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Chapter Two: Montei to Keisatsu

Korra wasn't sure how to feel about Asami being present for her first airbending lesson.  On the one hand, Asami said she was very cute in airbender clothing, and the compliment had been enough to make her grin.  On the other hand, Asami bore witness to how badly that lesson went: she saw every spinning gate that Korra smashed into and which subsequently threw her out of their radiuses and onto the ground around the circle.  She was there when Tenzin noticed the bloody nose Korra had garnered from a particularly hard blow to the face and called for a break, and she was there when Korra tried to scurry away with a handkerchief Tenzin produced from his robes.

"Here, give me that," she said, holding out her hand.

Not a little dumbfounded, Korra lifted the handkerchief to ask wordlessly.  Asami nodded, taking the handkerchief when Korra handed it over.  She returned to the gates' circle, stopping two gates before beckoning Korra over.  They sat on the edge of the circle, and Asami began to dab gently at the blood already dripping from Korra's chin.

"Hey, I can do that just fine!" Korra protested, trying to push Asami's hand away.

"Based on the way you went at those gates, I'm worried that you'd just stuff it up your nose and keep going."

Sighing through her mouth, Korra said, "Don't worry.  I'm not about to try again for a while."  She looked at Asami from the corner of her eye, fighting down the urge to squirm when the dabbing finally reached her nose.  "Why're you doing this?  Aren't you grossed out at all?"

Asami shrugged.  "I've been in self-defense classes since I was a little girl.  Bruises and nosebleeds aren't news to me."

"Oh.  Huh."  She nearly laughed through her nose, but managed to puff the air between her lips.  "No offense, but I thought you were kinda prissy."

She chuckled and held the handkerchief steady at Korra's nose.  "A lot of people think that.  I look like daddy's little girl, don't I?"

With an up-and-down glance at her fine clothing, emblazoned here and there with gears, Korra replied, "The little girl of a rich daddy, yeah."

More laughter, light and cheery, flowed from her mouth; it made Korra smile every time she heard it.  "That's what you are when you're Hiroshi Sato's daughter, yeah."

"Hiroshi Sato?  Like, the guy who created the satomobile?"

"The one and only."

She didn't bother feeling embarrassed at the way her mouth fell open.  "You're--he's your--" Her words failed entirely for a moment.  She swallowed and said, "Yeah, that'd make you the little girl of a rich daddy."

Asami smiled at her before taking the handkerchief away.  A moment later, she murmured, "Okay, it looks like it's slowing down," and returned the handkerchief to its prior place.  "Weren't you supposed to 'be like the leaf'?

Korra shrugged, as unsure as she was ineloquent.  "I guess so, yeah, but I'm not--I mean, I've never actually made a spiritual connection with...anything."  She sighed.  "It doesn't come very easy to me."

"Well, the only thing for it is to keep trying."  With her free hand, she gave a very gentle tap to the end of Korra's nose.  "Though maybe not as hard as you did today."

For her part, Korra had no idea how to respond.  She meant to, certainly, but any and all attempts fell flat on her tongue when she looked up and saw Lin Beifong striding up the stairs.  Before she had a chance to wince, Lin turned sharply at the top of the stairs.  She went directly to Tenzin, throwing Korra a hard glance before speaking.

"I want to know what you're up to," she snapped.

Tenzin lifted a brow, blinking once.  "'Up to'?  All that I'm doing is training the Avatar."

"And passing laws that allow her to pursue vigilante justice," Lin said.

Asami went stone still, and so it was an easy task for Korra to push her hand away and stand up.

Tenzin sighed heavily and pinched the bridge of his nose.  "I had nothing to do with that, Lin, and you know I never would.  The Avatar needs to practice restraint and--"

"Then who put the motion to the council?"  She paused before frowning.  "Actually, let me guess.  Tarrlok."

He nodded.

"And you did nothing to stop him," she said.  "Excellent.  I expected nothing less of you."

Tenzin bristled, his back going ramrod straight.  "That's not the case at all!  I was strongly against it, but you know how Tarrlok is with the other members of the council."

The sigh that left Lin then was brief, but as heavy as Tenzin's before it.  She looked to Korra, sidling slowly up to them, and her frown was enough to make her freeze in place.  "Don't expect anything to change, Avatar.  If you even get the urge to go running through my streets acting like judge and jury, I will bring you in and throw you in jail.  Do you understand me?"

She brought up her hands in surrender, but with a frown on her face.  "One hundred percent, ma'am."

"Good.  Because I don't make idle promises."  She turned on heel and started away.

"Wait!" Tenzin said.  When she halted and glanced over her shoulder at him, he asked, "Is that all you came to say?"

"What else would I be coming here to say?" she asked in turn, and vanished down the stairs once again.

Tenzin groaned his next sigh, massaging his forehead.  After a moment, he shook his head and started to follow Lin.  "Korra, you stay here and keep practicing."

She reached out and caught his sleeve.  "Hey, wait a minute--tell me what's going on!  What was Chief Beifong talking about?  Is there some sort of law about me?"

He frowned, but his eyes were aimed toward the city.  "There is, thanks to another councilman."

"Who?"

"His name is Tarrlok, but that's not important," he said, his words clipped.  "What's important is your training and focusing on completing it.  Going into the city and having the spotlight on you is not the way to do that, and I would think that Tarrlok would know that."  He grumbled noise and stroked his beard.  "I'm sure this is another one of his ploys, but I don't know what end he's trying to reach."  He took his hand from his face, waving it dismissively.  "I want you to stay on the island until this is cleared up."

"But--how long is that going to take?" Korra asked.

"We have our next council meeting tomorrow morning."

Her jaw went slack, but the shock that loosened it was quickly replaced by hardening anger.  "What?  No, I have a ticket to a pro-bending match tonight!  I can't just give up on that!  Asami paid a lot of money for it!"

"Korra, I know that you're excited, but as I told you before, you need a calm and quiet environment for your training.  Going to see a match defeats the purpose of being calm and quiet."  He turned to Asami, still sitting, and bowed.  "I apologize, but I can't allow Korra to leave the island for the time being."  Raising his brow at Korra, he said, "Now stay here.  I'll be back once I speak with the other council members."  He departed without another word, and Korra stared after him before slumping back down next to Asami.

"I can't believe this," she grumbled.  "He knows how much I want to see a pro-bending match!  Why shouldn't I be allowed to go?"

"He's probably just worried about you," Asami said, reaching over to turn Korra's face toward her.  "Fathers get that way."

Korra let her examine her face, but the statement had to be spoken against.  "He's not my dad."

Asami gave her a look.  "I know that.  I'm saying he's a dad.  He's got three kids and another on the way.  I'm sure he just automatically thinks of you as another one of his kids."

"Well...that's wrong.  I've got a dad, down in the South Pole."  Because Asami had not started dabbing at her face again, she pushed her hand away and sighed.  "I don't need another one."

"It's not a bad thing, you know," Asami said, "having a dad with you.  My dad's all I've got, and it's really nice to have a parent when things are so hard right now."

"Maybe if people actually told me what was so hard about things nowadays, I wouldn't be so annoyed."

Asami poked her square between the eyebrows.  "Maybe if you asked nicely, people would tell you."

Smiling in spite of herself, rubbing her brow, Korra said, "Okay, fair enough.  Can you tell me why it is that everyone thinks I'm going to go out doing dangerous things?"

"Aside from the whole running-face-first-into-gates style you have?"

Korra poked her in return.

Asami laughed and caught Korra's hand in hers.  "You already know about the bending triads, but you don't know about the Equalists."

"The guys from the park?  I know about them."

"Not about their leader, Amon."  She drummed her fingers in Korra's palm, a slow and broken tempo.

"Um...what're you doing?"

"Hmm?"

She flexed her hand, pushing up against Asami's fingers.

"Oh, that!  I do it when I think."

"You need other peoples' hands around when you think?"

She giggled and shook her head.  "No, I usually do it to myself.  Your hand was just there.  Do you want me to stop?"

"It's okay, it just tickles a little."  She settled, watching Asami's fingers tap her hand.  "So who's this Amon guy?  I think I heard that protester say his name."

"He's the leader of the Equalists," Asami explained.  "The best word I've heard someone use for him was 'fanatic,' and it's true.  He hates benders more than anyone else in the world.  He and his followers are getting louder and more violent lately, and I'm sure that they're not happy that the Avatar is in Republic City.  Tenzin is just worried for you."

"Yeah, but come on!" Korra said.  "It's just a pro-bending match!  What's the problem with taking a short little ferry ride over to the arena?  It's not even that far away from here!"

Asami stopped drumming her fingers, instead pressing her fingertips gently into the line that stretched the width of Korra's hand.  "I don't know...I understand where he's coming from.  The Equalists are pretty scary.  I wouldn't want you getting caught by them."

"Then all the more reason for me to go out into the city and learn how to stay safe!  And where better to start than at the pro-bending arena tonight?"

Asami stared at her a long while before laughing.  "All right, fine.  I'm not going to win against you when you get like this, am I."

Grinning, Korra said, "Not a chance."

She laughed again, stood up, and helped Korra to her feet.  "Here's what we'll do.  Memorize the seat on your ticket, and we'll find each other inside once you get there."

She grinned broader than before.  "Asami, you've got a deal."

-------

There was a righteously angry man in front of her and a water-ruined ticket in her pocket.  Korra was at a loss.

"You damn kids are always sneaking in here, trying to watch the matches without paying!" he shouted.  "Not giving us benders our hard-earned wages, you little brat!  How would you like it if I snuck into whatever job you've got and just stole your money?"

"That's not what I'm trying to do!" Korra shot back.  "I have a ticket, it just--got wet."

The man crossed his massive forearms and scowled at her.  "Uh huh.  I'm getting security and they're--"

"Oh, hey, there you are!"

They both turned to see a teenage boy wearing a red and white colored pro-bender uniform walking toward them.  He held his helmet under one arm and grinned as he approached, a lock of his dark hair hanging carefully over his brow and his green eyes all but glimmering.  When he was near, he lifted a hand and turned toward the man.

"It's okay, Toza," he said.  "She's with me."

Toza lifted his brow, scowl still in place.

"I'm the one who gave her the ticket!" the boy continued.  "I told her she could come back here and see me."

For another long moment, Toza continued to scowl at him.  Eventually, he slapped at the air and turned away.  "Do whatever you want.  I'm busy."

Grinning even more than before, the boy leaned over to take Korra by the elbow and led her back into the hallway.  Only when they were some distance away did the boy let go of her elbow and speak again, and it was to say, "My name's Bolin, by the way."

"Thanks for that," Korra said.

Bolin waved his hand gently in the air, but his expression turned curious.  "Did you really sneak in?"

"Sort of," she replied with a shrug.  "I have a ticket, it just got soaked when I swam here."

He stared a moment before coming to a halt.  "You...swam here?"

"It was the only way to get here if I was sneaking off of Air Temple Island to sit with my friend."

"Air Temple Island..."  He gave her an up-and-down look.  "But aren't you a Water Tribe gal?"

She smirked.  "I am, but I'm in training over there."

"Wow!  A Water Tribe airbender!  That's really cool!  Can you do any awesome airbending moves?"

She faltered, but only for a moment.  "No, but I've got some great firebending moves under my belt."

Bolin came to a halt, looking at her with his hand on his chin.  He nodded three times, humming assent, before saying, "I have no idea what you're talking about."

She laughed, but kindly.  "I'm the Avatar."

His confusion lasted a few moments more before his jaw dropped.  He took his hand from his face and pointed at her.  "The Avatar?"

"The one and only."

Far more quickly than the confusion had gone, his shock vanished and was replaced with glee.  "Oh, man, for real?  That is so amazing!  You need to meet my brother!"  He paused in thought before starting to pace in place, lifting one foot after the other.  "Look, we're gonna have our match soon, so I should go, but--where are you and your friend sitting?"

"The first couple of seats on the main floor."

He stopped abruptly, one leg still in the air.  "Seriously?  Those are some snazzy seats."  He waved both hands then, shaking his head as well.  "No, anyway--look, you and your friend should come down to the challengers' room once the match is done.  Just ask for the Fire Ferrets, okay?  And wish us luck!"

She gave him a gentle punch to the shoulder and said, "Knock 'em dead."

Bolin popped his helmet on and blew her a kiss through it.  He jogged down the hallway to the sound of her hearty laughter, and she departed soon after he was gone.  As he had guided her to more common hallways, it took less than a minute to find the seat that had been marked on her ticket, and why Bolin had called it "snazzy."  A man in a waistcoat and slacks stood vigil outside a door marked with numbers, and he looked askance at her as she came near.

"I have a ticket to sit in there," she said.

"Let's see it."

She reached into her pocket, knowing very well what she would be pulling out.  She did it anyway and offered up the soggy wad of paper that had once been her ticket.  The man sneered, his lips pulling back slowly.

"Look, just go inside and ask Asami, she knows who I am."

The man sighed heavily, rolling his eyes as he turned and went inside.  He had barely spoken before he was forced to step aside.  Asami pushed past him, smiling only when she spotted Korra.

"There you are!" she said.  "I was worried that you'd gotten lost."

"Not for a lack of trying," Korra admitted.  "It didn't start yet, did it?"

Asami put her arm around Korra's shoulder and led her inside.  "They haven't even announced the teams yet."

"But one of the teams is the Fire Ferrets, right?"  At Asami's questioning look, she said, "I met one of them sneaking in here.  He said we can go down to the challengers' room after the match."

"The Fire Ferrets?" Asami asked, brows rising.  Her smile grew even broader.  "I knew it was the right thing to bring you on a date here."

Korra blinked.  "Are we on a date?"

Asami opened her mouth to answer, but was cut off by an ear-splitting explosion.  They were thrown off their feet by the shockwave moments before shrapnel, flaming and not, buried itself in the room's far wall.  A brief moment of silence passed before the sound of screams began to rise in a chorus around the arena.  They got to their feet slowly, but hurried to the window that looked outward.  The ring was in ruins, smoldering and smoking; shards of the flooring and metalwork were beginning to sink in the water below.  Beneath the ring and through the smoke, though, Korra spotted movement.

"There's somebody down there," she said, squinting and leaning forward.

Asami followed suit, but her head jerked back in surprise when she saw the black masks and green goggles.  "Those are chi blockers!"

"Chi blockers?"

"They're Equalists--Amon's henchmen."  She put her hand over her mouth and spoke quietly.  "I can't believe they did this."

Korra stepped up onto the window ledge.  "They're not going to get away with it if I can help it."

Once again, Asami followed suit, stepping up onto the window.  "And me."

"What?  No way, you're--"

"I'm going with you.  I can help you fight, and I really don't feel like letting you run face-first into danger without help."  She reached out and took Korra's hand, tugging once.  "Let's go."

Korra stared at her for a moment before smiling.  "Deal.  Hold your breath."  She led them into a leaping dive, calling the water up to catch them.  They sank only for a moment before Korra let go of Asami's hand and twisted about.  The water spiraled around them and launched them up onto the platform beneath the ring.  There were three chi blockers, one man and two women, heading toward the edge of the platform, but they stopped short when Korra and Asami landed nearby.

"I hope you don't think you can get away," Korra said, lifting her hands.

The chi blockers said nothing, instead bursting into movement.  They leaped forward, dodging the fire blasts Korra aimed at them.  One of the women dashed to the nearest pillar, leaping up onto it and spinning away from the water Korra flung at her.  She landed near Asami, striking with her fingers extended.  Asami avoided the attacks by redirecting the woman's hands, catching them on her wrists and twisting their arms about.  A kick was next, the woman spinning on her heel to swing her foot toward Asami's face.  Asami responded in kind, timing her own spin to lock their knees together and tug the woman off balance.  Though Asami meant to slam her heel against the woman's chin with another kick, the woman was quick enough to roll away and spring back to her feet.

Korra would have thrown another fire blast at the woman to help Asami, but her attention was thoroughly focused on the two other chi blockers.  She had picked out their roles immediately.  The man, tall and brutally strong, came at her from the front while the woman, swift and flexible, struck from behind.  The man was a distraction: when Korra kicked at him, fireball bursting from her heel, the woman took the opportunity of one of her outstretched arms.  Her fingers jabbed up the length of Korra's arm, stopping at her shoulder.  All sensation died in her arm, and Korra spun about to stare at the woman in horror.  The woman tilted her head to one side and leisurely pointed behind Korra.  Horror growing even more, Korra whipped back around to see the man rushing at her.

A fire blast slammed into him from the left, knocking him off his feet hard enough that he slid to the edge of the platform.  The man, the two women, Asami, and Korra all turned to look at the source of the blast: a young man in a sopping wet white and red pro-bender uniform.  He advanced on them, a grit-toothed scowl on his face.

"Oh good," he snarled.  "You didn't get to run away.  That means I get to beat the hell out of you for hurting my little brother."  He looked at Korra and Asami.  "One for each of us."

"I can live with that," Korra replied, and she bolted for the woman behind her.  The surprise gave her enough time to lash out with a kick bearing a massive sphere of water.  The woman did not leap away fast enough, and was slammed against a pillar.  Korra turned the water to ice, binding the woman where she was.

The chi blocker had barely gotten to his feet before the pro-bender was on him with fireball after fireball.  Each punch the man made let loose wild crackling flames, scorching the platform beneath the chi blocker's feet.  Every time the chi blocker tried to advance, the man knocked him back with blasts to his chest; he spent precious seconds slapping out the embers that caught on his clothes.  With a shout of anger, the pro-bender sprang up, striking the air with his knee and launching the largest fireball yet.  It struck the chi blocker hard, knocking him off his feet once again.  When he landed, his head cracked against the ground so hard he lay stunned.  Korra caught him in a rush of water, forcing him to join his compatriot in the ice.

Asami now faced a woman full of hesitation, a woman who glanced nervously at Korra and the pro-bender standing by.  She smiled at her anxiety and moved in.  The woman met her advance with a punch aimed for Asami's jaw.  Asami knocked in up and away, answering in turn with a hard strike to the woman's ribs with the heel of her hand.  When the woman doubled over in pain, Asami bent her arm and smashed her elbow against the side of the woman's face.  The woman stumbled to one side, moving directly into the kick Asami slammed into her stomach.  She stumbled again, back this time, and Asami followed her.  She pried the woman's arm away from her stomach, gripping her wrist in one hand and bracing her other hand against her shoulder.  A grunt left Asami as she spun the woman about and threw her off her feet.  As she was in the air, she was caught in a final sphere of water from Korra and joined the two other chi blockers frozen against the pillar.

Korra jumped when the pro-bender took hold of her shoulder.  She looked at him to find that the anger had left his face for anxiety.

"You're a waterbender," he said.  "Can you heal?"

She looked him up and down, blinking when she found no blood on his clothes.  "Where are you hurt?"

"It's not me," he replied.  "It's my brother, Bolin."

"Bolin?  He got hurt?"

The man stared.  "How do you know my brother?"

"We met in the hall," Korra said.  "Yeah, I'm a healer, where is he?"

"The challengers' room," the man said.  "Come on, he's bleeding pretty bad."

Korra nodded once.  "Okay, in the water, I can get us up there fast."

The man sagged with relief.  "Thank you."  He and Asami followed Korra to the edge of the platform, jumping into the water after her.  Sinking beneath them, she twisted her body and called the water up around them.  They were lifted up and brought over to the open challengers' room, and the man dashed away the instant his feet were on the floor.  He went to Bolin, sitting propped up against the righthand wall.  Blood was soaking into his uniform at his right shoulder, and sweat was beading heavily on his brow.  He opened his eyes when the man kneeled down before him and gripped his unwounded shoulder.

"Hey, Mako," he said with a small smile.  "You still okay?"

"I'm better than okay," Mako replied.  "I found you a healer."

Bolin looked up; his smile grew stronger at the sight of Korra.  "I get to be healed by the Avatar?  I am one lucky dude."

Mako spun about to look at Korra as though seeing her for the first time.  "You're the Avatar?"

"The one and only," Korra said, smirking.  "Now let me help your brother."

Mako nodded vaguely and moved aside.  He came back as Korra stepped in, bucket of water in hand.  Though Korra reached out with both hands, one hand was unable to bend the water.  She grimaced, struggling, but was forced to work with only one hand.  Filling the water with energy, she gestured for Bolin to pull away his uniform.  He did, wincing all the while, and let out a heavy sigh when the water touched him.

"Oh man," he groaned.  "Thank you so much."  He laughed slightly.  "I am really glad you snuck in."

"I can't believe the Equalists set off such a huge bomb in here," Mako said.  "Are they completely crazy?"

"What's crazy is the whole chi blocking thing," Korra said.  "I didn't know you could block a person's bending."

"They're scum," Mako said, voice hard and sharp.  "They've hurt innocent people--they probably killed some people out there in the crowd."

"If they're hurt and they're still alive," Korra murmured, "then I'm going to do everything I can to make sure they stay alive."  She turned to look at Mako and Asami.  "But I'm gonna need help."

"I'm in," said Mako.

"Same here," Asami replied.

"Get me back on my feet, and I'm right there with you," Bolin said.

"Then let's get to work."

-------

"There's seven dead, and at least twenty wounded.  It was a much higher number for the wounded, but a lot of them got medical attention before we arrived.  Other healers are taking over for her now."

"'Her'?  Who is--" Lin put a hand to her forehead and groaned.  "Saikhan, please tell me it's not who I think it is."

"Well," Saikhan said slowly, "it wasn't only the Avatar."

"Excellent," Lin sighed.  "Where are they?"

Saikhan pointed down to the ruins of the ring.  "Lowest level.  They're with a few of our officers keeping watching over the perpetrators."

Lin moved to the edge of the floor.  "So not only did she run around acting as an unlicensed healer, she went vigilante again."  Firing the metal wires from the gauntlet on her wrist, she stepped off the edge and swung down below.  Her heavy landing made the platform's occupants look up.  The officers snapped off a salute at her approach, but the four teens on the floor barely had the energy to look up.  Korra was slowest of all, and she went even paler when she saw Lin.

"I understand you're responsible for this," Lin said, nodding toward the wire-trussed chi blockers.

"Um," Korra mumbled, blinking slowly, "aside from the wires, yeah."

"And a great deal of the healing, that was you as well?"

"It totally was!" Bolin said, raising his hand.  "She healed me up, too!  She's great!"

Lin hummed flatly.  "And you three helped?"

"We couldn't just let them escape," said Mako, his scowl returning.

Lin nodded once.  "You did a good job."

Korra's weariness was cast aside for complete shock, and she stared openly at Lin.  "Excuse me?"

"I'm not above giving credit where it's properly due," she said.  "You four caught a pack of terrorists responsible for enormous property damage and the murder of seven people, and you took care of the wounded on top of that.  You deserve praise."

"You're...not mad at me?" Korra asked.  "I thought you were going to be mad at me."

Lin smirked.  "I think you're going to get enough anger from Tenzin when he finds out where you've been."

Korra was unable to go any paler than she already was, and so she swallowed around the lump in her throat.  Her voice cracked a little when she said, "Yeah."

"The media's going to have a field day with this, you know," Lin said.

Her voice cracked again as she repeated, "Yeah."

"It'll send the right message to the Equalists.  The police and the Avatar won't stand for violence like this."  She paused and frowned.  "Even if the Avatar is a vigilante."

Some of the color returned to Korra's face.  She looked from Lin to the officers and back again, eyes moving slowly.  When she returned her gaze to Lin, it was clear and bright.  "What if I wasn't a vigilante?"

"Excuse me?"

Korra smiled slyly.  "It's not vigilante justice if I'm part of the police force, right, Chief?"

Lin lifted a brow.  "Are you asking to join my metalbender officers?"

"I am if someone can teach me to metalbend."

"This is a rash decision," Lin said in reply.  "You're going to sign up for a police force that requires the use of a form of bending you haven't had a single lesson in--while at the same time being in training for an entirely separate element.  On top of that, you've walked into one of the most dangerous conflicts the city has ever seen."  She sighed through her nose.  "I think you should reconsider."

Korra pushed herself to her feet.  "Look, now I've got a reason to fight the Equalists."  She gestured to Mako and Bolin, saying, "They really hurt my friends.  And I don't feel like getting on your bad side all the time with this whole 'vigilante' thing.  This is my city just as much as yours, and I'm the Avatar.  I need to help people."  She hesitated, but summoned her courage and pointed at Lin.  "So maybe you're the one who needs to reconsider."

"Korra!"

Her courage died and her pallor returned.  "Oh no."  She turned around in time to see Tenzin swooping in on his glider.  Though her first instinct was to take a step back when he landed in front of her, she swallowed and held her ground.

"Tell me, what was it that I told you this morning?" he asked.  "Was it 'go to the pro-bending match tonight'?  Because I could have sworn that it was the exact opposite of that!  I told you to stay on the island!  You were to stay on the island and you were to stay safe!"  He waved his hands to gesture at the chi blockers and the damage above their heads.  "This isn't safe!  This is lunacy!"

"You can't keep me locked up on the island forever!" Korra shouted back.  "Why do you think I ran away from the White Lotus compound?  I'm the Avatar, dammit!  I'm not supposed to stay hidden away and 'safe!'  I'm supposed to bring balance to the world and I can't do that when people tell me to stay put!"

Tenzin reached out and took hold of Korra's shoulders, shaking her once.  "You had the entire family worried sick tonight!  No one knew where you were--and then the police called to say you were here?  Do you understand how hard it was to tell my children that you were here when the White Lotus sentries had already told us about the bombing from the radio reports?"

She faltered.  "I--I didn't--"

"You didn't think!  You never think!"

Korra bristled.  "I have been thinking!  I'm sorry I worried you, but that's something you're going to have to get used to!  I'm not going to sit by anymore when people need me to stand up and fight!"

"Being the Avatar isn't all about fighting!"

"I know that!  But right now, the world needs an Avatar who doesn't hide!"

It was Tenzin who hesitated then, words dying in his throat before he even had a chance to open his mouth.  When he did, the most he could do was gape at her.

"She makes a good point," said Lin.

His baffled stare swung in a short, swift arc to her.

"You and I both agree that Tarrlok's little motion is the wrong path for the Avatar to take," she said.  "But I think she makes a good argument that the way we've been going at things isn't the right path, either."

Korra joined Tenzin in staring confusedly.  "Weren't you just telling me to reconsider wanting to join the police?"

"'Join the police'?" Tenzin repeated, his head turning crimson.  "Absolutely not!  You don't know the first thing about metalbending, and for another thing--"

"I'll teach her," Lin said.

The bluster left him so quickly Tenzin sagged in the shoulders.  "You'll what?"

"You will?" Korra asked, a grin coming to her face.

"On two conditions," Lin replied.  "The first is that you don't slack off on your other training just to run rampant through the streets as an officer."

"Deal," said Korra.  "What's the second?"

"That Tenzin agrees."

Tenzin's brows rose slowly.  He did not know whether or not to smile, and so he kept his mouth still and silent.

"She was your disciple first," Lin said to him.  "Furthermore, I have zero intentions of taking her entirely off of your hands--she's still your responsibility."

"You really think this is the right path?" he asked.

"I think we need all the help we can get," she replied.

He turned to Korra.  She met his gaze evenly, without the eager impatience he had expected.  It had been taken out of her eyes, and the lack of it gave him pause.  He asked, "Do you really think this is the right path to take as the Avatar?"

In a firm voice, she said, "It is the right path, and I'll do whatever it takes to make you understand that."

Because he was helpless, he smiled.  "Then I suppose we'll have to schedule your airbending training alongside your police training."

Bolin quickly raised his hand.  "Can I join, too?"

Mako started at the request, turning to stare at him.  "Bro, no."

"Oh, come on!  We're gonna be out of work until the arena gets fixed, and I'm pretty sure I can metalbend if someone would teach me!"  He got to his feet and turned to Lin.  Bowing deeply, he said, "Please accept me as another student, ma'am.  I'm a hard worker and a fast learner."

She quirked a brow at him.  "I wasn't aware that my offer to train the Avatar was open to people other than her."

He swung upright, holding up his hands.  "No, no--I know it technically isn't!  But can't you find it in your metal-encased heart to teach a dirt-poor earthbender an honest living?"  He paused to think.  "Not to mention the fact that the Equalists hurt me pretty bad and I want to get them back for it."  He thought further.  "Oh!  Oh!  And I would really like to make sure my friend doesn't get hurt in the line of duty!"  He smiled toothily, all bright charm.  "Is that a good enough case to get trained?"

Her brow remained quirked, but there was no frown on her face.  "If you slow anyone down, you're out."

"Well, you better prepare yourself," said Bolin, reaching out to wrap his arm around Korra's shoulders, "because you're about to train two of the fastest learners in the history of the city!"  Leaning his head close to Korra's, he whispered, "You're really fast, right?"

"If it's not airbending," she whispered back.

"That's cool for now."  He came away enough to slap her on the back before offering up his hand.  "Police partners?"

She smiled, took his hand, and shook.  "Police partners."

Before they could let go of each other, Mako stood up and laid his hand on top of theirs.  He said to Korra, "I'm going to count on you to watch out for my little brother."

Asami came next, setting her hand highest and looking at Bolin.  "And I'm going to count on you to look out for Korra for me."

He flushed bright red.  "Uh--yes'm, I can do that."

Korra, in all her exhaustion and elation, could do little more than laugh.