Although everyone started off optimistic, sorting through the troubles in Ba Sing Se took much longer than anyone expected, including Kuvira herself. The level of corruption throughout the city ran deeper than a few weeks. It was clear the city had been having troubles for years, mostly due to the former queen's horrendous attitude.

It took three months for her to sort through that mess and lay the groundwork to make Ba Sing Se the amazing capital she had read about as a little girl. As her role wrapped up, and the advisors she helped appoint began to take things over, the crew of The Iron Maiden wondered where they would go next. They had only just started recruiting people for the railroad. The tracks were bare minimum.

Bolin asked on the train in Kuvira's office, "Since Ba Sing Se is back to normal now, does that mean we're done?"

"Afraid not," she answered, "the rest of the kingdom is still a mess and Raiko hasn't mentioned the naming of the new monarch yet, so I'm still in power. There's still so much more work to be done throughout the nation."

Sarita asked, "Where are we going next?"

"Madam Kuvira?" Jae said, stepping instead the office, "you have a message."

Baatar took it from him, clearly having been delivered by messenger hawk. He opened the scroll and said, "It's from Queen Gerel of Omashu. She wants to meet with The Iron Maiden." He showed the letter to Kuvira.

Bolin asked, "She wants to meet with the train?"

"I think she means Kuvira," he said, "I like it. What do you think, Kuvira, 'the iron maiden' has a nice ring to it. You should make that your nickname."

As Queen Gerel of Omahsu, I invite The Iron Maiden to celebrate her victory in restoring Ba Sing Se to its former glory.

"We're going to Omashu next," Kuvira said, "maybe reuniting the earth kingdom will happen faster than we initially thought if every region starts inviting us in from here on out."

Baatar replied, "That'll sure make our lives easier."


Hours later, as the train chugged along towards Omashu, Baatar entered Kuvira's cabin with a tray in hand, teapot and teacups on top. "Want some tea?" he asked.

She motioned for him to put it down on the desk beside her bed. He poured them each a cup and handed one to her. As he sat beside her on the bed, he asked, "Have you ever been to Omashu?"

"No," she answered, "but I've read about it in Avatar Aang's stories. I wonder if anything's changed since then."

"Yeah?" he said, "What's there to know?"

"It's built on a massive mountain," she explained, "and they have a mail system that uses earthbending and gravity. They say earthbending originated there and it was one of the last cities to fall to the fire nation during the 100-year war."

He sipped at the tea and said, "I guess we'll see for ourselves once we get there."

Kuvira watched as the teacup met his lips, then glanced down at her own full cup. She asked, "Baatar, can I tell you something in confidence?"

He replied, "Of course. You can tell me anything." He wrapped his arm around her shoulders, happy after a few months of working together that they were growing closer all the time.

She confessed, "I can't stomach tea." She pushed the cup away.

Baatar raised an eyebrow and asked, "You don't want anyone to know you don't like tea?"

"I wish it were so simple," Kuvira closed her eyes and confessed, "I actually love tea, but I can't bring myself drink it anymore."

He looked at her carefully, waiting for an explanation, but none came. He said, "I'm sorry, I don't understand." He paused. "I could have sworn I've seen you drink tea before."

"I know," she said, "only because it's rude to decline, so I drink it when I have to, but I can't enjoy it anymore. It has to do with my parents."

"Oh no," Baatar said, "what did they do this time?"

Kuvira explained, "One day, when I was 6, I threw a massive tantrum in front of the entire village. Buildings shook and fell apart...and people..." she hesitated, "it didn't end well. I knew my parents would be furious, so I ran and hid. When no one came looking for me like they usually did, I walked back to my house, and everything was so calm and quiet. I had no idea what was about to happen. As a family, we sat together for tea. By the time my cup was empty, I was so tired. The last thing I remember, I was leaning against my mother's wooden wheelchair wheels. Everything was so fuzzy. I couldn't hold myself up. I don't remember falling asleep, but when I woke up, I was laying in the back of an open wagon being pulled by an ostrich horse, staring at the sky."

She froze and turned into his chest. "It's okay," he whispered, hugging her, "take your time. What happened next?"

"My father stopped the wagon and threw me out onto a mountain trail in the middle of nowhere," she said through her tears, "I was so drugged out of my mind; I didn't understand what was happening. He said I wasn't worth the trouble, and he never wanted to see me again. He left me there..."

Baatar rubbed her back and said, "I'm so sorry, that's so awful. I won't drink tea around you anymore, I promise." He put his teacup off to the side.

"No," she said, bringing it back into his hands, "it's okay. If you like tea so much, keep drinking it. Keep asking if I want some. Maybe someday I'll be able to enjoy it again." She rested her head on his shoulder.

He said, "I'd love to see that day."

"If it ever comes," she replied, "I'll be sure to share it with you."


The train tracks ended nowhere near Omashu. There was supposed to be a direct line to the city from Ba Sing Se, but the workers stopped getting paid after the earth queen died so they had all long since abandoned their posts and left the tracks unfinished.

"We have to walk from here?" Sarita asked, "How far?"

"The scale of this map doesn't make it seem far," Baatar explained, "we just have to make it passed this mountain range. This map says there's a tunnel with a path leading directly to the city." He paused, "Wait, is that the secret tunnel of legend? It's real?"

Bolin asked, "Secret what-now? What legend?"

"It's not just some old song," Kuvira replied to Baatar, "it's real."

"What song?" Bolin asked, "What are you guys talking about?"

Baatar said, "You've never heard of the legend or the song? It's famous throughout the entire kingdom."

Bolin shrugged and said, "Well, I'm not actually from the earth kingdom, I'm from Republic City. That's totally different."

"That used to part of the earth kingdom," Kuvira said, "besides, didn't you say your father was earth kingdom? You should know the legend and the song."

The massive entrance of the cave greeted them.

As they continued to walk towards it, Sarita asked, "So if the secret tunnel is real after all, does that mean the curse is too?"

"Curse?!" Bolin asked in horror, "Those are real too? Since when?"

"When Avatar Aang came through here with his friends," Kuvira explained, "they discovered the curse is just badger moles changing the tunnels around with their earthbending."

Bolin said anxiously, "I really don't like how all this legend and song and curse stuff sounds. How exactly does this old legend, that's apparently completely true, go?"

"The song explains it pretty well actually," Baatar said, then sang.

Two lovers
Forbidden from one another
A war divides their people
And a mountain divides them apart
Build a path to be together

Follow them
And be cursed to stay forever
Unless you let love lead the way
You'll stay and die inside the
Secret tunnel, secret tunnel
Through the mountain,
Secret, secret, secret, secret tunnel

Bolin said, "Wow, what a horrifying song and story."

"The say earthbending originally started here," Sarita explained, "in Omashu, with Oma and Shu. being the first earthbenders who truly mastered the artform from the badger moles themselves."

"Did they really?" Bolin asked as they entered the cave, "Man this cave is getting dark fast. What if we get lost in here like that curse song says? Will we really be trapped in here forever?!"

Kuvira put her hand on his shoulder and said, "Bolin, we're earthbenders. If we get lost, we'll earthbend our way through to the other side." She gestured to the darkness in front of them.

As they walked, the bioluminescent rocks on the ceiling glowed and lit the path for them. Sooner rather than later, they made it through to the other side of the mountain. Following the trail, they finally made it Omashu and saw the majestic city sitting on top of steep mountains. A small wall surrounding the outer part of the city and a humble bridge ready to bring them across.

"You must be Madam Kuvira's party," the guard said, then bowed to her, "welcome to Omashu."

"Why are you bowing?" she asked, completely embarrassed, "Stand up." She quickly glanced around at everyone else who were just as confused as she was.

He got back to his feet and said, "Queen Gerel will see you now in the palace."

"We're getting invited in?" Bolin asked, "We don't have fight all the way to the throne?"

Together the guards used earthbending to open the gates. Kuvira noted the stark contrast between here and Ba Sing Se. No one questioned her, they were all so welcoming, a little too welcoming. The locals all had out celebration and acted as though they were a parade walking down the streets instead of a regular group of people.

Baatar asked, looking up at the buildings of people throwing confetti at them, "Does anyone else feel...unsettled...right now?"

Kuvira asked, "Who gets this much fanfare? The avatar?" She paused and remembered a story she read about Avatar Aang going to Kyoshi island for the first time and how much everyone immediately loved him.

"No one ever went this crazy when we were traveling with Korra," Bolin noted.

"Welcome to Omashu!" A young woman standing on a balcony above them said. She stood covered in purple robes and outstretched her arms warmly. "The Iron Maiden is here!"

As the crowds of the city cheered around them, Kuvira attempted to correct her, but her voice was drowned out. As a group they were quickly ushered into the palace and met into a massive dining hall. The sun was beginning to set, it was almost dinner time.

Queen Gerel walked around the massive spread of a dinner table and explained, "First, before we get into politics, we feast in your honor!"

"There's clearly no food shortages going on here," Baatar said as he walked around the table.

"Dig in!" the queen bellowed into the room.

Despite the bizarre array, no one took a second thought at all of the food and drink spreads in front of them. Baatar made sure to sit next to Kuvira and poured all of her tea into his own cup. She gave him a slight genuine smile, knowing this way she wouldn't have to explain herself.

As the evening wore on, and everyone got fuller, Kuvira stood up and made her way out to the fresh air on the balcony.

"The sunset," she whispered to herself. It changed from orange to pink to purple across the sky in front of her, over the mountains in the distance. The valleys were golden with sunshine.

"I've always loved the view from up here," the queen said as she stepped out behind her, "so, Kuvira, what made you decide to try and help the disaster the earth kingdom has become?"

She answered, "I heard some of what's happening out there and knew I couldn't sit back and watch it happen. Why?"

Gerel shrugged. "I was just wondering. My sister wanted to be the one to stand up and do something as well, but she's too incompetent to be put in charge of a large amount of people, even temporarily, you know?"

"That's..." Kuvira hesitated, struggling to come up with any words, "too bad."

"I'll tell it to you straight," she continued, turning back to the sunset, "Hou Ting was a royal pain to deal with. If another nation were to attack while she was in charge, causing another war like the 100 year one, we'd be toast before it even started. You've had to have noticed by now how much of a hot mess Ba Sing Se was right after she died. If she were a competent ruler, they wouldn't have fallen apart so quickly."

Kuvira glanced at her, and asked, "Are heads of state's always so...blunt?"

Gerel replied, "Maybe her highness Queen Suyin, isn't but I am."

"Oh, Su doesn't consider herself a queen," she said, "she doesn't like that title."

"Why not?" she asked, turning to her again, "Because it suits her so perfectly?"

Kuvira struggled to come up with what to say to that. She watched as Gerel looked her over, head to toe, carefully. What was she doing? She caught her eye, one light green, the other dark green, both with an equal expression of confusion. "Is there a problem?" Kuvira asked.

"Did you like the tea?" Gerel asked.

"I haven't had a chance to drink any yet," she replied, looking back out to the sunset. It had changed into richer hues of pink and purple.

Gerel added, "That explains it."

"Explains what?" Kuvira asked, turning back to her. Before she could blink, a spray bottle was shoved in her face. She gasped. Her throat went cold. Her knees weak. Her eyelids were so heavy. Her legs refused to hold her up and she fell backwards. Everything went black as her head hit the floor.