Amon's story went on in the small, empty room in the dockside district. It was hard, for Hiroshi and the Lieutenant, to make the connection between a boy named Noatak and the man sitting in front of them. Amon… was the mask. And the wondrous power to strip away bending. Thinking of him as a person, rather than an idea, was difficult.

"After leaving Republic City, I became a drifter. I wandered, without purpose, for years. There was a great desire burning in me, to fix the world's mistakes. To enact the justice that the Avatar refused to consider. But what could I do? I had no notion of where to start. It is possible my quest for enlightenment would never have begun, had it not been for a chance meeting."

Years had passed since Noatak left the Republic City, burning with anger at the Avatar. He was a grown man now. His skin had darkened, and he kept his hair longer, tying it back. His shoulders were broad and his posture imposing, and he was dressed in a drab grey coat with a hood. Years of hard living left him some scars. He was currently stretched on a bench in a small jail cell in a dingy, poorly-maintained jail situated in an altogether forgettable Fire Nation town. Then, someone entered.

She was tall, pale-skinned and with deeply black, short hair. Her features were sharp and elongated, especially her nose – which looked as if it had been broken and didn't grow properly. Her eyes were deep gold. She wore a sleeveless dark red robe of sorts, with black trimmings, exposing her muscular arms. There were wrappings around her wrists and hands.

"Who are you?" Noatak said, getting up from his bench. "You don't look like what passes for prison guards in this hole."

"My name is Chinatsu. I was just passing through this town when I heard the story about a non-bender who had mopped the floor with three non-benders from this town's constabulary. Allegedly, it took two more of them to finally overpower him, and they had to attack from behind. It'll be a while before two of them walk again, to hear people tell it, unless they get a waterbending healer here somehow."

"Make that three." Noatak couldn't help but smile proudly a little. "The sheriff is just playing tough. I can't see how it concerns you, however."

"Oh, I'm simply curious. Why would a drifter from the United Republic go and pick a fight with the constabulary in an insignificant Fire Nation town?"

"How do you know I'm from the Republic, and not one of the Water Tribes?" The question was entirely irrelevant to the discussion at hand, but Noatak couldn't help but be inquisitive.

"You don't carry yourself like a Water Tribesman," Chinatsu responded with a shrug. "I get the impression of someone who grew up in a city, rather than a small tribe, from you. But answer my question, please."

"Well… have you seen this town?" Noatak asked, grimacing in disgust. "The constabulary is unbelievably corrupt. They keep everyone scared and obedient. Every firebender is given the option of joining them or suffering a accident. And I was the first person in a long time to care enough to try and change it."

"Or the only," Chinatsu said, nodding. "I've been travelling the Fire Nation for a while. You're the first person I've met in a long time to have the drive for change. Everyone else is content to leave things as they are. It's as if the Hundred Years' War knocked the fight out of almost everyone."

"Are you one of those who wish the Fire Nation had won?" Noatak asked with surprise and disgust.

"Of course not," was the woman's dismissive answer. "What good did the war ever do to the people of the Fire Nation? Several generations had to watch their sons and daughters march off to die on foreign shores, and for what? Because Firelord Sozin decided to play war, and his descendants weren't any better?"

"It certainly did them no good," Noatak had to admit. "But I'm not sure where you're getting with this. And why are you discussing it with someone stuck in a jail cell and probably not getting out of it anytime soon?"

"Oh, I wouldn't know about 'anytime soon.'" Chinatsu smiled. "We've been looking for someone just like you, I see. I can help you get out of here… unless I'm wrong about you."

"Who do you mean by 'we'?" Noatak asked, warily. But he couldn't deny he was intrigued. If only by the chance to get out of here. He doubted the idiots who called themselves constabulary in this town could hold him for long in any event, but…

"I belong to a certain group that does care about the kind of thing you set out to correct when you thrashed those bullies in uniforms. We believe that it's time the big and powerful stopped playing Pai Sho with the lives of thousands. And that the Avatar no longer has what it takes to guide humanity."

Noatak tensed up, gripping the bars of his cell. All his bitterness over Avatar Aang's weakness was on the tip of his tongue. But, no. He couldn't give this stranger his life story just because she seemed to share some of his sentiments. Especially not his relation to the bloodbending scum. He simply said:

"The Avatar? He's weak. Unwilling to do what he must."

Chinatsu chuckled, clearly pleased.

"Looks like our meeting might be even more fortuitous than I thought. You don't know the half of it, anyway. The White Lotus… have you ever heard of the White Lotus?"

Noatak shrugged.

"They're some sort of secret order, I believe? They took Ba Sing Se from the Fire Nation at the end of the war, I know that much."

"That's what they used to be. Now… they're the Avatar's personal assistants. You'll find out all about it if you agree to go with me."

Noatak looked down at the floor. In truth, what choice did he have? If he refused, he'd go back to languishing in the cell until he found a way to escape. And then what? Keep roaming the world, avoiding his past and picking fights with benders? Whoever the group behind Chinatsu were, they had… something. A goal. They too were dissatisfied with how the world functioned. Maybe he could find allies in his cause? Something to bring him even a step closer to his dream of equality?

"Fine. How do you plan to spring me out of here?"

Chinatsu reached underneath her robe and produced a simple key ring.

"The beating you gave the local constabulary made some of them rethink their career plans. One of them was willing to part with those keys in exchange for some money. He's quite far away from here, by now. My bribe was enough to buy him a good mongoose lizard. He probably would have just caved in if I'd thrown some fire around, but you've made enough of a mess as it is."

Noatak tensed up.

"You're a firebender?"

"Well, yes. Is that a problem?" Chinatsu sounded surprised.

"No, it's not. I just wanted to be sure." Foolish of him to believe he found a group of non-benders with ideals just like his. "Are there any more non-benders in this group you belong to?"

The firebender shrugged.

"There are some. One is even fairly important… Zaheer I think is his name. But our job is a dangerous one, and it takes a skilled non-bender to survive."

Noatak shook his head slightly. Oh, well. He'd take what he could get. The woman's offer was, at least, a chance at some direction and support. Maybe there was someone like-minded among her compatriots.

"Luckily, I'm as skilled as they come. Now, get me out of here."

Chinatsu nodded and unlocked his cell door, then swung it open.

"Right enough. My cart is right outside. Let's not stay in this place any longer than we have to."

"As it turned out, the group was called the Red Lotus," Amon said, in the present, as he finished recounting how Noatak had fallen in with the group. "My stay with them was short, but fruitful."

"Who are they?" the Lieutenant asked. "And why do they call themselves like that?"

"Anarchists. They want to tear down the order of the world. Topple governments and reduce everything to its 'natural state'. Their name comes from their disdain for the White Lotus… they believe that they've become little more than the Avatar's butlers. That, at least, we can agree on. Most of their leadership are benders, obviously. Fitting that the people who want to bring back the primal order in which the fittest survive are those who are at a distinct advantage in such a world, isn't it? I quickly realized that I would find no allies there."

"Why stay, then?" Hiroshi remarked, somewhat surprised.

"Part of it was caution. Such groups do not take it lightly to defection. That, at least, we Equalists share with them. But it was also convenience. By pretending to go along with their ideology, I had access to training and knowledge. I knew I would need both if my dream were to ever become reality. I refined my chi-blocking, having finally had access to a real instructor, and picked up some other fighting skills. I also pored over the books and scrolls the order had. One of their leaders is a high-ranking noble in the Northern Water Tribe, and has a deep interest and all matters spiritual. His name is Unalaq. I never met him, and didn't care to. I kept my head down and tried to find something in his collection that would help me."

"It seems to have worked," the Lieutenant observed.

"It did indeed. With help from an unexpected source."

It was late at night in the secret Red Lotus library on an island close to the North Pole. Noatak was sitting at one of the desks, which was littered with papers. Books, scrolls and his own notes. Noatak could feel that he was onto something. Human body was powered by the energy usually referred to as chi. It had a clear connection to bending, as blocking the chi meant blocking bending. But could it be made permanent? Was it what the Avatar had done to Ozai and Yakone? That, Noatak couldn't seem to grasp. Nor was there any way for him to replicate it in sight. Even the most precise, skilful chi-blocking wore off soon. But it had been done. Couldn't it be done again? All bending had had to be learned and used for the first time, at some point. Everything began somewhere.

"You're getting close, are you? But something is missing."

Noatak sprang from his chair turning towards the source of the voice. It turned out to be a wide-shouldered, stocky man, with unruly hair and beard. He wore a simple robe that curiously resembled that of an Air Nomad, but was brown and unadorned. He leaned on a straight wooden staff.

"Who-"

"I am Zaheer. And you're Noatak. A non-bender, just like me. Who has been part of our group for a while, but done his best to remain unnoticed. I wondered what your game was. And now, I think I know."

"Really. And what is it?" Noatak let himself relax a little, but he was still focused on the man in front of him. Zaheer. He'd heard about him many times. He was widely respected among the Red Lotus, despite his lack of bending. If stories were to be believed, he made up for it with great skill in martial arts, tremendous cunning and deep knowledge of many subjects, especially those pertaining to the dead Air Nomad culture. The real one that was destroyed a century and a half before, not the… theme park version Tenzin and his servants were perpetuating.

"You were researching bending. Not any particular form of bending, but bending itself. Its source. The energy that flows through all of us and that benders can use to control the elements around them. I've been down the same path as you are now. I sought to give myself bending. But it cannot be done. I can tell you that, and spare you more effort in vain."

Noatak's mind raced. Give himself bending? The fool. But as much as he wanted to laugh in his face and tell him that his aim was the exact opposite, he knew that questioning Zaheer was an opportunity not to be missed.

"What am I missing, then? Why cannot it be done? The ability to bend relies on the chi paths. Benders can inflict their chi on the world around them. That's why it can be interrupted by chi-blocking. But you need to be born with it. Why?"

"The ability to bend was bestowed on mankind before recorded history began," Zaheer said. "The potential to shape the elements. Few people know it, but in all likelihood the Lion-Turtles did it, for reasons of their own. That was before Avatar Wan foolishly separated the spirit world and the human world."

"And yet, Avatar Aang could take away bending. Even though he was only human." And even though he was too weak and too cowardly to do it more than twice, Noatak thought, but did not say.

Zaheer shrugged.

"It is always easier to destroy than to build, I presume. Once Guru Pathik's writings assured me that giving someone's the power to bend is no longer possible, I stopped looking."

Noatak did his best to hide the eagerness from his face. Could it be an actual lead? A name to look into?

"Guru Pathik? Who was he? An airbender?"

Zaheer raised an eyebrow.

"No. Like me, he was a non-bender who considered himself to be a… spiritual brother to the Air Nomads. He lived in the Eastern Air Temple. Of course, he was still alive before the genocide. The best I can do is to respect the culture that is long dead. He lived long enough to help Avatar Aang with his chakras, and then passed away."

"A non-bender who possessed knowledge of the flow of energy in the human body? Perfect. He's just what I need," Noatak said, grinning.

"I just told you. It's impossible. You need to-"

Noatak interrupted him by throwing his head back and laughing. This, finally, put Zaheer out of countenance.

"Got it all wrong, Zaheer. You assumed I wanted to acquire bending, just like you did. I don't want anything to do with bending. I want the power to strip it away."

Zaheer's composure had returned by that time, so he merely raised an eyebrow.

"You seek to usurp the Avatar's power, then. And using our group to gain what you need."

"I usurp nothing. My goal is to do what the Avatar was too cowardly and weak to do. I want equality. I want a world that's not ruled by people whose power was given to them by a caprice of birth. I will fix the world's mistakes."

"And you think taking away benders' powers will bring equality?" Zaheer asked. His tone was more curious than anything.

"It will be a step," Noatak said, pacing up and down the room. "I know I cannot take away every bender's power. And even if I could, more benders will be born. But… it'll be a crack in the bending world. The benders' superiority will no longer be taken for granted. You should know, Zaheer, that once something is done… it only becomes easier. A single man capable of taking away bending can open the way for so much more."

"You certainly do not lack for ambition," Zaheer says, not without respect. "What you say isn't untrue, of course. Guru Laghima knew that a light breeze in one place can result in a massive storm hundreds of miles away."

Noatak stopped his pacing and quirked an eyebrow.

"Another Guru?"

"Yes. He was a master airbender thousands of years ago. His teachings are not widely known. Not all of them. I'm afraid Avatar Aang was somewhat selective in the knowledge he passed down to his son."

"Avatar Aang was a fool, and his son is likewise. The Air Nomad culture died more than a hundred years ago," Noatak said with a shrug. "But Guru Pathik… if he was a non-bender who could help the Avatar on the matter of chakras, his legacy might be just what I need. The flow of energy through the human body is the key to removing bending."

"Clearly, it is." Zaheer's voice retained a tone of… almost academic curiosity. "The old Air Nomads had a deep understanding of it as well, and Guru Pathik seems to have both inherited it, and developed it further. As you must know, all the Air Nomads of old were airbenders. No one is quite sure why. Not even Guru Pathik was."

"And yet you, a non-bender, claim to follow the culture. So do the… Air Acolytes. Which means Tenzin's personal servants. Why?"

Zaheer shrugged.

"There's wisdom to be found in the airbending philosophy, even if one can't bend air. It preaches freedom and detachment. More importantly, it teaches us that nothing is solid. Nothing is unchanging. Nature is in a constant state of upheaval. And for the world to be in balance, we need to create change of our own, instead of futilely trying to resist it."

Noatak shook his head.

"You keep your philosophy. I have a goal ahead of me, finally. I will develop a weapon for equality, or I will die trying. Are you going to stop me?"

Zaheer shook his head.

"No. Your attempt, whether successful or not, will incite chaos in the world. It's in my best interest to let you do it. And since the Avatar and the White Lotus are your enemies as well, I see no cause to fear that you'll expose us. But in order to let you go, I need you to answer one question. Honestly. Why do you do it? What set a man on a mission to wage war against bending?"

Noatak turned around and leaned against the table, staring through the window into the starry sky. He was silent for a long while. When he spoke, his words were slow, as if uttered from the depths of his soul.

"Because… the world is not just. It's not fair, and it's not equal. My parents are… were powerful benders. So is my brother. But what did they use it for? They terrorized Republic City with bloodbending. For what? Money, power and the satisfaction of putting fear in others. Meanwhile, people who could use it to do so much more are left languishing in their shadow. We need to try twice as hard just to be noticed. What did the benders do to deserve such power? They were born with it, nothing more. It's not right. This world… is broken. And I'm going to fix it. To do it, I can't challenge benders. Anyone can do it. I need to challenge bending itself."

"And so he let you live? A strange man, that one," Hiroshi mused.

"He is. Or was. It's not common knowledge, but shortly after my departure, he and four other Red Lotus members tried to kidnap Avatar Korra. They failed, and were incarcerated. Whether they're still alive, I don't know. It's of little consequence. What is of consequence is that as a result of that kidnapping attempt, Avatar Korra has been kept in a compound on the South Pole, trained and educated in security and isolation. But I'm getting ahead of myself. After leaving the Red Lotus, I journeyed south, to the Eastern Air Temple."

The haggard, travel-worn man in a grey hooded coat made his way through the thick jungle towards the centuries-old ruins of the airbender temple. It quickly became apparent to him, however, that he was not alone there. Whoever had got there first was making quite a ruckus. He clearly heard the sound of rock being moved. Earthbent, most likely.

Noatak sighed. After all his travels, there just had to be some fools making a mess of his place of destination. He quickened his pace, determined to get it over with quickly, in a way that makes an example for others.

After emerging from the jungle, the chi-blocker saw two powerfully-built earthbenders, a man and a woman, lift a piece of the moss-covered rocky floor of the temple's outermost courtyard. They were being directed by a short, thin man in spectacles, whose bearing and voice radiated petulant self-importance. A few other workers loafed around, not doing anything of note at the moment.

"Quickly, quickly," the man droned . "We need to comb every piece of this place. The longer we spend here, the more likely someone is to discover us. And then it's a diplomatic incident waiting to happen. Those ruins are under the protection of the Air Nation from the United Republic."

"Someone already discovered you," Noatak said, emerging from the woods. "Don't worry, however. I won't turn you over to the so-called Air Nation. I'll be satisfied if you just leave and never return."

The bespectacled man stared at the stranger, dumbfounded. Noatak certainly didn't present a very endearing sight. His clothing was worn and dirty. He was unshaven and his hair was in disarray. He was covered in dust from a long, hard travel. Hard living had toughened him – given him broad shoulders and an assortment of scars.

"What? Who do you think you are? You have no more right to be here than we do."

"I am no one, and it does not matter. You and your earthbender thugs will leave now."

"Oh for the love of- I have no time for this. Lan, Quiang – get this fool out of our way. Everyone else, stay back."

The two earthbenders looked at each other, shrugged and acted in unison, stomping their feet on the ground and punching forward. Two pillars erupted from the ground where Noatak stood, launched towards him from opposite sides. The intent was to simply crush him between them.

Noatak, however, was not going to be laid low by such an obvious attack. He started running once he noticed what the earthbenders were about to do, and the two pillars merely crashed into one another. Before the earthbenders could mount another attack, the lightning-quick fighter was already bearing down on them. Quiang raised a clumsy earth barrier in front of him, but Noatak jumped right above it, and struck out with both arms faster than eye could see. Two pairs of jabs hit the earthbender in the shoulders and just under his ribs, removing his bending entirely for a time. Lan sent a bounder flying at the chi-blocker, but a well-timed trip sent Quiang falling in its way, sending him to the ground. Lan was chi-blocked and on the ground before she could recover from the shock of having struck down her own brother.

"Pathetic," Noatak said, looking over to the earthbenders' employer, and the other workers. "The rest of you, get out. Those two lugs will follow you once they can move again. Or else. Perhaps this encounter will teach you a thing or two about the value of hiding behind benders. But I doubt it."

He sat down cross-legged on the ground and paid no more attention to the escaping would-be looters, or to the earthbenders' flight once they regained their faculties. Now that he finally reached the temple, he had to find out anything Guru Pathik might have left there.

"The division between body and spirit, like most separations we cling to, is an illusion."

"Spirit permeates the body. The body fills and feeds the spirit. Their union is expressed through chi. This life energy has been known under many names across the centuries, but it remains the same. Chi enters and exits our body as we breathe. It flows through our blood and passes through chakras. We are chi and chi is us. Those of us gifted with bending can exert our chi onto the world around us, mastering the elements in accordance with the ancient covenant. The Avatar, as the ultimate expression of unity between flesh and spirit, possesses powerful chi running through their body. Even more so when they enter the Avatar State to combine the might of all their incarnations. Those of us not born with bending can still tap into this energy, however. Even if I'm the only one I know of who could."

"Most people go through their lives unaware of the ebb and flow of energy within them. How easily it can be disrupted and send our bodies and souls out of balance. The art of chi-blocking is just one expression of this danger. And few think of it as anything other than a weapon for non-benders against benders. Avatar Aang's inner turmoil, weight of responsibility and traumatic experience had twisted his chi enough that his Avatar State was beyond his control. And yet, he eventually achieved it despite going against my teachings. What was I missing? Such a stark reminder of how little I truly know. I hope that I am not the last Guru and that someone will take what I managed to discover, to bring forward true understanding."

"Would it be possible to send someone's energy so far out of balance it would cause them immediate, visible harm? Once again, it is possible to block a person's chi to paralyze them and take their bending, if they have it. Could such a thing be made permanent? I shudder at the thought, but I believe it might be possible."

"Bending is a gateway between the human and spirit worlds. An intrinsically human skill, and yet learned either from spirits, or spiritual animals. The emergence of bending appears to coincide with the separation of the worlds in the prehistoric time before time, and the appearance of the Avatar. The ability to bend only had to be instilled in humans; we perfected it ourselves."

"I've meditated my way into the Spirit World at times, but never for long. It is not a safe place for the human spirit, and idle curiosity is not a good enough reason to venture there. I was always more interested in the physical world."

"Guru Pathik's writings were enlightening," Amon said, many years later. "I spent years living in the Eastern Air Temple as a hermit. Reading the scrolls he had left behind, and meditating on them. I had an intimate understanding of the flow of energy in the human body and soul. But there was one piece missing. As much as I understood how someone's energy can be disrupted in such a way as to make bending impossible, I had no way of actually gaining access to the chi of another. So I turned to the Spirit World for answers."

"The spirits? You don't see much of them here, in Republic City… in fact, I've never seen one in my life," Hiroshi observed. Despite himself, Amon's story had him awed. The things this man had seen and done… "There's something about the metropolis that makes reverence for spirit seem like an abstract concept."

"The spirits are tools, Hiroshi. Just like the weapons and machines you design, they're something we can use to match up to the benders' advantage. They simply require a different set of skills to use properly. And unfortunately, they can be worse than any bender when dealing with non-bending humans. But I managed to get what I want from them. Sacrifices had to be made. This is why I am not Noatak now, but Amon, and why I wear a mask."