Zuko was waiting patiently by the radio in a remote city on the northern coast of the Fire Nation. It had been a little over two days since the news of Lin Beifong's death had reached him. A messenger from the White Lotus had told him of the news, but Zuko had no way of contacting Izumi or anyone in Republic City. The messenger had assured him that the Fire Lord was safe, but he had to know for himself.

It had taken a hard day's travel to get to the outpost where there was a working radio. Izumi had assured him of her safety and that she was traveling to Republic City for Lin's funeral. He would have preferred her stay in the Palace, but she was Fire Lord after all. It was after the phone call with Izumi that it hit him that Lin was dead; Toph's firstborn who grew up to be the fierce woman he adored.

Tears had come to his eyes, sitting there in the radio station, when he thought of her taking her last breath. He had been there to hear her cries as Katara delivered her into the world. Zuko honestly believed that he would leave this world before his children. Although Izumi was his blood, they were all his children in a way: Kya, Bumi, Tenzin, Lin, and Suyin. But Lin had reminded him of himself sometimes. She yearned as a child to earn the respect of the father that didn't exist and her young adulthood saw a brooding, unforgiving woman. Like Zuko, though, she had come into her own.

But she was gone. Murdered. And it was all his fault.

His guards had not said a word about his tears and he did not bother to hide them. There was no way to make this right, but he would not let Lin die in vain. The next call had been to the White Lotus member assigned to the City: Soraya. All she had time to tell him was that she would be working with Korra and that she would report within twelve hours.

Which left Zuko waiting. They had been traveling for about a month through remote parts of the Fire Nation. Two years ago, word had reached the White Lotus that a group going by the anonymous name, 'The Order' had been gathering information about the Spirit World and one spirit in particular.

Spirits were not born in the same sense that humans were. According to his own research and accounts of spirits he had befriended over the years, new spirits appeared when they were needed or when their counterpart had been destroyed or faded from existence. A few months after Korra opened the spirit portals, Zuko made the decision that the White Lotus would be acting as ambassadors for humanity. It was during one of these meetings that they learned that a new spirit had entered the world.

Not much was known for the other spirits were not very forthcoming with information. But from what the White Lotus could gather, this spirit was in relation to the Lion Turtle. It seemed that spirits took time to take a corporal shape. For now, they were calling the spirit Neo. Like the Lion Turtle, Neo had the ability to grant the of bending- but on a much larger scale. If the Order got ahold of Neo, the world as they knew it could collapse.

Zuko had decided that the Order was a terrible blend of Equalists and the Red Lotus. But instead of taking away bending or throwing both the human and spirit worlds into anarchy, they desired a world where humans and spirits did not differ. Neo could dismantle the differences between spirits, benders, and non-benders and plunge the unsteady peace into chaos.

With the help of Iroh and a few of his spirit world friends, the White Lotus had carefully hidden Neo safely away. However, Zuko knew better than to trust too many people with the secret and after a few close calls, Neo was moved again and this time, Zuko only allowed Iroh to tell two people. The White Lotus did not know the location nor did Zuko himself. Instead, he asked a great person risk of two people he trusted more than anyone else: Izumi and Lin.

And that decision had led to Lin's death. When he asked this of the two women, everyone had known that dying for this secret could be a possibility. Lin faced that reality every day on the job and the Fire Lord was no stranger to threats. But still his heart ached.

She wasn't the first to die for this secret. The reason Zuko was traipsing through the northern part of the Fire Nation was because several high-ranking members of the White Lotus had been found dead. As far as the public knew, they had died of natural causes. But Zuko knew they were victims of the Order and had been tracking a faction through the Fire Nation.

Zuko had tried to warn Lin and Izumi that the Order was trying to track Neo down by murdering anyone who failed to tell them where the spirit was. But both were stubborn women, taking after their mothers, and assured him that they had taken the proper precautions. As much as he feared for Izumi now, Lin filled his mind.

Lin had always been the little shadow of her mother. Strong willed and powerful, she rose quickly in Toph's footsteps, whether Toph liked it or not. But Lin had a wickedly dry sense of humor that set her apart from Toph. And as she grew, Lin became her own woman and Zuko was as proud of her as he was Izumi.

His little tea pot was brewing on the table and he sat with his memories of Lin in silence until the little woman who ran this radio station suddenly flipped a few switches and removed her headset to hand it to Zuko. With a small bow she left the office before Zuko greeted the woman on the other end of the line.

"Soraya, thank you for getting back to me so soon."

Her voice was clear and steady on the other end of the line. "I called as soon as I could, sir."

"How is your research coming? Were Korra and her friends any help?" Soraya had told him earlier that President Raiko had assigned her to the Avatar, but Zuko had asked her to not inform Korra exactly what was going on yet. He didn't want to make the Avatar a target for the Order.

"I couldn't find anything that directly linked a specific spirit…" she replied. "Mako gave me access to all his files, but it was a dead end."

"My contacts here still don't know who the group's contact is in the spirit world. I'm getting closer to their headquarters, but it's slow going. Have you tried entering the spirit world?"

"The avatar closed up the portal in the City. You may be able to get to one of the Poles faster than I could. Someone may be watching to see if anyone tries to get through." Zuko was surprised that Korra had closed the spirit portal, but he trusted her judgement. And he was glad that she was working with Mako. Lin's unofficial protegee had a good head on his shoulders.

"So, the Order hasn't claimed responsibility for the attack or tried to spread their propaganda?

"No. Which means they aren't finished. When the Firelord arrives, I'll be sure to stay close."

Soraya clearly shared his fear that the Order would target Izumi next to get the answers they failed to extract from Lin. "Thank you, Soraya. If Lin died before she told them, Izumi will be their next target. We can't let Korra and the others know too much about the group. Right now, they aren't targeting her. We need to keep it that way."

"Don't worry. The Avatar doesn't know of the White Lotus' or the Order's involvement. I'll be sure to keep it that way."

"I wish you luck."

"You too, sir."

Ending the call, Zuko took a deep breath. Izumi was still in danger and the Order had great patience. She may be safe for now unless they knew that he was getting closer. Blowing on his tea, he started to take a sip as he contemplated what to do next, but was interrupted by a noise outside. His guards were yelling at someone. Odd though, Druk wasn't causing a fuss down in the courtyard. Looking out the window, the dragon was still sleeping soundly.

Then he heard a familiar grumble. "I don't care if you know who I am or not. Get the hell out of my way or I'll make you."

"Ma'am, no one is to enter the radio tower-"

"Tell Zuko to get his spoiled, flaming-"

"Toph…" Zuko kept his voice low as he opened the door to face his old friend. His guard looked uneasy, but he dismissed him. He had no doubt that she knew that Lin was dead whether Suyin and Tenzin had been able to contact her or not.

"Why the flameo are you hiding in the mountains?" She padded over to the table and picked up his abandoned tea. "We've got work to do."

Zuko didn't know what to say. How do you console a mother who just lost her child? But it didn't surprise him that she was focused on revenge. "Toph, I don't know what to say…"

She paused between sips to stare at him with blank eyes. "What's wrong with you?"

He blinked at her, unsure how to reply. "I'm so sorry Toph, it's all my fault. I should have offered her more protection. I should have done more-"

"Then what are you doing here? Let's go get her!"

"Toph…" his voice was low. Was she in denial or had she finally lost her senses completely? "Let's go back to Republic City together. I'm sure we can get there before the funeral."

"Funeral?"

Now Zuko was concerned. He took a few steps toward her and murmured, "Lin's dead, Toph. I talked to Izumi yesterday."

"Dead?" she scoffed. "You got bad information. My girl's still fighting. They've stolen her and are keeping her from the earth. But I can still feel her. She's alive, Zuko."