The Legend of Korra - Book Two : Spirits

by pavop

Continuation of Book One. Korra, Patrick and their friends are going to the South Pole to celebrate the Glacier Spirits Festival, only to face the Harmonic Convergence. They will be referenced and mentioned other characters, places and events outside ATLA/LOK Universe and even they will appear in the story.

3. Civil Wars

Patrick and Tonraq were making their way through the streets of Wolf Cove. There was chaos everywhere due to the unexpected arrival of the army of the Northern Water Tribe.

"Do you have any army here in the South?" Patrick asked Tonraq.

"Just a militia. I have to reach them quickly to tell them not to resist; otherwise, this will end very badly." He paused for a moment to look around at the chaos that Unalaq's army had caused. "And what about you?"

"I will go check on Asami to see if she is alright. See you back in the igloo," Patrick replied and they both split up.

Patrick reached the part of Wolf Cove where Asami's hotel was located, and he could see that there were already civilians on the streets — both locals and visitors — who had been forced out of the buildings by the soldiers, who were searching their things. Patrick saw Asami surrounded by the group of three soldiers, and it was apparent that they were harassing her.

"I have already told you that is all my things that I have here," Asami said to them.

"And we have orders to make sure that the area is secured," one of the soldiers replied and then smiled sleazy. "So, how about you show us everything, girl?"

"I have nothing to show you!" Asami said with disdain.

"We will see," the other soldier said and he was about to step forward toward her when Patrick suddenly appeared at her side. "And who are you?!"

"Her friend," Patrick replied. "And you should go."

"We have strict orders to secure this area. So, how about you step aside? We will get to you in a moment."

"Securing?" Patrick asked sarcastically. "By harassing unarmed civilians and searching through their personal belongings? Real heroes, you are."

All three soldiers looked at him with anger. "What did you just say?" the last of the trio in the group asked.

Patrick looked at him. "You heard me." And he quickly activated his gauntlets while observing them as they were preparing to use their Bending.

Luckily, the situation did not escalate when one of the commanding officers started yelling, "Captain Danrok is requesting reinforcements at the palace! Half of you will go there, and the other half will make a blockade at the harbor! Move on!"

One of the soldiers from the trio pointed a finger at Patrick while he and his friends were leaving. "You are lucky that we have to go. Next time you will not be!"

On the contrary, you are the lucky ones, Patrick thought and he watched them leave with the rest of the first half of the soldiers while the other half was creating massive walls of ice around the harbor, so no ship could leave.

When he was sure that they were gone, he deactivated his gauntlets and turned his head toward Asami. "Are you alright?"

"I am," Asami replied with a sigh. "I could handle it."

"I know but… I just wanted to be sure."

Asami bent down to pick up her things on the ground. "That beam of light over there — is that your and Korra's job?"

Patrick turned his gaze to the left and saw a beam of light beyond the city that led from the ground to the sky. The portal into the Spirit World.

"Yes," Patrick answered and turned his gaze back to Asami. "But those soldiers are here because of Unalaq."

"Why?"

"I do not know. He said he wants to unite both Water Tribes, but something is telling me there is something more behind all of this. Perhaps it is the same reason why he wanted Korra to open that portal." He paused for a moment and decided to change the topic. "And what about you and Varrick? Did you make any agreement?"

Asami smiled. "Actually… we did. Soon we will sign the contract. The Future Industries will be saved."

"I knew you could do it."

"And you could finally invite me for that dinner."

Patrick wanted to reply when he was stopped by an obnoxious male voice coming toward them.

"Miss Sato! Miss Sato!"

"Speaking about Varrick," Asami said and they both turned to the source of the voice.

It was coming from a man of a small, thin physique with well-tended brown hair, a thin mustache, and blue eyes. He was wearing a very elegant blue coat with a wool collar, a light blue shirt, and blue pants. Patrick recognized that man from the feast in the Royal Palace, the one who energetically introduced that performance after Unalaq's speech. It was that famous Varrick.

Right behind Varrick was a woman who was quite taller than him. She had brown hair combed into a ponytail and her gray eyes were behind the glasses. She wore a purple jacket, a gray skirt and long purple stockings with long pumps.

"Miss Sato! This is unacceptable! What do these soldiers think they are?" Varrick said as he reached them and quickly turned his head toward the woman behind him. "Zhu Li, write down that I will have to make a complaint about them!"

Zhu Li quickly pulled out a notepad from her pocket and started writing on it. "Of course, sir!"

"Varrick, I completely understand you," Asami said with tiredness.

Patrick watched with great disbelief at how Varrick in front of them was making movements as if he were some kind of cartoon character. He looked at that moment like Howard Hughes or Tony Stark, who had taken a large amount of energy drinks.

Varrick then moved his gaze to Patrick, who was standing beside Asami. "And who is this? Where is your friend Bolin?"

"I do not know where Bolin is," Asami answered and then motioned to Patrick. "But this is Patrick."

Varrick's eyes completely widened when he heard that name. "That man from another world?!" He gave a wide smile as he shook Patrick's hand. "My name is Iknik Blackstone Varrick! Or you can call me Varrick! Or whatever you want!" he said with absolute energy.

"Varrick will be enough," Patrick replied.

"Zhu Li, write down that I shook hands with a man from another Universe!"

"Right away, sir," Zhu Li replied.

"So, did Miss Sato tell you about my latest invention? The moving pictures?" Varrick asked, still shaking Patrick's hand.

Patrick tried to wiggle out of his grip. "She did –"

"Of course, she did! But you have to see it for yourself to make a final conclusion!" Varrick interrupted him. "Sadly, I cannot show it here now because I have to make sure those pesky brutes do not tear up my ship or some other property of mine." Varrick let go of Patrick's hand and turned his gaze to Asami. "Do not worry, Miss Sato, I did not forget about our agreement! But I have to go now!" He turned around and, with a swift motion, left. "Come on, Zhu Li!"

"Yes, sir," the woman replied, but in her voice could be heard a little tiredness.

Patrick watched the departing duo for a moment before he turned his head back toward Asami. "Varrick is definitely… something."

Meanwhile, in front of the Royal Palace, a group of locals of the Southern Water Tribe had gathered to protest against the occupying forces when a large group of soldiers approached them.

"Everyone, get back into your homes!" one of the officers from the group yelled.

But the locals just looked at them with the expression that they would not obey the order.

The officer was about to gesture for the soldiers behind him to use Bending on the civilians when he was stopped by his commander, who raised his hand to stop him. "Captain Danrok," he replied, nodded, and stepped back.

Captain Danrok took a step forward toward the group of civilians. "Please, I know this is a very difficult situation, but please return to your homes; otherwise, we will have to use force." He paused to look into the faces of each of the civilians. The civilians then exchanged glances with each other, and then they turned around and headed into the city. "Thank you. We will make the situation as comfortable as possible." He gestured for the soldiers behind him to continue the march.

Korra was watching it all from the balcony of the Royal Palace with her uncle behind her. She turned her head toward him and asked him, "Uncle, why?"

"Now that you have opened the portal, we need to protect it from the people who would do the Spirits harm," Unalaq answered.

But Korra did not accept this answer because, within a few days, she could say with certainty that the Spirits could protect themselves and surely there was nothing that could harm them. "I can protect it."

"I need you for something more important. There is another portal, in the North."

Korra looked surprised at her uncle due to the information that there was another portal in the homeland of her family from her father's side.

"Once you open it, Spirits and man will be able to move freely between the North and the South in a matter of seconds," Unalaq added.

"But the solstice is over. How am I going to open it?"

Unalaq took a step forward while looking ahead. "The spiritual energy is much stronger in the North. And now that you have opened the Southern portal, your energy is stronger as well."

"So, with both portals open… our tribes will be united again," Korra said, but it was more for herself, to reassure herself that she was still doing the right thing.

"The world will be united again," Unalaq corrected her.

At the Southern Air Temple, Tenzin was relaxing with Pema and Rohan, enjoying the moment of peace, while Kya was sitting on one of the rocks and feeding the group of Winged Lemurs that gathered in front of her.

Tenzin took a sip of tea he had on the small table beside him. "Ahhh, I have not felt this at peace since —" He did not finish the sentence because his older brother jumped in front of him, half naked, wearing only a bathrobe and underwear. "Aaand, it is gone," he remarked gloomily.

"Goood morning, Universe!" Bumi shouted as he climbed on the rock that his sister was sitting on and then he presented himself to everyone around him.

Kya covered her eyes. "Bumi, please cover yourself."

But Bumi ignored the request of his sister and turned his gaze to the sitting Tenzin. "Well, look who is here! 'Vacation Tenzin' has finally decided to join us."

"Yes, he has," Tenzin replied and took Rohan from his wife. "It is so nice to spend more time with my family." He then turned his gaze to the baby he was holding in his arms. "Is not that right, my little Rohan?" he asked with an endearing tone and Rohan only smiled and cooed at him. Tenzin turned his gaze back to his two siblings. "And I have really enjoyed having you two around. Reminds me of all those great vacations we took as children with our father."

"Uhh," Kya said with an annoyed tone. "I think your memory is a little foggy." She then frowned. "Bumi and I were not on those great vacations. It was always you and father."

Tenzin started thinking, trying to remember. "No, that cannot be right. What about the time he took us to Kyoshi Island to ride the elephant koi?"

"No, we were not there at all."

"Hmm," Tenzin replied and tried to remember more. There must be a place that all three of them visited together with their father. "Oh, remember Ember Island? Those amazing sand palaces we built on the beach."

"You mean, you built?" Bumi corrected him. "We never saw that place."

"I could have sworn."

Then Meelo rode toward them on his sphere of air with his Winged Lemur, and when Meelo was at them, he landed on the ground.

"Good morning!" Bumi greeted his nephew.

"Morning, Uncle Bumi!" Meelo replied and then he noticed that Bumi's stomach was revealed. "Do you have a baby in there?" he asked and pointed at Bumi's pot belly.

Kya, Pema and Tenzin laughed while Bumi looked at them with anger, and Meelo, in that moment, did not understand why they were laughing.

Then Pema noticed that her son had arrived alone. "Where are your sisters?"

Meelo turned his head toward her. "Who?"

Pema stood up and approached him. "Ikki. About this tall." She then put her hand at waist level. "Talks really fast. And there is Jinora." Pema put her hand a little bit higher. "She likes to read and know things. I am sure you know them."

"Uhhh…" Meelo said while looking for the right words for the answer and then he quickly realized that he could tell a cool story instead. "There was a lemur fight, but the bison told me not to worry because a giant was coming. Then I almost got eaten by a shark-squid!"

"The shark-squid?" Bumi asked terrified. "He is here? It appears my old nemesis has found me."

Kya looked at her older brother with an annoyed expression. Here we go again.

But Pema was not satisfied with Meelo's answer. "Meelo, you did not answer my question. Where are your sisters?"

"Well…" Meelo replied. "Jinora is in the library right now, reading some old books, and Ikki…"

"You were teasing her again?" Pema completed the sentence with a question.

"Maybe… Yes." He hung his head down in shame. "She ran away."

In that moment, Pema's face reddened from her anger toward her son. "Honestly, I do not know why you cannot just get along!"

Tenzin, still holding Rohan, approached her. "It is alright, dear; Ikki could not have gone far." He handed Rohan back to her. "I will find her."

Bumi saluted. "Commander Bumi is reporting for duty! Search and rescue missions are my specialty!"

Kya wrapped her arms around her brothers' shoulders. "What do you say we all go together?" she suggested.

"Sure," Tenzin agreed. The more there are, the sooner they find Ikki.

Bumi wiggled free from Kya's hold and bent down to his nephew. "When I get back, we will come out with a plan to take down that shark-squid once and for all!"

Meelo smiled at his uncle. "Yes!"

Meanwhile, at the South Pole, in Tonraq and Senna's home, a large group of citizens of the Southern Water Tribe had gathered. This meeting was called by Tonraq in an attempt to calm the situation. Even though he managed to convince the militia to not fight the army of the Northern Water Tribe, he could feel and see the tension in their eyes. Just a little could have led to fighting in the streets, and he would not let anything happen to these people he had lived among for over twenty years.

Besides his wife, there was also Korra present, and they were sitting opposite the group of people. Ama was sitting among the group and Patrick was standing aside.

"Thank you for coming, everyone. I know these last few days have been very troubling," Tonraq started his speech toward the upset citizens.

"Troubling?" Varrick's voice replied and everyone in the igloo turned their gazes to him. He was standing beside the small table and eating the cookies from the plate that Ama had brought for the others. "Troubling is when I get that itchy rash that will not go away and Zhu Li is not around to scratch it. This is shocking!" He then dropped the plate with the cookies onto the ground, where it shattered. "No, sickening! But these kale cookies? Opposite." He turned his head toward Zhu Li, who was right behind him. "Remind me to get the recipe from Ama later."

Zhu Li nodded and wrote something on her notepad.

Patrick, who was observing it all, could see that most of the people in the room were not happy about Varrick's presence. Not even Tonraq. But sadly, money makes the world go around, and to the displeasure of some, Varrick was a prominent member of the Southern Water Tribe and his voice had some weight. Patrick's eyes then focused on Varrick's assistant, Zhu Li. He could see how lovingly she watched her employer. She was reminding him of Pepper Potts.

"What is your point, Varrick?" Tonraq asked with frustration.

"My point is…" Varrick picked up another plate full of Ama's cookies. "That Unalaq already kicked out our elders and chieftains from the palace, even the ones who peacefully surrendered."

Pretty soon after the arrival of the occupying forces, most of the members of the Council of Chieftains and Elders announced that they had decided to surrender to Unalaq in an attempt to prevent a possible war between the two tribes.

"How long before he starts telling us what kind of cookies we can eat?" Varrick added, and for effect, he tossed the cookies on the plate to the ground.

"Probably a couple of days," Zhu Li replied.

Varrick turned his head toward her. "Rhetorical question, Zhu Li, you have to keep up," he said to her and turned his head back toward the others in the meeting. "Not to mention, I have a cargo ship full of halibut that is rotting thanks to this harbor lockdown. Who wants to buy a ship full of stinking fish?" he asked in anger as he slammed the empty plate on the ground. He then quickly calmed down. "Seriously, it is not rhetorical. I need to sell these fish."

Korra decided to step into the discussion. She stood up to look at everyone in the room. "Chief Unalaq is here to help the South. He wants to show us how to restore the balance with the Spirits so they will stop attacking."

Patrick, in the meantime, sighed in spirit. Korra… Even though Varrick was an energetic idiot, he was saying what the people present in the room wanted to hear while Korra, the Avatar, one of them, was taking Unalaq's side. This will not end well.

"The only Spirit I am interested in restoring is our Spirit of independence." Varrick pointed his finger at the people. "AM I RIGHT, PEOPLE?"

The people in the group loudly agreed with him.

"All Unalaq is trying to do is make our tribes unified again," Korra argued.

"No, he wants control of our wealth," Varrick said and took a step forward. "My wealth." He pointed to himself. "And I like my wealth." He paused for a moment. "If Unalaq does not pull his forces out, then we have no choice but to fight for our freedom!" The people in the gathering agreed and raised their hands.

Korra looked surprised and shocked at the people in the meeting, most of whom she knew. "You want to start a war? Are you mad?"

In that moment, Patrick decided to join the discussion as well. He placed his hand on her shoulder. "Korra, you cannot win this argument," he said to her.

"He is right, Korra," Tonraq said and stood up. "Unalaq started this, not us."

Korra scowled at him.

Tonraq sighed. "I am sorry; maybe you could speak with your uncle. Tell him how frustrated we all are. He will listen to you as the Avatar," he suggested. "Would you do it for me?"

"I will do it for the tribe," Korra answered, wiggled out of Patrick's grasp and headed to the door.

Patrick nodded to Tonraq, indicating that he would go with her and he followed Korra.

When the pair left the igloo, Varrick, with a great appetite, looked at the cookie in his hand. "I cannot stop eating these things. Perhaps I will employ you, Ama, as my personal cook." But then he quickly lost interest in the cookie as he approached Tonraq. "Look, we all know where this conflict is heading. We need to start preparing for war."

Tonraq sighed in spirit. If he were much younger, he would grab the weapon and charge against the army of his brother. But now he was older and wiser and knew very well what consequences it would have.

Korra and Patrick, on Naga's back, arrived at the Royal Palace. Korra went into the palace alone to talk to her uncle about the situation, and Patrick let her, which she appreciated. So, he was waiting outside with Naga.

A few minutes later, he noticed how the soldiers were escorting a small group of people, among them several old people, in chains out of the palace. If Patrick could guess, those were probably the remnants of the Council of Chieftains and Elders, those who probably did not allow Unalaq to kick them out.

One of the elders spotted Patrick and quickly turned his head toward the soldier beside him. "Before we go, could I speak with my grandson?"

The soldier stopped and looked to see that the old man was motioning toward Patrick. "He does not look like your grandson at all."

"He is from the Earth Kingdom, and we do not see each other so often," the old man replied and saw that the soldier was hesitating. "Please, do it for the old man. Just five minutes, that is all."

The soldier sighed. "Alright." He then led the old man over to Patrick. "Five minutes with your grandson. Not any longer." He stepped several steps back to give them some privacy.

"You are the one who is with Tonraq's daughter, right?" the old man whispered as he leaned toward Patrick.

Patrick wanted to correct him about him not being with Korra, but he knew the old man was playing for time, so, he ignored it. "Yes, and you are… or were a member of the Council of Chieftains and Elders," he replied.

He looked at the old man closely. He had a small physique, a gray haircut, and a smoothly shaved face. He had deep blue eyes and was wearing an elegant blue fur coat and a necklace with the emblem of the Southern Water Tribe.

"I can see Unalaq wasting no time in eliminating any possible threats," Patrick added.

"Indeed. We thought that if we surrendered peacefully, we would later find out how to get rid of Unalaq and his army. But he is not willing to take any chances."

"I thought he was just booting you out of the palace."

"Only those who have no real influence or power. The rest of us go straight into the prison as his hostages to make others obey."

"So, to what do I owe the pleasure of being your 'grandson'?"

"Because you need to warn Tonraq. Unalaq is planning something against him. Something very soon." The old man noticed Naga behind Patrick. "Is the Avatar with you?"

"She is inside, and she is trying to talk some sense into Unalaq about this occupation."

"That will not work. Unalaq is not interested in our tribe at all."

"How can you know that?"

"Because before I was arrested, I managed to find out that he sent a large portion of his forces and resources to secure that portal she opened. And as a former soldier, I am talking about them creating a fortress around that portal."

Patrick was not surprised at all by this. Korra earlier told him that Unalaq now wanted her to open a second portal located at the North Pole. So, much for people traveling through the portals when the Southern portal will become a military zone. The only question now was what Unalaq's endgame was.

"So, please warn Tonraq not to take any actions against his brother or the army of the Northern Water Tribe. Not now," the old man urged.

"I will, but people are pressing him and Korra, and they are very eager to fight against Unalaq."

"I know… but in this situation, we have to play smart." The old man looked at the soldier standing aside. He was waiting patiently, but the old man did not want to push his luck. He turned his gaze back to Patrick. "I have to go."

"Before you do that. What is your name?"

"My name is Rokkuk. Tonraq will know. Hopefully this warning will help." Rokkuk hugged Patrick. "It was nice to see you!" he said loudly for the soldier to hear.

"You too, grandfather," Patrick replied.

Rokkuk stepped back, turned around and went to the waiting soldier. "We can go now."

"About time!" the soldier said irritated and led Rokkuk to the truck where other chieftains and elders were loaded.

Meanwhile, Unalaq was peacefully sitting on the throne with a little bit of satisfaction. His father had never dreamed of unifying both tribes, but what Unalaq is planning next will overshadow this success. From further thoughts he was interrupted by the sound of footsteps coming toward him. It was Korra.

"Our next training session is not until tomorrow," he said to her.

"I am sorry to interrupt. It is about our conversation this morning," she replied.

"Yes?"

"I understand why you brought your soldiers here, but I am afraid it is sending the wrong message."

Unalaq knew what she meant by that. He was expecting that the people in the South would not easily accept the military presence and the unification of the tribes. He also knew who they would go to with it. To his brother.

"Your father has been talking to you," he said.

"Not just him. Varrick too, as well as the others," Korra replied. "There was a meeting at my parents' house. A lot of Southerners feel like their tribe is being invaded."

"I am their Chief. I am uniting, not invading," Unalaq said with disgust. He came here to finally set the South on the right path, along with the rest of the world, and they dare to call him an invader? They were to him the same limited fools as his father.

"I know, but I am just afraid that if something does not change, there could be a civil war."

"If our tribes were at war, the other nations would take sides. The Dark Spirits would thrive off this negative energy, and the world would be thrown into a battle between the Spirits and man. That would be catastrophic."

"How do we stop it?" Korra asked horrified because she imagined that people would fight the Spirits.

"We? No, Korra." Unalaq raised from his throne. "This is a war only the Avatar can prevent." And he walked over to her.

"I am usually the one starting the fights. I do not know how to stop them from happening," she said with great mistrust in her diplomatic skills.

"As the Avatar, you must remain neutral in this conflict. You will naturally want to help your people but showing favoritism will not help our tribes find unity."

"Maybe Tenzin was right." Korra turned her gaze away. "Maybe I am not ready to be the Avatar."

"Tenzin lacked faith in you." Unalaq placed his hand on her shoulder to encourage her. "But I have no doubt that you will become the most admired Avatar the world has ever known."

Korra smiled at him. "Thank you, Uncle." And she turned around and left.

Until I become the Avatar, Unalaq added in spirit as he watched her leave.

Korra went outside the palace and, with Patrick, rode on Naga's back through the streets of Wolf Cove. During their journey, she told Patrick everything about her conversation with Unalaq.

"So, he wants you to remain neutral. That is nice of you to let him occupy your homeland," Patrick remarked sarcastically.

"Hey!" Korra barked. "As the Avatar, it is my duty to keep the balance. So, I have to remain neutral."

"Try to tell that to people in your parents' home. Tell them not to fight against the oppression." Her silence gave him the reply. "See, you do not want to remain neutral."

"And what about you? When we were fighting Amon, you said that was not your war, but in the next moment you were with us against him and his Equalists."

"I admit that I broke my neutrality during that conflict, but so did you." He watched as Korra turned her head toward him with a surprised expression. "If you had followed Unalaq's advice back then, you would have let Amon get rid of Bending."

Korra turned her head back to look at the road ahead of them. "That is…That was…" She was trying to find the right words to justify her fight with the Equalists, but the more she thought about it, the more she realized that Patrick was right.

"Neutrality has its prize, Korra. I know a group of warriors who could tell you a lot about it." He paused for a moment. "By the way, I do not believe Unalaq's statement that the war between the South and the North would bring a catastrophe war with the Spirits."

"Why?"

"Where were the Dark Spirits when the Fire Nation attacked? They had a war that lasted almost over a hundred years, and they still did not show up like they did a few days ago." He paused for a moment. "Did he tell you that he fortified the surroundings of that portal we opened? That his own soldiers are guarding it?"

"No, but perhaps because he wants to protect the portal and the Spirits," Korra argued, but she was thinking about Patrick's remark about the Dark Spirits and the Hundred Years War.

Patrick also wanted to inform her about Rokkuk and the other prisoners, but he knew that at this moment she was too stubborn to see reason, and even if she had turned back and demanded an explanation from Unalaq, he would have somehow provided her with the right arguments as to why he had imprisoned them. The only way now was to wait and let her see the error of her ways, as always.

They were continuing down the street until they spotted in the distance a group of soldiers from the North that were walking on the left side of the street. On the right side was a group of citizens of Wolf Cove; nevertheless, from a distance, it could be seen how they were looking hatefully at the soldiers.

The soldiers stopped and looked at the citizens with a warning expression.

Then, on the roof of the building where the soldiers stopped, a group of children appeared and bombarded the soldiers with snowballs.

"Who threw those?" one of the soldiers asked and he and the others looked up and saw that the group of children were laughing at them.

But the soldiers did not let them have their fun. One of them, with his Waterbending, moved the children with the snow to the ground in a harsh way.

"You think you are tough, huh?" that soldier asked the children, who were slowly standing up.

In that moment, the civilians on the other side of the street decided to join in and took fighting stances. "Pick on a Waterbender your own size!" one of them said.

The soldiers quickly turned to them and took fighting stances as well, prepared to show these Southerners the might of the army of the North.

Korra prompted Naga to move forward so, that they would be in the middle to stop the emerging conflict.

"Stop!" she commanded.

"Tell these thugs to go back to the North. They are not welcome here anymore!" one of the civilians replied while he and the others were still watching the soldiers, waiting for them to make the first move.

"These Southerners need to stay in line," one of the soldiers said.

"Everyone, calm down. You are all part of the same tribe; start acting like it," Korra proclaimed as she shifted her gaze between the two sides.

Patrick, who was sitting behind her, rubbed his eyes tiredly. Korra…

The civilians looked at her with anger. "You are taking their side? We thought you were one of us," one of them said.

"I am not taking anyone's side!" Korra replied and was about to continue in her attempt to resolve this conflict diplomatically when suddenly a snowball hit her head from behind. "Hey!" she said as she and Patrick turned their heads around to see where it came from.

It came from a little girl who, thanks to her Waterbending, made another snowball. "You are the worst Avatar ever!" she yelled and threw it at Korra.

But Patrick was quicker. He activated his kinesis module on the gauntlet and kept the snowball in mid-air, just a few centimeters from Korra's face.

"Thank you," Korra said to him.

Patrick, still keeping the snowball in mid-air, got down from Naga and walked between soldiers and civilians. "So, this is going to happen: Both sides will lower their hands and each will go in a different direction. And it will go nice and easy."

"Why should we listen to you when you are taking their side as well?" the civilian asked angrily.

Patrick deactivated his kinesis module and the snowball smashed into the ground. "Because I will kick their asses as well as yours. So, please…" He made a welcoming gesture to both sides. "Made my day!"

Then Tonraq showed up and walked over to the tense situation. "Everyone, walk away from this." He turned his head toward the soldiers. "They are not worth the trouble." He turned his head toward the civilians. "Go back to your homes."

The civilians eventually lowered their hands and walked away.

A few seconds later, the soldiers did the same, and the both groups walked away in different directions.

When the situation calmed down, Tonraq turned to Korra. "Korra, I —" But, like Patrick, he noticed that Korra was already leaving with Naga without saying a word. "Korra!" he called at her, but she ignored him.

"I should go talk to her," Patrick suggested.

"No," Tonraq rejected. "It is pointless right now." He paused for a moment. "By the way, nice attempt to calm down the situation."

"Thank you," Patrick replied. "After we left, did Varrick call for war?"

Tonraq nodded. "Yes. Surprisingly, most people who considered him obnoxious are agreeing with him."

"This will end badly. And you should stay as far away from it as possible."

"Why?"

"Someone named Rokkuk told me that Unalaq is planning something against you. And now that Korra has told Unalaq about that meeting at your house, Unalaq has a pretext against you. So, stay out of it."

"Rokkuk…" Tonraq repeated that name. When he arrived here twenty years ago with Senna, Rokkuk was the one who helped them settle in. He was the best member of the Council of the Chieftains and Elders that Tonraq knew. "Where is he now? Did he get kicked out the same way as the other members of the Council?"

"He was arrested with the others."

"What?" Tonraq clenched his fists when he realized who was responsible for it. "Unalaq." He now wanted to fight his way into the prison and free Rokkuk and the others.

"That is why he told me to warn you," Patrick said, sensing Tonraq's intentions. "We have to play this Unalaq's game smart. There is no other way."

"I am not sure that if we keep playing this game, it will not cost me my daughter."

In the meantime, in the surroundings of the South Air Temple, Bumi, Kya and Tenzin searched for Ikki in vain for several hours.

"Ikki! Ikki! Ikki!" Tenzin yelled in desperation. This was no longer a trivial matter. "Ikki, where are you?"

Then he heard the rustling of a nearby bush and with the hope that it was Ikki, he turned his gaze to the bush.

"Over here, father!" the childlike voice said from the bush.

But Tenzin soon realized that the voice belonged to a grown man.

Then Bumi emerged from the bush, all laughing. "Just kidding. It is me!"

Tenzin, at that moment, groaned in anger and thought for a few seconds that he should send some air blasts at Bumi for this stupid joke. His daughter was missing, and Bumi, a grown man, had to play by the bush.

Kya ran to her brothers with great speed. "There is no sign of her anywhere," she announced.

"Why would Ikki run off like this?" Tenzin asked himself aloud. "Ah, it is probably my fault."

"Probably," Kya agreed and crossed her arms.

Tenzin turned his head toward her with a surprised expression. "Excuse me?"

Kya turned her head toward him. "I am guessing you have been so busy with your," she made air quotes, "'duty' to Republic City that you forgot about your duty to your children."

Bumi laughed. "'Duty.'"

But even Kya had had enough of the childish behavior of their eldest sibling. "What are you, five years old?"

"Kya, you are right," Tenzin admitted. "I have not been spending enough time with them. I wish I could be as good a father as ours was to us."

"Tenzin, your problem is that you are exactly like him!" Kya said with a raised voice. "He was so focused on saving the world and doing his duty," she quickly looked at Bumi, who was about to laugh again, "do not laugh," she turned her gaze back to Tenzin, "that he never had time for us."

"He was under a lot of pressure," Tenzin argued.

"But he had always had time for you, though," Bumi said and poked his finger on Tenzin's chest. "His precious little Airbender."

Tenzin pushed his brother away. "He loved us all equally." He walked a few steps away from his siblings. "Besides, it all happened a long time ago. Why are we even talking about this?"

"Because you seem to have some grandiose delusion that we had a perfect childhood," Kya answered with frustration. "But guess what. We did not!"

"We need to keep moving if we want to find Ikki before dark," Tenzin changed the subject of their conversation and walked away.

Kya only smirked and motioned toward him. "See what he is doing there, Bumi? Classic Airbender technique. Cutting and running when things get tough!"

But Tenzin ignored his sister as he kept moving forward.

"Did father teach you that move?" Bumi asked with a laugh in his attempt to tease his little brother even more.

Meanwhile, Korra, on Naga's back, was making her way through the outskirts of Wolf Cove until she finally spotted Mako.

"How was your day, sweetie?" he asked her.

Korra came down from Naga. "Oh, fabulous," she replied sarcastically. "My tribe is about to go to war and I am supposed to stop it, but will anyone listen to me? No! And I did not ask for my father's help. Cannot he just let me be the Avatar? And do not even get me started on Patrick!"

Mako, who heard her entire rant, decided to finally speak after a few seconds of silence. "Uh, do you want advice or am I just supposed to listen? I am still not clear on that."

Korra sighed. "Ugh. I am sorry. Patrick and my father just get me all worked up."

Mako smiled at her because he had a way to distract her. Bolin told him a moment ago that he had managed to get a table in a fancy restaurant. "How about you take a break from all this Avatar stuff and we go out for a nice dinner? Just us and probably Bolin, because he managed to reserve the table."

"Sound great!" Korra agreed with a smile.

An hour later, Korra and Mako were sitting at a large table in the corner of the restaurant. Opposite them were Bolin and Eska, and on the left were Asami and Patrick. Bolin nervously smiled as he watched how his four friends were looking at him with murderous expressions, and Eska still did not show any emotion.

"Is not this fun, huh?" Bolin asked with a nervous laugh. "We never get to spend enough time together, just… the six of us. So fun."

A minute of silence passed.

"Excuse me while I retrieve more sustenance," Eska said, standing up from the table and heading over to the waitress.

Bolin watched as she walked away and when he was sure that she was far enough away that she could not hear him, he quickly turned his head to the others, completely frightened. "You have to save me!"

"What is the meaning of this?" Mako asked his brother and then turned his head toward Asami and Patrick. "Did you know about this?"

Patrick raised his both hands as a sign that he was innocent in this. "No, not at all. Bolin picked me up on the street and told me that he had a reservation just for us."

"Same," Asami added.

"Sorry that I lied to you, but she forced me." Bolin sniffed. "Almost all day I am her and her brother's slave! And she wants to take me back to the North with her. Please, I do not want to go there!"

"Bolin, I think you are quite hard on her," Asami said. "She seems to me to be…" She and the others turned their gazes to Eska in the distance. She looked at them with a cold, emotionless expression. "…normal," she finished the sentence.

Bolin quickly turned his head toward Korra. "Why did you not warn me that your cousin had the power to reach into my heart and crush my soul with her bare hands?!"

"Because I thought it was pretty obvious?" Korra replied with a question.

"No, no, not to me, it was not. I am very bad at reading people. You should know that by now." Bolin sobbed.

"You are right about that," Patrick remarked.

"Do something, please!" Bolin requested with another sob.

Unbeknownst to him, Eska was already back at their table. "Why are you crying?" she asked.

Bolin quickly turned his head toward her and rubbed his eyes. "Those… are tears of… of happiness. Tears of happiness that we are together," Bolin whispered.

Eska, still not showing any emotion, sat back in her place at the table. "The waitress will bring us our sustenance soon," she announced.

Another minute of silence passed.

"So…Eska, how do you like today's dinner so far?" Patrick asked reluctantly because he did not like the silent atmosphere around the table.

"This triple date is proceeding well," she answered.

"Uhh…Triple date?" Mako asked.

"Yes. Me and Bolin. You and my cousin." Eska's eyes then focused on Asami and Patrick. "And these two."

Asami and Patrick exchanged surprised glances with each other. Then she and he averted their gazes, while Asami blushed a little bit.

"We are not… a couple, Eska," she said.

"I saw how you two competed with each other at the festival. That indicates that you are a couple," Eska replied.

The waitress finally came and brought food and drinks for each of them.

"By the way, Eska, I hope it's alright to ask, but where is your mother?" Patrick asked as he was about to start eating his food.

"Yes, where is Aunt Malina?" Korra joined in the questioning. "I have not seen her in a long time. Actually, I have only seen her a few times."

"She is…" Eska paused for a moment to probably look for the right words. "Absent."

"Absent?" Patrick asked in his attempt to find out what Eska meant.

"My parents did not marry for love. My father sought out my mother. The family of my mother was very proud and grateful that he chose their only daughter."

"And the family of your mother is somehow famous?"

"They are direct descendets of Kuruk," Eska answered and looked at Korra. "One of your previous lives, cousin."

"Really?" Korra asked.

"Yes. I remember how our father, when we were little, tried to make us use different elements than water. He stopped with that when he heard that the White Lotus had discovered you. Then, when we were ten, he forbade our mother to see us."

"That is horrible," Asami remarked.

"Not much. She has always been mentally ill. And me and Desna never developed a bond with her."

Patrik, while eating, was thinking about what he had just learned. The Avatar Cycle had a very strict order: first the Fire Nation, then the Air Nomads, then the Water Tribes and finally the Earth Kingdom, so it was very easy to predict from which nation the next Avatar would be born. But to more specifically determine to whom the Avatar would be born was quite impossible, unless you were an expert in genetics like X. Perhaps Unalaq was trying to arrange that the next Avatar after Aang would be born to him by marrying the descendant of one of the previous Avatars, but it did not work out, as he later found out.

An hour later, after the dinner, Eska returned to the palace, relieving Bolin of his duties for the rest of the day, for which he was quite grateful. Asami went back to her hotel room to check on the contracts she and Varrick would sign tomorrow. Korra went back with Naga to her family igloo to finally get some rest after an exhausting day of keeping the peace between the two tribes. So, the only ones who remained were Bolin, Mako and Patrick who were standing in front of the restaurant.

Desperate Bolin supported himself with his hands on Mako's arms. "I cannot take it anymore! I do not want to live at the North Pole with Eska!" He wept as he shifted his gaze between his brother and Patrick. "Do not make me. Oh, please, please do not make me!"

Mako sighed, knowing it was time to help his brother again. "Uh, if you are that unhappy, just break up with her."

Bolin looked at him with a surprised expression, as if he were hearing about this thing for the first time. "Break up with her? You can do that?" he asked with the tone of a man who was so close to gaining his freedom.

"Yes. Boys do that all the time."

"How?"

"Just tell her you are not that into her anymore."

"Oh, no, no, I do not think she would like that," Bolin replied with great fear.

Mako placed his hands on his shoulder to reassure him. "Ending a relationship is kind of like pulling off a blood-sucking leech. You just rip it off and get it over with. You will feel a lot better afterwards. Trust me."

Patrick looked at Mako with anger. So, Asami was a leech…Mako, you are a fucking idiot!

Bolin stopped weeping after hearing Mako's advice. "Thank you, Mako. Whew," he said with great relief. "I am so lucky that you are so good at breaking girls' hearts. Ha, Korra, better watch out," he added jokingly. But Mako frowned at him as he crossed his arms.

Patrick, on the other hand, smiled. Nice one, Bolin.

"Oooh, no, it's just a-, uh, you kno-, never mind," Bolin said when he noticed that Mako was angry because of his joke. "I should probably go and figure out how to rip that leech off. See you tomorrow."

Bolin left, leaving Mako and Patrick alone.

Mako noticed that Patrick was looking at him angrily. "What?"

"Nothing; I just admire how great your advice is," Patrick replied sarcastically. Jerk, he added in spirit.

Meanwhile, at the Southern Air Temple, Bumi, Kya and Tenzin were still searching for Ikki. It was already night, so Tenzin had to use a lantern to illuminate their way forward.

"You know, this reminds me of a search-and-rescue mission I commanded years ago in the mountains outside of Ba Sing Se," Bumi narrated as they continued on their path.

"Here we go," Tenzin remarked tiredly and Kya silently agreed with him. Bumi had the habit of constantly telling the most impossible stories, in which he always won or succeeded against impossible odds or powerful enemies. Of course, none of that has ever happened.

"For five days we scoured the beast of a mountain, fighting our way through blizzards, sandstorms and three typhoons!" Bumi grandiosely continued in the story. "Finally, we found the men huddled in a cave, seconds from death. With no time to lose, I piled all twelve of those poor souls on my back and single-handedly carried them down the mountain to safety."

In that moment, Tenzin had had enough. They were searching for hours for one of his daughters with no result at all, while Bumi was playing at being Ikki just to tease him, and now he was telling one of his made-up stories, which was not helping either. "And how exactly is that supposed to help us find Ikki?" he barked out the question as he turned to his older brother.

"It was supposed to inspire you," Bumi replied calmly. "Clearly, you know nothing about being a leader of men. That is probably why the Avatar fired you."

Kya, meanwhile, continued going forward.

Inner peace, Tenzin thought. "I am sick of your far-fetched tales. Three typhoons?"

Bumi put on a self-satisfied smile. "Well, I may have thrown in an extra typhoon or two for dramatic effect, but-"

"Quit arguing and bring that lantern over here," Kya, who was several meters away from them, interrupted him and pointed at something on the ground. "I found footprints."

Tenzin did not waste a second and quickly ran toward his sister. The footprints were leading down a path near a large waterfall.

"Come on!" Tenzin commanded and he and Kya were about to run down the path.

"No, follow me! This will get us down fifty times faster!" Bumi announced and started jumping down the rocks that were sticking out of the waterfall.

"Bumi, it is pitch black and the rocks are slippery. You are going to hurt yourself," Kya protested, but deep down she knew that Bumi was too proud to admit that she was right.

"Come on, you wimps! If I can do it, it should be no problem for a couple of Benders like you," Bumi replied and increased the pace at which he was jumping down the rocks.

Kya sighed. "All right." She jumped down, and thanks to her Waterbending, she started descending through the waterfall.

Tenzin followed her, and with his Airbending, he slowed down his fall.

Bumi, who was now more carefully jumping down the rocks, saw how his two younger siblings were already down in a matter of seconds. He probably should have thought about it more before he challenged them.

Kya and Tenzin looked up at Bumi with amused expressions.

"You were right, Bumi! That was faster!" she yelled jokingly.

"At least fifty times faster, by my calculations," Tenzin added and they both laughed.

"Oh, so Tenzin is the funny guy now," Bumi reacted grumpily as he was pressed against the wall of a large rock, looking where to jump now.

"If you need an airlift down, just say the word," Tenzin suggested.

"Bah, I do not need your help," Bumi rejected and slowly started climbing down through the rock. "I have everything under control." And in that moment, his hand slipped, and he was falling down. "Argh!" he yelled as he hit his head on one of the rocks before landing into the water.

"Bumi!" Tenzin yelled worriedly and he and his sister immediately ran to him.

Meanwhile, Korra stopped Naga at one of the wooden huts in the area where her family's igloo was. She entered the hut to prepare herself for the encounter with her father.

"May I come in?" Ama asked.

Korra turned around and saw her standing at the entrance of the hut. She nodded. "Did father send you to talk to me?"

"He nor your mother does not know I am here." Ama sat down on the wooden bench in the middle of the hut. "You are not talking with each other because of what happened? Because he did not tell you the truth?"

"So, you knew that my father had been lying to me my whole life? How he and Tenzin kept me trapped down here while I trained, and how my father was banished from the North."

"Almost everybody knew about it," Ama replied. "Or do you think that the people would not find out that a banished prince has been living among them for over twenty years?" She paused for a moment. "Your parents did not tell you the truth because they wanted to give you a normal childhood."

Korra sat down beside her. "Normal childhood, huh? I am the Avatar!" She paused for a moment as she looked away. "I guess that is what families do: They make decisions for you."

Ama placed her hand on Korra's shoulder. "Korra… the thing about the family is that… the family is quite complicated. You are not the only one." She paused for a moment to wait for Korra to turn her head back toward her before she continued. "Me and my sisters could tell you stories about our disputes."

"You have sisters? You never talked about it."

"There is nothing to talk about. I am the youngest of the three. The oldest is cold, and the other is manipulative. I know that we should speak well about our family, but this is how I can describe them." She paused for a moment. "We were living on a small island. You will not find it on the maps. We were weaving threads. Even though it was a small family business, we had a lot of clients."

"And what happened between you three?"

"What would happen if you saw the same two faces every day in a small space?" Ama answered and she looked away as if she were remembering something. "We got tired of each other and of our work, which became meaningless at some point. So, we decided to split up." She looked back at Korra. "But we promised each other that one day we would meet again." She pulled her hand away from Korra's shoulder. "All I am saying is that family is a complicated thing and at the end of the day, what they did was for your own good."

"But everyone keeps holding me back, even my own parents! Unalaq is the only one who really believes in me."

"That is not true, Korra."

"No? Then why is everyone in the South turning against me when all I am trying to do is help them?"

"Those problems between the North and the South were here long before you were born. These things will not go away in one day."

"So, should I sit back and let the Water Tribes go to war?"

"Of course, not but-"

Before Ama could continue, Senna entered the hut with great haste and a worried expression. "Ama! Korra! Have you seen Tonraq?"

"No, Senna," Ama replied.

"Mother, what is happening?" Korra asked with concern.

"When you and Patrick left the igloo today, Varrick was calling for the war against Unalaq and he asked your father to join-"

"Father is part of it?" Korra interrupted her as she stood up.

"I do not know. I was looking for him all evening," Senna replied as she slowly realized what her husband's absence probably meant. "Korra, you should stay out of it."

"It is too late. I am already in the middle of it," Korra said and she went out of the hut, passed her mother, and went to Naga.

"Korra!" Senna called at her, but her daughter ignored her as she, on Naga's back, rode toward Wolf Cove.

Patrick was slowly walking through the frozen tundra toward where the igloos were when he saw how Korra on Naga's back was quickly approaching him.

"Hey, what is the rush?" Patrick asked her.

"My father probably joined the rebellion and they are planning to attack Unalaq tonight," she explained.

Dammit, I told Tonraq to stay out of it, but I guess the pressure was too much, Patrick thought as he activated his bracelet. "Just hold on; I will teleport us in front of the palace."

All three appeared in front of the palace, but there was something different. There were no guards outside at all.

"Where are the guards?" Korra asked as she got down from Naga.

"Well, your uncle probably sent most of his forces to protect the portal, so I guess the palace was protected by a handful of guards… enough for a group of rebels to take them down and hide them."

They both ran into the palace, fully aware that the attack on Unalaq was in full motion.

They arrived at the throne room and saw that the Northern soldiers, who were guarding the palace, were tied up there unconscious.

"Oh no!" Korra remarked and they both went to the second floor of the palace, where the rooms were.

After a moment, they stopped at the beginning of an icy hallway and, from its corner, saw a trio of masked men who were standing at the end of the hallway. A second later, from the open door at the end of the hallway, a fourth masked man emerged who was carrying Unalaq over his shoulder.

Even though he and the other men were wearing masks, Korra could see that he had the same physique as her father. Patrick, on the other hand, doubted it, but there was no time to be sure.

Korra and Patrick ran over to them. "Father, do not do this," she urged.

"Turn around, Avatar, and pretend you did not see anything," the smaller masked man said.

"Really and what is your next step?" Patrick asked them. Judging by the fact that none of the masked men answered, it indicated that they had no plan after abducting Unalaq. "So, we do this: You put down Unalaq and go."

"He is right," Korra added. "We will tell him we tried to stop you, but you escaped. We can still avoid a war."

The masked rebels exchanged glances with each other and each of them nodded. Patrick knew that it meant that they had decided to fight, so he prepared himself.

"No, we cannot," the masked man replied and slammed his fist on the ice floor, raising a thick ice wall that pressed Korra and Patrick against the left wall. The group of rebels with their captive then ran through the hallway.

Korra quickly punched through the ice wall, creating a hole large enough for her and Patrick to escape and pursue the rebels.

The masked rebels ran down the stairs; Korra froze the handrail to slide down and landed in front of them before they got to the final stair. Patrick, on the other hand, used his rocket outsoles to land beside her.

The masked rebel turned his head toward the rebel who was carrying Unalaq. "Get him out of here!"

The rebel ran with his cargo toward a side hallway, while the other rebels created an ice wall that prevented Korra and Patrick from going after him.

"We are all part of the same tribe. I do not want to hurt you," Korra said in her attempt to talk some sense into them.

"Korra, I do not think they will hear you out!" Patrick said and activated his shield to protect himself against the ice spikes that one of the rebels was firing.

The other two rebels focused their attacks on Korra, who successfully dodged them and ran to the opposite side of the throne room. She jumped and grabbed a huge banner that was hanging between two pillars. Korra, carrying the banner, ran across the hall, dodging the water blasts from the two rebels, who were coming closer to her to hit her. Korra took advantage of that as she ran to the pillar in front of her, jumped from it, and tossed the banner at them, and with the following Airbending, she ensnared them with it.

Patrick, on the other hand, was keeping his shield active against the ice spikes of the last rebel. He could see that the man was no warrior at all. When he was thinking about it, he could definitely tell that none of the masked men were Varrick. But there was no time for examining the attackers; they had to get to that one who had Unalaq; otherwise, the situation between the two tribes would escalate. The chance to end this fight came when that masked man quickly turned his head and saw that his two fellow fighters had been taken down by Korra, who was running toward him. The man was about to launch a water stream at her when Patrick quickly shot him with an electric shock. The man then, in the following second, collapsed on the ground.

Korra and Patrick then ran through the hallways until they reached one of the stairs leading to the courtyard. From there, they saw that the masked rebel, whom Korra assumed to be her father, was driving a snowmobile with Unalaq tied to the back of it.

"Father, stop!" Korra yelled and quickly jumped down. She then quickly used her Waterbending to freeze the snow under the snowmobile and twist it so that the snowmobile crashed.

She and Patrick ran toward the crash. The masked rebel was slowly getting up.

"Why did you do this, father?" Korra asked and removed the mask from him to look into his face. But it was not her father at all. "What? Who are you? Where is my father?"

"He would not help us. He is a traitor, just like you!" the man replied with anger.

"Says the man who has to hide his face," Patrick remarked. "By the way, where is Varrick? As a proper leader, he should be here with you, no?" When the man guiltily averted his gaze away, it gave Patrick an answer. "I thought so."

A few minutes later, the soldiers arrested a group of rebels while Korra, Patrick and Unalaq watched.

"Thank you both for saving my life," Unalaq said to them.

"If Patrick did not teleport us here, we would not have gotten here in time," Korra replied.

Unalaq turned his head toward the commanding officer present in the throne room. "Find Varrick. I want him to freeze in prison with the rest of these traitors!" he commanded.

The officer nodded that he understood and, with his men, led the arrested rebels out of the throne room.

"Wait, you cannot just lock them away. That will only make the South angrier," Korra protested over Unalaq's decision.

"You want them to go free?" Unalaq asked harshly.

"No. But let them stand trial for what they did. Every Water Tribe citizen deserves that right."

Unalaq thought about it for a moment. He cannot let this attack on him go unpunished, but he still needed her on his side to open the second portal, and he could eventually use this situation to get rid of his brother. "Very well then. I will respect the Avatar's wishes in this matter."

"Thank you, Uncle," Korra replied.

She and Patrick then headed out of the palace to Naga.

"Thank you for helping me stop the war between the tribes. I really appreciate it," she said.

"You do not have to thank me, but, Korra… I do not want to sound too pessimistic, but this will hardly stop the conflicts between the North and the South."

Korra sighed. "I know," she agreed as she realized that Ama was right.

"But you seemed to be more relieved that your father was not among the rebels."

Korra looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "Is it too obvious?"

"Yes," Patrick replied as they stopped at Naga.

Korra stroked Naga's head. "I am just partially happy that my father was not among them, but there is still a part of me that is still angry at him for not telling me the whole truth."

"Korra…" Patrick said with a deep sigh. "The truth is a very complicated thing. Perhaps the most complicated thing in the Universe. It is the thing that can change the nature of everything."

Korra noticed that Patrick was speaking in the tone of a man who had also experienced the bitter side of the truth.

"I saw many great things built upon lies, Korra. Peace, creation and more." He paused for a moment. "One man once said: Sometimes it is more noble to tell a small lie than deliver a painful truth."

"But it is still a lie, Patrick."

"Yes, but I would lie to you if I said that after what happened in the palace, the situation between the North and the South would be alright. Or you would be lying if you said that you are still angry at your father and that you will never speak to him again."

Korra was silent, as she had nothing to say about this.

"Like I said, the truth is quite a complicated thing." Patrick paused for a moment as he crossed his arms. "And if I can say so, your father is a good man, and believe me, where I came from, good fathers are hard to find, especially fathers in general."

Korra looked at him shocked. "Patrick… I did not know… I am so sorry."

"Do not be. I do not know my father; I never needed him and I do not need him now."

In the meantime, Bumi was sitting on the grass in front of the waterfall while Kya was using her Waterbending to heal his injury on his head.

"I told you those rocks were slippery. You are lucky you did not kill yourself," she said in the tone of an angry mother.

"You are done lecturing?" Bumi asked.

"Oh, yes, this: Grow up! You have not changed one bit since we were children. You are still trying to prove you can do everything a Bender can. Well, you could not, and at this age, certainly not. Deal with it."

"And you are not our mother. You will not tell me what I can and cannot do. Deal with that," Bumi replied in the tone of an upset child.

So be it, Kya thought as she stopped healing him. She moved the water above his head and let it splash on him. "Good luck healing yourself with your special Non-Bending powers," she added.

Bumi shook the water off his head and turned toward Tenzin. "Hey, back me up here, Tenzin!"

"Kya is right," Tenzin replied. "You are the oldest of us, but you always acted like the youngest. I had to become the responsible one."

Kya looked at Tenzin with unbelief on her face. "You think you are the responsible one?" She took a step forward toward him. "Where were you after our father died and our mother was all alone? Because I was the only one who packed up and moved my whole life to be with her!"

"Sure, after years of flitting around the world, trying to find yourself," Tenzin added in a mocking tone. "It was time for you to settle down somewhere." He then shifted his gaze to Bumi and back to Kya. "You two have no idea how it feels to have the future of an entire culture on your shoulders," he barked at them.

"Oh, boo-hoo. Must have been really hard for you, flying around the world with father and riding elephant koi all day," Bumi replied sarcastically and sat down on a large rock.

"Oh, so that is what this is all about," Tenzin replied.

"That is what it has always been about!" Kya corrected him. "You think you are some savior who has to carry on the legacy of our father!"

"And who else is going to do it?" Tenzin asked.

"How about all of us?" Kya suggested.

"Yes, we are Aang's children too," Bumi joined and pointed to himself.

Kya sighed over this whole situation. "We never should have come on this vacation."

"I could not agree more," Bumi added.

Tenzin sighed. He really should not have let his mother force those two on his journey here. Now they were wasting valuable time arguing with each other instead of looking for his daughter. "Well, I did not want you to come in the first place. I cannot be around you two right now. Return to the temple and see if Ikki has returned. I will keep looking out here."

"Good then," Kya said in an offended tone.

"Good then," Bumi replied in the same tone.

"Good then," Tenzin added in the same tone.

Bumi and Kya went back to the temple through the path and Tenzin went forward alone.

It was morning when Korra and Patrick, with Naga, arrived at the igloo. Korra opened the door and saw both her parents and Ama sitting around the fire ring, eating breakfast. All three looked at her and smiled.

"Is it alright if I come in?" Korra asked them nervously, but that question was more for her father.

"Of course," Senna replied. "We heard what happened. Are you alright?"

The tears started to appear in Korra's eyes as she realized how stupidly she had been acting in recent days toward her father. Patrick was right in that she could not be angry at him all the time, even though he had lied to her; he was still her father, who raised her. "I am so glad you were not there," she said as she ran over to him and hugged him. "I do not know what I would have done!"

"I had no idea that Varrick was really capable of going this far," Tonraq said as he hugged her back. "Honestly, if I were younger, I would probably go with them, but now I am older and wiser. And I know that violence must not be the only way."

"I am so sorry for all the pain I have caused you."

Tonraq pulled away from her so he could look into her eyes. "I am the one who should apologize for lying to you and for holding you back. When I saw the Southern Lights return, I was so proud of you."

"When your father and I found each other, all we both wanted was to live a simple life and raise a family," Senna said. "But when we discovered that you were the Avatar, we knew that a simple life would be impossible. We knew one day the world would need you and you would not need us anymore."

"Mother. Father." Korra hugged them both. "Of course, I still need you."

Patrick, who watched it all from the open igloo's door, was about to close it and go somewhere else. This was a moment for Korra and her family and he was not going to interfere. But Korra stopped hugging her parents and they all turned their heads toward him.

"You can join us, Patrick," Senna said.

"I… I am not sure. This is more of a private matter…" he said.

"Please," Korra urged.

"Very well," he agreed, entered the igloo, closed the door behind him and sat down between Ama and Korra.

"You both look like you need a proper breakfast," Ama remarked and handed over to Korra and Patrick bowls full of food.

"You have no idea," Korra replied.

The breakfast in the igloo was held in a happy spirit for several minutes until a knock at the door interrupted it.

"Come in," Tonraq said.

Into the igloo entered a man wearing the uniform of soldiers of the Northern Water Tribe. He was similar in physique and height to Tonraq. He had long black hair, a goatee that reached down to his neck and blue eyes. Korra recognized that man as the commanding officer, whom she had seen peacefully resolve the situation with the civilians in front of the palace when Unalaq's army came into the city.

"Danrok!" Tonraq said surprised.

Korra turned her head toward her father. "You know him?"

Tonraq looked at his daughter. "He was serving under me when I was a general of the Northern Water Tribe." He looked back at Danrok.

"I am now the captain… Prince Tonraq," the man said.

"What are you doing here?"

But Patrick knew why one of the commanding officers of the occupying army was here. In Danrok's eyes, besides the shame, there was hatred of himself for what he was about to do.

"How many men did you bring?" Patrick asked him.

Surprised, Tonraq turned his gaze to Patrick and then back to Danrok. "What is he talking about?" he asked as he stood up.

Captain Danrok looked at Patrick with a guilty expression, and then finally, with courage, he turned his head toward Tonraq. "I am here to arrest you and your wife."

"For what?" Tonraq asked with anger.

"For conspiring to assassinate Chief Unalaq."

"My parents had absolutely nothing to do with what happened in the palace or the rebellion at all!" Korra barked.

Danrok turned his gaze toward her. "I have my orders, Avatar."

"Tonraq!" Senna yelled frightened as she quickly hugged her husband tightly.

"I will not let you take them!" Korra yelled as she stood up.

Patrick did the same and quickly started thinking about the strategy to deal with the soldiers outside.

"No, Korra!" Tonraq said to his daughter, and with his raised hand, he stopped her from doing something rash. He then turned his head back toward Danrok. "I will go peacefully, but you will leave my wife here." Danrok looked at him surprised. "Please, the prison is no place for her and she is no threat to you at all, nor will she escape. She will be at the trial, I promise you; just please spare her the presence in the prison."

Danrok looked at Senna, whom Ama had taken over from Tonraq to soothe her. He could see how she was all shaking from fear; she was not able to fight or escape, and he was not the kind of man who would put a woman like her into a prison. "Good then," he agreed. He turned around and opened the door to gesture for his men waiting outside to come inside. "Take only Tonraq," he commanded.

One of the soldiers put handcuffs on Tonraq's hands. Tonraq nodded to Korra, indicating that everything was alright and she must not interfere. Patrick, meanwhile, noticed that among the soldiers that came with Danrok was the trio that had harassed Asami.

Danrok and his men led Tonraq outside, where a truck was waiting. All the soldiers left except for the trio, who waited until the door closed. Then one of them turned to nervous Senna.

"We are taking her too," he said, and with a quick motion, he grabbed her arm.

"Ahhh!" Senna reacted frightened.

"Let her go!" Korra said.

"Seke, what are you doing? The captain said that we are only taking that man, not his wife!" the other soldier of the trio said.

"I do not care what the captain said! We have orders to bring them both to trial! Just because the captain is an honorable fool does not mean we have to be too!" Seke replied and pulled Senna closer to him because she tried to wiggle out of his grasp. He then reached into his pocket and pulled out handcuffs.

"I told you to let my mother go!" Korra said and she was about to use all the elements on them when Patrick suddenly stopped her.

"Korra, do not," he said to her.

Korra looked at him surprised. "What?"

"You do not need to get involved. Because it will be me who will take this trash out of your home," he explained to her in a cold tone while he activated his gauntlets.

The trio of soldiers looked at him shocked. "What did you just say?" Seke asked.

Patrick took a step forward. "You heard right. I am giving you three seconds to obey your captain's order and leave, or else you will wake up in the infirmary in the next few hours."

"You dare to threaten the soldiers of the Northern Water Tribe?" the last soldier of the trio asked, and then, with realization in his eyes, he pointed a finger at Patrick. "I remember you! You were with that girl we were searching through her things!"

"One…" Patrick said.

"I think… we should really obey the captain's order," the soldier said to the other two.

"Do not be such a coward, Nak!" Seke said and let finally go of Senna. "He is just one, and we are three!"

Ama quickly hugged Senna and pulled her away from the upcoming confrontation. Korra instinctively did the same.

"Two…" Patrick said.

Seke and the other soldier took fighting stances and pulled water from their bottles on their belts with their Waterbending. Only Nak was still hesitating, but he eventually also took a fighting stance.

"Three…"

Tonraq was led to an open truck, but when he was about to enter, he and the others heard the sound of fighting inside the igloo. So, he and the others quickly turned around.

"Danrok!" he said threateningly as he turned his head toward the man about whom he thought he would keep his word. But he could see that he was just as surprised as he was.

Captain Danrok quickly looked at his men and noticed that some of them were missing; more precisely, three were missing, and he knew which ones. Oh, no, he thought as he turned his gaze back to the door.

The sound of fighting stopped and a second later the door opened. The trio of soldiers were tossed outside, badly beaten. Another second later, Patrick came out.

"What is the meaning of this?" Danrok asked even though he could guess the answer.

"Captain… he attacked us!" Seke answered as he struggled to get back to his feet.

"These men tried to ignore your order and arrest Senna," Patrick explained. "So, I took the liberty of taking care of them."

Danrok clenched his fists in anger and then approached the beaten trio. He grabbed Seke by the collar of his fur coat to bring his face closer to his own. "I gave you an order!"

"But sir, we have orders to bring them both!" Seke argued.

"I am the captain here, not you, Seke! With you three, there are always problems! And do not think I do not know about those complaints where you and your friends have been harassing civilians!" He paused for a moment as he shoved away Seke, who had fallen with his back on the snow, while he considered punishment for the trio of soldiers. "Three months on the ship. No land at all."

Seke wanted to protest. "But-"

"So, four months!" Danrok adjusted the punishment. "And do not even think about finding some way to get out of it, or I will punish you harder!" Danrok turned to his deputy. "Take him and his friends away!" He walked over to Tonraq. "I am very sorry about this. It will not happen again."

Tonraq nodded that he accepted the apology and proceeded to the truck to sit down. Danrok followed him and before the truck doors closed, Tonraq gave one last look to his daughter and wife.

The rest of the soldiers helped the beaten trio and went to the other waiting truck. A few moments later, both trucks drove off toward the prison.

"Thank you for that," Korra said to Patrick. "But I do not think you had to do that to protect my 'neutrality'."

"That does not mean you have to deal with it alone," Patrick replied.

Korra nodded with a slight smile, which quickly disappeared as she walked over to Naga.

"Korra, where are you going?" Senna asked.

"I am going to see my uncle. This has to be a mistake," Korra answered and climbed on Naga. They both then, at full speed, headed into the city, leaving Ama, Patrick and Senna there.

Patrick turned his head toward Ama. "Ama, could you please take Senna to your igloo until the trial?"

"Of course," Ama replied.

"And where are you going, Patrick?" Senna asked, still disturbed by how the nice breakfast with her family had ended.

"I will go find Varrick. In this matter, we need as many allies as possible."

"But what if they already have Varrick?"

"Varrick is the slimy type who has an escape plan in his escape plan. He does not get caught that easily."

Meanwhile, Tonraq was sitting opposite Danrok in the prison truck. "I see that the army of my father has seen better days," he said as he placed his elbows on his knees, referring to what happened a while ago in his family's igloo.

"Yes," Danrok agreed. "Ever since your brother assumed the throne, certain requirements for certain positions have been lowered, and not just in the army. I am doing my best to keep the army in the best shape possible since your departure, Prince-"

"I am no longer a prince, Danrok," Tonraq interrupted him. "I lost the right to that title long ago."

"Still, you are a prince and a hero to me," Danrok replied. "And not just me. Many soldiers felt the same injustice when your father banished you. You were a great protector of our people!"

"I have endangered our people, Danrok. Because of me, the Spirits have attacked us. I deserved the banishment."

A long silence between them followed.

"How was he in his final days?" Tonraq asked, a little bit afraid of the answer.

"He was… He was mourning your absence. Even though he did not publicly let it be known, he confided to me that he wished to take your place in the banishment."

Tonraq sadly smiled. "He always considered you his third son."

"He was a father to many of us. When he became ill and was dying, he asked for your presence in his last moments, but he died before we could even contact you."

Tonraq extended his restrained hands down to stretch a bit. "Who will be the judge in this trial? Someone from the South?"

"No, from the North. Judge Hotah."

"Judge Hotah," Tonraq repeated until he remembered. "Did he not used to be a librarian? If I remember correctly, he was not very good at it." Danrok gave him a silent nod. "How did he become a judge?"

"Like I said before, certain requirements for certain positions were lowered. Hotah was one of the first, right after your brother became Chief."

In the Royal Palace, Korra marched through the throne room toward Unalaq, who was sitting there and reading the book he was carrying all the time.

"You are making a mistake!" she said to him.

Unalaq turned his gaze from the book to her. "I wish it had not come to this. But your parents held a meeting with the rebels in your own home; after all, you told me that."

Korra gulped as she realized that she had unknowingly helped to accuse her father. Still, it did not justify her uncle's attitude toward her parents. "I cannot believe you are doing this to your own family."

Unalaq closed the book and stood up. He was losing her, but that was to be expected. "Rest assured, I have appointed Judge Hotah to oversee the trial. He is the most fair and honorable man I know."

"My parents had nothing to do with the men who attacked you."

"I am sure you are right. So, we should have nothing to worry about."

"I hope so," Korra replied and she was beginning to question Unalaq.

Patrick made his way through the streets of Wolf Cove to Varrick's mansion. This was the only logical place where Varrick would hide, on his own territory. His ship was not an option because, since the arrival of the Unalaq's soldiers, every ship was under strict surveillance.

He opened large doors and was welcomed into a great room with brown walls. On the walls were trophies of various animals. In the middle of the room was a mat made from the fur of the Polar Bear-Dog. To the right of it was a working table and to the left was a stuffed Platypus Bear. On the other end of the room were Asami, Bolin and Mako. Bolin was lying on a sofa that was in front of a large window with a view of the sea, while Mako was sitting on it.

When he entered the room, all three looked at him surprised.

"Patrick, what are you doing here?" Asami asked.

"Looking for Varrick," he replied as he closed the door behind him and walked across the room toward them while looking at the hung trophies. Who was the interior designer? Kraven? His attention was momentarily drawn to the standing Platypus Bear.

"Then get in line. We are looking for him too because he and I should have closed our deal an hour ago."

"In that case, I am very sorry to inform you that Varrick will not be making any deals in the near future if Unalaq and his men get to him."

"Why?" Mako asked.

"Because he orchestrated a failed attempt to kidnap Unalaq several hours ago," Patrick answered. "And also because of him, Tonraq and Senna were accused of being part of it. Now Korra's father is in prison."

"What?" Asami asked surprised.

Then the doors opened, and Eska and Desna, along with a couple of soldiers, entered. Bolin immediately stood up and trembled in terror.

"I was not hiding from you!" he said to his girlfriend.

"I am not on the hunt for you," Eska said and narrowed her eyes. "Currently."

"We search for Varrick," Desna proclaimed.

The soldiers, who came with them, started searching the room. But after a few minutes, they did not find anything.

"Varrick is not here," one of the soldiers reported to the twins.

Eska turned to her brother. "Very well. Desna, let us continue our search elsewhere." Then she was about to go with her brother and the soldiers when she quickly turned her head toward Bolin. "Boyfriend! Bow to me when I exit!" she commanded.

Asami, Mako and Patrick watched with a bit of pity as Bolin knelt down and bowed down to Eska, as if he were worshipping her.

"Yes, yes, my sweet koala otter," Bolin said in a humiliated tone.

"You are so cute when you grovel," Eska replied with amusement, and she turned around and left.

When the doors closed, Bolin slowly stood up.

"Do not let her treat you that way. Stand up for yourself," Asami said to him as she crossed her arms.

"I am still building up the courage to break up with her. But it is not that easy, as Mako advised me," Bolin replied.

Because Mako's advice is fucking terrible, especially with someone like Eska, Patrick thought.

"Bolin, you need to be honest with her. Tell her how you really feel," Asami said.

"Honesty is for fools, kid!" Varrick's muffled voice sounded in the room.

The foursome looked around to see where it came from.

"Varrick?" Bolin asked.

"If you want to ditch this girl, then make yourself scarce. Disappear, like I did," Varrick's muffled voice continued.

"Varrick, where are you?" Asami asked.

Patrick came to the center of the room. Secret walls? No. Or perhaps… His gaze turned to the stuffed Platypus Bear and he approached it.

"Somewhere Unalaq will never find me," Varrick said. Patrick opened the mouth of the Platypus Bear and Varrick's head appeared in the mouth of the stuffed animal. "Inside Ping-Ping! How are we doing?"

"Quite good," Patrick replied and he wanted to pull Varrick out of the stuffed animal. "But your rebellion, not so much. As a leader, you were missed in the palace."

"You know, I have never been a front-line soldier; I am more of someone who yells commands and gives motivation in safety," Varrick said.

"I can see that."

"Well, anyway, you can come out," Mako suggested.

"No way, mister," Varrick rejected. "Not until I know it is absolutely 157% safe." Then a hand appeared under his mouth, which handed him a cup of tea. "Ah, thank you, Zhu Li."

Asami, Bolin, Mako and Patrick exchanged surprised glances with each other.

"Your assistant is in there too?" Asami asked.

Varrick, holding the cup of tea, looked at her. "Zhu Li never leaves my side." He took a sip of tea, but he immediately spat it out with disgust as he dropped the cup on the floor. "Yuck! Pyugh! Pyuck! You forgot the honey!" he scolded his assistant.

"Sorry, sir. There is not any in here," Zhu Li's apology sounded from the belly of the Platypus Bear.

"No honey? We are in bear for crying out loud!"

Damn, not even Stark put Pepper through this kind of treatment, Patrick thought.

"I am going to see how Korra is doing," Mako announced and left.

Patrick, who in the meantime was trying to figure out how those two could fit into the stuffed Platypus Bear, decided to talk to Varrick about why he had come here. "So, Varrick, I came here because-"

"Already working on it," Varrick interrupted him and turned his head toward Bolin. "Bolin, I have something for you."

Then the tail of the Platypus Bear lifted up and a stack of paper yuans fell out from its bottom.

Bolin bent down and picked up the money. "Wow!" he commented on the amount of money he was holding in his hand.

"Now listen up!" Varrick started to explain his plan. "Unalaq has rigged this trial, no doubt about it. So, I need you to make sure my trusty rebels stay out of prison."

"What is money for?" Bolin asked.

"Bribery, of course! There is always someone willing to look the other way for a few yuans."

"I think I catch your drift, Varrick-Bear," Bolin said with a smug smile.

Patrick watched in amazement and disbelief at how incredibly stupid Varrick's plan was. Perhaps there was a chance that this plan with the bribe could work, but Varrick had entrusted that money to Bolin.

"So, you gave the money to Bolin to buy the way out for your rebels?" he said.

Varrick turned his head toward him. "Yes?" he replied.

"You gave the money to Bolin," Patrick repeated. Then there was a long pause between them, because he hoped that Varrick would realize it. "To Bolin."

"Yes!" Varrick said with an irritated tone.

"This plan will not work."

"Of course, it will!"

"No, it will not!"

"Ehmm… From what I have learned, if you and the Avatar were not the ones who stopped my rebels, we would not be in this situation in the first place!"

"And what was your plan for Unalaq after your men would have kidnapped him from the palace, if I may ask?"

"Many…many…" Varrick paused for a moment as he tried to remember his plans. "But that is no longer relevant because it is in the past and now is now!" He turned his gaze to Bolin. "Unlike him," he pointed at Patrick, "I believe in you. You got this!"

"Of course!" Bolin replied with resolution and turned to Patrick. "Come on, Patrick! Have some faith in me!"

"Yeah…" Patrick replied sarcastically.

But Bolin ignored it. "See!" And he went out of the room with a stack of yuans in his hand.

Asami and Patrick were right behind him. Patrick rolled up his sleeve and activated his bracelet.

"What are you doing?" Asami asked.

"Starting the stopwatch," Patrick replied. "To see how long it will take for Bolin to do something stupid." The hologram clock dial appeared and began counting down the seconds.

Asami wanted to defend her friend, but she realized that it was Bolin they were talking about, so, she decided not to say anything.

Tonraq was led by a group of soldiers through a stone hallway of the prison, which was located on the edge of a cliff high in the mountains. The cell door opened, and he was pushed inside. As the cell door closed behind him, he could see that the large iron room that served as the local version of a pre-trial detention cell was filled with men and women. He knew most of them, either as citizens of Wolf Cove or as members of the Council of Chieftains and Elders.

He sat down in the corner and was trying to somehow relax until he saw how two men were approaching him. He recognized them as the ones who were present in his home yesterday when he called the meeting, the ones who had joined Varrick.

"Look who is here!" one of the pair said. "Father of the traitor. Did she send you here too?"

"Keep my daughter out of your mouth, Rakko!" Tonraq said through his teeth as he struggled to remain calm.

"Because of you and her, we are here!" the other rebel said.

"You are here because of your stupidity," the old man's voice said behind them.

All three turned to its source, and it was Rokkuk, who was standing behind Varrick's rebels with both hands behind his back and with the aura of a leader, even though he was now in prison.

"Beat it, Rokkuk!" Rakko yelled. "This is none of your business!"

"Really, Rakko? Then may I ask, what was your next move after you would successfully kidnapped Unalaq?" The silence of both men and their averted gazes gave him a straight answer. "From whom did that amazing idea come, anyway?"

"From Varrick…" the other rebel answered.

In that moment, when Rokkuk heard that name, he became furious. He started looking around to find the remaining rebels, but he could not due to the crowded cell, so he turned back to the pair. "And you obeyed that idiot?!"

"Well…" the rebel replied nervously. "He is your nephew…"

"He is the son of my sister and that idiot she married!" Rokkuk corrected him. "Do not tell me the only reason you obeyed him was that he and I share the same blood or because when he became so insanely rich, he must know everything! Tell me there was another reason!" Another silence from them gave him his answer. "Go," he commanded as he swallowed his anger.

When the two rebels with guilty expressions disappeared among the other prisoners, Rokkuk approached Tonraq and sat down beside him.

"You did not have to intervene," Tonraq said. "I could have handled them."

"It is better if they save their anger and energy for the enemy," Rokkuk replied with tiredness. "If they used it up on you, then they would later fight among themselves. You letting yourself get beat up would not help anything."

"Varrick just told them what they wanted to hear; that was all," Tonraq argued for the rebels, who had been scolded by Rokkuk a moment ago.

The elder sighed. "I know very well." He paused for a moment. "Still, I am glad that the attempt to kidnap Unalaq failed." He saw how Tonraq turned his head toward him with a surprised expression. "You heard them; they did not have any plan. And things with no plan at all usually end badly. Your daughter did the best thing she could at that moment."

Tonraq silently nodded and, after a short pause, said, "I did get your warning from Patrick."

"Good boy."

"Still, it did not help at all," Tonraq said and gestured to the walls of the prison cell.

"I know, but warning you was the only thing I could do in that moment."

"Why did Unalaq imprison you along with the other members of the Council? From what I heard from Varrick, Unalaq just kicked you all out of the palace."

"He kicked out just the ones who had no real power or influence while keeping those of us who could threaten him here. He had this whole 'unifying' of both tribes well planned. He knew what to do from the start. But the real question is, why is he doing this now?"

"It has something to do with that portal leading into the Spirit world that Unalaq made Korra open."

"You mean at the South Pole, inside the Everstorm?"

"Yes, did you know that there was a portal?"

"Just that it was forbidden to go there." Rokkuk paused for a moment. "You must be really proud of her that she brought back the Southern Lights," he said with the tone of a man who rejoiced in his friend's success.

"I am," Tonraq replied with a proud smile.

"Like your father was on you."

Tonraq looked at him surprised. "You knew my father?"

Rokku nodded. "He was my friend and he asked me to keep an eye on you when you moved here. Before he died, he often asked me how you were doing and how Senna was." He paused for a moment. "He always knew, as I do, that you would be an excellent Chief."

"I am no leader and I have never desired to be a Chief. Especially after what happened in the North."

"That is one of the reasons why you should be. Even if you made a mistake, you are a natural leader, Tonraq." Rokku motioned to the other prisoners. "And these men and women will need someone like you rather than someone like Varrick, and they will realize it soon enough. The only question is now, will you be ready for that moment?"

Meanwhile, at the Southern Air Temple, the sun was slowly rising and Tenzin was still outside, looking for Ikki.

"Ikki! Ikki! Where are you?" Then a duo of Winged Lemurs flew to him and landed on him. "Shoo! Go bother someone else!" Tenzin replied in frustration as he was trying to get rid of them. "You two are worse than Bumi and Kya."

But the Winged Lemurs were completely ignoring him as one of them climbed on his head and started to lick it.

Tenzin deeply sighed as he was tired of this 'vacation'. Then he heard a familiar voice, which brought his energy back.

"Good, everybody here?"

It was Ikki's voice.

"Ikki! Oh, thank goodness!" Tenzin yelled with happiness as he walked over to a nearby cave where it sounded from.

"Jupiter Lighting Bug, paws off the table!" Ikki's voice sounded as if she were with someone else in the cave.

As Tenzin walked inside, he saw his daughter, who was sitting around a flat rock with four young Flying Bisons. It looked like some sort of tea party.

"This is going to be a civilized breakfast," Ikki continued, not noticing her father. "Father always says a blessing before we eat, so…" One of the young Flying Bisons stumbled over the other one. "Be quiet and listen up!" Both Flying Bisons looked surprised at her.

Tenzin watched with satisfaction at his found daughter, who was completely oblivious to how many nerves it had cost him to find her. He now wanted to lie on the ground and rest for a while.

"We are thankful for this super yummy food and for being the best-est new friends in the world," Ikki started with a morning blessing and Tenzin smiled. "But we are most thankful that Meelo is not here, nor is Jinora, because they stink!"

This saddened Tenzin, who was the father of them, and for a moment, he saw himself in Ikki's place.

Then Ikki turned her head toward the cave entrance and saw him. "Oh, hi, father. I guess you found me." She paused for a moment. "Do I have to go now?" she asked with a little bit of sadness.

"Actually, is there room for one more?" he asked her back.

"Uh, sure. You can sit next to Blueberry Spicehead," Ikki replied and pointed to the Flying Bison opposite her.

Tenzin sat down next to the animal. "Nice to meet you, Blueberry Spicehead."

"And that is Princess Rainbow, and that is Twinkle Starchild and that is Jupiter Lightning Bug," Ikki named individually the rest of the Flying Bisons as she was pointing at each one of them. "They are my new brothers and sisters."

"New ones, huh?" Tenzin replied. "Can they be my new brothers and sisters too?"

"Maybe, but if they say it is alright." Ikki leaned to the Flying Bison on her left as she was trying to listen to what it said. "Uh-uh, uh-huh. No, no, he is nice." She leaned back and turned her head toward her father. "They say it is alright."

Tenzin sighed with relief. Perhaps now he would have some relaxation after all, and this tea party that his daughter had organized was actually quite a good place for it.

Meanwhile, in the courtroom of the Royal Palace at the South Pole, a large group of people gathered to witness the trial of those who attacked Chief Unalaq. Korra was standing aside with her uncle and Mako, watching her father and mother, who had joined Tonraq and the other rebels shortly after she and Ama arrived.

Asami and Patrick were sitting in the back of one of the benches, along with other people in the row behind the defendants. Then Bolin joined them and Patrick noticed that he was no longer holding the yuans that Varrick had given him for the bribe.

"We are good to go," he said to them with a self-satisfied smile. "I gave all the money to some guys over there. I told them to 'take care of it', and then I winked." He then pointed to somewhere in the opposite row of benches. "Pretty sure they got the message."

Asami and Patrick looked where he was pointing and they saw a duo of shady-looking men who were counting out the money with sleazy smiles. Then the men turned their heads toward them and smiled at Bolin with a thumbs up. Bolin returned the gesture, accompanied by the sound of the gavel hammering. Asami facepalmed and Patrick stopped the stopwatch.

Congratulations, Bolin; you have actually surprised me. You did it ten minutes sooner than I thought, Patrick thought.

"This trial will now come to order!" the law clerk announced. "Judge Hotah is presiding."

An old man sat on the judge's chair in the middle of the dais. He had white hair with four long ponytails, two under each ear, and was wearing a purple noble fur coat.

Bolin looked at the judge with complete shock as he realized what he had just done. "I should have paid him!"

"You think?" Asami asked in annoyed tone.

For the following hour, Patrick watched with them the ongoing trial, and he could tell that Varrick was right that the trial was rigged, and he strongly doubted that a bribe would change the outcome at all.

When Unalaq was finished with his testimony in front of Judge Hotah, it was time for Korra.

"According to Unalaq's testimony, you attended a meeting where Varrick tried to incite a civil war. Is that true?" Judge Hotah asked.

"Yes," Korra replied.

"And were these men present at the meeting?"

"Well, yes, but-"

"And where exactly did this meeting take place?" Judge Hotah asked another question without letting her finish the sentence.

Bolin stood up and raised his hand. "Objection!"

Judge Hotah looked at him sternly. "Quiet down out there!" He waited for Bolin to sit back down before he turned his gaze back to Korra. "I will ask you one more time. Where did the meeting happen?"

"My parents' house," Korra replied sadly.

"And who led this meeting?"

Bolin quickly stood up again. "Your honor, if I may?"

"May what?" Judge Hotah asked him with frustration.

"May I… declare a mistrial?" Bolin replied nervously because he had no idea what to do at that moment.

"Sit down!" Judge Hotah scolded him.

Bolin dejectedly sat back down. Due to his stupidity, he had failed not only Varrick but also Korra.

Judge Hotah looked at Korra again. "Varrick and your father led the meeting, did not they?"

"My parents are innocent," Korra replied with a defensive tone.

"I have heard all I need to. I will return shortly with my decision," Judge Hotah said, apparently completely ignoring her response. He stood up and left.

Yours or Unalaq's? Patrick corrected him in spirit as he was watching this farce of a trial.

Bolin looked around and saw Eska in one of the hallways. He gulped as he prepared himself for what he was about to do — remove the leech. He turned his head toward Asami and Patrick. "Well, I am going to break up with Eska…" he announced as he stood up.

"Good luck," Patrick said.

"Thank you very much," Bolin replied with a grateful tone and he went after Eska.

"You think he can do it?" Asami asked Patrick after Bolin disappeared in the hallway.

"Well… there is a chance that he will succeed, but there is also a chance that we will find his body buried in the frozen tundra."

Ten minutes later, the trial continued, but Bolin had not yet returned from his quest to break up with Eska. Tonraq, Senna and the other rebels were standing in front of Judge Hotah and waiting for the verdict.

"Senna, please step forward," Judge Hotah said. Korra's mother obeyed and stepped forward, accompanied by the worried looks of her daughter and husband.

"I have found you… innocent. You are free to go," Judge Hotah proclaimed.

Senna quickly ran to her daughter and hugged her. Then they both turned their gazes to Tonraq and waited for his verdict.

"On the charge of treason, you are all found… guilty," Judge Hotah continued in his verdict. "The punishment for this crime is death."

Everyone in the courtroom gasped in shock — everyone except the guards, Patrick and Unalaq. Patrick looked at Unalaq, and even though the Chief of the Northern Water Tribe was keeping a neutral expression, he could see a small glimpse of a smile in his face.

Judge Hotah turned and was about to leave when Korra stepped forward, completely furious with the verdict that he passed on her father.

"You cannot do this!" she yelled.

But Judge Hotah just glanced at her as he was walking away.

"You take their lives and I will take yours!"

This now made Judge Hotah to stop and his eyes widened in shock as he turned to the Avatar. Captain Danrok, who was standing on the other side of the courtroom, immediately stepped in front of him to defend him against the Avatar.

"Korra, calm down. I will talk to him," Unalaq said to his niece. He then walked over to Judge Hotah while Captain Danrok stepped aside, still keeping his eyes on Korra. "I know I promised to respect whatever decision you made, but I must ask you to reconsider. Show these men and my brother mercy."

"If I may, Judge Hotah," Danrok joined. "I ask you to do the same. Please."

"Very well," Judge Hotah said after a short pause. "I will change their punishment." He turned his head toward Tonraq and the rebels. "Your lives will be spared, but you will live them out in prison."

Tonraq and the men who were condemned with him sighed with great relief.

Unalaq returned to his niece and sister-in-law while his men led Tonraq and the rebels into prison.

"Thank you, Uncle," Korra said with great gratitude.

Meanwhile, in the cave nearby the Southern Air Temple, Tenzin was petting the young Flying Bison that his daughter had named Blueberry Spicehead, while Ikki was playing with the remaining three Flying Bisons by creating a sphere of air that they were chasing.

"You like that, do not you, Blueberry Spicehead?" Tenzin asked and the Flying Bison responded with a satisfied coo. "Yes, you do." Tenzin then turned his head toward Ikki. "You know, I could get used to it here. No one is yelling at me or telling me I am delusional."

Ikki turned to him and climbed onto the flat rock. "We should have Uncle Bumi and Aunt Kya come visit. I bet they would like it too."

"Let's not. They will only spoil our good mood," Tenzin rejected.

"What do you mean?" Ikki asked puzzled by what her father had said. "Aunt Kya is super nice and pretty and always asks me how I am feeling, and Uncle Bumi is like the funniest person in the world."

"But what about Meelo? He is hilarious too; you never know what is going to come out of his mouth. And Jinora can be so sweet and gentle."

"And mean and bossy. And Meelo? He can be quite annoying," Ikki added and paused for a moment. "Being part of a family is hard, right?" she asked with sadness.

"I could not agree with you more," Tenzin replied in the same tone.

Then the young Flying Bison he was petting stood up and flew with the other Flying Bisons out of the cave. Ikki and Tenzin stood up and looked where they were heading, and they saw how young Flying Bisons were reuniting with their parents in the sky.

Both Ikki and Tenzin understood that their time of relaxation was over; it was time to return.

"But I guess the nice part about a family is that they will always be there for you. Even though," Ikki said and motioned to the two young Flying Bisons flying above them, who were biting each other's ears, "Twinkle Starchild and Princess Rainbow fight, they still love each other."

Tenzin looked at his daughter with pride. "That is very wise of you, Ikki."

"We should probably head back, huh?"

"I suppose. We cannot hide in this cave forever," Tenzin replied, taking his daughter's hand, and they went back to the temple.

"Do not worry. We will come back and visit Blueberry Spicehead. I know you really bonded with her."

"Yes, I would like that."

Korra and Senna walked through the stone hallway to the cell where Tonraq was. When the door of the cell opened, they both immediately ran to him and hugged him.

"Honey, are you alright?" Senna asked with concern.

"I am, my love," Tonraq replied.

"Good, let's bust you out of here right now," Korra said with determination as she was looking around the cell to see where she should begin to help her father escape.

"Korra, no," Tonraq rejected. "Saving me would start a war. The North would crush the South. I will be all right. Just promise me you will not do anything rash." If Patrick were here, he would have asked him to stop Korra if she would try to free him, but now he had to believe that she would keep her word.

"Good then. I promise," Korra replied with sadness.

After their visit was over, Korra took her mother back to their home. Ama prepared some food for them and left them to have some time to themselves. After a few minutes, Korra saw her mother standing at the sink and crying.

Korra approached her mother and hugged her to soothe her.

"It is alright," she said to her. She had never seen her mother like this, and it was breaking her heart.

"I hate feeling so helpless," Senna said and wiped her tears away.

"I know," Korra replied with sadness. Then her sadness turned into anger. Her father forbade her to break him out of prison, but he did not say anything about other ways. And she was sure that he would be free by morning.

An hour later, Patrick entered the igloo and saw Senna sitting at the fire ring, all shaking and crying as she looked at him. She looked at him like she expected someone else to enter her home.

"Patrick, did you see Korra?"

"No, not at all," Patrick replied. "What happened?"

"She left a while ago without even saying a word. I am afraid…that she will attempt to free her father from prison… I am afraid I will lose her too…"

"Senna, wait at Ama. I will go find Korra and stop her from doing something stupid," Patrick announced and turned around to leave the igloo. Naga was not outside, so she had to be with Korra. Patrick activated his bracelet and was about to use the same method of searching as when Korra was abducted by Tarrlok: searching for Naga through her DNA.

Judge Hotah drove his Satomobile across the road in the mountainside toward the ship that was waiting for him to take him back to the North. Although Unalaq had invited him to stay, he would rather return to the North than face the wrath of the Avatar. He did what Unalaq wanted, so there was no longer any reason for him to stay here.

After driving for a while, he looked in the rearview mirror and saw that the Avatar, who was riding a Polar Bear-Dog, was right behind him and was getting close. He quickly reacted by flooring the gas pedal. He had to get back to the ship, and then the Avatar would not be able to do anything to him.

But Korra and Naga quickly caught up with him. Naga then hit the vehicle, causing Judge Hotah to lose control and crash into the side of the mountain.

Judge Hotah then watched with fear as the Polar Bear-Dog destroyed the door of the Satomobile. Korra climbed down from Naga, grabbed him and pulled him out.

"What do you want?" the old man asked as the Avatar slammed him against the side of the Satomobile.

"It is not about what I want," Korra replied in a threating tone. "It is about what Naga wants!" Naga growled at Judge Hotah, who was looking horrified at the animal. "And she would like you to let my father out of prison."

"I…I…" came out from Judge Hotah as Naga leaned forward and showed him her teeth.

"Korra!" Patrick's voice sounded to their right.

All three turned in that direction and saw him standing there in the middle of the road.

"What do you think you are doing?" he asked her.

"I am getting my father out of prison!" Korra replied.

Judge Hotah quickly slipped away from her and ran to Patrick. "Oh, thank goodness that you are here! You have to save me! The Avatar has gone mad!" he begged as he got down on his knees in front of him.

But Patrick ignored his plea and turned his gaze from him to Korra. "By threating the judge?" He paused for a moment as he sighed. "He will not help you at all. After all, he was following Unalaq's orders."

Korra looked at him surprised. "What are you talking about?"

Now even more terrified Judge Hotah started crawling away from Patrick, but Patrick quickly grabbed him by the collar of his fur coat. "That trial was rigged from the start." He shifted his gaze to the judge. "Tell her!"

But Judge Hotah remained silent.

"Very well, we do this the hard way," Patrick said with resolution. After all, you should leave threatening the judges to the professionals. He activated the gauntlet on his left hand and extended it to shoot a beam of blue light into the middle of the road.

The following second, the beam of blue light changed its shape into a circle that was floating above the ground with a spiral in its center that was moving. Patrick then shot another beam, but this one created a transparent wall close to and around the circle.

"Judge Hotah," Patrick said as he dragged the old man toward the floating circle, "I would like to introduce you to the Universe 111111111, also known as the Universe where all your worst nightmares live on!"

Universe 111111111, as labeled by the Tribunal, or the Universe of Nightmares, as called by the Order of Asan, was not a de facto Universe but more like a separate dimension that was connected to all Universes and Multiverses that ever were, are, and will be. This dimension was created by a mad warlock with the intention of weaponizing the nightmares of every being in every existence. After several months of performing rituals and casting spells, he succeeded, but soon his celebration was interrupted by the fact that his creation was materializing billions of different nightmares, from embarrassing moments to terrifying monsters, every second, so that in his attempt to control them, they overwhelmed him and tore him apart.

The Order of Asan was trying to undo the warlock's spell, but there was a possibility that the nightmares created by the dimension would be scattered across the Multiverses, so they decided not to risk it. Luckily, new nightmares are constantly materializing there, so they are all too busy eating each other rather than trying to get into other Universes.

Patrick opened a portal into that dimension and then created a shield around it that prevented anything from that dimension from entering Korra's world, but on the other hand, anything from Korra's world could go there freely.

Patrick turned Judge Hotah so that he was facing him and then grabbed him with his left hand as he slowly leaned him over so that the top of his head went through the shield and touched the portal.

"If you do not want to be a snack for whatever is there, I suggest you start talking!"

Judge Hotah was about to continue his silence, but then he felt something slimy on the other side of that strange circle touch the top of his head.

"I just did what he wanted from me, as always! He wanted everyone to think that trial was fair!"

"So, Unalaq told you what to say?" Korra asked.

"Yes! Every word!"

"But then why did he have you free my mother and change the sentence?"

"Because he wants to keep you on his side, Korra," Patrick answered instead of the judge. "Ever since he arrived, he wants you to open both portals. And also, he wanted to get his brother out of his way like before."

Judge Hotah widened his eyes in shock as he looked at Patrick. That told Patrick that this man knew what Unalaq did twenty years ago in the North.

"You know about that, do you not? You helped him with it!" When the old man was reluctant to answer, Patrick leaned him more forward into the portal.

"What do you mean by 'like before'?" Korra asked Patrick even more puzzled.

"That attack on the city by the barbarians was orchestrated by Unalaq," Patrick answered as he looked at her. "He was the one who informed them where to hide, and he was counting on the fact that your father would destroy that forest. So, when the Spirits went on the rampage, he saved the day, and your father was banished, and he could take the throne." He then turned his gaze back to Judge Hotah. "Am I right?"

Several tentacles started coming out of the portal and slowly wrapping themselves around the old man's head. Korra and Naga, who was barking, instinctively stepped back when they saw it.

"Yes! He ordered me to hire those men and tell them where to hide!" the old man yelled frightened.

From the portal came a monstrous growl.

Looks like we have their attention, Patrick thought but his interrogation was far from over. "But that is not all, is it? You also helped Unalaq murder his father when Tonraq was out of the picture, right?"

Korra now looked at the interrogation completely horrified; she did not know if it was from what she saw coming from that circle or from that information.

"Please…please… let me go!" the old man shouted and he was crying. Another monstrous growl came from the portal.

"Then tell us the truth!" Patrick yelled and he was about to push the man's head through the portal to let him see what was about to eat him.

But Korra quickly reacted by grabbing Patrick's hand, which was holding the judge. "Stop this, Patrick!" And for a short moment, she was terrified by what she saw in Patrick's eyes – complete cold-bloodedness. Patrick was really about to leave that defenseless man to whatever was making that growl.

Patrick quickly turned his head toward her, and in that moment, it was like he was looking into Clara's eyes instead of Korra's. Into eyes that were trying to find humanity in the monsters in front of them. He quickly came back to his senses and pulled Judge Hotah back to him. He then made the shield push the tentacles back into the portal before he closed it.

Judge Hotah collapsed on the ground while crying. "I did not have a choice! Unalaq made me do it!" He looked up at Korra. "Unalaq and I were slowly poisoning him so it would look like he got sick, but when your grandfather wished your father to be present in his final moments, Unalaq did not want to risk his certain succession, so he gave him one last strong dose of the poison." He covered his face with his hands while he was crying. "Forgive me! Your grandfather was a great man. I did not want to do it, but I always wanted to be more than a librarian! Ever since Unalaq got his hands on that book…"

"What do you know about that book?" Patrick asked in his attempt to gain information.

Judge Hotah turned his gaze toward him and wiped his tears away. "I may have been horrible at my job as a librarian, but I have an excellent memory, and I know that we never had that book there. The day Unalaq discovered it… it was like it came out of nowhere. Ever since then, Unalaq has not let anyone read it, but from what I can tell, it is some kind of ancient journal, and thanks to that book, Unalaq is able to communicate with the Spirits or command them in some way."

"Commanding them?" Korra asked.

"That attack on the festival was set up from the start," Patrick replied. "He did that to get you into his teachings, but why now?" He looked menacingly at the old man.

"I do not know why! That is all I know!" Judge Hotah turned his gaze upward toward Korra. "Please forgive me for what I did to your family!" And he started crying again.

Korra looked at Judge Hotah with great pity; she was prepared to threaten him to force him to release her father, but she did not want this at all. However, when she looked at Patrick, she could feel the fear. He almost killed that man.

Patrick knelt down and pulled the Neuralyzer out of his pocket. "Judge Hotah, look here." When the judge obeyed, a bright flash hit his eyes. "You have been in an accident. We and the Avatar helped you safely get out of the vehicle."

Judge Hotah smiled confusedly. "Oh, thank you very much, both of you."

"What did you do to him?" Korra asked.

Patrick stood up and passed her by. "I deleted his memories from today."

Korra quickly caught up with him. "Why…Why? He could tell the truth about how it really was!"

"You mean the confession we got from him by force?" Patrick asked her back. "It will not work. If Unalaq is very smart, then he is prepared for the eventuality that Hotah will turn against him. Plus, he has an army behind his back and your father in his clutch."

"But we still could…" Korra did not finish the sentence because she was disconcerted that she had learned that her own uncle had banished her father and killed her grandfather.

"We will find another way to get your father out, Korra. But I must ask you first: Are you really ready to break neutrality?"

"I am," Korra said with determination.

"Good then, let's go get the others." Patrick gestured for Naga to come to them, and they both climbed on her.

"Would you really have thrown him to whatever was there?" Korra asked.

"Let's focus on getting your father out of prison," Patrick replied, dodging the question.

Korra grumbled when Patrick did not answer her question, but he was right. Now the main priority was to get her father out. She prodded Naga to go back into the city.

At the Southern Air Temple, in the statue room, Bumi was standing in front of the statue of his father. He was standing there for several minutes, observing that stone that had his father's depiction on it.

"Hey there. You are looking well," he began his speech to the statue. "Look, uh, I am sorry I did not turn out to be an Airbender like you hoped. But I have tried my best to keep the world safe."

The truth was that even though Avatar Aang loved his children equally, Tenzin was the only one capable of Airbending, so it was logical that he received the most of their father's care. Bumi did not hold it against his little brother or his father; that was just how things were.

"Hope I made you proud," Bumi finished his speech and was about to stand in silence in front of the statue for the next few minutes until he heard Kya's voice.

"Of course, he would be proud of you, Bumi."

Bumi turned to her and saw her leaning against the wall at the entrance to the statue room. "Kya! I was…I was…" he was trying to find an excuse, but nothing crossed his mind.

Kya approached him. "Come here." She then hugged him.

Bumi returned the hug. "Thank you, Kya. You always know when I need a hug."

Meanwhile, at the South Pole, in Varrick's mansion, Asami, Korra, Mako and Patrick gathered with Varrick, who was still hidden in his Platypus Bear. Korra and Patrick had just told them what they had learned from Judge Hotah.

"Unalaq is nothing more than a traitor and a liar!" Korra finished.

"I have been trying to tell you that from the get-go!" Varrick barked at her.

"Shut up, Varrick!" Patrick said to him. "It was because of you and your amateurish rebellion that Unalaq got an opportunity to get Tonraq out of his way."

"Good point," Varrick replied. "Zhu Li, write it down!"

"I cannot believe I trusted Unalaq!" Korra said to herself out loud, angrily, and then focused on her allies. "We will bust my father and the other rebels out of jail."

"If you do this, there is no going back," Mako said.

"I know. Will you help us?"

"Of course," Mako said.

"Me as well," Asami joined.

Varrick raised the paw of the stuffed animal, where he was with his assistant. "Count me in."

The door of the room opened and everybody turned to see who had come in. To their surprise, it was Bolin, but he was dressed like Eska, with a choker around his neck and with brushed hair. Beside him was Pabu, who had undergone the same procedure and had an expression that said: Kill me!

"Well…" Patrick said sarcastically and for a moment he turned his gaze to Mako, "I can see that advice of yours is really working well."

Mako tiredly rubbed his eyes. "I do not even want to know."

"So, I am guessing the breakup with Eska did not go well?" Asami commented.

"No, no, no, it worked out so well," Bolin said sarcastically with a fake smile. "So well that she decided we should get MARRIED!" he added in slowly built-up anger.

"Sorry," Asami replied.

But Korra could not help but smile at that, despite the serious situation they were in. "I am pretty sure the boy is supposed to give the girl the betrothal necklace."

"I guess Eska did not get the memo," Bolin replied.

"Well, the good news is, Bolin, that we are about to do something that will make us all enemies of the Northern Water Tribe, thus ending your relationship with Eska, if you are willing to participate," Patrick said.

"I am willing for anything, Patrick; just get me out of this nightmare," Bolin replied.

"That is good; you have motivation." Patrick turned his gaze to the large window and saw Varrick's huge ship in the harbor. "How fast can that ship be?"

"Very fast," Varrick answered and he wickedly smiled. "I see that we are both forming the same plan!"

"Yeah, but mine will actually work."

In the prison, a soldier of the Northern Water Tribe was on his usual patrol of the stone hallway. There was nothing to report at all when suddenly he fell into a huge hole and, in the following second, was electrocuted.

Asami, Korra, Mako and Patrick climbed out of the hole that led to the tunnel that Korra had made with her Earthbending. Bolin and Varrick with Zhu Li, on the other hand, had a different task.

As they walked past the cells, they heard some noise in one of them. Patrick tossed Mako the keychain he had taken from the soldier a moment ago. "Hold it for me for a second."

"What are you doing?" Mako asked.

"To see if there are chieftains and elders in that cell. Unalaq has imprisoned them. It would be bad for him if they would get out on the same day as Tonraq and the rebels," Patrick explained and activated the generator of phasing on his bracelet. He then stepped in front of the cell and leaned his head forward.

Asami, Korra and Mako almost jumped from shock when they saw Patrick's head move through the metal door of the cell. The same was true for those inside the cell, who almost screamed out in fear because of the head that appeared in the middle of the door.

"Hey, I do not want to scare you, but are there some chieftains or elders among you?" Patrick asked the large group of people that were present in the cell.

"Here!" Rokkuk's voice sounded.

Patrick saw how the elder, with others, made their way through the group to probably see what was happening and who was asking about them.

Rokkuk and the others stopped for a moment and watched Patrick's head in disbelief.

"Do I need an explanation of how this is possible?" he asked Patrick.

"Not really. We are getting you and the others out of here, along with rebels and Tonraq-"

"Tonraq and the rebels were taken out of here an hour ago," Rokkuk interrupted him.

"To where?"

"To a ship, from what I heard."

"Unalaq is really not taking any chances," Patrick whispered to himself and then again focused on the elder. "Wait, we are going to open the cell." He leaned back and deactivated the generator. "Tonraq and the rebels are not here," he announced as he turned his head toward Asami, Korra and Mako.

"What?" Korra asked surprised.

"He is right, Korra. You will never see your father again," Unalaq's voice sounded.

The foursome turned around and saw him standing in the middle of the hallway.

"You and him are so much alike. So predictable," Unalaq added. "I knew you would not be able to sit back and let him rot in his cell."

"Where is he?" Korra asked him angrily.

"On the ship that is probably heading to the North," Patrick answered and took a fighting stance.

"Bring him back! Or you will regret it!" Korra threatened her uncle.

"Remember who you are. As the Avatar, you cannot threaten war. You must remain neutral or our tribes will never find unity," Unalaq said calmly.

"You do not want unity. You want power," Korra replied. "You have always been jealous of my father, have you not? You got him banished so you could become the Chief."

"And it had to piss you off when you learned that he became the father of the Avatar and not you," Patrick added. "That is why you married Eska's and Desna's mother, right? But the Universe decided you were going to be the second-born once again. So, what is your endgame?"

"The change," Unalaq answered to him and turned his gaze back to Korra. "All I have ever wanted is to help you realize your destiny."

"I do not want your help anymore," Korra said.

"If you start a war, the Dark Spirits will annihilate the South. And even I will be powerless to stop them."

"We know you set up that attack of the Spirit at the festival. We know you can control them," Patrick said.

"Not all of them, Patrick," Unalaq replied.

"Anyway, I am done being manipulated by you. You are going to bring my father back, then you and your soldiers will return to the North," Korra said and turned around.

"And why would I do that?" Unalaq asked with a bit of amusement.

"Because you still need me to open the Northern portal," Korra replied.

"No, I do not. You have served your purpose."

But Patrick laughed in that moment. "Honestly, Unalaq, that was a very bad bluff. If you really did not need her now, we would not be here at all."

Unalaq quickly opened the bottle attached to his belt, pulled the water from it with his Waterbending and launched a stream of water to bring Korra to him. But she quickly reacted by sending fire blasts at him. Unalaq blocked the blasts with water and shot a stream of water at her, which she dodged.

Mako went to assist Korra and Asami picked up the keychain he had dropped.

"Open the cell!" Patrick ordered while observing the fight.

Asami obeyed, and in the following second, she was showing the prisoners the direction to the tunnel.

Unalaq dodged Mako's attack and slammed him away with the stream of water. Then he shot another stream of water at Korra, but she dodged it.

"Korra, air and sonic, now!" Patrick ordered and extended his hand with an activated gauntlet.

Korra understood what he meant and she sent the air blast at her uncle. At the same moment, Patrick shot his concentrated wave of sonic. The two combined forces launched the surprised Unalaq to the other side of the hallway, where he crashed hard against the wall.

"We have to get to Varrick's ship to free your father," Patrick said.

"Let's go," Korra replied and they went with the rest of the prisoners to the tunnel.

Unalaq slowly and painfully stood up. Patrick was right; he still needed Korra to open the other portal, and in time, or everything would be for nothing.

Meanwhile, in Wolf Cove, Bolin was leading Varrick and Zhu Li, who were inside the stuffed Platypus Bear, on a leash through the streets of the city to the harbor, with Pabu sitting on the head of the stuffed animal. Their part of the plan was quite simple: They would gain control over Varrick's ship, which would be the means of their escape from the South Pole. But what was troubling them was an ice wall that blocked the way out of the harbor. Patrick told them that he knew how to get through them, but the main thing for now was to secure the ship.

The foursome was stopped by a couple of soldiers who were guarding the entrance to the harbor.

"You have a license for that animal?" one of the soldiers asked.

"Uh, have you seen a traveling circus come through here?" Bolin asked them nervously.

Varrick opened the mouth of the Platypus Bear to observe the situation. It was necessary to cause a ruckus. "Zhu Li, do the thing," he whispered.

The tail of the Platypus Bear lifted up and money spurted out from the bottom of the stuffed animal.

The civilians, who were behind the stuffed animal, could not believe their own eyes.

"That Platypus Bear is pooping money!" one of them yelled.

Pretty soon, a large crowd ran toward the pile of money and started collecting it, and it did not take long for the civilians to start attacking each other over the money.

All the soldiers that were present in the harbor immediately ran to calm the situation. Bolin and the crew of Platypus Bear and Pabu used that to enter Varrick's ship.

A few minutes later, Bolin and Varrick, who was still hiding with Zhu Li inside the Platypus Bear, were on the bridge and starting the ship. Asami, Korra, Mako, Patrick and several other prisoners, including the chieftains and elders, joined them.

"Where is your father?" Bolin asked.

"On a ship headed north," Korra replied. "Think we can catch up to it?"

"Sure," Varrick said with confidence, and then he noticed Rokkuk among those who had come with the Avatar and the others. "Hello, Uncle."

"Uncle?" Korra asked as she turned her gaze to the elder.

Rokkuk looked at his nephew in shock for a moment. "Varrick?" Then his expression turned into pure anger. "What are you doing inside the Platypus Bear?"

"A very long story, Uncle," Varrick replied and turned back to the controls of the ship. "Which I will be happy to tell you about after we get out of this situation." He turned his head toward Patrick. "Which, I think, is your time to show us how we are going to get out of this."

"Wait for a moment," Patrick said and he left the bridge and made his way to the bow of the ship. He then extended his right hand with a gauntlet, and a thin red beam came out of it. A second later, Patrick launched from the gauntlet a small black ball into the ice wall. He turned around, and as he returned to the bridge, a massive explosion followed from the place where the ball had landed on the wall. The ice wall then slowly crumbled in pieces into the sea.

"That is really something," Varrick remarked.

"I would postpone any celebration because if Unalaq is not an idiot, he has prepared a fleet as a second blockade," Patrick announced when he returned to them, and his words were later proven to be true.

The destroyed ice wall revealed a large number of battleships formed into a naval blockade.

"If only we had a plane to get me close to those ships. I could Waterbend them out of the way," Korra said.

And before Patrick could say anything, Varrick said, "Now it is my time to shine!" And he pressed the red button.

The hatch in the center of the bow of the ship opened, and a platform emerged with a prepared biplane in the colors of Varrick's company.

"Um, why do you have a plane on your ship?" Mako asked.

"Because he is an idiot!" Rokkuk answered and he looked like he was very close to losing his nerves.

"I have this plane in case the ship sinks," Varrick corrected his uncle's proclamation.

"And where is the runway?" Patrick asked.

Varrick looked closely and pretty soon he realized it too.

"Like I said, he is an idiot!" Rokkuk said.

"Zhu Li! Take a note: Build a runway!" Varrick yelled at his assistant.

"Yes, sir," Zhu Li replied.

Rokkuk rolled his eyes because he could not understand why Zhu Li was so devoted to his idiotic nephew.

"I have an idea," Patrick said. "We will just need a couple of Firebenders." He looked at Asami. "And one very good pilot."

A few moments later, Asami was inside the biplane and putting on the glasses for flying, while Korra and Mako each stood on one wing of the plane. Patrick was flying beside the biplane and then gestured for Asami to start the engine.

Asami obeyed and the biplane was moving forward toward the small provisional ramp they had built.

"Now!" Patrick ordered and Korra and Mako each made a stream of fire that boosted the speed of the biplane to successfully take off.

Patrick and the biplane flew toward the blockade, with Varrick's ship following them.

When they were close enough, Korra entered the Avatar state, and thanks to it, she created a large wave in the ocean that pushed the battleships away, creating a gap large enough for Varrick's ship to get through.

An hour later, a biplane accompanied by Patrick was searching the ocean from the air until Korra spotted a battleship nearby. It had to be the ship where Tonraq and the other rebels were. They flew toward it.

The crew of the battleship, which was present on the deck, was doing normal things until they spotted a fast-approaching biplane.

"Jump!" Korra ordered her two friends, when the biplane was close enough to the battleship, and they both jumped into the sea with her as the biplane crashed on the side of the battleship.

The crew immediately ran toward that side of the ship to see what that meant, completely oblivious that Korra and her friends had gotten on deck through ejection from the water cyclone. Patrick landed right next to them.

Korra formed two large water whips and used them to knock the distracted crew off the ship. She then noticed that one of the remaining members of the crew tried to escape to the door, but Korra launched a stream of water at him that froze him against the wall.

"Where are the prisoners?" Korra asked him.

"You!" the familiar voice yelled.

The foursome turned to the other side of the deck and saw Seke standing there in a fighting stance.

"Because of you, I have to spend four months on this ship!" he continued yelling and he ran toward them with intent to attack.

Patrick tiredly sighed and shot at him a sonic wave that knocked him out of the battleship into the ocean while he was still yelling. He then turned his head toward the member of the crew that was frozen to the wall. "Want me to repeat her question?"

After a few minutes, Korra and her friends led Tonraq and the rebels to the right side of the battleship.

"Korra, this is crazy. You promised me you would not do anything rash," Tonraq said, still shocked that his daughter broke him out of prison.

"I had to. I will explain later," she replied.

"Soldiers above us!" Patrick exclaimed and formed a shield around himself and the others against the water projectiles from the soldiers above them.

Varrick's ship arrived at the side of the battleship where Korra, her friends, her father, and the rebels were.

Rokkuk was on its deck and gestured for them to jump. "Come on!"

They all jumped on Varrick's ship, and with great speed, it sailed away from the battleship.

Bumi, Kya, Pema, Jinora, Meelo and Rohan were at the stairs at the entrance to the Southern Air Temple, waiting for the moment when the last two members of their family would arrive. Finally, it happened because Tenzin was approaching with Ikki.

"Sweetie!" Pema yelled as she ran to her daughter to hug her tightly. "You are alright! I was so worried about you!" She then looked sternly over her shoulder at Meelo. "Do you have something you want to say to your sister?"

"Ikki, I am glad you are back," Meelo said nervously. "And… sorry that I made fun of you."

"Thank you," Ikki replied. "Want to play airball?"

"Yes!" Mello answered with enthusiasm.

"Can I play with you too?" Jinora asked. Even though she was tasked by Jon to learn everything about the Spirits before Korra and Patrick arrived, a small break would not hurt.

"Of course!" Ikki replied and all three of them left to find a large space to play in.

Meanwhile, Tenzin approached his two older siblings. "I want to apologize for how I acted yesterday. I have worked so hard to celebrate our father's legacy that I may have overlooked the parts of him that were less than ideal."

"And we are sorry for dumping our frustrations with father out on you," Kya replied.

"You did not deserve that," Bumi added.

Kya reached into her pockets for something that her mother had given her before she accompanied her brothers on their way here. "I thought you two might want to see this." She pulled out an old picture. It was a family photo of their family when they were little children and their parents were young. "Mother gave it to me before we left," she said as she showed the picture to her brothers.

"That is one good-looking family, huh?" Bumi remarked to the smiling fivesome in the picture.

"That is one happy family," Tenzin added, and along with his siblings, he smiled with pride.

Varrick's ship was sailing through the ocean. The sun had already set, and the night was coming on.

Tonraq and the rebels, along with Rokkuk, chieftains, and elders, have just heard what Korra and her friends have found out about Unalaq.

"So, once I knew the truth, I could not sit by and do nothing," Korra finished the explanation of why she freed her father and the rebels.

Tonraq clenched his fists and looked down at the ship's deck where he was standing. "My own brother betrayed me… and killed our own father…" he said with sadness. He wanted nothing more than to get his hands on Unalaq and find out from him why he did that to their father.

"I always knew that your father's death was quite suspicious, Tonraq," Rokkuk replied and placed his hand on Tonraq's shoulder. "He did not deserve such a fate."

"What is our next move?" one of the rebels asked.

Tonraq looked at Rokkuk, and from his expression, he could tell that the moment the elder predicted in the prison had come. "I have been running from my past for too long. It is time to put my brother in his place!" Tonraq looked at the rebels around him. "If you will follow me."

"You have our support, Chief Tonraq!" the rebel replied, and with the rest of the rebels, he put his fist to his heart.

Rokkuk, with the chieftains and elders, did the same. "As ours."

Korra also put her fist to her heart. "Mine too. I will be proud to fight alongside you."

"No, Korra," Tonraq rejected.

Korra looked at him shocked. "But you have said that the South does not stand a chance against Unalaq's forces. I can help."

"The best way for you to help is by getting the president of the United Republic on our side. The South can give Unalaq a good fight for a while. But we will need the United Forces in order to win this war." But there was also another reason. Tonraq did not know why his brother needed Korra to open both portals, and he would be damned if he let Unalaq get Korra. So, he has to send her as far away as possible.

"Your father is right, Korra. The president will surely hear out the Avatar," Rokkuk supported him.

Korra, for a moment, looked down with sadness that she would not be fighting alongside her family, but quickly looked up at him again, this time with determination. "All right, I will get you all the help you need." She hugged him. "I love you, father."

"I love you, too," Tonraq replied and while hugging her, he looked at Patrick, who was leaning against the rail on the opposite side of Varrick's ship, with an expression that was saying: Please look after her.

Patrick silently nodded at him, indicating that he understood.

Several minutes later, Varrick's ship was slowly approaching the frozen shores of the South Pole. Rokkuk joined Patrick in keeping watch for any sign of the enemy's battleships.

"You should come with us," Patrick said to him. "As a politician, you could help us."

"No thank you. I was once in Republic City and that experience was enough for me. My allegiances are to my people and my homeland."

"Just be careful and try to last as long as possible until we arrive with help."

"We will endure as we always have, and believe it or not, I can give a strong punch if I have to." Rokkuk extended his hand. "It was nice to meet you, Patrick, and thank you for everything so far."

Patrick shook his hand. "Likewise. By the way, do me a favor and, with other elders, try to figure out why that portal at the South Pole was closed in the first place."

"We will, but it might take some time before we can retrieve some ancient knowledge. Do you think those portals are truly related to why Unalaq is doing all this?"

"I have a feeling that Unalaq is really aiming for something more than just ruling over two tribes."

"Could you also do me a favor?"

"And what is that?"

"Could you please tell my idiotic nephew to finally get out of that Platypus Bear? I think for today, it was enough dragging my father's name through the mud."

Patrick smiled as he let go of Rokkuk's hand. "I will." He paused for a moment. "Is Varrick really named after your father?"

"To my disfavor, he is," Rokkuk replied with anger.

When the ship was close enough, Tonraq and the rebels, chieftains and elders climbed down from the ship onto the ice floe, and with its help, they made their way to the other side and back to their homeland.

Korra and the others were watching them from the bridge.

"So, what did my uncle say to you before he left? Something about me?" Varrick asked Patrick.

"Yes… and if I leave out all the negative words… he did not say much," Patrick answered.

Varrick chuckled. "All uncle."

"You do not seem to be bothered that your uncle loathes you."

"He has always been like that, ever since my parents married. Uncle Rokkuk always thought that my mother could have married better than a poor seal-hunter. It did not help either that I was named after my grandfather from my mother's side, whom my father greatly admired. Still, me and my uncle are family, and every year I keep sending gifts to him or doing something for the whole Southern Water Tribe, and still, he does not change his opinion about me, so I have gotten used to it." Varrick paused for a moment. "I should go make the ship ready to sail toward the Republic City." And he went to the controls of the ship.

"I really need to thank you all," Bolin said with a grateful tone.

Asami, Korra, Mako and Patrick looked puzzled at him.

"For what? We just started a civil war," Korra said.

"Exactly!" Bolin replied with enthusiasm. "Now Eska and I are officially broken up." He took a deep breath. "I can almost taste that freedom."

Patrick sighed. Bolin, you are an idiot.

"Oh… it looks like we have company!" Varrick announced, while looking at something through his telescope. "And not the fun kind!"

The Team Avatar approached him and noticed that he was looking at a gigantic wave that was coming toward them.

"What is that?" Mako asked.

Bolin took the telescope from Varrick's hands and looked at the wave. A second later, he started shaking with fear.

Patrick took the telescope and looked. It was Eska with smudged make-up, and for the first time, she finally showed some emotion, and it was rage, pure rage. Patrick gulped as he remembered when he saw such an expression like this before – on Olympia's face when somebody hurt Amelia. That expression was telling that the person in question was able to destroy entire armies just to get to the one person who hurt her.

"Bolin… Next time before you address some girl, I will slap you so that you come to your senses, deal?" he suggested.

"Deal," Bolin replied, still shaking from the fact that Eska was coming for him, and leaned over to Varrick. "Quick question: Is this ship fast enough to get away from my crazy Waterbending ex-girlfriend?"

Varrick smiled confidently at him. "Why do you think I built this ship?" he answered with the tone of a man who had experienced what Bolin was experiencing right now ten times over.

Varrick, with his hands on the controls, turned the ship around and, with great speed, headed toward the Republic City, leaving the angry Eska behind.