Author's Note: So my wifey digs LoK and she drools over Desna so much that I get jealous. She also has this nifty headcanon about Tahno becoming a healer for whatever reason, and moving to the Northern Water Tribe for whatever reason, and being the healer we're never shown that Eska got for Desna after the portal incident for whatever reason. Me, being the clever creature I am, guessed that this reason was for teh yaoiz x3

And she was like "hella yeah." So instead of getting all irritated that she's thinking about boys that don't exist doing each other instead of thinking about me, I told her that if she wanted me to, I'd turn her headcanon into a crappy lil one-shot. And then she got all shoujo eyed and hugged me to death saying that'd be great. Hence the birth of this piece of shit. Which is even particularly shitty as I've never written LoK stuff before. But ah, tis for my lovely Bugaboo. I hope you like it, ma chérie~


He felt submerged. The surrounding noises and dim glimpses of faces were faint and fleeting. Obscure and indistinct, as though everything was all happening above the surface while he was below and sinking. And they were all gone before Desna had time to grasp onto them. Clarity only existed in the sensation of pain and by the spirits, he wished it didn't!

Blistering agony seared his torso and burgeoned with each semiconscious step. He ground his teeth to silence the groans that swelled in his throat. They slipped through anyway, just as muffled and nebulous as ever other sound. It was only a matter of time before he fully surrendered into unconsciousness.

Cool droplets woke Desna as they rolled down his temples. He lifted an etiolated hand to his forehead and touched the cool cloth someone had placed there. His eyelids fluttered open in kind, hazily focusing on an unfamiliar ceiling.

"Finally coming around, eh champ?" A voice just as unfamiliar as the ceiling. Desna inclined his head in its direction, gaze shifting to a pale face, wavy jet-black forelock, and a smile that struck him as proud.

"Where is Eska?" he asked, throat painfully dry. He swallowed vainly in an attempt to soothe it.

"With your father. He isn't very happy with her." The stranger must've had better perception than Desna would've assumed, as the next thing he knew, there was a bowl of water being held out to him.

"She would not leave me with just anyone," he replied, eyes narrowing. He started to sit up and a jolt of pain ripped through his midsection, pulling an unintended gasp from his lips as he cringed. The stranger dropped the bowl and took Desna's shoulders, gingerly easing him back down to the bedroll.

"Easy now. You got shocked all the way through, it's gonna be tender for awhile."

Desna looked him over levelly, not exactly keen on the physical contact. It was hardly something he was used to. He looked back to the bowl of water and gave a languid wave of the wrist, fingers curling to direct the liquid. He brought it to his mouth and downed it in a single swallow.

"Anyhow," breathed the stranger as he stroked down his forelock. "I'm not just anyone. I happen to be Tahno, former captain of the White Falls Wolfbats and the healer who saved your life." A haughty smirk curled the corners of his mouth.

Minutely irritated with how pleased this...this Tahno looked with himself, Desna mentally noted this and refrained from comment on it. "How long have I been here?"

"A little over half the day." Tahno rested his elbows on his knees and propped his chin in his hands. "You sister didn't leave until you were stable. You only missed her by a few minutes when you came around."

"She'll be back soon?" Desna was rarely ever away from Eska and it wasn't exactly comforting to be so. They were twins, a set. Mostly always together, and the mere moments that they weren't were far and few between.

"Tch. You have quite the reputation around here for being some scary, badass waterbender, but you're actually some loser who can't be without his sister for five minutes." His nose crinkled up in distaste.

For one moment, Desna could hardly believe his ears. And then his eyes narrowed to dangerous slits and locked onto Tahno. "You do realize that you are insulting the prince of the Northern Water Tribe?"

"And?" He returned the lethal leer with an unyielding glower of his own.

"And are you so incompetent that you don't comprehend there are repercussions to doing such a thing?"

Tahno raised his head, arms falling slack. "Hey, I saved your life here," he scoffed. "So much for gratitude." He stood up as though he were about to leave, and something in Desna clenched in panic. He was always with Eska. He wasn't used to being alone, and it was something he really didn't want to be. He quickly grabbed Tahno's hand and firmly tugged him back.

"I did not say you could leave," he snapped, wavering voice betraying his distress.

The healer blinked rapidly in bemusement. He glanced down to their hands, perhaps even wincing under Desna's death grip, lips parting in a small circle of surprise. With a low breath that wasn't quite a sigh, he lowered himself back to the floor.

"Relax. I don't have anywhere else to be anyway."

Desna wordlessly linked their fingers. Tahno squeezed, as though trying to reassure him.

"You are going to stay with me until Eska gets back," he commanded flatly, his decibels back to their generic monotone now that the panic had depleted.

"Bossy," remarked Tahno. He then gave Desna's hand another ginger squeeze. "Anyway, how do you feel? Hurting at all?"

"The pain is nominal." Desna nestled his cheek into the fur of the pillow, gaze shifting to the paler fingers intertwined with his tan ones. They felt nice there, really. With the sense of assurance aside, he merely appreciated the sensation of Tahno's warm flesh bordering his own. He idly supposed that it was something he could get used to.