Thank you to all who read chapter one and welcome all new readers!

Chapter Two: The Benders

It took nearly the whole day, but Naga and I finally reached the apartment complex Tenzin and his family lived in. Bolin's note was shoved in my back pocket, forgotten since I had no plans of gallivanting about with complete strangers, doing something that I didn't even know the definition of. When I got to sidewalk in front of the complex, a little girl with two buns on her head was waiting and grinned when she saw me.

"Are you Korra? You look like you'd be a Korra. You know how people guess the names of other people and then it's completely different when you actually learn that person's name? And then you think 'wow that's weird'? Are you Korra?"

"Yes. I-."

"Wow, it's great to meet you, Korra! Daddy's been reading your letters to me before bed because I accidentally read your first one and I thought you were really cool. Anyway, my name's Ikki. Do I look like an Ikki? I think I look like and Ikki. I'm an airbender, like Daddy, and he says I'm gonna be training with you. Isn't that great? I like you Korra, I think you're really pretty and-" she drew in a deep breath and I let out the one I didn't realize I'd been holding.

"Ikki, darling," a voice laughed, and a kind looking woman approached us. She was resting on hand on her rounded middle and placed the other on the girl's shoulder. "You must be Korra. I am Pema, Tenzin's wife."

"Hello, Pema," I smiled, bowing.

"And I believe you have met my daughter, Ikki," Pema laughed. "Darling?" Ikki perked up after being addressed. "Could you please take Korra's pet polar bear-dog to the stables around back?"

"Yes, Mommy!" Ikki smiled, holding her hands out expectantly for the reins.

"Be good," I whispered to Naga, patting her neck before surrendering her over to the child.

"It's nice to meet you, finally," Pema laughed. "Your letters to Tenzin were always popular with the children. They are all excited to meet you."

"And my airbending teacher?"

"He's...less excited. Please, understand, what the Avatar means to my husband..."

"I do," I sighed. "But, I'm different, you know." I almost snapped the last part out.

Pema laughed again. "I know you are, honey. My husband is just...still grieving his father in many ways."

"Great," I muttered.

"I promise, Korra, he'll come around." She placed the hand that was supporting her back on my shoulder. Just then, Ikki dashed in, already yammering her little heart out.

"Your polar bear-dog is so cute! What's her name? She was so sweet to me! Can I ride her sometime?"

"Ikki," Pema said, gently.

"Sorry, Korra," Ikki sighed, dragging her foot across the ground and looking down. I knelt down next to her

"Her name is Naga. And, I'd love to take you out on her."

Ikki squealed, dashing for the stairwell, Pema shaking her head as she watched her child go. "You do know now she'll idolize you forever, right? And never let you forget that ride."

"Yeah. Figured," I chuckled, halfheartedly. Being with Pema and Ikki already reminded me of my own family. This...was going to be harder than I thought.

"Well, we should go after her," Pema said, interrupting my thoughts. "It's dinner time and I made a special meal for your arrival."

We headed up the three flights of stairs before we finally came to Pema and Tenzin's apartment. Inside, there was a massive load of vegetarian-friendly food on the table. Ikki and a little boy were chasing each other atop rotating air balls and another girl who appeared to be the oldest was sitting on the floor reading a book. Ikki and the boy whizzed past the older girl, upsetting her book and her hair.

"Mom!" the girl whined a bit.

"Meelo, Ikki, what did I say about airbending in the house?"

Immediately, the air balls dissipated and both Meelo and Ikki looked very disappointed... until, Ikki saw me. "Meelo, Jinora, did you see Korra? Isn't she pretty?"

The older girl-Jinora, apparently-gave me a shy smile before searching for her place in the book. Meelo came up and tugged at my pants. "Are you really Granddaddy Aang in other body?"

"It's complicated, kid," I said. Even I didn't understand it fully.

"Oh." The boy's face dropped.

Just then, one of the doors that branched off the main room opened, and a stern looking man strode in. He was bald except for a dark beard and mustache and he sported airbending tattoos. "Daddy!" all three of the kids called, rushing over to them. The man grinned down at this children before affixing me with a blank stare.

"You must be Korra," he said, sounding distant.

"You must be Tenzin, my airbending master." I bowed.

"Prospective airbending master," Tenzin corrected sternly, seating himself at the table like the rest of his family. "You have to prove yourself worthy of airbending before I can call you my pupil."

"Excuse me?" I snapped out, refusing to sit down after that unexpected twist. "I did not travel all the way here for you not to teach to me airbending! Besides, you're the only one of your siblings that's an airbender!"

"That's unfortunate for you," Tenzin said, "if you should fail to deem yourself worthy of my tutelage." This guy was...infuriating.

"You will teach me airbending!"

"If you prove yourself worthy of the art," Tenzin said, calmly.

I growled. "You...are a...ugh!" I threw my hands up in the air, turning sharply on my heel an stormed for one of the doors. I paused, turning to Pema.

"The one on the far right," she said, quietly.

"Thank you," I said through clenched teeth, slamming the door loudly. There were two beds in the room and one temporary cot. I fell onto the latter, covering my head with the pillow and resisting the urge to scream. I may not learn airbending from him, but he sure was good at annoying me...he might help me get a handle of the Avatar state by frustrating me into it. Outside, I heard Ikki chattering on about random topics, Meelo throwing in his thoughts and Tenzin and Pema correcting them both occasionally. I didn't hear a word about, to, or from Jinora, but she didn't seem like the chattering type anyway.

I stayed in there all through dinner, then the family dissipated and I heard the door open. Pema, carrying a tray of food, entered, seating herself, with noticeable effort, on one of the beds. "I told you, he'll come around. I have no doubt you'll pass his tests, whatever they may be. You are Avatar Aang's-."

"I'm not Avatar Aang's anything," I muttered, burying my face in my arms. "I'm Korra."

"I know you are. But, you are also the Avatar and as the Avatar, you are meant to master airbending. It will happen, I promise."

I sighed. I had to admit Pema did make me feel better. And her food smelled good, though lacking in meat. "Thank you," I said, gentler this time, as I sat down next to her. "I suppose I should apologize to Tenzin for my actions?"

"Yes. But tomorrow. He is rather upset after dinner."

"Not anything like his Father, huh?" I said, bitterly. I angrily tore off a bit of my roll.

"That's exactly the problem," Pema admitted, "he keeps expecting you to be Aang. But...you're not."

"Yeah..." my eyes wandered to the wall and I noticed a poster that mentioned pro-bending. "What's that?" I asked, remembering my vow to learn about this 'pro-bending' I kept hearing about.

"That?" Pema rolled her eyes. "That is a popular sport here in the United Republic, fought in teams of three with one firebender, one earthbender, and one waterbender. The children want to join by a keep insisting they're airbenders and since those are in short supply, the game isn't for airbenders." She shook her head.

"Why do they do it?"

"For fun. Spars throughout the season and, at the end, the top teams compete for the title. And the prize money. Why do you ask?"

"No reason," I replied, casually.

"Alright, then," Pema smiled, heaving herself up. "I'll leave you alone because the children certainly won't." She exited the room and, sure enough, just as soon as I started to eat, the little rascals came in. Ikki started chatting up a storm, but luckily I got her to talk about pro-bending, so I learned the rules. The goal was to have the last man standing be on your team and all the other members of the other knocked out of the arena. Each teach consisted of, as Pema told me, a waterbender, earthbender, and firebender, but benders can attack a bender of another style in the arena. To be honest, it sounded fun and apparently Tenzin hated it, which made it all the more appealing.

That was why, in the middle of the night, I was staring at my map of the city and Bolin's paper, lighted by a flame from my palm. The address wasn't far away, at all. And everyone was asleep and would never know I was even gone. Quietly, I peeled off the covers and crept out of the apparent, down the stairwell, and to the stables around back.

Naga nuzzled me affectionately when I arrived and I gave her a good scratch down before saddling her up. Soon, we were galloping across the city, finally arriving at the location Bolin had written down. I steered Naga inside with me this time and found myself in and amongst rows and rows of bleachers, all surrounding a magnificent looking arena. Bolin and another- extremely attractive, I will note -male were sparing, Bolin using earth, the other fire. They were both dressed in red and white gear and looked like they knew what they were doing.

Bolin spotted me and gestured to his brother, pointing me out. "See, Mako! I told you she'd come."

"Great," the other male said. "But is she any good?"

"Was that a challenge?" I asked, cocking my hip.

"No," Mako said, folding his arms. "You coming down here or what?" His face was blank when he said that and it made me simmer with anger.

I slid off Naga and bounded down toward the arena. "So what do I do?" I asked Bolin, sending Mako a brief glare.

"Beat Mako over there and you're in," Bolin grinned. Oh, now this was going to be fun.

"You got it," I smiled, getting into a waterbending stance. I concentrated hard, trying to become one with the water below the arena. I was not going to let Mako beat me. Maybe it was because he was fire, but I already felt repelled by him. He regarded me silently, calmly slipping himself into a ...rather good firebending stance.

"And, begin!" Bolin said, sounding elated.

I made the first move, bringing up the water with one swift sweep. Mako calmly leapt over it, the tiniest of smirks playing at his face. His landing was as solid as his first stance. Growling in frustration, I brought the water up again and Mako did his annoying dodge again. Now, I was angry. How could he be so...so smug and calm.

Huffing, I charged right for him, adrenaline coursing through me, strengthening my connection with the water. It came at him in a fierce torrent, which he, you guessed it, dodged with ease. Calm down, Korra, a little voice in the back of my head was telling me. Basics. You need to break that solid stance.

What happened next was in the heat of the moment. I didn't mean to do it, I really didn't, but my body reacted before my brain. I slid from my waterbending stance into an earthbending one and, next thing I knew, a jet of earth had shot up from right under Mako's feet and sent him flying through the air, right out of the arena. As soon as I heard the splash, my battle trance wore off and I realized what I had done.

Bolin was unable to tear his eyes off me, his jaw practically sweep the floor. "You just...you're...you're...!" Mako climbed back into the arena, looking angry, drenched, and shocked all at once. Bolin approached us both. "She's...she's...the Avatar!" I had to admit, his traumatized babbling was cute. I smiled, putting my hands on my hips. Bolin pointed to me. "The...Avatar!" he added for emphasis.

"Yeah..." I scratched the back of my head. "About that..."

"That is so incredible!" Bolin threw a fist in the air. "But wait...is that even legal for pro-bending teams?"

"It is if I stick to waterbending and we conveniently leave it out," I said.

"Absolutely not," Mako spoke up. "We're doing this fairly or not at all."

"It's completely fair as long as I stick to waterbending. Lighten up, will ya?"

"Come on, Mako, she's the only available- and good-waterbender we're able to find. We have to do this...for Mom."

Mako squeezed his eyes shut, folding his arms. "Fine."

"Yes!" Bolin hooted, throwing his arms around both of us and pulling us in. "We're going to own this season!"

"Sure, great!" I sighed, pushing Bolin away. "Meet here same time tomorrow, then?"

"Are you kidding? We have to properly initiate you into the team, right Mako?"

The boy in question rolled his eyes. "No."

"And by no he means yes," Bolin said, plastering on a goofy grin. "We'll see you tomorrow afternoon in the shopping district?"

"About that," I said, rubbing the back of my neck. "I'm really here to learn airbending." They already knew I was the Avatar, might as well get all my secrets out in the open, if I was going to be on a team with these guys. "My master is a bit...strict, so I doubt I'll be free then."

Bolin's grin dropped in a millisecond, then snapped right back to his unusually cheerful default expression. "Well, then we'll just see you tomorrow night, okay?"

"Of course." I started walking out of the arena, Bolin and Mako in tow. "Why do you guys practice so late at night, anyway?"

"Well, practice times are allotted based on a team's scores from the previous season. The champions get the most convenient time for their schedule and then...they work their way down. Last season, well...how do I put this?"

"Our waterbender wasn't nearly skilled enough, Bolin hardly had any experience in a league of this size, and I didn't spend nearly as much time training," Mako offered. "All things we're going to fix. Especially the first on that list." Despite that statement's potential to be a jab at me, it really was delivered calmly. I wasn't sure which I'd rather hear.

"I've been waterbending since I could walk," I replied, confidently, "you don't have to worry."

"You have no idea how much is riding on the prize money," Mako stressed.

"Will you relax? I mastered two new elements- one being my natural opposite- in one year, I'm a skilled waterbender, and I'll have airbending under my belt in no time flat. I got this, Mako!"

The firebender narrowed his golden eyes at me. By that time, we'd reached the bleachers and he pulled a lock out of his bag, tossing it to me. "Go in the locker room and claim an empty locker." He then tossed me two sets white and red gear identical to his. "Our team's colors. We use one for practice and the other for tournaments. They're expensive to get replaced so be careful with them, got it?"

"Seesh. You gonna leave time for questions?"

"Any questions?" Mako asked, obviously irritated and obviously unable to take a joke.

"Do you ever lighten up?" I smirked, collecting my stuff and heading for the locker rooms. Firebenders were notorious for their short tempers, so I was ready to dodge a sneak attack of fire, but instead, nothing happened. When I got to the locker room, I dared to look back and saw that Mako had just calmly walked away. He was so weird.

That aside, I walked along the lockers- made of stone except for the metal doors -until, after what seemed like forever, I finally found an open one. I opened in and started arranging my gear into a somewhat organized system in the tiny space. It was going to be a tight fit, but I had to work with what I got.

"Korra?" a voice I'd never expected to hear again called out and I peered around my locker to see Asami- in brown practice gear- rushing up to me. "See you found your team. Sorry I missed your practice." She leaned up against the lockers across from me. "My teammates are going to be running a few minutes late. You're more than welcome to come spar with me in the arena. I'm going to need somebody to keep me entertained."

"I don't know...I have a lot to do tomorrow. And it's late and all."

"That's fine. I guess I'll be seeing you when the season starts, huh?"

I nodded, waving my farewell. "Goodbye, Asami." I strolled out of the arena, getting ready to hop onto Naga, when the general silence was interrupted by the sound of Asami's screams and one-sided earthbending. Then all was quiet.

I flung myself up onto my animal friend and heeled her into the locker rooms, finding nothing but a mess left over from Asami's defensive attacks. I steered Naga around and urged her into a gallop, bursting out onto the streets. I squinted into the night, looking for any signs of movement.

Up on the rooftops, tiny ripples of unrest against the inky blank night proved an excellent lead. I kept Naga moving, looking for a good spot to get my skilled companion onto the roof. Soon, I was rewarded with both the sight of the green clothes Asami had on under her gear and a chance to jump up onto the roof. Stay back, surprise is your ally in this, something told me. Whether it was instinct or Avatar spirit, I decided to obey it.

Naga's gait was rather quiet, so keeping her to the shadows was all I had to do to go unnoticed as the silent chase kept on. It lead us to an alley way and I slid off Naga, heading to stake things out. My loyal friend tried to follow me, but I put a hand up, stroking her snout. "Stay here, girl. I'll be okay." I pressed myself against the wall, keeping to the shadows, unlike the figures I'd been chasing. They were standing in full light, but that didn't give me much detail, seeing as they were dressed head to two in black.

"A fine earthbender," one said.

"There is nothing 'fine' about a bender," another spat.

"A meant for tomorrow afternoon's rally downtown," the first one said, obviously annoyed.

"Near the shopping district," a third said, obviously just musing aloud, "a good crowd, not thick on the metal bending police-forces, the perfect place for our plans."

"We know that," the first one snapped. "Amon knows Chief Bei Fong may not be able to do anything about our speech but she sure as anything can scare people from listening to it."

"That woman scares me," the second guy muttered.

"Don't let Amon hear you say that," the third chuckled.

"Enough you two," the first cut in, grabbing Asami by the collar, "let's get this inside before Amon starts to get impatient."

And with that, they all slipped inside, taking a struggling Asami with them. "Well," I said, slipping out of the alley hopping onto Naga, "looks like I'm headed downtown tomorrow, after all."

I got home just as the sky was starting to lighten up a bit and I no sooner closer my eyes than Ikki was running commentary about her dream last night into my ear. I groaned into my mattress, yanking the pillow over my head. "...and then-all the sky bison started talking and they were really funny. Have you ever ridden as sky bison before, Korra? No, I guess you haven't." She paused. "Oh...wait. I was supposed to tell you something important!" I perked up.

"What? Tell me?"

"Daddy says he's going to starting testing you today to see if you'd make a good airbending student. He's going to have you-."

"Thanks, Ikki!" I jumped out of bed, suddenly feeling energized again.

"Someone's in a better mood this morning," Pema smiled, placing breakfast on the table.

"Because there was finally talk of airbending!" I said, falling into my chair.

"Hmm," a grunt from the head of the table said and I first became aware of Tenzin's presence. The kids gathered around the table and I actually got through the meal without storming off, but that was only because Tenzin didn't talk much. And that was partly because of me and partly because no one could get a word in with Ikki at the table.

After the meal, Pema cleared off the table and Tenzin paraded us all out to the open area behind the stables for the kids' airbending lessons. Immediately, they all folded themselves into cross-legged positions and closed their eyes. Tenzin started at me expectantly.

"What?" I asked.

"Morning airbending lessons are spent mediating," Tenzin gestured to his three children, all uncharacteristically still. Especially Ikki, which was almost as shocking as the thought of Tenzin getting a sense of humor. "If you cannot mediate how can you expect to learn the discipline of airbending?"

Each of my previous masters had tried mediating with me before and I had done it successfully many times, but I still hated it. Grudgingly, I folded herself into the proper position, letting out an irate sigh that was meant to be a calming exhale.

Pretty soon a very familiar -an unwanted - monk was standing over me. "You again?" I asked, opening one eye.

"Avatar Korra, you have gone against my advice and the advice of your parents."

"So, you're going to tell me to go back, right? Well, I'm-."

"You must not leave republic city, whatever you do," Aang cut me off.

"What?"

"You witnessed something last night. Something that will lead you to your first test as Avatar. You must stay here, Avatar Korra."

And then three little kids and Tenzin were staring me in the face. "She's done!" Ikki- real shocker -was the first to speak up. "Jinora still has the record."

"Record?"

"Record among Daddy's students to mediated the longest! It's nearly afternoon!"

I swore, which I'm sure neither Tenzin nor Pema would appreciate seeing as the kids seemed to not know what my colorful words meant, and hopped up, heading for Naga's stall. "Where're you going?" Ikki asked.

"I have something important to do. Ikki, how about that ride on Naga?"

Let me tell you, those were words I shall regret to the end of my days, because Ikki managed to single handled give me the worst migraine of my life by the time we reached our destination. A crowd was gathered in the square just outside the shopping district and Ikki shrank back behind me. "I didn't know there'd be a rally..." Ikki said, suddenly quivering.

"What's wrong with a rally?"

"City law gives complete and utter freedom of public speech. They can say whatever they want and it's not considered illegal, unless they are caught acting upon it."

"That's terrible!"

"The city constitution didn't intend for that, but they found a loophole. Scary stuff is said at rallies. Korra, I wanna go-"

But her words were drowned out by a slew of mixed reactions from the gathered crowd as a masked man walked across the stage. "Fellow citizens! Today, I am going to tell you why all benders should die!'

Yes. I went there. Don't expect the next chapter to be so soon of an update, though. Oh my word I can tell I'm going to love Ikki on the show. I think she may be one of the things I got right. Alright well...review!