Disclaimer: Legend of Korra and all characters are owned by Nickelodeon and created by Bryan Konietzko and Michael DiMartino.

The steel arms of Zoufu rose and clamped tight with an echoing clang over the city. Korra and Asami watched as they leaned against the stone wall of a small bridge. Guards marched casually past the many groups of civilians scattered throughout the streets.

"Is it just me, or do those big gates make you feel a little like a caged pigeon finch?" Korra asked with a sad frown as she gazed up at the metal walls.

Asami gave a lilted laugh. "Not everyone has the luxury of bending every element. I believe the general populace calls this 'security'."

"Pff. I call it imprisonment. The only difference between this place and the compound I grew up in is that I can't snow bend my way out."

"You can earth bend, though!" Asami chimed with a wink and the two laughed.

"Somehow I think Suyin's guards might be a little more intimidating than the White Lotus. Speaking of which, have you noticed that one guard? I think she was one of Su's dancers, too. I saw her this morning schooling this kid after he pushed another kid over."

Asami returned a blank stare and shrugged. "Vague that up a little more and I might know who you're talking about."

Korra snorted a laughed and leaned back on her elbows. She spotted Bolin in the distance strolling beside a girl she assumed was Opal, and she smiled. Asami hadn't noticed.

"You know what I've always wanted to ask you?" she said suddenly. Korra turned to her curiously. "I guess I've just always wanted to know in general." Asami lifted off from the stone wall and turned to face Korra fully. "What's it like to bend?"

Korra cocked her head to the side as a smile slowly lit up her face. "It's incredible," she breathed.

Asami grinned with a laugh at Korra's enthusiasm. "But what does it actually feel like?"

Korra's smile fell away as she looked up. She folded her arms and furrowed her eyebrows. "I have no idea how to explain it."

"Well, when was the first time you bent something?"

"I was three," Korra responded simply.

"Is that young?" Asami asked, her naivety evident. "Seems like it would be."

"Yeah, but I wasn't the only one at that age doing it. The only thing is," she added, smiling to herself. "I didn't bend water my first time."

She looked up at Asami with laughter in her eyes. "I bent fire first. My dad was so mad and I didn't know why. I got scared and ran outside, and I could hear my parents arguing."

"He thought you weren't his?" Asami asked, astonished. She hid an incredulous smile behind her hand.

"I remember some of the things he said, too," Korra continued, stifling her own laughter. "'A fire bender, Senna?'" She set her hands on her hips and lowered her voice to imitate her father.

"And my poor mom, she was so confused and angry. I thought they were mad at me, so I promised myself I wouldn't bend again. But I was so mad thinking they hated me that I just started throwing snow in a tantrum, and suddenly snow would just fly around without me even picking it up. I was so confused I ran back inside and told them what I could bend snow, too."

"I bet that conversation went down a little differently," Asami said warmly.

"It wasn't much of a conversation. They didn't believe me at first so I ran outside and came back with an armful of snow, threw it on the ground and bent a snowball at my dad's face."

Asami threw her head back in laughter and quickly covered her mouth, still shaking with laughter. "I can just imagine your dad's expression."

A warm smile brightened Korra's face at the sound of Asami's laughter. She couldn't help but laugh with her. Asami relaxed, wiping a tear and turned back to Korra.

"So, at the age of three, the first time you bent fire, do you remember how it felt?"

Korra shrugged. "Exciting, terrifying, confusing. It hadn't occurred to me other kids in the village couldn't bend fire and it obviously hadn't occurred to me that bending fire was even possible. So all around I just had no idea what was happening. I just remember thinking it was really cool. I guess that's why I was so upset about my parents' reaction, too."

"But like, is there some kind of, I don't know, physical sensation with it? I've always wondered about that stuff. You benders make it look like you're just moving an extension of your bodies, but I still can't wrap my mind around it."

Korra considered the question a moment. "I guess it is sort of like that, especially with earth and water. I mean, I can't feel water the way it feels when you actually touch it, but at the same time, I sort of can. It's like, it's like I'm reaching out to it. I can't explain it. I'm sorry. I'm terrible at expressing things in words. I prefer actions."

She turned around to face the stream below them. She reached a hand down, spreading her fingers and stretching them out before curling them back in. She repeated the motion a few times and Asami watched as the water started to churn slowly. Korra then curled her fingers up, bent her wrist and then her elbow up towards her and a long stream of water rose from below. The water hovered before their eyes, flowing and pulsing as though it had a life of its own. Asami gazed in wonder.

"It's like part of it is a part of you, while you're still completely separate from it. You know how you can move your fingers, but you don't really know how? You just tell your muscles to move and you do it without thought or command." Korra's eyes were transfixed on the water as she swirled it around in slow circles. "It's the same with bending. It really is like your element is a part of you, except that its a part of anyone who can bend the same element. Any water bender can take this same stream of water from me and I could fight to take it back, but neither of us would really feel it being taken the way you'd feel someone taking your hand in theirs."

Korra's voice was slow, her words precise. Asami gazed at her, the motion of her hand and wrist, the way she effortlessly moved the water through the air. She watched Korra's eyes following the steady swaying of her element with such love and passion.

"You're beautiful." The words slipped from Asami's mouth without consent. Her gut filled with ice when Korra snapped from her reverie and met Asami's eyes with shock. The water fell from Korra's psychic grip and hit the surface of the stream with a splash.

"Th-thanks?"

"I – I just mean, when you talk about what you do, I can tell you really love bending," Asami stammered, her cheeks flushing pink. "And you look really happy, and that's, well, it's beautiful."

Korra's expression shifted from surprise to gratitude. Then suddenly she cracked up with laughter. Asami stared at her blankly. "You're quite poetic tonight."

"And that's funny to you?" Asami growled, her cheeks still tinged with pink.

"Yeah, a little. The prodigal engineer, deeply sensitive to beauty and art."

"Hey, engineering is an art! You've seen my Satomobile. You've driven it! That was my design!"

Korra's laughter subsided and she smiled up at Asami. "So you think I'm beautiful, do you? From an artist's perspective, or is there something we should talk about?"

Asami's cheeks burned a deeper shade of red and she quickly wheeled around to look down the stream.

Korra's smile softened and faded to a questioning look. "Asami?" When her friend withdrew even more into herself, Korra leaned in closer to her, their shoulders almost touching. "Is there something we should talk about?"

Asami opened her mouth, sucked in a breath of air, and closed it again. She couldn't bring herself to meet Korra's eyes, so she lowered her gaze to her own hands hanging over the railing. Suddenly Korra's dark hand settled softly over hers. Asami finally let out a slow breath and relaxed her shoulders. She turned to Korra to find a look of concern on her face.

"I don't even know where to start," Asami breathed.

Korra's lips curled into a reassuring smile. "How about I start by telling you you're incredibly important to me."

Asami smiled in spite of herself and immediately turned back to the stream. "Spirits, Korra, I don't even know how this could happen."

"How what could happen?"

"I – I have feelings for you." Her words spilled out in one shaking breath and she wrapped her arms around herself. "I'm sorry."

Korra gaped at her for a moment before a small smile and a streak of red spread over her face. She laced her fingers between Asami's, recapturing the engineer's gaze. "I'm not."

Asami returned Korra's smile and looked back down at their interlocked hands. Her thumb traced along Korra's.

"So, this is okay?"

"Yeah, this is okay."

Asami grinned and laughed as Korra moved close to her, resting her chin against her shoulder.

"I've had a hell of a time trying to figure this all out," Korra whispered.

"How so?"

"Ever since we came back from the south, you've been wanting to spend more and more time together. And at first I thought it was all just friendly stuff between two girls. But every time you called me, I'd feel this rush. And you started calling me to hang out a lot. Then I decided to leave to find the other air benders and you insisted on coming along. I guess I kind of started cluing in then. You've got this empire of a company to run, but you just hopped on the airship and flew with us across the country anyway. And every time you touched my shoulder or my hand or you hugged me, I'd just light up on fire. I've never felt like that before."

"Not even with Mako?"

Korra chuckled. "Well, with him I felt the rush, like here was this cute person who didn't shower me with attention and fawn over me for being the Avatar, and I actually had to work to get his attention. And, plus, I'd never really been around a lot of boys my age. Not saying I didn't love him, but I was infatuated."

"And, with me, you're..."

Korra stopped. She hesitated a moment and pulled away a bit to look down at the stream.

"With you, I feel comfortable, and I feel this crazy rush, I feel charged, and I feel like everything will be okay if you just look at me. I feel like I'm home with you. I've known you for over a year now, but I just want to know more about you. We spend so much time together, but it's never enough. And I just keep talking, don't I? I'm sorry, I didn't mean to use so many words."

Asami swelled inside and wrapped an arm around Korra's shoulder, pulling her in for a tight hug.

"It's okay. You're a dork, and you're adorable."

Korra settled a hand on Asami's shoulder, resting their foreheads together. Korra gazed at Asami, her heart pounding as her lips parted.

"People will think it's weird," she whispered, and as soon as she said it she was disappointed with herself.

Reluctantly, they pulled apart and leaned against the railing facing out towards the city.

"Come with me tomorrow, we can stay in the airship for a little while. I'll say we're just checking the engines."

Korra grinned. "It's a date."

A/N: I have this side headcanon where Korra and Asami actually do hook up mid-Book 3 and it's all hush-hush until the end when Asami insists on dedicating herself to Korra's well-being and the others kind of figure it out but don't really bring it up. I'd also guess that considering the intensity of the ensuing events, they don't get a lot of time to explore their feelings nor really define their relationship, and then Korra would leave for a good three years. When she finally comes back they'd both be unsure of where they stand. I just wanted to write one of my ideas of how it would all begin.