The first rule is that Asami Sato gets what she wants. The second is that she never has to work for it.
This is why she would never, in a hundred years, admit she had engineered the accident that led to her meeting Mako. But a hundred years, after all, is not so very long; Avatar Aang spent that long in an iceberg.
It would take much, much more time for her to admit that she'd done it because she wanted, with a strange and desperate intensity starting somewhere under her breastbone, to meet the Avatar.
#
It took quite some time for her plan to come to fruition, her not-notable patience helped by the fact that Mako could be kind of cute, when you got to know him. By the time of her father's party, Asami had almost-but not entirely-managed to forget about Korra.
And then there she was: not particularly dressed up, clearly both uncomfortable and grumpy, and still the most beautiful woman in the room by a long shot.
"Mako's told me so much about you," she said, turning on the charm that had left the eligible bachelors of Republic City breathless.
But not, apparently, Korra. "Really," she said, "because he hasn't mentioned you at all."
Asami tightened her polite smile. There went her chance to make a good impression, gone before it had even arrived.
She should have given up then. But Mako's presence comforted her, and so she kept going out with him. That meant supporting him at matches and occasionally going to his practices, and somehow that frequently meant seeing Korra. Even if Korra thought that Asami was a terrible flirt, that she was just a pretty face and a stupid mind that Mako had-for some reason-fallen for. Asami didn't blame her; most of the city thought that. It was enough to see, sometimes, the Avatar's smile.
#
Inviting Mako and Bolin to stay served three purposes, at least, and that meant it was a good plan. She got to see more of Mako; she might, maybe, see a more relaxed side of Korra; and it annoyed her father, who was out-of-sorts about her dating a bender, of all things. It would not be, she suspected, very easy to ask forgiveness for dating the Avatar.
Not that Korra seemed interested. It was pure recklessness to take her out driving; it served no purpose at all, beyond Korra's clutch at her waist as she accelerated. In terror or excitement, she couldn't tell until she'd stopped the car and Korra vaulted out grinning. Her enthusiasm was infectious-enough that Asami forgot herself, throwing in a remark about self-defense training. Like that would impress the Avatar. Like the Avatar was willing to be impressed by her.
But then-well-everything else happened. And afterward all of them were on the Chief's airship, and all Asami could do was stare down at the city that had given her everything except the things that she wanted the most.
Behind her, Korra whispered to Mako that he should take care of Asami. Her voice was low, but it was a small airship, after all, and Mako wouldn't have thought of it on his own. Asami folded herself into his arms, taking comfort from his solid chest. It had been a thoughtful gesture on Korra's part.
Through the fall of her dark hair, she could see Korra turning away. Taking care of her troops? Or wishing she were embracing Asami herself?
#
When they landed at Air Temple Island, Korra made sure the guards could find beds for Mako and Bolin, and then invited Asami to borrow her bed-Korra could sleep on the floor, no, no, it was no trouble, they'd find a room for her in the morning, plenty of space on the Island.
Asami lay down, but she couldn't sleep. She heard it when Korra got up and snuck out and, after a long moment of deliberation, she followed.
Korra was sitting by a contraption that looked like it was made of doors, her head in her hands. Asami took another step toward her, and grit scraped under her foot; Asami Sato, daughter of the most successful tradesman in the city, had forgotten to put on her shoes.
The sound brought Korra's head up. "A-Asami," she said, straightening. "Hi."
Asami padded over. Everything was still here; you could see the city's lights, but there was no light here apart from the moon. "I wanted to thank you for sending Mako over earlier," she said. "I really appreciated it." She sat next to Korra.
"Oh. No problem," Korra said. "You knew that I sent him over to you?"
Asami said, "I'm one of Republic City's leading socialites. I know how to hear a whisper." She said it with a confiding smile, but Korra just looked out at the city. "Korra." She put a hand on Korra's shoulder, and instantly thought she should take it away. But that would look strange, stranger than leaving it. "You take care of everyone, it seems like. Maybe that's the Avatar's job. But-who takes care of you?"
Korra stood up. "I take care of myself," she said, and then without any apparent connection, "You know, Tenzin's uncle, he dated this girl that became the moon."
Standing, Asami said, "I know the legends."
"That must've been pretty hard." After a moment, she went on, "Back at the South Pole, there was this girl. I snuck out of the compound where-the compound where I was living to go see her. But then Tenzin couldn't leave the city to teach me, and I came here after him. I didn't even say goodbye to her. That's what being the Avatar means. I'll always have to leave, to go restore balance to the world."
Asami said, "But look at Avatar Aang and Katara. I think-" She snuck a look sideways at Korra's face. "I think it's less important that you have to leave to do Avatar things than it is that you'll always come back."
"Not for her, it wasn't," Korra muttered, and hope jumped inside Asami for the first time since Korra had said, "There was this girl".
"It is for me," she said.
Korra looked at her, really looked at her, and Asami looked back.
Korra turned away first. "You're dating Mako," she said. "I shouldn't-I can't do that to him."
"I've dated a lot of boys," Asami said lightly, but she shook her head. "You're probably right. You're always so sensible, Korra."
Korra's hands were clenching at her sides. And then she turned around again and, as if she'd known exactly where Asami would be, kissed her.
"And impulsive," Korra said when she'd drawn away, her voice rough. "Don't forget impulsive."
Asami smiled, more widely than she could remember smiling in years. "I won't."