Zaheer hovers several feet off of the ground, legs crossed, over the top edge of a cliff. As the wind kicks up around them, the sight of him in a place like this in such a relaxed manner just enrages her. The ground is blackened earth, the sky and thin grasses unfamiliar, but it reminds her of the red cliffs where the Red Lotus almost killed her. Where she threw him to the ground in chains and she collapsed after him, never to be the same again.
The spirit world has brought her to him instead. He'll never be free of chains again, Korra thinks, but as he meditates into the spirit world his hands are not tied. He turns away from his view overlooking the hills beyond and greets her, as if expecting she would find him. It already feels like she's meeting him on his terms which is not what she intended.
"Zaheer." She tries to resist spitting his name with contempt, but irritation curls her fists at the sight of him, so carefree. Mako and Asami are still with her, wary and observant. "I've been looking for you. I thought you said you spend most of your time in the spirit world."
"I do," Zaheer says simply. He glances perfunctorily over her friends, then back to her. "I also spend time in the material world. You managed to find me. Tell me, were you successful in stopping that dictator?"
He did help Korra before, when their values aligned. He wanted an end to Kuvira's wrath as much as she did. With Zaheer's help, Korra was able to reconnect to her spiritual side. She needs that from him again in a different manner – instead of the spirit world, she needs to find herself, in all her former incarnations. The things he knows about bending could bring her another step closer to restoring any connection to the past.
Korra weighs how much to tell him. Flatly, she acknowledges, "Kuvira was defeated. She destroyed much of Republic City in the process. The Earth Kingdom monarchy has come to an end – there will still be leaders, but they will be democratically elected."
He raises an eyebrow at her. "I'm sure you don't care to hear my opinion on that. I am glad to hear the people shall not suffer under the fist of such a tyrant, at the very least." He dips his head. "I appreciate the update. Why have you sought me again?"
"I am trying to learn more about bending." She doesn't sit with him, instead staying a good fifteen feet away. Even without his bending, she's hesitant being so close to him again. The breeze blows across her neck and arms, sending a chill through her, but she will not let fear of him control her. "You studied airbending for a long time. I was told only one other person in history has flown. Can you explain how you were able to do that?"
"Guru Laghima." He smiles then. "The greatest poet and philosopher. He was the wisest air nomad to ever live, and spent the last forty years of his life untethered from the earth. He paved the way. All I did was study his teachings, mindful that reading does not mean retaining. Laghima says wisdom is formless – it is not words on a page, nor words from a mouth. It is intangible, and yet knowable."
"Yeah, yeah." Korra blows her bangs out of her face, irritated. "But how? Can you describe the mechanics behind this? You stepped off a precipice, knowing you wouldn't fall. You had faith that you could access this ability."
"I wasn't certain. But Guru Laghima taught that for self-realization, we must let go of all things that keep us bound to this world."
"Our 'earthly tethers'."
Zaheer folds his arms. He is not one to show his discomfort, but the tension in his muscles and face become discernible now. "That day, I lost the love of my life. There was nothing more keeping me bound to the earth. I am surprised your teachers have not informed you what sacrifices must be made to step ever closer to enlightenment. There were many past lives of yours that chose to love no one, to move beyond their base desires, to prevent their minds from being clouded by superfluous devotion and distraction."
She doesn't like that quality. Many Avatars sacrificed any semblance of a normal life to become what the world needed, but this is an unfair expectation. Even if Zaheer believes it to be true, it's nonsense to suppose that a fully realized person must not let themselves be distracted by love. An empty mind should not require an empty heart.
"Or about the doors," Korra recalls the gap in her education. "Opening a door inside your mind, through thought. Is that what you mean? No one really explained that to me."
"Opening a chakra. They're more like spiraling disks or pools of energy that flow from one to the next, from root to crown inside you. To have a chakra remain closed spells frustration, anger, sadness, anxiety. It affects you physically, mentally, and it affects your ability to bend. To have a clear mind and clear chakras is to become the highest version of yourself."
Korra has heard the word before during some book lessons regarding chi, the subtle body, and other psycho-physiological aspects of bending. It's a vague memory, but she remembers a drawing of a human, with seven points marked from the base of the spine to the top of the head. They were numbered, colored, labeled with terms like 'water' or 'sound'. But it didn't seem important at the time.
"Her death opened a chakra in you," Korra understands. She doesn't understand why it would take the death of a loved one to improve oneself though. It changes your frame of mind, but what is gained surely isn't worth what is lost. "She was a combustionbender. We tried to find more information on that style and didn't find a lot. How does that ability work?"
He is not completely detached from her, Korra can sense, as his lip twitches with irritation. "I'm afraid her life story is none of your concern," he states. "If you're wondering if it involves unblocking a chakra, then yes, it's more of the same. What's your goal here?"
She doesn't ask anything more about the combustionbender, but wonders if it may actually have been trauma that did this to her, like that book said. Drowning. She also doesn't disclose her inability to contact the past Avatars; she won't let Zaheer feel as if he succeeded in anything, even if he wasn't responsible for that.
"How do I open my chakras?" she asks instead.
Zaheer's gaze is steady on her, analyzing her posture and expression. "You have already opened one," he discloses. "Maybe more than that. You came to me before, consumed by fear with the spirit world inaccessible to you. Remember what it took to restore your connection. It was not a matter of dismissing all fear, but acknowledging it, and not letting it rule and misguide you."
He's right, she realizes, at least about this. In overcoming her fear of him, and her fear of the past, Korra simultaneously unlocked the ability to access the spirit world. If she can perfect the flow of chi within her subtle body, with her chakras and mind clear… With nothing to restrain her power, then that would be her best opportunity. She may very well have the ability to do the impossible under the right conditions.
Even with all her turtle-ducks in a row, she doesn't know how reconnection could be possible. But that is a concern for another day.
"Flying is the end result of a mastery of not just airbending, but becoming the personification of what it means to be an airbender," Zaheer explains. "In a similar fashion to earthbenders and immortality. If an earthbender delves into the profound essence of their element, they undergo transformation, embodying the steadfast nature of stone. They may have perpetual life, as Avatar Kyoshi did; it is said she lived to be 270. Whatever power it is you seek, you must look inward, and step beyond all that tries to hold you back."
"Fear," she suggests.
"Fear," he agrees. "Guilt. Grief. Acknowledge the lies you tell yourself. For your power to be limitless, you must break through the limits you alone have set for yourself."
It's good to have friends in high places. Asami smooth-talks their way back into the library under the guise of putting their books away. Wan Shi Tong wants to argue that it is the foxes' job, and they've done this for millennia, but Asami is so insistent. She really just wants to see his marbled halls one more time so she won't forget how beautiful it was. He has to be fond of her, what with the way he tags along with her this time, his head tilting as he watches her re-shelve their too-many books alongside the fox spirits.
As Asami does that, Mako and Korra sneak off with the map in hand. Fourth floor, near a back corner, there's a small section pertaining to just chakras. Asami didn't know what the word meant, either, and no one looked into it during their first trip here. But now, in just a few minutes' time, Mako and Korra hurriedly make their list.
Earth - survival, blocked by fear
Water - pleasure, blocked by guilt
Fire - willpower, blocked by shame
Air - love, blocked by grief
Sound - truth, blocked by lies
Light - insight, blocked by illusion
Thought - pure cosmic energy, blocked by earthly attachments
Well, when you spell it out so clearly… Korra can see which chakras people have opened. Bolin confronted his fear for the sake of survival, and in doing so he was able to lavabend. Zaheer let go his earthly attachments, and in doing so accessed 'pure cosmic energy'. And as Iroh said, shame blocks the ability to lightningbend. When Zuko overcame his shame, he unlocked that ability too.
Korra thinks they're going to get caught taking these notes, but somehow she's able to complete the list without the owl finding them. There are dozens of books that focus on chakras alone, and hundreds more explaining the subtle body, but they don't have time to write anything more than the most rudimentary of lists. She shoves her notes into her bag before she and Mako briskly return to find Asami.
She and the foxes are almost done by the time they find each other. The foxes are very efficient, showing Asami where exactly to shelve each text. When the task is completed, the group makes a show of being appreciative toward Wan Shi Tong. If there is another need to return, it won't be for a while. This has given her a whole list of issues to tackle first.
The trio returns to the material plane almost reluctantly. When they're about to step through the portal, back into Republic City, there's a feeling of sadness that they won't be able to admire the wondrous beauty of the spirit world anymore. But there is much they need to do for the city, especially Korra. If she isn't making soup for the homeless, she still may be needed to clear the streets, or improve the shelter situation, or negotiate policies with officials. She's shoved her duties aside for long enough.
The portal glows a bright yellow, but it's dark as night when they finally do step through. Mako hugs them both, wishing the ladies a good night. "I'll be around," he reassures. "Whenever you need me, whatever you need me for, just let me know. I've got you."
Korra needs advice from Tenzin. He's busy of course, as a council member for Republic City, so he doesn't have much time in his schedule to dedicate to Korra alone.
As the days pass, she does all she can for the city, resuming her role as a 'fixer' even when her presence only proves to agitate some people. There's plenty she can do to help: earthbending to repair walls, waterbending to wash the streets of dust, using her political importance and/or celebrity status to sway police and other authority figures to do what she wants. The nights have started to get cold, so she attends encampments in the evenings, setting the people up with bonfires so the nightly chill doesn't get to them as much.
She helps the airbenders distribute care packages, but nothing is more important than getting these people safely into new homes. The Beifongs begin shifting their attention to the outskirts, expanding the city with makeshift stone lodgings. Korra tries to meet every civilian she can, doing her best to assuage their anxieties with words of comfort and support. She's present now; after everything that happened, the people need her to be here.
On the third day she finds Bolin and steals him away for a while to practice lavabending. He makes a pool of lava in the earth and suggests she try to push it to and fro, but even this simple maneuver is beyond her ability. Even though she's never moved lava before, her continued failure to do so now is confusing. She read that the earth chakra deals with survival and is blocked by fear. This is what Bolin unlocked to lavabend, certainly, as he once faced his fears and pushed lava back, his desperation to survive overruling all. But if Korra's earth chakra is indeed open, as Zaheer had claimed, it does not grant her the ability to lavabend so easily.
Tenzin is able to spend an hour with her on the sixth day. Korra explains to him what she's learned of chakras, and how having all of them open and clear would help her chi flow best, enabling her to become a more powerful Avatar. He agrees with this logic, but warns it's beyond most individuals' abilities to accomplish such a feat. It is not human nature to be free of emotional discontent.
Tenzin brings her to the family library at Air Temple Island. Aang collected many books in his time and Tenzin followed in his footsteps, filling this small room floor to ceiling with scrolls and manuscripts. Many texts are precisely what she needs as they focus on personal growth and spirituality. He pulls a book from one shelf, showing her again the chakra locations laid over the outline of a human body.
"You should be able to feel them," Tenzin says. "Meditate inward. If you're adept at feeling the flow of chi, look deeper. Feel where the energy stagnates. Return to this book for reference. With your list, and this guide, you should be able to pinpoint which emotion is stifling you."
She examines the illustration. Some of its labels differ from her notes, like the earth chakra pertaining to 'grounding' and 'family' instead of survival. There's some handwritten words here too, but it's all flowery prose and abstract analogies that falls a bit beyond her comprehension.
"Aang was able to open his chakras?" asks Korra. As an air nomad, she assumes he was wise enough to pursue this form of spiritual self-betterment.
Tenzin nods, face stern. "Yes. When he was a boy, he was guided by a guru into opening all of his chakras, but stopped short of the last one. He could not access the Avatar state and was forced to fight the Fire Lord without the ability. But a strike to his back forcibly opened it."
Again with the physical injury. Korra grimaces, adding that information to her notes. A blocked chakra seems like a knot within a muscle, where you must relax enough to clear it, but sometimes manual adjustment works when all else fails. She considers how hard she'd have to knock her head to see Aang again.
"Were other Avatars able to access such a state? You don't need to open them all to access the Avatar state, right?"
"Correct. Aang only blocked his access to the Avatar state as he intentionally refused to open the final one. I'm not certain who, but I'm sure many Avatars have sought this very same knowledge. The air nomads throughout history were vital in helping the Avatars reach spiritual wellness and inner peace."
Tenzin gives her tips on mindful meditation so she may have an easier time addressing any inner strife. Eventually they sit mirroring each other, legs crossed and hands resting palm-up in their laps. Eyes closed, Tenzin leads her through the process of feeling her body, her subtle body, feeling the flow of chi within. She searches for the chakras within her; she imagines they're like bundled knots of string, or like ponds clouded by algae. She thinks maybe she feels more chi flowing throughout her central column, but it doesn't feel separated into seven tiers at all.
She starts to get frustrated, which makes Tenzin chastise her for not keeping a clear mind for this process. Some time passes before she's ready to give up, having achieved nothing.
"There's another method," he says, standing to fetch something from another room. When he returns, he has a diamond shaped pendulum on a string. "Lay flat. This will show areas of inactivity within you."
She does so, feeling awkward as she lays across the wooden floor.
Tenzin kneels beside her and holds the pendulum inches above the crown of her head. Korra watches it idly, wondering what it should be doing. It starts out still, and only swings the tiniest amount above her.
"Is that good?" she asks.
Tenzin frowns. "Counter-clockwise. This means your thought chakra is closed. But do not apply the notions of good or bad to each of these, as we go. Chakras close to help us address the emotions that bother us. Only through being held back can we later step forward with purpose and clarity. This is just a way to identify what comes naturally to you, and what you need to work on."
When his hand lingers over her forehead, the pendulum swings much more wildly. Clockwise.
"That's good," Korra knows.
He shoots her a look of annoyance. "Light chakra," he says for this one. Whatever pleasure she had at the knowledge she has a chakra open is wiped away as Tenzin moves the pendulum above her mouth. Counter-clockwise, small circles. "Sound chakra, closed."
It continues.
Over her heart, "Air chakra, closed."
Over her stomach, "Fire chakra, closed."
Lower still, "Water chakra, closed."
Finally, below her torso, it wobbles back into a clockwise circle.
"Earth chakra, open," Korra says for him. He confirms it and helps her back into a sitting position. The pendulum is deposited into her hands to keep. "Thank you for this. I want to do everything I can to reunite Raava with the past Avatars. If I'm my best self, then that gives me a better shot to accomplish something so improbable."
"That's a noble goal," he says sagely. "This journey may help you. I'm afraid I'm not the best person to guide you through unlocking each chakra. My father's guru is no longer with us. The fire sages to the south may be able to help you sense things more clearly if the pendulum is not clear enough. Take your time, and broach one by one. Just don't do what Aang did and dig your heels in, refusing to change."
Korra sighs. So much growth since she left the Southern Water Tribe and came to Republic City all those years ago. Amon, Unalaq and Vaatu, the Red Lotus, Kuvira. After everything she went through, everything she's learned, she still only has two of the seven free of significant blockage.
"I want to advise you as best I can here," Tenzin says. "Do you recall the story of Avatar Kouji?"
It's a bitter story to recall. Avatar Kouji existed a hundred lifetimes ago it seemed, but his name carried through all that time because he had one of the most tragic stories of any Avatar. "The boy," Korra confirms, unsure why he's reminding her. "He was the youngest Avatar to die. He hadn't even mastered his native element."
"He hadn't mastered his native element," Tenzin agrees. "A sickness took him, and many other people in his homeland, before it was their time. But the next Avatar in line was fundamental to restoring the balance of the world. There was great spiritual imbalance, and war broke out across several fronts. An air nomad with an appropriate temperament proved to be a great intermediary for them all. If the Fire Nation had retained their Avatar, then their role in the war may have been drastically more destructive."
"So it's a good thing Kouji died?" Korra shakes her head, upset by the suggestion. "He was a child. He could have just as easily restored balance to the world as a fire-born Avatar."
"He could have," Tenzin says. "But I want to emphasize that the Avatar fills the role of what the world needs. Time and time again, the Avatar saves us and protects us, in ways we may not fully understand. Some suspect there is predestiny responsible for the Avatar's life. Fate guiding your path. Indeed, the end of the line of Avatars was predicted by someone long ago. The Southern Air Temple has a statue room with a figure of every Avatar, from Wan to Aang. But space for the Avatars ends there. There is no room for statues of any incarnations after you, Korra." Hurt blooms in her at his words, but he explains, "The monks knew the cycle would end. A new chapter for the Avatar begins in you. You are the beginning of another ten thousand years, in a second cycle. There is no shame in that."
"I can't accept that." She's disappointed he doesn't believe in her, or doesn't believe this is possible. "No. There is too much knowledge and wisdom to be found in my past lives for me to forsake their memories. I cannot bear to think of future incarnations having no one but me to guide them. I can't possibly give good advice to children with the world on their shoulders."
"You are wiser than you know." He stands then, giving her a weak smile that she doesn't return. "I'm sure you understand many things I do not, as well. I wish you peace and wellness in the difficult path ahead."
"What's the next chakra I need to unlock?" she asks, turning back to her book for a moment. "The thought chakra?" She traces from the top down, but he corrects her, starting from the bottom up. If earth is open, the next for her would be the water chakra. "Blocked by guilt. Deals with pleasure? What do they mean by 'pleasure'?"
He gives her a long, steady look.
"The water chakra concerns desire. Physical gratification… Things of that nature." His face turns red as he turns to leave. "You're a grown woman. Don't make me explain it, Korra."