Thanks, VividDreamer, for the earlier chapter reviews!

I think Lin wound up getting in touch with and connecting with the students by accident. They are definitely not the first group of people Lin would have thought about talking to, given her relations with Korra (and in hindsight, I really wish I'd included Lin's reaction to being asked about the students. XD), but knowing Korra as she does, she knows how Korra's passion can be a moving force. And so… hello, Republic City U!

Also in hindsight, I wish I had woven Korra's Krew into the events in the City, too; they could have helped me project another viewpoint on and of the City's tensions. Something for me to remember for next time.

The idea for this last chapter came to me before putting what I thought were the finishing touches on Bonds, but the more I thought about it, the more I felt it fit here better, at the end of this story. Hope that's what you think, too. Please tell me. :D And thanks again for reading, and especially for commenting.

Bonds XII: Set in Stone

Years later, after Avatar Aang's statue was knocked down in the harbor by the Dark Avatar Unavaatu and restored to its pedestal, after a statue of Avatar Korra was put in one of the City's parks, chopped off at the knees by Kuvira's spirit gun, and put back together again, another statue was erected, this one on the grounds of Future Industries.

Although the statue had been privately erected on private land, a host of public dignitaries came to the statue's dedication, including Chief of Police Lin Bei Fong. She had even been invited to speak at the event.

Not the wisest of choices, Lin thought wryly.

President Raiko was there, as was Avatar Korra, of course. Tenzin and Asami Sato were on the stand with them, although neither were there in a speaking capacity. Lin didn't blame Asami at all for not speaking today; given what Asami had been through with her father over the past few months, giving a speech about her father was the last thing she needed.

Besides which, Lin thought to herself, this statue is statement enough as to how she feels.

Then it was Lin's turn to speak. From the podium, she looked out at the assembled crowd.

"A year ago, if anyone had suggested I'd be here honoring the person I am today, I'd have asked them if they were seeing any friendly mushrooms." The obligatory laugh from the crowd. She wouldn't have asked for much more. She glanced at her notes and began.

"Hiroshi Sato was a self-made man," she said. "He came to Republic City with little more than what he could carry, and from mere ideas, he built a company that everyone in Republic City, if not the world, knows. From those ideas, he created ground-breaking technologies. He built an empire. He became a captain of industry. A well-respected man. But when this City needed him, not only did he stand with the enemy, he made their weapons and helped conceive their strategy. He revealed himself to be one of them. And in the end, after Avatar Korra defeated Amon, Hiroshi Sato went to prison."

Lin saw confusion in the crowd at what she was saying, puzzlement at what she could mean by this, anger at why she was saying this now, of all times. As Asami Sato was on the dais nearby, she couldn't see her face, but she could well imagine. She did hear Korra rustling behind her.

"That, of course, isn't the end of this story," Lin continued. "When Kuvira and her army came to attack this city, Hiroshi Sato chose to help. He devised a new technology to breach the platinum armor of Kuvira's colossal Mechatank. He found a way to fit it onto the flyer that his daughter Asami Sato had designed. He flew one of those flyers with his daughter to attack Kuvira's machine. And when it became clear that the only way to cut through Kuvira's armor was for his flyer to stay in place far longer than it was safe, he did so without hesitation, and sacrificed himself. His actions led to the downfall of Kuvira's Mechatank and, ultimately, her plans as a whole. Hiroshi Sato saved this city."

Lin put her notes down, breathed, and looked up again.

"It would be easy to argue that Hiroshi Sato 'learned his lesson' during those four years in prison. It would be easy to assume that's why he did what he did. In hindsight, as with so many things, I think that is an incorrect assumption. When we brought him out of prison during Kuvira's assault, he spoke four words that told us why he had decided to help us: 'I love this city.' "

" 'I love this city.' "

Lin gestured to the side. "It would be easy to focus on the end of this story and ignore how we got here… how Hiroshi Sato got into prison in the first place. How he felt so strongly about bender/nonbender inequality that he chose to stand with the Equalists instead of the police—with 'them', instead of 'us'. We could go back to the circumstances of his life and sift through them to find out why he did what he did. They're not too hard to find… now. Now that he's dead and gone."

Lin heard another rustle behind her. She didn't hear any crying, but she would bet Korra was trying to comfort Asami. That gave her added focus for what she wanted to talk about.

"What I think about now are the wasted opportunities we had to talk," Lin said. "To focus on anger and pride and right and wrong so much that there's no room for anything else." She sought out her sister, Su Yin, who was also in the crowd. "So much so that there's no room to think of alternatives. To think of why someone might be doing what they are. To give no thought as to how to reconcile." Su smiled and nodded.

Lin took in the whole crowd again. "Hiroshi Sato, despite the anger he still must have felt at all of 'us', chose to set that anger aside in favor of helping this city. In spite of how he may have felt, he gave everything he had—his mind, his inspirations, his ideas, his service, his life—to defeat this new enemy. And as with so many other things in his life, he was successful at what he did."

A simple smile. "Sometimes after things are over, you learn the things you should have done. The questions you should have asked, the people you should have talked to. Certainly that is the case now, for me. I didn't take the time to talk with him before, and now I wish I had." A shrug. "Of course, at the time I didn't know how he felt—until it was too late. That's something I'll try to remember, for the future."

"I do know one thing, though, that I want to say right now." She looked at the statue. "Thank you, Mister Sato. Thank you for saving us, despite everything."

She turned from the podium and returned to her seat to applause, some polite, some heartfelt. She was glad for it, but it didn't matter too much. She had said what she had wanted to say.

She looked over at Asami. The makeup around Asami's eyes was smudged slightly, but she gave Lin a warm smile and nodded, which Lin returned. Korra, seated between them, squeezed Asami's hand, then let go and leaned over to Lin. "Nice work, Chief," she said quietly. She smiled. "You had me worried for a moment there."

Lin gave her a raised eyebrow. "Have you ever known me not to speak my mind?"

Korra gave her a wry look of her own. "That's what worried me."

Lin smiled in acknowledgement, then turned back to politely listen to President Raiko's closing remarks. Her eyes and attention, though, kept returning to the statue. All those years in prison… and I never talked to you. Or for that matter even before. Before this entire mess started—if I had known that maybe I should. And now, obviously… I can't.

Raiko's words continued to wash over her as just words. She was sad.

Then a rueful smile. I wonder what you'd have to say about that—Mister Sato?

Her eyes wandered, coming back to where she knew Su was.

Maybe you'd say that the best thing to do was to learn from your mistakes and prevent them from happening again.

Another look at the statue. And a smile.

Maybe.

The End