the five senses
ebonyquill
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v. sight
His steel gaze never wavers. He's certain that the second he peels his eyes away from her azure stare, she'll disappear. But she doesn't. Neither Korra nor Tahno have blinked since their eyes met from across the bustling market street. Her blue eyes, brimming with subtle sympathy, widen at the suggestive narrowing of his grey eyes, swelling with blazing curiosity. Both flicker with an undertone of familiarity.
iv. sound
She can almost feel his teeth on the softness of her earlobe. The close proximity of his breath awakens her senses and her hearing becomes attuned to only his voice, completely impervious to the cacophonous sounds of the city surrounding them. Despite his other changes — the loss of fluidity in his step, the dryness of his hair, the new hollowness of his cheeks — his voice remains the same. Maybe it's his newfound kindness or maybe it's the happy lilt in his voice that she's almost certain is reserved for her, the Uh-vatar, but she notes that his voice incites a new kind of anxiety within her dissimilar to the anxiety that preceded a match or heightened during their normal verbal sparring. Her body remembers the sound well — even though she doesn't recognize its newly adopted edge of politeness and humility — and responds accordingly. The hairs on the back of her neck rise, goosebumps dot her forearms, her mouth runs dry. Spirits, Korra, she scolds herself, he only said hello.
iii. smell
His nose accidentally brushes her neck when he moves away from her. Almost instantly, her scent assaults his senses. He determines that it comprises of panda lilies (did one of the bending brothers give them to her?), sweet rolls (eaten with her chaperones and not some potential suitors, he hopes), and something so Korra that it's imperceptible (the water of the Southern Tribe? the air of the temple?). He's almost tempted to keep his face in the crook of her neck so that when they part ways — possibly for the last time, he makes sure to remind himself — her scent will be embedded into his hair, his clothes, his entire being. Almost tempted.
ii. touch
There's a moment when they're completely silent. She's still sorry about what happened to him, he's sorry for himself. Her hands find his and she reassuringly squeezes them. Tahno's blood pumps more rapidly — surging in the veins in his arms straight into the strings surrounding his heart. Korra notes that his hands are warm in hers — not cold like his pallid complexion would suggest — and her fingers linger around his for a moment too long, the muscles of her hands molding into the stillness of his.
i. taste
Someone's beckoning her away — one of the Airbending children, he thinks. He knows that the race is close to extinct, but it doesn't stop him from wishing that there was one less Airbender. Although they're not entangled in any physical way, they have to mentally depart from the electric atmosphere that they've created around themselves. He offers her a small smile and out of courtesy — at least they both convince themselves that it's out of courtesy and not an overbearing curiosity — he dips his head to the apple of her cheek. His lips lightly caress the skin of her cheekbone and Korra's own lips go dry at the thought of his lips on other parts of her body. Before she can open her mouth and say anything potentially damning, Tahno offers her a small smile, bows slightly, and walks into the crowd. Staring at his back, Korra stands with parted lips, her unsaid words slipping into the abyss. Once he's out of her sight and the loud beating of his heart is eclipsed by the sounds of the city, far away from her intoxicating scent with the ghost of her hand still flexed into his — he darts his tongue across his lips. A saccharine taste, alien to his body, rests on his tongue and Tahno can only think about the fact that he wants more.
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Disclaimer: Nickelodeon and Bryke own Tahno and Korra. We must liberate them! ...Just kidding.
Author's Note: So I've been working on some longer Tahno/Korra fics for a few days so I wanted to take a mini-break from that so I wrote this! Thank you for reading! Any feedback would be lovely. :)