Korra took a deep breath and tried to concentrate as she held her hand to one of the green vines that made up the infrastructure of Republic City. Behind her, she could hear Asami, Mako, and Bolin trying to whisper quietly. Glancing down at the photograph in her hand, Korra tried to find the missing Officer Pari. Even though she could see the city through the vines, it was if she kept spinning around and around in a circle. Nothing was clear.

"May I inquire what we are doing?" asked a voice, interrupting Korra's concentration. Bolin made a shushing noise and waved his arms at the White Lotus representative that was tagging along on their patrols. For the umpteenth time, Korra cursed President Raiko. Not because Soraya was rude or condescending, but because Korra didn't want her there.

"Korra can connect with the Spirit Vines to search the city for Officer Pari," whispered Mako who, judging by the dark circles around his eyes, hadn't slept since the attack. Korra kept her eyes closed, trying to tune them out, but her focus was failing.

"I would guess that she isn't still in the city…I wouldn't murder police officers and then hang around." Soraya had a good point, but Korra wasn't interested in admitting it, nor did it seem any of her friends were either.

Again, Korra tried to focus, but something wasn't right. It was as if this Pari person was still tethered to Republic City, but Korra couldn't find her. The thought then crossed her mind that maybe since she had never met Officer Pari, it was difficult for her to focus on an energy she had never encountered. Letting out a grunt of indignation, Korra said, "This isn't working."

"Maybe somewhere else would be better?" asked Asami calmly as she approached Korra and laid a hand on her shoulder. Korra smiled weakly at her girlfriend's attempts to encourage her, but she had a feeling that she wasn't going to be able to track the missing officer through the vines. They were going to need a different approach.

"Pari didn't do this alone," said Mako, his detective's mind hard at work. "Maybe we should focus on the other attackers for a while…"

Behind him, Soraya started to say something, but stopped. Inwardly, Korra groaned. Soraya was a trained member of the White Lotus and Korra knew they needed all the help they could get. Trying to channel her girlfriend's calm acceptance of everyone, Korra asked, "Soraya, was there something you were going to say?"

The older woman nodded, causing her looped hair to sway. "I think Detective Mako is right. Everyone in the city is looking for Pari. Perhaps we should focus our efforts elsewhere, such as how the attackers got into the station."

"Through the front door?" replied Bolin with a confused tilt of his head, but Asami seemed to understand what Soraya was trying to say.

"There were officers at the front desk, correct?" Asami asked Mako, her eyes lighting up with a theory. Mako nodded, so she continued. "Pari wouldn't have been able to bring in enough people on her own into the back offices. There was no sign of damage to the entry and main booking area."

"So they didn't come in the front door…" said Bolin, catching on and Korra could see what Soraya and Asami were saying: how did enough people break into the offices of the Republic City Police in order to kill six people, including Chief Beifong?

"You think there was more than just Pari in on it?" Mako stared at Soraya, unable to believe that anyone would betray his fellow officers, let alone more than one. For not the first time that day, Korra wished the Chief were here- she would know what they were missing.

"Pssstt!" Korra whirled around, hands raised, at the sound of another voice in the area. Her friends did the same, searching for the newcomer, but none could be seen.

"Down here!" called the voice again and Korra finally rested her eyes on a plump little yellow spirit with green leaf ears: the Light Spirit. It had been over a year since the small spirit had led her to Toph's swamp. Now it was half hiding in spirit vines just a few yards away from Korra and her friends.

Korra's body relaxed and she knelt to get closer to the Light Spirit's level. Eying the others wearily, he hopped over to the Avatar and sensing his uneasiness, Korra whispered, "What is it?"

"I shouldn't be here…" the tiny spirit muttered and he hopped nervously in a circle, as if making sure no one was watching. "But I need to tell you…"

Unsure what had caused the Light Spirit's sudden appearance, Korra lowered herself from her knees to sit cross-legged and motioned for the spirit to crawl into her lap. Some part of her was telling her that the little yellow spirit knew something that could help them. "It's my job as the Avatar to help you."

"I'm here to help you. Spirits aren't supposed to get involved in human matters!" Korra remembered her desperate pleas for the spirits to help against Kuvira's attacking forces, but knew that if the Light Spirit had come to her, there was a reason. The Light Spirit spoke his next words quietly and quickly: "They are working together…there are some spirits that have been convinced by humans to attack other humans. It's wrong. We should mind our own business…"

Everything was falling into place now. How the attackers had penetrated so deep into the station without raising alarm; how six police officers had been killed in their own office; how Lin Beifong had been murdered. The Spirits wouldn't have been stopped by walls or brute force. That's why the officers seemed to have been taken by surprise and why they had not managed to take down a single one of their attackers.

Suddenly, the Light Spirit startled in her lap. His green ears perked and he dashed from Korra with a frightened squeak. Behind her, she heard Mako let loose a wave of fire. Asami was by her side in an instant, one of her electrical sticks already in hand. Air pushed Korra into a standing position and she saw what had caused the Light Spirit to run.

They were surrounded by no less than eight large spirits. Two of them had thick bodies with large fangs and horns. More were slender with long legs and tails like the eelhound. One stood on two legs with great wings that flapped in the air. Unlike when Unalaq corrupted the spirits for his own devises, these spirits did not burn dark. They were as bright and colorful as the Light Spirit had been. A chill ran down Korra's spine.

An orange spirit was engaging Mako, easily dodging his streaks of fire. Bolin was throwing rocks toward multiple targets and Soraya was fending off the attack of two green spirits with mongoose dragon-like bodies using water from a pouch at her hip. Asami hovered to her left, armed with her latest technology. They were outnumbered and Korra braced herself for the fight to come.

One of the spirits with horns lunged at her and Korra ducked right and kicked out flames from her foot. She moved the air around her to push two others back, sending them tumbling across the vines and broken concrete. Bolin launched Mako into the air and the elder brother drove a flaming fist through the orange spirit's head. Korra pulled water from the river nearby to freeze the feet of one of the long-legged hounds. Asami whirled around behind it to send the electricity through its body.

"We need a plan!" shouted Mako through bursts of flame.

Korra stepped hard on the ground to break free a piece of earth from beneath the vines and sent it flying towards another spirit. "I'm thinking!"

"Korra, they're spirits…can we even beat them?" asked Asami, suddenly at Korra's side again.

Bolin dodged the purple claws of a quick spirit, but barely had time to defend himself when another came from behind. Mako and Soraya both came to his rescue, but the odds were against them all. Korra glanced toward the spirit portal and an idea quickly came to mind.

"Everyone stand together and let's push them back towards the portal!"

Responding to Korra's order, the group formed a line to begin their assault. Knowing it would be hard to destroy the spirits, they revised their tactic to merely move the spirits. Korra and Soraya flanked the group and used water, ice, and in Korra's case, air to force the spirits into a cluster. Bolin and Mako worked to push the spirits toward the portal while Asami attacked any stray spirit that escaped from their semi-circle.

Slowly, but steadily, they pushed to spirits toward the glow of the portal. Then, on que from Korra, they struck. Everyone lashed out against the spirits in a last effort to push them into the portal. One by one, the spirits disappeared into the shimmering light. Korra then began to bend the vines and the energy of the portal. The vines melded with the portal itself, creating a matrix of energy. Korra focused all her thoughts into binding up the portal; energy flowed through her and it guided her to caging in the spirits.

In moments, it was done. Interlinking vines swept around the portal and trapped the spirits from entering the physical world. Korra wasn't sure what made her think of this plan, but she was glad it worked. It seemed the vines were on her side, even if just a while ago they had not been very helpful in finding the missing officer.

She turned to her exhausted friends who bore the marks of the quick but brutal battle. Clearing her throat, she said, "I guess the spirits aren't happy about something…"

Mako choked out a bitter laugh. "That's the understatement of the day."

"Why would they be involved?" asked Soraya to no one in particular. Korra instantly felt bad for her ill thoughts of the White Lotus member. She and her friends would have been even more outnumbered if it hadn't been for Soraya.

"I thought spirits didn't care about human problems," said Bolin as he massaged his shoulder.

"Unless this isn't about humans at all…"

-BREAK-

The water was still steaming when Korra turned off the shower. The shower had felt good against her skin after the fight. Her brain was still reeling at the revelation that spirits had been behind Lin's death. It answered so many of her questions about the attack, but at the same time, so many more were swimming through her brain. Korra bent the water off her body and out of her hair to dry off before leaving the bathroom.

In the bedroom, Asami was standing in a pink satin robe staring out the window. Still naked from her shower, Korra approached her from behind, wrapping her arms around her girlfriend. Asami let out a long sigh.

"That much on your mind?" asked Korra, marveling at how the satin of Asami's robe felt against her dark skin. But Asami wasn't in the mood to cuddle. She squirmed out of Korra's arms and started pacing. Korra flopped on the bed and waited for Asami to speak.

"I just can't imagine that spirits would kill humans," she finally said, exasperated.

"I mean, it's not the first time we've seen this. Remember Unalaq?"

Asami didn't even look at Korra as she retorted, "Your uncle used bending and Vaatu to corrupt the spirits. The ones that attacked us today were no different than the spirits we met during our vacation."

She had a fair point. One that Korra had long been contemplating in the shower. In every other interaction with spirits, they had refused to help or even interact with humans. Not that spirits and humans were always friendly, but there usually weren't casualties. At least not to the extreme of the attack on the police department.

Propping herself on her elbows, Korra confessed, "It makes me feel a bit better…"

"What?" Asami finally stopped pacing to look at her girlfriend.

"That Lin was ambushed by spirits…I don't know…" It didn't sound as good out loud as it did in her head. What she meant to say was that she had been angry that some random people had managed to kill her friend and mentor; that the idea of Lin losing a fight to a metal bender fresh out of the academy had been nagging at her mind. But it made more sense to Korra that spirits could have taken Lin by surprise.

It didn't make her death hurt any less. Korra startled at the feeling of Asami's hand on her bare shoulder. Asami's green eyes were full of pity and sorrow as she stared at her. "I know what you mean."

Korra tried to smile, but it felt fake. "Lin was just so strong…it felt wrong that someone had murdered her in cold blood."

"It is wrong," replied Asami simply and pressed a kiss to Korra's temple.

They sat there together on the bed for a moment before Korra spoke again. "I don't ever want to know what Kya is going through."

"Oh, Korra…"

"I'm serious, Asami." Korra straightened up and took Asami's hands in her own. "Asami Sato, I love you. I look forward to waking up beside you; I love seeing you smile; I can't wait to hear about your next invention. I can't imagine what Kya is feeling right now."

"I love you, too," replied Asami simply. Korra realized she must sound very serious. She had lost count of the number of times she had told Asami she loved her. But today was different. Korra needed Asami to know that she loved her with every fiber of her being. Looking into the green eyes of her girlfriend, Korra suddenly realized that she needn't worry. Asami knew how deep their bond was.

Swallowing back the mounting emotions in her chest, Korra murmured, "I spoke to Kya when I first realized I had more than feelings of friendship for you. It was before I came back to Republic City. For some reason, I thought everyone wouldn't understand that I liked girls more than guys…especially after everything with Mako. But Kya knew exactly what to say. She was the reason I decided to tell you how I felt after Varik and Zhu Li's wedding. And now…"

"You should go talk to her," urged Asami.

"But what do I say?" Korra felt the beginning of tears in her eyes and tried to shake them away. "How do I tell her it's all going to be ok now that Lin's dead? What do you say to someone who's lost the person they love most in the world?"

Without any hesitation, Asami laid down next to Korra and wrapped her arms around the naked body of the avatar. Korra felt the tension and grief flow from her body as she began to cry in Asami's arms. Asami soothed her and whispered how much she loved her as they laid their together. Korra closed her eyes and tried to think of the times they had laid like this in the spirit world.

Almost an hour later, Korra awoke to gentle kisses on her face. Asami had slipped out of bed and was bending over Korra. Once the room came into focus, she noticed that the sun had gone down and Asami was dressed again.

"I'm going to make some dinner," Asami proceeded to tell her. "Put on some clothes and come downstairs."

"Why do I have to put on clothes?" groaned Korra. "It's not like anyone is here."

"I'm not having dinner with a naked woman," replied Asami and then she turned and left the bedroom.

"Yes ma'am…" Korra pushed herself off the bed and walked to the closet.