THE AIR MASTER {LOK/ATLA}

(IV)

It wasn't hard to figure out where Ikki was, once we found a piece of her airbender uniform lying in front of what appeared to be a bunker from Kuvira's army. We immediately busted the door open and thrust the two men inside against the wall behind them, and I hurried to free Ikki from the chair she had been tied to.

"You're welcome, Ikki," Meelo said.

"Why did you do that?" Ikki complained, taking me by surprise.

"Uh... We were trying to save you?"

"I had everything under control. I just found our food, and I have an idea where Korra is," Ikki said, taking me by surprise in a good way.

"You do? Great work, Ikki!"

"Let's get going!" Jinora said, but Ikki turned to the knocked out men for a moment.

"Sorry my big cousin knocked you out. Nice chatting with you!"

She left them some of the macaroons Aunt Pema made for us and we left. Before we knew it, we were already on Pepper, flying across the horizon on our way to the next possible destination to find Korra.

We ended up over the Spirit Swamp, a place I had only heard about in legends. It was an eerie place, but at the same time... Something in it drew me to it.

"Those soldiers said there weren't any troops here and, I figure, if Korra's not feeling good, she might come to a spiritual place like this to get better," Ikki explained her reasoning for bringing us here.

"There is an enormous amount of spiritual activity here, but I don't feel Korra," Jinora said with a frown.

"Well, that's what we get for listening to Ikki," Meelo retorted.

"Guys! We just got here. Let's at least look around," Ikki insisted.

"I don't know, Ikki. We can't afford to waste any time," I told her with a sigh.

We tried to make a U-turn, but before we could, a bunch of vines sprouted up to us from the swamp below, entangling themselves onto Pepper and pulling the bison down into the swampy water. I tried to get rid of them, but I got knocked off the saddle by one of them.

***

By the time I came to, I wasn't anywhere near Pepper or the children anymore. I was definitely still in the swamp, but all I could see around me were trees and muddy water. Nothing that could even remotely begin to tell me anything about where I was.

"IKKI! MEELO! JINORA!" I tried calling out for the kids, but I heard no response.

The swamp was a very vast place. I couldn't really explain why, but just being here sent chills through my spine. I had heard legends about how spiritual this place truly was, but I could have never anticipated just how eerily true they were. I had met with Spirits before, namely, the ones that lived on Republic City. But this spiritual energy felt different, unknown to me. If I didn't know better, I would say that the entire place was watching me.

I decided to start walking around after a while. I kept looking for any clues that could lead me back to the others, but the more I walked, the more lost I felt. I kept at it for about an hour, and the sun started to set. I was starting seriously worry about not finding my way back to the kids at this point. They were my responsibility, and if something bad happened to them, I would never be able to forgive myself.

I couldn't help but feel angry at Korra. If it weren't for her disappearing, we wouldn't have needed to come to this place. The Earth Kingdom wouldn't be in chaos, and Kuvira wouldn't have threatened war with all the other nations. I understood if she needed some time for herself, but it had been years already, and the world needed its Avatar. Innocent people were paying for her selfishness.