Of all those present, Naga was the first to notice the arrival of the dark spirits, howling into the night while Korra tried to calm the animal so she wouldn't wake everyone up.
"Wow, Korra just flew a few meters with that hit," Kyoshi commented upon seeing the dark spirit knee the current Avatar. "That's going to hurt in the morning."
The blows and explosions could be heard from the place where Jin was waiting.
"Aren't you going to help them?" she asked without taking her eyes off the fight—if Korra were in real danger, she would jump in immediately. "They've already run into the fair, and Unalaq is hiding behind the cotton candy stand."
"Yeah, I'm coming," Jin said as he stepped out of the bathroom, pulling up his pants. "He could've arrived a couple minutes later, darn it!" he complained.
Water Tribe food upset his stomach as badly as ever!
And whose brilliant idea had it been to make an ice toilet, anyway?!
He couldn't feel his butt!
Once he secured his pants with the belt, he accelerated his chi circulation and shot through the snow, quickly gathering salt from the frozen seawater.
…
"Ugh!" Korra crashed into a pile of crates, and the dark spirit seemed ready to finish her off.
Jin compressed the salt into bells and began circling the dark spirit, the sound of a spinning bell's friction resonating around the area, creating a Tibetan-like zen tone.
The dark spirit relaxed, and the salt bells began to glow as chi flowed like waves, gently rocking the spirit within the bell formation and purifying its being.
Who said only waterbenders could purify dark spirits?
Even Sun Warriors had their own method—it was only a matter of adjusting the approach. Ironically, salt was how earthbenders could purify dark spirits.
Great near or at the sea, terrible on land unless you carried a sack of salt or there was a deposit nearby.
The spirit's dark purple glow shifted into a radiant yellow, and its yellow markings turned sky-blue as it adopted a gentler form and a peaceful demeanor.
Korra, Tenzin, and Tonraq (along with a hiding Unalaq) watched in astonishment as the spirit quietly drifted away with no further intent to harm.
"Okay… I definitely want to learn that!" Korra said as the calmed spirit dissolved into particles of light.
Bolin rubbed his chin—maybe he could learn it too?
Though he felt a bit embarrassed to ask…
"Whenever you want," Jin said as he recovered the salt and stored it in a pouch on his belt.
Knowing there were more spirits around, avoiding wasting time extracting it from the surroundings was best. At least while he was here.
"A magnificent purification ritual," Unalaq said as he finally stepped out—he could no longer hide and pretended he had only seen the end of the fight. "I didn't know an earthbender could do that…"
Jin raised an eyebrow.
"I'm not just any earthbender," he said with a smile.
"Ahem!" Unalaq wasn't comfortable with Jin; something in his demeanor promised problems for his plans. "Korra, you've seen how to calm a dark spirit. As a waterbending master, I can teach you the same and much more if you accept my guidance."
"I appreciate the offer, but I think I'm fine with Jin," Korra declined politely.
Not just because Jin was far less… rigid than Unalaq, but because Korra remembered Kyoshi was also with him.
Surely consulting one of her past lives was a smart choice—she doubted she was the first Avatar to deal with dark spirits!
"Korra, what I can teach you could save the entire Southern Tribe and help it reconnect with the spirits," Unalaq insisted—he couldn't lose the opportunity of the Harmonic Convergence, or all his plans would fall apart. "Think of all the sailors currently being attacked!"
As he expected, that made Korra hesitate.
"Enough, Unalaq!" Tonraq wasn't about to allow his brother to pressure his daughter like this, especially after she had already made a decision.
"If the problem is the dark spirits, I can take care of that," Jin commented.
"You can?" Unalaq asked in surprise.
"You can?" Tonraq asked hopefully.
"You can?" Korra asked curiously.
Jin gave them a deadpan look.
Which one was he supposed to answer first?
"I have a couple of ideas," Jin said without revealing anything specific. "We can try them and see how they work out, and if they don't, Korra can still turn to Unalaq. Does that sound reasonable, Korra?"
This part of the series had gone completely off the rails because Tonraq and Tenzin kept making decisions for Korra right in front of her, without including her in the process. In the end, Korra snapped and ditched them out of spite—which indirectly started the Water Tribe civil war.
"Yeah, sounds good to me," Korra said, crossing her arms with her ego immensely satisfied.
Just as Jin expected, asking her opinion truly helped.
Unalaq gave Jin an unreadable look.
"Very well," he sighed. "In that case, I'll be waiting to hear from you, Korra." He gave her a couple of pats on the shoulder. "Remember, if the situation worsens, don't hesitate to come find me so I can fix everything."
Jin blinked at that. Unalaq had basically just cursed everyone to fail right to their faces, and the last part was a veiled threat only obvious to those who knew he was the mastermind behind this mess.
Was he planning to increase the number of dark spirits so Korra would come running to him?
Yeah, it definitely sounded that way. It seemed he needed to set Kyoshi's plan in motion sooner than expected. He couldn't let Unalaq leave the Southern Water Tribe alive.
"Well," Jin clapped his hands to draw everyone's attention, "I'm glad we reached an agreement. Now, everybody go to sleep!"
Even though he could use chi to keep warm, being surrounded by snow and ice wasn't pleasant—especially because he was barefoot!