She Understands
"There are points in my life where I wish I wasn't the Avatar you know." Korra corrected as she laid between Asami legs, head resting on her stomach. They had a late night which turned into an even later morning. It was about 3 in the afternoon right now, but they managed to get a brunch in bed before going back and laying down.
Asami finally found out why Korra was late to meet up with her at her house the previous night. She was setting up their room to look exactly how Asami's room looked on the night they made they're relationship official to themselves; it only made sense to Korra they spent the night that they made it official to the world in the same fashion. It was very creative of her; she had the furniture set up in the same way along with the same mess on the dresser, a replica of the race track in Asami's room on the floor but the most prominent thing was the bouquet of Fire-lilies and Artic-roses specially imported from Asami's two favorite places, the Water Tribe and Fire Nation. The number of Lilies to represent the month and Roses to represent the day they became a couple, which is now known as their anniversary.
"Around when I turned 19 I hit one of my lowest points ever." Korra started.
"I know, I was there." Asami said remembering the time. They later joked that they'd have to watch after Korra when she turned 38 since she had her mid life crisis at 19.
"After Tarrlok, Amon and the equalist, Unalaq and Vaatu, me disconnecting to the past Avatars and the worlds reaction to me opening up the portals, and let's not forget Zaheer and the Red Lotus.
"Yes, let's not.
There was a silence
"I felt-I felt worthless." Korra stated and Asami began to run her fingers through Korra's hair.
"I mean at least when they killed Roku and tried to kill Aang the Fire Nation had a reason. They wanted to take over the world and the Avatar would be in the way of that, which was understandable."
"Yes, very understandable." Asami joked. This conversation started because Asami was very insecure when it came to her relevance in the world and Korra was starting to notice it more and more everyday. Asami felt the only reason people really acknowledged her was because of Korra; whether she was her opposite corner in their "love triangle", battle buddy, friend, bestfriend or now girlfriend. She just wanted to create her own image and be known for something more than knowing the Avatar.
Korra sat up, lifting above Asami with her elbow support.
"Every person whomever created a force against me stressed that the world didn't need an Avatar anymore. The world didn't need me anymore. I just wasn't needed. So why was I here." It was a knowing silence after that.
"Understand that being a public figure to the world isn't all its cracked up to be. Being cared about by everyone isn't always the best, because once even a few take that away from you..."
"You'll feel like you have nothing even when your everything is right infront of you." She said and then smiled and kissed Asami's belly, Asami being what she was referring to as her everything. Asami cupped both of Korra's cheeks with her hands and then brought them up to her ears and tugged on them telling Korra to come up to Asami's level. She obliged.
"I will always care about you Avatar Korra." Asami said staring into Korra's eyes. The muscular woman smiled.
"And as your everything I will never take that away from you." She finished with a soft kiss on Korra's lips.
"I know Ms. Sato. I know." She replied still with her smirk.
"But I don't want people to care about me, just bring me up in conversation that doesn't involve your name too."
Korra sighed, she was never going to get through to this woman.
oO0Oo
"You know what time it is." The Fire Princess began.
"Fuck this shit o'clock." She finished following with slamming her book shut and standing up from her desk. She wasn't usually that vulgar but she was stressing emensely over taking her United Forces entry exam. Unfortunately for her there weren't any wars going on right now so she couldn't prove her Allegiance to the United Republic of Nations or dedication to fulfill her service, so instead they took an extremely hard test and under went an even more difficult basic training.
Her friend laughed from their spot on the small couch in the corner of the room.
"Stop worrying yourself about this, just look at it as homework."
"Says the person who never did homework and failed this exact test twice.
"Hey, but I never worried."
"Gei you're not funny, so stop." The Princess said as she walked over and flopped down on her bed.
"Okay, okay I'm sorry Ursa." Her short haired friend said while walking over to her and lifting her off the bed by the arms. Gei hugged Ursa as support to keep her from flopping back down.
"Iroh has been preparing you for this moment almost all of your life, and most of his; he won't allow you to fail. You'll be fine, more than fine. He comes back today and you can talk to him, study with him." Gei added to encourage her. Ursa sighed.
"You're right." She responded now hugging Gei back with her head resting on the more muscular person's chest.
"I know I am." Gei smiled.
"And you're one of the smartest and strongest people I know. It's no way they can say no to you, your blood line is filled with honorable and brave people. And that's not going to stop anytime soon." Ursa looked up at the taller individual and smiled but broke the hug seconds after.
"What?" Gei asked wondering why she stopped the moment.
"You can't say stuff like that to me. Friends remember." She said walking back over to her bed, she wasn't giving up but she did need a break.
"Yes bestfriends! And as a bestfriend I'm allowed to give words of encouragement." Gei replied now flopping on the floor, legs folded. Ursa turned her head in the other direction to hide her smile.
"And if you don't believe you're smart, in a couple years Iroh will be in charge when the wrinkled guy retires, so you'll definitely get in." Gei joked and laughed to soften the awkward tension.
After Iroh's First Division enforcements were destroyed during the battle with the equalist he was reassigned to the Second division. He was the main face of that Division but wasn't the top one in charge, that got under his skin.
"You know it's not good to talk about people." Ursa said turning back around and laughing, referring to the 'wrinkled' comment.
"But it's the truth. I'm just saying, I think when people get that old they should be able to just retire, like retire from life basically and just relax."
"Yeah it's called dying." Ursa responded and they both laughed.
oO0Oo
"You gave me a mission and I used my resources." Mako reasoned with Beifong.
"The Republic City patrol boat is not a resource to use outside of Republic City!" She yelled through the boat's phone.
"Look, as urgent as you made this seem I wasnt really concerned about the invisible barriers put around the boat."
"I didn't make it seem like its urgent, it IS urgent!
"Exactly, so what's the problem Beifong?" He asked and her response was paused.
"You left no documentation that you took it, if anything we could have thought it was them."
"Listen, I had a lead and I followed it. It was only but so much distance I could let the UF ship get before I completely lost a visual."
"So what's your plan."
"I don't really have one right now other than basically stalking them. I'm still not completely sure what the mission is." It was a pause again Mako could hear on the other end that Beifong had just closed a door and locked it.
"Mako listen to me." She started.
"They can not continue. They obviously aren't thinking straight and are letting this phase over power their judgement." Mako faced scrunched up at the fact she just referred to something they were doing as a "phase".
"Everyone has to play this off. Once they get back we'll hold another press conference saying that this all was a joke. Their way of telling tabloids to go screw themselves."
"And how exactly do you plan on getting them to agree with that?" Mako asked, still trying to comprehend what she was saying.
"That's where you come in." She told him in a matter of fact tone.
"What does that even mean! You're beating around the bush right now." He said with his frustration starting to pour out.
"You want to know your mission? You're mission is to end them. Get in between them. Plant lies, doubt, make them question everything they ever thought they felt for eachother."
"WHAT!?"
"This relationship can not last, Republic City is going to get flipped upside down because of this. And let's not talk about the Earth Kingdom, and I'm pretty sure the Water Tribe isn't too fond of the idea of part of their royal blood line being ended eiter.
"Upside down because they're together or upside down because they won't give an interview about their love. You're taking this situation completely out of context!" Mako tried to reason with her.
"You're just about the only person the both of them trust."
"Ha, you obviously don't know the relationship I have with them." Mako laughed.
"But I do know you still have romantic feelings for atleast one of them...
"No, no, NO!"
"I'm coming back to the city right now. I'm not doing this to them, especially not to them. Yes I do still love the both of them, just not like that!
"What did you think I meant when I said I wanted you to stop it?
"I THOUGHT MY JOB WOULD BE TO PROTECT THEM! Like police officers do; no where in my job description does it say it's my responsibility to come in between my ex girlfriends' relationship with each other. And you know, once I do everyone will look at me as the bad guy even if it is what the world wanted. I thought when you meant stop it you wanted me to stop the press and paparazzi and control what gets out about them to the people, NOT stop their relationship. I'm over here stressing myself out about how I'm going to even get in the same city as them and you...
"Job description ha!" She laughed interrupting him.
"Job description, keep this up and you will have no job nor will you ever work in any forces anywhere EVER again."
He was quiet.
Did she really just threaten his job and career over this? Was their relationship really that big of a deal. No, was their relationship really that big of a deal to her. He could not fathom the seriousness of this at all.
"Did Tenzin agree with this." He asked.
"Tenzin doesn't know about this and you will tell no one either. Not even your thick skulled brother." She replied and that's all he had to hear. He knew if Tenzin wasn't with it, and especially if she was hiding it from him, it couldn't be good for Korra, and he was not about to go down that road again.
He sighed.
"Okay, Chief. I'll do what I have to just-just give me time." He lied to her. Beifong thought she had everyone trained not to lie to her because when they did it to her face she could feel it, but few of them remembered she had no power over their truths hundreds of miles away.
"The city doesn't have much time.
"I NEED TIME!" Mako shot through the phone, his frustrations were starting to spill out.
"Fine, but kid...remember who your loyalty is to." Lin repeated the same thing Raiko told her before hanging up, little did she know they were the wrong words to say to him. In the work force, yes, his loyalty was to Republic City PD, but in his personal life, which she just turned this into, his loyalty was to Korra and Asami every single time.
He hung up the phone and made sure it was turned off.
"To hell with this!" Mako said and then rushed over to the control room where Bolin was.
"Bo!" He yelled and found his brother sitting in the navigating chair thinking to himself.
"So they were making out on the couch. I so wish I was there." Bolin said still mesmerized by Mako's story about what happened the previous night.
"Listen new plan!" Mako yelled knocking him out of his daze.
"I thought we never had a plan.
"Well, new way of thinking about what the plan could be."
"Why what happened?" Bolin asked worried, he was hoping nothing happened to Korra or Asami.
"Beifong lost her fucking marbles. So we have to redirect our course, we need to some how see how we can get into the Fire Nation Capitol premises, instead of the near by city, and maybe if we still have time we can contact Iroh and he'll let us in.
"But what if that doesn't work? They are an hour infront of us." Bolin had a point, once they realized the boat Korra and Asami was on was heading to the Fire Nation they fell back some more so no one would spot them. Maybe that wasn't the best thing.
"If not we'll go to the city to their Police Department and...
"Please! How often do you think the Police Department of one city reports back to the actual Capitol. And even when they do what's the chances it'll reach the Royal Palace." Bolin stated and Mako realized he had another serious point. He had to think of something. How he wished they where on a United Forces boat right now. It would be so much easier to get through all of those Fire Nation security restrictions.
"Wait!" Mako said, something clicked.
"We're riding in a Republic City Patrol boat. We can't get into the Fire Nation dock but we can find the nearest United Forces dock and they'll let us in because we are authorized on their property." Anyone apart of the United Republic was allowed on a United Forces dock but only people belonging to the United Forces were allowed on socks of individual Nations.
"Okay, let's do this!" Bolin hopped up and turned the chair to face the control panels. It was a pause for a moment for his confusion.
"So where exactly is the United Forces dock?"
oO0Oo
"Dinner with the Royals." Asami said as she set on the bed in a daze.
"Lord Zuko and Fire Lord Honora." Korra said standing by the door and dazed for an entirely different reason.
Asami was more or so excited, she had never personally met the Fire Lord before. She always only used letters to communicate with the Fire Lord about her plans for Future Industries in the Fire Nation. She was very excited with what that could do for her image. She knew that they were noble people and more than likely wouldn't touch much on their relationship topic for controversial reasons, so this was her chance to show them her proposal for the ideas she had for the Fire Nation in the future. Korra, on the other hand, was afraid of the judgement. She knew that the Fire Nation as a whole was okay with homosexuality but she didn't know their views on it. She was expecting to talk about their relationship and honestly thought all of the support could just be a political act. She didn't know if she was ready to get opinions from people who actually mattered in her life and that she couldn't really speak out against.
They heard a knock on the door.
"Ladies, ready when you are." Iroh said from the other side.
"Are you ready?" Korra asked Asami. Their bags were already heading to the palace so all they had to bring right now were themselves.
Asami stood up infront of Korra and smiled. Ever since they started dating Korra tried to get away with wearing boots or shoes that gave her a slight unnoticed height advantage over Asami, and today was one of those days.
"Today is one of the many first days to the rest of our lives." Asami told her and then hugged her tightly.
"When we get off this boat our lives can change completely.
"Don't set off my anxiety." Korra told her.
"Listen." Asami said pulling away some and cupping her cheek and stared into her eyes.
"No matter what happens out there, no matter how scary or painful it will be, no matter what the world throws at us remember that here." Asami started and then touched her heart with her free hand.
"Is the place where you'll always be safe." Asami knew that even though Korra was good at hiding it to the world, Korra was still very much a broken person. Asami was the only thing getting Korra through life right now.
Asami was the one that sent letters to Korra everyday she was away. She was the one that was right there when Korra would spring up out of her sleep from a night terror. She was the one that held Korra every night for almost a year while she cried about the disappointment she thought she had become and then reassured her tha she wasn't. She wanted Korra to know just how she has been there for almost the past half a decade, she will always be there for her for the rest of their lives.
Korra just hugged her tighter. She didn't have anything to say. She wasn't really good with expressing herself through words during times like this and Asami knew that was her way of basically saying thank you. Korra loved Asami more than she could ever explain to anyone or fathom herself. She didn't even think Asami knew how much she truly cared for her. Whether the world approved of it or not she was going to be with this woman for as long as the spirits allowed. She pulled away and then kissed her.
"I love you." Korra told the beautiful woman in her arms.
"Forever and Always?" Asami asked her and Korra smiled at the nostalgia that phrase brought.
"Always and Forever." She responded.
They finally opened the door and walked out hand in hand. Iroh was waiting for them at the end of the hall.
"Good morning ladies." Iroh said jokingly and bowed to them, even though it was very late in the afternoon this was his first time he saw them today and knew they were probably resting up.
"Good afternoon Iroh."
"So today is a very exciting yet relaxing day for you both I'm sure." Iroh started as they started walking down the steps.
"Yeah, today is basically our first impression on the world." Korra told him and Asami nodded in agreeance.
"No." He stated firmly. Korra was kind of embarrassed, she figured he must not have been talking about the whole relationship situation.
"It's the world's first impression on you two." He told them. Korra's embarrassment went away.
"What you two did was brave and revolutionary, how the world responds to the both of you has nothing to do with the people you are, it's solely based on the level of ignorance that people will allow themselves to approach this situation with." Iroh assured them.
"You have nothing to prove to anyone, they have everything to prove to you." Iroh told them in one of the most serious voices they ever heard him use.
"Thank you Iroh, that really means a lot coming from you." Korra told him, that was the nicest thing she ever heard him say to her even if it wasn't nesacarily meant to be nice just fact.
"Don't get all girly on me now Korra." He told her smiling as they stopped at the exit door, he knocked on it twice.
"Watch this." Iroh said and the door was opened. The sun light beamed on them and they used their forearms for a shield for their eyes. They heard ear aching cheers and screams come from out side as the three of them stepped forward. Iroh went first and gave his royal wave and gestured his arm out for the two woman to follow.
"Oh so you have groupies in your home country, very impressive." Korra told him sarcastically.
"Yes I do, but these cheers aren't for me. Look." He said pointing out to the crowd. When they were able to get their eyes to adjust to the light they saw what he meant. Hundreds of people were there holding up signs. It was one design that looked as if it was produced in masses with each letter alternating in the colors of the rainbow on a red, gold or black paper with a picture of Korra and Asami under it.
"Fire Nation Welcomes Warmly the World's Cutest Couple"
"Wait, this is for us?" Asami asked as they started to walk down. The anxiety that started building up in Korra started to minimize as they got closer to the people still hand-in-hand.
"We love you Korra and Asami."
"Move to the Fire Nation, we care about you."
"You two are so beautiful together."
"Fuck Raiko!"
"Wow." Korra said with a laugh, she waved to a few people that she walked pass and they completely erupted.
"You two are truly an inspiration to us all, a respectable face for our community." One man said to Asami as she passed.
"Thank you." Asami told him and smiled, the man blew a kiss to her.
"Over here." Iroh said seeing they were getting distracted by the crowd.
"This carriage will take you two to the palace." He started.
"Yes, we definitely have to do something about this." Asami couldn't remember the last time she used a carriage for transportation.
"The cities are modernized but the Capitol likes to keep it old school." Iroh explained to her.
"We'll see."
"Wait, where are you going?" Korra asked seeing he wasn't including himself in those plans.
"I have to handle some United Forces things but I will be back for the dinner." He assured her.
"So once you get there servants will take over everythinf, they'll give you a tour, show you your temporary rooms.
"Temporary?" Asami asked.
"Yes, but don't worry you have a room for your stay they just aren't finished accomadating them yet. So don't unpack your things, if possible, because you will be moving." He told her.
"I'll try." Asami said knowing she would have to unpack to find an outfit for dinner.
"A vehicle will be provided for you, with or without a chauffeur, for if you want to ride around the city some if you get bored before dinner."
"Sounds good, anything else boss?" Korra asked him.
"Welcome to the Fire Nation." He said with a big smile. He closed the door and bowed to them and slapped the back of the cart to signal to the chauffer to get the horses moving. As the car moved Korra and Asami poked their heads out the window to see the crowd that was now chasing them with their signs and chants.
"Welcome to the Fire Nation." Asami repeated out of amazement.
oO0Oo
"General Iroh. Prince Iroh the Second, does anybody know the guy." Mako yelled sarcastically. It seemed that everyone collectively decided to give him the run around at this United Forces dock.
"And who are you exactly?" Some guy that Mako knew couldn't help him asked.
"I'm a detective from Republic City, I was sent here by the President and Chief of police I have to talk to General Iroh.
"Hey, did we get a message from Raiko about a detective?" The man asked one of his colleagues who was siting at a desk with his feet up.
"I don't know." The other officer said with a shrug as he read through a magazine that had Korra and Asami's picture on the front.
"If Raiko did message someone around here would you two know, be honest with yourself!" Mako said knowing this man was too low in rank to know anything.
"Bro, come here." Bolin called out to Mako. Mako sighed in frustration walking away from the man.
"Republicans." They officer said to the other man as they shook their heads and continued on with whatever they were doing.
"What." Mako said once he found Bolin sneakily listening in on a conversation held in a room next to him.
"Listen." Bolin said before shushing his brother.
"Apparently they're at Sato's manufacturing cites and rioting." One man said.
"Why, I heard they got into the Fire Nation about an hour ago?"
"They did, I just got back from there." A woman said.
"I guess they want answers from somebody.
"They're not protesting for answers they're rioting because they aren't fond of chicks liking each other. They know they're not there, knowing how Republicans are they're probably planning to blow the spot up.
"Seriously! What is Raiko doing about it?" A man asked and everyone sucked their teeth.
"Ha! What do you think he's doing? What does he ever do? Not shit!
"Rookie you'll learn, when the city is in trouble Raiko calls on us or the Avatar and then hides until everything is fixed."
"Exactly, does Raiko even care about the city at all? I swear he's only in it for the purple suits"
"The people in the Republic already proved they are wild over the decades. I mean look they're about to start a civil war over lesbians.
"Hey, I'd start a civil war over lesbians." Another man joked and got a few laughs to follow..
"Really, I'm right here." The woman's voice responded.
"It was a complement." The man jokingly yelled back at her.
"No, you're an asshole Ken."
"And is it even really a civil war if everyone's on one side...
"Mako we have to go back." Bolin told him after they heard all they needed to.
"How do you figure that? If anything we need to find them now more than ever. They need to know this."
"Yes but I'm sure they'll find out soon enough. Like the guy said Raiko isn't doing anything about this, so I'm sure Beifong isn't either. We have to go and stop those riots." Bolin reasoned with him. Mako didn't look like he was budging.
"If your plan is to make them trust you again I'm pretty sure they'll appreciate you going to stop this rather than going to them with bad news. Listen, this is what we have to do to help them right now. They're going to find out anyways but I'm sure they'd rather find out and it's fixed than find out and have to fix it." Bolin said and then put his hand on his brother's shoulder. Mako looked at him and then closed his eyes and sighed. He had no idea what to do to be right, what to do to help Korra and Asami. But it only made more sense to go check out thing in the city than to let them know of Beifong's plan to stop their relationship that was only based solely on his cooperation anyways.
"Fine. Let's go!" He said and stood up and began to storm out.
"This place is a disgrace!" He yelled before slamming the door behind him but still no one was paying attention to him.
"Attention!" A man called out and everyone hopped up with their salutes.
Prince Iroh walked in a side door that connected their building with the one next to it.
"Where is the commander?! He's supposed to be the one handling the Satomobile transport. We arrived an hour ago and they're still sitting on the boat.
"Sir, he left for the factory before you even docked." A man answered him.
"He's at the fac-so can someone please inform me how the cars are supposed to get from point A to B?"
~2 HOURS LATER~
"We both are more than grateful that you allowed us to stay in your home." Asami told the Fire Lord as they all sat down for dinner.
"Yes, it's truly an honor." Korra added in.
"I wouldn't allow for you two to be anywhere else. When you're in the Fire Nation this is your home aswell." The Fire Lord explained to them and they smiled. She really was a sweet lady, she helped her father build onto the image that not all Fire Lords were bad people.
"And plus I'm pretty sure with all of the publicity surrounding you two, staying somewhere in the city would be too much of a hassle." Zuko stated. Both of their bodies tensed up. Korra put her head down some and adjusted something that didn't need adjusting on her pants and Asami scratched her nose while she tried to hide her red face with her hand. They had to keep reminding theirselves that everyone knew. There was a very awkward silence until Iroh interrupted with his laughter.
"Roh stop and grandpa don't make them feel uncomfortable." The Princess told the both of them.
"Oh, my apologies." Zuko said he wasn't aware it was a sensitive topic anymore.
"I apologize for my father AND son." The Fire Lord said shooting a glare at a still laughing Iroh.
"Okay, I'm done." He said and took a sip of juice hoping the cup would hide the fact he was still smiling hard.
"It's fine. They're fine." Korra said with a little laugh herself. The servants started serving them their food as they spoke.
"I guess 'congratulations' should have been the first thing I should've said." Zuko said still not knowing what the problem was.
"Thank you.
"Thank you.
"We don't have to speak on this if...
"It's fine, it's...okay." Asami said cutting the Fire Lord off. They knew they were going to have to go through this everywhere they went anyways, might as well practice with people that are being nice about it.
"So when did it start?" She asked and the stiffness came back to the both of them.
Strangely enough, all the children of the original GAang always felt a strong connection to Korra. They cared about and for her. They didn't look at her as a person who was a generation below them, if anything she was their baby-baby-baby sister. They grew up learning about how the Avatar cycle worked. They knew one day that Aang would die and a new Avatar would be born, so even as children they had a sense of responsibility over whoever the new Avatar would be because just like Aang took care of, taught, and loved them they would do the same for the new Avatar. So having this conversation wasn't as strange as it seemed.
To Korra it was different. To her they all seemed like authority figures that watched out for and mentored her. In a way she wasn't wrong because every one of them was an authority figure in their own sense; from a elemental master, chief of police, or rulers of a city or nation. She knew the connection they had with Aang and figured that's why they all were drawn to her, out of the amazement of the phenomena that was the Avatar cycle. But one thing she couldn't deny or be confused about is that they all cared for her and her well-being.
Asami discretely hit Korra basically telling her to handle the situation, Asami's nerves where too bad right now because she wasn't the one expecting this.
"Uh-um well." Korra said with a shaky voice. You could hear Iroh snicker again.
"You all are embarrassing." The Princess said shaking her head, but she was just as amused.
"It's been a little over two years now." Korra finally got out and everyone's eyes widened.
"Oh wow. So this isn't new." The Fire Lord stated.
"That's pretty impressive." Zuko started.
"To be public figures like yourselves and hide something like this from the whole world for this long." He continued.
"Exactly, we get government secrets leaked quicker than that." Iroh added in.
"Don't give us too much credit, we obviously didn't do that good of a job at hiding it." Asami joked. The paparazzi spotting them months ago was the reason this all started. They got a little too comfortable with their secret and would sometimes forget where they were supposed to be hiding it at.
"I'm sure it wasn't as hard as you all are making it seem, especially when the only two people in the world who knew about it were to scared to tell anyone. It's not impressive, it's sad." The Princess chimmed in and everyone got quiet and stared at her. They didn't think of it in that way, not even Korra or Asami.
"There's always one." Iroh whispered loudly.
"She does have a point though." Korra said but Asami still stared at the Princess and squinted her eyes some, she noticed the anger she had in her voice when she said that. It was strange.
"Well no matter what, us royals here in the Fire Nation support you both 100%." The Fire Lady said as everyone finally started taking a bite of their food.
Asami felt herself starting to get emotional but had to stop herself from letting anything out. She never knew how good those words would be to hear. They were both ready to hear the unacceptance from everyone but that wasn't what they were getting and they were glad for it. But at the same time they were in just about the only place in the world that acknowledged and accepted queer people. Everywhere else either avoided recognizing them or didn't like them, so they shouldn't get too happy so quick.
"Everybody's journey is individual." Zuko restarted the conversation and everyone agreed.
"I don't think the idea of homosexuality is really taboo anymore. Our culture is evolving. Our world is evolving. This is an exciting time to be living." The Fire Lord added in. Korra and Asami smiled.
"You know, my mom is in the works off adding both sexes to both sides of the marriage laws, so soon any and everyone will be able to get married right here in the Fire Nation." Iroh said proudly.
"Oh really, wow." Asami said in amazement she really had no idea how much the world outside of Republic city was evolving with this affair.
"Maybe you two should be the first to get married here. I'm sure we could hold everyone else off." The Princess said, Korra started choking on her drink. Iroh laughed again, he was loving seeing her in these awkward situation.
"I'm sorry, is this making you two uncomfortable?" The Fire Lady asked sympathetically, her children were a handful.
"Oh, so now I'm making them uncomfortable." The Princess said sarcastically.
"We made the world uncomfortable, so this is fine." Asami said with a smile as she patted Korra's back, Korra waved her hand in a 'you're okay' gesture.
"Exactly, all I was saying is homosexual people have the right to be as miserable as everybody else, and if they wanted to they could start that miserability here." The Princess defended herself.
"Don't sound too opposed to strong committed relationships sweety. I hear you have a visitor that you're particularly fond of comes to this palace very often." The Fire Lord said following her daughter's "marriage is horrible" comment.
Ursa turned completely red.
"What do you mean you heard I'm 'fond of' them?" The Princess asked but she knew better than to think anything went on in this palace without her mom knowing.
"So what's his name Ursa?" Iroh teased.
"We're not doing this right now." She told them.
oO0Oo
"You can not allow this to happen!" Tenzin yelled at Raiko.
"Let what happen? Everyone has their civil right to congregate where ever they please on public city property." Raiko added as he looked over some papers.
"Lin you have to do something, it's practically a mob...
"Tenzin you know I can't. Raiko's right it's public property.
"You can atleast go watch after them.
"Tenzin you know my men have better stuff to do then sit and wait around for a mob to break loose, which probably will never happen.
"Better stuff like what? Just yesterday we were in a state of emergency...
"ENOUGH!" Raiko yelled standing up.
"You do not give orders to my police force! I do!" Raiko yelled at him.
"Well by all means GIVE AN ORDER THAN!" Tenzin yelled back, he honestly was fed up of the way Raiko handled things in the city. He did things based on his own feelings not based on what was best for the city.
"You do not tell me what to do! They could blow up the factories for all I care and I'd send the PD over to help them if I felt like it." Raiko started, Beifong turned around and left the room. She wasn't going to disobey the President but she also was not going to sit there and listen to what he was saying. She wanted all of this to stop to protect Asami and Korra, but it seemed like Raiko wanted all of this to go on to destroy them.
"You, the Avatar and especially Asami Sato does not run this city. I do!"
"Me, the Avatar and especially Asami Sato have given this city a better name than you ever could!" Tenzin shot right back.
"Leave!"
"I'll handle this myself then."
"These are consequences to their decisions Tenzin, if you continue to baby them they'll never learn or grow up." Raiko said
"What decision exactly?" Tenzin asked hoping he wasn't talking about their 'decision' to be gay.
Raiko pressed a button on his desk.
"Can someone please come in and escort Master Tenzin out of the Capitol building for me. And let it be known he is not allowed back in here unless I give direct word for it." He spoke into the machine and then let go of the button.
"I'm not sure whether it's your ego or personality controlling your actions right now but you need to check both before you destroy something you didn't even help build." Tenzin stated before escorting himself out.
oO0Oo
"So I personally picked the rooms out for you two, sorry it took a while to get everything together. It was extremely dusty in them." The Princess stated as she escorted Korra and Asami to their new rooms. She volunteered to be the one to fix everything up for them when they came, just as nice gesture.
"Are these special rooms or something." Korra asked her, not completely sure why a Princess was bothering handling servant work.
"I guess you can say that." She said with a impish smile. Korra and Asami gave each other confused looks.
"As you know it's not traditional for non married folk to sleep in the same room." The Princess started, their awkward feeling came back.
"So I found the only two rooms in this place that are connected and were ready to sustain life in them again." Every room in the palace that wasn't regularly occupied wasn't cleaned as much as the others so it was somewhat of a mold problem going on that was being handled by renovations.
They stopped when they got to the first room's door.
"Although these are single bedrooms they're still a nice size." She said as she opened the door and walked in.
"This is beautiful." Asami said, she thought she had gotten sick of the colors red and black but once gold was blended in with it it was not the same red and black anymore. It was given more life.
"Over here is a balcony." The Princess stated at she walked over to the right side of the bed that was covered in beautiful silk sheets.
"These room were actually recently redone about a year ago, so now if you don't feel comfortable with just these glass door for security there's a aluminum one you can pull out behind it and lock." The Princess said Asami smiled to herself. The idea of adding in aluminum security measures to their palaces to defend against metal benders was an idea she proposed to the different leaders of the nations, but of course she wasn't completely shocked she wasn't noticed for it something that small.
"It's really beautiful out here." Korra said as she walked outside it was dark out and she could see more stars than she ever did in Republic City.
"Yeah we try to keep the area around us as least modernized as possible so the electric lights won't dim our view of the sky at night.
"I didn't know you guys cared about the moon and the stars in the Fire Nation that much." Asami said as she walked out behind them and looked around.
"The moon, no. But we learned how to respect the stars over the years. After all, the sun is just a very big one." The Princess explained and they nodded in understanding.
"Don't get too dazed it's still more." She told them as she walked back in.
"Can I sleep out here?" Korra asked after noting the small couch and table.
"You can but I wouldn't, there are spirits around here that have odd senses of humor." She told her.
"So where is this door that connects the rooms?" Asami asked as they walked to the other side of the bed.
"It's over here." The Princess said as she walked into the walk-in closest. They could tell this must have been Asami's room because her clothes were already hung up in a color scheme, shoes lined on shelves in height order, jewelry placed on tables arranged from golds, silvers, and pearl.
"I feel like I was just in one of these yesterday." Korra joked as she walked in after Ursa and Asami and looked around.
The Princess laughed picking up on Korra's joke.
"She gets me." Korra said to Asami with a smirk but she just playfully rolled her eyes.
"You stay here." She told Asami who raised an eyebrow.
"And you come with me." She told Korra as she grabbed her forearm. Asami looked over to Korra who just shrugged and gave a "nothing I can do look" and went where the Princess took her. Asami had no clue why, but she didn't like that.
"These are the same exact rooms, just hers is aligned left while yours right. So they basically mirror eachother." The Princess explained.
"Weird enough I was reading a book about this palace and I think I heard about these rooms." Korra said as she looked around and this room was actually the exact mirror copy, with the same furniture, decoration and the balcony and closet on opposite sides.
"I'm sure you have." The Princess responded and brought Korra into her closet where it was set up the same way as Asami's but instead of jewelry she had arm bands and arm sleeves lined on the table.
"So where is this door?" Korra asked looking towards the back wall where the rooms connected.
"I can hear you." Asami's muffled voice came through the wall. Korra walked over to the direction she heard it in and started feeling on the wall. She rubbed across something metallic and knelt down to see it was a Fire Nation ensignia that was wallpapered over to match the wall.
"Oh, I wonder how secret doors in the Fire Nation Palace opens." Ursa mumbled to herself but intentionally wanted Korra to hear.
"Babe, back up." Korra called out and pressed her hand on the ensignia and let a jolt of flame come out. Apart of the wall began to separate and she realized it was actually a door that just blended in.
"Yes, yes I did read this. There were twin boys centuries back that created this door to get back and forth to eachother's...
"Nope, wrong ones." The Princess stopped her.
"It was the incest twins. Excuse the expression." Asami corrected Korra.
"Give this one a prize." Ursa responded to Asami's right answer.
"So you two ladies have a wonderful stay here. Like my mother said when you're in the Fire Nation this is your home aswell. And hopefully we'll cross paths again before you leave." The Princess said before she headed out.
"Thank you Princess Ursa." Korra said with a bow before she got out of view and she smiled and bowed back.
Asami cleared her throat to regain Korra's attention.
"So I guess you're the only one that can open this thing." Asami said as she walked into Korra's closet.
"Are you okay?" Korra asked her finally getting a chance to call her on her attitude.
"We'll just leave it open then." Asami said and closed the door until it was slightly cracked.
"So you're ignoring me?" Korra asked and started walking over to her but they heard a knock on Korra's door.
"Uh, hello?" She said walking out the closet and seeing the door wasn't even completely closed.
"Ladies." The Fire Lord called out.
"Oh, yes your majesty." Korra said shocked. She wasn't expecting to see the Fire Lord again for their stay.
"Before the three of us go our separate ways I would like to speak with the both of you." She said with a smile.
"Of course." Asami responded. The Fire Lord turned around to lead the way. Korra held her hand out some for Asami to grab it but she just walked pass Korra and followed the Fire Lord. She would have felt offended had she not seen the smirk on Asami's face.
~A FEW MOMENTS LATER~
They were outside in a garden crossing a bridge over a pond. Korra and Asami watched as spirits messed around with sleeping turtle-ducks and waking them up.
"The one thing I never really enjoyed about the Fire Nation is that the weather never really changes." The Fire Lord started.
"It's either hot or really hot and maybe it'll rain every now and then, but we don't have a Winter with snow or a real Spring time. Everything's the same. It makes you crave a change." She went on.
"Change is sometimes good." Korra added in, she was watching Asami who was gazing up at the stars as she ran her fingers along the bridge. Even though Korra could only see the side profile of her face, her beauty was as radiant as the moon light that hit her.
"Change is always good, because no matter how people feel about it everyone will learn from it." She told them and they now knew this wasn't really about the weather.
"What you two did yesterday was iconic. This world was starting to get too comfortable with itself and needed to realize that everyday it's becoming more and more diversified than ever." The Fire Lord told them. Asami now stopped walking so Korra could catch up to her and then held on to her arm. Korra smiled, she knew Asami couldn't hold a fake attitude with her for long.
"I appreciate you two for bringing the world that discomfort to allow everyone to reevaluate theirselves."
"And I'm sure you know this is way bigger than you." She kind of stated and asked.
"I didn't realize it until we stepped off the boat today." Asami told her, and the Fire Lord smiled.
"Yes, my people are very accepting and loving. We owe the world that."
"It was very convient for us to come here aswell, so I want to thank you again for listening and accepting my offers. I have big plans for this world's transportation industry and I'd love to have it kick off in the Fire Nation." Asami thanked Honora.
"Yes, very convient. The Earth Kingom would have been an entirely different story." They gave a knowing nod.
"The way I view it is if you fall in love with a boy, you fall in love with a boy. If you fall in love with a girl, you fall in love with a girl. The fact that many Earth Kingdomers cant understand that says more about the Earth Kingdom than it does about homosexuality." She stated and both of the young women smiled, they loved that she had a deep and pure understanding of this.
"But what I really want the both of you to know..." She started and turned around to look at the both of them.
"You will face difficulties everywhere you go, but as long as you do not give up on yourselves or eachother, people will have no choice but to respect you. They may not love you, or even like you, but they will respect you."
"Respect is all we ask for." Korra said and placed her hand on top of Asami's and they smiled at eachother.
"But the true beauty of standing up for what you believe in, is that others will see you standing and rise as well.
