It seemed it was a good moment to break for a nap because the day didn't offer much to do besides that.
It had been a rather monotonous day so far, even for prison standards. Life behind bars presented its own structured routines and its rhythms, and Kuvira had quickly realized that along with confinement and the deprivation of liberty, along came boredom and isolation. Overcoming monotony and solitude had become her most pressing challenges, and maintaining one's sanity under these circumstances was one of the most difficult tasks she'd faced in her existence. She'd already faced abandonment and war in her young life but nothing she had gone through until then had prepared her for a situation like this.
Time flows differently in captivity. The way days seamlessly fold into months, and months fold into years makes it difficult to track the passage of time when devoid of usual cues like sunrises and sunsets. A narrow opening on the wall barely allowed for any light from the outside to sneak inside. The former commander learned early on she had to instead rely on deciphering the particular patterns of her imprisonment to keep a semblance of time and with it, something remotely akin to a routine in an attempt to give a sense of normalcy to her present situation.
Kuvira caught faraway chatter about half an hour ago, signaling the shift change of the guards. She realized there were new guards judging by the different cadence of their steps, the footfall sounding lighter and quicker rather than paused and heavy. The afternoon meal was hours away and she had already completed a round of Sudoku in half the time, her opponent being more distracted than usual. That meant the guard owed her double dessert rations now. It was fun betting with them since most times she would end up winning but they still held out hope that someday they would be able to defeat the former Earth Empire leader. She hoped that in the near future, the prison warden would someday grant permission for something more challenging like Pai Sho but for now, paper based puzzle games would have to do.
The cell's inhabitant mind drifted away between a state of consciousness and unconsciousness. Sometimes she dared to wander beyond the walls that surrounded her and into the world outside, a world that was no longer the same after the immense surge of energy unlocked by her weapon culminated into the creation of another Spirit Portal. Her imagination traveled further, moving from the physical reconstruction of Republic City to the political rebuild of the Earth Kingdom. A bold proposal had gained traction suggested by Wu of all people, and soon elections were to take place in the different provinces. After the failure of her Empire, the rest of the world had no choice but to compensate for the neglect of years and now they paid closer attention to the beleaguered country.
Sleep had finally overwhelmed Kuvira so she hadn't been able to notice beforehand that additional steps had been added to those of the guard. Louds knocks on the door stirred her up. The cadence of the knocking was unusual enough to capture her attention. The voices outside woke her out completely.
"Knocking is not necessary ma'am."
"It's just being considerate. I don't want to barge in while she's using the toilet or something. And don't call me ma'am. Do I look old enough to you to be called 'ma'am'?" Annoyance seeped on her words.
"No ma….Avatar Korra…!" the guard mumbled nervously while opening the door. Kuvira was still lounging about when Korra stepped inside.
"Sorry to wake you up…" the Avatar commented with a sigh, relieved to find her former enemy lying down on her narrow bed, hands clasped behind her back instead of the other scenario she had concocted.
Kuvira regarded her curiously through slitted green eyes. Korra was the last person she'd expected to be visiting her. After she had overcome for the most part the rage fits that had pushed her into self-harm during the initial difficult transition from freedom to confinement, Korra deemed her intervention was no longer required. There was a whole world in need of balancing and brand new challenges byproduct of the spiritual realms intermingling with the physical that required constant attention, so Kuvira assumed that would be the last she would see of the Avatar. Apparently, she was wrong on that count. But then again, Korra had demonstrated a peculiar ability of defying her expectations.
"I hope I'm not being impolite, but what brings you here Avatar Korra?" the metalbender inquired as she rose up, and sat with legs crossed in front of her. Korra noticed the chair beside the small table and sat down, using the back of the chair to rest her chin while lacing strong tanned arms around it leisurely.
"Not at all. It has been a while since I've been here. This is certainly an improvement from your old cell. It could use some more natural light but other than that, it's definitely nicer. You look better too from the last time I saw you. I take that you're faring better adjusting to your new circumstances?" The former leader noted the subtle yet careful assessment her visitor was making of her, scanning for physical signs of violence on her extremities. She seemed satisfied to find none evident on her limbs.
"I am. The small details do make a big difference when your days go by in almost the same way."
"Being forced into a new unexpected reality is hard. You are dealing with physical confinement. Three years ago I had to deal with being confined into my own broken body after being poisoned. It is very frustrating for people like us. We're used to depending on our strength and abilities to accomplish our goals and being so limited is a tough challenge." The Avatar paused for a moment. Kuvira perceived it was a topic that still stirred deep painful memories in her visitor. Given other circumstances, she would usually come out with a witty response but now she could not, feeling uncharacteristically tongue tied and uncomfortable with the subject at hand. The truth of the matter is that she still felt uneasiness around her former enemy. The fact that Korra was addressing her casually and not with the marked distance others did around her felt disconcerting.
"Anyway, you must be wondering why I am here, besides checking in on the new cell. I've heard rumors you enjoy a good chat so here I am. With the right topic I can be a good conversationalist."
Kuvira raised an eyebrow. She was now utterly confused.
"We all know why you are here. We are also aware that in the beginning the intentions were noble and you'd made good in the assigned purpose of stabilizing the Earth Kingdom until you got all power hungry and all that. After surrendering you've kept your word and so far, you have collaborated with the new authorities as promised."
"It might seem difficult to believe coming from me after all that's happened but I really don't have a reason not to cooperate. I still wish the best to my nation and I can only hope those who have now the responsibility to lead it care as much too."
"That is why we…well, really me and a couple others believe that all's not lost with you, that you can get back on the right track and who knows, maybe in the future society could consider your debt fulfilled earlier than expected."
Kuvira regarded her visitor with skepticism. "Avatar Korra, are you sure the world doesn't require your services enough that you can spare time for a rehabilitation pet project for a deposed tyrant?"
"It's not a pet project and you can't imagine how hard it is trying to keep people AND spirits happy and not at each other's throats. Who would have imagined that guarding this new portal in downtown would be so complicated? And I thought it was complicated enough with the spirit vines from Unavaatu…" Korra was rambling now, evidencing how overwhelming her new endeavors seemed to be.
"So evidently you are busy. And even here I've heard the rumors…how do you manage to balance your personal life with Ms. Sato and all the world saving?" Korra opened her eyes wide as she blushed violently at this.
"How did you find out about Asami and I…?" Kuvira offered a grin as response, not really attempting to dissimulate the fact that she enjoyed unsettling Korra for a change.
"Even in this information void, we get news from the outside every once in a while. Prison guards tend to be chatty when bored. You are the Avatar and Ms. Sato is a heroine in her own right besides being CEO of the top company here. It makes sense the press will publish every scrap of news they can hound. From what I've gathered, you're both actively involved in the reconstruction of the city so that makes for two very busy people. Nurturing and maintaining a relationship under those circumstances can be challenging."
"You managed to do so quite successfully …until that blowing up the warehouse incident."
Green eyes flashed all of a sudden under burrowing dark eyebrows. Korra tensed momentarily realizing the slip of the tongue and the subsequent foot in mouth. The Avatar held her breath in anticipation of an outburst of anger. Fortunately, Kuvira decided to let the subject drop before the conversation soured past the level of civility. She let out a sigh instead with a warning sign of sorts etched on her face directed at Korra.
"What I'm saying is that what do you expect to gain from this? Do you always befriend your defeated enemies?"
"Well, there's nothing I can do about Amon being that he's gone, presumably dead. The gangs here try to stay as far away from me as they can because they know well what happens when they cross me." Korra drove a fist forcefully against her opposite palm for emphasis. "My uncle Unalaq who tried to kill me is dead…luckily my cousins didn't make a big fuss out of that. Out of the Red Lotus only Zaheer survived and we have a sort of understanding. So that leaves you."
"I wasn't expecting you to answer that but okay…but you still haven't said what you think you'll gain from this."
Korra picked up her chair and sat down properly, legs crossed and hands rested over her knees. "Honestly? I have the best support team ever in Team Avatar and the smartest, most understanding and beautiful girlfriend in Asami. But when she needs to talk engineering and magnate stuff, she can go to Varrick, even if it sometimes annoys her to no end. Mako has Bolin and Bolin has Mako and for boring detective stuff Mako has Lin. Tenzin is a great mentor and all of them are great and they care immensely for me but I feel that there are things they might not fully understand."
"You are in an unique position Korra. There's only one Avatar and that's you. Trying to picture themselves in your position will be hard for any ordinary person and even for extraordinary ones like the ones in your team."
"I'm aware of that. But seriously, the only other person aside from my Northern cousins and they're not too keen in chatting with me…anyway, as I was saying, the only other person that comes to mind that might have a sense of grasping with the idea of having to endure a huge responsibility and great expectations shoved onto you happens to be you. Asami does too but she's pretty burdened with her own responsibilities now. The thing is that you were assigned this enormous job and all of a sudden you found yourself managing a whole country and wondering how you could improve the quality of life of your people."
"A job that apparently I did so well it landed me here," Kuvira mused, the sarcasm of her tone not lost to Korra. Blue eyes locked pensively over the former guard captain.
"That's because you didn't have a team like I do."
Korra noticed the stunned expression in the metalbender's face and realized she had hit a nerve. "I had advisors…I had my inner circle, my fiancée, Bolin, Varrick" she countered.
"But I don't think they were really your team because you put yourself apart from them. You were isolated even when surrounded by your advisors. You were always seen as the leader and something tells me that you weren't the type to express your doubts and fears to others, concerned that in doing so you would project weakness and lack of control. Even surrounded by people, you were in truth alone and having the kind of power you wielded without the proper accountability proved to be a recipe for disaster."
Kuvira did not reply. Korra had described in simple terms what had been her reality. The Avatar pressed on.
"As soon as it was known I was the new Avatar, even before I was aware of it, the sole purpose of many people was to train me and guide me so I could be able to fulfill my duties successfully. I don't think you were provided that chance, but that doesn't mean you lack the capacity to do great things. And you've been there. You know how hard it gets trying to do your best, trying not to disappoint the people who have put their trust in you. Each enemy has shown me something about myself and I believe I can now learn from your mistakes. When I said I see a lot of myself in you I meant it because I still believe it."
The former Great Uniter stared at the Avatar in silence for a moment pondering on the meaning of her words. They revealed something she didn't dare to imagine it was still available for her: hope. Her reasoning was sound and besides, under the present circumstances there was nothing else to lose. Time was all she had.
"Okay. If you want to pick my brain, you may do so. It's not that I anticipate going anywhere anytime soon," she replied looking at the walls that surrounded her for added emphasis. She stood up and approached Korra extending her right hand. The Avatar met it with hers and shook it enthusiastically.
"Like you said, between the portals and the new political situation in the Earth Kingdom, I'm super busy but I'll try to drop by personally whenever I'm at Republic City. I'm not much of a writer but I'll try to send letters with updates but don't expect literary gems. Oh, I almost forgot!" she exclaimed slamming a hand against her forehead. "Do you remember the information you provided about the platinum ore deposits?"
"I do. What about it?" As a precautionary measure, although the former commander never doubted their victory over Zaofu and their precious platinum domes bounty at that time, she had tasked a group of geologists to identify and list all the metal mines in the Earth Kingdom. Her expanding rule would certainly require resources to continue their technological leap into the future. They had been extremely successful, not only cataloging the existing resources but mapping possible new deposits, including some of extremely valuable and coveted platinum. Her last letters to Zhu Li and Wu disclosed that last fact and it seems they have quickly followed up on the lead.
"Your people were right about the platinum deposits. The president has tasked Asami in collaborating with Wu and Suyin in surveying the deposits for future joint mining ventures. It was only fair to include Zaofu since there's not much left of the platinum from their domes after your mecha got destroyed and what has been scavenged is nearly not enough to build them back."
"At least that should keep Suyin off my back about her precious domes," Kuvira mused to herself amused.
"Glad that lead paid off then. Are you going too?"
"Just for a couple of days and then I'm off to tour the Air Temples with Tenzin."
"Could you do me a favor then?"
The Avatar was approaching the door when she shot Kuvira an inquiring glance. "What?"
The metalbender replied with a wistful lilt in her voice.
"Say hello to the family for me."
