“The Avatar?” 

 It was early in the morning. Lin didn’t expect a visit from anyone and certainly wasn’t this young troublemaker teenager. That did not also mention how did Korra know her place to come in the first place.

 “Tenzin told me where you live,” Korra said.

 “That jab. He’s never known how to keep his mouth shut.” Lin slapped her palm to the forehead, murmured under her breath.

 Korra peeked inside the house, “May I come in?”

 Lin was hesitant, but she opened the door wide enough to let the young girl slip in. Korra hurtled and followed the hallway into the living room. She looked around and stared at the medals hanging on the wall with amazement until she was disrupted by a cough.

 “So, what do you want?” Lin said.

 The young girl scratched her head, “I, uh, want to have a talk to you about something. Something that I may or may not particularly enlarging the problem.”

“And you want to talk with me?” Lin raised an eyebrow. 

“I don’t know how to talk to Tenzin after everything I have done.” She stared at the floor, “And I don’t know anyone else I can talk to at the moment. Unless Naga can speak.”

The polar bear dog barked at her name and wagged her tail excitedly, knocking a vase over and spilled the soil on the floor. Lin sighed and waved her hand to Earthbend, but the soil laid motionless. The former Earthbender tried to wave her hand a couple more times before she remembered what happened. She shook her head and signalled Korra to sit down, ignoring the polar bear dog played around with the spilling soil.

“Well, it can’t be worse than me destroying Tenzin’s Island. Have a seat. I’ll pour a cup of tea for you.”

As they sat down, Korra told her about everything that had happened at the Sato factory. Lin didn’t say anything or even scold her. She just listened and nodded.

“What should I do now?” Korra said.

“If you’re asking for my advice, I would say do nothing. Just focus on your Airbending training and leave this to the adults.” Lin calmly took a sip from the teacup.

“But I’m the Avatar! A very stupid one, but still the Avatar.”

“Your title means nothing to me. You’re just a kid.”

“You don’t even call me by my name.”

 “Look, Korra.” Lin sighed and put the cup down, “Let just said if you want to do what is best for your people, shouldn’t you need to stay away from Amon? If something ever happened to you… well, let not let try to think about that.” 

“But what if?” Korra didn’t leave her eyes from the cup, “Amon seems to know me.”

“You’re the Avatar. The White Lotus and Katara may try to hide you away, but they can't do that forever.” 

“No, I mean, he really knew me. Like he has met me before. He was surprised that I use Firebending. Don’t you feel it strange? Based on the Avatar cycle, After Air is Water. I was born in Watertribe, but my first element is fire.” She said in caution and look straight at the chief’s eyes. Her green eyes turned dark as she realised what the young girl meant.

“Maybe you’re just special.” 

“But what if I’m not? What if everything does have a reason behind it?” She waited for Lin to answer, but the chief didn’t seem to look at her. 

“But Amon isn’t in one of them,” Lin murmured. Her voice was too soft that Korra had to leaned closer to hear.

“What are you talking about? Who’s ‘them’?”

Lin startled and glanced at Korra in alarm, realising the young girl was still there.  

“Nothing.” She said quickly, “I think you should go home. Tenzin will worry where you have been.” 

Korra sighed, knowing she couldn't make the chief talk if she didn't want to. “Before you send me away. Can I ask you to help me one more thing?” She said.

“If it’s about Amon, I don’t-”

“It’s about my friends.” Korra said, “Tarrlok throw them into jail.”

Lin paused and shook her head, “I’m afraid I can’t do anything about that. I’m not the chief of police anymore.” 

 “I know,” The young girl said, feeling the rocks rolling inside her stomach. “I’m sorry. It’s my fault.”

“It wasn’t your fault. I was just being careless.” Lin shuddered like it was nothing, but her eyes went dull. “Besides, I have witnessed a lot of my co-workers lost to Amon. I wouldn’t surprise if it's my turn now. Perhaps, it’s just my time to stop being a cop.” 

The former chief glanced at a badge on a wall for a little longer before walked to the hallway. The badge looked more worn off and rusty than the rest, and Korra wondered if it belonged to someone else. 

Lin opened the door and Korra knew it was time to leave. She called Naga, but when they reached the door, she looked at Lin one more time. 

“Can I at least visit them? I need to know they’re alright. Please, Lin.”

 Lin gave a defeated sigh, “Alright, I’ll call my co-workers, but I make no promises.” She paused, “Former co-workers.” She corrected herself, “I may need time to get used to all of this.”

Naga took Korra to the police department. Lin had insisted on following her just in case Amon might come back, but she declined. All she wanted was to be alone at the moment before she saw her friends again, and it looked like Lin had something else on her mind too or she wouldn’t get off this easy. 

There was a crowd protested in front of the police. Korra let Naga waited on the opposite side of the building, far away from the trouble. She walked toward the crowds alone and saw a van parked in the front yard. The task force had arrested more people.

“Tarrlok! What’s going on?” She called.

 “I have found more leads of Amon’s army,” Tarrlok smile with satisfaction despite the howling of the crowd at the back.

Korra glanced at the angry people. Someone even tried to throw rocks, which was not a wise idea to do in front of metalbender police.

“Are you sure you have correct persons?” she said warily. 

“Are you doubting my men?” Tarrlok chuckled, “we’ll know once they admit for what they did.”

“So, you’re not sure neither.” Korra snorted, “Maybe arresting people without strong evidence is a bad idea. What if the report is wrong? You will hurt innocent people that don’t even involve in this.”

Tarrlok narrowed his eyes. “Careful about what you said, Young Avatar. If you challenge my authority, there will be a consequence." His lip curled into a smile, but his voice was sharp as he warned, "I’m one of the councilmen who is in charge of this revolution, and it’s up to me to bring down dangerous criminals like Amon.”

“What about the other members of the council? What did they say?”

“Four out of five voted for my plan,” Tarrlork said. 

Tenzin was the only one who opposed Tarrlok. Korra guessed. The others were fearful of Amon and what he could do. 

“After all, everyone thought Energy bending was a myth until we saw what it capable of. Amon had been terrorised the city for years. With his Energy bending, he is hurting more innocent people than I do.” Tarrklok walked around and stopped in front of her. He looked at her in the eyes, “So let me ask you, young Avatar, which one is worse? Get a wrong person or one more bender become Amon’s victim?”

 Korra felt the air was hard to breathe, and she knew Tarrlok saw doubt in her eyes. But then in the crowd, she saw a little girl held her mother’s hand. She was around the same age as Ikki. Perhaps her father has been taken away. Korra imagined what would happen to Tenzin's children if he was gone, and to Pema, his wife who was still carrying his baby. Would this situation be any different if Tenzin was a non-bender? Suddenly the topic didn’t seem like revolving around benders and non-benders anymore.

“I don’t have the answer, Tarrlok.” Korra walked to the building and opened the door, “But I am the Avatar. One way or another, I’ll get Amon, but I won’t use power to oppress other people again. I won't repeat what happened in the factory”.

“Look like your sifu teach you humility instead of Airbending.” Tarrlok jeered.

She glanced at the crowds one last time. There were so many emotions running through their face: angry, sad, scare, hurt. 

“That why I admire him. Because, unlike you, he’s a great model to follow.”