Chapter Four: Air

In a dank cave, Korra sat across from Zaheer, his eyes closed and her ears open and ready to listen to what he might have to say. The Avatar sat cross-legged on a precipice, underneath which was an underground lake. Across the lake was a nearly flat stone wall with the sigil of the Red Lotus emblazoned upon it. Cold, reflecting crystals jutted out from the walls and ceiling, taking the torchlight from the entrance and morphing it into a cool blue ambience.

"I have trained for years and years to be even somewhat close to the power an airbender holds. When I joined the Red Lotus, it was only because I demonstrated such a knowledge of the fighting style that they decided I would be a capable member. Through my whole life I have studied the Air Nomad culture and its history. I have been intrigued and captivated by it, and now it is my duty to share this knowledge with you. When we took you in to train you, it was decided that I was the only one that could even loosely teach you airbending." Zaheer spoke with his eyes still closed, his face pointed at the ground.

Korra raised her eyebrows in question, and opened her own tangent. "You are the only one that can teach me airbending? But isn't there an actual airbending master in Republic City, Aang's son? He could teach me airbending."

Zaheer raised his head and opened his eyes, they were narrow and piercing.

"It is believed that this airbending master is closely tied with those that are trying to take control of you. The Southern Water Tribe, they practically have him tied around their finger."

Korra's frustration showed. "What? But you've said that about so many others! In the Misty Palms Oasis, at the Northern Water Tribe, so many people that are trying to take me! Zaheer, it makes me question, are we really on the right side?"

Zaheer inhaled and exhaled deeply, taking a full minute before he responded. "I see your faith in the Red Lotus is still not entirely secure. You must be mindful about what you say around the others, especially when we meet Xai Bau again. Our path is the rightful one."

Korra leaned back in a slump, frustrated, but her curiosity was satiated for the moment.

"That said, I believe that in order for you to best learn airbending, you should see someone do it. We will go to Republic City, we'll leave today." Zaheer rose and left the cave before Korra even stood up. Korra followed behind and left the cave.

The Avatar stepped into the sunlight, light gleaming off of minerals and rocks in the mountains around her. Off in the distance, the Northern Air Temple could be made out, but there were no airbenders there.

It had been two years since the liberation of Zaofu. Korra was 16 years old. Not much had happened since Zaofu's liberation. The group had split for a year, and Korra had returned to the Northern Water Tribe to live with Unalaq until their next adventure. She continued her practices in waterbending, earthbending, and firebending, as well as beginning to learn about the spirits from Unalaq. When a year passed Zaheer showed up at the palace, announcing a new journey for Korra. She would learn airbending.

First, Zaheer took her to Zaofu, to remind her of what they were striving for. The city had become a utopia. Zaheer was right about it being ready for the dissolution of the government, and the city had become a shining example for Zaheer's cause. Zaofu was a leader in innovation, art, literature, and science, but Zaheer and Korra were not there to stay. They left soon after their arrival in the city and joined with Ghazan, P'li, and Ming-Hua. They headed straight to the Northern Air Temple, or rather, a system of caves situated nearby. There Korra resumed working on her bending styles with the Red Lotus masters. Finally, Korra got the news she wanted, she would be learning airbending.

Korra had her things in a backpack, and the other members of the Red Lotus were waiting outside for her.

"Let's go." Zaheer began walking down the path.

Republic City was very close to the Northern Air Temple, and their journey was short. In one short day, the horizon became filled with magnificent skyscrapers and the environment grew cluttered with the sounds of city life.

"I've always wanted to come to the city." Korra said. Her eyes were fixed on the metropolis, and Zaheer looked at her, then motioned for her to continue. There was no ceremony, not even any protocol. The group walked right onto the streets of the city and Zaheer produced a map.

"This will be very risky for us. The airbending master is one of the greatest threats to Korra's safety, but we need her to see him. Well, we need her to see him airbend. Air Temple Island is that way." Zaheer's hand pointed down one street and the group followed along with him. Korra walked up next to Zaheer, a question in her mind.

"This is kind of unrelated to what we've been doing, but, where's Fan-Lei? I figured, we travelled with him for as long as we did, he would be back with us again."

"He's in the city. I spoke to him not long ago, he's been here for a year and a half, ever since we all split ways. He said he would find us when we came here. I expect we'll be hearing from him soon."

Korra nodded and slipped back behind Zaheer in the group. They made for an unusual sight, a short man, freakishly tall woman, strong earthbender, armless waterbender, and a young woman travelling all together through the city streets. Onlookers absent-mindedly noticed them, but no made no commentary, verbal or nonverbal, of their presence.

Soon enough, the group reached Uwe Bay, Air Temple Island in the distance, dwarfed by the magnificent statue of Avatar Aang. Korra looked at the statue and felt a sense of pride, a familiar emotion to her, but also foreign, as if it was someone else's pride.

"It's amazing to see one of my past selves so highly honored. I've unfortunately never contacted my past lives, but one day maybe I will have the honor of speaking to Aang. To Roku, Kyoshi, Kuruk, Yangchen…" Korra trailed off, but snapped out of her trance when Zaheer walked over to a dock and paid a man standing guard over it.

"This is the ferry to Air Temple Island. Come on, it's a ten minute ride. We have to make our plan."

Zaheer walked down the dock and up the gangway onto a small flat boat. Korra and the others followed suit, nodding at the ferryman.

"This will be a little tricky, but it's important enough that I'm willing to take this risk. If this airbending master, Tenzin, finds out our identities, we will be in grave danger. We must not travel together on the island, and Korra must be kept out of sight, except she also needs to be able to see this airbending master." Zaheer began.

"So, what you're saying is that I need to see this, Tenzin, and I need to watch him airbend, yet I can't talk to him, go near him, not even let him see me?" Korra responded.

"Exactly right. He will be hostile to you. You'll have to watch him airbend from afar, if we're lucky, we'll catch him in the middle of one of his practice sessions. If not, I'll have to instigate him."

Zaheer stopped talking and turned to the bow of the small boat, looking on Air Temple Island with anticipation. It took five minutes for the ferry to reach the dock on the small island. Fortunately, no air acolytes rushed to welcome them, and the group was free to disappear. They made their way into a small section of woods near the temple, and Zaheer began to look for the airbenders. The rest of the ensemble moved silently with Zaheer, and soon, he pressed a finger to his lips and invited them to look over the ledge in front of him. Several feet away, a tattooed man sat facing the sea in meditation. The leaves rustled unnaturally as they moved to get a look, but fortunately for them, meditation was not a state of alertness, and the airbending master did not notice.

As quickly as they had come, they retreated.

"We won't see him airbend now," said Korra. Zaheer looked back at the young Avatar with a condescending expression. He did not have to say anything, and Korra pursed her lips in embarrassment. Zaheer continued on, and soon they came upon a comfortable spot in the middle of the woods and they decided to wait. Ghazan decided to sleep, and he was rudely awakened by Zaheer when he decided it was time to move on.

"Let's go, we can't be too patient." he said.

They returned to where they had last seen master Tenzin, but he had since left. They patrolled the island in search for him, and eventually they found him in the temple courtyard, practicing.

"Yes, he is practicing. You need to watch him, Korra. See how he moves, like a leaf, like a circle." Zaheer was equally fascinated, seeing as he had immersed himself in air nomad culture for years. Korra and Zaheer both took in all of the master's grace, power and speed. He moved lightly and swiftly, but with his strikes and defenses he had more power than most earthbenders, more precision than most firebenders, and more fluidity than most waterbenders. They watched him for a half-an-hour, but Tenzin was not one to leave his environment noticed. Soon, he saw the two faces poking from the bushes.

"Who's there?" He demanded, and Zaheer withdrew. Korra stood and followed, but she was not so unnoticeable, and the airbender caught her face.

"Korra?! He yelled. He became sure of his recognition in a moment, and chased off after her.

"Korra, whoever you're with, you're not meant to be with them!" He knew that Korra would likely not understand what he was saying. She probably had forgotten most of her past, and Tenzin certainly did not have the pull to knock her away from them. He pursued forcefully instead, launching attacks at the group whenever he saw them in the woods, but they made their way steadily to the beach. When they did reach the beach, Korra raised a storm of sand and dust, as Ming-Hua formed a boat out of ice.

"Let's go, on the ice!" Ming-Hua yelled. Zaheer, Ghazan, Korra, and P'li all hopped on and Ming-Hua invited to Korra to help her push them away from the island. They were gone as soon as they were seen, and now they slowly drifted back to the shore of the mainland.

"How did that airbending master, Master Tenzin, know my name?" Korra demanded. "How did he make it seem like he knew me, even though I've never seen him before?"

Zaheer was silent for a moment, but he had his own response soon. "It's one of his treacheries. I did mention that he was in league with those who want to capture you while you are still young. One can not think that he would know your name purely out of good will for you. He wants to sway you, and I commend you for not being swayed."

Korra was still slightly confused, but she took the answer. It sounded plausible enough, and she curled her knees to her face until they reached the shore of Republic City.

The group disembarked from Ming-Hua's ice boat, which she promptly melted.

"We got we came for. Let's find Fan-Lei and leave this city before anyone comes looking for Korra," said Zaheer. The rest of the group nodded and followed Zaheer throughout the streets to find their elusive firebender.

Tenzin had never been so sure of anything before in his life. He was always a tentative, cautious soul who took responsibility and approached danger slowly, but he knew from the instant he saw her that Korra had been in the bushes watching him airbend.

The news of an Avatar sighting always spread throughout the world like wildfire, especially since she had been so elusive for the past several years. Each time, Tenzin took great interest in finding as much of information as he possibly could. He remembered back to when she was still a young girl and he travelled to the Southern Water Tribe to meet her. She was a fiery little girl and made sure to bend something at him whenever she got the chance. Not once did she airbend at him.

He liked Korra a lot, even if she was more unpredictable than he could handle, but he had always looked forward to teaching her to airbend. When she had disappeared from her room many years ago, Chief Tonraq was devastated. He had so much love for the little girl, and he demanded she be found. She never was, and in fact nobody had heard anything about her until a little waterbender girl had been thought to firebend at her friends in a school at the Northern Water Tribe. Naturally, Tonraq travelled with many of his men to the North, but his brother Unalaq denied the possibility of the Avatar being there and their searches in the city were fruitless.

The general populace of the world was expecting the next Avatar to arise soon, assuming little Korra had died in her disappearance. That was, until a report came from the Misty Palms Oasis near the Si Wong Desert that the Avatar, an adolescent water tribe girl, had saved their tribe from rogue sandbenders. Tenzin pressed hard for more details of the event, but he found little more information about where she may have gone or how she got there. Tonraq was relieved to learn his daughter still alive, but he was not satisfied, and pressed harder than Tenzin.

Fortunately, the next sighting of the Avatar came quickly, from Zaofu. From the reports Tenzin received, she was allegedly involved in a group of previously unheard of revolutionaries. The entire world had been rocked when they heard that Zaofu had successfully evolved into a form of anarchy, and terrified when they heard that the group did not intend to stop there.

A conference of global leaders was held at the Northern Air Temple to discuss how this would be dealt with. The Earth Queen was surprisingly calm, and decided she would allow Zaofu to continue in its new state provided it did not create trouble outside of its limits. It was actually a relief in the Earth Queen's eyes, as Zaofu had never been fully integrated in her kingdom and when it did have leadership, it was insufferable and worked tirelessly against the Earth Queen politically.

The rest of the leaders, on the other hand, were not so pleased. Fire Lord Izumi with her mentor and father Zuko had decided they would not allow for any such thing, and that their police and security forces would be stiffened in cities. They would require forums to be held in all of their cities to ensure the population understood anarchy was dangerous, and to instill in their minds that Zaofu would soon fall into lawless chaos. For the next two years, Zaofu remained lawless, but not chaotic, much to the chagrin of the other world leaders, and ideas of anarchy and liberty began to spread.

Throughout this time of global conferences and politics, Tenzin had the opportunity to spend a lot of time around Tonraq, who was torn. On one hand, he was excited to hear again about his daughter, but that was much outweighed be his anxiety of her situation. He was not happy to learn she was working with revolutionaries, and he was even more upset about the amount of stir their group had created.

All of the leaders, however, were frustrated when they could not find any trace of Korra and her revolutionaries. They searched all the likely places, fearing that they would strike again somewhere, but for two years they were utterly silent.

That was why Tenzin was so surprised to see Korra show up less than a hundred feet away from him.

There was no way she knew who he was anymore, and he had expected that, but still he was disappointed that she had not responded to him. When he had seen the man's face next to him, however, it was the first time he had realized that perhaps she was not leading the revolutionaries. He realized how much more likely it was that they were leading her.

Tenzin now stood in his chambers, filling a small sack with an extra robe and a shaving stone. His wife came and leaned on the doorframe, half of herself in the room, half out.

"A business trip, Tenzin? I thought you would have told me."

He didn't look up, instead only responded.

"No, not today. I'm sorry for the short notice, Pema, but I saw something in the courtyard today, something incredibly important. Dear, the Avatar made a housecall." Pema gasped in excitement, but she didn't say anymore.

"I think it'd be best if we keep this quiet for now. I'm sorry for such short notice, but I have an old friend in the Southern Water Tribe I think I'll need to pay a visit to." Pema nodded, and stepped out of the way when Tenzin made for the door.

"Don't take too long, Tenzin," Pema grinned and Tenzin grinned back, then turned and walked down the corridor. He stepped out onto the courtyard, which now had leaves and twigs strewn across it from his brief reintroduction to the Avatar. Tenzin sighed and blasted the surface clean with a current of air. He walked across to the bison enclosure, where Oogi lay alone in an afternoon nap. He opened the gate and saddled the great sky bison, then threw his belongings up onto his back.

"Good day, Oogi, we're going to see Tonraq." Tenzin climbed onto the bison's neck and then scooted up onto his head and grabbed the reins.

"Oogi; yip, yip."

Korra and the Red Lotus eventually did find Fan-Lei. It was about dinner time, and they decided to head to Narook's Noodles. It was a small and busy joint at night, they made some of the best food in the city. It proved to be a good choice for dinner, as they had an unannounced guest arrive about the same time as their food did.

"Well, Zaheer, I guess it's been a year now." Said Fan-Lei. He was 19 years old now, but he was still of a slight build. He wore what seemed to be the same black and green robe as he wore the last time he had travelled with them.

"Fan-Lei! It's good to see you again," Zaheer filled the young man in on the day's events. Korra listened along, but she was more fascinated by how Zaheer talked to Fan-Lei than his description of their day. Zaheer was always very separated from most of the group. Sure, he was close friends with Ghazan and Ming-Hua, and he was always friendly to Korra. He was closer than friends with P'li but he kept that out of the group's image. Despite their friendships, Zaheer was always slightly aloof. The only person he was truly friendly with was Fan-Lei. Korra made a mental note of this, and decided she would watch how he interacted with the group members for a while.

"Well, Fan-Lei, we're going to be travelling back to the Red Lotus Complex once we leave this city. Care to come along?"

"Sure, I've been itching to leave here. Truthfully, it only looks like a nice place."

"Excellent." Zaheer returned to his noodles and Fan-Lei ordered some for himself.

After the group was finished with their food, they left the noodlery. Zaheer led them, and they walked right back out of the city. Again, there were no police checks and no obvious borders. Instead, they simply walked out into the valley of two small mountain ranges.

Their journey back to the caves near the Northern Air Temple was quick, as they were not too far from the United Republic Lands. Korra returned to her small cell in the caves and slept.

The next morning, she rose early and headed to find where they were serving breakfast. It was another small cave, but larger than Korra's cell. A rice pot sat in the corner along with some cups of tea. The only others up were P'li and Fan-Lei. Korra sat between them and joined the conversation.

"Good morning," she began. The other two greeted her equally. She was not good at small talk, but figured she would try.

"Well, slept well?" The way she said it, it could have been a question or a statement. P'li decided to take it as a question.

"Definitely, these are the most comfortable stone floors." She went back to her rice, then left when she was finished. Fan-Lei didn't say anything, impermeable as ever. When he finished his rice he left as well.

The most untalkative allies… Korra thought, then finished her rice as well. She wondered if Zaheer was up. Supposedly they were to begin airbending today, even if Zaheer couldn't, he could definitely show her the style.

Sure enough, Zaheer had been awake for some time, and was now sitting in a lotus position, meditating. The room he was in was the room full of reflecting crystals, and the sigil of the Red Lotus was emblazoned across from Zaheer's seat, on the other side of their reflecting pool.

"You're up early than I had expected. I am impressed," How Zaheer had known she was there, Korra would not know, since she had not even entered the room yet.

"Well, yea, I suppose. I guess I was excited to begin airbending training today."

"If you were excited to airbend, why have you waited for me to teach you? You know I can't teach you to airbend." Korra was taken aback, she hadn't heard Zaheer speak against himself before.

"Well, uh…"

"You can airbend, can't you?" Zaheer asked.

"Of course I can airbend! I just, haven't tried it yet."

"Well, why not?"

"Okay, I've tried it before, but I haven't been able to do it before. I was hoping with the airbending training, with you showing me some of the skills, I might be able to do it."

Zaheer did not respond. He got up from his position and turned to face the Avatar.

"Alright," he said. Then he slipped into a bagua stance.

"Airbending is all about circular motion. Air is a vortex, and to bend it, you must be a vortex yourself." He walked in a circle, his feet crossing over and his hands always pointed inward.

"Do this." He said, and Korra tried it herself. Zaheer did not have to correct her, years of previous bending and martial arts training meant she would pick up the motions quickly. Zaheer stopped moving and returned to his meditation. Korra stopped as well.

"Why did you stop?" He asked.

"You did. This doesn't airbend, aren't you supposed to show me how I can airbend."

"I did. Keep doing the circle walk, until I tell you to stop."

She sighed and returned to the circle walk. It was mindlessly tedious. It was not tiring or uncomfortable, like stances for other bending. The only thing she had to focus on was her mind. A half-hour passed until Zaheer again spoke.

"Is your mind peaceful?" He asked.

"Very bored." Korra responded, still in the circle walk.

"Then you aren't doing it right. Airbending is about adaptability and change. If your mind is focused on itself, you will not be ready to adapt to a new situation. Practice mindfulness. The circle walk is very nearly a form of meditation itself."

Korra snorted, she hated meditation, never had the patience for it. But then she realized, maybe that's why she could never airbend before. Perhaps Zaheer was right. She decided to concentrate on maintaining an open and peaceful mind. It was definitely hard. Her thoughts constantly slipped and broke her mental state.

Perhaps a thought experiment could help. she thought. She closed her eyes, and in her mind's eye she was surrounded by clouds. She continued the circle walk, and after she had done it long enough, she noticed the clouds had begun to spiral around her. She paid no heed to the development, only continuing her circle walk. The spiral of clouds had begun to disperse, and after sometime, there was nothing around her. No clouds, no thoughts. Her mind was as clear as a sunny day.

Her peace was interrupted by a lightning bolt of speech.

"Walked long enough?" Zaheer asked. When Korra opened her eyes, he was standing in front of her.

"I'd say you have. It's been three hours," said Zaheer. Only now did Korra begin to notice the soreness of her legs, from hours spent in a bent-leg walk. Her feet were sore and her arms tired from being held up so long.

"Three hours?" Korra asked, her face twisted in confusion.

"Yes, and I see you've figured out the virtue of patience. I'm surprised you picked that up so quickly, seeing as you never meditate."

"I never knew I could do that," Korra said.

"You'd be surprised what you can do. You're the Avatar," responded Zaheer.

Zaheer walked past Korra and out of the cave. She decided that he meant for her to follow him, and she did. They came out of the caves and Zaheer stopped and slipped into a bagua stance.

"Perform the circle walk with me," Zaheer commanded. Korra complied, and the walked in a circle around each other, as if one of them would throw a strike, but they did not. Instead, Korra slipped into the same peace of mind she had achieved only a few minutes before.

"Is your mind clear?" Zaheer asked.

"Yea, I think so."

"Airbend."

Korra decided she would try. She waved her arm across her body. It was weak, but she felt a small current of air caress her.

"Good job, but that was weak. Airbend!" Zaheer encouraged.

Korra did not stop the circle walk, but she threw a strike to her side, and a slightly larger current of air shot from her palm.

"It's still weak, but better. I thought this might be difficult for you to pick up. Well, more so than the other elements, it's so opposite of your personality. I'm impressed you've gotten this far so quickly.

They stopped the circle walk and Korra tried a wide variety of strikes. From some maneuvers she could not get air to move, and sometimes she would even firebend instead. Nevertheless, she worked tirelessly for a few hours and resumed the next day.

In two weeks, she was confident with the ability.

"Good," Zaheer told her, "you can bend all four elements. I think you're ready to engage the Avatar state."

to be continued in Chapter 5, Unalaq