A/N: Before I start, I just want to give a huge THANK YOU to everybody who has reviewed this story! Unsurprisingly, AU's revolving around a character that had about one minute of screentime fall kind of in the dark side of the Korra fandom. I respond to the reviews when I can, but I just want to give a shoutout to all the anons who have kept me motivated and given me ideas for the story. You guys are the best!

Another couple of months in this compound, and Rohan was going to go mad.

It wasn't that he wasn't enjoying learning about his people. He was. He read about the ancient Airbending traditions and about how his father had tried to revive them in a peaceful Republic City. He read about elaborate temples and lively festivals and sky bison. He even read about the upside down air temple in the west, south of the Fire Nation, and could only hope that the Equalists had not found it yet.

But practicing airbending by himself and reading scrolls in a cramped underground camp was completely stifling. The only wind currents that came through were early in the morning and late at night, when the temperature shifted in the tunnels. Otherwise, the compound was completely sedate, and the air still and heavy.

At least Seina had people to train her and a schedule to keep to. She was busy learning firebending and practicing metalbending, and when she wasn't tearing up the atrium she was busy reading and learning about the avatar's spiritual history. She was probably happy as a clam, burrowing underground and being able to fully master her bending.

Not like he had seen much of her, Rohan mused. They had struck up a sort of uneasy friendship, but rarely ever talked outside of mealtimes. When they did speak, he was at first surprised by her fierce opinions of the Equalist movement and her compassion for the people involved. Living in the countryside, he had learned to simply keep his head down and ignore it. But living in a city, she must have been exposed to it day in and day out.

It was later that night when they were able to have one of their rare conversations between bending training and lessons. They had been learning about the history that sparked the Equalist Revolution, and they continued a conversation about it long after the adults had retired to bed.

"They treat bending like a weapon, something that needs to be confiscated. They have no idea what bending really is!" she was saying. They were both slumped against the atrium wall, exhausted from practice after dinner. The lights were flickering low and any captured sunlight was long absent.

"What really is bending, then?" he asked. She gave him a look, equal parts annoyance and disbelief.

"A part of us. It's a skill, something that we can train to be better at. A tool, something we can use to make our way in the world. We are born with bending like somebody else may be born with a gift for swordplay or building. It's a spiritual connection, and when it's gone people aren't often left with much else!"

"I knew a few people taken away in my village. When they returned they seemed...hollow, somehow. They would get better though, and they were able to function without bending."

"I'm not saying that they're actually left with nothing else." She blew her bangs away from her face in frustration. "But it's like blinding somebody, you have to make up for a permanent loss."

Rohan was curious, and he also happened to enjoy soliciting Seina's opinion about these subjects. Even if she did get angry with him. "I agree with you, obviously I do. Taking away somebody's bending is wrong, just as chopping off a woodcutters hands is wrong. But do you think we should return to what Republic City was before?"

"You mean a city run by a council from the four nations?" she asked, citing from Howl's lectures about history from the previous week. He nodded and she scrunched up her nose in thought. "I'm not sure. Obviously non-benders were at an inherent disadvantage with a city run by four benders. But with a city full of Satomobiles and starting to be powered by generators instead of firebenders, it sounds like they were levelling the playing field, not being stomped on."

"I suppose," Rohan felt the need to interject. "But what about the triads? They didn't listen to the council. It's like by being a non-bender, you had to be either really rich or you were completely taken advantage of."

She frowned. "The triads were wrong too. But wasn't it the same being a bender? You either had to be really powerful and rich, or else you were also taken advantage of. Think of the firebenders in the plant or the earthbenders who built the houses!"

Rohan chewed his lip in thought. "I guess that's true. It's hard to change things around when people have been operating on their own for years. Even in the other cities, people were usually able to take care of themselves."

"But it's necessary. Once you start introducing electrically run carriages and city provided heat to every house, you can't play by the same rules."

"Isn't that what the triads were doing? Playing by their own rules?"

"And they were wrong. Just like the Equalists are wrong. You can't make up your own rules unless people agree to them. At least that's what the council in Republic City was trying to do, even if they were doing it poorly."

"Well what would you have done?" Rohan asked, truly curious to hear her response. She gave him a lopsided grin.

"You first."

"I'm not as experienced in city politics as you are," he shot a teasing smile back. "I would not outlaw bending, obviously. But I don't think I'd outlaw chi blocking either. A weapon that is permanently attached to one's self is hard to defend against, so self defense should have been more regularly taught."

"Like in school?"

"Right," he nodded. "In school." He scowled. "I'd have preferred to learn self defense over that Equalist propaganda they shoved down our throats."

She patted his arm in understanding. "I know, I think that would have been good too." She paused, turning back towards the center of the room and her eyes focusing on nothing in particular. "I would abolish the idea of the four nations being represented on the council."

"Really? Why?"

"Because it's silly! Who are the four nation representatives representing, anyway? Everybody in Republic City was living together under a new culture, not in the old nations. I would have the representatives be both benders and non-benders, and be representing different sections of the city."

"Different sections of the city..." Rohan absentmindedly drew circles into the dirt of the atrium floor. "Like the rings in Ba Sing Se?"

"Exactly!" She seemed pleased that he brought up her hometown. "Before the Equalists took over, the council was always only representing the upper ring. Once the Equalists instituted their own government, they only represented their own ideas." She frowned. "I want every person, no matter how poor or weak or young, to be able to have a voice."

He heard a tired longing in her voice and wondered, again, how many times it had been beaten into her that she was only the daughter of a merchant in the lowest ring. It seemed unfair to him to have such a fate bestowed upon you by luck of birth.

"That sounds like it might actually work." Rohan tried to sound neutral, but a bit of admiration crept into his voice.

She gave him a bright smile. "You think so?"

He nodded earnestly. "I do. I really hope we can pull this whole thing off so you can try."

She sighed and leaned back against the wall, the mention of the ongoing war sobering them both. "I do too. I've almost got firebending down, but I can't help but feel like I'm not doing anything fast enough." She lowered her voice. "All these lessons and exercises are driving me nuts!"

"I'd advise you two get some rest soon," Howl's voice interrupted them, echoing down the hallway before they saw his shadow fall across the dirt. Seina clamped her mouth shut and looked embarrassed, causing Rohan to snicker. She shot him a glare as Howl continued. "You will both be trying airbending tomorrow

"Airbending?" Seina asked, straightening up and turning towards the figure in the door frame. "But I haven't mastered firebending yet!"

"Not yet, no," Howl conceded. "But Avatar Aang also didn't master the elements before starting to learn new ones. Like him, we don't have time on our sides." He spread his hands, looking for once as unsure of the situation as the two teenagers. "Mastering the elements in the right order helps you connect with the spiritual side of the Avatar, but it is more important to learn them in the right order. Since you have started firebending, we can continue your lessons while moving on to air."

"Am I supposed to teach airbending now?" Rohan asked, feeling a little bit sick at the thought. "I've hardly been able to master half of the scrolls you've given me!"

Howl chuckled at that. "You don't need to worry about teaching more complicated moves yet." He turned back down the hallway, the words bouncing back over his shoulder. "Tomorrow, we will start slowly."

Starting out slowly, it turned out, was a bit of an understatement. The next morning, Rohan found himself in meditation exercises where he wasn't allowed to move at all.

It was maddeningly dull. He felt like an imposter of an airbender to even think such a thing, but how his ancestors could stand sitting down with only their thoughts for hours completely baffled him. He was active by nature, always darting place to place like the mountain wind that ran through their small farm. From what few accounts he had, his grandfather had been similar. Aang was a busy man, spending much of his time travelling even after Republic City was founded. It wasn't until much later in his life that he took up a more permanent residence in the city.

Fewer accounts existed of his father. According to the official records, Tenzin was a calm and respected councilman. But, unlike with the avatar, there were no records of what he was like outside of his professional life. Or what he was like as a father.

Rohan exhaled, pushing the air through his teeth like he was whistling. He hoped that meditation would be easier when he wasn't trapped in such a stale environment-the air felt like a heavy blanket on his shoulders, keeping him short tempered and groggy. Perhaps when he was above ground again, basking in the winds that snaked through the Earth Kingdom during the autumn season, he would find this more relaxing.

Though he doubted that. Even in his own element, he couldn't imagine this exercise being any less cumbersome.

Not to mention Seina, who was completely surrounded by her element, was having just as much trouble with it as he was. She was better at hiding it, of course. If he hadn't been stuck in a cramped compound with her for two months he wouldn't have been able to see the small signs that she was uncomfortable. The twitching of her left eye, even though it was closed. The way she subtly rocked back and forth, trying to keep her back straight. The way she would scrunch her nose and blow her bangs out of her face, even though there was no wind to disturb them.

And then, of course, there were the obvious signs. "Why are we doing this again?" she ground out, opening one eye to give an impressive glare at the older firebender, who was lounging across the wooden bench to their right.

"Because airbending, like firebending, is about the breathing and about control," Reika replied, not looking up from her supine position on the bench. Rohan could hear the smile in her voice, and it annoyed him further.

"Do you ever meditate?" he asked, trying and failing to sound less frustrated than he was.

"I meditate at sunrise, young airbender," was the reply. "I can wake you up to meditate with me then, if you like."

Rohan closed his eyes again. "No, that's alright." He breathed deeply, trying to find that inner peace that the firebender had been going on and on about. But no matter what he did, his thoughts kept crowding his mind about the war and his airbending and the stagnant air around him.

Maybe that's not the problem. He was trying to keep himself from thinking about the air, but maybe he had to embrace that instead. He exhaled slowly, forcing himself to focus solely on the air in his lungs. The air around him was heavy, but not completely still. He felt the currents and puffs of breath from the two other benders around him, and he could almost see the tiny waves of air lapping against the sides of the compound.

And then suddenly, as if he had dove headfirst into the ocean, his awareness of the air around him expanded out like a wave. It settled on him like a blanket, warm and comforting instead of stale and stifling. He saw it fill up every nook, every crevice of the room, curling slightly around any obstacles and swaying back and forth like water.

He took a breath, grabbing hold of a tendril of wind that slipped in through one of the sunlit holes in the ceiling, riding it down into the room, where it dispersed and settled. He finally understood how the airbenders could stand meditation for so long-focusing on all the air around him was as thrilling as riding Seina's shirshu through the rocky countryside!

It was Seina's gasp that broke him from his reverie. She had unwittingly leaned back, toppling over like a polar bear dog just learning to walk. She scrambled to right herself as Rohan chuckled, pointedly ignoring her glare.

"Maybe we should try some basic airbending, now." To her credit, the firebender kept her tone completely serious. But Rohan swore he saw her lips turn up.

"Good idea," the younger girl muttered, standing up and dusting the dirt off her pants.

Reika stood up as well, circling around to stand in front of the two teenagers and sinking into a casual bending stance. "I know little of airbending," she conceded, looking at Rohan in particular. "But many control techniques for firebending and airbending are the same. Unlike with water and earth, bending fire and air requires something you may not be able to see, but you need to sense and feel." She turned towards the young avatar. "Your metalbending training may be useful here, as well."

"Why my metalbending training?"

"The ability to sense what you cannot see is critical for firebending and airbending. Firebending draws from an inner strength and control, and airbending requires an awareness and manipulation of the element around us. How would you explain it, Rohan?"

Rohan started at the question, not expecting to be teaching airbending yet. Teaching anything when he wasn't a master himself seemed strange. "Well," he began tentatively. "Air is kind of...slippery."

Seina turned towards him, expression neutral but her words flat. "Slippery?" she deadpanned, and he flushed in embarrassment.

"Yes, slippery. Like ice, or fish." He grit his teeth and wished that he had one ounce of the mysterious, wise demeanor of the air sages he had read about. If he did, then the petulant little earthbender wouldn't be so curt with him. "You're manipulating something you don't normally feel. You have to focus on your breath, and try to create the same response with your hands."

"Think about your meditation," the firebender added. "And then let your body go through the forms we practised."

The avatar nodded and sunk her stance, twisting into what Rohan recognized as an airbending form. He mirrored her movements, watching her for any inconsistencies in her forms. At one point her elbow dipped down low, probably into a subconscious earthbending stance, and he prodded it up. She spared him a scowl before continuing.

It was nearly thirty minutes later, with them both going through airbending forms, that she stopped in frustration. "This is absurd!" She stomped a foot on the ground, which reverberated slightly. Rohan rolled his eyes-earthbenders. "How are these forms supposed to help me bend? I haven't moved a single wisp of air!"

"Try centering your focus on yourself, instead of bending." Rohan tried to think back to when he first figured out he could bend. "Match your breathing to your movements, and try to feel the wind on your arm. Then just...extend it. Think of it as a part of you, instead of something separate."

She snorted, resuming her stance. "Alright, let's do this then."

Rohan shot her a glare, but she had already started the exercise again. This time, when her hand extended a small puff of air moved forward, leaving wisps of dirt

"Very good!" Reika clapped her hands together. Seina looked at her hand like it might bite her.

"That's it?" She shifted her gaze to Rohan, who shrugged.

"Maybe it's harder underground." It certainly had been for him. Stagnant air seemed heavy and harder to move.

The girl let out a huff of air, turning back to the still smiling firebender. "I don't care if it's harder underground." She gained that stubborn look that always made Rohan wary. "I'm not leaving this spot until I can do this properly."

Despite her promise, Seina did move from that spot-many hours later, when it was dark and cold and everyone else besides Rohan had gone to bed. He had shot her an encouraging smile, but she just shook her head and sighed, heading towards her quarters.

The next month progressed slowly, with similar slow steps in airbending training. A puff of wind here, a wisp there. Seina soon started waterbending training in the evenings, which took away any chance of them continuing their late night conversations.

Rohan found he missed the chance to talk to her outside of their lessons. As odd as it was, they had forged a friendship from being stuck underground together-both trapped in destinies beyond their control.

It wasn't until a chilly autumn day over a month later when their routine changed. When everything changed.

It had started out nice enough.

The autumn air was bringing fresh, cool air into the caverns. The morning was bright enough that the small amount of sunlight captured by the mirrors in the ceiling lit up the compound. And when Rohan had woken up to begin his meditation and exercises, Howl had stopped by with a surprise.

"A stick?"

"A staff," he had corrected, holding the offending object out. On second glance, Rohan noticed that there were carved indents in the side, ending in a slight flare at the top. It reminded him of the oak stick he had been using for weapons training. The staff, presented to him by Penga as a bō, worked well with his airbending moves but could similarly be a weapon on its own.

"Is it a weapon?"

"It's both a weapon and a tool." Howl held it out and pressed a spot on the side of the staff, which suddenly sprouted two sets of thinly clothed wings to turn into a glider. Rohan stilled.

"Am I supposed to use that?" he asked, reaching out and carefully tracing the staff down one side. The membrane on the glider was thin and translucent, but held strong under his touch.

Howl nodded. "Your father and grandfather both learned to use their airbending to allow them to travel with the glider. With it, you can fly great distances."

He was going to learn how to fly on that? Rohan inhaled sharply, excitement building up in his bones. "When do I learn to use it?"

"Unfortunately, you can't learn now, since using it outdoors will surely get you spotted." The older man gave him an apologetic smile. "But, with your grandfather's blood running through your veins, you shouldn't find it hard to pick up. You've read the histories, you know how Avatar Aang learned how to fly almost as soon as he could walk."

Rohan held the staff reverently, feeling the solid oak give only slightly under his hands. It had similar weight to his bō, he noticed, as he quickly shifted through the steps of a training exercise. He straightened up and gave a slight bow to the older man.

"Thank you," he said earnestly. "I will start practicing with it right away."

Howl chuckled. "Not quite yet, young Rohan. First Master Reika wants you and Seina both in the atrium for meditation."

Rohan felt his excitement ebbing at the mention of meditation. He enjoyed it for the first several minutes, but when Reika would push them up to an hour he started to get bored. And he knew Seina would start to get fidgety after the first five minutes, which only made it worse.

The aforementioned earthbender shot him a tired glance as he entered the atrium. She had been up far earlier than him, practicing her firebending with the sunrise. He didn't envy her.

Rohan sat down heavily beside her, assuming his normal meditation pose without a second thought. Legs crossed, hands fisted and brought together, eyes closed. Sometimes when he meditated, he felt like someone else.

He slowly exhaled, spreading his awareness out through the cavern, riding on the tiny wind currents to the crevices of the atrium. He paused briefly at the puffs of air that Seina created when she exhaled, and then noticed the steady air currents coming through the shifting rocks on the west side of the compound.

Wait...shifting rocks?

Rohan's eyes shot open as the rumbling grew louder. The firebender was already on her feet, shouting something unintelligible down the hallway before rushing back to the side of the compound, where small bits of dirt had started to fall off of the wall onto the ground.

Penga came sprinting out of the hallway at record pace before skidding to a halt next to the other woman. She placed a small hand on the rock wall, closing her eyes and stomping her feet lightly. Not a second later, she pulled away from the wall as if it had stung her.

"They're here."

"How many?"

The older earthbender closed her eyes again. "Twenty. Plus two mechatanks. They're coming fast."

"Then we must hurry."

Rohan felt Seina stand up beside him and shifted closer to her. She looked slightly pale, and her hands were curled into tight fists.

The last two White Lotus sentries came running out from the second hallway, Howl holding a long curved sword and Hanook strapping on two waterskins. Howl stopped next to the two teenagers, while Hanook rushed forward to stand with Reika. She gave him a curt nod and he turned around. "We'll hold them off." He motioned to the remaining four standing in the middle of the room. "You must go."

Penga stepped back quickly to fall beside Howl, who put a gentle hand on Rohan's back to push him towards the far hallway. Rohan hesitated. "You can't stay behind!" He said, insistent. "They outnumber you!"

Hanook gave him a twisted smile and a wink. "You think this is our first tussle, kid? We'll be okay, but you need to go now!"

Rohan didn't get a chance to argue further, as Howl grabbed him by the wrist and started sprinting out of the large room. Next to him, he saw Penga and Seina doing the same. As they ran, Rohan swiped his staff from where it was leaning against the atrium wall.

They ran-well, Howl ran and Rohan was dragged-down the short hallway. The far wall was coming closer and closer and Rohan started to dig in his feet to slow their pace when Howl showed no intention of stopping. As they kept running, he threw up an arm around his head to shield himself from the eventual impact-

-that never came. Penga leapt forward and raised the wall and pushed out the surrounding earth into a narrow tunnel. Behind them, he could hear the first sounds of the Equalists attacking the atrium. He heard Hanook's shout and Reika's cry fade into the distance as they kept pushing forward, Penga and Seina molding the earth around them to climb slowly up and out of the mountain.

They worked their way forward into the mountain, and Rohan lost count of the number of his own heartbeats he could hear pulsing through his ears. Time seemed to stretch on forever, his feet like molasses, even though they moved as quickly as they could. Finally, the tunnel flattened out and Penga threw out her arm to halt them. She raised both hands and, face twisted in concentration, lifted a large chunk of earth to reveal a narrow passage leading out of the mountain.

Howl pushed the two teenagers through first. Rohan took a breath of fresh air and felt himself calm a little, despite the danger. They were about twenty feet up on a mountain cliff, with small pathways jutting out to their left and right, and he could feel the wind pulsing around him like a second skin.

An unmistakable shout came from further down the passage. Howl turned slightly towards the noise, and took a step back.

"No..." Rohan felt himself saying, though he knew what was coming next.

"We have no choice," Howl said, unsheathing his sword and turning back towards the tunnel, where the footsteps were growing louder. "You two must go on, and we will help hold them off. Master Hanook and Master Reika will be waiting for us."

"But what are we supposed to do? Where will we go!" Seina's voice was high pitched and wavering with fear, and it unnerved Rohan to see her so scared.

Howl turned over his shoulder to look at them, eyes sympathetic. He dipped his head slightly in a bow, a slight smile crossing his lips as the earthbending master stepped back to join him.

"Your destiny lies in Republic City."

With that, he stepped back and Penga brought her arms down in a sharp cutting movement. The mountainside moved, rocks falling vertically to crumble on top of each other and seal up the small exit that they had crawled through only moments before. When the rubble cleared, they were staring at nothing but an indistinguishable stone wall, the distant cry of birds the only sound cutting through the complete silence.

A/N: And, all of a sudden, we have a plot.

Holy crap this is a long chapter. Sorry for the wait, this one has been giving me far too much grief! I know it was kind of an oddly paced chapter, but it was a transition into the larger story arc I have planned. From here on out, it's going to be a very fast paced story up until the finale. Hold tight!

Reviews are loved and cherished.