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“This isn’t a good time,” says the wizened man at the door. He’s thin and lanky, joints knotted up from a long life of work, and if Korra is honest with herself, his spidery thin fingers kind of scare her. His eyes are worse, dark and fierce under his thin white brows. He isn’t even trying to be intimidating but the way he moves, the way he’s perfectly balanced, makes her sure he could beat her to the ground in seconds despite his age.
“Are you Master Li?” she asks, throwing back her shoulders and jutting out her chin because even if he’s scary, she won’t back down. The guide behind her gives a put-upon sigh at her bravado.
“No,” the man says and his angular brows crease tight. “Scram, kid. He’s not taking students right now.”
The guide reaches out to take Korra’s shoulder, to try and lead her away, but Korra refuses to let him. She’s supposed to be here, sent by Sifu Katara to seek out Master Li personally, and she isn’t going to leave now that they’ve finally found his stupid house in the stupid forest!
“I need to see Master Li!” she insists, giving him her best glare. This is the rudest manservant she’s had to deal with since being accepted as the Avatar. “She told me to get trained by him and-”
“Look, kid, he’s not taking students! Especially not some rambunctious little punk like you!” the old man growls out. “Go find some other swordsman to apprentice to.”
And then he slams the door shut in her face. Korra glares at the door, hands fisted at her side. She could rage and snarl and knock the house down if she wanted but she doesn’t. Instead, she sits down right in front of the door and nothing the guide says sways her.
---
Korra spends five days there, either sitting in front of the door or exploring the rope paths between tree rooms above. Every day, the manservant comes out and tells her to go away and she refuses. She stays where she is, too stubborn to leave even if it’s boring. She practices her bending and the guide begs her each day to give up. Korra can’t give up. She just can’t.
---
On the sixth day, the manservant comes out with a load of washing. He closes the door behind him and gives Korra his usual stink eye. However, the continual exposure has lessened the effect and Korra is nothing if not determined. She glares right back at him. She is going to win .
“If you’re going to waste time here, you might as well be useful,” he growls at her and then nods his head towards the river not far off. The old man moves off without another word.
For a moment, Korra stands there with indecision. The man didn’t lock his door and he's no longer here to block her access to the swordsmaster. If she wanted, she could just go in and see Master Li like Sifu Katara had told her to. She could just… but she doesn’t. Korra knows she needs to be invited. She needs to do this right and she’s not about to risk not getting taught at all just to jump ahead. Grimly, she storms after the manservant and then gets to work helping him with the washing.
It’s halfway through the basket before she recognizes the odd smell rising from the sheets. It's minty, bitter, and medicinal. Korra’s hands slow. She stares at the sheet and then lifts her eyes over to the old man, who has ignored her this whole time. She studies the lines of his face and the hard set of his brows.
“Is he sick?” she asks ever so softly.
The old man stops. He stares into the water, hands tightening, and then he finally faces her fierce as ever. “Yes.”
Korra swallows the thick lump in her throat because his voice is grave and soft and defeated. “Is he going to die?”
“I don’t know.” He gets up and drags sodden cloth to the drying line waiting for him near by. Korra watches him silently put up the wash, movements jerkier, almost angry. Slowly, she gets up and drags over her own load. The old man says nothing to her as she kicks up a ledge of earth so she’s tall enough to reach the line and hang things on her own.
When the job is finished, he stares at the clothing and then looks at her. His gaze is weighing, piercing right through her the way some of the elders’ do. The way Tenzin’s does, when he isn’t too flustered to keep his calm. She doesn’t know what kind of man this is, but she stares back steadily and waits.
Finally, he rolls his eyes and shrugs a shoulder. “Come on, kid.”
The old man leads her back to the house. He bids her to wait at the door when he goes in and comes back with a small basket of lunch. Then he sits down on a bench under one shuttered window and offers her some. Korra climbs up next to him to share. The meal is quiet, contemplative, but the manservant seems less angry at her. She wonders if maybe she should leave after all. If Master Li is sick, is dying , she shouldn’t disturb him. Sifu Katara would understand. She could name another swordsmaster to visit. Besides, this is just extra training, isn’t it? Korra has to master all the elements and that should be enough…
“How’s Katara?” the old man asks out of the blue. Korra blinks at him because the way he said her name makes it sound as if he might have been close to her.
“Good?” Korra responds a little awkwardly. “She’s busy a lot more now, since my training with her is over.”
“You trained with her, too?” The old man glances over her, lifting a brow. “Huh. Thought you were dressed weird for an earthbender.”
“ You’re dressed weird for a… a… tree man. ”
He snickers, lips quirking into a half smile. He shakes his head a bit and leans back against the house. “So you’re an earthbending Water Tribe girl. That’s interesting. What do you need from a swordsman, anyway?”
“Sifu Katara thinks it will help me to learn how to fight against non-bending opponents,” Korra recites and grins at herself that she’d remembered her teacher’s words. “She said that Master Li is one of the best swordsmen out there.”
“Well, he was, certainly,” the old man agrees with a shrug and then scratches a bit of stubble along his jaw. “There are younger ones now you could go see.”
Korra deflates. “But Sifu Katara wanted me to learn from Master Li. She said he could teach me more than just fighting.”
“You could use a little humility. Kids these days.”
The old man smirks when Korra glares at him. Then there is a quiet knock above them and he shifts so that one of the shutters can be pushed open from the inside. The man that pokes his head out the window is as old as the manservant. His white hair is long and half drawn from his wrinkled, scarred face. He looks tired, heavy bags dark under his gold eyes, but there is a quiet amusement to his expression.
“You shouldn’t tease the Avatar, Jet. Don’t you remember what used to happen?”
The manservant, Jet, blinks once and then jerks his gaze down to Korra. “You’re- what . Why didn’t you- I swear. I could strangle you. Just strangle the life right out of you.”
Korra starts puffing up because she could take him, she so could, but the other man just laughs. Jet scowls and rolls his eyes, but then he gives Korra a shrewder look.
“Kind of a pipsqueak to be Avatar,” he mutters, folding his arms over his chest.
“Aang wasn't much taller at that age,” the other, who Korra is pretty sure by now must be Master Li, retorts gently.
“I'm not little! ” Korra whines and she's not , she's nearly as tall as Sifu Katara and someday she'll be the tallest person in the world! Master Li just smiles at her while Jet smirks.
“I was there when they officiated your title,” Master Li says, folding his thin arms on the window sill so he can rest his head on them. “You were very small then. You've grown a lot.”
Korra beams and shoots Jet a smirk that has him rolling his eyes.
---
After that, Jet decides Master Li has had too much of the cool air and shepherds Korra and the hapless guide inside. Korra enters Master Li's room curiously, letting her gaze slide around. It's a rather humble place, sparsely decorated, but along one wall a collection of beautiful swords hung in careful order. Odds and ends from various nations are displayed along thin shelves. She spots a Fire Nation royalty diadem and wonders how Master Li must have come across it, along with the old Water Tribe boomerang next to it.
Master Li himself sits in his wide bed under his closed window. It’s raised off the floor and under seems to be a place for embers to warm it. He doesn't move to get up when she comes in but waves her closer to him. He squints a bit, more with his good eye than the one surrounded in an old, old burn, and she ends up kneeling right at the edge of his bed so he can see her better.
He is pretty old. Korra doesn’t know what Master Li could teach her but she chats with him and Jet for a long time. She tells them about her training and the friends she’s made in other benders. She’s been sending mail to her earthbending buddies and excited about moving on to firebending next, even if the Fire Nation is too hot. That makes Master Li’s lips quirk in a strange way but she doesn’t ask about that.
At the end of the day, Master Li summons the guide and thanks him for his service. Then he tells him to return in a few months for Korra. She grins, jumping up to her feet with a cheer even as Jet rolls his eyes and gives Master Li a sideways look. Korra misses his worry.
The first thing they teach her is how to navigate the tree rooms safely and where the hidden traps are. They give her one to sleep in and she spends the entire night staring up at the ceiling and wishing things would stay still . The next morning, she’s grumpy and tired but she still climbs down to share a meal with Master Li and Jet.
“When do we start?” she asks after wolfing down the meal.
“After breakfast,” replies Master Li and she looks at his plate with horror because it’s barely touched. He eats so very slowly, one small bite at a time. Jet finishes just after Korra but he doesn’t make even the slightest move to get up yet.
Korra sits there, watching each maddeningly slow bite and rocking a bit in her seat. She taps her fingers on her knees, stares at every little detail of the main room, and then traces over the wood grain of the table. She looks at his plate and it’s still half full. Giving a huge sigh, Korra rolls her head back and moans out, “I’m bored .”
“If you can’t appreciate patience, you’ll never amount to much of an Avatar,” Master Li says without any bite as Jet gives an amused snort.
“What did you say?!” Korra jumps to her feet and nearly knocks over the table when her knee bangs into it. She whines and rubs at it and then glares at Master Li as if he’s the one that caused her pain. “I’m going to be the best Avatar there ever was, you just wait! No one will be able to beat me!”
“Oh?” Master Li gives her a half lidded glance over his teacup. “Is that so?”
“Yes! I’ll be the strongest there ever was!”
“And what do you plan to do with that strength?” Jet chimes in, his tone lazy as he rests his head on one hand.
Korra glares at him. “I’ll beat up anyone that comes against me!”
“Is that what you think being Avatar is all about?” Master Li’s tone is so soft that Korra finds her anger fading. She looks at him and his face is shadowed with something she doesn’t understand. He looks almost sad, even disappointed. Korra doesn’t know how to answer. She can barely move. Master Li stares at her for a long time and then he just shakes his head. “You need to think long and hard about what being Avatar really means, Korra. A long time ago, I knew a man who thought himself invincible. He caused great heartache and terror and nearly toppled the entire world around him.
“But I’ll only beat up bad people!” Korra whines only to fall into shamed silence when Master Li glances at her.
“Who decides which people are bad?” he asks and Korra starts to answer but pauses. She isn’t sure. No one decides who’s good or bad. You just were either good or bad. It couldn’t be that hard to figure it out. Master Li watches her and sighs softly. “Think about that question during your training here. When you have an answer for me, then you may leave.”
Korra nods and wonders why she feels so terrible under his gaze when he had seemed so kind before.
The discomfort of the morning meal sits with her still when they head outside. Jet takes Master Li against his shoulder, only after he’s been wrapped up in a thick robe, and helps him outside. Even with Master Li’s cane, Korra can see the effort this takes. Jet doesn’t like it, that much is obvious, but Master Li is stubborn and tells them both to stop being ninnies. He ends up settled on a thin cushion and resting back against a tree with blanket across his knees. Korra thinks he looks small like that, frail. She doesn’t like it. Korra has seen the infirm of course, but most of the graybeards she interacts with are still very lively. (Sifu Katara is a bright presence in her mind.)
“We’ll begin with seeing where your weaknesses are,” Master Li decides. “Jet, if you would?”
“It’d be my pleasure.”
The tone of his voice, amused excitement and a certain amount of vengefulness, sets Korra on edge. She doesn’t have time to think about it before Jet’s coming at her with two strange, hooked swords. Korra holds back for about three seconds. Then she realizes if she does, she’s going to get hurt because this guy is fast and spry and very, very good. He uses low hanging branches to his advantage, swinging himself through various planes in his attack as she uses earthen stepping stones to get more height. He twists bonelessly around strikes of water and neatly sidesteps every attempt to freeze him in place. The few spurts of directed fire she manages are just as useless. Jet has size and age and monstrous skill to his advantage and Korra realizes just how outclassed she is.
By the time Master Li calls a stop to it, Korra is ready to collapse. She glances up at both men through her fight mussed hair, sweating and breathless, and then is filled with the vicious glee that finally, finally , something is challenging her. She’s never been so grateful for anything Sifu Katara has done for her as she is right now.
“Most non-benders you meet won’t be at Jet’s level,” Master Li says, opening the basket of lunch. “This generation wasn’t raised by war, thankfully, and won’t have the experience real battle grants. However, this is no reason to discount their abilities or underestimate them.”
He hands Korra her portion and then Jet his before serving himself. Korra barely notices the food in her hands, too hung on every word.
“When I was young, my greatest enemy believed himself invincible.” Master Li’s voice is soft and even. “When he looked at me, he saw a young boy with no power and no skill. He was a better warrior than I, and a bender at that-”
“He was not better,” Jet hisses out vehemently. “He was just older and ruthless .”
Master Li sighs softly, shaking his head a little. “The point I make is that he did not take me seriously, nor those that fought with me. We were all children, not much older than you, Korra. He discounted us. He saw us as entertainment and minor annoyances.”
Korra finds herself leaning forward, as if his words are physical things that can capture her.
“That overconfidence lead to his death,” Master Li finishes, inelegant and blunt, but Korra doesn’t care. These are the kinds of stories she craves. Katara always sugar coats the battles and while Korra loves hearing about them anyway, she’s always wanted something closer to the truth. Master Li takes a few more bites, considers Korra for several seconds, and then he tells her about a battle between the overconfident man and another that spoke against him and explains Agni Kai. It’s not a story she likes because the bad guy wins , but Master Li assures her that his end was suitably gruesome.
After lunch, Jet hedges Korra into another round that leaves her even more exhausted. That sets the tone for the next weeks. Korra spars with Jet and begins learning non-bending counters and other moves to strengthen her already impressive (at least in her own mind) repertoire. Jet and Master Li tell her stories from the war, both glorious and small. As the days pass, Master Li gets stronger and stronger until he can walk with just his cane. The sickness seems to be lifting in Korra’s presence and she finds herself hoping that sometime before she leaves, he’ll be strong enough to show her his skill.
All the while, Korra is reminded of his question. Who decides which people are bad? She’s no closer to finding the answer than she was before, no closer to understanding what he’s wanting from her. Still, she’s seeing a pattern in the stories Master Li and Jet tell. Every time, they highlight fatal mistakes of overconfidence or simple blind pride, or showing a deeper kind of valor. She knows they’re trying to teach her more than just fighting non-benders. She knows there’s a point and it all has to do with that one single question, but she’s no closer to answering it. Not yet.
The first time Master Li takes up his swords, his movements are weak and shaky. Korra watches anyway. She pays attention to the curve of his wrists, the water like flow of his arms. Despite shaking from strain, she can see the knowledge and familiarity in his body. It’s another week before he calls her to him.
Fighting Master Li is different than fighting Jet. Jet is all viciousness and agility while Master Li flows from one move to another in a continuous dance. He doesn’t beat Korra back so much as trick her into going where he wants, maneuver her through a complicated web of dance steps she never practiced. The blades are extensions of his arms, lengthening a deadly reach, and even with two (and a half) elements behind her, even with her youth and his recent sickness, there’s no way Korra can match him.
Master Li fights her in the mornings and Jet in the afternoons. They spend countless hours putting her through her paces when they aren’t telling stories rich in intricate detail that she can watch easily in her mind’s eye. It’s a more fervent pace than Sifu Katara had ever set but Korra rises to the challenge gamely. She learns something new every day and goes to sleep exhausted every night.
Sometimes, though, the movement of the tree is too much and she finds herself wide awake in her swaying room. She thinks about the battles Master Li and Jet told her of and that usually gets her back to sleep, but one night she lies awake still. Korra slides out of her bedroll and makes her way down the tree directly. She’s not about to navigate the network of ropes and bridges through the limbs at night. Korra feels better with her feet on solid ground. She takes a walk, keeping near to the main tree, and almost has a heart attack when she notices people sitting at the edge of a cliff near the settlement.
Master Li has a blanket around his shoulders. He’s still recovering, even if he’s able to spar with Korra, and beside him, Jet has another blanket folded on his knees, just in case. They look very different in her eyes. There’s a quiet dignity to Master Li and the way he sits with his back impeccably straight and his head held high, even with his thin frame. Jet is much wilder and even sitting he looks like he’s one false move from toppling over. He moves the same way, at the very edge of balance, where as Master Li’s is perfect at every moment.
“-can’t take every dream to be a prophecy,” Jet’s saying when Korra gets close enough to listen. “You’re not Aunt Wu.”
“Thank goodness for that,” Master Li murmured quietly and there’s a small smile on his lips but he still looks worried. “I can’t help it. I’m worried. It’s not just the dreams. You read the last report Bei Fong sent.”
“Yeah, I read it.” Jet shrugs a shoulder and looks out over the land, growing troubled himself. “Could be nothing. Could just blow right over.”
Master Li’s smile disappears and he draws a knee up to his chest, wrapping his arms around it. “I didn’t want to see another war in my lifetime.”
“And you won’t . Look, Bei Fong and Tenzin are over that way. They can handle this.” Jet reaches over to give Master Li’s shoulder a squeeze. “We have to trust the world to the kids someday, Li.”
“They’d flay you alive if they knew you still called them that,” Master Li murmurs, lips quirking.
“I changed some of their diapers. They can deal .”
Master Li laughs and to Korra’s ears, the sounds is… off. She can feel his unease still filling him and it ignites her own. Still… if Tenzin is handling whatever the trouble is, it should be fine. Korra’s trust in him is deep.
Master Li shifts to one side until his shoulder brushes Jet. Automatically, Jet lifts an arm around Master Li and turns his head, lips brushing against Master Li’s hair. Immediately, Korra finds her face burning red. It’s the same feeling she gets when her parents are being lovey dovey and she quickly escapes back to her room, all thoughts of staying to listen banished by the open affection.
Grownups . Korra vows she’s never going to get like that. Gross. Besides, she can beat up pretty much every boy she’s ever met and being Avatar is a lot more exciting that settling down and, horrors of horrors, getting married . Best to swear it all off from the beginning. She’s pretty sure no boy will ever be her match and why settle with one if they aren’t?
That thought in mind, Korra rolls over and tries not to think about the vague worries Master Li's words have put in her head.