In Suyin's office back in Zaofu over a week later, Tenzin and Raiko sat across from each other on separate couches. Kuvira stood quietly in the background but listened intently as they spoke to Su.
Tenzin said, "Suyin, the truth is, the earth kingdom is on the brink of collapse and the rest of the world leaders are terrified as to what's to come next. The earth queen died before naming a successor, and there's a real danger of a power vacuum forming in her place."
"The police and military have nowhere to turn," Raiko explained, "many have abandoned their posts and have resorted to thieving. We're already getting reports they've escalated across the nation and have begun murdering innocents. Food shortages are now a serious threat. We're about to have an orphan epidemic on our hands if someone doesn't take charge and bring stability. We're asking you to be the one to do it because you're a Beifong, you have the credibility and the recourses to help."
"I'm honored you thought of me," Su said, stepping back and leaning against the front of her desk, "but I'm not interested in imposing my ideals on an entire nation. I'm afraid I can't help you."
Kuvira stepped up and said, "Suyin, I know I'm out of line for speaking right now, but I think you should do this. You have what it takes to help our nation!"
"I can't march into Ba Sing Se and demand loyalty from people I don't know," Su said, "I'll be seen as a conqueror and I'll start nothing but wars."
"There are already wars," Kuvira said hastily. She clenched her fists. The ground shook and cracked under her feet.
"An earthquake all the way out here?" Raiko asked, getting alarmed.
"It's nothing," Su said, turning to Kuvira and taking her hands.
Kuvira continued, "You're going to sit back and watch the rest of our nation crumble around us? You're not going to do anything to help?"
Su explained, "It's not my place to travel around forcing others to rejoin the earth kingdom. My decision is final."
Kuvira couldn't believe what she was hearing. Suyin wasn't going to help the victims of bandits? Or orphans? Starving innocent people who did nothing to deserve what was happening to them? She shuttered to think if Su thought the same way when Kuvira was little girl, how her life would have turned out differently.
As Tenzin and Raiko were heading back to their airship in defeat, wondering who to turn next, Kuvira ran after them. "Wait!" she pleaded, "Can I ask you something, President Raiko? Master Tenzin?" They nodded. She asked, "What if I did what you're asking Suyin to do?"
"You want to reunite the earth kingdom?" Tenzin asked cautiously, "Why?"
"I don't want to sit here safe in Zaofu knowing the rest of the nation is suffering," she answered, "are we really about to have an orphan crisis?" She braced herself for the answer she didn't want to hear.
Raiko said carefully, "Unfortunately it's already happening, Kuvira. Children as young as toddlers are being tossed out into the streets because bandits killed their parents and there's little to no infrastructure left to help them. It's terrible I know; I wish I could do more."
Kuvira's eyes watered. "I'll do it," she said, "I'll reunite the earth kingdom and bring back the stability everyone needs."
Tenzin nodded and said, "I believe in you Kuvira," he put a hand on her shoulder, "you've helped Korra in so many ways. I believe you're a great candidate for what we're asking."
"You'll let me do it?" she asked.
"This position is temporary," Raiko said, "once the earth kingdom is reunited, you'll have to step down and let the next monarch take the throne. I don't know yet who that is going to be but with you in power we won't have to rush to that decision too quickly."
"I completely understand," she said, smiling at him, "thank you, I won't let you down." She bowed to him. He returned.
Raiko said, "I've already set up a train and the funding to help build railroad tracks throughout the kingdom and revolutionize public transportation as you travel. Come to Republic City first and we'll make sure we're both on the same page as to what you'll be doing. Then you'll head straight to the capital. I look forward to working with you." They respectfully bowed to each other.
Later, as Kuvira happily walked back to her home in the transitional housing unit, Junior. intercepted her. "Kuvira," he said, "just the person I wanted to see. I overheard some of the guards talking. They say you had some big speech about how you're leaving the city and now a bunch of them are deciding to go with you. What's going on?"
She said, "You must have noticed the president of Republic City was here earlier."
He said, "I did."
Kuvira explained, "He asked your mother to help our nation. People throughout the earth kingdom are terrified now that the earth queen is dead, and they have no one else to turn to. He thought your mother should help restabilize us and bring back order, but she refused. She's going to sit here like a coward and do nothing."
His eyes went wide. "What?" he asked, glancing back at the mansion. "That's not like her at all."
"I don't know," Kuvira said, looking away from him, "I haven't felt the same about her ever since Korra was here. She has a sister she never told me about. She didn't tell me Huan is going blind. She believed Aiwei over me when he was the traitor all along. Now she's not doing anything to help when the kingdom is apparently on the verge of an orphan crisis. How could she?" Her eyes burned. She blinked away the tears, not wanting them to slip out.
He replied, "I don't believe it. I've always known she was against the monarchy, but I never thought she'd refuse to help when she's so needed."
She said, "It feels like I don't even know her."
"You know what?" he said, looking her in the eyes, "I can't stand by and do nothing either. I'm going with you."
Shocked, Kuvira asked, "You are?"
"Yes," he said, "I've always wanted to see the rest of the earth kingdom, but I've always been too scared to leave and upset my parents. Now they've upset me, and instead of caring about how I feel I know they'll try to guilt trip me into staying here. I won't do it. The kingdom needs help! I can't hide here."
Kuvira smiled at him and said, "I bet I'll get an angry knock on my door any time now from Su, but I've made up my mind and she's not going to change it. Thank you for joining me."
"See you later," he replied, "when I'm all packed." They parted ways.
As Kuvira was just finishing up packing her things inside her home. Knock! Knock! Knock! Knock! There was that angry knock she expected to hear. When she opened the front door, Suyin stood on the other side. She stepped over the threshold and said, "My son tells me he's leaving Zaofu with you, Kuvira. What's the meaning of this?"
"I appealed to President Raiko and Master Tenzin, and they agreed I'm a great candidate for reuniting the Earth Kingdom," she explained calmly.
"And now you're turning everyone against me," Suyin said, "most of the security team have told me they're leaving too. I don't want to believe it they'd turn their backs on me so easily."
She said, "They made their choices on their own. After the avatar was here and all we heard was how great you are, your family is, and this city you built yourself is, everyone has decided they're sick and tired of being exotic birds in your cage."
"If you do this all you'll be seen as is a ruthless dictator," Suyin warned.
Kuvira said concisely, "The rich will see me as a ruthless dictator ready to separate them from their money. The poor will simply be happy to know where their next meal is coming from. The middle class will be happy to have some stability back in their day-to-day lives again. I wonder where you'll fall."
Suyin narrowed her eyes at her and said, "That's hardly how I feel. Dictating to people you've never met on how they should live won't go well. You're staying here." She pointed to the ground.
"And why should I?" Kuvira asked, "So can you give me more chores to do around here under the guise of making me feel like I belong, when it's really all a ruse to keep me busy? To make sure I don't notice how much of a joke being 'captain of the guard' really is. You pull all of my strings, letting everyone pretend I'm in charge. I'm sick of it, Su!" She stared her down.
Shocked, she said, "That's...not true..." Although Aiwei had been gone for about two weeks, his presence remained. Everyone in Zaofu had gotten used to the idea him always seeking out lies and telling everyone else. Now no one knew how to lie convincingly, even Suyin Beifong herself, standing in front of Kuvira that fateful day.
"I'm not staying."
"If you leave now," she said angrily, "you won't be welcomed back."
A knife cut through Kuvira's heart, but she managed to keep the pain off of her face. "When I choose to return," she replied, "it'll be on my own terms." She motioned for the door.
Having nothing else to say, Suyin left. Kuvira closed it behind her and leaned forward against the wood. She knew Suyin meant what she said, that Kuvira will never be allowed back once she leaves. She was losing her home, again, and Suyin only seemed to care Kuvira was leaving, not that she was standing up for what she believed in and helping people whatever way she could.
When the time came, Kuvira watched Suyin glare at her from the airship as it flew away from Zaofu. A tear slipped out of her eye. She quickly wiped it away, hoping that at that distance Su didn't see a thing.
"You know what?" Junior said, walking around in the main cabin behind her, "No one is ever going to call me 'Junior' again. I have a name. Baatar."
Kuvira finally stepped away from the window and asked, "Baatar, what did your parents say to you after you told them you're leaving?"
He replied, mocking them, "Son, you belong here in Zaofu. You're not going to be helping anyone if you leave. That sort of thing. I still can't believe they're doing absolutely nothing to help anyone when there is so much they can do."
"They didn't mention anything about not allowing you back?" she asked, unable to look at him.
Nonchalantly, he answered, "No, they didn't say anything like that but after the things they've said to me I don't see myself ever moving back there."
Kuvira said awkwardly, "Right."
Baatar finally noticed her expression and asked, "What's the matter?"
"Nothing," she answered, forcing a weak smile, "I've never been to Republic City before. I wonder what it's like."
Flying over Republic City, Kuvira was plastered to the window and stared in awe at the tall buildings. Something she couldn't help but notice however, was the layer of yellow air over everything. It clung against the airship and dirtied the glass bad enough it was hard to see through by the time they landed.
As they stepped outside, Baatar remarked, "Wow, I've never tasted the air before."
Kuvira couldn't place it, but the spiritual energy felt off to her. It felt like there was almost none, despite the fact that there were now spirit wilds in the middle of the city. She hated the energy immediately and couldn't wait to leave.
They met with Raiko right away and he guided them to the Fanrong Train Station in the middle of Republic City. "This is how you'll travel around the earth kingdom," he explained, "on The Iron Maiden. Before the earth queen fell, tracks were being laid all over the nation, but it's come to a stop now. That's one of your tasks, Kuvira, recruiting people for the railroad. I have all of the paperwork about that inside."
Everyone marveled at the massive steam engine with a dozen cars. "The Iron Maiden," Baatar said, "as beautiful as she is, are we allowed to add anything to the design?"
Raiko said, "Anything like that is coming out of your own wallet."
"Oh I'm redesigning it!" he said excitedly clasping his hands together.
"Alright," Kuvira replied, smiling at his excitement.
Raiko moved around the front of the train and said, "There's someone here who wants to join you."
"Bolin?" Kuvira asked, "You're here too?"
He walked up to her excitedly and explained, "Yeah! I know right? How crazy is this? The Iron Maiden looks amazing from the outside! I can't wait to see what it looks like on the inside!"
Kuvira said, "I thought you would be with Korra."
"Oh, I wanted to be," he said, his face fell, "but Korra left the other day for the south pole in order to recover without all of the noise of Republic City bothering her. But I plan on writing her letters every day! Well, maybe not every single day but...anyway now that she's not here, I asked myself, if Korra wasn't hurt, what would she be doing right now? Reuniting the Earth Kingdom! And that's what you're doing! So, I've come to join you!" He gestured to her happily.
She smiled. "That's great! Is your brother here too?"
"No, he's going to keep being a cop in Republic City," Bolin answered, "I've never been separated from him long term before, but I think I can help you help the earth kingdom. Even though I was born and raised here, my dads from the earth kingdom so I feel like I belong there too, you know? I like the idea of helping out my ancestral homeland." He beamed.
"Thank you for joining me," Kuvira said, "I'm glad you're coming along. I don't know how long this is going to take so I appreciate you. You've met Baatar, Suyin's oldest son, he'll also be joining us."
As Baatar and Kuvira walked through the train they knew they would need more space for everyone. They would need to lengthen the cars, add height, and more privacy to the dorms that were merely folding beds with no walls. Baatar pointed out what he wanted moved, and with metalbending Kuvira shifted what she could into place.
After it was all said and done, Raiko talked to Kuvira in the main office car towards the front.
Sitting across from her, he explained, "Like I said, recruiting people for the railroad is a must, as well as adding to the police and military throughout the nation."
"And what about charity?" Kuvira asked, "How much money is raised so far?"
"Plenty for the moment," Raiko said, "the first region you have to help is the capital itself. There is currently no real leadership there which makes it a gray area."
She raised an eyebrow and asked, "What are you talking about? Gray area?"
He nodded and explained, "The earth kingdom has a very specific clause on how charities are allowed to operate. In order for an outside entity to help, no matter the cause, they must have explicit written approval in the form of a contract with the local leadership. Without it, any act of charity, even passing out food to the needy, is considered an act of war."
"What?" Her jaw dropped. Su wasn't kidding when she said she would only be starting wars.
"Yes," he said, "it was a law created after the 100-year war. In the beginning, Firelord Sozin insisted the fire nation invading the earth kingdom was simply them giving charitable donations in the form of their advanced technology. Obviously, that wasn't the case, but because there were no laws against what he was doing no one attempted to stop him until he committed genocide against the air nomads."
Kuvira said, "I know my nation's history, Mr. President, but what if the local government doesn't sign the contract I have for them? What should I do then?"
He frowned. "Then you either stay and negotiate the contract further, or you leave and try that region again at a different time."
"What?" she asked, "But what if their people are starving and the government is stringing them along on purpose? I can't even pass out food?"
He shook his head and answered, "I'm sorry. If you have to, you can take their money, that's considered a legal trade of goods."
"If they're starving, they won't have any money!"
"I'm aware of the issues but there's not much either of us can do."
She repeated, "But I'm allowed to help Ba Sing Se because there is no real leadership there right now to oppose me?"
"That's one of the reasons why this is such a problem," Raiko explained, "if the wrong person rises to power, outside nations won't be able to do much to stop them. I trust you'll do well in the capital."
She nodded and said, "Thank you for believing in me."
He stood up and said, "The only remaining officials in Ba Sing Se are expecting you to meet them in the palace at high noon tomorrow. I expect you'll show up on time and make a good first impression."
"Of course," she replied, "we'll leave right away."
