Chapter Text
Day Five
Dear Asami,
The talks are proceeding at a snail sloth’s pace, and that’s all I can and want to say about them in this letter. I am beyond frustrated. I’m doing alright otherwise. They’re feeding us well. Maybe a little too well. I think the talks would go a lot faster if we fed the delegates Gommu’s hobo stew three meals a day. Some of them could use a lesson in humility – they’re snooty, and don’t see what the problem is when I call them out for treating the staff like dirt. It’s like being around the Earth Queen again. It makes me feel guilty that I didn’t say or do more to change how things were back then. Well, I’m an older and wiser Avatar, so I hope I’ll do better now.
There’s some personal drama going on, too. My cousin Desna is here, and he has the hots for Princess Kimiyo, Firelord Izumi’s youngest child. He’s asked me to talk to her and find out if she has any feelings for him, and I said I’d try. I’m a little nervous about this, to be honest. I’ve heard stories from Zuko about her. He says she’s just like Azula, except not homicidal or megalomaniacal. At least not that anyone can tell. Smart as a whip, bending prodigy, blue flames and all. Lightning, too. Mako said some of his old buddies from the power plant told him that when she visited, they let her have a go at the machine, and she kept all the batteries at close to full charge for ten minutes all by herself and didn’t even break a sweat. It was during peak usage time, too, when the plant usually has at least eight people powering the charger. She might be a bit more than Desna can handle. Wish us luck.
They still use their old mail system here, the one that was in place before the Hundred Year War. I wanted to go sliding on it like Aang did, but Tenzin said it would be “undignified behaviour for an adult”, and that I “shouldn’t be displaying such a frivolous attitude during such serious times”. Mako said it would be “unsafe” and told me I should respect the local laws. I told them that if anyone could be safe doing this, it would be the Avatar. I even offered to bring one of them along as a passenger, but I couldn’t convince those two spoilsports.
I miss you soooo much! You’d go sliding with me on the mail chutes, right? Nobody else seems to understand that the Avatar needs balance, too. All work and no play makes Korra very grumpy. Especially not being able to play with my favourite engineer in the whole world.
Lots of love and kisses and mushy stuff,
Korra
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Republic City
Asami smiled as she read the letter. It was just the pick-me-up she needed after another gruelling day spent working on rebuilding the city. She could tell that Korra was leaving out a lot, probably because she didn’t want to add to Asami’s own stress levels. Those levels were high, as she had to factor in the massive influx of refugees along with all the massive infrastructure reconstruction that she was working on.
They were slightly behind schedule, because Asami had prioritised to adding an extension to the orphanage, which was bursting at the seams. Raiko had fretted at the delay in restoring City Hall, but Asami shut him up by saying that she would be happy to point out at the next election that he didn’t want setting up housing for a few dozen orphans to delay him from getting his office back.
She took one last look at her blueprints, then rolled them up and put them into storage tubes. She left most of them in her office, but took a few with her as she headed out.
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Omashu
They’d ended the talks early today, as everyone was clearly exhausted, and tensions were running high. Korra was making small talk with Kimiyo, trying to subtly work Desna into the conversation. Desna was with Tenzin and Mako, the three of them standing a discreet distance away from Korra and Kimiyo, and trying to look disinterested in the conversation. Only Desna succeeded.
There was a commotion in the hallway, and Korra turned to see Queen Renuka striding towards them with her son, Prince Bhudev, trailing behind her. They had grave looks on their faces.
“Is something wrong?” asked Korra, readying herself for the worst.
“Yes. Most definitely.” The Queen folded her arms and looked from Tenzin to Korra, then back again. “I hear the Avatar wants to use our mail delivery chutes for her own amusement.”
Tenzin straightened up. “I assure you, Queen Renuka, that I have voiced my most strenuous objections to this harebrained idea – “
“And she dares to do this,” the queen turned her formidable gaze onto Korra, “without consulting me on the best sliding routes, or even deigning to invite my son to participate!” Prince Bhudev shot Korra a look that indicated he was greatly offended by this slight.
“I – I meant no disrespect, Your Majesty,” said Korra, looking at Tenzin in bewilderment as she fumbled for the right thing to say.
“I’ll have you know that mail chute sliding has been an honoured ritual for Omashu royalty since it was introduced by my great-great-grandfather, King Bumi, friend of Avatar Aang. If the Avatar wishes to slide on the mail chutes, I insist that my son accompany her.”
“I think it would be great having a descendant of King Bumi slide with the new Avatar,” said Bhudev, grinning widely.
“I’d be honoured,” said Korra, shooting a smug look at Tenzin and Mako.
“Just a moment,” said Kimiyo. All eyes turned to her. “I think that it would be even more significant if we re-enacted one of the great exploits of Avatar Aang during the war. I’m referring to the time he and his friends returned to Omashu and attempted to rescue King Bumi, and he had the duel on the slide with my grand-aunt Azula. I volunteer to chase their cart and provide some pyrotechnics.”
“Ooh, and I could be in a cage on the cart, with just my face showing!” said Bhudev excitedly. “You always have the greatest ideas, Kiki.” He let out a laugh that ended in a boisterous snort.
“Don’t I always, Boo-Boo?” asked Kimiyo as she smiled at him and waggled her eyebrows.
Desna’s expression didn’t change, but the water in the glass that Tenzin was holding froze so fast that it made a cracking sound.