The first time he saw her, it was out of nowhere.
Wu had insisted on travelling to Zaofu, despite Mako's repeated warnings of Kuvira's presence there. The city had held out admirably, but with the Great Uniter's resources and growing number of followers, it was only a matter of time. And while it was obvious Kuvira didn't view Wu as a threat (not that Mako blamed her), it still probably wasn't the best idea.
But, Prince Wu was his boss, so they jumped an airship and arrived two days later. The only contact made between the city and their travelling party was when they got Suyin's permission to come, and Mako figured Suyin had only said yes because she knew him. He didn't want to think about the impression Wu would make.
It looked much the same as he remembered, metal domes gleaming against the hillside. The only difference was the enormous army parked on the front lawn. Mako felt a little sick as he looked out the window.
Is Bolin down there? Is he helping with this? Could I have said something different to him? What if he gets in over his head? What if-
"Mako! Mako! Look! We're here!"
Wu's gloomy disposition brought on by his coronation had slowly disappeared the further they got from Republic City, and now he was in full hyper-active mode. Mako groaned inwardly. He was going to be an absolute pain to keep up with. Never mind the guards that had come along; Wu would be running all over the city without a thought of security.
As they began their descent Wu's energy level only got worse, until Mako feared he would bolt off the ship the moment they landed, and would run straight into Kuvira's camp.
The guy might not be able to defend himself, but that was no reason to be stupid. Mako sighed as he watched his charge run around the hold of the airship, flitting from window to window. Mako resolutely turned his back on the view below; he needed to concentrate on his job. Worrying about Bolin could come later.
The airship landed smoothly, and Mako grabbed Wu's arm to get his attention.
"Listen to me. You've got to stick to me, okay? This isn't the time to be running off starting fights like you did at the mall. Stay close, got it?"
He nodded emphatically. "Yeah, yeah, sure Mako. Like glue, I swear."
Mako didn't feel very reassured, but the hatch was opening and there was a jeep waiting to take them to the train station. They boarded and took off, Mako sitting in the cargo area with one hand on Wu's shoulder in the seat in front of him, ready to push him down to the floor at a moment's notice.
For once, his paranoia paid off.
There was a whistling sound, so faint that Mako barely heard it over the sound of the jeep, but he didn't have time to ask what it was before metal strips came pelting out of the trees. In seconds the other three guards were shackled to the cliff face that closed in the road from one side. Mako managed to knock the ones intended for him out of the air with a burst of flame, after he'd shoved Wu out of the way. He concentrated, slung his arm through the air, and threw a wall of fire up between the road and the woods, where figures clad in deep green and gleaming silver were moving forward.
The fire wall gave him about five seconds to hurdle the two seats and floor the gas pedal, but he hadn't made it thirty feet before the hood of the jeep caved in, crunched together by an invisible hand, and the machine groaned to a stop. Mako stood up and raised one arm, but the flames had barely flickered to life at his fingertips before a metal band snagged his wrist and threw him back against the rock face.
His head hit the rock hard, and when his vision cleared he became aware of the fact that his hands and feet were all bound, and Wu was right next to him hyperventilating and whimpering and in general making it really difficult to concentrate on forming any type of escape plan.
It was on the tip of his tongue to remind Wu that coming here was his idea, but any sarcastic remark was forgotten as a familiar figure stepped closer.
"Bataar, Jr." Mako said, and a flicker of annoyance crossed the other man's face.
"It's just Bataar, now," he said cooly, and turned to Wu. "I'm surprised to see you here. Everyone assumed you would return to Ba Sing Se after your…coronation."
"Yeah, well…felt like making one more stop on the way, you know….do some shopping, maybe pick up a souvenir or two…nothing big." Wu's voice trembled.
Bataar's eyebrows twitched. "Really? Nothing big? No…meetings? No private councils with the leaders of Zaofu? No appointments with my mother? No plots of conspiracy against the Great Uniter?"
Mako's eyes widened slightly. He hadn't considered appearances when trying to dissuade Wu from this trip; Spirits, he was stupid. Before, Kuvira let Wu stick around like a stray dog. Now she'd view him as a threat – and a target.
Nice job, detective.
"We don't have any ulterior motives for coming here, Bataar. Prince Wu just wanted to get a little sight-seeing done."
"King."
Mako froze, craning his neck to look at Wu. "What?"
The guy looked utterly terrified, but he swallowed and said, a bit louder, "I'm King Wu, now. I was crowned last week, remember? Both of you were there."
Mako was torn between grudging admiration and wanting to thump the kid on the forehead. He thought now was the best time to suddenly be self-assertive? Now?
Bataar had the smug look of someone who'd just been proven right.
"So your intentions in visiting Zaofu – " he began, but a distant roar cut him off. He frowned in confusion and scanned the sky, but Mako's heart had already sped up in anticipation. He'd heard that sound often enough on Air Temple Island to recognize it by now. He craned his neck again and made eye contact with Wu.
Get ready, he mouthed silently. Wu nodded.
A huge shadow passed overhead, and a second later the sky bison landed in a rush of air. In the same instant, the metal cuffs around Mako's wrists and ankles released, and he grabbed Wu and pelted straight for the bison. Dimly he was aware of three figures in red airsuits sending blasts of air over their head to give cover, but he didn't register the fourth person until he gave Wu a leg up and saw a hand reach over the side to pull him into the saddle.
"Thanks," he heard Wu say, and he barely caught the "you're welcome" but he was struck at how familiar the voice was, but suddenly he'd climbed up the bison's side on his own and the hand now extended to help him; he grasped it and it tugged him the rest of the way up, and he blinked as a pair of bright blue eyes met his own.
For a moment Mako forgot everything. Everything except the girl in front of him, and memories of early morning practice sessions and I'll always love you and the dull look in her eyes as he'd watched her sail away nearly four years ago.
"Korra," he breathed, but somehow over the chaos ensuing all around them she heard him. One side of her mouth quirked up in a tentative smile and her cheeks turned a faint pink.
"Uh. Hi. Hi, Mako." She managed, and then reality came crashing back in as Jinora cried – Jinora? What are the air kids doing here? – "Pepper, yip yip!"
In that instant both Mako and Korra realized he was still half hanging out of the saddle, and she pulled him the rest of the way up while Meelo and Ikki continued to fire air blasts at the retreating earth benders. Once they were out of range Mako sat back against the saddle's edge. He still hadn't taken his eyes off of Korra. He was almost afraid to.
She hadn't changed much, but at the same time she looked so completely different that it floored him. Her skin was the same – a smooth rich brown, the color of the soil that calls for trees to dig roots deep and strong, and sends new seedlings up to the surface every spring. Her eyes were still that bright turquoise, though they didn't have the same carefree innocence as he remembered. Her hair…he started a bit as he noticed it for the first time.
"You cut your hair." He said aloud without meaning to. Almost instinctively Korra reached to tug on the chin-length strands.
"Yeah…" she said quietly.
"It looks good." He replied, again without really meaning to. The quick, tiny smile that appeared made his chest constrict painfully as he began to notice other differences. She was taller, and leaner, though he couldn't help but wonder if that had anything to do with lack of food during her travels, and her posture wasn't nearly as slumped and defeated as it had been the last time he'd seen her, but her shoulders didn't have that confident set to them that he'd grown accustomed to. Without really trying his eyes noticed a scratch on her upper arm that looked several days old, a faded white scar that he definitely didn't remember on her temple, and an overall roughness to her that he wouldn't have ever imagined her capable of, but it seemed to suit her somehow.
He was brought back to the present by a sharp jab to his ribs.
"Aren't you going to introduce me?" Wu asked rather loudly. Korra's brow furrowed; Mako sighed and decided to get it over with.
"Wu, this is Avatar Korra. Korra…Prince Wu."
Wu's mouth had swung open unattractively upon Mako's utterance of the word Avatar, but Korra shuffled over on her knees and extended a friendly hand.
"Nice to meet you, Wu."
"Uh..uh, a-Avatar," he stammered, and Korra smiled then, really smiled, and Mako swallowed thickly.
"Please, just call me Korra."
"O-okay…Korra."
Wu cut his eyes toward Mako as Korra returned to her side of the saddle. Mako could see all kinds of unspoken questions in his gaze – questions that all revolved around his and Korra's history – but he was mercifully saved by none other than Ikki and Meelo.
The kids' pestering questions were a welcome distraction; at first Mako hadn't wanted to do anything other than stare at Korra and absorb the fact that she was there, but now it had sunk in. She was here, she was alive and by the looks of things pretty much fully recovered, but he knew things weren't the same. And he wasn't prepared for how much that realization would hurt.
Eventually, things quieted down. Suyin and her family welcomed Wu graciously, showed them to their rooms, and included them at dinner, during which the subject of Bolin was neatly avoided for the sake of both Mako and Opal. The latter sat quietly across from Mako, between Huan and Wei, and picked at her food. Mako couldn't help but feel a little sorry for her, especially since Kai and Jinora were seated right next to him and spent the entire meal blushing and giggling.
It would've annoyed him had he not been so distracted. Suyin, through either intense meddling or sheer ignorance, had placed Korra directly across from him, and it was nothing short of a miracle that Mako had gotten any food in his mouth at all. He'd had a few clumsy moments, which Wu had been more than happy to snigger at, but thankfully no one else seemed to notice.
Mercifully, everyone seemed to be tired and turned in early. Even Wu headed to bed earlier than usual, and normally Mako would have relished the solitude. But he knew there wasn't a prayer of him being able to sleep now. Instead he changed into an old white tank and sweats, and headed outside.
He stopped dead on the steps going down to the courtyard. Korra stood in the middle, her arms flowing through familiar patterns and sequences, not bending but merely exercising, and even though Mako had watched her a thousand times before he couldn't look away.
Eventually she turned and noticed him, and her arms froze awkwardly mid-stance.
"Sorry, I…" Mako found himself tongue tied, and felt his face flush. "Sorry," he repeated, " I didn't mean to…I'll just go." He turned and was halfway back up the steps before she called out to him.
"Mako, don't go. You can stay."
Slowly he turned. "You sure?"
He felt a deep, inner rush of delight when she smiled; wide enough for the moonlight to make her teeth shine white in the darkness.
"Yeah. C'mon, I haven't had a decent firebending sparring partner in six months."
Despite himself one corner of his mouth lifted. "Well, I hate to break it to you, but decent's kind of below my pay grade."
She smirked, actually smirked, and once again he felt like he'd been punched in the gut. "I wouldn't say much is below your pay grade, Mr. Body Guard."
Coming from anyone else it would have sent him stomping away. Coming from her, he had to fight a laugh as he took his stance across from her.
The first volley came from her; the flames made him step back before he returned the favor. She blocked his shot easily and aimed a fire whip at his ankles, but he jumped and fired off two quick bolts before rolling to the side.
It was easy, it was comfortable, and it was surreal that twelve hours previously he hadn't had a clue where she was or how she was doing.
Suddenly she stopped, straightening and frowning at him. "Stop doing that."
Perplexed, he dropped his fists to his sides. "Stop what?"
"Stop going easy on me." She waved an aggravated hand and said, "I've spent the past three and half years remastering the elements, Mako. I can take it if you push me a little."
He almost denied it, almost retorted that he wasn't holding back, but the look in her eyes told him it would be useless. He sighed.
"I don't know if that's a good idea, Korra," he began, but she took a step closer and cut him off.
"Why? We've sparred before, I've taken hits for you in probending before, I've protected you before. Why are you suddenly scared of hurting me? I'm fine!"
"Well it's not like I would know that, seeing as you never wrote back in three years!"
The words were out in the air before he had a chance to bite them back, and Korra blinked as they hung between the two of them. Mako winced, and took a deep breath.
"I'm sorry. That…that was uncalled for."
She swallowed and said, "No, it's okay. I'm sure you would have appreciated a reply at some point."
"No, really. I didn't care."
Her eyes widened. "Oh."
His brain finally decided to join the conversation and replayed his words. Panicking slightly, he stepped closer to her.
"No! No, that's not what I meant…"
"Then what did you mean?"
You're just as bad at talking about your feelings as you were three years ago, a voice that sounded an awful lot like Asami chided him, but he ignored it.
"I...I just meant that yeah, it would have been nice to hear from you, but it wasn't a requirement or anything. I was disappointed, I'll admit, but…I understood. I still do."
Korra stared at him for a moment before she rolled her eyes affectionately.
"You're still really bad at expressing your feelings."
He managed a grin. "Yeah, I know."
The silence rung in his ears, their sparring match seemed pointless now, and he'd just opened his mouth to ask if she wanted an update on everyone back home when she abruptly said, "Well, I guess I'd better turn in. Probably a lot to do tomorrow."
He nodded, the flush back on his cheeks. "Yeah, me too. Who knows what Wu has planned."
She laughed slightly, before they exchanged another awkward too-long moment of eye contact, and then she cleared her throat.
"Well. Um, goodnight, Mako. See you in the morning, I guess."
"Sure. Um…'night."
She'd almost made it to the steps when he whirled around.
"Korra."
He met her questioning gaze over her shoulder and felt a tight knot inside of him loosen slightly.
"It's…it's really good to see you. I'm glad you're doing better."
She smiled again, and said, "Thanks, Mako. It's good to see you too."
The next morning Wu tugged Mako out into the markets immediately after breakfast, declaring the discussions and meetings taking place at the Beifong estate to be dull and boring. Mako desperately wanted to point out that since he'd claimed to be King Wu the day before it was probably his duty to take part in those meetings, however dull and boring they might be, but then he remembered that he'd have to be in there as well, as Wu's bodyguard, and he held his tongue.
The only downside to getting out of the meetings was not being able to see Korra. Naturally she was needed in every single one, and at one point Tenzin was phoned so he could speak with her. Mako and Wu had just returned when Korra came out of Suyin's study, red-eyed and wiping her face but smiling from ear to ear. It wasn't hard to guess for Mako.
He'd known Tonraq was still in Republic City, and getting to speak with your father and mentor together for the first time in six months would put anybody in tears. As he passed her in the hall he squeezed her shoulder briefly. She didn't say anything, but he didn't miss her tiny smile, either.
Lunch was quiet, although Wei and Wing coaxed Korra into another game of power disc that afternoon. They were in the middle of bickering over who would get to fight her first when Jinora abruptly leaned across Mako.
"Wu, what were your plans for this afternoon?"
Wu blinked in surprise at being addressed; the table had fallen silent and for a moment he didn't reply, but eventually he coughed and said, "Um…I'm not sure, really. Mako and I kind of hit up all the shops this morning. Do they have movers here?"
Jinora's eyes crinkled in a smile as she shook her head. "No, I don't think so, but if you want I can show you some airbending moves!"
"Oh, um thanks, I guess, but….I'm not a bender."
"That's okay. These moves are still great for self-defense. And after what happened yesterday it might be a good idea for you to learn the basics."
Mako felt his eyebrows migrate upwards in surprise. Of Tenzin's three kids, Jinora had always been the least annoying, but ever since she'd gotten her tattoos she'd been like a miniature grown-up. It probably should have stopped surprising him a long time ago, but he couldn't help but be impressed.
"I think that's a great idea," he spoke up, and met Wu's astonished gaze evenly. "You don't have to become a professional fighter, Wu. Just enough to protect yourself if I'm ever not around."
He nodded encouragingly. Wu still looked unsure, but he nodded too.
Jinora beamed. "Great! We'll start right after we finish eating."
Everyone went back to their plates, but just before Mako looked down at his he caught Korra's gaze from across the table. There was something like approval in her eyes, but she looked away too quickly for him to be sure.
It was dark again, and everyone was in bed when Mako crept out to the courtyard. As he'd hoped, Korra stood alone, going through her stances again, although this time little puffs of air and fire were produced. Part of him wanted to just stand and watch her again, but he knew it had sort of freaked her out last night so he cleared his throat to make his presence known.
She grinned as she turned to him, balancing a little ball of fire in her palm.
"Catch." She tossed to him, and he spun it around him once before letting hover at his fingertips. He smiled back at her.
"You seem happy."
If anything her smile got bigger, and his heart thudded at the sight.
"I am. I hadn't realized how much I missed my dad and Tenzin. It was good hearing their voices today." She paused, looking up at the stars. "Toph was right."
He was still wrapping his head around the fact that she'd found the Toph Beifong in the swamp, but he asked, "Right about what?"
She looked at him. "She said…that I've been disconnected for too long. Disconnected from the people who love me." Her voice was quiet, and in the moonlight he could see tears shimmering in her eyes.
"I'm really sorry I didn't write to you."
"Korra…" in three strides he was there, wrapping her in his arms and pressing her face into his shoulder. She was trembling slightly, and it only made him hold her tighter even as her fingertips dug into his shoulder blades, almost afraid to not hold him a closely as was physically possible, but he relished the idea that maybe she'd missed him as much as he'd missed her.
He had no idea of how long they stood like that, his face burrowed into the crook of her neck and shoulder, breathing in the smell of her hair, while she calmed and held him and let him hold her until finally he had to tell her.
He pulled back, and took her face into his hands, one thumb stroking her cheekbone softly.
"I meant what I said, Korra."
Her breathing hitched. "When?"
He knew exactly what she was talking about. But he wouldn't be distracted that easily.
"Last night. You weren't obligated to reply to any of my letters. That's not why I wrote to you."
Her voice was soft. "Then why did you?"
"So that you would know I was there for you. That I wanted you to get better. That I missed you. And that I mean what I said that other time too."
This time, she knew exactly what he was talking about, and his heart started doing strange things in response to the look in her eyes.
"You did?" she asked, still so softly it was little more than a whisper.
He leaned closer. "I love you, Korra. I always will."
He took a brief second to appreciate the glow of her blue eyes when she heard those words, and then he was unable to help himself any longer, and lowered his head to capture her lips with his own.
The kiss was soft and timid at first, uncharacteristic for them, but then Korra slid her hands up into his hair and pressed herself up against him, and Mako's arms had wound around her so tightly it was a wonder he wasn't hurting her.
Over and over and over again he kissed her with everything he had, not caring if he couldn't breathe – air seemed so unimportant right now – all he could focus on was the feel of her in arms, different than it used to be thanks to the growing both of them have undergone, but somehow it was still exactly the same, much like Korra herself.
The words weren't enough, he realized dimly, and he tried to pour it all into his touch, his kiss, all the words he found difficult to say and even when they came they weren't strong enough.
I missed you.
I love you.
I've always loved you.
I'm yours.
He started to think that maybe she was getting the message, because her kiss had suddenly become deeper, more meaningful and he felt it all the way to his toes.
At long last he pulled away to kiss her neck reverently, but she took his face between her hands and looked into his eyes.
"I love you, Mako," she said quietly, and the fierce rush of excitement that he felt the first time she had said those words was still there, but there was also an overwhelming security, like he'd known it all along and she was giving him reassurance. His breath caught in his throat at the incredible peace and safety that feeling brings, and he stroked her hair away from her face and kissed her softly.
"I know."