Author's Note
Shout out to Acfcrystal for editing this chapter for me. She had wonderful suggestions which were added to this chapter. Expect great things from her in the future. Without her this would be another horrifying chapter.
Thank You once again. I know my followers are grateful , as well as I'm.
Asami
After hearing Opal's story about Kuvira, we decided to watch tv and read magazines like any other teenage girl to pass the time.
Speaking of time, I should be heading home now. My Father and I aren't on the best of terms, and missing curfew is obviously pushing it.
"Opal, I have to get going, it's getting late" Opal closes her magazines and pouts
"Aww really?" I get up
"Yeah, I really had fun. With you know catching up" I'm not going to lie, Opal can be a bit talkative but she's truly a good friend. Now me on the other hand, I haven't been so great. I still don't understand why she lights up whenever she sees me.
She walks me down the stair where I see Baatar, Opal's Dad in the living room.
"Asami Sato" he says confidently
"Hello Mr. Beifong" Opal's Father gets up to greet me
"I just got home, didn't know you were here"
"Sorry about that, I'm just now heading home" he frowns
"Can't you stay for dinner?" he asks
Me eating dinner with the Beifongs? No way, that's just a mistake waiting to happen. Wing and Wei run down the stairs
"Asami staying for dinner sweet, I call dibs sitting next to her" Wing says pushing his brother out of the way
"No, she's sitting with me. Losers" Opal says
"That's nice of you to offer, but my Father is expecting me home and I don't want to worry him" I reply back as politely as possible.
"Don't worry, I called your Father to let him know you're here and you will be staying for dinner" Suyin says coming around the corner.
"Smart move, that's why I love you sweetie" Mr. Beifong says while kissing his wife
"Eww gross" Wei says
"Stop, I think it's adorable" Opal defends
"Yeah, too bad you haven't kissed your new boyfriend yet" Wing tease making Opal cross her arms.
"Shut up, Bolin can beat you in wrestling anytime"
"Oh really?" Wing asks amused
I can't believe, she called my Father,behind my back? This woman is crazy, I understand the whole keep your friends close but your enemies closer rule. But this is outrage.
Korra
I'm freaking out right now. I just assaulted an innocent person… She was no danger to me!
That's not even the worst part, Asami is not home yet! I still haven't found a way to explain, why I have some random girl tied up in her basement. I sit down on my bed and stare at the dark haired woman , she still isn't awake, but she's breathing.
She says she's my cousin, and I do have little memory of having a cousin but I had two and they were twins. If she's my cousin where is her brother?
I hear footsteps from the kitchen and I get up and grab a blanket and put it over the girl then airbend her body across the room as the door opens.
"Korra?" Hiroshi ask
"Down here" I call out
He makes his way down the stairs and I try to look occupied with the newspaper.
"Can we talk?" he asks
"Sure, I have all the time in the world" Hiroshi gives me a small smile but I can tell this talk is serious. He sits down across from me and I stare at him trying not to draw attention to the body in the corner near my bags.
"It's about last night, when Asami wasn't here"
"Should we wait until Asami gets here?" I ask
He shakes his head
"No, she's having dinner with a family friend tonight, and she already heard the majority of what I'm going tell you"
"Okay"
"From what you have on your bed, I can tell you already seen the article"
"Oh yes, I wasn't aware of the photographers from Republic Press whom captured me at such a moment" I say almost like a robot.
"I want to know how, I mean how did you know where Asami was? It's been on my mind, all day. How did you find her?"
I can see that Hiroshi is tired and out of all the question he asked. His concern was about his daughter's well-being. If I was him, I would be furious, that the person he was trying to save went out without permission. By the way he asked. He sounded almost grateful or relieved that I knew where she was.
"Oh, you see…."
He's waiting for me explain, but how do you tell your keeper that an old man that you met in the Spirit World. Showed you a hole thingy where you saw his daughter drinking underage with some guy who, apparently wasn't even there when you I got there? So I said the most basic thing anyone could say.
"She called me"
"She called you?"
"Ugh Yeah, you know like from her cellphone"
"How did she reach you?" I didn't think of that
"Do you have a house phone?" I ask
"Yes"
"Well that's how" he nods
"Makes sense, but how did you know where to go?" Why is he asking me all these questions his daughter got home safely that's all that matters!
"She gave me directions, you know it wasn't hard, I got here remember" I tease
"I see" we sit in silent. Mr. Sato must be under a lot of stress, and his daughter is one of them. He has done a lot for me and I want to make his life easier.
"Hiroshi, I want to let you know that I will always protect your daughter. She was at a dark place last night and I was glad to be there for her. You might think you're failing her, but you aren't, well in my opinion you aren't. You sort of remind me of my Father, he wasn't a businessman like you. Wearing suit and ties. But he was a leader. Being Chief, comes with a lot of responsibility .He had to lead a group of people along with raise a child. Imagine having to take care, of your people but also taking care of your daughter, who happen to be the Avatar. At the end of the day, I realized his biggest sacrifice was me, he wanted to protect me and he did the hardest thing ever and let me go. Now I'm not saying you need to put Asami into hiding. Just realize that you have to let her go, sometimes. There is only one, thing you can do and that's hope she does the right thing. Just like my Father hopes I do. If it helps, I been talking with Asami and I know, she's getting there"
He stares at me and it's awkward because I just said some deep stuff and he's only staring at me. The concerned father gets up quickly
"I'm going to prepare dinner" he says voice almost cracking
"Sounds good" the businessman heads up the stairs and once I hear the door shut I rush to the body and lift up the blanket and she's looking back at me with a smile
"You really do take care of family"
Asami
Mr. Beifong pulls out the chair for me, since Wing and Wei were too busy fighting over who would do it. If one of them could have held the door open for me to leave, that would have been even better.
Everyone is finally seated, but there is an empty chair.
"Who's the extra chair for?" Opal asks
"Your Aunt" Suyin says
everyone groans except me because I been groaning since being invited to dinner.
"Now be nice, we love your Aunt" Baatar says
"Asami don't feel awkward, she may be your P.E coach but she's not always strict" Suyin teases like we're best friends
"Trust me, I know, I mean you're so different compared to your role at school" I reply back with a smile the doorbell rings and Huan gets up to get the door and comes back with Lin.
She's wearing a grey long sleeve shirt and a necklace. Truthfully she could be wearing her gym uniform and still look the same, and from her awkwardness she looks like she wish she was too.
"Hello, Aunt Lin" Opal says first
"Hello, Niece Opal" Lin replies back
She always sounds sarcastic to me, I tell myself that's just the way she talks, but is it?
She takes notice of me
"What brings you here, Ms. Sato?" the elder sister asks putting some mashed potatoes onto her plate
"I was invited"
"Well, I'm sorry for you, they forced me here too"
Suyin rolls her eyes while taking a sip of her wine
"Was that towards me?" Lin asks making Suyin giggle
"Oh Please Lin, why must you think everything is about you?"
she shrugs
"Because it's usually is" I like Lin she's straight to the point and doesn't take anything from anyone but will also make you run until you throw up.
"You hardly touched your food" Baatar says
"Oh, I'm sorry, just thinking" I say picking up my fork
"About what?" Wing ask
"About my make up-work" I reply back
"Don't worry, I have all your make-up work" Suyin says
"That's nice of you" I reply back
"No, problem " she takes a sip of her drink again. I hope she takes enough sips, so she can gets drunk enough to expose herself and save me the trouble.
"What's up with the tension?" Lin asks
"What do you mean?" Baatar asks
"I can feel it, it's weird"
"It's probably Wing and Wei, they were fighting over Asami earlier" Opal teases
"Ah, you have boys chasing after you?" Lin asks
"Yes, she's quite popular, even Iroh is chasing after her" Opal adds
"Ooohh, quarterback Iroh, lucky you. All the girls talk about him, and you must be the one who has him wrapped around your finger. So have you two went on a date yet?" she asks
Everyone looks at me.
"No, I honestly want to focus on my school work" Suyin laughs but covers her mouth
"Honey are you okay?" Baatar asks his wife
She nods still holding in her laughter
"It's just funny, I'm sorry for laughing Asami, you're the top of your class. You could fail a test every week and still be on top. I find it funny how you don't have time for dating. Then again, there is nothing wrong with playing hard to get"
I can tell from everyone's reaction they are surprised by Suyin's behavior but I'm not.
"No, really Mrs. Beifong, I am trying to focus on my school work. I been actually trying to get an internship"
"Cool, doing what?" Wing asks
"Law" I say staring right at Suyin while popping a piece of steak in my mouth
"Awesome, Mom used to be a lawyer" Wei adds
"Really? Maybe you can teach me your ways"
Suyin smiles "I'm honored, but I have far too much work"
"It's just an internship, I could just file your papers. I don't want anything SERIOUS!" Suyin looks at Baatar
"Honey, don't you have some lawyer buddies that could help Asami? I been out the game for a while. She probably needs someone more up to date"
He thinks "Hmm, I don't know, most of them are busy as well"
"What about Hewai?" she suggest
He laughs
"He's more of an entertainer lawyer. He works with actors and movie stars"
"Asami, is quite fashionable, I'm sure she would have fun working with him. Meeting movie stars and such. Wouldn't that be fun?" she asks
"That's not the type of law I was thinking" I say stabbing my green beans understanding exactly what she was referring to by suggesting an entertainment lawyer.
"An internship into my specialty of law, would be too difficult right now. You're too young to get into politics. The entertainment industry would be great practice. Until you are ready to pursue your area of the field"
"I agree with my sister on this, kid" Lin says
"Yeah, before I started wrestling I did karate. It's not the same but I learned to pace myself and watch my control" Wing says
"Before, I started painting I started hating my life" Huan adds
"So it's settled, I'll give him a call" Suyin says.
I've had enough of her little tactics and dirty tricks. At least, I'm quietly doing research on her. She crossed the line by calling my father.
"Haven't you made enough phone calls?" I ask with a stern voice
"Excuse me?" Suyin asks with enough fakeness to show that she wanted me to react to her snarky comments.
"Sorry, it's like you're always on the phone" I reply back while getting out of my chair and she does too.
"I don't understand why, you're so hostile. I'm sorry I can't give you the internship you want, but there is no need to raise your voice"
"I'm not trust me,Thank you for dinner but I should be leaving now" I push in my chair
"Asami, what's wrong why are you leaving?" Opal asks hurt and I'm hurt too
"I'm leaving because, I don't feel welcomed here"
"Yes, you're Asami don't be like this." Suyin says
I look at Suyin straight in the face
" What do you know about politics to tell me I'm not ready to do it?"
Suyin smiles.
"Enough to have a law degree, something you're trying to obtain, which is new to me taking in fact you weren't put into any law classes in high school and last time I checked you wanted to be an engineer"
"Well people can change their fields, like you did, since you're no longer a lawyer but a school counselor. Sounds to me you couldn't handle the politics"
The table says ooo to my comeback which I didn't need, but the boast was motivating.
"Okay, you want politics, what screams politics louder than debates" Suyin replies
Baatar gets up.
"Honey, it's not that serious" he says
"Apparently it is, if Miss. Sato wants to attack my judgement then let's her do it respectfully. Instead of coming into my home and disrespecting me in front of my family. I would rather have her do it properly in a debate"
"I'll debate you, give me any topic" I can totally win this, I've been in thousands of debates and won all of them.
"What topic?" Lin asks
"Mrs. Beifong can choose since, this is her home" I reply back
"Fine, since it politics let's talk about Anti-Bending Laws" everyone gets quiet
"Let's not go there" Baatar says
"Yeah lets, it's not like Amon is in the room" Suyin says
" I can take that topic , I'm going Pro for the laws and you go con"
"NO, that's too easy, switch up the roles" Lin calls out
" I can take that topic , I'm going Pro for the laws and you go con"
"NO, that's too easy, switch up the roles" Lin calls out
You know it doesn't matter, I'm going to put this woman in her place. Family here or not. this one time had to defend that the sky wasn't blue. I can depose dumb laws.
"Fine, I'll take the stand against the laws" I say with confidence
Korra
"My Father told us that you died but I knew, it couldn't be true" I hand Eska some tea
"Why didn't you believe it?" I ask
"I just knew, you know? It's strange you were always strong as a kid. Do you remember when we used to go penguin sledding?" she asks
I think about it "Actually, a little but I remember a boy being with us"
"Desna?"
"YEAH, that was his name, where is your brother?" I ask
"He's in the war"
"What war? Has Amon invaded the Water Tribes?"
"No, he hasn't, well not the last time I checked. Ever since I left, the Northern Water Tribe I haven't looked back"
"What do you mean?"
"There is a civil war going on between our Fathers' tribes."
This can't be true, our sister tribe and us always been close.
"Are you serious, please tell me my Father is trying to stop it"
She shakes her head
"No, he's defending his land just as much as my Father and brother is. I couldn't pick sides, I even tried talking to your Father but he told me there was nothing I could do. So just left altogether"
"Where have you been staying?"
"Funny, I see myself as a nomad traveling and such. I had no problems, until I made my way further into Earth Kingdom. Where this whole benders vs nonbender thing
was going in full effect. It has been throwing off my vibes, man"
"Tell me about it,. I been hiding ever since, I was a kid"
As I'm sitting across from Eska she pulls me into a hug and I awkwardly return it but she won't let go.
"I'm so sorry that we just now, caught up to one another. I bet you felt alone, this whole time. Korra you have a family now and I won't leave you"
Just hearing those words my eyes start watering and I hold her tighter.
"You don't know, how long I wanted someone to say that to me"
"You don't know, how long I was looking for you. Hoping I would find you in some random alley or some mall. When your Mother told me you were still alive. I couldn't believe it. Now I know why you went away. You're the Avatar"
I pull away and wipe my eyes "You can't tell anyone"
"Trust me I know, you're wanted by almost everyone. How long have you been staying here?" she asks looking around
"A couple of weeks, I stayed with this air bender family one time, then a cabbage man, then a nice fire nation family. The longest I stayed with someone, was with a woman named Mai and some Equalists killed her"
Eska covers her mouth "Spirits, I'm so sorry"
"Yeah, that's why I can't get this family in trouble. That's why you can't stay here" she nods
"I know, I have an apartment downtown. Well I share an apartment with my roommate. But she's really chill.
Her name is June, she looks mean but she isn't if you leave her alone"
"Are you a bender?" I ask
"Yeah, I am" she shows me her card and it's a picture with a water symbol on it.
"I have to show it every time I go into a store or if an Equalist tell me to" she slides it back into her pocket
"Why don't you lie about being a bender. Why put yourself through all of that? I ask since she could easily pass off as a non-bender.
"I'm not ashamed of who I am. Why would I lie to please others?,If they want to put all these laws up for me to abide by., That's fine. ,At the end of the day, I'm me and I love everything about it"
"You must be on team, Kuvira then" I tease
"Oh spirits no. She's giving benders a bad name, I understand her cause but she's making it harder on us. Did you know her and her army kidnapped the Prince of the Earth Kingdom and refuse to release him?"
"Really, doesn't he have security? How did they even get him ?"
"She has an underground tunnel system"
Spirits, I sort of helped make that come true, but I didn't know she would use it to kidnap people.
"Kuvira is attacking innocent non-benders. Prince Wu can be an arrogant but he hasn't done anything wrong. Now benders have to pay for it. She doesn't understand the more she does, the stricter it gets for us"
"This is bad Eska"
"Tell me about it, but what can you do?"
"I'm going to do something to make everything right"
"You can't Korra, it's dangerous out there. It's better if you stay hiding"
"I can't Eska, this is my time I must put a stop to this"
I get up
"Korra, what's your plan? Who is your target? There are all these problems and all these people who are causing them. You have to be smart, you can't take all of it down at once."
"Won't have to because once I stop Amon, everyone and everything will go back to normal"
"Do you really think Kuvira will give up her power once Amon is gone? Who's to say she doesn't try and conquer all the nations like Amon is trying to do?"
"Kuvira, wouldn't do that. She just wants to unity. I'm sure she will help unity bender and non-benders"
"What are you going to do? Just walk up to Amon and say I'm the Avatar?" she tease
"In a way actually. There is a ball coming up and I plan to make my debut"
"Yeah and also your murder. They see more than one element from you then bam you're done"
"Nope, I won't be seen. I will leave my mark as a warning. I just need a team, can you help?"
Having my cousin on my team, could really help make my plan work. She seems hesitant, but I need to trust someone. Iroh told me, I could befriend people and they would prove their trustfulness, but you're supposed to trust family.
"Come on Eska, we're family. Maybe after we put a stop to Amon,our fathers
will see us working together and stop the war"
Eska nodded
"I do love me some drama and family reunions. Tell you what, come by my apartment this week and we can discuss this plan of yours"
I take her card
"Do you have a cellphone?" she asks
"No, just a house phone"
"Spirits, I'll have June hook you up. Also, we're going shopping. Your wardrobe needs a serious make-over"
I look down at my outfit "Ummm...Okay?"
"Do you think you can sneak me out of here?"
"I'm the Avatar, I can do anything"
Asami
"This is a quick and nice debate" Wei booms
"In the corner, weighting a weight-which I don't know -because my Mother told me, you should never ask a woman how much she weights or comments on her- weight Asami Satooooooo"
Everyone including Suyin claps
"And in the other corner, My mother, Suyin, da bomb Beifong" I clap along with everyone else
"The topic is Anti-Bending Law. Asami is hitting the cons and Suyin hitting the pros. My mother wanted to go first so, here you go"
Suyin clears her throat in steps forward
"Benders, the people who helped add to our wonderful nation. Benders….. the people who also destroyed it!
Water, Air, Earth, and Fire . Just those four can kill you in a second, Destroy your homes and even your lively hood. Spirits they can even, cheat their way through life. How many jobs were lost, due to these benders?
These anti-bending laws were created, to help protect us non-benders. They weren't created to discriminate towards benders, but were put in place so all could have equality Now benders are complaining about simply doing what we all have had to do our whole lives. Which is not to bend in certain areas. These laws aren't saying you can never bend. The laws are just there to say: Please, don't firebend in a restaurant where families dine because fire burns people. Please, don't waterbend at the lake because water can drown people Please, don't earthbend in a gravel parking lot because earth can hit people. Please, don't airbend at the park because air can take people's breath away. These laws are meant to protect. They are imposed to make not just non-benders, but everyone safe.
She has it easy with pros, it takes a true genius to think of the negatives. Suyin goes back into her corner to allow me to start.
"Suyin, thank you for telling us about the side effects of bending. But these side effects, aren't always demonstrated.
Fire benders can easily bend fire without getting burned. Air benders can bend without choking, Earthbender can send a rock without getting a concussion
Quick question, how many times did someone have to save you when you took a shower? Because didn't you say, water can make you drown? Oh wait you meant water benders"
Everyone laughs
"My opponent stated, that benders cheat their way through life. If anything benders help cheat our life as non-benders and make it easier on us. It would take non-benders months to build a bridge, and the hazards are much greater for us. But for benders they can get it down in a week or even one day. Saving time, cost of labor, and even liability because I'm sure they can stop metal coming towards them faster than we can!"
Everyone seems to be listening to my points so I continue but I pretty much stated all of Suyin's flaws. I need to think about the laws itself.
"In our school bending is not allowed, if the rule is no bending then why are the benders segregated? The rule says no bending allowed in school… it says bending, not benders. Another rule we have is, girls can't wear shorts or skirts that don't cover their kneecaps so by this logic, shouldn't boys and girls be separated then?
The problem with these Anti-Bending laws are they're not clarified enough. Some non-benders see them and take the laws to the extremes, by saying no bending in restaurants. These non-benders are banning benders altogether.
Have you seen the reports? More crimes are committed by non-benders than benders now! You can argue and say that's only because benders can't bend, therefore they can't cause trouble. You could be right, but I also know benders helped decrease the crime rate by 60%. Just by stopping criminals, non-benders and benders, altogether.
Instead of making Anti-Bending laws we should put our focus on creating laws that make us all safer as a society. I don't know about you but, I have never felt 100% safe and I don't think I ever will. These laws are propaganda and by us using them, we might as well be pawns in a game governed by fear instead of logic."
I step back into the corner and everyone starts clapping and I dip my head. I didn't think I would have done as well as I did. I just thought about the laws, and talked about the flaws. I didn't think I would have so much cheers. Especially talking about how bad these laws were to a group of non-benders.
"Way to go, Sato. I think she's ready for politics after all" Lin says giving me a pat on the back
"I agree" Huan says snapping
"Way to go, Asami. You did well too, Mom" Opal says
I finally look up at Suyin and she has a smirk on her face. She looks genuinely impressed.
I make eye contact Baatar and he looks not pleased at all.
Remember when you thought it was just about to get good? Well you were wrong, it's about to get real!