#sailorbears

Days later it was time to say goodbye to the Southern Water Tribe. Korra waited with Mako and her parents at her side by the docks for the boat that was about a half hour late already. Tonraq and Senna insisted on seeing them off even though Korra said it wasn't necessary. She knew her father had other things to do to make sure things were running smoothly because of the newly established form of government; he was still chief for the time being.

Mako's arm tightened around Korra's shoulder, using her to ward off the bitter cold that he never quite got used to. Korra noticed her mother's eyes flash toward them when it happened. Thinking of it, Korra had noticed her mother watching her and Mako ever since her birthday, since her arranged engagement had been broken off. Was she waiting for her to tell her she was engaged to Mako? Korra shook her head at the thought. Despite what her parents thought, she wasn't quite ready to get married. Mako understood that, so why couldn't they?

The four talked idly. The conversation consisted mostly Tonraq ragging on Mako, throwing in bad cop jokes. Finally, the boat slowly approached the docks and stopped. Korra threw her arms around her mother, telling her that she loved her as they hugged. She released her mother in time for her to see Mako hold his hand out to Tonraq.

"Goodbye, sir," Mako said to her father, with his hand extended.

Tonraq glanced at Mako's hand, before gripping it and pulling him into a rough hug.

"See you around, Mako."

Hours after the signing was over, Mako was finally able to catch Korra alone as she was walking back to her cabin. His arms wrapped around her from behind, hugging her to his chest.

"Hey," he murmured in her ear, his nose resting against the part of her neck that used to be covered by a pretty blue ribbon. Mako didn't know what happened to the necklace that Howl made her, nor did he care. He was just glad she wasn't wearing it around her neck anymore. He planted a small kiss there before continuing, "You do know how amazing you are, right?"

"You can stand to mention it more," she said with a laugh.

"Now that all of this is over, when do you want to tell your parents about our engagement?" Mako asked, his lips turned up in a smile.

He felt Korra tense in his arms, and the next thing he knew she pulled away, whipping around to face him as she stepped back. Her face was crossed with confusion that Mako didn't understand.

"You mean you still want to marry me?" She asked, her voice higher in disbelief.

"You mean you don't want to marry me anymore?" Mako responded, his face mirroring her confusion. 

"I mean, I do, someday. I just thought you asked me earlier because you felt forced to... because of Howl and everything. I didn't think you would be serious about it, I guess since we don't have a deadline that I have to be married by anymore..."

Mako used a finger to tilt her chin up to look at him. Her blue eyes met his reluctantly before he spoke.

"Korra, I'm always serious about you.. about us. I do want to marry you. I want to be the one waiting for you at the end of the aisle. I want to be the one you come to for help when you are overwhelmed by Avatar duties. I want to be your husband, but if you aren't ready to get married..." He paused, "I want you to be ready too, whenever that will be."

Korra squeezed her lips into a thin line as Mako waited for her to respond.

"I- I don't think I am ready to get married to you, yet."

Mako let out the breath he didn't realize he was holding before smiling softly down to her.

"That's okay."

"I promise to say yes again later."

A week had passed and Korra's birthday was fast approaching. Her engagement to Howl had been broken much to Korra's delight. Her parents had been horrified by his disrespectful behavior towards their daughter and after many meetings with highly respected men in both the Northern and Southern Water Tribes, it was decided that the tribes would be ruled under an elected official in order to make the government more fair for everyone. The thought of someone like Howl leading the nation was enough for Tonraq to know that things needed to change in order for the government not to be corrupted.

Korra stood with her father and mother and various members of the White Lotus in front of a large crowd of Water Tribe citizens for the signing of the new constitution into law. The South seemed accepting of the change; citizens of the North were harder to please because they were stuck in the ways of the past. They had gotten approval though, and everything seemed to be happening so fast for Korra. One day she was engaged to a social climber, the next she was rallying to change a long-standing government.

"Today marks the start of a new government for the Water Tribe," announced Tonraq to the crowd of gatherers who came to watch the signing.

"Today we vote for our chief for the first time. For the first time, citizens get to decide who they want in office; family lineage will no longer determine who runs our nation."

Korra applauded along with the crowd. She knew this would be good for her nation. It was good for her too. She wouldn't be forced to continue as chief after her father. She wouldn't be forced into two lifelong jobs; the one was enough for her.

The new constitution was passed to her father to sign into law as the chief at the time. He did so, before sliding the paper to Korra to sign as the Avatar and one of the writers of the constitution. She looked at the paper, scanning it over, looking at her father's name last before glancing at the crowd. Their faces urged her to sign the paper. She saw Mako in the crowd, his smile reassuring her.

This was for the good of the Water Tribes. It would be a big change, but one that they seemed ready to accept.

Mako was surprised just how easy it was to have Howl reveal his true colors to Korra's father. He had expected to have to do a little more planning, but Howl's pride and big mouth lead to his own downfall. Things couldn't have worked out better.

His eyes met Korra's as her father slammed the door to leave, obviously annoyed and angry. Korra approached Mako slowly, and he couldn't keep the smile off his face for long. How could they have gotten so lucky as to have Tonraq see that without any planning on their part whatsoever? Her hands draped around Mako's neck and she murmured, smirking a little, "He wanted my innocence, huh?"

Korra immediately laughed, cutting Mako off from answering. "I think that did it. That probably broke my father."

"Howl's a bigger idiot than I am for taking someone as great as you are for granted," he stated, pulling her closer to him, smiling against the side of her neck, the tip of his nose grazing her necklace. He wanted nothing more than to take the band off of her neck, maybe accidentally burning the pretty blue fabric in the process.

He felt Korra move back from him, and his arms automatically loosened from around her in response. Mako looked down questioningly to her face, which was right underneath his. Her eyes glinted and the corners of her lips turned up slightly.

"I should probably go check on my dad, help him cool down a bit," she began. "I get my hot-headedness from him; he might do something rash, he was pretty angry. But I'll be back here tonight for bed.."Mako saw her pause for a second, puzzled, "Why were you in my hut anyway? Nevermind, we will talk later," she said, flashing a smile at him before turning to the door.

Mako stopped her by the hand just as she was leaving, pulling her into a bone-crushing hug.

"Because I don't know when we'll be alone together again," he murmured the explanation in her ear, before planting a kiss on her forehead and releasing her again. "Okay, now you can go do what you need to do, Avatar," Mako said with a grin.

He saw a smile spread across her face as she gave his hand a final squeeze, before she left without another word. Silence filled the air before Mako sighed and left Korra's hut, continuing about his business without her.

Mako awoken from a nap and looked out to see the sun was beginning to set. He still wasn’t used to the sun only being strong for a few hours a day in the south. He thought enough time would have passed and Korra may be in her hut relaxing after a day of being shuffled around by various people and Howl trailing behind her. Mako grabbed his coat and made the trek up the hill to her hut and noticed the door was slightly ajar and entered.

“Hey Kor-“ Mako immediately stopped and he was at a lost for words. Korra wasn’t in her hut. Before him was a shirtless Howl lying on her bed. He surrounded himself with lit candles. Mako immediately bent the fire out of each of them and balled the captured flamed into his hand in anger.

“What are YOU doing here? Get out! Korra will be here any minute!” Howl exclaimed angrily sitting up slightly on her bed.

“What am I doing here? What are you doing? Do you honestly think Korra is going to throw herself on you when she gets here?” Mako snarled back with the flame growing in his hand with the intention of intimidating Howl.

“Oh, what are you going to do? Like you would ever bend fire at me!” Howl mocked at Mako.

“Don’t test me. You have no idea what I’m capable of. Now get your shirt on and get out.” Mako threatened back.

“Mako Mako Mako…you are so delusional. Don’t you see you’ve lost her forever? She’s mine.” Howl replied and stood up and walked closer to the door and turned back to Mako. “You are some poor city boy with no lineage. Your clothes just screamed poor class and Korra would learn soon enough that I’m the only one who can please her. And I’m going to make her mine tonight.” He continued grinning ear to ear with a false sense of accomplishment.

Mako was ready to strike. His jaw was clenched and he was shaking with anger. Mako saw the shape of two figures coming closer to the hut. It was Korra and her father. All Mako had to do was let Howl keep opening his mouth and let the stupidity fall out. He continued to put on an angry front to keep the gloating on. This was it. This was their opportunity to show Tonraq what they were dealing with.

“C’mon Mako! Hit me! I don’t care! Just the mere fact that you know I’m going to claim the Avatar’s innocence over and over tonight is good enough of a victory for me. OH, and must I mention we will be living in the Tribes and you will be immediately banished from ever returning! And I know you are thinking, “Oh, Korra would never banish me!” I will make her obedient. She will know who in control when I’m done with her.” Howl declared.

Behind Howl stood a wide-eyed Tonraq and Korra whom had been standing there for the last few seconds silently. This did not stop Mako from reacting from Howl’s last comment. Within a split second Mako delivered a swift punch straight to Howl’s face.

“HOW DARE YOU! MY NOSE. YOU BROKE MY NOSE!” Howl screamed in anger and within a second attempted to land a punch on Mako. Korra immediately bent water from outside the entry and crafted a water rope around Howl’s ankles pulling him down and forward straight on his face as Mako avoided his fall.

“MY NOSE! AGAIN! MY FACE! YOU RUINED MY FACE!” Howl looked up with blood pouring from his now crooked nose and his eyes opened wide as he saw both Korra and Tonraq staring down at him with severely disgusted faces.

“OUT, GET OUT.” Tonraq shouted.

“No, you don’t understand! This…this was a misunderstanding! Mako framed me! ” Howl stuttered out trying to plug his nose.

The next few days drug on what felt like forever to Korra. Her father was constantly asking her to sit down and start planning her wedding; after all, her birthday was only two weeks away. Korra didn't want to plan any of it as she sat across the table from her father and Howl, who constantly engaged Tonraq in discussions on decorations and invites. Howl would smile at Korra, saying how everyone would want to attend the Avatar's wedding. It would be the event of the century, his words not hers.

And if that wasn't infuriating enough, Howl practically followed Korra around wherever she went. When her family was around, he would always try to touch her in someway, his hand finding its way to her arm or shoulder, trying to play with her hair. He would call her beautiful, before turning to Senna and saying how she must've gotten her looks from her mother. His flattery was too much.

Korra would try to slip out to find a moment alone with Mako, however as soon as she made a move, Howl's attention would snap right back to the Avatar. As she would try to leave quietly, he would follow her, holding the door for her as she left before he found his way to her side. She felt his hand slip into her left, weaving his fingers in between hers. Korra jerked her hand away, turning to face him outside of her parent's hut.

"Just stop, okay? Enough, really I don't even know you, stop trying-" Korra stopped talking, as it seemed Howl wasn't even listening, his eyes focused downward. "What are you looking at?" Korra asked, crossing her arms over her chest. His eyes seemed to follow her hand.

Without saying anything, Howl reached again for her hand.

"What the flameo are you doing?" Korra exclaimed, feeling uncomfortable as Howl reached towards her chest, being that her arms were crossed. She immediately up her hands up and took a step backwards to escape his reach.

"Korra," Howl started, his eyes cold as he stepped forward to her again, this time successfully grabbing her wrist. Korra was confused, as he didn't try to hold her hand again. He tugged her wrist towards him causing her to stumble forward so they were standing too close for normal conversation. "What is this?"

"What's what?" Korra asked, ripping her hand away from him, holding her wrist softly after his tight grip was forced open.

"What's around your finger?"

Mako's string ring. Korra's eyes widened and she clenched her hand into a fist at his words, as if he would try to rip it off of her. She locked her jaw, "None of your business."

His eyes bore into hers, but she didn't dare look away. She would not give him the satisfaction of breaking her. She wouldn't look weak; she wasn't weak.

His lips turned up in a menacing smile. "Doesn't matter anyway. You're mine, Korra."

Mako beamed at Korra until the harsh reality set in.

“We should probably get back.” Mako stated glancing back in the direction of the city.

They made their way back and Mako held onto Korra extra tight during the ride, burying his head into her neck and giving her soft kisses.  He was trying to get in as much affection as possible until they got back to civilization.

 A few days had passed and Mako was only able to see Korra at mealtimes and in passing as they were keeping her busy. He was suspecting the real goal was to keep her from having any time with Mako. Mako was keeping himself busy as well to keep his anger down whenever he saw Howl following Korra around. It put a smile on his face to hear Korra turn him down anytime he attempted to woo her.

While Howl attempted to win Korra’s heart Mako was held up in his hut taking notes and desperately coming up with ways to approach the plan Korra and he thought up. They needed to catch Howl being the sleezeball he truly was but his façade was strong. The next step was to convince the people of the Tribes to turnover their ways and possibly accept a vote-based leadership.  His stress was getting to him and he knew he had to get out of the hut.

Mako went into the city and found a noodle shop that almost mirrored the one from Republic City. He was missing home and missing Korra. He sat himself at the counter and ordered his favorite noodle dish, extra spicy of course. A few moments later while taking a large bite he heard a familiar voice behind him.

“So I see you found my favorite noodle shop in the city!”

He turned around and saw a smiling Katara. She took a seat next to him and the waiter nodded at her, knowing exactly what her order was.

“I guess I did! What are you doing in the city today?” Mako asked while trying to politely finish the large bite of noodles he had just taken.

“I won’t let my age hold me down. I like to get out a few times a week and walk around the city and see familiar faces.” She kindly answered.

Mako had a question eating at him and her welcoming demeanor made it easy to ask.

“Katara…how was it being married to an Avatar?” He asked and worry filled his head. “I mean…were there things that kept you two apart?”

“Being married to Aang meant there was a lot of give and take. He had his job and I had my own duties. No matter how far apart we were I knew we were together in our hearts. There was a lot of pressure on him to not be married so young…people thought he wouldn’t focus on rebuilding after the war. When we found out Bumi was going to arrive it was even worse. We learned to do our best and not listen to others. With all the doubt from others we managed well and Aang kept his promise to maintain harmony until he got sick…” Katara paused touching her betrothal necklace and smiled. “It was the best decision of my life to spend it with him.”

Mako grinned when he saw Katara grin. Her smile was contagious and he felt a glimmer of motivation.

“I’m sure you are aware of Korra’s engagement…” Mako inquired in a low voice.

“Yes, I’m afraid I am. It makes me so angry to see such a lovely young girl be forced into this…and this Howl boy…I don’t trust him.” Katara answered very sure of herself.

“Korra and I are going to fight it. We think we can rid the tribes of these outdated rules. We will do anything so she won’t marry him.” He continued in a hushed breath not letting the others around them hear.

“Maybe you should marry her first!” Katara answered back jokingly.

“I already asked her and she said yes. That’s the plan…marry her first. You are the only person who knows…” he shakily spoke while leaning in closer to her.

Katara didn’t say anything. She pulled him into a tight hug and whispered into his ear.

“Trust your hearts and don’t give up. To be honest I’ve hoped you two would get married…the way you look at her reminds me of how Aang would look at me.”