Well Matched… Chapter 4
Korra was looking out of the car, staying silent. Since they exchanged a formal greeting earlier, they hadn't spoken again. Tarrlok drove them to the outskirts of the City. Korra was looking around bored, as nothing seemed to get her thoughts off of what was about to happened. She was nervous, very nervous. She was terrified of failure and of giving in to her weaknesses. Tenzin was unaware of her going to learn blood bending. She had told him that she'd be training with Mako and Bolin even though she hadn't seen them for days. Mako was probably with Asami again. Korra huffed loudly, gaining Tarrlok's attention for a moment.
"What's on your mind? Having second thoughts after you bended a drop of your own blood?" He didn't dare take his eyes off the road even though there weren't any other satomobiles in site.
"I'm not having second thoughts..." she growled. "I said I will learn how to blood bend, and I will." she added decisively, even though she wasn't exactly a hundred percent sure about this anymore.
Pleased with her response he replied, "Good, because we're almost there and it won't be long till we start feeling the effects of the full moon."
"Don't feel all bad if I get to beat your butt." she smirked, teasingly, knowing she wasn't good enough to blood bend a whole human's body.
Tarrlok smirked knowingly. She may have the talent, but it would take a few months minimum for her to have complete control of her natural abilities.
Korra glanced out of the window again. "Are we there yet?" she asked impatiently. Really, she felt like she could use some help, but she'd master the skill sooner or later.
"Do you ever stop whining?" He smiled and raised an eyebrow. The sky had pink hue as the sun was setting. While the cabin was only about five minutes away, Tarrlok found himself anticipating her training.
"Nope. Never." she teased, grinning back. He rarely smiled, but when he did, Korra felt sort of relaxed. Even the thought of blood bending didn't seem so terrifying. When the satomobile stopped, Korra hopped off, straightening out her clothing. "Finally..." she stretched. "So, are you ready to get butt kicked?" she smirked and slammed her fist into her other hand.
Seeing the sun blink away at the last second of its setting, Tarrlok turned to Korra. "It's time you learn how to blood bend." Walking away from the cabin directly towards a dense nearby forest, Tarrlok was ready to introduce her to his technique.
Korra followed unwillingly. "Are you sure we should be in the forest?" she asked nervously.
He smirked at her hesitance. Of course we should be here. There are many animals around to practice on. Just be quiet and watch. As he walked through forest very slowly, Tarrlok spotted a squirrel. Raising his arms, he blood bended the squirrel into walking towards Korra, who was only a few paces to Tarrlok's right. He was gentle and the squirrel didn't even try to squeal.
Korra swallowed as she leaned down to pet the animal, which was like Tarrlok's puppet now. "Well... It looks easier than it is..." she sighed.
"If you've ever bended water that you couldn't see before, it's the same basic idea." Tarrlok released the squirrel and it tested its muscles and fluffed it's tail before it gallivanted away. "A full moon makes it possible for you to bend an animal with the same idea. You find an animal to try on." He demanded.
"I've bended water I can't see..." she replied, her gaze following the squirrel. "Do you count?" she smirked. "Nothing would make me happier than forcing you to do something." she teased, poking his side.
"I'll count after you learn on small animals first. At this point, I would over power anything you tried on me. Just find an animal." He commanded.
She narrowed her eyes at his commanding tone and she slapped his arm annoyed, looking around. "There's a bird!" she noted a small bird on a nearby branch. Raising her arms, Korra concentrated on the liquid inside the animal, which moved the bird into place as she bended the blood inside it. She grinned, satisfied, opening her arms like wings, the bird did the same. "How am I doing?" she asked.
Tarrlok put on a somewhat satisfied half grin and admonished her, "Now be careful, when you control a bird you can't let it fall out of balance or it will fall to the ground because you won't know how to make it fly."
Korra twisted her arms and the bird limped blindly along the branch, without falling. It shrieked in pain and fear, but Korra tried to ignore it. She raised her arms, and moved her fingers, the bird started to move its wings, floating just a bit over the branch. "Look! It's flying!" she grinned.
"Be careful!" Tarrlok was fearful for the bird as it started to plummet towards earth, Korra tried to flap the wings, but she was uneven and the bird smashed into the ground, a few feathers snapped off of the bird.
"Ouch..." she walked towards the bird and picked it up. "Sorry fella..." she mumbled, placing it back, onto the branch noticing a bird's nest nearby. She turned to Tarrlok and sighed. "I failed... Again..."
"Don't be too hard on yourself, that was quite skillful for your first time." Looking deeper in the depths of the forest, Tarrlok lifted his arm and sensed a large creature. Pulling it towards him, a white tailed deer appeared through a bush. Proficiently, he controlled each leg as he commanded its movements into a trot around the two of them. "In time it'll be second nature to you." Letting go of his grip, Tarrlok watched the deer run off in terror. "Korra, bend it back here."
Korra blinked and bit her lip nervously. Taking a deep breath, she raised her arms, forcing the animal to freeze. Sweat was rolling down her brow as she concentrated, bending its legs to move. The animal slowly limped towards them and stopped in front of the Councilman. "How was that, Master?" she asked, in a rather teasing tone.
With an uncharacteristically wide smile, Tarrlok raised his hands. Breaking Korra's control with his own blood bending, he raised the animal into the air as if it were floating. "This is your next lesson: to bend an animal into the air." Tarrlok explained how it's possible to bend the blood in a specific direction as opposed to bending the blood in the muscles.
Korra smirked and snuck up behind him, tickling his sides, so that he lost control, and before he had a chance to regain it, Korra was already bending the animal again that had only fallen a foot. Copying Tarrlok's technique, the Avatar raised her arms, making the animal to float over the ground. Just a little bit.
"You've been learning blood bending exceptionally well! If you want a real thrill you'll try blood bending me." He smirked, testing her will.
Korra's eyes shined in an evil, amused way. "You're going to regret proposing this." she teased, leaving the animal on the ground and turning to him. Taking a deep breath, Korra raised her arms to bend the blood in Tarrlok's veins. Humans were harder to access.
Tarrlok relaxed as she controlled his movements in a slip shod fashion. While Tarrlok was a stronger water bender, he shut his eyes and let down all his barriers. For a minute or two he let her try to make him walk, run, and other various movements. Finally, he was ready to reject her control. With only a second of focus, Tarrlok opened his eyes and broke her control, but he also blood bended her in the process. He took great pleasure in her obvious discomfort. "Try to regain control." Although the councilmen knew he had a stronger grip, she might as well try.
Korra was taken aback, when Tarrlok took control just so easily. She growled lightly as she struggled against him, trying to force her own movement upon her body, so that she would regain control. After all, she was the Avatar, and one of the Avatar's abilities was that she was naturally more powerful than most benders. With a lot of effort, she managed to raise an arm and slightly break his control over her, but it was still harder than she had expected. Tarrlok began to wrestle to hold his control; he hadn't given her enough credit. She'd strengthened her abilities. They fought against each other, and five minutes later they were still pushing against each other's control. While the game of endurance couldn't last much longer, Tarrlok wouldn't let her over-power him. Tarrlok gave off more energy to try to regain full control, both the councilmen and the avatar battled to stay standing.
Korra grunted as the man regained control, but she wouldn't give up. She struggled against him for a while longer and finally managed to gain the upper hand. She forced him kneel to the ground, but at the same time, she kneeled to, as he was still holding a part of her in his grip. This game of endurance was severely draining their energy. Once again Tarrlok tried to gain more control, but he was impressed with how well Korra was staving off his powers. It had been a full ten minutes now, and they were sweating profusely even though they were enveloped in the cool night breeze.
Korra growled, determined to take him under her control again. She struggled against his grip, managing to break off his control over her, but she could still feel him not giving in. He wouldn't give up against her. Finally reaching the end of his rope from the exhaustion, Tarrlok relented and let her have full control.
Korra smirked, although she was exhausted, she forced him to stand up, then she bended him to limp over. She walked closer, holding up her grip, her eyes shining. "Someone got his butt kicked." she teased, before letting go and she almost collapsed on him by the effort.
Tarrlok managed to almost catch her, but he wasn't in any condition for any more bending. "I-I think we're done here..." Korra nodded, clawing his clothing weakly, in an attempt to keep herself standing. They stumbled back towards the cabin where he unlocked the door and they both collapsed on a couch in the entree way.
"Well, that was tiring..." she mumbled, lighting the ready fireplace with her bending. She looked up at him. "How did I do, Master?" Korra found that Tarrlok had already fallen asleep on the plush couch. She giggled softly and forced herself up. She searched the house and found a nice thick blanket, which she placed over him before hiding herself under it next to him and letting herself sleep as well.
At about 9am, Tarrlok opened his eyes and noticed that Korra was cuddled up next to him. He decided it wouldn't be a good idea to leave during her slumber. Korra shifted to make herself more comfortable, by resting her head on his chest, thinking it was a pillow. She giggled in her sleep, before being quiet again. Tarrlok shifted so he could hold her in his arms. If only the city could be just as calm and warm as this.
Korra yawned an hour later, slowly opening her eyes to look around. She realized, something warm was wrapped around her and it wasn't the blanket. Feeling her cheeks flash red, she cleared her throat. Tarrlok wasn't able to make eye contact, but he could tell that she'd awoken. "Well that was a nice night." He smiled.
Korra stretched. "Pretty comfy actually." she grinned, laying there and starring at the fire for a while. She turned around to face him. "So, how did I do last night, Master?" she raised an eyebrow.
For a second his skin went cold, Tarrlok remembered the battle. "Your skill is unlike anything I've ever trained. You have so much raw power at your command, I was surprised you could hold yourself so well against me."
"Well..." Korra paused, pulling the blanket around them. "I'm the Avatar." she shrugged. "I am supposed to posses more power than most benders, but it seemed like you were too tough to bring down, even for an Avatar." she grinned lightly, brushing a strand of loose hair from his face.
"True, you are the avatar, but I've been a master in this art for far longer than you. The idea that you picked it up so quickly is incredible. Katara has told me of how quickly Avatar Aang learned water bending, but I didn't really realize how quickly the Avatar can grasp the bending disciplines." He revered the Avatar's abilities with awe.
"Apart from air bending, this was probably the hardest thing I've done so far..." she yawned, shifting to make herself more comfortable.
"Not so, you took months to air bend and an hour to learn about half of my ability with blood bending and could go toe-to-toe with me in power."
She smirked. "I told you, you'd get a nice butt kicking." she teased, poking his nose.