Nami struggled to watch her mother crumble before her. In the time since Korra's passing, Asami's life has dulled down. Asami could barely work on her inventions anymore, finally passing her CEO status to her youngest daughter. Nami had thought it would be a happy moment for her mother to finally retire, but no one had expected things to go like this. Currently, Asami was blankly staring at blueprints, unable to compute a solution to a recent invention by the two of them. Nami watched momentarily from the doorway of her home office. She couldn't stand seeing her mother like this, but what could she do. Asami's grief was strong.
"What the hell happened to you two?!" Hikari exclaimed when Riko and Tadashi returned from the mainland. The young lady has been training in the courtyard when the duo arrived.
"Shh! Don't go yelling about it!" Riko whispered to her niece. "We ran into a little... well, serious problem, actually. I need to talk to everyone."
Hikari gaped at her for a few seconds, eyeing her bloody, bandaged shoulder. "I'll go find everyone. It's almost lunchtime anyway." The girl then ran inside to find their family members.
Karina and Olivia had very similar reactions to seeing the duo. Riko shrugged at their worry and set their bags at the entrance. "What happened?!" Karina yelled.
Riko chuckled. "You know, you're the third person to ask us that."
"Oh, here you all are." Hikari said as she reappeared with Nami. Nami did a double-take when she saw Riko.
"Let's all just sit at the table and talk. I found out some important info." Riko said and walked in the direction of the dining hall.
"Grandma," Tadashi started. Riko paused and looked back at him expectantly. "You should let Gran-Gran take a look at your wound."
Riko blinked at the boy's concern. Then she looked to her wife, who was gently smiling. "I think you're right, sweetie." Karina replied, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Why don't you escort her to the dining room and I'll join you with some medical supplies."
Tadashi smiled and grabbed Riko's hand as they walked away.
Karina carefully examined Riko's shoulder as the Chief talked. "We were on our way back from the apartment when a group of thugs appeared from the crowd. We were fine, I swear, until their leader appeared. I knew, from the moment I looked him in the eye, that this was the guy that attacked Korra. He confirmed that they're after all of us, not just Tadashi. But we already knew that from the bomber. It was one of the last things he said that really has me worried..."
Everyone waited for her to continue. Karina was listening carefully as she prodded her wife's wound. It was pretty serious, but the EMT's had done a good job at cleaning it up. Looks like she taught those healers something after all.
Riko sighed. "He said that Tadashi's father would be happy to hear that his son is firebending. He might not be involved, but after all of his incidents lately I wouldn't be surprised if he had something to do with all of this."
"Kenji? Oh, the next time I see him it's going to go down. I'm getting tired of him popping up." Olivia steamed.
"Everyone needs to be careful. If Kenji is involved, then the enemy has extra intel on us." Karina chimed in, wanting to remain rational. Olivia scowled.
"Why would my father want to hurt us?" Tadashi asked innocently. He understood that his father wasn't around like normal fathers, but what did he have to gain in this?
Olivia started to frown. "I guess he's bitter about our separation. Honestly, that's the only thing I can think of, hun. He refused to settle down and make a life with us, so we split up."
"So now he's joined an evil gang to get back at you? That's insane." Tadashi replied.
"It is, sweetie, but bitterness makes people do stupid things." Karina interjected.
The room started to quiet down with solemnness.
"We need to lay low for a few days and come up with a plan." Riko said. Karina was almost done applying new bandages to her shoulder. "And the White Lotus needs to be on high alert until this is all said and done."
Jinora was listening quietly in the corner. "I will relay the intel to the White Lotus. No one will even be getting on the island with this still happening."
Riko nodded her head stoically.
Nami sat in bed, unable to focus on the book in her hands. These recent events made her uneasy, even though it was bringing their family together. She and Hikari put their differences aside momentarily to help the Avatar and their small chats were helping their broken bonds heal. Nami snapped the book shut. Her mind wouldn't stop thinking about everything. She was especially worried for her sister, Riko. The woman often overworked herself and never has had a moment to rest.
Nami swung her legs off of the bed and left the room. There was no way Riko was just fast asleep in bed after all of this.
The waterbender tiptoed just down the hall where her great-nephew's room was. And there she found who she was looking for.
Riko sat crisscrossed on the hall floor. Usually her family could tell when something was on her mind, but right now Nami couldn't feel anything from her. Her concern increased and she sat down beside her sister.
"How are you feeling?" Nami asked quietly.
Riko huffed. "I'm fine, but I can't sleep knowing he's in danger."
"You know there are guards surrounding the island." Nami replied.
"And Olivia is sleeping on his floor, but that still doesn't make me feel better." Riko said. "I won't be able to rest until they're safe again."
Nami smiled lightly. "You've always been so protective, even when we were kids. That's how I knew you'd be here... You need to rest. Do you even realize you personally were bombed at a café, fought the bomber, and then fought whoever's in charge of all this within a few days of each other? You still have burns all over and have a stab wound in your shoulder. You can't keep going like this."
"I can't just stop! This isn't just work, my family is in danger. I can't and won't rest until this is done because they're not going to stop. If anything, they're going to push harder with me in my current condition." Riko replied, scowling.
There was a quiet moment between them.
"Does Karina know you're out here?" Nami asked.
"I didn't tell her where I was going, but she's knows me just like you do. She knows I'm here." Riko answered.
"If I stand guard here, will you go rest?"
Riko glanced at her sister. "No, I won't be able to rest, so I might as well stay here."
"You can't keep going like this!" Nami repeated, anger rising. "I'm offering to help and you won't take it! You're so stubborn!"
"Like Korra, yeah yeah."
"No, like Asami!"
Riko's eyes went wide. Nami was huffing with anger. "Asami would never stop working, staying at work or in the garage all day and all night, with one of us having to drag her away to rest. It wasn't a good habit, but damn was she devoted to her work. And so are you. You constantly push yourself past your limit and, in your line of work, it could get you killed."
Riko quietly took it all in. No one had ever said that she was like Asami.
"You still won't go, will you?" Nami asked, quieting down. Riko shook her head. Nami sighed. "Then I'm staying here with you. I can't go back to bed knowing you're out here like this."
Riko smiled sadly and didn't bother arguing any further.
Nami crossed her arms and leaned her head back against the wall. Eventually the rest of her anger subsided and she could think clearer. "Do you have a plan for how to fix this?"
No answer came. Nami glanced over and was surprised to see Riko's head was back and she was lightly snoring. Nami chuckled. "At least you trust me enough to fall asleep on guard duty."
Over the next few days, the family rested and planned at Air Temple Island. With each day, crime increased. Riko knew this had to be the work of the gang out to get them. She couldn't let Republic City suffer for them. The family had been brainstorming but could not come up with a proper solution.
"New plan," Riko interrupted the breakfast. "I'm going to go find the leader and take him out. He's orchestrating all of this. If I get him out of the way, then maybe the crime will let up."
Karina pushed her plate aside. "Riko, I'm going to be brutally honest with you... That's stupid and will get you killed. We don't know where he's at, if he's got a hideout, or what HIS plans are."
Riko growled. "I refuse to sit here idly for any longer. I'm healed and able to fight. I'll use my sensing ability to find him and fight him."
"And what if he has backup, and it's not a fair fight? What then? What if you get hurt, because you're NOT fully healed from the previous fights? If this is the plan, then you're not doing this by yourself." Karina argued.
While the two women bickered back and forth about what to do next, Tadashi slipped away from the breakfast table. Olivia noticed and followed him, stopping him by grabbing his shoulder. She guided him to a secluded area of the island and pulled something from her neck.
"This is the spot where Avatar Korra and Asami Sato were married. Your grandmother, Riko, was just a kid, a kid they have just rescued months beforehand. On the day of their marriage, they gave Riko something, a braided necklace created by Korra herself, as a way to offer protection when they couldn't be there for her. She wore it every day, until she found me. She took me in and offered me her home. And when I finally decided to stay for real, she gave that necklace to me."
Olivia paused to show him the braided necklace. Tadashi was listening carefully with wonder.
"I've worn it every day since then, and now I'm passing it down to you. I know whatever your grandmothers decide on that you're going to follow them and I might not be able to be there to protect you. I want you to have this as some way to help you."
Olivia unclipped the clasp and laid the necklace around his neck, clipping it again.
Tadashi carefully touched the braid. "I'll take care of it, mom. Thank you."
Olivia smiled and ruffled his hair. The boy yelled out, pushing her hands away with a smile.
A/N: I'm not going to bother with any lame excuses about why it took me almost 4 years to finish this. But I am making the promise that this book will get finished before I move on to any new material. And you don't know me, but I'm a person of my word and will keep that promise. I am now out of college and have a full-time teaching job, but this has actually given me some mental freedom from the stresses of college (and some new stresses of a new job). And new ideas have been coming to me lately but I couldn't move on until I had finished this series. So expect a few more chapters to complete this book and hopefully some new original books in the future. Thanks all!