Deus Ex Machina

Lee hated the Spirit World.

Not because it was crazy. Not because it was hard to reach the level of calm required to enter the bloody place. No…he hated it because whenever he entered the world of spirits, he always ended up in water.

"Son of a-!"

And today was no different.

Grumbling, the Avatar crawled out of the goo, wishing he could let loose a burst of air to do it for him. Air that Master Meelo had only passed on to him a few months back. Airbending had been hard to master, what with his native element being earth, but compared to his current predicament, it was a breeze…no pun intended.

"If you're trying to dissuade me, it won't work!" he shouted out into the realm. "I'm here! I'm staying here until you speak to me!"

The realm remained silent. A monkey fish thing gazed at him as it flew through the trees, but apart from that, there was no answer.

"Hello?" Lee called out. "Anyone?"

Well, not anyone. There was only one person he wanted to talk to. Only one of his past lives.

"You know who I'm looking for!"

None of the other Avatars could help him. Or at least, not in the way he foresaw. Because he knew what his last incarnation went through. He knew she could help him.

"If you don't come out-…"

"You're going to break your meditation with all that yelling."

Lee let out a gasp and fell back into the water.

Help was a harsh mistress. And grinning down at the sprawling Avatar, stuck in the mud, the former Avatar, Korra, was a harsh mistress as well. Even as she let Lee take her hand and pulled him back onto drier land, his opinion of her was no different than it was a few seconds ago. A trickster. A harsh mistress. And perhaps his only hope to learn waterbending.

"You look good…" the previous Avatar said, now that the two were standing on the same ground. "I guess reincarnation decided to be favourable again."

"Yeah…" Lee murmured. "Good…"

He didn't feel good. He felt awkward. He was an earthbender at heart, ready to stand his ground and face things head on. But faced with his predecessor, shimmering in the gloom, he felt small. Unable to face his better. Maybe it was because the airbending lessons were still fresh, the notion that he could avoid conflict rather than plough into it head on, but still…

"So tell me…" the Water Tribesman said. "What brings you here? Aren't you meant to be learning waterbending?"

But nothing. Waterbending was why he was here.

"Yes…" Lee answered. "It's my last element. And it's the one I'm having the most trouble with."

"I know the feeling. I couldn't bend air until…well, that's a funny story actually."

Funny indeed. Lee knew the story of his predecessor. Learned how she'd lost her bending to the madman Amon decades ago, only to unlock airbending at the last second. Like the stuff of fiction…only going by her writings, she didn't seem to think so. She'd pulled off airbending in a moment of emotional stress. As one might unlock fire or even water. Not out of anything Master Tenzin had taught her. And what came afterwards…she'd never written much on that. Nothing but the facts, but not how she felt.

"Yoo-hoo…eyes up here Lee."

Feelings were overrated, Lee reflected. Only facts mattered right now.

"Let's dispense the evasion stuff…" the current Avatar said. "You know why I'm here. I'm here to gain waterbending."

"Well that's up to your master," Korra said firmly. "Your past lives can help you, but we're not going to do your job for you."

"Why?" Lee snapped back. "Didn't yours?"

A flash of fire danced in Korra's eyes, causing the earthbender to take a step back. So far, she'd been calm. Regal. Hair long, face kind, everything about her radiating wisdom. But just those simple words had changed things.

"Don't ask for what you don't understand…" Korra murmured. "Not now. Not ever."

"Why?" the earthbender asked, summoning his inner fire for courage. "You the only one to get a free bending ticket?"

"If you don't-…"

"Yeah yeah, your bending restored, you'd already unlocked it," Lee said, his fire rising. "But let's face it, you're a waterbender at heart. You got a free ticket to the bending show when Aang and his buddies showed up. So the sooner you give me waterbending, the sooner I'm out of your hair."

Maybe he'd gone too far, Lee reflected. He couldn't imagine what it might have been like to lose your bending. Of course, all that emotional turmoil was negated a few days later by the previous Avatars. Aang had restored Korra's bending…but what if it went further? What if he could gain the ability to bend water and complete his training, right here, right now? What if-…"

"You're an earthbender, right?" Korra said eventually.

"Um, yes?"

"Figures…you're about as thick as one."

Lee's inner fire went out.

"You never lost your bending," the waterbender declared. "You can't gain back what you never lost in the first place."

"But-…"

"And even if you had, I wouldn't give it to you."

Lee stood there. Korra stood there. The monkey fish perched on a tree, apparently as confused as the current Avatar was.

"You…you wouldn't…?" Lee asked. He struggled for words. "But…but Aang gave you yours back…"

"He did. And years later, when I encountered his spirit again, he apologised for it."

"Huh?"

"He apologised and I accepted it," Korra said, her eyes now reflecting water, of times gone by. "He meant well, and I appreciated it…but…well, let's just say that deus ex machina is as welcome in the real world as it is in fiction."

"But…you lost your bending. You had air, but-…"

"And who's to say I couldn't have gained it again?"

Lee stood there…staring. And as Korra sat down on a fallen log, he did the same. Like bloodbending, he was enthralled to his predecessor's will.

"Looking back at that moment…" Korra began. "I was at my lowest. I didn't appreciate what I had with the power of air. I mean…it was tragic, sure, but gaining the power to control my last element…that was a momentous occasion nonetheless."

Lee nodded.

"And hey, I was the Avatar," Korra smiled. "I'd learned water, earth and fire, so why couldn't I do it again? Why couldn't I have relied on my friends and family? Tenzin taught me patience, and I should have embraced that. Instead, I ended up pushing my closest friend away and only came back once I got my powers back."

"But they were powers that restored people's bending," Lee pointed out. "That's a good thing in itself, isn't it?"

"True…" Korra admitted. "But as the saying goes, you never appreciate what you have until it's gone. If I'd waited longer, worked on it myself…maybe Republic City would have sorted itself out. Benders have a right to their abilities, but no right to abuse them. And let's face it, some did. Instead, what happened is that I got my abilities back with no effort on my own part and restored the status quo at the end of the season."

"Season?"

"Winter," Korra said, looking at the fourth wall in a small dwelling a crocodile-hippo had set up. "Winter was ending…"

The Water Tribesman paused. It seemed she'd reached the end of her story. But as her mouth again opened, it was clear she hadn't run out of things to say.

"So no…" the former Avatar said eventually. "I won't teach you waterbending. I won't do your master's job, nor will I magically give you the ability when it's something you have to learn yourself. And if you did lose your abilities, then I'd give you the time to try and remaster them before imparting deus ex machina upon you."

"Deus…what?" Lee asked.

"Deus ex machina," Korra said. "God from the machine. But gods, spirits, it doesn't matter. We're humans. Humans fight. Humans struggle. Humans have to succeed or fail on their own merits. And that's why you're going to have to go back to the human realm and do the same with your waterbending."

Lee remained silent. He felt confused…yet it was strangely welcome. Confusion could be dealt with. Confusion could become understanding.

Either way, he watched as Korra's spirit faded. And prepared to enter his own world.

A/N

I'll get this out there-I watched the two-part finale of The Legend of Korra today. And to be honest, while it was decent overall, I felt quite let down towards the end, especially in the last few minutes.

I've vented my spleen elsewhere on the Internet, so I won't do it here too much, not to mention that while I'm not alone, I'm probably in the minority in this feeling. Certainly I won't fault other people for holding different opinions. For me however, the flaws remain, one of them being the double use of deus ex machina, especially in the last few minutes. Ended up writing this as a result.