I don't own The Legend of Korra. That honour belongs to its wonderfull writers.

Chapter one: A Shortened Vacation

'So the flower goes over here?' Korra hesitantly held the tile between her fingers with a frown on her face.

'That's a legitimate move…' Asami said.

'Which means that it's a bad move, right?' Looking at the non-bender with squinted eyes. Asami shrugged her shoulders and pretended to have no clue about the quality of the move. Korra slowly put the tile down on the board and sat back.

'Okay, let's see.' Asami pressed her index finger against her lips as she was in deep strategic thought. After ten long seconds her hand moved to the board and in one swell swoop she captured five pieces of Korra.

'What!? You knew that would happen!' Asami laughed at the baffled face of the Avatar.

'It's not fair! You're way to good at Pai Sho and I'm just a beginner.'

'I'm sorry, that was a bit unnecessary. You're actually doing great for someone who just learned the rules.' Asami smiled, meaning every word she just said. Korra pouted and let herself fall on her back in the soft grass.

'Does that mean we stop playing?' Asami asked.

Asami had brought a travel sized Pai Sho game on their trip in the spirit world. When Korra had found out she made fun of Asami, calling her a Pai Sho addict. But after walking the spirit world for four days, Korra wanted to learn how to play and share in Asami's addiction. She could see the appeal of the game, but Asami was occasionally cruel when it came down to defeating Korra. Maybe it was pay back for making fun of her. Korra got up again.

'I think I got it now. Restart? Maybe I can last three rounds without losing half of my tiles, this time.'

'Okay, but I wouldn't count on it.' Asami said with a grin.

'You are quite the merciless teacher.' Korra complained.

'Just a little tough love.' Asami declared.

'Korra? Asami?' A familiar voice came from behind Korra. She turned and saw Jinora's spirit appearing just a few foot away.

'Jinora! Everything okay?' Korra asked, worried about the sudden visit.

'Everything's okay on the other end. I'm was send to ask how long you were planning to stay in the spirit world.' Jinora said.

'Hmmm, I don't know. Why? Are we needed for something?' Korra asked suspiciously. They, whoever 'they' was, wouldn't send someone just for a fun update.

'Raiko requested a meeting on the day after tomorrow. You two are invited.' Korra sighed deeply. She was enjoying her time with Asami and five days didn't seem long enough for a well-deserved holiday.

'How important is it?'

'Hmm, I don't know. He wants to talk about a new project or something. Daddy hasn't got the details yet, but apparently it's important. So I was send to find you.'

'Why so secretive!? If Raiko wants me to attend one of his stupid meetings, then he should say what's it about. I don't have to appear every time he snaps his fingers. I have a life besid…' Korra felt Asami's hand on her shoulder.

'We will be at the meeting.' Asami said calmly.

'What? We don't have to. Raiko always calls for meetings, even about the most irrelevant things!' Raiko's meetings were personal nightmares for Korra. They were long, boring and usually amounted to nothing.

'Korra, I really love our vacation here. But the earth keeps on spinning and with the damage to Republic City and the first presidential elections in the Earth Kingdom, a lot of change is coming our way. I'm surprised we lasted five days without anyone interrupting us.'

'Hmmph.' Korra knew Asami was right, but she didn't had to like it.

'Fine, we will be home tomorrow evening in time for the meeting.' She said in a grumpy voice.

'I'm sorry to ruin your trip.'Jinora said, looking at the ground.

'No, it's not your fault. Besides, the trip isn't ruined, just shortened.' Korra felt bad for lashing out in front of Jinora. Jinora looked at the pair and smiled.

'I'm looking forward to seeing you again on Air Temple Island.'

'Me too.' Korra responded with a smile.

'So, what did you two do in the spirit world?' Jinora asks in hope to end the conversation on a more pleasant topic.

'We walked through the forest and saw some amazing spirits. We swam in a lake, slept under the stars. Now I'm teaching Korra how to play Pai Sho.' Asami answered.

'Pai Sho? That's so cool!'

'You play?' Korra asked raising an eyebrow. She never saw a Pai Sho board on Air Temple Island.

'Yes, mom taught as. She used to play when she was a kid. She was pretty good as well.' Jinora walked over and took a look at the board.

'You're not doing very well Korra.' She stated.

'Yeah, thanks for the update Jinora. I hadn't noticed.' Korra said, waving Jinora away from the board. Asami couldn't help but laugh.

'Aren't there any flying bison you have to feed or something?' Korra asked in pretended annoyance.

'Oh, that's right! Kai and I are on Lemur duty. Three days ago a new group of Lemurs arrived on the island. We need to keep them out of the food storage.' Jinora said.

'Wow, is it even psychical possible to have more Lemurs on Air Temple Island?' Asami asked in genuine awe.

'We reached our Lemur limit. But you just can't send those little guys away. So have a nice stay and see you tomorrow!' After some good-bye's Jinora waved and walked off.

'So ready to get your butt kicked again?' Asami said pointing to the Pai Sho board.

'Oh, you just wait. I got it all figured out now!' Korra said enthusiastically, starting another lost battle.

It was dark and a beautiful display of stars and colours was painted across the sky. Every night Korra had found them a sheltered place to sleep. They have slept in a cave, a tree and an improvised hut. Last night they slept in a field under the night sky. Normally Asami liked to have some kind of enclosure to sleep in, just to be safe. But with Korra she knew she hadn't anything to fear. This night they would spend in another tree. A hole with the size of a medium tent in a tree trunk provided enough room for the both of them. Asami was checking the contents of her backpack, which were lying on the ground in neat piles. She had only one backpack, but she packed it tightly. She was making sure that she brought everything home tomorrow, she didn't want to clutter up the spirit world.

'Can I come in?' Korra asked from outside the tree.

'Of course you can.' Korra crawled through the small opening.

'What are you doing?'

'Packing up for tomorrow, so I don't have to worry about that in the morning.'

'Smart.' Korra picked up a notebook. In it were sketches of Satomobiles and what seemed to be a map of Republic City's infrastructure. The last pages were filled with sketches of spirits and different kinds of flora in spirit world.

'Wow, these are pretty amazing.' Asami glanced over to see what Korra was talking about.

'Thanks, I'm better at technical drawings though.' Asami said, blushing a little bit. Not that there was anything embarrassing in the notebook. She just wasn't used to people looking at her private drawings.

'These look good too, when did you draw all these pictures?' asked Korra, not recalling seeing Asami with her notebook.

'At night. You were asleep.'

'Really? Do you ever sleep?'

'Of course, but sometimes it hard to fall asleep.' There was something sad in Asami's voice. Korra wanted to ask if she was okay, but saw the way Asami refocused on her bag and decided that she probably didn't want to talk about it.

'Do you want to sleep in the field again? That was pretty cool last night.'

'Yeah, sounds good. Just let me finish this first.' Korra nodded, laying the notebook back on the floor.

After ten minutes, Asami had checked all her belongings and they were neatly stored away in her bag.

'Okay, I'm rea…' She looked at Korra, who was peacefully asleep. We're are not going to the field tonight. Asami thought to herself. She crawled over to Korra's bag, since the space in the tree was too low for her to stand. She grabbed Korra's blanket and laid it over her. Without making a sound, Asami quickly got dressed for bed. She laid out her sleeping gear next to Korra, who looked beautiful with the moonlight draped over her sleeping body. Her facial expression was serene. Asami had to force herself not to stroke Korra's cheek with her hand. She wouldn't want to disturb her rest. During the trip they had held hands and even kissed on some occasions, usually in the moonlight. But neither of them had said anything about it. It was clear to Asami how she felt towards Korra and Korra's feeling towards her became more apparent. Still neither of them had the need to vocalize those feelings. Asami felt they were tiptoeing around that subject for months now, but at least she was pretty sure that her love wasn't an one way street. She moved a little closer to the Avatar until their arms almost touched. There she lay on her back, listing to the Avatar's steady breathing. Life can turn out wonderfully strange. With that thought sleep engulfed her.

The next morning Korra woke up with a tickling sensation in her noise. She opened her eyes slowly. Something warm was laying against the right side of her body, making it impossible to move her hand freely. With her left hand she wiped a couple of times under her nose. Then she realized what the warm thing was or better who. Asami was asleep with her head on Korra's shoulder. Her right arm laid across Korra's stomach and her right leg was draped over Korra's leg. Some black hairs found their way up Korra's face and were tickling her nose. Once she realized this a faint red shade crossed her face. With a soft groan she adjusted her arm to get more blood circulation in it.

'Hmmm?' She heard close by her ear. Asami lifted her head a little.

'Good morning.' Korra answered with a smile. Asami shot up, realizing her unintended sleeping position.

'It's okay, you don't have to get up.' Korra said who just started to enjoy the warm presence at her side. With a half sleepy grin Asami returned to Korra's shoulder.

'What time is it?' Asami asked, still half asleep.

'I don't know. We're still in the spirit world.' Asami had asked the same question every morning on their short vacation. It was probably the first thing she thought about in the morning. Being the CEO of Future Industries made time crucial to Asami. But in the spirit world the question couldn't be really answered. There were no clocks. You could guess the time by looking at the sun and the light outside, but that didn't get you further than morning, midday, evening or night. So Korra replied by reminding Asami every morning that they were in the spirit world and that there were no meetings she had to attend.

'I keep forgetting.' Asami apologized.

'Judging from the light, it must be pretty early. Our last day in the spirit world.' Korra with a sigh.

'You make it sound so dramatic.'

'Don't you want to stay longer?' Asami had to think about that for a while.

'Yes, I would love nothing more in the world than stay here with you forever. But that's simply impossible.'

'I know. Still, I will miss you.'

'I won't suddenly disappear once we're back in Republic City. Plus, our return gives me the chance to take you out for dinner.' Asami tried to sound casual, doing her proposal. She figured that lying here like they did, maybe she could make her intentions a bit clearer.

'Oh, you don't have to. You know you're always welcome to eat with us on Air Temple Island.' Korra said, totally missing the point. Asami bit her lip at the disappointing answer. Maybe she should be more straightforward with Korra.

'Korra, I'm asking you out on a date. A simple 'yes' would suffice.'

'Oh! Huh…sorry…Yes, of course I would like to have dinner with you.' Korra stumbled over her words realizing her stupid misinterpretation. Asami laughed lightly in her arms.

'That's good to hear.'