Set in the universe for A Crooked House, where Tarrlok survives the boat explosion with a missing arm and awful burns.
s/8627572/1/A-Crooked-House
Even in a small town like this, the scars still attract stares. Everyone has seen them before, but nobody seems to get tired of looking. It can be exhausting. Everyone is familiar with the story by now. The ex-councilman's bloodbending, his defeat, his redemption. They know his history, and although they were suspicious at first they grudgingly trust him. After all, the Avatar trusted him enough to marry him. But they stare at the scars, tell him that it's remarkable that he survived the explosion, acting as if it was a conversation he'd never had before. He always laughs it off, credit's his wife's healing skills, and smiles as he goes on his way, but it's always a relief to get home and shut out the world when he closes the door.
Korra understands. She knows that nothing was simple, most of it was painful, and even if she can't completely know what he's felt, she knows more than anyone else in the world. She knows the struggle of adjusting to life with a missing arm, with a face that nobody passes without a look or remark. She knows his glorious redemption was the lowest point of his life. Killing his brother and attempting to kill himself isn't something he'll ever look back on with satisfaction. And most importantly, she knows what he's gone through trying to rejoin the world after such an experience. He thanks the spirits every day that despite what he did to her she found it in her heart to forgive him. Love him.
She's the one who supports him. He doubts he would have had the strength to go back into society on his own. It was so seductively easy to turn away, to live an isolated hermit's life and avoid the stares, questions, and suppositions of the world. She was brash enough to go around arm with him, act normally, and shame the people they met on the street into treating like a real human. In the early days it had been too hard to go out without her, but now he can run errands, go to work, live life. It gets easier with time. Some people never tired of asking him about evens he'd rather forget, but there were friends and pleasures he hadn't expected to ever experience again. When he's with Korra back home he can almost feel his life is normal.
With her, his life is better than he ever expected it to be. She doesn't even seem to see the scars and missing arm anymore. Even when he was young and unscarred, no woman ever kissed him with such heat and passion. Nobody ever looked at him with so much warmth in their eyes or touched him so tenderly. They sometimes sit on their couch together, just watching the snow slowly fall outside the window. She lies curled up beside him with her head in his lap, her fingers twined with his. She sometimes falls asleep that way, and he tries his hardest not to move and wake her. In those times, he feels that no matter how hard life in the town is, it's worth it for the peace and happiness of these moments.