Chapter Text
Korra has made three trips to the Southern Water tribe in as many months. Each time, Asami has asked whether Korra would like her to go with her. Each time, Korra has made some excuse.
"It's just some official Water Tribe business. It'll be boring."
"I just want to visit my family. I didn't get to see them at all last time; I was too busy."
"My dad just asked me to come. I don't know why. I'll be back soon."
Each time, Asami has kissed her goodbye and pretended to believe her excuses. But a low, simmering hurt has been growing inside her.
Why did Korra not want her there? Did Korra's parents not like her? Was it because she complained too much about the cold when she was there? She'd tried not to, but it was just so cold. Asami had felt uncomfortable pretty much the entire visit last year. They hadn't even let Korra and Asami sleep in the same igloo, much less the same room. She'd been forced to sleep in Korra's aunt's igloo, sharing a room with her three small children. Asami had never wished to be a Firebender more than on those six long, cold nights without Korra there to keep her warm.
"It's tradition," Korra had explained, "They don't let couples sleep in the same igloo until they're betrothed. Then they can't even sleep in the same room until they're married."
A thought occurred to Asami that made her heart ache: What if Korra was spending so much time away because she didn't want to be with Asami anymore?
Korra was always happier when she returned from her trips than when she left. What if Korra was happier when she's away from Asami? The thought comes like a punch to the gut. What if she doesn't want to break up with Asami because, after three years of dating, she doesn't want to hurt Asami's feelings? What if she thinks it will be easier to stretch their bond thin with distance first before breaking it? Asami doesn't want to even consider it. Being with Korra has made her the happiest she's ever been. She loves Korra more than she loves breathing.
That's why Asami has made up her mind to talk to her, lay out and explain her feelings.
She's waiting at the docks for Korra's ship to come in. The cold salt spray dusts her cheeks.
She sees it, there in the distance, a wooden ship cutting through the fog. Warmth unfurls inside her chest, and her arms tingle, knowing that soon they'll be around Korra.
She watches the ship approach, the wind whipping at her hair and stinging her eyes. She pulls her coat tighter around herself.
The ship slides into the dock. She sees Korra on the deck, waving frantically at her with a wide smile. Asami waves back. Korra disappears into the ship and Asami waits while the gangway is lowered. People step out, mostly traders in thick jackets. Then Asami hears the heavy footfalls of Naga coming out of the dark. Korra is sitting on Naga's back, her trunk tied to the giant polar bear dog. She jumps down and runs to Asami, arms out, tackling her in a tight hug, her arms around Asami's shoulders. Then her hands shift to the sides of Asami's face and she pulls her down into a kiss.
"What's wrong?" Korra asks as she pulls away from the kiss, her eyebrows pulling together.
"Nothing, I--" Asami starts, letting go of Korra.
"'Sami," Korra interrupts, crossing her arms.
"Can we talk about it when we get home?"
"Alright," Korra says, giving her a questioning look. She turns and climbs back onto Naga. Asami climbs up after her, wrapping her hands loosely around Korra's waist.
"How was your trip?" Asami asks as Naga pads through the streets towards Asami's house -- their house.
"It was okay," Korra says, "I missed you."
Asami's spirits rise a little. Maybe Korra isn't planning to break up with her after all.
"I missed you too."
After a couple blocks of walking, with people staring up at them (one of them shouting "Hey, isn't that the Avatar?"), Asami breaks the silence again. "What did your father want to tell you?" she asks.
She feels Korra stiffen in front of her.
"Well, um, actually," Korra begins, laughing once, "It wasn't him who needed to see me. I needed to see him. I needed his help."
"What did you need his help with?" Asami asks, feeling a twinge in her stomach at the knowledge that Korra had lied to her.
"We're going to be home just now," Korra says, jutting her chin out to the long narrow house they were approaching, "Can we talk about it then?"
"Alright," Asami says, feeling her stomach writhe as if she had snakes for intestines.
"Okay, you first," Korra says as they stand in their living room.
Asami takes a deep breath.
"I love you," she begins, "but lately you've been gone so often. And you don't even want me to come with you. It makes me feel like you don't want to be around me."
Korra frowns and reaches out for Asami's hand, stroking the back of it with her thumb.
"Oh, Asami," Korra says, "I'm sorry I made you feel that way." She sighs, "Okay, so, this isn't how I wanted to tell you," she continues, and the snakes in Asami's stomach feel like they're tangling into knots, "but the first time I left it was because the Southern Water Tribe Council summoned me."
"What?" Asami says, "Why?"
"They offered me the position of Chief, when my father dies."
"Whoa, really?" Asami says. Then she frowns, "How come you didn't tell me?"
"I didn't know if I was going to accept. I didn't want to tell you unless I was sure. I didn't want to put pressure on you."
Pressure? What pressure? The pressure of being a chief's girlfriend didn't seem like it would be much different from the pressure of being the Avatar's girlfriend.
"If I became Chief," Korra says, "I'd have to live in the South Pole, at least for a huge chunk of the year. And even when I was away, I'd have to be prepared to return at a moment's notice. I didn't want to ask you to choose between your home and me, your business and me, until I was certain. I told them I would have to think about it, because I had duties as the Avatar as well as to my people... and I was going to tell you. But then, only a few days after I came back, Eska and Desna summoned me to the Northern Water Tribe. I couldn't say no; I'm as much Northern as I am Southern Water Tribe, by blood. If my father hadn't been disinherited, I would be in line to be the Northern Chief.
"They told me that their Tribe was having trouble functioning with two chiefs. Their people didn't see either of them as a full authority. They went to one to undermine the other. And when they disagreed with each other, nothing got done. Neither of them wanted to push the other out of power. Neither would agree to take it for themselves. So, they agreed that they had to hand it to someone else. They said they wanted that 'someone else' to be me, that I was the only other person who had a right to claim the title of Chief of the Northern Water Tribe."
"Oh no," Asami says.
"Yeah," Korra agrees, letting go of Asami's hand, "I told them that the Southern Water Tribe had already asked me to succeed my father, and that I had a duty to them, because they were the ones who raised me, and my father was their Chief. Then they said they already knew, and they'd agreed with my father and both Councils that it would be a good thing to have one chief again, that it would unify us, and I had a claim to both titles. They said, if I accepted, I would be Chief of the Northern Water Tribe until my father dies, and then I will be Chief of both Water Tribes. I would be the first Chief with Tribe with the blood of both Tribes in me. I would be the first Avatar Chief. I would be the first woman Chief of the Southern Water Tribe.
"They said that, if I accepted, I would have to spend four months a year living in the North Pole, then, when my father died, another four in the south, with four to live in Republic City, exercising my duty as the Avatar."
"Wow," Asami says, "That's a lot to take in."
"I know," Korra says, looking down. "That's not all."
Oh no, Asami thinks, Is she going to tell me that the Chief of the Water Tribes can't marry an outsider?
"I knew, if I was going to be Chief of the Northern Water Tribe, I had to follow their traditions as well as the ones I'd grown up with... You know how Kya is from the Southern Water Tribe?"
"Yeah," Asami says.
"Well, in the Southern Water Tribe we don't have betrothal necklaces. That's from the North. But Kya's part North, her great-grandmother, Kanna, was Northern Water Tribe. Katara made sure to teach her children both traditions, and the North was a part of Kya's heritage that she felt deeply connected to, so when she proposed to Fire Lord Izumi, she did it with a betrothal necklace, and then Izumi made one for her too. For them it was a choice... but for me it isn't. If I am even considering being the Northern Water Tribe chief, and if I want to marry you, one of us has to give the other a betrothal necklace."
Asami's pulse picks up at the word 'marry'.
"I've wanted to propose to you for so long. I even brought my grandmother's ring back after we visited my parents last year... but right when I was ready to use it I found out I couldn't... And I didn't know anything about how to make a betrothal necklace. That's why I left this last time, to go ask my father to teach me how to make one."
"Really?" Asami says, her voice small.
Korra smiles.
"Do you want to see it?"
Asami doesn't know why, but tears start spilling from her eyes.
Korra reaches into her pocket and pulls out a deep blue ribbon. Hanging from it is a smooth, flat stone.
Asami takes the necklace by the stone, running her thumb over the image carved into the front; a spark. She smiles.
Korra puts her hand on Asami's cheek.
"Asami Sato, the smartest and most beautiful person in the world, the other half of my soul, will you marry me?" Korra whispers.
"Yes!" Asami shouts, choking down a sob. She throws her arms around Korra's shoulders. Korra puts one arm around Asami's waist, slipping her other hand into Asami's hair. Minutes later, when they part, tears stain both their cheeks. Korra takes the necklace from Asami and reaches around her neck to fasten it, kissing her cheek softly as she does so.
Sniffling, Asami reaches into a pocket of her jacket, fishes out a small scarlet drawstring pouch.
"I've been carrying this around for ages," Asami says.
She pulls the pouch open.
"Korra," she says, reaching inside, "Avatar, my best friend, the love of my life, and the strongest, most gorgeous person in the world, will you marry me?" She pulls a silver ring with a red stone embedded in it from the pouch.
"There's nothing in the world that could make me say no," Korra says, holding out her hand. Asami slips the ring onto Korra's finger and holds her hand. She brings it to her red-painted lips and kisses it.
Then she pulls korra to a chair, onto her lap. Asami holds her, Korra's head resting against Asami's chest. Asami smiles as she strokes her hair.