More and more gifts were raining down upon Air Temple Island every day. When Tarrlok had sent Korra a huge bouquet of flowers she had burned them to cinders with fire. He obviously didn't get the memo Korra wasn't a flower girl. When the satomobile arrived however, I almost keeled over laughing. That was just excessive, though the kids enjoyed playing it pretending to drive. Shaking my head I walked away, glancing across to see Korra talking with Tenzin. He was trying to get her to talk to him however Korra was just closing herself off. She barely even talked to me these days, Amon must seriously be plaguing her mind. I was worried about her.
Later that day an invitation came for everyone to go to Tarrlok's gala which was being thrown in Korra's honour. I declined to go, opting to stay with Pema instead. "But Kanna it'll be fun! We get to dress up and dance and eat lots and lots of food!" Ikki was tugging on my sleeve as I helped Jinora get ready, doing her hair as Pema made Meelo take a bath.
"I know Ikki but I just don't feel up to it. Besides, I don't even have anything nice to wear and I doubt this would exactly be considered appropriate." Gesturing to my exposed midriff I gave a grin. "But I'll tell you what. Whilst you guys are there, you can play a little game for me. You try and sneak all the food you can into these handkerchiefs and pockets then we can have a feast when you get back, okay?" I suggested and Ikki was immediately up for the challenge, snatching all the handkerchiefs I had been able to gather as she danced around. "There you are Jinora, all ready. Ikki! You're next." The two girls looked lovely when they left and Meelo also looked very smart. I even helped Korra with her hair, tucking it up under a bun cap and making sure her dress didn't have any tears.
"You sure you don't want to come?" Korra said as we both stood on the pier, Pema waving off the family as I stood with my best friend.
"And give Tarrlok the chance to get revenge? No way. Just be careful around him, all he wants is for you to join his taskforce, so no matter what happens, don't give him what he wants." Smiling to her I hugged her tightly, tucking her into my shoulder to comfort her. "If it gets too much just come home and I'll be here. You got this."
"Yeah, you're right. I totally got this." Korra agreed with a nod of her head, grinning at me as we touched foreheads before I waved her off with Pema, yelling for the children to behave themselves until they were too far out of reach to be heard.
"Ah, sweet peace and quiet. I think I'll take a nice hot bath, maybe I'll even manage to finish my book." I smiled at Pema as she dreamed about all the things she could do now that she had the place to herself. With her hand gripping my arm for support I helped her climb up the steps before she assured me that she was alright and wandered off to have some time to herself. I hung out with Naga, sitting on the edge of some rocks and gazing at the stars. Since the night was much deeper here, you always saw thousands more than what you get in the tribe. Jinora had taught me a few of them, though I wasn't very good at remembering them all.
Leaning back against Naga I waited until they all came home, however as I ran down to the pier only the children looked happy to see me. "Kanna!"
"Hey guys!" Beaming I caught Ikki and Jinora as Meelo flew up to my head and sat on my shoulders, pulling on my hair though I didn't mind. As I hugged the girls, I looked up to see a dejected Korra and a rather irate Tenzin. "What happened? Is everything okay? Korra?" She walked straight past me as if she hadn't even heard me, making me blink and look to my uncle for an explanation as the children withered a little. "Uncle?"
"Tarrlok ambushed Korra with the press and pressured her into joining his taskforce. In the end he got exactly what he wanted." I wanted to scream and rage and thrash out but I held it all in, not wanting to scare the children so I took a deep breath and exhaled all the anger, letting it fly away from me like those breathing exercises that Tenzin taught Korra. "I should have known he would have been up to something. Well, nothing to be done now. Come on children, it's time you were in bed."
"Can Kanna read us a bed time story?" Ikki asked however Tenzin shook his head.
"Not tonight, Ikki, I think we all just need to go to sleep." When his back was turned I winked at Ikki who giggled, taking my hand as I held Jinora's in my other, leading them both back up to bed. I offered to settle the kids so that Tenzin could go straight to bed as I wasn't feeling tired at all and neither were they, so we used the blankets to make a fort in the room and we sat with the lamp in the middle of us as I whispered a story for them, sending Meelo to sleep first then Jinora and Ikki last who had placed all the food parcels she had managed to bring home in my lap. I munched through the food assortments, surprised by how good they were before I collapsed the fort and put the children into bed one by one.
It was so quiet out it was almost unnerving. That jerk, he was manipulative as well as arrogant, I should have gone with Korra, I did exactly what he expected me to do and that was how he got to her. Well it's not happening again. I may want nothing to do with his taskforce but I'll make sure that he doesn't get his slimy…greasy…no good hands on her again!