BOOM! The Iron Maiden shook violently and grinded to a sudden stop. The engineer stepped out of the front cabin, and said, "I know, I'm already on it, Madam Kuvira."

"Thank you," she replied.

Baatar looked out the window to the left side of the train and said, "Look at that, a hot spring!" He pointed at the picturesque waterfall and pond outside.

Bolin examined the scenery carefully and asked, "What makes you think it's a hot spring? I don't see any steam."

"It probably isn't one naturally," he replied, "but we have Jae, a firebender. He'll make it a hot spring for us."

"Oo!" Bolin said, clapping his hands, "Great idea! Can we, Kuvira?"

She glanced at the water, unemotional. "Sure," she said, "we're stopping for a while anyway. Might as well enjoy it." She forced herself to smile for them.

Everyone got ready for an afternoon in the sun and water. Kuvira didn't pack a bathing suit, so she put on a cropped undershirt and a long skirt. She knew if she didn't join them outside, they would wonder where she was. Jae used firebending to put heat into the ground. Steam rose from the water. "There," he said, "perfect hot spring."

"Whew who!" Miski shouted, running and jumping in. "It's the perfect temperature! Thanks Jae!" She splashed around in the ripples as everyone else ran in after her.

Meanwhile, Kuvira entered the edge of the water, only sitting in the shallowest portion that didn't even cover her thighs.

"Come on in, Kuvira!" Bolin said from the middle of the water, "There's plenty of water to go around!"

"That's alright," she replied, "I'll stay over here."

She watched in awe as Miski use waterbending to push herself out of the water, laying down, at least 3 feet above the surface the water held her back. She spun around in circles, waving her arms to waterbend the it under herself.

Baatar stood up out of the water, shirtless, and joined Kuvira in the shallow end. "You don't look too enthusiastic about this," he said, sitting down beside her, "I know this isn't great for our schedule, but there's nothing we can do until the engine is fixed. Might as well at least try to enjoy it."

"You're right," she forced a smile for him.

"Come on and join me in the deep end," he replied, gesturing to everyone else swimming.

She hesitated, watching everyone enjoying themselves without a second thought. "I have a confession to make," she said anxiously.

Baatar said nonchalantly, "You don't know how to swim, and you're afraid of water."

Kuvira looked up at him and blushed. "You know?" she asked, "For how long?"

"I figured it out years ago," he explained, "every single time I ever invited you to come swimming with us you always refused to get into the water for some reason or another. You just want to enjoy the sun. Sarita's feet aren't waterproof and you don't want her to be alone. You're on your period. You don't want to get your hair wet before the dance recital later. It was impossible not to notice after a while. In recent years Huan and I started coming up with bets to see what excuse you were going to use next."

"Oh," she said awkwardly, turning away from him.

"Kuvira, there's no shame in being afraid," he added, "and there's nothing wrong with not knowing how to swim."

She said, "It's not that. I have a bad experience with water."

His face fell. "Oh no, was it your parents?"

She looked him in the eye. "No," she explained, "it happened after they abandoned me. I was on my own and a huge storm came out of nowhere. The waves of the ocean were massive. I saw a sloth turtle making its way into the water. I thought it was going to drown, so I ran after it and the waves swept me up. I couldn't breathe or see. My lungs burned. My body went limp. The next thing I knew the moon spirit saved me by waterbending the waves away and taking the water out of my lungs and stomach. I haven't been fond of water since."

"You tried to save a sloth turtle from its natural habitat?" he asked seriously.

"I didn't know that when I was 7," she insisted, "I thought I was saving it's life."

Baatar put his arm around her shoulders. "I'm sorry," he said, "it must have been scary."

She stood up from under him and said, "You can go ahead and enjoy the waterfall. I'll be over here in case you need me." She got up and laid down behind a rock to block out some of the noise.

In the warmth of the sun, tiredness overcame her. She fell asleep laying on her left side. As she slept, her mother's voice echoed in her head. You destroy everything you touch! Baatar flashed in front of her, angrier than ever. The ground fell out from under her feet. She fell through the air, and then landed directly into a wooden wheelchair.

She gasped awake. A towel laid over her body. The sounds of splashing in the water had vanished. She peered around the rock she was sleeping next to; everyone was gone. The sun had moved. The Iron Maiden still sat on the tracks. She put her hand to her face, her right side warm and tender to the touch.

Kuvira entered the train, expecting to see a happy and more relaxed crew. Baatar, Bolin, and Miski stood around in the office cabin and turned to stare at her.

"Hey I-" Baatar stopped himself and covered his mouth, letting out a giggle. Miski pointed at her face as Bolin held back some laughs.

"What?" she asked, looking at each of them.

Baatar said, "I thought you were in your cabin! You were still sleeping outside? It's been at least seven hours."

"You left me out there for seven hours?" she asked.

"Half of your face is sunburned so bad," Bolin said, unable to hold back his giggling.

She touched her face again, the right side burned, the left? Not at all. "Only on half of my face?" she asked.

Miski said, "It's literally right down the middle." She drew a line in down her face with her hand to demonstrate.

Bolin asked, "Oh! Do you get the kind of sunburns that peel so you'll only look ridiculous for a few days, or the kind that tans, so you'll look weird for weeks?"

"Sunburns can peel?" Miski asked.

"Oh yeah," Bolin replied, "there was this one-time Mako was out with the triads..." he paused in panic, "uh...he said I wasn't allowed to talk about the illegal things we did out loud to anyone so uh...he was outside not doing anything with the triads for nine hours one day, and his whole back got so sunburned. It blistered and peeled and looked terrible for days, but once it healed, he was fine."

Kuvira looked up sheepishly and confessed, "I get the kind that tan."

Baatar said, "So half of your face is going to be at least a shade darker than the other half for weeks."

"Give me a mirror," she said, "I need to see how bad it is." She marched into the bathroom. A line was indeed drawn down the middle of her forehead, nose, mouth, and chin. Half red, half her regular pale skin. It even hurt for her to blink her eyes. "Oh," she said, "great. We're meeting with Raiko tomorrow for our six month update. I can't show up looking like this!"

Miski said, "Just put some foundation on it, no one will know."

"I ran out a while ago and didn't bother buying more," she said.

Bolin asked, "Miski, can't you heal her sunburn?"

She shook her head, "I've never learned any proper waterbending techniques, especially not anything advanced like healing. Sorry I'm not more useful." She frowned and hung her head.

"You've been more than useful so far, Miski," Kuvira assured her, putting her hand on her shoulder.

Baatar said, "Maybe someone else on board has some make-up you could use?"

Unfortunately, everyone else with her similar skin-tone ran out. Other women had some, but they weren't as pale as her and made her look even more ridiculous. Kuvira said, "We'll arrive in Republic City early so I can go shopping before we meet with Raiko. No big deal."

The universe had other plans. First the engine trouble was worse than they originally thought, and they left later than even the engineer anticipated. After they were eventually moving again, trees landed on the tracks ahead of them, causing further delay. On the outskirts of the United Republic, contruction on the tracks outside of Republic City delayed them even further. By the time they got the train station out of the capital building, Fanrong Station, they were already supposed to be meeting with Raiko.

Kuvira ran into the building as fast as she could, Baatar and Miski in tow. Instead of going all the way around to the proper door, she busted through the wall behind his desk. "Oh good grief!" Raiko shouted, covering his face and from kicked up dust and dirt, "You're worse than Korra! Do I have to show you how doorways work too?"

"I'm sorry we're late," Kuvira said, motioning for Baatar and Miski to enter behind her, "We had engine trouble, and then track trouble, but the important thing is we made it." She used earth bending to put the wall back in place.

"Thank you for finally showing up-" he stopped and stared at her, "what happened to your face?"

"It's a sunburn," she said quickly.

He asked, "On only half of your face? How did that happen?"

"I laid in the sun for too long," she said, desperately trying to hide her flushing face of embarrassment, and failing miserably.

Baatar stepped forward and explained, "This is Miski, she's our new scribe who officially records everything we say and do on paper."

Raiko raised an eyebrow and said, "Nice to meet you. Now, to start this meeting, it's my understanding you've only officially united and helped four regions so far. It's been six months, I thought you'd be close to half done by now."

"Half!?" Baatar yelled.

"Sir," Kuvira said hastily, "the earth kingdom is in far more disarray than you originally suggested. These problems clearly didn't start only when the queen died, they've been having issues with bandits, limited recourses, and failing infrastructure for years if not decades."

Raiko said, "I'm well aware. I know there's not much I can do as an outside leader. For now, I've been working with the other nations to appoint the next monarch-"

"You're appointing the next leader?" Kuvira asked, shocked.

"That's the job of the advisors we secured in Ba Sing Se six months ago," Baatar said, "they're the ones devising a plan for the future of the capital."

He said, putting his hands up in defense, "They've asked for my help so I'm providing it. That's all." He put his hands down and said, "And as for your job, Kuvira, I thought you'd be much further along by now."

She explained, "I have to take my time building trust so the nation will be more willing to cooperate with me. I can't march in and demand they let me help them when they have no idea who I am and what I plan to do. So many people we've tried to deal with so far don't take me seriously."

Raiko said, "And while you're taking your sweet time, more orphans are being put on the street by the day."

A knife cut through Kuvira's heart. He was right but he had to understand. Baatar said, "We've been building orphanages around the earth kingdom in the places that allow us to operate. We have to make sure whoever we put in charge of those places are suitable for children, otherwise we're putting them in direct danger. We can't mess around with something so serious."

"If you're having trouble fulfilling your duties I can appoint someone else to take your place," Raiko said, looking at them both.

"No," Kuvira said, "We can do this. We are doing this! What have you been doing the past six months?" She crossed her arms and scowled at him.

"Raising funds to fuel your endeavors," he replied, "I have some charities in the works to help the earth kingdom in any way I can."

Kuvira said, "Well a month from now I want them all to be fully operational. Understood?"

"That's not enough time-" he said, shaking his head.

"Exactly," Kuvira said, narrowing his eyes at him.

He frowned at her. "If at least a dozen regions aren't united and under your temporary power within the next six months," he said, "I'm appointing someone else who can do a better, smoother, faster job. Am I clear?"

Kuvira said, "I can't agree to that."

"Then I'll find someone else immediately," he replied.

"No," Baatar said, "we agree to your terms. Six months, twelve regions in total."

Raiko nodded. "I'll get it in writing." He turned to his desk and began drawing up the paperwork.

After the meeting was over, Kuvira busted through his wall again and this time she didn't bother cleaning up her mess. Paperwork in hand, she stormed off.

Miski said, "That didn't go well."

"I didn't expect to hear he was proud of us," Baatar said as they walked off, "but that went far worse than I expected."

Kuvira said, "The only region who willingly signed off on us helping them was Omashu. We need to work around the regions we've already helped, maybe word has spread on the great job we're doing so those leaders will be more willing." She huffed. "It's worth a shot." As she stepped outside, she walked away from the train.

Baatar asked, "Where are you going?"

"To lay in the sun long enough so this half of my face is just as sunburnt as the other," she pointed to her face and then stormed off. When she returned, her whole face was red, and she found the right color foundation to conceal it.