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The trip to the Spirit Realm had been full of surprises. Which was pretty much what Asami had expected. She hadn’t expected specific things, of course. They’d hardly be surprises otherwise. But she knew she was venturing into a world where the rules of everyday life didn’t apply. She had seen marvelous, uncanny things, wonders that she could never have expected from a lifetime in the physical world. But in a way, their strangeness made it easier to take them in her stride.
Korra’s request, although unexpected, was so ordinary that it threw Asami for a moment. She stopped in her tracks and turned to look at her girlfriend. “You want to braid my hair?” She immediately wanted to kick herself for the question and hastily added “OK. I’d like that.”
Korra shrugged and looked down. “It was just a thought. No big deal if you don’t want-“ She got a puzzled frown and looked Asami in the eye. “Wait, what?”
Asami smiled. “I said yes. I’d really like for you to braid my hair.” She spread her hands. “I’ll admit, your offer did take me by surprise, considering your past attitude toward things like salons and makeovers.”
Korra grinned. “I’m not completely against girly stuff.” Asami suppressed a snort at her description. “I just usually don’t have a lot of time to spare for it.” She ducked her head and gave Asami a shy smile, a new mannerism that Asami found distractingly adorable. “I also might have exaggerated my dislike when we first met because of my jealousy toward you.”
“Well, it will be my pleasure to help you get in touch with your ‘girly’ side.”
Korra smiled and pulled Asami into a sudden hug. “I just need one thing before we start.” She darted off the path and into the nearby field. Asami followed her. Korra stopped in front of a patch of yellow flowers. She knelt down, laying her hand flat against the ground, and started whispering. After a moment, the flowers started to sway even though there was no breeze. “OK. We have permission to pick them.” She stood and bowed formally to the flowers. “Thank you.” The flowers returned the bow.
“Flowers for my hair?” Asami asked as she knelt to join Korra in picking the blossoms. “You’re certainly going all out. Let me get a few extras. I’ll make you a crown. It’s been a few years, but I’m pretty sure I remember how.”
Korra fingered her locks. “Yeah, my own hair isn’t very braid-able these days. It’s a deal.”
After they had picked enough flowers, Korra took Asami by the hand and led her to a nearby tree. Asami sat down in the shade. Korra sat behind her and started to undo Asami’s ponytail. Asami gathered the flowers for Korra’s crown in her lap and started weaving them together. “So what sort of style are you giving me?” Asami kept her head still as she felt Korra’s fingers start to work on her hair.
“I thought I’d do something traditional Southern Water Tribe.”
Asami considered this. “I guess the flowers are something of a break from tradition?”
“Yeah. Properly we should be using kelp flowers, but these blossoms are about the right size.”
Asami blinked. “Kelp flowers?”
“Oh, yeah,” Korra said. “You haven’t seen them? They’re beautiful. They come in all sorts of colors from aquamarine to indigo. Back home, you know it’s springtime when the kelp blooms. Then everyone goes down to the harbor and –” Asami reached behind her and gave Korra a pinch. Korra laughed. “Ow. Not buying it, huh?”
“You had me going for a moment, but you pushed it a wee bit too far.”
She could feel the tug as Korra wove the strands of her hair together. In her lap, the crown of flowers was coming along nicely. Still doing her best to not move her head, she picked up another blossom and began threading its stem into the chain.
“There actually are types of kelp that get things that at least look like flowers,” Korra said, “but no one uses them for decoration. I’m not sure they’d look that pretty out of the water. Or smell that good. Mostly they use colored beads or ties or bands down south, but I’ve seen women wearing flowers with traditional braids around Little South Pole in Republic City.”
“I’ll have to pay more attention next time I visit,” Asami said. “So traditional styles are still popular in Republic City?”
“Some more than others,” Korra answered.
“Do you know a lot of them?”
“Well, Mom taught me a bunch. Mostly when I was about ten. I think she was hoping I’d try something besides the wolf-tails.”
Asami allowed a teasing note to enter her voice. “So that plan worked well.”
Korra laughed. “Hey, I did change my look eventually.”
“And I think it’s adorable. What does your mother think of it?”
“No comment,” Korra said, and Asami laughed. They worked in silence for a while. “Anyway,” Korra continued, “it was a few years later when I told my parents I was interested in girls as well as boys that she taught me the, uh, courtship styles.” Korra cleared her throat, as if it had just gone dry. The movement of her fingers through Asami’s hair suddenly felt less sure.
Asami’s own fingers stopped weaving the flower crown and it took all her discipline not to turn her head. “Courtship styles?”
Korra’s words came rapidly. “Yeah, you see when a Southern Tribe woman decides to court another woman, it’s traditional to ask her if you can braid her hair, and there’s a few styles that you can use that show that’s what you mean. Not like that’s the only way two women will do each other’s hair, of course. It’s how you ask it. Like the difference between saying ‘Hey, you want to grab a bite to eat?’ and ‘May I take you out to dinner?’ I guess I probably didn’t ask the right way, so it more sounded like I was just saying let’s grab some food and hang out, but – “
“Korra,” Asami said in a gentle tone. “You’re babbling.”
“Yeah,” Korra said, her pitch a bit higher than normal. “But there’s a good reason for that, because I’m also panicking. I’m probably going to have to undo the last inch or so and redo them. I’m making a mess.”
“That can wait,” Asami said. She turned around and took hold of Korra’s hands. “I hope you’re not panicking because you’re worried that I don’t want to be ‘courted.’ Because I think we established that we’re of like mind on that point.”
Korra bit her lip and wouldn’t look Asami in the eye. “It’s not that.”
“So tell me what it is.”
Korra took a deep breath. “When I first brought up the hair, I just thought of it as a cute thing to do. I figured you’d think it was sweet once I explained it.”
“Yeah. I do think it’s sweet.” This earned a shaky smile from Korra.
“It’s just that when it came time to tell you, I started to really think about the weight of it. Those old courtship rituals, they’re all about a declaration of intent, right? ‘Hey everybody, this person right here, this is the one.’” She reached up to touch the unfinished braid in Asami’s hair. “I never did anything like this with Mako.” The image this brought to Asami’s mind forced her to choke back a laugh. Korra gave her a wry smile. “Well, obviously not. What I mean is I never did anything special to show that I took the relationship seriously. I’m not daft enough to think that’s why we didn’t work. But it was kind of a symptom. Even if all the other reasons he and I weren’t right together didn’t exist, I just breezed in expecting it to be easy, because it was what I wanted.”
Asami leaned in to look Korra in the eye. “So it sounds to me like you’ve learned something these past years. And that you’re more ready for a serious relationship.”
Korra shrugged. “Maybe. It’s just… Look, this isn’t me getting cold feet.” She touched the braid again. “What this is supposed to mean, that’s what I want to tell the world. You’re important to me, and I want us to work, maybe more than I’ve wanted anything else in my life. But Asami, I have no idea what the hell I’m doing, and I’m afraid of just blundering in like I always do.”
Asami did laugh then as she pulled Korra into a hug. “Korra, I have no idea what the hell I’m doing either.” She broke the hug and laid her hands on her girlfriend’s shoulders and gave her a broad smile.
Korra blinked. “What, really?”
“Really. Mako wasn’t the first person I’ve dated, but I don’t have that much more experience than you. And if any of those relationships had worked out?” She shook her head. “Well, I wouldn’t have been available to get together with you, now would I?”
That got a genuine smile out of Korra. “I guess you wouldn’t, no.”
Asami picked up the flower crown she’d been working on and tucked the last few stems in place. “I don’t think we’re supposed to have it all figured out at this point. Just as long as we figure it out together.” She put the crown on Korra’s head. “Now I was promised a fancy South Tribe Do, so how about it?”
Korra grinned. “Well then, you’d better turn around again, hadn’t you?” Asami turned her back to Korra and felt her start to work on the braid once more.
“So we glossed over some of the details earlier,” Asami said. “The Southern Tribe actually has courtship rituals specifically for two women getting together?”
“Sure,” Korra said. “For two men getting together also. No offense, but the way the rest of the world is so weird about people like us just seems… weird.”
“None taken,” Asami said. “The United Republic is a bit better than average I think, but I won’t pretend that’s saying much. Since your parents know how you feel about women, do you think they know about us?” She glanced over her shoulder as much as she could without disrupting Korra’s work.
“I never told them I was pining for you, since I had no idea that it would work out this well. I can’t imagine that they’ll be terribly surprised, though.”
“So when we visit them, and they see me wearing this braid…” Asami said speculatively.
“Oh, they’ll be able to do the math,” Korra answered. “’When,’ huh?”
“Definitely, ‘when.’ If that’s OK with you. I just thought, if we’re going to have a declaration of intent, we should have the right audience.”
Korra hugged her from behind. “I like the way you think, Sato.”