A/N: Yeah I lied about there being action in this chapter. Mostly dialogue, and I apologize for taking so long to write it. I don't own the Legend of Korra, and I hope you enjoy this one.
P.S. Lena has six siblings, all of them older than her. Her sisters are Aleia, Aia, Ashi, and Anden, and her brothers are Arnd and Art. In case I confuse you.
Lena's last day with her family in the Earth Kingdom still haunted her.
She was pretty sure that her parents hadn't been expecting her to leave like she had threatened to so many times before, judging by their expressions when she ducked out of her tent that morning with a bag slung over her shoulder and a determined look on her face.
Three of her four sisters were sitting by the stream, washing dirty clothes in the clear, cool running water, and both of her brothers were nowhere to be seen. Grandma was still asleep; Lena could hear her snoring.
"I'm leaving." Lena said in a voice as hard as stone.
Her mother stood up. "Lena," she pleaded, "Be reasonable! Stay with us, where you'll be safe."
Lena shook her head and brushed her mother's hand away, which she had extend as if to pat her on the shoulder. "That's the problem, mother. If I stay here, I may be safe, but I'll never be happy. I can't keep hiding."
Her father, a grizzly man made of muscle and a beard which exceeded his beltline, came over to join them. "But you're not hiding. You're simply... keeping a low profile." Lena scoffed, but her father continued. "As long as you're a... a double bender, people will come after you. They'll try to hurt you!"
"I can protect myself, dad." Lena said harshly. "And why? Why would they try to hurt me?"
"Because you're different!" his words rang through air.
Grandma had stopped snoring. Her sisters were watching the scene unfold before them, unsure of what to do.
"I love you guys." She said. "But if I'm ever gonna grow up, I need to get out."
She kissed her mother on the cheek, gave her father a hug, and waved to her sisters at the stream, who were stunned and speechless.
"Tell Arnd and Art I said goodbye." Lena said, referring to her two older brothers. "And Grandma and Aleia, too."
Halfway down the road with the campsite nearly out of sight, Aia had caught up with Lena.
"Wait!" she said breathlessly. She held out her gray jacket to Lena, an offering. "Take it. I want you to have something to remember me by."
Lena took it, a smile spreading warmth across her face, which had been numb from frowning.
Aia waved and ran back to the streamside, where her laundry sat in a dirty pile.
Lena would admit that Aia could be a pain in the neck, but she would miss her. Ashi and Anden, too.
As she walked towards United Republic, memories flooded into her mind.
Lena remembered the first time she lost a tooth, wrestling with her older brothers when she was only five years old.
She remembered Grandpa's funeral, and how she wondered why the sky looked so pretty on a day so sad.
But most of all, she remembered the day she got her bending—the day she became a double bender.
The sky was yellow, as was the landscape around her. She didn't know where she was.
One moment, she had been kneeling by a spring, taking a drink of water, and the next she was here.
6-year-old Lena looked around in confusion. In the distance, she noticed a human form, though as she approached it, it was... a monkey?
The monkey was meditating, humming even.
"Excuse me?" Lena implored.
The monkey's humming became more agitated and urgent, as though it was trying to ignore her.
"Hey monkey!" Lena yelled.
The monkey opened its eyes and glared at her.
"What do you want?" he huffed, uncrossing his legs and crossing his arms.
"I want to know where I am. Why was I brought here?"
"You're in the spirit world, child." He raised an eyebrow at her. "Are you the Avatar?"
Lena was baffled. "What? No! The Avatar is a Water Tribe girl." Lena gestured to her dusty hand-me-down clothes. "I'm obviously Earth Kingdom."
The monkey snorted. "Earth Kingdom, Water Tribe, none of that will matter in a few hundred years."
Lena stamped her foot in frustration, splattering mud on her leg. "Well why am I here?! I don't have time to sit here and talk to a cranky monkey all day!"
"Watch your language, girl. You're talking to a spirit here."
"You? A spirit?"
"The Odd Spirit, thank you very much."
"Well then, oh Odd Spirit, why was I brought here?" Lena asked a third time.
"How should I know? They never tell me anything! Maybe you've angered the other spirits. Maybe you're not fulfilling your destiny." He paused to throw his arms up dramatically. "You should talk to Koh. Maybe he'll tell you." The monkey gestured towards an immense, twisted tree in the distance.
Before Lena could question the Odd Spirit further, he moved away from her, clearly indicating the end of the conversation.
Lena had heard stories of Koh from her Grandmother, who had been bitter towards the spirit ever since he had stolen her Grandfather's face.
"If you ever find yourself in the Spirit World, venturing into the Realm of Koh," Grandmother would warn Lena and her siblings, "Do not show any emotion in his presence, or he will steal your face." And then Grandma's eyes would become watery and distant, remembering Grandfather and how the love of her life was stolen from her.
Lena skipped across the series knobby earth platforms that acted as stepping stones towards the spirit's lair.
This is it. Lena thought to herself. No emotion. Just keep a straight face. Lena peered into a dark hole at the base of the tree, presumably the entrance to Koh's domain.
Lena gulped, brought her hand to her cheek, as if to test her expression, then started to climb down.
The cave under the tree was an earth-packed tunnel veined with tree roots.
Lena whipped around as something moved behind her.
"Koh?" she called out.
"Yes?" answered a sleepy voice behind her.
Lena spun around and found herself face-to-face with a centipede-like creature wearing a Noh mask. Koh, no doubt.
She was surprised, but she kept her expression passive.
"The Odd Spirit told me you could help me."
"And why would you need my help?" this time a brown-feathered owl spoke to her through its small beak. Koh had changed faces, trying to catch Lena off guard.
"I was brought to the spirit world and I don't know why. I came for answers."
Koh chuckled and slithered around Lena, like a snake ready to coil around its prey. "Yes, Lena. I know you." his face changed to that of a familiar old man with a wrinkled, leathery face and bushy caterpillar eyebrows. "I knew your grandfather, as well." Lena almost raised her eyebrows, but caught herself.
"I see much pain in your future. Suffering. Humiliation." Koh said through Grandfather's face.
Lena cringed, then put her poker face back on before Koh could turn around and catch her off guard. "You will have to make a choice that will make you decide between your loved ones or the one you love." Koh's centipede form inched closer to Lena's face, until their noses were almost touching. "And you will have power. Great power. That will either do great good or great harm to the world."
Then Koh did something Lena really didn't expect: He leaned forward and tapped his forehead against Lena's, causing a blinding flash of light to spread throughout the cave.
Then, when the light faded, Lena found herself on a cliff, overlooking a valley in the real world.
Lena let out a breath of relief. I'm back. Lena thought with a sigh of relief. She put her hands on her hips then looked around. "Now how do I get home from here?" Lena asked aloud.
And after that, Lena's airbending and earthbending powers came slowly but surely, trickling into Lena's life. Only a year after her visit to the spirit world Lena could already lift boulders fifty feet in the air and create tornadoes that could tear through villages in a matter of minutes.
But Koh's words still haunted Lena. They would for the rest of her life.
