A sharp popping sound and the smell of black powder jolted Aang awake, as it did every morning. A few years back, all it took was the changing temperature of the air against his hairless scalp for him to sense dawn approaching. Then he would rise with the sun, and begin his morning meditation. But it was impossible to keep old routines with three children, and now he always relied on the ingenious timing devices Teo sent him to wake him up.

He glanced at Katara's side of the bed; it was empty. She had probably gotten up a while ago to feed their youngest son, Tenzin.

Aang suddenly became aware of a gentle pressure against his back. Rolling over, he found his five-year-old daughter Kya curled next to him, her thumb in her mouth and a tearful expression on her face. "Hey, kiddo. Another nightmare?" Kya nodded. "Wanna talk about it?"

"I was bending on the beach." Kya began, "And I tried to pull water from the ocean to make ice, but it turned into a wave, and- and the wave picked me up and swept me away-" Her bottom lip quivered. "And I was screaming for you and Mom, but it pulled me under, and I couldn't-"

She cut herself off with a sob. Aang scooped her up, patting her back. "Just like when your brother fell off the boat and got pulled under, huh?" He felt her nod into his shoulder. "But… do you remember happened when Bumi went under?"

"He…he came back up again, and, and Mom Waterbended him out."

"Exactly. That's what Moms and Dads do when their kids have trouble: they help get them out of it." He set her down and gave her a mock-serious look. "If you got pulled underwater, do you think your mom and I would leave you there, to get eaten by the Unagi?"

Kya hiccuped and wiped her face, a tiny smile crossed her face."Nooo…"

"Absolutely not! I told that Unagi all those years ago, you don't get to eat me, and by the Spirit World, you don't get to eat my kids, either!" She giggled. "You know, Kya, you won't ever have to be afraid of the water. Because your Mom is the strongest Waterbender in the world, and someday, you're gonna be just as strong as she is."

Kya hugged him. "Love you, Daddy."

"I love you too." Aang grinned. "You wanna take a quick glider ride before breakfast?"

Kya nodded. Despite not being an Airbender like her father, she had taken to flying more than any of the Air Acolytes, and she and Bumi were always taking the gliders up together. When she was a bit older, she'd be able to operate one herself.

Pulling on his saffron-yellow monk's robe, Aang set Kya on his shoulders and rotated his hands to conjure a spherical "air scooter", then hopped onto it and glided down the corridor to the training hall, where the gliders were kept. Normally, Aang would have taken his own glider, the one that compacted into a combat staff, but the traditional design didn't allow him to carry a passenger. Besides, the modified ones that Teo and the Mechanist designed were just as much fun.

Once they had lugged the glider to the top of the temple's spire, Aang strapped Kya into the main harness, not bothering to attach himself; if he came loose (unlikely), he could simply bend the air currents to catch up with Kya again. Hoisting the glider and his daughter onto his shoulders with a grunt, he took a running start and leaped over the parapet of the tower. Kya gave a yelp of glee as they swept over the low-lying clouds that framed the edges of Yue Bay. Aang banked upward, and Air Temple Island shrank rapidly as they began to climb. It was a pity, Aang mused to himself, that Kya would never be able to air-surf; she would have loved it. Someday, Teo or Sokka would probably come up with something for non-Airbenders…

A faint chattering sound caught his ears over the song of the wind. Glancing down to his right, Aang caught sight of Momo riding the air currents just behind them. When Kya noticed him, she bent a small globule of water from the moist air and launched it at Momo's face. The flying lemur took the missile full in the face, dropped like a stone for several feet, regained his balance and swooped back toward the island, screeching indignantly as Kya's laughter followed him. Aang wasn't concerned about his pet holding a grudge; Momo had suffered far worse when Kya and Bumi were toddlers, and he still came to them for affection on a daily basis. At least Kya was feeling better already...

Spiraling upwards, the Avatar felt a familiar rush of childlike delight, one he had once thought gone forever. Katara had never known how right she would be, when she had told him all those years ago in the burned-out Southern Air Temple.

Sokka and I, we're your family now.

You have no idea, love… He glanced down as he leveled out of the climb and let Kya hold the guiding lines. The expanse of Republic City lay spread before him as if on a map, stretching far beyond the shore of Yue Bay and the estuary of the Ku'on River. Built around the ex-Fire Nation colonies of Yu Dao and Cranefish, on former Earth Kingdom lands, it was intended to unify the Four Nations through the integration of all their cultures.

How far that integration had succeeded,remained in question. Most of the pre-established population was the mixture of Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation from the colonial era, although increasing numbers of Water Tribe immigrants had arrived within the last few years. The international connection certainly helped the other nations find common ground as far as trade. The problem was not so much finding balance between the other Nations; their leaders were eager to work together after a century of warfare, and building the Republic gave them the opportunity for that.

No, the difficulty was figuring out exactly what the "Republic" was meant to be, and how to enforce its' laws as they were developed. The Republic's constitution forbade discrimination based on gender and ethnicity, and many of its' industries- such as the Earthen Fire refinery, founded by Toph's father Lao and her friend Satoru- focused on finding opportunities for both benders and non-benders. Unfortunately, the industries could not keep pace with the growing population. In addition, some of the more recent immigrants had left their home countries under… difficult circumstances. On arriving in the United Republic they quickly began forming organized crime syndicates known as "Triads". Some were so powerful they virtually controlled the outer towns, and many had their eyes on business interests in Republic City itself.

The capitol's police force, founded and led by Toph, was always on alert, but within the last year Toph had been forced to take some time off. Her Metalbending officers were doing the best they could, but they were hesitant without their extraordinarily skilled leader, and the police forces in the secondary towns were less effective. The introduction of rail lines, thanks to Zuko's recent meetings with several Fire Nation businesses in the Republic, made coordination easier for law enforcement, but it was still slow going even without the ramshackle government. Lacking a leading executive, Republic City's government was formed by a Council of international representatives, elected for six-year terms. As the last living Air Nomad, Aang was the only permanent council member, but he was dismayed by the result. Not only did the Council not truly represent the people of the United Republic, it almost never agreed enough to make decisions or pass motions to deal with its' challenges, especially concerning the growing population and crime rate.

There were times when Aang wanted to simply gather his family onto Appa and fly back to the Southern Air Temple; painful though the memories might be, at least he would find some peace and quiet. A second later, he would remember what he and Katara had made together, and he would kick himself for thinking of leaving.

As Aang nosed the glider back out over the bay, he noticed a large formation of dark clouds sweeping in off the coast; a winter storm was on its' way. Feeling it would be safer to cut the flight short, he took the lines back from Kya and began a gentle, descent back towards the island. He could see a woman with long, dark hair standing on the north-side beach, her head cocked back to watch them. By the way the waves kept contorting and falling back from the sand around her, it had to be Katara.

When he was about fifty feet above her, Aang pulled the guiding lines taut to his chest and put the glider into a steep dive. Kya yelled gleefully, her stubby fingers digging into his neck as they plunged through the air. At the last second, Aang pulled out of the dive and projected a cushion of compressed air from his heels, bringing them to a halt amid a huge cloud of sand.

As Aang disentangled himself from the glider and removed the straps from Kya's torso, a jet of cold seawater struck the back of his shaved head, causing him to yelp. Kya laughed and clapped her hands with glee as her father turned to face his assailant: his wife.

"You're slipping, Avatar." Katara remarked matter-of-factly, a hint of mischief in her glacier-blue eyes. "Ten years ago, neither Sokka nor I would have been able to sneak attack you like that. Well, Sokka still can't, but that's not saying much." A massive coil of water surged out of the waves around her feet, and split into a ring of eight writhing tentacles. "After everything Toph, Zuko and I taught you."

"Sorry, Sifu." Aang replied sheepishly. Behind his back, his fingers twitched, Waterbending droplets from the morning mist and freezing them into three egg-sized ice pellets. "It's just, there are these wonderful things called children, which can be quite distracting-"

Katara twitched a muscle in her forearm, and two of the water tentacles lashed forward. They would have coiled around Aang's ankles and hurled him into the surf if he hadn't already sprung backward, another 'air scooter' forming under his feet and carrying him eight feet into the air. He brought his hand forward to launch the ice pellets, but two of them dissolved back into water as they left his fingertips, splashing to the ground. The third found its' way to Katara, but she deflected it with a flick of her hand.

Aang frowned, confused. Katara was the most skilled Waterbender he had ever known, but she'd never managed to bend water right out of his hand, not when he was still manipulating it-

Then his eyes fell on Kya, who was trying very hard to look inconspicuous… and failing, due to the huge grin on her little face. "Very funny, Kya." He gave her a mock-wounded expression. "Why does this always turn into two-on-one, Water Tribe versus Air Nomad?"

"Because you always cheat and use more than one element." Katara laughed, turning to their daughter. "Kya, go wake up your older brother; he's going to miss breakfast if he sleeps any longer."

Kya bent a sizable globule of water from the surf, formed a current under her feet and rode it back toward the temple; her giggling was soon lost among the bamboo groves. Katara lowered her hands, and her ring of water tentacles drained itself smoothly back into the ocean. "Did she have another nightmare?"

Aang nodded, drifting back to the ground and folding his arms around her. "But she calmed down pretty quick, she just needed something to take her mind off Bumi's sailing accident."

Katara shuddered, leaning into his tall, skinny frame. "That was bad enough for me, thank you very much. I was traumatized by the time I was five; I don't want our kids to suffer the same way."

Aang squeezed her shoulders gently. "Katara, your mom died because she was a nonbending civilian standing up to a heartless Firebending soldier. It was the only way she could keep you hidden from Yohn Ra. Considering what you and I can do, I highly doubt our kids will be in the same position-"

"That's not my point, Aang." Katara cocked her head sideways and looked up at him. Aang was always amused by this gesture; when he'd first met Katara when they were twelve and fourteen respectively, she had been a head taller than him. "We can't keep them sequestered on Air Temple Island forever. Sooner or later, they're gonna have to face up to the more unpleasant parts of the world… and with the crime rate in Republic City, that's not gonna be an easy transition. For that matter, we can't keep ourselves isolated from the poor, either."

Aang nodded. "There are a lot of times when I feel like I'm not able to do enough in the Council, that I could just go out on the streets and find problems to solve, like when we were kids..." He glanced down at her and chuckled. "But you, isolated from the poor? When has that happened? The only reason you aren't back at your healing clinic right now is because you've got a sick one-year-old you feel guilty about leaving. It's okay if you can't help everyone at once, love. You're not the only healer in Republic City."

Katara smiled sheepishly. "I know, I sound like Sokka when I'm worried about something-"

"No, you're absolutely right." Aang kissed her forehead. "I've been meaning to talk to Toph about some of these problems, anyway; I'm gonna go visit her after I drop off Bumi at school. Was Tenzin alright? I noticed you'd gone when Kya came to me..."

"He was just hungry. After I fed him and got him back to sleep, I needed to practice my bending. It's been a while, outside of healing the kids' bumps and bruises."

"You know, if you need more time to get away for bending, we can always ask the Air Acolytes for help watching Tenzin occasionally; they've never said no to anything I've asked of them before-"

Katara laughed, pulling herself free of Aang's embrace. "No need, love. The Acolytes have enough to do around here anyway, and Tenzin's an easy baby, aside from the sore throats." She stood on her toes and kissed him on the lips. "Now grab some food and get your oldest to school, and make sure he isn't smuggling anything else in or out."

Aang and Bumi crossed the bay on the steam ferry that ran between the harbor, Air Temple Island and the island that bore the unfinished statue of Aang. Normally they would have flown on Appa, but the sky-bison was getting old, and his joints played up in foul weather. Momo perched on Bumi's shoulder, his bulging green eyes staring hungrily in the direction of the fishermen's wharf.

"You know, you don't have to take me all the way to school, Dad." Bumi remarked as the boat docked in the bustling harbor and they disembarked. "I wasn't going to prank the teacher with that iguana-parrot, I just wanted to find it another home-"

"Sure you were, kiddo." Aang smirked, ruffling his nine-year-old son's untidy chestnut-brown hair. "Personally, I think you're learning too many of your Uncle Sokka's tricks."

Bumi shrugged, a lopsided grin on his face. "All he said was, 'they provide a good diversion in a tight spot-'

"I don't think Sokka would have recommended sticking a reptilian bird up the leggings of an Earthbender who's almost a foot taller than you. From what your teacher said, he's going to be limping from that bite for a week."

"Dad, he had it coming! He was using his bending to pick on this girl half his size-"

"I appreciate that you were trying to help someone in trouble, but using violence isn't going to help the situation. Next time try to reason with him, or get help from your teacher; that's what they're there for."

Bumi rolled his eyes. "Right, 'cause that's the only thing a nonbender like me should do if there's trouble: run for help."

"I didn't say anything about your lack of bending-"

"You didn't have to." Bumi's tone sharpened. "That's why you won't let me walk to school on my own, because without the Avatar backing me up, you think everyone's going to jump me when I walk through the door."

Aang sighed. His oldest child's inability to bend any of the elements had always been a sore spot, and in the last few years Bumi's behavior had become increasingly wild and reckless, pushing himself to the breaking point in any way he could. "No one's denying your strength or your skills, Bumi. But you need to accept that you have limits, and that includes how you deal with bullies. Whether you can stand up to them or not, don't try to hurt them back, that's only going to make them resent you more."

Bumi glanced away, his tone still resentful. "That's not how you dealt with Fire Lord Ozai during Sozin's Comet. That's not what Aunt Toph would say if we ran into a couple of Triads-"

"I only fought Ozai after he refused to listen to reason, and even then, I didn't kill or harm him, no matter how much he goaded me. As for the Triads, I wouldn't want you to face them even if you were a bender. At least, not until you're a bit older, and..." Aang paused as they passed between two high-rise buildings. "Tell you what: you promise to rein in the fighting and pranking at school, and I promise that you can go to Kiyoshi Island next year and learn some chi blocking."

Bumi's eyes lit up. "Really? Mom might not be happy about that-"

"I know she hates the idea of chi blocking, but we both want you safe, more than anything else. If you can't avoid a fight, chi blocking will definitely give you a better chance against benders if no one's around to help. Plus, it only disables the body; it doesn't cause serious injuries, like weapons or bending."

Bumi glanced up at his father slyly. "Let me walk the rest of the way on my own, and you got a deal."

"Not a chance."

"Aww, come on, Dad! I've got Momo with me, if I get into trouble he knows how to find you."

Aang gave his son an amused look. "I thought you didn't like having the Avatar as backup?"

Bumi shrugged and grinned. "Doesn't mean it isn't helpful sometimes."

"Spirits, kiddo. If I'd ever grown my hair, you'd have made it fall out years ago." Aang ruffled his son's hair again. "Alright, deal. Your mom and Kya will pick you up this evening after your practice."

Bumi gave him a one-armed hug. "Thanks, Dad. See ya!" He sped off down the street, Momo barely managing to cling to his shoulder.

Turning right, Aang found himself at a crossroads. He realized that the shortest route to reach Toph's house, would be to pass through the Dragon Flats borough on the south edge of the city. Far removed from the gleaming plazas and pagoda-topped spires of downtown, the streets here were narrow, poorly lit and dirty, the buildings clumped unevenly together. Most of the residents were recent arrivals, including many nonbenders... a combination which made them easy targets for the Triads.

Aang was a pacifist by nature, but Katara's words from earlier came back to him; he and his family were too isolated from the poor and oppressed, at Air Temple Island. At least Bumi was standing up for the unfortunate at school. Raising the hood of his cloak, and taking a firm grip on his staff, he strode into the borough.

It was quiet, except for the gentle tap of snowflakes hitting the ground. The coming of winter and the new year normally brought out more business to the poor quarters of town, as local markets formed from the competition. But many of the various shops squeezed into this quarter of Dragon Flats had closed signs, and none of the seasonal stalls from the out-of-town merchants had been set up yet. Why did it seem so deserted?

Then Aang's eyes fell on a collapsed building next to an apothecary. Collapses were not uncommon in Dragon Flats, where there were few Earthbenders to make easy repairs. But the way this one had fallen... it looked as though it had been pulled down. He crouched to inspect the floor, and his grey eyes noticed crystal formations poking through the floor, and a ragged scorch mark on the wall. Only one faction of the Triads used benders for more than one element: the newly-formed Triple Threat. His chest tightened with anger as he remembered Katara's stories of victims coming to her clinic, their bodies burned or broken, but unwilling to name their attackers out of fear.

There was a sudden shattering sound, followed by a weakened cry for help. Conjuring his air scooter, Aang glided rapidly down the street, his cloak billowing in the wind.

Two blocks further, he found the source of the scream. A thin, emaciated man in a green hat and thick spectacles was lying in the midst of a pile of shattered celadon pottery, just in front of a ceramics shop. A few yards beyond, two men in bulky coats framed the alley's exit. The first was tall, with blue eyes and nut-brown skin like Katara, indicating some Water Tribe ancestry; the other was shorter and stocky, with a pale complexion and narrow brown eyes. At the appearance of Aang, they both took up bending stances.

"Clear off, monk." The Water-Tribe Triad barked. "This doesn't concern you."

Aang glared back at him, raising his staff. "You're hassling a defenseless old man. I think it concerns me."

In answer, the Triad bent a stream of water from a puddle and launched it at Aang, transforming it into a jagged ice-missile mid-flight. The staff flicked out almost lazily, knocking the missile aside.

The other Triad conjured flames in each palm and inhaled deeply, charging his attack. Aang knew the longer the confrontation took, the more likely homes or civilians would come to harm. He swept his staff diagonally and a column of compressed air whistled towards the Firebender, knocking him off his feet. Spinning to dodge another attack from the Waterbender, Aang tapped the ground lightly with his right foot. Earthen shackles sprang from the ground, trapping the Firebender's limbs. Looking bewildered and frightened, his partner bent more water from a pouch on his belt, morphed it into a current under his feet, and swept away from them.

Aang jabbed his left arm outward, blocking the exit with a wall of flames. As he advanced on the cornered gangsters, his hood fell back, exposing his shaved and tattooed head.

The Waterbender's eyes widened. "Hell, you're the Avatar!"

"You should have realized that as soon as you saw me bending more than one element." Aang replied sternly. "You work for the Triple Threat Triad? It's been a while since they've come up in the newspapers. You can tell your bosses they've got no business terrorizing Dragon Flats just because Police Chief Beifong's away from the precinct."

The Firebender glared up at him. "You're gonna regret this... You mess with Yakone, and he'll hunt you down, and-"

"Shut up, Shinzo!" The Waterbender hissed. He turned toward Aang, palms upraised in a gesture of surrender. "We didn't realize who you were, Avatar. We'll be out of your way, if you'd be kind enough to let us go..."

"First, you can compensate that man whose wares you just ruined. I'm sure you have yuans to spare-"

"No!" The victim was backing away, looking terrified. "I don't want anything to do with this! The Triads have already run almost everyone out of the borough! Yakone, or the Avatar... Whichever one I choose, I'm doomed! I'm outta here!" He ducked between two of the shops and vanished.

Aang turned back to the Triad soldiers. He tapped his foot on the ground again, and the restraints holding the Firebender broke open, while the wall of flames faded into embers. "Tell this... Yakone, I'm willing to hear him out on behalf of the Council. As long as he has business that's legitimate, and not at the expense of the good people of the Republic. If not, he can either clear out, or face me in a duel himself."

An ugly grin stretched across the Firebender's face. "Be careful what you wish for, Avatar. I'll pass your message on to Yakone... You just better hope he doesn't take you up on that duel."

Rubbing his wrists, he followed his companion out of the alley. Aang frowned. At least he had made an attempt to reason with the Triads directly, though some of them listened more out of fear than reason. He didn't like the idea of a duel, unless there was no other choice. Whoever this Yakone was, his underlings seemed very sure of his abilities.

Aside from occasional matches against his friends, Aang hadn't been in a real fight since his last battle against Azula during the Kemurikage crisis, almost twenty years ago. He could simply enter the Avatar State and tap into the power of his past lives, becoming virtually invincible, but he didn't think that was necessary; even without the Avatar State, he had already established control of all four elements, which should be enough to deal with any bender in a duel.

Even so, he hoped it didn't come to that.

As Aang raised his hand to knock on the steel-plated door, it swung open of its' own accord. A gruff voice muttered, "As if I didn't hear you coming two blocks away, Twinkle Toes. Get in here, and don't touch anything; I just got her to sleep."

As Aang stepped into the house, he noticed that the granite floor was vibrating slightly. Toph was seated in a wicker chair in the main room, her clothes disheveled. Most of her thick, jet-black hair was pulled into a bun above her green leather headband; the rest hung in thick bangs over the upper part of her face. The vibrations were coming from her Earthbending by gently tapping her bare foot on the floor, causing the cradle next to her to rock itself.

"Er… glad to see you too, Toph. How's Lin?"

"Extremely cranky, which is why I am trying to keep her down for a few hours." She growled. "And the precinct keeps sending me letters asking when I'm coming back to work. That idiot Ho Tun claims they can't keep things running without me, that the petty theft rate is getting out of control. It's like they aren't even aware I gave birth five months ago."

"Maybe your old students from the Metalbending Academy just miss you?"

Toph snorted. "Don't try to appeal to my sense of humor, Aang; right now, I don't have one."

"I wasn't!" Aang changed the subject. "Lin's okay, though? Katara wanted me to check on both of you."

Toph snorted again. "Katara should know better than to mother me, she has three kids for that. She's already roped me into some double-date thing with Lin and your youngest tomorrow, against my better judgement. I appreciate the thought, though. Lin and I are doing fine, it just takes some… adaptation, to say the least." She smiled wearily. "Fighting, for me, is as straightforward as breathing. Nurturing, I'm less familiar with. But at least I found some new everyday uses for my Earthbending."

"Kids are a lot to handle." Aang agreed, reaching out to tousle the soft fuzz on Lin's scalp as he sat down. "I remember having to completely rearrange my sleeping patterns after Bumi was born, then again after Kya. I thought Katara was going to strangle me a couple of times. Have you contacted Kanto at all?"

Toph's sightless green eyes narrowed. "No. And it's going to stay that way."

"Oh, come on, Toph. Doesn't he at least deserve to know he has a daughter?"

Toph shook her head decisively. "If he knows about Lin, he'll want to come back, to help. That's part of the reason it ended between us in the first place. He was sweet, but way too protective, way too much like my Dad. I don't need that right now."

Aang raised his hands defensively. "I wasn't insinuating that you can't handle being a mom, Toph. But I also know how much you love your work, and if Kanto was here that would make it easier for you to get back on the police force sooner."

"I know, but it's not worth it in the long run. I just… have to raise her my way." She sighed, then smiled. "I'll figure this out, no worries. At least I always know exactly where she is; I can feel her pulse through the wall, even when she's asleep. Wish I could say the same for the Triads."

Aang nodded. "The Agni Kais have been quieter lately, though, so maybe Zuko's time here had some unexpected benefits for us all."

Toph frowned. "You don't think he seemed a little… distant, the last few months he was in Republic City?"

"Probably just missing Mai and Izumi." Aang shrugged.

"No, it was like he had something he needed to get back to in the Fire Nation. Something about his heartbeat..."

Aang frowned, then smiled sheepishly, glad Toph couldn't see his expression. He had forgotten that her seismic senses allowed her to detect dishonesty, through changes in pulse and breathing. It was one of the many reasons she had been the Council's first choice for Police Chief.

"For all we know, it's probably something to do with his private life. I'm not going to pry."

"Of course you aren't." Toph scratched her ear, a devious smile on her face. "But if you don't... Katara probably will, after I tell her about it. For that matter, she'll probably get Sokka involved, and he'll persuade Iroh to invite you to the Fire Nation so he can solve the whole mystery."

Aang groaned. Katara would tell Sokka, and his brother-in-law would go full-detective mode if he though something was wrong with Zuko. "Oh, come on! Zuko just got home, can't we leave him in peace for a bit?"

"He may be your best friend, Aang, but he's also the most powerful monarch in the world. If he's acting secretive, it just might be important to find out why."

"I thought you were the one who trusted him first, out of all of us?"

"Fond though I might be of Zuko, it doesn't mean I don't get suspicious now and then. Nearly every time I've had a hunch that the rest of you scoffed at, who turned out to be right in the end? Including trusting Zuko in the first place?"

Aang shook his head, defeated. "...I'm not answering that. But… fine, I'll tell Katara about your suspicions if you have the Police Department back me in the next Council Meeting."

Toph grinned. "Avoiding and compromising like always, Twinkle Toes. I haven't gotten under your thin skin like this since I was pregnant; It's still pretty fun, though not as much as knocking Triad heads."

"But you will support my proposal to expand Katara's healing clinic?"

"When have I not supported you when it comes to the Council? For that matter, when has Ho Tun not supported you since I went on maternity leave?"

"Since I started advocating compromise with some of the lesser Triads. If we can get them to conform to our government's laws while not confiscating their businesses, they may actually help develop the Republic's economy-"

Toph shook her head, a grim expression on her face. "These Triads aren't interested in negotiating. They just want more power, and they'll stop at nothing to get it. It's only natural; most of them are immigrants already wanted for crimes in their home countries, and they're competing for limited resources in the youngest world capitol. Once the infrastructure is more developed, things should settle down a bit, so again we have Zuko to thank for moving things in the right direction. But in the meantime the Triads act like they run the damn country apart from Republic City, and even that's under threat. The only way to make them learn we won't be undermined is to drop-kick 'em into Yue Bay."

Aang rolled his eyes. "There's an approach we should teach our kids."

Toph's tone sharpened. "I already warned you, Aang, I don't appreciate humor on how to raise my child. You can prattle away with your peaceful initiatives in the Council; I don't care. What I do care about are thugs preying on the innocent unchecked, in my city. If they came for me or Lin in the night, I wouldn't use words to stop them, and you wouldn't either." She shook her head. "I'm not trying to fight with you. But you spend all the rest of your time either teaching the Air Acolytes, or stuck in Council meetings with people who haven't spent more than two years in the United Republic. You haven't seen what my officers have seen, especially the outer slums; it's practically a war zone."

"Actually, I have, just an hour ago. Two Triple Threats were mugging an old man in Dragon Flats, and I stopped them. They were pretty cocky, talking about some leader of theirs, Yakone, who might want to challenge me to a duel-"

"Yeah, we've only just started a profile on him. He's relatively new, originally from the Northern Water Tribe, but rising in the ranks already. We don't know exactly what he looks like, though; he keeps his face pretty well-hidden when he's out in public, and everyone we talk to is too scared to give us a face description." Toph cracked her knuckles. "As for those low-level hoodlums you met today, they're just mopping up. Ho Tun says Dragon Flats has been clearing out for months now, probably under a combination of bribery and threats, and no one knows what the Triads are planning to do with all that abandoned property. No one's willing to talk to the police unless we can guarantee their relocation to a safe neighborhood or other town. And we can't guarantee that unless we have the backing of the Council. Hence, I'm opposing your attempts to reach out to the Triads, until you can get the Council to get their act together and crack down on these gangsters."

"You already spoke to Katara about this, didn't you?"

"Hey, you know she's as eager to get back to that clinic as I am to the precinct, but she doesn't want to see it overwhelmed with more bodies than she can fix. That won't be a problem if we can get the Triads to back down." Lin began to stir in her sleep, and Toph gently laid a hand on her back to calm her. "You and Katara have three kids that you adore, and I can't fault you for taking some time off for them. But Team Avatar built this city, almost single-handed. The people expect us to keep it running, especially in a bad situation like this one."

Aang nodded. "I know. It's just… when I tried to help that old shopkeeper the Triads were threatening, he backed away from me in fear. They don't see me as a human being, they just see me as the all-powerful Avatar. If I used my bending to make the Triads back down, that would just make people see the Avatar as another potential oppressor. I have to show them that reason and words mean something."

"Then find some ways to win the people to your side, and not by showing mercy to the Triads. You figured out a way to stop Ozai with force, but you still managed to do it without taking his life. If anyone knows how to find a balance, Aang, it's you."

Aang shrugged, running his hand over his close-cropped chinstrap beard. "Well, that's going to take some meditation on my part; maybe one of the past Avatars has some advice." He tousled Lin's hair again, then stood up. "I'll stop by the precinct on my way to the Council, see if I can get Ho Tun to leave you alone for a bit."

"Thanks." Toph punched him lightly in the shoulder, her usual gesture of affection.

Aang paused at the door. "Do you think we're really... making progress with this Republic, or just creating more problems for our kids to solve?"

Leaving Lin snoozing in her cradle, Toph crossed to the wall where her battle-scarred police armor hung. "Who knows? This is a totally new country, a new type of government. Maybe it'll stabilize and prosper in our lifetime, maybe it'll be up to the next Avatar to sort it all out." She ran her pale fingers across the faceplate of her helmet, her expression grim. "Either way… it's going to get worse, before it gets better."