A Fool's Gamble Chapter 3
Tarrlok reclined in his office quarters listening to the dull splashing sounds that his waterfall backdrop produced. 10am and he was already tired. Although he'd been in the office for years, the sound still had a calming effect that tranquilized all his issues. It had been a week since Korra's banquet and she hadn't made the effort to contact him since the fire. She'd touched him. There had only ever been one woman that showed him any kind of affection. His mother. The idea that anyone would show him any kind of sympathy was staggering. Suddenly, a knock on the door startled the councilman out of his water-induced trance. His eyes lifted to see his butler. Tarrlok despised the hefty stack of papers the man placed on his desk. It seemed like every day there was always more work to do. It was times like these Tarrlok contemplated why he even wanted this position in the first place.
As he scanned the list of topics, Tarrlok sifted through the material to see if there was anything pertaining to the Avatar. His search led him to a simple request from Tenzin requesting a building permit for the creation of another farm on Air Temple Island. Even though Tenzin was also a councilman, he still needed to go through the same process as everyone else. Submit a proposal, wait for a response, and hope for the best. Tarrlok lifted his quill to sign, but decided instead to sign it in Tenzin's presence. Even though Tenzin assumed the worst, Tarrlok still had to try to win him over. Looking at the rest of stack, Tarrlok sighed deeply. He couldn't just abandon all those papers could he? He smiled to himself, "Of course I can. I can do whatever I want." Tarrlok grabbed the document and headed out the door towards his Satomobile. His butler warned him about upcoming deadlines, but his requests fell on deaf ears. "Too bad for him." Tarrlok smirked.
The day before, Korra had traveled from the South Pole back to the Republic City. Although she'd missed her home, the City felt a lot more familiar to the young Avatar. Besides, she had something to achieve. She wanted to master blood bending. Tarrlok was the only one who would possibly agree to teach her, so she decided to take a risk and sneak in his office the next day. Leaving Naga at the Air Temple, she headed to Republic City. With her earth bending, she got herself to the closest window and jumped in looking around. No one was around. Probably Tarrlok was gone and would be back. She sat on the closest couch and waited. Her eyes were closing slowly, until she was asleep by the time he returned.
When Tarrlok had gone to the air temple he was positive that he would find Korra there, but she wasn't there. Tenzin was surprised by the morning visit and grateful for the permit. As Tarrlok headed back to the office, he frustratedly considered all the work he had left. It would take most of the day to finish it all, and that was assuming there wouldn't be any distractions. Entering his Office in the late afternoon, the councilmen headed towards his office in deep thought. Thoughtfully, he lifted up his quill to continue his work.
Tarrlok's quill signed signature after signature on papers he cared very little about. Why read something that had no meaning? The very idea that he had to approve every little permit, organization, even to make marriages legal by recording them in the library. "I didn't sign up for this." Without looking, Tarrlok tossed the quill nonchalantly at the couch.
Korra almost jumped feeling the quill hit her head. She awoke and rubbed her eyes. "Hey! What was that for?" she frowned.
Tarrlok jumped from his seat ready to take down the intruder. He hadn't seen Korra sleeping on his blue, leather sofa. She'd blended in perfectly. "Korra! What are you doing here!?" Tarrlok asserted and frustratedly put his hands on his hips. "I was just at Air Temple Island and you weren't there. Now I get back to my desk and you're just sleeping on my sofa. How did you even get in here?!" Feeling violated, Tarrlok was irate.
Korra yawned and stretched, to give Tarrlok a second to cool off, she glanced up at him and spoke. "I need to ask you something." she cautiously stated, wanting him to agree at any cost. She sighed before continuing. "I want you to teach me how to blood bend." she demanded, raising an eyebrow. Without a word, Tarrlok walked confidently towards the door and exited the room. His straight face quickly turned terrified frown. Somehow, the idea that anyone would want to learn how to blood bend was an insane idea. There isn't anything left of a benders humanity after they've learned the ultimate skill, no innocence is left.
She waited and after a few moments, Korra followed him. "I was almost sure you'd be surprised by my request." she spoke quietly. "But I need to learn this technique."
His face was grave. "No water bender should ever be taught the technique." Tarrlok started to pace and used his hands to gesticulate his words as he continued. "The very idea that you want to learn it is what bothers me. When a water bender becomes a master of the ability, it ends up becoming the trump card that can only be countered by the Avatar State or a water bender of equal or greater ability in blood bending. My father is proof that blood bending breeds corruption and instability. Even if you were capable at such a difficult skill, it would only cause you to be more unstable than you already are! You'd probably end up abusing blood bending as a way to extort people giving you whatever you want! Is that what you want? To be the unstable, self-depreciating avatar that eventually creates the imbalance in the world?!"
Korra blinked, astonished by the Councilman's statements. She didn't want to be a bad Avatar. She just felt vulnerable, not knowing this kind of power. "B-but... The Avatar must be powerful..." he replied in a slight whisper, looking up at him. "Please."
With a deep sigh, Tarrlok relented. "I'm going to regret this, but if you're bent on learning then you'll either learn with me or be rejected by Katara. However, in return for your training, I need you to do me a favor." Tarrlok smirked.
Korra grinned, hearing his response but her expression switched to curiosity when he mentioned a favor. "A favor?" she asked unsure. "W-what favor?"
"Well, at the moment I'm not entirely sure, but sometime in the future I'm going to have a request and you're going to do it without reserve."
Korra frowned. "It depends on what it is..." she muttered, a little annoyed.
"Nothing comes for free, I only need your word that sometime in the future you'll support me publicly when your recommendation decides the future of Republic City. Although it won't be too scandalous.
Korra glared at him lightly for a second, before sighing. "Fine." she agreed, folding her arms. "But nothing beyond that." she warned.
With a smile, Tarrlok responded, "Excellent! I'm as good as my word. How about you come with me to my estate for dinner. We can discuss the details where there won't be any potential people listening in. Besides, blood bending IS illegal."
Korra nodded casually. "Now?" she asked, curiously, straightening her clothing and fixing her hair.
"Yes, as soon as you can guarantee that Tenzin won't be looking for you."
She shook her head. "He won't." she assured, nodding.
"Then let us be on our way." Tarrlok offered her his arm to escort her to his Satomobile, which she accepted. He had one of his butlers call ahead to have a second meal crafted. A short time later, Tarrlok had his car up and running and they were speeding towards his home. The driveway was the largest Korra had ever seen. Not even Asami must have had such a magnificent mansion. While the front yard had three fountains surrounded with roses, tulips, and other flowers, from her view she couldn't see the back yard, but she guessed it that it must be similarly adorned with fountains and flowers.
"This place is beautiful!" she exclaimed. "We sure don't have those stuff in the Water Tribe." she noticed, turning to him. "Do you ever miss the North Pole?" she asked hesitantly.
With practiced poise, Tarrlok shifted towards her slightly and calmly stated, "It has its place, but I don't think my body was ever meant for the freezing temperatures of the North Pole. I'd rather be warm in mansion that I built on the fringe of Republic City. Both my parents are dead and I never really had any friends in the North Pole, so there really isn't anything left for me there." He pulled to a stop in front of the main entrance and exited the vehicle. Korra let herself out and they headed towards the door. One of his many butlers took away the car and another opened the main door and escorted them too the dining room. A gigantic chandelier decorated with glass, diamonds, and turquoise hung from the ceiling. From the inside, it let out a calming greenish blue light that had a soothing effect on the mind. The diamonds and glass merely helped to show the beauty of the turquoise that many considered of little value.
"Oh...I see..." she replied, rather regretting to have asked him. The mansion looked enormous to Korra. She looked around dizzily, stunned by the luxury. "This place is unbelievable..." he breathed.
There were two seats at a mahogany square table and two first course salads waiting to be consumed. With the flip of Tarrlok's finger, two men were by their sides to help into their chairs. Seated face to face, Tarrlok and Korra began the meal.
"Well, that's impressive..." Korra smirked raising an eyebrow and giving a charming smile. "I wish service at home was as good." she shrugged, trying her salad.
"Meh, their service only costs money and fortunately, I've got plenty of it from being a councilmen. The city pays me handsomely. In fact, you should consider joining politics at some point. The avatar would gain plenty of public support."
Korra shook her head. "Nah. I prefer to stay away from politics..." he replied, pinching some lettuce with the fork and nomming on it. "I don't want to attract more attention than this I already have. I'll leave some for you." she teased, raising an eyebrow, her leg nudging his under the table.
The nudge made his nerve ending go wild. Tarrlok gave a smile as he took another bite, he noted her voluptuous beauty. It was always obvious that she had curves, but the blue green shadows enhanced her natural beauty without the need for make up. Finishing his salad only a minute or two after Korra, Tarrlok waived over the valet who promptly removed both of their empty bowls. "I hope you like Northern Water Tribe grub." Tarrlok winked at her. A minute later the chef revealed three small bowls to the two of them. The first had egg noodles topped with a light, crème sauce, while the second and third bowls had bacon asparagus and filet of cod respectively. Finally, the chef poured two small glasses with slightly alcoholic white wine before leaving to the kitchen.
Korra blushed slightly when he winked, but the color immediately faded away as the chef arrived. The avatar licked her lips, willing to try everything. She pushed a finger in the crème sauce and sucked on it. "Well, that's of interest. And, yes, grub is tasty. We have it in the Southern Tribe too." she smiled lightly, picking her fork up as she tried the cod. Everything was so well prepared. Pema was a good cook for sure, but her cooking skills were nothing compared to this. "So..." she spoke to break the silence, her foot nudging him again as she lifted her head to face him, her blue eyes glowing seductively.
"I'm glad you like it. Now it's down to business. We won't be disturbed for a while now that we've been served. My valet won't be back till I ring for him."
"Well, then..." she sighed, slightly disappointed by the response. "What do you want to talk about?" she asked, picking on her food.
"You don't remember? I'm going to tell you what will be required for you to become a master blood bender and it's not going to be easy."
"I meant exactly..." she raised an eyebrow. "Something specific you'd want." Korra sighed. "I know... I have learned to move small parts of small animals' bodies, like the ears or tails, but only during the full moon and if I'm very concentrated."
"What I want? I'm not sure yet." Tarrlok moved closer to the end of his seat. "Blood bending takes more than concentration. You as a water bender have the ability to bend water that you can't see. Blood bending is like bending water you can't see, but because blood is denser than water it requires more natural strength. When you bend a blood, you're bending the molecules in the body so you have the ability to control the body down to a cellular level. At the time of the next full moon we'll need to plan a trip to a remote area to practice.
"Do I get to practice on you?" she smirked, her eyes flashing as her foot nudged his leg a bit higher. She liked to tease people, especially when they were challenging themselves and Tarrlok was one challenging dude for Korra. Even Tenzin wasn't this bad.
Tarrlok's eyes became almost like slits, "Possibly, but animals are first. You'll eventually need to try to blood bend me so you can feel the sensation of a superior water bender overcoming your grip."
She smirked at him narrowing his eyes. "I promise not to completely break you." She teased playfully.
A smile returned to Tarrlok's face as he responded, "I hope you aren't squeamish. By my estimation you only have about five days before this months full moon and I only have one training requirement for you before that time comes."
"I see..." she replied, trying to sound calm, but her heart was racing. She worried she wouldn't be strong enough so as to blood bend.
"This may sound intimidating, but your first lessons you'll need to bend your own blood."
Korra's eyes widened and the fork slipped from her fingers. "You're crazy. I can't do that!?"
Tarrlok created a wide smile from the previous straight line of a face heartily laughed. "I don't mean inside your body. At some point you'll bleed and I need you to bend your own body by bending your own blood outside your body. You'll be more attune to your blood external to your body."
Korra was already freaked out. "You've lost your mind! That is not how it should work! I know Master Katara bent one of her enemies for the first time, without real instruction!"
"She did overcome Hama, my great grandmother, but she was never that strong of a bender to overcome a young master, in fact, Hama never even finished her training before she was taken by the fire nation during the 100 year war.
Korra frowned. "Yeah, but still. Bending my own blood is more than creepy..."
Sternly he told her, "If you want to become the strongest blood bender possible you'll need to start with lesson 1. Katara never became a master in blood bending even though she did learn the skill."
"But I can't do that!" Korra whined desperately. "There must be another way!"
"And why not?! Your blood won't even try to reject your control. You're bound to walk into a door and a nose bleed at some point."
"I-I don't know..." she sighed.
Tarrlok stopped eating enunciated his every syllable, "I will not tolerate any disrespect to my methods." With a smirk he lightened his mood, "If you don't like my methods than maybe you should find someone else to teach you."
"There must be another way! Maybe skipping step number one?" she asked, grinning innocently, kicking his foot under the table lightly.
He did not reciprocate. "We've been over this already. Does Tenzin let you skip steps? Oh wait he did once didn't he? That one time when he needed you to bend a wisp of air and then you failed step one and so you learned everything else, but you couldn't bend air so what was the point? If you don't pass my first lessons then there is no point. You can't be squeamish to bend your own blood and you need to actually possess the ability to bend blood."
"I can't do that! It's both creepy and sick!" she shuddered. "Bending someone's blood is already creepy, but bending my own blood... I don't think I can do this..." she sighed, getting off of her chair and walking towards the closest window, leaning against it and looking out.
With a deep sigh, Tarrlok leaned against the back of his chair. He wondered to himself, "She is the avatar, maybe she can be a blood bender. After all, it will do me no good to reject her as a student." Tarrlok accepted the situation.
Korra was lost in thought during this large pause. Asami seemed to be clinging to Mako again, which annoyed Korra the most. It felt like she was powerless to do anything. "The thing is... I don't know whether I am actually strong enough to do this. I know I have to master the skill, as the Avatar, but it might be one of the worst experiences so far..."
"That's something you'll need to decide for yourself. I can tell you that it's much more difficult then learning the average moves of all the other elements."
"Easy for you to say... You're old...enough. I'm only 17 years old and I have to protect the whole world. It's not exactly easy."
"I'm old am I? Well you're too young and you've been doing a bang-up-job trying to protect the world. If you hurry up and just agree and get Lesson 1 over with then maybe you could learn blood bending and start actually having a trump card against the Equalists."
Korra huffed. "You don't know what you're talking about! I have responsibilities you never will! You don't know what it's like so stop criticizing me all the time and help me instead!"
"Help yourself by respecting my abilities, I want to help you learn blood bending, but in your little Avatar world you have this fantasy about the responsibilities you have and then blame me for criticizing when I can clearly see that you're too scared to do what's right. Currently, I'm one of five council members keeping peace in Republic City. More or less, we're doing your job because you don't even know how to act in public to be a pinnacle of society. If you can't respect me enough to follow my instruction then you should run home to the South Pole and try to forget that you were ever chosen to be the next avatar." Lifting himself out of his chair, Tarrlok walked over beside Korra, "You either step to the plate and learn blood bending, or you decide to go back to Air Temple and forget that you ever had a chance at becoming strong enough to lead the people hold the peace.
Korra's anger was growing, bottling up inside her, ready to break out any time soon. She wanted to slap him, or to just shove him. Instead, she turned to face him, glaring daggers as she was to proud to admit she was scared. "Fine. Fine! I will follow your instruction and I will learn blood bending as I am supposed to! And you better not speak of stuff you don't know. I am only 17 and I have tons of responsibilities. I don't think you did have Equalists attacking you and your friends, knowing they actually only wanted you!" Korra barked at him, furiously. She wanted him to realize, it wasn't exactly easy for her either to be the Avatar and sometimes she wished she wasn't.