Chapter 1: Two Promises
"Hey, Korra."
It was the first time he had ever called her by her first name. Every other time before that, it was always the taunting "Uh-vatar" and more recently, it had been "little girl".
It sounded like a foreign tongue, but she recognized her own name, even if she didn't recognize the owner of the dejected voice that said it.
The once-groomed locks of his black hair hung limply around his pallid face. Dark circles stood out from underneath the pale grey eyes that hollowly stared back at her. His crumpled black jacket was open, revealing a simple shirt underneath in muted grey. His shoulders were hunched over in a defeated slouch.
For a second, she thought she was seeing a ghost.
"Tahno?" The name left her lips cautiously.
His eyes looked away from her. She approached him slowly, her fingers gripping the iron handle as she lowered herself onto the seat next to him. He was always skinny, but now he looked gaunt. The initial shock from seeing his disheveled appearance was gone now, but concern took its place when the realization that he was skipping meals hit her.
A few days ago, she wouldn't have imagined feeling sad for him. A few days ago, she had every reason to punch him. He was the captain of the team that cheated their way to the pro-bending finals. They ruthlessly attacked her team with blatant illegal tactics. At Mako's insistence the Fire Ferrets didn't break any rules, but playing fair didn't soften the blow of the water whip and the crumbled earth discus that painfully knocked her out of the arena and into the drink below. Mako and Bolin dreamt of winning that championship pot, and the Wolfbats stole it from them with the help of some bribed referees.
But all that didn't justify what happened to him, even if he was a pompous ass. When Amon took his bending away, he took Tahno's way of life with it, and Korra couldn't stop it. Despite being the flesh-and-blood manifestation of the planet, she couldn't save Tahno or his teammates from the masked man who took away the abilities they've had since birth.
Maybe that was why she couldn't summon any strength to be angry at him- she was too angry at herself.
She knew just by looking at Tahno that now wasn't the time to indulge in self-loathing. He was less than a husk of his former self, and it hurt her to see him like that. What was frightening was that seeing him so miserable hurt her more than she ever thought it would.
"Listen," she began, turning towards him, "I know we aren't exactly best friends, but I'm sorry Amon took your bending."
Her apology was sincere, but she assumed it wouldn't have been received well. She expected some sort of indignant remark. The boy sitting next to her used to be proud, used to goad her, used to be ready at a moment's notice to protect his pride when it was attacked.
But she was caught off guard when he didn't respond with a curse or a taunt.
"I've been to the best healers in the city." His eyes shifted back to hers, the despair unwavering against the grey. "Whatever Amon did to me...it's permanent."
His words were heavy, as if he had been handed down a death sentence. He looked away from her again in silence. Not knowing what else she could say, she stared straight at the wall in front of her. The oppressive weight of failure dragged her down further.
"You gotta get him for me."
His voice, suddenly animated with conviction, shook away any stray thoughts. She looked back at him and was surprised to see the livid spark in his eyes that made him look alive. It was then that she was reminded of the humiliation on Tahno's infuriated face when Mako had sent him reeling back with a fire blast during the pro-bending championship.
That time, Tahno wanted payback for a well-placed kick to his ego during a game that seemed to have happened eons ago. Right now his words and his eyes burned with a hunger for something that was out of his grasp, but he wanted nonetheless.
Tahno wanted vengeance, and she didn't know how she was going to get it for him. Korra still had the nightmares- the dark ones where Amon's hand was about to descend on her forehead and take away everything that made her the Avatar. Even though they were dreams, the fear felt very real, and it stayed with her when she opened her eyes.
But as her eyes held his, she had forgotten the fear and the doubt. She realized that the small comfort she took from the dreams was that she could wake up. Tahno didn't have that luxury-his reality was a nightmare.
Silently, she nodded. It was unspoken, but it was a promise.
Approaching footsteps and Lin Beifong's gruff voice interrupted them. The Chief of Police and Tenzin had just finished interrogating Mr. Sato. The well-dressed businessman spotted Korra, and he nodded at her in acknowledgement. She half-heartedly returned the gesture, her thoughts focused more on her conversation with Tahno.
After Mr. Sato left, Tenzin turned towards Tahno. "We're ready for you now."
Tahno rose to his feet. For some reason, Korra almost wished that he didn't, but she said nothing.
He looked over her shoulder at her, and with a ghost of a grin, he bade her farewell. "See you around, Uh-vatar."
Her bright blue eyes watched him as he followed the robed monk and the Police Chief with leaden steps and hunched shoulders into the interrogation room. Sympathy overtook her when she remembered that he used to walk with confident strides and an oppressive air of superiority.
She thought of who Tahno used to be: the arrogant pro-bending captain who taunted her every time they had met. But no matter how much she wanted to hit that smug face of his in the past, Korra didn't think she ever hated him.
Even though the Fire Ferrets used his pictures from old newspapers as target practice, it wasn't out of malice. If anything, he was an obstacle to beat. Tahno was the reason she had spent countless hours with Mako and Bolin training at the gym. Every time she practiced her waterbending techniques, each minute spent in that suffocating headgear and pro-bending uniform...she did it all so she could revel in the satisfaction of beating the older, conceited waterbender.
She wouldn't have admitted it, but he had given her purpose back then. And now, he was counting on her to take down the man responsible for taking his bending.
But when Korra recalled how utterly broken Tahno looked just now, she bit her lower lip. When she beat Amon, would that really fix anything? Tahno said himself that he had been to the most experienced healers in Republic City to no avail. How was beating Amon going to guarantee that Tahno would get better?
Her thoughts went back to the sad older boy who managed to grin feebly at her before he went off with Tenzin and Chief Beifong. He had called her by the title the whole damned city knew her by..."Avatar". In the past, only he could say it in a way that made her hand shake with the urge to strike something.
But when he called her by that same title just now, there wasn't a hint of mockery. The way he said good-bye to her was almost...nice, like he was even trying to joke with her.
He may never go back to who he was in the past, but that didn't mean he could never be whole again. He was still someone without his bending, and she wanted him to see that.
He had to see it, even if it meant that she had to beat it into him.
As she sat alone on the cold hard bench, Korra made another silent promise.