The highway leading out of the city was abandoned.
Korra stuck her hand out of the window of the car, closing her eyes and listening to the music playing on the radio. The wind was whipping at her hand, and she curled and uncurled her fingers, trying to capture the wind in her hand.
Asami made another sharp turn as the Satomobile rounded the edge of a mountain that bordered the eastern side of the road. Korra opened her eyes then, looking westwards, towards the setting sun lowering into the see and painting the entire world with orange and gold.
"Aren't you glad I asked you to come out?" Asami asked her, a smile upon her bright red lips.
"Beyond glad," Korra replied easily.
With the ragtime on the radio and the wind in her hair and the setting sun kissing her warm skin…all while being next to the woman she loved…beyond wonderful. Korra closed her eyes again and shifted her body closer to the window, trying to take in more of the sea breezes that were whipping past her.
Asami wound the wheel again, turning quickly as the sharp angled road ribboned forever onward. She was happy for the wind in her hair, and the fact that Korra was right here with her. She'd been so at ease that she'd taken her shoes off to drive, and her jacket was tossed into the back seat, leaving only a bright red sundress. The hem of the dress was traveling up her thighs as the wind caught it.
Korra put her bare feet on the dashboard and leaned back, reclining the seat.
"The latest invention at The Satomobile Company," Asami told Korra as she watched her lean back. "Reclining chairs. For both the front and the back seats." She gave Korra a sinful smile. "How do you like them?"
"Fantastic," Korra told her, her bright blue eyes fixing on Asami's. "You truly do have a gift…for innovation, and stuff…"
Asami saw a blush darken across Korra's cheeks, and she only smiled wider at that. Korra was so cute when she blushed, and Asami set her gaze on her girlfriend's shy face in the mirror. Asami's bright red lips parted in a smile of her own, which made Korra look away from her.
She redirected her eyes out towards the ocean, streaked red and orange and appearing like molten lava instead of water. Korra fixed her eyes on the almost volcanic scene before her, waiting for her blush to fade. She placed her hand to her cheek to see if the heat had faded from her skin. When she thought that she looked cool and calm and collected enough, she turned back around to face Asami.
But the look that Asami immediately graced her with made her cheeks darken all over again.
"There'll be a small town coming up in about another fifty miles," Asami said, making small talk. "You wanna stop? Maybe grab some food?"
Korra shook her head, no.
"What can I say, Asami?" she asked, feeling bold despite the obvious blush and shy eyes that couldn't meet her girlfriend's intense stare. "I don't care how far we go, or where we go. So long as we're alone together…" Korra lifted her blue eyes to meet Asami's green ones. They sparkled like emeralds.
"I agree," she said, and turned the steering wheel to the right just as the split in the road appeared. The town that she had planned on stopping at would never be reached now, for they stayed along the coastline.
"Oh! Turn the radio up!" Asami said suddenly.
Korra reached out to turn the dial, and the air around them was suddenly filled with music blasting out at them through the metal speakers.
"I love this song," Asami explained.
Korra listened as the first few bars played. It sounded familiar to her. Korra leaned back and directed her gaze out the window again. She searched her brain just the same as she searched the horizon. Where had she heard the song before?
Of course, Republic City had been drowning in music. All sorts of bands she had never seen before, instruments she had never heard, music genres that she had never even imagined in her wildest dreams. Korra's eyes became lost within the haze of the sunset as she lost herself in the memories of Republic City. She herself began to drown in the music that was currently surrounded them.
Where Korra was drowning in the music, Asami was swimming in it.
She moved her lips along to the feminine voice that sang above the jazzy tune that was blaring behind her. Asami didn't notice when Korra's eyes became fixed on her lips. She watched the bright red lips part and close as Asami sang the words that she knew by heart.
Each breath she took, each word that she tried to form. The slight stick of the red lipstick when she opened her mouth again, and the little glimpses of her tongue as the lyrics rolled on to their big finish.
Asami reached forward to turn the music up louder just as it started to crescendo. Then, Asami did sing. Her voice was low, and almost lost on the wind, but Korra could hear little glimpses of her voice breaking through all the sounds that covered up her beautiful little song.
Her cheeks bloomed scarlet.
"You're staring at me," Asami said with a small chuckle.
"I can't help it," Korra returned, resting her chin on her hand. "You're just so beautiful…when you sing…"
"Thank you for that," Asami said with a small wink. "Your compliments are appreciated," she said then, her voice taking on an almost formal tone. But then she broke into a fit of shy laughter, and Korra couldn't help but join her in her bliss.
When they could laugh no more, then took deep breaths to fill their lungs with the fresh, salty sea air.
Korra turned her face out the window again. The setting sun laid its heat across her face, letting the warming rays kiss her brown, bronzed skin, as the wind tousled her short brown strands. It was like heaven on Earth. It was better than any meditation Tenzin had forced her to do.
Asami turned the radio down, as another plain song came on. One that she didn't care for. Sure the music was nice, but in the end it was all just supposed to be white noise for the road, background noise while they spend onwards towards an uncertain destination that waited for them forever.
The same familiar jazzy tunes met her ears as she turned to dial back to a subtler noise level.
She recognized that song just the same as she had the one before it. But she didn't care for this one; this one could just purely be white noise to her and she wouldn't care one way or another.
But hearing the song brought back memories. Memories of a bright red silk dress, and the taste of warm saké, and a hazy skyline. A long forgotten feeling of melancholy trying to be replaced by something else, something that burned in her stomach and heated her veins. Tears filled her eyes and spilling into the cup that she had placed in front of her while the jazz band she went to see live droned on and on into the night.
Asami turned the radio to a different channel.
Korra noticed the change but didn't say anything. She was far too focused on the wind in her hair. It whipped along her strands, and cooled her scalp. It tickled up against the sides of her eyes, and breezed along her lips until she could almost taste the salty breath of the seaside road. The heat of the sun mixed with the wind made it perfect for her.
Asami smiled at her, watching her girlfriend clearly enjoy herself.
She made a mental note to take Korra on road trips more often. Even if it was just for a day and a night, she ought to take her out like this. Just the two of them, an empty road, and a soft radio. Not even Naga in the backseat of her car would have disturbed her. She could almost picture Naga with her head sticking out of the window, ears flopping and eyes closed as she let the wind blow across her furry white face.
"How's Naga doing?" Asami asked Korra.
"She's doing really well," Korra responded breathily. "She's happy, healthy. Her coat looks pristine white, like freshly fallen snow…" She mused for a little while. "She's such a pretty polar bear dog."
"She is indeed," Asami replied, only partly to make Korra happy.
"You know she turned eight years old just a few weeks ago…"
"That's nice," Asami replied.
"The two of us have been together most of our lives," Korra continued on. Her eyes fluttered closed as she let the memories and her words overtake her, just as the wind overtook her senses on this long drive. "Well, Naga has spent all of her life with me. And y'know, it seems like that for me. That we've spent all our lives together."
"I hope the same for us," Asami said openly.
Korra's eyes opened wide and a dark, deep blush spread across her cheeks. A faint smile touched her lips and she had to tug at her hair to keep herself from doing something stupid or silly. She twisted the strands in her fingers until she was sure she wouldn't embarrass herself.
"Me…me too…"
The drive stretched on. The orange and red and gold of the sunset was changing. Pastels of orange and purple and yellow clustered around the setting sun and the horizon, while farther away the sky and sea turned into a gradient of periwinkle and pink before a deep dark purple, navy blue, and then finally black.
Korra craned her head to look and see if she could find any stars.
None were out yet.
She knew all the constellations by heart. Each and every one of them by both their Water Tribe name, and their Fire Nation name. The Earth kingdom names had been somewhat difficult, but she knew a few of them. But none were out yet, so she couldn't point any stars out to Asami yet. They'd be out soon enough, though.
The highway was practically abandoned, and their were no lights save for the ones on the car. All Asami had to do was kill the lights and they could bundle up together under the pitch black darkness of the sky, stargazing and talking while Korra told Asami each name and legend their was that accompanied a certain star cluster.
"I really want that too," Korra said, feeling more confident then. She did want to spend the rest of her life with Asami. Even if they couldn't be the perfect couple forever, she still wanted her in her life, no matter what. No matter what the cost, no matter how it was.
But as Korra reached across the expanse of space between them, and clasped Asami's free hand in her's, she knew that she wanted Asami to be her girlfriend–and perhaps more–for a long, long time.
"I love you," Korra whispered.
"And I love you too," Asami replied, louder than a whisper.
Korra gave her a look that made her heart both swell and melt at the same time. One that made her own face smile with joy and love and a certain emotion that there never really were words for. Asami had to keep her eyes on the road, do to all the twists and turns, but she could still spot Korra's lovestruck face in her mirror every now and then. Asami stroked her bare thumb across Korra's hand.
The last rays of the sun finally dipped below the watery horizon, and Asami flicked the car lights on. Bright yellow beams illuminated that path in front of them, and it was almost a surreal experience for Korra. Sure, they had vehicles with lights in the Water Tribe, dog sleds and lanterns and even a few motorized sleds. But it was nothing like this.
She'd never been so…overwhelmed.
But then again, maybe it was just the fact that she was alone with Asami in the dark, careening towards a variable, changeable destination. Korra felt a rush of giddiness; the fact that the possibilities were endless, and that for the first time in the longest of times, she felt free.
Free and uninhibited. The kind of carefree that a young woman should be able to feel. An unburdened, light happiness you felt when the weight of the world wasn't on your shoulders, and you could just be…you…
Asami saw another fork in the road coming up, about two hundred yards from then, and she decided to take that turn. With a spin of her wheel, she took a sharp left, and Korra watched as the liquid red of the ocean disappeared, and only the fire in the sky remained. She didn't really care all that much. She watched as the scenery around her changed, into a sparse forest around her.
The trees were pale, and in full bloom, and they shone like gold in the fading sunset. Korra simply watched as the road swiveled on and on ahead of them, trusting Asami to lead them wherever they needed to go. Asami knew these roads expertly, so Korra didn't have any fear of them getting lost.
The ride was smooth as the ocean faded fast far behind them.
"Beautiful, isn't it?" Korra asked as another blush darkened her skin.
"Yes, it is," Asami agreed, a blush of her own starting to form across her face. She glanced at Korra, seeing her timid smile, and had to look back at the road immediately. Asami could image that she was about as red as the sea they had left behind.
Above them, the sky was darkening even further, as the cloak of the night slowly came down over their side of the world.
"Well, we're here," Asami said, pulling over to the side of the road, and parking on a smooth, grassy plain admist the trees.
Korra hopped out of the car just as she did, their bare feet being tickled by the long green grass. Korra walked around the car, and pulled Asami into a tight hug. Asami smiled and laughed a little bit before she kissed her. A red kiss print coated Korra's lips, and she rubbed them together to make the pigments spread. Asami chuckled again.
"You look beautiful," she said wrapping her arms around her girlfriend's waist.
"As do you," Korra said, and kissed her again.
A slight breeze rustled their hair, and Korra wound her fingers through Asami's dark, curly locks. She breathed in the scent of mint and jasmine and orange blossom. It smelled so wonderful that Korra leaned in further to the scent, till her nose was pressed against Asami's neck and her lips were ghosting over her skin. Asami sighed a little, and rested her hands on the back on Korra's shoulders.
She felt the muscles underneath her smooth skin, as she ran her hands up and down along her spine and shoulders.
When Korra started pressing kisses to her neck, Asami couldn't help but laugh. It tickled a little bit, and the lipstick she had given to Korra was starting to smear over her skin, leaving bright red marks patterned across the column of her neck.
"That feels good," Asami whispered.
The sky darkened even more, until the entire forest around them was covered in black, and the sky above them screamed with stars. Korra and Asami laid on top of the car, a blanket lazily wrapped around them as they looked up at the starry sky.
"That one's called the Wolf Seal," Korra said, pointing towards a certain cluster of stars in front of them, "but in the Fire Nation, they call it the Admiral's Fake Flame."
"The Admiral's Fake Flame?" Asami repeated with a small chuckle. "How did they ever come up with that name? Wolf Seal seems much more appropriate."
"I dunno," Korra said, looking from the stars to Asami's face. The starlight shone on her skin, reflected in her eyes, and her lustrous black hair framed her face. "I guess that's just what stuck…"
"You know what they call it in the Earth Kingdom?" Asami asked her.
Korra already knew, but she said, "What?"
"The Owl with Coal in It's Claws," Asami replied, looking from Korra up to the stars again. She traced each star with her eyes, making the invisible lines across the dome of the sky until she could see the owl and the coal drawn across it.
"I like that one better than Wolf Seal," Korra said. "It's more imaginative, I think."
"But what about that one?" Asami asked, pointing to her left side, her arm crossing over Korra's body. Korra followed her pointing finger. "We call that one The Red Dot. That's the least creative thing I can think of."
"Well, in the Fire Nation, they call it The Ember that Lights the World."
"Oh, I like that name," Asami mused. "And in the Water Tribes?"
"Zhao's Moon," Korra said. "But that was a recent name change. About ninety years ago or so. Something like that. I can't really remember any specific dates…"
"What about before that?" Asami asked, her curiosity clear. "Y'know, before Zhao and the moon and all that?"
"Well in the Southern Water Tribe, they used to call it, Red Fish Amongst Icebergs." Korra blushed as she felt Asami shift closer to her on the hood on the car. She pulled the blanket up a little ways, too, trying to protect herself from the chill of the night that was pushing down on them.
"What about the North?" Asami asked, and Korra couldn't help but notice how seductive her voice had become.
"I…I'm not sure," she stuttered, "but I…uh…I think it was…The Red One?"
"The Red One?" Asami asked, her voice carrying a bemused lilt to it. "That's almost as bad as The Red Dot!"
Korra chuckled with her. As the two giggled, Asami's hand crossed over Korra's chest, and she let her hand rest on her body. Korra's giggles faltered, and her smile wavered before it relaxed into a genuine grin once more. When she looked up at Asami, she saw the spark of lust reflecting in her eyes. Her smile widened, and she shifted even closer to her under the blanket.
"Any other constellations you wanna tell me about?" Asami asked.
Korra turned her eyes towards the sky slowly, her eyes searching through the thousands of stars illuminated in the dark. She blinked twice, scanning for something interesting to tell her. But most of them just had common names, and some that she already knew. The Earth Kingdom names were commonplace, as were the Fire Nation. She decided to go for the Water Tribe names.
"Well," she pointed, "that one is called The Star Serpent. And that one, over there–" she pointed, and started drawing with her finger, "is called the Ice Storm, because there's so many stars clustered over that one area that it looks like a blizzard."
"Uh huh," Asami said, taking in all of her words.
Korra then pointed to the brightest of the stars, sitting right next to the moon. The moon was fully dark, but you could still almost see the shape of it, fully round with no sliver of light anywhere near it. "That star, right next to the New Moon, that star is called The Moon's Lover."
"That's the best name I can think of," Asami said.
"Yeah," Korra agreed. "Me too."
Asami slung her leg over Korra, and Korra's heart beat sped up. It pounded in her chest excitedly, and she had to put a hand over her breast to calm herself. Asami nudged ever closer, till her forehead was pressed against Korra's cheek. Korra took a deep breath, and released it slowly.
"Is there any star called the Avatar's Lover?" she teasingly asked.
"No," Korra responded. "But that doesn't mean we can make one." She gave Asami a sly smile, and rolled over onto her side, giving her full attention her. "Which star would you like?"
"Hmmm," Asami hummed, thinking. "That one," she whispered, pointing the a star near the horizon.
"Now it's your's," Korra joked, just before Asami pulled her in for a kiss.
Let me know what you think. Likes and reviews welcome.