Responses to Reviews:

RonaldM40196867: The North managed to escape the ravages of the Hundred Years' War a lot more than the South did, meaning a lot more of its unique culture got preserved.

Zigzagdoublezee: Well, just the love triangle in general. And just series 2 in general as well. Altering it is outside the timeframe of this story, but if it were me I would have just had Mako go with one of them and had the relationship not work out for whatever reason, thus clearing the way for Korra and Asami to get together later.

As Always, Please Review!

Bolin

Bolin and Opal crawled up the hill until they were peeking just over the top of it, keeping low and still so they would be well hidden.

Below them, the ruined city of Zaofu stretched away, the ravages of war still clearly visible. For Bolin, it brought back painful memories.

He could still see the lines of trenches that surrounded the city, as well as the street in which he had found Korra and the Beifong sisters making their stand against Kuvira, and in which he had decided to join them.

The remains of broken houses littered the scene. Zaofu still looked like a warzone even though the battle couldn't have lasted more than a couple of hours.

He looked over towards Opal, who looked shocked at the state of her home.

"The dome..." she whispered.

"What?" Bolin asked, looking back. That was when he noticed that the dome was indeed gone.

"They stole the dome?" He asked.

"They must have done," Opal replied absently.

"Why would they want to do that?" Bolin wondered, and then realised that it was thousands of tonnes of very rare and useful metal. They probably had plenty of reasons to do it.

Opal looked at the people who still swarmed the city.

"They must be construction workers," she said. "And a few guards."

"So what do we do?" Bolin asked.

"Can you get us closer?" Opal replied.

"I think so," Bolin said. "But please don't get angry this time."

"I told you, that was a one time thing," Opal said indignantly. "He was appropriating our culture!"

"I know," Bolin agreed, "but you got us recognised and then threw a policeman across a town square."

"I won't do it again," Opal took his hand and looked at him pleadingly. "Now can we please just go?"

Bolin nodded. "Alright!"

And with a movement of his hands, the hilltop swallowed them.

The descent to Zaofu was long and dark, through a long tunnel that opened as they approached and closed again after they had passed. The only light came from a torch Opal had brought. Bolin insisted on approaching quietly, knowing that other Earthbenders could detect them if they made too much noise.

Opal, meanwhile, looked like she was beginning to regret the tunnelling idea. She was looking about nervously, and particularly up at the roof.

"It'll be fine!" Bolin assured her cheerfully. "We'll be nearly there in no time!"

"Please do," Opal replied. "I haven't seen the sky in-"

"About twenty minutes," Bolin finished her sentence for her.

"Yes, thank you Bolin," Opal rolled her eyes but smiled at him. "Now can we keep going?"

The tunnel stretched on for another ten minutes until it came to an abrupt stop when Bolin discovered a huge metal wall blocking his path.

"I think we just hit the foundations," he whispered.

Great!" Opal whispered back.

"Why are we whispering? Nobody can hear us." Bolin realised.

"Oh. Good point. Take us up!"

They breached the surface at the edge of the city, and Opal collapsed onto the ground breathing heavily and looking up at the sky.

"I've missed you," she said.

"Who are you talking to?" Bolin asked. "Me or the clouds?"

There was a long pause.

"Anyway." Opal jumped to her feet with the aid of an air blast. "We're here now."

"So what do you want to do?" Bolin decided to drop the previous topic of discussion.

"I have a plan," Opal whispered.

The streets of Zaofu were even more ruined close up than they had been from the top of the hill. Opal thumbed her bison whistle nervously as they crept down an alley, ducking when they saw a construction crew pass by.

"Them?" Bolin asked. But Opal shook her head.

A little further on, they saw another group clustered around one of the buildings. These wore the uniforms of Imperial soldiers.

"What about them?" Bolin whispered as they peered out from behind another building at them.

"We can't fight them all," Opal told him.

"We don't have to," Bolin replied. Nothing happened for a few seconds.

"So what do we do instead?" Opal pressed him.

"We wait!" Bolin hissed. "Then when they split, we follow one, grab him and ask him where Suyin is!"

And so they did. The group of soldiers continued chatting around the building, as an increasingly impatient Opal and Bolin sat and stared at them.

"What's taking so long?" Opal asked in disbelief.

"Can't a man enjoy his lunch?" A voice said right behind them. Bolin turned to find another soldier standing right behind him.

The soldier seemed just as shocked as Bolin did. His face went pale, and he pointed.

"you..."

Bolin reacted faster, and with another quick movement of his hands the earth swallowed them all again. They burst through the roof of what looked like a cellar and landed in a heap on the floor. Opal was the first onto her feet, switching her torch on and rushing to check that the door was locked.

"Traitor!" The soldier sat up and rubbed his head. "Where did you take me?"

"I'm not the traitor," Bolin told him, "Kuvira is."

"A likely story," the man sneered. "You switched sides in the middle of a battle!"

"Kuvira attacked her own family!"

"They were traitors!"

"They were minding their own business!" Opal interjected, having returned from the door.

"And what would a random Air Nomad know about that?" The man sneered. "Now, let me go and I'll forget I ever saw you, how about that?"

"I'm afraid we can't do that," Opal replied. "We need something from you."

The man rolled his eyes.

"Course you do."

"Where is Suyin Beifong?"

"What do you want with Suyin Beifong?" The man asked.

"We ask the questions here!" Bolin tried to reassert control over the conversation.

"You're wasting your time anyway, I don't know where Suyin is," the man said casually. "Kuvira's gone to Omashu with her boyfriend, so maybe you want to try there."

The two of them looked at one another.

"It's a start at least," Opal offered, shrugging.

"You would have to be insane to do it though. Everyone knows your face, traitor. Everyone knows just what you did here. You're a marked man, Bolin. Going to Kuvira would just hasten it."

The soldier said every word with equal measure spite and pleasure.

"Your little quest is futile. You may as well just surrender to me now and save everyone the bother."

"Bolin doesn't know the meaning of that word!" Opal fumed.

"You know what, I believe it," the man replied. "He is that much of an idiot."

"How dare you!" Opal got up in his face. Bolin pulled her back and approached himself.

"Ah, someone's in love," the soldier replied. "I'd savour it while you can, it'll make the end a lot more tragic."

Bolin drew himself up to his full height and decided to ignore that last remark.

"Maybe I am an idiot," he said. "But I will never turn my back on those who need me. I am going to do this."

"Well, I did warn you," the man leant against the wall. "But you're headed to certain death. If you're lucky."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Bolin asked.

"Oh, don't worry, you'll find out," the man replied ominously. "And when you do, I'll-"

But Bolin never found out what he would have done, because a gust of wind hit the man full in the face and drove the back of his head hard into the wall behind him.

The soldier dropped like a stone. Bolin and Opal looked at each other shocked.

"What was that for?" Bolin asked.

"Didn't you hear him gloating? We were wasting time. Anyway, we had to make sure he wouldn't find us!"

Bolin had to admit, those were all good points. So he did admit it.

"Let's just go, shall we?" He said. They moved over to the door, and Bolin tried the handle. It did not budge, but when he liquified the stones to which the door hinges were attached it fell to the floor with a colossal slam.

After making sure the magma had returned to safe temperatures, they crept upwards and found themselves in what used to be a house.

"We need to go back to Juicy," Opal told him. "There's nothing here for us now."

Bolin nodded sadly. This had once been Opal's home. Now it was just a ruin infested with enemy soldiers.

"Come on, let's go then." He stepped out into the street, turned a corner and for the second time nearly ran into someone standing right in front of him. He yelped and nearly fell over, but the other person, an old woman, didn't even flinch. She just continued staring straight ahead.

"Spirits woman!" Bolin said from the floor. "You scared the daylights out of me!"

He looked to Opal for support, but instead, Opal was staring at her with wonder on her face.

"Grandma? What are you doing here?"