Time to give this a FOURTH try...

Tahni slowly woke up. He sat up and was horrified to discover that he was on Korra's ship. At first, he was full of panic, but slowly began to remember why he was there. He wasn't running from Korra anymore. Tahni gave a deep sigh of relief. He folded the blue and maroon bed sheets off of his body and moved to the edge of the bed. It was the nicest bed he had ever slept in. The room was the same as most of the ship. The walls were a mix of metal, extremely hard plastic and eccentric wood paneling. Navy blue, maroon and dark beige seemed to be the dominant color scheme of the vessel.

Tahni placed his bare feet upon the wooden floor. He had little difficulty balancing himself as he rose on his feet into the standing position-he had gotten used to the awkward motions of the sea for the most part, and to make it even easier, now that the moon had receded so did the intensity of the waves.

Tahni was robed in a blue tunic, with grey pants. Tahni looked down at the floor by the edge of his bed, where he had left his footwear. He was forced to change into different clothes the night prior, as everyone was annoyed by the apparently "toxic" smell of his apparel. To be honest, Tahni was actually eager to get into a fresh set of clothes. The only thing that he couldn't trade out was his pair of boots, socks and archery gloves. He always kept something around his wrists, as it was natural to him. Tahni crouched down to retrieve out the rolled up pair of socks that he had placed inside his boots. First, he put them on, then his boots. Tahni walked to the door on the other side of the room. He flipped open the door and found that the sun was still rising over the distant horizon. The sun was bright, and the air was neither too cold nor too hot.

His room was at the aft of the ship, alongside the command cabin and other rooms that were above deck. Tahni turned right after he walked through the door and walked along the port side to the main deck, which was in the bow, or back, of the ship. Once he got there, he saw that Korra was training. She wore clothing similar to that of which she had been wearing the last time Tahni saw her-mostly watertribe apparel, but with shorter sleeves and less heavy fabric. She was airbending at a target that was situated on the other side of the deck. Korra stopped airbending the second Tahni could be seen in the corner of her eye. She looked over to him, breathing heavily after her prolonged airbending.

"So, Tenzin and I were talking last night over radio, and we figured it would be best to see how well you're doing with water. Then, we could move on to earth, fire and air."

Tahni raised his eyebrows.

"I've been training with water since I was four years old, Korra. I think I've all but mastered it."

Korra shrugged.

"Alright then. We should start with a sparring match to see if you're right." Korra declared.

Tahni took a fighting stance while Korra did the same. Suddenly, Korra rose from her stance.

"Let's agree beforehand to not use bloodbending from now on. It's actually... illegal," Korra insisted.

"Even to bloodbend on yourself?" Tahni asked, curious.

Korra looked into the distance while she thought.

"You're the first person I've ever heard of bloodbending themself, so I'm actually unsure. Better not do it, just to be safe," she replied.

Tahni gave a shrug, showing that he was alright with the terms. He was actually glad not to have to bloodbend. The two took a sparring stance.

"Begin," Korra declared.

Tahni reached for the water over the side of the ship with waterbending, and pulled a tendril of it up. To his surprise, it was hard to control.

Korra yanked the tendril of water out of Tahni's control, and swirled it around herself once before sending it at Tahni with a normal amount of intensity. Tahni put out the palm of his right hand, and tried to diffuse the water upon impact. He failed and the water crashed right into him. He fell onto his back from the force.

"Just as I figured. You're used to a supermoon powering you," Korra stated.

Tahni looked up at her as he laid on the wet planks.

"What? That can't be it," Tahni denied. "I've been training for thirteen years."

"And the supermoon has been getting more intense for ten of those years, and now that the moon is back to normal you're unable to compensate."

"Then why are you so good at this?" Tahni countered.

Korra smirked, and replied, "I've been training for thirty one years, Tahni. I mastered it before we even knew the supermoon was coming."

Tahni started to understand what Korra was saying.

"Well then. I guess a majority of my life has been a waste," Tahni sighed.

He slowly rose back onto his feet.

"Not entirely. Tenzin and I think that you know most of it. You just need to get used to not having a supermoon to lean back on. By the looks of your form, you've let go of the basics. Relearn those and you'll probably take off from there," Korra assured him.

Tahni waterbended the water from his clothing, then redid his stance.

Korra got back into her stance as well.

Korra was the first to make a move. She spun, quickly raising a whip of water from that which was on the wooden deck around her. Korra had the whip's tip follow alongside her as she spun, before contracting it to prepare it for release. When she did so, Tahni grabbed it. He quickly froze the portion of the tendril of water that he held. He sent a wave through the portion that was liquid, all the while contracting it.

Korra, who was unprepared, was taken off balance and flew forward toward Tahni. Tahni rapidly rolled forward, avoiding a collision. He was the first to turn and face their opponent. He waterbended the lash of water so that it released Korra, then spun it around it, it moving like a reversed crescent. His footing was immensely better than it had been prior.

Korra quickly turned around to see that a lance of water was heading straight for her. She buckled her knees and braced for the impact. She stuck her hand forward. When it collided with her hand, she bended it so that it wrapped around her in a belt. She backflipped, bending the ring of water so that it flew at Tahni in the form of three smaller rings. Tahni rolled right, dodging the first two, then rose back to his feet to waterbend the last. He acted with instinct, waterbending the ring of water to fly around him and solidify. The razor-sharp blade of ice missing his torso by a few mere centimeters. The whirling ring of ice flew back at Korra, who saw it just as she landed from her backflip. She bended the ring of ice, ripping it apart into shards. She reliquified them, and whipped them around her torso once before sending them back at Tahni in a highly concentrated blast of water.

Like earlier, Tahni reached out with the palm of his right hand, only this time he succeeded. The water diffused upon impact. It flew around his palm, and then the rest of his body, as if it had hit hydrophobic leather. Korra was stunned for a moment. The rate at which Tahni corrected his technique was far better than what she had been expecting. It was beyond being merely better, it was abnormal.

"You really a handle on this," Korra commented, retracting from her stance.

Tahni left his stance as well, saying, "well, I did train with masters for a long time."

Korra could tell that he had a smug attitude about knowing that he could stand up to her again. That he wasn't as defenseless as Korra had him believe. Slowly, that smug attitude turned to one of worry. His eyes focused on her shoulder.

Korra started to feel a sharp pain on her left shoulder, where he was looking. She looked down to see that it was cut. A shard of ice had cut into her skin so quickly, that only now she began to feel the pain. It wasn't deep. It had barely cut deep enough to draw any blood at all. Only about one drop of blood in total came from the cut.

"I cut you," Tahni began. "I'm sorry-"

"It's nothing," Korra smirked. "It's really nothing. You're fine."

Korra began to use waterbending to heal the small, insignificant cut. Tahni, feel a bit of shame and regret, walked over and proceeded to heal it for her, causing Korra to stop healing.

She got on her right knee, as it would take a moment to get the wound healed. Tahni couldn't heal properly with his archery gloves on, so he removed them, revealing his scarred wrists. He got down on a knee, like Korra, in order to continue healing the wound that he had accidently caused. Korra couldn't care less about the cut on her shoulder, but she was startled by the scars on Tahni's wrists. They were covered in darkened red scars that looked like they had been caused by firebending.

Korra grabbed Tahni's left wrist and looked at it, forcing Tahni's attention.

"Does it hurt-" Tahni began.

Korra questioned, "how did you get these scars?"

Tahni stared at the scars while she did, probably remembering how he was inflicted with them. He quickly yanked it away from Korra's hand. She could see that he was in distress.

"It's none of your concern," Tahni declared, his voice showing worry and shame.

He got back up off his knee. Korra got back up as well, and continued to question him.

"Did they do this to you?"

"Listen, I don't want to discuss this," Tahni replied, exhaling deeply.

"What else did they do to you?"

Tahni's eyes flared.

"I said, I don't want to discuss this," Tahni repeated with a slightly deeper voice.

Korra snapped herself out of her inquisitive state. She knew that she had gone too far and probed into an area of Tahni's life that obviously still disturbed him.

"Sorry, I shouldn't have acted like that," Korra stated.

Tahni's eyes relaxed a little. He was visibly calming down.

"We'll continue training once we arrive," Korra decided. "You should get some rest, Tahni."

Tahni nodded and walked away, still slightly bitter over what had just occurred.

Tenzin sat at a table on Air Temple Island with the president of the United Republic of Nations and the leader of the White Lotus.

"Is it safe to bring him here?" the Grand Lotus asked. "Into a highly populated area? What if he turns hostile, and-"

"I'm certain that Avatar Korra can keep him under control," Tenzin interrupted, "and I doubt that Tahni is hostile towards us, or ever will be. He fought alongside Avatar Korra in the Fire Nation capital. It's likely that if it weren't for him, we would've lost that battle."

"I didn't realize we were on a first name basis with him now. Call him what he is. He's the Dark Avatar. And let us not forget that he only helped in your defence mere days after he bloodbended several among the White Lotus. Even in the Avatar's reports, she said that he bloodbended several of the terrorists in battle," the Grand Lotus retorted.

Tenzin grimaced.

"Gentlemen," the president interjected. "We've dealt with the Dark Avatar before, and that was during Harmonic Convergence. I'm certain Avatar Korra will be able to deal with him if it ever came to that."

"Thank you madam-" Tenzin began to reply, but was interrupted when the president continued.

"However, I agree that his past actions should not be overlooked. For the safety of my fellow citizens, I will not allow him to set foot in the city. He is to be contained on this island at all times. At least until further notice."

Tenzin gave a short nod to display his acceptance to the terms.

"Now that that issue has been addressed. I think we should now discuss what to do now that the Red Lotus has reemerged," the president continued.

"They have been known to operate in the spirit world in the past. We should raise defenses dramatically around the portal. But not inside, we all know how that turned out last time," Tenzin advised.

"Agreed, let's not relive fourteen years ago," the president sighed.

After a moment of silence, Tenzin rose from his chair.

"If you'll excuse me, I need to go assist in the preparations for our…" Tenzin looked over to the Grand Lotus, seeing that he was going to be displeased by referring to Tahni by name. "Guest."

The president nodded.

"You are excused. Good luck, Tenzin," the president farewelled.

Tenzin bowed his head when he turned to face the Grand Lotus, bearing him farewell. Tenzin then left the conference room.

Once Tenzin left the room the Grand Lotus was free to speak his fears with the president.

"Madam President, do you think Master Tenzin and Avatar Korra will be able to maintain control of the Dark Avatar? I don't think it's the wisest move to bring him here," the Grand Lotus inquired.

"It's the only move we can make right now. If we lock him up, he'll simply bloodbend his way out. If we let him go free, there's no way of knowing what he would do."

"But Avatar Korra training him?"

"It's best to at least give him the illusion that he is welcomed here. The more comfortable he is with us, the more he'll share about the Red Lotus," the president explained. "From the reports, I am unsure if Korra would be willing to take him down if it was necessary however. That is why I am entrusting you and the rest of the White Lotus to neutralize him if it comes to it."

The Grand Lotus nodded.

"If it comes to it," he repeated, completely willing.