Chapter 8: Ballads and Blackmail
Korra's routine continued. Meditate in the morning, burn away the day at the power plant, spend some time with Bolin and finally train with Tenzin, or Jinora if he had to work late.
Really, her airbending training was going so poorly she was beginning to dread it. No matter how many times she circled and spun, she couldn't even make a single leaf move across the ground. She would have given up training entirely if it wasn't for that voice in the back of her head reminding her that if she couldn't do this, then she wasn't really the Avatar, that the world had pinned their hopes on a phoney, a freak hybrid bender and not the real deal.
She had plenty of time to ruminate on this as she boiled water for eight hours a day, but at least hanging out with Bolin made her feel better.
"So, you've got a day off tomorrow," Bolin said as they sat in Korra's boat, playing pai sho. "What'cha gonna do?"
Korra shrugged, examining the board. "We can train, if you want."
"Yes!" Bolin punched a fist into the air, then tried to hide his burst of enthusiasm like a cat pretending it hadn't fallen down, straightening out his clothes. "If it's not too much trouble."
Korra smiled at him, the one friend she'd made here in the city. "Nah, of course not. I do want to visit Asami though. Thank her and her father, and give them a gift."
"Ooh, yeah," Bolin said, leaning back in his seat and lacing his fingers behind his head. "I bet their house is super fancy."
"What kind of gift should I give them?"
"I dunno. A bottle of sake? Or maybe a performance? I know a guy who plays a mean erhu."
Bolin's ideas didn't seem like a fair exchange for a motorboat, but Korra did pick up on his hint. "Oh good. And if he can't come, maybe you can." Maybe some sake, and a performance, and a ritual cleansing would be enough to even the scales. If not in the Satos' minds, then at least her own.
ccoOoɔɔ
Korra met Bolin at the ferry dock, Naga in tow. It had been too long since she'd spent more than a few minutes with her original best friend, and Korra was sure she would enjoy a trip into town. Bolin waved at her from the street corner, wearing tight green trousers and a sequined green vest. A long stringed instrument hung across his back from a brightly colored strap.
Korra approached, not bothering to hide her stare. "What are you wearing?"
"It's my performance clothes! The green brings out the color in my eyes. And look!" He opened up the vest to reveal a bulge of fabric sewn into the inside. "A Pabu pocket!"
On hearing his name, the fire ferret poked his nose out of the pocket and Korra couldn't help but smile.
Bolin led the way, out of the city proper and into a green, park-like area sprinkled with grand stone houses hidden behind gates and foliage.
"No one is walking," Korra whispered. Most of the traffic was cars, with a few mounted riders atop eel-hounds and pony-poodles.
"Everyone here is too rich to walk," Bolin whispered back. "And lemme tell you, they really hate buskers."
The Sato Estate lay at the end of one of these pedestrianless roads, on a hill overlooking the rest of the city. Korra and Bolin passed through a gate manned by an armed guard who only let them pass once Korra showed him the card Asami had given her.
"Swanky." Bolin whistled as they approached the front door, admiring the columns and arched windows.
Naga was left outside as a servant ushered Korra and Bolin into the entryway, where they waited for one of the residents to greet them.
"Have you ever seen a painting that big?" Bolin whispered. "That satomobile has gotta be bigger than real life!"
Korra whispered an agreement, taking in the decadence and splendor, wondering if this was why Asami had felt it was okay to give her a boat. Clearly she had the wealth to do so without a second thought.
Under Bolin's commentary, Korra caught the sound of footsteps running along the marble floor. Peering around the corner she spotted Asami jogging towards them in a pair of oil-stained overalls, her hair tucked into a bandanna and her face artfully smudged with grease.
"Avatar Korra! Thank you so much for coming. If I'd known you were on your way, I would have..." Asami trailed off, gesturing at her outfit. "I'll go change in a minute. But for now, come in! And you brought your... friend?"
Bolin gave a sweeping bow. "Bolin. Musician, entertainer, tamer of beasts. Here on behalf of Avatar Korra to give you... a show!" With a flourish he swept the erhu off his back and brandished it at Asami.
Asami glanced between Korra and Bolin, clearly unsure about what was going on.
"I wanted to say thank you, for your gift," Korra said, wishing now she'd fully discussed her plan with Pema or Tenzin for cultural acceptability. "I brought you this too." Quickly she proffered the bottle of sake Bolin had helped her choose.
"Oh, well, thank you!" Asami took the bottle, still looking confused. "But really, you didn't have to go through all this effort. The boat was a gift. A welcome present."
Korra opened her mouth, struggling to find the right words to say, when Bolin came to her rescue. "And this is a thank you present." He gave the erhu a strum for effect. "Where should I play?"
Asami guided them to the sitting room, then ran off to find her father and change her clothes. Korra sat awkwardly on a tall chair while they waited, holding Pabu as Bolin tuned his instrument and rubbed a sticky stone on his bow.
"Do you think this was a good idea? Should I still offer the cleansing?" Korra asked.
Bolin shrugged. "Sure, why not? I bet the satomobile factory is full of angry spirits. And it'd be neat to see how cars are made."
"But you don't think it'd be awkward?"
"Things are only awkward if you think they are. Like they say in the Fire Nation, faux pas, je ne sais quoi."
"That... kind of makes sense. You really need to work on your pronunciation though."
"Wait, you speak the Fire Tongue? You gotta talk to Mako! He-"
The door opened, interrupting Bolin. Asami returned, wearing a skirt and blouse, her hair still tucked into the bandanna and a few spots of grease still dotting her arms and face. Beside her stood a man clearly related to her, with the same thick brows and pale skin, though his hair was graying and he was a little shorter and rounder than Asami.
The man stepped forward to Korra, hand outstretched. "Avatar Korra. What a pleasure. I am Hiroshi Sato and it is an honor to have you and your friend in my home."
"Thank you for having us," Korra said, going into shake his hand, but instead Hiroshi gripped her forearm, no waggling involved.
"Asami tells me you're here to give us a show. I'd love to see some bending. Shall we head outside?"
"Actually, Bolin... This is my friend Bolin. He's going to do a performance."
Bolin gave them all a little bow. "Avatar. Satos." He ran the bow across the strings, making a smooth, melancholy sound, and without further encouragement, or even waiting for his audience to sit down, he launched into his song.
"Let me tell you a tale! Of a man tall and hale, who crossed the dry plains, to the spirits' domains..."
He sang on, telling a story. The song was fun and Bolin wasn't a bad singer, but Korra couldn't pay full attention, glancing at Asami and Hiroshi's faces the entire time. They seemed to be enjoying it, though Asami had a nervous crease between her eyebrows.
"Well played!" Hiroshi cried once the song was finished, clapping loudly. "Asami, what do you think? Someone to keep in mind next time we host a gala?" He barely let Asami respond before turning to Korra. "And now for some bending! This way." He grabbed her by the elbow, ready to lead her outside.
"Actually, sir," Korra said, gently extracting herself from his grip, "I was thinking I could perform a cleansing ritual for you at one of your factories. You see, as the bridge between the spiritual and the... the physical plane-"
Hiroshi clapped his hands once, cutting her off. "Brilliant! I would appreciate nothing more. Asami will make all the arrangements. Asami, give her the number for your office phone and see to it that the Avatar has everything she needs." He turned to Korra, giving her a formal bow. "Avatar, it has been the honor of a lifetime. Please, if there is any way I can serve you, you have only to ask." With that, he turned and left them, vanishing around the corner.
"So..." Asami said in a small voice. "That's my dad."
ccoOoɔɔ
Korra looked down at the note Asami had written her as she and Bolin rode back into town. It wasn't much, just Asami's name, the words phone number and a string of numbers, but there was a certain sentimental value to it. A little note implying hey, I'll be your friend too.
Bolin leaned over her shoulder, his breath on her ear. "Nice handwriting. You gonna call her?"
Korra tucked the note into her pocket, her heart pounding a little too fast. "I think so. On my next day off. Ready for some training?"
"Yes, sifu!" Bolin shouted, giving her a salute.
Back at the island, Korra and Bolin sparred on the beach, hidden from the main temple. Naga and Pabu watched them from up the slope, lounging in the winter sun.
"See? Put your hips into it. That way your whole weight is behind your fist."
Bolin punched at the padded shield, huffing with effort.
"Good! Now put that weight behind a stone. You are in charge, you are stronger than it!"
The two of them sparred and practiced until Bolin was out of strength and Pema sent Jinora to tell them that dinner was ready.
"You know," Bolin said as Korra drove him back to the mainland, "I really think I'm getting the hang of this."
Korra nodded. "You're a strong bender. You just need practice." A lot of practice, she thought to herself. Raw power didn't make up for the fact that he hadn't ever been trained before now and everything he knew about chi came from a firebender. He hadn't even known there were different types of chi!
Korra dropped him off and motored home, thinking about chi. Earth, water and fire all felt so different. Water was smooth, slippery, earth was heavy and ponderous, and fire eager and wild. But what did air even feel like? Did it feel like breathing? Like waving a fan?
She raised one hand out over the water, trying to feel the way the air flowed over her skin and interacted with her chi. Was there something there? A hardness when she turned her palm to face the breeze that vanished when she held her hand flat. Maybe that was it. Was air hard and soft?
"I'll ask Tenzin tomorrow."
ccoOoɔɔ
Bolin walked home, feeling proud of himself. Before now, he had believed he would never be a competent bender. Sure, there were lots of things he was good at—singing, playing instruments, training animals, juggling, cooking, costume-making, storytelling, dancing... but bending, as Korra said, was cool. And what's more she, the Avatar, had said he was good at it. That he needed practice, but that was it. And if Bolin could do anything, it was practice. He was a well-practiced practicer.
Maybe if he got good enough, he could spar with Mako and win! Or heck, maybe even help Korra fight bad guys. Because bad guys were certainly out there. Bolin imagined himself, six months from now, ripped and barefoot, dueling Lightning Bolt Zolt one-on-one.
A shout sounded around the corner, tearing Bolin from his daydream.
"Don't touch me!" A woman cried, her voice high and panicked.
Bolin froze for just a second, then ran, boosting his steps. By the light of a dim orange street light, he saw a woman holding her arm in pain, trying to back away from a pair of men in bug-eyed masks.
The first of the masked men lunged to strike at the woman and Bolin did just like Korra had taught him. He stomped, forcing a pillar of earth up through the street underneath the attacker. But where he'd expected the masked man to stumble or fall, he instead balanced on top of it and leaped towards the woman.
"No!" The woman shouted and a gout of fire caught the man as he leaped, knocking him aside and setting his clothes aflame. That didn't stop the second man from running up behind and punching the firebender in the back, who fell to her knees, groaning.
The second masked man glanced between Bolin and his downed companion, before rushing in inside Bolin's guard and delivering a series of sharp blows to his arms and chest. Instantly, Bolin's muscles seized and he too fell to his knees, breathing heavy from the pain.
A gob of something wet hit the back of his neck and he looked up to see the second man pulling his mask up over his chin and dragging his singed friend off into the dark.
Bolin groaned and wiped the spit off his neck, then got up to look for the firebender. She was already on her feet again, standing under the street light and rubbing her arm. She looked familiar, but Bolin couldn't quite place where he'd seen her before. One of his shows, maybe? No, that didn't feel right.
The firebender grimaced at him, swore, and stomped off.
"Ma'am!" Bolin called after her. "I can walk you-"
"No!" she shouted without looking back, one hand hiding her face.
Bolin shoved his numb hands in his pockets and kicked the dirt he'd bent into an alley before heading for home, doing his best not to run or look suspicious while still staying extra aware of his surroundings.
Chi blockers. He'd heard Mako talk about them, as one of the many things to be wary of in the city, but he'd never encountered them before. Rumor had it they were part of the Equalists, but he didn't remember seeing any distinguishing markings on their clothes, and it wasn't like they'd gone and shouted screw you, bending scum!
Although they had targeted that strangely familiar firebender, and not some other, strangely familiar non-bender woman. Weird that they hadn't tried to steal anything though.
Bolin looked around, made sure he was alone, then tried to bend a pebble out of the ground. It wobbled, but his arm hurt and he couldn't quite get the stance right to make it work.
Back at the apartment, Bolin let himself in and locked the door, only to pause and open it again. He stuck his head out, listening, then closed the door, shaking his head. He could have sworn he'd heard running footsteps, but that was just his imagination playing tricks on his tired brain.
ccoOoɔɔ
After work the next day, Korra curled up in Pema's rocking chair with a cup of tea in hand one hand and Tenzin's copy of Hand and Heart: Practical Chi Theory in the other. She skimmed over the introduction and plunged into the first chapter: On Measuring Chi.
Chi, for the purposes of this book, is the body's capacity for work, be it walking, lifting a weight, conjuring a flame, or even maintaining a heartbeat. There many ways to measure this capacity for work, the simplest of which is to measure the maximum weight which a person can lift.
There are of course numerous issues with using this measure. It does not take stamina—the ability to do work over time—into account for example. In the past, many studies have used simple weight as a measure, and thus concluded that men have more chi than women. This is of course false. One need only look to the world's top bending masters of the last 100 years: Katara, Toph, Azula, for proof that this is not the case.
In this book, we will use weight lifted as a percentage of body weight as a measurement of Chi Capacity. Stamina, or Chi Regeneration, will be discussed in Chapter 2, and bending-specific measurements will be discussed in Chapters 4 through 7.
The graph on the following page shows-
"Korra!"
Korra jumped as Mako of all people came charging into the room, a disgruntled acolyte following close behind.
"Avatar Korra, I'm so sorry," the acolyte began, but Mako put a hand on the acolyte's face and shoved him out the door, a frantic and angry look in his eye.
"Korra, Bolin's gone."
Korra's heart went cold. "Gone? What do you mean, gone?"
Mako closed the door before the spluttering acolyte could make his way inside and propped a chair underneath the handle.
"Gone," he said again, lowering his voice. "I found this in the apartment." He held out a tattered piece of paper.
Korra stood, took the paper, read. We have the earthbender. Come back to us, Mako. You know what'll happen if you don't. Dawn. Red House. At the bottom of the page there was a symbol, three arrows aimed at a central point. Korra had seen this symbol before on the graffiti around town, and now she made the connection—this was the sign for one of the gangs, the triads.
Korra gripped the paper, crinkling it even more. Her heart pounded in her chest and her thoughts felt slow and sticky while her body wanted to move. "What does it mean? What'll happen if you don't? How did they even find him?"
"They'll kill him. It's what they... why I worked for them before. And no, I don't fucking know how they found him. He always-" He put his hands on his head, pulling at his hair, pacing. "This is all my fault. I was an idiot to think we could get away. I..." He looked over at Korra and swore. "You're the Avatar, right? If anyone can end them, you can."
Korra frowned. She wanted to help, but again she felt slow. Lost. "End them? Mako, I don't want to kill anybody."
He stared at her for a second then turned away. "I shouldn't have come here."
Korra grabbed him by the shoulder, made him turn around again. "No. Bolin is my friend and I'm not letting you do this alone." The initial shock was wearing away and determination took its place. She was the Avatar. This was what she was for.
Mako didn't respond right away, scowling through some unseen thought process.
"Talk to me, Mako."
He scowled harder. "What if you do get him out? If you don't kill Zolt and his cronies, they'll just come for us again. And they won't be as nice a second time."
Korra cringed, horrified. Kidnapping and threatening murder was nice? "We'll figure this out, I promise. If it does come down to a fight, then..." She shook her head, not wanting to think about it. "I'll get Tenzin. He'll help."
"Councilman Tenzin?" He sounded skeptical.
"I'm sure he will." For a moment, Korra wished she was home again, where she'd have no end of people to ask for help. But here in the UR, her options were more limited.
"If you're sure..." Mako said, rubbing the back of his head.
Korra glanced at the clock on the wall. Tenzin would be home any minute now. "Come on. Let's go meet him by the bison pens."
"Do you know where they might be keeping him?" Korra asked as she led the way down to the pens. She lit a flame and held it over her head to light the way.
Mako lit his own flame and held it up as well. "At the Red House, I figure. It's Zolt's house. Their command center."
"Have you been there before? Could you draw a map?" A plan was starting to form in Korra's mind.
"I've been there. But I'm not sure if he's there. They could hide him anywhere."
"Okay. We'll see if we can track him down. Fortunately, I have a friend who is a very good tracker."
"Who?"
They were only a few hundred feet from the bison pens, so Korra put her fingers in her mouth and whistled. There was a bark, and a few seconds later Naga bounded around the corner, skidding to a halt in front of Korra.
Korra gave her a scratch behind the ear. "Mako, this is Naga. Naga, Mako. If you have something with his scent on it, she can find him."
"Really?" He still sounded skeptical.
"Really. As long as it hasn't rained, and he hasn't crossed a stream, or gotten in a car..." Korra frowned, already seeing problems with the plan she'd been hatching.
There was a whumph as Oogi landed and Tenzin jumped down off his back.
"Korra." He gripped her forearm in greeting. "This is a nice surprise. Who's your friend?"
"Tenzin, this is Mako. We need your help."
Tenzin's smile vanished at her tone. "With what?"
"Sir." Mako gave him a small bow. "My brother's been kidnapped by the Triple Threats."
"What? Why?" Tenzin said, passing Oogi's reins off to an approaching acolyte.
Mako grimaced, then took off his scarf and pulled down his collar to show off a mess of tattoos. One in particular caught Korra's eye—the three pointed Triple Threats symbol.
"I tried to get away from them. Thought we'd made a clean break." He put his scarf back on. "Guess it wasn't as clean as I thought."
Tenzin looked Mako up and down, taking in his scowl and clenched fists, then took a deep breath.
"Phir! Get a fresh bison ready!" he shouted at the acolyte. With a wave he summoned his staff from Oogi's saddle, which he caught and twirled to open its wings. "Korra, Mako, meet me in my study." With a leap, he took off, flying towards an open window of the temple.
Korra looked at Naga, waiting expectantly, then at Tenzin in the distance. "Naga, stay." She tugged Mako's arm and started jogging back up to the temple.
In the study, Korra found Tenzin on the phone, having a heated discussion.
"This is our big chance, Lin. We can finally put Zolt behind bars where he belongs. Yes, yes, I know..."
"What is 'behind bars'?" Korra whispered to Mako.
"Prison."
"Then boil some tea!" Tenzin shouted into the receiver. "Yes, twenty minutes. Very good. Thank you, Lin."
Tenzin slammed the phone down, his face stony and hard. "Mako, you're coming with me. Korra, tell Pema I'll be back tomorrow." He turned, pulling Mako behind him.
"Wait! Tenzin! I'm not staying here!"
Tenzin spun to face her. "Yes, you are. I promised your parents and the White Lotus I would keep you safe. You're not ready."
Korra stomped, sending a shiver through the stone floor. "So what? You're supposed to be teaching me, so next time I will be ready!"
"Out of the question! It's too dangerous. Zolt-"
"Has my friend! Tenzin, I..." she took a steadying breath, holding back tears. "I have to do this." Mako had said it was his fault, but Korra knew it was hers. She'd encouraged him to use his bending, someone must have seen him do it and told the triad.
The anger and fear in Tenzin's face softened, just a little. "Fine. You can come to observe and learn. But Chief Beifong and I will be commanding the operation. You will follow our orders."
Korra wanted to object further, saying she could make her own judgment calls, but she bit her tongue. He was letting her come. She let her shoulders slump. "Yes, sifu."