Chapter 10: The Remnant

Despite their apparent reconciliation, Sen and Ada didn't do much talking the next day. Hanjo did most of the talking anyway; they were apparently nearing his mystery destination, and he was all too eager to brag about what a great idea it was to come here, wherever here was.

After hours of Hanjo's ego stroking, he declared that they had reached their destination. Sen was eager to finally have his questions answered, but he only had more questions after seeing it. It was just a house. A very nice one, surrounded by a high fence and with a lovely cliff-side view of the ocean, but still just a house. Not even one he recognized; in all the stories he knew about Korra's life, none of them involved quaint seaside shacks.

"What exactly are we here to see," He asked.

"Not what," Hanjo said. Every word dripped with ego; he was incredibly proud of himself. "But who?"

Ada smiled reassuringly at Sen while Hanjo walked up to the gated fence and hammered on it loudly. After a moment, a young woman poked her head out of the house's front door and then proceeded to the gate. She was much too young to have known Korra very well, so Sen was still left wondering who he was here to see.

"We don't take visitors," The woman said impatiently. Apparently she was used to getting unwanted guests. That was curious. And who was the second person in "we"?

"But this is the Avatar," Hanjo said, gesturing enthusiastically to Sen. Sen stepped forward meekly, waving his hand at the stranger. She looked him over very critically, and seemed to approve. Why Hanjo trusted her with Sen's identity, Sen didn't know. Questions were piling up faster than they were being answered.

"He'll be excited to see you, then," She said welcomingly. She unlocked the platinum gate and guided Sen and company up the path into the home. Hanjo was practically dancing up the path, and Ada seemed rather upbeat as well. Sen would be glad to meet their mystery man and get it over with.

Their female guide told them to be quiet as they entered, and she stepped gently into the house's interior, quietly calling out into another room.

"Grandpa, someone's here to see you," She said.

"Did you finally stop chasing off the autograph kid? Good," An old man's voice called back loudly. "I've told you it's no trouble, an old man needs company, but what do you do? Keep telling him to go away, that's what."

Sen could hear bones creak from here as the old man in the other room stood up. As he came into view, it was obvious that he was old enough to have known Korra very well. His hair was white, his skin was wrinkled and spotted, and his back was bent by age. Despite all that, his shoulders remained broad and his eyes were sharp, showing that age had done little to dull his spirit. He smiled broadly as soon as he laid eyes on Sen. Something about those eyes looked at Sen in a very familiar way.

"It's been a while, Avatar," He said.

His head felt light as memories that weren't his rushed to the front of his mind. The images were muddled and unclear, but the message was very clear: you can trust this person with your life.

"Bolin?"

"Good to see you again," Bolin said. "How about some tea?"

Bolin led Sen to the porch, already rambling about his long history with the Avatar, while Hanjo stayed behind to examine the various trinkets Bolin kept of his life; movie posters, newspaper clippings, and pro-bending trophies. Ada asked Bolin's granddaughter if they had a phone, which they did, and hurried off to tell Canto about the journey so far.

"Now, I imagine you're here on very important Avatar business," Bolin said as they finally reached the porch. "Howler, most likely. Very clever of him to wait until you were dead to make his move, I'll admit. Why, Korra and the rest of us would have whipped him the moment he showed his ugly face!"

Bolin briefly shook his fist defiantly at absolutely nothing before dropping it limply to his side.

"But that's not an option anymore. So you have to do it!"

Bolin pointed at two chairs set up beside a small table, and was very specific about which one Sen had to sit in.

"Now, Korra used to visit here whenever she had time. She and I would sit at this table, on this porch, she actually used a different chair but one of my fat grandchildren broke the original, but it's the same kind of seat so it should work, and we'd drink tea from these cups."

"There's no cups here," Sen said quietly, looking at the barren table.

"Oh," Bolin said. "My bad, Opal always made the tea. Stay here and be spiritual."

Bolin vanished into the house for a good twenty minutes, returning with two teacups in his hands. Handing one to Sen and keeping the other for himself, he sat down and stared at the seaside.

"I'm afraid the tea isn't quite the same," He sighed regretfully. "Opal had a special touch, you know."

Sen tried some of the tea. He'd never really been a fan of tea, but he thought this cup was made pretty well.

"It's very good," He assured Bolin. Bolin didn't seem to hear the compliment.

For a moment they sat in silence, drinking tea and listening to the sound of the ocean far beneath their feet. Sen enjoyed how peaceful it was, but he didn't really feel very Avatar-y. The initial rush of memories from seeing Bolin had faded, leaving him feeling oddly hollow and incredibly alone.

"I don't mean to bother you, Bolin," He said shyly. "But I was hoping you could help me connect with Korra."

"Is this not working," Bolin replied, confused. "I thought with the tea, and the watching…"

Bolin smacked himself in the head suddenly.

"Of course," He said. His forehead had a red spot shaped like his hand on it. "Me and Korra never just sat around in silence, we were always talking about something."

He put his hand on his chin and froze for a few minutes. Sen was beginning to question if he hadn't fallen asleep when Bolin suddenly sprung back to motion.

"Do you remember the time we all got together to stop Dugan's Dragons from using Sozin's Comet to rob the First Republic Bank? Oh, the look on Mako's face when he finally used his firebending at full power! Nearly burned down the whole building, of course, but he was having a blast!"

Sen felt absolutely nothing. Bolin shook his head and tried again.

"What about the time we all went into the Spirit World, got rid of the leftover dark spirits? I nearly got my face stolen by that one nasty bug, you stepped in and- wait, no, that's not a good memory."

Sen felt a pang of unfamiliar guilt, but little else. Bolin tried again.

"Remember Lin's retirement party? She spent half the night trying to kick us all out of her house. Then at the very end she told us how much she cared about us all and how glad she was to have known us. You almost cried. And then she kicked us out of her house anyway."

Still nothing. Bolin listed off all kinds of the grand adventures he felt Sen should remember, but none of them stirred anything inside him. Meanwhile, Hanjo began eavesdropping on Ada, because he lacked anything better to do, and also because he was nosy.

"It hasn't been going well, all things considered, but Sen's safe and we're making progress. I'm trying to look on the bright side.," Ada said. Probably she'd just finished talking about the time Sen got bitten by ants and stabbed a relatively innocent person. She paused for a second while Canto spoke. Whatever he said, it sent her giggling. Hanjo hadn't heard Ada giggle before. She wasn't very good at it. Sounded forced.

"But, how have things been going on your end? Is Ko Rin very mad?"

She paused once again. Hanjo was beginning to think this was a waste of time, he couldn't even hear half the conversation.

"Well, that sounds absolutely riveting. Did I tell you I'm sitting in the home of the world's only lavabender," Ada chided. Clearly whatever Canto was up to was not nearly as exciting as their adventures.

"Don't say that," Ada said softly. "You know I miss you."

This is where it got mushy. Hanjo decided to leave while his stomach was still rightside-out. After about twenty minutes of what he could only assume was the most sickeningly saccharine teenage fever dream called love, Ada left the phone behind, blushing so hard you'd think she'd spilled red paint on herself.

"So what's the future Mr. Ada up to," Hanjo joked. Ada glared at him so intensely he could see the red fade from her cheeks as bubbly romantic feelings were replaced with a very biting anger.

"He's doing what he was trained to do," Ada reluctantly admitted. Hanjo saw some potential in her tone. She didn't exactly like what Canto was trained to do.

"What is that, exactly," Hanjo questioned. "I feel as though your 'special relationship' with Canto makes him an unofficial member of Team Avatar, so to speak. I'd like to be briefed on his capabilities."

Ada glared at the floorboards.

"He is…my group's specialist in monetary tracking and manipulation."

Hanjo was not the most linguistically gifted, but it still didn't take him long to break down the meaning of Ada's sentence.

"Your boyfriend is an accountant?"

"It's not like that," Ada objected. "He's an espionage agent, he just specializes in money. He finds out who's funding our enemies, and how we can get more money. All the money we have is thanks to him."

"Oh of course," Hanjo said. "Never underestimate the raw power of a flex spending account. I'm sure the Energybender will be running scared once he sees our black ops insurance policy. Tell me, do we have an undercover dental plan?"

Ada left the room without a word, which was alright with Hanjo. He'd used up all of his financial vocabulary already and didn't have any more jokes to make.

While Hanjo had been mocking Ada's incredibly mundane boyfriend, Bolin had been continuing his walk down memory lane with an Avatar who didn't even know what street they were on. He'd run out of grand adventures like their bargain with Wan Shi Tong and the first ever Avatar Adventures mover, and he was stuck talking about things like the time Opal bought Korra shoes that didn't fit and the three of them went shopping to find a pair that did and they bumped into Tahno and had a lovely chat about pro-bending.

"And then Tahno said, 'Tau Turtleducks? More like Tau Turtle-sucks!'. Or was it 'Hong-Li Hedgecats? More like Hong-Li Hedge-bads!'"

Bolin looked to the Avatar expectantly. Sen was staring blankly at him. The only thing that had changed was the amount of tea in Sen's cup. He was almost out. Bolin sighed. If this was Korra he'd have had a conversation going in no time flat. But it was someone else now, not his Avatar anymore. He shrugged and gave up.

"I've got nothing," he admitted. He pointed accusingly at his teacup. "I blame the tea. Doesn't have Opal's secret ingredient."

"Vanilla," Korra replied. "She kept it on the top shelf you were both too short to reach. Used airbending to get it down."

Bolin smiled to himself and took a drink of his vanilla-free tea. He could taste the difference, now that he thought about it. Should have figured it out earlier.

"It's the little things," Korra reminded him. She sat where Sen had been, but it was clear she was not really there. She looked as she had decades ago, long before she and Bolin had grown old and grey, though her visible spirit had an ethereal, misty quality to it. For many years Bolin had wanted nothing more than to see Korra one more time, but looking at her now, young yet ghostly, somehow felt hollow.

"It really is," Bolin agreed. "But nobody comes back from the dead just to give an old friend a tea recipe. Do you want to tell him something?"

"Tell Sen to be cautious and quiet. The opposite of me," Korra joked. "If he trusts his instincts and his friends, he'll know when to act."

"Understood." Bolin put his teacup down, suddenly unsatisfied with the taste. "You know, if you want to keep doing your…ghost thing, I think I can get us some tea the way Opal used to make."

Korra looked out at the world. Everything here was so familiar, but so far away. She couldn't feel the ocean breeze or smell the salt on the air. It wasn't her world anymore.

"So, Opal's gone," She said.

"Seven years ago last month," Bolin muttered. "I'm about all that's left of the old gang now."

"I'm sorry, Bolin. I can't stay."

"I understand," Bolin said. "Goodbye, Korra."

"Goodbye, Bolin."

Sen rubbed tears from his eyes curiously. He didn't understand why he would be crying. He looked expectantly at Bolin, who had a very somber look on his face.

"Did it work?"

"You could say that," Bolin said quietly. He looked away from Sen and stared at the horizon in silence for a long time. Sen drank some tea while he waited, suddenly very aware that it would be better with some vanilla. He'd never even tried vanilla before.

"Keep your head down," Bolin finally said. "Move quietly until you're ready to fight. Trust yourself and your friends, and you'll know when it's time."

"What makes you say that?"

"Oh, Korra was notorious for charging into things. Got her into trouble more than a few times. She wants you to be more careful."

"Wait, Korra said that?"

Bolin raised a thick white eyebrow at Sen. It took the young Avatar a minute to realize what was going on. That explained why he had been crying. The vanilla thing was still a mystery to him, though.

"Is that all she said?"

"Yup," Bolin said. He decided that Sen didn't particularly need to know about Opal's secret ingredient. He would keep that last bit of Avatar wisdom to himself. "You'll probably get another chance to talk to her later, so don't worry about that, but for now you're going to have to do things on your own."

Bolin stood up and lead the way back inside. Hanjo was caught up in reading the novelization of The Legend of Bolin 23: The Tangle in Serpents Pass and he nearly jumped out of his shoes when Bolin and Sen returned.

"Did it work?"

"Sorta," Sen told him. "She didn't say a lot."

"Because she knows you've got to figure some things out on your own," Bolin said. "Now, I imagine your next step is to find a firebending master…"

"Actually, Bolin, we aren't even very good at Earthbending," Sen admitted. Bolin looked confused.

"Hmm? You haven't mastered it yet? Isn't this kid your teacher?"

"We both grew up in an orphanage," Hanjo added. "I know some stuff I taught to Sen, but we were never really trained."

"Ah well, that's not a problem," Bolin assured them. He flexed his arms, and Sen could hear his joints pop loudly. "I'm not as out of shape as I look, kids. I'll teach you how me and Korra did things!"

"Grandpa, not in the house!"

"I wasn't going to, Su! One time," He mumbled. He took the two young earthbenders outside. Hanjo was barely containing his urge to dance again. Bolin led them to the open clearing of the yard. Bolin had done more than a few earthbending lessons here already, teaching his children, and then his grandchildren, but it had sat empty for quite some time. The sight of hopeful young faces in front of him added to the nostalgia that pervaded the day.

"Any chance we'll learn to lavabend? It's teachable right?"

It was a question Bolin had heard a hundred times, but there was only one answer.

"Not in my experience," Bolin said. His elderly face took on a look of wistful reminiscence. "I spent many years looking for an apprentice, but I never met another."

"Well, even if it's rare," Hanjo continued. "If anyone could learn it, it'd probably be me, right? Avatar's buddy and everything."

"We'll see," Bolin said. "For now, focus on Earthbending. I assume you both know the basics? Floating rocks and all that?"

Sen and Hanjo listed their capabilities to Bolin while Ada joined Bolin's granddaughter on the porch to watch the earthbending practice. She struck up a conversation as the duo demonstrated their skills.

"We haven't seen you in Zaofu in a while, Su," Ada said. She was named after her great-grandmother. "Has Bolin's health been getting worse?"

"He's actually quite healthy for his age," Su explained. "I just think he gets lonely, out here all on his own. He doesn't get much conversation, except when Ko Rin calls him."

"Ko Rin and Bolin know each other?"

"Oh yes," Su said.

Ada didn't think much of it. Bolin had lived in Zaofu for quite a while before moving out here, it wasn't hard to imagine he had met Ko Rin in that time. Still, it was strange to imagine Bolin belonging to Ko Rin's social circle. The spymaster was a little uptight, and Bolin, even in his old age, was a quite a free spirit.

"It seems to me that you two are better than you think," Bolin said, finishing his appraisal of their skills. "What you really need now is confidence, practice, and a few tricks up your sleeve. Here's a little something me and Korra cooked up together, a partner technique we called-"

Bolin was interrupted by the sight of someone leaping over his fence. The intruder waved his left hand frantically at them, holding the right hand limply by his side as he rushed towards. The intruder was stopped suddenly by the ground in front of him transforming into a burning moat of lava. He froze in shock. Bolin was breathing heavily, but the exertion of lavabending hardly seemed to affect him, even in his old age.

The intruder was a familiar face to Sen and the gang. The bandaged sword-wound on his right shoulder made it obvious. They just hadn't been expecting to see him again.

"Suda?"

Whatever urgent goal had been on Suda's mind earlier seemed to have vanished completely. He was staring wide-eyed at Bolin.

"Spirits," he mumbled. Then he started shouting across the lava moat. "You're my hero sir! Sands of the Siwong literally changed my life!

Bolin had never met a fan he didn't like, so he let the lava moat dissipate. Suda didn't wait for the stone to cool completely before he hopped frantically across, burning his heels along the way. Paying Sen and Hanjo no mind, Suda spoke only to Bolin.

"Your movers are the highest form of art," Suda began. "The experimental special effects in Mysteries of Hei Bai moved the medium forward by decades."

Bolim smiled happily as he soaked in the compliments. Ada stepped forward, sword drawn, and the sight of her and her blades brought Suda out of his star-struck reverie, making him remember why he was here in the first place.

"Oh yeah! The Avatar's going to die."

"What?"

"I came here to warn you," Suda continued. "My guys are going to sell you out to the Energybender. They'll probably reach a radio sometime today, and Howler won't be far behind. But Bolin's here! He's a master of drama and combat!"

Suda had hunted them down after failing to convince his fellow bandits not to call the Energybender. He had hoped to at least warn them in time to let them get a good lead, but that wasn't a problem anymore. Bolin was one of the greatest people on earth, in both acting and bending. Suda pointed enthusiastically at Bolin with his good arm, but the elderly actor slash global hero only shook his head.

"Now isn't the time to fight. Korra wanted you to keep your head down, and you're going to do that. You three need to get out of here."

"But you were going to train us," Sen objected. "What are we going to do now?"

Bolin looked Suda over, which, considering Suda's massive size, took a long time. The former bandit hung on his idols every word.

"You're an earthbender? A good one?"

"Very good, sir," Suda said, nodding fervently. "I studied all your moves in the movers."

"Then he'll be your master," Bolin said to Sen. "Take him with you when you go."

"What," Ada said angrily. "He's a bandit! We can't trust him."

"You stabbed me," Suda replied, pointing to his bandaged chest and shoulder. The fact that he'd come all this way to warn them should have earned him a few bonus points too, but he was mostly hung up about the getting cut with an electric sword thing.

"Relax," Bolin advised. He took Suda by the shoulder. Suda bit his lip out of excitement and pain. Bolin was touching him directly on his extremely painful wound, but Bolin was touching him. "I know exactly what to do."

"Now, young man, you're a big fan?" Suda nodded frantically, and Bolin nodded back, quite pleased. "Then of course you've heard of my twenty-seventh mover?"

"Rebirth of the Phoenix King? Fire Lord Izumi had it banned because it was offensive to her families honor. It was never even filmed. Varrick skipped straight to twenty-eight."

"But it was scripted," Bolin told him. "And I read that script. If you swear to me to serve the Avatar, teach him, and protect him with your life, I'll tell you how the mover ended."

Suda's jaw dropped. The "lost mover" was the holy grail of the Bolin fandom. He put his hand on his chest and swore on his life and honor to protect the Avatar. Ada looked incredulously at her allies as Bolin whispered the ending to the lost film in Suda's ears. The bandit choked back tears as Bolin revealed how he had (fictionally) defeated the reborn Phoenix King Ozai.

As soon as Bolin had finished explaining the end of the film, Suda rushed to Sen's side, giving a sharp salute as he began his eternal vigil to protect the Avatar. Bolin had trusted him with this responsibility, as well as the ending to the lost mover, and he would not disappoint his hero.

"Are we seriously going to let this happen," Ada asked.

"I think Suda is the one who should be complaining, really," Hanjo said. He gestured to the heavily bandaged wound Ada had given their new teammate. Ada rolled her eyes as Suda stuck his tongue out at her before snapping back to his vigilant scan of the surroundings, searching for any threat to the Avatar.

"Now, let's get you on the move," Bolin suggested. "Su, dear, do we have any supplies to give the Avatar?"

"Nothing like food or tools," Su said. "But we could just give him one of the boxes from the money room."

"Oh yeah, that would work. Do your own shopping."

Su jogged back to the house and returned with a fairly large box. Hanjo checked inside and his eyes turned as wide as tea saucers when he saw the box was nearly overflowing with money

"We have a lot of those," Su told him. Hanjo clenched the box tightly and dreamed of one day having his own money room.

"Now, hop in your fancy satomobile and be on your way. The sooner you get out of here the better."

"Wait," Sen interrupted. He wasn't just going to leave Bolin behind if the Energybender was coming. "What happens to you?"

"Oh, don't worry about me. I'm nearly a hundred years old and all of my friends are already dead. What can that jerk do to me?"

it was meant to be a joke, but Sen found it profoundly sad. Su coughed. Bolin glared at her.

"I already told you, go to Zaofu if anything like this happens. I'll call you when it all blows over. And it will blow over. I'll be fine."

Sen stared regretfully at Bolin as they packed up and drove away. Something in his heart was deeply hurt to see Bolin's smiling face fade into the distance and finally disappear behind a hill as they drove away. Suda was no less disappointed.

"I didn't get his autograph," Suda moped.

The Energybender arrived a week later, bringing with him a small army of his bending troops. They stationed themselves outside as he marched boldly into the house, flanked by a truth seer and his second in command.

"I didn't make enough tea for your friends," A voice from the porch called. The Energybender followed it. Bolin was sitting by the table, glaring into the distance and clutching a teacup in his hands. Another one sat waiting on the table. The Energybender pulled up a chair, but the earth grabbed it and pulled it away from him.

"That's Korra's chair," Bolin said, without ever looking at the intruder. The Energybender pulled up a different seat and took a place at the table opposite to Bolin. He grabbed the spare cup and took a drink. It was bland. He could smell a faint whiff of vanilla coming from Bolin's cup.

"You know why I'm here," The Energybender said. "You don't need to be hurt to shelter the memory of a dead friend."

"You can't do anything to hurt me," Bolin said.

Bolin never broke eye contact as the Energybender rose from his chair, placed a hand on Bolin's chest, and tugged on the strings of his soul.

"Tell me where the Avatar went."

Bolin took a sip of tea. Korra was right. Just a pinch of vanilla, and it was exactly like Opal used to make.

"No idea, actually," Bolin said. "I just know he was leaving. Never asked him where."

The Energybender looked to his truth seer. He nodded quietly. He wouldn't come all this way for nothing, though.

"Tell me everything you know about the Avatar," The Energybender commanded.

"Naturally," Bolin said. "Lovely person, really. Hot-headed, but always means well. Very talented bender, too, in all four elements."

"I believe he's talking about Korra," The truth seer said. "But he's still telling the truth, technically."

"He's wasting our time," The Energybender's lieutenant declared. "Keeping the Avatar ahead of us."

"Enough," The Energybender declared. He placed his hand on Bolin's chest and twisted his palm. Bolin felt a shock of pure pain travel through his ribs and down his spine.

"Tell me everything about the current Avatar," Howler commanded. "Or I will tear your soul apart."

Bolin looked his foe in the eyes, staring intently through the pain.

"Seven years ago, I woke up and my wife didn't. You can do nothing."

The Energybender focused on Bolin. He had a grip on the old man's soul, and he could feel every thought that coursed through his mind, and every emotion in his heart. Bolin truly believed that the Energybender couldn't hurt him. Belief was a dangerous thing, for an energybender. A strong spirit could overtake his own, and the Energybender didn't have his allies on hand to empower his own spirit. If it came down to a contest of will, there was a good chance Bolin would be victorious.

"We're wasting too much time," The Energybender said, masking his concession to Bolin's willpower. "There's only so many places the Avatar could have gone."

Bolin returned to his tea as the Energybender returned to his hunt.