Chapter 1
Ever since Korra left for the Southern Water Tribe Asami has felt well... Lost. She didn't know why. She didn't know how. All she knew is that her best friend was gone and alone. Her best friend was back in her hometown with the same sadness in her eyes as when she left. Her best friend was back in her house where she grew up, reminiscing about not her fondest childhood memories, but of her worst memories overall. Her best friend was back in her house, not laughing and joking with her parents, clad in her famous lopsided smile, but with a stolid, emotionless face that struck concern in anyone looking at her. Her best friend was closed off and isolated in her hometown, praying that her parents don't ask her if she's okay because she doesn't want to admit that she's not. Her best friend is in her hometown...absolutely in pain. And Asami felt a massive pang of guilt because she wasn't there to help her.
I mean she offered to go to the Southern Water Tribe with Korra, but her best friend insisted this was something she needed to do by herself. Her best friend assured Asami she'd be okay and she'd be back in no time. Her best friend told Asami that she needed to be alone. And Asami believed her. She probably shouldn't have. Because then Asami probably wouldn't be alone herself in her car, driving all over the world trying to find Korra after Korra ran away from the hometown she was supposed to be recovering in.
It was something Asami did right after her best friend's father came off the Southern Water Tribe boat and told everyone she wasn't with him. It was something crazy, leaving everything behind to search for her best friend. It was something spontaneous, yes, but it was also something she needed to do.
Asami was now in an Earth Kingdom town, one that looked almost like something out of a history book if it weren't for the occasional satomobile. The town was old fashioned and small and Asami had to admit she liked the archaic sort of look. She had a map with her, marking off each town as she went along. This little town was the one she'd search next.
Asami walked to each house, holding up a picture of her and Korra next to a satomobile after a race... The first time they had connected and the first time Korra saw something more in her. It was her favorite picture that brought her joy every time she looked at it. But now, holding it up for other people to see only brought her disappointment when they shook their heads, telling Asami they hadn't seen her best friend.
Asami walked to her car defeated after she'd questioned everyone with her favorite picture. Sitting back in her car, she put the picture in window for her to look at when she was driving. Even though it brought confusion and questioning looks from others as to why Asami had a picture of a random girl and was looking for her, it had always brought Asami joy. And right now, in her defeated state, it did its job. She sadly smiled at the picture and looked toward her passenger seat as if she knew something was there. And there was.
A small spirit with and yellow body and green like ears was sitting right next to her. It looked at her. She looked at it. It seemed as if Asami and the spirit were in some sort of unspoken staring contest.
"What?" Asami questioned the spirit.
"You're looking for the Avatar, correct?" The spirit questioned back.
"Yes, how did you-?" Asami needed to ask.
"It doesn't matter. All you need to know is that I know where to take you if you're looking for her."
"You do?" Asami asked. The spirit nodded. Then Asami spoke up again. "Show me where to go."
And so the spirit did. She drove not too far., only to the outskirts of the town they were in. But Asami was confused. This wasn't just any place. This was the swamp.
"Why are you bringing me here? Is Korra here?" Asami questioned.
"No. She's not. She's somewhere else," the spirit stated.
"Then why did you bring me here. Take me to Korra."
"No. That's not what's supposed to happen at this moment in time. She need to be where she needs to be and you need to be here," the spirit explained.
"Why?" Asami asks.
"Because this is how things need to go. Just walk into the swamp and you'll find out soon enough as to what I'm talking about," the spirit said.
"How do I know you're not gonna kill me? This all seems like something out of a horror mover."
"Spirits don't kill Asami. People do. Just please go. If not yourself, for Korra."
Asami just let those words sink in. Next thing she knew she was stepping out of her car and into the ominous swamp. The swamp looked almost indescribable. It had an eerie like glow that emanated the border of the forest and it was lined with thick, dense fog. It was green-the most brilliant green Asami has ever seen and the color covered almost everything in the forest, from trees, sticks and even rocks. It was like the color was slowly taking over. The trees were tall and housed birds that sang long, harmonious songs and battled over the sound of a nearby creek that flowed in a rapid manner. Asami saw all of this and thought of it as nothing, but absolutely beautiful. She wanted to see more so he walked closer toward the edge.
As she walked, the creek and the birds became louder and louder. She also found that the smell of a sort of dampness of trees and flowers invaded her nostrils. The cool of the fog crept underneath her jacket that made her shiver up and down in response. She then stepped onto the mushy, cold terrain of the swamp and became swallowed whole by the green and the fog.
"Well, well, well. If it isn't the most important woman in the entire economic world, Asami Sato," an old voice stated after Asami stepped into the swamp.
Asami swore the woman that owned that voice looked familiar. To the way the woman's back was hunched slightly forward, to the way her line of sight gazed down at the ground and to the way the woman clasped her hands behind her back. Even her green and yellow tunic, white hair pulled into a giant bun and the absence of shoes on the women's feet seemed familiar. But no... It couldn't be... "Toph?"