Disclaimer: I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist or Legend of Korra

Edward

After departing the river, Chief Beifong announced that they would arrive in Zaofu by noon tomorrow.

He was bored, so he wandered the airship. He wasn't going anywhere specific; he was more walking just for the sake of it. He eventually found himself in one of the lower decks, and it looked to be a cargo area. He was surprised to find Raashu there, curled up on the ground. His eyes were open, and he raised his head to gaze at him as he approached.

As Ed thought about it, he realized he really didn't know the wolf all that well. He'd never really talked to him before. He decided he should make an effort to get to know Ayana's best friend better.

"Hey," He began awkwardly. The wolf just gazed at him. "Uh, do you mind if I hang out with you for a bit?"

He gave a soft bark which Ed took to mean yes, so he lowered himself to the ground near the massive front paws and leaned his back against a cargo crate. They sat awkwardly for a few minutes while he tried to think of something to say.

He finally came up with a question. "So, how did you and Ayana meet?"

Raashu pushed his cold, wet nose to his forehead, and his vision blurred as pictures formed in his mind. He saw Raashu standing beside an injured spirit, trying to help it stand. It looked like Zotu. A much younger Ayana appeared; she was maybe seven or eight years old. After getting over her surprise at seeing the spirits, she ran over to help push Zotu to his feet. The picture ended as Raashu pulled his nose away.

Ed smiled at him. "Yeah, that's sounds like something she'd do." He was trying to think of something else to say when he felt the cold nose again, getting a picture Mako and Bolin standing with two people who had to be their parents. They disappeared and were replaced by him and Al, with two shadowy figures behind them. The picture ended, and Raashu gave him an inquisitive look.

He wasn't sure how he knew what he was asking, but he did. "Yeah. Al's my brother." Raashu showed him the two shadowy people again. He felt sorrow grip him. The wolf was trying to ask about his parents. He decided he didn't really feel like explain the complexities associated with Hohenheim. "My dad left when we were young, and my mom died shortly after." He responded sadly.

Raashu looked sad, too. He gave him a small lick on his cheek, trying to comfort him. "Thanks. What about you? Do you have any family?"

He replied with a picture of Ayana, and a few spirits Ed had never seen before. He must not have any blood relatives then. How did that work, anyway? Did spirits just appear, or are they born like humans?

He didn't get the chance to ask as Raashu touched him again, showing a picture of Ed kissing Ayana. He felt the blood rush to his face, and he shot the wolf a lighthearted glare. He simply stared back, waiting for the answer.

"Yeah." He answered. Raashu's eyes lit up, and his tail thumped the ground a few times as it wagged.

He had forgotten what he was going to ask, so he asked something else. "My brother asked you a question, back when we first met you. He never told me your answer. How old are you?"

Raashu answered with an image of the planet orbiting the sun. Ed watched the orbit increase in speed until it was so fast he couldn't count the rotations anymore. Then it suddenly switched to a picture of what he assumed was the world, but it looked so different that he couldn't be sure. He didn't know how many years Raashu was trying to tell him, but it was a lot. At least a few hundred, if not more.

"What are you guys talking about?" The pictures faded and he blinked to clear his vision. He saw Al and Ayana approaching.

"Just getting to know each other better." He responded.

Al sat down next to him against the same crate he was, while Ayana leaned her back against Raashu's shoulder.

"You haven't been telling him all my deep dark secrets, have you?" She teased the spirit. He just returned her look with a noncommittal one of his own.

"What secrets?" Al harassed.

"Oh, yeah, do tell!" Ed laughed. He had only been joking, so he was surprised when Raashu responded by touching his head again. He got a picture of a spider and Ayana screaming in fright as she ran away from it. The imaged faded and he laughed so hard he had tears rolling down his cheeks.

"What did he tell you?!" She demanded.

"You're afraid of spiders?" He choked out as he tried to control his laughter. "Seriously?"

Her face turned red as she looked away from him. She swung her hand and smacked Raashu, but it wasn't a hard hit. "I can't believe you'd tell him that." The wolf barked and his tongue lolled out as he panted happily.

Ed finally got his amusement under control and wiped the tears from his eyes. "You can control elements, but you can't face a spider? I'm sorry, it's just… not something I expected."

"Yeah, yeah. Laugh all you want." She replied. She was trying to sound snarky but was failing miserably. "Spiders are creepy. I don't like them."

Raashu touched her head and she froze for a minute, watching whatever he was showing her. When he pulled back, she punched his muzzle playfully but didn't say a word. Ed wondered what he'd said.

The next morning, Asami tracked him down and gave him the sword sleeve back. It had a new piece attached; it looked like a small tube. She pointed at it. "I've added a long-range weapon to it. I call it a laser. I've been debating on attaching larger versions to mecha tanks, but decided I should start small first. This is my third design; you just press that button and it'll fire a battery-powered beam of energy out of the tube."

"Cool!" He examined it closely, running his fingers down the tube and over the button. Asami pushed his hand away gently.

"I wouldn't push that button in here if I were you. We'll try it out later, okay?"

They arrived in Zaofu later that morning, just as Beifong had told them. The village was definitely one of the weirder places he had ever seen. There were clusters of buildings, each connected by elevated train tracks. Each building cluster had large metal plates circling around them that looked like open flower petals, and every building was made of metal. It was a strange sight. No wonder this was called the Metal Clan.

Upon landing, the Chief didn't seem interested in disembarking. She told them she'd stay behind and wait, and that they were not to tell anyone she was here. Everyone found that last request weird but didn't bother arguing as they departed.

They left the Chief behind and descended the airship's ramp, then approached man who stood waiting for them. He placed his fist in his hand and bowed. "Avatar, it is an honor to meet you. My name is Aiwei."

Ayana bowed back, using the same pose with her hands. "Thank you for having us. We're here to meet the new airbender. Would you introduce them to us, please?"

"Of course. Is this everyone in your party?" Aiwei asked.

To her credit, Ayana's pause was brief enough to almost not be noticeable. "Yes, this is everyone."

"Then please follow me." Aiwei gestured to a platform behind him, and they all advanced and stepped on it. Two guards moved in unison, and the metal platform descended like an elevator.

"Wait. I thought metalbending wasn't a thing." He whispered to Al. He just shrugged.

Ayana shot him a look. "What? Of course it is. All the police officers in Republic City are metalbenders. I'd imagine most people here are, too."

He was pretty sure he remembered something about metalbending not being possible. Maybe he wasn't remembering it right.

They boarded one of the small trams, which took them from the airship landing area up to one of the metal clusters. Aiwei was giving a running commentary of the city as they traveled. The most interesting thing, in Ed's opinion, was when he talked about the invention of metalbending. Apparently, it was a rather new bending form, less than a hundred years old. The first metalbender was still living, although she's an elderly lady now.

The tram stopped and they were escorted into a huge house, where Aiwei said the new airbender lived. A woman approached and introduced herself at their entrance. "Avatar Ayana, it's a pleasure to welcome you to my city. My name is Suyin, but please just call me Su." She surveyed the group as Aiwei whispered something to her. Her face changed from friendly to disappointed. "Ayana, why did you lie about how many people were here with you?"

Ayana jumped at being called out so abruptly. "I… well… she asked us not to tell anyone she's here. I'm sorry. How did you know?"

Aiwei answered. "I'm a truth seer. I can sense when people are lying by the subtle changes in their heart rate, breathing, and so on."

"So who else is there?" Su asked.

"Lin Beifong is with us, she stayed in the airship."

Su looked shocked. "Lin is here?"

"Do you know her?" Ayana asked slowly.

"Yes, she's my sister." Su replied with a thoughtful look. It seemed they had some bad blood, if Lin didn't want to see her own sister. Su shook herself out of her thoughts. "Never mind that now, I'll go down to the airship later to see her. I'll introduce you to my daughter. Please follow me."

They walked through the house and out a back door to a large garden area. Su stopped as they passed a large, rectangular pit with several large columns spaced inside, and two boys were down there playing some sort of game.

"Those are two of my sons, Wing and Wei. They invented this game themselves, it's called 'power disk.' I'm very proud of them." She smiled proudly as she continued the tour. Ed watched the game as they passed. It looked like they were bending a metal disk back and forth, ricocheting it off the walls and pillars. They each had a net behind them, and he figured the goal was to land the disk in the opposite net. It looked like fun.

Next, they came across another son, introduced as Huan, who was bending metal into what he called art. Personally, Ed thought it just looked like hunks of twisted metal. He didn't see much art in any of Huan's creations.

They finally came upon her daughter, a beautiful girl named Opal. As they talked with Ayana, it seemed there was some misunderstanding on how Opal's airbending training would be done. Her mother was under the impression that Ayana would be teaching her here and was unaware of the plans to take all the benders to the temples. They ended up compromising; Ayana would stay and begin Opal's training here for a day or two, and later Opal would depart for the temple.

He was okay with that, it meant they were going to be here for a few days. While the airship was better than traveling on the trains back in Amestris, it still got old and boring after a while.

Aiwei showed them to their guest rooms, and then they all dispersed. Su left to go confront Lin, Opal and Ayana were in the courtyard doing some airbending, and Mako, Bolin and Asami were sitting with him and Al, watching Wing and Wei play power disk.

Ayana

She hadn't planned on them staying in Zaofu for more than a few hours, but she decided she didn't mind it. It was a beautiful place, and it seemed to be very safe, since the panels around the clusters closed every night to protect the buildings and occupants. Lin should be happy about that.

But she wasn't. She and Su would fight every chance they got, constantly making snide remarks or yelling at each other. Ayana tried to stay out of it. It's a family thing and was therefore none of her business.

The next morning at breakfast, Wing and Wei wandered in to grab some fruit from the table. They wasted no time in stuffing the food into their mouths. Wing spoke with his mouth half full, "Hey, Ayana, you should come play power disk with us!"

She laughed. "That wouldn't be a very fun game. I can't metalbend."

"What? Lin never offered to teach you?" Su asked in shock. Thankfully, the Chief wasn't present to hear that. She shook her head, so Su responded, "No matter. If you'd like, I can teach you. The Avatar should master every form of bending."

She had never even thought about learning a specialized skill like that. But she wouldn't mind trying, and Su was right, it wouldn't hurt to add to her Avatar arsenal. Metalbending could really come in handy. "Sure, I'll give it a shot."

After breakfast, Su led her out to the garden, where a collection of rocks were displayed on columns. The boys and Asami had followed to watch, not having anything better to do, apparently. Su bent a small chunk off one of the displays and began bending it into different shapes.

"Meteorites are great for beginner metalbenders due to their unique properties. Give it a try." She tossed the small chunk over and Ayana caught it. Holding it in her left hand, she hovered her right over it and moved her fingers how Su had, concentrating on the metal. Nothing happened, even after several minutes of trying.

"Try focusing on the small pieces of earth within the metal." Su suggested.

Okay, focus. She tried again, attempting to focus as Su had suggested. She was elated when she saw the metal move slightly.

Su grinned. "Good, that's a start! Keep trying!"

After several more tries, she was able to bend the meteorite into a diamond shape. Su named different shapes to try, and each time it got easier to bend, and she could do it quicker, although it was admittedly still slow and required a lot of effort.

Su clapped. "Congratulations, you're the first metalbending Avatar in history."

She blushed at the praise. "Thanks, Su."

"Keep practicing, and soon you'll be able to bend metal as effortlessly as you do any other element." Su encouraged. "The only metal known to be unbendable is platinum. Every other metal you should have no problems with."

Opal appeared, and Su took her leave. "Ready for some airbending?" Ayana asked as she shoved the meteorite chunk into her pocket.

"Sure!" Opal put her hands up in the position she had taught her yesterday, and together they recapped last night's lesson. Opal did great, having picked it up easily.

"You're a natural." She told her as they walked circles around each other, blowing streams of air around them in intricate waves.

"Thank you!" Opal replied. She looked proud of herself.

She spent the rest of the morning teaching Opal airbending, and during the afternoon she practiced metalbending. She thought she was getting better at it. She'd picked up most of the elements easily when she was younger, and it seemed this wasn't going to be any different for her.

She tried power disk once, but only because Wing wouldn't stop badgering her about it. He went easy on her, but even so she did terrible. She could bend the disk to deflect its direction slightly but couldn't control it enough to add to its speed or stop it completely. Wing encouraged her to keep practicing with the meteorite and assured her she'd get it eventually.

They enjoyed a quiet dinner with the Beifongs. Su and Lin had apparently made up earlier in the day because they were no longer acting hostile towards each other. After dinner, Opal boarded an airship and departed, heading for the Northern Air Temple.

As night rolled around, Ayana found she couldn't sleep. She sat with Ed and Al in the living room, playing with the small chunk of the meteorite, bending it into random shapes.

Edward

He and Al were hanging out in the living room, discussing other potential forms of bending. They knew about bloodbending and metalbending, but what else was out there? Bolin had mentioned another one, but neither of them could remember what it was. Maybe there were even some forms undiscovered still. Metalbending hadn't been found until somewhat recently, after all. Who knew, maybe woodbending would be a thing someday.

Ayana strolled into the room, absently tossing a chunk of metal between her hands as she threw herself on the couch beside Al. She bent the metal repeatedly into several shapes as she listened to them. "Woodbending? Seriously?"

"Why not?" Ed asked. "It seems like everything else is bendable! Why not something like wood?"

She shrugged. "Wood's not an element."

"Neither is metal. Or blood." He pointed out.

"Metal has earth in it, earth is an element. And blood has water in it." She countered.

"Have you ever tried bloodbending?" Al asked innocently, but Ed knew it was a bad question immediately by the look on her face. Al saw her reaction too and backtracked, "No, don't answer, I shouldn't have asked."

"No, it's fine, it's just that bloodbending is… well, it's considered inhumane. And it's illegal. It's painful, and controlling someone else's body like that, it's just not right." She looked down in guilt and continued softly. "I've only done it once. But that was in Gluttony's stomach, so it was different. It was an ocean of blood; it's not like I was controlling someone by bending it. I would never do such a thing." She had a disgusted tone in her voice.

She looked like she didn't want to talk about it anymore. He glanced at his pocket watch; it was very late. "We should probably go get some sleep."

He stood and stretched, and then circled behind the couch to head down the hall. He stopped behind Al, waiting for him to follow, but Al and Ayana had both frozen and were staring at the window.

"What is…." Al started to ask, when abruptly a chunk of the glass fell out, somehow sliced clean through, and several darts flew through the opening.

Ed raised his sleeve to block, but Al had jumped to his feet right in front of him and took the darts that would have hit him. Ayana got hit with a couple of her own as she had jumped up, too, and they both crumpled to the floor, unmoving.

A man jumped silently through the window. Zaheer.