The ship docked and Korra led Mako up from the small beach to at what looked like a small building at the bottom but connected to a line of airbending temples throughout.
Korra opened the door and invited the firebender inside. The smell of freshly baked bread filled his senses.
"Hi, Pema!", Korra greeted to a woman standing in front of a stove. Mako's eyes traveled to the woman who was dressed in Airbender robes.
"Oh good, you're back. Korra would you mind helping me get the kids in here to eat?", Pema asked as she stirred a pot of soup.
"Sure, oh, by the way, I brought my friend. Mako, this is Pema. Tenzin's wife.", Korra explained.
"Hi, ma'am.", he greeted.
As Pema turned, Mako's eyes widened as he saw the sweet lady turn around. He didn't want to be rude but his eyes were locked on her large stomach.
"Due in about 3 weeks. Don't worry, a lot of people stare.", Pema laughed.
Korra nudged him in the arm to get him to stop looking.
"My apologies I just...it reminds me a lot of my mom. I have a younger sibling.", he explained.
"Oh, that's sweet! Korra why didn't you bring the younger one too?", Pema asked.
"The younger one is Bolin, Pema. But anyways, Mako came over so I could tutor him a bit. Math's kicking him in the as-"
"Korra, you can't so those words around the kids."
"They're not-"
"KORRA!"
Mako and Korra's glances shot to the entrance to the kitchen to see 3 airbending children riding on air scooters to come forward and attack the Avatar with hugs.
"Korra! Did you fight anybody today?"
"Did you win the tournament yet?"
"Do you have any food?"
Mako laughed as Korra struggled to get the kids off of her.
"No, no, and you're about to eat so, shocker, no.", she laughed.
"Who's the guy with the scarf?", the smallest one asked.
"Guys, this is my friend Mako."
Mako smiled at the kids as Korra introduced them to each other.
"This is Jinora, Ikki, and Meelo.", Korra said, patting her hand on their heads as she said their names.
"Hi, I'm-", Mako started.
"Ohhh it's this Mako.", Jinora said, laughing a bit.
"Huh?", Mako asked.
"Korra talks a lot aboutyou," Ikki said with a wink.
Korra nudged them to knock it off.
"Uh, studying! We need to study!", Korra said as she grabbed Mako's wrist and escorted him out of the kitchen.
"I know what I'd be studying if I were her.", Jinora laughed.
"All you'll be studying is Monk Gyasto's readings for a long while young lady, don't forget that.", Pema told her.
"Sorry about them, they're just kids. They don't know what they're saying.", Korra told him as they walked to her room.
"Apparently you say a lot though.", he laughed.
She sighed a bit.
"I kissed you for Spirit's sake, wouldn't you expect me to?"
His eyes traveled to the floor.
"I wouldn't know.", he said quietly.
Then she remembered he didn't have a typical family life.
"I'm sorry...", she murmured.
"It's alright. Not a big deal."
She felt like air bison shit for bringing up his family again.
She finally approached her own room at the end of a hall in the female air acolyte dormitories.
"I get my own room away from all the craziness.", she said as she slid open the door.
Mako walked in and saw in the middle of the floor, a giant Polarbear Dog had perked its head up and its tail started wagging as it made eye contact with Mako.
"Woah, what the fuck?!", Mako exclaimed.
The Polarbear Dog rose from its position on the floor, Korra thought as it came forward it was about to attack Mako, but to her surprise, the dog tackled Mako and started licking his face.
"Ah! Korra what's happening?!", he whined as Naga licked him.
Korra laughed as she called her pet off of him and helped him up.
"I told you already, my first real friend was a Polar bear Dog.", she explained.
"So...you traveled to Republic City...", he trailed off.
"On Naga. And from the looks of things, she strangely enough already likes you.", she laughed.
Mako wiped his face as Korra smirked at him.
"You know, you can warn me next time.", he joked.
Korra giggled a little before she walked back into her room with Naga. Mako came right in behind them and saw Korra's room was plainer than he expected. He thought maybe she'd have pictures of her parents or some water tribe decorations or something. But it was just a small bed, a dresser, and a big dog bed on the other side of a desk for Naga.
"I guess you couldn't travel with much could you?", he asked.
"Not really. I brought some clothes and my toothbrush but that's about it. I had to get some more stuff to manage once I got to the island.", Korra explained.
"What was the first thing you did when you got here?", he asked as Korra gave him the chair at her desk to sit in.
She scoffed. "You really wanna know?"
"Yeah."
"I showered.", she laughed.
Mako chuckled a little. Not just because it amused him, but he wanted to cover up his embarrassment from very briefly imagining Korra completely naked.
"So, what kind of math is kicking your ass?", she asked.
"Um, well I'm not very good at linear functions.", he answered.
"Oh fuck, who the hell is?", she laughed. "I haven't done those in forever!"
He handed her his notebook and she began to look things over.
"Man, I kept forgetting you guys are more about all the stuff in the books up here.", Korra thought out loud.
"What do you mean?", Mako asked.
"Well let's put it this way, if you lived in the South Pole, would you rather know more about how to survive in cold harsh weather or the common denominator of-", Korra started.
"I get your point.", Mako chuckled. "But then when did you learn Math?"
"My Earth Bender instructor taught me a lot. He used to work at the Ba Sing Se university so I kinda got the best of both worlds.", Korra told him as she circled something on the paper.
"He didn't charge your parents extra for that right?", he joked.
"No, I guess training me to read and earthbend is kinda required to be the Avatar. So he cut us a break.", she explained.
Mako smiled as Korra scribbled more on his paper. And then a thought occurred to him.
"So, uh there's lots of opportunities in Republic City. Some you could do after high school.", Mako stated.
"Uh...ok.", Korra said with a puzzled look on her face.
"You could really have a promising future. Like you could be on the city council or something.", Mako told her.
"Mako, I get you're trying to be nice or some shit but-"
"Korra I mean it."
Korra put the notebook to her side on the bed and looked him dead in the eye.
"Mako, I'm not some hopeful bimbo who came to the city hoping to make it big. I came here to learn airbending, so I can finish training and finally help settle some peace in the world. Because that's gonna be my job for the rest of my life. So even if I wanted to be a lawyer, a chef, or hell President of the City for all I care, I can't.", Korra explained.
"Do you not want to be anything else just because you're the Avatar?", he asked.
"No, I love being the Avatar!", she told him.
"Then how come you're in high school in the first place? Would you ever wanna go to a place like Ba Sing Se University?", he asked her, a smile forming on his lips.
She shrugged as she continued to write in the notebook.
"Tenzin put me in that high school to get a basic education. And to blend in a little bit.", she explained.
"Well forget the blending in part.", Mako chuckled.
Korra's face darted up from the paper. She locked eyes with him as her own filled up with realization.
The whole school, filled with phones and internet access, knew who she was now.
"Mako...I'm so fucked.", she said to him.
"What? I was just...oh no.", he said, realizing what she meant.
"Well, it was nice knowing you. Cause as soon as Tenzin comes home I'm-", she started.
"Korra! I need to speak to you!", a voice called in the hallway, coming closer an closer.
"Screwed.", Korra finished.
"What are you gonna do?", he asked.
Korra quickly kicked his chair away. He looked up at her in confusion.
"What are you doing?", he asked.
"Making it not look like we're here to get to second base.", she whispered.
The door flung open. Tenzin's face was almost as red as his cloak.
"Hey there Tenzin...how was-", Korra began saying.
"Don't even try. I already knew to say waterbending at school was allowed was taking a risk. But threatening a student with firebending?!", Tenzin scolded.
"I didn't actually kill him.", Korra laughed.
"Oh really? Why should I believe that?", Tenzin asked.
Korra pointed to Mako on the other side of the room. Mako hadn't seen Tenzin since the night Korra was ambushed by equalists. He stood up to greet the Airbender.
"Nice to meet you again sir.", Mako said as they shook hands.
"Oh right...you're Korra's teammate. Wasn't there another one though? An Earthbender?", Tenzin asked.
"He's at home. I'm tutoring Mako for our math class.", Korra explained.
Tenzin sighed and rubbed his hand over his face briefly.
"Korra...do you know what danger you just put yourself in? Outing yourself?", Tenzin asked.
"I think I kinda proved I can handle myself around there.", Korra smirked.
"Yes at school, but I mean in the whole city. Now every equalist knows you're a student there.", Tenzin scolded. "The school can only do so much to protect you!"
"Come on Tenzin, it's a school full of benders. There's no way-", Korra began.
"Korra, you've left me no choice. From now on you'll be educated by one of my Air Acolytes. It's the only way to keep you safe.", Tenzin told her.
"You're being paranoid.", Korra muttered.
"You're being careless. You've been attacked once, it can't happen again. You're being homeschooled from now on.", Tenzin said sternly.
"Wait!", Mako interjected. "Master Tenzin, I don't know how much she told you about me and my brother but I'm in the running for a really big scholarship right now to a probending university. If we win the championship, I can make a way better life for myself and Bolin. And I can't do it without her."
"You can find another teammate.", Tenzin told him. "There won't be a university to go to if the whole world is taken over by equalists. She needs to-"
"Tenzin. Please.", Korra begged. "They won't find someone better. I'm the fucking-"
"Watch your language." Tenzin interrupted.
"Fine. Freaking Avatar! You can homeschool me all you want after the tournament is over. Just let me help them. It's my job to help right?", Korra reminded him.
Tenzin sighed. He looked at Korra, then his eyes traveled over to the firebender. He glared at him.
"You will protect her with your life, got it? And so will your brother.", Tenzin told him.
"Yes, sir.", Mako agreed.
A giant smile appeared on Korra's face as she hugged her airbending master. Tenzin smiled a bit too.
"I mean it, don't do anything stupid.", Tenzin said as he left the room.
Once the door closed, Korra began to dance around joyously. Mako smirked as her ponytail whisked by him as she moved in circles. After the small mocha part of her neck he recognized passed his eyes by, he saw her smile. And right next to her smile on her cheek, was the old scar she got from the equalists. Korra didn't really talk about her ambush. It's almost as if it never happened. At least to her. Mako would be lying if he didn't carry some blame on himself for that night. Wondering if he wasn't with Asami, maybe she would have one less scar on herself.
Korra tutored him the rest of the night. Pema invited him to eat a warm meal, and then Korra insisted on riding with him back on the boat to make sure he got home safe.
"I hope Bo wasn't waiting to eat with me. But man Pema can cook. I haven't had a meal like that in years.", Mako told Korra as her hair flipped around in the breeze.
"There's plenty of rooms if you ever wanna ditch the stadium.", Korra offered.
"Heh, I don't know if Asami would like that.", Mako chuckled.
The mood immediately changed. Korra walked away from him and just stared into the water.
"What?", he asked.
"Nothing.", she muttered.
"Korra she's my girlfriend I'm gonna talk about her.", he told her.
"Oh, I'm very aware she's your girlfriend.", Korra sternly said, staring into the dark water of the bay.
Mako sighed. They agreed to never speak of the situation again but now he had to.
"I'm a liar.", he said.
She turned around to face him.
"I said I didn't feel the same way about you but I did. I do. But I feel a lot of things for her too." he explained.
"I thought we weren't gonna talk about this?", she asked.
"I get that you don't like her because she's my girlfriend. You don't have to. But you don't get to talk shit about her. I wouldn't let someone do that to you.", he told her.
The feeling of anger and sadness combined into one returned to Korra's thoughts.
"You said to act like it never happened, and that we can be friends. If those two things are what you want then you can't talk about Asami like that or treat her like shit. Ok?" he asked.
"What about you?", Korra asked.
"Huh?", he retorted.
"You said you still feel the same way about me. I'm trying to get over you but...do you want me to? Is there a part of you that still wants...well do you?"
He sighed and looked at his feet. As he glanced back up at her he knew she was already hurting again.
"I want Asami."
He was a liar. He was still confused about who he wanted more. But it wasn't fair to Korra to string her along.
"So...you're getting over me?"
"Yes. I suggest you do the same."
He didn't want to hurt her. But it would hurt her more to keep her hopes up.
Korra turned away from him for the rest of the boat ride. The sound of the waves hitting the boat was the only thing that could be heard. As Mako went back into the gym to head to bed, he hated himself with every step he took away from her.
