The Spirit of Companionship (part 5)

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"Tell me one reason I shouldn't throw you behind bar and lock you up until this all blows over."

The Chief of Police's tone was oddly calm for the situation. Korra was half expecting to be yelled at, if not punched in the face when Lin walked in น the room, the interrogation room, in which the Avatar had a pleasure to visit for a second time.

"In my defense…" Korra started, hands pulling casually at the handcuff on her wrist. She opened and closed her mouth a couple of times before finally gave up. "Nope. Got nothing. I threw the first punch. Guilty."

"I'm more concerned about the two Wolfbat players that you may or may not break their arms! You know this is different than when you fought those triads, right!?"

"None sense! I only socked the long face guy in the face, and that only broke his nose!" Korra crossed her arm, muttering. "Asami was the one dealing with those two mooks. It wasn't her fault their bones were so fragile."

"What happened to our agreement?" Lin asked as she sat down on the other side of the table. "You promised you're going to leave the Equalist to me."

"Only when it wasn't about me." Korra replied. "When that masked freak was all about equality and other nonsense, you do you." She pointed two finger-guns at Lin, then pointing both thumps back to herself. "But when he came after me, all bet are off. It's personal now, and I always settle my own score."

"So when the city was in danger, you don't give a damn. But when it was your head on the line, suddenly you take action." The Chief of police said, disgust cleared in her voice. She looked increasingly upset when Korra still replied with that nonchalant attitude.

"Does the reason matter? If Amon dies, everybody happy. It's a win-win situation for Republic City-"

"That is not for you to decide!" Lin slammed her fist on the table startled Korra. "Let me make this clear one last time, you'll not get involve with Amon or the Equalist ever again"

"Now, hold on—"

"You'll go back to the island and never leave without permission."

"That's a little bit excessive—"

"And if you disobey our agreement one more time. I will contact the White Lotus."

"DON'T YOU DARE!"

Now it was Korra's turn to slam her fists on the table. At the mention of the White Lotus, she immediately lost all her casual demeanor. Realizing what she just did, the mercenary took a deep breath, trying to compose herself.

"You can't stop me from doing this, officer." Lin could have sworn that the word 'officer' this time sting more than usual. "I'll find Amon. I'll…took care of him. And I'll do it without your help."

"You will do none of that. This isn't up for negotiation anymore."

"I'm not asking for permission."

"And I'm not asking for your opinion."

"I'm doing this no matter what! I don't care whether you like it or not! I'm going after Amon by myself!"

"Why the hell is this whole thing so important to you, Kairi!?"

"Because Jinora got in danger because of me!"

The last line plunged the room into silence. Lin was absolutely taken aback by Korra's answer, while the girl herself after a moment realize what she just said, almost looked like she regrets letting that slipped.

A minute pass before Lin finally broke the silence, not that she knew what she was going to say.

"Kairi, last night…, it wasn't your fault—"

"Amon came for me, Lin." The older woman noticed the change in pronoun, but she chose not to mention it and let the girl continued. "She was in danger because I was there. If she went to the gala with you, she wouldn't have to meet that freak."

"But you protected her." Lin said. "I decided to leave Jinora with you, it wasn't your fault. And you made sure she getaway—"

"If Amon had taken away the kid's bending last night, would you not blame me, at all?"

Lin paused when she should've replied "of course not." Immediately. But when thought about the scenario, if she had come back to the island to find Jinora stripped of her bending by the hand of that monster…

She ashamed to admit, but if Korra was there, at least at that very moment, she would defiantly blame her.

The girl got her answer from the silence. She took a deep breath and continue.

"Li…Officer, Amon won't give up on killing me. I—"

"Kairi, stop talking!"

The door to the interrogation room opened as a man in a grey suit busted in, with one of the police trailing from behind, failing to stop him. The man had a small build, wearing a round glasses, but exude the air of arrogance. He came to stand beside Korra, head held high, with a voice that sounded like he was speaking from his pointy nose.

"My name is Zhuo Fei, and this interrogation is over! Mr. Sato has appointed me to be both Miss Sato's, and Miss Kairi's lawyer."

"What!?"

Both of them shouted at the same time, but the man ignored them.

"I got evidence, and witnesses to the situation at the Noodlery, including waitresses and the owner, claiming that the Wolfbat were to one who initiated the conflict! And my clients only act in self-defense."

That wasn't completely true, almost all of the witnesses saw Kairi and Asami threw the first (and multiple follow up) punches. But they also saw the Wolfbat harassing the Fire Ferrets long before the two girls walked in. So they assumed that both of them acted in response to their friends getting bully. If this case reached the court, Fei confident he could adjust the narrative to be in their favor without much risk.

"You gotta be kidding me!"

"Yeah, I never get a lawyer to represent me before!" The difference between angry and cheerful tone of Lin and Korra was palpable. "I only saw these guys when they tried to get a criminal I caught off the charge." The girl looked ecstatically exciting, like a kid going to a theme park for the first time. "In fact, I usually just want to punch you guys—"

"That's enough, young lady. I'll take care of this. You just sit there and be quiet." Fei interrupted when he senses that Kairi's gibberish might do more harm than good. "Don't worry, you'll be a free woman by the end of this night."

"Alright, listen to me you…"

The Chief of Police then engaged in a fierce argument with the lawyer. He threw a lot of legalistic terms at her, as much as she threw a lot of profanity words at him, to Korra's amusement. At some point, Lin told her officer to take Korra to the waiting area. She uncuffed the girl, to the mercenary's displeasure that she going to miss the rest of the scene.

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The officer led Kairi to a bench in the waiting area where Asami was waiting for her. The police told both of them they were free to walk around and used to the restroom, as long as they did not leave the area before he left.

"Are you alright?" The heiress asked as soon as Korra sat down.

"Only my second time here." She shrugged leaning on the bench like she had no care in the world. "Did your dad hire a lawyer for me?"

"Zhuo Fei is my family lawyer. I call my dad and tell him what happened, so he sends Fei to come to take care of it."

"Did you get in trouble with your father?" Korra suddenly felt very concerned. Getting Asami in trouble with the law was one thing, getting her in trouble with her family was…another.

"He's a bit upset that I got into a fight, but then I told him that they were the Wolfbat team, and he sounds a lot less angry." Asami smiled. "I think his exact words were 'teaching those scoundrel benders a lesson.' something like that."

"Well, as mercenary saying 'Doing a bad thing at the right time, the right place, and to the right people, you'll earn a medal instead of jail time.'. I'm glad he's not angry at you."

"But what about you?" The heiress asked, concern back on her face. "Are you and the chief going to be…?"

"Eh, at worst she'll kick me out of the house. It's no big deal." That wasn't the worst, but Asami didn't need to know more than that. "I met a nice homeless community when I arrive here. I think I could go crash with them for a while."

"You know…" Asami wasn't sure if Kairi was kidding or not, but she still concerns. "…if that ever happen. You could come to stay at my place for a while. We have a lot of spare rooms." Her finger began playing with her lock of hair, a slight blush on her cheeks. "And a pool." As if adding that might convince the mercenary.

Korra raised her eyebrows. She then smiled slimy, couldn't let the opportunity to taste the heiress pass. "Asking me to move in with you already?"

"I knew you were going to say that." Asami groaned while covering her face with both hands, but Korra could still saw the red that spread to the side of her cheeks. "Do you have to do this every time?"

"You make it too easy, I couldn't resist." Korra nudged her with an elbow when Asami dropped her hands and look back at her, she smiled genuinely. "Thanks for the offer though, really. But I doubt it'll be that bad. I'm sure I and the chief could talk thing out—"

The sound of the interrogation room loudly opened and closed, followed by two sets of footsteps echoed through the hall gave Korra a pause. The moment Lin's frowning face emerged into the waiting area, the girl admitted it won't be so bad to have a backup plan. The lawyer trailed behind her, looking please with himself.

"Tahno and his teammates agree to not press any charge against you two. So, Miss Sato, you're free to go." Lin said flatly, before turning to Korra. "You go wait in my office. We'll go home together after I finish working."

"Now, Miss Kairi." Fei suddenly interrupted, and it took a lot of self-control on Lin's part to not sock him in his smug face. "Should you feel like you're being threatened, or mistreat by your guardian, I have the authority to—"

"There's no need. I'll wait in the office. It's already getting dark outside, I'm sure she won't take long." Korra interjected. While it was funny and amusing at first, she wasn't comfortable having a lawyer intrude in her business. "See you around, Asami."

Both girls stood up, and while Asami still looked concerned, she wasn't going to voiced that in front of the Chief of Police, who after this event was probably had a lower opinion about the heiress.

"Goodbye, Kairi. See you again soon."

The lawyer departed with Asami, not before giving Korra his business card of course. The girl then followed Lin to her office.

"What with you and Sato family?" the older woman asked while they were walking. "I swear, if the third time I arrest you and they show up again, you're blackmailing them."

"Such accusation!" Korra faked an overdramatic response. "I can't help if they fall for my roguish, rebellious charm, officer. It's both my gift and my curse."

"Defiantly the later." Lin mumbled, and Korra just laugh as they arrived at her office.

"By the way, how the hell did those Wolfboy not press a charge on us? They don't look like a forgiving type."

"In short, Fei convince them. The Wolfbat already have a bad reputation among the Pro-bender about using underhand tactic. They usually get away with it, but this time, since your friend, Asami, was involve, they afraid they couldn't compete against a real lawyer."

"I'm feeling like reading up on Pro-Bending politics is going to be more fun than the sport itself." Korra commented as they went into the room. She dropped down on the couch while Lin immediately went to the telephone on her table. She dialed the number, and only a moment started speaking.

"Tenzin? Yes. Yes, she is here with me."

While the chief was talking, Korra picked up the newspaper on the low table. She saw the main article about Amon assaulted on the Air Temple Island last night, and chuckle at how the news painted her to look like a helpless victim that was saved from the Equalist's grasp at the last minute by the Chief of Police.

Well, they weren't exactly wrong, and she would rather the world didn't know about how close she was to slit Amon's throat using bloodbending. If only she didn't humor him by answering his questions…

"You still have Oogi with you right? Good. I need you to come to pick us up in about…an hour. Thank you. We'll talk more when we meet. Okay. Take care."

"If I don't know you two are married, I would've thought you're calling a distant co-worker." Korra chimed in without looking up from the newspaper. Lin just ignored her while picking up a couple of documents.

"I have a briefing to go to. Shouldn't take more than 30 minutes."

"I thought you told Tenzin an hour?"

"Just in case." Lin checked to see she had everything she needed. "Stay here and don't touch anything." With that, she left the room. Korra picked up a pencil and turn the newspaper to the crosswords section, hoping it'll keep her occupied until Lin comeback.

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"Meelo dash!"

The boy shouted his special move as he stretched his arms and ran into the spinning gates. Predictably, he didn't even make it half-way before getting knockback out, falling on his butt.

"Aw, damn it! What did I do wrong!?"

"Where do I start?..."

Jinora sighed, helping her brother stood back up. She told him to show her how he was doing with the spinning gates, and the result was a lot more discouraging that she thought. At least he no longer wore those ridiculous quill feathers.

"I remember you doing better than this. What happens? And what with that stupid move?"

"I tried to get past the gates faster, of course! I have to beat Kairi's time if I ever going to win!" Meelo proclaimed proudly. "And that wasn't a stupid move. I'm mimicking a mighty eagle-hawk soaring through the sky!"

"First, this is not a competition." Jinora ignores Meelo replied 'Yes, it was!' and continued. "Second, if you want to go through the gate faster, you have to do the opposite."

Jinora shot a gust of wind to speed up the spinning gates. She then walked behind Meelo and helped adjusting his post.

"Keep your arms close to your body, either in front or behind will do. Do not fight the gates, but try to flow with them. If they veer you off the path, don't panic, just try to course correct it later. Take as long as you need to go through."

The girl used her airbending to blew up leaves around them, sending them swirling through the gates. While one leaf could get lost in the panels, with many of them, Meelo could easily saw a pattern or even a path in which those leaves flying through the gates.

"Airbending it's not about being fast. It's about being elusive. You let yourself flow with the elements around you. Being one with the wind is not being a storm that breaks a tree branch, but a gentle breeze that slips through a crack in a stone."

As leaves swirling out of the spinning gates in all direction, with a color range from fresh green to dry brown, all contrasted with the shade of the evening sky, soft orange of the setting sun, with dim red of shapeless clouds.

Meelo had never cared for artistic vision. It was too complicate and too boring for children his age. But the scene in front of him still took his breath away. Something so mundane like leave and sky, but with Jinora's voice narrated the scene making it all seem…surreal, somehow.

"Don't think about Kairi, or your time, or anything." The girl placed her hand on his shoulder, her voice whispered behind his ear. "The leaf doesn't know where it goes, and the wind doesn't know where it blows. Be the leaf…" She pushed him gently. Meelo ran into the gates with his sister's last words still echo in his ears. "…guide by the wind."

Swirl and spin came naturally. Left, right, and all-direction lost all meaning to Meelo. At that moment in the spinning gets, it felt different to the boy. He had been running through these gates many times, but it used to felt like an exercise to him. Went in, avoided the gates, got out quickly. His natural instinct as an Airbender made it easier for him as it would otherwise, but it felt like a routine none the less.

But this is all different. Everything felt like a dream. Like discovering a part of you that you never know you have. The air felt cool, his breath felt light, his body move as if it had no weight. He didn't even hear his own footstep. Even his eyes, usually the spinning panels would make him a bit dizzy, but this time Meelo could see it through. Everything in this cramped space now had an illusion of an endless field. Was all of this just because the pep talk Jinora gave him?

Before he knew, Meelo was already out of the gates. The leaves Jinora blew up a moment ago still slowly rain down around him. He didn't know if he got through the gates faster, but he didn't care. Those feeling was nothing like he ever experiences before.

Jinora walked up to her brother, but before she could say anything, he shouted with excitement.

"That was AWESOME!" The boy's eyes widen, sparkling when he looked at his sister. "Why didn't dad ever teach me like this before? Why didn't YOU ever teach me like this before!? Is this some sort of secret Airbender technique? I almost feel like I could fly, without a glider!"

Jinora was taken aback by her brother enthusiastic. Her expression seemed unsure as she replied. "I didn't… I just told you what dad had been teaching us Meelo." She scratched the back of her head. "Well, maybe I add something I read on my own here and there, but overall-"

"Well, you did it better! No wonder Kairi suddenly got better when you take charge. Dad was hopeless."

"Th-Thank you, but please, don't let mom hear you said that…"

"I'm gonna try it again. Maybe you have other secret techniques to teach me? Something you didn't already teach Kairi. I'll show her who the Master Airbender is next time we meet!"

With that. Meelo shot a gust of wind and jumped back into the gates, leaving Jinora a bit stunted with her brother's response. It wasn't like she would deliberately teach him badly, but the positivity she received was a bit overwhelming.

More importantly, Meelo was right about one thing. The stuff she just taught him wasn't from any regular airbending teaching. Nothing that can be found in the Templar library. It was something Jinora read from her secret collection of books and tomes she got from her. Something that went deeper, more complicated…

…more spiritually.

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