Through Their Eyes ~ Korrlok
A Girl, A Boy, A Ballroom, and a Tragedy… Chapter 1
The Ballroom looked enormous to Korra's eyes. Everything in the huge room was decorated in blue and white colors. Watertribe colors. Korra, along with Tenzin and Pema were still at the door, was trying hard to figure what to do in a party where she knew no one. Korra prayed she hadn't made a huge mistake by coming. Her blue dress was reaching down to her ankles and her hair was down, apart from a topknot and her usual front tails.
Even though he had his apprehension about the event, Tarrlok appeared to his promoters with his usual air of superiority. No one could say "no" to him for long. As he thanked Mr. Sato for his most recent generous donation, Tarrlok turned his head towards the entrance and knew - Korra had arrived. Korra never had a problem attracting attention. Her expressions of giddy excitement were unlike her usual uninterested sarcastic side she constantly used. Tarrlok made his way through the center of the ballroom to greet her.
From a rather young age, Korra had never felt un-noticed or abandoned. The attention just came straight to her just because she was the Avatar. Although she enjoyed it, at times it could be rather annoying as the slightest mistake always became a scandal to the people. She looked back. Tenzin had made his way to greet a few old friends and colleagues. Finally, Korra knew she'd be "unsupervised" for a while. The young Avatar's eye caught Tarrlok coming towards her. Now the reporters wouldn't leave her alone for sure. She took a deep breath and slowly walked towards the water bending master wearing her most charming smile.
"Why Korra, quite nice of you to join me." Tarrlok had a way of controlling his surroundings. With the wave of his hand, his personal manservant was gone and back again with two punch drinks. Korra avidly accepted the treat as the crowd began to disperse. She raised her head to meet his eyes, "Thanks for having me, no one has ever thrown such a large party for me." With a gentle smile, He turned away from her to admire the room. "Go ahead and enjoy yourself. We can talk later, but your teammates arrived earlier so I'm sure you'll find them." She gave Tarrlok a warm half-smile as she darted off towards the buffet where she guessed she'd find Mako.
Sadly, when she located Mako, she noticed Asami clinging on to him. The young Avatar stopped before the two could see her. She felt a sting of jealousy. Deciding it wasn't the right time to think of it, she headed the opposite way and leaned against a wall, where she'd be hardly noticeable. The lights were suddenly lowered making Korra look around as she sipped her drink. The music changed to a slow, danceable track. Many of the guests formed couples and started to dance. Even Tenzin and Pema seemed to be enjoying themselves. Korra crooked a half-smile at the sight. She looked down at her feet. Suddenly, she felt weird she hadn't found a date and Bolin wasn't there.
Tarrlok smiled as Korra had darted off and encouraged the band to play a waltz. Heading towards the southern exit, Tarrlok greeted the paparazzi and told them that they would get their questions answered by the avatar very soon. As he headed towards the dance floor, he found Korra standing alone in the crowd. Rescuing her from the awkward moment, Tarrlok told her, "Obviously you're not the dancing type, how about we go and talk about your dreams for Republic City." It was less of a question and more of a statement. Korra watched everyone dance and felt a sting of jealousy once again. Hearing Tarrlok's voice, she was awakened from her thoughts. "It's not like that." she waved a hand. "I love to dance..." a slight blush covered her cheeks. "It seems I forgot to bring a partner..." she mumbled, looking at the dance floor. "I don't think I'm ready to speak out yet. Do you think 'they' can wait a little longer?" she asked hopefully.
With an almost annoyed sigh, Tarrlok curled the corners of his lips upward and met her gaze. "May I have this dance? Korra blinked, rather surprised for a few seconds, thinking she hadn't heard correctly. But she had. She hesitated for a moment, before feeling a sudden urge to accept the offer. She nodded formally. "Sure."
As they joined together in a classic waltz, it was three minutes well spent. Their bodies moved seamlessly together, as if they had done it before. Several times Tarrlok pulled her close, among the twirls, foot pops, and the touch of skin there was no denying her beauty. It wasn't long till Tarrlok spotted Bolin leaning against the wall with an unreadable expression from such a distance away. With the changing music, Korra retreated her arms and Tarrlok gave her an almost embarrassed half-smile. "I think Bolin is looking for you. He's over there. Maybe when you're done we can talk."
Korra followed the councilman's look and spotted Bolin down at the buffet. She raised an eyebrow. "I didn't know Bolin was coming." she mumbled. "And apparently, he looks busy." she added, seeing a tall red-haired woman walking towards him. With another sting of jealousy, Korra eyed Asami and the other woman as competition. While that girl was clearly ten times more pretty and fifteen times more womanly than Korra, she knew that as the avatar she should be clearly superior. Even with that reassuring thought, the Avatar just felt unnoticed and for the first time it was readable on her facial expressions.
Just at that moment, Tarrlok placed his hands on her shoulders. "Oh, Korra is your usual confidence just an act or should I just take you to your friends myself?" He smirked. Turning towards him, she tilted her head. "I don't want to talk to them now..." she mumbled, taking her gaze from the boys and letting it rest upon the man in front of her. "Well then you better just come with me and we can get off this dance floor and do something more relaxing." Lifting his right arm for her to hold as an invitation to be escorted off, Tarrlok glanced over towards the impatient paparazzi. She nodded, slipping her arm around his. "Sounds like a plan." she spoke, smiling slightly at the thought of relaxing a bit. It had been a tough week.
As they walked away from the dance floor, Tarrlok couldn't help but notice the paparazzi swarming towards them from the door like locusts. Korra inched closer to the man as if she feared the paparazzi would bite her sooner or later. Although she was curious, she didn't ask where they were going. She just followed. Korra pulled Tarrlok with her to follow the camera men and reporters to a window. Voices swirled around Tarrlok, "equalists..." "no way" "fire?!" "In republic city!?" "The police can take them down." "What about the fire!?" Tarrlok and Korra could see a plume of smoke appear over the city and bright flashes of light not more than a half mile away.
Korra's eyes widened. "Oh, no..." she mumbled staring at the smoke with terror, then turning to look at Tarrlok to see his reaction. She was already freaking out. Tarrlok was frightened and saw his own feelings reflected in Korra's eyes. In order to prove himself to the city as a worthwhile congressman, he jumped through the open window and caught himself in the river. "What are you waiting for Korra? An invitation?" Korra watched Tarrlok jumping through the window. She had to do something to help him any way possible. When he shouted at her to come down, she didn't need another minute of thought. She jumped out of the window landing almost onto him.
Tarrlok grabbed Korra and together they slingshot themselves through the air to get close to the action. The metal benders were too busy fighting chi blockers while the fire spread roof to roof. The whole city would burn if they didn't act fast. Even though the two of them stayed clear of the flames, the sheer heat threatened to burn their eyes and skin. Korra ran as fast as possible after Tarrlok, who had a grip of her wrist. "You have a plan?" she breathed out as they ran. Tarrlok assuredly assessed the situation, "There's a water vent over there. We'll rain on the city with as much water as we can pull from each vent. By that point the airships should be here with water for us to bend."
Seeing she hadn't anything better in mind, she acquiesced. They ran for a few seconds towards the nearest water vent until Korra noticed a chi-blocker running towards Tarrlok, ready to hit. "Watch it!" she yelled pulling the Councilman back and bending an earth wall on which the enemy fell onto. "You need to watch yourself." she sighed in relief.
"Thanks but I can handle myself." Tarrlok nailed the assailant with a blast of water to knock him out against the ground. She rolled her eyes. "I didn't see it." she teased playfully, bending the water towards the fire, along with his help. Together they pulled out water from the vents and launched it at the rooftops. "There's a non-bender on the roof over there." Without any warning, Tarrlok catapulted Korra on top of the building.
Korra screamed as she flew through the air and landed on the roof with a thud that threatened to break down the whole building. It was an adolescent girl and she looked terrified. Korra grabbed the young non-bender and made a path through the fire with her water bending, in order to get her safely down. The kid ran off towards safety as soon as she stepped on solid ground. "Next time, I'd like a warning." she frowned at Tarrlok. "Whatever you wish" Tarrlok sarcastically nodded. Within minutes the airships had come and supplied water. Tarrlok catapulted towards the water and pelted the remaining fires. He smiled to himself. In his mind he knew his position of power, there would be a time when the city recognized him as their savior. Korra could tell by the look in his eye, his mind was working in its own selfish way. She shook her head lightly. "At least, this is over." she snorted lightly. "And next time, I'll just let the chi-blocker get you." she smirked, giving a playful punch to his arm. With a self-confident smile Tarrlok responded, "Well, at least we make a good team. I'm not sure what the equalists were trying to accomplish."
Korra tilted her head slightly. "I think we should be getting to the party. People will notice our absence. Plus, Tenzin will think you're up to something." she raised an eyebrow. In mock surprise, Tarrlok laughed, "When am I not up to something?" The paparazzi couldn't get enough pictures of the Avatar and the Councilmen upon their return. Tenzin and the family were next to Korra, Tenzin erratically questioned Korra, "Are you alright?" "What of Republic City?" "Did Tarrlok put you up to this?" "That's true actually..." she shrugged. Korra was rather annoyed by the questions and the papparazi's offensive cameras. "I'm okay Tenzin..." she mumbled to the councilman, giving an assuring smile, before glancing at Tarrlok who was filled with pride. She nudged his ribs. "Don't get full of yourself, oh, great savior." she smirked. Although he felt like scowling at the young avatar, Tarrlok kept a somewhat pleased expression for the cameras.
Korra answered a few innocent questions for the reporters and waved as Tenzin and Pema as they headed home. She gave an awkward laugh and nudged Tarrlok again. "Can we please get away from the cameras?" she almost pleaded. "Since when do you ask for permission?" with a smirk Tarrlok replied. "Heading home? Or would you like to investigate the fire with me? It's only 9. The night is young."
"Investigating the fire sounds more interesting than going to bed." she nodded. "It's a rather pretty night too, for being inside." she gave a charming grin.