I do not own any of the Legend of Korra characters.
She had to be a glutton for punishment, otherwise why would she be standing at the docks and searching the crowd for a familiar person? After her embarrassing morning on the island, she'd have to exact her revenge on Ikki for leaking some private information to Asami concerning a certain firebender, and the unpleasant business involving Tarrlok earlier, she had finally gotten away from the island.
Korra searched the crowd again and sighed heavily. Would Tahno forget about today? She secretly hoped not; she wanted to escape from training for a while and the gushy couple.
"Hm, please tell me that look is about me, Uh-vatar." A deep suave voice whispered into her ear from behind.
Korra stiffened and turned around to see Tahno leaning forward with his trademark smirk in place and an amused shimmer to his still empty silver eyes. She took in his appearance briefly, noting how he wore his hair in its usual style again and was wearing a similar tunic to when they had met. Other than his hollow gaze, the only other indications that he had lost his bending were the bags under his eyes and the lack of people surrounding him.
"Don't do that!" Korra shouted and punched him in the arm.
"Ah! Ok!" He rubbed his arm and glowered at the Avatar.
She frowned at him and crossed her arms over her chest. "So where are we going?"
The question seemed to make him forget about being punched because he suddenly got a wicked grin on his face and draped his arm around her shoulders, leading her in the direction where several well-dressed people were heading.
"Don't worry your pretty little head about that." His tone sent a shiver down her spine.
"Now I am worried…" Korra mumbled to herself.
Tahno half-heartedly laughed and squeezed her shoulder, pulling her into his side. A light blush covered Korra's face at their proximity, but she didn't make a move to push him away. Instead, she opted to looking at the upscale and expensive looking stores they passed by; all the people here were obviously wealthy and that led her to believe that Tahno might be living on more than just tournament winnings.
"You come from a wealthy family, don't you?" Korra suddenly blurted out her face turned a darker red.
Tahno looked at her from the corner of his eye, the darkness in the look unsettled her. "My family was."
He said it so matter-of-factly that Korra didn't say anything in response; she assumed he was the only one left and had inherited all of his family's riches. Korra found herself wanting to ask further questions, to get to know him more and that alone caught her off guard.
"We're here," he said in a low voice.
Korra tore herself out of her revere and looked up to see a beautifully structured building full of darkened windows. Standing outside the door was a large man looking rather intimidating as they approached. She merely watched as he stared them down, until Tahno smiled…
"Welcome back, Master Tahno," the man shook Tahno's hand and turned to Korra. "And welcome, Avatar Korra."
The man bowed and Korra stared at him. "Uh…thank you?"
Tahno chuckled as they entered the building. Korra gasped rather loudly; the walls were a dark shade of red and the lights were dimmed down so low that Korra had to squint to make out people sitting at various tables and booths. There was a beautiful golden statue in the center of the first room of a nearly naked woman in the arms of a nearly naked man; their embrace was enough to make Korra blush.
"'Tahno…" Korra whispered, her eyes unable to tear away from the statue. "What kind of place is this?"
"Are you scared," Tahno teased. "Uh-vatar?"
Korra pushed out her bottom lip and bristled at the accusation, but before she could retort back a tall thin man approached them in a black suit. He studied the two closely and frowned when he saw the Avatar, obviously not approving of her clothing, but he kept it to himself.
"Your usual table, Master Tahno?" His voice was monotone as he spoke.
Tahno nodded and they were led through the restaurant; passing all of the tables, booths, and people who were openly staring at the two. Everyone who spotted Korra instantly began whispering to whomever they were with; she looked down at her clothes again and knew that she stuck out like a sore thumb. The looks she received were mixed, either of admiration and awe or hatred; she assumed that the people who weren't too pleased by her presence were equalists.
The further back they went, the darker the lighting became until they reached individual rooms with a heavy red curtain for privacy. They were led to the middle one with the round table and lush red cushion seating; Tahno pushed Korra to slide in first and he closely followed. The man bowed and left them in silence, until their server came.
"So, Master Tahno," Korra turned to the man beside her and narrowed her gaze on him. "Why are we here, of all places? What are you up to?"
Tahno smirked. "You keep calling me that and I won't let you back to that Air Temple."
The glint in his eyes kept her mouth shut.
"However," he closed his eyes and his face fell, "this is the only place I can go without there being so many people pitying me. Here, almost everyone is a non-bender. Many of them don't know who I am…or who I was."
Korra watched him closely; there may have been more to Tahno than she had expected. Maybe this place was an escape from himself and always had been…
"You look like you've had a rough morning…" He commented quietly.
Korra grunted, feeling foolish about her problems once again. "You could say that."
"Was it the firebender?"
"His name is Mako." She said sternly. "And no. At least, I don't think so."
Korra slouched in her seat and chewed on her bottom lip. Not a word was spoken between them until their waiter appeared, looking at Korra with fear in his eyes, and placed a pitcher of water and two glasses on the table. He handed them both a menu before quickly making his escape.
"Is it always so quiet in here?" Korra mumbled, more to herself.
"No, not always," Tahno replied, pouring water in both of their glasses. "In the evenings they have a live band play and clear some tables for a dance floor. I could bring you here one evening, if you'd like. It's really quite entertaining."
Korra wasn't really listening to him talk anymore, she was more focused on how much he had changed in such a short period of time; it was as if she was meeting Tahno for the first time and what frightened her was that she actually kind of liked him. He was polite, intelligent, deep, and maybe a little too brooding, but he still had some of his cockiness.
"Korra," he practically purred her name. "It's not polite to stare."
Pink dusted her cheeks and she quickly grabbed her glass of water, but stopped when she caught a glimpse of that broken look again. Tahno seemed unaware of her scrutiny and began looking at his menu, his expression was blank and his eyes lost; in that moment, Korra found herself wanting to embrace Tahno and to let him know that she would always protect him…that he would never be alone and never have to hide.
"If you keep looking at me like that, my clothes might burn off." Tahno joked as he set his menu down.
Korra hadn't even realized when the waiter returned and she looked down at her menu, suddenly aware that she hadn't even looked at it. She gave Tahno a pleading look as he slowly took her menu away, their eyes never leaving each other's.
"I'll have the Fire Nation's special," his eyes narrowed slightly as he searched her face for something. "And the lady here will have your finest Water Tribe cuisine."
The waiter bowed and left with the menus under his arm.
"Ok, you are really starting to freak me out," Korra said, her voice cracking a little.
Tahno gave her a quick smile, but said nothing. He looked back at his glass; his face fell into a forlorn look.
"What's it like?" Korra inwardly flinched at her bluntness.
He sighed. "It's like having a hole inside me that will never fill. I can't walk by a fountain, look at the sea, or even pour a glass of water without that emptiness getting bigger. I…I think the worst part of all of this is that I'm forgetting what it felt like." His head crashed into his hands and he began to pull on his hair. "I don't know who I am anymore, Korra. Bending was everything to me…"
The sound of his voice broke Korra's heart and when he looked up at her again, eyes red and tear-filled, she felt all the hatred she once had for him disappear. Maybe she was being a typical girl because of what he was going through, but Korra suddenly felt it was her duty to put this broken man back together.
With a steady deep breath, Korra grabbed Tahno's hands and held them firmly in her own. "Tahno, I will get Amon for you. I will find a way for you to bend again. You have my word as the Avatar…and as a friend."
Tahno smiled, not quite a full grin but enough. He squeezed her hands back and held her gaze; she could see him letting go of the old pro-bender he once was and beginning to form into a bigger, better person.
After their little moment, Tahno released Korra and cleared his throat. "So, how is training?"
Korra pushed out her bottom lip and folded her hands into her lap. "I can't airbend."
Tahno just stared at her blankly.
"I've tried so hard, but…I…I just can't make that stupid leaf move!" Korra balled up her fists; she wouldn't cry in front Tahno…she wouldn't! "It's almost like there is a block keeping me from airbending. What if I…" fail as an Avatar. She finished the sentence in her mind, unable to voice it aloud. She couldn't fail…The tears started to fall and she felt the last of her strength dissolve and her next words her spoken as a whisper. "On top of that and Mako…I'm terrified…of…"
Tahno watched the Avatar break down in front of him and he was seeing her for who she was for the first time, a woman. A woman who stood strong despite that she was cracking and now here she was, broken and instead of it being Mako who heard her, it was her once rival. Taking a deep breath, Tahno stood from his seat and slid in next to Korra, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her into his chest.
"You have been under so much pressure," Tahno quietly whispered to her. "So much is expected of you, it's understandable why you haven't been able to airbend. But that is no reason to worry."
She pulled away and looked into his pale eyes, shocked that he was comforting her. She snorted in laughter and wiped the tears away. "I'm sorry…I…"
"Don't apologize." Tahno suddenly snapped. "You don't have to apologize to anyone. Not to me, not to that firebender—"
"Mako."
"Whatever." Tahno rolled his eyes. "The point is, just because you are the Avatar doesn't make you a god; you have your own limitations. You are a human, Korra. A woman and a damn beautiful one at that."
Korra managed a weak smile and dug her face into his chest. "Thank you, pretty boy."
She didn't know it, but at that moment Tahno's face had turned a brilliant scarlet red before he rested his chin on her head. "Any time, Uh-vatar."
The rest of the lunch was spent quietly, pretty much. Korra told Tahno of the new law placed for non-benders, something he wasn't too pleased about, and how Tarrlok degraded in front of the police. She conveniently left out that her and the new "Team Avatar" would be going on patrol after the gala, something Korra really didn't want to attend but it was her duty as Avatar. In turn, Tahno told her of how he became a probender, and that he was actually sorry about how he acted…to her anyways.
When they were done, Korra was happy to be out of the restaurant. When she made her way to leave, Tahno grabbed her hand and pulled her back.
"What the hell?" She nearly shouted.
"We aren't done yet." He didn't say anything more as he pulled her down the street, ignoring the various stares that followed them, and entered a store with manikins dressed in extravagant dresses.
"Oh no." Korra gasped in dread as realization struck her.
Tahno was going to make her girly. The horror!
"Ta-Tahno," she cursed herself for stuttering. "Why do I need a dress, exactly?"
He turned around when they reached a rack of dresses made of some shimmering fabric. As soon as he started looking through them, Korra felt all the color drain from her face. At this moment, Korra would have preferred to take on Amon and all the equalists rather than try on dresses. The horror!
"You need a dress for the gala." He said matter-of-factly.
Korra frowned. "I have a dress."
"I'm sure you do." He smiled when he pulled out a black dress with a low cut and slung it over his arm while he continued to look. "But you need a dress that will make you look less like the Avatar and more like a woman."
Korra crossed her arms over her chest, but remained silent as Tahno searched more racks; he ended up with seven stupid dresses before he pushed her into a dressing room. She stared at her reflection as she held all of the dresses and sighed heavily. Handing the dresses on a hook, she began to take off her clothes and put on the blue dress first, a long gown that pooled at her feet and her torso tightly.
"Well?" She heard Tahno call from the other side of the door.
"No." Korra replied flatly.
Tahno scuffed. "Just come out here and show me, I'll be the one saying no or not."
"Bastard." Korra mumbled under her breath, but did as she was told.
As soon as she saw him, he was sitting in a red chair with his left leg resting on the knee of the other and his fingers cradled in front of his nose. His eyes, took in her image and he sighed.
"You're right," he waved her off. "Try the black one."
Korra deadpanned. "You're kidding."
"Do I look like I'm kidding?" He tilted his head.
She turned on her heal and marched back into small stall. She basically tore the dress off and threw it on the bench in the corner before putting on the unnecessarily tight black dress. When Korra showed it to Tahno, she got the same response as she did with the blue dress. Every dress after that ended the same way and now Korra found herself standing with her back against the door in her bindings, glaring at the pile of dresses in the corner, and waiting for Tahno to hand her another dress.
"Here," he said as a white gown was draped over the door.
Korra growled and snatched it from him. She put it on and looked at herself in the mirror; the white gown was sleeveless with a dark blue belt under her bound breasts, it was tight on her stomach and hips but draped to her feet loosely, and when she turned around she to look at her back, she suddenly became increasingly self-conscious about it being bare, since the dress didn't have a back, just the belt that wrapped around her.
"Come on out," Tahno practically commanded her.
"No." Korra growled.
"Korra," he warned. "I will go in there."
Biting her tongue, Korra wrenched to the door open and stepped out. She watched as Tahno's face went from un-amused to stunned in a mere second; he slowly stood for the chair and made his way over to her. He looked her over, circling her before coming to a stop in front of her and narrowing his eyes.
"Your hair will have to be down." He stated. "Otherwise you look perfect. Go put your clothes back on and bring that dress. We need to find you some shoes."
Korra groaned, but once again obeyed the oh-so great Master Tahno. Bitterly, she wondered how he got so much knowledge about women's fashion and teased with the idea that he might not actually be interested in women at all, but that couldn't be true after what he said about his three years as reigning champion…
Once she was dressed, she grabbed the dress and found Tahno by a wall full of shoes. Korra stood baffled by all the different styles and looked down at her down boots.
"Ah, these ones." She heard Tahno say as he brought a pair of white strappy shoes with an evil thin heel.
"Ok," Korra held up her hand and stared him straight in the eye. "I will wear this dress. I will let my hair down. But I am not wearing any shoes with those dangerous heels."
Tahno frowned, but quickly set them back down before grabbing a pair of dark blue flats. He continued frowning as walked over to a rack with jackets and other various covers; he didn't look long as he pulled out a see-through wrap that matched the belt and shoes. Tahno continued looking through the store, searching the hair accessories and other jewelry, but ended up only grabbing a tear-drop shaped sapphire necklace on a thin silver chain and a silver hair clip that vined off to one side and had white feathers sticking out the top.
Tahno led her to the counter and paid for all the items himself, leaving Korra standing dumbfounded as the elderly woman behind the counter placed all the items in a bag and the dress in its own longer bag. Tahno took both bags and headed to the door, barely waiting for Korra as he exited.
"Where are we going now?" She asked meekly.
Tahno looked over his shoulder and smirked. "I know the best stylist in Republic City. She would die at the idea of getting to touch your hair. She has a thing for benders."
Korra slouched forward, mimicking Tahno's posture when he was in the police station, but continued to follow him. At this point, she had no idea why she was still here; all she wanted to do was freeze the cocky bastard where he stood and sprint back to the Air Temple.
They must have walked at least a mile before Tahno finally stopped, causing Korra to bump into him. She looked up at the store he was entering and saw a giant red sign with gold letters, but didn't get a chance to read it as Tahno grabbed her wrist and yanked her inside. She stared about the salon; there was a radio playing soft music and two walls of the building were rather large mirrors. There were four chairs in front of each mirror and in the center of the building were even larger chairs on platforms and basins of water at the feet. The back wall was lined with sinks and hair products, which made Korra frown deeply by the absurd amount of various shampoos.
There weren't very many people in the building, just six women who seemed to work there—since they were all wearing the same black aprons—and only a couple of patrons that were already getting their hair cut.
A tall slender woman with short red hair and brilliant green eyes came waltzing up to them with a mixture of pity, surprise, and happiness written all over her oval face.
"Tahno?" She gasped when she saw him and nearly threw her arms around his neck. "I haven't seen you in a week! Where the hell have you been? Look at your hair! It's going to need so much treatment. You are so lucky that I have an opening!"
Tahno laughed and waved her off. "I'm not here for any hair treatments, Aki. I'm here with the Avatar who desperately needs something done with her hair."
Korra glared at Tahno, ignoring Aki's shocked and excited expression. Though her girlish squeal caught her by surprise and she readied herself for battle, making Tahno chuckle lightly.
"So can you fit her in?" He asked, his voice and body were just oozing confidence and something else she couldn't put her finger on, though judging by the way Aki blushed and bat her eyes, Korra had an idea.
"Of course!" She squealed again and took Korra's hand and pulled her to the farthest chair.
She all but slammed Korra into the chair, put a black smock wrapped around her, and took the hair cuffs out, causing her hair to frizz out and give her a wild look. She was then yanked Korra to a nearby sink and shoved her head under the faucet. As soon as the water drenched her hair, Korra began thinking of horrible ways to get back at Tahno for this torture; her favorite was shaving him bald.
Aki poured some fruity, girly smelling shampoo into her hair and Korra began to seethe. She was the freaking Avatar! She didn't need to smell girly! All she needed to do was learn the four elements and kick some equalist ass! However, deep down, Tahno's words echoed in her head and her heart clenched painfully.
Korra was pulled out of her thoughts when Aki vigorously dried her head with a towel and shooed her back over to the other seat, where she ran a brush through the Avatar's thick and snarled hair.
"Do you ever brush your hair?" Aki asked in a sharp tone, while currently hacking away on a particularly nasty knot.
Korra frowned, but was cut off when she saw Aki grab a pair of scissors. That was where she crossed the line; she wasn't exactly vain, but no one touches her hair.
"No cutting," she said firmly, her hard blue eyes clashing with the hair-dresser.
Aki pouted. "I need to get rid of these split ends."
That was the end of the conversation; before Korra could take the scissors from Aki's hands, she had already snipped off some of her brown locks. She watched in horror as her hair hit the ground and sat in the chair brooding until Aki finished her hair. Somewhere in the salon, Tahno was laughing at Korra.
Between the hairspray and the makeup she was forced into wearing, Korra had lost track of time. She was too busy staring at the dark skinned beauty staring back at her to notice anything else; her hair was pinned to one side so that her thick, and now slightly curled locks, were cascading down her right shoulder; the hairpiece Tahno had bought her was placed on the side of her head, the vines hugging her head. Her eyes were lined with a light layer of blue eye shadow and other eye makeup Korra wasn't familiar with, but made her blue orbs glow in contrast to her dark skin.
She should have been angry with Tahno for this. She should have kicked Aki's ass for even daring to touch her hair. But as she looked at herself, she couldn't feel anything; this beautiful woman staring back at her couldn't possibly be her…
Korra saw Tahno standing behind her, already changed into an extravagant black tunic with white embroidering and a blue under shirt; his hair was styled into its annoying trademark look and on his face he wore that damn arrogant smirk. He nodded at her appearance and draped the bag with her dress in it over her shoulder.
"Change into this." He said casually and pointed her in the direction of a room in the far back corner of the building. "I'll call for a car."
Korra formed an angry pout on her face and stomped to the back room; she stared at a floor length mirror and then to the bagged dress in her hand. With a heavy sigh, she began to take off her own clothes and put on the dress. Korra didn't bother looking at her reflection as she straightened her dress, she wasn't sure why; she just put her clothes in the bag and opened the door.
Tahno stood outside the door and as soon as his eyes landed on her, pink stained his face. He cleared his throat and rolled his neck. He didn't speak as he led her to an empty chair; before she could protest, Tahno slipped her new shoes on her feet.
Korra turned a deep crimson when he stood and took her hand, which she instinctively grabbed. He then slipped the necklace around her neck, leaning in close so he could clasp it together in back and when he pulled away, his eyes sparkled.
"You look breathing-taking, Korra." His voice was low as he took in her full appearance.
Without breaking eye contact, he placed the blue wrap around her shoulders and held out his arm. Quickly, Korra grabbed the bag with her clothes in it and slipped her arm into his.
Tahno steered her out of the salon and to the black car waiting outside.
So here it is. If there are any grammar/spelling errors I am truly sorry. It's like 1am and my baby girl is being super fussy (she must be getting hungry) and I sort of rushed this.
As always, I look forward to your feedback.
With love and gratitude,
~Ell