Korra found Lin done harping on the man at the desk, still waiting at the checkpoint. She noticed Korra's unusually somber demeanor, uncrossing her arms in concern. "How's Noatak doing?"

Korra sighed as she stopped next to her. "He's...pretty rough, but he's hanging in there."

"He didn't want you to stay with him a little longer?"

"He probably did, but he figured us getting him out as soon as possible was better in the long run."

Lin nodded, looking down. "I suppose that is..."

"Did you find a way to let me visit him? More often?" Korra sheepishly glanced away, biting her lip. "Legally?"

Lin shot a glare at the man at the desk. "This one visit can slide, for now. I'm gonna have to do some string-pulling to let you visit him on any sort of regular basis."

Korra sighed in relief. "Thank you, so much." She hesitated, then looked up. "They had to chi-block him before they let me in."

Lin blinked in surprise. "What?"

Korra nodded, still a little shocked herself. "It was insane. Five guards beat him down to the floor at once. He couldn't even stand up afterwards they hurt him so bad."

Lin struggled for a moment. "I...Is that...Chi-blocking's never been done in United Republic prisons before, not even to more dangerous prisoners like Zaheer."

"Well Noatak is a bloodbender."

"Yeah, true. It's just never been part of prisoner protocol. Standard prisoner protocol, anyways. She was a special case."

"Yeah," Korra said softly. "Special."

"I haven't heard a thing about...anything like that being passed. Only Raiko could authorize it..." Lin uncrossed her arms and looked up. "I'll have to look into it."

Korra nodded. "Alright. I'm gonna go talk to Qarnau, and see if I can reason with him a little bit."

"You really think you can convince him to free Noatak?" Lin asked flatly with a raised brow, urging Korra to think twice about what she planned to do.

"That's the hope," Korra admitted. "I have to try."

Lin sighed and nodded, looking away. "Okay. I'll see what I can do to make it easier on Noatak. I have some other things to check up on too, like figuring out how Qarnau has the authority to undermine me! I'm the chief!"

Korra giggled at her mild rage. "Thank you."

Lin sighed. "I wish I could go with you. Good luck, kid. You're gonna need it."

Korra smirked, turning. "Thanks, but I don't need luck. I'm the Avatar."

"Um," Lin said. "That's why you'll need the luck. I have a feeling that Qarnau isn't the type of person who's all for spirits and balance and meditating and all that."

"Hey," Korra said as she walked away, "neither was I."

#

The building where Qarnau's office resided wasn't too far a walk from the police station. The lady at the main desk said that Qarnau wasn't expecting any visitors, but also that he wasn't about to turn any down either.

After a thank-you, Korra started making her way to Qarnau's office on the second floor. Even though that friendly fact had made her smile, she still felt apprehensive.

So...what exactly am I going to tell him? How do I just come out and say, 'Hey, you jailed up one of my friends. He's done a bunch of crimes and never been officially tried, but do you mind letting him out? He's really not that bad of a guy.'

Maybe Tenzin was right. Maybe I should've planned ahead more...

Korra shook her head.

No. No, I know Noatak, even if I don't know what I'm doing. I've brought the world back to balance a bunch of times before. This can't be any harder than that. I know Noatak shouldn't have to suffer for what he did. He already did suffer for what he did, in that wheelchair. He wouldn't take anyone's bending again or bloodbend them, never. He's changed. This guy has to be able to understand that.

A little heavy-hearted, but still completely willing to do what she had to, Korra inhaled, and walked into Judge Qarnau's office.

Sitting at his large desk in the middle of the nicely-decorated, bookshelf-lined room, was Qarnau, sorting through papers and documents. He was a heavier-set man, bearing a bit of a gut, with short, grey, partly-balding hair. His wide face was tan and wrinkled, clean-shaven, his brow well-furrowed from thought and study. He wore fairly fine beige and olive-colored judgeman's robes. He looked to be an astute man.

He noticed Korra as she walked in, looking up from his many papers. His voice was clear, and carried even though he wasn't raising it. "Oh. Avatar Korra. What brings you here?"

Korra sighed. "I'm not quite sure how to put this...but—"

"I'm not going to release him," Qarnau plainly interjected.

"Please, Judge Qarnau, let me explain."

"There's nothing to explain, Avatar. He's a criminal who has to pay for what he's done. He's evaded authority long enough."

"You don't understand. He did pay for what he did. He had broken legs for ten years. His body was his prison."

"I can imagine so, but he's still nonetheless a criminal, and you being 'friends' with him doesn't change that either."

"But he's changed."

"Changed?" Qarnau snorted. "No. Criminals like him do not 'change.' And it's foolish to think otherwise."

Korra raised a brow. "You sure about that?"

"What are you getting at, Avatar?"

"He helped me and General Iroh stop the Red Lotus, completely by his own free will. He surrendered to the police without a fight. You think a 'criminal' would do that? He regrets it all."

"If he does regret it so much, then why is it that he never turned himself in?"

Korra hesitated. "Well...it's not like anyone wants to go to prison." She furrowed her brow. "Why wasn't I allowed to visit him anyways?"

Qarnau closed his eyes and sighed, still holding some papers. "For the same you're here yelling at me now: your audacity."

"My what?"

"You are headstrong," Qarnau explained while sorting papers, "and don't think things through before doing them. You're brash, say things are right when they aren't. Things of that nature."

Korra furrowed her brow. "I'm the Avatar. If anyone in this world knows what's right, it's me."

"Keeping criminals out of judicial reach," Qarnau said with a smile, setting a folder down. "Ah yes, one of the many enigmatically righteous ways of keeping 'balance.'"

Korra gave a short sigh. "He's not a 'criminal.' He hasn't committed a crime in years. He's sorry, sorry for what he did, sorrier than you could ever imagine." She paused. "Just like Kuvir—"

"Don't you dare bring up that name in my office," Qarnau snapped.

Korra faltered, shocked, struggling not to start a completely new argument. But she couldn't help it. "What do you have against Kuvira?"

Qarnau scoffed, apathetically looking away, his hands empty of all paperwork now. "I'm willing to let someone have a second chance at something, but I don't think politics is at all the appropriate realm to do so."

Korra fought down the understanding swell of anger that always bubbled whenever people ignored Kuvira's change. "She's been the Prime Minister for over a year now. She's been helping the Earth Kingdom in ways it's never been helped before."

"But wasn't it convenient that she was the very one who created the government system that got her out of prison early?"

"Because Wu asked her to. He knew that the Earth Kingdom needed to change and he knew that she was the best choice for Prime Minister. She wanted to help the Earth Kingdom, and she did. It wasn't a convenience, it was a second chance."

"Bah," Qarnau dismissed. "More like a popularity-play. A power-grab. And indoctrinating her very own orphans? My, my, where do I start with that?"

Wow. This guy...

"They're her kids," Korra said, half in disbelief. "We gave them a family."

"Because she never had one herself, so on and so forth. I'm sure the three rascals are just delightful little bundles of joy, but that doesn't change the overall sense of...'conspiracy,' shall we say, in the entirety of the—"

"What do she and Noatak have to do to change your mind about them?" Korra asked sincerely.

Qarnau looked up quickly, but didn't seem agitated that Korra had cut him off. Instead, he leaned forward, starring Korra dead in the eye, his voice grave as he said:

"Put her back in prison for twenty-five years and let me pass judgment on Amon."

After a sudden blast of air, Qarnau found his desk overturned and crashed at the side of the room, papers flying and falling to the floor.

"His name," Korra growled, stepping forward, "is Noatak."

"And as far as I'm concerned," Qarnau said nonchalantly, leaning back in his deskless chair, "until she goes back to prison, she's the Great Uniter, and until he's penalized in some legal form, he's an Equalist."

"They've both made mistakes," Korra admitted, "horrible mistakes, but why do they have to suffer for the rest of their lives for it?"

"Oh she wouldn't be suffering her whole life for it. She'd be...what, fifty by the time she got out?"

"Prison was torture for her. It's hardly a life worth living."

"A dictator's life isn't worth much more by comparison."

"Oh how blind are you?" Korra snapped. "You really think she'd try to blow up Republic City again? Do you really think I visited her in prison every week for nothing?"

"You actually did visit her every week?" Qarnau asked in a completely new tone, throwing the argument off once again.

Korra blinked and furrowed her brow. She straightened up. "Yes. I did. And I hated myself when I couldn't."

"Hah!" Qarnau exclaimed in amusement. "Even more pathetic than I thought! What? Did our esteemed Prime Minister need someone to hold her hand? A shoulder to cry on? A hug?"

"Sometimes, my chest, and yes. You have no idea—"

"I have some ideas of what she went through. Orphaning doesn't justify nation-conquering."

"The 'orphaning' was more of a catalyst, really."

"Oh so now you're a psychologist too, eh?"

"I don't need to be a psychologist to know that you're being completely unreasonable."

"I have my reasons, and none of them are based on petty emotion like yours."

"P..." Korra stepped forward, imploring. "How is making someone suffer for their mistakes better than letting them fix them?!"

"Try asking your past lives," Qarnau said, "since it appears you've miraculously weaseled your way out of your consequences once again during your career as Avatar."

Korra faltered completely, speechless. He really just used her past lives against her.

Qarnau settled back in his chair with veiled satisfaction. "My mind has been made up for over three months now: Noatak will not leave that cell until justice has been served. And staying in a cell like that may very well be just what justice will serve."

Korra snorted, storming out of Qarnau's office, having much more productive things to do than arguing with this wall of a man. "I'm not apologizing for the desk. And you need to look up what 'justice' really means."

Qarnau got in the last word by grunting a "hmph" of amusement.

Notes: Wow. That argument's gotta be one of my most favorite things I've ever written, the first of many infuriating more to come. I hope you love/hate Qarnau as much as I do. I'm picturing someone with Gideon Malick's looks and Doctor Magnusson's stifling personality. Korra facing a problem that she can't fight physically is a good change of pace that hasn't really happened since Tarrlok in Book 1, who she...actually did end up fighting. Baby steps.

Also, disclaimer here:

Kuvira becoming the Earth Prime Minister and her adopting kids and all that was not at all my idea in any way. That happened in The Dictator by riot3672. I didn't write it or have any part in writing it. It's what I based Book 5: Redemption after, so it's a pretty integral solidifier for everything Korra believes in and for how she treats her adversaries. It's gonna tie into things a little more later too.

So, things aren't looking too good right now, and unfortunately, they won't for a while. Now Korra's off to break the bad news to everyone :(