26

Hyen and I were just getting off a phone conversation with the Head of Spiritual Studies at the university when Bei Fong's secretary showed up and directed me to the Chief's office.

Bei Fong looked up from the reports she was reading and waved the secretary away, closing the door behind him. "How's the Snatcher case going?"

"It's... going," I said, and explained the thread we were following at the moment, discussing old souls with the university-types and trying to find ways to identify and locate them.

"Have you asked Tenzin or Jinora?"

I nodded. "I spoke with Tenzin, but the university's been more helpful." I hadn't asked Jinora yet, since I didn't think her people-finding powers would work for this situation, but she was next on my list if the professors didn't pan out.

"Good work. Keep at it."

I gave her a salute, knowing that couldn't be everything. If it was just the Snatcher case, she would have dragged Hyen up as well.

There was a moment of quiet and Bei Fong motioned for me to sit across from her.

"So," she said, leaning in with a quiet, conspiratorial tone. "I had an interesting conversation with your brother the other day."

I nodded. "Pema thought it was time to move forward."

"And how did that go?"

I shrugged. "About what I expected. We haven't visited all of them yet, but out of the ones we have, a lot of them want to go into the..." I glanced at the door, wondering just how far that secretary had gone. "You know. Opal and I have them just writing letters for now. I took notes if you want to see them." I'd left my logbook down in the office, and suddenly I wished I hadn't. Not that I suspected anyone would snoop on me, but there was a lot of sensitive information in that book and it was impossible to be too careful with it.

"Good. Drop them off here when you can. I want to read them before our next meeting."

"Meeting?"

"Didn't Bolin tell you?"

"Ah, no. He must have forgot. We have a meeting?"

Bei Fong shook her head, presumably at Bolin. "Your house, at seven tonight."

"Oh," I said, my thoughts instantly going to how untidy my apartment was and if I needed to buy anything, what I would do if Insook happened to call, or one of the neighbors needed help with something... I didn't have a valid excuse to postpone the meeting however, and there were things we needed to talk about.

"See you then, Detective. If your partner asks why I only called you up, blame the stairs." Bei Fong bent the door open for me and I took my leave.

####

At two minutes to seven, I got a knock on my door. It was Bolin and Opal, with Bei Fong right behind them, looking out of place in street clothes.

"Are Jinora and Tenzin coming?" I asked as I closed the door behind them.

"No, Pema convinced them not to," Opal said.

That made sense. If Pema had bowed out because she wanted to keep her family safe, she couldn't very well let her daughter and husband continue being involved.

I took a moment to drag the three extra chairs back to the kitchen and the four of us sat down in my living room.

With a thank you, Bei Fong handed me my logbook with my notes on the visits Opal and I had made and had the two of us summarize what had happened and list the people we still were yet to contact.

"Good. Keep at it and let me know when you've finished. Mako, how did you and Bolin get into the Quarantine without being seen?"

I glanced at Bolin, worried about where she might be going with this question. "Tuan told me where I could jump the fence. Why?"

"Where exactly? Could you do it again?"

"I could." I smoothed back my hair. "You want me to take the families there?"

Bei Fong shook her head. "I want you to deliver those letters and bring home everyone they've got trapped in there."

I frowned. "But they don't want to."

"They will if they get heartfelt letters begging them to come home," Bei Fong said, folding her arms.

"What about it being illegal to sneak in there?" She'd backed me up on this point during our last meeting.

"That's just a risk we'll have to take. I'll do what I can to back you up comes down to it."

That was encouraging.

"Wouldn't it be easier for Opal to sneak in?" Bolin asked. "Or you or me?"

"Mako's got a rapport with them. They'll be more likely to trust him than a couple random kids. No offense."

"What if Opal...?" Bolin asked and I found myself zoning out of the conversation.

I was fully resigned to the fact that I would have to go back into the Quarantine, even though I was sure the possessed would either beat me up again or not let me leave, or both. At least I had backup this time who could get me out if things went sour.

But what was I supposed to tell them? 'Hey, sorry I bailed on that search for the Avatar you sent me on and now I'm doing that thing you explicitly told me you didn't want me to do. Here's some letters from people who think you're dead. Also I killed your pet snake spirit.'

This was going to go well.

Opal interrupted my thoughts. "Mako, what do you think?"

I looked up. "Huh? Yeah, that's fine," I said, hoping no one would notice my distraction.

Bei Fong nodded. "Then it's settled. Mako, when are your next days off?"

Vani wasn't great at giving her subordinates regular schedules and I had to think for a moment. "The seventeenth and eighteenth." Two days from now.

"Perfect. Make the rest of your visits then, have Opal and Bolin pick up the letters. Once those are ready, I'll get you the time off to make contact."

I was supposed to start Insook's experiment between now and then, but hopefully that would be finished before I had to go get the chi kicked out of me by my fellow abominations. I grunted an agreement.

Bolin clapped his hands to his knees. "Sounds like a plan. Anything else?"

Opal gave me a pointed look. "I think Mako has something he needs to tell you."

I scowled at her and she wrinkled her nose back at me.

"Something personal?" Bei Fong asked.

I sighed and closed my eyes. "No."

"No, it's not personal, or no, you don't have something to tell me?" Bolin asked in a half joking kind of voice.

I hesitated, and Opal kicked my shin. "Fine. It's not a big deal. It's just this," I tapped my damaged hand with my good one, "is getting worse." I shrugged. "It's not that bad. I've been monitoring it."

"Oh." Bolin looked between me and Opal, lips pressed thin with worry. "Should we get a healer?"

"No, I don't need a healer."

"Really? 'Cause I know a guy who knows a guy. Super discreet, we could have him sign a contract or something to not tell anybody."

"It's fine, Bo. If it wasn't, I'd tell you."

"Okay," Bolin said in a quiet voice.

We sat in silence for a long, increasingly awkward minute until Bei Fong jumped to her feet.

"Good talk, kids. I'll see you all in a few days. Let me know if anything comes up." With that she saw herself out, slamming the door behind her. Opal and Bolin took that as their cue to leave as well, and I was left alone.

####

It was evening, after work, and I was on one of the upper levels of an old and pleasantly musty university building, filling out paperwork.

"Just remember," Insook said as I signed my name on the third and final consent form, "there's no shame in backing out. The ritual is long and deeply personal and I will not be offended or disappointed in any way if you decide it is too much.

"I will be recording the ritual with an Auditron Electric Phono-recorder, but I will be the only one with access to those recordings, and if you want, I can destroy them once the final paper is published. Do you have any questions?"

"Ah, no. I don't think so." She'd already explained the fasting, the special teas and snacks she would provide, and how the ritual itself would involve sitting in a warm, dimly lit room for several hours over the course of a few days.

"Good. Oh! Did I mention you can't tell anyone about the contents of the ritual who hasn't participated? At least not until the-"

"Until the paper is published," I said with her in unison. "You said."

Insook blushed. "I... Yes, I did. It's just, I've been getting stronger reactions than I'd expected and I'd rather not... hurt you."

I raised an eyebrow. "Even if there were electric shocks involved, I don't think this could hurt me."

Insook bit her lip and nodded. She put my paperwork in a folder and beckoned for me to follow her into the previously explained dimly lit room.

"The original ritual called for onion-banana juice, but I'd rather not gross out my participants, so instead I'm offering, as an option, a piece of onion, banana and some tea."

I sat on the rug in the middle of the room and accepted the offered plate and cup. I probably would have drank the onion-banana juice if she'd made it, but I was glad she hadn't. The raw onion still left a nasty taste in my mouth, but maybe that was the point—to give me something novel to focus my meditation on.

Insook moved about the room, lighting incense and putting red shades on the lamps in the corners of the room. Finally, she turned on a phonograph playing a soft recording of bells, then took my plate and cup, set them aside and sat across from me on the rug.

"Place your hands on your knees, palms up, thumb and middle finger pressed together. Close your eyes," Insook intoned.

I did as she instructed, began focusing on my breath.

"Imagine a line of energy moving up your body. It tries to flow, but there are places where it gets caught, snagged on emotional baggage. These are our chakras. In order to open our chakras and let the energy flow, we must clear away this blockage."

I imagined the line, glowing like a finger of flame, bisecting me down the middle. But there were spots where the flame sputtered and smoked, trying to burn imperfections in the fuel. A little different from her description of "flowing energy," but it worked for me.

"The first chakra is the earth chakra, located at the base of the spine. It deals with survival and is blocked by fear. What are you afraid of?"

I breathed and thought about the question, suddenly very aware of my tailbone. This was a very different style of meditation than what I knew, where the goal was to let go of my thoughts, not dwell on them.

Survival and fear. There were certainly things I was afraid of—of getting hurt on the job, of letting someone else get hurt, of losing someone. But these weren't fears tied to my own survival. Most of them weren't even tied to my own well-being.

I was past the point in my life where survival was an issue. I had a career now, and a home and a family I didn't visit as much as I should. I wasn't risking my life to save my friends or my city or the world, I wasn't walking the razor's edge between Zolt and the law, I wasn't struggling every day just to keep myself warm and fed. I'd made it.

But had I really? I'd gone and gotten myself involved in this mess with the possessed, and there was a very real chance I'd get found out. That Raiko would throw me in jail, I'd lose my job, lose my apartment, lose my self as the remnant of the snake spirit slowly consumed me from the outside in.

I was lost, cold, hungry and unrecognizable. Dying.

A bead of sweat trickled out from under my hair.

"What do you see?" The quiet voice mixed with the sound of the bells and I wasn't even sure if I'd heard it or only imagined it.

"I'm alone. Everything I've worked for, everyone I risked my life for is gone. I..." The words caught in my throat, painful.

"You have things that can't be taken away. Everything you've learned, every skill you've honed, you'll keep forever. Let these fears flow away. You will survive better without them."

I breathed, realizing that at some point I'd stopped, that I'd abandoned my meditation pose, one hand clenched against my chest, the other on the ground to keep me from falling over. I resumed the position, sitting up straight with my hands on my knees.

"Feel your fears float away."

Again I imagined the line of fire running through me, the sparks and black smoke diminished, but not all the way gone.

I sat for a while longer, listening to the recording and tasting onion in the back of my throat, waiting for my heart to calm down and thinking about the things I had that couldn't be taken away and how, no matter how much I lost, I could always build it back up.

I opened my eyes and found Insook watching me.

"You have opened your earth chakra." She stood and offered me her hand. "I'll see you tomorrow?"

I took it and let her help me to my feet. "Actually... Do you have time for a drink?" I'd been planning on asking her since before signing the paperwork, and now seemed like a good time to ask.

She looked surprised. "I... Yes, that sounds nice. Just let me tidy up here. Did you have some place in mind?"

"I'm sure we can find something." The neighborhood might have been pretty well destroyed, but with the university up and running it was bouncing back quickly.

Insook nodded. "Give me a minute. I'll meet you in the hall."

I stepped out and waited for her to get ready, leaning against the open window, enjoying the post-meditation peace. The fears I'd been made to think of still floated in the back of my mind, but somehow they seemed unimportant.

Insook joined me after a few minutes and we walked down to the ground level and wandered through the campus, not talking. Not too much later, we found ourselves in a art-filled tea shop catering to overworked and over-stimulated students.

I examined the art for a minute or two, debating with myself about what to say, while Insook stared off into space, tapping her thumbnail against the teacup.

"Did you-"

"So, what-"

The two of us tried to speak at the same time and cut ourselves off. Insook gave a breathy laugh and waved for me to go first.

"Did you do the ritual yourself?"

"I did. I had my mentor guide me through it after we deciphered the scroll."

"How was it?" I asked, quickly adding, "If you're allowed to say."

Insook sipped her tea. "It was... intense. It hurt at the time, but in the end it was worth it. Not because I got spirit powers, but because it made me think about certain things in a way I hadn't before."

"Like what?"

"Like... Like with the earth chakra. The first week I moved to Qaniq, I got mugged. He wasn't a bender or anything, just a guy with a knife, but that got me so scared I didn't go outside by myself for a month. And even for a long time after I avoided things—that street where I got mugged, going out at night—even though I knew it was statistically unlikely to happen again.

"I was surviving, but my fear wasn't letting me live. So I just kind of... let it go. I mean, they were still there, but I just..."

"Decided they weren't important," I finished.

She gave me a small smile. "Right."

We sat in silence for a minute, and I thought about not letting fears be important and how to phrase the next question I wanted to ask.

"Are you going to go home again?"

Insook spluttered into her tea, then wiped her mouth. "I think so. Maybe."

"Maybe?"

She let out a little laugh. "I don't know. Depends what you mean by home. I'll definitely go back to Qaniq, but to my home town?" She shrugged. "I'm a world traveler now. I've studied things most of them have never even heard of. If I go back, what will we have to talk about? Fish and Uncle Kushan's weird rash? I know the Water Tribes are supposed embrace change, but..."

"It's a lot of change," I said.

"Mm." Insook murmured her agreement and the conversation lulled.

I took a sip of my tea, waiting for the air to clear a little, then asked, "Do you want to?"

Insook sighed and rotated her teacup in her fingers. "I want to go back to Qaniq. It's where my mentor and my friends are. Not to mention I have to go back if I want to finish my degree." She glanced up at me and winced. "Not that I don't like it here! I do. The folks at the Air Temple have been incredibly welcoming, I'm enjoying my classes and my research... it's just... people."

"When do you go back?"

"After two academic terms, so spring of next year. Or midsummer, if I want to stay as long as possible." She sighed and I winced.

"I didn't mean to make you homesick."

She smiled. "I am a little, but that's okay. I just made you face your deepest fears, so we're a little closer to even now." She bit her lip, more worried than sad. "Was it okay? I mean, is it okay that I know that stuff? Not that you said a whole lot, but I know it's all very personal and-"

"It's fine. I can tell you the rest if you want."

She nodded, her blue eyes wide.

I took one more drink of my tea and told her my story—losing my parents, growing up on the streets, taking care of Bolin and getting thrown in with the Avatar. I skimped on some details, not wanting to overwhelm her, and she reacted about how I expected. Patting my hand and lamenting my loss, saying I was brave and that she had no idea what she would do if the Avatar asked her to help save the world.

I was pretty sure Korra had never explicitly asked me, hey, Mako, you wanna help save the world, but she was the Avatar. She didn't need to ask.

"Wow," Insook said once I'd given her the broad strokes and caught up with the present day. "I don't know what to say. You're really only twenty-three? You've done more stuff than most people do in their entire lifetimes. Fighting terrorists, traveling the world, toppling dictators... I guess being a cop is downright relaxing in comparison. You said you met her playing pro-bending, but how'd you go from that to saving the whole freaking world? Are you some kind of prodigy or something? Is that why she recruited you?"

I shook my head. "I'm no prodigy." Contrary to the rumors, my skill came from necessity and practice. Lightning put me above average, but I couldn't get that to work half the time and had conflicted feelings about it anyway.

"Then what?"

"Ah, well..." I tugged at my collar. "We dated for a while. Off and on."

"Seriously. The Avatar. You and the Avatar." She pressed her fists together to represent a relationship.

"Me and the Avatar."

She stared at me in disbelief for a minute. "Good for you."

I raised an eyebrow. "Thanks?"

"I'm serious! How many guys can say they've dated the single most powerful person in the world? I don't know how many men there are on the planet, but that puts you way above one in a million."

"I guess I hadn't thought of it like that."

"You're welcome."

I gave her a bemused look. The conversation lulled again and I tried to frame the question I'd been steering towards the whole conversation. "So... What about us?"

"Us?"

I nodded.

Insook sat up very straight in her chair, forearms braced against the table. "Well, I want to try. Even if it was a rocky start. And, well... we both know I'm not going to be here forever, but I am going to be here for a while and I'd like to... have some fun while I'm here. I'm sorry it can't be anything more serious, but ten months is a long time and maybe something will happen between now and then. Not that I'm-" She cut herself off. "Sorry. I'm rambling."

"Ten months." Maybe that was for the best. I didn't know what was going to happen to me in the near future, so why would I want something more long term? Besides, I'd enjoyed the time we'd spent together so far, despite the "rocky start," and I wanted that to continue.

"Is... Is that okay?" she asked.

"Yeah, that's okay."

Insook smiled and leaned in over the table, eyes half-closed. "So. What do we do now?"

I leaned forward too, as though pulled by a magnet. I stopped though, aware of how impulsive actions had come back to bite me in the past, especially where other people—where romance—was involved.

"Can I kiss you?"

Insook grabbed my elbow, gently pulled me across the table, touched my nose with hers, turned her head and pressed her lips against mine. Her breath was sweet from the tea she'd ordered and I was lost in the sensation, better than any sunny day or warm shower.

Eventually we broke apart and just sat for a while, enjoying each other's company before Insook had to catch her ride back to the island. I retrieved my bike and rode for home, happy.