[ it's definitely, partly about conner. he'd always planned to check in with her. he's just been putting it off - up until he realized there was a lot more he needed to talk to her about.
he's a bat, nothing is ever just about one thing. ]
[She's quiet as she lets that sink in. Maybe she should be upset--that Wan had been keeping things from her, too--but aside from the old flare of irritation that quickly sputters out, she's just too tired to really care. To get upset. She doesn't want to do this anymore.
Korra leans into him even more, sighing.]
Maybe we've been doing this all wrong. We keep trying to protect each other, but we just end up hurting each other when we find out later.
[Another moment of silence.]
What if...we just promised to tell each other things from now on? No more of this...hiding.
[Korra waits for a beat, then frowns when that's all Bolin seems to want to say. So it's not bad news like she thought?]
Oh yeah. I saw her earlier, when she was trying to find her room. [Korra's mouth quirks up.] You're not scared of her, are you? I thought you said you were working for her.
[Thennn again, she'd sounded a little strict. Maybe Bolin's just intimidated because she's his boss?]
[ taking a deep breath and then proceeds to explain REALLY FAST ]
Okay so it turns out that Kuvira probably wasn't uniting the Earth Empire in the best way possible since Opal was talking about Kuvira turning people into slave labor and sending dissenters to jail and I thought I was doing a good thing by helping and being a part of her inner circle but no that was not a good thing and then she was having Varrick make a super weapon for her so we escaped except Baatar Jr. caught us and Zhu Li switched sides and is now working for Kuvira while Varrick and I were being sent to a reeducation camp which I thought was a place where people learned new skills and trades but now I'm not so sure and her being her is probably not a good thing at all and also she's from a further point in time than me.
[There's no anger yet, just a sense of disbelief as she sorts through all of that. The picture Bolin's painting for her isn't a pretty one at all.]
Slave labor, throwing her dissenters in jail, making super weapons... it sounds like she's just replacing the Earth Queen as a tyrant. Why haven't the leaders of the other nations stopped her if she's that bad?
[Korra says it quietly, trying to match the woman she saw earlier to the one Bolin's describing.]
I think they're worried. I mean, except for Zao Fu, she has control of the entire Earth Empire and they probably don't want to risk another war. Especially considering how she kept Prince Wu from taking control at his own coronation.
[It's a lot to be soaking in, and she definitely feels the gap in years now.]
Prince Wu? [Korra focuses on that one first, because it's the easiest.] I'm guessing he's some relative of the queen's, if he's supposed to be taking the throne.
[He took a deep breath and let out a heavy sigh, rubbing his thumb over the knuckles of one of hands. He honestly didn't know if that would be better. It kind of felt like Korra was saying they couldn't trust each other unless they told each other everything. And that wasn't the case. Not for Wan.]
I still trust you, you know.
[He said softly, voice heavy with wariness.]
And I wasn't lying when I told you it was okay for you to hide things from me if you aren't comfortable telling me. This is just... it's different than keeping how you died from me. It's different than waiting to tell me about breaking the revival machine. This is something I've been telling people who come here that there's hope. That those they love are safe from Yao Corp's grasp if they disappear. I've been lying to them because I didn't know any better. And you let me do it. You knew I was giving them false hope.
You knew I was giving myself false hope that Raava was free of them in a way we can't be yet.
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