"Hey. Thought I'd stop by in case. I can just leave if you'd rather take a nap or something."

"Nah, I've tried napping, it doesn't help. I can't promise a lesson up to my usual standard, but there's no harm in trying, right?"

"Unless you accidentally train me to do something wrong and I have to painstakingly unlearn it."

"I don't think I'm feeling that far off my game."

"Right then." She sails into the basement, fire streamers fluttering after her.

Well, okay. She can just sort of practice in front of him instead of on the beach.

She lets the fire fizzle out. "You look like you need, I don't know, chocolate?"

"There's an idea," he says. "'Go questing for delicious food in an unfamiliar part of town', historically a very effective method of stress relief. Want to go see if this city is hiding any, I don't know, ice cream places I haven't seen yet? We can chat about bending theory, maybe I'll drop some useful insights."

"Sure."

"I did mention it to the nuns, but the nuns were distracted by arguing with me about the Avatar State."

"Oh?"

"They think I need to be provoked into it at least once or twice by strong emotions before I'll be able to master it, but I read Meixing's autobiography and it didn't sound like the two versions had anything in common except for glowing eyes."

"That doesn't necessarily mean you can do the one without the other, but it's hardly strong evidence that you can't... would it be dangerous to try?"

"I don't think so. It sounds dangerous to go into the uncontrolled version, but that's what they want me to do anyway, and I don't think I could possibly make things worse by either failing to do it altogether or getting the wrong version under conditions of my choosing. Compared to flipping out because there's some sort of bad news character chasing me around, or whatever."

"Then in my highly relevant and professional opinion as your firebending instructor, screw the nuns, they don't know everything. Arrange controlled conditions to your satisfaction, try it, see what happens."

"Controlled conditions will probably just be 'in the middle of nowhere'. Although I'm not even sure that's strictly necessary, considering that the uncontrolled version burns itself out when there's no more distressing situation."

"Might not be strictly necessary, might still be a good idea, in case of unforeseen disasters. And you don't seem to have any pressing emergencies to deal with, so it's not like there's a high risk you'll hit the uncontrolled version on your own without getting the chance to experiment first."

"Yeah. I might never have a pressing emergency to deal with on my own, regular law enforcement is pretty good at its job."

"So, no reason not to take your time."

"But it would be a shortcut to doing that bridge across the ocean I vaguely want to build. I could just poll all my past lives and come out knowing exactly how to pull it off and then bam."

"Bridge across the ocean, huh? From where to where?"

"From here to the Fire Nation mainland, I think. Transit otherwise involves going over a ton of islands or in a boat, which is great if you want the scenery and not great if you get seasick and want to be there in a hurry."

"Seems reasonable."

"I like to think so."

"It would've been very uncharacteristic if you'd said, oh, 'from the north pole to the south pole, it seems unfair that they have to use boats'."

"I did consider from the Earth mainland to the North Pole, but the actual borders of the North Pole are complicated enough what with it being substantially composed of ice that building bridges to it is a problem."

"Yeah. And a bridge between the poles seems... like it's answering the question 'where is the coolest place to build a bridge across the ocean', not 'where is the most useful place to build a bridge across the ocean' or 'what's a good way to make travel between the poles easier'; that's why I'd be surprised if you suggested it."

"Also it would be a structural nightmare. Like, the planet turns! The forces involved in that would probably be pretty significant at a pole-to-pole bridge level."

"That too. But I also wouldn't expect you to let practical challenges stand in your way if you really wanted a bridge between the poles for some reason."

"True. But it might take more than mastering the Avatar State."

"It might! Even the combined knowledge of all past Avatars can only get you, well, the combined knowledge of all past Avatars, and I've noticed there doesn't seem to be a bridge between the poles. So even if somebody did build one, I'd hardly call it a successful project."

"Exactly."

Stroll, stroll. Perpetual helpful breeze so she doesn't fall down. Stroll.

And: "That looks like ice cream to me!"

"It does! Wonder if they have red bean."

Beila gets some red bean. And some chocolate sauce to put on it.

Jun eyes the chocolate sauce and other miscellaneous adornments speculatively, but restrains himself to just a few fruit syrups.

Nom.

"You're welcome."

Nom!

"Do you wanna keep strolling into further unfamiliar parts of town?"

"Sounds like fun."

Stroll stroll nom nom. All in all, this is much more pleasant than failing to deliver a firebending lesson.

"Oh, no thanks."

"Ice cream soup for you it is."

"The best kind of soup, obviously."

"I'm a fan of miso, personally, but to each their own."

"Depends on my mood, really. Today is definitely an ice-cream-soup kind of day."

"I won't offer to melt it for you."

He laughs.

"He sounds it. I don't suppose you could introduce us? It's just - I lost contact with my family a long time ago, and I'm always hoping for an unexpected relative to turn up so I can reconnect - being mistaken for someone in the street sounds like a promising lead."

"Thank you so much. I promise I'll do my best not to bother him."

"Could be," he murmurs back, and that's as much as he can say before he's following Meng up to Li's door.

"I admit I wasn't expecting this cold a welcome, but maybe I should've been."

"How did you find me," he whispers.

"Pure coincidence. Ran into the old lady on the street, just like she said."

Spider glances back fearfully. "Dao! Go back inside—he's dangerous—"

- At that Beila steps around the corner of Meng's bean trellis.

Spider catches sight of her and freezes again.

"He's—is he? Are you? What is going on?" says Dao. He doesn't have clear line-of-sight to Beila, so he doesn't notice her stepping into view of the door.

"Beila?"

"You know the Avatar?"

"I - I'm - what - okay," says Dao. "One thing at a time. Can we please not have this conversation shouting through a doorway."

"Is it really that much safer at this point for us all to stand around confusing each other in public?" he asks. "Come on. I know these people. Beila's my girlfriend," he emphasizes, hoping Spider will remember that Dao's girlfriend knows things about him, hoping this will be at least a tiny bit reassuring. "Please?"

Jun tries to look nonthreatening.

Jun steps inside. More curious than dubious, really.

"Spirits, what a clusterfuck," Dao mutters, as Spider retreats to the kitchen to put the kettle on. "Look. Can I. Can I just. Everyone here is an okay person that I know and like, please stop looking like you're expecting each other to start shit at any moment, I think that is the kind of thing that ends up being self-fulfilling?"

Dubiousness. So much of it. "When exactly did you make friends?"

"Thiiiiis morning look it's complicated."

"I'm getting that. So, explain, and maybe if the explanation is super good I can calm down."

"I'm not sure I'm that good at explanations!"

"Then you might have to settle for me being kind of on edge, but I'm not attacking anyone or glowing, see?"

"You are totally not attacking anyone or glowing and I respect and appreciate that," says Dao.

"Running into your neighbour was honestly a coincidence and I wasn't expecting it at all, but before that... I'm a firebending instructor, among other things. I recognized Dad's bending style, clear as day. I—I didn't know I had a younger brother, until I saw the video."

Dao hugs him protectively.

"And what is my boyfriend doing here?"

"Making friends in unexpected places?" he suggests, then sighs. "Oh man... look, can I just tell them?" This last to Spider.

"Was my boyfriend by any chance kidnapped and then capture-bonded."

"No! I mean - that is - technically a possible interpretation of events, but like - you know I have some pretty legitimate reasons to sympathize here, all right?"

"I'm starting to get the feeling that there's a story here and it's about highly inappropriate coping mechanisms," he says.

"Um. Yeah," says Dao. "Yeah, that's pretty much... that's pretty much the story. And I was trying to help him find better coping mechanisms, and it was working really well, and then suddenly you're here and also his brother? I'm very confused about that part."

"It's a heck of a series of coincidences. Are we sure it is not time to award you your first 'congratulations, you have got caught up in dangerous shenanigans because you're the Avatar's boyfriend' badge?"

"I am pretty sure that if he'd known I was your boyfriend he wouldn't have kidnapped me because he is not super super dumb," says Dao.

"Being super dumb is not the only reason to kidnap my boyfriend."

Dao makes a frustrated sound and hugs Spider, who has been remaining small and scared and miserable this whole time.

"The coping mechanisms thing sounds pretty reasonable to me. 'Nothing else is helping my emotional state, why not try murder?' is the kind of thought process being raised by that man will tend to give you. I was lucky enough to find out how much I liked performance art long before I was pushed that far, but I did my share of stupid, destructive things as a teenager."

"The picture I'm getting of your dad from the things you guys say about him is really unpleasant," says Dao.

"He was a really unpleasant person."

"Beila, you look - I have no idea but it's worrying me," says Dao.

"What, exactly, are you worried will happen?"

"I'm worried you're going to not believe me about stuff, or believe me and not care, and you'll end up wanting to do something that hurts my friend, and - nobody needs to do anything that hurts him, okay, the problem is solved, we have solved the problem. No more murder."

"You have solved the problem? How'd you do that?"

"Better coping mechanisms!"

"Seems like this might go better if you'd tell us what those were."

"I'm scared," murmurs Spider in a tiny tiny voice.

When one has nothing constructive to say, one should be a quiet Avatar.

"Fuuuuuck," says Dao. "Like. Knows you're here and knows you think there's a bone-stealing serial killer around?"

"Yes. And I don't think he will be very impressed with your psychological assessment. But you'll probably be allowed to serve as a character testimony if you want."

This news does not seem to be reassuring!

"I don't suppose you could, like. Happen to have been mistaken about whether there was a bone-stealing serial killer around," sighs Dao.

"That would require me to be really, spectacularly impressed with your psychological assessment."

"Okay," says Dao. "Like. I am impressed enough with my psychological assessment that I am sitting here trying to argue you out of doing anything bad to him? Instead of being like 'great, rescue, please arrest the kidnapper'? And I swear it is not capture-bonding, seriously, it's - it's just not. It's just really not."

"For whatever my psychological assessment is worth, I can give it if you tell me what your deal is," says Jun, addressing the shivering lump in Dao's arms.

"We are not talking, amateurs with what are objectively personal stakes in the matter and brief exposure to the subject think he's fine, level of psychological analysis quality," says Beila.

"I came prepared to kill him if I had to, I'm not going to give him a pass just because he's family," says Jun. "But I do have personal knowledge that the kind of problems he might plausibly have can be very much solvable, and it can be as sudden and simple as finding out one thing you can do that just works perfectly. If you won't take my word for it and you won't take Dao's, though, what will you take?"

"There might not be anything. I mean, there probably shouldn't be a way to convince people not to arrest serial killers at the last minute by saying the right thing."

"I don't think I agree," says Jun. "I have no great faith in justice, theoretically or practically. The important part seems to be preventing people from getting hurt, and if there's a way to do that without anybody getting arrested, so much the better."

"The point is to prevent people from getting hurt. And sticking to policies that tend to reduce people getting hurt, even if there are emotionally charged arguments under time pressure saying to break them just this once - is in aggregate a pretty good way of doing that."

"I can see the logic, but that's not how I operate. Rules, on the whole, have not been good to me."

"We probably don't have the time to come to total philosophical agreement on that even if it's in the cards."

"Then I think you need to make a decision about whether or not they could possibly convince you," says Jun. "—Hmm, but before you do, here's a thought. As an alternative to 'we were mistaken about the bone-stealing serial killer', how's 'we found the bone-stealing serial killer, and he kidnapped me and ran for it'? Meaning in reality that I go with him to personally verify that he's not murdering anybody. It'll leave you down one firebending teacher, but nobody gets arrested and there's less... policy trouble."

"Yeah. I mean, I'd pretty much be betting my life on that, so, yes."

Beila looks at Dao. And Spider. "Lying to Chali about how things went down and having to find a new firebending teacher is a lower standard of evidence than letting the serial killer go totally unescorted. But it's still a standard. What else is there to say about this... situation?"

Lots of shivering. There is that to say.

Hugs.

"Look, little brother - do you hate your name as much as I do, by the way?"

"If you say so. Okay. It seems like your one remaining chance at not having to fight this out or get arrested is to tell us what happened and see what Beila thinks of it. So. Are you going to do that, or not?"

"Okay. What do you want to do? What brilliant idea did Dao have that works for you?"

"I'm a waterbender. I - my father was always disappointed about it - he taught me firebending even though I can't do it - wouldn't let me learn how to heal. So when. I thought. If everyone thought I was a different kind of bender, it would be easier to hide. So I figured out how to fake firebending. And. When I told Dao why I was - doing all this, for real, that it was because it's the only time I ever feel okay... he said, why don't you try healing and see if that makes you feel okay too. And it. Did."

"...I hate to ask this because of what the answer might do to Beila's faith in my ability to keep you in line, but: how exactly did you fake Dad's suicide, Sora?"

"I looked up the - your dad died in broad daylight. During a half moon, which they note on police reports as a matter of policy."

"Had to get it right first," he murmurs. "Had to get it perfect. If he could've suspected even for a minute. If he could've done anything to stop me. It would've been. Bad."

"You can bloodbend at any time of the month, day or night, well enough to fake a suicide, you have taken up serial killing - Jun, what does this do to your estimate of your ability to handle him if handling as opposed to just palling around with him proves necessary?"

He flinches away from her.

"Debending him takes away the one positive coping mechanism he's found so far," Jun reminds her. "And he seems to find the prospect even more terrifying than the rest of this conversation."

Nod nod.

"Jun, you have to sleep. And it's one thing to tell Chali that, oh, the serial killer grabbed his brother and ran off, good luck, and it's quite another to let him go on thinking this leaves him looking for a couple firebenders when one of them is an apocalyptically skilled bloodbender."

Shiver.

Beila does not glow, startle, or fuck with the air. Such discipline.

"'We found the serial killer and I had to take him out' can also be arranged. Without you needing to attack anybody for it."

Jun is no longer concerned.

Dao is kind of concerned. He hugs Spider some more.

"Can we think of a really clever solution where, like. No one dies," says Dao. "That would be super nice."

"Well, I thought we were going in to address a firebender, so I didn't ask the past lives contingent about partial debending, but I can check, since I did master the Avatar State fifteen minutes ago."

Cringe.

"...Still no?"

"I - I don't - I can't - I don't want to, I, don't want, to use it, but, I can't, it's, it's all I have," he says. "For - if - when there's people around, I—I always know, if they tried to hurt me, I could stop them."

"But you're not sure you could go up against the Avatar," guesses Jun, "which is why you are falling apart so thoroughly in this conversation, and why you were so reluctant to admit you're a bloodbender?"

Nod nod.

"If this is what you'd be like around people constantly without the bloodbending option, I can see why you might prefer death," says Jun.

Nod nod.

"Could you handle having me around all the time, if we went that route?"

"I find it pretty unlikely this is even something I can do, because I doubt anyone's wanted to selectively de-bend someone before," says Beila. "But the bloodbending, not the watering the neighbor's plants or the healing, is the thing that's really straining credulity here."

"Okay," says Jun. "But it seems like selective de-bending wouldn't help anyway. You're the one who'd be lying to your dad if we went the one way, so, your call: do I run off with him and keep an eye on him in case of incidents, bloodbending and all, or kill him? Or do we think of another brilliant idea? The well of brilliant ideas may be running a little dry here."

"I will note that he seems extremely risk-averse, and while it's true that he could kill me in my sleep, trying would be very risky," says Jun. "And for what it's worth I do completely believe him about the turnaround. It fits."

"Dao, are you going to make this difficult?"

Beila glances at Jun. "You don't have to, I made the call, I can own it."

"No, I'll do it. I don't mind. Since we have the luxury, we should probably get our story straight beforehand; are we leaving out the fifteen minutes we spent debating whether to let him go when we tell your dad about this? And the part where Dao was here? I'm sure Dao has no desire to talk to law enforcement about any of this."

"I assume you were careful to make sure no one saw Dao come in, Sora. Is there a back exit? Is there going to be enough noise for the little old lady next door to hear? It's not so uncommon for there to be a little conversation before things come to a standoff, that part's not necessarily a problem."

"I don't think it'll sound like somebody being killed," says Jun.

"He can go out the back, yes."

"Assuming I ever let go of you," mutters Dao, "which I wouldn't be so sure about right now."

"Dao."

Beila checks her message. "Nothing from Chali. We've probably got a little while. But there might not be anything."

"I think we're out of brilliant ideas," says Jun.

"I think so too," says Spider. He smiles a little, dropping his eyes to the floor. "It was nice meeting you, big brother."

Spider is pretty definitively not alive anymore.

Beila watches him go, then grits her teeth and sends a more urgent-marked message to her dad.

Jun looks pensively at what's left of his little brother.