The Second Avatar

IV

"Korra, you have to go stop Su before she does something terrible!" Jinora said loudly as we stood by Baatar Sr. 

"Stop her?" Opal demanded. "We should be helping her!" 

I sighed, "if we went now, we would only make things worse."

"We have no idea where your Mom is or what her plan is," Korra said to Opal. "If we go charging into Kuvira's camp, we could get them all captured or worse."

"All we can do now is wait," I told Opal gently.

I jumped as a loud-speaker went off and Kuvira's voice came through. "Attention, citizens of Zaofu. Your leader, Su Bei Fong, attempted to attack me tonight while I slept, ignoring the terms of our truce. Luckily, I now have her and her assault team in custody." 

"No," Opal said in disbelief. 

"Rest assured that I will not take revenge on the peaceful citizens of Zaofu, as long as your remaining representatives meet me outside the city at dawn to offer the full and unconditional surrender of your city," Kuvira continued. "That is all."

"Technically," I began. "Su did not know about the truce, so she was not ignoring the terms of a truce she did not know existed."

"Something tells me that Kuvira won't care," Jinora said. 

"Korra, you can't let Kuvira get away with this!" Opal said vehemently. "We have to go break out Mom and my brothers!"

"You swore an oath of non-aggression when you became an airbender," Jinora told Opal. "You can't just attack Kuvira."

"I don't care about the oath," Opal said angrily. "I have to save my family!"

"Jinora is right," I told Opal gently. 

"Your mom attacked the camp," Korra added, not being helpful. "Kuvira was just defending herself."

"Defending herself?" Opal asked with a frown. "She was going to attack our city! I can't believe you're refusing to fight."

I turned as Meelo and Ikki came out in their pajamas, very sleepy. "Why is that loudspeaker lady talking when I'm trying to sleep?" Meelo asked. 

"She just likes being difficult," I told Meelo as Huan walked up along with Baatar Sr. 

"Korra, what are we going to do?" Baatar Sr. asked. 

"Jinora, Yue, and I will go talk to Kuvira at dawn, and maybe we can work something out," Korra said. "I promise I'll do everything I can to keep the peace."

"I'll go with you," Opal said. 

"We'll go, too," Ikki agreed. 

"No," Jinora said firmly. "Dad told us to find Korra, and we found her. Now you need to stay safe."

"Come on, let us help," Ikki said. 

"I can't risk anyone else being captured," Korra said as she bent down to their height. "You can stay with Baatar and Huan while I work this out with Kuvira."

"Make sure they get back to Tenzin safely if anything goes wrong," I told Baatar Sr.  

"Aw, man. When am I gonna see some action?" Meelo questioned. 

~*~

"Release them now!" Opal said to Kuvira as the four of us stood in front of her army. 

"If Su agrees to bow to me and turn over Zaofu, she and the rest of your family will not be harmed," Kuvira said.