If we return to the beginning of our love

Would it still be as beautiful?

What.

Asami stared at Korra like she'd grown another head.

Or maybe she did. For all Asami knew, Korra could have turned into a giant talking turnip right in front of her and that wouldn't be the least bit surprising after the stuff she'd pulled off earlier.

But what Korra talked about was a completely different matter.

There was just no way. Reincarnation and past lives were popular cliché for trashy romance novels (the kind which Asami would in a million years never admit to secretly enjoy - the Queen had to have some dignity to uphold, after all).

They were just the stuff of legends, of myths from a long time past when people were still waging wars simply because mages and non-mages apparently didn't like each other.

Korra couldn't have expected her to believe that, could she?

Asami put the pendant down in front of her. "You're joking, right?" Disbelief was written all over her face.

"No, I'm not. Maybe it hasn't come back to you yet, but I know you're her." Korra reached over for the pendant. "We made a promise, once. This," she started polishing it with her thumb, "you gave it to me on the day of our wedding."

Asami squinted her eyes at that. "No, that just sounds like a promise between you and someone else." She pointed out, clearly unconvinced. "Not me."

Korra lips parted, seemingly wanting to say something before closing them just as quick.

Asami kept looking at the tanned girl, half expecting her to keep talking about that ridiculous claim. The other half gulped, not sure if she didn't believe it or she just didn't want to.

Finally, Korra spoke: "You've seen my most precious treasure. Aren't you curious why its shape seems to match perfectly with your birthmark? The one on your right, just under your chest?"

Mortified, Asami suddenly felt her face flushed red. "How... How dare you speak to me in such vulgar tone? I'm the Queen." She gritted her teeth, looking anywhere but Korra' intense eyes, embarrassment laced with anger in her voice. It was a secret no one else knew except her mother - but she'd passed away since Asami was just a child. No one else was supposed to know.

Korra just shrugged slightly, unfazed by her sudden outburst.

"You accused me of stalking you. I didn't. I've never peeked on you naked if that's what you're thinking."

A beat.

"I just know because you're her."

Head hung low, Korra's voice became sombre as she continued: "You were killed trying to protect me. The blow that was meant for me hit you in that exact same spot." She made a gesture to Asami's abdomen.

All Asami's embarrassment went away at the pain in Korra's voice.

Asami didn't know what to say. As unbelievable as this sounded, and as much as she didn't want to believe it, she couldn't just dismiss all that she'd heard.

Asami did briefly consider the idea that the dragon was just pulling her legs, that this girl was just a trick, a hallucination created to fool her, but Korra's eyes said otherwise. They were just so... real. So real and so painful that Asami could almost believe the pain was her own.

(almost, because it would be absurd to believe that she was once betrothed to a murderous dragon.)

If there was any point in lying to her, Asami didn't know. Korra had her wish granted. Asami had finally come here per the dragon's demand. What else could Korra possibly want if this was all just a lie?

(Asami cursed her treacherous desire to reach over and lay a comfort hand on the other girl's clenched fists.)

She guessed the dragon might want to take her throne and the kingdom (as cliché as that sounded), but she had arrived at noon and the sky was getting darker now. If Korra wanted to kill her, Asami bet she could have done so the minute she noticed Asami's presence without ever changing into her human form. While she could handle herself well in a fight, Asami did come here with the intend to give herself up for the sake of her people. All she had with her were her daggers and some light hunting gears - hardly equipped for slaying dragons, even a dragon who only stood as tall as the ceiling in her bedchamber.

(She felt her ears suddenly became warm at the thought)

The cracking noises of dried leaves being stepped on startled her and pulled Asami out of her thoughts. Asami looked around to see Korra already got up and was inside the cave putting the pendant away, with her back turned to her.

"It's getting late. Could you start a fire while I'm going to get us something for dinner? I'll be back soon."

Asami absently nodded before she remembered Korra couldn't see her. "Um, sure."

Korra emerged from the cave, looking at anywhere but her. Asami noticed but didn't comment on it.

"I went collecting firewood yesterday so there should be plenty of it inside the cave. Anyway, um, would you prefer fish or just regular meat? There's not much I can offer out here but fruits and roast meat are always on the menu." The corners of Korra's mouth curved upward in a soft smile.

The sight tugged at Asami's heart. For a split second the familiarity of it blurred her mind and she spoke without really knowing why.

"I still have some food left from the journey, surely we could share? It probably won't last past tomorrow anyway." Asami offered. "I mean, I can eat anything, but you don't have to go look for food if you don't feel like it."

That made Korra briefly looked at her again before turning away.

"It's fine. I'm fine. I'll be back soon."

With that, Korra turned away, leaving Asami standing alone in front of the cave and wondering if she had been a little bit too friendly with an (allegedly, Varrick - her advisor would say) dangerous dragon she'd just met.

She kept her gaze steady on the small of Korra's back until the girl had completely disappeared into the woods, suppressing a sudden irrational urge to cry.

It was all very irrational. And stupid.

So Asami turned her mind to the task at hand. Better not think about something she had no explanation for and focus on what she had to do at the moment.

It took Asami another hour or so after she gave up trying to start the fire to realise that Korra had a small makeshift cupboard stood just next to the pile of firewood, half filled with dried fish and some fresh apples.

The wood was dry and absolutely flammable but for some reason it just refused to burn.

Asami had nothing but her mind to occupy herself with.

Arms wrapped around her legs, Asami found her thoughts reeling back to what Korra had told her earlier.

Try as she might, Asami just couldn't bring herself to believe that it was all just an elaborate deception.

If there was any reason for Korra to asked for her specifically, only to not kill her when she arrived - she didn't know.

Well, the dragon - Korra might have wanted to take advantage of Asami herself, but... was there any point in telling her all those things when she had already been at the girl's mercy, without any practical mean to defend herself, unless there was at least some truth to them?

Korra had been gone for hours - the sky was getting a lot darker and Asami could barely make out the shape of the firepit she had built.

Reincarnated love, huh?

Asami remembered the stories she read when she was younger. The legend had been really popular hundreds of years ago, it appeared in almost every stories and songs written around that time. Most of the records and literature were destroyed during the Great War when the tension between mages and non-mages grew to its height, but the royal library was all but a pride of her family - if not her country.

Of course, that didn't mean the academic books on the subject survived. The songs and folktales remained, though. They disagreed on a lot of things, but they all talked about the presence of old souls and new ones, about love that transcended lifetimes and some kind of magic ritual that bound two willing souls together.

Magic. Probably the reason why the legend was now nothing but just a fairy tale for children. Mages still existed - her knight-commander was one - but they were no longer ruling over everyone else simply because of what they were born with. The fact that non-mages like her and her father could now inherit the throne was proof of that.

It was difficult to imagine that, once so long ago, the very fact that someone might or might not be born without any magical abilities had been enough to spark a war lasted for decades. When the two sides finally agreed to sit down and negotiate, the cost had already been too great. It was a history lesson that the world had all agreed to make sure every child would know of - and Asami wasn't an exception. She had been groomed to be the heir to the throne, of course history would be her lifelong friend.

An heir - now Queen - who was now sitting alone in a cave waiting for a girl-who-could-turn-into-a-dragon to return.

Life was full of the unexpected.

Asami thought back to the food cupboard, which was definitely not empty, and wondered why Korra had decided to lie to her over such a small thing like that.

Maybe she should have asked to come with Korra earlier, if only to make sure that she wouldn't pull anything strange. Asami mentally smacked herself for being so careless around the girl whom she'd just met half a day ago and who was apparently the dragon that had been wrecking havocs around these parts of her country.

Or... Could it be that Korra had run into some kind of trouble? Asami didn't remember the girl taking with her any weapon. Sure, she could turn into a dragon - was the dragon - but she had been in her human form when she left. Asami hadn't heard anything like the sound of wings flapping either.

(The tiny voice at the back of her mind kept whispering something else, though. Something like, oh, Asami, you know how you're always left behind, one way or another.)

((She was determined to ignore it.))

Growing worried as the sun almost completely disappeared over the horizon, Asami decided to get her horse and go search for Korra herself.

"Hey, I'm back."

And of course the girl would choose that exact moment to announce her return.

Her voice startled Asami and she turned around to see Korra with what looked like two hare carcasses in both her hands.

There was something strange about her, however, but Asami couldn't quite put her finger on what it might be. So she just stood there, hands still firmly on the horse's rein, staring at Korra's silhouette against the dim light from the cave' entrance.

The silence dragged on long enough to make her feel a bit awkward.

"Um, I hope you don't mind roast hares. I don't exactly have the best cooking utensils out here. The meals are often rather simple." Korra said as she noticed the fire pit Asami had built earlier. Without any comment on why she didn't start the fire, the girl proceeded to set up the hares for cooking.

Asami blinked. And blinked again.

She found her voice finally. "I thought..." she bit her lip, hesitated for a moment before continued, "I thought you had left."

Korra immediately stopped what she was doing and turned to her - and Asami thought, not for the first time, how painfully familiar the sight was.

She didn't say anything, however, instead turning her attention back to the hares.

"I'm sorry." Korra said, before flicking her wrist and the wood immediately caught fire.

The warm light filled the cave and Asami had to squint her eyes at the sudden brightness. Again, the feeling of something strange with Korra nagged at her. It wasn't until Korra asked her to come sit down that Asami realised what it was. She settled on the other side of the firepit, facing Korra.

"If you wanted to go and cut your hair in private, you could have just told me." She said, perhaps a bit annoyed, if not hurt. I was worried.

Korra raised an eyebrow and looked at her, confused. "I didn't. It's been like this for a long t- Wait!" She stopped midway of turning over the hares, her eyebrows suddenly knitted together in a frown. "You remember that?"

It was Asami's turn to get confused. She blinked rapidly. "Remember what?"

"I used to have long hair. But that was centuries ago. When you... when she was still alive." Korra resumed cooking the meat, a soft smile donned her lips. "You... she always said I should let my hair down more often."

As if sensing what she wanted to ask, Korra continued "But living here, exiled in a cave, it's hard to constantly take care of it. So one day I just decided to chop it off."

"I like it. Suits you a lot." Asami blurted out before she could stop herself.

She really should stop feeding Korra's belief about her being the girl's reincarnated love.

Thankfully, Korra didn't say anything. She just keep looking at her with that gentle smile and nodded, "Thank you."

They ate their meal in silence, stealing glances as one thought the other wasn't looking.

The meat wasn't as delicious as when her chef prepared it, but it tasted good enough to keep Asami from thinking too hard about the fact that maybe, just maybe, she had once been in love with the dragon.

And wasn't that a scary thought?

But it wasn't the dragon who was sitting across from her, it was just a human girl. A human girl with beautiful dark skin and bright blue eyes who possessed such a painfully familiar smile that it tugged at her heart every time she saw the other curved her lips.

Their eyes locked, and Asami realised she must have been staring at Korra for a while, food forgotten in her hands.

Damn, Asami mentally cursed at herself and went back to paying attention to the half-eaten hare leg, methodically chewing.

She didn't need to look up to know that across from her, Korra just continued smiling, eyes soft and gentle.