"Hello again," Mako said formally as he stood stiffly outside the doors of the police station. It was the next day, and he'd had very little sleep the night before. "Happy to see the sun?"

"Don't act like this is going to go well, officer," Mike said with distaste as he stepped out and squinted in the bright light of the morning. He was still in the same set of clothing from when he arrived, although the bandages were gone and the bruises were slowly starting to fade. "She's not going to warm up to me after whatever happened before."

"I think you'll find Korra can come around to anyone if given enough time. I should know, it's how I originally became friends with her," Mako replied optimistically. "And now we're dating!" The urge to ask a million questions about the waterbender that made Korra nearly explode was strong, but he kept it to himself for now. He was on duty.

"I had a girlfriend for a second once," Mike recounted. "She tried to knock me out after I asked why her hair was so rigid. Don't remember what happened next, but I woke up in the middle of a crosswalk and almost got hit by a car."

"Heh, my ex hit me with her car when we first met." Mako opened the door to the police vehicle he'd be driving them in.

"You get with people who could give you brain damage, got it," Mike observed.

Mako had to refrain from laughing at the joke. He was still in work mode. "You sit in the back so I can keep an eye on you; it's not a long drive if the traffic is light, then we take the ferry."

"Great."

"I was given the run down by Chief Beifong," Tenzin said upon their arrival. "Welcome to Air Temple Island."

"Thank you, Councilman, I guess…" Mike replied with a short bow to show respect for his host. He then started to look around. "I don't think I've been here since a school trip when I was eight or nine." He admittedly only remembered arriving, seeing half the tour, and being back home again. There were way more instances of him waking up in trees or on rooftops after that day.

"That's the case for most people. You'll find it's probably changed since then," Tenzin figured. "Is there anything of yours left on the boat?"

"No. They wouldn't let me get my things from the fruit shop. Not that I had much to begin with," he explained with a sigh.

"There wasn't time to make a detour," Mako added. "Besides, whatever you had will still be there when you're allowed back in the city."

"A fresh start then, that's never a bad thing!" Tenzin figured. "We'll have to give you a tour of where you'll be staying—in fact, let's do that now."

A long winded tour later…

"Alright, now that you have the lay of the land-"

"Dad, who's this?" Ikki appeared with her two siblings in tow. "New acolyte? Another Korra friend?" She gasped. "Are you Korra's new boyfriend?!"

Jinora, stood behind Ikki, put her hand to her head. "Ow…" She squinted in Mike's direction. "What is that?"

"I'm…I honestly don't know, Chief Beifong in her infinite wisdom decided I was better off here than in her prison or on the street, so take with that what you will," Mike replied to Ikki as he also rubbed his head.

She had indeed discussed this extensively with Tenzin over the phone, who had been filled in on certain things that were important. Air Temple Island was isolated enough that it would be hard to leave easily and had enough competent people around in case something was to happen; the literal Avatar was living there, after all. It was less of a prison sentence and more of a… temporary relocation.

"A criminal, on my island? Unacceptable! You'll have to do some time hitting the dirt helping work around here!" Meelo decided.

"If it keeps me away from the Avatar I'm for it," Mike surprisingly accepted the fate Meelo had laid out for him.

"Wait, are you…no…Korra's ex?! Of course! That must be it!" Ikki had totally been listening.

"We must investigate further! Ikki, come with me, we need to find Korra and ask the woman herself!" The two young airbenders hopped onto air-balls and drove off to the innards of the temple.

"Not to sound rude, but you have a lot of weird energy around you. I'm not an aura reader or anything like that, but you might want to see the one we have," Jinora said politely.

"Hm?" Mike had not stopped looking in the direction of the two that had left. "There is nothing but good energy here! I want to learn how to do that." His voice was a bit higher, and…his energy had shifted.

"Air ball? Sorry, you have to be an air bender to learn that," Jinora clarified.

"I would not say such a thing if I wasn't capable, and I am very capable," they said confidently.

"Wait, you don't mean-?" Jinora's eyes widened.

"Jinora, will you go make sure your siblings don't tear up the courtyard trying to find Korra?" Tenzin finally cut in.

"Oh, um, sure, Dad, I can do that," Jinora said halfheartedly, jogging off to do that.

"Bye bye! It was a lovely time meeting you!" 'Mike' waved as she left.

"Lin mentioned there was something… unique about you," Tenzin spoke seriously.

"Of course I am unique," they said with a smile. "I strive to be the greatest at all that I do. And I am!" They had a nervousness to their claim, as they were looking at the Master Tenzin, son of the airbender Avatar Aang, oh what an opportunity it was indeed! But confidence was what carried them through their purpose in life, in existence, and they would express that.

"And what can you do? What makes you special?" Tenzin was perfectly aware of the suspicions that Lin and Mako had but was more excited at the prospect of a new airbending student—and one that wasn't just his relation or Korra at that!— than being particularly coy about his intentions.

"I teach myself with what little time there is, you know, only so many minutes in a day, not much to work with," they started making excuses and avoiding the question.

"There's no need to dance around it; Lin already told me. I am more than thrilled to have you here with us, fellow airbender," Tenzin broke the illusion of ignorance with a short bow.

She couldn't contain herself as she bowed back. "It is so thrilling to be here!" she replied with a grin, bouncing to the point that she shot into the air for a few seconds before landing softly on the ground with a whoosh. "I've not interacted with another airbender besides the Avatar, and she was not so courteous or polite as you."

"Korra doesn't enjoy others showing her up. She's spoken a handful of times about what happened, but I believe that there is always room for misunderstandings to be cleared in favor of new

beginnings."

"We shall see if that is true. I have my doubts."

Tenzin had a thought. "I almost forgot to ask how to address you, my apologies," he said.

"Oh, me? It's not always clear, sometimes it feels like it's supposed to be Sangyal, but I also like Svetlana," she revealed. "She sounds more like a champion to me."

"Oh, so there's a girl in there too?"

Tenzin and Svetlana turned their heads. "Korra, that is a most disrespectful tone of voice to use with a guest," he scolded her.

"I'm making an observation! Isn't that why they're here? To be observed? Let's not pretend that this is a totally normal visitation happening here," Korra said bluntly, having appeared out of seemingly nowhere.

"Tch, it's like you were not taught how to greet people," Svetlana said with a shake of her head.

"That does not give you the right to act so cold," Tenzin reminded Korra. "It is most unbecoming."

"They threw a block of concrete at me, Tenzin! I'm allowed to be 'unbecoming'," Korra said through gritted teeth.

"Whatever happened earlier has passed, you are here now and they are not going anywhere; there's at least a few weeks before Lin comes to retrieve them."

"Just enough time for me to fully master my art!" Svetlana decided, twirling around once with a mini tornado in her hand as if to rub it in somehow.

"It takes a lot longer than that to master airbending," Korra said with a scoff. "You can't even do it all the time, can you?"

Svetlana frowned. "I can-" she tried to say.

Korra took an extra step and got up in her grill. "But you're not always around. So no, you can't."

"Korra!" Tenzin was appalled at her behavior. "That is enough. You've just earned yourself an extra two hours of endurance training this evening."

"Great, now look what you've landed me with," Korra said to her icily as she stomped off.

"I am so sorry, I don't know what's come over her," Tenzin apologized. "She's not usually like this…most of the time."

'Svetlana' took a deep breath. "She is intimidated. I know that she didn't take to airbending until she had no other element in her, saw it in the papers," they replied with a tinge of pity in Korra's general direction. "She knows little about me, but doesn't care to learn."

"It wouldn't be the first time."