Author's note:

Thank you for giving this story a shot! I've spent a long time developing this story from when I uploaded the first draft of the first chapter ages ago, but it's finally complete. This book is the first of four for this AU, and I really hope you enjoy!

This story kicks off a long series set in an alternate universe, starting with a totally reworked Book 3: Change. What makes it special is the addition of new characters, exploration of new and existing motives, and introduction of (hopefully) sophisticated story and character arcs. This initial chapter is where the story begins to diverge from canon, and so I ask you to bear with me as the story shifts from the one we all know and love. Shortly, you'll see how drastically everything has changed and how this is a very unique, extraordinary look at this world.

For future reference, I have planned four full length books for this series, starting with this adaptation of Change. The following three books will be entirely original, merely taking some inspiration from Balance. I expect to release each book as a separate story on this site, and so it's better to follow the author than the story, now that this first book is complete.

Thanks again!

Eyes open.

He could almost hear the click as his spirit snapped back into the familiar plane that stretched out before him, his mind quickly adjusting to the Spirit World. The reddish, orange streaks coursing through the atmosphere lit up the valley of golden trees throughout Xai Bau's Grove.

Back in the physical world, Zaheer's body was trapped, imprisoned, but he wasn't contained. Here, he could feel a warm breeze waft over him, smell the aroma of a crisp day, and hear the gurgle of the lagoon all around him. He took his first step through the muddied grass. Before him stood a towering trunk that sprawled out into a mesmerizing maze of branches, topped with a golden tuft of leaves, and, at its base, the smooth surface of a familiar stone.

He took his seat atop the stone, closing his eyes once more. Of the thirteen years since his imprisonment, he estimated he spent at least half in this very spot. His bars could not dampen his dedication, but so much of his time languished in this place. The spirits… they never cared much for human matters, and the humans... he could always come here, escape his harsh reality, and experience a better world, but they couldn't.

In the physical world, his body was currently sitting in the same position he was in now: slouched on the ground, legs crossed, palms laid gently on his knees from when he lulled himself into this world… but around him, shadows. In that world, he faced almost eternal darkness; no light could pierce the cold façade of his metal prison. It was only for a few short moments each day that he would catch a glimpse of sunlight, but the light was always too intense. His eyes could never adjust before the door closed once again, withholding his view of the outside world. For the last thirteen years, this was the only world he really knew.

And that was the danger, wasn't it? It would be easy to get lost here. To reject his cruel existence and stay here, in a world without the infection of humans. No wars, no smoke, no loss; the universe as it was meant to be.

But he couldn't stay. He couldn't do that.

And so he opened his eyes.

His spirit latched back onto this other realm, meeting his body once again, and the weight of thirteen years of suffering hit him like a boulder. In the spirit world, he was free of all his body's anguish. No fatigue, no aches. But every time he came back, it would return all at once.

Maybe that's why it took him those few moments to realize there was light flooding his cell once again. From across his cell, the bright white of the sun attacked his vision, but, from where he sat, he remained in darkness.

The joints in his knees cracked as he stood to face the wall behind him, and raising his arms behind his head. The greasy locks of his hair—unwashed and unkempt for thirteen years—pervaded his fingernails.

"Happy?" He shouted behind him, ushering in the guards who must've been waiting for him to get into position. They would only open the cell and leave him his food once he complied. They made so many rules, but it was either that or starve. If he starved, he wouldn't be of much use to anyone, and so he played along. For years.

But something was different. No noise came from outside the cell; the guards weren't bringing his food.

He turned around, but the light blinded him once again. He raised an open palm to shield his eyes, and they adjusted slowly. For the first time, he could see the sky. The REAL sky. But what struck him more was the fact that his view wasn't interrupted by any bars. The door was completely open.

He stumbled slowly through the open doorway, holding onto the frame in order to prop himself up as he lifted one foot and then the other over the threshold.

He took a cautious step away from the door, expecting to be ambushed by the guards at any moment, but nothing happened. He just… walked.

He could see now that his prison was a small pagoda-like structure sitting atop one of the many pillars in a very familiar place: Wulong Forest. He smirked at the irony that they would build his prison HERE of all places.

He walked cautiously across the bridge that connected his cell to the mainland. It had to be a few hundred feet, and, based on the beams and gears alongside it, it looked like it could retract. Was that the plan? After thirteen years, they had had enough of him, and now they were luring him out just to rip the ground from under him? Maybe.

Maybe that wouldn't be so bad.

No, that wasn't it. At the end of the bridge, at the base of what looked like a watchtower, laid the familiar blue and white robes of a White Lotus guard, splayed on his stomach. The man, was he dead?

As he approached the body, Zaheer could see the man's face twitch. Not dead. He stood over him, considering the man. Did he have a family? Did they know that the pain he inflicted?

He crouched next to the body, inching his face close to the man's. He was young. And breathing. "No," Zaheer said to nobody in particular. He reached his arms into the man's cloak, wrapping his arms around the body beneath them, and he pulled.

He hefted the man onto his shoulder and lugged him toward the edge. Looking down, Zaheer couldn't see through the mist rolling through the stone forest. It looked as if the ground didn't even exist here, like the rock columns just went down, and down, and down.

He threw the man into the mist.

At least half a dozen fur robes draped her withered frame, but they could do nothing to keep out the cold. She would be lying if she said it hadn't crossed her mind a few times over the last thirteen years that maybe she should shed them altogether and let nature take its course…

Thirteen years on the brink of hypothermia, chained to the ground by her damn forehead, forced to squat in a huddle with her face inches from the frozen metal of the floor. This was the White Lotus. That thought alone, the hilariously pompous, dishonorable, and corrupt society of elites, was all that kept her waiting. Patiently.

A lock of greasy, unwashed hair fell into her view as a frigid wind threatened to whip her hood away, but all she could manage to do was retreat further into herself, where the tiny ember that used to give her an identity would just barely keep her alive.

Over the years, P'li had come to see the beauty in the icy crevasse. The way the ice curled around the rock hidden beneath, she could make out the millennia of freezing that transformed this region from a meager ravine to a wonder of nature. Even after having the same view for thirteen years, she still reveled in the subtle shine of the crystals glinting off the ice-covered canyon.

Of course, that was the only light she had. In all the time she had been there, she had never once caught a glimpse of the actual sky. There were just a couple of minutes each day in which a sliver of sunlight would find its way to the bottom of her prison, when she could see the warmth just inches from her cell. But the chains kept it well out of reach.

Just as the wind died down and she thought she might have a moment's rest from the elements, she could feel the metal floor begin to vibrate. A clunking sound broke the silence, followed by the unyielding screech of rusted metal, frozen from years of nonuse.

P'li's eyes shot wide open. It wasn't time for a shift change, and the guards never took that elevator. She hadn't had a visitor in years, why now? She crawled as close to the gated doorway as she could reach, but the chains on her forehead dug into her temples, keeping her just inside the shadow of the cell, never to reach the dim light, and she waited anxiously for the doors of the elevator to open.

Light emerged from the doorway as the gears fought their way open.

No one was inside. The elevator was empty, save for a lone torch, hanging on the far wall of the decrepit machinery.

She sat in silence, waiting for something to happen. On the face of it, it was a night like any other. Cold and alone, her decade-long motto. Until this intrusion brought light back into her world. She watched the flicker of the small flame. Was this a new torture?

Then a drip fell from the torch. Some small amount of oil found its way to the floor of the elevator.

Eventually, another.

The hum of an engine rippled through the night, suddenly roaring over the meek howling of the wind and reverberating around the icy crevasse. That got her attention.

She stood on her knees, as high as the chains would allow, and she saw another drip. It joined a thick sludge coating the entire floor of the elevator, slowly creeping closer to her cell. She licked her lips.

The single torch started to die out, only its embers remaining. She threw her weight off the ground, coming back down with a crash. Twice. Thrice.

Finally, it fell. The moment the embers hit the floor, a fire roared to life.

Her fire.

A relentless sun beat at the wooden planks making up the barge, eradicating any shadow from the center platform. The ocean carried a meager breeze through the lattice style slits encasing the formidable earthbender, but never enough to mean much of anything.

Ghazan's head hung limply against the splintering wood, unworried about the particles digging into his cheek. His gaze had been fixed on the west edge of the barge for hours now, as it had every day for years. At that edge he could catch an occasional glimpse of the ocean. The movement of the waves was practically indiscernible from this distance, but the blue streak was mesmerizing.

So he stared.

And stared.

On some level, his mind noticed the clunk of a tray landing outside the cell, delivering with it his daily rations. It didn't matter. It was the sixth day of his latest fast, and he was determined to make this one last.

Footsteps lumbered into the distance, rejoining the stampede that circled his enclosure all day, every day. For how long? He lost count a long time ago, and he couldn't be bothered to start again.

But that blue, though. That little speck of ocean he could make out. It felt so familiar, like an echo of a memory that abandoned him long ago.

He could peer up at the sky, watch the clouds pass overhead, maybe try to see his fortune in their billows. But he never did. The sky only brought pain. The sun, the one burning a permanent lattice pattern into his flesh, was the best-case scenario. Worse were the storms. The ones whose winds would batter his face, pummel him with stinging rain. He once hoped they would dredge something from the depths, something bendable, or that they would flip the barge and put an end to all of this. But they always ended in disappointment. The worst pain.

His stomach groaned, pleading with him to end his fast, and, for a moment, his eyes darted away from the water. No! The thought immediately jumped into his brain, and he lost his attention in the blue once again. His eyes were eager for more disappointment, more nothing.

The water once again fell beneath the wooden horizon. His mind began to wander, remembering the tray he just glimpsed. Was that..? He lolled his head back toward the tray. A cup. Atop the tray, the sentry delivered his rice in a cup. He padded over to meet this new addition to his mealtime. His weathered fingers grasped at the smooth ceramic.

Heat radiated from its surface, and, in another moment, it was no longer a cup.

A gust of sulfur blasted toward her right. All around her, the sounds of boots stamping against metal trusses throughout the cavernous prison. Sentries circling her like prey.

Part of her wondered if they were hoping the volcano would erupt. The other part knew that would have been too thoughtful. A painful rasp shot out of her throat; a meager attempt to laugh off her years inside an active volcano, surrounded by fire and sulfur and ash all that time.

Ming Hua spotted a guard on one of the trusses just one level up. Tall, dark skin, a tuft of brown hair sprouting off his head. The one who probably regretted giving up on his dreams to become a pastry chef. She liked him. He had something to live for, until he gave it up to suffer here, with her. She had special plans for him… if she ever got the chance.

She once thought the metal grates of her cell provided a beautiful view. The lava bubbling beneath her would occasionally spit along the inner walls of their bed, creating a dazzling display as it slowly cooled and grew her prison just that tiny bit more. Her cell, suspended by just four, simple cables, left her so tantalizingly close, but only the sulfur ever found its way up.

The same grates lined her ceiling, providing a clear view of the interweaving trusses connecting platform to platform, until, eventually, they reached the final guard post, maybe fifty feet from her on all sides.

As she gazed through her ceiling, she saw the strangest thing: a droplet. It fell straight through the grates until it landed with a quiet plop on her floor. Immediately, it started to dissipate. The floor wasn't burning, but the air itself evaporated any moisture. And just like that, it was gone.

But then another fell.

This time, she stood over it, trying to catch a glimpse of where it was coming from. Another droplet came down, and she lapped it up. Sweet, delicious water.

Another dropped on her face, forcing her to squint. Then another. She grimaced.

And she collected.

Light returned to her world all at once, as Jinora's spirit rushed back to the surface of the Earth Queen's palace. She placed a hand on her temple, steadying herself as she readjusted to her body.

"—Zaheer and the others have escaped," a gruff, female voice caught her ear.

"How is that possible?"

Jinora shook her head, latching onto her father's voice. It was Lin, he was talking to Lin.

The police chief scowled, the inflection in her voice trying to speed through whatever she knew. "Look, all we know is, he's out."

She could see her father trying to piece something together. A dozen emotions cycled through his face: surprise, confusion, fear. "No," He articulated, his words an affront to reality.

"We have to get moving," Lin rammed through. "Korra, we'll talk on the airship."

"No!" Korra refused. "Tell me what's going on."

"Is he an airbender now?" Tenzin wondered, ignoring Korra entirely.

"What? No!" Lin berated him. "Don't be ridiculous. Imagine the odds!"

Jinora approached her father from behind, rubbing the weariness out of her eyes. "What's going on? Who's Zaheer?"

"That's what I want to know!" Korra shouted much more forcefully. "Now will you quit ignoring me? Why's my life in danger?" She jabbed Lin's breastplate.

The airbending master grabbed Korra's shoulder, visibly resigning himself to the truth. "Shortly after we found out you were the avatar, Zaheer and three others attempted to kidnap you. Luckily, your father, Lord Zuko, Chief Sokka, and I were there to stop them," he explained. "We apprehended the criminals and locked them away in prisons designed to impair their abilities."

Lin huffed as the last words escaped his lips, but she stayed quiet.

"So that's why you and my dad sheltered me away," Korra wondered aloud.

"It was for your own safety," Tenzin assured her solemnly.

Korra took a step forward, her stoic determination ready to throw a wrench into her plans. "You know what? I don't care. I came here for the airbenders, and I'm not leaving without them."

"Actually," Jinora stepped in, eager to finally share what she knew. "I found them while you guys were talking."

"Well?! Where are they?" Lin rushed, apparently resigned to Korra's mission.

"In some sort of compound," she told them. "Right under the Earth Queen's temple!"

Korra smashed her fist into her own palm. "Then let's bust them out!"

"They'll be here any minute, I'm telling you!" Kai assured his cellmate. He took a deep breath to calm his nerves, but the warm, stagnant air grasped his lungs in a vice.

"I don't care if your girlfriend knows we're here," Sehn steadied the younger airbender. "She disappeared a while ago. It's time we realize we might be on our own."

Kai scrunched his face. "She's not my girlfriend!"

But the air was getting stale. There was barely enough room for one person to lay on the ground; as they sat on opposite sides of the cell, their legs were in a tangled mess. It was hot, he was tired, and he couldn't get more uncomfortable.

As if reading Kai's thoughts, Sehn changed tactics. "Do you want to sit here and wait for your little princess to save us, or do you want to show her what you can do?"

Kai turned his attention to the stone wall that closed them into this place. His head lolled against the wall behind him. Sweat drenched his body. It felt like the walls were closing in.

They were getting rescued.

Jinora was coming.

She promised.

Kai's eyes darted back to the young man. He nodded his head slightly toward the wall they once fell through. "What are you planning to do about that?" He asked, half sarcastic and half quizzical.

Sehn flashed his teeth.

Hannu jolted upright in his bed, a cold sweat coating his body from head to toe. How many hours had passed since they were locked in the barracks? How many hours had he been laying there, waiting for sleep to come? Throughout the night, as he laid on the cold, rock slab that passed for a bed, his mind continued to race with thoughts of the kid who showed him so much compassion earlier that day and how he stood back and watched as the kid was thrown to the wolfbats.

He rubbed his temple, wincing from the impossibility of the situation. This was his new reality, and the sooner he accepted that the better off he would be.

Sleep would have to come eventually. He lowered his back onto the earth beneath him, shifting in discomfort, and he closed his eyes.

CHOOOM!

Hannu yelped as his body flung itself off the bed, onto the equally uncomfortable floor.

An explosion? His hands quickly grabbed at his torso, checking that everything was in one piece, but there were no bruises, burns, missing limbs, or anything. He must have just fell off the bed in excitement.

Then he saw the door, or, more accurately, the remains of the earthen wall that once locked them in. A faint light streamed in through the new opening, revealing two figures scuttling over the jagged edges, knocking free the loose rock that remained.

Hannu narrowed his eyes at the intruders, but he could only make out the silhouettes. The shorter one had a bunch of scrawny limbs jutting out of it and a mess of shaggy hair on top. The taller one was filled out a bit more, but what he noticed most was that neither figure wore the robes of a Dai Li agent. These were other prisoners.

"Everyone remain calm," the shorter shadow addressed the growing mass of waking airbenders. "We're getting out of here."

Every few feet, wooden struts interrupted the unending stone walls. The echoes of more than two dozen airbenders stampeding through the hall trumpeted their escape to any of their captors, yet none came.

That little detail was something Kai couldn't ignore. He raced through the shallow light of the tunnel alongside Sehn. A horde of airbenders followed, ready to take on whatever might come, but… nothing.

"Doesn't this" Huff. "seem weird" Huff. "to you?" He wondered between breaths.

"Yeah," Sehn panted, a noticeable levity to his voice. "I was looking forward to cracking some heads!"

Kai mirrored his new friend's enthusiasm. What he wouldn't give to—

All of Kai's thoughts went out the window when they rounded a corner and found three Dai Li agents standing in their way.

"Hey!" One of the agents shouted, surprised at their appearance. "You're not supposed to be h-"

Before the man even finished his sentence, however, Sehn was upon them. He found Sehn's palm pressing his face into the dirt, smothering his final word. One of his allies was faster, jutting his hand toward the airbender, but the earth fist quickly flittered out of his control after a swift quick to his torso. He landed atop the first agent. The last had closed the distance, delivering a simple jab that found only open space. The air suddenly exploded in front of him, and Sehn propelled the man far down the next corridor.

"Woah."

The voice came from behind Kai. Was that the guy he was sparring with earlier? Never caught his name. Still, he echoed the sentiment.

Sehn didn't bask in his win. Before Kai could react, Sehn had the nearest Dai Li agent by the collar. "WHERE IS SHE?" He shouted.

Kai's eyes shot wide. The anger in his voice was unlike anything he heard from the man he started to know in that cell. The Dai Li agent seemed as baffled as Kai.

Kai didn't give him another second. He jumped up behind him and pulled his fist away. "Let him go!"

For a moment, Kai wasn't sure what would happen. Sehn's eyes bored holes into Kai, glaring like he might try him next.

Then it evaporated as suddenly as it appeared. Sehn dropped the man, and his expression grew warm again. "Ah. Yeah. Let's go."

Kai considered whether he should keep that little exchange in mind in the future, but the thought left his mind when they reached the end of the corridor. A large, oak door stood in their way. At first, he wondered why this wasn't just another earth wall like the rest of the compound seemed to be. Once Sehn blasted the door off its hinges, he decided he really didn't care.

Light spilled in through the new opening, forcing Kai to shield his eyes after spending the last day underground without anything more than lantern light. Gazing through his outstretched palm into the bright sky, he almost tripped over the leftover debris that was once the door.

"Careful," Sehn warned him, also struggling to adjust to the new light.

Kai tightened his lips into an affirmative look, and he trudged forward. When they reached the top of the stairs leading into open air, they found a great monolith before them. The walls of the Earth Queen's palace towered over them, and, from where they stood outside the Earth Queen's temple, they could see the entire palace.

What surprised Kai most was the bustle going on above the surface. Dai Li agents were scrambling past the palace from all around them, some even running straight past the group of airbenders without so much as a glance. Whatever made for such an easy escape had to be on the other side of the palace.

Korra's body skittered against the hard stone that paved the palace grounds. She twisted around to get enough purchase to pick herself up, but it invited a world of pain. The dull ache in her arm, however, worried her more. Was it dislocated?

When she finally got back on her feet, she found the Dai Li on all sides. The horde moved in unison—a legion closing in.

Waiting for her. Baiting her next strike.

She saw Mako and Bolin toward her left, back-to-back within their own throng of Dai Li. To the other side, Lin whipped her cables around another Dai Li agent as Jinora and Tenzin protected a downed Asami, blasting their enemies into the rooftops with their gusts. Korra watched Jinora take a blow straight into her chest. Her father shouted after her, but they pummeled him with a quick one-two. The airbending master fell to one knee.

Korra gazed across the sea of Dai Li facing her. She closed her eyes for the briefest moment, and the power overtook her. Korra's eyes lit up in the bluish white of the avatar state, and she became invincible.

In the distance, she spotted a wave of gray cloaks rushing toward them. The airbenders? In that moment, it didn't matter. A blast of wind exploded from her center, forcing all the Dai Li off their feet, skittering across the palace grounds. There was nothing, no one that could stand against the full might of the avatar state, and it was time the Earth Queen knew it. She turned to face her, the craggily faced bitch, and she let the power gush through her. A violent wind whipped around her body, lifting her in the cyclone, and causing every loose article to flap wildly. The winds forced her arms out, preparing her to deliver the blow she needed.

Pain shot up her injured arm, but the energy swirling through her veins drowned it out. Instead, it ripped into the earth, heaving a great chunk of stone over her head until it crashed to the ground, exploding fragments of rock everywhere.

Korra's body lowered to the ground gently, the winds dying down, and her eyes returned to their normal blues.

The Earth Queen froze on the other side of the debris that nearly pulverized her, still shielding her face from the wreckage that peppered her. Behind her, the airbenders came to a standstill as close to the Queen as Korra. The Dai Li stared.

"We're leaving." Korra stated authoritatively.

The Queen stayed a silent onlooker while the herd of allies shuffled toward the airship and bison. Kai stood back for an extra second, scanning the crowd for what he was after.

"Kai! Jinora screamed. When she first said his name, there were still loads of airbenders and Dai Li between them, but they pushed through in another second.

Realistically, it had only been, what, a day, since he last saw her? So much seemed to change since then. He couldn't help but melt into her embrace.

"I thought I'd never see you again," he practically sobbed into her shoulder. He hugged her tightly, not wanting to let go of this moment of peace. He pulled away and stole another moment to just gaze into her amber eyes, and it hit him like a punch to the gut—how big of a jerk he had been to leave.

Once he realized how long he was staring, his cheeks burned red. He practically flew back, starting to rub his neck, but, when Jinora stared back at him with a gentle smile and punched his arm, he knew it was okay. "You can't get away from me THAT easily," she teased.

"Jinora! Kai! Come on!" Tenzin hastened them. They had already fallen behind the mass of airbenders, and they rushed after them.

Tenzin and Sehn each fell back in order to race alongside the pair, and it was a good thing they did. Kai heard an earth fist whizz past his ear, and he knew the Dai Li were on them once again.

"These airbenders are Earth Kingdom citizens, and I am their queen! Taking them will constitute an act of war!" The Queen's shrill voice ripped through the distance.

"AGH!" Jinora grimaced as one of the fists pummeled her leg, throwing her off balance.

She stumbled to the ground, and Kai froze. There was no way he was going to leave her again. The Dai Li kept up their onslaught, but he unleashed his own. He bent an arc of wind into the aggressors, forcing them to pause and dig their heels into the earth.

Kai glanced back and saw both Tenzin and Sehn rushing back to help, but he didn't like what they were getting into. He caused the Dai Li to hesitate. What was about to happen?

He heard a loud groan ripple through the air as the sky bison came to their rescue. The beast landed directly on top of the first wave of Dai Li, putting itself between each side. "Oogi!" Jinora cheered. "Thanks for the save!"

Tenzin and Sehn arrived at the sky bison in time to help Jinora and Kai scramble into the saddle, and they launched themselves after them just a moment later.

As Oogi took off, the whole group gazed ahead. The sun was just starting to set in front of them, and this wretched day was finally behind them.

They were safe. They were going to escape.

Then Kai lurched forward, feeling a sudden pain in his back. Jinora turned to him, confusion painting her face. In another second, that face was gone. An earth fist had latched onto his back, and it ripped him from the saddle.

A low hood obstructed much of P'Li's vision as she sauntered into the flower shop, but she could see the clerk raise an eyebrow. Even after shedding many of the layers the White Lotus generously bequeathed to her, she was still coated in thirteen years' worth of muck. The cloak surely couldn't protect this poor man from her stench.

"Can I help you?" The man asked. Dressed in a green tunic, symbolizing his Earth Kingdom descent, his scrappy appearance told her the flower business wasn't exactly booming in the slums of Republic City. If she were right, the man didn't much care.

"Yes," she stood tall. "I'm looking for something special."

He snorted, gesturing to his assortment of dying floras. "Look around lady. Take yer pick!"

"Something small, maybe." She fixed his gaze. "A lotus. Grown in the flood plains of Tu Zin, picked at dusk, with the scent of blood."

The man stared into her eyes, letting seconds pass.

"A rare selection," he commented. "Not many still cling to the ancient ways."

"Not many remember the flower's beauty."

"Very true." The man smiled, ushering her into the backroom.

She brushed through the curtains. The new room was just as large of the flower shop, but filled with carts of even sorrier plants than the man offered up front. At its center, a man sat at a table with his back to the door. He turned to see who entered.

"Zaheer!" She felt her face go limp, like all the tension she had stockpiled over the last thirteen years had suddenly evaporated the second she embraced him.

She pulled away only so that she could see his face.

"I want you to know." His hand wrapped around her frame. "Not one day went by in that prison that I didn't think of you."

She could feel her eyes well with tears, and she dug her face into his embrace. "The years apart only made my love for you stronger," she whispered into his ragged hair. Pulling back, she looked him straight in the eyes. "Deep down, I knew we would be together again."

He grasped her arms. "P'Li," he started. "P'Li, do you think—"

They heard a crash in the front of the shop. Rushing back through the curtain, they found familiar faces. Ghazan held the clerk by the collar while Ming-Hua pressed an icy dagger against his neck. When they noticed Zaheer and P'Li, they put the man down.

"Who can even remember all these codes after all these years?" Ming Hua huffed.

"I just walked in on these two…" Ghazan defended.

Zaheer and P'Li closed the distance, embracing their friends for the first time in thirteen years.

"We have work to do," Zaheer told them.