Note: I'm almost back to my starting output. Crazy. I doubt I'll ever be back to once a day updates, but I think this is good as is (midterms/spring break really do a number on me). Anyway, enjoy this chapter. The plot continues to thicken!
Love all the reviews and follows. And if you ever have a question on the fic, feel free to leave a review. I usually answer back to any questions asked to me.
Noatak sat at his table with his radio turned onto a jazz station and with a newspaper in his hand. He read the Water Street Gazette, which he found consistently better than the Northern Star Post. The Water Street Gazette, in Noatak's opinion, normally had good, honest coverage and less sensationalized journalism than the Northern Star Post. He took a pen and circled little parts that would be of use. Noatak used to do this all of the time when he was entrenched with all of his duties with the Equalists. He took every single newspaper in Republic City and read through all of the articles to scour for things he felt were useful for the movement- even the silly police beat. As he underlined part of the article on recent activity on the eastern side of town, the door opened and a winded Korra entered the room.
"Hey… hey there… What're you up to?" Korra said.
She shut the door and peeled off her boots. She was already dressed in her black suit and ready to go out. Noatak was still in his white shirt and brown pants. Korra nudged Noatak's arm and sat on his lap while Noatak attempted to remember his place in the article.
"Korra, you're making this difficult for me," Noatak said.
"That's the point," Korra said.
Noatak sighed and ignored Korra as she twisted in his lap. He took the paper from the table and put it out in front of his face. I'm going to read this article damnit. Why does she have to do this right now?
"We're not going out anyway," Noatak said.
"You keep saying that," Korra said.
"If you read the news more, you would know what I'm saying," Noatak said.
"I do read it…"
"Then you would know that there has been heightened Black Squall activity since we happened upon their meeting. It wouldn't be so bad if it meant more members taking guard, but now things like this are happening."
Noatak slapped the newspaper back on the table. The sound was sharp enough that Korra jumped a little from her seat. He pointed to one of the underlined quotes in the article and then tapped on it. Korra looked down and read the sentence. Couple killed in recent gang related violence.
"They're warning us," Noatak said.
"I'm not going to get killed," Korra said.
"No. Not if I can help it," Noatak said.
Korra rose up and started to walk to the kitchen.
"Tea?" Korra said.
"Sure… Pick whatever you want. I don't mind," Noatak said.
Noatak dropped his pen and joined Korra in the kitchen. He paused behind her and let his hand drift up and down her back. He saw her relax at his touch and heard the soft sigh of relief from her lips.
"You don't have to wear this tonight. You can wear one of my shirts if you'd like," Noatak said.
"Mhm…" Korra said.
"Do you want me to get you a shirt?" Noatak asked.
"Yeah. That would be nice," Korra said.
When Noatak came back with the longest shirt he could find, Korra stood, leaning on the counter beside the stove, with her arms folded and looking off in some distance that was not exactly clear. She looked strangely beautiful like this in her distracted manner. Noatak went to her and kissed her temple.
"What are you thinking about love?" he said.
He sometimes called her that. Love. Korra liked it from the start. It was something he used sparingly around her, but when he said it, it never sounded overly saccharine. Something about the way his deep voice that was made for the roundness of that word made it all that much more perfect. Maybe it was just something to be expected from someone who spent an awful lot of time trying to pick the perfect words to say.
"Oh… nothing really. Just about dinner. Most of the council was there," Korra said.
"Ah… I suspect that was… interesting," Noatak said.
Noatak unzipped the front of Korra's suit and brushed the shoulders aside. He grazed her bindings and proceeded to remove her suit. He stopped at her hips and planted a couple kisses there before continuing. Korra always wondered what through Noatak's mind when he did things like this. He always kissed her belly or hips. She asked him a few times, and he usually said out of habit. The habit, he said, was not his. It was something his father did for his mother. Before Noatak knew of his father's abhorrent nature, he said that his father used to kiss his mother on her belly for good luck- for a child. He wanted to remember his father like this but always had a hard time doing it.
"When we finally decide to have a kid, we'll have a lot of good luck," Korra said.
Korra held Noatak's head and rustled his hair. Noatak kissed her stomach again before proceeding to take off the rest of the suit. Noatak rubbed Korra's calves and nudged Korra to lift her feet as he removed the last parts of the suit. Korra bent down to grab the shirt he had dropped and slipped it over her head. The shirt grazed her bottom, and the sleeves went past her hands. Korra rolled the sleeves to her elbows and went back to the steaming kettle.
"This shirt's really big," Korra said.
"It's not mine. I had to borrow Nanuq's shirt once. He told me to keep it. It doesn't even fit me," Noatak said.
"Yeah, that's obvious. He's like a foot taller than you plus fifty more pounds of muscle," Korra said.
"I don't know how Nigaq does it."
"Nigaq?"
"Nanuq's wife. She's about a foot shorter than you."
"What? Seriously? Well… I guess it doesn't when you're in bed."
"It doesn't even matter outside there either. She could probably beat you in a fight."
"You sure?"
"I wouldn't underestimate her."
Korra shrugged.
"I still have it," Korra said.
"I don't think you've ever lost it," Noatak said.
"You're trying too hard, and you don't even need to try," Korra said.
Noatak grabbed Korra closer to him.
"You're the only person to beat me," he said.
"Barely," Korra said.
"Still counts."
Korra turned and placed a satchel of tea in the kettle. Noatak, behind Korra, held her tight and kissed her neck. Korra shouldered him off.
"Wow… You certainly are in the mood. You weren't earlier. Why the change?" Korra said.
"You seem upset… and I think it's my fault," Noatak said.
"Huh? Noa… It's nothing. I'm not mad at you," Korra said.
"I'm just sorry that we couldn't go out like you wanted. I promise next week will probably be a better time," Noatak said.
"Ha… Noa, don't worry. I'm not thinking about that. I'm just… distracted by the dinner."
"What happened at dinner?"
"Nothing happened…. Just what was said."
Noatak nodded and took two cups. He poured the tea out and handed Korra a cup. Korra sipped her tea and went back into the living room to sit on the settee. Noatak followed her and reclined on the arm of the settee.
"You said the council attended the dinner?" Noatak said.
"Yeah. Well not all of them. Just a couple of the council people. Obviously Councilman Hahn and his family. Then there was Councilman Keelut and Councilman Itigiaq and Councilwoman Qilaq," Korra said.
Noatak snorted. He covered his mouth and returned to drinking his tea.
"What was that?" Korra said.
"I'm surprised," Noatak said.
"About what?" Korra said.
"You said Councilwoman Qilaq was in attendance. Your uncle must have invited her," Noatak said.
"So you know about her," Korra said.
"Of course I do. She lives in this district."
"What? Here? No offense, but this isn't the kind of district I would expect a councilmember would live in."
Noatak shrugged and put his teacup on the coffee table that Korra made him buy a month ago.
"All council members have to live in the district they represent. That's the law," Noatak said.
"She represents this district? Wow. Did you vote for her?" Korra said.
"As a fugitive, I hardly think it appropriate or wise for me to vote for a council member. However, she is one of the better council members. Honestly Korra, you should learn a bit more about the politics here," Noatak said.
"I guess so… It's just that I've been so preoccupied with chi blocking and stuff, that I haven't really gotten a chance to get to know the council."
"I see… Then let me help."
Noatak got up and grabbed one of his notebooks from his bookshelf. He returned from his room and took the pen he left on his dining table. Then he sat down in front of the coffee table with the notebook opened to a blank page. Korra sat beside him and looked over at what he was doing. He sketched out a rough outline of the city and the surrounding area. Korra was surprised at how well the map looked. She thought about whether or not this was something that Noatak did when he was Amon- just making maps of Republic City.
"Here. This is the capital city and the rest of the Northern Water Tribe," Noatak said.
"I can see that," Korra said.
Noatak then drew lines over the city. He parted the city into seven different parts and then extended three lines outside of the city.
"The city itself has seven districts. Then the outlying area outside of the city have districts to the east, west, and north," Noatak said.
"Where are you from?" Korra asked.
Noatak made a small dot far out in the northwestern part of the outside western district.
"Here," he said.
"What's it called? Your hometown," Korra said.
"Denali. There are mountains in that area, and the village sat at the foot of the mountains… You're distracting me," Noatak said.
"Sorry. I was curious."
"Anyway… Each of the ten districts has two council members that represent their district. So there are twenty council members in total that work as the legislative body of the Northern Water Tribe with your uncle, the chief, as the overseer. He gets vote on legislation in the event that the vote is tied. There is also a judicial board, but your uncle appoints them."
"My uncle says he's not that powerful… but I guess he's being modest."
"Very much. Well, as I told you before, Councilwoman Qilaq represents this district. She's the junior council member to the other council representative to this district. The senior council representative is Councilman Ingyu."
"Councilman Ingyu? That doesn't sound Water Tribe."
"It isn't. Like Sirmiq, he's a mixed Water Tribe man. His father is from the Earth Kingdom, but his mother is from here. He grew up in this district, which is home to the most of the mixed Water Tribe people. He's the only non-bender on the council."
"Who else lives here?"
"Fishermen and immigrants. Councilwoman Qilaq is the daughter of one of the captains of the largest fishing boats. But for the most part, the district is extremely poor."
"Yeah. I know. You live pretty well actually."
"I'm just lucky. Anyway… as you can see, there are only three districts in the southern part of the city, and the southern part of the city is the poorest. The district west of this one is home to poor workers… mainly in water treatment and other factory work. The southwestern district is home to the mobs and other organized crime. The northern half of the city is the richest half. For instance, Councilman Hahn comes from the northeastern district, and it's home to most of the high-ranking military officers."
"Why is that not a surprise?"
"Maybe he comes from a military family? The district east of his is home to most of the academics. They typically side with Councilwoman Qilaq. East of their district is the one you live in. Government officials live in this district. They side either way. Merchants dominate the district on the northeastern part of the city. Their only interest is in keeping with the merchants' wishes."
Korra took Noatak's pen and made little notes on the map. She tapped the pen on certain districts.
"So… which districts do Councilmen Keelut and Itigiaq belong to?" Korra asked.
Noatak pointed to the western district outside of the city.
"That's where Keelut is from…" Noatak said.
He then pointed to the merchant's district.
"And that's where Itigiaq is from," he said.
"Who are the council members for the southeast district?" Korra asked.
"Councilmen Miksa and Tonrar. I don't know much about them at all. Though I suspect no one should trust them."
Noatak got up and took the teacups to the kitchen while Korra readied the bed. She took off the shirt and settled under the blankets before Noatak came in. He slowly removed his shirt and pants before turning down the radiator and joining Korra in bed.
"So… which district did Tarrlok represent?" Korra asked.
Noatak stared at the ceiling. He followed Tarrlok's entire political career from the beginning. Noatak circled the little snippets on Tarrlok that he found in Water Tribe newspapers and kept them locked in his desk at the Equalist headquarters. The more entrenched in politics that Tarrlok got, the less Noatak kept the clips and found himself loathing his younger brother. He hated that about himself- that he had become a jealous older brother with no real reason to be jealous.
"I'm sorry… I didn't mean to assume you knew. I just supposed that he probably ran for a seat here before the United Republic," Korra said.
"No… you are right. I'm just surprised that it took me as long as it did to remember this…" Noatak said.
"Remember what?" Korra said.
"Before Tarrlok won the seat for the United Republic, he did have a seat in the tribal council… He was the junior councilman for Councilman Hahn's district…" Noatak said.
"Wow…"
"I'm stupid."
Noatak hit his head against the wall and sighed heavily.
"What?" Korra said.
She huddled closer to him and brushed his hair back.
"Councilman Hahn… I think he knows who I am."