korra inside, "Come sit, Korra." She hung a kettle over the fire and pulled some ice from the entrance into the pot without looking.

She continued, "I've learned a great deal of things in my lifetime... Do you know what the most important thing I've learned is, child?"

Korra shook her head.

Old lady Katara laughed, "It's that a hot cup of tea is the best way to start your mornings."

A few minutes later Korra had a warm cup in her hands, and she was sipping on it outside. The tea reminded her how much she had missed her home while she had been in the city. The crowd of people had also grown.

Lin Beifong didn't sleep at all. She was about to put the steel armor on so that she could test her powers when she would get her bending back, but just touching her armor made her put it back down. The cold armor chilled her to the bone and she opted for the fur coat instead.

She stepped outside of the guest tent and was surprised to see the water tribe already clamoring about. She thought she was early. It wasn't like she slept in.

It turns out that news spreads quickly in a small tribe. Everyone had heard about the new Avatar's powers. Lin Beifong headed to Katara's tent. The small crowd outside made way for her and easily let her through. They were quiet, and Korra looked very different. It was quite a thing to see a child from yesterday become an adult.

The Avatar had Lin kneel facing upwards just as Amon did. A great fear surged over her reminding her how horrible it was when her bending was taken. This time, however, Korra stood in front of her, and the fear ebbed. Korra closed her eyes, and placed her thumb pointing downwards onto Lin's forehead.

The world around Lin shutdown and it was as if she were inside her own mind. Korra was besides her struggling to bend an ice gate open.

"Lin, we must open your connection to your ki. This is your mind and it has been closed off by Amon. I'm sure all water-benders who had lost their powers could do it themselves if I showed them where this gate is."

"I don't know how I could help you. I am not a water-bender, Korra."

"This is your mind, Lin. You can make anything here!"

Lin summoned earth around them and created the largest boulder she could muster. She hurled it at the gate and it cracked. Korra worked from the cracked ice and melted it to water. The ki started to pour through the cracks. At first it was a little trickle and then...

Lin opened her eyes. She could sense the earth again. It was deep beneath the snow and ice below them. They're about 12 to 15 meters below. She pulled as hard as she could.

The ki rushed through the gate

Ten large spires pushed their way through the tundra's surface. The crowd cheered for the former chief of police. They cheered for their Avatar. Bolin ran over and hugged Korra.

KORRA! KORRA!

THE GREATEST HEALER THAT HAS EVER LIVED!

Katara smiled and went back inside for her tea.

A wave of relief washed over Korra. It felt pretty good to have your name chanted. All of those benders who had their powers stripped away from them could have bending skills restored.

The rest of the day went by quickly. There were so many neighbors that Korra hadn't seen in months, and she had to visit everyone. Well, it wasn't so much that she had to visit everyone, it was just that every person she visited seemed to have a gift for her-and Korra liked gifts.

Korra received dried squid from Yumi's family, Tenzin's airbender's kite, a new pair of wolf-lion gloves from Old Lady Nini, and an old fire-nation sailcloth leftover from the children of the village with the help of Jinora, Ikki, and Meelo had decorated the sail and covered the fire-insignia with the southern water-tribe emblem instead.

When she asked one of the little boys what she was supposed to do with such a large gift, he beamed and pointed at her tent.

"Itsha cover for yor hous!"

She laughed. It would look ridiculous.

Dried fish, a loaf of bread, a canteen of water, a small knife, a map, and Tenzin's kite. It had been modeled after Aang's, but was much larger to accommodate a middle-aged man. Korra couldn't wait to try it out.

I don't need anything else do I?

She looked around at her small tent. She had a collection of hair beads in a small clay jar that her mother and the other women of the village always gave to her. She never needed any other ones besides the two she always wore. She laid down on her snow-leopard skin bed and curled into a ball for a quick nap.

During dinner Korra had told Tenzin, Mako, Bolin, and Lin her plans about travelling to Ba Sing Se and her latest instructor did not object. It was about time for her to experience the rest of the world. Pema was clearly worried, but got up to tend Rohan's hungry cries. It was a shame Pema had to leave, because Korra's mother, Senna, had cooked up quite a meal. In the center was a large pot of seaweed noodles, much better than the best shop in Republic City. Korra thought the seaweed noodles were just automatically more authentic being in her mother's cooking pot. When next to that were several fried sea crabs seasoned enough so that no matter how many times Korra licked her fingers, the flavor was still there. Tonraq, her father, entertained the guests with a story from his childhood.

"...The hens were mysteriously disappearing each night. Nobody had any idea where they were going. There were rumors that Nini's family had been stealing them and the kids were saying that the Abdominable Snowman was eating them..."

Bolin choked on his food.

Skeptical, Asami asked, "So what did you do?".

"Well, I was just about to turn fourteen-about to become a real man, you see. I figured someone in the village had to solve this mystery so I stayed up for two nights guarding the arctic hens. The night before my Ice-Dodging rite, the snow leopard came. It was huge!"

Bouin was wide-eyed. "Didja kill it, sir?"

Her father nodded. "When it saw me I think it realized that I would be a lot more food than a hen. It lunged at me and gave me this."

He pulled his left sleeve back and revealed a long scar from the outside of his forearm to the inside of his bicep. Senna smiled. She knew her husband loved telling this story.

Tonraq continued, "It knocked me over and jumped at me again, but I grabbed his throat with my right hand and held it as tight as I could. With my other hand I got out my knife and it was over in a couple seconds, really. Katara even declared me a man before my Ice Dodging ritual because your mother took so long healing me." He grinned and looked over at Senna.

Korra returned to her tent to gather her things and looked around one last time trying to figure out what she'd forgotten. Then it hit her and Korra literally face-palmed.

A bed!