"Happy three-year anniversary," Miski said, "Bolin told me you guys set off three years ago today. Did you ever think it would take this long?" She sat on the couch of the office cabin of the train.

"No," Baatar confessed, "actually in the beginning we were doing so well with Ba Sing Se and Omashu we thought it would go faster. Remember those days, Kuvira?"

She said, "We were so naive."

"This just in!" Bolin said excitedly as he burst into the cabin, "Two more regions have officially rejoined the earth kingdom!" He handed papers off to Baatar.

"That's great," he replied, taking them from him, "that means we're 90% there. Thank you, Bolin." He turned to face Kuvira, who stood with her back facing them, staring at the map of the earth kingdom on the wall. With metalbending she put two more regions up on the map. "This calls for some tea to celebrate."

He poured out several cups and handed them out. Bolin said, "To the earth kingdom!"

As promised, Baatar walked over to Kuvira and offered her a cup. "None for me," she said, "I'm not celebrating until the nation is 100% reunited." She finally turned to them.

They all put their cups down on the plates awkwardly. Baatar knew her past about tea but even he felt that was a bit too aggressive. Before he could say anything, the entire train stopped suddenly, throwing all the tea onto their uniforms.

Kuvira gracefully stepped backwards, now completely accustomed to the train making sudden stops. "What is it this time?" she asked.

The engineer stepped out and answered, "Madam Kuvira, there are rocks on the tracks in front of us."

"Are they from a landslide?" Baatar asked.

"Definitely not."

Miski got out her ink and said, "I'll send a message to the army."

"No need to waste ink, Miski," Kuvira said, walking away, "I'll take care of this myself."

Miski put the ink back, then used waterbending to get the tea out of their clothes. "Thanks," Bolin said, "it still seems good enough to drink."

Baatar recoiled. "No thanks, I'm not drinking shirt tea."

"Suit yourself," Miski replied, happily drinking out of her own cup.

Meanwhile, outside, Kuvira stepped onto the roof of the train, this way she could see from all angles exactly who she was dealing with. Large stones blocked the tracks ahead of her, obviously placed there by humans. High cliffs were on both sides, desert-like in appearance. The perfect blockade for stopping trains. She knew this meant the governor in the next town over was going to be struggling.

She watched as a few heads popped up behind the cliffs. They moved in, 20 deep. Kuvira took the metal from her uniform and made fast work of them. Covering their eyes and clasping their wrists and ankles together, then moving them into one massive pile. They attempted to those boulders at her, but she swiftly dodged them. It all happened so fast; her heart rate didn't even jump.

Kuvira fastened their wrists to the tracks behind The Iron Maiden and posed while uncovering their eyes.

"You're...The Iron Maiden," a woman said anxiously looking up at her.

"And you're some bandits attempting to ruin my day," she replied, looking down at them, "but I'll make sure you fail at that."

The woman added, "I'm sorry, we didn't know this was your train, Kuvira!"

"You think what you're doing would have been acceptable if this were an innocent civilian train instead of mine?" Kuvira asked, frowning at her as she stared her down.

The woman's eyes went wide in horror at the implications of what she just said but she remained silence. A man beside her said, "Kuvira, please don't listen to her, she's an idiot!"

Kuvira moved her attention to the rest of the crowd. "I must know," she said, "what happened to you? Why are you bandits?"

A man toward the end said, "Like The Iron Maiden cares about us! All you care about is getting more land and expanding your train! You don't care what we've been through!"

"I don't like to waste time," Kuvira said, "I only ask questions I want the answers to. Look at yourselves, what you have become? How did you end up willing to rob and murder to get what you want?"

"Our group has never murdered anyone!" a man on the other side insisted.

Kuvira gave him an unimpressed look. This wasn't the first time she heard such a claim after she had captured bandits.

A different woman added, "I can vouch for that. My husband used to be a guard at the palace, and we lived in the middle-ring, making decent money. After the queen died, he tried to continue his sworn duty to protect the palace no matter what. Bandits killed him. I didn't have anything left. It was either stay in Ba Sing Se and die or leave with become this."

A man next to Kuvira added, "All our stories are similar. If we weren't palace guards, we were married to one. We all lost our homes, some lost children and other family, and we definitely all lost our incomes."

"Then this really is a good day for you," Kuvira explained, "I'm giving you the opportunity to rehabilitate yourselves and become productive citizens of your nation by putting your skills to good use. You don't have to be this way, living on the edge, half starved, nowhere to call home, not sure where your next mean will come from. I can give you the stability you desperately need. What do you say?"

A man on the other side of her said, "This isn't a real choice. It's either join you or die."

"Your choice."

The first woman said, "We pledge our loyalty to you, Madam Kuvira."


The Iron Maiden came to a stop in the capital of the region. Not that anyone could tell it was once a great capital city. It had lost any glory it once had from years of roving bandit attacks. The buildings were falling apart, and the people were half starved. As the train came to a stop, everyone on board looked out the windows.

"Man, this place looks more depressing than the last time we were here," Baatar said.

"Is that a flying bison?" Kuvira asked, looking at the giant furry beast beside the train. It was definitely a sky bison, but not the one Tenzin flew around on.

Baatar asked, "Airbenders are here too?" He paused. "It's Opal. You know she's not going to be happy to see you."

"Her emotions are her problem," Kuvira replied, "I'm here to do my job no matter what it takes. We'll greet her warmly and see how deep of a hole she'll dig herself into with that."

Bolin stepped out of the train first, not even noticing Kai or Opal until they walked up to him to chat.

Baatar stepped out next, followed by Kuvira. He said, "Well would you look at that, I didn't expect to see you here, Opal. It's been a while. How have you been?"

"Like you care," Opal said, crossing her arms and turning away from him.

"Opal, please," Kuvira said, "we're here to achieve the same thing, helping this town. There's no need to start an argument in front of all of these people." She gestured toward the crowd that was quickly forming around the train.

Opal turned to her and replied, "Conquering towns and making everyone bow to you isn't helping people, Kuvira."

Baatar answered, "Trust me, Opal, my fiancé and I have been doing a lot more than just that."

"Your fiancé?" Opal asked.

Kuvira turned to Baatar, raising an eyebrow, then turned back to her and said, "You didn't know? Your brother and I are getting married."

Bolin said nervously, "Isn't that great, sweetie?"

Baatar explained, "I wrote a letter to Mom telling her the news months ago. I guess she didn't pass on the word. Well, either that, or she's ignoring my letters now. That's a surprise."

Opal nearly boiled over, clenching her fists she said, "Oh come on, out of all the women in the world you had to pick her to marry? Really?" She gestured to her angrily.

"I know we've had our differences in the past," Kuvira said, walking up to her and putting her hand on her shoulder, "but we're adults now, and we've each chosen our own paths in life. I'm willing to put anything hurtful you've said to me in the past behind us and be civil sisters-in-law. Will you do the same?"

"You're serious," Opal said, looking her over carefully for an ulterior motive.

Before she could say anything, the governor stepped forward and asked, "What are you doing here?"

Kuvira turned to him and said, "Hello, governor, I was hoping you and I could talk privately."


Inside The Iron Maiden, the two of them met in Kuvira's office. Miski standing by to be the scribe, recording everything that was said on a parchment of scroll.

"What do you think of my latest generous offer?" she asked, sitting at the table across from him.

He replied, "This is not what I call generous. You want 20% of all profits from the copper mine in these mountains. You want to recruit people for the railroad that's to be built to go all the way to the Great Divide. You want volunteers for your army. And you insist we redesign the entire town for a 'more prosperous future.' Even if I wanted any of that to happen, we don't have the money for it!" He slammed the contract down.

Kuvira explained calmly, "That's where resources from the rest of the nation comes into play. Once the rail-line is finished you'll have enough money coming in from tourists to do whatever you please with your money. It's your choice."

"It also says here if I don't do as you say I'll no longer be the governor of Yai," he said angrily.

"That's correct," she replied, "this way corruption is stopped before it has the time to spread." She remembered when a camp she had wanted to go well had ended up enslaving fire and waterbenders because Guan thought they didn't belong in the earth kingdom. She was determined to never allow that to happen again.

He spat, "I can't agree to this! I refuse your terms!" He shoved the contract at her, spilling the ink all over the pages.

"Governor," she said, standing up swiftly, "your people don't have the luxury to watch you walk back to your office and make false promises. Your leadership is failing. Bandits will continue to attack this town and tear it apart bit by bit until there is nothing left. Your buildings will crumble. Your people will starve to death. Unless you sign my generous offer, the only business this town will make is in coffins and urns." She leaned over him and stared him down.

Angrier than ever, he demanded, "Leave! Get out of my city!"


As the governor stomped away from the train, Kuvira stepped out of The Iron Maiden gracefully and said, "We're not staying."

"Oh no," Bolin said sadly, "what happened?"

"He won't sign the contract," she answered, "we're not welcome here."

Opal ran up to her and asked, "You're leaving?"

Kai stepped in and added, "But these people need you! I know you have food and supplies on your train! You have to help them!"

"You can't abandon these people, Kuvira!" Opal said, hoping to strike a nerve.

That word stung as it hit Kuvira, it showed her face for a fraction of a second. She knew she was right, she was technically abandoning these people, but she also knew she wasn't allowed to help without a proper contract. "This isn't my choice," she explained, "it's against the law for an outside entity to give unauthorized charity without the expressed approval of local leadership. If I were to stay it, would be considered an act of war."

Opal scoffed and crossed her arms in disgust, "That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard."

Kuvira said, "If you read up on your history, you'd know it was put in place during the 100-year war because the fire nation originally claimed they wanted to bring charity to the earth kingdom before they committed genocide. I'm sorry, but my hands are tied."

"You're such a coward!" A woman's voice rang in the crowd. Stunned, Kuvira turned to see an angry mob forming around the governor. The woman pointed directly at him, a confused toddler sitting on her hip.

A man said, "My son can't go another day without his medicine! I want to see just how unfair this contract really is with my own eye!" He turned to show his scarred face and blinded eye to Kuvira.

She walked up to him and said, "I have it right here." She took it out of her belt and handed it to him. A crowd quickly moved in and read it over his shoulder.

"The railroad?" A voice cried out, "I'll happily work for the railroad! Sign me up!"

"I'll help build it too!" a different voice called out.

"I'll sign up for The Iron Maiden's army if it means leaving this old dump," a teenager said.

The townspeople quickly turned on the governor and demanded he sign the contract. Kuvira on the other hand turned and walked away, motioning for everyone in her crew to get on The Iron Maiden. Before she could, a woman ran in front of her.

"Please!" she said, "I'm begging you to stay! We want your help! Please!" She held Kuvira's shoulders.

"I'm sorry," she said sadly, "I don't want to abandon you, but without a stamped contract from your governor I have to go." She carefully pulled her hands away.

Opal said, "You're inciting a war!" She gestured to the crowd busting out yard tools and their bending abilities, ready to attack their leader.

Kuvira turned to Miski and asked, "Did I say anything to start a war?"

"No," she said, looking through the papers in her hands, "you said, we're not staying, and then Bolin asked, what happened, and then you said, he won't sign the contract." She showed the part of the scroll to Opal.

She replied, "I know how to read, and I was there. I literally just witnessed that conversation." She skimmed over the notes, then handed it back to her.

Another woman ran out in front of The Iron Maiden and shouted, "You're not going anywhere!" With earth bending, she tore up the tracks and broke through the metal ties and rails.

"Now that is considered an act of war," Kuvira said, "Miski, record the destruction of government property."

"On it," she said, putting ink to a fresh page with water bending.

Baatar walked off the train and said, "Technically we could put the engine in reverse and still get out of here." As soon as he said that a man tore up the tracks behind the train too.

Miski said, "I'll record that too."

Kuvira whispered to Baatar, "You had to say something."

He replied, "We're about two seconds away from being raided whether or not that man approves your contract."

"I'm on it," she whispered, then stepped forward and explained, "Governor, you're about to witness an incident that is supposed to land your people in jail if I'm to follow the law to the letter. Do you want your citizens fed but locked up, or fed and free? It's your choice." Everybody turned to him and waited for his retort.

He frowned and said, "The state of Yai is yours, Madam Kuvira." He took out his stamp and crudely stamped the contract with his approval. It didn't look pretty, but that didn't matter. It was over and done with. Everyone cheered.

That's when Kuvira ordered for The Iron Maiden to be opened and supplies to be handed out. Everyone crowded around to get food, medicine, water, and building supplies to help rebuild their decrepit buildings. The entire town happily took the resources and cheered on Kuvira.

Once everything was said and done, Kuvira stood before the town and proclaimed, "The State of Yai is now under my protection." She turned to the governor and said, "Proclaim your loyalty to me, if you want to keep your post."

"I pledge my loyalty to you, Madam Kuvira," he said, bowing to her. She smiled as the town and the crew cheered. Opal on the other hand, frowned at her in the crowed.


At the end of the day, Baatar joined Kuvira in bed that night on the train and asked, "I know you can't drink tea anymore, but did you have to kill the mood so harshly for everyone earlier? It was a bit much."

Sitting knees to her chest, she said, "I'm sorry, my mind was elsewhere. I've been thinking about our empire and what it means for it to be fully reunited under us." She smiled softly at him.

"Soon it'll all be ours."

"What do you think of the United Republic, Baatar?"

He thought for a moment and said, "It's the most diverse place on the planet, and some groundbreaking advances in engineering were made there, but Republic City has too much noise and is too crowded for my taste. Why? What do you think of it?"

She explained, "I've been studying it's politics lately. Did you know they have a free trade agreement with the fire nation, but not with the earth kingdom?"

Puzzled, he asked, "Why wouldn't they have one with us?"

"Exactly," Kuvira continued, "and also, apparently fire nation citizens don't even need a passport to go there, they can go freely and stay as long as they want. There are no restrictions or checks for them."

"What?" Baatar said, "But we need a passport to get there and get checked in at the border because it's a sovereign nation. The fire nation really doesn't?"

She shook her head. "No. That's only the beginning of what I've been reading about it. For some reason I can't seem to find more information on it from before the 100-year war. I can't tell if it's from propaganda, or if there simply wasn't a big enough population to make a big enough impact before, but it's bothering me."

He said, "I don't like how it sounds either."

Kuvira said, "I can't help but think we should help decolonize that area. The earth empire will be complete without its northwest quadrant. Can you do some math for me?"

Baatar smiled at her, "Who do you think I am?"

"Figure out how the tax rates would change for the United Republic if it joined the empire," she said, "we need to get the people on board for what we're going to do if we want to take back what's rightfully ours. If we're going to take back that region, we're going to have to clean it up."

"What do you have in mind?"

"Clean energy," she said, "the city smells so bad of pollution from all the steam engines constantly belching out bad air. I can't take it when we're over there. The people need a better environment, and I was wondering if spirit vines could create a cleaner energy source."

He thought about it for a moment. "It's worth looking into."