AN: Sorry for no update yesterday! I had absolutely no inspiration, and got to a point where I knew what would happen about three sentences later, I just couldn't come up with those three sentences. I got about halfway through this chapter and couldn't go any farther. I do like this chapter, though. Lots of fluff 'n stuff.

Enjoy :)

At first, Tarrlok completely freaks out when he notices his surroundings. He freaks out even more at his significant lack of a right arm. He clips a nurse in the jaw and another in the nose before he's put under again. When he wakes up, he's considerably calmer, yet still justly nervous.

Tarrlok ends up remembering even less than Noatak. While he still seems to know at least who Korra is, and that they had met before, it's apparently only flashes from the past couple of months, when they had worked together on the task force and had still been on semi-good terms. The way he looks at her seems almost like he thinks they're friends. The last thing he clearly remembers is the night Noatak disappeared, twenty-six years ago. Jinora and Pema are sympathetic and find the sentiment heartwarming. Meelo and Ikki find their family's actions disgusting. Tenzin acts like he couldn't care less. Korra just wonders what she did to deserve two amnesiac terrorists.

"What happened to your foot?"

Damn Tenzin. Korra's going to make him pay for this. Her airbending teacher seems to think it's a good idea to have Korra entertain Noatak for a few days, trying to see if she can jog his memories at all. So far? Nothing. Once Noatak was one hundred percent convinced that the Air Acolytes weren't trying to poison him or sneak some information from him, he became quite open to everyday conversation. No one except Tarrlok and Korra—on Tenzin's orders—would speak to him. To Korra's surprise, he ends up asking the most mundane questions, it's almost driving her crazy.

She doesn't answer right away. "Why do you call me Korra?" she asks instead.

"That is your name, if I'm not mistaken."

"You've never called me Korra before."

"We've never met each other before. What else am I to call you?" Without waiting for an answer, he repeats, "What happened to your foot?"

"You used to call me Avatar." Korra fiddles with the bandage on her injured foot. "Thanks to your little episode when you woke up, I cut it on a piece of glass. You're lucky you're still bedridden; if you weren't, I'd be sure to get retribution for it."

"Aw," Noatak fake whines. He actually manages to sound pathetic; Korra gives him points for being able to make such an intimidating voice sound pathetic. "And here I had thought you would be happy to have something to remember me by when I'm gone. I thought we were friends."

Korra swears she can hear Tarrlok's wicked grin, and secretly vows to slap him for it when he won't fold like paper on impact. She sends him a glare to make sure he knows. He smirks back at her smugly. Korra responds with a sigh.

Eventually.

"You need to keep your movements fluid and connected," Jinora reminds Korra. The two girls are practicing their airbending together while Tenzin is teaching a lesson with Ikki and Meelo. At first, Korra was glad to be having a lesson with just Jinora today. The problem is that the girl is so damn calm, it's nearly impossible for Korra to do the same.

Korra lets out a groan of frustration. "I'm trying!" she snaps at Jinora. "I'm still pretty new at this, so cut me some slack!"

Jinora holds her hands up in surrender, only achieving to infuriate Korra even more. "All right, you win. Sorry." She readjusts her stance, preparing for another round. "You ready to keep practicing, or do you want to take a break for a little while?"

"No, let's keep going," Korra responds, getting into position herself. "We don't get anything done if we just stand around here all day. Her hands instinctively clench into fists, and Jinora gives her a disapproving look but doesn't correct her. Korra is the one who makes the first move, punching the air and sending a whirl of wind at Jinora, but by the time the attack reaches its target, Jinora has already disappeared. Korra spins around quickly, searching for the young airbender, and spotting her a moment too late. Before she can raise her arms in defense, Korra has already been knocked off her feet by Jinora's counter attack. She lands heavily on her back, groaning in pain.

Jinora giggles. "Stay light on your feet," she corrects the Avatar. "Maybe you could take your heavy boots off? It might help you move easier if you didn't have them weighing you down." Korra snorts in contempt but complies with the suggestion, sitting up and shucking off her boots while mumbling about bossy kids. "And don't be so aggressive with your movements," Jinora continues as Korra pushes herself up off the ground again. "You need to be more relaxed; airbending is not like firebending or earthbending."

"I believe Tenzin's already given me this lecture," Korra sighs. "It doesn't make any difference."

"Well, maybe if you actually followed his advice, you wouldn't have to be listening to it from someone seven years younger than you."

The amount of snark in Jinora's voice catches Korra off guard. "Oh, getting sassy now, are we?" she taunts. "I sense a challenge."

Jinora grins slyly. "Name your terms."

"Whoever loses this round has to…" Korra trails off, thinking. What would be a perfect punishment for the young airbender? Hardly anything fazes Jinora. "…has to spend the rest of the day catering to Ikki and Meelo."

Jinora laughs. "You're on."

Korra gets into her normal starting position, smirking at Jinora. The girl makes a face back at her. Korra doesn't think she's ever seen Jinora act as immaturely as she is right now. She loves it.

This time around, Jinora is the one that moves first. The movement is almost too quick for Korra to react, but now that she's shed her big, clunky boots and is going barefoot, she's able to dodge the gust rather quickly. On the rebound, Korra spins and bends a circle of wind around her. As Jinora launches herself into the air, Korra calls out, "Thanks for suggesting going barefoot! It makes training so much easier!"

Before Jinora lands, she throws out a blast of air. It hits Korra square in the shoulder, knocking her off balance but failing to knock her to the ground. Jinora lands gracefully on two feet as Korra regains her stance. "Harder than you thought it would be, hm, Avatar?" Jinora teases. She knows that calling Korra Avatar like that only helps to piss her off.

"Hard?" Korra repeats. "Please! This is child's play!"

Jinora straightens up. "Well, if this is too easy, let me know. If I'm just wasting your time and boring you, maybe we should find you a new sparring partner. You should invite those friends of yours to come over; we haven't seen them in almost two months. I'm sure they'd love to train with you."

"Uh, no, thank you," Korra objects bluntly. "I would rather have them as far away from here as possible while we have a couple of war criminals living here."

Jinora doesn't respond. Her eyes fix on something over Korra's shoulder, and she looks confused. Korra turns and scans the area, and it doesn't take long for her to see what caught Jinora's attention. Two shapes are moving slowly down the path to the training area. Korra knows exactly who they are.

"Spirits," Korra mutters, taking off in a run in their direction. She raises her voice sharply. "What the hell are you two doing out here?!" she snaps, glaring at them.

"Tarrlok wanted to take a walk on the shore," Noatak responds simply. Tarrlok's good arm is draped over his shoulder for support.

Tarrlok snorts. "It's too stuffy in the temple. I needed some fresh air."

Korra slides to a halt in front of them. "You've both only been awake for a week! Just look at you—you're hardly in shape for a walk, let alone on your own. Back inside, both of you." Korra hears footsteps behind her and turns to see Jinora. "Jinora, help me get them back to their rooms."

"No."

Korra spins back around and glares at Noatak, her irritation spiking. "What did you say?"

"I said no," he replies simply. "We're not going back inside until we're ready to go." He straightens his back and squares his shoulders as best he can while still supporting Tarrlok, and stares down at Korra. Not glaring, simply looking. Despite the almost sickly pale skin, shaggy hair, blotchy burns, ragged scars, and overall unkempt appearance, it reminds Korra too much of Amon. He looks nothing like the former war figurehead, and if she didn't know any better, Korra would have said that they weren't the same person—but she does know better. Images flash in her head—the ambush at Aang Memorial Island, the attack at the Pro-Bending Arena, being kidnapped by Tarrlok, the Battle for Republic City, the airbenders almost losing their bending, Korra actually losing her bending—and it's all too overwhelming.

To her humiliation, Korra is the first to look away. "You're not gonna make this easy for me, are you?"

Noatak relaxes slightly, looking oddly satisfied. "Do you expect any different from me?" Korra has to admit that she doesn't.

"Would you like to stay and watch us practice?" Jinora offers kindly, her voice sounding a little stiff. Korra shoots her a glare. "I'm sure a bit of criticism would do us both some good. What do you say?"

Noatak seems slightly hesitant, but Tarrlok speaks before his brother. "I'd like that. There's hardly anything interesting to do in that stupid room. Come on, Noa; a little entertainment never killed anyone, has it?" Noatak looks annoyed at the use of the nickname, and Korra can still see that he doesn't really want to watch them, but he ends up complying. He shoots Korra a look as cynical as the one Korra usually gives him—one thing they agree on, then. It's the only time it'll ever happen.

The older brother sighs. "Shall we begin, then?" he asks snidely. "The sooner we start, the sooner we can finish." Korra considers reminding him that we aren't doing anything—she and Jinora are the ones that will be training. Noatak and Tarrlok are just their uninvited and unwanted audience. She decides not to bring it up because she doesn't feel like arguing with him. She doesn't even want to talk to him unless she has to.

Korra thinks that, if things had gone differently, she'd come to like this new Tarrlok, though. He has a much looser personality than the uptight Noatak, due to losing more of his memory and being younger in the only clear thing he remembers, but the few flashes he has from before the disappearance are just enough to make him more serious at times, enough to balance his personality out. Perhaps it's just the painkillers he's been taking the past few days. It sounds strange, but he reminds her a bit of Bolin.

Maybe, in that alternate reality, she'd be friends with Noatak, too. Honestly, she doubts it.

The four of them trek back to the training area. Jinora occasionally trails back a little bit, making sure the brothers can actually handle the walk. After a few moments, Korra will hear her footsteps picking up again. Then they trail off. It irritates the hell out of Korra for some reason, so instead of waiting for any of them to catch up, she dashes back down to the rest of the path, listening gratefully as the footsteps fade into the background and disappear altogether.

By the time Jinora, Noatak, and Tarrlok finally make it to the training area, Korra has been sitting there for several minutes, using a short stick to doodle in the dirt. Korra's not an artist, and she knows it; the doodles are crap, and looking back over them, she has no idea what she was drawing in the first place. She looks up as she hears Jinora's light footsteps and the brothers' heavy ones approaching. Korra sweeps her palm a couple of times across the dirt, smearing the doodles, before she stands up to meet them. "About time you slowpokes showed up," she chides mockingly. "What took you so long? I was almost considering going back to the temple if you didn't get here soon."

"Well, we aren't all gifted with your super speed or burdened with your lack of patience, are we, Korra?" Tarrlok responds scathingly. Korra glares at him. She's almost sure that a glare is her constant expression around these two.

"Sit down and shut up, or I'll haul your ass back to the temple and make sure they lock the doors next time," Korra spits.

Tarrlok shrugs, unfazed. "You asked." Still, he and Noatak step aside, leaving Jinora standing next to Korra, and lower themselves to the ground on the sidelines. "If anyone shows up, you never saw either of us." Korra waves her hand dismissively.

Noatak glances at the scratches Korra made in the dirt, then picks up the stick Korra had discarded and starts sketching in the dirt as well. Tarrlok leans over his shoulder to inspect his work and whispers something in Noatak's ear. Noatak snaps back something short, but it must have been humorous because Korra can tell Tarrlok's holding back a laugh. They're acting so much like children, Korra has to remind herself that this is Equalist leader Amon and corrupt ex-councilman Tarrlok she's watching. It's so bizarre.

"Korra?" Jinora's voice breaks in to Korra's thoughts, jarring her back to reality.

"Hmm?"

Jinora has a mischievous spark in her eyes. "We never finished our competition," she reminds the Avatar.

"Oh." Korra remembers their bet, having been cut short when their audience showed up. "Right. Still up for it?"

"Of course," Jinora confirms as though it's the most obvious thing in the world. "Any day when someone else has to put up with my siblings is a happy day for me."

Korra vows to herself to wipe that smug look off Jinora's face. "Bring it on, little girl," she taunts, setting herself in a fighting stance. "If you've got it," she adds just to rattle Jinora. She can't tell if it works or not.

Jinora does bring it on. The moment it appears Korra is ready, Jinora unleashes a flurry of air attacks. Korra doesn't see it coming, and every time she moves, the movement is used to either dodge the blast or block it. "Hey!" she calls to Jinora, "Could you calm it down a bit?"

"I thought our training before was child's play!" Jinora shouts back, not letting up on the blasts. "Are you trying to surrender and admit defeat?" she taunts.

"Never!" Korra denies. While Jinora's attacks aren't weak, they aren't particularly strong, either. They're just so quick, it's getting to be overwhelming. Korra starts throwing back punches of air in Jinora's general direction. She searches frantically for an opening, somewhere she can get a clear shot, but nothing appears. Her own attacks are proving futile—while they block Jinora's, none of them actually reach her.

One of Jinora's attacks aims high around Korra's shoulders. She ducks to avoid it and kicks her feet in an arc along the ground. The blast hits Jinora's feet, effectively knocking her off balance. Korra takes advantage of this momentary break in attacks, using all she's got to keep Jinora on the ground—not enough to hurt, but enough to hold her down. "Ready to give up yet?" Korra yells over the winds.

Jinora holds her hands up the best she can in her position. "All right!" she concedes. "You win! Just let me up!" Korra complies and halts her attacks, extending her hand to help Jinora stand. The other girl takes it gratefully, but immediately afterwards she sends a punch of air straight into Korra's gut. "That's for holding me down." It's not particularly painful, but it's enough to leave Korra winded.

"Doesn't matter," Korra counters, her voice coming out as a wheeze. "I still won. Now you have to spend the rest of the day as Ikki's and Meelo's slave." She ends the sentence with a smug grin stupidly plastered on her face

Jinora shrugs. "I don't care. They're my younger siblings. They try and tell me to do stuff for them all the time." She turns to head back up to the temple. "I think that's enough training for today. You'd better get them—" she nods toward Noatak and Tarrlok, "—back up there before they're missed. Have fun with that." Korra watches her disappearing form, annoyance bubbling up inside her. Jinora was the one who'd invited them down to watch, not her!

She turns to the brothers anyways, and stares blankly at what she sees. "Did you two even pay attention to us?" she asks incredulously.

"No," Tarrlok admits bluntly. "We were busy."

"I was busy," Noatak corrects him immediately. "You were just hovering over my shoulder and distracting me."

"Same thing."

Korra snorts in near-amusement. Children.

"Avatar Korra?" a voice calls from the direction of the path, and Korra turns to see Lo running down to meet her. Noatak is the first of the brothers to notice, and roughly shoves Tarrlok into the nearby bushes. Korra can hear him groan in pain and contempt, but only spares herself an eye roll. Lo comes to a halt in front of the Avatar. "Avatar Korra, have you seen either of our patients? They've disappeared from their room, and no one has any idea where they've gotten off to."

"No one knows?" Korra repeats, looking past the healer's shoulder and seeing Jinora's tiny silhouette near the temple. She shrugs. "I haven't seen them all day," she tells Lo. "I've been down here training all morning, so I'd know if they were anywhere around here. And obviously," she spreads her arms and waves them a bit, "they're not here."

Lo gives her a suspicious look, but doesn't push it. "Let me know if you see them, okay?" She turns without waiting for an answer and starts back up the path.

"Will do!" Korra calls after her. She waits a moment for the healer to be out of earshot, then turns toward the bush. "You two bastards owe me for this, you know that?"

Noatak raises himself to a standing position. "Noted," he agrees. He hauls Tarrlok to his feet and throws his brother's left arm around his shoulders. "Thank you, Korra. Until next time." He and Tarrlok exit past her, following the path up to the temple. As they pass her, Tarrlok raises the stump of his right arm in a sign of farewell.

Korra waves two fingers subconsciously. "There shouldn't be a next time!" she objects stubbornly. Noatak pays her no heed.

When they're gone, Korra moves over to the bush to inspect Noatak's scribbles on the ground. She's amazed at what she sees: it's a near-perfect rendition of Korra and Jinora training earlier. Korra has no idea how he did it, but she can see the details on her clothing, the blasts of wind, and even the bits of dirt disturbed by their sparring session. It puts Korra's earlier doodle, whatever it may have been, to complete shame. Korra needs to go into town again soon and buy the man a sketchbook. Maybe it'll keep his mind off of her.

There's a note near the bottom left of the artwork with an arrow pointing to said doodles. Korra reads it, and almost reconsiders her idea to buy Noatak a sketchbook. Freaking Tarrlok, she thinks sourly to herself. Eventually.

Avatar Korra, your artwork is fucking terrible. –Tarrlok

AN: So I've got a feeling I'm making this story move too quickly. Any of you readers have a thought?