"-and in the final round, the Buzzard Wasps won with a decisive knockout!" Korra exclaims excitedly, lowering the paper she and Caran had been reading eagerly to look at Tenzin. "What do you say we go to the arena tonight, catch a few pro-bending matches?"
"That sport is a mockery of the noble tradition of bending." Tenzin says immediately, and Caran's face falls.
"Just one match Tenzin? Please?" he asks hopefully.
"No," he says, shutting them down.
"Come on Tenzin. Me and Caran have dreamed about seeing a pro-bending match for years, and now we're just a ferry ride away from the arena!" Korra argues, motioning outside the window to where the Arena gleams brilliantly in all its glory.
"Korra, you're not here to watch that drivel, you're here to finish your Avatar training. And Caran, you need a more proper understanding of your abilities, and your potential. So for the time being I want you to remain on the island." Tenzin informs them sternly.
Caran pouts, crossing his arms. "Whatever," he says.
Korra is equally annoyed, leaning her head on her hand with a dull expression on her face. "Is that why you're keeping the White Lotus sentries around to watch our every move?"
"Yes. In order for you both to learn what you need to I believe you need a calm, quiet environment, free from any distractions," he answers.
Caran sighs. "Alright well, you're the Master," he says in exasperation.
Later that morning, Caran was sitting up in the meditation circle in a meditative position on the ground, reaching out with his power in the only way he knows how. Tenzin was splitting up their lessons, and was currently with Korra at what was supposed to be airbending gates of some kind, meant to teach her how to move like an airbender. In a few minutes Tenzin would be joining him after getting Korra started on her own training.
Caran breathed out like Katara has taught him, in order to better concentrate on his power. He reached out with his senses, feeling along the grounds for all the different things around him. In a way it was kind of like the seismic sensing that Katara told him Toph Beifong was capable of, just in a different way from what she's obersved. He could get a sense of his surroundings, and anticipate what would happen before it did. What it worked better with though was life forms. He could see different forms of life on varying levels, from plants, to insects, to people.
The part of his power that was the most prominent was his bending. Outstretching his hands and calling upon his power, he was capable of throwing things with his mind, or pulling them back to him. In a way it seemed like airbending at first glance, but upon closer inspection you could tell it wasn't due to the lack of actual air currents. Katara had speculated it might be some long lost form of airbending, but that was only a weak theory, and didn't account for his improved senses.
A chirping sound caught his attention, and he opened his eyes to look at a large bush to his right. Sitting on one of the branches was some type of owl or bird, colored green and creamy white. He stared at it with interest, feeling something peculiar about it when it gave a hoot, flying away and disappearing. He watched it go and shrugged, standing up and looking out at the view, directing his attention towards where the airbending gates should be. He faintly noticed them moving around, and possibly someone flying out of them, and raised an eyebrow. If that was Korra he felt like she was failing, which amused him. Maybe he could actually have some dirt to use against her in the future.
"How are you today Caran?" Tenzin's voice asks. Caran turns around to see Tenzin walk up to the meditation circle.
"Just fine Master Tenzin, thanks," he responded. "So what are we going to do today?"
"First I would like to review what we know about your abilities so far." Tenzin said. "My mother informed me that you possess a power to sense and anticipate certain things before they happen?"
Caran nods. "Yeah. Like if I'm in a fight for example, I can predict the move someone is going to make before they actually do it," he informs him.
Tenzin nods in understanding. "That's quite interesting. How far does that ability stretch?"
"I don't really know honestly." Caran says with a shrug. "Although sometimes I think I can get visions or something, and I see strange things in my dreams."
"How so?" Tenzin asks.
"I've seen things in my dreams, most of them showing some sort of huge building with five towers on top." Caran says. "The people around it carry some sort glowing sword as a weapon, it's pretty weird."
Tenzin frowns thoughtfully. "Hmm, well I've never heard of something like that before. Nonetheless, let's get started with your training," he decides. "today I want to focus on the limits of your ability to sense and predict things."
Caran nods in understanding. "Alright."
Later that night, it was dark out, and Korra, Naga and Caran were in the courtyard hanging out with each other. Korra had set up a string and attached a newspaper photo of Lin Beifong to it, and was attempting to hit it with airbending. Caran was leaning against Naga's side, stroking the polar bear dogs fur while watching his big sister continue to get frustrated.
"Airbend!" she said, thrusting her arms out at the photo. She pulled her arms back in frustration. "What is wrong with me? Airbend!" she exclaimed.
Naga growled quietly as she watched Korra, and Caran rolled his eyes. "I don't think it's working."
Korra scowled and decided to shoot the picture with a burst of fire in frustration, burning the paper and the string. "Uugghh! Maybe I'm just not cut out to be an airbender huh?" she asks in exasperation.
"What are you talking about, of course you can! You're the Avatar!" Caran points out.
"Yeah, but you know my problem! I've never, ever been able to release a single puff of air before!" she complains, slumping forward in irritation. "How was your day?"
Caran shrugs. "Eh, my day was alright. Went over the basics with Tenzin," he told her.
"That's more than I was able to do," she responded dejectedly.
"I'm sure you'll get it eventually," he reassured her.
The sound of a radio then got their attention. "Ladies and gentlemen, I'm coming to you live from Republic City's pro-bending arena! Where tonight, the best in the world continue their quest for a spot in the upcoming championship tournament!"
Caran grins at Korra. "Wanna listen to some radio?!" he asks eagerly. She nods her head with a smirk on her face and the two siblings rush forwards to the small building where the radio is playing. Caran jumps onto the roof with his enhanced leap, and Korra follows after quickly, and the two stealthily walk across it until they are right above the porch where the radio is playing.
"Grab your snacks and grab your kids because this next match is gonna be a doozy!" the announcer says.
"This is gonna be awesome!" Caran whispers to Korra.
"I know right? I can't wait to hear this game!" she responds in excitement.
The two siblings listened in on the majority of the game, occasionally glancing at the glowing Pro-bending Arena where it was currently taking place at this moment, eyes lit up in anticipation.
"this Mako's got moxy!" the announcer continues. "He advances, fires two quick shots, Yomo is hammered back to zone three!" Korra and Caran grin widely, hands held up eagerly. "Clock is winding down, can Yomo hold on? He's teetering on the edge of the ring now. the Fire Ferrets line up to strike-"
The radio suddenly cuts off, and the two siblings wear faces of horror and disbelief, Korra's eye twitching in response.
"Korra, Caran, come down here please," Tenzin's stern and displeased voice says. They both lower their heads down to look at Tenzin, and the three White Lotus guards jump back in surprise. Caran flips into the porch, and Korra follows.
"You shut it off at the best part!" Korra complains.
"I thought i made myself clear. I don't want you listening to this distracting nonsense," he replies disapprovingly.
"But it's their radio!" Korra protests as they walk up to him.
"And technically you said we couldn't watch a match. You never said anything about listening to one." Caran points out with a sly grin, hands behind his back innocently. Tenzin fumes in irritation.
"You- you know what I meant!" he exclaims angrily. "Anyway shouldn't- shouldn't you be in bed by now?!" he says, turning away with a small gust of wind that blows their hair back. As he walks away, Korra slumps forward dejectedly and Caran crosses his arms, pouting.
The next day, all six of them are now at the meditation circle, letting themselves be calm and free in their thoughts. Air bison fly past the cliff side, and Caran breathes in and out deeply, sensing his surroundings. He internally snickered on how Korra was doing, personally understanding how hard it was for her to be cooped up in meditation like this. In this task, it always came easier to him because of his powers, and he took some comfort in the sensation of feeling the different lifeforms around them, seeing their aura's in different colors and shapes. He could even see the connections formed between others. Between him and Korra was a bright, white colored thread. Tenzin's connection to his children was more of an air nomad style orange, although Jinora's held a type of glow, much to Caran's interest.
"I think I'm doing it wrong." Korra says.
"There's nothing to do. Let your mind and your spirit be free, for air is the element of freedom." Tenzin tells her.
Korra laughs out loud, waving her hand and Caran sighs, rolling his eyes upon opening them and looking between the two with a raised eyebrow.
"Is something, funny?" Tenzin demands.
"Yeah you're telling me to embrace freedom but you won't even let us listen to the radio?" she asks rhetorically with a scowl. "And forget about leaving this island!"
"Please Korra." Tenzin says in exasperation. "Why don't you follow your younger brother's example?"
"Well, meditating has always been more of Caran's thing, and he does in differently compared to how you explain it," she says with an eye roll. Caran nods with a smirk.
"She's right. Korra sucks at meditation," he teases her. Korra glares at him. "why you little..." she trails off, sighing in acceptance.
Tenzin sighs. "Well then, look at Meelo. He's able to meditate peacefully.
Korra and Caran both look over at Meelo, and she stares at him dully while Caran cringes slightly at the drool and snot coming from his nose while he snores. "Ewwuuc," he says quietly.
"Actually I think he's asleep." Korra deadpans.
"What?!" Tenzin asks n surprise, looking closer with wide eyes. "Well, at least he has the relaxing part down."
"Whatever. None of this airbending stuff makes any sense to me." Korra says in irritation.
"I know you're frustrated but these teachings will sink in over time, and one day, they'll just click." Tenzin tells her.
With those words, the group returns to meditating, but it quickly ends abruptly as Korra sighs. "Yeah, it's not sinking in yet. I'm gonna go get a glass of lychee juice," she says, standing up and walking away. Caran walks her go with an amused smile on his face.
"Korra, the meditation is not over yet!" Tenzin calls out in frustration, but to no avail.
"Daddy can I get some lychee juice too?" Ikki asks eagerly.
"No," he says immediately, and Ikki pouts in displeasure. Jinora peeks out at what's going on with one eye in annoyance, and Meelo falls over with a groan, still asleep.
"Well that was something." Caran says.
Korra peeked out of the shutter window, watching the White Lotus sentries walk by for their patrol routine. She glanced back into her room where Caran and Naga were asleep next to the bed. They all shared a room with each other, and upon learning there was only one bed, Caran opted to sleep leaning against Naga. She offered to get him another bed, but he refused, deciding to sleep the night against Naga's side instead, and in response the polar bear dog would curl up around him. She thought it was downright adorable and cute. No matter how much Caran protested, he would always be the fun, snarky little squirt in her eyes, and she would always be there for him.
It was precisely why she wasn't taking him with her to the Pro-bending Arena. If she was caught, she didn't want him to get into trouble with Tenzin. He would protest of course, and in a way it felt kind of selfish of her to go to the arena without him, but he would understand, and she didn't want to get Caran caught up in anymore trouble than she had caused on their first day in Republic City.
In the afternoon the next day, Tenzin decided to bring Caran along to the airbending gates to test out well he could anticipate and react to the spinning gates with his abilities. So going along with them, he met up with Korra and the kids down at the gates. He didn't have to wear the air nomad clothing that the others wore since he technically wasn't learning airbending, which he took great pleasure in, especially from the small feeling of jealousy coming from Korra.
"Alright Caran, let's see how well you perform." Tenzin said, shooting a gust of wind at the gates to spin them at a high velocity. Caran eyed them warily, swallowing nervously before preparing himself.
"Ok... this looks hard," he mutters to himself. Upon sensing Tenzin's hope that Caran performs better than Korra's failure at the gates, his mouth twitches upwards slightly in amusement.
Stepping forward, Caran centers himself in his senses and moves into the gates. At first he has trouble, managing to get through a couple before being hit by a few gates. He grunts in discomfort from being smacked, and just narrowly stops himself from hitting another gate after sensing the oncoming collision. He manages to get past a few more before being smacked out of the gate by one of the panels and lands on the ground.
"And he's out!" Meelo cries while Ikki claps her hands excitedly, and Jinora has a small smile on her face. Tenzin nods while Korra crosses her arms, slightly jealous by how he did better than her already, and she was supposed to be the one learning airbending.
"Decent attempt for your first try, but there's definitely room for improvement. You seem to react t the gates more than you anticipate their movement," Tenzin observes as Caran gets back up.
"It's definitely a lot harder than you guys make it seem," he seems with a frown, rubbing his arm from where he hit one of the gates.
"Impossible in my opinion squirt." Korra comments with a hand on her hip. He shrugs in response.
"Korra, your turn. And remember, the key is to evade and flow like air," Tenzin tells her. "You must not force your way through, and be patient with it."
Korra nods with a sigh but steps forwards once Tenzin blows another gust of air onto the gates, bringing them back up to full speed. Once that's done, she charges right at the gates, and Caran widens his eyes in surprise of her tactic before sighing in acceptance, knowing her too well to understand that she doesn't 'search for another solution,' opting to instead charge head on like a firebender. As she tumbles and slams into the gates, Jinora sidles up to Caran.
"Why does she keep running straight into the gates? She has to see it doesn't work right?" Jinora asks him.
He sighs. "That's the problem. she thinks too much like a firebender. It's just her personality, especially because of how long we've been cooped up in that compound back home," he tells her.
"Why would they keep you in the compound?" she asks in confusion.
Caran shrugs bitterly. "I dunno. They say it's because we have to be safe and guarded until she become a fully realized Avatar before allowing us to see the world. Dumb reason if you ask me," he tells her.
Jinora nods in agreement, and they turn their attention back to Korra, who once again rushes head on back into the gates. She continues to stumble and slam into the many different panels.
"Patience Korra!" Tenzin calls out desperately.
However his words might as well have been directed at a wall, for they are unheard by Korra as she continues to slam into the gates. Finally she has had enough, and from the middle of the gate, she shoots out massive bursts of fire in furious anger, taking it all out on the gates as she burns and destroys them. Everyone watching stands there in shock, eyes wide as they watch the carnage of the furious Avatar in her rampage. When it's finally over Korra stands in the middle of burning wood, panting and heaving, although beginning to calm down slightly.
"Umm..." Caran says with wide eyes, unsure of what to say.
"That was a 2,000 year old historical treasure!" Tenzin says, shell-shocked. That shock quickly turns to furious anger. "What... what is wrong with you?!" he exclaims.
Korra walks forward angrily. "There's nothing wrong with me. I've been practicing just like you taught me, but it isn't sinking in, okay? It hasn't clicked like you said it would."
"Korra, this isn't something you can force. If you would only listen to me-" Tenzin says in frustration.
"I have been!" she screams at him. "But you know what I think? Maybe the problem isn't me. Maybe the reason I haven't learned Airbending yet is because you're a terrible teacher!"
Korra runs off, and Tenzin sighs in furious exasperation as his daughters hug him tightly. Caran glances between Tenzin, Korra, and the gatesm, unsure of what to do while Meelo goes crazy, not yet understanding the severity of what had happened.
"Yeah, you're a terrible teacher daddy!" he exclaims, screaming wildly and throwing the destroyed wood everywhere.
"I'll, I'll go talk to her." Caran says, quickly rushing off the scene.
Korra was in her room, preparing to leave for the pro-bending arena to blow off some steam when Caran enters the room. She immediately adopts a more casual pose upon his entry.
"Hey squirt. What's up?" she asks tiredly.
"You doing alright?" he asks in response.
"Of course. Why?" she questions suspiciously.
"You did, kind of blow up the 2,000 year old gates earlier," he reminds her sheepishly, and she sighs angrily.
"Look, that probably wasn't the best thing I could've done but I just can't stand it! None of this airbending stuff makes sense!" she exclaims. "At least you're having better luck in your training."
"Well, you could always just, talk to each other about it," he offers, rubbing the back of his neck. She raises an eyebrow at him. "Talk?" she asks.
Caran nods his head. "Yeah, talk. You know, discuss how to learn airbending. Not the screaming, complaining sessions that have been going on."
Korra rolls her eyes. "I don't know if you've noticed, but 'talking' about how to teach airbending isn't in Tenzin's vocabulary. All he does is order me to do this and that without any say on my part," she says dejectedly. The two are silent for a few moments before Caran sighs.
"Well, I'm headed to dinner. You coming, or heading to the pro-bending arena?" he asks, heading towards the door.
"Not now I don't really feel- wait what?!" she exclaims in surprise, eyeing him with wide, shocked eyes. "What do you mean pro-bending arena?!"
"Korra, I could sense you leaving the room last night," he deadpans. "And while I'm a little hurt you didn't bring me, I get why you feel responsible for what might happen to me, and I appreciate that."
Korra rubs her neck sheepishly. "Oh... well, sorry for not bringing you," she apologizes in embarrassment.
"It's fine. I won't tell on you, but I won't help you escape either," he tells her, heading out the door,
"Alright, thanks Caran," she replies.
At the dinner table, everyone is sitting down, waiting for Pema to bring out the food. Tenzin is sitting on one side with his eyes closed and arms crossed, while the four younger kids are sitting on the other side, Caran next to Jinora, who is reading a book. Caran eyes Tenzin with a raised eyebrow, easily sensing the frustration within the Air Nomad.
"Ok, everyone here?" Pema says, setting the food down before looking around. "Wait, where's Korra?" she asks, noticing the Avatar to be nowhere in sight.
"Honestly Pema, I am at my wits end with that girl. I don't know how to get through to her!" Tenzin says, slumping forwards on the table. Pema sits next to him and puts an arm around his shoulders.
"Dear, the best thing you can do right now is to give Korra some space," she tells him.
"Being cooped up in that compound has made us eager for excitement and the thrill of something after the same daily routine for years," Caran says bitterly. Tenzin sighs in understanding before looking at his three children.
"You must promise me that your teenage years won't be like this!" he pleads.
Jinora looks up from her book with lidded eyes to stare at Tenzin. "I will make no such promises," she deadpans, going back to her book. Caran holds a hand to his mouth to stifle the laughter that threatens to burst forth.
Later that night, Caran was in his room, rubbing Naga's belly, who was lying on her back with her tongue lolling out of her mouth.
"Who's a good girl? That's you! Yes you are!" Caran says, continuing to rub the polar bear dogs fur, whose paws are waving in the air in delight when Tenzin walks into the room.
"Caran, have you seen Korra recently?" he asks.
Caran stops and looks up from what he was doing, and Naga looks over at Tenzin with an inquisitive bark. "Not really. She's probably somewhere on the island, blasting fire to blow off some steam or something," he says casually, hiding the suspicion of where he really thinks she's at.
"Alright, well, I'll ask the White Lotus sentries then," he decides, closing the door and heading outside. Naga whines at Caran and he rolls his eyes.
"Alright, fine you spoiled puppy," he says, continuing her belly rub, much to Naga's delight.
It wasn't much later that Caran fell asleep for the night, and Naga was curled around him, sleeping as well. In his mind, Caran was experiencing a new sense of dreams, slightly different from the ones he's seen before.
The view first showed that massive structure in the gleaming, impossibly huge city that he's seen many times. People of many strange and weird species walk around in robes, and Caran finds himself shocked and slightly repulsed by the weirdness some of these... people have.
Caran's view then shifts to a strange void of stars, and surrounding him are different transparent and floating pathways, with white borders and circles or gateways covering the whole area. Nearby he spots a teenage boy around Korra's age walking along one of the paths, heading towards one of the gateways. On top of that gate is a strange bird that chirps at him. Whispers surround the teenager, although too quiet for Caran too make out.
Next, misty smoke converges in front of him to show him something else. It's the massive structure he's seen so much, only this time it's burning, smoke and fire coming off of it in waves. Screams come from the building...
Caran wakes up with a gasp, panting slightly as he looks around. He wasn't entirely sure of what he had just witnessed, but it was definitely a lot more different than before. Was something going to happen soon?
Spotting his necklace and crystal on the desk nearby, he raises his hand and calls the necklace to him using his bending, and it floats into his awaiting hand. He studies the glowing white crystal, taking some comfort in the small energy pulses it sends out, and falls back to sleep, more peacefully this time.