Summary: Everybody knows that if the Avatar falls in love, it's a done deal. But that fact doesn't help Korra much when being pressured by a traditionalist family, overwhelming new duties and a man who rather her safe over satisfied. Makorra. M for adult situations.

"True love is friendship - caught on fire."

- Unknown

-. Equilibrium .-

Chapter I | FIRE | Dominance

Strange things were known to happen when the Avatar became emotional.

One of the most obvious examples was the now renowned "Avatar-state"; an extraordinary marvel where all the past lives over thousands of years fused together to give the current embodiment a sudden and extreme boost of power. This occurred only during the darkest, desperate moments of their lives, allowing it the status of a miracle that most would never witness in their lifetime.

However, there were also many other, less-theatrical incidents that few people knew about, let alone celebrated. Sometimes the ocean waves were known to rise an inch or so if he or she felt deceived. The earth would quiver slightly if they felt overwhelmed. The wind would pick up by a knot if they felt caged. And sometimes, like now for instance, the holy being could find him or herself frantically trying to subdue flames that engulfed their sheets in the middle of the night with seemingly no rhyme or reason behind it.

Well, perhaps there was a bit of a reason. Especially when it involved an Avatar who just barely had control of her spiritual equilibrium in addition to an infamously short temper. For her especially, these type of things happened more often than she cared to admit. They also, lately, tended to be spurred by pitifully mundane events.

So he was a few hours late.

Again.

It wasn't THAT big of a deal.

He had even warned her that this would probably happen. Multiple times. There really wasn't any legitimate reason for the excessive fury that was currently coursing through her veins, causing small sparks to involuntarily flare between her fingers. Then again, Korra had never been one to let reason dictate anything in her life.

Strange things were also bound to happen when the Avatar felt stood up.

So she welcomed her frustration as soon as the flames were under control. She embraced it. The Avatar had to trust her instincts. And despite the mere three months she had be involved in this "relationship" thing - which may suggest that she had far too little experience to gauge what would be an appropriate reaction here - her gut was telling her he deserved to be punched in that sly mouth of his the moment he dared show his face.

Korra smirked maliciously into the night as she brushed the ashes off her pants.

She very much approved of her gut sometimes.

As if on cue, the telltale creak of Air Temple Island's gates reached her ears, causing a few of the resident crab-gulls to cry out in protest. Her smirk widened and somehow, amazingly, the expression morphed into one sourced more from excitement than anger.

He was back. Finally!

Taking a second to smooth down her hair, Korra then raced to the windows, flinging the shutters open just in time to see a red-scarfed shadow disappear around the east side bend. Toward the male-only residences. She felt her lips instantly press themselves into a thin line, frustration re-ignited despite the fact that, again, he had already warned her that this would probably be his decision should he return late.

He obviously had yet another grueling few days under Chief Bei Fong's no-nonsense tutelage at the police academy. Since he was lacking both the pre-requisite education as well as the extra disadvantage of being one of the few non-metal bending candidates, the woman was especially hard on him and often insisted he do overtime in order to keep up with the rest of the crew.

Korra knew this. He apologized for it endlessly, constantly reminding her that in just a few short months he'd be a full-fledged officer with a regular and relatively impressive paycheck (at least in comparison to temp, street-kid accepting jobs). He had already started searching for apartments in the city so that he could be closer to the station and his brother could re-enroll in school; they had already begun collecting and refurbishing furniture gleaned from the roadside in various states of grossness and he had even gone so far as to promise his initiation pin to her the moment it was placed in his metal-gloved hand, seeing as she was the one who inspired him to aim for better things. Though the gesture was far too cliché for her tastes, she fought hard to suppress the chortle that automatically rose into her throat when it was offered, knowing that such a reaction would be far from supportive.

His point had been made; that soon, someday very soon, he intended to have a legitimate, stable future for himself. And soon, as soon as possible, he would want to share that future with her.

It was sweet. And exciting. And so very adorable, in both a 'how-cheesy' and an 'I'm-so-lucky' sorta way.

But that day was still months down the road. Tonight she had only wanted a measly hour or two alone with him. Chatting, listening to the radio, forcing them both to sit still for a tiny percentage of their relentlessly active lifestyles. Nothing too high-maintenance. Still, he had obviously decided that the rendezvous should be pushed back anyway, yet again, considering it was well past midnight and the entirety of Air Temple Island was dark and silent.

This, Korra could not forgive. He should know well enough by now that she was rarely discouraged by anything as insipid as a clock.

"Stupid…Pretty-Boy…Jerk-bender…" she muttered under her breath as she went through the motions to carve a few handholds out of the brick wall below her window. It was a risky method of escape, but the only one that Tenzin and the White Lotus sentinels had yet to catch onto. Sure, she was aware that one too many times bending and later hiding the steps would eventually threaten the entire building's structural integrity, but it would be up to future Korra to deal with that inevitable catastrophe. Future Korra would be more careful, wise and patient, of course. Current Korra just wanted, no, needed to give a certain firebender a piece of her mind. Now.

With an ease gained from years of practice, the young Avatar vaulted over the window sill and effortlessly caught the first, barely noticeable ledge. Soon enough she had landed upon the guard tower's roof on the lower level plateau of the island. Her footfalls and subsequent dismount onto the grass went completely unnoticed seeing as the sentinels were engrossed in a broadcast of the new pro-bending season, which they only dared to listen to after Tenzin and his family were tucked in for the night.

Thus, sporting a cocky grin at her triumph, Korra escaped into the night toward the 'forbidden' male residences which she could now navigate perfectly in the darkness. This skill had been developed even before she had an actual motive to invade. She simply got bored at night during her air bending tenure and had an itch to explore. Besides, it never hurt anyone…barring the one time she ran into one of the elder monks enjoying a late night bath and nearly gave them both heart attacks. But she didn't count that. Nor acknowledge that it happened at all.

In a few short minutes, she was crouched below a familiar window trying to sort through her many muddled thoughts before busting in and unleashing her fury, as was the original plan. Not only would such a method only lead to a repeat, fruitless argument between them, she knew such aggression could push her further off balance. She had her air bending test in a few weeks. She couldn't afford to lose one speck of patience. There was only so little she had in stock.

"Korra."

Before anything besides the decision not to punch him could be settled, she found herself glancing up into a familiar pair of amber eyes. Eyes that were part of a far-from-amused expression.

He was dressed in that tattered, grey-ish tank-top which was one of his five articles of clothing and, strangely, her favorite. Despite the grunginess factor, it delightfully displayed the sculpted arms he usually hid beneath a baggy coat or cadet uniform and also sported a sizeable tear at the neckline which had yet to be re-stitched, courtesy of her showing a little too much enthusiasm during their last get-together. Though Tenzin had often offered to help him and Bolin out financially, if only enough so that they could get basic necessities such as clothing that wasn't falling apart, the fire-bender was a rather original combo of proud and practical. Life on the streets had taught him that everything could and should be used to the point of disintegration. They both knew very well that he would wear that shirt until it was mere threads hanging off his chest.

Korra could only smile her notorious, crooked smile at the thought, ineptly trying to charm him out of being mad.

After a solid minute of staring, his expression remained unmoved.

This was not going as planned.

Eventually, Mako broke the silence with a sigh before retreating into the room, allowing her the space to climb inside. In the past, he may have spent a futile couple of minutes trying to convince her to leave, listing a bunch of strong arguments such as the fact that he was only a guest here on Air Temple Island, that the male-female separation rules were non-negotiable, that his brother slept a paper-thin wall away and that Tenzin had been breathing down his neck ever since they had announced they were a couple. Well, not so much 'announced' as having been caught wandering-handed in a dark corner on the boat ride back from the Southern Water Tribe. Since then, the world's only Air Bending Master had developed a personal vendetta against him which Mako worked hard not to exacerbate.

None of these perfectly adequate reasons ever held sway with the impetuous girl though, so he had long since decided to simply deal with it. But that didn't mean he had to do so happily.

"What are you doing here?" Crossing his arms over his chest in a telltale stance of exasperation, Mako watched as Korra, the legendary Avatar, the world savior and, to a limited circle, his girlfriend, tried to keep eye contact while awkwardly clambering through the window, that same goofy grin plastered on her face that attempted and horrendously failed at establishing innocence.

"I-I thought…" with a final tug, she got her remaining foot over the sill, stumbling fully into the room before placing her hands on her hips. "I thought we had a…thing tonight. That's all. Just…checking up, I guess."

Mako sighed again, closing his eyes in order to summon his patience from whatever deep, dark hole it had escaped to. Nobody could grate his nerves quite as finely as she could. "I told you the chief was ninety percent likely to keep me late tonight. I never had the language or math or history lessons to be prepared for the theory exams. You know this. It's pure luck that I'm doing well enough in physical that she doesn't expel me completely."

It took all of Korra's will power not to roll her eyes. Luck had nothing to do with Mako being singled out by Chief Bei Fong to join the police force. He was a hard worker, dedicated, loyal and not to mention a notoriously strong and talented bender. They would be lucky to have him. The pity party was redundant.

"Fine," she relented with hands up, not wanting to aggravate the situation. Especially since quarrelling with him was slowly becoming less of a priority as they stood face to face for the first time in days. He looked good. Tired, but good. "I get it. You're busy. But don't you think this training is getting a little out of hand? You hardly have time to sleep nowadays, let alone have a life. And I've been so very bored."

"I'm doing this for you, ya know? It's only a few more months."

"Until what? Until you're on call twenty-four-seven and constantly fighting for your life? I don't remember ever asking you to do that for me. I don't want you to do that for me. I just want you around once in a full moon. Is that so much to ask?"

"You didn't- I just…" Those amber eyes of his flashed in warning, as they always did when she hit a nerve. He took a daring step forward, halving the ten foot gap between them. "I- we can't coast here forever, surviving off of Tenzin's charity."

This time, the eye roll was beyond her control. "For the love of… I'm the Avatar. We'll be taken care of. It's about time you stop being so damn proud."

"And you have to stop being so naive!" Another, larger step and the gap was a mere foot now. Korra felt the temperature of the room suddenly rise a few degrees as well as the lanterns begin to brighten. "Bolin and I don't belong here."

"I thought you said you belonged with me. Who cares where or how?"

"Then why do you care so much about when, huh? Please just-," His palm went to his forehead as he struggled to dredge up the right, least-offensive words from the exhausted and throbbing bundle of nerves his brain had become. He knew that she didn't get it, knew that she never would understand how demoralizing it was to be without a path seeing as her rather glorious one had been laid out and cemented since the age of three. As if the White Lotus had presented her with a pristine, destiny-themed worksheet, her years had always had some task to be her unencumbered focus. Master Water, check. Master Earth, check. Master Fire, check. Master Air, soon-to-be check. Re-balance Republic city, check. For Mako, his goals had always humbly been to find food, find shelter, protect Bolin, to survive every day, all day, repeating, never moving forward, let alone up.

There was only so long one could live like that before they started to question if they were really living. And though meeting Korra, being with Korra, had helped reanimate his appreciation for being young and alive, he refused to spend his life as the Avatar's accessory. He needed to be more. He needed to be worthy of her.

"Just let me get through this," he begged in a tense whisper. "It won't be forever. It'll be worth it. Please..."

Korra's haughty retort got stuck in her throat as she recognized the desperation in his tone. At this close range and with the suddenly livelier light, she couldn't help but give him another, more focused once over. His short, black hair was messier than usual. Most likely from a quick, post-training shower followed by a mad dash to catch the last ferry. His nails were broken and dirty, knuckles raw from trying to hold his own against the metal benders. His skin had become a shade darker since he spent more and more time patrolling the streets rather than holed up in the arena or power plant. He also had a new mark on his cheek just below his left eye. She recognized the gleaming pink line as the work of a water healer. The original cut must have been deep to require such treatment, probably from failing to block one of the force's standard, metal whips.

It must have hurt.

He really was giving his all to this and still, according to him at least, it wasn't enough. The expectations of greatness from everyone weren't helping with the stress either.

She knew the feeling all too well.

With no more than a millisecond's consideration, she decided it was time to end the talking portion of the evening. It wasn't going anywhere anyway. The only guaranteed way to save face, or at least make sure neither of them returned to their beds bitter and distracted for the next few days, was to invoke a state of mutual mindlessness. And the best way she knew how to do that was to lunge for his lips.

This Avatar, unlike her predecessor, was not known for her skill in politics. Taking action was her method of choice. Sometimes it succeeded. Sometimes it fell flat. Sometimes (often) things exploded. But in the case of making up with Mako, so far, it never failed.

He hesitated. He always did, at first. She could practically hear his usual list of annoying reasons as to why they shouldn't even look at one another until some ambiguous amount of time had passed for them to be considered 'serious'. It was ridiculous really, as if he believed that setting foot on this island magically tied him to norms stemmed from generations long departed. Every time they got together it was as if they were momentarily possessed by the spirits of the tide, Tui and La; she always pushing forward and he constantly pulling away.

It was an exhausting struggle.

Despite where they lived, they were not monks. They were modern-day, forward-thinking, hormone-charged teenagers and everyone would just have to accept that. This was reinforced as he finally began to reciprocate, his hands finding their way behind her back in order to bring her flush against him, practically lifting her off her feet in his eagerness to get closer.

Korra smiled against his lips, relishing this still untested power she had in these situations. If there was one ancient credo that both Korra and the history books agreed upon, it was that Avatars love once or not at all. It was a silly thing to believe in as a contemporary woman, but to her it had become fact the moment she met Mako. Her confession of "I think we were meant for each other" in the prep room that day hadn't been an exaggeration. She was fascinated by him and no one else. She wanted to spend time with him and no one else. All the way to seventeen, she hadn't felt one wisp of that pesky desire that distracted some younger men and women to the point of not being able to function, that is until she saw him. Her Avatar's soul recognized something in his, and suddenly everything changed.

He was it.

Done.

Simple.

She was pretty sure that he knew it - felt it - too. Which was exactly why she saw no point in being patient or traditional or anything else beyond what they deemed right in the moment. And in this moment, she needed that shirt of his gone. He should get a new one anyway.

The rip echoed throughout the room, acting as a sort of starter pistol for her hands to explore him, praying he remained unmoved by the relic garment's sacrifice. In response, his kisses only deepened, hands tangling themselves in her hair, pulling out her ribbons so that the mass of it fell loose around her shoulders. He had never done that before. He was officially lost to the haze, most likely thanks to fatigue. Whatever the reason, internally Korra was shouting her delight. At last!

They needed this: a break, a mental reprieve from the tests, the teachers, the trials, the duties. In this moment, she was able to confess that it probably wasn't just anger that had caused her to set fire to the bed earlier that night.

Strange things were bound to happen when the Avatar was sexually frustrated.

"Wait. We shouldn't-" true to form, Mako began to pull away just as their kisses hit that blissfully sinful note, but Korra didn't let him get far this time. Her hands locked onto the back of his head and pulled, thanking the spirits for her strength as he had no choice but come crashing back to her mouth.

His control began to shudder and then crumble and finally, once her tongue got involved, it dissolved completely. Now he was lifting up the hem of her shirt, fingers racing up from her abdomen, the sides of her breasts, still covered by bindings, and finally over her head, leveling the playing field between them. Korra felt like she should be self-conscious as he began digging at the knot at her back, but a torrent of other emotions were overpowering everything else. She felt as if this event was both long overdue and too soon. Overdue because of the aforementioned certainty that they were meant for each other. Too soon because they were still so young and definitely not prepared to deal with some of the life-changing consequence that could occur from this act. Later, yes. But definitely not now.

Maybe Mako was right to push her away and insist on patience. Maybe Tenzin was justified in playing watchdog, knowing how reckless she could be. Maybe…

The flicker of doubt died as soon as he managed to loosen the knot of her bindings, flooded over by the now ubiquitous, raw need to be as close to him as possible as soon as possible, no matter the risks. He pulled back from her lips slowly, as if it were physically arduous, until his golden eyes met her azure blue, both blazing, reflecting the unnaturally high flame of the lanterns. After she gave a brief nod of approval, he began unwinding the long strip of koala-sheep cotton. He worked slowly, as expected, his fingers tracing the path over and around, taking his time, neatly enfolding the fabric around his fingers as he went, making her shudder, making her ache. It was infuriating. As soon as it was loose enough, she hooked her fingers beneath the remaining coil, shimmied it above her head and slammed it to the floor.

She supposed it would have been more lady-like to let him take charge, to let him feast his eyes on her exposed body for the first time and fawn over it, but enough was enough. There would be a lifetime for him to try all the sappy stuff the picture-shows told him girls liked. They only had so much time if history was any indication.

His futon was but a few paces away, so she grabbed him by the belt and yanked him onto it. Before there was a chance to recover his breath from the fall, she had claimed her position straddling him, kissing him fiercely, pressing her hips into his as nature prompted her to do. Despite her inexperience, it seemed to be working well enough. Mako was responding with equal if not more fervor. She didn't think it possible, but her arousal grew that much stronger the first time she heard him moan, genuinely moan, against her shoulder. A curse was then mumbled, and another, stronger moan when she pressed a little harder.

It was the sweetest sound she had ever heard, and she wanted more of it. She should have known he'd have other plans though. In a flash, she was flipped, spine now pressed onto the sheets with him hovering over her, gentleness gone as his hands finally summoned the gall to reach for her breasts. It was Mako's turn to hear her whimper and realize how intoxicating the sound was. Like fire injected directly into his veins, releasing an unsullied heat into the places where their bare skin touched. Incredible.

When his hand wandered down into the waistband of her pants, neither was shocked. The decision had been made almost telepathically. Korra needed it first and now. There was no question, nor was there any doubt that the favor would soon be returned.

"Hurry!" she hissed as he struggled with the ties of her pelt wrap.

Mako laughed. "Relax," he insisted with an infuriatingly slow kiss against her lips. "We have time."

She wanted to remind him of the four (count-em, four) times he had said those exact words in the past few months which had always preluded some sort of interruption, but then his hand found its target and her mind went blank. She vaguely remembered her gasp being interrupted by a whispered reminder of 'Shh. Bolin' and then a finger dove further. She bit her lip that time to keep quiet, so hard that she almost drew blood. He adjusted, moving out and up as the unknown voice in his head dictated and it was perfect. She was seeing stars, she was trembling furiously. How he knew how to do this, she didn't care. What mattered was that he was doing it and it felt amazing.

As something began to peak within her, Korra swore that she would never tire of this feeling. She couldn't believe it had taken three months to discover this. She vowed, rather impetuously, to never practice patience again. Patience sucked. This, what she was feeling now, was sourced from persistence, from water, from forcing paths where there were none originally. She was about to-

"OH HI PEMA! HOW NICE TO SEE YOU THIS EVENING."

They both froze, at least the parts of them that were able to freeze, as they listened to Bolin greet the Mistress of Air Temple Island at the front door of their shared suite, a mere paper door away.

"HI!" the mother of four responded with equally exaggerated enthusiasm, seemingly a little out of breath. "I-I just wanted let you know that, uhh, Tenzin is on his way over. Korra's not in her bed you see and, he just wants to…umm, check on things."

Mako felt his heart drop into his stomach, mentally preparing himself for inevitable death. As always though, Korra was one step ahead. With a push so forceful that his back slammed against the wall beside the futon, she extricated herself and began a desperate scramble for her clothing.

"Not in her bed, eh?" they heard Bolin reply in the most overdone rendition of surprise either of them had ever heard. "Well I can assure you, if you slide open that door there," both envisioned him gesturing to Mako's room as if it were a new trick he'd taught Pabu, "You would definitely not find the Avatar. No sir-ree. No chance. It's not like Mako and Korra would be rude enough to '"visit"," Korra could see his shadow making air quotes with his fingers at the word "one another at this male only residence when I'm sleeping just next door and could hear a pin drop from the other room. Naww. That would just be harsh and incredibly awkward. Ha ha."

Mako winced as he pulled his uniform shirt out of the hamper and punched his arms through the sleeves. So much for being quiet.

"Oh of course not," agreed Pema loudly with a hint of amusement. "Those two are known to be completely respectful of the rules. I have no doubt." Korra had her shirt back on and was crouched on the window sill, just as a furious knock sounded at the door. Their eyes met for just a moment, radiating mutual anxiety, terror and mainly disappointment, before she once again vanished into the night a mere second before Master Tenzin burst into his bedroom.

It was lucky Mako looked as beat-up as he did, wearing his wrinkled cadet uniform, eyes glazed, hair sticking up in all directions and being tangled in a strategically positioned quilt; it was the perfect tableau of a young man who worked himself so hard that he couldn't dredge up the stamina to change before falling into bed. Tenzin's initially angered expression immediately softened at the sight.

"I'm sorry to disturb you at this hour Mako," he said calmly, taking a moment to straighten the robes that had become twisted in his march over. "I was hoping you'd know where Korra may be?"

Gingerly, the firebender sat up, careful not to uncover his lap as he did so. "I'm sorry sir, but no, I don't. I just returned a few minutes ago from the academy."

At the reminder that the boy was indeed working hard to make himself worthy of being the Avatar's companion, Tenzin felt himself calm a little bit more. There had to exist true dedication indeed for anyone to willingly put themselves at the mercy of Lin Bei Fong day in and day out. If that wasn't proof of love, then he didn't know what was. But it still didn't mean he'd sit idly by and allow them to ignore basic customs and propriety.

"Dear," Pema stepped in between them then, placing a gentle hand on her husband's cheek to garner his attention. "The poor boy is obviously exhausted. We should let him rest. Korra probably just went out for a swim. She'll be fine."

"Yes. Yes, you're right. I'm sorry." With a deep breath, Tenzin bowed to signal his departure, which Mako clumsily tried to return in from his seated position. "You coming, my love?" he asked when he noticed his wife staying put.

"In a second. I just wanted to collect some articles I promised to mend. Run along. I'll catch up."

With a smile and a quick kiss, the Air bending Master confidently left the premises, allowing the three remaining party members to simultaneously release their breath.

Immediately bending down, Pema snatched two articles off the floor that they had somehow failed to notice in the mad dash; his decimated tank top and, to his horror, what could obviously only be Korra's light blue breast bindings.

If one could die of embarrassment, Mako was pretty sure he would have. Especially when Bolin chose to worsen the situation by whispering "Niiiccceeeee..." from beyond the threshold.

But Pema, sweet, caring, awesome Pema, only giggled while tucking the items into the sleeve of her robe, as if she smuggled such damning evidence around every day. The full weight of what she had done, of what she knew, hit him then and he wished fire bending included the ability to self-combust.

"Good night you two," she told the brothers, giving Bolin a peck on the cheek and somehow guessing that the elder wouldn't want her to come any closer. "I'll make sure everything gets put back where it should go."

He wanted to thank her. He wanted to dig up the remnants of his savings and shower her with it. It was the least he could do seeing as she had quite possibly saved his life just now. But only a hum of assent escaped his dry and tight throat as the Air Temple Mistress floated out of their lodgings, like an angel of mercy, into the cool spring air.

"Sooooo." Without further ado, Bolin plopped himself down next to his brother on the futon, apparently oblivious of the glare that begged for privacy. "I'm adding a few new items to our apartment search checklist. Item one: soundproof walls. Or better yet, rooms on opposite ends PLUS soundproof walls. Or perhaps rooms on separate floors, plus-"

"I'm sorry, okay!" Mako burst out, throwing himself down into the pillows and closing his eyes. He had never felt so exhausted in his life, both physically and emotionally. "Just…you know how she is. It won't happen again. I won't let it."

"Yeah, you keep telling yourself that buddy." He patted his brother's shoulder in mock pity. If Korra was set on something happening, it was gonna happen, no doubt about it. The girl was crazy. But in a good way. "Just tell her to give me a signal next time. A turtle-duck call or something. I'll be outta here faster than you can say-"

"Goodnight Bolin!" The lanterns in the room suddenly flared, flames reaching so high that they scorched the ceiling before abruptly fizzling out.

Bolin, wisely, took the hint.

Later, after having discreetly returned to her room and tucked herself back into bed, Korra was attempting to relax, knowing that she'd be expected to practice her Air bending first thing in the morning and then attend council meetings till late into the night. Though she was still a poor substitute for the decisive Tarrlok who, despite his issues, had a talent for getting things done with minimal red-tape run around, she took pride in the few restructuring changes she had helped draft and voted to pass. For example, allowing non-benders to have seats on the council. That being said, for every forward-thinking bill that she actually cared about that went through, she had to deal with hundreds upon hundreds of others, ranging from merely boring (like plans to expand the sewer system) to completely absurd (why someone even bothered to propose to prohibit inter-elemental marriages and how it had reached a level as high as the council before getting shot down, she couldn't even fathom).

The city was finally re-settling after the chaos of Amon's temporary takeover. Gang activity had decreased significantly thanks to the efforts of Chief Bei Fong and her expanding crew. Pro-bending was back in season now that the arena was repaired, to the delight of everyone. The mass produced Equalist weapons, though outlawed, made an appearance every now and then in skirmishes, inspiring the few bullying benders to think twice before harassing the innocent. She hated that it took the invention of such a vile device meant only for harm to get the citizens to respect one another again, but she took her respite wherever she could get it.

Amon, though a liar and a tyrant, really had helped her restore balance to the city in the end. Proof that everything happened for a reason.

Even fate's apparent insistence on sabotaging her progress with Mako.

With a grunt of frustration, Korra rolled over to face the wall, unable to stomach her window's teasing view of freedom.

It was beyond infuriating that the one aspect in her life which she was the most personally invested in and should be the least distressing was the only one that was failing to stabilize. Since having made her first connection with the spiritual world and the Avatar's past lives, her bending was more powerful than ever. And yet, every time her mind drifted towards Mako and their subsequent issues, everything threw itself so far out of whack that the elements themselves grew restless.

They'd have to talk about it, seriously talk about it, in the near future. These past couple of months, they'd both been so busy that the rare snippets of time alone were usually spent…not talking. Though tonight was the first instance of it escalating to not-talking without clothes.

One thing was for sure, she sure as hell couldn't go on much longer like this. They'd find a compromise; a happy medium. They had to. Not tomorrow because she had her council meeting. And the not the day after that, because he had a law 208 exam the next day, which he would want to study for. And then there was the exam itself the day after that. But then after that she had the Cabbage Industries gala. And somewhere in between all of this she had that press conference about the deforestation in the north and he had that fitting for his dress uniform and there was some noble newborn that she apparently had to go bless and he had to finish re-upholstering that disgusting couch they'd found before it began attracting flies and she had-

Suddenly, for the second time that night, Korra found herself desperately trying to tame flames that had unconciously lept from her fingers and managed to ignite the floorboards.

By the time she had it out, the breathless Avatar had made a new resolution: tomorrow she'd make a genuine effort to fix this. If not possible directly with Mako, the she'd talk to someone, anyone, else just to get the ball rolling. Before she accidentally roasted all the last Airbenders.

Special Thanks: to JayLiyah, my fav FF & Korra fangirl, for taking the time out of her busy schedule to beta this. I truly appreciate it.

Author's Note: I could not help it. Impatiently waiting for book two Legend of Korra drove me to venture beyond my Final Fantasy comfort zone and attempt something new. I read a bunch of good Makorra fics over the past few weeks that mixed the Avatar's world with a little bit of extra spice, and this is what I've attempted to do here. Far from my usual elaborate dramas while amp-ing up the smut a little from what I usually write (which was pretty difficult for me…giggled the entire time), this is intended to be a fun, light romance of about 5-6 chapters. I hope some of you are amused.

To new readers who have just now found me via the LOK section, I am happy you are here reading this! Reviews = sunshine + rainbows + improved writing + happy writer + faster updates.

Thank you all so much for your support.