The Swamp
Korra opened her eyes and slumped her back a bit. That was not clearing your mind Korra, she told herself. She sighed. She couldn’t get Sumo out of her mind since her hallucination of him earlier that morning. I don’t think clearing my mind will help me move on from this. I need to accept what happened to us, not push it away. Straightening her back and taking a deep breath in, she put her hands together in her lap. She decided to try something different. Instead of pushing everything out of her mind, she would meditate on what happened in the swamp. She hoped to not conquer her newfound demons, but rather learn from the experience, and find solace with them. She held her deep inhale for a moment, and then exhaled slowly. She closed her eyes and focused on what happened next.
Walking into the swamp, Korra and Sumo waded across a huge pond. The water was thick and murky, and it was deep. Sumo waded through it easier than Korra, but he still stayed behind her. ‘There was not this much water the last time I was here,’ Korra thought.
“It’s wet season," Sumo said as if reading her mind. "It basically rains every night during this time of year. The water is going to be too deep for us to wade through as we get farther in. I can make us a canoe. It’ll be easier and quicker to get through it that way.”
“How long will that take to make?”
“Trust me. I can build one real quick,” he said with a crooked smile. Sumo looked around and then motioned his head over to a thick tree to his left that was on drier land. Without a word he pulled out a thick line of water a whipped it at the tree, chopping at it voraciously.
“Get out of the way! It’s going to fall in this direction.” They were right under the line of fall and the tree was beginning to budge. But Korra stayed put, not entirely listening to what he said. She stared up at the tree, feeling bad for it. She was reminded of Kuvira, and how she had cut so many of these trees and vines already. Sumo just kept slicing his water at the tree in swift motions until he realized that Korra was still behind him.
“I said move!” he yelled at her. But it was already too late, the tree buckled and started hurtling toward them. Sumo quickly jumped at her, knocking her out of the line of fall. They fell into big puddle, with the entire weight of Sumo on top of Korra, knocking the wind out of her lungs and submerging her head under the water.
Quickly, Korra airbended him off of her with the full force of her arms. He flew off of her and hit his back against the fallen tree ten feet away, knocking the wind out of him as well. Korra shot up from the puddle and gasped for air. Sumo fell onto his knees and did the same thing.
“What the hell was that!" he yelled when he got up. "I told you to get out of the way. I know that you don’t want me here but at least respect that I know what i’m doing.”
Korra got up from the puddle and waterbended the water and mud out of her hair. “I’m sorry. I just have a thing about cutting spirit trees. I don’t think it’s right. But I guess right now it’s necessary.”
“We’re not making a super weapon. Just a boat.” Sumo turned back to the tree and chopped a big chunk out of it.
“Can I help?” Korra asked.
“I can make it quick enough without it,” he said in an annoyed tone. Korra felt bad. Though she didn’t want him coming at first, thinking that he would only slow her down, he quickly proved himself otherwise.
Sumo was thrashing around multiple water edges at the big chunk of wood, slicing and carving quickly as the boat began to take form. ‘Good technique,’ Korra thought.
“I know I was rude beforehand about you coming with me. I’m sorry about that. Sometimes being the Avatar makes me feel like I have to take one for the team and face the biggest danger alone, which I do, but not all the time. My friends have always been there helping me. I guess since I was asked to come without them I wanted to prove to myself that I could do this alone, but I was wrong.”
Sumo stopped at her words, set his water down and turned back to her. “It’s alright. I don’t know a thing about the responsibilities of the Avatar, and i’ve never done anything remotely this important before.”
“Don’t you work for the governor though? That’s important,” she said trying to reassure him.
“I work as one of his groundskeepers at his estate. I’m just a lowly uncivilized servant,” he said, looking down at the ground.
“That’s not true,” she said. “You’re a great water bender from the looks of it. Your style is completely different, rawer than anything i’ve ever seen. I can tell you weren’t traditionally trained, but you’re still obviously a master in the art.”
“Really?”
“Definitely,” she said smiling. “Friends?” she asked with her hand out at him.
“Friends,” he said, taking it and giving it a firm shake.
……
“So how are you going to track this thing?” asked Sumo as he pushed the boat into the water and jumped on.
“It’s not going to be easy. I know how to track the spiritual energy in a person, but spirits are different. Spiritual energy in people feel distinct. Everyone has their own specific energy. With spirits it all just feels the same to me. This place already has so much spiritual energy in it due to the spirit vines. It’s going to be hard to separate the energies.”
“So what you’re saying is that the vines that cover this place have the same type of energy as spirits do?”
“Yes. Honestly I can’t tell the difference. But maybe I can sense the spots that have more spiritual energy.” Korra closed her eyes and focused. She could feel the energy thrumming around her, something she couldn’t do the last time she was here. When she tried to sense what direction had the most energy, she was surprised by how easily she sensed where the strongest, most abundant amount of energy was. It felt as if everything was leading to that direction.
“Of course. The banyon grove tree. Do you think the spirit could have been traveling to there?”
“Looks like that’s the only lead we’ve got. Lets go.” Sumo stood up at the back of the boat and started waving his arms and torso around, propelling the little canoe like a speedboat.
“You remind me of my friend Mako,” she said, smiling at him.
……
Asami entered her home with a bag of Korra’s favorite dumplings and treats for Naga. She was about to call out for Korra when she spotted her in the corner of her eye. She was sitting on the floor in a living area, meditating. Asami looked toward her girlfriend sympathetically and walked over to where she was. She set the food down on a nearby table and then sat down next to her. She could tell Korra was meditating intently, otherwise she would’ve noticed her coming in. She decided to just let her meditate, thinking back to what Jinora had said to her earlier. Asami laid down on her back and stretched her body out. She stared at the ceiling and thought about her relationship with Korra. Ever since becoming her girlfriend, Asami realized that there was so much more to Korra and her character than she previously let on to her and their friends. She’s such a sweetheart, Asami thought. Our relationship has been so good so far, I can’t see myself possibly being with anyone else in the future. If we’re going to be together then I can’t let something like this destroy us. I can’t let it slide either per-say, but if she’s willing to work on it, work on us, then I am too.
Asami yawned and stretched out her body again and shifted to her side. She stared at her girlfriend briefly as she meditated. Maybe she’s in the spirit world, she thought as she drifted off to sleep.