Part 3: The Restoration
Chapter 9: The Arrangement
Even though she was thoroughly enjoying the time away from everyone else but Team Avatar, Korra knew she needed to end it - Raava might consider a hundred years to be barely any time at all, but Korra knew the as-of-yet unassigned task was time sensitive, and probably involved her past lives. She placed her hand on Asami's shoulder, who took this as a signal to stop, letting Bolin and Mako walk a little distance ahead of the pair. Korra told Mako, "Asami and I have some unfinished business with Raava to attend to," ignoring Bolin's mischievous wink and quip of, "Looks like the girls want some alone time" to his brother. Mako pinched Bolin on the shoulder, and then said, apparently satisfied with his little correction, "Sure thing, Korra - just let us know if you need anything. Me and Bolin can keep watch over the Spirit Portal while you're in there."
Waving a temporary goodbye to the brothers, Korra grabbed Asami by the waist and used her earthbending to send them flying towards the portal - Raava may have told them they did not need to hurry as badly as the spirit had once thought, but suspense was gnawing at Korra. After an initial surprised yelp, Asami seemed to enjoy hurtling above the cityscape, and made to kiss Korra. Korra pushed her away reluctantly, saying, "If I could fly like Zaheer, maybe - but I'd have to enter the void, and I'm certainly not doing that. No kissing right now, sorry. Unless you want to be kissing a messed-up me in a broken heap on the ground." After Korra wound back down towards the earth with one of her favorite moves, the air spout, she lightly kissed Asami on the lips, saying, "There- that's much better than a broken face," making Asami snicker slightly. Korra added, putting her hand to Asami's chin, "Especially one as pretty as yours." Asami blushed, and said, "The same to you, Korra. Now let's see what Raava wants with us."
To Korra's surprise, when she and Asami stepped into the portal, they did not actually appear to be in the Spirit World, but rather some seemingly hastily constructed replicate of it - almost as if floating inside the real thing in an opaque ball. Knowing this was probably not relevant, Korra began meditating, and saw Asami sit in front of her, mimicking her own position - except fishing out her notebook and pencil again, instead of closing her eyes in concentration as Korra had just done. She felt a familiar tug on her consciousness, and attempted to allow herself to be subsumed by Raava. Much to Korra's surprise, she neither felt herself slip into the Avatar State nor felt Raava appear from her chest. Thinking the attempt had failed, Korra took a deep sigh and prepared to meditate again, but was interrupted by a small girl's voice behind her. The oddly familiar voice said, "Turn around, Korra - we have much to discuss." As she did so, she heard Asami say "Oh, spirit, you're so cute! I hope our child looks like you."
When Korra saw the girl, she immediately recognized the form - she had seen a brief flash of it before talking to Jinora while Raava was communicating with her. The small white-haired girl put her hands on her hips, tapping her foot lightly. Korra blurted out, in disbelief, "Raava? What are you doing in this form, and why does it feel like we're not truly in the Spirit World?" The little girl looked vaguely disappointed, as if someone had figured out a secret she would have rather no one known, saying, "Yes, Avatar Korra, right now we are not truly in the Spirit World - we are within a shielding cocoon that blocks any spirit who harbors ill will to humans from entering. Just take a look to your left, and you will see why." This strange form of Raava pointed at a figure both Korra and Asami would rather forget. Long Yumao was pecking madly at the barrier, desperately trying to get inside, and Korra saw an unsettingly familiar centipede-like form approaching in the distance. Two icy chills, back to back, and she recognized this spirit - Koh the Face-Stealer. Korra pointed at Koh, telling Raava, "I can now see why you put us inside this protective bubble, seeing as Long Yumao is attempting to… greet us. But what's Koh doing here? I thought he had to stay in his tree, and didn't harbor ill will against the Avatar." She shuddered intensely as she heard Long Yumao laugh, bragging through the glass, "Yes, Avatar - Koh normally does not venture from inside his tree, at a distant edge of the Spirit World. I visited him recently, and at first he did not seem to care about my conflict with Raava, inadvertently having helped your past life preserve those two stupid fish in the North, but when I told him he might get to steal a lot of human faces, he decided to strike a temporary deal." The spirit laughed loudly, pressing his eyes against the bubble, staring at Asami, saying,"He is especially anxious to collect your face, Asami - he always loves a pretty face. He says they are much more useful in tricking people to react." Asami blew a raspberry at the pulsating spirit, and Long Yumao recoiled in mock horror. Long Yumao moaned, "Oh no, Avatar, your lover is spittlebending at me - whatever shall I do?" speaking and moving his beak in an exaggeratedly slow manner. Noticing the foul centipede-like spirit had finally arrived to also place "his" face against the bubble, she heard a slithering voice moan desperately "If only this bubble weren't here, I'd have Asami's face already. That raspberry would have been your end."
Korra heard an angry grunt from Raava's… Erm, avatar? Korra would need a new name for this form. Korra turned her head to better see Raava. Both Raava's human apparition - that sounded decent - and Korra's own eyes gleamed at the same time, though neither her own eyes or Raava's actually glowed, and the two leering spirits were knocked back a fair distance. Korra faced the two again and began to make the motions she had learned from Unalaq to attempt to cleanse the spirits, but stopped after she could see that Long Yumao wasn't going to be defeated so easily and that Koh was seemingly immune to the move. As Korra's arms began to stop moving, Raava seemingly forced Korra's limbs to move in a way she had never felt them move before. Before she could ask what Raava had done, she noticed that both hostile spirits were trapped inside a prison that resembled the yellow ribbons she had trapped UnaVaatu inside, except the two streams met at the top. She heard a light giggling, and before she could ask Asami what was funny, Raava's human apparition appeared at Korra's left side in a low flash of light.
Raava said, "her" hair shaking lightly back and forth, "Now that those two bullies are gone, we can get down to business. In case you're wondering about my change in appearance, I figured that if I am to master the human-y, it might help to change how I project myself." Korra gave Raava a skeptical look, to which the spirit replied, "Avatar Korra, this will not affect your performance, and should the situation arise where it is needed I can revert to my original form. Though Asami is right - I am cute." Raava giggled slightly, stared at one of her hands for a short time, and then played with her snow-white braids of hair while she began to speak again, saying "The reason I asked you to come here was for a few different reasons. First, I wanted you to acclimate to this new form, and I also wanted to tell you how much I appreciate everything you have done in your lifetime as the Avatar, Korra. You stopped a madman from potentially eliminating bending in a part of the world, and a new system of government rose from the ashes. You, along with Jinora and the rest of your team, prevented Vaatu from finalizing what seemed like an assured victory for darkness and turned Unalaq's manipulation of you into a positive, with your decision to keep the spirit portals open. Without this, the Air Nation could never have been reborn as fully as it has, and without your intervention Earth Queen Hou-Ting would have turned many of these new benders who were supposed to be instruments of peace into weapons of war. While it was unfortunate that you were unable to prevent the anarchy that followed her untimely death" -Korra could have sworn she saw Raava wink slightly- " or Kuvira's rise to power and abuse of it due to your mental and physical trauma from Zaheer's poisoning holding you back, with the assistance of your allies and much hard work on your own part, everything turned out alright. You even tore a rip in the fabric of space and time that manifested itself as a new Spirit Portal - sure to be a source of many good things."
Korra jerked involuntarily - the small girl she knew to be Raava was cursing loudly. After both herself and Asami stopped laughing, they looked at Raava, and saw something truly unsettling - the spirit appeared to be crying. Raava croaked, "I try to give humanity something wonderful, power without moral qualms, and both of you a gift to show my appreciation for all of Korra's effort over the past four to five years and humanity's hard work over the past ten thousand, and what does that insubordinate Long Yumao 'the Opportunist' do? He stabs me in the back! I may have told you earlier to just suck it up in regard to this new conflict, Korra, but the truth? The truth is, I am hurt as well. I just had no idea that hatred was so powerful that it could transform a relatively minor spirit into such a major threat, nor that he could manage to get so many spirits to betray me. I have the bad feeling he may manage to solicit a human traitor as well, but even I cannot discern this human's identity yet." Raava stopped crying, and managed a weak smile. "At least the Circle of Trust has been established well, and may even grow more. I know it's not normal for a spirit, but I actually find this form quite fascinating, and, in some ways, freeing. I normally have no hands to admire, no hair to twirl, no legs to run around merrily with… Korra - normally, I don't even have eyes to cry from!" Seeing that the spirit might just start doing exactly that again, Korra ran to the spirit and put her hand on Raava's shoulder. Korra began to console the spirit, which felt odd - usually this sort of thing was the other way around. Asami followed shortly after Korra and told Raava, "I think it might be good if we talked about this time sensitive issue you had mentioned to Korra before, Raava - it might help distract you from the past 48 hours' events." Korra turned from Raava to Asami, and put a hand on her cheek - she just loved Asami's caring nature. Korra started to feel like grabbing Asami's butt again, but before she could, a high voice interrupted "Ooooh! I like that feeling, Korra! Tell me- would I have to be a human to feel that directly?" Korra blushed, turning to Raava, and stated "Yes, I'm afraid you would, Raava - I don't think spirits ever get this feeling, unless I'm sorely mistaken." The small child crossed its arms, cursed again, finishing "Rats!" Raava's eyes opened wide after a while, and the child again said innocently, "Next time when you die, Korra, let's switch. You be the all-powerful spirit of light, and I'll be the Avatar and vessel, okay?" Korra couldn't help but laugh, saying "I'm pretty sure it doesn't and can't work like that, Raava. Maybe if we both had connections with our past lives again you wouldn't be so antsy to be human - it's not all it's cracked up to be, even as the Avatar." Korra was rather concerned - she had never seen Raava this distracted before, or to think of it, period. Maybe the five-year old "human" brain was interfering?
Korra felt unnerved, Raava apparently reading her mind given she said, "No, Korra, I'm perfectly fine," confirming it when Raava said, "Even though I am technically over here, I can still feel your emotions and hear your thoughts. But you're right - I got distracted by all these human-y emotions, though they have nothing to do with this form's brain. Let us call this form my 'human-y' form, to distinguish it from you - the Avatar. Let's get back to business," Raava finished, motioning for Korra and Asami to sit down. Asami whispered to Korra, "I hope raising a kid is easier than this," making Korra snicker, prompting Raava to say "You must tell me what this 'snighhggtt' noise means sometime as well - but anyways…" Raava said, taking a deep breath, "I mainly asked both of you to come here to discuss an opportunity that has presented itself. During the aftermath of Harmonic Convergence, everyone believed that the Avatar's past lives had been destroyed - spirit and human alike. However, as I told you both after your initial meeting with Katara, in reality, their spirits had not been destroyed - merely imprisoned in icy tombs. Since yesterday, I had wondered who to ask for more details - and I think I know just who." Raava had an almost predatory smile on her face for an instant, which vanished before Korra could ask Raava about it, replaced by a slightly devious grin.
Raava produced a familiar teapot from behind her back, though with an interesting modification - it had strong metal latches on its openings, as though it was intended to shut something up. Raava held the modified teapot that Korra now recognized as the one that Wan had put Raava into over ten thousand years ago in her dainty left hand, and plunged her right hand into her chest. The spirit seemed to be rummaging for something that had a will of its own, and did not want to be caught. Raava gave the same unnerving predatory smile again, pulling out a small cursing squirming mass, asking "Do you recognize this villain?", her eyes gleaming brightly with mischievousness, and held out a distinctive form. Wait…. What? Could it be…
"Vaatu?" Korra and Asami said at the same time, confused as to what Raava wanted with a spirit that would have no inclination to talk to its mortal enemy. The diminutive Vaatu struggled frantically to escape Raava's now glowing grasp, and eventually noticed Korra staring at him. The spirit spat "What do YOU want, Avatar?" in a pathetic show of rage, saying, "You ruined my Dark Avatar!" Vaatu continued, "I'm not planning anything - it's not as if I could for another ten thousand years! And as far as I am concerned, Long Yumao is a fool! There should be no order, even if it is led by spirits - only chaos and darkness!" Raava turned the miniature Vaatu to face her, and the smaller evil spirit practically had an apoplectic fit as Raava grinned wildly, clearly pleased with Vaatu's reaction, Raava laughing when Vaatu asked, "RAAVA? What are you doing in a human form?! I knew you always had a soft spot for humans, but that's just… wrong! Don't tell me you've somehow managed to become even more lovey-dovey!" Raava laughed, and said, "As far as you're concerned, anything but total hatred and chaos is lovey-dovey! So maybe I did soften some more to humans and their human-y-ness! At least I'm not going to be stuck in a teapot soon!" Korra watched as Raava and Vaatu stared at one another, as though they might never stop. Korra tapped Raava on her shoulder and said, "Hey! You said there was a reason you dragged this loser out, so let's get on with it. And no more staring matches - they only waste time." Raava did something quite unexpected - she blushed. She gave Vaatu one final look and said, "You're right, Korra - I have one question I need to ask Vaatu." She pointed Vaatu at Korra and Asami and said, "And you better answer, or I'll force you to watch Korra and Asami kiss… out of love." Raava made a sound that bore a lot of similarity to a snicker - but not quite one.
Vaatu began twisting violently, screaming, "Anything but that! I hate love! Too creative, not dark or destructive! Just tell me what you want, Raava, and leave me to sulk for another five thousand years - please!" Raava was positively aglow - and not in the normal way. She looked extremely pleased with herself. Still facing Vaatu at Korra and Asami, who was making a kissy face - much to Vaatu's chagrin - Raava asked of the captive spirit, "I know you and Unalaq did something to the Avatar's past lives, and did not destroy them. I want you to tell me exactly what you and Unalaq did to them - before Asami kisses Korra. Go." The dark spirit began saying frantically "Okay, in a 'compromise', we actually imprisoned their spirits inside ice augmented with my own power, with a ticking clock - but I'm not telling you where they are, even if you show me Asami giving birth to Korra's child! I know what you did, Raava, and it makes me sick. Now put me back!" Raava snickered properly, and began laughing so hard she almost dropped the odd teapot from the hand not holding Vaatu. Taking a deep breath to compose herself, she said, "I guess you aren't so different from Long Yumao after all. And I think I know a way to get them out anywa - "
Raava stopped suddenly, and then Korra heard a loud pecking sound. All four - Raava, Korra, Asami, and Vaatu - though not of his own will - turned to face the sound's source. Korra pointed her finger in shock - it appeared Long Yumao had broken free of his prison in the commotion! When the large serpent spirit had noticed all four entities inside the ball staring at him, he chuckled, "Hah! Your blind hatred and discomfort make you weak, Vaatu - I would have never given Raava or the Avatar any valuable information. When it comes to the bottom line, you really have no subtlety - Raava just manipulated your loathing as a puppeteer moves strings. I never really understood what was so great about chaos or darkness, anyways. All I want is for spirits to rule humans with an iron fist, and for no deviances such as these two mortal's relationship to exist, much less that accursed gift Raava gave them or spirits that sympathize with humans." Korra noticed that Vaatu was actually attempting to avoid Long Yumao's gaze, and as he did so, the serpentine spirit grew substantially larger. Long Yumao coiled around himself in a fit of laughter, saying, "WHAT'S THIS? You actually fear me now, Vaatu? That's so hilarious, I could almost die." Vaatu stopped avoiding Long Yumao's increasingly wild eyes and merely said "I don't fear you - I only fear you completely misunderstand what the new purple, yellow and red energies on your body mean. They might stand for hatred, just as you do, but they also stand for chaos - something you lack completely. You shame the colors - they are my own. Now g-give them back!" Korra snickered - Vaatu's voice didn't sound very confident on that last part.
Long Yumao began cackling so hard, Korra saw cracks appear in the glass-like shield around them, much to her horror. A slightly larger Long Yumao pointed an eyefeather at Raava's form, and howled, "You're in no position to make demands, Mr. 'All-Powerful Grand Dark Spirit' :a little girl defeated you at Harmonic Convergence, and one is holding you right now - your antithesis!" Vaatu groaned, with an air of defeat, "Oh, for crying out loud, Raava, just stuff me in that stupid teacup already! This fool is wasting both our time - though if you want to save the Avatar's past lives, I have far, far much more of it to waste than you!" His small form cackled in what was a decidedly non-intimidating manner as Raava stuffed him into the teapot, and shut the metal clasps tightly. Raava yelled "I'm kicking us out - that shield won't hold much longer, and I can tell you what you need to know outside like I did after your first meeting with Katara. I'm beginning to think the Spirit World is not a good place to meet uninterrupted." Korra saw Long Yumao beginning to strain his jaws open wide enough to completely crush the orb, getting ready to shatter the shield completely. When he finally brought both halves of his maw together, the spirit's monstrous beak just clacked against itself forcefully - the Avatar, her lover and the little white-haired girl were long gone. Hissing, he said, "Well, there's always Zaheer to torment, should he have the nerve to meditate into my domain again," letting out a long sigh when Koh asked from below, in the squawking voice of a sea bird, "Face? Face? Mine? Mine? Mine?"
Apparently, all this action inside the Spirit World had caused the Republic City Spirit Portal to behave erratically, as when Korra got out, Bolin and Mako were running towards her and Asami. Raava intoned in her head They may as well hear this - though I will have to "broadcast" myself on a different frequency this time. I believe the relationship you share called "friendship" will suffice. Korra let Mako and Bolin hug them both in a huge group hug, and explained what had happened inside. For once, Bolin didn't have a panicked look on his face, and Mako just said "Well, whatever it is Raava has to say, let's do it out here - I'm certainly not going into the Spirit World anytime soon." As his brother and Asami laughed, Korra sat on the shattered ground around the portal, and prepared to let Raava speak through her.
Based on the trio of surprised yelps Korra heard, she knew that Raava had not chosen to appear out of Korra's chest as she had done so previously. Opening her eyes, Korra began laughing when she spotted the metal-clasped teapot on a string around Raava's "human-y" form shaking, producing almost inaudible curses as it moved ever so slightly. Bolin, apparently making the connection between what had just happened inside the Spirit World and the "angry" teapot, began laughing loudly, slapping his knee repeatedly as he said, "Unalaq would just die to see you in there! Stupid creepy monster. Both of you." After Mako snickered and joined his brother's laughter, Raava said, "I thought it funny to stuff my opposite into the teapot that had once been my own salvation, and if Team Avatar, as you call it, thinks so as well, then my own growing sense of humor must be on-target. I was very happy I managed to 'snighhggtt' in the Spirit World earlier, though I do not think this is its proper name." Raava turned to Korra, who had just thought the word "snicker," and Raava's small human-y form said "Ah, 'snicker'. I like that word. I will make sure to open Vaatu's teapot prison from time to time and do so at him. Anyways, he won't be a concern for almost another ten thousand years - back to the matter at hand." Raava cracked her knuckles, much as Toph might have, and all four humans gave her an odd look, saying, "What? I don't learn from just the Avatar. No time for that now. 'Speaking' of Toph, Korra, she has something to do with our next fire of the day. I believe that we can reclaim the trapped human Avatar spirits from their icy tombs, but we will require the presence of four humans who knew Avatar Aang well in his lifetime. Three of them are obvious - his close friend, Zuko, his wife, Katara, and Toph, his earthbending teacher. I get the feeling from your interactions with Toph she may not be keen on doing anything but hiding in retirement in the Swamp, so if she has any bizarre conditions for her assistance, you'd better agree to them. The fourth person - " Raava stopped, with a mischievous smile on her face. The spirit finished, "I'll let you figure out who it is - I figure this is something a human might do, and I like the expression on your face already." Korra blushed, wiping the pout from her face. Raava laughed, saying "I did it! I made a human blush! I love this human-y stuff - I guess spirits are kind of boring." Raava stopped laughing, seemingly remembering something. The small girl's mouth opened again, Raava's human-y form saying, "You will also want to bring your friends from this lifetime with you to strengthen the energy we will be using to break the Avatar spirits free. No one outside the Circle of Trust is to come, but do not reject anyone either, and remember you can't take everyone you might like to." Korra absentmindedly placed her hand on the ground to see where Jinora was, and she got a sudden vision of the young airbender hopping around her father's house as if her pants were on fire.
Raava giggled, saying "Apparently it was not just Mako and Bolin who noticed the odd behavior of the Spirit Portal, Korra - Jinora, your young prodigy friend, must have sensed something wrong as well." Raava walked back to Korra and placed a small hand on Korra's seemingly gargantuan one, saying, "We need to contact Zuko and make sure he knows where to go, and that he needs to leave - soon. I know you have never projected yourself before, Korra, but with my help you should find it easy." Raava wagged a finger at Korra lightly, finishing, "It also helps that you finally attuned yourself better to air this morning in the bubble by feeling the air you were bending instead of just ordering the element around. Now let's contact Zuko." The spirit walked back into Korra as she closed her own eyes, focusing on Zuko's energy. Korra felt a presence she had not felt so fully in more than three years.
"Aang? Is that you? I guess your spirit really is still alive!" Korra could feel tears coming to her now open eyes. Korra, there is no time - I think I will barely be able to help with this as is, the young voice rang from behind a sheet of ice. Just close your eyes, and we might see each other again. Good luck. Korra felt her own consciousness fading quickly as she shut her eyes.
Zuko liked being alone lately, currently taking a vacation at Fire Fountain City, though he did not visit the city often. His daughter's slow response to one of his greatest legacies -Republic City- and its call for help still rankled him. He sighed, almost exactly as he did so often in his youth, and began to sip from his teacup once more.
Suddenly, an apparition popped up before him, and he spat out his tea in shock. He looked at the liquid in dismay, protesting,"That was some of the last of my Uncle's blend! This better be important, whatever you are!" When Zuko looked up again, he felt rather koala-sheepish.
The image before him fluttered between that of a very much alive Korra, and a painful image of Aang that looked to be entombed in some horrible, unnatural ice. Zuko nervously said,"Uhm, hello, Avatar Korra! Didn't think anyone but Jinora could do the whole projection thing," as he waved to the image.
When her image flashed, he could see her chuckling, in stark contrast to Aang's desperate look, Korra saying, "Neither did I, until just now. Raava helped me. Anyways, I think what Aang has to say is more important." His childhood friend again appeared. Zuko realized with a shock he did not appear as he had last known him - a grown man - but rather as the small 12 year old he once so desperately wanted to capture.
Aang said, trying and failing to be totally serious, "Zuko, the Avatar spirit may still be alive, but all the human lives of the Avatar, like me, have been lost. Obviously, we were not destroyed, because if I had been you wouldn't have wasted some of Iroh's tea just now." Yes, Aang was still himself, even in that ice tomb. Aang explained, "We've all been biologically aging reversely, and while some like Avatar Kyoshi don't have anything to worry about for now… others aren't doing so well." An image of a black-haired little boy no older than six appeared, slowly crying inside an outsize block of ice.
The image shifted back to Aang once more, who continued "Raava has found a particular… issue rising, and she has need of all her past human lives, both for strength-" What could an all-powerful spirit need of even the Avatar's strength for so badly?, Zuko wondered - "and to help get Korra back to where she was raw power-wise before Unalaq seemingly destroyed us." Zuko stroked his bearded chin, asking, "What use could an all-powerful spirit have for me?"
Aang said, shivering slightly, "Raava needs you and three other people possessing together all four elemental bending types who knew me well in my lifetime to meet in The Swamp. How is the Swamp, anyways?" Zuko smiled nervously, merely stating, "It could be worse off, but not much."
The image of Aang was shoved aside by another familiar face. Korra interjected, "Just who is the airbender? You were the last, after all."
Aang laughed, and then seemed to grow slightly younger, telling Korra like she was a moron, "I was the last airbender, until the second-to last finally came along." Zuko saw the apparition of Korra slap itself on the forehead. Aang turned to Zuko one last time and said, "Bye Sifu Hotman!", seemingly freezing back into place, vanishing. Now only Korra's image remained.
Letting go of some unseen strain, Korra continued, "So this must be what Vaatu was taunting us about, what he meant by a clock - Aang actually aged half a year backwards while we were talking to him. That must mean Wan is five and a half now."
Zuko asked, "Wait, that little boy was the first Avatar, Wan? Why is he so young compared to the others?" half panicked. Korra sighed, saying, "It appears that since he was the first, he aged backwards the quickest. That would explain why Raava is so concerned. I need to go find Tenzin-" Zuko overheard her mumbling, "Gah, how could I miss that, even for a second!" - "and Katara and get to Toph in the Swamp as soon as possible. There will be some other familiar and not-so familiar faces there as well. You must meet us at the Swamp - Druk should be able to carry you pretty rapidly," Korra finished. "I hope Toph will be in on this with us. She is stubborn for no good reason. See you soon!" Then the image of the young waterbending Avatar vanished.
Zuko laughed- he swore there was still something in his head insisting he needed to capture her to get his honor back. Aside from betraying his dear Uncle Iroh all those years ago, he never really had lost his honor. Zuko stepped outside with an energy he was surprised to see he still possessed, and called for his dragon Druk.
Zuko mused, "Even after you're dead, you still need help from your old tormentor. How ironic," as Druk gently lowered his head to let Zuko on.
Korra opened her eyes again, noticing that Raava had left her body again - this time without any warning. Korra looked at Raava with a mildly angry expression, and said, "Raava, what are you doing? You should at least ask me to meditate you out before leaving my body - what if Long Yumao poked his beak out of the portal right now and tried to snap you in two!" Raava was completely ignoring Korra as she ran off closer to the Spirit Portal, extending a small hand to touch the outer edge. Korra made to get up and drag the foolish spirit from the portal, but Raava extended her other hand in Korra's direction, somehow stopping Korra in her tracks. After a minute or so, Raava let down both of her small hands, giggled, and said "Avatar Korra, I know what I am doing. If Long Yumao tried to bite me, even as big as he now is, he'd just shatter his beak. Bumi is right about the control zone around the portal - I just augmented the portal with my own energy such that only spirits that like humans can pass freely through it - but it is only a semi-temporary measure. You need to get Republic City to establish the no-man's land - sooner rather than later."
A sudden muffled pecking sound caused everyone on Team Avatar and Raava to jump slightly. Raava said, sighing, "As you can see, I was not a moment too soon - especially if Koh the Face-Stealer is really with Long Yumao now, even if for his own gain only. I guess that Long Yumao was trying to uphold his end of the deal and kidnap some humans so that Koh could steal their faces. Only the Mother of Faces can reverse a stolen face - you may have heard of the time Zuko found his mother, Ursa." While the name did sound familiar, she was sure she could ask Zuko about that and get a better version of the story. Raava ran back to Korra, letting out a contented "Whee!" as she ran, and pointed to two large approaching shapes in the distance when she was at Korra's side. Raava said, "Korra, I know who those people are, but let's see if you can project without my help. Focus on Jinora's energy." Korra closed her eyes, and found herself staring at some very shocked figures when she opened them again - who were all on bisonback. Noticing who one of the bison was, she let out a loud laugh. Juicy sneezed in surprise, causing his passengers to grumble "Mangy beast!" in unison. A figure she now recognized as Tenzin was pointing at her, smiling broadly. He said, with clear pride in his voice, "Korra! I didn't know you could project yourself like this - I guess you really did finally feel the air as you bent it instead of just ordering it around."
Korra told everyone she could see, "I can see that Jinora brought you all here. Good." She recognized, in addition to Tenzin, that the others who were present included Jinora, Opal, Katara and… Su and Lin? Korra pointed to Su and Lin, asking Opal "What are they doing here? I - I mean, Raava - hasn't gotten to read either one yet!" Opal looked deeply offended, and explained "We got a radio call from an overly excited Varrick earlier today, babbling about some plant that could judge a man's worth, power everything and was going to make him rich. I remembered an odd plant that Mako, Bolin and I found right after the Zhurrick wedding, and wanted to see it in action for myself. After picking up the original and testing it, we stopped by Varrick and Zhu Li's tent. I held the plant up to my mother's and aunt's chests, and of course the plant glowed white - just like the first one did." Opal grew angrier steadily as she explained this, and punctuated the last sentence with an airblast aimed at Korra's "head". Korra might have snickered, but that would have just made Opal angrier, and Opal continued, "Unless the 'tuber-vines' and my word isn't enough proof for you, you can do your reading thing later en-route to wherever you're going." Seeing the withering stares from all three Beifongs, Korra said, "I don't think that will be necessary. I'll explain what has happened to Lin and Su on the way there." Korra felt a familiar tug on her mind, and said "It appears Raava has something to say. I'm going to go now." Much to Korra's surprise, Raava's human-y form appeared beside her, and said "Not just yet. While Korra may not feel the need to help me read Lin and Su, I'm going to do it anyways - more so to make sure that my other, first gift to humanity is calibrated properly." Even though normally such a remark - even by a great spirit such as Raava - would have made all three Beifongs fume with anger, Raava's defusing human-y appearance and most especially the last remark about a "first" gift made everyone else sufficiently curious that no one - not even Lin - objected. After Raava had floated over to and read both older sisters, Raava said "Good - it appears that what you refer to as 'tuber-vines' are working properly. I don't have time to explain what they are right now, so I'm going back to Korra's body now, and she is as well." Before Korra could try and see more of what they all thought of Raava's new form, she felt herself dragged back to the Spirit Portal crater by the same tug she had felt on her mind a short while ago.
As she felt herself regaining control of her body, she noticed that Raava was still not inside her. Raava said frankly, approaching Korra, "Don't worry about explaining all this crap again - I know you aren't overly eager to continue being a broken phonograph, and you probably feel a bit tired again." As Raava said this, Korra noticed that she was tired - everything since her rude awakening by Tenzin had apparently taken a toll, especially the mutual training with Mako and Bolin. Raava continued, "I will explain to everyone what has happened over the past 48 hours, starting at the top, from this human-y form. After all is said and done, I want to talk to Jinora about the Spirit Civil War - I have the feeling she will be a great ally, and help convince many spirits to join our fight against Long Yumao. You, Mako, Bolin and Asami should all get some rest - I might suggest you all ride the airbison you call 'Oogi' and let Tenzin guide it, as it does not appear anyone is fond of the other, 'Juicy'. You will need to keep both airbison relatively close if I am to explain things to the uninitiated or others who aren't fully caught up with events- no further apart from one another than my human-y form was from your body when you were projecting." As she heard the two great airbison touch down, Raava slipped back inside Korra's chest, and while she now felt a little less tired, she still could use a nap. Tenzin, now on top of Oogi's head and extending a hand towards Korra, said, "You four look tired - why don't you come on Oogi and take a nap. He's a much better flier than Juicy." Mako said, pointing to Opal, "Guess we don't need to worry about that 'tuber-vine' we found - Opal already picked it up," Korra mumbling, sure she would forget, "Yeah, great," snickering when Bolin said, "Shhh - forgot what you said. Need sleep, bro." After a frustrated grunt from Mako, Tenzin said, "I'll try to help remember - just go to sleep!" Korra noticed herself yawning when she was next to Asami on top of the fluffy friend's back, and drifted off to sleep, noticing Mako and Bolin doing the same as Jinora turned to face familiar small form. Korra managed to say "Hey! I thought I told you no more leaving my body without asking, Raava!" before falling completely asleep.