Archive of Our Own

Jinora couldn't remember the last time she had been this excited. It was right here, right in front of her! Atlantis, the place she and her grandpa Aang had been dreaming about for as long as she could remember, and in his case, even longer. It was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen, but to find not just some ancient ruins, but a living, breathing culture! And the language... Jinora was practically thinking out loud at this point. "There's definitely a lot of Sumerian in here, but a dash of Latin can certainly correct for that..." She was way beyond caring that Zaheer and Kuvira had probably stopped listening to her three bridges ago, and neither was she paying much attention to whatever they were talking about.

The Atlantean warriors were preceding them into the city, and the closer they got, the more she saw. It had been kind of shrouded behind the fog of the waterfalls, but now that they were getting close, she could see everything. Carvings in the structures, not linguistic, but not random either. She could probably spend a decade of her life studying those alone! The small islands that were connected by flimsy-looking suspension bridges were adorned with statues, presumably depicting either deities or former war heroes holding bowls of fire lighting their way.

At first glance, everything looked equally amazing to her, but the closer she looked, things started to look a little bit off. Some of the statues almost looked like they had slumped down into the ground somewhat, and didn't appear to be standing as straight as they once had been. Several buildings, especially those at the edge of the city, had fallen into ruin and disrepair, and a lot of other structures appeared to be overgrown with plants and algae. The longer she looked, the more Jinora realized... This was a civilization in decline. She sighed to herself. The greatest discovery since the New World, and it looked like she was too late to see this city in its prime.

Driving onto the next bridge, she looked at the warriors preceding them again, and through the crowd, she could make out the man that she had first seen, who had healed the cut on her shoulder, somehow. He was their leader, that much was obvious, since all of them followed his orders without question. That was slightly strange, since he appeared to barely be older than herself. Maybe lineage played a part there?

Whatever the case, he was very handsome, that was for sure. His white hair and dark skin made for a beautiful contrast, though the biggest eyecatcher was definitely the blue tattoo on his cheek. His sash only somewhat covered his chest and left very little to the imagination; he was a warrior pur sang. He was probably strong enough to lift her with one arm, and yet, when he saw her wound back in the cave, his hands were surprisingly gentle. Jinora blushed at the thought. At first, when he pulled the strap of her top down over her shoulder, she thought she was in big trouble, but as it became clear that he wanted to help her, not hurt her, curiosity instantly got the better of her. A crying shame they were disturbed before she could talk to him privately.

At the edge of what finally seemed to be solid ground, at the center of the city, the leader kindly asked them to follow him on foot, through a little bit of the city, and past a pair of guards that did not look happy to see them. The throne room itself was unlike anything Jinora had ever seen. It was open to the outside, though they weren't really outside, just in an enormous cavern under the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, but it was so big that she could not see the edges. The throne was in front of two enormous statues, though both had subsided down into the ground past their legs. Not really surprising though, as the king was sitting on a small island in a room that was mostly covered in water, only small rocks made a path to get to him. Again, even the throne room was partially overgrown, as if even in the king's palace, they couldn't fight back the decline of their city.

"Your highness," he opened in his native tongue while kneeling, "I have brought the visitors in." Out of simple respect, and because she knew she was the only one of their party able to follow the conversation, Jinora knelt down as well, hoping that Zaheer and Kuvira would follow her example, which they did not. The king himself was an old, frail man, and if she wasn't mistaken, looked like he was blind.

"You know the law, Kai," the king replied with a shaky, yet somehow authoritative voice. "No outsiders may see the city and live."

So much for a warm welcome. Jinora decided it was best to keep quiet and not tell Zaheer that part, lest he start shooting.

"Father... These people may be able to help us!" Kai said, slightly firmer than before.

"We do not need their help."

"But father..." he tried.

"Enough!" The king put a definitive end to that conversation. "We will discuss this later."

Apparently even Zaheer sensed that the situation wasn't falling their way. "Your highness," he started, walking forward, while slightly bowing, "May I just say that it is an honor to be welcomed in your city."

"Uh, Commander..." Jinora tried, but she needn't have bothered.

"'Welcomed'," the king scoffed in perfect English. "You presume much, to think that you are welcome here. You were lucky that my son was more merciful than I would have been when he found you in the cave of the Leviathan."

"Sir..." Zaheer continued, not expecting that. "We are simply explorers, looking for..."

He was cut off by the king. "I know exactly what you are looking for. Many have tried, and you will be the latest party to fail."

"But we are men of science, we want nothing but peace."

The king squinted with his blind eyes, presumably more for Zaheer's benefit than his own. "You talk of peace, and yet you bring weapons into my city," he said, gesturing to the pistol on Zaheer's hip. That was actually a revelation to Jinora, perhaps the king was not as blind as she thought.

"Our weapons are only necessary for removing obstacles," he defended himself.

The old king scoffed again, and stood up with the help of his staff. "There are obstacles in your path that cannot be removed with force. Now, return to your party, and leave Atlantis - at once."

"Sir, please reconsider," Zaheer urged him.

Jinora realized she had to talk some sense into Zaheer before the king decided to have them all executed where they stood. "Commander, we really should do as he says."

"Not now," he casually dismissed her, and seemed to quickly sort some thoughts in his head. "May I request that we stay one night, give my crew some rest, and we'll be out of here at first light."

"Hmm..." the king groaned. "One night. That is all."

"You are most generous, your majesty," Zaheer said, though Jinora did spot a hint of hidden insincerity in his voice, but it was definitely their cue to quietly leave the throne room.

Kai sighed as the doors closed behind the explorers, but his father did not share that same sentiment. "A thousand years ago, you would have slaughtered them before they even realized you were there," the king said.

He shook his head, but did move to help his aging father lie down. "A thousand years ago, I didn't have to worry about our city going to ruin."

"Atlantis will endure," the king countered. "It always has."

"Our people are dying. We're eating scraps, scavenged from the edge of the sea. The lights of the city are fading, and I don't know how much longer we can keep going like this. These outsiders, they know of our people. Maybe they can help us."

"It won't be long before the throne is yours, Kai, and when it is, you'll realize that every action you take should be to keep our people safe. When you do, our culture will be preserved."

Kai let out another sigh as his father took his hand. It felt like it was made of glass, so frail. He could remember a time when his father could wield spears and shields, but that time had long since passed. The fading of the light was taking a toll on him more than most, but he had made up his mind.

"So how'd it go?" Korra, their medical officer, asked.

"Couldn't be better," Kuvira sarcastically replied.

"We walked away with our heads still on our shoulders, so I think we shouldn't complain," Jinora said, at least trying to alleviate the mood a little bit. "The king wasn't very happy to see us, that's for sure."

Zaheer nodded in agreement. "True, but I didn't need a translator to figure out that the son disagrees. That king knows more than he's letting on to, and I want to know what. We need someone to sweet-talk the son."

"I will go!" Bolin immediately offered, which Jinora rolled her eyes at, and basically stopped listening. She just got out her notebook and went over the notes she had taken so far, if this really was her only chance.

"Someone with good people skills," Ghazan remarked.

"Yes, that's me!" Bolin continued.

"Someone who won't scare him off," Asami continued that train of thought.

"I volunteer!"

"Someone who can speak the language..." Toph said, apparently having actually listened to the group for a change.

"The mission depends on me!"

Zaheer patted Jinora on the shoulder. "Good of you to volunteer, Gyatso."

"Wait, what?" she looked up, already seeing everyone else retreating back to the trucks. Well, everyone except for Bolin, who seemed heartbroken by this idea.

"Good luck," Korra teased her with a wink.

Jinora was leaning against a pillar outside the throne room, psyching herself up for when Kai would come out. Why, of all people, did they have to choose her. Kuvira or Korra would have been fine picks, after all, Kai spoke English, but no, it just had to be her.

Still, too late to do anything about it now, she was just going to have to work through it. "Okay Jinora, you can do this," she said to herself when she heard the doors open, and she quickly spied around the pillar as Kai walked out. "Just walk up to him and say 'I have some questions, and you're going to answer them'. Don't take no for an answer." With one last deep breath, she rounded the corner, and found... nothing.

She could have sworn that he was here a second ago, but the mystery of where he went was solved soon enough. Someone grabbed her arm from behind and put a hand over her mouth, ensuring she wouldn't scream. "I have some questions, and you're going to answer them," Kai playfully said. "I won't take no for an answer."

Great. Now Jinora felt like an idiot for not having noticed that he heard everything, and embarrassed that he heard her talking to herself. She started to protest, but he cut her off before that. "Come with me." Kai pulled her by the hand around the back of the palace, and ultimately to a small ledge where they had to crawl on their hands and knees to get through. Even from here though, Jinora had a great view, and was struggling to keep up with him as she really wanted to take in the scenery.

But Kai was far too impatient for that, and once again pulled her by the wrist down into a little clearing, where he easily leapt down, but that was too far for Jinora's liking. She struggled to climb down, and he just pulled her down by the back of her pants. "You are a scholar, that much is obvious, because you don't look like the type to go looking for fights."

Jinora threw him a mildly annoyed look, but also knew that he was right. Physical fitness was not her strong suit.

Still, this wasn't about to deter him. "There's so much I want to know about your world. Where did you come from? When did the floodwaters recede? And how did you get past the Leviathan?" In an act of curiosity, he pulled her glasses from her nose and put them on himself, which made her giggle, even though she couldn't see too well now.

"Whoa there, you're not the only one with questions," she interrupted him. "How about I ask a question, then you ask one, then I ask one, and so on," she suggested while taking her glasses back.

"Fair enough. Go on."

Jinora thought for a second, but the biggest question was obvious. "How did you get here? And I mean you as in, your city, your culture. We're half a mile under the ocean, so something happened."

Kai sighed. "The legends say that the gods became jealous of the wealth of Atlantis, so to remind us who was in power, they sent a great flood that decimated the city. But I don't remember much more than the skies going dark, people panicking, and then a bright light floating above the city. It called my mother to it, and that was the last time I saw her."

"Sorry to hear that," Jinora nodded, before she had a realization. "Wait a minute, you remember? That was 5000 years ago!"

He quickly did some math in his head, but then agreed. "Little bit more, but yes."

"So you are 5000 years old?"

Kai gave her a slanted grin. "That sounds like another question, and I do believe it's my turn." She chuckled, and yeah, had to give him that one. "How did you get here?"

"Well, that wasn't easy. Your Leviathan sure did everything it could to stop us, but the bigger issue was finding where to dive. If it wasn't for this book," she explained while pulling the Shepherd's Journal from her bag and giving it to him, "We never would have found it."

He thumbed through it, and his eyes grew wide as he saw the markings. "Okay, second question," Jinora continued, oblivious to what Kai was reading. "Legend says you have a crystal, a power source of some description..."

That was the point where he interrupted her. "You can read this?"

"Yes, I'm a linguist, I interpret languages for my job. Now, about that crystal..."

Kai had completely forgotten about their little agreement, and thrust the book right up in Jinora's face. "This, right here! You understand all of this?"

"Yes, that's what I do!" Jinora said, and was about ready to get back to her questions, but Kai seemed more than a little hesitant. "Wait... You don't?"

He sighed. "This style of writing has fallen out of favor since the time of the Great Flood. Most knowledge of back then was lost." Kai thought for a moment, but then handed Jinora the book back. "Come on, show me. Read me that page."

She hesitated for a moment, but then decided to entertain the notion. "Follow the lower bridge down to the east, there you will find the fifth marker." It was just a random sentence, and not one that made much sense without an accurate map, but it would prove her point. Kai seemed fairly impressed, as he translated it all into English. "Yeah, that's it!" she said. "How's my accent?"

"Boorish, provincial," he chuckled. "A millennium or two ago talking like that would have gotten you laughed out of any banquet."

Jinora raised an eyebrow at that. "Wow, thanks."

But Kai didn't dwell on it, and instead took her by the arm. "Come on, I want to show you something," he said, pulling her around the corner to a large metal fish-like object.

It was clearly made by a craftsman, with fine engravings on it, but Jinora hesitated. "Is this... is this a vehicle?"

"Yes, it's supposed to fly, but no matter what I do, I just can't seem to start it up."

Jinora noticed what seemed to be a control panel with actual writing around it, and a slot for the crystal Kai and the other Atlanteans all wore around their necks. "Alright, let's see what we have here. 'Place crystal into slot and turn to the right.'"

"Done that," he dismissed.

"Gently place hand onto pad," she continued.

"Yes, yes, I had gotten that far."

"Did you turn the crystal one quarter back?"

Kai nodded. "Yep."

"With your hand still on the pad?"

"Ye - no..."

Jinora chuckled. "Well, I guess that's your, uhh..." Her laugh kind of faded away as Kai shot her a slightly annoyed look, but he did hand her his crystal, which she used to turn on the fish. The pad and eyes of the vehicle began to glow, and it gently hovered about a foot above the ground. "Not bad for a provincial girl," she quipped while handing him back his crystal. Kai chuckled, and Jinora leaned in a little closer. "How well do these things fly?" she asked, and gently traced her finger over the pad.

Bad move on her part, since the fish immediately shot off, bouncing a couple of times off of several pillars strewn about, before Kai pulled them both down to the ground just in time, after which it crashed into the wall and was probably damaged beyond repair. He shot Jinora a meaningful look, which she could only react to with a sheepish grin. "So... I guess we're going on foot then?"

Since Jinora was really eager to see the city, Kai decided that it would be best to get an overview first. It was a good thing she wasn't afraid of heights, because they were scaling what felt like an enormous statue, just to get to a higher point so she could get a better idea of what the city looked like from above. Truth be told though, she had trouble keeping up with him, though not because he was way fitter than her, or at least that's what she told herself, but also because she just wanted to take in the view as much as she could.

That was also the point where she realized something. "By the way," she yelled up, trying not to make it too obvious that she was slightly out of breath, "We haven't been properly introduced. I'm Jinora!"

"I'm Kai Nedakh," he said, holding out his hand to pull her to the top of the statue. "But Kai is fine."

Jinora chuckled. "Okay, Kai, I can remember that." Now that they had finally reached the top of this statue though, she could see for miles. Most of the city was covered in what looked to be a thick tree canopy, but with buildings poking out here and there. Bridges and other structures stretched out all the way to the edge of the platform the city rested on, though again, a lot of it seemed to have gone to ruin over the millenia.

At this height though, Jinora could see over the fog, rather than being trapped in it, and she could see the walls of the dome that surrounded Atlantis, and even the narrow suspension bridge that they had come in over. That's when it truly hit her: she was here. She was right here, the thing that she had been searching for since she was five years old, and the thing that her grandpa Aang had been searching for for over five decades. The thought brought a tear to her eye, which Kai noticed. "What's wrong?"

She sighed as she took off her glasses to wipe her eyes clear. "Oh, it's just... My grandpa Aang spent his entire life looking for this place. I just wish he could be here to see it. It's beautiful."

Climbing back down was a bigger hassle than climbing up, even with Kai helping Jinora quite a lot. He really was freakishly strong, that much was for certain, but then again, his shoulders definitely suggested as much.

She basically slapped herself in the face for thinking as much, she had this one chance to study a lost civilization, not to gawk at handsome guys, no matter how good a shape they were in.

Kai guided them down to the edges of the city, where several men were fishing. The techniques they used were much like their language, apparently having gone on to inspire cultures all over the world. Some of the men used spearfishing, some used nets. There were boats, though none of them dared venture too far away from shore, lest they risk getting caught in the current of the waterfalls at the edge of the city.

Of course, since Jinora didn't actually get around to answering many of Kai's questions, he remained very curious. "So you know what my world is like, but what is your world like?" he asked.

"Where do I start? Unlike you and your flying fish, we only invented airplanes a few years ago. Made a big stir when they finally cracked it. Now it's becoming a game of who can fly the furthest."

That wasn't nearly enough for him though. "But what about the floodwaters? What do you know of those, when they receded?"

Jinora sighed. "There's not much about any kind of giant flood in our recent history. The only one I can think of is the one described in the book of Genesis in the Bible, but the historical accuracy of that is pretty questionable. My guess is that the city here sunk down into the ocean, rather than the ocean rising around it. There's probably more out here for us to explore, and we might find the answer."

Kai decided to take that answer for what it was, and started guiding them towards a place where they could get something to eat. "But that doesn't tell me anything about you, how do you live?"

"Nothing quite like this. I live in a small apartment, have a cat, a lot of books. People at my work thought I was crazy for suggesting Atlantis existed and that we look for it." Jinora sighed. "My grandpa Aang tried convincing the scientific community for years, and no one ever thought anything of it. He spent years gathering evidence, all a while withstanding one blow to his reputation after another, and no one believed him."

He gave her a small smile. "You believed him."

Jinora smiled back, because even though she had just met Kai, she felt like he understood her. The conversation she witnessed in the throne room was proof that he was fighting a losing battle as well. "I did, but he raised me, I barely count. And can you believe it, just as he found the proof he needed, this Journal, he died," she said, holding up the Shepherd's Journal.

"I'm sorry," Kai said, taking her hand and giving it a small squeeze. She briefly glanced down at it, but did really appreciate the comforting gesture.

"Thanks," she said. "That's why I have to make the most of tonight, because your father doesn't want us here."

He sighed. "I tried, but I couldn't change his mind. If it were up to me, I'd show you everything. After dinner, I'll show you one more thing before you have to go."

Jinora was kind of surprised. "Dinner? I can eat later, if I really only have one night here." As if on cue, her stomach rumbled loud enough for Kai to hear, much to her embarrassment, and she immediately felt her face heat up again.

He just chuckled. "Dinner first. If I'm right, what I have to show you will answer all your questions."

After having eaten - admittedly with some difficulty because of the Atlantean utensils - Kai took Jinora down the water's edge around the back of the palace. She could tell this was a quiet part of the city, seeming more overgrown than the rest of it, and there appeared to be a bit more wildlife here, including the literal fireflies that laid waste to their camp back in the cave. Still, there were plenty of intricate carvings around here, all of which any museum would kill to get their hands on.

"You know, Kai, we never expected to find anything like this here. Maybe a few ruins and some other archeological sites, but not a living, thriving society." One of the fireflies landed on her arm, but not being agitated like the ones in the cave, it didn't set fire to her. "These guys are kind of cute when they aren't setting everything on fire," Jinora giggled as it walked down her elbow, tickling her slightly.

Kai took a deep breath and sighed. "Our culture isn't thriving. We live, sure, but it's not like it once was." He gently cupped his hands around the firefly on Jinora's arm, and put it in the lantern he had brought. "We can't hold on, Jinora. Either we act or my city will die."

She looked down. "I'm sorry. I wish there was something I could do."

"There is," he said, which made her perk up. "There is a mural here, with writing all around it, but nobody can read it." He gave her a small but sincere smile. "Nobody except for you."

Jinora smiled back, but also felt a little proud as she took the lantern from Kai. "Well, you're talking to the right person. Let's just see what we got..." She turned around, starting to decipher the fallen pillar behind her. "We honor the God of the Sea..." It was at this point that she noticed that he wasn't paying attention to her, and in fact, he was doing something else entirely.

Kai was standing up to knees in the water, and had slipped his sash off completely, leaving his back exposed to her, so she could see every single muscle ripple under his skin. "Uhh, Kai? What are you doing?" Jinora asked, feeling her face heat up slowly.

Then he made it worse. Or better. Or worse, because he turned around fully, revealing that his chest looked like it had been carved out of marble by Michelangelo himself. Never in her life had Jinora seen abs that clearly defined, or even the V-shaped muscles underneath his abdomen running into his swimming briefs. "You do swim, do you not?" he asked, a crooked grin on his face as he saw what reaction he was getting from her.

Jinora felt that she was now roughly the shade of a tomato, and the heat in her face was so intense that her glasses started slipping down her nose from the sweat. "Oh, yeah, I swim pretty guy - good! Pretty good, I swim pretty good," she managed, though with great difficulty.

"Good," he smiled, dropping his sash on the bottom step. "It's a fair distance to where we are going."

She realized that she couldn't follow him fully dressed, so she quickly took off her top, pants, and boots. Thank God she listened to Korra and wore chest wraps, since that was the only thing keeping her decent now. Getting into the water, it was surprisingly warm, which was nice. "Not a problem, I minored in bellyflopping in university," Jinora joked, which made Kai chuckle. "So, uhh, where are we going?"

"Follow me," he said, and with a deep breath, dove under. The water here was slightly murky, which Jinora expected to be a problem, but as soon as she dove under, realized it wasn't going to be an issue at all. Kai was wearing his small crystal necklace, which was luminescent in and of itself, so spotting him wasn't a problem, even with his small headstart.

They swam down something that used to be a walkway, and this was the point where she realized that huge swathes of the city hadn't just gone to ruin, even bigger parts were under the water. Kai guided them down something that appeared to be a temple, given the large dome making up the surface, and once they had cleared the entrance, he made for the highest point in the ceiling, where there was a small air pocket for them to surface in.

Of course, with Jinora not being a very experienced swimmer, felt like she was somewhat running out of air, and may have booked it to the air pocket a little too fast, as she broke the surface and immediately hit her head on the ceiling of the temple.

"Are you okay?" Kai asked, who was now very close because of how small the air pocket was.

"I'll be fine," Jinora quickly said, hoping that her blush wouldn't be too obvious. "Where was this mural exactly?"

He smiled. "We're close." And with that, he dove under again, and Jinora had no choice but to follow him. Kai made for the far wall of the temple, the edges of which she could just make out, because it was huge. The floor was far below them, and still too deep underwater for her to make out any meaningful detail. But now that they were actually close enough to the wall, she could see the mosaïc with the light from Kai's crystal, and it was nothing short of stunning.

The depiction seemed to be of the Heart of Atlantis, with the Atlanteans themselves, the creatures of the sea, and even what appeared to be gods or titans revering it. Some of the mosaïc tiles were crumbling though, which did make it a little bit harder to make out exactly what was going on. Then Jinora noticed the writing that seemed to be in a circle all around it, which was probably the whole reason Kai had brought them down here to begin with. It was way too big to read the entire thing, and because she was running out of air, they made their way back to the air pocket. This time though, Jinora was far more excited about what she had just read than how close Kai was. "It's amazing! A complete history of Atlantis! Grandpa Aang spent decades compiling every scrap of information he could find, and it's right here!"

But Kai interrupted her. "The light! What does it say about the light?"

"I don't know yet, but we're going to find out. Come on." After taking another deep breath, she dove back under, and just from the light, could tell that Kai wasn't far behind. She made for the back wall again, only this time higher up than the mosaïc she looked at earlier. This one was even grander, a huge work of art with beams of light either going into or coming out of the crystals all the Atlanteans wore, as well as the chests of the titans. Around the edges, one of the most surprising things was to see depictions of European soldiers being repelled by the light, ranging from Romans to medieval-style armor.

There was a brief bit of text, and that was what she had been looking for. Jinora took Kai's crystal in her hand, held it up one last time to confirm it made sense with the largest mosaïc, and then excitedly pointed at the necklace before making for the air pocket again.

"Kai, this is it!" she excitedly said when he breached the surface as well. "It's all the same thing, the crystal in the journal, the power source I thought it was, the light you saw... It's what keeping your people alive!" Jinora quickly reached under the water and grabbed his necklace again, holding it up. "A bigger version of these, it's what's been keeping you alive, why you are practically immortal."

"But then where is it now?" he asked, seemingly still struggling to grasp all of this.

"I'm not sure, you'd think something like this would be in the Journal, but..." It was at that moment that a realization hit her. "The missing page... There are missing pages in the Journal, and what I can see from this all, I bet the information I need is on there. This place looks like it was built before the city sank, so I doubt it'll tell us." Jinora sighed. "We should get back. Maybe there's something I missed in the Journal that I can piece together now."

Kai nodded. "Okay, let's go."

Jinora was well ahead of Kai by the time she broke surface, and much to her surprise, was met by Zaheer sitting on the steps where she and Kai first went in. "Had a nice swim?" he asked with a deliberately smarmy tone. That's when she noticed the rest of the crew of the Nautilus, all armed to the teeth for no apparent reason.

"Hey... What's going on? What's with all the guns?" she asked, but nobody answered, they only glared at her. Jinora sighed when she realized what was happening. "I'm such an idiot. This is just another treasure hunt for you. You're only after the crystal!"

Zaheer smiled. "Oh, you mean this?" he said, pulling something from the back of his belt, which Jinora immediately recognized as a page from the Journal. Not just a page, the page, the missing page that she had been wondering about all along, the one that described the crystal, going by the detailed illustration. He read her surprised expression like an open book. "So you recognize this. It's nothing personal, but it was on a need-to-know basis, and you didn't need to know until now." He holstered his gun and held out his hand to her. "I had to make sure you were a team player. Welcome to the club."

Jinora just glared at him. "I'm no mercenary."

Kai emerged from the water a little bit to the side, and while she wanted to warn him, as soon as she made one move, there were three guns in her face, stopping her from doing anything. Kai, being a warrior, was barely hampered by the fact that he was still half in the water. Without hesitation, he jumped at the guy closest to him and grabbed his gun, using it as a club to knock down a second one, before diving back on the first one and pinning him to the ground. Much to Jinora's surprise, he drew a knife that she hadn't noticed, even though he was down to a pair of swimming trunks, and just as she was starting to worry that he would kill the man, a gunshot rangout through the air, knocking the knife from Kai's hand.

She looked back over to Zaheer, his gun still smoking, and he continued the conversation as if nothing happened while a couple of the men restrained Kai. "Mercenary? I prefer the term 'adventure capitalist'. Besides, you're the one who got us here."

Jinora hoisted herself out of the water. "You don't know what you're tampering with!"

He rolled his eyes dismissively. "What's to know? It's big, shiny, and will make us all rich."

His lack of care for the truth was worrisome to Jinora."You think it's a crystal, I thought it was a powersource, but it's neither. It's the life force of these people, and if you take it from here, this city will die!"

"Interesting. Kuvira, what do you think?" he asked, handing her the page. The fact that he was waving something that precious around like an old newspaper should have been like sacrilege for Jinora, but there were more pressing matters to worry about.

Kuvira just smiled. "Exclusivity bumps up the price. Doubles it, at least."

"Triple sounds better to me," he smarmed.

"Zaheer, don't do this!" Jinora tried, but found Ghazan blocking her path.

Zaheer walked over to the fallen pillar, casually leaning against it. "You academics are all the same. Always obsessed with knowledge, but never willing to get your hands dirty to obtain it. If you gave back every stolen artifact from a museum, you'd be left with an empty building. If we don't take the crystal, nobody will ever see it. Think of it as a service to the archeological community."

Jinora folded her arms. "Not interested."

The commander shook his head. "I'm disappointed in you, Gyatso. I thought you were smarter than this, but it turns out you're an idealist, just like your grandfather. Word to the wise; don't be like him. He was the biggest joke in the archeological community, all for being an idealist."

It only made Jinora angrier, Zaheer trying to use her grandpa Aang against her. Not that she could do anything about it, what with half a dozen guns ready to shoot her.

When it became clear that he wasn't getting a response, Zaheer sighed and rubbed his temple. "I hate it when negotiations go sour, but you leave me no choice." He nodded to his men, who threw Kai to the ground, and two of them aimed their guns at him, much to Jinora's horror. "Now," Zaheer said, stepping closer to her and holding out the missing page. "We brought you on this expedition because you can read gibberish. Better start translating."