A World Of Grey (Legend of Korra)

Chapter 51

There was a flash of hot light as the hammer slammed down onto the firing pin. The weapon lurched back in her hand, fire spitting out from the muzzle.

But something was wrong.

Korra watched as a smoothly shaped projectile she should not have been able to see emerged from the firearm. It made no sense. She understood how it worked now. Fate was decided the instant she pulled the trigger. But the mire that Time had become would not allow it, pulling back the slowly rotating bullet as it left the firearm's barrel. Korra didn't understand. Her eyes shifted when a tall figure woven out of nothingness appeared at her side.

"What are you doing, Korra?"

She had to look up to meet the woman's eyes. Kyoshi towered over her, her long, pale face painted with eternal severity. Her presence was almost stifling. Korra's lips were dry. She did not have any words for her. The woman spoke once more.

"What are you doing, Korra?"

She turned her gaze back to man lying trapped on the ground in front of her. His eyes were pulled wide, mouth agape. The bullet was still moving towards him, stretching further the distance between itself and the firearm. Korra watched it and found she did not know how to answer her predecessor's question.

"I will tell you," Kyoshi said, her voice a deep, full timbre, "you are taking revenge."

Korra's expression darkened. "This is justice."

"For whom?"

"For me," she answered, "for my baby."

"And who shall benefit from it?"

Korra turned narrow eyes onto Kyoshi. "You are the one who told me the Avatar must act in her authority. You believed in doing what was necessary."

"I did," she agreed, "for the sake of peace in the name of true justice."

Korra's attention left the woman. "This will bring me peace," she said.

The bullet was poised in the air halfway between herself and the man. Whatever force had pulled Kyoshi into this realm, she willed away. The woman did not disappear, however; instead she turned herself completely to face Korra.

"This man is not the source of your anguish, nor is he the key to your peace," Kyoshi spoke quietly.

The softness of her voice was foreign to every historical script Korra had ever pored through. She looked up and found eyes gentle and understanding looking down at her. Utterly unexpected, words failed to rise to her lips when she opened her mouth.

"You are not the first woman to know this pain, and you will not be the last," Kyoshi told her. "As light is to dark, so death is to life. There is a cycle, an intrinsic balance that each and every product of nature's order must obey, and as such, because you have lost, you will learn to cherish life all the more. This may feel like the end to you, Korra, but I promise you, it is simply a beginning."

"Every promise made to me has been broken," she said, looking away. Death was drawing ever closer to its mark.

"Then remember this," Kyoshi said after a moment, "violence breeds chaos. Justice, true justice, brings about peace, and only in peace can one create life."

Korra gasped softly as the woman placed her open hand at her stomach. Warmth was spreading slowly through her, from the point of contact to her very extremities. And then, inexplicably, her heart began to swell in her chest. Her voice hitched and suddenly, overwhelming, she felt the urge to cry. But her tears would not be mournful, that Korra knew, even if she could not name the intense emotion she was feeling. Only when Kyoshi finally removed her hand did it begin to fade, and as she looked up Korra saw the woman melting away with it.