Chapter 3: Confessions To A Friend

Asami looked at herself in the mirror one last time before she headed out to her car and got in. They had gotten word from Tonraq that he and the other Watertribe members would be arriving tonight and all of Team Avatar and some of their allies were going to go down to the docks to meet Korra when she got off of the boat. Asami could feel the knots in her stomach every time she thought about seeing the young avatar again, but she tried to push those feelings to the back of her mind.

She drove through the streets of the city, wind in her hair and smiled as she remembered back to the first day she tried to teach Korra how to drive. That had been the first day Asami had started to hope that the other young woman could possibly return her feelings. The darker haired woman still remembered the way her heart had stopped when Korra had used the word 'girlfriends' She knew that she was probably reading too much into the situation but finding little ways to hope made it easier for Asami. Loving someone when you have no idea how they feel about you could get very difficult sometimes.

Asami finally turned down to the water's edge and parked her car near the docks. She looked over and smiled when she saw so many of her friends. She had been so busy over the last six months that she had hardly seen anyone. Mako had been taking care of Prince Wu, a job Asami now understood was no pleasant experience. Tenzin and the other Airbenders had been going back and forth trying to send as much help to the Earth Kingdom as they could, and Lin had been visiting with Su and the rest of the metal clan for the last month or so. Asami hadn't even written to Korra in months and she felt horrible about it, but all she could do was hope that her friend would understand.

"Asami," Tenzin greeted her warmly. "It's so good to see you."

She smiled as all of the Airbender children rushed over to her as well. "It's good to see you too Tenzin."

"Asami," Ikki spoke excitedly after giving the older woman a hug. "I love how you helped redesign the city. It's so amazing how we're able to live so close to the spirits and in such harmony with them now."

Jinora nodded, also giving Asami a hug. "I can feel the positive energy anytime I go into the spirit wilds. They really like what you've done too."

"And the statue you designed of Korra for her new park," Ikki went on. "It shows how much you admire and love Korra."

Jinora gave Asami a look that made the heiress think the sisters knew, but she kept her cool.

"I'm glad everyone is happy," And she really was. "I just knew that we needed to all find a way to coexist so I did the best I could, and we all love and admire Korra and that statue will always be a reminder of that."

"The boat is coming," she heard Lin announce.

The rather large group all made their way down onto the dock and stood waiting in anticipation. Asami knew that she wasn't the only one anxious to see Korra, but she did know that she was the only one who was nervous for her specific reasons. The boat finally ground to a halt and the gangplank dropped. Asami smiled happily as Naga bounded off the ship, her heart almost in her throat. She saw Tonraq get off the ship and exchange a few words with Tenzin, but no Korra.

"Isn't Korra already here?" she heard the Watertribe Chief ask.

"We thought she was coming with you," Tenzin replied.

"Korra left the South Pole six months ago," Tonraq looked concerned and confused. "She's written me letters, she said she was here in Republic City."

"I assure you, your daughter's not here," Tenzin told him as the panic began to mount.

"Then where is she?" Tonraq wondered aloud.

Everyone began to mutter their apprehensions aloud.

"I'm sure Korra is fine," Tenzin tried to assure the Avatar's father. "If she isn't here it is for a good reason."

"I'm just a little worried," the Chief replied. "She wasn't one hundred percent when she left, but she wanted to be back here, back with her friends so we let her go."

"We'll just have to find her," President Raiko spoke.

"I have the perfect people for the job," Tenzin told him.

Tenzin and Raiko started to speak making a plan, Pema, the children, Lin and the President's wife all trailing behind them. Asami approached Korra's father who still looked lost and afraid.

"Chief Tonraq," Asami addressed him.

He looked at her and managed a smile.

"Asami," he leaned down and gave his daughter's closest friend a hug. "I'm so glad to see you."

"Everything will be alright Tonraq," Asami tried to reassure herself just as much as him. "Can I give you a ride to the Watertribe Cultural Center or are you staying on Air Temple Island?"

"I'm not sure," he replied honestly.

Korra saw someone else get off the boat and come to stand by the two of them.

"What's going on Tonraq?" Kya asked.

"Korra's not here," he told her.

Kya looked shocked and automatically turned to Asami. "But she was so excited at the prospect of coming back and being with everyone again."

"Tenzin is organizing a search party to look for her," Asami tried to sound encouraging.

"I think I'll go help him as much as I can," Tonraq looked determined. "At the very least I can tell them which way Korra started sailing so they have some kind of idea of where to begin."

"Everything will be okay sir," Asami smiled at him. "Your daughter is the strongest person I've ever met, nothing bad will happen to her. If I know Korra she will show up here even better than when you saw her last."

The older man put a hand on the young woman's shoulder. "I am so grateful you are in my daughter's life. Korra is very lucky to have you."

Asami wished she had some kind of comforting words for Tonraq as he left but nothing came to her.

"Asami are you alright?" Kya asked.

The dark haired woman took a deep breath and tried to prevent herself from crying.

"I'm fine Kya, just a little worried."

"I understand," Kya looked at the younger woman knowingly. "Why don't you tell me all about it over a drink?"

Asami took a deep breath. "Now you're talking."

A few minutes later the two women were sitting in a bar with drinks in front of them. Asami sipped hers as she tried to think of exactly what she was going to say to Kya, fortunately the waterbender spoke first.

"Before you say anything Asami, I just want you to know that I won't judge. I'm here to listen and hopefully help a little."

"I appreciate that Kya."

"So when did you first realize you had feelings for Korra?" the gray haired woman cut right to the punch.

For a moment or two Asami sat there, her mouth slightly open in surprise. "How did you know?"

"I know because I went through something very similar. Bumi and I didn't have as much pressure on us to get married and have kids as Tenzin," Kya began, smiling at her. "Which was a good thing because I was always more attracted to women than men. While I was off on my own traveling I stayed in a small Fire Nation village where I befriended some of the locals my age, one was a girl named Lara. She and I got close very fast, we told each other things that we had never told anyone else, we spent a lot of time together and I knew that I had very real romantic feelings for her. One night I finally worked up the courage to tell her and she didn't take it well. She thought I was a freak because I liked women instead of men and then she told me that she wasn't comfortable around me anymore because she would always be wondering if I was looking at her."

"That's horrible, I'm sorry you were treated that way," Asami told her.

"At the time I didn't know what hurt worse, her rejecting me as a lover or as a friend."

Asami ran a hand through her dark hair. "That's what I'm so afraid of with Korra. I want to tell her so badly but I'm more afraid of losing her. Sometimes I think that keeping quiet and not risking our friendship would be better than me saying something that changes what we already have."

"I can understand why you feel that way," Kya assured her. "But if you see Korra with someone else will you still be able to say that? Will you be able to ignore the feeling in your stomach that she's with the wrong person or ignore the pain in your heart?"

Asami shook her head sadly remembering back to how she had felt when she saw the way Mako and Korra acted around each other. At the time she thought that she was jealous of Korra but now she knew that she had been jealous of Mako all along."

Kya noticed Asami deep in thought and decided to try and pull her out of it. "Why don't you start at the beginning and tell me everything?"

"I guess it all started when I was about fifteen," she sighed and began to recount her story. "That was when I first started dating, not because I had found something I really liked but to try and get my father's attention. After my mom died I was looked after by almost anyone but him and as I started to get older I just wanted him to notice me and I thought dating boys might do that."

"Did he turn into the typical overprotective father?" Kya wondered.

"Not even close," Asami recalled. "He hardly noticed any of the guys I dated, even when they started to get older than I was. I kept trying but nothing seemed to work and then a few months before I met Mako I decided to see if dating a girl would make my father notice me. She was nice enough and now that I think back on it I feel horrible for using her to try and get attention from my father."

"We all do stupid things like that," Kya tried to assure her.

"Well she and I were sitting in my car outside my house right when I knew my father was coming home, and as soon as he passed by I leaned in and kissed this girl and my father didn't say a word, didn't stop, he didn't even seem to notice. Meanwhile I was so caught up in how different it felt to kiss a girl, my nerve endings were on fire, my whole body seemed to tingle and I didn't want to stop…so naturally I got scared out of my mind. I gave that poor girl some horrible excuse as to why I didn't want to see her anymore and swore I wouldn't date a girl again. Next thing I knew I almost ran Mako over and soon he and I were dating, he was everything I thought I wanted in a boyfriend and even my dad started to notice me and him and how we were together. I really did like Mako…until I met Korra."

"Don't get me wrong," she added in a hurry. "Mako is a very attractive man, and I had feelings for him, I still do they have just transformed into something more complex than boyfriend and girlfriend."

Kya nodded. "Plus you were all still teenagers when this started. Korra was only seventeen, you and Mako were eighteen, and believe it or not it is still okay to not know what or who you want at that age."

The Raven haired woman laughed. "Well I knew I wanted Korra and I was afraid that at any moment someone was going to notice and call me out on it. Every time she was around I would just light up, one of the reasons things didn't work between Mako and I was because I just couldn't lie to myself anymore. I am attracted to men but I am more attracted to women and The Avatar herself most of all."

"So can I ask why you and Mako got back together again briefly after he and Korra broke up?" Kya wondered, ordering them another round.

"I panicked a little," Asami admitted before taking a big sip of her fresh drink. "Korra was suddenly single again and it made me think about how much I liked her and wanted her for myself so I latched onto the nearest male person and that just happened to be Mako again. I knew it was a mistake as soon as it happened but it's so easy to fall back into old habits. It didn't last of course, it took the two of us even less time to realize we weren't good together and to my surprise he and Korra came to that conclusion as well. Ever since she defeated Vatu I've been testing the waters while simultaneously trying to work up the courage to tell Korra how I feel. Since she's been in the South Pole I was writing her almost every day until a few months ago. I would write two letters, one where I just made conversation and told her what was going on and another where I confessed my feelings to her, but I could never find the courage."

"I know you're worried that she doesn't feel the same way Asami and I can't do much to ease your fears. What I can tell you is that I think Korra does feel something for you but I don't even think she is sure of what it is yet. She isn't the best with her emotions either."

"But there is a difference between her and Mako in that sense," Asami realized. "Mako, even after figuring out how or what he feels, doesn't want to share it. When Korra understands her emotions she is willing to talk about them with the people she cares about and trusts the most."

"I think she trusts you a lot. After her fight with The Red Lotus she didn't want to be around anyone but you brought her comfort, you were the one who was there for her the most."

"But she didn't want to talk to me," Asami looked down at her hands, almost feeling as if she had failed.

"You waited and were there anyway. Sometimes just knowing that someone is there for you can be enough."

Asami sat in silence for a moment or two. "What do you think I should do Kya?"

The older woman looked at her young friend. "When the time is right you'll know what to do. The only real advice I can give is just listen to your heart and do what it wants."

She sighed and looked down at her drink, listening to her heart wasn't the problem, it was the doing that had Asami a little intimidated. The engineer had never faced a problem she couldn't overcome but she did worry about her ability to fix the broken heart she would have if Korra didn't return her affections.


Two updates in less than a week, I'm on a roll. This was actually the chapter that inspired me to write this fic but originally Asami was confessing to Bolin. Then when I heard on Tumblr that Bryke confirmed Kya was also a LGBT character I knew I wanted her to help get Korrasami together. Hope you all enjoy and please leave me a review if you liked it. Thanks as always to anyone who likes and follows this or my other stories.