It was still way before sundown in Saki's cottage, when Qiang told Tara one of his stories inspired by real life. The child sat on the man's sofa bed in her pyjamas, while he was still wearing the parts of his uniform that were cloth and not metal.

"So the big monster named Lin that was the master of all knights said: 'You work for me until you drop dead. You get no break, and you work from sunrise till sundown.' And the poor landscaper prince did not know what to do and how he would find a princess, since the good girls are always in bed by sundown." The policeman gave the little girl a wink, and she nodded with a bright smile and pulled the blanket closer. "But he had a really clever idea - when he was patrolling the castle, he would just talk to the princesses there. But he had no luck with them. One hit him in the face. Another told him she only liked… cats." Qiang looked confused at his own words, but not as confused as Tara. He suddenly felt the need to check with Asami, but the engineer was brooding over some circuit diagrams.

"Cats", the girl questioned.

"Yes", he had to save the situation somehow, "she had a cat. And he was sleeping in her bed and eating from her plate and drinking from her cup and so she had no place for the prince." Tara appeared to think that was a good explanation. "And another princess walked with him for many days, but decided she'd rather date a jester than a knight. Oh, that's how the landscaper prince met princess Asami, as well. Come to think of it, I think she was the one with the cat."

Asami had looked up at the mention of her name, and was now as confused as the other two at the notion that she evidently had a feline of some sort.

Tara had another problem: "Why don't your stories have a happy end?"

The policeman looked at her for some long moments, thinking. "Because you always fall asleep before that", he finally explained meekly.

"Will this one end well?"

Qiang thought long about that question, too. Finally he shifted uncomfortably and decided: "Sure. One day the prince's commander Mako made a mistake. They could not find a girl quickly enough, and so of course the prince took the fall for it, and was forced to protect the girl from thereon after. And first he thought it would be very bad, but he started to like the girl, and they became friends."

Tara lit up at that. "Really? Was she a princess, too?"

"Yeah, actually I think she was, for some strange reason. At least her mother was. So she must have been a princess to the Northern Kingdom, too." Qiang laughed when the girl yawned and settled deeper into the sheets.

"Did they get married", Tara questioned already half asleep.

"No! No, no, no", Qiang's upset denial was a bit harsher than he had wanted to, it made the child sit up again, "it was not like that. The little princess was just a girl. But you know the prince learned something from her: you don't need to marry a prince or a princess to be happy."

"That's not really a happy ending", Tara pouted at him.

He smiled awkwardly at her. "Because there's no wedding? But that's life, Kat."

"No, that's no life, it's a story", the child shook her head defiantly, "let me tell the story." She made a pause to think for a moment. "So the landscraper prince was friends with the girl. And the girl had a mom. And the mom was a queen. And the dad was dead. And so since the prince played with the girl, he saw the mom, he fell in love with her. And the mom with him. And they married and became a happy family. The end."

Qiang looked at her, and somehow he was getting incredible sad. Yes, he had become friends with the girl without ever meaning to; but even though he was in love with her mother (at least one of them), she would never choose him over her current lover. He pulled himself together after some moments to mumble feebly: "I don't think you need to have a prince and a princess and a kid to be happy."

"But you do", Tara was insistently nodding at that.

"You're happy, and you don't even have a dad."

"But I have you!"

Again the policeman looked like he was slapped in the face, but this time his gaze and Asami's met, since the engineer had been following the conversation after the last awkward silence. "Uh… I'm going", he stated and pointed to the doorway, then stood up and walked out, giving the pair of mother and daughter some time.

Asami sighed and shuffled to the sofa, seating herself next to her daughter. She cleared her throat before she asked: "Are you missing your parents?"

Tara shrugged, since she did not know how to answer the question. The probable answer was that she was not remembering much of her biological parents. "I want to have a dad again", she mumbled.

Asami's heart stopped when she heard that. "Bu-but you have Korra", she said, falling over her own words, "gran gran says she's acting just like her daddy. If you're missing something, just tell us."

Tara leaned against her mother and hugged her, since she was able to sense she was hurting her. The child spoke into Asami's side when she answered: "Mommy's no man. Daddy's are men."

"No, she is not", Asami admitted, trying to figure out what to tell her child, "but there is nothing we could do about it. And you still have your grandpa. And we want you to meet my father soon, too."

Tara's head shot up at that: "Your mommy too?"

Her mother rubbed the child's back and looked out of the window: "No, my mommy died when I was a little older than you."

"And why didn't your daddy visit us", the girl asked, leaning against her mother again.

Asami sighed and took her time to think about a good answer. She had always known she had to explain that one day. She just had hoped it would not be the day her mind was occupied with worrying for Korra. "He made some mistakes", she mumbled, "he hurt some innocent people, and he's in jail now."

Tara cuddled with Asami for a while and tried to process the information. The child's eyes were threatening to fell shut when Asami decided to add to the other subject: "Tara, we really love you, but we are stuck with each other."

"I love you, too." Asami was shocked and looked at the child who had fallen asleep at her side. She reiterated Tara's words a few times until she was sure she had understood right. Tara had never told either of them she loved them. It was nothing they had pressed, but they had noticed it anyways.

When it finally sank in, a dumb smile sneaked her way across her face, and she fell back into the sofa. She could not wait to tell Korra. For some reason she feared that the Avatar would be jealous that she was not present.

Asami had her eyes closed for maybe two minutes when she heard Qiang rushing up the stairs to their flat so fast it felt like the ground was shaking.

"Sami", he screamed, and fell to the floor after the door, where he used some moments to bend his police uniform onto his body. When she just looked at him with a confused expression, he jumped to his feet and scrambled to her side, pulling her from the sofa and towards the window.

Her heart dropped for another time and her mouth opened without being able to make a sound. The mountain the war was about was split in two parts, and apparently the two parts were still moving in different directions.

An earthquake sweep Qiang and Asami off their feet and startled the half asleep Tara, who started to cry in fear.

When they were standing again, Asami saw something even more frightening - there was a giant bright red snake moving down the mountain towards the city of Lu.

"Lava", she whispered, and probably would have stood there another minute or two to gape at the sight, when Qiang grabbed her hand and pulled her to the sofa, where he picked up Tara and ran with them towards the stairs and down to the ground-floor.

Another earthquake shook the cottage, and they suddenly remembered their host. Qiang cursed, shoved the child into Asami's arms and pushed her towards the exit.

"Out", he yelled at her, and hurried into the rooms of the old lady, carrying her out of the house bridal style. They were just reunited at the gate of the property when the ground shook again and forced them to their knees.

Asami still kneeled on the ground with a crying Tara clenched tightly to her upper body, when the dimension of the situation hit her - there was no lava trickling down the mountain between Yi and Xun. The crack separating the two newly created mountain tops was still extending, and the lava was at the bottom of it. And the bad part was - the gap in the ground was moving towards Lu, as evident from the shaking ground.

But when Qiang pushed Asami to get her attention, another thought forced itself into her mind, and she voiced it without thinking about it.

"Korra is up there… we have to get her out."