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It’s not like Asami had never been in life threatening situations, especially in the last five years since she met Korra. Her life had practically been a string of life threatening situations where she had to defend herself and her friends since Korra crashed into her life.
Late in life bending wasn’t necessarily uncommon, but it was almost always triggered by a situation where they were up against a wall and needed to survive. She had heard stories of people in their mid-twenties, who could suddenly whip up water when they were being mugged or could bring the earth closer to them once they were falling. Any suspicions of her being a bender had been diminished where, battle after battle, she was unable to conjure any element. It didn’t bother her, she took care of herself and never found a need to bend, but she had gotten used to it.
It’s why she didn’t know what was happening when Korra started yelping in pain while she had her arms wrapped around her, dragging her hands up and down Korra’s back while her lips met hers.
Korra pulled away quickly, her face contorted in pain and Asami’s disappointment from the lack of contact faded into concern abruptly.
“Korra, what’s wrong?” Her eyebrows crinkled with worry, sitting up to meet Korra from where she was now crouched on the bed.
Korra twisted her spine to show her bare back to Asami, now lightly scarred with red marks. “Asami, I think you burned me.” Asami gasped at seeing the marks on Korra’s skin, reaching to run her fingers around the edge of the burn.
“Oh my-- I don’t know how that’s possible. Can you reach around to heal it? I can get you some water!” Asami shifted immediately into protective girlfriend mode, slipping her shirt over her head and running toward the washroom to collect a basin of water.
Korra lay herself flat on the bed, craning her neck so she could still see Asami puttering around in the bathroom. “Yeah, I’ll be able to reach it.” When Asami walked back into the room, setting the basin next to the bed, Korra motioned for her to sit next to her. “Asami, let me see your hands.” Confused, Asami outstretched her arms anyway, allowing Korra to run her fingers over her palms.
“Asami your hands are burning. Don’t freak out, but I think you might have just firebent.”
Asami just rolled her eyes, dragging them away from looking into Korra’s open and sincere look. “Korra, be quiet. I’m not a bender. I don’t know what happened, but just heal yourself. Maybe it was some sort of Avatar thing.”
Warrily, Korra twisted so she could start healing the burns,while Asami ran her fingers through Korra’s hair to soothe her. “Maybe, but keep an eye on it, ‘Sami.”
…
It was less than a week before a similar situation occurred. They were sparring, as they often did on sunny afternoons where they had nothing else to do. Korra was swinging her legs, hitting them against the pads strapped on Asami’s forearms.
There was nothing particularly abnormal about the swing Korra made, but at that moment a spurt of fire erupted from the tips of Asami’s fingers.
Korra stumbled, falling back on herself with surprise. Her face broke out into a smile while Asami just looked horrified.
“Asami! I told you! You’re bending fire.” She popped back off the floor, rushing over to smush Asami’s face between her hands. Asami still looked horrified, pushing back away from Korra and staring at her own hands.
“There’s no way. I’m not a bender-- I. I’m not a firebender.”
Korra just smiled sweetly at her, compassion mixing with excitement. “Asami, this is the second time you’ve created fire out of nowhere. Either you’re a firebender or you’ve been carrying around candles without telling me.” Korra grabbed her hands, dragging a finger along her fingertips, feeling how warm they were.
Asami still focused on her fingers, a mix of confusion, excitement, and fear on her face. A smirk started to form on Korra’s face and she threaded her fingers through Asami’s.
“You know what this means, right? I get to be your teacher.”
…
“Ok so you kinda have to, I don’t know, feel the heat within you and use it to heat the air around you, lighting the fire.” Korra got down into a basic fire bending stance. Asami mimicked the stance, stretching her palms in front of her. She took a deep breath, focusing on the heat within her, the heat she had always known but never noticed.
“Okay, good! Your stance is really good Asami.” She allowed herself to look up and down her body, lingering on how her training suit was clinging to her thighs. “Really good, actually. Maybe after this we can work out in another way.”
Asami rolled her eyes. “Korra.”
Korra blushed, “Right, okay. So just keep focusing on that heat and try and push it out of you. Imagine it’s like sweat rolling down your arm.”
Taking a deep breath, Asami focused on the building warmth within her. Visualize, visualize.
A small flame flickered from her fingertips.
“Yes! Asami, good job!” She pulled Asami into a hug, tucking her face into her hair. Deciding that wasn’t enough of a celebration, she pulled Asami from the ground and twirled her around.
Asami let out a loud giggle. “Korra, stop! If you do this every time I make a tiny flame, I’m never going to be able to do anything but that.”
Reluctantly, she let Asami back on the ground. “I can’t help it, I’m too proud of you! You’re just going to have to deal with the celebrations.
“Okay, so now you just have to try and hold it more. I think you’re getting a good grasp of starting the fire but you need to be able to keep it, see if you can make it bigger. And once you’re done with that we’re going to take a break, I think more intense celebrations are in order.”
Asami lightly slapped Korra’s hand from where it was skirting around her waist, but smiled at her girlfriend’s genuine excitement. “You can be impossible sometimes, you know that.”
“Yeah, but you love me. Now, come on my firebending student hurry up and get into position.”
…
Weeks later, Asami had mastered most of the basic firebending moves. She no longer accidentally burned people, and, perhaps most usefully, she no longer needed to turn on a light when she woke up in the middle of the night, electing to use her own flame to light her path.
They had told Mako and Bolin about a week ago, and Korra was more excited than Asami when it came to announce it. She was, quite literally, bouncing in her seat until Asami let out a gust of fire, at which point she rapidly switched her gaze between the brothers and Asami in awe, as if gesturing to them to share in her excitement.
After getting over the initial shock, both boys had surrounded her with hugs, congratulating her and asking a million questions about how she discovered it. She decided to omit the truth about the real first time she had created fire, that was for her and Korra only, but she was more than happy to tell them about everything else.
Mako had insisted on being able to teach her too, at which point Korra looked offended as if Mako was suggesting she wasn’t an adequate teacher.
They fought, as Mako and Korra often do, until Asami stepped in and said she would be honored if they would both teach her, making sure to whisper in Korra’s ear that they could still have private lessons.
Now, facing across from Mako, she was crouched down in the stance Korra had taught her, preparing for their next lesson.
They had all decided it was time for Asami to learn how to redirect and eradicate fire sent toward her. She was excited, she felt ready for it, as she and Korra had been talking about the basic principles behind it for the past day.
Korra, on the other hand, looked like she was about to burst a vein in her forehead. “Mako, I swear if you hurt her, I’ll kill you. Nothing too extreme.”
Mako ignored her and Asami rolled her eyes. “Korra, I’ll be fine. If I get hurt, I’ll just have--I don’t know-- the Avatar heal me?”
Korra nodded, taking a few steps back. She insisted on being close in case something happened, and Asami could tell it was killing her to not stand in front of her protectively.
“Ready, Asami?” Mako asked, to which she just nodded, focusing on what she had been taught. Destroy the heat, push it elsewhere.
A steady flame pushed out of Mako’s hands, but before she could deflect it, it was already gone. Mako’s head snapped up to look behind Asami’s shoulder, causing Asami to whip around to see Korra’s sheepish face backing away from them.
“Korra! I have to do it myself! I’ll be fine, you don’t need to protect me.” Asami admonished Korra, her gaze softening when she noticed the care in Korra’s eyes. She reached to stroke her cheek, giving her a quick kiss. “Go sit with Bolin. I know this is hard for you, but I could take care of myself before I could bend, this is just another level of that.”
Korra sighed, but dragged her body to go sit with Bolin, who happily slung an arm around her.
Looking toward Mako, she nodded at him, urging him to send out another spout of fire. It took her a second to focus on the heat coming from Mako, but she lifted her hand and swatted it away, the fire disappearing into smoke in the air.
She heard cries of celebration, but she focused on Mako. “Again.”
Korra, in her eternal excitement, had already hopped off the bench and was jogging toward them.
“Nope, it’s my turn. Asami, you’re going to have to deflect mine now.” Asami laughed at Mako’s annoyed expression, who reluctantly walked toward Bolin.
“You really are impossible.”
“Good thing you love me.”
“Didn’t we just have this conversation?”
“Yep, and we’ll have it again. Now c’mon, deflect the fire.”
Smiling, Asami got back into position. “Give me your worst, Avatar.”