Kuvira had a map spread out on the saloon table. She was sipping tea and deciding where to head next. If she kept up her current path, she would come upon town after town like the one she was in, like the one she just came from, until eventually running into the Si Wong Desert with its unending hilly dunes and sandbending marauders and giant sandworms.
Another option would be to hop on a train and ride to the edge of something. Maybe she'd find her way to the coast and catch a ferry to a remote island. Maybe it was time to leave the Earth Territories all together.
Inside, the saloon was dimly lit despite being broad daylight out. Even if some patrons did their fair share of afternoon drinking, they didn't like to be reminded it was daytime. The place was also a dump, and there was nothing to see except more of the same.
"Lost, Stranger?"
Kuvira heard a familiar voice and cringed, realizing who it was. She looked up from her focus on the map and saw the little lady she had left behind the town over.
"Bae, how lovely to see you," Kuvira feigned. "Seriously, what brings you here?"
"Ain't you forgetting something... or someone?"
It was then Kuvira noticed Bae had a rucksack slung over her back.
"I – I... listen, Bae. I know what I said, but the truth is I travel alone."
"Well, I already came all this way. I'm not turning around now! And besides, I've been thinking of doing this a long time, you know... traveling, the big outdoors. I think my husband would have wanted it," Bae said.
Kuvira was silent.
"Awe, c'mon Pang! Waddya say? You and me – on the road? Also, I brought money." Bae held up a sack of coinage.
Kuvira was still silent, but now she was listening.
"Well, stranger, you sure are a woman of few words," Bae said.
"I talk a lot, actually. But only when there's something to say," Kuvira retorted.
Bae chuckled. "Well ain't you a snarky little outlaw?"
"At any rate, why me? Why not go off alone or find someone else to travel with?"
Bae crossed her arms and considered a moment. "I don't know toots. I guess I feel safe with you."
Kuvira, who had taken a sip of her tea, spat it out.
"Take that back. I beat three men to a pulp for sport the other day and enjoyed myself while I did it. How do you know I'm not some psycho killer? How do you know I'm not a wolfbat in koala sheep's clothing?"
"Well for starters you didn't take advantage of me when you could of. And we kept pretty good quiet company if say so myself. Besides, I wanna strangle just about everybody else I meet, except for some queer reason – you," Bae said, resting one hand on her curvy hip.
Kuvira wanted to smile at the last bit but didn't show her cards. It also didn't go unnoticed by the lonesome wanderer that Bae had asked three times to travel with her. Kuvira wondered what would happen if Bae eventually found out her real identity. Perhaps it was a karma she was meant to endure.
An old man sitting at a table in the middle of the room caught Kuvira's attention. He had a Pai Sho board out and was stroking his long beard contemplatively. Kuvira recognized the man from the town Isaan. And come to think of it, she'd seen him before that somewhere.
There was no one playing against the old man, and Kuvira got a little paranoid, looking about the room for spies, wondering whether she was followed by someone other than the woman standing expectantly next to her.
"Bae," Kuvira said quietly, though trying to act natural. "Come sit next to me and nonchalantly look at that man at the table."
Bae followed Kuvira's order and leaned her elbow upon the table, awkwardly turning an eye toward the given direction.
"Recognize him?" Kuvira said.
"I served him tea. He's a nice old man. What's the big deal? People take this route all the t—"
Without saying a word and following her instincts, Kuvira stood up and walked toward him.
She approached the other side of table and stood next to the empty chair, hovering over the feeble old man. He wore humble Earth Nation garb, perhaps a little dated, and a hat that formed to his little head. His beard, meanwhile was long and silver, and he stroked it incessantly as he examined the Pai Sho board, the other hand cradling a steaming cup of tea. He did not look up at Kuvira, who cast a shadow in the already dimly lit place over the board.
"You know old man, Pai Sho is usually a two-person game."
"Usually," the old man said in a voice weathered and withered with age.
"May I sit?"
The old man motioned to the empty chair and Kuvira took a seat.
Bae, meantime, had ordered a hot chocolate and shamelessly watched the exchange between Pang and the old man with her feet kicked up on the table.
"Who are you?" Kuvira asked the man not so politely.
"I am me."
'I've seen you before."
"Indeed you have. And I you."
"OK, old man. Enough with the riddles. I said who. Are. You?"
"Don't you know it's rude to ask of a stranger so much – their identity?" The old man smiled.
Kuvira was taken aback knowing the comment hit close to the breast. She squinted and nodded knowingly at the man, silently indicating she wouldn't probe the matter further.
"Something tells me you're not the usual miserable old fool," she said.
The old man finally looked up and Kuvira looked into his cloudy eyes, the deep-set leathery lines of old age burying his expression.
"Then something is mistaken. I am all of those things – miserable, old, and a fool."
"And perhaps wise while you're at it."
The old man curved a half smile again, though it seemed with great effort, and just as slowly, he grabbed a Pai Sho tile from his sleeve and handed it to Kuvira.
"Pai Sho is a game from time immemorial. Each culture has its variations, but the foundation is the same – the way you play, each move you make, reveals you as a person. What sort of person are you?" The old man said.
Kuvira took the tile and examined it – it was the white lotus tile. Next, she studied the board and the position of the other tiles.
"Place this piece on the board and discover your destiny," he beckoned.
In a hyper focused trance, Kuvira played out scenarios in her head of what would happen if she placed it here or there. Placing it here would make her a monster and a tyrant, crushing her opposition and anyone who dare question her. Placing it there meant living a docile existence, hardly disrupting the flow of life that the other tiles created in their harmonic placement. In between, there were infinite varieties, endless decisions, and yet she could only make one.
At last, the former Great Uniter saw where she would place the white lotus tile. It surprised her, this spot. Had she changed this much? Or was she slowly becoming more herself? Though she was alone, she was also lonesome. And what she desired was to belong somewhere.
Entranced with the board, Kuvira lifted her hand slowly and moved the tile to her chosen spot.
Suddenly, her world flashed white and she found herself... elsewhere. But where? She looked around and saw mountains of salt peppered with blackened earth.
A healthy-sounding masculine voice called her name, her real name – Kuvira.
She turned around and saw the old man again. He was still old but now appeared hale and hearty, standing broad and straight-backed, long white beard billowing.
"Where are we?" Kuvira asked.
"We're in the Pai Sho board."
The world about her took on a checkered appearance of muted earthy tones with mountains of salt and iron infused dust.
"I—I don't want to be here."
"You played correctly, truly. Now heed your call," the old man continued. He faded away into the pale light as if he were a pile of salt slowly blowing away in the wind.
"My call?"
"YOUR CALL!" Another voice boomed, this time a woman's that echoed in the canyons and made the little hairs on the back of Kuvira's neck and arms stand on end.
Towering before her, a seven-foot-tall behemoth of a Daofei warrior in red eye shadow – Avatar Kyoshi.
Kuvira fell to her knees. Here was her idol, the great Avatar of the Earth Nation who had made the tough decisions for the greater good, the fiercest warrior ever to live.
Kyoshi faded in and out of corporeality, her voice at once ever-present yet far away.
"Kuvira, you must..."
The Avatar flickered in and out with the dust.
"I must what? What?!" Kuvira called back desperately.
Kyoshi returned again and with fan in hand, pointed south.
"Only justice will bring peace." Kyoshi bellowed.
"What? I still don't –"
The sky darkened and a large blood moon rose up high above the clouds.
"Go to the Southern Air Temple by the harvest moon, the Earth moon. Only then can I give you your orders."
"My orders? What do you mean? But I don't have my bending. I don't have anything. Please. I'm only trying to –"
"Do as I say! You must... help... restore balance... the Avatar. Now go!"
Kyoshi's voice was broken, interrupted by harsh winds inside the Pai Sho board. Her voice soon faded as did her body and she disappeared into nothing.
Kuvira' hands and feet went cold, the blood drained from her face, and then she too disappeared into nothing until she opened her eyes again and found herself sitting across the old man at the saloon.
Bae was there too, waving her hand in front of Kuvira's distant stare.
"Earth to Pang! Hello!?"
Kuvira, upon regaining consciousness noticed her annoying little companion's frantic hand.
"Thank you Bae. I'm OK."
Kuvira turned to the man and bowed her head. The old man reciprocated and not another word was exchanged between them.
"You were out for a while!" Bae said once they were back at their table. "It was like a staring contest between the two of you for an hour. I was gettin' worried I lost you for a second."
"You wouldn't believe what just happened," Kuvira said, her heart racing as the shock wore off.
"You meditated into the Pai Sho board."
"Yes!" Kuvira said. "Wait, how did you know?"
Bae laughed and said, "My folks. We lived here in the Earth Nation for generations, and it's something my granddaddy said his great granddaddy use to see more of in his day – you know before the hundred year war. It's a soft place; you can access the spirit world from there or something like that. But be careful because you can also get stuck there. I just ain't seen that with my own eyes before. So neat!"
"You know things, don't you?" Kuvira said.
"Not at all. Not nothin'; and it's why I want to travel," Bae replied, kicking Kuvira's leg playfully under the table.
With the visit from Kyoshi, Kuvira couldn't help but feel something move deeply inside of her. Her idol had appeared and commanded her to do something. How could she resist? She knew she wasn't meant to wander the rest of her life without a place in the world. But she needed to walk and think and walk and walk because that was one way to repent.
"I need to get to the Southern Air Temple," Kuvira said. "Any ideas?"
"Does that mean yes?" Bae's eyes lit up.
Kuvira guarded her delight at witnessing Bae's candid enthusiasm. It was refreshing, like she was a child excited about all the new things but also as honest and biting. But then again, Bae had lost her great love, and that is a particular kind of tragedy to carry around. Not only that but it was Kuvira's fault.
"Yes." Kuvira replied.
"Hooray," Bae said, continuing, "Well, considerin' how The Southern Air Temple is one of the most difficult places in the world to get to, no. I have zero suggestions. But ooh, hows about we go to the City!"
"Ba Sing Se?"
"Republic!" Bae replied. "The glitz. The glam. The fashion. The cars and mover stars. The Avatar!"
The authorities, Kuvira thought. She immediately shut down Bae's idea.
"Never. But by all means, feel free to go there yourself. And if you're going to travel with me, I'm going to set a few ground rules. Number one being never ask me any personal questions."
"Like who it is you love, for instance?"
Kuvira immediately flushed at this.
"I remember you told me you love someone. That's why," Bae added, looking down.
And of course Kuvira had realized this 'someone' lived at The Southern Air Temple. Whether someone, named Opal, made Kuvira's decision to heed Avatar Kyoshi's call any easier is up for discussion.
"Yes! Like those types of questions, among others." Kuvira noticed she was tracing her finger along the ridges of the table and stopped herself.
Bae put her hands up defensively and said "Okeeeeee, I won't ask you no more."
"And number two," Kuvira continued, "is I'm going where I'm going, so at any point if I want to discontinue us going anywhere together, I will."
"OK bossy," Bae teased.
"Deal. And if you excuse me, I'm going to run to the ladies' room," Kuvira said.
She left Bae to ponder alone a moment while she walked to the outhouse outside the saloon. On the way she stopped at a bulletin board filled with wanted posters of outlaws for bounty hunter pickins. There was a time when her handsome face was on pretty much every bulletin board, but with time, posters of her disappeared and were replaced with ugly mugs of thugs. She had faded into a memory, and it seemed no one cared about her any more. She was no longer Wanted.
Flyers were sprinkled alongside the wanted posters here and there, one for a traveling circus, another for... Kuvira paused at this one with a painting of a hot rod on a windy race track with flashy calligraphy, reading:
'First Annual Grand Prix. Ba Sing Se outer wall. Come one, come all to the Future!'
The date was bolded and the bottom read: 'Sponsored by Future Industries'.
Kuvira considered a moment and suddenly had an idea. She needed to get to Ba Sing Se. It was a long shot but perhaps her only chance. She considered further while relieving herself before snatching the flyer on the way back.
"We're going here," Kuvira said, placing the flyer on the table.
Bae picked it up and Kuvira once again studied the map. The harvest moon was in a month, and it would take nearly that to walk to Ba Sing Se. She couldn't ride the train in because she lied to herself, she wasn't completely forgotten. While Ba Sing Se was less risky than Republic City, she would never make it through mandatory checkpoints. There were also no Satomobiles for miles around, and good luck driving that around in the desert. So what was left?
"The most direct way there would be to cross Serpent's Pass." Kuvira included Bae in her selected thoughts.
"I rode an elephant camel here by the way," Bae said, as if reading the other parts of Kuvira's mind. "I mean, I ain't dumb enough to walk."
In that moment, Kuvira wanted to hug Bae, but of course she did not. Instead, Kuvira smiled and nudged Bae's arm. Her companion.
Kuvira would later realize that from the moment she yielded to Korra, she had accumulated more real friends than when she was taking over the Earth Kingdom and engaged to her non-biological brother and questioning everyone's loyalty.
They packed up their things and prepared to hit the road. The elephant camel had her fill of water and food and rest and was ready for whatever, as long she was fed and well cared for.
Kuvira put her foot in the stirrup and swung her leg over the elephant camel and helped Bae up, who straddled their ride behind Kuvira.
"By the way," Kuvira said. "I forgot to ask you, what was two?"
"Huh?" Bae answered Kuvira's back.
Kuvira looked over her shoulder. "The guy the other day. The thug. You said, 'One, I ain't your sweetheart' after he called you sweetheart. But you never said what two was."
"Oh," Bae chuckled and leaned in to Kuvira's back. "I don't remember."
"Oh well."
"And don't worry," Bae added.
"About what?"
"I can see you thinking about her, whoever she is. I'm not after you."
Kuvira blushed but Bae couldn't see. The outlaw faced the front and toward the open road and said, "Good."
The elephant camel sauntered off. To Kuvira's unmasked delight, Bae had brought a parasol which she held aloft for long stretches of time.
To Kuvira's annoyance, Bae came equipped with old Earth Kingdom songs which she sang on repeat.
"It's a long long way to Ba Sing Se," Bae sang loudly and without reservation.
A long way indeed, Kuvira thought.
They headed north toward Serpent's Pass, a narrow and dangerous pathway few travelers took but led directly to Ba Sing Se.
At some point early on in the trip, they stopped at an ancient tree with its massively stretched limbs and sparse canopy. They whispered their deepest secrets into holes in the tree and covered them up with mud.
Both women left their secrets in the holes sealed by mud; they never spoke of it again.
Instead, they marched off to the races.
Coming up...
We catch up to the present, looking back on Kuvira's year without bending as well as Korrasami in Republic City.
And... we head to the races leading up to another fuckening, but between or among whom?
And later... what happens when/if Kuvira makes it to the Southern Air Temple?