The sun was beginning to set, but now that Asami and their friends were okay, Korra turned her attention to capturing Amaya and her other sister. She sped along the surface of the newly created reservoir. There, a few hundred meters from where the dam had once been was her airship, and two figures running towards it. She dove, gathering water behind her and using the pressure to burst out of the lake. She landed between Amaya and the airship, water swirling over her head and outstretched arms like a whirlpool.

Amaya gave out a frustrated growl. "Why don't you just give up?"

"The world needs an Avatar, Amaya. If only to deal with people like you."

"You're fighting against the tide."

"I don't understand you." Korra kept one eye on Amaya, and the other on her sister. "What's the point of anarchy? There'll always be someone taking charge, and usually it'll be warlords."

"Our plans go well beyond returning power to the people," Amaya said. "Even if we give the people power, you still put the world out of balance. We'll fix that, too."

"Right.." Korra stepped forward, and Amaya took a step back, twirling her arms in a classic waterbending move. Something latched onto Korra's arms and legs, and then she was yanked off of her feet. Her water crashed to the ground on top of her.

Korra tried to pull on what had grabbed her, then looked down to see an inky blackness wrapped around her wrists and shins. Tendrils of darkness writhed like purple flame, moving from the shadows cast by the airship and then lashed out at her.

Summoning up the Avatar State, Korra broke free, spinning through the air. She landed, throwing water at Amaya, but the woman grabbed her sister and stepped to the side. Losing sight of her in the Shadows, Korra threw a ball of fire into the sky, trying to dispel the shadows from the setting sun. But her enemy was gone.

"Shadowbending." Bolin folded his arms, leaning against the bulkhead and looking at Korra like she'd lost her mind. "Is that even a thing? How is that thing? I mean what bending does that even come from?"

"I'll call up Tenzin and ask," Korra said. "Either he or Jinora might have an idea."

"Why didn't she use it before though?"

Mako glanced at Asami. "I don't know, but we do have a prisoner we can ask."

Korra nodded. "Asami, get us to Republic City as fast as you can, I have a really bad feeling." She turned and quickly walked out of the cockpit, leading Mako through the ship to the room they'd locked the Earthbender in.

Lihua was tied to a chair, her shoulders sagged and her head hanging. She looked up with the hatch opened. "What do you want?"

"We just have a few questions," Mako said. He closed the hatch behind him.

"Have fun with that."

Korra sighed. "Your sister tried to kill you."

"You're an only child, what do you know?"

While Korra bristled, Mako stepped into Lihua's line of sight. "I love my brother. I'd die for him. But I'd never ask him to die for me. And he wouldn't ask me to die for him. We support each other. We don't use each other."

Lihua frowned, looking back at the deck as though trying to ignore them, or any of the thoughts that might be going through her head. Korra could spot some differences from her sister, up close. Lihua was a little thinner, and her eyes were half a shade lighter. She also seemed to be missing the edge that followed every one of Amaya's actions.

Her shoulders rose, then sagged again, and she looked up, defeated. "Fine. What do you want to know?"

"How did your sister learn to manipulate shadows."

Gaze moving to Korra, Lihua shrugged. "I don't know how. But she's able to move us through shadows, from location to location. Like within a city."

"While planting bombs." Korra guessed.

"Yes."

Mako asked the next question. "How does she borrow your bending?"

"Spirit energy. Energy bending. Something like that." Lihua shrugged again. "It has something to do with the tattoos. Like shared chi-lines. He said it only works as well as it does because we're three parts to a whole."

Triplets, Mako thought. It made as much sense as anything else.

"He?" There was only one 'he' that came to mind, and while Korra had stopped fearing him a long time ago, he was still a very sore point with her.

"I don't know, some old man Amaya trained with. In the spirit world. He showed her how to siphon our bending, where to put the tattoos. The basics of bending all the elements. He probably taught her how to shadowbend as well. " Lihua's face fell, and she closed her eyes. "She's been training with him for years. I only met him a few months ago." When she opened her eyes again, Korra and Mako were gone and the hatch closed. Lihua's lip quirked. "You're welcome."

It would be the second airship that Asami risked the engines on. Several FI planes flew past them towards the dam, and she tried to signal them. One dipped his wings in acknowledgement, but they kept flying.

No one from the city was responding to the radio, and by the time they got close enough to listen to the news reports there was smoke rising in the distance. Though something kept interfering with the signal, they got enough information to get the general idea.

Someone had tried to kill the president. Non-benders protesting. Rioting. Chaos in the streets. With only a stop to let Mako and their prisoner off at the police station, Asami set a course straight for her company.

"You'll be okay?" Korra picked up her glider staff.

"Yeah. Once I've made sure my company is intact I'll join you at the island."

Korra shook her head. "No, once I've talked to Tenzin I'm going straight to the prison. So meet me there." She lept out of the airship, and soared towards Air Temple Island. She surveyed the city below her as she traveled. Police had many of the protests contained to specific areas. Many of the 'rioters' weren't actually rioting at all. She frowned..

The temple was busy, but peaceful when she landed. She spotted Tenzin and ran up to him. "Tenzin!"

"Korra! We've been worried sick."

"I'm okay. Amaya broke the dam, but I contained most of the flood. She got away though." Korra leaned on her staff. "What's the word here, and in the Fire Nation?"

"Fire Lord Azula has things under control since you left. But while you were chasing down the assassins, an Earthbender attempted to murder Tuyin."

"Did they catch them?"

Tenzin shook his head. "No. After the attack, people started inciting others. Tuyin refused Airbender aide. She thinks that more benders being in the streets would only make the violence worse."

Korra felt an odd twisting in her gut. A strange sense of deja vu. "When I flew over here, there wasn't that much violence. Most people seemed to be gathered peacefully, or herded by the police. But I couldn't tell what groups were benders and which weren't. Not from that height."

"That's concerning. It would mean the radio reports are false."

"Someone wants mass chaos, even if they have to manufacture it." Korra raked her fingers through her hair. "I need to speak to someone. But I need to know something first. That you or Jinora might know."

"Whatever I can do to help."

"Have you ever heard of shadowbending?"

Tenzin tugged on his beard, furrowing his brows. "Shadowbending? Come to think about it, my father once mentioned he met a shadowbender. A young girl, when he was trying to recruit additional members for Team Avatar. But I haven't heard of anything like that, since."

Korra tapped her staff on the ground, unfolding the wings. "If you can find anything about shadowbending, let me know. Amaya used it against me."

"Is there anything else you need me to look for?"

"How it's possible to siphon someone's bending, from one person to another."

"These are strange days we're living in," Tenzin mused. "Jinora and I will get right on it." He turned, but Korra's voice stopped him.

"And Tenzin?"

"Yes?" He glanced back at her.

"You might want to send airbenders out to observe. Just in case."

"Asami!" Jia held the door to the roof open as Asami ran down the gangplank, Bolin close behind her.

"It's good to see you. Fill me in."

"Do you want the good news or the bad news?" She followed her boss down the stairs, gripping several folders in her arms.

"Lets start with the good news."

"The lawsuit is on hold," Jia said. "Between the bombing in the Fire Nation, the attack on the dam, and now the protests in the city, I was able to ask for a hold on the case."

"Good! How long?"

"Sixty days."

Asami frowned. That was better than nothing, but she had no idea how long the current crisis would last. She'd nearly drowned, her entire body ached and she hadn't slept in nearly twenty-four hours. She supposed this was the reward for not having many serious crisis' since Kuvira. She resolved to increase her work-out schedule when everything settled. "That's not long, we'll take it."

Bolin clapped his hands together. " So if that's the good news, what's the bad news?"

"The expense of diverting all our ships and planes to help with the Fire Nation and now the Earth Republic is going to affect our bottom line," Jia said. "We should still be able to weather it but it's going to be a tight year."

"I'll take a pay cut and strongly recommend other executives do the same. I don't want to cut pay or lay off anyone if we can avoid it."

They entered Asami's office, and Jia set the folders down. Asami ignored the folders for the time being, and hugged Jia from behind. "Thank you. You've gone way beyond your job description. I don't know where Future Industries would be without you. I don't know what I'd do without you."

Jia closed her eyes. "There's been limited damage to one of the factories from the current unrest, but otherwise we're weathering that."

"I hate to do this to you," Asami said, letting Jia go. "But I need to meet Korra at the prison."

"I'll be fine. I've got Ikki to help me out…. she's around here somewhere."

"I'll stay and chaperone," Bolin said, affecting a snooty voice when he said 'chaperone.'

"I don't need-"

"That's a fantastic idea, Bolin!" Asami smiled teasingly at Jia. "Someone has to look out for your best interests, Jia. And I'm sure Tenzin would appreciate someone looking out for Ikki."

"Nothing happened," Jia blurted.

A slow, sly grin grew on Bolin's face. "No one accused you of something happening."

"Usually when someone says that it means that something happened," Asami agreed.

Jia started to shove Asami out of the office. "Go help the Avatar, damn it."

"Yes boss."

Returning to the prison where Zaheer was kept left Korra with uncomfortable feelings. There was anger there. The kind of anger that ran deep. An old anger that dulled with time but never quite went away. She mulled over it, pacing as she waited for Asami. She wanted to face him calm, and part of calming herself down was to accept the anger and point it into a more useful direction.

But Asami was late, and Korra was impatient, though she knew it was a bit of a drive. After twenty minutes, she strode past the White Lotus guards and down the hallway to Zaheer's cell. It was pretty much exactly how she'd seen it last. For most people, the monotony would have been maddening. But this was Zaheer, and Korra was kicking herself over the realization that he had escaped to the Spirit World.

"I was wondering when you'd visit." Zaheer's voice was raspy from disuse. He looked scraggly and thing, all the muscle definition having left his body. His hair was long and greying, but his eyes remained sharp.

"Enjoying prison?" She said, once the doors had closed behind her. Korra didn't think he'd be a threat.

"My body already was a prison and I learned to escape that one a long time ago. This one?" He looked around, as if seeing it for the first time. "This one is meaningless." His eyes focused on Korra once again. "You've changed, yet remain the same."

"You trained Amaya," Korra said. "You taught her to siphon her sisters' bending, somehow. You taught her how to shadowbend."

"I won't deny it. I've had years to meditate, to explore the spirit world, learn and study. There are secrets yet to be discovered. What I showed her was just the beginning of what's out there. Energybending has unlocked a new potential. Thanks to your actions with the spirit portals, many new horizons are now possible."

"She rebuilt the Red Lotus."

"The Red Lotus never withered," Zaheer countered. "We watched. We waited. We manipulated events and now they've come to a head. The ghost of Amon has haunted this city for over a decade. But he was just another despot, no different from Kuvira. The only true path to equality is to let the people rule themselves. It's coming, Avatar Korra. Bender versus non-bender. Citizen versus government. Red Lotus pushing at all sides until something breaks. Republic City descends into chaos. The rest of the world follows soon after. The forest burns so that new growth can rise from the ashes."

Korra studied him as he spoke. His words only confirmed most of her suspicions, but she didn't think he'd give her any tips on fighting Amaya. Even though his voice was weak, there was still passion. "You still believe that bullshit? The Fire Nation is safe, and I stopped the Dam before much was damaged. I'll stop whatever plans you have, Zaheer."

Zaheer smiled, then closed his eyes and lowered his head. He laughed, the sound grating on Korra's nerves. "I'm just an observer now. It's all in her hands, and the hands of the people. The dominos are falling and not even you can stop them all. Maybe you need to learn the most important lesson of all."

"And what would that be?"

Lifting his head, Zaheer locked eyes with Korra. "You need to learn when it's time to let go" His body suddenly went slack, his eyes rolling into the back of his head. He exhaled once more, and then his chest stilled.

"He just died? Just like that?" Asami placed her hands on Korra's arm. "... are you okay?"

"Yeah." Korra put one hand over Asami's. "He hasn't had power over me in a long time, he just frustrated me more than anything else. He confirmed a lot of suspicions but I don't know if anything he said will help yet. I want to talk to Jinora. Tell her what he told me."

"What did he say?"

"Everything seems to come back to energy bending, and the spirit portal." Korra gestured with her free hand towards the shining beacon in Republic City. "New horizons. Zaheer is right, we haven't even scratched the surface."

Asami watched the portal for a moment. "I don't think it was a bad thing. Not the portal, certainly none of the changes. Maybe it was hard to adjust, but that's what people do. They adapt and grow."

"I'm not going to get old ghosts hold me back." Korra punched her fist into her palm. In the distance, they could hear the droning of airship engines. She squinted as dark specs appeared on the horizon. "Are those yours?"

"I don't think so. Most of Future Industries' fleet should still be in the Fire Nation." Asami pulled a pair of binoculars out of her purse. "Those designs are definitely not mine. Not Earth Republic either."

"I've got a bad feeling about this." Korra sprinted for the Satomobile, sliding across the hood and then practically jumping into the passenger seat. "Why does the prison have to be so far from the city?"

Asami slid in a second later and started the engine. As she peeled out, she thought that no one was going to mind if they broke all applicable traffic laws right now. She handed Korra the binoculars. "Maybe you'll be able to see something as we get closer."

It wasn't easy, not with the car swerving. Korra didn't dare look at the dash, she was pretty sure Asami was red-lining the speedometer. "I can't make out the logos, but it's a red color."

"Red Lotus? Since when do they have an airship fleet?"

"Or an army. Or…" Korra trailed off and nearly fumbled. "They're dropping mecha tanks."

Knuckles gripping the wheel so hard they were turning white, Asami snapped. "How do they have tanks? How did no one know about this? I thought Kuvira's mecha fleet was scrapped?"

"It was supposed to be. We'll worry about that after we send them to the scrap heap." Korra balled up her fist.

"I'll drop you as close as I can to the nearest airship, then I'll get airborne in yours. We need to bring down some of those." They were closer. One airship was clearly bigger than the rest, with what looked like large barrels arrayed on the sides and front. More alarming was what was mounted on the rear - someone had installed her new engine design. Asami's grip on the wheel only got tighter.

Korra looked at her wife curiously. "What are you going to do?"

"I don't know yet, but I'll think of something." She flashed an angry look at Korra. "I may have an idea."