A/N: It's been a while since I've updated. It's been a while for a lot of things, but I'm taking a graduate-writing course for my minor and trying to finish my upper -division GEs have placed a lot more reading on my hands than I thought it would. Secrets will start wrapping up and moving back towards the LoK-canon here, but I am thinking of starting a Tahnorra-oneshot collection separate from Secrets when I have the time (for those who still want to read more Tahnorra by me. It'd be called Canonfire, which is my lame attempt at making a pun on cannon fire).

Another announcement is just that I have been receiving all your reviews during my hiatus and I'm grateful for all the love I've gotten for this story. I mean, come on guys, over 160 reviews on this? You sure know how to make a girl feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Secrets will probably be wrapping up by the end of the year if my upcoming finals don't decide to disembowel me and shove me off a cliff. I hope you're all willing to stick by me until then.

Chapter 13: Inversion

It had been two months since Korra slept with Tahno, and in that time, Korra found her world turned upside-down.

Lin had been found at last. Still searching for her officers, she had been pursuing a lead when she had been ambushed by an Equalist cell in the area. Once captured, they kept her at the location for three days, bound and blindfolded, as they interrogated her before being moved with the rest of the hive to Harbor Town, and it was mindboggling to think that during the weeks that she had been missing, she had been just over the mountains backing the city the entire time.

Of course, even if they did know where she was, locating her was a different story. Equalist cells were fairly numerous in the port town, all located in a highly elaborate network of cellars under normal shops and store-fronts. It was so secretive in fact that no one would have ever found her if it wasn't for a construction accident in the port town that disturbed a nesting badger-mole. Surprised, the animal panicked and tried to head to safety, burrowing through most of the farmland surrounding Harbor Town and it was in the search for survivors that they found her.

She had been tucked against a wall, lying on her side. The cellar ceiling had a gaping hole leading into the rest of the building. On the other side of the cramped basement room were the beginnings of another tunnel opposite the one it entered through. When the townsfolk jumped in, the drool from the badgermole was still wet. She was the only one they found; the Equalists had gone with the wind while she was dirty, covered in the dust of the collapsed farm cellar. Under the shell of her metalbending armor were cracked ribs and electrical burns from her interrogation for the Avatar's next move; blood caked her hair, and she was dehydrated. However, there were still blessings to be counted. During her stay with the Equalists, Amon had been visiting elsewhere; she was still able to bend, and she would live. As for her officers, their whereabouts were still unknown.

Tarrlok, on the other hand, was no longer head of the task force. After a string of failed attempts to lead the force with no results and increasing public backlash against his terror campaign against nonbenders—earlier curfews, increased patrols, property damage—the council voted to reinstate Lin upon her recovery. If she remembered correctly, Lin should have gotten out of the hospital yesterday.

The soft jazz tune she had been listening to suddenly crackled into static.

"…we interrupt your scheduled broadcast for this special news bulletin: The Republic City Council has just reinstated Lin BeiFong, daughter of the former chief of police Toph BeiFong, to her former position as head of the Republic City Police force. There are also rumors that she has been tapped to take over the Anti-Equalist Task Force; Councilman Tarrlok has refused to comment as—"

"Korra, turn it down. It's too early for the radio to be on."

Cocking a brow, she looked behind her in the bed. "Tahno, it's noon."

"Still sounds early to me," he grumbled sleepily, throwing his pillow over his head.

Korra rolled her eyes. "You always say that."

And he did. Every time she slept over at his place, he woke up late. Most of the time, he was still asleep when she headed back to the temple for practice; and when she could afford to stay later—today, for example—he still slept in. Now, she understood that waking up early was grueling—she still hated waking up for morning meditation—but waking up when half the day was gone was ridiculous, and she made it her mission to wake him up early.

Not that it really amounted to much; he would complain even if she woke him up at ten.

Tahno peered out from under the pillow, a frown tugging on his pale features. "And yet you never learn. What a terrible student."

"That's not what you said last night," she countered, letting her gaze slide slowly towards him knowingly.

"…Shut up," came the muffled reply, causing her to laugh behind her hand as he turned away from her.

Sitting up on her side of the bed, Korra turned her attention to the view outside the window. She would have nothing else to do until Tahno finished sulking after all—sulking, not "brooding" as he put it because you're throwing a temper tantrum like a little kid and you know it—and she let the hustle and bustle of downtown wash over her. Life in the city was vastly different from the quiet of the temple, and she listened as a Satomobile motored past. Across the street, a woman was shaking out her laundry, and one window below, two kids were blowing soap bubbles into the street.

It was amazing, she thought to herself as she watched the scene. To any other person, it probably would have bored them to tears, but she couldn't remember ever feeling more relaxed. Ever since Lin had been found and Tarrlok had begun falling out of favor within the council, she hadn't been forced into doing any late-night patrols and had managed to improve her social life a bit, growing closer to Asami and Tahno over the past few weeks. Even her still-ambiguous relationship with Mako couldn't pull her mood down, but over the past few days, it was clear that the young firebender was beginning to pull away from his green-eyed girlfriend. Not wanting to influence his opinion during this delicate time—Asami was too good a friend to have them break up on her account—she opted to stay at Tahno's place until Mako made up his mind, something the former-waterbender was only too happy to oblige.

Lacing her fingers together, she locked her hands over her knee and began to rock absentmindedly in her seat.

"By the way, Pema wanted to invite you over for dinner again tomorrow," she spoke over her shoulder. Against her back, she felt the slide of his arm as he lifted the pillow from his face to look at her.

"Are you sure you want me back there? Tenzin looked like he was going to have a heart attack in his seat the last time you brought me over," he reminded.

Korra merely rolled her shoulder dismissively, not at all surprised by her guardian's reaction. After all, he had endured Korra's many rants about Tahno and his overall stupid, frustrating personality, and had personally viewed the Wolfbat's underhanded victory at the Probending finals—not to mention what Tenzin must have heard about the former bender in the streets and the rumor mill, or that this was in fact the first boy she had brought home formally since inviting Mako and Bolin to stay with them. The look on Tenzin's face had been priceless as it screwed itself into an awkward grimace in the wake of his surprise, torn between being livid that such a man was to enter his home and confusion at such a man coming at Korra's invitation—and that was before dinner even started.

"He'll just have to get used to it," she replied. Which was true; as much as Tenzin was uncomfortable with Tahno's presence at the temple, Tahno had been a perfect guest. Despite his reputation preceding him, his manners had been impeccable, and Pema adored him. Tenzin would just have to learn how to play nice.

As for what this meant for her and Tahno, she wasn't sure. She didn't understand the markers of relationships too well. Though they often spent time together, she didn't know if they were an item per say, but whatever they were, she was happy with it.

Leaning her head back, she drank in the sky spread out in front of the window. She would come to that hurdle when it came, she decided. She had enough on her plate already since she had to bring Lin up to speed with what the task force had been up to in her absence from the city, but from her brief talk with Lin, the older woman had hinted that she would let Korra quit the task force to focus on her airbending training instead.

She recalled Lin's parting words with a smile, "Unlike Councilman Tarrlok, I don't need you to be a glory-magnet."

Chuckling to herself, she fell back into the bed with a comfortable sigh, reveling in the feel of the silky sheets against her skin. Behind her, she felt the even rise and fall of Tahno's breathing. He was falling back asleep.

"Oh no you don't."

And she watched as Tahno's eyes flew open, mouth split in a wide grin as she continued the assault on his side. She had learned Tahno was ticklish three weeks ago on a fluke, and now it was her favorite way of way of waking him up. He said the reason she liked tickling him awake was because she had a secret sadistic streak, but that wasn't it at all.

Rather, it was because she liked the sound of his husky laugh echoing in the late morning air.