Suyin Bei Fong
The airships were ready to take off for the Northern Air Temple as soon as the Avatar returned to her body from the Spirit World.
Suyin Bei Fong had just gone to check on the progress with the radio after setting up the ships, only to find that still no one had picked up.
Needing to find some way to keep herself occupied, the matriarch decided to go check on Korra.
It wasn't that she found Asami incapable of watching over the Avatar, in fact it was quite the opposite. She simply believed the engineer could use some company, and Su was happy to be there.
Sure enough, she found the two of them still seated in the small garden. The older woman herself had always believed that that spot was particularly peaceful, and thought it was nice that Korra appeared to think the same thing with how easily she had been able to meditate into the Spirit World there.
Though Asami was sitting rather casually, her eyes flitted around on high alert. The second she heard Su's footsteps her jade pupils flew in that direction and she shifted slightly as if she were to get up and fight.
"No need to worry," the matriarch chuckled gently as she approached and the engineer relaxed back to her original position. "How long has she been like this?"
Asami eyed the older woman that sat beside her curiously. "I don't know exactly. But I don't like this. If she did find Zaheer, who knows what's going on."
"You're starting to sound like Lin. Korra can take care of herself."
"Most of the time. But not always. I already failed her once. I'd hate for that to happen again."
Su's brow quirked and she rested a hand on the teenager's knee. "Asami, you have done nothing to let her down."
Asami refused to look at her. "I couldn't protect her the last time she was in the Spirit World. I got us captured by the Earth Queen. I've never felt so useless."
"Well, from what Lin told me you also did a great job of getting them out of the desert. And you know Korra does not hold that against you at all."
A bitter laugh escaped the engineer's mouth. "I know. The first thing she did when she returned to her body was ask if I was alright."
With that, Asami turned her gaze to the Avatar. Su found it to be a look of longing as well as one of deep caring. The matriarch did not know Asami very well, but she had had a slight suspicion that the engineer might have feelings for the Water Tribe woman. The two girls obviously had a close bond, but the way Asami tended to look at Korra spoke of more than friendship. She seemed to think the world of the reckless teenager beside her. Su had ignored her curiosity until this point, but seeing the younger woman's concern only strengthened her theory.
"That certainly sounds like Korra," she agreed softly. "That girl is truly a wonder. But Asami?"
"Yes?"
"She is lucky to have you too." It was true, and she felt Asami needed to be reminded of that.
With a wink toward the raven-haired girl, Su stood and began to walk away. She didn't need to say directly that she believed Asami liked Korra; the engineer didn't appear to be in denial. But a little nudge to accepting it couldn't hurt. And, after all, Su was a firm believer of people reaching their highest potential. Relationships were not neglected by that ideology.
As she rose, she managed to catch the blush on the girls' cheeks. The matriarch would never need further confirmation that Asami felt something more than friendship for the Avatar.
Mako
It had been two years since Korra had left and Team Avatar had fallen apart.
Bolin hadn't been in Republic City for months due to his service under Kuvira, and Mako's appearances were very touch-and-go as he followed around the future prince. Even when the firebender was in the city, he almost always had to remain around Wu, giving him very little freedom. But for the first time in a while, he was getting a night off while the prince was staying with other guards for some sort of business anyway.
Because of his hectic work schedule though, Mako no longer had many people he considered friends in Republic City. So he was thrilled to find out that the CEO of Future Industries was managing to get the night off to spend with him.
He had agreed to meet her outside her factory, and was in awe of all the work going on in there. Asami had done well for herself in the past couple of years, and Mako couldn't help but feel kind of worthless in comparison. She had basically built her company into a business empire while he was stuck babysitting a royal brat.
The negative thoughts immediately left his mind when he saw her walk out of the factory though.
She picked up her pace walking over to him before throwing her arms around his waist in a hug. He couldn't help the small grin that crept up on his face as he returned the embrace. With Korra and Bolin far away, it was nice to have someone familiar to be around on his night off.
"You didn't have to take off to see me, but I'm glad you did," he told her as he pulled away.
"I was happy to. I hate that even when you're here I don't get to see you."
"Yeah, being a prince's bodyguard is around-the-clock work. So where are we going for dinner? Kwong's?"
The CEO cringed at the name. "Actually, I've taken so many business partners there to impress them I'm kind of sick of the food. I was thinking of someplace a little simpler. How does Narook's sound?"
"You want to go to Narook's when you could afford any place in this city?" he was teasing her, but was also slightly surprised.
"With the week I've had at work I could go for some terrible-for-you noodles."
The two friends made their way to the cheap restaurant, getting confused glances from some patrons there. It wasn't exact common to see two of the people who helped the Avatar save the world eating there. It wasn't even common to see two members of Team Avatar around each other anymore.
They sat for a while, just talking about how their lives were going. Mako shared some of the interesting tales he had to tell from following around the prince while Asami happily discussed all the different projects Future Industries was taking on. She was able to chatter for a while about the new rail system they were building, and Mako was just happy to finally know what was going on in the life of someone from Team Avatar.
Of course the conversation eventually took a more depressing turn.
"Have you heard from Bolin lately?" Asami asked, a hint of sadness appearing in her eyes.
The earthbender's brother shrugged. "About a month ago I got a letter from him. It was all pictures he drew though. I think they were supposed to be of mecha tanks bringing food to a starving town. Have you gotten a letter from him recently?"
The engineer chuckled and nodded. "Nothing too recent. But the last one I got was about him and Opal. She wrote him some really nice letter that he was super excited about. It was refreshing to hear him so happy."
Knowing it was going to get brought up eventually, Mako decided to bring up the sore subject for both of them. "Any word from Korra?"
Asami shook her head. "I wish."
It wasn't hard for Mako to notice the shift in her demeanor. The sadness in her eyes grew and her shoulders dropped slightly in defeat. Her hands began fidgeting with her chopsticks. Mako knew that as an engineer, she was used to creating solutions with her hands. And so she must've hated that this situation with Korra wasn't something she could repair that way. There was nothing to be built that could help the Avatar more than the assistance she was already getting.
"I just wish we knew how she was doing," Mako replied.
"I should've went with her."
That struck Mako as a little odd. He knew Asami cared about Korra, but that was kind of extreme. Asami had built an amazing life for herself in Republic City, and she would not have managed to accomplish that from the South Pole. She seemed to be doing the best out of any member of Team Avatar, yet there she was saying that she would have given all of that up to help Korra. Mako would like to think he would have thought the same way if he were in her position, but he wasn't sure it would be as easy as she made seem.
"You have everything here," he acknowledged. "You would give it all up?"
She nodded without hesitation.
Mako remembered how she was with Korra leading up to their fight against the Red Lotus. The two women had grown quite close, something Mako had found awkward at the time. He remembered envying how simply Asami had become friends with Korra, while he had found it almost unbearable to try and get close to either of them again.
It had been easier for him to build a friendship with Asami. While Bolin and Korra were trying to learn metalbending, Mako had found himself spending a lot of time with Asami and they just sort of reconnected somehow. And while he found the raven-haired girl incredible, his romantic feelings for her never rekindled.
Even more vividly, he recalled the bond between the two women after Zaheer had poisoned Korra. Asami had taken up the task of caring for the Avatar, which was a job Mako wasn't so sure he would have been able to take on. He was never very good at being patient or saying the right things.
Asami had thrown her heart into caring for Korra though, and at that time Mako had wondered if maybe his one ex-girlfriend had ended up falling for the other.
And now, as he sat across from her he found himself believing that maybe he had been right and those feelings still hadn't gone away from the engineer.
Reaching across the table, he rested a hand on her forearm. "You love her, don't you?"
Now that he said it, he was even more confident in it. A woman like her would have had no trouble finding suitors, but she had firmly been single for two years now. Sure, her work may have been a factor to that as well, but she hadn't even seemed interested in finding anyone.
Asami's eyes widened, seemingly in panic. Mako had a feeling she was so much worried about him knowing, but was afraid of his reaction.
"I-I knew I had feelings for her," she murmured. "But now all this time has passed and I still can't get rid of them. And so if that means I'm in love with her, I guess…"
"Asami, it's okay. I'm not going to freak out. We used to spend a lot of time around each other. How oblivious do you think I am? I am a detective, remember? Working as a bodyguard hasn't made me lose all my credibility."
"How does this not bother you?" her voice was careful, almost like she felt bad for the firebender.
"Maybe it should. But in these past couple of years, I think I've finally accepted that me and Korra probably won't work out. There was a time where I thought we would and there was a time where I hoped we would. Now I think we may be better off as just friends. But I still care, so I would rather she end up with someone that I know cares about her than somebody I don't even know or don't trust."
"Well haven't you grown a lot in two years?" Asami joked, recomposing herself.
"I think we all have. And I think it's for the best."
Lin Bei Fong
It wasn't uncommon for Lin Bei Fong to go and grab a drink after her shifts that went late into the night.
Due to the odd hour though, she would almost always end up in the same dingy bar not far down the street from Future Industries. So it also wasn't rare that she would run into Asami Sato there when the CEO would decide to finally call it night at a ridiculous time. Sometimes it worried the chief that the young woman was doing this to herself, especially because she remembered being the same way when she was that age.
But that night, she did not bother to try and discourage the woman from long hours of work or tell her to just go home and get some rest.
She gratefully accepted the company, knowing the engineer must be as shocked as she was.
The chief thought all of them were fools to believe that Korra would have really come back on that ship with her father. Clearly something was still wrong with the girl for her to not have been responding to any of the letters Lin knew her friends were sending her. And so they should've known the Avatar would not return with something still going on in her head.
Normally the two of them would have one drink and be done. But tonight they sat there on their second drinks, neither having spoken in all the time they had been sitting there.
"This is ridiculous," the engineer eventually broke the silence. "And I don't even know if I'm angry or upset or concerned. I think I need a shot."
"If you start taking shots that is just going to make your head hurt even more come morning," Lin warned her.
"I know. I just think I'd almost rather deal with that when the time comes and take the shots so I can actually get to sleep tonight."
Lin may not have Asami all that well, but she was pretty sure she had seen the young woman at some of her most stressed out moments. She had seen her come storming into the bar after days that had frayed the very last of her nerves, nearly fighting a man that had attempted to hit on her after the day she had. For someone who was almost always painfully composed, Lin had seen her at her closest to breaking multiple times over the past couple years.
Yet that that night she seemed worse. Different than her usual stress, but definitely worse.
"Look, kid, Tonraq has gotten letters from her since she left. So she's definitely alive. She probably just needs more time to get herself together," Lin assured her.
She wasn't sure why she was saying such things. Lin had half the mind to track the Avatar down herself and yell at her for what she was doing. Tonraq and Senna would have understood if she needed time on her own. She didn't have to lie to them and end up worrying everyone. Especially not the woman beside her who had once done everything to try and put Korra back together. Lin knew herself as a far-from-tender person, so she believed that the Water Tribe woman should have worshipped the ground Asami walked on for how much time she spent taking care of her. Because despite all of Lin's strengths, she knew it was a strength very few people had to be able to take on the compassion Asami had. It certainly wasn't one of hers.
"I want to be furious with her for keeping us all in the dark like this, but more than anything I just want to know she's alright."
This didn't surprise Lin one bit. It was obvious to her how much the engineer cared about Korra. She saw a lot of herself in Asami, and one of those things was how she reacted to things that had to do with the Avatar. They were eerily similar to how she used to handle things with Tenzin.
Lin had realized her feelings before Tenzin before he had found himself reciprocating them. During that time, Lin had done whatever she could to be there for him, without blatantly stating her feelings. She had never been good at talking about her feelings, but supporting him was something she had been able to do. Whenever he had felt like the weight of the world was on his shoulders as the only airbending son of Aang, she had done what she could to help ease the burden.
And when Korra had felt like the weight of the world had collapsed on top of her after her fight with Zaheer, Asami was always there to help dig her out of the rubble. She was still digging, even without having seen Korra for three whole years.
Lin couldn't help but feel for the girl.
"Listen to me," she called to the engineer, who in turn gave her full attention despite the strain written all over her face. "I don't mean to cross a line by saying this, but don't lose faith in that girl. I'm betting she'll come back and you'll have your chance to go after her. She is an absolute pain half the time, but if you care as much as you seem to, don't give up on her."
The chief had given up on a lot of people for a long time. She had given up on Tenzin, and that hadn't made her any happier. It was only after they had become friends again that she started to feel more whole again. Even more of her true self had seemed to return after she had finally given her sister another chance, when Su had been someone else she had given up on.
"How did you know?" the young woman asked in a surprisingly small voice. There wasn't a doubt in her mind that Lin recognized her feelings for Korra as romantic.
Lin rose from her barstool and paid her tab. "We're not that different. And I'm a detective; being observant is kind of in the job description."
Asami's eyebrows shot up at that. She had never thought that being a detective would have led two people she knew to discover her feelings for Korra. As she watched the chief leave the bar, she couldn't help but wonder who else knew.
Jinora
Warmth was finally returning to Asami's hands as she made her way back into the house on Air Temple Island.
She was heading toward the kitchen to wash out the cup that had been full of the tea she had brought outside for Korra. Their conversation had been cut short by Tenzin joining them, and the engineer had begun to feel out of place as he continued to impart Avatar wisdom to the younger woman. So she had taken Korra's empty cup to wash as a reason to go inside to leave the two of them to talk. The talk between her and Korra had been put to an end anyway.
As she made her way to the sink, Jinora entered the kitchen and came to stand by her.
Asami found this odd since while she got along with Jinora, it was uncommon for the girl to seek her out for conversation.
"Asami?" the airbending master called.
The engineer finished washing the cup and turned to Jinora, not liking the smirk on the girl's face. "Hey, Jinora. What's up?"
"You do realize you just brought tea to someone who can firebend and grew up in the South Pole."
Asami nearly smacked herself on the forehead. She wasn't seriously getting busted again, was she? "Yes, I realized that."
"So you do know that it is doubtful that she was cold?"
"People can want tea for more than just warmth." Asami pointed out, knowing the argument was futile. If Jinora had any idea of her feelings for Korra, she wasn't going to let it go no matter what reasoning the older woman could come up with.
"Or you just wanted to talk to her," Jinora prodded, the grin on her face growing. Asami, went to protest, but Jinora cut her off. "You know, you don't need an excuse to talk to her."
"Did you really follow me in here just to hound me about this?"
"I'm just saying that that certainly sounds like something someone does when they have feelings for someone. I used to do it with Kai. I lost track of how many times I offered to help him with airbending just to talk to him."
"I cannot believe we are having this conversation."
Asami's comment had been under her breath, but Jinora had heard it. "Well, I'll leave you be. But for the record, I think you should go for it."
"Wait, what?"
The airbending master had already disappeared from the kitchen though.
Varrick & Zhu Li
If there was one thing Varrick loved almost as much as his new wife it was making a production of things.
So he was having a blast with his extravagant wedding, and had barely left the dance floor all night. Sure enough, Zhu Li had been dancing along with him the entire time, only making his night better. He must've been building up even more calluses on his feet, but that didn't bother him one bit.
He still wasn't quite ready to stop when his wife placed a gentle hand on his shoulder.
"Zhu Li, don't kill my groove now! I was just getting started!" At that remark, he put even more energy into his dancing, flailing around at an even faster rate.
"You can keep dancing, or we can go get those pastries you love that the servants just put out."
Getting the important updates like that only made him love her more.
"Forget dancing!" he exclaimed. "Come on, dear! To the table!"
Grabbing her hand, the two of them excitedly left the dance floor to return to their seats where they had been earlier for all of ten minutes to eat dinner. Neither of them hesitated to dive into the pastries that had been set on the table. Zhu Li ate a couple before relaxing in her chair while her husband seemed to be attempting to finish as many as possible. Knowing it was impossible to stop him, she merely chuckled at the ridiculous look on his face as he did so.
After stuffing himself with the dessert, Varrick found himself unable to get right back onto the dance floor. He felt nearly ill, but knew it would pass.
"Would you like me to find you a glass of water?" Zhu Li asked him gently.
"Yes, please!" the woman he had once treated almost like a slave smiled at the word "please". Little things like that meant the world to her coming from him now.
With his wife no longer by his side, the scientist's mind began to wander and focus began to shift. His eyes kept settling on different people he wanted to seek out. At some point he planned to speak to Bolin and tell him about what a bang-up job he did officiating the wedding, and that he was sure he could get the kid a knock-out career doing that.
But before he found the earth bender in the crowd, his eyes settled on the head of Future Industries. He found it odd that the woman was currently sitting by herself since when she wasn't working she was usually surrounding herself with her friends.
Her eyes kept rising from the table to glance at something, and for a second Varrick worried about the shiftiness. Crazy theories as to why Asami seemed suspicious began forming in his head. Until he noticed what, or rather who, she kept glancing at.
The Avatar had stepped a bit away from the party, and Tenzin had followed her. Two of them stood talking, and it was clear that something about it was bugging Asami.
It all clicked in Varrick's brain at once and he practically launched himself out of his seat at the revelation.
"Is everything okay, dear?" Zhu Li asked as she returned with the glass of water.
"Everything is fantastic! Zhu Li, I think it's time I did the uh…" Varrick fluttered his finger from pointing at the Avatar to pointing at Asami a few times, "…thing."
Catching onto what he was getting at, Zhu Li smiled. "I couldn't agree more."
With that, Varrick practically flew over to the other table and sat himself down next to the other engineer. "Asami, boy do I have a great idea! I thought I would run it past you since, you know, the whole hummingbird suit project went so well. Anyway! I was planning to get myself into one of those airbender suits you designed and fly off the tower with it!"
"Uh…you're not an airbender," the woman replied as though he was an absolute fool.
"I know that! But I figured with just a few quick adjustments it won't matter."
"I don't know about that."
"Come on! It's my wedding night, let me have this! I was hoping you could go ask Tenzin for me where I could find one of those suits."
Asami glanced toward the pair standing away from the crowd and Varrick knew she saw the opportunity it gave her.
"I guess I wouldn't want to be the one to ruin your wedding night…"
"Exactly!" Varrick all but yanked her out of her chair and pushed her in the direction of the two bending masters. "Now, get to it!"
Varrick couldn't help but feel proud of his work as Tenzin came running toward him, leaving the two ladies alone.
He felt even more proud when he saw the two of them sneaking way from his wedding party together.
And his pride reached a high when he found out that the two women had apparently left for a vacation in the Spirit World together.
It was about time that the Avatar became aware of Asami's feelings.
AN: So maybe I made Mako figuring it out happen a little early on, but I just don't believe that he had absolutely no clue that Korrasami might happen. And am I the only who noticed that while the group was in Zaofu in Book 3 that Mako and Asami were around each other a bit despite how awkwardly they started off the season?
Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed!