As Korra collapsed on the cold tile floor of Aang's Memorial, Amon turned, and beckoned his people. Something in the desperate helpless look in her eyes shocked him, and he couldn't pin it down. Further, he couldn't forget her dark blue eyes and her face. She was beautiful – just like his mother.
All together, it made him feel guilty about not meeting her one on one like she asked, and like she trusted he would. Water Tribesmen were people of their word.
He screamed in his head, "NO! I cannot think that. She's the ultimate enemy who defeated my father. I am NOT Water Tribe any more. 'By any means necessary...'."
Amon was angry at himself for allowing a stray thought of desire and guilt for a woman, especially one half of his age. He had no time for women. Everything he did was for the Equalist movement. But he shuddered remembering that Pema was half of Tenzin's age with a family. A family which had to destroy to succeed, he reminded himself. None of these thoughts were part of the plan, but he was angry that he could not dismiss them. Weakling. The charge by his brother and father still haunted him.
He muttered to the others, "Come. We have work to do."
One of his squad leaders begged, "But Amon, we have her. We could finish her. Everything would be so much easier without her. The people would be despondent without their Avatar."
Amon said in gruff tones, "Didn't you hear me? I said 'no martyrs'!"
His patience had ended. He grabbed the upstart and flung him into the cold waters of Yue Bay. He didn't care if the warrior surfaced or not. He would not have dissention in his ranks, especially by combat troops. All the others took note.
On the way home on their stealthy boat, Amon's thoughts were not those of a scheming terrorist and revolutionary on the next step of his grand plan. He could only see Korra's frightened face. And how lovely it was, and what it might be if she was smiling.
Deep underground in his private quarters, long after he should have been asleep, he paced. With his mask off, he stood and looked in the mirror and whispered, "What is wrong with me?"
The same blue eyes looked back at him as Korra. No matter how he suppressed his looks with contact lenses that made his eyes look more golden brown, they were out removed, and his real eyes were blue Water Tribe eyes.
He had to see her again, but not as a threat. They had to talk. He had forgotten how to have a real conversation. Especially with a kinsmen. He wasn't that far gone, he tried to convince himself.
...
Korra paced on a pier in the seaport side of Republic City just after sunrise. She felt she had an easy escape by simply turning and diving into the water to get away this time if this was another trap. It was daylight but the area was largely deserted. She had received the letter from Amon, but told no one. She was nonetheless shaking, still feeling the fear of the midnight encounter at the Memorial. She wondered why she would even consider seeing him again, with what he could do to her. Did he finally have enough nerve to finish the job of taking her bending?
She read the letter to herself again. Something was different than the normally threatening words in speeches and hijacked radio addresses:
"I have to see you alone. No tricks this time. I am sorry I did not honor your terms of meeting. I will be alone too. I promise. Pier 7. You have an easy way to escape that way if you don't trust me. Tomorrow at daybreak."
She could hear his voice in those written words. A voice strangely soothing, even though every word he said held contempt and threats for benders. Perhaps to his followers, it was fatherly or like that of a religious leader.
She wondered how Aang's voice must have sounded to his multitude of followers, and how people reacted to his words of wisdom and his tone. She shook her head, and muttered under her breath, "No! There is nothing in common between this monster and the Avatar!"
But she doubted her own words, as she thought, "This man, this monster, is a savior to many. And what exactly am I as a 'half baked' Avatar?"
Korra waited.
She took a stance of defense when she saw a darkly robed and hooded individual. It had to be him. It was. She glimpsed the mask. Drops of sweat formed on her forehead and trickled down, annoying her with the salty taste.
He spoke calmly, "I am glad you agreed to this meeting, Korra."
"Stand where you are, Amon, or I will run. I know what you are capable of."
He stopped. As hard as she could try, she couldn't see any sense of expression through the mask, even with his golden brown eyes.
"Fire Nation? Or something else? Something is not quite right with his eyes," she thought.
This masked vigilante spoke softly, "The last time we met was not on good terms. While we are still worlds apart, we have more in common than you think. I thought rather than fight, we should talk. At least this once. We both represent the common man, but through different methods. I wasn't always like this you know."
Carefully he removed his mask, dropped his hood, and shook his hair around. The chiseled features, high cheek bones, and dark complexion were unmistakable.
"You're...you're...Water Tribe!" gasped Korra with widened eyes.
He finished his transition from monster to kinsman by removing his contacts. Blue eyes stared at blue eyes.
"Northern to be exact," he mentioned nonchalantly.
"Why Amon? Why revenge on benders? What did they do to you? Surely the 'fire bender killed my parents' story is not true.'"
Amon couldn't believe he sought to speak truth to the Avatar, but something was compelling him to, "It's not. It's a rallying cry to recruit. Why get revenge on benders? Because one unspeakably evil bender, punished by your predecessor Avatar Aang, sired me and used me and my brother all our lives to exact revenge on the Avatar. On you, Korra, and the bending leaders of this city."
Despite the terrible threat in what was said, Korra took compassion on him, "Amon. I am not Aang. I am not the one who punished your father, and Aang has so far not revealed this to me. I am going to drop my guard, and we're going to sit here on this dock, and I am going to listen to every word of what you have to say. And I am going to trust you that this is no trick, and you won't capture me and conduct your revenge on me at least for today."
Korra took a huge risk in her next statement, "For right now, we are Water Tribe kinsman having a 'truce talk'. Do you agree to this?"
Amon's deep tradition as a Water Tribesman called out to explicitly honor a truce talk, which meant he was forbidden to attack her until after their meeting had concluded. To abrogate that agreement was the height of breaking one's word in Water Tribe culture, "Yes I agree."
While watching every move of each other as they sat cross-legged to talk, neither for a moment felt on edge. To the contrary, they felt a connection.
The story spilled emotionally out of Amon – a story filled with fear and intimidation, absolute control by a debent Master and crime lord over his children, lies to his mother, terrible secrets, and manipulated wills. The horrendous stories of daylight, any time blood bending animals and each other were chilling to Korra, but she sat still. The history of Yakone was vague to her at best in her teachings by Master Katara.
She was shocked to learn that Tarrlok – Councilman Tarrlok – was his brother and also a blood bender second only to himself in skill. She stayed her tongue, but now she understood how he coerced the other Council Members except Tenzin. How terrible that Yakone brainwashed his sons so thoroughly as children that both sons were each taking different ways to revenge – one through revolution, force and confrontation, and the other with insidious, corrupt change from within through policy and politics, neutering the effectiveness of the Avatar in people's lives. Each were using the common people, abusing their needs, giving them false hope, and pushing them aside only for revenge against the Council and the new Avatar. Was there really a difference in either method if both still achieved the same result?
But instead of being fearful or angry, Korra was in tears by the end of Amon's story. In a shock to them both, Korra flung herself at him before he could defend himself from her, and gave Amon a heartfelt hug at this lifelong story of unending sadness. He felt relief in a way not felt since he hugged his mother last before she died heartbroken.
Amon had her in his grasp. His hands were on her chi points, with his fingers poised to trigger them, and get his final revenge. But he couldn't do it. He was being comforted for the first time in nearly 25 years. His heart felt great relief. His grip softened to a returned hug.
Of all the reactions Amon expected from the mighty Avatar and himself, it was not mutual tears and hugging each other.
They parted but only just a little. They were only inches away from each other, spoke in hushed tones, and each dried the other's tears.
"I...I am touched, Korra, but I don't understand. We are sworn enemies. Why would you risk it all to comfort me?" asked Amon.
"Because I am the Avatar, and that is what I do. I am your Avatar, too. Amon, earlier you spoke of having more in common than you think. Do you wish to know my story?"
"I do," he encouraged.
"Amon, I am a prodigy among Avatars. I have known I was the Avatar since I was two years old."
"Do you know what that did to me? I had no childhood. I was constantly being protected by the White Lotus, so that no harm would befall me. It was a consequence of the Hundred Year War when everyone was out to kill Aang when he revived from his deep sleep in the iceberg. I was being trained constantly, even when I had more than enough. The pressure to quickly replace Aang was relentless. I had no little friends. If not for the insistence of Master Katara, I would have not even been allowed some sense of normal relations with my parents. But even then, I had no siblings, despite years of trying by my parents to have another. At least you had a brother."
Amon could not believe what he was hearing, and that he was actually listening rather than ordering or demanding. The Avatar was a real person. Not the monster his father had always pounded into him. She was more like his mother – kind and caring even if her public image was tough and strong. Their two stories were all so...similar...the only difference was Korra was at least loved while being caged like he was, and learned to serve mankind, not seek revenge from it. Was there really a difference in similar means to a different end?
"For fifteen years, Amon, I have been surrounded by well meaning adults and yet been totally alone for every day of my life. My only friend is my spirit animal."
"I have been raised from the start to serve all of mankind - benders and non benders - whether I wanted to or not. Aang at first ran from that, for the same reasons I am told."
She finished by placing her arm on his shoulder, "You and I are the same, Amon, just on opposite sides of a yuan."
This rocked Amon. There was more in common between them than he ever imagined - trained nearly since birth to serve others' purposes. He hugged her this time. She let him. They didn't let go for a long time, and released each other only far enough to be face to face.
Without hesitation, they both leaned in together to kiss. It was an electric inner feeling to both of them, and was totally unexpected as a mutual kiss. It lingered and intensified. To both, it felt good, and right. Finally they separated.
"Oh dear, what do we do now, Amon? I just kissed my arch enemy. And liked it. Tenzin is going to be livid."
Amon actually smiled at her, "I would imagine the inscrutable Tenzin would advise you to 'love thine enemy' rather than fight if it were possible."
The laughed for a moment, and were silent, just looking at each other, holding hands in their laps.
"Noatak, Korra. Noatak. That's my real name. I haven't said it aloud for a dozen years. Until right now I thought that person was dead to the world."
She smiled, "A sweet name, Noatak. But what do we do now?"
"We keep talking, Korra. We have to share everything. Find a way, a way different than the way we are headed now, to create change and not fulfill a desire for revenge. We must find a way to trust each other."
He couldn't believe he just said that, but he realized it was the Water Tribe teenager Noatak speaking, not Amon. For the first time in decades, he missed that boy within him.
They struggled internally on which direction to go next. Korra spoke.
"I would like to find that way to trust, too. Noatak, you are a water bender, and are an expert in the most terrible form of water bending. And appear to be able to use it to take bending away from people almost like Aang could."
He nodded, "Except for 'the gift', I haven't used blood bending or any other form of water bending in nearly twenty years. I am effectively the non-bender I claim to be."
She tried to be kind but truthful, while she struggled with the intensity of his kiss and what it was doing to her, "But bending is so beautiful, Amon. You are living a lie, Amon, all your followers think you are maimed by a fire bender when in fact you are a Master water bender. How long can you live that?"
"As long as necessary to get the job done," he realized how terrible that sounded now, as he felt the deepness and feeling of that kiss from her growing inside him.
The coldness of that statement made her shiver. She had to keep him talking peace and reconciliation. She might not have another moment. He could snap back from Noatak, the sweet and carrying young man, to Amon the bringer of revenge and revolution, at any moment.
Korra asked softly, "Do you really want to have revenge in the way your father trained you to do? Or is there some other way? I am trying to different than Avatar Aang. Can you be different too? Can you go back to being the loving brother Noatak? A version of Noatak that cares not only for his only brother, but for all the people you represent?"
That hit hard on the normally steely cold Amon. She put her hand on his shoulder. It thrilled him.
He glowered, "It is so easy for you to care, but nearly impossible for me, when no one cared enough about me."
"You know Noatak, I am not that different than you," Korra encouraged.
"I cannot be more different. I would lay waste to half the city to get my revenge," warned Noatak.
That frightened her, but she kept going, "Oh? We are both water benders. The fact is I can blood bend too, but in self-defense. Katara taught me to protect me."
Noatak raised an eyebrow, "I anticipated that you would be taught to defend yourself from it by Master Katara. But I could use it on you any time. Right now if I wanted to. You have to wait for the night and the full moon."
"A mere formality. We're both blood benders. As illegal and amoral as it is, I know how. But to possess the talent is something we have in common too," she said to put him more at ease.
She challenged him, "Noatak, do you want to blood bend and debend me like you wanted to the other night? Do you really want to?"
He sighed and cast down his eyes, "No. I did, but I don't want to anymore. I don't want revenge anymore."
"We can find a new way together, Noatak, for your Equalist movement and people. One that will take this city to an even better place. I promise you that."
They turned suddenly, hearing the sounds of a squadron of power boats headed to the pier.
Amon rose up quickly, "I have to go. It seems we've been found out. I trust you that you never said anything, or this would have happened two hours ago when we first met."
He quickly disappeared into the squalor and jumble of the industrial sector.
"Call me!" she dared to joke and formed a sign of a telephone against her ear and mouth.
"I have your number," he joked back.
As Amon disappeared, she felt strangely. Feelings of fear and loathing were giving way to something...she dare not admit. They were feelings far stronger than any inkling of feelings that had been developing for Mako.
As Amon rounded a corner that would cause him to lose sight of her, he turned and noted she had not stopped looking at him. In his heart, the hatred and disdain was turning to something...he dare not admit. Feelings he had never felt before, feelings that were displacing the revenge so firmly planted in his heart the past 40 years by his horrible father.
"Perhaps this is a turning point in the Equalist movement," Korra whispered.
Korra and Noatak had unexpectedly discovered they were equal.
The boats pulled up urgently to the pier and Tenzin alighted with a few metal benders as escort.
"Who was that Korra?" Tenzin grilled.
"It was a person who was close to Amon who I trust can help us," answered Korra flatly.
"You HAVE to stop going out on your own, Korra," scolded Tenzin.
Coldly she said, "I'll do what I have to do as Avatar. Your own father disappeared unexpectedly a lot and always returned with the right answers."
It was a long ride back to Air Temple Island in silence between them, with Tenzin knowing she was right.
...
It was no less tense in Equalist headquarters deep within the bowels of the City.
While the Lieutenant stood by in disgust, Hiroshi screamed at Amon, "What do you mean we are stopping the offensive, and doing this peacefully? I will not have my wife's murder by benders go unavenged."
Hiroshi's anger intensified, "What has happened to you, Amon? You are acting weirdly. Where is your resolve?"
"My resolve remains unchanged," he said with a sneer.
Hiroshi strained through gritted teeth, "Then fight! You taught us all to fight the bender oppression. We created a machine to eliminate them all. Use your 'gift' to rip it from them."
Amon was firm, "That was then and this is now. If you want to fight, Hiroshi, then do it on your own with your own mercenaries. This is all wrong and you know it. It's just as wrong as that thug Yakone was in building a crime world to take the city and the Avatar down. We have to change things from within, not by force, and not like corrupt Water Tribe Councilman Tarrlok. He is taking advantage of our chaos to take power, and making it worse for the very people who we want to save. We are instruments to making things worse for the common people. If we fail, and he wins, the very thing we sought – equality between bender and non bender – is destroyed forever."
The Lieutenant stood by silently, dumbfounded.
Hiroshi's face turned blood-red as he screamed, "Amon, you fool. That's the moment we've been waiting for – for the benders to show their true colors and we strike against them when the people's emotions are set against them. And you missed a chance to take down the Avatar the other night with your egotism and confidence."
Amon warned, "And destroy the city to get them with your airships and aeroplanes? The city we both love? How many innocents – the people we claim to speak for - do we take down before we achieve equality?"
"In war, some must perish for the cause, Amon." snarled Hiroshi.
That bridled Amon, "That makes us no different than the benders we hate. No, Hiroshi! None of the innocents will die by my hand, even though we take the benders with them."
"What on earth is wrong with you, Amon?" demanded Hiroshi.
"I met someone, with common goals for everyone, who has changed me."
"Let me guess – a girl softened you. You've been listening to all that nonsense from Korra. She's the epitome of all that you stand against. She's the one human with all bending! You've forgotten your hate and disdain for her. She's no Equalist! You've seen her behaviors and her bending superiority. Squash her and you take everyone down."
Amon could not believe the changes within him, and though he shamefully remembered every speech and essay he wrote against the Avatar, he remained committed to his agreement with Korra to find a new way.
"She is everyone's Avatar. She is the ultimate Equalist, Hiroshi. More than I can ever be. She is not so different than me. She was suppressed. Protected like an animal. Just like me she is never free to be her own person. Her will was bent to serve others whether she wanted to or not, by the very living soul of the planet. Who knew?"
"How do you know, Amon?" asked Hiroshi derisively.
"Because she told me." admitted Amon.
"You saw her again and didn't take her down? You idiot," said Hiroshi with total contempt.
Amon grabbed Hiroshi by the throat. The Lieutenant took a defensive stance.
"Foolish rich man. I aligned with you to take advantage of your blind rage for revenge, and because I needed you and your money industrial might to take over the city by force by whatever random destruction I needed to get it done. Now I know that is wrong. My fight is ONLY against those who would dominate the oppressed people like you – bender or not."
Hiroshi remained unconvinced and spat the words, "You coward. I trusted you. You were just as bent on revenge against the Avatar. I spent hundreds of millions of yuan in building a war machine and turning the depths of the city into your empire."
Then he threw his ultimate insult, "Just because you want to be in the Avatar's pants."
Amon nearly crushed Hiroshi's throat, but released his grip and walked to the drawings of mech-tanks on the wall, "Too late for that. I have more in common with her than you can even imagine. Just go back to building cars, Hiroshi."
Quickly he turned and yelled, "Or do you personally want to feel my wrath first?"
"Fool. I have no bending for you to take away."
"Maybe so fat man, but I have THIS!"
Hiroshi started to feel a restriction in his extremities, curling them all up in grotesque and painful contortions. And his breathing got labored and short. The Lieutenant, frightened, looked for a quick exit.
Hiroshi rasped, "YOU! Amon! You're a BENDER! You're the worst kind. A blood bender. I should have guessed your power was from bending rather from a spirit. You're a hypocrite. You've lived a lie all this time. You tricked me. Used me. And every one of the others. You are like any other bender."
"Yes I did. Gladly I might add. Only because you were blind enough to follow me. This isn't about revenge for a murdered tycoon's wife."
Amon continued, "And this isn't about revenge on the common people who just happen to be benders living right next to their non bending neighbors, who are nothing like those power-hungry benders who would force their will on us. For every one of those leaders, there are hundreds of benders just trying to make a living with those gifts. Who am I to take their gift from them, when they are just trying to survive day to day?"
"It's about freedom from suppression. The non benders are suppressed now by the small number of bending elite. We'd just be worse as they are on the everyday benders. Benders or no, they have a right to live free side by side. We have no right to make their choices for them, or take away the bending of good people. Equalism is about removing barriers and letting people live free, not dictating peoples choices about what is good or bad and taking things from people we have no right to take. I see that now."
Noatak thought deep and hard about every day of his father's manipulation of him and his brother and hiding it from their mother, who didn't want to see it. She was just as intimidated by his father. This cycle of abuse had to stop. He couldn't pass it on another generation, causing even more widespread harm far beyond his family tragedy. Korra showed that to him.
Hiroshi picked himself up, released from the blood bending stranglehold, and stormed out of Amon's office, vowing to get even. The Lieutenant left quickly with him.
"Korra has completely caused Amon to go off his rocker," the Lieutenant concluded in a whisper.
...
A hooded figure stole through the dark in the depths of the city, moving from shadow to shadow, looking furtively back and forth for anyone following.
The figure silently climbed the emergency stairs outside a grimy hotel in the oldest part of the City, found the window with an Equalist scarf hanging limply from the window. The window was ajar, and the stealthy figure slid it open, and it squeaked.
A shirtless man in the bed turned suddenly and held his hands in defensive posture, but relaxed when he saw who it was.
"You're late!" said Noatak.
"I couldn't get away. Tenzin is very suspicious of me right now. He's got the White Lotus tailing me everywhere."
She smiled, and changed the subject, "But I am here now."
She slid her brown cloak off her shoulders and it dropped to the floor. Underneath there was only her beautifully athletic brown body, and she stood provocatively before him.
"Are you ready for me?" smirked Korra, and as she crawled on to the bed.
"I am always ready for you, Korra,"snickered Noatak, and pulled her down hungrily on top of him, kissing each other ravenously as they went.
...
Korra and Tenzin sat on the air bending practice plaza. They had been meditating together before bending practice.
"Tenzin, you said I could always come to you with my problems."
"Go ahead."
"I think I love Amon."
Korra had never seen Tenzin faint before.
...
In a tiny mid-town inn, two dark-skinned people admired each other's bodies as they relaxed in the afterglow of another night of intimacy, but they were engaged a pretty heated conversation.
"I hear what you are saying, and the importance of this, but they will arrest me or kill me on sight, Korra."
"I am the Avatar. They will heed me. Tenzin will support me. He told me. He's as ready to defend you as I will be."
"You told him?"
"I had to."
"You are an amazing woman. And I was certainly wrong about the son of the previous Avatar."
"Until now, Noatak, your only point of view was your father's twisted view of the previous Avatar. And I am certainly not the same person as Aang, and he wasn't as your father said of him."
"Point. It would be particularly awkward right now if you were Avatar Aang, wouldn't it?"
They laughed heartily, but only long enough for Korra to grab him by the back of the neck and pull him into another mind reeling kiss that only she could do.
They broke the kiss long enough to draw a breath and she panted, "You need to come to the next Council meeting."
"Anything you say, Korra, just don't stop right now for idle chat..."
Nothing more had to be said that night, but "sorry!" later as the people in the room next to them pounded the wall between them and demanded the pair to be quieter in their passion.
...
It was another frustrating Council meeting for Korra to sit through. At the height of yet another argument being brought forward by Tarrlok on how to deal with Equalists, even more restrictive of the movements of the non benders, Korra had enough.
"I must object. This is all wrong. There has to be another way. I have brought a guest who knows that way."
A caped figure walked with purpose into the room. Quietly, he pulled back the hood, so everyone could see his masked face.
It was Amon. There was shock everywhere. Every bender took a defensive stance. Even Korra, but it was directed toward the Metal Bending police and the White Lotus. And even the Krew. They were totally shock at Korra's offensive stance against them, but Tenzin understood.
"Let him speak," demanded Korra.
Amon nodded to those in the Council chambers, "I can explain. There is no need to fear me anymore. There are others you need to fear more."
He removed his mask and there were gasps everywhere, especially from Tarrlok.
"Noatak," he thought, but he said nothing.
In a calm voice, Amon stated, "I come to ask you to settle this. I ask you to hear the people's cries. I reach to you just once. If you do not resolve this, I will continue to execute my plan."
The others were taken aback with the thinly veiled threat.
Tenzin expected something as bold as this between Korra and Amon, but he was truly frightened that at any moment Amon could strike out and take Korra's and everyone else's bending while also blood bending the rest into helplessness. He had to trust that she was doing the right thing.
Tenzin spoke slowly, "Amon, I appreciate the risk you took to come here. I do not know how you and Korra came to terms, but I believe we of the Council should accept your offer to settle this peacefully."
Amon nodded to the very man he used to hate.
Tenzin looked around his fellows, "Who is with me, that we seek the ways of peace?"
The entire Council voted affirmative.
Calmly, Tenzin announced, "We shall begin immediately in my office. There will be no guards."
Lin shot him a worried yet understanding glance, as they were friends anew. She shook her head, thinking how crazy he still was. He saw the look, and smiled back.
Tenzin continued, "Korra and Amon, what does this all mean?"
Korra explained, "Aang always solved things by talking things through and reaching to people – both friend and foe. He saved our world more than once. I always fight first and ask questions later. But I do know that I am everyone's Avatar, even Amon's. Amon accepts that now. I thought I could stand to learn more by using the example of Aang by reaching out to Amon. Even Aang turned himself over to his bitter enemies facing death and extinction of the Air Nomads to save Katara's village. And invited one time arch enemy Zuko into his close circle of friends."
Tenzin nodded. She spoke truth. It was worth the risk. Even if it tore him inside for her to remind him of how his own dear father solved the world's problems. Her final steps to being a fully realized Avatar were becoming shorter with each day that passed.
Amon added, "And for once I dared to listen to her, and it made sense. As a fellow Water Tribe. And water bender."
The ripples of shock continued through the Council chambers like an earthquake. The mightiest Equalist was himself a bender, representing the non benders who only wanted equality to return between the classes. But just as fast, the leaders of the United Republic of Nations understood that the connection between Korra and Amon was of common concern for everyone. And they were all ashamed that it took the alliance of an extremist and the Avatar to teach them that they had forgotten the vision of what the City was about – a place where non benders and benders could live in peace and harmony.
Tenzin observed as they all walked together to his meeting room, "You have grown wise, Avatar Korra. Somehow I have a premonition have saved us, the City, and yourselves terrible anguish and destruction."
At the end of a very long day that extended into the evening, they adjourned until the following day, and were satisfied with the progress. And all shook hands.
Amon left without being stopped or followed. Korra took his arm, and walked out the door with him.
The Krew noted Korra's and Amon's arm in arm grip with surprise. Mako and Asami looked, smiled, and held hands tighter. Bolin had a very sad look, but understood and accepted what was happening.
Amused by this clear demonstration of affection, Tenzin asked, "Where are you going now?"
"On a date with Noatak. Us water benders have to stick together! See you in the morning, Tenzin. Don't expect me home tonight."
Far away and deep below the Council chambers, in Equalist headquarters, Hiroshi Sato sat alone with the Lieutenant, "Amon has betrayed the cause. He's gone soft and sided with the benders. He's not going to solve the problem, especially now that he is bedmates with the Avatar. Are you with me?"
The Lieutenant nodded in agreement, "We have a war to plan, Hiroshi, with or without the hypocrite water bender Amon. Or Noatak, or whatever his real name is. We need to do what he could not do, and do it before he tells everyone in Republic City what their fate truly is."