Chapter 2: A Big City Welcome

"Ugh. Why does it have to be morning." Korra complained, hair entirely disheveled from bedhead as she accepted the bowl of noodles Senna passed her.

"You're the one who said you had to get back soon." She pointed out trying to straighten her daughter's hair.

"That was before the morning happened."

After a hasty breakfast, it was time to make the long journey to Republic City. Al, always trying to be useful, offered to help with Tenzin's kids and ended up with a screaming Meelo on his shoulders pulling at his ears and Ikki at his heels again asking a million questions such as if he had a girlfriend, if he liked lychee juice, and for the second time if he was, in fact, taller than Mako. In this state he lumbered into the courtyard with everyone else. The trio watched curiously as Korra walked ahead, whistled sharply and yelled

"Naga! Come here, girl!"

And the hugest dog they'd ever seen, the size of a Briggs grizzly bounded up to her, barking piercingly. Slowing down to a stop, it licked Korra's face and turned to the newcomers, sniffing madly, making the trio flinch in unison.

"Guys, meet Naga."

"So this is a polar-bear dog…" Ed observed, stunned.

"And I thought Den was a big dog, heh…" Winry commented nervously.

"Man, you guys have the best animals." Al lamented wistfully as Meelo continued to abuse his ears.

"Don't worry, she's real friendly." Korra informed them, grinning. Naga turned back to her master and resumed licking her face.

"So how are we getting to the city?" Ed wondered.

"You kids will be taking the ferry." Pema stated, bouncing the baby boy, Rohan. "Me, Tenzin, and the children are going to take our sky bison."

"Sky what."

At that moment what indeed appeared to be a bison that could fly (only with an arrow type marking and six legs) drifted down from overhead, Tenzin straddling its neck, steering it with reigns. It landed with a puff of air, the trio's jaws dropping.

"THE. BEST. ANIMALS." Al repeated, not fully out of his daze. Pema, unfazed, adjusted her grip on her baby and beckoned to her other children. Meelo climbed down from Al's shoulders and joined his sisters who were running to their father. When Tenzin's family was situated they called out their goodbyes and see-you-at-homes, Tenzin ordered clearly "Oogi, yip, yip!", and they took off into the clear morning sky in a northern direction. They all waved until the flying beast was out of sight. When the airbending family was a glint in the sky, Korra faced her parents.

"Well, I guess this is it. Take care Mom, Dad."

"Love you, hon."

"Take care yourself, Kiddo."

Tonraq and Senna both enveloped their daughter in an embrace, which she returned forcefully. As Korra went to hug Katara goodbye, they both turned their softened expressions to her companions.

"Make Korra take you all along next time she comes home." Senna ordered cheerfully. I'll make some noodles for you, Bolin."

"Thank you, ma'am." Bolin thanked her reverently.

"Yes it was great to meet you both. Korra's lucky to have such good parents." Asami said in a tone of good will but laced with such longing and suppressed grief that Ed wondered what the heck her own parents were like- were they no good pieces of shit like his father? Dead like his mother and Winry's parents? A combination of the two?

Tonraq looked Mako in the eyes intently, grinning wider. Uneasily, the boy bowed to the older man, in a manner similar to the people of Xing, one hand held straight, the other a fist connecting to the opposite palm. But Tonraq responded by wrapping him in a strong friendly hug. Mako looked slightly taken aback but happy as Tonraq pulled away.

"And good luck to you three." He directed at Ed, Al, and Winry as he pat the young man's shoulder. This second wave of goodbyes over with, the seven teenagers followed Bei Fong, the strict older woman they had seen yesterday, out of the compound. Korra caught her parent's eyes as they left, Tonraq pulling Senna into a one-armed side hug as they watched their daughter go.

"Let's go, kids." Bei Fong snapped putting on a business-like attitude, striding briskly. "Tenzin's put me in charge, so I expect you all to behave. Now, let's get home. I believe I have a job to take back and a city to clean up."

"Woo, you go, Bei Fong!" Korra encouraged, pumping her fist in the air and marching along. The Elric brothers paled as they realized who this tough older woman reminded them of.

Oh man, she's just like the Major General Ed thought weakly. Briefly, a terrifying vision of a blond woman in a military uniform with a glare that could kill small animals (and small alchemists) swam in his head.

"You okay, man?" Mako asked him, looking back at Ed whose face was turning an ugly sea foam green. Beside him, Al was blue and shaking in fear. Bolin turned to him with the same concern.

"We're…we're fine…" Al asserted, distracted, apparently trying to shake the vision of the Major's sister as strongly as his brother was. "We were just violently reminded of someone who instills intense fear into the very fibers of our being is all."

The main thought in Ed's head when they arrived at the docks and boarded a large ship was that he hoped they didn't come across anyone like the Colonel when they got to Republic City.

The sun was setting when the ship arrived into Yue bay and made a be-line for the port. The trio stared wonderingly at an enormous statue in the middle of the bay, depicting a serious-looking young man in a flowing robe and holding a staff out royally. Beyond the statue was a mass of buildings, smoke, noise, and more people in one place than the trio had ever seen.

"Welcome to Republic City!" Korra declared, grinning in a way reminiscent of her father, showing off the family resemblance.

"This place is even bigger than Central!" Al gaped, leaning on the railing of the ship's deck where all the teenagers were standing to get a good look.

"I hope it's at least cleaner than central." Winry drawled, coming up to stand next to Al, peering over the railings as well.

"No promises there." Mako snarked back.

"Say, who's he?" Winry pointed to the statue of the young man.

"That's Aang." Korra announced, beaming at her past self. "He was one of Republic City's founders."

"So where in the city do you live?" Winry put to them, eyes still scanning the gigantic metropolis. In reply, Korra pointed her finger at Republic City and trailed it from the urban sprawl to the bay and let it rest on a small island in its center. It was littered with ornate buildings that looked vaguely Xingese to Ed.

"Air Temple Island!" Korra informed them. "Tenzin's place. That's home sweet home for us, and you guys now too."

"All four of you live there?" Al asked, now directing his gaze at the island.

"Yep!" Bolin answered cheerily. "Cuz during the Equalist activity our place got burned down by crazy terrorists. And Asami's dad turned out to be a crazy terrorist!"

"Bro. You're doing it again."

"Oh. Sorry."

Well. Now Ed knew what the deal with her folks was.

The moment was saved from becoming awkward and depressed by Bei Fong joining them on deck as they pulled into the bustling city. She parted ways with the teens at the police station stating she one, had strong words to have with the chief of police who was currently occupying her job, two, she didn't feel like looking at Tenzin's mug, and three, Korra better stay out of trouble damn it. And so the band of young people meandered down the crowded streets, laughing, the four who lived there pointing out landmarks to the trio. They caught a ferry to Tenzin's home, still laughing as they stepped off the boat and wandered up the stone path to the house.

"Yeah, and the sheep, it chased Brother for over half an hour before Mr. Reid finally caught it." Al was saying, making Ed chase him up the stairs a bit ahead while Winry chastised them for acting like little kids. Soon, they reached the top and found themselves in the central courtyard of another compound, but this one was, instead of being stark white, full of warm colors like red and yellow.

"Oh, just FYI" Bolin piped up. "Training grounds are too the left, you don't have to wear air acolyte clothing, you don't get your own sky bison, and there are 5,352 trees."

"Th…thanks…?" Al returned, puzzled.

"Wait, I don't think that's quite right…" Mako thought out loud.

"Yaaay they're back! They're back!" Ikki's voice rang as she scrambled toward the teenagers from the house. Her older sister was again plugging her ears. Ed smiled, Jinora reminding him of the times Al had annoyed him when they were younger. Meelo ran up to Al, pulling on his jacket, demanding he play air ball with him, only to look disappointed when his sisters reminded him he wasn't an airbender.

"Don't worry I can still play with you guys!" Al reassured him. The boy's face lit up and he and his sisters dragged their new playmate to the training grounds.

"You guys want to follow 'em and check the place out a bit?" Korra offered.

"But shouldn't we go find Mr. Tenzin and thank him for letting us stay?" Winry suggested self-consciously.

"Don't worry about it. He's at a council meeting in town hall; he'll be there all day. In fact, with the equalists and Tarrlock and everything, I doubt they'll get out before dark and if I know Tenzin, he's gonna be grouchy when he does get back- I'm betting talking to him will out of the question today."

"Who's Tarrlock? And what was with these equalists, some kind of terrorists, right?" Said Ed.

"…I guess we should explain some things. Just, so, you know what you guys have gotten yourselves into." Korra mused, smiling apologetically.

"…We should too. You guys took us in, so I figure we owe it to you to be totally honest."

"I appreciate that." She told him sincerely.

"There's…a lot of stuff that led us to where we were when we ended up here." Ed confessed. "And if we're in your world because of it I think you deserve to hear it and know why."

He didn't relish the thought of reliving the past twelve years of heartache and loss and pain but he still firmly believed, as he did at the South Pole, that he had to tell them. His new companions, understanding how big this must be for him, gave him serious looks but Korra broke her's to make the same uncomfortable look he himself got whenever he didn't want to face something emotionally challenging.

"Eh, but, not right now, alright?" She pleaded. "We just got home! Let's relax right now and talk about this tonight."

"Okay, it's a really long story any-waaaa, what the hell Al!? Ed yelled at his younger brother who had just barreled into him being chased by Tenzin's children. They had arrived at the training grounds as they were talking and Al was already engrossed in a game of tag.

"Sorry, Bro!" Al apologized, laughing and turning around to run the other way. As Al continued to entertain the kids Korra went straight to a cluster of gates that looked like they'd spin if they were pushed. She chuckled maniacally.

"This is so awesome! I can do this now."

She took a leap at the gates- at her landing she spread her arms forward creating blasts of wind from both hands, making the gates swing rapidly. Rushing forward, she weaved into the moving gates dodging and spinning through the contraption, not getting hit once until she came out on the other side looking triumphant.

"Heh, it's great I can do this without having to listen to Ikki's yammering." She gushed gleefully. Ikki, still playing with Al, twitched but resumed playing. Just then, Pema arrived to collect her children and get them to do their schoolwork and recruited Asami to help with dinner. Everyone else stayed on the grounds until the sun went down completely, Korra still practicing airbending. The trio was invited to eat with the family in their dining room, a large, well lit room with a spacious square table and sliding doors (another thing that was Xingese-like, they should keep count, Ed thought). The food, too, was like Xingese food: Rice and dumplings, greens and broiled fish. As predicted, Tenzin was nowhere to be seen.

"Is Daddy still at work, Mommy?" Jinora asked her mother as everyone sat down.

"Yes, your father called to say he'll be late and to start eating without him."

So, after a short prayer, food started passing hands and chatter rose, all of them talking and eating at once. Ed was pleasantly reminded of the times he'd visited the Rockbells on their journey and how the lively dinners cheered him up, even though he never admitted it. Beside him Jinora took a book from her pocket, propped it up behind her plate and read as she attacked her rice. More memories of childhood dinners, half-remembered, from better times than when his automail was being repaired, flooded his mind.

Stop reading at the table, Ed!

Shut up, Winry!

But, it's rude!

You're not the boss of me!

"What'cha reading?" Ed had leaned over to look at the words on the page.

"It's about Grandpa Aang and Gran Gran." Jinora said happily, skimming the page she was on quickly. "Their adventures were so amazing; I've read about them a million times."

Ed was struck by how little he and Al had read for fun as kids. They had been so occupied with Alchemy texts, first to make their mom happy, then to bring her back that they never found time to read stories. Even Winry, who went through medical textbooks like water as a kids and who was always reading up on automail engineering, had found time to check a novel out at the public library once and a while.

"Hey, Jinora? Do you think I could read it when you're finished?"

"Sure! I'm almost done. You'll love the part in book two where Great Uncle Sokka drinks cactus juice."

"So that actually happened? I thought Katara was joking." Korra chimed in mouth thick with dumpling, from across the table.

"Yes Korra, it did, but I think we would all like to forget that." Tenzin's voice grumbled tiredly and irritably. The tall man trudged through the dining room, kissed his wife on the forehead and took his seat, wearily dishing out rice for himself to a chorus of "daddy-your-home" and "welcome back".

"So how did the council meeting go?"

"Not good."

"How not good?"

"I'm not discussing it right now; I want to eat in peace."

"But...!"

"After dinner, Korra."

But after dinner, Tenzin was so tired he went straight to bed and all the children- except Jinora who could stay up to read- soon followed, and Pema started on the dishes, Rohan asleep in a cradle on the counter next to her. Korra inched past her to grab a pitcher of lychee juice from the icebox and seven glasses from the cupboard, summoning the other teens outside. She took them to a portion of the deck that had a small flimsy table with a radio on it similar to the ones people had back in Amestris.

"If you're going to tell us what crazy spirit magic you dabbled in to get sent here" Korra began, putting the pitcher on the table, turning the radio on to a channel playing soft jazz and passing out cups "Now might be a good time to do it. Tenzin's out like a light, so he's not gonna be making us go to bed anytime soon. If this is going to take a while, we got time."

"Now's a good a time as any, I s'pose." Ed conceded.

"…Did you really dabble in spirit magic?" Asami asked, unconvinced, as they crowded around the radio and their juice at the table, insects blaring in the night.

"No! I mean, it's more of a science but maybe it's similar to what you guys think of as spirit magic." Al reasoned. Asami looked at Winry to put her two cents in. She quickly colored and waved her hands dismissively.

"Oh no, I'm not an alchemist, that's all on these two." She protested. "But I was there for some of it, so I'll help tell you guys what happened."

"No pressure, okay?" Mako told her kindly. "You guys don't have to tell us anything you'd rather not talk about." Ed snorted, at the inversion of the boy's understanding words to what the Briggs medic had so harshly asserted to him and Al two years before. That's no excuse. Everyone here has "something they'd rather not talk about". Yes, this place definitely beat Briggs by a longshot.

"What did happen to you three?" Bolin asked them sympathetically, almost as if he was afraid of how horrible their answer would be.

"A lot." Ed stated simply. "But I guess the best place to start would be when our mom died…"

"Okay. So that was the saddest story I've ever heard." Korra whispered, the story over. It had indeed taken several hours to tell and it was now very late at night. The group was much less organized than it was when the storytelling had begun. Empty cups littered the table and floor along with snacks procured at Bolin's insistence. The radio was off, the stations having gone off the air some time ago. Mako was now balancing on the deck railing; Korra was sprawled out against it, sitting cross-legged on the deck floor. Ed had just concluded the long tale that he, Al, and Winry had shared telling by relating Father's demise and how that was how things stood in the present day, when he had found himself on the westbound train he had been spirited away from. After Ed was finished, at Al's urging, he and Winry blushingly confessed to what they had said to each other before Ed boarded the train and the younger boy almost squealed in excitement, crushing them in bear hugs (Note to self: still strong even though not armor, Ed reminded himself dimly). He glared at the others who were beaming at them in congratulations. Winry lowered her gaze shyly, but she looked very happy.

"But what do you know; it sounds like you really did dabble in spirit magic." Asami chided lightly.

"Yeah, this Truth thing sounds a helluva lot like a spirit." Korra agreed from the deck floor.

"Those Homunculi though dude." Bolin shuddered. "Now that's some scary shit, right there. The way they look like people…It's like how you could never tell if someone was an equalists by looking at them, but instead of an equalist they're monsters waiting to kill you with their evil spirit magic!"

Mako made no comment, but seemed deep in thought, rocking back and forth on the railing.

"You alright up there?" Korra shot at him gently.

"Yeah. Fine."

Korra didn't seem to believe him and kept staring up at him in concern. Bolin, too, seemed to sense something was bothering him and they both seemed to know what it was. Korra, however, dropped the subject for the moment to say

"Man, though, I gotta hand it to you- taking on that Father guy like that? Aw-some! Aang told me you laid the hurt on some bad guy, but I didn't think it was some dude with the power of a frickin' god! You got my respect, that's for sure.

"So you guys…believe us?"

"Well…yes." Korra said frankly.

"Yup."

"That's right."

"Sure do."

"Trust me, short stuff, crazy shit happens in our world, too." Korra said nonchalantly leaning back and waving her arm vaguely, presumably for emphasis. "Why do you think we weren't fazed by the idea of you being summoned from another world by a spirit?"

"It's a heckuva story to take in, I'll give you that, but…we definitely believe it." Bolin said easily.

The trio sighed in relief.

"That's good. I mean it's not like you see walking suits of armor every day." Al joked.

"No, but it would be totally cool if you did."

The mood instantly clouded.

"What? What'd I say?"

"Bro! Seriously!"

"Sorry…that had to have been rough. I mean, I dunno what I'd do if I couldn't eat at Narook's ever."

"That's just because you're more fond of noodles than is healthy." Korra pointed out teasingly.

"But now that we know where you're from" Mako began seriously "we need to think of ways to get you home. What about that Gate of Truth thing?"

"No good." Ed stated dejectedly. "Even if I could get through Al's gate, we'd still need a stone if we want to avoid what happened the first time we opened it. And besides, if we can get this spirit-bastard to return us, I think we'd prefer that method."

"Knowledge and Alchemy it is then!" Korra cheered "But, for the record, I think a spirit magic portal would be way cooler."

"Does Republic City have a library?" Ed wondered. "I think that might be the best place to start."

"Do we have a library?" Korra asked blankly.

"Truly, you are one of the great minds of our age." Mako teased her dryly.

As Korra put him in a headlock, Asami faced Ed.

"We do have a library, actually. Republic City Public Library is on 5th Street."

"I guess Aang was big on communication and education and everything." Korra said, still holding Mako in a headlock. "We can take you there tomorrow. In fact, let's bring Jinora- if I know her, she'll know the town library better than the librarians."

Having heard the trio's story, and with some start to a plan, they cleaned up their mess, sneaking quietly through the house, so as not to wake anyone up, said their goodnights, and went off to sleep. Korra and Asami took Winry away to the girl dorms while Mako and Bolin showed Ed and Al to the men's dorms, offering them the rooms next to theirs. Ed opened his room's door to get some much needed sleep, but before he could, Mako stopped him with a hand on his shoulder.
"Ed, I just wanted to say…good on ya, y'know, for what you did for your little brother. That's big. That's real big."

And the taller boy went into his room before Ed could respond.

A/N: Happy Halloween! Thanks to everybody who reviewed/faved/followed! Well now they're in Republic City. Sorry this chapter was somewhat short-I promise the next one will be longer. Now that they're in the city, Ed, Al, and Winry are going to be trying to get home in earnest. Next chapter: the trio learns more about bending and explore Republic City.