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[Seeing herself looking back at herself in the little window on the corner of her monitor, Korra gave a stumped look and tapped the little camera lens that the desktop was using. Seeing her huge finger tapping back at her caused her a smile and she cleared her throat. Music can be heard from the speakers.]

Ahem. Hello. My name's Korra, I just got here. I'm the Avatar, but I'm not too sure that means anything here. [She looks both angry and confused, immediately wondering why she just thought of that now instead before.] But anyway, the kedan informed me that I should probably get a job. [Of course it probably sounded a lot nicer when they said it.]

So if anyone knows of a good place to work at, I'd appreciate the help. [She leans forward and puts her forehead in her hand, admonishing herself for not bringing up what she would able to do for work.] Um, I'm a bender, I can create fire and move water or earth around or into just about any shape or form you need? [Ice sculpting crossed her mind. She'd never given any thought to it. Then again she was never too artistic to begin with.] I don't know if fire matters? Burning things doesn't sound a like it'd be in big demand...

Also I'm a former pro athlete! If there's any kinds of sports going on I'd like to get into that! [A smile spreads across her face.] Doesn't even have to be a job, just for fun.

I'm in the Metal Sector if that helps. If anybody's from there we can meet up and you could fill me in a little more about this place? Looks pretty cool to be honest. Oh, and food, meeting at a restaurant would be good. [She stares at her monitor screen with her lips pushed to one side of her mouth.] And any advice or pointers on these things- [She points at the monitor, which just seems like she's pointing at the viewers.] would be welcome too. The kedan gave me a quick once over for it, but I'm not sure that's going to be enough.

[There's an long awkward pause as she looks left to right nervously.]

Yeah, that's about it.

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The Fire Nation! [Where has he heard that before--oh, yes!] Then you are from Noatak's world, are you not? Do you know him?

[whoops. Meanwhile he tries very hard not to preen and fails miserably, always pleased to bask in the attention.] Why, thank you; and I like your armband, it is very pretty.

Aw, thanks! It's made from polar leopa-

[Korra's heart skips a beat and she gasps.] You know Amon and his real name?

Well, yes, of course: he told me himself. [He tilts his head a little, trying and failing to gauge her reaction. Is it a good sort of surprise or a bad sort? It is difficult to tell.]

Is there something wrong? Only Noatak has been a great help to me, and told me all about dragons in your world besides, so any friend of his is a friend of mine.

The only person I've ever seen Amon help is himself. Where we're from, he tried to lead an army of non-benders he called Equalists and tried to corrupt Republic City, which was established by the previous Avatar so benders and non-benders could live in peace and harmony.

He pretended to be a non-bender and claimed he had been gifted by the spirits to take someone’s bending away. They believed him, even I did at first, but he was lying to everyone. Amon’s a waterbender who knows the darker aspect of bloodbending. He used it to sever someone’s bending.

Since I was the Avatar and could bend all four elements I was his main target. He terrorized my friends, brought harm to peaceful non-benders and benders alike, and if I didn’t expose his bending to his followers he would have caused the biggest and only war since the 100 year war.

[Her breath is shaken as she tells the story and her tone is wavering mostly due to anger, but also a slight amount of fear.]

[Temeraire's expression grows steadily more shocked as Korra speaks. By the end of it his ruff has flattened back against his neck in hurt surprise, taken aback at the vehemence of her words.

A more rational person might think this through more clearly--might realize that Korra has no reason to lie to him--but Noatak has taught him a great many things, and has been injured on his account besides, and the protective instinct he has for people he considers his crew cannot be so easily denied. His expression turns from shock to one of faint dislike.]

Here, he runs a small clinic, and helps everyone, even the local kedan, who do not like us; and he has only ever fought people who have been unjust toward us, or threatened to kill our friends. Whatever your bloodbending is, if he used it against people, he must have had good reason to do it.

[Color drains from Korra’s face upon hearing Temeraire’s rebuttal. None of it made any sense to her.]

What?

[Sure she was expecting some kind of underground network, a new army in the making, and perhaps a few assaults on important figures. It was what she was used to. But a clinic for those who treated foreigners with prejudice that even she had been subjected to?]

That’s not what he’d do-

[Words from the most frightening moment in her life still haunted her, ringing clearly in her mind:

”You'd only become a martyr. Benders of every nation would rally behind your untimely demise, but I assure you, I have a plan. And I'm saving you for last, then you'll get your duel, and I will destroy you.”

Pure loathing came across her face and the hot sting of unwelcome tears hit her eyes as she practically snarls when she speaks.]

He was planning to kill me! There’s no way he’s doing all of this out of the kindness of his heart. If anything, that scumbag is using it as a cover for some awful plan that is going to hurt a lot of people.

[Arch-nemesis hot button is a go.]

Well, whether you think it is something he would do or not, it is what he is doing, and here he has [brought me maps, and complimented me, and watched the aurora with me] been nothing but kind to me, and fought for others' well-being at the expense of his own.

[He is viewing Korra with outright distrust now, though there is some uncertainty there, if she cares to look: it is clearly something that troubles her greatly, and he does not like to see anyone so miserable, no matter how defensive he feels.]

I have only your word for it, against his. I do not think you would lie about this, but I do think I am only getting one side of the story.

[Hit with a sudden sense of self, she wipes unspilled tears from her eyes with each hand. That little bit of animosity had been pent up inside of her and she wasn’t even aware of it.]

Sorry, I didn’t mean to… [A deep, shuddering breath helped her level out her emotions. Forcing that memory away wasn’t easy in the least, but she tried none the less.] I just don’t want anyone else to get hurt.

[A laugh she can’t suppress comes out rather awkwardly.] No one at home would ever believe I’m talking to an actual dragon about Amon.

That, at least, is perfectly understandable, and I should not like anyone else to get hurt, either. But if you try to attack Noatak, or otherwise harm him, when he has not done anything to you here, I will have to stop you.

[That sounds a little unfriendly for someone who has yet to actually wrong Temeraire himself, though, so he adds, a little awkwardly:] But I will keep in mind what you have said, and if you are right, and he tries anything, it will be on me to stop him, as well, since he is on my crew now.

[A faint rumble.] Well, I suppose I am not one of your dragons, if they could breathe fire, but I am not without abilities of my own.

[Not attacking Amon was a challenge. Of course a dragon would much more of a challenge, Avatar or no.]

He's part of your "crew"? [Puzzle faced she tried to figure out what that meant exactly.]

Fire isn't the most impressive things about dragons. [This is said while she can't help but observe Temeraire on her screen, not even noticing her music has gone on a loop.]

Well, I do not actually have a crew at present: only a few people who have flown with me, or fought alongside me, which is not quite the same thing. But I see no reason why I should not start to assemble a crew now, in case there is a battle later.

[He pauses, trying very hard not to look curious: undecided as he is about Korra, he can never say no to a little flattery.] Yes? What is the most impressive thing about dragons?

[She has a soft spot for large creatures and she's more than happy to display why.]

Are you kidding? You just said people have flown with you! Only airbenders can fly without an airship and even then they have to focus on airbending their glider while doing it. [And dragons are big so that makes them huggable without hurting them.]

No one in their right mind would turn down riding a dragon! Those totally awesome claws to climb up entire mountains! And that tail to just smack things around with! [She’s doing her best to use her doggy voice that she does with her polar bear dog Naga.] Scales are so pretty when the light hits them just right.

[She sighs happily daydreaming about riding a dragon with Naga chasing them on the ground barking excitedly. Yeeeeah, she likes big animals.]

But you can control air, can you not? Have you flown before, on a glider?

[He pauses, a little startled at her sudden change in tone.] I do not see why I should bother climbing up a mountain, when I might just fly over it--but I cannot deny it is quite useful, having a tail, and my scales do look very nice, when they have been polished.

[Embarrassment is all over her face for her getting carried away.] Ahem. I have some control over air, but I haven’t mastered it. Yet. I haven’t flown, but my airbending master uses a glider staff that folds out with wings and of course he has his flying skybison. [Which she never got to ride. She’s not pouting. Honest.]

They are! What do you use to polish them? Are they hard like diamond so you have to use really rough rock or do they need some kind of sand blasted at them? [Simply washing them doesn’t even cross her mind.]

Flying bison! I have never heard of cows that know how to fly. [Wait for it, wait for it--] How do they taste?

Oh, they are not terribly hard: more like stiff leather, so I have been told, and they do not require anything except a wash, and perhaps a good rub. Sand would be very unpleasant, I think.

T-taste?? [Shocked? Very.] Uhhh- I don't know...? There's only a handful of them and my master has them on all on the island.

[Eat Oogie? Noooo...]

So do you have to use part of the water sector to clean them? Because the ocean would be too rough. [Because sand isn't. Where is your brain Korra?]

Oh, well, I suppose it would not make very much sense to eat any of them, when there are so few. That is a shame; it would be very interesting to try one.

[DISAPPOINT.]

I used to take baths in the canals, when I could: now I fly to the ocean when I can, now the water in the canals has gone bad. It is not terribly rough, at all; only the long flight is something of a hindrance.

[Even carnivore Korra has her limits on what she’d eat.]

Wow, wait, did they give you a suite? [How-what?] So what you need is a kind of bath set up. How to do the running water though... [She purses her lips and presses into her fist thinking. Everything else was easy, just the replenishing water.]

Of course they did; it is not as if I took this one for myself. [He leans back a little, so she might see the interior of his suite: a standard three-story Fire Sector apartment, but the dividing floors have been taken out to provide much more spacious accommodations.]

They were uncommon generous about it, and it is very pleasant, only you are right, it would be much improved with the addition of a fountain. I am not certain what the rules for it are, as the kedan seem quite set on uniformity of design, which is a great pity: there is already running water here, I believe it is done through pipes.

[She had no idea that the suites were that big until just now. It’s going to take everything she’s got to not ask how in the world he’s using the console efficiently. Maybe he had a custom made one that’s just enormous?]

Wow, that beats my tub idea. What does your door look like? [All these questions she had were giving her a headache.] You know what, never mind, not sure I could handle that right now. So do the kedan give you trouble too? [That possibility was unbelievable to her. Maybe they never heard of dragons or even had them, but how could they be resentful of a majestic creature?]

[Lots of practice and very careful fiddling with all the keys. 8|]

It looks the same as any door in the Fire Sector, I should think, except larger. And I have encountered some trouble with the kedan, but not to the point of violence: a few squabbles in the street, and once or twice a merchant has refused me service, but it is nothing to complain about, when one thinks of all the other things one could be subject to. I suppose they are too cowardly to attack me direct, and so try to do so in other ways.

[Someone who's tech savvy should make him a custom keyboard after salvaging.]

They sure have guts to do even that. You know I could actually save you the trip to the ocean since you having running water. Washing would be a snap! [Time for teasing, because all Avatars like to.] Unless you like to bathe alooone.

[Don't judge, all humans are weird. Most. A few. Okay, her.]

[Aaand that flies right over Temeraire's head, unfortunately.]

Well, I should not mind the company, at all, but I make regular trips out to the shell's edge anyway: the rationing has been hard on all of us, and I must catch enough fish for myself and my friends. And it is quite pleasant to swim a little, before and after.

Oh wow, I didn't even think about that. You need a lot more food than most juulan could probably buy.

[Oh god, she's wistfully sighing.] And you have to stretch out those big wings too. Well, if you ever feel like not going out, or can't for some reason I'd be happy to help! [She wants to pet him so bad right now.]

[He twitches his ruff, a little startled. It is a surprisingly generous offer, for someone who started off threatening one of his crew.]

Well--thank you, that is uncommon kind of you.

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