Korra didn’t know how long she stood there after Liora left, but it was long enough for her hands to go numb, long enough for the lanterns to blur into soft halos through the burn in her eyes.

Kael’s kiss still lingered on her lips while Liora’s words lodged like thorns in her throat. He hunts what excites him. You’re nothing but a challenge.

The world began to tilt, but the music shifted into something cheerful, festive, so painfully at odds with the chaos inside her that she needed ...