'Lai, don't you have some kind of Avatar power that could help with this?' Ki asked.
'Like what? Paperwork bending?' Lai responded.
Lai, Ki and Lee were sitting in Lai's room at home. She'd been home for a week now, and had managed to convince them to help her look at the data from Dragon Inferno. They both seemed to be regretting it.
On the screen in front of them, Akmei was sitting up in bed at the Fire Nation palace. In front of her was a bowl of noodle soup she occasionally sipped at. She was on the mend now, and seemed happy helping out.
Lee was drawing on the chart they'd set up. 'As far as I can tell, the money was transferred from this Serpent City account, using money for expenses, to this Omashu account, which is a subsidiary and then to this Fire Nation company account, that looks a supplier. Then it was sent to one of Zolt's goons, which looks like extra on a normal salary.'
'So simple.' Lai muttered.
'And how much was that?' Ki asked.
'6000 United Republic yauns. Or 20000 in real money.'
'Out of 10 million.' Ki sighed. They were all quite tired.
'Look on the bright side.' Akmei said. 'Each time, the extra money has been coming from the Dragon Inferno Corporation in some form or another. Circumstantial evidence, but it's something.'
'I guess.' Lai yawned. 'At least the earlier records weren't faked.' Both her and the United Republic had faked the records, so along with a hundred other things being done, Dragon Inferno had to give out records again. Lai had been able to get a copy, but she was regretting doing that now.
'But it could just be someone in the company.' Lee said. 'It doesn't prove anything.'
'Huh.' Lai leaned back in her chair. 'So, is there anything special about Dragon Inferno, Akmei?'
Akmei tapped something on her screen. 'Well, they're big. Third or fourth biggest in the world, depending on who you ask. They seem to do a lot. Security in Serpent City, arms making Ba Sing Sae, ship building in Republic City – dozen of things. But mostly they do technologys. New polymer materials, medicines, energy systems – all made by them. They were also the first people to get a satellite into orbit.'
'Really?' Lee asked.
'Yes, from the Fire Fountain space-runway. But the division got bought out by the Fire Nation, and it became the Space Programme. Dragon Inferno still builds satellites, but it has nothing to do with the launch.'
'You were saying arms, weren't you?' Ki asked. 'Do any of those come up at all in the money transfer?'
'I'll send you the list.' Akmei said. She started tapping on her screen. A few minutes later, an email arrived. Lai looked down the list. 'Nope – haven't seen any of those.'
'Well, it would probably be unwise for them to do that.' Akmei said.
'Hmm.' Lai had a thought. 'Do they have any kind of spiritual division?'
'What do you mean?' Akmei asked.
'Well, if Conduit's linked to them, they might be interested in that sort of thing – especially with Conduit living between worlds thing.'
'Ooh, good idea!' Akmei started typing rapidly. Then she shook her head, disappointed. 'Sorry. Nothing.'
'Huh. Oh well, never mind.'
'I might be able to find something more obscurely linked though, with time.' Akmei said. She sounded liked she was trying to prove she was useful.
'Don't worry about it. We can do it later.' Lai yawned.
'So what's happening with your training now anyway?' Ki asked. They hadn't had a chance to ask yet – they'd been too busy.
'Well, I spoke to Talara, and there's a master in the Northern Water Tribe who will teach me water bending.'
'Do you even need to learn waterbending?' Lee asked, sarcastically. 'I mean, water's not always there, so you might as well just learn three really!'
'Huh, don't say that to any water benders.' Lai said.
'So you're going soon?' Ki asked.
'Yep. In a couple of days. So tomorrow I need to buy some warm clothes.' She sighed. 'It's going to be winter at the North Pole as well. It's going to be so cold.'
'That's your fault for not choosing the Western Water Tribe.' Ki said.
'Yeah I know. But the North Pole's a fortress, even now. I had to think about that. Still two crises, apparently.' Lai said. 'But I'm not going there directly.'
'Oh really? Where you going?' Lee asked.
'Republic City. Avatar Korra wants me to meet her, and I need to go to her old house to do that.'
'That'll be great! Republic City's a really lovely city.' Akmei said, excitedly.
'Hmm, you know a thought occurs.' Ki said. 'Dragon Inferno's based in the United Republic, right?'
'Yeah.' Lee said.
'Well, why don't you visit it? They might be able to tell you something.'
'What, how they were funding Zolt? They'd hardly admit to that?'
'But if they're helpful, they're probably innocent. If not, they're probably guilty.' Ki finished.
'Great amateur psychology, Ki.' Lee said sarcastically.
'Still, you could ask one of the Republic City police to come with you.' Akmei suggested. 'They'd be able to pick up things you wouldn't notice.'
'They might even bring a lie-sensor.' Lai mused. 'It can't hurt, I guess. I'll give it a try.' She yawned again. 'So, what's your guy's plans?'
'Work.' Lee sighed. 'There's exams as soon as we get back. That's going to be fun.'
'I'm going to a specialist to get healed up. Some of my chi pathways have minor permanent damage. The only way to repair them is with water bending. So I'm going away to get back to full health.'
'Oh? Where are you going?' Ki asked.
'Well, there's one place which is especially famous for water bending skill.'
'The Northern Water Tribe.' Lai said, grinning. 'It'll be good to see there.'
