Chapter Text
Aang’s statue remained as serene as ever. It reigned over Yue bay as Korra’s boat approximated silently over the waters.
Korra smiled at the sight of Air Temple Island. Three years later, the island seemed more alive. Air bison herds filled the air along other airbenders in modern suits. Korra missed the place, but felt happy knowing she was responsible for the continuation of the air benders’ culture.
The first time she hesitated that day was when she saw a Future Industry’s boat parked near where she disembarked. The golden emblem shined brightly against the setting sun.
She didn’t expect Asami to be here. She wasn’t ready to face the omega. Korra wanted to meditate, spend some time with Tenzin, and then muster all the courage she could get to face Asami again.
Korra took a deep breath. She didn’t know why Asami would be in the island, but it didn’t matter. She was the Avatar and she was ready to face all her fears, even the rage of a broken hearted omega.
Laugher filled the air as she climbed the stairs. Her small bag bounced on her back, her short hair falling to her chin. The innocence behind the laughs reminded her of the first time she went to the island, meeting Meelo and Ikki. Children had a way to laugh freely that Korra would never understand.
Indeed the first one she saw when approaching the temple was Ikki, running quite slow if Korra remembered right. Ikki stopped short at seeing Korra, gray eyes wide.
“Uff!”
A toddler, from which Ikki was running from, tumbled right behind her, falling on his tiny butt.
“Korra!” Ikki squealed, but instead of running to hug the Avatar, turned and helped the pouting toddler. Carrying the child, Ikki finally walked to Korra and gave her a side hug. “We didn’t know you were coming!”
“Whoa, is this Rohan?” Korra pointed to the boy on Ikki’s arms, watching his curious green eyes.
“I’m Rohan, but who are you?” The little boy squinted his eyes, and both Ikki and Korra laughed.
“She’s Avatar Korra, Rohan. She met you when you were very little,” Ikki responded to her younger brother. Ikki’s face suddenly changed, her smile fading. “Korra …” Whatever she was going to say, Korra wasn’t listening to her anymore.
Outside of the temple, still unaware of Korra’s presence, Asami chatted freely with Pema. Pema had one hand on Asami’s forearm, and the other kindly cupping the back of a tiny head resting on Asami’s shoulder.
“Korra.” Ikki tried again, putting Rohan down and managing to hold Korra’s hand, but Korra continued to walk.
“I can’t thank you enough, Pema.” Asami adjusted the weight of the toddler in her arms, never taking her eyes off Pema. “I know she can be a handful sometimes.”
“Please.” Pema chuckled. “I raised Meelo, remember? Nothing can—” Pema stopped short at seeing Korra walking towards them.
“What?” Asami turned to find the blue eyes she knew so well staring back at her. Korra stopped walking at the weight of Asami’s stare.
“Asami …” Korra extended a hand, but Asami took a step back.
“Mommy?” Feeling her mother tense, the toddler looked up at Asami. She frowned dark eyebrows when Asami didn’t look down at her right away.
“Pema, could you?” Without another glance at Korra, Asami delicately handed Pema her daughter. “It may take a while.”
“Of course.” Pema adjusted the child in her arms. Before the young Sato could protest, Pema offered, “What about sweet buns for dinner, Yumi?”
The child brightened and squealed, hugging Pema. It was when Korra noticed her eyes, pale blue.
Something akin to dread wrapped around her heart.
“Not here.” Asami pulled her sleeve and craned her head, pointing to where the monks meditated with a view to the bay. There was no coldness in her voice, but it wasn’t warm either. The indifference hurt more than Korra expected.
Pema waved at Korra, and she waved back, though she only unlocked her eyes from the child on Pema’s arms when Asami tugged on her sleeve more forcefully.
A few steps back, Korra followed her and anxiety built at each step Asami didn’t look back at her.
Korra took the time to check on her former lover.
Asami looked good. Tired, but good. She had gained weight, but Korra liked the addition. She silently cursed herself; after three years, how did she dare to think about Asami that way?
Asami rested against the wooden railing. “Are you back?” She didn’t look at Korra to ask; Korra already knew what she meant.
“I’m trying.”
Asami released a long sigh, hugging herself. She didn’t like the answer. “What are you doing here, then?” Asami asked sharply. Korra flinched.
“I, I didn’t mean it that way.”
Asami finally turned, fixing green eyes at Korra. “One letter, Korra. You’ve sent one letter. You didn’t call, you didn’t send anything else …”
“I was in a dark place.”
Asami rolled her eyes, crossing her arms. “Oh, well, welcome to adult life, things aren’t easy.”
“I’m sorry.” Korra took a step closer, and seeing that Asami didn’t move, she touched her hand.
“Asami?” Asami didn’t pull her hand away. “The child. Is it yours?”
With a deep breath, Asami looked at Korra. “That’s Yumiko. She’s mine.”
Korra swallowed loudly at the possessiveness in Asami’s tone. “How old is she?”
“Why don’t you ask what you really want to know?”
“I guess I deserve this.” Korra smiled bitterly, looking down at her worn boots. She knew Asami would be angry with her for disappearing … but raising a child on her own brought a new level of hurt.
Korra ran a hand over her hair, and Asami couldn’t avoid a look at those biceps. At least physically, Korra seemed to be the Avatar she once was. Asami turned to face the bay once more.
“Who’s the sire?”
Asami didn’t suppress the gasp at Korra’s voice so close to her neck. The thin hairs there stood on end and Korra took her hand once more.
She wanted to give Korra a snarky remark, a clever answer, anything to make the alpha understand how hard these last three years had been for Asami.
Korra smelled her scent and rested both hands around Asami’s smaller frame. Neither spoke for a minute. Korra’s scent was stronger than Asami remembered, almost offensive. Asami smiled at this; that was her alpha side. Korra must have realized the truth just seeing Yumiko, and now she’d do anything to get closer to her.
Asami leaned back, but only slightly, enough for Korra’s nose to brush on her taller neck.
“You are, Korra.”
Korra breathed a sigh of relief, smiling proudly. She had barely seen the girl, but knew she was proud. The change in her scent was strong for Asami to notice, resting her back on Korra’s chest.
“I’m sorry.” Korra wrapped her arms around Asami, smiling against her neck when the omega let her. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here. I didn’t know. And still … I wouldn’t be able to help.”
“Are you going to stay?” Asami was happy she wasn’t facing her when Korra hesitated. She made to push away, but Korra didn’t let her.
“If I stay—” Korra tightened her hold on Asami and felt her shiver. “—can I see her? Will you let
me?”
“Korra.” Asami struggled a bit but turned to face the alpha. Korra’s eyes, a deep blue she knew so well, were frightened and brimming with tears.
Asami understood then. Korra was afraid.
Tentatively, Asami lifted both hands to cup Korra’s strong jaw. Her pale fingers shook, and Korra closed her eyes when she felt Asami’s warmth.
“All I ever wanted …” The slow circles on her jaw made Korra open her eyes. Asami took a deep breath and smiled. Yumiko had the same eyes. “... is you here with us.” Korra turned to kiss Asami’s hand and Asami froze.
“Sorry,” Korra said with a blush. She made to take a step back, only to stop at Asami’s arms pulling her in a hug.
“It’s okay, but … one thing at a time.”
They heard a squeal from the entrance of the temple and looked to see Ikki clapping her hands and Jinora shushing her.
Asami laughed and Korra smiled.
“Are you going to stay for dinner?” Asami asked, a faint pink blush at her cheeks.
“Yeah.” It was Korra’s first real smile in three years.
Tenzin asked questions, but Korra didn’t acknowledge him. Meelo begged for adventures, and Jinora seemed honestly curious. Korra barely replied to any of the. Her attention at the dinner table was focused on the two-year-old on Asami’s lap.
Yumiko didn’t seem to notice the new presence at dinner, having attention only for her mother, the sweet buns on her plate and Rohan’s shenanigans next to her. Korra smiled seeing they were friends.
Yumiko’s hair was the same ink black of Asami’s, with a baby blue ribbon that matched her eyes on the top of her head. Eyes just like Korra’s. Her skin was a perfect match of both Korra and Asami, a tone lighter than the usual Water Tribe tan and one or two tones darker than pale porcelain. The smile Yumiko offered when Asami let her shove a sweet bun in her mother’s mouth was a perfect copy of Korra’s lopsided grin.
She was beautiful. Korra’s chest swelled with pride.
Korra was so focused in watching Yumiko’s every little move that she didn’t notice Asami’s discreet glances. Jinora did, but decided not to comment, since she, like most of Asami’s close friends in Republic City, knew how consuming the last three years had been for the omega due to Korra’s departure.
When Asami carried a yawning Yumiko to take a bath, Korra fought the urge to follow them. As she finished dinner, she couldn’t stop herself and walked on quiet feet to the bathroom by the end of the women’s wing corridor.
There was a bath by the far corner of the showers and it’s from there that Korra heard giggles: both from Asami and Yumiko. Korra listened from the door.
“That’s enough playing, Yumi. Don’t you want to go to bed?”
Korra closed her eyes at the loving tone Asami used. She wondered if Asami would ever talk to her again like that.
“Don’t wanna! Not tired!” But Yumiko’s protests died in a yawn, and Asami giggled again.
Korra took a few steps into the bathroom to watch them. Asami knelt on the floor, plucking a blue towel from a bag and thoroughly drying Yumiko. With expertise she got the little girl in a new diaper and pajamas in a few minutes.
If Asami knew Korra was watching, she didn’t show.
Yumiko raised her arms in the air when Asami stood up. “Up!” she said, a lopsided smile on her face that Korra knew well.
“Mommy’s tired, honey.” Asami offered her hand instead. “What about you being like the grown ups and walk all the way to the bedroom?”
Yumiko’s frown told she wasn’t going to be easily fooled like that.
“I can take her.” Korra knew Asami had been watching her too when she didn’t flinch at the sound of her voice. Yumiko, on the other hand, turned wide blue eyes up at Korra and hid behind Asami’s skirt.
Korra pretended not to be disappointed.
Asami took a deep breath and looked down at her daughter. “It’s okay. She’s a friend.”
Encouraged by her mother, Yumiko took tentative steps closer to Korra. She looked back at Asami for confirmation, who gave a small smile.
“Up!” She raised her arms in the air at the same motion from before, and Korra didn’t hesitate to lean down and scoop her up. Yumiko was so small and so beautiful. Korra smiled at her, receiving a matching smaller copy from her daughter.
My daughter, she thought.
On instinct, Yumiko lay on Korra’s shoulder, sniffing quietly near the alpha’s neck. Something inside the toddler switched on for the first time and told her you are safe. Already dozing off, she closed her eyes and relaxed against Korra, her mouth opening in complete surrender to sleep.
Korra didn’t move for a good minute, registering the fact of listening to her daughter’s heartbeats.
“It normally takes a while to get her down.”
Korra couldn’t understand what Asami’s tone meant, but followed her out the bathroom to one of the rooms. She climbed the bed with the utmost care, laying Yumiko’s small head on the pillow and doing her best to pry her arms from around her neck.
“Don’t.” Asami’s voice was soft, almost a whisper. “Lay down with her for a while, otherwise she’ll start crying. And then it will be hard to calm her.” Asami watched as Korra did what she was told, kicking her boots off with her foot and lying on the bed still wrapped in Yumiko’s embrace.
The room was only lit by a lamp in the nightstand, but Korra saw Asami’s smile. She blushed and focused on Yumiko’s sleeping face when Asami turned to put on her nightgown. Korra almost succeeded in not looking, but she glanced at Asami’s pale back when she bent down to retrieve her nightclothes from the bottom drawer.
Asami managed to look even more beautiful after having a baby. Korra quickly turned her head back when Asami moved to lay on the bed with them.
“Don’t worry. I’ll leave as soon as she’s deep asleep,” Korra whispered when Asami rested her head on the pillow, running her manicured hand through Yumiko’s black hair. Just like her mother’s.
“You could stay, you know.” Asami’s voice was low, and she didn’t meet Korra’s eyes.
“Aren’t you angry with me?” Korra bit her lip when Yumiko stirred in her sleep, tiny hands clutching at her collar.
Finally, Asami’s jade eyes looked up at Korra. They seemed darker in the dimly lit room.
“We can talk in the morning. But stay tonight. If you want,” she added the last phrase hurriedly, unsure of how Korra was taking everything in.
“I’d love to. I’ll stay as many nights as you let me.”
Asami’s breath caught in her throat and her hand stopped while caressing Yumiko’s silky hair. She didn’t reply, instead sneaking her arm around Yumiko’s waist and searching for Korra’s hand at the same time.
They intertwined their fingers and Korra released a shuddering breath.
“I’m sorry,” Korra said as she felt her eyes stinging with tears. “I didn’t know. I really—”
“Korra.” Asami squeezed her hand. “We’ll talk in the morning. But I understand why you had to leave … it just doesn’t mean it didn’t hurt.”
“I’m—”
“In the morning.” There was no harshness in Asami’s voice. Korra closed her eyes, allowing the
tears to fall free.
It was the best night of sleep Korra had in years.