Life was good on Air Temple Island.
Tenzin and Lin would rise every morning in a lover's induced fog and get ready to go off to their respective jobs; Tenzin would depart for City Hall, and Lin would go to police headquarters and attempt to solve as many cases as she could before her maternity leave kicked in.
The adoption paperwork, despite Tarrlok's best efforts, had finally gone through. Korra was now officially a Beifong. She would tell this to everyone and anyone who would listen, including her favorite uncle Bumi.
"Uncle Bumi, Uncle Bumi," she yelled, running into his arms. "I'm a Beifong now, isn't that cool?"
"It's very cool," he said, affectionately ruffling his niece's hair. "You know, they say that Beifong's are made from the earth itself."
"Really?" Korra said. "That's cool! I don't think it applies to me though."
"Maybe not," Bumi conceded. "But you are the Avatar. If I remember correctly, you're made of all the elements. That's how you can bend them all!"
The little girl lit up and tried to bend all the elements at once. She almost succeeded, but couldn't produce a puff of air. Dejected, she crawled back onto Bumi's lap.
"It's okay, kiddo, I can't airbend either," Bumi whispered into her ear as he watched Tenzin enter the building. "But how good is your waterbending? Because I have an idea…"
After outlining his plan, Korra clapped her hands in glee. "You're a mad genius, Uncle Bumi!" she yelled, hugging his legs and running off.
Bumi paused, bittersweetness filling the moment. He then approached his brother. "Ah Tenzin," he said, starting to imitate waterbending moves. "It's so nice of you to join us!"
At that moment Bumi 'bent' a large stream of water directly at Tenzin, effectively soaking him. Annoyed and slightly in shock, he airbent the water from his clothes while Lin tried to conceal her laughter from behind.
"I don't believe you, Bumi! We are grown men here!"
"Eh, maybe you are. I like to think I grew up only on the outside."
"I think he's right, Tenzin," Lin said, holding her aching sides. "Korra dear, where are you? I know you're here."
Korra popped up from her hiding place and scampered over to her mother, a mischievous grin on her face.
"You're an adorable little troublemaker, I'll give you that much," her mother said as she took her hand. "Let's go to Katara and see if we can squeeze in an extra lesson. You two, sort yourselves out. Zahira and my mother are waiting for us in the dining room, and you both know how impatient they are."
The two men scoffed before a steely glare from Lin set them straight. Grumbling, the two men quickly arranged themselves before entering the dining room.
Tenzin had been expecting a quiet afternoon with his mother- and sister-in-law discussing the attacks. Maybe there would be a diagram or two scratched out on scrap paper. He most certainly was not expecting maps, models, and photos of suspects to be littering his dining room tables. Bumi bounded over to Zahira, who was deep in conversation with her superior officer and foster daughter. Lin and Kya were analyzing a map while Toph used metalbending to move pieces around a tabletop model.
Tenzin cleared his throat. "Hello everyone, it's good to see you all. Shall we begin?"
Everyone gathered around the tabletop model, eager to start the meeting.
"So as you all know, we are convening here today to discuss the greatest threat our world has witnessed since the Hundred Year War. We need to find out who these people are so we can face this head-on and neutralize it as soon as possible."
"'Face head-on?' 'Neutralize?' If I didn't know any better I'd say that Lin's rubbing off on you," Kya noted with the slightest hint of glee in her voice.
"Well, I guess that's what happens when your eldest child is the Avatar," Tenzin said crisply. Though Lin didn't show it, her heart was bursting with love for Tenzin. She loved it when he referred to Korra as his daughter. "Why are you here anyways? You've never been one for political meetings."
"No, but after what Bumi and I saw at Korra's village I might just become more involved. If I may have the floor please, little brother?"
Tenzin harrumphed and sat down next to Lin. Kya sashayed to the far end of the room, where a large map marking the locations of prior attacks were prominently marked.
"As I am sure you all know, Bumi and I recently traveled to Korra's village in the South. Certain aspects of that trip you'll find very interesting. For example, the bending fields were completely destroyed, and everyone left was rebuilding all but two houses?"
"All but two houses? That's rather odd," Lin said. "What's so special about them?"
"I'm so glad you asked," Kya smiled. "The two houses in question are Katara's and Korra's houses, respectively."
Zahira put down the cup of tea she had been drinking. "Can I spitball something here?"
Kya nodded, and gestured for her to speak.
"Everyone, what if we've been looking at these attacks in all the wrong ways? What if we're so distracted by the big picture that we're missing the real reason right under our noses?"
Lin knit her brows together. "What do you mean?"
"Think about it. So much damage was done to Korra's village that until Kya went back five months later we didn't realize that Korra and Katara's house was left completely untouched. Don't you think that's odd? It's almost as if her village was attacked specifically to get ahold of Korra, and then destroyed the place so thoroughly that it was impossible to process everything."
Lin suddenly sat up, as if she had been hit by lightning.
"Zahira, you mentioned that there were attacks on communities with a high proportion of benders apart from the attack on your fleet. Was everyone accounted for in the affected communities?"
Captain Hong rifled through some paperwork. "Almost everyone except for the most powerful bender in each community. So far we have a missing earthbender, a missing firebender, and a most-likely-dead water bender."
Bumi appeared quizzical. "Most likely dead?"
"Swamp bender who was born without arms. Chances are, she didn't last for long after she was taken."
Toph scoffed. "Don't let disabilities fool you Captain. I may be blind, but that's helped me become the best earth bender this world has ever seen."
Lin took the paperwork from Captain Hong and began reviewing it herself. "We need to get Korra to safety. If these powerful benders are unaccounted for, I shudder to think of what would happen to her if anyone gets their hands on her."
"Wait, you said that there was anti-bending sentiment in Korra's case?" Asked Niang, Zahira's foster daughter. "And the people who attacked, they looked like bugs? And they destroyed everything?"
Tenzin nodded vigorously. "They did! Do you know something?"
"Well, maybe," stuttered Niang. "I spent part of my childhood in Ba Sing Se, and when I was there there was a movement called Diaguni. It was super anti-bender, and people who were ardent practicers carried these electronic batons that they used to arm themselves against the 'threat' that is the bending community. I remember it was mostly concentrated in the Lower Ring, but that was years ago—I have no idea if it's still around. But if it is, then I bet that if we find their training camps maybe we can find out who was really behind the attack on Korra's compound, and maybe even what happened to those other benders."
Toph jumped out of her seat. "Well then what are we waiting for? Let's go to Ba Sing Se and teach those idiots a thing or two! Besides, even if we don't find them we can always visit Zaofu. That daughter of mine has somehow created one of the largest standing militaries in the Earth Kingdom. Our brainpower combined with her military power could take down whatever comes our way easily!"
"Alright, Toph, Zahira, Niang, gather your things and meet at the United Forces Fleet stationed in Republic City at 0600 sharp tomorrow," Captain Hong said. "Tomorrow, we're taking down those anti-bender bastards."
