The silence was almost crushing, the air thrummed with tension, every breath sounded as loud as a buzzard wasp, the five people were still as statues and tense at the mere mention of a single name. The seconds ticked on apprehensively as they stared at each other almost defensively- nobody wanted to have the first word.
"A pleasure to meet you." Asami broke the silence at last, startling Korra with her abruptness, and bowed politely, obviously opting for an 'I never met you before' approach. "Thank you for saving our lives."
"No need for pleasantries. It was all Korra's idea." Noatak replied taking her cue.
"But we would most likely have drowned down there or gotten captured altogether if it weren't for you. So I'm thanking both of you from the depths of my heart." Asami insisted stubbornly but kindly. "Please feel free to make yourself at home in my property."
"All I did was for Korra's benefit and not due to any higher nobility from my part. You owe me nothing, Miss Sato." Noatak wanted to stress that he wanted absolutely no favors from any of them, he felt it important to stress this so they would understand both the profundity of his devotion to Korra and that he was not attempting to manipulate any of them, but he remained polite and even nonetheless.
"Wait, wait! Just a sec, did you say Noatak? But I thought you said…" Bolin pointed at Korra looking lost but Mako spoke up before he could finish.
"One way or the other we do owe you one, Noatak." Mako said with forced steely politeness. "Do tell us if there is anything we can do for you in return."
"Continue supporting Korra with your loyalty." Noatak replied instantly taking full advantage of the offer, not just to silence their insistence but to be sure that they understood that whatever grudges they may hold they should project those ill feelings on him and not Korra and therefore should respect the Avatar's wishes and keep his identity quiet.
"We would never even consider doing any differently." Mako's voice was still steely and cool but he seemed to get the message and had already decided how to handle the situation.
"I am so confused right now." Bolin huffed looking adorably lost.
"What is there to be confused about, Bo?" Mako looked at his brother.
"Didn't you say Amon is dead?" Bolin blurted out looking from Mako to Korra, still very lost as he put the dots together, the only reason he wasn't jumpy was because everyone seemed so casual.
"He is." Korra and Noatak replied in unison, both of them with matching expressions of determination.
"But…" Bolin looked at Mako for answers, it wasn't that he didn't understand the unspoken situation, he did, he wasn't that simple minded; it was just that everyone's reactions were confusing him and he needed to be sure he was getting things right because it was all too implausible.
"You heard them, Bolin. Amon is dead." Mako replied simply. "We don't have to worry about bloodbending and bending-removing monsters anymore. Do we, Noatak?"
"Never again." Noatak replied immediately with the same cool tone that Mako was using but with absolute certainty.
"Thank you, Mako." Korra hastily added, a little too sharply and cynically, trying to silence him with the hint that he was talking too much and it was irritating her. "That's so nice of you."
"Ok…" Bolin spoke slowly before nodding in full understanding and quickly looking at Noatak. "Ok, you did save our lives and all despite…things. But this is still complicated."
"No, it's not." Asami intervened snappily. "Korra loves Noatak, she trusts him and she's having his baby so that practically makes him one of us now."
"That's all we have to know." Mako added softly with the steely icy politeness melting into resigned trust as he looked at Asami in agreement.
"Right." Bolin approved. "Yeah, that's all we need to know." He nodded and a smile slowly stretched on his face as he recovered his trusting optimism, the simple phrase had given closure the subject with utter finality, leaving no room for further doubt.
~~~~~~.:oOo:.~~~~~~
"I can't believe that actually happened." Korra spoke still in shock.
She was sitting on the outer edge of an impossibly large square stone bathtub, still wearing Asami's sleeping robe, as the thing filled with steamy water. Asami had two bathing rooms in this house and the one Korra was in now was huge and looked almost completely carved in some sort of smooth stone that was streaked in light green and ivory with flecks of terracotta sediment, the whole wide space was much more sparsely decorated than it would have been at Miss Sato's actual home though. Noatak was reclined against the wall in front of her with a seemingly blank look but she could tell he was just as stumped as her.
Korra's friends had allowed them some privacy after the very awkward conversation that had occurred when she woke from the dart induced sleep. As soon as Mako, Bolin and Asami had left the room she had spent several minutes taking in what had happened before she turned to Noatak trying to clear her head and impulsively determined that they both needed to clean up. He had surprised her by suggesting they take a bath…together.
She knew he didn't actually intend it to be intimate as much as private but it still filled her head with all sorts of inappropriate imagery which clashed with the sense of weird unreality that the talk had given her.
"It was a curious situation to say the least." Noatak agreed quietly.
"Are you sure I'm not having some drug induced hallucination? They took everything waaaaay too easily." Korra looked at her hands trying to determine whether or not she was dreaming. "I thought Mako would explode and try to kill you given that he was the one that fought y…Amon with me." Korra quickly corrected herself.
"You are perfectly sober, Korra." Noatak moved to sit next to her on the cool stone ledge. "You certainly have very unique friends."
"They really are awesome, aren't they?" Korra looked at him with a smile that mixed smug certainty with amazement and intense gratitude.
"Their loyalty is impressive, their trust is enthralling, their acceptance is unbelievable and their spirit is fascinating so yes, I would you say awesome is an appropriate description. You all balance each other out surprisingly well." He leaned over to turn off the tap as the tub seemed full enough already but gave Korra a rare supportive smile.
"I know this a stupid thing to say to you but I really wanted their approval… It was killing me to have to lie to them." Korra stared down at her hands again, a little anxious but smiling appreciatively.
"It's not stupid, Korra." Noatak's fingers tipped her chin to make her look at him. "You are lucky enough to have important people in your life; it's only natural to want their support."
Noatak was remarkably impressed by Korra's friends. He had always been a fairly lonely man, not because he was socially inept but because in the past he had considered such attachments as feeble, distracting and even unnecessary, he had never placed much faith in the loyalty of friendship, the only fidelity he strived for was the blind devotion that he attempted to inspire in his followers but even for those it was always fully conditional based on manipulation, admiration and common goals; he had never believed in unconditional friendship, trust and loyalty until he saw the proof of it in Korra's companions. Once again, the woman he loved was proving him wrong and altering his perception of yet another thing; he still considered such blind faith to be a little foolish and perhaps naïve but he wanted to believe that Korra's point of view was better, he wanted to be able to experience what she did without sociopathic skepticism.
"Thank you for putting up with all that." Korra grinned, the memory of how she had been forced to splash him with water to prove a point was still fresh. "Your patience was out of this world."
"It was necessary." Noatak leaned closer to plant a virtuous kiss on her lips and wrap an arm around her waist, aware that the gesture would reassure her as always. "Unlike you, patience has always been one of my virtues."
"Do you remember when we first me?" Korra mused with a chuckle at his kind actions.
She looked humorous and yet she still remembered the terrifying moment she had met Amon for the first time- she remembered with distant nostalgia and ease the fight to free Bolin and the first glimpse at the masked man but the memory of her first face to face encounter with Amon at Avatar Aang Memorial held a completely different emotional charge, it still filled her with some degree of unidentifiable dread, she could still almost feel the many equalist hands holding her down, she could still remember the helpless panic of being unable to move under so many aggressive eyes, she could still remember the terror of his hand reaching for her head and the austere way he had held her face to look into his stern inhuman eyes and his words that made her experience true terror for the first time… Korra didn't want to forget but she desperately wanted to overcome the emotions that the damaging memory conjured in her, she needed to be able to surpass the way that simple terrifying memory had broken her spirit, she wanted to be able to look back at the encounter with nostalgia and a sense of distance but somehow she couldn't and she knew that would remain a wedge in their relationship for many years to come.
"Of course, Korra." His hold on her did not falter but Noatak's voice sounded blank and even a little sorrowful.
He remembered their first face to face meeting too… The memory was almost as damaging to him as it was to her but for completely opposite reasons- he still remembered the taste of the power he had had over the Avatar and he still recalled the pleasure her fear had given him; it didn't shame him that he had been dishonorable and had outnumbered her, mostly because he had only been making sure the play field was level but it shamed him deeply to remember the perverse enjoyment he had taken from traumatizing her and the victorious feeling of glee he had gotten from cracking her spirit so easily but what really pained him was how deep down he still felt power-driven nostalgia towards the memory rather than remorse as he knew he should. He would forever regret having scarred the woman he now loved so deeply and he knew it might be years before the memory stopped haunting her like it had back at his apartment but as much as he tried to hate what he had done he couldn't because not only had it been a brilliant success at the time, it had also served a purpose, it had triggered all the events that led to his fall and rebirth and to his relationship with Korra. He knew the only reason she was able to handle the memory without distress was because all the memories from their time together at cave and the beach, when he was completely at her mercy, easily overlapped and demystified the past by removing all elements of danger, power and mystery but he knew that all that was needed was one little wrong move from his part and Korra would suffer from the trauma all over again and that was the part he feared.
He hated his sadistic past as Amon but at the same time he was proud of it in several warped ways; the mixed feelings weighed far too heavily on his spirit and he knew that if he did not have Korra as his anchor he would easily fall back into darkness without a second thought… And knowing that, as well as understanding why he had been wrong and how he and Tarrlok had been so twisted by the past, was one of the biggest ways he had changed and continued to do so every day.
"You really have changed a lot since we first met, haven't you?" Korra interrupted his thoughts with a smug smile that hid a blend of pride, sorrow and tenderness.
"Noticeably. But so have you." Noatak smiled back with unmasked gratitude and love.
"Clearly." Korra pointed at her slightly bumpy abdomen with both hands, trying to lighten the topic with humor again.
"There's that too." Noatak agreed pleasantly but had been referring purely to her intellectual and emotional side.
To distract herself from the undesirable reminiscence, Korra ended up staring at Noatak while he stripped off his clothes, closely watching his tanned marred skin stretch and his well-defined muscles ripple as he moved and pulled off each ragged garment casually. She was hungry, sticky, groggy, her head still ached a bit and she was still half-stunned but even then she couldn't resist the sight of a very naked Noatak right in front of her, even if he did look a little bruised and messy, and it made her lick her lips and cheer up immediately; there really was no degree of deep melancholic thinking that couldn't be erased from her brain in a flash with just a glimpse of his body. She really didn't care how the rest of the world saw him, heck she didn't care how he saw himself, because to her Noatak was sexy, fascinating and handsome, scars or no scars. Heck, she figured the scars even made her like him better, they were unique and a symbol of their shared past after all, one much more powerful than any memory Amon had ever imprinted on her.
He caught her staring and the way she licked her lips tempted him to tease her further as the mood shifted into something more intimate but instead he crossed his arms and stared back penetratingly.
"Are you going to join or just watch me?" Noatak quoted her own words from a few days back with stunning accuracy.
"Can't a girl enjoy the view?" Korra smirked eyeing him from head to toe shamelessly. "A delicious view, by the way."
"Only to your eyes, I believe." Noatak didn't seem bitter by his appearance, just amused by her valuation. "Am I entitled to a similar pleasure? Or are my humble eyes unworthy of the Avatar?"
"There's nothing humble about you, Noatak." Korra laughed and it echoed pleasantly in the stone bathroom before she stood and allowed the robe to fall and pool around her feet in an inky black puddle, leaving her just as naked as him.
"Touché." Noatak gazed at her appreciatively taking in each curve of her flawless cinnamon skin before he offered her a hand to help her into the tub.
Korra accepted the help and sat on the bottom of the stony bath enjoying how warmth wrapped her body all the way to her upper chest, she felt instantly better with the embrace of tranquil water around every stiff muscle. Noatak soon joined her and sat back against the edge, allowing Korra to settle her back against his chest.
"Rich people really do have nice perks." Korra stated playfully. "I don't think I'd ever seen a tub this big until I met Asami."
"Leave it to you to condense the greatest luxuries of wealth into a simple bath." Noatak tormented her naivety but he too was enjoying the extraordinarily comfortable experience, though in his case it was merely because Korra was in his arms again and they were surrounded by his natural element.
"Hey, I'm Water Tribe and tubs mean water! So yeah, that's important!" She defended very lamely.
"Yes, yes, of course." His agreement was filled with playful mockery. "Because you are such a typical plain Water Tribe girl."
"Stop mocking me!" Korra pouted slightly.
"Stop making it so easy." He leaned forward just enough to kiss softly up her neck as his hands wrapped around her waist.
"'Stop making it so easy'." She mimicked in a mumbled mock voice even as she tilted her head to allow him access to her neck. "You always manage to win me over, don't you?"
"Not always." He placed another kiss on the junction of her neck and jaw. "You somehow manage to surprise me more often than you think."
"Like when?" Korra nearly purred the words out, she was curious but his actions were mind-numbingly good.
"Like the way you worried me this past day. You were not supposed to have been unconscious that long." Noatak's voice was low, almost whispered, but she heard every note of unidentifiable emotion in it.
"Sorry." She replied automatically. "It wasn't really planned."
"Like the majority of the things you do." He commented off-hand, joshing her again despite the hint of disapproval in his voice.
"I was asking for that one, wasn't I?" Korra pouted once more.
"Yes." He once again placed a kiss on her shoulder.
"You are surprisingly affectionate at the moment." It sounded almost like a question.
"No, I am surprisingly relieved to have you awake." He rested his chin over her shoulder.
"And you're being very clingy and open too." Korra eyed him through the corner of her eye. "Who are you and what did you do to my Noatak?"
"Your Noatak?" His voice was still teasing but he avoided her comment.
"Yeah, mine." Korra smirked smugly. "Any objections?"
"Not at all, my young cheeky Avatar." Noatak stroked her hair back with a very wet hand, spilling water all over her face.
"Oi! I'm not cheeky!" Korra waterbended a little splash of water onto his face.
"Yes, you are. Anybody can verify that." He smirked slightly himself, dodging her little attack and wrapping his arms more tightly around her with both of his hands now resting over her abdomen.
"At least I'm not a grouch." Korra poked at his cheek, a little ineptly given their positions, before she leaned back against him again and gave his hands a furtive glance. "Are you sensing again?"
"Not on purpose. It is mostly reflexive now." Noatak replied apologetically.
"It's ok." She relaxed fully in his embrace. "Is everything really alright?" Korra was still somewhat worried about any effects the dart toxin might have had on the baby.
"Everything is perfect." He assured her. "Nothing seems to have happened due to the darts other than a temporarily slowed heartbeat but that is now strong again and the child is even moving, or perhaps the proper word would be flexing."
"Flexing?" Korra chuckled. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"It's moving its limbs." Noatak explained. "Slowly but surely."
"You can tell all that just by sensing blood flow?" Korra raised a brow at him inquiringly.
"Yes, it's not so hard." He shrugged lightly.
"I shouldn't be saying this but that's pretty amazing."
"I'm glad something good can come out of this…talent." The word came out reluctantly and sour.
"So am I." Korra was smiling but knew it was time to divert the topic a little. "Pema said I should have started feeling something these last few days but I feel no difference yet. I guess I worried a little."
"That is perfectly understandable." Noatak traced up her stomach to her ribcage slowly. "And cute as well."
"I thought you didn't use the word 'cute'." Korra mocked this time.
"I don't. It is a huge understatement when applied to you." Noatak smirked again. "But it seemed fitting in this situation."
"You're just teasing me again, aren't you?" She spoke flatly.
"Perhaps." He replied mysteriously. "Your friends were worried too."
"About the baby or me?" Korra chuckled imaging Bolin and Asami's reactions. "Bolin has gotten pretty attached to the baby already and Asami is more of a mother-hen than I ever would have imagined."
"I noticed as much." Noatak nodded softly.
"It's funny to watch and cheers me up with own doubts but I think they sometimes go a little overboard. Especially Bolin, he never misses a chance to get involved in baby talk, I think because he's the youngest among us he just wants to be the big bro for once." Korra actually laughed again, obviously enjoying that she could speak of her friends so freely to him and the topic was obviously enjoyable for her.
"The firebender was also worried…and I suspect there was some degree of remorse involved too." Noatak pointed out since she seemed to have left Mako out of the topic.
"Seriously? I can imagine him worried just not for the baby…" Korra trailed off.
"Why?"
"I guess I never thought he would care about it…He was probably the one who took the news in the worse way." Korra was scowling at the memory. "We actually haven't been on very good terms until…well, now."
"Because of me?" Noatak didn't really feel bad about having 'stolen' the firebender's girl, he wasn't noble enough to feel remorse for that, but it was obvious the matter had distressed Korra and that he didn't like.
"Not really. He took that part fairly well, I thought the big problem was that I cheated on him and got pregnant before things were really over between us but now I think he just felt angry because he thought I was being reckless and it worried him, plus he was pissed off that I didn't trust him with the truth." Korra shrugged, still not really sure what crossed Mako's mind but feeling half a ton lighter now that they were at peace again.
"He is a complex man." Noatak stated from his own observance. "But a very honorable one, I don't think many men would be willing to resume a friendship with the woman that left them."
"Mako and I have a complicated relationship, both romantically and friendship wise, just ask Asami and you'll get the picture." Korra sighed a little in regret for her childish mistakes of the past. "But we love each other like family, just like with Bolin and Asami. It might have started out as something dysfunctional but now I'm just so happy that we can be friends without any unresolved tension or secrets."
"Well, so long as your friendship towards each other makes you happy I will strive to accept it, but I will openly admit that I do not fully understand it."
Noatak was actually trying to label the irking feeling he got towards the firebender, he now respected the man as Mako had earned his respect and acceptance in past days with both his actions and reactions, he also appreciated the man's integrity and fidelity and he understood that Mako loved Asami but he also loved Korra in his own way and there was always that annoying stingy feeling between Noatak and the firebender that went far beyond any grudge the man might hold against Amon.
"Noatak, are you jealous?" Korra's question was loaded with disbelief. "Of Mako?"
"Jealous?" He tested the word in his mind and found that it might be appropriate but only as the tip of the iceberg. "I don't see what man wouldn't hold at least a spark of jealousy for his woman's former lover, do you? Especially one that seems much better fitted to her."
"Well you just answered yourself." Korra smirked but decided to explain further. "People might see Mako and me as more compatible to each other in age and personality but that's probably why we clashed in the first place and it's also why we are such good friends. But you said so yourself- I'm your woman and I like it that way, which is why you don't need to be jealous."
"Is that so?" Noatak was impressed by her line of reasoning; he had never seen much natural charisma in her but when she was allowed to calmly get to her point she often said the right thing.
"And here I thought a genius like you was above petty things like jealousy." Korra laughed boisterously again.
"Are you laughing at me, Avatar?" Noatak spoke as naturally and unaffected as ever but on the inside he did feel calmer and her words had warmed him.
"If I am, what are you going to do about it?" Korra challenged him.
"Perhaps your friends would appreciate knowing a little more about you…Avatar Snowflake." Noatak knew the moniker was a low blow but ever since he had discovered that little innocent weakness he had reveled in using it against her at every other opportunity.
"Don't you dare!" Korra splashed water on his face without the use of bending this time.
"Or what?" He prodded further while blinking the liquid from his eyes.
"Or I'll publically tell everyone that big bad Noatak is ticklish from head to toe." She stuck out her tongue at him and reached behind her to trace his neck, making him flinch to prove her point. "Let's see what that does to your reputation."
"Perhaps we should call a truce and keep your friends out of this little battle?" He kissed her shoulder in surrender.
"That sounds fair." Korra acquiesced and smiled, she just hoped that their threats to each other held a spark of reality and that this easy banter and simple happiness could someday encompass both her world with her friends and family as well as her little world with Noatak in a single one.
