A New Journey
"No Korra... It's not okay..."
"Korra... please... just listen..."
"Korra..."
"Korraaa..."
"KORRA!"
"Korra... Korra! You're burning them!"
"Huh? Oh! AH crap!" Korra yelped, abruptly bending water from a nearby sink and sending the fluid flying into her pan. Steam billowed forth in a huge cloud as the burning mess in the avatar's pan simmered down, leaving little more than a smoldering black heap and a large mess...
Grumpily, Korra sighed and poked the black pile of mush in the pan. It definitely wasn't the first time this had happened. But it most certainly was the first time it had happened twice while cooking the same thing in the same sitting...
"Korra... my dear... What is wrong?" an kind, but worried voice sounded from behind the avatar.
"Oh... it's uhm... it's nothing, no big deal." Korra dismissed the woman's concerns, doing her best to appear as normal as possible, but of course failing miserably.
"Come, come, Korra... you've burned a meal before, but you've never burned the same meal twice in one session..." The elderly woman pressed, clearly not fooled at all by the avatar's attempt to feign normality, "You can tell old Yin here what it is that is bothering you..."
"Well... I... Uhh..." Korra continued to hesitate.
"Korra, dear... I have seen two generations of my children, it isn't very hard for me to tell when something is on a young one's mind..." The elderly woman continued to push.
"I... Just haven't been sleeping well..." The avatar finally muttered in a tone that was barely audible. It was almost as if she didn't want Yin to hear her answer to the woman's question.
"Dear, dear, Korra..." Yin merely smiled warmly at the young woman, "It's not common for you to sleep restlessly now is it? You know I may be old, but even my old ears can hear you snore sometimes!"
Korra's cheeks reddened slightly beneath her darker complexion as Yin prodded fun at her tendancy to snore whenever she caught restful sleep.
"Besides, I've seen Asami try to wake you up a few times when you take a nap!" Yin continued on, oblivious to the way the avatar's cheeks seemed to be reddening by the second. "It's like that poor Asami is trying to wake up a rock!"
Unfortunately for the avatar, however, Yin's teasing words only brought her mind to the true source of her rather poor sleep... Asami...
Noticing that the other party's gaze seemed to have disappeared into the distance, Yin turned her head back to Korra with a more serious look of concern written across her features.
"Korra dear..." Yin repeated for what seemed to be the hundredth time, "What is it that is really bothering you?"
"It's..." Korra started, but paused again, more concern and worry written across her face.
"Come now Korra, you know I will listen..." Yin pressured yet again, using that gentle and warm smile of hers to urge the avatar forwards. At last, her efforts paid off.
"It's..." Korra paused before finally heaving a sigh, "It's just that Asami was supposed to return two days ago... Two days!"
Yin's features brightened into a warm smile upon realizing that the avatar was merely missing her loved one and perhaps anxious for her quick return.
"Oho that's very faithful of you Korra..." She commented, "I'm sure she will be back soon, perhaps she just had to spend a few days... doing her business?"
"Yeah... maybe..." Korra grumbled, but her features didn't brighten at all, "But that doesn't change the fact that she hasn't called at all nor has she ever been late like this... The least she would do is let me know what is happening..."
"Oh Korra... It's perfectly normal to feel lonely and anxious when your significant other is away..." Yin chuckled with her aging voice, "Believe me, I would know!"
"It's totally not-!" Korra started but halted halfway through her sentence. "Okay fine, maybe a little bit..." The avatar finally admitted, "But I'm just not comfortable knowing that she hasn't said a single word or called or left a message or anything at all! It's just not like her to go completely silent like that..."
"Well, if it truly bothers you that much, you are always at liberty to fix it." Came the elderly woman's reply, "You are a young one after all..."
Korra was about to issue a rather heated retort when she suddenly blinked and tilted her head slightly with though. Yin had a point... She most certainly could fix it!
With a smile suddenly brightening her features, Korra hastily shoved the disaster of a meal that was still in her pan into the trash before quickly scrubbing the item free of any debris.
"You're right, I can fix it!" Korra repeated aloud to the aging woman. "In fact, I think I'll catch the next airship to the island this afternoon!"
Shocked that the avatar was seriously considering her suggestion, Yin only blinked and opened her mouth wordlessly; sounds refusing to emerge from her mouth as Korra quite clearly intended to go through with this.
"I... Well... Alright then Korra, just remember to be care-"
"You're the best, Yin!" Korra interrupted, catching the elderly woman in a warm, squeezing hug before releasing her and sprinting off down the hall.
"-ful..." Yin finally finished as the avatar vanished around a corner. Letting out a small resignated sigh, the elderly woman merely allowed herself a small smile.
"Ahh... the wonders of youth..." She murmured to herself. "It's a shame she's going to miss out on my specialty meat buns!"
Hours Later...
Per usual, packing her bags for a small trip proved to be a very easy task for Korra. The avatar always did travel light after all. What was a little bit less travel sized?
The two people that insisted on tagging along with her...
From that point on, the avatar had something that looked like a permanent scowl written on her face as her two male companions, brothers, laughed, joked, and talked the entire way from Asami's house to the Republic City Air Station.
"Ugh! Why are you guys coming with me again?" Korra finally growled, interrupting a seemingly comical conversation between her two friends. Of course her grumpy demeanor earned her a startled gawk from both men.
"Because Yin told us where you were going?" Mako replied in a rather lousy attempt to come up with a good reason that he didn't quite have yet.
Korra's scowl only seemed to deepen.
"Oh c'mon Korra! It will be just like old times!" Bolin spoke up in his characteristically cheerful and overly dramatic voice. "Think about it! It's the reunion of the Fire Ferrets!" He finished with a dramatic wave of his hand as though he were envisioning such a title being written on a huge sign in the air.
"And what, all the other times we ended up together didn't count as the reunion of the Fire Ferrets?" Korra questioned back with a roll of her eyes.
"Look Korra, we just want to help. Asami is our friend too." Mako interjected, "We might not be those kind of friends, but she's important to us all the same as she is important to you. If things really come down to that stuff, I promise I will give you two the space you need."
Needless to say, Korra still didn't seem to keen on the idea of having Mako and Bolin with her especially after the fight she had with Asami, but when Mako gave her reasoning like that, it was a little bit hard even for her to say no. Turning her head to Bolin, Korra gave him a pointed gaze as if demanding to hear a promise from him on the matter as well.
"Wha- Ow!" Bolin sounded as Mako elbowed him in the ribs. "Oh! Oh yeah! Don't worry Korra, I promise me and Pabu will stay out of your way!" he hastily spoke up, holding Pabu out in front of him as if the ferret would agree to the terms as well. Then again, that same gesture seemed to be more of a way of using Pabu as a shield against Korra's sharp gaze.
Letting out a breath of air that quite clearly displayed her continued resistance to their attempts, Korra merely clenched her jaw and, for once, held her tongue from pressing the point any further. Just as her patience began to near its limits, however, the voice over the loudspeakers in the docking area finally blared to life.
"Boarding call for flight 253A to Harmonia Island. All passengers please report to docking port A4"
In an instant, the scowl on Korra's face vanished and she sprang to her feet, clearly impatient to get under way. Within seconds, she had rushed ahead to the boarding gate where, remarkably enough... Nobody else was there...
"Uhm..." Korra mused as she stared at the woman standing by the gate. "This is... the flight to Harmonia Island, right?"
Clearly startled at hearing the sound of another voice, the woman jumped slightly before fixing the glasses on her face and staring back at Korra; equal surprise quite clearly also written across her features.
"I-uh-ahem! Ah yes, this is the gate." She hurriedly spoke up, "Flight... uhm... 253A bound for Harmonia Island..."
"There's... Nobody else here." Korra commented dubiously.
"Oh, yes. That's quite normal actually, you see-"
"Harmonia Island has a strict policy on visitors, Korra." A voice spoke up from behind the avatar.
Korra turned around to find Mako and Bolin standing behind her. The former seeming none too impressed with the way Korra was ignorant about such things.
"Well excuse me, mister officer." Korra shot back in a huffed up tone
"Korra, do you even know where you're going?" Mako questioned, sounding increasingly annoyed with Korra's behavior.
"Look, I'm going to where Asami went. Some island in the middle of nowhere and is called a tropical paradise." Korra shot back, sounding equally annoyed.
Thankfully enough, before Mako could press more questions onto the avatar, Bolin grabbed his brother by the arm and whispered in a loud yet hushed tone.
"Psssst! Mako! I like the happy Korra better! Can we not make her angry!" Bolin hissed, repeatedly glancing between Korra and his brother.
Clearly more annoyed now than ever, Mako finally just tossed his hands up in surrender before closing his mouth and speaking no more.
"Rightyho!" Bolin declared abruptly in a majestic sounding voice, "Onwards to Harmonica Island!"
"Ugh.. Harmonia..." Mako corrected him.
"Harmonica!"
"Urgh! Bolin, are you even listening!?"
"You know, one of my best friends knows how to play the harmonica!"
"Bolin..."
"It's so awesome! It's all... Wheee whooooo wah wah!-"
Korra groaned as she left the two brothers behind and handed her ticket to the woman at the gate and proceeded up the boarding ramp towards the airship. Without a doubt, this was going to be a long trip...
Many Hours Later...
"I dunno Mako, maybe she's just going through one of those normal avarty meditationy thingies..."
"Really Bolin? Muttering in your sleep while repeatedly tossing and turning like that with a cold sweat on your forehead and being unresponsive to the outside world?"
"Okay, but still, she's a little bit different-"
"She's having a nightmare, Bolin. There's nothing else to it." Mako interrupted, yet again sounding annoyed with his brother.
"Yeah, but should we like... wake her up? Or you know try something other than just shaking her? Oh! I've got it! We throw a bucket of cold water on her face! That works every time!"
"Bolin, weren't you the one that said you preferred it when Korra wasn't mad at you or us in general? Throwing a bucket of water in her face is a sure-fire way to piss her off!"
"But... But!-"
"I get it. You just want to help her. That's how you are." Mako interrupted a second time, only this time he spoke in a much kinder tone. "But sometimes, there's just some things that we shouldn't butt into. Maybe she's having one of those premonition things that avatars get all the time, I don't know..."
"Hey! You just said she was having a nightmare! Now you're saying she's having an avatar experience!"
Unknown to the brothers, Korra's restless tossing and turning in her chair had finally come to an end; the dark skinned woman's eyes finally creaking open, somehow managing to look more exhausted now than they were prior to her falling asleep.
It was the dream again... The dream in which the two had gone through their argument, ultimately leading to Asami leaving the avatar. Everything was the same as before, except for one single thing... Asami's eyes...
What used to be a brilliant hue of emerald surrounded by a pure, untainted white had become a blazing hell of red surrounded by a void of black. It was as if gazing into the eyes of her partner was like gazing into the very maw of chaos. Every second in which she stared seemed to make the world around her slow; her body would refuse to move and her limbs would feel as though they were glued to her sides. Dread would overwhelm her as a sickening sense of evil filled the pit in her stomach...
Why...
Why...?
Asami was her friend... she was her soulmate... What was it that was driving her to feel such dread upon gazing at the other which was supposed to only bring her joy? Why did this sickening sense of evil fill her when she dreamt of her partner? Why did the dread feel so very familiar...
Heaving a heavy breath, Korra finally brought her hands to her eyes, doing her best to rub away the vestiges of sleep and exhaustion that plagued her eyes. No matter what she thought or how she tried to analyze it, her dream quite simply didn't make sense...
"... Korra..."
"Korra, you alright?" A voice finally shook the avatar out of her reverie.
Numbly, the avatar blinked before turning her head towards the source of the voice. Her eyes settled on Mako's handsome features, concern subtly written on his face.
"... Yeah... just a..." Korra sighed, "Yeah..."
"You were... well... looked like you were having a bad dream..." Bolin spoke up, the usual carefree cheer gone from his voice, replaced with something that was closer to worry.
Shaking her head to dispel the lingering effects of her nightmare, Korra quickly did her best to disguise the things that clearly continued to bother her.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just had a rough bit of sleep that's all." She insisted, not entirely sure why she felt so uncomfortable with sharing the nature of her dream with the two brothers.
"Are you sure? I mean you were-"
"Yeah. I'm fine. Thanks." Korra cut off the younger of the two brothers; her tone unusually edgy and rather agitated.
Bolin clearly wanted to press the issue, but a hand from Mako stopped him from pressuring the avatar.
"We're always here for you, Korra..." Mako spoke up, "... You know that will always be the case."
"... Yeah... Thanks..." Korra murmured back in a tone that neither of them could probably hear.
-bzzzt-
"Attention all passengers, we have begin final landing preparations for our descent into Harmonia Island. Please return to your seats and prepare for landing"
-bzzzt-
"Just can't help but get a bad feeling about this..."
Author's Notes:
It's been far too long since i have had enough time to sit down and write a chapter for my stories. I do apologize for this and I thank you for bearing with me. There's a few too many breaks in this chapter for its length in my opinion, but I did need to advance the plot on a timely manner in order to get to the really good stuff. I don't know when it is that I will have time to write another chapter for this story, but hopefully it doesn't take as long as it did for this one. As always, thank you all for your support of this story and I hope to see you in the chapters to come. If you have any comments of criticism for me, please do not hesitate to share them.
-M
