Ch. Summary:
Korra and Asami play a game of Pai Sho after bumping into each other in downtown Republic City.
Notes:
I know in canon only 2 weeks passed between books 2 and 3, but for the sake of this story lets expand that to a little over a month between them.
Chapter 1
The late afternoon sun was coming in through Korra's open window along with an unusually cool breeze and the distant sounds of the bay crashing against Air Temple Island.
She was sitting cross-legged on her bed, fumbling with a Pai Sho piece and studying the board.
It had been a while since she'd played and it showed – she was loosing. Not by much, but loosing all the same.
"Hey, do you mind closing the window? I'm getting a little chilly." Asami asked, gesturing slightly with a nod of her head (she too was staring at the board in contemplation as usual; Korra had noticed after the first game they played together that Asami rarely ever took her eyes off it).
"Oh yeah, sorry. I like the cold so much sometimes I forget not everyone grew up around ice and snow."
Korra put her piece down on the spot she'd been eyeing, not caring so much that it probably wasn't the best move to be making.
The game would be over soon anyway.
Sure enough as soon as she slid off the bed to close the window she heard the clack of a Pai Sho tile against the board, and Asami's usual victory speech, "do you want to play again?"
"I'm up for it if you are" Korra responds, closing the window shutters and making a mental note to stop leaving the window open when Asami came to visit.
Korra had to suppress a grin because she knew, without needing an answer, that Asami would want to play again.
They hadn't been hanging out together for very long but Korra figured out pretty quickly that Asami was in love with the game.
"You know, you're pretty good at this - I mean, you didn't strike me as the Pai Sho type" Asami finished quickly, catching the look of mock hurt on Korra's face as she climbed back onto her bed.
"When I was living at the compound on the south pole I used to play sometimes with the White Lotus guards. It wasn't my first choice of fun activity but aside from them I had no one else to do anything with…"
Korra leaned forward to grab her next piece and stopped once she saw Asami's expression.
"…? What's wrong?"
"What do you mean you had no one else to do anything with?"
Korra was confused for a moment before realizing that she'd never spoken to Asami about her life on the compound.
They hadn't really been talking and hanging out for very long and it wasn't really something to begin a conversation with, at least Korra thought so.
"Yeahhhhh….I guess I never talked to you about that. Or anyone in Republic City, really."
Asami made her move, then looked intently back to Korra.
"Do you want to tell me? I'd like to hear it."
Korra couldn't help but smile. Asami really had a way about her that was so genuine it kind of surprised her.
To be honest, she wished she'd gotten over the initial awkwardness and gotten to know Asami way sooner than she did.
"Well…until I came here to Republic City I lived most of my life in a compound on the south pole with the other White Lotus members. Sometimes Katara and my parents would visit – when I was pretty young I actually remember my mom staying at the compound with me for a few months…"
Korra found herself trailing of, leaning back against the wall and fidgeting a little.
It wasn't that she hated talking about her time at the compound but it was giving her a strange feeling.
Kind of a lonely feeling.
Asami grabbed the edges of the Pai Sho board and gestured at the table by Korra's bed. "Do you mind if I put this away for now?"
"You don't want to play still? It's getting kind of late - "
"It's fine, I think three games is plenty. I want to hear your story! I can't believe you were alone like that for so long."
"Well, I don't know about alone, I mean I had Naga - "
"No Korra, I meant alone like….friends. You didn't have anyone your age to be with?"
Korra turned away a bit, not wanting Asami to see the look she couldn't keep off her face.
No, she didn't have anyone her age. No friends, no play, just practice.
"Well, aside from the one or two times Desna and Eska visited me with Unalaq, yeah I was alone. And I didn't really think of Desna or Eska as friends. They're weird now but when we were kids it was worse. They never wanted to do anything, especially waterbend for fun. Said it was a waste and a mockery of their gifts, or something. It's hard to remember."
It wasn't hard to remember – Korra remembered all the times she'd tried to sneak out of the compound and all the lonely days wishing she had a friend.
It got better once she met Naga, but a polar bear dog's love can only go so far.
What she really wanted was to make a connection with someone – anyone who wasn't some White Lotus guard assigned to train and protect her.
"Oh Korra, that's really awful. You must have been pretty lonely."
Korra felt a swift sting of regret. She was amazed that not only did Asami not hold the whole Mako debacle over her head, but she sincerely wanted to befriend her.
Yeah, I really should have tried talking to her sooner.
"I guess it was pretty lonely, but I always had my bending. I was always practicing, always pushing myself. Not to mention I became so used to being alone that as I got older it became less of a problem. To be honest though…"
Korra stole a glance at Asami and saw she was still looking at her with that expression of pity that made her shift her gaze again.
"I feel like if I had to go back to that life now, it would be unbearably lonely."
Asami was silent momentarily and the only sounds were that of Meelo and Ikki causing a ruckus in the hallway.
Korra didn't know what to say, and dearly hoped Asami would say something to lighten the atmosphere. She hoped she didn't come across like she wanted a pity parade.
Maybe this wasn't the right thing to talk about now…
"You know Korra" Asami said softly, "I don't think you'd ever have to worry about that. It'd take a lot of White Lotus guards to drag you back there. Plus, I'd fight 'em off with you."
Before Korra had a chance to respond Asami slid off the bed, stretching and yawning slightly.
"You're right, it is getting late. I should get home; I still have work to do. We should do this again tomorrow though, I'll most likely be done with work before nighttime. You should pick me up. If you're not busy, of course."
"Oh? Yeah, that sounds great actually. All I'm doing is trying to get rid of those stupid vines, I could use a break. I'll come get you after dinner."
"Great. It's a plan. See you tomorrow Korra."
After Korra had walked Asami out (with Meelo's "help") she stood outside and watched her ride her moped out to the docks to catch the ferry back to the city.
It was still chilly and the waves were picking up.
I really should have gotten to know her sooner…
"My parents used to play Pai Sho all the time" she'd said, dividing the tiles for their very first game, about two weeks prior.
"When I was a kid I remember them playing every night after dinner. Dinner, tea, Pai Sho, then back to work at home."
On that same day, Korra happened to bump into Asami while shopping downtown.
In the literal sense – she actually did bump into Asami, pretty hard, while shopping downtown.
Korra was browsing in an antique shop (she recognized the area where she'd first encountered the police in Republic City) when she rounded a shelf at the same time someone was coming from the opposite end and – well long story short they collided, causing the other person to drop the rolls of parchment they were carrying.
"Oh! I'm sorry - "
"No, I should have been - "
Their eyes met and Korra was more or less pleasantly surprised to see Asami Sato, who she'd been…well, kind of avoiding as of late.
Not out of any bad feelings of course – Korra was at a complete loss for how to go about initiating conversation with Asami after the whole Mako blunder.
She had been wanting to speak to Asami and apologize properly but none of her rehearsed speeches seemed right, and it was pretty easy to "distract" herself with the issue of the vines all over the city.
Turns out conversation came pretty easily! Asami asked what Korra was shopping for (a new Pai Sho set for Jinora) and it all pretty much flowed from there.
"Oh, Jinora plays Pai Sho? I'm somewhat of a Pai Sho buff myself" Asami said, bundling the newly retrieved scrolls in her arms.
"Do you…need some help picking one out? I'm not really up to anything right now and I've kinda been wanting to talk to you."
"Oh yeah, sure. To tell the truth I don't really know much about what to look for in a Pai Sho set. And... I've been wanting to talk to you too."
Korra's more-or-less pleasure of running into Asami quickly became a definite blessing – she was a huge help in looking for Jinora's gift.
Korra had played a bit of Pai Sho (emphasis on the bit part) when she was growing up on the compound in the south pole, but she never really cared about the finer details in buying a board and pieces.
"See, something like this" Asami mentioned, pointing to a thick, heavy looking Pai Sho set with grooves set in the board to hold tiles,"is really all you're going to find in an antique store. It's really more of a decoration piece or conversation starter than something you'd play with, unless you're really delicate with it….do you think Jinora would want something a little more modern?"
To be honest Korra didn't really think about that.
"Um….well I mean, Tenzin's set is pretty similar to this one, and I know he doesn't like her using it all the time…uhhh…."
"How about a portable set? I know a store that sells them pretty cheap if you have the time to head out."
Korra agreed, they found the perfect set (well, really Asami found the perfect set and Korra thanked her profusely for the insight) and ended up starting their own game at the central park in Republic City once Korra mentioned how she hadn't played Pai Sho in a long time but felt too embarrassed to ask Jinora to play with her.
"My father especially loved Pai Sho. So, naturally, he taught m to play pretty young."
Asami divvied up the final tiles and looked at Korra with a smile.
"So, who goes first?"