Sorry this chapter is so late, life happened. And writer's block, but mostly life.

Responses to Reviews:

RonaldM40196867: There are many good inventions, but my favourite is probably the Flying Machines the Equalists had.

Zigzagdoublezee: The prospect of losing your only family in a war can be a remarkable motivator to make things right with them.

As Always, Please Review!

Bolin

They did not stop for a very long time as they soared away from the camp, the rest of the sandbenders following them on a skiff.

Finally, when they were far enough away and night had fallen, Juicy came in to land, the skiff skidding to a halt beside them. Ganzorig scrambled out. The endless wastes stretched out into the distance.

"We did it!" He cheered, helping his wife (who he had introduced to Bolin as Bayarmaa) off the bison. The rest of the sandbenders began to cheer, running over and even breaking out into an impromptu dance next to Juicy, chanting the three words rhythmically as they did so.

Opal smiled down at them sadly. Toph just stomped away and set about creating a camp. Varrick jumped off and joined in the dance, motioning for Zhu Li to follow. Bolin lingered for a moment.

The sandbenders were right; they had done it. They had walked into the jaws of death and come back out, even though it had been a trap. So why did it feel like such an anticlimax?

He went to sit down next to Opal.

"Don't feel like celebrating?" She asked.

Bolin shook his head.

"It's because the job's not done yet," Opal said. "We've freed them from a physical prison, but mentally, they're still there."

They watched as Lin and Suyin struggled in the saddle.

"The Earth King invites you to Lake Laogai," Bolin repeated. "Toph said it. What does it mean?"

"It means mind control," a voice came from right behind them. Bolin yelped and fell off the saddle, landing flat on his back to see Toph standing over him, clearly having finished her task.

"Mind control?"

Toph sighed.

"Opal, did your mother ever tell you what happened at Lake Laogai?"

Opal shook her head. Toph scowled.

"Great. Now I've got to do it, I suppose."

She sat down.

"Not long after I met Avatar Aang and became his Earthbending teacher, we got the wonderful idea to come to the Si Wong Desert to find some way of winning the war. Instead, Appa got stolen. By sandbenders."

She scowled again.

"He ended up in Ba Sing Se, and eventually we managed to find him, at a secret police facility under Lake Laogai. Their chief had totalitarian control over the city and was even keeping the Earth King in the dark about the very existence of a war."

She seemed to be staring off into the distance now, even though she couldn't possibly have been.

"Oh, and he was also brainwashing people. He brainwashed my fr-"

She paused for a moment, and then corrected herself.

"- A boy called Jet, to try to throw us off from finding Appa. He failed. Jet died."

Nobody said anything.

"The control was activated by speaking a command phrase, which for the Dai Li was "The Earth King invites you to Lake Laogai." Obviously, I don't know what Miss Metalbritches has chosen for her phrase, she's no monarchist."

"Miss Metalbritches?" Bolin asked.

"Kuvira," Opal hissed, being a lot more familiar with her grandmother's enjoyment of nicknames, both derogatory and fond. In this case, it was most definitely derogatory.

"The Earth King shut that right down after the war, but clearly everyone's favourite dictator brought it back- or something similar, anyway."

"So how do we stop it?" Bolin asked.

Toph's eyes misted up.

"I don't know," she admitted. "I've never known anyone to be successfully un-brainwashed."

She looked like she wanted to say something else, but stopped herself, jumped off, and walked away.

"Surely someone must know," Bolin said. "Maybe Katara or Zuko! Or we could find someone. There's still a chance."

Opal just looked out over the desert.

"If gran doesn't know, what makes you think Katara will?" She asked. "But even if we do find someone, we aren't going to do it here."

"So where? An air temple? The Fire Nation?"

"Good idea, but I was more thinking Republic City," Opal admitted.

"Republic City?" Bolin sputtered. "You know I'm not very welcome there at the moment."

"All too well," Opal replied, "but we can hide you on Air Temple Island. I'm sure Tenzin will be happy to."

"Great," Bolin grumbled. "I'd be a fugitive."

"You're already a fugitive," Opal pointed out.

"And whose fault is that?"

"You're the one who joined a dictator," Opal pointed out. "That may have had something to do with it."

"And yet you broke me out of jail."

"Because you left her again," Opal replied.

Bolin hesitated. There was still unfinished business left over from that night, now that it had been mentioned, but he didn't know if now was the right time to bring it up.

"When we were flying away," he began, "you seemed-"

"What?" Opal turned to him sharply.

"Angry," Bolin finished. "You rescued me angrily."

"And are you surprised?" Opal replied. "The Kuvira had captured my mum and aunt, and you- unwittingly, I know- helped her do it. Those wounds were still pretty fresh."

Bolin nodded. He knew she was right. But that wasn't the point.

"And what about now?"

Opal hesitated for a moment.

"I'm still furious," she admitted. "Seeing what Kuvira's done to them."

She saw the look on Bolin's face.

"Not at you!" She said. "You've redeemed yourself. It's Kuvira I'm angry at."

Bolin had been about to ask whether they were still a couple again, a question that had not received an answer, but the conversation had suddenly veered away in the opposite direction and it no longer seemed the right time.

"I know," he said instead. He watched Toph sitting and talking to the sandbenders quietly, before getting up, walking away, and fashioning a rock-tent for herself. The others began to disperse.

"So we go back to Republic City," he said instead. "What then?"

Opal shrugged.

"We find some way to fix them," she said simply, "and we see what Kuvira's going to do next."

"Then we stop her."

"Exactly," she smiled at him. "Together."

Bolin paused. "Wait, together? As in together, or together- together? Because I don't want to get the wrong idea-"

Opal laughed softly and shushed him.

"You talk too much."

"So it has been said," Bolin replied after a moment.

Opal opened her mouth to answer his question when something slammed into Bolin's back and sent him sprawling into the sand. A moment later, Opal landed softly beside him. He groaned and rolled over onto his back, to find Lin and Suyin rubbing their wrists and ankles as they stood up, the ropes falling away. Metal gleamed on their uniforms as they regarded Bolin and Opal coldly.

Between them, Ganzorig stood, sheathing the knife he had just used to free them. The sandbender waved, just before the sisters threw their wrists forward, firing razor sharp shards of metal straight towards Bolin.