"Naga!" Korra cried happily as we approached Air Temple Island. She leapt off Pepper the bison and reunited happily with Naga…yay, I guess. "I missed you so much!" she said as she nuzzled with the polar bear-dog.

"Mom, dad! We're back!" Meelo cried.

"And we've got Korra!"

The two ran into their parents arms. "Excellent job kids!" Tenzin exclaimed. He then walked up to Korra and the two embraced each other. "Welcome back."

"I missed you so much Tenzin," she returned.

"Right, now, I hate to start with business, but I need to know what's going on with Kuvira."

"Right, let's talk inside," she said as she herded everyone in, leaving only Tenzin and I standing outside.

"Yuuto," Tenzin addressed.

"Tenzin…" I tried to find words to say how sorry I felt for basically just ignoring all of his warnings.

Then he just patted my chin. "Keep your chin up, boy. It'd do you good. Come on," he said as he followed the others inside, with me following close behind.

"I really thought I was strong enough to take her, but I guess I'm still not back up to one hundred percent yet. I'm sorry," Korra said, hanging her head.

"Don't worry; no expected you to deal with this Earth Empire problem by yourself. It was all of our responsibilities to stop it and we just let Kuvira take power," Tenzin lectured, only sending me into a worse mood. "Now, Yuuto, do you have anything to add?"

"Kuvira said she was…using Varrick and his money to harness spirit energy for some kind of Spirit Energy Cannon," I stated. "I don't know how far it is until its completion or even how powerful it is, but Kuvira said that it'll be powerful enough to stop even Korra, and I'm guessing she meant while she was in the Avatar State. Also, she's not going to stop her conquest of the independent states until all of the former Earth Kingdom is under her control. That means places like Kyoshi Island and Republic City are under threat as well. We should start fortifying them."

"Hm… I did see Kuvira's army doing heavy examination of the Spirit Wilds while they were here. Right then. I'll convince President Reiko to send a portion of the fleet to Kyoshi Island to inform them of this," Tenzin said as he stood and exited the room, leaving just Korra and I.

I cleared my throat. "So, uh…what are you going to do, now that you're back in Republic City?" I asked her.

"Oh, you know…"

"Actually, I don't."

"Well do you need to know?" she asked.

"I want to make sure you don't run off again," I leaned back and crossed my arms, though the comment only garnered a glare from my conversation partner.

"Alright, well, if you want to know where I'll be, I want to know where you'll be."

"I asked you first."

"Well…if Kuvira is using spirit energy from spirit vines, then I should probably go to some of the wilds and make sure things are stable…" she trailed off, as if realizing something.

"What?"

"Oh gods! The swamp that Toph lives in! It's like one gigantic spirit wild and it's right in the Earth Kingdom-"

"Empire," I corrected.

"…You're sure you're back on our side?"

"Whatever; I'll go to the swamp and make sure Toph gets out okay; you can go to the spirit wilds in the city and make sure that-"

"Korra!" Asami's voice came from the doorway as she and Mako walked in. Korra stood and embraced both of them.

"Asami, Mako!" she cried. "It's been too long!"

"Try three years," Asami corrected. "Hey, I'm loving the hair."

"Oh, really? Thanks," Korra said as she stroked it slightly. Wait…was that a blush I saw on her face? "Mako, it's good to see you."

"You too. You look…great! Better than when you left!"

Korra flexed one of her arms. "Well I'd hope so!"

Mako looked down at me and my indifferent, if not downright unhappy, glance past them. "What's with him?" he asked.

"Oh, we're having a…bit of a falling out at the moment."

Mako grimaced. "Jeez, I know how he feels then."

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" Korra questioned, swatting his arm playfully.

"Oh yeah, Mako; how'd you ditch Wu?" Asami questioned.

"It took forever for him to finally go to sleep, but after that I was free. I'm just glad you caught me on my way out."

I let out a heavy and frustrated sigh and stood. "I'm going to go get a head-start for tomorrow," I stated as I walked out. As soon as I made it outside and into open air, I angrily cut down one of the trees. "Damn it! Why am I so…?" I held my head. "Why am I so...infuriated?" I questioned. "I shouldn't be like this," I told myself. I felt a hand on my shoulder. When I turned, Tenzin gave me an understanding look. "I thought you were going to talk to Reiko."

He motioned to a room opposite the kitchen. "The radio is right over there," he explained.

"Oh…" I hung my head into my hands. "I'm such a mess…I'm sorry I couldn't do more to help, but-"

"Do more? Yuuto, you've done so much already. I actually think you need to slow down," he said. I looked at him, confused. He sighed. "Here, come with me."

He led me to a small gazeebo on the edge of the island. "Um…what's so special about this place?"

"It's a place where you can think without being disturbed. This is a place of meditation."

"I don't think meditation is the thing for me right-"

"And," he interrupted. "It's also a place where Korra and I talk frequently," he said as he sat on the railing and motioned for me to sit opposite to him. I did so. "Now, I may not be my mother, Katara, but I'll do my best to help someone in need. Please, tell me everything that's troubling you."

I took a deep breath. "Where do I start?"

"How about at the root of your uncertainties? Tell me what's going on between you and Korra. I noticed that you two seemed rather tense with each other earlier."

I chuckled. "Tenzin, don't we have more important things to worry about than my relationship issues?"

Tenzin considered this before telling me something which I would carry for a long time. "You know, Yuuto, the mind can be a powerful ally, or your greatest enemy. I'm sure Katara has told you this, but it certainly is true. We are only as powerful as our conscious is clear. Something, even things that seem so obscure in their importance, can cloud our thoughts on a catastrophic scale. So I ask again, what's going on between you and Korra?"

"…We're…having a little argument, to say the least."

"About what?"

"Well, I guess I'm just beginning to see her as ungrateful for the things I do for her. I did so much for her while she was recovering. I stayed by her side through her darkest days, and took on a threat in her name, even was tortured in her place, and she just up and leaves without so much as a goodbye note."

"I see…"

"It's just…so frustrating, you know? I don't think I realized it at the time, but it really felt like the most backstabbing thing she could've done to me. And then I went to Kuvira and there was that whole…mess…" I trailed off, getting a headache just thinking about it.

"Yuuto, do you want my honest opinion?"

"Yes, more than anything. I want to know why I'm feeling so angry."

"I think you have too narrow a vision. You aren't seeing this from anyone else's perspective but your own."

"W…What?"

"Korra felt like she needed to find herself, and such a spiritual journey she felt had to be done alone. She never meant to hurt you, and I'm sure she meant to come back a lot sooner, but I'm sure that you of all people know that her recovery needed time."

"But…she should at least told me where she was going, in case of-"

"That would've defeated the point of going alone. Look, I'm not going to tell you to go in there and apologize for everything you said, because I know that it would erupt into a big argument anyway. I just want you to…try and look past yourself. And next time a major crisis happens, whether personal or worldly, try and take a step back before you yell at whoever is 'responsible', alright?"

I nodded, taking another deep breath. "Alright…I'll try. Thank you, Master Tenzin," I bowed gratefully and walked away, though I soon stopped, trying to collect my thoughts.

"Oh, and Yuuto," Tenzin called after me. "You should probably put a shirt back on before you go anywhere; you don't want anyone to freak out."

I looked down and saw that I was indeed still topless from my duel with Kuvira. When I looked back, Tenzin pointed to another part of the temple.

"Over there are all of the clothes."

I nodded and gave him a thumbs up before taking my true leave and walking over there.

When I went to where Tenzin pointed me however, I found literal mountains of clothes in the large room of the temple. I would've thought this room could've been much better used, but hey, it gave me a lot of options.

As I started searching, I found other nationalities of clothing, mostly Earth Kingdom, sorry, Empire clothing because it was right next to Republic City, but there was also a fair amount of Water Tribe and Fire Nation too. I wanted to wear something that showed both of my bending specialties, so I ended up with a light Fire Nation robe-shirt, as I was wearing before, along with matching leggings with boots. I added in a deep red airbending sash as well to give myself a bit more of an airbending look and then slipped one of my arms out of the sleeve of the robe-shirt. "Hm…I wonder if they have a…aha!" I found one. I pulled it out of the pile. "Another wind sword!"

I lit the thing up and slashed it around a little, finding it to be a better model than the last.

"I should really get proper training for this after this whole Earth Empire thing is over," I made a mental note as I said it.

With the wind sword strapped to my belt, I took off for the Foggy Swamp to make sure Kuvira didn't do anything stupid…again…

Author's Note:

That moment when you know the ending but not exactly how to get there...ah, such was my weekend before the AP Exams...other than studying of course.

Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed and are looking forward to the last...five-ish chapters in the arc! Don't forget to review!