Winding Legacies: A 'The Legend of Korra' Rewrite

Episode 2: A Leaf in the Wind Part 2

Rubbing his hands together, Bolin moved over to the side of the square mat in the arena practice room and turned to face Korra: "All right! Let's see what'cha got!" Bolin stretched out the ends of his tank top, his eyes quickly scanning the room as he made sure that the practice earth disks and the net across the room were in the proper places. Korra proceeded to crack her knuckles and survey the net, planting her feet firmly on the ground as she raised her arm, an earth disc following her movement. She knocked the disc away with her free hand and repeated the movement, sending the two discs flying into the hanging net on the opposite wall.

"That was great! Good power! But in a real match, you'd be a sitting turtle duck. Not so upright and flatfooted," Korra's eyebrows were slightly downturned as Bolin pointed out the flaws in her first attempt, and she intently hung on to his words hoping that she would get it right the next time. Mako walked into the room behind the two, watching them without them noticing as he leaned against the side of a rectangle archway. "Stay light on your toes, right up until the moment when you need to dig in and strike. Then...pop, pop!" Bolin had begun bouncing on his feet, raising his arms into a pre-punch position before quickly raising two discs and flinging them at the net. Korra's jaw slacked, turning wide-eyed to Bolin as he looked at her with a broad smile as he gestured at the net.

"Okay, let me try it again," Korra chuckled. She began the same way as Bolin, bouncing on her feet from side to side, before clenching her fingers into a fist and throwing two discs a the net, mimicking Bolin's fast punches from his demonstration.

"Wow! Nice adjustment! You're a natural at this," Bolin said, visibly impressed. Korra perking up at his praise before lowering her shoulders as Mako began to speak.

"Not bad," Mako noted, walking up to them with his arms crossed tightly against his chest.

"What's it take to impress this guy?" Korra irritably muttered.

"What? I said 'not bad,'" Mako protested. He moved in front of Korra, ready to just continue walking until he caught a glance of her pouting at him. He abruptly stopped, slowly dropping his arms down to his side. Bolin shifted awkwardly behind Mako, poking his brother's arm with his index finger to try and fix whatever was wrong with his brother. Mako flinched and shook his head, brushing past the two as he stuffed his hands into his pockets. "You know what, it's getting late. I think I'm going to turn in, you kids have fun."

Mako stops for a moment, a faint smile resting on his lips as he glances back to Korra and Bolin: "Nice to meet you, Avatar Korra."

"Yeah, been a real pleasure," Korra held up her hand half-heartedly and stared at Mako with half-lidded, sarcastic eyes. Mako chuckles and turns back around, abruptly shifting his attention to Bolin.

"See ya upstairs, bro."

"Upstairs? You guys live here?" she gasped, pointing at the stairs Mako had walked up.

"Yup, in the attic. It's nothin' fancy, but, uh, might I say we have some great views," Bolin bragged, his voice growing deeper as he lightly flexed his arm muscles. Korra snorted at him and placed her hands on her hips.

"Bolin. Bending. Please."

"Right, back to bending. Why don't you throw that combo one more time?" He cleared his throat, crossing his arms in concentration as he waited for Korra to begin. Korra noticed that Mako and Bolin look the exact same whenever they cross their arms, but considering that they're brothers she didn't really have a profound thought there. She snaps at herself internally as her thoughts rested on someone's muscles too much and immediately began hopping up and down to clear her head. She let out a breath and picked two earth discs up, launching them at the net and hitting it square in the center. Korra smiled broadly at the stack of earth discs in the net and shook her hands rapidly, ready for more.