A loud gong told everyone on the island dinner was ready, and in seconds the dining room filled with the people still left on the middle one of the air temples: The four air bending kids (the older ones of Tenzin plus Kai), Mako, Bolin and Pabu, and of course, Korra. Pema brought her youngest son with her.
The Avatar stubbornly wore a grin, although even the children could tell she had been crying earlier. Tenzin remembered telling her that the first step to overcome fear was to admit it; and he know she did, even though only to a very limited crowd. When she came to the island one year earlier, she had preferred to talk to her polarbeardog, Naga. But know she seemed to talk to either him (if the Avatar stuff troubled her) or Asami for everything else. Sighing he realized that meant he had to comfort her now, since her friend had moved back into her mansion.
While the kids were babbling about their day, the air master thought on how to approach Korra after the meal. She was so boneheaded it would be hard to tell her to her face she had a problem. And she had.
For one: She was eating too little. When confronted she would usually say she was eating snacks, which she did, but not nearly enough to support a growing body that needed to heal.
The second problem was a little less obvious: Her bending was horrible. Sure, she could create a gust of wind, a small flame, bend pebbles or droplets of water, which she always proudly showed off when someone were to ask her about her health. The truth was, there had not been any progress for weeks. If this continued, she would be lucky to live on her own with what little bending she still had.
Because that was the final and most important problem: It became painfully clear the Avatar would never use her legs again. Weeks of Katara's healing on the South Pole and as much time touring the doctors of Republic City had made that obvious.
Tenzin knew, and Korra was aware of that, too, so he had a deep respect for her trying to lift everyone's spirits up by being happy and optimistic. That was the only reason he tolerated wheelchair races, bumper wheelchair rides and wheelchair halfpipes on his island. He just feared the Avatar would someday break from the burden - either sliding into depression or organized crime. With Korra, both of these options seemed equally possible.
"Daddy? Daddy, why are you not listening? Are you always not listening or just now not listening? Are we boring to you", his daughter Ikki blabbed next to him, which brought him back. Stroking her shoulder, he smiled warmly and answered: "I'm sorry, I was just in thought."
As Tenzin looked behind his youngest daughter, he saw Korra leaving, and quickly followed her. "Korra, could you take a walk with me", he asked, holding the chair's handle. She looked at her legs and back to him, smiling crookedly: "A walk? Could I maybe interest you in a ride?"
He took her wheelchair silently, trying to hide the embarrassment he felt. He had to learn to keep his tongue around the girl. But he knew even his father always "forgot" that his friend Toph was blind, which was why she never stopped calling him "twinkletoes" in return.
"Korra, you know I'm 100 percent behind you on your request and I'm proud of you for doing what you think is right", he told her just to see her give an honest smile for once, "but I fear you might be overexercising yourself."
"Overexercise", the Avatar echoed, "it's been months since the fight with Zaheer, and I've been doing nothing! It's about time I do something for a change!"
"I know, but NOW you have time to heal, so you should do it NOW. We don't know when the world will need its Avatar", he told her when they arrived at one of the cliffs on the island. Korra just shook her head and told him: "The world will never need me anymore. Look at me!" She pointed at her legs, but Tenzin did not even needed to look. "I'm a cripple! I can't bend properly! And I can't even talk to the other avatars to give out some of their wisdom. How is this gonna work? Some bad guy going: 'But how can I defeat the Avatar? Oh, I know, I'll just install stairs in my lair!' This is ridiculous. " She took a deep breath, in part to keep herself from crying again. "The only thing I can do is speak up for what I think is right."
Tenzin sighed, her words made his heart break. And he could not even tell her she was wrong, either, because there was a very real possibility she was absolutely right. Even thinking about it made his heartbreak worse.
"I understand", he told her after a while, his voice almost a whisper, "but please seek help if you feel like you'll need it. You know, all here on Air Temple Island and many other people all over the world love you very much."
After Korra's nod none of them said a word as they quietly watched the sun set.
The same night in Asami's mansion: the young CEO sat in her office over a lot of paper. Her head was already spinning and hurting with her day's work, but she found she needed the distraction more than her rest.
She heard something knock, again and again. At least she thought she did. It was the final straw - she needed to go to bed, now! When she opened the window ajar she saw Korras grinning face and was shocked: "Korra, what the…" Quickly she opened the window, but after that was done she closed the eyes and scolded herself. She was going crazy. She was in the first floor of her mansion, and there was no way Korra could be outside the window.
Slowly she opened the eyes; lo and behold, the Avatar was still there, flying on an air scooter. "Are you crazy", Asami screamed at her, petrified. Korra's grin got even wider: "What's the worst that could happen? I can't break my legs any more."
Asami grabbed the stubborn Avatar's shoulders, trying to pull her into the room. But the only thing she managed to do was pulling her of the air scooter. It was a good thing Korra had good reflexes and a still pretty good upper body strength, else she might not have been able to hold to the window and climb into the room.
"Asami, are you crazy", Korra said in a mocking tone of voice, "are you trying to kill me?" Her friend stood there wide eyed and stuttered an apology. At the same time, Korra got herself up on the table via airbending - there was no way she would crawl around the floor like some animal.
"So what have you been up to", the Avatar asked, looking happily over the papers. Asami closed the window and shrugged, somewhat embarrassed: "Nothing much." That's when Korra noticed something was off. She lifted the plans for a new plane a little and found magazines under them. Finally she recognized that the paper sprawled on the desk, the armchairs and even the floor where newspapers, too.
"Why are you reading this crap", she asked in shock. Asami shrugged again and leaned against the window. "I guess I need to know what the people think of me", she answer very quietly. The Avatar squinted at her in response: "So now you know. May I burn these for you? You know as well as I do, that tomorrow nothing of this will matter." For some reason, this made the CEO really angry.
"You don't know these people! There are people out there that have nothing to all all day except for writing stories about our lives. They imagine what we are doing once we are not in the spotlight. They are fantasizing about how you and Mako fell in love, and in great detail how, when and why you two had your first time." Korra furrowed her brows at this and looked somewhat disgusted, but said nothing. "They're trying to find reason why you two are still together, like: 'She looked at him, she must still be sooo in love.' And then there are other people who imagine the same thing for Mako and me, or for you and me. And then they go really crazy and become furious with one another because one thinks Mako should be with you and another he should be with me."
While Asami had been rampling, Korra had looked through some of the magazines. Now she was skimming the story of how she got to use her legs again… and fell in love with Asami in the progress. "And still they give me less than five percent in the approval ratings", was all she said.
Her friend was shocked that the Avatar was so very calm, and she showed it."I can't believe you care so little", she spat at her and moved herself over to the desk, where she collected the magazines on one pile and her actual work on another.
Korra just laughed again, but this time even Asami in her wrath heard how bitter it sounded. "So what? At least they're still interested in me. Spirits know I'm totally useless as an avatar." - "Don't talk like this", the older woman told her, while laying a hand on her shoulder.
"But it's true." There was a long silence, where neither of them said something.
"Korra, why did you come over anyways", Asami asked her friend after a while, "and how?" - "Oh I borrowed a boat and waterbend. I only needed like 40 minutes to cross the bay", Korra said while making a happy face. This must have been really hard, since just 3 month ago she was racing across the bay to see if she could make it from the island to the mainland in under one minute with her bending.
"And to why I came", she said, smiling brightly and sporting a little blush, "I missed you. I thought you might be up for a girls' night out. But…" She looked over to the clock. "...maybe I was a little to slow for that."
Asami laughed despite everything. She loved how Korra could make her smile even though so much bad stuff had happened to her. "Where's your wheelchair?" - "Outside, in the bushes." And so the CEO rushed out the door and into the garden to fetch the Avatar's chair, so she would not need to sit on her desk the entire evening.
When she came back, Korra was skipping through yet another magazine. Looking up, she questioned: "Asami, can I ask you a question or two to these articles?" - "If you have to."
"So… are you and Mako again…" - "No."
"Are you pregnant..." - "No." - "... with twins?" - "Still no."
"Do you have a secret lover?" - "No."
"You're not plotting to take over the world like your dad?" - "Heck no!"
"Were you abducted by aliens and replaced by a double?" - "What?"
"Are you dating the Avatar?" - "Korra, no!" - "You sure? They're pretty persistence with that one!" - "Korra…!" - "What? They say the Avatar is very pretty…"
And that was it, Asami laughed again so hard her belly was aching and she had to hold it. She helped Korra into the wheelchair and moved her out of the room. "But they're right, the Avatar is very pretty." - "Aha! I knew it! You WERE replaced by a double!"