Responses to Reviews:

Zigzagdoublezee: Yes, now that Izumi's home has been personally attacked by Kuvira, she has much more of a motive to get involved. Whether the intervention of the Fire Nation changes anything we shall have to see.

RonaldM40196867: Who knows? That would be getting into spoiler territory.

Sharpe: It was a mess for all concerned, and there's blame to go round. But Mako wants to make sure it doesn't happen again, for his sake and for Hotaru's.

Dal222: Well, we shall have to see whether Raiko's leadership is enough to weather the coming storm.

As Always, Please Review:

Bolin

The cool breeze that had comforted Bolin throughout his time in the Si Wong Desert abruptly stopped, and the heat slammed into him all at once. He was dressed in the uniform of a Prison Guard, and was wearing an extravagant fake beard. Next to him, Opal, Ganzorig and Chimeg the sandbenders jumped onto the road and began to walk towards the camp.

Without his wrappings, Ganzorig turned out to be a tanned, slender man, about 30 years old, with flowing dark hair. His companion, Chimeg, was a woman a little bit younger with red hair. They were all dressed in the same uniforms that he was, although they looked a bit big for Opal.

As they approached the front gates, a guard came up to see them.

"Hey!" The man held out a hand. "Who are you?"

Bolin made a show of leaning into Opal to steady himself, stumbling forwards.

"Sandbenders!" He called. "We were attacked by sandbenders!"

"Attacked?" The guard asked in concern. "What happened?"

"We were driving through the desert," Opal joined in, "when we were hijacked! They stole our Satomobiles and left us to die!"

She wailed this last part. It was very convincing.

"Oh spirits, how horrible!" The guard told them sympathetically. "Did Kuvira tell you to come here?"

Ganzorig nodded.

"Do you have orders?" The man asked.

"No!" Bolin told him. "They were lost! The sandbenders held us down, burned them in front of us, and laughed in our faces!"

Ganzorig and Chimeg shot him strange looks, but he didn't notice.

"Oh how horrible!" The guard told them. "Look, we'll get you inside, get food and water, and you can tell us what happened, OK?"

Bolin nodded. "Thank you. My name is Yanjiang by the way."

"Pleased to meet you," the guard nodded. "My name is- look out!"

"What an odd name," Bolin observed, turning to find that the two other sandbenders, Borte and Abaka, had popped out from behind a sand dune nearby and were beginning to conjure a gigantic sandstorm, yelling curses. Other figures appeared across the top of the ridge, and though the guards may have seen a massive sandbender attack Bolin knew better; He was sure that Toph was hidden nearby, conjuring life size human figures out of sand to make the distraction seem larger than it actually was.

The guard grabbed Bolin's hand and dragged him backwards, towards the safety of the camp, as torrents of sand raced towards them. The others followed, subtly bending the sand so while there were many near misses, none hit them. They barged through the gate, and the guard slammed a button on the wall, which began to close it behind them. Inside was pandemonium, as guards raced around, shepherding prisoners back to their cells and rushing to man the defences. Bolin heard a pop as an air cannon was fired.

The four of them followed the guard as he led them deeper into the camp. Prisoners rushed past, flanked by guards, and as the space was suddenly crowded Ganzorig took his chance. A small movement of the hand and a clump of sand reached up out of the ground and grabbed hold of their guide's ankle. He collapsed to the ground, and they took the opportunity to join the column of prisoners and vanish before he knew what had happened. They heard him shout in confusion as they walked away.

Once they were out of sight, they ducked into a small room and had a look around. They appeared to be in some kind of small office, with a fan spinning gently in the corner.

"Alright, now what?" Chimeg asked.

"There must be a book with the prisoner names somewhere," Bolin suggested. "Kuvira is very organised."

"Alright, we try to find it. Where do we even start?"

Bolin stuck his head back through the door. A moment later, he spotted a guard walking towards them. He reentered the room.

"How about we just ask?" He suggested.

"Good idea," Opal replied, and they left the office just in time to catch the guard.

"Hello!" The guard greeted them. "Have you seen? We're under attack from sandbenders!"

"Listen, we need your help," Bolin replied. "We're looking for a couple of prisoners, and we were wondering where the ledger is."

"You want to see the ledger?" The guard seemed surprised. "Now?"

"They're high-profile prisoners and we don't want the sandbenders to get their hands on them!" Opal said.

"High profile prisoners." The guard repeated. "We've only got two really high profile ones. Maybe they're the ones you're looking for?"

"Probably, now where are they?" Bolin demanded.

"Cell block I."

"Thank you!" Bolin took off running, followed by the other four. A moment later, he stopped, turned back around, and walked up to the guard again.

"Where is cell block I?"

"After cell block H, genius," the guard replied irritably. "Are you sure you're a guard here? You don't seem to know the place very well."

Opal panicked, and pushed with her hand. A gust of wind picked the man up and dashed the back of his head against the wall.

"What was that?" Bolin asked.

"He was going to find us out!"

"We don't have time for this!" Ganzorig picked the prone body up, checked for a pulse, nodded, and placed it inside the room. He went off down the corridor. Bolin and Opal glanced at one another and followed him.

They emerged into the central area of the camp, which was occupied by many long buildings. The closest one had Cell Block A written above the door.

"I'd imagine we want to follow those," Ganzorig indicated.

And so they did. Prisoners rushed into each cell block as they passed, and there were the sounds of clinking locks and slamming doors emanating from within. Some were dressed appropriately for the heat, others were not.

Finally, the four of them came to Cell Block I. It looked no different from the rest from the outside. Bolin knocked on the door, and entered.

A row of cells stood on one side of the building, each with a bed, a toilet, and a bored looking prisoner inside.

"High-profile prisoner," Opal repeated. "Please be Mum and Lin."

The prisoner in the first cell was a woman Bolin did not recognise, who stared at him with hostile eyes. The second was a man who was trying to sleep, and the third sat on his bed facing the wall and rocking gently. The fourth was-

"What are you doing here?" Bolin pointed an accusing finger through the cell doors at Iknik Blackstone Varrick, who was declined on his bed with one hand behind his head and the other tossing something round into the air and catching it again.

"Bolin?" Varrick scrambled to his feet, nearly dropping his ball. "Why are you wearing that ridiculous fake beard?"

"None of your business," Bolin snapped. "What are you doing here, anyway, I thought Kuvira loved you after you built that bomb."

"It wasn't a bomb," Varrick insisted. "Not intentionally, anyway. We've been through this! She wanted me to build another one, I told her to do one and here I am!"

He extended his arms.

"Anyway, what are you doing here?" Varrick turned the question back on him. "All the guards think you betrayed Kuvira for the Beifongs."

"I wouldn't use the word betrayed," Bolin replied. "More like-"

"Chose the right side," Opal interrupted him. Varrick looked between them, and shook his head.

"Anyway, you didn't answer the question. Why are you here?"

"Again, none-"

"Of my business, I know. Opal Beifong, I presume?"

He bowed extravagantly.

"You presume right," Opal replied stiffly.

"Don't worry, I won't say anything," Varrick tapped the tip of his nose. "Are you here for your mother?"

"Have you seen her?" Opal looked eager all of a sudden.

Varrick suddenly seemed uncomfortable.

"Look, there's good news and there's bad news," he said.

"What's the good news?"

"She's here," Varrick confirmed. "She arrived in the last couple of days. Her sister too."

Bolin nodded. "And what's the bad news?"

"The bad news for you is that they're guards!"

A new voice came from behind them. A man in a version of Kuvira's army uniform adorned with gold strolled down the corridor towards them, flanked by Lin and Suyin. The sisters stood either side of him, dressed in Imperial military uniforms and staring straight ahead. Behind them, men in tall hats and green uniforms filed in. Bolin mentally counted them, there were at least 30.

"Greetings, traitors!" Lieutenant-General Chao greeted him amiably. "I'm afraid your little rescue mission is at an end. You're all under arrest. Now take that stupid moustache off and come with me."