Siku nodded enthusiastically, "He will. He's brilliant," She said without a modicum of doubt. The door opened and she beamed at a man she'd known most of her childhood, giving a wave. "Uncle Yakedo, how are you?" She asked. The man gave her a somber smile and replied with a wave, but gave no more. He was going to respect Katsu's wish and allow the boy to speak. Once he'd said his piece, Siku snorted slightly, a grin on her face. "Yeah, right, and as it turns out, there are two Avatars. I'm the other one," She said, waving her hand and looking to the Grand Lotus. "Hideki has a plan to get this all straightened out, Katsu. No worries," She reassured him, shaking her head, "Besides, you're the Avatar. People can't really run [i]you[/i] out of town, can they? They'd sooner move the whole town than you." Her eyes caught the look of sympathy coming to her from Hideki and she furrowed her brow... He shook his head. "N-no... Uncle Yakedo, we've... We've guards and officers and all sorts of things at that house - nobody would think of coming after us..." She couldn't help but blurt the first things that came to her mind, "What kind of danger could I possibly be in?! Or Asha, for that matter? We were just witnesses! We didn't even know he was the Avatar!" She stamped her foot to the ground aggressively, "Send them here, after me, I'll tell them myself. I'm not afraid of those... Bullies." That was... the dumbest choice of word she thought she'd ever made. Hideki's face became serious as he stared her down, "That's the understatement of the century, Siku. You're not staying here and you're not staying at home. I'll help you guys get back to your house to get some things and talk to your family, but you're not going to stay in Republic City. Not when nobody even knows who the enemy is. Hell, apparently they've been under me for years and I didn't notice it. So no, I'll not let you be subject to this place. At least if you leave, they won't have any clue how to find you. Here, they can easily surround you and ambush like in the restaurant. Nobody knew anything was going on until you were all attacked - they could do that again, with more people... stronger fighters. They'll learn from these mistakes and not make them again," He explained flatly. "This is [i]not[/i] up for debate, do you understand?" Siku's gaze remained defiant as she squared off with the man... "Ugh! Fine." She looked at Katsu and saw the desperation on his face. It was his fault, she knew that, and he knew that. Pointing it out now would only make things worse. So what did she do? She lied, "Stop apologizing. It's not your fault, it's theirs, whoever these people are. The world just forgot how stupid it is to piss off the Avatar... And they certainly don't realize how stupid it is to piss [i]me[/i] off." She took a breath, sighed, looked to Hideki once more and nodded, "Fine. I need to grab some things from home too, then." Hideki hesitated and rubbed the back of his neck, "It might be better if I go alone and get them, I know what you're looking for..." "No. I'm not disappearing without a trace." Siku glanced to the side, "Sesi wouldn't forgive me if I did, anyway..." ----- Hiresh remained a silent observer through the exchange. He didn't even know that Hideki was close to their family, but something caught him off in Katsu's explanation. "Wait, wait... what do you mean 'Hiresh will be safe?'" He asked after Siku's exchange with Yakedo. "So it's too dangerous for a talented bender and swordswoman of high esteem, but for a single cop living on his own, it's fine? Look, I don't want to leave either, but... Why am I allowed to stay?" The Lotus nodded, "You're correct. Under normal circumstances, I'd probably have you leave as well. However, I have no doubt the chief will want you helping the force get to the bottom of this, at least here in Republic City, to stop anything like it from happening again. My recommendation carries quite a bit of weight, I'm sure you're not long for guard duty either way." He then turned to Asha, "Are you okay with this? I'm sure we could speak to the other elders of the island... And even if you're not a master, I'm sure at the very least, Katsu could learn the fundamentals of air bending from you. Nomadic at heart; from the sounds of it, you've been itching to leave for a while anyway, right? What better way than with the Avatar?" Asha's youth made her both the biggest liability and the probably the easiest to convince that this was fine. Not to mention, folks of the Air Nation who were part of any monastery didn't usually have too many problems leaving home and making a brand new one. However, she was young, which meant she might just be as hard-headed as Siku. Katsu had to be ready to deal with either of them, at least until they separated. If they did. The Lotus looked to all of the people in the room... Children, all of them, even Hiresh in his eyes. "I promise, as soon as we can, I'll find each of you and personally see to it that you're safely returned home. And yes, Siku, we'll go and get your things... Soon. Once everybody's ready to go - we're not coming back here, so... Asha, gather anything you want to pack."