Cadence Chapter Twelve: Allied forces.

Korra took a deep breath, grateful to taste fresh air on her tongue. It was such a relief to be out of the tunnels.

After a quick breakfast and a last minute check of their supplies, the group had left the Equalist hideout. Most of them had acquired new clothes, and all five were currently wearing black cloaks that Korra assumed were meant to be some sort of unofficial uniform. Apparently, this was where the hunting-Zolt-down phase of Mako's plan came into action.

"So...where are we headed?" Korra asked.

"To the Triple Threat Triads," Mako said.

She rolled her eyes. "Gee, could you be a little more cryptic with that?"

He ignored her, and she frowned. He went from stroking her neck and staring at her while she slept, when she'd awoken with his amber eyes on her she was fairly certain that was what he had been doing, to outright ignoring her?

She decided not to think about it for the moment and to just enjoy the feeling of being above ground again.

She noted with amusement that a few birds were hovering above Zaheer. The man extended one large arm towards them, smiling gently as one settled on his wrist.

Korra blinked. She'd never seen anyone do that with a wild bird before. Was this another of Zaheer's strange abilities?

Zaheer seemed to notice the direction of her gaze. "Do you want to hold one?"

"Can I?" she asked timidly. "I mean, if I'm going to scare it or something..."

"It's fine," he said, extending the hand the bird perched on towards her arm, tilting it slightly to urge the bird to move to Korra's wrist.

A small flutter of wings, and Korra felt tiny claws prick her skin. The bird observed her from its perch with small dark eyes.

"Wow..." she breathed. "How do you do this?"

Zaheer shrugged. "That's like me asking how you managed to tame a wild polar bear dog; it's nothing something I'm able to explain."

"Better hope it doesn't shit on your hand, Princess," Ghazan quipped.

Korra let out a hesitant laugh.

"We're going," Mako barked, feeling needled somehow by her casual interaction with Ghazan and Zaheer.

Korra rolled her eyes but started after him obediently, deliberately jostling her wrist so the bird took flight and winged back to Zaheer.

It was only when they were practically on top of the small town that Korra learned Mako was going to check out a small settlement that had recently been having difficulties with a group that sounded very much like the Triple Threat Triad and that they were also going to meet with the lord of the town. Korra still didn't know how Mako had gained entrance, but figured the Equalist name was a powerful one even outside of the elite circles.

Korra's immediate impression of the town's lord had simply been 'creep'. She knew a lot of lords were fair, decent people who tried to consider the needs and wants of their citizens, but some of them were obnoxious trolls who were too absorbed in their money, buying themselves anything and everything they wanted.

Unfortunately, it seemed this particular lord was one of the latter. Korra swore she could actually feel her skin crawl when the man's speculative eye had drifted up and down her toned body. Fortunately, he had seemed to find Ming Hua more appealing than herself, and had been quite content to ogle her for the rest of the conversation, while Mako masqueraded them as a mercenary group who had heard he was having a problem and could deal with it, for a fee, of course.

So when they finally retired to the small hut he'd provided for them, Korra was nothing but relieved. Sure, they hadn't actually settled anything, there would be more haggling in the morning over the exact nature of the problem and how it would be solved and a dozen other things she didn't really care about at the moment, but she could rest for now.

And try not to think about the fact that this might very well lead Mako straight to Zolt.

"I think he liked you, Princess," Ghazan commented. "He was eyeing you up something fierce."

"He liked Ming Hua more," she said absent mindendly.

The older woman smirked, as though the lord's regard for her had been indicative of some sort of personal victory. "He just knows beauty when he sees it!" she declared.

"Well, there's no accounting for taste," Ghazan muttered.

"Nobody asked for your opinion Ghazan!" Ming Hua snarled, smashing her watery fist into the side of his head.

Korra flinched when Ming Hua's hand dissolved into a wash of water for one brief moment before reforming. Korra had yet to get past the sheer creepiness of seeing parts of her body dissolve.

"They never do anything but fight..." Zaheer reflected.

"Just leave them to it," Korra sighed, having past experience with bickering friends told her that the best course of action was to just let it run its course. As long as they didn't start tearing down the hut, she really didn't have the energy or the inclination to intervene.

Mako seemed to be much of the same mind; he was already commandeering one corner of their lodging for himself, ignoring Ghazan and Ming Hua.

She tuned into the argument just long enough to hear Ghazan's sneer about Ming Hua 'snuggling up to the lord', when Mako cut in.

"If he is attracted to Ming Hua, it is simply another avenue we can work on him from."

Korra was rather startled by his line of thought. At times, Mako seemed so devoid of sexual desire that it was surprising that he should recognise it in another person.

Ghazan snickered. "Why do I get the feeling you'd be singing a very different tune if the guy had been ogling Princess?"

Mako pretended not to hear him though in truth Ghazan's words held an uncomfortable weight to them. If the lord's attention had gravitated more towards Korra, Mako knew he wouldn't have considered it as possible leverage, however slight. Partly because he knew what Korra would say to him if he told her to flirt with the lord, and it wouldn't be flattering, but mostly because the mental picture of another man drooling over Korra caused a strange possessiveness to take root in his gut.

"You have a scar," Zaheer said quietly, breaking Mako from his thoughts.

The fire bender turned his head; Korra had frozen in the act of stretching her arms high over her head, which in turn had hiked her shirt up above her navel, revealing the smooth mocha skin of her abdomen as well as a collection of scars that decorated her flesh. Most of them were faint and thin, the normal relics of her Avatar duties but there was one, a wide, vertical line, that was still the dull pink of a wound inflicted in the last few months, the callous tissue it was forming was an indication that it had been a very deep injury.

It was strange to think of Korra as having battle wounds and yet, that was what that scar clearly was. A battle scar.

It took Mako several moments to realise that Zaheer was on the opposite side of Korra, and was therefore looking at another scar. He shifted just enough to glimpse at another line of pink skin in almost the exact same spot as the scar on her back.

As though someone had run her through.

"Were you stabbed?" Ghazan asked, apparently having spotted the same scars.

"Not fast enough to get out of the way?" Ming Hua scoffed.

"You're actually right for once, Ming Hua. It was a training accident; General Iroh was teaching me how to redirect lightning and I was too slow in reacting to his bending," Korra said, rather vaguely as she tugged her shirt down again.

"And you were impaled," Zaheer commented.

"Yes, essentially." Korra nodded.

"But, hey, I thought you were a healer," Ghazan commented. "I mean, I'm sure you could patch yourself up, and I thought most healing techniques didn't leave scars."

Korra shook her head slightly. "Unless you have a bolt of lightning ranging in the hundreds of thousands of amps coursing through you. Not exactly something that's easily healed."

Ming Hua was silent, for once, apparently unable to come up with a scathing comment. Mako wasn't saying anything either, but when Korra risked a glance in his direction to see how he took the news. There was something smouldering in his amber eyes. She couldn't identify it, but it made her feel uncomfortable, whatever it was, causing her to drop her gaze.

Mako opened his eyes, wondering what had awakened him. Then he heard a muffled giggle, and slowly turned over on his futon to find Korra and Zaheer at the window, their profiles edged in silvery moonlight, with an owl perched on the windowsill between them.

"-and you really understand them?" Korra was whispering. "For real? Like they were talking to you?"

"Not exactly," Zaheer corrected. "It's not like talking, at least, not what you andI would consider talking. Their minds grasp very basic, fundamental concepts only they don't understand sentences, but they understand the subject of the sentence. Does that make sense?"

"In a way. So, you're sort of talking to them, but it's more like some sort of telepathy or something like that."

"Something like that."

"That's pretty cool."

Her soft laugh followed her rather schoolyard statement, so quiet it was more like rapid, huffing breaths than an actual chuckle.

"So, why are you up?" Korra asked, turning to Zaheer, enough so so that Mako could see the honest concern in her eyes.

"I don't sleep well," Zaheer admitted. "I have nightmares. And the urges make me restless."

Korra nodded, apparently unconcerned at the fact that the huge man beside her had just admitted to being sleepless as a result of murderous impulses.

"There's something I wanted to ask you…" she began slowly as Zaheer stroked a finger down the owl's chest. "I didn't ask you before, because it seems kind of personal to ask this, away from a medical setting and everything..."

Zaheer gave her a puzzled glance.

"Would you let me examine you? I mean, with the collar on, I might not be able to do much to help you, but I might be able to find out something that could help you with your urges..."

"...You really think you could?" Zaheer's voice was small, the tone of someone who was far too used to dead hopes.

"I'll certainly try," Korra said, not wanting to make promises she might not be able to keep.

Zaheer nodded, still looking hesitant and disbelieving. Korra reached out and gently touched his temple, and the soft light of pure energy began to gather around her hands.

"Is it safe to do this with the collar on?" the older man asked, looking concerned.

"I'll just be examining you – I won't have to use much energy."

"But-"

"Shhh; let me concentrate."

Zaheer subsided, and Korra's eyes took on a strangely glazed expression, as though she were looking through the man's skin to the blood and bone beneath.

The moment dragged on, and just as Mako was beginning to feel his eyelids droop again, Korra drew her hands away.

"It seems they're trigged by an excess of adrenaline," she murmured to Zaheer, though more to herself. "But there are other compounds present almost like some sort of super-charged growth hormone, but it's more than that..."

She shook her head. "I'll try again another time, I had trouble grasping it now, it seems to be ebbing..."

Zaheer nodded. "The urges are starting to die. They come and go but they are never quiet for long. And eventually..."

"You just snap," Korra finished, rather sadly.

There was a pause, and Zaheer seemed to hesitate before speaking again. "You said I reminded you of a friend..."

"Huh? Oh, yeah..."

"May I ask who? Is there someone else like me?"

Korra's heart squeezed. "No, not quite like you. It's more complicated than that..." She hesitated, her urge to connect with Zaheer wrestling with her Avatar instinct to protect her knowledge of the Avatar universe when away from Republic City.

"There have been report that there's someone like me out there. That we have something inside us, like your urges, but it's actually a separate entity. And while this entity can give us enough power to stomp pretty much any opponent into the ground, the more power it takes, the more we lose ourselves."

Mako knew she was talking about Raava.

"Is that why you left?" Zaheer asked, not sounding accusing, only curious.

"I did not leave Republic City!" Korra hissed. "I'd be there right now if Mako would let me go!"

Another pause; this one much heavier. Korra was frowning, and Mako tried to ignore the twinge of guilt at the sight.

"You really are being held against your will?" Zaheer asked, and there was a hint of anger in his voice. "I mean, you were arguing with Mako yesterday, but I thought perhaps he was saying he would not take you somewhere..."

"No, I've been abducted. So if I try to escape, do me a favour and don't try to stop me."

"Mako truly is holding you against your will…" This time there was more than a hint of anger in Zaheer's voice.

Korra smiled. Zaheer's obvious anger on her behalf was rather touching, but she didn't want him antagonising Mako over it. She had the feeling that this was the first time Zaheer had experienced any sort of human contact in a very long time, and she didn't want to jeopardise that.

"Yeah, but don't argue with him about it. He seems to think he has justifiable reasons, though I must admit I'd love to hear what they are."

Zaheer looked slightly mollified, but he was still frowning.

Korra found herself feeling very touched. It struck her that Zaheer was the first person to really object to her captivity on her behalf; Ming Hua's protests had nothing to do with Korra's wellbeing, and while Ghazan was aware she was being held against her will, he didn't try to rectify the situation.

Zaheer was the first person who seemed as angry as she was over her captivity, and as if on impulse, Korra leaned forward and hugged him, resting her head against his chest.

"But thanks for caring," she whispered.

Mako had the distinct feeling that he was intruding on a private moment, but something in him didn't want to look away.

Their embrace looked strange, mainly because of the contrasts between them. Korra would have needed an extra ten centimeters in height to make it to Zaheer's collarbone, and when the large man awkwardly wrapped his arms around Korra, slowly, as though afraid he might hurt her somehow, almost her entire torso was hidden by his limbs.

Korra held the hug for a moment, feeling the gentle hesitancy in Zaheer's hold, as though he wasn't quite sure how to return the embrace. Then she pulled away, smothering a rising yawn with her hand.

"Well, as much as I like chatting with you and your friend," she gestured to the owl on the windowsill, "I think I need to get to sleep again."

"Why did you wake up?" There was nothing but gentle curiosity in Zaheer's voice, and Korra smiled softly.

"I don't really know," she shrugged. "I just did. I have nights like that sometimes."

Mako closed his eyes as Korra turned around, hearing her bedclothes rustle as she slipped between them once more.

"Goodnight, Zaheer..." it was little more than a sleepy mumble.

"Goodnight, Korra."

When Mako risked opening his eyes once more, Korra was dead to the world and Zaheer was staring out at the night sky, a grave expression painted across his face.

Mako woke again when dawn was just beginning to colour the sky. It was with some surprise that he noticed that Korra was already awake, sitting casually on the windowsill, one leg dangling into the room, swinging slowly as though she were dabbling it in some invisible pool.

It was her face that was the most arresting. There was a strange expression of peace and reflection painted across it, like the face of some goddess contemplating the human race.

"I'm not escaping, Mako, so don't bother getting up," she said softly, without turning around.

Mako didn't reply. He rose silently and made his way to the window, trying to determine what Korra found so fascinating. But she was just looking at the sunrise, a sad smile pulling on her lips.

And for the first time, Mako realised how much she'd changed. He'd known, intellectually, that she'd changed, but while he'd known, he'd always suppressed and smothered any true acknowledgment, any true realisation of the fact that the woman who stared into the dawn was not the same girl he'd left behind all those years ago.

This was a woman who lived in the thick of battle, instead of standing on the sidelines. This was a woman who saw obstacles as things to conquer instead of things to cry about. This was a woman who extended her hand and her heart to outcasts, instead of ridiculing them along with everyone else. This was a woman who gave insult for insult, a woman who openly questioned him rather than accepting his words without a second thought.

This was a woman who repaid his indifference with indifference of her own, instead of love.

"What's the point of all this, Mako?" she asked quietly, her voice a sad whisper. "Why bring me along? I can barely perform a passable healing with this damn collar on, I can't use my Avatar strength and you certainly aren't having sex with me. So why? You've never wanted anything to do with me before so why the sudden change of heart?"

There was accusation in her voice, barely covering the bitterness beneath it.

Mako shifted his jaw, struck with the sudden urge to deny her thinly-veiled barb. He hadn't wanted 'nothing to do with her' when they had first met, courtesy of his brother. Yes, she had been annoying at first, he found all girls irritating, but eventually he'd come to care for her.

She was his friend.

Had been his friend.

"I had to bring you along," he settled upon saying.

Korra's turquoise eyes were sad, and for a moment, just a split second, Mako wanted to stroke her hair, to touch her cheek, to do something to cheer her up. But he didn't know how to begin and so he did nothing.

And for the first time, this inability to offer comfort to another human being made him feel strangely inadequate. As though he'd failed some crucial test.

"But why?" she asked again. Her voice was small and pained, Mako would have preferred her to be furious.

And the truth was out of his mouth before he could stop it. "You're vulnerable with the collar on. I can't remove it, and I can't let you wander around without protection."

Korra gaped at him; she couldn't help it. That had been the last reason she would have thought of.

It was also a reason that sounded dangerously like he cared.

'Maybe he does...' came the involuntary thought. 'You have to admit, he's been acting rather...protective...lately.'

A small seed of hope flowered within her. Perhaps Mako's connection to Republic City wasn't as broken as he liked to think. If nothing else, he'd shown that he felt responsible for her, even if the suggestion that she was incapable of taking care of herself made her want to throttle him.

While Korra wasn't quite ready to forgive him for dragging her off with him, she felt some of her icy anger melt, thawed by the hint of hope that maybe her and Bolin's efforts hadn't been in vain.

Mako turned away suddenly, though Korra wasn't too surprised; she had a feeing those brief sentences had filled Mako's emotional revelations quota for the entire week. Maybe month.

Ghazan's theatrical groaning as he rose would have shattered their peace anyway. Zaheer blinked awake, having dozed off in the corner at some point in the night, and Ming Hua muttered angrily about pre-dawn risings.

"When's breakfast?" were the first words out of Ghazan's mouth.

"Later," Mako snapped. "Ming Hua and I are going to speak to the lord again."

Korra shook her head in exasperation. Of course he was eager to go; he had a possible lead on Zolt, and that to Mako was like dangling sausages in front of a bloodhound.

'And now it's raining,' Korra thought venomously, tugging the hood of the cloak she was wearing over her head.

The skies had opened up a few hours after they'd left the village behind. Apparently the lord had pointed Mako and Ming Hua towards an area where the Triple Threat Triad had often been sighted. Korra couldn't guess why; it seemed rather desolate to her.

But then again, that was just her. Maybe they had some secret base somewhere around here, underground, as seemed to be the trend with hideouts lately.

Korra glanced up at the dark clouds overhead, and a small, homesick part of her couldn't help but wonder if it was raining in Republic City.

"This is pretty lousy weather," Ikki commented, glancing at upwards at the grey clouds that were currently pouring rain onto their party.

A party that consisted of Bolin, Asami, Jinora, Ikki and Lin, all dressed in heavy, waterproof cloaks and ready to set out. One of Tenzin's many sources had mentioned that Mako and Korra had been sighted in a village on the outskirts of the Fire Nation, and this was the team Lin had dispatched to liberate her the Avatar.

Bolin's eyes were fierce and hard, staring into the rain as though he had some personal vendetta against it. "Who cares about a little bit of rain? Let's go!"

Lin couldn't help noticing that although Bolin had not been elected leader of the team, everyone automatically moved off, responding to the determination and inherent authority in his voice. He didn't bother pointing out that he had been placed in charge, choosing instead to step out as well without complaint.

He had enough to think about.

It was disconcerting to think that this mission, if successful, would involve freeing Korra from Mako's clutches. Lin had done her best not to dwell on the guilt that festered in her gut when she thought of the boy she had come to love, the boy she had such high hopes for, betraying Republic City, willingly going to Amon and learning those dark, twisted techniques.

But now she couldn't stop thinking about it. Because Mako had, to everyone's knowledge, abducted Korra. From what Bolin and Korra had told her, Mako had been perfectly willing to cut Korra down the last time they'd met. So if Korra was still alive, Mako had to have some reason for keeping her alive.

And Lin didn't want to think too hard about what those reasons might be. She wanted to think that Mako couldn't be abusing Korra, but common sense told her otherwise. Who knew how the fire bender had changed over two years spent with Amon? Who knew the person he had become?

Even while she fretted over the state of the young Avatar, some part of Lin couldn't help mourning the eighteen year old she had known. Because if Mako really had raped Korra, then Lin knew that meant the boy that Mako had been; cold and disdainful, yet beneath it all, protective of the people he cared for, no longer existed.

Yay for a new chapter! I do apologise for the delayed rate of updates; university work is crippling me. Again, I'm writing the story how I see fit. Zaheer is written in a way that he begins to take on a role similar to Tenzin, he's a calming presence for Korra in her time of captivity and her for him. Mmmm... What else is there to say? We're looking at about another fifteen of so chapters until the story is finished... Review as always!