prepared
Korra spent her entire life in training.
The white lotus would not lose their Avatar like Aang had been lost. They seemed to ignore the irony that if he hadn't run away he might've never lived past twelve years old. The point was, regardless, that the world would never again go a century without the Avatar, without balance.
So, upon being found, she was meant to be in training until she completed the mastery of all four elements. It really shouldn't have taken her as long as it did to master the first three. But the white lotus was traditional and they made her cycle through them at a lengthy and comfortable pace, despite the fact that she learned so quickly she might as well have been born a master.
Their biggest concern had been air, which she'd never been able to accomplish. They'd spent an entire year testing the limits of her abilities when she'd been found, but she had no inclination towards the previous avatar's namesake. They'd tested her many times throughout the years in air bending and spirituality but she'd never gained any ground.
Until running away to Republic City. Training with Tenzin was different. It touched her, made her question her thoughts and her methods; as did the city itself and the people she met there. Despite everything, Korra felt more ready now than ever for anything that came her way. She was flexible and unafraid. She was the Avatar. She had people that would have her back. She knew, with them, she could take on the world.
But nothing and no one (not her parents, Katara, the white lotus, Tenzin, Mako and Bolin, Asami, Pema, Lin) had prepared her for this.
The only person who could was Aang and she hadn't had the chance to meet him in the spirit world before this. It was only memories and flashes. So she was blind and terrified.
Her body was taut and floating, humming with fire and electricity. She was filled with light; the glow spilled from her wide eyes uninhibited, blinding everyone around her. The earth, an extension of herself, buckled and rose around her. Water seeped through the cracks in the skins of the world, bending to her will. Her hands lit with flame, her very breath sparking as she inhaled and exhaled undiluted power. And the air, filled with rushing, whipped her hair free from its ties.
"You have disturbed the balance of this world and must therefore pay the consequences." The voices of thousands of Avatars before her echoed through her lips. The sound was foreign and terrifying and her body rejected it even as it left her throat.
The deed was done quickly and swiftly. When it was, her body gave out on her. Suddenly she found herself on her knees slumped over the uneven earth, sweat, water, and sand sticking to her flesh. She couldn't distinguish numbness from pain, couldn't even feel the tears streaming down her cheeks. She only felt the weight of what she'd done and everything it represented for Republic City and the rest of the world.