Chapter 3: The Announcement
Location: Southern Water Tribe-Korra's Room.
Mako took a deep breath and touched the door for a moment. He knocked three times and waited patiently.
You may come in. " Korra's voice responded almost in a odd gloomy tune.
He stepped inside first, with Bolin and Asami following closely behind.
They were met with Korra, facing away from the door at first. "Can I please come out to the party now! If you are going to pour make up on me, one more time, I know for a fact my face is going to fall off."
She turned with a look of exhaustion and a hint of annoyance toward their door way. It was in that moment, Korra eyes widen as she let out a tiny gasp. She blinked a few times and shook her head.
"No way." She whispered as she closed her eyes hard and then opened them gently. "It is!"
Her sapphire blue eyes widened in pure shock as they met with the surprised golden yellow ones. The two stared at each other, for what seemed like eternity until Korra tore away from his gaze and looked onto the floor slightly blushing. He hardly noticed the blush because he was too busy absorbing the sight before him.
He remembered how Korra used to dress. She wore no makeup, (in his opinion she never needed it because she had natural beauty), she dressed in a ice clue sleeveless turtle neck top which she sometimes covered with her dark blue parka with the white fur hood. She also wore dark blue pants that were under some thick brown wrap that was tied around her waist and wore brown fur boats to match. She also had her hair tied in three ribbons, with two tied in the front of her face and the other used to make a simple yet sleek high ponytail. Of course, the best thing she wore was the tough yet innocently happy ice blue eyes and the friendly grin she always wore.
The Korra standing before him was not that one he almost hardly recognized. She had a smoky midnight mauve eyes shadow making her clear sapphire eyes popping out more than usual and her lips where lightly tinted with blush pink nude colored lips. Her hair was also different too. She had her bangs pushed back and part of her hair was held into a well wrapped tightly with two buns woven and knitted together by what appears to be silver snow flake pin clips the while of her now long hair, hung down like a curtain in soft waves.
She had a very unique and very beautiful dress. She had an open midnight blue-ish purple eskimo coat that was designed in a sort of Kimono like style. The sleeves of the kimono like coat were long in the ends and ended about four inches below the shoulder making her shoulders exposed. The front of the coat was divided in an upside down "v" and exposed her dress she was wearing under. The dress under the coat was lilac velvet dress that had glittering silver snow flake jewel like beads on it..
She was the epitome of how an ideal princess should look like.
Mako felt too stunned to say anything while Korra dreaded at the fact she felt her cheeks reddening as the handsome fire bender held a mixed expression of disbelief and longing.
Korra stepped back a little as she looked away from Mako. She then looked at the two other people behind Mako, realizing it was Bolin and Asami.
Still blushing, Korra's eyes lite up at the trio. "Well, you certainly surprised the living spirits out of me!"
Before Mako could stammer incoherent words, Bolin ran past him and hugged his favorite partner in crime.
"Korra! It's been forever! How the heck are ya!" The energetic earthbender exclaimed as he pulled away from the hug and gave her one of his goofy smiles. The avatar couldn't resist and laughed.
For a moment Korra considered this thought and carefully replied gently. "Well, things could be worse."
Bolin tilted his head a find her response a little strange while Mako knew for a fact Korra chose her words carefully on purpose to not completely be dishonest with everyone.
Asami came forward and sheepishly. "Hi Korra. It's been too long."
Mako expected Korra to either ignore her or make a rude remark or gesture to her but to his surprise, Korra pulled Asami into a soft embrace and smiled.
" Oh Asami… No amount of makeup will ever make me as pretty as you." Korra playfully stated. "Really, you get prettier as time goes by
Asami, clearly not expecting a warm and kind welcome, blushed. "Thank you Korra but for the record, you are very pretty too. "
Korra gave a small giggle. "Oh I have to disagree on that. I'm not really much of a looker. The only reason I look tolerable is thanks to my girly girl attendees simply love to dress me up and do make overs on me. I looked in the mirror and was amazed at the fact that make up does really work wonders."
Asami and Bolin glanced at Mako in silence, trying to tell him it was his cue to step in and speak. Mako gulped a little and began walking towards Korra, who was now nervously looking at him the way she used to when he would always loom over her to intimidate he when she was goofing off during pro bending practice or when she was being too stubborn to let anyone help her with a problem. Only this time, this look had more hurt and fear written on her face as if she was waiting to for him to harshly react to her.
"Korra…" Mako started as he rubbed his neck as he glanced away from her for a second in embarrassment. "You look very…pretty."
Korra glanced away from him and focused her attention to the left side of the floor and muttered. "Thank you Mako."
Mako raised his eyebrows a little as he frowned
' She won't even look at me directly in the eye. She isn't as spunky, confident, or even as happy as she used to be. Is she still mad at me? But she isn't mad at Asami…Then again, she didn't know about this kiss Korra and I shared about a year ago…But if she was mad, then why does she look at me with pained eyes? '
"Korra. Listen, I wanted to-" Mako began but was interrupted with three knocks.
Korra stepped forward. "Yes?"
"My lady. We have a message for you." The two female voices said in unison behind the door.
Korra gave Mako a quick glance. "Can it wait for a sec?"
"Y-Yeah. Sure…" Mako replied rubbed his neck.
Korra nodded. "You many come in."
Two identical women entered the room and bowed before the four.
"My apologies Avatar Princess Korra for interrupting your reunion with your close friends. But it is time to come out and meet with your parents and the members of the White Lotus. They wish to go over the ceremony speech with you one final time." Korra's twin attendees announced in unison.
Mako glanced at Korra who for a second saw her color drain from her face and her cast down. She then took a deep breath and gave a nervous reassuring smile to her attendees.
"T-Thank you, Kuma and Suma."
Korra turned to her old friends and stammered. "I'm sorry guys. But I have to go now. I really hope you enjoy the party. I'll talk to you later when I can okay?"
Before Mako could ask what was wrong, Korra rushed out of the room with her attendees following behind.
"Something is up." Mako bluntly stated as he put his hands on his trench coat pockets as Bolin and Asami tried to keep up with the concerned firebender.
Bolin nodded. "Normally, I would have said something like "you are overacting!" but I agree with you bro."
"Clearly, Korra is somehow different." Asami said as she put a finger toward her lip. "Apart from the way she looks, it's the way she is acting…"
The three finally made it out of the hallway and back to the party celebration. There was more people now and the music was playing on full blast.
Mako turned around to the others. "Asami's right. Did you see…how she sorta of gave out vague answers? Did you see how pale she looked at her servants about the speech? Korra is never shy or nervous and now suddenly she is? The worst part was how she avoided to look at me directly in the eye. We all know Korra was one of the few people who doesn't get intimidated by anyone…especially me."
The firebender leaned against the snowy wall. "It doesn't make any sense. Master Katara was right. She is clearly uncomfortable with all the change. "
Bolin nodded. "Mako, I think the best way to find out is during the party. You should go talk to her in private when you get the chance. I'm sure whatever's bothering her, you'd be the one to pull it out of her."
"Yeah!" Asami agreed with a smile. "If there's one person who can find out what really is wrong with Korra, it's you. After all, you are probably the only person who has ability to get through to her."
Mako gave tiny smirk but turned away from his friends. "I hope you're right. One thing's for sure though. I will talk to her alone."
The three glanced away and were watching the water tribe people dancing. In the right side of the dancing floor, laughter could be heard.
"Is that Master Tenzin?" Bolin asked chuckling.
Asami and Mako snickered they caught a humorous view of Pema dancing with her husband. Ironically, Tenzin wasn't really light on his feet and was stumbling and nearly falling with every step. His highly energetic wife, Pema, was yanking him back and forth in funny free style motion. All the other water tribe members were cheering them on and clapping for the pair. He could see that Master Katara was holding the baby and laughing at her son's comical misery. Suddenly three giggling children came toward running toward the trio.
"Hi guys! Did you see that? Did you see mommy and daddy dancing? Wasn't it the most funny thing that you guys ever seen? Did you guys laugh? I laughed. Do you guys want to dance! I want to dance! Will one of you dance with me? Oh, Oh, Oh, Bolin! Come on! Please dance with me! Please! Please! Please!"
Bolin smiled at Ikki. "It would be my honor. That is if my lady is okay with it.
He winked at Asami who giggled. "Only if you let me dance with this young man."
Meelo stared at Asami and then began to yank her and twirled around in circles with her while he screamed.
Ikki hopped up and down and pulled Bolin and began to hold both his hands and began to skip in a circle all around.
Jinora rubbed her arm a little standing next to Mako blushing as she watched her siblings dancing. The firebender saw the gleam in her eye and knew she wanted to dance as well. Mako gave a small soft sigh, knowing he was a sucker for kids. Without any warning, he softly grabbed Jinora's hand and pulled her into the dance floor.
She blushed. "Mako...What are you doing? I can't dance at all-"
"Put your feet on mine and then hold my hands. I'm not much of a dancer either but I know the basics when it comes to moving around slowly." Mako stated softly.
Jinora broke into a smile and did what she was told. Together the two slow danced gracefully around for a little while. Then after a few moments a water tribe boy around Jinora's age, came forward and asked to cut in. Jinora blinked and blushed while Mako gave a deep chuckle and allowed them to dance.
He went back to the sides and watched as his brother and Asami were walking towards him, laughing at the wild Airbending dance moves Tenzin's kids were teaching them.
Suddenly, the music stopped and everyone hushed in silence as Korra's parents, Tonraq and Senna stepped forward. Everyone cheered and clapped as Senna sat down in one of the throne chairs while Tonraq stood in the middle. Mako noticed despite Senna's shy smile, that her face was in sort of distressed looking. Immediately the young firebender felt a strange as he now began to have a gut feeling in his stomach as he watched Korra's mother for a moment. He then turned his attention to Korra's father who somehow seemed tranquil as usual.
"It is an honor to stand before my tribe and to have been chosen by you all to lead the Southern Watertribe." Tonraq announced while everyone cheered.
"My Wife, Senna, and I are so very happy that everyone is here to celebrate and honor my most beloved daughter, Korra on her newly appointed status as the Southern Watertribe Princess. Korra will you step out now and show the people of our tribe the future queen they have chosen to lead this tribe."
Everyone gasped as Korra gracefully made her way towards the stage. She had on a white muff which Mako thought made her look extremely cute and blushed at the fact the word "cute" entered his mind. Korra, however, was far from looking happy and to Mako's horror saw that her eyes were wet.
'Has she been crying?'
Korra eyes lifted towards the audience and gave a small smile. Asami and Bolin both whistled and cheered which immediately grabbed her attention as she continued walking towards her father. Her eyes instantly met Mako's and he could have sworn she had an expression of shame on her face before quickly looking away from him. She made her way towards her father and plasted on a huge smile and hugged him. She then walked over to her mother and hugged her. Then Tonraq sat in his throne chair while Korra took center stage.
"Thank you everyone for choosing me and my family as the ones to lead our tribe. I promise as your future Queen, I shall protect this tribe with my own two hands. I won't fail you all."
Everyone cheered and whistled as she made her way towards her throne chair, sitting beside her father. Her father than stood up and once again took the stage.
"We also have another surprise for everyone." Tonraq started.
Everyone murmured in confusion while Mako raised his eyebrows. He noticed how Tonraq now held a somewhat pained and clearly unhappy look on his face.
"Is it me…" Bolin whispered to Mako as he leaned closer to his ear. "Or does Korra's dad seemed a little angry or something?"
Asami then huddled closer to the boys and softly added. "Not only angry but very conflicted too."
"Yeah…His wife too…" Mako replied as he kept focusing on the expressions on Korra's face. She still was hanging her head down as if avoiding looking at her people and perhaps maybe avoiding to look at him.
"We have wonderful news to announce. We have someone very special here with us today. Friends! Let me present to you, from our sister tribe, the second son of the royal family, from the Northern Water Tribe, Haku."
A tall muscular young man, around Mako's age came forward. He had the same dark olive skin that Korra had. He had ocean blue eyes and had jet-black hair that was tied into a small pony tail. He had a square jaw and a semi large pointed nose and what appears to be a three scratch marks slanted across his cheeks. The fading yet still pink scars somehow ironically, made him attractive. All the females began whispering and squealing as he made his way on stage. He wore a dark blue coat and dress attire and broke into a huge smile as he made way towards the center. At this point all the women were swooning at his smile and were practically in a giggling fit.
Asami gave a low whistle. "Oooo. Now he's handsome."
"Pffft. He's alright." Bolin muttered as he crossed his arms at a now laughing Asami.
"Awww Is the great Bolin, jealous perhaps?" Asami teased as she wrapped her arms around Bolin's arm.
Bolin blushed and looked the other way. "Hmmf. Why would I? Okay, so he's a prince of the Northern Water Tribe. Big deal. He doesn't have the hard street edge like Mako and I have. Right Mako?"
Mako intentionally ignored his brother as he focused on the way Korra looked at the young man. She wasn't acting like all the other girls who were practically going into a mini frenzy. She was acting quite the opposite, as she stared at him seriously.
Haku gave a sweet smile. "It is an honor to visit my sister tribe. Thank you for welcoming me into your home."
Everyone cheered once again and Mako glanced at the Tenzin and his family. Tenzin was clapping yet he noticed the unamused look on his face. Pema, his wife, was beside him rocking her baby yet did not even crack her usual warm grin at Haku. Even Ikki, who was known to talk and ask a million of questions under minute while giggling, remind quiet and refused to clap. Jinora held her brother's Meelo's hand, and noticed the troubled look on her face. The only one who remained their usual self was Meelo but that was only because he was half asleep.
Mako at this point felt the painful feeling in his gut worsening. 'Now I know something is up.
"Now may I ask for my daughter to come up on the stage." Tonraq asked in a firm yet sad tone.
Korra made her way up in the stage and slightly bowed to her people yet narrowed her gaze onto the floor, refusing to look at anyone. She then took off her kimono like coat off and at this point everyone in the room gasped.
"Hey…Normally I'm not one into Fashion and all but…" Bolin started as he yanked both Bolin's and Mako's sleeves. "I don't remember seeing that around her neck. "
Asami squinted to get a better look at Korra. "You know, come to think of it. I don't remember seeing that either. Wait…"
The non bender's jaw dropped and as her eyes widened. "No…"
Bolin and Mako turned to her and in unison asked. "What?"
"That necklace…" Asami stammered, her eyes glued to Korra's necklace. "I read about this at school. It's an ancient yet still present Northern Water Tribe Custom."
Mako felt his stomach churning and remained silent as Bolin nervously asked. "It's a Northern Water Tribe Custom? Asami what are you talking about?"
Asami turned to Mako. "It's not an ordinary necklace…it's-"
Before Asami could finish, Tonraq spoke again. "Yes, my fellow tribe. It is what you think it is and it is true. The second son, of the Northern Water Tribe, Haku has carved the betrothal necklace for my daughter Korra. They are to be married one week, from today. I know what you all may be thinking. What about the Northern Watertribe? Haku's older brother, Taku will be ruling the Northern Tribe after their father's passing. Hence forth, Haku has come a long way to visit and willing become your future chief and he and my daughter will rule the Southern Watertribe together. Let us now rejoice for the future heirs of our tribe!"
Everyone in the Southern tribe all remained frozen however. They were too shock to comprehend the situation. Tenzin noticed the hollow silence and he robotically began to clap, with his family following. Slowly one by one clapped in unison and then broke into a booming cheer. However Bolin, Asami, and Mako were the only ones who were not clapping.
Mako found himself staring at Korra who now lifted her head up and gave a small sad smile to everyone. When her eyes his, he finally snapped out of his stunned reaction and felt as if he got punched in the stomach. She noticed the painful and disbelief look in his eyes and turned away from him. Mako lost whatever small amount of control he had, as he no longer hid away his hurt and anger. He clenched his teeth and glared at the man who was going to marry Korra.
Bolin shook his head. "No way…"
" I can't believe this is happening." Asami shook her head and placed her hand on her head.
Mako eyes twitched and he breathed heavily in fury when he saw Haku grabbed his future bride's hand and raised them into the air as the water tribe cheered louder by this action. Korra however refused to look up and concentrated at only the people in the front.
'Why Korra? Why him? Why are you are your eyes watering if you chose- '
He then remembered the sad look in Korra's and her parent's faces and scowled in confusion. 'Maybe it wasn't her decision…not entirely. If she willingly agreed to this, she and her family wouldn't be in this sad state. It doesn't make sense...'
To make matters worse, Haku yanked Korra into a surprise embrace which only made everyone go into a happy frenzy. Mako could no longer take it and stormed out of the party.
"Mako!" His younger brother yelled after him. "Mako! Hey bro! Wait up!"
"Mako please! We're coming too!" Asami shouted as the firebender could hear them trying to break through the crowd.
The firebender was too emotionally wounded and beyond outraged he has ever been in a while. As he walked passed the open gate, he only had one thing on his mind.
'I need to talk to her alone…Tonight. The sooner the better. I need to know the truth before it's too late.'
Ending Note: Okay. I'm pretty sure alot of you saw this coming (considering I gave it away in the intro author's comments). XD Clearly this was inspired by the last three episodes of Avatar the last airbender of Yue's story. Again I apologize for being horrible about Korra's fashion :c
Poor Mako and Korra ;~~~; MAKO GO TALK TO YOUR WOMAN! XD
Lmao I had to add Tenzin and Pema dancing in there and of course Katara would laugh at her son.
Hmm I wonder how those lovers will interact with each other huh?