A/N: So yeah, I'm pretty pissed that most of the hit counts for this story are evidently never to come back. I even considered deleting the whole thing and reuploading it, but I'll try to resist the temptation.

So anyway...WARNING: An extremely unsexy sex scene, dubcon, and minor blood.

Nobody would have to know, Eska told herself…not even Desna. She and Bolin would be married in only a few hours, and people would be none the wiser. And now he'd HAVE to marry her. He'd be too nice not to.

"Can't breathe…can't breathe…hey, where are you taking me?" Bolin whimpered.

Eska didn't answer his question, but said, "If you will follow me obediently, I will stop dragging you."

"Okay."

She released her hold on his necklace, prepared to water-whip his legs if he tried to make a run for it, but he kept his word.

It was a long walk from the public area of the palace to the private chambers. Thankfully, no-one crossed their path, since they were all still at the trial. Finally, they reached Eska's room. The door was very thick to ward off drafts, which also meant it was as good as soundproof.

As soon as the door was safely shut, Eska turned to Bolin.

"Remove your clothing," she ordered as she shrugged off her own outer robe.

"Wha…oh. Oh."

He made a strangled gasp as Eska finished disrobing.

"Are you disappointed by my lack of mammary tissue?" Eska asked him.

Bolin swallowed and shook his head. Then he seemed to remember that he had to get undressed too, and did this with fumbling fingers.

Eska flicked her eyes downward. Well…that certainly wasn't how she'd imagined it to look. Did they all look that way?

"Um, I'm pretty much terrified for my life right now," Bolin said in a rush, "But I'm also…kind of turned on at the same time? Is that normal?"

Eska did not know the answer to his question. So she simply said, "Bed." while pointing to said piece of furniture. Bolin sat on the corner of it, and continued to talk.

"Just so you know, I've, uh, never done this before. Mako would've killed me."

He said the last part in a whisper, as if Mako was there to potentially overhear him. Eska raised an eyebrow. Better not to let him know that she was similarly inexperienced.

She walked forward until she was standing right in front of him.

"Can I…touch you?" Bolin asked, then cringed as if expecting her to strike him. Instead, after some thought, Eska granted him permission.

She gave an inadvertent shiver at the touch of his callused hands on her skin. He seemed to find her mammary tissue to be acceptable after all. It felt surprisingly good, and made her body feel warm all over. She soon decided it felt too good; she couldn't afford to lose control.

"That's sufficient," she barked. It was time to get this over with. She pushed Bolin down until he was lying on his back, then positioned herself over him and attempted to mimic what she'd seen the Avatar doing (since in this case, letting the man do everything obviously wouldn't work).

There was a problem, though. No matter how many times she tried, it wouldn't go in. So Eska reached down, spread herself apart as far as she could, and forced it in.

And…it hurt. Quite badly.

She tried not to show it, but she must have somehow, because Bolin asked, "You okay?" while trying to sit up.

"Lie. Back. Down."

"But…"

"Silence!"

Once he had submitted again, Eska gritted her teeth and began to move. No matter how bad the pain was, she had to finish what she'd started. And finished it was…in just a couple of minutes. Eska wasn't completely sure how Bolin had managed it.

"Is that blood?" Bolin asked faintly as Eska got up. She decided to not even dignify such a stupid question with a response, and stalked off to the bathroom, trying very hard to not limp.

As soon as the door was closed behind her, she sank onto the floor, and squeezed her eyes shut to stop the tears that threatened. So. Obviously they'd done something wrong. Why hadn't it worked like it had when the Avatar was doing it? Had they used the wrong hole? Come to think of it, Eska wasn't completely sure how many holes there were in the first place.

For a few minutes, she sat there rocking back and forth. Mother hated it when she did this, since it was another one of Eska's "difficulties"…but Mother wasn't here right now.

Once she'd calmed down somewhat, she got a basin from the washstand and filled it at the sink. She bent a tendril of it between her legs to try to heal herself. The soreness remained, but at least the bleeding stopped after a few passes.

Then she took some time to wash and comb her hair, clean herself up, and redo her makeup. She didn't want to go to her wedding slovenly and smelling of sweat, after all.

She went back into the bedroom and retrieved her clothes. Bolin hadn't moved from where she'd left him, and for once he was quiet.

"Get up and get dressed. You may utilize the bathroom to attend to your hygienic needs. Desna will be in shortly with your wedding attire," she told him. Once he had done as Eska said, she tackled the mess on the bed as best she could using waterbending, and pulled the sheets over what remained.

"Oh. And you are not to tell anyone of what transpired here," Eska added as she left the room. Even though it would be irrelevant once they were married, she still preferred that rumors not be spread.

On her way down the hall she encountered a servant, whom she instructed to find the officiant for the wedding and tell him it was time for the ceremony. The servant was smart enough to not ask questions, and scurried off. Then Eska headed off to Desna's room and knocked on the door. When he opened it, he looked concerned, but decided not to say anything. He remained silent as he helped her into her robe and attached her headdress.

Eska's mouth made the slightest quirk as she saw Bolin's pet curled on the bed, in an outfit Desna had made for it out of fabric scraps.

"Bring him as soon as he's ready," she said. Desna nodded and picked up the pet from the bed. Then he walked off, his arms full of robe, pet, and a large pot of hair pomade. Then Eska headed off herself, to the room where the ceremony would take place.

She hadn't believed her luck when she found this empty room. Apparently it was meant to be an audience chamber or meeting hall; however, it had never been put into use. The room was large, airy, and full of windows, which would let in the light from the sunset nicely. Normally, Eska preferred things to be dark and gloomy, but she'd make an exception this once. She had already had servants drag in a chair for Desna, and a small table to serve as an altar.

Once she reached the room, she had nothing to do but pace nervously and wait. This was it. In maybe an hour, she'd be a married woman, and would be nothing Mother could do about it. Surely her relationship with Bolin would improve then.

The officiant arrived in good time, and bowed to her. Eska stopped her pacing only long enough to acknowledge his presence.

Time passed…and then more time…and then more time. The sun had almost disappeared now. Eska's heart pounded and her palms started to sweat. Was Desna supposed to be taking this long?

Then, Desna showed up…alone. All it took was one mournful shake of his head, and Eska lost it.

The meltdown she'd been holding off for days finally caught up with her, and all of the frustrations-this, plus her disastrous first sexual encounter, this stupid trip, her stupid mother-came pouring out at once as she screamed until her throat gave out, then sank down on the floor and began sobbing hysterically. When that wasn't enough to assuage the weight of grief in her chest, she bit her hands and ripped her headdress off, not caring that it took some hair with it. She wished she could open her chest and rip her heart out, just to get rid of the pain.

She'd…she'd given herself to him! She'd sacrificed her body, given the ultimate gift…and he'd still left her! Why couldn't something go right for her this once?

"Leave," Desna snapped, and the officiant, who had slowly edged to the back of the room, needed no further encouragement. At first, her brother was unsure how to react, but then he crossed the room and knelt down next to Eska, awkwardly patting her shoulder. She bonelessly collapsed into his side and clung to him for several minutes.

"Why did you let him leave?" Eska gasped out almost unintelligibly.

"He said he wanted to say goodbye to his friends and would be right back…I'm so sorry," Desna said as he hung his head.

Eska's initial instinct had been to blame her gullible brother, but once she could think somewhat rationally again, she realized that Bolin had had opportunities to escape while Eska was in the bathroom and while he'd been left alone in the room…and he hadn't taken them. Plus, he already looked as if he was blaming himself. No, it wasn't Desna's fault. It must have been the Avatar and her friends! Bolin would never have left if they hadn't convinced him to do so. And the Avatar probably had ulterior motives…Eska remembered how she had brazenly hugged Bolin at the South Pole.

"Do you…do you know where they went?" she whispered hoarsely.

"I'll find out," Desna assured her as he ran out. Within minutes, he was back.

"He was spotted boarding Varrick's ship with the Avatar. They got past the blockade," Desna reported.

"But how?" Eska shook her head. "No, disregard that. Is there still time for me to catch up with them?"

"Possibly."

Without another word, Eska stood up, dragged her sleeve across her face, and hurried off to retrieve her husband.

It was fully dark out now, and cold, and the wind made her feel numb. She started to worry that she'd lose her way, but then she saw a white ship with ornate trimming. That had to be it.

And she almost caught them. Almost. They saw her and sped up at the last minute, and she ran out of strength to pursue them any farther.

When she got back, Desna wordlessly led her back to her room, and she fell on the bed, not caring about still being fully-dressed, or her smeared makeup, or the still slightly-messy sheets. She was out like a light almost immediately.

When she woke up, everything was sore. Her legs from chasing after that boat for hours, her throat and eyes from all the crying, and of course between her legs as well. But she didn't mind that last one so much now. It felt almost…bracing.

She rang for a servant and ordered him to bring her a light breakfast. When it arrived, she ate it in bed. In fact, she would have stayed in bed all day, if it wasn't for Desna's knock on the door.

"Father wants to talk to us," he told her. Eska decided she would go as she was, even retrieving her discarded headdress from Desna and putting it back on. She had considered trying to hide her attempted wedding from Father, but no. She wanted to make a statement. He didn't need to know about the other part.

But to Eska's disappointment, Father didn't react to her unusual look; not even so much as a double-take. He just said he needed Eska and Desna to go after the Avatar. Eska was all too happy to do this, but her enthusiasm was dampened somewhat when Father specified that Korra be brought back alive.

Before they set off on that mission, they would go most of the way back North on Father's ship, since it would be much easier for them to make the trip to Republic City from there (Father himself, however, stayed behind). They left around noon. The trip was another boring one. Eska did get to finally have a full bath, and wash the old makeup from her face, but nothing else of note happened.

By late the next afternoon, they were at the dropoff point. Eska and Desna even got their own jet skis to make things faster.

As sheer luck would have it, they didn't have to go all the way to the city and start looking. Instead, the Avatar came to them on a speedboat! She seemed distracted, so it was easy to sneak up on her, and then ambush her from close range.

"You ruined my wedding!" Eska shouted… to make sure the Avatar knew Eska blamed her. "No one steals my Bolin!"

And once again, it was a near miss. Even though they quickly lost the jet skis, they just about had her, but then, of all things, a dark spirit showed up and dragged the Avatar underwater.

Eska looked at Desna. Desna looked at Eska. Father would have it in for them now. Not knowing what else to do, they turned and headed back south.