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Yeah. [so not impressed] He says it's important for cultivating my "spiritual awareness." [Except it really just gives her a chance to think about how much she sucks. Real helpful, Tenzin.]

[ For all that Hei is masterfully in control of, patience for the sake of patience isn't one of them. ]

Was he a paraplegic or just senile?

[ Anyone with even the most abysmal understanding of Korra's nature would realize this is the wrong form of meditation for her. ]

Hey! [She may think Tenzin is stupid, bossy, and a terrible teacher sometimes, but that doesn't mean Li gets to insult him!] Tenzin is a spiritual master! He is Mr. Spiritual! His father was Avatar Aang.

[ Unperturbed, Hei raises both eyebrows, letting the gesture speak for itself. ]

Aren't you the Avatar?

[ It's times like these when she reminds him of her child-self. Dropping names he neither knows nor gives a fuck about. ]

[Right. He doesn't know these names. She huffs and rubs the back of her neck.]

Aang was the previous Avatar. After he died, he was reborn in me.

[It doesn't occur to her to try and hide any of this information from him. She's a born sharer.]

[ Her loss. He's a born user. He tucks the detail away, surreal as it is -- reincarnation is something he neither thinks of nor puts much stock in. But her world -- its eccentricities and traditions -- is hardly his. ]

Doesn't that mean you're technically Tenzin's father?

[ Is he smiling? He sounds like it. But it shows nowhere on his face. ]

[You know, she'd never thought of it that way? Even though it's the same soul, each Avatar is so completely distinct from the others. It's not like it's the same person in a different body. She is nothing like Avatar Aang.

And she hears that smile in your voice, sir. She gives him an unimpressed look.]

That's not how it works.

[But if she ever sees Tenzin again, she's totally using it against him.]

[ You're welcome. ]

[ His head tilts slightly, just for a second, a silent Whatever you say. He's more interested -- (Is interested the right word? Concern denotes involvement and curiosity seems shortsighted. So: Yep. Sticking with his first choice) -- in her meditative dilemma. ]

I don't think his style of meditation is right for you. [ Not advice. Just an opinion. ]

But that's how airbenders meditate.

[She sounds uncertain, maybe even a little hopeful. She's never liked meditating this way, but she never thought she had options.]

[ Her hopefulness is ... odd. He's only offering indifferent breadcrumbs. Yet this girl is so fixated on her Avatar-ness. On pushing to be perfect, even if, without a homeworld, there's no set framework to guide that Perfection along. ]

[ Hei can't relate to much in terms of people. Ruthless self-improvement, though, is something he knows a lot about. ]

Sometimes there's more reason in your body than in your best wisdom. [ Instinct. Reflex. It's how he's survived, each time, when strategy and options were null. ] If this isn't working, there are other ways. In motion. In fighting. [ He pauses, considering, ] Do you know what Hsing-i is?

[more reason in your body than in your best wisdom. That makes sense. Tenzin's lessons about the leaf in the wind didn't make any sense to her until she was in the probending arena.

At his question, she shakes her head. She's never heard of it.]

[ Hei glances past her, trying to marshal everything he knows and present it in a child-simple manner. He's received no 'formal training' as such. His lessons as a child, under Reynard Maxley, were brutal, efficient, and designed to perfect him into a killing machine. Chinese martial arts. Guns and blades. Explosives. Street fighting. Infiltration and ambush tactics. Nothing showy or extra. The rest, he's absorbed from opponents and allies to use to his own advantage. ]

It's an old Taoist meditation practice. But it's also a fighting style. The goal is emptiness. From action to inaction. When you're in motion, your mind is still. Everything else falls into place. Like the eye of a storm. Does that make sense?

[ Please say Yes. Confucius, he is not. ]

[She takes a moment to try and chew this over. It sounds like a lot of gibberish, until he mentions the eye of a storm. It's like when she made funnels of water to lift herself into the air. The water spun all around her, but she was still in the center.]

Yeah, I think so.

[ Good. She gets it. He's receptive enough to share information, but he's only ever helpful on his own terms. And those terms? Are blunt and self-serving. It was why he'd agreed to spar with Carla. For the simple exchange of cash and her guaranteed silence. ]

[ He's fine with offering Korra the bare rudiments. She can assemble them into something that suits, by herself. ]

Does any activity put you in that state of mind? [ An addendum, as if he can read her thoughts, ] Besides bending

Edited 2012-12-14 02:03 (UTC)

[Derp. He better not be able to read her thoughts.]

Other than bending?

[She has to think about that.]

The dancing did, kind of.

[ He nods briefly. Dancing makes more sense than she might realize. He thinks, for a moment, of dervishes he'd once seen. Whirling like teacups on glass to become attuned to hearing the true sound which supposedly emanated from the source of all. ]

[ He'd thought it was ridiculous at the time. Vertigo-inducing. But if there's one thing he's learnt, it's different strokes etc. ]

Then dance. See where that gets you. [ Wryly, ] 'I too dance to the rhythm of this world.' It's a saying by someone called Rumi. That's all I know about him. [ Or care to know. ] Maybe he has a point.

[ Or maybe he's full of crap. I too dangle from the noose of this world, is infinitely more fitting for Hei's lifestyle. ]

[He may be wry, but it gets a genuine smile out of Korra.]

I like that.

[It speaks to her, this idea of dancing to the rhythm of the world. And it makes a lot more sense to her than what her White Lotus masters had told her about the Avatar's spiritual connection to the world.]

Thanks.

[Something cold and wet falls on her nose. Snow! It's finally snowing!]

[ He shrugs her Thanks off. He hasn't helped so much as planted a seed. Whether it'll branch into success remains to be seen. All through her own endeavors. ]

[ His gaze flicks skyward -- tch, snow -- then back to Korra. Her excitement at something so mundane is a snatch of youth Hei has never directly experienced. 'Li's faked it and feigned it plenty, though. It makes him feel so old now. Tired and disconnected. There's an impulse to reach out, thumb the snow off her nose. He reigns it in. His voice is a little more clipped, but it's not unkind. ]

I'll see you around.

[ He gets moving before she has a chance to reply. ]

[A seed is all she needs. Korra's more than happy to provide the hard work.]

See ya.

[She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. The bite in the air makes her think of home.]

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