AUTHOR'S NOTES: Apologies for the slight delay; the monthly updates will continue for the foreseeable future, give or take a day or two. Given the different way things have been going down at this point, especially surrounding Korra's mother Senna, the trial plays out a bit differently, and we also have not seen the last of Risha.
Happy Reading!

BOOK THREE: WATER

CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED TWENTY: THE VERDICT

Whether it was in the middle of the night or merely a few minutes after falling asleep, Korra and Asami eventually woke up from their embraced position and moved to their bed, changing in the process. They woke up much more refreshed the next morning, even if 'morning' was closer to midday. Asami predictably woke up first, and slowly wriggled out of Korra's warm embrace. She was snoring somewhat loudly, but her ungraceful sleeping positions had stopped when she could wrap herself around Asami instead.

She smiled at Korra's sleeping form, also quietly admiring that she was still topless from last night. Knowing Korra wasn't going to be up for another few hours due to her nocturnal habits and her general distaste for all things morning, Asami decided to start her day without Korra for the time being, although left a note saying where she would be if she wasn't home when Korra woke from her slumber.

She cleaned up, got dressed, and made a quick breakfast before stopping by to pay Mako and Bolin a visit. It was rare she crossed paths with them without Korra, and nearly impossible that any of them went a day without Korra's name coming up in some form or another—but in truth, that was oftentimes an effect Korra had on anyone who met or knew her.

"Asami!" Bolin and Mako were both already awake as well, although given that they used to have to take the early morning blocks to train at the probending gym, this didn't surprise Asami at all either, "what brings you here so early? Is Korra okay?"

"She is, yeah," Asami nodded with a light smile, "She had a wild night last night and not in the fun way though, and I'm sure she'd want to tell you two if she were here."

"It's nothing private or anything, is it?" Mako raised an eyebrow.

"Oh no, trust me; I know the things Korra would share and things she would rather keep between us. This was about her encounter with someone called The Blood Whisperer."

"That… sounds like a really scary name!" Bolin actually shrunk against the wall for a moment, "is she a freaky bloodbending lady or something? Is it another one of those Red Lotus goons out for Korra's blood again?"

"How did… Bolin that was actually kind of incredible." Asami stifled a laugh before straightening her face again. "That's more or less the gist of it actually. Do you guys have a moment?"

"Of course," Mako gestured to the seats and sofa, and the trio got comfortable before Asami launched into recounting the same story Korra had recounted to her the night before.

"She's a bloodbender now too then," Mako shook his head, "I don't fear her going off the deep end with that kind of power, but after the mess she was in with that whole debacle with Councilman Tarrlok, I don't imagine she's taking it well."

"That's the thing; she seems to be taking it unexpectedly well… or at least in stride, that is." Asami indicated, "it doesn't seem like an act, but I'm wondering if she's trying to keep a strong facade so that she can stay cool and composed when her parents go on trial tomorrow."

"Oh yeah I heard about that; crazy stuff, and even I think it's rigged." Bolin exclaimed, "Varrick is not happy at all about this either, but still…"

"Still, they got to Korra," Mako finished the sentence for him, "the Red Lotus, I mean."

"Do you think they're in cahoots with Unalaq's power trip?" Bolin piped up.

"I doubt it," Asami shook her head, "Korra's told me numerous times that despite Unalaq's former connections to the Red Lotus, that he's tried to wash his hands of it. I think they want him dead as much as the Southern Water Tribespeople do."

"So basically Korra's at the center of yet another enormous political web." Mako quipped.

"That sounds like something Kwan would say," Bolin gave a surprisingly dry laugh, "but at the same time, that's all the more reason we need to keep supporting her, right?"

"You won't get any objection from me," Asami smiled briefly, "and I'm sure if she was here right now she would be just as grateful for you two as she is for me."

"What are friends for?" Mako smiled, "although I'm not sure there's much we can do."

"Where's Varrick?" Signs of Asami's restlessness were starting to show with how she paced and fidgeted, "not only would he be able to have a strong hand in this game, but he and I were supposed to close our deal this morning."

"I dunno," Bolin shrugged, glancing around at a myriad of animal heads mounted on the wall, including a full-sized body of a platypus-bear. "but this place is great! It's nice and fancy, and best of all, Eska doesn't know I'm here!"

Almost as if this was a trigger, the doors of the room flew open, as Eska, Desna, and a small contingent of Northern Soldiers bustled in.

"Eeeyaaa!" Bolin yelped as his eyes met Eska's, ""H-hey… I wasn't hiding, no-siree… hey, hey!"

"I'm not on the hunt for you," Eska replied stiffly, "Currently, anyways."

"So what brings you here then?" If there was any suspicion or apprehension behind Asami's words, she hid it well.

"We search for Varrick." Desna replied, "Our father wishes him to stand trial." The soldiers spread out, searching high and low for Varrick, although neither Mako, Bolin, nor Asami had seen him arrive or leave.

"What did he do?" Asami was already worried what this might mean if she was caught doing business with a wanted man.

"He is a traitor to the Water Tribe along with our aunt and uncle." Desna replied in the same monotone. "Their trial is set for tomorrow afternoon and we would like to make this efficient."

"Milord and lady," the Northern soldiers returned, "Varrick isn't here."

"Very well." Eska cocked her head towards her brother almost mechanically, "Desna, let us continue our search elsewhere."

Right before Bolin could heave a sigh of relief, Eska snapped her head towards him. "Boyfriend! Bow to me when I exit."

"Yes, yes, my sweet koala-otter!" Bolin was already cowering on his knees.

"Hmph," wry amusement caused the corner of Eska's lip to curl up in what was almost a smirk. "You're so cute when you grovel."

"Don't let her treat you that way," Asami glared at him the moment Eska and Desna had vacated the building, "stand up for yourself!"

"I tried to break up with her," Bolin pleaded, "but Mako gave me terrible advice. Thanks, Mako."

"Wait," Mako was unfazed by Bolin's dramatic pout, "how are your girl problems my fault?"

"Bolin," Asami reasserted, "you need to be honest with her. Tell her how you really feel." She couldn't help but think back to how she and Korra operated, what with their vow of no more secrets. She was snapped from this, however, when she heard a familiar voice.

"Honesty is for fools, kid!" it sounded like Varrick, but there was no sign of motion anywhere in the room. It did cause Mako, Bolin, and Asami to all spring up and look around, however.

"Varrick?" Bolin gawked, although he was no more successful at finding the voice than anyone else was, "Where are you?"

"Look kid, If you wanna ditch the girl, you gotta make yourself scarce. Disappear, like I did!"

"Varrick, where are you?" Asami demanded.

"Somewhere Unalaq will never find me," Varrick sounded proud of himself, and the smug expression on his face as he appeared out of the stuffed platypus-bear matched it. "Inside Ping-PIng! How we doin'?"

"The coast is clear," Mako looked around one more time, "you can come out."

"No way, mister!" Varrick's head disappeared back into the platypus-bear, "not until I know it is absolutely 157% safe. Ah, thank you Zhu Li!" Varrick was suddenly holding a cup of tea.

"Your assistant is in there too?" Asami gawked.

"Of course; Zhu Li never leaves my side!" Varrick took a sip of the tea before spitting it out in disgust. "Yuck! Yuugh! Blech! You forgot the honey, Zhu Li!"

"Sorry sir," Zhu Li's voice was as calm as ever, "there isn't any in here."

"No honey!?" Varrick acted like this was an unforgivable travesty, "we're in a bear for crying out loud! Anyways, Bolin, I got a little something for you 'round back."

Bolin followed Varrick-bear around to the back of the building, where the platypus-bear's tail lifted up and released a couple of fat wads of cash.

"Now listen up," Varrick continued after Bolin's initial awe had worn down slightly, "Unalaq's rigged this trial, no doubt about it. So I need you to make sure my trusty rebels stay out of prison… keep Korra's folks out too if you can."

"Wait, what's the money for?" he picked up a stack of cash in each hand.

"Bribery, of course!" Varrick's flamboyant tone returned, "There's always someone willing to look the other way for a few yuans."

"I think I catch your drift…" Bolin smirked in a way not unlike the way a grade school student might smirk when he thought he had successfully outmaneuvered his mother to get to the cookie jar. "...Varrick-bear." he topped it off with a wink. Korra would have been proud.

Fortunately the last days leading up to the date of the trial were fairly eventless. Boin kept the money a secret from Mako, but did eventually spill it to Korra after he had remembered the Avatar had had some less-than-legal dealings in the distant past. What he didn't know was that Korra had struck a deal with Lightning Bolt Zolt of the Triple Triads, but it did mean that Korra's general savviness of the criminal underworld was a little keener than one might have thought.

"Varrick gave you bribe money then, hmm?" she seemed intrigued, "I can think of a few places for it to go. What are your thoughts?"

"Who's that dodgy waterbender girl I've seen you with a few times? An old friend?"

"Who, Risha? Always wearing a short black dress and heels?"

"That's her; how do you know her?"

"She's an old acquaintance back in Republic City. She's been staying at the Winter Waters Hotel for an extended period and I don't know why. She's in suite 576 if you want to give her a holler."

"I might just do that… she's a looker too!" Bolin blurted out.

"I think she's also like 35 so she's probably out of your league, Bolin." Korra chuckled. "Best of luck though; and if things get hairy, just tell her Korra sent you."

Fortunately for Bolin, things went rather smoothly. Money changed hands, Risha threw a few suggestive lines out, but ultimately, she promised that the money would get where it needed to, without implicating Bolin or Varrick. How she was so savvy to what was going on was not something Bolin thought to ask about, and Korra wasn't there to wheedle it out of her.

Soon enough, however, the time and day of the trial arrived, and the banquet hall from the Glacier Festival had been converted into a well-organized courtroom as people began shuffling in. Most of them were spectators, but Korra's parents were both at the front as the defendants alongside several other captured rebels. Across from them was Unalaq, whose stoic expression hid any and all of his intentions. Tarrlok and Kwan were near the front of the crowd as well, seated but glaring up at the judge panel, and over from Tonraq and Senna towards Unalaq as well. Korra, Asami, Mako and Bolin were lined up on the opposite end near Tarrlok and Kwan, and while Korra put on an angry face, she was genuinely worried about the outcome.

To their slight surprise, they were joined by Risha, who had appeared as if out of nowhere not unlike the way she tended to vanish without warning.

"Good news, boss," she turned to Bolin, "Turns out ol' Hotah can in fact be bought if you slip him enough cash… which likely means Unalaq bought him off pretty steep. If he caught wind of it somehow between my transaction and now…" she trailed off, and gulped. "Hmm, doubtful. Still, I don't trust him one way or the other."

"You're the one who technically bribed him!" Bolin pointed out, before Risha slammed her hand over Bolin's mouth. To their good fortune, it seemed no one had heard them over the commotion of ambient chatter.

"You can't just go blurting things out loudly and in public like that, kid," Risha snapped before sighing. "I can see why Korra referred you to me. You're too innocent for this kind of thing."

Bolin opened his mouth as if to say something but then just pouted. Before he could say anything, the chatter of the entire room was hushed as the judge pounded the gavel.

"This trial will now come to order!" A Northern soldier announced, "with Judge Hotah presiding!"

"So THAT'S Judge Hotah!" Bolin looked up at the old man and then back at Risha, except Risha was once again nowhere to be seen.

"Seriously, how does she do that?" Bolin looked up at Korra, who gave him a slightly wide-eyed pout that might as well have said his guess was as good as hers. Her focus immediately snapped back to the judge, and her expression once again became stern and bordered on hostile, not unlike the emotionless expression she had maintained throughout the entire assembly when Tarrlok had officially disbanded the Republic City Council.

Unalaq was called to the stand to begin, and gave his account of the story. Korra leaned forward slightly as if trying to glean even the slightest bit of misinformation, but he spoke truthfully.

"According to this testimony, Avatar Korra," Hotah turned to Korra, "you not only attended a meeting where your mother and father tried to incite a rebellion, but you were able to correctly name Chieftain Senna as the wanted figure "Mozu-Kaiyo". Is this true?"

"Yes." Korra lowered her head for a moment, "And—"

"And were these men and women present at the meeting?" Korra wondered if Hotah was going to cut her off on purpose like this, not unlike how the news media had once done to her at one of Tarrlok's galas.

"They were and it was a response to—" Korra tried to snap out but she was blocked again.

"And where exactly did this meeting take place?" Hotah demanded.

"Objection!" Kwan rose to her feet in a flash, although staggered slightly and was supported by Tarrlok a moment later. It seemed she was catching on as well.

"Quiet down out there!" Hotah snapped, turning back to Korra, "I'll ask you one more time, Avatar Korra: Where did this meeting happen?"

"My parents' house," Korra growled.

"And who led this meeting?" Korra wondered how much Unalaq had outbribed this man, because at this point it was clear that their attempt at bribery had failed and he was going to pocket the money and run. The only reason she didn't accuse him of bribery on the spot was because that would inevitably implicate her and possibly Bolin—and Korra did not want Bolin to have to experience prison or worse.

"Your honor, if I may—" This time Tarrlok rose to his feet.

"May what, councilman?" Hotah looked Tarrlok right in the eyes.

"I would like to declare a mistrial on the account of missing and/or misinterpreted evidence—"

"SIt down, councilman," Hotah cut him off as well, adding further fuel to his, Kwan's, and Korra's already prominent suspicions that there was nothing fair about this trial. "Avatar Korra, Varrick and your parents led this meeting, did they not?"

"If by 'lead' you mean protest against an unjust military occupation, then yes." Korra blurted out, "my parents have done nothing wrong!" She didn't care as much about implicating Varrick, who was already a wanted man by the North—and she would rather lose him than lose her family.

"Then I've heard all I need to." Hotah declared, "I will return with my decision shortly."

As the court recessed for a moment, Bolin took off after Eska as if to muster up the courage to say something, while Tarrlok and Kwan met up with Korra.

"Please tell me you saw that too," Korra looked up with a frustrated pout at Tarrlok.

"Kid, even I saw it, and I'm half-dizzy from this damn pregnancy." Kwan interjected, "you want us to try and dig up the evidence against this guy for you? Tarrlok's obviously got a great deal of legal experience as you surely know."

"Complete with knowledge of how to corrupt or manipulate most common laws," Tarrlok gave a hollow smirk, "as I'm sure you know. But I'm also sure you'd rather not hear me lament yet again about my less-than-ideal past. Your mother and father are good people, Korra, and I would gladly do what I could to assure their innocence."

"I know you would." Korra sighed, "But I'll handle him in some way or another. I've got a few ideas stewing after what's gone down these last few weeks."

"Ust be careful not to let your anger get the best of you, Korra," Kwan warned, "first of all I've seen you when you're angry and it scares me absolutely shitless, but secondly and more importantly, you're doing this for the people you love—think about them and what they would see if you just cut everything loose."

"I'll admit there are times when I do just want to cut everything loose and go wolf-batshit on everyone and everything," Korra shrugged almost nonchalantly, "but that's not who I am and I know better. I don't need a perfectly intact and untouched mind to still be strong. Sometimes, all I need are people like you guys."

"Now that…" Tarrlok's face turned into a familiar smirk, "that, Korra, is the right answer."

The court returned from recess a few minutes later as the judge, defendants, plaintiffs, and audience resumed their seats. Hotah pounded his gavel again to silence the chattering crowds, and rose to his feet again.

"Cheiftain Tonraq, step forward." he ordered. Tonraq did as he was told, and to his surprise, as well as the surprise of Korra, Bolin, Mako, Asami, Tarrlok, Kwan, and many others in the room, a Northern soldier unlocked his handcuffs.

"Chieftain Tonraq, on account of a much smaller involvement, you are free to go." Hotah declared, "You will be put on probation, but we will put our good faith in you that you will continue to lead your tribe uprightly."

He paused and turned to Senna and the remaining rebels. "The rest of you are found guilty on the charge of treason and insurrection. The punishment for these crimes is, as you know, death."

This verdict stunned everyone in the room, including Tarrlok and Korra, to the point where both were rendered speechless.