174 AG

"So," Kai said awkwardly. "You and Kuvira." An innocent enough statement; Opal's fingers tightened around Lefty's reins. "What happened there?" he asked.

In all honesty, Opal had been thinking about little else for the past few days. She hadn't been coming up with a lot of answers and that was largely due to the fact that she didn't really want to think about Kuvira and their relationship. She also didn't really want to talk about it but there was nothing else to do during her and Kai's long trek back to Air Temple Island. She bit her lip.

"So you know how Kuvira was the captain of the city's guard back in Zaofu," she said. Kai nodded. "My mother has a dance troupe back in Zaofu, and when Kuvira was around my age, she joined that troupe. She became a guard on our estate, and she eventually became the captain. I knew her from seeing her around the city and the estate. I never would've guessed that any of this would happen."

"When the Earth Kingdom fell," Opal went on. "Everyone wanted my mom to take charge, to unify the Earth Kingdom. So did Kuvira. My mom refused and Kuvira just . . . something changed. She and my brother started plotting, and eventually they left Zaofu. I was with the Air Nomads when this all was happening," she explained. "So I don't know the exact details but this is what my brothers told me."

Kai listened to her carefully even though Opal was probably saying stuff he already knew. "Kuvira successfully gained control of Ba Sing Se and well, the rest is history," she concluded. "I don't know why she's acting like this; she's not at all like who I used to know."

"That was kind of my question, anyway," Kai said. Opal looked at him guiltily. Had she been avoiding answering his question? She'd laid out their background without really saying anything. Owing Kai a better response, she thought back to who Kuvira used to be back in Zaofu.

"My mom was really proud of Kuvira and kind of took her in as a protégé," she explained. "Some people wondered if Kuvira would someday take over Zaofu after my mother. It was just rumours, nothing official, and my mother never told any of us back then and I doubt she'd tell me now."

Without prompting, Suyin wouldn't tell Opal if she had planned on Kuvira taking her place eventually. There would be no reason to bring it up now; Opal felt like Suyin would be too ashamed and hurt. She knew how her mother had repressed her angry and resentful feelings towards her sister to the point where they physically fought each other when they saw each other again. Kuvira disobeyed Suyin's orders, rejected her position at Zaofu, and took her son; Opal could tell it was just as personal.

All the same, everyone had expected Kuvira to take over some day, or at least Opal had. Suyin's hair had greyed, but she definitely wasn't going to give up her position anytime soon. While she'd never wanted to control an entire nation, Zaofu was definitely hers. While there was no apparent heir at the time, or even now, people had wondered.

Next to Kuvira, people had speculated that Baatar, the eldest, and even that Opal, the only daughter to a matriarch, would take over as ruler. However, neither Baatar nor Opal, while they'd never really spoken about it with each other, assumed they would ever lead Zaofu. Opal hadn't wanted to, but perhaps Baatar had.

"I wonder if that's why my brother left," she murmured. "He's the oldest but he knew he'd never get to run Zaofu. That would go against Zaofu's principles anyway, we're not a monarchy, but people wondered if my mom would play favourites because we're not a democracy either. Mom wouldn't play favourites, though, she always treated Kuvira very professionally."

"Maybe that's why Kuvira left," Kai suggested. Opal looked at the towns below them, little villages that still showed the signs of being victimized by bandits. The fields around the town they passed over were empty of grain but people were working there, most likely sowing new seeds. "I know my mentor back at the Northern Air Temple wasn't professional with me."

"Who was your mentor?" Opal asked curiously. Kai grinned at her. "You're such a suck up," she laughed.

"My point is that none of the people I admired ever treated me 'professionally'," he said. "If you looked up to someone like she apparently looked up to Suyin, and that person treated you like that and didn't listen to what you had to say . . . you wouldn't want to wait for that to change, right? Especially if you thought she wanted you to take over someday."

"I don't think she left because she was hurt that my mom didn't treat her nicer," Opal began to argue.

"I'm not asking how nicely she treated her," Kai said. "I'm asking if your mom respected her. And you don't have to answer, I don't want to argue or anything. I don't know anything about your mother."

Opal glanced back at Kai. He'd wrapped his legs around his knees and was looking off into the distance. He really didn't want to fight Opal, he just wanted to help her understand what was going on. Opal felt a rush of gratitude towards him. The very least she could do was honestly think about it.

Like every Beifong, her mother had her flaws. But Suyin didn't really owe Kuvira any respect . . . but at the same time Opal could understand why Kuvira would want it. Suyin was very controlling, over her city and the people within it, especially her family. It was why Opal had been so nervous about confronting her, and why she had almost stayed in Zaofu. It was understandable why Suyin would want Opal to stay, but ordering Kuvira to do the same?

Opal still didn't know if she could trust Kuvira, but as far as she knew Kuvira had left Zaofu to try to help the people outside of Zaofu. If Suyin had wanted Kuvira to eventually take over she should have been okay with Kuvira taking initiative. Still, Opal had always paid more attention to her relationship with Kuvira than Kuvira's relationship with her mother. Opal hadn't been there when everything had fallen apart, but Kai was right. It didn't seem entirely fair.

"Maybe," Opal said at last. "It doesn't make what she's doing okay."

"We still don't know if she's doing anything," Kai pointed out.

"I have a bad feeling about it," Opal said.

"Yeah," Kai replied. "You have a feeling." She didn't appreciate it being reduced to just that, but it was probably true. She idly whipped the reins against Lefty's back, and the giant animal grumbled but picked up speed.

"My mom didn't want her to go," Opal said. "But I know from experience that while she means well, it just comes off as controlling. It is controlling." She couldn't help but wonder why her eldest brother had left. "Maybe that's why Baatar went with Kuvira, because of mom. But I thought he was happy in Zaofu. I thought we all were."

"You left," Kai said.

"That's different," Opal replied.

"Is it?" Kai asked. "You and your brother are doing the same thing right now, helping people, right? Maybe Kuvira was his calling, the way airbending was yours." Opal frowned at the way he'd phrased it.

"I don't think he's helping people," she said simply. "And I do think Kuvira's not as great as everyone says she is. And maybe it's just a feeling but I can't just ignore it either." Kai nodded.

"So . . ." he said. "Kuvira was your mom's protégé. They had a falling out when Kuvira decided to do what she thought your mom should do, and when Baatar came with her things just got worse." Opal nodded.

"That's what I heard," she said.

"So what about you and Kuvira?" Kai asked. "What happened between you two?" It seemed that Opal really was a natural airbender. She'd danced around the question so well even she hadn't noticed it.

She watched the horizon of white clouds and blue mountains slowly approaching them."I don't know," she said. "Nothing happened between us." She felt Kai's gaze on her, like he wanted to ask more questions but couldn't find any. She didn't have any more answers to give. She understood her relationship with Kuvira just about as much as she understood Kuvira. She could only speculate.

"Hey, what's that?" Kai suddenly spoke up.

"What?" she asked, glancing over at him.

"Down there," he said, leaning over the edge. Opal peered over Lefty and saw it. "What is that?"

"Is that," she murdered. "Is that, some sort of camp?" She'd heard the rumours. She'd hoped they weren't true.

"No way," Kai said. He looked up at her, face tight with worry. "I'll fly down?" he asked.

"Be careful," she said. "No wait." This was something she had to see for herself."I'llgo down." Kai nodded slowly, changing places with her. She unhooked the wings of her suit and clipped them to her arms.

"If something goes wrong," he said. "I'll try to -"

"If something goes wrong, find a way to contact Air Temple Island and if Jinora contacts you let her know what happened," she said. "If I'm not here in half an hour just leave and go get help."

Kai nodded, looking over the side again. Opal stood up. She took a breath and peered over the edge. This was a part of the job she'd never quite gotten used to, but she had to do this. The strange structure on the ground . . . she had to find out what it was.

Kai met up with Opal on the outskirts of the town half an hour later. Kai grabbed her arm and pulled her onto Lefty. She tried to unclip her wings multiple times until Kai stilled her trembling fingers and unbuttoned them for her. They took off once again and Opal felt like it was much colder than she remembered. She sat down. She could feel his eyes on her.

After a moment she finally spoke up. "I don't understand her," she said, faint with defeat. She wrapped her arms around herself, the faces of Kuvira's prisoners fresh in her mind. "I don't understand her at all."