North and South Part Three

North and South Part 3 is the third installment of the North and South trilogy. It was released in comic book stores on April 26, 2017, and will be released in mass market retailers on May 9, 2017.

Overview
''Fire Lord Zuko and Earth King Kuei arrive in the Southern Water Tribe amid protests of Gilak's imprisonment. While the leaders hold council to solidify Malina and Hakoda's unification plans, Gilak breaks free and leads a powerful rebellion! In the face of these two opposing tribes, Katara will have to make peace with her nostalgia and distrust to save the home she loves from being permanently torn apart.''

Synopsis
The morning after Gilak's imprisonment and Hakoda's stabbing, Toph and her metalbending students begin doing construction work on the factory at the South Pole as protesters gather at the fence surrounding the site. In a moment in which her students question the reason for their being there, Toph tells them her reasons, though she dislikes them, are political. Katara, the only Southern waterbender, is against the factory's construction, and the presence of any Northerners would only further damage the current precarious state of affairs in the South. Malina and Sokka stand nearby; the former believes she should have left with Maliq, but Sokka assures her that the protesters will change their minds once they come to understand the benefits of the Southern Reconstruction Project. Looking at the angry protesters, Malina hopes Sokka's assessment is right.

Pakku attempts to teach Sura and Siku the art of waterbending. He stands the children in front of large basins of water and shows them a form, but they refuse to cooperate, asserting that they are not waterbenders. Despairing that he has had to tolerate three weeks of their defiant behavior, Pakku calls Katara and Aang into the room, in the hopes that watching the Avatar waterbend will convince them to drop their act. After watching the two of them, Sura and Siku open up to them a little. They admit that they are waterbenders but reveal that their mother, out of fear of the Fire Nation, made them promise never to waterbend or to tell anyone about their abilities.

As the children run from the room and Aang and Katara wonder if such a significant change might be too much for them to handle, Hakoda, still bandaged and walking with a cane, joins them. Moments later, Hakoda, Katara, and Aang leave the room, the latter two intending to escort Hakoda on the rest of his morning walk. As they walk, Hakoda tells them again of his desire for the South to join forces with the other nations in an effort to rebuild it. When Aang and Katara question him, he stands his ground, referring to what happened in Pakku's class just moments before: "A Northerner, a Southerner, and an Air Nomad, all working together to recover a tradition that was almost lost." He informs them that he has invited the Earth King and Fire Lord to a conference that will take place that evening, where he intends to talk to the two rulers about international collaboration. He asks Aang and Katara to sit in on the talks.

That evening, Zuko and Kuei, who has Bosco with him, arrive via two separate airships. Kuei, who is off-put by the cold, does not fail to notice the crowd of protesters standing nearby, nor does Zuko. When Sokka walks out to meet them, he assures them that the crowd will come to understand their plan once they see it in action. As the three and Bosco walk from the landing area, a protester yells at Sokka, accusing him of having been abroad too long and claiming he has forgotten his place. Sokka does not reply and simply urges Zuko and Kuei to keep walking.

In prison, Gilak asks a guard standing outside his cell if Hakoda invited foreigners into the country to attend a conference. When the guard answers in the affirmative, adding that they have already arrived, Gilak asks if the guard heard his speech to the tribe the night before. Again, the guard answers "yes", prompting Gilak to ask how he can stand to be in the service of a traitor. The guard rejects the assertion, at which point Gilak demands to know if the guard stands with the South or with "Hakoda's so-called 'future'". When the guard states his belief that having both is possible, Gilak stands, uses the key to open the door to his cell, and subdues the shocked guard, knocking him unconscious. After apologizing to Lirin, the guard who slipped him the key to his cell, for attacking the guard, Gilak frees a sleeping Thod from his cell.

Hakoda explains to the other world leaders (as well as the rest of team avatar) his plan for the modernization of the South and building stronger relationships between all the nations. The chief asks Zuko and Kuei for funds to assist in this expansion project because the South's economy suffered during the war, and while the former is quick to offer support, the latter is more hesitant because of the Earth Kingdom's own needs. The Earth King suggests that he may be able to give funds once the tribe shows it is becoming more civilized, which Katara takes offense to. As Kuei attempts to apologize a guard bursts in and alerts the group that Gilak and his army have escaped the prison. Gilak and his men enter with Officer Lirin and begin fighting team avatar.