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Chapter Text

There's something off about Aiwei...

He wasn't ready to tell anyone yet, but Mako liked feeling needed. Sleeping at the office was getting old, and Chief Beifong didn't exactly give much push back when he told her he would be joining Korra on the mission to find the rest of the airbenders. Goes to show exactly how needed he was on the force. He was glad when the radio picked up someone calling about another airbender in some place called "Zaofu" - to which Chief Beifong tensed up at when he and Asami broke the news to everyone. Given their recent escape from Ba Sing Se, the prospect of finding another airbender in Zaofu would lift everyone's spirits. "Would" being the key word there. 

He didn't want to give into the pit that was forming in his stomach, but Mako had a bad feeling about this. With the arrival of the Chief back in Ba Sing Se, and the news of Korra's life being in danger yet again, he was surprised that Korra still wanted to look for airbenders in the first place. Her constant need to put others against herself was equal parts admirable and frustrating.

Coming out to greet them at the main gates of the fortified city was a copper skinned man with an ornate piercing. His eyes were kind, but his voice was cloaked in the air of authority. They weren't expecting such a warm welcome, let alone a tour. As the man guided he and his friends around Zaofu, he introduced himself. Mako's apprehension to traveling to this place grew.

The truth seer was always too close to Korra, which had Mako was on edge. Maybe he was excited about the prompt visit from the Avatar, but he should've let her breathe a little bit. Aiwei's unwavering looks towards the young Avatar left Mako on edge. He wasn't jealous, but he could've sworn that when his heart skipped a beat once Aiwei put a reassuring hand on Korra's shoulder, the truth seer briefly made eye contact.

It'd been a tumultuous couple of days looking for airbenders to rebuild the air nation with, and Mako was just happy that they finally found someone who - with some convincing - would be willing to come back with them.The Airbender's mother had requested an audience with them first. This was understandable since they had planned to recruit her to the Air Temple. But Korra barely got a word in before Aiwei whispered something in the grey-haired matriarch. Aiwei had revealed Korra's white lie to the city's founder, and suddenly the fortitude of the city did nothing but keep Mako on his toes. After that, throughout the tour, he even tried his best to not think about his breathing, lest he give him a reason to suspect he thought something was off about him.

That night at dinner, he was able to finally relax since Aiwei hadn't been there. But it seems the spirits didn't feel like giving Mako a break. Seeing Varrick brought the painful twitch back to his dolphin shark shaped eyebrows. Knowing his place as a visitor, Mako didn't say much to Varrick besides reminding him that his escaping prison did not acquit him of his "alleged" crimes. Suyin's philosophy about giving people another chance was getting to him.

Had he not constantly been given another chance, where would he be? Where would his little brother be?

Growing up on the streets, Mako had obviously made some choices he now regrets. Pushing for the Triple Threat Triad while robbing for the Terra Triad, scalping tickets outside the probending arena, stealing his and Bolin's dinners from unsuspecting diners eating outside the Four Elements hotel. The list goes on. And that made it hard for him to maintain his moral high ground. Both to himself and those around him.

Struggling against these memories when Kai had joined them, Mako could already tell this would be a recurring problem while in Zaofu. He couldn't wait to wash up after dinner. It wasn't until Mako felt the familiar feeling of Varrick's skinny arm around his neck that he noticed that he let his guard down. Varrick was following close behind him since dinner was over.

"Mako, my favorite keen-eyed-detective-friend! How's the force?"

He couldn't keep himself from rolling his eyes, but Varrick either didn't see it or was choosing to ignore it. And somehow, Mako felt like it was more likely the latter. He looked down on Varrick through his nose while he removed his arm from his shoulders in one swift furl of the arm. He could at least try this "forgetting the past" thing, but he was still going to keep his guard up around Varrick. Forgiving is different from forgetting.

"It's going... fine."

"Great, great, glad to hear it," Varrick waved off Mako's curt response and looked over his shoulder at something. "You hear that Zhu Li? It's going great!"

Startled, Mako jumped to the side at the sudden presence behind him. Had she been there the whole time? He had no time to consider this because Varrick barreled forward with his words.

"With how great it's going," Varrick lowered his voice and looked around for any stragglers from dinner. "I'm sure you could give me some much needed... advice?"

Mako narrowed his eyes, but leaned in closer with Varrick to ask what he was talking about.

"Well, when I came back to visit 'ol Su," Varrick began, "I hadn't known how secure this place was gonna be. The Metal clan has been open minded enough to let me tinker with this knew rail idea, but I don't think Mr. Right-Hand-Man is all too keen about my being here."

"You mean Aiwei?" Mako could feel his suspicions being fed, but he tamped the feeling down just a bit.

"Yes, the 'truth seer'," Varrick used air quotes very pointedly before quickly straightening his back as some Zaofu guards made their way past them. Mako caught Varrick's subtle cue and the two of them gave some (hopefully) convincing smiles at them before walking together out of the grand hallway. Zhu Li kept close behind them - she had been the one to alert Varrick that they had company. When they made it out of the hall, Varrick kept talking but was walking in the opposite direction as Mako, causing him to double back just to hear the rest of what he had to say.

"I've got nothing to hide from the guy, obviously," Mako rolled his eyes again at Varrick's comment, "but he's a little owl squirrel-y, that one. After all, if he's the city's truth seer-."

"Then who's checking him?"

The realization hit Mako instantly. Immediately, he thought back on their interactions, cursing himself for not being more watchful of Aiwei.

He had been kept awake the entirety of the trip contemplating why he was here. Sure, he said yes to coming along because Bolin had been convincing with the whole grandma speech, but why was he really here? Not just in Zaofu: why was he really here with Korra and the rest of the team? Slowly but steadily, Mako had drifted apart from the rest of his friends. In his isolation, he truly realized he had no one but his brother. Team Avatar's of the past had a synergy that he couldn't help replicate. He didn't even actually do anything to earn his spot on the airship; all he did was print out a map.

If he had to do something to prove himself, why wasn't he more on guard about protecting Korra like before? He had just gotten used to being in the same room with his exes, and now one of them had a crazy guy after her again? And what was he doing besides tagging along while Korra was rebuilding the air nation, Bolin was building a connection with Opal, and Asami was assisting them with transport?

If this was a lead to something - anything that had to do with this Zaheer guy and his gang of red lotuses, Mako was inclined to take Varrick's words more seriously.

"This is almost a baseless accusation," Mako rubbed his chin in deep thought, "but thanks for the tip. Hopefully it's nothing bad, but I'll keep an eye out. For Korra." 

Asami was the first to speak. Though they noticed Mako's absence after dinner, Korra, Asami, and Bolin chalked it up to him wanting to be alone again. 

"Bolin," her voice seemed delicate. "Do you think- well... We were just wondering if maybe you could talk to Mako. He seems..."

"More brooding than usual." Korra deadpanned.

Korra nervously shrugged when Asami shot her a stern look. Asami wasn't going to put it like that, but at least Korra got the hard part out of the way. They both looked at Bolin, who was unexpectedly not oblivious to what they were referencing. He scratched the back of his head and had to force himself to look into their eyes. 

He knew what they had meant. 

It was obvious that Mako was actually glad that Bolin had convinced him to go on the trip. But he wasn't letting himself enjoy the time off from work. If anything, this trip should have forced Mako to let the edge off. As much as Mako tried to seemed to be a stick in the mud to most people, Bolin knew his brother. He's always been on survival mode, and now that there was any semblance of an era of peace on the rise, Mako didn't know how else to be. But maybe the two of them being here wasn't exactly helping.

"I just think he still needs time to get used to... you guys and, us... all? You know? It's only been a couple weeks since the whole 'you know what' between you three."

Korra sensed what he was saying, and Asami shot a glance at her shoes. There was a bit of an awkward silence. Bolin had his brother's back, they shouldn't have forgotten that much.

"Right, of course-!"
"We didn't mean to come on too strong-!"

"No, no, it's okay," Bolin reassured his friends. "I know you're just worried about him. I just mean it'll take some getting used to before he'll fit right in with all of us again. But I'll talk to him."

They both nodded and took their leave, but not before sharing a look between them. Something was going on there too, but Bolin couldn't unpack that tonight. Now he just needed to find his brother.

That's when he realized he was all alone in the hallway. And lost... All the doors looked the same.

After trying a few doors looking for his guest room from earlier, Bolin gave up. Turning around to see if he could retrace his steps, he came face to face with the truth seer. 

"Is everything alright?" Aiwei asked.

"Oh, yeah...," Bolin politely replied, to which Aiwei raised his eyebrow. Right, he can't lie around Aiwiei. "Well, actually, no. I can't really figure out my way around this place. You're probably busy, but do you think you could tell me how to get to the courtyard? I should be able to find my way from there."

Aiwei seemed to relax, which put Bolin at ease. 

"I'm not too busy. It's no trouble at all."

Aiwei stepped to the side, his arm outstretched to the door, directing Bolin out of the dining room. The two of them walked in silence, Bolin following closely behind him. Maybe he imagined it, but Bolin could have sworn that Aiwei glanced back at him a couple times. 

"I trust the tour wasn't too troubling," Aiwei's voice cut through the silence like a scratch in a record, "what with having to walk all over our precious city."

"This place?" Bolin mused. "I would live here if it wasn't for the whole finding more airbenders thing. Oh, and the needing to get out of here immediately because of-."

Bolin had almost let it slip about Zaheer. He bit his tongue, both literally and figuratively, as his ears started to burn. While he nursed his tongue, Aiwei turned around and stopped. They were not in the courtyard but in front of a familiar door.

"Here we are. But you were saying...?"

"Uhh..." His heart rate was quickening, and he didn't know what to say to get out of this. Thankfully the familiar voice of his brother called after him. 

"Where have you been?

When Mako had caught up to them, he wedged his way between the two of them and into the bedroom, but not before pulling Bolin's collar in after him.

"'S'cuse us, Aiwei... I guess Mako has something so very important to discuss with me." Bolin shot an apologetic look at Aiwei, but bowed and headed inside. Mako was sat cross armed on the bed when he closed the door behind him.

"What is up with you these past few days?"

"Nothing. I'm just watching your back."

Bolin took notice of Mako's silence immediately he entered the bathroom. He was finally happy to have a nice bathroom to do his night routine in and here came his brother with his usual brooding energy. But he knew something was different about his brother this time. The way he was often in the corner of the airship lost in thought, the lack of enthusiasm during their punched up air show back when they met Kai. His brother was brooding, but not this brooding. He could tell something on his mind.

Especially when he tried to change the subject the second Bolin pressed him on it.

"So... You and Opal seemed to hit it off at dinner. I think she's really into you."

"Yeah, you know, she's sweet and pretty and super nice." Bolin said matter of factly through the toothpaste that filled his mouth. "Too bad she's not my type."

"Right, I forgot," Mako lived to throw sarcasm his way with a smile. "Your type is dumb mover star or psycho ice princess."

"You know... that hurts a little bit." Bolin dramatically squeezed his chest. He knew his older brother was joking, but his heart did skip a beat at the mention of Eska - he thought they promised not to bring that whole thing up again. Bolin looked into the mirror, checking himself out. Licking his thumb, he slicked the loose strand of hair on his forehead and gave himself an award winning smile, "Maybe you're right, bro. Maybe Opal is Bolin material."

Out of the corner of his eyes, Mako grimaced at the clueless statement, to which Bolin gave him a confused glance.

"That is not what I meant, and you know it," Mako corrected. He crossed his arms to add emphasis, a habit he picked up as a kid once Bolin's early growth spurt left the older brother with no other way to assert dominance over him. The smug look faded as quickly as it appeared on Bolin's face. He took a deep breath and dropped his shoulders. 

"Yeah... I know. But how am I supposed to get her to like me?"

"She already likes you, Bo!" Mako nearly shouted. He was surprised Bolin was being too dense to see that. But deep down, they both knew the feeling of not being enough too well. Bolin internalized it, and Mako externalized it. "Look, Bolin. I'm not just saying this for no reason. It's obvious she's into you, and that you guys have something between you. You just gotta stop trying so hard to change yourself to fit into whatever narrative you think she has about you in her head."

Bolin's shoulder perked up now. Mako always knew what to say. Now if only he could take his own advice...

"Hmm, kinda like sounds like advice you need to take about yourself."

Mako's eyes widened for a moment, but he turned his attention back to his already spiky hair in the bathroom mirror. Noticing Bolin's eyes still on him, he turned to beeline right to his bed, but Bolin somehow managed to appear in front of him, cutting off his exit.

"I don't mean it like that!" Bolin frantically waved his hands back and forth at Mako. "I just mean you can't keep distancing yourself like this. Don't think I can't tell you're counting down the days until you can go back to being behind your desk in Republic City... Or should I say 'under it' since you're still sleeping there?"

Mako avoided his eyes but pursed his lip, which Bolin took as a sign to keep going.

"That whole thing with Asami and Korra? Water under the bridge. They miss you. I miss you. Stop thinking you don't belong here."

Mako looked at his brother deeply. When had he grown up? If anything, it was to Bolin's point: he was missing important things by being alone. He put his hand on Bolin's shoulder, making the shorter man let his guard down just enough for him to weave past him out into the bedroom. Bolin may have grown up, but Mako wasn't ready to take his advice just yet. With a chuckle, he pulled off his shirt and climbed into the smaller bed of the two. 

"Thanks, bro...," he muttered. "I'll keep that in mind."

Neither brother knew this, but on the other side of the compound, Aiwei sat at his desk, his feet planted square into the dirt floor of his house. Silently, he resumed his writing.

He couldn't tell exactly who, but someone was lying.

Chapter Text

Mako noticed Korra subtly nurse her temples from across the breakfast table. Suyin’s ex-pirate chef was so gung-ho about providing the Avatar with a traditional Southern Water Tribe meal to fuel her before her and Opal retreated to the training grounds, but to her left, the eel fish stew sat untouched. With both of them being early risers, Mako had already run into her a couple hours ago. 

Waking up around 6 in the morning had been engraved in Mako ever since he joined the force. When he got over the initial confusion of his missing brother - Bolin somehow managed to roll out of bed in the middle of the night and remained on the ground - Mako got out of bed and started his day. Nothing like a little early morning jog around the city to wake him up. And it even doubled as reconnaissance for anything else that could give Mako a reason to bring up what Varrick had said to the others.

Just before daybreak, and after finding nothing out of the ordinary on his run, he resigned to making his way back to their lodging. Slowing his pace once he could see the bridge that led back to the Beifong residence, Korra came into his view. She was still in her pajamas and her hair was down. But it did not fall over her face enough to conceal the far off look she had in her eyes while she absentmindedly sent ripples in the brook beneath her. Seeing her gaze turn to the sky, Mako looked up to see the metal dome that had safely tucked Zaofu away from the rest of the world hadn't been opened yet. It gave the two of them an eerie feeling. But while Mako was wrestling with Varrick's warning, Korra was wrestling with a far away memory.

Wiping sweat from his brow, Mako approached her. He hadn't been avoiding her per se, but he would be lying if he said he minded the group being too preoccupied. Even though Korra assured him that they were good, he hadn't gone out of his way to just talk to her in a while. 

"Beautiful night we're having," he called out. His voice startled her. Seeing it was just her friend, a small smile creeped onto her face. He finally caught up to her and together, they looked up  at the metal dome above them.

"Oh, it's just you," Korra let out a deep breath. "I thought you were one of those guards coming to yell at me or something."

Mako raised an eyebrow. Upon closer look, he could see beads of sweat clinging to her exposed arms. The concern on his face made Korra break eye contact first.

"Is everything okay?" the joking tone left his voice and he put his hand on her shoulder. "You look off."

Korra shrugged and turned her attention back to the water below them. She had been awoken from a distressing dream that she couldn't recall at the moment. When she tried to pull the memory to the front of her mind, a sharp pain shot through her head behind her eyes, but she had a feeling the dream was important. With the weight she felt pulling her down made her think it wasn't a dream, but some kind of premonition. Korra might have lost her past lives, but the feeling was familiar. After all, Aang warned her about Yakone, was Raava trying to do something similar?

"I had a nightmare," she began. "Or, at least I think I did... I just needed some fresh air to stop this splitting headache, but I guess I was so lost in thought that I forgot to change before coming out here."

"To be fair, I don't think anyone else besides us would even be awake by now," Mako leaned over the guard rail of the bridge. He cocked his head towards her as her hand shot up to dig in her ear, "But seriously, are you okay?"

She nodded solemnly, but the question hung in the air between them. Korra nudged his arm, determined to change the subject.

"What's going on with you Mr. Hat-Trick?" Korra half teased and half asked. Mako visibly tensed up. Seeing this, she put a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

"I didn't want to worry you about anything before I gathered actual evidence-."

"Evidence?" she chuckled loudly. "Sometimes I wonder if you even know how to turn off cop mode."

"I know how this is gonna sound but there's something off about this place," Mako said. "I was talking to Varrick... I know, I know. But get this: he warned me about that truth seer guy."

A pang of pain ran through Korra's head again, like her synapses were overloaded all at once. Hunching forward a little, she gritted through the pain, much to Mako's surprise. Still clutching the side of her head, she straightened her back and looked up to see the serious look on his face. But it wasn't Mako who stood over her.

Green eyes glared into Korra’s weakened blues. She was taken aback by Aiwei, who had replaced Mako, his hands hidden behind his back. Though she was seeing him clearly, he felt far away. Like a memory… or a dream. Then he slowly closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

Almost as quickly as he appeared, he was replaced by Mako, who helped her to stand.

“I’m fine…,” but Mako knew she wasn’t. “Just… tell me what you think about Aiwei.”

A rumbling through the whole city cut Mako off as the two of them snapped into defensive stances with their backs to back. Sunlight poured into Zaofu, quickly reflecting off the sleek homes within the city-state. Korra and Mako relaxed; the dome had finally been opened to reveal daybreak had painted the sky. Mako nodded his head in the direction of the Beifong residence.

“I’ll clue you in inside. I’m not so sure how safe it is to talk freely out here.”

After breakfast, the stew was cold and untouched, much to the dismay of the chef who had been eager to see if she enjoyed his first dabble with Southern Water Tribe cuisine. Suyin had asked earlier if she was alright, but Korra just chalked it up to sleeping wrong. Thankfully, Aiwei wasn’t there, and Korra managed a decent poker face.

Everyone's attention turned to the door of the grand dining room, which creaked open to reveal a visibly uncomfortable Lin Beifong. As if on cue, Aiwei followed after the police chief with a flustered look on his face.

The sisters' fight the day before had been resolved, but Lin wasn't going to stop being grouchy overnight. In fact, it was cover enough for Mako to slip away and do a little investigating on the guard rotations before and after Team Avatar's arrival into the city.

Passive aggressively, she complained loudly about Zaofu's security to the rest of them. Suyin assured her that they were in the safest city in the world, to which Mako casually stuffed a roll in his mouth to hide his reaction from the truth seer. This earned him a look from Suyin, but neither him nor Korra noticed.

Boisterously, Suyin teased her sister about her complaints about the security of the city the day before. Korra and Mako shared a look. Why was she doubling down when Lin resigned to slumping into her seat for breakfast? As breakfast winded down, Mako stacked him plates up neatly before rising with a new objective.

It might be time to clue in the Chief.

Zaofu was truly beautiful, as was its infrastructure. In the Beifong’s back yard alone was a training ground that stood as an architectural masterpiece. Everywhere she looked, Asami saw something that made her make a mental note; Future Industries could always benefit from inspiration like this. 

Asami had ample time on her hands that morning, which she spent touring Zaofu with Bolin and Pabu. But the two of them had enough of being stopped by the locals and resigned to heading back to the training grounds to sit in on Opal’s training. After all, Bolin was a mover star and Asami’s beauty and notoriety as head of Future Industries was not lost on her. But between Korra focusing on Opal in a one-on-one lesson and Bolin tagging along just to not-so-subtly ogle at the pretty new airbender, Asami had nothing to do. 

Mako was nowhere to be seen, as per usual it seemed, so she had no one else to talk to except Varrick, who happened to be passing by the training grounds with poor Zhu Li in tow.

Varrick had happened to be passing by the training grounds with poor Zhu Li behind him, Feeling bad, she excused herself from Bolin - who didn’t even notice she left - and went to split the poor assistant’s load in half. She had been lugging a huge pile of scrap parts and scrolls after him with all her strength. By then, Varrick started a spiel about his latest project he debuted the night before at dinner: the magnetic rail road.

How she found herself entertaining Varrick again, Asami did not know.

Either he was really convincing or talked too fast. Nonetheless, her curiosity was peaked. She toured Varrick's workshop, taking in the various magnets that riddled all the metal walls.

But Varrick loved to hear himself talk. After about ten minutes of listening to all the different salves Varrick had Zhu Li rub on his feet this morning, Asami had tuned out completely and lost a bit of interest in his whole “magnets are the future” thing.

But there was something interesting in the madhouse that caught her attention. Thrown half haphazardly onto a desk by the entryway of the workshop was a worn old book on flowers. It was out of place and didn’t match the rest of the scrolls and books that Varrick had strewn about. Maybe it was given to him.

She grabbed it and moved into a brighter light source. With Varrick distracted, she inspected it a little further. On the outside, in fine print, read Property of the Great Library of Zaofu. Thinking nothing of it, Asami thumbed through it. But soon, she found herself squinting at a detail in some of the calligraphy that caught her eye. 

The pressed ink on the cover looked innocent enough, but throughout the book, the ink on some characters were different. To a casual reader, nothing was different. But Asami noted the muddied crimson of parts of some random characters. They looked as if a drop of red ink was mixed into the deep dark ink normally used for the rest of the calligraphy. 

Continuing to skim through the book showed her that most of the book was normal. Only a few contrasting characters every couple of pages. But one page in particular towards the end was choke full of text littered with the marked letters. A blatant secret message.

“‘Those… who eat-’ no. ‘Ate the fruit of the garden gate… reaped nothing but a sweet taste..?’”

“What could possibly be so interesting in that book that you stop paying attention to real time innovation?” 

Annoyingly, Varrick’s voice interrupted Asami’s focus. She turned around and brandished the book for Varrick to see. 

“What’s a guide on botanical gardens got to do with your rail idea?” she asked him.

“That’s exactly what I told that beady-eyed hawk-owl!” Varrick exclaimed, motioning at Zhu Li to hand him a drill. “‘Sunflower oil isn’t going to power this mag suit,’ I told him. And nowadays, he keeps ‘accidentally’ popping by, hovering over my work and ‘chatting.’ My gut tells me to keep a close eye on him, but otherwise, I don’t know what he’s all about.”

Asami closed the book. With Varrick’s track record, she wasn’t too surprised by Aiwei’s watchful eye. She decided she’d had enough Varrick for one day and moved to leave the workshop, putting the book back on the messy desk.

“Do me a favor since you’re leaving, would ‘ya?” Varrick called out to her. He had peaked out the side of the metal suit and pouted at her seemingly sudden disinterest. “Get the book outta here. You can even have it if you want. I’m already swamped enough as it is with my schematics!”

“Sure, I guess.” Asami really had no reason to keep it, but she didn’t remember the way to the library. Tucking the book under her arm, she decided to regroup with the rest of her friends. Maybe Korra and Opal were still training and she could sit in on it with Bolin. On the way to the training grounds, Asami asked for directions from the uniformed men nearby Varrick’s workshop.

She didn’t feel the eyes that followed her, nor the whispers that escaped some of Zaofu’s most lowly of guards. The guards’ eye lingered on the faint, tiny lotus flower etched into the spine of the book tucked under her arm.

When she made it back to the training grounds, Korra, Bolin and Opal were gone. Exploring the grounds a little more Asami found Korra sat cross legged in a secluded part of the estate. Recognizing the meditative state, she tried to discreetly leave the Avatar be. 

"It's okay," Korra muttered. "I wasn't too deep into my meditation anyway."

She opened her eyes to Asami lowering herself to the ground in front of her. Mirroring the stance of the woman in front of her, Asami studied Korra's face.

"I haven't seen you meditate in a while," Asami observed. "Everything okay?"

Korra slowly looked around them. Seeing no one around, she met Asami's green eyes and lowered her voice. She explained everything Mako told her earlier, as well as the dream and vision involving Aiwei.

"I just thought maybe meditating would give me a bit of clarity," Korra told her. She then noticed the book Asami had kept beside her. "But the only thing clear to me is I don't know who we can trust... What's that? I didn't know you just snuck off to the library."

Maybe the book was connected to this somehow...

"I got it from Varrick," Asami corrected. She opened the pages to the message she discovered earlier. "I didn't think anything of it at first, but take a closer look at this chapter. Does this mean anything to you?"

With a quick scan of the page, Korra winced. Reading the message seemed to jog her memory.

"I think this has to do with the vision I had." Korra whispered, quickly earthbending both of them to their feet. "We need to get this to Mako, and to find Bolin."

Remembering the book's fine print, Asami takes the book from her and does some more inspection. 

"I think we need to find Lin...," It's then that Asami sees the flower etched onto the spine. "This might be linked to the Red Lotus."

Chapter Text

"And just where exactly are you taking me?" Bolin struggled to get the words out as Opal dragged him behind her by the arm.

The two of them had just broken off from Korra and were jogging through the grounds of the Beifong residence. Plastered on Opal's face was a wide toothy grin. Bolin had remarked about the beauty of the metal clan's estate earlier and this put an idea in her head, telling him that she knew a place he would really love. When the two of them finally reached some sort of game ground, the mischievous smile was wiped from Bolin's face. When she had said they'd be alone, he shouldn't have assumed that was what she meant.

"This is where I had in mind!" Opal said with a flourish of her arms towards the sunken pit behind her. "I figured since you've spent all morning watching me train, we could switch gears a little and you show me what you got."

This remark left the two of them flustered at what she could be implying. With red cheeks, Opal clarified, "In bending! Show me what you got with your e-earthbending!"

Moving past their misunderstanding, Bolin took a step forward and took a closer look at the sunken earth pit beneath them, awe painting his face. In the mini arena, there were metal columns erected from the ground in a mirrored pattern and goal posts at each opposing end of the field. To the left of each goal post was a messy pile of discs that resembled the compact earth discs Bolin was used to using during his pro-bending days. His awe wavered slightly when he took a closer look at the pile of discs: metal.

Opal smiled to herself and cocked her head. His reaction left her smiling to herself; curiosity was written all over his face and she thought it was cute how he was subtly rocking back and forth in place, as if he was antsy to get into the arena. Seeing an opportunity, she took his hand and led him to a concealed staircase. Bolin blushed at the sudden contact.

Reaching the bottom of the stairs, the two of them were met with a sheet of metal. Opal dropped his hand, stepping back to look at him expectantly. He thanked the spirits that they were deep enough underground that the sunlight didn't illuminate his red face. But when Bolin didn't immediately react, Opal's eyebrow raised in confusion.

"Do you mind getting the door..?"

Hit with a wave of realization, Bolin turned to the great sheet of metal. Only then did he notice that it wasn't just any sheet of metal. It was a huge sliding door, with an open slice of earth on its left side to which it would retract into. Gritting his teeth, he made himself small and an awkward laugh escaped him.

"Well, actually I do mind." Bolin blurted out. But the words came out ruder than he expected them too.

"Excuse me?" Opal deadpanned, putting her hands on her hips in annoyance.

"Wait no- I just...," Bolin sighed and calmly put his hands up in defense of himself. "I would love to open the door for you. I'm not trying to be rude, I promise! It's just that I actually... can't metalbend."

Opal threw her hands over her mouth at the revelation. Bolin expected Opal pity him, or at the very least, laugh and make fun of him. But she turned away from him out of embarrassment. She didn't mean to assume that of him. 

Feeling around in the shadows, Opal found a failsafe switch embedded in the door and opened the door. The two of them shielded their eyes from the sun and awkwardly stepped out of the staircase's landing. 

Bolin scratched his neck and struggled to piece together a funny quip to break the silence. But it was hard for some reason. Normally, he would make some self deprecating joke and move on, but he felt too exposed. Then Mako's words from the previous night rang clearly in his mind. He wanted to be genuine with Opal; she didn't seem like the type of girl that he could turn on fake charm for to smooth things over. Guess the right thing to do was be vulnerable.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to disappoint you."

Opal's face fell and she didn't even let him continue.

"'You're sorry?'" she asked. "No, no. You didn't 'disappoint me,' I'm sorry! I didn't mean to assume that of you, and now I've made things awkward."

"No! You're totally fine, you didn't know."

The awkwardness hung in the air for another moment while they looked at each other. But soon, Bolin burst out into real laughter. Surprised at first, Opal tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and slowly joined in Bolin's laughter. Her laughter eased his tension and he caught himself staring at her. Against her olive toned skin was a twinge of pink that accented her eyes. He adored that she laughed like no one was watching, like she knew her cheeks hurt but she didn't care. A longing smile reached his face, and he felt a little better knowing he was able to make her laugh anyway. 

Maybe being himself wouldn't blow up in his face the way he thought it would.

The moment passed and Bolin mentally reset himself.

"Well," Bolin started, "I may not be able to metalbend, but that doesn't mean I can't show you my top-notch earthbending skills."

Opal beamed at him and took several steps back. With a swift raise of his hands, Bolin bent a seat for her in the arena. Before he began his display, he gave a goofy bow.

Watching Bolin go through random forms mesmerized Opal. His stances were solid and the way he made pointed attacks with the earth were amazing. Quickly bringing his elbows in for his final move, his outstretched fingers flexed into his palm, chipping away at the large pieces of earth he had suspended in the air. Dust formed in the air as the earth crumbled to tiny fine pieces of rocks. Stepping back, he drops into a squared off stance as he twisted his hips and torso. With two sharp jabs, he sent the rocks flying hard and incredibly fast into the goal furthest from him, earning a standing ovation from Opal. She could definitely see the influence probending had had on his bending.

With more bows from Bolin, Opal looked around the arena and made a mental note to ask him to flatten back out the pen. She didn't want Wing and Wei going off on her too much. But there was another thought weighing on her mind.

"Do you mind if I ask you a personal question?" she muttered, holding her hands behind her back. Bolin nodded. "You seem to have a lot of control of the element so I just can't help but wonder... have you ever tried to find a metal bending teacher?"

Bolin appreciated that she was trying to ask him this as gently as possible.

"I didn't really think to do that, I guess," he explained. "I've always been more of an earth. The dirt, rocks, maybe some light gravel - that's kind of where my heart is. I didn't really know any metalbenders growing up and the only time we ran into any was when me and Mako were running from the police."

Opal remembered their conversation the day prior, and how Bolin and Mako grew up on the streets and did what they had to do to survive. She opened her mouth to say sorry, but the earthbender put a hand up, as if to say there's no need to apologize. 

"That doesn't mean a small part of me doesn't really wish I could though," Bolin said with a dreamy smile.

"You should ask my mom! I'm sure she'd love another earthbender to train."

Bolin scrunched his face at the comment, "Woah, that was a loaded thing to say. What did you mean by that?"

Opal caught herself and sighed. She motioned for the sliding door and the two of them made their way out of the power disc arena. After a short walk, they were out of the Beifong estate. Opal had led him to the main city square, where a statue of her grandmother, Toph Beifong, stood. Looking around, Bolin took in the statue and could feel his jaw dropping. Noticing this, Opal chuckled a little before pulling him past the statue to a large map of the city.

Displayed on a modern-styled, metal post, the map had a picture of Opal's family on the back. But it had seemingly been taken a couple years ago, given how much younger Opal looked. Opal pointed out the inscription positioned at the base of the picture to Bolin. 

Commemorating the Metal Clan: Founders of Zaofu.

Bolin read the inscription and took notice of how the young Opal had a bit of sadness in her eyes as she looked at her parents in the picture, Su Yin and Bataar Sr., who sat surrounded by their children. But Opal stood by her lonesome, her parents all holding the other children in some way.

"I love my family, and I know my parents love me," she began, "but being a part of the 'great Beifong Metal clan' was a little hard growing up. Being the only nonbender after Bataar left for engineering school was a lot. That's why I'm so excited about my airbending! But... I want to become my own person, but I still have an obligation to my family, you know?"

"Is that why you're afraid to leave Zaofu?"

Opal was initially offended at the question but simmered down. After all, Bolin was right.

She turned to look at the picture, making eye contact with her mother as she thought about the prospect of leaving where she grew up. Bolin put a reassuring hand on her shoulder, which brought her back down to earth. They each knew the two of them had some thinking to do.

They stood together like this until familiar voices calling out to Bolin. 

Separating, they turned to see Asami and Korra making their way towards them. In Asami's hand was some old book. The two of them caught up to the sign and Korra locked eyes with Opal.

"I'm really sorry to break up what seemed like a lovely moment, but could you show us how to get to the library?"

Lin did not want to believe that her sister was tied into a plot against the Avatar, so when Mako brought everything to her, she toiled with the idea. She didn't want to raise suspicions and decided they couldn't talk in her sister's house about this. The two of them excused themselves back to the airship. The Avatar's cryptic visions about Aiwei, Varrick's (the "alleged" criminal conspirator's) suspicions of Aiwei, Suyin doubling down on the strength of Zaofu's security. 

These things couldn't all be coincidences. Even if her sister wasn't lying, it would be reckless of her as a police chief and long-time detective to not follow up on a lead brought to her by one of her officers. Putting aside her newfound trust in her sister for a moment, in the airship, Mako beelined to go over the transmission logs from the previous couple days. 

She looked on as Mako went through the catalogue meticulously. The Southern Water Tribe Cultural Center bombing came to mind. Lin knew it would be even more reckless of her to not listen to Mako, who has proved himself to have good instincts and strong leads.

"Found anything yet, detective?" Lin said with crossed arms.

"Not really...," Mako handed her the clipboard. "There's only been two radio transmissions since you came and met up with us back in Ba Sing Se. One from Zaofu to tell us about Opal and another one to Tenzin in the Northern Air temple. I looked back on the logs from before that and nothing seems too out of the ordinary since this is a Republic City police ship."

Lin confirmed the calls and handed back the log to him and began recounting anything out of the ordinary that could point towards something nefarious. 

"There's gotta be something here," she muttered. "Or else you've brought me a big pile of nothing - which, for your sake and my sister's, you better hope you didn't."

Mako awkwardly smiled at the covert warning from his Chief before a light went off in his mind. 

"Chief Beifong, does anyone know you were bringing Korra back to Republic City?"

"Of course not," Lin dropped her guard and stared quizzically at Mako. "The second I received word that Zaheer and his lackeys escaped from Korra's father and Lord Zuko, I took leave from my office and left Saikhan in charge again. But I didn't make him privy to any other details - I don't fully trust him after that whole task force mishap with Tarrlok. When we separated from Tenzin and the airbenders, the plan that you all ruined was to head straight back to Republic City and keep Korra under a protective order."

Hearing this, Mako looked back on the log. He was right: Korra had called Tenzin, but Mako and Asami had received that call from Zaofu. Worst yet, for the first time since Mako had heard the informant, he truly considered what they said.

Great news! Tell the Avatar there's another airbender in Zaofu.

Mako immediately brought Lin up to speed. Seeing no other option, she told Mako the whole story behind the Red Lotus group - from how they were imprisoned just a few years into Korra's young life to how no one knew what they were really after, nor how many other members escaped prison. With this, Mako had unofficially been updated to a need-to-know basis. If only he had been briefed about this, they would have been more careful while touching down in Zaofu.

The two of them wasted no time making their way back towards the main fortified dome, looking for Korra. The whole run over, Mako was kicking himself. How could he have been so lax in making sure Korra stay protected? How did they know the Avatar was on the ship? Who was the one that called in Opal? 

Running past the vast training grounds of the Beifong residence, Mako and the Chief stopped to catch their breath.

"Where are the rest of your friends?" Lin asked as they reached the grounds.

Mako looked around and noticed how things were different. On the tour, he recalled the twins played some game they invented down in the now rocky sunken earth pit with metal columns. The mini arena was partially terraformed and Mako thought of Bolin. 

And there was one of Bolin's iconic earth seats on the edge of the ring; did he go down to practice his metalbending only to get frustrated and tear up the grounds? And did he get tired after the fact and... sit down? 

Lin caught Mako's gaze and nudged him.

"What're you looking at?"

"I think Bolin could have gone down there," Mako said, pointing into the mini arena. "Wei and Wing play power toss or something down there. But look at how broken up the gaming ground is. I don't think the twins did that since power toss is a metabending game - you can't defend your goal with earthbending. I think Bolin could have been nearby."

Lin took a sweeping look and jumped down into the pit, shooting her metal cables at the ground to stop her momentum and soften the landing. Upon closer look, she found fresh footprints, but they didn't seen to follow any game movements.

"I don't think he was playing a game," Lin called out to Mako as she noticed a different set up footprints. She groaned as she pieced together what had likely happened here. "I think he was showing off to somebody."

Following the footprints out of the pit - they seemed to run into a panel of metal in the wall that upon closing her eyes and feeling around, Lin discovered was actually a sliding door - Lin made her way up some hidden stairs to where Mako was standing. She pointed towards the center of the city, beckoning Mako to follow the footprints with her.

When they were close enough to the center of the city, Mako saw his friends in the distance. Lin, however, stopped following him. She was too taken aback by the statue. 

It's been so long since she's seen her mother's face.

"Uh... I'll catch up with you in a minute!" Mako called out to her, sensing she might need some time to process some things, before running after his friends. 

It didn't take long for him to lose them. Looking around, he saw a local outside standing in front of a lovely display of flowers. He walked up to the older woman and she was so stunned to see the fire bender appear at her shop, she almost dropped her watering can.

"Are you looking for the Avatar?" she asked excitedly, pushing up her glasses with her one free hand. When Mako raised his eyebrow, she smiled even more brightly. "You don't look local, and I just saw Opal with the Avatar in tow heading towards the library! Oh, you must be Mako, the firebending brother they mentioned. Something about needing to find you 'ASAP.'"

Mako squinted his eyes at the woman. Though the glint in her eyes told her she was probably just a probending fan and her behavior seemed trustworthy, he couldn't shake the feeling of being watched. Before, he would have brushed it off in an attempt to stop being paranoid - but now everyone was a suspect. He couldn't let his guard down. If this woman was connected to Aiwei, he needed to throw her off his trail and get to Korra as soon as possible.

Mako relaxed his face and thanked the woman for directions. The woman was very eager to keep up conversation with him but he managed to shake her. Just find Korra, he kept reminding himself, so we can all get out of here. Taking in the sheer scale of the library, he thought of how much Jinora would have loved to visit this place just so she could spend the day browsing through the shelves.

Pointed out by the librarian, he found the rest of Team Avatar deep in the Library's archives. 

"What're you guys doing?" his voice dropped to a rough whisper and all their eyes were on him. Then he noticed Opal's presence. Korra was leaning over Opal's shoulder reading something, much to Bolin's jealous chagrin, while Asami was cross referencing a book she was already holding with the shelf in front of her. Getting up from besides Opal, Korra rushed to his side.

"We were just about to come looking for you," she said, clasping his arms in her strong grip. "But we just had to check something first in this library. Get this: Asami found something."

Without breaking her focus on the bookshelf, Asami tossed the book she was holding to Korra, who caught it over her shoulder with minimal effort. She opened to a chapter in the end of the book and thrust it into Mako's hands. Within seconds, Mako recognized the code hidden in the pages and was now thumbing through for some more.

"So am I the only one who needed more than two seconds to crack your secret spy book code?"

The four teenagers looked at Bolin, who nervously chuckled at sudden attention, that said are you serious right now?

Mako's eyes darted between Bolin and Opal. He looked from the book to the native Zaofian and studied her face. He thought on what Lin had told him about the group in the airship. She was too young to possibly have ties between the Red Lotus members, given they've been imprisoned for Korra's entire life. Before they could discuss their next move, a voice cut through the brief silence.

"I'm sorry, but this area of the library is under restricted access."

Of course we're being kicked out by the librarian, Mako thought, as he moved to exit the hidden shelves. He was stopped by Korra's hand on his shoulder. The man was dressed in the same robes as the head librarian at the front desk. But something about the way his robe was full of crinkles tipped him off to everyone except Mako.

"And just who are you to do that?" she asserted. "You aren't the head librarian."

His eyes slowly settled on all their faces one by one, before settling on the book Mako was now holding.

"I'm sending a message...," his voice was commanding. "From the head librarian, of course."

Not wanting to make a scene, Asami was determined to ease the tension.

"We'll go, it's no problem," she said casually, as Opal and Bolin stood up from where they sat on the floor. But the group did not get far before the man spoke again.

"And leave the book, thank you."

Reluctantly, Mako handed the book back and committed the man's face to memory. Again, he began to feel his insides start tightening up. Handing over this book meant they had nothing to give Beifong. Letting go of the only evidence he has that leads him closer to solving this mystery meant he was back to being useless in the group. At least this was what he was telling himself as the left.

But when they were far enough from the library, Asami pulled the book out from behind her back.

"How did you-?" Mako began to ask. "Then what book did we give that guy?"

"The code in the book was talking mentioned gardens," Asami said as she handed an identical book to Mako, "and given that we're dealing with the Red Lotus, it made sense to search those shelves for other possible similar hidden messages. All I had to do was check if the other spines had a similar lotus etched into them. There was another exact copy on the shelf that I could swipe while that guy was focused on Korra."

Soon, they ran into Lin, who overheard the tail end of Asami's explanation.

"Good, you're all here. Now what's all this about secret messages?"