The police gymnasium was huge, its size made even more impressive by the high ceilings and large windows. The floor was bare earth, and weights and stone discs littered the areas near the walls. In the middle of the room was a large sparring circle, the paint faded and scattered by the many matches fought on it. The gym was almost entirely empty at this hour, save for a lone woman at the bench press and a male companion spotting her. Lin led Korra to the center of the room and motioned for her to wait there. She disappeared for a few minutes into a large storage closet, emerging with a fist-sized chunk of crude metal. She set it in front of Korra and stepped back.
"Match my stance," she said.
Korra did her best, but the position was odd, similar to a traditional earthbending stance but giving her much less contact with the ground and splaying her hands and feet at odd angles.
"You're doing it wrong," Lin said simply, and moved around Korra to stand behind her. She put a casual hand on Korra's stomach, and Korra could feel each of her fingers through the fabric of her shirt. Lin straightened Korra's back and then pressed close to Korra so she could feel the shape of Lin's stance.
"Your arms should go here and here," Lin said, holding up her own arms so Korra could see. "Match yours up with mine." Korra did as she was told, moving her hands to line up with Lin's. "And widen your stance." Lin put a hand on the inside of Korra's knee, pushing her legs farther open. Korra could feel Lin's thighs against hers, Lin's chest against her back. She couldn't help but notice how well they matched together; Korra was the perfect size to fit against Lin like this, the hollows and curves of their bodies matching almost exactly. "Get farther up on your toes – there you go." Lin's voice cut through Korra's daze, and she obeyed automatically.
Finally Lin approved of the stance, stepping away from Korra and returning to her place in front of her. "Now find the metal," she said.
Rather than reply with a sassy remark and risk her chance at these lessons, Korra closed her eyes and felt the earth on her feet, reached through it in search of the metal. Though she knew it was there, according to the heightened senses granted her by the earthbending, the chunk was nowhere to be found. She retreated into her body, confused.
"I can't find it," she said.
Lin nodded. "This first step is one of the most difficult. The earth is there, but the metal hides it. Here – find me first."
Korra closed her eyes again, taking deep breaths and reaching out through the earth. There was Lin, solid and steady as a rock. Her feet pressed against the ground, up to her muscled legs, further to her hips and then her waist, up her chest and over her shoulders out to her fingers, back up to her head, Korra's senses so sharpened that she could feel the contours of Lin's face. And all around her, the metal armor.
"Now find the earth in the iron the same way you found me." Lin's voice was soft and close, enough to reach Korra without breaking her concentration. Reluctantly she pulled away from her examination of Lin's body and searched again for the metal.
This time she found it, a tentative shape above the earth, its impurities scattered like stars across her senses. There were tiny amounts of earth in it, and she reached desperately for the few nearest to the ground. She managed to grab ahold of one of them, trying in vain to raise the hunk of metal by the one tiny grain of dirt. Frustrated, she strained to latch onto others, catching one, then two, and finally a whole group of them near each other. Holding on with all her might, she lifted those few earthen islands and –
Her concentration shattered as the metal skittered slightly in a circle. She almost lost her balance, just catching herself and resuming her stance. Lin shook her head.
"You're trying too hard. Don't reach for it; call to it. All earth wants to rejoin its mother – use her voice and call it in the direction you will."
Korra nodded and closed her eyes again, reaching into the earth and toward the metal. She had lost it again, and had to search for several minutes to locate it. She was so focused on finding the iron that she didn't notice Lin had moved behind her until the older woman pressed her body against Korra's again, touching her fingers to Korra's temples.
"Don't reach. Call." Lin's voice was firm and quiet in Korra's ear, and Korra took a deep breath to calm herself and tried again. This time she did not try to stretch herself out of her body, instead concentrating on the earth just underneath her and the way it felt under her feet. Between breaths she began to hear a song, a sound coming from below. She felt herself slipping out of her body, leaking comfortably away from Lin's fingers and out through the soles of her feet. The earth was warm around her as she spread through it slowly. She could feel the weights and stones on her back, could trace the dirt down to the bedrock, the foundation of the headquarters sinking deeper into her skin, toward her core. She pulled herself in, focusing her senses on the area around the sparring circle. She could feel both her and Lin's bodies, not slowly, as when she had been herself and in the earth, but instantly, as the earth itself felt every footfall.
Finding the chunk of iron was painful. The calls of her sons and daughters, of the parted pieces of herself rang in her ears, cut into her skin. She called back, feeling every one of them vibrate with joy as her voice reached them. She lifted up, up, the metal rising two inches, then three, trembling at four, and at five she lost them, lost her children, and Korra was sucked back into her body as the earth keened. Even as her knees folded beneath her, Lin scooped her up into her arms, holding the young avatar close. Though she barely smiled, her eyes shone.
"Excellent work, Korra. I've never had a student learn so quickly."
Korra smiled back weakly, then sank against Lin's chest, her eyes fluttering closed. "Sorry I didn't last very long. I can try again soon," she mumbled. Lin smiled and shook her head.
"You were out for almost three hours. The earth doesn't experience time the same way humans do."
Korra looked up at the older woman in surprise and glanced around at the gym, looking for confirmation. It certainly looked as if time had passed; the light from outside was turning orange and sinking down past the windows, and the room was now entirely empty.
"Korra," Lin said, and the girl looked back at her. "That's something you need to be very careful of. What seems like only a few minutes can turn out to be as long as several days. I've almost lost students who forgot themselves in the earth. Promise me you'll never do this without someone to watch you and keep you safe."
Korra nodded. "I promise."
Lin walked them into the locker room, shouldering the door open casually, as if Korra weighed nothing at all. Near the back of the large, tiled room were gender-segregated showers; Lin carried Korra into the women's one and set her down on a long bench that spanned the center of the room. It was then that Korra realized two things: one, that she was soaked with sweat, and two, that she was completely incapable of supporting her own body. Lin had to catch her before she slid off the bench and onto the floor.
"Ah, sorry," she said, slumping against Lin's arm. "Just give me a minute."
Lin's normally stoic face creased into an expression of worry. "I think we should get you back to Air Temple Island. Tenzin will know what to do with you." Korra mumbled in protest but did not have the strength to really argue as Lin picked her back up. They set out through the city, Lin refusing to call a cab and instead insisting on personally carrying Korra all the way home. Though Korra objected at first, she was fast asleep before they were even halfway to the docks and did not wake up until the ferry docked with a thump at the island. Korra managed to stand with Lin's support, leaning heavily on the chief's shoulder as they walked up the slope to the temple.
It was a long walk up to the kitchen, where they found Pema bouncing the baby on her knee and stirring a boiling pot. She jumped up when they staggered in, but Lin waved her away.
"Where's Korra's room? I'll take her there and then I can explain things to Tenzin." Pema led them down the hall to Korra's bedroom, opening the sliding door and watching worriedly as Lin pulled off Korra's boots, lifted her into bed, and pulled the covers over her.
Korra slipped in and out of sleep, the low rumble of voices outside her door becoming idling cars and earthquakes in her dreams. Finally the voices stopped and she slept soundly and peacefully – but not for long. The nightmares came back that night.