Work Text:
The sound of Korra’s content humming was drowned out in the sea of noise drifting about the busy farmer’s market as she watched Asami chat happily with a food vendor a few meters away. They had stopped their airship on the edge of a relatively large Fire Nation town on their way to Capital City where they had been summoned to attend a council meeting with Fire Lord Izumi. For once, there wasn’t any serious emergencies to attend to. From what Korra could gather from the transmission she had been sent, it all seemed rather routine. The Avatar’s presence wasn’t strictly needed (it was Asami that they really wanted to help modernize the city’s infrastructure), but she was loath to let her girlfriend go alone when she had nothing else pulling her away. Thus far, the trip over had felt a little like they were on vacation again – something they haven’t a chance to do since their foray into the spirit world over a year ago.
“What cha’ doing?”
‘Huh?’
An inquisitive tiny voice pulled her from her daze. Korra looked down to find a child of about five picking his nose and staring up at her with wide eyes. The Avatar glanced around looking for his parents or guardian, but saw no one who seemed to be missing a child. The boy asked again, “What cha’ doing?”
“Oh, I’m just waiting for someone,” Korra said, squatting down to speak to the child at eye-level. “What are you doing? Are you here with someone?”
“Yeah, I came with my sister, but I snuck-ed off a’cuz she was being a big poop. Her name is Taye,” He said, seemingly unconcerned. “Why are you wearing a fuzzy skirt over your pants?”
“Oh – uh – because…”
“Fiver!”
Ah, the sister.
“How many times has Mom told you not to run off?” A brown-haired girl – Taye, Korra assumed – was pushing her way through the crowd towards them. Her eyes were locked on the little boy. She looked exasperated and more than a little out of breath. “What were you even doing?”
“Talking to the lady.”
“The lady?” Taye asked, confused. Fiver pointed at Korra. She followed his gesture and let out a startled squeak as she clapped eyes on the woman in front of them. “Avatar Korra!”
“Ah, yep – that’s me,” Korra said, scratching the back of her head.
“Um… thank you for finding my brother,” She said, seeming flustered. “He knows better than to run off like that. I hope he wasn’t bothering you.”
“He’s the one that found me,” Korra said with a laugh that seemed to calm the girl down a little, “and it was no problem. He was just entertaining me while my girlfriend’s talking to the vendor over there.”
“Oh, Ms. Sato’s here too?”
“Yep,” Korra said, watching as Taye craned her neck to catch a glimpse of Asami over Korra’s shoulder, “We just stopped into town for some supplies. Actually, we should probably be getting back soon.”
Korra glanced over her shoulder and started to inch away, but was stopped by a small hand grabbing her pantleg. The Avatar felt her heart tug a little as she took in the child’s deep pout.
“No.”
“Fiver, let go - don’t be rude,” Taye said, reaching down to pry her brother’s fingers from Korra’s clothes. She stared mortified at the wet patch left behind. Korra tried very hard not to think of all the reasons why the kid’s hands might be wet and what he might have rubbed on her pants. “I am so sorry!”
“It’s really okay.”
“No, it’s not!”
Korra was a little taken aback by the outburst and it seemed that Taye was as well because she suddenly looked like she might cry. Korra held her hands out in a pacifying gesture, feeling alarmed. It was just a little kid snot or something. I mean, it was kind of gross, but not serious – certainly nothing to cry over anyway. Korra could feel several people staring at them – quietly judging her for making this poor kid cry.
‘Oh, Raava help me.’
“I wanted to thank you.”
‘You already did though?’ Korra thought, blinking blankly at the girl. ‘What is happening?’
“I know it’s sort of your job as the Avatar to be brave and courageous and everything, but… Seeing you and Ms. Sato so happy and open together really gives hope to a lot of people, you know?” The girl said, gracing Korra with a shy smile and… wow, that was not where Korra thought that the kid was going with this. She was thanked all the time for putting down dictators and keeping the peace, but this would be the first time that she was ever thanked for… just being herself and loving her girlfriend. Korra shook the surprise off and forced herself to pay attention as the girl was still speaking, “I know that it did for me. I hope that it’s not too weird of me to say this about your personal life or anything. It’s just that after everything with Fire Lord Sozin making same-sex relationships criminal for a while... I don’t think most people in our nation have ever met a queer person before – that they know of anyway – so lot of people are still pretty prejudice around here. It makes it really hard to be openly honest about your feelings.
“The fact that the Avatar and the CEO of Future Industries are a couple… I mean, everyone knows you two. I just…” The girl trails off for a moment, looking embarrassed. “It made me feel a lot less alone. I came out to my family a little while after you two went public.”
“Oh, wow,” Korra said after taking a moment to let everything Taye said sink-in, “…I mean, I did think a little about how we might be received when we got together, but – I’ll be honest – I was only thinking about our own acceptance. I never really considered that it might help other people.”
“That doesn’t matter,” The girl said with a smile. “That fact that you were just being true to yourself is more than enough.”
“Jeez, how old are you? You look about sixteen, but you sound as old as Tenzin!” Korra laughed kindly. The girl’s face coloured and she scratched the side of her nose looking bashful. She didn’t seem upset though, so Korra assumed that it was alright. A question nagged at her and she wondered if it would be appropriate to ask. She let it sit on the tip of her tongue for a minute before deciding to just forge ahead and give voice to it, “You said that you came out to your family. Do you mind if I ask how that went? I mean… you seem fairly comfortable talking about it now… if it’s too much though, then no pressure or anything.”
It seemed like it was the girl’s turn to laugh.
“You just let a complete stranger comment on your private life like it was nothing,” She said when she calmed down enough to speak, “I think you’re free to ask whatever you want at this point.”
“Hah, I guess I’m just used to it.”
“That doesn’t seem fair - you shouldn’t have to be,” Taye said, frowning a little. Korra just shrugged. She was the Avatar. There are a lot of things that she can change, but the public’s intrusive interest in every aspect of their Avatar’s life? Yeah, she didn’t see that ever being one of them. She looked at the girl with a warm, even expression that seemed to silently steer her back on track. “Right, well… it went better than I could have hoped for actually. My father is still a bit weird about it, but he’s trying to understand. My mom just told me that she loved me and whatever makes me happy, makes her happy too.”
“I’m happy too!” Fiver chirped suddenly, pulling at his sister’s shirtsleeve and causing both women to jump. Korra felt a little guilty for forgetting that the boy was still there. “It’s my birthday! I get cake!”
“Ah, that’s right – we should probably be getting back to help make that,” The girl said. She ruffled the boy’s hair affectionately before looking back up at Korra. “Sorry for interrupting your morning. I’ll let you get back to your girlfriend now… just – thank you, Avatar Korra. I feel a lot lighter now because of you. I just wanted you to know that.”
“N-no problem,” Korra said, feeling a little overwhelmed by the complete sincerity radiating from the young girl in front of her. Taye paused as she turned to leave and seemed to be debating with herself for a moment. Without further warning, Korra was suddenly enveloped in a tight hug that was over before she could even lift her arms to return it. She then took her little brother’s hand and lead him away. Korra watched them disappear into the crowd without moving for a long time until a soft hand touched her shoulder, squeezing gently.
“Korra? I’ve finished with the groceries. I even found a few of those weird green fruits you… are you alright?”
There was a rustle of a bag being set down. The pressure on her shoulder increased slightly as Asami’s other - newly freed – hand reached up to cup her cheek, compelling Korra to slowly turn around and meet a concerned pair of stunning emerald eyes. She didn’t realize that her eyes had started to water until the thumb on her face lightly swept under the corner of her eye to wick a stray teardrop from her face just as it started to fall. Without a word, Korra stepped in to press her face into Asami’s shoulder and felt her girlfriend’s arms encircle her without hesitation. Korra’s fingers dug into the back of Asami’s jacket as they just stood there uncaring in the middle of the busy marketplace. Korra inhaled deeply through her nose, letting Asami’s familiar scent and the hand massaging her scalp to sooth her. Korra wasn’t entirely sure why she was feeling so emotional all of a sudden, but she just… was.
“I love you,” Korra muttered into the leather of Asami’s jacket, just loud enough for the other woman to hear her despite being slightly muffled. The arms around her tightened slightly in response.
“I love you too,” Asami said, still sounding concerned. Korra backed out of the embrace just enough so that she could look up at her girlfriend’s face. Feeling more steady, she offered her a slightly subdued version of her usual crooked smile. Asami moved the hand in Korra’s hair to her jaw. “What brought this on?”
“I just love you is all,” Korra said, earning herself a raised eyebrow. She went up on her toes to press a quick kiss to Asami’s lips. “I was talking to some kids while you were shopping and one of them said something that I wasn’t expecting. I’ll tell you about it on the ship later. What was it that you were saying about my green fruit?”
“I said that they were weird and I got you some.” Asami said, letting go of Korra. She stooped to pick their shopping bags back up, only to have them liberated from her hands by the Avatar. Korra shot her a cheeky grin before lacing their free hands together and tugging her back in the direction of the airship. She swung their hands back-and-forth a little as they walked, making Asami smile.
“They’re not weird! You just haven’t given them a chance!”