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"Korra!" Asami shouts, running forward to hug her hard enough to make her feet slip on the rubber matting of the jetty.
Her wife barely responds, her arms hanging by her side. Asami pulls back and studies her face: she looks pale in the darkness and her eyes have a horrible blankness she remembers too well.
She hugs her again, squeezing her tightly. "I'm sorry I couldn't come sooner."
Korra pulls back. "We should probably get home."
Asami takes her hand and indicates for one of the porters to take her luggage while they walk towards the brightly lit waterside street. She can just see her breathing misting in the light of the arc lamps. Midday darkness always disturbed her but it seems appropriate for this visit.
"How is he?" she asks as Korra hails a cab. The streets are busy and it feels incongruous with the light but she knows the South Pole can't just shut down in winter, as tempting as it is.
Korra sighs. "He looks so old. The healers won't say anything either way but I know they're worried. It's bad."
"I'm sorry," she says, knowing it's not enough.
Korra just smiles at her sadly as they climb into the cab before she gives the driver the address. Letting out a breath she tips sideways until her silver-shot head is resting on Asami's shoulder.
"I missed you," she says quietly.
"I missed you too," she says, joining their hands between them. "How's your mom?"
"She's not talking much, she just spends all day at his bedside."
"Maybe I can help? Take a little pressure off."
"Just being here helps. She agreed to come to lunch: I said you'd be offended if she didn't."
Asami sighs. Senna must be completely distracted to fall for such an easy lie – it took a whole day after meeting them as Korra's girlfriend before Asami had been adopted into the family.
"How did your deal go?" Korra asks.
She shrugs. "Well enough."
Korra doesn't react to the evasion, just buries her face deeper into Asami's neck. "I'm so glad you're here," she says.
::
Katara watches the arguments wearily, knowing the well worn patterns they would take. The ambassador from the Earth Republic had her arms crossed, her face irritated as she listens to Jinora argue the case for air nation sovereignty.
A nomadic nation spread across the globe posed a lot of problems for the nations currently doing all they could to control their borders. A system of dual nationality had been working for decades but as a new generation of airbenders was born with no other affiliation the bureaucrats were getting antsy. Jinora was a formidable debater, even while heavily pregnant, but the Air Nation had little leverage.
"You might consider the service the Air Nation gave you after the death of the queen," Katara says.
Everyone turns to her, surprised to hear her speak. Since she moved back to Republic City she's been invited to a lot of these meetings but she rarely speaks, preferring to let the children do the work, but she can see this isn't going well. Sometimes her reputation is a help.
The ambassador stammers. "That was nearly thirty years ago, and the permissions you're seeking far outweigh – "
"And yet how long has it been since you last called on their assistance?"
"I'm afraid I don't – "
"Jinora?"
The young woman checks her notes. "Three weeks ago. In Chameloeon Bay."
The ambassador set her mouth. "We are a sovereign nation. While we appreciate the work of the airbenders, do not make the mistake of thinking we could not function without you."
Jinora's eyes flash. "We know, but consider how rejecting us will look to the other nations. A few hundred airbenders are one thing, but can you afford to offend the rest of the world?"
The ambassador looks murderous.
Katara doesn't both to hide her smile.
::
Asami yawns hard enough to crack her jaw, fumbling to unpack her case in the room Korra still has in the palace.
"I don't know how the water tribe doesn't all go crazy in the darkness," she grumbles.
Korra shakes her head. "It's not the dark that'll do it. The light though... everyone waits 'til summer to kill themselves."
Asami sighs. "That's not funny."
"It's not meant to be," she says grimly.
"You know what I need? A bath. Could you run one?" she asks.
"Of course, love," Korra says, kissing her cheek on her way through to the en suite.
She was worried. It was strange to see Tonraq lying in his bed so still and pale; Asami had built up an imagine of him being so strong and vital. There was little they could do, his illness was in his heart and the healers all said that it was his strength that would pull him through, but still his wife and daughter couldn't help but sit vigil beside him. Korra was obviously not taking it well.
She strips off her clothes and throws them straight into the laundry pile Korra has been cultivating. The fluffy dressing gown is like a hug from a polarbeardog and she slides her feet into some slippers. Korra might still be able to run around in short sleeves but she's a little more sensitive to the cold.
She winces as she lowers herself into the bath, her joints protesting at the movement. She likes to imagine herself as a old steel bridge, her girders rusting at the hinges. If only it were as easy to fix.
Korra has settled much more graciously into old age, her hard won lessons from when she was young coming back gentler this time. She takes rests, she sits down. When Asami is still scribbling furiously under the dim light of her desk lamp Korra will pull her gently to bed and stroke her hair until she falls asleep. She's always telling Asami to get more sleep.
The lines settled into her face softly, charming ones radiating from her eyes as she laughed. Asami has stern crinkles across her head, from frowning too much Korra says, but Asami knows she inherited them from her father.
She winces. Not the man she wants to be thinking about right now.
She leans back against Korra's chest and lets out a long sigh as she relaxes into the twin embrace of the salty water and her wife's strong arms.
"What hurts most?" Korra asks, simply and without preamble.
"My hands," she says, like she always does. Her hands are the worst – she thinks she could face not walking but not writing, not drawing...
"Come here," Korra beckons, sliding her arms around and sloshing the water to take Asami's hands in hers. She closes her eyes and the water suddenly glows blue around her sharply throbbing fingers.
She relaxes tension she didn't even realise she was holding, sagging fully against her wife.
"That's so much better, thank you," she sighs.
"My mom said something to me this morning," Korra says, keeping her fingers entwined with Asami's. She doesn't press, just stays silent and lets her talk. "She said she didn't know what she'd do without dad, whether she'd even want to – "
She breaks off with a shudder and Asami can hear the tears in her voice.
"I'm not ready," she says.
"I know."
"And I feel like a jerk because you had to do this when we were still kids," she continues.
Asami turns around in the tub, kneeling between Korra's legs to face her. Her face is wet with tears and she looks terribly young in the moment.
"You know I don't think that, it's completely different."
"I know," she says, but she's still crying. "How can I be ok with it though?"
Asami sighs. "You won't be."
She pulls Korra into her arms and holds her as she cries and the water gets cold around them. It feels like weeks of pent in grief and she curses herself for not travelling down with Korra in the first place, all because of some stupid deal she didn't even care about.
"Do you want to see the comet?" she whispers. Back at home they'd had big plans for the comet, were going to attend the Royal Fire Nation celebration with Prince Zuzu. That was before Korra got the news her father was ill.
Korra shakes her head. "I want to sit up with him."
"I'll come with you then," Asami agrees and pulls herself up with the handle fitted on the wall then helps Korra up.
The healer is there when they arrive in Tonraq's room, their hair still damp. At his expression Asami's heart sinks.
"Mom, what's wrong?" Korra asks, surging into the room.
"There's been no improvement," the healer says. He's a kindly looking man, even his moustache droops sympathetically, but nothing can soften what he has to say. "He's dying."
Korra's face twists. She shakes her head and looks to Senna as if she could contradict him but her mother looks away.
"You said he could fight it," she says. "He's strong! He can do it, you're just not helping him!"
"Avatar," the healer says, holding up his hands and dipping his head, but Senna forestalls him.
"Korra, you can't fight this," she says. Her voice is hoarse, as if she's been crying, but her face is dry and set with a determined expression Asami recognises from the times she and Korra have fought. She knows it's not an expression to mess with.
"How long?" Korra asks. Her voice is so small.
"A few days maybe," the healer answers. "We're making him as comfortable as we can."
"You should go," Senna says, clinging onto Tonraq's hand. "We'll be fine for a few hours."
"Mom – " Korra protests but Senna hushes her.
"I need some time. You might as well see the comet."
Asami stands back helplessly. She tries to imagine what it would be like to be Senna in this moment but her mind rears back from the thought.
"Please," Senna says and Korra sags.
Asami follows her out, looking back and seeing Senna leaned close over her husband, whispering something to him. She wants to cry.
"Let's go out of the city," Korra says. She looks defeated, all her verve drained. "The view will be better."
She agrees, unable to think of anything else to do.
::
The negotiations are getting into the real nitty gritty now: issuing of passports, heritability of citizenship, immigration. Still, it's not nearly as bad as it had been when airbenders had wanted to join probending teams. Governments had nothing on the bureaucracy of sports leagues. In the excitement, though, no one was watching the time.
"We should watch the comet," she says, interrupting the stirring of debate around her.
She watches Jinora's gait as she passes her with some concern, she's obviously uncomfortable but hiding it. She's been privy to all the drama of her pregnancy, late in her life as it is.
Ikki bends to kiss her cheeks and wheels her outside, the fresh sea air invigorating in her lungs.
"You've seen it before, haven't you gran gran?" the young woman says.
Katara smiles. Everyone seems young to her now, but of course Ikki is forty and has a wife and a child.
"I did," she says simply, anticipating rising in her blood as she feels the comet begin its journey across the sky.
::
The sky above them is so lit up with stars it's almost as bright as day, the starlight reflecting against the smooth perfection of the snowy tundra. It's quieter out here, too, and Asami can almost pretend that all the terrible everyday tragedies of life don't exist and it's just her and Korra in the world, huddled together on the back on a speeder watching the sky.
"I nearly died out here," Korra says quietly.
Asami turns to study her profile. Korra rarely mentions the time she spent convalescing in the South Pole.
"I kept thinking how I couldn't, though, because my parents would be so sad. Now it's like it's the opposite and there's nothing my dad can do."
"Do you – " she asks, but hesitates. It was a difficult question to ask your wife: do you still think about killing yourself?
Korra shakes her head. "No. But I still feel like I don't know anything. I'm so scared, what do I do if he – "
She stops, choking on the word, the idea.
"Sometimes the only thing I know is that I love you," she finishes. It should be romantic but she sounds so sad saying it.
"Is it enough?" Asami asks, scared that the answer might be no but she's too old, too tired, not to ask.
Korra hesitates, her eyes going soft as she stares into the night sky. Her lips part and a stray wisp of her hair falls beside her face and Asami is reminded painfully of the girls they were, the young Avatar she fell in love with and has loved ever since.
"Love can't fix everything," she says finally, and Asami's heart wants to break but Korra turns and looks at her, her eyes glittering brightly. "But it's enough. You're enough, that's never changed."
"I can't fix everything, either."
Korra sighs deeply. "No one can, that's the point. But if I'm going to be here, feeling like this, I'm just glad you're here too, with me."
Above them, the comet breaches the horizon.
::
A cry pierces the quiet of their assembly, everyone jolting from their rapt attention on the sky.
"The baby!" Pema says, rushing in. "Quick, Ikki, get the midwife, it's time."
They all rush about, even those who couldn't possibly contribute. Katara chuckles to herself and watches the sky and the steady progress of the comet. She remembers a fight, the last great Agni-Kai, which was won by a waterbending peasant, and everything that came after. She's buried her husband, her brother and all her closest friends. She grew up side by side with the avatar and helped to raise another. She's seen the downfall of an empire and the rise of three new republics and the rebirth of her husband's nation, nearly two hundred years after they were wiped out. She's fought in wars and rebuilt after them and she's seen terrible, wonderful things but she never thought she would live to see this again: the bright, arcing light of the comet setting the sky ablaze, no fear in her heart for what it will mean for the world.
She wonders idly what the comet feels like, to a firebender.
::
"How does it feel?" Asami asks, watching Korra.
She breathes in deeply, her fingers flexing. Asami can feel the air around them warming with her breath. It's disconcerting.
"It feels... powerful," she says.
She stands and stretches out her hands. Her eyes flash white and Asami expects some spectacular fireball – surely no firebender could resist it? – but instead Korra just stands, her face pinched in concentration.
It begins with a glow. Not a fireball: more like the soft light of the sun, but emanating from Korra herself. She realises the air around them is getting warmer, too, the snow underfoot melting and trickling away. The stars fade from the sky, Korra's light eclipsing them.
She pulls back her suddenly stuffy hood and stands up, watching as lichen spreads under her boots and heather emerges from the freeze, purpling with flowers like a time lapse, but in front of her eyes. She looks to Korra, wonderful and terrible beneath the comet, her eyes alight and the power coursing through her. Her wife: the avatar, master of the elements, taking the power of the comet and using it to bring life and light to this frozen corner of the world.
She's afraid to touch her, thinking she might burn up, but as she steps into her orbit she only feels deliciously, comfortably warm. She kisses her lips and Korra kisses her back, her arms moving to embrace her in total warmth.
When they open their eyes the comet is gone and the sky is dark again. The meltwater is freezing and the scrubby flowers are already wilting.
"It felt like life," Korra says quietly.
"I've been thinking," Asami says, the words leaving her before she really can think about it. "I should have been here weeks ago."
"It's ok, I understand – " Korra starts but she shakes her head.
"I know you do, and that was fine when we were twenty or thirty but you know, all that time I spent in meetings and offices I was so miserable. I don't enjoy it any more. I don't want to be away from you any more."
"Did the deal go badly?" Korra asks.
"It didn't go well," she says. "Because my heart wasn't in it and they could tell. I wanted to be here. And seeing Senna, I don't want to be standing there, thinking if only I spent more time with you than at my desk."
Korra wraps her arms around her. "You won't have to. I'll live to be four hundred just like Kyoshi."
"That's a historical exaggeration and you know it," she laughs.
She strokes her hair. "And you can be four hundred minus a day. I'm not going anywhere."
Asami holds her tightly.
::
"Gran gran, would you like to hold him?" Jinora asks, looking exhausted but happy flopped against her pillows.
"I would love to," she says and holds out her arms as Kai passes her the child, sleeping wrapped in a blanket.
He is so small, a tiny delicate life only beginning.
"Have you chosen a name?"
They shake their heads.
"It's just, Ikki and Meelo stole the best ones, and we've been waiting for so long..."
Katara smiles softly looking down at her third great grandchild's deep brown eyes.
"Tradition isn't everything. You should call him Huixing," she says. "It's not every baby who is born under the comet."
Jinora smiles. "It's perfect."
Katara hands the baby back to Kai who takes him with a reverent care that reminds her of Aang when he first held Bumi Jr.
"I should go, I need my rest," she says. "And so do you."
"Goodnight gran gran," Jinora sighs, her eyes already dropping. "I'll see you tomorrow."
Ikki wheels her back to her bedroom.
"Do you need anything else?" she asks but Katara waves her away. It's been a long day and she's tired; long but worthwhile – she had forgotten what it felt like to be so involved. She's glad she could do this, help to nudge the airbenders one step closer to the freedom they need.
Content, she goes to sleep.
::
When Korra stands by her father's bed that night Asami is beside her. When the healer checks his pulse and records his death she watches Senna's face for any trace of bitterness or regret and sees none. For them, for all of them, love would be enough.