Chapter Text
The end of sleep was usually a disappointment to Asami, but this morning in particular it felt worse. She was fairly certain she was dreaming about her mother. They were playing Pai Sho? She wasn’t certain. She hadn’t been a child in the dream, which kind of explained the absence of Hiroshi. But Asami’s mother had died before she had even become a teenager. The anniversary of that passing had only been about a month ago.
Asami slipped out of bed and looked at the empty space meant for Korra. Her girlfriend of just over two and a half years was on a trip however, and neither had been sure when she left how long it would take. Asami never wanted Korra to be gone, but usually she could take advantage of the extra spare time and obsess over her various projects, but she hadn’t been able to focus this time. She had been feeling… off.
Even though it had only been almost three years since her father died, almost three years since she and Korra were able to admit their feelings, she felt ready to move forward. In fact, there was a certain feeling of desperation in that.
Standing in the open space of her bedroom, Asami began to stretch, locking her feet in place, shoulder width apart, and leaning to either side; putting her feet together and stretching her fingertips to the floor, her nose just touching her knees; and doing several rounds of jumping exercises to help erase the last of her grogginess.
She knew the feelings probably weren’t completely healthy. She and Korra didn’t need to marry now for them to consider each other family. They had been family even before they became romantic. She didn’t feel as though Korra would leave her, though the transient nature of the Avatar made her anxious from time to time that Korra might need… more.
She was fairly certain the feeling of desperation came quite directly from her lack of family and how Korra felt like that family. Oh, she felt familial with Tenzin and Pema and the children. She even felt familial with Mako and Bolin. But it… wasn’t the same.
So she had indulged herself while Korra was away. She’d drawn up some sketches and gone to the water tribe district and found a jeweler. She commissioned a rough draft of a traditional water tribe engagement necklace—something the jeweler could whip up in a couple days, something Asami could hold and examine so that she could perfect her design. It was always advantageous to get a working copy of something to see how best to improve it.
It had turned out nice. It was definitely done hastily, and the size wasn’t quite right, nor the materials exactly what she’d want the final piece to be made up of. The artist had also taken some liberties with the design on the pendant. Asami could appreciate that the jeweler had wanted something that looked more water tribe—and Asami wasn’t against a design that incorporated that—but she felt the way it was done lost a little too much of the markings of Raava which graced Korra’s back, imprinted like a tattooist’s finest masterpiece there.
Asami had almost fallen asleep in her workroom—as she was often prone to doing—pondering over the piece. Making new sketches. Jotting down some ideas. She wasn’t totally sure she wanted Raava’s form on display. She didn’t know how Korra would feel about that.
But she had time. Focusing on this allowed her to work through this need until she was sure Korra was ready too. Knowing Asami, she’d be able to fill a jewelry box with drafts until she got it right or found the right time to ask. This would only be the first of those.
She moved into some lunges and ended with some simple forms from her martial arts training, and finally she did some pull ups on the contraption she’d designed along one doorway, since both she and Korra tended to do them anyway. (They had a workout room for any times they want to work out at the same time.)
Finally feeling awake, she got up. She hitched a hip up, resting a hand on it, considering a shower. She had nowhere to be for a couple of hours now, and she didn’t really feel like a shower at the moment. Instead, she bound her hair up in a ponytail and, with the necklace on her mind, headed directly to her workroom, which was mostly a large garage with one corner designed like an open office area.
When she entered what Korra teasingly dubbed her ‘lair,’ Asami padded toward her work tables. As she rounded the entrance toward the side of the room hosting her office space, she blanched.
“Korra.” She whispered, horrified. The woman was seated in Asami’s chair with her arms crossed over the table.
She must have come home early—while Asami was asleep. But she checked the workroom first, because of course she did!
Asami felt her heart slam against her ribcage. She’d left the prototype engagement necklace on the desk, out in the open, on top of all her papers of the sketches. When she had nearly fallen asleep there last night, she’d simply gotten up and walked to the bedroom, not putting anything away.
One quiet step at a time so as not to wake her girlfriend, Asami rounded her worktable, trying to look at the desk. When she’d made a circle and was in front of Korra, she saw the woman had fallen asleep with the piece of jewelry in her hand. Her head was facing it, as if she’d fallen asleep staring at it.
Asami’s fingers trembled as her blood roared in her ears. What had Korra thought? There was no way she would have misunderstood the meaning of the piece. ‘Oh Asami, how did you let this happen?’ She berated herself.
Feeling a rising panic, Asami remained rooted, going over the options in her head. Should she wake Korra? What would she even say?
Should she work on one of the prototypes for Sato Industries and let Korra approach her?
Should she leave altogether? Pretend she hadn’t seen that Korra had found it? That she didn’t know Korra had returned early? That felt terribly wrong, but it’s what she wanted to do. Back out, not deal with it.
Her hands felt sweaty, and she rubbed her fingers into her palms as if to rub the sweat away as she ran through her options. Finally, quietly as she could, she turned and left the garage.