Korra was terrified.

She and Nadia had been friends for over a decade.

In that time, she had seen so many sides of her.

A sad Nadia, a happy Nadia, an excited Nadia, even a Nadia who was crying.

Despite her friend’s inability to show emotions the way normal people did, Korra had witnessed countless facets of her that no one else would ever see.

Because they were that close.

But right now, she was seeing a side she had never witnessed before.

Betrayal.

Anger.

Not the explosive kind...Nadia didn’t do explosive.

It was cold. Quiet. Devastating.

She wasn’t scowling or glaring, but her eyes...those cold, dead eyes...they were staring straight into Korra’s soul.

And Korra felt it like a physical weight pressing down on her chest.

She trembled which was insane to think about since she was a dragon.

She could breathe nether fire, level mountains, command armies of the most powerful demi-humans in existence.

But right now, she felt like a hatchling caught in the gaze of something far older and far more dangerous.

The room around her felt freezing. She didn’t even attempt to cover herself, didn’t reach for a blanket or a sheet. She was too petrified to move.

And honestly, it made sense. Nadia had every right to be angry. She had just caught her best friend in an intimate relationship with her own son.

Any mother would feel the ultimate betrayal.

Not not to mention, Mika was barely an adult. Korra was...much older. That alone was strange.

And the fact that she had gone behind Nadia’s back, carrying on this secret relationship without her best friend knowing anything about it—it was messed up. There was no other word for it.

She should not have been involved with Mika in such a way. She had been tricking her friend. Betraying her trust.

But what was done was done. She couldn’t take it back.

She tried to think of excuses—some way to explain the situation, some cover-up that would turn this into a misunderstanding or a mistake.

Not because she was afraid Nadia would come over and try to kill her. That wasn’t it at all.

She just didn’t want to lose their friendship.

Nadia was her best friend. The thought of their relationship breaking down over something like this made her chest ache with a pain worse than any wound she had ever suffered.

She would rather be slapped a thousand times, until her face bled, than have Nadia push her away.

So she thought. She searched. She grasped for any explanation, any excuse.

But then she looked at Nadia’s face, that cold, waiting expression and she realized.

She couldn’t lie.

Not only would Nadia immediately see through it, but she couldn’t do that to her friend. Not now. Not after everything.

So, she let out a deep, shuddering sigh until finally saying,

"I’m sorry, Nadia."

She bit her lip.

"I honestly don’t have any excuse to say right now."

Nadia didn’t respond. She just kept staring.

But the fact that she was still listening and hadn’t walked away was a good sign. Korra clung to that.

"The truth of the matter is." She continued, her voice trembling. "me and your son...we..." 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

She hesitated. The words felt like stones in her throat.

"We’re actually in a secret relationship. And as you can see..." She gestured at her naked body, her face flushing with shame. "...we’re quite intimate."

"W-We do all sorts of things that you would never imagine your son and your best friend being able to do."

She braced herself for an explosion—for shouting, for accusations, for something.

But Nadia didn’t say anything. She just continued to stare, her expression unreadable. If anything, her eyes seemed to say: Go on. Explain. I’m listening.

Korra felt a flicker of relief.

"I honestly don’t know how everything turned out this way."

She said, her voice somber, embarrassed.

"It was all a matter of coincidences. One thing led to another. We were never supposed to be in such a relationship."

She let out a hollow chuckle.

"I’m basically his auntie, in a certain way. I watched that boy grow up. I saw how much my own daughter—"

She paused, her expression softening.

"How much Nuri liked him. Despite never admitting it herself, it was obvious. I even thought of him as a potential son-in-law. I used to hint at them getting together, saying they’d make a cute couple, that they’d strengthen human-demi-human relations."

Nadia nodded slightly. She had noticed that too.

"Normally, there was no reason for me to become anything more to him. But one thing led to another, and...well..."

Nadia leaned closer to the camera.

"Explain it to me clearly, Korra."

Korra nodded, leaning in as well.

"The truth is...about seven years ago, me and my husband had a massive fight."

Her voice grew sullen, her eyes darkening with anger.

"He had found another partner. Again." She gritted her teeth. "Even for a dragon king, it’s too much. Too many. I...I was sick of it!"

Nadia nodded slowly. She knew, since she had heard so many complaints over the years.

The thing was, male dragons had an unfortunate trait that could not be excused.

They were extremely horny all the time, constantly seeking new mates, unable to maintain stable relationships.

The dragon king was no exception. He had partners all over the place, and the one who suffered was Korra.

Nadia had seen her best friend cry herself to sleep over this. Had held her hand while she sobbed. Had poured her drinks while she raged.

"The bastard." Korra spat. "Even though he’s the strongest demi-human alive, he doesn’t have the balls to admit what he’s doing. Whenever I bring it up, he ignores me. Stays silent. Walks away."

"He’s too scared to confront me about it."

Her voice cracked.

"I didn’t even get a chance to accept it. If he would just come forward and tell me about his partners, I would...I would try to understand. I already knew what sort of man he was."

"But he doesn’t even do that." She snorted. "He’s too scared to face me. He can do all the shit he wants, but when it comes to actually accepting it and having some dignity in front of me, he runs away."

She grabbed a pillow and squeezed it, her knuckles white.

"It makes me so angry. I can’t believe I married such a coward! Despite being such a powerful individual, he can’t even come to terms with his own sins!"

Nadia’s expression softened with empathy.

She knew how much Korra had been struggling. How trapped she felt in her marriage, unable to leave because of politics and stability.

Swallowing the lump in her throat, Korra looked back up at Nadia, her eyes softening as the anger faded into nostalgia.

"On that specific day seven years ago, when I uncovered yet another one of his affairs, I just snapped. I couldn’t handle the pressure anymore. I completely lost control and dragged him into a brutal, devastating fight."

"And it wasn’t just a marital dispute, Nadia, I completely leveled him."

She laughed like she enjoyed the memory.

"I beat him into the dirt until his reinforced scales shattered into pieces and he spat out a handful of teeth."

Nadia nodded slowly, the memory clicking into place.

"I remember that day vividly. My office was flooded with urgent military reports stating that the Dragon Queen and King were locked in a duel to the death, and that the Queen was absolutely dismantling him. You even came to see me the following day."

Nadia paused, her brow furrowing as a sudden look of realization and suspicion crossed her face.

"Wait...hold on a minute."

"What?" Korra asked nervously.

"Normally, whenever you had a violent blowout with your husband, you would storm into my office radiating pure venom and frustration."

Nadia mused, her eyes narrowing as she re-evaluated the past.

"You would dump all of your anger onto me, crack open a dozen bottles of the strongest liquor you could find, and drink yourself into a total oblivion until I literally had to lift you up, carry you to bed, and tuck you in."

"But the day after that specific fight, when you walked through my doors, you weren’t angry at all."

"In fact, you barely even mentioned your husband’s name. Instead, you were remarkably quiet, smiling softly and completely lost in your own thoughts, acting as if you were drifting through some beautiful, happy dream."

Nadia leaned closer to the screen, her voice sharp with retroactive clarity.

"Back then, I didn’t question it. I was honestly just relieved that the situation hadn’t entirely broken your spirit, so I let it slide."

"But looking back now...your reaction was entirely wrong. You were entirely too peaceful. It makes sense why you were so mild."

An awkward, sheepish smile broke across Korra’s face. She let go of the pillow and nervously scratched the back of her head.

"Well...I guess you caught me."

She cleared her throat and then timidly added,

"The truth of the matter is, right after I stormed out of that palace and left my husband bleeding on the floor, I...ran into Mika."

Nadia blinked in sheer surprise, her interest instantly piqued as she leaned forward.

"Mika? Where exactly did you meet him?"

"After I thrashed my husband, who didn’t even dare to fight back because of the immense guilt he was harboring, I couldn’t stand the sight of my own home."

Korra explained, a genuine, fond warmth spreading across her face as she recalled the memory.

"I just wanted to flee from everyone. I was looking for a secluded corner of the multiverse where I could just break down and cry my eyes out in total isolation, without a single soul seeing the vulnerable Queen of Dragons."

"So, I tore open a rift and threw myself into a completely ruined, abandoned dimension that had been dormant for ages."

"But who could have ever predicted that in a barren wasteland where absolutely no one was supposed to exist...I would stumble right into Mika."

Nadia couldn’t help but echo the sentiment.

"Mika in a dormant, ruined dimension? What in the world was he doing out there?"

Korra’s expression softened, a beautiful memory surfacing.

"I asked him the same thing. He was surprised to see me too. But he told me he was excavating ruins that belonged to an ancient civilization, and he was trying to uncover their mysteries."

Nadia nodded slowly. That made sense. Mika was always going from realm to realm, doing strange things, experimenting on different stuff.

And she felt a hint of pride as she was one of the reasons he loved exploring so much.

She had taken him to so many realms as a child, wanting him to love the demi-human race.

He had picked up the habit and never let it go.

"And let me tell you, Nadia, he was taking it incredibly seriously!"

Korra enthusiastically said, her eyes sparkling.

"He had brought an entire array of professional specialized tools with him, and the heavy-duty outfit he was wearing made him look exactly like a legitimate, seasoned field researcher!"

She said like she was adoring her own son who wore a costume for the school play before having tender look in her eyes as she added,

"And seeing him so completely absorbed in his work, I couldn’t help but burst out laughing right then and there. It was just so absurd."

"There I was, carrying the weight of a crumbling marriage and a lifetime of heartbreak, and just a few paces away in a forgotten corner of the multiverse, Mika was completely carefree, fully immersed in his own little world and enjoying every single second of his time."

She let out a deep chuckle.

"The sheer, drastic contrast of our situations was so comical to me that it instantly shattered the suffocating weight in my chest. It lightened my spirits so much that I felt the pain just melt away."

Korra’s expression then softened, a deeply tender smile gracing her lips.

"And I don’t know exactly what Mika saw when he looked up at me in that moment. Because out of absolutely nowhere, without any warning, he casually asked if I wanted to join him in exploring the subterranean ruins."

She said in surprise like she still couldn’t wrap her head around it.

"He offered it so naturally, smiling and saying that archaeology was always more fun with a partner, and that he could really use a hand down there."

She shook her head gently.

"I didn’t understand why he would suddenly extend an invitation like that to his mother’s best friend. Prior to that day, we had only ever shared polite, superficial pleasantries whenever our paths crossed at formal events; we didn’t have a personal relationship."

"But looking back, I know he saw right through my royal facade." She said fondly. "He recognized my pain and chose to throw me a lifeline, offering a distraction to save me from drowning in my own tears."

That made total sense to Nadia, as Mika was basically a bloodhound when it came to picking up emotions from someone.

"Did you accept his invitation?" Nadia asked, even though she already knew the answer.

"Of course!" Korra remarked enthusiastically. "The entire setup felt so delightfully bizarre and unexpected that I just threw caution to the wind and said yes."

"And just like that, the two of us descended into the dark, underground ruins together."

"And let me tell you, Nadia..."

Korra’s eyes glimmered.

"...it was probably the best time I had in decades."