SOMEWHERE OVER THE RAINBOW

Chapter

Chapter 6: The Untold Love Story

Whether in bliss or affliction, loved owned you all the same. - Rachael Wade

"And considering I caught them at it later, I can only assume they immediately had se-"

"Thank you, Godfrey," Kai said loudly over the Cat Owl. Korra snickered.

"I made sure to knock after the first time I caught them, which incidentally is how I met Kai, but after a while, I was able to time it right," he continued. "They were just so loud sometimes. So I'd wait until they'd quieted down for a few minutes-"

"Godfrey."

"-and then knock on the window just to make sure that at the very least their extremities were covered-"

"Godfrey."

"And most of the time I was fine, thankfully, but one time - ow!" He looked at Jinora, who was glaring daggers at him, and Kotta could only assume she'd kicked him very forcefully under the table.

Kotta had never seen her parents look more flustered, and found it was hard to look at them. As much as she knew her parents had a very intense...love, for one another, she found she didn't need to know anymore details.

"Well, I think you get the point," Godfrey mumbled. The other adults were snickering to themselves, and Flint kept shifting uncomfortably in his seat, scooting away from Kotta slightly. Naga simply stared at Kai and Jinora, her brow muscles lifted slightly as if she was kind of impressed.

"Sounds exhausting," Korra said, a mischievous grin on her face. "Years of sexual tension, finally bubbling to the surface-"

"Korra, I swear to Oz," Kai said, sharply turning to her, his face a bright red.

"20 times at least," Godfrey added. He grunted in pain at another kick from Jinora.

Korra's eyebrows rose. "20, huh? You two were like a couple of bunnies-"

"Korra!" Jinora dragged her hands down her face, her cheeks a very dark shade of green. The other woman held her hands up in surrender.

Still, Korra couldn't help herself as she glanced over at Kotta and said, "Poor kid, must be hard to get to sleep if they're still that...energetic-"

"Korra!" both Kai and Jinora yelled. Korra raised her hands a little higher.

"We get it," Kotta said with a strained smile, "my parents love each other very much. We can continue to the next plot point. Please."

"Well, actually," Jinora said, her face still very flushed, "he did propose to me during our time at Kiamo Ko. We had just written a letter to Opal and we were…" As her blush deepened, Kotta could only infer what exactly had been doing. "...talking, about infiltrating the Wizard's palace. I figured his expertise of the palace's layout would come in handy, so I asked him to help. He did, and he promised to come with me, and then just...made it official, by asking me to allow him to be by my side for the rest of our lives."

Kai smiled at the memory. "I was so nervous," he said. "I know we had...spent a lot of time together at that point, but things were still moving pretty fast, and I wasn't sure if she'd say yes. I was so happy when she did." They glanced at one another again, still a bit flustered, but clearly very fond of the memory.

"Aww," Opal sighed, smiling. "How did Jinora respond? I mean, I know she said yes, but I remember crying when Bolin asked me to marry him." She cast an affectionate glance at Bolin before looking back to them.

Kotta had never seen two such flustered people before. "That doesn't really matter, does it?" Jinora said, laughing nervously.

Kotta buried her face in her hands. "Please don't tell me you accepted his proposal by doing it again," she groaned, too mortified to care about being discrete anymore.

Jinora muttered, "On the kitchen table, actually." Opal spit out her drink and Korra hooted with laughter.

Kotta groaned again. "Okay, okay, forget I asked-"

"You seriously just said that out loud?" Kai said, looking distressed.

"She asked," Jinora said feebly. "But that's not the point. The point is, we got engaged, and we were going to try to infiltrate the Wizard's palace to free the flying lemurs I had accidentally created during my first visit to the Wizard."

"We spent a few more days in Kiamo Ko, then left for the Emerald City. It was a hard few days. We kept having nightmares, and whatever bubble we were in while we were staying at Kiamo Ko just...popped. We were still happy to be together, but now we were scared, too. We were both fugitives that suddenly had everything to lose." Kai took a quick glance at Jinora, his eyes shining.

Opal and Bolin sighed dreamily. They had always been romantics at heart.

"We entered the Wizard's palace with what should have been the perfect plan," Jinora said. "We had prepared for everything, accounted for secret passages and the schedule of the guards, but...it wasn't enough." She looked at the spot on the table in front of her with a dark, distant expression. "The Wizard had been waiting for us."