Two Months Later

Kuvira had mapped out every line of wood grain in her cell. She knew exactly which lines went where, which ones disappeared and faded away, and which ones went on in a continuous loop or into the next wooden cell beside her.

Footsteps outside of her cell came to her attention. She waited to see if the guards were going to stop and open her door, or simply walk past. It opened. She covered her ears at the wood creaking. Two guards revealed themselves.

"Here you go, Kuvira," the female guard said, "your own letter returned, unopened." She tossed her the scroll, and she caught it in midair.

"Again?" she asked, outlining the address to Baatar's jail cell. Because he was a non-bender, he was allowed to have an ordinary cell in Ba Sing Se, instead of being trapped on a wooden creaking boat in the middle of nowhere. She knew she hurt him, but why wasn't he responding? She just wanted to talk to him, to see his words written on paper.

"That's not the only reason we're here," the male guard said, "you have a visitor."

Kuvira stood up, "But we're not in port."

"This visitor insisted on coming all this way just to see you," the male guard said, "let's go. Move."

She was guided down the labyrinth of hallways down to the visitor's chamber. Inside, Korra stood and waited next to a set of wooden tables and chairs. The guards entered and closed the door, together they four of them stood and stared at each other.

"It's okay," Korra said, "she's not a threat. I can talk to her alone." She shooed them out and closed the door behind them.

"Of course, it would be you," Kuvira said, sitting in a chair, knowing no one else would come all the way out to sea to visit her, "What are you doing here?"

She replied, "Whatever you've heard is going on throughout the earth kingdom is true."

Kuvira said, unamused, "I've been locked away on this ship away from shore for eight weeks now. They don't give us newspapers here or tell us what's happening out in the real world. I have no idea what you're talking about."

Korra replied, "The earth empire is like you, it refuses to back down."

Her face fell. "But I surrendered."

"No one believes it," she said bluntly, "people think I killed you and they hate me for it." She frowned.

Kuvira raised an eyebrow in shock that she would travel all this way just to tell her that. "Your bad publicity is your problem."

Korra leaned forward and explained, "This is way bigger than 'bad publicity,' dearest sister. Sure, it's awful hearing people say they want me dead so a new better avatar can be born in my place, but that's only the tip of the iceberg." She paced back and forth. "Most of the earth kingdom refuses to accept you surrendered and they refuse to follow King Wu. There have been over a dozen attempts on his life in your name. There have been riots. People have been hurt because they insist you're still their empress and they're angry I murdered you in cold blood. I thought over time these conspiracies would fade away, but since no one's seen you in months it's only getting worse."

Dumbfounded, Kuvira said, "I'm sorry you're going through so much, but what am I supposed to do?"

"I already commissioned an airship for us," Korra answered, "together we're going to travel around the earth kingdom, and you're going to announce to everyone that you really did surrender, the earth empire was never ligetment, and the new leader of the earth kingdom is now King Wu."

Kuvira cringed at the sound of King Wu. She asked, "You really can't convince them to stand down by yourself?"

"I've tried," she insisted, "it's been weeks and nothing I've been doing is working. They won't listen to me, but they should listen to you."

Kuvira turned and leaned back in her chair, daring to look up at the wooden ceiling. She said, "I haven't had top deck time yet today. What does the sky look like?"

"It's sunny," Korra said, completely changing her demeanor, "not a cloud in the sky. Why?"

Kuvira closed her eyes and looked up as she imagined the sky in her mind. "Alright," she said, "I'll do it."

"What makes you think you have a choice?" Korra asked, "I have all of the paperwork in order. You're in jail awaiting trial. You're coming with me tomorrow when you dock in Republic City."

"There was no point to having this entire conversation?" Kuvira asked, shocked, "That's cold."

She explained, "I wanted you to be prepared for tomorrow. Oh, and King Wu is coming with us."

Kuvira groaned. "I have to travel with him?"

"And Mako's coming too," Korra replied, smiling at her. Meanwhile Kuvira gave her that signature unimpressed face she's known for. She added, "I also have another task for you once we're in Republic City, before we leave on the airship. See you then."


The next day, the ship anchored in Republic City and Kuvira was led off in wooden handcuffs by two guards straight to the dock, where Korra was waiting for them.

As Kuvira stepped onto the dock, it moved down, then up. She fell forward on her hands and knees, barely bracing for impact fast enough to catch herself.

"What are you doing?" Korra asked, standing in front of her, "If you're trying to pull something over on me, you're getting shirshu spit darted!"

"The dock," Kuvira said, standing back up, puzzled, "it moved."

"No, it didn't," the guard said to her right, "you just don't have your land-legs yet."

Korra asked, "Land legs?"

The other guard explained, "When someone's been out to sea on a boat for a while, their legs get used to the rocking of the ship, so when they're on land again the ground moves like they're still on water."

"Thanks for the warning," Kuvira said.

Korra said, "Thanks for delivering her." She grabbed Kuvira, who wobbled slightly on her feet before leveling off. "Before we get to the airship, there's something you have to do."

"And what would that be?"

"Avatar Aang's statue," she answered, "we've been trying for weeks with teams of earthbenders to figure out how to move it. Since nothing has worked while keeping it in one piece, you're going to be the one to move it back."

Impressed, Kuvira said, "I understand, but I'm going to have to get out of these cuffs to do that."


Across the city, they went to the site of Avatar Aang's statue. It was in the same position Kuvira had left it in, on one knee, hand on to the ground for easy access, looking as though he was ready to stand back up again.

Kuvira and Korra climbed into Aang's face. "What's this pole doing here?" Korra asked.

"Hold on to something," Kuvira commanded.

She felt every piece of stone in the statue and forced the entire torso backwards. Then, the legs unbent and moved into a standing position. Korra grabbed onto the pole for dear life as the entire statue shifted around her. She watched as Kuvira made the entire thing walk across the city, careful not to harm anyone or break anything, and marched it straight into the harbor.

Meanwhile Kuvira remembered that day, with Miski and Baatar, running from Korra and the others. She knew she wasn't going to be allowed back into the statue again once she put it back in place. She walked it straight through the harbor and back onto Avatar Aang's island. She bent the entire statue over to pick up the stone staff and left him exactly how he was before.

"There," Kuvira said, "he's back where he belongs."

"Man, that was amazing!" Korra said. She took out the wooden handcuffs once again and opened them for Kuvira. Unamused, she still let Korra put them on her willingly.


They made their way over to the airship that was awaiting their arrival. Wu and Mako stood at the top of the ramp. Korra closed the door behind themselves, the ropes and the wood creaking all the way. She explained, "This airship is made to transport earth and metalbending prisoners. There's nothing you can bend in here."

"I understand," Kuvira replied.

Mako said awkwardly, "It's...interesting...to see you again, Kuvira."

Wu snarked, "Oh how the mighty have fallen."

Mako said, "Considering the fact that we all have to live together for a while, how about you don't antagonize her?" He crossed his arms.

"What?" Wu said, "She deserves it after ruining my coronation and my ancestral family home. Even though she is really easy on the eyes," he gave a smolder, then added, "she still made this huge mess we have to clean up."

"Kuvira," Korra said, stepping between them, "I'll show you where you'll be staying." She guided her down the stairs through some hallways to a large wooden cellblock not unlike the one on the Mu Baolei.

Kuvira said, "This entire airship is already made to keep metalbenders captive, yet I still have to spend the whole time in a wooden cell?"

Korra said bluntly, "No one trusts you." She opened the cell door. The wooden gears grinding against wood. "You pretended to surrender Republic City but then you nearly destroyed everything and everyone. We're not taking any chances."

Finally stepping inside, Kuvira said, "You captured my fiance and were going to torture him unless I gave up." She bowed her head. "I know after what I've done no one believes I'm capable of loving someone," her voice waivered, "but I've loved Baatar for years. I still do." She glanced up at Korra to see she was getting no sympathy.

"Some people believe you were only using him for your own gain," Korra said, implying she was one of those people, "but it doesn't matter now. Try to get some rest. We're going to the region of Shan first."

Kuvira said, "What? But that's all the way on the other side Ba Sing Se. It'll take days to get there. Why not someplace closer?"

"They're the ones with your craziest supporters," Korra answered, "hopefully when we tell them the truth they'll believe us and cause a ripple effect." She motioned for Kuvira to put her wooden cuffs through a hole in her cell.

While no longer shackled, Kuvira went over and sunk onto the pathetic version of a bed she now had to deal with. A wooden platform held with ropes to the wall with a thin mattress. Instead of dwelling on her surroundings, as Korra left, she went into her meditation stance. Knees to chest, head down, and hands resting on the bed by her side. Her spirit easily left her body. Time to explore the airship.

She moved through the walls back to the main cabin where Wu and Mako sat during take off.

"You know what we need," Wu said, sitting across from Mako, "some eye candy to make this space more comfortable. I'm wondering if Kuvira really has to sit in a prison cell downstairs the whole way to Shan."

Mako asked, "You really want to awkwardly stare at her the whole way there?"

He confessed, "No, actually."

"Well I don't either," he added, "I don't know how she did it, but she twisted Bolin's mind up really bad. I don't think he'll ever be the same. As far as I concerned, she can rot in prison for the rest of her life." He leaned back against the couch.

Kuvira sadly hugged herself. The only comfort she had was they couldn't see her spirit being crushed right before their eyes.

"About that," Wu confessed, "I'm not a judge, but I've been working with Raiko and my advisors and lawmakers and everything, and building a case against her actually turning out to be a lot harder than anyone expected."

Kuvira looked him over carefully and said, "You royal brat! Don't stop there! Continue! How hard is my case?"

Mako asked, "What are you talking about? She did plenty of terrible illegal things! She tried to take over Republic City!"

"Yeah we got that one," he said, "but we've been finding that there isn't much else we can prosecute her on."

"Harvesting vines from the swamp and creating a weapon of mass destruction? Sound familiar?"

"We've found that there's no actual written laws explicitly stating that it's illegal to harvest vines in the swamp," Wu explained, "and it turns out it's also not actually illegal to build a weapon of mass destruction, funnily enough."

"You can't be serious."

He added, "But it is definitely illegal to intimidate other nations with such a weapon, which she did when she crossed United Republic lines illegally and attacked Republic City, so we got her there."

"Forcing people into camps, that has to be illegal."

"It turns out pretty much all of those camps were really educational facilities teaching benders and non-benders how to defend themselves, make metal, build trains and tracks, run a ligetament business, and even artsy stuff like how to make pottery."

Mako groaned. "Oh, come on, she had to have done worse stuff. She's crazy!"

"Cruel and unusual punishment to bandits," Wu started, then stopped himself, "actually, most of those bandits were murderers and already had wrap sheets a mile long...so it's up in the air on if we'll charge her with anything on that one." He shrugged.

Mako said, "There has to be more. She destroyed the earth kingdom palace. That has to be against the law."

"The numbers are in on that one," Wu answered, "the palace was in such bad repair by the time she destroyed it that it is cheaper for us to rebuild it brick for brick than it was to repair the broken parts, so she actually saved the kingdom a lot of tax dollars." Mako groaned.

Korra stepped out of the bridge and said, "I set the course for Shan-" she froze and stared at her, "Kuvira, what are you doing in here?!"

"So you can see me," she replied, crossing her arms, "I thought you might be able to."

Mako looked around the room, then back at Korra, and back at the space in front of him again and asked, "Korra, are you okay? No one is there."

She asked, "You can't see her?" She gestured to Kuvira.

"See who?" Wu asked.

Kuvira explained, "Only the spiritually inclined can see me when I'm like this. To them you look like you're talking to thin air so if you don't want them to think you've lost your mind, keep quiet."

"I don't care if they think I'm crazy for a minute!" Korra said, stomping over to her, "Stop exploring the airship and go back to your cell!"

"I haven't left my cell," she replied, "I just wanted to see what the airship looked like." She walked away and carried on exploring.

Mako said, "Seriously Korra, what are you going on about?"

"Should we be worried about her?" Wu asked, raising an eyebrow in concern.

"It's Kuvira," Korra explained, "she's astral projected herself onto the spiritual plane and you guys can't see her because you're not spiritual."

"Oh," Wu said awkwardly, "that makes sense..." he turned back to Mako, "seriously, should we be worried?"

Mako said, "Just let them be. It's avatar stuff, that's always weird."