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"Let's take a vacation. Just the two of us."
Asami looked up from the circuit board in front of her at last, cracking a smile as she took in the sight of the avatar. Korra is all dark, tanned limbs, bright eyes, and crooked smile, even at age forty-eight. She is still spirited, her body still surging with an energy benders half her age often lacked. "Aren't we getting a little old to run off on private vacations when the world needs us?"
"Probably," Korra conceded. "But the world doesn't really need us right now. It's not like we're in the middle of Harmonic Convergence. It's not like the second coming of Sozin's comet. It's not like the Earth Empire conquest. It's not even like the Equalist movement. You're turning down a vacation with me for a business merger--"
"Hey, this business merger isn't finalized yet--"
"--and all you have to do is sign some papers," Korra retorted, getting up from her armchair and leaning her weight on Asami's desk. "Well?" she pressed when she got no reply. "What do you say? It's been twenty-five years. Call it a silver anniversary getaway."
Asami sighed noisily, flicking Korra on the nose before pushing the circuit board aside. "Fine," she said, standing and stretching her arms overhead. "I'll let development know and finish up the paperwork for the market extension. Then it's vacation planning time, anywhere you like."
"Sounds perfect," Korra said, leaning forward. In the light from the Future Industries office window their silhouettes formed a peak, joined at the mouth and their feet anchored on opposite sides of the desk, black lengths of one whole in the setting sun.
o0o
"I thought you said this wasn't the second coming of Sozin's comet!"
"It's not!" Korra yelled over the din, laughing. "This is the third coming, and it's the Festival of One Hundred Suns, not a war. They do this for lesser comets too, but Sozin's comet is a once-in-a-century viewing."
"I never said it was a war," Asami said. "So, this is firebending at its peak."
"Crazy, right?"
The path of Sozin's Comet was well known to the Fire Sages, beginning in the plains southeast of the capitol city and following the centuries-old tiled walkway to the outskirts of the palace grounds. On the neighboring hillock, the royals observed the festival goings-on, ending their procession at the capital. The highest spire of the Fire Nation palace was lit up when the comet passed overhead, but the pavilion on the hillock was open to the public for the festivities.
Two throngs of people were crowded onto the walkway, and Korra and Asami held onto each other with vise-like grip to ensure they weren't separated in the chaotic merriment. The path was dotted with tall spires strung with lanterns, and acrobats performed in the open stretch of tile between the jostling crowd. Their costuming was traditional, all spangles and red silk and golden taffeta, with streamers they alternately set aflame and twirled through the red sky. The comet dipped into the upper atmosphere, skimming just low enough to invigorate everyone, firebenders and nonbenders alike, with its energy. Bursts of flame crackled to life as firecrackers, manipulated overhead as dragons, and threaded through the crowd in elegant spiraling wisps. Asami laughed delightedly when Korra caught one between her fingers, turning it into a blazing heart and blowing it into sparks in her direction.
"Think you could join them?" Asami suggested, giving her a gentle nudge. "Show them a little avatar-style action."
"I thought you've always wanted all the 'avatar-style action' to yourself," Korra said, wide-eyed and feigning innocence. In the red glow, her skin was tinted with ruddy hues of burnished gold, and the arcs of flame from the performance were reflected in her eyes.
Asami didn't answer right away, playfully punching her shoulder instead. "You know what I meant. Show them how the avatar does it."
Korra grinned. "I'm from the south pole. Sounds culturally insensitive, Asami. You just want to show me off," she teased, her hand falling to the curve of Asami's lower back as if it was the most natural thing in the world.
"Well, maybe that too." When they kiss, this time Korra is the first to pull away.
"Get a good spot," she is saying, their fingers tightly woven together and a film of sweat on their skin. The crowd is excitable and officers line the sides of the aisle, keeping a swath of space clear for the performers. Sozin's comet is even more beautiful in the setting sun, a streak of crimson fire at once distinct from and melded with the darkening sky. Korra shoulders her way to the edge of the crowd, apologizing when she collides with the locals and whisking away with a friendly smile just as recognition dawns in their eyes.
When they reach the edge of the onlookers Korra lets go, slipping out of the throng and into the path of the performers. Her bare arms and shoulders ripple as she throws herself into the choreography, learning it quickly and generating plumes of fire larger than any Asami has ever seen her create. The other benders readily accept her, including the avatar as they catch sparks and fallout from the blazing beacon in the sky.
It's impossibly hot, and Korra seems to swim in the heat haze. Her blue top sticks out in a mesh of ornate, red-clad bodies, her dark, fluid limbs like twin stems of rosewood in the lines of fair-skinned performers.
"The avatar!"
As the crowd begins to chant Korra's name, adulation brimming over with each cry, Asami catches Korra's eyes with her own and they trade smiles. They're used to this response by now, but Asami will never get used to watching her impress.
The procession feels stifling the longer it continues, and a kindly old woman informs Asami when they have neared Sozin's pavilion. The landmark is easily distinguishable, plated in gold leaf with dragons carved into its sandstone pillars; it is a veritable temple of the sun.
"They say Sozin brought the flame from the comet back to Lady Arin," the woman tells her. "And they say that flame never died out. They say it burns ardently, forever, even throughout the Hundred Year War."
Asami nods politely, but doesn't have the heart to tell the woman that any gesture from Sozen, no matter how thoughtful, would never seem romantic to her.
The comet passes over the pavilion and when the procession arrives, it is like a carnival again. Korra detaches herself from the fire jugglers, out of breath and damp. Her hair is coming out of its tight braid, sweat and dust have settled into the fine lines around her mouth and eyes. But her smile is a flash of brilliant white in her scorched face, her grip firm despite the exertion as she takes Asami's hands. They lean against the iron railing, watching as the comet fades into the horizon and night belatedly falls.
"Good show, huh?"
"It was better with you in it."
Korra laughs. "You kiss-up."
Asami laughs too, and tells Korra what was related to her in the crowd. "What do you think?" she asks. "If there wasn't a way to sustain it, I don't see how Sozin could keep the flame going."
"Even crazy fire lords have people they love," Korra pointed out. "Look, here's the inscription. 'The celestial pavilion, in memory of Lady Arin. The perpetual flame serves as a symbol of Fire Lord Sozin's devotion.'"
Asami's eyebrows shot up. "Okay, I was wrong. That's pretty romantic."
"I'm not bringing back a flame for you," Korra teases. "I already carry a torch everywhere I go, that's good enough."
"More than enough."
They wander back through the crowd, just in time to see the performers shoot fire up the dragon pillars. A hidden network of gas pathways are suddenly ignited, and the roof of the pagoda is alight in criss-crossing lines of fire that culminate in a plume at the zenith.
"Was that flame always there?" Asami says slowly, pointing. "There's a gas supply... was that central one on when we got here?"
"Yeah," Korra says, puzzled. "Why?"
"Nothing." She pulls Korra against her side, watching the flames flicker as the revelry continues around them. Darkness had fallen, the air refreshingly cool, and they watched the inextinguishable flame burn long into the night, for innumerable nights to come.