A/N: Sorry for the delay in update! Thank you all so much for the kind reviews. Going to try to do this once a week but been too busy the last few weeks with work and other things. The original theme for this was 1920 but it was so challenging to figure out how to fit that in this story. This chapter was pretty bittersweet with lots of feels! Still rated T. Please enjoy & review! Thanks!

Disclaimer: I don't own Legend of Korra.

Chapter 6: Bittersweet

In the early hours of the morning, Korra woke up screaming. She sat up, breathing heavily, sweat beads dripping down her forehead, hand clutching over her heart. Noatak woke up at his scream, which in his deep sleep, vaguely sounded like a girl. He shifted under his pelts and turned over to see if Korran was okay. Despite asking him a few times to share his nightmares, Korran declined and turned his back towards Noatak. Tears streamed down Korra's cheeks as she recounted the nightmare. Perhaps it was her own fears tugging at her subconscious or the stress from knowing their unit will be in battle soon. In her dreams, Fire Nation ships surrounded her unit destroying everything, she was ostracized due to her true identity but worse of all, Noatak was captured and tortured. Even though it was a dream, her heart still ached. She closed her eyes and concentrated on the ambient sounds, her own breathing, his breathing, howling in the distance.

"I had a dream about her again." Noatak broke the silence, still facing him. "I know it's weird, but I feel like she's close by." He looked up to the ceiling and smiled. "Do you think she is?"

Silence again. Korran pretended to be asleep. Of course she was close but given the circumstances and as much as it pained her, she couldn't tell him the truth.

She woke up feeling rested the next morning. Noatak had already fixed his bed and was nowhere in sight. She took a slow breath and caught a whiff of Mama Ahnah conjuring up a tasty breakfast. It tickled her senses and pushed her out of bed towards the kitchen. She could tell it was the aroma of seaweed noodles, her favorite. As she stepped into the kitchen, she was surprised to see Noatak cooking instead of Ahnah. She quickly stepped to the side, away from the entrance and fixed her wolf tail before entering again. "Good morning Captain, where's Mama Ahnah?"

"Hey there! You're finally up!" Noatak gave him a smile and continued to cook the noodles. "Captain?" He laughed. "You know you can always call me Noatak and my mother went out with her friends, they always have morning walks and breakfast together."

Korran just nodded. She was more surprised that Noatak knew how to cook, a skill that he never used during sea, then again they had a cook for their ship. "I didn't know you cooked." He slightly blushed at the thought; a man who can cook was perfect, even more perfect was it happened to be Noatak. Korran helped him gather two plates and set them onto the table as Noatak finished mixing the last ingredients into the noodle.

"Seaweed noodles with pickled sea prunes and glazed tiger seal meat." Noatak portioned out the noodles onto the plates before sitting next to Korran. "A mix of sweet and sour."

Korran took a bite out of his meal, his eyes lit up as he savored the taste of sweet and sour seaweed noodles. Still with his mouth full, "This is really good! Where'd you learn how to cook so well?" Finally swallowing, "How come you never make this on the ship?!"

Noatak chuckled. "I learn it from my mother and if I made this on our ship, do you know how many of our men will be swarming all over to gobble it up? I mean Hasook the cook doesn't exactly make the best meals." They both broke out in laughter. "Besides, Noatak the cook doesn't sound as fierce as Captain Noatak."

It was a great start to a day as they continued to share their breakfast together. Both did not mention the nightmares and dreams that invaded their sleep the night before, though for some reason Noatak found himself oddly attracted to Korran as the day progressed. He reasoned that he was just missing Kyona. As for Korra, deep down she was already imagining waking up to daily breakfast cooked by Noatak.

They spent the rest of the day exploring the outskirts of Noatak's small village with Naga. Noatak sat behind Korran, bodies nearly touching. Korran felt a tingle down his spine as his temperature rose from Noatak's touch. Even the slightest touch from a brush of a hand sent electricity flying through her nerves. The effects were similar on Noatak, who at one point began to question his own feelings towards Korran, but assured himself that it was only brotherly love. Several times, Korran's wolf tail whipped Noatak as he turned around to talk with him. Neither wanted to acknowledge the tension building between them, perhaps the tension was bound to happen the more they spend time with each other.

By evening, they came home to help Mama Ahnah prepare their last home cooked meal. Mama Ahnah could tell that Korra did not reveal her secret yet but she could also tell the young lady dressed as a man was smittened with her son.

After dinner, Noatak excused himself by volunteering to feed and groom Naga while Korran helped Mama Ahnah with the dishes. Noatak needed some private time to sort through his thoughts. The chilly air surrounded them as he combed through Naga's hair. "Naga, Korran can't possibly be a woman can he?" Naga wagged her tail. "I mean you should know because you've been with him your whole life, right?" Naga just continued to wag her tail as she gobbled up the tiger seal jerky in front of her. "Who am I kidding, I'm talking to a polar bear dog and no way Korran's a woman, that's a death sentence right there." He sighed as he continued to groom Naga reminiscing his dreams and encounter with Kyona.

Immersed in his own thoughts, Noatak did not notice Korran joining him. "Thanks for taking care of Noatak!" Naga became even more excited and began licking Korran. "Calm down girl." He turned to Noatak who was recovering from his deep thoughts. "Something on your mind?"

Noatak just smiled and shook his head. He was tempted to ask him but perhaps it wasn't a good idea. It could entirely change the dynamics between their relationship making it truly awkward if he was wrong.

"Her saddle." Korran noticed Naga's saddle was still strapped on her back. "We must have forgotten to take it off earlier." They both approached Naga from each side and slowly unbuckled the fasteners. For a brief moment, their hands landed on the same knot, his hand on top of his. As Korran looked up, he met Noatak's gaze. He quickly retracted his hand and looked down to continue untying the knot. He let out a nervous chuckle. "I can't believe we forgot to take off her harness, she must be exhausted."

"Naga's strong, she's still pretty energetic. Ate all the tiger seal jerky I left for her." The moon spirit shined upon them, Noatak noticed Korran's eyes were sparkling bluer as usual, much like his memory of Kyona. He stepped back and placed both his hands in the air to cover Korran's mouth and his forehead from a distance. Peaking through the gap between his hands, Korran really did have the exact same eyes as Kyona and now that he thought about it, they were about the same height too.

Korran noticed Noatak acting strangely and looked up to see his palms facing him. "What are you doing?"

"Stretching." Noatak pretended to yawn but he smirked behind his palms. An idea came to him as he walked over behind Korran, he looked up pretending to admire the moon spirit and glistening colors of the northern lights. "Beautiful isn't it?"

Korran untied the remaining knot and looked up. "Very, we don't get the lights in the South Pole."

Finding the right moment to execute his plan, Noatak pointed to the opposite direction causing Korran to turn his head. "Hey look a shooting star!" With a quick movement, Noatak untied the string holding Korran's wolf tail. Even if Noatak's suspicions of Korran were not true, it would be a good plan.

Korran's hair dropped down past his shoulders and he quickly turned around, hair flowing flawlessly in the winter air. "What are you doing?" A tinged of red rushed to her cheeks.

Noatak's eyes widened and his jaw dropped to the ground as soon as he saw Korran turn around. His—no, her hair surrounded her face, she was beautiful, she was Kyona. Suspicions confirmed. "YOU! You're her!?"

Korran quickly turned away and demanded his hair tie back. Panicking, she began to run. She wasn't sure why she was running away but Noatak as determined not to let her run off again, not this time.

"Wait! Come back here! We need to talk! Korran! Kyona!"

He chased after her into the snowy tundra. She bent up the snow and sent it flying at him like a blizzard but he dodged and countered all her attacks. He bent a wall of ice in front of her path to stop her, which she quickly bent away. Two elite water benders evading and counterattacking each other's attacks just like the first time that they sparred during their friendly challenge. She froze the snow around his foot into ice; he nearly tripped but bent a fluff of soft snow to break the impact. Getting up he sent a water whip her way grabbing her waist and pulling her back. Caught off guard, she spun around, hair flowing in the chilly air, and broke the whip. He saw her true face again, this time he used all his determination to catch up to to her dodging all her attacks and finally tackling her to the snowy ground.

"Wait! Korran or Kyona, please stop!" Noatak pinned her down. "Why are you running away?"

"I-" She was speechless. "Get off of me, you're heavy." A surge of feelings ached her heart.

He leaned to the side but grabbed her hand so she would not run away. Questions filled his mind. "Korran or Kyona, please don't run any more. We need to talk." He paused to gather his thoughts. "I don't want to lose you again like back at Makapu."

"Korra." She looked up to meet his gaze. "My real name is Korra. Kyona is my grandmother." A smiled beamed across their faces. "And Korran, is your fellow warrior and good brother from another mother." At least his first question was answered without him even asking.

They sat in the snow as Noatak kept admiring her, he couldn't help but smile. "You… you're a woman… but pretending to be a man, let alone a warrior… that's a one way death sentence. You know our laws will not allow any woman to go into combat. Why?"

Reminded of her family at home, she looked away, tears forming at the corner of her eyes, ready for release. "I had to." She sighed. "Remember what I told you last night about my father? That part is true and I am the only child except I couldn't take his place as a woman so the night before my father was suppose to report to the draft, I went in his place." She glanced back at him. "I'm sorry for hiding all this from you."

"Does your parents know?"

"Yes."

"They didn't try to stop you?"

"No, I left in the middle of the night."

"And that's how you came up with Korran?" He stopped to think. "Remember when you passed your warrior test and I challenged you to a friendly spar, is that why you didn't want to accept it?" Before she could even respond. "—and all those times when you pile on your armor even when you were sick, you were trying to conceal your true identity, right?"

She nodded, relieved that Noatak finally knew the truth. "Your mother already knows but if anyone else finds out, I'm going to die." She let out a heavy sigh, on one hand, she was filled with joy that she could finally stop lying to him but on the other hand, she knew he had the power to reveal her secret though she trusted he wouldn't. "I suppose we can figure out what to do from here?"

"Yea, though I'm still in quite a bit of shock." He was still processing all that happened. Noticing that she was shivering since she forgot her parka or rather one of his old parkas, he took off his own and wrapped it around her. To her surprise, he pulled her in for a long hug. She felt secure in his arms as she rested her head on his chest. They weren't sure how long they hugged but the air became colder as the night progressed. "Let's go home. It's getting really cold here. We can talk more later."

Korra paused in her tracks. "Wait… Are you going to turn me in?"

Noatak raised her brow. "Are you kidding me? After all I've gone through with you to finally discover who you really are, do you honestly think I'm going to let you die?"

He held her hand and led her back to the small village. Everyone was already in their own yurts, most likely surrounding a fire as the chilly temperatures deterred many from venturing out, they were safe to enjoy their newfound togetherness, at least for now.

As they approached their yurt, Naga stood up excitedly and licked both of them. They calmed her down and both entered the dwelling quickly to avoid any attention—not that anyone was outside to begin with.

"Noa! Korra…" Ahnah looked at them both as they entered. "I was worried sick for you both." Seeing their hands linked together, his parka on her, and her face blushing—possibly from the ice air, she put the pieces together and was at peace again. "I'll go make you two some tea." Before they had a moment alone, Ahnah popped back out from the kitchen, "Are you two hungry because I could make something now too!"

Noatak glanced at his mother and smiled. "I think we'll just have tea." His mother caught the signal and hurried back into the kitchen. He added more wood to the fire as they sat down on a bench facing it to warm up. Turning to her, still holding on to her hand, the back of his free hand grazed her cheeks. "So tell me again, why you didn't you just tell me after our date in Makapu? Do you enjoy torturing me? Because I thought I had lost you for good." He asked jokingly. "And don't forget I confided in you after that date, you knew all along!"

Mama Ahnah placed the teapot and two cups on a nearby table and excused herself to go to bed. "You know I'm an old woman, I need my rest." She smiled at them both and managed to mouth the word 'grandchildren' to Noatak while Korra wasn't looking. He rolled his eyes and returned the smile as she closed the door to her room.

It was their first night and last night together as Korra and Noatak, a bittersweet moment for both of them. They both knew Korra would have to become Korran again in the morning and Noatak would resume his role as a Captain. But for just one night, the two of them enjoyed each other's company away from the pending thought of war. They spent most of their night chatting which lead to kissing, then cuddling, and more kissing. They drifted off to sleep in each other's embrace. Noatak held her tight and whispered in her ear, "I'm not going to let anything happen to you. I will protect you, always."

Mama Ahnah woke up in the middle of the night and found both of them cuddled up together in front of the fire now reduced to embers. It warmed Ahnah's heart and she went into Noatak's room and brought out some pelts to cover them. She was going to miss them since they needed to report back in the morning but she was assured to know that her eldest son was in good hands.