We're not in Republic City anymore.

[avatar_state]

She sat, cross-legged, meditating. One day, she'd find a way to reconnect with her past selves. All the previous avatars, stretching back through time. But the meditation itself never hurt. To think just a few years before how bad she'd been at it. So hotheaded, so rash. She'd been tempered. By hard experience, but also by wonderful people.

So she smiled when she felt the breeze stir her hair. It was a reminder, to her, of so much. But then she heard the creaking of a door.

Her eyes opened, and she stood. There weren't any doors here, not out in the wilds beyond Republic City. But there was one, in the face of a boulder near to her, grass swirling in front of it like it had always been there, just a part of the scenery. She stepped forward.

She didn't remember taking hold of the handle. All she remembered was the flash, and then there was...another city. One she didn't recognize, with strange smells, and strange sounds. She turned in a small circle, eyes wide and mouth open.

"How does my life keep on getting stranger?"

Comments

[avatar_state]

"So I can just...go back? I'm not trapped here or anything?"

Well that's a surprise, really.

[chiaro_oscuro]

"That's right. All you need is to find the portal you got in through - though time won't pass while you're gone, so there isn't a hurry to go back."

Ben shows Korra a cellphone-like PINpoint, pulling it from a pocket of his robes. "You can find one of these in a vending machine at the Plaza. They'll help you come and go, too."

[avatar_state]

She looked at the little thing and frowned, poking at it with a finger.

"The last thing I saw like this," she said, "made things explode. Does this do that?"

[chiaro_oscuro]

Ben shakes his head, showing Korra the numbers on the device.

"No, thankfully, they don't make things explode. PINpoints can help you talk to other people and travel between universes more easily. They aren't hard to use."

[avatar_state]

"Wow," she says, shaking her head, "all in that? Oof. Well, there's some people I will definitely be hiding that from. Otherwise you'll be overrun with tourists. At best."

[chiaro_oscuro]

"That's a good idea. PINpoints are something best kept safe, to keep them from getting into the wrong hands - especially when you're not in the Nexus." Ben slips his back into his pocket, then folds his hands. "What is your home world like? Now you've got me curious."

[avatar_state]

She thumbs over her shoulder.

"You could go look if you like. It's just over there, right? Where I came in?"

[chiaro_oscuro]

"I'll come with you, then. I've wanted to visit some other universes for a while now." Ben stands, setting down his drink.

"You're right. The portal should still be where you got in."

[avatar_state]

"Great! But, um..."

She looks around. "Do I need to, y'know, see a passport office, or...?"

[chiaro_oscuro]

Ben looks a little confused.

"I don't think so. There aren't any passport offices here - people come and go as they please."

[avatar_state]

"Just checking - get a government mad at you enough times, you start to ask certain questions."

[chiaro_oscuro]

"That's fair - the Nexus doesn't really have a government either way to get mad at you."

[avatar_state]

Well that's curious.

"Then how does it all work? I mean, who keeps people fed and stuff?"