A/N: Sorry for the wait, guys! College applications are such a drag and all :( But I'm back with a squeaky new chapter. Huzzah!

Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender or Legend of Korra

Chapter Eight: Confrontation

"We need to talk."

It was the following day. Bolin was uprooting the shriveled remains of what used to be a field of soybeans. He'd been at it for nearly two hours when his brother, looking more somber than ever, had approached him from behind.

Bolin wiped his brow with his forearm and squinted at Mako whose head was ringed by the sun, a golden halo framing his dark expression. Patting dirt off the seat of his pants, Bolin got up, trying to think up a reason why Mako would want to talk to him. Had someone died?

"Sure, Mako, what's up?"

Bolin tried to sound casual even though he'd noticed Mako brooding and deep in thought since the previous night. They'd ridden their stolen steed back to the village and Mako hadn't said a word all the way there. Brooding and Mako had a sort of on-again off-again love affair, as it were. Growing up, Bolin had learned to pick up the signs that led to his brother's full-on brooding moods but sometimes they were unpredictable. This was one of those days.

"Let's go down to river," Mako said, not looking at Bolin.

Bolin followed him in silence.

"What? What do you mean we need to move? Why?"

The two brothers were standing at the bank of Chin River, Mako staring at the river while Bolin stood next to him, gawking up at his older brother in shock. Mako, with absurd brevity, had delivered the bombshell news that he'd been asking around neighboring towns about new lodgings for the entire family. The one place Mako had decided on (without anyone else's opinion), was located two villages north of Shin Ren Town. This was the first time Bolin had heard Mako discussing moving.

"What's going on, Mako? Why do we have to move?" Bolin waited for an answer that never came. Mako just stared at the river, washing fallen leaves and twigs under Mako's muted gaze.

Bolin sighed. He earthbended a small platform beneath his feet, boosting him up higher so he could place what he hoped to be a brotherly hand on Mako's shoulder. Bolin took it as a good sign that Mako didn't shrug it off.

"Look, Mako," Bolin began awkwardly, "I know things are hard and everything. You working all the time and the crops failing- look, I get it. I really do. But moving isn't going to really help us or anything, you know? We belong here, we know people in this village. And, besides, if we move, how is Dad ever going to find-"

Mako suddenly shifted away, causing Bolin to wobble on the spot, trying to catch his balance before falling down. He avoided landing in the river by twisting out of the way at the last minute. Mako didn't turn around at the sound of Bolin's groaning. Instead he merely contented himself on watching the progress of the river.

"Dude, what was that for!" Bolin snapped, rubbing arm where it had scraped against a rock. "Look, would you just cut it out and tell me what's-"

"Dad's dead."

"-the matter and-" Bolin stopped, his brain suddenly registering Mako's words. He stared at Mako. His expression was one of unfathomable smoothness. Their mother used to joke that Mako would one day become Pai Sho champion with just his game face. But Bolin knew that Mako was not playing games at the moment. He was dead serious.

"Dad…." Bolin couldn't bring himself to say it. He tried again, "Dad's… what- how did you-"

"Iriah told me," Mako answered shortly. "She showed me his article. The one he wrote to us about in his last letter."

Bolin was speechless. The sudden flood of information was staggering. It seemed incredible that after all those months of trying to find a shred of evidence on their father's whereabouts and a magician aboard a traveling circus had the gall to pronounce their father dead? But it was more than that. What really twisted Bolin's insides was not the fact that a complete stranger had voiced this conclusion – they'd endured much worse from gossiping neighbors – but that Mako, the one who had always held steadfast in their father's return – would believe so willingly.

"He's gone, Bolin," Mako turned to face his brother who stood stalk-still, eyes wide with shock. "Dad's not coming back. He never will."

Iriah sat on her bed alone and lost in thought. She was supposed to be prepping for her new magic trick scheduled for the next day but all thoughts were of Mako and his father, a man she'd never met.

"I'm sorry, Mako."

Iriah had meant what she had said but couldn't help but wonder if it had been the right thing to say. She could've given him hope, the kind she had harbored in her heart a year ago when she had convinced herself that her father was still alive, that he was breathing somewhere in the city, gagged and tied up, starved and weak, on the brink of oblivion, but still alive. That hope, she realized later, had been the undoing of her. Blinded by that false hope, she had made new enemies, those who not only dogged her but her friends and relatives. In the end her selfish quest had only confirmed her fears. Her father was gone, and so she had told Mako the truth. There was no room for false hope. You could only move forward, not back.

A loud banging on the door brought Iriah out of her reverie. It was nightfall and she hadn't been expecting any visitors. Guessing that an irate Shadow had decided to renege on their deal to allow the brothers off with a slap on the wrist, Iriah steeled her composure for her least-favorite clown and unlocked the door.

The person on the other side had been flattened against the door, pounding with their fists held high. As Iriah pulled the door open, a young man toppled inside, jumping to his feet at once and glowering malevolently at Iriah as though she had eaten his firstborn. It was while before she recognized the angry face of Bolin.

"What did you tell him!" Bolin roared, jabbing a finger at her. Iriah got the distinct impression that, had he been taller, Bolin would have grabbed her by the lapels with great force. As it were, his finger was the most threatening gesture he could pull on her at the moment. "What did you tell my brother!"

At the mention of his brother, Iriah realized what this all about. She mentally smacked herself on the head. How could she have been so stupid as to think Mako was the only person to be affected by all this? Of course, it had completely slipped her mind that other members of the family might not be too keen on hearing that sort of news from a complete stranger let alone someone who created illusions for a living.

"What do you think you're playing at! You've made him think our father's dead! Who do you think you are, huh? ANSWER ME!" Bolin roared, his spittle flecking Iriah's spotlessly ironed silk shirt.

"Calm down, would you," Iriah said, trying to back away and calm Bolin down at the same time. "Look, he's the one who found out and-"

"Found out what?" Bolin roared, standing tiptoes the better to stare at her with as much venom as humanly possible. "A couple of newspaper clippings? Who do you think you are!"

Anger pulsed through Iriah's bloodstream. She knew this kid had no idea what he was talking about, that he was just angry like she'd been. In fact, even as her fury built, she knew that Bolin's reaction was nothing to what hers had been like. Iriah still remembered the frightened expression of the police officers who had delivered the news when she had blown half the sitting room to smithereens. She remembered what it had been like to be told that your father was gone and there was no use kidding yourself.

"You wanna know who I am?" Iriah spoke before thinking. Her emotions were driving her and she surprised to find her voice was steady and strong. "I'm the person who tracked him down."

"Tracked? Wha- you found our dad?" Bolin spluttered. He hadn't been expecting this.

Iriah shook her head, feeling both deadly calm and regretful at the disbelieving look on Bolin's face. She had every reason not to tell him. But the same reasons had never stopped her from pursuing the truth.

"Not your father," Iriah paused before saying, "I tracked down the man who killed your father. The man who killed our fathers."

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