Korra spent the first day of the Earth Nation summit sitting between Suyin and Lin Beifong bored half out of her mind. The orders of business in politics became monotonous early on, beginning with the appointment of a delegation leader whose duty would be to communicate the Earth Nation's decisions to the world as a representative of the whole. Su was nominated and elected almost unanimously—she was the only dissenting vote—and she agreed to serve only until Prince Wu could assume the position. She argued it would only be fair, since the kingdom had at one point been his own and she believed that the royal family should still serve the people even in democracy. No one disagreed.

Next order was for a statement from the Avatar, which Korra gave reluctantly and without preparation, wishing for the good faith and effort of all those elected to the council to create a better Earth Nation for its citizens. The remarks were awkward for Korra's liking, and she felt slightly stupid standing before a group of people easily twice her age. She kept things short, however, and afterward the proceedings moved forward without fuss.

Things only grew interesting once talk turned to the disaster in Ba Sing Se. Everyone in attendance expected the topic to be discussed in depth, but Suyin argued that its handling should be the first official decision made by the Earth Nation Council, as that was the most pressing matter at hand. Most agreed that the issue was both dire and in need of consequence, but none could agree on how to conduct an investigation or what the punishment should be, assuming they ever unmasked the perpetrator.

"We don't even know what happened," argued Xiu Rei Huan of the Gaoling province. "All we've got is hearsay and biased reporting from the press. The only survivor in the upper ring was Wu, and…Well…"

The representative from Omashu, a younger man named Qin, grew angry with this. "We know exactly what happened," he said hotly. "Some lunatic firebender set an explosion in the ruins of the royal palace and blew half the city to bits. That's a measure of war!"

"Firelord Izumi issued her statement on the matter," Suyin mediated coolly. "She told us that the perpetrators have no affiliation with the Fire Nation and should be considered radicals. She doesn't approve of the attack any more than we do."

"So how do we go about finding these people if we don't know who they are and we don't know where they're at?" asked Xiu.

Korra interrupted thoughtfully, "Well, the newspapers printed that letter from the—" she searched for the name of the organization and looked to Lin when her thoughts came up short.

"Democratic Society of Firebenders," Lin prompted, deadpan.

"Yeah, them," Korra affirmed at once, "I guess you all read it, too. It said they wanted to liberate firebenders who were in service to others."

"Avatar Korra," said Qin gruffly, "what's your point here? We all read the letter, we know exactly what it said."

Korra bristled uncomfortably. "If you'd let me finish…" she heaved a sigh at the upstart representative and shifted in her seat, assuming a more aggressive posture. People responded to her when she looked confident. "We've got to lure these guys out of hiding. If there's a way that we can get a big group of firebenders together and make it look like they're working under the Earth Nation we can…"

"Absolutely not," said a third representative, Na Zhang. She was a stately woman nearing sixty who reminded Korra very much of the Firelord. "Between Kuvira's camps and the Ba Sing Se incident we've lost more than enough Earth Nation lives," she said forcefully, "I don't think any of us would invite another attack on our soil."

"We could send in Republic City police forces," Korra suggested and looked to Lin for support.

Lin shook her head resolutely. "I'll tell you the same thing I told Bolin: The President ordered me to keep my guys in the city. This isn't our fight. The attack wasn't in Republic City's territory. We'll offer our full support where we can, but we can't send our men into the line of fire."

"You sent Mako into the line of fire," Korra mumbled under her breath, and this time it was Lin who bristled. Korra turned her attention back to Zhang and spoke before Lin could argue, "So what do you suggest we do then?"

"It could be that this was a one-time attack," said Zhang contemplatively. "We've not seen aggression on this large of a scale before."

"There've been kidnappings and reports of armed confrontation in smaller regions, though," said Suyin. "Lately we haven't been able to investigate them thoroughly. It could be that these smaller incidents are connected."

"It's all speculation!" roared Qin.

Korra sighed. This argument, she could see, was going nowhere. Indeed she sat for another hour and a half before lunch break, wordlessly listening to the back-and-forth arguments from the Earth Nation delegates, half of who wished to retaliate against the Firebending Society and half of who wanted to wait for further aggression to strike. To her credit, Suyin remained the neutral mediator, prodding her colleagues to elaborate on arguments and offer sound reasoning for their opinions, but few did, and the summit dismissed for lunch with tensions high.

The whole building felt cold. Lin hadn't said a word to Korra since the Avatar's underhanded jab at her during the meeting, and the chief still looked irate. Korra wondered more than once as they were served their lunch whether she had gone too far with her statement.

The afternoon did not improve anyone's mood, but it did bring Opal, who came as welcome relief. At least with her around Korra would have someone of a similar age and mindset to talk to. They sat apart from Lin and Su, as Lin had yet to break her silent treatment, and whispered to each other about things almost entirely unrelated to the current proceedings.

Small talk about life in general turned to specific talk about Mako's funeral, which Korra described in full detail. When Korra explained Bolin's lost and subsequently regained bending Opal's eyes began to glisten. Korra stopped and patted her on the hand. At afternoon break Opal made clear that she would be going to visit Bolin at his apartment that evening, and informed her mother that she would be out late. Suyin happily approved.

Next day matters intensified. President Raiko interrupted the morning session by barging into the room and demanding Korra and Lin see him immediately. Apparently Wu had waked and was asking to see them personally. The summit continued on, dealing with less important matters like taxation and borderlines under Suyin's leadership, while Korra, Lin, and Opal ventured to the hospital.

When the ladies entered, Wu greeted them with his traditional gusto: "Ladies," he drew out the word a bit too long, "so good to see you!" He seemed in high enough spirits and Korra noted with interest that he seemed, except for an exceptionally large bruise covering the right side of his face, to be no worse for the wear.

"You don't look hurt," Lin said skeptically. "What do you want?"

Wu pouted slightly. "I wanted to talk to the Avatar about what happened…" he said formally, but trailed off as if slightly confused.

"You've been unconscious for a while," Korra explained. "It's been almost two weeks."

Wu's confusion intensified. "Where's Mako?"

Lin, Opal, and Korra exchanged looks full of meaning, but Opal was the one to speak out. "Mako—didn't make it," she said. "There was a funeral for him last week. I'm sorry."

"What?" Wu cried, indignant. "That can't be right."

"What do you mean that can't be right," Lin rebutted angrily. "The body's already buried. I looked at it."

Wu pouted again, "But Mako," his voice turned suddenly dreamy as he thought, "the best bodyguard a guy could ask for…He protected me! I saw him!"

"Yeah, he protected you all right," said Lin. "Right into the ground."

Now Wu sat up, his gaze on Korra. "No, no, don't listen to her! You've got to believe this; we've got to help him out! I got hit in the head, right? Some flying boulder or plaster from the building, heck I don't know what it was because the fireball was so bright I couldn't see anything. But Mako…" his voice seemed to take on the same dreamy tone anytime he said Mako's name. "He took the blast for me, firebent the explosion away from me! I don't know what it was he did exactly but he protected me!"

Korra offered no reply when Wu paused, but crossed her arms over her chest instead. Thus far his story contained no new information at all and seemed entirely ordinary. She wasn't impressed.

"I don't remember a lot because I fell down," Wu replied, almost frantic, his flippant attitude dropped entirely. "Like I said, I got hit in the face," he pointed at the bruise for emphasis. "But I saw them. Mako passed out and someone grabbed him! Before I fainted I saw them take him away! I tried to yell 'Mako down!' but nobody around me was moving either!"

Korra looked to Lin skeptically, and Lin returned the expression. This piece of information was new.

"How can we be sure you know what you're talking about?" Lin pressed urgently. "You just said you got smacked in the head."

"I know what I saw," Wu said gravely. "And I saw Mako being taken away. That guy is the best friend I've ever had—heck he's the only friend I've ever had—and I know what I saw!"

Again, Korra looked to Lin, reading her expression for any doubt. What Korra saw in Lin's eyes was professionally masked surprise. This alarmed the Avatar: It was not often that Lin Beifong was caught off guard by anything. But this news, if indeed it was true, brought new urgency to an already dire situation.

"Do you have any proof that what you think happened is what really happened?" asked Opal gently while Korra and Beifong stared at each other. "Is there anyone else who can confirm?"

Wu shook his head, calmer now. "I don't know."

Seemingly settled, Lin rounded back on Wu and assumed a defensive posture. "We'll look into what we can," she said officially, "but you'll be needed at the Earth Summit as soon as you're ready."

"What Earth Summit?"

"The elections went on as planned," Korra explained, placing a hand on Lin's shoulder to placate her. She felt Lin relax a bit beneath her touch. "All the elected officials are here in Republic City for a meeting to determine what they're going to do with the Earth Nation. They want you to be their voice to the people."

Wu's expression brightened significantly. There was little he seemed to enjoy more than press attention. "All right!"

"I'll let them know at the summit that you're awake and talking. We'll see if the hospital will discharge you to begin your duties tomorrow," said Lin, and she escorted Korra and Opal from the room before Wu could say another word.

The three returned to the conference after lunch and did not have a chance to speak with Su until much later in the evening. When the summit recessed for the night, Opal, Lin, Su, and Korra gathered at the precinct to discuss Wu's message privately. All parties agreed that some investigation should take place as soon as possible, and Su mentioned briefly the possibility of exhuming the corpse they had buried to double check that they had identified the body correctly. Without witnesses they had no other way to be certain. The subject caused Lin to look slightly perturbed.

"I don't want to dig it up. I examined that thing as much as I could stomach," said the chief, "but it was downright disgusting."

"Bolin verified it was Mako," Korra agreed. "Didn't he?" As far as she was aware the case was open and shut.

Lin shook her head, much to Korra's surprise. "He went in the room, took one look at the body and nearly passed out. There wasn't a lot of examination on his end. Never seen him so pale in my life."

Until this point Opal had remained quiet and pensive. When she spoke she did so softly, always softly, but with conviction in her voice that no one could argue. "We need to tell him," she said. "We need to tell Bolin that there's a chance—"

"No!" Lin snapped. "No way. We're not telling him anything until I've got hard evidence to prove it."

Korra slumped into one of the chairs and rested her head against her hand. "I hate to say it, Opal, but I agree with Lin. I don't want to sound mean, but you haven't been around here lately, you haven't seen how this is affecting him."

"You told me he lost his bending," Opal protested. "But it came back! And of course he was upset but—"

"Kid's darn near lost his mind," Lin said. "Doesn't know down from up right now. This? Knowing there's a chance Mako is alive? He can't know until we're absolutely certain it's true."

"But that's cruel!" Opal cried.

Korra shook her head. "No, it's not. What would be cruel would be to give him hope after all he's been through. He's just on the upswing now, he's getting better, he moved back home, has gone to work. If we tell him there's a chance Mako is alive and then it turns out that chance was a lie…" Again she shook her head. Korra didn't dare entertain the possibility. Bolin was as much a brother to her as anyone had ever been. Seeing him knocked back down as soon as he got to his feet was more than she could bear.

Opal looked to her mother, but Su just shrugged. "Opal, I know this is hard," said Suyin, "but Lin and Korra know best right now. They're right: We haven't been here. You've only seen Bolin once, just last night, and you said that he—"

"He was just scared!" Opal cried. Tears rimmed her eyes again.

Korra looked between Su and Opal, suddenly quite alert. She remembered clearly Bolin's explosive and wholly unexpected rage at the South Pole, the moment in which his bending came back more powerful than she'd ever seen it before. Her stomach sank and she feared the worst. Had he lashed out at Opal?

"What happened?" Korra asked tenderly.

By now Opal had lost her restraint and was sobbing openly. "He was just afraid!" she cried, her head in her hands. "I tried to…And he said no and he sounded kind of angry…But nothing happened. He's just afraid to lose someone else!"

Su wrapped Opal in a tight hug and rubbed her back. "Now listen, Opal," she cooed, "you're exactly right. He was scared, and he probably still is. Wing and Wei said the exact same thing when they checked in with me over lunch today. Bolin isn't stable right now, he's keeping his distance and that's perfectly healthy. Getting him worked up all over again isn't going to help him. We've got to keep this quiet for now."

"I don't know what to do!" Opal continued. "I just want to make him feel better!"

Su looked between Korra and Lin. Korra shrugged her reply and Su stroked Opal's hair, then said, "You do what you can for him when he needs you, okay? You've always been good at helping people, and I know you can handle this. Until we say so, though, you can't tell him what happened."

"It's not fair!" Opal wailed.

"None of this is fair, sweetheart," Su comforted, "you're right. Now look at me—that's good—and promise me that no matter what happens you won't mention anything to Bolin. I know you love him and I know it's hard, but you have to keep quiet."

Opal nodded and pressed her face immediately back into her mother's shoulder.

"Excuse us," Su said to Korra and Lin. "We need to go calm down a little. You two and I can discuss this issue more later. We'll see you tomorrow at the summit, and hopefully we can get something done about Ba Sing Se and the investigation."

When Su was gone Lin practically collapsed into her chair and groaned. "We'd better get something done tomorrow," she said, "because if we don't I'm going to have a very angry lavabender on my hands and that's not something I'm equipped to deal with."

Again, Korra remembered the South Pole, and she heartily agreed.

The final day of the Earth Summit was by far the most productive. Though clad in unflattering hospital garb, Wu sat in a seat of honor between Avatar Korra and President Raiko. True to himself, the former monarch managed to fast-talk the delegates enough to come to several decisions even before lunch: He would be happy to act as reporter for the delegation as long as he had assistance and support from the others; Ba Sing Se would hire two hundred workers to reconstruct the broken upper ring; a group of Earth Nation citizens would be trained to investigate the explosion; and once their training had finished and the investigation was underway that group would train others to prevent acts of terrorism and respond if something happened again.

The afternoon session saw a second meeting scheduled six months hence, and delegates were sent to work on their own terms to develop tax and law policies for their individual provinces. These policies would be submitted for review by a panel to make certain that all was fair and balanced.

Nothing was said of Mako.

Korra left that night with mixed feelings. Wu had impressed her even without meaning to: It seemed that in the last months he had grown as a human being. Even if she still couldn't stand the thought of him, she felt proud that he had managed to accomplish something amongst the group of diverse delegates. All the same, she regretted that she hadn't had a chance to speak with someone about Wu's report. The idea that Mako could be alive and out in the world somewhere terrified her, especially when she considered whose hands he might have fallen into.

Relief came shortly after dinner, when Lin called to Air Temple Island to report to Korra that she and Su were meeting at the precinct to discuss the matter, which Lin referred to simply as "the news."

With no explanation to anyone (and much protest from Asami, who had grown both bored and slightly worried) Korra left for the police station. When she arrived, Su and Lin were already engaged in conversation that seemed cordial enough.

"We'll have to let Tenzin know our intent," Lin said, as if in the middle of explanation. She waved Korra into a second seat they had placed in front of Lin's desk. "He'll never allow us to disturb the land under his father's monument unless we've got extremely good reason."

"I'd say this is reason enough," Su agreed.

Lin and Su did most of the talking and Korra listened raptly. The two schemed for a long time, brainstorming a variety of excuses to keep the exhumation out of the news and away from Bolin. Then, all at once, Lin turned to Korra.

"Will you discuss this with Tenzin?" she asked. "I'd like to know what he thinks about the matter before we move forward with any plans."

Korra nodded. "I'll let you know first thing tomorrow."

On the way through the lobby, Korra passed by a detective who moved with particular urgency. Confused, she continued on and stopped short upon entering the waiting area.

"Bolin?"

He was standing with his hands shoved in his pockets, apparently fresh from work. Sweaty, dirt-stained, and with a look of general exhaustion, he greeted her with a subdued, "Hey. What's going on?"

"Nothing. We just got done with the summit," Korra lied. She recalled Lin saying something about Bolin's visit but hadn't expected to run into him firsthand, and definitely not so soon.

"Good," Bolin said darkly. "That's what I wanted to talk to Lin about."

"Well, she's back there," Korra said, and pointed with her thumb toward Lin's office. "I've got to get back to Air Temple Island. Asami's going to kill me if I don't spend some time with her."

"Have fun."

Nervously, Korra exited and watched through the doors as Bolin made his way toward the back of the office.

"Chief, Nuktuk is here to see you," said the detective happily, poking his head into the office.

Lin exchanged a dark look with Su, but Su nodded. "Send him in," said Lin, but Bolin was already halfway through the door when she finished her statement, much to the surprise of the detective.

"Nuktuk, can I have your auto—"

Bolin slammed the office door in the detective's face, and then he marched up to the desk without so much as a look to Su. He stared at Lin with a look so calm as to be unnerving. "Well," he said flatly, "what've you got?"

Lin regarded him carefully and shot a surreptitious glance to Su, who presently scrutinized Bolin with the same curious expression. The door slamming directly contradicted the cool front he had suddenly taken on.

"I told you I'd let you know when all the decisions were made," Lin replied.

"The radio coverage of the summit finished over two hours ago, and I've been sitting around waiting. I'm tired of waiting. I need a decision," he said, his frustration apparent.

"Hello, Bolin," Su said lightly, but the look he shot her quieted her immediately. It was a look Lin had never seen before, intense and reckless.

"Just sit down and I'll tell you everything we talked about all week," Lin said in the same deadpan tone as always, as if Bolin's anger was commonplace. Truly she was trying to diffuse the situation.

Bolin did not sit.

"Things are going to go slower than you want," Lin explained anyway, reclining slightly in her chair. Perhaps if she pressed on things would deescalate. "The Earth Nation is going to take full responsibility for the investigation by hiring citizens to—"

"So you've got nothing," interrupted Bolin hotly. "Three days of talking and you've got absolutely nothing."

"They're going to train people to investigate," Lin protested.

"And how long is that going to take?" Bolin's voice flared resentfully. "It's already been two weeks, we've got absolutely nothing. No clues, nobody looking at the site, nobody exploring options. We had a deal! You agreed!"

Lin looked to Su pleadingly, hoping she might intervene before things got out of hand, and Su took charge on cue. Wordlessly, she walked around the desk and wrapped her arms around Bolin's broad shoulders. It would be expected for him to relax at the comfortable touch, but instead a tension wound up in Bolin's body. His muscles locked tight like he was preparing to strike out.

"Don't touch me," he growled at Su, but made no move to pull away.

Bolin looked as though he was radiating heat. His whole body trembled.

"You need to calm down," said Su quietly, in a motherly tone that Lin had never heard. "Yelling isn't going to solve anything."

Bolin breathed very deep, his fists clenched at his sides. "I'm going to tell you one time…Let. Me. Go." He emphasized every word.

"We understand you're upset," Su cooed. She tried to usher him toward a chair. "Just relax. Nobody is going to hurt—"

All at once Bolin wrenched himself away from her, rounding angrily, and Su stumbled and fell. For the briefest moment a look of shame flashed across Bolin's face, but anger replaced it just as fast and the earthbender snapped completely. "What do you know? What do you care?"

Su looked dumbfounded, rooted to the spot on the ground where she had fallen. "What is wrong with you?" she cried, half terrified but genuinely concerned.

Bolin ignored her and turned back on Lin. He pointed his finger at her forcefully while his free hand flexed in and out of a tightly coiled fist. All his carefully controlled composure seemed to have gone. "And you!" He stopped, seemingly too angry to think of an appropriate insult. "You want me to wait? What do I have to wait for, Lin? What do I have at all? Korra? No, she's too busy with Asami to care about helping me. Asami's too busy with Korra and her company! Tenzin's too busy doing airbender stuff! And you're too busy with this stupid summit! I helped you! I've put my life on the line for all of you, and now that I need you you've done nothing but kick me aside and hang me out to dry!"

"You know that's not true," Su said, getting cautiously to her feet.

"Shut up!" Bolin roared at her. "You aren't a part of this!"

If truth was told, Lin had said nothing because she honestly didn't know what to say. She knew Bolin would be visiting her and had been thinking all day of how this encounter might play out, but nowhere in her wildest imagination did she believe the generally tenderhearted earthbender was capable of this kind of anger. She did not know how to calm him, and the longer he spoke the more uncomfortable she became, until she noted with shock that the floor beneath her feet had grown quite warm: The whole room had grown quite warm. She watched him flexing his fists, stretching each finger individually, flexing again, and stretching again. Both hands were working furiously at Bolin's side.

He had lost control.

"Sit down!" Lin shouted with urgency as she stood, and though she was at the very least the same height as Bolin the sheer intensity of her voice made her huge. "You sit down right now!"

Su seemed to have noticed the mounting danger. Her eyes were locked on the floor. A small area near Lin's desk had sunk downward and the stone seemed to be softening.

"Why?" Bolin shouted, just as intensely. "You can't arrest me for yelling at you!"

"No, but I will arrest you for melting my precinct!"

Bolin's eyes went suddenly wide, he balked at her. "What?"

"Look at yourself!" Lin shouted in condemnation, unable to hide her indignation. "Look at what you're doing! You hit my sister! You made Opal cry! And now you're so far gone you've lost control! I don't care how upset you are; this is disgraceful! You should be ashamed to call yourself an earthbender!"

All the fire went out at once, and Bolin's hands went slack. He shot a sheepish glance around the room, avoiding meeting Su's gaze at all costs, and seemed to realize at once that the warmth he had felt was not internal but instead came from the gradual heating of the earth around him. He looked back at Lin, terrified, and took a step back.

"I don't know..." Bolin stammered, shaking his head madly. He raised his hands to cover his nose and mouth. He continued backing toward the door. "I don't understand..."

Lin exchanged another look with Su. Again, she moved to help him into a chair but he recoiled and stumbled before she ever got close to him.

"You need to sit down," Su said. "You need to calm down."

"I'm so sorry," Bolin said. "I'm so sorry. I don't know what's happening. I just…"

Su inched just close enough to grasp his hands, but again he pulled away, so distressed he could scarcely form a coherent word. This time he bolted.

Lin looked to Su as soon as Bolin cleared the door. "I'm putting out an APB. We can't let him run around the city in this state. Go call Opal, warn her what happened here and tell her to be on the watch, and then call Asami and tell her the same. I'll call Air Temple Island and inform Tenzin and Korra." She blew a deep sigh and looked at her now cooling office. "I hate to think what he might do right now."