"Take one more step and she's a goner!" The bandit sharpened the rock he had in his possession and held it up to the woman's neck.

From behind the group of hostages, Kuvira surveyed the scene more carefully while Baatar engaged from the front. There were about three dozen hostages being held behind a wall made from earthbending, and the bandits outnumbered them almost two to one.

Baatar asked calmly from the front of the crowd, "Why are you doing this?"

"For your money!" the leader shouted, the hand holding the rock shaking.

With her metalbending, Kuvira used her metal sheets to cover the eyes and mouth of the bandit closest to her. He flinched but before anyone could notice, she grabbed him with more metal and pulled him away from the group behind her. Bolin opened up the ground and tossed him in as quietly as he could. She moved on to the next one.

"What happened to your own money?" Baatar asked, "Why do you need to take some from us?"

Kuvira made fast work of more bandits, but as she moved, more of the hostages noticed. Some were children, and the youngest was a toddler. They all turned to stare at her. She motioned for them to pay attention to Baatar, but the younger ones of the group took off for her. Kuvira moved fast to cover the eyes and mouths of the bandits who were noticing.

The toddler, a little girl, ran up to her and pulled on her uniform, arms over her head. "What?" she whispered. The toddler started to whine and jump up.

"Hold her," Bolin whispered, "Pick her up! Hurry!"

Kuvira bent over and held the toddler on her hip as she tried to move her metal quickly. After she tossed more than a dozen off to the side, the leader turned around. The young woman he held hostage twisted away from him and ran. "Get back here!" he demanded.

Bolin dove in and surrounded the remaining bandits with lava as the hostages fled for their lives. The leader, determined to succeed, bent down and said, "Never give up without a fight!" He shook the ground under then and made a strike of rocks toward Kuvira.

Still holding the toddler, she stopped the rocks and threw more metal at the bandits until they were down and out. The little girl she was holding leaned into her, completely unaware of the danger she was in. Kuvira stood back upright and attempted to calm her nerves as she cuddled with the little girl in her arms. The fighting was over.

"Where are you parents?" Kuvira asked, a question she always hated the most when she was little but even back then she understood how valid it was.

"Home," she answered, then leaned back and pointed.

A woman came running out of the house and grabbed the little girl out of Kuvira's arms. "My baby!" She hugged her tight, "Thank you for saving her!"

"She's safe now," Kuvira replied as the woman walked away. She tossed her braid behind her back, now growing longer ever since it was forcefully cut off by other bandits more than a year earlier.

Baatar walked up to her and said, "That was a close one."

"Time to talk to the governor and see what he says about all this," Kuvira replied.


"I'm not interested in rejoining the earth kingdom," the governor, an older tall man, said to them. "The queen caused this mess, and I don't think some new king is going to be able to fix it."

Kuvira asked, "How are you going to run this entire state alone? There are still more bandits, and more towns in your region that need help. What are you doing to help them?"

He answered smugly, "Unfortunately they're on their own."

"If you sign this offer," Kuvira said, pulling out the paperwork, "they won't have to be. The army and I will round up any bandits, rehabilitate them, and expand the railroad so you'll be connected with the rest of the kingdom and therefore the rest of the world. You'll bring in 10 times as much money as you are right now."

He snatched the paper out of her hands, causing a papercut to run through nearly her entire palm. She recoiled and winced in pain. The governor, completely uncaring, read over the contract quickly as she bled. "You want an awful lot in taxes for this land," he said, "and you want people to build that monstrosity you call a railroad?" He tossed the paper to the side. "Forget it."

"Your people can't afford to sit here and wait for another bandit attack," Kuvira explained, stepping forward, "you're sitting turtle ducks. You need protection."

The governor scoffed and said, "I'm not giving you nor the monarch everything we've built here."

Kuvira said, "Your people will continue to suffer under your stubbornness and pride if you don't sign the offer."

He grabbed the paper once more and this time tore it up in front of her face. "Speaking of pride, little lady," he said, "you're the one who swaggered in here like you owned the place. Just because you took care of 30 or 40 bandits for us doesn't mean we owe you anything. Leave if you know what's good for you."

Kuvira spun around and walked away so fast the air was still moving around the man as she left his office. Baatar asked, "How did it go?"

"We didn't make a deal," she said, then looked around at the half-starved people as they slowly pieced together their ruined town. She held her still bleeding hand carefully, the pain only getting worse.

"What happened to your hand?"

"Papercut."

"Again?" he said, "Maybe you should invest in a pair of gloves."

She paused to consider it. "Maybe I will."

Before heading back to The Iron Maiden, she stopped in a small boutique and picked out a pair of gray and white gloves. The shop owner, a middle-aged man, asked, "How long do you plan to stay and help us?"

"I'm sorry," she said, "I have to leave. Your leader didn't sign my contract, so I'm not authorized to operate here." She looked up at his depressed expression. "I'm sorry."

He asked, "You can't help us without a signed contract?" She nodded. "But you have to do something! Look at us!"

Kuvira explained, "President Raiko told me I could take your money and give you food, that way what I'm doing isn't really considered charity without authorization." She remembered when he said that would also be considered an act of war but decided against telling that to the man in front of her.

"The only money I have now is what you gave me for your gloves," he said sadly.

"I'm sorry," she said sincerely.

As she walked away, the man added to himself, "What is money but and trade of goods and services? Ah, such a shame."

Kuvira stopped and turned around to face him again. "Exchange of goods and services! You're right! I can help you. We can exchange goods, and anyone who doesn't have anything to trade can help us with a service!"

She began gathering people of the town. There were shops for cleaning services, they took their uniforms to get cleaned in exchange for a week's worth of food. Others made them shoes, or cut their hair, or gave them books to read while on the train. It was going well until they ran into people who didn't own businesses and didn't have goods to give them.

Kuvira turned her attention back onto The Iron Maiden. She decided it needed an impromptu cleaning. People of all ages brought out water and sponges and scrubbers to clean every square inch, inside and out. The governor was less than pleased by this, but the villagers sure didn't mind.

"The food I gave you won't last forever," she explained to the crowd, "but I'll come back and try to convince your leader that rejoining the kingdom is what necessary."

"We'll try to convince him too," a woman in the crowd said, "you'll see him change his mind!"


Now on a clean train, Kuvira sat down in her office cabin at her desk and said, "We better head back to Republic City now. We're expected to meet with Raiko at our year and a half update in the less than two weeks." She took out her hair to relax, only to notice more than a dozen strands came out of her braid.

"Don't you think it's a bit early to start heading back?" Baatar asked, "Especially with this most recent failure?"

"Hey this wasn't a failure," Bolin said, "we really did help those people."

"But the region isn't officially considered part of the earth kingdom," Kuvira said, "it's not considered a win in Raiko's book." She frowned as she pulled at more and more loose hairs coming off of her head. She was quickly being covered in the black strands.

Bolin said, "I just finished up the latest paperwork. The new orphanage we built over in Gaoling is doing great, so is the transitional housing unit for the adult orphans. Also, the town square Baatar helped design and the new train station is doing wonders for their personal economy. They don't even need our charity anymore."

"Bolin's right, Kuvira," Baatar said, "even if Raiko tries to focus on the negatives, there are still the positive things we've done." He stopped and watched her collecting her hair. "What are you doing?"

"Where is all of this hair coming from?" she asked, clumping it together in her hands, "Am I losing it?"

Miski said, "You can lose your hair if you stress out too much. Are you stressed out?"

"Of course, I am," she said, standing up, "the last time we met with Raiko he said we were doing the bare minimum and then he insulted our re-education camps."

Miski pointed out, "To be fair, the one we were about to send him to witness was committing ethnic cleansing, so uh, not all criticism is bad."

Kuvira explained, "It's more than that. This is the 10th region to refuse our contract. They wouldn't even consider negotiating with me. Remember the one who tore up their own tracks? When we went to circle back to them, we thought it was more bandits, maybe melting down the tracks to make coins or something. But instead, it was the town themselves because they didn't want the ugly railroad tracks next to their precious sacred mountains. How are we supposed to explain that to Raiko?"

"Maybe we don't?" Bolin asked, his voice cracking in pitch.

"I hate lying," Kuvira muttered.

"Hey," Baatar said, "Aiwei isn't around anymore to snitch on us every time something happens. We can lie about whatever we want now. We all know real politicians do it all the time."

Bolin asked, "Aiwei was a snitch?"

"Who's Aiwei?" Miski asked.

Kuvira answered, "He was a truth-seer we grew up with back in Zaofu and yes, he was a huge snitch. Whenever anyone suspected any sort of lying, they'd get him right on it. Kuvira lied when she said she cleaned the bathroom. Ugh! It was Sarita's turn anyway, that's why I didn't do it."

Baatar giggled, "You're still hung up on that?"

She gave him a side-eye but refused to answer and said, "Lets head back to Republic City early so we can relax while we're there for once."


Back in Republic City, a day ahead of schedule, Kuvira attempted to put her hair in her signature low single braid, but it didn't look the same. It was half the size in width it used to be and now her scalp could be seen through her dark hair. Hating it, she came up with a new plan. She braided the hair along her hairline, framing her face down both sides, then tied it in a low bun on the nape of her neck. Her transformation was complete, she was now the Kuvira everyone knows (minus the metal high neck collar, I never liked it.)

When she stepped out of her cabin, she nearly ran face-first into Baatar. "Oh," he said, "wow, I like the new look." He straightened his glasses.

"Thanks," she gave him a genuine smile.


Later, in Raiko's office, Kuvira stood before him as he scrutinized her paperwork. Prince Wu on the other hand stood off to the side, checking out his own reflection in the glass of the window.

"You forced starving people to wash your train in order to get food?" Raiko asked, glancing up at her from the papers.

Baatar explained, "The governor doesn't want anything to do with us. What else were we supposed to do?"

He sighed. "You look worse now by doing that instead of leaving."

"Leave starving people to starve?" Kuvira asked, "How would that look any better than what we did?"

"I know your job isn't easy," he said, "but you have to think of what the public is going to think when they hear things like this. I'm surprised the newspapers weren't all over this." He set the papers down.

Kuvira turned her attention back to Wu. "What do you think about what we did?" she asked seriously.

"Think about what?" he asked, "I haven't been paying attention to what's going on within these walls, sweetheart, I've been chasing the clouds. Have you ever chased a cloud, Kuvira? I mean metaphorically, of course." He walked over to her and attempted to wrap his arm around her shoulders.

She stopped him. "You don't care about what we're discussing? This is your nation we're talking about."

Wu replied, "What I'm thinking about is you and me at dinner tonight. I know the swankiest place in the city." He wiggled his eyebrows at her.

"I have a boyfriend," she said.

"Okay," he said smoothly, "he can come too." She glared at him. "I'm kidding! Someone can't take a joke. But seriously, why don't we all go out and discuss this over dinner? What do you say Raiko, like we did last week with you buying? Huh?"

Baatar asked, "Is that what you've been doing with your time? Going out to fancy dinners with the president?"

Wu answered, dead seriously, "Nah I've been getting massages and baths and spending my time relaxing. It aint easy being the crown prince."

It took everything Kuvira had in her not to take down the entire building they were standing it. She was stressing out, losing hair, and attempting to negotiate with people who had been in power longer than she had been alive and here the actual prince was living it up in Republic City, safe from the hordes of bandits killing people within his own nation. How could she turn everything over to him?

"How long do you think it'll take before the kingdom is 100% reunited?" Raiko asked.

"We can't rush things," Kuvira explained, "people's lives are at stake."

He frowned. "That's not what I wanted to hear," he said, "but I suppose since so many governors are giving you a hard time, I'll let you take your time."

"Why do you want Wu on the throne so badly?" Baatar asked.

"He's the rightful ruler," he answered.

Wu stepped in and said, "That's right, bub, better get used to me being around because I'm not going anywhere! So, dinner tonight, what do you say?"

Kuvira said, unimpressed by his actions, "I have work to get back to."


The Iron Maiden chugged on, out of Republic City and away from the United Republic. Inside her private cabin, Kuvira sat on her bed and watched the mountain scenery pass by. Baatar entered her room, not even bothering to knock anymore, bringing in tea.

"No tea for me," she said, not even bothering to look at him.

"I don't know what to make of that meeting," he said, sitting on the edge of the bed. "It didn't go well or terrible."

Kuvira asked, "Does what Raiko's doing sound like what I think it sounds like?"

"That Wu is being bought and paid for right under our noses and we're supposed to take it because he's a prince? Yeah, I saw that but there's nothing we can do about it, Kuvira."

She finally turned to him and asked, "What if we did this ourselves?"

"What are you asking?"

She scooted over to him across the bed and asked, "What if we didn't give power to that pathetic excuse of a man when the reunification is complete? What if the two of us became the official rulers of this nation?"

Baatar's jaw dropped. "I don't think that's legal."

"Look at what this nation has become, Baatar," she said leaning on his shoulder, "look at how long it's taken us just to help a few regions. There's still so much of the country we have to get to, so much more track to lay, and so many more bandits to stop. Can we really trust Wu to continue what we've begun?"

"I don't trust him," he said, "but what are you going to do, name yourself queen?"

"No," she said, "that only leads to birthright rulers and a kingdom. I was thinking of becoming something more along the lines of an empire." She smiled at him.

"Earth empire," he said slowly, "I like how that sounds. Go on."