After nearly an hour of searching and finding nothing, Kuvira marched down to Su's office to the scene of Korra recovering on the couch. Aiwei stood over her, Lin and Suyin argued behind the couch. Kuvira said, "We searched the entire estate, there's no sign of them anywhere. Su, I'm sorry."

Suyin said, "I know you've been doing your best. That's all I can ask of you and the rest of the guards, Kuvira."

"I can't help but feel this was partially my fault," she explained, stepping forward into the room, "It happened on my post. I should have seen them approach, and sounded the first alarm, but I didn't." She hung her head in shame.

Korra asked, "What? You didn't see or hear anything before the attack started? How is that possible?"

She shook her head and explained, "The man I was assigned with last night, the new guy, Hoshi, he..." she hesitated and looked off to the side.

"Spit it out already," Lin said, "we don't have all night."

"He insisted on having a conversation while we were on duty," she explained, "he got this close to my face," she put her hand up next to her face, "and told me all about how real men can do at least 200 push-ups without breaking a sweat. He was about to give me a demonstration, when the first alarms went off...and then he felt me up, so I used metal bending to throw him off the roof."

Suyin gasped.

Aiwei said in disgust, "You were flirting on your post while the avatar was in imminent danger!"

"No!" Kuvira said, throwing her hands down, causing the ground to crack and shake under everyone. "I wasn't, he was."

Suyin said, "Alright. That's enough! Get some sleep. We'll start questioning everyone in the morning and figure out who let those people into my city."

Kuvira asked, "Is Huan okay?"

"He'll be fine," she answered, looking away.


Before going in for questioning the next morning, Kuvira stopped by Huan's bedroom in Suyin's mansion. She knocked, "Can I come in?"

"Yeah," he said sadly.

She walked in to see him sitting at the head of his bed, dejected. Sarita sat across from him all the way at the foot. Through her thick face framing bangs, Sarita looked up at her and smiled weakly. "Oh," Kuvira said awkwardly, "if you two were having a moment I can come back later."

"It's okay," Sarita said, "we were just talking."

Kuvira said, "I'm sorry, Huan. If I hadn't been distracted on my post by the new guy, I would have seen Zaheer coming and maybe you wouldn't have gotten hurt."

"It's not your fault," he said, "it's Zaheer's, and whoever let him into the city. They're the ones who did this to me."

She looked him over as she sat between them in the middle of the bed. He sat knees to his chest by the pillow, but by all appearances she couldn't tell he was still injured. "At least you got to the healers in time," she said.

"Suyin didn't tell you yet?" Sarita asked.

She shook her head, "I haven't seen her yet this morning. What was she supposed to tell me?"

Huan said, not looking at her, "I'm blind now, Kuvira."

Kuvira stifled a gasp, not wanting to alarm him. She asked, "You can't see anything, even right now?"

"The medics managed to restore most of my vision," he explained sadly, "but they say the damage has been done. Within the next five years I'll slowly lose all of my sight." He looked up at her and said, "I can still see, but it's like I'm looking through fogged up glass. Up close everything is normal, like you two, but in the distance it's fuzzy. They told me it'll be like a thick fog slowly moving in." He frowned and closed his eyes.

Kuvira said, "I'm sorry."

"Things are going to be different for you now," Sarita said as cheerfully as she could muster, "but you'll be okay. You'll see-" she nearly choked and covered her mouth as Kuvira glared at her, "I mean you'll pull through! Sorry...poor choice of words."

"How am I supposed to make sculptures, or draw, or do anything if I can't see?" he asked.

"Your grandma is the most famous blind person in the world," Kuvira tried to assure him, "and she's always done well for herself. That has to be at least somewhat reassuring."

He said, "Maybe if she was here, it would make a difference, but she's not. No one knows where she is."

Knock. Knock. "Huan?" Junior's voice came from the other side of the door.

"Come on in," he said sadly.

He stepped inside; arms full of a large platter of cupcakes. "I had the chef make your favorite-" he stopped at Kuvira, "oh, hi, Kuvira, Sarita. I didn't know you two were in here." He failed to hide his blush. "Do you want one?"

Kuvira stood up, "Thanks," she took a cupcake, "I have to get going. Su and Aiwei are interrogating all of the guards."

"I better get going too," Sarita said, standing up, "but I'll come back after. Thanks for the cupcake, Junior."

"I hope they find whoever let them in," Huan said sadly.

"I do too," Kuvira replied as she and Sarita left.


Kuvira stood in line outside of the interrogation room in the hallway to wait for her turn. Instead, Suyin grabbed her immediately, and had her jump in front of everyone else. Inside, Korra, Mako, Lin, Suyin, and Aiwei sat on one side of the metal table. Kuvira calmly sat across from them.

"I want you to go first, Kuvira," Suyin said, "since this did happen on your post."

Aiwei said, "Give me your full name and where you are from."

"I'm Kuvira," she answered without hesitation, "and I was born in a small village in the far east of the earth kingdom, but I've lived here in Zaofu since I was 8-years-old."

"Where were you last night?" he asked.

"On my post," she answered, "on the roof of the guest quarters near the avatar's bedroom, with a rookie guard named Hoshi."

Aiwei asked, "Do you have any knowledge of the people who tried to kidnap the avatar?"

She shook her head, "No, I don't know anything."

Aiwei narrowed his eyes, leaned forward, and continued, "Did you help the kidnappers enter Zaofu last night?"

She straightened her attention on him, "No, I don't know how they got in or out of the city. Aiwei, what are you implying?"

"You're lying," he said coldly.

Horrified, Kuvira's mouth dropped. She insisted, "What? No, I'm not!" She couldn't believe what she was hearing. She was telling the truth! She didn't know anything about Zaheer or how he got into the city.

"Kuvira..." Suyin said, her heart ripping in half in real time, "how could you?" She glanced at Aiwei and then back at her.

"I didn't have anything to do with what happened last night," she insisted, "why would I want the avatar to get kidnapped? Think about it!"

Aiwei said, "You've been jealous of the avatar before."

Her mouth dropped again. "When I was 9," she desperately explained, "for maybe an hour after I first learned what the avatar was and what they stand for. I haven't felt jealous in years! Su, you know this!"

"I..." Suying froze.

"Come on, Su," she begged, "think about it! I helped save her! I tried to stop Zaheer last night! I separated him from the others and managed to hold him off while you and Lin rescued her! I tried to stop him from attacking your sons! I did what I could to help!"

Aiwei said, crossing his arm smugly, "And you did a terrible job at holding him off. They got away."

She put her hand on her heart and explained, "I've never fought an airbender before. What else could I have done?" She turned to Suyin.

"I don't want to believe this," she said, covering her eyes and looking down at the table.

"Then don't because it's not true!" Kuvira insisted, standing up.

Suyin turned away and said, "I can't even look at you, Kuvira. Guards, arrest her!" Mitul and Sarita stepped inside and froze in place when they saw who they were supposed to be arresting. Su watched their hesitation and said, "Well, take her away!"

Sarita motioned to her and said, "But it's Kuvira."

"I order you to take her away," Su demanded.

Kuvira insisted, "Su, I didn't do this! I would never betray anyone! You know that!"

"Take off your armor," Su commanded, "you won't need it in jail."

Aiwei said, "I suggest we search her home for evidence linking her to Zaheer and the others."

As Kuvira took off her armor she said, "You won't find anything." Mitul used metal bending to bind her wrists and together he and Sarita took her away.


Aiwei lead Korra, Mako, and Bolin out to Kuvira's home on one of the farthest flower domes away from the others. Inside, instead of the pristine gardens Su's mansion had, it had a simple park with some benches. Concrete row houses were on one side, some stores and a playground on the other.

Bolin said, "This looks way different than how Su and her family live."

"This set of row houses is a transitional housing unit for older orphans," Aiwei answered.

Korra gasped and asked, "Kuvira is an orphan?" She felt her heart break. She glanced at Mako and Bolin who were equally surprised and saddened.

As Aiwei got to the front door, he answered, "In a way, yes." He opened it and revealed a small one room studio with an adjoining bathroom. The four of them barely fit in the space. A well-made bed, old paintings on the walls, a small kitchen, a closet, and a few shelves were all that was inside.

"What's this?" Mako asked, walking over to a table next to the bed and picking up a notebook.

"This has all of the guards' schedules and routes," Aiwei said, "that's suspicious."

"Not really," Korra replied quickly, "she is the captain of the guard. We saw her with this exact notebook at dinner the other day."

Bolin stood in front of the shelves and examined them. "Hey, these shelves are full of books. Look! It's all of Avatar Aang's stories!" He picked one up and read out loud, "The swamp."

Mako checked out the books and said, "So she hates the avatar so much she has every story published by Avatar Aang and Katara on her shelves? Makes perfect sense if you ask me." He crossed his arms, not liking how much this wasn't adding up.

"It could just be a diversion," said Aiwei.

Korra turned around to see the door and gasped at what she saw. Maybe Kuvira did let Zaheer in and out of the city after all.


Meanwhile, everyone noticed as Kuvira was marched to the jail across the city. A crowd of guards formed around them, and by the time she got to the underground jail made of wood, there were dozens of on and off duty guards quickly surrounding her, demanding to know what happened. As she was guided down the dark hallways of wooden cages, and put inside one, the confusion grew.

"I'm sorry," Mitul said, "I don't think you did this."

"I know I didn't," Kuvira said coldly.

Sarita said, "Suyin can't honestly believe you'd want to hurt the avatar or betray the clan. It goes against everything you are as a person."

"She needs to let you out," Jae, a man in the back of the crowd said hastily, "while you're wasting time sitting in here, the real criminals are getting away!"

"I know," Kuvira said.

Miyuki, a woman deeper in the crowd said, "We should march over to Suyin's fancy mansion and demand she let you go!"

"If she doesn't let you out," Mitul said, pumping his fist into the air, "we revolt! Who's with me?!" The crowd roared and clapped. Metal clanged. They were ready for the fight of their lives.

"No!" Kuvira said, the cheering immediately stopped, "As much as I shouldn't be in here, this is no time for a revolution. Don't you see? There is at least one traitor among us, if not more." Everyone gave each other side glances. She continued, "We have to be careful. If we start tearing each other apart the terrorists won even without capturing the avatar."

Sarita asked, "Then what should we do, Kuvira?"

"Excuse me!" Korra's voice echoed in the background, "I'd like to talk to Kuvira. Can we get through?" She nudged and elbowed a few people out of the way before a path cleared.

Kuvira watched as Korra, Mako, and Bolin stepped through the crowd and approached her. She asked, "What is it?"

"We believe you didn't have anything to do with what happened last night," Korra explained, "but we just came back from your house, and the evidence isn't looking good."

Mako explained, "You have a notebook full of every guard's schedule and route throughout the city."

"I'm the captain of the guard," she said, "how else am I supposed to keep track of everyone?"

Bolin replied, "That's what we said but I don't think Aiwei believed us."

Korra added sadly, "There was also a banner behind your door that read 'down with the avatar.' It's suspicious."

"What?" she asked, coming closer to the bars, "I don't own any banners."

Mitul asked, "Why would Kuvira want the avatar dead?"

"Avatar, please set Kuvira free!" Sarita begged, "She would never want to hurt you!"

Korra said, "I believe that."

"Why?" Kuvira asked, "Why would you believe me after what Aiwei said, after what you found in my home? You don't know me."

"You have books on your shelves," Korra answered, "the whole series of Avatar Aang's stories from when he was a kid. You can't possibly hate the avatar and enjoy reading his stories. Besides, you managed to stop Zaheer from kidnapping me last night-even if it was temporary, and he got away in the end-you stopped him from getting me. Without you, I wouldn't be looking for the traitor right now, it would be too late." She smiled at her. "Thank you." Kuvira nodded and smiled.

Mako said, "Kuvira, you must know everyone in this city, right?" She nodded. "Who could have done this?"

"Aiwei," she answered coldly, "he's the one who's framed me. I don't know if Hoshi had anything to do with it. He seems too big and dumb to think of the big picture. I bet he was paid off."

Mako punched his own hand and exclaimed, "Of course it's Aiwei! Why didn't I think of that? He's the only one in the entire city who's allowed to lie. He could easily frame anyone for anything."

"Check his house," Kuvira said, "see what you can find in there. He lives in the large modern building next to Su's mansion right by the lava site."

Korra nodded and said, "We'll see what's there."


Kuvira assured everyone she would be alright and told them to go back to their posts. She sat on the hard wooden ground. Because it was a holding cell only, there was no real bed. Even the bathroom was just a toilet seat over a hole in the ground. She sat, knees to her chest, head down, hands hugging her legs.

Clearing her mind, she felt her energy dissipate. She stood up and opened her eyes. She had entered the astral plane of existence, not quite in the spirit world but only those in tune with spirits could see her soul walking around outside of her body. This was a trick she learned as a child. Whenever she got too hungry, too cold, too hot, too tired but too fearful to sleep, she'd rise from her own body and examine her surroundings.

She walked out of her cell and down the hall. Suyin walked toward her body, unable to see her spirit. "Kuvira," she said softly, getting to the cell, "You weren't the traitor, Aiwei was. He had a tunnel under his house this entire time. He's the one who let Zaheer in and out of the city." She paused. "I know you hate how I didn't immediately believe you, but what else was I supposed to do? I thought I could trust him."

Kuvira went back into her own body and looked up at Suyin. "You could have trusted me," she tried to hide the pain in her voice.

"I didn't want to believe you betrayed the clan," Suyin said, "that you betrayed the avatar, or that you betrayed me. I wanted you to be telling the truth."

"I did," Kuvira said, not bothering to hide her anger as she stood up.

She explained sadly, "I thought Aiwei never lied to me, but he did. He lied to all of us, apparently for years. I questioned Hoshi. He told me he had no idea what Aiwei was planning, but he was given 500 gold pieces to distract you last night. I'm sorry."

Suyin opened the door. Wooden gears grinded against wood, Kuvira flinched and covered her ears, pretending to mess with her hair as the cell door opened.

Kuvira stepped out of the cell and asked, "Did you ever suspect Aiwei was lying?"

"I..." she hesitated and looked away from her.

Kuvira frowned and walked toward the exit.

"Wait," Suyin begged, "Kuvira, don't run off yet."

Kuvira jumped up and down and said, "I can't stand here and talk! I'm going to go use a real bathroom and not that glorified hole in the ground!" She pointed back to the cell and then ran off down the hall. Suyin didn't try to stop her.