The night descended as quickly as a hawk eagle diving onto an unsuspecting shrew-rat. At least, Bolin thought so. One minute, he was busy working his day job at the arena and trying his best not to think about the events that happened the previous night. The next, it was pitch black dark outside and he was counting down the hours until he needed to slip past his brother and hopefully meet the Equalist girl who had turned his life upside down.

The air was cooler tonight, slapping his face as each gust of wind swirled past their open window. Bolin shifted on the windowsill and leaned his head back against the wall, shielding himself from the weather. For most, the coming of winter held promises of family and festivals and holidays. But for him and his brother, it held promises of frostbitten fingers and toes and long nights huddling together under a threadbare blanket.

And tonight, it held promises of meeting the one girl who made him feel like he still had a purpose in life.

After they had defeated Amon, Bolin had been floundering. Everyone else had settled nicely into their niche-Korra was working with the council and continuing her Avatar duties. Mako was a police officer and enjoying the benefits of a steady job. Asami was rebuilding Future Industries. Even the young General Iroh was settling into Republic City, expanding the United Forces to have an outpost there.

But Bolin had drifted. He sat at home, watching his friends move on with their lives. He began putting together another team for the next probending season, but even that didn't fill him with the same content and joy it had before. It wasn't enough to just be "goofy" Bolin or "fire ferrets rookie" Bolin anymore. He had gotten a taste of something bigger than himself, and now he simply couldn't go back to the life of a probender he had before.

Well, not exactly. He would be hard pressed to give up pro-bending entirely. Hammering earth discs into unsuspecting teams was one of those simple pleasures that had gotten him through the last two years.

A sharp knock briefly interrupted his reverie, and he hopped down from the windowsill to go answer the door. He silently padded by his brother, snoring softly on the couch, and absentmindedly reached to open the door, still deep in thought.

But he also needed something else. Something besides earthbending. Something besides helping Korra with the council or Asami with her Satomobiles the few times they needed an extra hand. Something besides the probending arena.

"Bolin?"

Something like her.

"Kaiyo?" Bolin's voice came out higher than he would have liked, in a whispered rush. His mind was running slowly, as if it were stuck in molasses. Was he dreaming? No, she was really here, standing in the dark hallway outside of his front door. He briefly wondered how on earth she knew where in the huge arena their small apartment was, but he figured it was best to just not know. "What are you doing here?"

"Please, Bolin..."

It took a moment for his brain to catch up with his eyes, but when it did he noticed how tattered and bruised she was. Her cheek had a shallow cut right above her cheekbone, and he could see through her torn gloves that her knuckles were dirty and bloody. She still wore her Equalist garb, holding her helmet in one lowered hand, but her chest was heaving as if she had just run a marathon.

"You have to help me."

Bolin felt his heart thud painfully in his chest. He was acutely aware of his brother, still asleep behind him. If he brought her inside, his brother would have a fit. After all, he was a bit particular about Equalists after they tried to take away his and Korra's bending. And the remaining Equalist factions hadn't exactly made life easy on him as a police officer either.

The sensible thing would be to hide Kaiyo in one of the many storage rooms in the arena and go get Korra. She wouldn't go flying off the deep end over one Equalist, and she would be able to keep Mako from going crazy and possibly committing fratricide. She would help.

But then he would be leaving Kaiyo on her own for the afternoon while he went and fetched the avatar. And if she was able to find their apartment, who was to say the rest of the Equalists wouldn't be able to find her in the arena?

Oh well, Bolin thought. Who ever expected him to do the sensible thing?

"Come in," he said instead, grabbing her wrist and pulling her inside before she had a chance to protest. "They won't find you here, and then we can figure out what to do next."

She stumbled into the apartment, eyes wide as she took in their surroundings. He steered her towards the kitchen and tried to keep himself hyperventilating. What would Mako do in this situation?

"Would you like some...tea?" Stupid, Bolin, stupid! She needed comfort, not tea. Right? When Korra came back after being abducted, Mako carried her all the way up the Air Temple stairs to her room. Something told him that if he tried to do that to Kaiyo, she would hit him.

Kaiyo shook her head, the motion causing stray hairs to fall loosely around her face. It was mind numbingly distracting. "I came here because I need to tell you something important."

"Important?"

She nodded. "About my...about the other Equalists." Her mouth thinned into a hard line, and she glanced down, avoiding his eyes. "Yesterday morning I overheard some talk about an attack."

"An attack? On who? On what?" An attack sounded bad. Even with fewer numbers, the Equalists were dangerous.

"I wasn't sure. I snuck back today to figure out more, but wasn't able to get much before they found me. But it sounds like they..." Her voice trailed off and she turned towards the living room, eyes wide.

A line of fire, searing hot, shot between them. Bolin yelped and jumped away, landing closer to the door, while Kaiyo took shelter in the kitchen.

In the living room, his brother was awake and stalking towards them with a dangerous look in his eyes.

"Stop! What are you doing?!" His protest burst from his mouth before he even thought through the words. In the kitchen, he saw Kaiyo spin to face their attacker, grabbing hold of a cast iron frying pan and sinking into a familiar chi-blocking stance.

His brother's eyes flickered briefly towards him. "She's an Equalist! I'm trying to protect you!"

Anger boiled in his stomach like a serpent coiling up before the killing strike. Another time, another day, Bolin would stand aside and let Mako do things his way. It was easier, and not worth the effort. Mako's intentions were usually good, even if he was a bit of a control freak. He wouldn't hurt Kaiyo, but he would contain her and assume the worst.

But not this time. This time, Bolin edged so he stood squarely between Kaiyo and his brother, whose eyes widened in shock. The surprise on his face almost caused him to smirk. Mako was older, and still a better fighter than he was. But Bolin was an earthbender. Stubbornness was in his nature. Mako had no idea what he was up against.

And it was about time that his brother learned that he was not just a naive kid anymore.

"You need to listen to me right now," Bolin sank enough steel into his voice that he sounded five years older. The sound was foreign even to his ears. "This is Kaiyo, and she is not the enemy. She is helping me, and in return we are protecting her from Equalists who would see her hurt, or worse."

Mako shook his head. "Bo, you can't be serious. She is an Equalist, and dangerous! We need to detain her and question her."

Bolin sighed and set his jaw, sinking into a bending stance. "I can't let you do that."

Mako halted, and incredulous look edged in his features. "You would fight me?"

Oh, this was going to feel good. "No." Bolin let his mouth curve into an easy smirk. "I would beat you."

His brother's eyes flashed a dangerous shade of gold and he charged, two long whips of fire bursting from his palms. Kaiyo yelped and danced away from the attack, ending up behind Bolin with the frying pan still clutched nervously in her hand. Bolin understood her unease-chi blocking required proximity, and Mako's fire made it difficult to get close.

Mako changed the course of his fire whips to set one on either side of them. Bolin recognized the technique-Mako wanted to corner them so he could slap on a pair of handcuffs before they had a chance to do any damage. Too bad for him that Bolin knew his tricks.

Bolin dug his front foot into the ground to brace himself and raised both hands, palms up, in front of him. A massive wall of earth-six feet across and at least one foot thick, rose from the floor of his apartment, shaped from the foundation beneath their floor. The fire diverted around the wall, spilling off haphazardly in either direction.

Mako charged straight towards the wall and Bolin tensed, letting the sharp reverberations of his brother's footsteps tell him where he was. He knew what Mako was up to. He would leap over the wall and land behind him, incapacitating him before he could even turn around.

Just as predicted, he felt his brother land behind him. Mako recovered and started to twist impossibly fast-stupid firebender balance-but Bolin stomped on the ground once, sharply, and two spikes of earth shot up out of the floor and knocked him to the ground. Another stomp and makeshift handcuffs, just like the ones he had put on Kaiyo when they first met, materialized around Mako's wrists.

His brother's eyes flared, and his legs tensed up for a kick. Bolin needed to immobilize him, and quickly, or else he was going to be able to use his firebending to leverage his way out of the handcuffs. So, he did what any brother would do.

Taking two steps back, Bolin sat down right on Mako's chest.

"Oof, Bo!" Bolin was pleased to hear his brother's voice coming out in between strained pants. "What are you doing?"

"What I'm doing is keeping you from arresting our guest." He shifted his weight and was rewarded with another oomph from his brother. "She's not here to hurt us."

"Bo, she's an Equalist. You can't be that naive."

Now that was quite enough of that. "Mako, when we were younger you stepped up to take care of me. You've always been the leader, the one to shoulder responsibility. And you're good at it, I get that. I usually defer to you because you're my brother and I trust you.

"But I'm not eight anymore. And on this, I'm not deferring to you. This girl is not our enemy, and she needs our help. And with her, we have a chance to peacefully end the conflict between the remaining Equalists and make a huge difference for a lot of people who still believe in their ideas. And I don't care if you help me but I have to do this."

Mako exhaled, twin puffs of steam coming out of his nostrils. "You're sure about this? How do you know we can trust her?"

Bolin looked down at his hands. "She saved me. When I came on your rounds with you, when we were ambushed by Equalists. They were closing in on me and she pulled me to safety."

Amber eyes closed and Bolin felt himself sink as his brother let out a long breath. "Alright."

Bolin grinned, the effort stretching his mouth nearly ear to ear, and leapt to his feet before thrusting a hand down to help his brother up. As Mako stood up and brushed some dirt off his pants, Bolin noticed that his guest had managed to sneak off and now was making a very hasty beeline towards the exit.

He dashed to the door, holding it closed before Kaiyo could pull it open and leave. "Where are you going?"

She looked distinctly uncomfortable. "You guys were having a...moment. I didn't want to interrupt your..." She paused, clearly searching for the right word. "Discussion."

"No need." Mako was up off the floor, and somehow looking no worse for wear even after losing their fight. One of these days Bolin was going to need to learn how to do that. "Bolin is right, and I was completely out of line to attack you. I'm terribly sorry."

He held out a hand and Kaiyo tentatively shook it. Bolin felt pride burst in his chest as Mako gave the girl a small smile. "My name is Mako, and my brother and I are going to help you however we can."

A/N: Ahh, nothing like a good, brotherly fight to settle the score!

Full disclosure, I actually am quite fond of Mako. I was a bit sad when they stopped developing his character outside of romance after Episode 3, but I still liked him. What really bugged me was how he always seemed to mother Bolin and not respecting his opinion. I hope I came to some realistic conclusion of how Bolin would feel and respond to this later in the series!

I want to thank CourtingTheMoon for the giant wall idea! I hope it was implemented to your liking :)

Lastly, there is only one more chapter left in this story :'( I'm trying my best to make sure I get it out in a reasonable amount of time, but the upcoming holidays are leaving me stretched for time. With luck I'll wrap this story up in the next couple of weeks.

As always, reviews are cherished. Constructive criticism encouraged! And all that jazz.

Cheers,
OrganizedXChaos