Kuvira stared up at the apartment building from the passenger's seat of the satomobile. Of all the things she had to do in Republic City, she dreaded this moment more than any other. Already her heart pounded, threatening to leap out of her throat. She'd only barely recovered from telling Lin, and facing Baatar. How in spirit's name was she supposed to survive this?

"Thank you for coming," she said, looking to the driver's seat, where Korra sat behind the wheel. From what she knew, the Avatar had only received her satomobile license a few months ago, but apparently it had been a long time coming. And taken her five tries to actually pass the test. For all the dread building in Kuvira's heart, Korra's presence had a way of giving her strength. "I really need the support right now."

"Don't mention it, really. You've already been through so much." Korra leaned close, resting a hand on her shoulder. "You know I'm here for you, anything you need. That's what friends are for. Besides, I kind of have to stick with you anyway, so..."

Kuvira managed a soft chuckle. "Still, I appreciate it." With a deep breath, she looked again at the apartment building. Her expression sank. "This isn't going to be easy."

"Take however long you need. We'll go up when you're ready."

The longer she stared at the building, the faster her heart pulsed. The more her nerves tingled. Trepidation. Dread. No escaping any of it. One final breath, and she pushed the door open. "Let's go."

"Alright, so I have a few ideas for floral arrangements," Bolin said, as he spread out a catalog on the coffee table. He flipped through several pages until stopping at one with various different flowers. He pointed at one in particular. "We could go with moon flowers, those are always pretty."

Opal leaned over the catalog to take a closer look. "You do know that moon flowers wilt in direct sunlight, right? And since the reception is outside..."

Bolin squinted at the picture of moon flowers and scratched his head. "Yeah, okay, that is probably not going to work." He gave the page another curious look, and flipped to the next one. "Anyway, moving on, we could go with the fire lily. Those are gorgeous, and the red will go great with the tablecloths you picked out. Plus, look!" He pointed at the paragraph below the pictures of fire lilies. "They symbolize fiery purity and passion. Doesn't that sound perfect? Oh, oh! We could dress Pabu up in a little suit and pin one of the flowers to it. He'd look amazing!"

From the other side of the room, Pabu poked his head up over the side of a cardboard box he'd been napping in. The fire ferret tilted his head to the side with an affirmative chitter, and once again returned to the box.

"Fire lilies only bloom a few weeks a year," Opal said, with an awkward chuckle. Oh, sweet Bolin. He was so excited about the floral arrangements, she hated having to tell him why his choices wouldn't work. "And not even close to when the wedding is."

"Okay, okay, so that is also... not going to work." He huffed a contemplative breath and scratched his head again, staring at the catalog. Then, he flipped excitedly to the next page and pointed at another flower. "Okay, next option: the panda lily! Also a very pretty flower, and is considered to be a symbol of love. Doesn't get much better than that, am I right?"

"Hmm, they would look nice." Opal scanned the description of the flower, and let out a small gasp when she noticed the price. "But goodness, they're so expensive!"

"I know, I saw that," Bolin said, giving the price a curious look. "Why are they so expensive?"

Opal read further, noting the flower's origins. "Probably because they only grow along the edges of active volcanoes? Which makes collecting them a little dangerous."

"Hmm." Bolin pressed a thoughtful finger to his lips. "I suppose I could always get some myself. I mean hey, I am a lavabender, so I'm right at home in a volcano! I mean, not that I would want to, you know, live in a volcano. That... that would probably be a bad idea. And hot. It would definitely be hot."

Opal chuckled, leaning close to give her fiancé a kiss. "Don't worry, Bolin. We still have plenty of time to figure it out."

"I know, I just want it to be perfect," he said, with a gentle sigh. "I mean, it's the biggest day of our lives! Everything should be just right."

"You know, sometimes I think you're more excited about this wedding than I am."

A happy grin spread across the earthbender's face. "Yeah, I am excited!"

A knock at the front door drew Opal's attention from the catalog. "Oh, wonder who that could be."

"I'll get it!" Bolin gave her a quick kiss to the top of the head before jumping from the couch to answer the door. "You just stay right here and keep looking over floral arrangements. Be right back."

Bolin paused in front of the door to straighten out his clothes and make sure his hair looked okay. Probably for the best. They hadn't exactly been expecting visitors today, so he hadn't groomed himself this morning as well as he could have. Once he was sure he looked presentable enough, he pulled open the door to greet whoever was on the other side.

Korra smiled when the door opened. "Hey, Bolin."

"Hey, Korra!" He looked to the couch with a delighted grin. "Opal, it's Korra! And..." His gaze flicked back towards the doorway, only for the breath to catch in his throat. His eyes flared when he noticed the other person standing there, a shrill squeak of air escaping his gaping mouth. "Kuvira out of prison?"

"Hello, Bolin." Kuvira extended a hand. "I heard about your engagement to Opal. Congratulations."

Bolin gave an awkward smile, reaching out a tentative hand to shake Kuvira's. "Uhhh, hey, thanks, but... what are you doing here, exactly? I mean, shouldn't you be, you know, still in jail?"

"Kuvira?" Opal's heart jolted. She stiffened straight on the couch, shooting a looking towards the open doorway of their apartment. She couldn't have heard that right. It didn't make any sense. Kuvira was in Zaofu, in prison. A dull haze set over her, as she made her way to the door. Easing Bolin aside, she looked to the person standing in front of them. Kuvira. The jolt returned, sending her heart into a flutter. "What's going on? You should still be in prison, shouldn't you?"

Kuvira gave a slow nod. "Yes, I should."

"Wait, you didn't escape, did you?" The flutter pulsed. "Kuvira, I don't understand, you were doing so well! Now they'll catch you and increase your sentence and—"

"No, I didn't escape," she insisted, with a calming raise of her hands..

"Oh." Opal forced out a calming breath. "Did they let you out early, then?"

"Not exactly..."

"Then, I don't understand, what are you doing here?"

Kuvira exhaled a heavy sigh, her eyes sinking with grief. "I'm here because something happened in Zaofu."

The flutter returned stronger than ever, with all of the force of a wolf bat beating its wings in her chest. Numbness crept into the back of her throat. "What happened? Is everything okay?"

"No, everything is..." Kuvira's eyes closed. "Zaofu was attacked. By the Red Lotus."

"What?" Memories flashed through her mind. Zaheer. The Red Lotus kidnapping her and other new airbenders. Chained down, nearly dying. News of the Earth Kingdom's collapse. If they were back, if they had attacked Zaofu... Her stomach somersaulted, crashing with a nauseous wave. "That... that can't be. What did they do? Is everyone alright?"

Kuvira's voice came out in a hoarse whisper, half-catching in her throat. "...No."

"Kuvira, what..." Her stomach churned. The sounds of the apartment disappeared, blood pounding between her ears. "Please, you're scaring me. What's going on? What happened?"

"Zaheer, he..." Kuvira eased out a shuddering breath, posture slackening. "He took our family captive."

Opal coughed a distraught breath and held a hand over her mouth. "No!"

"And..." Kuvira's voice shook again. Tears leaked from behind her closed eyes, lips quivering as she continued. "Opal, I'm so sorry. Su..."

"No, don't tell me!" The numbness that had spread into her throat expanded, clawing its way into her chest with an icy grip. The grip squeezed, stifling her breath with frantic coughs, already devolving into uncontrolled sobs. She knew what Kuvira was about to say. Deep down, she knew. But maybe if she didn't hear it, maybe it wouldn't be real. It couldn't be real. "Kuvira, please, I can't..."

"She's gone, Opal. She's..."

Kuvira didn't have to finish her words. Opal shrieked, collapsing against her sister. Any strength left in her legs vanished, and if not for Kuvira holding her tight, she would have fallen. Tears flooded down her face, bursting from behind closed eyelids. Kuvira helped her to the floor. Opal slumped limp in her sister's arms, unable to silence her anguished wailing, each new horrified shout broken by intense, uncontrolled coughing and sobbing.

"I'm sorry, Opal," Kuvira whispered, stroking a hand back through Opal's hair. Her own voice quivered, straining to retain some semblance of strength. "I'm so sorry."

"I don't understand..." Bolin said, in a soft whisper. He stared with a vacant expression, tears brimming in his own eyes. "How could this happen?"

"I don't know." Korra held a comforting hand to his shoulder, and looked to Opal. "She needs you now more than ever, Bolin."

Bolin eased a heavy, solemn sigh as he knelt down next to his fiancée. He reached out, his hands on her shoulders. "Opal, come here. I got you."

Opal struggled, muscles not wanting to respond. For the briefest of moments, her sobbing softened enough for clear thoughts to return, allowing herself to pull away from Kuvira and sink into Bolin's awaiting embrace. The sobbing returned in full force, and she slumped against him.

Bolin lifted her into his arms, resting his head against hers. "Everything will be okay. I promise, we'll get through this together."

Kuvira closed the apartment door behind her in a daze. Every built up emotion, every ounce of grief, threatened to spill over and consume her once more. With what little strength she had left, she pushed it down. Enough to keep her breathing steady. Enough to keep her tears from falling. Not enough to heal the knife twiating through her core, digging deeper with every breath. She clutched a hand to her chest, squeezing at the distant pain. No matter how hard she reached, she couldn't grasp it. When she could bear the pain no longer, she pushed her back against the wall and slid to the floor.

"Of all the terrible, cruel things I've done in my life," she said, her voice cracking in a broken whisper, "I think that may have been the worst."

Korra lowered to her knees next to Kuvira. "You had to do it."

"I know." She sucked in a hard breath, eyes closing. "That doesn't make it any easier."

Korra shifted from her knees to sit at Kuvira's side, and leaned against her. "Do you want to go now?"

With a heaving sigh, she sank against Korra, allowing the Avatar to embrace her in a hug. Warmth returned, wrapping over her with all the comfort of a heated security blanket. Her breathing steadied, and the twisting knife in her core pulled free. She felt safe, held there in Korra's arms. Safer than she ever had, as though all the pain she'd experienced in the past couple days hadn't come inches from destroying her very soul. "In a bit. I want to sit here a while longer."

Kya shoved her apartment door. It swung open a few inches before slamming into something on the other side. With a soft groan, she pushed harder, until whatever was on the other side started to slide across the floor. When she'd managed to crack the door open wide enough to fit through, she shimmied into the apartment and let the door close behind her. Once inside, she looked to the door. Their bookcase had fallen against the backside of it. Well, not so much fallen as thrown. And cracked in half. Books scattered across the floor, missing pages torn free to litter the apartment.

"What in the world?" she uttered, as she turned to look at the rest of the apartment.

Devastation met her gaze. The table had been overturned, the couch flipped over to the other side of the living room, the radio torn from its plug on the wall. Plates, papers, clothes, pictures, everything—it was a disaster. She might have jumped to the possibility that someone had broken in and ransacked the place, if she hadn't already heard the news, or if she didn't hear the steady thwacking sound coming from the bedroom. Her heart sank. Oh, Lin... With a deep sigh, she made her way into bedroom.

Lin stood in front of a heavy bag—a bag that had, for years, been stuffed into the back of the closet unused. Now, it hung from a chain on the ceiling, suffering repeated blows from a very angry police chief. Lin shouted with each punch, every strike more vicious than the last. She hadn't even bothered to wrap her hands or wear gloves. As a result, her knuckles had split open, dripping blood down her fingers.

"Lin, honey?" Kya took a step forward, but the other woman didn't seem to hear her. "You're bleeding."

Lin gave the heavy bag a few more merciless strikes, smearing behind streaks of crimson as she went. When she finally stopped, she took a step backwards, chest heaving with exhaustion. She lowered her hands to her sides, blooding dripping free from her knuckles onto the carpet. If she noticed, she didn't care.

"Su's dead," she said, her voice hoarse and scratchy. Her focus remained unmoving on the bag in front of her.

Kya came forward, holding her arms around her girlfriend from behind. "I know, I heard. I'm so sorry, Lin."

Lin sucked in an unsteady breath. "I keep thinking about all the years I wasted not speaking to her, because I was such a stubborn fool. I spent more years hating her than I ever did getting to know her. And now..."

"Shhh," Kya whispered, resting her chin against her girlfriend's shoulder. "Don't think like that. No matter what happened between you two in the past, you did get to know her, and her family. A family that you're a part of now."

"A family the Red Lotus kidnapped." Lin pulled away and sat at the edge of the bed. Her gaze tilted to the floor. If she meant to hide her eyes from Kya, she failed. They were red, puffy, stained with the lingering remains of long dried tears. No more tears now, though. None left to give. In all her years, Kya had never seen her like this. "We have to get them back."

"They will," Kya insisted, kneeling in front of the bed. She waved a hand through the air to pull a small stream of water from the flask at her hip. The water formed a glowing bubble around her hand. Pulling one of Lin's hands close, she pressed the water to her bleeding knuckles. "They'll stop the Red lotus, and your family will be okay."

"No, when I say 'we', I mean me." Lin's voice surged with a harder tone, sharp and determined. "Whatever plan the Avatar comes up with, whatever team they send after Zaheer, I'm going to be a part of it. I have to be. And if they don't go after Zaheer, then I'll go myself. I swear that man will suffer for what he did to my sister."

Kya lifted a brow at her girlfriend. "But, with your job..."

"I'm handing in my resignation first thing in the morning." Lin looked away, a deep breath surging from her lips. "I know it's six months earlier than I planned, but I've had enough. I'm old, I'm tired, and I just don't have it in me anymore to do this job. Certainly not while bigger things are happening."

"Are you sure?"

In all the times they'd spoke about her retirement, Lin had always been reluctant. Even after making the plans, even being six months out from the end of her career, she'd never been happy about it. Always reluctant, always grumbly. Now, she sounded almost like she wanted it. Or needed it.

Lin nodded, a fierce determination burning in her gaze. "I'm sure. Once I'm no longer police chief, I'll be going after Zaheer. With or without the Avatar, I don't care. Whatever it takes."

"Well, if you think I'm letting you go run off alone to get yourself killed, you're sadly mistaken," Kya stated, as she moved the healing water to Lin's other hand. "So, I'll be coming with you."

Lin balked. "Don't be ridiculous. It's too dangerous."

"Well duh," she replied. "That's why I'm going with you. You can try to argue all you want, but you're not going to win. I'm going, and that's final."

A soft grumble bellowed from the police chief's throat. "Fine, if you have to."

"Of course I have to." Kya smiled, and traced a gentle hand along Lin's cheek. "I love you, and I'd never forgive myself if I sat here alone, waiting for you to come back. But how about, instead of running off first chance you get, we actually talk to Korra first, and make a plan with her?"

Lin bowed her head, nodding slowly. "Yeah, I know. We will."

"Good." Kya finished her healing and leaned up to kiss her girlfriend, holding their lips together for a long, lingering while.

When Lin finally broke the kiss, she huffed out a breath and glanced down at the bed. "Could you lie with me a bit?"

"Of course."

Lin crawled into bed and fell against the mattress. Kya joined her, and held her close. Silence descended over the bedroom. Lin sank into the embrace, letting her face rest against her girlfriend's chest. Slow, steady breaths, each one more calm than the last. Kya broke out into a gentle hum, to the tune of an old lullaby her mother used to sing to her so many years ago.

"I love you," Lin whispered, letting her eyes fall shut.

Kya kissed the top of her head. "I love you, too. Always will."