BOOK ONE: OCEAN BLUE

Chapter Four

"Good. Light on your feet!" Korzi said looking at Korra.

Korra spun out on the other side without being touched once by the gate. She landed before Jinora and Korzi as she rested her hands on her knees to catch her breath. The two sisters smiled at her before suddenly leaning a bit to their left to look behind her. Korzi's whole expression turned from proud to annoyed the second her eyes landed on Mako.

"Ooh, he's cute," Jinora said making Korra turn around, "Korra, is that the handsome firebender boy that drives you crazy?" Jinora continued making Korra glare at her and making Korzi have a nagging painful gut feeling.

"Does he drive you crazy in a bad way, or does he drive you crazy like you like him?" Ikki appeared out of nowhere which made her blood boil. Korra earth bent the two catapulting them in the air.

"Ahem. Oh. Hey, Mako."

"Have you seen Bolin?" he asked short and discreetly.

"Nice to see you too," Korzi replied sarcastically. "And no, we haven't seen him since yesterday, anything wrong?"

"I don't know. Bolin has a knack for getting into stupid situations," he sighed before adding, "I'll see you later."

"Hey, we can help you look for him," Korra said.

"Nah, I got it."

"Hey, cool guy, we can help you," Korra said as she gestured to Korzi and herself, "Besides we can take Naga, she can track him."

"Who's Naga?"

"My best friend, and an excellent tracker," Korra replied.

"I thought Korzi was your best friend," Mako said.

"Yeah, me too," Korzi fake pouted chuckling as Korra rolled her eyes.

"Your best friend is a ... polar bear dog. Somehow, that makes perfect sense."

"I'll take that as a compliment, city boy," Korra replied as the three of them went to Republic city.

Korzi's eyes rolled so hard she thought they might pop out of her head. She couldn't believe how oblivious Mako was to Korra's blatant flirting. It was nauseating. The way Korra looked at him, and the way he looked back made her want to suck the air out of her lungs. The suffocating feeling of secondhand embarrassment was almost too much to bear.

"Well, this is his usual hangout," Mako said as they descended the stairs. "Have you guys seen my brother around here today?" he asked, looking down at a kid.

Korzi had to bite her tongue to prevent herself from punching him. She had no idea how Korra could tolerate his stupidity.

Are they seriously asking a freaking child for a missing person? She thought.

Mako and Korra exchanged a worried look. This wasn't the first time he had encountered the young street urchin, and he knew the kid could be slippery. But Korzi's sudden aggression towards the boy took them both aback.

Her eyes blazed with an intensity that Mako had never seen before, and her grip on the boy's collar was almost suffocating. The threat in her voice was palpable, and even Korra was startled.

But to their surprise, the boy didn't flinch. Instead, he looked Korzi straight in the eye and spoke in a mocking tone.

"Perhaps. My memory's a little ...foggy. Maybe you can help clear it up."

Mako was about to reach for his wallet but Korzi snapped at him.

"Listen, kid, our friend is missing, so if you've seen him, tell us or I swear the triads' doings will look like child's play once I'm done with you," she growled, her fingers digging into the boy's collar.

For a moment, the boy looked like he was about to fight back, but something in Korzi's demeanour made him think twice. He gulped and stammered out a response.

"I saw him. He was performing some kind of monkey rat circus. And then Shady Shin showed up and flashed some serious cash. Bo took off with him in his hot rod. The Triple Threats? The Red Monsoons? The Agni Kais? All the triads are muscling up for something really big. Now that's all you're getting outta me!" he said before running away.

"Sounds like there's a turf war brewing. And Bolin's about to get caught right in the middle of it."

"So where are we headed?" Korzi questioned.

"The Triple Threat Triad's headquarters. Hopefully, Bolin's there and nothing's gone down yet."

"The Triple Threat Triad? I beat up some of those yahoos when I got into town. Why would Bolin get tangled up with-"

Korra's sentence was abruptly interrupted as Naga suddenly shot forward. The polar bear dog took a sharp turn, chasing after a fire ferret who had climbed a nearby street light. Naga stopped in front of the ferret, sniffing him lightly.

"Woah, Naga."

"That's Pabu!"

"So we've been out all night, and we found his ferret but not him, great," Korzi snapped unintentionally, her frustration beginning to boil over.

"We've gotta keep looking. But where?"

"We will. We'll find your brother, I promise," Korra reassured her.

Korzi watched as Mako's expression softened. "Bolin's the only family I have left. If anything happened to him..." he trailed off, the pain of the thought etched on his face.

Korra was focused on a poster before she gasped, "I have an idea, the first day I got into town, I ran into an Equalist protester over there."

"And you think they'll know where Bolin is?"

"It's our only lead now."

The following morning came by and the trio was asleep in the middle of nowhere. Korzi was the first to wake up and, seeing the two cuddled up together, she couldn't help but feel a sense of disgust.

As the trio began to stir, a protester's voice rang through a megaphone. "Equality now! Equality now!"

Korra and Mako jolted awake, their sleepy expressions quickly replaced by embarrassment. Korzi sighed inwardly, wondering how much longer she could tolerate their flirtatious behavior.

The protester continued his tirade, "Nonbenders of Republic City! Amon calls you to action! Take back your city!"

Korra snatched the megaphone from the protester's hand and smashed it on the ground. "Shut your yapper and listen up. My friend got kidnapped by some chi blockers. Where did they take him?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," the protester responded.

"Oh, I think you do," Korra growled, her voice dripping with menace.

The protester remained tight-lipped until Mako noticed a poster on the ground. "Witness the Revelation tonight, nine o'clock," he read aloud.

"What's this 'Revelation'?" Korzi asked.

"Nothing that concerns the likes of you three!" the protester spat, clearly agitated by their presence.

Korra gripped the shirt off his collar trying again. But failing miserably. The man wouldn't bulge or say anything. Mako grabbed a few posters before Korzi said, "Uh, guys, let's go," she said as she pointed to the police officer.

Korra threw the man to his back and the three of them got on Naga and ran away. They hid under a bridge in the middle part of the city. Korra was checking the posters clearly confused.

"Why didn't the Equalists put a location on these?"

"Probably because they don't want just anyone waltzing into their big Revelation," Korzi replied. "Whatever that is."

"There are four different images," Mako said looking at the posters.

"So it's a puzzle?" Korra questioned.

"Yeah, of a map!" Korzi said grabbing the posters and putting them together. "Looks like we found out where they're keeping Bolin."