Here is the next chapter. I am also currently writing another Korra fic so I apologize if this one updates slower. As of now, I have chapters 6 and 7 completed. Enjoy and please review. I do like them. Many thanks to those who have.

Why did she let him convince her that he could come? She told Iroh that Zhao would not get under her skin with his words, but she knew that Iroh knew better. They were two days into their march to Ba Sing Se and he was at his normal of harassing and nitpicking her plans. He even made sure to let her know that their camp site was not good enough. And to top it all off, the hallucination was mocking her too as if it was saying that she would fail this. Failure was what she did not want to happen. Korra had to make this trip to Ba Sing Se worth the time and effort she put into Chongsheng.

For the time being though, they had other issues to worry about than Zhao's new hobby. Below them was a camp. Hastily made stone huts filled the clearing and from the dark green banners, Korra recognized the symbol of the old defeated Earth Empire army. They were really nothing more than bandits now, on a path to ruin the new monarch on the throne. They were just one more issue Korra planned on fixing but they were proving to be hard to find. The pair hid behind a wide tree, watching their movement.

"I wish these bastards would just give up and go home." Korra commented.

"I count twenty." Zhao said after marking his last tally on the tree.

"What do you recommend?"

"If we took them now, head on, we could use the element of surprise and the sun is up for another few hours."

Korra nodded, "Just don't burn the trees down. Who knows which spirit watches over the forest?"

Zhao grinned before heading towards the right along the ridge. He hid in his position before signaling to attack. Then the mountain shook. The men in the camp scattered from their posts looking for some kind of cover from fallen roofs and snow. Korra grinned as her earthquake startled the brigands. Not a moment later, the buildings began to light ablaze. She could see Zhao begin his decent into the camp. She too, started her own, taking down the stone huts. One of the older men gathered his senses before countering the attack. Thin blades of metal were shot back at Korra.

"It's the Avatar, gents. Let's remind her of who we are! For the Great Uniter!" the man shouted.

Echoes of cheering for the Great Uniter fill the camp. Korra scowled as she returned the metal blades, pinning a couple of the men and maiming another. Another couple of scorching men ran across the camp before Korra put them out of their misery. The fight did not last much longer as a few got away. Those whom didn't met the glaring fury of Korra. She had them kneeling in the snow before her as she studied each of them. When her gaze met the last one, she seemed to shrink away. Behind the last man stood the Avatar State hallucination. When she turned to look at the rest of the line, she swore that Zaheer was standing at the front of the line.

"Avatar, what are you going to do with them?"

Zhao's voice brought her back. She gave him a sad smile before refocusing on the men before her.

"I'm taking their bending away, which is better than I can say for their comrades' years ago." She paused looking down on the young man before her, "And if you can prove to me that letting you live was not a mistake, then I will restore it. And for spirits' sake, stop doing this for Kuvira. You all act as if she's some martyr. She has stated before to just go home."

With that said, she pressed her hands onto his forehead and heart before moving to the next one. The firebender stood there in awe at what he was seeing. After she was done and had stormed off, he kicked the first one he could.

"You are all lucky to see such restraint. If she were anyone else, you would be just as crispy as some on your friends." He pointed to a few of the dead. He too, took off to follow her to their camp.

By the time he caught up to her, Korra had already started a cooking fire. Metal posts were set up above the fire and she was working on making a pot for them to cook in. Zhao knew her enough now that she was wearing a façade of a stern look.

"Going with the softer side, Avatar?"

"It's Korra. Just call me Korra." She said softly, "And yes, I am treating them compassionately. I believe a sneak attack from the Avatar will scare them enough and we do have a mountain to carve through tomorrow. I do not want to waste anymore energy on them."

Zhao hummed his disappointment. He would soon sit near her as she began adding a mixture of food to the pot. After some time of silence, Korra would look up at him.

"No chastising me this time?"

He nodded, "No, not this time. I think you have had enough of that today, but I am curious at your hesitation."

Korra nodded as she stirred the pot's contents, "I saw him standing near the line of men."

She received a confused look.

"Zaheer was his name and he had done something horrible to me in the past. So I killed him in his cell. It became a burden days later though. I couldn't kill those men who had surrendered. It would have the same heavy feeling of what I did."

"Sweet revenge." He commented.

Korra shook her head, "Not sweet at all. It bothered me so much that I turned myself in. I should still be in, but the universe had its own way of reminding everyone that having the Avatar on death row could result in deadly circumstances with the spirits. Five years later and I was out."

Zhao kept to himself, now fully understanding why she fought hard to help him.

"I do not say it often, but thank you Avatar for everything."

"So you'll stop with the mocking and jesting?"

"Never." He grinned, "You have patience worth slowly tearing away at. It is amusing."

The Avatar pouted for a moment, "We need to work on that firebending of yours. There is plenty of room for approving your control."

"My bending is fine Avatar."

Korra then threw her arms up, grinning slightly, "For all things left in this world that are sacred, my name is Korra, not Avatar!"

"I think you are beginning to enjoy my company."

His comment was met with a ball of snow in the face. After clearing the snow from his eyes, he watched her reach for a bottle of a clear liquid.

"I thought you were done with that?"

"It just so happens that I had another. Care to share it with me before we move mountains tomorrow?"

After an hour passed, they were both laughing as they told humiliating stories. The bottle of rice liquor was nearly gone and the stew was eaten.

Zhao tried to speak between his laughter, "And when he was done mocking me, he made me realize that I had destroyed my own boats. How does a commander lost to a twelve year old?"

Korra continued to laugh, falling backwards, "Airbenders. They have their ways.

It was early in the morning when they were attacked. Korra brought up stone shield to block the metal blades that there sent at them after being violently woken. She cursed as one had struck her in the left side of her hip. It took all of her effort to keep the stone up as Zhao returned his attacks towards the attackers.

"It seems our new friends from yesterday returned." Zhao shouted after taking cover.

"Then they know what to expect from this fight." The Avatar growled.

The firebender grinned, accepting that as permission to annihilate the attackers. He tore off his jacket before attacking once more. The stone shelter soon crumbled as Korra began her own counter. Another metal blade hit her left calf. She brought her left arm up to create a wall from the snow.

"Zhao, they're all around us!" she called out in warning.

The firebender nodded after grabbing an attacker by his face and burning him. He too had been struck by a few of the metal blades.

"Death to the murdering Avatar." They heard from the forest around them. Rumbling followed.

Korra took a moment to look around herself. She could see Zhao, to her right, retreat back to her. To her left, she saw the men whom had already stuck her twice. Before her, a few more of the brigands were advancing. She then painfully stomped her left foot, sending a quake to the advancing men, causing them to stumble before encasing them in ice.

"Zhao, duck!" she shouted, taking the metal blades meant for him.

She heated them before sending them back to their owners. Then a howl was heard. Korra turned, smiling in relief.

"Naga."

The polar-bear dog came roaring in, tossing one man away before slapping another to the ground with her large paws. With a flick of her wrists, Korra redirected the incoming metal blades away from the large beast. With a groan, her legs gave out. The rest of the brigands retreated. A hand then rested on her shoulder.

"We should leave before they regroup." Zhao spoke.

She nodded before glancing at her injuries, "We'll have to take care of our wounds when we know we're safe."

She stood, wincing in pain as she walked to pack up their camp.

They finally stopped below the towering mountain ahead of them hours later. With Naga finding them, their march to the proposed tunnel under the mountain was shortened and gave Korra extra time to heal their wounds.

"Just take your damn shirt off, Zhao, unless you want these to scar." She shouted as her hands were enveloped in water.

"I will be fine. Unlike you, I was not impaled." Zhao said, flicking the metal blade still in Korra's hip.

She let out a cry, "Fine. Pull it out on thre-"

Zhao indeed, pulled the blade out before she was ready. He thought of it as less painful if she did not think about it, but it did not stop her from glaring at him after she was done healing the wound. Shortly after, she pulled the second blade from her calf. Then she sat back against a stone, breathing slowly to calm herself. She suddenly busted out laughing at the situation they were in.

"What is so amusing?" Zhao asked, his brows furrowed forward.

She put a hand up to her face as she tried to speak between laughing, "You just put me before you own issues."

"You are the supposed savior of the world. I would be a horrible shadow if I let you die a few days into our trip."

"You are going soft on me, Zhao. Just say it."

"No."

"Please?"

"Never."

There was a moment of silence between the two of them. Korra was giving him a look of disbelief.

"No." Zhao interrupted as Korra opened her mouth to speak.

She huffed, crossing her arms, "I suppose I have a tunnel to create. I should get up."

Zhao shrugs going through their things. The moment of quiet reminded him that neither of them had eaten.

"Why don't you start on the tunnel? I'll work on breakfast."

"You can cook?"

"No but as long as it is not burned, we will live."

Korra shook her head as she searched through her bag for the map.

"They certainly started the tunnel on the other side." She told herself as she placed her hand on the cliff before her.

What seemed off to her was the fact that the railroad was indeed on the other side. She could feel the metal rails and the supplies to finish the project. It was just not finished. Her mind wandered back to the brigands. They might have had something to do with this. Either way, she was going to finish it. Korra placed her hands on the stone, feeling for the dimensions of the tunnel before tearing the final hole into the mountain. Then she made sure to smooth the stone, creating a bit of pressure to match with the craftsmanship of the rest of the long tunnel.

"Seems like our trip won't be as difficult as I thought." She said, grinning to herself.

Her smile was short lived as Zhao's 'cooking' turned out to be as bad as they both thought. Of course, he wouldn't let her go off correcting it without mentioning someone about being pampered by the all mighty Avatar. The comment earned him another swift snowball to the face.

When it came to repairing the tears in their clothes though, she made sure that he did his own sewing. He was not thrilled, but he did it anyways.

"Turn away."

Zhao looked up at her after her request, "Why?"

"I… have to pull my trousers down to fix the hole in it."

The firebender gave her a look of disbelief before turning himself around. He shook his head before laying back. He would cloud gaze for a bit before falling asleep. Korra found the peace and quiet to be welcoming as she now had the focus to finish her stitching. And maybe cook the next meal. Yes, she would be certain to cook the next meal.

The rest of their trip was mostly uneventful. There was the scattered attack and camp hunt, but the pair made it to Ba Sing Se in one piece. The rail line from Ba Sing Se appeared to be unhindered from the brigands, but neither of them was really capable of checking everything.

"They took down the walls?" Zhao asked rhetorically.

"The Earth King may not be the smartest man to ever hold power over a nation, but he has learned to listen to others advice when it is valid." Korra then looked him in the eye, "It must be a surprise to see this city without the separation?"

She would see him nod before leaning towards him, "Whatever you may see or hear here, you must promise to keep it a secret. There are some things that cannot leave the palace or I will make sure to bury you in ice and leave you in the ocean."

Zhao would return with a grin, "Of course Great Avatar."