Sorry, once again, for the long wait. The next additions might take a while as well, due to me releasing a four chapter finale to this fanfic. Thank you for your always-present patience. I hope you all enjoy the latest chapter.

Tahni flew through the water for hours, coming up every twenty-or-so seconds for air. It was only due to his accession for breath that he was able to avoid crashing into the land that he saw ahead of him. He decided to swim the final thirty feet to avoid smashing his head when he arrived. Tahni crawled onto the wet earth and rolled onto his back. He stared at the bright, blue sky, slowly regaining his breath. He hadn't swam before, being raised in an underground compound, so he was sloppy, and exerted an excessive amount of energy in his attempt to get ashore.

He laid for minutes, feeling the wet grass tickle the back of his sweat-soaked neck.

Wait, Tahni wondered. Grass? Why is there grass if I'm right next to the ocean?

Tahni sat up, and found that he was not truly at the shoreline. He was on top of a hill. All around him, there were tropical trees sticking up out of the water, their lower halves fully submerged in the ocean's water.

It had flooded, but how? By look of how high the water had risen, it had to have risen nearly fifteen feet.

If Tahni wasn't exhausted, he would have been in shock by how high the water has risen, but all he could focus on was the despicable fact that he had to swim in the near future.

His eyes scanned the flooded landscape around him, he could see the tops of a few buildings fourty-or-so feet ahead, revealing that there used to be a village or town here.

The buildings were bright gray stone, with red and orange roofs and ornamentals. The use of red in roofs told him where he was in the Fire Nation, but how far in? If he was at the true shoreline, and the ocean was not higher than usual, he would at least be able to narrow down where in the Fire Nation he was.

Realizing he was still wet, Tahni stood up in his soaked clothing. He focused on the water clinging to his body and clothing, and bended it off of him. Unfortunately, the sudden removal of the cool water made Tahni realize how warm it was. His lower body quickly began to overheat, due to Tahni wearing two layers of pants. He quickly removed his boots, then the warm layer of pants. He put the boots back on, despite how hot they made his feet feel. Tahni wasn't going to carry around a pair of pants, so he rolled the discarded pair up into a ball, and tossed them into the water. He watched the article of clothing sink deeper into the invisible void that laid beneath.

So… What now? Tahni asked himself.

He was hesitant to go to towards the buildings. If any of them were still occupied, he would be spotted. Tahni was obviously not up for being captured again.

After considering his options for a moment, he realized that only one of them was logical: go to the buildings. He had no food, and it would be difficult, if not impossible, to acquire some with the flooded terrain. He also needed to get out of his pathetic, and torn, crimson and black robes.

Tahni dived back into the water and swam in the direction of buildings. Part of him was annoyed that he was wet once more. On the bright side, though, Tahni was able to have more motion with his lower body now that he had discarded the second pair of pants. When he approached one of the buildings, he looked for a way to get in. He didn't want to dive down and go through the front door, as he'd have to swim up through two submerged levels of water. He couldn't waterbend to the roof, as he wouldn't be able to move his arms and legs accordingly when he was barely keeping his head above the water anyways. Tahni slowly started to swim around the building, looking at it from different angles. After swimming around to its backside, Tahni decided that building was unable to be entered. He swam to the next building, which was fifteen-or-so feet away. This building looked more accessible, with an outside balcony only four feet above the water. Tahni figured he could try to waterbend himself up a few feet, only as much as to reach the rim of the balcony. He gave it a try, sinking a couple feet under, only rise four more feet afterwards. He quickly grabbed the rim of the balcony with his right hand, his grip nearly slipping due to his wet hand. When he started to fall back down, the strain arrived in his arm, nearly tearing him back into the water. Tahni somehow kept his grip, and raised up his other hand and grabbed the rim. He didn't have much upper body strength, so he knew that lifting himself over was going to be difficult. Tahni bared his teeth as he tried to pulled himself up with all his strength.

He failed.

Tahni fell back down into the water, and quickly panicked. His arms were tired, and he could barely keep afloat.

Darn it, Tahni thought. If only I could bend myself up… there…

Tahni had an idea, and at this rate, it was his only chance if he wanted to avoid drowning. He focused on the water inside his own body, and began to bend it, holding it up. It felt awful, like someone was bloodbending him. Tahni raised himself up and over the top of the balcony, and dropped himself down onto the cement floor of it. Had he just bloodbended himself?

"About time you got up here," Vaatu's voice nagged. "If we had died by drowning, I would have made your future lives a living Hell."

Well maybe, if I had a little help- Tahni replied, being cut off by the sight of a man coming onto the balcony and looking down at him.

The man was obviously native to this region-his skin was slightly pale, like most people coming from the Fire Nation. His age ranged from his late sixties to his early seventies, but he had few signs of aging on his face, despite his hair being a dark gray, which was down to his neck, and unkempt. His cheekbones were unusually pronounce. He wore civilian clothing: a plain black shirt, and pants that were close to being the same shade as his hair. The man was hunched over Tahni, and crouched down, as to be closer to eye level with him.

"And who might you be?" the man asked.

Korra, Mako, and Bolin were on their way back to the Fire Nation capital when Bolin received the news over radio that the Dark Avatar had escaped.

"What now?" Bolin asked the person on the other side of the radio.

"The Dark Avatar escaped while he was being transported off the Zhu Li by the White Lotus," the man repeated.

Bolin looked over his shoulder and yelled, "KORRA! MAKO! CAPTAIN GUY SAYS THAT KID ESCAPED!"

Korra and Mako rushed in, nearly colliding with each other when they came through the doorway. Mako ran up beside Bolin, and snatched the receiver from him.

"The Dark Avatar escaped?" Mako asked, unsure if he had heard Bolin right.

"For the third time, the Dark Avatar escaped from the White Lotus while he was being transferred," the captain answered, obviously annoyed.

"When did this happen?" Mako inquired.

"A few hours ago," the captain replied. "We're unsure of where he went, due to him fleeing while submerged, a couple miles from the Zhu Li."

Korra walked beside Bolin's left, and asked the captain, "how did he get away from the White Lotus? He wasn't that violent or dangerous when we captured him."

"The White Lotus sentries are telling us that the Dark Avatar bloodbended."

Korra froze.

Bloodbending? The kid didn't seem like that was in his character. Perhaps he wasn't as innocent or even moral as she had suspected.

"Are you sure? He didn't try to bloodbend us," Mako asked.

"All three of the White Lotus sentries confirm that he bloodbended."

Korra and Mako stood silently, taking in the unexpected news. Bolin wasn't as fazed.

"So… Are we allowed to dock at the Fire Nation capital yet? Or do we need to go look for him?" Bolin asked.

Tahni sat up against the wall with the man beside him as they ate a bowl of noodles.

"So you're the only one living here after the flooding reached here?" Tahni asked between mouthfuls of noodles.

"Yup, everyone left the second the water was within view of the entrance to the village," the man answered.

"And when did the flooding start?"

The man stopped eating his noodles and put his chopsticks down in the bowl.

"The flooding has been going on for about ten years, boy! Where in the world could you have come from where you didn't know that the ocean level has been rising. Even by looking up at the moon, you would've noticed that it's getting bigger," the man questioned.

Tahni sighed.

"Let's just say… my upbringing was not the most… privileged," Tahni answered slowly.

"That's the most barfed up example of unprivileged my ears have ever heard. You weren't 'privileged' enough to look at the frick'in night sky?"

Tahni sighed.

"Nope."

The man picked his chopsticks back up, and resumed eating.

"I'll be damned," he muttered.

After they had finished eating, the man took out a flashlight and led Tahni down to the lower floor. There were no windows on the floor below the one with the balcony, so the water hadn't risen up there yet. The walls were covered with shelves of boots, bows and arrows, spears, and other hunting goods. There were racks of clothing everywhere. The building obviously used to be a clothing store.

"I doubt I'll be selling any more clothes or equiptment for while, for obvious reasons, so I guess it would hurt to let you pick out a new set of clothes, as yours are evidently torn and… smelly," the man admitted. "Sadly, the only clothing floor that isn't flooded yet is the hunting goods. Sorry about that."

Here Tahni was, taking clothes from a man that he didn't even know the name of.

"By the way, what's your name?" Tahni asked.

"Poe Rha," the man asked. "My family has lived in this area for as long as we trace back. What's your name?"

"Tahni."

"No last name?"

"Don't know it," Tahni admitted.

"Wow, you are unprivileged," Poe Rha replied, handing Tahni the flashlight.

He walked back up the steps, leaving Tahni alone on the floor with the inventory of hunting goods. It took Tahni nearly two hours to look through all of the goods, but he finally found a new outfit. He put on a lightweight, black t-shirt and dark gray cargo pants. He replaced his thin, and comfortable socks with a smooth, waterproof pair. He decided on a pair of tight boots, that were made of synthetic and waterproof dark brown leather. He also put on a pair of fingerless brown leather gloves, that archers would wear. As he would deal with water a lot, he decided to get some tan goggles, that looked like the kind snow skiers would wear. He placed them over his forehead. Lastly, he picked out a black and crimson leather trench coat. He decided to put on a tan belt over it, so it didn't get in the way.

Tahni felt like a new man. When we walked back up to the level with Poe Rha, the man just stared at Tahni and grimaced.

"I left you, a teenage boy, alone in a clothing section for two hours, and you picked out more new clothing than a teenage girl."

"Sorry, should I put some stuff back?" Tahni asked, feeling guilty.

"Nah, it suits you," Poe Rha replied, content with Tahni's selection. "But you might want to do something about your hair. It doesn't go with your outfit."

At first, Tahni was surprised that Poe Rha, who's hair was unkempt, was judging his, but when Tahni saw himself in a wall-hanging mirror, he realized that he was right-his black topknot was out of character for his getup. He walked out to the balcony, waterbended up a sharp blade of ice, and cut the topknot clean off.

Tahni watched the bundle of hair fall into the water, and sink ever-deeper in it.