Chapter 2: Chapter II

“What is the Avatar doing in Republic city! Why don’t I get told anything!” Lin was rubbing her temples from behind her desk when I walked into the room.

“I… can’t answer that.” She actually growled.

“Now he has you keeping things from me!”

“No, I don’t know why she is here either.” She gave me an incredulous look. “I thought I was feeding some homeless Water Tribe immigrant. Imagine my shock when she destroys an entire high street.”

“So, he never told you?”

“I don’t think Tenzin knew, if he took her back with him, I doubt he would just let her wander around the streets.”

“What! Then how did she get here? Don’t the… Who is responsible for this!” At the moment, technically me, hopefully I could pass the buck as soon as possible. Well time to change the subject quickly.

“I think she is unaware of how to behave outside of a white lotus dojo. She has been in training her entire life.”

“Oh, so we have a maladjusted teenager with an overblown ego. Terrific.” She pushed herself to her feet and picked up a clipboard glaring at it before marching to the door.

“I am sure Tenzin is on his way…” She shook her head.

“Come on, I want a word with this so-called Avatar. It sounds like she needs it.” There was no sense arguing with her when she got like this so I just nodded and followed along at Lin’s side to the interrogation room.

It was a metal box more than anything, several interlocking layers of steel with vents all over it for air allowing sections of it to be opened up or for the entire thing to be made soundproof. This worlds police had a worrying lack of oversight. Lin stomped a foot and the box shifted to allow us entrance inside where Korra was being held. The moment we both stepped inside the box slammed shut.

“Tenya. Boy am I glad to see you, they won’t tell me anything! I knew you would get things straightened out.”

“Let’s see…” Lin circled the table that Korra was chained to while glaring at the young Avatar. “Multiple counts of destruction of private and city property not to mention vigilantism. You are in a whole mess of trouble young lady.” Korra looked up in shock as Lin leaned over her and then over to me for help, I opened my mouth to speak but the young Avatar spoke first.

“But there were some thugs threatening a shopkeeper and I…”

“Can it! Why are you in republic city?” Telling her to shut up and then speak? As graceful as ever Lin.

“Listen as the Avatar I can’t just do nothing, I need to bring balance to the world and uh, I just can’t let them get away with it!”

“That is what the police are there for! You should have contacted us and let us handle it! You think your Avatar title impresses me?” Korra looked at me for help and I forced myself not to sigh.

“Lin is correct in this case Korra, the police have authority here and because of what you did it is going to be much harder for them to prove that the three men you saw attacking the shopkeeper are guilty.” It was likely not what she wanted to hear so I tried to deliver things as softly as possible but Korra after looking guilty looked over at Lin before sitting up straight and changing her tone.

“Well then… I want to speak to whoever is in charge!” Lin let out a snort of amusement as Korra again looked around for help.

“You’re looking at her. Lin Beifong chief of police.”

“Wait, Beifong? You’re a Beifong? You’re Toph’s daughter!” Korra’s disposition shifted to excited awe as Lin rolled her eyes.

“Yes, what of it?”

“So why are you treating me like this? Avatar Aang and your mother were friends. They saved the world together?” She had a smile on her face as if she had suddenly solved a difficult puzzle.

“That’s ancient history and it’s got diddly squat to do with the mess you’re in right now! If Tenya wasn’t here I would put you in a cell! You can’t just waltz into Republic city and dole out vigilante justice like you own the place!”

“But-” I was letting this get out of hand.

“Please Korra, I know you think you did the right thing and I know your heart was in the right place but you do need to listen here.” I stepped forward and put my hand on hers and gave her a smile. Physical contact should help me get my message across and get her to accept I was not hostile. “You acted without knowing the right way of going about things and made the metal bender police’s job much harder. You can understand why they are frustrated right now can’t you?” She looked away staring down at the table in front of her.

“I’m… Yeah I guess I’m sorry that stuff got broken and I… Made it hard for the police or whatever.” She pouted after her frankly terrible apology but it was something, I looked up at Lin who looked about ready to go another ten rounds with Korra but paused as she looked at me and then crossed her arms pouting.

“Well, it won’t fix the damage you caused but its… Good you understand now. Don’t do it again!”

“Chief.” A slot opened up behind me and a metal bender poked his head though. “Councilman Tenzin is here to see you.”

“Good, let him in.” She must be looking for someone else to dig into if she was this eager to see Tenzin. The entrance we had used opened again as my father strode into the room.

“Tenzin, sorry” Korra said looking sheepish. “I got a little side-tracked on my way to see you.” The man in question gave her a stern look before putting his hands behind his back and looking over at Lin with a smile.

“Lin, you are looking radiant as usual.” And he was making a mess of things and antagonizing Lin right off the bat. Wonderful.

“Cut the crap Tenzin! Why is the Avatar in Republic City? Tenya told me you were going to move to the south pole to train her!”

“My relocation has been delayed after the…” He looked at me guiltily as if he was responsible for the Equalists. Quite frankly I was quite happy to keep on working as Councilwoman but when he found out what happened it would not hear a word of it. “The Avatar on the other hand.” Korra looked like a kicked puppy at his look. “Will be heading back to the south pole immediately where she will stay put.”

“But-.”

“If you would be so kind as to drop the charges against Korra I will take full responsibility for today’s regrettable events and cover all the damages.” Republic City’s taxes at work!

“…Fine.” Lin waved a hand and the cuffs around Korra’s wrists fell to the table. “But only because Tenya got that overgrown brat you call the Avatar to apologise. Now get her out of my city.” Tenzin looked over at me with his eyebrows raised before looking back to Lin.

“Always a pleasure Lin, Korra come along.” He strode out while Korra hurried after him trying to say something likely along the lines of. ‘Please don’t send me back to the south pole.’ Honestly, I could hardly blame her, the weather down there must be terrible. Ah I had to make an effort to not leave any lingering resentment here, the work of the peacemaker was never done.

“Thanks for this Lin, I know it’s a headache.” Lin’s head snapped to me and she suddenly looked like she wanted to be somewhere else.

“It’s nothing… Tenya, just doing my job.” She looked like she wanted to say something else before crossing her arms. “I am just mad that you got mixed up in all of this! Letting the Avatar run about causing trouble who knows how much worse it would have been without you.” I nodded.

“Well, it worked out in the end.”

…

“Are you growing out your hair again?”

“Yeah, but it’s going to take a while.”

“Good, you look better with longer hair.” There was another pause as we looked at each other.

“I should catch up to them before they get into more trouble.”

“Right, I have to get back to work anyway. Uh, see you later. Tenya.”

“See you later Lin.” We shared a smile and I made my way out of the station.

---

“Tenzin please don’t send me back home.” As I expected Korra did not wait for Tenzin to calm down and tried to badger him before we even left. Speaking of badgers, I stepped around a giant platypus badger being led around by an old woman. Honestly how is she meant to keep up with an animal like that? They require daily walks and swims.

“Korra, you blatantly disobeyed my wishes and the orders of the white lotus.” He turned to me as I approached. “If Tenya wasn’t here…” Korra sighed.

“I know, I know. Thanks for having my back in there Tenya. I don’t know why she had it out for me.” Was that the impression that Korra had? The Avatar must exist in her own little world if she thought that Lin had it out for her. Still no sense spurning the favour of the Avatar, you never knew when that might be useful.

“Don’t worry about it, keeping you out of trouble is its own reward.”

“Heh, well, thanks again.” She glanced over at Tenzin who was looking thoughtfully at me before shaking his head and looking back at Korra.

“You will be heading back to the South Pole tomorrow Korra and we can put this mess behind us.”

“Tenzin. Katara agreed with me that I should come here!” She did? Was my grandmother getting senile? Why would she think letting a teenager smuggle herself across the planet was a good idea? “She said my destiny was in Republic city. I can’t wait any longer to finish my training, being hidden away from the world is not helping me become a better Avatar.”

“Well… She does have a point.” I admitted as Korra quickly nodded and kept up the pressure, Tenzin slowly running his fingers along his goatee.

“When I saw the city today it was totally out of whack. I understand why you had to come back to Republic City, this place needs you.” I was a fine Councillor thank you very much Korra, I just never had a chance to get the ball rolling. Anyway, how does miss isolated learn street slang? “But it needs me too!”

“You…” Tenzin let out a sigh looking between us. “Okay fine, both of you have made your points.” Wait since when was I in full throated support of keeping her?

“Soo…” Korra gave Tenzin a smile that he returned.

“You can stay.”

“YES!” I suddenly found myself lifted off my feet and crushed by the Avatar as she hopped up and down. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!”

“Ekk! Air, need-”

“I have not finished.” That little interjection by Tenzin was enough to save my life as I managed to wiggle out of the impossibly strong grip Korra had and hope my dignity was intact. I got a sheepish look from the muscle girl as I made a mental note that she does not respect personal boundaries. For goodness’ sake we were practically adults.

“You will learn Airbending from both Tenya and I, of course I will be your main instructor. You will also remain on the island until we both deem your Airbending training complete.” Korra was almost bouncing in place. “Is that understood?”

“Yes!” This time Tenzin got the crushing bearhug as Korra wrapped her arms around him and lifted him off his feet as if he weighed nothing at all as the man simply rolled his eyes.

“Sorry miss?” The three of us turned now more aware that we had a small audience as a man covered in slobber led Korra’s polar bear-dog out. “Is this your polar bear-dog?” He looked utterly unphased when she ran her tongue across his head deadly teeth a hairs breadth away from his face.

“Naga! I am so sorry.” Tenzin had a small smile on his face as he watched Korra rush over to collect her… Dog.

You are reading story The Meditations of a Young Woman at novel35.com

---

The trip back to the island demonstrated just how weak Tenzin’s resolve was when it came to Korra. The man delighted in talking to the excited girl explaining what the different buildings across the cityscape were and talking about the history of the city. I joined in now and then to give some context but my father was in his element here, he had a real passion for teaching.

When we reached the island, we were quickly ambushed by Ikki and Jinora who gave the Avatar a hug after shouting her name in excitement.

“Are you going to live with us now Korra?” Ikki’s question elected a laugh from Korra as she nodded.

“Yep! Tenzin agreed to let me stay to learn Airbending with you all.” There was a shrill cheer from the pair of them as Tenzin approached to send them off to bed. I was quickly roped in to making sure that Korra had a place to sleep for the night.

I led the girl to the main house on the island rather then over to the girl’s dormitories and picked up some bedding from the washroom as Korra made sure to pepper me with questions about the island and what it was like to live in Republic City.

“Here is your room." I glanced back at Korra as we entered the plain sleeping quarters.

“Cosy.” Korra said as she dumped the bedding onto the unmade bed and pushed open the octagonal window. “Oh wow! This view is incredible.”

“That was why I picked the west side guest room. Well, if you need anything I am right next door. You should get some rest because Tenzin is likely going to be forced into a press release tomorrow and you will be attending that if you are staying in Republic City.”

“Right next door? Can I see your room?” I shrugged.

“Sure, if you want.” I turned about on a heel and made my way to my bedroom opening the door and standing aside so Korra could invade my personal space with open mouthed excited glee.

“Is that a sword!?” I let out a sigh and rubbed my forehead.

“It was my uncle Bumi’s, an officer's jian for the Republic Forces Navy. Before they removed it from the uniform. He wanted me to have it for some reason.” She grabbed the handle before in a rare moment of self-awareness she looked over at me before prying it from the wall.

“May I?” I nodded.

“Be careful, it is a sword.” She carefully lifted up the blade and tested its weight in her hand before sheepishly placing it back on the wall stand. It was an impressive amount of restraint, I was half expecting her to swing it around or something.

“All these books… You like your history.” She said picking up one of the thick books from an overcrowded bookshelf. It was an obvious thing to become knowledgeable about a world if you were going to live in it, I thought.

“This is not at all how I expected an Airbending Master's room to look like.” She said leaning over my writing desk and leafing though the neat stacks of paper that took up most of the surface area. Then she pushed a few keys on my typewriter ruining a perfectly good sheet of paper with overly touchy curious fingers. I rubbed my temples and marched up to her.

“How many Airbending Master's rooms have you seen?” I countered plucking notes I had made on the Equalists propaganda from her hands and putting it back onto my desk as she moved to look out of my window.

“Just yours.” She said softly before with far more energy she changed the subject. “I don’t know how you are going to help me with my airbending…”

“What do you mean?” I said, placing myself between her and the half of my room I kept my valuable things in.

“I don’t even know where to start! I have tried over and over but nothing happens at all. I know a bunch of Airbending moves and stuff but…” she took a seat at the edge of my bed without permission and looked up at me as if she was expecting something. I forced a patent smile on my face and clasped my hands together.

“We should start with the basics then. Give you something to think about before you go to sleep.” I put extra emphasis on the sleep part when she was clearly trying to extend our conversation to stay up later. “There are three main areas that control your ability to Airbend and the first one is a material understanding of air and how it moves. How it interacts with the world, things like air current, different environments or pressures, even the air chemistry can have a huge impact on your air bending.” She nodded so I continued.

“Well next is your body, your body is the tool you use to interact with the element, this is why movements are so important. Learning the right sequences in the different arts and techniques you will learn will take up the majority of your time and you should make an effort to commit the more basic ones to muscle memory.”

“Okay, I know all of this stuff.” I raised an eyebrow at that. I knew for a fact that while Airbenders had experimented with different gasses and pressures extensively in the past such writings were considered largely unimportant with almost all Airbending Gurus expose the primacy of spiritual mastery in Airbending. In short Tenzin was not going to tell her about this stuff unless she was well into intermediate techniques and even then, he would stress over and over how important the spiritual side of bending was.

“Well, the last area is spiritual, this can be anything from understanding the energy within you and how to manipulate it to how your mood will change the quality of your airbending techniques. Being angry or frustrated can make some techniques utterly useless. Trust me on that, I know from experience.” She gave me an incredulous look.

“You getting upset? I can’t see it.”

“I can get pretty loud apparently.” She snorted at that. “But I’m serious, once you understand what kind of temperament a technique requires actually doing it becomes far simpler.” She fell back onto my bed and looked up at the ceiling with a groan.

“I just… It’s never happened. I can bend earth, water, fire but I try to bend a little air and-” She blew a raspberry. “Nothing.”

“Well, that is why you’re here.” I pointed out as she picked up one of my pillows and put it under her head. How long did she intend to stay here? I was tired, I wanted to sleep!

“Yeah, I know. I needed this, just a change… somewhere new.” She glanced out of my window towards the glowing city across the bay.

“We should go to bed, you are going to need it for tomorrow.” She glanced over at me with a smile.

“Oh, I know, we should have a sleepov-.”

“No. We actually need to sleep Korra.” She pouted for a moment before giving me a smile.

“You are so serious, alright then Master I will let you get your beauty sleep.” She rolled off my bed and made her way to the door before turning around. “Good night Tenya. It was great meeting you today.”

“Good night Korra. Likewise.” There was no sense being impolite even if she was far more trouble then she seemed to realise.

---

Taking breakfast with Korra and Tenzin in the west community mess hall seemed like a good idea to get up to speed with Tenzin’s lesson plan. Unfortunately, the pair of them just spend their time bickering over Pro Bending. Korra had mentioned to Tenzin that it would be nice to take a trip over to the Pro Bending arena while keeping in this spirit of her promise to remain on the island since it would be a trip with Tenzin.

She would have more luck squeezing water from stone, Tenzin was endlessly annoyed by the sport and considered it an affront to the spiritual tradition of bending. I had never been particularly interested in sports throughout my lives, even when I had gotten exceptional grades for physical education in my first life.

“Come on the arena is right there! I have wanted to see a pro bending match all my life Tenzin.” She was not framing things in the right way to get Tenzin to surrender here. I glanced at him before turning the page on my own reading material for breakfast.

“No, I believe the best way to teach you Airbending is to have a calm and peaceful environment free from distraction.” I do think he was making a mistake here, but bringing it up now would undermine his authority. I would have a chat with him later about allowing her to have a trip to the arena as a treat if she behaves herself. She might be seventeen but she seemed to require an awful lot of carrot and stick to do anything.

“Hey Tenya whatcha reading?” I closed the Yun-Campus Magazine and handed it over to the inquisitive girl. It was the closest thing to a business insider rag I could get my hands on, something I needed to keep my portfolio intact considering my lack of exposure to the markets.

I mostly just bought stocks on up trending companies but now and then a company would come out with a product that did well historically and grow rapidly. There had been a few upsets but stock trading was almost entirely unregulated so that was to be expected honestly. Its not like I could complain, the lack of regulation allowed me to buy stocks near anonymously.

“Ah, Tenya is endlessly fascinated by the little gadgets and doohickies that the likes of Cabbage Corp put out.”

“What like radios and stuff?” I nodded.

“I just like to follow the trends to get an idea of how the city is changing, they also have some good editorials. Future Industries is unveiling a new aircraft that uses a heavier than air flight method in a few months.” It looked to be a single engine prop plane design. I was unsure how successful early planes would be considering I had next to no knowledge of the early commercial uses of planes from my first life. Or my second now that I think about it.

Without a war to speed up development I did not expect a huge amount of interest in planes until they got a little bigger. Still the fact that Future Industries were investing in that direction and had a functioning product so quickly was a good sign, I could afford to invest a little more into them considering they had a stranglehold on the automobile market.

“A curiosity and little more.” Tenzin dismissed getting to his feet. “I think its time we got going, the ferry should be here soon to take us over to the city. I have arranged a meeting with the council and then a press conference in the afternoon.”

“Wait we are going across the bay anyway? Come on Tenzin we might as well go see some of the practice games!” She was very persistent.

“For the last time Kor-.”

“Sorry to interrupt.” I spoke cutting off my father. “But I would like to have a word Father. Korra, the White Lotus guards are going to need your help to unload the ferry when it gets here.” Tenzin and Korra both looked at me before Korra got to her feet.

“Uh sure Tenya. I will…” She looked at Tenzin and then back at me. “Get right on that.” She turned and walked out of the room sparing one last look back at me before giving me a big wink.

“You’re both planning something.” I looked at Tenzin as he crossed his arms. “I was not born yesterday, Pema warned me about teenage girls plotting.” I wanted to groan at the absurd suggestion that I was plotting away with Korra after having known her for all of a day.

“Its nothing like that. I just think you should reconsider the Pro Bending Arena visit.” He pinched the bridge of his nose with a groan.

“You know how I feel about that so called sport Tenya, you need to trust me I know exactly how to train Korra I have already trained one Airbender to mastery.”

“It’s a potential reward to motivate her, if she makes progress in her education, you could allow her to watch a game with supervision.” He quickly shook his head.

“Tenya, I know you like her but I know what’s best for the Avatar, you need to trust me and we need to form a united front in directing Korra’s Airbending education. I wanted to have this conversation with you a bit later but I need your assurance that you will support me in my methods rather then confusing her with your own interpretations. It's fine for a Master such as yourself to explore the art of bending in your own way but what Korra needs is an orthodox exploration of the element.” That came out of nowhere, he seemed intent on getting my word on this so I inclined my head.

“If that is what you think is best Master Tenzin.” He let out a sigh and pulled me into a hug.

“Tenya… Sorry if I am a bit on edge, I just have a lot on my mind. Since you are a Master too Korra will consider both of our teachings. Until she has a good grasp on Airbending I don’t want any contradictions.”

“I understand Father.”

“Thank you.” He let me go and got to his feet. “We should get going, we have so much to do today.” I followed in his wake forcing down some mild frustration at my father's assumptions that I had any interest in disrupting the education of the Avatar. I quickly schooled my face to present calm serenity as we made our way to the docks.

---

“Hello, I’m Korra. Your new Avatar.” The crowd was large enough to spill over from the main street surrounding the City Hall, at least several thousand people attending the impromptu press conference the council had called. Korra was bombarded with a dozen or so flashes a minute but at least the crowd let out a cheer when she announced herself as the Avatar. Before she could speak again a dozen journalists started shouting out questions that mostly pertained to the rather violent introduction Korra had made to the city.

“Well, yes I am definitely here to stay but I don’t exactly have a… plan, yet.” Oh no.

“I-im still in training.” I looked over at Tenzin who looked perfectly fine while the Avatar was DYING out there.

“Uh, Look!” I couldn’t, my hands were covering my face. “All I know is that Aang meant this city to be the centre of peace and balance in the world. And I believe we can make his dream a reality.” Holy shit she saved it.

“I look forward to serving you!” The crowd let out a cheer as Lin harrumphed loud enough for me to hear over the din.

“I wish Tenzin had given her an actual speech rather than throwing her out in front of a crowd like that.” I muttered to her earning a wry smile from the chief of police.

“She did okay I suppose.” I looked over at Korra as she looked back at me and waved.

“I suppose she did.” I agreed with Lin and gave Korra a wave back.

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