I own Zahira, Melati, Meili, and Liwei. I own the restaurant too, and that's basically it.

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Tenzin had been in the middle of writing a treatise on the evolution of bending styles when the phone rang.

"Hello?" he answered.

"Councilman Tenzin? This is Officer Kwan of the United Forces. Sergeant Major Zahira wishes to speak to you. Is this a good time?"

"Of course. Please put her through."

After a few minutes and a slight rustling at the other end, she came to the phone.

"I caught you in the middle of writing a treatise, didn't I? Let me guess, it's on the regional cuisines of the Earth Kingdom."

"Evolution of bending styles," he said sheepishly. "It's good to hear from you, Zahira. Melati, Meili, and Liwei are with your mother right now. Do you want me to get them for you?"

"I already talked to them, thanks. I'm calling to speak to you and Lin, actually. The remainder of my fleet is headed into Republic City later this afternoon for repairs. Would you two want to meet at Geng Geng?"

"Remainder? Repairs?"

"I'll explain all to you there. Are you in?"

Tenzin looked outside the window, where he saw Korra perfecting one of the harder waterbending forms. Lin watched with pride.

"We're in. Does seven work for you?"

"Perfect. Oh, and can you bring Bumi along?" she added before she quickly hung up,

He sighed. This was going to be a rather interesting dinner.

Lin dressed in simple brown pants and a white top-her training clothes. Bumi had left earlier, eager to meet his wife down at the docks.

"She's back early. I thought she wasn't coming until mid-spring," she commented while brushing her hair.

"As did I, but some incident has left her and her fleet here in Republic City," Tenzin replied while shaving his head.

"Did she tell you anything about it?"

"No, she said she would fill us in at Geng Geng at seven."

"Well, we better hurry up. It's six thirty, and knowing your brother he's probably already there with Zahira and happily downing a drink or two."

Sure enough, when the couple arrived at seven Bumi and Zahira were already in a booth by the window, watching the city's first winter snowfall.

"Lin!" Zahira exclaimed, giving her old friend a hug. "It's so good to see you! Wait, is that a bump I see?"

The metalbender put a protective hand over her stomach. "Yep, I'm due in the spring."

"Congratulations! You and Tenzin must be so excited."

"Yeah," said Lin while gazing at Tenzin, "We are. So what brings you to Republic City so early? From what Bumi and Tenzin told me, you were in Ba Sing Se."

Zahira's smile quickly faded. "Here, get in. I'll tell you all about it."

The master firebender recounted her story over steaming pau buns and the restaurant's trademark soup. A somber feeling eventually replaced the warm, familial one that was there.

"Wait, so you're saying that the weird creepy bugmen that attacked Korra's compound attacked your ship?" said Bumi. "And you're still in one piece?"

"It's not like I wasn't hurt, sweetheart, and I've got nasty bruises on my back to prove it."

"Do you think they're making their way to Republic City?" asked Tenzin anxiously.

"I don't know. After the attack on my fleet, we haven't heard of any other attacks at all. Perhaps that was his goal the whole time."

"In a way that does make sense," Lin said. "But at the same time it doesn't. If the person wanted to take out all benders, why did he leave some behind? If I were them, I'd take out all the benders I possibly could. Also, why would they go from attacking subset benders in remote areas to a United Forces fleet?"

"I don't know," Zahira said quietly, looking at the flurries outside the window. "I've been tracking their movements, and I knew we were going to intersect at one point. I just didn't know when."

The group lapsed into silence.

"Hey can we visit Katara?" Zahira piped up. "My back is killing me more than it probably should."


Bumi paced back and forth outside the healing room. Katara emerged and motioned to her son.

"I'm happy you brought her to me when you did. She cracked a couple of her lower ribs, and there was some bleeding. I've managed to take care of most of it. You can see her, but try not to move her."

Bumi rushed into the room. Katara faced Tenzin and Lin.

"Now would you two mind telling me why the chief of the Northern Water Tribe came to see you?"