"Ohm...Ohm...Ohm..."
"Bolin, what are you doing?"
"Trying to get into the spirit world," He explained to Tenzin.
"Saying 'Ohm' over and over again isn't going to help, so stop doing that before you drive me crazy!"
"How would you know?", Bumi pointed out. It's pretty clear you don't know anything about how to get into the Spirit World."
Bolin was sure that would start an argument, but instead, Tenzin just sighed. "I suppose that's fair."
"You know, this is a lot less fun when you don't put up a fuss," Bumi grumbled.
"But it's true! I don't have the connections with the spirits like I wanted...like Dad wanted me to have...I let him down."
"Will you shut up?", Kya groaned. "You didn't let Dad down. None of us did."
"But Bumi said-"
"He likes messing with you, remember? We talked it out with Dad a long time ago. And Mom too when...all that fighting brought up bad memories."
"Mom?"
"I, uh, called her because you guys were arguing so much," Bolin explained. He expected a lecture about keeping out of family business, but Tenzin kept his focus on his siblings.
"Oh. Well, I want to apologize again, it's just...I know why you didn't come to his lessons, but...he wanted you there. I just didn't want you to think he loved you any less."
"We know," Kya told him. "But we're all here together now. I'd think he'd like that."
"Yeah, so stop acting like you're the disappointment just because you're no good at this spirit mumbo-jumbo!", Bumi added.
"But Jinora had to guide Korra into the Spirit World instead of me!"
"So?"
"So? Do you have any idea how dangerous it is in there? She's younger than Dad was when he first entered, and he never let me try unsupervised until I had my tattoos!"
"Wonder how long it'll be before she's ready for that, too," Kya pondered.
"I don't even want to think about that right now."
"I just meant she might be able to look after herself a bit, okay?"
"Plus, she's got Dad in there with her too."
"Urgh."
"Hey, the Avatar's been our Dad way longer than the Avatar's been your girlfriend!", Bumi reminded Bolin.
"I know, but I don't wanna think about your Dad when I'm with Korra, and..."
"And you're whaaaaaaat?", Bumi teased, as Bolin went from pink in the cheeks to completely red in the face.
"Nothing."
"Come on, how could a moment with Korra be ruined by thinking about our old, bald, wrinkly Dad?"
"Aaaaaaaaaaaarrghhhhh!"
"Stop picking on him!", Kya intervened. "Both of you!"
"Me?"
"Especially you!", she clarified to Tenzin. "You've had it out for him ever since he and Korra started dating, and he's been nothing but a sweetheart to her and your family this whole time. Tonraq's been nicer to him and he's her actual dad!"
"She's got a point, baby brother. Aunt Toph never treated you like that when you started going out with Lin."
"...You're right. Bolin, I'm sorry for how I've been acting towards you. You haven't deserved that."
"It's fine. I mean, you let me live at Air Temple Island, and you haven't threatened to kick me out for not doing any jobs. Plus, you let me come on your big family vacation, too."
"Well, of course he did. I mean, you're practically part of the family now."
"R...really?" Bolin's smiles were usually ear to ear, but this one was much more reserved, as if to save his hopes from being crushed.
But Kya didn't backtrack on what she'd told him. "You've been living with us for almost half a year, right? Plus Pema and the kids all love you."
"Not to mention you've been dating Da-er, you know", Bumi added.
"T-thank you."
"Alright", Tenzin told them. "We should probably try to get some rest now."
"That's Mr. Stick-in-the-mud's way of saying you can call him Dad."
"No, it's my way of saying you can take the first watch tonight!"
"Fine."
"Let us know if you need company," Kya offered.
"I'll wake you if any interesting spirit-y stuff happens, like their bodies start floating around and you need someone to help you grab them before they fly off!"
"Bumi!"
(-)
"I can't believe it!," Jinora exclaimed. "We're actually in the spirit world!"
Korra knew she couldn't come close to matching the enthusiasm of her guide, but either way, they had to remember what they were here for.
"It's more beautiful than I ever imagined! I don't know where to go first: Hai-Riyo Peak, Xai Bau's Grove, or-"
"Maybe the spirit portal we need to close so that Vaatu can't escape and destroy everything?"
"Sorry," Jinora apologized.
"It's alright. Just don't wander off, okay? I'll see if there's some way we can get directions."
The young airbender did her best to follow Korra's instructions, but she'd taken notice of a flower that became a butterfly, and her curiosity got the better of her. "It's like it's made of jewels! The spirits are so much more beautiful in their own world than they are at home!"
"Jinora, wait up!" The Avatar's attempt to keep up with her guide was hindered at her first step, right into a hole that nearly gave her a sprained ankle.
"Hey, watch where you're going!"
A hole occupied by an unhappy Meerkat prairie dog. Korra apologized and tried to explain why she was there, but things escalated further and further as more of the spirits' neighbors got involved, to the point of trying to use bending.
...Bending that she just remembered she didn't have with her in the spirit world.
The attempted attack didn't go unnoticed by the creatures, and they responded in kind, jumping and latching onto her, creating a ruckus loud enough to capture Jinora's attention.
"Korra, stop, you're upsetting them!", she begged.
"I'm upsetting them?" She tried to make eye contact to illustrate the ridiculousness of what Jinora had just said, but her vision was obscured by the creatures clambering over her.
"It's your energy! You've got to calm down before you make it worse!"
But it was too late. The Meerkat prairie dogs had begun turning into some sort of blobs, covering Jinora in a sticky residue, while the rest of the creatures acted against the perceived threat to their home, encircling the two until a hole opened beneath them and they plunged into the spirit waters below.
Korra tried to lift Jinora and herself out of the water, but again, she couldn't bend, leaving them completely at the mercy of a dark spirit that swallowed them whole, putting the Avatar and her guide into a river rushing down a rocky slope that separated the two while they fell into total darkness.
When Jinora opened her eyes again, it wasn't Korra in front of her, but a different familiar friend. "Furry-foot? You're in here too?"
The coo her spirit companion gave seemed to answer her question, but the young air nomad wasn't really paying attention anyway, too busy trying and failing to wrap her arms around him. Before she would always hold him against her chest in a hug, but now he was so large her hands wouldn't even touch behind his back. "How'd you get so big in here? Never mind, I need to find Korra so we can close the spirit portals, do you know where I can find her?"
Her now-large friend cooed and flapped his wings, leading Jinora through total darkness, until something appeared in the distance.
'Is that a...treehouse?," she wondered as the building came into view.
It wasn't. Though the young air nomad was still able to figure out what it actually was. "That's Wan Shi Tong's library! But Gran-Gran said it was sunken into the desert!"
It must have been transported from the physical world to the spirit world, Jinora realized as she entered.
Jinora had spent so much time in the library back home on Air Temple Island, pouring through books and scrolls long enough to fall asleep there more than once, but that paled in comparison to what was in front of her now. Rows and rows of bookshelves as far as she would see, all filled with knowledge collected over what must have been centuries, no eons, attended to by spirits she'd never seen before.
"There's so much in here," she thought out loud. "I could stay here forever, just...reading."
"The last human who said that is still here."
There was no mistaking who just said that. Wan Shi Tong: A giant owl spirit with a booming voice to match his size, and an outstretched wing that pointed to a skeleton slumped against a bookshelf, still wearing an outfit Jinora recognized from Gran-Gran's stories.
"Professor Zei..." What happened to him? How long had he been able to survive in the spirit world? Decades? Years? Or just a few days? No matter what, it didn't feel like a good idea to ask.
"Since you have some knowledge of the past, you should also know that humans are no longer allowed in my library. Get out."
"But I thought anyone could come in if they brought you some new knowledge?," Jinora argued.
"Those are the old rules. Besides, what has a little girl got to teach Wan Shi Tong, he who knows ten thousand things?"
"Well, since you've been in the spirit world, humans have invented the radio."
"Yes, I am well aware of the radio," the spirit dismissed. "A human communication box that contains a tiny man that sings, talks and plays instruments.
"Actually," Jinora corrected, trying to hide her smugness, "When we speak, our voices produce sound waves. Radio takes those sound waves and converts them into electromagnetic energy that is transmitted through the spectrum-"
"Alright, enough. Apparently I have been fed misinformation about the existence of tiny men in boxes." Wan Shi Tong finished his sentence with a scowl in the direction of a knowledge seeker that slinked off in shame. "Still, I am not interested in that human garbage. Now, go away."
"But my grandfather was the Avatar, and I came here with the new Avatar to open the spirit portals. I'd think you'd want to help me."
"You came with the Avatar? Well, why didn't you say so? Fine, you may look around. But don't break anything- I'll know."
With that, the spirit flew off, leaving Jinora unsupervised to roam the library. "Come on, Furry-foot!" There had to be something in here that could help her, maybe something about Raava and Vaatu, or a map that would get her to the portals.
(-)
"I don't understand," Korra thought aloud, looking down to the injured spirit in her palms.
"What don't you understand, Korra?" Iroh had been by her side, guiding her through this forest of dead trees.
"Any of this! I don't know where I am, why I'm little again, where Jinora is, or how to find her! Nothing in the spirit world makes any sense!"
Iroh chuckled. "Then perhaps it has more in common with the physical world than you think."
"But we need to close the portals to stop Vaatu! Can't you help me find her?"
"Hmmmm. I'm afraid I cannot. But I think I can help you help yourself."
"...What?"
As they reached the end of the forest and entered a clearing, Iroh explained. "If I've learned anything from my many, many years of running a tea shop, it's that better decisions are made from a calm state of mind. So please, relax, and let me introduce you to some of my friends."
While they walked through the clearing to a small house that had a table outside, surrounded by spirits, another question popped into Korra's head. "How'd you end up here in the spirit world?"
"Oh, I've enjoyed the company of spirits for much of my life, and so when my work was done in the material world, I chose to leave my body behind and come to the Spirit World! It can be a wonderful place, and I've made so many friends."
When they came to the table, Iroh introduced her to the spirits. May-Jim was a conjoined frog that was marrying...itself? Or each other? Korra wasn't sure, but she also noticed a pai sho game currently in progress.
"They say that the game of Pai Sho was invented by the spirits," Iroh told her. "Although some of them don't seem to grasp it very well."
"Just hold on, I'm thinking," the radish lotus spirit defended, scratching its head while the wolf spirit across the table eagerly awaited its turn.
Iroh chuckled, and poured Korra a cup of tea, but something about it seemed familiar. "Is that my teapot?"
"That's right. It was yours long, long ago. When you were Avatar Wan, you used it to carry the light spirit, Raava, around- until the two of you became one. It is my favorite thing I found here. Some say you can still taste the light in each cup," he told her as she took a sip.
She sat in a chair, content for a moment until her brow furrowed in jogged memory. "You know about Wan and Raava?"
"I didn't when I first came to live in the spirit world," he explained. "But some friendly spirits told me the story of how they worked together to defeat Vaatu, and created the divide between the two worlds."
Her smile disappeared at the mention of Vaatu, now realizing she'd forgotten why she came to the spirit world. Iroh noticed her worry, and tried to comfort her. "Korra, you're not alone, it's okay."
But it wasn't. "No! It's not okay! Jinora's gone and I need to find her! We need to close the portal and go home!"
"Korra-"
"If I don't find her, Vaatu's gonna destroy everything! I don't like the Spirit World, I don't want to be here anymore!"
"Korra, please, stop! Look at what you're doing to everyone!"
She opened her eyes, and saw the damage she'd caused. All the spirits had darkened, fighting amongst themselves, and the sky above them had turned from clear and bright to dark and stormy. "I...I did this?"
"In the Spirit World, your emotions become your reality, especially for the Avatar, because you are the bridge between the two worlds. You must try to stay positive." Iroh ended his explanation by wiping a tear from her face.
Korra looked over to the spirits. "I'm sorry." With her apology, they returned to their normal state, and the clouds above them cleared away. "I can make the sun shine?"
"Even in the material world, you will find that if you look for the light, you can often find it. But if you look for the dark, that is all you will ever see."
It was good advice, but she still needed to find Jinora. "What am I supposed to do now?"
"Sometimes the best way to solve your own problems is to help someone else." They both looked at the tiny spirit that had nestled itself in the now empty teapot, and it flew into Iroh's hand as a result of the attention it was getting. "This little fellow has lost his friends as well. Maybe if you can help him find them, he can do the same for you."
Korra volunteered with enthusiasm. "Where do I go?"
"The dragon bird nest is located at the top of Hai-Riyo Peak." Iroh walked the path with her for a time until they came to the foot of the peak. "Can't you come with me?"
"This is something you must do on your own."
"But it looks so scary."
"Because the people who have been coming to the Spirit World lately have brought darkness and anger. So that is what you see now. But you have light and peace inside of you. If you let it out, you can change the world around you." Then Iroh stroked the head of the dragon bird Korra was holding in her palms. "Besides, look at this little fellow. This mountain is his home. When you first met him, you were frightened. But does he seem scary to you now?"
Not at all. In fact, he seemed pretty cute. Korra wished she could take him with her back to the physical world. He'd probably get along great with Naga and Pabu.
"Many things that seem threatening in the dark become welcoming when we shine light on them. It was good to meet you. Please, come visit me again. In this life, or the next."
"Okay, bye!" When Korra finished waving, she placed her hand on the mountain and began her climb. "Here we go...light and peace, light and peace.
(-)
"It's so...eerie", Bolin commented, looking at Korra's unmoving frame.
He'd been staring for so long he'd lost track of time, which...wouldn't be the first time such a thing occurred. But when it happened before, Korra would catch on, and give him some form of teasing. That wasn't the case now though, as her body remained still in the meditative, with only the tiny shifts of her breathing giving a sign she was alive. "You're sure she's okay?"
"I told you before, Bolin, that's supposed to happen," Tenzin reassured.
"But how's she supposed to do anything in the spirit world if she's not moving?"
"Because her body isn't in the spirit world, just her spiritual form."
"Sure is boring for us, though," Bumi griped. "I was hoping they'd at least do some funny sleepwalking stuff."
"That isn't supposed to happen, and you know it!"
"But can't we take them back to the temple where there's other stuff to do? Or at least into the shade? It's getting hot out here."
"No, we can't," Bumi told his older brother. "This is the best source of spiritual energy we've been able to find, and it could interfere with their connection if we move them. Besides, we need to keep their bodies in the same place so their spirits can find their way back."
"Ughhhhhhh."
"You're more than welcome to head back to the temple on your own."
"How are we supposed to do that?", Kya pointed out. "We took Oogi here."
"You're taking his side?"
"No...but a pai sho board would be pretty nice right now."
Tenzin just sighed again. "Perhaps you'd like to join me in a meditative exercise to pass the time?"
They didn't. Bumi walked off, muttering something about finding a stick, Kya pulled some water from her pouch to play around with, and Bolin went back to staring at Korra. "So when do you think she'll be back?"
"Probably whenever she closes the spirit portal," Tenzin told him.
"So...like five minutes?"
"Spirits, you sound like Ikki. I don't know, Bolin."
But then Korra's eyes snapped open as she awoke with a gasp, out of the meditative position, leaning back on her hands while she struggled to catch her breath.
Tenzin was the first to speak. "Korra, you're back! What was the spirit world like? Were you able to close the portal?"
She still didn't say anything as the group surrounded her, but they followed her eyes to her younger guide, who remained as still as Korra had been only a minute before.
"Korra...why isn't Jinora waking up?"
Her eyes were brimming with tears as she finally spoke. "Tenzin, I...I'm sorry."
Tenzin ran over and scooped Jinora into his arms, almost frantic. "Korra, what happened? Korra, what happened to my little girl?!"
Notes: Don't have too much to add, sorry for the long wait. Hope you have a great holiday and stay warm!