Hey everyone, I'm so sorry for the wait I haven't had much time to write lately. Thankfully, I found time after all, things just aren't easy these days.
In this chapter we pick up where we left off, Mako and Korra chat slightly about Kuvira's 'case'. Kuvira and Korra head back but get an unwelcome visit by the White Lotus. There's a lot at stake, but someone is planning something.
I don't own Legend of Korra.
Enjoy!
Two hours, two hours she had been waiting, pacing, trying extremely hard not to lose it, but for a near hot-headed woman like Korra, it was almost impossible to stay calm. After Kya told her Kuvira's request, Korra almost couldn't believe it, but then again, it was the Earth Queen; the most disliked leader of the four nations, and possibly the cruelest. Korra was sure of it, but she had no proof, Kuvira had only her word, and Lin…to go after the queen would involve all the leaders. Not only would there have to be legal measures taken, but they'd also have to dethrone her, and find a possible heir to take her place.
Korra only knew of one heir, the queen's nephew Prince Wu; he was pompous and a bit arrogant, but he wasn't evil like her. He was also too young to rule, only fifteen, plus if the rumors were correct, the queen kept him hidden and out of sight of his people to keep him under control. No doubt he was as terrified of her as her own subjects.
All that could wait thought, whatever Kuvira had to say would help this investigation. Hopefully, it would be enough to get the other leaders involved, but even that was a stretch. If this had been a few years ago Korra would've marched into Ba Sing Se herself and throttled the queen bitch and would've probably been arrested by the Dai Li. Thank the spirits she wasn't like that now, there was too much at stake and going to war wasn't an option right now.
"Korra?" Korra's head jerked up when she heard someone call her, it was Kya, coming back into the breakroom with a couple of box lunches. "Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you."
"You didn't, what's that for?"
"I called Asami, let her know what was happening…she said it was probably best you take Kuvira home after this. So, I asked a couple of rookies to pick up some food for you both, you can eat it when this is done."
"If it ever ends." Korra mumbled but Kya heard it.
"They should be finished soon; Lin wouldn't keep her too long unless something came up. Also, Asami mentioned that she might come by tonight if you wish."
"That'll be good, Kuvira likes Asami so it'll be a nice visit."
"It's also good she's made a friend in Asami, when you feel more comfortable you can introduce her to everyone else."
"It's more of when 'she' feels comfortable Kya, I haven't even told her about the White Lotus yet." Kya rolled her eyes.
"Those old crones just don't quit, I can understand they mean well but it's not their job to control your life."
"I know, I didn't even want a mate until I met Kuvira, I just…I could tell you know?"
"I do, the same way my dad knew he and my mother knew when they first met. Granted yes it took them both a few years to figure things out, but it worked."
"Yeah, Katara and Aang's love story is almost legendary." The two women shared a laugh.
"Look sweetie, don't worry about those old fools. Once they see Kuvira is your mate they can't do anything, my parents went through it a lot too, especially after Bumi and I were born a non bender and a waterbender."
"With Aang being the only airbender before Tenzin came, I can see why; I mean I have all four elements in my blood, I could end up having an airbender pup but it would be extremely slim with my family genes."
"Don't worry about that, times are different now and there's more airbenders out there."
"I know, but those guys…ugh." Korra put her face in her hand. "If they upset Kuvira, it won't end well."
"Then you do your job as her mate and be there."
"I will, now…I think I'd better go ahead and eat that…my stomach is grumbling." Kya handed her one of the lunches and she dove in, fifteen minutes after she was finished and Mako found them.
"We're done for now Korra, you can take her home." Korra stood up.
"Mako…is it as bad as it looks?" his eyes darkened.
"Worse, but I can't give you all the details yet the chief needs to make some calls. I will say though, if I ever wanted to commit cold bloody murder, it would be on the queen." Korra tensed up a bit, but she felt the same way.
"Thanks, Kya can you…?" the healer nodded.
"I'll drive you; I need to head back to the hospital anyway." The two women left to find the interrogation room Kuvira had been in, they found her still with Chief Beifong.
"Lin…?" the chief's posture was stiff, more so than Korra had seen. Kuvira looked ready to be sick, yeah Korra knew this wouldn't go well.
"You can go home now Kuvira, we'll contact you if we need anything else." The omega nodded, and walked towards Korra.
"Let's go…please." It was almost a tiny whimper, but Korra caught it.
"Kya's going to take us home, Asami had something come up but she'll come by later if she has time."
"Fine, let's just go." Korra grabbed Kuvira's hand gently, and the omega didn't yank it back. They followed Kya to the back and into the car, the ride back to the temple was quiet. Kuvira kept her face down, her eyes downcast as well, Korra didn't pester her with questions. Kya dropped them off, and Korra took Kuvira indoors to the kitchen.
"Look, I know you're probably not hungry after all that, but Kya bought us lunch. I ate mine, I'll put yours away until you feel ready to eat. Until then though, would you like some tea?" Kuvira gave a stiff nod. "Take a seat, I'll make some." Korra got the kettle ready, turning on the stove and getting the leaves ready when she glanced at Kuvira, noticing she was a bit paler than before.
'Spirits…she looks so sick.'
"Stop staring at me." Kuvira's voice made Korra jump slightly.
"I wasn't staring I just…I'm sorry." She turned away. "We don't need to talk about it, I understand if you don't want me to know anything."
"You'll find out regardless."
"Maybe, but I won't ask questions, I told you I won't force you into anything you don't want." She heard the omega sigh. "I'm serious though, you don't need to tell me what you discussed, and I'm sure because it's an ongoing case you can't really discuss it with me."
"Kya told you didn't she?" that threw Korra off slightly.
"Told me…about what you wanted to do to the queen? Yeah." Those thin lips gave a small smirk.
"That bitch should have her head placed on a spike, for all of Ba Sing Se to see." Korra couldn't really disagree, but the tone, yikes.
"It could happen, figuratively I mean. If what you said is true, and the other nations pitch in, she'll be dethroned before too long."
"Only for another to rule in her place, I don't even see the point of a monarchy now. It's so outdated, the earth kingdom is so far behind compared to the other nations it's basically a slow rot. The Fire Nation has the royal family yes, but they at least have other forms of government to rule their lands."
"You're not wrong, Lord Zuko helped reshape his kingdom after he took the throne. It was a slow, difficult process but now, his nation is way stronger."
"Too bad the queen isn't, this nation is falling apart…"
"I know, hopefully if we get her off the throne someone better can take over." Kuvira didn't respond to that, and the kettle started whistling. Korra made two cups and handed one to her mate. "Listen, I think I should warn you that any day now the White Lotus is going to pay us a visit."
"White Lotus, your former bodyguards?" Korra nodded.
"Yeah, they've been bugging the hell out of me to meet you, and Kya suspects they could show soon. I mean they wanted to meet you before, but you were still recovering from the heat so I sent them away."
"Why would they want to meet me?" Korra sighed and sipped her tea.
"They are a bunch of meddlesome old men who think it's their job to rule my life, they made Aang's life difficult after the elder members retired."
"How?"
"They kept pressuring him to 'rebuild' the air nation, and Katara only gave him Tenzin but before and after that they kept trying to talk him into taking a nonbender concubine." Kuvira looked at her aghast. "They won't do that to me, I've already proved to be a challenge for them and besides, Tenzin has his airbender children plus all his students, the nation has been growing more and more since I became the avatar."
"Oh, well…fine if they want to meet me then we might as well get it over with." That did stun Korra a bit.
"Are you sure? I can't promise they won't make you feel a bit uncomfortable…"
"I can handle it, but I can't promise that I'll hold my tongue."
"That's fine, just don't earthbend any of them out the door." Korra chuckled and Kuvira stared at her. "A story for another time, finish your tea and if you want I'll heat up the food Kya bought." Kuvira's stomach grumbled in response. "I think that's a yes, hold on."
"Miss Korra?" Korra turned to see Rae in the doorway. "I'm sorry to bother you, but the White Lotus is here."
"What? Now?" she nodded. "Dammit, Rae can you finish heating up Kuvira's food please? This is not going to be a pleasant meeting."
"No problem miss." Korra gave Kuvira a 'I'm sorry' look, she had expected a visit soon but not this soon. For crying out loud, did they always have to show up at the worst times?
"Avatar Korra." Mr. Hung bowed to her.
"This really isn't a good time…"
"I don't see how, you told us you've found your mate, we have kept our distance because you said she was ill, but we've waited long enough. We must see this woman for ourselves, to determine if she is a suitable mate for you." Korra stepped back as if she'd been slapped.
"What do you mean by that? Suitable? You can't tell an alpha who their mate is, it's not something we just choose, you know that."
"Yes we do, but we need to be sure if there are any…troubles, that may arise later. It's not just us either, your family may see…"
"Let me stop you there. I've only just gotten her to calm down and somewhat adjust to the idea that she's my mate, yes we've bonded, but she's not ready to take too many steps at once."
"You've already mated?"
"Yes, while she was ill her heat came out, and my alpha responded to her. She was angry at first, but her omega has accepted the bond and I've promised her I won't force her into anything." The three members exchanged a look with one another, before turning their attention back to Korra.
"We still need to meet her."
"Well, you'll have to wait a bit longer, she's eating her lunch right now and it's been a difficult morning."
"Yes we know you were at the police station earlier, we don't know why but we also know she was with you."
"You've been spying on me again?"
"Not spying, we had wanted to meet with you but we caught word that you were out of the temple and…"
"You have no right to follow me around, spirits you are almost as bad as stalkers." That made the man glare.
"We are only looking out for you, as Aang asked us to do so!"
"He asked you to help me, and you're not by insinuating that I can't pick a mate!"
"You told us after that…fight, with Zaheer that you would never take a mate, and we thought it was because of the trauma at first but you refused to look for one. We tried to help by letting you meet other omegas, but you wouldn't even meet us halfway."
"None of those omegas were right for me, especially not that bitch Ginger!" the three had the decency to look slightly ashamed.
"We didn't expect her to be so…vulgar in her attempts to woo you, but we already dealt with that. You've found your mate now, therefore you have a duty to…"
"Don't." Korra's blue eyes turned solid white, her brows furrowed in anger and her fangs extended with a snarl. "Don't you dare bring up my 'duty', that is NOT going to happen until we're both ready." Hung bowed his head.
"Korra, we know you're still young, and we know you want to live certain parts of your life, but after that fight, you almost died, you must understand our concern."
"I do, but I'm not Aang, I'm not docile or soft-hearted, no offense to his memory but I am a fighter, I have a forceful nature like the sea, I don't have the patience he did. I admit I could, but it's not in me to 'sit and wait' for things to happen, my mate is no different."
"You're right, you're not Aang, it's a true shame you can't be like he was." The woman spoke up, and Hung's head jerked around to her.
"Don't…" Korra stopped him.
"Let her talk, she's been giving me stern looks ever since I first met you all. Whatever she's got to say, let's get it over with." The woman took a breath.
"Ever since you were a child you've been so reckless, diving headfirst into fights, running off, backtalking your teachers, disrespectful, you were just a spoiled little girl." She paused. "We've been patient with you for so long, and even as you've gotten stronger, more responsible, you're still so disrespectful at his memory…"
"I don't see how." All heads turned to the door, and Korra was surprised to see Kuvira standing there, leaning against the doorframe with her arms folded across her chest, eyes in a hard stare.
"Who are you?" Kuvira walked closer to the group.
"I'm Kuvira, and judging by your uniforms, you must be the White Lotus." She stood by Korra. "I've heard stories about your group, and from what I've been told, you're supposed to be unbiased."
"We are…"
"What you've just said tells me the exact opposite, comparing Korra to her predecessor, when it's clearly known all avatars are different from each other. Otherwise, the cycle wouldn't go from one nation to the next. Korra doesn't need to be like Aang, no one said she should and it's not written in stone anywhere. Who are you to tell her she's disrespecting his memory?"
"Our job is to…"
"Protect the avatar, nothing more."
"You wouldn't understand the duties the avatar has to the world, their lives have to be put second to the people they protect."
"And obviously Korra knows this, yet you seem to be content in forcing her 'duty' down her throat." Korra chose to jump in.
"Just like you tried with Aang, when you tried to force him into taking a concubine to breed more airbenders."
"We did not force him to anything, we only tried to reason with him since it was his dream to rebuild the air nation. Katara only gave him one…"
"And now there's more than ever, it's still a small nation yet it's grown immensely in the last few years. You are not going to pull the same bullshit with me, I've had it with your constant meddling, now either leave my home willingly, or I might have to force you out." The woman glared.
"You refuse our aid, we are doing our duty yet you can't reciprocate."
"I have done my duty countless times over, yes I could've handled some things better, but what do you expect when you lock a young, headstrong, somewhat brash yet over-enthusiastic girl in a compound, hidden from the world for years with no new faces to meet?"
"It was for your protection!"
"I know, but it wasn't how Aang wanted it. I could've traveled around the world in disguise with my parents, or at least with some of your agents, and yet I was kept basically prisoner during my childhood. I should've been making friends across the nations, and I became one of the loneliest avatars. My first real friend was Naga, and even with her things were hard."
"It doesn't matter, you have a lifetime duty to the world, and this omega has her own now too." Kuvira's eyes narrowed.
"Mia!" Hung shouted. "That's enough, we didn't come here to argue with Korra, we came to meet her mate." He turned to Korra. "I'm sorry Korra, this wasn't meant to be a fight." Korra took a breath.
"Well you've met her, now, do you need anything else?"
"We'd like to ask her some questions, it won't take long."
"Ask her." Kuvira hissed.
"You can only ask me three questions, and nothing too personal."
"That's fine, first question, how did you come to meet Korra?"
"I was gifted to her by the bitch queen, next question." The three members' eyes went wide at her answer, but Hung continued.
"I see…Korra said you were ill the first time we were here, but now I'm assuming that had something to do with the queen?"
"I was abused by her Dai Li dogs, they intended to eventually 'use' me, but then the queen decided to hand me off to Korra, and not as an act of kindness."
"The queen doesn't usually give gifts, she's not a generous soul."
"You're right on that, last question."
"Yes, you're obviously from the earth nation, but which part?"
"Zaofu, that's all you need to know." Hung seemed fine with the answer, but Mia wasn't.
"You're a rude girl, Korra would do well to teach you manners and respect your elders." she blurted it out, and that incensed the omega.
"Watch your tongue, leave her be." Korra hissed, and before Mia could retort, the collar of her shawl suddenly wrapped tightly around her neck and yanked her forward. Kuvira's eyes went bright with anger, and the woman was lifted off the floor, grasping at the invisible force holding her. Korra saw Kuvira's right arm extended, her hand lightly clenched…and realized suddenly, her first sight of Kuvira bending.
"I won't be talked to like you're better than me, because as far as I see, you're not. Respect is earned, not given, and I can tell you now, you're worth nothing of my respect." She dropped Mia to the ground. "You're a disgrace to the White Lotus, nothing like the older members in the stories, I can see why Korra is always fighting with you."
"You…" Mia coughed.
"The last person who demanded 'respect' from me, tried to use me as a punching bag, and I'll be more than happy to punch you if you don't fix your own poor manners. Now if you'll excuse me, I'd like to go outside and enjoy a little sunshine." With that said Kuvira turned on her heel and left the room, Korra was entirely stunned by Kuvira's strength she almost didn't hear Hung calling her.
"Korra!"
"Oh, sorry."
"No need, I'm sorry this didn't turn out like we hoped, but your mate…" he looked in the direction Kuvira left. "She is something else."
"Yes, she is."
"We'll be going now, have a good day Korra." With that said the three members left out the door fast, but not without Mia giving Korra a nasty glare. Paying it no mind Korra followed Kuvira's path and found her in the garden, with Naga laying near the flowerbeds.
"Kuvira…"
"If you're going to chastise me about my behavior, save it."
"No, no you're fine. She deserved that, she was out of line, if anything I'm glad you stood up for yourself. Tell me though, did you metalbend her collar?"
"I did, I could've done worse but I've been out of touch with my bending for so long I'm rusty." Korra laughed and sat next to Kuvira.
"If that's rusty, I'd hate to see how you are at full strength." She saw a tiny smirk on Kuvira's lips, it was cute. "I'm sorry though, she had no right to say those things."
"If she says them again I'll do more than drop her on her ass. I've had enough people in my life talk me down for being an omega, she's no different."
"I get it, believe me I do." Taking a quick glance at the sky, Korra then got an idea. "I'm wondering though, if you're interested, maybe you could help me brush up on my metalbending."
"You mean teach you, the avatar wants a lesson in metalbending?"
"I know it's odd, I'm good with the basics but a master, not so much. If anything, once you help me, we can train together."
"Train…together?"
"Of course, you said it yourself there's a lot of alphas out there who'd want to take advantage of omegas, so you'll need to train to defend yourself. I know a good gym, and I can get others to train with us in time."
"I know how to fight."
"I know, but you've been…away for so long you need to build yourself up again. Plus, I kinda want to see how good you'll be in a spar." Green eyes widened slightly, and then a smirk graced those lips again.
"That…actually sounds like fun."
"Good, then how about in two days we'll head to the gym? Asami knows some good coaches, but if you don't want to we can just make it us."
"I don't really care, but I would prefer just Asami, she's a good one at least." Kuvira looked away again, and Korra took the moment to place a small kiss against her cheek. The omega tensed up and she backed off slightly.
"S-Sorry…you just…you looked like you needed that."
"It's…it's fine, just don't sneak attack me again."
"Ok then, now how about we head inside? I think we could both use a nap right now."
"A nap is fine, oh and Korra…?"
"Yeah…?" before she could get wind of what was happening Kuvira's fingers rose and flicked Korra's left eye. "Ow! W-What was that for?"
"I just felt like it." Kuvira turned and went inside with Naga, Korra just huffed after rubbing her eye.
'She's definitely something.'
Ok so this took longer than I thought, but I hope you enjoyed it still.
Next chapter we have a small spar match with Korra and Asami, then Kuvira gets a chance to defend herself against a few alphas. I know in reality the WL wouldn't act as they do here, but they're more than just bodyguards.
Comments/reviews are much appreciated.
Later!
