Her heart catches when she sees Billy, like the full rush of all that worry and fear that he might be gone only hit now that she knows he's safe. She manages a shaky kind of smile at Korra even if she mostly wants to punch Billy and then hug him and maybe cry a little.

She...doesn't do any of that. Instead she comes to stand in front of Billy, hands on her hips to keep from reaching out for him even though she wants to. Because she knows that he's not always the touchy-feely type, and now is a time to try to make him feel better instead of worse. Something is already obviously wrong.

"What's happened? We were freaking out." Then, because the expression on Billy's face hurts her heart and Steph always favors bad jokes in the face of heartache, adds. "Look at Atka, you nearly gave him a baby heart attack."

Atka, for his part, is devoting all his attention to sucking on his fingers and seems neutral on the subject of Billy's abject misery.