Deku of the Wind

Chapter 3 : A Leaf in the Wind (part 2)

Bolin, Izuku, Korra, and Mako were all standing in the Fire Ferret's Training room, where Mako was sporting an ice pack on his head after Korra whacked him in the face for his side-comments about Izuku and her being together. Izuku had been flushed with embarrassment the entire time, something the brothers had never seen before, and likely wouldn't see again for a long time. Izuku would make sure of it. 

Bolin was running Korra through some of the drills that Izuku had him do to help with speed and precision, while Izuku had gone off to the restroom... supposedly. In actuality, he had slipped away as the Black Spirit to deliver a note regarding where 'Izuku' was, and what he'd been up too. Of course, he'd left out his activity as the Black Spirit. He got back as Korra and Bolin were getting ready to take a water break. 

"Thanks for the pointers, Bolin," Korra said to the young earth bender. "My training has hit a bit of a roadblock recently, so it feels good to actually get some kind of progress." 

"Air bending training?" Izuku asked. 

"Yeah," Korra confirmed, rubbing her head. "Tenzin has been trying to teach me the basics of air bending, but it just... I don't know, it's just really difficult." 

Izuku nodded, taking a seat next to her. "I get what you mean. The discipline of air bending is pretty removed from most other bending styles, but especially the one that seems to form the foundation of yours." 

"That being?" Korra asked. 

"Earth bending." Izuku took a swig of his own water bottle. "Even when you bend water or fire, you keep the same stance as when you earth bend. Traditional earth bending is all about keeping yourself planted and immovable. And that kind of mentality can be applied to water and fire bending, somewhat beneficially even. But air bending isn't about being immovable. It's about reacting, dodging, evading. You have to be light on your feet, and loose in your muscles. You can't tense up for traditional air bending. You have to be loose, light, and react to things as they come." 

Korra thought about it for a moment. "You seem to know quite a bit about air bending." 

"Yeah, my mom made me go to different bending masters to learn the basics of their styles so I'd know how to defend myself from them. In the process, I picked up the basics. Air bending was by far the easiest for me to pick up. And honestly, it's the most beneficial for me, since I don't have any bending. I can't exactly block a fire ball, ice spike, or jagged rock. I have to evade." 

Korra nodded, then looked to Izuku with a serious look. "You know Tenzin and Lin have been running themselves ragged trying to find you. Lin's been having her best captain helping her search for you, and Tenzin's been meditating every night for hours hoping for some kind of vision of you." 

Izuku was silent for a moment, before sighing, "I know. I just... I can't go back to the way things used to be, you know? After so long away from them, how can I just go back to how things used to be?" 

Korra nodded. "I get that, but who says things have to go back for you to see them again? Lin just wants to know that your alive and safe. She feels like she failed you. And Tenzin feels like he alienated you just because you can't bend, which was never his intention. He just had so much weight on his shoulders with being responsible for bringing back the air nation that he didn't feel he had time to focus on anything else."