"Y'know, Mako, this doesn't really sound like a bright idea." Bolin put his hands on his hips, looking from his brother to the tall Water Tribe girl who called herself the Avatar. "I mean, normally you have good plans."

Mako looked at him and at the Avatar, and Bolin could've sworn he had that Look on his face, that expression that resembled constipation and infatuation at the same time. That Avatar was pretty, gorgeous in a way that city girls weren't. "Korra has all the details."

Bolin smiled. "Ah, a woman with a plan." He looped an arm around the Avatar's shoulders and she grinned at him. Good signs, Bolin thought, good signs. "We gotta leave soon, though. Shady and Hiroko will be back anytime."

Shady Shin and Hiroko were in turbulent times. They had left behind Bolin to guard the house while they went to the women's hospital to "tie up loose ends". Bolin wasn't sure what that meant.

The Avatar looked back at her white canine beast, which she affectionately referred to as Naga. "Well, you guys can climb on Naga's back. She doesn't bite, she just looks grumpy."

Bolin dared approach the white furred animal, extending his hand. Losing an extremity wasn't as bad as losing his life. To his surprise, the animal sniffed his hand, its tail wagging with enthusiasm. It licked his hand and Bolin yelped. "Don't eat me!"

Korra, the Avatar, laughed. "She won't." In a fluid, practiced motion, she gripped the giant animal's harness and swung into the saddle, offering Bolin her hand. "Come on!"

Mako shook his head, cradling his motorcycle helmet under his arm. "I'll pass." He slipped the helmet over his head and disappeared around the side of the house. Bolin heard his bike roar to life.

Bolin gripped Korra's hand and she hauled him up with no effort. "You're strong," he said as he settled into the saddle behind her. "Part of the job description."

"Yeah!" Korra snapped the reins and Naga took off down the street, her feet sliding for traction on the smooth asphalt. She gained her balance and they were off, tearing down the road in a blur of white and blue and green. Mako followed behind, his motorcycle slick and fast.

They passed through the upper-class districts, with their clean buildings and a population that was not glass-eyed and hungry. When they were younger, Mako and Bolin would make up stories where the rich families would adopt them, and they would have slicked back hair and wear ascots.

Korra took them to the edge of Republic City, weaving in between cars and pedestrians. Mako turned down a sidestreet and emerged ahead of them, slamming on the brakes. Korra pulled hard on Naga's reins.

They boarded a ferry and Bolin saw that the Avatar was taking them to the airbending temple, where the last airbender and his children lived. He saw the massive stone complex rise up, with all its trees and courtyards and pavilions. "You live here?!" Bolin asked.

The Avatar nodded. "Yep. Tenzin is teaching me airbending and spirituality and all that jazz. It's pretty nice." She put her hands on the railing of the boat and waved at a tall figure clad in orange and yellow.

The ferry landed and Korra led her steed down the ramp. Bolin looked up as the man in yellow and orange robes approached them. He was bald, except for a dark brown beard and bushy eyebrows. Korra bowed and Mako and Bolin followed her lead.

"This is Mako and Bolin, the boys I was telling you about, Tenzin." Korra turned back to them, "Guys, this is Tenzin, my airbending master. And technically my son."

Bolin snorted. Past life problems.

Tenzin looked at them, as if appraising them. "Korra told me that you two were involved in some...less than savory dealings. As long as you live here," he said, "you're free of that."

Mako and Bolin exchanged glances. Getting out of it was that easy. The thing they had dreamed about for years.

That easy.

The last time Bolin had sat at a proper dinner table, he was eleven years old. Hiroko had cooked and ended up burning up the food, so she had ordered delivery. It was when she and Shady were going good, and she had told Mako and Bolin to wash their faces. All four of them had sat at the table and ate Narook's.

The dinner table at the Air Temple was crowded. Tenzin had three children and a wife, with a fourth child on the way. The younger two scrambled over each other, shouting and laughing. The oldest sat with her nose buried in her book, sneaking glances at them every once in a while.

"So, Mako, Bolin," said Pema, Tenzin's wife. She stopped, struggling to find something to say. "How's...do you like the Air Temple?"

Mako nodded stiffly and Bolin smiled. "It's really nice," he replied. Hiroko and Shady would be home by now, and they would wonder where they were. "Do you guys always eat together? As a family?"

Pema looked at him, a motherly gaze that made Bolin want to turn back into a six year old. "And now you're part of the family, too."

As the sun set over Air Temple Island, they sat on a veranda, watching the water turn gold and violet. Republic City lit up, its lights gold and red. Tenzin and Korra sat across from them, their faces long and solemn.

"The City Council will want you to give them information about the Triple Threat Triad and the drug dealing." Tenzin paused as Bolin and Mako winced. "I'll make sure that no one will try to persecute you."

Drug dealing was such an ugly, raw term. Jumsum and the Phoenix were drugs, Bolin thought, though he had never seen them as such. They were drug dealers. They were drug dealers, past tense. No longer. They were free from that.

Mako leaned forward and laced his hands together. "The man that took us in is known as Shady Shin. He's a lieutenant for the Triple Threats. He took us in when we were nine and seven years old."

Korra watched them, her blue eyes sparkling. "You've been with them for nine years?"

"It wasn't so bad," Bolin added, "we had somewhere to sleep and eat, and Shady's girlfriend would take of us. She bought us clothes and taught us stuff. It was better than living on the street."

"When did they get you involved in the...business?" Tenzin asked. "And did they ever try to get you to..."

"No." Mako shook his head. "Hiroko made sure we never tried anything. They're gangsters, not monsters." He looked at Bolin. "For nine years, they were the only ones who cared about us. Anything we owned, they bought us."

"They were the only family we had," Bolin finished for him, and they nodded together, and that was that.