Soul Bound

Healing The Enemy

It had taken only a few days for Kuvira to be transferred to Republic City's minimum security prison. Korra was not sure if she should be impressed or worried about how fast the papers went through. She tugged at the collar of her shirt, huffing as the sun beat on her face. The ferry was traveling too slow from the Air Temple Island to Republic City. Next to her, Kya kept glancing at her in concern but she showed no discomfort to the heat. Korra wondered how that was possible. It felt as if she were at the foot of an immense volcano, lava coming down to burn her. Stranger still was the fact that she showed no signs of the heat. Her skin wasn't clammy and no sweat was beading on her brow.

The only symptom that the others could count on was the fact that her head was constantly pounding. Her migraines were consistently growing worse and the littlest agitation set off one. Korra had nearly shouted at Wu when he started to hum one of his songs during an outing yesterday. She was too miserable to regret it even after he pouted and looked forlorn.

Korra was still tugging at her collar when she spied Lin Beifong waiting for her and Kya on the docks of Republic City. The Chief of Police had a grim look on her face and her arms crossed over her chest.

"Didn't she say she was going to wait for us in her patrol car?" Kya asked Korra, frowning.

"I guess she got impatient," Korra said with a shrug. She could understand Lin's fuse being short lately. She couldn't see Lin so willingly moving Kuvira to the prison so quickly. She didn't want to think of the conversations the chief must have had with Zhu Li and Suyin about the transfer.

The ferry docked and the two got off along with the Air Acolytes. "Took you two long enough," Lin said gruffly when Kya and Korra reached her.

"Nice to see you too, Lin," Korra said with as much of a grin as she could muster. She and Kya followed Lin to her patrol vehicle. Korra took the passenger seat while Kya settled in the back. The air felt refreshingly cool on Korra's face as Lin drove through the streets of Republic City.

"So, Lin," Kya had to raise her voice to be heard from the back of the vehicle and over the wind. "What's wrong with Kuvira?"

Korra frowned at the question, the relief she felt from the wind being downcast by the memory of Kya coming to her room earlier that day. Lin had called the Air Temple Island for Kya and Korra. Apparently, the transfer hadn't helped Kuvira's health much and the healers at the prison weren't having much luck healing Kuvira. Korra wondered how much the healers had actually tried helping Kuvira before giving up. She was wishing Kya good luck when the older woman had added that Kuvira specifically asked for her to come as well. Korra still wasn't positive of why her presence was requested. Maybe Kuvira didn't trust Kya to heal her properly or perhaps Kuvira thought that two healers were better than one. Either way, Korra wasn't sure of how much she could actually help.

"We don't know," Lin explained, her voice tense as she took a sharp turn. "Every healer said that nothing was wrong with her but something clearly is."

Korra definitely didn't want to know how that conversation went. She could feel Kya's eyes on her back but she ignored them. The conversation ended there and they drove in silence to the prison.

When they arrived at the prison, Korra almost laughed. It was the same one that Varrick was thrown into after he was arrested for trying to kidnap President Raiko years ago. For one absurd moment, she wondered if Kuvira was put into Varrick's old cell. The guards quickly waved them through once they saw it was the chief and the Avatar. Lin parked the car in a designated area and led the two through the prison. Korra was amazed how the guards snapped to attention when Lin marched past. Technically, the warden was their boss and Lin had no true authority here but not one guard spoke up about the chief's intrusion.