Iroh had made his temporary abode in the shade of a willow tree. It was a welcoming sight, even if it was just a decorative drape shading a small table. Iroh led them toward it, shuffling under the weight of his massive Tsungi horn. When he sat down, it was with trembling, shaking weakness, and Korra had to help him into his chair. She removed the horn from his shoulders and lay it at his feet in the soft grass.
"Thank you, Avatar. It seems even in the spirit world these old bones are liable to get tired."
"It's no problem," Korra said. She couldn't help but feel relief when, despite his weakness, he displayed his usual kindness and humor. He and Asami had gotten along perfectly on their walk back to the willow tree, exchanging pleasantries and stories. But beneath his quips and sayings and smiles, she could tell that he was hiding some sort of indisposition. Perhaps no being in this world, human or otherwise, could escape the expansive effects of the blight. Korra would not be surprised to learn that Iroh was sensitive to imbalances and spiritual disasters. The realization that he might have been infected by the disease only worsened Korra's already debilitating guilt.
"How long has it been since you've eaten?" he asked.
Korra thought for a moment. It had been more than a day, certainly. Apart from that, she wasn't sure. She shrugged.
At the suggestion that his guests might be hungry, Iroh smiled broadly. "Well, I happen to have some bao, fresh from the steamer. Tea as well, if you are so inclined. Although I can't imagine why you wouldn't be."
Korra wiggled an eyebrow at him, trying to discern if he was joking or not. His table had been empty, and there was no sign of any cooking utensils anywhere around them… Korra spun around when she heard Asami let out a delighted sigh. While her back had been turned, the table had filled with plates of fresh buns, a pot of piping hot tea, bowls of rice, even a platter of sweet-smelling shaobing. Korra's stomach nearly wrapped around itself in immediate anticipation.
"How did you…" she forced herself to glance down at a smirking Iroh instead of instantly shoveling food into her mouth.
Iroh shrugged. "The spirit world is a mysterious place filled with mysterious things," he said. "And its inhabitants keep many secrets."
Korra smiled at him and sat down opposite him, next to Asami, who was already filling a plate. She served herself an absurdly generous helping of rice and buns, while Iroh poured the tea.
"I hope you like lotus leaf," he said. "It's a white variety."
"That sounds wonderful," Asami said.
"I like it better than red," Korra put in, and Iroh gave her a sad smile.
"I am curious to know why two enchanting ladies such as yourselves ended up this deep in the spirit world. Starving and covered in bruises, no less."
Korra glanced over at Asami, who raised her one remaining eyebrow.
"Well, to be honest, Koh chased us here."
Iroh glanced at Asami and shook his head. "I see he has left his mark on you. You have all my sympathy. But, Miss Asami, you are fortunate to have escaped with some of your face left. I have never heard of such a thing happening before. But then again, people who have faced Koh in the past have not had the Avatar there to defend them. You are a lucky young lady to have Korra by your side."
"I know," Asami said. Korra felt her hand touch her knee briefly under the table, before retreating. A shiver ran through her.
"I'm afraid that I do not know how to retrieve a lost face. My nephew once mentioned that my dear sister-in-law managed to change and restore hers." Iroh paused, thinking. "I have also heard that recently Koh is eager to overstep his bounds. The spread of this plague has made him overconfident, I suspect."
"You know about it?" Korra asked, mouth stuffed. "How?"
"The spirits can tell you many things, if you only listen."
Korra narrowed her eyes. She was getting a little tired of his cryptic axioms. "Yeah, but what is the plague? Where did it come from?"
"Of that, I am not sure. I have been here in the spirit world for many years now, but there is still much I don't know about it."
Korra looked him in the eye. He seemed fragile, older, and disquietingly mortal. Sometimes it was hard to remember that he was already dead. Korra suspected that this state excluded him from contracting the blight. Then why did he look so old all of a sudden...
He responded to her awkward gaze by sipping some more tea. "I know only what the spirits tell me, and their explanations are often perplexing."
"Tell me about it," Korra muttered to herself. She continued, louder, "What can we do about it?"
"I do not pretend to know. If I did, no doubt I would've tried it myself. I have lost many spiritual friends to this blight. Far too many."
Korra looked down at her plate, frowning. "On our journey, we came across Wan Shi Tong. He got it, too."
Iroh lay his teacup on the tablecloth and folded his hands in reverence to the stricken. "That is saddening to hear. This world does not need to lose another great spirit like him. He might have been a little hot-tempered, but he was one of the oldest and wisest spirits around."
"You talk as if he's already dead," Asami said. She spoke quietly, slowly, either to hide her fear or her impediment.
"He may be. I have not heard of any spirit recovering, once infected."
"So there's nothing we can do?" Korra growled, frustrated. "I can't accept that, Iroh! I can't just sit around here and dawdle while the whole spirit world dies."
"I did not say that there was nothing you could do." Perhaps to dissipate the tension, he paused and sipped his tea. "This is quite delicious, isn't it? The best tea is tea that is brewed with patience."
Korra glanced down at her half-eaten plate and took another bite, silent.
"Maybe," Asami started, breaking the strained quietness, "it's best for all of us if we stay here for a little while, at least until we come up with a plan."
"You are welcome to eat and drink your fill," Iroh said. "Especially if you have a hunger for music. I suspect I shall be practicing all night."
Korra thought he was kidding. But long after darkness settled over the cloudy sky, she could hear the mild, soothing hum of his Tsungi horn, echoing down the valley. He sat under the willow tree, cross-legged in the long grass, drawing long arcs of beautiful sound from the horn. He wove tune after tune, seamlessly progressing from one to the next. Korra, who was sitting on the opposite hill trying to meditate, couldn't help but notice they were all threnodies. She wondered for whom Iroh was mourning. Perhaps a great and beloved spirit had died from the plague and he was bidding it farewell.
Korra opened her eyes and stretched, yawning. Did spirits even die? It was thoughts like this that distracted her from her meditation. She figured that since she wasn't getting any answers she might as well take a break. She stood and walked over to Iroh, guided by the smooth sound of the horn.
When he noticed her standing there, listening, he stopped his music and looked up. "Often, at least in my experience, music is an aid for meditation. But if you want me to quiet down so you can concentrate, I will."
"No, that's all right." Korra sat herself down in the grass beside him and stared into the dark. She and Iroh seemed to be the only ones awake at this late hour. The constant noise of the sylvan spirits and the scurrying of animals had quieted down a while ago, and on the other side of the tree, under the safety of the drapery, Asami slept peacefully. Perhaps Iroh's songs had lulled her to sleep. "I'm wondering why you're playing so many dirges. Did some big spirit die?"
"Spirits never die, Korra. They only change." Korra frowned at him and he continued. "It's Zuko. He's been looking for me here in the spirit world. But he has never been a spiritually inclined individual, so he is wandering, lost, deep in sleep. I am trying to guide him to me."
"Why?"
"I do not know much of what has happened in your world recently, but I have been watching my nephew closely. He has been declining for months now, and I suspect he knows he is near the end. He's preparing, trying to reach out for any knowledge of what comes next. But he has never been to this world. At his age, it's hard to learn to make the trip, so his spirit has gone astray. But I will be here for him and call out to him until his time comes."
Korra's gut twisted a little. The last time she had seen Zuko, he had been strong, healthy, intelligent and enthusiastic. But that was years ago. Many things can change in just a few years, especially for the elderly. "I'm so sorry," she said.
"Don't be." Iroh's smile assured her that there was little to be sorry for. "He has lived a long, full life. He has found his own way, made his own family, led his nation to peace. Many will grieve for him, and the world will remember him fondly. But I must make sure he does not wander, led astray by the self-doubt he's always carried in his heart." Iroh sighed. "He has always needed guidance, even after he grew up. And there is nothing wrong with that. In fact, it's healthy. If everyone sought counsel when they needed it, the world would be a much better place."
Korra looked down at her feet. She could certainly use some about now.
"So I will stay here and play for him until he finds me. And I will be there to guide him when he needs it. It will be a shame to leave the spirit world, but everyone must move on sometime. To wherever it is we go."
Korra stayed silent for a moment before asking, "Iroh, where do you think my past selves are now?"
"That is a difficult question to answer, Korra. It's beyond the breadth of my knowledge. Or anyone's knowledge, I suspect, except for perhaps Wan Shi Tong. And there is little point of asking him now, if he has the blight."
So, Iroh was going to be of no help on that front. Korra had not let herself hope too much that he would have all the answers. He was wise, not omnipotent. "So… what do I do now? I can't talk to any of my past selves—it's just Kuruk that seems to be haunting me, and he's no help. I don't think he's really there; he's more of an echo than a spirit."
Iroh sat for a while in silence, presumably thinking. "You know, in a way, you are the Avatar who is most like Wan. You are on your own. But your inner spirit can endure, it can overcome, just like it has before. Remember, the voices of an Avatar's previous incarnations are many and conflicting. Like any conscious spirit, the Avatar is plagued with doubts—that's what it means to be human. You, Korra, are one of the luckiest, in my opinion. You have complete silence to listen to your own spirit, without all of those previous Avatars chatting away inside your head." Iroh laughed.
"So, how do I do it alone?" Korra asked.
"You're not alone, not really. Remember what I said when the spirits may tell you many things if you only listen?"
"Yes."
"Well, listen." Iroh gave her a big smile and again picked up his horn.
Korra didn't know if she could share in his optimism or humor, but she decided that she might as well try to meditate again. She returned to her spot, letting the ambient breath of the Tsungi horn move through her, and closed her eyes.
She stayed still, stayed empty, until she felt nothing, heard nothing. In the infinitely expanding silence, she glimpsed in her mind a fleeting, blurry image. An old, gnarled tree, dead, twisted with age… A shadow looming… the skin-chilling click-click-click of thousands of tiny feet… The gloom of dark mist, a red eye, opening, closing, opening again, gazing over the wasteland of the past…
Korra opened her eyes, sucking in a breath. Very slightly, she had felt the calling of a spirit, the dying last wheeze of a desperate voice. She did not hear everything it had to say, but she knew what it wanted, and knew where it was.
She stood, stretched, and under the cover of darkness, crawled between the overhanging branches of the old willow tree. Asami lay beneath Iroh's little table, covered in a large red sheet of cotton which looked to be the tablecloth. Her breath was slow, even, and her one eye twitched with dreaming. Korra took a deep breath and slipped under the table with her, reveling at the warmth and closeness of another person.
Iroh was right. She wasn't alone, and she never would be.
Under the covers, she reached and put a hand over Asami's arm, giving it a gentle squeeze before closing her eyes.
"I think I know what I need to do," Korra told Iroh the next morning, as he poured them their breakfast tea.
"That's wonderful news," he smiled.
"When I tried meditating again, I kept getting images of trees, dead ones. There were a few vines, being chopped and burnt. I think… I think that the spirits are angry… about what Kuvira did. About her harvesting the spirit vines."
"Not that I would blame them," Asami said, lifting her teacup to her lips. She was having a bit of trouble eating and drinking with her damaged mouth, so she tried to do it as slowly and gracefully as possible. "That explains why that blighted tree we met was so hostile."
Iroh raised his eyebrows at them.
"A tree attacked Asami a few days ago," Korra said. But before he could ask more she was already chugging away on her next train of thought. "But… Kuvira is paying for her crimes. She's been arrested, she's being brought to court. She's facing justice as we speak."
"Human justice does not often satisfy the spirits," Iroh put in. "Remember that mercy is just as necessary as justice."
"Are you saying that we don't let a war criminal stand trial?" Asami said. "That we just forgive and forget and the spirits will be happy?"
"Please, Asami, I said nothing of the sort. But do keep in mind that forgiveness is often more practical than revenge."
Asami obviously did not understand him. But neither did Korra, half the time. She only put a hand on Asami's shoulder and urged her to finish eating, so they could pack up and go.
Iroh gave them some supplies. The tablecloth-cum-blanket, a few pots and pans, dried rice, a light teapot and a few cups, some dried herbs and of course, tea leaves. Korra did not know where he managed to procure these items or how, but as Iroh said, the spirit world was a mysterious place. The last time she had met him down here, he had been serving cake at a wedding… between two frogs. So she figured that this tea party hadn't been the strangest thing she'd seen Iroh involved with down here.
When it came time to say goodbye, Iroh removed his black silk sash from his waist and handed it to Asami. "What's this for?" she asked.
"Just something to remember our meeting by. It's also much softer on the skin than that ripped-up sleeve you're wearing." She took it from him, bowed gratefully, and turned to hide her missing eye as she switched the sleeve for the sash. Iroh's sad gaze followed her fingers as she wound it around her head. "It's a fine piece of silk, and I don't want it to go to waste. After all, I will not be needing it where I'm going. Just my old bones and my old horn." He laughed.
"Thank you," Asami bowed, but he pulled her into a hug.
"Take care."
Asami thanked him once more and started down the dirt path, holding herself high. Korra was glad to see her looking so much better since she lost her face. It may have been the food, it may have been the gentleness and calmness of spirit that Iroh seemed to bestow on all his guests.
"Korra," Iroh said, embracing her. Korra wrapped her arms around his waist and nearly picked him up off the ground. He let go, laughing, until his chuckles turned into coughs and Korra had to wait for him to catch his breath. "You do have a strong grip. I wish you all the best."
"Thank you for your kindness," Korra said. Her smile disappeared. "Will I ever see you again?"
"Oh, surely. But maybe not for a while. Hopefully you will live a long life, especially if you surround yourself with friends like Asami." Korra's smile returned, and she glanced behind her to see the girl in question waiting patiently at the bend in the path, sporting her new sash with unmatched elegance. Iroh, too, seemed impressed she could pull of such a look. "It does not take a perfect face to achieve great beauty. And that girl has a beautiful soul, Avatar Korra. You're lucky to have her."
Korra sighed. "I know. But sometimes I feel like I'm letting her down. Especially since I let Koh take her face. I mean… how can I tell her everything is all right when I'm not sure it ever will be?"
"I have known many people in my life, Korra. In fact, I was married to a woman quite like Asami, once. Take it from me, it is never a good idea to lie to a beautiful woman. Especially one as intelligent as Asami. Tell her the truth, always." Iroh put a hand on Korra's shoulder and sent her off. "Never forget to tell her she's beautiful."
"I won't."
Iroh gave her one last nod before she turned and trotted down the path, to where Asami was waiting.