Korra knocked on the door, studying the scenery disinterestedly.

The houses here were made of stone, topped with green painted roofs, also made of some rocky material. The neighborhood really did look beautiful, but there was not a soul walking the streets. It was strange, the sun was still high in the sky.

She almost wasn't prepared for the door opening. "I TOLD YOU-", the resident cut himself off at her reaction. "Sorry," the young man inclined his head. "Thought you were someone else."

"Hey, no problem," Korra said quickly. "Sounds like you're haa-," the Avatar suddenly paused, her eyes widening. "Aang?" Immediately, her attention was drawn to the blue tattoo on the monk's head, ending in an arrow on his forehead. Not to mention, it'd be hard to miss the flying lemur resting on his shoulders, the animal watching Korra curiously, head cocked to the side.

The boy in question blinked, thinly veiled suspicion clouding his otherwise amicable expression. "How'd you know my name?" he asked slowly.

Korra held back a gulp, realizing she was moving too fast. This was Aang, her past life. It was obviously a stroke of luck that she ran into him so quickly. But she didn't want to leave a bad first impression.

She briefly considered lying, but thought better of it. It would be better to just be honest right now. Korra looked from side to side, checking for any eavesdroppers in the street.

"Mind if I come in?"

Aang seemed to think about it before answering. "I kinda don't know you..?" Aang ventured, hesitant to invite a total stranger in, especially with how weird Ba Sing Se's residents seemed to behave..

Then again, this was the first person they've seen act somewhat normal, and not like they were being watched by unseen eyes. The situation was strange, but a refreshing change of pace.

"Please, I can explain," Korra insisted, raising her hands placatingly.

Aang sighed. Katara would probably not like him not consulting with them beforehand, but what the heck. Besides, something, a hunch, maybe, was telling him he could trust this girl. It totally didn't have anything to do with her vaguely resembling Katara. Nope.

Aang pulled the door open farther, granting Korra a better view of the interior. "Come on in, I guess," he welcomed, not having the energy to throw enthusiasm into his voice.

The house was very well put together. A large chair was set up by one wall, and a dining table with it's own set of chairs occupied what looked to be the center of the room. Much of the color scheme consisted of mute greys, warm browns, and forest greens, encouraging the occupant to feel at ease during their stay.

Korra stepped inside, belatedly noting that the flooring was covered with a dark green carpet. It was comfortable. She plopped down on one of the seats next to the dining table.

"Well?" Aang egged on, revealing that he was a but impatient about something. Korra couldn't tell about what, but she wouldn't take it personal. She inhaled deeply before breathing out.

She looked Aang dead in the eyes and sat up straight.

"Hello, Avatar Aang, I'm Avatar Korra. Nice to meet you."

There was a pregnant pause, with Aang staring at Korra to the point that she started to fidget in her seat.

"That's not funny," Aang deadpanned.

"I'm being serious," Korra answered pointedly. "I was sent back in time by...someone...to stop a Chaos Spirit," she added.

The monk only watched her, open suspicion now on his face. He still stood in front of her arms folded. The image reminded Korra of Tenzin's stern demeanor. "Really now? And who sent you, exactly?"

Korra didn't break eye contact. "I don't know. He never told me his name," she answered. I never actually asked either. But Aang didn't need to know that.

She realized that it wasn't helping that she had no idea who sent her here. But proving she was an Avatar should be a no brainer. All she'd have to do is demonstrate.

Aang shook his head before she could continue. "Ok, thanks for visiting, but now isn't really a good time." With a flick of his wrist, his discarded staff rose from the ground as if it was being suctioned by a vacuum to land in his grip. Korra whistled.

Korra didn't budge, much to Aang's mild annoyance. "I know you don't believe me, but there's a very simple way for me to prove who I say I am." She finally stood up. "You have a courtyard?" Aang watched her warily.

--

The courtyard was comfortably large for a bender to practice freely without being constricted. While the house's interior was modeled nicely with decor, such as paintings, pottery, and well placed furniture, the courtyard was beatiful in its simplicity, only consisting of a large wide open area with high stone fences, affording the residents a bit of privacy. Along the side of one wall was a strip of water, deep enough to be counted as a fountain, but not wide enough to be a pool. The mininal amount of decor was afforded to specifically placed stones at corners of the courtyard.

Aang leapt up into the air, again amazing Korra. Slowly, he descended back to the surface, more slowly than any non-bender. He landed in a seated position at a high balcony, giving him an unobstructed view of Korra and the entirety of the courtyard.

"Ok, show me," Aang said, his head resting on his palm. His tone was of someone who wasn't convinced but was humoring her all the same.

Korra cracked her knuckles. Well then, he was in for a surprise. Breathing inward, she first guided her lead arm upward, muscles relaxed, in a flowing motion. The water rose at her encouragement, snaking over to her direction in mid-air.

Aang lifted his head from his hand, but still wasn't entirely convinced. Korra looked like she was from one of the water tribes anyway. But this did confirm she was indeed a bender.

What happened next was what blew his mind.

Tightening her fist, the water collided into itself, instantly freezing intk a wall of ice. Next, she stomped the ground, her bending style suddenly changing but somehow flowing seamlessly into it.

The ground submitted to her, coughing up a large boulder to her eye level. With a grunt, she spun and kicked the boulder towards the wall of ice, surprisingly embedding into it instead of outright shattering it. At this point, Aang was no longer seated and he was at the edge of his proverbial seat, leaning against the balcony's edge. Even Momo chirped excitedly from Aang's shoulder.

Then Korra punched forward, a massive torrent of flame careening towards the impromptu structure, exploding it into bits of rocks and water.

"That was amazing!"

"Hey what's going on out here!" A figure ran into the courtyard from the house, a boomerang held threateningly in a double grip. "Aang, you okay? I heard a boom!"

He spotted Korra standing in the middle of the courtyard, and aimed at her. "Don't move or I'm throwing!"

Korra froze, holding her arms up non-threateningly.

"Sokka, it's okay, she's a friend...I think."

Sokka glared at Korra, looking her up and down. "You think? You're not sure?" Sokka answered up to the monk. Aang descended toward the ground to land in between the two water tribe warriors. Feeling it was safe to do so, Korra lowered her arms.

"Yeah, she's cool," He assured. "I actually have something to tell you guys back in the house."

"Hmm," Sokka finally lowered his weapon, really looking at their new guest for the first time. He scratched his chin with renewed interest. "Hey, you're Southern Water Tribe!" he exclaimed, stepping closer to examine the parka wrapped around Korra's waist.

"Uh, yeah. Haven't been there in a while," Korra answered, a bit surprised Sokka caught on to that bit of info so fast.

"I've never seen you before. Did you live there or..?" Sokka ventured.

Korra sucked her teeth. "There's a bizarre answer for that one," she replied, unconsciously massaging the back of her neck. "But part of it was that I left when I was small, trained under several masters."

Sokka's brows rose with interest. "You're a fighter?"

"Yep," Korra gave an underwhelmimg reply.

"Well, you're clearly not fire nation, so you're alright in my book."

Korra suppressed a smirk. "Thanks, I guess?"

"Guys, come on, let's break the news," Aang insisted, jogging back inside the house, followed by Korra.

"What news?" Sokka trailed behind, reholstering his boomerang. He stepped back jnsode the house to find the gang plus Korra already inside the living room.

"I thought we were about to put up more posters," the shortest of the group announced without preamble from a reclining chair. "Who's our friend here?" she pointed her thumb casually at Korra. Although she was referring to their guest in question, she still was pointedly facing towards the door, while the water tribe woman was parallel to the courtyard entrance.

"Toph..." Katara warned. The earthbender only blew a stray lock of hair from her face.

"This is Korra, she's from the Southern Water Tribe," Aang announced before the two coukd argue.

Korra clapped her hands once. "Pleasure to meet you," she greeted, inclining her head to the group. To everyone's in interest, Korra bowed more deeply to Katara. Sokka raised a brow, along with Katara herself.

"I'm gonna get straight to the point." She crossed her arms. "I was sent here to help you all somehow. Also, I'm the Avatar."

Katara and Sokka both blinked at her, mirroring Aang's disbelief from earlier. Sokka spoke up first.

"Really?"

Katara elbowed Sokka in his side and Sokka flinchdd at the contact. "Hey, I mean it sounds interesting!" Sokka defended himself. Both turned to look at Toph who spoke up.

"She's not lying," the Earthbender observed, turning to face their general direction. At some point, she vacated the chair and was standing up. She still appeared to be looking past them.

"How do you know that?" Sokka queried, turning to face the blind girl.

"I can feel her breathing and heartbeat, it would change a lot if she was lying."

"Forgive us if we're a bit skeptical," Sokka said to both Korra and Toph.

Toph only shrugged and sat back down in the chair. "Either she's telling the truth, or my seismic sense is fried. Pick one," she retorted, folding her hands behind her.

Sokka frowned. "You know, sometimes I just can't read you."

Toph only shrugged.

"I can vouch for her. She showed me earlier," Aang said.

"If you think so," Katara replied, watching Korra.

"You don't believe me," the elder waterbender moreso stated than asked. Katara sighed.

"You have to admit, it's a lot to take in. Not to be rude, but where were you all this time if you're another Avatar?"

Korra didn't have an answer for that. Of course she could tell them she time travelled, but that would be a little much to be telling them. Sokka probably didn't trust her completely yet, and Katara would probably not believe it as anything but some fantastical story. She couldn't read Toph at all.

She'd need them to trust her more first. So she settled on a half-truth. "I was raised most of my life far away from the war...There's a lot of things I'm unaware of," she explained. "I was sent to help though, the best I can."

Even though it was the truth, Korra still felt extremely guilty as if she'd just told a huge lie. Toph seemed to be staring directly at her now, and she didn't know what to make of that. On the other hand, Katara and Sokka seemed satisfied with her answer, and Aang said nothing to dispute it. Even though she wasn't completely sure, she thought Toph might know she wasn't telling the whole truth.

"I guess this means welcome to team Avatar?" Sokka asked.

"How about Team Avatar Squared?" Korra replied.

Sokka stared at her intently. "Aang may believe you, but until I see it with my own eyes, the name's staying the same."

"Fair enough."

--

With Korra's induction into Team Avatar, Katara explained to her what they were doing in Ba Sing Se.

"We're still trying to find Appa and get an audience granted by the Earth King," she said, seated across from Korra at the dining table. Everyone else were also gathered around. Katara had placed some food down earlier, some vegetable soup and rice for Aang and some rice and meat for herself, Toph, Korra, and Sokka.

"I'm sorry to hear that about Appa," Korra offered, but Aang sighed in reply. He'd probably heard enough of that already.

"What's this about the Earth King and an audience?" she continued, moving onto a safer subject. Last she remembered, the reigning Monarch was the Earth Queen. She thought it interesting she'd meet the previous ruler before the current one of her time.

Sokka was the one to answer this time. "This is the weird part." He leaned forward in his chair, a piece of meat in his right hand. "We've been trying to get an audience with the Earth King and we've only managed to say like, three words to him." He exhaled an annoyed breath and took a hearty bite of his food. "The only person willing to help us has been talking us in circles and proclaiming the "greatness of this city and it's cultural heritage," he mocked, making both Toph and Korra snicker at his antics.

"Joo Dee doesn't want us pinning flyers around the city, but there's no other way to get the word around more efficiently," Katara commented with a shrug.

"I'm guessing that was the lady I saw earlier. Looked like she was about to cry," she said neutrally. Aang slumped in his chair at Sokka's laugh.

"Yeah, that's gonna bite us in the blubber," he said half-seriously.

"We don't have any time to wait on the Earth King. We need to find Appa now," Aang said, sliding out of his chair. "Whatever it takes!"

Toph jumped out of her chair, pumping her arms in the air. "Yeah! Let's break the rules!" With an excited simultaneous stomp and raise of an arm, a tremor quickly traveled through the floor before a hole burst through the wall right next to the door. No one commented on the display. Everyone minus Korra were a bit frustrated from their current ordeal, and they had to admit that seeing the house damaged like that was a bit cathartic.

Momo was the first to fly out. They filed out, one by one, pointedly ignoring the door. Korra took the rear, and sharply turned around again, that feeling of being watched suddenly returning.

She could have sworn two shapes dissapeared behind a distant roof.

Without another word, she ran to catch up to the group.