Speaking of updates! In addition to the pretty new picture you hopefully saw, I did a little tinkering with Episode One, nothing major though, just fixing the tense to match the rest of the story. Eventually I'd like to have a picture for each chapter so let me know if you come across something that would fit nicely!

Note to self: Don't post on weekends! Please bookmark the story so you'll know it's been updated in case I get knocked off the front page so quickly again ^_^

Chapter Text

Avatar: The Legend of Korra

Book Five: Love

The dreams started a few days later. Vivid, terrifying, dreams of being stalked by a shadowy figure. Sometimes I would run, sometimes I would fight back, sometimes my friends and family were there to help me... it didn't matter, it always consumed me in the end. With every step it takes the grass, the trees, the water, all of it begins to wither and dry, as if life cannot exist in its presence. 'Av... a... tar...' over and over again it calls out to me as if tasting, savoring, every syllable. Every morning I wake, shivering and sweating, to Asami's worried attention. She tells me it's getting worse as the days go by, that I'm becoming more and more strained during my sleep.

I find myself becoming more wary of projecting into the Spirit World to keep watch over the Badlands, fearing the dark figure will be waiting to pounce and consume me the instant my body materializes. The fear and the shame it brings with it combines with the restless sleep and I find myself losing my patience, both with the Future Industries employees and the wild spirits. I can feel the crushing self-doubt I experienced while overcoming Zaheer's poison attempting to claw its way back to the surface and it terrifies me even more than the dreams. The first time I find myself about to snap at Asami is when it strikes home just how unbalanced I was becoming. I needed to know who or what was haunting the Badlands and my dreams if I was to prevent myself from falling back into despair.

–

Episode Five: Entity (Part One)

–

“Jinora,” I murmur, focusing my thoughts on the girl and reaching out for the tendrils of the connection we'd formed during Harmonic Convergence.

It takes several minutes of intense focus before a hazy image of the girl starts to appear followed by faint, muffled sounds. I watch in confusion as the color of her body rapidly changes back and forth between red and green and she appears to be muttering some bizarre chant. Eventually the haze clears and the world around me comes into focus and I let out a little chuckle at the realization that she was holding different colored dresses up against herself while looking in a mirror and fretting with herself. She pauses for a second at my laughter, seemingly unsure as to whether or not she actually heard something. Deciding that I could use a little fun after all the stressful nights I float down to the ground and move my mouth right behind her ear.

“I like the red one,” I whisper in as haunting a tone as I can manage.

I'm grateful that sound comes across as fairly muffled when communicating like this because the high pitched shriek of surprise she lets out at the sound of my voice is amazing. She spins around to look at me, rolling around in air of the room, holding my sides with laughter. She gives me the fiercest glare she can manage while still trying to catch her breath, laughter of her own starting to bubble up to the surface now that the fear has passed.

“Korra! You're horrible!” she shouts, grinning for a moment before realization strikes. “Hey, you've gotten pretty good! Your image is a lot clearer than before,” she says, walking around my projection and looking it up and down.

“I've been exercising my spirit muscles a lot more than I used to, and my teacher was pretty awesome,” I say, reaching out to motion ruffling her hair even though my hand passes right through her. “It's good to see you, kiddo, Asami and I have missed you guys so much.” At the mention of Asami the girl's face turns as red as the dress she's holding. “Something wrong?”

“Oh nothing...” she murmurs, suddenly unable to meet my gaze. After an awkward pause she shakes her head as if to clear it and looks back up at me, still a hint of color in her cheeks. “What brings you here, Korra?”

All the cheer I'd managed to build up quickly dies away.

“I need you to be my spirit guide again, I have to speak to Wan Shi Tong and I don't have time to find his library on my own,” I say, feeling a pang of regret as her face falls. Jinora's betrayal and capture at the behest of the ancient spirit had left her somewhat wary of the Spirit World, and here I was asking her to go right to the source of her turmoil. “I'm sorry, Jinora, I wouldn't ask if it wasn't important.” I look around the room at the scattered outfits and sigh. “And you're getting ready for a date too... wow, I'm really not feeling like a good friend here.”

“It's okay, I told you to reach out to me if you needed help,” she says, offering a small smile to reassure me.

“Thank you so much, Jinora! Are you able to bring me in from here or do I need to return to my body and project in normally?”

She thought about it a moment and shook her head.

“Maybe eventually... but I'd rather play it safe, give me like ten minutes and I'll come find you on the other side. Where do you project in from where you're at?”

I think of the Fog of Lost Souls and her imprisonment there and frown.

“It's complicated... it'd probably be best if I find you, shouldn't take me too long.” She mirrors my frown, suspicious, but nods. “Thanks again ,Jinora, hopefully we'll have you back in plenty of time for your date!” I finish with a wink, severing the connection and returning to my body.

“Where you able to reach her?” Asami asks, helping me to my feet when I reach out for her.

“Yeah, gonna meet up with her in the Spirit World.”

“You know I don't like you running off without me... stupid lack of connection to the spirits...” she murmurs, kicking sullenly at the floor.

“Aww, don't pout! I don't like it either. If I thought we had time to go through a portal we would.”

“You remember everything we went over?” she asks for what had to be the fifteenth time today.

“Yes... you very thoroughly and lovingly beat it into my head,” I say, trying to get a smile out of her.

She's still frowning, but she nods. I give her a lopsided grin, digging deep within myself for some positivity to pass onto her. I reach out to tilt her face toward mine, miming like I'm going in for a kiss only to continue dipping down, leaving her standing there with her lips pursed as I use her shoulders for support to stretch out my legs and back. Her glaring face when I pop back up to my feet is absolutely adorable so I steal a quick kiss off of it before dropping back down into my meditative pose.

“You'll pay for that...” she says, a hint of a smile in her words.

“You're gonna draw something on my face while I'm gone, aren't you?”

“I'm seriously considering it!” she chimes, and the warmth in her voice washes away some of the tension that had been building up inside me.

“Worth it...”

–

As we travel, I fill Jinora in on what had been happening lately, her face growing more and more grave as the story unfolds. She's quiet for a long while after I finished, deep in thought.

“It's happening here too, not nearly as bad as it sounds in the Fire Nation, but there's a feeling of... uneasiness I guess. There's also a lot more Spirits coming through the portal than there used to be. Knowing what I do now, I'd say they're probably running from whatever is out there.”

“And that's why I need to know what it is and hopefully how to stop it. We went through too much to carve out the little bit of balance we have now to just let it fall apart...”

We travel the rest of the way in silence, Jinora slowing to a stop as the upside down library comes into view.

“How are you going to convince him to tell you anything? He pretty much stabbed you and all of humanity in the back,” she says bitterly, a wary fear in her eyes as she stares at the hanging structure.

“Asami came up with a plan.”

“Asami?”

I turn and smile, noticing her turn away slightly to avoid looking me in the eye.

“When I told her everything I knew about Wan Shi Tong she said he reminded her of a lot of snobby rich people she'd met that fancy themselves as collectors and gave me some advice on how to deal with him. Hopefully I can get the information I need and settle a few scores with him at the same time,” I say, hands clenching into fists.

“Korra...”

I let the anger simmer down a little and turn to offer Jinora my hand.

“If you want to face your fears then come with me. No matter what happens I won't let him hurt you,” I say, trying to put as much resolve into my voice as possible. Jinora looks at the hand, then at my face, then over at the waiting library. She bites her lip, takes a deep breath, and puts her hand in mine. “That's my girl!”

My stomach turns slightly at the reorientation of the world as we approach the building. I wasn't sure I'd ever get used to the oddities of the Spirit World no matter how much time I spent here. We drift down through the open ceiling and land on an intersecting bridge, Jinora gripping tight to my hand and casting nervous glances at every shadow.

“Wan Shi Tong, I am Avatar Korra! I'm here to collect on debts you owe!” I shout, voice reverberating through the quiet halls.

“I know who you are, I am Wan Shi Tong, he who knows ten-thousand things!” a voice replies from above... below... whatever. The great spirit of knowledge flutters into the room and lands in front of us. “What I do not know is why someone who should know that humans are no longer allowed here would bring one to my library speaking of debts which do not exist. Go away or I'll remove you,” he says, anger mixed with confusion and what I hope is curiosity in his voice.

“Peace,” I say, “I merely come seeking information, help me find it and all debts will be forgiven.”

He stares at me, head tilting so far to one side that it was nearly upside down. I keep my face intentionally blank and eventually the feathers around his neck ruffle and his head turns right-side up.

“What are these debts you speak of? I have made no deals with you, Avatar Korra, and any deals I might have had with previous Avatars were voided with their deaths.”

“The debts you owe aren't to me, they're to knowledge,” I say conspiratorially.

“What nonsense is this? I have done more than any to preserve and treasure knowledge, I am he who...”

“Knows ten-thousand things, yes. But someday don't you want to be he who knows twenty-thousand things? Thirty-thousand?” He ponders my words, the feathers of his neck smoothing out. “You sided with Unalaq because he was a friend to the Spirits, this is something I understand completely,” I say, giving Jinora's hand a reassuring squeeze when I feel it start to go limp in mine. “Humans lied to you, used the knowledge you had so carefully preserved for violence and destruction. You hated them because they showed such disrespect for the wisdom gained here, correct?”

“This is true, humans are wasteful, hateful creatures who only know how to destroy.”

I smile as he takes the bait.

“So we're in agreement then, that you, by siding with Unalaq, pawn of Vaatu, the Spirit of Chaos who wanted to create ten-thousand years of darkness and corrupt all the spirits into near mindless beasts in the process, are also guilty of disrespecting the wisdom gained here, correct?”

“What?! That's not... I...” he trails off, suddenly standing bolt upright.

I press on.

“Imagine all the things in the world you had yet to learn about that would have been destroyed. Imagine all the things that had yet to be created that would no longer come to be. Your actions nearly caused the pursuit of knowledge to become meaningless!”

As I finish his head began to turn, twisting almost completely around in one direction before slowly circling back around and then in the opposite direction. I could only hope that this meant he was considering my words and not planning some means of killing of us. After three rotations of left to right he blinks and leans down to regard me closely.

“What you say is... true,” he admits begrudgingly. “My actions were shortsighted and would have hindered the progress of knowledge. I assume you wish for me to open my library to you in atonement for my actions, very well, the knowledge of Wan Shi Tong is at your disposal, Avatar. Tell me what...”

“I said I was here to collect debts, implying more than one,” I say, interrupting him. “You also wronged my friend Jinora,” I say, letting a hint of anger through into my voice. “You took someone who came to you seeking wisdom, offered them your hospitality, then played part in having them cast into The Fog Of Lost Souls, a place where nothing can be learned, only forgotten. You caused a girl who loved to read and learn more than anyone I've ever met to be afraid to explore not only her own potential, but an entire new world. If that isn't a crime against knowledge then I don't know what is!”

The spirit turns to regard Jinora curiously and, to her credit, she faces him completely openly and honestly, hiding neither the fear nor the anger that had been building inside of her since his betrayal.

“Agreed,” he says simply, Jinora lets out a relieved breath. “This human shall also be welcome in my library whenever she wishes.”

“And you owe her an apology,” I say, wanting to put him in his place a little and knowing he didn't have a choice if he wanted to keep his dignified air.

“Forgive me, Jinora, granddaughter of Avatar Aang, for the wrongs I have done to you in your pursuit of knowledge,” he says, bowing low and offering her one of his massive talons.

She regards it nervously for a moment before smiling at me and reaching out to shake it.

“And you owe her some spirit cake, enough for two people... to... help her study,” I say, barely keeping the smug grin from my face, Jinora has to cover hers up with a rather fake sounding cough.

The great owl spirit mutters something under his breath, glares at me, then gestures to one of his knowledge seeker spirits which promptly runs off deeper into the library.

“Thanks Korra,” Jinora whispers, giving me a warm smile.

“Anytime kiddo,” I whisper back.

“Now that all debts have been settled,” he says, glaring a warning at me not to press my luck, “tell me what you have come here to learn.”

I hesitate slightly, fearing what I might find as images from the dreams drift through the back of my mind.

“Lately I've been having dreams of a shadowy figure stalking me, calling out my name. Whatever it is, it's frightening the wild spirits of the Fire Nation and causing spirits to flee in droves through the newly opened Spirit Portal. I can sense it's presence when I'm near The Fog of Lost Souls, and it's coming closer every day. What I need to learn from you is what lives in the Badlands of the Spirit World and how to stop it.”

The great owl's eyes widen and his beak begins to vibrate, letting out a low chattering sound that is oddly unnerving coming from so large a creature.

“What?! The Nameless One of Qiliang Zhi Dì survives?! Why didn't you say so when you first arrived?! Come quickly, you have much to learn!” he shouts, fluttering off into the stacks of books.

Jinora looks and I look at each other, a mix of surprise and fear mirrored on both our faces.

“That.. can't be good...” I murmur, dread filling me with every step I take as we follow the terrified spirit.

–

“Why do I feel worse now that I know what's coming?” I sigh, lifting off into the air, Jinora's clammy hand in mine. “Still, gotta hand it to Asami, her plan worked like a charm. Probably went a lot better than mine would have...”

“Oh? What were you gonna do?”

“I was gonna punch him in his stupid bird face until he told me what I wanted to know,” I say with a chuckle, but it's shaky, mostly humorless.

I can feel Jinora's eyes on me and glance out of the corner of my eye to see her looking at me with concern before nodding as if affirming something to herself.

“Hey Korra... I want to tell you something,” Jinora murmurs as we land outside the Library.

I try to hide the worry in my eyes as I look down at her, and am instead caught off guard by the sight of her nervous blushing face.

“Something bothering you, kiddo?”

“I um... I didn't want to say anything before but after hearing all that...”

“Just in case?” I offer with a sad smile, she nods.

“Um... I just wanted to say... that you and Asami are a really cute couple!” she bursts out.

That was probably the last thing I had been expecting her to say.

“W-What? Oh... Tenzin! You suck at keeping secrets!” I shout, shaking my fist in what I hoped was his direction.

“Wait, Dad knows?” she asks in surprise, then slowly the blush on her face manages to deepen a shade. “Oh that must have been really embarrassing...”

I slap a hand to my forehead, the shock to my already unstable system taking it's toll.

“Okay, let's just start from the beginning, how did you find out?”

“Um...” she murmurs, pressing the tips of her index fingers together. “I projected myself out to come visit you and see if you wanted to do some more spirit training. When I showed up Asami was there... and the two of you were alone in your tent... and... um... you were busy,” she manages to whisper, turning away to hide her face in her hands.

“Oh Spirits!” I shout, burying my own face in my hands. Slowly, the gears in my brain turn and realization dawns on me. “Oh no, you thought Tenzin also saw... oh, ew ew ew ew ew! No! Just... no! He found a note I left when we went on vacation and figured it out!” I shout. She turns and looks at me hopefully and I nod, the two of us sharing a relieved sigh. “Well, I'm sorry you had to find out like that, but yeah... thanks for saying that we're cute together, your support means the world to us.”

“It's true,” she says, beaming up at me.

“Just... keep it to yourself for now, we want it to tell everyone in person.”

“Of course!”

“Oh, and next time to you decide to pop in, do it during the daytime so you don't catch another eyeful,” I say with a laugh, embarrassment finally starting to fade.

“Korra... it was during the daytime,” she adds, smiling shyly.

“Oh... oh right...” I murmur, lopsided grin forming on my face, “maybe you should just stay outside the tent and shout from there first,” I say awkwardly, hiding my face in my hands again to keep my grin from showing. I hear giggling and peek out between my fingers to see her smiling up at me and reach out to pull her into a tight hug. “Thanks kiddo... I needed something to make me smile...”

–

Word spreads throughout the world and within two days the single greatest collection of warriors and brilliant minds in the world are set to gather on Air Temple Island... our friends and loved ones. All I had done was contact them out of the blue and tell them that unspeakable danger was approaching, their response was to come running. I had never been so proud or so grateful in my entire life. Despite the gravity of the situation we were heading into, Asami and I were both so happy for the chance to see them all again. Asami couldn't wait to show off her new necklace...

We were both halfway down the landing ramp before it even touched the ground, leaping into the collective arms of Bolin, Mako, and Opal. Hugs, stories, laughs, and complaints about being left out of the vacation to the Spirit World were shared in equal amounts. It was a wonderful moment I won't ever forget...

–

“Oh, that's beautiful!” Opal exclaims, noticing Asami's necklace once things have calmed down a little. “Where did you...” her eyes light up with realization. “Oh! Oh wow!” she shouts, clapping a hand over her mouth.

Mako sees it next, a little self-satisfied smirk appearing on his face as if confirming something he already knew. He gives us a little nod of approval and the two of us return it with a smile.

Bolin looks between the two of them, then at Pabu sitting on his shoulder and shrugs, confusion plain on his face.

“Am I missing something?”

The collective sigh could have altered the course of a hurricane.

“Don't you want to complement Asami on her pretty new necklace?” Opal asks, failing to disguise her clenched teeth as a smile.

Bolin looks at Asami's necklace, his eyes starting to sparkle, then up at Asami who smiles back and nods, his feet start to do a giddy little shuffle as he turns to me and I try to hold the sniffles in as I give him a nod of my own.

“Korra...” he squeaks with unbridled joy, “who is Asami getting married to?!”

Even Pabu sighed this time.

“Oh... you're lucky you're handsome,” Opal says sadly, patting him on the head.

“Hey, you guys are being mean...” he says with a frown that almost immediately shifts into a cocky grin as he strokes his chin,“though I am handsome.”

“Ugh,” Mako groans in disgust.

Opal, taking pity on Bolin, takes his face in her hands and guides it as she speaks.

“Hon, look at the Avatar symbols on the Water Tribe Betrothal Necklace, then look at Korra, the Avatar and a member of the Water Tribe, then look at who's hand Korra is holding...”

Asami and I, trying our hardest not to laugh, lean in close to press our cheeks together as we raise our joined hands and wiggle our fingers at him.

“Oh,” he says nonchalantly, “right, I totally knew that, congrats you two!” he says, giving us a thumbs up as he takes a single large slow step toward Mako. “Hey Bro...” he whispers behind his hand, loud enough for anyone within twenty feet to hear. “I think I found out why you got dumped so hard!”

“Shut up, Bolin!” Mako growls.

With that, all of us dissolve into laughter, eventually interrupted by the sound of a loud happy bark from an approaching Naga. She practically bowls the others out of the way and does her best to drown me in kisses before stopping and sniffing at Asami and her necklace. Naga pulls back, looking Asami in the eye and tilting her head curiously.

“I hope you don't mind sharing Korra with me, girl,” Asami says, reaching out and scratching the polar bear dog behind the ear. “I think with the two of us working together we can keep her out of trouble.”

Naga, tongue lolling in an approving doggy grin, gives her a big sloppy kiss before leaning in to nuzzle her head between us.

“I missed you too girl,” I murmur, stroking her soft fur and sniffling back tears as I look around at all the smiling faces, feeling the love and support wash over us. “I missed all of you so much...”

–

It takes an awkward cough from Zuko, who had been standing behind on the landing ramp as we reunited with Opal and the boys, to bring us back to reality. It's a little unfortunate, I could have stayed in the warmth of that moment forever if it had been possible. We proceed into the large meeting hall to greet the rest of our assembled group. Asami and I paused outside the room, gripping each other's hands tight for support. Apart from a minor worry about Mako, we hadn't expected much resentment from our closest friends. The others were older though and possibly leaning on the traditional side as far as Tenzin and Lin were concerned. It wasn't much, but the worry had always been there.

Tenzin surprised us right as the doors opened with a hug for each of us, followed by a lengthy admonishment about the risk we took running off like we did and about taking my responsibilities as the Avatar more seriously. It was honestly the best response we could have hoped for with him. We received a hug and a hand squeeze of support from Kya... along with a loud profession of jealousy and weary personal story about her wasted youth. From Bumi we received a simple thumbs-sideways as he was currently laid out on a sofa, violently ill after an Airball mishap.

I could feel a knot tighten in my stomach as Lin approached, her usual steely eyed glare out in full force. She merely glanced at the necklace before turning to complement me on my Metalbending as she awkwardly offered her hand. There was something... odd in her voice, and now that I was looking more closely even the grim expression on her face seemed forced. Asami noticed it too, and the mischievous grin that formed on her lips made me both nervous and excited for whatever that brain of hers was cooking up. She turned to me and smiled, using the subtlest of gestures to inform me of her plan, I couldn't keep the lopsided grin off my face if I tried. As one, we stepped forward, each of us taking one of Lin's arms and simultaneously planted a kiss on her flushing cheeks. The roars of her protest mixed in with the roars of laughter from the rest of the room, all of the tension gone. Lin stormed off to take a seat on one of the sofas, red faced and muttering, almost instantly joined by Kya whose grin held the promise of teasing for a lifetime.

We were informed by an acolyte that a Water Tribe ship had been sighted so we settled in to wait for the last of our party. The glow about Asami as she mingled with our old friends was absolutely stunning to look at, and I very much suspected that I shared in that glow. The two of us had overcome yet another milestone on the path towards our future together. Though neither of us had suspected the reveal of our relationship to people we had grown so close to would go too badly, the overwhelming support we received had brought with it a sense of relief. The doors opened soon after to admit Father, striding purposefully, stern expression on his face... until his eyes fell on the Betrothal Necklace and then he was running towards us, veering off towards Asami and lifting her up in a hug to spin her around several times before one burly arm shot out to pull me into it as well, shouting about how happy Mom would be when we showed her. Asami had been absolutely right about how pleased keeping the traditions we could alive would make them.

Once again it was a polite cough that brought us back into the here and now. This time not from Zuko, but Katara who had entered the room at Father's side. Sheepishly, he puts us down and we pay our respects to the matron of the Water Tribe. She merely smiles and waves it away, telling me how proud she is of the woman I'm becoming. The connection I share with Katara has always been a little awkward, knowing that in a past life I had loved this woman more than anything in the world. She had always been kind to me, but there was a pain there too... a sense of loneliness that I feared the love of my life would someday share. I turn to look at Asami and I can feel a pain of my own throb in the deepest recesses of my heart; the knowledge that I too would move on someday and love another and, spirits willing, a thousand more after that. I didn't know it now, but that thought would worry at the back of my mind for the rest of my life...

I sighed, realizing that the good times were about to come to an end as I gathered everyone's attention at the center of the room. It was time to create a battle plan to defeat a being that could Bend the very essence of life itself...

–

To be continued...