I had a little bit of difficulty with this chapter. I didn't know if I ought to put the second part first or second, but I eventually went with second. If it's not right to you guys, then I'll come back in and change them.

Chapter 2 Spirited

"Do you think your mom is right?" It was early morning, and Huan and Himiko sat in the gardens near the Beifong residence. Huan sat there, blinking back sleep, while Himiko seemed wide awake.

"Right about what?" he asked, stifling a yawn.

"To go." When Huan did not answer, she added, "To Republic City. I don't like this."

Suyin would be leaving within the next few days. So far, Himiko had kept her concerns quiet. But as the time grew closer, her dislike of the entire thing seemed to grow.

"She kind of has to, doesn't she? The leaders have invited her, and they like and trust her."

He yawned again. Himiko smiled. "Did you even sleep last night?"

"Hardly," he grumbled.

With a laugh, she leaned forward and brushed a strand of hair out of his face. "Then why not go back to sleep for a little while? Even an hour won't hurt."

Huan shook his head and rose to his feet. He held out his hand to Himiko, who took it. "I have too much to do," he replied.

"Your art can wait a little while!" She stood facing him, still holding onto his hand. "You're really in no hurry, are you? It isn't like you're working under a deadline or anything..." She trailed off with a shudder.

"What's wrong?" Huan asked, his grip on her hand tightening.

"Nothing," she murmured, looking a little lost and confused. She slipped her hand free of his and wrapped her arms around herself. "I just felt something, something like a presence... I've felt it before, but it just really took me by surprise this time."

Huan pulled her into an embrace. With a sigh, Himiko rested her head against his chest. He held her like that, the two of them unspeaking, until she calmed down.

"I don't know what that's about," she whispered.

"Ssh," Huan murmured. "It's not hostile, is it?"

"No," Himiko replied, knowing exactly what he meant. She had been able to see spirits for as long as she could remember, well before Avatar Korra opened the Spirit Portals. She could also reach the Spirit World. Three years ago, shortly before assassinating the Earth Queen, Himiko had met Zaheer in the Spirit World. It left her a little frightened and easy to scare when the subject arose. As far as Huan knew, she had not attempted to reach the Spirit World since.

"Then it won't hurt you." She sighed faintly against his chest. Huan began to stroke her hair. "Does it really bother you that much?" he asked.

"Not... not usually. I have felt it before, and often in fact, but I don't like surprises."

"I can't imagine you would in this case." He placed a kiss on her hair, near the metal flower he had made for her three years before. "Why don't you stay with me?"

Himiko smiled at him. "I like that idea just fine."

As the two of them walked through the gardens, he asked, "But not as well as the idea of dying your hair?"

Himiko laughed. "I'll tell you what... if Kuvira is stopped, then I'll let you dye the tips green."

Huan chuckled as they approached the abstract, waterfall-like sculpture he had begun the week before. "And if I stop her myself?" he asked.

"You can color all of it!" She wrapped her arms around his waist and held him for a moment, smiling happily to herself. Whatever it was that touched her soon left her mind as she watched Huan work.

The old woman scowled to herself as she touched the trunk of the large banyan-grove tree, deep in the heart of the Foggy Swamp. Her hand rested on it only for balance, not that she needed it. She felt everything through her feet, curling her toes against the large root on which she stood.

She had been living in the swamp for years, using the roots of the ancient tree to keep an eye, so to speak, on those who needed it.

In Republic City, her older daughter was easy to find. Her energy was dark and moody, temperamental as ever. She chuckled to herself. Not only was Lin a grump, but it was made worse by the young prince of the Earth Kingdom. "Poor Lin, got your hands full, don't you?" she asked no one.

She skimmed over others in the city as well, Tenzin, who was flustered and busy. His wife Pema, her hands full with their youngest child. The older three she could not find, nor could she find Korra's presence.

Her scowl deepened as she reached further, towards the metal city of Zaofu. She found her younger daughter, weary but determined. Her oaf of a husband was busy, she knew. He would be expanding the city, he always was.

Her oldest grandson and her only granddaughter were not within the city. She could find them, but she had a vague idea of where and what they were doing. Opal would be keeping peace as an airbender. Baatar Jr. would be with Kuvira, trying to prove himself, she assumed.

Her youngest grandsons were eager and energetic. "Probably playing their little game," she muttered to herself. That left her second oldest grandson. She found his presence easily. Not because of his spirital energy, but the young woman with him. She was easy to feel, clear through to the swamp. As she sought her out, she could feel her tense and sense her fear.

Toph Beifong chuckled to herself as she removed her hand from the tree and started down its massive roots. "Wonder why I give that one a start each time?" she mused aloud. She had to be one of those Su brought home. She vaguely remembered a small child getting underfoot, chasing things normal people could not see.

"Well, most everyone can see them now," she said, though Himiko was much too far away to hear it. Toph squished through the mud to her home, ready for a quiet evening of relaxing and picking the mud and gunk from between her toes.