She's been issued an official list, compiled by Tenzin and the other members of the council, that includes in detail every victim of Amon's, in the counsel's words, "pseudo permanent blood-bending style chakra blocking bending removal".
And she's never been happier to receive something with such dismal connotation.
It's a refreshingly calm day in Republic city, and on Air Temple Island especially. There's the faint sound of the kids playing in the courtyard and Tenzin and the newly reinstated Chief of Police, Lin, are quietly discussing how to go about handling any remaining equalist supporters within the city. Mako and Bolin have gone into town with Asami to finalize her commandeering of the Sato Corporation. Korra's just about to leave with them when Tenzin calls her over and hands her the list. After skimming over it a couple of times, she returns his gaze. Nothing is exchanged but the fiery glint in her eye and the determined set of her mouth. He smiles, nods, and she's already heading out the door.
The scroll is gripped tightly in her hand as she stares out at the urban skyline.
It's a refreshingly calm day in Republic City, and Korra is ready to change some lives.
She's starts off with the members of the police force, the former metalbenders and earthbenders that are lingering around the station, waiting for news on their situation.
After she's righted them, she realizes that she's never seen officers act so openly ecstatic in her life, and it just fuels her spirit even more. They thank her profusely and she is nothing but humble. Moving on.
Then it's the few council men and women, some advisors and their families later, and a hefty load of common citizens and artisans that were captured and equalized as well. It's surprisingly draining work, and she's feeling the effects some four hours later.
When she studies the list now, she see's that she's down to just a few more. A once firebender who works by the docks, and a team of former probending players, the wolfbats.
She looks at his name inscribed in the last place of the list and feels…strange. Not uncomfortable or even unsettled, just apprehensive.
The dock worker is on the way, and she finds the other wolf bats at a training center (open to benders and non benders alike), but without their third member. She returns their bending first before any questions, and when Korra does ask about Tahno, they exchange solemn looks and advise to look for him some place else.
Tenzin and the council's research proves very thorough, complete with home address and all, and though she finds it somewhat intrusive to show up unannounced on his very own doorstep, Korra decides that what she's offering might prove worthwhile.
Korra weaves her way through the city and tries to understand the feeling of apprehension that surfaces once more. She knows that she has restored at least a dozen benders today, and Tahno should prove as quick and easy as the rest of them. Right?
When she reaches the address she lets go of any conflicting thoughts and lets herself into the apartment compound. Three flights of stairs later, she's at room 209 with her hand poised to knock, and with a deep breath, her hand raps at the panel three times.
She doesn't get any kind of response for at least five minutes, so she knocks again.
This time she hears some footsteps from the other side and a hallway door being slid open and shut, and then some more footsteps.
The door slides open at last.
"Korra?" Tahno raises his eyebrows, though not unkindly, "What're you doing here?"
He's dripping wet and shirtless.
The only thing he's wearing is a towel slung over his shoulder and some drawstring pants, and Korra figures that he just had to come to the door in that state to fuel the sexual tension. Wait sexual what? Moving on.
"Hey Tahno," She smiles and is unaffected.
" I've just gotta…talk to you about something." She didn't know how exactly to word it, telling someone that they were getting their bending back that is. "You got a minute?"
He smiles a little back at her. It's a genuine smile, but his eyes remain droopy.
He's really changed.
"Sure. Here, come inside," He steps out of the door way and ushers her into his apartment.
As she takes a seat on the plush sofa by the coffee table, she can't help but notice that his place is rather high class. Spacious and clutter-free, with select furnishings here and there that are obviously highly cared for and ascetically pleasing, but not gaudy. She likes it a lot.
Tahno notices that she's spent about a minute looking at his apartment meticulously, but leaves her to it, waiting until she meets his gaze once again. He takes the seat opposite her on the couch, leaning forward with his arms folded across his knees, and turns his head to his right, peering over at her. Korra has finished examining his home and her eyes drop to meet his.
She is stricken suddenly with de ja vu, realizing how much their position now resembles the one they had before, on that day in city hall when his bending was freshly taken, with him leaning over like he is and her looking cautiously back at him like she does again now. They had met again after that day, sometimes on accident in the city and sometimes on purpose. All those occasions seemed to lead back to this point here and now, the same way their friendship had began.
She gets a little rush thinking to herself of how very different things will be this time.
"Like what you see?" Tahno can't help but say, though he's really just asking about his apartment.
Though having no shirt on and smelling of his clean pine needle shampoo certainly helps his innuendo.
Korra might have growled some time ago for that remark, at the old Tahno, who would have said it in a much darker way. But this time she laughs because he's meant for her to.
Maybe he's changed, but he's still Tahno underneath it all.
"Yeah." She smiles. "I really like your place." She finishes her comment with a deliberate scanning of the room once again, just to show him that she really means the apartment , looking at everything except him and his taut muscle.
Tahno rolls his eyes and leans back against the back of the couch.
"So uh-vatar." Apparently her pet name. "What did you want to talk to me about?"
Korra clasps her hands together and thinks for a moment about how every other person today took her twenty minutes at the most, but she's already been here at least ten and hasn't even told him why. It should unsettle her, but it doesn't because she likes talking to him and she likes thinking about how much what she's going to say will mean to him.
"Well…" In a way very unlike herself, she is at somewhat of a mental block with the wording again.
How should she go about this? With everyone else, it seemed so much more…formal. Almost like business.
"Avatar Korra! So good to see you!"
"Yes you too. I have some very important news." A pause. " I'm here to restore your bending."
All of it had gone something like that, and then there was the shocking experience of restoration that would overcome them, and then it was all gracious thanking and her modest reassurance, before a firm smile and solid farewell on both parts.
But Korra was here, in Tahno's house. He had invited her in without a second thought, and she was slouching on his couch, sitting next to him after he had just gotten out of the shower and wasn't wearing all of his clothes.
And he had already made a sexual innuendo. It hardly got any less formal than that.
And that wasn't a problem for Korra. She didn't particularly like formal, and found herself to be much more comfortable right now compared to earlier. She had just gotten into a routine of sorts, with all of the others before him, and now was at a loss for how to phrase the news.
Tahno sat on the opposite side of the couch, silent and waiting for her to say something.
As she took in his appearance again, his pale skin, his deep dark eyes watching her, and damp, shaggy black hair falling into his left eye, she wondered what kind of person he was now without his bending, and how he might change again once she gave it back. Just wondered.
He was watching her carefully by this point, because they had been sitting there in silence for a good minute or two. He wore a guarded expression and Korra saw that he realized she was going to tell him something serious.
"…Korra?" He prompted. He sounded weary, and Korra felt then that she should really gather her wits and stop torturing the poor boy with suspense.
She took a deep breath.
"Amon got away."
What? She didn't even know why that was what she said. And then she kept going.
"When I faced Amon," she continued, looking at a dark spot on the table in front of her, "I couldn't get to him. I chased him, and he got away." Korra finished, her voice steady, and turned her head to face Tahno again. He was gaping at her a little bit, and one of his eyebrows was raised.
"Korra, why- ?" He began incredulously, and then cut himself off and broke their eye contact. He brought a pale, slender hand to his neck and rubbed slowly, his face pensive. He was honestly confused.
"That's what you needed to tell me?" He asked, genuinely, without insult.
Korra paused and looked at his, admittedly, handsome face before explaining further.
She suddenly felt that she had a direction with what she's said.
"When you saw me in city hall that day, when you were waiting to be called in for questioning, we didn't speak all that much." Korra began again seriously. "But you did tell me one thing. To get Amon. You told me I had to get him for you, and I'm telling you now that I'm sorry, that I couldn't." She shifted her gaze to his slowly, gauging his expression.
Tahno was looking at her intently, his thoughts completely inscrutable.
"I'm sorry." Korra said again. She truly was. "But before he escaped, we found out what he was. Understanding him, well, that made him no longer a threat. And though I'm sorry we didn't see him pay for everything he did, I hope you can forgive me, knowing of what I can undo." She sounded confident, as confident as she was, and she met his gaze again, determined.
Tahno hadn't seemed to completely process everything that she had said, and was staring back at her with another contemplative look.
"I'm not sure of what you're saying, but I want you to know that I would never be angry at you for what Amon did," he said evenly, "Or that he escaped."
Korra smiled and closed her eyes for a moment before turning to face him completely where she sat, and reaching forward to pull his hands from where they lie loosely in his lap.
He looked a little flustered and she thought it was damn cute.
She held his hands firmly in her own, and he too turned his body to face hers, feeling compelled to do so.
After all of that off of her chest, telling him about his bending was going to be unimaginable.
"Why'd you really come here, uh-vatar?" his tone is light, but she can hear the nervousness in his voice. He's looking deep into her eyes as she grasps each of his hands in each of her own, his skin surprisingly on fire and hers, cool and soothing against it.
"I came here to return your bending, Tahno."
His eyes widen a small bit, and he inhales just slightly through his nose, but otherwise doesn't move.
He probably thinks he's dreaming.
"I-" He begins, his voice sounding trapped in his throat.
"Tahno." Korra just says softly.
Her hands leave his to travel up his arms, his shoulders, one coming to rest with the her thumb centered on his heart, and the other up his neck and the side of his face to stop at his forehead.
She doesn't think that he wants her to say anything else, no more explaining, he just wants to know that this is real. So Korra keeps smiling serenely and keeps staring right into his silvery coal colored eyes, dilated and glittering.
A sharp inhale on her part and she doesn't waste any time, she's in the avatar state.
Her eyes glow brightly as do his and she thinks she hears him gasp as the energy overtakes him as well. She can feel all of his spirit, his being, coursing through him, and she can feel her own as well. They're cycling about as if they are intertwined. It's always this exhilarating.
Korra sends her chi spiraling out to coil with his in little tendrils, coursing like veins into his body and smoothing out all of the snares. It feels gratifying and pure. She can feel Tahno's chakras swelling and growing again, healthy.
Then her own energy retreats back through her fingertips, she exhales deeply, and the blinding blue fades abruptly back into Tahno's living room.
Tahno sighs softly as Korra drops her hands from his body, a small smile still playing on her lips.
In a trance like manner, Tahno brings his own hands to his face, knowing that there won't be any signs on the surface but still staring because he needs to know that those are his hands and this is his body again.
The way he feels is akin to the afterglow present after sex, but really, it's so much different at the same time.
He can feel every fiber, every muscle, pulsing with newfound energy, and the exhilaration brings an unbelieving smile across his face.
He turns his head and sees a glass of water set on the counter in the kitchen to the far right of his apartment.
Without hesitation, he raises one arm, extending it past Korra, and feels the connection to the element in his wake.
He inclines his hand upwards, and the water obligingly follows, consenting to the pull of his hand. He sweeps his arm over quickly, ecstatic and grinning, and the water whips over to him like it's glad to be with him again as well.
Tahno raises both hands now in front of him, weighing the water back and forth in little curls and whisps, enraptured.
Korra chuckles beside him. It snaps him out of his revere.
The weight of the situation seems to sink down into him, as he turns and takes in her presence, his eyes wide.
He doesn't break eye contact as his left arm extends out again and sends the water spiraling back to its glass in the kitchen.
"Korra…" Tahno begins in awe.
How does one thank another for returning a part of their soul? Any words he mulls over seem inadequate and obsolete.
He finds himself opening his mouth several times but never saying a word.
She's just sitting there, like some kind of goddess, waiting for him to collect himself. Granted her smile is a little goofy.
Then a wondrous feeling engulfs him, and before he can hope of stopping himself, Tahno grabs her by the shoulders and pulls her into him, his lips covering hers in a heartbeat.
Korra's a little too stunned to move, but he doesn't mind yet.
He wraps his arms around her completely and kisses her feverishly, feeling the scratchy material of her shirt against his skin.
He lowers one hand to her hip and presses the other into the small of her back, coercing her to arch into him. His tongue glides across the seam of her lips.
But all too soon, he realizes that she's still motionless, and he's got no shirt on and this could be considered as some kind of sexual harassment on his part.
Tahno lets go with haste and jumps back, startled by his own actions.
As he tries to catch his breath he appraises Korra's expression.
She looks as surprised as he expected her too, but to his relief, there is no anger or discomfort.
He examines further and notices that her eyes have darkened and her pupils are dialated…she's also biting at her bottom lip, a habit he's never seen on her before.
A moment passes of silence and near petrified eye contact.
Then, in a way very unlike herself, she gingerly reaches out and grips his forearms.
She looks skittish.
She seems to gain some confidence somewhere along the road though, because Tahno feels her hands tighten around his biceps, and then he's suddenly on his back with her looming over him.
He's at a loss for words at this point. He doesn't really care. He just wants this woman.
A good bit of time passes with him just lying there underneath her, her hands braced on either side of him and his right hand playing with her hair that is dangling near his face. He finds himself smirking and he doesn't even know why.
He feels like his old self again, but extraordinarily cleansed and new and better. There's a heat coursing through his veins that feels like the tingling brought after drinking alcohol, but he knows it's something else.
He's pretty turned on.
One of Korra's hands comes up to grab the one of his that's been tugging at her hair, and she pins it by the wrist down against the couch. She follows suit with the other.
Tahno closes his eyes, exhales and his smirk widens; he's waiting for her to do whatever she wants to him.
Suddenly there's a weight pressing down against him, and he finds that she has lowered body flush against his. He lets out a low groan but it gets swallowed up by her kissing him.
Tahno keeps trying to reach for her, but she keeps his wrists firmly planted on either side of his head.
He just finds it really hotand is enjoying the struggle.
Of course she'd be this dominating.
Korra breaks away from his mouth, breathing heavily, with half lidded eyes that are gazing down at him with intensity. Tahno's still smirking.
He could really take her right now.
He won't because he's a gentleman.
Unless she asks of course.
She seems to think something over, fleetingly, and then says, "Tahno, I think that-
"I don't need an explanation, Korra." He interrupts.
She frowns a bit but he continues, "Is this what you want?" His voice is a low hum and she feels the vibrations of it coursing through her because of their close contact.
She closes her eyes tightly and nuzzles her face into his neck.
"Yes." She murmurs back to him. "You have no idea-
He cuts her off again, this time with his mouth.