The pain made it easy for Korra to sleep. It didn’t make it any easier to comprehend her dreams.

She had gotten used to not dreaming- usually, she was too worn out from recovery for her mind to produce anything of interest, and even if it did, she would forget about it upon waking due to it being too dull. Tonight, however, was different.

Korra awoke in a mangrove swamp- a wet humid place, the worst kind of alive, lit in hues of a golden sunset. She knew the minute she gained consciousness that it was not the physical world- the water she had woken in was out of her grasp, it had to be the spirit world. To her surprise, she didn’t feel any pain, the memories of her long-ago fights just that- memories. She could easily guess why, but it still caught her off guard.

“Hey, you up yet?” A sharp yet boyish voice called out. Korra lept to her feet at the sound of it, and was equal parts surprised in her ability to do so and caught off guard by what she saw.

It was a boy- a human boy, not a spirit, at least as far as Korra could tell. He wore loose fighter’s robes characteristic of a bygone era and had his hair pulled up into a high ponytail. When Korra subconsciously put her hand to her own head, she discovered that her hair was also done up, unlike how it had been when she had gone to sleep. The boy- who couldn’t have been much older than her, or even younger- sat over a dwindling fire, prodding it with a stick. His left hand looked like he had dipped it into ink- a splatter of black tattooed over his skin. He looked up at Korra, his eyes a bright, almost unnatural green. “It’s rude to stare.”

Korra stumbled backward, caught off-guard by the statement. “I wasn’t-”

The boy gestured to an empty log on the other side of his fire, pointing at it with his stick. “Sit down.” Given no other opportunity, Korra complied.

“So… this is the spirit world?” Korra asked as she adjusted herself onto the makeshift bench. It wasn’t the most comfortable of seats, but any moment not in pain was one she would take advantage of.

“A part of it, yes.” The boy answered. “You want something to drink? I’ve got some tea, water, anything you want, really.”

Korra shook her head. “Who are you?”

After letting out an almost-mocking laugh, the boy turned to her with a smile. “What, you don’t recognize me?”

Korra answered him with silence, to which he frowned. “You can call me Yun. We knew each other in one of your past lives.”

The name rang a bell, but Korra couldn’t exactly place it. “Which past life, exactly?”

Yun glanced down at what remained of his fire and prodded it with the stick, as if he wanted to avoid the topic. “Kyoshi.”

“Oh.” Korra replied. That hardly narrowed it down, seeing as her most recent earth-kingdom born incarnation had lived over two hundred years and probably met hundred-fold the number of people.

“Someone didn’t pay attention in history class,” Yun smirked. “I’m- eh- the false Avatar. The guy they thought was the Avatar before they knew it was Kyoshi.”

Korra leaned forward. Now that her memory had been sparked, she was pretty sure she had heard a story like that before. “What are you doing here?”

Yun leaned back. “Isn’t that the story….”

Korra didn’t respond.

“It’s long- well it’s not that long, but you really don’t want to know. It’s gross.”

“Well, now you have to tell me!”

“Fine. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.” Yun spat, though he hesitated before confessing. “I kinda…. I ate a spirit.”

“You WHAT?!”

“I told you it was gross!” Yun protested, gesturing in front of himself in retaliation.

“And they let you stay here?” Korra pressed her hand to her temple in mock-frustration.

“It’ s more complicated than that.”

Korra sighed. “You know, I really don’t want to know. I do not care. Please don’t tell me anymore.”

Yun gave her a thumbs-up. “You got it.”

“So why am I here?” Korra asked.

Yun shrugged and refocused on his fire. “I don’t know, you tell me. You’re the one who came here.”

“You were waiting for me.”

“Caught wind that Kyoshi’s successor would show up around this place sooner or later, so I decided I’d stick around. This is my home, after all.”

“Are you a spirit?” Korra had heard of humans trading their lives for immortality before, but only in certain circumstances, like that of the now-moon spirit Yue or Iroh, both of whom she had met before.

Once again, Korra’s question was met by a shrug. “It’s a bit more complicated than that, but I guess you could say that.”

“So….”

“You wanna play Pai Sho?”

Korra shook her head- she had never been fond of the game or even learned how to play- and their small clearing fell into a near-peaceful silence, until Yun spoke. “Kinda ironic, don’t you think?”

“What do you mean?”

“This whole thing.” Yun gestured around. “You can’t get to your past lives, but I was able to find you. It’s kind of funny, how I’m the one you talk to when you need advice.” When met by silence, he continued. “Because of the whole- you get it.”

Korra stared at her hands. She hadn’t considered it- she hadn’t had the time to- but Yun was right. It was ironic that of all the people she could be speaking to right now, Yun was the one who stood before her. A last chance at Avatarhood for him, and the only opportunity to speak to a past life left to her. “Yeah, it kind of is.”

“So.” Yun shrugged. “You got any…. Questions? Concerns? Pressing issues you’re in desperate need of advice for or anything?”

“It’s getting harder and harder to keep going.” Korra sighed. Even when free of her pain in the spirit world, she could still feel the echo of it in her extremities. “I don’t know if I can.”

“You’ll get better.” Yun moved over to put his hand on her shoulder.

“How do you know?”

“I just do. It’s one of those things.” He shrugged. “Or I’m bluffing. Hard to tell sometimes, even to me. Though I think you’ll be able to get through it, you’re pretty tough.”

Korra ran her hands through her hair. “But what if I can’t!”

“You have to.” Yun shrugged. “And you will. I promise.”

“You know there’s no way for you to fulfill that promise.” Korra pointed out.

“Yeah.” Yun sighed. “It’s a nice sentiment, though. And if there’s one thing I know, it’s that humans are capable of incredible things as long as they can persist. That applies to you, too.”

Korra nodded and glanced at the fire Yun had now abandoned. The sun- if there was a sun in the spirit world- had almost set by now, casting the swamp in shades of blue and violet.

“You’re gonna make it through this, Korra. I’ve been watching you for almost five hundred years now, and you always make it through it.”

“Thanks.” Korra sighed. “You know, it’s been nice talking to you.”

A smile grew across Yun’s face. “Thanks, I appreciate it. You know, I might not be the actual Avatar or one of your past lives, but I’ve got some advice.”

Korra smiled and sighed, closing her eyes to drift off into the same sleep she had woken from.