Waking up, Korra saw Asami across from her, with Mako's arms wrapped around both women. She smiled at the knowledge it wasn't a dream, and when Asami opened her eyes, Korra kissed the inventor softly. Asami kissed the Avatar back, before being interrupted by the sounds of two babies crying in the morning.
"Duty calls, love," Korra smiled to Asami, walking into the kitchen to retrieve her children's bottles. As Korra went out, her husband opened his eyes to see the night with both Korra and Asami had been real. Asami leaned in and kissed the handsome Firebender as he got up and put his clothes on. Naga then came up to Mako and whined for her own meal. As the newlyweds went to help their pets and children, Asami decided to help as well. Noticing that Korra was still feeding Harou, Asami picked up Saria's bottle and began to feed the little girl. At that moment, the young businesswoman smiled, she was with the two people she loved the most, and she couldn't help but love their two children as well.
"It looks like Saria has a second mommy," Mako playfully mentioned to his wife. Korra herself was pleased at how Asami handled their children. Noticing Asami's burn scar, Korra decided to practice her healing on the nonbender. Asami enjoyed the feeling of her new girlfriend's amorous affections while her boyfriend kissed her lovingly, holding the little boy Korra had handed him to focus on Asami's injury. As she continued working on Asami's scar, she smiled, to which the other woman asked her why she did.
"Oh, just thinking of how our family is now complete, with you," Korra smiled, kissing Asami softly. "And how you'll get to learn about technology and science beyond our wildest dreams, growing up." At that, Asami's face faltered, and she mentioned it was time for them to get dressed. As the two of them got dressed alongside Asami, Korra and Mako looked over to her.
"We've seen some crazy things, and learned more about the wider galaxy," the Firebender said. "But we're still the same two you love."
"I know," Asami replied as she put on her vest. "I'm still a little surprised, though." With that, she decided to ask about how space travel worked.
"Well, I talked to both Baatar and Varrick," Korra said. "Varrick's a braggart but he knows engineering. He and Baatar thought it would take about thirty years for our technology to advance enough to build a vessel capable of leaving the atmosphere."
"I thought it would be twenty-five but yes," Asami concluded. "That's just for the rocket. Between powering it, accommodating the people inside, and returning it safely, it's more like forty years. And it only gets harder the further you want to go."
"Well, the people of the wider galaxy have been traveling the stars for tens of thousands of years," Mako explained. "I'm sure you can figure out how to build your own if you learn from them." Asami nodded, understanding that, for the time being, their world needed outside help to protect itself from the dangers of outer space. Korra smirked, knowing Asami's hesitation wouldn't last for long. Her skill as a healer, and her new insight with the Force, had revealed that the nonbender was already pregnant. By the end of the year, their family would grow and Asami would embrace her part in it. Before Asami noticed Korra's smirk, KayBee informed them that they had guests who'd soon be arriving.
Tenzin and his family, alongside the Beifong sisters and their mother, were headed to Korra and Mako's home when they noticed the squad of black-armored Stormtroopers, nicknamed Death Troopers, moving in front of them. They went into a building, and a series of blaster shots rang out, with the soldiers leaving just as quickly. Looking through a window, Tenzin and his party saw an assortment of people convicted of supporting Unalaq or being part of the Red Lotus lying dead. It was still shocking to see such executions, as capital punishment had been abolished shortly after the Hundred Year War. Suyin then spotted her son and adopted daughter talking with Director Krennic.
"Kuvira, we need to talk," Suyin called out, gaining the younger woman's attention.
"Well, we need to get back to work, so this will have to wait," Baatar said.
"We need to talk now," the Zaofu matriarch stated. "We haven't talked in almost a year, you've joined an alien warlord as his students, and you've basically declared yourselves rulers of the Earth Kingdom."
"Well, if the boot fits, why not put it on?" asked Kuvira, before looking at Tenzin and his family. "Oh, yes, because I 'don't have the right to it' or something. As if the first Earth King had any 'right' to lands outside Ba Sing Se and didn't simply take them by force or threat. Every nation was formed by might and strength. Even the Air Nomads were beaten under one flag before adopting the ideas we know them for today."
"Ancient history and past mistakes don't justify current behavior," Tenzin stated, annoyed at her bringing up an unpopular theory about the Air Nation. "And if we simply accept any self-proclaimed ruler because they are strong, we set a dangerous precedent."
"Well, now you have no choice," an unimpressed Kuvira replied. "Wu-the-never-was is dead, bringing that decrepit dynasty to extinction. His great-aunt was so paranoid that she killed almost every noble that might threaten her, including much of her own family. This, along with the civil war, leaves only one noble family that could conceivably sit on the throne." She then looked at her adopted mother. "Ours. We will have the ability to create the constitutional monarchy you've advocated for your entire life. It might not be how you wanted it, but the result is the same." At that, Suyin again saw her adopted daughter obsessed with proving herself.
"Perhaps, but before we talk about our nation, we need to talk about our family," she persisted. "You've decided to start working with an alien civilization-""Which the Avatar is also working with," her son interrupted. "Which saved our lives because they cared more about doing what was right than whether it was easy or not. There is really no reason to mistrust them." At that moment, Director Krennic spoke up.
"Listen, I need you two focused on the work," Krennic stated. "Until you resolve this, you can't continue. Just address these concerns of your family now." Everyone was surprised to see the Imperial officer encourage Kuvira and Baatar to resolve things with their family, as opposed to simply commanding them to continue. At that, Kuvira asked if his shuttle could fly them back to Zaofu. "The sooner, the better," the director stated.
"Okay," Kuvira said, looking to Suyin. "You want to have a discussion, let's involve everyone. I'm looking forward to seeing how Wing is adjusting to his new legs, anyway." After some hesitation, Suyin agreed to accompany them on the shuttle to Zaofu, a flight that would apparently take only half an hour. Toph declined to come, but Opal asked if she and Bolin could come along, to which her siblings agreed.
"I think I'll check out Rohan," Kya said. "Maybe the damage to his ear isn't as bad and I can fix it. Besides, I don't know Korra as well as the rest of you."
"I'd like to meet these grandkids of yours, as well, Katara," Toph added. Katara granted permission for her old friend, and proceeded to Korra's house with Tenzin and Lin. The Avatar's three greatest mentors soon approached her home. The White Lotus's former compound had been rapidly built upon by the Imperials, with several guard towers and strange devices that seemed to be sensors. Within, they saw five Stormtroopers on the training course. One had a jetpack, one wore light yellow armor with a different helmet and blaster than normal, one wore scout gear while sitting on one of their hovering 'bikes' another with normal armor but a larger weapon, and the fifth climbing inside a mech patterned after Stormtrooper armor painted black. To their surprise, the Stormtrooper Mech erupted off the ground, revealing it had a jetpack, and a powerful cannon on its left arm, with a rapid-firing blaster held in the right arm, swiftly destroying numerous targets.
The Scout Trooper accelerated the bike, moving swiftly, and blasting himself over obstacles with Airbending, to Tenzin's shock, even managing to fire his underslung cannon at several targets while doing so. The light-yellow one Waterbent ice skates to swiftly move across the snowy landscape, sending ice spikes into several targets while shooting several others with the blaster he held. The normal-looking Stormtrooper ran swiftly, shooting several targets with his 'rifle' as Tenzin heard it called, and blasting over a wall with a burst of Firebending, kicking and punching several fireblasts at more of his targets. Finally, the one with a jetpack flew high above, shooting several targets before jetting to the ground and knocking down more with an Earthbending wave. He finished off his last target by Metalbending a shard to behead it.
"Great, they've combined Bending with space weapons," Lin remarked. "As if we didn't have enough to worry about." They soon saw the droid KayBee, standing in front of Korra's house. It had several Water Tribe characteristics but several bizarre antennas and dish-shaped devices on the roof, with what looked like an advanced heater attached to the side.
"Korra is finishing her healing session with Asami Sato," the droid stated. "Mako is handling the children. They should be done right about now." And with that, the droid turned around and inserted a strange probe into a hole next to the door. Turning it slightly, the door opened, and the bodyguard/nanny droid stepped aside, letting the three into his master's house, though Katara was wary, remembering how the sentient machine had stunned her unconscious earlier. Soon, they saw Mako changing his son's diaper, while Korra was focusing on Asami's burn.
"Why don't you let me do that, Korra?" asked Katara, noticing the Avatar's daughter was crying. "Saria needs you."
"Thank you, Katara," Korra replied, stepping up to change her daughter's underwear. After the two infants had calmed down, Korra and Mako set their children down in their cribs, turning around to look at three of Korra's most important mentors.
"Well, that summit was...surprising," Tenzin noted as his mother focused on Asami's recent injury.
"You were repeatedly told that Vader was one of the most important people in the Empire," Korra noted. "You can't be surprised that your cousin's bid to have him extradited would be rejected."
"Oh, we knew that," Lin replied. "I just didn't know you were prominent enough in this Empire to have your own uniforms."
"We were given ranks when we began teaching the Imperials how to bend," Mako noted. "As for why we wore those, well, some in the Empire thought we'd be swayed to stand back in the event of Malina or Izumi attacking them. A simple change of clothes did much to reassure them that wouldn't happen."
"Did you consider the message it would send to the dignitaries summoned here?" Tenzin persisted, before looking at Korra. "There are many times where you haven't thought things through. By simply showing up wearing the uniform of Vader's servants, you created the impression that you are their enemy."
"Well, if you spend too much time worrying about what can go wrong, you'll never get anything done," Korra flippantly dismissed. "Besides, Raiko has always seen me as an enemy."
"Is that what Vader told you?" a concerned Katara asked.
"No, it's what I realized," the Avatar answered. "He refused to help me, disregarded all my warnings, and blamed me for the disaster I warned would happen if he didn't help. He hates how there is someone more powerful than him, and who won't be swayed into doing as he wants, so he makes up reasons to oppose me."
"Does he, or does he not know you as well?" asked Tenzin, trying to make Korra see the other side of things. "Does he hate how there is someone more powerful than him, or is he bothered by how someone so brash and arrogant demands him to do various things that he doesn't believe are his problem?"
"I suppose that Raiko is just too stupid to listen to the most powerful person in the world," Korra replied. "But even if that is the case, then he is still a problem that needs to learn I don't bend to his pleasure."
"And what about dragging Izumi here even though her father was already on the way?" Lin asked, noticing how Korra had interpreted Tenzin's lesson differently than he had wanted. "Given how all that Tarkin guy did was lay out what he would be doing and then leave, the Fire Lord didn't have to be here."
"She was told that I, not the Empire, had summoned her," Korra noted. "When world rulers ignore what the Avatar tells them to do, disaster strikes. Case in point, Raiko ignored me about Unalaq twice, Jinora almost died, I lost my connection to the past Avatars, and Unalaq nearly took over the world with Vaatu's help. I wasn't going to take the chance of someone causing a different but just as destructive disaster by skipping a meeting with the most powerful civilization in history."
"I can understand frustration, especially when people ignore you," Tenzin admitted. "But what about your summary execution of those prisoners? Do you believe as your reptilian friend believes, about how it is senseless cruelty to keep someone imprisoned? Enough to disregard our own laws against capital punishment?"
"So, following the letter of the law is suddenly important to you?" asked Mako, genuinely surprised. "When four anarchists tried to kidnap Korra when she was five, you didn't give them a trial, put them in a prison known to the public, or even acknowledge their fate. You sent them to four isolated cells scattered across the world, guarded not by the law enforcement of those countries but members of the White Lotus Order, then threw away the key and forgot about them. And when they broke out, we were going around the world, helping you demand in a bunch of strangers to give up all they had to join your New Air Nation. If you disagree with what we did, fine, but you have been just as willing to disregard the law when it suits you."
"Though, I'm not entirely sure why you would disagree with Bossk's sentiment," Korra noted. "And before you say 'you need to find the answer yourself' well, if that's the case, you don't get to learn why I ordered their executions." After a moment's hesitation, Tenzin replied.
"I understand, on an intellectual level, what Bossk was saying," the Airbending Master admitted. "Lin also explained the dangers of prolonged solitary confinement. But to take a life, specifically one that isn't an active threat, goes against everything an Air Nomad is supposed to believe in. And if someone's life is snuffed out, there is no hope of redemption or otherwise improving themselves."
"If they will never be released no matter what they do, I'm not sure why they would care to change their ways," Korra told her teacher. "Also, half the problems I've faced as the Avatar came about because horrible people escaped prison. And there is a new problem: In addition to hired help like Cad Bane, the Besadis also had an anti-imperial terrorist group as allies," Korra explained. "While Sabine and Koko were rescuing you, and I was handling the attack on Republic City, that Rebel organization went to the Boiling Rock to recruit Zaheer and the others in there to join their fight. They escaped the Imperial ships above for parts unknown, with the volcano beneath the prison ignited." The three were surprised to hear that outsiders had rescued a bunch of terrorists to recruit into their own war.
"Yakone was left alive, and he brought up his two sons to exact his revenge," continued Korra. "The Red Lotus quartet was left alive, and they broke out of prison to continue their mission, kickstarting a civil war, and kidnapping you so I would surrender to be murdered." For a moment, Tenzin thought that he could say that executing helpless prisoners was what their enemies would have done. But even though he hated capital punishment, he knew it wasn't the same. Zaheer had taken him and many others hostage so that Korra would surrender, at which point he tried to torture the young Avatar to death as part of his crusade for a world without rulers. From what he had seen, Mako, Korra and their Imperial allies were swiftly executing convicted criminals with weapons that killed almost immediately after being used. Regardless of what he thought of it, he understood these weren't the same situation. "Zaheer was sent back to prison after the rest were killed, then again when my students defeated him as a test, and now some new adversaries have broken him and others like him out to help in their fight," Korra continued. "They are too dangerous to be left alive and will be treated as such."
"And what about your lessons regarding the sanctity of life?" a concerned Tenzin asked.
"I've learned more about the world and come to my own interpretations," the Avatar answered.
"And given how these guys are a threat as long as they are alive, I'd say we're protecting life," Mako noted. Tenzin didn't have a response to that interpretation, so he said nothing.
"And what of this Empire?" asked Lin, who hadn't actually disagreed with their decision regarding the executions. "You keep saying that they are needed to protect our world, but you haven't elaborated beyond that." With that, Mako walked over to a table, and brought up a holographic image of a planet.
"This is Ord Dycoll," he began. "It was an unremarkable world in the greater galaxy, with only five hundred million people living there. It didn't have much of a space faring defense force, or any way to warn of disaster beforehand."
"What happened to it?" spoke up Asami, noticing he was talking in past tense.
"It was twenty-five years ago, when this video was taken by a ship which had just left the world," Korra answered, pressing a button. As the projection of Ord Dycoll kept spinning, a fast-moving object, roughly 3/4ths the size of its moon, smashed into the planet. First, an explosion appeared where the object had crashed, then a series of fires appeared across the planet, and then Ord Dycoll shattered into a million pieces.
"What was that?" a frightened Katara asked, shocked that a planet could be shattered so easily.
"A lot of people had the same question when it happened," Korra answered. "Eventually, the answer was found: fourteen thousand years ago, when space travel was far less advanced, a mining ship was constructed. It was equipped with a powerful drill capable of boring through moons and small planets, and it was built to be massive, so it could operate further from home for longer and carry more resources back. One day, this ship didn't come home, and it was never found. Perhaps it was an accident which sent it flying off uncontrollably, taking its crew with it. Maybe it was a plague outbreak wiping out the entire crew. All that we know for sure was that it continued on its path long after the ship had been forgotten. Then, the ship hit Ord Dycoll, where it was large enough, and fast enough, to tear through the crust all the way down to the planet core, finally ending its long flight through the dark along with a whole planet."
"But not all lost ships are capable of shattering a whole planet," Mako continued. "Perhaps one that crashes here just has a disease we don't know. Some toxic gases in it's engine. Or perhaps a breed of animal our world can't keep in check."
"Or maybe the thing that crashes into our planet is something natural, like an asteroid," added Korra. "If it is big enough to survive entering our atmosphere, it will hit with a ton of force. Assuming it doesn't shatter the planet like Ord Dycoll outright: first it would cause a bunch of earthquakes and tsunamis across the world. Then, all the dust it kicked up would clog the atmosphere to the point where you couldn't see more than a foot in front of you. Anyone who's survived until then will either choke to death, or freeze to death, since the sky has been so blacked out that there isn't a hint of sunlight getting through, much less any of its heat. Basically, there are many problems in space that bending isn't enough to fix." She then looked at Tenzin. "Haven't you always said I can't solve everything with Bending?"
"In some ways," Tenzin admitted. "I suppose that alien technology and assistance would be necessary to handle such problems. But does it have to be this Galactic Empire?"
"They are THE dominant power in the known galaxy," Mako clarified. "And Korra and I already have a relationship with them."
"Did you consider they want to use you?" Lin asked, reminding them of others who pretended to be their friends.
"Everyone I've met has wanted to 'use' me, at some point," Korra noted. "Darth Vader has been entirely open about what the Empire in general and he in particular would want. And they were open with you at the summit. If you were paying attention, you'd have noticed that all they wanted was to work unhindered."
"Have you ever heard of how 'if it's too good to be true, it probably isn't'?" asked Katara.
"Whene you're walking through the desert and there is only one well to be seen, you need to take a chance," Mako replied, thinking of his own hardships in life. "Since we took that chance, the Imperials have done enough for us to trust them. In answer to your question, no, many space-faring civilizations and groups wouldn't care about us, be too far away to help in any meaningful way, or even outright hostile. You can learn more from your new guard detail."
"Wait, 'new guard detail'?" asked a surprised Tenzin.
"Well, since they did such a good job of rescuing you, I figured the task force allocated for your safety would be assigned to you permanently," Korra added, shocking Tenzin, Katara, and Lin.
"What?!" asked the three asked.
"Look, you don't have to fuss over Jonah and Ezra," Korra added. "As much as they like Ikki, they love Koko and Sabine, respectively. So, your worries about your second daughter getting a boyfriend tha-""That's not it at all!" Tenzin interrupted. "These people serve the man who killed my father. And this 'Empire' they are part of seems rather threatening, as well."
"If we were worried about their intentions for you, we wouldn't have asked for this," Mako explained. "Most of these people, we met before we met Vader. Just as they met us before him."
"They are still his subordinates, and you only have authority over them because he gave it to you," Katara stated, surprised they would trust the Imperials to such a degree.
"Vader has never held any threats over our heads in the time we've known them," the Avatar revealed. "Sabine was just a cadet when we met her, and Ezra hadn't even joined at the time. Besides, these people saved you and your kids before, Tenzin. That should earn some goodwill." After a moment's hesitation, Tenzin replied.
"Yes, and I do trust Ezra and Jonah," the Airbender admitted. "I'm not sure about Sabine or Koko but I do trust the 'Zeltron' cousins. But many of those others, I do not know. Perhaps a compromise can be reached, your four young students joining the White Lotus detachment." The Avatar and her husband looked incredulous.
"How many times must that relic of a fraternity fail before you kick it to the curb?" asked Mako. "Let's look over their service in the time I've known you: they get beat up and captured by the Equalists, only being saved by Jinora, Ikki, and Meelo. The safe house you headed for to escape Amon had already been found out and taken over by the time you got there. They failed to protect Jinora, letting Unalaq take her hostage. They fail to keep Zaheer and his pals locked up. They fail to protect your new Airbender school, where their charges put up a better fight than them. They failed to keep Zaheer imprisoned, again. Finally, we come to now, where a gang of Gammoreans-""What?" asked Lin.
"They would have been the green pig men with axes, Tenzin," Mako explained, with the Airbender remembering the alien attackers. "Anyway, where a gang of Gammoreans, led by one good bounty hunter, who'd somehow managed to become an Airbender and disguise his very species, easily plowed through the White Lotus. All while terrorists with high-tech weapons broke through their headquarters and training center to get to the prison at the heart of it. Yeah, the White Lotus really don't have the best track record."
"When facing new threats they don't know how to handle," Tenzin clarified. "Failure, however, is often an opportunity to learn."
"The White Lotus Order fears all forms of progress and change," Korra declared. "As such, they are incapable of learning from their mistakes. The only thing to be learned from their failure is that they WILL fail in their tasks. Which is why I'm entrusting the Imperials with Harou and Saria's safety, not them." That revelation also stunned the three in front of them. "Don't be surprised," Korra said. "I relied on the Empire for this before coming here. Why would I exchange them for a group I can't rely on?"
"You could teach the White Lotus how to be better, instead," Tenzin argued. "They are cautious, not 'afraid of progress' as you put it."
"Every White Lotus teacher and leader I've met is exactly the same," Korra replied. "They think they have all the answers, that I have to be exactly what they say I should be, and that all forms of progress and new discoveries are heresy to be whipped out of you."
"They never did that," Katara noted, shocked Korra would believe such a thing.
"They would have, if they weren't afraid of what you and others would do to them," Korra affirmed. "Believe me, I lived surrounded by them for a dozen years. I know how they think."
"Not that there is much left of the White Lotus, anyway," Mako added. "The eruption of the Boiling Rock wiped out most of their organization. Yeah, I don't think they are long for the world after all this. So really, you'd be better off with the Imperial protection detail." It looked like Tenzin was about to say something, so Korra grabbed his hand and pulled him forward. In front of them, were Korra's son and daughter, Harou and Saria. Harou was awake, giggling at the sight of his mother, while Saria was asleep, with Pabu curled around her. The young Avatar picked up her little boy, who laughed as he was held.
"Let me tell you a story, Tenzin," she told her old teacher as she cradled her son.
"Okay," Tenzin said, not sure where this was going.
"I was determined to stop the Red Lotus," Korra began. "Then, my second trimester started. I'd barely thought about children, much less a life outside of being the Avatar. I wasn't sure what to do, or who to talk to about this. After some contemplation, I decided that, after stopping Vaatu and creating a new generation of Airbenders, I could be absent for five to six months and worry about a gang of anarchists later. So, I packed my things, I prepared to talk to Mako about both our children and future relationship, and then get on the blimp my parents were riding to Zaofu. And then I saw Ryu flying a sky bison." Tenzin frowned, remembering why the reluctant Airbender was on a sky bison that day.
"I knew that Zaheer wanted to kill me, I just pretended to think he wanted something else when Lin cautioned me against accepting his ultimatum," continued Korra, looking at the police chief, who remembered Korra's determination to save the Airbenders. "Kuvira had taught me Metalbending and gave me something hidden that could free me, but I still knew it was the most dangerous thing I'd ever done. Even if I did survive, I wasn't sure my kids would make it through whatever Zaheer would try. But you and your children are family to me, so I did it anyway." At that, a silence came over the room. This was the first time she'd discussed her decision to surrender to the Red Lotus, who'd planned to torture her to death as part of their plot to stop the Avatar cycle. Yes, she'd had a plan to break free, but it wasn't guaranteed to work.
"I...am sorry you were forced into that position, Korra," Tenzin said regretfully, with tears forming in his eyes at the unpleasant memory. "That day, we thought we'd lost you. You are just as important to our family as we are to you."
"Then accept this improved security," Mako said to the Airbender. "Right after we went through that portal Zaheer conjured up as a last resort, we wound up on Maridun. A steaming hot jungle and savannah filled with savage worm people who curl into balls and roll across the plains. The first Imperials we met were a lonely garrison who the worms were trying to kill because they'd walked past a painted rock, challenging the worms to a ritual battle. And since we were human like every Imperial present except Bossk and Soot, that meant they were tossing their spears at us as well." Tenzin, Lin, Katara, and Asami all blinked in surprise at hearing what Korra and Mako had experienced immediately after their disappearance.
Tenzin himself hesitated to respond. These Imperials hadn't done anything to him or his family, and both Korra and Mako trusted them. He wasn't sure if they would have a secret agenda that the young couple would be unaware of. But he saw how it looked from their perspective: he and his immediate family kept getting captured, frequently to extort Korra's cooperation. Korra had endangered herself, and even her unborn children, for their behalf. She thought that these Imperials she'd befriended were how to stop it from happening again. As a father, he knew the urge that Mako and Korra now felt to safeguard their children. For now, there was only one way he could placate them.
"It will be difficult," Tenzin began. "Many will question my acceptance of this, and I'm not sure I can trust them myself. But I trust you. And after all you have done for me and my family, you deserve some peace of mind. In addition, that team's actions so far have earned them the benefit of the doubt." Katara nodded in agreement, understanding that rejecting this would only alienate Korra, and that these particular aliens had saved Tenzin and his children only three days earlier. At that point, Lin knew Vader was too cunning to simply threaten Korra to get her to do as he wanted, meaning the Stormtroopers wouldn't threaten the Airbenders for the time being.
"I love you and the kids, you know that right?" Korra asked her old teacher. At that, Tenzin hugged his old student as she cradled her child.
"I know, and I love you as well, Korra," he said. "I'm just adjusting to this new reality. And many of your new friends scare me."
"If you get to know them better, they won't be as scary," she smiled at her teacher. "You can ask them to elaborate on the Empire, as well. Also, the commander is an Airbender, eager to learn from the best."
"I'll be happy to oblige him," Tenzin said, before his expression looked somewhat downcast. "I suppose I will have to get used to Darth Vader's presence, as well. I'm not happy about it, and I'm not sure I can forgive him. But my father learned Zuko was better than he appeared to be, as well." And with that, the three visitors left the house alongside Asami. They made their way to where Tenzin's wife and children were, with Kya looking over Rohan's injured ear. She looked up at her brother with sad eyes, knowing there was nothing they could do for her youngest nephew's deafness. As Pema held her son again, she started thinking of Korra's offer to have Rohan's hearing fixed with alien technology.
"So, how did your meeting with Korra go?" Meelo asked, trying to take his mind off his little brother's plight.
"As well as could be expected," Tenzin told his family. "She and Mako haven't rejected what they have been taught, but they have interpretated it differently than I intended."
"They also explained how planets can be destroyed by millennia-old vehicles that no one took the keys out of," Lin added. "Along with other disasters from space."
"Well, we don't need the Empire to stop this, do we?" asked Kya.
"Korra and Mako are convinced we do," Asami added. "And honestly, I'm inclined to believe them."
"In addition, given the events of the last two years, they also believe the White Lotus can't be relied on for your safety," said Katara. "Which is why they recommended the team that saved you a few days ago."
"They did?!" an excited Ikki asked, as the rest of her family looked somewhat uneasy. "Does this mean Ezra and Jonah are going to be staying with us?! Please, dad, they are great, you know that and-""Calm down, sweetheart," Tenzin said, kneeling in front of his daughter. "Yes, your two friends are part of that group, and I accepted the offer." With that, Ikki hugged her father, thanking him over and over. Kya was surprised to hear her brother say that, Pema didn't know what to think in response to the revelation, and Jinora and Meelo looked surprised but cautiously hopeful. "We are Korra's family, and she wants us safe, especially now that she's a mother herself," Tenzin added. Kya, however, noticed Asami shifted at that remark.
"Something on your mind?" she asked the young engineer.
"Before you arrived, before Korra looked at my burn," Asami started. "Harou was hungry, so I fed him his bottle, as his mother was in the bathroom and I was there. Mako joked at how his son liked me, asking if he had a second mom. When Korra came out, she didn't mind the quip, saying she had multiple dads." Tenzin smiled at that, knowing Korra often acted like he was her father. Then he noticed something.
"Wait, 'multiple'?" he asked.
"Three, specifically," Asami clarified. "She didn't say who the third was but..." A low but familiar sound in the distance drew their attention. Turning to see it, they saw Darth Vader walking through the street, the various passersby stumbling to get out of his way. He was headed for Korra and Mako's house. Tenzin nodded in realization, understanding that Vader was far more than a simple teacher Korra had acquired in her time away.
Korra and Mako are happy to add Asami to their family, which she is happy to join. As cautious as she is, Asami wants to learn new technology. Korra and Mako have already piqued her curiosity by telling her more about the science of space travel, which she only had a passing interest in until she met Darth Vader. In addition, Korra can tell that Asami's already having the next child.
Korra and Mako have explained their new beliefs in a way that doesn't alienate the people who love them. Ord Dycoll is from a largely-forgotten sourcebook but it made for an interesting reason for Mako and Korra to conclude the Empire was necessary to protect Elementia. I also wanted to show that, while Tenzin doesn't agree with capital punishment, he understands why someone would consider it different to murder. Katara is willing to give her family's rescuers the benefit of the doubt, while Lin also considers the White Lotus too unreliable to count on. Korra has mixed her own resentment of the WLO with Vader's stories of the Jedi, to the point that she and Mako believe the worst of them.
Tenzin and his family have realized they can't force a conflict with Vader now. Next chapter, Kuvira and Baatar return to Zaofu, Bumi arrives in the South Pole, and an uneasy alliance is formed.