Kuvira was still extremely tired, but she had to at least attempt to get work done for the day. The round glasses sitting on the bridge of her nose threatening to fall off was the only thing keeping her awake at that point. She knew she had to get through a lot of paperwork but she just couldn't bring herself to focus enough to get it done. She still felt terrible about what had happened the night before and the thoughts refused to leave her mind. The only thing running through her head was her seeming betrayal to Su and the way Bataar Jr's hands had felt when he grabbed her. She shuddered at the sudden thought and absentmindedly pulled at the collar of her green turtleneck. She felt uncomfortable.
"Kuvira? Are you in there?" A strong male voice called out from behind the giant metal doors. Bataar Sr. She sighed deeply.
"Yes, I'm in here," she said regrettably. She removed the glasses once again threatening to spill off the edge of her nose and placed them in her shirt pocket. The older man made his way into her office and shut the doors behind him. He didn't want to muddle in his wife's business, but he couldn't stand to see her so distraught and strung out. He gathered what little courage he had left and turned to face the much younger woman his wife was interested in. His soft eyes narrowed as he made eye contact with her.
"Kuvira, you need to talk to Suyin," he said to her. Her previous "I don't give a shit" attitude had dropped from her face and she looked at him in shock. In a matter of seconds she composed herself again.
"She won't listen to me," she said through gritted teeth. She clenched her jaw to keep herself from crying as the memories from the previous night drifted through her head.
"Kuvira," he pleaded. "She's going off the deep end. What did you do to make her react like this?" These words puzzled Kuvira. She hadn't seen Su since the incident with Bataar Jr. and she had no idea how the older woman was taking it. She had just assumed that she had cried over it but Bataar Sr's words made her think it was more than that.
"What's going on? Is she okay?" She asked, genuine care filling her tone. She was truly worried for the matriarch. Bataar sighed deeply and sat down in one of the green and gold chairs that sat in front of Kuvira's desk. This was the first moment Kuvira had bothered to really look at the earth kingdom man. His furrowed brow and olive eyes full of concern told her that whatever the situation was, it was serious. His jaw was clenched tightly and he seemed entirely distraught. Her usually hard expression softened a bit as she gently placed a hand on his muscular shoulder.
"She cried all of last night. She's refusing to leave the bed and I'm sure she's snuck in bottle after bottle of wine, Kuvira. This is a cycle I've seen only once before and it's always hard to get her out of it. I'm just worried that if I let her go too far, she won't ever come out of this. You have to do something. At least tell me what you did!" The man pleaded with her. She bit her lip and her eyes shifted from his to the floor. She didn't want Bataar to think any less of her and she certainly didn't want him taking his son's side in the matter. She didn't want to look him in the eyes as she ruined his sons image but she knew she had to. She sat down at her desk and stared locked eyes with him before sucking in a deep breath.
"Last night, after avatar Korra was almost kidnapped, I was distraught. I felt as if all of the blame was on my shoulders and Suyin knew that. I felt like a needed a punishment...and we kissed. We started to do...adult things..." she was very nervous and hesitant to tell him the rest.
"Kuvira, I'm a grown man. You can just say you had sex," he replied in a much quieter tone than before. His warm hand reached out to her much smaller one. She took it tentatively.
"We didn't have sex. We started to...and then she mentioned she needed to get back to you. I got upset and sent her away. Bataar, I need to know that you won't look down on me. You won't like what I'm about to say." His entire demeanor shifted into something softer than what it had been.
"Kuvira, you know you can tell me anything," he said as he stated deeply into her eyes. Tears began to well up into her eyes and she forced herself to push them down.
"After she spent time with you, I'm assuming she went to go check on Bataar Jr. Suyin found us together in his room...w-with my h-hand on.." she couldn't force herself to finish the sentence before the tears raced down her now warm cheeks. He squeezed her hand gently. She pulled her hands away from his to take her glasses off and place them on the desk. Her chest felt tight and heavy. The conversation made all of the events from the night before cross over her mind again and again. Her whole world felt like it might crumble in that moment if she kept trying to finish the sentence.
"Kuvira, did he do something to you? Something you didn't consent to?" He asked in a low tone. There had been many times before when people would ask if she was okay and she had always been able to fight through the tears. This time was different. She could see very clearly just how much Bataar actually cared about her well-being and that's what struck her so hard. No one had ever really been sincere about it before, no one except Suyin. There was no point in fighting the tears as they rolled down her cheeks. All she could do at that point was sniffle and nod her head in response. Bataar Sr. abruptly stood up and clenched his jaw. He looked angry and Kuvira could feel his olive eyes burning right through her.
"Please Bataar, you have to understand-" she begged before his voice cut her off.
"I don't need to understand anything!" He shouted. Just the vibrations from his deep voice shook Kuvira straight to her core. "My son dared to touch you inappropriately. Oh, spirits. And Suyin...she had just assumed it was consensual. Of course she would think that, Junior has always had a thing for you. I never thought he would've..." His tone had gone from shouting to barely a whisper by the end of his sentence. "Kuvira...I'm so sorry. You didn't deserve that, and we certainly didn't raise him to be like that. Is there anything I can do to help?" He asked quietly. She shook her head with a look of despair written on her face. She knew she couldn't ask the man before her to kick out is oldest son, the one most like him. But this meant that she would have to be the one to leave in shame. She struggled to gain control over the tears streaming from her emerald green eyes but after a minute or two she was able to stop it.
"It's fine, Bataar, really. You don't have to do anything for me. He's your son, your oldest son, and I know just how much you love him. I...I can have my things packed by the next morning. I just- I can't stay here after that. I don't want to have to face him every day. I can't do it," she muttered these words through teeth clenched so tight she was afraid they might crack. She was in control again. Her emotions were leaking past the well worn barriers but she was in control. She straighter up the collar on her shirt and gently placed her glasses back on her face.
"Kuvira, if you left Zaofu it would break Suyin's heart. You and I both know that. You can't leave. You just can't," the older man said. She scoffed at him dramatically.
"Oh I'll break Su's heart. Won't her heart be broken if Bataar leaves? She can get over me, she won't get over losing her oldest son. Now get out of my office, I have work to finish so I can go home and pack," she replied in a hostile tone. His eyes narrowed at her.
"Don't turn against me because you know I'm right Kuvira. You can't just keep shutting people out until you have no one left." Upon hearing those words come out of Bataar's mouth she sharply turned around and pointed towards the door.
"GET OUT!" She screamed as she pushed him towards the door. She couldn't make herself look him in the eyes because she already knew how he had reacted to that. A hurt look was sprawled on his face and it truly pained her to see it, but she did what had to be done.
"Very well, Kuvira," he said as he left without another word, leaving the younger woman to her thoughts alone.
—
Suyin's head was pounding. She was still a bit tipsy and quite frankly she wanted to keep drinking but she couldn't stomach anymore wine. She had already gotten sick multiple times and she didn't want that to keep happening. It was already late in the day and because she had been getting sick she had nothing in her stomach. The older woman decided to leave her room to at least get something to tide her over until the next day. As she approached a corner she heard what sounded like Bataar Jr. talking about something with a few of the guards.
"So, did you sleep with her?" A deep voice asked. Her son laughed.
"Well I sure tried. For some reason she didn't want to, but I was forceful enough to get what I want," he replied in a somewhat bragging tone. He sounded proud of what he had done.
"What do you mean you forced her?" Another guard asked. Bataar smirked.
"I think you can guess what I mean," he said. Suyin had had enough of him at that point. She finally turned around the corner and walked up to her oldest son.
"Junior, what is this I'm hearing you did to Kuvira?" He rolled his eyes at his mother.
"I didn't do anything to her. She wanted it," he almost snarled in response.
"Did she explicitly say that she 'wanted it' Junior?" She asked as guilt started filling her stomach.
"She didn't have to say it, she-" he was cut off by Suyin's hand connecting with his face sharply. "Ow! Spirits that hurt! What the hell was that for mother?"
"What the hell was that for? What the hell was that for? Junior, you tried to rape a woman! If I hadn't...oh, spirits....if I hadn't walked in..." Suyin felt like she was going to faint. "Get out. You have to leave, now."
He scoffed and threw his hands up into the air. "You're not really going to make me leave are you? I didn't even do anything to her, you saw the extent of it. It's not like I actually forced her to do much!" he nearly shouted.
"Don't you dare raise your voice at me, not after what you've done. When I said you needed to go, I meant it. Leave, now. I don't want to-" this time it was Suyin who got cut off by her husband walking angrily towards the small group.
"Junior!" Bataar Sr's deep voice echoed through the metal hallway as he shouted his son's name. He was absolutely furious. How had his son ended up like that? Was it something he himself had done, or rather failed to do? The older man knew him and his wife's parenting skills weren't the best, but he also knew they had not raised their son to treat any woman in such a manner. They had always done the best that they could with their children but in times like that it seemed as if it wasn't enough. "Get your things. You're getting on the first train out of Zaofu tonight, and we had better never see you again. Do you understand? We are done. We had heard rumors about your behavior before, and that's my fault that I never took them seriously. Spirits, son, I thought we had raised you to be better than this. But I guess we didn't. Leave. NOW," Bataar yelled at his son.
Bataar Jr. left without another word and the guards scattered pretty quickly. The only two left in the hallway were Bataar Sr. and his guilt ridden wife. The same one that had previously blamed the nights events on Kuvira. She felt terrible about not believing the younger woman and she wanted to do whatever it would take to make it up to her.
"I talked to Kuvira to figure out what she had done to upset you...she couldn't bring herself to say all of it, but I figured out what she was trying to say. I couldn't just pretend like he didn't do this. I...I had to do something Su. I'm sorry." His words were genuine and he seemed very upset.
"I heard him bragging about...what he had done. I was about to make him leave as well. I can't believe I blamed her... oh spirits, Bataar do you think she'll ever be able to forgive me? I don't know what I would do if she weren't in my life. I care about her, Bataar. I need her in my life," she cried into him as his warm arms wrapped around her body. He kissed the top of her head lovingly and gave her a little squeeze.
"Go to her now. She doesn't know we made him leave, she's already packing her things for her departure. Go stop her. Tell her you're sorry, anything to get her to stay. I don't ever want to see you so upset, love," he mumbled into her silver hair. He gave her one last hug and gently let her go.
"Thank you Bataar. I love you," she replied. He smiled lovingly.
"I love you too Suyin."
—
Kuvira's things were packed, that was it. She had always been something of a minimalist so packing all of her belongings into just a few suitcases was easy enough. Packing had helped keep her mind off of Suyin and Bataar Jr, at least enough to keep her from having a panic attack. This place no longer felt like her home and because of that she felt she had no reason to stay. The Beifong family could stay intact and no one would have to get hurt. No one but her. Surely Suyin would be able to get over her little infatuation with the younger woman, wouldn't she? Kuvira decided not to dwell on the thought because if she gave any more attention to the idea she might never leave. The mere thought of breaking Su's heart made Kuvira feel weak and pathetic, but she couldn't help it. She cared so deeply for her mentor.
She sighed to herself as she took one look around her bare apartment. Would she miss that place? No. Would she miss Zaofu itself? Possibly. But would she miss Suyin and the other Beifong's? Most certainly. Not all of them had taken a liking to her but she had always been fond of at least half of them. They were here friends, regardless of their rocky past and now here she was leaving them. She carried the remaining suitcases out of the house and closed the door for the last time. When she turned around there was Suyin in all her heartbroken glory.
The matriarchs usually well kept wavy hairstyle was a mess. Her beautiful emerald green eyes were red and puffy and her usually immaculate eyeliner was streaking down her cheeks. Instead of wearing her traditional green robes she was wearing a pair of baggy green pants and a grey tank top with a light green bathrobe draped over her small frame. She looked like a hot mess. But Kuvira could not have cared any less. She found Suyin to be incredibly beautiful, hot mess or not.
"Kuvira..." The younger woman sat down her suitcases and took a few steps toward her mentor.
"I was just leaving," she replied through clenched teeth. She felt like her heart was about to leap out of her chest. Suyin took a few steps towards Kuvira, leaving only a few feet between them. "Suyin, I don't want to hear what you have to s-" The older metalbender wrapped her arms around Kuvira's neck and quickly closed the gap between them. Her lips found the younger woman's and for what seemed like an eternity they refused to part. Suyin's lips weren't soft, in fact they were very chapped and they tasted of bitter red wine. Kuvira didn't care. The sudden kiss caught her off guard but in a matter of seconds she found her own arms clinging to Su's waist. When they finally found themselves pulling apart their lungs burned and their hearts were aching.
"Please don't leave," Suyin begged as she stared into Kuvira's deep green eyes. The younger woman's heart felt caught in her throat as she tried to respond. "He's gone. Bataar Jr. left. We made him leave. Now there's no reason for you to go. Please stay," she said quietly. Kuvira studied the older woman's face for a few second then realized her words were sincere.
"Okay," she said in a tone of disbelief. She would've never thought the ruler of Zaofu would kick out her firstborn son but in that moment she was glad it had happened.
"I'm so sorry," the older woman started. "I should've listened to you when you tried to explain what he was doing." Her hand gently cupped Kuvira's cheek as a tear slid down it.
"You really made him leave?" She asked, still not quite believing it. Suyin stood on her tiptoes to kiss her forehead gently.
"We did." And that was that. Although her apartment didn't feel like a home, being in Suyin's arms did. That's all she could've asked for, at least at that point in time. Her hand moved away from the older woman's waist to gently hold the hand on her cheek as more tears came cascading down. "Will you stay with me?" Suyin asked once more. The younger woman felt a lump in her throat and feared she might start sobbing if she spoke, so instead she shook her head yes. The panic that had previously filled the matriarchs chest was gone and in its place stood all of the love she held for Kuvira. They were happy, as happy as they could be in that moment.