Chapter 91
Korra was no stranger to hurt or fear, but the agony she suffered at the hands of Zaheer was beyond anything she had ever endured before. Physically, the poison had ravaged her body, slicing through her like a knife, hammering at her bones and scraping across nerve endings, lighting a fire within her that burned through her veins. Mentally, she was no less tortured. Zaheer had broken her in a way she had not thought possible, sapped her of all energy, all hope, and all strength. She was weak, weaker than she had ever been before, a useless Avatar and a shell of her former self.
At the first opportunity, she left Republic City, left her friends and everyone else behind. She could not face them, could not listen to Tenzin's encouragements or Ronen's reassurances. She could not look at the pity in Mako's eyes or the sorrow in Bolin's. She couldn't bear Asami's gentle hand on her shoulder or Beifong's all too knowing looks. Even more she did not want to take any attention away from Yunjin, who was suffering much the same, and who needed his family to help him through, to not be distracted by Korra's similar plight.
So Korra went home, to her own parents, to a place she had never much belonged to, but which held some comfort in its familiarity. She wished that she could somehow avoid the worry in her parents' gazes, but that, at least, was nothing new. They had been worrying about her for ages, knew when to give her space and when to push her. They allowed her several weeks to grieve the loss of herself, taking care of her because she could not take care of herself, and then her mother asked her to see Katara, and because Korra had nothing else to do, she went to see if the master healer could somehow help.
Katara was soft but resolute. She did not baby Korra, and she had unyielding patience. Even as Korra gave up over and over, and argued with and snapped at Katara, the elder woman never once wavered. She was calm and unbothered, which was just the stability Korra needed when every bit of her was so shaky. Her mind, her body, and soul were three separate entities, torn apart and floundering. Desperately she tried to sew them back together, but the strength she needed was slow in coming.
Korra spent months trying to rehabilitate herself, trying to walk and eat and sleep, like a child having to relearn it all. For a while, nightmares woke her at all hours, the pressure to succeed stole her appetite, and her limbs rebelled against every aching step she tried to take. It was at least six months before she could walk with any amount of ease, longer still before she could sleep through the night. Even then, she had a lot of recuperating left to go. Her muscles needed strengthened, and her bending relearned. Things that had seemed so simple before had become so far out of reach. It was another year before she was in any condition to fight and hold her own, and even then she was haunted by images from when she had been poisoned and could not go into the Avatar state. In the two years she spent secluded in the South Pole, she was unable to commune with any of the past Avatars, that weak connection she'd so recently regained nonexistent now. Her connection to Raava was gone too, the Avatar state a far away dream she thought she might never recover.
Even as Korra yearned to reach out, she only managed to push everyone farther and farther away. She read all of the letters her friends sent her from Republic City, but she couldn't find it within her to respond. She didn't think that Mako and Bolin would understand, and she didn't want to trouble poor Sora with anything more than she had to deal with. She managed to send a few letters back to Ronen and Asami, but she didn't want to distract either of them or make them worry more. She knew they were both working hard for Sato Industries while simultaneously trying to help around Air Temple Island, with Yunjin and the Air Nation and sending out aid to the world while Korra could not, and Korra didn't want to burden them with her problems. Seeing Ronen and Tenzin when they came to the South Pole was almost enough to convince her to go back to the city, but the visions of Zaheer and the poisoning that continued to plague her changed her mind.
In the time she spent in the South Pole, however, she was not entirely alone. Akira was there for a while, and though she and Korra had been a little at odds several months prior, they resumed their friendship as if nothing had happened between them. Korra could not even remember why they had disagreed in the first place, but she was thankful for Akira's company. Having someone other than her parents and Katara around was a lifesaver, someone closer to her own age.
Akira had missed most of Korra's initial recovery, which was probably for the best because Korra hadn't been much for company before she could walk again. Akira had been in Republic City with her mother, until she had reassured herself that Kya was doing fine after her own altercation with the Red Lotus. And even though Akira mostly despised the South Pole, she had returned to her home village to attempt to make amends with her father and brother. She got along fine with her eldest brother Koda, but she hadn't been on good terms with Ashok or her father in a long time. As she had explained it to Korra, she had sided with her mother when her parents split, and her father hadn't taken it well, had tried to suffocate her and control her, worried that she would turn out like her mother. Ashok, meanwhile, had sided with their father, was still deeply hurt by his mother leaving, and would still barely speak to Kya at all, which only made his relationship with his sister even more strained. Akira had been fine with avoiding both of them while she traveled the world, but being so near to losing her mother had made her rethink a few things, and she had decided to revisit home and see if it was possible to be on better terms with the rest of her family.
Her attempts did not appear to be going well, judging by how frustrated Akira often was and how she went on long rants about her father and brother being idiots. Akira could talk and talk, about anything and everything, with a story for everything and a lot of interesting ones too, from all of her travels. Korra liked to sit and listen, liked that when she was with Akira she wasn't being asked about how she was or looked at with concern. Akira always acted as if Korra was unchanged, even on the days when Korra could barely eat or hadn't slept at all the night before. Akira didn't press Korra to do or say anything she didn't want to. And when Korra did feel comfortable or aggravated enough to talk or rant or complain, Akira quieted to listen, even seemed to become as riled as Korra sometimes, nodding emphatically and sharing Korra's outrage at whatever thing was bothering Korra that day.
The only time Korra saw Akira looking cautious and sorrowful was when she told Korra that she was leaving. After about a year in the South Pole, Akira hadn't made much progress with her brother and father, and she was going stir crazy in the frozen tundra. Akira was free spirited like her mother, craved travel and adventure, and Korra had always known her presence in the South Pole was temporary. Akira looked regretful, leaving Korra behind, and even tried to convince Korra to come along with her. But Korra wasn't ready to leave yet, was too afraid to go, and she smiled and pretended she was fine and insisted Akira go without any concerns for Korra.
It was another six months or so before Korra felt she might be able to move on. She was still plagued by flashbacks and nightmares, and could not connect to the Avatar state, but she had hit a wall and hadn't improved in a while. She thought that by going back to Republic City, back to her friends and the action, might help push her the rest of the way to her goal. She told her parents of her plans, told them that she wanted to go alone to clear her head, and then set sail to the city with high hopes.
But halfway there, she stopped at a small village for some food, and came across some thieves making off with a shop owner's stolen loot. When she attempted to stop them, Korra found that she was far from recovered, and could not even manage to fight off two bandits. Just like that her hopes were dashed, and though she went the rest of the way to the city, she turned back before she could reach land. She cut her hair and changed her clothes, so that no one would recognize her as the Avatar, and she went looking for the answers she needed.
She went first to the spirit portal in the North Pole, and then traveled the short distance to the Tree of Time. She had thought it might help her as it had during Harmonic Convergence, that it might reconnect her to Raava, but she was wrong. She saw no visions and felt no change. From there she knew that she could not go back to the city or the South Pole. She traveled instead, on her own, with no real plan or destination. She knew only that she had to figure it out on her own, and that she could not continue to drag anyone else down with her. She sent letters to her parents, telling them that she had arrived in Republic City and was settling in well. She roamed the Earth Kingdom trying to emulate Akira, trying to be free.
But her troubles followed her everywhere she went. Often in the distance she could see an apparition of herself, wrapped in the chains Zaheer had bound her in, trapped in the Avatar state, a dark shell of herself. Chasing the vision offered no results, ignoring it no solace. She found herself fighting something that wasn't there, something that nobody else could see. She attempted to confront the apparition and lost, and from there she only became more dejected than before.
It was only as she wandered the streets of the town that night, after three long years of turmoil, that things began to change. After six months on her own, of wandering and being lost, she ran into someone she hadn't expected.
"Well, well, well," the familiar voice rang through the night, and Korra froze mid-step, thinking for a moment that she might have imagined it, "if it isn't the elusive Avatar Korra."
Korra spun around, saw Akira approaching with a broad smile, and grinned in return. "Akira!" she said in surprise, before rushing over to hug her. "What are you doing here?"
"Oh, you know, just passing through," Akira replied, frowning as she got a better look at Korra's face under the street lamps. She gently brushed her thumb beneath the swollen bruise under Korra's eye. "Looks like you've been keeping busy. What loser did this? You want me to beat 'em up for ya?"
She looked around the near empty street as if expecting to find the culprit, and Korra laughed. "No, it's okay. It was my own fault. Things have been… weird, lately."
"I heard you ran off," Akira said with a smirk, folding her arms across her chest. "Your father just arrived on Air Temple Island a few days ago, told us you left the South Pole six months ago and were supposed to be in the city."
Korra winced. "So I guess everyone knows then."
"Oh yeah," Akira confirmed. "And they're sending out a search party. I tried to tell them you'd come back when you're ready, but they're worried about the recent nonsense going on – you won't believe what Kuvira pulled this week – and they seem to think you need them."
Korra sighed and dropped her gaze, shame filling her as she thought about her current state, and how little she had improved even after being on her own for so long. "I don't know what I need," she muttered. After a long pause, she frowned and looked up at Akira again. "Wait. What exactly is going on? You said Kuvira did something?"
Akira waved her hand dismissively. "I wouldn't worry about it. She's just on a power trip. I'm sure Aunt Lin will take care of it. She's been itching to knock Kuvira out for ages. I'll tell you all the ridiculous details later. Where are you headed now? Mind if I join you?"
Korra could tell that Akira was just trying to avoid the subject so as to not make Korra feel worse, but because Korra already felt bad enough about not being around the last few years to help, she didn't call Akira out on it. Instead, she snorted and admitted, "I have no idea where I'm going. Feel free to wander aimlessly with me."
"Oh I love wandering aimlessly," Akira assured, hooking her arm through Korra's and setting them to walking the direction Korra had originally been going.
"How have you been?" Korra asked, trying to change the subject away from herself. "You must have been all kinds of places. I'm sure you've got plenty more stories to tell since I last saw you."
"A few," Akira replied. "I was in the Fire Nation for a while, since things are kind of crazy here in the Earth Kingdom lately. I visited the Princess but all she talks about these days is politics and that is so not my scene. But I was actually back in Republic City for a few months recently. I had a wedding to plan, but things went a little off the rails."
"A wedding?" Korra exclaimed. "Who's wedding? Yours?"
Akira scoffed and shoved Korra playfully. "No way! Believe me, if I was getting married, you'd know. The wedding is for my mom."
"You're mom is getting married?" Korra said in surprise. "To who?"
"To Nira, of course," Akira answered casually. "It was a surprise to me too. I never thought my mother would remarry. I don't think she ever thought she would either. But love changes people. And she's crazy in love with Nira. It's almost sickening. But they're good for each other, and for Amali. I think they plan on officially adopting the girl finally, once they're married. The wedding is in a few weeks, assuming the current political climate allows –"
"Hold on," Korra interjected, in shock. "Kya is marrying Nira? When did that happen?!"
"Apparently like three years ago, though they were keeping it kind of secret for a while, not really sure why, guess they didn't want to confuse people. Didn't I tell you they were a thing?"
"No, you didn't!"
Akira narrowed her eyes, trying to remember. "Are you sure? I could have sworn I did."
"You definitely didn't," Korra denied. "I would have remembered that. I didn't even know Nira was… I didn't know she liked women."
Akira shrugged. "Love is love, and usually fairly weird. I don't think either of them expected it, to be honest. You're invited to the wedding, of course, if you feel like coming back to the Island."
"I guess I can't hide any longer now that everyone knows I lied," Korra sighed.
"Nonsense," Akira said. "You can hide for as long as you like. But if you're tired of running, you're welcome to come back. In my experience, hiding is only good for so long."
Korra nodded. "I thought I was ready to come back. I almost did. But I'm still… I'm not all that I should be."
Akira squeezed Korra's arm. "Forget about what you should be. Do what you need to do, whether that's pretending not to be you for a while longer, or going back to the people that love you. You don't have to be the perfect Avatar. Your friends back in the city have got you covered. They'll have your back no matter what. I'm getting a little tired of running myself. If you need me to tag along for a while to be your bodyguard, just say the word."
Korra smiled gratefully at Akira, lightened by her support and her jokes that were just as serious as they were amusing. Korra didn't doubt that Akira would drop everything to follow Korra around and beat people up that gave Korra trouble. It was tempting to take her up on the offer.
But as she looked down the dark street ahead of them, Korra was once again burdened by the sight of herself, the chained apparition that stared back at her with those soulless eyes. Korra sighed heavily, stopping in her tracks, feeling Akira stopping next to her.
Confused, Akira quietly asked, "What is it?"
"Me," Korra mumbled miserably.
There was a pause, and then Akira inquired, "You've been fighting yourself?"
And there was no judgement or ridicule in her tone, but Korra still struggled to make words escape her throat.
"Well come on then," Akira urged, pulling Korra forward, "let's confront you then. Only one way to overcome this sort of thing –"
Before Korra could say that she had done that earlier and took a beating for it, she and Akira were both forced to stop their forward movement as a small animal came running across their path. They both stopped and looked down, and saw a puppy with glistening white fur staring up at them, tail wagging and tongue lolling from its mouth.
"Oh, hello," Korra said, one eye on the dog and another on the haunting apparition behind it. "Where'd you come from, little cutie?"
The puppy barked happily up at Korra and Akira, hopping a little on its front paws, but it seemed to pick up on Korra's dark mood and began to quiet. Its ears perked up and it turned, looking around in the direction that the apparition hovered, and much to Korra's surprise, the dog hunched down with a growl and began to bark, this time with a warning rather than playful delight.
"Hang on," Korra said with breathless excitement. "You can see her too?"
As if in answer, the dog yapped louder, hopping up and down, lunging threateningly at the specter.
"If you can see her too, maybe I'm not going crazy," Korra said.
"Clearly I'm missing something," Akira murmured.
The apparition that had been haunting Korra for months turned its back on her, and as it began to retreat, the dog chased after it, and Korra felt compelled to follow.
"Oh, okay, so we're doing this now," Akira said as she raced to keep up with Korra and the puppy and the specter.
They ran for a long time. Halfway through, Akira started muttering, about wearing the wrong shoes and she should have slept more the night before and she hoped the inn she'd left her clothes at didn't throw out her things. Korra only half heard her, focused as she was on following the tiny dog and wondering what it all meant. She was desperate to get to the root of her problem, to be rid of the traumas that haunted her, to go back to her normal life – well, as normal as it could be. She missed her friends and helping people and being the Avatar. Without all of that, she didn't know who she was. She didn't know what to do.
The sun had come up by the time the pair of them and the dog seemed to reach their destination. They were far out of town and standing before a thicket of trees, and Akira was panting and complaining that she was out of shape.
As the puppy finally turned back to face them once again, Korra asked, "Why did you bring me to the swamp?"
She wasn't really expecting an answer, but she definitely hadn't expected for the dog to suddenly morph and change, until it had taken the shape of a familiar little spirit. "Wait! I met you at the Tree of Time!" Korra huffed in frustration. "You should have told me who you were."
"If I did, would you have followed me?" the spirit asked in that child-like voice.
"I get your point," Korra sighed. "Why did you bring me here? What am I going to find in a swamp?"
"Not a what. A who."
"Wait," Akira panted. "You know this thing? What the flameo is going on?"
"I went to the Tree of Time a few months back," Korra hastily began to explain. "I was hoping it would help, but it didn't. I talked to a few spirits there and – hey! Wait! Come back!"
The little spirit had begun to scamper away, disappearing into the misty, dense grove, and Korra chased after it, but she had already lost sight of it. She still needed answers though, and she had no idea what to do in the swamp, of all places, and she needed help. The spirit hadn't even told her who she was supposed to find.
"Korra!" she could hear Akira calling to her far behind. "Korra! Wait!"
But Korra kept running, breaking through vines and shrubs, sloshing through mud and into a small open clearing.
And that's when she saw it, the haunting visage of herself, hovering before her.
"You're just in my mind," Korra called to the specter, trying to convince herself as much as she was it. "You're not real!"
The apparition lashed out, chains striking at Korra and forcing her to evade. Korra rolled through the mud and leapt back up, throwing rocks and water at the specter of herself with mounting desperation. But just like before, she was losing the fight, and she leapt for the trees, hoping to escape into the thick, misty foliage. Except she barely managed to grab onto a branch before she was being pulled back down, the chains wrapping tight around her ankle. She cried out and tried to resist, but her grip slipped and she was yanked to the ground. Her specter had melted into the mud, into a pool of poisonous metal, and that was where Korra landed, sinking, sinking.
She reached out shouting, "No! Help!" She thought she might have vaguely heard Akira's voice in the distance but it was too far and Korra was sinking too fast. "Akira! Noooo –!" The poison was seeping into her skin and blurring her vision and cutting off all sound, and then she was dragged the rest of the way under and everything went black.
The past year or so for Lin had been a real test of strength. Physically, she had nothing going on, and had to remind herself to work out, so she didn't fall out of shape now that she was retired and hadn't had to really fight for her life in the last three years. Emotionally, though, she was a slight wreck. Three of her kids no longer lived at home except for a few sporadic days at a time, the Avatar was secluded once more in the South Pole, and the job she had once invested so much of her life into was no longer hers, nor was there any chance of her taking it back. She had nothing but time to worry about the kids, mostly Yunjin and Sora, who were travelling all over the world without her. Ronen still lived on the Island, but had taken up residence in the house that had once belonged to his parents when he was just a baby, before Katara had moved out of the main house to return to the South Pole. Asami was there with him more often than not, and between work and his relationship, he was scarcely seen some days.
Lin was still trying to get used to it. After twenty years of having kids in the house, of planning and worrying about whether or not those kids were happy and healthy and safe, it was difficult trying to get out of the habit. She still worried, but she had to force herself to take a step back, to stop knocking on Ronen's door every night to make sure he'd eaten dinner, to stop her mind from jumping to the worst conclusions every time a letter from Sora or Yunjin arrived late.
Every time Sora came home from an aid mission, Lin had to refrain from begging the girl not to run off again a week later. Although, even when Sora was home, she was taking her role as master very seriously, spending nearly all her time training new airbenders and helping them get acclimated to their new way of life. And now that she had seen more of the world, all the things Lin had tried to shield her from for so long, had seen all the people that needed help and care, Sora's great big heart compelled her to keep going out there, to keep doing everything that she could to mend the world. Lin had known it would happen, even before Sora had gotten her tattoos, and what a whirlwind that had been.
Lin still remembered the day Aang had given Tenzin his. She remembered sitting with him for hours, the way her muscles had cramped and she had been so tense, trying not to hold his hand too tight, resisting the urge to kiss the enflamed skin on his forehead, in part because it would have been weird with Aang sitting there, and also because she and Tenzin hadn't yet let their relationship go that far, and she was hardly the type to be so easily intimate. Several years went by before she ever let herself express anything so deep to him, but in that moment she had felt it. She had felt deep pangs every time he winced in pain, had shook her head at his valiant attempts to pretend he was unaffected by the needles driving those meaningful tattoos into his skin.
It was no different, some thirty years later when she watched him give those same tattoos to their daughter. The entire day was emotional, not least because they knew that Yunjin would be leaving soon, going off on the mission he had chosen for himself, or that Sora would be leaving shortly after to lead several more of her own. Even though Sora had her twin brother there to hold her hand through hers, Lin still stayed, wishing at times that she could grab onto Tenzin's hand, and she would have if he hadn't needed them both. She could see him becoming emotional and trying to fight it, could feel herself becoming emotional in a way she wasn't used to. She had never been so sentimental before, but something about the whole experience was getting to her. It was as if some part of her life with Tenzin had finally been fulfilled. Even though they had started having kids long ago, had known two of them were airbenders for fourteen years, and the Air Nation had restarted itself and erased their need to have airbenders at all, the finality of their kid receiving her tattoos was striking. Everything they had suffered through, the obstacles they had fought to overcome in service of their family and their legacies, had all been worth it, had turned out almost just the way they'd hoped for. It was a relief, and fulfilling, and sad in a way, like something was ending, but it was also a beginning, and Lin couldn't have been prouder even if she was struggling to let go.
The ceremony was everything Tenzin's couldn't be, with so much of the new Air Nation there that they almost couldn't fit everyone into the Temple. Su arrived and dragged along her whole family, and she wept with pride so that Lin didn't have to. They flew Katara in from the South Pole because Sora wanted her there and Katara could hardly say no to the girl. Korra hadn't been able to come, but Bumi, Kya, Nira, and Amali were right up front, along with Yunjin, Jeia, Ronen, and Asami. Mako and Bolin were there, as well as Jinora and her family, baby Ji-Ji a toddler now and running through the rows of airbenders. Tenzin had invited Raiko as a courtesy, and Lin was dismayed when he showed up, but did her best to ignore him and pretend he wasn't there. When Tenzin pulled back the hood to reveal Sora's brand-new tattoos, Lin was too busy trying not to choke on her own emotions.
Only twenty-four hours after the emotional ceremony, Yunjin left for the Earth Kingdom, and only visited home twice in the year and a half that he was gone, leaving his parents to worry and miss him, with only a letter every few days, weeks if he was particularly busy. He took Bolin with him, but without telling Bolin the full plan, as Lin had decided that the less people that knew about Yunjin's undercover mission the better. They'd had to tell Su, because she would have been beyond distressed if she thought Yunjin was choosing Kuvira's side. But aside from Su, Yunjin's parents, and his siblings, no one else knew. Bolin had already been seeking employment with Kuvira, eager to get out there and help people, to make a difference in the world, and he had jumped at the chance to tag along with Yunjin. He still wrote letters to his friends and brother, but hadn't been back to the city since.
Mako was a rare guest on the Island in that time, focused himself on his own work as a detective at first, and then moved to the position of body guard for the not yet crowned Prince Wu, who was to take over as leader of the Earth Kingdom, once the world leaders asked Kuvira to step down. Wu was the great-nephew of the late Queen Hou-Ting, and a spoiled, naïve kid in Lin's opinion from the two times she'd been forced to meet him. He was a pawn in Raiko's political game, someone that could be controlled in a way Kuvira never could be. But the world leaders had decided and he was next in line. There wasn't much Lin could say about it, though she certainly pitied the Earth Kingdom citizens, and Mako for having to deal with Wu instead of doing something useful for the city.
Where before Lin's house had been crowded by her four kids and Ronen's four friends, and Jinora and Tenzin's siblings, and sometimes Su and whoever else, now the house was near empty. The kids had grown up and even Tenzin's siblings seemed to be maturing too. Bumi was still too much to handle at times, but he took his role in the Air Nation rather seriously, helped with training and gave advice to the newer members, while also regaling them with long winded tales from his days in the United Forces. Kya was investing in Nira and Amali more than she'd ever invested in anything, and though the three of them often came to dinner at Lin and Tenzin's house, they were working on becoming a family of their own. When Kya had come to Lin and told her that she was going to propose to Nira, Lin had actually had to sit down from the shock. But the longer she thought about it, the less surprised she was, and years ago she might have been concerned, but nowadays she actually kind of had a good feeling about it. Kya was nervous though, understandably so, about trying a second time, about Nira being too scared herself to attempt it again. Lin was nervous for her, and only when Kya and Nira came by for dinner with bright smiles and a betrothal necklace around Nira's neck did Lin breathe a sigh of relief, and even allowed herself to grin along with them. Tenzin was so happy for his sister and Nira he nearly wept.
Everyone seemed to be flourishing, even with all the pressures and traumas they bore, finding themselves and still reaching for every bit of happiness they could. Their battles with the Red Lotus were only so far behind, and there were probably more battles yet ahead, some that Sora and Yunjin were already fighting, but for now they were on better footing than before. For now, they were making the most of every moment they had. Together or apart they found strength and joy, and they embraced whatever change came their way.
Even with how off-kilter she felt, Lin was finding purpose for herself in this new normal. For once she had the time to take in all the things she hadn't indulged in before. She hadn't given in to sentimentality, not only because she had been raised not to, but because her dedication to her job didn't allow for it. Now she could cling to her husband because she was getting to be too old to care what anyone else said – as if she ever had before –, and because she had almost nothing pressing to attend to that might get in her way. Sometimes she would curl into Tenzin's side when he was meditating or teaching a class, even though he complained that she was distracting him. She could tell that he liked her being there, and he liked the sneaky kisses she gave him most of all. She even helped out with the training of the airbenders, to keep herself in shape and to make sure they were toughened up. She had plenty of experience in helping to train airbenders from when she had taught Jin and Sora, and she could throw obstacles at them that they would need to know how to face.
Most of all Lin had time to spend with Jeia, more time than she had ever had with the twins and Ronen once she had all three, and especially not once Jeia was born. Sometimes she felt guilty that she hadn't been able to dedicate the same amount of time to them, but she had done her best, and they had turned out pretty damn well. But it seemed like the universe had known that Jeia needed a little extra attention, and Lin was glad to have the time. In some ways, Jeia was far beyond needing help, learning the physical aspects of earthbending and metalbending faster than Lin could teach her. But the kid had been through a lot at so young of an age, with a memory that wouldn't allow her to forget a single detail. Even though they had all done their best to shield Jeia from the worst of it, she had seen too much, and she wasn't old enough to understand and process it the way her siblings could. Most of the time she was a normal kid, seven years old and then eight before Lin could even blink, growing up strong even if she was still a bit tiny for her age. She loved to play outside now, was no longer the lethargic toddler she'd once been, and she was a bit less stand-offish with other people, would play with Meelo and some of the other kids around the island instead of turning her nose up at them. She was a good kid, respected her parents, loved her whole family, was mostly courteous to others even if she did have her mother's attitude. But there was an edge to her that worried Lin and Tenzin. She wasn't allowed to spar with anyone other than family again, because whatever progress had been made in teaching Jeia to control her bending had begun to digress in some ways. She had control, up until she started to lose, rare though that was, and then some instinct seemed to kick in, and the metal she manipulated would turn into sharp spears that could seriously harm or even kill someone that wasn't fast enough about getting away. Maybe Jeia would never really hurt anyone, maybe instinctively she would stop the daggers – she never even did it when she was sparring with family –, but it was too risky with all the new airbenders.
Jeia had been born in the midst of a war, taken from her mother's arms thirty minutes after, spent over a month in a box hooked to tubes to keep her alive. At four years old, the Equalist Revolution had torn her from her father's arms, after she had watched her mother leap off of Oogi in self-sacrifice. The Equalists had been afraid of Jeia's power, had bound her in platinum chains to keep her still, and then tossed her to Kuvira and Bataar Jr to be rid of her, while her father and siblings were taken away. She had stood in the cockpit as Kuvira led the Metal Clan against the Equalists, had watched the United Forces' ships and the Metal Clan airships both be destroyed without mercy, and had had to protect herself and the others with her when an Equalist bomber tore through the front of the airship. She had spent another day with Kuvira as the war came to an end, and less than a year later they were at war again, this time with spirits and a crazed Unalaq. Jeia had been kept away from most of that, but had still seen her sister without a soul, had watched her parents march off to what could have been their deaths. And then it was Zaheer and the Red Lotus, and Jeia had wanted to be with her mother, had been tired of being torn apart. She had seen the Red Lotus try to kidnap Korra, had helped Yunjin capture Ming-Hua in the midst of a fiery battle. Then she had seen her mother in the hospital after nearly losing a hand, Ronen in the hospital shortly after with a mangled face, and she had gone with them to the Air Temple to rescue her father and everyone else. She had seen her father's battered, weak form, had seen Yunjin without use of his legs. She had seen all the suffering the Red Lotus had caused her family and she had been enraged. She wasn't there to witness the deaths of Ming-Hua, Ghazan, or P'Li, but she had overheard enough to know that it had been done. And she had been a part of all of that before she even turned six.
It was no great surprise that Jeia's understanding of the world was marred by war and trauma. Even with all her parents' efforts to give her a normal life, her life had never been normal, not for as long as her siblings' had been. Jeia thought that war was normal, that fighting for your life was normal, that kill or be killed was something she ought to take care to remember. She was less likely to look for the good in people when she was used to so much bad, and Lin spent all the extra time she now had to help Jeia relearn how to be as close to normal as they could be, to not fear for her life or the lives of her family in moments when there was nothing to be feared. That her bending did not always have to be used as an aggressive weapon, that there was more to life than just fighting.
It didn't help that the state of the Earth Kingdom and Kuvira's strict reign were such frequent topics nowadays. Because of what she had been through with Kuvira during the Equalist Revolution, and the sort of mentor relationship they had built afterwards, Jeia would not believe for a second that there was anything suspicious about Kuvira's actions in the Earth Kingdom. She was disgruntled with Yunjin for going off to spy on her, and mad at her parents anytime she heard them discussing it. She was surprisingly nice to her Aunt Su about it, not going so far as to berate Su for feeling betrayed by Kuvira and Junior, but trying to reassure her aunt that everything would be fine, that Junior and Kuvira weren't doing anything too bad and they'd come back to Zaofu eventually. Su didn't believe any of that, but she always smiled gratefully at Jeia anyways. Lin and Tenzin tried to refrain from saying anything about Kuvira around Jeia, but someone else always brought it up, especially with the upcoming coronation. Kuvira was due to step down now that most of the Earth Kingdom had been reunited and Wu was poised to take her place, and everyone around the island and in the city was talking about it.
Lin didn't know how the succession of power would go, if it would happen at all or if it was even the right thing to be done, but she was excited about it for the simple fact that it brought her family home. Sora returned a few days before, her hair growing in longer since Lin had seen her last, but ever since the girl had gotten her tattoos she had started to like keeping her hair shorter, and soon after she got home she was asking her Aunt Kya to cut it for her. Su flew in two days before, looking stressed but hopeful, trying to convince herself that Kuvira would hand over the reins to Wu without issue.
Yunjin didn't arrive with Kuvira and Junior until the day before the coronation, and when Lin saw him, she almost didn't recognize him. He was taller than when she had seen him last, probably the same height as his father now, his hair still long but pulled back into a tight bun. He was dressed in uniform like the rest of Kuvira's soldiers, but with a little less metal that would have only weighed him down. She couldn't see the braces that he had told her he still wore; he had said in one of his letters a few months ago that Junior had reconfigured them to be less obtrusive and even more functional than before, so that he could wear them underneath his clothes, and he thought his balance and speed were better with the braces than opposed to without. He had been working hard over the past eighteen months to rebuild his strength, and though his legs would never be what they once were, his shoulders were broad and his arms and torso clearly muscular even through his shirt and light armor. He looked better than he had in three years, and Lin could hardly suppress the urge to run to him.
He looked grown up next to Kuvira, hands clasped behind him and his back straight, but when he saw his parents and siblings across the lobby of the hotel, he grinned that familiar boyish grin, and had to catch himself from rushing over to them. They could have waited on Air Temple Island for him to come to them, but when he had told them his plans to first go to the Republic City Four Elements with the rest of Kuvira's entourage, they had all been too eager to wait. That, and the rest of the world leaders were arriving, like Zuko and Izumi, and Wu was already staying at the hotel, and Tenzin and Raiko were both there to greet everyone. But Lin was there for Yunjin and she wasn't letting any of that political nonsense get in her way. Su had tagged along too, but Lin figured that was because Su wanted to see Junior on neutral ground for the first time since he had left Zaofu, where she was forced to behave herself; she wouldn't let herself become too emotional in front of so many important people.
Kuvira stood near the entryway as Junior and Yunjin left her sides, looking like a statue even as Prince Wu approached her. Lin couldn't hear what the kid was saying to Kuvira, but she had heard him talk enough to know that it was nothing that Kuvira was at all interested in hearing. Wu had been on the island with the rest of Lin's family for dinner the night before, along with Chief Tosuki and President Raiko and his wife Buttercup. Lin had had to sit far down the table from Wu and the president and his wife to maintain her sanity. She felt deeply sorry for Mako, who had been informed by Tosuki that very night that Raiko had ordered the transfer of Mako to Ba Sing Se, to continue on as Wu's personal bodyguard at the prince's request. Lin knew Kuvira despised the monarchy, and Wu was everything about it that she despised, and Lin half expected Kuvira to bite his head off.
But Lin had better things to do, and wrenched her gaze from Kuvira and Wu to finally hug her son. Lin, Tenzin, and Sora crowded around Yunjin at once, while the others waited their turn.
"We missed you so much," Tenzin all but wept.
Sora was openly crying and smiling all at once. "It's so good to finally see your face."
"You should have come to visit sooner," Lin scolded while crushing him in her arms.
Yunjin chuckled. "I missed all of you too. I'm sorry it's been so long. It's been… busy."
Lin leaned back to try and read the look in his eyes, but she couldn't quite decipher it. Yunjin hadn't given them much information on his mission, too concerned about one of his letters being intercepted to risk it, and the last time he had been home he had only just gotten into Kuvira's good graces. Lin would just have to wait until they were in a private location to discuss it.
Yunjin hugged Ronen next and then Jeia, gasping at his little sister and saying, "Look at you! How old are you now? Thirteen?"
Jeia shrugged casually. "I'm practically a grown up."
Yunjin snorted. "Oh yeah? You think so?" He bent down and picked Jeia up off the ground with ease. "I don't know, short stuff, looks like you've got a ways to go."
Jeia gave him an annoyed look, folding her arms across her chest. "Well we can't all be giants like you."
"Who knows?" Yunjin teased. "You might get tall one day."
"I bet I'll be taller than you," Jeia said haughtily.
Yunjin nodded seriously. "Oh yeah. I'm sure you will be."
Jeia huffed. "Don't patronize me."
Yunjin smirked. "You really are grown up."
"I told you."
"So you did," Yunjin conceded, setting Jeia back down on her feet and then ruffling her hair.
Jeia swatted his hand away. Then she turned to her father and asked, "Daddy, can I say hi to Kuvira now?"
Tenzin looked at Lin, who frowned, but didn't object. Jeia had been exchanging letters with Kuvira over the years, much to Lin's dismay, but Tenzin thought it was harmless for now, that if they denied Jeia she might resent them for it. Lin was screening the letters, and so far, nothing concerning was being said, but Lin didn't expect Kuvira to be stupid enough to say anything hostile in writing.
"Yes, sweetheart," Tenzin answered Jeia, "but only for a few minutes. We have things to do."
"You have things to do," Jeia muttered, before hurrying over to where Kuvira stood, alone now that Wu had scurried away.
Lin saw Su talking to Junior a few meters away, and it didn't look like it was going well. Neither of them appeared happy in any sense. Su looked angry and Junior annoyed.
Lin watched Jeia for a moment, as the girl ran up and hugged Kuvira, who cracked a smile and finally broke her stance to return the embrace.
Then she was distracted by Yunjin, who asked, "Is Korra here?" All of them exchanged a look, and Yunjin looked at each of them in turn, searching their faces for an answer. "Okay, what'd I miss? You said she was coming, right?"
"We thought so," Ronen replied. "But her father showed up yesterday and she wasn't with him. According to Tonraq, Korra left the South Pole six months ago, told her parents she was coming here. She's been sending him letters pretending to be here, so we know she's out there somewhere, but no idea where, or why she lied."
Yunjin winced. "So I guess she's still not ready to come back. Sorry, Ro. I know you were looking forward to seeing her."
"I just hope she's all right," Ronen sighed.
"I'm sure she's fine," Yunjin said.
"How are you?" Sora questioned, squeezing Yunjin's wrist. "Are your legs still bothering you?"
Yunjin started to respond, "A little, but I think it's just –"
"Hang on," Lin interjected. "What's wrong with your legs?"
"Relax, Mom," Yunjin cut her off with a reassuring smile. "I'm okay. I think I've just been wearing the braces for too long sometimes –"
"I told you to stop over doing it."
"I know, I know. Time just gets away from me some days."
"Have you still been seeing a doctor?" Tenzin fretted.
Yunjin shrugged, looking a bit sheepish. "When I can."
"So no," Ronen snorted.
"I'll try to get an appointment with my doctor while I'm here."
"While you're here?" Asami echoed. "Won't you be staying now that Kuvira is stepping down?"
Yunjin scratched the back of his neck nervously. "Um, yeah, maybe. I – uh – we'll talk about it later. I can probably come to dinner tonight."
"Probably?" Lin exclaimed. "We haven't seen you in months and we don't even get a guarantee on dinner? You can tell Kuvira she can manage without you for a night. In fact, I'll tell her –"
Before Lin could go storming over, Yunjin grabbed her arm and pulled her back. "Woah, woah, okay, it's okay. I will be at dinner. I promise." She gave him a skeptical look and he insisted, "Really. I'll be there. I've just got some things to do first, but it shouldn't take long. I'll see you at home in a couple hours?"
Lin huffed and folded her arms across her chest and relented, "Fine. But if you're not there I'll come find you."
Yunjin shook his head with a smile. "Oh I have no doubts."
Su rejoined them then, apparently having given up on whatever attempt at a conversation she'd been having with Junior, and she and Yunjin hugged and talked for a moment. She tried to ask him about his time with Kuvira, but he gave a vague answer and changed the subject. He hurried away soon after, hugging his family one more time before returning to Kuvira and Junior. The three of them left the lobby together, after Jeia said goodbye to each of them and rushed back over to her parents.
The rest of them moved on, Tenzin, Jeia, and Sora going to speak with Zuko, Izumi, and Ursa. Ronen and Asami went to greet Bolin, who had finished reuniting with Mako and seemed to be trapped in a conversation with Korra's cousins Eska and Desna.
Lin and Su trailed behind Tenzin and the girls, and Lin leaned over to whisper to her sister, "How'd it go with Junior?"
Su scoffed bitterly. "He goes by Bataar now. And it went about as well as I expected. Kuvira has completely brainwashed him." She sighed, and her shoulders slumped. "Or at least, that's what I hope is making him act like this."
Lin squeezed Su's shoulder, grimacing sympathetically, and assured, "Don't worry too much. Zuko was a dick when Aang first met him. There's still time for Jun – Bataar – to turn himself around."
"Zuko was a teenager not a grown man," Su muttered, "but… I see your point. And I hope you're right."
Yunjin came home for dinner that night, and several people around the island went rushing out to greet him, a dozen airbenders and Jinora's family – minus Jinora, who was off on a mission with another airbender. Nira, Kya, Amali, Akira, and Bumi joined the rest of the family for dinner, and Yunjin was delighted about the wedding and to hear about how everyone was doing. It was almost like normal, finally, and Lin had never been happier to have the house full and noisy again. She knew that it was not to last, that the kids would leave again and she would probably have to wait months to have them all together once more, but she wasn't letting that weigh her down. She would enjoy the moment while she had it, no matter how brief it was.
She knew that it was already over just a few hours after dinner. The extended family, Ronen, Asami, and Jeia had all gone to bed, so that only Lin, Tenzin, Su, and Sora were there to question Yunjin about what he had learned while he was serving Kuvira. Part of Lin didn't even want to know, just wanted Yunjin to tell her everything was fine and he was coming home, but she needed to know what they were up against.
"The rumors you've heard about Kuvira," Yunjin began carefully, "are mostly true."
Su immediately huffed. "I knew it. She's gone crazy with power."
"But not everyone is as appalled by it as you," Yunjin went on. "A lot of them see it as a means to an end."
"She's manipulated them," Sora said sadly. "I've seen it first hand. She scares those villages into joining her and then forces their citizens to help her."
"In some instances, yes," Yunjin admitted. "But revealing the truth as I know it won't be enough to stop it. Not with as many followers as she's got."
"Even Raiko said that we would deal with the aftermath of her actions later," Tenzin said, looking thoughtful and concerned as he stroked his beard. "That we would insert Wu and have his advisors handle most of it, and that Kuvira's influence would inevitably wane."
Yunjin nervously scratched the back of his neck again and slowly said, "Yeah… about that. There's something I need to tell you, but you all have to promise not to freak out."
"Well that depends on what it is," Lin said, folding her arms across her chest.
"I'm serious," Yunjin insisted, and he really did look more serious than she had seen him before. "It's really important that you pretend to be surprised when it happens."
"When what happens?" Sora asked worriedly.
"What does she have planned?" Su demanded.
"Does it have something to do with the coronation?" Tenzin guessed.
Yunjin nodded. "She doesn't intend to step down."
There was a brief moment of almost stunned silence, but Lin wasn't sure any of them were really that surprised. Raiko might have convinced himself that Kuvira would keep her word, but the rest of them weren't that naïve.
Su jolted to her feet with a fury. "We can't let her do this. We need to put an end to her reign now –"
Yunjin tried to jump up too, but he was slower about it without his leg braces on. "I told you not to freak out!" he chastised his aunt. "You can't do anything stupid."
"We should warn the other world leaders," Tenzin suggested.
"No," Yunjin snapped. "You can't tell anyone outside of this room. Bataar and I are the only ones that she told about this. If you do anything, she'll know I'm the one that told you and this past year will have been for nothing."
"We can't just do nothing," Sora argued.
"We can't let her get away with this," Su added.
"But she will," Lin reasoned before Yunjin could say exactly what she had just figured out for herself. "The world leaders can't stop her without a direct act against her entire army, starting a war nobody wants that they could very well lose. Taking Kuvira down is going to require strategy, and we'll need someone on the inside. If we blow Yunjin's cover now we won't have that."
Tenzin sighed. "Knowing Raiko, he won't do anything about it even if we did tell him. So long as Kuvira isn't infringing upon the rest of the world, he won't send the United Forces against her. He'll wait for someone else to do the job for him."
"And Izumi won't want to send her troops to war either," Lin said.
"So we do nothing," Su scoffed.
"Not nothing," Lin insisted. "We just need to wait. Let Kuvira make her announcement tomorrow, and we'll see what the world leaders decide. In the meantime, Yunjin will continue to get the information he needs to help, and the rest of us will prepare for whatever is coming."
Su shook her head. "It won't end here. Kuvira won't be satisfied with just the Earth Kingdom. She'll come for Zaofu next, and from there who knows."
"She definitely wants Zaofu," Yunjin replied with a wince. "She's been holding off but now that she's got the rest of the states… I don't know exactly when she'll come, but I can try my best to warn you."
"I'll never give her Zaofu," Su stated harshly.
"I hate to say it, but it might be better that you do," Sora said, reaching up to squeeze her aunt's hand and looking worried. "I hate to think of what she'll do if you refuse. At least if you give in for now, you'll be better able to fight her when the time comes."
Su looked down at her niece but didn't seem able to find the right words, looking more like she felt guilty, probably because she had no intentions of bowing to Kuvira's will, no matter how much Sora worried. Lin could see it in her sister's eyes, and even though she would likely feel much the same if she were in her sister's position, Lin still wished that Su would reconsider. She was already thinking up ways in her head to keep Su safe.
"I think…" Tenzin said slowly, "that it's time we found Korra. Whatever's coming, we need the Avatar. This isn't something the Air Nation can handle."
"But how do we find her?" Sora asked.
"And what state will she be in?" Su wondered.
"If she still isn't ready, she'll have our help to get there," Tenzin said firmly.
"I hope that works," Yunjin said, "because Kuvira won't be backing down anytime soon. Korra may be the only chance we have at stopping her."
Lin snorted bitterly. "Oh, so no pressure."
-And so season 4 begins! Up next, Kuvira declares herself Emperor, some of the Linzin family go looking for Korra but things go terribly awry, and Korra tries to figure out who on earth she's supposed to find in the swamp. I was so happy to read all your reviews, and I hope you all have a wonderful week. Until next time!-
