It had been over three years since Asami, Kyia, Jinora and Opal had found Korra in the crystal, Kyia at least had never really moved on from her mother's decision to send Korra away and had kept her distance ever since while increasing her somewhat illegal activities to buy herself a better apartment. Asami and Opal had spent a lot of time away in California at a university there, where Asami studied engineering and Opal studied dance and theatre. Jinora, grumpy at being left behind by two of her best friends, spent a whole year living out of Kyia's apartment, partially because she was fed up of living with her family, especially her two wild siblings, Ikki and Meelo although she still lived them dearly of course, but mainly because she never knew when Asami or Opal would be back next. She finally left to go to university herself where she started her studying of a new spirituality course although she ended up going to New York for it, much to Kyia's distaste. Now alone, and with her job on the line because of the impending new laws, she spent most of her days asleep but most of her nights active. For several months Opal and Asami had been eerily quiet with very few calls or letters sent or received, Kyia knew they were alright though since she was named as one of their emergency contacts for if something happened. She was woken up one morning by a knock on her door, she rolled out of bed while grumbling to herself. "Miss Kyia?" the man asked
"yea...?"
"I was employed to deliver this to you"
"oh?" Kyia took the envelope she was handed, "thank you..."
"you're welcome, better open that quick" the man replied before he nodded and walked away while whistling.
"Hmmm" Kyia hummed to herself before she carefully opened the envelope
*
Dear Kyia,I apologise for not writing to you or calling you recently, I've been so busy with my final thesis for my master's degree that I haven't been able to write to youKyia stopped reading,really, Asami? A bachelor's and master's degree in three years? Show off she thought to herself
That's over now though, I have finished my master's degree and have been told it's one of the best that's ever been submitted, a perfect A grade thesis! (My bachelor's was much the same by the way in case you hadn't guessed)
Kyia rolled her eyes,of course she was gonna get a perfect scoreBut more on that in a bit... Opal wants to say hi...Hey, Kyia, Opal here!I've finished my bachelor's degree with a high A
Kyia couldn't help but grin,look at these two nerds. Opal may not be my girlfriend but damn I'm so proud of her!And I can't wait to talk to you in person!!! Asami says she's enclosed something special for you and she's sent another one to Jinora who's by all accounts finished her degree in philosophy or spirituality or whatever
"what?" Kyia looked in to the envelope once again and then tipped it up and a small plastic oval shaped object with several pieces of paper stuck to it and two pieces of card fell out of it. "what's this?" she turned the pieces of card over and realised one was a ticket for a flight later that day out to California and the other was a ticket to their graduation ceremony. Kyia fought back tears before she returned to the letter
By now I hope you'll have received our gifts, we thought it'd be more of a surprise if we kept it quiet, we would both love it if you'd come to our graduation ceremony, the tickets are for later in the day that you're due to receive this so you'd better get packing!!Lots of loveJinora and your SamsPs. Don't forget to call us!
*
Kyia held the tickets to her chest as if they were the most important things she had ever held, and to her, they were, almost. Kyia would get to hold the thing, or rather person that's the most important to her later. With a whoop of joy she read through the instructions on the paper before she called Asami on the portable phone the girl had prototyped for her as part of her engineering and technology course. "hey, sweetie!!" Asami exclaimed when she picked it up"Hey, Sams"
"Hey Kyia!" an excitable voice called from the background
"Hey Ope!" Kyia called back and giggled when Asami passed her message on
"it's nice to hear your voice" Asami exclaimed excitedly
"Yeah Sams, it's been too long"
"Sorry, I didn't want to risk spoiling the surprise"
"this thing?"
"yeah I call it a cell phone, it's like the one I built myself but better!"
"i love it! I can speak to my Sams wherever I am now!"
"me and the other two" Asami corrected her, "have you started packing?"
"Nope!"
"Then get to it, call me once you're at the airfield waiting to get on your plane"
"right, see you soon"
"see you soon, my love"
Asami ended the phone call and the tears of joy Kyia had been holding in overwhelmed her for ten minutes, she then packed her clothes and some money, as well as the phone and her tickets which went in her handbag before there was a knock at the door. "coming!" she called
"Kyia!!" Asami's mother, Yasuko, rushed to the younger woman to give her a massive hug
"Yasuko?" Kyia exclaimed, "what are you doing here?"
"I came to collect you, silly" she replied, "we're going to the airport! we'll be meeting Lin there too, I believe the rest of the Beifong family have made alternate arrangements"
"It'll be nice to teaseThe Chief again after all these years, and it'll be even nicer to see my beautiful girlfriend"
"you two are still together?"
"of course!"
"I don't like to pry into Asami's personal life although I have been wondering"
"Well yes, we are still together" Yasuko's face lit up with a huge smile
"excellent! I'd imagine you three will then head on to Jinora's graduation?"
"Will we?" while they had been talking, Kyia and Yasuko had moved into Yasuko's Satomobile and were driving towards the airport
"I imagine Asami will give you your tickets when you arrive"
"mhmmm" Kyia grinned, "so how are you, Yasuko?"
"i miss my husband greatly, but that's life isn't it? I almost envy Asami, she's been so busy with that cell phone project that she's not really had the time. She built that entire project for you, by the way, she'd be horrified if she knew I was saying this, but all that work was done for you"
"me?"
"yes, Kyia, for you" Yasuko gently wiped the resulting tears off of Kyia's face, "anyway, enough about me, what about you?"
"I'm alright, still not really doing much except from the essentials I need to do to be able to pay the bills and the mortgage"
"you should've said something, Kyia"
"Asami already tried, I refused"
"ah... Typical Kyia still then?" Kyia blushed, "what about your parents?"
"i... Don't know"
"Kyia I'm so sorry... I knew things were difficult I just wondered"
"Don't be sorry, Yasuko, it's just that I haven't spoken to them since the incident with the cave"
"three and a half years ago?"
"yup"
"oh Kyia" the older woman held her hand up to Kyia's cheek and wiped her tears away before she applied the break next to a sullen old woman
"well it's about time you two got here!"
"hello, Lin" Yasuko smiled at her and cautiously held her hands out, Lin clinked in her armour and pulled Yasuko in for a quick hug
"hey,Chief!" Kyia winked at the older woman
"Hmph" she scowled, "not been running off in the night and disappearing anymore?"
"My playmates abandoned me..."
"You gave your parents a..." Lin stopped at Yasuko's look, "sorry" she mumbled
"don't be" Kyia grabbed her bags as did Yasuko and Lin, who had been standing with her luggage, led them in to the airport
"This way" Lin led them down the length of the airport, past the security checkpoint without even stopping and on to a smallish plane where only those three were on board.
"Mrs Sato, miss Kyia, miss Beifong, welcome" the pilot smiled before heading into the cockpit to start the small jet up
*
Ten hours later they arrived at their destination and disembarked quickly, walking in to the arrivals lounge where Kyia saw two of them, she dropped her bags and sprinted into a massive group hug. "girls!"
"Kyia" Jinora whispered happily
"Ora" Kyia whispered back just as happily, "Ope!"
"Kyia"
"Wait where's Sams?"
"I'm over here!" her voice called
"SAMS!!"Kyia bellowed, she ran up to her, crashed into her, lifted her up above her head and span her around. "Sams!!" she exclaimed, this time more quietly before she put a massive kiss on her lips and continued to hold her in a crushing embrace
"Aunt Lin!" Opal exclaimed and ran into her aunt's arms
"Mom!" Asami dragged Kyia, who was still hanging off her waist over to her mother and the older woman hugged her girls tightly
"it's amazing to see you all again" Kyia whispered happily before she grabbed her girlfriend's hand and walked out hand in hand with her, this drew some stares but Lin in her Chief's uniform was enough to keep people quiet
"Have you heard from...?" Asami whispered quietly
"No." Kyia replied just as quietly
"we're going to have to go and get her out of wherever she is"
"We are?"
"yes, we are. We have a responsibility to help her, she was taken against her will to some kind of compound, and without herbending" Asami still looked skeptical, "she probably won't be able to leave"
"I'm in!" Kyia nodded
*
The ceremony was beautiful. Not only did Asami and Opal get their certificates, but Asami got a special award for achieving 100% on her thesis and she called her girlfriend up to the stage and held her hand throughout, much to the surprise and pride of everyone attending. "did you arrange that, Sams?" Kyia whispered at the graduation meal afterwards
"Arrange what?"
"arrange for me to join you when you were presented with your degrees, of course?"
"yes, of course I did, in fact I told them I wouldn't attend if you weren't allowed up there"
"Thank you Sams"
"hey, I'm really proud of you Asami, Opal and Jinora, and you Kyia"
"me? Why? I didn't earn a first class degree with a perfect, or nearly perfect score" Kyia groaned
"I know... But you went up there to be with your girlfriend, didn't you?"
"Yup" Kyia smiled before she looked away and saw Opal talking excitedly to a boy, "hey, Ope, gonna introduce me to your friend?"
"this is Bolin, my boyfriend"
"congrats, girl"
"Apparently Jinora got a boyfriend too" Opal whispered, inclining her head towards the girl sitting opposite them
"That's great news!"
Opal noticed Kyia's eyes drilling in to the side of Bolin's head, "hey" she whispered, "he's a real sweet boy, he wouldn't hurt a spider-fly"
"I know... But if he did, I'd hunt him down and" she pulled her finger across her neck
"You're just overprotective" Opal replied before she returned her attention to her greedy boyfriend who was busy stuffing his face and Kyia rolled her eyes
*
A few days later, Jinora, Kyia, Opal and Asami met up with Jinora's family outside another airport. "Master Tenzin" they all bowed respectfully although Kyia's was more a nod
"It's wonderful to see you girls again"
"This is my boyfriend, Bolin, by the way" Opal smiled
"Nice to meet you" he and Bolin shook hands
"And dad, this is my boyfriend, Kai" Jinora added before she hugged the man who had been standing a small distance away
"N... Nice to meet you, sir" Kai stumbled
"Nice to meet you too" his eyes narrowed, "Kai"
"We'd better get to our hotel and dump our stuff" Asami smiled
"we'll take you, we put you up in the same hotel"
"there was no need, but thank you, Tenzin" Kyia nodded again and walked out with her girlfriend
*
Jinora's ceremony was again beautiful, Kyia and the others enjoyed it as much as they had enjoyed Asami and Opal's, even if it did involve more sitting around waiting while strangers received their certificates. Although admittedly they enjoyed the meal afterwards more as it was a louder, more boisterous affair than that of Asami and Opal's high society-like meal
"this is great fun" Kyia laughed while she watched Kai and another boy arm wrestle. The other boy won easily and Kyia laughed, "Oi! Muscles! I'm up next!" she called
The boy looked perplexed for a second before he shrugged and gestured. To everyone's surprise, Kyia beat him easily and then went on to beat everyone else there, even one of the muscular bouncer security officers who had consented to show off a little. "Kyia! Kyia! Kyia!" Asami had started yelling and soon everyone else was chanting along with her while Kyia defeated everyone who sat in front of her
Lin, who had been watching silently from the back came up and patted Kyia on the back, "nicely done, kid" she laughed
"Thanks, Lin" she smirked back and went off to get a glass of champagne to celebrate her success
"way to go, sweetie!" Asami was looking at her with adoration
"thanks, Sams!"
"yeah, well done Kyia, that bouncer didn't know what to do with himself after he lost to you!" Opal giggled
"oh yeah, happy belated birthdays, Opal, and Jinora" she pulled out two boxes, each had a beautiful necklace in them
"Oh, Kyia!" Opal exclaimed and ran to one of her best friends and wrapped her up tight in a hug
"Kyia... You shouldn't have..." Jinora whispered, a tear threatening to run down her cheek
"i wanted to"
*
Later in the evening the four friends sat idly around a table, chatting, or so it appeared. Kai and Bolin lingered nearby but respected the girls' right to catch up privately. What they were actually doing was pouring over several reports that each had acquired from various sources. Asami had offered up a history of Future Industries orders that had been made by that man Zuko that she had got from a board member as a favour even though it was still a week to go before her twenty first, Kyia had broken in to her parents' house and had found the various medical reports her mother had kept regarding Korra, Opal placed a police report about a secret operation to remove a vulnerable citizen to a safe location she had acquired from her aunt down on the table and Jinora had been reading books about history in her spare time.
"There isn't much I can tell you" Jinora muttered regretfully, "it seems this was a poorly recorded period of history"
"this police report indicates that Korra was indeed handed over to a man called Lord Zuko who then took her somewhere"
"this medical report shows no physical damage to Korra" Kyia muttered reluctantly, "but I don't fully trust this, something must've happened to that girl in that crystal, the way her eyes were glowing was unnatural
"These invoices indicate that a lot of construction materials and Future Industries goods such as snowmobiles and mechatanks were brought by this Zuko character and shipped to the... South Pole"
"why would anyone wanna go there?" Opal groaned
"it's certainly isolated and it provides a fair amount of natural protection"
"do you think that's where she is?" Jinora whispered
"yes" Asami replied, "it's my birthday in less than a week, but after then we can take a plane and begin reconnaissance flights
"let's do it!" Kyia exclaimed
"yes!" Opal nodded
"Poor Korra... Imagine being trapped down there with nobody else. We have to help that poor girl" Kyia muttered sadly
"then it's decided" Asami smiled, held out her hand in front of her and the other three quickly placed their hands on top of hers.