Chapter 12

I came out of the vision with a gasp, sweat pasting my hair to my face. Jinora was snoring softly while sitting, a little drool peeking out of the corner of her mouth.

"Jinora!" I yelled.

She snapped awake, her brown eyes hazy with sleep. They focused when they saw me, awake and talking.

"You found out what happened?" she asked.

I let a breath hiss between my teeth, looking down at the now unlit lantern. In the dawning rays, it looked so plain.

"The reason there are two Avatars is some old woman with the Neo Equalists split the Avatar Spirit so they could make a Dark Avatar that was capable of bending the four elements. I think they plan on using the Dark Avatar for their secret plans."

She gave me a heavy look, her brown eyes pinning me there.

"Now the question is which one of you hosts the spirit of Vaatu along with their half of Raava."

"Yes, that is the question," I murmured.

To be honest, I thought I knew who it was. I thought it was me.

I was bitter, lonely, and sometimes not that nice. I learned the elements out of order, while Yena learned them exactly in the Avatar Cycle order. Yena was so bright, compared to me. She never brewed with feelings of resentment or loneliness.

Did that mean I was going to be a tool for the Neo Equalists nefarious plans?

If I hosted the growing Spirit of Darkness and Chaos, that meant soon enough, I would turn evil. Yena would have to kill me as she was the other half of the Raava Avatar. No one else would be able to.

Or should I just do the noble thing and kill myself to rid the world of Vaatu?

"Well, I'll get Lee to help you with your things. He will be coming with you on the journey back to Air Temple Island Island."

I nodded in response, and Jinora left in a flurry of robes. I stared up at Korra's statue.

"I'm sorry you had to die for us. I'm sorry that the Neo Equalists wanted something and you were in the way," I told the statue.

It almost looked like Korra was smiling at me.

It's okay, Tiana. Half of the Avatar Spirit rests in you. I am with you, Korra said to me.

I smiled a bit to myself.

"Tiana? I'm Lee, here to help," a deep voice said.

I turned and tried not to gape. Hello to you too, I thought.

I had expected an older man, one that was skinny and all that. Oh no. I was so wrong.

Lee was tall and muscular with a shock of reddish-brown hair on his head. I had expected it to be shaved. The Air Acolyte clothes strained at his chest, shoulders and thighs, revealing how muscular he was.

I cleared my throat, gulping as I stood. "Nice to meet you," I said, brushing the dust off my clothes and then stepping forward to shake his hand. His engulfed mine with the sheer size of it. My veins felt like they held lightning instead of blood when we touched.

I followed him out of the sanctuary, into the gentle rays of the morning sun.

"I will get ready the sky bison," he said, about to leave. I grabbed him by the arm, my fingers struggling to grasp the hard muscle.

"No, we don't need a sky bison. How did you think I got here without one?"

Lee looked at me with a raised eyebrow.

I stuck two fingers into my mouth and whistled as hard as I could.

Selene keened back, an uplifting sound that echoed in the mountains. Her white-silver shape darted through the peaks, flashing like sunlit metal. I could practically taste Lee's awe as Selene hovered over us, her serpentine body faintly bobbing with the motion of her wings. Her silver eyes narrowed when she saw him and then looked to me.

I nodded.

Selene stuck her face right in Lee's, her moonlight eyes looking him up and down. Her breath made his clothes ripple. I was surprised how he could keep his cool with a dragon right in his face. Even Avatar Aang and Fire Lord Zuko couldn't when they were judged by the old firebending masters, the last two dragons.

I even got spooked when Helios looked at me the wrong way. My sister's dragon was pretty scary.

Selene huffed. She bumped her snout in Lee's chest lightly. He hesitantly ran a hand along her sparkling scales, Selene humming in pleasure. She actually really liked him. That was a bit odd. Selene only loved me really. When she had met Yena, she wasn't exactly warm. But she grew on her I guess.

"How do you have a dragon?" Lee asked, his brown eyes sparkling.

I just shrugged. "I don't know. I guess she just found me."

"Is she a spirit?" he asked, giving Selene's snout a rub.

I tilted my head, studying Selene. That was a good question. I never really knew if she was from the Spirit World or not. It never really came up anyway.

I shrugged. "I don't know really. She doesn't have the glow of a spirit," I said.

"The glow?"

"You know, the light that radiates off them, their energy," I said, draping my new harness over her back. I could ride Selene bareback, but Lee certainly couldn't. I secured the ties, pulling them nice and tight. The leather chafed at my flesh.

"I don't know what you're talking about. They just look different because of their colours. Sometimes they look exactly the same as material world creatures," Lee said, jumping onto the saddle once I was done. I secured his legs, trying not to linger on the muscle of his thighs. I knew that airbenders were lithe and muscular like Lee, but why was an Air Acolyte like that?

"Well, I don't know," I spat, pulling the ties a little too tightly around his legs. "What do I know?"

"What do you bend?" he asked.

I didn't say anything as I jumped onto the saddle as well, securing myself in. I had to think about this. To the Academy, I was an earthbender. To Korra's family, I was a waterbender. Being an airbender would be too suspicious. It was true that some airbenders were popping out from the Air Acolytes lately. But then I would have to pretend to know of the Air Acolyte ways. I could use Avatar Aang's memories but that was chancy at best.

I couldn't be a firebender, I couldn't even produce fire yet.

"I am an earthbender," I told him, looking over my shoulder at him.

"Hmm," was all he said in response. He probably didn't believe me.

"You may want to hold on," I said and clicked my tongue. Selene shot up into the air with a sudden heave of her wings. I laughed, the wind stealing the sounds from my lips as we ascended farther into the clouds. Lee's strong arms wrapped around my waist reluctantly, their sudden presence a hot brand around my middle.

We levelled in the air, resulting in Lee letting go of me. I couldn't help the pang of disappointment.

I sucked a breath when I took in our surroundings. Fog was draped below us on the mountains like sheep wool; thick, white and slightly translucent. The mountaintops pierced the blanket of fog like sharp daggers, their tips glistening gold-white with icy sunlight.

Lee and I didn't talk while we flew. I felt his presence behind me like a constant prodding.

It was only when night fell was when he spoke up.

"Land down there. There's a good hiding spot in the forests near some Earth Kingdom village," he said.

Nodding, I patted Selene's neck. She wearily descended in wide spirals, her wings fully extended. We managed to land quietly and unseen into a small clearing. Selene immediately coiled, a giant heap of silvery muscle.

Lee jumped off easily, and disappeared into the trees. A few minutes later, he came back with a pile of logs. Withdrawing a thin stick, he rolled in between his palms, trying to get a fire going.

I just leaned against Selene, watching with a smirk on my face. Finally, I snapped my fingers. Selene's eyes snapped open and she spat flames the colour of a burning star into the pile of logs. Lee jumped back, executing a very neat back flip, as the logs burned silver-blue. White sparks fluttered in the air like dazed birds.

"You don't need to light fires when you have a dragon handy," I said, raising an eyebrow at him while rubbing Selene's scales.

"Yeah, I figured," he snapped. Obviously he didn't.

I smiled crookedly. Finally a smile grew on his face. Seeing it was like watching the sun rise, it was so blazingly beautiful. I didn't take Lee for a smiler, and I was right in a way. He usually didn't smile but when he did, he smiled.

"Yeah, that was pretty funny," he admitted, running a hand through his bronze hair.

"Pretty? It was hilarious!"

We laughed together. Selene huffed, one eye open, watching us.

"Oh, okay Selene. We'll quiet down," I said to her. She grumbled in response.

"I'll take first watch," Lee offered. I didn't bother going against that. I was still tired from going through Korra's memories.

I nestled under Selene's wing, her warmth sinking into my frigid skin. Surrounded by her coiling body, I felt safe, safer even than home. I fell immediately into slumber, tumbling into some Avatar memories.

The funeral took place in the South Pole. The casket was a gleaming black, while everyone standing around it was wearing white, matching the snow that drifted slowly in from the skies.

I was me in this memory, or at least the spirit of Raava that lived in me and Yena. I was trapped between two growing bodies trapped in someone else. But as the Spirit of Light, I could still see.

Korra's mate, Mako, clutched the infant Tonraq to his chest while Hugh and Katara leaned against their father, tears running silently down all their faces. His brother and his wife were nearby as well, dark heads bowed in silence.

Both past Avatar families were there, grieving for my latest reincarnation.

I felt the growing presence of Vaatu in one of my halves. When they would nearly be fully realized Avatars, Vaatu would take over one of the twins.

There would be a battle for who would be the true Avatar. For to be a fully realized Avatar, one of them had to unite my torn spirit.

I jolted awake, sweat and tears streaming together.

Suddenly, arms cradled me to a muscular chest. "You're okay, you're okay," a deep male voice whispered. My hands hung on desperately to Lee's arms as I calmed myself down. I could feel the spirit of Raava stirring in my chest.

Unite me, she whispered.

But how would I do that? How could I take away part of Yena's spirit? Would it kill her?

Would it kill me?