Episode 7: THE ORIGINAL AVATAR PART 2

Before Oogi touched down on the observation deck, Tenzin and Korra leaped off and ran down the stairs into the belly of the airship. She wanted to go to Yully's room immediately but decided to try out the conference room to see if the gang was there. And they were, just starting a delicious smelling breakfast.

"Korra!" Mako sounded more surprised than happy to see her while Bolin smiled through a mouth stuffed with eggs, "Hey Korra!"

"Where've you been?" Asami dissected her ham steak looking incredibly irritable for it being so early.

"Had an unexpected detour," Korra salivated over the steaming plate of eggs, rice, and ham-steaks, "But Tenzin knows what we're dealing with. Has she been any trouble?" she forked a slab of the ham steak into her mouth and melted at its tenderness and juicy flavors, "Geez who's been holding out on their cooking skills?"

Asami scoffed, her silverware clamored to the table, and glared at the boys who had their food caught in their throats. The food in Korra's own mouth turned to salty mush as she realized who had cooked it. Forcing it down as she leaned over the table toward the boys, "Where is she?"

Asami perked up with a sarcastic glee, "Oh she's up on the observation deck."

Korra gripped the table so hard it groaned beneath her fingers, "Why?"

As the boys look dumbfounded and stumbled over their excuses Asami perked up again, "Oh they let her out right over you left."

Mako defended himself like a child who accidentally let the pet out, "She got out of the restraints herself. There was nothing we could do."

"She ripped a hole in my airship!" Asami shouted.

"She patched it up!"

Korra was barely keeping it together, "Why is she on the observation deck?!"

Once again Asami's cheerfulness had a sour tone, "Oh she's doing her morning yoga."

"Morning what?! Do you realize what-" the observation deck with "Oogi…" Korra looked uneasily as Tenzin before racing back up to the deck with Tenzin on her heels. The boys scrambled after them looking longingly at their soon-to-be cold food while Asami followed resistantly. Calculating how far she could have gotten on Oogi made Korra slam the door open and ascended the stairs in two leaps, but stopped short. Everyone ran into each other as they gaped at the sight before them.

"Who's a big fluffy wuffy sky puppy!" Yully cooed from the top of Oogi belly as the beast dangled his tongue out from his ten foot grin, "Oohoohhh yeah you're a handsome feller aren't ya? Yeah you are! You are so fluffy!"

Korra shook her head and narrowed her eyes from their full aperture, "Hey!"

Yully casually lifted her head, still smiling, "Oh hi you're back!" she hugged Oogi and gave him another big scratch, "I'll be back cutie," before sliding down and nonchalantly walked towards them brushing off long strands of fur, "Was starting to worry about you, have a nice trip?"

Korra couldn't believe this. She was smiling like nothing was wrong, like it was a vacation for her. She certainly dressed the part; skin-tight shorts, barefoot, and long silver hair flowing about in the breeze. No wonder Asami was in a bad mood, "What are you doing out here?"

She ran her fingers threw her hair, pulling out fur, "Well I just finished my yoga when you guys flew in and you were in such a hurry I didn't have time to welcome you back. So I thought I'd say hello to this big ol' fellow, but now that you're here," she turned towards Tenzin and bowed lowly, "It is an honor to welcome and to see you again Master Tenzin."

If she wasn't so elated from Oogi she might have notice Tenzin was tearing up, "You-you remember me?"

"Well one can hardly forget rescuing you and your family from Amon." Her cheerfulness seemed to drain the color from Tenzin's face as he walked in a trance back into the airship. All looked at Yully despairingly which confused her even more, "What'd I say?" One by one they followed Tenzin down the stairs with Korra staring at Yully back.

When Korra had made it to Air Temple Island she grabbed Oogi first then called out to Tenzin from outside the house. He came running out, "Korra, what is it? What's wrong?"

She studied the twitch of his mouth, his dancing eyes, the furrow of his brow when she told him, "I found a silver haired girl who doesn't want me to be the Avatar."

His mouth quivered, his eyes left to remember the last time he saw her, and the worry wrinkles, accumulated over the years because of her, deepen. He called out to Puma and whispered something in her ear to make her cover her mouth in shock. He gathered his children and told each of them how much he loved them and kissed them goodbye. He wouldn't answer any of Korra's questions with anything besides, "I have to see her, it's too much to explain right now, and I'll tell you when I see her."

Now as they sat at the conference table, Tenzin couldn't stop staring at her. The boys weren't hungry anymore so they put the food away and cleared the table.

"Before we start this little powwow here I think some tea would do us nicely, don't you think Korra?" Yully was sly, still wanting tea from Korra's last attempt to talk to her.

"There is no way-" Korra began but Tenzin cut her off.

"I think some tea would be great," Korra had never seen his face so vacantly spent before. "Green tea, right?" He questioned Yully who smiled at him.

"Yes, green tea please," she beamed at Korra.

They didn't see Tenzin nodding approvingly, a mental check, "Would you be able to get the water and start the fire Yully?"

Now it was Korra who was slyly grinning at Yully but when she saw that Yully was smiling deviously, Korra's smile dissipated. Yully's joking manner flipped in an instant to seriousness. She didn't move from her seat but seemed to know what Tenzin was asking, which wasn't tea. Yully looked at the tea kettle and raised her hands. The kettle drifted through the air and gently landed on the burner. With the sink of the other end of the counter Yully would have had to get up to collect the water to pour it in the kettle, but she didn't have to. The faucet turned slightly but the water didn't splash into the sink, instead it hovered in the air filling up space. The ball of water then floated into the kettle in some invisible current. Yully ended the show by shooting a small flame to the burner, effectively starting the tea and removing all thought and air from the room. The choir of questions followed in a babble of confusion and disbelief.

"How did you-"

"No way"

"That's not possible"

"What's going on?"

The vacation was over for everyone. The heavy reveal shifted the gravity in the room. Each of them felt their world changing in that moment.

The only ones who weren't mystified by this display was Yully and Tenzin who were staring intensely at each other, "I think Master Tenzin knows."

He did know and he didn't know, "First I need you to tell me everything about yourself, your family, everything. Then I'll tell you everything I know."

She considered this for a moment, but just for a moment, "Okay that won't take too long-"

"Hold up!" Asami's questions about what just happened was overtaken by her waning patience, "I've been trying to get you to talk for the past two days and nothing! But now you're an open book! Why the change of heart?"

Yully glared from the corner of her eye, "More like a change in company. I respect Tenzin." She rotated her piercing gaze at everyone, "Now I think we can come to an agreement that during this rather important exchange of my personal information that we'll keep questions and comments to a minimum. Okay? Fine? Good. Now I don't know anything about my life when I was young. I don't know my real name, my age, or why I can bend all the elements. I don't know! The first memory I have is roaming about the Earth Kingdom with a nomad who said I had no parents."

Either too afraid or still stunned the gang didn't said a word. Tenzin, however, pressed on, "The nomad, how did you come to be with them?"

Yully's sharpness subsided as she looked down at the table. Recalling the memories she never wanted to remember, least of all telling them to strangers, "Well my teacher, Jaram, he raised me mostly. He told me that he was a nomad and his group were following a fallen star that came down nearby. Instead they found me laying in a field. He said that there was this old superstitious fire-bender woman with them who said…said that I was a lost soul who was rejected from the spirit world. Said it was a bad omen. So she shot lightning at me but…he said that she collapsed and I got up. The others in the group were scared and ran off, except Jaram. He was a very spiritual man. He believed that if he taught me how to mediate and connect to the world and to the spirit world my soul would realize I didn't belong with the living and would be free to pass on. When word got around that a Silver Ghost spirit-

"Oh my god!" Bolin squealed, "You're the Silver Ghost…" then quietly sank back into his chair as everyone looked at him.

"He shaved off my hair, said it was always like this, but said it grew like weeds so he had me start dying it. And I have every since. We traveled all over the earth kingdom and he told me of the most spiritual temples and wonderful places in the world. He said that the last part of my journey was to be taken alone so I left and I never saw him again. I traveled all over the world seeing all these amazing places and people. It was during this time that I realized I could bend the elements. So I would go to different places to learn with a teacher of an element for a time. It didn't occur to me that…Jaram told me that the Avatar was in the Southern Water Tribe so when I learned of my abilities I kept them a secret. Like I was doing…being something I wasn't supposed to. Then I got picked up by this orphanage who sent me to that workhouse and I've been there ever since."

"How long was that?" Tenzin didn't want to know. He had heard stories of workhouses and by judging her far-off stares into the distance…the stories were all true.

Yully shrugged, "Don't know, never kept a calender. At least five strawberry seasons."

"What about the rally and the gangsters and the overseers?" Mako interrogations skills kicked into gear.

She shifted uneasily in her chair, "Well my job at the orphanage…was mostly thievery. I was good at it. The gangsters hired me for jobs. A few were in Republic City so when all that Amon stuff was happening I got together a few benders and stood up to him. The overseers like I said left about a year ago and…I tried to get all the kids out of here before Viddi showed up. I only got about half of them out. He took their papers so I couldn't sneak them out. I've been pulling jobs with them ever since without pay so I couldn't get the others out too. They tell me what to do and I did them or else…"

"And that day we met you?"

"I was given a job, some high rolling stranger were seen in town and I was suppose to liberate her of valuables," she awkwardly glanced at Asami, "Then you guys came and asked about the mask I wore at the rally. So I knew that was the end of it there. I broke into their vault, took my kids papers, and put the ones that were there on the train and when I was walking back to get the rest…well you know." She glanced awkwardly at Bolin.

"But you said that you'd trade Korra for the papers?" Mako asked.

"For my papers…saying that I was my own guardian. Apparently after a few jobs, Viddi adopted me. For insurance, that I wouldn't run on them. Since he burnt those and I'm still registered as his adoptive child he can send out a missing persons report for me and I'd be sent back to him."

"Unless the biological parents are found." Tenzin added, thinking to himself.

Yully bit her cheek, "So do I pass?"

Korra, who had been quietly sitting through this sob story, still didn't have her answers, "You haven't told us how you can bend all the elements."

"I told you I don't know."

"That's-"

"Enough!" Tenzin silenced the room. This was too important, too momentous to have it spoiled. He took deep breaths to gather himself. He had dreamed and hoped for this moment for years, thought of what he would say the entire trip over here and now that he was saying it aloud, the words tripped over his tongue.

He took a breath and looked directly at Yully, "Your name is Yue. You're eighteen years old and you're from the Northern Water Tribe. Your parents are Punav and Losha, your grandparents were Chief Sokka and Suki. And you were…you were the original Avatar after my father."

And the world as Korra knew it was gone, she slumped back in her chair. Lost; everything she knew, everything she thought, everything she was, she was lost.

After a moment when his head stopped spinning from that whirlwind of information, Bolin asked if what he heard was correct, "Her dad's name is 'Poo-on?'"

There was a simultaneous mental face-palm around the room.

Tenzin continued, "Pu-nav. He's my cousin. But you were like a daughter to me. You called me Tenten," he smiled at the memories, "I remember when he told me that you were showing signs of being the next Avatar. He was so proud." He chuckled to himself, "And you were quite the handful at your age, you were three and bending all the elements. You were a natural. Your father wanted to start your training immediately but your mother wanted to wait until you were a little older." He stopped smiling, "During this time Sokka and Punav were on the Republic City council dealing with these power driven benders within the city. There were terrorizing the city and the people were outraged. There were riots and…Sokka had the group, the Red Lotus, banished from the city."

"Red Lotus like the White Lotus?" Mako clarified.

"They were part of the White Lotus but had disbanded from it because they felt that the people needed their protection more. They believed that the people had grown too dependent on the Avatar. When Aang disappeared for those 100 years, they believed the people didn't fight for themselves because they were waiting for the Avatar to save them. They believed the world didn't need an Avatar." He paused, braving the disheartening memories, "It was nearing your sixth birthday and you and your mother were traveling to Republic city to be officially proclaimed the Avatar by the White Lotus and begin your training. Losha hates flying so you were traveled by ship then car. On the way through the Fire Nation…the car was ambushed. Your mother and the guards fought against the Red Lotus but…you were gone." He looked apologetically at Yully, "For days we looked for you, unrelentingly day and night. But when reports of a Southern Water Tribe child…" he glanced at Korra, "it devastated us all. Your father blamed Sokka for banishing the Red Lotus, making them retaliate. It drove them apart. They both retired from the council, Punav went to the Northern Tribe and Sokka to the South."

Yully looked up expectantly, "Are they alive? My parents? Sokka?"

He wrung his hands, "Sokka…passed on a few years ago," then he opened them and smiled, "but your mother and father are alive and well. They're in the Northern Tribe still. We're headed there now."

Korra crossed her arms still sunk in her chair, "So why can she still bend all the elements. She died, she's not the Avatar anymore."

"I don't know," Tenzin admitted, "You told me that you saw her in the spirit world? After Amon-"

"Yeah she harassed me when I tried to connect with Aang but she was a kid."

He raised his eyebrows, "Around five or six?"

Korra dramatically shrugged, "I don't know. Could've been. But Katara told me-"

"Katara? She knew?" Tenzin shook his head in disbelief, "My mother never really forgave Punav for blaming Sokka. It torn our families apart and Sokka never forgave himself. Sukav tried to reunite them but-

Korra sat up now engaging in the conversation. "Sukav? As in Chief Sukav of the Southern Water Tribe?"

"Yes, Sukav is Punav's older brother." Tenzin could hardly believe the coincidence that last two Avatars were in-laws.

"That's why he didn't like me? Ignoring me for sixteen years like I didn't exist?"

Tenzin tried to explain, "It was very difficult for him to see you when all he could see was his niece."

"Oh it was difficult? For him? He was going to let my father die!"

Mako held out his hands to block them from his concentration, "Focus people! Now maybe Yully appeared as a child in the spirit world because that was when her spirit was last connected to it. Have you gone into the spirit world before Yully?"

She thought back through all her mediations. She always disappointed Jaram because she never went into the spirit world, never connecting to it, "No," she whispered.

Korra rolled her eyes, "Then how'd you talk to me down in the South Pole?"

A blurry white memory came floating back, "Were we on a cliff side? In the snow?"

"So you do remember?" she irritably asked.

"I-I thought it was a dream. I was so tired all of a sudden and laid down…"

"Incredible," Tenzin pointed at the girls, connecting the dots, "You tried to connect to your past life, which you did, you connected with Yue who was able to get you to connect to Aang."

Korra didn't care about that, "Can you go into the Avatar State?"

"What's that?"

Korra threw her arms up in the air, "Big being in space? Past lives? Cosmo energy?"

She thought that sounded a bit absurd, but…considering, "No."

"So how is it you can bend all the elements?" Korra would not this go. This wasn't a miracle, this was a curse. Tenzin tried to calm her down but she was just doing her job. She was meant to protect the world, but what about herself? She had to protect herself from this impostor. She stood up when Tenzin tried to defend her, "No! On my way here I had a vision from a spirit saying that only the Avatar can access all the elements. And the only time an Avatar reincarnates is when the old one dies." She pointed a trembling finger at Yully, "But she looks very much alive to me. You said that yourself; you stopped looking for her because she was dead. So how is this possible?"

For that Tenzin did not have an answer. But Bolin had a thought, "The Silver Ghost…"

"Bolin-" Mako groaned, but Bolin continued, "No really, the Silver Ghost is suppose to take the life of someone right? A version of the story I heard says that the soul travels through an energy connection between the ghost and its victim. But Yully you said the old woman was a fire-bender and she electrocuted you, right?"

"Right…"

"Well what if she didn't take life but she was giving you life? Lets say you did die but when she electrocuted you it brought you back to life."

"How's that possible?" working with Future Industries, Asami knew of a lot of electrocution accidents.

Mako offered up his knowledge, "Lightning is pure energy and our bodies run of energy. It'd be like a energy transfer. It's actually an ancient fire-bending technique that no one tries because its really dangerous and fatal if done wrong. It isn't even illegal because no one thinks it's possible. But theoretically, a powerful enough surge of energy to a body can restart it. But no ones ever actually done."

Tenzin looked over at Yully, "It'd be a first among other firsts."

"No way!" Korra was not buying this loaded story, "A lightning strike severely wounds someone, it doesn't bring 'em back to life."

"Do you have a scorch mark?" Asami remembered finding her father unconscious in his lab more than once, "When my father was testing with his electrical equipment he got shocked a few times. He'd have all these burn marks on him. Do you have any?"

Yully looked down at herself before pulling aside her shirt collar to reveal a large coral like scar over the left side of her chest and shoulder. Tendrils of the coral sprouted out from a burst shaped scar over her heart.

"It shot directly to your heart." She pulled her shirt back over after Mako's comment and realizing they were all the staring at her chest.

Tenzin thought aloud tapping the table, "Only the Avatar can bend all the elements because they possess the Avatar Spirit. And the Avatar Spirit changes its reincarnation when the previous one dies. Yue died so the Spirit went on to Korra, but you came back to life. The spirit had left but your bending remained because you already were able to access it."

"So why wasn't the next Avatar an Earth-bender?" Bolin would have been a just and fair Avatar.

Tenzin got up to pour himself a cup of tea, he was so exhausted, "We have a theory on that. Because Yue…passed on before she was able to go into the Avatar State, she wasn't a full fledged Avatar. Because there was no fully achieved Avatar in that cycle it stayed in the water cycle."

A meaningless memory now had a whole new significance to Asami, "I remember something about that. My father said there was a false claim in the Northern Tribe but the Avatar was really in the Southern Tribe."

Setting down a tray of green tea, Tenzin held his cup but didn't drink it, "Because Yue never was never evaluated by the White Lotus, her claim was never official. It was decided to say that Yue's claim was false and that…you died from illness."

"But why lie?" Asami grabbed herself a cup.

Tenzin sipped his tea, "After Aangs' disappearance those 100 years… we didn't want people to question Korra's legitimacy as the Avatar. And after what had happened to Yue… That's why we took so much precaution with you Korra. Making you stay in the South, all those guards. It was all to protect you and it did. The Red Lotus attempted to kidnap you Korra as a child. But we were ready and stopped them from…we couldn't let what happened-we couldn't let it happen again. And I'm sorry that it ever did happened."

Korra thought back to…earlier this week. Her fathers vague explanations on why he kept her in the Southern Tribe to train made sense now. She was almost kidnapped when she was a child? She almost—could have had the same fate as Yully?

Yully wanted something stronger than tea, "Did I fight? When the Red Lotus attacked? Did I fight? Where are they now?"

He took a long moment to compose his answer then took another sip, "Losha said it happened so quickly. That you were asleep and you ran out of the car to help but they had these sleeping darts. They were all hit and when they woke up you were gone. The Red Lotus doesn't exist anymore. We eradicated them, they're all gone. You don't have to worry about them anymore. You are going home," Tenzin let that steep for a moment, "I still can't believe I'm even talking with you. Your parents will…overwhelmed would be an understatement. You've gotten so…" he didn't want to know why she was stunted in growth, "beautiful. You look so much like your mother. Besides the hair of course, that's all Punav."

"He has silver hair too?" Bolin asked.

"Yes, we were surprised that the gene was passed down honestly. Your brother has it too. You have a brother! A little brother. He's names Arata."

"So where'd the silver come from?" Mako asked sipping his tea.

"Well Suki had a difficult labor, almost three days. Sokka prayed to the moon spirit that Suki and the baby would be fine. And they were. Suki gave birth to a healthy silver haired baby boy on the full moon. A gift from the moon spirit. And when Losha gave birth to you, a beautiful baby girl with silver hair, they named you after Princess Yue who became the moon spirit.

Bolin let out a snicker, "Wow that's unreal. She's named after Chief Sokka's old girlfriend? Whoa bet Suki wasn't too happy with that!"

A relieving round of laughter swept around the table. Mako placed a cup of tea in front of Yully, "Well hey at least you won't be the Silver Ghost anymore, you'll be the Silver Avatar!"

Korra's fists slammed so hard into the table Yully's tea spilled over the table, "She is not the Avatar!"

The laughter had ended, the smiles were gone.

"Which brings up another point." Tenzin had hoped he didn't have to say this, but it was clear this was not good news for everyone, "Until we figure out what to do about letting people know about you Yue, you should only bend water around anyone. The concern that people may reconsider Korra as the Avatar is a problem we do not want. So only us at this table and your family of course Yue will know. Is that understood?"

Everyone nodded uncomfortably, except Yully who stared at her spilled tea.

"Yue?" he asked concerned. He didn't want her to keep hiding, but so much was still unknown.

Yully still didn't look up when she muttered absently, "May I be excused?"

"Of course."

They all watched her quickly disappear into the hall. After a minute of silence digestion of the information Korra leaned over to Tenzin, "How'd she escaped her kidnappers? And what was it that actually killed her?"

He closed his eyes and shook his head, "I don't know and I'd rather not know or even think about it."

"But you must have some idea-" Korra pressed, but then Tenzin slammed his hand on the table.

"That doesn't matter anymore!" composing himself he continued, "Yue is alive and that's all anyone is going to care about." He sternly ended the discussion.

But Korra stood up and stared him, "Oh I do. No one cares more than I do," and stormed out of the room.

"What are you doing?" Mako stepped into the radio control room and onto an entanglement of wires all over the floor. Korra pressed the radio speaker to her ear, scribbling down some notes on a paper. Above her was a little brightly lit red bulb indicating connection to the Republic City Police Station emergency channel.

"Korra?" he stepped closer but she adjusted the speaker to her other ear, ignoring him, "Are you sure that's right?…Okay thanks." She yanked the wire out of its socket and ripped the paper off the pad.

"Why'd you call them for?"

"Why'd you let Yully-Yue who ever she is, out of her room?" She didn't even look at him as she made a beeline for the door but he blocked her.

"You think it'd would've been even possible to do that? She-she can bend of the elem-"

Korra shouldered him out of the way, "Yes I'm very aware of that. Which makes her more dangerous than I thought."

He followed her down the narrow hall trying to keep up with her, "She just found out who she is! After everything she's scared and confused!

"That's when people are at their most dangerous."

She began to enter the messaging hawks room before he planted his hand on the door, "What makes you so sure?"

Korra looked him dead in the eye, "On my way to get Tenzin I was attacked by a spirit and I had a vision," Mako's hesitant pause allowed her to yank the door open, "In my vision, the spirit told me that the first bender of all the elements had a choice." She began to prep the fastest hawk, "A choice between two Avatar spirits; a light one and a dark one. The bender chose the good spirit and locked away the dark spirit in The Tree of Time. That tree in the spirit world through the portals. If she releases it and bonds with it, she'll be a dark Avatar set to destroy the world."

This was way too much to take in he could only focus on one thing at a time, "Why would she want to destroy the world?"

"To get even, after everything she lost, to hurt the people that hurt her!"

"But she doesn't know anything about that stuff. I don't know about that stuff, I'd never even heard of it before."

"Nobody has heard of it. Not even Tenzin," Korra dressed the hawk's legs with a messengers tube with the paper inside, "He wants me to check out the Spirit Library to see it that has any record on it."

"Where's a Spirit Library?"

"In the Spirit World?" Korra tightened the last strap and nudge the hawk onto her arm.

"But Unalaq can control spirits, what if he attacks while you're in there. Why don't you just her trust her."

Korra opened the window hatch and threw the hawk into the air, "Why are you defending her? Did you two become best friends while I was away? She is a liability and my enemy. I will not let her take away my power just like Amon took away my bending. I'll lock her away before I'd let that happen." Letting the hatch slam shut, she strode into the hall.

"Tenzin was wrong." Mako called after her, "Her existence didn't weaken the people's faith in you, it weakened your faith in yourself!"

The metal walls were closing in on him, he couldn't breath. The dull yellow corridors in the ship was sickening, he made his way up topside to the dark welcoming open sky. If Yully wasn't her enemy before, Korra's her blatant rudeness will make her an enemy soon enough. Why did she even send out a messenger hawk? What did she found out from the police station? And where in the world did that snark about him defending Yully and friends come from? Did she think-is she…jealous? His mind stopped racing for his heart to catch up. On top of everything! Was she still mad at him for their breakup? Like they didn't have enough problems.

"Hello Mako"

He yelped, jumping back from the floating figure that materialized out from the corner of his eye. It took him a second to realize the floating figure was Yully effortlessly sitting on the railing staring out toward the rising moon, "Whoa geez," trying to compose himself, "you scared me."

"Sorry…I do that to people," she quietly looked over her shoulder at him.

"No I didn't mean that I…" Oh man what should I say? Should I leave? He cleared him throat, "How'd you know it was me?" He was going to at least try small talk. It'd be a really awkward trip to the North Pole else wise. And a little bit of him wanted to prove Korra wrong about her being dangerous.

Yully looked out toward the dark ocean searchingly, "Your footsteps are usually quick but solid. Its a confident stride but now they're heavy and hesitant…confused," she gracefully swung herself about so she was facing him without a concern towards gravity, "So what's up?" she tiredly smiled.

His puzzled face slowly turned into a smile, "You know that's a pretty creepy party trick." Either, both. Her gravity defying grace and analysis of footsteps. He minded his steps as he made his way to the railing. A reasonably cautionary distance from her.

She shrugged carelessly, "Then I won't show you the other tricks I got up my sleeve."

A joke? A warning?, "Just needed some air."

Sliding her legs out she flexed her bare feet on the floor, "Yeah I bet all that…information has everyones heads spinning," she casually leaned against the railing, "Does Korra even have hers on or is it flying about somewhere?"

Crap, did she see the hawk? "She'll be fine…she just needs time to process it all." This was the most intense small talk he'd ever had.

She considered that as she pushed herself off the railing into a routine of stretches, "And how is she exactly when she processes information say…that there was another Avatar before her?"

"I don't know," he admitted but a thought came to mind, "But she acted alright when I started dating her after Asami.

Yully stopped mid-stretch, fingers interlaced behind her, "Really?"

"Yeah, well she didn't like it while I was dating Asami but when we got together-"

"You dated both of them?"

He laughed to himself, rubbing his neck, "Yeah kinda complicated I know."

"So you and Korra…?"

Mako crossed his arms leaning against the railing facing Yully. Was she prying for information? "No no, we broke up…recently".

She sat down with one leg extended reaching comfortably for her foot, "How recently?"

This is embarrassing, "A few days before we came to your village…"

"Wow…this is not her week…" she switched legs, "Kinda tough since you're all friends huh?"

"Oh yeah," he nervously chuckled.

Extending both legs she leaned forward, "So what are you going do?"

Mako grimaced and uncomfortably looked into the sky, "I don't know. Asami…she told me she still had feelings for me and I don't think Korra's over me and…I mean I like both of them but I don't want to hurt them. More than I already have or am. But things…" he catch himself drifting and glanced at Yully. She was completely engrossed by his vulnerability, "Oh man I'm sorry. I'm complaining about stupid relationship drama when you…" he began to pace.

She straightened her torso and crossed her feet under her, like an eager child listening to a bedtime story, "No really I can use some stupid drama." At his longing glance toward the door she added, "I'll barely be listening to you anyway," she stood up and began to stretch again, "I need to finish my routine."

Mako stayed quiet for awhile but so did she. She was waiting while immersed in her yoga. Even her eyes were closed. He looked around aimlessly thinking aloud, "I guess I just don't want them to hate me for dating one of them or neither of them."

Yully lunged each of her legs, "Do you want to get back together with one of them?"

He scoffed, picking at his nails, "I really don't know."

"Well then don't do anything until you do know."

"And in the meantime what do I do? They're both mad at me…"

Twisting her body while in a lung, Yully reached up toward the sky, "They'd be mad either way by you dating either of them, but if you don't date either of them, you'll be hurting them the less."

Mako followed her arm upward, "So don't date either of them? Ever again?"

"Well not until you've made up your mind."

She kept twisting her arm over her body; Mako tilted his head in confusion, "But I'm not dating either of them now and its all weird and tense and awkward between us."

"That'll change" she grabbed her other hand from behind her back and under her leg.

"How?"

"They've found a new common enemy," she gazed up at the sky, "they'll bond over their contempt for me and eventually work out their feelings about you."

"No how are you doing that?" his head bend horizontally, fascinated and confused at her contortion.

She smiled and unwrapped herself, standing to face him, "You really want my advice?"

Straightening his head he looked at her dark blue eyes, the almost matched the color of the dark sky with a little light glinting in them. He glanced away to look at the sky, "Sure".

She moved toward the railing resting her forearms on it and clasping her hands, "Whenever I have to make a tough decision I choose the path where the least amount of pain happens to the least amount of people. So if you date one of them, you'll hurt them both for a longer amount of time than you would not dating either of them. They'll get over you and move on. And if you keep avoiding the situation, you'll just be hurting yourself. You have to think from an outsiders perspective. Who will it hurt and how many will it hurt? No matter who it is. It could be your best friend or yourself that gets the worst of it but sometimes you do things you don't want to do."

Mako had joined her at the railing, closer this time, "Like what you did with those kids in the Discipline Pits?"

She looked deeper into the distance, "Better me than them."

Mako couldn't tell one abyss from the other, "But if you take all the punishments for them, what do they learn?"

She looked down at her hands and saw what they had done for those kids, "That things can always be worse. They learn to be grateful for their dull and consistent and boring little lives with their families."

"So what do you learn?" he reflected on his own far more boring yet still interesting past.

"To be happy for them," she didn't even try to hide the gloom or sorrow.

"But you're not…" he quietly realized. She had looked so happy for them when they waved from the train. Was she secretly hating them?

"Which makes them the better person."

"But you-"

She pushed off the railing again but not for yoga, "What is your problem?!", he had looked too deep into the abyss, "You don't have enough stupid drama in your life so you need to know mine? Because you don't want to know and I don't want your sympathy! I just…," she catch herself on whatever she didn't want to say, "I need to be alone right now okay?" She turned and leaned sideways on the railing.

Even looking at her back, he felt her staring at him, "Yeah, okay. I understand. Getting all those memories back can be a lot to handle."

He was about to step towards the door but he saw her head shake and mummer, "If only…" and his curiosity got the better of him.

"What?"

Yully looked back towards the ocean, "Those were stories not memories."

He pressed his lips knowing he should go inside and leave her alone, but he couldn't, "But they will be. You know my brother and I are orphans too," he fiddled with his scarf, "I can hardly remember their faces. But this was my dads and when I wear it, it feels like he's still with me. Like a have a piece of him to always remind me of him." He looked up to see she looking back at him, "When you see your parents I bet you'll feel it too." He smiled warmly at the memory, the feeling of not being alone.

She smiled back at him, "Thanks Mako that was real sweet," her smile didn't feel warm, "but you know whats worse than not remembering them?" she stepped toward him, "Being fed false hope covered in sappy sugar dust that all my memories will just pop right back into my head when I see them!"

Despite her only coming up to his chest, her repulsive anger intimated him, "False ho-"

She took another step closer and grabbed his scarf, "And no matter how tight you wrap this scarf its not going to bring your parents back." She flicked the scarf over his face as he stepped backwards, "And even if I do remember my parents I won't get back the years I never had with them! So why don't you stick to your problem about too many people caring about you and let me handle my problems of the people I care about leaving me! Thanks for the pick me up." And with that she turned back to the railing, holding it at arms length.

He had messed up. Here he thought by opening up to her, she could feel not as alone. But how could he compare with her. He had no idea and it was an insult to her for him trying to relate. They both knew the color blue but how could he compare his stormy haze rain to her oppressing midnight nightmare. He was an idiot. He closed his gaping mouth and shamefully walked to the stairs.

The instant he grabbed the stair rails to keep him from falling Yully called out angrily desperate, "Mako!" then silence for a minute. He waited staring off at a dark blue star. Finally a tired sigh, "There's no light matters on a heavy heart. You should try to unburden yours."

He was too scared to turn back around so he said it to the star in the distance, "I should really be the one thanking you. I never did get around to it with what you did your Bolin back at the mansion."

The star twinkled lightly, "Getting him kidnapped? Sure anytime."

He was sure it was her before, but now he knew, "And for Korra and I at the Amon rally," He stole a glance back at her, her head resting on her hands on the railing, "You shouldn't use the same trick twice if you don't want someone to know your secret."

"And what's my secret?"

He knew she had many, but this one she may not have realized, "That although you may not be the Avatar, you can't help but help people."

She didn't move, just stood there bent over the railing. Moonlight shining over her, "Mmmm…I thought you were talking about how I've been playing with Naga these last couple days."

He smiled, knowing that she was, "No worries…your secrets are safe with me." He slide his hand down the railing as he descended back into the airship.