There are some changes I need to explain.

I never liked how stuck in the 1920's Legend of Korra was made so this story has closer to Last Airbender technology, still advancements but not like we see in canon.

There are also a few characters missing, Asami, Varrick, and Zhu Li. Not because I don't like them, but because the story is more streamlined with less people. Also, I find Varrick difficult to write.

Oh, and not being able to bend platinum isn't a thing either.

Enjoy :)


Before she could go have dinner, Kuvira had one more task to complete. Suyin informed her earlier that the avatar herself would be staying in Zaofu to train Opal in airbending. Therefore, security had to be boosted around the city, and especially around the guest quarters. Kuvira had the new shift schedules and routes for the security team to guard in her notebook and marched down the grand hallway of the Beifong mansion toward the dining room.

She quickly noticed Junior and his father heading straight toward her, pausing in front of the dining room doors. Kuvira tried to step around them, but Junior didn't watch where he was going and ran right into her. His papers flew everywhere. She stopped and grabbed some pieces in midair as Junior struggled to keep them all together. She handed the papers to him, struggled to hide her slight blush as she saw him do the same. As his father left, he scurried away behind him.

Kuvira swiftly turned her attention to the open doors and saw the entire group, Suyin, Huan, Wing, Wei, Opal, the avatar and her friends, and Aiwei enjoying their meal. An unfamiliar unexpected face, a middle-aged woman in a metal police uniform, sat next to Suyin. She must have been with the avatar too.

"Oh Kuvira!" Suyin said, motioning for her to enter, "Come on in!"

"I have the new schedules and routes you ordered for the guards," Kuvira said, walking around the left side of the table, "all I need is your stamp of approval and it'll be put into action immediately."

"Of course," she replied, pushing her dinner away, "you have my seal?" Kuvira nodded as she walked around the table and over to her.

"Lin," Suyin explained, taking the notebook from her, "everyone this is Kuvira, she's the captain of my guard. Kuvira, here's the avatar and friends, and this is Lin Beifong, and also happens to be my sister."

"Half-sister," Lin corrected.

Kuvira glanced at Suyin awkwardly and said, "I didn't know Toph had two daughters. It's nice to meet you." She gave her a respectful earth kingdom bow.

Lin looked her over up and down and asked, "Aren't you a bit young to be the captain of an entire security team?"

Suyin answered, "I hired Kuvira because of her great leadership qualities."

Opal poked at her dinner and snarked from across the table, "Yeah, she loves telling people what to do."

In retaliation, Kuvira used metal bending to take the bowl of soup away from Opal and placed it in front of Aiwei across the way. He stared at it blankly.

"Hey!" Opal demanded, "Give it back!"

"Get it yourself," Kuvira replied, gesturing to it.

Opal stood up and attempted to attack Kuvira with airbending. Instead, everyone's dishes flew, and the food went with it. The table, the floor, the walls, everyone in the room was suddenly covered their own dinner. Everyone stared in shock.

Wei slammed his fists into the table and said, "Really Opal!?"

"No!" Wing said, covering his dishes, "I want to eat my food, I don't want to wear it!"

Kuvira stepped back and used metal bending to take her wires out. Suyin stood up and grabbed her hands, stopping her. "Kuvira, no!" The wires retracted back into her uniform.

"You're mad at me?" Kuvira asked, taking another step back, "Opal's the one who ruined your meal! She started it."

"And I'm ending it, enough," Suyin said. She wiped some food off of her clothes onto the ground and then turned back to her seat.

"I'm sorry," Opal said, sitting back down sheepishly, "I didn't mean to throw food, I only wanted to throw air." She glanced up at Kuvira who crossed her arms at her. Opal stared her down.

Kuvira said, "Save your apologies for the chef. He's the one who worked so hard to make all your food here and this is how you repay him?" She gestured to the room of unamused guests.

Huan said, "Kuvira won that one, Opal." She pouted at him.

Suyin turned back to the notebook and said, "Kuvira, I'm switching Sarita with Hoshi for the rest of the week. I'll have Serik walk further north along this edge for the next week. He seems to like guarding Adsila's house more and more lately, and I don't want him to be distracted. Oh, I forgot to mention, Miyuki told me she wants more hours, so I'll extend her schedule further into the evenings as well." She wrote in her changes and stamped it with her seal of approval.

"Thank you," Kuvira replied, taking back the notebook and seal.

Lin asked, "Can I take a look at that?"

"Sure," she answered.

Huan asked, "Care to join us, Kuvira?" Wing glared at him while Wei covered his face.

"No," she replied, "I'll go to the guard mess hall to eat with civilized people." She paused. "Sorry, avatar...you're not included in that. It was nice meeting you."

She began walking toward Opal's side of the table, but Suyin grabbed her. "No," she insisted, "the other way." She turned around and walked around the way she came in.


The next morning, Kuvira had her usual chores to do around Zaofu. She singlehandedly opened each metal dome not long after sunrise. Normally it took a metal bender at each petal, but with her abilities she could do an entire flower herself. She walked up to the Toph statue in the middle of the city, and with metal bending forced it to lean forward for her. She used metal bending to throw a bucket of water to the top and scrubbed it. Once it was all cleaned up it was time to tend to the garden, aligning the flowers in different colors for the day, the week, and the season.

After that, it was time for her late morning earth and metalbending lesson with Suyin. She waited in the garden outside of the mansion to meet her, only to be surprised when the avatar and one of her friends showed up.

"Kuvira," Suyin explained, "Korra and Bolin here are going to learn metal bending today during your usual lesson."

She replied, "Bolin, you're an earth bender?"

"Yeah," he said, "but I've never been able to bend metal. I've tried so many times over the years and I'm not sure how being here is going to be any different from the million times I've tried before, but I guess we'll see." He gave her and anxious look.

"Some people just can't do it," Kuvira said, "and that's okay." She placed her hand on his shoulder and gave him a genuine smile.

Suyin clapped her hands and said, "In Zaofu I make sure everyone achieves their own personal greatness. Kuvira, can you demonstrate the differences between earth and metalbending?"

She nodded and got into a traditional earth bending stance. "Rocks and dirt are a solid," she explained, moving them into position in front of her, "you can break off pieces from one another and give it the shape you want." She stood up and forced the earth high above her. She revealed a 30-foot-tall statue of Korra.

With earthbending, she moved statue Korra's arms together and made the entire statue bow to them.

Korra's and Bolin's jaw dropped. "That's amazing!" Korra said. She bowed back at the statue for fun.

"Oh!" Bolin said, "Let me try!" He started making feet and legs first, only for the rocks to crumble and not come together like Kuvira's did. It fell apart instantly. "That is hard!"

Korra asked, "Is it really?" She tried, and the same thing happened. "How did you do that?"

"I don't know, I just do it," Kuvira shrugged. She forced the statue back into the ground and smoothed it over with earth bending as if it never happened. She brought up a metal plate on the ground and explained, "Metal bending is a bit different. There are impurities of earth inside the metal and that's what we're really bending. We mold it into shape and then, with practice, you can tear that up too." She ripped the metal plate in half with ease. "Because metal is so easy to mold, you can even put it back together like nothing happened." She slapped the pieces together, and with metal bending reshaped it exactly how it was before.

Korra and Bolin couldn't believe what they had just witnessed.

Korra said, "It's like it never even happened!"

Suyin clapped her hands and said, "Thank you, that was a great demonstration, Kuvira. Are you two ready to try?"

"Yeah," Bolin said, "maybe this time will be different."

Before they could begin, the ground under their feet shook and cracked. "Kuvira, what's the matter?" Suyin said, turning to her.

She shook her head, "This isn't me."

They all turned to see Lin, full of unbridled rage, stomping straight for Suyin. "Su," she said angrily, "I have some things I have to say to you."

Suyin replied, "After 30 years, you're finally ready to talk."

Lin pointed at her and explained, "Back when we were teens, you should have taken responsibility for your actions, but you never did! Instead, you ran off and pretended like nothing happened."

"You know the only reason I left Republic City was because Mom kicked me out," Suyin said, "and I admit I wasn't a perfect child, I've made mistakes in the past, but I moved on from those days. I was hoping after all these years you did too. I guess not."

"How could I move on after what you did to my face?!" Lin said, pointing at her scar.

Kuvira gasped, "You scarred your sister?"

Lin replied, "Oh she never told you that story? That's right, most of the people here didn't even know I existed before yesterday."

"Lin, I've asked you to come to my city and meet the rest of your family for years, but you've always refused," Suyin said hastily, narrowing her eyes at her.

"And why would I want to visit this place?" Lin asked, her voice tight with anger, "So you get rub it in my face that you live in a big fancy house, have a perfect family, and run an entire city employed by ex-cons? I don't want to live in your city and have you control me like you do everyone else here. I wonder what happens when people stop following your orders." Lin chucked a rock at her.

Suyin broke it with ease. "Okay," she said, "I guess this is how it's going to be."

That's when the fight started. Suyin quickly threw Lin around like a rag doll. She jumped back up and ran at her. Lin tried to chuck rocks at her, but Suyin dodged each and every one.

"Should we do something to stop them?" Korra asked anxiously.

"You don't have any siblings," Bolin answered smoothly, "fighting is all part of the healing process."

"Siblings are so weird," Kuvira said, glancing at Korra who gave her a similar bewildered look.

As Suyin and Lin ducked and dodged each other's attacks, Wing, Wei, and Huan came out to the grounds to observe the fight. Wing shouted from the sidelines, "Go Mom!"

Lin used Huan's sculpture and threw it at Suyin. She spun it around and tossed it into the wall. "My sculpture!" Huan shouted, running to it.

Kuvira said to him, "Actually, I like how it looks now."

Korra whispered, "Are you serious?"

She whispered back, "I honestly think it was always hideous, but it'll stop him from getting more upset. Watch."

"Hm," he pondered for a moment, "actually you're right, it looks kind of better now."

Kuvira smiled at Korra as she stared in amazement.

Meanwhile the fight was still on. Lin kept throwing rocks while Suyin used different metal plates to deflect them, eventually throwing them at Lin. Lin managed to avoid them all. Suyin used the wall to protect herself, then launched Lin across the yard to the steps of the gazebo.

"You've got it out of your system?" Suyin asked, walking towards her.

"Not quite yet!" Lin retorted.

They both jumped up, and picked up massive boulders over their heads, ready to use on each other. Opal ran between them and used airbending to knock them both down.

She asked, "What are you two doing? Sisters shouldn't want to hurt each other!"

"Oh?!" Kuvira said, walking up to her, "How would you know, Opal? You don't have any sisters."

Opal said, "At least I did something to stop them. What did you do? Nothing!"

"Hey, your brothers didn't do anything to help either," Kuvira said, gesturing to them behind her, "Wing even egged your mother on to attack your aunt and you think I'm in the wrong here?"

"How did this turn into being about you?" Opal asked, putting her hands on her hips, "Why is everything always about you?!"

"Enough!" Suyin commanded, stepping between them on the bridge, "Both of you, please! This fight is over, thank you, Opal."

"No, I'm just getting started," Kuvira said, turning to her, "Su, how can you be so mad at me for arguing with Opal sometimes when you scarred your own sister's face?"

Suyin explained calmly, "Kuvira, it happened 30-years-ago, long before you were born."

"No wonder you're so complacent with Opal's airbending," Kuvira continued, "I've never hurt her, but the other day she cracked my head open and you didn't even care!" As she slammed her fists down the ground cracked under her feet and across the already broken terrain.

Opal insisted, "That was an accident! I swear!"

"I do care!" Suyin insisted, grabbing her hands, "I asked the avatar herself to stay here and help her learn airbending just so that never happens again."

Kuvira pulled away from her and stomped off, the earth cracking under her feet. "Kuvira!" Suyin called. She didn't answer as she walked away.

Bolin said anxiously, "I don't understand what just happened."

"I didn't know I was an airbender yet," Opal confessed, "Kuvira was sitting on my favorite bench in the gardens, reading some old scroll. I demanded she get up but she said we could share. I tore part of her scroll, and when she jumped to her feet, I accidently launched her headfirst into a stone fountain. It was awful. I never should have happened."

Lin wiped the sweat off of her brow and said, "What a messed up family you have here, Su." She wobbled on her feet. Her knees went out from under her. Korra swooped in and caught her just before her head hit the ground.

"Lin!" Su shouted, running over. "Look at us," she said anxiously, "we're falling apart at the seams."

"I think she'll be okay," Mako said, bending over to get a better look, "she just fainted."

"Boys," Suyin gestured to the twins, "get the medics out here, hurry."

"Race you to the healer!" Wing shouted, taking off.

"Wing this is serious!" Wei said, running after him, "but I'll beat you there!"

Huan stepped forward and said, completely bored, "Don't worry Mom, I'll clean up this mess." He muttered under his breath. "Like always." He walked to the broken ground and pushed and pulled it back into position, putting the pillars back up, moving the metal plates back with ease and shifting the wall together.


Later, as the sun was beginning to set, Kuvira left dance practice in a hurry. Just as she was turning the corner to get to the train station, Opal ran directly into her. They both fell backwards. The duffle bag of dance gear Kuvira was wearing flew off of her as she hit the ground hard.

"Sorry, Kuvira," Opal said, gathering herself, "I should have looked where I was going."

Kuvira said, collecting her things and getting back up, "I didn't expect you to be there. Aren't you supposed to be training with the avatar?"

"Oh I was," Opal answered, finally getting to her feet, "I-we're taking a break right now. I wanted to clear my head away from everyone and under the beautiful sunset."

Kuvira glanced at the sky and smiled before turning her attention back to Opal. "What's the matter?"

"I'm sorry for cracking your skull open," she said quickly, "I didn't mean to, but it still shouldn't have happened. I'm sorry."

She shrugged. "Welcome to being a bender," she said, "if you don't learn the proper skills on exactly how to control it, you end up hurting people. Believe me, I know."

Opal gave her a heartfelt smile. "So, you're not going to hold it against me?" Kuvira shook her head. "Thank you." Her face fell again.

"What's wrong with you now?" Kuvira asked.

"I was just thinking that I really want to go to the northern air temple and be with Master Tenzin and learn airbending from him," she said, then hugged herself, "but if I leave, I know it's going to upset my parents, especially my mom."

"I've never had to make a decision worrying about what parents think," Kuvira explained, "but if someone told me they could help me master earthbending and all I had to do was leave for a while, I'd take them up on their offer."

Opal perked up. "I do want to master airbending."

"Your parents actually love you," she said, "and they'll continue to love you no matter what. This is your home. If you decide you don't want to be a nomad or follow their ideals, you can always come back to Zaofu. It's not like you'll be banished forever."

"You're right," she replied, "thanks Kuvira."

They smiled at each other. "Glad I could help," she said, walking away.


The next evening, Opal left to join Tenzin just before sunset. Kuvira watched over the guest houses for the night and was completely caught off guard when the alarms and spotlights went off and revealed four criminals carrying Korra away. She jumped off of the roof and covered their exit with metal plates. Other guards joined in and encircled them.

"You're surrounded," Kuvira said, "it's over. Release the avatar!"

The metal plates began to melt. Lava poured out from around them. She quickly had to use her metal wires to jump away or else get melted. One of the older male guards, Mitul, had to do the same and ducted behind a metal plate for cover with her.

"It seems they're blocked in," he said.

"They could still be planning an escape," Kuvira said, "we outnumber them, but they're clearly too powerful together." She looked up and the bald man twirled his staff over his head. He must have been Zaheer.

He said, "I'll create some cover! We're getting out of here!" With air bending, he began to twist the smoke around them.

Kuvira said, jumping up, "Cover me!"

With her metal wires, she went in and wrapped them around his wrists as he twirled his staff. Locking them in place, she forced him over the lava bed and far away from the rest of the group across the grounds. Mitul used a metal shield to block the next attack from P'li, then ran after the two of them.

With his staff, Zaheer knocked a few guards around who tried to circle him in. Kuvira went in and ripped it from his hands, then twisted his feet into the ground. Mitul chucked a metal plate at him, only for him to fly it into the wall. Others swarmed in.

Zaheer used air bending to blast the rocks from around his feet. Sarita, the best archer in Zaofu, ran in on her prosthetic feet and readied her bow. He took three arrows to his clothes before knocking the next arrows to the away.

Kuvira got up and chucked more rocks at him. He managed to dodge every attack. Then Jae, another guard, blasted fire at him repeatedly knocked him further away from the group.

Meanwhile, inside the mansion, the only two people who weren't outside by then were Junior and Huan. They both stepped out of their bedrooms at the same time. "What's all that noise?" Huan asked.

"I was just wondering the same thing," Junior answered.

They stepped out a side exit and surveyed the scene. Zaheer off to one side fighting Kuvira, Sarita, Mitul, and Jae. Meanwhile across the grounds the circle of lava and half melted metal filled the air, Mako, Bolin, their mother, their aunt, and their brothers fighting P'li, Ming Hua, and Ghazan.

"Whoa," Huan whispered.

Junior adjusted his glasses to make sure he wasn't seeing things. "Glad we didn't sleep through this! We have to help!"

Huan made a wall between them and the action and asked, "How?"

"I'll need you to cover me," Junior said, "see that tall lady? She's making explosions with her mind. If we cover her forehead, Mom and everyone else might have a chance of stopping the whole group." He took off his fabric belt and said, "Make me two stones, equal size and weight."

Unbeknownst to them, Su had already devised a plan. She, Lin, Wing, and Wei had made their way to the top of the flower dome in order to drop in from above. Just as they were about to drop, Junior threw his makeshift weapon, a ribbon of fabric with a rock on either end so it would spin through the air. It wrapped itself around P'li's forehead, blinding her just as she shot off an explosion. It stopped short and knocked Ming Hua and Ghazan out with it's immediate impact. Bolin's rock knocked her down and out as well, making the area safe enough for Suyin and Lin to drop.

"Yes!" Huan shouted a little too loudly, "We did it!"

"What?" Zaheer turned and surveyed the scene just as Lin carried Korra away. "No!"

He knocked Kuvira and Sarita down again and jumped onto his glider. In the air, he tried to get to Lin, but Suyin cut into his glider. He fell back into the group as they woke up.

P'li looked around for the perpetrator of the attack. She stopped at Huan and Junior celebrating in the distance. With one final shot before Zaheer caused a smoke screen, she shot at blast at them.

"Look out!" Huan shouted. He jumped in front of Junior and put up an earth wall at the last second.

"No!" Su cried as both Junior and Huan were knocked back by the blast. Junior rolled over and struggled to find his glasses in the darkness. He adjusted them broken frames onto his face and turned to Huan, expecting to see his brother to get up with ease. He didn't. Zaheer and his group disappeared into the night.

Sarita stood up and asked, "Where did they go?!"

"They were running in that direction," Kuvira said, pointing, "there must be an exit over there somewhere. Hurry!" They all ran over the now cooled lava pool, Mako and Bolin following them.

Junior shouted, "Huan's not okay!"

As she ran, Kuvira turned to see him cradling his younger brother in his arms. Mitul ran over and called for a medic.