A/N: You guys are amazing. I come back from Fanime to find this story has over 50 alerts and 18 reviews now! Best surprise ever!
Okay, business time. So in addition to this update, I will be posting this story on Tumblr (same username. It's my username for everything), but for the watchers here on this site, you're in luck. I will update the newest chapters here first before updating the new chapter on tumblr two days later. Mostly because I love reading your reviews and because you guys have been so kind to my first Legend of Korra story. And before I forget, I'm changing the rating to M for later chapters.
Okay, enough talk. Story time.
When Korra wakes up, the first thing she notices is that the ceiling is the wrong color. Her ceiling in the Air Temple is white, she recalls, whereas the ceiling here is dark.
The second thing she notices is that she isn't in her room.
Immediately awake, she sits up in the bed. Blankets and silk sheets pool at her waist. A window is open on her left. Underneath it, the moonlight swims on the floor like koi. Her mind is still fuzzy—Equalists, she thinks—and cocks an arm back to fight when a voice freezes her in its tracks.
"Don't even think about burning my bed, little Miss Uh-vatar."
Tahno, she recognizes, dropping her fist, and the adrenaline in her drops out as quickly as her firebending does. The fuzziness assails her brain once more and she tries to piece together what has happened, coherency slowly taking form as her head spins slightly from the weight of her sleep-deprivation and a night of alcohol hitting her all at once. Rest, it demands, but she has a bone to pick first.
"This isn't my house," Korra points out. "You said you were taking me home."
Seated on an ornate bench decorated with pillows—cherry, Korra supposes—Tahno snorts from behind a book. "I never said whose home," he corrects.
Turning the page, the former water-bender levels a patronizing stare from over his novel. "Besides," he begins, "I doubt our esteemed councilman would approve of my presence at the temple this late at night—especially when someone could smell the fire-whiskey on your breath from a mile away."
Despite herself, a short laugh escapes her lips. Tenzin would have a fit if she came home the way she did, and for the briefest second, Korra is shocked at the idea that he's being considerate of her and her host-family. But just as she's ready to relax, another thing bounds from the darkness of her mind and her spine is as tense as a cable wire.
"Why are you doing this? Why are you helping me?" she demands.
"It's simple: 'you scratch my back; I scratch yours.' You're going after Amon for me; the least I can do is offer you a place to stay," he explains patiently before smoothly turning the page with a quick glance at her from over the book.
"And believe it or not, I can be nice on occasion. And before you even ask, I won't do anything. Swear on the spirits. Now go to bed," he orders, but his order falls on deaf ears.
Korra's already asleep.