Part 7

Much to the protests of Noatak and Korra's friends, the brothers began to teach Korra at the same time that they were searching for the gorillas. Early every morning she would sneak away to the camp and Mako would teach her how to speak, read and write in English then Bolin would take over and teach her about the world.

"The world out there is huge and full of amazing things you couldn't even begin to imagine," he explained one day. "Mako and I are from a city called Republic City. It's around… here."

On the map he had spread out he drew a little black dot on the coast of one of the larger landmasses labeled "Earth Kingdom." Korra looked at the pen with wonder and snatched it from Bolin's hand to try writing for herself. She pushed the point to the paper of the map and scribbled it around and for a little bit it worked, leaving great, black lines that cut through the Fire Nation, Earth Kingdom and Western Air Temple, but then the ink stopped flowing so Korra lifted it to her face and fiddled with the little gold clip until ink squirted her in the face and she threw the pen away in alarm. After Mako and Bolin had stopped laughing at the sight of ink splattered over her face, Mako took out a linen handkerchief to clean up the mess. Korra's eyes seemed to soften when he held her face gently in his hand to wipe the ink from her cheeks.

Bolin was just starting to feel awkward when a loud growl met his ears and he wheeled around to see a jaguar crouched and ready to pounce with razor sharp teeth bared. He had enough time to cry out in alarm and bend the earth beneath the jaguar's paws so that it flew into the air and thumped into the trunk of a tree. Mako released Korra's face and ran to aid his little brother. Noatak emerged from his tent with white foam still speckled on his chin from the spots he hadn't shaved and a rifle clutched in his hands. He took aim at the jaguar but missed as the beast leapt for Mako who shot a ball of fire and Bolin fired a chunk of rock into the jaguar's side.

The jaguar looked around in annoyance at the prey turned opponents before choosing to leap at Noatak. Korra came out of seemingly nowhere sending a stream of water to hit the jaguar in the side and then bend a tent of earth to trap it and finally slayed it with an arc of fire that cut off its angered growl mid-cry.

"Korra!" Mako called out.

"That was…," Noatak stammered.

"She…," Bolin mumbled.

"You're the Avatar…," Mako finished.

Korra stared down at the jaguar with rage before throwing her head back and letting loose a battle cry similar to the one she used after killing Sabor. Afterwards, when Korra had gone back to her family, the three men gathered and discussed what they had just discovered. Noatak didn't show it, but he was feeling a mixture of elation and rage. He believed that she had been killed years ago when his people discovered her whereabouts in the Southern Water Tribe and her parents had loaded her up onto a ship with a library's worth of knowledge on the bending arts to try and escape to one of the temples dedicated to the Avatar.

But now that he knew she was here, alive where he had her cornered and she didn't know exactly what she was or what it meant, it would be easy as pie to kill her once he had the gorillas in his possession. The brothers, however, were arguing about what was more important, taking the Avatar back out into the world so that she could liberate it from the tyranny of the Equalists and their leader, Amon, or finding the gorillas to finish their father's work.

"It would mean months and months of work and thousands of dollars going right down the drain," Bolin argued.

"But if we take her out of here and let her save the world, afterward we'd be able to fund a hundred expeditions! We're still young! We have plenty of chances to come back here!" Mako countered.

"And if someone finishes what we started, it would all be for nothing."

"What good will that knowledge be in a world like the one the Equalists is leading us into?!"

"If I may boys, we do have the chance to do both simultaneously," Noatak interjected. The brothers turned and glared at their guide. "Now here me out. If we teach the girl how to speak, we can convince her to take us to the gorillas, then, after your calculations and jibber jabber is done, we can take her home."

They fell silent and considered his words. Finally, Bolin stood and broke the silence.

"I don't care what you say, dad's research comes first and foremost. Do what you want, but I'm looking for the gorillas," he said.

"Fine… I don't need you to teach Korra… she's the Avatar for spirits' sake! That's important! So just go! Leave!" Mako ranted.

When they had both stormed off to their respected tents, Noatak took the chance to smile to himself at the luck he had just been given.

Part 8

And so things continued on ass if nothing had happened… well… almost. Now, instead of Bolin teaching Korra about the world, it was Mako telling her about the nations and the state in which they lived. Her knowledge expanded and she quickly learned how to speak English, albeit with limited grammar, and she was soon able to name the five different nations and their leaders. Meanwhile, Bolin and Noatak trekked through the jungle brush every day when Korra and Mako were together. Meals were taken separately and in silence. Mako hated to fight with his brother, the only family he had in the world, but he knew he was doing the right thing by teaching Korra. Then, all too soon, their last night in the jungle arrived and Mako knew it was his last chance to convince her.

"Korra… um… I don't know how to say it but…," Mako stammered.

"Is there something wrong, Mako?" she asked, concerned.

"We have to leave, tomorrow… to go back to Republic City and well… we may never be able to come back."

"You would… leave me? Forever?" She sounded heartbroken.

"No! Well… if we're able to get enough money to come back, we will, but it might not be for a long time…," his voice trailed off. "You can come with us, you know… you're the Avatar. Your significance to the world is unparalleled, especially now."

"Then I would leave my mother… and Terk… and Tantor and all the others all alone," she fussed. "I can't… I-."

Overwhelmed, she rushed from the tent and into the thick chest of Bolin.

"Bolin, I-."

"There's another way for us to be able to come back or even stay…," he interrupted.

"How! Bolin, I would do anything!"

"Show us where the gorillas are. Even if you just draw it on a map for us. That's the whole reason why we came here. If we found them, the society would fund countless expeditions for us so that we could fully research and understand them."

"But I can't… Kerchak he-." Once more she broke off her sentence and rushed off into the dark night of the jungle.

After wandering for what seemed like hours, she found herself at a cliff near the sea and a large bridge that seemed vaguely familiar. Kerchak never brought them this close to the coast before. It was as if he were purposefully avoiding something hidden there but she couldn't help but recognize the giant structure before her. It was the treehouse the spirits had led her to as a child when they told her about her destiny. In a daze with her eyes red and puffy from crying, she walked across the bridge and into the little world her parents had left behind.

The jungle was adamant to reclaim the changes that were made and so many holes had been punched into the walls, floor and roof of the hut with leaves and all kinds of foliage forming a carpet and pulling the walls apart board by board. She wandered into the little sitting area where her parents had set up a large, red chair next to a roughly carved rocking chair and a little table set in between them. Her foot came down on a small picture set into a frame and she looked down when she heard the glass cracking.

When she turned it over she found it coated in a thick film of dust. Using her knuckles, she wiped away the dust to reveal three faces. The first was of a man with long hair pulled back into a complicated braid and wearing a furred coat. The second face belonged to a woman with kind eyes and holding a bundle wrapped in fur pressed close to her breast which was also covered with a fur coat. From the bundle peeked a small, round face with large eyes and a grin on her face. All three had the same dark skin and hair as Korra and they bore the same resemblance. Something deep inside Korra's memories told her that the baby was her and the other two people were her parents. They were standing amongst a sea of white. Mako had told her about the stuff during their lessons. Snow. That was what he called it.

A soft blue and purple glow broke Korra from her reverie and she looked up to see a tall figure wrapped in orange and yellow robes with a bearded face and an arrow tattooed onto his bald head.

"Who are you?" she asked in ape, then realized that the figure probably wouldn't be able to understand her so she asked again in English.

"I am you, Korra," the man replied.

You're one of my past lives?"

The man nodded his head. "I am Avatar Aang. I was your previous incarnation, born into the Air Nomads over a hundred and eighty years ago."

"Yes, Mako has told me about you. He's taught me a lot of things," she admitted.

"Mako is a good man. He will be a good husband and father to you one day."

"Wh-what?" Korra asked with a blush.

"But that's not why I'm here. I'm here to warn you, Korra. There are many dangers ahead for you. A lot of them you won't be able to face alone. Some of them even include the family you've grown up with."

"What?!" she cried.

"I'm afraid I can't tell you much, but I can say that the danger is very near. Amon is close by and his plans are almost complete."

"Amon… the leader of the Equalists… he's here? But how?"

"I can't say. I must leave, now, Korra. Just do me a favor… help your friends. Repay their kindness the same way they've helped you."

And with that, Avatar Aang faded back into the spirit world leaving the abandoned treehouse feeling darker and colder than before.