"How much longer until we're there, Korra?"

It had been three hours since Jinora had said a word- three words in fact, "thank you, no" when she was offered a brackish-looking cup of tea at the last village they stopped at. In fact the Avatar had become so used to the silence that the studious girl had to repeat her question since she had become so taken with watching the rugged scenery roll by.

"Hmm? Oh. Shouldn't be more than an hour if Naga keeps up this pace!" the twenty-year old woman leaned down in the saddle to pat her trusty mount, "Right girl?"

At least that's what it looked like on the map… she thought. While she had managed to slip away from Republic City to travel in the last year or so, maps still just weren't her forte. Besides, Naga had enough sense of direction for the both of them. Or all three, since Tenzin had agreed to let Jinora come along on this trip to the Northern Water Tribe lands. Whether he honestly thought the trip was of educational merit or just an excuse to get his precocious teenage daughter out of the house was up for debate, but Korra didn't mind. Traveling alone got taxing. She talked to herself a lot, but while Naga was receptive (and certainly sympathetic), she wasn't the greatest conversationalist- even compared to Jinora when she was in the midst of a book.

"So then it's fifteen leagues from here to Tayra?" the young airbender piped up after a minute of what Korra called 'brainbending'.

"Uuhh… sure!"

As usual, without any prompting, Jinora explained, "When we left the coast I counted how long it took Naga to run from the edge of the dock to the street. There was an Earth Kingdom junk docked next to us and everyone knows that all Earth Kingdom merchant vessels are a standard length per King Kuei's Doctrines of Marine Trade- so it was pretty easy figuring out from there that Naga can travel about fifteen leagues in an hour. Fourteen and a half, really, but we have a good tail wind."

Since she had her back turned, Korra could roll her eyes in peace. "That's… awesome, Jinora." Everybody was told to encourage her logical thinking skills and appetite for knowledge, but she had become an incorrigible knowitall in her teenage years. All of the airbender children were growing up into lovable terrors. Ikki had only become more daring, nearly crashing her glider into the statue of her grandfather in Yue Bay because she had challenged General Iroh to a race… in his aeroplane. Ever since Rohan learned to walk, he and Meelo had been thick as Air Nomad custard and no corner of the island was safe from their hijinks (of course, Korra did the right thing and showed them the best secret passages for sneaking around). The last three years since the fall of the Equalist Revolution flew by with them near, it almost made Korra feel old. Not that she admitted that out loud anymore. Not after Pema threw a wooden spoon at her for daring to call herself old at 20.

Granted, Korra had grown up, too. While she was stunted most of her life at the White Lotus compound, moving to Republic City and having to deal with the Equalists forced her to make up for lost time and then some. She had matured into a fully-realized avatar and a fully-grown woman- though she never lost her impetuous nature… And her relationship with the spirit world was hardly chatty. But she was comfortable knowing that she could call upon her past lives if needed and was in charge of her own life.

Naga continued to bolt across the tundra, which was becoming rockier the further inland they went. Korra had decided to traverse the island across the middle to reach their destination- the village of Tayra, which had a harbor so small that the United Republic freighter they arrived on didn't want anything to do with it. Besides, the Northern Water Tribe Territory was starkly beautiful. It reminded Korra of the South (except rockier) and Jinora was entertained looking up landmarks and species of animals in the bundle of books she had packed along.

She was reading one on Northern Water Tribe culture at that moment, since she didn't want to make a bad impression on her first big trip without her parents. She had urged Korra to read it, too, but the Avatar shrugged it off with an eloquent "naaaah". She was Water Tribe after all, how different could their customs be, particularly at a rural village like Tayra?

"Ooh, Korra, according to this in the Northern Water Tribe it's customary to offer your host a side of blubbered seal jerky. The more blubber on the meat, the more prosperous your host and his household will be!" she recited the trivia with a rapt glee.

"I've actually never heard of that." It was an interesting piece of information, albeit silly. But other than a few scraps in the saddlebag Korra had had her eye on, they didn't have any jerky.

"… Yeah, we're not doing that…" she added flatly.

"But!"

"Jinora, we're not here on vacation. I'm sure our host will be fine with us arriving jerkiless to help them with their spirit problem. Besides, that book's like fifty years old."

The airbender pouted in the name of ethnographic curiosity. She dug into the russet-colored woolen shawl her mother had knitted to pull out a few scraps of paper. Since Korra had brought it up, she marked her place in the book (since dog-earing pages was cruel) then grabbed a scroll from her satchel. It was an account from the time of Avatar Kyoshi about spirits wreaking havoc on a town near Omashu.

"How do you plan on handling that?"

"The spirit problem?" she peered over her shoulder and quickly squished her eyes from the afternoon snowglare. That was going to take some time to get used to again.

"Yes." Jinora slowly unfurled the scroll.

"Well," she scratched at her bangs in thought," I figured I'd ask around amongst the villagers to see what we're up against and maybe I can reason with the spirit. It's probably some miscommunication. All the telegraph said is that a few caribou-oxen have gone missing from their paddocks and some strange symbols were left in the snow around town. Hey, if anything it's probably some spirit trying to pull a prank and the the caribou-oxen are just grazing a valley over or something."

It made sense. Sometimes spirits got bored or wanted to keep their human neighbors on their toes- particularly as close to the Winter Solstice as it was, when the veil between the spirit and material worlds were thin. When she was little her parents used to make her leave stewed sea prunes and cragberries outside her window for the spirits to eat on the solstice. Of course, she always had the twinging suspicion that the White Lotus guards were the ones actually scoffing them off.

It was scarcely an hour later that Naga hauled the two girls to the top of a bluff which overlooked the coast. Below, strewn along the rocky beach was the village of Tyra. There couldn't have been more than two dozen buildings, belching greasy gray smoke from the holes in their roofs. The sea breeze mixed with the scent of fish, curing seaweed, tanning hides, and real Water Tribe cookery that made Korra's indomitable stomach lurch with excitement. If the Northern Tribe was anything like the South, full hospitality would be in order. She positively beamed at the thought. True, she was there with a mission, but that didn't mean that she couldn't enjoy herself…

"That's Tyra?" Jinora peered over her shoulder. It was so tiny! It all could have fit on Air Temple Island!

"Sure is," she urged Naga onwards down the bluff, " At least we won't have any problems finding our-"

"Hm? Finding what?"

The avatar stared unblinkingly down at the sea.

"Korra?"

She didn't reply. A wave of something she could only describe as spiritual unease had washed over her- as dark and violent as the white caps hammering the nearby shore. Little fish seemed to swim up and down her stomach with little heartbeats of dread beating in her palms, and every inch of her tawny skin tightened. The sound of roaring water flooded her ears. Some energy, some force was making her gape at Tyra. It was something not quite like fear and hardly excitement, but made her anxious all the same. Was it the so-called spirit that had invaded the town making its presence known? Was Aang trying to tell her something?

"What is it Korra?" Jinora was clamouring over her lap to see what was the matter. Even Naga had stopped halfway down the hill to whine at her master's sudden change.

Waves. Water. The wind just before a storm. It all tossed around in her head and soaked her nerves in ice. Then it emptied. Like someone had unplugged a bath basin with her head underwater. She choked and gasped herself back into reality and became aware of Jinora's warm hand rubbing her back as if she had just puked. Truth was, she wanted to. She felt queasy.

"What was that? It didn't look like the Avatar State, your eyes were normal."

Korra wanted to reassure her. She became less dazed with each passing second. "I don't know. But something wanted me to know it was there."

"The spirit?"

"Maybe," she murmured, then buried her face in her hands to massage her cheeks. Snap out of it, she smacked her temples, you have a job to do. She looked down at Tyra again: it was obvious that they had been seen by the locals- little figures of blue and purple were gathering towards the largest building at the center of town. Taps of drums surged above the sounds of the sea in an energetic rhythm.

"Well," she grinned, "They look happy to see us."

The little fish still swam in her stomach, though. She decided for the sake of concentration that it was hunger. Right. Hunger.

Her hands tugged Naga's reins. "Let's go, girl!" The polar bear-dog responded with a few excited thwacks of her tail before barreling down the hill and across the plain. Jinora held on for dear life.

By the time they had bounded to the meeting house, the entire village had turned out to see the Avatar. Not just the embodiment of peace and their benevolent connection to the spirit world, but one of their own. It was a sea of relieved smiles gazing upon the beautiful young woman astride her polar bear-dog, a symbol of her ability to tame the raw elements. Korra beamed right back at them. Her sky blue eyes tried to seek every face in the crowd in appreciation. They all looked awfully tired, though. In the golden light of the late afternoon she could see the gray shadows and puffs under their eyes, as if they had been up all night and day waiting her arrival.

Perhaps the most haggard-looking of them all was a stout, middle-aged man with a beard that shamed a walruswhale. His features looked like a weathered wood carving, but his eyes were as bright and blue as Korra's. It was obvious at first glance that he held some weight in the community by the strings of bone beads around his neck and the tails of wolves pluming from the crest of his hat.

Spurred on by the drums and cheering of the small crowd, Korra vaulted over the horn of Naga's saddle. She soared like a puffinowl and landed with an audible crunch in front of the large ice lodge.

Jinora extricated herself with a decidedly deadpan expression.

The bearded man approached them with his gloved hands clasped together. Instantly, the drums stopped. "My most honored greetings to you, Avatar. I am Kaisun, head of this village." He bowed low.

"Glad to meet you Kaisun," Korra returned the greeting, her wolftail of hair swishing. She gestured to her traveling companion, who had quietly placed herself nearby, "This is Jinora, daughter of the airbending Master Tenzin. She's come with me to help look into your problems."

Jinora stooped into a bow and without prompting declared to the leader, "Honored. May the great Ocean and Moon spirits shine their prosperity upon you and your household!"

Korra rolled her eyes. There goes Jinora, overdoing it again. Maybe if she-

"It is so comforting to see that proper manners have made their way to Republic City. I am honored to receive such a polite child of a respected master," Kaisun exclaimed approvingly, and placed a hand on Jinora's shoulder. Korra nearly smacked herself in the forehead. Maybe she should have read the book….

He turned to face the gathered population. "Normally we would honor you Avatar with a feast, but time is sadly against us in this matter. But I am certain that once you have cleansed us of our blight, we will have a celebration twice as joyful! But for now, we must discuss your plan of action." His face fell. Suddenly the histrionics were knocked out of him and he nodded towards the circular door of the meeting house.

Korra gazed at the villagers one more time before following him inside. They suddenly all looked grim, like Kaisun. It looked like her arrival even ultimately depressed them. Elders made their way into the meeting house, frowning. Families dispersed to their homes, deflated in their parkas and clutching their children close. One tall man in a gray anorak caught her eye momentarily for some reason. He gave her the most pained stare possible from over his collar- then moved along like the others. Why was everyone so depressed over some strange markings and missing caribou-oxen? They were pretty tasty, sure- but did they deserve the same reaction as a death in the family? Whatever the reason, the gloom and dread was rubbing off, her stomach was quaking again all of a sudden…

Notes:

- I based the Northern Water Tribe off of canon, of course, but also the Yupik, Inuit, and Northwest Coast cultures of North America- particularly the Tlingit and Haida.

-Kaisun is the archaeological site of a Haida Indian village in Canada.