The next few days, Tahno laid in bed, mulling over the events of the past week.

He knew what happened. Even if he hadn't been there, he could have read about it in the paper. The Equalist attacks on the benders at the finals of the pro-bending match. The White Falls Wolfbats won. It hadn't been fairly, of course, but there was little remorse even now. He was selfish and egotistical and hardheaded and a cheater, but deep down he felt like he had never fit in anywhere but the swamp. And no one let him forget it until he made up this stupid persona. Ever since he started pro-bending, you had followed his success, and you felt happy for him. Not a bone in your body wished that he'd lose, just to be put back into place. To you, this was a way for Tahno to redeem himself and maybe to be able to return to who he once was.

Eventually, Tahno got up. His friends were living in his house, how could he ignore even them for so long? The first thing Ming did was suggest training. Tahno had been against it. What was the point now that they didn't have bending?

"Ya gotta do somethin'."

You had suggested that to him. And after the a full week of moping and pitying himself he ended up in the tiny garden outside with rivulets of sweat streaming down his defined abdomen as he finished his last rep. He reached down for the towel with a smirk. Disgusting, how he has to wipe away this moisture, when before he could just bend the sweat off his body. Tahno was trying to fill in the part of his soul that had been stripped from him when Amon took his bending. Since he could no longer bend he focused on building his mundane body into something better. He grimaced at the Wolfbats poster hanging on his wall, his own face smirking at him with arrogance. Why had he let Ming talk him into this?

No more Wolfbats, no more pro-bending. They had all lost it; not that their fans cared. He was a nobody now. A swampy nobody. "Hey? Ya done?"

"Yeah. Do we have any bug stew?" He looked at you with earnest eyes. It was hard to say no to him.

"Lil' bit. I'll heat it up."

"If I was still a bender, I could do that for you..." Shaozu mumbled.

"Hey. Better attitudes! We agreed that we're not going to rely on our bending to be our defining character trait." Ming reminded the men. "We're more than benders."

Everyone joined you for dinner; it had become somewhat of a ritual. Bug stew, however much a favorite it was of you and Tahno, was not the most appealing of meals to the city dwellers. Ming and Shaozu picked at it while Tahno ate quickly, but in silence. "I, uh, I hate to be the one to bring this here up..." You started. "But ain't y'all need like... jobs or somethin'? It ain't a rush, but I ain't have a job and y'all ain't have one so..."

"I'm going to start fighting." Tahno spoke quietly. "In the underground circuit. If I have this strong body, I might as well use it. There's a circle of non-bender fighters. I think we could make some good money."

"But my beautiful face!" Shaozu complained as Ming chuckled.

"I'm in." Ming nodded. "YN are you joining?"

"Uh, absolutely not!" Tahno answered for you. "Y'all think I'd let that happen?!" Ming and Shaozu laughed. "What's so funny?!

"It's cute and I expect the word y'all to come from YN..." Shaozu began.

"But it's so unnatural coming from you." Ming finished.