Well, I was afraid I would get a response like that, namely none, what with taking several months to get the next part out and the thing I was writing about.
Hope this next part goes over better. Thanks again for reading, everyone, and most especially for commenting.
Bonds X: Alliance
Lin's order to release all the Dragon Flats prisoners, carried on the radio, spread across the city like wildfire.
All of the members of the City Council were apoplectic—all, that is, except for Tenzin, whom Lin had told advance so that he wouldn't have a heart attack. (Although when Lin had told him, watching his face proceed through the colors of a stoplight had been entertaining.)
The other Council members shouted and threatened all sorts of things, but they eventually simmered down to a grumbling boil under Tenzin's reasoned, unperturbed argument (which he very much enjoyed giving). Lin had laid out her case in public, and the reasons she had given were hard to refute. If the Council claimed her actions were illegal, especially given now-ex-Councilman Tarrlok's behavior, what basis could the Council give? And did they really want to charge Lin Bei Fong with treason? Possibly the whole of the Republic City Police Department? Did they really want to call in the United Forces to arrest the police?
"No," said the Northern Water Tribe Councilwoman, her face an unhealthy shade of red that looked even more sickly against her light blue robes. She pointed shakily at Tenzin. "But mark my words, Tenzin: this… isn't over."
"No, Councilwoman." Tenzin folded his hands up into the arms of his robes. "I know very well it isn't."
o o o
"What do we want?"
"E-qualists!"
"Where do we want 'em?"
"Jail!"
"What do we want?"
"E-qualists!"
"Where do we want 'em?"
"Jail!"
Disturbances broke out across Republic City soon after the end of Lin's broadcast, few of them in nonbender neighborhoods. They didn't offer much of a problem; the police quickly restored order, and no one was hurt. Within the week, however, the dissenters got organized. Protests and marches formed, including the delivery of a petition to City Hall to have the people from the Dragon Flats Borough re-arrested. That almost turned ugly as nonbenders got wind of what was happening and formed counterprotests. The police had their hands full keeping the two sides from meeting—but they managed. Lin couldn't have been more proud of them, or more grateful.
Not that there wasn't grumbling in the ranks.
"This is only going to get worse," one of the older lieutenants said at the police command staff meeting a few days later. "What we're seeing right now is only disorganized stuff. When they get organized—look out."
Meng innocently propped her head on her chin. "The drive to present that petition seemed pretty organized to me, Lieutenant."
That earned her a scowl. "You know what I mean, Lieutenant. This is only the beginning. They've only started to think about what they might do. When they do, there'll be more of them, and they'll do more than wave pieces of paper at us."
"I agree with your point, Lieutenant, but I also wonder how many of them can afford to do that." Sun scratched his mustache. "Assuming these are benders that are upset, the average bender has far more to lose by offending the police. Most of them have jobs, some of them high-profile ones. If they get thrown in jail, it could cost them—their jobs, maybe more."
"I have to agree with Lieutenant Asano," said Lin. Sun turned his head, surprised. "We haven't seen the last of these demonstrations."
"Didn't count on that, did you, Chief?" sniped Yao.
Lin frowned at him, then continued. "They do have the right to demonstrate, to speak their minds; we'd be hypocrites if we said otherwise. What we need to do is keep things from getting out of control. I am open to suggestions."
After a moment of chatter among the officers, Yao smiled and shrugged. "We could put the Dragon Flats people back in jail." There were a few quiet chuckles.
Irritated, Lin was about to say what she thought of that when Meng broke in. "I have a suggestion."
"Oh?" Yao leaned back. "This should be interesting." Lin was tempted to tell him what she thought of that, too.
Meng was far more composed. "In order to smother a fire, you have to deprive it of one of three things: fuel, air, or heat." She raised a finger for each item she ticked off, then drew her fingers back into a loose fist. "I think we should deprive these demonstrations of fuel."
"We aren't dealing with Firebenders, Lieutenant," Asano said snidely.
"Aren't we?" Meng's face was calm, but there was a merry glint in her eyes.
Yao sat up. "All right. How?"
"We need supporters, out among the populace. People who may agree with the Department's stance, but haven't been willing to come out in public and say so. We need spokespeople, to carry our message and spread it. We need to share our story with them."
Yao's face screwed up with skepticism. "What is 'our story', Lieutenant? And who exactly do we tell it to?"
"Our story, Captain, is to explain why the Department came to this decision: why we had to free the people from the Dragon Flats Borough. We need to tell our story to people who will catch fire with the idea when they hear it."
Zheng chuckled. "It sounds like you're depriving their fire of fuel by fighting fire with fire," she said.
"How exactly do people 'catch fire' when we tell them that?" asked Yao.
"And as far as that is concerned," Asano said brusquely," do you realize what will happen if we do present our spokesperson, or people, or whatever, to that mob? Do you really think they're going to listen? Or will they just try to shout them down? These people are acting out of fear—and we just let several hundred of their worst nightmares loose!"
There was more grumbling at that. Meng remained resolute. "That's a good point, Lieutenant. I was just coming to that." She turned back to Lin and the rest. "The ones who carried that petition are already on fire, with their own idea. They're not going to listen until they hear someone besides us tell them why they're wrong, why they don't have to be afraid. We can't take them on directly." She turned to Asano. "Not unless, as you said, Lieutenant, we want to get into a shouting match or worse. And that won't serve our purpose at all."
Lin kept her tone cool. "So what do you propose?"
"We need to speak to specific groups of people, under more controlled circumstances—people who are more apt to agree with our side of the story. They'll have their chance to question, but it won't be out in the open, with an uncontrolled mob situation. We'll have a better chance to answer their questions and convince them."
"So now it's our side of the story?" Yao scoffed.
Lin ignored him. "And who do you think should do the talking?"
Meng just smiled at her."
Lin gave her a sour look. "I had a feeling you'd say that."
o o o
Bright and early one morning, some political science majors of Republic City University found themselves face to face with a guest speaker: the black armor-clad Chief of Police.
Lin had thought about presenting her argument much the same way she had with her group of conspirators: fact-based, staying focused on what she had discovered, why the actions of the police had been wrong, and what they were going to do about it. She also remembered what had struck her to her core about the situation, and felt like that might be a better way to connect with her audience.
"I think some of you are old enough to remember when Avatar Aang was still with us," she said. "What he did, what he said, what he believed in and what he stood for. Any professor or book or scroll can tell you about Avatar Aang—but only you yourself can know what it felt like. I was fortunate enough to have grown up with Avatar Aang as one of my teachers, one of my guides, so I know first-hand what he stood for. That makes what I will tell you now hurt all the more."
Lin shifted her glance from student to student, trying to reach them. "I was so concerned about keeping order in Republic City that somehow I forgot about what Avatar Aang really wanted... what he had always worked for. He helped the Four Bending Nations find peace—not just for the benders of the Four Nations, but for all of us. He and his companions, including my mother, would never have allowed a new break to happen between bender and nonbender. But somehow, we did. Somehow I did."
"So does that make the Equalists right? No, because the Equalists made it their mission to take things away from people, things that are innately part of them: their bending. What we did, however, was to allow bending to become more than a talent that people have; we turned it into a matter of identity, just like the Four Nations had been. Our actions created two new nations out of the four: bender, and non-bender. Slowly we benders came to think that bending was better… and somehow nonbending was worse."
Lin held her hands out to her sides. "If you could bend, you were trustworthy—if you couldn't, then you weren't. If you could bend, that makes you better than those that couldn't. If you could bend, you moved up in the world. You became a leader. That, somehow, got changed into the right to lead—why you should be the leader." Lin shook her head. "Avatar Aang never once felt that was the case. But we did. We paid no attention to the discrimination that happened—and when people protested that that was wrong, that only fueled our belief that we were right. That you couldn't trust nonbenders."
"The night the people of the Dragon Flats Borough were arrested, they were arrested because a bender said so." Lin grew regretful. "All through the troubles with the Equalists, these people from Dragon Flats, all nonbenders, were kept in prison because no one questioned the law that put them there. According to that law, those nonbenders were wrong. But who wrote the law? Benders."
"Who enforced it? Benders."
"And they were kept in prison by… benders." Some of the class said the word with her. "Yes. We kept them there. On another bender's say-so. And yet not one of the people from the Dragon Flats Borough arrested that night, despite everything that we did to them, became an Equalist. But we kept them in prison because that's what the law said. Because that's what a bender said. Avatar Aang would never have done that."
"What did Avatar Aang do? Where there was injustice out in the world, he faced it. Where there was brokenness, he helped heal it. If there was something he could do, he did it."
"But why are you making this all about Avatar Aang now?" a young woman interrupted. "What about Avatar Korra, the new Avatar? Why can't you ask her for help?" Some murmured agreement.
"That's a good question," Lin answered. "Yes, I am focusing on what Avatar Aang did. Yes, we could ask Avatar Korra for help. She is, after all, the Avatar; keeping balance in the world is her job." Lin hoped no snideness made its way through, in her expression or in her response. "But I can't ask Avatar Korra to assume responsibility for what I did. Avatar Korra can lead us—but it's up to me to fix my problems."
"Then why don't you?" asked the woman. "Why don't you follow her lead?"
"I am. Or more to the point, I am now. Avatar Korra objected to Councilman Tarrlok arresting those people that night. She was correct then. I wasn't. I now am trying to fix what I did wrong."
"But—"
"Look." Lin bore down on the woman. She added a slight smile, trying to sweeten things. "I agree—but please listen to the point I'm trying to make. Yes, Avatar Korra could help us, as she tried to do the night the Dragon Flats people were arrested… but it is still up to us."
"Yes, we have Avatar Korra as an example, but this new division between us is something Avatar Aang would have worked to heal and reconcile, not merely confront and combat," Lin said. "He helped found Republic City so that all who came here would have a fair chance. Earth Kingdom, Water Tribe, Fire Nation, bender and nonbender alike, Avatar Aang saw one—world. We can fight, as we fought with the Equalists—but fighting alone won't solve our problems. Avatar Aang fought during his life, but more often than not, he worked to bring people that fought together to compromise and reconcile."
A pleading look came to Lin's eyes. "Avatar Korra will fight. There is no question about that. But right now, we need healing far more than fighting. We set the people of Dragon Flats Borough free to start to right the wrongs we created—to set the balance straight. To begin to put this city back to rights. My question to myself, looking at the problems we have now, problems I helped create, is not 'What would Avatar Korra do?' It's 'What would Avatar Aang do?' "
The bell rang. The more bored of the class lurched into motion first, on their way to their next class or at least trying to escape this one. The rest followed, gathering their books and notes and heading for the exits. Lin watched them go, hoping she'd made some impression.
She suppressed a sigh.
"Chief Bei Fong?"
Lin turned. It was the young woman who had interrupted her earlier. "Can I ask you some more questions?" she asked.
Lin wasn't sure if she was glad to leave or not. She smiled slightly. "Not now, I'm afraid. I have another class to speak to in five minutes."
"Can I talk to you later, then? I'd really like to ask about some things."
The old habit of pleading busyness immediately came to Lin's mind, especially since she felt vulnerable right now, exposed, afraid of saying the wrong thing to the wrong people. And yet...
She smiled to herself. What would Avatar Aang do?
"All right," she said. She turned over one of her notes and wrote on the back of it with a pencil. "This is where I'm giving my last talk today. You can meet me then."
"Great. Thanks!" The student took the note and walked off at a brisk pace. Lin headed out herself; it wouldn't do to be late for her own talk.
o o o
That was how Lin wound up lecturing to a bunch of college students. The command group had thought about groups of people to talk to—civic groups, companies' boards of directors, screened public gatherings—but this was the one they had wanted to try first.
At every talk she gave after that, there was at least one person who had wanted to know more; she told them too where to meet her after her last talk. By her count, she figured she'd meet with a handful of people.
Instead, she found about twenty. She felt ambushed, as when Hiroshi Sato had sprung his platinum wall-Mechatank trap on her.
Part of her would have rather faced the Mechatanks again.
Still, instead of staying behind the lectern, Lin pulled up a chair and joined them. (She thought about Metalbending it to her, but… well. As this was about bridging gaps, that didn't seem wise.) These twenty-some bright minds thoroughly interrogated her, asking about everything from the Department's command structure and how bending was related, to how her opinion about benders and nonbenders had changed over time, to what Avatar Aang had been like, how she and he had gotten along, to how she thought Avatar Aang and his companions might have handled present-day problems, to just about anything she could think of regarding the Gaang. She answered them all as openly as she could, trying to convey and convince as much as she could. After a few hours of questions, they thanked her and left.
Lin felt exhausted by the whole thing—but she felt like she had at least explained herself.
o o o
Since Republic City University had seemed fruitful, Lin continued on to the other universities and colleges of Republic City. After visiting the next one, Republic State College, she noticed something interesting happening: despite the fact that she had told no one about which college she was visiting next or when she would be giving talks, more people started showing up to them, including faculty. Question-and-answer sessions became routine, and the questions being asked grew more inquisitive in nature rather than interrogatory. People wanted to know what they could do to help.
"Pay it forward," she answered. "Rethink how you treat others, bender or nonbender. Don't hesitate to ask questions." She shrugged, then let her arms fall to her sides. "Keep asking yourself, 'What would Avatar Aang do?" That drew a small cheer, which surprised Lin. "He would want this rift healed. I do too."
Lin left that meeting feeling pretty good about things, feeling a momentum of sorts that came from actually doing something about her problems. Confidence grew where doubt had been before.
One thing Lin hadn't counted on, however, was the law of unintended consequences.
