the guardian | asami sato

☁︎︎Book 1: Chapter 3

Since it was already late, Tenzin had told Zurin to visit his mother the next day.

That's why he was here, infront of the precinct. Zurin sighed as he tried to calm down his nerves. He breathed in deeply before walking in and going towards his mother's office.

He knocked twice on her door, trying to smoothen his hair as he waited for a reply. "Come in."

Zurin chuckled a bit at his mother's tone and opened the door that kept him away from her.

Lin Beifong had her head in her files, not once looking up. She was busy with one of the triple-triad cases and was a bit irritated once someone came knocking on her door. "What is it?"

Zurin stiffled a laugh as he watched her continue on with the files sprawled on her desk. "Well, I was hopping to greet my mom while I was here. Is she busy?"

Lin peeked up from her files and smiled at her son. "Zurin."

She then left her seat and then wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug. Zurin hugged her back and relished in the warmth of his mother. They pulled back after a moment and he gave her a small grin. Lin smiled up at him before swatting his arm and crossing her arms.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"For coming here later than you were supposed to." Zurin chuckled nervously and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Well I did come here late at night. Dad told me to come today instead."

Lin sighed at the mention of his father and walked back to her desk. "Why did you arrive yesterday? I though you were supposed to come two days ago."

Zurin sighed and nodded his head in agreement. He then sat on the chair infront of her desk and crossed his legs. "Well my commanding officer had asked me to Omashu on the way here, just to see if they were fine and all."

"Iroh must want to keep you away from your family then."

"You know he's my best friend, mom. It was fine, I did need to but some stuff there for the kids anyways."

"Ah well, if you say so."

"So how's the situation here? With this Amon and stuff?" Lin sighs and props her elbows on her desk.

"Well..."

~•~•~•~

Zurin watches as Korra tried to do the airbending exercises again, starting with the panels. Tenzin had asked him to watch closely in order to help both him and Korra. He obliged of course, happy to help his father in any way possible.

One of the things Zurin noticed was that Korra was a bit pessimistic about the lessons. She tended to whine about how hard it was and chose not to think about how she need to be free and gentle.

Another thing he noticed was that his father himself was a bit too strict on Korra. Not allowing her to listen to the radio about Pro-bending and not allowing her to go out most of the time.

Now Zurin of course understood both of them, but then in order for them to do this they needed to talk instead of whine, complain, and be strict with each other.

But sadly, that wasn't the case.

Korra had recently been leaving the Air Temple Island a lot more. Zurin would wake up at around 6am and would find Korra already sneaking out with her polar bear dog Naga. At first he didn't mind it, but when it started to make her late to airbending training he started getting a bit worried.

Tenzin on the other hand was getting very exhausted and agitated at Korra. She kept coming to training later than usual and would talk back whenever she got infuriated. Zurin would try to calm both of them down, in a peaceful way, but to no avail.

Now, Tenzin was in his office at Republic City with Zurin. He had requested his son to come and discuss some things with him.

"Zurin, thank goodness you haven't started anything for the UF yet." Zurin chuckled and sat on the chair infront of his father.

"Well, I did arrive earlier than I was suposed to. Iroh wanted me to take sometime with you guys before I officially start my job here."

Tenzin smiled at his son before getting serious and sitting straighter on his chair. "Listen, I know you noticed Korra's a bit more... odd now. Can you, maybe, talk to her? Or perhaps follow her to wherever she goes?"

Zurin leaned back in his chair and thought about this. He rubbed his chin subconsciously and pondered the though. He then sighed and nodded his head in defeat. "Alright. I'll do just that. I'm also worried that Korra might not be able to master Air Bending."

Tenzin sent his son a grateful smile and stood up, walking towards him. Zurin also stood up and hugged his father. "Thank you, Zurin. You are a great help to me my son."