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Asami

The airship crossed the border into the United Republic 24 hours after it had left Ba Sing Se, and Asami slumped back into her seat. It had been a long day.

"Home sweet home," Mako remarked. "It seems like a long time since I've been here."

He laughed joylessly. "My mission didn't go very well."

"Hey, you guarded me!" Wu pointed out.

"And here you are, fleeing for your life as your Kingdom falls into the hands of a despot."

"I just don't know why she would suddenly turn on us like that," Wu moaned.

Perhaps the secret police and the vanishings were a bit of a giveaway? Thought Asami, but said nothing.

"She saved me, you know."

"She did?" Asami asked, not having heard the story.

"She did," Wu confirmed. "When my aunt died, I was living in the Palace. Both my parents are dead, there was nowhere else for me to go."

"How come the Red Lotus didn't get you then?" Mako asked.

"Who knows?" Wu shrugged. "Maybe they didn't know about me. But either way, when Zaheer killed her it provoked a riot in the city. A complete breakdown of authority. And the people marched on the palace."

"Couldn't you have escaped?"

"Perhaps, but the Palace Guard- my guard, now- resolved to stand and fight. So they did. For two months. The palace storerooms are big, but we had not been expecting a siege and we would have been starved out if Kuvira hadn't come."

Wu stared out of the window as he recounted his story.

"She drove off the rioters and reestablished order in the city. Then she made me King. It's funny though, the first thing she did was get rid of all the guardsmen who had protected me for those two months and replace them with strangers. I thought that was odd at the time."

"She was getting rid of those loyal to you," Mako realised.

"So that she could overthrow me and nobody would say anything," Wu agreed. "And it worked. I am a King without a country."

"It almost worked," Asami corrected him. "Mako said something. And two guards stood up for you."

"Three people out of how many?" Wu asked bitterly. "And two of them are in Kuvira's jail."

Asami said nothing. She didn't know what to say to that, for Wu was right.

"Will they take me?" Wu asked.

Asami shrugged. "Depends on how willing they are to annoy Kuvira, and on how much they want to get on your good side. It's worth a go though?

"I can't see why not."

Besides, you're not the first Earth King this has happened to," Asami told him, remembering her history lessons. "Your grandfather was chased out of Ba Sing Se by the Fire Nation. But he had help from the Avatar, and the Order of the White Lotus. So do you."

"I hope you're right," Wu replied. Asami thought of Korra then, as she had just mentioned the Avatar. Korra had not come to the cockpit with them, and when Asami had tried to find her she had demanded to be left alone. It seemed she was taking her defeat to Kuvira hard, which worried Asami. But she resolved to respect Korra's wishes and leave her alone, at least until they reached Republic City.

Soon enough, the Skyscrapers of Republic City came into view, twinkling in the light around the waters of Yue Bay. Out in the harbour, the Island that held Tenzin's Air Temple lay near the enormous statue of Avatar Aang thrusting his staff high into the air. The airship flew past them both, as Asami began to descend towards where she knew her mansion would be. It had a dedicated airship docking port, and she could get someone to take the ship to its hangar soon.

"Looks like you've got visitors," Wu remarked.

"What?" Asami asked, concentrating on the driving.

"One of those Satomobiles like the one we escaped in," Wu told her. "It's black and white."

Asami navigated the airship down into the mansion's expansive garden, and touched down gently. She tapped a button and the hatch opened, before shutting off the engines.

No sooner had they disembarked, they found Lin waiting for them. She didn't look happy.

"What happened there?" She demanded.

"Kuvira tried to arrest the King, I defended him," Mako said.

"You caused a diplomatic incident!" Lin shouted at him.

"I did my job! I am a bodyguard of the King, remember?"

"Yes, but you didn't!" Lin rounded on Asami. "You're a private citizen of the United Republic and you electrocuted the leader of the Earth Kingdom! Don't you think there might be consequences for that? Especially as we're harbouring a wanted criminal!"

"What? Wu didn't do anything wrong!"

Lin sighed. "I know. But President Raiko was pretty rattled by what happened at the conference and so told me to say that. He thinks you've just caused a war between the United Republic and the Earth Kingdom- although it's not the Earth Kingdom any more of course."

"No need to remind me," Wu muttered.

"If you ask me though, you did the right thing. You defended your friends. The only thing is that you're not spying any more. Did you find anything interesting?"

"Only Kuvira vanishing her political opponents, but everyone knows about that now at least."

"We also found about Kuvira's weapon," Wu put in.

"What weapon?"

"Bolin said it was some kind of bomb, didn't he?" Mako said. "They used it to blow up a fort with a thousand people inside."

"And where is Bolin?"

"I don't know," Mako replied. "He wasn't at the conference."

"Why wouldn't he be? He's one of her closest lieutenants, isn't he?"

"Maybe she guessed that I'd defend the King, and thought that Bolin would defend me in that case."

"So she kept him away so he wouldn't join you?" Lin asked.

"Basically," Mako replied.

"I hope that's the case," Lin replied. "The alternatives are not good."

She changed the subject.

"One bomb destroyed a fort?" She asked. "That's a lot of destructive power. I hate to ask this, but could we acquire this weapon for ourselves?"

"No!" A new voice entered, and Asami turned to find Korra stood in the hatchway. "I don't know what that weapon is, but it's bad news."

She came down the hatchway. "It's not just physically destructive, it's spiritually destructive too. I felt it, when I was in the Foggy Swamp; Jinora felt it too when she was looking for me. I have a feeling the Spirits will not like it when that weapon is used."

Lin watched her for a while. Korra was hunched over slightly, and looked quite tired.

"Alright, we won't build our own then," she decided. "But how do we stop it in that case?"

Korra shrugged. "I don't know. But we don't stop a bomb by building another bomb."

She looked around at them. "Can I go to bed now? I have had the longest week!"

her voice was full of false bravado, but Asami could see right through it.