"No."
"But Lin!" Korra drew out the vowel sound in her name in a petulant whine, tugging at her arm in an attempt to get her closer to the water's edge. It didn't work; of course, Lin remained firmly rooted to the sand, bare feet and a lack of armor the only concession she'd made so far to Korra's "Operation Swimming" plan. Lin just stared at her balefully, thoroughly unimpressed by the whole thing.
There was a very good reason that she couldn't swim and that she'd never learned despite growing up around people who loved the water, loved to swim and cavort around without a care. It made her nervous (not afraid, Lin Beifong was not afraid of anything) to be unable to feel every pulse and thrum of the earth beneath her feet. The slippery silt of lakebeds and ocean floors muffled it, made it feel like she had lost the ability to see everything clearly.
"It's not like I'll let you drown," Korra interrupted her thoughts, still looking at her with her lower lip stuck out slightly, blue eyes pleading. "Water was the first element I mastered. Please, Lin."
The chief of police, it still stung for her to think of that as a past occupation, opened her mouth to argue, then simply closed her eyes and sighed, fingers pinching at the bridge of her nose. "Fine."
To her credit, Korra didn't engage in her normal victory routine, simply smiled and touched her lips to the older woman's cheek before wading out until the water came to mid-thigh. She held her hand out in an invitation, sinking her toes into the loose sand beneath her feet, reveling in the feeling of the cold wetness seeping into her clothes and clinging to her skin.
Lin's fingers sought the avatar's like a magnet, rough calluses moving over each other before the warmth began to diffuse up forearms and into hearts as she took a step past the foamed surf and into the water properly. She didn't stop until she was next to Korra, unwilling to show her momentary panic at the fuzziness descending around the edges of her awareness. The trembling, she would deny later, passing it off to the sudden chill of the waves.
"That's it. I've got you." Korra soothed, leading her lover into deeper water, chest high now. She ducked her head under and guided Lin down with her, sealing her lips over hers in a kiss, then pulled them up to resurface again. "Move your arms like this and use your body." Hands went to the chief's hips, simulating the motions with the press of fingers.
The sun had begun to set by the time they crawled from the water, shivering and laughing as Korra told the story of her first meeting with the White Lotus and trying to mimic facial expressions. She built a little fire on the beach and settled into Lin's side to watch the colours blend and fade into the coming blanket of stars, content to just be Lin and Korra for at least a little while longer.