The Future Industries airship flies over the Earth Kingdom, with Oogi and Appa flying just above. On the platform atop the airship, Bumi and Kai practice their airbending, under the instruction of Jinora and watched by Asami, Naga, Pabu, and Momo.

“Light on your feet, Uncle Bumi.” Jinora said, “Remember, you want to be quick and evasive.”

Bumi moves around with his hands up like a boxer, “Don't worry about me, little lady. I've been in a scrap or two you know. Ha ha.” He looks at Kai, “Oh, you're just a youngster, so I'm gonna go easy on ya.” As Kai runs toward him. ”Wouldn't want to hurt a kid…”

Kai slides to the floor, and fires an airbending blast at Bumi's legs, knocking him to the ground.

Bumi lies on the ground in pain, “Oh.”

“Uncle Bumi, you've got to work on your stance changes.” Jinora and Kai help Bumi to his feet, “Kai, that was just, really good.”

Kai rubs his head, “Thanks Jinora, you're a great teacher.”

Jinora stares at Kai for a second, before turning away, blushing. She helps her uncle away, but he brushes her off, before patting his body, looking for something.

Bumi opens his coat, “Hmm, did I drop my wallet?”

Jinora, looking behind Bumi, begins to chuckle as Kai strolls casually past them, fanning himself with Bumi's wallet. Bumi turns to look at the young boy.

He runs after Kai, “Give me that, you little thief!”

Tenzin, Korra, and the gaang complacently watching the group on the platform below.

“It's so exciting to be on a diplomatic mission to Ba Sing Se.” Korra said, “What's the Earth Queen like?”

“I've never met her, but I've heard she can be quite... demanding.” Tenzin replied.

Bolin runs to accompany the group, swinging his legs under the railings in excitement.

“This is it, Mako! We made it!” Bolin said excitedly, “This is where Dad grew up! Come here! Look, look!”

Mako joins his brother; rather more calmly, “Okay, calm down, I'm looking.”

The airship approaches the Outer Wall of Ba Sing Se.

“I wonder how many airbenders are down there.” Korra says.

As the airship gets closer to the wall, the sun shines brightly over the top, before revealing the expansive city beyond. The airship finally manages to pass over the wall. Mako, Bolin, and Korra recoil from the smell, the two brothers holding their noses.

“Uhh, the Lower Ring looks terrible.” Korra says

Bolin holds his nose, “Yeah, I can smell it from here. No wonder Dad left.”

The airship continues to fly over the ring, before making it over the Inner Wall and into the Middle Ring.

Bolin shouts from the airship, “Hello, Middle Ring!”

The airship continues over the Middle Ring, before finally making it to the Royal Palace. Kai and Jinora looked down in excitement.

“Wow. Now this is more like it.” Kai said.

The airship begins its descent down to the Royal Palace, landing with a slight cloud of dust. The party exits the airship, welcomed by a well-dressed Earth Kingdom man.

Gun bows, “Avatar Korra, Avatar Aang, Master Tenzin, it is a pleasure to welcome you and your party to the Upper Ring of Ba Sing Se. I'm Grand Secretariat Gun.”

Korra and Aang bows, as Bolin strolls past with Pabu atop his shoulder, followed closely by Naga, “Thank you.” They said at the same time.

“Aah, it's got that Upper Ring smell.” Bolin said as Momo jumped onto Aang’s shoulder.

Gun turns to Bolin, “Oh no, the queen hates animals. You'll have to get them out of sight.”

Bolin scratches his head, “Well, I can just stash Pabu in my shirt,” He tilts his head at Naga, Oogi and Appa, “these three are going to be a little tougher.”

“Momo can hang out in my shirt.” Aang said, then began scratching the lemur’s ear, “Right Momo?” Momo chittered in response.

Gun begins to walk away, “Come with me, hurry, I'll take you to your quarters.”

----

The party walks on a bridge over a pond.

Gun started explaining the rules, “Now, when you meet the queen make sure you bow low enough, that's very important, and don't look her in the eye, she can't stand that. If any food is served, don't eat before she eats. Well actually, I have to taste her food first, then she eats, then you can eat. Better yet, just don't eat.”

“Seems like an awful lot of rules.” Korra says.

“Oh, you have no idea.” Gun replies, exasperated, “And I'm the one who gets in trouble when people don't follow them, so please, please for my sake try not to upset Her Majesty.”

Kai watches in interest as an Earth Kingdom citizen walks past, festooned with various items of jewelry. With a sly look on his face, he sidles away from the group to go after them.

----

The party reaches their temporary house.

Gun spreads his arms, “Here we are.”

“Ooh, very swanky.” Bolin said, impressed. Members of the group walk off to inspect the various rooms.

“Now, go in and make yourselves comfortable,” Gun said, then turns to Bolin and Pabu, “and keep those animals out of sight in the backyard.”

“Momo, you actually might want to go with Katara.”Aang said as he holds out his arm for the lemur to sit on, “If I’m going to see the queen, I don’t want to chance you getting caught.” Momo chitters and jumps over to Katara’s shoulder.

Aang turns to his girlfriend with a smile. He pushes some hair out of her face before kissing her. She returns the kiss before they pull away, “I won’t be gone long.” Aang says.

Korra goes to do the same with Bolin but then notices Mako nearby. She gives Asami a look, asking for help. Asami nods with a smile and turns to Mako.

“Hey Mako! Come look at this!” Asami said as she grabbed the firebender’s arm and pulled him away.

“When are you going to tell Mako about us?” Korra asked Bolin.

“Soon, I’m just waiting for the right time.” Bolin saw her frown and quickly added, “He’s very protective of me, and considering what happened that one time, he might go ballistic.”

“Okay.” Korra replies, “I just don’t like lying to one of my friends.”

“Don’t worry, Bolin’s got this.” Bolin said with a reassuring smile, “I’m going to get him to come with me through Ba Sing Se, see where our dad grew up and see if we can find any family.”

Korra nodded with a smile before kissing him. He returned the kiss before they pulled away, “Good luck.” Korra said.

“You too.” Bolin replied.

Gun begins to exit the house, “Avatar Korra, Avatar Aang, if you'll follow me. We don't want to keep Her Majesty waiting.”

Both Avatars give their significant other one last kiss before following Gun.

----

At a side courtyard of the Earth Kingdom Royal Palace, the Earth Queen supervises an extensive renovation project.

"Your Majesty, may I present Avatar Korra and Avatar Aang." Gun said, introducing the two Avatars.

Korra and Aang bow, but the queen, who has her back to them, does not pay them any attention.

Hou-Ting shouts to the workers below, "You're ruining the koi pond! It's completely overshadowed by the topiaries! Guards, take that buffoon away and get me someone who knows what they're doing!"

Two Dai Li agents grab the offending worker, and escort him away.

"You, rip everything out and start over!" She says to the worker's partner.

The young lady earthbends the ground beneath the topiaries and turns it over, leaving fresh ground in its place.

"I am surrounded by idiots." Hou-Ting turns to acknowledge Korra and Aang, "So, I finally get a visit from not just one, but both Avatars. The news of your little time travelling adventure has spread fast. Let me guess, you want something."

"Well, actually Your Majesty," Korra starts, "We were hoping you could…"

Hou-Ting cuts Korra off, "I hardly think you're in a position to ask me for favors after everything he did," She points at Aang, "to the Earth Kingdom." She turns away from them, "He and Fire Lord Zuko took advantage of my father's weakness and stole our lands to make their own little empire." She looks at them angrily, "The United Republic is Earth Kingdom territory!"

Aang took a deep breath to help calm himself before replying, "Your Majesty, we never took advantage of King Kuei, Fire Lord Zuko and I respect him very much. He gave us those lands because of our friendship."

Hou-Ting scoffed at the comment and said, “What's left of my kingdom is falling to ruin. Roving bands of barbarians are raiding villages in the countryside. And now, some of my subjects are refusing to pay their taxes.” She turns back to face the courtyard.

“I'm very sorry for your troubles,” Korra replied, “but actually…”

Hou-Ting shouts down into the courtyard, “That topiary is supposed to be an eel swan not a turtle duck!”

----

Back at Team Avatar's new house, Mako, Asami, Jinora, and Tenzin are congregated around a table.

“Hey, has anyone seen Kai?” Jinora asked

Tenzin stands up, “Kai?”

Bolin comes down the stairs; shouting, “Kai, little bro.”

Bumi bursts in through a side door, “He's not over here.”

“I don't think I've seen him since we landed.” Asami said.

“I knew that kid was no good.” Mako said, “He was just waiting for an opportunity to run away again.”

“We have to find him.” Jinora said.

“What's the point? He obviously doesn't care about us.”

“But he's my new little brother.” Bolin said, “He's probably lost, and scared.”

“He is just a little boy, and he's our responsibility.” Tenzin said, “Besides, he's the only airbender we've recruited so far, we can't lose him.”

“Fine. Bolin and I will find him.” Mako said.

-----

“No, to your left!” Hou-Ting continues shouting at her servants, “Your other left!” She turns to Korra and Aang, “Do you have these problems with your servants?”

“Uh, we don't really have servants. Korra replied, “But, Your Majesty, the reason for our visit is that we're trying to gather all of the new airbenders who are popping up in the Earth Kingdom, and we'd like your help finding the ones in Ba Sing Se.”

“Airbenders in Ba Sing Se.” Hou-Ting said skeptically, “Where did you hear that?”

“Before we left Republic City we got some reports.”

“Hmm. Well, before I even consider helping you, I'll need you to do something for me.”

“Oh, of course. What is it?”

“I have a vault full of tax money sitting in a town south of here. Barbarians have stolen my past two shipments. Go collect my money and bring it back here.”

Korra and Aang bow once again as they simultaneously say, “Yes, Your Majesty.”

The Earth Queen indicates to Korra, Aang and Gun that they should leave, and Gun hurriedly tries to walk the two Avatars out. However, Korra pushes him away, causing him to fall to the ground.

-----

Sokka awakes with a start and looks at his surroundings. When he sees that he’s back at the Air Temple, he relaxes.

Kya rushes up to him, “Uncle Sokka, take it easy. You were badly hurt when you came here.”

“Where’s Aang?” Sokka asked concerned as he tried to stand but found that it was painful.

“You need another healing session before you go anywhere.” Kya replied as she moved a bowl filled with water closer to them.

Sokka didn’t protest as his niece began healing whatever pain was leftover. He figured if she was anything like Katara, arguing would do him no good.

“Where’s Aang?” Sokka asked again, but more calmly this time.

“He went with the others to find new airbenders.”

“No, he shouldn’t have left the safety of the Air Temple! He’s in danger!”

Kya paused, “What do you mean?”

“I heard Admiral Zhou talking while I was the Black Lotus’s prisoner. He’s planning on working with the Red Lotus, and they’re already escaping. I don’t know all the plans they have for him, but I know they’re terrible.”

Kya bended the water back into the bowl as she said, If anything happens to dad at this age, so many things in this time will change. My brothers and I would never be born, Republic City wouldn’t exist...”

Kya looked at her uncle. They both were thinking the same thing. The scariest thing that would happen. The Avatar cycle would be broken.

-----

Meanwhile, Bolin and Mako, look for Kai near a bridge. Bolin looked nervously and Mako, who was looking around for the young airbender. He was debating on telling his brother about his relationship with Korra. But he was angry right now. But he was going to have tell him eventually.

“Mako I have something to tell you.” Bolin finally said after about a minute.

“What is it?” Mako asked

“Well, you see… I’m sort of-”

“I see him!” Mako said, pointing to Kai who airbends at an Upper Ring man.

The man’s robes go up for a few seconds before coming back down. His hat also drops. Kai picks up his hat.

“Here, sir, let me help you.”

“Oh, thank you, young man.” The upper-class man said, “What a strange sudden breeze.”

Kai goes around the man, fixing his robe, while looking for anything precious, “Yeah, that was really weird.”

“Thanks for your help.”

Kai puts the upper class man's wallet in his bag.

“Kai!” Mako calls. Kai grins widely and slides out of view, “Get back here!” Mako starts chasing after Kai.

Bolin sighs before saying, “Kai, it's us. Mako and Bolin, your new family.” He runs along to chase after Kai.

Kai turns into a corner, so does Mako. Kai slides underneath a rickshaw, but Mako jumps to the side of the wall and over the rickshaw. Kai does a barrel roll to evade Mako and runs off down an alleyway.

“Excuse me, coming through.” Bolin squeezes in between two rickshaws, “Pardon me.” Bolin pulls a large grin, “Carry on.” Bolin runs along to continue chasing after Kai.

Now at a monorail station in Ba Sing Se, Kai runs up the stairs to get away from Mako. Kai gets into one part of the monorail while Mako gets into another. As Kai brisked across the monorail, he bumps into Mako and hesitates.

“What are you doing running around robbing people?” Mako asks

“I was just practicing my airbending.” Kai pulls a large grin.

“Yeah right. Let's go.” Mako grabs Kai's top, “You're in big trouble.”

Kai slides out of his top only to leave it in Mako's hand and airbends the two brothers to the other side of the train. Everyone sitting in the monorail looks stunned. Kai runs out of the monorail. Mako and Bolin run to get off but the door closes.

“Hey!” Mako bangs his hands on the side window. Kai smiles and waves at Mako and Bolin as the train leaves the station.

“Your little brother, huh?” Mako says angrily to Bolin.

“Yeah... just a lovable little scamp, isn't he?” Bolin replies

Mako looks out the window, “Reminds me of my little brother.”

“Designated express line to the lower ring. Next up, Poh Kong Station.” The train conductor said.

“So… since we’re gonna be here a while I guess I might as well tell you what I was trying to tell you earlier.” Bolin said as he awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck.

“Do you think it can wait until we get back?” Mako asked, clearly frustrated with their current circumstance.

Bolin looked down, “Oh… yeah sure. I guess.”

Mako notices his brother’s change in behavior and places a hand on his shoulder, “Look, I’m just really focused on getting Kai and getting back to the others. Once we do that, I will listen to whatever it is you have to tell me. Okay?” Bolin nodded with a smile. Mako returned the smile as he removed his hand.

-----

The monorail arrives at Poh Kong Station, making a hard brake. After the monorail stops, everyone pushed Mako and Bolin out of the monorail.

“All right. Let's see if we can catch a train back to the Upper Ring.” Mako said.

A woman showing her ticket to the ticket master. The ticket master lets her through. However, Mako and Bolin tries to barge through, but end up getting blocked.

“Passports and tickets.” The ticket master said.

“We can pay, hold on.” Bolin said. Both Bolin and Mako check their pockets to find that Kai has robbed them as well, “Where's my money?” Bolin and Mako widen their eyes in realization and stare at each other in disbelief, “No, Kai wouldn't...” Bolin's eyes widen. Mako stares at him, “Aww, man.” Bolin pulls an exaggerated expression of dismay.

“Step aside, beat it you two,” Both boys yell after getting pushed by the ticket master, “before things get ugly.”

Mako stares to the other side, looking at two Dai Li agents. Both of them stare back. Mako stares back at the ticket master and turns around.

Mako and Bolin exit Poh Kong station, at the same time, a train leaves Poh Kong station. They end up at a messed up lower ring street.

“The bad news is we're stuck here.” Bolin syays, “The good news is, “Bolin puts his hand on Mako's shoulder and grins, “we can go the bathroom wherever we want.”

Mako glares at Bolin with a blank stare and Bolin releases his hold on Mako, looking a little dejected.

-----

Asami pilots the Future Industries airship as her, Korra, Aang and Zuko leave the Earth Kingdom Royal Palace.

“Are you sure we shouldn't have brought more people to collect the tax money?” Asami asked.

“There are royal guards waiting at the vault.” Korra turns around and looks at Asami, “I doubt anything will happen. I think Her Majesty likes ordering me and Aang around.”

“Most people like ordering the Avatar around.” Aang said with an annoyed tone like he had already been through this, “Especially if they think you’re just a child.”

“You were frozen in ice for a hundred years I was expecting an old man.” Zuko said, exasperated

“I’m not talking about you. I’m talking about the other stuck up Fire Nation leaders.”

“Oh…” Zuko then realized what he said, “Hey! I’m not stuck up!”

“Are you two gonna start arguing?” Korra asked.

“That’s the foundation of our friendship.” Aang replied in a joking tone which made Zuko laugh a little.