Her eyes glow with a ferocity he's never seen before and she whips whirlwinds and fires out of her hands, hurling chi-blockers against buildings. Bolin winces at the sounds of cracking bones, moans of pain, and shallow breathing.. Glancing up at Korra's form, levitating inches above the ground, he straightens himself up and whispers, Korra. Bottom lip trembling, he hauls himself onto his feet.
"Ko…Korra," he whispers, cradling his sprained wrist. The wind pushes him back and the fire nearly singes off the little facial hair he's acquired in the past month. He dodges the rocks flung at him with the nimble skills pro-bending taught him until he stands before Korra. His Korra. Their Korra. Avatar Korra.
"K-Korra," he says again, voice an octave higher, but he can't go on. The sight before him is heartbreaking. Inside all those layers of raw power… Korra looks defenseless. Her lips tremble, her body shakes and tears stream from her eyes.
"Korra." This time he doesn't stutter. His voice is loud, clear, and he doesn't know if he's imagining it but Korra's shoulders relax slightly. "I'm here. It's okay." He gently lays his hand on her leg. "I'm here. Bolin's here." He sees Korra tense; her head jerks towards him and she's staring at him with those silver eyes, hair whipping about in a frenzy and for the first time, Bolin is scared of Korra. His Korra. Their Korra. AvatarKorra.
But he's persistent. He can see she's hurting and that hurts him. "Korra, come back to us. Come back to me." He touches her arm and pulls her down gently. "Korra, I miss you. I want… no I need you back here. With us. With me. With Mako. 'Cause we're the Fire Ferrets, eh? You, me, Mako. Naga and Pabu, too of course. Pabu really likes you, too. Which is surprising 'cause for the first three weeks, he just wouldn't stop biting Mako. And then he'd hide inside our clothes and refuse to get out. He really liked Mako's underwear. Mako wasn't too happy about that, though. But Pabu likes you. He's never bitten you. At least, I don't think he has."
The wind relaxes, the fire lessens, the water slouches, the earth trembles.
"And Naga… gosh, Naga. She's a good girl isn't she? You missed it the other day but I was feeding her, right? And then Mako comes along and starts bugging me about how I'm slacking on my earthbending so I stop feeding Naga and get up. But Naga wouldn't have any of that so she jumps on Mako and slobbers all over his face. He looked really embarrassed. I wish you coulda been there, Korra. It was hilarious. And then—" Thump.
Korra's feet land on the ground and the elements crash around them, soaking them to the bone and Bolin shields her from the pelting rocks. He looks into her eyes but she's still not herself and she's still shaking violently. With a deep breath, Bolin grabs her shoulders and closes his eyes. Breathing heavily he leans forwards and simply touches his nose to hers.
"I've been thinking about what you told me yesterday. You said my nose was cute. I don't really know how a nose can be cute but now that I think of it, there was this one really enthusiastic fan once that jumped over the railing and kissed my nose. It was weird but if my nose is really as cute as you say it is, I guess it makes sense.
"But you know what, Korra?" he says, breathing a sigh of relief as her eyes normalize. Her body slumps and they fall together on their knees, combined as one, with Korra's breath mingling with his own. He tightens his grip on her, pulling her closer to his chest. "I think your nose is way better."