A/N: Again, sorry this is late! I may just extend the updates to Saturdays instead of Fridays since it appears to be easier. I hope you guys are enjoying the story so far and thank you so much for the follows and wonderful reviews! I love hearing the feedback from you guys.

Disclaimer: I do not own these characters or the inspired story.

They had been traveling on foot since the train wreck the night before. Really, Mako had been on foot while Naga let the other two ride along on her back; the polar bear-dog still had her qualms towards the bitter human.

They soon came to a stop near a vibrant river, thankful for it's refreshing nutrients under the mid-day sun. "So, are we going to be walking all the way to Republic City?" Korra inquired.

"No, your majesty, of course not," Mako began, his voice thick with sarcasm.

Bolin jumped in before his older brother could receive a slap to the face. "Once we reach the nearest city, we'll take a bus to Yu Dao. From there, we'll take a boat to Republic City. Then, we'll get to meet with Asami!"

"Wait, who's Asami?" she asked. The name seemed familiar but completely random at the same time.

Bolin became lithe as he launched into the marvelous depiction. "She's the illustrious, tantalizing, decadent, sugary-spice beauty of every man's dreams, as Mako would put it." He waggled his eyebrows mockingly towards the fire bender.

"Bolin, shut up about-" Mako tried to cut in, a blush spreading up his neck.

"Why she's Katara's eldest niece."

"Wait, but . . . I thought we were going to see Katara herself?" Korra stopped scratching Naga's back and shot a hard grimace to the other brother. "Mako . . . "

His original plan was to tread lightly on the subject, but now he had to face the battle completely haphazard. "The thing is, no one gets to talk to Katara without convincing Asami first that you're- "

"Oh, no. No, no, no, no," she trilled. "No one every said I had to prove I was actually Korrin!"

"But, Korra-"

"Show up, yes. Look nice, fine. But lie?"

"You don't know it's a lie! What if it is true? This is something you should see through to the end."

"Oh, now you're being optimistic? C'mon, Mako, look at me. I am not the grand Duchess and certainly not the Avatar."

She scoffed back to the delicate stream where Naga and Bolin still sat. Looking into the glassy water, she could see her reflection clearly. Her eyes transfixed on the way the water mobilized the edges of her features.

"Korra, you know he's right." Bolin stated.

She rolled her eyes. Great, now he's trying to rope me in.

"It's hard to hear, but what have you got left to lose? You said yourself you have no past. There's nothing left back there, the old Korra that you left behind. Your only choice is to move forward."

She took a minute to digest his words. "So your saying I should pretend to be some princess?"

"I'm saying you should make something of yourself. If it ends up being the Duchess, that's wonderful! If its not, you can choose to be something else. When Mako and I had to live on the streets, we didn't just give up and dwell on the past; we moved forward, built ourselves up, and prospered from it. If we can do that, surely you can do the same."

She had to give it to Bolin: he knew how to give an inspirational speech a hell of a lot better than his brother could. "You think it's that easy?"

"I know it is."

She sighed, the action serving as a white flag. "Fine then. Gentlemen, make me a duchess."

Throughout the entire trip to the nearest city, the brothers taught Korra how to walk and talk, eat and greet, every mannerism any royal should know. They even tried to get her to bend to see if there really was something suppressed. When they came across a small pond, both tried to give the best advice they could to translate into water bending, since it was Korrin's and most likely Korra's natural element.

Somehow something had clicked when they explained what it was like to feel the energy flow throughout the body rather than the element itself and she was able to make a disfigured arch of water rise from the modest pool. All three were in complete shock; the brothers even more so when Korra pretty much mastered the basic moves in just a half hour of practice.

Once they boarded the bus, the easy portion of being a princess was over and now came the more difficult step: the knowledge.

"Do I really have to memorize every single family member?"

"If you want to pass as the Duchess, you do," Mako stated. "Now, Aziron?"

Korra blew the fly away hairs out of her face and continued reciting the facts. "Brother of Fire Lord Honora, retired general of the United Forces. A placid man; he held an immense hatred for oolong tea and the tsungi horn. He always wore a dragon-hawk feather in his uniform jacket and . . . I recall his red rat . . . No, a fire ferret, named Pabu."

Bolin and Mako exchanged a glance of disbelief and looked back to their notes.

"You got it exactly right, Korra!" Bolin praised. "Now try great uncle Bato."

As she went through the distant family member's story, Bolin leaned over to whisper to his brother. "I don't have the fire ferret written down any where, do you?"

"Not a damn thing about it," Mako murmured as he scanned the pages. "I don't remember ever hearing about this rat, either."

". . . and he assisted Chief Hakoda in creating and setting off stink bombs against the Fire Nation during the Day of the Black Sun. Enough information for you?"

The brothers nodded in sync, both putting the thought aside that she was either the girl the entire world had been looking for or just flat out insane.

"Here, I got this for you," Mako held out the long, flowing blue fabric to her. They had finally gotten on the boat and Korra thought this would be her chance to have a break from the royalty schooling, but apparently not.

"What is it? A table cloth?"

"No, it's a dress." He was growing quite irritated with her constant snarky comments. "I thought it would be nice for you to wear when we talk to Asami. Try it on to make sure it fits."

"Alright." She took the dress and held it to her body, making an estimation of how it would fit on her. Mako turned and began towards the deck. "Hey, what's with you and this Asami girl?"

He stopped and turned again, quirking an eyebrow. Korra noticed the blush escaping from his collar again. "What are you talking about?"

"Well, Bolin seemed to imply that you had quite an . . . infatuation with her and her sugary-spice-ness."

He felt an urge to wipe that stupid smirk of her face. Mako closed his eyes, not wanting to look at her, and tried to brush the topic aside. "It's nothing. We just had a thing, but it's in the past."

"So, you two dated?" She pried.

He gave a quick snort. "We're not exactly the dating type of people." He immediately regretted letting the sentence escape without a second thought.

"Oh, so you two we're just having sex, huh?" Her face lit up with satisfaction when the vermillion shade spread up to his cheeks, matching the scarf around his neck. She gave a hearty laugh at the fact that she now held the upper hand with him.

Mako decided to claim the warmth that erupted in his core when she laughed as annoyance. "Just put on the dress, okay!" He quickly stalked up the steps to the deck before she had another chance to embarrass him.

"Well?"

Mako felt his heart jolt when he heard her voice, shocked since he didn't hear her step up behind him. When he looked to her, though, every sarcastic utterance that came to mind was completely forgotten. The dress snuggly held her upper body, showing off the tight muscles of her abdomens and the not-so-tight parts of her chest. The skirt flattered her hips, flowing out around her shape down to her ankles. She had let her hair out of the centered wolf tail, but left the other two to frame her face. She spun in the fluent fabric, her hair gracefully gliding with it. Korra was a picture of natural beauty and he couldn't help but stare.

"Wow, does it look that bad?" She inquired when he didn't speak.

He mentally shook himself from the trance and arrived back to reality. "No, no. I'm sorry. It . . . looks nice." He could tell she wasn't completely convinced due to his lack of vocabulary.

"Korra, you look gorgeous!" Bolin stated, grabbing his brother by the arm and towing him to the girl. "Now, you are ready for a ball. Let's teach you the waltz, yes?" He practically threw Mako at her body.

The older brother picked up Bolin's scheme and quickly tried to dismiss the coming situation. "Bro, you know I can't-"

"Then this will be a learning opportunity for you both!" Like a puppeteer, he placed Korra's hand on Mako's shoulder, and Mako's hand on her waist, and forced the other two hands to clasp together. "Now, you simply make a square as you make a full turn, doing a triple step on each corner of the square." Looking at the two teenagers, he could see the were still flustered from just being so close in contact that they were completely clueless to what he was saying. "Okay, just try it."

Korra's eyes immediately dropped to her feet, focusing on not stepping over her partner's. Her strategy failed when she had trampled his toes twice in one "square". Bolin had to stop the tragic scene.

"Okay, okay. Mako, you have to lead her around, Korra you have to let him lead." She nodded at his instruction as her eyes shot back down to their feet. She felt a hand lift her chin and her eyes locked onto the rich amber staring back at her. "The only way you can know where he's taking you is if you actually look at him." She took in a deep breath that she didn't know she needed. Korra nodded again, her eyes not leaving her partner's.

They began moving again, triumphantly getting through a whole square without a hiccup. Confidence brewing, Korra was tempted to leave Mako's gaze to glance at their feet again, but decided against it.

"Um, you look good with your hair down," he told her. "Y-You should wear it like that."

Korra let the edges of her lips curl into a small smile. "I am wearing it down."

"Oh, yeah, right." He gave a nervous laugh as he led her into a single turn. Mako carefully returned her to his grasp, fitting his hand back in the curve of her waist like it was made for him. "I was just trying to give you a, uh . . . "

"Compliment?" She laughed lightly. "You don't seem too good with your words today, Cool Guy."

He felt the blush spread again and tried to will his body to stop the reaction. Instead, he looked down and gave a sort of awkward smile he couldn't control. Once their feet began to trip up again, his eyes shot back up to Korra's. But this time her eyes had changed; there was intensity in her stare, yet softness as well.

"Am I making you nervous?" Her small smile still held.

His lips pressed into a thin line as he tried to match her eyes with the same intensity. "A little."

Her smile fell yet her heart soared. She suddenly felt lightheaded and was positive it wasn't from the dancing. "I'm starting to feel a little dizzy."

"Me too. Maybe we should stop spinning."

"We have stopped." Mako tried to remember when that happened because his mind was still going in circles.

"Right. Korra, I . . . " He wasn't sure where his mouth wanted to go with the sentence.

"Yes?"

"Well, there's just something . . . " His words failed as he took notice of how close they really were; he felt his own breath bounce off the skin of her cheek.

"Yes?" Korra grew impatient, waiting for him to close the very miniscule distance between their lips. She watched as he drew closer and closer then far, far away. Her eyes opened wider to see that he had retracted to arms length from her body. An uncomfortable silence suddenly filled the air as the partners realized what was just about to happen.

"Um, you're doing great," Mako said, deftly avoiding her gaze. He patted her on the shoulder and quickly brushed past her, making a bee-hawk line for the dormitories.

A/N:I wanted to make this chapter to longer, but it ended up being pretty long the way it is, so I gave you guys a bunch of Makorra fluff. Do with it what you will until next Fri(Satur)day! Thank you, guys!