Chapter 9

"Flow with the movement of the gates. Don't force your way through, that will only make it worse. We'll start off easy."

Rohan took a firm stance, his hands turning. A gust of wind stirred with his movements. He took a large step forwards, throwing his hands out. A torrent of wind shot out, the gates twirling so fast they were blurs.

"That's easy?" I muttered to myself.

Sighing, I approached the gates, managing to slip inside. I tried to move and flow with the currents, but that was harder than I thought. It felt unnatural for me to be twisting this way and that to avoid the gates.

Something hard hit me right in the butt, knocking me into another gate. Smack! I felt the stinking impact of it on my face, pulsing madly. The earth rumbled under me in response to my mounting frustration as I barely dodged the next gate. I dove out of the gates, sliding across the cobblestones. My skin scraped at the contact of the smooth stone.

Rohan stood above me, his brown eyes twinkling a little.

"Okay, not bad. Let's put that aside for now. Now, can you produce some air?"

I couldn't help a little smile. That sentence sounded very strange.

I pushed myself up, then put my scraped hands together in a prayer position.

I breathed in. Out.

I rubbed my hands together, feeling the press of sheared and raw skin. I took a step forward and threw out both hands. A giant gust of wind blew at the gates, sending them spinning.

Rohan showed me as many forms as he could in our limited time. By the time we were done, the sun was gone, replaced by the solitary moon, surrounded by a blanket of stars.

"Well, that's all I can give you right now," he said, handing me supplies and a map. "I hope you find what you're looking for."

"Me too," I murmured.

Finding the truth about me will lead to the truth about you, Korra whispered.

"Thank you, Master Rohan. For everything," I said, stuffing everything in a satchel he handed me.

"You're welcome. Hopefully this is sorted out quickly and nicely," he said.

As I summoned Selene, and jumped on her back, I sobered. I doubted what Rohan said.

This was not going to go down well, I knew it.

While Selene hid under one of the bridges that connected Republic City all together, I stood at the steps of my apartment. The windows were glowing with warmth. To me, they looked like the staring yellow eyes of a monster.

I pushed the door open, expecting for Mom and Dad to yell at me, for skipping dinner. But they weren't home. The fireplace flickered happily but their respective chairs were empty.

"Tiana, come here," Yena hissed from the kitchen. I followed her voice, finding her scowling at her half-finished dinner. A newspaper laid open beside her.

"Look at this," she said, shaking it in my face.

I grabbed the paper and looked at the opening headline.

It read: Where and who is the Avatar?

"They're mounting a global search," she said.

"They can't be. Why? Why if the Avatar would come out eventually? They didn't look for Korra before she came to Republic City."

"Well, apparently the people want their Avatar," Yena said, taking the paper from me.

"More like the Neo Equalists. They might be up to this. They are the ones that want the Avatar for some nefarious reason," I pointed out.

Yena sighed, plopping down into a chair. "Yeah, I guess you're right. What are we going to do?"

I plop down in the chair beside her. "What do you think? Do you think we should investigate?"

Yena smiled. "I know where we can start."

She pulled out a sheet of paper from her bag and smacked onto the tabletop. It was completely blank.

"Um, Yena? I think there's something wrong with that paper. It's blank," I said.

She rolled her eyes at me. "Of course it is. Jeez, I thought you were Ms. Detective."

Yena ignited her hand, holding it close to the paper. I watched as gold characters leaped onto the page in contact with the fiery light.

"It's a summons for all the high-ranking Neo Equalists. I found it in Mom and Dad's room," Yena said, wiggling her eyebrows.

"You're awesome, you know that?" I said, smiling.

"Yes, but thank you," she answered, grinning crookedly.

"Oh, wait. It's tonight. Oh, Yena I can't go. I have to go to the Southern Air Temple."

"Why?" she asked. I felt her nagging suspicion crowding in on my mind. That wholeness I felt being with Yena faded. That distance was growing again.

"I'm investigating Korra's death. Nobody knows how she really died, and I need to find out," I said.

"Wasn't she killed by dark spirits?" Yena asked.

"Think about it. When you read about it, didn't you get this feeling in your stomach? Like it was wrong?"

Yena looked down at the now blank paper. Her hands were no longer flaming.

"Yes, I do get that feeling. But, it feels dangerous, Tiana. Are you sure about this?"

"Yes," I don't even hesitate to answer. Korra had said that by finding out about her death, we would find out about how there were two Avatars. Both of us needed to know.

"You never know. Maybe her death leads to the reason why we are both the Avatar. Maybe something happened to the Avatar spirit."

A sudden spark lit in my twin's silver eyes. They burned with such cold fire; I almost wanted to get away from her.

"Yes, you have to find out. While you go talk to Jinora, I'll go to the Neo Equalist meeting. We can contact each other through the bond. If anything, take this and call me there," Yena said, handing me a slip of paper.

I took a glance at the paper, trying to memorize the number. I stuffed it into my satchel.

"Okay. I just have to pack some extra things and then I'm off."

We stood across from each other in silence. We both felt the weight of what we were about to do.

Yena took me into a hug, our arms wrapping around each other. Everything about her was familiar to me, I didn't know anyone else as well as I knew Yena and vice versa. Even though we grew apart, that bond that tethered us as twins, as sisters, as family, was still there.

"Good luck," we said at the same time. With a shared tense smile, we went our separate ways. The front door quietly clicked shut as I went to my room, stuffing in clothes and extra rations. In the satchel, I found the metal cord whips that the metalbender cops had. Sweet. I could save those for later.

I grabbed everything and blew out of the house.