Chapter 3

Korra walked into the ballroom of the Southern Water tribe palace. Everything was blue or shades of blue. The walls were blue, the clothing was blue, even the fucking napkins were blue. It was like people were afraid they were going to forget they were in the Water Tribe. Korra's eyes scanned the room, it was blue as far as she could see.

She craved color she wanted to see the reds of the Fire Nation, the greens of the Earth Kingdom, the yellow and orange of the Air acolytes. She wanted to learn about all people. She wanted to go to their lands and learn from their bending. She wanted to go somewhere, anywhere that wasn't the Water Tribe. She wanted to break something, she wanted to hit something. She wanted to run away and go to Republic City and punch people professionally.
"Where is this avatar guy?" she grumbled to herself.
"You're looking for the avatar?"

Korra turned around and saw dark-haired boy with green eyes, he wore Earth Kingdom clothing and had three different appetizers in each hand.
"I know the avatar." he spoke while he was chewing.

"You do?"

He swallowed before he spoke again, "I'm his younger brother. He got stuck training with his water bending master. He's not allowed to leave until he finishes some exercise or something I don't know. You need me to get a message to him?"

"No it's alright." He turned away from her and she felt embarrassed that she hadn't greeted herself properly, "I'm Korra by the way." When she spoke he turned back to her in surprise.

"Oh, uh…Bolin," he wiped his hand on his shirt before he reached out to shake her hand, "Sorry I'm just not used to people caring about who I am especially not someone as beautiful as you"

Korra felt herself blush at his compliment, "What do you mean? Don't people introduce themselves to you?"

"No I mean they do but they usually care more about my brother. I mean he's the Avatar! I just come to these things for the food."

Korra look at his plate and smiled "You my friend are talking to the right person"

"I am!" He nodded enthusiastically, slowly he realized what he was agreeing to and his brows furrowed in confusion, "I am?"

Korra nodded and grab two plates off passing waiters she nodded towards him motioning him to follow her. She guided him to a table towards the edge of the room and sat with her back towards the crowd to keep people from noticing her.

He sat across from her and looked at her expectantly, "Okay… what are we doing?"

She leaned forward and looked him dead in the eyes, "I know we just met but I need your complete and total trust."

He didn't break eye contact as he nodded, "Complete and total trust, yeah I can do that."

She held up her index finger and then pointed to the plates in front of her, "Watch carefully." He's eyes followed her hands and he slowly leaned in closer and closer as she pour some purple liquid into a bowl of some unidentified fish with tentacles.

He held his breath and stared, after a moment he spoke without taking his eyes off the bowl, "Was something supposed to- Woah my god it moved!" He jumped backwards as the tentacles started squirming. He looked up at her with wide eyes, "Did you just perform necromancy or something?" he spoke is a loud hush.

Korra laughed and Bolin felt he's heart lurch. He wanted to hear her laugh again and a hundred times more.

"Relax it's still very much dead, but now you eat it."

His eyebrows shoot up, "You want me to eat that? It's still moving!"

She handed him a pair of chopsticks, "Total trust."

He nodded, "Yeah okay I can do this." He grabbed the chopsticks and slammed them into the plate trying to pick up a tentacle. They kept squirming out of his way, he grunted in frustration and stabbed a tentacle through with a chopstick.

He brought the wiggling tentacle eye level and stared at it for a moment. He closed he's eyes and held his breath, bracing himself. He opened his mouth and the tentacle brushed his lower lip, he dropped the chopstick and shook his head, "Nope, nope I can't do this."

"Complete trust Bolin!" Korra said picking up the fallen chopstick.

"I do trust you I'm just weak!"

She put her elbow on the table and held the writhing tentacle out towards him, "I was 9 when I first discovered the greatest combination of food in the history of food. I am sharing my secrets with you but if you can't appreciate them…"

"Wait!" Bolin grabbed Korra's free hand she looked down confused but he brought her chin up and looked her in the eye.

"I trust you but I need your help"

Mako walked into the large hall and scanned the room. He told himself that he was looking for Bolin but he found himself wondering where a princess would be in a room full of stiffs. He saw Tonraq standing next to his brother at the center of the room and he figured that was a good a place to look for Bolin as any.

He made his way through the crowd he heard the sound of someone burping loudly. Mako groaned internally,he recognized the sound of Bolin's burp anywhere. The first burp was followed by a louder burp and then another still louder burp. What the hell was Bolin doing? As he got closer to the edge of the room he spotted Bolin and saw him laughing. For all Bolin's lack of propriety Mako was at least relieved he never had to worry about whether not his brother was making friends. People inherently liked Bolin, people didn't like Mako they desired his regard. Which was different, it made for more sycophants and less friends.

Mako struggled to see who Bo was talking to but the crowd got in his way. He tried to squeeze in through people when a woman stepped in his path. He stopped abruptly in front of her.

"Varrick is requesting an audience." She said in a monotone voice.

"Who?"

She pointed behind him and he turned around. He saw someone who was surrounded by people and was gesticulating wildly. Varrick caught his eye and motioned him forward, he felt the woman behind him push him towards Varrick and he figured he might as well get it over with.

Tonraq saw Mako walking towards Varrick and met him half way. Varrick quickly stepped in between the two and put his arm around Mako, "Avatar! Come meet some friends of mine!"

Mako looked at him incredulously, "I haven't even met you yet, you just had your assistant come fetch me."

Tonraq spoke up, "Avatar Mako this is Varrick, Varrick is an inventor. He does importing and exporting in the South Pole."

"Of course he knows who I am!"

"I didn't know who you were." Varrick went on as if Mako hadn't spoken.

"Avatar let me introduce you to Republic City's most famous industrialist and my new partner, Hiroshi Sato!"

Hiroshi bowed politely, "It's an honor Avatar Mako, we're all expecting great things from you."

Mako nodded awkwardly and his eyes shifted to the figure standing next to Hiroshi. She was beautiful, she was stunning, she was without a doubt one of the most beautiful girls he had ever seen in his life. She was just as pretty as… Korra. Where the hell was Korra? He turned his head trying to pick her out of the crowd. Hiroshi cleared his throat to get Mako''s attention, "This is my daughter Asami."

He turned back toward Hiroshi and nodded towards Asami, "It's a pleasure to meet you Ms. Sato."

"Please call me Asami, and the pleasure is all mine, I heard you're from Republic City as well."

Mako fought the urge to search for Korra. He knew better than to want her, she was a princess and he was a street urchin who happened to be able to bend all four elements. A relationship with her was impossible, it was impractical, and Asami seemed really nice.

"Yeah I am."

"Water tribe food is unbelievable but there's nothing like the greasy food trucks in Republic City right?"

"Yeah without the risk of Salmonella food just doesn't taste the same."

"Well what's life without a little danger?" she gave him a coy smile and he found himself liking her more and more.

"You should meet my daughter Asami," Tonraq said interrupting their mild flirtation, "She's around your age I'm sure the two of you have a lot in common."

"I think that's a lovely idea, Asami hasn't had the opportunity to make very many friends since we've been traveling so much lately." Hiroshi said responding to Tonraq.

"I'll make sure to introduce you to Korra before the end of the night." Tonraq nodded towards Asami and she gave him an awkward smile.

"Great friends all around!" Varrick yelled suddenly, "Now Avatar I have this brilliant idea, they're called movers…"

Mako looked over Varrick's shoulder and saw his brother leaving the ballroom with someone. A female someone. Mako was both surprised and impressed. She turned around and he could see her face. Korra. Bolin was leaving the party with Korra.

Varrick was still speaking, though Mako had tuned him out long ago, he interrupted whatever Varrick was saying and dismissed himself politely.

Korra and Bolin had already left when he followed them out of the ballroom. He entered a part of the palace he had never been to before. This was presumably the residential part of the palace. He felt guilty being there but figure he couldn't really get in trouble since he was looking for Korra and Tonraq did say he wanted the two of them to spend time together.

Mako spotted Korra and Bolin standing in front of an opulent staircase underneath a chandelier. Bolin said something and Korra threw her head back and laughed. He could hear her laugh echo across the hall and saw the bright look on Bolin's face. He could imagine what he was feeling, probably pride at the fact that he could make such a beautiful woman laugh. Bolin's face beamed with admiration and longing and Mako felt a shot of jealous spike through him. He stopped before he continued walking towards them. Several things occurred to him at the same time. Firstly exactly how irrational it was to feel so intensely about someone he had only met once, secondly how little right he had to feel jealous, and thirdly how utterly doomed any relationship between him and Korra was.

He rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand and tried to shake the feeling of possessiveness. He managed to calm down but he could still feel a cold burning at the pit of his stomach. He needed to bury it. He continued walking toward them. Korra was facing away from him, but as he got closer he saw her stiffen. He chuckled to himself, she might not like him but she certainly responded to him. Bolin looked over Korra's shoulder and waved when he saw his brother. Mako walked up behind Korra and brushed his hand against the small of her back. She instinctively turned towards him as he dropped his hand. She clenched her jaw when she realized how close she was to him but she didn't move away from him.

"Hey Mako glad you could join the party, this is Korra by the away," Bolin said gesturing towards her, "Korra this is my brother Mako."

Korra gave a tight smile and nodded politely, "Avatar Mako."

"We've meet before," He explained to Bolin. He stepped away from her and bowed, "It's a pleasure to see you again Princess Korra."

Out of the corner of his eye Mako saw Bolin's jaw drop. "Princess!" his voice echoed off the cavernous hallway. Mako looked at Korra while Bolin stood incredulous, "How is it that you always manage to forget to mention that you're a princess?" he said accusingly.

Korra rolled her eyes, "Two times is not always, firstly. And secondly, what would you like me to do walk around with a giant sign that says princess?"

Mako shrugged, "A crown would be nice."

Bolin spoke mostly to himself, "You're Princess Korra, like the Princess Korra?! How did I not put this together sooner?"

"A crown," Korra said responding to Mako, "would be antiquated and cumbersome. What about you Mr. Avatar, if I have to wear a crown then shouldn't you carry around a scepter or something?"

"The avatar doesn't need any worldly possessions so I was thinking maybe I'd just set off fireworks every time I walked into a room to announce that I can in fact bend all four elements."

"I can't believe I burped in front of a princess." Bolin mumbled to himself.

"What's your problem?" Korra spoke over Bolin's mumblings.

"What's your problem?" Mako took a step closer to her, his fist clenched at his sides, he grit his jaw and stared down at her. He was so fucking angry, but when he looked at her all he could imagine was fisting his hand in her hair and crushing his lips against hers. Which pissed him off even more.

Bolin stared between the two of them uncomfortably, "Wow so how about everyone just calm down?"

"STAY OUT OF THIS!" they yelled in unison. Mako and Korra looked at each other in shock and then rage, "DON'T YELL AT HIM!" they continued in unison, "STOP DOING THAT!"

They turned away from each other in a huff. Bolin cringed and tried to change the subject, "So uh… Korra, I mean Princess Korra… How about we take that tour you were telling me about."

Korra's anger ebbed as she remembered her father's words, she wasn't doing a very good job at making an ally of the avatar. 'He was the one started it' she thought to herself feeling her anger renew. She crushed her anger, he was nothing. She couldn't let him get to her. She needed to start treating him like any other bureaucrat. She nodded to herself, he would not get under her skin again.

She turned towards Bolin and gave him a smile to ease some of his discomfort.

"You can just call me Korra if you want Bolin and I would be happy to give you and your brother a tour of the palace."

Bolin grinned at her and then poked his brother in the back, "You hear that Mako? The princess wants to give us a tour," Bolin started poking Mako harder and harder when he didn't turn around, "Aren't you happy Mako, isn't this great Mako?"

Mako shrugged Bolin off of him and straighten himself, he nodded towards Korra, "A tour of the palace sounds great."

"Super." Korra said derisively as she turned on her heels and walked up the grand staircase.

Mako gave a deep sigh and went to follow her before Bolin stopped him, "Hey so I couldn't help noticing the ridiculous levels of hostility between you and Korra, you wanna maybe fucking cut that shit out?"

Mako looked at his brother outraged and pointed towards Korra, "She started it!"

Bolin smacked his brother's arm down and shook him, "I don't care who started it she's the freaking princess try showing some respect." He spoke in a

"Well I'm the freaking avatar maybe she should show me some respect."

Korra reached the top of the stairs and turned to look at the two brothers arguing. She cleared her throat and they both turned towards her, "If you two could stop talking about me like I'm not in the room we could get started with the tour."

Bolin gave her an apologetic smile and scratched the back of his head as he followed her up the stairs. Mako rolled his eyes but followed his brother.

Korra spouted off a series of facts on the southern water tribe palace. How many stairs it has, how many windows it has, how many doors it has. She walked them through many elegantly decorated rooms that contained Water Tribe art work that ranged from antiques to paintings to statues to tapestries, she pointed to all of them and explained their history in depth.

Mako wondered how she had managed to memorize all these facts. He thought maybe she had given this tour often because if she hadn't then she had gone through great lengths just for them. Or maybe she just didn't want there to be a moment of awkward silence. She lead them toward a massive balcony called Kuruk's balcony that over looked a large courtyard.

"The courtyard has many chambers which connect to corridors that lead all throughout the palace," she explained, "From the ballroom, which we just came from, to the grand dining room, to the throne room."

"Do any of them lead to your room?" Bolin asked interrupting her.

She shook her head hesitantly, "No the residential rooms are on the third and fourth floors."

"Can we see your room?" Mako said sticking his hands in his pockets. She looked up at him disdainfully through her eyelashes and he couldn't help but smirk in response. He got entirely too much pleasure in pissing her off.

She gritted her teeth and opened her mouth to respond when a servant came rushing out, "Princess Korra!" He panted out of breath, "Your father sent me to find you. He told me to tell you that the guest are sitting to eat now and that he would like you to begin your performance."

Korra's eyes widen, "The performance, I completely forgot, Uru will you please lead the Avatar and his brother back to the ballroom please I have to go get ready."

Uru nodded and bowed, "Avatar Mako, Bolin if you could please follow me."

Bolin looked at Korra and winked, "Thanks for the tour Korra."

She smiled and nodded and then frowned when she looked at Mako, "Can't wait to see the performance Princess."

He walked away before she had a chance to give a witty response. "Can't wait to see the performance Princess." She mimicked under her breath. She huffed and walked toward the dressing room to change out of her dress.

She had told herself that she wouldn't let him get under her skin but through the entire tour she could feel his eyes boring into the back of her head. She tried to make as little eye contact as she could possibly manage. Somehow she had conjured up every bit of history she had ever been told about every relic in the southern palace. She had no idea where some of this stuff had come from but every time she thought about how heavy the silence would feel if she didn't continue speaking she remembered a new fact.

She walked into the dressing room and two handmaids were already there waiting to do her hair and makeup. Korra let herself get undressed and made up. There wasn't much to do, she had choreographed the routine to emphasis the bending not herself. They put her in a billowy white dress and let her hair down. It was long, down to her waist. She rubbed a strand from the end of her hair between her fingertips.

She wanted to cut it. It was a hassle and it got in her way. She had such pride in the responsibilities of being a princess and it always felt like being a princess meant she had to be beautiful. She had been told the story of Princess Yue a hundred times, the tremendous sacrifice she made not only for her people but for the whole world. When she looked at paintings of Yue and saw how beautiful she was it made Korra feel like she had to be beautiful too. So much of her beauty was wrapped up in her hair. The handmaids misted water into her curls and Korra imagined if Mako would it if she cut her hair.

She froze when she realized what she was thinking. Rage quickly replaced shock. Why the hell was she thinking of him! He didn't matter! His opinion on her hair didn't matter! She needed to cut him out of her brain. She felt her heart thumping in her chest, she realized it was utterly irrationally for her to be having such a strong reaction to a total stranger. She wrung her hands in her lap and she felt her handmaid Norakya still her hands with her own.

"Princess are you alright? It isn't like you to be nervous." Norakya was 10 years older than Korra but she was one of the kindest people Korra knew. She wished she had her natural gentleness, Korra had always felt far more like a warrior than a princess, Norakya seemed like she would be far more suited for the title of princess then herself.

Korra smiled and commanded her heart to be still, "I'm fine Norakya, or I will be once this is over.

Behind her Norakya's younger cousin Shaida stepped away from Korra's hair and admired her work, "Well you're ready, at least your hair and makeup is. Do you want us to begin the performance Princess?"

They looked at her expectantly and Korra nodded, "Yes please, I'll be out in just a moment."

They nodded and took their leave. Korra put on the four water skins filled with dyes to color the water and looked in the mirror. Started shutting off her mind. She needed to exist only in her body and the exertion from the dance would help with that.

She breathed in and stepped out of the dressing room. Norakya and Shaida had dimmed the lights and were bending a continuous stream of water down the staircase that lead into the ballroom. Korra nodded at them, they turned some of the water into steam. A heavy beat thrummed and Korra made her way down the stairs quickly and inconspicuously. The moment she reached the bottom and the music grew softer, she opened her water skins and burst the dyes from her pouches at the music became suddenly loud and chaotic. She moved in a series of leaps and spins bending the water with her as she went. The tricky part was in allowing the different colors to interact but never blend. If she didn't handle the water carefully the colors would blend into an ugly brown. The point of this dance was to honor the spirit lights in the Northern Water Tribe. Spirit lights which had been absent in the Southern Water Tribe for almost two hundred years. Absolute focus was required in paying tribute to these beautiful light.

The flurry of motions slowed and she let the mist play through the crowd. She tried to make her exit as the guest were distracted by the lights. As she was exiting the ballroom she felt her back hit something. She spun around suddenly and saw Varrick standing with open arms.

"Princess Korra that was beautiful! We should talk about putting you in one of my movers!"

The lights went on and everyone turned their head to Korra's positon. She looked around startled prayed, in vain, that no one would see her. The crowd paused for a moment and then burst into applause. People swarmed her clapping and praising her. She smiled and nodded graciously thanking everyone. The faces blurred the in masses but she found herself looking for one face in particular. She spotted red between peoples' heads and jumped around to get a better view she saw Mako standing next to her father towards the front of the room. She caught his eye right before he turned away from her. She felt hurt and disappointed and then indignant at the fact that she felt hurt and disappointed. She shook her head and focused on the crowd surrounding her. She shook peoples' hands and signed autographs, she stood for pictures and carried armfuls of bouquets. The crowd felt never ending, but it couldn't be never ending there were only about 500 people at the banquet, how long could saying hello to 500 people take? She soon found that the answer to her question was forever.

At the point where she had given up hope that she would ever get a chance to sit and eat something she felt someone come up behind her draping a robe around her shoulders. She turned and saw Norakya and Shaida standing behind her.

"Make a path people!" She heard a male voice behind Norakya and Shaida yell out. She turned around and saw Bolin pushing people aside to let her through. Norakya and Shaida helped, between the three of them she managed to leave the ballroom. When the crowd was gone Korra gave a deep sigh of relief. She shrugged the robe off, she saw herself in a mirror in the hallway. The backless white dress was soaking wet and clung to her almost indecently. She ran her fingers through her hair and made a quick swiping motion down her body waterbending all the water out of her hair and dress.

"Your performance was remarkable princess." Shaida spoke holding her hands to her chest and smiling at Korra.

"Yeah you totally blew my mind," Bolin said coming up besides Shaida, "you burst in with the colors all like…" he made a series of gestures accompanied by sound effects, "and then the water was all like whoosh and swish."

She chuckled, "Thanks Bolin." Her eyes traveled up over Bolin's shoulder as she saw Mako coming into the room with her father.

"That wasn't bad in there." He said leaning against a column.

Korra squinted at him and looked at Bolin, "What's it take to impress this guy?"

"What? I said 'not bad'." Mako pushed off the column, "You know what, it's getting late. I think I'm gonna turn in. You kids have fun. Nice to see you again, Princess Korra." He gave a two finger salute and walked away.

Korra put her hands on her hips, "Yeah it's been a real pleasure Avatar Mako."

"I'll see you back at the White Lotus camp bro." Mako called out over his shoulder before he left.

Korra turned to Bolin, "White Lotus camp, isn't that where Katara lives?"

Bolin nodded, "Yep we just moved in there, nothing too fancy but it has a great view."

"Speaking of the White Lotus camp," Tonraq said stepping forward, "you'll begin your healing lessons with Katara tomorrow. She wants you there at dawn."

Korra nodded, "I have to get changed. Thanks for helping me get out of there Bolin."

Bolin smiled, "Sure of course Korra I'll see you later."

He walked back into the ballroom and Korra moved to leave with Shaida and Norakya following her. As she past her father he put a hand on Korra's shoulder. Norakya and Shaida looked back questioningly, "Go on ahead girls I have to speak with Korra for a second."

The girls bowed and left the two of them alone.

"So I see you attempt to be friends with the avatar is going well."

"Dad-" Korra began defensively but he held up a hand to silence her.

"No it's alright Korra I don't expect you to force a friendship but I do except you to be cordial."

Korra looked down and nodded, "Yes Dad."

"Especially now that you two will be seeing each other a lot more."

Korra looked up at him confused, "What do you mean?"

"You and the avatar will both be training at the White Lotus camp."

"Yes but we'll have different masters, it's entirely possible that we could go whole weeks without seeing each other."

Tonraq nodded doubtfully, "I'm sure that would be the case if Master Loreik didn't explicitly ask for your assistance in training Avatar Mako."

Korra's eyes widen, "Uhh why would he want me to help teach the avatar waterbending?"

"Because you're one of the most gifted waterbenders in both the north and south poles. He feels that the avatar would benefit from sparring with someone as talented as you, there are certain things your masters can't teach you. Sometimes you have to learn from your peers."

"Since when are the avatar and I peers?"

"He's only a year older than you Korra, like I said there's no need to force a friendship but you must at the very least be polite. This isn't an impossible task Korra you've succeeded in being civil to far more unctuous people."

Korra slumped, crossed her arms and pouted, "I know Dad but he just bugs me."

Tonraq put his arm on Korra's shoulder reassuringly he squeezed affectionately, "I know sweetheart, but get over it."

Korra rolled her eyes and followed Shaida and Norakya.

Senna came up besides Tonraq and he put his arm around her waist. She nuzzled her head into his chest and smiled at where Korra exited.

"I wonder what'll happen between those two." She wondered aloud.

Tonraq sighed, "I have no idea, I'm just glad I'm not 16 anymore."

Senna laughed, "It wasn't so bad. We had some fun."

Tonraq smiled down at his wife and nodded, "Now it's her turn."