For a long moment there is silence and he is so distracted by the prone form of Hiroshi Sato that he is completely caught off guard when the battle mec behind him drops to its knees and begins to list dangerously to one side. He yelps and Naga scrambles back a few feet as the shattered hatch swings open and then drops off its ruined hinges. There is no movement inside. A chill shoots through him, she's not...

"Asami?" He calls out, jumping off the polarbear-dog's back and climbing up the metal wreckage to get a better look. He's halfway up when she emerges, her face hard and pale. "Oh." he says, halting, unsure of her expression. "Are you OK?" she doesn't look at him, just slides down the belly of the machine and walks unsteadily toward her father. "Asami!" he tries to follow but he gets tangled in some lose cabling. By the time he reaches her she's standing over the body watching the ragged rise and fall of the chest. Her own breathing is erratic and she's shaking, but with shock, grief or rage he isn't sure. He stops a few feet behind her, for once in his life at a loss for words, but when she raises her gauntlet with slow and deliberate purpose he speaks without thinking.

"No wait!" he closes the gap between them, reaching for her but not touching. "You don't want to do that."

"No?" tears are rolling silently down her face but her eyes are terrible, full of so much hurt and anger it frightens him.

"No." He inches a little closer.

"Maybe he deserves it." She shudders, he can hear the hum of the glove as it revs higher, its energy becoming more deadly by the second.

"He might. But you don't". He lets his hand rest lightly on her shoulder, the muscles under his fingers are bunched and quivering. All it would take, he realizes, for her to end it would be one tiny flick. He grips her a little harder. "Don't do this Asami. Don't become like him."

"He's my father." She gasps.

"I know."

"He tried to kill me."

"I know."

"Oh Bolin." She says, and it's the most broken sound he's ever heard.

"I know." He says one last time, because in a way he does. In a way, she's an orphan now too. She lets her hand drop, the power draining out of the glove, and takes a step backwards into his arms. She turns, her face pressed in the curve of his neck, and begins to cry. Horrible wrenching sobs that sound as if they'll tear her apart. He can remember seeing one other person cry like this in his life and that was ten years ago when Mako woke him to choke out the horrible truth that their parents were never coming back. He holds her tightly as his own tears sting his eyes. After a while she's quieted some and pulls back, wiping her face with her sleeve, her eyes fixed on the ground.

"I'm sorry." She says, her voice thick and low.

"Don't be." He wishes he had the right words to explain that he understands, that he knows how strong she is and it's OK if she needs to be broken in front of him. He drops his own gaze to his hands and gives a startled gasp. His left hand is slick with blood.

"Asami!" He barks, grabbing her by the shoulders and spinning her to face him.

"What?" She's confused, her red eyes wide in her pale face.

"You're bleeding!" He holds up his hand for her to see.

"I am not." She begins but he takes her arm and gently guides her over to a large slab of the runway that is now sitting up on its end.

"Sit." He says. She does so without a sound and he crouches down before her, his eyes running over her body to find the wound. It's not hard, the right side of her jacket is ripped and wet. He reaches up and without even thinking about how proper or improper it might be, begins to undo the buttons. He peals the fabric away, lifting the soaked shirt underneath and sucks in a breath between his teeth. There is a six inch gash running along her ribcage, blood seeping steadily out of if it and running down her side.

"Oh." She says, sounding rather detached. "That's not great is it?"

"Ah, that's not so bad." He keeps his voice light, quickly untying his belt and wrapping it deftly around her torso. "Doesn't look like it's very deep. It's just going to bleed a little that's all." He pulls the makeshift bandage tight and she gasps. "Sorry." He looks up to find her slightly unfocused gaze fixed on her side.

"It must have happened when he smashed the glass. I didn't even feel it." Her voice is lost and small and he wants to electrocute Hiroshi Sato all over again.

"Hey." He places a hand on the side of her face. "You're going to be fine." She looks at him for a moment before nodding.

"I can take care of myself." she sounds more like herself now too and he grins.

"Yes ma'am." He laughs as she wrinkles her nose at the title.

"What should we do now?" She looks around, trying to asses their situation.

"Sit tight I think. You've taken care of the extra planes and the runways are useless to anyone stupid enough to try and come back. Iroh said his troops would be arriving as back up soon. I think we should wait for them."

It's a sign of how tired she is that she simply nods and lets her eyes drift closed. He slides into the spot next to her and without waiting for permission she leans her head against his shoulder. They sit there quietly until in the distance he hears the rumble of the Fire Nation crawler tanks approaching their position.

By the time they make it back to Air Temple Island he's growing worried about the amount of blood that has soaked through her bandage and into her clothes. Tenzin, Korra and Mako haven't made it back yet and Bolin tries not to worry about them too. One thing at a time. There is no healer on the island but several of the Air Acolytes have returned and the oldest among them, a white haired woman named Laila, assures him that it's nothing they haven't handled in the past. He has just enough time to squeeze her hand and smile before they bundle Asami off down one of the long empty halls and it of sight.

And then he can only wait. He stays out in the yard, sitting on the familiar earth with his back pressed against Naga's warm side and Pabu curled around his shoulders. He tries not to wonder where Mako is right now...tries not to imagine all the ways the mission could have gone horribly wrong.

It seems like hours but the sun is only just beginning to dip behind the city skyline when he hears a noise and turns to see Korra, flanked closely by his brother and Tenzin walking wearily up the stairs to the courtyard. His normal reaction would be to rush over, yell greetings, give enthusiastic hugs, but there is something in their expressions that holds him back. He watches as Korra turns away without looking at him, Tenzin following with his arm wrapped around her shoulders. Mako watches them go for a moment, his face pinched, then turns and strides over to Bolin, pulling him into a hug without a word. They stay that way for a while, clinging to each other, reassuring themselves that the other is indeed alive and well. Pabu clambers from Bolin's shoulder to Mako's and leaves cold, snuffly, fire ferret kisses on his neck. Mako laughs and bats halfheartedly at the little creature.

"Pabu, cut it out."

Bolin uses the momentary distraction to give his brother a good look. His face is pale, his eyes red rimmed, but apart from the slightly ginger way he's holding his left shoulder he seems OK. On the whole he's seen worse in the probending ring. At least physically. Mako gives up and lets the fire ferret curl up around his neck and looks at Bolin with a tired smile.

"It's good to see you Bro."

"You too. Wanna go inside? You look beat."

"No." Mako slumps down to sit against Naga who licks his arm gently. "Let's just stay out here for a while."

Bolin feels suddenly tired, something is wrong, it's written all over his brother's face.

"What happened?" There is a moment where he can see Mako struggle, caught between needing someone to talk to and the old habit of shielding his little brother from the harsher things in life. Bolin crouches down on his heels to look him in the eye. "Mako?"

"We faced Amon, he's a waterbended. And a bloodbender. That's how he can take bending, and Korra..." He can't say the words. He doesn't half to. Bolin rocks backwards and sits down hard on the ground. Korra's bending? Gone?

"No." He says roughly, "No that can't be right."

"I know." Mako tips his head back to lean against Naga, his eyes sliding closed. "She was able to keep her airbending, maybe because she hadn't unlocked it yet, but the rest...Tenzin says Master Katara may be able to help her." There isn't much hope in his voice. Bolin reaches up and scrubs at his tired eyes with one hand and tries to understand what is happening to them. He is jerked out of his bewilderment by Mako's hand closing around his wrist.

"What is this Bo?" His brother's fingers are almost uncomfortably warm and Bolin has to fight the urge to twist his arm out of the vice like grasp.

"What?"

"Is this blood?" Great. He thought he'd scrubbed it all off in the water basin. Apparently he'd missed a spot.

"It's nothing." He doesn't sound too convinced, even to his own ears.

"Is this yours?" Mako demands, giving him a little shake when he remains silent. "Is it?"

"No." He admits. It takes less a heartbeat for Mako to understand.

"Where is she?" he demands, leaping to his feet and starting off across the courtyard even though he has no idea where he's headed.

"Mako."

"What happened?"

"If you'll stop for a-"

"Where is she?"

"She's fine Mako." His brother turns and looks at him, daring him to lie. "She got a little banged up when we were taking down the airships, but she's going to be fine." He reaches out and lays a hand on Mako's arm.

"You're sure."

"Yes." They stare at each other for a long moment then Mako relaxes, bringing a hand up to rub at his face.

"Tell me what happened."

So he does. He recounts as briefly as possible the journey to the airfield, being captured, Naga busting them out and then the final showdown. He leaves out a few of the finer points, like how afraid he'd been and how broken Asami had still seamed when they made it safely back to the island.

"I should go see her. Make sure she's OK" Mako says, running a hand through his hair.

"Why don't you wait until morning. I think we could all use some rest." He says, trying to sound like his usual low-key self. It must not work very well because Mako gives him a long hard look and the glances away, if Bolin didn't know better he say the expression in his eyes is shame.

"It's just...I wish..." He stalls out, unsure.

"I know Mako. Give it a little time."

"Yeah, alright." His brother says at last. They stand there in silence, watching the last rays of the sun vanish behind the skyline. Finally Bolin turns and grins tiredly in Mako's direction.

"We're gonna be OK Bro. You and me, we've made it this far, we can make it a little farther. We'll take care of them. We'll be OK." For the first time in days his brother smiles, really smiles, and claps him on the shoulder.

"You bet we will." He looks around, seeming to realize for the first time that they are still out in the yard. "Come on, I'm starving and I bet the others are too. Let's see what we can rustle up for dinner."

"Thought you'd never ask!" Bolin exclaims as his stomach gives a tremendous rumble.

As they head into the kitchen he catches sight of Laila coming out of a side door. She looks tired, but she nods and smiles and Bolin feels the knot in his chest loosen just a little bit more. There is so much still to do, they haven't seen Lin in days, there are still pockets of rouge equalists in the city, and he doesn't even want to think about what must be happening behind the closed doors to Korra's room right now.

He doesn't want to think about it, but he will, they'll do what they have to make sure the city is safe, to make sure Korra is safe, to try to reclaim some of what they have lost. Tonight they'll make dinner, help out where they can (he'll slip away later to see how Asami is), and hopefully they'll get some rest. Tomorrow they'll tackle the next set of problems. Hopefully they're up to the challenge. He thinks it's just possible that they might be.