Korra winced as she woke up and tried to move. Everything felt like it was on fire and even just breathing felt like she was swallowing shards of metal. "Oww…this hurts way more than it should." She said, trying her best to stay still and not aggravate things.
"From what Tenzin has told me you're lucky that you only broke about ten ribs. He said any more and the shock would have probably killed you." Asami said as she walked into Korra's room carrying a pot of tea on a tray that also had some medicine and bandages.
"Tenzin letting you stay?" Korra asked, forgetting she had told him to let Asami stay the night before.
Asami smiled at Korra and helped her sit up so she could drink some tea. "Yes, he's letting me stay. He did put up the argument that you need your rest at night so I can't stay in here with you all the time, but I will try to be here for you whenever you need me while you heal up."
Korra smiled and took a sip of the tea. As she did though, the taste immediately offended her taste buds and she had to force herself to not spit it out. "Ugh! What is this?"
Asami almost laughed at Korra's reaction to the tea. "It's a mix of ginseng, lavender and lotus blossom with some medicine in it."
Korra smacked her lips noisily and said, "Tastes like really bad water after a Swamp Bender has taken a bath in it."
Asami laughed at Korra's comment. "I'm sure it's not quite that bad. Swamp Bender water sounds much worse."
"Have you ever been hit in the face with a Swamp Bender's attack?" Korra said with a smile, knowing the answer. "That tea, tastes just like that."
"But you still need to drink it, Korra. I want you to get better and Tenzin said this would help until you can withstand using your own healing skills." Asami said as she looked into Korra's bright blue eyes.
Korra couldn't help but notice just how pretty Asami was just staring at her like when Naga had as a puppy. Korra reached out and brushed a loose strand of hair out of Asami's face. She winced a bit as the effort to move hurt and sent bolt of pain up her side.
"Hey now…don't go being all loving if it's going to hurt." Asami said softly. "I can do enough of that for the both of us until you're better and we can go out on a proper date."
Korra sighed as Asami took a hold of her hand. "I just...I feel so helpless. Amon beat me so soundly and…"
Asami interrupted Korra by placing her finger on Korra's lips. "Shush. None of that now. Don't let yourself get tied down by what's happened. You can't change that."
Korra blushed at the touch and said, "Katara used to tell me that. She said it was one of Aang's biggest hurdles to overcome when he was younger. He blamed himself for the Hundred Year War, but Katara told him that had he stayed, the Avatar might have been lost for good, instead he was given a chance to end the war."
"And you've been given the chance to stay alive, heal and then deal with Amon when the time is right. What he's doing is evil and how he's justifying it horrifies me." Asami said with a sad look in her eyes. "You've heard that my mother was killed in front of both me and my father by a Firebender. Amon said he had something precious taken from him by Benders and that's why they need to be stopped, but I have a very similar tragedy happen and here I am, the girlfriend of the Avatar, telling her that Bending has its place in the balance of things."
Korra smiled at Asami and said, "Thank you for believing in me so much…even when I've lost faith in myself. Amon's tough but I know I can win."
Asami kissed Korra's cheek and then said with a smile, "That's my girl. Now, how's about some more tea?"
Korra tried to not laugh at the suggestion of more tea. "No thanks…I'd rather have Naga sneeze on me than drink more of that tea."
Asami faked a frown. "Aww, but it's good for you."
"Your young friend has a point Korra." Tenzin said as he walked into the room to do a check-up on Korra to see how she was doing.
Korra was grateful her luck was with her still and that Tenzin had missed Asami's statement of their relationship. "But it tastes awful, Tenzin. Isn't there something that tastes better than this?"
"Unfortunately no. It's an old Airbender remedy that is known to heal pretty much any ailment. At least you only have to drink the one pot of it for the full effect to take a hold."
Tenzin had barely finished his sentence before Korra took a hold of the whole teapot from Asami's hand and chugged the whole thing dry. "Ughh…well at least that's done and out of the way." Korra said, taking a moment to try to see if there was something nearby to get the taste out of her mouth.
Tenzin sighed and hung his head. "I didn't mean for you to drink it all at once. You're lucky you didn't throw it all back up."
Korra sighed, knowing it was going to be a long road to recovery no matter how well she was cared for or what healing had been used. She had been through this before; the only thing that healed was time and patience. Korra felt like she had all the time in the world now, but patience was a virtue that the young Avatar lacked entirely.
A week passed and Korra was able to be on her feet if nothing else. She had decided to go with Asami to one of the parks in Republic City to get away from her home for bit after being cooped up there for so long. Korra smiled to herself as she recognized this place as where she had first had her run-in with the police forces of Republic City.
"Thanks for taking me out today, Asami. It's nice not seeing the temple for once." Korra said with a smile as they walked along through the winding paths of the park.
"It's my pleasure. That and I've seen how on edge you were the whole time trying to get back to the point where you could stand up."
Korra stumbled and Asami caught her, preventing her from falling into the pond they were walking by. Korra blushed slightly and said, "Well I can almost stay up one hundred percent of the time. Still kinda relearning the whole balance thing. It's going to take a day or two to even feel remotely like normal."
Asami smiled and once she got Korra back on her feet she smiled and said, "Well that's why you have me nearby. I'll be there to catch you."
Korra pulled Asami into a hug and after quickly checking that no one would see; she gave Asami a kiss. "Thank you. I'm glad I have someone like you around."
A short while later they ran into Bolin who was trying to get passers-by to put coins into a hat while Pabu did tricks. He smiled when he saw Korra and Asami walk up. "Hey there you two. Been a while since I've seen you. How're you healing up Korra? Saw in the newspapers that you got beat up pretty bad."
Korra smiled at Bolin and said, "It's slow but going. I feel bad that I'm going to miss a few matches and ruin our chances for the tournament."
"Nah, it's all good. Mako completely understands. Besides, as long as you're not out for more than three games, we still have a shot if we don't lose another match for the rest of the season." Bolin said, trying to put a positive spin on things.
Korra hoped she wouldn't be out that long. She knew how much getting into the tournament meant to Bolin and Mako as well as to herself. It was something she was good at and could win at. It was the right spot of hope in her life that the darkness of Amon's looming shadow seemed to be unable to touch. Of course there had been the last tournament, but the arena had recovered from it, the teams shook off the shock of it all and went right back to it like nothing had happened.
"I'll do my best to not miss too many games. I just hope that once I can get back to Bending again that I won't be a liability on the team. Healing from injuries like this is not easy and it takes me a lot longer to get back to full power than I like." Korra admitted, having to lean into Asami to stay standing up.
Asami did her best to support Korra as she looked over at Bolin whose eyes clearly had a lot of disappointment in them. "Don't worry Bolin. I'm sure when Korra gets back to playing you guys will knock the competition right out."
Bolin smiled and Pabu jumped up on his head, doing a handstand. "Thanks you guys. I just hope Mako agrees with that."
"Agrees with what?"
Asami almost jumped and let Korra fall over at the sound of Mako's voice. Only Korra reaching out and saying, "Whoa…falling." stopped Asami from moving as she ended up having to catch Korra for the second time that day.
Bolin looked over at Mako and said, "Oh just that we're totally going to kick butt when Korra gets back on her feet more and can get back to Pro Bending."
Mako looked over at Korra and Asami. It was a bit sad to see his teammate so badly hurt but seeing her with his ex-girlfriend made him almost furious. He shut down his thoughts, not wanting to jump to any stupid conclusions like he always did. "Well, just heal up as fast as you can, Korra. It'll be lonely in the practice room without you there for a while."
"Well, Tenzin has put me on a strict 'No Pro Bending' rule until I can move around without someone nearby to help me. Right now I feel like a baby penguin seal learning to walk." Korra said with a light smile as she tried to stand up straighter and ended up having to lean on Asami yet again.
Mako just sighed and said, "Well, take care of yourself. Don't need you coming back too early only to get hurt again."
Bolin waved his hand at Mako in a dismissive gesture. "Don't sweat it bro. Korra will do just fine. You'll see."
"Yeah, I guess we will. Well I'm off to work. See you guys around later."
As Mako walked away Bolin said, "Wow…it's been a week and he still won't even acknowledge you're around Asami."
"Not that he acknowledged me when I was with him."
"Yeah I know. I heard the argument. I think that it's better this way. You're happy and Mako's just going to keep burying himself in Pro Bending like he always has." Bolin said with a sad note in his voice.
"Bolin…for what it's worth, I still care about you and your brother, just more as friends though. " Asami said, trying weakly to sort-of apologize.
"Come on Pabu." Bolin said as he got up. Pabu jumped up on his shoulder and he started to head off before saying over his shoulder, "Thank you Asami. I just hope Mako comes to his senses about all of this."
Asami sighed heavily as she watched Bolin leave. Korra looked at her and asked, "You still wish there had been a way to do this don't you?"
Asami looked at Korra and said, "Honestly? I wish I had run into you first to be honest. I'm not saying that just because we're together now. It was only through Mako that I really met you. I just wish we had met earlier and that I hadn't been stupid enough to go out with Mako."
"You weren't stupid." Korra said as they made their way back out of the park and headed home to the island. "You've never been stupid. You just didn't know what you really wanted in a person. Honestly, when I first met Mako, I was a bit infatuated with him too. Then he brought you along and for a while I was jealous of him. Now I'm realizing I wasn't jealous I couldn't be with him, I was jealous because he had you and I didn't."
Asami smiled and kissed Korra's cheek. "Well now you have me and we're going to make the best of that, aren't we?"
Korra nodded and smiled as the two got into a taxi and headed to the port to head home. The ride home was fairly quiet. Korra spent the vast majority of the ride home leaning on Asami's shoulder. She felt exhausted. Not just from the walk today and not just physically from healing up either, it was an emotional tiredness too. So many things had happened today that made her feel like she was responsible for doing more harm than good to the one person she was willing to admit she loved.
For the second time since she had come to Republic City, Korra was scared. This time though she wasn't sacred of dying or losing her bending. This time she was scared that she would lose the person who had told her that they would be there for her when she needed them the most.
Back home on the Island, Korra and Asami were sitting in Korra's room after a much needed change of bandages and some fresh medicine that dulled the pain. Korra was on her bed and Asami was behind her, idly braiding Korra's hair. It was something that relaxed the both of them and Korra let out a contented sigh.
"You know…I'm still a bit worried about us and what will happen when people find out that the Avatar is dating one of the most well-known young women in the whole city." Korra said as she did her best to sit still for Asami.
"I know what they will say." Asami said. "They'll be saying, 'that's one lucky Avatar to have such a wonderful person'."
"I hope that the people of this city accept us when the time comes to have to say anything about us." Korra said. She felt happy knowing that Asami still thought the best of her and helped bring her out of her more self-defeating moments.
Asami paused in her braiding to tie up the loose ends as she spoke. "Tenzin told me something the other morning when the newspapers came in talking about what happened. He said that a city or even a world that does not put its faith in the Avatar to bring balance, risks not only angering the spirits in the Spirit World, but also angering the Avatar and all of their past lives and bring about a balance of the sort that would wipe clean the slate."
"I know not every Avatar was as peaceful and such like Aang, but even to me that seems a bit much. I want to bring balance here in a way that won't force the cycle of hatred to begin again. Part of me wants the relationship between us to work out so well because if we may, I'd be sending a statement of not only love, but of equality between Benders and Non-Benders. Obviously there are a ton of personal reasons I like you, but that one reason is the biggest public reason I have for choosing you." Korra said with a smile.
Asami nuzzled Korra's neck and said, "There, all finished with your new braids. I know they'll come out when you get back to Bending, but for now, they look cute on you."
Korra smiled and was glad that she had Asami. It made this whole past few days so much easier to bear.
Across the city, Amon was brooding. He felt that maybe his little demonstration of stringing up a nearly dead Avatar hadn't sunk in quite as well as he had expected. Sure the Avatar had secluded herself to heal, that much was easy to explain but the one odd piece of the usual Republic City puzzle that was out of place was an old comrade's daughter. Amon had contacts monitoring Asami Sato after Hiroshi Sato's arrest. The news had come back to him today that she had apparently struck up quite the friendship with the Avatar and had been staying on Air Temple Island to give her some company while she healed.
Amon smiled to himself. His sources had told him that until recently, Sato had been with a fellow teammate of Korra's who had become immensely focused on Pro Bending since the fallout. He knew exactly where to strike and he knew that a good search and rescue would do the Avatar more harm than good, especially if he could capture her new friend as well.
He looked over at his Lieutenant and said, "Bring me the one called Mako. You should find him still living in the Arena now that it has been repaired. And make sure it is noticed. I want the Avatar to get wind of this."
"As you wish Lord Amon. We shall get it done." And with that the Lieutenant disappeared and Amon went back to watching the lights of the city. The night was still young and there was much to do.
(I had a bit of, 'where do I go now?' plot issues this chapter. I spent a good bit of it trying to figure out how much I wanted to balance not only story progression but Asami and Korra's relationship as well. That said, once I got going it wrote itself. I like how this story is coming together and I'm still working on it. There'll be a new chapter up soon, be patient and if you really like the story, drop me a review. Feel free to tell what you liked and possibly didn't like. I hope you all enjoy reading this and I will do my best to keep it enjoyable as the story goes into the future.)
Shinobi of the Onyx Sands
