AFTERMATH
CHAPTER TEN
PART TWO: THE PATRIOT
Kuang would never describe himself as a morning person, especially after he had spent a late night bargaining with greedy newspaper editors. This morning, however, his pockets were weighed down by the wad of yuans he had received for selling the photographs he had taken the previous day and he was eager to pay off a few old debts before he wasted it all on booze and bets. After washing his face with cold water, and clearing away the mess on his kitchen table, he slung his camera bag over his shoulder and headed out to face the day.
The first thing he noticed as he walked out his front door on to the footpath was the bright morning sun. Shading his eyes with one hand he reached into his camera bag, pulled out his hat, and stuck it on his head, tugging the front down a little to block the direct sunlight. That was when he noticed the fancy red hot-rod parked on the footpath directly across from his home, its polished metal grille and engine gleaming in the sun.
Three men leaned against the car. The first was a gaunt man with a pencil-thin moustache and a knife scar that ran down the left side of his face. He was picking his teeth with a toothpick and looking down at his shoes. The second man was staring directly at Kuang with a nasty smile on his face. He was a tall man dressed in a coat of water-tribe blue, with a gold necklace hanging around his neck, and a matching gold pocket watch. Standing between those two was a larger man dressed in an expensive grey suit with white stockings and gloves. His face was hidden behind a copy of the Republic News, the photograph Kuang had taken prominent on the front page.
As Kuang glanced down the road towards the nearby train station and weighed up if it was worth running, the man with the scar spat out the toothpick and took a step forward, while the man in blue reached into his jacket to pull out a long knife with a gold hilt.
"Ah Kuang," a smooth voice said. The newspaper was carefully folded across the middle of the page and the rugged features of Viper, the waterbending boss of the Triple Threat Triad, came into view.
"I was just on my way to see you," Kuang said, taking a step backwards. The brickwork of his apartment building pressed against his back and he knew he had nowhere to run.
"Of course you were," Viper said. "Shady Shin, didn't I just say that Kuang was the sort of man who honoured his debts. The sort of man who, as soon as he came into some purple, would rush to see his old friend Viper and pay what he owed. How much does he owe us now?"
"Nearly two thousand, Boss," the man in blue replied.
"Two thousand," Viper repeated. "That's a lot of yuans for an unlucky news hound like you. Do you have my two thousand yuans, Kuang? Two-toed Ping here is getting very impatient."
"That's right, Boss," the man with the scar said. "I'm an impatient kind of guy."
Kuang dug into his pocket and pulled out a stack of notes. "I can pay you five hundred," he said, holding out the notes for Viper to take.
Shady Shin snatched them out of his hand and quickly counted the money. "Five hundred, Boss," he said, folding the notes up again and slipping them into a coat pocket.
"Looks like you just bought yourself a week, Kuang," Viper said, tossing the newspaper at the photographer. It bounced off the photographer's broad chest and fell on the footpath. "You'd better get out there and take some more photos," he suggested. "Because if we don't have another five hundred in our hands by this time next week you won't find us so understanding. Let's go boys, Kuang here has some work to do."
As Kuang ran off down the street the nearby train station, Shady Shin opened the rear door of the hot-rod for his boss and then jumped into the driver seat. Two-Toed Ping took a moment to walk over and pick up the newspaper before he climbed into the front passenger seat.
"What do you want that for?" Shady Shin said.
"There is a good picture of Mako on the front page," Two-Toed Ping replied. "See, he's dating the Avatar again."
"That's why I don't read those things," Shady Shin said. "There is no chance a loser like Mako is dating the Avatar. I didn't believe it the first time and I don't believe it now. She's a classy girl, she needs someone high-class."
"Like you?"
"Yeah, exactly, someone like me."
Viper reached out and slapped Shady Shin across the back of the head. "Get moving you idiot, we have a dozen more of these losers to visit before we head back to the club."
A loud noise woke Mako from his slumber. At first he lay on his bed in the dim light that filtered past the blinds and wondered what was happening, but he soon heard a loud screeching noise from the brakes beneath the carriage. He reached out to touch the wall and felt a strong vibration running through the entire carriage as the train slowed rapidly.
A distant voice sounded like Wu calling out to him, so Mako threw off the covers and leapt out of bed. He pulled the door to the hallway open and found several other sleepy passengers poking their heads out of their cabins. "What's going on?" he asked as Bumi walked out of his cabin. Like Mako, the older airbender was wearing just his shorts and a singlet.
"No idea," Bumi said, yawning loudly and stretching. "Are we stopping?"
"Where is Wu?" Mako demanded to know.
"In his room?" Bumi suggested, looking over at Wu's cabin. The door to the prince's cabin was still closed, but only silence could be heard from the room beyond.
Mako ran to the door and pushed it open, hurrying into the room the check on Wu. The prince huddled on the floor, curled up and covered by a royal-green blanket trimmed with gold thread. "Mako!" he cried when he saw his bodyguard enter. "It was horrible."
"Are you all right?" Mako asked, helping the prince up off the floor and removing the blanket and tossing it back on the bed. Wu wore his green silk pyjamas with the gold symbol of the earth kingdom on the breast and Mako couldn't see any sign of an injury.
"What's happening?" Wu asked. "I got tossed out of bed. You need to tell the driver that is no way to drive my train."
"Wait here," Mako told the prince. "I'll go and find out what is going on."
Mako went back to the door to see who was awake. Aside from Bumi, Lei and Jing-mei were also awake and standing near the door of their shared cabin. Both were still dressed for bed, but they looked alert and awake. There was no sign of Ryu or Grandma Yin and the doors to their cabins were still closed. "Guard the prince," he told the two women. "Bumi come with me."
"But..." Bumi began, pointing to his room.
"Now," Mako ordered. Bumi threw up his hands and followed the fire bender towards the front of the cabin. By now the train had come to a stop, but as the terrain outside looked barren and desolate, this was certainly not a scheduled station.
The next carriage on from the prince's contained the Wu's expansive private bathroom as well as a fully stocked kitchen to tend to his desires and the small quarters sets aside for Wu's cook and servants. They were already awake and had been working on preparing the morning meal. Mako ordered them to stay in the kitchen, and keep low and out of sight. With Bumi close behind he entered the last carriage before the engine.
This carriage was mainly used for storage, which on this trip was mainly Wu's baggage, but it also had quarters for the engine's crew. A long-haul train like this had three engineers and two maintenance staff who could potentially keep it running non-stop from Republic City to Ba Sing Se, although on this trip a short stop was planned about halfway through the long journey.
"What's going on?" Mako asked when he saw one of the crew near the entrance to his small cabin.
"No idea," the man said. "We've stopped, but we weren't scheduled to stop until around midday."
"All right, stay in your cabin," Mako told him. "I'll check it out."
"Right," the man said, stepping back inside his cabin.
"We'll sort this out," Bumi assured the man.
"Come on, Bumi," Mako called over his shoulder as he pulled open the door between the carriage and the engine.
The engineer on duty was waiting for them in the control room, looking extremely concerned. "At last," he said, breathing a sigh of relief.
"What's going on?" Mako asked.
The engineer pointed out the small window at the front of his compartment that allowed him see the track ahead. Mako peered through the window and his eyes widened as he saw the entire track for as far as he could see now lay buried under rubble. "What caused this?" he asked the engineer. "A rock fall?"
"Nothing natural," the engineer said, looking at the steep hills that rose on either side of the track and shivering in fear as his imagination conjured unseen enemies who lurked just out of sight.
Lin had been up for most of the night dealing with the aftermath of the events from the previous evening and it was beginning to show as her temper frayed. "You don't have a choice," she snapped at Varrick. "If you want to leave here then you are going to accept a police escort, President Raiko's orders."
"Well that's totally unacceptable, Lin," Varrick said. "How can I be expected to run a successful business when I'm burdened with a pair of varricake scoffing simpletons."
"Then you can stay here," Lin said.
Varrick looked ready to argue, but Zhu Li placed a restraining hand across his mouth. "What my husband means to say, Lin, is that many of our business dealings are of a sensitive nature and can not be conducted in the presence of your officers."
"Are you saying my officers can't be trusted?"
"Of course not, but it only takes one innocently misplaced word and we risk losing hundreds of thousands of yuans. Perhaps..."
"Your business dealings aren't my concern," Lin said. "Raiko ordered that you have a police escort, so while you are in this city you'll have one and if you aren't happy with that then I can find a cell downstairs for you instead."
"I already have a bodyguard," Varrick pointed out.
"With all due respect to Mr Yao..."
"Big Yao," the former pro-bender said. "My name is Big Yao."
Lin sighed. "All right, Big Yao, but no matter what you call yourself it doesn't change the fact that you weren't able to keep Varrick safe last time."
"That wasn't his fault," Varrick complained. "No one could have expected those two metalbenders to ambush us in the middle of the bay like that. With the modifications I've made to my launch, their boat shouldn't have even been able to catch us."
"Perhaps we can compromise," Zhu Li said. "Not about the escort," she quickly added before Lin could argue. "But, if you can bend the rules just a little so we can conduct business matters in private while your officers remain outside the room then we can accept that. They would still be guarding us, just not in the room guarding us. Is that acceptable?"
"Okay," Lin agreed. "I don't like it, but if that's what it takes to get you out of my office then I can agree to that. However, if either of you try to give my men the slip then I'll have you stuck here in protective custody for as long as it takes us to bring the rest of these Kuvira loyalists to justice."
"We can accept that," Zhu Li said. Varrick said nothing, instead he plucked the morning copy of the Republic News off Lin's desk and flicked through the first few pages.
"Good," Lin said. "The two officers I've chosen are already waiting outside for you."
"I still think you are Raiko are worrying about what is probably a very small threat," Varrick said, holding up the copy of the newspaper so Lin could see the front page, which featured a photograph of Korra hugging Mako at the train station yesterday under the headline 'Rekindled Love for Avatar Korra?'
"See," Varrick said, slapping the paper. "We didn't even make the front page, and you already have the culprits in prison. Those other two I saw getting paid off have probably left the city by now."
"Varrick, we just settled this!" Lin said, snatching the newspaper off him and tossing it into the waste paper basket beneath her desk. "Anyway, I don't agree with you. Yesterday few people were willing to take the threat from these Kuvira loyalists seriously, but if this small group was able to kidnap you in the heart of the city in broad daylight, then there is not telling how far they will go or what their goals might be."
"I still think it's an overreaction," Varrick said, folding his arms and slumping down in his chair.
"Well until Raiko changes his orders you are stuck with my officers," Lin said.
"Varrick," Zhu Li said. "Let's go. We still have a lot to do and I don't think you are going to win this argument."
"All right," Varrick sighed. "Let's get this over with. Where is this escort of yours, Lin?"
"They are waiting for you outside my office, but before you leave, Zhu Li I believe this belong to you." Lin opened a drawer in her desk and pulled out a folder filled with loose papers. "We recovered this from your boat. It had slipped down beside one of the chairs and looked important."
"Thank you," Zhu Li replied, taking the folder and checking through the papers inside.
"Is our launch here?" Varrick asked. "We need to get back to our yacht to pick up our satomobile. It should have been winched ashore by now."
"Detective Dakola has sealed your boat," Lin said. "She needs time for her team to properly search it for evidence relating to those two mercenaries you mentioned. They weren't among the prisoners or the bodies recovered from the sewers so they must still be out there somewhere. Based on your description and Mr Yao's evidence it seems they were the only two competent members of the entire group."
"Big Yao," the bodyguard reminded Lin.
"Then how are we going to get back to our yacht?" Varrick asked.
"I have assigned a patrol vehicle to the officers who will be escorting you," Lin replied. "They can drive you back to your Yacht and then will follow you when you leave in your own vehicle."
"Just as long as they can keep up," Varrick said.
The phone on Lin's desk rang and she picked up the receiver. "Send him up immediately," she said after a few moments listening to the person on the other end. She hung up the phone and waved a hand towards the door. "Get out of here," she said. "I have an important meeting."
"Goodbye, Lin," Zhu Li said, prodding her husband into leaving the office. Two uniformed officers looked up expectantly from a nearby desk as Varrick and his companions emerged from Lin's office, but the inventor's gaze flicked passed them and settled on the group of men and woman who had just entered the exterior office, led by President Raiko.
"Raiko," he called out. "I want to talk to you."
"Not now," Raiko said as he brushed past them.
"Wait," Varrick said. "This escort idea is..."
Raiko cut him off. "Make an appointment, Varrick," he said. "I'm too busy now."
As the door to Lin's office shut behind the president and his party, Varrick stared at it in annoyance. "You'd think after all the money I gave him to fund his campaign he'd be a little more generous with his time," he complained loudly. "Well no more, do you hear me, next time I'm only going to support the other guy."
Before anyone could say anything more, the older of the two uniformed officers took a step forward. "Mr Varrick, we have been assigned as your escorts."
"Do you have names?" Varrick asked.
"I'm Sergeant Tang and this is Officer Song," the officer said. "We are both senior patrol officers," he added.
"So you'll be guarding us day and night eh?"
"We'll be the morning shift," Tang said. "We will be replaced by a second shift this afternoon and a third shift will take over later tonight." He pointed to a bulky radio clipped to his belt. "We have portable radios to call into the station if anything happens and so our replacement can find us no matter where we go."
"They look rather heavy," Varrick commented. "You know I could probably design something that is half the..."
"You'll need to take that up with Chief Beifong," the Sergeant said. "She authorises all purchases."
"Lin said you had a vehicle?" Zhu Li asked.
"Chief Beifong has made a patrol vehicle available to us," Office Song said. "It's waiting out the front of the station. Where do you need to go?"
"Well, first I think we need something to eat," Varrick said. "Lin needs to do something about the food here. It's barely edible."
"Say whatever happened to those verricakes you used to sell?" Officer Song asked. "I used to love those."
Varrick turned and looked at Zhu Li. "See what did I tell you, we need to buy that bakery back."
"If we can afford it," Zhu Li said. "But we can talk about this later. In private."
"Right then," Varrick said, throwing a friendly arm around Officer Song. "What are we waiting for, let's get the satomobile on the road. Narook's is close by, we can get a good proper breakfast there, my treat."
"I see that the Republic News is keeping to their usual standards of accurate reporting," Tenzin said as he tossed the newspaper into the centre of the breakfast table.
"Oh dear, what is it this time?" Pema asked, placing a plate of sliced fruit down in front of Meelo.
"Nothing important," Tenzin said. "Just more speculation on Korra's relationships. You would think they could find something better to write about by now, and that they would show a little more respect for the Avatar instead of making up more nonsense."
Jinora snatched the paper from the centre of the table and turned it over to read the front page. Then she frowned and tossed it back on the table where it slid across towards Meelo who eyed it suspiciously. "Can I be excused?" She asked, looking over at Tenzin.
"Jinora, you know my views on a healthy diet. Eat your breakfast before you waste more time with Kai."
Jinora grabbed two oranges out of the fruit basket in the centre of the table and held them up. "I can eat these," she said.
Tenzin sighed in frustration. "All right, but remember we have two new trainees here at the moment so I'll need your help later with teaching."
The young airbending master nodded and kissed her father on the cheek before running out the door.
"She spends far too much time with that boy," Tenzin said.
"They are young," Pema said, reaching over the table with a cloth in hand to wipe Rohan's mouth clean. "Normal teenagers like to go out and have fun, not spend all day studying and teaching."
In between feeding his pet lemur, Poki, juicy slices of peach and other fruit, Meelo read the front page of the newspaper upside down. "You're right, Dad," he said. "This paper is definitely wrong, Korra isn't in love with Mako."
From her seat across the table, Ikki snorted. "What do you know of love."
"More than you," Meelo sneered back at this sister, tossing a peach slice at her head. She ducked and it landed on the floor behind her. Poki leapt up and glided across the table after the peach, chattering excitedly. Ikki used her airbending to blow the newspaper into Meelo's face.
"Children," Pema said in her best mum voice. "No airbending at the table."
"But it's true, Mum," Meelo said. "Korra is in love with Asami."
"Wait," Tenzin said. "How do you know this, Meelo."
"Well, it's obvious," Meelo said. "At the wedding I asked Asami to dance with me and she refused. The only way Asami would ever be able to resist this much Meelo is if she was in love with someone else and the only other person worthy of her is Korra. Then Korra asked Asami to go away with her just like Varrick and Zhu Li went away after the wedding. As I said, it's obvious."
"That's so beautiful," Ikki said, clasping her hands together in excitement. "When do you think they will be getting married? Can we all go to the wedding? Can I cut my hair for the wedding? Can I get new clothes? I want to wear a dress this time, Dad. Why haven't they told us yet?"
Tenzin looked flustered and wasn't sure what to say. He glanced over at Pema who came to the rescue. "How about you both give Korra and Asami some time to themselves," she suggested. "If they are together then they will tell us all when they feel ready."
Jinora tucked the oranges into the flap in her wing-suit and ran down to the docks where an old air acolyte was sweeping the steps clean. "Gato," she said. "How many copies of the Republic News did we get delivered today?"
"Three as always, Master Jinora," the old man replied. "One for Master Tenzin, one for the women's dormitory and one for the men's. Same as we get every day."
"Where do you put the ones for the dormitories? In the common rooms?"
"That's right, Master Jinora."
"Thanks," Jinora said, rushing off up the stairs, leaving the acolyte shaking his head in confusion at her strange behaviour.
The men's dormitory was quiet by the time Jinora arrived, with most the of the airbenders away on missions or already out working and training. She carefully opened the door and sneaked across to the low table that appeared to hold the morning's papers and other reading material. However, when she searched through the small pile of magazines and newspapers there was no sign on the Republic News, only the other two daily newspapers.
"Looking for this," Kai asked. He was leaning up against side of the door that led towards the bedrooms dangling the copy of the newspaper between his thumb and forefinger, and he had a broad, knowing smile on his face.
"You can't believe that story," Jinora said.
"I don't know about that," Kai said, looking at the front page again. "This looks like pretty good photographic proof that Korra is actually dating Mako."
"It's just a hug," Jinora argued. "That doesn't prove anything."
"I seem to recall we agreed on photographic proof," Kai reminded her. "Besides it says here 'Avatar Korra spent most of the time at the side of her ex-boyfriend, Mako, the former detective and pro-bender who now works as Prince Wu's personal bodyguard. As the two said goodbye they were seen by this reporter and others to share a passionate hug.' That seems pretty convincing to me."
"You did say that you would only accept proof of Asami and Korra holding hands or a kiss, so the same must be true for disproving their relationship."
"Or something," Kai said. "I seem to recall adding that to the end."
"That's too vague, I would never agree to a hug being proof," Jinora said, folding her arms. "Korra hugs people all the time."
"All right," Kai said with a laugh. "But this bet looks like it's in the bag now, even the newspapers agree with me."
"I wouldn't get too confident," Jinora said. "Remember, that Korra is still staying every night at Asami's apartment."
"They are just good friends," Kai said. "They are probably talking about boys or something."
Jinora glared at her boyfriend. "Despite what you might think, Kai, girls don't spend every free moment talking about boys."
"I'm just saying it's a possibility," Kai said.
"Well, I have work to do," Jinora said, heading for the door.
"Wait," Kai called after her. "Are you free for lunch?"
"Depends how busy Dad keeps me with these new trainees."
"More new trainees?"
Jinora nodded "These two came in from the Earth Kingdom a couple of days ago after bandits razed their farm. I guess they decided the air nation was safer than their homeland."
"It sounds like things are getting bad again out there again," Kai said.
"Yeah it is," Jinora agreed. "Has Dad said anything about sending you on a mission again?"
Kai shook his head. "Not until Opal gets back I think. I won't be able to fight off hordes of bandits on my own."
"But I'm sure you'd try," Jinora said with a smile. She spotted her father heading for the main courtyard near the front of the island where a small group of trainees was waiting for their teachers to arrive. She quickly kissed Kai goodbye and hurried down to join Tenzin.
"Do we have to get up?" Korra groaned. She lay in bed snuggled up next to Asami with her arm draped across her girlfriend's shoulder.
"Well I do have to go into the office sometime, Korra," Asami said. "Although it would be nice just to stay here all day."
"That sounds so perfect," Korra said, nuzzling the back of Asami's neck. "Let's do that."
A loud screeching noise came from somewhere inside the building and Korra sat up, looking around in alarm for any potential threat. "What is that," Korra asked as the noise continued and it was soon joined by a deeper grinding sound.
Asami groaned. "It must be the builders, I forgot that I asked Seiko to send a group of construction workers over here to continue work on the apartment refurbishments. That noise is the saw they use for cutting smoothly through stonework."
"So I guess we aren't staying in today after all," Korra said wistfully.
"Sorry, Korra," Asami said.
"What about lunch then. We can buy something from a street vendor, sit in the park, and have a nice lunch with just the two of us."
"Aren't you forgetting you already promised to make dinner for me and everyone at Air Temple Island tonight?"
"I still haven't asked Pema yet," Korra said.
"Well, you haven't had much of a chance yet," Asami noted. "We only talked about it last night."
"True," Korra said. "So I guess I will need to go over to Air Temple Island sometime today and see Pema. But, we can still do both lunch and dinner can't we?"
A whine came from the next room as the noise of the saw woke Naga as well. Large paws padded across the floor and the polar bear dog bumped against the bedroom door and whined again. Asami climbed out of the warm, comfortable bed and searched around on the bedside table. "Where is my dressing gown?" she asked Korra.
"I left it in your workroom when I carried you back to bed," Korra said, sitting up and stretching her arms above her head to try to work out the soreness she felt in her muscles from the previous night's adventure.
"My workroom?"
"Yes, you fell asleep working on a blueprint."
"Oh, I guess I did," Asami said. "I hope I didn't damage it, I need it for work today." She left the bed and walked over to the door. Seeing Korra's clothes on the floor behind the chair, she bent down to collect them only to grimace at the rank smell rising off the outfit Korra had worn into the sewer last night.
"What exactly were you up to with Lin last night," Asami asked, carrying Korra's clothes over to her at arm's length and depositing them on the floor next to Korra's side of the bed.
"Chasing some of Kuvira's former soldiers through the sewers to find Varrick."
"That explains the smell then. Was everyone was okay?"
"Everyone except for three of the soldiers, they were accidentally killed by one of their own who was in a working mecha suit. Lin and I were able to stop him though."
"And Varrick?"
"Alive and well, although I think he is a bit grumpy with Lin at the moment because she is keeping him in protective custody until she finishes the investigation and is satisfied that there are no more of these Kuvira loyalists around."
"Sounds like a good place for him," Asami commented. "Do you want some tea?"
"Yes please," Korra said. She bent over to collect her clothing and started to pull on her pants, her nose wrinkling at the stench of the sewers that still hung about the outfit. Although she hadn't waded through the muck that filled the sewers, the stench had somehow still managed to permeate the fabric. She decided a quick dip in the ocean later was probably called for, or even better a side trip to Air Temple Island to change her outfit.
Asami left the bedroom and manoeuvred her way past Naga who tried to leap up at her and lick her face. "How about some more water, girl?" she asked Naga as she headed to the kitchen. She went to the kitchen to put the kettle on and then refilled the polar bear dog's bowl and placed it back in the dining room. As Naga lapped up the water, Asami headed back to the bedroom where Korra had just finished dressing. "You know," Asami said. "If you are going to be sleeping here regularly, perhaps you should store a spare set of clothes here."
"Are you sure?" Korra asked.
"Only if you want to," Asami said. The kettle whistled from the kitchen. "I'll just get the tea."
As Asami was busy preparing the tea, Korra straightened the bedding and then joined Naga in the dining room. The polar bear dog took one whiff of Korra and turned her head away. "I'm not that bad, girl," Korra complained with her hands on her hips.
Asami returned from the kitchen and placed a tray containing a steaming pot of tea and two cups down on the low table in the centre of the room. She poured Korra a cup and then sat down and poured herself one as well. "So what are your plans for the day?" Asami asked, sipping her tea.
"I thought I might follow-up with Lin about these kidnappers," Korra replied, sitting down opposite Asami. "If they were after Varrick to learn how to develop another spirit vine weapon then there is probably more of them out there somewhere and we will need to stop them before they try again."
"I agree," Asami said. "The last thing we want is another one of those weapons, especially in the hands of another leader like Kuvira."
"Do you think it is possible to develop these weapons without Varrick, Zhu Li or Baatar?"
Asami sipped her tea again and considered this. "Maybe," she said. "All I know is that he used the untapped energy of spirit vines to somehow generate the beam, but with some experimentation it is possible that someone could replicate the design."
"So it's inevitable then," Korra said.
"Not necessarily," Asami said. "Anyone that wanted to develop the weapon would need a lot of resources, including spirit vines as a power source. The biggest source of vines is probably right here in Republic City, so maybe you should suggest to Lin and Raiko that they keep an eye on the spirit wilds. Of course, the main threat from Kuvira was her giant mecha which made the weapon mobile and she needed the domes of Zaofu to provide enough metal to build it. Now they are gone it would be difficult to build another mecha of that size without someone noticing the drain on metal stocks, especially platinum which is getting very expensive."
"Kuvira was still able to make that thing without anyone noticing," Korra said.
"True, but she had the resources of an entire nation behind her and had all communications within the Earth Kingdom under her complete and absolute control. I doubt anyone could build another weapon like that unless they had the full support of an entire nation."
"I hope you are right," Korra said.
"Me too," Asami said softly. "I never want to see another one of those things."
Both woman sat quietly for a few minutes as they finished their tea and remembered back to the battle against Kuvira's army. Finally, Asami put her cup down and looked over at Korra. "If you do want to have lunch with me today, I should have time."
"Okay, great," Korra said.
Asami's purse was still sitting on the couch where she had left it the previous evening, so she reached over and dug out several one and two yuan coins. "Here," she said, handing the coins to Korra. "You buy something nice and bring it to my office around lunch time."
Korra hesitated for a second before accepting the coins and slipping them into a pocket. "Thanks," she said.
"What's the matter?" Asami asked.
"Nothing."
"Korra, I can tell something is bothering you. Is it because I gave you those coins?"
"Yeah," Korra said. "I don't want you to have to buy me everything. I should be able to buy you food and clothes as well. When I was... away I worked and did all sorts of jobs to earn money for food."
"Being the Avatar isn't a job though, you don't get paid for it and I don't mind."
"I know, and that worked for Avatars in the past. But, now it seems that the world has changed and everyone has money now. When I first came to the city even buying a meal needed yuans and I had nothing to pay with because the White Lotus and my family had always provided everything. That still hasn't changed for me."
"Yes, but it has been this way in Republic City for decades now. What did Aang do? He lived in this city for many years so would have had to deal with the same problems you do."
"I don't know," Korra admitted.
"Well, you can always ask Tenzin, he would know."
"Good idea, I'll speak to him tonight."
"Do you want more tea," Asami asked, noticed that Korra had placed her empty cup back on the table.
Korra shook her head. "No, I should probably get down to the police station to meet with Lin. I want to see if she has learned anything new."
"Remember to take your staff," Asami said, nodding her head towards the bedroom where Korra's glider staff was still leaning against the wall.
Korra climbed to her feet and went to the bedroom collect the staff, while Asami cleared away the tea things and carried the tray back to the kitchen. They met back in the dining room, and Asami wrapped her arms around Korra's neck and drew her girlfriend close for a deep, lingering kiss. "Have a nice day, babe," she said as they parted. "I'll see you at lunch."
"Until then," Korra said. "Come on, Naga."
Naga looked up and then over at Asami with a downcast expression on her face before she turned and trotted after Korra. Squeezing through the door, Naga left the apartment and followed Korra along the corridor past two empty apartments until she reached the staircase. A man in grey overalls with the Future Industries logo on the breast pocket hurriedly stepped back as the polar bear dog approached. He had just finished ripping out the wall that Naga had damaged on the way up the staircase the previous evening.
"Let's go, girl," Korra said. She nodded in greeting to the workman and then headed down the stairs. Naga paused for a moment at the top of the stairs, remembering how tight it had been coming up, but still followed her mistress.
"You!" a woman's voice called out to her from somewhere below. Korra turned the corner in the staircase and was confronted by a solidly-built middle-aged woman dressed in a green and grey striped suit. The woman was looking up at her with an angry frown on her face. "Where is Ms. Sato?" she asked.
"Upstairs," Korra said. "But..."
"Right," the woman said. "Get this animal out of my way, I need to talk to her about stealing my best workers and leaving me with those worthless newcomers from the Fire Nation. The last thing I needed was more useless firebenders."
"You'll need to go downstairs," Korra told her. "I can't turn Naga around on these narrow stairs."
"Stupid fat bear creature," the woman muttered as she trudged down the stairs to the next floor to allow Korra to pass.
Korra stopped near the woman, Naga pushing forward and trying to peer through the door into the room where the woman was now standing. "Asami is just still getting ready," she told the woman. "She will be down shortly so give her ten or fifteen minutes."
"What are you, her servant?" the woman asked.
"I'm Avatar Korra."
"Oh the Avatar are you? Well I guess you can earthbend so I'll give you a pass on holding me up. Now get out of my way so I can see what stupid project Ms. Sato has my poor earthbenders working on this time."
Korra nodded and guided Naga down to the bottom floor of the apartment, making her way past another two workmen who were lifting a large wooden crate off the back of a large truck that had pulled up outside the apartment building. Once she was out on the footpath she stopped and looked up at the balcony of Asami's bedroom high above.
"Wait here, Naga," Korra said as she leapt into the air and unfurled her glider staff. With Naga watching from below with a puzzled expression on her furry face, Korra circled high up into the air and eventually she was high enough to land on Asami's fifth floor balcony. The balcony door wasn't locked but she still knocked on the glass instead of barging straight inside.
Asami pulled the curtains open and, seeing Korra waiting for her, she opened the door. "What's the matter?" she asked. "I thought you were leaving."
"There is a woman downstairs complaining about you stealing her earthbenders," Korra said. "I thought I'd better warn you."
"Oh," Asami said. "That must be Lin-wei, she runs my construction division. I guess I did kind of steal some of her workers yesterday. I'll sort it out with her. Thanks for the warning, babe."
"Any time," Korra said, leaning forward to steal a quick kiss before she jumped off the balcony of glided back down to where Naga was waiting.
"See you at lunch," Asami called after her, waving goodbye.