Tarrlok had never had much use for the Spirits or supernatural things in general, but gazing at the front page of The Daily Republic, he felt a sensation that he could only identify as awe and a sort of holy terror. What else could he feel about the face grinning back out of the cheap ink and flimsy paper, which he hadn't seen since childhood? A jaunty ponytail and large, fearless eyes, with a vivacity in them that Tarrlok recalled only from his earliest memories. They were too similar for it to be a coincidence.

It had always left a sour taste in his mouth that someone as extraordinary as Noatak should have died senselessly in his youth in a snowstorm. That was how stupid teenaged peasants went, not absurdly talented bloodbenders with a merciless sense of justice. It was only fitting that his brother should return to shape the world alongside him, as no less a person as the Avatar herself. If Tarrlok had managed to lead the Republic City Council around by the nose on his own, how much more could they accomplish together?

It was galling to see Tenzin at her shoulder, though. She must despise having to live by the rules of a stuffy rabbit-hen like that, with every second word out of his mouth about caution or restraint or some other nonsense. Even someone who hadn't once known her as closely as Tarrlok once had could see she had a spirit that needed to live life to the utmost, propriety be damned. Once she mastered airbending, though, she would be free to cast the fussy old man off like an old coat, and then things would start to get interesting, he mused. The Council could be persuaded to provide the Avatar with her own lodgings in the city then, and perhaps his neighbors in the townhouse next door would find a sudden interest in travel …But he was getting ahead of himself; such plans were premature at the moment.

He got up from the breakfast table and fetched a knife from his study. Carefully, carefully, he excised the picture and accompanying article from the paper and soon had them sealed in an envelope addressed to a village in the Northern Water Tribe. Tarrlok had been unable to think of anything to add in a letter, but he knew his mother would understand regardless. He only hoped she wouldn't be too alarmed by the column on the Equalist movement that appeared on the article's reverse side, complete with a reprint of a propaganda pamphlet featuring their masked leader. She had gotten rather overprotective of her remaining son after the death of her oldest, and there was a chance she might not see Avatar Korra in the same light that he did. The last thing he needed was a flurry of telegrams from an anxious mother.

"Can you feel it, Tarrlok?"

Noatak stood at the edge of an ice ridge overlooking the ocean, hood down in spite of the bitter wind rising that morning. Dark clouds were beginning to gather over the water, and the birds were already tucked away in whatever shelter they could find.

Tarrlok shivered inside his anorak. "Feel what? It's too cold to feel anything!"

"The storm," Noatak said, ignoring the complaint. "There's going to be a storm tonight, and it's going to be a bad one. Even mom won't believe anyone would go hunting in that." He didn't appear to feel the chill at all.

"Are you going to tell dad that?" asked Tarrlok wonderingly. He certainly couldn't, not without being accused of trying to weasel out of practice or being called a coward. Yakone would probably call him that anyway, but there was no point in looking for trouble.

Noatak shrugged. "What for? She should have figured it out by now on her own. I'm not going to worry about his lies for him, and neither should you." He turned and started making his way down the trail leading down to the ocean, snow crunching under his boots. Tarrlok was supposed to go with him to catch fish for dinner, but he got the strong impression that his company was not wanted, so he hung back by the cliff side and waited for his brother to come back.

He could feel the storm coming, he noticed after a while. It might not have been the kind of storm that Noatak meant, but the tension in the air was enough to turn Tarrlok's chills into a nervous sweat.

Tarrlok found Tenzin massaging his temples wearily at his seat in the Council chamber of City Hall, and stole in silently. There was no need to sneak up on the councilman, but it was nice knowing he could get the drop on him when he wanted to. "Good morning, Tenzin," he said cheerily, pleased at the older man's subtle flinch.

"Tarrlok," he growled. "When did you get here?" Tenzin straightened and gave him a reproving stare, more out of habit than ill temper.

"Oh, some time ago," Tarrlok replied airily. "Do you think you feel up to a Council meeting today? You don't look well, and the Ataneq-Hamza case promises to be positively grueling. I only ask because I'm concerned, of course." He strolled around to stand just a bit too close to the airbender, just to make the man uneasy.

"Of course." Tenzin eyed him, suspicion suffusing his stern features. "I am perfectly capable of performing my duties as councilman, for your information. You won't get me off the council due to poor health this decade, Tarrlok."

Tarrlok smiled, sincerely for once. If that had been his aim, he'd never have been so obvious about it. "Good spirits, I hope not. Please understand my position, though. You have been absent from several meetings these last few weeks, and when you've been here you haven't seemed yourself. Knowing your devotion to this city, how can I explain this except through some debilitating illness?"

To his delight, Councilwoman Radha entered the audience chamber and heard most of that. "Oh dear, Tenzin, are you sick?" she called out from the doorway. "How awful, maybe you need some time off." What a wonderful woman – gems like that, and he wasn't even paying her.

Tenzin, naturally, began blustering. "You're in this together, aren't you? I tell you, there is absolutely nothing wrong with me! I am not sick, I am not dying, I am simply trying to instill some mindfulness into a bull-headed teenage girl!"

There we go, thought Tarrlok. No progress on the Avatar's airbending training, and it seemed as though she was not quite getting along with her instructor. Combined with what he'd read in the papers, one might infer the Avatar resisted a passive approach, and would appreciate a certain stubbornness in an ally. Good to know, good to know. He gave Tenzin his most charming smile, and proceeded to get on with the Council's daily business.