Once the town realized Korra was the avatar, they were treated at the finest restaurant in town and ate as much food as their stomachs could handle without having to pay a single copper piece. Never mind the massive amounts of water they continuously chugged.

"This is the most amazing food I've ever had," Wu said happily.

"It's because you haven't eaten in days," Kuvira replied, "food always tastes better when you're actually hungry."

Mako added, "She's right."

As they finished eating, they stood up to get ready to leave. However, police officers entered the restaurant and quickly launched wooden handcuffs at Kuvira's wrists, trapping her in place.

"Kuvira," the head officer said, "you're under arrest for abducting the avatar and the king of the earth kingdom."

Shocked, she gasped and said, "I didn't abduct anyone!"

Korra stepped forward and explained in horror, "She's telling the truth. Without her I'd be dead! We all would be!" She gestured to the group as more wooden handcuffs came out.

"What? Why are we all getting cuffed?" Mako demanded.

"I don't like this," Wu said, "I'm the king! You can't treat me like this!"

"You're all under arrest," the officer explained, "until we can get to the bottom of this. All of you have been missing for three days, and then you just show up here all buddy-buddy from out of nowhere? No one is buying it. From what we can tell, Kuvira somehow brainwashed you."

They all nearly fell over in shock.

Mako exclaimed, "That's insane! No one brainwashed anyone!"

Korra said, "Our engine exploded, and we were stranded in the desert for the last three days!" She used airbending to blast wind at them. They shot tasers at her. She fell to the ground screaming in agony.

All four of them were dragged to the town jail and put in wooden cells. Korra and Kuvira together, Mako and Wu together, put in cells right next to each other.

"Great," Mako said sarcastically, "now we're in jail."

"Aang never got put in jail," Korra pouted.

"Actually, he did," Kuvira said, "he was put on trial for a crime and everything. It didn't end well for him."

A guard walked up to them and said, "These are new clothes for Kuvira." He put them through the wooden bars and set them on the floor.

"Finally," she said, getting up and taking them, "thank you."

As she began undressing, Mako said, "Whoa, you're going to get dressed right here?"

"What, you've never seen a naked woman before?" she snarked, then scoffed. "Virgins."

"Hey!" Mako said, then forced Wu to look away.

She then sported a new light green ao dai with dark green pants underneath and ditched her old burnt up clothes. She kept her hair in the same wooden comb. Just as she had finished up, Lin Beifong walked up to them.

"Lin?" Kuvira asked, "What are you doing here?"

"Everyone is wondering what the four of you are doing here," she said coldly, "when we didn't hear from you days ago, we sent out a search party and couldn't find any traces of your airship. The town you went to in Shan claimed you came and went, but we couldn't find you anywhere, and now you've shown up here out of thin air."

Korra ran up to the bars and said, "Beifong we are so glad you're here! Everyone thinks Kuvira abducted and brainwashed us but that's not true! We were stranded in the desert and without her we never would have made it out of there!"

"She's right!" Mako said, "She and Wu together both saved us! Without them we'd still be stranded and half dead!"

Kuvira explained, "The engine was sabotaged, and we didn't have any food on board, and only one canteen of water. We crashed in the Si Wong Desert; Korra was knocked out with a broken back. Then Mako drank from a cactus and set me on fire, blinding me. Then Wu guided us out of the desert all by himself. Without him we would still be out there on the brink of death."

"I don't believe this," Lin said, "You're all talking so well of each other, and since when? Kuvira, what did you do to them?"

Korra banged against the wood in frustration and explained, "We've been wandering the desert for the past three days! You have to believe us!"

Lin said, "That's all awfully convenient. I bet Kuvira only brought you guys here because she didn't have anywhere else to take you guys. Once the prison airship gets in, we're all going back to Republic City together, and then we'll get to the bottom of all of this and undo the brainwashing you've all clearly been through."

Wu insisted, "She didn't do anything!"

Lin walked away with them banging away at the wood.

"Lin!" Korra shouted, "We're telling the truth! Get back here! You have to believe us!" She reached her arms out of the cell, but it was no use. She was gone.

"She doesn't," Kuvira said sadly, "no one believes anything I say anymore."

"And who's fault is that?" Korra asked, "You're the one who went back on your word with everyone watching."

Kuvira sat down at the back of the wooden cage and said, "This isn't as terrible as you're making it out to be. You're getting exactly what you wanted from the beginning. We're all going back to Republic City." Korra sat beside her, defeated.

Mako said, "Yeah and who knows what kind of crazy experiments they're going to do to us now because we went missing for a few days. We have to figure out a way to convince them we're telling the truth."

Wu said, "Too bad we don't have a truth seer with us."

"That's it!" Korra said, jumping up, "Toph! She's a truth seer! She can convince them we're all telling the truth, and I bet they won't believe Kuvira brainwashed her!"

Kuvira crossed her arms and said, "Good luck finding her, she's off wandering the world seeking enlightenment."

"She just told everyone that so she could be alone," Korra said, "I know exactly where she is, Foggy Bottom Swamp."

Mako said, "Okay, but that still doesn't help us."

"Yeah," Wu said, "there's no way they're going to let us send a messenger hawk to her."

"Even if they did," Kuvira said, "there wouldn't be any point. She can't read."

"I have an idea," Korra said, "We're going to bust out of here and make our way to the swamp. We'll pick her up and go back to Republic City by ourselves. Then we'll make a big press conference clearing all of our names. Because Toph is a truth seer she'll tell everyone Kuvira's telling the truth, and she isn't brainwashed, and maybe the earth kingdom will actually believe us when we say the earth empire is no more. It's perfect!"

"Pfft," Kuvira replied, unimpressed, "and you wonder why you have a publicity problem."

She put her hands on her hips and asked, "What's wrong with my plan?"

Kuvira stood up and said, "How do you think it's going to look when the world finds out the avatar broke herself out of jail, bullied her way across the nation, coherced a beloved old woman to go to Republic City against her will, and then goes on to tell everyone she was never brainwashed and that all of that was her idea?"

"She has a point, Korra," Wu said nervously.

Korra said, "I'm not going to stay here, and hope people start believing us once we're taken on a prison airship back to Republic City."

"Is it possible for you to avoid confrontation?" Kuvira asked sincerely.

Mako scoffed, "What? Kuvira, you're the queen of confrontation! Sorry, the empress of confrontation." He raised his eyebrows at her.

Kuvira said, "And to prove to everyone I've changed for the better, I'm not going to break out of jail, crush every obstacle in my path, and then insist I'm a good person now."

"When you put it like that, I wouldn't believe you've changed if you did all that," Wu said.

Korra turned to her and asked, "Then what would prisoner Kuvira do since she's so different from Empress Kuvira?" She crossed her arms and waited for an answer.

She sighed. "If you really want to break out of jail then go ahead, but if you stealthily get to Foggy Bottem Swamp, avoid the trails, forage for food, camp out in the wilderness, those sorts of things, it might work. That way no one gets hurt, you don't cause problems for regular people just doing their jobs, and you'll be seen as resourceful and determined instead of a bully who can't take no for an answer."

"That's not a bad plan actually," Mako said, "I can get behind that."

"I like it better than attacking people left and right," Wu said, "I'm in."

"Okay," Korra said, "we'll do it." They waited for Kuvira to say anything. She stayed silent. "Well?"

Kuvira shrugged, "I'm staying here. I don't have anything to gain from breaking out. I'm still going back to prison no matter what happens next."

"But we can't do this without you," Korra said, taking her hands gently, "I grew up in a frozen compound and Mako and Wu are both city kids. We don't know how to forage for food or navigate the wilderness."

Kuvira pulled away from her and said, "The last time I tried to tell any of you anything I was ignored and got burned. Why should I help you?"

"I promise to listen to you," Mako said, "no matter what."

"I also promise to listen to you," Wu said.

"So do I," Korra said, "Now, what do you say?"

She looked at their genuine and sincere expressions. She knew they were never going to make it on their own, and she did want to clear her name and make sure the earth kingdom fully understood that the earth empire was done for. She nodded. "Okay," she said, "but we need a proper strategy."

Mako said, "But we already have a plan."

"It'll take weeks to get to Foggy Bottom Swamp on foot from here," she said, "but a few towns over to the northwest of here Baatar designed a massive train depot."

"Yes!" Korra said, "We can steal a train!"

She added, "I had train stations built all around that swamp. We can get an engine there and then get to Republic City in a decent amount of time."

"That's great!" Wu said, "Less walking sounds good to me."

Kuvira glanced at the three of them and said, "You know this isn't going to be easy."

"Avatar Aang camped out all over the world when he was 12," Korra said, "how hard could it be?"

"He had a giant fluffy beast to fly around on and plenty of supplies like knives and sleeping bags and was beloved by millions," she explained, "we have none of that. We don't even have a proper map of where we're going, we're relying entirely on my memory." She pointed at her head.

Korra said, "Alright, this isn't going to be easy, but I think it's going to be worth it."

"I'll find a proper way out of here," Kuvira said, "just because we came in the main entrance doesn't mean that's the quickest way out." She pulled her knees to her chest and prepared to leave her body.

She easily astral projected herself and walked through the wall. There was an exit around the corner from their cells. That would be much easier than walking all the way through the jail. When she got back in her body, Korra asked, "What did you find?"

"There's an exit on the other side of this wall that's faster to get to than the main entrance," she answered.

Korra put her hand on the wood. "This wood used to be a tree not too long ago, and if I feel it carefully enough it's still full of water. If I just-" She pulled the water out of the bars and the wood disintegrated instantly. She quickly did the same with Mako's and Wu's cell and they were out.

Kuvira motioned for them to follow her down the halls and out of the jail undetected, heading straight to the northwestern mountains.