If there was one thing Mako knew about Korra, it was the fact that she didn't take her failures lightly. The first time they'd fought Amon's chi blockers all those years ago, she'd vowed never to let them land a hit on her again. And in all the confrontations with them that followed, she'd stuck to that promise. But when a lethal firebender from a triad came at her with sparks already rippling out of his pointed fingers, she only had a few seconds to send him flying into the wall behind him so hard that his skull cracked.

Mako had noticed that she'd been quiet all through dinner that night as she finished the fried rice and poached eggs he'd made for her. She didn't say a word or try to cover his face in suds as they washed the dishes like she normally would. He let it go for the time being, hoping that she'd talk to him about it when she felt like it.

"I'll be outside for a bit, okay?" she said, giving him a quick kiss.

"Is everything okay, Korra?" he asked her.

"Everything's fine. I'll be back soon," Korra reassured him.

He simply nodded and smiled at her as she went outside. After he'd cleared the table away, he was about to go and change into his shorts when he heard an explosion coming from just outside their house.

"Korra!" he called out as he ran outside, only to find her fallen on her back, her left arm looking singed and smoking. "Korra, what happened?"

"I'm fine, I'm fine," she groused as she got up. "I was just... trying to bend lightning."

"Okay, but why?" he asked her.

"Well, it's... I've always wanted to learn it, and... well this guy was coming at me today and I almost didn't get him because I didn't know what to do!" she replied angrily.

"You beat him, didn't you?" he asked her.

"Well, yeah! But I wasn't exactly prepared for it, Mako! I don't wanna freeze up just because the person I'm fighting can use lightning against me!"

"Why didn't your firebending Sifu teach you?" Mako wondered out loud, and to his surprise, Korra let out a hollow laugh.

"They said I lacked the temperament," she scoffed.

Mao didn't know what to say. She'd told him about how they'd treated her at the compound, constantly reminding her of her shortcomings without so much as a nod to any of her accomplishments. He sighed and took her hand in his, squeezing gently.

"I could teach you," he offered.

"You sure I don't lack the temperament?" she asked with a smirk.

"Actually," Mako smiled back, "I think you have the perfect temperament for it. I don't know the exact technicalities behind it, but I can tell you about the feeling."

"Maybe that's just what I need, then," Korra replied as they both took to the required stance; fingers pointed, arms outstretched, and knees bent.

"The key," Mako began, "is to actually find that balance between feeling too much emotion and feeling no emotion at all. Just focus on what you need to do; not what could go wrong."

Korra exhaled slowly as she felt the familiar rush of energy surging through her body, her inner fire rippling out of her in jolts of electricity as she focused her chi to flow into her outstretched arm and burst through her pointed fingers.

"Just focus on what you need to do; not what could go wrong."

The familiar crackle of lightning rents the air as it pierces the night sky, draining her a little once the effect of it wears off. And Mako stands there smiling at her proudly, and perhaps a little too knowingly for her liking. But she's just as glad to have finally learned something her mentors had told her she'd be incapable of learning.

"Again!" she says as she gets into the proper stance, ready to do better this time, and Mako is only too happy to oblige.