That bastard.
Asami knows, logically, that she shouldn't be surprised. People flit around like smoke- that's the way the world works. Her mother, who was unassuming to a fault, turned into a charred corpse when the Agni Kai triad placed her money above her life. She had taken up arms against her father, whose grief drove him straight into Amon's clutches, straight into false consolations and false vengeance. She's never had a (true) friend that's valued her for more than the privilege she oozes like a wound oozes pus. And she's suspected Mako's feelings about Korra for weeks now.
But all of the rationalizations she can invent don't soothe her hurt. She let Mako and Bolin move in with her without a second thought- they needed a place to crash, and it's easier to ask for forgiveness than permission, anyway. She thought she'd found someone who understood about what happened to her mom. She bent over backwards to be an attentive, caring girlfriend, at least one that would be kept around for convenience if nothing else.
She was willing to electrocute her own father for Mako's sake. The man who made sure she was given the best self-defense lessons on the market, indulged her when she begged for one-more-story, didn't scoff at her desire to race cars, despite her socialite status. He had allied himself against her friends, against justice. Yet she had never felt more alone, that night on the airship.
What does she get in return? A hurried goodbye that drips of notmyfaultIlikeanothergirl and thisisawkwardashellsolet'sjustpretendwewerenothing. An all-access pass to watching Mako and Korra suck each other's faces. So much for 'Team Avatar.' More like 'the Fire Ferrets plus Asami, but she's as disposable as a plastic bag.'
Once, she saw a husband in Mako when he smoothed her hair. A sister in Korra when her eyes lit up on the racetrack. A brother in Bolin as he played around with Pabu.
Now she has nobody, as per usual. An empty house that makes her want to curl up and cry on the floor whenever she encounters her father's handkerchiefs or her mother's foundation. Memories of Equalists and betrayal and a conflict that was never truly solved.
People flit around like smoke- that's the way the world works. Stupid, stupid girl. How could she have forgotten?
There are tears welling in her eyes. She blinks them back and forces herself to smile- she has a victory banquet to attend. Perhaps, in the space of a few hours, she can pretend that she's come out on top.