"We'll come back to see you again," Asami assures the foxes. They rub against her leg, having become quite attached to her in the four days they've spent cooped up inside the library. "We need to bathe, desperately. I think this is my limit."

"We'll be back," Korra confirms a bit too firmly in tone. "Make sure Wan Shi Tong knows we're not done learning. Don't put our books back yet." They're taking all their notebooks with them, anyway, not trusting that Wan Shi Tong will allow them to return. With their realizations about bending, they have a number of leads on where to go from here.

Korra throws her glider through the window first. Then she slides one foot out the window, then half her body, then she's falling upside down and landing rightside up on the earthy knoll the library rests on. At least then she's able to help Mako and Asami out of the library window, holding them with airbending so they don't land quite so ungracefully.

Korra holds out both hands to help Asami up from the ground. When the other woman stands, Korra pulls her into an embrace much like the one they'd shared when they first found this place. "Thank you for convincing me to do all this," Korra says, only pulling back to kiss her girlfriend's cheek. "This was absolutely worth doing. I feel… invigorated. We're on the right path, I can feel it."

"I think so, too," Asami says. "I'm proud of you for not giving up. We've learned that the impossible is possible, right?"

"With the right mindset." It sounds like a pipe dream of a comment one of her sifus would say, too grandiose and unrealistic to take seriously. She doesn't believe many of her mentors knew what they were talking about. She does believe the crazy conspiracy theory they've concocted while they were stuck in the library, though: new thoughts equal new powers, or something like that.

Mako is turned away from them, looking around the clearing to make sure there aren't any immediate hazards. No spirits linger outside the stone structure, as they live further into the forest, underfoot and among the trees, probably also wary of Wan Shi Tong. He picks up Korra's glider. "You still want to stay in the spirit world?" he asks, seeming nervous again as he looks over his shoulder. "We can go home just as quickly as we got here."

Korra reluctantly pulls away from Asami. "No, I don't want to get distracted by the others," she says. "Republic City needs me. They will beg for my help. But they need a strong Avatar more. I can't let myself get sucked into folding laundry and making soup. I just need a bath, and then…" She exhales, resolute. "I want to be ready to confront him again. I have a lot to ask about."

"I'm sure he won't mind a smelly Avatar," Asami teases. "Zaheer has been imprisoned for years now. I can't imagine he smells great either."

"I'd rather meet him here," Korra reminds them. "In the spirit world. We're physically here since we came through the portal, and we can also use our bending. But I want to meet him here when he's meditating so he'll feel powerless."

The group is going to find some place to clean their clothes and themselves before carrying on. There was the lake with dead plants, the river with a hostile bear spirit… They're not going to bother Puddle for this, as nice as that spirit was.

"Can you find a hot spring?" Mako asks. Asami coos in enthusiastic agreement. "For practicality's sake," he clarifies. "It will make washing our clothes easier. I can heat up a body of water if need be."

"If one exists here, I probably can."

She holds her hands out to them both then. Asami twines their fingers together readily. Mako's hand is warm as ever when it clasps Korra's hesitantly, like he's afraid he's doing something wrong. Korra closes her eyes, focusing, asking the spirit world to bring her there. Someplace with clean, warm water. Someplace safe and calm. Someplace that will give them courage to do what they need to do.

The ground trembles beneath their feet and then they're moving, unmoving, the world whipping past them, warping and curving and spinning. Beyond the forest, beyond plains and swamp – it's between icy peaks they eventually slow and stop. It's a mountain pass, and the rocky hot springs within are even more beautiful than the friendly spirit puddle had been. The sky here is a soft pink and reflected in the sparkling hue of the water. Hot water gurgles out from a pocket in a cliff side, glimmering icy blues and pinks as it trickles down to fill the spring. Steam wafts upward into the crisp, cool air that smells of snow, a scent so nostalgic to Korra that she's certain she's found a good place.

There are spirits resting around the springs, too. A lemur-like creature sits with his arms splayed out over the edge and his bottom half hidden beneath the surface. A couple furry brown spirits are almost fully submerged, four eyes blinking sleepily at Korra as she approaches.

"Humans," the lemur drawls, not disagreeably. "Don't see your type around much these days."

"Our worlds were separated for some time," Korra confirms, stepping closer to the spring's edge. A little spirit with the body of a rat and the head of a songbird comes to greet her, touching her boot with its little fingers. It feels welcoming. "But we are united now. My name is Korra, the Avatar. Do you mind if we share your hot spring for a while? We're –"

"Stinky," the lemur says. "Yeah, yeah. Let's split, everyone, give the Avatar and friends some privacy. I'll be back later to reclaim my spot, though!"

The spirits all fade out, one by one. The rat-bird wiggles its hands in farewell and blinks out.

Mako and Asami approach then, figuring it's now safe.

Korra has frozen in place, recalling Wan's story with the aye-aye spirit who had called him Stinky as well. It's not the same spirit nor the same oasis. But Korra has to turn away from her friends before they can read her face and see how much it hurts to be reminded. How many of Wan's friends still exist here? Are any of these spirits eternal, like Raava and Vaatu, able to be born again?

Mako sets their packs and Korra's glider down in a pile. Asami tells him something humorous, and then he's spluttering something Korra doesn't quite catch over the sound of her heartbeat roaring in her ears – something about clothes. Thinking of Wan makes Korra think of his bond with Raava, her promise to live with him for all of his lifetimes, and how Raava must feel being severed from him. Ten thousand years of loving someone ineffably, come to an end.

Asami smooths a hand across Korra's back, drawing attention to her. "All off, then?"

Korra frowns. If they want to clean everything… All their undergarments and the rest, they'll need to disrobe. They can clean their clothes while they're in the springs. They can also take off those clothes in the spring, and no one will see anyone's anything, in theory.

"I'm getting in first," Korra says. She shakes thoughts of Wan out of her head, then shakes herself out of her boots.

She deliberately doesn't pay attention to how Asami and Mako are going to do this. Korra seats herself beside the body of water on a slick stone edge. Dipping a foot in, it's nicely warm but not enough to burn. She slides the rest of the way in. Only once she's submerged to her shoulders does she begin taking off the rest of her clothes, a bit awkwardly as they stick hungrily to her skin beneath the surface.

Asami does the same. Mako takes the longest amount of time, uncertain of what to do with his belt and other things. Asami's gaze lingers on him as she submerges herself into the water, down to chin-level.

"I don't know how I got here," Mako grumbles, but he doesn't seem annoyed by this situation. His entrance is a lot more clumsy and splashy. Both of them fumble beneath the water trying to take their clothes off like Korra had. Asami's top is thrown onto the rocks, along with everything else, and Mako follows suit. They'll wash their clothes at the end, once they've bathed themselves.

Korra copies Asami, lowering herself down until her lips are below the water's edge. It's hot and so comforting, and the atmospheric colors playing out over the water are so dazzling she ends up closing her eyes to turn down the volume of it all. Maybe this pool is a spirit, too, an oasis, and embracing its power can cleanse their minds and hearts.

She wants her mind to be cleansed now as she remembers that first dream several nights ago and the series of dreams she'd had since. There was something wrong with that library. Or maybe fever dreams are just what happens in the spirit world.

A few minutes pass as Asami and Mako murmur to each other, but it isn't until Asami shifts upward that Korra finally opens her eyes. Asami draws her arms up, hands behind her head to remove her hair tie. It's an unconscious reaction as Korra's eyes look down, at her rosy-tipped breasts just at the surface. Her eyes flit over to Mako just to gauge his reaction, but he's sprawled similar to how the lemur was postured, each elbow hooked on the rocks with his chin pointed up, eyes closed, definitely not looking.

"We should've brought wine," Asami says.

Mako hums. "Hm?"

"Something celebratory. We just did something huge, right? This was a chore. I'm amazed we were able to last that long, especially as we started finding less and less things of import… We uncovered a lot, though. I know this will expand both of your abilities as benders."

"It's not a chore spending time with you two," Mako says. Asami splashes at him.

It's interesting, their dynamic. Korra witnessed the turbulent moments between them, moments of jealousy and pain. But there was fire in their relationship, too, even if Korra had mucked it all up for them. Something more has kept them as friends this whole time despite how uncomfortable their break ups were. Even after three years of Korra being absent, Asami and Mako still found reasons to stay in touch. Korra isn't what binds them, it's…

She wonders if she knows everything there is to know about their relationship. It was easy for them to fall together in her absence once, twice. She imagines them together now, intimately, him holding her and taking her here in the water, the sounds they would make. Maybe she should be more bothered by those thoughts. But it differs little from the dreams Korra's been having. Maybe that's her anxieties about reconnection manifesting in some way, and her brain is just very obnoxious with its messaging.

"Korra?" Asami asks suddenly, reaching over to find her beneath the water. "Are you feeling alright? You've been quiet, is all."

Korra sighs, bubbles floating out of her mouth. She raises her head up just enough to speak. "I'm fine. The lemur spirit reminded me of Wan and made me sad. Now I'm thinking about being naked in a tub with you both."

"I'm glad we don't have wine," Mako says. He draws his arms down off of the edge then, letting himself drift closer to the others. "You're already voicing what we're all thinking. We don't need more honesty out of you."

Korra splashes him then. "Maybe if I learn to be honest, I'll be able to bloodbend."

"Ha. Ha."

It's a joke, but Korra furrows her brow once she realizes that's not entirely out of the realm of possibility. What would it take for her to bloodbend? To lavabend?

In the library, they found more entries about Avatars, and other strong benders, suddenly being able to bend in a new manner. It often required deep meditation, self-reflection, or a traumatic event. Teetering on the brink of death. Watching a loved one die, or one be born. Even physical trauma, like a blow to the head, had awoken such abilities in people. The singular page they found explaining how to create combustionbenders mentioned drowning and rebirth.

Korra doesn't want to get hit in the head. She doesn't want to see anyone else get hurt, either. She's already seen a baby being born and that didn't result in any new skills beyond improving her poker face. Maybe meditation is the route to go, but she's never been great at that.

Mako starts washing himself thoroughly. Korra isn't certain whether observing him or pointedly averting her gaze is more awkward, so she opts to focus on Asami, who casually runs a hand over herself. But Korra can see her breasts even better now. Asami knows this and isn't being shy – she knows she's undeniably attractive, so maybe she revels in that knowledge. She isn't self-conscious, at the very least.

"Well, I hope I'm not making it awkward," Mako adds after a beat. "None of this is new to anybody, so… I'm gonna be cool and not weird about it."

He's telling himself that. Korra stifles a laugh and gets to cleaning herself too. With their movements, some parts become exposed, visible in the water. Korra inhales and lets the water heat up even more with her bending, washing another wave of steam over them.

Asami asks if she could help wash Korra's hair. It serves to remind Korra of when she was sick, wheelchair-bound and in need of care after the Red Lotus' attack. Asami had helped her then, helping Pema wash her hair, drying, brushing. She helped with a lot of tasks then and Korra had been too weak and exhausted to protest. Asami would then stay with her in the quiet moments, holding her hand, looking at her with such concern, and Korra never knew what to say. There were times when Asami would look like she wanted to say something, too, but never did.

It's just as intimate as Korra lays back in the water and thin fingers comb sweetly through her hair. It feels very different now, though, with mental exhaustion alone to bother her, without the pain and paralysis of the metal inside her. It feels like she could fall asleep to the sensation under different circumstances if her belly wasn't tied in knots. She knows Mako can see more of her now, too, but of course he says and does nothing.

He does seem mesmerized by Asami's ministrations stroking Korra's hair. He watches them often, she's noticed, even when he is actively trying to avoid doing so.

There must be some sort of energy radiating from this pool. They've let their guards down too much.

This becomes more than apparent when Asami asks if she could help Mako wash his hair, too. Asami can sense his interest. But it's such an intimate action, one that might be mildly beyond Asami's comfort zone unless she were under the effects of something here. Or have they stayed so close that casual touch comes freely to them, even now?

Korra's head feels a touch hazy, euphoric, and she wonders if she should tell the others that there may be something subtle in this water. Korra focuses on the water and senses its spiritual energy, faint and not hostile, and she doesn't believe it's a trap so much as it's trying to calm their minds and bodies.

When Korra's hair is clean, Mako sinks down so Asami can reach him better. Her fingers moisten and move through his hair, too, and she's able to be a bit rougher since his hair's so short. He likes his hair being played with, Korra knows, and she feels a pang of something inside her when a grunt escapes his lips.

"No one's washed my hair for me since… my mom, I think," he says. "I used to help Bolin, but no one helped me after our parents died."

Asami nods, understanding. "My mother used to wash my hair, too," she says. "We had servants attend to me, after she passed. They'd wash and brush it out. But it's not the same. She did it because she wanted to spend time with me, be close to me. It always felt like an act of love with her."

"It does feel like that."

Her hands drift to a standstill. Silence permeates, save for the sound of the babbling water and their breathing. Asami's hand lingers on his shoulder before she gently guides him away.

Maybe it's too late to offer without being awkward. Asami's hair is long, thick and lovely, and Korra is able to waterbend to make this task easier. Korra's less self-conscious as she stands up, exposing parts of herself to the air and to all, getting her fingers deeper into Asami's hair. At some point Asami pulls Korra by the hips, closer, and kisses her. Korra feels drunk even without any wine, everything a bit sluggish, heat curling in her gut and radiating through her.

Mako makes himself busy, cleaning their clothes. Dutiful.

"I feel like the spirit world is trying to mess with me," Korra says into Asami's mouth. She nips at a lip then kisses her chin, then her collarbone, slow and contemplative. "Is there something in this water? Can you feel it?"

"Is there something in the air?" Asami draws Korra back to meet her eye. Her hand drifts up, a thumb stopping to rest just below Korra's breast. A question. "I've felt strange since that first night. Maybe we're not supposed to stay in the spirit world for this long."

Korra blinks, wondering if Asami's had similarly horny dreams. "What were your dreams like?"

At least Asami looks bashful. She shakes her head, not willing to elaborate.

When Korra looks at Mako, he's staring at both of them – less at their tits and more in bewilderment at Korra. "What were your dreams like?" Korra asks him accusingly.

It's clear he doesn't want to answer that. It takes a good amount of badgering from Korra before he becomes indignant enough to crack.

"A lot like this." He gives a vague wave in their direction of their embrace, saying nothing more.

She grits her teeth, angry if just at herself for not noticing it sooner. Whether it's the library, or the hot springs, or the entirety of the spirit world to blame for this, something is making them feel too at ease. It's not at all uncomfortable being here with both Mako and Asami in this manner. That should be a problem, shouldn't it? They assumed adding Mako to their excursion would turn things more tense, but things feel tense in a different way than Korra expected.

It wasn't a mistake bringing Mako with them, as he was essential to their success and pulled more weight than any of them. But a possible covert effect pressing upon their subconscious minds wouldn't be fair to anyone. Being plagued by dreams and thoughts of his exes isn't what he signed up for, if Korra's assumption about the exact content of his dreams are correct.

"I've never felt this side of the spirit world before," Korra explains. "Usually if you're mad, it makes things around you mad. Or happy, it makes everything else happy. I don't know why it's…"

Maybe it's because Korra's thoughts have been inappropriate. It feeds into itself, growing stronger each time she doesn't fight against the feeling, doesn't it? Can the emotions of a human affect others here, in the same way becoming angry also enrages spirits? Is it just Korra, as the Avatar, swaying the spiritual essence of this land? Or is it the land itself willing them to feel more deeply?

They agree to finish up briskly. Their clothes are cleaned, partially dried off with airbending, then they're up and out and not discussing this anymore. They'll wrap up their time in the spirit world quickly, whatever the case may be.

Time is an endless loop, doomed to repeat itself. This must be the case, for as she meditates in Xai Bao's grove, it isn't Zaheer that finds her but another.

She opens her eyes at his gentle voice. Among the rocks and ruddy streams of this hillside, beneath a yellow-orange sky, Iroh shuffles toward her. His hands are empty today, but his smile is full as he kneels to sit beside her under a dragon blood tree.

"Iroh," Korra greets, giving him a one-armed hug.

"I'm glad to see you again," he says warmly, eyes crinkling at the corners. "And with friends! If it pleases you, Korra, tell me why you have come back to this place. It is very peaceful, yes, but I will admit your presence here is unusual."

Mako and Asami sit a number of paces back, protecting her. They intend to not interfere with the conversation she planned to have here. Korra feels their presence, their interest piqued, as Iroh settles beside her instead.

"I wished to meet Zaheer again," she confesses. "There's so much more I need to learn, I know that now. He knows secrets of bending that no one else in the world does."

Iroh nods. "He has spent more time in this realm than most men. They say the more time is spent in mindful meditation, the closer to enlightenment you become. But meditation is a tricky thing. You must be careful not to become lost in your own head. Too much time spent alone with your thoughts is just as foolish as no time spent with thoughts at all."

"What does that mean, though?" Korra says with frustration. "I thought enlightenment was when you're at peace with yourself and the world, free of negative emotions. When you know 'the truth of things' and let stuff roll off your shoulders. But Zaheer's heart was so misguided. His truth, his interpretation of right and wrong, was not a universal one." She scowls, thinking about all he did. "He found a way to fly. Did his girlfriend dying help him reach enlightenment?"

"That is something you must ask him," Iroh states soberly. He gestures with his hands sympathetically. "I cannot say he's any closer to enlightenment than any of us. Indeed, as long as we are human, and mortal, none of us can reach a state of absolute clarity. To be human is to feel and be felt. A state of unfeeling is not closer to perfection. I sit with you today, with overflowing love in my heart for my nephew, his little girl, and my son. I first came to the spirit world to find my Lu Ten, you know." His face softens sadly. "The spirit world is not the afterlife, I'm afraid. Tell me, is flying the power you seek?"

"No." Even if she sought ways to unlock more types of bending, she doesn't want to learn how to fly, nor does she want to combustionbend. They just need answers. "I wish to restore my connection to the past Avatars. We spent time researching in Wan Shi Tong's library, but we fell down a rabbit hole. Learning how to bend a sub-skill requires you to have a change of heart?"

"A paradigm shift," Iroh agrees. His fingers come up to stroke his beard ponderously. "Yes. Perhaps, for some. Many benders attempt to master a specialized type of bending, and fail, for their hearts and minds are like stone. There is a difference between being highly learned, being highly motivated, and being open to change and growth. The latter is what's most important, I think."

Korra nods, bracing both hands on her knees as she tries to retain the meaning of his words. She needs to be flexible, opening her mind to possibilities. Like with metalbending, she must see the folly in her thoughts and actions to overcome them.

"How did you learn how to lightningbend?" Korra asks. Iroh was a very skilled firebender in his time. Fire Lord Ozai and Iroh were some of the first firebenders to rediscover lightningbending, after the art was lost in Kyoshi's time.

Iroh waves her off. "Less about me," Iroh says modestly. "My nephew, though, Lord Zuko, could not generate lightning in his youth. We practiced the techniques and the forms for a long time. I am afraid he could not lightningbend because he felt shame within his heart. Shame for the scar on his face, for failing to meet his father's expectations, for questioning his nation and himself. It took a long time for him to overcome these things."

Sifu Katara had told Korra once about Zuko's trajectory. He betrayed his nation to defend Avatar Aang, and helped Aang to defeat his father. It had to have been a difficult path. "But he was able to, later?"

"Yes. Zuko grew to be a powerful lightningbender." Iroh sighs, thoughtful. "Do not misunderstand what it means to have such skill. His sister was the greatest lightningbender to have ever existed. She could scatter lightning in many directions or shape it into a ball. That does not mean she was any closer to inner peace just because her bending was stronger. It only means she did not let shame guide her heart."