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No two plants in the spirit world were the same. Asami crouched to look at a silvery flower which seemed to have tiny darts of lightning running through its veins, in irregular pulses. She knew better than to touch it, but all the same, longed to know what it would feel like beneath her fingertips.
‘It bites,’ said Korra, from over her shoulder.
Asami straightened up. ‘I figured it would. More worrying is how you know that.’
‘Oh. I touched it before.’
‘Of course you did,’ said Asami, trying not to smirk.
‘It shows we’re on the right path though,’ said Korra. ‘Which is good!’
‘Very good,’ Asami agreed. The geography of the Spirit World was…changeable, to put it mildly. It seemed to sometimes depend more on one’s state of mind than on where you walked. It would be absolutely terrifying to try and navigate alone. Fortunately, she had Korra.
‘Right?’ said Korra. ‘Because when we went past the giant bush that looked like Suyin’s hair, I can’t lie, I was worried, but we’re on track after all. In fact, we’re really close!’
Asami slid her arm through Korra’s gesticulating one. ‘It’s lucky I trust you, huh.’
‘I got us here, didn’t I?’
‘You did. So, where is here?’
The trees cleared, leaving only a few with single-leaf canopies, like flat umbrellas up the hillside. Straight ahead was a building, with a group of spirits gathered around a table outside. In fact…
‘It’s a tea shop,’ said Asami. ‘Wait…is it…?’
Korra waved, and a figure in green looked up.
‘Iroh!’ Korra shouted.
‘Oh,’ said Asami, softly.
They walked up the hill, as the figure of Iroh walked down, taking off an apron. A few of the spirits looked around, one tiny cat-like creature running ahead.
‘Hi, Avatar Korra!’ it called, in a musical voice.
‘Hi!’ she said. ‘Iroh, do you have a spare table?’
‘For you? Always,’ said the old man. His eyes moved from Korra’s to Asami’s, and she had to remind herself that this round, smiling teashop owner was once one of the most feared generals of the Fire Nation, called the Dragon of the West.
But he had chosen to serve tea, and create a space of refuge for travellers in this strange land. Of course she was intrigued. No wonder Korra wanted her to meet him-
‘Iroh, this is Asami,’ said Korra, taking her arm again. ‘Asami Sato, she’s the most brilliant engineer in all four nations. And she’s been with me through…well, everything, I don’t know what I would’ve done without her. But she’s never been to the Spirit World before, so we came for a visit. Um. Together. We came together.’
Iroh’s eyes were alight with interest. ‘A very great pleasure to meet you, Asami. I think this calls for my finest tea,’ he decided.
It hit Asami then that she’d got it the wrong way around. Korra wasn’t so much excited for Asami to meet Iroh. She was more excited for Iroh to meet Asami.