Book 5

Chapter 1: Republic City Stories

The Story of the Seven

"The Avatar cuts a stunning and intellectual figure in a long brown coat of unknown origin," Hanjo said, reading the article aloud. Sen turned, admiring himself in the mirror. It was a very nice coat, and it looked good on him. He was glad people were recognizing it.

"The return of the Avatar has prompted a great deal of discussion, and it's too soon for even the most intrepid journalist to say how things will go for Avatar Sen, but after his battle with General Rahm, public opinion in the United Republic is definitely leaning positive," Hanjo continued. "Concerns are raised, however, about some of his allies, among them two former career criminals and a combustion bender."

"Of course they single me out," Miyani said with a sigh.

"I wouldn't say it's singling, considering they got me pointed out too," Whistler grunted. She had made herself the most comfortable of them all, sprawling out over the couch, taking up enough room for three people.

In the absence of a permanent residence, Sen and his team had been set up in a very lavish hotel room, apparently the finest in the city. They had made themselves quite comfortable. They were still waiting on a conclave of world leaders and dignitaries to assemble before Sen took any official action, so for the moment they had time to relax. Hanjo continued reading his magazine, but he avoided narrating it this time. He spoke up only when he came across a detail he found important.

"Hey Sen, apparently your socks didn't match when you were fighting Rahm," Hanjo said. He had a much different definition of "important" than most.

"What?" Sen looked down at his feet. He was wearing matching socks now, but apparently he hadn't been a few days ago. "My- Why do they even care about my socks?"

Hanjo held up the front cover of the magazine. A carefully posed model adorned the front cover, just below a title that read "Sing's Style".

"Why are you reading a news article out of a fashion magazine?" Ariak asked aloud.

"Because fashion critics are some of the most mercilessly critical people in existence," Hanjo elaborated. "If we want an honest opinion, we'll get it from here."

"That shouldn't make sense," Ada said. "So why does it?"

"Oh man, speaking of fashion, check this out," Miyani said. She stood up, raised her arms far above her head, and started stretching from side to side. Most of them looked on in confusion.

"What am I supposed to be checking out, exactly," Suda asked. All he saw was Miyani bending over backwards, which wasn't exactly an impressive view.

"No bellybutton," Sen said, pointing at Miyani's stomach. "Her shirt fits."

"I know," Miyani said excitedly. "Before I had to wear clothes for really fat people or have my belly showing all the time. I visited a tailor the other day, and I finally have clothes that fit!"

Miyani leaned backwards again, just to enjoy the feeling. When you were nearly seven feet tall and fairly muscular, it was hard to find clothes in your size. Having a tailor make clothes just for Miyani provided her with comfortable and functional clothes for the first time in her life. Just one of many benefits of working with the Avatar.

"Hey, well you might want to visit that tailor again and get something nice made," Hanjo advised. He was looking at the fashion magazine again. "Says here they're going to do a week-long expose on all seven of us. One person for every day of the week."

"Oh, hey, tell me when they're doing me," Whistler said. "I'm going to wear nothing but purple all day just to mess with them."

"Just the seven of us," Ariak wondered. "What about the rest of our friends?"

"Seven's a good number," Ada said. "It's good luck."

"Since when do we need luck," Suda said confidently. They'd made it this far despite some very unlucky breaks. Suda saw no reason to fall back on superstition now.

"The point is there are plenty of people involved in our success," Ariak said. "Why limit it to just the seven?"

"Because you're my team," Sen said. He turned around to look them all over. "I've had a lot of help, yeah, but you guys are the most important."

"Don't get sappy," Whistler scolded.

"Some of us like the speeches," Ariak said. He could always use a dash of inspiration, even during downtime.

"Well that's because you got self-esteem issues and the speeches make you feel validated," Whistler said. There was a profound lack of response from Ariak. Sen shrugged and decided that it would be best to change the subject.

"Whistler, you know Republic City pretty well, any place you think we should go?"

"I mostly know seedy dives in the Copper Slums," Whistler said. "But Fat Fong's Five-Yuan Pho comes highly recommended."

"That's a positively unhealthy amount of alliteration," Hanjo said.

"Also an unhealthy amount of whatever Fat Fong puts in the Five-Yuan Pho," Whistler said. "Whenever I used to eat there I'd spend the next week throwing up."

"Then why on earth would you recommend it?" Suda asked.

"Because with every other place I'd spend the next two weeks throwing up," Whistler explained, holding up two fingers just for emphasis. Ada gagged slightly.

"Well, I was thinking one of the restaurants that actually passes health code inspections," Sen said. "Maybe a nice one, you know, five stars and all that."

There was no shortage of fine dining to be had in Republic City. Sen figured that they should try to enjoy the high life in the brief window of opportunity they had.

"Could we really get a table at a good restaurant?"

"Easy way to find out," Sen said. He turned towards the door to their lavish hotel room.

"Hey, Valet constantly waiting outside our door to see if we need anything?"

"Yes, Master Avatar," said a muffled voice from the other side of the door.

"How many of the cities best restaurants currently have a table reserved for the Avatar?"

"All of them, sir," the muffled door voice said.

"Thank you, guy outside our door," Sen said. He turned back to his friends. "So, what do you think? Seems we have our pick of the litter."

"Do you really think we should be going out to eat while the whole world is watching?" Ada asked. "I mean, I think we deserve it, but I know there are some people out there who wouldn't approve of us going out. Not everyone loves you, Sen."

Sen's dramatic announcement had won him a great deal of support, but it was not unanimous. The Republic had been a given, after he'd saved their president, and the Fire Nation was quick to get behind the new Avatar as well. Once it had been revealed that Sen was the very same person who'd broken the siege of the North, Chieftain Atana had quickly pledged her support as well. However, the Southern Water Tribe and the Earth Kingdom had yet to make any statement. That couldn't mean anything good.

"Ada has a point," Suda agreed. "We should be trying to make a good impression."

"Well, yeah, but I kind of want us to do something together," Sen said. He held his hands out to gesture to all of them at once. "This is the first time all of us have been together. I want to do something other than sit in a room."

"We'll have plenty of time to not sit in rooms later, Sen," Hanjo assured him. "Besides, this is a very nice room. The chairs are really comfy."

Everyone who was sitting nodded in agreement. They were the nicest chairs that any of them had ever sat in. Most of them hadn't even imagined that chairs could be this nice.

"Hanjo has a point," Ariak said. "Anything we want to do can be done after we utterly annihilate our enemies. We can go anywhere, do anything, once that's over."

"I think it'd be nice to go somewhere as tourists for once," Suda said. "I mean, the North Pole and Gai Zhu were nice places to stay, but we had to do things, we had responsibilities. Once this is all over we need to go on a vacation."

"You should all come visit Zaofu," Ada suggested. "At least for a start. We can go other places later."

"Let's not make any plans yet," Ariak said. "It was a suggestion. It won't do to get ahead of ourselves while there's still a battle to fight."

"You only say that because you haven't seen Sen go all Avatar on anyone yet," Miyani said, giving Sen a look of admiration. "With an entire army backing him up, I give it three weeks tops before we're knocking down Sarin's door."

"You may be slightly underestimating," Sen said. "We're going to need at least two months just to put the army together."

"But after that, three weeks," Miyani said. "Maybe four."

Sen gave her a very long, blank look. Miyani had a smile on her face that faded more and more every second that Sen stared at her.

"You've thought about this, haven't you?"

"Quite a bit," Sen said. "But, I don't really feel like talking shop right now. We'll get quite enough of that later."

"We are kind of running low on conversation topics," Suda mumbled. For the first day or two they'd done nothing but share stories of their travels with Miyani and Hanjo, and Miyani had shared a few stories of her own. After the tales of action and adventure had run dry, the conversation had been a little bit more meandering and pointless.

While they all thought about what to talk about next. Whistler scooted over a little bit and elbowed Miyani gently.

"Hey, so, you're huge," She said.

"Really? No one ever mentioned it," Miyani said sarcastically.

"Oh good, you can be sarcastic," Whistler said. "That's all I wanted to know."

"Is my being sarcastic that important to you?"

"Sarcasm is a big portion of my personality, so yeah. If we're ever going to be friends you've got to be able to deal with me being sarcastic basically all of the time."

"I think I can do that," Miyani said. Whistler nodded. She was rarely eager to make new friends, but a friend who could cause explosions was a good friend to have.

"And, you know, since we're sort of on the topic, you're huge. What's that like?"

Miyani shrugged.

"Hard to find clothes. Have to bend over to look at most things. Sometimes I bump my head into low doorways."

"That happen often?"

"Happened a lot in the South Pole. Didn't bother me very much, because all the houses were made of ice."

"Ice is still tough," Whistler said.

"My head's tougher," Miyani boasted. She planted her thumb in the middle of her tattooed forehead for emphasis. When her head hit a wall, it was the wall that broke, not the other way around. She did get a splitting headache, of course, as her forehead was very sensitive, but she didn't talk about that. It didn't make her sound tough.

Whistler's next topic of curiosity was head-butting, and that started a lengthy conversation indeed. As the two of them drifted further into their personal dialogue, the room shifted tones from one large group conversation into several smaller chats. Ariak finally indulged Ada in her desire to talk about Zaofu, and the earthbenders somehow found themselves talking about juggling.

The conversations drifted on aimlessly for a while, but never once did their conversation turn to the coming battles. In the past the seven had been spies, thieves, soldiers, and orphans, and in the future they would be soldiers, but for the moment, they were simply friends.

The Story of The First

Six targets popped up, and six targets went down. Sharp stones sailed through the air like arrows, finding their marks.

Hanjo stood at the far end of the range, waiting for the next round of targets to appear. Republic City had numerous training areas like this, places where people could practice their bending without risking damage to the city. Hanjo intended to make use of them.

While Sen had been out journeying across the world, developing his skills by training and fighting, Hanjo had been lingering in a cell, stagnant and useless. He'd fallen behind by an unacceptable margin. If he was going to be part of Sen's team, he needed to be able to pull his weight.

A White Lotus acolyte gave Hanjo some pointers on how to handle his bending, and the exercise continued. Hanjo had briefly considered asking Suda to get him caught up, but decided against it. Suda had trained him once before, and continuing that training would just be a reminder of how much time he had lost. Besides that, Suda was just a reminder of what Hanjo lacked.

It seemed, from Hanjo's point of view, that he was the weak link in the Avatar's chain. Surrounded by combustion benders, rogue airbenders, master swordsmen, Hanjo felt like nothing but an orphan who'd been in the right place at the right time. The only "special" thing he could do was meditate into the Spirit World, and that ability had been forced upon him by Sarin, not earned. He no longer even wished to use it, and so he was simply a mediocre earthbender.

The next target sprang up –a very large one. That meant he'd need a boulder.

Hanjo stomped his foot down and called up a large stone. He remembered lecturing Sen on how to lift a small boulder once, long ago. Now Sen was reconstructing entire skyscrapers, and Hanjo was launching rocks at wooden targets. Part of him wondered if he'd ever catch up.

Another part of him was quite certain that he'd never catch up if he didn't try. So he tried.

The Story of The Hunter

Alrok and Tlun sat side by side on the balcony of the hotel, far above the city. Though Tlun knew most of the details of what Ariak had been up to since they'd parted ways, he was interested in learning his personal view on events; what he was thinking, feeling, about all the things that had happened in the North. Months ago that might have been a conversation about their father, but now the central character to Ariak's troubled past was the bloodbender Kida. They'd had very little time to speak on the matter during the battle for the North.

He had explained everything by now. How it had all begun years ago with the first Red Moon incident, and then how it had continued through his abduction until the near-destruction of the Shorewatchers. As he told his story, it became abundantly clear that Ariak blamed himself, at least in part.

"I've heard nothing about her since we left the North," Ariak said, concluding his sad tale. I can only assume that she is still with Sarin and the enemy. I will see her again."

He could still remember the hatred in her eyes, and that rage haunted his steps. He knew that Kida's return was inevitable. It was difficult for him to relax. There had been a full moon about two weeks ago, and he had spent the entire night awake in his bed, dreading the sudden return of the vengeful bloodbender.

"You won't have to fight her alone," Tlun assured him. "Next time you see her, the Avatar will have your back."

"No," Ariak said defiantly. "She's done enough damage to innocent people trying to get to me. I will deal with this on my-"

Tlun slapped him on the back of the neck.

"Ow!"

"Don't be stupid," Tlun scolded. "She's crazy, and needs to go down. Trying to be noble about it just puts you at risk."

Tlun had likewise been threatened by Kida, but he'd had less of a hand in creating the bloodbender, so he felt less involved with Kida's story. That outsider perspective gave him a more reasonable view than Ariak.

"Every time other people try to get involved, it just gets worse," Ariak sighed, still rubbing the sore spot on his neck. "Enough people have been put in danger because of my mistakes."

"You are not to blame for anything she's done," Tlun said. "She's a psychopath, Ariak."

"No she's not!"

Ariak stood up suddenly and leaned against the balcony railing, looking out at the city below. His knuckles turned white as he grasped the metal rail.

"If she was that violent, if she was that insane, why didn't she join her sisters in the first Red Moon? Or the second? Why was it only after they died that she came after me?"

Ariak finally released the rails and turned back to Tlun.

"Maybe all this anger was just sleeping inside her," Ariak said. "But it still comes back to my actions. And I have to make it right."

Tlun tried to say something to comfort his brother, but Ariak wouldn't hear of it. He retreated back into his room. He sat down in the darkened chamber and grabbed a whetstone, and began to sharpen his spear.

The Story of The Monster

The hotel room Miyani had claimed as her own had seen its fair share of visitors, but they had mostly been members of Sen's team or the White Lotus. It was a bit of a surprise to see the President of the Republic standing outside her door.

"Hello, Miyani," He said awkwardly. "Do you…mind if I come in?"

She looked over Dahaka's shoulder at the myriad security guards who were stalking him.

"Alone, of course," Dahaka said. The chief of his security immediately shot that idea down.

"Please, captain," Dahaka chided. "If you're worried I'm in danger, I believe Miyani has already proven she's capable of protecting me."

There were several craters in Republic City that would attest to that fact. Miyani looked at the chief of security, and he began to sweat nervously. Dahaka shook off his entourage and stepped into the hotel room, quickly slamming the door behind him. He stood quietly for a while, looking over Miyani.

"Ah, excuse me," he finally said. "Where are my manners? I came here to thank you, didn't I?"

"No thanks needed-"

"Nonsense," Dahaka said. "You deserve it. You didn't just save me, after all. Most of the city would have been leveled if not for you and the Avatar. Now, it's a bit early to be thinking about statues, but I did get a commemorative plaque approved, to be placed at the site of the-"

"Dahaka, I'm really not interested in awards," Miyani said dismissively. Dahak paused suddenly and shook his head.

"No, no of course not. Silly of me. Anyway, please tell me: how have things been for you, since you beat Rahm? Have you been out in the city?"

"A couple times," Miyani said. She wasn't used to being so public, so she was still reluctant to wander about the city. "People look at me funny, but they don't run away screaming. Most of them."

"Some people do?"

"Only a few. Some people actually smile at me, so I think it evens out. Most people just let me go about my business. I think that I'm…accepted, at least."

"After saving their city, I'd hope you would be," Dahaka said. He seemed to be getting more and more nervous as he talked.

"Yeah, I think that's the thing," Miyani sighed. "We'll see how the rest of the world thinks about me. I think the South might be all right, but the rest…"

She knew for a fact that most of the United Earth Kingdom would hate her. They had a bad history with Gohrman, not to mention her association with the Avatar. She doubted that the Fire Nation would like her much either. They had a special stigma against Combustion Benders; they were regarded as dangerous mutants and a perversion of firebending.

"Don't let any of that bother you," Dahaka said nervously.

"I don't," Miyani said. What other people thought of her didn't matter. The only problem was that their hatred might prove inconvenient in the fight against her enemies.

"I'm making sure to get the word spread, of course," Dahaka said, with a slight twitch to his voice. "That Combustion Benders aren't the monsters that I- that we thought-"

His verbal slip gave him away, and his nervous monologue stopped. His tense shoulders drooped, and guilt sank into his eyes as he looked at Miyani.

"Dahaka," She said quietly.

"I should have done more," He said quietly. "You were just a little girl."

Dahaka could still well remember the look of fear and confusion in the young Miyani's eyes as Rahm's blade had swung for her throat. A little girl covered in the scars of torture, cowering in the dark out of fear of men who should have been there to save her. Though he had never spoken of it, the things he had seen, and his own actions, in Gohrman's dungeon had lingered with him for many years. Miyani stepped forward and put a hand on his shoulder.

"You saved my life," Miyani said. It had been Dahaka's swift action and his willingness to stand up for her that had kept Rahm from finishing his lethal stroke.

"And then I threw you aside," Dahaka said bitterly. "Because I was too afraid to take responsibility for-"

"Dahaka, I should thank you for sending me away. You sending me to the Sun Warriors is how I found Hayao, and that's how…well, you know the rest," She said with a sheepish smile. She brushed a finger through her hair nervously.

"I turned out alright, Dahaka," She assured him. "Everything that happened to me, as bad as it was…I'm alright."

She had not been lying when she'd told Rahm that his past actions did not bother her. That part of her life was behind her. Every insult, every feeling of shame, every close call with death- that was in the past. Her future was a different story.

The Story of The Shield

Suda presented a formidable presence in the midst of the repair zone. Very little trouble would be caused with a goliath like him standing watch.

Although Sen had prevented the complete collapse of the towers, a significant amount of damage had been done to the interiors, preventing their residents from immediately returning to their residences. That meant a large number of people displaced from their homes, and wherever there were people in trouble, there would be criminals looking to exploit them.

Suda had volunteered to help the police in keeping order, out of respect for the late Chief Dormin, and out of an earnest desire to help. What remained of Republic City's police department was eager to accept his assistance. Suda's face had been on every magazine and newspaper for the past few weeks. Having one of the Avatar's friends oversee the situation improved people's morale greatly.

It surprised Suda how astonished people were to see him. From the looks on their faces, it seemed like people couldn't believe he was even real, much less that he was helping them. That was what came of being a hero, Suda supposed. You always ended up seeming larger than life.

Larger than life was a matter of perspective, though, and those who had known Suda before the Avatar's unveiling were not quite so enchanted. Even if they had only known him for a brief conversation.

"You know, I was a little upset when you left all of a sudden," A voice from behind Suda said. "I guess it was for a good cause, though, so I forgive you."

Suda turned around. Keeping an eye on a field full of refugees could wait for a moment.

"Yoki," He said, somewhat surprised. "How'd you get here?"

The last time Suda had seen Yoki had been halfway across the world in some small Earth Kingdom town. He'd hardly been expecting to see her again, much less so soon.

"I told you, I get around a lot," Yoki said with a shrug. She stepped forward and stood next to him. Her hair and makeup was far too well-done for someone who'd come just to help the temporarily homeless. Or maybe she was just naturally that good-looking. Suda wasn't quite sure.

"So, now that you don't have to lie about who you are anymore, you want to talk?"

"I'm really sorry about that, I just-"

"No, no excuses necessary, it's alright, I get it," Yoki assured him. "You had to look out for yourself, I get it. It's just that, since you don't have to anymore, I figured we should have another conversation. Full honesty."

Suda looked at her with eyebrows raised. She gave him a slight, awkward smile in return. Suda looked over her face quickly. Slight eye shadow, just enough to make her brown eyes pop out, just a touch of lipstick, foundation –enough makeup to make her look good, but not too much to make it obvious. He'd seen this before. He tended to have that effect on women.

"How about we talk about it over dinner," He suggested. "It's a long story."

Suda knew very well how to deal with women, and Yoki seemed like his type. He'd been avoiding dating ever since the incident with Nura, but now that secrecy and safety were no longer a factor, he figured he might as well try to put himself out there again.

"Oh, well, I have dinner plans, already, actually," She said, somewhat regretfully. "There's a charity event later…"

Yoki seemed very sad for a moment, but then perked back up quickly. She looked at Suda with a smile on her face again.

"…To which I could use a date," She said happily. "So, Suda, do they make tuxedoes in your size?"

"Yes, they do," Suda said quite plainly. "I'm not that big."

"Okay, good, very good," Yoki said. "I'm used to dealing with people who are…scrawnier. Movers are all about skinny people nowadays."

"Oh, do you make movers?"

It would certainly explain why Yoki travelled so much, and why she had been at that mover festival in the first place. Yoki looked to the side for a moment, as if she were trying to think of how best to avoid the question.

"Kind of," She said hesitantly. "We'll talk about it at dinner, okay?"

"It's a date," Suda said. That put a smile on Yoki's face again. She explained where and when Suda should meet her and excused herself.

Suda crossed his arms and smiled to himself. He hadn't had a date in far too long. As long as she didn't end up getting him and all his friends nearly killed, Yoki would be a marked improvement over his last relationship. He figured he could expect the best this time around.

He ran through the prospective date in his head while he kept an eye on the city street before him. This many empty buildings would make a tempting target for looters.

Suda decided he'd been standing in one spot long enough. If any would-be criminals saw him staying still, they might try to exploit his blind spots. He turned around and paced a bit down the alleyways. There was a lot of ground to cover.

His hunch about standing in one spot proved to be correct. He could hear the scrape of stone against stone from a far off alleyway. From the sound of it, someone was trying to disassemble a wall to sneak into an abandoned building. He could hear voices, four or five. Far fewer than could possibly challenge him.

Suda stepped around the corner, into full view. The would-be looters jumped at the sight of him. They were all young, with bedraggled looks that suggested they came from a poor background. No surprise, then, that they were turning to theft. Suda restrained himself from striking first. He remembered the days when he'd been not too different from these looters.

"That's enough," Suda declared. The looters took a cautious step back. It seemed they recognized him. No surprise there. Suda examined the pile of bricks they had removed from the wall. They'd been close to completing their hole in the wall when he'd showed up.

"Right now all you've got under your belt is vandalism," Suda said firmly. "Come with me before you dig yourself any deeper."

"Bite me, 'hero'," The apparent leader of the group shouted. He turned to run away. Suda didn't let him get very far. A whiplike strand of metal caught him by the waist and held the looter in place.

"Don't make this any worse for yourselves," Suda cautioned.

They proceeded to make it much worse for themselves. One of the young criminals grabbed a glass bottle lying discarded in the alleyway, broke it against the stone wall, and then hurled half of the broken bottle at Suda's head. Suda leaned to the side to avoid it, and while he was distracted, one of the looters attempted to cut Suda's line and free their leader. The only thing he did was get himself entangled in the metal strand as Suda looped it around his wrist.

"Get slagged," One of the other looters shouted. Suda rolled his eyes. He'd thought he'd heard the last of that word when Whistler had stopped swearing.

Suda swept his hand in a wide arc, and the roll of metal cord on his left hip unfurled, arcing out and around the group of looters. The metal cord drew tighter around the group, encircling them all and wrapping them together. Finally they were all caught and bound in a single metal loop, tied up together like a bale of delinquent hay. Suda pulled them in closer and looked down at them sternly.

"Now look what you've done," Suda scolded. "Resisting arrest, assaulting an officer, do you have any idea how much trouble you're going to be in?"

"Take your lecture and shove it, meatwad," the leater said.

"Do you kids-"

"I said shove it," the leader repeated, quite emphatically this time. Suda scowled. Even at his worst, he'd at least been respectful to the people around him. These kids were just rotten to the core.

With a sharp pull on the metal cord that controlled them, Suda managed to drag the uncooperative looters from the side alley towards a main street. Once there, it was easy for Suda to get in touch with an officer and arrange to have them transported to the police station.

"Good catch," The officer said. "That group goes in and out of prison so fast we might as well install revolving doors."

"At their age? How much trouble can they get into?"

"Too much. They've been in for everything from assault to arson. If I didn't know any better I'd say they almost like being in a cell."

"Has anyone tried to talk to them? Snap them out of it?"

"Repeatedly," The officer said, disgustedly. "Usually to be met with swearing and complete ignorance."

Suda frowned. It made him a bit sick to his stomach to think about meeting those looters again. It would be heartbreakingly disappointing to see them repeat the same mistakes over and over again, unable to do anything about it.

Suda returned to his patrol, but his footsteps were sluggish now. His heart was no longer quite in it.

By the time dinner rolled around, Suda was feeling significantly happier. Wearing fancy clothes, eating good food, and spending time with a beautiful woman did wonders for ones mood.

The charity event was much more opulent than Suda had been anticipating. There was a red carpet lined with paparazzi and everything. Camera's flashed up and down as Suda made an unexpected appearance at the banquet. The Avatar and his allies had been fairly private up to now, so one showing up at a ritzy event like this would be the story of the evening. Suda smiled and waved and put on a good showing, but all along he was keeping an eye out for Yoki.

Just as it had been before, Yoki found him first. She grabbed his attention, along with his arm, and quickly pulled him down the red carpet, heading inside the banquet hall.

"You must be freezing," Suda said, quickly putting his arm around her. It sounded like a line, but for once it wasn't. Yoki was not dressed for a cold Republic winter. The flashy red dress she wore might have been suited for the tropical climates of the Fire Nation, but not here. She was visibly relieved to have Suda's broad arm over her shoulder.

"I will be much happier inside, and away from cameras," She declared.

"A little camera-shy? You might be in the wrong industry," Suda joked.

"I don't- I'm not an actress. I'm an agent, sort of."

"Could've fooled me," Suda said. "You look like a leading lady."

Yoki's face turned a little bit red, and Suda smiled, satisfied. Yoki continued inside, pushing her way through crowds at the edge of the banquet. Many people seemed to recognize her, rushing up to greet her, demanding to be introduced to Suda, and other general obnoxious rich people behavior. One of the more common questions was what Yoki's brother was up to, which seemed to exasperate Yoki greatly. She was quite happy to find a table and sit down.

"I get the feeling you don't like this kind of thing very much," Suda said, stating something that was quite obvious.

"Oh no, I love this, charity is great, I like helping people," Yoki said. "It's just, everything else that goes along with it is kind of abysmal. Awful. Abhorrent."

"Is the food any good?"

"Oh no the food's great," Yoki said. She made a strange gesture with her hands and a few waiters sprung into action to get them something to eat. As much as she hated these fancy balls, she seemed to know her way around them.

"So, how was your day," She asked. "You capture any bad guys?"

"A few," Suda said quietly. Yoki took on a look of concern.

"Did someone get hurt?"

"No, no it's not that," Suda assured her. "It's just…I think I had the wrong idea about police work. It's more about punishing people than helping them."

Yoki nodded and toyed with the edge of the table. Eventually she snapped her fingers and pointed at Suda.

"Teaching."

"What about?"

"I said you should be a police officer, but I was wrong," Yoki said. "But, I think I might be on to something here. Have you thought about teaching?"

"Like a schoolteacher?"

"Yeah! You could teach something like history. History would be good for you. You could even do metalbending coaching after school."

"I don't think I could teach, given I've never been to school," Suda said. His hometown's school had been a rundown piece of garbage, and Suda had never visited it anyway. Everything he knew he'd picked up on the streets.

"Doesn't matter. The Fire Nation Royal Academy actually has special programs for guys like you, adults who want to go back to school. I'm sure Goto would help you out, seeing as you know the Avatar."

"I don't know, Goto's kind of a jerk," Suda said.

"Oh goodness, tell me about it," Yoki said with a laugh. "You know, he is the only person who's ever criticized my make-up. I mean, I get it, maybe it looked bad, but you don't just go up to someone and insult make up that took two hours to do, you know?"

"You've met Goto before?"

Yoki nodded. Suda's curiosity had been sufficiently peaked.

"Is there anyone you don't know?"

"Not many," Yoki said evasively. "I get around a lot."

"You said you were an agent," Suda said. "Who are you an agent for?"

No normal mover agent would meet world leaders and old celebrities like Bolin. She had to represent someone important.

"Oh, you know, just my brother," Yoki said. "It's a family business."

The waiters returned in swarms with their food and drinks, laying down several plates of salads, soups, and chicken, along with at least three different beverages. As the dishes settled down around them, Suda gave Yoki a suspicious look. She had been hoping that the food would provide a distraction. She had been sorely disappointed. The waiters fled, and Suda kept staring at Yoki.

"Yoki," He began. "Who's your brother?"

Yoki stared forward at her salad for a while. She then grabbed one of the nearest cups and drowned whatever was inside it in one gulp, leaving behind a small lipstick stain on the rim of the glass.

Her delay only made things much worse, because here Suda saw Kaizo Uehara for the very first time. He looked even more pestilent and obnoxious in person. Suda's fist clenched around the edge of the table, and Yoki could swear she heard cracking wood. Suda's tight grip closed like a vice as Kaizo sat down in the seat next to Yoki.

"Hey sis, who's the big lug?"

Yoki sat hunched over in her seat, staring with no small amount of shame at Suda's face. The metalbender had frozen for a moment, as if he were made of glass. The only motion he made was a slight, aggravated twitch of his eyelid.

Suda stood up and extended his hand, his palm open.

"Suda," He said with a stiff voice. "I'm with the Avatar."

Kaizo grabbed Suda's hand and shook it. Suda was pleasantly surprised that he managed to resist the urge to crush Kaizo's skinny wrists in his fist. He released the obnoxious mover star and sat back down. Yoki seemed astonished by the relatively pleasant exchange.

"Oh, Avatar Sun, I heard about him," Kaizo said. Suda's eye twitched again. "Do me a huge favor, please buddy, tell Sun that there is an open offer, he can co-star in my next mover. I've always wanted to do a love triangle plot, and the Avatar is the only person who could ever compete with me for a girl, right?"

Kaizo laughed obnoxiously for approximately three seconds, then flashed a sly smile and stood back up.

"My public awaits," Kaizo sighed happily. "Nice meeting you, Suda."

Suda nodded, his lips pursed tightly. No sooner had Kaizo turned his back then Suda slowly turned his head to Yoki.

"Avatar Sun," He said blankly. Yoki rested her head in her hands.

"He was saying Avatar Sin a few days ago," She said, practically sobbing. She kept her head buried in her hands for a while. She loved her brother, of course, but he had a way of driving people away. Quickly. His popularity had gone to his head a long time ago, and he'd become an obnoxious shadow of his former self.

Which was why it was a great surprise to Yoki to see Suda still sitting down, staring at his bowl of soup with great intensity, when she lifted her head again. She put her hands flat on the table.

"Are you mad at me?"

"Yes," Suda said flatly. Yoki looked away. She looked back when she felt a very large hand resting on hers.

"But not that mad," Suda said, giving her a reassuring smile. He knew very well that he had no right to judge people based on their families. Maybe Yoki's brother was the most horrible, awful, abhorrent person in existence, but that said nothing about Yoki herself.

Suda closed his fingers around hers and held her hand tightly. It was all uphill from here, at least.

The Story of The Sword

In her long journey, Ada had wanted for many things. There had been times when she'd lacked a decent bed, food, clean clothes, safety –but through it all, the one thing she had missed the most was a hand to hold.

She had told the rest of them to restrain themselves, not to leave the hotel for any frivolous trips but when she'd been invited to go for a midnight stroll with Canto –well, some rules were meant to be broken. No one would ever know.

The two strolled hand in hand through the moonlit park, pausing occasionally to admire the reflection of the moon on the surface of the frozen lake, or to admire each other. They had been apart far too long. For most of their time in the park they said little or nothing, simply basking in each other's presence. The love struck period ended eventually, though.

"When are you going to come back to Zaofu?"

Now there was a question. As much as Ada would love to return home, she had responsibilities here and all over the world. On top of that, she still had her lingering suspicions about Ko Rin.

"Ada?"

She flinched. She had thought about the question for too long.

"Sorry…it's just a tough question. I have a lot of responsibilities."

"I get it," Canto said. "I kind of saw this coming as soon as you left."

Canto led the pair to one of the parks benches. It was still icy cold, so Ada leaned against Canto's shoulder, both to stay warm and to enjoy his company.

"Do you ever regret it," She asked quietly. "Telling me to leave?"

"That's another tough question," Canto said. "I know I regret this."

He ran his hands up her forearm, running his fingers against the rough scar from the night Sorikami had attacked Ada. She had been put at risk many times since she'd left Zaofu.

"But, since I met you, I have never seen you happier or stronger than you are now," Canto said. As many times as she had been put at risk, Ada had been given opportunities to learn and grow, to do what she loved and to make new friends. "I could never regret that."

Ada smiled and kissed him. The worries of the future could wait for a moment. Tonight was about her and Canto.

The Story of The Rogue

Incense choked the air. They said it was good to clear the mind. Master Jung might have been taking it slightly overboard. He felt he needed as much assistance in clearing his mind as possible. Jung kept his eyes closed and took deep breaths, savoring the silence. It had taken hours to arrange this moment of quiet time. The Air Temple was abuzz with activity as acolytes prepared to assist the Avatar, and Jung needed to savor this moment of contemplation while he could.

Every second of preparation collapsed like a house of cards when he heard the metallic thud of a staff slam against the wooden door of the meditation chamber.

"Hey old man, I got business with you," A caustic voice declared. A quieter but no less irritating voice mumbled from behind the door as well. Jung grit his teeth, abandoned any pretentions of inner peace, and opened the door.

Whistler stood at his gate, with Sang Lung following close at her heels, occasionally being pushed back by a swipe from Whistler's staff. Whistler certainly seemed upset.

"You're not welcome here," Jung said calmly.

"And believe me, I don't want to be here," Whistler said. "But seeing as I got an invitation, and seeing as I am trying to be kind of almost respectable now, I figured I would do you the courtesy of showing up."

"I made no invitation," Jung said.

"Oh well, glad that's cleared up," Whistler said with a happy sigh. "Guess that was just one of you bald nerds yanking my chain, right? Was this your idea, Suck Lump?"

"Sang Lug," He protested.

"Whatever. Was it your idea?"

"It was our idea," an elderly voice proclaimed. "And it was no prank."

Across the hall leading to the meditation chamber, four figures strode, dragging heavy yellow robes about them. Each of them was ancient, with wisdom and years of meditation written on their faces. Sang Lug and Jung immediately bent at the waist into deep bows. Whistler stayed upright.

"The old nomads," Whistler mumbled. She whistled loudly, pretending that she was impressed by their presence. Jinora led the group, with Ikki, Meelo, and Rohan behind her. The only remnants of the first Air Nation stood before Whistler. She shrugged her shoulders and tucked her metal staff away.

"Alright, you got me here," Whistler said. "What's your deal?"

"We simply want to talk to you," Jinora said. "Jung has told us a great deal about you, N-"

"Let me make one thing clear first," Whistler snapped, interrupting her quite suddenly. "My name is Whistler. You try to call me anything else, I'm walking, got it?"

"It does not do to reject who you are," Rohan said sagely.

"I ain't rejecting who I am, because Whistler is who I am," Whistler said harshly. "Any other name you might think I have is someone the old fart here thought I was."

Master Jung's face turned red with frustration as Whistler gestured to him. Ikki and Jinora looked at one another for a moment. Their aged faces betrayed little emotion, even as Ikki turned back to Whistler.

"Very well, Whistler," She said. "All we wish to know is why you rejected the Air Nation. What happened to make you turn away from our teachings?"

Whistler put her hands on her hips. She knew exactly why she had, but it was a difficult thing to put such a complex scenario into words. She paced back and forth through the wooden halls for a bit. Even after finding the right words, it was still hard to say them aloud.

"Because you made me feel like I was broken," Whistler said. "Because you constantly told me to do things I didn't want to do, and you told me that anyone who didn't do those things was living their life wrong. You said to me, meditating is the only way to be happy, inner peace is the only way to have power. Anyone who doesn't have those things is wrong, and weak, and evil."

For a brief moment her voice had cracked, and she showed some signs of sadness. It was but a brief moment. As she continued, her voice turned to anger.

"And you lied!"

Whistler gripped her staff, even though she didn't unfold it. It felt good to clench the cold metal in her fists.

"You said I could never be an airbender if I didn't live your stupid scripted life, and you lied to me," Whistler said. "You lied every day of my life, telling me there was no other way."

"We have always been open about other options," Jung protested. "There are airbenders in sports, or the military-"

"Whistler has not finished," Jinora said. Jung quickly fell silent. Good thing, too, because Whistler had nearly lost her patience.

"You can't tell people what they can and can't be," Whistler growled. "It's not your right to tell people they can only live their lives in certain ways. No matter how many options you give someone, you cannot say 'these are the only options'. We all need to be free to make a choice. You can make us face the consequences of that choice, but you cannot tell us there is no choice."

After a brief pause, Whistler nodded at Jinora, indicating that she was done talking. There was a moment of contemplative silence all around. Jung looked hurt, Sang Lug looked confused.

"Trying to teach all airbenders to follow one way of thinking and acting isn't just holding back people," Whistler continued. "It's holding back airbending. Every living airbender follows the same dogma, practices the same routines, the same techniques. It's holding the entire art back! Firebenders, earthbenders, waterbenders, they all have so many different styles and schools, and they can be healers, or builders, or warriors, but you say that airbenders can only be monks."

Whistler grabbed her glider and unfolded it, plating it firmly in the ground. In its basic form it was still a glider like any airbender would use, but its construction and design were far different from any Nomad staff.

"I am not like any of you. But I am still an airbender," She said firmly. "Everyone needs to be able to make that choice. Not to be like me, or like you, but to be their own person."

The four air nomad siblings looked at one another for a minute, and nodded in silent understanding. Ikki was the one to step forward.

"We understand," She said. "We have long wondered about whether the old teachings have a place in the modern world. It seems our attempts to cling to tradition may be misplaced."

"Hey, don't rewrite all the rules on my account," Whistler said with a noncommittal shrug. "The whole bald-head arrow-tattoo thing still works for a lot of people. You just got to realize it won't work for everyone. Don't force people to be something they don't want to be."

"We know," Ikki continued. "We will continue to teach the old traditions to those who will listen, but it seems there is a growing movement of people who do not want to listen."

Whistler tilted her head. That was news to her.

"Among the young airbenders there are many who would follow your example," Rohan explained. "They see that they can find happiness and fulfillment outside the teachings of the Air Nation."

"We have decided it is time for us to change," Jinora continued. "The Air Nation will no longer be a peacekeeping force, restricted to temples. Airbenders will live among the world just as other benders do."

Airbenders were no longer a rarity, so few in number that they had to be restricted to temples. It was time that the isolationist principles of the old Air Nomads were abandoned. While the old teachings would still continue, and many airbenders would remain among the temples, those that wished to leave would be free to pursue whatever they wished.

"We do not wish for this change to occur unsupervised," Ikki said. "You are the one airbender who has lived truly independent of our ways, the one who has explored the world. We wish for you to guide this new generation."

Whistler paused, and put a hand on her chin. Jung's jaw had dropped quite low. Whistler was earnestly surprised that neither he or Sang Lug had fainted yet.

"You want me to be a Master?"

"Yes," Jinora said with a nod.

Whistler took a firm hold of her staff and leaned on it for a support. The Nomad Masters waited patiently for her response.

Whistler threw her head back and began to laugh maniacally as she walked past the Nomad Masters and down the hall. Her raucous laughter continued to echo through the halls as she walked away, out the door, only beginning to fade when she mounted her glider and vanished from the island, her laughter drifting away on the wind as she glided away. The airbenders stared after her for a while. Though he had been silent thus far, Meelo finally turned his head to Jinora.

"You know, I don't think she's going to take the job," Meelo said.

"Shut up, Meelo."

The Story of the Old Masters

"I wish I was kidding, I honestly do," Moldun said loudly. He slammed his cup down against the table. "The entire Spirit World, so huge and so dangerous it hasn't been mapped yet, and I happened to bump into the Avatar and his little band."

"If I didn't know the Avatar better I wouldn't believe you," Yakkul said, before taking another drink. He and the other senior members of the White Lotus had gathered for a drink. They were not under quite the same scrutiny as Sen and his friends, so they could afford to cut loose.

"The most foolish part is I didn't even realize it," Moldun said with a sigh. "I get out of the Spirit World and I radio Ko Rin, tell him 'hey, we should think about recruiting these kids'. He yells back at me right away 'You idiot! That was the Avatar!'"

"Well that's what you get for running off the Spirit World for so many years," Granny Loqo chided him. "I knew right away when the Avatar found his way to me."

"And Zas, of course, went looking for him," Moldun said. "Breaking how many of our rules, was it?"

"None of them, technically," Zas said defensively. "I didn't give him any clue about the White Lotus existing."

"No, you just asked him for help on a case you were too dumb to solve," Yakkul joked. There was an unspoken agreement that Zas was going to be given a hard time tonight.

"Are you all ganging up on me for a reason," Zas said. Even after a few drinks he was smart enough to recognize a conspiracy at work.

"Oh, no reason at all," Moldun said. "Only that you couldn't find the Avatar in one of two places he'd ever lived."

Yakkul's home and Hayao's island were the only two places that the Avatar had spent more than a day, and yet when Zas had gone searching for the Avatar in the days before Hanjo's rescue, he had never checked with Hayao. It had worked out in the end, but that wasn't going to stop them from giving Zas a hard time about it. A so-called master detective should never miss such an obvious lead.

"Oh har har har," Zas said mockingly. "I know none of you would've wanted to go to Hayao's either."

"I s'pose that's fair," Moldun admitted. "That masked freak gives me the creeps."

Though this fact was being ignored in favor of Mocking Zas, nobody would have though to ask either of the people Sen had gone to for help in the Fire nation. Hayao and Sorikami had both turned down Ko Rin's invitations to join the new White Lotus. Sorikami had turned down the invitation due to her paranoia of metalbenders; she never would have trusted Ko Rin. Hayao, however, was harder to figure out.

"Got to wonder, myself," Yakkul said, taking another drink. "Why would he turn down all our offers to join, and then go help the Avatar anyway? I mean, we're the White Lotus, helping the Avatar is our whole thing."

"That man has been sitting on a rock for how long? I'm surprised he hasn't gone loony," Granny Loqo joked. She was significantly smaller and older, and the drink had gone to her head much faster.

"Don't underestimate Hayao," Yakkul cautioned. "Sorikami took him very seriously."

Moldun leaned back in his chair, clutching his glass tightly. A moment of silence fell over the table.

"He did help the Avatar quite a bit," Moldun mumbled. Hayao was an enigma, but one absolute certainty about the masked master was that he knew what he was doing.

Yakkul leaned forward onto the table and examined the bottle they were all sharing. He turned the brown glass in his hands over a few times.

"Maybe he knows something we don't," Detective Zas said quietly.

Amidst the cloud of slightly inebriated thought, a single chair at the table stood empty. Ko Rin had declined their invitation for a drink.

The Last Story

"You've become a fine Avatar," Bolin said. "Korra would be proud."

"I know," Sen said. "She told me so herself."

"Oh right, right," Bolin said, laughing slightly. The short laugh made him cough loudly. "I forget she lives in your head now."

Sen stood upright. Bolin was in a wheelchair now, so Sen had bent over to talk to him. It was about time for Bolin to be leaving, though, and Sen needed to be on his way as well.

"Goodbye, Bolin," Sen said, with a slight echo to his voice. He was speaking for two.

"Goodbye, Sen," Bolin said. "Take care of yourself."

Sen nodded and walked away quietly. He was not surprised at all to see Suda rushing up. He waved to Bolin's driver to hesitate slightly. Suda barely looked at Sen as he ran towards his old hero.

"Bolin! Bolin," Suda paused slightly to gasp for breath. "You're leaving? Why?"

Even as Suda asked for answers, he could see it plain as day. Just a few weeks ago anyone would have said that Bolin was surprisingly spry for his old age. Now he seemed withered. He took slow, shallow breaths, and rarely moved. His once squared shoulders slumped under the weight of fatigue.

"I'm going home, Suda," Bolin said.

"Hey, we- we're not finished," Suda said. He knew exactly what was happening, but he was desperate for it to be some other way. "The fight's not over! We've got to –we have to win."

Bolin's wrinkled face sank into a heavy frown, and then settled back to normal. There was still a far-off look in Bolin's eyes, but he seemed to be focused on the present for a moment.

"The fight never ends, Suda," he said.

Suda finally caught his breath and stood upright. He waited quietly for Bolin to continue.

"There's always another problem. Always another lunatic or tyrant waiting for their chance to ruin everything. We beat Sarin and someone else will need dealing with the next day."

Bolin fell silent then, and Suda had something he needed to say.

"I don't believe that," He protested. "There is always a way to win, you can't just give up."

"I'm not giving up," Bolin said. He had a slight smile on his face. "I've already won."

It was tiring to even turn his head, but Bolin did it anyway, turning to look at Suda. His faint smile broadened slightly.

"Do you want to know how you win a fight that never ends?"

Suda could feel a lump in his throat that he tried to choke down. He was afraid that speaking would make it worse, so he simply nodded. Bolin leaned in his wheelchair slightly, moving closer to Suda.

"You inspire someone else to keep fighting," Bolin said. "So that some kid on the streets learns what it means to be a hero. So that they keep on fighting when you can't."

Suda's red eyes spilled over into tears. Bolin nodded quietly.

"That's why I can go home, Suda. That's why I've won."

He reached out with a weak, gaunt hand and took hold of Suda's wrist.

"You are my victory."

Suda nodded, fighting back his tears. He wiped the bitter tears away from his eyes, clearing his vision as he felt Bolin release his wrist. He looked up and around at en empty street. Bolin was already gone.