First things first: (I'm the realest) I have the BEST FOLLOWERS. I cannot believe how many reviews this thing has racked up in just four chapters. And y'all are doing close readings and making predictions and sdkfjdkfjf;dddd it just makes me so happy. :') Again, huge thank-yous to my guest reviewers, you are all perfect. Second: we're gonna get into Bae's head HARDCORE, so I apologize if the paragraphs are formatted oddly. Onward!
When Kuvira had asked for the newspaper, it had been for two reasons, the first being that she had needed something to distract her from her situation and thoughts of her estranged fiancé. She had pitifully clung to any and all external stimuli, which made her change of cells all the worse; the brief glimpses of Baatar passing through the corridor were almost worth the sub-optimal conditions of her imprisonment. Her attempts to write always fell flat, ending with a crumpled, wasted sheet of paper or a bout of depression. Either way, she ended up pulling her knees to a chest, curling into a ball in the corner, and withdrawing into her mind to replay the memories of all her mistakes. The secondary reason for the paper had been to keep her connected to the world outside. It was too easy to lose track of time, and a time-stamped piece of paper was invaluable in a position like hers.
Sometimes, though, even a newspaper came at a cost. Apparently, this was another one of those times.
Immediately after her imprisonment, the press latched onto the story of the ambitious and beautiful young captain from Zaofu, who single-handedly restored balance to the Earth Kingdom and earned herself the title of interim president at the age of twenty-one. And then, almost gleefully, it followed her demise, mixing rumor with fact. She was portrayed as a savior fallen from grace, a dictator, and a temptress all in the same narrative, winning over states through intimidation, brutality, and any form of negotiation imaginable. If the tabloids were to be believed, she had seduced Baatar and convinced him to join her in her campaign for sovereignty, since she couldn't handle the technology and infrastructure alone.
It had made her blood boil as she read the lies, padded with claims from the various families of repute that she could remember from her time living with the Beifongs. Oh, they had always observed that she had been close with Baatar, they said. Oh, they knew Suyin and Baatar Sr. well, they too were prominent members of the Earth Kingdom, with the blood of nobles in their ancestry. Of course he couldn't have done any of it of his own volition; he was too besotted with his beautiful fiancée, his sole aim was to please her. It all sickened Kuvira; these people had never known the family intimately, and she was grateful that she didn't have to live with the lies bombarding her day in and day out. She pitied Suyin, forced to deal with the mess. Baatar's arrest was a blight on the Beifong name, but it all was attributed to her, the girl Suyin had generously taken in .
Still, it was worse for him, and the knowledge of that crippled her with guilt, at times. The most recent article she had read concerning herself and Baatar was sure to bring the gossip back to the forefront of the peoples' minds. He had apparently been photographed leaving the jail, and suddenly witnesses came crawling out of the woodwork, testifying that a day rarely passed that he did not stop by. The media speculated that he was there to see her, that she was using him again to hurry along her hearing, and that he was heartbroken and desperate to get her out. He was painted as a whipped, gullible fool, blinded by his love for the woman that tried to murder him, while she had only sought to consolidate her seat of power after the United Republic was conquered. All this, with the trial more than a year away? Kuvira asked herself. She grimaced, turning the page to see another photograph of Baatar leaving the building, his appearance haggard. She could imagine what the rags would say once the trial neared. "Perhaps his hope of another 'great uniting' is not lost-"
Kuvira tossed the paper aside in disgust, unable to finish the rest of the article. She wondered what the reaction would be if the press knew how little he had been in to see her, or that she had spoken to him all of two times during her stay in the jail. She laughed bitterly at the irony of it all and toyed with the ring on her finger, glad to at least have it back in her possession. It had taken nearly two months, but a combination of perfect behavior, soft entreaties, assurances of compliance, and a word from the lawyer had restored it to her at last. "They can't deny you your personal effects," Keisai had said, frowning when she had at last relaxed her pride enough to ask him for help. "What sort of ring is it?"
"A diamond with a fractal cut, mounted on a white gold band. The core is metal," she had admitted. "The plating is thick by all measures, but thin enough for me to still bend the core."
"He was too cheap to buy you a proper ring?" Keisai had said, amused. "I would think he'd have gone the platinum route, probably engraved with some overtly romantic integral-"
"He originally wanted to," Kuvira had snapped. "I had mentioned being able to size my own rings, and he humored me."
After that, the lawyer had made a case to the warden, insisting that the ring was too small to be used as a weapon, the plating too thick for her to sense the metal beneath, and impossible to be considered a risk. With such arguments against returning the ring effectively disbanded, she received it with her next meal, an addition that filled her more than the meal itself. For the first time in weeks, she ate with actual hunger, rather than from a dull feeling of obligation to keep her body alive. And when she finally had an opportunity to see him again after a series of disappointing visits from Keisai alone, he stayed. The silence was awkward, but not unpleasantly so, and she told herself that if he truly hated her, he would have left at the earliest chance. In many ways, Kuvira envied him. He had his work to distract him, his sister to entertain him, and his parents ready to support him were he ever to reach out. Another time, she would have had him, and Baatar alone had always been more than enough, but she was aware she had thrown that comfort away. Alone in her cell, the hours dragged by so slowly that she lost track of days, reminding herself of the passing time through mind games and timestamps ripped from newspapers. The highlights of her weeks became her briefing sessions with the lawyer and her time outside. They made her imprisonment bearable and perhaps kept her sane, though they came at a cost.
They blocked her chi before allowing her out, and the first time she had walked the prison grounds, hands cuffed in metal she could've otherwise torn apart, she thought she would scream from frustration. The earth beneath her feet was dead, her senses as muted as they were in the hellish wooden cell. At least there, she could vaguely feel the stone skeleton of the building deep beneath the heavy wooden boards. They hummed with life, even if she couldn't reach it. A maddening despair threatened to overtake her when she realized the earth beneath her feet no longer bore the magic for her that it always had. She had no intentions of escaping- such measures were wholly unnecessary, she had explained. Her own memories of that frantic panic nauseated her. Hindering her bending was only to be expected. Once she had finally come to terms with her imprisonment, concealing her depression and sporadic bouts of panic with increasing success, she could coldly assess the logic behind the security measures used.
Kuvira found comfort in wearing the ring, though it galled her. More than once, she had to remind herself that she had lost her right to wear it, literally vaporizing it with a blast from the spirit vine cannon. Still, she rationalized, it could be worse. There were upsides to her incarceration as well; she didn't have to face the world day after day as Baatar did, hated by the citizens of the United Republic as the right hand to a dictator and laughed at by the media as a lovesick fool. She could deal with the guards' remarks, but she doubted her capacity to handle the insults when they came en masse.
"Don't spend too long in there," she heard the guard say mockingly, and she straightened up. Keisai's entry was heralded by a brief 'you have a visitor' or a similar variant. "I've read the papers, pregnancy won't expedite her release."
She heard the visitor growl a scathing reply laced with profanity, and she became conscious of her heart pounding. The platinum locks clicked, the door swung open, and her sole visitor stepped into her cell, still scowling from the exchange with the guard. "Hello," she said, standing. "I wasn't expecting you."
"I wasn't expecting to be here either," he said, his voice tightly controlled, "but I'm here now."
Kuvira stayed frozen in her place, weighing the situation. Baatar never had spoken harshly to her before, even during their occasional arguments. With her he was always gentle, his voice soft and affectionate, hesitant to do anything he knew would make her upset. The most she had experienced before she had fired on him was cold disappointment, and that alone had unnerved her to the point of a tight hug and a heartfelt apology. Now, she was unsure of what to say. "Would you like to sit?" she said at last.
"No, I'm fine where I am." He paced the room, his hands clawed into fists, at last producing an article clipping and flinging it at her. "Have you read this?"
Kuvira raised an eyebrow, picking up the clipping and skimming it quickly. "No, but I read something similar. I get the news a couple of days late, you know-"
"This," he said, suddenly crossing the room and snatching it from her, "is entirely your fault."
"Baatar, I'm sorry-"
"The amount of trash they've written about me.. about my family.. it's absurd. And none of this would have happened," he added, crumpling the clipping and tossing it aside, "would have happened if it were not for you."
"Baatar, you're being unreasonable-"
"I'm being unreasonable?" he said incredulously. "I have tried to be as reasonable as possible. I tried to reason with you when I was taken hostage, and you nearly killed me. We could have been married by now, Kuvira! We could have been ruling the Earth Empire together, and now that imbecile is talking about dividing it into independent states and undoing what we spent three years putting together."
"I know, and I'm sorry-"
"Do you want to know what the last thing I said was?" Baatar said, his voice cold. "When you leveled the weapon, I said 'no, she wouldn't.' I thought you were reasonable, and I was wrong. Please, just this once, do not preach to me about reason."
"Are you happy now?" she snapped, her throat tight and tears pricking at her eyes. "Did you come in here to yell at me? I can tell you've had this pent up for a while, so go ahead, get it all out of your system now."
"How can I be happy?" he exploded. "I've been a complete fool for the past three years of my life. I estranged my family, my parents argue more than they ever have because of me, and I've ruined my reputation as a scientist and engineer before it ever really began! And on top of all that, my fiancée tried to murder me because she valued the state more than our relationship! Please tell me, what is there for me to be happy about?"
Though her initial reaction was to control the spillover of angry tears, Kuvira took note of a few key things, the first being that he hadn't blamed her for more than she had actually done. The second sparked a tiny glimmer of hope; he still referred to her as his fiancée. It very likely was out of habit, but she held onto it all the same. "You should be happy about a lot of things," she said firmly. "You helped countless suffering citizens of our country, even if the last year ended in disaster."
Baatar pinched the bridge of his nose. "I don't need you to try and-"
"You had your turn, so now it's mine," she said firmly. "Your family loves you," she continued, her voice cracking. "I know you've always felt out of place, but they'll be ecstatic once this is over and you're a free man again. Your parents are arguing because of me, so don't take that upon yourself, and if anything, the world knows how brilliant you are now more than it ever would have."
He sighed. "My colossus leveled downtown, Kuvira-"
"-and you're rebuilding it," she said. "They've seen what you're capable of, and they'll see the good you're capable of too. In those three years, you were free to work on your own projects and show the world your capacity. Our country has already seen enough, that's why the city of Ba Sing Se still flies our banners-"
"Your banners," he cut in. "Or haven't you read? I apparently didn't care about anything that we were doing, I was just desperately in love with you the whole time, hoping to get somewhere with you... they say that everything I did, I did to earn your favors, and that hopefully whatever we had will be worth the sanctions-"
"Don't say that," Kuvira said, eyes widening. "You know it's not true."
"I know that, but no one else wants to admit it," he said. "And it makes my blood boil, because it has just enough truth to it that anyone would believe it."
Baatar sat at last, resting his elbows on his knees and holding his head in his hands. Kuvira sat opposite him, her arms wrapped around her stomach. "Well, that's hardly my fault. If you had just said something to me after that dance recital, all of this would be a moot point."
They both laughed at that line after an awkward silence, and he raised his eyes to her, a combination of weariness and an emotion she couldn't discern in his expression. "Sometimes, I envy you... you don't have to deal with it on a regular basis. It's a different kind of prison, when you have to keep up appearances day to day, with this garbage constantly around you."
"I know," she said softly. "But being completely alone isn't any better. Do you know, they take away my bending when I go outside? Remember that time in Omashu, when I sprained my shoulder and couldn't bend for days?"
"As if I could forget," Baatar muttered. "You behaved as though you had been permanently crippled."
"Everything I touch is dead," Kuvira said. "This cell is dead wood, the fixtures are all platinum- the only thing in here that I can really feel is-" she caught herself, running her thumb over the ring in silence. She stopped as quickly as she had started, but not before Baatar had noticed.
"Yes," he said slowly. "You're wearing it again."
"I never wanted to take it off," she retorted. "No, Keisai was able to get it back to me. He pointed out that it was gold-plated, and the overlay was too thick for me to bend."
Baatar frowned. "But I bought it so you'd be able to size it for yourself."
She smiled tentatively. "I know. I told him. But that's how he convinced the warden." Kuvira drew in a shaky breath. "I know I've long since lost my right to wear it, but it..." Her voice trailed off, and she looked at her interlaced fingers, jaw working furiously as she swallowed her tears. "If you want it back, I'll understand."
He sighed. "I can't take it back, it's yours." He looked away from her, his eyes focused on something she could not see. "It's always belonged to you." He looked back at her, his eyes probing her face for a response, but she was mute, unsure of the best way to answer. "So," he said as she opened her mouth, "what should we do about these articles?"
"There isn't anything that we can do," Kuvira said bitterly. "People love intrigue, and they'll believe what they want. Talk to Keisai about it, he'll likely have a suggestion."
Baatar nodded, standing. "He likely will. What do you think of him?" he asked suddenly, tipping his head to the side.
"He's very smart," she said thoughtfully, "sly in a manner befitting a lawyer, and personable. He puts people at ease surprisingly well." She shrugged. "I approve of how he's handling my case, but I can't say much beyond that."
"He's excellent at what he does," he agreed, tone halting. "He's also insane."
Kuvira nodded, smiling slightly. "An accurate assessment." She stood too, only a few steps from him, disappointed that the meeting had apparently concluded. "How's the rebuilding coming?"
"We're making good progress," he said shortly, taking a step towards her. "Here, give me a pen..." For a moment it was like nothing had changed, and Kuvira watched as he sketched out the new expansion of the city, the way roads would run through the less dense networks of vines, and his plan to create a lighting system based on design for clean energy he had made for the colossus. She enjoyed listening to his explanations, even though much of the physics and math behind it went over her head, and she loved the way his eyes lit up and his voice grew animated when he described one of his new ideas. "I also had an idea for a new sort of automatic weapon," he confessed, "but that would violate the terms of my conditional release."
"One day you can try again," she said, her authoritative tone fading as she realized he was observing her. She hadn't noticed their increasing proximity but now, tipping her head back to hold his gaze, she realized how much she had missed it. His hands quivered and he fidgeted for a moment, only abruptly turn away. Impulsively, she grabbed his arm and quelled the old rise of anxiety. "Do you have to go?"
"Yes," Baatar said, glancing at the door. "There's actually a lot that I should have been doing.."
"Then go." Kuvira reluctantly let go of his arm, observing him touch the sleeve that had just been in her hands. "Will you...?"
"Probably," he admitted, pausing. "Keisai finds it efficient to go over both cases simultaneously when he can."
The words stung, but she kept a neutral expression. "Of course." As he left, she realized he had left his sketch behind. She folded it tightly and pocketed it, sinking back into her chair with the discarded newspaper turned to the article about protests by Earth Empire loyalists.
o0o
The return of the avatar was heralded by a newly energized nightlife in Republic City, and Keisai waited for his chance to meet her with the anticipation of a child expecting an extravagant gift. Iroh had spoken highly of Avatar Korra, having told him how she had saved his life four years ago when Amon threatened Republic City. His client also owed the avatar her life, and spoke of her with an obvious respect in her voice when Korra's name came up. He was pleased to hear that Korra had paid Kuvira a visit before her departure to the spirit world. A potential charge of attempted homicide against the avatar would seem harsher to the judges if the living symbol of peace and balance spoke forgivingly of his client.
A series of phone calls and dashed expectations finally came to fruition when he was granted an audience with Korra by Master Tenzin. "I'd like to cut to the formal interview as soon as possible," Keisai was saying, making a note of the proposed date and time. "Yes, of course she'll want to catch up with her family first- two weeks works." He heard the knock at the door. "It's open! Thanks, Tenzin. Looking forward to meeting all of you."
"I have something for you," Baatar said, brandishing a heavy envelope.
"A declaration of your undying devotion?" Keisai said delightedly. "No? The documents I asked you for two weeks ago? Outstanding! I actually was about to head out to pick up a copy of her contract for interim president soon, but that can wait."
"I think you'll be pleasantly surprised," Baatar said, moving a stack of papers from the chair to the floor and sitting, his ankle resting on his knee. "Food orders, prisoner stats, a layout blueprint- everything you could need, essentially."
Keisai pulled out the records excitedly, reading through with the calculating spark in his eyes that Baatar was now familiar with. "Excellent," he muttered. "Am I allowed to mark these up?"
"I made two copies for that purpose," Baatar replied, smiling.
Keisai mirrored his expression. "Now you're starting to get it." He read through a second time more slowly, making careful notes in the margins and on a separate sheet of paper, clipping it to the file as soon as he finished. "This will help her immensely," he said triumphantly, "and you as well. I don't care how much you actually know, okay? For the trial, if you didn't co-sign it, you didn't know anything about it."
"That seems dishonest."
"That can come with the profession," Keisai conceded, "but it didn't bother you before. Either way, thank you for being honest about the living conditions."
Baatar pointed to a different paper. "There's a list of names for the corporals in charge of each camp, and I thought you'd want to question them as direct witnesses. You have the orders here for no force or cruelty to be used unless absolutely necessary, so if the prosecution tries to use their testimony as evidence-"
"I like the way you're thinking, man," Keisai said with approval. "Well done. Are you okay though? You look like crap."
Baatar scowled, glaring at the lawyer from behind his glasses. "Yes, working extended hours and dealing with a constant barrage of drivel from the tabloids about my personal life while listening to lewd comments about my relationship with Kuvira will do wonders for my complexion."
"Okay," Keisai said, standing. "We're not going to talk about this now. You've been lauded in the papers for the work you've done on the expansion downtown, and when I set up my interview with Varrick he spoke highly of your work. Grudgingly, but complimentary all the same. The idea for the vine lights and expanding the tour route has really taken off, and I saw your blueprint for the new city hall-"
"That was private! We haven't begun the interior yet!"
"-anyway, my point is you've earned a break," the lawyer said, waving his protestations away. "It's the weekend. You desperately need to get out of the house. What's your favorite drink? I pacified your mother, that warrants a celebration!"
Baatar stared. "You can't be serious."
"Fine, don't tell me," Keisai said. "I probably already know, anyway."
"You're insane," he spat. "Did you say you pacified her? How did you do it?"
"Not insane, my friend," the man said with a wink as he grabbed his wallet from the foot of the bed, pointedly ignoring the question. "Unprofessional? Perhaps. Good at what I do? I like to think so. Devilishly good-looking? Without a doubt-"
"Completely insufferable. And we aren't friends."
Keisai patted his cheek, causing Baatar to growl as he slapped him away. "You'll get used to it. Let's go."
o0o
"You have a phone call," the guard said, pushing the receiver through the platinum grate.
Kuvira frowned, taking the phone and pausing before she brought it to her ear. She doubted Baatar would call so soon, and Keisai preferred to pop in without warning. "Hello?"
"This is to inform you that the Earth Empire remains loyal to you," a human voice distorted by metal apparatus said in a low tone. "Wu may have ascended the throne, but we have not forgotten who reunited the country. All hail the Great Uniter." The line went dead.
Kuvira hung up, returning the phone to the guard. "If that caller tries to reach me again, I will not take the call," she said, taking a seat on the cot. A tiny part of her national pride felt ignited, but it was outweighed by a grim sense of foreboding and cold disgust.
A/N: DUN DUN DUNNNNN. If anyone predicted this I bow down, you are a genius and just can't surprise you. Also, Chief Baefong will be back next chapter. I missed her. ;)
In case time frame was hard to follow in this chapter, Kuvira's opening sequence was sort of catching us up to all that jail time we weren't privy to. It's not worth dragging out a sad Kuvira longer than necessary. BAE IS BACK and while she's still depressed, she's done moping about it. Let me know your theories for the next chapter in the reviews- I simply adore reading them! I hope y'all had a happy holiday season, and for my Christian readers, a belated Merry Christmas to all of you!
