a/n: i own nothing, i promise. everything belongs to bryke.
Listen.
The Earth breathes its cotton whisper.
It is time for a new dawn.
Under the roaring sun, a world is born.
The gracious trees stretch their aching limbs.
Anxious flowers give way to fresh seeds.
This fragile paradise brought for forgiveness.
An apology for months of sorrow.
The fading day dips into a looming night, softly crooning,
"Forgive me."
-Alexis Zapzalka
The rain pours relentlessly, dampening her hair, rivulets of water running down her face and mingling with the tears that she's been trying to suppress ever since she'd awoken in this strange new world where Aang's children were grown and Katara was dead. Darkness cloaks her like a blanket, the light of the sun hidden behind the dark gray clouds weeping overhead. It's like the whole world is in mourning, something that she finds fitting. For once, she and the universe are on the same page.
They've been in the city for three days now, just her and Naga. Although she's gotten used to eating again (and having an appendix again, something she still thinks she can live without), life here is tough. When she-when-she-she'd-been-a-he had left, she'd seen a car only once. Now they're everywhere—two bigwig companies keep making them, Future Industries and Cabbage Corp, and they're proper enemies, kind of like her and Vaatu. The food is different, and it's more expensive too. She'd attempted begging for food when Naga had gotten hungry, and all she'd gotten were looks of pity and a heel of bread.
A Satomobile casts a pale cone of yellow onto her and Naga as it passes, splashing water onto them and soaking them more than ever, and she takes the full brunt of it, not wanting Naga to be more uncomfortable than she already is. Raava never complains no matter how bad their situations have gotten, and she doesn't want her only friend left to begin.
She can't travel through time. Neither can Naga. The cold has weakened her and grief has seeped into her bones and her blood and her soul, preventing her from doing anything but moving from one street corner to the other in search of warmth and shade and a bit of food. She curses the universe for not giving her the powers of fire in this reincarnation to keep her and Naga warm.
Speaking of this reincarnation, she doesn't feel like a unique individual yet. When she'd transitioned from Roku to Aang, she'd known immediately what to call herself and had adjusted to her new powers. (Then again, the hundred years spent in that iceberg had given her plenty of time to think about it.) It's been ten days and she's gone through every name that she could think of, from Aiko to ZanYi, and nothing feels right. She can't help but feel particularly sorry for herself because of it: not only can she not bend nor time travel, but she doesn't even have a name. Maybe she'll never find one. Maybe she'll forever be known as Avatar No-Name. The thought actually makes her smile a little
"How about the name Katara?" she suggests to Naga fruitlessly. She shivers and rubs her frozen fingers together, a gesture of silent discontent, while she waits for her companion to bark a reply. "Kind of a homage to Aang, eh?" Naga's expression is an answer in itself. "Yeah, that's what I thought."
She bets that all of the passerby think that she's crazy and she can't really bring herself to care.
She knows that she's hurting because there's an empty pit in her chest, one filled with gloom and despair, a tightly coiled knot of anger and fury and hopelessness that just won't go away. She spends half her waking hours ready to scream at people who pass by her with a smile on their faces and the other half willing oceans to not spill from her eyes. Emotions swirl inside her that she can't even describe much less keep inside her—fearangerhelplessnessguiltheartbreak—and Spirits, she just wants to go back to the way things were.
There's a person standing in front of her now. She makes an effort to look up at himherwhatever and the breath nearly whooshes from her lungs. It's as though a spark of electricity goes up and down her spine and reawakens her—even Naga can feel it; she lifts her head from her paws to scrutinize the person standing in front of her.
It's a girl, a young woman rather, around the age of eighteen or nineteen. She takes a moment to identify the characteristics of this young woman—dark, flowing hair that goes down to the small of her back, porcelain-pale skin, a muscled body (she runs and experiments in all sorts of martial arts styles, that's interesting), expensive clothing, and emerald-green eyes; oh, she could get lost in those eyes. She's beautiful. She's dry, too, thanks to the umbrella she's holding. Spirits, how she wishes she could have an umbrella now. Oh no, she's speaking, what is she saying? "—are you alright?"
"No," she says truthfully, because why would she lie in situations like this? She's not alright and there's no point of lying.
The girl's face softens slightly, and she crouches down next to the Avatar, her skirts dabbing into the puddles like a paintbrush into a cup of water. This is the most conversation she's had with anyone in ages. "My name's Asami Sato," she states, tilting her head to the side. Asami Sato, she thinks. Heir apparent to Future Industries. This just got interesting. "What's yours?"
"…my name?" Quick, quick, you stupid girl, think of a name, any name, it doesn't even matter; Asami's looking at you like you're stupid, say something, anything— "I'm the Avatar." Smooth. She's pretty sure that Naga is laughing at her tact.
Asami's brows furrow together but she doesn't run away, thankfully. "Okay, that's your—that's your title, I suppose. But do you have a name?"
The Avatar breathes, inhaling and exhaling and trying not to panic because she doesn't want to scare off the only person that's been nice to her so far. "Korra," she finally says, deciding to be ironic. In the old language Korra means 'extremes in fortune, health and spirituality.' Since she's decidedly lacking in all of those categories, she finds it funny. And she does like the name. It actually fits her, much better than any other name from Aiko to ZanYi. "My name is Korra."
Asami sticks out her hand, and Korra shakes it. "Nice to meet you, Korra," she says, and she actually sounds like she means it. "So, ah…" she plops down next to Korra on the ground, paying no mind to how fast her skirt gets wet. Korra's respect for the girl grows. "What's your dog's name?"
"Polar bear dog," Korra corrects her before Naga can. "And her name is Naga."
"That's a nice name." Asami rubs Naga's head gently. Korra smiles softly at the expression of bliss on her companion's face. "So, Korra," she says, "how come you're here? Are you homeless?"
Korra's laugh is void of any humor. "I had a home, once." She almost doesn't clarify but something in Asami's expression forces her to. "I was gone from home for a long time. Then I came back today to find that my—that someone special to me had died, and her children didn't want me in their home. I left to save myself from awkwardness."
"I'm sorry," Asami says politely and sincerely. "How long were you gone from home?"
"Fifty-two years." Immediately, Korra wishes she'd lied, but it's always been her instinct to constantly tell the truth no matter what. Well, I knew it; she thinks as Asami stands up, I knew it was too good to last. The company was nice, though.
"You know," Asami says, getting Korra's immediate attention. "I've seen you and Naga here a lot over the last few days. Everyone—well, everyone around here's been calling you a madwoman with a polar bear dog."
"And you think I'm crazy too." It's not even a question, it's a statement. The Avatar has never really been the poster child for normal behavior under the best of circumstances. There's a reason that several insane asylums around the Four Nations have been named after Kyoshi.
"Actually, no," Asami answers, shocking Korra out of her wits. "I've been told that I can read people really well, and, ah, I know that we just met officially but I can already tell that you're sad but you're certainly not crazy." She pauses, biting her lip. She sticks out her hand and helps Korra to her feet. "You're not quite…"
"Human?" Korra asks, raising an eyebrow cockily. Hmm. She's cocky in this regeneration. That's a start. "Yeah, I get that a lot."
Asami's brows furrow again. "So…then you're not human."
"I was once," Korra says vaguely, gesturing aimlessly to show that it was eons and epochs ago. "Not anymore. Naga's not a polar bear dog either, she's about as far from an animal as you can imagine." Asami nods like this sort of thing happens every day. Korra's impressed. "You're taking this remarkably well, Asami Sato."
"Believe me, I'm surprised too," Asami replies with a quicksilver smile. "I just—you've proven yourself to be…trustworthy. Even if I don't know who you are. Or what you are."
"I am the Chosen One of the lion turtles and the progeny of the elements," Korra says, repeating the speech that's become her catechism over the years. "I am the Seer of what is, what was, what could be and what must not. I am the first and the last and the in-between. I am the Avatar." She grins suddenly, adrenaline coursing through her veins. "I travel through time with my polar bear dog. This is my thirtieth regeneration; I believe—lost track ages ago. When you've been alive as long as I have things start to get muddled upstairs." And then something occurs to her. "Want to come with me?"
Asami's eyebrows nearly disappear into her hairline. "Come with you where?"
"The proper question is 'come with me when', not that it matters. Back, forward, in between. I don't care. You're the first person that I've met in this form that's actually been nice to me. They don't really make humans like you anymore. But that's not the point. You're bored in your life, aren't you, Asami Sato? You're the heir apparent to Future Industries. You're an engineer in training. You struggle to get people to believe that you're more than just a pretty face."
Asami flushes, her cheeks rivaling the flags of the Fire Nation. "How…how do you know that?" she whispers, her voice quivering like a plucked violin string.
"I'm the Avatar," she says by way of explanation even though it's not satisfying in the slightest. "It's my job to know things. But that's not the point of my question, is it? Would you like to come with me?"
Asami crosses her arms over her chest and her fingers tap patterns on her arms. Both of them are drenched and soggy and she's hungry and still grieving her past life's wife but this is the most alive she's felt in what feels like forever. "Okay," the heiress finally says, smiling. "Yes, I'll come with you. I'm in need of some fun."
Korra whoops, grabbing Asami and pulling her off the ground into a tight hug. "Yes! Fantastic; you're fantastic!" she exclaims, setting down her new friend and companion. "Asami Sato, you're brilliant." Spirits, the grief that had weighed down her bones is gone; she's found a companion. She needs to write this moment down for the history books. "Climb aboard." She graciously allows Asami to climb on top of Naga, still holding her umbrella. "Last chance to back out, y'know."
"I'm already in this," she says. "May as well stick with you until the end."
Korra laughs again as she jumps on top of Naga. Surprisingly, no onlookers have noticed this. Perhaps it's for the best. "Your decision."
"This really isn't how I pictured my day going," Asami reveals while Naga prepares herself to jump through time. "Chatting and eventually travelling with the madwoman and her polar bear dog."
She turns around to her new friend, completely serious. "Listen up," Korra says, leaning in closer, "before we go anywhere, before we do anything, there's something you ought to know about me. This is important, now, and one day your life may depend on it." Her serious expression abruptly dissolves into a wild grin. "I am definitely just a madwoman with a polar bear dog."
To the melodious sound of Asami's laughter, Korra turns back to Naga. "Alright, Naga," she says, gathering the attention of her friend instantly. "Let's try to impress Miss Sato here, eh? Take us somewhere you think she'll enjoy." Naga raises an eyebrow and barks questioningly. "Yes, perfect. Take us there."
Asami's arms wrap securely around her waist as Naga explodes forward, leaping into a familiar kaleidoscopic portal that opens up in the middle of the street.
And then, aside from the stupefied passerby who'd just witnessed two girls and a polar-bear dog disappear into thin air, there's no proof that they've ever been there at all.
end notes | okay, so thank you all so much for the incredible response to the last chapter (four reviews, five favorites, and four follows!). you're the best readers in the entire world—thanks for being so patient. i promise that it won't be as long of a wait again.
as for this chapter—what'd you think? good? bad? drop me a line and let me know: and remember, constructive criticism is especially welcome! :)