反射

Book 1.5: Reflections

Chapter 1: The Spiritual Connection

THREE WEEKS EARLIER…

The frigid winds of the South Pole blew over the White Lotus compound, where Korra, the current incarnation of the Avatar, had spent much of her childhood in training.

In a large wooden hut where Master Katara lived, a bedraggled group sat in the living room in tense anticipation. The airbending master Tenzin sat at the table as his three young children and wife Pema fussed over Rohan, his newborn son. Korra's mother and father sat on a bench against the wall in silence, next to Lin Beifong, the former Chief of the Republic City police force. Bolin, Mako and Asami – Korra's three closest friends in Republic City – were also waiting anxiously to hear how she was doing after her fateful struggle against Amon.

The sound of the wooden door to the bedroom sliding open drew everyone's attention, and they all stood as Master Katara emerged. The look on her face crushed any hope they had left.

"I've tried everything in my power, but…" She paused sadly. "I cannot restore Korra's bending."

Tenzin looked away in defeat. How he felt for the poor girl – she had spent most of her life mastering the elements of water, earth and fire. Only to have her life's purpose – her very identity as the Avatar – taken away.

"But you're the best healer in the world," Lin Beifong persisted. "You have to keep trying!"

"I'm sorry, there's nothing more I can do," Katara replied, gently but firmly. "Korra can still airbend, but her connection to the other elements has been severed."

Everyone fell quiet in disbelief, but the silence was soon broken as the door to the bedroom opened and the young woman in question emerged, her piercing, icy-blue eyes looking hardened and devastated. Her tanned skin was flushed in several places, no doubt from where healing water had been fruitlessly applied. It was silent for a moment, until Tenzin spoke, his voice steady.

"It's going to be alright, Korra."

"No, it's not," she replied solemnly.

The normally-fiery girl made a beeline for the door, eyes glued to the floor, grabbing her deep blue, hip-length parka along the way. She did not know where she was going, but she needed to be alone right now. The sky above the South Pole was grey and abysmal as always, and she found it fitting, considering the state of her soul at that moment. She had made it halfway across the snow-covered yard to where Naga – her trusty animal guide – sat, before she heard Mako's voice calling out to her from behind.

"Korra! Wait!"

The girl in question paused and waited for him to catch up. "Go away," she snapped, without turning around.

"I will," the young man replied softly. "But I just want you to know that I'm here for you."

"No, I mean go away!" Korra repeated, finally turning to face him fully. "Back to Republic City. Get on with your life."

"What are you talking about?" Mako exclaimed, his tone rising in surprise.

"I'm not the Avatar anymore," she replied, the quaver in her voice gradually becoming more pronounced. "You don't need to do me any favours." She turned to continue on, but was stopped by her compatriot's hand on her shoulder.

"I don't care if you're the Avatar or not. Listen… when you were abducted back in Republic City during the rebellion, I was losing my mind at the thought of never seeing you again." He turned her around to face him. "I realised… I lov – "

"Just stop!" the Water Tribe girl practically shouted. "Please leave me alone!" She turned and ran to Naga, jumping into the harness on the large white polar-bear dog's back in a single fluid motion.

"Korra!"

She ignored Mako's panicked cry and rode off through the compound gates, out into the frozen Antarctic tundra.

The dismal grey clouds hung in the sky above a set of high ice cliffs by the sea, where Korra dismounted Naga. She wanted to see the ocean, the first element she had learned to bend – to try and feel a connection to it. Her fur-skinned boots crunched across the snow as she walked over to and stood at the edge of the cliff, gazing out across the dark sea.

What sort of Avatar was she? She could not even bend all four elements anymore. Everything she had worked for, ever since she was a little girl, was gone in the blink of an eye – destroyed by Noatak's terrible bloodbending technique.

How could she serve as the world's guardian now?

When her predecessor Aang froze himself in an iceberg, the world nearly burned in the Hundred Year War. Now, with her bending gone, Korra was condemning the world to live without its Avatar again. Who knew what could happen? What if the Equalist Revolution spread outward from Republic City?

She gazed over the edge of the cliff, seeing the glistening water lapping up against the icy shore, far below.

Maybe there's still a way... The next Avatar in the cycle should still be able to bend… Right?

…How selfish… Even if I am not the Avatar anymore, I am still Korra. Bending is not my only purpose in life.

However, as soon as that thought crossed her mind, she recalled the countless hours of propaganda and borderline brainwashing that the Order of the White Lotus had subjected her to over the years. It was her destiny to master all four elements and bring balance to the world.

She felt her eyes begin to water, and a tear trailed down her cheek.

Being the Avatar is all I've ever known… Without the other elements, how can I be that person…?

Being able to bend the elements is not who the Avatar is. The Avatar is the spirit of the world, a cycle, and a force to uphold balance and harmony.

The tear running down the young woman's cheek collected at the base of her chin and then dripped over the edge of the cliff, falling at least fifty metres straight down. The teardrop glistened in the dreary sunlight as it fell. Korra watched it, in honest reflection –

With hardened, yet shattered resolve, she looked away from the cliff-edge, squeezing her eyes shut as they flooded with tears that rolled down her cheeks. She clapped her hands to her face and dropped down to the snow.

Korra's entire body shook as she hugged her knees to her chest, wracked with her sobs. She lost track of how long she sat there, but eventually heard the crunch of approaching footsteps in the snow. She lifted her head slightly to see the bright red and yellow robes of an airbender.

"Not now, Tenzin," she said, wiping her downcast eyes. "I just want to be left alone."

"But you called me here," a very familiar voice said.

The girl's head shot up in surprise, and she twisted her body around to see a tall monk standing there, with rugged features, a short beard, and a light blue arrow tattooed over his head. Her vision was still bleary from the tears in her eyes, and it took her a moment to comprehend that it really was him standing before her. The previous incarnation of the Avatar demigod. The previous incarnation of her.

"Aang!" she said, her face lighting up at the sight of him.

"You have finally connected with your spiritual self," he said, smiling as rays of sunlight permeated through the clouds.

"How?" Korra asked as she stood and turned to face him.

"When we reach our lowest point, we are open to the greatest change."

Her eyes widened as a crowd of people materialised behind Aang's spirit in a whisper of ghostly wind – all of her past lives as the Avatar. There were dozens upon dozens of them – all very different people, from the four different elemental factions of the world. An endless cycle of life, death, and reincarnation. The cycle of the Avatar.

As quickly as they had appeared, the past lives of the demigod vanished, leaving the current one and her immediate predecessor standing alone in the snow-covered landscape.

"But… I'm not worthy of being in your presence…" Korra said, her face downcast. "I'm not the Avatar anymore. I… I never was. At best, I was… a half-baked Avatar." She grimaced, recalling former Republic Councilman Tarrlok's snide remark to her.

"Life is a cycle," Aang said, unperturbed by her self-deprecation. "Like the cycle of the seasons, the cycle of the Avatar must begin anew. You are the Avatar, Korra."

"No! No I'm not!" she exclaimed, her voice rising. "I can't even bend the other elements anymore! That… That technique Amon used to take away peoples' bending, it was used on me! I can airbend now… but that's it. I'll never be able to channel the other elements again."

Aang remained silent.

"Tell me how I'm supposed to be the Avatar if I can never master all four elements!" Korra shouted. "Tell me how I'm supposed to bring balance to the world if I can't even bring balance to myself!"

She was just about brought to tears again, thinking about what a lousy Avatar she was. Republic City had been devastated in a series of terrorist attacks by the Equalists in their anti-bending revolution. Hundreds of benders had been stripped of their powers, just as she had.

"I can't be the Avatar, because I can't bring balance to the world anymore. I just can't." She wiped a stupid tear from her eye, but her vision was still swimming, which she found odd.

A flurry of wind swept across the landscape suddenly as snow began to fall around them. But what was strange was that the wind had no chill, and it made not a sound. What was even stranger was that the snowflakes were dazzlingly white – brighter than what could be considered normal. Korra looked around in wonder as they drifted down from the sky, glittering like falling stars.

Aang held out a hand, watching as several flakes drifted into his palm. "When the mind is enlightened, the connection to the spiritual world is what matters," the monk spoke suddenly, his voice even. "When the spirit is free, the body matters not."

"Huh?" the girl said in surprise.

"When the spirit is free, the limits of the body matter not," he repeated. "The worlds are vast and infinite, and life is but the blink of an eye. All we can truly control… is whether we are good or evil."

"What are you talking about?" she exclaimed, her voice echoing slightly.

"In the blink of an eye, you have missed seeing…"

The image of Aang began to waver as his voice echoed. The glittering orbs were falling harder, and the snow-covered ground almost seemed to be glowing brighter and brighter, enveloping the world in a blinding white sheet. Korra was dizzy as everything in her vision swirled together, and she felt an onset of panic.

What's going on? These aren't tears, and this isn't snow. What's happening to me?

The young woman felt her predecessor place a hand on her shoulder and the thumb of his other hand on her forehead. She closed her eyes and a strange sort of peace came over her. She did not see it, but Aang's hands began to glow, followed by his eyes, his tattoos, and eventually his entire body.

Everything was soon lost in the endless white.

Korra opened her eyes to find herself lying in her bed, much to her surprise. What had happened? Had she not been speaking to…?

"Korra! I'm so happy to see you're awake!"

She tilted her head toward the voice to see her mother sitting at the bedside, grasping her hand. "What… happened?" she asked, her voice slightly hoarse.

"You've been asleep for five days," Senna said. "When you did not return to Katara's hut, we went looking for you and found you up on the cliffs, meditating." The woman paused, before continuing. "Your eyes… they were glowing."

Korra was shocked. She had been unconscious for five days? She had achieved the Avatar State? But how? She was not sure if she could do it again…

Her mother offered a cup of water to her, but she waved it off, surprised to find that she was not thirsty at all. Or hungry, for that matter. How did that make sense, if she had been asleep for several days? What had happened? Had she been in the Spirit World?

Senna apparently shared the same surprise. "Tenzin and the others really wanted to be here when you woke up, but the freighter ship left a couple of days ago, and the next one does not return for over a month," she continued cautiously. "They really had to get back to Republic City and start rebuilding their lives. But they asked me to send a messenger hawk as soon as you woke up. Besides, Tenzin said that if you had achieved the Avatar State, then you must have been on some spiritual journey, and it was best not to disturb you."

"Spiritual journey?" Korra snorted. Fat lot of good that did.

Her mother smiled. "Glad to see you're returning to normal. Let me go and get you some soup. You must be hungry."

"Thanks Mum."

"Being in bed for five days hasn't done much for your personal hygiene, either," Senna commented lightly, her nose crinkling slightly at the faint odour of sweat. "Maybe you should take a bath."

"Okay, Mum," she replied, smirking. "Bath-time. Avatar Priority Number One."

The smile on her face, however, melted as soon as her mother left the room, leaving her alone to dwell on her thoughts.

She had been out for five days, but had managed to achieve the Avatar State – something she had never accomplished before. If only she could remember what had happened! All she could recall were fleeting glimpses of a red and yellow clad figure in the snow.

Despite the fact that the meditation had done nothing to help with the fact that Korra could no longer bend three out of the four elements, she still felt as though she had learned an important lesson from it.

If only she could remember…