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[For a moment, Korra just gapes at him, uncomprehending. How could he --why would he -- She can hardly wrap her mind around it.

A wave of anger crashes over her.]

Chekov! How could you?!

[She had told him those things in confidence! It was supposed to be a secret! How could he go behind her back and talk to Hei? Her relationship with Hei -- the end of it -- is none of his business!]

I shall have to meet him.

[ Lin, there really isn't any need to get all motherly at them. She stands in the corner, out of the way, and stretches her arms. ]

You'll like him. He's a good guy.

[She sniffles -- seriously, she better not be getting sick -- and take the orange juice from Tohru.]

Thanks.

You're welcome. [She watches Korra, all other things forgotten. If only she could put it together it's likely the flowers, she'd calm down some.]

[He thinks he needs to consider learning how to keep secrets in the future... or at least not telling people when he shares them.]

You were upset because of him.

[...That's all he's got.]

[Korra grabs Chekov by the collar and practically lifts him off the ground. Yeah, she's pissed.]

That didn't give you any right to talk to him!

[After promising Hei she wouldn't push, after deciding she'd respect his decision even though she didn't understand it, Chekov just had to go and break her word behind her back. (It doesn't matter that he hadn't known about the promise. The fact is, she had told Hei she wouldn't push and then her best friend went and pushed him.)]

[Hey. Chekov gets why she's mad, to a degree, but he told her what he did! Doesn't a confession count for anything?]

Was I supposed to let you think that you are the reason he chose to discontinue your relationship?

[He's annoyed. Yes, he made a tactical error, but that doesn't make it okay for Korra to get physical. Chekov tries to pry her fingers off of his shirt.]

[Sorry, Chekov, physical is Korra's default, and her grip is like steel on his shirt. If she were to let him go right now, it'd be because she threw him across the room.]

You weren't supposed to do anything! That's between me and him!

[Aaaand now she's throwing him.]

I can't believe you!

[Having a short temper is one thing. Expressing anger by throwing friends? Another thing entirely, and not acceptable in Chekov's books. On some days, he'd likely get over it immediately; between Howl and Sophie leaving and his unsettling conversation with Hei, however, he's about had it with his friends.

Chekov bites back a response that will make matters worse, rolls to his feet, and storms out of the room. Korra would be able to catch him easily if she wanted to.]

[No, she doesn't want to. She doesn't really want anything to do with you right now, Chekov.

She jumps out the window, using airbending to soften her fall, and storms out to the beach to clear her head.]

[Tohru sounds, as she usually does when she's not panicking or happy, worried.] Korra, maybe I'm just imaging things, but it seems you haven't been home much lately. Is everything all right? Are you sure I didn't do something this time?

Whatever it is, I can help. I can fix whatever I did. If it's not me, I can still try to make things better, [her voice trails off] somehow....

[Korra doesn't catch Tohru's message -- she usually "forgets" to bring her device with her when she goes out. But she returns to the beach house not long after Tohru sent it.]

Oh, hey Tohru.

[When she didn't get a reply, Tohru wasn't sure what to think. What if Korra didn't get it? What if she did and didn't feel like replying? What if, what if....]

Hi, Korra. Um, I'm sorry if my message bothered you! I didn't mean you had to return home right away or anything. If it's better for you to spend more time out, then I completely encourage this!

[Korra blinks, confused.]

What message?

Ah, I sent you a message, but that's okay! You don't need to see it right away. [She starts flailing a little, waving her hands out in front of her.]

You can get to it whenever you want to. I just wanted to make sure you were doing all right. And if you got pressured because I'm sending you messages then I'm becoming part of the problem and not helping anything. And I don't want to do that!

I'm fine, Tohru. [It's an instinctive response. It's in her nature to keep everything inside.

But........maybe it would help. There's something soothing about Tohru's presence. Korra doesn't generally talk about the Avatar with people outside her world, because outsiders don't understand. But a part of Korra feels like maybe Tohru would. And it'd be easier to talk to someone who doesn't have their own feelings about what being the Avatar means. Maybe.

She sighs a little and slides into a chair.]

Have you ever lost the one thing that really makes you you?

[Her expression sifts through her earlier ditzy overreaction to a solid concern. She thinks of her mother, of Kyo not being with her, and has only one way she can really answer.]

I don't think I have, no, but I have lost many things.

If I lost something like the ability to care for all of you, I can only imagine how terrible it would be, to not feel like myself. To feel like something is always missing.

Is that what you're going through?

[Korra brings her legs up so she's wrapping her arms around her knees. She hates feeling this vulnerable and exposed.]

I used to be... I am... the Avatar. It's a thing in my world. [She should explain, but she doesn't feel up to it.] There were things I was able to do that I can't anymore.

Except last weekend. Last weekend I had everything back, and now it's gone again.

[Rather than ask about it, Tohru just listens. When it seems Korra's done is when she finally speaks, and she still doesn't ask - this isn't the time.]

So having it back likely just made the ache stronger? Renewed it. It's just a reminder of what you've been missing.

Is there no way you can get it back? Without a curse? [Because, well, Tohru's not opposed to taking on another cause while she's here. Why not? Help Zelgadis find a cure, get Korra her Avatar thing back, and find a cure for the Sohma clan! She's got this. ...sort of.]

[She shakes her head.]

No.

[That "darkest moments, great change" thing had to be a cruel joke from the City. She's been pummeled and kicked and shoved into the ground almost constantly since arriving. If Aang could really reach her in her darkest moments, he would have found her when she died. When Chekov kidnapped her. When she had to kill her friends.

She's never getting her bending back, and all this past weekend did was prove she's not as at peace with that fact as she had thought.

She's not at peace with that fact at all.]

You can't even ask the deities?

[She frowns, and, slowly, reaches out to put an arm around Korra. Anything, some sort of physical way to show she was reaching out and wanted to help.]

[She had to. Without touching Korra, right then, Tohru felt so far away from her.]

[Been there, tried that, it did not end well.]

They can't help.

[Their price is too high.]

Is it out of their power? [Tohru doesn't mean to persist after this one topic, but if there's no other way.... Maybe she can find something. There has to be a way.]

[Korra slams her hand on the table.]

They can''t help.

[Stop poking at open wounds, Tohru, even though you don't mean to.]

[She gets wide-eyed and hunches inward.]

I'm sorry, Korra! I just wanted to see if there was anyway I could help. I'm just making things worse, aren't I? [Of course she was. She was good at that, sometimes. And this was clearly one of those times.]

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