Mike took a slice of fruit pie towards his room after waking up in the kitchen in the middle of the night. There had been a little note next to it: Feel free to take a slice. It might not have been directed specifically to him, but he interpreted it as such.

How he got from the radio room to the kitchen was a mystery to him, but what was not was how good that pie tasted. It was like being back on his grandpa's farm, minus the sounds of the workers eating and drinking late into the night while he sat with his grandpa and talked the daylight away. It had been years since he'd had this version of fruit pie.

"Oh, there you are, Mike," Mako startled him, appearing suddenly in the hallway. He was still in uniform, and appeared exhausted but frenetic, a strange look for him.

"Don't do that, you almost made me drop my pie," Mike replied annoyedly. "Is something wrong, officer? Can't sleep?"

"No, it's not that—well, kind of. I tried to talk to you earlier but apparently you were 'taking a nap' so I waited. Really I wanted to say something sooner but I got held up so many times at work I couldn't take the ferry back here—"

"Just say what you have to say," Mike insisted.

Mako took a breath. "The fruit shop you worked at. It's…" he hesitated.

"What about it?"

Mako hated this part of his job. He braced himself. "It's been destroyed. The front has, anyway. Your employer had to shut it down for repairs and to let his other employee heal."

Mike stared at him.

"Right now we don't know exactly who did it, as your colleague Dwayne Jr. isn't…really talking to us right now, and he's the only real witness. He did ask about you, he's asked a few times, but we couldn't say on Beifong's orders-"

"What time does the next ferry leave the island?" Mike asked, his voice tense.

"…8am?"

"Then I'll see you at 8am on the boat." Mike walked away, fruit pie intact.

Mako was going to say that Beifong was going to be coming over to talk with him the next morning, but it was a bit late for that now.

Mike waited until he was in his room with the door shut and the fruit pie was safe on the top of the dresser to break the cool facade, grabbing his head. "What did they do to Junior, he's the talkiest guy I know except maybe Bolin and he's not talking? Why would they destroy the shop, unless…they didn't pay the 'protection' on time." That's probably what happened, yo. "If it was those same guys it couldn't be that bad, they were idiots…" Dwayne makes killer fried pig-chicken, "although they did destroy the roof, supposedly."

He sighed. Since he'd been meditating the past several days, some of the fog surrounding the places he saw was lifting, if just a tiny little bit. The voices he'd heard before were more clear, although he couldn't see their owners entirely. The closest he'd got was still that first time, the weird serpent sleeping.

"I don't know what went on after they tried to hit me…but it had to have been one of you who got us out of it," he figured, sitting on his bed. He was remembering what Dawn had told him that first time they met.

He didn't hear any replies. "It doesn't matter now. What matters is that I see the damage my absence caused," he decided, lying down flat on top of his made bed. "If…if we at least end up where they are, I'll know you're at least listening to me. That's a start." He closed his eyes and let the night take over.

He woke up inside a red box with a very squishy floor. It was so familiar, like he'd been there many times, but now there were details in his surroundings. A chair, a bed, a table.

And a very large something breathing next to him.

"Nice to see the place is in one piece," Beifong remarked after being greeted at the docks by Tenzin. "Did they give you any trouble?"

"No, no, it was fantastic to have a new student, occasionally, and Mike especially was a big help around the temple. Nothing but good things from the acolytes, as well. There were some…moments where Korra got a bit carried away, but I made sure she was disciplined accordingly," Tenzin reported.

"Good, I've heard as much from Mako. Unfortunately this little charade has to end," she said with a slight drop to her broad shoulders. "With Mike's last residence in shambles and unfit to live in, and his employer frazzled by his son getting injured, I'm gonna have to send him to the village on record where he comes from. There's been more than enough time for Mako to investigate everything."

"Hmph, if that's what's best. I'll be sure to send them off with a few more airbending exercises…" Tenzin started thinking to himself before remembering that Lin was still there. "Why don't you come in for breakfast, you can break the news there?" He invited her.

"A homemade Air Nation breakfast before shipping a kid out of the city? That oughta soften the blow for one of us, at least. But I'll take it to go, the ferry won't stay for me too long," she partially accepted the invite.