AUTHOR'S NOTES: I'll try and at least keep a monthly update schedule for the moment. If that changes I'm sure I'll put it in some author notes in a future chapter. Anyroad, it might be pretty obvious where this is going, or it might not be. Whatever the case, Korra's about to throw down with yet another adversary, and the outcome is determined in this chapter.
Happy Reading!
BOOK THREE: WATER
CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED EIGHTEEN: FROM MASTER TO LEARNER
Korra did not think to ask where Risha had gotten the vehicles, although they looked like they were from Varrick's company based on the design. Korra was too intimately familiar with Future Industries models at this point to not recognize them immediately. As such, if Risha had stolen them, Korra was not concerned.
Korra did not have very many good experiences with travelling out to remote places in the middle of nowhere with shady individuals, and yet here she was. She was starting to wonder if lying to Risha had been a good idea, because in truth she wasn't sure what her plan of action was. She was making this up as she went, and when she thought about it, she didn't know what she would do if she ran right into the arms of a powerful bloodbender.
SHe relied on Risha's word though, that Kashni's goal was to force Korra to bloodbend, rather than bring harm upon her—and so in Korra's eyes it was better that she face Kashni alone and preemptively rather than place her friends at risk of Kashni's bloodbending.
She also wondered why Kashni had not been with the other Red Lotus members at the compound. If her goal was to weaponize the Avatar the same way it had been the goal of Zaheer, Kwan, Nakkoa, and to a lesser extent Unalaq, then why hadn't she accompanied the others? More importantly, how had she and Risha escaped from prison?
She snapped herself out of these thoughts only by calling out to Risha, asing how far it was.
"See those frozen mountains up there?" Risha pointed, "that's where she's hiding."
The rest of the trip up said mountains was uneventful, and after a cautious ride up the slopes and switchbacks, Korra soon found herself facing a moderate-sized igloo, and a smaller one that was reminiscent of a garage, given that a matching snowmobile was parked inside. The dim lights around the area revealed this and more to her, although the light of the full moon above them on the still-clear evening also illuminated and reflected the ice and snow.
"Now keep in mind," Risha turned to Korra quietly as they parked, "that I may say things that sound like I am on my mother's side. I don't know what your plan is, but if I flat-out said I was Kashni's enemy, then suddenly I would be the one whose life was on the line."
"I'm sure you know what I'll do if you turned traitor on me anyways," Korra retorted, her shoulders clearly tense already.
Another door met its demise after colliding with Korra's foot, and the Avatar sprang into action.
"Blood Whisperer! I know you're here!" In truth she was bluffing and winging it, and Risha, while she did not say anything outright, had caught on by this point and merely crossed her arms to watch the spectacle unfold. A middle-aged woman stepped out as if she had been waiting for this exact moment to do so. One look at her and it was clear she was Risha's mother, just with slightly more age lines and much more modest attire.
"Colour me impressed that you came," Kashni put her hands together, "I'm sure my daughter told you all about me, and if you found me out here, she likely led you to me."
"How did you escape from prison, and what do you want from me?" Korra demanded, skipping right through any pleasantries to the point.
"I escaped through unethical means and came to you for the same reason my dear compatriots Zaheer, Ming-Hua, P'Li, Ghazan, Ikiza, Shenza, and Unalaq came for you nearly five years ago," Kashni explained, keeping her hands where Korra could see them, "whether you want to call it weaponization or if you want to call it 'realizing your true and unlimited potential', that is my goal with you. I have no interest in hunting you or your friends."
"Even if that's the case, you're trying to force me to learn a completely evil bending art that has no ethical purpose whatsoever apart from stopping other bloodbenders." Korra asserted, "and even in THAT capacity, it exists only to control!"
"I'm not the only one out there though," Kashni warned, "nor am I the only Blood whisperer. Harness your power, Avatar Korra. Steel yourself, and become invincible. Your friend Tarrlok may have repented of his sins against you, but do you think that others like me or like his brother are as apologetic? Come, let us settle this the old fashioned way."
Korra's lightning reflexes were the only thing that saved her from Kashni's attack. Rather than bloodbending, she launched jets of water from her hands and even her feet, seemingly from nowhere without even pulling from the ice around them. As Korra launched herself backwards out the door, flipping through the air multiple times to put distance between her and her new assailant, she couldn't help but realize that Kashni was easily on the same level as Ming-Hua or Noatak—possibly even Katara. It made her wonder just how powerful Risha was, and if she was privy to her mother's schemes or if she was as innocent as she claimed.
"Finally," Korra snarled as she collected her bearings, "someone I can take out in a battle of strength." she steeled herself in case she felt her limbs start moving outside of her own control, and thought of her friends. She was glad Asami was not here to see this, and was also glad that Kashni's focus was not on Korra's loved ones, her friends, or anyone but her. While she was confident in her abilities to resist bloodbending now, the idea still frightened her and she knew she would have to keep her guard up in case it happened to someone who did not have the Avatar State at their beck and call to protect them.
Out of the corner of her eye Korra noticed Risha off to the side, clearly trying to stay out of this although also not coming to Korra's aid. It made her wonder: could she ever turn against her own mother if she ever went back to her Red Lotus ways? However, rather than let those doubts take root in her mind, she dismissed them with haste, knowing full well that Senna wouldn't turn on her, the same way she trusted her former enemy Tarrlok not to go back to his old malicious ways.
Korra's focus snapped back towards Kashni a moment later, right as Kashni enveloped her lower body in a cyclone of water not unlike the way an airbender might as she rose into the than take the defensive, Korra responded with a counterattack, forming a towering cone of water over 30 feet high around her right arm and having it swirl in a clockwise direction almost like a drill, which also worked to suck in the shrapnel now issuing from Kashni's water tornado. While Korra often taunted her enemies to try and get under their heads, she could not imagine anything that would make Kashi waver. The Red Lotus members were merciless enemies that way, which suddenly made sense why the strongest members of that society kept most people and things at a distance.
"I was always told the Avatar's strength was incredible," Kashni was the one to make a remark as she crashed to the ground, suddenly releasing her entire vortex of water in a huge freezing wall expanding outwards with tremendous momentum. Korra turned her arm towards the expanding wall of now-ice and freezing water and penetrated it with her drill. She followed up immediately by unleashing this conical mass of water by seizing control of Kashni's wall and the remnants of her own drill, hardening it all and peppering Kashni with thousands of shards and projectiles not unlike how Tarrlok had done to Korra during their fight at City Hall.
"And yet…" Kashni stamped her foot, bringing up enormous chunks of ice not unlike an earthbending move. Korra suddenly found herself dodging enormous spears of ice and water that would definitely impale her should she misstep, "to see it in person…"
Korra swung her arms to shatter the ice spikes as they came up, while also springing and flipping around the frozen tundra to prevent losing a leg or a vital organ to Kashni's attacks.
"End this charade, Kashni!" she barked, "you gain nothing from throwing your life away!"
"Do you truly believe that the Interregnums acted alone in their ambitions?" Kashni retorted, resorting to smaller bursts of water as the two women pushed and pulled in what almost looked like an elegant dance. Kashni kept Korra on her toes by throwing deadly obstacles into the dance, but Korra's reflexes proved too swift for her to fall victim to these ploys.
"If bloodbending is so great why aren't you using it?" Korra blurted out, realizing that Kashni could potentially be trying to distract her from the thought as to catch her off guard at a later point. Not wanting to fall victim to this ploy, Korra wanted to preemptively provoke her enemy into attacking now so she could fight back with vigor.
"Are you sure you're ready to see the extent of my power?" Kashni warned, "because it may not take the form you expect it to."
"Try me," Korra's eyes lit up as she entered the Avatar State. She anticipated that sensation of when a bloodbender tried to seize control of her limbs, but suddenly found a barrage of ice and water attacks coming from her left from where Risha had been standing moments before.
"Korra!" There was a look on Risha's face that looked like genuine fear as she threw attacks with remarkable grace towards Korra, "I swear this isn't me!"
"Your mom can force people to use bending against their will!?" Korra was actually taken aback for just long enough to allow a huge slab of ice to knock her off her feet and send her spiraling through the air. If Risha was being manipulated against her will, that was enough for Korra to believe that she wasn't in on Kashni's scheme. On the other hand, as Korra sprung back up to her feet, she realized that Risha would need to be dispatched if she wanted to take down Kashni. Since they were surrounded by thick ice and water, it would be far too difficult to prevent waterbending from happening and so she would need to avoid Risha while going for Kashni. If she could break the puppeteer's focus, the puppet would fall too, right?
Korra decided to drop any pretense of mercy and began launching powerful combustion beams at Kashni. It did not stop Risha, and the bloodbending master was relentless in keeping the assault up on two sides. The shards of ice caused by Korra's explosions soon worked to her disadvantage, with the shards and chunks of ice becoming shrapnel for Kashni to use against her, while the powdered debris and snow cloaked her adversary who had immediately used the kicked-up dust to conceal herself.
"Do it, Avatar Korra," Kashni's voice called out, "subdue your enemy… seize control of the mighty Kashni's puppet and make her your own."
Korra caught Risha's expression out of the corner of her own eye, and it was hard to tell if she was fighting the control or if she was flowing with it. She knew what Kashni wanted her to do, but she was not about to give in to the whims of another Red Lotus Society member again, especially not after being manipulated by them for years prior to this.
"How are you this fast and this strong?" Korra had taken a few hits, but especially in the Avatar State, she was far from beat and had shrugged off most of the attacks.
"Look up and around you, child!" Kashni laughed, "clouds gathering, a full moon, in the dead of night, in the South Pole, surrounded by frozen tundra, walls of ice, and massive oceans? And just after the Solstice and right before Harmonic Convergence, no less? This is the strongest any waterbenders will be for millennia! Not that you'd need all these power boosts to control water the way you should…"
"Korra…" Risha cried out, "Korra, please… I don't want to hurt you… please stop her…"
Korra was not sure if she trusted Risha, but seeing that expression and hearing the plea in her tone had a way of getting right to the Avatar's heart. Even if Risha was somehow still working as a willing puppet to her mother, Korra had shown mercy to people with far worse intentions and actions before, and to see this woman's erratic movements and her fierce waterbending attacks against her will, made her want to stop it—not only for her own safety, but for Risha's as well.
"You would bloodbend a victim already under the effects of such arts?" Kashni warned, not letting her lapse of attacks leave her open for any of Korra's retaliation, "you could very well tear her apart if you did… and if you turn on me… well that just means I got what I wanted."
"Does it really?" Korra acted on impulse, as Kashni suddenly felt her body seize up. To her shocked delight, she noticed Korra in a threatening stance with her hands out almost like she was operating a marionette. Korra hated herself for doing it, but by bloodbending Risha, it stopped her just enough to require Kashni to shift her focus, which left an opening for Korra to shift her bending onto Kashni instead. With the older woman now under the Avatar's control, it stopped her in her tracks which allowed Risha to regain her autonomy.
"Get out of here!" Korra shouted, and whether it was a sleight of hand trick or taking advantage of the ice and snow around her, Risha conjured up a vortex of ice which engulfed her, and a moment later disappeared while leaving no trace of the young waterbender.
"And YOU!" Korra did not relent in her movements, forcing Kashni to cower on her knees, "I don't know what sort of twisted scheme you were planning but I will NOT let myself or my friends be part of it!"
"That's the neat part," Kashni smirked, and Korra suddenly felt slight resistance, "there is no grand scheme. You did what I wanted you to do, and so I have no reason to continue this charade of wanting to fight you. I'm at your mercy, Avatar, and you may kill me if you wish."
Whether she knew it or if she was just lucky-guessing Korra's behaviour, these words were the exact ones to say to Korra if someone wanted her to not kill them. True to this theory, it worked and Korra stayed her hand, even going as far as to release Kashni from the grasp of bloodbending. Korra's breath was heavy, and she was tense enough to refuse to drop her guard around this woman.
"I don't want to kill you, but I can't let you go free either," Korra warned, "if you don't fear death, that means you're not afraid to mess with me and mine even if I resort to killing you."
"A life in prison is indeed a fate worse than death," Kashni stayed on her knees, looking up at Korra for a moment. "I have done what I set out to do though. Like Hama to Katara, so too does the mystical art of bloodbending get passed from Kashni to Korra. My means were unorthodox, but you are so fixated on saving everyone around you that you're willing to turn to dark arts to see it done. Look at that tattoo on your forehead next time you find a mirror, child. That is a bending art that has no protective value. It exists solely to destroy, and yet you embrace it like breathing. Rather than control someone for their own good, you'd rather just blow them up."
"Don't act like you know me." Korra spat, not realizing she was bleeding from the right corner of her mouth until she saw the red from her spit against the white snow.
"I won't," Kashni replied as flecks of snow and ice began to swirl. "Do send Risha my regards and my apology for using her as a test subject, and know that if you do this, that I will not bother you again. In fact, I don't think we will see one another again."
"I have no reason to trust you." Korra stepped forward.
"You're right," Kashni replied calmly, "so either trust that I have no intention of bothering you again, or live the rest of your life in fear, awaiting my return. The choice is yours."
Korra stepped back for a moment in surprise as ice and snow swirled around Kashni, but much like Risha, she had disappeared a moment later, leaving no trace of where she had gone. Korra moved a great deal of the ice and snow with waterbending to see if she could catch her culprit, but to no avail. She was angry and upset that she had played right into Kashni's hand. She couldn't think of when she would ever use it again, but ultimately, the fact remained: the Avatar was now also a bloodbender.