In the same moment she twists the handle, the door to the President's office is pulled open from the other side. Consequentially, Korra's face bounces off the man's chest when the action yanks her forward, a cry of surprise muffled by Raiko's shirt and tie.

"Avatar Korra," the man says with bemusement, as she straightens and quickly sweeps strands of hair out of her eyes.

"Ah, sorry," she apologies, cheeks flush, "I didn't know you were there. Behind the door, I mean."

Raiko nods. "I was just leaving."

"Leaving?"

"I have a meeting to attend, down in the Council Chamber."

"I need to talk to you first," Korra says urgently.

"It will have to wait," Raiko replies, and politely pushes her to one side.

Korra blinks in the wake of her apparent dismissal. The President pulls his office door shut behind him and, with a sheaf of papers in hand and not a single look back, takes off with a long stride down one of the old, decorated corridors of City Hall. Korra shakes herself and chases after him.

"It can't!" she calls, her shorter legs working to match the man's pace. "This is important."

Raiko adjusts his spectacles with a finger. "I am very sorry, Avatar Korra, but I am not at your beck and call."

She races ahead and then turns to stand in front of him. "You have to cancel the demonstration for Asami and Varrick's machine."

The President arches his brow. "And why would I be inclined to do that?"

"Do you even understand what that thing does?"

"Its purpose and functionality were explained to me in exquisite detail -"

"And you still want to go ahead with it."

"Certainly," the man says, "it was proposed as a counterpoint and potential alternative to our original idea to allow Kuvira to tutor in the art of platinumbending. As it was presented to me, the existence of the machine permits an all around more efficient method of dealing with dangerous benders. Removal of their bending means they can be placed securely in the facilities already available to the city, rendering the construction of extensive platinum facilities needless - a both timely and costly initiative."

"Yes, but -"

"Also, an idea which did not occur fully to us in the moment: use of the machine eliminates the potential risk of individuals who would otherwise have learned platinumbending turning, in essence, rogue. I'm sure you can imagine that would be a devastating blow to the public's confidence in the Police, for instance, with Lin's insistence that elite metalbending units be first in line for tutelage."

Korra hadn't thought of that.

"And, of course, there is the issue of Kuvira herself. I dare say the public would side favourably with the machine's use in her case. Even by virtue of being alive, the woman is considered a great threat to national and international security."

"You can't be serious."

The President lifts a hand. "It is merely a discussion for now, Avatar Korra, not a decision."

"You're talking about taking away someone's bending," she hisses, "undoubtedly without consent!"

Raiko walks around her. "I understand; it is an unfortunate circumstance."

"No, you don't," Korra retorts hotly, shadowing the man's footsteps down the steps that lead to the main floor, "how could you? You're a nonbender - all three of you! You don't know what it's like to have something like that stripped from you. I do."

"Avatar Korra, please," Raiko says, holding up an arm as she tries to pace at his side, "this conversation cannot be had right at this moment."

"But it must," she argues. "President Raiko, I am pleading with you not to allow this demonstration to go ahead."

"My apologies," the man says as they cross the bustling atrium and reach the tall, grand doors of the Council Chamber, "but we will have to continue this at another time."

Korra plants her hand above the polished door handle when Raiko reaches for it. "The machine is experimental, how do you even know it will work as intended?"

The man smiles thinly at her. "And who should I defer to concerning its technicalities, Avatar Korra, the inventor, or its staunchest detractor?"

Her hand slips down as Raiko pulls open the Chamber door, clenching into a fist when it slams shut in her face.

"Damn it!"

Kuvira rises up from behind the kitchen counter, looking through the hole in the wall into the living room. "Is it too hot?"

"What?" Korra says, her palm lightly stinging after being slapped down onto the glass coffee table. "No, no. I was just...thinking."

Raiko has done an excellent job dodging and avoiding her over the past two days. Since their last 'meeting' she has not exchanged a proper word with him. Time is fast running out.

"You do not look entirely at ease," Kuvira observes as she walks out of the kitchen with her own mug in hand. Korra looks up to see her take a gentle sip of the beverage.

"You know, I'm surprised the Chief hasn't locked you - or at least tried to - in one of the bedrooms when she's away."

"Lin takes quite the hands-off approach regarding my situation," Kuvira says, "perhaps because she is not too sure whether or not to consider me part of the Beifong family." She looks down into the contents of her mug. "Or, more likely, it is due to the confidence she places in the many men and women she has watching this building."

Korra glances around the place as Kuvira speaks. The disciplined frugality of the elder Beifong sibling, to her initial and still persisting astonishment, is lost on the apartment. The space is large and stylishly furnished, bearing the resemblance of a lavish hotel suite. Korra supposes that after all the woman has done, she cannot deny Lin has more than earned herself the extravagence.

"So, what do you do when she's here?"

"Lin only appears to use this apartment as a place to sleep," Kuvira responds, walking over to the sofa positioned perpendicular to Korra's.

"Where do you sleep?"

"In the guest room."

"And the Chief?"

"For the last two nights? On that sofa," Kuvira says, "facing the guest room."

"I see." Korra imagines the woman sleeping with one eye open, perhaps even literally. "Well, you seem to be comfortable enough here," she says, considering the plain, beige mug of green tea she holds in her hand.

"You should drink some," Kuvira tells her, taking a sip of her own. "it will help take the edge off your mood."

Korra only frowns.

"Or perhaps not?"

Korra places her mug back onto the coffee table. "No one is showing even the remotest signs of being able to platinumbend yet."

Kuvira closes her eyes and sighs. "No, they aren't. I'm doing what I can with what I've got. I suppose the expected thing to say here is that it will take time."

"You don't have the luxury."

"Lin's metalbenders do not want to learn from me. There is too much tension between teacher and student."

"Well, that's tough."

"Teaching is hardly my forte, Korra. Especially in these conditions, as I have already said."

"You're all we have," she fires back, "as I keep telling you. Spirits, how in the world did you almost build yourself an empire?"

Kuvira lowers her mug. "I made a nation fear me, Korra. I did not ask; I gave you no choice but to respect me."

"I know, but aren't any of those skills transferable?"

For a moment, Korra thinks, Kuvira looks like the corners of her lips are about to inch upwards. But then the woman simply lifts her tea to them instead.

"Something is bothering you," she says afterwards. "You've been persistent about my making progress from the start."

Korra sighs and rubs her temples, realising that Kuvira isn't asking but stating her accurate deductions. "There's something I need to tell you," she says. "I wish I didn't have to."

"Well?"

She looks up at Kuvira, finding the woman regarding her from behind cool green eyes. "Do you remember Asami, Asami Sato?"

"I do."

"Well, with Varrick's help she's designed a machine, one that supposedly can remove someone's bending. She...wants to use it on you," Korra says reluctantly.

"...I see."

"She and Varrick presented their case to the President on the morning of your first platinumbending session and, I learned afterwards, convinced him of its advantages," Korra continues, reiterating them for the woman's benefit. "I haven't been able to convince any of them otherwise. A demonstration of the machine is scheduled to take place, tomorrow."

"Am I invited?"

Korra is briefly confused as to whether Kuvira is asking in jest. But then the woman never smiles, let alone make a joke.

"Not to my knowledge, no."

Kuvira nods, leaning forward to place her mug on the coffee table. "It is, I suppose, a practical alternative," she says simply.

Korra blinks. "What?"

"There is no demand on time, energy or cost this way," Kuvira says as she straightens, sweeping her braid back over her shoulder. "Between that and spending weeks and months waiting for enough people to be sufficiently trained in platinumbending, if they can be at all, it's the logical choice."

Korra stares at the woman. "We're...we're talking about your bending, Kuvira!"

"Blood stains these hands." she replies. "I am a criminal, a war criminal."

"So we string you up in a cage like a damn animal?" Korra retorts. "You're as human as the rest of us."

Kuvira spends a long moment just looking at her with a piercing gaze. "Was I so pitiful that you felt you had to rescue me?"

"I hated it," Korra says quietly, "to see, week after week, the way you were being treated in there."

"You don't know the half of it."

Kuvira leans back into the sofa, lacing her fingers together atop her lap as she looks up at the ceiling. Korra wants to ask, but something in the woman's face makes her hesitant. Thoughtfulness slowly rises to her eyes.

"You mentioned that the machine can be configured to target element specific chi networks?" Kuvira says then, breaking the silence.

"So I've been told," Korra replies. "You would lose your earthbending, and by extension metalbending."

"But not, perhaps, the ability to manipulate platinum."

Korra shrugs. "If the machine doesn't work as thoroughly as intended, I suppose."

"That's not what I mean," Kuvira says. "Metalbending is performed by manipulating even minute traces of earth in the material, yes? And platinum cannot be manipulated in the same fashion because..."

"...it's too pure of a metal," Korra finishes, tilting her head. "Where are you going with this?"

"This is merely speculation," the woman replies, still gazing upwards, "but I am thinking that perhaps metalbending as we currently know it and platinumbending are not, in fact, one and the same thing."

Curiosity wrinkles Korra's brow. "Are you saying...bending platinum isn't metalbending?"

"I'm saying it is. I'm saying the ability to do so is truly metalbending."

"So..."

"If I am purged of my earthbending, it is possible that I will retain the ability to manipulate platinum. At the very least."

There is a long pause between the two women, and then -

"Kuvira," Korra says slowly, "are you sure you wanted to tell me that?"

The woman breathes deeply in and exhales. Korra watches her chest slowly fall. Kuvira opens her eyes afterwards and shrugs.

"I trust you."

The words catch her off guard. "You...do?"

"You've saved my life - more than once, and in more ways than one."

Korra isn't quite sure how to answer that, so instead she reaches towards the coffee table and afterwards hides her mouth behind a mug. Thin wisps of steam curl slowly up into the air when she lowers it again, the flavour of green tea sharp on the tip of her tongue.

"I appreciate that," Korra says.

Kuvira simply nods, and perhaps for a moment her lips are no longer so glum. "As do I."