"Freedom for the Great Uniter!" Rows of people in green shirts marched back and forth in the plaza near the courthouse, holding signs and flags bearing the emblem of Kuvira's Earth Empire. Thick metal barricades and armoured police officers separated the protestors from the masses of people watching them. Occasionally, a voice in the crowd would call out in support to the marchers, but most yelled and heckled. At first, a few had tried to push through the lines, but the swarm of police metalbenders who responded to any isolated incident dissuaded these lone troublemakers.

Korra, Lin and Suyin stood at the courthouse doors, watching the procession slowly draw closer. "You'd think she was Kyoshi reborn with all these people coming out to support her," Suyin said, shaking her head. "She even gets a real trial, which is far more than she deserves, and they act like we hung her from a streetlamp."

"If she actually was Kyoshi reborn, she wouldn't be nearly as popular," Korra said with a wry smile, "believe me, Republic City blames Kuvira for what happened to the city, but everyone blames me for everything." She gestured with a hand at the marchers down the road, "The only time anybody marches around chanting my name is when they're starting a petition to kick me out of somewhere." She looked around briefly. "Speaking of people blaming me for things, is Raiko here yet?"

Lin chuckled. "Maybe if you'd stop knocking down half the city every time you save us, people wouldn't get so mad. Even Raiko couldn't blow his top over the Zaheer incident."

"Lin!" Suyin's voice was scandalized.

"It's fine Su," Korra said with a laugh. "Maybe the one silver lining of getting poisoned by Zaheer was that I didn't have to deal with Raiko for three years afterwards." She turned away from the two women and quietly suppressed a shiver at the memory of her trauma at the hands of the Red Lotus. After a moment, she felt control returning and continued, "Do you think there will be any trouble like the start of the negotiations?"

"Hmph, there wouldn't be if Raiko would just let me clear the streets." Lin said, "Throw a couple dozen of these troublemakers in jail for a night or two and we'll see who's fussing about this whole thing with Kuvira." Korra turned and raised an eyebrow at Lin. "Yes, yes, I know you're all concerned with making sure everyone is treated fairly and all, but don't say I didn't warn you when we have more riots. You've got your responsibilities and I've got mine"

Korra shrugged. "Consider me warned."

Just then, the voices suddenly got louder. A group of young men had pushed their way to the front of the crowd and had started shouting in unison. "Dirt bugs, go home! Boot lickers, go home!"

In response, the procession started trying to chant louder. "Freedom for the Great Uniter. Justice for the Earth Empire." But it wasn't enough to drown out the growing anger in the young men's voices. Although most of the protestors kept marching, a few younger men and women broke off from the group and turned towards the crowd. They started shouting back at the counter-protesters, accusing them of being too cowardly to stand up when they were in any danger, but happy to throw stones when they had a wall of police protecting them.

To nobody's surprise, this only served to agitate the crowd further and with so many pushing forward, the police were forced to take a step back, narrowing the gap between the marchers and the crowd. "I better get down there before anything gets worse." Korra said, opening her glider.

"I'm not sure that's a good idea," Suyin started, but before she could get the sentence out, Korra had leapt into the air and started flying over.

After a few brief moments of flight, the cool air rushing over her face providing a brief respite from the trouble below, Korra landed near the police barricade. "Everyone calm down," Korra shouted, trying to be heard over the din. Seeing little reaction, she raised herself up on a platform of earth and shouted even louder, "Hey everyone, calm down!"

That got their attention. There was a pause as both sides realized the Avatar had arrived. But then, both groups started shouting even louder and angrier.

"Why didn't you kill her when you had the chance?"

"Stop oppressing the Earth Empire!"

"Do your job Avatar!"

"Set Kuvira free!"

"Destroy the Earth worms!"

Korra shouted again for quiet. Surprisingly, she was able to stop the shouting, so before the crowd could rile itself up again, she turned and addressed the marchers. "I know you respect Kuvira for what she did, but she also committed crimes, not just against Republic City, but against Earth Kingdom citizens. Giving her a fair trial gives a chance for the people she's hurt to tell their stories." She turned to the counter-protestors in the crowd. "But that doesn't mean I can just go around killing people. The Avatar's job is to maintain balance in the world. Putting Kuvira on trial and trying to find a way to bring the Earth Kingdom back together is the best way to restore balance." She paused and glanced at her glider, still open in her right hand. "Remember what Aang did. Even after the Hundred Year War, he refused to kill Fire Lord Ozai. He saw that restoring balance meant giving people a chance to heal, not destroying people who disagreed with him. That's how we got Republic City because Aang and Fire Lord Zuko found a way for people to heal from the wounds of the war." She trailed off, glancing at the protestors, then over to the crowd.

For a few moments, there was silence. Many faces looked deep in thought. But then, a man's voice from the crowd, its owner unseen, broke the trance. "Kuvira killed my family and you want to talk about healing?" As the crowd digested this, the shouting came back, angrier than ever. They started pushing forward, causing the police to take another step back.

"Don't let them one step further. Form lines and prepare to push them back," a familiar voice called over the din. Korra looked over to see Mako directing a squad of police metalbenders into place. She watched as they formed into a broad wedge and started pushing against the crowd, using the barricade like a hippo-cow catcher to force the mob backwards. The first few steps were tense, the crowd shouted abuse at the police, at the marchers, at Korra.

But still the police advanced. With each step, a few of the least committed members of the mob decided not to take their chances, broke and fled back into the safety of side streets. Seeing their support evaporate, even the ringleaders started to glance to their sides. As the crowd thinned, the police struck. Isolating the instigators of the mob, they pushed aside fair-weather supporters and cuffed the angriest few. Within a few minutes, it was over. Everyone had either fled or backed away far enough that the police left them alone. A few officers had gone to the marchers and firmly sent them back to their march.

Korra lowered her platform to ground level and walked over to Mako. "Thanks Sarge," she said, giving him a nudge with her elbow.

He rolled his eyes and turned to the two nearest officers. "Take the perps downtown and book 'em. We'll probably only end up holding them for a couple days until this blows over, but make sure you do it by the book." The pair saluted and walked away to carry out his orders. He turned to Korra and crossed his arms, "You really know how to make yourself popular."

"I honestly don't know what to do with these people. It's just like when Unalaq invaded the Southern Water Tribe. Everyone wanted me to take their side and even when I was trying my hardest, everyone blamed me for not taking their side. Why can't someone just turn into a gigantic, obviously evil monster, so I can blast them and be done with it?" She threw her hands up in mock exasperation.

Mako shrugged but couldn't fully suppress his grin. "With you around, it's only a matter of time before someone else tries to take over the world."

At this, Korra laughed outright. "My record hasn't been that great, has it?" Her expression grew more serious, but the weight from earlier had lifted slightly. "How have you been?"

"We've been pretty busy. There've been a lot of riots down near Little Ba Sing Se, store windows getting smashed, Earth Kingdom citizens getting beaten up in back alleys, that sort of thing. The triads have been restless too; I think they're playing both sides of this, extorting Earth Kingdom nationals for protection money, then turning around and helping these thugs smash things up just to keep people scared and paying," he said, gesturing towards the group of young men being taken away by the police officers. "I'm also worried that there are many Earth Empire soldiers in town who went into hiding when Kuvira surrendered. Even with the attack on the city, she clearly has enough local sympathizers that they could find someone to hide them."

"Gee, thanks for the police report Sarge." Korra crossed her arms over her chest and raised an eyebrow, "So now that I know how Sergeant Mako is doing, how about just Mako?"

"Oh," he said and stuttered slightly, "I'm fine. Honestly with the trouble that this trial has stirred up, I've been keeping pretty busy."

Korra saw the smile on his face. "Sounds like you're really suffering with all this police work," she said with a chuckle.

Mako let out a quick laugh. "You know I've wanted to get back to real police work. Wu isn't that bad of a guy after all, but it's nothing like working the streets."

"Glad you're doing alright. By the way, how's Bolin? I haven't seen him since the first day of the trial and he seemed to take it pretty hard."

His brow furrowed. "He came home pretty distraught about something yesterday, but I don't think it had anything to do with the trial." He paused, putting a finger on his chin. "Now what was it?"

"Something to do with Opal?" Korra suggested.

"No, if it was Opal, he'd still be crying on my shoulder," he said, then mimed glancing around, "since I don't see him here, it can't be that."

"Those kids he talked about teaching when we all had dinner on Air Temple Island?"

"That's it!" Mako met Korra's gaze suddenly. "Apparently someone told him he was going to get pulled away from teaching those kids and get put on police duty."

Korra's eyes widened. "But he was so excited about teaching those kids!"

He nodded. "That's not the worst of it. With the trouble lately, they want him teaching police how to fight with lavabending as fast as possible. If the Earth Empire army strikes again, they want to use squads of lavabenders to stop the mechs." They looked at each other, sharing the same glum expression. After a moment, Mako broke the silence, "Don't get me wrong, Bolin's a great fighter." He trailed off.

"But this isn't what Bolin would be happy doing," Korra finished for him. "You're probably right. Plus, I'm a bit worried about having dozens of lavabenders running around. I trust Lin and all, but I don't love the idea of giving Raiko a weapon like that." She glanced back at the courthouse. "I should probably get back. I'll talk to Lin and see if there's some way we can help Bolin."

"Thanks, Korra," Mako said as he reached over and gave her upper arm a squeeze. "I'll let you know if I hear anything else," he looked back at the police, who had managed to fully restore calm to the street and then over to the marchers, who had taken up position in protest in front of the courthouse, "about either of these problems."

"Thanks," she said, opening her glider once again. She turned away, gave herself a few steps to gain speed and launched into the air.

In just a few moments she landed next to Lin and Suyin. "Looks like you did a good job keeping the peace as always," Lin said as Korra folded up her glider.

Korra just rolled her eyes in response, then turned as Tenzin arrived and beckoned the three of them over. As she walked, she started to think up a witty comment about his tardiness, but as she got closer, she saw a worried expression on his face and the banter died an early death. "Tenzin, what's the matter?"

"Jinora and Kai were attacked while helping some of the displaced citizens," he said.

Korra gasped. "Are they alright?"

"Thank the spirits, yes. They were able to get away without being harmed, but the food and supplies they were bringing was taken."

Lin stepped forward. "Where did the attack take place? And did they get a solid ID on the attackers."

He shook his head. "The Dragon Flats, but they didn't get a good luck at the attackers. Apparently, it all happened so suddenly, they were most concerned with getting the nearby civilians to safety."

"Based on the MO, it sounds like an attack by the triads, but with what's been happening lately, I can't rule out some of the other possibilities." She gestured for a nearby officer to join them. "Tenzin, tell Officer Shu everything the kids told you. I'll send someone to Air Temple Island tomorrow to interview them in person. For now, stop all distributions until I can assign a police squad to protect them."

Tenzin and Korra glanced at each other, even after all these years, still slightly stunned by the whirlwind that had just passed through. Tenzin turned back to her. "While I appreciate your diligence," he paused, took a breath, and drew himself up to his full height, "the Air Nation must continue to fulfill its duty, we cannot leave people in their hour of need. I cannot permit you to tell us to stop."

Lin didn't say anything but turned back and fixed him with a stern gaze. He puffed himself even taller and stared back.

But then he wilted under her firm glare and said with a sigh. "Fine, but please hurry. There are people in Republic City who are suffering." She nodded and he turned to talk to Officer Shu who was patiently waiting for the exchange to end.

Korra buried her head in her hands. "All this and now the triads? Why is everything going wrong all at once?"

To her surprise, Lin put a hand on her shoulder. "Look kid, if it is the triads, it ain't your job. If my suspicions are right and it's something else, I'll let you know."

She looked up and paused, digesting the words. It took a few tries, but she nodded, clenching her fists at her sides. Still, she couldn't stop herself from asking, "What else do you think it could be?"

"It could be related to the Kuvira business; soldiers sneaking around trying to keep people angry at Republic City" Lin said, but before Korra could open her mouth again, she added, in a tone that brooked no disagreement, "but that's just a suspicion. Until and unless I hear something concrete, you keep your nose out of it. Understood?"

Korra nodded hesitantly. Lin raised an eyebrow, so she nodded more firmly and added an only-slightly-glum, "Yes ma'am."

"Good," Lin said with a half smile and patted Korra on the shoulder. "Besides if you thought you had enough on your plate already, you should probably go home now. Today's trial is going to be a real bag of beetle worms."

Korra and Lin looked over at Suyin. "Oh yeah, you're testifying today, aren't you Su," Korra said, to which Suyin nodded.

"And Raiko too," Lin added.

"There's the shrimp newt now," Korra said under her breath as Raiko walked into the courthouse with a small entourage, giving a brief nod to the three women as he walked past.

A gong sounded, starting the final day of testimony.