"Hey there, boy."

I bit back a sigh as I got up to greet the man approaching down the hallway. As usual for White Lotus initiates, he was garbed in indigo and white uniform, though his padded bracers and greaves were absent. Not too big an infraction within the compound, it usually meant that the initiate wasn't being tasked to sentry duty anytime soon.

Not an archivist, though, otherwise I'd be familiar with his face, and he'd know my name. An attendant or one of those glorified janitor/maintenance workers then? He had the swarthy skin of a Water Tribesman - probably Northern Water Tribe, since his complexion doesn't look so weather-worn - though nowadays, less thanks to rape babies and more to intermingling between the elemental nations, I shouldn't be surprised to find that he's capable of throwing earth or fire around.

"Can I help you, brother?" I greeted, offering a slight bow to go along with it. His mantle's collar wasn't short, and he still had his cowl on, so there was no way he held a significantly higher rank than me.

Which meant I could technically chide him for not addressing me with minimal courtesy, but at this point, I rather get things over with quickly than having to go through that song and dance again. Unlike the Avatar, age still affected the deference a fourteen year old White Lotus initiate received.

The wooden boards creaked softly as the man walked up to loom over me (it's either loom or crouch down patronizingly to my level, few people think of stopping some distance away so that neither of us would have to strain our necks ) before he gave a hurried nod. "Is the Avatar busy?"

Ah, so an attendant then. Whose glorified delivery boy was he?

"She's undertaking her meditation lessons."

Or at least trying to. At least she seemed intent on giving it a proper try this time after Katara's anecdotes about Aang's own lessons with Tenzin.

The man shifted for the briefest of moments, and I almost rolled my eyes when I noted a twitch on the edges of his lips.

Shit. Please don't tell me Korra's inability to sit still is already making its rounds through the compound…

He produced a rolled up scroll and waved it at me. "Well, do you think I can go in and meet her for a bit? I've got a message to pass to her. Uh, personally."

I frowned at the scroll in front of my face. "I'm afraid that I can't do that. Master Katara doesn't want Avatar Korra to be disturbed for the afternoon."

I quietly thanked Korra's constantly straining my patience and courtesy as I kept myself from overtly reacting to the flash of surprise that overtook him. "Master Katara's here?" he asked, his eyes suddenly shooting to the door behind me.

"No," I answered slowly. "But she's left strict instructions that nobody's to enter."

"Ah, well… If that's what Master Katara says…" For a moment he began to turn back, but he suddenly snapped back at me, lunging with both arms.

Fortunately for me, I was already ducking to one side, my smaller size giving me some play within the confines of the wooden corridor.

"The Avatar's in dan-agh!"

Unfortunately, I was expecting a charge, not a stream of water that shot out from behind the man. The water whip that came at me was slower than Korra's, but it still tore through the plank wall and glanced against my shoulder, slamming me against the boards and cutting my cry of alarm short. I didn't even have time to think of recovering when the glob of water splashed against my face, and biting pain overwhelmed me as it froze over. My vision became blurred by ice, and my airflow was cut off as the ice plugged my mouth and nose.

Blinded and asphyxiated, I almost fell into a panic as I instinctively tried to pry the ice off my face. The pain quickly became sharp and intense, especially in my nostrils and exposed eyes.

A part of me wanted to firebend to melt it off. The problem was I didn't know where I was facing, and who might be in my way. Already my exertion was melting the ice in my mouth, causing an uncomfortable trickle of water to run down my throat. As my body spasmed from the painful gagging and retching, I absently noted the sounds and vibrations of a lot of movement from seemingly all around me.

There was a lot of shouting, some fiery explosions, and the grinding of earth. I couldn't make out the exact words due to my own noisy struggles, but I was pretty sure Korra had just blasted the intruder into the far end of the hall.

Sure enough, barely a second later, I felt someone drop beside me, and a wave of heat washed against me to melt the ice away. Coughing and sputtering to replace the cold water for fresh air. Then I felt warm hands press against my face, and the familiar tingling of chi healing bloomed across my face. I forced myself to stillness as the healing did it work, focusing on the sounds of a chase echoing from the hallway.

"It's alright, Xing. You're fine."

"Thanks, Korra," I half-gasped once she lifted her hands away and allowed me to see clearly again. The young Avatar was kneeling before me, her features heavy with concern. I glanced at her meditation chamber, and found the door blasted outwards to splinters. Korra had, presumably, preemptively struck first.

Not too far from the two of us, the impostor's rolled scroll was shredded from an explosion. It didn't take long for me to look about to find the finger-sized dart sticking out of the ruined doorpost.

"Did you get him?" I asked through a mouthful of warming water, and Korra quickly shook her head. Her whole body was shaking, I noticed. Mine too.

"He ran off, but the others are chasing after him."

"Yeah, good luck with that," I muttered a bit too loudly, and focused on my trembling hands. "Trying to catch a White Lotus in a White Lotus compound."

Sure enough, despite the compound going on lockdown and everyone being mobilized for a manhunt, as the afternoon wore on it was clear that the intruder had escaped. Both of us were with Katara and the other masters in the main hall.

They found a collapsed tunnel under the section of the wall just behind the barracks. An initiate's corpse was also found outside the compound, half-buried in the frozen ground. They found the discarded White Lotus uniform on the path leading to the ice sheets, away from Wolf Cove. Under it was a sleigh, clearly abandoned. Another pair of footprints was discovered, fleeing along with the assassin/kidnapper.

"This is most troubling," Grand Lotus Altaq remarked as he and the other masters stood guard in the room.

"Worse than troubling," Master Shi-Eng said as she rose from the apothecary's table to address everyone, holding the dart in hand. The usually stern woman gave me a sterner nod. "Xing was right. The dart's coated with poison. A tranquilizer, for better or worse."

Not even Korra missed the tenseness in the room becoming much tauter as the masters exchanged silent but clearly meaningful looks at each other. Finally, Katara broke from the apprehensive atmosphere to direct a soft smile at me.

"Thank goodness you were there to stop him, Xing. If he managed to sneak in to strike Korra…"

"He wouldn't have hit me!" the girl beside me cut in, affronted as usual that anyone could beat her in a fight.

I let out a soft sigh. "You weren't meditating at all, were you, Korra?"

Immediately she flinched and shrunk back a little. "Err…well…"

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Katara's smile didn't waver. "In this case, we can thank the spirits that you remained alert."

That's true enough, I guess.

"Just as we should be grateful for Xing keeping watch over you."

Ah shit, this means I'm stuck with Korra, isn't it?

*****

I know I've accepted that I'm living in a world with a degree of anime logic, but fuck do I wish I had the knowledge to exploit the tropes. At least I should've watched the damned show, so I'd know how this whole attempted kidnapping thing panned out.

But since I didn't have a clue, I had to rely on good ol' paranoia and not-so-common sense to guide me. If the fuckers decided to come back for another round, my chances of surviving an encounter with them would likely be a lot lower.

Which was why I was being a massive hypocrite right now and sneaking out of the White Lotus compound, adults be damned. If Korra ever found out, she'd be intolerable.

Still, it was necessary. With the kidnappers' last known location being the ice sheets, and the search parties on foot and boats coming up with nothing, it meant that there was probably a window before they truly escaped.

I watched my partner in crime as she led the way. Naga was smart enough to put aside her dislike for me when I told her I needed her fur to further protect Korra.

"People tried to hurt Korra," I told Naga with all seriousness, and her eyes actually showed some offense to my words. "I want to stop them from trying again. Would you help me, at least this once?"

She actually kept silent as we snuck out, not glancing at Korra's personal quarters when we scampered across it. It was easy enough getting the polar bear dog out of the compound, she could dig through the cold ground with surprising ease. We just had to figure out the right spot for her to tunnel through.

I trudged across the thin coat of snow, the bundles of Naga's shed fur I've tied to my fur boots quite effectively dampening the noise I made as well as keeping my soles warm.

Naga actually lay down to let me comb out huge tufts of fur from her body, when before I couldn't get within arm's length of her or risk getting kicked or knocked away. Sure, I had to also pay her with my supper, but it was still a significant improvement to our relations.

With Naga's fur under my boots, as well as stuffed under my clothes, I barely felt the night's chill. I left behind the white headband to my cowl, as well as the mantle, because the silk material might be too shiny. The rest of my uniform remained on me, mostly because I didn't have the time or resources to come up with suitable camouflage. The most I managed to improvise was a scrap of indigo cloth to shroud my face, mostly to help retain some warmth, but also in the vain hope that the dull color would help me sneak a little better.

Beyond that, I wore a roll of rope across my shoulder, and a pouch by my belt full of contingencies.

With the full moon (or Yue's full face as some of the more sentimental Northerners might say) high above me, I followed after Naga as she followed the trail of the White Lotus impostor. We both kept a low profile, - with the ice sheets so flat and featureless, it'd be easy for us to spot any oddities even from a good distance away, and vice versa.

It didn't take too long for Naga to suddenly flatten herself even further, her tail drooping low and her body visibly shuddering as she growled softly.

Not bothering to ask the obvious, I took the rope off me and kept it by my side. The two of us slowed our pace to be as silent as possible, and eventually Naga stopped in the middle of nowhere. The polar bear dog's head scanned about in confusion, and her pearly whites peeked through her jowls as she growled with visible frustration.

Not wanting her to reveal our cover any further, I called out to her in a calming whisper. Of course, I wasn't stupid enough to try patting her. "Hey. Hey, Naga. Relax. I think I know where they went."

The white furry beast looked at me with some annoyance, and then huffed as if saying 'go on then'.

Ignoring the growing numbness on my extremities, I slowly slid down on all fours, and began tapping softly at the ice. Sure enough, there was a duller thud at one point, marking a void beyond the thick ice.

"Down there. Ready, Naga?" I gave the polar bear dog a look, and she drew back in preparation for a pounce.

Free from the confines of ice and wooden structures, I removed the mittens from my hands and placed the bare and already freezing palms against the ice. Wincing from the pinpricks of pain that erupted all across my body as I consciously loosened the open meridians to let the ambient chi enter my system for a fraction of a moment.

Gritting my teeth and fighting off the growing agony, I blinked away tears and forced the pulse of energy flooding into the open wounds of my chi network to go through my arms and hands. The freezing numbness quickly melted away before the warmth of chi pouring through my body.

It took all I had to not cry out as the energy was shunted out of my palms. The blast of white fire knocked me upright, and there was a loud, explosive sizzle as ice and snow was vaporized in an instant.

With my body starting to ache, I quickly got up and peered through the steam. Below, in a small cavern no doubt carved by a waterbender, two men were lowering their hands from their faces. Around them, fur rugs and opened supplies covered the icy ground.

I leapt down and sent another blast of white fire between their heads, this time through my open mouth because it gave my limbs the chance to land properly. They cried out in surprise as steam filled the hole, and considerately remained stunned as I landed neatly before them. Up close, even through the thick steam, I could see that one of the men was a Water Tribesman, while the other was too pale for it - Either Earth Kingdom or Fire Nation.

"Naga, that's the one!" I helpfully pointed out the infiltrator, and as a white, furry meteor descended I darted to get behind his accomplice. Using the same lessons that had won me my sparring streak, I launched a precise kick into the side of the man's right knee.

His friend had pulled a surprise on me earlier, almost choking me to death. I was not taking any chances.

A painful burst of chi accelerated my kick, and I bit down the flare of pain as my bones in my foot broke from the impact.

Still, my opponent had it worse, his knee bent sideways with a sharp snap that was quickly replaced with a cry of pain. I cut it short by launching a knee up his right side as he fell. I couldn't deny the satisfaction as I felt ribs bending and then breaking.

Screw what the masters said, Korra really would've lost that round if I went through with this move.

My opponent ended up rolling on the ground, his right leg twisting like a rag doll's while he held his side and coughed specks of blood on the fur and ice. For my part, I suffered another blinding flare of pain as a rush of chi over-accelerated my body's healing to readjust and reknit the bones of my foot back to its healthy state. With one foot tingling from the fresh recovery, I used the other to drop a quick axe kick down on his shoulder as he rolled about, as insurance.

With my target's incapacitation, I snapped my head to find Naga on top of the infiltrator. She was growling furiously as her teeth sunk into his forearm. The man grunted as he writhed desperately to break free, but having a fanged furball the size and weight of a pony on top of him stopped him from going through the motions of proper waterbending. At most, his free hand managed to conjure a blob of water, but with all the shaking Naga's head was doing with his other hand in it, the poor victim clearly couldn't maintain his concentration to turn that water into an ice spike or dagger.

He was kicking away at her sides, though. They were weak strikes, mostly with the knees rising to thud mutely against Naga's furry underbelly to no visible effect. Or maybe it was making the polar bear dog angrier?

Still, not wanting to risk a sudden breakout, I dashed over to help put an end to the fight. Remembering my moment of utter helplessness earlier, I went first for the man's free hand. A quick stomp down as his hand was curled mid-bending, and the thoughts of ice covering my face was shattered, just as his fingers were. The kidnapper's screams echoed off the ice as he jolted from the pain, which only allowed Naga to let go of his forearm, and take a bite out of his cheek.

"No, Naga," I quickly interrupted, drawing an angry glare from the blood-smeared polar bear dog. "We need them alive. To know if there's anyone else who wants to hurt Korra."

She let out a reluctant growl.

"Plus, Korra might not be happy with him like this…"

Another, more reluctant growl, and Naga's maw withdrew from his face, and she was content to remain seated on top of her subjugated foe.

I checked on the other man still coughing his lungs out, to make sure he wasn't about to try anything funny, then I let Naga watch after them for a bit as I climbed out of the hole to retrieve the rope, and send out a column of white fire up into the sky.

It didn't take long at all for a squad of wary White Lotus to appear over the hole's ledge. I recognized Grand Lotus Altaq's surprised, bushy face under the starlight.

Makes sense, I suppose. With Katara guarding Korra, as the next most skilled waterbender Altaq would be heading the rapid response team to deal with threats before they could go anywhere near the Avatar.

"Grand Lotus," I greeted with a polite bow. "I've found the assailant from earlier, as I said I would."

Altaq was not amused at all. "So I see, Xing."

The men were carried away to be healed and incarcerated, while I stood before the Grand Lotus to receive what I hoped was a suitable reward for my efforts.

"You've proven your capabilities, and your point, Xing," Altaq admitted with only some dissatisfaction. "If it's really what you want, I'll talk to the other masters about giving you access to the older archives."

Yes! Finally a chance to explore alternate methods of bending legally, no need to remember the archivists' schedules anymore.

My inner celebration was short-lived when the Grand Lotus interrupted with an addendum. "It's also clear that your martial skill is far more honed than expected."

Why did that not sound like a good thing?

He actually bowed to me in apology, in the middle of nowhere, with a bunch of other White Lotus members watching. "On behalf of the other masters and the White Lotus, I'm sorry for looking down on your competence, Xing; You've managed to fend for yourself against greater foes despite your…perceived disability. It is a humbling reminder to all of us that elemental bending is not the be all and end all."

Nice words, but I still felt a sense of foreboding…

"Henceforth, I'm immediately extending your secondment to Avatar Korra," Altaq declared, totally serious and magnanimous. "Don't worry, I'll be sure to impress upon her that you're entirely worthy of the honor."

Ah, shit.