The Legend of Korra - Book Two : Spirits

by pavop

Continuation of Book One. Korra, Patrick and their friends are going to the South Pole to celebrate the Glacier Spirits Festival, only to face the Harmonic Convergence. They will be referenced and mentioned other characters, places and events outside ATLA/LOK Universe and even they will appear in the story.

1. Rebel Spirit

I do not own The Legend of Korra or any other character mentioned here.

Patrick, his siblings and cousins were going through the spiral staircase, each carrying several books.

"Why the fuck did somebody build a staircase like this?" Tara asked with irritation because, even though they were going through the staircase every day, it was still bothering her.

"Ask our ancestors. They built it," Patrick answered.

"They should have built an elevator!"

"When they built this place, there was no such thing as an elevator, Tara."

"Patrick is right in this, young lady," the old man, whom they were following down the staircase, said. "Express your discontent to your ancestors when you get the chance."

His name was Zaki. He had a medium physique with a bald head and a long gray beard, and he was from the Middle East. He was working for Patrick's family long before Patrick was born. Patrick learned that his mother rescued Zaki on one of her travels to the East, and he owed her his life. To repay her, he now worked for their family as a tutor for the next generation and as administrator of their large library, which, after his arrival, experienced a second Renaissance.

Patrick liked Zaki not just because he was well educated but also because he was among the few members of their household who treated Patrick well.

"Fuck me," Tara muttered.

"I think we should take a little break," Felix suggested.

"Good idea, Felix," Zaki agreed.

He led them through the entrance to the stone hallway. The hallway had a nice decorative carpet; there were several armors standing in a row and paintings of Patrick's ancestors were hanging on the walls.

Tara quickly put down the books she was carrying, put on her MP3 headphones and started playing.

"We are approximately halfway there," Zaki remarked and smiled after most of the young members of his entourage, who were accompanying him, sighed. Only Tara, who was listening to an MP3, and Patrick did not. "Oh, come on, children! You should be happy that the knowledge you carry will be carried in your minds later."

"But, Zaki, there are already enough books in the library. Why add new ones?" Felix asked.

"Because those are old or ancient. These new ones I ordered for you will open a new view of the world around you. And besides this, walking up the staircase is good exercise, do you not agree? Or do you prefer the training of your Mother or Uncle?"

Patrick, however, was ignoring the conversation between his brother and Zaki. His gaze wandered to the other side of the stone hallway and he saw an old wooden door there. He immediately recognized them. They were leading to the other part of his family's residence. To the one where their distant relative was living, the one that Patrick's family and people were a little bit afraid of. Patrick remembered how his mother was telling them how she, Uncle Anton and Martin, when they were at their age, had each made a path of courage to that relative, just as Grandfather did when he was very young with his siblings when they were still alive. Now, after so many years, Patrick's siblings and cousins have already taken the path of courage, and now it is Patrick's turn. And he was asking himself if he was ready to meet the still living dark legacy of his family.

"Break time is over, children. Let's go!" Zaki said and gestured for them to follow him.

Olympia nudged Tara that it was time to go, and Tara reluctantly picked up her books and went after Zaki.

"But when you are so fond of those old books in the library, Felix, you could tell us what the Pythagoras theorem is," Zaki said after descending a few steps.

"Well… it is…" Felix replied and started to think.

Zaki sighed. "Olympia?"

"It is a theorem…of Pythagoras…" Olympia replied uncertainly.

"Amalia?" Zaki asked but he did not get any reply. He did not even try to ask Tara because he already knew she would not even hear him. So, he asked the last of the young children. "Patrick?"

Patrick took a deep breath and started answering the question.

"…. and this is why we are calling it the Pythagoras theorem," Patrick finished his explanation in the Dining Hall. Behind him was a hologram board with geometry drawings to help his audience understand, but two of the three members of the audience looked like they were about to go to sleep.

"This is so boring…" Meelo said wearily and Ikki nodded.

Only Jinora was carefully listening to all that Patrick had been saying in the past thirty minutes.

"We should be outside and help Korra improve her Airbending," Ikki remarked, but what she truly meant was fooling around with Korra and Airbending.

"Do not blame me, Ikki. Your mother insisted that I teach you something," Patrick replied. Now I know how Zaki felt when he was teaching us. He looked at his bracelet to check the time. "We have a half hour past; there are only ten minutes left."

"Half hour?" Meelo asked surprised. "It feels like it has been hours!" He tiredly sighed. "I thought you said you would show us that basement of yours!"

"Tomorrow, Meelo. Because tomorrow evening we depart by ship for the South Pole. So please focus for the last nine and a half minutes." Ever since the defeat of the Equalists, Meelo and his sisters have wanted to look into Patrick's basement. At first, Patrick ignored them, but they quickly became annoying. So, in the interest of preserving his sanity, Patrick agreed that he would show them the basement.

"I never thought that the Airbenders were taught like this," Asami's voice said from the other side of Dining Hall. Everybody turned their heads to its source and saw her standing at the entrance. "I always thought they always meditated or practiced inner peace."

"Hello, beautiful woman!" Meelo greeted her.

"Hello, Asami!" Jinora said.

Asami looked at the trio of sitting children. "Ikki. Jinora. Meelo." Then her gaze moved up to Patrick. "Patrick."

"Asami." Patrick sighed. "Children, the class is over."

Meelo turned his head toward him with a surprised expression. "Really?"

"Yeah."

"Awesome!" Meelo quickly stood up, jumped up, and with his Airbending, created a sphere of air bellow him and with it, left the Dining Hall.

Ikki and Jinora did not waste any time and immediately created their own spheres and went after Meelo.

"I am very sorry that I interrupted your class," Asami said and she entered the Dining Hall after the trio of Tenzin's children passed her by.

Patrick deactivated the hologram board behind him. "You did not. The very moment Ikki and Meelo left, they had already forgotten everything. In the case of Jinora, I believe she will remember." He paused for a moment. "So, to what do we owe the pleasure of a visit from the head of Future Industries?"

Asami nervously scratched her head. "Well... I was wondering if you would go with me to check out that new apartment of Bolin and Mako's. I encountered Korra on the way here and she was heading there."

A few weeks ago, Mako announced that he and his brother, with Butakha's help, had gotten their own apartment. So, they quickly moved there and were arranging things there. Patrick was glad because Bolin or Mako will no longer bother him and he will be able to for some time stop using the chemical substance that prevented him from dreaming; otherwise, he would become addicted to it. He did not like it because his nightmares had returned, but he will have to deal with it.

"And is there something else? How is the company doing?" Patrick asked.

"Good, good, good," Asami answered quickly.

But Patrick knew she was lying. He knew that Future Indrusties was losing money due to Hiroshi's connection to Amon's movement, and because of that, no one was buying any product from them, even though Asami was a part of the demise of Amon's movement.

Then into the hall entered Pema with a rapid step while holding Rohan. "Hello, Asami," she said and turned her gaze to Patrick. "Patrick, you have a visit."

Patrick looked at her surprised. "Really? Who?"

"President Raiko."

"And let me guess. He has some reporters with him."

Pema nodded as a sign of agreement.

Patrick sighed. "All right, let him in." He knew precisely why Raiko was here.

Pema nodded again and left the hall.

"Do not worry; I will be your moral support in this," Asami said with a smile.

"That is nice of you," Patrick replied.

Ever since Tenzin announced the decision of the Council to be disbanded and let Benders and Non-Benders elect their next leader, Patrick had not agreed but remained silent. Even though in the past years the Council was practically ruled by Tarrlok, it was still a form of democracy that Patrick would have agreed with. Honestly, Patrick's view on democracy was similar to Plato's, who compared democracy to a ship. Eventually, this point of view was supported by Patrick's visits to many Universes, where he saw how democratic leaders failed the people who elected them.

After a few minutes, a man accompanied by a bunch of reporters entered the Dining Hall. He was tall and slender. He had short black hair and a short mustache with blue eyes. He wore golden glasses, a purple jacket with a yellow shirt underneath, blue pants and light brown shoes. Patrick could tell just by looking at him that Raiko was a populist, which could be very bad in critical situations.

"Patrick!" Raiko said in the tone of a man who was about to greet a friend that he had not seen in a long time while being bombarded by flashes from the cameras from behind.

Let's get this bullshit over it, Patrick thought and extended his hand. "Mr. President. To what do I owe your visit?"

Raiko shook his hand. "You ask? I simply could not miss the opportunity to meet the man who brought down Amon!" He turned his head toward the reporters standing at the entrance and smiled while they bombarded them with flashes from the cameras.

Yeah… Patrick thought and let go of Raiko's hand. "Well, there were actually several people who were involved in the defeat of Amon. One of them is standing right here." He motioned to Asami beside him.

"Mr. President…" She extended her hand.

Raiko shook her hand. "Miss Sato." And then he quickly let go of her hand.

"Actually, I was hoping to meet with you and discuss some potential contracts of the United Republic with my company-"

"Some other time, Miss Sato," Raiko interrupted her. "I am a very busy man. Especially after being elected. How about next week?"

"If you say so," Asami muttered.

Raiko smiled at her and then turned his gaze back to Patrick. "And there was another reason why I came here…" He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, thin rectangle. "I would like to personally welcome the smartest man in the world and a traveler from another Universe as a full citizen of Republic City!" he proclaimed, handed the rectangle to Patrick, turned around, and placed his hand around Patrick's shoulders while smiling for the reporters and their cameras.

Patrick looked at the rectangle in his hand. It was an identity card with his picture taken from a newspaper article. He then looked at the personal information next to the picture and they were all wrong.

"Thank you…" he said.

"You are welcome." Reiko smiled once more for the reporters and then turned his head toward Patrick. "Pretty soon, we will have a gala to celebrate the victory in the election. Would you like to go?"

"Only if Miss Sato would come with me and talk to you," Patrick replied.

"Ohh…" Reiko's smile disappeared for a moment but quickly returned. "I will think it through. But like I said, I am a very busy man right now." He tapped Patrick's shoulder. "It was nice to see you, Patrick." He turned his head toward Asami. "And you too, Miss Sato." He then turned around and left with the reporters.

"Thank you, but you should not have; otherwise, you will not be liked," Asami said after Reiko and his entourage disappeared from the hallway.

"I do not care if I will be liked or not. It is not fair to you that you must pay for your father's mistake. You, just like the rest of us, were part of taking down Amon and liberating Republic City."

Asami smiled. "Will you show me your citizenship now?" After Patrick handed her the identity card, she looked at it closely. "They really should have used a better picture."

"You can keep it. I do not need it."

"No, you should have it. After all, it is a 'Presidential gift' to you." She returned the identity card to him.

Patrick once again looked at the identity card and chuckled. Presidential gift. He put the identity card into his pocket. The last "Presidential gift" he had received was from the U.S. President from his Universe, when he declared him an enemy of the state. "Let's go."

They both headed out of the Temple into the courtyard. There was Pema standing with Rohan, and with the other acolytes, they watched as the airship slowly moved away from the island.

Reiko's Air Force One, Patrick thought and he turned his head toward Pema. "We are going to check out Bolin and Mako's apartment. Me and Korra will probably come back together."

"Good," she replied.

Patrick activated the teleporter and he and Asami appeared in the center of the city, from where they continued on foot.

After several minutes, they arrived at a several-story brown building with and a green roof.

"Here?" Patrick asked Asami.

"Yes. They have it on the highest floor."

They went inside and after they climbed the stairs, they were at the beginning of the hallway with doors on both sides. They went to the last one at the end, and Asami knocked.

Mako opened the door. "Asami!" he said happily and then looked behind her. "Patrick," he said less happily.

"We came to see your new place," Asami replied.

"Of course, come in," Mako said and gestured for them to go inside.

Asami and Patrick entered a decent sized room with a wooden floor. On the other side were two windows, an oven and a heater, and on the left were doors. Another door was on the right, where Asami and Patrick entered from. Probably these doors led to the separate rooms of Bolin and Mako, and this was the de facto living room. In the middle of the room was a small green carpet, and on it was a small table that stood in front of a blue sofa with a bookcase beside it. Bolin, with Pabu on his shoulder, was sitting with Korra on the sofa and above them was hanging on the wall a poster of the Fire Ferrets.

"Welcome to our domain!" Bolin said with excitement.

"Hey!" Korra added.

"Hey," Asami replied.

"So, what do you say?" Mako asked after he closed the doors.

"Quite a nice place you have here," Asami answered.

Then they all looked at Patrick, expecting his answer as well.

"It is… quite an upgrade from the last time. Especially from Arena's attic," he said.

Mako nodded. "It is. All thanks to Butakha. After we exposed Amon at his rally, Butakha literally moved mountains to find this very decent home for us."

"You know, you could still live in my mansion," Asami said.

"I know, Asami. But… but we needed something of our own."

"I understand that."

"I will go bring some chairs," Mako said and he went to the doors on the other side of the living room, opened them and went inside. After a moment, he was back with two chairs.

Asami and Patrick sat down on the chairs and Mako joined Bolin and Korra on the sofa.

"You missed President Reiko," Patrick said to Korra.

"Really? What did he want?" she asked.

"Hmm. The same as Tarrlok wanted when he wanted you to join his Task Force. Only Reiko was not so pushy yet. And he let it be known publicly that I am officially a citizen of Republic City."

"Oh, good thing that Tarrlok is reminding me to stay out of the politics of the Republic City." She paused for a moment. "They still have not found them."

"Noatak and Tarrlok are gone, Korra. They are hiding somewhere and will probably never show up again. And even if they do, now you are controlling all the elements and you have us," Mako assured her and held her hand.

"You are right," she replied and smiled.

Only if they knew the truth, Patrick thought as he remembered how he killed Noatak and Tarrlok. He had to do it; there was no other option.

"But enough about the past. You said you had a surprise for us," Korra said.

"I do…" Mako turned his gaze to the ground and gulped. Then he raised his gaze back to the group. "I have become a member of the Police of the Republic City. Tonight, I start."

"What?" Korra reacted pleasantly surprised.

"After our fight against Amon and his henchmen, Beifong decided to diversify the Police forces, and I caught her eye. So, she offered me a position as a Police officer."

"That is awesome!" Korra kissed Mako on his cheek.

"I am happy for you," Asami said.

Only Bolin and Patrick did not say anything. It was because Bolin was looking at his older brother, not very pleasantly surprised, and Patrick, on the other hand, had to hold back his laughter.

Mako as a cop… Hold on! Hold on!

"I thought… you would come back to Pro-Bending," Bolin said and pointed at Korra and Mako. "Back together as the Fire Ferrets."

"Bolin," Mako said with a slightly tired tone. He was sure that Bolin would react this way. "Korra and I move on. She is now a full-fledged Avatar and I want to go do other things than be an athlete. Perhaps change something. And besides that, you already have a team of your own."

"But those are replacements for both of you, because I was expecting you both to come back and now you are telling me, Mako, that you will be working as a Police officer?"

"I learned it this morning, Bolin. It was not certain at all." He paused for a moment. "This is my big chance."

Bolin turned his gaze away. "Whatever!" he said with a little bit of an offended tone.

Several hours later, Korra and Patrick left the apartment building. Asami left earlier because she had to arrange some things before tomorrow; Bolin left for the Arena ten minutes later; and Mako went to get ready for the job. Right after Korra and Patrick stepped out of the building, Patrick teleported them back to the island.

"Looks like we are going to miss Pema's dinner," Korra remarked because it was already night.

"You can still make it to the Dining Hall," Patrick said and sat down on the stairs in front of the Temple.

"You are not going?" Korra asked.

"I am planning to enjoy the view now," Patrick answered and pointed to the night sky full of stars and the rising moon.

I think a minute or two will not hurt, Korra thought and sat down beside him. "You know, at the South Pole, there is a much better view of the night sky."

"Hmmm."

"But I guess you will find it out eventually. After all, you are an Honorary Guest of my family at this year's festival."

"Indeed," Patrick replied. When he learned from Korra a few weeks ago that her parents invited him as their Honorary Guest at the Glacier Spirits Festival, he wanted to refuse, but he realized that this was probably one of their ways to repay their debt to him for saving the life of their daughter. So, he accepted; otherwise, Tonraq and Senna would have tried something more drastic to repay their debt. "And you? You seem quite looking forward to the festival."

"You are kidding, right? It is my favorite part of the year. When I was growing up in the Southern Water Tribe, I wanted to go there every time, but the Order of the White Lotus forbade it. Luckily, ever since Ama stepped into my life, she has always managed to convince them to let me go without a guard watching me. Of course, except for my parents, she was the one guarding me."

You do not say, Patrick thought. When Korra mentioned Ama, he started thinking about that strange woman. About where he saw her before, but that information was still not coming.

"Do you have festivals in your Universe?" Korra asked.

"We do. Actually, every nation or culture has its own festivals and holidays," Patrick answered. Even my family and my people have their own festival.

"That must be quite awesome," Korra said and remembered that Patrick told her that in his Universe there were 200 nations. The number of festivals and holidays celebrated must be huge.

"Well, it depends on the point of view," he remarked in a quiet voice.

A minute passed. "Do you think Bolin will be alright? He seemed to be angry when Mako announced that he was going to be a Police officer."

"Just give him time. Bolin needs to learn that life goes on."

"You are right," Korra replied and turned her gaze to the night sky. She could see that the moon was quite big tonight, like it was several meters away from them. "Hey, do you know why the moon is always so big and yet so far away?"

Patrick looked at the moon. "Yes, we call it the moon illusion."

Korra turned her head toward him. "And how does it work?"

"Well, many scientists in my Universe are still guessing, but I have managed to find out how the illusion works." He then explained it to Korra.

Korra looked back at the moon. "Well, it has kind of lost its magic now that I know how it works."

"You asked."

"I know but…" She turned her head toward him. "Do you have an answer for everything that is happening all around us?"

"Mostly yes."

"And does not all that knowledge take away your imagination?"

"Not even, Korra. If I did not seek answers, I would never be able to travel through the Multiverse or construct my devices." He paused for a moment and then stood up. "I think it is getting late. We should head to our rooms and get some sleep. Judging by how excited you sound about the upcoming festival, I think you need as much energy as possible for it."

Korra smiled. "You are right in that. Anyway, Pema is probably sleeping right now." She stood up and they both went into the Temple.

They reached the intersection where one direction led to the Men's Dormitory and the other one to the Woman's Dormitory.

"Well, good night," Korra said and headed to her room.

"Good night," Patrick replied and he was about to go into his room when he stopped and turned to the departing Korra, who was illuminated by the moonlight coming from the closed doors of the other rooms in the hallway. "By the way, Korra?" he called at her.

Korra stopped and turned to him. "Yes?"

"Has Mako ever told you that you look great when you have your hair loose?"

"No, he did not." Korra removed her ponytail and loosed her hair. "You mean like this?"

In that moment, the moonlight that illuminated her intensified and she looked amazing.

"Yes," Patrick answered and he looked at her passionately.

Korra blushed under his gaze. She should not, now that she was with Mako, but she could not help herself.

But Patrick quickly pulled himself together. "I think we should go to bed now."

"You are right," Korra replied in a nervous tone. She turned around and resumed her journey to her room. What was I doing?

What the hell was that, Patrick? he asked himself in spirit while approaching his room.

In the meantime, in the Arena, Bolin, wearing his sporting uniform, was standing in the changing area and was about to give an inspiring speech to his losing team.

"Now we all know that our last match was garbage. Terrible!" He motioned to Pabu, who was also in the team's uniform, standing on the rail. "Even Pabu could have done a better job," he added in a disappointed tone. But he quickly took a more confident posture along with the tone. "But that is in the past, because when you back a Fire Ferret in the corner, well mister," he punched the air with his fist, "he comes out fighting!" He then raised both hands triumphantly. "So, let's get out there," he pointed to the Playing Field behind him, "and Bend like there is no tomorrow! Are you with me?" He then waited for some cheerful reactions from his team members.

But there was none. The Waterbender, who resembled his brother, was sitting on a bench and looking at him dejectedly, while the Firebender, who resembled Korra, was standing and turning away her gaze from him in an awkward pose. Then the Waterbender sniffed and rubbed his nose.

Bolin sighed inwardly. I could have had a better speech. Let's get this over with.

In the following moment, the Fire Ferrets stood on the Playing Field against the Rhino Lions, the absolute newcomers in Pro-Bending. And that match went… horribly. In the first round, Bolin and his teammates were knocked out of the Playing Field. The bell announced the end of the match.

"The Fire Ferrets go down in the water and right into the record books for the fastest knockout in Pro-Bending history!" the announcer proclaimed.

Bolin, after the moving platform got him and his teammates back into the changing area, hung his head down. Well, at least we managed to get some record. He then felt that somebody had placed his hand on his shoulder behind him. He raised his head and turned around to see Butakha. He knew why he was here.

"Bolin, this is not working," Butakha said to him.

"I know. If I could persuade Korra and Mako to come back…"

"Hey, do not talk like that. Your brother made a choice, and unlike him, you are still loyal to your team. That means something. And as for the Avatar? She has other duties than our sport."

Bolin sighed. "I guess you are right." He shook his hand. "Well anyway, thank you very much for that apartment for me and Mako and for letting the Fire Ferrets keep playing even though they kept losing."

"You are joking, right? This was the least I could do after you took down Amon. I should raise statues of you in gold if I had some." Butakha paused for a moment. "You know what, Bolin? How about you work for me? I need someone who will help me with the administration of the Arena."

"Thank you, Butakha, but I think I will pass. I probably need a change, just like Mako."

"Well, my offer still stands. So, think about it." Butakha turned around and was about to leave the changing area.

"I will think about that on my way to the South Pole. Hopefully nothing bad will happen during that."

Butakha laughed. "I doubt that something worse than Amon would show up."

Meanwhile, at sea, a fisherman's boat of the Southern Water Tribe was making its way through the rough waters while it was raining heavily. On the boat's deck were two sailors, one young and one old, both keeping watch on this dark night.

"This is your first watch?" the old sailor asked the younger one because he noticed his nervousness.

The young sailor silently nodded as a sign of agreement.

"Well then, better keep your eyes peeled, boy. You never know what creatures lurk in these depths!"

The young sailor gasped and quickly looked down into the sea to make sure that none of the creatures were approaching the boat.

The old man patted him on the back and laughed. This joke will never get old. He turned around to see if something was not happening on the other side.

Then the young man yelled at him in a frightened tone, "Uh, sir!"

"What?" the old sailor asked.

Suddenly from the sea came out a giant purple, transparent tentacle and grabbed the old sailor. The only thing the old man could do was yell as the tentacle took him into the depths.

"Man overboard! Man overboard!" the young sailor shouted to alert the rest of the crew, but it was too late. From the water emerged more tentacles and started to pull the boat down into the depths of the dark sea.

In the night sky full of dark clouds, Dr. Manhattan watched it all. It has begun, he thought.

The following morning, Patrick decided to join Pema on her trip into the city to buy groceries. An hour later, Patrick was helping Pema get off the ferry at the dock while she was carrying Rohan and a bag of groceries.

"Thank you, Patrick," Pema said when her feet touched the dock on the island. "But you should not have. I could handle it even with carrying a newborn."

"Oh, please, Pema," Patrick replied and stepped into the ferry to get the rest of the bags with groceries. "This is the least I can do when Korra and I missed out on dinner last night. On the other hand, it was great to take a walk around the city without using the teleporter."

"Honestly, as a mother, I would not despise the possibility of getting to different places in a matter of seconds."

Patrick returned to the dock with the bags of groceries, and they both headed into the Temple.

They were walking under a wooden shed when they heard someone yelling behind them.

"Move!"

Patrick recognized that the voice belonged to Ikki and quickly turned his head around. In the next second, he quickly pulled Pema to the side of the wooden shed because Ikki, Jinora, Korra and Meelo were riding on spheres made of air toward them. Patrick quickly realized that they were in the middle of their new entertainment — racing. Ever since Korra had gained control over all the elements, she and Tenzin's children were constantly racing across the island, with Bumi acting as their referee.

Korra and the children zoomed past Patrick and Pema and continued the race without concern.

"Thank you, Patrick," Pema said and looked at the receding foursome. "Tenzin will not be glad that they are doing it again."

"Definitely not," Patrick replied. "Want me to help you take the groceries to the kitchen?"

"No, I will manage from here. Go and calm down the upcoming situation."

Patrick placed the bags of groceries on the floor of the shed and went after the foursome.

The foursome of racers zoomed past the ancient training mechanism that was meant to teach Korra to move like a leaf, and then the foursome jumped off the platform and continued their race to the finish lane, which was the gate, where Bumi waited with the flag. In the back were Jinora and Meelo while Ikki and Korra were struggling for first place, with Ikki in the front. Not until Korra used her Avatar State to boost her speed, leaving a surprised Ikki behind.

Patrick approached the gate where Bumi was waiting. "Hello, Bumi."

"Hey, Patrick," Tenzin's older brother said. "Did anyone ever tell you that you have a strange name?"

"Honestly, my name in my Universe means nobility."

"Huh? Then we have something in common. My name is also from the nobility."

Yeah, but you are named after a king who was a little bit crazy, Patrick thought and then Korra zoomed through the gate, which meant she won this race.

Bumi waved the flag and coughed due to the dust Korra left behind. "The Avatar is the winner!"

Ikki, Jinora and Meelo zoomed past Bumi and Patrick could see that Ikki was looking angry. When he turned his head toward Korra who leaped off her sphere of air, he could see why. Korra's glowing eyes signaled that she had used the Avatar State to gain the upper hand in the race. Quite unfair.

After Ikki leaped off her sphere of air, she quickly approached her, while Korra was looking at her with a smug smile. "No fair! You cannot go into the Avatar State to win!"

But Korra blew a raspberry at her.

"You did what?!" Tenzin's voice sounded and Korra's smug look quickly disappeared. All of them turned to the approaching Airbender. "The Avatar State is not to be used as a booster! You are toying with a dangerous power that you obviously do not appreciate!"

"It is the Avatar State and I am the Avatar. Who appreciates it more than me?" Korra replied.

Really? Perhaps you would welcome being able to shoot lasers out of your eyes, Patrick thought. "And when you and the kids almost ran me and Pema down during your race, was that appreciation?"

Tenzin turned his head toward him. "What?" He turned his head back toward Korra with an expression that demanded an answer.

Korra turned her gaze to Patrick. "Hey, Ikki warned you! And we managed to avoid you!"

"But you were racing inside a closed space and it would take just one wrong move and everything would end badly."

"Clearly you need more training to grasp the depths of your spiritual connections, not to mention that you are still a long way from mastering Airbending," Tenzin said and crossed his arms.

Korra laughed. "But I already mastered Airbending!" She turned around and started sending air blasts at the nearby trees. "See?" She turned back to her mentor and gave him a confident smile. "Mastered."

Patrick activated the gauntlet on his left hand and shot a weak sonic wave at the tree. "Hey, look, I mastered Airbending too!"

Korra looked at him with an annoyed expression.

Tenzin was looking at Korra unconvinced while Bumi stepped beside him and evaluated Korra's Airbending, "Looks pretty good to me."

Tenzin sighed and turned his head toward him. "Is it too late for you to unretire from the United Forces?"

Patrick recalled that when Tenzin learned that Bumi was planning to retire from the navy and stay on the island, he greatly increased his hours of meditation. Bumi became his daily trial of inner peace.

Bumi smiled at him. "The paperwork is gone through, little brother. From now on, it is 24/7 Bumi time!" And he grabbed Tenzin's face and pinched his cheek.

Tenzin quickly got out of his grasp and walked over to Korra. "You have mastered Korra style Airbending, now you need to master real Airbending. Hopefully our visit to all the Air Temples will give you the inspiration you need to look more deeply into your studies." And with these words, Tenzin opened the scroll and revealed a map of the known world with Airbending symbols that marked the locations of the temples.

Patrick looked at Korra and could see that her confident smile had changed into an appalled and irritated expression due to the study trip that Tenzin had planned. Tenzin, you could not make a living as a salesman.

While Ikki and Meelo kept neutral expressions, only Jinora showed some excitement. "Can we see where Grandpa Aang was born?"

"How many lemurs can I have?" Meelo asked.

"I want to get tattoos!" Ikki added. "But instead of arrows, I want lightning bolts!"

Jinora turned her head toward her younger sister. "You cannot have lightning bolts. That does not make any sense."

"You do not make any sense!" Ikki barked at her.

"Fight, fight, fight!" Meelo encouraged them happily.

Patrick decided to step into the situation and place his hands on Ikki's and Jinora's shoulders. "Calm down; otherwise, there will be no basement."

"That is right," Tenzin joined. "We are going to have a wonderful time!" He sighed. "Now that the Republic City has a President and I am no longer needed, I can finally relax with my family and give Korra the attention she needs."

"Great, more attention," Korra muttered.

"Hah! Relax… I would pay money to see that," Bumi remarked with a laugh and leaned on Tenzin's shoulder. "Maybe I will tag along just to see 'Vacation Tenzin'."

It looks like this tour through the temples of the Airbenders is going to be great, Patrick thought.

"You are not invited," Tenzin said to his brother.

Korra, in the meantime, bent down to Tenzin's children. "Before we go on your father's study trip, we are going to have some real fun in my home town at the Glacier Spirits Festival. They have rides, games and all kinds of fried food on sticks."

All three of Tenzin's children smiled and jumped simultaneously in happiness. "Yay!" they yelled together and then circled around Tenzin and Bumi while cheering.

Smiling, Bumi put his arm around Tenzin's shoulders to bring him closer. "Yep. There is Vacation Tenzin. And you cannot stop me from going to the festival; Mother already invited me."

Patrick, just by looking at Tenzin, could guess that he was probably thinking about the Airbending version of 'Fuck me'. "So, I guess there will be no basement when you have rides and games at the South Pole."

"Nonsense!" Meelo yelled and pointed to the Temple. "Show us that basement of yours already!" And he led his sisters into the building.

"Patrick, is it safe there for them?" Tenzin asked.

"It is. I added a special protocol for children and moved the dangerous things somewhere else. Do not worry." Patrick motioned to the still smiling Bumi. "And for a while, you will get rid of three small concerns instead of dealing with four."

"Thank you," Tenzin whispered.

Patrick nodded and then went after the children.

"Wow, Korra was not lying when she said this place is huge!" Jinora said after she and her siblings descended through the ladder into Patrick's basement.

"This. Is. Awesome!" Meelo pronounced each word of his sentence while moving to the different things on the shelves.

"It is," Patrick remarked and then he noticed that Meelo was tapping on a glass container with a Illgardian catfish. "Do not provoke her," he warned him.

"Hey, is it not that thing that saved us from the Equalists and destroyed that airship of theirs?" Ikki asked and she pointed to the machine that was holding the orb.

"Indeed," Patrick replied.

"And what are these crystals?" Meelo asked.

Patrick turned his head toward him and saw him standing in front of a huge glass container where there were green crystals growing and glowing. "That is a Tiberium, Meelo. A great resource, but very dangerous if it gets out." And also, it is very dangerous to acquire if the GDI or Nod is not after you in addition.

"And what are these coins for?" Ikki asked.

Patrick turned his gaze to her and saw that she was holding and examining five golden coins with animals engraved on each of them.

"These are the Power Coins, Ikki. They belonged to a group of five teenagers. They are not working anymore." Thanks to Zordon, who made sure that they were useless at the moment when I got them.

Patrick then noticed that Jinora was silent. He turned his gaze to her and saw her looking at the board with the pictures behind the ladder.

"Patrick, who are these people?" she asked and slowly approached the board.

Patrick joined her. "Those are the most famous scientists in my Universe."

Jinora looked at him confused. "Scientists? What is that?"

"Men and women who have advanced the field of knowledge or invented something."

"Invented something? Like Mr. Sato with Satomobiles or the one who created the radio?"

"Yes."

"And why do some of them look completely funny?" Jinora pointed at one of the pictures. "This one is completely naked and only wearing some cloth."

"That is Aristostle and he was from ancient Greece. This was what they used to wear there." Patrick pointed to pictures of a similarly dressed man. "And this one is Pythagoras. I was telling you about his theorem yesterday."

"And who is this?" Jinora pointed to the picture of the old man with ruffled hair who was sticking out his tongue.

"That is Albert Einstein, and he came up with many things, like the theory of relativity."

"And why is he here sticking out his tongue like that on this picture?"

"This was taken on his birthday, and one reporter asked him to smile, but instead he decided to stick out his tongue to devalue the picture. The irony was that this made the picture famous, and he quickly favored it."

"And this woman?" Jinora pointed to another picture.

"That is Marie Curie. She discovered radioactivity."

"And why is this man looking so downheartedly?"

Patrick looked at the picture of the man about whom Jinora was asking. "That is Julius Robert Oppenheimer and he was reacting to the fruits of his work…"

"It did not work?"

"On the contrary, Jinora. It worked very well."

"Hey, Patrick, what is this?" Meelo asked behind him.

Patrick turned around and saw that the young Airbender was standing in front of a huge metal cylinder with green markings on the top and bottom.

"Nothing interesting, Meelo. I will move it out someday," Patrick answered. Eventually it belongs to the past of the dying man, he added in spirit. Patrick then looked at his bracelet to see what time it was. "So, if you like this room, then wait until you see the other ones. They are at least double as big as this one."

"Yay!" Meelo exclaimed happily.

"Super!" Ikki joined.

Only Jinora was silent because she was still looking at the pictures. In one of them was a man who had long gray hair despite his age and was holding an apple. On the other one was another strangely dressed man with a beard who was painting some woman.

"Jinora, are you coming?" Patrick called at her.

Jinora turned to him. "Yes, I do." She gave the board one more look before she joined the others. She promised herself that when they came back from their trip, she would ask Patrick everything about those people in the pictures.

Several hours later, the voyage of the ship heading to the South Pole was peaceful. Except for Tenzin's family and Korra and her friends, there were also citizens of the Republic City traveling to the Southern Water Tribe, either to meet their families during the festival or because some of them were tourists.

After Tenzin and Pema moved with children to their cabin on the ship, Patrick wandered around the deck until he spotted Asami leaning against the railing.

"Hey," he greeted her as he approached her.

"Hey," she replied.

"Something wrong?"

"Is?"

Patrick leaned his back against the railing. "Come on, Asami. You do not have to lie to me. I know that Future Industries is having a very bad time."

"It does." Asami sighed. "I am doing my best to save the company that my family built, but it is easier said than done. Luckily, there may be a way to save it at the South Pole. Or more specifically, someone."

"Who?"

"Did you hear about Varrick?"

"No, but I guess it will be someone very important."

"He is. He is head of Varrick Global Industries, one of the biggest companies in the world."

"Sounds like it when it has the word 'global' in its name," Patrick remarked.

Asami smiled and then looked at Patrick like she had an idea. "Patrick, when we reach the South Pole and when I talk with Varrick, can I mention that I know you and, if he would want to, arrange a meeting between you two? I would never use one of my friends like this, but I have to try everything for my company."

"You can, Asami. But I strongly believe you can persuade Varrick to do business with you without needing my help."

"Thank you; I really appreciate it."

"And if you manage to conclude that business, we will celebrate it." Patrick paused for a moment. "Finally," he added. The promise of the dinner that was made at the temple at the South Pole a few months ago was never fulfilled due to the fact that both of them did not have free time, or at least Asami did not, while Patrick was constantly postponing it.

"Well, I should go to sleep to have enough energy to talk with Varrick. I heard he is quite… eccentric," Asami said and backed away from the railing. "Good night, Patrick." And she went into her cabin.

"Good night, Asami," Patrick replied and he turned around to look at the peaceful sea that the ship was sailing through when he noticed to his left that the captain of the ship was standing there and talking to one of the members of the crew. Judging by their expressions, it had to be something very important and serious. So, he decided to come a little bit closer to them so that he could eavesdrop on them.

"Captain, this is madness! We should not sail to the South Pole! It is cursed there!" the member of the crew said.

"Keep your voice down!" the captain whispered the order. "We cannot be sure of that."

"Already the twelfth boat went missing and those who survived reported that they were attacked by… Spirits." The sailor gulped. "We should turn back!"

"Not a chance!" the captain retorted. "We are all coming home for the festival and you will keep your mouth shut or there will be panic among the passengers!" He looked strictly at him. "Do you understand?"

"Yes, Captain," the sailor replied.

The captain looked around and then noticed Patrick standing nearby. "Good evening. Enjoying the view, right?" he asked with a fake smile.

"Yes," Patrick answered.

"Good, good, good…" the captain said nervously. "Me and my subordinate were talking about the weather conditions and so on. I think we should talk about it more in my cabin." The captain gestured for the sailor to follow him. "Enjoy the rest of the voyage," he said before he and the sailor disappeared into the ship.

Patrick looked at the sea in front of him and sighed. So, we can encounter something that sinks ships during our journey. Great... He then stepped away from the railing and was about to go to his cabin when he heard Mako's voice in the distance. So, he came closer to its source.

"So, I walk up to them and say: 'Looks like you had some vehicle trouble. Good thing the police are here'," Mako finished his story to Korra, who was sitting with him beside Naga, about his first arrest on the first day of his new job and she laughed.

Patrick, who was standing on the corner and listened to the end of the story, quickly remembered how the newspapers were writing about a risky police chase of a single officer against a vehicle full of criminals that ended in an arrest but also in the destruction of public property.

"Did you write that beforehand?" Korra asked after she stopped laughing.

"Yes!" Mako answered and pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket. "I had a few others."

"And are they as great as that one before?" Patrick asked sarcastically.

Korra and Mako turned their heads toward him with annoyed expressions.

Patrick raised both hands like he was surrendering. "What? I just want to know what other legendary one-liners our newest member of the police force of our beloved city has."

Korra turned her gaze toward her boyfriend. "Ignore him. Tell me what other one-liners you have."

Mako returned his gaze back to the paper in his hands and started reading aloud, "Let's see… this one: 'Looks like you guys should put more 'try' in triad', huh? Or: 'When you get to jail, tell them Mako sent you'."

"Oh, I like that one," Korra commented on the last one.

And Patrick started clapping. "Bravo, Mako!" If I only knew how much joy your job as a Police Officer would bring me.

But Mako ignored him and put the paper back in his pocket. "Alright, I will use that one next time. Beifong said, if I keep this up, I could make detective soon."

"That sounds so fun," Korra replied and turned her gaze to the horizon. "All I do is train all day. It is like Tenzin has totally forgotten how I threw Amon through that window."

Mako placed his hand on her knee to comfort her. "Tenzin is just trying to help you become the best Avatar you can be."

Korra turned her head toward him, looked at him angrily and pulled herself away from his hand. "Of course, you would take his side!"

Mako looked at her surprised. "I am not taking his side, I am just-"

Korra stood up. "I am going to take a walk." And with these words she left.

Mako, with a still surprised expression, watched her leave and then shifted his gaze between Naga and Patrick, like he was demanding an answer from them about what just happened.

But Patrick turned around and left too while shaking his head. Mako, I can tell you are truly a master at cock-blocking yourself.

The following day, the ship arrived at the docks in Wolf Cove, also known as the Capital City of the Southern Water Tribe. On the docks, there were already crowds of people waiting for their relatives from Republic City. When the ship lowered the ramp, Tenzin's children immediately ran to Katara and some woman standing next to her.

"Grandma! Grandma!" they yelled together and embraced Katara.

"Oh… you have all gotten so big," Katara said.

Then the children turned their attention to the woman next to her.

The woman was taller than Katara, had gray hair in a long ponytail, teal-colored eyes, and a beauty mark under her left eye. She wore a blue fur coat just like Katara's and a choker around her neck.

"We missed you, Aunt Kya," Jinora said to her and she and her siblings embraced her.

Aunt Kya? Patrick thought and turned his head toward Tenzin, who was beside him with Bumi and Pema. "Tenzin, you have a sister?"

Bumi looked at his brother amusedly. "He did not tell? Shame, Tenzin!"

Tenzin, without even saying a word, sighed.

Tenzin, the more I know about you, the more we are much alike, Patrick thought as he, Bumi, Pema and Tenzin approached Katara, Kya and the children.

Kya stroked the heads of each child. "Ohh, I missed you, too. Your father does not bring you to visit nearly enough." She raised her gaze to the approaching foursome. "He is probably scared I will beat him up," she said as she walked over to Tenzin and lightly punched him in the arm, "like when we were children."

Holy fucking shit, Patrick thought as he was watching how Tenzin's life with his siblings was almost identical to his own.

"I am not scared of you…" Tenzin replied with a brave tone but quickly turned timid as he rubbed his affected arm, "anymore."

Kya then turned her attention to Patrick, who was standing a step behind her brother. "And this must be that boy, Patrick, right? I heard a lot about you." She extended her hand to him.

Patrick looked at Kya and could see that even though she had gray hair and was much older than him, she was beautiful. In her youth, she had to be a real stunner.

He took her hand and kissed it. "Nice to meet you, Kya. Whatever you heard must have been exaggerated."

Kya looked at him surprised and blushed. This was something she definitely did not expect. "Well…" she said nervously while looking for the right words.

Patrick let go of her hand. "I am sorry, but I have to go to look for my hosts at this festival. It was nice to meet you." He turned his head toward Tenzin. "See you later, Tenzin, and survive." And then he made his way into the crowd.

Kya, still blushing, turned to the rest of the group. They did not have words for what just happened either. "He is definitely something," she remarked.

Patrick went through the crowd until he saw Korra with Mako, and in front of them were Tonraq and Senna. He walked over to them as Korra was embracing them both.

Korra stepped back from her parents and motioned to Mako, who was standing behind her. "Do you remember Mako?"

In that moment, Mako had a dry mouth and was completely nervous. This was completely different when he was dating Asami, because her father seemed to be a nice and kind man, even though he was one of the Equalists. Korra's father, on the other hand, had the appearance of a warrior who could tear him up with a single hit. And now that he stood before him, Mako could not find the right words to start the conversation.

Eventually, Mako extended his hand to shake. "Sir…"

Tonraq crossed his arms and looked at him sternly. He was about to say something when he looked at something behind Mako and he quickly changed his expression to a happy one. "Patrick!" He walked past Mako, leaving him with his hand extended.

"Sir," Patrick said and shook his hand with a smile and then he turned his gaze to Senna. "Mrs."

"It is Tonraq and Senna," Korra's father corrected him.

"Good then."

"Father…" Korra said annoyed, indicating that there was someone else who deserved his attention.

"Oh, yes…" Tonraq shook Mako's hand and then turned his gaze back to Patrick. "So, Patrick, do you have any place to stay here during the festival?"

"Well, I thought I could get a hotel room here-"

"Nonsense! You are our Honorary Guest! You will stay with us!"

"Well, I thought Mako could be with us too," Korra suggested.

Tonraq looked at his daughter's boyfriend. "He can take a hotel room." He then motioned to Patrick. "But this one saved your life twice. He deserves the best!"

But Korra wanted to protest. "But-"

"Until the festival is over. Which will be only a few days," Patrick interrupted her to calm down the situation. "Until then, I strongly believe that Mako can hold on."

"I can," Mako agreed to the compromise even though he was a little bit angry at Patrick.

"If you say so," Korra added.

Then Bolin walked past them and looked around with a haughty expression. "Wow! Look at all these people that came out to greet us. Us, who defeated Amon!"

"Uh, no… They came to greet the people who traveled with us and them," Korra corrected him and motioned to the sea.

All of them turned in that direction and saw an ornate ship incoming, accompanied by people's clapping.

It seems to be somebody important, Patrick thought and he turned his gaze to Tonraq and could see how disgustingly he was looking at the ship. Patrick knew that look very well. He used it often when Felix was praised by people.

"The great Chief of the Northern Water Tribe comes to grace us with his presence. Hooray," he proclaimed in a sarcastic tone.

Senna placed her hand on Tonraq's shoulder to calm him down. "Just relax, my love; he will be gone soon enough."

Tonraq looked at his wife and tiredly sighed.

The nicely ornate ship of the Northern Water Tribe lowered the ramp, and the first to come into the dock were a pair of soldiers with spears. Then came a man, and right behind him were two smaller figures.

The man was tall and very skinny. He had long brown hair with two smaller ponytails on the sides of his face and blue eyes. He was wearing a long, noble purple fur coat. Patrick noticed that he shared the same features with Tonraq, which, along with Tonraq's sarcastic comment and look, told him that the man was his brother.

The two smaller figures had long blue fur coats and long black hair and they were definitely twins. But what gender? Luckily, that question was answered by one of them, who had ponytails at the ends of her hair on both sides and had dark blue eye shadow. This was definitely a woman. They both reminded to Patrick the Grady sisters from the Overlook Hotel.

"Wow!" Bolin commented when he spotted the twins. "Who are the lovely ladies?"

Korra looked at him amused. "That is Eska and Desna, the Chief's children. Desna is a boy."

Bolin looked at her surprised and then returned his gaze to the approaching group. "Oh, no, sure, I knew that!" he said nervously while looking away.

Bolin, you will not save that, Patrick thought.

"Uhhh… and which one is Desna?" Bolin added.

When the Chief of the Northern Water Tribe and his children reached them, he bowed to Korra. "Good to see you again, Avatar Korra," he said in a very calm tone.

Korra bowed back to him. "Good to see you too."

The Chief of the Northern Water Tribe then looked at Tonraq. "Tonraq," he greeted him coldly.

"Brother," Tonraq said in the same tone.

In that moment, Patrick could sense the grudge between Tonraq and the man, whose name Patrick later learned was Unalaq. The same grudge that he had with Felix. But Patrick also noticed when he looked at them that they had different auras. While Tonraq still kept his aura of a protective bear, Unalaq resembled a sleazy fox who, thanks to lies and manipulations, would get what he wanted.

Korra, Patrick, and Tenzin accompanied Tonraq and Unalaq on their way through the city, lined with stalls. The festival was already going on, and there were a lot of people around. Not just locals of the South Pole but also people from other nations, and everyone was having a good time. Everyone except Unalaq.

"It is a shame the Southerners have abandoned all connections to the Spirits," he remarked with disgust but still in a calm tone. "Even during the most hallowed times."

So, he is a traditionalist. Great, Patrick thought and he looked around the ongoing festival. It was not very different from the ones in his Universe, not even from the one his family was organizing for their people, but it was not the celebration of the Spirits like here, but of the Blood itself.

"I have always loved the Glacier Spirits Festival. It is fun," Korra said happily, apparently ignoring Unalaq's remark.

"This festival used to be a solemn time of fasting and meditation. Now it is just a chance to watch some rube try to stick an entire artic hen in his mouth." Unalaq stopped along with the group and looked to the right with them.

They saw Bolin standing at the stall, stuffing an entire fried hen into his mouth and attempting to swallow it. But when he noticed that group was watching him, he stopped, but still with the hen in his mouth, he turned to them and shrugged.

"What? Oh, it is so good," he said through his full mouth.

Bolin, that is disgusting, Patrick thought and then he turned his gaze to Unalaq and thought about his remark. That is part of capitalism. Every holiday will be turned into profit.

Korra only shook her head in amusement over her friend's attempt to eat an entire artic hen.

"Traditions change, brother. It is not the end of the world," Tonraq said.

Unalaq quickly turned to him and looked at him sternly. "Tell that to the sailors who are being attacked by angry Spirits in southern waters." He then frowned. "Some traditions have purpose."

Korra's happy expression disappeared and turned into surprise upon hearing that. "Wait, Spirits are attacking ships?"

Unalaq turned his head toward her and nodded. "I am surprised the Avatar does not know about that." He then, for a moment, looked at Tenzin. "Apparently you have not been given all of the information you need, but that is not surprising at all." Tenzin only crossed his arms in reaction to that, and Unalaq turned his gaze back to Korra. "It would be my honor to instruct you in the spiritual ways of the Water Tribe."

"I would not mind learning about fighting Spirits," Korra replied and she glanced at Tenzin beside her. "Airbending is getting pretty boring."

Tenzin turned his head toward her and looked at her sternly.

"Tenzin is Korra's instructor. He can give her all the training she needs," Tonraq said with a little bit of anger.

"So, you have said," Unalaq replied and turned his gaze to Patrick. "And what about we ask your Honorary Guest here? Surely a man from another Universe will enlighten us."

"I see the news is spreading quickly," Patrick replied.

"They do. So, tell us the 'Smartest' man in the world. Do the people in your World also value traditions and spirituality?"

"Well… I cannot speak for everyone, but as far as I am concerned, personally, I am an atheist."

Unalaq raised an eyebrow. "Atheist?"

"That means I do not believe in Gods or Spirits."

"But in here, the Spirits are real."

"Still, it does not mean that If I ever encounter some Spirit, I am going to kneel down and start praying to it."

"And what about the others in your World?"

"There are people who believe, but we managed to overlook the limits of belief and make great progress in everything. That is what I believe in, Chief. In Progress and Science."

"Progress and Science," Unalaq repeated calmly, but there were signs of disgust. He then looked at his brother. "I am not wondering why you invited him as your Honorary Guest." Unalaq turned around and arrogantly left.

Well, this guy is definitely an asshole, Patrick thought.

Tonraq sighed and looked at Korra. "Korra, could you please accompany Patrick to our home to get him settled in? I will go oversee the preparations at the Royal Palace."

Korra nodded. "Yes, I can." And she gestured for Patrick to follow her.

Patrick went after her while, in the corner of his eye, he disgustingly saw how Bolin was putting another entire hen into his mouth.

"Is your uncle always like this?" Patrick, sitting behind Korra on Naga's back, asked her after a while of their ride outside the city.

"Hard to say. I met him a few times when I was growing up, but he mostly sent his emissaries to the festivals. He was here once with his wife before the twins were born, but since then she has not shown up."

"Hmmm, and was your uncle elected Chief of the Northern Water Tribe or did he inherit that title?"

Korra smiled. "He inherited it from my grandfather. Yes, Patrick, I am from a noble family."

Then we have something in common. "I would never have guessed that about you."

"Except for the fact that I was trained to be the Avatar, I was raised normal. So do not worry, Patrick; I will not force you to bow to me or anything like that," Korra replied jokingly.

After a few minutes of their ride, they stopped at an enormous igloo with a wooden door. There were other igloos around, including one on the hill to their right.

"Quite a lonely place," Patrick commented on the frozen landscape that was surrounding them while they were coming down from Naga.

"It is," Korra replied. "Most of the Southerners live in the city, but some of us still have our homes in igloos."

"And who is living there?" Patrick asked and pointed to the other igloo on the hill.

"Ama," Korra answered and she opened the door of the igloo. "Mother, we are here!"

"Come in! Come in!" Senna's voice sounded from the opened door.

Patrick walked in, and the inside of the igloo was enormous and tiled. There were several pelts hanging on the walls alongside the flags of the Southern Water Tribe, and a shovel and other things were leaning against the walls. In the middle was a fire ring that also served as a place to eat. On the other side was a long blue curtain that covered the entrance to the other parts of the igloo. Senna, who, after welcoming Unalaq and his children in the dock, went ahead to prepare Patrick's room, was in the corner and was sweeping with a broom. Despite the coldness outside, this place felt cozy.

"Welcome, Patrick, to our humble home!" Senna greeted him.

"Well… I have to say that I do not feel comfortable that I am abusing your hospitality right now," Patrick said.

"Do not be. We are glad that we have guests here. It got lonely here when Korra moved to Republic City." Senna turned her head toward Korra. "How is your father handling your uncle?"

"Father would rather be somewhere else right now," Korra answered.

"He would." Senna sighed. "But luckily, your uncle will only be here for a few days. Then everything will be alright again."

"By the way, I wanted to ask, why was Ama not with you at the dock?"

"Sweetheart, she got sick a few days ago. She did not want you to catch it, so you could enjoy the festival. She knows how much you love it."

"Ohh," Korra replied sadly. "I should pay her a visit after I give Patrick a tour of our home."

"She will be glad."

"Come on, I will show you around," Korra said and gestured for Patrick to follow her through the curtain. After several minutes, they returned. "And that is probably everything. Quite smaller and simpler than Asami's house, right?"

"Well, there is power in simplicity," Patrick replied.

"Alright, I will go see Ama if she needs anything," Korra said and went outside.

"Wait, I will go with you," Patrick said and he went after her. Perhaps another look at Ama will finally tell him where he had seen her before.

Outside, they ascended the hill and reached the igloo. Korra knocked on the wooden door and a moment later Ama opened. She was looking horrible; she was a little bit hunched over and sniffling.

"Korra!" But when she saw that Korra was about to embrace her, she stopped her. "No, you do not want to catch it."

"Are you feeling well? Do you need something to bring? Perhaps Katara will have something for your illness," Korra said.

Ama smiled at her. "Oh, I am alright. It is nothing that a few days of rest could not fix. I just will not be attending this year's festival, that is all."

"But it will not be the same without you."

"Oh, do not worry; I believe you will have fun eventually, or better yet, promise that you will enjoy it for both of us." Ama sniffled.

Korra smiled at her. "I will."

Ama then looked behind Korra at Patrick. "Oh, Patrick! Are you looking forward to the festival?"

Patrick looked at her closely and still could not find anything that would tell him where he knew her from. "I cannot say I do, because this is my first festival."

"Then I will not spoil any surprises for you. All I can say is that you are going to enjoy it; trust me on this," Ama said with a great smile and then turned her gaze back to Korra. "I think you should go support your father. I heard that your uncle is here."

"I will. But I will return here tomorrow to check on you. Deal?" Korra said.

"Deal," Ama replied.

Korra turned around and headed to Naga, who was waiting in front of her family's igloo.

"It was nice to see you again," Patrick said to Ama before turning around and following Korra.

"You too," Ama replied and watched as those two receded from her igloo. When they were quite a distance away, she straightened her back, and her pleasant smile changed into a malicious one. "Have fun, kids." And she closed the door.

The Royal Palace of the Southern Water Tribe was huge. It was entirely made of ice, which, thanks to its location at the South Pole was not yet able to melt. When Patrick was accompanying Korra and her family to a head table on one side of the great hall, he noticed that the Royal Palace was built similarly to the buildings in Republic City, but it still retained Water Tribe features such as tapestries and insignias of the Water Tribes.

The feast was fully underway, and he was sitting beside Korra at the head table. Beside Korra were Tonraq and Senna and unfortunately for Patrick, Unalaq and his family were beside him. The servants brought another course and while he was eating, his gaze was on the other guests who were sitting in groups at the round tables across the hall. It reminded him a lot of the special feasts that his family had organized.

Everyone was enjoying the fun except for Tenzin, who of course, because he was endlessly taunted by Bumi and Kya at their table, and Unalaq, who almost did not eat the food served.

"This is a wonderful feast in your honor, Uncle," Korra said.

"This is nothing," Unalaq replied. "When this festival was founded, the tribal elders would commune with the Spirits. People would watch the brilliant displays of light as the Spirits danced in the sky." Unalaq's gaze wandered to the ceiling, where white lamps that illuminated the hall were attached.

"Wow, I have never seen that."

"And that is a great shame," Unalaq said and turned his head toward her, "since the Avatar is the bridge between the material and the spiritual worlds. That is why I want so badly to teach you. To help you fulfill your destiny."

Really, and where were you when she was growing up? Patrick thought while chewing the meat.

"I thought I had made it clear that Tenzin is teaching her," Tonraq snapped at his brother.

But Unalaq was ignoring him. "Every Avatar before you traveled the world to learn. It was Tenzin and your father who kept you secluded at the South Pole."

Korra looked surprised at her father. "I thought Aang ordered the White Lotus to keep me down here?"

"We all did what we thought was best for you," Tonraq answered her and turned his gaze to the plate in front of him. "We had good reasons for it," he muttered. Like Zaheer and his friends, he thought.

Patrick observed Tonraq while he was saying that. The way he said it indicated that something must have happened when Korra was growing up.

Korra angrily crossed her arms. "Who I train with should be my decision, Father, not yours or Tenzin's." She was an adult, and her father, Tenzin, and White Lotus were making the decisions for her. Even now, when she has a chance to learn something about the Spirits.

In the meantime, Patrick took another mouthful of the meat and chewed it. Here we go again. From experience, he could tell that when Korra was angry, she would always make bad decisions that she would later regret.

Tenzin, even though he was several meters away from the head table, could see that Unalaq was still trying to gain Korra into his teachings, and he was angry that he could not walk over there and tell him to stop it. And Bumi and Kya were not helping either.

Bumi poked Tenzin's shoulder. "Looks like someone is trying to take your place as the Avatar's stick-in-the-mud mentor."

"Bumi, do not pick on Tenzin. You know he has always been sensitive," Kya said in a mocking tone.

"I am not sensitive!" Tenzin barked and defensively crossed his arms. He would rather face Amon right now than this nightmare.

But Bumi and Kya laughed and kept poking him, while Katara, who held Rohan, looked at it with sadness. So much for family gatherings…

When the feast was over, Unalaq stood up to give a speech to the guests. "As your Chief, it is my honor to speak at this festival, which was founded to bring our tribes together and restore the ancient balance between our world and that of the Spirits. But I am very saddened to see what it has become: A cheap carnival that celebrates greedy and trivial humans."

Patrick looked at Tonraq and could see that he took a long sip of his chalice, probably wishing that there was alcohol in it. Then his gaze wandered to one of the tables, where he saw a man who used his plate as a mirror to pick at something in his teeth.

"I feel the time is fast approaching when the North can no longer stand idly by while our Southern brothers slip into total spiritual decay," Unalaq continued.

This part of the speech gained the attention of Patrick and Tonraq. Patrick, who, thanks to time travel or visiting Universes, where it was still medieval, recognized that this speech pattern belonged to the priests who called for crusaders.

"Angry Spirits are already attacking ships in your waters. I only hope we are not too late to change course," Unalaq finished and without another word he left the table.

Patrick, who watched him leave, noticed that he pulled out a worn-out book from his coat and how he was stroking it like it was his lost love.

Then the guest, who was using the plate as a mirror to clean his teeth, jumped from his chair and turned to the other guests. "Chief Unalaq, everybody, always great to have him in town. Now let's have some fun with Wacky Wushu's Dancing Otter penguins!" The man then returned to his seat so the other guests could enjoy the show.

In the following minutes, Patrick watched the performance of the fat man dressed in purple with white face paint and red circles at the corners of his mouth, who, in addition to using his Waterbending, was dancing with a trio of penguins that had four flippers instead of two. Honestly, his Grandfather would ban this kind of entertainment at their own festival. Just like Unalaq, he was a traditionalist, but their tradition was not spiritual at all.

An hour later, Bolin, Korra, Mako and Patrick were standing with the others at the stalls, which were completely illuminated by thousands of lights.

Korra and Mako were doing the usual couple thing, which was Mako feeding his girlfriend cotton candy and vice versa. Bolin was chewing meatballs on a stick while looking at them annoyed because he had no one to do this with.

"So, Patrick, do you want to try some of the rides?" Bolin asked his last option to have some fun at the festival.

Patrick looked at him. "Bolin, I bought you the meatballs. That is enough interaction for two of us to have tonight."

"Ohh… But here are so many rides and doing it alone quite sucks," Bolin replied in a disappointed tone. Then he looked in front of him with interest.

Patrick looked in that direction and could see that several meters away from them stood Desna and Eska, looking at the people that were passing by them with great interest. As if the twins were some aliens that were amazed by local people.

Oh, no… Patrick thought because he knew what Bolin was thinking about.

Bolin smiled and cleared his throat to let everyone know what he was about to do. "Wish me luck." He gave Patrick his food on a stick. "I am making my move!" And then he rushed to the twins. "Whee!"

"Good luck," Patrick said and he was thinking if he should tell him the story about how one boy broke his cousin Amelia's heart and how they found him the following day completely stuffed in a trash can with all his limps completely broken, which was Olympia's work and which was quite merciful compared to what Uncle Anton would have done. But Bolin was already too far away, running toward his fate. It was good to know you.

"Those two have always creeped me out," Korra said while watching Bolin approach her cousins. "They smell like a grandmother's attic."

Patrick turned his head toward her. Speaking of relatives, if you could only see Tara torturing a man with knives… Real nasty.

The trio then watched how Bolin courted Eska. They saw how Eska immediately hissed at Bolin when he addressed her. Then Bolin nervously cleared his throat again to try it again. In the following second, Bolin apparently succeeded because Eska grabbed him by the collar and, with her brother, took Bolin somewhere while he was nervously laughing.

Yep, he is fucking gone, Patrick thought and he handed over the meatballs to Mako so he could go.

"And where are you going?" Mako asked.

"To have some fun too," Patrick replied. He took a few steps and then he turned back to the couple. "Yeah, and do not forget to bring Korra early or Tonraq will not be happy." He winked at him and turned back to leave.

Mako angrily sighed, but Korra quickly wrapped her hands around his shoulders and smiled. "Ignore him. Let's have some fun."

Patrick wandered through the crowd of people, looking for something to play, but honestly, it would be pointless, not just because he would win every game without even trying but also because it would be terrible doing it alone.

Then he spotted Asami, sitting lonely on the bench while looking at the happy couples winning prizes. Patrick looked to his right and saw a stall that was selling hot drinks. He approached the stallholder and bought two drinks.

"Mind If I sit down here?" he asked.

Asami looked at him and smiled. "Not at all." She took one hot drink from his hand. "Thank you."

"Why are you looking so dejected? Bolin told me that you two succeeded with Varrick." Patrick sat down beside her and took a sip of his drink.

"It was successful, but this is about something else…" She placed the drink beside her. "What else has Bolin told you?"

"That Varrick is… quite energetic. From Bolin, it must be true."

"He is. You saw him at the feast."

"You mean that one who spoke after Unalaq?" Patrick asked surprised and Asami nodded. "Bolin definitely was not lying." Patrick took another sip of his hot drink.

"Did Bolin tell you about Varrick's newest invention?"

"You mean 'Moving pictures!'? We already have them in my Universe in a much more advanced form," Patrick replied. Still, Varrick seems to be playing the role of the Lumière brothers.

Asami chuckled. "Of course, you do." She finally took the hot drink beside her and took a sip.

They were sitting there in silence for a while when Patrick came up with an idea to brighten Asami's mood.

"How about a little challenge?" he suggested.

"In what?" she asked with interest.

"Well, we have two straight lines of stalls, enough for both of us. So how about we have a little race and the one who finishes them all to the end wins? I bet it would be easy for the head of Future Industries to get all the prizes, or not?"

Asami looked at him with a daring expression. "You can bet on that!"

Patrick stood up and extended his hand to her. "Then show me."

Meanwhile, Korra and Mako were playing a water shooting game where they shot a stream of water from a water gun in the shape of a fish into the mouth of a depiction of Avatar Aang.

"Unalaq offered to train me. He says he can teach me about the Spirits and my connection to them," Korra said to Mako.

"Sounds good," Mako replied. "What does Tenzin think?"

"Tenzin thinks I am his prisoner or one of his children. I will never finish training with him in charge," Korra answered, irritated by the fact that Tenzin was making slow progress in her Avatar training. In that moment, and due to the fact that she was shooting water at Aang, which Tenzin resembled, she used Waterbending to shoot a great stream of water, thus winning the game and with it the prize.

"We have a winner!" the stallholder exclaimed, not upset by the fact that Korra had cheated. Probably because you cannot complain when you open a water shooting game in a nation that controls the water itself. The stallholder handed Korra her prize, a plushie of Appa, the animal companion of Avatar Aang.

Korra held the plushie up while she was looking at it. "I mean, you heard what Unalaq said. The South is spiritually unbalance-" She did not finish her sentence because somebody pushed her away. "Hey!" she barked as she turned around to see who it was.

To her and Mako's surprise, it was Asami who was shooting water into Aang's mouth, and she was smiling happily.

"Sorry, Korra, but I have managed to get a lead!" she exclaimed as she concentrated on shooting the water.

Korra and Mako exchanged puzzled glances with each other because they did not know what was going on with their friend. Then they heard Patrick.

"I think, Miss Sato, you should be prepared to accept second place!"

Korra and Mako turned to him and saw Patrick standing at the opposite stall, throwing balls at the targets.

"Only in your dreams!" Asami shouted happily and kept shooting water. When she successfully won the game, she hastily took the prize from the stallholder.

Patrick won his game as well, and they both rushed to the other stalls. Korra and Mako again exchanged puzzled glances and then noticed a small platform that was hovering above the ground, filled with plushies and various prizes, and that was following Asami and Patrick.

"What was that?" Korra asked Mako.

"I have no idea," Mako answered.

A minute passed, and Korra decided to return to the topic of their discussion. "Anyway, the South is spiritually unbalanced and it is the Avatar's duty to fix it, but my father will not even let me think about Unalaq teaching me. Well?"

"Well, what?" Mako asked back.

"What do you think I should do?"

"I guess you should do what you think is right. I support whatever decision you make."

"Oh, thanks. That is a big help," Korra remarked sarcastically.

"I thought you wanted me to be supportive?" Mako pointed to himself. "Now you want me to tell you what I think? Make up your mind!"

Korra threw the plushie at her boyfriend and left. "Just forget it."

Mako watched his girlfriend for a moment and then turned his gaze to the plushie he was holding. "Why is it so much easier to bust triads than it is to get through one conversation with my girlfriend?" he asked the plushie.

Asami and Patrick stood at the end of the path through the festival. In front of them was a platform hovering above the ground, full of their prizes from the games. At the start, when they realized they did not have enough hands to hold all the prizes, Patrick pulled out of his pockets a small cube, which unfolded itself into the platform equipped with an anti-gravity generator, so they had somewhere to store their prizes.

"Looks like it is a tie," Asami commented with a satisfied smile because they both won their last festival games at the same time. "But it was quite fun. Thank you for that."

"Likewise," Patrick replied.

Then they spotted that a group of local children were approaching them while they were looking at the platform in disbelief.

"Excuse me, Miss and Sir," the little girl from the group said. "Are you going to keep all those prizes for yourselves?"

Asami and Patrick exchanged glances with each other because they realized that they now have a bunch of toys that they do not need.

"I do not need any of it," Patrick said to her.

"Me too, but I have an idea…" Asami walked over to the children and bent down to them, so all of them could look directly into her eyes. "Me and my friend will just take one and you will take the rest. Deal?"

"Deal!" the children yelled simultaneously.

Asami turned to the platform and looked at the bunch of toys. She was looking for something she could take. She chose the plushie of the Wolfbat. When she returned to Patrick, the group of children quickly distributed the remaining things on the platform among themselves until there was nothing left.

"Thank you, Miss!" the little girl shouted as she and her friends ran away.

Asami gently stroked the plushie's head. "Just a little reminded of our little competition."

Patrick chuckled, turned to the platform and deactivated it. The platform then folded back into a small cube, which he quickly put back into his pocket.

"Want to go for a second round or do you want to do something else or want me to take you back to the hotel?" he asked her as he turned back to her.

"From all that running, I am quite hungry. Do you want something to eat?"

Patrick wanted to say yes, but his mind was telling him the opposite. No, no, no, no. Then the moment of silence between them was broken by screaming.

"What was that?" Asami asked and turned toward the source of the screaming.

Something very, very fucking bad, Patrick answered her in spirit and activated his gauntlets. His senses were telling him he would need them.

A few minutes ago, Korra stepped out of the city to check on Naga. Even though her Polar Bear-Dog was allowed into the city, she was not sure that bringing her in during the times when delicious food was being sold at every step was a good idea because Naga was very often controlled by her animal instincts.

"Hey, girl," Korra said and she stroked Naga's head. "How have you been?"

Suddenly Naga sniffed something, quickly turned to her right, and started growling.

"What is it?" Korra asked and turned in that direction.

She saw that something dark rose out of the snow, and with absolute speed, it rushed toward her. The next thing she remembered was the hit that ejected her down toward the city, into a group of people standing at one stall. The civilians started screaming and running away.

Korra tried to quickly stand up, but that thing that attacked her grabbed her by the hands, allowing her to finally look at it. It was a huge purple, transparent, glowing creature with four limbs, a long tail and two large yellow blurs instead of eyes. Whatever it was, she could sense evil in it.

The creature lifted her up, opened its "mouth with sharp teeth" and was about to bite her when it was stopped by Mako, accompanied by Bolin, who shot a fire blast at it.

"Got it!" Bolin yelled, jumped forward, and, with his Earthbending, rose several huge columns against the creature, accompanied by more of Mako's fire blasts. But the creature dodged all their attacks and with great speed, was at them. "Do not got it!"

The creature slammed both brothers away.

"Hey!" somebody shouted at it from above.

The creature raised its head and saw Patrick flying above it with his rocket outsoles.

"I hope you are local because I do not have time and mood for some fucking alien invasion or from another Universe!" he yelled and shot the concentrated sonic wave at it. But it had no effect on the creature below him. "What?" he asked himself surprised and before he could think about a different strategy, the creature jumped up, grabbed him by the leg, and smashed him against the ground.

Asami and Tonraq ran to him. "Are you alright?" Tonraq asked him. Tenzin, on the other hand, went to Bolin and Mako, who were knocked out.

"I will be…" Patrick, with great pain, tried to sit down. "I will only feel it for a few weeks."

Tonraq nodded that he understood and quickly ran to aid his daughter, who tried to bombard the creature with fire blasts, but it evaded all of her attacks.

"I saw what happened. It did not even react to your sonic waves," Asami said.

Patrick quickly rolled up his sleeve to reveal his bracelet and started scanning the creature in front of them.

"What are you doing?" Asami asked.

"I am trying to figure out what that thing is made of because I have a bad feeling about it," Patrick answered. Then the hologram display showed him the results. "Oh fuck…"

"What?"

"That thing is made out of pure energy," Patrick said with a little bit of desperation.

Asami quickly realized what that meant and why Patrick was talking like this. "And you do not have anything to stop it, do you?"

"No, not here."

"And what about this?" Asami pulled out the sonic screwdriver she had been carrying since she, Bolin and General Iroh went to destroy the Equalists airfield and still had not returned it to Patrick.

"This will not work on it either."

"Korra!" Tonraq yelled while he was riding on top of the mass of ice toward the creature to let his daughter know that she would not fight it alone. He quickly circled around the creature while creating an ice prison around it. After a second, he stopped. It seemed that the creature was contained.

"Go somewhere safe!" Patrick ordered Asami and stood up.

"But Tonraq-"

"Trust me. When it is quiet like this and shows no signs of trying to break free, it is never good."

Asami nodded and then ran away, hoping that her friends would be alright.

Patrick reactivated his rocket outsoles to support others in the air.

His words were proven true a few seconds later when several tendrils broke through the ice prison, grabbing Korra and Tonraq and throwing them away.

Patrick quickly shot a gel at the thrown Tonraq, which inflated just seconds before crashing into a nearby wooden hut and softening his impact. The gel was from the same Universe as the bubbles he used on Chi-Blockers several months ago, and it was designated to save people from huge falls. In the case of Korra, he was not fast enough, and she landed hard on the ground in front of the fence that was bordering the part of the city with the rest of the stalls.

The tendrils quickly crawled back and the ice prison exploded. The creature was freed. It made a long jump toward Korra to attack her while she was still lying unconscious.

Patrick did not waste any time and landed between the approaching creature and Korra. He crossed his arms to create a huge, energetic shield to protect her. It worked. But the creature now in front of Patrick was pushing him down with the shield.

Fuck… Patrick thought as he struggled with the great strength of the creature. Rides, games and fried food… yeah right, Korra! He quickly turned his head toward the lying Korra. "Wake up!"

Tenzin landed beside the creature. "Spirit, why are you angry with us? What have we done to offend you?"

"Tenzin… I do not think… that thing wants to talk!" Patrick yelled, and with great difficulty, he was pushing back. He started to lose his footing. "Attack it!"

But before Tenzin could do anything, the Spirit batted him away with its tail.

Goddamn it! This cannot get any worse! But it got worse. With great disbelief, Patrick watched how the claws of the Spirit were slowly going through his shield as if they were knives going through butter. How is that fucking possible? He had seen something similar in one race. The Borg. These cybernetic humanoids were able to quickly adapt to any possible energetic weapon. Was it possible that this thing, this Spirit, was able to adapt to different energies? But Patrick did not have time to seek the answer. He quickly turned his head back toward Korra and saw how she was slowly standing up. "I do not want to be pushy, but I would use help right now!"

Korra entered her Avatar's state. "I am ready!"

"On three, we dodge, and then we attack!" Patrick paused for a moment to make one last push against the Spirit, so the creature would use more strength against him and they could use that to their advantage. "One, two, three!" He quickly deactivated his shield and rolled to the side.

Korra, on the other hand, created a tornado to dodge the Spirit.

The Spirit, at full speed and force, rushed through the fence right into the middle of the festival. And before it could turn around, it was bombarded by Korra's fire blasts.

Patrick, in the meantime, activated his laser blades. Honestly, there was a very low chance that it would affect the Spirit, but what else did they have?

Korra nonstop bombarded the Spirit with fire blasts, but it was no use. The Spirit then shot a tendril at her and grabbed her. And with great strength, slamming her into a nearby box.

Here we fucking go! Patrick, with his rocket outsoles, rushed at full speed toward the Spirit and thrust his laser blades into it in an attempt to cut it in half. But, like fire, earth, ice and sonic waves, it did not have any effect on the dark entity.

The Spirit then grabbed Patrick by the head and threw him toward Korra.

Patrick growled in pain.

"Have any plan?" Korra asked while looking at the approaching creature.

"I would have some, but only If I knew its weakness," he replied.

The Spirit was prepared to deliver a blow when it suddenly stopped. Then Korra and Patrick noticed the thin streams of water that were encircling it. They saw that the Spirit was looking at something behind them.

They looked in that direction and saw Unalaq, who, with great elegance, slowly swirled his hands. Korra and Patrick looked back at the Spirit and could see that it was kind of dancing to the rhythm. Then the water streams connected themselves and formed the shape of an hourglass with the Spirit in the middle. A second later, the water completely glowed brightly, like it was some kind of light source, and the Spirit slowly changed its colors. From dark purple to golden, glowing yellow with azure blurs instead of yellow. The water around the Spirit fell to the ground and the Spirit then walked away a few steps before it disappeared.

"Go in peace," Unalaq said.

Korra helped Patrick stand up.

"Korra!" Tonraq yelled and ran toward them with Tenzin.

"Are you two all right?" Tenzin asked when they reached them.

"We are, Tenzin," Patrick answered.

But Korra was completely ignoring her father with Tenzin and still was focusing on her uncle and on what he just did a moment ago.

"How are you able to control that Spirit when no one else could?" she asked.

"I have spent my life studying the Spirits and learning their ways. All of this knowledge is lost in the South, but I could teach you everything I know." Unalaq looked at Patrick beside her. "Because it seems that Progress and Science were not helpful at all in this matter."

Fuck you, Unalaq. I was just not prepared to fight a being made of pure energy, Patrick thought.

"Chief Unalaq, clearly you are very knowledgeable, but Korra still has much to learn about Airbending. And I hope that going to the Air Temples will help her connect with the past Avatars," Tenzin said in a diplomatic tone.

"Ugh," Korra reacted.

Patrick, in the meantime, went to sit down on a nearby box by the fence. Do not mind me; I will just sit down for a moment. It was quite a beating he got from the Spirit, but he got worse from Doomsday or from the Hulk.

Unalaq looked at the Airbender sternly. "Your journey to the Air Temples will teach her nothing. Only I can give her the training she needs to be a complete Avatar."

"I have told you that will not happen!" Tonraq barked.

And in that moment, Korra had had enough of others deciding her fate. She stepped forward. "Hey! I am right here! Anyone want to ask me what I think?"

That is actually a good question, Patrick thought.

Tenzin tried to talk to her, "Korra, please listen-"

"I am tired of listening to you," she interrupted him, quickly shifting her gaze to her father and back to Tenzin. "Both of you. You keep me locked up, telling me you know what is best. But both of you were powerless against the Spirit's attack." Tenzin and Tonraq exchanged guilty glances with each other, because they knew she was right. Korra paused for a moment to prepare herself to say the following thing aloud, "I think it is time I had a new teacher."

Tonraq tried to argue, "But, Korra-"

"Unalaq has proven that he is the only one who knows what I need to learn," Korra interrupted him. "I have to go with him."

"Please, I know you are angry, but we have come so far together," Tenzin said in a calm tone in another attempt to persuade her.

"I am sorry, Tenzin." Korra turned her gaze away and crossed her arms. "This is as far as we go."

And here it is, Patrick thought. Once again, stubbornness and anger got the best of Korra.

Tenzin sighed. He had lost her. So, he bowed to say goodbye. "It has been a pleasure serving you, Avatar Korra." And he walked away toward his family and the others who had overheard the discussion.

Patrick stood up and joined him.

"Will you be truly alright?" Tenzin asked.

"It will be fine." They walked a few steps together. "This is usually the part where you ask me to look after her." But Tenzin did not react to him at all. "Right?"

Tenzin sighed. "I do not know, Patrick, at all. Without being a member of the Council and now without training her, I feel kind of lost. Maybe she is right after all. I cannot teach her what Unalaq just did. It was great luck that he was here when the Spirit attacked us."

Patrick turned his head to look at the exact spot where the Spirit had disappeared. Yeah…luck. The only guy in the world who knows how to deal with the Spirits will show up the very day one of the Spirits attacks.

A few hours later, Patrick entered the igloo of Korra's family. He returned from the city after checking on Asami to see if she was alright. As for Bolin and Mako, they only had light bruises, nothing else. On the other hand, Tenzin and his family will spend the night at the South Pole, and early in the morning they will set out on their journey to one of the Air Temples.

"How are you feeling?" Tonraq's voice asked him.

Patrick turned to its source and saw him sitting on the ground by the fire ring. Beside him were a bottle of something, probably alcohol, and a glass.

"The pain is already gone," Patrick answered. "And what about Korra and your wife?"

"They are already sleeping. I am just sitting here and drowning the bitter defeat with something more bitter. Want some too?"

Patrick nodded and sat down next to him.

Tonraq poured the glass and moved it toward him. "Careful, it is quite strong."

Patrick emptied the content of the glass down his throat in one gulp. Tonraq looked at him shocked.

"I drank stronger," Patrick replied and it was true. Uncle Martin was making a habit of combining different types of alcohol drinks and drinking these combinations. And it was Uncle Martin who introduced him to alcohol at fourteen and when Patrick had successfully gone through Martin's education in alcohol, any other alcoholic drink was weak to him so far.

"Well… I was not expecting this," Tonraq remarked.

"Then tell me why you are here drinking alone. Because you are not definitely the type of person who would drink his problems away at night."

Tonraq sighed tiredly and, for a moment, turned his gaze away before he looked back at Patrick. "Do you believe in the irony of fate?"

"Actually, I do and have seen it several times," Patrick answered. "Is it something to do with the Spirits and why you do not want your brother to teach Korra?"

Tonraq nodded and sadly smiled. "My daughter as the Avatar. I, of all people, became the father of the Avatar." He then shook his head.

"Then tell me."

Tonraq took a deep breath and started telling his story to Patrick. Twenty years ago, Tonraq was the firstborn son of the Chief of the Northern Water Tribe, heir to the throne, and also a general who was sworn to protect his people. One day, an army of barbarians attacked the main city of the Northern Water Tribe, and Tonraq led a successful counteroffensive against them. He drove the attackers into the frozen tundra, but it was not enough for the young prince. He was pursuing them. With his men, Tonraq tracked the invaders to the ancient forest, which many believed to be home to the Spirits. So, the invaders believed they were safe there, but they were wrong. Tonraq and his men attacked them and won, but they managed to destroy the forest. That very night, the enraged Spirits rampaged through the city. Tonraq and many warriors tried to stop them, but they failed; only Unalaq was able to calm down and guide the Spirits out of the city. Tonraq's and Unalaq's father, in shame, banished Tonraq from the Northern Water Tribe. During the journey to the South Pole, he met Senna and started a family along with a new life.

"And that is all," Tonraq finished his story. "I must say, it feels quite great to confide in someone after so many years," he added.

But Patrick was ignoring him and thinking about the part of the story where the barbarians attacked the city. "Were the men who attacked you locals?"

Tonraq shrugged. "It has been so long…" He started to think. "But if I remember right… they were not locals at all. Why?"

"Just wondering…" Patrick then pondered. If I were a second-born son of the Chief… I would hire some barbarians to attack the city and then tell them to hide in the sacred forest, where they would be safe. But truthfully, I would rely on the fierce nature of my older brother to attack the barbarians, destroy the forest and then wait for the Spirits to attack before I would show up and save the day. The older brother will be banished and the way to the throne will be free. But there is one more person standing in my way… "How about your father? Were you two in contact after that?"

"Not much," Tonraq answered sadly. "He died shortly after I left and made my home here." He then noticed that Patrick was thinking about something. "What?"

"Nothing… absolutely nothing…" Patrick replied, but he was lying. He had no evidence but it was evident that Unalaq had manipulated his brother to anger the Spirits and because of that Tonraq was banished. Unalaq then probably killed his father to take the throne. But it still does not explain why he wants so badly to train his niece. Why Korra? And why now? He stood up. "I think you should tell Korra the truth about what happened in the Northern Water Tribe."

"She will hate me for not telling her the truth and keeping more secrets from her."

"Better now and on your terms than to have Unalaq use it on her against you."

Tonraq looked at him seriously as he stood up. "What do you mean by that? Why did you even ask me those questions before?"

Patrick could not tell Tonraq everything, because if he were like his daughter, he would rush into the Royal Palace and interrogate Unalaq, which would not do any good. "I do not want to jump to conclusions, but let's say that I do not believe that Unalaq's arrival and the Spirit's attack were a coincidence." He paused for a moment. "If I were you, I would pretend that this conversation never happened and be interested in where Unalaq will take Korra and what he will teach her."

Tonraq clenched his fists as he fought the urge to go outside to see his brother and demand answers from him. What helped him in this fight was the realization that the last time he was acting so fierce, it cost him his home. And he was no longer that young prince. He was now a father who had to protect his daughter. "I understand."

"I think we would both do well if we both had proper sleep now," Patrick suggested.

"You are right. And thank you for using that thing to save me from that impact." Tonraq pointed to his clothes, still covered in the gel. "I would probably still be at Katara, being treated by her."

"You do not have to thank me. And tomorrow, wash it away with water; otherwise, it will reactivate when you move at high speed." Patrick turned around, walked over the curtain and headed for his room in the igloo. "Good night, Tonraq."

"Good night to you too."

Patrick opened and closed the door behind him and he was welcomed by a large, cozy room with a bed covered in furs.

He tiredly laid down on the bed and sighed. I cannot have fucking peace, even at the South Pole. And with that thought, he slept, hoping that the nightmares would ignore him tonight.

In the following morning, Korra and Mako watched as Tenzin and his family flew away on the Flying Bison. Since that night, Korra has calmed down and started to question her decision because Tenzin did not deserve it.

"Do you think I did the right thing?" she asked and turned her head toward Mako.

Mako sighed. "I honestly do not know. I am sorry, but I am not very good at this Avatar counseling thing. But I know your heart is in the right place. You will just have to trust it."

Korra smiled at her boyfriend, and then they both held each other's hands. Then somebody placed his hand on her shoulder from behind. She and Mako quickly turned around and saw that it was Unalaq.

"I know it was a hard decision, Korra, but it was the right one," Unalaq said. "Now it is time to put it behind you and begin your new training. I have great plans for you." Along with this world.