Title: The Trophy Wife
Rating: M
Words: 2001
Fandom: The Legend of Korra
Characters/Pairings: Everyone; Amorra, Masami
Author's Note: This chapter…this chapter contains a few feels. Just a few. Okay, maybe more than a few. Please don't hurt me.

A peace offering of sorts is made between two enemies, and a friendship is salvaged.

Thanks to my beta Relic, and of course to my readers who encouraged me to keep going even when I wanted to quit.

After getting back to their suite, Noatak shuffled to the bathroom for a soak, leaving Korra and Tarrlok in the office. They didn't have anything to say to each other; everything that had needed to be said had been said. Tarrlok busied himself with the paperwork that was sitting on Amon's desk, and Korra decided to go check on her husband.

He was sitting in the tub, water up to his shoulders, eyes closed.

"Don't you dare drown on me," she warned as she grabbed the stool and settled herself near the edge.

"Wouldn't dream of it," he murmured.

"Are you okay?"

"You did an excellent job of healing me, Korra."

"I didn't mean your injuries."

"Oh." He started at a spot on the wall past Korra's head. "I'll be fine."

"You're a liar," she muttered.

"Korra, I'm tired and I really just want to be alone right now," he said. "Please."

"Fine, fine," she said as she put her hands up in a placating gesture. "I'll be in the office reading if you need me."

When she re-entered the office, Tarrlok looked up at her. "How is he doing?"

"He's moping," she answered as she flopped onto the sofa. "Not that he'll admit it."

"That's not his style," Tarrlok sighed. "Even when we were children he'd bottle everything up inside, never saying what was bothering him."

"Why does he do that?"

"Who knows? All I know is he's been like this since he was a child, and at his age it's unlikely he's going to change."

After his bath, Noatak immediately went to bed, not even bothering to say anything to either of them. Tarrlok stuck around the office doing paper work, but retired to his room shortly after dinner, leaving Korra restlessly pacing the office. After a while she realized that she was going to go mad if she didn't work off the nervous energy that was building inside of her. She thought about going down to the training room, but she knew that there was a strong chance she'd run into Meilan down there, and Korra wasn't sure that she could deal with Meilan at the moment.

She started to wander the halls, avoiding the common room where the recruits who lived in the dormitories congregated in the evenings. After meandering a bit she found a door that promised roof access. No doubt she could find some peace and quiet up there.

A blast of fresh air was just what Korra needed. Inhaling deeply, she decided to check the layout of the roof to make sure she didn't accidentally hurt herself while running through her katas. There was just one minor problem.

She wasn't alone.

"Gui?" she asked.

He looked up at her and scowled. "What do you want?"

"Uh, I guess I was looking for peace and quiet. Like you."

He harrumphed and turned his back on her.

"I'm kind of surprised that you're still here, though. I figured you would have been long gone," Korra admitted as she moved to sit next to him. "It sounded like you were done."

"I am done," Gui grumbled. "But…"

"You just can't turn your back on the Revolution, can you?" She chuckled. "You can't just turn your back on him, either. I understand why, though. He was your friend, someone you loved as a brother and trusted. To learn the truth is a huge shock. It was a shock to me, and I barely knew him."

"I don't know what to believe anymore. Everything we've gone through is suddenly meaningless."

"No it isn't."

"You can't possibly know that."

She flashed a smile at him. "Let me tell you a story about a boy named Noatak. I think it'll clear a few things up."

Starting at the beginning, with everything she knew about Yakone, Korra told Gui the same story Tarrlok had told her on her wedding night. She didn't watch Gui as she spoke, instead staring out at the statue of Aang in the harbor. When she reached the part in the story where Noatak ran away from home, she finally glanced at her companion. He was looking at her in wonder.

"So what happened next?" he asked.

She continued on, telling him about Noatak's first years in Republic City, about the restaurant where he worked, and the owners who had been murdered by the Triads because they were unable to pay the protection fee. Trying to recall every detail Noatak had ever told her, Korra relayed it to Gui. When she finished, she sighed. "I'm not asking you to just completely forget everything that he's done. However, I think you deserve to know the truth, that he has always cared about the Revolution, that everything he's done has been for those who can't fight back."

"But he's a bender. Why would he fight for our cause?"

"Who would know better what evils a bender is capable of than the son of a former Triad leader?" Korra asked. "Maybe his involvement with the Revolution is selfish, but isn't it selfish for everyone? Hiroshi Sato wants revenge for his wife. Many of the chi blockers have been pushed out of their homes and businesses by the Triads. And what about you? Can you say that you're in it for purely altruistic reasons?"

"My wife and children. Killed when I refused to bow down to their demands." He scowled. "The police didn't do a damn thing."

"I was under the impression that there wasn't a lot that the police could do. In a lot of ways, the Triads are untouchable. People won't testify against them because they fear retaliation, and several of them are really good at covering their tracks," Korra explained, remembering a conversation she had with Lin prior to the exposure of Hiroshi as an Equalist sympathizer.

"That's why we need to take them out."

Korra chuckled. "You know, Chief BeiFong said something to me when I first got in to town. She told me that I couldn't just hand out vigilante justice all willy-nilly even though I'm the Avatar, and she was right. Republic City has a justice system in place, and even I can't skirt it because I think something is unfair. The same holds true for you. Amon, Noatak, is learning that, as well."

Gui was silent as he contemplated what she had said. It was frustrating that there was nothing to be done about the Triads, but the promise of the task force to raid their bases was keeping him going. But there was another thing that bothered him, something that he needed to get to the bottom of for the sake of his sanity.

"Do you love him?"

Taken aback by the sudden question, Korra gaped at him. "Uh…well…"

"It's a simple yes or no question, Avatar."

She let out a slow breath before answering. "Yes, I love him."

There was a long, stretching silence before Gui spoke. "I see. He loves you, too. He has for a while."

"A while, huh?" She gave him a wry smile.

"I've only seen a few other people fall that fast. But I'm pretty sure he loved you the day he married you."

She burst out laughing. "Yeah, I don't think so."

"I admit, I was angry with him at the time, but even I could tell. He cared for you, at the very least, if it wasn't love yet."

"I find that a little hard to believe. We were little more than strangers at that point."

"Perhaps, but I think it's safe to say that he had an obsession with the Avatar. After you came to Republic City, he was focused on you in a way that I might have said bordered on unhealthy."

"I'd hardly call that love."

"No, it wasn't. It was a raw fascination. I never knew the root of it until now, but I saw the state of your file."

"My file?"

"We have files on all high profile benders in the city, from the council to the Triads. Your file, along with Tarrlok's, was extremely well read. Like he'd spent hours going over it. I always assumed that it was because he was looking for a weakness, a way to take you two out, but maybe it was something else entirely."

"That's just a little unnerving."

"Perhaps."

Another silence fell between them, Korra swinging her legs as she gazed out over Yue Bay. Amon had admitted that he knew everything that had been deemed public knowledge about her before they married, listing off mundane things like her age, birthday, birthplace, and her training status. She supposed that it shouldn't have surprised her that Amon had a file on her, Lin had explained how all of the most wanted criminals in Republic City had files at the police headquarters to help capture them. Why would the Equalists be any different?

Peace settled over Korra, and she no longer felt antsy. With a sigh she slid off the wall that surrounded a cistern that collected rainwater and snowmelt. "I'm going to bed. Good night, Gui."

"Good night, Avatar."

She honestly didn't know if she had made matters worse by talking to Gui, but she hoped that she had salvaged the friendship. One late night (or was it early morning?) three weeks after they married, Noatak confessed that while he had plenty of followers, he didn't have any friends. He had resigned himself to spending the rest of his life alone until she had offered herself up.

"You gave me hope," he had murmured into her hair that night. "You gave me a reason to believe again."

She had merely rolled her eyes and shoved him in the shoulder, but that didn't stop her from feeling pleased that she was having such a profound effect on him. Clearly he wasn't the only one who noticed.

The next morning Korra watched Noatak prepare for the day in a bit of a funk. He said nothing more than a mumbled good morning when she joined him for breakfast in the office, before getting ready in complete silence. Tarrlok also noticed the cloud of depression that seemed to be hanging over his brother, and with a few gestures, mimed the question of what was going on at Korra. She shrugged and shook her head, but also gave him a knowing look that insinuated that it had to do with the argument with Gui.

Tarrlok nodded and held his tongue, knowing better than to try to talk to his brother. They walked in silence towards the garage, where Gui was leaning up against the side of the satomobile.

"Gui…" Amon said softly.

"I was a bit rash yesterday," Gui said with a dismissive wave. "I really didn't consider that you might have had your own reasons for doing what you did." His gaze slid to Korra, whose lips had twitched up in a ghost of a grin. "But I had an interesting conversation with the Avatar last night that got me thinking."

"Oh?" Amon looked at his wife, who smiled innocently up at him.

"Now, don't get me wrong, I'm still mad and I haven't fully forgiven you. However, if your goals are to bring about equality for non-benders, then I'm willing to keep working with you." Gui held out his hand. "Well?"

"My goals have always been about bettering the lives of those who had no voice, particularly the non-benders. That hasn't changed at all." Clasping Gui's hand, Amon shook it.

"Good, good. Now we should get a move on or else we'll be late," Gui said as he opened the satomobile door.

Tarrlok climbed in, but Amon hesitated. Turning, he quickly pulled Korra into a tight hug. Leaning down so only she would hear him, he spoke. "I don't know what you did, but thank you."

She nuzzled against his chest. "A lot of it was you. I'll tell you when you get home."

"I love you," he murmured.

"I love you, too," she whispered back.