As night fell, everyone had regrouped at Air Temple Island to discuss the latest development. Tenzin in particular was horrified by the revelation. "Another air bender!? It can't be! My father searched for years and never found a trace of Air Nomad descendents. The lost bison herd was the only thing that gave him any hope before I was born."

"I wish I was wrong but I know what I saw" Korra replied "he knew air bending moves I didn't think were even possible. He almost killed every one of us!" The Avatar gestured to Asami and the Bending Brothers, who were all clearly affected by what they had been through and could only nod in silence. Even the usually stoic Mako looked deeply unnerved by the experience.

"the air sword you described is nothing new though" Bumi piped up "dad used it when he played with me a lot. It was mostly a kid's toy in his day but it could be used for defense, striking an opponent's nerves and paralyzing them like a chi blocker would."

"That's what Sao did to me" Korra said "I couldn't even speak until…something happened, I don't know. I just got so mad and the next thing I know, Sao's gone and everything's a wreck." The Avatar left out the part about being in Bolin's arms, mostly because of Mako. She had no idea how the fire bender would react since he actually had been jealous of his own brother before.

"You were in the Avatar State" Bolin spoke up suddenly and nervously " yeah, that Sao guy almost had me and you went into the Avatar State, kicked his butt, and went out of it with no outside help whatsoever." The group stared at the suddenly fidgety earth bender with raised eyebrows but Korra was concerned. "But why can't I remember any of that? It felt…different this time."

"We can worry about that later Korra" Tenzin said impatiently "right now, this Sao is our main concern. You say he claimed to be a Triad leader? There are more of them?"

The Avatar nodded. "Yeah, he said they would give the Fire Nation back what it gave the Air Nomads , whatever that means." The adults grew noticibly paler at this statement and shared a look. It was clear they knew exactly what that meant.

"It…it sounds like they're planning a mass genocide!" Tenzin exclaimed even though it seemed he was speaking to himself "this is…this is unthinkable!" The Air bending master suddenly walked off, lost in his own thoughts. Nobody tried to stop him. Even Pema and the kids stayed out of his way as he brushed past, angry wind ruffling his robes.

Korra looked back at the group for a moment, her face solemn. "I'm going to speak with Aang." With this simple statement, the Avatar stormed into her room. Once again, nobody moved to object.

…

For the first time in her life, Korra was focused solely on her meditation. She had a desperate need to connect with her predecessor and it spurred her to look deep within as he instructed. As before, visions flashed through her mind. She saw a younger Sao dressed in normal Acolyte clothes along with three others, a more heavyset man with much paler skin and a short goatee, and two women, one of which resembled an older Jinora and the other hiding half her face behind shoulder-length hair. All four were bowing before a much younger Aang.

The images progressed at a rapid pace. The next showed the four picking fights with another group of Acolytes, each one with amber eyes and dark eyes. This dissolved into what looked to be a heated argument with Aang, followed by all five of them aging considerably until Aang was the forty year old who faced Yakone. Sao however looked exactly as he had when Korra face him.

Another change was the tone of the confrontation. Aang looked to be almost begging the quartet for something. The last scene was the legendary Avatar placing his hand on the ground with his eyes glowing and his body glowing bright blue. The other four were also glowing, though their bodies were bright orange. All five faces were contorted into mute screams of pain.

It was this last vision that shocked Korra out of her meditative state. She breathed heavily for several minutes until a familiar voice spoke up: "I'm sorry I almost didn't answer you." The Water Tribe Avatar Avatar looked to see a forty year old Aang sitting across from her, looking blue and transparent.

"Aang? How come you're…? " "This is the way your past lives look when manifested into the physical world" the legendary Avatar explained to Korra "entering the Spirit World is not always necessary to speak with us and you're not yet enlightened enough to travel there without aid."

Korra could tell from her predecessor's chosen form and grim tone that this time, he was all business. "Okay Aang, spill it. Where did these new air benders come from and why are they attacking fire benders?" The legendary Avatar gave a deep sigh, if such a thing was possible for a spirit, and seemed to gather his courage. Korra could tell that the story she was about to hear was a hard one to tell.

"Years ago, when this temple was new and Republic City was still being built, four exceptional students joined the Air Acolytes. They were Sao, Li-on,, Malu, and Kimiko-. Unlike most who joined up, they were genuinely interested in the culture rather than just being a fan club. With their help, I uncovered secrets and artifacts from my people even I had no idea existed. It was this dedication that lead me they believe they had spirits that would allow me to give them air bending. Little did I know that they held extreme prejudice towards the Fire Nation and fire benders for the death of my people. They would use their positions of seniority to abuse Fire Nation Acolytes verbally and physically, even attacking civilians in the street without my knowledge. I trusted them almost as much as my family and they betrayed that trust!"

Aang's voice suddenly rose to angry shout, his face contorting to the point where he looked as though he was facing down an old enemy. Korra swore she could see an angry wind whipping around his blue transparent robes. After a moment however, he calmed and looked a bit sheepish. "Sorry, an old habit I suppose."

"It's okay, I get it" Korra said with a slight smile "Go on." "Right, well the day came when Rupublic City was completed and the world's leaders came to formally declare it's independence from the Four Nations as part of the new United Republic. The event went smoothly enough until someone came very close to killing Fire Lord Zuko. When Toph and her officers investigated, the trail lead straight to Sao and his group. I was devastated and had them exiled to the Earth Kingdom for their crimes, calling them a disgrace to my people. They called me a traitor for even allowing the Fire Nation to exist and that was the last I saw of them for a long time. It was mostly because of the incident that Hei-won was elected to the first council."

Korra spent several minutes taking this story in when a thought occurred to her. "Wait, you said you thought you might be able to give them air bending because of their spirits. Did you?"

"I…wasn't sure until today" Aang answered in a quiet voice "after Tenzin was almost kidnapped by Yakone's men, I became wracked with guilt. Once again, my mistakes had endangered the ones I loved. I was desperate to find a way to free Tenzin from the burden of his heritage and I made a very questionable decision. I tracked down Sao and his group and struck a bargain: the gift of air bending in exchange for teaching you."

Korra felt a ping of guilt at this statement. It was so odd knowing that your existence shaped the lives of others. She couldn't help but wonder just how much being her teacher had cost Tenzin. "Did they go for it?"

Aang shook his head. "First, I had to grant them ownership of the four original Air Temples. As the last of the Air Nomads, I was elected caretaker of each one and could give them the way to live as authentic Air Nomads, something they always desired. Once this was done, I met them a few weeks later to perform the process, right on the island that would become my memorial. I pushed my energy bending to the limits in order to give them all air bending at once but it failed. Instead, it seemed to effect their minds. They now believed they actually were surviving Air Nomads and claimed they would avenge the death of 'our' people by any means necessary. I thought it was all talk and let them go. Then I found out about Teo."

Korra perked up a bit at the name. "Teo? You mean that old inventor called the Mechanist? Isn't he the guy who they say invented the radio?"

Aang smiled sadly. "That, the phone, the electric light, and so much more. Even the cars you see today are based off the original designs made by him and his father, the original Mechanist. He had lived in the Northern Air Temple for years when I met him and I was glad to let him continue. A few weeks after my encounter with Sao, he and everyone else who lived at the Temple was found dead."

Korra's eyes widened in horror at the thought of such a gruesome sight. For all her aggression and temper, the thought of killing was unsettling for her. Even though she had come dangerously close in the fight with Tarrlok, she would've stopped at the last minute. At least, she hoped she would have.

"The United Forces were called in soon after" Aang continued "any attack on the Avatar's property warranted such investigation. Bumi was part of the unit they sent and with Teo being one of his childhood heroes, was obsessed with finding the culprit. Had to convince him and everyone else, including myself, that it was nothing. Teo's latest project was just unstable, that's all. It was the first time I ever lied to one of my kids."

For a moment, the legendary Avatar seemed to stare into space, lost in his own story. It took a moment for him to truly focus on Korra again. "After that, anyone who approached the Temples ended up dead or disappeared. Up until the day I died, they said they was haunted by angry air bender spirits. I suppose there was more truth to that than even I wanted to believe ."

"I guess their air bending kicked in later, like the Boulder's metal bending" Korra realized "if Sao's part of this murder spree, the other three must be too. But he claimed there were a lot more of them. How is that possible?"

"I don't know" Aang replied "I tried giving air bending to others after the left and nothing came of it, that much I'm sure of. I also don't know Sao avoided aging for forty years but I do know that they must be stopped so that the true Air Nomads can rest in peace."

"What is their plan?" Korra asked "it sounds like they want to wipe out all fire benders or something but that's impossible, isn't it?"

Aang's expression became even more grim. "I don't believe that's what they want. You see, the Air Nomads were always unique among the Four Nations for not only being the only Nation composed entirely of benders, but the smallest. At the time of the Genocide, our population only reached one hundred and sixty- six, thirty -six monks per Air Temple. It's clear the Four Winds intend to repay this loss with the death of the Fire Nation descendents from Republic City. Whether this is part of a grander scheme is anyone's guess."

Korra took a moment to let this sink in. One hundred and sixty-six people being targeted in four different parts of the city, all chosen at random based solely on ethnicity. She had never heard of such extreme predjudice!

"There's something else" she told her predecessor "how do they turn into wind? I've never heard of air benders doing that before!" "That's because we shouldn't be able to" Aang replied gravely "such a thing was only mentioned to us by the Elders as a technique achieved by obtaining ultimate enlightenment, an impossible goal meant to inspire us to try our best. Even Avatars have never achieved it. If Sao and his followers truly have done it, it means they are the most powerful air benders in existence!"

The legendary Avatar sighed. "I'm sorry Korra, I know this isn't what you want to hear. All I can tell you is to stand firm. If anyone can stop these new enemies, it's you." With that, Aang vanished, leaving Korra in silence. For the second time, an icy chill ran up her spine.

AN: A shorter chapter than usual but informative I hope. Next will be longer. Also, with Book 3 coming in an early as next week and having similar ideas to this fic, I'll also be bringing in some references and a full on adaption of the plot in the future. Until then!