Since I had been the one doing all the work by flying us through the sky, Korra took it upon herself to deal with any spirit that happened to get too close and notice us, which served as decent training for her. "Korra, don't use waterbending, use airbending." As I finished speaking, Korra used what little water she had stored in her waterskin to attack the spirit, forcing it back, giving her a brief window to snap her head at me in confusion.
"Um, I don't know if you forgot, but we can only use our innate bending." "No, I didn't forget, Korra. Let this serve as training; you'll go through the motions as if you were airbending." I could see her expression twitch at my words, though in the end, she hesitantly stored her water while nodding. "If I end up dying, I'll haunt you as a spirit."
Rolling my eyes, I leaped onto my feet, watching as Korra shifted her stance, entering the first form of Baguazhang just as the spirit regains its bearings. With a cry akin to a roar, the toad spirit lunged at Korra, who thrust her palm forward, causing a weak gust of wind to hit the charging toad, slowing it down enough for her to dodge out of the way.
"EH? T-The hell!? H-How the hell did I do that!?" "Focus, Korra." My words broke her out of her thoughts as she shifted her focus to the toad, though this time, any hesitance was gone, all that remained was confidence with a tad-bit of arrogance. "C'mon, let's fight!"
As Korra and the toad spirit fought, her movements were initially awkward; she had practiced the thirty-six movements of Baguazhang by herself, but using them in battle was vastly different. However, because of her familiarity with the movements, she quickly grew accustomed to them and was able to swiftly swap between them.
Since this was Korra's first time using airbending, all of her attacks were mediocre at best, so it turned into a battle of attrition as she slowly sapped away the toad spirit's energy for nearly thirty minutes, having suffered many hits in the process. Eventually, though, Korra finally managed to disperse the corrupted toad spirit with a final kick, launching a blade of wind at it, cutting right through it.
Seeing the spirit disperse into the atmosphere, Korra turned and looked at me with a massive grin on her face, clearly happy at her performance. "Haha, Aang, did you see that!? I used air bending! The toad spirit was nothing in the face of Avatar Korra!"
I couldn't help but just stare at Korra's overly joyous celebration in amusement; however, I had to suppress my laughter when Korra tried to airbend, only to fail spectacularly, confusing her. "What? Why can't I air bend?" I watched her for a few minutes before finally deciding to clear her confusion and frustration. "You were never airbending, Korra." As I approached her, she glanced, and although she didn't say it, I could tell she thought I was stupid.
'Haa, so expressive, at least try to hide your thoughts.' Wryly, smiling, I shook my head and cleared my throat. "Copy me." Taking a thrusting stance, Korra, although confused, copied me, and after a moment, as if we were in sync, we stepped forward, thrusting our palms. However, while no gust of wind followed my movements, it did for Korra, who widened her eyes, finally realizing what was happening.
"I can air-bend again?"
'Never mind, I take back what I said.' Rubbing my face, I chopped Korra's head, causing her to wince in pain as she glared at me in annoyance. "Hey, not cool!" "I was air bending for you. Whenever you thrust your palm, I did the same. Whenever you kicked, I kicked too. Whatever movement you made, I'd do the same. Do you understand it now?" "Yeah."
Softly sighing in relief, I grabbed Korra's wrist and led her back to our little camp, where I sat us down and retrieved a healing salve from my pouch to apply to the many bruises on Korra. "For an air bender, Korra, you're terribly slow." "Slow? Yeah, I suppose you're right. I've fought Tenzin before, and he's like an elusive shadow, can't land a hit on that old man." "That's why, for the next fight, you will only focus on movement."
For a warrior like Korra, being told she couldn't fight back during a fight was brutal for her. "Eh!? T-That's crazy! Not being able to fight back? Have some mercy!" Shaking me by the collar of my clothes, I slapped the back of her head, causing her to wince. "Stop moving, you're making it difficult for me, and take off your shirt."
Pouting, Korra did as I asked of her and removed her shirt, revealing all her bruises, which I applied the salve to. "You're muscles are rather impressive." "They better be, I worked hard for them." Seeing her flex, I just chuckled and ignored her as I turned her around, applying the salve onto her back. Once I finished, I returned the salve to my pouch, and Korra energetically leaped into the air, eager to face another spirit.
"Alright, spirits, I'm ready!" "No retaliating, remember." "Tsk, bastard." Holding myself back from slapping Korra, we stayed here for a little bit longer, just enough time for us to eat and Korra to 'fight' another spirit, before continuing to fly through the sky in search of Father Glowworm.
When it was time to sleep, we found an isolated spot and then took turns keeping watch as we slept through the night. The first few days were fine, but towards the end, the lack of sleep was getting to both of us; Korra was having it much rougher than I, as I was somewhat accustomed to going long periods of time without rest to train more. However, when the sixth day rolled around, Korra couldn't have been happier.
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As we approached Jathr, I landed us on a tree branch while my glider returned its staff form before holstering it onto my back; hearing a yawn, I subconsciously yawned as well and glanced at Korra, who had deep circles around her eyes. "I-I'm sleeping for the next week." "We will likely have to defend Jathr tomorrow." Korra simply groaned while walking down the branch toward the trunk, prompting me to follow.
When we arrived near our rooms, Korra didn't hesitate to enter hers and plop onto the bed without even closing the door. "Oh, I've dearly missed you." Closing the door for her, I headed to find Kyoshi and Roku, who were, thankfully, both eating.
"You've returned, Aang." "You look terrible." "Thank you for reminding me, Roku." Blankly eyeing Roku, who laughed, I sat down, grabbing an apple, hungry to taste food that wasn't solely meant to keep us alive. 'Mhm, so much better than those food pills.'
"How was it? The unexplored lands outside Jathr territory?" "Terrible. Powerful spirits roamed through the dead world… I went a bit slower because of Korra, but even if I went alone, it would be impossible to find Father Glowworm." My words, as pessimistic and depressing as they were, were the truth.
I could've gone a little bit faster without Korra, but then I wouldn't have been able to sleep, which would've been much worse. I could go three days without sleep without too many side effects, but anything longer than that, and it would become serious; if I happened to encounter a mighty spirit like General Old Iron on the sixth or fifth day, I couldn't confidently say I'd win.
"Impossible? That is not good." With a troubled expression, Roku stroked his beard while Kyoshi remained impassive as usual, though she couldn't hide the emotions within her eyes. "Not with two people. If we need to search for Father Glowworm, all four of us must go." We hadn't gone together for two reasons: I was by far the fastest here with my glider, and there was also the possibility of Father Glowworm attacking.
"I say we wait a few weeks, maybe months, to watch his attacks, to ensure he's not going off-script." The mention of months caused Roku to recoil, though he didn't say anything; I doubted any of us wanted to be here for that long. It wasn't just Roku. Seeing how neither was expressing their ideas, I finished the apple before standing up. "You should discuss this amongst yourselves. I am going to sleep; getting only four hours a night is draining."
Exiting the room, I headed to my room beside Korra's; entering, I closed the door and leaned my bo-staff against the wall before getting into bed and falling asleep. It was a long, deep sleep, one that was, unfortunately, awoken by outside interference. Hearing incessant banging on the door, I was finally stirred awake, and while I was still a little tired, I felt so much better compared to before.
"Aang, today's the day of the attack." As Roku's voice entered my ears, I couldn't help but let out a deep sigh before nodding.