Chapter Text
It had only taken Korra a week to get the guards of Kuvira’s temporary prison used to her coming in every morning to see Kuvira. Now, as soon as she walked in, the on-duty guard waved her through and she walked up the wooden stairs, to the upper level where Kuvira’s cell was. The guard posted in front of Kuvira’s cell saw her and gave her a smile. “Call if you need anything.”
Korra smiled back absently. “Thanks.”
The guard went off, down the stairs. Korra heard the whispers and rumors that were birthed downstairs in the guards’ lounge, and she often wondered how far they’d reached, but she didn’t really mind. If being the Avatar had prepared her for anything, by now, it was everyone in the world having opinions of her that couldn’t be shaken until they actually talked to her.
Instead of dwelling on rumors that might not even exist, Korra sat down in front of Kuvira’s cell. “Good morning,” she said cheerfully.
Kuvira looked up briefly from her stretch. “Bit earlier than usual, aren’t you?”
“Yeah, well.” Korra shrugged. “I was awake. Figured you would be, too. I think you’re the only person I’ve met who’s more of a morning person than I am.”
Kuvira laughed at that, low and warm. The sound echoed in Korra’s chest, making her smile as she watched Kuvira come out of her stretch and reach up towards the ceiling instead, rising all the way up onto her toes. Even in prison garb, Kuvira’s grace and strength was readily apparent, and Korra appreciated that she could just sit and watch Kuvira sometimes, that the other woman trusted her that much.
“Do you have plans for the rest of the day?” Kuvira asked, settling back onto her feet and stretching her wrists. “My schedule’s very busy today, as I’m sure you’re aware.”
Korra grinned. “I wouldn’t want to take up too much of your time.” She leaned back, angling herself into a corner so that she could stay facing Kuvira. “I don’t really have plans. Asami asked me to come over after lunch, probably to help with some rebuilding, but other than that? I have my choice of what to do.”
“No plans, right.” Kuvira’s voice was deadpan. “That’s why you’re always around helping the repair crews. Because you have no plans and nothing to do.”
Korra stuck her tongue out at Kuvira. “I don’t like having nothing to do.”
“I’ve noticed.” Kuvira arched her back in one final stretch and then sat on the other side of the bars from Korra. Her fingers wove her hair back into a simple braid, keeping her hair tightly out of her face. “It’s nice having options of what to do, isn’t it?”
“Yeah.” Korra slipped her hand through the bars, reaching out to Kuvira. “I wish...”
Kuvira smiled at her, just a little, and tied off her braid. Her hand grasped Korra’s, gentle and warm. “You’re doing what you can to move things along, I know.”
“I want to do more.”
“Even when I was the system I could only make it move so quickly.” Kuvira squeezed her hand. “Relax. You’ve made it very clear that you care about me. Everyone knows that if I’m harmed, they’ll have to deal with you.”
Korra laughed, letting her head fall back against the wall. “That’s good.”
They sat there, quietly, for long enough that the shadows on the floor, barred strips of light, moved from barely touching Kuvira’s toes to resting squarely on her ankles.
At last, Korra squeezed Kuvira’s hand and said, “I should...”
“Go?” Kuvira sighed. “If you have time, come back this evening for a round or two of Pai Sho? There’s only one guard who’s got a good grasp of the game, I think, and she’s not on duty today.” She shook her head, smirked. “I’m teaching the rest, but they usually only last one or two rounds of being defeated a night before getting too annoyed to play anymore.”
Korra laughed. “I’ll do my best.”
“You generally do.”
Korra smiled.
Neither of them moved.
“I don’t know what Asami wants,” Korra admitted. She turned, so she was sitting cross-legged, facing Kuvira, and continued, quietly. “She’s... she’s been acting different, since—” she waved a hand in a wide circle “—everything. Her father’s dead, and... even if they didn’t have much time after reconciling, that’s got to be hard, but...”
Kuvira shook her head. “You can’t read minds, Avatar.”
“Usually I don’t need to!”
“Would she have told you, if she wanted you to know?”
Korra looked down.
“So she’ll tell you when you get there.”
“Probably,” Korra muttered.
Kuvira laid her hand on Korra’s knee. “Why are you so worried?”
“Because...” She let out a huff of air. “Asami’s never been this cagey with me. Either she’d tell me something or she wouldn’t. Not this sort of weird hinting at stuff.”
“Well, then there isn’t much you can do but go and talk to her and ask her what’s wrong, or what’s changed.” Kuvira shrugged, and her voice softened. “Come back this evening. We’ll play Pai Sho and you can tell me about it, okay?”
“Yeah.” Korra looked back up at Kuvira and smiled a little. “Thanks.”
“I’m forced to have some distance,” Kuvira said dryly. “It helps sometimes.”
Korra winced. She didn’t try to hide it – the first and last time she had, Kuvira had told her not to pretend pity, because she got entirely too much of that already. “Yeah,” she said, after a moment. “It does.”
Kuvira rubbed Korra’s knee and grinned. “Go do whatever you need to do before talking to your friend.” She stood and stretched, arching her back into a graceful curve. “I am going to keep myself in practice, as much as I can without anything to bend.”
Korra stood, a smile of her own appearing. “I doubt you’ll forget how to bend. You’re too good at it.”
“Thanks, Avatar.” Kuvira bent down, touching her toes. “Go on. I know you’d love to stay and watch, but go, before you forget what time it is.”
Korra laughed and turned away, walking back down the wooden corridors. She really would rather stay and train with Kuvira, but that wouldn’t work until she managed to convince the guards to let her into Kuvira’s cell, instead of being forced to stay on the other side of wooden bars.
So instead, she left with a nod to the guards, picked up her glider staff, and soared back into the air. She had some time before she needed to meet Asami; she could go back to Air Temple Island and get food there before returning.
* * * * *
When Korra walked into Future Industries’ assembly floor, she wasn’t sure what to expect. Asami had her company working with the reconstruction efforts, but that could mean so many different things; last time she’d come, there had been endless lines of support beams. This time, it meant boxes the size of small rooms.
Korra couldn’t see Asami anywhere, but that wasn’t a surprise; the room was huge, and Asami usually wore clothing just like her workers’. Instead, she looked around for someone who looked like they knew what was going on. Or anyone who wasn’t actively busy. The first one she saw, she tapped on the arm and asked, “Where’s Asami?”
“Office.” They kept walking without even acknowledging who she was. Korra almost opened her mouth to say something, but then closed it again. The offices. Sure. Asami had told her that she’d be on the assembly floor, but with everything going on, plans were bound to change and not get passed on.
Korra turned around and started walking up to Asami’s offices. The people she passed on the way were all moving more quickly than she was, and once an assistant carrying an enormous pile of papers almost knocked into her. Future Industries might have been hit hard by the invasion, but it was recovering quickly and helping the rest of Republic City along the way.
The door to Asami’s offices was plain, with just an embossed nameplate to mark it. The door was also closed. Korra frowned, eyed it for a moment, and then knocked.
“Just a moment!”
Korra shook her head, smiling, at Asami’s voice. ‘A moment’, in that tone of voice, wasn’t going to be less than a minute. She leaned against the wall next to Asami’s door, and had barely settled herself when the door opened and Asami came out. Her hair was tied back in a tight ponytail that only accentuated how curly it was loose, she was wearing a faded red shirt obviously too big for her – it hung off one shoulder, showing a pale shoulder and prominent collarbone – and utilitarian trousers.
“Sorry,” Asami said quickly. “I got caught up in work and forgot that I’d asked you over. Come in, though! Just give me a moment to change into something more presentable.” She flashed Korra a wide grin and then turned back into her office, leaving Korra with her mouth slightly open.
“...okay,” she said. She’d never seen Asami not look completely put-together. Even now, as Korra went over Asami’s appearance mentally, the engineer was wearing perfect lipstick and eyeliner. She followed Asami inside, the question of what was going on with Asami even more pressing now.
Asami waved Korra to the couch in the entry with another, “Just a moment, okay?”, and disappeared behind a door Korra was pretty sure led to a bathroom.
Korra sat. The last time she’d been here, the opulence of the offices had been overwhelming. This time, it was just ridiculous. So much space just for one person who didn’t even live here, as much as it sometimes seemed like Asami wanted to. Even before Kuvira and her Colossus had devastated Republic City, there could have been better uses for those resources. Now, there definitely were.
A few minutes later, as Korra thought about starting to pace impatiently, the inner door swung open again and Asami came out, looking much more like her usual self, with her tailored jacket, a knee-length skirt over her trousers, and her hair ruffled enough for some strands to fall in front of her ears.
“Sorry to keep you waiting.” Asami stopped in front of Korra and tucked some of her loose hair behind her ear. “I wanted to talk to you about the reconstruction effort, and... some other things.”
“Pretty sure you told me that when you asked me to meet you in the first place.” Korra stood. “Did you want to talk here?”
Asami hesitated. “Well,” she said after a moment, looking a little past Korra’s shoulder, “I had been thinking of going down to see how the housing units we’re making are fitting into the apartment buildings that got destroyed. Would you mind talking as we walked there? It isn’t that far.”
“Sounds good.” Korra followed Asami out the door, then caught up to walk next to her. “I was wondering what those boxes were. Housing units?”
“Shelter is the hardest thing for us to rebuild, because we can’t just slap roofs on top of damaged structures and call it good. We need separate units and multiple rooms inside those units. Building all of those on-site is possible, but it can be difficult to get all the supplies to where they’re needed.”
Asami walked as quickly as she talked. Korra grinned, stretching her legs to keep up with her long-legged friend without jogging.
“And we still have road infrastructure, for the most part. They just needed to be cleared off, and that’s mostly done now. So we’ve got space to move these units around on trucks. So I decided that instead of taking materials to the units, I could just build the units where materials were, and then raise them up to where they need to be. We have enough earthbenders that it shouldn’t be a problem, and since most of the buildings are built on standard measurements, we can build units with the right attachments to just be fastened in place and the buildings will still be stable.” Asami finished with a smile at Korra and a flourish of her hands. “The first units were put in place yesterday, and are working great so far.”
“Wow.” Korra matched Asami’s smile. “You’ve really thrown yourself into this.”
“Yeah.” Asami’s voice and feet slowed. “It... helps, with everything.”
Korra reached out and touched Asami’s shoulder. “I know.”
Asami took Korra’s hand, where it lay on her shoulder, and kept it there. “I’ve been having nightmares about—” Her voice tightened. So did her hand. “—the Colossus.”
“I bet a lot of people are having those nightmares,” Korra murmured.
Asami shook her head and let go of Korra’s hand. “Everyone tells me that,” she snapped.
“You have good reason to have nightmares!” Korra said, hastily, raising her hands defensively. “It’s just... sometimes it helps to know you aren’t alone. And you aren’t alone.”
Asami’s face tightened. She didn’t say anything else, but she didn’t speed up any more. Once they were outside, Asami seemed to relax slightly, and once she’d led them onto a narrow side street still covered by dust, she stopped walking and turned to Korra. “I know I’m not alone. But that’s different.” She rubbed at her face, and Korra saw, underneath her fingers and her makeup, the dark shadows under her eyes. “I have nightmares about the hummingbird suits, and the Colossus, and what would have happened if—if my—my father hadn’t...”
Korra instinctively reached forward and wrapped Asami in a hug. Her friend’s body shook, and Korra felt tears drop between Asami’s fingers and land on her bare shoulder. She didn’t say anything about the tears, just hugged Asami even more tightly and rubbed one hand in circles over Asami’s back. Hopefully it would help. She’d never had much chance to practice comforting her friends before.
Slowly, Asami’s tears stopped falling, and her hands moved from her face to Korra’s shoulder and back, and she stopped shaking. Instead, she sniffed, and took hitching breaths.
As she felt Asami start to pull away, Korra said, very quietly, “It’s okay.”
Asami paused, and collapsed onto her again, and this time Korra couldn’t tell if she was laughing or crying or both. She thought she felt another few tears, but mostly she felt the way Asami’s forehead rested on her shoulder, and how Asami’s hands clutched at her.
When this spate of crying passed, and Asami moved away, Korra didn’t try to stop her.
Asami kept her head ducked as she pulled a handkerchief out of one of her pockets and wiped her face with it. “Thank you,” she said. Her voice sounded rough around the edges from all the crying. “I—I didn’t mean to start crying.”
“It’s okay,” Korra repeated. She rubbed at the back of her neck and looked down at the ground. “You held me when I was crying more than once, after the Red Lotus stuff. It’s what friends do.”
“Yeah.”
They stood there, not looking at each other, for almost another minute, until Asami said, “I don’t think I’m really up to doing business today. Would you mind accompanying me to... I don’t know, but somewhere else, where people are happy?”
“Sure.” Korra smiled tentatively. “Last time I was looking around the city, Unity Park seemed like it was almost back to normal. Kids playing on the grass. Bright colors. Things like that. Sound good?”
“Yeah,” Asami said, smiling at Korra in what she thought might be relief. “Sounds great.”
* * * * *
That night, after walking through the park talking about nothing in particular with Asami and letting herself get talked into having dinner with her, Korra found herself back at Kuvira’s prison. She had talked about so many things with Asami, but when asked what she’d been doing, she’d hesitated and not said anything about Kuvira.
Ten minutes into their game of Pai Sho, Kuvira snapped down a tile, captured a good third of the board, and said, “Now tell me what you and Asami talked about that’s distracting you so much that you couldn’t block that.”
Korra blinked at the board, replayed the last five moves, and groaned. “I can’t believe I didn’t see that coming.”
Kuvira smirked and crossed her arms. “Tell.”
“We didn’t even talk about anything, really.” Korra shrugged. “She told me about how Future Industries is helping with the rebuilding efforts, and about how she’s having nightmares of the Colossus.”
Kuvira’s smirk faded.
Korra sighed. “She has reason to.”
“A lot of people do,” Kuvira muttered. “One of the guards took great pleasure in telling me all about his nightmares, and his friends’ nightmares. I told the lieutenant in charge, and he was sent to another post, but not before getting through a lot of stories.”
“Kuvira...” Korra reached out over the board and left her open hand where Kuvira could take it if she wanted.
“No pity,” the other woman reminded her. “So you talked about her nightmares. Great. That’s not nothing.”
“And then we went over to the park and she asked me what I’d been doing, and I didn’t want to tell her how much time I was spending with you.”
“Not surprised, if she’s having nightmares that are kind of about me.”
Korra breathed deeply, restraining herself from snapping back at Kuvira. Of course she was bitter about it. Of course she was hurt. But snapping wouldn’t help. “Yeah. But she’s a good friend, and I’m sad that I can’t tell her about the time I spend with you, because I think you’re also a good friend.”
Kuvira laughed.
Korra sat up and crossed her arms. “You listen to what I say, you don’t tell me to go fuck off when I bring up things that you don’t like, and all you ask for is me to treat you with respect. Those are all things good friends do.”
“Well, if you put it that way.” Kuvira stood up and stalked to the center of her cell, facing away from Korra. Her prisoner’s outfit managed to look dramatic, when Kuvira stood like this, especially since the cell was lit by a flickering glass-encased lantern. “I suppose.”
Korra sat and waited. She’d gotten a lot better at that lately. She’d had to.
After a few deep breaths, Kuvira said, “I think I need some time to myself.”
“If that’s what you want, I’ll go.” Korra stood up. “Should I pack up the Pai Sho board first?”
Kuvira made a sound that Korra thought might be a laugh. “Leave it. Maybe see if you can win from your position, when you come here tomorrow.”
“Okay.” Korra stayed there a moment, looking at the lines of Kuvira’s body, tightly wound and hunched in. “Let me know if there’s anything I can do. The guards can get in contact with me if they need to.”
Kuvira nodded once, jerkily.
“Goodnight.”
As Korra left, she thought she heard Kuvira sob once, and she had to close her own eyes to force herself not to begin crying.
As she flew herself back to Air Temple Island, she decided that too many people she cared about were having emotions right now. Herself grudgingly included.
She just had to figure out what to do about that.
* * * * *
That night, once everyone had gone to bed and she was in her room, Korra silently called, Raava? Can I talk to you?
Korra smiled up at the ceiling of her room. Why do you think Kuvira reacted so much when I talked about Asami?
The spirit was silent for long enough that Korra would have thought she’d lost interest, if she’d been a human. Korra waited, debating the merits of staying in bed and pacing around while she waited for Raava’s response. She’d just about decided that doing something – maybe some of those dance stretches Kuvira had shown her – would be better when Raava spoke again.
I think, the spirit said, decided amusement woven through her voice, that Kuvira is worried that she might lose you to Asami, if you were ever forced to choose.
“That’s ridiculous!” Korra got up and started pacing. “It’s... why would I ever need to choose?”
Humans think very interesting things. I’ve seen it time and time again – friends lost, simply because they thought a choice occurred.
Korra muttered a curse that would have made Tenzin blush.
Humans also have the most interesting metaphors.
Korra sighed.
They both care about you very deeply, Korra, and want you to reciprocate their feelings.
“I do.” Korra shoved a pile of clothes out of the way, took a breath, and began walking the circle, just like Tenzin had taught her. As she walked, she could feel herself growing more relaxed. “And they know that, don’t they?”
Much has happened recently. Turmoil doesn’t leave anyone easily.
“I’m okay.”
Are you?
Korra twisted herself into one of the forms, feeling air twist around her arms and legs with each movement, even though she was trying not to bend.
Just because you forgave her doesn’t mean she has forgiven herself.
“I know that.”
Then why do you expect her to have forgiven herself?
Korra came to a stop with a grunt of effort and a puff of air that blew her clothing further into disarray.
You didn’t forgive yourself after being poisoned.
“Thanks for your advice,” Korra said, beginning a firebending form she knew she’d need to keep under very tight control. “I think I get your point.”
Are you sure?
“Thank you, Raava.” Korra kicked up, a thin edge of fire wrapping around her foot. “I’d like to think about this for myself, now.”
You’re welcome, Korra.
She ducked low and punched forward, losing herself in the movement and control until she forgot the smug amusement in Raava’s tone.