Korra elected to spend one final night on the island, due to the protest of her CEO girlfriend.

She woke up around six in the morning, roughly an hour or two before Asami. Korra was careful not to disturb her companion when she rose to get dressed. After slipping her pack on over her back, she turned once last time to give Asami a quick kiss on the forehead.

The black haired beauty opened her groggy green eyes. "You leaving so soon?"

"I'll be back before you know it." Korra ginned before heading for the door.

Asami leaned up, resting her chin slyly on her palm. "To save the day?"

Korra looked back one final time through the open threshold, "Of coarse. Avatar style."

The sun had just started to crest over the mountains. The island was quite. Most of the acolytes and others wouldn't be up for at least another hour. But Korra had one final thing to do before seeking the tree of time.

She approached the small shack that Rya was sharing with a few other Lotus members. Korra tried her best to keep the rapping on the door at a reasonable volume.

"Korra?" Rya whispered from behind.

"Geeesshhh! You scared the hell out of me girl." She couldn't help but notice the dark bags under her eyes, and the long look on her face. "Did you sleep?"

Rya was already dressed for the day. She paced forward until she was only a few feet from the Avatar. "Only an hour or so. You?"

Korra bobbed her head. "Same."

"Why are you here?"

"I kinda have something I need to do before heading through the portal."

"What's that?" Rya asked.

Korra lowered her head like a scolded dog for what she was about to ask. "I need to talk to Indraa. Ask her a few questions."

Rya stood silent.

"I wanted to ask your permission. Your in charge of her...detainment." Korra paused, searching for the right words. "And... she is your mother. I'd understand if you..."

"It's fine Korra. I'll take you to her."

"Are you sure?"

Rya motioned for her to follow, "Come on, we can take Nala."

Korra's flown on planes, air ships and sky bison. But never in her dreams had she ever flown on the back of an eagle wolf. Nala was swift and graceful while flying at nearly twice the speed of a bison. They arrived in no time.

"Damn!" Korra spoke excitedly as she jumped from Nala's back. "She's like a flying Naga."

Rya followed suit, "Good girl Nala." She purred, scratching her behind the ear.

The two led Nala to a small spot with a troff and food for the wolf to rest.

"This shouldn't take long girl." Rya gave her one final reassurance before entering the chamber along side the Avatar.

"You seem awfully calm for what you have to do, Korra." Rya asked.

"Of coarse I am, I'm the Avatar, it's my job to deal with threats like this. But I'm afraid it's just a brave face." Korra abandoned the casual tone for a serious one. "Sure, UnaVaatu wanted to start an age of darkness and Zaheer wanted to murder me because he thought that would bring peace through chaos, but nothing has ever bothered me this much. I've never felt this much dread from a threat before. That's why I have to ask her a few things."

They left the elevator and entered the entrance chamber. A little over half the guards were still asleep. Jorin and two others remained awake and vigilant, playing cards by the radio.

Jorin stood when he noticed their visitors. "Korra? Rya? Is something wrong?"

"No, no. Everything's fine Jorin, the Avatar just needs to speak with...our guest." She spoke softly, not wanting to wake the weary watchmen.

"I shouldn't be more than a few minutes. Thank you Rya."

The guards moved into position before opening the thick platinum door.

Rya stopped Korra just as the first door screeched to a halt. The slightly younger woman smiled through her pain and confessed. "Did you know that I've always looked up to you?"

Korra's face lit up. "W-what?"

"I've always wanted to meet you, ever since I was a little girl and my mom told me about the Avatar you would become, I've dreamed of it."

Korra's surprise melted into a soft blush of embarrassment.

"Your everything I imagined you to be. Strong, confident, wise...and selfless."

The mighty Avatar stood speechless for a moment before pulling her in for a warm hug. "Thank you, Rya." she whispered. Korra squeezed tighter before the two separated. Resting her right hand gingerly on Rya's shoulder, she spoke once more before turning into the chamber. "I promise I won't let you or anyone else down. I won't fail. Even if it costs me my life."

The rear door lowered completely before the inner door raised. And there she sat, her back turned to any who entered. The possessed Xin sat in a meditative position, enthralled in deep thought.

Korra marched forward while the inner door closed.

"Weeeelll? Isn't this a pleasant surprise!"

Korra came to an immediate halt. The voice that spoke wasn't Xin's, it was Indraa.

She stood slowly, as she spoke. "Vocal cords are the first to change. Then hair, eye's, and before you know it..." Indraa turned, peeling back her eyelids revealing a new shade of green. "...her body, becomes my body. Now what brings you here Avatar?"

Korra took a deep breath before choosing her words. "I need to ask you a few things before I go."

"I figured you'd stop by before leaving."

Korra's heart sank, her fear boiling to the surface. She quickly transformed it into the right amount of anger. "Of coarse you did." She scorned.

Indraa smiled. "Sooooo? Ask away. I'll answer as best I can, oh mighty Avatar."

Korra crossed her arms across here chest, contemplating for a few moments. "What are you? Or rather, what were you?"

Indraa rolled her eyes. "Oh there's no need for me to answer that one. I'll leave that to Raava."

Her eyes widened, stopping herself before asking 'How did you know that?'. A question she already knew the answer to.

"By the way." Indraa pointed to Korra's pack as much as the restrictive chains would allow. "You have just enough to restore her. You'd need about ten if you wanted to restore Vaatu, but that amount is toxic to a human."

"Funny, that was my next question."

Indraa chuckled. "I know."

"What have you seen?"

"Are you sure you want to know?"

"...yes?"

Indraa took a deep breath, allowing her emotion to disappear. "You go to the tree of time, drink those potions and restore Raava. Truly restore her. And when you do, your going learn some things you may wish you hadn't. You'll never be the same. This world will never be the same should you succeed in stoping me."

"Do I have a choice?"

"Not if you wanna have any chance of stopping me."

Korra perked an intrigued eyebrow. "Does that mean you want me to stop you?"

"Oh coarse not." She barked, before taking a seat. Taking extra time to cross her legs into a more comfortable position. "But yes, however slim it is, there is a chance you will arrive just in time to save the day." Indraa cocked her head to one side like a curious dog. "Why don't you just kill me? You have to tie or obligation to this vessel."

Korra peered deep into Xin's now soulless green eyes, her hands clinched tightly into fists. "Because without her, I wouldn't be here. She saved me from you. That's more than enough reason to go out of my way. Besides, my gut tells me it's not that simple with you. I don't think I could kill you, even if I tried."

"Very good, Korra." Indraa nodded. "But you are partially right. Had you died at any point between harmonic convergence and the second time you returned to the tree of time, all of this would have come to an end."

"So you did come from Vaatu!?"

"Indeed."

"How!?"

Indraa laughed, "Ask him yourself."

Korra asked a more serious question before getting to far from her original intention. "Is Xin still in there? Can she hear us?"

Indraa nodded. "Yes. Xin's safe and sound. Well, safe until you kill me or if I were to kill myself, and as sound as you were when I was in control of your body. Worse actually. I'm in complete control of her, I only had about a fifty percent or so hold on you...and look how that turned out." She snickered. "Just one final question from me, then you can be on your way."

"Shoot."

"I can read the thoughts of both Ming'Yun and Xin." Indraa motioned with her hand for Korra to calm down before she became flustered again. "Relax, neither of them have anything that I didn't already know, so no big secrets revealed there. But I do know that Xin freed Kuvira with the hope that she would relish the chance to redeem herself and rush to defend Republic City. To defend the people that she tried to conquer and rule. The same people who hate her guts. I don't really know anything about Kuvira and neither did Xin. Not like you do." She hung her head for a moment, scratching her chin in mocking contemplation before peering back up at Korra. "Can you trust her to throw her life on the line for these people? Because there's a very good chance she'll be the only thing standing between me...and your peoples annihilation."

The Avatar answered without hesitation. "Absolutely. She'll die if she has to."

Korra knew she couldn't spend much longer here, poking and prodding at the dark prisoner. The main reason for coming here wasn't to get answers to these simple questions, but to gauge the enemy. Testing the waters. Unfortunately, as twisted as she is, Indraa has cooperated far more than Korra anticipated.

But Korra had one final question. "Why are you doing this?"

For the first time since Indraa reared her horrifying head, the sneer slowly faded from her face and she fell silent. Dead silent. For a moment, Korra saw the shadow of what Indra once was. A creature with other emotions besides anger and contempt. For a second it seemed like she would almost cry, a damned up sadness that had been swelling for who knows how long. But the look quickly subsided when sorrow bled into anger.

Indraa's face wrinkled with disgust for a moment before returning to calm and collected. "You'll know soon enough."

Korra had been gone for a full twelve hours. Jorin and Lee continued to check in on their hourly intervals. Xin was still locked away safe and sound. The president decided against a full evacuation, deciding instead to up police patrols and keep Iroh's fleet stationed in the harbor. Bolin and Opal had several hundred members of Benders without Boarders on stand by, should things get hairy and extra relief needed.

Everything was quiet, the kind of stillness before a big storm.

Mako, Tenzin and Asami were eating in the guard shack with Rya and the other two White Lotus. Miya, a young earth bender and Zan, a waterbender.

"So," Asami paused to swallow her mouth full of food. "how does someone go about joining a secret society anyway?"

"Family ties. Both my mother and father were members." Miya said. "They kept it from me until about four years ago. Oddly enough they had me in the same private school as Rya."

Asami turned to the smiling girl eating next to Mako. "You didn't say you went to a private school?"

"Didn't think I'd have to." She shot a playful glare at Miya. "Mom always wanted me to focus on my education. I was just happy to finally have a family and some real friends."

She shifted her attention nervously between the small talk, the radio and the clock hanging above the door, which read 7:06.

"Hey." Mako rested a reassuring hand on the girls shoulder. "They're fine. Probably just having a little trouble with the radio."

Rya smiled. "I hope so."

Just then, as if fate heard Rya's concern, the radio buzzed to life.

She took a few steps to pick up the mic. "Cutting it awfully close Jorin. How are things on your end?"

Static for a moment, then silence. The erie stillness drew the attention of the occupants.

"Jorin do you read? Lee?"

"...hey sweetie."

This time, their room fell silent. Nothing but wide, horrified eyes and the clacking of Asami's fork dropped on her plate.

Rya motioned for Miya and Zan to hit the road.

Tenzin was quick to pick up on the signal. "I'll notify Lin and Reiko immediately." He said rushing from the room.

"I'll tell Suyin to move her troops to the portal!" Mako made for the door but turned to Rya before leaving. "You wait for me before you head off. I'm coming with you. You'll need all the help you can get."

She sternly nodded, returning her attention to the radio. Only Asami remained in the room.

Rya looked to the older woman for reassurance. Both their faces painted with fear and a touch of rage.

"Hellllooo?" Indraa purred with sarcasm. "You still there?"

"Where are my men!? Where's Jorin and Lee!?" She asked, fearing the worst.

"Come on now, we both know they're dead."

Asami quickly covered her mouth with her right hand, to stop a whimpering gasp from escaping her lips.

"I promise, they didn't suffer." For the first time, the monster spoke with with an emotion other than cynicism or sadistic pleasure. Indraa spoke with absolute sincerity.

Rya said nothing, visibly trying to contain her rage.

"By now Korra's likely almost to the tree of time...well beyond the point of no return. Now, we can do this one of two ways; Either you kindly step aside and allow me to stroll right up to the spirit portal in Rebuplic City or..."

Rya's cool domineer that she'd been displaying during the entirety of this ordeal broke and the girl finally snapped. "Or nothing! Your not setting one foot inside this city! Do you hear me!?"

"...or I kill every man, woman and child that stands in my way." Indraa proceeded as if the enraged girl had said nothing. "The cosmos is like a giant organism, and humanity is but a single cell. A cell that eventually becomes cancerous and spreads, eventually kill the organism. I'm here to cut out the problem before it becomes that cancer."

"Korra will stop you!" Asami added with a fury she rarely used.

"Maybe, but that's not likely. When she learns the truth and sees the whole picture rather than just the small piece she's used to seeing, Korra may change her tune." Xin said with a disgusting confidence.

"That's not going to happen!" Rya barked.

"You have until morning to decide on a swift painless end or a slow and agonizing one." The radio turned to static.

"Wait!" Rya screamed into the mic. "Don't you walk away! Your hear me?!"

Only silence answered as the sun set into the sea, giving way to the darkness of the night.