Spacebender
Chapter 6: New Information

Disclaimer: I do not own The Legend of Korra or any of the characters involved except Guardian S. Space

Korra and Unaloq parted ways in the entrance hall of the palace, and once Korra turned the corner Unaloq sighed and his smiling face dropped into its normal scowl. He turned on his heel and made his way through the hallways until he arrived at his office. Entering he sat at his desk and reached into his coat to retrieve a key that was wrapped around his neck, he leaned down and unlocked a drawer at the bottom of his desk before sliding it open revealing an old, cracked, circular blade.

He picked it up and laid it out on his desk before retrieving a magnifying glass and leaning over the blade. Inscribed on its surface were a series of carvings, minute and almost illegible after the wear on the weapon's surface.

"I can tell you what it says if you'd like," Space spoke from inside the door of the office which made Unaloq jump.

"You! What are you doing in here? Guards!" Unaloq shouted.

Space reacted quickly, extending a hand, the gravity in the room intensified and Unaloq was slammed into his desk, unable to lift himself because of the pressure.

"Where did you find this?" Space asked as he walked over to the desk and laid a finger on the blade.

"It was being sold by a traveling merchant who stopped here a few months ago," Unaloq managed to grunt out.

"This merchant, what did he look like?" Space asked.

"She. Young, ridiculous pink hair, bubbly personality. I couldn't stand being around her, but the blade caught my eye," Unaloq said.

Space's eyes widened as he described the merchant.

"No…"

"What's the matter monster? You look like you've seen a ghost," Unaloq said tauntingly.

Space sighed before wrapping his hand around the blade and slid it off the desk.

"You can't take that! I paid for it fairly! It's my property!" Unaloq shouted at him.

Space sighed before snapping the fingers of his extended hand. Instantly the pressure on Unaloq disappeared and a sack of coins clinked onto the desk.

"Will that suffice?" Space asked.

Unaloq sat up straight before slowly reaching for the pouch. He counted out the coins inside.

"I… yes… this is more than double what I paid," he said looking up at Space.

"Consider it a payment to keep your mouth shut about this merchant, this blade, and whatever you managed to glean from its surface," Space told him as he hefted the blade up between them.

"Very well, I'm a reasonable man, and you've made it clear that you could kill me with a thought… But I have to ask one question; why do you do it?"

Space was confused now, "What do you mean?"

"These Worlds, they betrayed you and your people long ago, they killed you. Then, when you were brought back to life by some unknown force you were told to protect them? Why did you accept?" Unaloq asked.

Space sighed, "You understand so little of the full picture it's hard to explain. But, to answer your question: A sense of duty. If you were to be given a second chance at life, to live again with your prior knowledge and knowledge given to you… would you say no?" Space asked him.

Unaloq put a hand on his chin as he considered the question, "No… I can't say I would, but still. The trade-off of being enslaved to the Worlds-"

"We're not enslaved. That's something you are missing, but I won't go into further detail here. You got your answer, and I have what I came for, I bid you good day Chieftain Unaloq," Space said as he turned on his heel and disappeared into one of his portals.

Korra was wandering the palace when she turned a corner and spotted Mako and Bolin.

"Mako! Bolin! Have you guys seen Space?" She asked.

"Uh… yeah, we were just talking to him. He said he needed to do something and left through one of his portals," Mako answered.

Bolin looked to Mako, but his brother shook his head.

"Oh, well, I was hoping to get another lesson about Spacebending from him," Korra said, disheartened.

"Then another lesson you'll get," Space said as he appeared through his portal.

"Space!" Mako shouted in surprise.

Space nodded to Mako, "We'll speak later Mako, about what we were discussing earlier."

Mako nodded, Bolin looked between the two and seemed very confused. Space smiled,

"You can come too Bolin, but not now. Korra and I have some training to do," Space told him.

Korra grinned as she lead the way out to the courtyard. Space followed behind her. Once they were outside they turned to face each other.

"So, when we last left off you were learning to project your chi outwards to form a barrier that you can manipulate. Go ahead and perform that for me please," Space instructed.

Korra nodded and closed her eyes to focus, a sphere of flames emerged from her body and projected a few meters in all directions.

"Not bad, but lose the fire. If your opponent sees that they may gain an idea of what you're trying to do," Space told her.

Her focus intensified as she tried to douse the flames, and after a moment the roar of the fire disappeared, but Space could still sense her Chi extending out from her.

"Good, now, I want you to imagine your Chi taking on a heavy attribute. Make it feel heavier, make it be heavier," Space told her.

Her body began to tremble from the effort of hiding her chi while also trying to manipulate it, after a minute she gasped as her concentration broke and she was forced to stop.

"Not bad," Space told her.

"But I didn't make my chi any heavier," She said.

"No, you didn't, but you managed to do the other things I asked, which is remarkable progress. I assume being the Avatar gives you some inherent handle on energy manipulation in addition to elemental bending. None of my other students have caught on this quickly," He said.

"You've had other students?" She asked.

"Just two," He said.

"Who were they?"

Space sighed as he looked up at the sky, "They were Guardians, like me. Guardian S. Sun and Guardian M. Moon, they were young… very young… and I'd rather not go much further."

He lowered his gaze to her and she nodded understanding, "Sorry. I didn't mean to pry,"

"You're fine. But, let's get back to your training shall we?"

Korra nodded and closed her eyes to focus again. Her chi began to expand outward, this time without any flames. Space let a small smile creep across his face as he felt a small amount of pressure trying to drive him downward.

"Not bad," He thought to himself.

They continue for another hour before Space called for a break. Korra was sweating from the exertions of manipulating her chi, but Space nodded before speaking,

"You're progressing well. I could feel the pressure on those last few attempts. Let's call it a day and resume tomorrow, that'll give you a chance to rest and prepare."

Korra put her fist into her palm and bowed from the waist, "Thank you Space, I appreciate you teaching me this," She said.

Space gave a small bow in return "It is my pleasure Avatar Korra."

The two parted ways, and as Space turned a corner he found himself face-to-face with Mako and Bolin.

"You mind telling us what's going on?" Mako asked.

"Yeah, first you disappear suddenly and then re-appear and say you're going to teach Korra spacebending right after you said you wouldn't," Bolin added, walking forward and jabbing a finger into Space's chest as he did.

Space sighed, "You're right. I owe you two an explanation. The short version: I found out how Unaloq knew so much about the Guardians. Fortunately, his knowledge was more limited than I had originally believed. My concern was that his knowledge had compromised my mission and I would need to leave. That's not the case. In fact, it's the opposite. There's a problem," Space told them.

The two brothers looked at each other and then turned back to Space.

"What kind of problem?"

Space looked them both in the eyes as he answered, "There's another Guardian here in this World, and she's not one of the good guys,"