As I Fall: LOK

Chapter Six

Regulating her pace, Haitana made a break for the raging spirit. He slams Mako and Bolin, as the earthbender tried to attack him, and they got knocked down the hill.

Tonraq, Korra's dad, and Tenzin rush to aid the brothers as Korra continues to firebend at the spirit. Sliding across the ice with less than perfect balance, Haitana watches as Tonraq encases the spirit in ice.

Quickly, Haitana remembers the steps to tame a canyon crawler, and trusts that her dad is right about it. Step one: grab its attention.

Halting in front of the spirit, Haitana calls out to it, trying to get his eyes on her. "Hey? Mr. Spirit?" She starts, unsure, but still, the spirit drawls its attention to her, thrashing against its ice enclosure.

Step two: show you mean no harm.

Pulling her hands from the defensive position, the girl displays her open palms, trying to show the spirit that she was not going to attack him. Partially breaking from the ice enclosure, the spirit tries to swat at her, but she is able to jump out of the way before he made contact. Rolling against the ground, she crouches on the side of him.

Step three: calm the creature with a zen whistle.

Pulling a whistle from her bracelet, she lightly blows air into it, hoping that the pitch is enough for him to stop attacking the village. But as the others continued to bend at him— the spirit got agitated, and gained a grasp on the girl.

Trying to remain calm, and not wanting to upset the spirit, she continued sounding the whistle, trying to keep his attention on her. But— it didn't seem like the spirit was too keen, as it reeled its arm back and sent her into a snowy pile. "Na! Are you okay?" Bolin asks her hurriedly, trying to help her up.

"Ohhh yeah, totally fine," she grumbles, rubbing her side with agitation. "That was really... refreshing," she jokes, accepting Bolin's help up.

Elian advances with master level bending, sending flaming arcs toward the spirit. He whipped around, trying to swat the older man, but before he could, Iroh created a wall of flames to block the attack.

Jumping up, Haitana grabs Bolin. "I have an idea," she tells him hurriedly. "But I'm gonna need some leverage."

Nodding, Bolin readies his stance, bending the land beneath Haitana and launching her into the air. Using the propulsion to jump onto the arm of the spirit, she runs up towards his head as he tries wildly to shake her off. Pulling a vial from her pocket, the girl releases creeping slime— the creature heads for the eyes of the spirit and temporarily blinds him.

"Yeah!" Bolin cheered from below, but before he could celebrate much longer, the entity thrashes at his inability to see, and throws her off yet again. "Noo!" Bolin corrects, as Haitana slides against the icy ground and lands at the feet of her father and the general.

"Ughhhh," she complains, feeling friction burns across her arms and knees. "This is nothing like the canyon crawlers," she mumbled under her breath, collapsing against the snowy surface in defeat.

Standing in front of Haitana's cowering figure, and the general, Elian takes a defensive position, attempting to protect them from any attacks that might come their way. Kneeling down, Iroh places a hand between Haitana's shoulder blades, almost rubbing her back in comfort. "It's okay," he whispers to her softly. "You did good," Iroh promises.

Peaking out from her long, now messy, hair she rolls her eyes at him. "Riiiight," she jeers. "I did great? Didn't I? I stopped him for a whole two seconds... I thought this festival was supposed to be fun," she whined, as the general placed his hands underneath her arms and pulled her up off of her stomach and to a kneeling position.

He couldn't laugh— sure, he found her complaining mildly amusing, but he was too focused on assessing every inch of her body, searching for any cuts or bruising or injury that she might have suffered.

The spirit had stopped, and brought Haitana's attention away from the general's peering eyes and towards the water that was now encircling the entity— glowing. Unalaq was bending gentle water, shifting the spirit from a dark one to a far more friendly version.

"How's he doing that?" The girl whispered to Iroh, who still held onto her in support. "That's the coolest thing I've ever seen!"

Shaking his head, Iroh began to pull Haitana to her feet with steady hands. "I don't know," he whispered honestly. Her legs felt wobbly, as she leaned all her weight into him with a dizziness.

Hitting the ground twice had put strain on her, shooting pains down her lower back and into her legs. "How are you able to control that spirit when no one else could?" Korra asked Unalaq, but everything sounded fuzzy to Haitana, as the only real thing she could focus on was the blood rushing through her body.

She tried to count how many times her heart beat— to distract her from the pain that coursed along her very being. As Korra argues with her father, Tenzin and Unalaq about who should teach her spirit mumbojumbo, Haitana feels herself slipping.

Every time she closes her eyes, they stay shut for just a moment longer than the last. "I-I," she stammers out, trying to catch the attention of anyone around her. "I think I'm gonna pass out," she finally chokes out, squeezing her eyes shut as black dots cloud her vision.

"Okay,okay," Iroh whispers. "I'll get you to—" his voice drifted off as Haitana's world became darkness.

Part of her felt pathetic. This had been the man she saved countless times, and now one silly spirit was able to knock her unconscious. She didn't want to be viewed as weak, as incapable.

Never mind the fact that her dad was also here. The person who always believed in her— believed in her abilities.

Haitana didn't want to let anyone down, but part of her felt like that's exactly what she was doing.