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“Hey, Asami.”
Asami looked up. Korra was standing behind her, frowning at her with a thoughtful expression.
“Hey, I didn’t hear you come in.”
“Because you’re working way too hard. Again.”
“Korra, you literally risk your life weekly for a living, and you’re on at me for staying up late studying Sato-mobile designs?”
Korra crossed over towards her and leant down, resting her chin on Asami’s shoulder and looking at the papers in her hands. “Yes. I worry about you, it doesn’t need to be logical.”
“Logic is kind of my thing,” Asami replied, but she put the plans down all the same.
“Okay, I have an idea.”
Korra took her by the hands and pulled her to her feet.
“Korra, what are you doing?”
Korra smirked at her. “Run away with me.”
“What?”
“Run away with me,” Korra repeated. “Just for a few days. Come on. The city can survive without me, and, much as you’d hate to admit it, Future Industries can survive without you, at least for a short while.”
“But where would we go?”
“Well... how about I show you home?”
“You mean, the South Pole? I’ve been there before...”
“Yeah, but you haven’t really seen it.” Korra’s eyes were bright with enthusiasm. “You went there on business, during the beginning of a war, and then again for like one hour to meet my parents.” She winced slightly at the memory. Her parents’ reaction to her coming out had been less than ideal, and Korra had got very angry very fast. So it was true that Asami had never really seen Korra’s homeland properly.
“Sounds really nice, Korra, but I have work,” she said weakly.
Korra gave her a pleading look, excitement on her face. “Come on, we deserve a break after everything.”
It had been pretty full on since their last vacation. The turf wars, the election, Kuvira’s trial, Guan’s brainwashing... Asami shuddered at the memory. She’d been so busy in the month that had passed since then, and she and Korra had had barely any time to relax. Maybe a holiday was in order.
“Fine, IF I can convince Chen to take over some of my duties, and if I can radio for updates on the company.”
“Of course!” Korra spun them around, excited.
Asami couldn’t help but grin at Korra’s enthusiasm. Spirits, what had Korra done to her? She was stubborn, maybe not in the way Korra was, but stubborn all the same. She didn’t let people tell her what to do and she was good at standing her ground. But Korra could change her mind in seconds with just a pleading look or a crooked smile.
But then she’s the same with me, so... maybe it doesn’t matter?
Korra was really excited to show Asami around her first home properly. Asami might be of Fire Nation descent, but Republic City would always be home to her, and Korra had spent a long time there, with Asami telling her about her memories of various places. Now, she wanted to show her girlfriend where she had grown up.
She finished stuffing clothes into her bag and looked around the room, wondering if there was anything else she needed.
Apparently not. As soon as Asami talked to her co-workers, they could go. Korra kind of wished they could just run away without telling anyone, but that wasn’t an option for the Avatar, nor for the CEO of one of the city’s largest companies.
Sometimes Korra wished she could be just a little bit more anonymous.
A few hours later, they emerged from the Southern spirit portal. Cutting through the Spirit World was much, much quicker than sailing or flying all the way to the pole.
Almost as soon as they stepped through, Asami felt the cold pierce her coat, and shivered. Korra came closer to her, wrapping an arm around her to warm her up, and Asami gratefully leant into her touch.
“So... where to?”
“Well, I figured we could start with some of the wilder places, and then maybe go and see my parents and Katara and so on afterwards?”
Asami smiled. “Sounds good to me. I might freeze to death before we get there, though.”
Korra laughed and hugged her tighter. “I would never let that happen.”
“Here’s where I used to ride on Naga sometimes, when I wasn’t training. It was one of my favourite places to go.”
Korra stared out across the water. They were standing where she’d stood many times before, at the edge of an icy cliff, watching the sea. Jagged, icy mountain peaks rose up around them, but here, there was a little clearing of snow, and the water stretched out below the cliff, iron-grey, beautiful and wild and dangerous.
“Woah.” Asami looked around her in awe. “It’s amazing here. Remind me why we never did this before?”
“Um... Amon, the Equalists, Unalaq, Mako, a civil war, your company, the Red Lotus, the poisoning, my trauma, not knowing if we both felt the same way about each other, Kuvira, the Earth Empire, Tokuga, the spirits, the turf wars, Guan, politics, triads, city redesigning, evacuee relocation...”
Asami looked vaguely stunned at Korra’s quick reeling off of almost everything that had happened to them over the past few years. “Yeah... that would tend to stop anyone having vacations, wouldn’t it?”
“We’ve been through a lot,” Korra agreed. “But we made it here, so it can’t be all bad.”
Asami smiled and took Korra’s hand. “Definitely not.”
This place had always been beautiful to Korra, but with Asami there, her green eyes the only real colour in the landscape, it was even more so.
Asami made everything in Korra’s life better. Including Korra herself.
“I got lost out here once,” Korra said, looking around the icy plain. “In the middle of a storm.”
Asami looked at her. Korra’s eyes were soft, like she was remembering something fondly, which contrasted with her words.
“You look happy? Is being lost in a storm... a good thing?”
“That was when I met Naga! Did I never tell you that story?”
“No, I don’t think so.”
Korra smiled and pulled Asami in to her side. “So basically, I was about... five? Six? And all these polar bear dogs were howling. I wanted to go and play with them, but my parents said I couldn’t. They said they were dangerous.”
“Dangerous?” Asami thought of Naga. Of course, she could be threatening when she needed to be, but dangerous per se? Definitely not. Except for the danger that she would slobber all over you and ruin your make-up when you’d only just got ready for work (yes, this was a past point of contention between Asami and the polar bear dog.)
“They can be, if they think you’re a threat. But I wasn’t scared. I kind of thought being the Avatar made me invincible.” Korra smiled ruefully, a hint of sadness in her eyes. “I wish.”
Asami squeezed her hand and Korra squeezed back gratefully before continuing with the story.
“So, anyway, I wasn’t very obedient when I was a kid–”
“Well, that hasn’t changed,” Asami laughed.
“Hey!” Korra shoved her playfully. “ANYWAY, so I snuck out in the middle of the night, and I imitated polar bear dog howls to try and find them. Then I came upon this cub, all alone in the storm. So I offered her some fish jerky and asked if she wanted to play. But then the snow picked up and I realised we were both lost. So I waterbent a shelter and we stayed there all night, keeping each other warm. The next morning, my parents found me, and I asked if I could keep Naga. Katara convinced them to say yes, and... I made my first best friend. Actually, my only friend really, until I came to the city.”
Asami remembered a conversation they’d had years ago, before Korra almost crashed their Sato-mobile into a vine.
“When we first started hanging out more, you told me you’d never had a girlfriend before. And then you paused and went ‘except for Naga’.”
Korra hid her face in her hands. “I replayed that sentence in my head so many times and wondered why I said ‘girlfriend’. The part about Naga was just to try and deflect. I wanted to make sure you knew I meant it platonically.”
“My heart nearly stopped when you called me that, and I had no idea why,” Asami replied, remembering how confused she’d been at her own reaction. “We were so oblivious.”
“Made your heart stop, huh?” Korra said, and that mischievous smirk was back on her face.
“Just about.”
Korra drew closer to her and took Asami’s face in her hands, tilting her own up slightly to look into Asami’s eyes. “Girlfriend,” she whispered. Asami shivered, and this time it had nothing to do with the cold.
“H-how about you? Does it make your heart stop too?” she replied, well aware that she was blushing.
Korra smiled and tilted her head to the side. “Remember when you yelled at Tokuga on that airship? ‘Get your slimy scales off my girlfriend’? It was the first time you’d ever called me that, and even though we were in the middle of a fight, I thought my heart was about to hammer right out of my chest. Like this amazing, hot, gorgeous, brave person was saying that about me? Actually me?”
“Oh, so you think I’m hot?” Asami smirked.
Korra’s turn to blush. “Why are you so much better at flirting than I am?”
“Please, I’ve been flirting with you since the day I met you,” she teased.
Korra bumped her shoulder against Asami’s. “I know, you weren’t exactly subtle.”
“Yes, I was! I didn’t even know I was doing it,” Asami protested.
“And that changes things, how?”
Asami groaned. “Stop.”
“Or...?”
“Just shut up and kiss me.”
Asami had guessed that this would render Korra unable to argue, and she was right. After a moment of staring and struggling for words, Korra obliged.
“We’re continuing this discussion some day though,” she whispered after a moment.
“Not if I have anything to do with it.”
“Korra? Asami?” Senna looked comically surprised. Korra wanted to laugh.
“We’re on vacation,” she explained. “I’ve been showing Asami some places I grew up with.”
Senna moved to hug her daughter, and after a moment’s hesitation, hugged Asami too.
“That’s great, sweetie. I’m glad you’re taking a break.”
They headed inside, where Tonraq looked equally shocked to see them. “Korra!”
“Hi, Dad.”
It was good to see her parents again. They hadn’t been in the city since shortly after the election, and nor had Korra been back home. It felt like it had been forever since she’d seen them, although really it had only been a couple of months.
They talked over a late-evening meal. Korra and Asami had spent nearly all day touring parts of the land, but Asami had drawn the line at sleeping in a waterbent snow shelter, even with blankets, so they’d headed here.
“Is it okay if we stay a couple of nights?” Korra asked.
“Of course! I can make up one of the guest rooms for Asami.”
“Um...” Asami glanced at Korra awkwardly. Korra took her hand.
“Mom, Asami will stay in my room.”
“But then where will you...?” Tonraq began, before realising. “Oh. Sorry.” He cleared his throat awkwardly.
Korra rolled her eyes, annoyed. Her parents might have accepted her and Asami, but it was clear they still had trouble seeing their relationship in the same way as they would that of a boy and a girl. “Since you seem to need it spelled out. Asami is still my girlfriend, meaning that she will be staying in my room, with me, unless she decides she doesn’t want to.”
Asami was blushing and staring at the ground, but she nodded. “Yeah, thanks, Senna, but Korra’s room is fine.”
Senna collected herself and smiled. “Of course. But the bed...?”
“... can be switched for a double one,” Korra interrupted, exasperated.
Asami was still staring at the floor like it held the secrets of the universe.
Tonraq coughed awkwardly. “Right. So. How has your trip been so far?”
“Sorry about my parents,” Korra said, once they were in their room and readying themselves for bed.
“It’s okay,” Asami said. It had been excruciatingly awkward, actually, but Korra already knew that.
“I hope... I handled it fine?”
Asami turned to her, smiling. Korra had become so much more considerate in those small ways, even compared to how she’d been at the beginning of their relationship.
“Yes. Perfectly.”
Korra looked relieved. “Good.”
Asami finished tying her robe around her and shivered. It was still really cold. Korra noticed and passed her a thick, furry blanket, which Asami wrapped around her shoulders.
“Thanks.”
“Anything for you,” Korra joked.
Why did she have to be so adorable? How was Asami supposed to function? She caught Korra’s hand and tugged her towards her where she sat on the edge of the bed. For once, Korra was the one to lean down so that they could kiss.
A cursory knock on the door was followed by the sound of it opening before they’d even had time to register the sound and break apart.
“Korra, I brought–” Senna stopped speaking abruptly, and Korra stumbled back from Asami, her cheeks flushing. “I’m so sorry.”
“Knocking exists so that you can actually wait for someone to invite you in!” Korra said exasperatedly.
“I know. I brought you some extra furs. I thought Asami might be cold, given that she’s not used to these temperatures.”
Korra relented and took the bundle from Senna’s arms. “Thanks.”
Asami echoed her, feeling like she’d rather like to sink into the ground right about now.
“Well, I’ll leave you girls to it.” Senna shifted awkwardly. “Um, goodnight, sweetheart. Goodnight, Asami.”
Asami replied in kind, and Korra gave her mother a brief, one-armed hug, before firmly shutting her out of the room.
“Master Katara?” Korra paused at the door to the hut, which was propped slightly open.
“Korra?” Katara appeared at the doorway, a smile on her face. “And Asami Sato. Come in.”
They stepped inside, and Katara shut the door behind them, motioning for them to sit.
“What brings you here?”
“Oh, we just needed a break,” Korra responded.
Katara looked at their clasped hands for a moment, and it struck Korra that Katara might not know about her and Asami.
“Um... so...” How did one broach it? “Did you know that we’re.... that Asami is my girlfriend now?”
Katara smiled kindly. “I guessed a good while back. You talked about her quite a bit when I was healing you.”
“What did she say?” Asami asked, looking wary and curious at once.
“Oh, it was all good. So I had my guesses. I raised Kya, after all.” Katara smiled. “And Kya herself also mentioned it, as well, so yes, I know.”
Korra nodded, hoping Asami wouldn’t ask any more about what Korra had said about her. It would be decidedly awkward to listen to Katara talk about it. Anyway, she hadn’t talked about her that much... had she?
“Back here, then.”
Asami looked around. Yes, she knew where they were now. Outside the healing hut, where Katara had tried – and failed – to restore Korra’s bending.
Korra led her to the cliff’s edge. “This is where I first truly connected to my spiritual self, and Aang gave me back my bending. And... where Mako and I started our relationship.”
Asami smiled ruefully, remembering the conflicting mix of emotions she’d felt when that happened, none of them good. She’d thought she was annoyed at Mako, and she had been, but she was also jealous, and in hindsight, she was far more jealous of him than she’d been of Korra. Because even then...
“You know, I thought at the time that this place would always mean so much to me, because it was where that relationship began. But now... I just want to laugh. Some fond memories, sure, but... when I think about how much the Republic City portal means to me now...”
Asami smiled at her. “Sure you have no regrets?” She was joking, but maybe a little bit of her was serious, too.
“Only that I ever thought he was the one, and that I didn’t realise sooner that it was you. And that I ever treated you badly because of him. Other than that? You’re the best thing in my life, why would I have regrets?”
Asami was always caught off guard when Korra said things like that, and found herself staring dazedly for a moment.
Korra suddenly leant up and kissed her, her hand resting tenderly against Asami’s cheek. When they parted, Korra grinned, her eyes soft.
“Now when I come here, I can remember that kiss.”
“Which one was better?” Asami asked breathlessly.
“There’s no competition, Asami. It ended as soon as this–” she gestured between herself and Asami. “–began.”
“So I’m your favourite, huh?”
“Like I said,” Korra kissed her again. “No competition.”
The Southern Lights were so beautiful in the dark. Korra had almost forgotten. The last time she'd been here for any length of time, she hadn't exactly been thinking about the sky.
Abruptly, images flashed through her mind. The nightmares, night after night. The horrible, haunting vision of herself standing in front of her. The pain. Korra tightened her grip on Asami and took in a deep, shaky breath.
“Korra, are you okay?”
“Yeah... I just... I was remembering when I was here after I was poisoned.”
Asami stopped and turned to face her. “Well, that’s over, and you’re here with me now.”
Korra smiled at her. “I know.” She felt her heartrate slow as she looked into Asami’s eyes, and then speed up for an entirely different reason. “Hey, Asami, my face is really cold...”
“But you’re from here – oh.” Asami seemed to catch onto Korra’s flirtatious tone, and responded in kind. “I think I can fix that.”
She leant down to kiss Korra, softly, a kiss that said I’m here and nothing is going to hurt you.
It startled Korra every time, how safe she felt around Asami. It wasn’t like Asami could protect her from everything that might be thrown her way. They’d do their best to protect each other, of course, as they always had, but that hadn’t stopped them being hurt, time and time again. But still, in a life where she was used to being the one protecting others, Asami made her feel safe. Maybe because she was the only one who could help with Korra’s worst enemy of all – her own mind, the trauma she’d suffered.
“I love you,” Korra said when they parted.
“Love you too.”
Korra had an idea. She melted the snow around them with some firebending, then pulled a blanket out of her pack, laying it on the ground and motioning Asami to sit beside her on it.
Then she stretched out on her back, staring up at the sky. Asami shot her a questioning look, but lay down beside her.
“Look,” Korra whispered, gesturing at the lights. They were so bright, so breathtaking, and even more so when she turned to the side and saw them reflected in Asami’s eyes.
“It’s beautiful,” Asami replied. Her voice was muffled by furs, because the South Pole was even colder at night. “Like you.”
Korra laughed softly. It seemed ridiculous that Asami, gorgeous, stylish, breathtaking Asami would be saying that to her.
But she was. And she meant it. Korra could see that in her eyes. Asami was a master at controlling and concealing her emotions in her body language, tone, the rest of her face, but her eyes were open and honest. Especially around Korra.
“I’m really glad you came here with me,” she said softly.
Asami smiled. “Of course I did. The South is part of your life, Korra, a piece of you. And I love every piece of you.”
Korra looked around for a moment. This place had been full of suffering for her before. When Unalaq started his war, when she was recovering.
“Some of those pieces are kind of broken,” she said, a little sadly.
Asami rolled to the side, propping herself up on her elbow. ”Every piece, Korra. Especially the broken ones.”
Korra blinked back tears. “Same to you.”
Then Asami leant in towards her, and they were kissing under the Southern Lights. Korra shut her eyes, and even when she could no longer see the scenery, everything was still ten times more beautiful than it had ever been before.