Korra stood, looking out over the crowds gathered at City Hall. Every few yards, there was a police officer standing at the metal barriers, visible protection against the threat of a riot. She knew that Lin had pulled nearly every officer left on the force for today; beyond those making themselves known, Lin had ordered dozens of plain-clothed officers into the throng, ready to counter any hidden provocateurs. Somewhere out there, Mako would be watching the people around him, trying to sense anything that felt off: an out-of-place bag, someone shrinking away from the uniformed police, clothing that doesn't fit the weather.
She could feel the officers' tension filling the plaza. After finding Earth Empire loyalists plotting within the city limits, an attack on the negotiations felt imminent. Raiko had pointedly excluded representatives of the Earth Empire army, only inviting the regional governors and a coterie of aristocrats from Ba Sing Se, but that had only sharpened the edge among Earth Kingdom citizens in Republic City. She could see placards emblazoned with the Earth Empire sigil, declaring Kuvira the true Earth Empress and all other representatives illegitimate. Yet there were nearly as many placards denouncing Kuvira in increasingly strident tones.
She glanced to her left. As usual, Tenzin's face was impassive, even as his eyes swept the crowd. Beyond him, Raiko chatted quietly with a nervous Prince Wu. For his part, Wu kept glancing to the Earth Empire supporters and fiddling with his collar. Considering they had kidnapped him and threatened to murder him, Korra could understand what he was feeling. He was holding up better than earlier; when she had first arrived, he had nearly been petrified realizing that he had to face the day without Mako as his bodyguard.
At once, she sympathized with both Aang and Kuvira's feelings towards the Earth Kingdom monarchy. Wu had grown on her since their first awkward meeting and his heart was in the right place often enough, but she couldn't deny that little aside from his parentage made him worthy of the Jade Throne.
She glanced to her right. In contrast to Tenzin's controlled poise, neither Suyin nor Lin tried to hide their emotions. Like Wu, Suyin kept looking at the placards in the crowd, but unlike his undisguised fear, her expression held a great deal of anger, but also to Korra's surprise, a touch of sadness. Lin, as usual, looked irritated. She had wanted to clear the streets for several blocks and bring the representatives to City Hall in secret, but Raiko had overruled her, so she came ready for a fight. Raava help the troublemaker that tried to rush the stairs with her in the way.
A mixture of cheering and jeers carried over the din from the far end of the plaza. A line of armoured wagons trundled along the road, carrying the various dignitaries. Lin had walked her through the plans for the day: the representatives would remain inside the wagons until they were within the police perimeter at the City Hall steps. She had taken every precaution. The wagons' armour was strong enough to stop metal projectiles, the insides insulated to prevent electrical attacks, and half of the wagons were decoys, filled with elite police metalbenders, ready to repulse attacks on the convoy.
Unfortunately, the armour did little against the protestors' weapon of choice: strawberry pie. The combination of metalbending and pie tins meant that the pies flew too fast for the police to stop. Nobody was hurt, but the wagons looked considerably less dignified by the time they reached the steps. Despite many rookies, the police were a model of efficiency, encircling the wagons with a wall of rock, allowing the representatives to exit in relative safety. A few pies were lobbed over the wall, but the gentle arcs allowed the police to pick them off before they caused any more havoc.
It was clear which representatives came from Ba Sing Se and which did not, as the aristocrats wore enough jewelry that an average earthbender could pretend to bloodbend them. After some jostling for position, the aristocrats led the procession up the stairs. They showed little interest in Korra, Tenzin, or the Beifong sisters, but oozed obsequious delight at meeting Wu and Raiko. The leader bowed deeply before Wu and said, "My Prince, no King Wu, it is an absolute delight to make your acquaintance."
Despite having warned him, Wu seemed starstruck by the flattery. He puffed up like a peacock toad and made an elaborate show of acknowledging the seeming supplicants. "It is a delight to meet me, isn't it? I would say 'rise my loyal subjects,' but I suppose you won't be my subjects for much longer."
The aristocrat slowly rose from his bow, the same smile pasted on his face, never touching his eyes, "King Wu, Lord of the Jade Throne, Protector of the Realm, Defender of Ba Sing Se, the people cry out in the capital for their king. You are a god to the people, it is unthinkable for you to abandon them."
A snicker from one of the governors carried across the platform and his words were pitched so that Wu could clearly hear them. "They'll probably keep crying when they get a load of this wannabe prince."
Wu shrank back, but another governor stepped forwards and shoved the first. "Better a wannabe prince than one of Kuvira's bootlickers."
A third governor stepped forward to defend his comrade. "Kuvira saved the Earth Kingdom while that prince hid here in Republic City. Now you mean to tell me that we're supposed to tear apart the Earth Empire that she worked so hard to build. The imperial army isn't even here to speak for the Empire!"
"That's enough." Raiko stepped forward, putting himself between the growing crowd of governors, Wu, the aristocrats, and the governors supporting him to Raiko's left, and the imperial loyalists to his right. He placed a hand on the second governor's chest, vaguely imitating the shove he'd previously delivered to his interlocutor. "Jianguo, we're here to discuss the future of the Earth Kingdom, not the past," he looked over at the loyalists and addressed their apparent leader, "That goes for you all, too. Donghai, we need to put the past behind us."
Korra realized she was holding her breath, watching Donghai and Raiko glare at each other. Despite his loyalty to Kuvira, he seemed everything she was not. Soft where she was hard, extravagant where she was spartan, and lax where she was precise. But there was something in his eyes. A hunger. She'd seen it many times before, the hunger that drove people to accept any cost in the pursuit of their goal. He turned, facing out towards the plaza. Each step was deliberately placed, manufactured for Raiko's consumption.
When he reached the edge of the steps, he raised one fist into the air and his voice boomed over the din of protest and counter-protest. "The Earth Empire forever! All hail the Great Uniter!"
His words silenced the crowd. People seemed to draw back from the police cordon like water receding before the tsunami. Then they surged forwards, an unstoppable wave sweeping across the barriers. Chunks of rock, metal, and bursts of flame flew as the crowd collided in the plaza. Having rushed past the police barrier, the protestors seemed more interested in hitting each other than making any coordinated push to the City Hall steps.
Korra heard Lin curse as she rushed to the top of the stairs. The police chief punched the ground with both fists, causing the top steps to collapse into rubble, splitting the negotiators from the chaos below. Police flooded out of the decoy wagons, which were then flipped on their side to form a makeshift barrier. The officers who had been manning the barriers had pushed back to this line of defence, but the reinforcements helped them stop their retreat.
"Riot formation. Clear the plaza, now!" Lin shouted from the top of the stairs, before launching herself from the steps. Her metal cables shot out from their spools, wrapping around one wagon's undercarriage, and pulling her down to street level. Despite the disorder, the police's training kicked in and they quickly moved into formation. A single heavily-armoured row pushed forward as one, bending the forgotten barriers into a metal band to push the rioters back.
Step by step, the police reclaimed the plaza, doing their best to separate the emerald-shirted imperial loyalists from the rest. Each time they passed a side street, a phalanx would split off from the main line to force protestors off the main street and bend formidable walls of earth and metal to hold them back. Occasionally, the police line would meet a particularly recalcitrant protestor who would try to rush the line and climb over the floating metal barrier. Yet as soon as they cleared the barrier, the police line would open a small gap, large enough for the second line to seize the protestor with their cables, and drag them behind the police line where they were promptly arrested.
At the centre of it all, Lin stood, shouting orders, directing her police forward, seemingly oblivious to the projectiles flying overhead. Korra had heard rumours that some people had been pushing for her to retire, but she pitied the bureaucrat that had to take that news to Lin. Even when an earthbender launched himself over the police line to land near Lin, she barely deigned to acknowledge him, aside from decking him with a wave of rock.
Soon the advancing police drew the crowd's attention away from each other. As the crowd thinned, people realized they lost the protection of anonymity. Slowly the mass splintered into confused individuals, who turned and ran from the iron monolith advancing towards them. When the plaza finally emptied, Lin left the police under orders of a sergeant major, and returned to City Hall.
At the top of the remains of the steps, she leapt easily over the gap, landing in front of the gathering of dignitaries. She strode over to Donghai and wrapped a metal cable around his wrists. "Donghai, you are hereby under arrest for disturbing the peace of Republic City."
"That's enough Lin," Raiko's tone was conversational as he stepped forward, "Donghai wasn't down there rioting. Besides, he's an ambassador to Republic City, so provided the negotiations continue, he's protected from arrest. I'll be sure to let you know if anything changes."
Donghai's face filled with anger. "Are you threatening me?" He stepped towards Raiko before being jerked backwards by the cables still binding his wrists.
"I'm merely making sure everyone understands the situation. You are our honoured guests and we will treat you as such, for exactly as long as you remain our honoured guests." Raiko turned to walk towards the doors to City Hall. "If everyone would join me, we shall begin. Lin, please release the governor."
Even when they had settled in the conference room, the air remained tense. Prince Wu stood and beamed at the assembled representatives, "Raiko, do you mind if I say a few words?"
His eyes grew tired. "If you must."
"Excellent. Dearest friends, I'm here to tell you that we'll be making some big changes in the Earth Kingdom. I want to replace the monarchy with a federation of democratic states, modeled after what they have here in Republic City. Now, I know what you're thinking, 'Prince Wu, we can't go on without you. You're too cool and handsome and talented not to be royalty,' but this is for the best. What I've seen while living here in Republic City has convinced me that we need to hand the power to the people." He made a show of brushing away a single tear from his eye. "The Earth Kingdom has the greatest subjects a king could ever ask for. But you know what they say, 'if you have a marmot bird in the hand, let it go, if it stays in the bush then they'll flock together.'"
Wu had managed the impossible: Korra was starting to feel sorry for Raiko having to deal with him every day. Unsurprisingly, expressions around the room ranged from irritation to bewilderment at Wu's word salad of an attempt at a proverb.
"I'm sure that gave everyone something to think about," Tenzin said diplomatically. "We're here to discuss the future of the Earth Kingdom. We think that allowing the provinces greater choice over how they're governed will prevent another dictator from taking control again."
A voice called out from the far end of the table, some minor governor of a southern province, "We made a choice to join the Great Uniter. What use is democracy if you're going to tell us which choices are right or wrong?"
Suyin glared down the table. "A choice made at the end of a spirit laser is hardly a choice."
"You were safe behind your metal walls, Suyin Beifong. But out in the real world, we had to make choices to protect our people. Kuvira saved us when nobody else would come and help. The Avatar disappeared just like during the Hundred Year War, Republic City wouldn't take a step past their borders, and you hid in Zaofu like a coward. With Kuvira gone, our cities will fall to bandits again. We want the Great Uniter, now and forever!"
There was a murmur of agreement at the table, and a few voices saying 'hear, hear.'
"And how do you propose making reparations to Republic City?" Raiko said. "Either you honour the rules of war laid down by Lord Zuko and treat the invasion as an unlawful act, or we'll be forced to consider your so-called Earth Empire a rogue state and act accordingly."
The muttering faded to a dull hum. Korra stood up and looked down the table, trying to meet the eyes of each governor before she spoke. Their eyes held the anger she expected, but also an edge of fear when they looked at her. "I know you may not want to listen to me. It was my fault that the Earth Kingdom fell into chaos." Suyin moved to interrupt, but Korra hushed her with a wave of her hand. "I know that Kuvira offered you the protection that I could not. If she had only sought to protect you, she would still be a hero for the Earth Kingdom. After Kuvira and I traveled to the Spirit World, I helped her see that she had taken things too far. Building that weapon, imprisoning her people? She was spreading the same fear that she originally wanted to eliminate. She realized that she had given up on everything she originally stood for."
A hush had fallen over the room. Korra felt the mood shifting. People were still cautious, but most had tempered their fear with an edge of curiosity. "What are you suggesting?" said one.
"Some of you still believe in the ideals that motivated Kuvira to forge the Earth Empire," she glanced at Suyin, "and some of you have suffered at Kuvira's hands. You need to accept that what you're feeling, what all of you are feeling, is legitimate. The Earth Kingdom cannot go back to the past, and it cannot stay stuck where it is today, what we're trying to do is to start the process of healing." Korra paused and took a deep breath before continuing, "And that is why I, Avatar Korra, am so sorry for however I've hurt you." She placed one fist against a flat palm and bowed her head to the assembled crowd.
They could barely contain gasps of astonishment. When she sat down, Tenzin leaned over and whispered a few words of acknowledgement for what she had done, noting how much she'd changed from the Korra he'd first met years ago.
"Most of you know that Kuvira grew up in Zaofu." Suyin had risen from her chair and started to speak, but her voice lacked its usual fire. "Some of you know that she was the captain of my guard. A few know that she was my protégé. But it was more than that. She was the metalbending daughter I never had. When she left, it tore my family apart, and it tore me apart. I'm not sure I'll ever be able to forgive the pain she caused the people I love, but…" she paused, meeting Korra's eyes across the table. Korra could see the pain sitting just below the surface, three years of betrayal left festering. Then Suyin closed her eyes and finished her sentence, "but Korra is right. My feelings toward Kuvira shouldn't prevent me from working with all of you to build an Earth Kingdom that I can be proud of, and that Kuvira would want for her people."
A ripple of shock spread throughout the room. Suyin quietly sat down, unable to meet Korra's eyes. Everywhere at the table, people started looking at each other, as if seeing themselves for the first time. Some of Kuvira's fiercest loyalists found themselves exchanging glances with staunch monarchists. Unlike before, the room's energy was scattered, unable to direct itself to any confrontation.
Tenzin rapped his knuckles on the table to get everyone's attention. "We should not expect this to be easy, but in my father's time, he was able to set aside one hundred years of hatred, turning his most bitter foes into lifelong friends. He helped build this city as a testament to what we can accomplish when we work together and set our minds to the betterment of everyone who depends on us."
With his words, the discussion started in earnest, the animosity of the morning giving way to the industrious spirit famed among the culture that built the great cities of Omashu and Ba Sing Se. Representatives discussed plans for preventing a return to banditry in the outer provinces, bureaucrats from the capital argued with governors from the coast about the balance of power between the Jade Throne and the provinces, and ministers prodded Raiko about providing reconstruction aid by rail.
The conversation still pointedly ignored the looming question of Kuvira and her army, but it was progress. Korra started to tune out the endless talk of political restructuring and economic development in the northern mountains. She leaned back in her chair, letting the front legs come up off the ground, balancing her weight by resting her feet against the edge of the table.
Then the ceiling exploded into fire and the shockwave threw Korra to the floor.