Hello everyone! I was working on a different piece and this one surfaced out of no where. I hope you enjoy it! It takes place after the Book Four finale. I'm not sure how long this will be (it was originally a one-shot but it turned into much more), so I'll update the Chapter Count once the story works itself out to me. Thank-you for all of your support for my other fics. You are wonderful and I love you!

"Come on, Asami! Let's try it!" Korra flailed her arms in excitement, a menu in hand.

The growl in her stomach echoed in her ears. The CEO placed her paperwork onto her desk and reached for the laminated pamphlet her girlfriend was holding. The cover read, in fancier script than necessary, "Pokah's Authentic Southern Water Tribe Cuisine". She skimmed through the entrées, noting the meals that looked appetizing, such as the Arctic Hen and the "Five-flavor soup", and those that were a bit more… unappealing, like the Sea Prune Stew, which Asami had personal experience with during her visit to the Southern Water Tribe. Although the Avatar had loved the dish, the heiress struggled to stomach the bowl Senna had given her. 'It's an acquired taste, Asami. You're just not used to it yet.' She mimicked Korra in her head, picturing the animated girl taking a big bite of her mother's homemade stew after the comment.

"I was running earlier today with Naga and I saw the grand opening sign right over the restaurant name. Authentic Southern Water Tribe food! Right in the City!" Korra was still waving.

Asami raised a skeptical eyebrow as she continued glancing over the menu. The prices certainly suggested that the food was authentic, considering most of the required ingredients would need to be imported.

"Pleeeeaaasseee," her girlfriend whined.

"Alright, alright, we can go –"

"Yes!" Korra pumped a fist in the air and swirled in a circle on an air current. Her inner fire was starting to come back after the months following Kuvira's attack on the City.

"After I finish my work." Asami concluded her interrupted sentence.

Korra returned to the ground with a half-frown, but shrugged it off. She was going to get to go to dinner with her girlfriend and eat actual Southern Water Tribe food for the first time in a year and a half. How could she not be excited? She sat in the wooden chair across the CEO's office and crossed her legs into her meditative stance. She stared at the pale beauty, quiet and wide-eyed.

Asami noticed this and smiled as she flipped over the sheet she had been examining. Oh, Korra, she chuckled, signing the bottom of the paper and placing it in her outbox. Another tug from her gut told her it was time to wrap up. She packed the rest of her work in her bag. The second she motioned to stand, Korra flew to her feet.

"Ready?!" She was almost bouncing up and down.

"Yes, come on Miss Avatar." The older woman offered her arm and her lover took it without haste.

"To Pokah's!"

She marched out of the Future Industries office, pulling Asami behind her.

(-)

The interior of the restaurant was painted many shades of blue. They were seated in a small booth, lit by candlelight. Each was handed a menu, though Korra didn't bother opening hers; Asami had no doubt that the Southerner had either memorized the dishes or just assumed whatever meal she craved would be available.

"What's good on here, Korra –"

The Avatar opened her mouth to speak but the heiress cut off what she knew Korra would say.

" –other than the Sea Prunes."

Korra crossed her arms over her chest, mumbling something along the lines of "you just need to eat them more". The engineer sent a gentle laugh her way to bring her attention back. "Well, I think you would like the Arctic Hen. It's fancy and delicate but packs a punch, just like you."

They both blushed to the compliment. "Arctic Hen it is then." Asami smiled and gave her order, shaking her head to Korra's enthusiastic "three bowls of Sea Prune Stew please!".

Small talk about their days commenced until their food was delivered. The Avatar told her girlfriend about the work they've been doing in converting the Earth Kingdom into a democracy instead of a monarchy, and some of the resistance they've been facing in the north. Asami went on in much detail about a new model of the Satomobile she was engineering, as well as many of the infrastructure projects she received for the expansion and recovery of Republic City from the Spirit Weapon's attack.

The waiter returned with their meals and placed them on the table. "If there's anything else I can get you, please let me know."

The pair thanked him and dug into their food. Korra's sound of disgust stopped Asami before she could put her fork to her mouth. She raised an eyebrow.

"What's wrong with your food, Korra?" The Southerner was swirling her spoon around the bowl, inspecting it and poking at the objects floating in it.

"Something's not right here." She took another bite and kept the same appalled face.

"Maybe you've lost your acquired taste," the inventor smiled, much to the Avatar's dismay.

"I've been away from Sea Prunes before. I've never lost my taste for them. I've been eating them all of my life, for Spirits' sake!" Her arms were thrashing again. Asami knew this behavior and placed her palm on Korra's hand once they settled.

"Maybe it's just that bowl. Try one of the other ones."

The younger woman took a spoonful of the second helping, eyed it with skepticism, sniffed it, and put it in her mouth. Another grunt of disapproval. "Something's just not right about this, Asami. Let me see your Arctic Hen." She reached for the plate and pulled it across the table. She treated it the same way as her last spoon of Stew. "This is not Arctic Hen."

"Are you sure?"

"Of course I'm sure!" Korra's arms flew up. "Arctic Hen has a very distinct flavor. Succulent and delicious with a sting of the southern arctic air."

"You should write the menu descriptions for this place."

The Avatar's face was disgruntled. "I would if this was actually Arctic Hen. But it's not. I don't even think these are Sea Prunes." She Water Bent the soup and displayed the chunks of fruit on the table. "See, these aren't even Sea Prunes. They're not even Ocean Kumquats. This place is a fraud." She rose to her feet. Asami followed suit.

"Korra, maybe we should –"

Before she could even try to calm her girlfriend down, Korra had stormed off to the counter, demanding the manager. The engineer had not seen her get this heated over something since their run-in with aggressive journalists when they returned from the Spirit World. Sure, the Avatar had become much more level headed and reasonable than she was when they first met, and she didn't jump into violence as much either.

But this… this was nowhere near her diplomatic self.

Asami caught up to her beloved just in time to hear her growl at the attendant. "I want to see the chef and the manager and your stock of food." The man at the desk looked no older than eighteen, with a small pencil mustache and several drips of sweat beating down the side of his face.

"Of course, ma'am. Just a moment." He shuffled to the back, terrified.

"Korra –"

"These people are frauds, Asami. How dare they open up a restaurant advertising Southern Water Tribe cuisine and try to pass this, this lie off as actual, authentic food." She smacked a tray of Sea Prune Stew out of a nearby server's hand as he walked out from the kitchen. It scattered to the floor and several patrons turned their way. "It's a complete insult of my culture and my people."

It all clicked in the engineer's head. Korra, being a Southern Water Tribeswoman, was very proud and connected to everything that was Southern Water Tribe. She wasn't opposed to change, of course; being both the Avatar and a native Water Bender made her a natural at adjusting to adversity. Insults to her traditions, on the other hand… Asami made a note of this reaction for future reference. Instead of arguing with her girlfriend, she placed a hand on the bare tan shoulder that was tensed beside her. The younger woman began to relax under her touch, unable to fight the calming effect the heiress had on her.

"May I help you, ma'am?" An expensive looking man in an expensive looking suit appeared before them. The attendant with the mustache cowered behind him.

Korra clenched her jaw before speaking, trying to articulate her words with care. "Your food is not authentic Southern Water Tribe food. It's all knock-offs with the names of the Southern Water Tribe dishes."

The man gave the Southerner a cynical look that carried a tad bit of smugness in it. Asami knew this look well; she had seen several businessmen carry this same expression right before they were about to feed her "convincing bullshit" to defend themselves against whatever claims she had made, such as the time she accused a Cabbage Corp. executive of poor workmanship for the airship she and Korra had been kidnapped in during their expedition in the Earth Kingdom. He had tried to give her and the Earth Kingdom client the common roundabout of "I ensure you that we use quality products put together by quality people", but her first-hand experience on the faulty craft shut him right down.

"She's the Avatar and she's from the Southern Water Tribe. She knows what she's talking about." Asami stepped up before the manager could try to deceive them. His face shifted from cunning to nervous with a single gulp. Korra picked up on this and pounced.

"I want to see your stock!" She pounded her fist on the table. Many other diners twisted to see the commotion. The heiress squeezed Korra's shoulder and felt her ease up a bit beneath her pale palm.

The man had nothing but defeat on his face. "Come with me." He led them to the back into a smaller room. It was neither the kitchen nor the stock room. The shorter woman crossed her arms. Asami did the same. "Look, look, you caught me, okay. You're right, I'm a fraud. But I needed to use an idea that would sell. I have a family to support."

"So let me get this straight," Korra took a step forward, "you advertise authentic Southern Water Tribe Cuisine, then use ingredients that aren't even from the South Pole to sell them off as the real deal, just to make a profit." She took another step forward. "You make these people believe that this food is really what we eat in the arctic, you give them these false perceptions and lies, just because it's 'new and innovative'." His back was against the wall with the Avatar's final advancement.

"Not to mention you charge people an outrageous price to make it seem like your goods are imported from far away, just to increase your revenue." The CEO chimed in, her analysis on spot.

Korra lifted the man by the collar. "I can't let you do this. I can't let you degrade my people, my culture just for a profit." She spit fire into his eyes from her own. Asami pulled her girlfriend's hands off of the now-sobbing man and received a lesser version of the same glare from the younger woman. The engineer gave her a stern look.

"Please, please Avatar. I need this restaurant. We came from nothing. Please." The man groveled from the floor.

Korra pressed the bridge of her nose with her thumb and forefinger and sighed. With clenched fists, she knelt down to meet the eyes of the manager. "You have two weeks to shut your restaurant down, change the theme, and change the menu to what you're really serving. If I come back here and you're still trying to pass this off as the food of my people, I will personally shut this place down. Do you understand?"

The man nodded and threw his arms around the Southerner. "Thank-you, thank-you so much Avatar. We will close immediately and start renovations. Thank-you, thank-you Avatar."

She pushed him off in disgust and rose to her feet. She turned to Asami and avoided the glare from the inventor. With a slam of the door, she was gone. The CEO gave one last look at the crying manager before leaving.

(-)

The ride back was silent and tense. Korra's fists never unclenched. She stared out of the window with piercing eyes. Asami was a mixture of emotions. She couldn't decipher whether she wanted to comfort her girlfriend, scold her, or both.

"Korra –"

"I don't want to talk about it right now."

The engineer gripped the wheel of her Satomobile. Her stomach twitched with hunger.

"Do you want to –"

"No."

"Korra, you're not even letting me finish."

She pouted and turned away from the driver, arms crossed. Asami took this as a sign to continue.

"Do you want me to stop at Narook's and get some noodles for us?"

"I'm not hungry," the younger woman huffed.

The heiress sighed. She thought of the leftovers she had in the fridge back at their apartment and decided that would be enough for them, whenever Korra got her appetite back.

Icy wind bit at their skin when they left the Satomobile. The Avatar waited, without patience, as Asami unlocked the door. Naga rose to greet them but was sidelined by the angry Southerner. She stomped by the panting polar bear dog and smashed the bedroom door behind her. The fluffy animal tilted her head in concern.

"She's upset Naga." Asami walked over to the animal companion and scratched the back of her ear. "This restaurant tried to pass off their food as Southern Water Tribe food when it really wasn't." Naga lowered her head onto the floor in a complete form of understanding that Asami admired.

The heiress walked about the apartment, straightening things, shuffling her small stacks of papers, and the like. She kept taking glances at the bedroom hallway, unable to focus her thoughts on anything but her distraught girlfriend. She exhaled and crept to the door. She could hear very soft sobbing behind the wooden barrier between them.

"Korra?"

She paused for a response. Asami knew that Korra's silence was an invitation for her to enter. She slid inside to find the Avatar sitting by the window, the light of a full moon falling on her tear-streaked face. She placed an arm around the Southerner's hunched shoulders. Korra refused to look at her lover.

"You can talk to me, if you want. I'm here for you."

Korra sighed and met the concerned emeralds beside her with puffy blue eyes. "How could they do something so disgraceful?"

Asami didn't respond to the rhetorical question. She pulled her girlfriend closer into a hug.

"I was so excited to finally get a taste of some Southern Water Tribe food. But no. It was just another scam. Just like that jeweler I saw the other day at the market, trying to pass off his cheap rocks for Arctic Sapphires." She slumped in her seat.

It wasn't hard for the older woman to put it all together.

"You miss home, don't you Korra?"

She let out an audible sob and nodded, burying her face into Asami's shoulder.

"I know it's stupid. I'm the Avatar. I'm supposed to go where I'm needed and be fine and accept it. But I've never been gone from the South Pole for this long. Even before everything that happened with Zaheer, I was only away from the South for a few months. Yeah, I grew up in the White Lotus compound, but it was still in the South Pole. I still got to experience my culture. Everything is so different here."

"Korra, it's okay to feel homesick. Those aren't invalid feelings at all, especially since this is all new to you. Plus, you're from the Southern Water Tribe. Family and culture are important to you."

The younger woman chuckled. "Have you been reading up?"

Asami shrugged. "While I've read a bit about your customs, I don't need a book to see how important they are to you."

Korra pulled away from her girlfriend and met her eyes once more. There was a mixture of gratitude and love in those blue irises. The engineer slid her hand along Korra's cheek and into her hair. She pulled her into a gentle kiss.

"If there's anything I can do to help, Korra, let me know. We can figure something out."

The Avatar smiled and kissed Asami once more. Their lips departed when they heard a whimpering at the door. Naga pushed it open and waited in the entryway with a yearning look.

"Come on girl." The Southerner waved her in and Naga somehow managed to squeeze through the door frame without damaging it. She crashed into the couple and they embraced each other, their faces covered in the moonlight. It drew Korra's attention away from her two best friends and forced her to stare into the night sky with nostalgic eyes.

"Maybe there is something."

Asami lifted her head and stared at the Water Tribe girl pining for the celestial body above her. Korra turned to face her with a sideways grin that Asami knew all too well.