A/N: Hey guys, sorry for the late update, I have finals this week so I will be lagging to update my stories. Thank Assassin729 for PM-ing me. As usual thank BG-13 :)

Korra's POV

It must have been past midday when I woke up. My eyes slowly fluttered open and settled on my Firebender host who was sitting on the bed leaning against the frame, a book in hand. I sat up and sleepily rubbed my eyes. I seriously just wanted to go back to sleep but I figured it was late and my parents were probably wondering where I was.

"Morning," he said. "Or should I say good afternoon."

I let a small smile appear at the comment. "What time is it?"

"About two in the afternoon," Mako replied. "How are you feeling?"

I let out a deep sigh at that, lying back down. "Tired."

"You sound tired." I nodded before turning on my side, determined to fall asleep again. Apparently, Mako had other ideas. "You need to eat."

"Not hungry," I answered with a yawn.

"Well I am and I don't like eating alone," he said standing up.

I raised a brow at this. "You live alone."

"But at the moment I'm not. So come on, eat something."

I sighed heavily before getting up and following him to the kitchen. He asked me to sit down while he re-cooked yesterday's dinner. The phone rang just as he finished and he walked over to it. I knew who it was by the way he was talking. It had to be my mom or my dad. He told them I was fine and just crashed at his place after going to dinner and hung up.

Mako served my food and I poked at it for a bit. I really wasn't all that hungry. I was mostly exhausted from my…little breakdown.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Nothing," I replied, taking a bite of my food. "I'm just tired."

He shook his head at this. "No, you're distancing yourself again," the Firebender pointed out. I sighed at that. I hated how well he could read me. It made me feel exposed. "You know you don't have to put up a front," he added. "Not for me."

"It's not something I can control," I replied as I finished half of my food. Mako looked at me thoughtfully. "I should probably go home. My parents are probably worried.

The Firebender nodded absently. "If you ever need anywhere to go, you know you can come here."

I gave him a sharp nod before leaving. I couldn't stand being with him after what happened. It made me feel so…vulnerable. I hated that feeling.

Senna's POV

My daughter hadn't come home and I was worried. I immediately called Mako, the one person that seemed to be able to get through to Korra. He assured me she was fine and had fallen asleep at his place after they had gone out to dinner. I let out a relieved sigh at this. I knew she was safe with him, and it gave me peace of mind. She came home not too long after I called, which surprised me a bit.

"Zuko and Iroh are coming for dinner," I informed her as she headed toward her room. "And I expect you to be there."

She shook her head. "I have plans."

"That's fine," I answered. Of course she had plans. She always seemed to. I tried to hide my annoyance. "The dinner is tomorrow," I added, making a move to go back to my room.

"Mom," Korra called. "I can't actually go."

I stopped and looked back at her. She had to be kidding. All I was asking for was one day of her being home and she couldn't do that? "I haven't seen either of them in years," I told her. "So whatever it is you have planned I'm sure you can make the sacrifice."

I was silently begging for her not to argue. 'Just this once, Korra,' I mentally begged.

She sighed heavily at this before nodding. She seemed too tired to disagree. "I'll be there." And with that she shut the door to her room.

Howl's POV

Korra hadn't gone home to sleep. Frankly I had been a bit worried but when I overheard her mother talking to Mako on the phone I let out a sigh of relief. I had to admit that I liked the friendship she had with him. I believed that he was the reason she didn't sink into the Blue Spirit part of herself completely, and I was glad for it. We met at the training grounds later on that night since she slept most, if not all, of the day after arriving home. There was something different about her. She was still guarded but at the same time she looked…relieved?

She had seemed thoughtful since she returned from the Swamp, and I hadn't quite decided if it was good or bad yet. In her absence I had taken up her role as the Blue Spirit which had in fact infuriated Bei Fong to no end because she was set on Korra being the creature. I had my fun with that, I'll admit. At least for now it would take some attention off the young Avatar.

"Is something on your mind?" I asked as we trained with bamboo sticks. Reason why we did this: hurt like hell when you got hit.

"No," she answered, sending a series of attacks my way. We backed away and I took a glance at the scars. She usually trained without a shirt, which was fine until she caught me starring, and then she'd give me a good beating. The scars had me more than curious.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Yeah."

"Did-did my dad give you any of those scars?" I asked quietly.

"One of them," she answered before taking a swing at my side.

I let out a grunt at this. Damn that hurt! "And the others?" I asked after a while. The girl didn't answer instead sent another series of attacks. I chuckled after she backed away. "One of these days you're going to have to tell me what happened to you."

"Absolutely," she answered sarcastically before we went head on. She spun and hit my back, making me crumble to the floor. "But not today."

"Nice move," I muttered before getting up.

Korra was already placing an off grey sweater over her head before taking out the small notebook that she carried around. She looked inside before turning over to me.

"Tarrlok runs the power and water lines in the Nonbender side of town," Korra began. "He spikes the prices when they can't pay and then shuts them down, even in the dead of winter."

I nodded walking over to her. "Which is at least a month away," I answered. "Nonbenders have been terrorized by the Triad's; one of the kids was burned pretty bad. Doctors don't know if he'll make it."

"If gang's are involved Lin should take care of it," Korra answered.

"I don't think it was the triads only that burned him," I insisted.

She looked at me, long and hard before shutting the journal. "I think you have a wrong impression of what it is I do."

I scoffed. "You take out 'bad' guys with Airbending and Dao blades."

Korra shook her head, grabbing her bag of clothes. "I don't fight street crime," she replied. "Crime happens in the city every day. What do you want me to do? Stop all of it?"

"Sounds like you have a narrow definition of being a hero," I said my tone clipped. She could be doing so much more with this Blue Spirit gig.

She paused for a moment, her expression pensive. "I'm not a hero. I never claimed to be." She left before I could reply.