Disclaimer: I do not own Legend of Korra. This story is non-profit.
-Apprentice+
Even though Zion had gone missing, Team Avatar still had to find a suitable place to host the Fire Lord. When the group finally paid their tab and exited the café, they were welcomed to a view of Zuko's impressive Royal Dragon airship. It became painfully apparent that they couldn't simply meet at the brothers' apartment, the idea was so ludicrous, Korra wondered how long it would take before Lin had her head for such a stunt. And Korra didn't want to bring Zuko and his crew to the Air Temple; Tenzin had his hands full with the newly formed Air Nomads… He'd blow a fuse if Korra showed up uninvited with the Fire Lord.
So that left only one choice; Asami's company building, Future Industries. After Asami supplied the coordinates to the airship's captain, she made her way to the transports' mess hall where her friends were conversing with Zuko.
"Not that I mind the honor of riding in your war balloon, but how come you didn't just come to Republic City by dragon? Would've been cooler…" Bolin asked with a glint in his eye. His brother looked ready to throttle him when Bolin yet again brought up the topic of dragons.
Fire Lord Zuko fixed the brothers a look, motioning that the question didn't bother him with a wave. "While my dragon would've been the cooler choice for travel," Zuko gave Bolin a small smirk, "To effectively deal with this new crisis, I needed to bring a small group of the Fire Nation's finest to ensure a more secure outcome.
"Although I have ranking authority, I couldn't very well short-staff Republic City's police force for an undetermined amount of time. So I brought with me a group of specialists. Too many for Druk to carry, mind you."
"Fire Lord Zuko, if you don't mind me asking, who was this informant of yours that warned you of a potential spirit dragon escaping?" Mako steered the conversation towards a more effective subject, his detective side taking over. If the threat was from the Spirit World, how come Korra didn't know about it? Yes, his friend was still recovering, but shouldn't she have still gotten some sort of vision?
"Does this informant have any relation to the Avatar? Or has this person attempted to make any contact with Korra? Any relation with you?" Mako couldn't work with the limited information he had so he had to risk asking someone as powerful as Zuko some intrusive questions. Mako hoped he wasn't pushing any boundaries and got booted from the investigation so soon.
Zuko frowned at the question, eliciting an unsteady feeling within Mako, before he tended to his grey beard. "For now, I can't divulge the identity of my informant. Be well assured that I vouch for his information." Zuko noted Mako's uneasiness and gently shook his head. "Mako," Zuko saw the teenager's immediate attention towards him, "I know of your position in the police force and that you want to have as much information as possible to… better do your job. But know this; I will try to answer any of your questions to the best of my abilities." Zuko watched Mako's various facial features. When Mako understood Zuko's terms, the two men nodded to each other.
Although it doesn't have anything to do with the case, maybe I could ask about his history with the past Avatar, fellow warriors of the Hundred Year War… And the demise of his sister, Azula. "In that case-"
Zuko fixed him a stern gaze. "Although we aren't in the Fire Nation, some questions still carry heavy consequences if asked…"
With that, Mako read between the lines perfectly clear. Guess my theories aren't going to be confirmed…
When Mako didn't look to continue, Asami took the lead. "Back on topic; why come to Republic City? Did your informant say that's where this spirit dragon was heading?" Asami renewed the conversation with Zuko. While the trio was exchanging information, Korra had been sitting by herself watching the clouds pass by from her window seat.
Bolin made his way over to her when he got the feeling he wouldn't be much help in the information-trading. When he gave her a greeting wave, she didn't return her own at first. Instead, Korra made a noise akin to a greeting. Sitting to her side, Bolin leaned forward to try and catch her eye.
Korra regarded Bolin for a moment, holding his gaze until she finally said, "What?"
"It's just that you've been really quiet since we took off… What's on your mind?"
Korra sniffed at the question. It was a full minute before she took a deep breath and massaged her face. "I don't know, Bo, I've just been really tired since Zuko came out of nowhere with this… hot mess." Korra wanted to say something more mature but she ended up speaking her mind instead.
Bolin gave a chuckle at the depiction of their current predicament. "Yeah, never a dull moment, huh?"
"That's just it… When I was cooped up at the Temple, I all but prayed for something exciting to happen. Something, anything that could get me back in action. And not feel so…" Korra muttered the last part to herself, twisting her body to resume her cloud-watching. Korra felt her torso being turned back around and Bolin laying an arm around her shoulders. She grumbled but didn't actively refuse Bolin's actions.
"Now, come on, Korra, enough of that. Tell me."
Letting out a long sigh, Korra tilted her head back against his arm. As she looked at the ceiling, Korra let go of the last of reservations and said, "I didn't want to feel useless… Everyone was moving ahead of me and I was stuck in a wheelchair being a nuisance."
Bolin adopted a thoughtful expression before he figured out the right words. "If it makes you feel any better, I don't think you're a nuisance. I'd say you deserved a vacation after your fight with Zaheer." Bolin no longer had any qualms with mentioning that man in Korra's proximity. He and his friends needed to move past it. Dodging the very mention of him wouldn't help. The less fear there was at mentioning Zaheer, the less power the imprisoned man had over their lives. Bolin rubbed Korra's arm to ease her of the tension caused by the mention of Zaheer and continued, "You know, I had to convince myself that this whole thing was meant to happen and that I should be happy for you… Being stuck in a wheelchair and all."
"What?" Korra asked, her voice at the edge of irritation. She shifted away from him and gave him a hard stare.
Bolin held his hands up in front of him. "Whoa, lemme finish… I wanted to be happy for you since you finally got a chance to relax. Since the day you arrived at Republic City, everyone's had it out for you and you've had to fight every step of the way since. With everyone asking you to move heaven and earth for so long, I really believed that you could get a break and do what you wanted.
"But now I know that I was wrong… You're a warrior, Korra. Been fighting all your life and you got the bad end of the stick in the aftermath. No amount of pampering or hero-worship would change the fact that you'll never stop fighting. For you, taking a year-long vacation was probably some twisted form of torture…" Bolin ruefully shook his head.
When he made it clear of his intention, Korra reclined back into her seat, shifting so that she was back in the position she was before. "Tell me about it. My recovery felt like a punishment more than anything else."
A somewhat comfortable silence followed before Bolin resumed talking.
"Hey Korra?"
"Hmm?"
"Recently, I've been working on my lava-bending… and have had less than favorable results…" Bolin trailed off, muttering something along the lines of getting himself banned from a lot of training fields due to irreparable lava damage.
Korra had started leaning onto Bolin, resting her head in the crook of his neck as he talked. She really needed to fix her sleeping schedule if she needed this many naps since getting out of the wheelchair. "Why's that?"
Bolin shrugged, minding Korra's position, and replied, "I've got a feeling it's because I don't have a lava-bending master to help teach me. You know, someone that's not doing a life sentence in prison…" Bolin let out a long sigh. "But I know for a fact it's because of the almost polar-opposite teaching methods of Earth and Fire-bending and the-"
"Not really."
"Eh?"
"What you said; fire and earth aren't so different, Bo. Both require you to strike hard, have a sub-class that takes teachings from a different element, and the two elements could easily become intentionally fatal. The only matter that isn't the same is the execution speed. And stance, I suppose, to a loose extent."
Bolin never thought about it like that before. "But can't all elements become intentionally fatal?"
"Until recently, Air-bending someone to death would require some premeditated determination…" Korra snorted. "And water could only be lethal if the other person was bound in place. Can't imagine an enemy just sitting there waiting to be drowned or skewered with an icicle."
"But-"
"Bo, let's just say that fire and earth-bending are the better choice to quickly get the job done, yeah?"
Bolin thought for a moment before coming to a conclusion that made him want to groan and smack his forehead. "Say, Korra, you think you could help me out with training some time? Just gotta make sure doc and her nurse don't catch wind of it…" Bolin scrunched up his nose before letting out a yawn. Bolin situated himself a little more comfortably and rested his head back on the windowsill, about ready to doze off.
Korra chuckled softly and let out a yawn herself. "Sure, I'd like that, Bo." And she was out.
-Apprentice+
Turned out that Korra had taken a short nap that lasted the duration of the hour-long journey to Future Industries, drooling about 30% of her body's water reserves onto Bolin's Zaofu's uniform. Bolin might've said he didn't mind, jokingly stating that if he were Mako, if would surely have been a bigger deal. But Korra was blushing like mad, embarrassed by her antics, and trying her darndest to bend her own saliva from the uniform. A skill she never thought she would need to learn and/or apply in reality.
Thank the Spirits, Mako, Asami, and more importantly Zuko didn't witness it and were already inside the company building busying themselves with unloading. When Korra and Bolin finally came into the warehouse, the elder members had finished filing their orders to their respective aides and overlooking a map. Mako noticed the pair first and gave them a smirk.
"Morning brats, have a nice nap?"
Asami and Zuko gave a small chuckle at the two's indignant expressions.
"If you'd like to retire for the evening, Avatar, I'm sure your friends and I can handle the first sweep of investigations." Zuko suggested with a gleam in his eye. He recalled a tale of a certain monk that pulled a few too many all-nighters and it had adverse effects on his judgment and reasoning.
Korra set her jaw at the suggestion, hoping she wouldn't have to end up identifying the third fire-bender she knows as a butt-head like she had with Mako and her past instructor. She'd be hard-pressed to label the whole Nation as smug little- "No, I'm done lying on the sidelines since getting out of recovery…" Korra announced, eyeing Asami to which the raven-haired woman rolled her eyes. Korra advanced towards the table where several maps lay. "What are we looking at?"
Mako's smile stayed for a moment before he sobered. "We were reviewing certain locations, places various locals reported as being supernatural, to pinpoint possible entrances our dragon could come through…"
"Supernatural?" Bolin inquired with a raised eyebrow.
"I quote, 'Spirit World mumbo-jumbo', some farmers refer to them. I believe they were regarding spirits that claim the area as territory and the portals they use to enter the World of Living." Mako shrugged.
Korra noted a certain location. "I see you pinned the twin entrances for the Harmonic Convergence. What are the odds of this escaped dragon coming through either of those?" Korra asked, peering at Zuko.
"Ah, yes. That brings us to the matter of splitting up our forces and sending them to these locations to start. I recommend the Avatar, Mako, and I head for the twin locations of the HC while Bolin, Asami, and my specialists spread out towards the outskirts of Republic City and beyond." Zuko divulged the order of process that he thought would be most effective.
"Sounds good to me."
"Got no complaint here."
"Pretty solid plan, Lord Zuko. We'll go first thing in the morning. With any luck, we'll get even more allies to join our mission along the way." Korra said with a bit of optimism.
"There is something of great importance I've wanted to look into, though... About the Zelai Order's involvement…" Zuko groomed his beard in thought, unaware of the tension his trailing off caused by his statement. When he noticed their stares, he was graceful enough to look sheepish. "Ah, my apologies… My U- informant told me of an authority force residing in the Spirit World that is duty-bound to keep the order in the realm. On good faith, I'd wager they could provide a great deal of cooperation in this ordeal."
"Zelai Order?" Mako asked with an edge in his voice. Aside from the White Lotus, every other so-called Order in the world seemed to be filled with whack-jobs and/or overzealous bandits. Like those two tribes outside of Omashu in a mountain pass that have had a ridiculously long feud with their neighbors. Or even the Dai Li.
Asami furrowed her eyebrows, trying to recall anything to do with such an organizations. "I've never read anything about the Zelai Order… Were they created recently?"
"No, my dear, they've been upholding the law of the three realms since the beginning of time. The Zelai Order had been commissioned by Raava and has been secretly keeping the worlds in balance since then." Zuko supplied to the young adults. But it seemed his explanation further confused the group.
"Let's leave that tale for another time, my friends. Not only is it a long one but we need to cement our plan going forward before we order them tomorrow."
As much as it pained Asami to admit it, Zuko was right about holding off on story-time. They did need to make a battle plan before it got too late. "You're right, Lord Zuko." Asami turned to her friends for any complaints. When she got none, she moved some maps aside and laid down some fresh sheet of paper to draw up some strategies.
-Apprentice+
It was a new day for Team Avatar and Team Zuko. The strategy-making continued into the night until midnight. Mako, Asami, and Zuko retired for the night while Korra and Bolin stayed up a little while longer. Since they took a nap earlier they didn't feel entirely tired so they decided to work on Bolin's lava-bending. Thanks to Korra's insight with combining the four elements, she gave Bolin some great advice on applying earth and fire to better wield magma.
For a few hours, they trained before calling it a night. They woke up to Zuko's culinary crew, whom always accompanied him on trips, laying out a prepared breakfast in the conference-turned-dining room. After breakfast, the small army consisting of Team Avatar and Team Zuko were briefed and set out on their respective missions.
With Korra and Mako investigating with the Fire Lord, it was up to Asami and Bolin to find Zion. Korra was suspiciously adamant about making sure Zion was safe while Zuko's men searched the SW portals. Bolin and Asami didn't complain and promised their friend they would find Zion. If and when they get Zion, Mako gave Bolin instructions to throw the young teenager into makeshift earth prison and hold Zion until he arrived to give the boy an intense interrogation. Asami rolled her eyes at Mako and promptly floored it before Mako made any more crazy suggestions.
The duo was now cruising down the bridge connecting the island her company was to the City. Asami was driving the custom all-terrain Satomobile while Bolin talked to Korra and Mako on the radio. The two went back and forth on possible places Zion could be; soon their first stop was decided. Korra and Mako were reluctant about them heading back to the place the dragons held a death-match, but it was the last place they successfully found Zion so Asami and Bolin informed them they'd be on their guard at all times.
Asami parked her satomobile in the outskirts of town, a few miles before the forest and clearing where the battle they narrowly escaped from in the distance. When they finally got to the clearing, Bolin let out a low whistle at the sight. There was quite the amount of craters in the field. It was when the two peered into a particularly huge dent in the ground that they heard a loud crashing noise coming from the forest.
Asami saw a massive crown heading their way before her eyes widened in amazement to what happened next. A dragon emerged from the tree line, pine branches snapping and flying in all directions as the beast flapped its wings and quickly advanced towards them.
It was a gray dragon with wilting scales that had an ashen contrail of molten skin as it flew. A bronze crown was atop its head and its body mainly derives from the wyvern classification in draconic anatomy, Asami excerpted from a book she read as a child. A long slender body that has a pair of wings, two back legs, and a barbed tail. Overall, the sheer size of the dragon matched an Elder Lion-Turtle. In the modern terms, it was easily the size of Zuko's airship.
The dragon stilled its wings and ungraciously landed in front of them, throwing the two completely off-balance in the process.
"How many dragons are here in the first place?!" Bolin sharply whispered to Asami, nervous of their next course of action. Get up and fight or stay down and pray?
For a moment, nothing was said nor made any inclination of moving. But before Bolin could think to use lava-bending, the wyvern-like creature opened its maw and a faint reverberating noise came from the back of its throat. What started low gradually escalated until the two felt the bones in their bodies vibrate at the sound. Without warning, the noise stopped and the dragon was looking at them with an expression best described as confusion.
The next time it opened its maw, Asami and Bolin were shocked at the sound.
"In your tongue, I am Miruk, Commander of the Zelai Order, duty-bound to uphold order and justice in the Spirit World, World of Living, and Purgatory Lands…"
It was then that Asami and Bolin came to the excruciatingly painful conclusion that they were the absolute worse group to be sent to the outskirts while the more capable group went to the HC entrances. In front of them was a sentient spirit that could speak their language AND happened to be a high-ranking authority figure from the Spirit World. The two mortals were stunned beyond belief.
"…I'm asking what your business here is." Miruk finished.
Bolin and Asami hadn't been listening closely so they missed parts of the conversation the dragon had no problem holding whereas they looked like toddlers. "Uhhh…" Was the only thing the pair could respond with, clearly out of their league.
Miruk continued to glare at the two mortals, internally beside himself at the thought that he might've used the wrong language yet again with the younglings in front of him. "What are your names and rank in this world, kits?"
Asami blinked and slapped her face to rouse herself before she further embarrassed herself in front of the intimidating commander. "Ah, my name is Asami Sato… And this is-" Asami gave her friend a shove, "This is Bolin. We're close allies of Avatar Korra."
Miruk snorted at their introductions, ignoring their reaction of jumping backwards as steam flowed from his nostrils down at them. "Well, friends of the Avatar, what are you doing here at my personal entryway?"
Personal? Bolin tilted his head in thought, recalling something along the lines of what Mako said about spirits claiming territory. "We're here 'cause there was a spiritual fight here between a dragon, that had a relationship with a boy we know, and another spirit dragon. We were hoping that Lightning or some type of clue was here that could help us find Zion-"
"Lightning?! That's what that traitor is calling himself nowadays!" Miruk flapped his wings in irritation. "And he got a mortal mixed up into his heresy, correct?"
When Bolin nodded, steam started fuming from Miruk's nostrils. "Unforgivable…" Miruk's lips peeled back to reveal a massive and impressive column of sharp teeth. "I'll have his hide molten off his bones for this treacherous string of crimes…!"
"Commander Miruk, please…"
Miruk peered down and grimaced at the effects of his rage on the younglings. Willing his steam to dissipate, Miruk flapped his wing to cool the atmosphere. "I've forgotten how easily mortals can be overwhelmed by my power." Kysureus would have my hide if she knew I let my temper get ahead of me again. Miruk thought as he continued to help the humans recover from his frustration antics.
Bolin, the one to break Miruk out of his angered musings, gasped and took deep breathes to fill his lungs with cooler air. His eyes widened when he turned to see his shoulder plates liquefied and running down his sleeves.
Appealing to his merciful side, Miruk gave them a few more moments before he spoke again. Since he was in the WoL and didn't need to uphold a diplomatic stance, Miruk laid down to rest, encircling the pair with his head and tail. He regarded them with one eye. "This boy, you say, Zion? What is this Zion's relationship with the traitor?"
Asami knew that escape was futile but it seemed that the dragon ceased harming them when Bolin requested so it seemed that Miruk wouldn't outright kill them. With that, Asami motioned for Bolin to lower themselves to a seated position a good distance from Miruk's head. They'd talk, but they would only reveal as much as Miruk did just in case.
"To tell you the truth, we've only just met the boy yesterday. Our friend, Avatar Korra, had rescued him one fateful afternoon and witnessed Zion's abilities. We've learned of a disturbing trait that aligns with this ability and tried to find him to get him the required help before he ended up hurting himself. By the time we found him, Lightning and the other dragon started fighting- Wait…" Asami took a real good look at Miruk. "Were you the other dragon from yesterday?"
"Aye, child. I was the one fighting Lightning." Miruk confirmed Asami's observation.
"Wait, you're the same Miruk guy Lightning was talking about yesterday?" Bolin chirped in. "So Lightning is the bad guy here, the dragon Zuko's informant had warned us about…?"
Miruk made a sound of agreement regarding Bolin's observation. "The one you're referring to as Lightning is a traitor I've been hunting for twenty years. I've condemned him to the Purgatory Lands due to suspicion of his being a part of Vaatu's twisted machinations. Since I was the arresting officer, I am honor-bound to capture and return him back for trial. For that reason and due to the fact that my other allies couldn't leave their duty-bound post or else the world would become unbalanced. So I've tasked myself with finding the traitor myself."
Bolin and Asami looked apprehensive to continue conversing with Miruk. It was a lot to take in, not to mention neither of them knew how to respond.
"What is the reason for your hesitation?"
"It's just… You seem to be revealing quite a lot to mere mortals…"
"I recall you saying you were close allies of the current Avatar, correct?" When they nodded, Miruk continued, "I hold great respect for Raava and her reincarnations and I'm willing to cooperate with their allies since we share similar goals.
"Also, it would be quite foolish to lie to me… If I were to find out that you're not who you say you are, it would be simple to erase your existence from all realms whether you hold this knowledge I'm informing you of."
With that none too subtle threat, Bolin and Asami cut any further reservations towards holding back information and started trading back and forth with Miruk.
It was 2PM by the time Miruk finished with his tale of the Zelai Order, per Asami's request. She'd be lying if she said she wasn't disappointed with Lord Zuko for not sharing the tale last night. "So you command the enforcers of the Order… How many enforcers do you have?" From what she learned from Tenzin whenever she had time to attend one of his classes, the Spirit World was massive and in need of cataloguing a clear up to date map. Miruk would need a great army to uphold the law in such a gargantuan realm.
"There are currently 12 enforcers under my command." Miruk said simply, unknowingly blowing Asami and Bolin's collective minds.
"Are you serious? That's not even close to what I was thinking…" Bolin ran his hand through his hair, flabbergasted at the statement.
Asami took the news a little better and thought for a moment. Quality over quantity, huh?
Quite the intellectual outcome, youngling. Asami jumped in surprise and looked right into Miruk's eye. Did he just- "Did you just talk inside my head?"
"Aye." Miruk replied casually. "It is as you thought; 'quality over quantity'. I and two others overlook the Spirit World, three govern the Purgatory Lands, and two are bound to protect the World of Living, including the Avatar."
From what he heard from Miruk about what Asami assumed 'quality over quantity', Bolin was impressed/terrified by the power those twelve individual spirits possess. "Wait, you only mentioned eight enforcers. What about the other four?"
There was a gleam in Miruk's eye and Bolin didn't know how he should feel about that.
"Yes, but those spirits should be common knowledge to even those residing in the World of Living…" Miruk mentioned, looking at Asami as if he was challenging her to answer the question.
Asami let out a huff at the challenge. Why has everyone been testing me lately… She crossed her arms and bowed her head, trying to concentrate on Miruk's vague hint. Think, Asami, think about all those legends and children's stories about guardian spirits…
"The Moon Spirit, Heibei, Wan Shi Tong…" Asami was stuck between the Blue Spirit and the Painted Lady.
"And the Painted Lady?" Asami straightened and peered over at Miruk to see if he was glaring or had a gleam in his eye whenever she made the right assumption. For the time being, she was met with silence and an undistinguishable expression.
Right before Asami could ask if she was right or wrong, Miruk let out a bark of laughter. "The day that lazy panda and overgrown barn owl help the mortal realm is the day Orion becomes commander of Zelai!" Miruk replied with mirth. When he calmed himself, he nodded at Asami. "You were right about the Moon Spirit and Painted Lady, but you should've went with the Blue Spirit as well-" Miruk suddenly stopped mid-sentence and tilted his head upwards, listening intently to whatever interrupted him.
"You! You're the one that attacked Lightning!" Zion leapt into the air and unleashed a few medium-sized blue flame-bending at Miruk.
If it had the same effect as it did yesterday, it would harmlessly pass through Miruk. Bolin quickly stood and formed a shelter around Asami and himself. From inside the earth hut, Bolin grunted at the force of the unique flames pushing against his defense. It felt like his brother's bending when he was especially pissed. Bolin's senses informed him of a series of earthquakes around him but he had a feeling it was Miruk getting up. Bolin punched out an opening to peek out to see Zion foolishly sending blast after blast at the none-too-amused Miruk. "Looks like we found Zion…"
"Is Miruk fighting him now?" Asami asked pushing her face against Bolin's as she tried to peek out of the opening as well.
Bolin snorted at that. "Like a Tigerdillo humoring a baby turtle-duck. I don't think Miruk is taking Zion too seriously." Bolin thrusts his fists to either side of him and made the temporary shield crumble around them. "You get Miruk to not totally wipe the floor with Zion while I follow Mako's good advice."
Asami nodded at him and took off towards Miruk who began to look annoyed with Zion's fruitless attacks.
Bolin launched himself into the air just as Zion came falling down from getting smacked by Miruk's tail. Thankfully, Bolin caught the teenager and crushed the ground below to sand to absorb the impact. The instant Bolin felt earth beneath his feet; he wasted no time in imprisoning Zion behind sturdy bars. Zion was already forming a sparking ball of blue fire when Bolin put his foot down and surrounded the cage in magma. That stopped any and all resistance coming from Zion.
When Zion had behaved himself, Bolin turned to see Asami heading towards them with Miruk close behind. He nodded at Asami and retrieved a radio from his hip, "I'm gonna let Korra know we got Zion…" Bolin announced, muttering something else about Mako having an interrogation field day with the captured Zion, and walked off a good distance.
"This punk is Zion?" Miruk inquired; looking unimpressed by the mortal Lightning allied himself with.
Asami sighed and wanted to defend Zion, but his actions made her a little annoyed with the boy. "Yes, Commander. We've been looking for him since last night. While you and Lightning were fighting, we fled to the city and got him back to his uncle. Only for him to ditch us. By the time we found out he was gone, Lord Zuko arrived and we had filed a missing persons report instead of going after him…" Asami took off her gloves and massaged her temple. She was started to get impatient with the brats in her life. First it was babysitting Meelo, then Korra, and now Zion.
"Lord Zuko? He's in proximity?" Miruk appeared interested in the subject since she mentioned it.
"Yeah… Do you know him?" Asami asked with a raised brow. She knew Zuko was old but old enough to know Miruk?
Miruk shook his head. "I know of him. His uncle speaks highly of him. And often." Miruk added that last part with a half-hearted scowl. "In any event, that's not important. My time in this realm is drawing close. This is where we part ways for a while, Ms. Sato."
Asami blinked in surprise. "Really, so soon?" Her face got a bit red at how childish she was acting. Admittedly, she had so much more to ask the commander.
"Yes, my kind can only stay in this realm for a limited time or else our bodies would adapt and it would be difficult to return to the SW." Miruk turned and started for the tree line he emerged from earlier, his portal tucked away in the forested area.
Asami looked back at Zion for a moment, she noticed Bolin not too far away, so she followed after Miruk. "Wait! When will you be back?" Asami casually smoothed her hair behind her ear, trying not to appear anxious. Truthfully, she didn't know what was coming over her. In the few hours she got to know Miruk, she had him imagined as a grandfather telling her amazing stories. And she didn't want it to end so soon.
Miruk didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. "I can't say for certain, your world and mine have different time zones. I could say I'd be back in several hours but it could be a fortnight in this realm." Miruk snorted, a trail of steam coming from his nostrils.
Asami stopped in her tracks at that. She wanted nothing more in the world to ask the commander if she could come with him to the SW. But the amount of responsibilities she had already made her stomach drop. Her company, her volunteer work at the Temple, her duty to Team Avatar… It had been ages since she had anything to herself. Something she really wanted to do was go to the Spirit World… Explore, map out the realm, interact with the spiritual inhabitants, hear countless stories- Find her mother. Asami's eyes got misty and willed herself to blink the tears away.
Could she drop everything to do what she dreamed to do since she was a little girl?
"Asami!"
Said woman was torn from her thoughts as Bolin came running past Zion's cage to her side. "I just heard from Mako! There's trouble at the HC entrance; Korra's team is under attack from some spirits!"
"Spirits?! Why are they attacking now?"
"Was it Lightning?!" Zion sounded off from his earth-prison.
"I'm more worried of how we're going to get there in time-" Bolin started.
"Mount my back, I'd wager they ran into Asger and Lord Zuko engaged him!" Miruk shouted down at them.
Without a second thought, Bolin freed Zion and hefted him up the dragon to rest of the scale hide. Asami got on as well and without warning, Miruk took flight, heading for the portal.
"Who's Asger?!" Asami yelled over the rushing wind.
"Asger is an enforcer of the Zelai Order. The Blue Spirit that patrols the World of Living. Formally the fourth Avatar in the reincarnation cycle." Miruk responded through Asami's mind.
Too much information… Asami groaned, nursing her incoming headache.
-Apprentice+
KEY:
SW= Spirit World
HC= Harmonic Convergence
WoL= World of Living
Purgatory Lands= TBD on a later date
Orion= TBD on a later date
Kysureus= TBD on a later date