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"The Avatar must go alone."
As the words left Unalaq's mouth, the two siblings froze. Iroh, who was standing a few feet away from the man, trying his best to analyse the man without being suspicious.
"But I don't have any connections with the spirits," said Korra, advancing towards her uncle, "in fact, it seems like they hate me!"
"You have to believe in yourself like I believe in you." When Korra looked away, Unalaq frowned. "What is it?"
"I guess I'm just so used to people telling me how to do things that I forgot what it was like to have someone to trust me."
As the words left the Avatar's mouth, Iroh looked away from the duo. Rae always trusted her, he thought. However, his thoughts remained exactly that, thoughts. He uttered no words, not wanting to spark conflict between the group. Unalaq seemed to be quite good at picking up fights, especially after what happened with his brother and Korra's father on their way to the south pole.
"Korra, all the past avatars live on inside of you. Let them guide you. Let them help you find the light in the dark..."
The Avatar took a deep breath and turned towards the siblings and Iroh. "Stay here," she said, directing her words towards all of them. However, before she could leave, her blue eyes caught Iroh's amber ones. "I'll find her," she whispered.
The general gave her a small nod, tearing away their gaze as quickly as he could. A feeling of guild suddenly engulfed his heart. He was supposed to be there for her too. But with a sigh, he turned away from the image of the frozen forest and sat down on the snow. He couldn't help the feeling of being useless, but he had nothing else to do but wait.
~
When Korra reached the entrance of the frozen forest, she gasped. There sat one of the polar bear dogs used by the southern water tribe. It didn't look tired, nor hungry, just worried. Korra approached the animal and gently pet its fur.
"So, she's really here," whispered the Avatar. With a last look at the animal, she entered the forest.
She walked through the ice corridors for a while. There were no sounds or hints of Rae anywhere. The air cooled down with every step she took. Korra looked around when, from the corner of her eyes, she saw a shadow. Then, the dark spirit attacked. It took the Avatar multiple tried, along with the use of her airbending. When it was finally gone, Korra looked around at the wide ice cave she fell it. But the one thing that caught her eye was the body sitting in the middle of it.
When Rae heard the commotion, she looked over to where the sound came from. The silhouette of a person made its way towards her, but it took Rae a few seconds to get rid of the blur.
