Replies to Reviews: Thanks for the positive feedback! Here's the next chapter. Things will really start heating up, and I think you'll be able to tell why by the end of this chapter.

Part 3: Growing

Korra looked around at the plaza upon which they had landed. It was paved with white stone and along one side a covered walkway connected two buildings, all of which were white with blue roof decorated with gold trim. Trees and bamboo grew along the sides of the island's rocky plateau and the promontory on the other side of a small cove. Its design had a certain simple beauty to it that resonated with some part of her, but that feeling lasted only a moment as they landed.

Korra quickly jumped off, a part of her looking to escape her prior introspection. She had seen four White Lotus sentries positioned around the compound on the way down, but she expected that there were likely more inside one of the buildings. She knew that the White Lotus weren't going to attack her, and even if they did, there was no way that they would win, and so force herself to quickly relax.

The others quickly followed her down, with Ming-Hua beating even Master Tenzin to the ground.

"Welcome to Air Temple Island," Tenzin said, gesturing to the surrounding compound. "Over there is the airbending training area on the other side of the temple," he said, pointing, "and over there is the White Lotus sentry building. We didn't need it before, but unfortunately with the Equalists and some other groups becoming more active in their attacks on civil institutions and other important locations we've had to upgrade security."

"I didn't think the Equalists were that big a threat," Mako said. "I haven't heard anything about attacks in Republic City."

"Not in the city itself," Tenzin agreed, "but there have been increasingly numerous attacks against government officials and buildings in the frontiers of Republic City territory as well as all across the Northwestern and Western Earth Kingdom. It's only a matter of time before they start making strikes against Republic City itself and we airbenders make a unique target due to our low numbers. There are some that feel that resurrecting our culture is a waste of resources when during the Great War there were many local Earth Kingdom and other cultures that were also effectively destroyed by the Fire Nation's colonization efforts. Sadly it's true. For instance, the Patolan people were fishers and herders who lived in the islands of the Southern Air Temple. When the Fire Nation attacked the Air Nation, they ended up displacing most of those people and now there's even less left of their own history and traditions than of ours because most of their stories and history weren't written down." He scowled. "Not that the Equalists actually seem care about fixing that sort of thing, but both they and the Earth Kingdom use it as a talking point." He shook his head. "I'm wandering off topic. The point is I'm an important man here in Republic City and the world since I'm the leader of the Air Nation such as it is. Even if I and my family live here, the Air Nomads technically hold sovereignty over four major island chains," he continued. "One of which you hail from, Kya. Apparently, this makes me a target for the Equalists and others."

"Others?" Bolin asked. He gasped. "Are they secret assassins trying to overthrow the world?"

Ghazan let out a solitary chuckle and Ming-Hua's demeanor became positively icy.

"Don't be ridiculous Bolin," Mako said. "I'm sure that's not it at all." He looked askance at Tenzin.

Tenzin coughed. "We don't think so. So far they've been hard to track. They've been consistent in targeting figures of authority and items of monetary or historical value though, particularly those involved in or somehow related to the current unrest in the Earth Kingdom. These are the subject of ongoing investigations, but suffice it to say that they either want war between Republic City and the Earth Kingdom, or its overthrow so that they can wage the war themselves."

"So I'm right!" Bolin proclaimed excitedly, thrusting a hand in the air in triumph. At Mako's withering glare his hand dropped. "Well, mostly anyway. But still!"

Korra noticed a man wearing the blue and white uniform of the White Lotus walk out of one of the buildings and come towards them. She could see his eyes take in the group, lingering on Ghazan, Ming-Hua and her in turn. The way he looked at her reminded Korra of veteran Red Lotus members, or more recently Chief Beifong. What could he tell about her? Her deception worked with the Police Chief, but would it hold up in a White Lotus stronghold? Well, base anyway.

"Hello, Master Tenzin," the man said, "Who are your guests?"

"Ah, hello Captain Long," Tenzin replied, identifying the apparent leader of the local White Lotus under Tenzin's command. "These are Mako, Bolin, Genji, Ming and last but not least Kya, our new found airbender."

Bolin waved and said "Hi," while Mako, Ghazan and Ming-Hua gave nods of acknowledgement.

"A pleasure to meet you all," Captain Long told them with a short bow, though his eyes seemed focused on Ming-Hua. "Please feel free to relax. While unsavory elements may be targeting important people and infrastructure in the surrounding area, my people and I will allow nothing of the sort to transpire here on our watch."

"Good to here," Ming-Hua replied, returning his gaze, "but you don't have to worry about us. We know how to take care of ourselves."

"How fortunate to hear," Captain Long replied evenly before turning to Master Tenzin, who now seemed uneasy. "It's late and Misses Pema insisted that I make sure you had some dinner."

Bolin's stomach rumbled. Rubbing his stomach, he said, "Dinner sounds good to me. What are we having? Seafood?"

Tenzin gave him an incredulous look, as did everyone else save Mako, who put his face in the palm of his left hand, and Captain Long, who laughed.

"No," Captain Long said as soon as his laughter was under control, though Korra could hear it ready to break free again, "Airbenders are vegetarians, everything we eat here are vegetables grown on the island with some rice, naan or pickled vegetables shipped in to spice things up occasionally."

"Yes," Tenzin agreed, annoyance still evident in his voice before he visibly calmed himself. "And, since this is a special occasion, I was thinking that we could break out the naan with fruit chutney."

"I don't think I've had that before," Korra said truthfully.

"Well, I think you'll enjoy it. Of course, it's for desert, so we'll have a proper meal first," Tenzin replied as he waved the others to follow him to a particular building which was connected to its neighbor by a covered walkway. "I was actually about to sit down to eat when I learned you were at the police station giving your statement, but I imagine the rest are still eating."

"That they are sir," Captain Long agreed. "I'd have let them know you had arrived, but I thought our guests could use some breathing space until they've gotten a chance to take things in."

"Hmm, yes." Tenzin glanced back at Korra and explained, "They can be very energetic sometimes, especially Meelo."

As they walked, Korra spotted blue and white shift in the windows of the pagoda in the center of the island and in the window of the building attached to the one they were headed towards. Korra looked again at where the four guards had originally taken their positons. They had been arranged around the plaza so that they could each converge on the landing area without getting in each other's way and the guards in the windows, however many there had actually been, had been positioned to ambush from above and provide support to the four below. Captain Long had kept the children away while his guards had taken up positions to attack anyone who had come with Master Tenzin to the island.

Was it an ambush for her specifically? No, that didn't make sense. After all, they didn't, couldn't know for certain that she was the Avatar, and even if they did know who she was and set up an ambush, why wouldn't they have attacked then? The most likely conclusion was that they were trying to do their professed duty and protect the Tenzin and his family from anyone with ill intentions.

However, the way Captain Long had looked at the Ghazan, Ming-Hua and Korra, and kept his eyes on the other two still, seemed to resonate uncomfortably with her earlier questions.

Putting those thoughts aside, Korra looked to Mako and asked, "So, how are you feeling about your game tomorrow?"

Mako shrugged. "About as well as can be expected. I'd have liked for us to have more time to train, but with the Equalists being more active in the Earth Kingdom and the outskirts of Republic City there's more uncertainty. Something's stirring up the Triads too. With all the uncertainty, the managers need their money sooner than we'd thought so we've had to split our time between our matches and doing whatever jobs we can find." He gestured at Bolin. "He wanted to be a street performer before I talked sense into him."

"And look how well that turned out," Bolin retorted. He paused and then immediately corrected himself. "Well, I suppose it did, I mean, I got to meet you Kya!"

"Thanks Bolin, it was nice to meet you too," Korra replied, happy at the comment.

"Aw, thanks Kya!"

Ghazan cleared his throat as he seemed to suddenly be behind Mako and Bolin.

Bolin let out an "eep" and jumped into the air, using his earthbending to reflexively launch himself away from the formidable man.

"Good reflexes," Ghazan commented as though nothing particularly strange or noteworthy happened. By his standards it hadn't. Korra had gotten used to him ambushing her through walls in order to 'help her train her reflexes.'

Ming-Hua nodded. "Sharp kid. I guess there's a reason you team's managed to do as well as it has."

"Yes, we train as much as possible," Mako blithely replied as they reached the entrance to one of the buildings.

Korra could see another two White Lotus sentries inside, as well as several people in oranges and yellows of airbenders. At one table was a pregnant woman and three children, two were girls of around ten and perhaps seven or eight and one was a boy who looked to be few years younger than the second girl, so he was likely around four or five. Of course, these were guesses as Korra herself wasn't that experienced with how children looked as they aged, she had been the only one at the Red Lotus base.

Everyone looked up from what they were doing when Tenzin walked in. Korra caught Captain Long move one of his hands out of the corner of her eye, but it was too quick for her to tell precisely what it was. She did however note that the two White Lotus sentries slouched against the walls behind them where they stood, apparently relaxing. The only thing off about their seemingly casual stances was the way their eyes remained focused on the five newcomers to the exclusion of all else even as the pregnant woman and her children got up.

"Dad!" the children cried out as they ran over to meet him, using their airbending enhanced speed to propel themselves faster than even the most hyper of non-airbender children.

Tenzin spread his arms to greet them, sweeping them into a hug as their mother, Pema, walked over. "Sorry I'm late, but I brought company." He gestured to Korra and the others. "They wanted to try some genuine Air Nation cuisine. May I introduce you all to Kya," she waved at them, trying to hide how the situation set her on edge, "the newly discovered airbender, she came to Republic City to see the world with her companions, Genji," he said hello, "and Ming," she nodded at them and smiled with knife edged smile, "and she ended up saving this young man's life."

Bolin nodded. "Yep, without her I'd have been a bit of trouble. Name's Bolin by the way, this is my brother Mako," Mako gave a small wave and said hello, "and this is Pabu! Together with our waterbender Hasook, who isn't here right now, we are… the Fire Ferrets!"

"I knew I recognized you somewhere," Captain Long said. "You're the ones that beat the Usanagis last month, right?"

"Yes, that was us!" Bolin agreed excitedly. "It was a difficult battle against overwhelming odds, but through our courage and perseverance we triumphed!"

"They also fouled a few times, but we beat them fair and square," Mako agreed.

"It really came down to the wire, the last match, could we beat them?"

"We were in the lead at that point actually."

"Mako," Bolin objected, "you're making it sound like it was anything other than the match of the century!"

"Right, sorry."

"Don't worry about it Mako, I'm sure Captain Long here already knows, right?" Bolin asked as he sidled up to Captain Long.

"Of course," the White Lotus Captain amicably agreed, "I'm glad I bet on you." He glanced at Tenzin, who was giving him a level look. "If I were a betting man, that is."

"Hi, I'm Jinora. So, you're the airbender?" the oldest girl asked Korra, putting that line of discussion to an end.

"Yes," Korra confirmed.

"Awesome!" the boy exclaimed. "Are there other airbenders out there too?"

"No, not that I know of," Korra replied. "It was just me in my village. I don't even know if any of my ancestors were airbenders or not. If they were, it was probably a long time ago."

"Oh," Jinora said, disappointed.

"Come, show us what you can do!" the boy exclaimed in excitement, not letting the news get him down.

"Meelo, we just got back and none of us have had a chance to eat," Tenzin chided. "She can show us what she learned how to do later."

"We just sat down actually," Pema said from where she stood next to her husband, "though we weren't expecting so many." She turned to one of the people in Air Nation robes. "Lao, would you mind fetching some more food for our guests?"

"Not at all, ma'am," the man replied with a bow before he turned and left through another exit.

"Let's sit down while we wait," Pema said. "I don't think my husband introduced us, so I'm Tenzin and these are our children Jinora," who gave a short bow, "Ikki," who waved brightly, "and Meelo."

Meelo held out his hand to Korra, affecting solemnity and failing, "Pleased to meet you."

Korra smiled and shook his hand. "Pleased to meet you too."

With that, they settled down to eat.

+BotRL+

Mako looked around the tables that they had pushed to gether so that everyone in the dining hall could eat and speak to each other. He and Bolin hadn't worked with Triads since they had managed to join the Pro Bending circuit, but that didn't mean that his old skills had left him. He knew there was tension in the air, both from the White Lotus and from Kya's two companions.

He was missing something, he knew that, but he wasn't sure what.

At least Kya seemed nice enough and the Air Nation food was surprisingly good.

"So, Mako, how do you expect to do in the next match?" Captain Long asked, cold eyes locked on his own. That man seemed an odd mix of relaxed and cautious. Mako hadn't seen people like that often, but either on the streets or in the arena they were the ones most threatening because they could and would attack at any moment without holding back.

He seemed similar to Genji and Ming in that respect.

"We're up against a good team, but we're better," Mako replied.

"Good to hear. So you're not worried at all?"

"Why would we be?" Bolin interrupted. "We're the best team there is, isn't that right Pabu?"

Pabu looked up from the lettuce he was chewing on to chitter in agreement.

"See, even the wild animals agree with us," Mako joked.

"Excuse me? Pabu is not wild," Bolin objected indignantly. "He is the height of sophistication!"

Pabu chittered angrily and threw his piece of cabbage at Mako, who caught it and charred with his firebending. He then threw it back to Pabu, who caught it and started nibbling on the charred cabbage.

"See? Wild," Mako replied with a smirk.

Kya chuckled, followed by the others at the table.

Bolin harrumphed, folded his arms and shook his head. "I'm disappointed in you Mako, provoking him like that." Pabu chittered in annoyance and shook his head as well.

Everyone broke out into laughter, Genji gwafing and Kya's laughter rang through the room.

After they had calmed down, Mako asked Kya, "SO, what was your village like?"

She shrugged. "Quiet mostly. We did some work with farming gardens, but mostly I spent my time training and reading."

"Training?" Bolin asked. "I thought you only developed your airbending in your teens."

"Oh, well… My father Zaheer taght my how to fight without bending before that, and once I learned I could airbend I started practicing that as much as possible."

"How did he teach you to fight? With or without weapons?" Captain Long asked.

"Both," Kya replied. "He wanted me to make sure I could take care of myself in any situation. Though, admittedly I'm not that good of a fighter without using bending."

Genji chuckled in a way that made Bolin shudder. "You could say that."

"Sometimes I'd spar with Genji or Ming without bending, for practice," Kya explained. "…I learned how to dodge…."

"A valuable life skill," Ming stated.

Mako nodded. "True, if Bolin and Hasook were better at dodging our team would be performing better."

Genji grinned joyfully and Ming's mouth stretched in a smile reminding Mako of the time he'd seen a tigerbear while in the country. "We could help with that," Ming suggested softly.

"Since you're friends of Kya, we'd be happy to help out while we're here," Genji agreed cheerfully.

Mako was already having a bad feeling about it.

"Um," Bolin said uncertainly, "I don't know. With our match tomorrow and our jobs and the matches after that… I think we're kind of busy."

"Oh come on," Kya pleaded, "it'll be fun. Promise."

Mako was certain she was lying through her teeth.

"I don't know…" Bolin equivocated.

"Please, I want to see how I do against probenders," Kya requested.

"Well…okay," Bolin finally agreed.

This is going to end badly, Mako thought to himself. Still, at least it would be entertaining. He hoped.

+BotRL+

"Thank you, the food was delicious," Korra told one of the Air Acolytes, an old woman who had helped serve the extra dishes that Lao had gone to retrieve.

"Oh, it was nothing dear," the old woman replied as she picked up dishes from the table along with Lao and a few other Air Acolytes, "I'm just glad we had a chance to help another airbender."

"Yes," Lao agreed, "it was a pleasant surprise to meet you. I do hope you'll stay a while, and perhaps even visit the Northern Air Temple when you return home. I'm sure Abbot Wan would love to meet you."

"Yeah, I'd like that," Korra agreed. When the old woman took Korra's cup, Korra said, "You don't need to take that. I can clean it." It didn't sit right with her to let them work without her. Backat the Red Lotus base, they had stressed that people shouldn't be masters of each other and should not be forced to be subservient to others. Making the Air Acolytes take care of that menial labor seemed like just that.

"Oh, don't worry about it dear," the woman replied. "I appreciate the offer, but you're our guest and you're settling in tonight after your first day in the big city, relax, have some fun. If you end up staying here awhile, then you can help out, okay?"

"Okay, thank you," Korra told them earnestly.

"You're welcome, but like Mai said, we don't mind," Lao agreed with a smile. "No shoo, we have dishes to clean."

Korra nodded to them and looked over to Ghazan and Ming-Hua, who were standing just slightly apart from Bolin and Mako's discussion of probending with Captain Long and one of the White Lotus sentries. The other was leaning against the wall behind Korra and idly watching Ghazan and Ming-Hua.

Tanzin walked up to Korra and said, "It's rather late, but there's still time for a tour if you want."

"I want to see her airbend!" Meelo declared, running up to them.

"Yeah," Ikki agreed, "if you don't mind."

Korra shrugged. "Sure, I'm up for it." She looked over the airbenders, wearing their traditional clothing. "Well, I imagine that you're all better at it than me since I only really learned it recently and everything since has been self-taught."

"I'm sure you'll be fine, and of course we'd be more than happy to teach you," Tenzin assured her.

"Okay, thanks," Korra replied.

"You're going out to show off your airbending?" Bolin asked. "Cool! Come on Mako, let's see what she's got!"

"Sure," Mako agreed.

"That sounds entertaining," Captain Long agreed.

"If you don't mind," Lao spoke up, "we'd like a chance to see you bend as well. It'll take us a bit to clean up though."

"Not at all," Korra replied.

They all made their way out, save the Air Acolytes who were cleaning the dishes. They crossed the island over to a tiled area with a Yin-Yang symbol in the center.

Korra walked up to the yin-yang symbol while the others formed a loose semicircle around her. Seeing them all watch her intently made her slightly nervous, but she pushed past it. She was the Avatar, and she had learned airbending by herself. So what if it wasn't the most impressive airbending they'd ever seen? She could – no, would – get better.

Korra took a deep breath and slowly let it out, relaxing as she did so. She turned away from them, then she crouched and leapt into the air, pulling the wind up with her to carry her farther. Landing in a roll, she spun her arms around herself, pulling in a spiraling wind that helped propel her to her feet so that she could spin, sending out a blast of air out around her before bringing her hands together to send out an air blast which blew the leaves off of some of the bamboo stalks at the edge of the training area.

Korra turned back to the group to see them clapping.

"Woo! Go, Kya!" Bolin cheered alongside Meelo and Ikki.

"For someone who is self-taught, and only learned about their ability just a few years ago, that's very impressive," Tenzin complimented.

Mako nodded. "Good job."

Korra smiled at the compliments and asked, "Hey Mako, you said you wanted to prepare for your match tomorrow right? How about a spar?"

"Ooooo!" Meelo and Bolin ooed, looking expectantly at Mako.

"Gonna let a girl get away with challenging you like that?" Ghazan asked.

Ming-Hua cleared her throat.

"You're not a girl- ow!"

Mako raised an eyebrow at Bolin before looking at Korra and shrugging. "Sure, why not?"

Korra nodded and they moved to opposite sides of the semicircle of onlookers so none of them were in the immediate line of fire, literally and figuratively.

Bolin held up his hand in the air. "Ready?" he asked in a serious tone. Mako and Korra nodded. "Begin!" His hand dropped and the spar started.

Mako didn't waste any time, firing twin blasts of fire with his fists, which Korra managed to divert by spinning to the side and pushing the fire away with a gust of wind.

She couldn't use anything but airbending, so she couldn't stomp her feet to pin him in the earth. Instead, she twisted her upper body and whirled her arms around clockwise, sending wind sweeping through the air towards him. It wasn't enough do anything more than inconvenience him, but that was her intention. She hoped it knocked some dust into his eyes, he was covering his face with on hand and using the other to spray fire in her direction. With a flourish to finish the gust of wind, Korra dodged and slipped around his blast of fire to close the distance.

As soon as the wind died down, Mako's hand came away for his face and he was rapidly blasting bolts of fire at Korra while carefully moving to the side, his stance remaining solid.

Korra leapt up, throwing her hands forward to send an intense blast of air at him and it was forceful enough to make him take a step back.

In reply he swept his hands towards her, sending out streams of fire, but she gestured to the ground and the wind pushed her down and out of the way. Rolling to her feet she leapt to the side and out of the way of Mako's renewed stream of fire bolts.

One of the bolts hit the ground right where her foot was about to land, sending her stumbling.

It was enough for Mako, who leapt towards her and pulled back his fist, crawling with fire.

Seeinghim coming, Korra had to resist the urge to knock him back iwht her own firebending, and by the time she started airbending it was almost too late. Almost.

She spun counterclockwise, sweeping with her hands and the air answered her call, knocking him aside with its force to send him rolling across the ground.

She sprung after him, sweeping her hands up above her head and then down at him as he tried to get up, powerful winds knocking him back to the ground.

She landed on his back and grabbed his hair with one hand and held back her other in a fist. "Ready to give up?"

Suddenly he bucked and Korra found herself in the air, twisting around to see what he was doing, she was in time to see Mako spinning on one shoulder, fire spiraling out of his feet. She batted away the flames and landed in time to see him curled up on his back with his feet in the air before he kicked out towards her with both legs, an intense cone of fire rushing towards her. Korra spun to the side, summoning a whirlwind to protect her, but beofer she could complete the motion a concentrated blast of fire hit her, going through her protective current of air and knocking her off her feet.

While she was in the air she felt another impact of a fire bolt on her left leg, causing her to spin slightly. She used this to land on her feet and spin her legs in a powerful blast of air that went out in a horizontal disc all around her.

She knew about explosions from P'Li's explosion bending training, and she knew that the most important part of the explosion's effects was the concussive force created.

Before she could finish her train of thought, she saw that Mako had ducked under the blast and was sending a wave of fire along the ground at her. Korra pushed herself off of the ground and into the air, punching out with a directed air blast which Mako managed to counter with a defensive fire burst as he stood up.

Explosions projected their concussive force through air. Korra stretched her hands out to either side as she reached the peak of her airbending assisted jump. Mako punched out with both hands, but Korra was able to bring her hands together faster and harder.

A deafening boom rolled across the island and sent Korra tumbling through the air until she hit the bamboo that lined the training area. She spluttered for a moment before her training with the Five kicked in and she immediately leaped clear of the bamboo, ready to attack or defend at a moment's notice.

Mako was sitting on the ground, rubbing his head. Everyone had been knocked back except for Ghazan, Ming-Hua and Pema, who had been cushioned by water tentacles from Ming-Hua.

Korra landed back on the lines that surrounded the yin-yang symbol.

She looked at the others and saw Ghazan give her a thumbs up while smirking.

"So, uh, did I win?" she asked, rubbing the back of her head in embarrassment.

"WHAT?" Mako asked loudly, "ALL I CAN HEAR IS RINGING."

"WHAT HAPPENED? DID KYA WIN?" Bolin asked loudly as he sat up, his head in his hands.

Mako turned to Bolin and asked, "DID YOU SAY SOMETHING BOLIN?"

"WHAT HAPPENED?"

"WHAT?"

"WHAT?"

Korra flushed with embarrassment and backed away.

+BotRL+

It was late and night had descended upon the city. Yue Bay was lit up by the light of both the eternally active city and Yue herself. After everyone had a chance to compose themselves after the match and Ming-Hua had looked over Pema and scolded Korra for her carelessness, Tenzin had insisted that it was too late for them to spar again and Mako had agreed after he recovered his hearing. Therefore Korra and her companions had been shown to their rooms.

Captain Long had posted sentries around the male and female dormitories as precautions. However he only had a few people and they had to take shifts, so only four were on duty while the moon hung high in the sky overhead.

They kept watch as best they could, but it was not enough to keep a shadowy figure from slipping into the female dormitory unnoticed.

+BotRL+

Ming-Hua always slept lightly, and always kept water with her so she was not caught off guard when a shadow slipped through her door.

"Ming-Hua," a familiar voice whispered.

She turned her head to look at him. "Zaheer?"

"Tonraq and Senna are on their way here. This obviously cannot happen. Unalaq and Jian will be arriving in two days to watch in your place. You know what to do. Agents will be meeting you at Rhinobadger Point, standard protocols."

She sat up. "They'll have the scheduled course?"

A sealed tube was tossed at her and a knife thin water tentacle was called up in an instant to catch it. It quickly pried the top off the tube and pulled out the papers within.

"You have one day to get there, and three more to intercept."

The smile that spread across Ming-Hua's face was predatory. "Anything else?"

"It's an accident, obviously."

"How tragic."

"Quite. Good night, Drowner."

+BotRL+