The man sat by the phone, tapping his fingers on the table in a nervous fidget as he waited for the call. His brother and sister looked at him in worry, he's never been like this before. I mean, who wouldn't act weird if you find out one day that your son, who was thought to be dead for seventeen years, might actually be alive and well.

Kya let out a long sigh and sat beside her brother. "You should relax, Tenzin," she said warmly. "You've been waiting by the phone for hours, now. Go get some sleep," Kya commanded, pulling her brother out of the chair, "we'll come and get you when Lin calls, okay?"

"I... I suppose," Tenzin replied uneasily, walking to the door.

Just as he was about to leave, the phone rang. Tenzin ran to the phone, blowing a gust of wind at his siblings to move them away from the phone:

"Lin?"

His brother and sister focused on Tenzin, wanting to know the news.

"Oh... mother," Tenzin spoke sadly. "No... it's good to hear your voice, but I was expecting a call from Lin. You see... we're at the place where he and dad died... and-"

Tenzin listened to his mother carefully.

"Mother, what? What are you saying, why? Don't go looking for him? Do you know something I don't? Mom? Hello?"

He hung up the phone slowly.

"What did mom say?" Bumi asked.

Before Tenzin could speak, Jinora, Ikki and Meelo came running in.

"Korra's here," Ikki shouted. "Korra's here!"

And the kids ran out into the front to greet Korra.

"What did she say, Tenzin?" Kya asked. By this time, Pema, with Rohan in her arms, had made her way toward the siblings.

"She told me not to go looking for him," Tenzin explained, "that it's for my own good and I'll only get hurt in the end."

The adults looked out in the front and saw Korra greeting the children, all frowning in disappointment. They almost seemed saddened when the phone rang once again, no one wanting to know what's to come anymore.


The young girl skipped excitingly as she showed her new friend around his new home, who jogged beside her in order to keep up with her pace.

"This is our garden," she announced, stopping by a window, showing the vegetables growing out of the ground. Beside the garden was a gate. "And that's where all our animals live. Father likes his food fresh, so he put in a farm. Nothing you eat here is store-bought."

She didn't give him time to reply, grabbing his arm and dragging him to the next location she wanted to show him. They practically ran to the other side of the palace. Well, halfway ran and halfway sped walked to the other side; when they were halfway there, Moa yelled at them to stop running on her clean floor.

"And this is," she started, then smiled, "..oh, hello, father."

"Princess," the king bowed. "Xenos."

"Hello, sir," the boy bowed back. The man next to the king, who wore blue robes with white out lines and a helmet that had a white lotus in the center, looked at the king weirdly when he had called the boy Xenos. The boy agreed with the man, his name was strange, in his opinion. And it would probably take some time to get use to people calling him that instead of "boy "or "kid"... or "it". Even the old blind woman called him son or kid, and not by an actual name.

"Father," the princess' smile faded quickly, looking at the man beside her father, "why are members of the White Lotus here? Is something wrong?"

"No," the assured, "just taking some... safety processions." When the king said that, the strange man looked at the boy, making him feel uncomfortable.

"Well..." the boy, trying to be polite, smiled at the man, "thank you, sir, for protecting us."

The man gave a small smile and bowed. "Let's just hope nothing bad happens that will make me have to protect you, son."

"Oh... okay.." the boy spoke uneasy.

The two grown men stared at the boy for at least a minute, but to the boy it seemed longer as they glared at him as if they were studying him.

The king seemed to notice the boy was uneasy, so he coughed and placed a hand on the boy's shoulder.

"This here is our new guest, Fang," he told the man. "You treat him with respect and listen to what he has to say when he speaks. He's wise."

"Yes, sir," Fang replied, bowing to the boy. He then turned back to the king. "May I talk to you..." his eyes glanced at the boy, "privately, please."

"Certainly," the king smiled. "If you'll excuse us, children."

And they left.

"Why do you suppose the White Lotus are here?" Aiko asked.

"I don't even know who the White Lotus is," the boy replied.

"It's not an is," she laughed. "It's a group. They help people out when needed... but I thought most of them were at the Southern Water Tribe. I thought they were protecting the Avatar. I got to meet her last year. She's real tough, but nice... when she's not bending."

"What's an Avatar?"

She looked at him in shock. "You don't know what an Avatar is? The Avatar is only the most powerful bender in the whole world. They control all four elements: water, earth, fire, and air."

"Air?"

"You don't know what an airbender is, either?" The princess let out a sigh. "What did that orphanage teach you, then?"

"Oh, no... I know what an airbender is, I just thought they were all extinct," he explained.

"Well, they were! But then Aang, the old Avatar, an airbender, got trapped in ice for a hundred years. He comes back, finds out the Firebenders took over the world. Saves the world. Gets married to his wife and they had-"

"Aiko." The king's voice spoke behind them. They turned and saw the king and two White Lotus members looking at them, with frowns on their faces. "Mother needs your help getting set up for the party," he explained with a smile.

"Party?" The boy spoke.

"It was supposed to be a surprise," the princess said to the boy. "We're throwing a party in honor of your arrival."

"You really don't have to do that, sir," the boy announced to the king. "You've done more than enough for me already."

"Nonsense!" The king smiled, patting his daughter's head as she left. "We're excited for your arrival! Come, Xenos!"

The king, the two White Lotus members and the boy walked into an office. The office was big; it had a large fireplace in one corner of the room, a mini bar in another corner, and paintings everywhere of soldiers and old Kings and Queens. The boy seemed interested in one painting of a man with small glasses on the edge of his nose and a bear close beside him.

"Ah," the king smiled, looking at the painting, "that's the 52nd Earth king," he explained. "A great man after the hundred year war, you know. When the Firenation took control of Ba Sing Se, he fled with his bear," he pointed at the bear. "He studied the ways of the people outside the wall and brought back great knowledge to our people."

"Excuse me, sir," one of the White Lotus interrupted. They both turned to the White Lotus, "if you don't need anything else, we'll be getting to work now."

"Alright," he shook their hands, "thank you very much for your help."

The king waited for the men to leave before he told the boy to take a seat. It seemed he had something important to tell the boy by the look on his face.

"Xenos," he spoke firmly, "I know you've been through a lot over the past few days," the boy noticed the king fold his hands over a paper and saw something that looked familiar. "If there's anything you need to talk about... or-"

"Excuse me, sir," the boy interrupted, "but what is that under your hands?"

"What is what?" the king unfolded his hands and looked down. His heart skipped a beat as he realized what was below him. And, by the look of the boy's expression, he knew what it was too. The king, in panic, quickly crumpled up the paper and put it in one of his desk drawers. "Oh... uh... that, that's just the paper for some city... or something."

"Oh..." The boy nodded. He had seen enough to know that the person on the paper was the blind woman and beside her was a younger woman. They had their arms wrapped around each other, smiling toward the camera. And the words he was able to read before the king hid the paper were: ...Beifong dead... World's mourning over death... We'll always remember her legacy...

Now he was knew she died.

"Like I was saying, Xenos," he coughed awkwardly, "if there's anything you need to talk about, I'm here."

The bowed his head, sadness taking control. "There is something, sir," the boy took a deep breath, then looked up at the king, who had all eyes on the boy. "A friend, a very close friend, died recently," his eyes looked in the direction of the drawer he had placed the paper in.

"All I can say about death, son, is you mustn't be afraid of it, whether it's you yourself dying or someone you love. That friend, I'm sure, is right beside you, cheering you on as you live through this journey called life." The king said, his eyes sparkled at the boy. "Death is always near us, Xenos," he explained. "It's a part of life. We live so we can die; we die because we lived. Your friend will always be there to talk... they may not answer, but they're real good listeners."

"Thank you, sir," the boy got up to leave.

"Wait... is there anything else you'd like to tell me," the king asked, standing up from his seat, smiling at the boy. "Anything at all?"

The boy looked at the king with a frown on his face. "Well..." He thought, they'd been so generous and so nice, but he wasn't sure it was time to reveal his powers to them. What if they turn him in? What if they experiment? Aiko started to tell him about the other airbenders, but what if he tells them and they turn against him? "No," he shook his head. "I'm sorry, no."

"Very well," his smile turned into frown. "But I'm here for you."

"Thank you, sir," he bowed to the man. He opened the door to leave. One of the White Lotus members stood beside it. "Excuse me," the boy said, walking away.

The White Lotus man walked into the king's office, closing the door securely behind him. "Has he told you anything yet, sir?"

"About the attack on his colony? Or about him being an airbender? Either one, he's told me nothing," the king told the White Lotus member.

"Are you sure it's him, sir," the man asked. "For all we know he could be a random orphan seeking shelter from a bad life."

"I know it's him," the king announced. "Shave his head and put an arrow on it and he's his father! And those eyes, don't they scream out Lin Beifong? And he recognized Toph," he pulled out the crumpled up newspaper and showed it to the man, "from this newspaper, I know it. I knew it was him the moment I saw the scar on his forehead... It's like a twin to Lin's scar... except smaller, and on his forehead. And did you see his face when Aiko was telling him about the Avatar and airbending? I am completely sure it's him. But we can't protect him if he doesn't trust us!" He sat in his chair, rubbing his temple.

"I'm sure it took a while for Toph to gain his trust," the man stated. "At least he trusts you enough to stay here."

"Where else does he have to go? He can't go back to his colony, those men are there!"

"Have they figured out who the men are?"

"No," he sighed. "It's like they appear out of nowhere... and disappear even faster than they come!"

"Maybe we'll gain more trust from him at the party tomorrow," the White Lotus man said, walking to the door.

"I hope so," he closed his eyes and rubbed his face. "I really hope so."


The adults stared at the phone as it kept ringing. Finally, after the third ring, Tenzin let out a long sigh and picked up the call.

"Hello," he spoke calmly, trying not to show any emotions through his voice. "Lin, how are you?"

Kya and Bumi looked at Tenzin curiously as Pema walked outside and went to greet Korra with the children.

"You've looked up the man?" Kya and Bumi moved closer to their brother. "You know where he is? Hold on, Lin..." He covered the phone with his hand and looked at his siblings. "What do you think I should do? Should I tell her to forget it? Take the address?"

"I don't know, Tenzin," Kya replied. "Do whatever you think is right, that's my advice."

"I'm determined to find out the truth... I don't care if it'll hurt me, I'm finding out where my son is."

"We'll be there every step of the way," Bumi announced as Tenzin put the phone to his ear.

"Lin, give me the address, please."