( she keens into him. she never had a lack of affection growing up, but she's too handsy to deny herself it, when it's offered so freely, at the hands of someone she loves. growing up means a lot of different things to a lot of different people. for mako, it was learning to live for himself, instead of bolin. for korra, it was learning to accept help when it's given.
a large part of her still thinks dissonance in the world is a weight that falls on her shoulders. it's almost like she's lamenting every time the world needed to be realigned, like she should've been there to stop it - in the hundred year war, in any of the thousands of wars that came before then. but. in a way, she was there. her previous lives. it's a common thread between all avatars in any age, from wan all the way through to korra - they'd all rob thousands of years of misery off the shoulders of all their other lives, so everyone else could have the freedom to experience our two worlds in all the joy they posses. if all the suffering in the world's history could've been bounded up in korra's twenty-one years of existence, she would have done it without a second thought. it's not an unusual feeling. aang would've done it, roku. kiyoshi. all of them. all of us.
but that isn't how the world works. you don't get ten years of blessing followed by ten years of misery, like the seasons passing from one into the other. there's always dark and light in every corner of the world, vaatu and raava always feuding each of their glorious fights. balance isn't peace, because peace is a conundrum of its own - you wouldn't know relaxation without the pain of tension, and you wouldn't know happiness unless you felt the fiery hot tears of sorrow. peace can only exist because chaos is lurking behind every twist and turn of life. even now, korra can only say it's peaceful, because she knows the world has been worse off before - in reality, there are always evil doers, there are always dark spirits, there are always people like zaheer and amon who see balance as a means to hurt others. that's where the avatar fits into their role. it isn't even really about bringing peace. it's about maintaining balance, and dealing with the consequences.
she's never heard mako talk about his father before, in any kind of specific manner. she mostly just knows he was earth kingdom, and that he died, and that bolin looks like him. korra isn't sure she agrees with the sentiment either - was the adolescent mako made of some material stronger than the rest of them? could he stand seeing his parents burn more than some other child? - but it is a very fatherly thing to say, wise and boyish. korra takes a bite of curry, but she doesn't taste it much. mako always makes it a little too hot, but it's a blessing for now, letting korra feel the burn of spice on her tongue. )
I think, ( her finger strokes against the bowl, mako's handiwork. ) sometimes you have to break a bone to make sure it heals correctly.
( waterhealing. katara taught her that. sometimes you have to be at your lowest, be broken and beaten and destroyed, body and mind, in order to find your path. it's not about what you can handle, it's about what you do handle, and what you choose to repress. )
Pain can help you discover a lot about yourself, too. I guess ... that's a good thing. ( she shrugs. ) Maintaining balance would be easier if it didn't come with all these ... hard edges. Toph Beifong told me that evil would always exist in the world, no matter what I did. I guess ... accepting that is part of how to become a good Avatar. You know? At a certain point, you have to accept the world for how it is, no matter how ugly. One day I'll die and the next Avatar will have just as much chaos to conquer as I did — maybe even more. Bah, I'm babbling. ( she munches on more curry. ) Thanks for listening. I'm just scatterbrained.
no subject
a large part of her still thinks dissonance in the world is a weight that falls on her shoulders. it's almost like she's lamenting every time the world needed to be realigned, like she should've been there to stop it - in the hundred year war, in any of the thousands of wars that came before then. but. in a way, she was there. her previous lives. it's a common thread between all avatars in any age, from wan all the way through to korra - they'd all rob thousands of years of misery off the shoulders of all their other lives, so everyone else could have the freedom to experience our two worlds in all the joy they posses. if all the suffering in the world's history could've been bounded up in korra's twenty-one years of existence, she would have done it without a second thought. it's not an unusual feeling. aang would've done it, roku. kiyoshi. all of them. all of us.
but that isn't how the world works. you don't get ten years of blessing followed by ten years of misery, like the seasons passing from one into the other. there's always dark and light in every corner of the world, vaatu and raava always feuding each of their glorious fights. balance isn't peace, because peace is a conundrum of its own - you wouldn't know relaxation without the pain of tension, and you wouldn't know happiness unless you felt the fiery hot tears of sorrow. peace can only exist because chaos is lurking behind every twist and turn of life. even now, korra can only say it's peaceful, because she knows the world has been worse off before - in reality, there are always evil doers, there are always dark spirits, there are always people like zaheer and amon who see balance as a means to hurt others. that's where the avatar fits into their role. it isn't even really about bringing peace. it's about maintaining balance, and dealing with the consequences.
she's never heard mako talk about his father before, in any kind of specific manner. she mostly just knows he was earth kingdom, and that he died, and that bolin looks like him. korra isn't sure she agrees with the sentiment either - was the adolescent mako made of some material stronger than the rest of them? could he stand seeing his parents burn more than some other child? - but it is a very fatherly thing to say, wise and boyish. korra takes a bite of curry, but she doesn't taste it much. mako always makes it a little too hot, but it's a blessing for now, letting korra feel the burn of spice on her tongue. )
I think, ( her finger strokes against the bowl, mako's handiwork. ) sometimes you have to break a bone to make sure it heals correctly.
( waterhealing. katara taught her that. sometimes you have to be at your lowest, be broken and beaten and destroyed, body and mind, in order to find your path. it's not about what you can handle, it's about what you do handle, and what you choose to repress. )
Pain can help you discover a lot about yourself, too. I guess ... that's a good thing. ( she shrugs. ) Maintaining balance would be easier if it didn't come with all these ... hard edges. Toph Beifong told me that evil would always exist in the world, no matter what I did. I guess ... accepting that is part of how to become a good Avatar. You know? At a certain point, you have to accept the world for how it is, no matter how ugly. One day I'll die and the next Avatar will have just as much chaos to conquer as I did — maybe even more. Bah, I'm babbling. ( she munches on more curry. ) Thanks for listening. I'm just scatterbrained.