Rain fell heavily and left dark spots on the cement. Korra's heaving chest, along with the falling rain, was the only movement in the empty training field.
"I want a day off," she said to herself as she began to massage her sore muscles. She had worked hard all day, trying to produce a burst of air. Korra was beginning to think she would never be able to air bend. "Maybe just once I could be someone other than the avatar."
"How about you be my date for the day?" asked a voice emerging from the trees that surrounded the training field. Korra jumped to her feet, ready to attack.
"Hey, it's just me," said Bolin, entering the area with his hands up in surrender.
"Oh, you," said Korra, relaxing. She collapsed back onto the hard floor. "It didn't seem like something you would say, so I wasn't sure. Why are you here?" she asked as Bolin sat down next to her.
"To take you on a date."
Korra laughed but stopped once she saw how serious Bolin was.
"I'm sorry," she said noticing the hurt look in his eyes. "I didn't know you were serious."
"I'm completely serious. You want a day off, to be a normal person. What better way to do that than going on a date with the best earth bender alive?"
Korra laughed. Bolin always knew how to make her smile when she felt like crying.
"I don't know," she admitted.
"Come on. It won't hurt anything. Plus, you really deserve a day off. All this work and no play? That's totally unfair!"
"What do you have in mind?" Korra couldn't believe she was actually considering going on a date with Bolin. It wouldn't mean anything, though, she told herself. It'd just be harmless fun.
"I heard that this time of the year is perfect for penguin sledding."
"Get real. You'd have to travel to the Southern Water Tribe to find any penguins. Unless you magically find an Air Bison, good luck getting there."
Bolin smiled and pointed across the island to a large barn big enough for half a dozen Air Bison.
"I'm quite the magician," said Bolin with a grin.
Korra thought over the situation in her head. What would Tenzin want her to do? Not sneak away and continue her training. It seemed like all she had been doing since she arrived at Republic City was train. Her only fun had been the Pro-Bending tournaments, and that was still mostly training, just in a different environment.
"Race you!" shouted Korra, jumping to her feet. She ran on light feet, her head start giving her an early lead. Korra looked over her shoulder to see Bolin slipping and sliding in the rain, trying to keep up. She laughed as she entered the Air Bison barn first and locked the door behind her.
"Korra, it's pouring now!" shouted Bolin. "Open the door!" There was roar from inside and Bolin took a step back just in time. The doors flew open to reveal Korra sitting atop an Air Bison.
"Hop on!"
Bolin scrambled up the side of the Air Bison, pulling out white tuffs of hair in the process. He seated himself behind Korra, wrapping his arms around her waist and pressing himself a little too closely against her. He watched as Korra nervously played with the reigns in her hands.
"Do you even know how to fly one of these?" asked Bolin hesitantly.
"No. But it can't be too hard. I've seen Tenzin do it hundreds of times. Yip yip!"
None of them were ready for the Air Bison's quick leap into the air. Bolin held on tighter to Korra and tried not to look down.
"Afraid of heights?" asked Korra, chancing a look over her shoulder.
"No, falling."
It took some time for Korra to get used to flying the bison, and for the first ten minutes, the flight was miserable. Soon, the two got used to the traveling in the air and they began to relax. Bolin made himself comfortable in the large saddle, finding a blanket in one of the saddle bags.
"It's freezing up here," he commented.
"Yeah, you didn't dress very wisely. It's even colder at the Southern Water Tribe."
"You might have to keep me warm."
Korra ignored Bolin's straightforward remark. She didn't know how to handle Bolin's newfound boldness, and it caused her to rethink many of her feelings.
"Well here we are, the Southern Water Tribe," said Korra a few hours later.
"Wow," said Bolin, leaning over the edge as far as he dared. "It's actually kind of pretty."
"What do you mean?" asked Korra, suddenly defensive about her home. "What were you expecting it to look like?"
"I dunno, a barren waste land, dirty snow, howling winds."
"We still have the winds. As for barren, it's nothing of the sort. Do you see all those dots over there?" asked Korra, pointing to the south.
Bolin squinted, trying to see them.
"Oh, yeah. What are those? Rocks?"
"Penguins."
"What are those things?" asked Bolin, pointing to a few shimmering blue dots sitting by the shore. He was now extremely curious about what he would find.
"Those are pueals. They're a cross between a puma and seal. Pueals were thought to be extinct, but a long time ago, an avatar named Siku was given a pueal by her great grandmother. I've only seen one up close, and they're beautiful creatures. It is not very often someone sees one. There are old tribe tales that say if you find a pueal in the wild on your own, you're about to go on a great adventure. If you find a pueal in the wild with a person of the opposite sex, you'll fall in love."
"Do you believe any of that?" asked Bolin.
"Not at all," said Korra. "It's just an old wives tale."
"Sometimes I like to believe stories like that."
The landing was more of a crash than anything else. Bolin was thrown off the bison, but Korra threw up a snow mound to catch him.
"Why is it so cold?" asked Bolin shivering. He wrapped the blanket tighter around his body.
"Here." Korra dug through a saddlebag and found an old winter coat. It was probably something of Kataras that she left there many years ago. She threw the coat to Bolin and laughed as he struggled to get it on. "Let me help." Korra started to button and tie the coat correctly. When she finished, she looked up into Bolin's eyes and immediately regretted it. The close proximity to him made her heart beat faster and she blushed. Korra quickly stepped back and turned around. Her emotions weren't making any sense. They were changing and she was trying to stop them. Bolin and her could never work.
"Have you ever gone penguin sledding?" asked Korra, looking to finding something else to focus her thoughts on. She did not want to dwell on her feelings too long. Maybe if she ignored them, they would go away.
"No. What do you do first?" asked Bolin, still lost in the moment before. Bolin saw something in Korra's eyes that gave him hope that maybe, just maybe, something could happen between them.
"First, you've got to catch a penguin. The easiest way is with food, though you could also take a more untraditional route." Korra grinned and ran to the nearest snow bank. She climbed up it before jumping over the edge. Bolin hurried to the top to make sure Korra was okay.
Bolin saw Korra on the ground wrestling with a penguin. She quickly got the penguin under control and was sitting on its back. Bolin laughed. That was so like Korra.
"How many times have you done this?" he asked. He noticed it hadn't taken her long at all to get the penguin under her control.
"When I was younger I used to sneak away for days on end. Before I had Naga, the fastest way to get anywhere around here was by penguin. I became an expert."
"Why did you sneak away?"
"The same reason I sneaked away today."
"So how did you do that?" asked Bolin referring to how Korra caught the penguin. He didn't want to be outdone.
"You've just gotta jump on 'em and tickle their armpits."
"There armpits?" asked Bolin. That seemed like an odd way to catch an animal. He wasn't sure if Korra was teasing him.
"Just try."
Bolin searched for a penguin and found one standing with its back facing him. Bolin crept forward, trying to keep silent but not succeeding. He stepped on a piece of ice, breaking it, and alerting the penguin to Bolin's presence. The penguin started to bolt. Without thinking, Bolin created a rock wall cage to trap the penguin.
"Now that's cheating!" called Korra as she watched Bolin tame the trapped penguin.
"It's not cheating, just untraditional!" called Bolin back. "What do we do next?"
"Follow my lead!" Korra picked the penguin up and slung it over her shoulder. She instantly recognized the land. One hundred meters north of their location was the perfect natural course for penguin sledding.
"The key is to relax and go with the penguin. The penguin is going to navigate the turns by itself, so you don't need to steer. Just hold on tight," explained Korra once they were both standing at the start of the course. The walk had been grueling in the snow, and the uphill trek made it worse.
"I won't die, will I?" asked Bolin, suddenly nervous.
"I guess we'll find out in a few minutes. On your mark, get set, go!" Once again, Korra had the head start. She jumped onto her penguin expertly. The penguin moved quickly and swiftly, effortlessly making the turns.
Before Bolin could talk himself out of it, he jumped onto his penguin and they flew through the course. Soon they had caught up with Korra.
The adrenaline was incredible. The cold wind whipped against Bolin's face but he didn't care. He was having too much fun to let it bother him. Laughter filled the enclosed course; both Korra and Bolin were enjoying the rush.
Bolin beat Korra by a few seconds, though they both went hurling off their penguins. Bolin landed hard in the snow, but Bolin's body cushioned Korra's fall.
"Looks like I won," said Bolin with a smile. His arms naturally wrapped around Korra and she relaxed comfortable onto him.
"Best two out of three?" she suggested, not liking to lose.
"Sure, but how about we take a break first?" Bolin placed his hands lightly on Korra's face, and before she could react, he was kissing her. Korra tried to fight back and reject what was happening, but her heart won over, ignoring everything her brain screamed to her. The kiss felt natural and right, so she kissed Bolin back.
Their long kiss was interrupted by a high-pitched growl. They both looked up to see a tall and long pueal stand a few feet from them. The pueal nodded his head at the couple before flicking his fish like tail. He turned to leave; his shimmering blue and green coat gleamed off the reflection of the sun on the ice.
"I still believe in those stories. How about you?" asked Bolin, referring to the superstition Korra told him a while ago.
"I've been convinced." Korra smiled before leaning down to kiss Bolin again.