Winding Legacies: A 'The Legend of Korra' Rewrite

Episode 13: Venom of the Red Lotus Part 2

Lin and Suyin tried their best to avoid the larger-than-life statue deeply embedded in the mountain's outer wall as they helped the airbenders out of the caves with a set of cobbled stairs down to the valley floor. The cave system that the Red Lotus had taken refuge inside was part of the larger Nomad Valley, a series of mountain formations that housed carvings of some of the most notable Air Nomads in the nation's history, and they knew that Tenzin would kick them into next week if they ruined another sacred airbender tradition.

Bumi and Asami took up behind Tenzin and his family as they helped Kya and Opal to the outskirts of the cave. Tonraq had given Kya as much water in his pouch as he could spare before he and Lemaya left, but it was only enough to get her and Opal back to their feet. They still weren't in any shape for anything rigorous.

"Everyone's going to be so glad to hear you're okay."

Opal tiredly smiled. "How is everyone? I hope better than I have been." Asami pursed her lips.

"You know, I'd say we're all kind of on the same level given that we're surrounded by lunatic queen-killers, so maybe they're a little bit better off than you." The hoarseness of Opal's laughter brought out a sharp pain in her lungs, but she didn't let it stop her from playfully shaking Asami's shoulders.

Footsteps raced down the stone path behind them. "We have to help Korra," Tonraq heaved as he massaged his collar blade with the bottom of his hand. Quickly gaining on the others, he threw his arm out to push Lemaya back as the echoes of exploding boulders bounced across the valley.

Everyone ducked, their eyes shooting to the source of the blast. A body hurtled toward the ground draped in water and fire as another took off higher into the sky. Within seconds, Korra leapt off of the ground out of her elemental cover, slamming Zaheer into a mountain on the other side of the valley.

Zaheer slammed his forehead into hers, jolting her head back and giving him enough room to kick her off of him. She spiraled backward toward a smaller peak, calling on the earth where she was aimed to land to come up and meet her halfway. The mountain partially obliged, but before it could reach the base of her feet, her body seized and her eyes flashed their normal blue before she slumped down the mountainside.

Backing himself away, Zaheer caught his breath as Korra's trembling arms tried to push herself back up. "You can't fight me and the poison," he goaded despite how heart-racing it was that she had even lasted this long with the amount of poison gushing through her veins.

Korra screamed a fiery breath in response—her chosen move for the day—and jumped upward, smacking her fist into the rock around her and yanking out the earth beneath Zaheer's feet. His arms clutched desperately onto the little leverage on the mountaintop he still had as Korra stumbled over to him, her knuckles steeling for another impact.

Knowing she was no doubt about to pound him into next week, he let go of the mountain and slipped into the deep hole Korra had created beneath him. She missed, rupturing a gaping crater into the back of the mountain instead of Zaheer's head. As Korra regained her balance, Zaheer shot himself upward with a torpedo of air, forcing Korra backward. She stood up quicker that time, catching Zaheer in a fight of air punches as he tried to sweep the stability from her stance.

"I can fly up on my bison to help her."

"Kai, you'd never be able to keep up with Zaheer, he's too powerful."

Turning to Lin with a wavering breath, Kai pleaded, "But we have to do something!"

"Jinora, please tell me you have a super cool, really awesome solution like that astral projection you came up with during the Harmonic Convergence."