I do not own any of the original Legend of Korra characters.
Healing
It's cold. It shouldn't be cold, but he is. Even inside. And there's light seeping through his eyelids, but it keeps changing. Sometimes it's too bright, sometimes it stops filtering through. It shifts constantly, flickering almost. It makes his head pound and when he groaned, agony stabs through his throat as if it's tearing itself apart from the act of making a sound.
"Be calm, child," a voice says above him, stabbing white-hot knives into his eardrums with every vibration. "Drink. It will help."
He feels water trickle into his mouth and forces his head up enough to drink more. It occurs to him that someone's helping him hold his head up, and he feels more tired by the second of trying to hold it up anyway, even with help. He get a few mouthfuls before it cup is pulled away and his head is set back down, suddenly too heavy for him to move it.
"Let the heat enter your body," the voice says, once again shredding his ear drums inside his head. "Let it flow within you. Let its life be your life again."
He finds that he is warm. Very warm. But it's not bad. It's comfortable. Familiar. But he can't place it.
"Rest now, child," the voice says. "Rest and allow the heat to restore you."
Sado tries to ignore the voice's command. He doesn't want to sleep. He wants to figure out why he hurts so bad. He wants to know where Korra is. If she's alright. He wants to know why he can't even muster enough strength to open his eyes. However, despite his best efforts, a warm, comfortable fog begins to settle over his mind, drawing him into the embrace of sleep.
When Sado wakes next he has more strength, if only barely. He can open his eyes now. He can't bring himself to look around, even with only his eyes, but he can open them. And he's not in so much pain anymore. He can see flames dancing at the edges of his vision on both sides, and based on the heat he figures he's surrounded by it. It's comfortable. Relaxing.
He's realizes he's thirsty just as a face enters his vision. He doesn't recognize it. It's frail, wizened, and bears the calm expression of one who is wise beyond their years, which for the face above him is saying something. He can't see the body. His brain can barely focus on the face, but the face helps him lift his head and lifts a cup of water to his lips. He drinks thirstily. Taking as much as the face allows him to have. The face sets him back down and he stares at it. He doesn't recognize it. And once it disappears from his vision, he can't remember it.
Fire is the next thing he sees. Fire in the shape of a hand. Palm. Thumb. Fingers. Another joins it, the fire moving over him in sweeping, circling, calming movements. He can feel the heat. It seems to flood into his body, warming it rapidly. It seems to give him strength.
"Feel the heat," a voice that he swears he knows from somewhere but can't remember says. "Allow enter your body. Allow it flow. Feel it wash over you. Feel it restore you. The heat is safety. It is energy. Fire is protection. Life. Allow its life to be your life once more. Feel it grow inside you. Feel it filling your body. And rest."
As if on command, Sado's eyes slide shut and the warm embrace of sleep washes over him once more.
Sado inhales slowly, holding the breath for a moment before exhaling even slower. As he inhales again, the warmth around him grows. When he exhales, it fades back to its original level. He does this several more times before he opens his eyes, staring at the ceiling, the flames dancing at the edges of his vision. His pain his gone. And he thinks he can probably move now. He doesn't, though. He lays where he is, watching the flames dance on either side of him, focusing his mind on the edges of his vision, eyes staring almost lifelessly at the ceiling. He inhales and the flames grow, turning from a reddish orange to a bright gold, the heat swelling. He exhales and they drop back down, gaining their original reddish hue. Finally, a face appears over him again. Calm. Wizened. Frail. He thinks he's seen it once before.
"You are doing well," the voice says, flames in the shape of hands dancing once more over him in their beautiful, calming, entrancing, sweeps and movements. "Your warmth is beginning to grow. You are beginning to feel it again. Embrace your warmth. Remember it. Feel it. Fire is life, and beauty, and energy. It is protection, and purification, and heat. Embrace your heat. Rest now, and awaken your inner flame."
Sado closes his eyes. It's a choice this time. He willingly accepts the voice's command. This time, as the warm embrace of sleep begins to claim him, he feels the heat radiating from within himself, spreading through his limbs and making them feel alive again, even as the world fades.
Sado opened his eyes, slowly looking around before pushing himself up. Fire surrounded the stone table he was lying on. He could feel the flames. Not like usual, however. It was different. He could literally feel them. Every movement, every flicker, every sway and wave of the flames endless dance he could feel as though it were a part of him.
He looked around. Four people sat around the flames, meditating. They wore clothing similar to the Fire Sages, but he could tell they were different somehow. He stopped as an elderly woman stepped through the flames, not even parting them to keep from burning, simply stepping through them, as though they had no effect on her.
"You saved my life," Sado said. "Thank you."
"You saved your own life," the woman said. "All I did was guide your energy."
"Will you teach me?" Sado asked. "No, wait, first I need to know. Was I found with anyone else?"
"Yes," the woman nodded. "You and the Avatar arrived here together. A dark spirit had invaded her body, and she is currently purifying herself in the spirit waters."
"May I see her?" Sado asked.
"Of course," the woman said. "Come."
She turned, walking back through the flames as she had come in. She stopped as he reached out to part the flames for himself. "Why do you part them?"
"They'll burn me," Sado said.
"Why?" she asked. "Flames are a part of you. They are as much a part of who you are as are your arms and legs. Do your arms and legs burn you?"
"No," Sado said. "But fire's hot."
"Yes it is," the woman said. "Fire is heat. Fire is life, and energy. Fire is a part of you. All fire. Can you not feel it?"
Sado stared at the flames. The feeling had faded slightly, but as he stared, it returned. He could feel the flames again. He nodded.
"Then come," the woman said. "Do not fear the flames, as you do not fear your arm."
She began to walk away and Sado followed, stepping into the flames and feeling heat envelop him. But it wasn't hot. It was comforting. It felt beautiful, and right. He continued out of the flames and followed her, not even bothering to inspect himself. The woman stopped beside a hole in the floor and Sado stopped, staring down into the water. Korra floated level with the surface, a net made of golden thread holding her there.
"She is recovering well, as you did," the woman said. "Once she awakens, the two of you must go. The Harmonic Convergence is near. Vaatu seeks to escape. He must be stopped."
"We'll stop it," Sado nodded, not really sure what it was they were supposed to stop, except Vaatu. "While Korra recovers, will you teach me to use my flames as you do? To guide heat, and energy? To heal?"
"Fire cannot heal, as water does," the woman said. "Fire soothes the soul. Or, fire can invigorate the soul. Fire is life. It is energy. And it has always been spiritual. Water heals the body, but fire heals the soul. And yes, child. I will teach you. Come. First, you must truly become one with flame."
She led Sado to a room where the entire floor was on fire. Both walked into it, Sado welcoming the warmth. Then, she turned to face him, sitting down. He did the same and she closed her eyes.
"Meditate on the warmth, the fire," she said. "Feel it in your soul and around you. Accept that it is a part of you, and you are a part of it."
Sado did as instructed, easily beginning to meditate. He immersed himself in the heat, in the feeling of the flames licking at his body, dancing around him. Feeling his inner flame dancing through his body, its own dance synchronizing with that of the fire around him. After a time, he felt a hand on his shoulder and opened his eyes, looking up at the woman.
"That is enough," the woman said. "You have accepted the fire as a part of you. You are a very fast learner."
"Thank you," he said, standing and following her out of the room. "May I ask you a question?"
"You may," the woman said.
"Who taught you to become one with the fire?" Sado asked. "To move through fire as you do, as you've taught me to?"
"The dragons were the ones who showed us fire's true nature," the woman said. "The dragons were born of fire. Lived in fire. And breathed fire. Fire was everything they were. And so fire was a part of them. And they taught us to live in the same way."
"Can a firebender still hurt me with his flames?" Sado asked.
"Fire can harm anyone, if the one who controls it wills it to do so," she said. "Firebending is merely the act of enforcing your will on the fire within yourself. Using a specific part of you for a specific person. Your opponent's arm will not harm you if you touch it, but if they wish you harm you with that arm, they may do so."
"I understand," Sado nodded.
They reached a pair of wooden body replicas, and the woman held up her hands, lighting the palms and insides of her fingers on fire, Sado copying her over the other mannequin.
"To heal the soul, you must feel the heat of their soul," the woman said, beginning to move her hands, Sado mimicking her movements, falling into synch with them after a moment. "You must be one with your flames, and then you must allow the heat of your flames to become one with the heat of the soul you wish to heal. Fire can guide energy. Fire can guide heat. It can strengthen the heat. It can nurture it. This is what you must learn to do. Nurture the heat of the soul you wish to save. Allow your heat to become one with the soul of those you are healing, and then allow that soul to grow, allow their heat to flow through through them, and to wash over them. Allow it to restore them. And then..." steam began to curl out of holes in the mannequin's body calmly, drifting in a sort of lazy dance all its own into the air before fading. "However, you must maintain control. For if you allow the heat to grow too much, if you allow it to spread too far, or too fast..." the steam began to shoot out of the mannequin in thick jets, a high whine beginning before quickly growing into a scream, like a tea pot left on for too long, before the scream became a growl and smoke began to curl out of the holes. "...it will consume them."
"I understand," Sado said, focusing on his heat, feeling it as it washed over the mannequin, slowly seeping into it.
He felt it begin to pool inside. He focused, guiding the heat as it began to spread through the mannequin. Then, so suddenly that Sado staggered backward, steam began to scream out of the holes. Then, just as soon as it began, it ended. Sado took a slow breath, settling his surprise, and began again. And again, he failed. And again he tried. For two days, he worked, never stopping, not even to rest, as he guided his heat into the mannequin. And each time, he was rewarded with steam screaming out of the mannequin. However, on the second day, he was finally rewarded with something else. Steam began to curl out of the holes slowly, curling its lazy dance into the air and fading. Sado continued guiding the heat. The steam remained calm. Then, finally, the steam faded altogether, although Sado could still feel the heat. Sado allowed his flames to end, exhaling slowly and looked to the woman, who nodded.
"Well done," the woman said. "You have learned to guide energy, to let it flow, yet to control it. That is not an easy task. One your grandfather required far longer to learn."
"My grandfather learned this?" Sado asked.
"Yes," the woman nodded. "Not until he was far older, and it took him far longer. But yes, he learned it."
"Thank you for teaching me," Sado said, bowing.
"You are welcome," the woman said, just as a gasp reached their ears from the hole.
Both hurried down, seeing Korra staring up at them.
"I remember," Korra breathed.
"Do you know who you are?" the woman asked.
"My name is Korra," Korra said. "And I'm the Avatar."
The woman nodded and the net rose, one of the other sages turning the crank. Then, the woman guided them to a field where a heard of sky bison were grazing. She allowed Korra to choose one, and once Korra had, she and Sado climbed on, taking off and heading back toward the South Pole.
"How long were we away?" Korra asked.
"For about a week," Sado said. "I think. I was borderline comatose most of the time."
"You seem different," Korra said.
Sado stared at his hand, flames dancing to life over his palm. "I am. I learned more than I could have ever dreamed there."
"Good," Korra smiled. "Because I think we'll need it. I have a feeling we'll be fighting Vaatu."
"Most likely," Sado nodded. "I'm going to let Meizha know I'm alive."
Korra nodded and Sado closed his eyes, reaching out.
"Finally!" the dragon bird snapped. "Do you have any idea how worried your grandmother and I have been? What happened to you? And why do you suddenly feel...different?"
"We washed up on shore of one of the Fire Nation islands and were saved by the sages there," Sado said. "They taught me to become one with fire."
"In such a short time?" the dragon bird asked. "Your grandfather would be proud."
Sado smiled, opening his eyes and wrapping an arm around Korra, who lay her head on his shoulder. Then, they settled in for the flight.
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