A/N: This is the chapter leading up to the more exciting bits, and the downfall of the Councilwoman. Also, Taraka teaches Korra some moves.


Things were changing, and they began with Taraka waking to the first light of dawn streaming in from the window. The thoughts that haunted her from last night were still with her as she kissed Lee awake, settling herself on top of him as he drowsily came to.

They made love slowly and warmly, driven by the quiet peace of the morning, the illusion that all was well and there was nothing wrong at all. It helped to stave off the cold, the icy sear of pragmatism when faced with difficult choices, the one that Taraka was familiar with.

Still, she'd never had so much to lose, and the cold came back full force when she lay on one side of the bed, panting.

"Tell me a secret," she murmured thoughtlessly.

"What?" Lee said groggily.

"Tell me something nobody else knows," Taraka said. "Something I don't know. I won't ask you to divulge whatever you don't want to, but I want to know you can trust me with something."

"What's this about?" Lee asked, his concern coloring Taraka's annoyance.

"It's nothing," Taraka said, nigh on petulantly. "I understand the need for secrets, but until just yesterday, I didn't think yours would number the stars over the North Pole."

"If this is about me being a Northerner..."

"Show me your eyes," Taraka demanded. "Show me something, anything. Anything that will convince me your secrets are inconsequential, so I can get on with my life."

"I got on with my life a long time ago, Taraka. My past is inconsequential," Lee said angrily, his voice taking on that familiar rasp that Taraka once loved to laugh at. "You must understand, the only reason I kept it from you is because it doesn't matter anymore. It will never matter again, so why should it trouble what matters now?"

"This isn't about your past, Lee," Taraka said.

"Then what is it about?"

"The fact that you can chi-block!" Taraka yelled. "That's what this is about. The fact that you were able to take down a couple of Equalists by beating them at their own game, and the fact that you seemed to be astoundingly proficient at it."

All the fight seemed to leave Lee at once, and he looked down, ashamed.

Taraka deflated. This wasn't what she wanted. She wanted to pretend she hadn't seen, believe that there was a better explanation than what she feared to hear now.

"Lee... Please," she begged.

"I... I haven't used that skill since the Equalists rose," Lee said slowly. "Living in the Dragon Flats isn't easy, Taraka, especially for a non-bender who's educated enough to dress well but poor enough to walk around the bad part of town every night to get home. There were lessons—in secret, because can you imagine what the triads would do to people who had that kind of knowledge, to take bending away, even temporarily? I did what I had to do to survive."

Throughout his tirade, Taraka felt a shift. Relief, mixed with guilt, mixed with sadness, then the startling realization that she knew what an elaborate lie looked like. She'd told enough in her lifetime to know. So she pressed her lips to his, trying to convey understanding, an apology for misunderstanding him. It was her own elaborate lie, to counter his.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I didn't know. Let me help you," she continued. "If I can find a way to defend the non-bending populace in a way that doesn't involve a revolution, perhaps we'll find a more peaceful way to bring about that change Amon is so keen on. Tenzin is particularly eager to smooth out the city's troubles, the pacifist that he is, and I can swallow my pride and get his help if it means saving who we can."

Lee gave her an almost frighteningly serious look, and with the same gravity, lifted her hand and kissed her knuckles gratefully. "It would mean the world to me," Lee said, his rasping voice giving Taraka pause. She knew Lee's voice, of course, but it sounded familiar when he spoke this way, like it belonged to someone else. She would figure it out later, but for now, she had to focus on convincing him that she was on his side.

Even if it was clear to her, at this point, that he had never been on hers.


There was some ragtime playing on the radio when Taraka came to the gym. She watched as the three teens practiced on fluttering paper targets and nets, leaning against the wall and patiently waiting for them to finish.

It was the earthbender (Bolin, Taraka remembered from Korra's colorful stories) who spotted her first.

"Whoa, hey, guys! We got company!" he said loudly, and Korra was quick to drop her helmet, a huge grin on her face as she jogged over to greet her.

"Taraka! It's so good to see you! I didn't expect you to visit me here," she said, her good mood infectious. Korra nearly toppled her over with the enthusiasm of her hug, but released her quickly, apologizing. "Sorry, sorry! Sweaty."

Taraka chose not to comment that the sweat was much less of a problem than Korra's alarming physical strength, the hug making her feel like her lungs were being crushed.

"It's alright. I've had my fair share of hard workouts. So this is how the esteemed pro-bending Avatar spends her practices," Taraka observed.

"Yeah, well, with the finals in a few days, we've gotta be at our best. Especially with pretty-boy jerkface Tahno and his stupid Wolfbats," Korra said, bending an earth disk into a net to illustrate her point.

"So you need to step up your game?" Taraka said wryly.

"I have stepped up my game!"

"Oh really? Because I expected a lot more waterbending prowess from the Avatar who learned from masters," Taraka teased. Korra frowned.

"That bad, huh?"

"Not bad, but not too impressive, if you're looking to win," Taraka said.

"You didn't see her in the last match! She knocked out all three players in the last ten seconds, it was amazing!" Bolin interjected before sheepishly backing out. "Whoops, sorry. Don't wanna interrupt your, uh, important conversation. Because, you know, you're important and Korra's important and... yeah... sorry."

"Bolin, it's okay," Korra said, amused. "Taraka may be a Councilwoman but she's a friend, too. I talk to her about a ton of stuff."

"Ohhh! So um, do you talk about us, too?"

"Well I certainly hear a lot about how you keep the team together, working like a well-oiled machine," Taraka said brightly.

"She said that about me? You said that about me?" Bolin said, switching between Taraka and Korra while Mako approached, looking suspicious.

"And you must be Mako. Korra talks quite a bit about you as well. It's nice to meet you," Taraka greeted, holding back a snort when Korra's dark cheeks turned darker and quite a bit redder.

"Good to meet you as well," Mako said seriously. "I was there when you took down those triad thugs down on Hei Bai road years back. A lot of firebenders were pretty terrified of you after that."

"Really now? Well as long as you weren't running around with gangs, you were safe," Taraka said lightheartedly. Immediately, Bolin coughed more times than could be considered realistic, and then changed the subject rapidly enough for Taraka to figure out another fact about the brothers who'd made friends with the Avatar.

"So, um, if you need Korra for some, some important Council business or Avatar stuff, me and Mako could head out?"

"Not at all," Taraka said. "I'd love to see how you pro-benders do your thing. Especially you, Korra."

"Oh. Well, we could do a demonstration. Right, Mako?"

"Right, of course," Mako said flippantly. Taraka laughed inwardly. No wonder Korra favored this one. Cool as ice with a show of measured indifference, with the added bonus of being good-looking, he was clearly a heartbreaker.

After their show of practice-level prowess, Taraka clapped Korra on the shoulder and said, "Impressive. Your power may need work, though."

"What're you talking about? Her power was great," Mako defended.

"It was great, yes, but Korra's got a lot of untapped potential," Taraka replied. She smiled at Korra. "You proved it in your last match, didn't you? A little more momentum and your water blasts could really make a difference."

"Really?"

"Yes." Then, as an afterthought, Taraka added, "Let me show you."

Stepping into the space Korra vacated a good distance from the painted straw target, Taraka brought up enough water to circle her. It only took a few seconds of knife-sharp focus for it to reach alarming speeds, and with an extended arm to guide it and a harsh flick of her wrist, it shot towards the target with so much power that it ripped a hole through the center of the fabric and practically flipped the whole thing over with the force of the blow.

When she looked back at the teens, their faces were plastered with looks of shock and awe.

"How did you... that was amazing, Taraka!" Korra said.

"You practically destroyed it!" Bolin said triumphantly.

"I'll pay for damages," Taraka said automatically.

"You have got to teach me that move!" Korra said.

"It was kind of like what you did, Korra, only like, faster and more violent," Bolin said cheerfully.

"I'll be glad to show you the motions for it," Taraka said. And she was, indeed, glad. She came to take her mind off things, and this was the perfect distraction.

She spent the next half hour guiding Korra through the stances, then telling her, over and over again, to concentrate on the water as an extension of herself, and to not let her concentration fail for a moment.

Korra was good at the physical stuff, but concentrating didn't seem to be her strongest suit. Still, at the end of it all, she was able to knock the target down quicker than she was used to, and thanked Taraka with another bone-crushing hug.

At the end of the day, when Korra was preparing to return to Air Temple Island, she kept glancing to Taraka, an internal debate that amused Taraka for only so long before she finally sighed. "What is it, Korra?"

"Well, you're better now, right? I mean, after what happened with the party a couple of days ago... Tenzin told me to let you get better..."

"Tell Tenzin I appreciate his concern for my welfare," Taraka said, amused, "but yes, I am feeling much better. As disconcerting as it is, chi-blocking is temporary and I feel just as strong as I always do with my bending."

"That's great!" Korra said. "Um, there was something else, too. The papers, they said that you had a date to the party, and I remember when you told me about your whole secret relationship thing, and I figure the guy nobody seemed to know about was the guy you're with? So I wanted to get your advice, since you obviously know more about this stuff than I do."

"You want relationship advice from me?" Taraka said. "But what about Tenzin, or Pema? They have a lovely little marriage with three kids, going on four. Don't you think they're a better reference point than me and my clandestine affairs?"

"Well it's not like I'm looking for tips on how to stay married," Korra said, smirking. "Just... how do you make a relationship work? I mean, if it's new and uncertain? How do you know you won't screw it up?"

Taraka frowned. Thinking about it now, she definitely wasn't the one to ask about how not to screw a relationship up.

"You don't know," Taraka said honestly. "And a lot of the things that could go wrong probably will at some point."

Korra deflated. "Then why bother?" she wondered aloud.

Taraka smiled bitterly. "Because the feeling you get when you're looking at the one you love, knowing that he loves you... It's addicting. Not something you can let go once you've got it."

Korra nodded with the understanding of somebody who had yet to experience what was described to her, but who hoped she would one day.

"What's he like?" she asked curiously.

Taraka rubbed her chin thoughtfully.

"He's sweet, and kind. He has a strong sense of justice. Handsome. Loving. Skilled and strong," Taraka said. All these, and a liar, an Equalist, she thought. An Equalist who loves me.

"He does what he believes is right. Even if it means putting himself in danger to protect people. I couldn't have asked for a better man."

"I wish you luck with him," Korra said genuinely.

So do I, Taraka thought bitterly—though significantly less bitter than she felt before.

She made a decision as she walked out the door, saying goodbye to Korra and feeling like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. She knew what she had to do. She just needed time.

Time, which was lost to her the day the Equalists attacked the pro-bending arena.


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