-Draining—
Mist rested on the surface of the sea. Above her was gray and foggy similar to Pratt Street in that there was not a clear separation from the sky. Its arms reached down and meshed together.
There was no sun. There was no night or day. This place was devoid of both life and death. The Wastelands. That meant that she wasn't dead. Somehow, there was a way back to the physical world. She could continue on to her death, abandon the physical world and fall into the endless Infinitas. But she wouldn't. She would find a way to return, and Tomkin would be the one to show her.
"Draining, Korra. Draining is the power to suppress the chi in one's body. 'Chi' actually means the pattern in which cosmic energy flows in us. We all contain a collection of cosmic energy inherent to us, but we cannot all manipulate it, as not everyone's cosmic energy forms the right connection to the Spirit World. The Spirit World dictates these chi patterns, this collection of energy, in humans, and very specific patterns correspond to certain direct connections to powerful entities in the Spirit World who can manipulate the energy, and the result of these specific connections is control of one of the four elements. I know it is complicated. The more granular details do not matter so I will explain it as best as I can. Since Chi is within all humans, we are all connected to the Spirit World and to each other, it flows back and forth between the physical world and the Spiritual world, so that when we die, our inherent Cosmic Energy will flow back to the Spirit World, along with our memories and identity. Okay? Is that all clear? Additionally, these collections of energy, the ones in all people, carry the memories and personality traits from its host. It creates the balanced harmony between the Spirit World and the physical world. It is essentially our soul. That is why Clasma contains these traces of its previous hosts.
"I say again: certain flows allow select people to harness god-like abilities a.k.a. bending by directly connecting them with certain entities within the Spirit World. The manipulation of the four elements was a way the Spirit World allowed humans to indirectly use their chi to control water, air, fire, and earth- to inherit superhuman abilities from the nearly boundless source of cosmic energy that is the Spirit World. Spirits are all-powerful beings that use the Sea of Souls as their energy source, and they have shared their abilities onto these select benders. Only benders are directly connected to these Spirits. It is crucial that you understand this. We all have souls, but we all do not have these connections. Benders do not interact with the cosmic energy itself, actually. We can learn to understand it, like myself, and use some forms of bending to exploit it, like Amon err Noatak, but only you can manipulate pure, raw energy, in the form of draining, because you are the Avatar.
"There is a system in place when it comes to the benders' connection to Spiritual entities that allow them to bend—the abilities of these entities to manipulate cosmic energy is endowed on benders but the connection itself is rather complicated-but I will get to that later. For now, we focus on Draining. Chi can be manipulated and even suppressed by Spirits and by the Avatar. Energy cannot be created or destroyed, but it can be transferred, and draining severs the transfer of cosmic energy from the physical world—the human—to the Spirit World, by returning the cosmic energy to the Spirit World. You have done it. To simplify it, think of this chi as water revolving within people in a certain way, revolving around like a sink above a clogged drain that allows two ways of travel. You can suppress this chi and force it back to the Spirit World, then sever the connection for that specific chi so it cannot flow back. In nature, these energy patterns flow to and from the physical world to the Spirit World via these "drains", but closing off a drain ends this connection. Draining involves these two things: forcing all the undesired cosmic energy into the drains, then blocking its reverse flow back into the physical world from the Spirit World. I understand it is complicated, but it will not matter if you perform it, which you already may have done.
"As you know, there are many people now who have foreign clasma-other people's chi-within them, disrupting their internal connection to the Spirit World, allowing different connections to form and disrupting their identity and memories as new ones are flowing in. To save them, you will have to drain the foreign Clasma. Once you have detected a person's flow of energy within them, you must find their original Clasma—the chi that is inherent to that person alone-and filter out all other Clasma by draining. You will know when you find the Clasma which originally belonged to each person as it will be the most significant content within the chi, the strongest pattern. If you are wrong, and you drain the inherent Clasma, that person's true identity will be lost. You are not just dealing with Cosmic energy, you are dealing with souls, and you must drain the right part.
"Aang was able to do this. It was how he defeated Firelord Ozai. The difference was that Ozai did not have foreign Clasma, which made it easier for Aang to detect his firebending, his direct connection to a spiritual entity, within the Chi, and sever it. I am telling you, Korra: once you do it, it will make sense to you. And it is important that you do. I think you know why."
Korra had trouble understanding the topic from Tomkins explanation, but she knew what she had to do because she had done it.
Okay, all people have cosmic energy, and it flows to and from the Spirit World, but only benders' chi is connected to an entity that allows them to bend. And bending can be suppressed without suppressing the soul within someone that contains their identity—I guess their identity has nothing to do with whether they can bend or not.
People are…not defined by their bending…
She had drained the cosmic energy in the drones. She would know it when it happened. But to do it for everyone…their level of foreign chi would be lower than the drones. It would be more difficult to detect, to save them, to save her, so Korra practiced. Every second, she was meditating, concentrating, practicing on the only person in the in-between world, for not only did Tomkin teach her these things to save the humans, he taught her so she could save herself. As she learned from him, the foreign cosmic energy was flowing through her as well. She needed to drain herself.
From what Korra understood, she needed to feel the energy patterns within her. She would have to grasp it, and find the most significant pattern, for that was the one which originally belonged to her. She could not create the energy she once had, her bending, but once she grasped her original chi patterns, she could filter it out by draining any patterns that remained outside of her grasp. Once it was drained to the Spirit World, she would have to prevent its ability to return to her.
Man, this cosmic energy stuff is so complex, she thought. Maybe it isn't important to understand it. Maybe Tomkin is right—once I do it for myself, it will come easily after that.
Korra could feel the energy swirling in her. She knew she could grasp it, but she was getting distracted. Something kept breaking her concentration. Headaches. Dizziness. Her surroundings became brighter. More radiant. There was snow. It was blinding.
Snow. The South Pole.
It was the South Pole. She saw it. Was she hungry or something? Hallucinating? The headaches made her lightheaded, she was sure she saw the South Pole, but the image was blurry, distorted, somewhat transparent as if the scene had been overlaid on top of her current surroundings. It was a village much smaller than the one in which she was born. The Southern Water Tribe. She knew it was them. A figure formed out of the air before her. It was a tall man, transparent, ghostly. He was evil. Korra was suddenly filled with fear, fear as if she had always been scared of this man, scared but also angry. She hated him and wanted him dead. He walked through the village like a giant amongst the other humans who cowered in fear underneath his foot. He walked up to a house and stopped, and Korra's fear overtook her anger. She knew the man was here to kill, and she knew her mother was in that house. The man's hands turned to snakes and fell to the ground, several slithering toward Korra, but the bulk of them going into her mother's house.
No! Stop! Mother! But the snakes wrapped around her leg. She struggled to break free, and thought that soon she would feel the pressure of the snakes around her neck choking her, but the scene began to change.
That man's face stayed with her as she was pulled from the South Pole. She found herself underwater. But she was not wet—the water flowed around her all without touching her. The water expanded and created a new environment. It was fuzzy, but what lied before her was a dead body. The body of a boy.
Just as Korra was filled with fear and anger at the man she previously saw, now she was filled with horror, with sadness, with intense emotions that she was sure were not hers. They were injected into her, but she felt as if they belonged to her. She knew this boy. She loved him. She could not go on if he was not alive.
Korra grabbed her head.
Focus
She felt the energy within her, but she was struggling to maintain her concentration. She felt the junctions and directions within her chi. Somehow she would have to find her own, but the effects were disrupting her. The foreign chi was fighting for control of her body.
She saw the boy again. Alive. He spoke. Behind him stood the man. The evil, tall man who had turned into snakes and done the horrible thing that had made Korra scared but also angry. Korra wanted revenge, but the boy told her no. He told her to let it go. To forgive.
"I can't forgive this man," Korra said. The boy looked saddened. The evil man smiled slyly. Korra yelled and walked through the ghostly vision of the boy and toward the man. She was in a field. A meadow. The mist over the water had become a layer of grass. A blurry layer. His body was also blurred and not well reconstructed in this memory, but his face was extremely clear. She saw every detail of it. Especially the eyes. She knew those eyes. She would know them forever. And these were them. There was no turning back.
She could almost feel rain. Korra drew her sword. She prepared to kill him. She was ready. She had never wanted to kill anyone until this man had reappeared in her life. The man she so hated. The man who killed her mother. Korra began to cry as she remembered what this horrible man did to her family. Killing her mother. Driving her father away. Forcing her to try and save a slowly deteriorating tribe as the last waterbender. She saw him in her house as a child, holding her mother, asking her who the last waterbender was in the village.
She lied to you. She was protecting the last waterbender.
What? Who?
Me!
Korra grasped her swords and leaped at the man, but as she was just inches from his face, she saw the fear. The cowardice. The hopelessness. The man who had nothing left. And she knew that the boy was right, she couldn't take his life. It would mean nothing, and it would be nothing more than a murder, just like what he did to her mother.
But Korra tried to remember her mother, and she saw a woman clearly. A beautiful, kind woman from the Water Tribe. It was the first person to come to her when she tried to summon the memory of her mother. She knew it was her mother based on her face, based on her memories. She saw the kindness, the familiarity, the love…but it didn't feel like her. Her love didn't feel real to her. It wasn't directed at Korra. Her motherly love was for someone else. Korra was sure that even though this woman populated all of her memories as her mother, Korra was not the recipient of this woman's love.
But there was another face. Another mother as well deep in Korra's memories. Every memory that now filled Korra's mind told her that this woman was not her mother, but she could feel the love from her. More significantly than anything else. And she suddenly knew the name of this mysterious woman.
Senna.
Korra turned to see the boy. She knew she loved him, but she didn't feel it returned from him. At least, not returned to her. But she did feel someone's love returned to her, and the boy began to morph into a different figure. A figure with long black hair. And Korra knew that whatever memories she had, whatever that person felt for that boy, Korra felt for this new figure. And suddenly, she knew her name.
Asami
Korra held on to it. She held on to Senna. She held onto Asami. She found and held on to the others with such significance as well. She found Tonraq, she found Ahna and Akna. Naga. Bolin. Mako. Tomkin. Lin. Tenzin…she found everything that was important to her, and grasped it. Whatever was left behind, Korra prepared to drain it. All the memories of the old Water Tribes. Of Ba Sing Sei. Of a grueling battle for freedom. Of a loving brother. A scarred, honored firebender and a brave, blind earthbender. A big fuzzy sky bison and a little flying lemur. And of the boy with the arrow on his head, who saved the world. To return it to the Spirit World where it would rest forever as it did not belong to her. But there was one memory which halted her.
It was a memory of Korra. Korra's own body assembled out of the mist in front of her. She was seeing herself. Behind her laid Naga, and Korra knew that this was the day she had run away from the South Pole to go to Republic City. Not much longer than a year ago.
Korra shed a tear. There was hope, and she continued to see it. Traces of love and kindness that were present in human beings. She not only knew it, she felt it. Now in her own life. She knew the race was worth living as she freed herself from the foreign Clasma which belonged to her beloved and now deceased waterbending master, Katara.
Thank you for healing me, Katara.
/*Okay, complicated chapter. Here is a simplification:
Everyone contains Cosmic Energy-clasma. Its collection within people forms a Soul. Everyone with a Soul, which is everyone, is connected to the Sea of Souls, kind of like Heaven, so when they die, they return to the Spirit World. However, there is a system in place: certain cosmic energy patterns within certain people not only connect them to the Spirit World, but also to a specific Spirit who has control over the cosmic energy. This Spirit connects to this person, and its abilities flow through a channel (which I will get to later) to this person allowing the to bend a specific element. So when people have foreign chi, it gets really messed up. The thing is, as Korra said, people are defined by their soul, not by the souls' connection to an entity giving them bending. Severing foreign clasma is fine (since it is not theirs), but as Aang demonstrated, severing bending does not destroy the soul of someone…*/