Title: The Possibilities
Word Count: 1,044
Summary: Jinora trains the next Avatar, and they get an unexpected visitor.
Prompt from: It's 10 to 1 - Old Krew with the Avatar after Korra. I tried including all of the old Krew in this, but Jinora just… took the wheel and never let go. Not sure if I'm happy with this one, but nevertheless it's done. Review!
They found him uneventfully in an impoverished village on the outskirts of Garsai at the age of fifteen. There, the residents still considered Satomobiles luxuries, and the run down theatre in the village center opened once every Sunday to show old black and white movers. If Bolin had still been there, he would have mourned the state of the dilapidated screen and immediately donated proceeds from his (still) famous Nuktuk movers to ensure that the villagers were receiving the best in entertainment, in typical Bolin fashion.
As it was, the three figures walking down the dusty path flanked by two members of the White Lotus were Jinora, Mako, and Asami.
The furtive glances cast at them by passing individuals were ignored. Word had come to Republic City only a week before of a young earthbender in this region named Akhi suddenly gaining the ability to firebend, and the claim seemed legitimate enough for the three old friends to personally investigate.
With directions given to his house by a neighbor, he'd been easy enough to find. His father had passed in a mining accident many years before, but his mother was there to greet them with eager smiles and steaming cups of chamomile tea. Akhi himself was perfectly polite and eager to meet the three elders, whose names he knew well from the stories he'd heard of Avatar Korra and her adventures. He had a quiet nature, not unlike Aang's, but the typical stubbornness associated with most earthbenders gave his personality a steadfast quality that the three elders found reminiscent of Korra.
Within the week, they had moved Akhi and all of his belongings to Air Temple Island, where he was to stay during his mastery of the four elements. Since Korra's passing fifteen years before, the island had been expanded (literally, with the help of Lin, Su Yin, and Bolin) to allow the White Lotus to set up headquarters during their search for the new Avatar, as well as to accommodate the consistently growing Air Nation. There, Akhi spent the next three years steadily mastering earthbending and firebending from the best teachers in the world, and had turned eighteen before finally beginning his airbending training under the tutelage of Master Jinora herself.
Although Jinora had found his disposition over the years to be very calm and pleasant, Akhi had so far exhibited a similar inability to connect with his spiritual side as Korra had. Sitting with Akhi in the sunlit meditation pavilion where she herself had trained with her father, Jinora felt like she finally understood what Tenzin must have had to go through to teach Korra airbending those many decades ago.
"So… how long are we doing this for again?"
Jinora could hear Akhi shuffling slightly with discomfort in front of her, and peeked an eye open.
"Until you are able to feel the movements of the air around you, and release your thoughts to the wind," she answered patiently.
"Oh. Alright."
There were a few moments of silence, and then -
"Yeah," he dragged the word out. "This isn't working for me."
Jinora breathed deeply and opened her eyes, studying him as he relaxed his posture and leaned back on his hands.
"Every time I try to focus on the wind, I just focus on the ground instead. So much more interesting movement down there, you know?" he gestured.
Jinora uncrossed her legs and leaned back as well, stretching her sore muscles and looking out over the glistening waters of Yue Bay.
"As an earthbender, air is the natural foil to your native element," she said slowly. "Tell me, how is it that you can move the earth so easily?"
He shrugged. "I don't know, it's just natural. I tell the earth to move, and then it just… does."
"And what if the earth were to one day ignore you?"
Akhi laughed at the thought. "I guess I've never considered that a possibility."
"Exactly." Jinora replied with a smile, earning herself a confused look.
"Look at that tree for me, Akhi. Can you see the leaves moving in the wind?"
He glanced up above at the gently swaying branches of the maple and nodded.
"You and I could sit here all day and watch those leaves, but we would never be able to predict which way the wind would blow them next. Air is an inherently unpredictable element, more so than earth, water, or even fire. In order to bend air, one must be open to its unpredictability and willing to change with it, to consider the possibilities. You feel the earth because you are resolute and inflexible, both of which are key elements to being a capable earthbender, but ineffective for air. You must open yourself up to change, and airbending will come to you naturally. Do you understand?"
Akhi mulled over her words for a minute before slowly nodding.
Jinora smiled. "Good. Shall we try again?"
"Sure." he replied.
Both benders assumed their meditation poses once again, and the pavilion fell silent.
It hadn't been more than ten minutes, though, when Jinora noticed a slight shift in the air around her. Assuming that someone had arrived from the kitchens to call them in for lunch, Jinora opened her eyes to quietly dismiss them, only to stop, shocked at what met her eyes.
There, sitting next to Akhi in an identical meditation pose and looking for all the world like she had always been there, was Korra. She was eighteen again, with her ponytail hanging proudly from her head and her skin free of the wrinkles from her later years. Her outlines were blurred and the colors of her clothes faded, but when she peeked an eye open, it was the same bright, striking blue that Jinora still remembered.
Akhi had not yet noticed Korra's presence, concentrated as he was, but Jinora quietly reached a hand out towards the spirit and gently brushed along the outline of her old friend's cheek.
"Korra," Jinora mouthed breathlessly trying to convey everything she felt into the silent word, and the returning grin was familiar enough to bring tears to her eyes. 'It's good to see you too,' Korra's eyes seemed to say before she closed her eyes and faced forward again.
And together, they meditated.