A/N: Thank you very much to regular reviewers SailorPrende, Sharpe, AsahixMe, Black Dragon Master, devilfiredog18, BrightWatcher, and Aquamirra, as well as to new reviewers KingKaze, kalu.23, and Guest. I'm so glad all of you are continuing to enjoy this story.
18. Tried to summon all that my heart finds true and send it in my letter to you
Dear Korra,
Asami told me you complained that I hadn't replied your letters. I guess turnabout is fair play, isn't it?
No, I'm kidding. I promise, I've been reading all your letters. I haven't been avoiding writing. I just have a lot going on in my head, and it's hard to figure out what to say. I think now I understand a little bit more about why you didn't write, when you were at the South Pole.
So…I guess I'll just…say whatever comes to mind?
I'm doing better. I really am — you can ask Asami if you don't believe me. I've been seeing a mind healer as well — her name is Erin. To be honest, I didn't want to talk to her at first — it started as a mandatory condition I had to fulfil if I wanted to get back to work. But she's actually been a big help. She's been working with me to help me get over a lot of things I didn't know I was still carrying around.
I have a new hobby. There was this glassmaker named Hyung in Zaofu, and I learned a lot from him. I found a workshop here in Republic City I can go to on my days off. I'm terrible at shaping glass still, but at least I understand the basic principles, so I know what I need to work on to improve. It's really helped me retrain my firebending too — did you know glass needs to be heated to over a thousand degrees to be malleable?
I hope the political reforms in the Earth territories are going well. I heard there was some unrest during the Gaoling elections. Was that sorted all right?
Say hi to Prince Wu for me. I hope he's not driving you up the wall. If he ever acts up, just remind him that he's not in Little Ba Sing Se Fashion Mall. He should get what that means.
Uh…I guess I'll end this letter here, but I'll write more soon, promise.
- Mako.
...
Dear Mako,
Finally! It's so great to hear from you!
Honestly, I was a little frustrated not to get any replies from you, especially after Asami told me you'd come back to Republic City. I also have to admit to being a little jealous that you were having lunch with her every week, but I still didn't get a single letter. But I can't really blame you for not writing sooner — I've been where you are, and I get it. And four months is nothing compared to three years.
Sorry about that, by the way. Did I ever properly apologise? I'm doing it now. I really am sorry I didn't write that time. Four months was more than enough for me to figure out how you must have felt not hearing from me. Even though we both know how hard it is to pick up a pen and write when you're feeling that low.
I'm really happy to hear you're doing better, though. I think it's great that you've been working with a mind healer. This Erin sounds like a solid lady. If you don't mind me asking, what were some of these things you had to get over?
Glassmaking, huh? Gotta say, I never would've pictured that for you. How'd you get into it? And no, I did not know that glass required temperatures that high. Are you telling me you can firebend up to 1000 degrees? (Makes me wonder how hot I can make my fire — without the Avatar State, of course).
The Gaoling elections were…problematic. There was a lot of opposition to the vote, and there were rumours of Kuvira supporters under Commander Guan planning to ambush the elections and reinstate the Earth Empire. That's why I couldn't make it for Bolin's birthday — I had to stay to make sure no one tried anything funny. Thankfully, nothing happened on election day itself — but there was an assassination attempt on the newly elected governor two days later, which I stopped. The would-be assassin's stewing in the Gaoling jail right now, awaiting trial. I'm quite sure Guan's got something else up his sleeve, so I'm keeping my eyes open.
Wu says hi back, and claims he's been telling his badgermoles all about how awesome you are. He…has his moments, so I'll keep that tidbit about Little Ba Sing Se Fashion Mall in mind (even though I have no idea what it means). Truthfully, though, Wu does get on my nerves sometimes, but I have to admit he's matured a lot. I think you'd be proud of him. He's taking the lead in a lot of negotiations and he's learning to be a better diplomat all the time. Even if he's not going to be King, I think he could be really great as an Ambassador of the Earth Federation — that is, if I can convince him to give up singing.
Seriously, his singing sucks.
- All my love, Korra.
...
Dear Korra,
First off, I'm sorry it's been a while since my last letter. Things have been crazy at work. The Triple Threats and the Creeping Crystals are at war and it's getting ugly. They're the only major triads still fighting for dominance — the others are laying low after the Triad Squad made a couple of huge busts two weeks ago. Crazy thing happened with Tokuga, by the way — he got possessed by some kind of eel spirit when he tried to claim the spirit wilds around the portal as Triple Threat territory. Now he's like…half scaly and he's got a tentacle for an arm. It's freaky.
As for the 'things' — let's just say I've been burying lot of trauma. I haven't really…talked about much of it with anyone, until Erin. I think I wouldn't mind sharing with you, but not in a letter. I think you of all people would understand — a major injury takes something out of you. That's not the only 'thing', obviously — but it's one of them.
Don't worry, I'm still doing good. I'm actually not seeing Erin as often as I used to, because she reckons I have healthier coping systems now and a good support network. She was very satisfied when I told her I was writing you more or less regularly. She'd been bugging me about it for weeks, saying I shouldn't neglect my friendship with the Avatar and 'cut myself off from a powerful source of support'.
She was right. I've missed you.
I haven't had much time to practice glassmaking lately, but I was in the workshop yesterday and I was actually able to make a half-decent champagne flute. It's annealing now. That's the process where we seal the new glass object in a kiln and let it cool slowly to relieve the structural stresses caused by the molding process. Without annealing, the glass is very fragile and could spontaneously break. I learned that the hard way with one of my earlier attempts. I might give this one to Grandma Yin as a present if it's pretty enough after it comes out of the annealing kiln.
I'm sure whatever Commander Guan is planning, you'll be able to stop it. He doesn't stand a chance with the Avatar protecting Gaoling.
Also, Wu still has those badgermoles?
I'll send this letter with Bolin. He's leaving for Gaoling tomorrow. Varrick and Zhu Li aren't going with him — apparently they have a minor supply crisis to attend to at the South Pole, and they trust Bolin to manage the company's business interests in Gaoling without them. Imagine that — my little brother, a businessman.
Take care of yourself, Korra.
- Mako.
...
Dear Mako,
The first thing Bolin did when he met me in Gaoling was to give me two giant Bolin-hugs. Damn near squeezed my lungs out. He said one hug was from you. Did you tell him to do that?
Things have been pretty eventful here as well. Commander Guan finally made his move — he tried to start a revolution to overthrow the new democratic government. Apparently he was experimenting with brainwashing and wanted to do something with that during the election, but his crony got cold feet at the last moment and backed out, so Guan had to move to Plan B.
There were a lot more people than we expected joining Guan's march. Governor Rhee's forces managed to put down the rebellion, and I took down Guan myself. But the whole thing proved that not everyone's happy about the transition to democracy, so Wu did something that really, really impressed me.
He accepted his position as the Earth King.
I'm not kidding. Wu realised he couldn't just leave the Earth states to democratise themselves, or force them into it quickly. He made this big speech at Gaoling City Hall and announced that he would remain as King and rule throughout the transition period. We're estimating maybe four or five years before he can officially abdicate.
And yes, those badgermoles follow him everywhere. They actually like his singing. He's named them Hwan and Zhi.
Anyway, Gaoling's stable now, so we've moved on to Tu Zin (Bolin promised to help keep an eye out in Gaoling while he's there, just in case). It doesn't look like it'll be nearly as difficult to establish a democratic system here as it was in Gaoling. Hopefully we can wrap it up soon, and then I think I'll visit Republic City for a short while before I meet Wu in Omashu.
I somehow get the feeling that your struggles with your arm are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to your trauma. There's a lot I don't know about you, isn't there? I'm not the most patient of people, but okay, I'll wait till I see you before I ask for more details. I will say that you've actually got me a bit worried now — but I trust you when you say you're still good. I'm sure I'd hear from Asami if you weren't. You know she's been keeping an eye on you, right?
This Tokuga guy sounds like a real piece of work. Trying to claim spirit wilds as triad territory? He's lucky all he ended up with was an ugly eel face. If the spirit wanted to kill him, it could've just possessed him till he died.
You should get Tenzin and the airbenders to help safeguard the spirit portal. We wouldn't want any other idiots getting ideas. Who knows what trouble that would cause with the spirits?
I'm looking forward to meeting up with you when I come home. I've missed you too.
- Love, Korra.
...
Dear Korra,
No, I did not tell Bolin to give you a hug from me. Doesn't surprise me to hear that he did, though. If you really want one, I'll give you a real hug when I see you next. I promise no lung-squeezing will be involved.
I'm glad things are going well in Gaoling now, and it's good to hear that Tu Zin should be easier. And wow, that was unexpected from Wu. Good for him.
I've taken your suggestion about getting the airbenders to guard the spirit portal. They've set up a rotating system for now with the RCPD, and I think Tenzin is in discussion with General Iroh to see if the United Forces can also help.
There haven't been any new developments on the triad front. There's a skirmish every now and then, but nothing big. My squad is trying to get ex-Triple Threats to help us nail Tokuga. He's gotten even more slippery now that he's half-eel. I actually wonder why the spirit didn't just kill him that time (not that I think that would've been better, I'm just wondering).
Oh, they're letting me out in the field full-time again! Erin gave me the go-ahead for field work a few days back, and after some observation Beifong decided I was ready too. So everything is back to normal at work for me. It's been a long time coming. It feels really significant, even though I've been going on occasional raids here and there for a while now. I dunno — I guess it's like…I've made a huge step in my recovery, being able to resume full responsibilities at work.
It feels great.
When you come back to Republic City, let's have lunch. Just the two of us. There's something I need to tell you.
- Love, Mako.
A/N: Fun fact: Huan and Zhi mean 'badger' and 'mole' in Mandarin, respectively. I didn't want to use Huan because we already have Huan Beifong, so I just changed the spelling to Hwan.
Makorra is still going to be a rather slow burn, but now that Mako is more or less stable, it should be showing up more frequently in future chapters. Today was just a taste.
Lyric today is from 'Letter to You' by Bruce Springsteen. Side note: I'm discovering some great artists and songs in my search for lyrical headings for this fic. I'd never listened to Bruce Springsteen before this, but his work is pretty good.