Lin's POV
I had to admit, I was surprised when a few days after Iroh and I had drilled her, the teen had decided to start her Avatar training. She had been dead set on wanting nothing to do with her title but the knowing smirk on Katara and Asami's face led me to believe they had something to do with her change of heart. However, her accepting to train came with a condition. She refused to Firebend. Iroh had not been pleased.
Katara spoke with me before I went to start our training session, reminding me not to 'cross the line.' I had politely reminded her of my teaching methods which I'd learned from my mother, the greatest Earthbender in the world, recalling that she hadn't gone easy on Aang. The elder sighed and informed me that she would be sitting in to make sure the girl and I did not get out of hand. I had rolled my eyes but allowed this.
The teen approached me, arms crossed over her chest. "Earth is the element of substance," I began. "The key to mastering Earthbending is learning to wait and listen for the opportune moment to strike, and then carrying out your attack with brute force. Think you can manage that?"
She nodded, dropping her arms to the side. She really didn't seem to care if Asami or Katara was there, and she was actually listening to my explanation, though I could tell she was not happy about it. I got into my stance and she copied me. I willed the earth dummy toward her, which she easily dodged, running toward me. I sent several others at her but she simply destroyed them with a couple punches and kicks till she landed right in front of me.
I growled in slight frustration. She was using her usual hand to hand combative skills. There would be none of that during my practices. To make my point, I waited till she was close enough before shifting my foot, making an earth column rise and clip her under her chin.
She rolled a couple feet away before standing back up, massaging her jaw. That had to have left a mark but she acted as though it didn't even bother her. Tough kid.
"When we're on my time," I started, walking over to her. "You will Earthbend. That's the entire reason we're doing this. Now get back in your stance."
I heard her huff before doing as she was told. For the next couple of weeks, we went over the different forms, and I taught her everything I knew. I watched her progress and get better every day. And as much as I hated to admit it, she really was a true prodigy. Of course, seeing her attitude about things, it seemed like the whole thing had been child's play. She was a natural Earthbender, hard headed and stubborn.
The way she used Earthbending was something I hadn't seen in a long time. She had learned to connect with the earth, like I had when my mother had taught me. She lifted chunks, columns and walls of earth like it was nothing.
We were currently sparring, and for the first time in years I had a match I would dare consider a challenge. I sent a series of earth chunks her way which she stopped in mid air and threw back at me. I willed a wall to rise to block the attack before lifting the earth beneath my feet and riding it toward her. She smirked and shifted her foot forward, knocking me slightly off balance. I growled, and turned to face her. She slammed her fist against the ground, causing earth debris to come flying at me. I held my arms in front of me, sinking my feet into the dirt to keep myself standing.
The smile she had on her face suddenly faded, and her whole body went rigid. Her face contorted into some form of pain before she crumbled to her knees. I raised a brow at this, freeing my feet and walking over to the girl.
Then she let out a blood chilling scream.
What the hell was going on?
Korra's POV
It was like someone had stuck a hot knife into my back and started dragging it across my skin. I could feel it being carved on my back at the base of my spine. I had tried to hold back my cries but the pain just became too great and I had no choice but to scream. My eyes were screwed shut to keep the tears from spilling but the effort was in vain.
I felt someone kneel next to me, brushing the hair from my sweaty face as I pressed my forehead against the cool ground, trying to ride out the pain. I could see the shadow of the glow I knew was coming from my back, lighting up as a new symbol engraved itself on my back.
The pain was started to make me lightheaded, and I felt a presence in my mind, slithering around to the forefront. And then a cold, deep voice shot a new sense of fear down my spine.
I will find you, Avatar… and I will destroy you, it hissed into my ear.
"We need to move her."
"No. Let the pain fade. I've seen this before with Aang. Moving her now will only make it worse."
"What exactly's going on here?"
"Katara, are you sure we can't at least get her to your tent. She's not looking too good."
I couldn't distinguish the voices from one another, still trying to just focus on getting through the pain, the agony. This had happened once before, when I was eight. I had been training with Tarrlok for a couple of months in Waterbending. I was reluctant to Bend since the fire, but even at the age of eight I couldn't deny the comforting ability of water. Then, in the middle of practice, my back had started to burn, and the tattoo on my back had started to glow. I had passed out from the pain, my small body not being able to deal with it.
Tarrlok and my father had taken me to doctors to ask why it happened but the doctors had never been able to see the markings on my back. According to them, I had gained the water symbol on the middle-left side of my back. I guess it's an Avatar thing.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the pain gradually subsided into a stinging sensation. My body slumped forward, taking gulps of air and just not wanting to move. Why mastering an element had to be such a painful ordeal I would probably never know, and I knew I now had the earth symbol stained onto the base of my spine.
"Hey," Asami started, placing a hand on the back of my shoulder. "You okay?" She hadn't been present for this the first time, so I could only imagine what it was like for her now.
"It hurts," I managed, the words coming out regretfully like a whimper.
"Do you think you can walk?"
I shut my eyes and slowly nodded, lifting myself up as carefully as I could. I managed to get to my knees before I had to stop, a sharp pain shooting through my body. I took a deep breath and stood, unsteady on my feet. My surrogate sister came to my aid, wrapping my arm around her neck as I tried to steady myself. I let out a yelp when she tried to wrap her arm around my lower back. The silver tattoo was still sensitive.
"Don't touch it," I whispered.
"Just hold on, okay?" she told me, helping me stumble to Katara's tent.
The elder asked everyone to leave at that point, assuring them she'd let them know what was happening after she helped ease the pain. But of course I knew healing wouldn't help much. Asami assisted me in lying down on the cot on my stomach, wetting a cloth and wiping away the dirt that had smeared itself on my face. I was just trying to get my mind off the stinging pain.
Slowly and gently, Katara cut my shirt from the back, leaving my back exposed save for the white wrappings. She Bended some water from a bowl and pressed it against the new addition to my silver collection of markings. I whimpered again, squeezing Asami's hand as hard as I dared before relaxing as the pain dulled along with the pounding in my ears.
The heiress unclipped my ponytails in an effort to make me more comfortable, smoothing out my chocolate colored hair, trying to help me fall asleep.
It didn't take long before my body, worn and as relaxed as it was going to get, finally succumbed to sleep and darkness.
Amon's POV
With a start I sat up in my chair, thunder clapping outside my office window. Korra. Something had happened. She was in pain; I could feel it. I leaned back against the chair, rubbing my hands over my face. Sleeping at my desk had become an undesirable habit, but I needed to be ready in case news came regarding my daughter. It was driving me insane, this not knowing.
I had fallen asleep only to be awoken by what had sounded like her scream, something that I'd heard enough times while she was still here. But this scream was different. This wasn't a terrified, nightmare induced shriek. This was agonized and in pain. Something I had heard nine years ago…
It had been two years since the Benders had burned down our compound, and she had slowly been recovering and the nightmares had been getting better, gradually. Tarrlok had insisted that she learn to Waterbend, and though she was weary of Bending as a whole, she had allowed him to teach her what he knew, which was plenty. I had given my permission as well.
Despite everything, I could see the potential, the power she could one day possess if she ever did choose to tap into it. But she wanted nothing to do with the other elements, especially fire. I think she only learned Waterbending because she knew me and Tarrlok could do it too, and of water's healing properties. We had stayed away from Bloodbending in her training. We refused to become our father.
I had been walking around the compound with Lieutenant and Hiroshi, discussing the rebellion's latest attempts at disarming us when a blood curdling scream had made the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. I had bolted, and ran into my brother who was already running toward the med wing, my daughter in his arms. I noticed the bright light and lifted up the back of her shirt to see the water symbol appearing on her back.
"What happened?" I demanded, trying to keep my voice even and under control.
"We were practicing and then she just started screaming and then…she fainted! I-I don't know what's going on!"
We entered the room and I yelled for one of the doctors. An elder man come forward and I showed him the girl's back, his eyes widening when he saw the now diming light before disappearing completely. I asked the doctor why this had happened, what the hell this mark was on her back.
He looked at me perplexed, and he explained to me that there was nothing there. My jaw clenched and I snapped at him, yelling about how it was possible he couldn't see the burn on her back. Was he blind!
My younger brother had to step forward and asked me to leave the infirmary. I reluctantly did so, promising myself that I'd have a word with that incompetent so called doctor later. We walked into her room and Tarrlok placed a wet cloth against the new addition on her back, my daughter whimpered.
"That idiot," I growled. "He could've at least-"
"They can't see it," Tarrlok cut me off. I frowned, removing the mask and placing it on Korra's nightstand as I also shifted the girl in my arms. "The tattoos, birthmarks, whatever you want to call them, they can see them."
"Why?"
He hummed in response, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "Perhaps only certain people can see them. Maybe it's a self defense mechanism of sorts. I mean, you couldn't see it for the first couple months after we brought her here."
I glared at him, asking him to shut up as the girl stirred. She whimpered and her eyes opened halfway to look at me. I gave her a small smile, wiping a tear that trailed down her cheek with the pad of my thumb.
"It hurt, Daddy," she whined, gripping my shirt.
"Shh, little one," I soothed. "I'm right here. Try to sleep."
She snuggled as best she could against my chest and I rocked back and forth with her in my arms. I told her everything would be okay, that the pain would pass. And it did.
Now though, now I didn't know where she was. I couldn't hold her close and take the pain away. I just hoped that time would pass and that the Sato girl was with her, taking care of her while I couldn't. It was all I could do for my little one. And that pained me.
Katara's POV
I observed as Asami watched over the dark skinned girl, who lay on her side, her hand still holding the Sato girl's. The way she guarded Korra, it really was like a sister who wanted nothing more than to take away any pain she might still be feeling. I had seen the raven haired teen's horror stricken face when Korra had screamed and the all too familiar marking had been carved into her back. The panic and confusion on the other people's faces was understandable, seeing as they had never seen it before.
Aang had had a similar experience when it came to mastering the elements, though his marks had been on his leg; it was different for every Avatar apparently. I still remembered his painful screams and the blinding light. It had hurt me then not to be able to take the pain away, and it hurt me now watching Korra go through the same thing.
Asami had wanted to move Korra, to help, to do something, she had looked so helpless. And it was with a heavy heart that I told her not to. Lin and Mako had been confused, not being able to see the silvery design on the girl's back, only the luminous light. After the glowing stopped, and Korra was somewhat able to stand, we'd brought her to my tent. And now, after healing and relaxing the muscles, I'd wrapped some ice in a rag and sat it on the new symbol.
"Is she going to be okay?" the heiress finally whispered.
I sighed. "She will be. The worst is over for now."
She looked up at me, her green eyes still showing her worry. "What exactly happened?"
I studied the tattoo on the girl's back. The subtle silver lines against the brunette's mocha skin, curved as they came down from her shoulders, several spirals curling around the water symbol on the mid-left side of her waist and the earth at the base of her spine. It was really a very intricate design.
"My husband, the past Avatar, had explained to me after I'd witnessed him get his water tattoo that it happens every time he mastered an element." He'd been through it once before when he'd mastered air.
"The tattoo," Asami began, curiously tracing the silver lines, causing Korra's brow to furrow. The older girl pulled her hand back. "Why couldn't Lin or Mako see it? And why can we?
"The marks on her back are that of Raava, the spirit of light and harmony leftover from when she merged with Wan, the first Avatar," I explained, recalling what I could of the already vague tale. Even Aang had been unsure of the details concerning the spirit and Wan. "It's said that the markings will only reveal itself to those the Avatar trusts, to those who truly care for them."
Asami seemed to mull this information over before looking back to her surrogate sister. Her reaction earlier…it was almost as if – "You weren't there when she got her Waterbending mark, were you?"
The raven haired girl shook her head, her gaze still focused on Korra. "No, I wasn't. But I do remember her being sick when she was eight. I've always noticed the marks on her back…I just never got the chance to ask her what they were…"
I nodded in response, covering the teen with a blanket as she started to stir. Asami immediately soothed her, whispering that she was here and giving her hand a light squeeze. Korra relaxed. She certainly wouldn't be waking up soon, given the amount of strain her body had just been put through.
"Katara?" I looked up to the entrance to see Mako. "How is she?"
"Better," I answered. It was the truth and the only sure thing I'd really be able to tell him.
He nodded and stepped into the tent, going over to Asami's side, studying the younger girl. It was interesting to see the normally brooding Firebender here, concerned for the well being of anyone besides his brother.
"What exactly happened to her?"
"She mastered Earthbending."
Mako raised a brow at my answer, looking confused by the implications. "How'd you know that?"
"The light you saw was the earth symbol being carved onto her back," I replied. "It is something that happens when an Avatar masters an element." I looked back at the girl. "But the pain should decrease slightly with each one she gains."
"Hmmm." Mako didn't comment any further on this.
"The worst is over," I assured. "Korra will be fine."
Mako nodded once more. "That's good," he said, heading toward the door. He stopped and looked over his shoulder once he reached the exit. "Let me know when she wakes up. Lin wants me to keep her posted." And with that he left the three of us.
I had been in the middle of pouring myself a glass of whiskey when my arms started to burn, and I dropped my glass. My teeth gritted together against the stinging sensation. The Avatar had mastered another element. She was getting stronger, harder to squash.
'She has mastered two out of the four elements,' a voice hissed from the shadows of the room.
"She is of no concern to us."
'Do not underestimate Raava!' He boomed, his words like acid at the spirit's name. 'If the Avatar masters all four elements she will have the ability to destroy our plans. I have waited long enough for this.'
"That won't happen. I'll find her."
'No,' it replied. 'When the time is right, she will find you.'