You know I am something of a lieing git when all comes down to it, I promise you action one chapter, no action. I promise you a short chapter next time, oh look its the longest chapter to date and its only one scene! I love this chapter and I loved writing it and unlike other once I have write (Cough *All of the* Cough) I went through this one and and tried to elimiate as many spell errors as I can, the gramma i left alone as I don't really care about it and find it over rated.

I know people I have said before that i have problems in my stories with spelling and lack of description. I am unfortunettly a heavily dyslexic and autistic lunitic or so I am discribed. I will there for with great pettyness and no joy save for your irritation go back through this story and try to rectify this issue. I warn you this could take some time but i do have the next few chapter of this story planned out and an ending planned since the beginning.

I will complete this story as Nam is my witness!

Disclaimer: The only character's I own in this story are Nam, Chen and the Airbenders there hidding. I don't even own there airbending so don't sue me, trust me when i say no one is paying me to do this.

Chapter 8 – War of truths

If you asked Korra later how it ended up how it did with Nam and her. She would never be able to tell you or she would refuse to talk about it. Her own memories of their convocation were vague at best, eclipsed by the fight.

It started simply enough or rather uncomfortably enough for after Chen had left and they had sat down to talk neither of them seemed to have the energy to start. It felt like hours passed sitting maybe three feet from each other onto a long lopsided rock on the beach. Korra was sat a little above Nam because of this and she had to be careful not to fall onto him.

Korra was reminded of when she had told Mako how see felt about him, over a year ago now. Nervous yet also a little excited by what was coming. This was different though, just a little.

She did not love Nam or she hoped she didn't because that would make this convocation even worse. But she was about to rip open all of Nam's oldest wounds and she did not know how to start.

Nam was a laid back Airbender, never taking anything seriously save in the most extreme circumstances. But underneath that she knew he carried a lot of weight from his past and from his hidden people.

Thinking like that Korra realised that in a way they were keeping Nam as a political prisoner. Refusing to let him go an till he told us the location of his people, she could barely imagine the pressure that would put on him.

She had to break the ice somehow but...

"So your staff?" she asked remembering how he had referred to it before as his own.

"My staff," he agreed flatly, he was not going to make this easy.

"How did...?" she asked vaguely gesturing a little with one hand to help get the vague point across.

He sighed, "When I travel I travel in secret or I did before all this. The staff was at the Compound." There was still none of the usual joy in Nam's voice that Korra had come to expect, it made her sad for some reason and she secretly hoped that it would come back as they continued to speak.

"The Compound?" she asked not remembering if he had ever mentioned it before.

"Project Nomad's centre of operations slash housing, big place outside Temple City, very secret!" even in his flat tone she could hear the contempt he felt for the place.

"Did you make the staff?"

"Yep," he replied casually, "I made it to handle my concussive bending."

"Concussive..." she began but was cut off.

"Wood can't take it without support," he continued and making it clear from his tone that he was not going to explain any further about his bending style. She fine with that for now.

She cleared her throat a little trying to work up the courage to ask a difficult question, "Are you ok about how you left things with Chen?" she really did not want to ask that but knew that in order to ask the rest of it she would need to bring her up.

"Nothing was ok with how that went," he replied harshly giving her a cold look that sent a spike of anger through her head.

"Hey I'm just trying to be kind!" she retorted hotly, "you don't need to bite my head off."

He glared at her for a minute then look away sighing hard, "Sorry," he said sadly, "it's just a horrible situation, there's a lot of history."

"Were you two ever together before?" Korra asked tentatively, "you said history is it that kind of history or something different?"

"It was assumed," he replied, an edge creeping into his voice like he resented the fact, "things were different at the Compound than they are out here. We were together since childhood and both had high promise in the Project so everyone just assumed that when we were of age...it would happen."

"Would it?" she asked and when he gave her a questioning look she continued with, "would it have happened if all this stuff had not happened?"

"Probably," he sighed sadly, "we were the only Airbenders of our age and everything else was there you know so. Ye if nothing like this had happened then we would have been together."

Korra absorbed that, fighting down the odd tight feeling in her chest that had started up again. Was out of pity for their situation, probably but she guessed it went deeper than that. Despite only knowing him for a short while she felt connected to Nam-kha, that little piece of Aang in the back of her mind that drew her to this lost Airbender.

"Can I ask you something?" she asked tentatively deciding to go for her biggest concern as early as possible.

"I have no way of stopping you Avatar Korra, please continue," she liked the tiny note of humour in his voice that had crept out then.

"Chen mentioned her plan was once your plan," she asked slowly and Nam immediately looked away from her, was it shame she sore on his face? "What did she mean? What's her plan and how does it relate to you?"

He took a long time to respond, when he did his voice was nearly a whisper, "When we were younger we would be told about the genocide that was brought down on our people," he explained slowly, "they meant it as a history lesson but you have to understand. We lived on a mountain that looked out on the remains of the Northern Air Temple!"

"That must have been hard," she said as comfortingly as it could.

"It was like living next to a graveyard," he said bitterly, "I was the first Airbender born out of the program, Chen the second. We would look out at that half devoured white structure and see how easily the world would be able to eat up what was left of us.

"I came up with the idea, it wasn't really a plan it was more of an extension to what we had been doing. Our mistress Lei had kept us all quiet about what we were, saying we would stay like that an till we were grown up and strong enough to defend ourselves. She does not trust anyone that woman." He laughed a little at that, if a little sadly.

"I said one day that her plan did not go far enough. I said that the people of the world would not except a few extra Airbenders in the world, they barely excepted the ones out there now. I said we should wait to reveal ourselves till we were strong enough to cut ourselves a bit of the world for ourselves.

"It was never a violent idea, never like that. I wanted us to be a group of a few dozen Airbenders and maybe twice that in none benders that could leave and start a new Air Nomad society. One stronger than the old one! It was only an idea but..." he trailed off.

"Chen didn't want to wait," Korra finished for him.

"No she wanted to take that piece of the world I promised," he said this through clenched teeth, "it's my fault! It must have looked like I was scared to do anything more. She was always trying to help me..."

"Tell me about Project Nomad?" she asked quickly wanting to get his mind away from his self pity.

He shrugged his large shoulders at her and sighed loudly, "What is there to tell you that I haven't already?" he asked rhetorically.

"Anything you can," she answered quickly, wanting to know as much as possible.

He thought for a moment, looking out at the city lights with a faint smile on his face. As she waited the wind suddenly picked up around them sending a chill right through to her bones, she felt herself shiver rubbing her arms and wishing she had brought out her parker.

Without warning Nam grabbed her by the side and drew her closer to him. He dropped one half or rather a proportionately Korra sized amount of his coat over her bare shoulders. The coat was amazingly warm and soft but the real warmth was coming from Nam and from her as she felt herself blush from her ears to her nose.

"Th...thanks," she stammered not looking at him, scared he would see how red she had gotten.

"I live on a mountain," he explained simply, "I know when people are cold."

It took her a minute to get her head back in order, her back resting against his solid and warm body did not help this. She realised how hard she had been resisting the idea of Nam being a guy. Ye she knew he was and all but Nam was always just...Nam. He was an infuriating and eccentric Airbender she had found like a stray animal one day. Viewing him in the same category she kept Mako and Bolin in was weird.

Wanting with all her being to have these thoughts out of her head she cleared her throat as loudly as she could without damaging their ears and asked, "So Nomads?" not as clear as she had planned but hey that was what she was going with.

He chuckled at her, shifting his weight to make himself more comfortable, "Nomads," he repeated in a smooth version of his usual tone, "there are a few of us. If you want to know the basics then I would say it was a resettlement program started not long after the war ended. You, that is to say Avatar Aang, did not know an till a few years before his death, I only sore him once."

"You met Aang?" Korra asked in shock turning to look at him and realising once again how close their bodies were.

"Once," he confirmed, "he never knew what I was but he liked me. I was two I think, floating around the mountains with Chen. The two of us are what caused him to not shut us down, he said we were like real Airbenders how joyful and full of life we were."

Korra felt herself a laugh a little at the ridiculousness of it all, she had met Nam in a former life and not even known it. Once as an old man and now as a woman...a woman that was virtually sitting on his lap. She quickly repositioned herself a little to limit the body contact between them.

"So how many of you are there?" she asked hopefully, he had been pretty vague on this matter since they had brought him back.

His grey eyes immediately began avoiding her. This had really annoyed her over the last week, she could not understand why he was so insistent on not telling them. She could understand his issues with telling Tenzin or Lin but why would he not tell her?

"Come on aren't we past this?" she asked hotly.

"Clearly not," he replied in a similar tone, "I'm sorry but I can't risk them, not an till I have all of them with me and in front of me so I can keep them all safe."

"What are you keeping them safe from," she countered angrily, "do you think Chen is going to go after them if she sees them with you?"

"It's not Chen I'm worried about!"

"Then who," he was really getting on her nerves now and she had been making real head way a second ago.

"From everyone else!" he exclaimed looking her dead in the eyes and pointing one large black gloved hand and the shining city over the water.

She had no words for that, mostly she thought because Nam seemed to have included her in that description. He had said it while looking at her, like she was the symbol for everything that was outsider in his world.

"What are you talking about?" she asked hating herself when she heard her voice break a little, she felt hurt by his words and a little betrayed by them.

Instead of answering her directly he reached behind her and into what she realised was a series of large pockets in his coat. It took him a second but he eventually drew out a folded and heavily wrinkled page from a newspaper.

It was a minute before Korra realised it was the page that had been missing from the newspaper in the library. Nam offered it to her forcefully and she took it without looking at him, refusing to give him anything with how he was acting.

The front page was labelled; "The Airbending Terror!" and as she read Korra realised exactly what Nam had been so worried about.

The Airbending Terror

Of all the bending arts in the world, Airbending remains the most mysterious. For over a hundred years it was thought of as an extinct art an till it's revival in Avatar Aang. Today over seventy years since the end of the war there are but a few Airbenders living in the world today and only one an Adult. At least this is what we thought.

Only a few days ago reporters across Republic City and the world had the delight to inform the public that there was not only another Airbender in our world, the mysterious Nam-kha currently confined to Air Temple island, but possibly a whole host of other Airbenders kept secret from the public for nearly twenty years.

While many view this revelation with joy, many citizens of republic city have not been so quick to welcome this "new form of bending".

"How do I know my children are safe?" asked a concerned mother, "I've never even seen an Airbender, how do we know what there even capable of?"

"Every legend passed down through the nations of the world has classed Air Nomads as irresponsible and destructive travellers!" says Republic City East University professor, "which is just another way of saying lawless isn't it. You ask me I'm glad he's on that island, keep him there with his own kind and away from normal people!"

Even respected business owner Lau Gan-Lan, Owner of Cabbage Corp has his reservations about the arrival of more Airbenders in the city, "My father told me stories as a child, how he was forced to near bankruptcy on multiple occasions due to the damage caused by Airbending! His cabbage cart was destroyed on multiple occasions for the amusement of a child. If not for the financial help of a Fire Nation play write I doubt my father would have lived long enough for me to be born."

Whether Airbending will become part of the world again one day is irrelevant, what we should ask ourselves is what place should we allow them to take? Do let them take our jobs, do we let a race of what I understand as "purely bender" just walk right in and take over.

Our ancestors kept Airbenders in there temples, only allowing them to visit on occasion. I say why break a tradition that obviously worked once and could easily work again. (Continued page 3, 4, 5 & 6)

Coupled with the article was a picture Korra could not imagine how the reporters had gotten. It showed Nam as he trained, shirtless and focuses, his muscles shinning with sweat as he moved through his forms. Bellow were a few smaller photos, shadowy half focused camera shots of a figure on the top of buildings in the city. A long staff in its hands...

"How can I bring my people into that?" he asked his voice shaking with rage, "the youngest one is four years old and barely bending. Do I drag him into a world that as far as I can see wants to confine him to an island away from normal people?"

"Nam I didn't..." she felt terrible having not know about this, she had been so wrapped up in the strangeness of everything she had not realised how some people were reacting.

"Air Nomads need freedom," he said sharply standing up and beginning to pace franticly, "we can't just be cooped up all the time. That's worse than the Compound, at least there we can escape for a while. Go travelling and see what good the world has to offer!"

"It's just a few people Nam," Korra implored, standing and trying to grab him to calm him down.

He stopped dead in his track and stared down at her, his eyes like a storm of pained rage, "Just one man allowed my whole race to be nearly exterminated!" he said in a shaking tortured voice, "one man nearly caused this city to destroy its self! How do I trust a world that can let that happen Korra?"

It was weird hearing him just use her name, it felt oddly intimate and she did not know how to feel about it.

"You can trust us Nam, there are Air Nomads here too," she could see the doubt on his face, the years of mistrust closing him off from her, "I'm an Airbender too," she said in an affection voice she had never heard herself use, "you can trust me..."

She could see the tension in his large shoulders and back as he fidgeted uncomfortably. He looked lost and alone standing there stuck between the past and the future, like Tenzin in a way. Maybe that was why they had such problems connecting, such different people with virtually the same worries on their shoulders.

"How do I trust you Korra?" he asked seriously, "I barely even know you."

Not knowing how to express the anger she felt towards him after he said that, she did the only thing that made sense to her. She punched him in the face.

He staggered from the force of her blow his teeth gritted from pain and rage. He looked like he was about to speak but she did not care, she was sick of his words. She stepped forward and punched him again, this time in the stomach making him grunt and stagger back further.

"How dare you!" she screamed at him. She wanted to hurt him, hurt him with her bare hands! She sung her leg round towards his right shoulder but he blocked it, bunching his arm up tight as a shield, "I have been trying to help you," she tried two more jabs both directed at his face, he blocked both but did nothing in response, "everyday I've been helping!"

She swung her left leg up and brought it down towards him head, he blocked easily forming an X shape over his head and catching her kick before it connected. But she knew he would take the kick like that, so using his block as a platform she launched herself into the air and slammed her right leg into his ribs.

As he cried out in pain she jumped back one step and tackled him into the sand. Seating herself firmly on his chest she rained blows down on him, not even looking to see where they were landing!

"Is it so hard to imagine!" she cried barely able to think through her rage, "That I just wanted to be your friend? All your Avatar Korra this! Avatar Korra that! Always joking, never trying to be anything except an immature, insensitive, Airbending, jerk!"

Roaring like an in raged Bison Nam flung her off him, using his Airbending to blast them apart to forcefully they were flung twenty feet apart, a large crater left in the sand were they had been just second before.

"You have no right to invade my life!" he roared at her pointing at her from across the beach, "Cosy in your tiny sheltered part of the world, what do you know about having to hide everything you are even from your own parents! Have ever you had to watch your mother die knowing all she ever knew of you was a lie! Someone like you could never know me well enough to be my friend!"

And he ran, he ran like he had three days before but this time Korra knew she could catch him. She chased him across the island as she tried to beat some sense into the man. They fought only with their bodies enhanced only the speed of their Airbending crashing from one part of the island to the next.

She slammed him through the Bison stables. He used her to destroy the turning gates. They battled their way through the island an till they came to a near standstill in the central courtyard. They exchanged blows in the centre of the clear space, brawling like any non bender would an till she knocked him to the ground and the found themselves grappling on the ground.

They grappled in the courtyard for well over an hour, wresting each other for control. His size made it difficult but she was smaller and nimbler because of it. Eventually after he slammed her through a wooden column and she had brought the same column down on his shaggy haired head he darted up onto the roves and out of sight.

She knew he could have gotten away if he wanted to but as they brawled across the roof tops of Air Temple Island she realised he did not really want to run. He wanted her to beat him, to show him that she was willing to fight for him, for his trust and friendship!

He scissor kicker at her head.

She ducked just in time and tried to sweep him of his feet.

He flipped over her leg and tried to crush her as he came down.

She rolled out of the way pulling one his legs out from under him as she went.

He landed on his hands and kicked out at her chest with both feet and putting her on her back.

She rolled to the side as he went for a drop kick.

Tackling his legs she had him down this time and she was on top of him.

Wrapping his arms around her back he got her in a bear hug.

Feeling like her ribs were going to break she did the only thing that made sense. She brought her head back as far as it would go and slammed her forehead into his nose.

His grip broken for a split second she swung her hips up and slammed herself down on his stomach and grabbing both of his large biceps she pushed them back onto the roves surface. She had pinned him and won!

"I am your friend Nam!" she cried not caring about the poor Acolytes she was waking up, "I don't know why but I am and I want to be so except it!"

He furiously tried to buck her off refusing to even look at her. She could see the damage she had done to him starting to make itself known, his nose was bloody, his lower lip was cut on the right side. His left cheek bone was swollen and cut.

Both of them were battered and filthy, both from sweat and the dirt and sand they had picked up on the way here. But Korra did not care, they would deal with this now or not at all. He had to know that she was will to stand at his back if the worse happened!

"You can trust me Nam..." she implored taking a gamble and letting go of his arms to grip his face so he would be forced to look at her, "I promise you I would never hurt your people, why would I want to when I have you to hurt?"

He had stopped fighting her, the hate and rage slowly melted from his face replaced a look of tired acceptance. He smiled weakly at her as he said croakily, "Seven..."

That had caught her a little off guard, "Seven what?" she asked, worried she had knocked the sense out of him.

"There are seven Air Nomads from Project Nomad, including Chen and myself. I'll take you to them on one condition..." he voice had a little of the old Nam in it.

"What?" she asked letting his face go and looking down at him seriously. She was starting to get worried about how close they were to each other again.

"You come with me, ill trust you and who you say I can trust. But you have to come...please Korra."

The pleading in his voice made the knot in her chest tighten like a noose, she smiled at him his swollen face shinning slightly in the dawn light. She nodded giving him a playful punch on the arm, "I was coming no matter what you said fly boy!" she proclaimed proudly.

He laughed loudly at that, like his true self again, like he had not a care in the world. Which she now realised was how he wanted to be viewed and how he wanted to be. She got so wrapped up in that though that she barely noticed when he grabbed the back of her neck and pulled her into one of the hottest kisses of her life.

She drowned in the sensation of him, all the emotion of that night crashing down on her in that moment, that kiss! It probably only lasted a few seconds but it felt like hours had passed when Nam suddenly flipped her over and she found herself under him.

Her face flushed bright red at their position but Nam just winked at her, flashed Korra his roughish grin, planted one last kiss on her lips and launched himself off her letting the air carry him high into the sky and down onto the ground down bellow.

She scrambled on her stomach to catch him but he was in no hurry, he was walking casually away from her in his now ruined long sleeve buckled t-shirt. He waved over his head back at her casually as he walked away back down to the beach to retrieve his greatcoat.

"I'll hold you to your word Avatar Korra," he called back to her, "Oh and you broke my goggles again!"

She laughed to herself and rolled gently onto her back, too tired and too shocked to do anything. What had see gotten herself into? She could not deny how she felt any more and to be honest with herself she had realised days before how she was feeling.

She loved Mako, she did and nothing was going to change that. But she also had feelings for Nam-kha the half mad Airbender that had fallen into her life like weird goggled Sky Bison. She did not know how these feelings would affect her or what they would become down the road. But for some reason she did not want to give them up.

"I'm in so much trouble," she admitted to herself out loud in a sing songingly mocking Nam-kha kind of way. The thought made her smile a little as her exhaustion took hold and she fell into her waiting dreams where she could forget for just a little while that her life was this complicated.

Well that was fun, I can feel several dozen skippers out there sending me mail order anthrax mentally. Well thats it for now, more happy Nam next time and maybe a look in for some of the other characters Ive been ignoring.

As a treat you can write in a review a question you want answering about the additions Ive made to the Avatar universe in here. Ill pick one question and answer it, anything from what does Nam's name mean? To why he, Lin and Tenzin can't get along? The kind of stuff i might not get to cover in the story.

Next Time on the Nam-kha Show: Korra prepares for the trip North and Nam tries to bond with people.