Omashu looks no better than Gaoling did. There is nowhere to land an airship in the city, so they land outside the gates. Opal and Mako have been over their quick escape plan a hundred times. If the crowd gets too wild, Opal will clear a circle around Wu and Kuvira with airbending, the way she and Jinora did for Korra outside of Zaofu, and Mako will ward off anyone who tries to attack them with fire. They do not want to hurt civilians; doing so would probably make the situation worse, but they cannot let any harm come to Wu, and Opal does not want to think about what could happen if the resistance gets their hands on Kuvira.

Su is still on the airship. She insists that, as Kuvira's well-known nemesis, her presence would only make the situation worse, and after what happened in Gaoling, Opal reluctantly agrees.

They walk two-by-two into the city, Mako and Wu in front, Opal with Kuvira two steps behind them. Omashu looks awful. Planks of wood from destroyed stands are scattered in the streets. There are empty holes in the sides of buildings where bricks have been pulled free. Opal does not want to think about how ruined Gaoling must look by now.

"Keep your eyes forward," Kuvira mutters to her out of the corner of her mouth. "It projects strength."

"We don't need to look strong," Opal argues. "We just need to look sincere."

To her frustration, Kuvira chuckles. "I wouldn't have stabilized Ba Sing Se when I was twenty-four by looking sincere. Do you think these people care what you want to do? They care what you're going to do." Opal clenches her teeth to keep from firing back a retort. Kuvira is probably right, and it annoys her to no end. After all, Kuvira is the one who is genuinely charismatic and politically savvy. Kuvira is the only one who has done this before.

They climb the steps to the palace to make their speeches. Kuvira introduces Wu almost the exact same way she did in Omashu, and then the Prince speaks. At first, Opal thinks it might actually be okay. An anxious murmur ripples through the crowd when Wu announces his plan to break up the Earth Kingdom, and Opal spots a few people walking away, but a riot does not nearly break out on the spot the way it did in Gaoling. It makes sense, Opal supposes. Omashu has always been more independent than most of the rest of the Earth Kingdom. They had their own king for hundreds of years, up until very recently. Under Wu's plan, day-to-day life will not change much for them.

Then Kuvira steps forward again to call and end to the violence, and the crowd seems to be listening. At the beginning at least. "You're lying!" Someone calls from the back of the crowd when she is barely a minute into her speech. "They're making you say that!" calls another from somewhere else. Plants, Opal realizes. They are plants to incite the crowd. They are part of Kuvira's resistance.

Kuvira plows onward. She seems entirely unfazed by the singular hecklers. And then two men and a woman slightly left of the center of the crowd begin to chant.

Free Kuvira! Free Kuvira! Free Kuvira!

The other hecklers join in. It does not seem like it will spread at first, but then the voices grow. Mako shoots her a side look. She glances forward. Kuvira does not look nervous, but that is not surprising, Kuvira is trying to project strength. Kuvira has probably buried any anxiety she is feeling. The crowd is growing louder and louder, angrier and angrier. Opal thinks that they are moving toward the steps, or maybe it is just her mind playing tricks on her. Waiting to find out does not seem like a good idea. She gives Mako a quick nod. He shoves the Prince at her and rushes forward, in front of Kuvira. With a twist of her hands, Opal summons a rush of air around them, smaller and weaker than on the one she and Jinora conjured, but she hopes it will be sufficient. The air encompasses Kuvira, and she twists around.

"What are you doing?" she demands. "I had the situation under control."

"No you didn't," Opal answers. "Did you see them? There was no way they were going to let you finish."

Kuvira shakes her head. "You're too jumpy for this job. You have to stay level-headed. Now we look like we're running."

"We are," Opal replies. Outside the wind circle, Mako lights his hands. "Come on. Stay with me." Kuvira rolls her eyes, but nevertheless, she grabs the Prince by the arm and follows Opal through the crowd.

They make it back through the city. On both sides, bricks are flying through windows and buildings are going up in flames. Prince Wu whimpers, his arm still locked securely in Kuvira's hand. Mako bends a ball of flame toward a rioter who runs at them with a rusted pipe. A wave of relief washes through Opal as they approach the city gates.

"How did it go?" Su asks anxiously as soon as they are back on the airship. Opal and Mako are panting. Wu looks like he is about to pass out. Opal doubts that Kuvira's heartrate is even elevated.

"It started out okay," the airbender explains. "But then some people started chanting and agitated the rest of the crowd."

"I was pulled out prematurely," Kuvira growls. "I could have roped them back in—"

"No you couldn't have," Mako interrupts. "Those people were plants. They were dissenters, and they were there to make sure the crowd got worked up so no one would take your speech seriously. There's nothing you could have done.'

Opal turns to her mother. "I thought so too."

Su sighs. "Well, I can't say I'm surprised. I told Tenzin and Lin this plan wouldn't work. We'll just have to go back to Republic City and work out something else."

"But what else are we going to do, Mom?" Opal asks, her brow creased in concern. "They'll go in with an army next. We can't let them do that."

"Again," Wu mutters under his breath, shooting Kuvira a mistrustful look.

"I don't know, Opal," Su answers. "We'll just have to figure it out when we get there, but I'm sure Tenzin won't support sending an army in, and if what happened a month ago is any indication, the Fire Nation won't agree to assist in an invasion either. I don't think President Raiko will take the United Republic to war alone."

"Well, if you don't mind, I'm going to go enjoy my last hours of freedom," Kuvira announces. Opal watches her descend into the ship without another word.

"Mako, why don't you go do the control check," Su suggests. "The walls should at least keep the rioters in, and if they don't, we'll see them coming. There's no hurry. Opal, Prince Wu, we'll take off by sundown. Don't leave the ship."


"It's my turn to tell a story this time," Korra announces as she and Asami make camp near a small, glistening pond. The sky is fading into blues and purples. Asami does not think she will ever get used to how beautiful it is here.

They set down their bags closer to each other than they did the night before, close enough that Asami can comfortably reach out and rest her hand on Korra's upper arm. Korra grins over at her, covering Asami's hand with her own and squeezing before placing it back on her stomach.

"This is going to be about the first time I went camping," the Avatar continues. "I was seven."

"That's older than I expected you to be," Asami comments.

"Well, I was almost kidnapped by the Red Lotus when I was four, so my parents were kind of protective of me after that." Korra shrugs. "I wasn't allowed to leave the compound."

"Oh right, I almost forgot about the whole… kidnapping thing," Asami admits. "So what happened when you were seven. Why did they suddenly decide it was okay for you to leave?"

"They didn't. I ran away," Korra answers, and Asami laughs.

"Why I am not surprised?"

"Well, the White Lotus was," Korra continues. "I was just starting to learn earthbending—well, to get trained in earthbending, I'd been able to do it for a while—and my instructor was just… I don't know, he was so uptight. He just made me practice standing and being rooted to the ground all day, and he wouldn't even teach me any forms, which just made me angry because I already knew how to earthbend, so clearly standing the right way wasn't a problem." She sighs. "Sometimes I wonder what my training would have been like if I'd been able to travel the world to learn the elements like all the other Avatars. I bet Su would have been a great earthbending teacher. I could have lived in Zaofu. It would have been awesome."

"Your parents were just trying to keep you safe," Asami reminds her. "And, to be fair, you and Aang are the only two Avatars who started learning the other elements before you turned sixteen."

"I know," Korra groans. "I understand. It's just frustrating. I was the only Avatar who was raised in a compound. Even Aang got to travel, and he had an entire nation trying to kill him. Why me?"

Asami smiles sadly. "You'll drive yourself crazy trying to figure out the answer to that question. Trust me."

Korra leans over to press a kiss to her cheek before going on. "So anyway, I decided I was done with that, and one night after dinner, I pretended I was going to bed early and I climbed out the window and bent a hole in the wall, and I left."

"You just set off across the South Pole?" Asami asks, her eyes wide.

"Yeah," Korra answers, as if that is the most normal thing in the world for a seven-year-old to do. Perhaps when you can bend three out of four elements, it is. "I took a change of clothes and some food, wrapped it up in a sheet, and dragged it across the tundra. Eventually I found this cave… sort of. It was more of a crevice in a cliff side. There was this baby polar bear dog inside all alone. I used my bending to make a fire and told her a ghost story, which, I don't know, I think she enjoyed, and then we curled up together and went to sleep."

"Naga?" Asami gasps, and Korra nods.

"Anyway, I guess my parents thought it was kind of suspicious that I went to bed early without complaining, so they went to check on me, and when I wasn't there, they got the White Lotus. It didn't take them long to find the track I left when I was dragging all my supplies. I remember my dad pulling me out of the crevice in the middle of the night. I almost burned him because I didn't know what was happening. I was thought I was being kidnapped by a snow monster or something."

"A snow monster?" Asami repeats, suppressing a laugh.

"I was seven," Korra replies defensively, with a light shove to Asami's shoulder.

"So what happened with Naga?" she asks. "How did you end up keeping her?"

"She followed us back to the compound," Korra answers. "My parents weren't sure at first, but I think they eventually saw the benefit of me having a pet that could tear someone apart. Once it was clear she wasn't going to do that to me."

"You made it sound like you'd been camping a lot," Asami comments.

"I have," the Avatar explains. "After that, my parents realized I needed to get out of the compound occasionally. They took me on some camping trips. We went fishing. When I was older, they started letting me take Naga out on my own. Once I was the same age Aang was when he fought the Fire Lord, it was hard for the White Lotus to argue that I couldn't handle taking a walk by myself."

"Where was Katara in all this?"

Korra sighs. "I don't know if she was ever really for keeping me isolated. I guess after the Red Lotus tried to kidnap me, there wasn't much of a choice, but she understood my frustration. Apparently I reminded her of Lord Zuko when he was younger. I was never sure if that was good or bad."

"It's nice that you had someone you could talk to," Asami says. "Being alone can be hard."

Korra frowns. "Are you talking from experience?"

Asami shrugs. "I was the only child of a widower. I'm not exactly new to overprotective parents. I told you, my dad signed me up for self-defense training when I was pretty young." She grimaces. "In hindsight, he might have hoped I would eventually use it to help him rid the world of benders…"

"He loved you," Korra assures her. "He just lost track of that for a while." Her mindset has changed remarkably since Hiroshi died, and Asami cannot help but wonder if it is sincere or if Korra is simply telling her what will make her feel better because there is no longer a chance that he can hurt them.

"How far are we from Koh?" she asks, changing the subject.

"Well, I don't know exactly where he is," Korra admits. "But I sort of recognized the area in one of the drawings, and we're headed that way. Probably another day."

"Okay," Asami yawns. "Wake me up if you need anything.. I'm serious, Korra. I want to help you."

Korra sighs. "Fine. But the same goes for you. If you're awake, I want to be awake too."

Asami nods. "That sounds fair." It sounds balanced. "Goodnight, Korra." She falls asleep with her hand still resting on the Avatar's arm.


Mako runs onto the bridge only minutes after takeoff with the words, "Su, there's a problem."

"What is it?" Su asks, turning around. They have run checks on all their systems and took off without a hitch. None of the rioters even left the city. She cannot imagine what could be going wrong, but, to be honest, she is not particularly surprised that something is.

"We can't find Kuvira," Mako answers, out of breath. "Her chambers look… well, they don't look good."

"Come on" Su does not wait for him to say another word. She brushes past him off the bridge and hurries down two decks to the room where Kuvira has been staying. Opal is standing in the middle of the floor looking angry but completely baffled. The room itself is a mess. The blankets have all been pull from the bed and strewn across the room, the mattress is crooked on its frame, and one of the legs has been broken off of the bedside table and is nowhere in sight.

"What happened here?" she murmurs.

"That's what we're trying to figure out," Mako answers. "These are signs of a struggle, and Kuvira is nowhere to be found, but we sealed up the airship as soon as we brought her back."

"Mom, Mako, look at this," Opal calls. She crouches beside the overturned beside table and pushes it out of the way. "The vent."

"Yeah, what about it?" Mako asks as he makes his way over.

"The screws are loose," the airbender replies. "And the plate is dented. She must have crawled through it."

"I don't think she crawled," Mako sighs. Opal turns to look at him. "I think she was dragged."

"You think she was kidnapped?" Opal raises her eyebrows. "She knew she was about to go back to prison. She had every reason to escape, especially in a city where her resistance is so powerful. She probably metalbent the screws back into place when she was in the vent so we wouldn't figure out what happened right away. It all makes sense."

"Opal, look at this room," Mako argues. "There was clearly a fight."

"She could have done it herself to throw us off her trail," Opal insists.

"Opal," Su speaks for the first time since she first entered the room. "I know you don't trust Kuvira, and you have a good reason not to, but I think Mako is right. Tearing the room apart would have cost her time. If she'd left the room untouched, she could have put more distance between herself and the ship before we realized she was missing, and it would have taken us longer to figure out that something was wrong."

"And if she was planning on escaping and joining the resistance, she probably wouldn't have protected Wu when we were leaving Omashu," Mako adds. "Staging another coup would be a lot easier if he'd died."

"Then who do you think did this?" Opal asks tersely, crossing her arms.

"The resistance," Mako answers. "They probably thought if they freed her, she would serve as their leader again."

"They were probably right," Opal mutters.

"We have to go back to the city," Su decides. "Once we get back there, it won't take long to find out if Kuvira has taken charge again. And we need to radio Tenzin. He'll get the word to President Raiko and the rest of the world leaders. Mako, have you seen Prince Wu since we took off?"

"He's asleep in his royal chambers," Mako answers with a roll of his eyes.

"Go make sure he's alright," Su tells him. "I want him with one of us at all times until we find out what happened. I'm going to find out if Lin can bring another airship down from Republic City to pick him up. I don't like having the only heir to the Earth Kingdom's throne in the middle of an anti-monarchial rebellion."

Su runs a hand through her hair as Mako leaves. Hesitantly, Opal takes a step forward. "This wasn't your fault, Mom."

Su shakes her head. "Kuvira was released to me. She was my responsibility."

"And if it was up to you, we'd be back in Republic City and she'd be in prison right now," Opal answers. "Tenzin and Aunt Lin pushed you to bring her here."

Su nods, but it is not just guilt that she is struggling with. As confused as she is by it, she is worried about Kuvira. She knows that it is unlikely the resistance will kill her, but if Kuvira refuses to reclaim her position, they could use force to persuade her. Su raised Kuvira, and even if she admits to herself that she never really thought of her as a daughter, she is worried like a mother would be.


By the time they sit down to eat, Korra and Asami have climbed down into a canyon and crossed a wide river with water so red that it looks like blood. "Do you remember when we were looking for Xai Bau's Grove?" Korra asks as they settle down under a tree near the river's edge. "And then we realized it was in the spirit world?"

"When we had that stakeout at the Misty Palms Oasis right before the Earth Queen's forces caught up to us," Asami recalls. "Of course. How could I forget?"

"Well, this is it," Korra gestures around them. "This is where I met Zaheer. Right under this tree."

"Oh." The engineer's eyes widen. "Do you want to go somewhere else?"

Korra shakes her head. "I think it will be nice to actually have some good memories here." Asami smiles at her, and it is infectious.

Xai Bau's grove is strangely beautiful, Korra realizes now. The sky is a warm orange, and it reflects through the leaves on the trees to make them look like they are glowing a deep red. She understands why it appealed to Zaheer. It produces a strong feeling of connection with nature. It exudes tranquility. Korra imagines that must be exactly what a deeply spiritual man who spent thirteen years in a stone prison would want.

Asami spreads jam on a slice of bread and hands it to her. "I had a dream last night." Korra looks at her with interest, but she knits her brows together when she sees Asami's frown. "It was a nightmare."

"I told you to wake me up," Korra reminds her.

"I didn't wake up," Asami explains. "I wish I had."

"So…" Korra picks at her bread. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Asami sighs heavily. "It was about my father." Korra should have known. "I dreamed that he had one of those chi blocker gloves, like the one I kept, surgically implanted into my hand, so that any time I touched someone, it chi blocked them, but then my hand started trying to strangle me, and my father was laughing about it. He kept telling me that my hand could sense that I'd turned against our cause, so I went to you for help, but as soon as you touched my hand to try to get it off me, your bending was gone."

"That sounds… disturbing," Korra comments, at a loss for what else to say. Her own nightmares are not much better. It is unnerving how a person's mind can turn against them in sleep, when they are at their most vulnerable.

"And then when I woke up I was angry at myself for dreaming about him that way, because he did the right thing in the end."

"He saved us," Korra agrees, reaching out to take Asami's hand. "But you can't help what you dream about." She recalls a particularly terrifying night in the South Pole when she dreamed that Zaheer had killed Tenzin and was wearing his skin as a disguise to get close to her.

"Usually I'm just watching him die," Asami explains. "It's never the same way he actually died, but I always see it happen, and it always looks painful. This was worse."

"Asami, how often do you have nightmares?" Korra asks. Of course the engineer has mentioned them before, and even if she hadn't, Korra would have assumed, but she has never made it sound this troubling. Everyone knew what Korra was going through after her fight with Zaheer. Asami has been nearly silent.

She shrugs. "I don't know. Every other night?"

"What? Why didn't you tell me?" Korra cries.

"It didn't seem important."

"Asami, you just gave me a lecture about this yesterday," Korra points out, and Asami drops her eyes.

"I know," she answers. "I didn't keep it from you on purpose. This was the first one I've had since we… got together, and it just never really seemed like something I needed to mention before. I wasn't waking up screaming or anything. It just made going to sleep kind of unpleasant."

Korra squeezes her hand and offers her a smile. "Well, I'm glad I know," she replies. "You'll have them less often as time goes on. I bet everyone's having nightmares right now. We've all be through a lot. You're father died in front of you, Mako was electrocuted, Ikki and Meelo saw Tenzin and Jinora get struck down in mid-flight…"

"It's amazing that we all came out of it alive," Asami agrees. "And if we're all adults, I can imagine what Aang and his friends must have gone through after they ended the war."

"Katara told me she used to have nightmares," Korra answers. "One time I fell asleep in her healing hut because I was up all night the night before, and when she woke me up, I panicked. Once she calmed me down, she told me about it. She said she used to have nightmares about Princess Azula." Asami tilts her head and Korra continues. "You know, because Katara took over for Lord Zuko after he was struck by lightning during their agni kai. Apparently, Princess Azula was already pretty unhinged when they arrived, but when Katara defeated her, she completely fell apart and started sobbing and shrieking and breathing fire. Katara said she heard Princess Azula crying in her dreams for years afterward." She wraps her arm around the engineer's shoulders. "You're not alone."

"Thank you," Asami answers. "But I hope this doesn't last years. I don't know how many more times I can watch him die. I don't know how many more times I can see him the way he was with the equalists."

"I didn't know how many more times I could face Zaheer," Korra answers. "I never wanted to sleep again, and I bet Katara didn't either, but you get through it. It gets easier with time."

Asami nods. She glances at the barely touched slice of bread in Korra's hand. "Eat your lunch. We should get moving again."


Kuvira is being carried somewhere. That is the first thing she registers when she regains consciousness. The second is a blinding pain in her shoulder.

She is slung over someone's shoulder, staring at the ground. It is dark, and she thinks they are inside. She moves to call the earth into an attack, but nothing happens. Instead, she feels the sudden nothingness that comes with missing a step in the dark. It hurts to move her left arm.

Suddenly, she is falling. She lands on her back on something soft. A bed. This room is brighter, the wall lined with eerie green crystals. For the first time, she gets a look at the man who was carrying her. He is well-muscled and wearing a green shirt that looks like it was probably nice when it was new with white pants. The only thing that distinguishes him from the everyday citizens of Omashu is a crudely-bent metal shoulder guard, the kind her soldiers used to wear. He is a member of the resistance. Kuvira is certain.

The woman accompanying him is dressed similarly. Her clothing is the same color, but her shoulder guard looks better made. She is wearing a bulky brown glove with wires sticking out of it in strange places. It looks familiar, but Kuvira cannot quite place it.

There is another woman standing on the opposite side of the bed, who Kuvira thinks must have already been here, because she only heard two sets of footsteps before. She is nearly as tall as the man, slim and clean cut, her hair pulled back into a tight bun. She looks young but severe. Kuvria cannot help but admire it.

"Hello, Great Uniter," the woman says. "My name is Ling Dao. I am the head of your resistance. We're here to help you retake the Earth Kingdom."

Kuvira shakes her head. "I don't want to retake the Earth Kingdom. What did your people do to my shoulder?"

Ling Dao reaches across the bed and holds up the other woman's wrist. "This is a chi blocker glove. It allows us to temporarily take a person's bending. I'm sure Shou didn't want to do it. You must not have given her a choice. I told her to take you at all costs. Unfortunately for you, it uses electricity to block your chi, so it comes with a bit of a… jolt."

"When will I be able to bend again?" Kuvira growls. She feels naked without her bending. Helpless and vulnerable. She can fight in hand to hand combat if she needs to, but her best resource has been stripped from her.

"Soon," Ling Dao answers. "Now, I know you had to say some things to get yourself out of prison. We all understand that, but this isn't a trick. I wasn't hired by Suyin Beifong to find out if you were telling the truth. I really am here for you. I work for you. We want to give you the Earth Nation back."

Kuvira clenches her teeth. The offer is… tempting. More so than she would like to admit.

"The Prince is incompetent. We all know that," Ling Dao continues. "Even the other world leaders know it. And his plan to break up a nation that has been together since the beginning of time is just as brainless as he is. We should be united as one people, just was the other nations are." Kuvira bites the inside of her cheek. "I know you believe that, Great Uniter. It was your entire cause."

"My cause was wrong," Kuvira answers. She no longer knows what to think about a lot of things since Avatar Korra saved her life, but this is one thing of which she is certain. "What I said in Gaoling was true. One person can never hold so much power without becoming corrupted. I am proof of that."

"You were doing what needed to be done," Ling Dao assures her. "You needed to pull all of the provinces together. The dissenters would have fallen into line if the other world leaders had given them time to see the good you were doing."

Kuvira would like to believe it. She wants to blame President Raiko and Tenzin and Prince Wu and Fire Lord Izumi and the Avatar for the way things ended up. It would certainly be easier, but she cannot because she does not like the person she became, and there is no one she can blame for that except herself.

"That's not true," she insists, though it is one of the harder things she has done in her life. "I started out with a noble goal, to make sure my people were taken care off. The early provinces welcomed me, but as time went on, the Earth Nation began to stabilize on its own. The later provinces that I acquired were resistant. They didn't want some stranger coming in and taking everything they built themselves. I understand that, but I was so focused on my ambition by that time that I didn't care. I wanted the Earth Nation united under myself, whether it wanted to be or not. I meant what I said in Gaoling," she repeats. "I started my mission as a uniter, but I ended it as a conqueror, and I am against conquerors."

"Great Uniter," Ling Dao perches herself on the edge of the mattress and reaches for Kuvira's knee. "I want you to understand that we want you at our head, but this revolution is going to happen whether you agree to it or not. We don't want to, but we are prepared to move without you."

"That would be a mistake," Kuvira protests. "The Prince wants to implement elected leaders who can respond to the needs of the people in their province. Doesn't that sound more efficient than one person trying to make decisions on behalf of the entire continent?"

Ling Dao stands up swiftly. "They've brainwashed you."

"No, they haven't," Kuvira assures her. "I just had some time to think while I was in prison. I still want what's best for the Earth Nation. I just know now that that isn't me."

"If you're not brainwashed, you've become weak," Ling Dao snarls in disgust. "Perhaps some more time will make you reconsider. You've been many things Kuvira, but never weak. You've always had the intelligence to know what needed to be done and the courage to make it happen. The people of the Earth Kingdom don't want this, and they are waiting for someone to stand up for them. You can be that person, Great Uniter. Or you can step aside and allow someone else to do it like Suyin Beifong did. The choice is yours. Who do you want to be?"

She turns and leaves the room. "Chi block her again," she calls from down the tunnel. "We don't want her bending her way out."

As Kuvira clenches her teeth and prepares for the shock, she tells herself that Ling Dao was right. She has the intelligence to know what needs to be done. She has the courage to make it happen. And that is what she is doing.

She pinches her mouth shut, and as she glove touches her back, her body shakes and her world goes black.


A/N: As some of you may know, has been struggling for the past day, and this is the first I've been able to get into my account since yesterday evening, so that's why the chapter is so late.

Okay, so we're into the good stuff for the Earth Nation crew now. There are good things coming up guys, so stick around and please, please, please drop me a review. The last chapter got half the reviews that Chapter 3 did. Nothing I posted last week did very well, so I'm guessing some of it has to do with people just not being online, but I can't stress enough how helpful your feedback is to the creative process. I'm not threatening to withhold chapters for reviews or anything, because I think that's kind of a dick move, and I promised myself I would never be that person, but reviews do make it a lot easier to sit down and write. My apologies if you're reading Fate Is Cruel and you already heard all of this on Wednesday. Thanks to everyone who does review. I look forward to hearing from you.