It was noon when the two of them were assaulted by the wet nose of a large polarbear dog. They returned from the spirit world at something like 7 in the morning, too tired to look at the clock when their heads finally hit the pillow. They had been sleeping so deeply that they missed the opening of the door that had let Naga in.
Though Korra could hear a slight giggle outside their door after her exasperated yelp, the result of Naga jumping on the bed nearly pushed Asami off the mattress. The source of the giggle was surely Opal, she recognized it clearly.
"Damn it Opal!" Korra yelled; a sarcastic tone to her voice.
Opal, ever the prankster due to Bolin; peeked her head into Korra's room.
"Huh, what did I do?"
"Well, you let Naga into my room. Probably because you knew she missed me a lot and would clamber onto my bed, and totally startle me awake; while also nearly knocking Asami off the bed."
"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt you two lovebirds sleep." She answered with a hint of snark in her voice and a grin on her face.
Both Korra and Asami stared Opal down, hoping that it was only Bolin and Opal that knew.
"Don't worry, I told Bolin to keep in between us. I'm sure you two would rather let people know on your own. How was your vacation?"
"It was great, the spirit world was beautiful, and we got to just relax and not worry about anything." Asami answered.
"I'm glad you two had a nice vacation but I'm glad your back, Raiko was starting to actually have to act as a leader of the nation for once and I don't think he liked it much."
"Great, I'm going to have to deal with that?" Korra asked, hoping that she could enjoy a few weeks of peace and quiet until she had to deal with rebuilding the city or dealing with the Earth Kingdom. "What exactly was he struggling with?"
"Well Wu announced his plan to step down as King and his plan to unite the states of the Earth Kingdom through a democratic system, which caused a bit of unrest. Nothing we couldn't handle, but he's been trying to deal with some of the states close to the United Republic wanting to join us instead. Wu said it didn't really matter to him, that he just wanted all the states happy, but Raiko apparently is trying to force really strict terms to the states joining the nation. It's been a long week."
"Thanks for the wake up anyway Opal, and can you thank Bolin for watching Naga when you see him?"
"Sure, I need to get back to training. But I'll see you both at dinner tonight?"
"Yeah," Asami answered.
"Then I'll leave you two alone." She said with a wink; closing the door behind her.
"Bolin and Opal really are perfect for each other, aren't they?" Asami asked. "I'd love to have a relationship like theirs."
"Well I'm sure that is a possibility," Korra answered in a happy tone. "Come on, let's get dressed and get some food. I'm starving."
Asami couldn't help but steal glances at Korra as they changed into their day clothes, taking in her toned body at every chance she had. She held a deep admiration for Korra's muscular body, she had always respected how muscular the master of the elements had to be and now it was hers to personally admire.
They both made their way to the dining room, hoping to catch the end of lunch, only to find Pema cleaning up.
"Oh hey you two, glad you're up. Would you mind getting those last couple of dishes from the dining room?"
"Sure, no problem" Korra answered grabbing a stack of wooden bowls from the table.
"Thanks. So did you two enjoy your vacation? I bet the Spirit World was extra beautiful for you two."
"As a matter of fact, it was." Asami responded. "We saw so many beautiful sights. We visited Won Shi Tong's library. We were chased out of the library. And then Korra stormed back into the library and demanded we be allowed to wander around because 'she's The Avatar.'"
"Well I'm glad you two enjoyed yourselves. What you two have is so special. I remember when Tenzin and I first started dating, oh he was so romantic."
"Pema?" Korra questioned. "How do you know we're dating? Did Bolin tell you? We told him to keep it quiet!"
"I may be getting older, Korra, but I still know young love when I see it. I saw it the way you two constantly spent as much time as possible around each other the past couple of months, the way you two barely had your eyes off each other at Varrick's wedding. How often Asami stayed here and slept in your bed while you were gone."
"You slept in my bed?" Korra asked with an affectionate laugh.
"Once or twice," Asami answered covering her face, "It was the only thing I could find that smelt like you." She whispered.
"That is too cute," Korra responded, fully embracing her girlfriend. "But Pema, you have to promise not to tell anyone."
"I promise. I don't think anyone else knows, at least nobody mentioned anything to me."
"I, well, we just want to be the ones to tell people. And more importantly, I don't want our private life plastered all over the media." Asami cautioned, well aware of the trauma of being questioned publicly. She was scrutinized the moment she took over Future Industries and it was definitely something she wanted to avoid for as long as possible after proving her worth as the CEO of the company.
"Well, we were just heading out. We're going to go get some lunch and then we were going to survey the wreckage of downtown. We'll be back for dinner though!"
"Alright, well stay safe you two."
"I'm The Avatar, I'm more than capable!" Korra responded. "Stop laughing at me Asami, I know that stupid giant owl kicked me out of the library, but it was on my terms! I still won that fight!"
"See I told you Narooks would be open!" Kora asserted, proud of the work ethic of her fellow water tribesman. "No stupid spirit ray attack will scare them into staying closed.
"Okay, you were right. Now let's get some food and get a table, my stomach is eating itself."
With their food ordered, they made their way to a table in the corner of the restaurant and settled down to wait for their order.
Just as they had made themselves comfortable in the booth, taking up each other's space as much as possible, a familiar firebender walked in and placed an order. Upon seeing his two best friends he made his way over to the booth.
"Oh hey you two, enjoy your honeymoon?" Mako inquired.
"Whatever do you mean, Mako?" Korra queried.
"You know, a vacation after a wedding, where the couple get to know each other more closely." Mako answered with a smug grin on his face. "Oh come on, don't look at me like that. I'm happy for you two! I kind of can't believe that I managed to date two women who would find love in each other, but I guess I'm happy to be of service."
"Mako, where did you get the idea that we're a couple?" Asami asked, slightly annoyed that two people had managed to know about her and Korra.
He sat down opposite them in the booth.
"Asami, I'm a detective. And you two looked seconds away from mapping each other's mouths with your tongues."
"You spend too much time with Lin, you know that?" Korra asked dryly.
"This past week I definitely have. I've been working with her to look for and clear out any squatters in the condemned buildings, we don't want anyone getting hurt when they get taken down."
"Is the homelessness problem really that bad? I didn't think that many homes were destroyed during the battle." Asami questioned, hoping that the issue could be easily fixed.
"We don't know. Lin seems to think that it might be people from the neighboring Earth Kingdom States looking for refuge but a large portion of people are saying that they're from the United Republic. They could be lying but we don't have any way of proving it."
"I really don't think that's a major issue right now. Keeping those people safe should be a concern." Korra insisted, hoping that the added strain of these refugees might not tip the nation into chaos. "I really shudder to think what would happen if all these people were more organized; especially if the Triads start building up."
"Well that's what we're trying to avoid. If we can stop the gangs from rebuilding in the first place, it makes my job a hell of a lot easier. Don't worry; we can deal with these refugees."
Mako got up to pick up his order. "I'll see you two later though; try to enjoy the rest of your day."
Not a moment later, a large order of noodles was delivered to their table.
Korra and Asami, stomachs rumbling from hunger, started scarfing down the order of noodles. It wasn't until Korra got to a stubborn piece of noodle that her eating slowed down. And it wasn't long before her slurping up the noodle turned into an impromptu kissing of Asami.
A momentary stun brought a flash of red to both their faces.
"So, was that our first kiss?" Korra asked, still taken aback by the surprise of the unexpected kiss.
"I suppose it was, yeah. But it was pretty weak for a first kiss." Asami stated as she turned her head back towards Korra.
"Then let's try that again." Korra stated as she tenderly grabbed Asami's jaw and brushed her lips gingerly against Asami's before she was overtaken by Asami kissing her deeply and seemingly sucking the air from her lungs; stopping only to hold her forehead against Korra's for a moment.
"Sorry, I've been holding onto that for a while." Asami stated quietly, glad that it was just the two of them in the restaurant, and that the chef was busy in the back.
Korra's heart was left pounding against her chest, trying to leap out to dance on the table. Kissing Asami was definitely something she was expecting to enjoy but that was something totally incomparable. Not that she had experienced many other kisses in her life.
"Come on, let's get going. What are you still doing in there?" Korra asked, shouting into Narook's; wondering what was taking Asami so long.
"I'll tell you in a second." Asami shouted back.
Asami was back outside with Korra after a few minutes with a grin forming across her face, a question forming in Korra's mind.
"What was that all about?"
"I was just setting something up, don't worry about it." Asami answered mildly.
"Setting what up?"
"A tab, so the homeless have somewhere to eat while we get everything back in running order." Asami relented. "I worked out a deal with the owner to charge Future Industries at the end of the month for the cost of food. So if anyone can't pay for their meal, I have them covered. We can have Mako tell the refugees where to go for an easy meal."
"You are way too charitable, it's no wonder we work so well together."
"I may have only spent a couple of days homeless but I heard enough from those we stayed with. I don't want anyone going hungry if I can help it."
"You are too sweet. Now come on, I want to go explore the ruins before they get taken down."
Korra led Asami from teetering building to teetering building, through the most precarious looking could-be traps, and airbent her way from rooftop to rooftop; taking in every sight of the destroyed city. Not much was left standing in the wake of the Spirit Portal's creation and anything that was still standing looked a hard push away from falling over.
Asami was glad that she had moved everything important from Future Industries Tower but was sad that she barely had enough time to own the new building to fully utilize the whole space. She still had 10 floors that were ready to accommodate new research and development engineers and fascinating new machinery. Raiko assured her of her importance to the city and that a new building was already in the works, she was ready to push for a whole campus when Varrick interrupted them. But those were worries for another day, today was all about enjoying her time with Korra.
And she was enjoying her time, seeing Korra bounce around, reveling in the destructive force of the spirit vine cannon, getting excited about a settlement of spirits. It wasn't until they made their way to the spirit portal did Asami's mood shift.
It wasn't the portal that took her attention this time but the remnants of the colossal mech-suit. It taunted her, the legs that had smashed their way through the city just the other week, seeing the small hole that Korra and the rest of the assault team had crawled through, The small hole that her father gave his life to complete. Her heartbeat ran rampant and her mind spun in it's place.
Korra looked over at her girlfriend, a smile across her face, mid-sentence in describing how it felt to bend the massive ray of spirit energy she had leapt in front of, and realized that Asami was not well.
"Hey, Sami, are you okay?"
"Huh, what? Yeah, I'm fine!"
Korra knew better, "Really? Because you don't look fine. You're standing there pale as a spirit, fidgeting with your buttons on your jacket, staring off into nothing. What's wrong?"
"IT'S nothing, it's just stupid."
"Obviously it's not, I'm here for you Asami, what's going on in the big brain of yours?"
"It's just. I looked out at the spirit portal but seeing the remains of that giant mecha. I just kind of got lost a little. You pulled me back though."
Korra drew Asami into a big hug. "Do you remember what you said to me before Jinora's ceremony all those years ago? Because I want you to know that I'm always here for you, no matter what. You can wake me up in the middle of the night to talk about anything that's bugging you, I don't care." Korra tightened the hug, "I mean it, I'm not going anywhere Asami."
Asami hadn't felt this loved in years, she clung to the words that Korra spoke, hoping she meant every single line.
"Let's get going, Pema is probably about to start cooking, we should probably help her out." Korra suggested, hoping that removing Asami from the sight of the platinum behemoth would calm her nerve further.
The ferry ride back to air temple island was one full of tender cuddling, the closeness still not enough for either Korra or Asami. They disentangled themselves as the ferry approached the docks, still wary of the whole world seeing their love.
"Ah Korra, there you are, I've been wanting to talk to you all day."
Of course Tenzin would be the first person they run into.
"About what?" Korra asked, hoping it wouldn't be anything important. "We were just on our way to help Pema with dinner."
"Don't worry; Opal, Bolin, and Jinora are helping her just fine. I just wanted to let you know that Raiko is holding a meeting tomorrow to talk about the state of the Earth Kingdom; thought I'd let you know."
"Thanks for letting me know, wake me up before you leave?"
"Not a problem, I'll let the two of you know when dinner is ready."
"Thanks," Korra responded, happy to have some more time alone with her girlfriend.
They made their way to the gazebo, hand in hand, stopping at the railing to overlook the vast sea in front of them. They shared each other's warmth
It felt like no time had passed before Tenzin came to say that dinner was ready.
Korra and Asami sat side by side, nearly on top of each other; Opal, Bolin, and Pema giving them a sly grin.
Nothing raised suspicions until Asami asked Korra to warm her tea up, which Korra did with a flourish resulting in a playful elbowing from Asami. It wasn't until Korra's response of a kiss on Asami's cheek that Tenzin cleared his throat.
"Is there going to be an official announcement, or should we all just accept what we just saw?" Tenzin asked in a monotone voice catching Korra off guard.
"Umm, I'm the Avatar and you gotta deal with it?"
"I suppose we do," Tenzin responded plainly. "But for what it's worth, I'm glad to see you this happy. You deserve it after everything you've been through."
"So that's what happened between you two in the spirit world." Jinora stated plainly.
"Well that and a lot of other things. We had a lot of adventures around the spirit world, one of them I think you all will find interesting." Korra remarked. "We found an ancient clearing where the spirits of the old Avatars retire. We talked to Aang."
"You what? How is that even possible?" Bolin asked excitedly.
"I suppose it would be possible," Tenzin remarked. "Does that mean you reconnected with your past lives?"
"Would that even be possible?" Jinora questioned. "I thought the Raava's spirit you reconnected to was a reborn spirit?"
"I can't reconnect with my previous lives because of the reborn Raava and honestly, I wouldn't want to reconnect with my past lives. I've changed the world so much, even since Aang, I don't think their opinions of the world really count for much anymore."
"That's a very wise approach Korra, I'm so proud of your maturity." Tenzin commented. "But is it possible to revisit that clearing?"
"Absolutely, It would be an honor to take you and your family to see your father once again."
"It would mean the world to have my children meet their grandfather."