The sky glowed a dim white-grey as far as the eye could see. Korra tried to will the clouds away, but no matter how she forced herself to smile, no matter how she told herself to relax, she couldn't shake the lingering, nightmarish tension that had instilled itself in her the night before.

Asami would occasionally reach forward and squeeze Korra's hand, just to let her know she wasn't alone. Korra would squeeze back and flash her a smile, knowing perfectly well that Asami could see through it. She didn't press the matter, though. Korra figured Asami trusted her to bring up the topic later on, maybe when she felt more comfortable.

In silence, she led Asami into the shadows of the forest, navigating around thick bushes, gnarled roots, outcroppings of some obsidian-like rock that glinted in the grey light. Asami liked to stop at these smooth rocks and look into them, jotting down some notes in her little book. Korra examined her reflection to make sure she had nothing in her teeth.

"Where are we going, anyway?" Asami asked, stopping to investigate a particularly beautiful tree.

"It's a surprise," Korra answered. She hoped she was going the right way. Jinora had seemed quite confident when she revealed to Korra the library's current location. She had only been disappointed that Korra hadn't invited her along for the trip.

Asami gripped one of the tree's branches and lowered it, looking at the leaves. She took one between her fingers, smiling excitedly at its translucent, pinkish glow. "These are amazing…" She made to pluck one off.

"I wouldn't do that," Korra warned gently. "Some spirits can get easily offended. And you don't know if the tree will like it or not."

Asami gave Korra a look that elicited a short chuckle from her. As if trees are sentient, she could almost hear Asami answer.

Instead of making some quip, she turned to the tree and bowed politely, releasing the leaf. "Great tree spirit," she started, and Korra could not tell if she was being facetious or not. "May I please have one of your leaves?"

"Why?" came the rumbling, wooden reply. "What will you do with it?"

Asami reeled a little, taken aback. Korra grinned at her. "Well, I think it's very beautiful and interesting and I've never seen one like it. You see, I'd like to examine it more closely to find out if it's made of the same things that trees from my home are made—"

"If I give you a leaf, will you shut up?"

"Of course."

"Ugh. Fine." The tree lowered a branch in reluctant offering.

Asami beamed and thanked the spirit as she plucked a leaf and placed it carefully between the pages of her leather notebook. Korra shook her head and motioned for Asami to follow her down the path. She covered her mouth, since she didn't want the apparently irritable sylvan spirit to hear her laughing.

"What an interesting character," Asami said when they were out of the tree's… earshot.

"Yeah, spirits are a lot like people. They all have their own hangups and personalities. Sorry it was so rude to you. I really should've lit its roots on fire."

Asami slapped her arm playfully. "You are a chronic abuser of power, Korra."

Korra shrugged. She retook Asami's hand and led her through the shadowy maze of trees. Countless, umbrageous branches extended high above them, blocking the sky. Some sunlight slipped through the colorful canopy, but plenty of the trees had their own light-producing mechanisms. Asami pointed to a willow-like tree with stripes of what she referred to as "bioluminescence" but what Korra told her was just "I dunno, some spirit power." Some of the trees had colonies of light-producing insects, and Asami liked these the best. Taking Korra's advice, she didn't try to capture any, but for at least half an hour, she got on her hands and knees and closely examined them when they alighted on flowers or branches.

The two were supposed to be on the other side of the forest by lunchtime, but Asami's myriad distractions held them back. Korra didn't mind. She loved listening to Asami's various theories and inquiries about her surroundings. Even the great spiritualists and Avatars of the past never approached the spirit world with this kind of hungry enthusiasm. It was common knowledge among mystics that the world of spirits was all about peace and calmness, and should be approached with such an attitude. Tenzin, especially, had always insisted that Korra be in a serene state before entering the place. But Asami was positively giddy, and it pleased Korra to no end. She had worried for a little bit that Asami wouldn't like the spirit world, since it was so different than the predictable world she lived in, with all its physical laws and rules and gadgets.

"I wonder if it's clear out yet," Korra muttered, making her way toward a blur of light that indicated thinning trees. "You want to eat lunch? I'm starving."

"Yeah, me too."

They picked their way through the trees and came to the top of a steep crag, where the woods stopped abruptly. Korra looked over the precipice and saw that a river had carved its way through the forest, creating a deep canyon. She glanced up at the sky and was a little disappointed to see it still overcast.

"This is so beautiful, Korra," Asami smiled. "I wonder what sort of fish live down there."

"Beats me," Korra smiled, taking off her pack and rummaging through it for food. She pulled out some dried mangoes, a few slices of near-stale bread and a jar of greenish-black Water Tribe preserve that Korra adored but Asami had said she might need some getting used to.

"Do you want cheese or seaweed spread?" Korra asked.

"Cheese, please. I'll pass putting that pungent sludge on my tongue, thanks."

Korra laughed. "It might be that you have to grow up eating it to like it." She slathered a healthy serving onto her bread and took a bite, reveling in the refreshing bitterness of it. Asami fell silent, and picked apart a slice of mango with all the thoughtful concentration of a scientist dissecting a specimen.

"Korra," she started. "You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to, but you seem troubled."

"It isn't that hard to notice, huh," Korra sighed, looking up at the swirling clouds.

"Would you like to tell me about it?"

"Yeah… actually, I would really like to tell you about it. But the problem is, I'm not so sure exactly what's bothering me. I did have a weird dream last night, but I can't fully remember it. I think my dad was there, but he was the Avatar… wait, it may have been a previous Avatar… I don't know. Something about faces."

Asami didn't say she understood. She didn't try to assume knowledgeability when she had none, she wasn't like that. Instead, she only leaned over and placed a hand on Korra's knee. "I know that I probably won't be much help, but just so you know, you can always talk to me."

Korra smiled. "Thanks. I know I can. But… well, you know what? We're not going to get out of the forest until tomorrow anyway. This looks like a really good spot to rest. I think I need to meditate for a while on this, so I can sort myself out a little. Sorry, Asami. I'm a bit of a vacation downer."

Asami shook her head vigorously. "No, Korra. You take your time. Be sure to think long and hard. I'll be just over there by the trees, examining a fascinating giant flower I saw on the way out here. I'm pretty sure I'll be able to entertain myself for a few hours while you think. Or days. I really don't mind if we stay out here forever."

Korra watched Asami make her way to a massive tree and kneel at its trunk, eyeing a single blue flower with a long, thick stem. She couldn't help smiling. If Asami was so pleased with a single spirit flower, Korra wondered what she would do with a spirit bouquet. She vowed to herself that by the end of their trip she would present Asami with the biggest, finest spray of flowers she'd ever seen. Or at least a corsage. Or something.

Buoyed by the image of Asami's thankful grin, Korra set aside her sandwich and crossed her legs. She lay her hands across her knees and closed her eyes. She tried her best to focus on her inner self, to recall the dream and the feelings that it engendered in her deepest being.

She wondered what the spirit world equivalent of a red rose was. Maybe it was the same as in the human world, but it spat snarky comments at you when you picked it. Asami would love that.

She wasn't focusing very well. She tried to imagine Tenzin at his most disciplinarian: Concentrate, you disobedient, impetuous girl. This isn't your pro-bending pugilism, this is real Avatar business. And wipe that lovestruck grin off your face.

Lilacs. They were pretty, and they smelled nice, too. You can never go wrong with lilacs.

Concentrate. Look inside yourself, search...

Hydrangeas are the loveliest flowers, at least according to Bolin. He told her that's the flower he brought her when he caught her kissing Mako behind his back all those years ago. On second thought, perhaps she should skip out on the hydrangeas.

Korra sighed and opened her eyes. This wasn't going too well. She glanced over her shoulder at Asami, who knelt in the shadows of the trees, drawing furiously in her little book. She didn't seem to notice Korra was failing miserably to sort herself out.

Korra wondered what the point of meditating was anyway, since she was already in the spirit world. Everything she searched for within her self when meditating was already here, outside her person. So maybe she was concentrating in the wrong place...

She again closed her eyes, and instead of digging deep within, she let her consciousness spread and diffuse like smoke. She took a deep breath and released it through her nose, letting her thoughts follow it into the chilly air. She left her own self behind and absorbed the spiritual world around her, letting the wind and the light and even the storm clouds curl around her and fuse with her mind. She saw Asami, far below, gently peeling the petals of the flower back so she could examine its pollen, she saw the open notebook lying at her knees, pages flipping in the wind. Korra looked to the sky and moved upward, reaching out, stepping higher and higher until she reached the clouds.

She extended her arm to break the storm clouds, and they crumpled into nothing, leaving her alone in the empty air. Stars descended around her like snow, and when she looked down past her feet she could not see the ground, only more black, empty space.

Again, two stars made their way toward her, more gently than in her dream, and she made out the face that held those bright, white eyes. It was not her father.

"Kuruk?" she muttered. Perhaps now that she was in the spirit world, the previous Avatars were trying to signal to her, to reestablish their connection. Maybe, just maybe, she would be able to be whole once more, with all of her predecessors fused again with her spirit.

But Kuruk didn't seem to eager to regain their interconnection. He frowned in a way that remarkably resembled her father when he was at his most disappointed. She wondered if she had done something very wrong.

"You must never, ever show expression around him," Kuruk said, more to the empty space behind Korra than Korra herself. He may not have even known she was there. "Never. Never. He will take the face of the one you love, he will thrive on your misery."

He took a step through the empty darkness toward Korra, and she stepped aside. He walked right past, and she fell into stride behind him, watching his movements. She followed him into a cloud of darkness, which no starlight penetrated. Then he was gone, and Korra was alone with only a moving shadow, a creeping, massive thing, clicking like a thousand tiny clocks. She shivered, and realized that those must be this entity's feet, thousands of them, all tapping the ground as it shuffled along through the darkness.

Korra clenched her fists and hoped that the strange spirit hadn't noticed her intrusion. She thought if she could just back away, slowly, she might be able to—

In an impossibly fast wave of shadow on shadow, there appeared a face in front of her, pale as a doll's, tiny eyes ringed with black. It smiled wickedly and jerked toward her, and she stumbled backwards, gasping. She fell through the darkness, past the stars, and could hear the distant echo of laughter peal across endless space.

Drenched in sweat, she took a deep breath and opened her eyes. She was safe, sitting on the edge of the precipice, legs crossed. When she raised her eyes to the sky she found it had gone completely black.