After the parade, most of the Benders were somewhat unnerved by the experience. Katara remembered Avatar Day, where an isolated Earth Kingdom village would burn effigies of Avatar Kyoshi and her successors for an ancient grudge, which they turned out to be on the wrong side of. Zuko was vaguely reminded of the parades he saw growing up, celebrating the Fire Nation's conquests.
"The Axxilans are celebrating the day they were freed from slavers," noted Baatar, noticing the unease on their faces. "Also, do you think that Captain Piett and his friends were just making up their stories about what they went through?"
"No," Katara admitted. "But I can't help but think they've let their resentment twist them. I saw that with the Freedom Fighters, even when they were just a tiny band in the woods."
"I'm more bothered by Tarkin making us a part of it," Zuko said. "I get the feeling it was to tell the whole galaxy we are in league with the Empire...and at odds with all its enemies." The other Benders reflected on that as they went back to the shuttle.
"Well, there is a benefit to it," Kuvira noted. "Mizuki might have seen it, letting her know the Imperials are friends and her best way home. The sooner she sees through the Jedi's lies, the better."
"Well, I suppose that is a benefit," Bumi admitted as they went back up to the space station where the rescued Elementals were. Iroh, however, noticed his father was trying not to look scared for Mizuki's wellbeing. The general then turned to Kuvira.
"So, have you come to an agreement with Prince Wu?" he asked.
"Wu died during the attack on Republic City," Kuvira replied. "I'm in charge of the Earth Nation now. Disappointed?"
"Surprised," he answered. "Even if you have a positive experience with Vader, I don't think many others would be pleased at this."
"Most of the regional governors have delivered their oaths to me," the young Metalbender said, before turning to her adoptive mother. "That reminds me, Su, I've been meaning to ask you for your oath recognizing the Empire's presence on our world." After a moment, the Zaofu matriarch knelt with the others as witnesses, and pledged to uphold the alliance Kuvira had made.
"You're forgetting about Lady Malina," Iroh mentioned. "I doubt she is happy about this, unless you are planning to conquer Kyoshi Island outright."
"Malina delivered her oath right before I left," Kuvira said, surprising everyone.
"What? Why?" asked a surprised Katara, knowing her niece still held a grudge against Vader for killing her father.
"Korra went to reason with her," Tarkin intruded upon them, holding a datapad in his left hand. "Instead, she and her children tried to convince the Avatar to betray the Empire, according to the report I received. Thankfully, Korra defeated the three of them in a Waterbender duel she challenged them to. I have just received the Northern Water Tribe's pledge to accept Kuvira as the Earth Nation's legitimate ruler and the Imperial presence on Elementia. Hopefully, Fire Lord Izumi will recognize the wisdom of doing so as well, when you return home." The various Benders, save Kuvira, were all bothered by this revelation, while Baatar was rather pleased.
"Perhaps you would have an easier time gaining acceptance if there wasn't an undercurrent of threat to your diplomacy," noted Zuko.
"That was the dream of the Republic's strongest proponents," the Grand Moff said in a somewhat conceited tone. "But in the youth of myself, and the man who'd become Darth Vader, we awoke from this dream. Most negotiations we witnessed either fell apart, or were done in bad faith to begin with, always resulting in some sort of insurrection to be quelled. This eventually led to the Clone Wars, which we were only able to fight because someone saw the threat on the horizon and created an army in secret for us to use, knowing the fools in the senate would take too long to approve a proper military or declare it 'provocative.' Do you know why these negotiations always failed?"
"Why do you think so?" Katara asked him, wondering if the diplomats were as arrogant as this man.
"Fear," the Grand Moff stated. "Or rather, lack of fear. The Republic acted 'diplomatic' instead of powerful, and as a result, no one feared it. As such, they didn't fear going to war to achieve their ends." He then turned to Zuko. "It is no different than, say, the one man a king fears dying, at which point the king prepares for the conquests he always dreamed of."
"That king's greatest atrocity was motivated by fear of his rival's replacement," Zuko noted, immediately realizing Tarkin was talking of his two great-grandfathers, Sozin and Roku.
"What that replacement would become," Tarkin dismissively replied. "If Sozin feared Aang as he was, or the Airbenders as a whole, I don't think he'd have exterminated the Air Nomads."
"Whatever the case, I'm sure plenty of your adversaries would fear the deaths they would endure through war," Kya said, bothered by this leading Imperial's belief in using fear.
"A pirate's life is dangerous, so a pirate coalition like the Stark Combine had no problem starting a war," Tarkin said, referencing one of the first wars of his youth, before pulling up images on his datapad. "Then there are races like the Geonosians," showing a winged insectoid on his datapad, "who live a brutal life of hard labor, food shortage, interhive wars, and gladiator games against each other and starved beasts. A standard drone's life is cheap, where he's liable to die in a workplace accident, exhaustion, or when a rival hive attacks his own. When he's not working, his superiors put him into a deep sleep so he doesn't eat as much food. The Geonosian queen lays an average of one egg every ten seconds, so there's no need to value his life. His only way to ascend in status is to distinguish himself as a gladiator. Also, there is another thing worth noting: this," he showed a picture of a worm, "slides up his nose to connect him to his hive's hivemind, allowing his queen to override his free will if she deems it necessary. If he can't connect to someone through this link, he's inclined to hate them, especially if they are a different species. Oh, and this worm can slide up the nose of other races and enslave them to the hivemind, which is one of the reasons Geonosis is quarantined. Do you think that such a race would be open to the diplomacy you advocate?"
"No," Suyin spoke for everyone who was creeped out by the brain worms. The others reflected how, in those conditions, it wasn't that surprising Geonosians considered life to be a cheap commodity. "But I doubt everyone in the Clone Wars was as callous toward their own people."
"Many of them didn't have to be, the Geonosians and others like them built these for numerous clients," Tarkin said, pulling up a new image. One was a skinny brown droid with a head shaped like a Geonosian holding a blaster. The next was a larger, armored droid gleaming like silver, whose head was encased inside its chest, with a set of blasters in its right hand, and a rocket launcher in the left. The final droid rolled onto the screen, before unfolding on three legs, revealing a skeletal frame, whose head was limited to a pair of tiny electric eyes, hands which were both blasters, and a shield bubble surrounding it. "These were the three most common battle droids of the Separatist Alliance, but far from the only. While most, especially the B1," pointing to the skinniest droid, "were rather fragile and not particularly intelligent, they could be built in tremendous numbers. The only limit to the size of the Separatist army and navy were the materials to build them. You didn't have to train anyone to use their equipment, ships, or in specialized tasks, you could just program that knowledge into a B1 in only five minutes. You could also neglect the ship's survivability, even its life-support systems, by staffing it completely with droids. Even if they were broken on the battlefield, if you won, you could recycle them. As such, outside of a few local militias and insurgencies, the Separatist military was largely made up of droids such as these."
"Well, I suppose that's one way to wage war without sending your citizens to their deaths," remarked Bumi, at which point the shuttle which would take them to the ship arrived. The others thought how a clone army almost seemed worse by comparison, as these were living beings with fully-developed feelings and identities but could be used the same way. They thanked Tarkin for his hospitality and went back up to the space station.
"I take it you dislike Tarkin for more than just his polite talking-down to you," Suyin said to Kuvira, noticing her daughter had been rather uncomfortable with his presence.
"Well, what do you guys think of his opinion that fear is necessary to maintain peace?" Baatar asked the others. Kya said she hated the very idea, Katara and Zuko replied there was some truth to it, and Suyin said she was bothered by his conclusion but understood why he believed it.
"I would say that it's a simplification of a soldier's duty, before war breaks out," Iroh said.
"There were times I was called upon to make a show of force to illustrate we were willing to fight Hou-Ting's latest provocation," Bumi said, remembering when she tried to cut off water to Republic City, and he led the task force which anchored off the Earth Kingdom's northern coast. "I suppose that could be seen as instilling fear before a diplomatic meeting. But while Sozin's fear of Roku stopped his ambitions, his fear of Aang prompted his worst crime. Fear can start wars, as well as stop them."
"I need people to understand there are consequences to swindling, undermining, or otherwise opposing the new Earth Nation or the Empire," Kuvira said. "But I'm trying to stop their fear from being warped into hatred of the new situation."
"But you are wondering why my apostles dislike the Grand Moff," Darth Vader intruded into the shuttle shortly before takeoff, standing tall even as it lifted into the atmosphere. "Wilhuff Tarkin is a gifted strategist and has fought many battles. Under his uniform, there are many long-healed scars from war, accidents, hunting expeditions in his childhood, and a torture session from a Separatist prison warden. He never stopped in his duties, or divulged secrets, even under threat of death. And he expects everyone else to be just as steadfast and willing to die. Which is why, when Mako was on board a fugitive's starship about to jump to hyperspace, he had no qualms about shooting it down."
"Wait, Tarkin almost killed Mako?" a surprised Katara asked.
"Yes," Vader stated. "The training I gave him allowed Mako to survive falling through Eriadu's atmosphere and to land safely. But as the grand moff is willing to die for the Empire, he has no problem causing the deaths of other Imperials in pursuit of his duties. But I have ensured that he will not do so with my apostles again." Suyin noted that Kuvira and Baatar seemed to be holding something back, while the rest wondered how, if that was the way Tarkin treated his own people, how would he treat the Elementals or others not formally part of the Empire. Soon, however, the shuttle landed within the hanger, at which point they disembarked. As Vader headed for his TIE Advanced, Baatar turned to his mother.
"The detachment that accompanied us to T'Surr will be heading for a training mission on another world," Baatar told Suyin. "I will be with them, and then we will return in a month so they can prepare others for duty in the wider galaxy."
"Is it safe?" Suyin asked.
"It's some lonely, underpopulated world where the locals didn't have running water or plumbing until the Empire improved things," Baatar reassured her. "I'll be fine, Mom, and they are my troops, I have to be there for them." He hugged his mother and kissed Kuvira shortly before moving to the next bay from where they had landed. As the rest of them headed for the transport which would take them back to Elementia, Bossk and Boba Fett were waiting.
"Bumi, I went on this mission for money the Empire was offering and points for the Scorekeeper," Bossk said. "You were under no obligation to save me in the Jekk'Jekk'Tarr, but you did so, anyway. As such, I must do this." He knelt in front of the Airbender and said several words in the Trandoshan language, before standing back up. "I owe you what my people call a life debt," Bossk explained. "It means that, I must help you in your endeavors until you release me, you are killed, or I am killed." The Benders were rather unnerved by this practice, but Bumi accepted, to his mother's surprise.
"There are a few things I must take care of first, but I will be awaiting your return," the Trandoshan said. "So as to continue the hunt for your daughter."
"I am heading back to Elementia to retrieve my ship," Fett explained. "After you have settled your accounts, I will fly you to where Bossk is."
"Thank you," Kya said, somewhat surprised by her brother's decision as Bossk headed for where the Hound's Tooth. As they continued for the transport which would take them and the other captives back to Elementia, Katara looked at her son.
"I know we need a way to keep searching for Mizuki, but that Life Debt practice is a little...unnerving, to me," the elder Waterbender said.
"Well, we can talk about it on the ride home," Bumi replied, as they made their way to the passenger ship the eight hundred rescued Elementals would be taking with them back to their homeworld.
Everyone on the Stinger Mantis was surprised to see Mizuki's family in Tarkin's spectator booth. "This can't be happening!" the Fire Princess said. "They must have been dragged there! There is no way they would be comfortable enough to come to this Imperial parade!"
"Most of them don't look that enthusiastic," Greez commented, noticing a look on Zuko's face that bordered on disturbed, while Bumi and Iroh looked rather reluctant themselves.
"Isn't it good your dad and brother are alright?" Luke asked, pointing to how Bumi and Iroh were looking rather well, under the circumstances.
"I am relieved they are okay," Mizuki said. "But there is no way they, along with Grandpa Zuko, Grandma Katara, Aunt Kya, and Suyin Beifong would stand in a parade booth with the Obsidian Knight! Not after he killed Grandpa Aang, Uncle Lee, and almost a thousand others. I haven't even explained the aftereffects on my family! They must have been dragged there as prisoners!"
"I'm sure they were forced into this parade," Obi-Wan said, remembering the Liberation of Axxila he and Anakin had spearheaded. "But I don't think they are Vader's prisoners. I think they, in a moment of desperation and terror at yours and Iroh's abduction, accepted the Empire's offer for help."
"They were dealt a bad hand, so they took the least bad card," Greez commented. "How else could they get into space to find you and your brother, which they seem to have accomplished?" After a moment, Mizuki realized that was what had happened and wondered what the price they paid would be.
"I can't go home, yet," Mizuki said. "I think that if I tried, the Imperials would torture me in the hopes I'd betray you. And I need to be more than just a Firebender to fight the Empire and its puppets, I must be a Jedi."
"Well, Tanalorr is the right place to learn," Cal smiled, though Obi-Wan was still a bit hesitant. "We have a tremendous amount of Jedi teaching devices and material, and a fair bit of lightsabers. Word of warning, Master Kenobi, a large amount of our workforce in the colony is repurposed Separatist droids." That caught Obi-Wan's attention, to which Greez mentioned there was a derelict Lucrehulk whose cargo they salvaged.
"Who else is living here?" the Jedi Master asked nervously.
"A sect of scholars from Jedha, whose home was destroyed by Vader," Cal began. "Many people from Koboh who moved before the Empire forced them to. Several little kids and their parents, running from the Inquisitors. And my family: my apprentice, Kata Akuna, my four-year-old son, David, my two-year-old daughter, Natalia, and their mother, Merrin." Luke and Mizuki noticed how Obi-Wan was surprised by the revelation Cal had a wife and children, and how Cal had seemed somewhat hesitant to reveal this.
"Also, we should get this out of the way, right now," Greez said. "Merrin is a Dathomirian Nightsister who survived Grievous's massacres." Obi-Wan looked rather disturbed by that, and said he needed to meditate alone.
"Why'd he do that?" Luke asked Cal.
"I've...bent Jedi doctrine, beyond simply surviving in this new world the Empire has created," Cal answered. "And Dathomirians have a rather poor reputation for various reasons."
Lin had spent several hours running about Republic City, checking on the various districts and directing her officers on how to shore them up. She had also learned that, sadly, over five hundred Republic City policemen had been killed during the Besadi attack. A military base to the north had been destroyed by an orbital bombardment from the Hutt warships, while around three thousand people were killed in the city itself from the rampage of the Hutts' thugs and beasts. A base to the south had over five hundred casualties when the personnel attempted to fight Darth Vader when he landed there, with the only survivors being the ones who ran or acquiesced to his demands. Much of the capital city's buildings had been ravaged or outright destroyed, and two of the five councilors had been killed. And just over the mountain range, the Hutt flagship had crashed, the explosion turning the massive farmland to cinders, so now a food shortage was likely.
When Toph Beifong had arrived, many were downright overjoyed, relieved the near-mythical creator of Metalbending was still alive and had returned to the city she helped found and was the first police chief of. Lin knew her mother, though, and that the elderly Earthbender was uncomfortable with so many people looking to her as a beacon of hope in this terrifying new reality. More troubling, however, was how the city itself was being divided. Not between Benders and Nonbenders, but between those who sided with Korra, and those who called her a traitor for befriending the Obsidian Knight. Just then, her thoughts were interrupted by noise outside her office.
"How dare you wear that!" Saikhan shouted at a younger policeman. Coming out, Lin saw what the problem was: Officer Luak, a Southern Waterbender, was wearing a pin on his uniform. It portrayed Darth Vader and his stormtroopers crushing a caricature of the aliens which attacked Republic City, with the words OUR SAVIORS emblazoned on them. Another officer, named Mei, wore a similar pin portraying Vader's helmet, saying IF HE'S GOOD ENOUGH FOR THE AVATAR, HE'S GOOD ENOUGH FOR ME.
"Why?" asked Mei. "He's the only reason anyone on our world is alive. And I just heard back from my cousin: he was abducted by the Hutts over a month ago, and then Vader got him and the rest of the abducted home, so you can't even blame Korra or him for the aliens coming here."
"And we all know Unalaq was the most evil man to walk our world, so it's no surprise he killed his dad and blamed a stranger looking for help," Luak added.
"Have you forgotten all else that Vader and his minions did?!" Sergeant Zhou, Saikhan's brother, asked. "They blacked out our city, butchered our officers, nearly burnt Saikhan here to death," lifting his brother's right arm up, showing the long-healed burns inflicted when a Stormtrooper blew up a car next to the future Deputy Chief. "And chopped my partner in half, before doing their best to drown me," Zhou said, wheeling himself out from behind his desk, bereft of both legs, as Vader had severed them before knocking Zhou off the pier of Air Temple Island into the bay. He would have drowned if the water wasn't so shallow. Two other Metalbenders suffered a similar fate, but as they had been sent flying into the middle of the harbor, they sank like rocks. "They topped it off, by killing the greatest hero our world has ever known." All of the sudden, a Lieutenant named Shen, wearing a pin with Mako on it, underlined STAND BY YOUR DETECTIVE, slapped Zhou on the back of the head. "What was that for?!"
"It doesn't matter, it's in the past, just like what you described!" Shen said, indifferent to the older officer's missing limbs, whose career had stalled at sergeant because of his disability. "Neither Darth Vader or any of his friends will ever be punished for it, time to move on!"
"Okay, that's enough!" Lin shouted, stopping the argument from going any further. "We've suffered too many losses, with too many hospitalized, for anyone to be fired or suspended for the time being. But with the whole city falling apart around us, we don't have time for this! Darth Vader has received a presidential pardon, but Raiko has also decreed we be on the lookout for Imperial incursions. Neither friendship or hostility are on the table, for now!" She then turned to them and asked for their reports on the current situation. Apparently, there was a lot of unauthorized looting of wreckage from the battle. Shen reported how, someone had tried to take a blaster as a souvenir, and it exploded, killing the scavenger. Saikhan reported that several hungry people had tried what they thought were the rations of the alien attackers. One of them died because what she drank turned out to be blaster cleaning fluid. Another had been hospitalized after he started projectile vomiting the food an Aqualish, as the walrus-looking beings were called, had been carrying.
"One of those ships crashed near a water main," Luak said. "I separated as much of those chemicals as I could, but thirty people drank from it before I got there. The doctors didn't look hopeful for most, last I checked."
"Another water main was ruptured by an explosion," Mei said. "Many of the tunnels were flooded. We're draining them but so far, we've found three homeless encampments drowned with their dwellers. And who knows how many we'll fish out of the bay."
"Southern Memorial was smashed by those beasts before anyone could get out," Zhou said, having heard it over the radio he worked. "We're still pulling remains from the monsters' stomachs. That Gorog fell on top of Republic General, crushing it, but the only people left were the ones who couldn't be moved, and their caretakers." Lin reflected on how that left only a single functioning hospital for the whole city. Raiko had also refused to leave the capitol building, staying in the one area that was structurally sound for the moment, saying that everyone needed to see the President was in the capital.
"Some of you might be wondering how I feel about this new state of affairs," Lin said, after hearing all their reports. "I am exceptionally uncomfortable with how the Obsidian Knight has returned to our world. I was afraid of this happening for many years, and now it has come to pass. But now it has, and everything I have seen and heard indicates that Darth Vader is an insurmountable foe. President Raiko understood this, so he removed what compelled us to fight him. All we can do, is continue in our duties, and hope for the best." She then turned to Saikhan and his brother, who'd both resented Korra and Mako upon meeting them, over two years ago. "Avatar Korra and Detective Mako were placed in an impossible situation," she glared. "A situation which only arose because they loved others more than themselves. I will have no denouncing them as 'traitors, selfish children,' or some other vile insults directed at them. They are the world's greatest experts on the wider galaxy, and they will be respected."
Lin went back into her office, rubbed her head in frustration, and continued her work. When the shift was over, and it was up to Saikhan to take the reins, he entered the office. "I need to make a report to the president about the state of things, here," she said. "I get the feeling it won't be what he wants to hear."
"I understand that," Saikhan said. "As for what you said earlier, I agree we can't fire or suspend anyone for the moment. Probably have to give the academy graduation early, as well. As much as I hate Raiko pardoning the Obsidian-I mean Darth Vader, I understand why he did it, and I can't see how we could have won that situation. But what's bothering me most, is how you are reacting to all this."
"You think I like this situation?" Lin asked in bafflement. "That I like knowing the most dangerous man to ever walk our world has returned?"
"No," Saikhan mentioned. "But you don't seem that displeased with Korra and Mako for joining him."
"Her parents told her that Vader was a friend, then she and Mako wound up in a strange world, apparently filled with spear-throwing worm people, as they described it, with two kids on the way, and Vader offers his help," the police chief said. "Tenzin isn't throwing a temper tantrum at what they did to survive after Korra almost died rescuing him and his family from the Red Lotus. Should I be ungrateful in his place?"
"You've been plenty displeased with their recklessness before, regardless of who it's for," Saikhan noted. "It's almost as if you expected this to happen."
"Bolin and Opal told me their story of being rescued by Vader from alien pirates, when I was in Zaofu, finally resolving things with my mother, and that my nephew's new prosthetic doctor is an Imperial, as well," Lin said. "I had some time to cool down before I met Korra and Mako, again."
"Perhaps, but then I think of how, shortly after Korra disappeared, you made a point of telling us to move on from what the Obsidian Knight had done, that night," the deputy chief noted. "You threw out all of Zhou's files on the case, you tore his wanted poster down. And then there is how you and the Airbender family were suddenly at odds with Chief Tonraq."
"Tonraq said it was Tenzin's fault for allowing himself and the Air Nomads to be captured, and their argument just escalated from there," Lin claimed. "I was tired of monsters who'd crafted their own mystique around themselves, that is why I reacted that way upon returning to work." She noticed Saikhan was still unconvinced. "But there was something I've been keeping to myself." She proceeded to tell Saikhan the story of what happened when Tenzin attempted to use the reconstructed crystal taken from Zaheer. Virtually everything she said was true, except for the last part. "Before he froze us, Vader taunted us with how he'd set the stage to bring Korra to his side," Lin lied. "When he released us, after portraying himself as a benevolent figure to the Airbender kids and Asami Sato, he sent us back, revealing himself to Katara, as well."
"Why didn't you reveal this after you returned?" a shocked Saikhan asked.
"We were too shocked to speak of it, and its implications," Lin answered. "Katara asked to go to the South Pole first, and to hear what Tonraq and Senna had to say, and the rest of us agreed. And now, I want to believe that even if I had revealed what we went through, it wouldn't have made a difference. I'm assuming Tenzin feels the same." Saikhan believed her, and Lin walked out of the building. Secretly, she hated herself for lying to the other officers, but at that point, telling the truth would do more harm than good.
On the ship flying them back to Elementia, the Benders were somewhat surprised to see that Darth Vader was on board, meditating in a private chamber. "I admit, I never thought he was the spiritual type," Kya commented, as they sat in an adjacent room.
"He's searching for his children," Kuvira replied as she tinkered with her lightsaber. At that moment, the other five Elementals in their party were busy explaining the new situation to the people that had been rescued alongside Iroh. Many of them needed to be reassured Boba Fett wasn't an enemy, just like the Stormtroopers and other Imperial soldiers close by, never mind Darth Vader.
"I never thought this would happen," Katara explained to the people she'd finished Water Healing. "But the world we know has changed, irreversibly. And the only way we could save you, was through the help of Avatar Korra's new friends: Darth Vader and the Galactic Empire."
"How do you feel about this, Lady Katara?" a Firebender named Obito asked. "After all they did to you and your family?"
"I'm not sure I can forgive them, but I think fighting them would only make things worse," the elder Waterbender answered.
"The same goes for me," Zuko said, the retired Fire Lord standing up. "Without them, you would never have been rescued. The only thing we can do, is take the future one step at a time, and see what happens." With that, they returned to their family's room, shortly before the ship jumped to hyperspace. After returning, they gathered around the table.
"Where do we go from here?" Suyin asked.
"I go back to helping the Earth Nation join this new world, with you helping me," Kuvira told her mother. "Where our friends go from here, is up to them." Shortly after that, Bumi looked to Iroh.
"The URN needs you," he said. "From what I understand, many of the higher-ranking officers were killed during the attack on Republic City. As for the rest of you, I think it's best if Zuko goes to counsel Izumi, Mom returns to Republic City to shore up morale, and Kya goes with her to help heal all the injured."
"Dad, what about you?" Iroh asked.
"I...will return to see your mother alongside you, and then, I will join Boba on his ship, and rendezvous with Bossk to continue looking for your sister," the Airbender revealed.
"You really think we're going to let you do this, alone?" Kya asked her brother.
"I think I'll be less conspicuous with only a Trandoshan for company, then with four other people," Bumi answered. "I know all of you are willing to help, but you all have responsibilities at home, which is why Izumi and Tenzin didn't join our mission. I'm a retired URN officer turned Airbender trainee, I can devote all my time to finding Mizuki."
"Bumi, I agree with you that four Benders are too much of a crowd," Katara told her son. "But your sister is a skilled healer and fighter, who can help you and Bossk."
"I know that the world needs us, but you can't do it alone, either," Zuko told his son-in-law. "At least take Kya, with you."
"Dad, I know you are worried about me, and all I went through, and that you don't want me back in danger so soon," Iroh looked to his father. "But I'll feel safer if Aunt Kya is with you, on your quest." After a short period, Bumi relented and accepted Kya's offer. Shortly before they went to bed, Bumi went to his mother and Zuko in private.
"You need to act as Korra's conscience, in the coming days, along with Tenzin and Lin," he said. "Su and the rest of her family will be that to Kuvira and Baatar Jr. But you, Mom, Korra respects and admires."
"I will do my best," Katara replied to her son, who then continued.
"While we're with Bossk, we'll try to learn more about the Empire and Vader," Bumi said. "Beyond what they show us, Korra, and her friends. We need to learn more about the galaxy to understand our place in it, beyond 'low-tech, low-population world' where magical powers are everywhere." And with that, the family went to bed, their plans made.
I hope I captured Tarkin's arrogance, as well as his attitude about how fear is necessary to keep the galaxy under control. In this story, Wilhuff was part of his Uncle Ranulph's Outland Regions Security Force, ultimately fighting in the Stark Hyperspace War. I figured the Empire would publicize the Geonosian brain worms as a way to justify isolating the Geonosis system. Tarkin understands that he can't casually endanger the Apostles of Darth Vader, and after what happened to Admiral Tion, he knows few officers would be willing to do so. Trandoshans have the Life Debt practice, just like Wookiees and Gungans, and I needed something to enable Bumi to keep searching for his daughter, as well as to learn more of the galaxy on his own.
Cal salvaged a bunch of stuff from Jedha, and the Separatist ship after wiping out the Bedlam Raiders. I figured that, after almost five years, he and Merrin would have a couple kids, as well as Padawan Kata. But Obi-Wan isn't bothered by how Cal has become a father, but that his wife is from an explicitly Dark Side cult. On top of how a Dathomirian man has been responsible for most of the tragedies in his life, one way or another.
I hadn't shown Lin for a while, and I wanted to demonstrate the challenges of cleaning up Republic City after the Besadis attacked. Several people were so desperate for food and water, they tried what the aliens had, with disastrous results. I also wanted to illustrate the divided reactions to Korra and Mako's decision. As well as how, as she kept it a secret to begin with, all Lin can do is continue lying. But she is still loyal to her surrogate children, and won't tolerate people being angry at Korra and Mako for surviving.