Notes from the author:

Thanks for giving this story a shot! I've spent a long time developing this series, planning as far out as four books worth of adventures for this AU, and I'm sure you'll appreciate it.

This story kicks off a long series set in the avatar world we know, starting with a totally reworked Book 3: Change. What makes it special is the addition of new characters, exploration of new and existing motives, and introduction of sophisticated story and character arcs. This initial chapter is where the story begins to diverge from canon, and so I ask you to bear with some strong similarities to the story we all know. Shortly, you'll see how drastically everything has changed, and how this is a very unique, extraordinary look at this world.

For future reference, I have planned four full length books for this series, starting with this adaptation of Change. The following three books will be entirely original, merely taking some inspiration from Balance.

Finally, a note on new chapters. I hope to use whatever feedback you can offer to inform future chapters. The story won't change, but the writing may.

Thanks again!

Eyes open.

He could almost hear the click as his mind adjusted to the spirit world. Zaheer's spirit snapped back into the familiar plane that stretched out before him. The reddish, orange hue of the fiery sky above him lit up the golden valley of trees and shrubbery in Xai Bau's Grove.

Back in the physical world, his body was trapped, imprisoned, but he wasn't contained. Here, he could feel a warm breeze waft over him, smell the sentient aroma of a crisp autumn day, and hear leaves rustling in the wind and the soft gurgle of the lagoon all around him. Of course, it was more illusion than reality, and he knew that. But at least he had this.

He took his first step through the muddied grass. Before him stood a towering trunk that sprawled out into a mesmerizing maze of branches, topped with a golden tuft of leaves, and, at its base, the smooth surface of a familiar stone.

He took his spot atop the stone, closing his eyes once more. Of the thirteen years since his imprisonment, he estimated he spent at least half in this very spot. Much of that time he spent learning, staying informed, but there was only so much he could do. The spirits… they never cared much for human matters, and no human he could reach could tell him about his friends. He could always come here, escape his harsh reality and experience a better world, but they couldn't.

In the physical world, his body was currently sitting in the same position he was in now: sitting on the ground, legs crossed, palms laid gently on his knees from when he lulled himself into this world… but around him, darkness. In that world, he faced almost eternal darkness, as no light could pierce the cold façade of his metal prison. It was only for a few short moments each day that he would catch a glimpse of sunlight, but the light was always too intense. His eyes could never adjust before the door closed once again, and so he could never see the outside world. For the last thirteen years, this was the only world he really knew.

And that was the danger, wasn't it? It would be easy to get lost here. To reject his cruel existence and stay here, in a world without the infection of humans. No wars, no smoke, no loss; the universe as it was meant to be.

But that was why he couldn't stay. The fight—the fight that so few people were willing to fight—was in that other world, and abandoning it meant abandoning them. He couldn't do that.

And so he opened his eyes.

His spirit latched back onto this other realm, meeting his body once again, and the weight of thirteen years of suffering hit him like a boulder. In the spirit world, he was free of all his body's anguish. No fatigue, no aches. But every time he came back, it would return all at once.

Maybe that's why it took him those few moments to realize there was light flooding his cell once again. From across his cell, the bright white of the sun attacked his vision, but, from where he sat, he remained in darkness.

The muscles in his knees cracked as he stood to face the wall behind him, and he raised his arms behind his head. The greasy locks of his hair—unwashed and unkempt for thirteen years—pervaded his finger nails.

He shouted, "Happy?" behind him, ushering in the guards who must've been waiting for him to get into position. They would only open the cell and leave him his food once he complied. They made so many rules, but it was either that or starve. If he starved, he wouldn't be much use to anyone, and so he played along. For years.

But something was different. No noise came from outside the cell, meaning the guards weren't bringing his food.

He turned around, but the light blinded him once again. He raised an open palm to shield his eyes, and they adjusted slowly. For the first time, he could see the sky. The REAL sky. But what struck him more was the fact that his view wasn't interrupted by any bars. The door was open.

He stumbled slowly into the open doorway, holding onto the frame in order to prop himself up as he lifted one foot and then the other over the threshold.

He took a cautious step away from the door, expecting to be ambushed by the guards at any moment, but nothing happened. He just… walked. He could see now that his prison was a small pagoda-like structure sitting atop one of the many pillars in a very familiar place: Wulong Forest. He smirked at the irony that they would build his prison HERE of all places.

He walked cautiously across the bridge that connected his cell to the mainland. It had to be a few hundred feet, and, based on the beams and gears alongside it, it looked it could retract. Was that the plan? After thirteen years, they had had enough of him, and now they were luring him out just to rip the ground from under him? Maybe.

Maybe that wouldn't be so bad.

No, that wasn't it. At the end of the bridge, at the base of what looked like a watchtower, laid the familiar blue and white robes of a White Lotus guard. The man, was he dead?

As he approached the body, Zaheer could see the man's face twitch. Not dead. He stood over him, considering the man. Did he have a family? Did they know that his job involved keeping an older man in darkness and solitude for more than a decade?

He crouched next to the body, inching his face close to the man's. He was young. And breathing. "No," Zaheer said to nobody in particular. He reached his arms into the man's cloak, wrapping his arms around the body beneath him, and he pulled.

He hefted the man onto his shoulder and walked toward the edge. Looking down, Zaheer couldn't see through the mist rolling through the forest. It looked as if the ground didn't even exist here, like the rock columns just went down, and down, and down.

He threw the man into the mist.

At least half a dozen fur robes draped her withered frame, but they could do nothing to keep out the cold. She would be lying if she said it hadn't crossed her mind a few times over the last thirteen years that maybe she should shed them altogether and let nature take its course…

Thirteen years on the brink of hypothermia, chained to the ground by her god damn forehead, forced to squat in a huddle with her face inches from the frozen metal of the floor. This is what the White Lotus does. That thought alone, the hilariously pompous, dishonorable, and corrupt society for the elite, is all that kept her waiting, patiently, for her moment. That they would condone this—that was all the fuel she needed.

Not that she wouldn't kill for some real fuel.

A lock of greasy, unwashed hair fell into her view as a frigid wind threatened to whip her hood away, but all she could manage to do was retreat further into herself, where the tiny ember that used to give her an identity would just barely keep her alive.

Just as the wind died down and she thought she might have a moment's rest from the elements, she could feel the metal floor begin to vibrate. A clunking sound broke the silence, followed by the unyielding screech of rusted metal, frozen from years of disuse.

P'li's eyes shot wide open. It wasn't time for a shift change, and the guards never took that elevator. She hadn't had a visitor in years, why now? She crawled as close to the gated doorway as she could reach, but the chains on her forehead dug backward into her temples, keeping her just inside the shadow of the cell, never to reach the dim light, and she waited expectantly for the doors of the elevator to open.

When they finally did, she was surprised to see the weathered face of the once-Firelord, followed by the Avatar's father, and, were they Unalaq's children? Yes, the twins, that made sense, but what did that mean for Unalaq?

Then it hit her, why they must have finally shown up after all these years. She could feel her lips twist into a wicked smirk, exercising muscles she forgot ever existed, and she voiced the question she already knew the answer to. "He's out, isn't he?"

The dimly lit green walls bore no features except for the lone, circular symbol of the Earth Kingdom, perched just below the fringe of darkness. The shadowy, cavernous room practically exuded the grim clang of a gong.

For a moment, a slight smirk wormed its away across Kai's lips. A joke. It's healthy. Then his eyes darted up at the hidden blackness above him. It was better than facing the reality at ground level, or however deeply they had been buried into the earth.

The gray robes of an Earth Kingdom recruit—no, slave—barely covered his small frame, and he noticed how they made every one of the prisoners here look nearly identical. It made sense; if you want to build a shadowy, unsanctioned legion out of unwilling citizens, then removing their identities is first on the list.

"You are all the property of the Earth Kingdom," a deep, commanding tone announced to the line of new airbenders. Kai gave him a sideways look of defiance, his eyes boring holes in the man who would enslave his own people, but he kept quiet. "You will become the Earth Queen's elite fighting force, and protect her at all costs. It is your duty to serve the Earth Queen." The man's level, booming voice exuded power. He was the guy in charge, and, naturally, Kai hated his guts. Not just because he was trying to enslave them, no. Because this is the kind of tool that thinks he earned this. You can't throw a bunch of kids in a cellar and pretend it makes you better than them. Fuck right off, bro.

Of course, he couldn't very well say that out loud.

Airbenders, paired on opposite sides of the room, began exchanging volleys to train, as if brainwashed into this routine. Kai dodged to the left as a little blast of air breezed past him, and he spun around in order to unleash a kick that would slash a gust of wind into his opponent. Before he let the blow fly, however, the kid opposite him cringed. "Go easy on me! I'm not that good!"

A wave of compassion gushed over Kai, and his expression softened as he jabbed a measly blast that his partner easily sidestepped, grinning in appreciation.

Footsteps. Without even turning around, Kai knew what was about to happen. He could feel the blood drain from his face as the atmosphere in the room dropped ten degrees. "Never show mercy!" The man's gravelly scolding made him jump. "Now attack your opponent, soldier. Like you mean it!"

That tripped him up. He had become many things while he was on the run, but he wasn't going to let this man define his new identity. "I'm not a soldier!"

The response he received, however, was more daunting than anything he expected. The man replied ominously, "You will be when I'm through with you."

Kai froze. Unable to find the words to dig himself out of this dangerous situation, but unwilling to comply.

Before he could continue, another voice broke up the exchange. One of the older prisoners further down the line, where they were still sparring, had just disposed of his opponent with a spiraling whirlwind that blasted into his torso, driving him off his feet and sending him into the wall behind him with a thud. As the victor turned his attention to Kai, he quickly took stock of the Dai Li's disapproval. His fingers laced through the tuft of dark hair clouding his eyes, brushing it upwards where it stuck there due to the grime from being down there for who knew how long, and he stepped into the ring. "He was just helping his fellow soldier. It's called teamwork."

The man, the Dai Li guy, whatever, didn't seem as reasonable as the airbender expected. Ignoring any merit, he rebuked, "If you have time to defend your friend, then maybe you're not getting enough practice yourself!" He struck his earthbending position, and began to launch volley after volley at the man who saved Kai from that very fate.

The airbender threw the first disk to the side with a swipe of his arm, then he used the other to create a puff of air that shielded him from the next. Another rocketed toward his stomach, but he spun around and sidestepped it. As his body reared back toward his assailant, another disk crossed the distance. Just before it made contact, he unleashed a powerful wave that not only shielded him from defeat, but it also blasted the rock straight back at the man.

Kai barely held in a laugh, and instead he released a trumpeting "pfft!" that sounded like an elephant rhino.

The leader-dude clutched his stomach as he regained his footing, and, instantly, he threw his arms toward the ground, summoning a mound of earth that consumed the only person there with the balls to stand up to him. "I guess you're not as good as you thought," he taunted his captive. His gaze shifted over to Kai. "Throw them in the hole."

Two pairs of hands grabbed him at the shoulders, dragging him off his feet, and his knees scraped the ground as the Dai Li lugged him away from the other airbenders. Side by side with the man who saved him from the Dai Li's wrath, Kai noticed the older airbender looked out of it. He was barely conscious, forcing the Dai Li to drag his limp body away without any regard for the uneven terrain as it ripped into his skin.

The two prisoners fell over each other as their captors threw them in a small, stone cell, landing in a mess of limbs. As soon as the wall closed behind them, though, the older one picked himself out of the pile and brushed himself off.

Kai was taken aback at his cheery attitude. Was this guy getting off on being thrown into a cramped, little hole in the ground? Antiestablishment my ass, Kai thought, wondering what he got himself dragged into.

The man looked perfectly comfortable. Sure, he was coated in dirt and sweat and covered in nothing but tattered gray robes, but he was… beaming!

Apparently picking up on Kai's bewilderment, he spoke up. "What? You act like you've never done this before." When the younger airbender only responded with a raised eyebrow, he continued, "Name's Brok, what about you?"

Over the years, P'li had come to see a certain beauty in the icy crevasse. The way the ice curled around the rock hidden beneath, she could make out the years of freezing that transformed this region from a meager ravine to a wonder of nature.

Of course, this was the same view she has looked at for the last thirteen years, and so it had a way of rubbing her the wrong way.

In all the time she had been here, she had never once caught a glimpse of the actual sky. There were just a couple of minutes each day in which a sliver of sunlight found its way to the bottom of this prison, and she could see the warmth just inches from her cell. But the chains ensured it stayed out of reach.

On the face of it, tonight was a night like any other. Cold and alone, her decade-long motto. However, there was one thing that made this night different: the tension. She couldn't see anything, couldn't hear anything, and couldn't do anything, but, hundreds of feet above her, her enemies were preparing for war.

She sat still, in silence, waiting.

The hum of an engine rippled through the night, roaring over the meek howling of the wind, reverberating around the icy crevasse. Then, screams. It was too far away to hear the rush of battle, but the screams were unmistakable. Growing, even. As one of the screams grew, she could hear it moving closer and closer, and then the body dropped out of the night sky, onto the cold floor in front of her cell. Was it the first casualty? Who knew, but it wouldn't be the last.

Then a figure landed before her, and P'li's expression curled into one of pure excitement. "Ming-Hua."

Never one to be sentimental, she skipped straight through the small talk. "Let's get you out of here," Ming-Hua suggested.

P'li noted the coarseness of her friend's voice, but this thought was thrown into the background when Ming-Hua seeped water into the door to her cell. When she froze it, the door broke straight off its hinges. In another moment, Ming-Hua lashed out at P'li's constraints, and she was free for the first time in thirteen years. She rose from her stoop, and her knees almost buckled under the exertion. She only ever had enough mobility to lay down or kneel, and so her muscles struggled to keep her body upright while she took her first step out of her cell. If she hadn't been able to hold onto Ming-Hua as they ascended the wall, it wouldn't have mattered that she was free of her cell; there was no way she could have escaped this hole on her own.

Clinging to the back of her oldest friend, P'li gazed up at the stars for the first time since the White Lotus threw her in there. They lit up a night sky that seemed so foreign to her, as if for the last decade the world had been nothing more than metal and ice on all sides.

When the pair reached the end of their climb, the world suddenly erupted into a battleground. The wintery landscape was dotted with ice pillars, scarred with a pool of lava, and littered with what were most likely unconscious bodies covering the entire distance between them and a truck.

But the battle raged on. She could see Ghazan unleashing wave after wave of lava in order to ward off a fully-grown dragon. P'li remembered seeing the dragon, Druk, once before, when it was hardly any bigger than a hog monkey. His red scales gleamed in the light of Ghazan's lava, protecting him from burns that no rider could endure. That meant that Zuko was… there! Further than Ghazan's skirmish with the dragon were Zuko and Tonraq, fending off Zaheer.

Zaheer.

Warmth returned to her heart at the very sight of her love, and with it came the strength to run into the fight. "Zaheer!" She shouted, tears streaming down her still frozen cheeks.

When Zaheer turned at the sound of his name, he looked awestruck. Of course, he knew she would be here; that's why they came. However, their very proximity was something neither of them were ready for. The world washed away as P'li lost herself in the stormy gray of his eyes, his strong jawline, and even the way his scar cut through his left eyebrow. His was the face she saw every night in her dreams, and the memory of their time together fueled what little hope remained in her after all those years.

Then a fireblast cut into his side, and Zaheer went tumbling across the icy terrain. "NO!" She shouted, as if her desperation could convince the monsters in front of her to show mercy. Tonraq lunged into the air with a shard of ice wrapped around his fist, prepared to strike Zaheer down, and P'li's autopilot kicked in. In one breath, she focused on her target.

KRAKKA

BOOOOOOOM

"Lin?" Tenzin asked in clear bewilderment. If he were expecting anyone else, she was sorry to disappoint, but it was time to wipe that goofy look off his face and get down to business. "What are you doing here?"

"What?" She could hear Korra interrupt from behind. Once the Avatar made her way between Lin and Tenzin, she just kept pestering them. "What's going on?"

Without breaking eye contact with Tenzin, Lin figured she should fill in the blanks for the man in front of her. "We just got word from Lord Zuko—"

"Lord Zuko?" That came from, who? That's the earthbender kid, right?

"—Zaheer and the others have escaped," Lin finished without missing a beat.

Tenzin, however, was less composed about the news. He looked ridiculous, with his shocked expression and pointed beard. "How is that possible?"

Lin just scowled at her former partner, impatient with his deliberation. "Look, all we know is, he's out. We need to move."

She could see Tenzin trying to piece the whole thing together. She's the chief of the damn police, but you don't see HER wasting time wondering about the escape. Fact is, he's out, and they need to focus on getting him back IN before anything else happens.

Then out of nowhere Tenzin seemed to change. A dozen emotions cycled through his face: surprise, fear, confusion, nothing useful. "No," he denied the possibility that one of the world's most dangerous criminals just escaped. "Is he an airbender now?"

"What? No!" Lin couldn't believe the leap in logic there. "Don't be ridiculous. We have no reason to think that." That'd be a DAMN big coincidence, wouldn't it? Awfully convenient.

Before Tenzin had the opportunity to respond, Korra stepped in. "Alright, hold on!" She said in exasperation, forcing Lin to finally grace her with her attention. "Will you quit ignoring me and tell me what's going on? Who's Zaheer?"

Lin exchanged a look with Tenzin, who clearly was looking for some reassurance about what to tell her. Lin, however, wasn't about to get involved in their business, and she waited for him to make his move.

The airbending master visibly resigned himself to the truth, and he began to spill his guts. "Shortly after we found out you were the avatar, Zaheer and four others attempted to kidnap you. Luckily, your father, Lord Zuko, and I were there to stop them," he explained. "We apprehended the criminals and locked them away in prisons designed to impair their abilities."

That may be brushing things off a bit too liberally. Although she never saw one of the prisons, she remembered hearing about them when she first became Chief of Police.

"So that's why you and my dad sheltered me away," Korra wondered aloud.

"It was for your own safety," Tenzin assured her solemnly.

Korra appeared deep in thought for a moment, her hand grasping her chin. "Was he there just now? My dad?"

Lin inhaled sharped in a hasty reaction to that question. Yes, he was, but then what? What's she supposed to say? Yeah, he's dead. She deserved to know, and Lin sure didn't want to hide it from her, but is now the right time? She could always pull Korra aside after they were on the move… "We, uh, don't have all the details yet."

Then Lin heard the voice of one of her detectives speak up behind her. "Why were they trying to kidnap Korra?" Mako asked tentatively, unsure of what to make of this information.

Lin glanced back over her shoulder at the detective, and explained why she couldn't answer that question. "We spent thirteen years interrogating them, but they never broke. To this day, no one knows what their motive was." She took a step toward Korra, and she changed to a more commanding tone. "Now we need to get you back to Republic City where I can protect you."

Korra's stoic determination threw a wrench in her plans. "No. I'm not running."

Lin's face scrunched up in frustration. "Korra, you don't understand. You're in serious danger. These criminals are like nothing you've ever faced before."

Then, in true Avatar Korra fashion, the young woman in front of her made it clear she wasn't going to budge. "Look, I'm not a little kid anymore. You don't need to protect me! I came here for one thing: to find airbenders, and I'm not leaving without them."

Frankly, Lin didn't know what else she expected from the Avatar. Korra had a long history of stubborn, hotheaded behavior, and Lin held no illusion that she could change her mind. If she at least got on board, then she could still do her job within the Avatar's own plans. "Fine, let's get them and get out of here. Where are they?"

"In a military compound," Korra responded too quickly. "And we're busting them out."

"So you want to make an enemy of the Earth Kingdom, is that it?" A high pitched wail came from the entrance to the apartment, and, to Lin's horror, the twisted, old face of the lavishly decorated Earth Queen stood before them.

"They'll be here any minute, I'm telling you!" Kai assured his cellmate from the comfort of their lovely, literal hole in the wall. It had been hours since they were thrown in here, but he wasn't about to lose hope now. By this point Jinora had to know what was up. They were coming.

"If you want to get out of here, I can get on board with that," Brok told him, "but it's time to realize we might be on our own. I don't care if your girlfriend's on her way or not!"

"She's not my girlfriend!" His cheeks blushed in embarrassment. This guy hadn't even met Jinora, was it that obvious?

The older airbender took a deep breath and muttered, "Here I thought I had my fill of this shit."

Kai had to admit, the pair of boys had been waiting in this cramped, little cave for a while now. There was barely enough room for one person to lay on the ground, and, as they sat on opposite sides of the cell, their legs were tangled in a mess. It was hot, he was tired, and this couldn't get more uncomfortable. Maybe there WAS something they could do.

As if reading Kai's thoughts, Brok changed tactics. "Do you want to sit here and wait for your little princess to save us, or do you want to show her what you can do?"

Kai turned his attention to the stone wall that closed them into this place. His head lolled against the wall behind him. Sweat drenched his body due to the stale air and closeness between them. He was starting to get claustrophobic.

They were getting rescued.

Jinora was coming.

But what if she wasn't?

Hannu jolted upright in his bed, a cold sweat coating his body from head to toe. How many hours had passed since they were locked in the barracks? How many hours had he been laying there, waiting for sleep to come? Throughout the night, as he laid on the cold, rock slab that passed for a bed, his mind continued to race with thoughts of the kid who showed him so much compassion earlier that day and how he, Hannu, stood back and watched as he was thrown to the badgerwolves.

But what could he do? If their training taught him anything, it's that he was no master, and the Dai Li would rip him apart. Hell, he couldn't even get through that damn door!

He raised his right hand to rub his temple, wincing from the impossibility of the situation. This was his new reality, and the sooner he accepted that the better off he would be.

Sleep would have to come eventually. He lowered his back onto the earth beneath him, shifting in discomfort, and he closed his eyes.

CHOOOM!

Hannu's body flung off the bed with a yelp, toppling over the side and onto the equally comfortable floor.

An explosion? His hands quickly grabbed at his torso, checking that everything was in one piece, but there were no bruises, burns, missing limbs, or anything. He must have just fell off the bed in excitement.

Then he saw the door, or, more accurately, the remains of the earthen wall that once locked them in. A faint light streamed in through the new opening, revealing two figures scuttling over the jagged edges, knocking free the loose rock that remained.

Hannu narrowed his eyes at the intruders, but he could only make out the silhouettes. The shorter one had a bunch of scrawny limbs jutting out of it and a mess of shaggy hair on top. The taller one was filled out a bit more, but what he noticed most was that neither figure wore the robes of a Dai Li agent. These were other prisoners.

"Everyone remain calm," the shorter shadow addressed the growing mass of waking airbenders. "We're getting out of here."

It was hard to believe that this time yesterday he was sitting in a lavish apartment surrounded by bags and bags of gold he nicked off Earth Kingdom nobility… at least, considering where he was now, running through a dank cavern with no end in sight. Every few feet wooden supports would interrupt the cold stone walls, and if it weren't for the trumpeting footsteps of two dozen airbenders echoing through the hall, this whole place would be silent.

That little detail was something Kai couldn't ignore. Sure, he didn't WANT them to try to stop him, but where the hell were they?

Kai raced through the shallow light of the tunnel alongside Brok and a horde of other airbenders, ready to take on whatever might come, but… nothing.

Starting to feel a bit winded, Kai had to voice his concern between breaths. "Doesn't this" Huff. "seem weird" Huff. "to you?"

The older airbender seemed to have a bit of an edge over him, and instead his words were only coated in breath. "Yeah," he said with a noticeable levity to his voice. "I was looking forward to cracking some skulls!"

Kai mirrored his new friend's smile at that comment. What he wouldn't give to—

All of Kai's thoughts went out the window when they rounded a corner and found three Dai Li agents standing in their way.

"Hey!" One of the agents shouted, surprised at their appearance. "You're not supposed to be here!"

Before the man even finished that sentence, however, Brok was upon them. As soon as the last word escaped the agent's lips he found his face in the dirt, swung around in Brok's palm until he lost balance and smashed into the ground. One of his friends was faster, jutting his hand toward Brok in order to rocket one of their signature earth fists into his gut, but it never found its mark. Instead, Brok twisted around in order to deal with the assailant behind him with a swift kick to his torso, swiping him sideways into his fallen ally. That move put Brok in close enough proximity so the last agent that remained threw a simple jab with his fist rather than any fancy-elite-earthbender-kind-of-thing, but it didn't take. Instead, Brok unleashed a wave of air from his core that overwhelmed the man, propelling him far down the next corridor.

"Woah."

The voice came from behind Kai. Was that the guy he was sparring with earlier? Never caught his name. Still, he echoed the sentiment. "Ch-yeah!"

Brok, however, didn't bask in his win. Before Kai could react, Brok had the nearest Dai Li agent by the collar. "WHERE IS SHE?" He shouted.

Kai was taken aback. The man before him seemed so different than the one he got to know in that cell. After the briefest moment in which the Dai Li agent seemed as baffled as Kai, Brok did something else Kai hadn't thought to expect out of this guy: he bawled his fist, ready to strike the man in the face in the next second.

Kai didn't give him that second. He jumped up behind him and pulled his fist away. "The hell are you doing?" Kai asked. "Let him go!"

For a moment, Kai wasn't sure what would happen. Brok's eyes bored holes into Kai, glaring like he might try him next.

Then it just evaporated. Brok dropped the man, and his expression grew warm again. "Ah, yeah, let's go!"

Kai considered whether he should keep that little exchange in mind in the future, but the thought left his mind when they reached the end of the corridor. A large, oak door stood in their way. At first, he wondered why this wasn't just another earth wall like the rest of the compound seemed to be, but once Brok blasted the door off its hinges he decided he really didn't care.

Light spilled in through the new opening, forcing Kai to shield his eyes after spending the last day underground without any more than a lantern at any point. Gazing through his outstretched palm into the bright sky of a new morning, he almost tripped over the leftover debris that was once the door.

"Careful," Brok warned him, clearly struggling to adjust to the new light just like Kai.

Kai tightened his lips into an affirmative look, and he trudged forward. When they reached the top of the stairs leading into open air, they found a great monolith before them. The walls of the Earth Queen's palace towered over them, and from where they stood outside the Earth Queen's temple they could see the entire palace.

What surprised Kai was the bustle going on above the surface. Dai Li agents were scrambling past the palace from all around them, some even running straight past the group of airbenders without so much as a glance. They wondered why they faced so little opposition below, but whatever the answer was laid on the opposite side of the palace grounds.

Korra's body skittered against the hard stone that paved the palace grounds. She twisted her hand around in order to get enough purchase on the ground to lift herself up, legs still splayed on the ornate earth carvings beneath her.

This was not going well. The pain shooting through her back from the blow that landed her on the ground made it impossible for her to pick herself up without inviting a world of pain, but it was the dull ache in her left arm that worried her more. Was her shoulder dislocated? Or was the arm broken? Either way, this wasn't the time for it. Combine that with all the new bruises dotted along her sides, and it was pretty clear: the Dai Li were wrecking her.

When she finally got back on her feet, she found herself surrounded by the Dai Li. Individually, each of them was a skilled opponent, but that was nothing she couldn't handle. Together, however, they were legion.

And waiting for her. Baiting her next strike.

She saw Mako and Bolin toward her left, back to back within their own horde of Dai Li. To the other side, Lin whipped her cables around another Dai Li agent as she and Jinora protected a downed Asami, and Tenzin appeared in the distance, evading them across the rooftops. Korra watched as Tenzin landed on the following roof, but in the same moment he regained his balance he took a blow straight into his chest. Her airbending master fell two stories back to the palace grounds, looking just like Korra had a second ago.

If one thing were clear, it was that this strategy wasn't working. Korra gazed across the sea of Dai Li facing her, and she knew it was time to end it. She closed her eyes for the briefest moment, and the power overtook her.

Korra's eyes lit up in the bluish white of the avatar state, and she became invincible. A blast of wind exploded from her center, and it forced all the Dai Li onto their asses, sliding across the palace grounds.

There was nothing, no one that could stand against the full might of the avatar state. This was true power, and it was time the Earth Queen knew it. She turned to face her, the craggily faced bitch, and she let the power gush through her. A violent wind swirled around her, lifting her in the cyclone, causing every loose article to billow wildly. The wind forced her arms to stretch out, preparing her to deliver the blow she needed, and she tensed—

"AUGHHH!" She screamed. Pain shot up and down her arm, the same arm that she injured, and she fell to the ground, ejected from the avatar state.

She crashed to the earth in a heap. Korra could hardly collect all the distraught pieces of her mind while she knew that, of course, the Dai Li would be upon her once more.

Except they weren't. What she heard next was a series of low grunts, sounds of Dai Li being tossed along the ground once again. She opened her eyes, and she found that the airbenders—even Kai—had made their way out of wherever the Earth Queen had been keeping them. They were the cavalry!

Korra picked herself up once more, and she found the pressure totally removed from all her friends. Asami, Jinora, Lin, Tenzin, Mako, and Bolin were free of the Dai Li, rooting for their new allies.

Then the shrill voice of the Earth Queen broke through the cheers. "My elite army!" She began. "I see your loyalty still needs some work!" It was on the word loyalty that Hou-Ting's voice dripped with disgust.

Korra had just about enough of this crazy bitch. "We're getting out of here!"

The Earth Queen, however, didn't seem to realize that she had been outgunned. "These airbenders are Earth Kingdom citizens, and I am their queen. Taking them will constitute an act of war!"

For a moment, Korra considered this. She was right, they were Earth Kingdom citizens, and abducting them is a dangerous move. But, wait, they weren't just citizens, they were prisoners. Hou-Ting's prisoners!

"If you disobey me, I will bear down on you with the entire force of my Kingdom!"

That may be a loaded threat, but this was a human rights mission. There was no way Korra could leave the airbenders with her, even if it meant dismantling everything here. Korra made her decision, and it showed. She ripped apart the earth beneath the Queen's feet, and she went tumbling into the dirt.

They were getting out of here.

For a street rat like Kai, there was nothing more satisfying than watching the Earth Queen tumble into the dirt. Well, nothing, except for what would come next.

"Kai!" Jinora screamed. When she first said his name, there were still loads of airbenders and Dai Li between them, but they covered that ground quickly.

Realistically, it had only been, what, a day, since he last saw her, but so much seemed to change since then. He went from Team Avatar's charity case to an Earth Kingdom noble to an impoverished prisoner in the span of a day, and so he couldn't help but melt into her embrace. "I thought I'd never see you again," he practically sobbed into her shoulder.

He hugged her tightly, not wanting to let go of this moment of peace, but he had to remember they were still in danger. He pulled away and stole another moment to just gaze into her amber eyes, and it hit him how big of a jerk he had been to leave. If he ever needed a wakeup call, this was it.

Then he realized how long he was staring, and his cheeks burned red. He practically flew back, and he started rubbing the back of his neck. But when Jinora stared back at him with a gentle smile and punched his arm, he knew it was okay. "You can't get away from me THAT easily," she teased.

Sadly, that was all the time they could steal before they needed to move. "Jinora! Kai! Come on!" Tenzin hastened them. They had already fallen behind the mass of airbenders, and they rushed behind them toward the airships.

Tenzin and Brok each fell back in order to race alongside them, and it was a good thing they did. In another second, Kai could hear an earth fist whizz past his ear, and he knew the Dai Li were on them once again.

"AGH!" Jinora grimaced as one of the fists pummeled her leg, throwing her off balance.

She stumbled to the ground, and Kai froze. There was no way he was going to leave her again. The Dai Li kept up their onslaught, but he unleashed his own. He bent an arc of wind into the aggressors, forcing them to pause in order to keep their balance.

Kai glanced back and saw both Tenzin and Brok rushing back to help, but he didn't like what they were getting into. He caused the Dai Li to hesitate, but that didn't do a thing to stop them. What was about to happen?

He heard a loud groan ripple through the air as the sky bison came to their rescue. The beast landed directly on top of the first wave of Dai Li, putting itself between each side. "Oogi!" Jinora cheered. "Thanks for the save!"

Tenzin and Brok arrived to the sky bison in time to help Jinora and Kai scramble into the saddle, and they launched themselves after them a moment later.

As Oogi took off, the whole group gazed ahead of them. The sun was just starting to set in front of them, and this wretched day was finally behind them.

They were safe. They were going to escape.

Then Kai lurched forward, a dull pain in his back. Jinora turned to him, and the look on her face was of genuine confusion. But, in another second, that face was gone. An earth fist had latched onto his back, and it ripped him from the saddle.

Warmth had finally returned. Power had finally returned. Finally, P'li could feel like herself again.

Hours had passed since they made their escape from the Northern Water Tribe prison, and their truck kept barreling through the frozen wasteland ever since. Ghazan led them through the blizzard until they reached a peaceful part of the icy desert, but their journey was far from over. Where they would go next, P'li didn't know, but she knew they were on the right path.

She turned to Zaheer, who sat with her in the back of the truck. He joined her and held her close ever since their escape under the guise of keeping her warm, and she didn't have the heart to tell him she found her fire once again. It was just too… tantalizing.

So she clung to her robes, and she melted into her lover. Hell, she was almost overheating from all these new sensations!

Zaheer, of course, bore a look of stoic determination. She could practically see the gears turning in his mind, calculating their next move. Finally, they were on track once again.

She was surprised when he broke his trance. Shifting his gaze toward her, he fixed her with a passionate gleam. "I want you to know," his hand, holding her close to him, began rubbing her arm. "Not one day went by in that prison when I didn't think of you."

That broke her. She could feel her eyes well with tears, and she dug her face into his embrace. "The years apart only made my love for you stronger," she whispered into his chest. Pulling back, she looked him straight in the eyes. "Deep down, I knew you would find a way to get me out. Just like you saved me from becoming that warlord's killing machine when I was a girl."

Where did that come from? Apparently, Zaheer had the same thought. "P'li… we've never talked about…"

She kisses him. Her tongue darts around in order to shut him up, and, after more than a few seconds of pure passion, she pulls back. "You've shown me what true freedom means."

"I love you too," he responds knowingly.

He leans over, pushing her flat onto the bench, kissing her all along the way. She remembers that Ghazan and Ming-Hua are just a few inches away, separated only by their seats, but then she remembers that she doesn't care.