My work healing Korra, my mother, Bumi and Tenzin put off the confrontation I knew would be coming. People left me alone to focus. Healing my family and best friend every day as I had them in spiritual healing baths to accelerate their healing, but out of them all, Korra was the worst off. She couldn't move her legs and she slept a great deal, like her body was still in shock. It was distressing to see Korra looking so weak and frail, especially when I knew how strong she was, but I knew that she must be all the more frustrated inside being unable to move or do anything on her own.

At first she rejected all outside help other than my own, and when she cried in the night from nightmares I'd hold her against me, hand curled over her head and comforting her no matter how many hours of sleep I lost. I knew this was going to be a long road ahead of her, and I couldn't do it alone. I needed my gran-gran's help with this, and I think Korra needed to be home for a while in order to recuperate.

After a long day of working on Korra, I closed the door behind me to find my uncles, my mother, my friends and Lin all waiting for me. Guess the wait was over. "We need to talk." Lin started, probably a little more harshly than she intended out of habit so my mom quickly moved forwards holding up her hand.

"You can't all just descend on her like that, give her some room."

"This is serious Kya, you know what we all saw, and it cannot be ignored." Tenzin said before looking at me sadly. "I'm sorry my dear, but this is something that cannot be held off any longer. You need to come clean about what happened with Zaheer, and according to Mako and Bolin, Ghazan too." Shooting them a cold look, Bolin looked awkward and guilty whilst Mako only seemed uncomfortable for being found out as a snitch.

"Sorry Kanna, but it's my duty to…"

"Save it Mako." I held up my hand, giving a long sigh before agreeing. "Let's talk, but not out here. Korra's only just managed to fall asleep and I don't want her rest being disturbed. Let's go somewhere else." Agreeing to my suggestion, Tenzin had us all go to his office where he closed the door and suddenly, I had numerous pairs of eyes studying me carefully. "So, I guess you're all wanting to ask about the blood bending." My uncle snapped.

"Are you out of your mind?! What on earth could have possibly possessed you to practice such a dangerous and forbidden form of bending?! You are aware that is illegal, aren't you?"

"Only in Republic City." I pointed out, making Tenzin stutter slightly as he faltered. "And as you may have noticed, I didn't blood bend in Republic City, and for the record I never practiced it. I just did it, because my friends were going to die unless I did something about it. I also did it at the Northern Air Temple, when you were getting beaten to death by the three of them, Uncle Tenzin." I told him sharply and defensively, taking a stand against everyone who seemed to be looking at me like I was some kind of…freak. Monster. Threat. You name it. "I blood bended all three of them at once because all I wanted was to make them stop hurting you. I don't have any regrets, and you can't make me feel ashamed for doing something I felt was right."

"Kanna, we understand the difficult position you were in, we were just surprised that's all." Bumi defended me, coming over to my side and placing his hand on my shoulder and I relaxed slightly, glad to know that no matter what, I could still count on Bumi to trust me. "Our Kanna has always shown a great talent for water bending, even when she chooses to abstain from using it conventionally. Things were dire and our situations weren't looking great, I see nothing wrong in our girl using whatever measures necessary to try and ensure all our safety."

"I agree." My mom said, much to my surprise. "Though I'm still not quite over the shock, I trust my daughter that she will never abuse this ability. She's not like the others who used blood bending for their own gain." Mom said as she too joined me.

"Um, I have to say Kanna, it was a little scary seeing you control people like that, but I guess I do owe you some thanks since you were just trying to protect us." Bolin said hesitantly, like he was afraid I'd yell at him because I was mad. "But how did you just…you know, do it?" I quirked an eyebrow at him.

"How did you suddenly lava bend?" Bolin's face dropped before he frowned, thinking deeply before he shrugged.

"Okay you got a point." Then he came over to my side too.

"This is ridiculous! We're not here to choose sides, we're here to deal with a real issue here." Lin snapped, losing patience with us all. "Kanna, you have to be aware that from now on, you cannot use blood bending for any reason inside the city, not even in self defence. I don't want to have to throw you in jail a second time, but if I have to, then I will. No matter who your family are."

"Is that a threat?" Mom asked with a glare, stepping towards Lin defensively but I grabbed hold of her hand and pulled lightly, making her look back to me in surprise as I shook my head.

"It's a warning. My duty is to uphold the law, and if Kanna breaks it then I'll have no choice but to respond as I must."

"But that's not fair." I spoke up, making everyone looking at me quickly. "Yes I know blood bending can be used for terrible things, but I would never impose my will on someone innocent, nor would I use it for something terrible or for criminal purposes, but I've thought about it a lot and made some theories. Blood bending could actually hold a lot of useful properties in today's world." I tried to explain but Tenzin just looked at me like I'd gone mad.

"What are you saying Kanna? Are you suggesting we allow you to practice blood bending? On people?!"

"No!" This was getting frustrating, I was too tried to think straight and it was a struggle to even get the words out in a coherent sentence.

"Then what are you suggesting Kanna?" Mako said to me sternly, arms folded as he faced me. "Because just like the chief said, if you're caught breaking the law, I won't hold back either." Wow, okay, that hurt a lot. Thanks Mako.

"You didn't say anything about that time with Amon. That's the only instance where I blood bended in Republic City, after Amon caught you and Korra and he was going to take away your bending." I pointed out to him, getting so mad that I didn't even realise what I was saying. "Why didn't you tell anybody then?"

"Wait, what? What are you talking about?" Mako demanded like he hadn't a clue what I meant. "I never saw you blood bend, I just…wait, now that I think about it, Amon suddenly stopped moving and you were facing him. I was too focused on Korra at the time so I didn't notice and I didn't know what it was…that was you blood bending him?!" Crap, I've really put my foot in it now.

"I thought you knew!"

"I didn't know what it was at the time and I didn't really see!"

"Wait, so you're telling me that you did use blood bending in Republic City?" Lin questioned me and I started to panic, cursing in my head as Tenzin just stared at me.

"It was an emergency, he was the one using blood bending on us and he'd just taken Korra's bending away. I couldn't stop him in time, but I was able to hold him back long enough for Mako and Korra to get away but he fought back because he was a blood bender too." Desperately trying to explain myself, I looked around at everyone to see that they were hesitant and unsure. "I swear it's true! I didn't have another choice!"

"There's always another choice Kanna." Tenzin told me gravely as I started to get visibly upset and distressed.

"Technically speaking, you're lucky we're not arresting you right now. You just admitted to breaking the law, Kanna." Mako said to me and I stared at him as Bolin quickly interfered, trying to calm everyone down.

"He doesn't mean that. You don't mean that! Do you Mako?" Bolin worried, seeing the tension beginning to rise between us as a clutched my fists tightly, taking a deep breath before trying to persuade myself.

"Blood bending has the potential to develop medical practices in numerous areas as well as help treat conditions such as poor circulation, high or low blood pressure, identifying blood clots and detecting abnormalities in the bloodstream. In surgery, blood bending can be used to keep a patient from bleeding out and dying from blood loss, I even have a theory where a person can be resuscitated using blood bending to make the heart pump blood around the body again whilst oxygen can be delivered orally, and if necessary, an electric shock to jump start the heart once more. All these theories are in my head, but they're logically sound and could really benefit a lot of areas and why shouldn't it be used in self defence? Better to protect yourself and others than allow yourself to be vulnerable."

"All the same, blood bending is too dangerous to be made legal. If too many learn how to use it, then there's no way we'd be able to manage the possible crime wave that would follow, and no one would be able to fight against it. Not even Lin." Lin shot Tenzin a look, protesting at his suggestion that she'd be so easily defeated but decided not to comment. "Kanna, my mother, your own grandmother, purposefully banned the use of blood bending because of her personal experiences with it in her past, knowing full well just how dangerous a bending form it is. What if she heard you now? She'd be so disappointed in you, Kanna." That hurt more than anything when Tenzin told me that, and it showed in my face.

"Don't you dare talk to my daughter like that Tenzin, who are you to say whether or not mom would be disappointed in her? In fact, I think she has a point!"

"You're hardly one to talk Kya, for the past few years you've hardly been there for Kanna, and ever since she came to Republic City, I have been her guardian. I know what's best for her and this blood bending nonsense is out of the question!"

"She's my daughter, whether she wants me around or not, you have no right talking to her like that! She used blood bending, so what? She did it to save her friends, all of us, she did it to save you and you can't even take the time to thank her? Without my daughter, you wouldn't be standing right now. You'd still be stuck in bed waiting for me to recover enough to be able to heal you as well as Korra and Bumi!" Mom and Tenzin continued to argue as Bumi put his arm around me, comforting me as I recovered from the blow Tenzin dealt when he mentioned gran-gran. Bolin and Mako just stayed silent, the former looking stressed and worried whilst Mako just looked sullen.

"That's not the point, the point is Kanna is a blood bender and you know how mom feels about the practice. There's no way she'll be able to accept this. Mom banned it for a reason, it has no place in this world!"

"Shut up!" I finally yelled, unable to take it anymore. "Just shut up, stop talking about me like I'm some kind of monster. Sure I'm a blood bender now, so what? That doesn't define me, I'm not like those other blood benders who used it for their own gain. I'm not a bad person, I don't want to hurt people, but I know blood bending can be used to save lives, so no matter what any of you think, I know damn well that gran-gran was wrong!" Completely taken aback by my outburst, everyone stared at me.

Having had enough of their staring, I cussed under my breath and turned to storm out. I managed to pass by everyone, but then Mako grabbed hold of my arm in order to stop me. "Hold on, you can't just leave like this. We have to figure out what we're going to do next about this. Just stop Kanna!" I fought against him, ordering him to let me go and leave me alone but Mako persisted, the cop in him taking over so I turned around and thrust out my hand, intending to just slam it against his face but the moment it came towards him, I saw Mako's eyes widen with fear and he released me all at once, moving away from me before I could touch him. That made me stop.

Even more hurt than before, I started to cry silently, staring at Mako and glanced at all the rest as my brows tugged together. "You really think I'd blood bend you Mako?" I asked him and he hesitated. The moment I saw that he actually had to think about his answer, I felt everything crash through me all at once. I turned and fled before anyone could stop me, just wanting to escape and even never come back. How could Mako think I would do that to him? I'd never hurt him, not really. He was my friend, a rally close friend. How could he?

"Kanna! Kanna wait, I'm sorry! Please don't go!" Mako was yelling after me now but I pushed his voice out of my head, breaking into a run in order to get off this suffocating island. I need air, and lots of it, so taking a quick turn I dove out of an open window and rolled onto the grass, rather gracefully moving with one fluid movement to rise up onto my feet and run down to the stables where Oogie was before anyone could catch up or figure out where I was. Oogie growled when he saw me, standing up in order to greet me but then he seemed to see my expression and the tears that wouldn't stop falling and stopped.

"I'm sorry buddy, but I need to borrow you. Can you give me a lift into the city? Please?" Oogie looked at me with those big brown eyes of his before he nudged me with his head, so I took it as a yes and climbed up onto his neck. "Yip-yip." Slapping his tail onto the ground, Oogie launched into the air and we passed by everyone who was looking for me, Bolin pointing.

"There! Kanna! Kanna come back! We just want to talk!"

"Kanna!" They all shouted to me, Mako loudest of all but I ignored them. Looking back, I saw Tenzin making to come after me with his glider but mom stopped him as he took off, using a water whip to grab him by the ankle and forced him back down in order to allow me to escape. Smiling ruefully, I couldn't help but thank her inwardly. Oogie flew me over into the city, setting me down in the park where I slid off weakly, feeling shaky all over and utterly miserable.

"Thank you Oogie, you're a real pal." I said, giving him a hug before then rubbing his nose. "Go back home now, just don't tell anybody where I am, okay? Yip-yip." Growling with a soft whine, Oogie reluctantly left me, allowing me to turn and make my way into the city where I soon became lost among the streets and vines. It was easy to disappear, and soon enough I was so wrapped up in my thoughts that I had lost all sense of direction.

I had enough sense to stay out of sight from the police, thinking that maybe Lin might have sent out word to keep an eye out for me. The last thing I wanted right about now was to be dragged in by some cop and stuck in a jail cell for the night. No, I need time to think and I did that best whilst walking in the open air, though often all I could think about was the look on my family's face. Although Bumi and mom had taken my side, I could tell they were still a little apprehensive and cautious about it. What was their problem? It's not like I'm going to suddenly start blood bending everyone who mildly inconveniences me. I'm still me. Still Kanna.

I was named after my grandmother's grandmother, I planned on naming my own daughter after my grandmother someday to complete the cycle, and because I loved her so much. Would gran-gran really be disappointed in me? Would she be disgusted? Will she stop loving me? All these questions rattling around in my head, I can't think at all. I started to get even more confused and upset, wandering around even after dark which meant I'd been walking for hours. My legs were shaky and unsteady, I was hungry, exhausted and feeling like the most miserable wretch in existence. Out of the corner of my eye I saw some flashing lights so I turned and saw I'd somehow brought myself to the front of city hall.

President Raiko was standing at the podium addressing some reporters, giving some speech or other, I didn't care, but when I saw a familiar figure in a neat red jacket, I looked up slightly. It was General Iroh, Lord Zuko's grandson. For a moment I just stood there, trying to figure out what they were talking about but all I got was some kind of military promise that Republic City was safe and that the public leaders of the world were well protected, and that the President would continue serving office despite the threat that has been made against us all by the criminal organisation, Red Lotus.

I turned away then, not caring to listen any further and wanting to be alone some more. Turning off the main street I wandered off in a direction that was quieter, less lively. It allowed me to think more about what I should do. I didn't want to go back and face my family, at least not tonight with everything so fresh. Getting myself so lost in thought, it was only when I noticed just how quiet it had become that I looked up and immediately regretted not paying more attention to where I was going. This was Triple Triad territory, and I was practically almost all the way to their nest. Bad. This is very bad.

Turning around with the intent to leave, I came face to face with a large man who had meaty arms, a slightly protruding belly and smelled just awful. He smirked down at me. "Who we got 'ere then?"

"Nobody." I answered immediately, backing away only to bump into someone else after a few steps, this guy more reedy looking with a grin which displayed his single gold tooth as I jumped. "Nobody at all."

"What you doing in our territory? Spying were ya?"

"Nope." I responded calmly, doing my best to try and find an angle where I could escape but I already had five guys closing in on me, all of them looking like benders. I could not one water bender, two fire benders and another two earth benders, all of them cracking their knuckles as they looked me over, searching for valuables. "Please, I don't want any trouble. Just let me go nice and quiet then we won't have to get our hands dirty, hm?"

"Why don't you give us that necklace first, then maybe we'll think about letting you off the hook this time?" My hand instantly rose to cover my neck, refusing to give up the necklace.

"This belonged to my great grandmother. You can't have it. Besides it's not worth anything anyway, it's just a tribal betrothal necklace. I don't have anything else of value, so I'm not really worth the effort trying to mug." Trying to act reasonable and logical, some of the gang members frowned at me.

"You got nothing?"

"Nope."

"Not even a single coin?"

"I'm totally broke." I told them honestly as I held up my hands. "See? No pockets, no purses, I'll even let you check my shoes if you really want but they'll be empty." They all just stared at me.

"What kind of person walks around without any money? Are you dumb or something? How do you expect to pay for anything?" One of them asked me, glaring in an attempt to be intimidating, but I'd seen Meelo look scarier when you try and wake him up before he's ready. Usually he'd have an air punch ready to sucker punch you one if you weren't ready for it.

"I never needed to buy anything before. My family provides everything, and I just stay at home and help look after the kids." This wasn't technically a lie, I just figured it would be best not to tell them who I actually was otherwise I might find myself being kidnapped and held for ransom. They looked even more bewildered, so I guessed they'd never come across a person who didn't have anything valuable for them to steal before, so now they were at a loss. "So…can I go?"

"Go? Well um…" They started whispering together despite the fact I was right in the middle and could hear every word they were saying. "What do we do Slim? If she doesn't have anything worth taking then what's the point?"

"Maybe she's lying. I vote we check her shoes just in case." Well, as muggings go this wasn't as bad as it could be. Most of them seemed like brainless idiots, and the rest weren't that much brighter by the way they were talking and trying to figure out how to steal from me without working at a loss. There was absolutely no water source nearby and I couldn't fight them all off on my own, even with my knowledge in chi blocking. I almost laughed at the irony. This would be the perfect opportunity to use blood bending to get myself out of here, but can I do it? No.

"Hey Ruon, doesn't she kinda look familiar to you?" Uh oh, I think I'm in trouble.

"Yeah Lao, now that you mention it. Isn't she that girl who hangs around the Avatar? She was also in some pro-bending matches a while back when the Fire Ferrets went downhill, those kids' used to play on the same team, Mako and Bolin." Yep, I'm screwed.

"That means you, little lady, must be that person that were mentioned in the newspapers." The skinniest of all the guys said to me, pulling out a knife and I caught the glint under the moonlight as he thrust it towards me, holding the point under my chin and forcing me to tilt my head back as the thug, Slim, cackled. "Avatar Aang's grandkid, not the air bending one though, the other one. Can't remember her name."

"Way to make a girl feel special. You pick up all your girlfriends with lines like that? I bet you're single. Right?" Slim growled at me, pressing the blade flat against my neck to try and scare me, pushing my head even further back so I could look upwards. It was a full moon. Damn it. If I were allowed to use blood bending, I could take out all these guys so easily. I could already feel the power of the moon as it flowed into me, like it were breathing fresh life through me. Beginning to feel slightly worried for my situation, I twisted my hand in order to flex my fingertips, searching for any nearby water, even if I had to pull it from the air.

"You'll be fetching us a pretty price, best behave yourself or I might be using these braids of yours as decoration for my trophy collection." He flicked at one of my braids and I started to get angry, but then a powerful fire blast came out of nowhere and burst at our feet.

At first I panicked, thinking it might be Mako but when I turned to see, it wasn't Mako, but none other than General Iroh himself. What was he doing here? "Release the lady." He ordered sternly, holding his fire bending stance as the Triads recovered from where they'd initially scattered. Slim quickly returned to placing the knife against my neck and I flinched, feeling the cold, stinging touch as he gripped onto my hair rather painfully as well. Iroh's eyes narrowed, focusing on Slim who started to talk, spitting all the while right by my ear which only wanted me to make him lean away from him all the more.

"Stay back! Stay back or the girl gets it. Don't think I won't do it!" Slim warned, started to walk backwards with me. Iroh took a step forwards, testing the waters as he glanced around at the thugs who all turned to face him. All at once they launched their attacks at him. Iroh masterfully fire bended a cover around himself, repelling the rocks, water and other fire strikes as Slim continued to hold onto me as I gathered water at my hand, pulling it from the moisture in the air. With the others suitably distracted, I lashed out at Slim with my hand whipping upwards.

I splashed the water on his face then froze it so that he had a thick layer of ice covering his eyes, making him yell and try to claw at it, lashing wildly with his knife so I smartly kicked it out of his grasp then chi blocked him, making him go completely limp before I then turned to the other Triads. I took down the biggest guy first as he seemed to be giving Iroh the most trouble, hitting all the vital points to block his chi in his arms, though I had to hit harder in order to get through the thick layers of fat and muscle, before I then did the same to his back and one of his legs, blocking off the pathways. "Hey! Watch out for the girl, she's a chi blocker!" One of the fire benders promptly turned at me and punched forwards to send a jet of flames.

Spinning forwards I flung myself at the ground in order to slide, gracefully gliding underneath the flames with my back arched before I rose up and blocked that guy's chi as well. Now there were only three left, and Iroh had knocked one out in the next second, leaving two. They panicked, squeaking fearfully as I turned and looked at them both. This was exactly what I needed, a fight to get everything out of my system, no wonder why Korra liked it so much. Too bad these guys were total losers and not even really worth the time since they went down so easy. I took on the water bender as Iroh held the last fire bender, both of us engaging and almost simultaneously, we finished them off together just as Iroh's lieutenants and subordinates arrived, rushing onto the scene.

"General Iroh sir! Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, have these men arrested. I want Chief Beifong to see to them personally." Iroh ordered as he moved his hair back into place where it had become slightly ruffled before he turned to me and walked over. "Miss Kanna? Were you hurt at all?" His hand lightly touched at my neck, searching for any cuts but I pulled away with a shake of my head.

"I'm fine. Thank you for coming along when you did. I was hoping for a distraction to catch them off guard." I said as the five of them were quickly secured and brought away. "Though I must warn you, we're technically in their territory so there's probably going to be more of them soon, and they won't take kindly to arresting some of their men."

"Then we'd better get out of here. Allow me to see you to safety." I couldn't help but smile slightly, the sadness clinging to my face easily somewhat at General Iroh's natural good manners and politeness which gave him an overall charm he didn't even realise he possessed Accepting his offer, we walked with his men onto safer streets where the police were called. When the police wagons started to roll in, however, I decided it was best to make myself scarce.

"I'm sorry, General Iroh, but I need to go. I can't stay here."

"Wait, what do you mean? Miss Kanna?" Momentarily confused, I'd already turned around and walked away before General Iroh had even answered, causing him to look and see an empty spot where I had been searching before he quickly looked for me up and down the streets, spotting me some distance away already. "Kanna!" I kept on walking.