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“JI-NOR-AAA!!! I NEED YOUR - oh, Tenzin!”
Korra stopped in her tracks as Tenzin straightened up from where he was kneeling by his daughter’s desk. “Hello, Korra."
“Um, hi,” she said, awkwardly shifting on her feet. “Why are you in Jinora’s room?”
“The leg of her desk was starting to buckle and she was about to leave on a mission with Opal and Kai, so I was fixing it for her.” He gestured to indicate the hammer and nails on the floor behind him.
Korra deflated. “So she’s not here?” Then she perked up again. “That’s okay, I’ll ask Pema.”
“No, she and Rohan are visiting in the south visiting my mother, remember?” He folded his arms and asked calmly, if a bit suspiciously, “Is there something I can help you with?”
“Weeellll …” she stalled, trying to think. “Is Ikki home?”
“Korra. I may no longer be your teacher, but I hope you know that I’ll always be here when you need me.”
“Alright,” Korra said reluctantly. “It’s about … romance.”
“Ah,” said Tenzin, looking like already regretted bringing it up. "What about it?"
“So I’ve been dating Asami for a couple months and it's amazing and she’s amazing, right? But so much has been happening that we haven’t had that much time to just be a normal couple. And now that we are, I'm noticing some imbalances in our relationship.”
“How so?”
Korra dropped to Jinora’s bed and sighed. “She just does so many nice things for me. She brings me tea and takes me to my favorite restaurants and helps me with all my Avatar stuff. And I can’t take her to nicer restaurants and I can’t help her with her company because I barely even keep up when she’s talking about it and I never know when the right time to bring her tea is. So I was gonna buy her flowers, but she already has her favorite ones growing out back in her garden. And she loves driving but she has a whole race track. She can get any jewelry she wants and its not like I know how to pick it out anyway.”
“Romance isn’t about what you can buy people. It’s the thought that matters, and being present with your partner.”
She got up and started pacing around the small room. “Yeah, but I’m bad at that, too! She’ll dress up and look gorgeous and I want to tell her how beautiful she is, and I do, sometimes, but most of the time I get flustered and I say she looks ‘spiffy’ or ‘smart’ and one time I think I called her ‘fancy pants.’’
Tenzin tried to turn his laugh into a cough but didn’t quite succeed. When Korra glared at him, he held up his hands placatingly. “You and Asami were friends long before you became involved. You know her better than anyone. Perhaps instead of trying to impress or flatter her - not that there’s anything wrong with a compliment, of course - but maybe you should think about every day things she enjoys. You mentioned that you like when she brings you tea, correct?”
“Yeah, but -“
“And do you think that’s romantic because she brought you an expensive tea? Or she says something romantic as she does it?”
“Well, no.”
“Then why does it matter to you?”
“Because … I don’t know.” Korra huffed out a breath and tried to think through her frustration. “Because it means she’s thinking about me. That she wants to be there for me if I’m worried or sad or cold, sometimes. It makes me feel loved.” And now that she was thinking along those lines, she finally had an idea. “When does Pema get back?”
Tenzin frowned, clearly thrown by the change in subject. “In a few days. Why?”
“Because I need her help with something. Oh, and Tenzin?” she said, smiling gratefully at her mentor, “thank you. I promise I’ll never ask you for romantic advice again.”
“That’s quite all right, Korra. Jinora rarely came to me for this sort of thing but I suspect Ikki and Meelo will be another story, so I'm glad for the practice.”
Korra laughed. “I can't believe they're getting to be that age already! Can you imagine Meelo as a teenager?”
“I try very hard not to.”
*
Korra didn’t hear Asami come through the front door to her mansion - understandably, as the kitchen and the front door were very far apart - but she heard her girlfriend calling out for her. “I’m in the kitchen,” she shouted back.
“Hi,” Asami said, looking confused as she walked in. “Where’d everybody go? I don’t think I’ve seen this place this empty since … well, ever.”
“Mako and Bolin took their family to Air Temple Island to meet the bison, and I gave the staff the night off. I’m making dinner.”
Asami’s face took on the same look it did when they were at one of those fancy industry parties and someone was saying something particularly ridiculous, all blank pleasantness. “Oh, that sounds nice.”
Korra snorted. “Wow, you clearly have so much faith in me.”
Her girlfriend’s expression turned sheepish. “Sorry, I’ve just never seen you cook before.”
“Because you have a kitchen staff, and does the Temple. I’m from the Southern Water Tribe, I can handle pan-searing some salmon."
Still looking dubious, Asami walked closer to the stove and her eyes lit up. “That smells amazing, Korra.”
“Thank you,” she said, pleased. “It’s not much, but I also made noodles to go with it and Pema helped me make a blueberry pie.”
“My favorite.”
“I know. You always eat at least two slices when they serve it at the Air Temple.”
“This is amazing, Korra, thank you. But -“
Korra’s shoulders slumped. “You don’t like it?
Asami rubbed her hand on Korra’s lower back soothingly. “No, I love it. I’m just wondering if there’s a reason for you making me a special dinner.”
"I just … you do so many things for me, and I’ve never been good at this romance stuff. But I’m trying to get better at it, I promise.”
Asami frowned. “Okay, first of all, who said you were bad at romance? Korra, the first thing you did when we got together was take me to the spirit realm. Who else gets something like that?”
“I guess there are perks to dating the Avatar,” Korra conceded.
“Sure, but it was that you were ready to take me anywhere I wanted to go. You listen when I need to vent about problems at the company, you go to all the boring industry events that I know you hate, even when you don’t have to as the Avatar, just to support me. You learned pai sho so I’d have someone to play with.” She tucked a finger under Korra’s chin, pulled her close and kissed her, before saying softly, “I couldn’t ask for a better girlfriend. I love you so much.”
“I love you, too,” Korra said happily, feeling relieved. She didn’t know how much she needed to hear that, and it was like a weight had been lifted off of her.
She kissed Asami one more time before turning back to the salmon. “I still want to cook for you sometimes, though.”
“I think I could work with that,” Asami said with a small laugh.
“And while I’m really glad we had this talk, there is one more thing I planned that I’d like to do next week, if you’re interested.”
“What’s that?”
*
One of the ways Zhu Li was improving Republic City was by finding ways to bring different communities together. One that she’d come up with recently was inspired by a certain water tribe tradition.
“Ice skating!” Korra said cheerfully as she lead Asami to the rink. “I never had a chance to take you when we visited my parents, so I thought this was the perfect opportunity. It doesn’t officially open until next week and Zhu Li said we were welcome to use it anytime we want until it does.”
“I don’t know,” Asami said uneasily, eying the ice wearily.
“Come on, it’ll be fun! I wouldn’t ask you to do it if I didn’t think you’d like it.”
Asami nodded gamely, even as her jaw was still tense. “Let’s do it."
A few minutes later, skates strapped to her feet, Asami took a tentative step on the ice, then another. She smiled at Korra in delight. “Hey, this isn’t so -“
Then her right foot slipped out from under her and she started to fall.
Korra sent a stream of air to catch her girlfriend, skating closer and taking her forearms in her hands, Asami grabbing her arms in return. “Let’s take it slow, okay? Just focus on getting into a rhythm.”
Asami made a few awkward strides forward, mostly towed by Korra skating backwards. “I don’t know if I have a rhythm.”
“You’re the most graceful person I’ve ever met. You’ll be skating circles around me in no time,” Korra assured her. “Besides, we’re good at this. I showed you how to improve your strength training, you helped me with agility; you taught me how to drive -“
Eyes still trained on her feet, Asami made a little noise of dissent.
“Hey, I may not switch gears smoothly yet, but I can turn and park without getting in an accident. That’s progress.”
Asami laughed, finally looking back up at Korra. “I was just teasing. You’re a great driver; I even trust you to drive on your own now.”
“So you’ll finally let me drive a race car?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“What I’m hearing is a ‘maybe,’” Korra said with a smirk. “Oh, and by the way? You found your rhythm.”
“What?” Asami looked down at her feet, which were slowly but steadily gliding across the ice, and back up again, beaming at Korra. “I’m doing it!”
“I knew that you could. You just had to get out of your head for a second. Think you’re ready for the next stage?”
Asami clutched harder onto Korra’s arms in alarm. “Don’t let go of me!”
Korra squeezed her gently. “Do you trust me?”
“Of course.”
Slowly, Korra let go with one hand, and let the other slide down Asami’s arm until they were holding hands. “It’s something couples do back home,” she said, her face heating up. “I, um. I always wanted to try it but I never had anyone to do it with.”
Asami’s face softened and she rubbed her thumb over the back of Korra’s hand. Then, only wobbling slightly, she leaned over and kissed Korra on the cheek. “What are we waiting for?”
All alone under the moon, they skated together hand-in-hand.
Romance wasn’t so hard, Korra realized. Being with Asami was the easiest thing in the world.