[2.3]
Southern Portal
"The Avatar must go alone."
As the words left Unalaq's mouth, the two siblings froze. Iroh, who was standing a few feet away from the man, trying his best to analyse the man without being suspicious.
"But I don't have any connections with the spirits," said Korra, advancing towards her uncle, "in fact, it seems like they hate me!"
"You have to believe in yourself like I believe in you." When Korra looked away, Unalaq frowned. "What is it?"
"I guess I'm just so used to people telling me how to do things that I forgot what it was like to have someone to trust me."
As the words left the Avatar's mouth, Iroh looked away from the duo. Rae always trusted her, he thought. However, his thoughts remained exactly that, thoughts. He uttered no words, not wanting to spark conflict between the group. Unalaq seemed to be quite good at picking up fights, especially after what happened with his brother and Korra's father on their way to the south pole.
"Korra, all the past avatars live on inside of you. Let them guide you. Let them help you find the light in the dark..."
The Avatar took a deep breath and turned towards the siblings and Iroh. "Stay here," she said, directing her words towards all of them. However, before she could leave, her blue eyes caught Iroh's amber ones. "I'll find her," she whispered.
The general gave her a small nod, tearing away their gaze as quickly as he could. A feeling of guild suddenly engulfed his heart. He was supposed to be there for her too. But with a sigh, he turned away from the image of the frozen forest and sat down on the snow. He couldn't help the feeling of being useless, but he had nothing else to do but wait.
~
When Korra reached the entrance of the frozen forest, she gasped. There sat one of the polar bear dogs used by the southern water tribe. It didn't look tired, nor hungry, just worried. Korra approached the animal and gently pet its fur.
"So, she's really here," whispered the Avatar. With a last look at the animal, she entered the forest.
She walked through the ice corridors for a while. There were no sounds or hints of Rae anywhere. The air cooled down with every step she took. Korra looked around when, from the corner of her eyes, she saw a shadow. Then, the dark spirit attacked. It took the Avatar multiple tried, along with the use of her airbending. When it was finally gone, Korra looked around at the wide ice cave she fell it. But the one thing that caught her eye was the body sitting in the middle of it.
When Rae heard the commotion, she looked over to where the sound came from. The silhouette of a person made its way towards her, but it took Rae a few seconds to get rid of the blur.
"Rae!"
The Guardian eyes widened when she finally saw Korra's clear face. However, she didn't have time to comprehend that she was actually there, as she was quickly tackled in a bone cursing hug. She smiled warmly when she felt the young girl embrace her, but her expression turned into a painful frown when Korra squeezed too hard.
"Are you ok? I was so worried!"
Rae gave Korra a crooked smile.
"I'm fine," she whispered, but Korra's eyes were wide and glued on the patch of blood on her trousers.
"Are you hurt?" she asked, "what happened? Who did this?"
Rae hissed, her head throbbing from the girl's loud voice. "I'm fine," she said, pushing Korra away from her body gently, "I just fell and hit my head..."
Korra nodded slowly, not really believing the words coming out of the Guardians mouth. But still, she said nothing, only helped Rae get on her feet. Taking her hand away from Rae's shoulder, the young Avatar advanced towards the centre of the room. The dragon spirit flew into the air and landed softly on Rae's shoulder, making her jump.
"The light in the dark," said Korra, looking at the eerie light the ice beneath her emitted. With a strong punch, she delivered a blast on air towards the ice. It didn't break it, only made Rae take a few steps back.
"Korra!"
The girl tried to break the ice again using her Firebending. Still nothing.
"Korra, I already tried—"
When she realized the girl wouldn't listen to her, Rae sighed. Looking at her feet, she saw her two metal fans scattered on the floor. She bent and took them, a confused frown on her face. I must have dropped them when I tried to break the ice, she thought.
"Why isn't it opening?!" exclaimed the Avatar. Rae walked closer to her and placed her exposed palm on her shoulder. "I already tried," she said, "our bending won't work. Neither will normal weapons."
Before Korra could say anything else, a gust of wind almost knocked them over. Looking at the ceiling, Rae swore she was going mad. A gigantic dark spirit, with no particular form, was flying above their head. Before any of the two couldn't say anything, it flew down and grabbed Korra.
Rae was knocked over, hitting her head once again on the ice floor. This time, it left a small crack in the ice along with a splash of blood. Another two spirits cornered her. Unknown to Rae, while she was tried to fight the spirits, Korra had entered the Avatar state. She was handing upside down, with the gigantic snake-like spirit wrapped around all her limbs.
Right when Rae turned toward her friend, she saw the small touch between Korra's finger and the ice. Then it happened. A surge of energy scared away the spirits and the ice finally broke. The light shone in the sky. Korra had opened a portal. Rae looked at it, both mesmerised and scared of what they have done.
"The spirits dancing in the sky," said Korra, looking at the mesmerizing light that danced around them.
"It's beautiful," whispered Rae, her eyes shining with amazement.
Too fascinated by the now southern lights, Rae didn't see Korra leave, nor the others approach.
When Iroh saw Korra walk towards them, he froze. At that moment, it seemed that she was alone. Only when the fog cleared up a little did he see Rae's hypnotized expression. He ignored Korra and the others, sprinting towards the Guardian.
He stopped a few feet away from her, not wanting to startle her, but most of all, not knowing how she would react to seeing him the first time in six months after their last encounter.
When she turned around, Rae froze. Amid the action, she didn't realize Korra left her side and was now replaced with whom she expected to see less. Even now that the adrenaline in her veins died down and the pain of her head injury was coming back at her like a boulder, she couldn't help her smile.
When Iroh saw the corners of her lips lift so little, he didn't wait a second more to rush and engulf her in a warm and tight embrace. It seemed like time had stopped. Rae's heart was beating the loudest it has ever beaten. She was finally at peace with herself. Everything she did, everything her past live told her, just vanished from her mind as she slowly collapsed in Iroh's hold, completely exhausted.
"You're alright," whispered Iroh gently in her ear, "you're alright, you're with me now.... You're with me..."
However, their heartfelt moment was interrupted by a series of coughs.
"We need to go," grumped Mako, his hands wrapping his scarf around his neck tighter, "we don't have time for happy reunions now."
Rae groaned, setting her chin on Iroh's chest. Still with her eyes closed, she mumbled, "one day, I'll wrap that scarf around his neck so tight that he'll choke to death..."
She felt Iroh laugh and smiled softly. "Let's go," he whispered, helping her walk towards the group.
~
The journey back to the southern tribes seemed a lot more exhausting than the one towards the south pole. Rae was half asleep most of the time, leaning on Iroh's back as they rode on one of the animals the group used to travel. She tried hard not to close her eyes knowing it might cause her problems later due to her head injury, but she just couldn't help herself from dazing off from time to time.
She felt the blood run down her spine, shivering both from the cold and from the eerie sensation that it caused her.
When they finally arrived at the tribe, Rae lifted her head slowly to look at the port. However, her sleepy expression quickly changed to a concerned one when she saw the multitude of war ships.
"What are all your northern troops doing here?" asked Korra.
"Opening the spirit portal was only the first step in getting the southern tribe back on its righteous path," started Unalaq, "There is more difficult work to be done before our two tribes are truly united."
Rae turned her head to the side and rested on Iroh's back. From the corner of her eyes, she watched the man attentively as he spoke.
"I have a bad feeling about this," whispered the woman, placing her chin on the general's shoulder, "I have a bad feeling about him."