Lives in the Balance – Chapter 4
The sun rose higher, and Republic City seriously got down to the business of the day.
Arriving at the office, Asami found that her suspicions regarding Ling were well founded. Everyone she passed was being studiously industrious, barely even raising their heads to say "Good morning Ms. Sato!" with not a single newspaper, of any edition, in sight.
At the door to her office Ling was upright glaring out at everyone, but her expression switched to its usual calm efficiency once Asami approached. "Good morning Ms. Sato, I have your revised schedule ready for your review."
"Thank you Ling, I'm sorry I was delayed today. Let's get started."
Start they did, and for the first hour or so everything seemed just as always, except Ling was hovering more than usual. Asami was relaxing back into the rhythm of the day when she stopped by the desk of her office secretary, Mei, to check on the status of a scheduled client call later in the day and noticed a stack of "Received Call" notes sitting to one side. Mei had seemed awfully busy this morning on the phone whenever Asami had looked up.
"Am I behind on any of my calls this morning, Mei? I know I came in late but I should have a bit of time to catch up now."
Mei jumped a little. "Oh no Ms. Asami! (Unlike Ling, Mei was willing to compromise when it came to Asami's name.) Ah... it's not business ma'am." She smiled weakly. "I'm... under orders from Ms. Ling to run any non-business calls past her first today."
Ling appeared from nowhere at Asami's elbow. "It's nothing to trouble you with Ms. Sato, I thought you should concentrate on the day's work instead of any trivia..."
"Thank you Ling, really, but I think I need to know what's going on." Asami said firmly, and held out her hand for the notes. Mei, looking rather crestfallen, handed them over and Asami turned to go into her office and get this over with.
"Ah, Ms. Asami?" Mei blurted out, cringing a little under a glare from Ling but continuing anyway. "I, I know this is none of my business, but me and a lot of my friends here, we're, we're all really happy for you and Avatar Korra, really we are! I, I, just wanted to say that."
"Thank you very much Mei, I do appreciate that." Asami smiled at her, gave Ling a "leave the poor girl alone look", and continued back into her office.
Mei's words were a help as Asami paged thru the messages with a sigh. As she expected, they were mostly requests from various dailies, weeklies, magazines, and radio shows for "comment" (about what they didn't come out and say). There was even one from the Voice of the City, which Asami was forced to give a plus for nerve and a minus for literally everything else. Won't tell Korra about that one she thought as that pellet of paper ended up in the waste-basket.
There was also a message from Mako. Korra was right, he did see it. She put that one aside to call back to first.
There were a few from committees and boards she was on asking for a return call, and one regarding a luncheon talk she was scheduled to give tomorrow that was marked URGENT. If they have any problems with the fact that I kiss the woman who's saved this city, MULTIPLE TIMES, I couldn't care less!
She took a deep breath and calmed down, much as Korra had done on her terrace earlierthat day. I supposed I should give them a chance to actually be terrible before I condemn them. And better now then never. With a sigh, she picked up the phone and begin to place her first call.
Mako sat at his desk at the station. Actually, it was one side of a desk he shared with an fellow officer, sitting facing each other. He was away on vacation, which was something Mako was thankful for right now.
Mako knew that he was considered the "dense" one of old Team Avatar (Bolin being "oblivious"), which he felt was a little unfair. Even before Korra and Asami had returned from the Spirit World he know something important was going on between them, and at Varrick and Tzu Li's wedding he'd wanted Korra to know he'd always have her back, and he always would. It was great to see her back to her old self, and while their announcement had knocked him a little off his feet, even he could see that they complimented each other far better than he had ever did.
With either of them.
Which had made his initial time at the station something of an ordeal. It was public knowledge that he was the guy who had dated the two "biggest catches in Republic City" as it was usually put around here, and he had wound up with neither. For a couple of months there had been a "Mako's Ex's" section on the bulletin board with all the news clippings either Korra or Asami had appeared in, with numerous other indignities sent his way (Lu and Gang being the worst offenders) and he had no real recourse but just keep his head down and take it. It had taken a while but in the end everyone had finally lost interest.
Until this morning.
When Mako had first seen the newspaper on the street his first thought (after he pulled himself together) was Korra is going to go completely nuts over this. His second was Asami... will likely be OK, she always seemed pretty calm about stuff like this when we were dating. And his third I should get into the station and call Air Temple island, if Korra doesn't know about this yet it'd be better if Tenzin or Pema to talk to her first.
A wall of cat-calls hit Mako the moment he walked into the squad room (having finally moved back to regular duties now that Prince Wu was ex-Prince Wu) but he ignored it all until he got on the telephone. Fortunately, he got Jinora right away, and finding out that Korra had already left and that Asami had called earlier as well looking for her, he asked for Pema and filled her in on the situation.
"Oh dear," Pema said, "do you think Korra and Asami will be all right?"
"Asami should be OK, she's got some experience with this nonsense, and considering she just tried to reach Korra she must already know about it. Korra … "
"It might be better if she found out from someone close to her." Pema finished. "I agree. But if she wasn't on her way to Asami's this morning then I'm afraid I don't know where she went. I'll ask around here and keep an eye out for her coming back."
"I'll try calling Asami and how she is, and if she's seen Korra. Thanks, Pema."
"Thank you, Mako. "
Mako hung up, but before he could start dialling again a copy of the paper (one of several scattered around the room, including one on the bulletin board) was dropped in front of him.
"Hey Mako! I guess we finally know why you didn't get anywhere with them!" came a cheery comment from across the room. "Guess it wasn't your fault after all!".
"Yeah, I guess the evidence really speaks for itself!" This comment was felt to be particularly hilarious around the room.
Mako took a deep breath and stood up. He flexed his fingers and his hands lit up in flames, causing everyone watching to quiet down, more than a little.
"Right," he said. "who's copy is first?"
After all the windows had been opened to clear the smoke out of the station, Mako and everyone else in the squad had ended up standing before Lin Beifong, enduring an epic lecture on "unprofessional behaviour". "Now you can all continue to just stand around and gossip," she concluded, "or you can get back to work!"
There was a general scatter back to their desks, but she added "Not you Mako" as he turned as well. She leaned back and regarded him. "Over-react much, do you think?"
"Chief, I don't care if they make fun of me," Mako said quietly, "but they don't get to just make fun of Korra and Asami."
"I think those two are more than capable of taking care of themselves. But I can respect someone who stands up for his friends." Beifong replied, in what may well have been the first real praise Mako had ever received from her.
And the moment ended when she continued "Which is why you're only pulling a week of double-shifts for setting fire to the squad room." She leaned in uncomfortably close. "Don't ever do that again."
"Understood Chief." Mako saluted and retreated back to his desk, where he decided trying a quick call to Asami wouldn't be pushing his luck too much...
Korra had taken her time returning to Air Temple island, making a slow circuit of the city and just feeling the winds around her. About an hour after she had left Asami she made a neat landing back in the temple courtyard. Pema came hurrying out with a concerned look on her face and Korra found out about Mako's call.
"He was worried about you and Asami both Korra, he said there was something in a newspaper that might upset you?"
"I know about it Pema, and I've already talked to Asami about it. I'm … not very happy about it, but I'm working on it. I thought I'd meditate in the alcove for a while, that should make Tenzin happy at least. Or maybe I should call Mako back first..."
"Let me handle calling Mako back for now Korra. Tenzin had an early appointment this morning, do you want me to send him out to you when he gets back?"
"I'll come looking when I'm done, I think I just need some quiet time right now." Korra stopped for a moment and laughed a little. "Wow, who ever would have thought I'd say that?"
Pema smiled. "I'll have Jinora keep Ikki and Meelo out of your way, they're both a little wound up over this."
"Thanks Pema." Korra started to leave and stopped. "Pema, when Tenzin stopped seeing Lin and started seeing you, did people.. bother you guys about it at all? I mean, I guess you were all kind of famous. If that's none of my business just say so!" she quickly added.
"That's all right Korra. Tenzin and Lin were "kind of famous," considering who they were, I was just this air acolyte from a village no one had ever heard of. I suppose there was some talk about it, but I was spending most of my time here on the island, and none of us were what you would call "glamorous" people. I mean, Tenzin has many wonderful qualities, but … have you seen photographs of him at functions?"
"Yeahhhh..." Korra said. For an Air-Bending Master Tenzin came off rather... solid in pictures. And Lin would just crush anyone who tried something like this with her. Which is not an option open to me for some reason I don't understand.
Korra turned to go again, but stopped again. "Wait, what did you mean Ikki and Meelo were a little wound up? I though you said that it was only you that talked to Mako, what would they be wound up about?"
"Ah." said Pema. And stopped.
Korra looked at her for a few seconds and sighed. "They've seen a copy of the paper, haven't they?"
"A.. few copies came over this morning with the usual deliveries, and … got passed around. Jinora's been rounding them all up. I thought it would be best to not mention it." Pema put her hand on Korra's arm. "Ikki and Meelo are just happy for you two, Korra, they don't mean anything by all their antics. And I will keep them out of your way today."
"I know Pema, thanks. Oh, Asami will be coming over for dinner tonight."
"Oh, wonderful, it'll be good to see her!"
"Yeah, it will." Korra turned away for the third time. "Now I think I really need to meditate."
"And Korra?" Pema interrupted this time. "I think you and Asami just looked like two people very much in love."
Korra smiled in thanks, and finally made her way to the alcove. Folding her legs, she took a deep breath and let it out again, finding her balance.
-end Chapter 4-
