Hello happy peoples, It's been a while since I updated or wrote anything, to celebrate Korrasami now canon; please enjoy this little exploration of what might've happened, 'On the Other Side.' :)
~On the Other Side~
by TwiddledSpire
They stepped through and the Avatar grinned at the look of wonder in Asami's eyes, it was strange that someone so mature looked so young and child-like. It was cute.
Feeling the blush creep up on her cheeks she coughed into her free hand, "Ta-da, this is the Spirit World in all its… spirity glory."
Green eyes twinkled. "It's beautiful, I never imagined that it'd be like this." Unknowingly Asami tugged the Avatar and looked this way and that across the meadow.
It suddenly occurred to Korra that Asami had never been in the Spirit World, literally everyone else had at some point, and to see everyone go in but herself, Korra understood that someone with a naturally curious mind like Asami would've loved to come in sooner.
She squeezed and felt a rush of warmth surge through her.
"So what's it like here, how does this place work?" Korra blinked, not quite understanding, thankfully the engineer seemed to understand and elaborated, "I mean, like – Is it like a pocket place or something, when you confronted Unalaq you were someplace different and then being in the Misty Palms desert, is this place connected?"
Korra smiled, "I get what you mean, though it'll be easier to show you, I only learned this recently but…" She closed her eyes and reached deep within to connect to Raava, her eyes glowed and the symbol of the light spirit flared on her chest, when she opened her eyes she could see the trees in the meadow they stood in were reminiscent of the Tree of Time. Concentrating on that place the spiritual connection acted like a force of magnets or something, and pulled them through, other places rushed by.
She felt Asami gasp, of course as a non-bender she had likely never felt anything even remotely spiritual, at least – not like this, and had never felt the unseeing connection a bender had to an element to manipulate it, so to have a spiritual essence pulling her from her very core must have been something of a shock. She gripped the engineer's hand tighter, just to reinforce the feeling of safety.
When they stopped they had arrived at the foot of the Tree of Time, and the heiress looked back.
This had been where Korra had fought Unalaq, the North and Southern portals stood on opposite ends of the wasteland, with gnarled thorn-like mountains twisting around in spirals. The energy here seemed pleasant, if a bit solemn but she supposed that was down to the Tree of Time's essence.
She could best describe the way they had moved from place to another as being on a train, with each stop having a spiritual anchor to it that the train was able to stop at, the actual moving part was near instantaneous and quite disorientating, from seeing things moving so fast past her.
Korra grinned, "So… what do you think? Pretty cool, huh?"
"That was… pretty incredible, to say the least," she chuckled breathlessly and slipped an arm around the Avatar's broad shoulder to steady herself. Immediately Korra's arm wrapped around her and she sat her down.
"Are you alright? What's up?"
"I just need a minute," seeing the worried look in those blue eyes she laughed and tucked that fickle strand behind Korra's ear, but it fell right out of place again. "I've never felt anything like that before."
Relaxing now and relieved Korra leaned back on her hands and gazed at her, "What is it that you feel?"
Asami thought about it. Certainly disorientated, but that feeling of something incredibly intimate calling for you and sucking you in, it was like having a connection to something, almost like for just a split second you and that other thing were of the same essence but had become split, and it was rapidly trying to fuse you together.
When she voiced her feelings Korra looked vaguely surprised, probably never having thought about it as in-depth as that. She confirmed this by saying; "Well, that's a new take. I mean, it never felt so… intimate to me, probably because of Raava inside me all my life I've always had another spiritual essence inside of me, and we've bonded already so being here just always felt natural, kind of like coming home."
Asami smiled at her in a way that made Korra's cheeks slowly burn.
"You always were pretty amazing. Guess now I know why." She laughed when Korra went very red and tensed from feeling a mixture of embarrassed and bashful.
"Yeah well…" clearly wanting to move away from this vulnerable position she looked at Asami and sheepishly smiled, "are there any other questions? I mean, before I learnt that little trick I never had any trouble finding a specific place in here, although that's probably because Raava probably knows every inch of it anyway."
Asami thought about everything Korra had mentioned in the past about the Spirit World, about how she had met Iroh in here. "So how did Iroh manage to find this place, he's essentially a spirit himself now, right?"
"Yeah pretty much, Iroh was always very spiritually attuned, even before he passed, apparently he had a journey after the loss of his son, and he must've reached his spiritual peak because when it was physically time to go… his spirit manifested here." Korra snorted, "He still drinks tea like it's the most enlightening thing in the world, his grandson is just as bad."
"You think we can meet him sometime?"
"Sure, he's always happy to see humans here, he likes to think people are coming back to their spiritual roots." She stood up and helped Asami up too, but Asami deliberately stumbled so she fell into Korra's arms and their faces came close.
With a small smirk she climbed up the roots of the tree as Korra was left trying to calm herself. Two could play at that game.
Korra spun her arms and swept her feet, gathering the air and pushing it under her feet to lift her, she then jumped up to the root Asami had managed to climb to and scooped her up effortlessly before breathing the air around her and bursting it under to push them up from root to root.
She smirked down at the heiress who blushed lightly in her arms, quietly savoring the feel of those warm arms keeping her close. Even when they reached the top Korra didn't quite let go and just gazed at Asami.
The air was very tense in that moment, both wondering who would break first. Just as Asami was about close the gap she heard laughing from inside the tree.
Korra distractedly let Asami go who eyes had suddenly gone wide at the sound and took off running in the center. It was then Korra realized she was looking at Asami's memories, and she felt her stomach twist when she saw a memory of Asami and what looked to be her mother (a striking resemblance) getting ready for a photo.
Asami was sitting on her mother's lap and beaming at the cameraman. "Asami, settle down already," her mother laughed as she hugged her little girl closer, "c'mon, smile for daddy and then we can all have one together."
Just as the camera flashed the memory faded, and several more came into place, Korra twisted in place to look at them all and looked to Asami who was watching with this quiet look of sadness in her eyes.
The Avatar was momentarily struck with indecision, this felt like such a private part of Asami's life she wondered if she should go stand outside, but at the same time the pained look in the woman's face made her heart clench, the protectiveness in her won over and she gently touched Asami's shoulder.
The engineer didn't look away as she allowed herself to be hugged by Korra, just having her here made her feel safe and grounded.
There were some happy memories there, mostly of Asami and her father working on some machine or sharing ideas for improving some existing design. It was clear that ever since her mother had been taken away her father had been her anchor, and the bond they had was mutual and loving, each beaming with pride at the other.
But of course, the memories of the Equalists came and the scared look on Asami's face when she had come to her father's secret workshop under the mansion, commanding him to stop attacking the Avatar and her friends, the shaking of her hands as she took the glove from him and feeling the world crumbling, knowing this man was twisted with hate and was not her father.
'I love you dad.' She had said as she flicked her hand and the shocking mechanism screamed to life in Hiroshi's body and he fell.
Although she had dealt with her feelings on the matter years ago, seeing it again still hurt and made her sigh as a little piece of her heart broke all over again. She wasn't oblivious to the way Korra held her close and protectively and she sighed as she leaned back further in her embrace.
"Korra, I just want you to know how much you mean to me." Asami turned in her arms to look at the caring woman before her. "You… have... literally changed my life. When I dated Mako I was attracted to him because of how safe he made me feel." She bit her painted lip, "But that doesn't compare to how safe you make me feel."
"This might sound weird, but… I'm glad you found out what my dad was up to, I couldn't have imagined living with him not knowing any longer what he had become. Thanks to you I was able to get him out of that whole… Equalist situation and he eventually saw the error of his ways."
"When you were gone he started writing me and I cant tell you how vulnerable that made me feel, I know we've already talked about it, and you don't need to apologize, but when you were gone I was so alone and really struggled with ever being able to forgive him. But then I just – one day I thought of you so I went to the park, even seeing a statue of you gave me comfort enough to gather myself and make a decision to forgive him."
They had moved closer, about as close as two bodies could be standing, and their foreheads touched, hair tickling slightly but both ignoring. "Throughout the time you were gone I made a new family in the air monks, from Mako and Bolin. If it hadn't been for you I would never have met those people and found support and the care I needed. So thank you."
Korra despite the weight and gravity in her eyes wrinkled her nose and frowned, "Don't thank me, that's just weird. Besides, with the boys in the city you would've ran into them sooner or later if I hadn't been there," she gave a playful grin and bumped her nose with Asami's, "although I take credit for Tenzin's family."
Asami gave a wet chuckle and curled into Korra's shoulder. She sighed as Korra's hand came up to cup her head and play with her hair.
"I just feel so safe with you."
"Me too. You don't know how much I appreciate your support when I was poisoned, I've never felt so open and honest with someone before."
They held each other, for how long they didn't know, but Asami pulled back a little when Korra's hold loosened, when she looked at her she found that the blue eyes were trained on a new memory that had popped up.
'I hope you haven't been waiting long.' Korra stepped into the restaurant and spoke to the woman on the chair, an engineer's magazine in hand.
The woman looked up and smiled,. 'Only three years, it's so good to see you again.' She stood as scooped the girl in her arms, holding her close, smiling even wider when she was hugged as intimately.
They pulled back and the obvious unspoken affection in their eyes shone. 'You too.' She said softly.
The woman's voice became a little flirtatious, 'And I'm loving the hair.'
The other girl self-consciously touched it, 'Thanks, you're looking snazzy as always.' She blushed.
Korra snickered suddenly. Asami craned an eyebrow at her, although she knew what Korra was thinking. "That's the lamest thing I've ever said."
Asami playfully (and boldly) ran a finger up Korra's chest and brought her face to meet hers. "I thought it was cute."
"Why?" Korra laughed, "It sounds like something Tenzin would say."
Asami shrugged and noted Korra's light blush again, she softened her eyes and her voice followed. "Can we talk, about us?"
The light humor in Korra's eyes had gone and became gentle. They were finally doing this then? "Of course."
It was both something to feel scared and relieved by, to be finally talking about this. They were both aware that what they felt was bigger, and more intimate than imagined and had expected at first.
Asami breathed and spoke. "I going to be honest here and get to business, I think we've danced around enough for today; I like you, a lot, I don't know quite when but I know that I'm ready to finally tell you."
Korra grinned back. "I like you too, and I'm so glad we're having this conversation now, I mean even though I knew and you knew I still wanted to make sure that…"
"We both knew?"
They laughed together and they touched heads again.
"So…" Asami took her bottom lip between her teeth.
Korra breathed slowly, "So…"
Just as when they had held hands as they walked into the portal, they both initiated and came together in the middle. They parted and sighed before touching again, the weight of the sheer bliss in this shared connection making them tingle with an all-encompassing energy. It was deep, and everything they could've asked and more. The velvet and silky feel of Asami's lips on hers, gentle and yet assertive at the same time as her pale fingers bunched in her short hair.
Korra sighed into her, pulling back just to suck in enough breathe to get her bearings together, Asami's lips followed, one of the hands coming up to cup her face as well. The Avatar quietly groaned into her, kissing back with a renewed force, she hadn't known a kiss could feel like this and knock you off-balance.
She could feel the gravity of the kiss pressing deeper than their lips and her heart strained to keep itself from swelling too much, as if her heart would pass out from the pressure. With a frustrated grunt she rested her head on Asami's. "Hold on," she whispered breathlessly, "I just, it's too much."
Asami seemed to understand, chuckled and moved her lips instead to peck along her jaw and sighed along with Korra.
When she had steadied herself Korra pressed them together again, and again. They weren't able to keep a long enough kiss going, the strain of their affections too much to deal with in one solid kiss.
So they broke it down into smaller ones, some longer than others, some scattered and sometimes just nuzzling together, exploring their connection, completely at peace with each other.
"Yeesh! I didn't know the Avatar was giving her girlfriend a tour of the Spirit World, and in this sacred tree no less!" The two sprang apart at the voice at the edge of the tree opening. It was what looked like a lion-monkey hanging upside down and raising an eyebrow disapprovingly.
"Oh leave them alone, I think they're cute." Spoke a smaller spirit that looked to be a talking herb.
The lion-monkey 'hmph'd' and folded its arms, "Well they can go be cute somewhere else, the Spirit World is not some honeymoon for humans!"
Korra playfully grinned, "Well I am one half of one of the most powerful and respected spirits in the Spirit World." Asami laughed lightly and bumped her hip.
"C'mon, let's leave, besides we haven't met Iroh yet." She took her hand and led Korra away.
The two spirits watched as the Avatar and her girlfriend left the tree practically glowing – well the Avatar certainly was anyways. The lion-monkey gagged, "Ugh, humans."
Damn, Spirits sure are grumpy aren't they? lol
Nevertheless, drop a review and let me know what you thought and what YOU speculate happened when they stepped through the portal, maybe even write a short fic about it!
Peace out!