The whispers followed her, snippets flowed to her ears whenever she passed and happened to catch someone speaking of the rumors that abounded around her reputation and every single time someone noticed she had heard they recoiled in fear but she just smiled that cocky cryptic smile because no matter what they said it was never even close to the truth… No, the truth was even more scandalous, so much that people wouldn't even believe it as a rumor.
Korra was now twenty-two years old, a fully realized Avatar that had achieved more than any Avatar before her, a heroine to the world, and princess in the hearts of the people, a wise woman that nonetheless still jumped recklessly into battle whenever it was required.
But not all was perfect in the Avatar's life, at least not in the eyes of others. Ever since the instability of her first love with Mako, with whom she was still best friends, she had become reckless in matters of the heart- there had been a couple of times she tried to have a conventional romance, she even went out with Bolin, but it never worked out, she wanted all the control in a relationship and she never wanted to give her heart completely and open up to being hurt, plus she just didn't want to put any time or hard work into a relationship that might not last, she'd rather be independent through and through.
And then she found something that not only was entertaining but occupied her idle days.
Apparently being the daughter of the Chief of the Southern Water Tribe had its perks, she couldn't accept the title of princess, nor could she inherit the throne so to speak because the Avatar had to neutral but in return she got a nice monthly allowance from the Water Tribe government to add to any other income she made which wasn't much seeing as being Avatar was a full time job and not a paid one. Yet that allowance was too much for a single girl to spend alone.
Like many other stories it started with a handsome guy in a bar and that was where her money came in handy, it was a little sport's joint where she went to listen to pro-bending and boxing games on the radio or watch old games on film that where projected in grainy sepia on the bar wall. The man was just a few years older and listened to the match right next to her only to groan as it ended when he realized he'd lost a bet, she felt sorry for him and bought him a drink and then another and another until the night actually blurred at some point and they ended up in some dingy inn making out until they passed out and woke up hung-over the next morning.
That relationship lasted only a few weeks and was mostly just the two of them meeting up at the bar where Korra bought the drinks and they chatted about sports before tumbling into bed together. He broke it off, said that as much as he liked what they had she never let him get closer and that meant they could never move forward; she didn't want to move forward, she liked things as they were so she accept the so called break up gracefully and moved on.
The next guy was even older, somewhere in his thirties and he was down on his luck. She had just gotten her own place in the city, paying the rent was easy and took up just a scrap of her allowance so she took him in for a while and let stay in her house so long as he provided enough entertainment and satisfied her need for human intimacy but he ended up leeching off her a bit too much so she dumped him and moved on to the next conquest.
By the third guy she was starting to make a habit out of the romantic lifestyle, she found some interesting man that caught her eye and she kept him around so long as he kept her happy, she let him live with her if needed, she gave him anything he wanted under three conditions- he couldn't distract her from her duties and friends, he shouldn't mind any other conquests and one-nighters she brought home because they were never meant to be exclusive, and he could never ever ask for her heart.
It was easy, they never lasted very long but things usually ended in good terms because nobody ever got close enough to make things too emotional. Well, perhaps one or two had gotten too clingy and demanded more and for those the separation had been harder but they knew what they had gotten into right from the start, she made sure to warn them all from day one.
Korra wasn't picky, so long as the man had something interesting that attracted her she didn't care about age, ethnicity, social status or even marital status and none of her conquests ever invaded her privacy or besmirched her name because in her own way she was kind to them, she might not love them but she was kind, yet that didn't stop the rumors from spreading against the esteemed and well-respected Avatar.
Most of Korra's friends reprimanded her for her promiscuous ways but she was still Korra, she hadn't changed in any other aspect except that new manner of intimate stress release so the criticism was never too serious, especially not when everyone knew why she had become that way and why she chose to spend her excess money on men instead of on herself.
She always said it wasn't Mako's fault, she always claimed the Avatar just didn't have time for complicated love affairs or for romances that would make her vulnerable, she stated that she deserved every little bit of happiness after all the pain and effort she endured for the world but she never knew who was after her for her fame or for her heart so she gladly took whatever came her way but took it with an enormous grain of salt, she always said her life was just too full of pressure and travels so frivolous relationships were her small way of relaxing without getting reckless and dangerous but deep down even Mako himself felt a little responsible from marking her heart and contributing to the situation.
~~~~~~.:oOo:.~~~~~~
It was supposed to be a mission, someone was spiriting away little children in an island in the southernmost part of the United Republic, but to be perfectly honest Korra only went on that trip alone because she wanted some time away from all the staring and whispering, she didn't really care and found the rumors amusing but sometimes it was a bit exhausting to be the constant center of attention and she just wanted some anonymous time to herself.
The island had a warm tropical climate and white sand beaches surrounded a decent sized metropolis but unlike what she had originally assumed it wasn't a tourist area at all; there wasn't much to see, even after small Spirit wilds bloomed around town, and even though the island thrived from travelers it was mostly fishermen or traders making pit-stops. All in all it was a nice remote place but crowded enough that a stranger's presence could go unnoticed and that was just what she was looking for.
Finding the missing children wasn't too hard, she prioritized the mission and there was a rather hasty dangerous fight that left her banged and bruised but soon she realized that the beast she fought was merely being defensive and she quickly discovered that although a Spirit had kidnapped the children, they had not been harmed. In fact most of the missing kids came from abusive or poor homes and the tall, pale and furry Spirit that reminded her of a humanoid tarantula simple believed that it was saving the children and had been spoiling them rotten with motherly care, many of the little boys and girls didn't even want to leave creature and she was forced to reach a compromise between Spirit and the parents for the good of the children.
With the mission wrapped up, Korra decided to stick around for a few weeks both as a little vacation and because she had to make sure the agreement that had been established with the Spirit was upheld. The local governing powers agreed to keep her presence a secret and with a little change in clothing style she managed to blend in and walk around a town anonymously for the first time in years, she only regretted not having Naga with her.
One day, while perusing the local market in the afternoon for souvenirs for her friends, she spotted him. Korra had only seen that handsome face once but the image had been ingrained in her brain ever since so that she recognized him instantly as he walked by in the crowd with a pair of bags in his arms, clueless to the fact that she was watching him.
In a flash the man was gone, he had disappeared in the mass of shoppers and passersby and try as she may she couldn't find him again. It had to be a mistake, an illusion of light or perhaps he was just someone else and her mind was playing tricks on her… But she had to be sure.
For three days she returned to that market and waited all afternoon in a little plaza while sipping on tea, it was hard considering that patience was still not her virtue in the least yet at last she spotted him again at sunset of the third day and this time she wouldn't let him slip between her fingers. Korra tossed some coins on the table to pay for her tea, then she followed him and that's how she found out about the famous club in the docks called the Blue Buccaneer.
The Avatar discovered that the man worked at the club so for the first time in her life she opted for reconnaissance and caution, one could never have too much of that when it came to people with this man's skills.
Upon some enquiring around she found out that the Buccaneer was an interesting place to say the least. It was a ladies' club where women, mostly middle aged and older, would go to be entertained by all manner of gentlemen while spending money on overpriced drinks and from what she could tell there were… Other services that could be provided after hours but those were very hush-hush. Men weren't shunned away as clients either but it still seemed the place catered directly to women.
«Now why would he have run off to this place? Is he desperate enough to work here of all places?» The Avatar wondered to herself, surprised and bemused.
She waited and in the middle of the night when he left the joint she followed, silently and at a distance to ensure that he wouldn't spot or sense her; such a task proved very hard, especially after he left the city towards a hut in the outskirts. The place was depressing and degraded but low key and a perfect hideout since not many were brave enough to wander so close to Spirit turf.
A few more days of spying answered a lot of questions but she didn't understand the situation, it wasn't possible, it just wasn't.
It had been 5 years, 5 whole years with no news, there had been a pair of witnesses who saw Amon escape in a speedboat with Tarrlok after his defeat at the Avatar's hands and later a few people came forth claiming to have seen a similar vessel exploding far east of Yue Bay, the navy had found the charred remnants of the boat, so after a while everyone, including the navy and the police, assumed that the two brothers were dead. Now she saw they weren't.
The man she had seen was Amon, no, Noatak… She had to think of him of Noatak, Amon was a symbol, one that was no more. He still looked the same as she remembered that day she knocked him out a window, a bit darker now that he seemed to get sunlight every day and wearing plain clothes, but still the same- handsome yet bitter looking.
Tarrlok seemed different than what she recalled, he still had pretty much the same appearance but he looked thinner and sickly yet Korra knew it wasn't a physical illness because she had seen it before- it was the sort of mental ailment that destroyed a person from the inside, the decease that affected all those whose bending Amon had taken, even her for a time. She was shocked that he had lasted five years, a lot of people took their own lives after a few months unless Korra got to them first to give them back their bending and those that made peace with themselves and learned to live with it became cold, distant, empty and petty.
The brothers had obviously fled together; they had likely faked the boat explosion and settled in this secluded island for the past several years. How had they made peace with each other and why Noatak desperate enough to work where he now did where things she was eager to know but just couldn't figure out no matter how hard she tried. Why had they given up on their own ambitions so easily?
The Avatar watched for a while longer, it turned out Noatak wasn't the only one working at the Blue Buccaneer, he appeared to be insanely protective, paranoid even, and seemed to want to avoid having Tarrlok there at all costs but when things got too hard the younger brother wouldn't listen and they would both end up working at the club.
At first she was shocked, appalled really, and a part of her knew she should be terrified of the men that had used her and bloodbent her, the men that had caused a war and nearly destroyed the city she now called home but surprisingly enough she felt no such thing, she wasn't scared at all, not after the worse enemies she had faced the horrors she had overcome and especially because, as much as she hated to admit it, she had started to think Amon had been right- his methods and goals were awful but he was right about how unfair the world was with its unbalanced distribution of power and how much it needed guidance and equality, luckily the new government and non-bender president of the United Republic were greatly improving that matter.
So if she wasn't scared, was she angry? Did she want to turn these men in and get revenge? Not really, she was quite apathetic to the matter actually and even felt sorry for their current lifestyle, she discovered she didn't want to go hashing up all that drama all over again, it didn't feel right when the nation was just starting to get back on its feet and many of the equalists had made peace with the authorities.
Then what did she want? What were these men to her now?
«A challenge.» Korra thought to herself one dark night with a smirk gracing her features. «A very interesting challenge.»
~~~~~~.:oOo:.~~~~~~
(Author's Note: This story was requested by a friend and was originally a mature Amorralok one-shot but grew into a multi-chapter story with Amorralok, Amorra and Korrlok scenes. It's not meant to be fluffy in the least and I don't know if it will have a happy ending or not, I'm still deciding between two scenarios. I expect this to be around 6 chapters but might reach 10 and will be finished quickly.
Please feel free to review. It's the best motivation.)