CHAPTER VI: DECISIONS
Kya looked down at the two girls lying in the healing-pool as she gently rubbed glowing streams of water across their bodies. But they weren't girls anymore, she realized. They were women, and the two women in her care were terribly injured. When a waterbender is healing someone, they can feel what the water feels, and Kya had to bite her tongue to stop gasping every few seconds. Both of the women's injuries were treatable, but even the most experienced healer would be hard-pressed to mend them quickly. Even then, some injuries just can't be fixed by waterbending. The healing that Kya was performing now could only kick-start their body's natural healing processes, but right now, that was better than nothing.
Tenzin, Pema, Jinora, Ikki, Meelo, and Bumi were gathered together behind Kya, eagerly awaiting a report from her but patiently keeping quiet. Tenzin's face was downcast, and his eyes bespoke the shame he felt. He had failed to protect the Avatar and Asami in his own home, blindly trusting a stranger to walk right in and bloodbend the two of them. He had long ago come to view Korra almost in the same light as one of his children, and his heart broke to see her lying unconscious like this.
Pema was holding onto Tenzin's arm, her usual worried-mother expression deepening into sorrow. With her other arm, she was enfolding Ikki and Meelo in a warm, reassuring embrace. Jinora and Bumi were looking down at Korra and Asami lying in the pool of healing-water, echoing the others' expressions of pain and worry.
Kya, like most everyone else on Air Temple Island, had heard the crashing and shattering of glass after Tenzin had discovered Tenora bloodbending Asami and Korra. She had rushed to the scene as quickly as she could, but by the time she had arrived it was over. Tenora was gone, and Asami and Korra had been lying lifeless on the floor. She immediately began to bend water up out of the healing-pool to treat them with, but she noticed something odd about this water. An experienced waterbender can also detect any impurities in the water they bend, whether that be something like dirt or sediment, or something more sinister. She didn't know what it was, but she knew that she wasn't going to use this water to heal them with. Knowing that time was short, Kya lifted all of the water in the healing-pool and bended it out of the broken window, splashing it on the ground outside. She had then jumped out of the same window and took off for the shore, bringing back more non-drugged water with her from the ocean. Salt-water isn't ideal to heal with, but it would work for now, and it was all they had.
That had been two hours ago, and Asami and Korra were still unconscious. After they had gotten the scene under control and both girls in the new healing-pool, Tenzin had phoned Lin Beifong to rally the police in search of Sahno Tenora. He notified her that Tenora was a highly dangerous bloodbender, and to use extreme caution if they found him. Lin agreed to begin the search, and promised to radio the island's tower if she found anything.
They were now approaching three hours after Tenora's attack, and Ikki and Meelo were rubbing their eyes. It was dark now, almost 11 o' clock at night, so Pema looked at Tenzin and gently squeezed his arm. He nodded, and she took the two younger children out of the room to go to bed. Meelo started to protest, saying that if he had been with Korra none of this would've happened and he wanted to stay by her side just in case that nasty bloodbender might come back, but Pema shushed him and led the way out of the healing room.
Tenzin spoke up softly. "What do you think, Kya?"
Her eyes were closed as she honed in on the source of their injuries. "It's bad, Tenzin. That Tenora really did a number on them. I've only just now gotten Korra's muscles to relax," Kya said. She had never healed someone after a bloodbending attack before. It astonished her how devastating that form of bending was on a person's musculature. Being a waterbender, it sickened her how bloodbending was merely a perversion of the art she herself used.
Now Bumi chimed in. "Could we get Mom to come heal them?" He looked to Tenzin for support.
Katara was perhaps the world's greatest healer. She could mend broken bones in a fraction of the time that it took them to heal naturally (though even then it might take a few weeks), and things like scars or cuts, no matter how deep, she could heal almost instantly. But Kya sensed that even her powerful waterbending mother would have her work cut out for her with these two.
"Probably not," Tenzin replied. "You know as well as I do that she's vowed to never leave the South Pole. Besides, it would take almost a week for her to get here by boat."
"Then let's go to her! We can take these two to Mom, by air-bison if we have to," Bumi said.
"No, they're not in any shape to be riding air-bison," Kya retorted. She knew her brother had meant well, but these two seriously injured people, especially Asami with her broken ribs, did not belong on an air-bison.
But he had a point. Katara might be resolute in her decision, but they could perhaps transport Korra and Asami to the South Pole by boat. Like Tenzin had said, though, it would take them a week to get to the Southern Water Tribe from Republic City. Air-bison, of course, could make the trip faster, but there was no way Kya was letting these two ride one, and an air-ship would take even longer, having to stop and refuel.
They didn't argue any more about it, instead letting Kya work in silence. The key to healing with waterbending was to create a small tide of water to flow over the patient's body back and forth, and the closer you could match their heartbeat with this tide, the more effective the healing would be. Kya couldn't quite see into Asami's body, but she could sense through the water how damaged her torso was. They definitely needed Katara's expertise.
Another half-hour went by, and Jinora and Bumi walked off to bed. Neither Korra nor Asami had awoken yet, but Kya could feel a slight awareness in the two of them, so they weren't in a coma or anything too serious. They just needed time.
Tenzin approached Kya a few minutes later. He put a gentle hand on her shoulder.
"Do you think we should leave them in the water for tonight?" he asked his sister. Normally, Tenzin's word was law on Air Temple Island, even though that didn't really apply to his own siblings. But this was waterbending work, and for that he deferred to his experienced sister.
Kya considered it for a moment. The two young ladies definitely needed as much healing as they could absorb, but leaving them in water while they're unconscious didn't exactly seem wise.
"No," she said, sighing from her last three hours of effort. She had hoped to at least coax them back awake, but they had taken a beating, inside and out. "Let's dry them off and leave them on cots in here. I'll continue this in the morning, after we get some fresh water in the healing-pool."
Tenzin brought out some clean towels, and the two siblings carefully removed Korra and Asami from the pool, one at a time. There were cots in the nearby infirmary, and they set two of them up in a corner of the healing room.
After they had gotten the two injured women dry, they gently placed one on each cot.
When that was done, Kya put her arm around her brother. "Tenzin, this wasn't your fault. There's no way you could have known this would happen."
The airbending master sighed heavily. "I know, Kya." He didn't feel like saying much more, and his sister let it go at that.
When Korra awoke that same night, it was dark. She panicked for an instant, thinking she might have gone blind from Tenora's bloodbending, or worse, that she was dead. But her vision soon adjusted to the darkness, and she knew where she was. She couldn't move due to the stinging and restrictive pain in every muscle, but right across from her lay Asami on another cot. Korra remembered what had happened: walking in on Tenora bloodbending Asami, her yelling for help, then Tenora grabbing Korra with his bending. She didn't know what had happened after that.
She watched Asami sleep in silence. Even now, she thought, Asami is still beautiful. Silent tears began streaming softly down Korra's face. These weren't the same tears from earlier, the ones fueled by hatred or confusion. These tears weren't even accompanied by sniffling or heavy breathing. These tears came from Korra's guilt, and they silently spilled from her eyes.
She felt guilty that Asami had gotten so badly injured for protecting her. In that moment, seeing how hurt Asami was, Korra didn't feel worthy of Asami's loyalty. She knew that she herself would've risked life and limb for her friend, but somehow Korra couldn't bring herself to understand the true loyalty that Asami had always displayed. Korra couldn't exactly say why, but she felt responsible for what had happened to Asami over the past couple of days. Again, it had to do with her disability. Had Korra not been wheelchair-bound, she would've destroyed those men outside the restaurant, as well as Sahno Tenora.
Korra felt an overwhelming desire to comfort Asami, to reassure her that everything was going to be alright. But sleep demanded that she come back, and she gave in to its wishes.
The next morning, the whole gang was gathered around the dining room table for breakfast, excluding, of course, Korra and Asami. They were still in the healing room asleep, though Kya had already checked on them.
They were discussing the pros and cons of taking the two injured girls to the South Pole to be treated by Katara. Bumi was adamantly for the idea, while Tenzin still held hope that the remaining healers in Republic City might be enough, along with Kya. Transporting them that far, Tenzin mentioned, might also take a toll on their health. Kya and Pema were undecided.
Of course, the healers were being questioned by the police right now, since their leader had been working for Tenora the whole time, though it seemed that he had been the only one. The other healers had known about the drug in the water, but they had been told, by their leader, that it was only a sedative. The RCPD had already discovered a sample of it, having worked through the night to track down Tenora, but no such luck. The sedative, however, might prove to be an important find, Lin had said. If nothing else, they could learn where it was made, and go from there.
Bumi slapped his hand on the table. "Who else but Mom can we trust? I mean really trust?" he said, speaking loudly to be heard over the discussion. Meelo slapped his hand on the table too, imitating his uncle. "Yeah," the little airbender said, "who?"
Ignoring Meelo, Tenzin replied, "I'm just concerned that the trip will be too long."
Bumi folded his arms (as did Meelo). "This is ridiculous, Tenzin. C'mon Kya, you're a healer, back me up here," he said to his sister. "Those girls need to be seen by Mom!"
Kya was torn between the two sides, and she suddenly could sympathize with Tenzin. Her brother was in charge of a whole nation of new benders and was no doubt used to being charge, but all of a sudden both he and Bumi were now looking to her for guidance. It pleased her to know that her siblings thought so highly of her waterbending, but it didn't help the fact that most of the decision was being put on her. She had made up her mind. She hoped it would be enough. Kya cleared her throat to begin, with Tenzin and Bumi hanging on her every word.
"I think we should keep the girls here until they're well enough for such a long journey," she said. "I'll help the other City healers, if or when they're cleared by the police. If they aren't, I'll heal them as best I can by myself." Tenzin softly sighed, nodding his head in agreement.
"However," she continued, "I do think that, once they're able, we should immediately take them to Mom. Korra has seen little progress over the past few months, and Asami's ribs have taken extensive damage, so Mom's experience here is vital." This part of her answer satisfied Bumi, who relaxed back into his chair.
"Well," Tenzin said, "I guess that settles it then." He pushed his chair back and stood up. "I'm leaving to meet with Lin in the City to see if her police have found anything else. I'll see you all later this evening." He leaned over to hug Pema, then continued, saying, "Bumi and Jinora, I need you two to stay here and train with the others while I'm gone. Kya, please call the police station if they wake up."
And with that, Tenzin left, and everyone else got up to go about their daily tasks.
Later on that same morning, Kya had returned to the healing room after breakfast, along with Bumi, and they had placed Korra and Asami in the healing-pool, sitting them up in the water side by side. Kya thanked Bumi for helping, and he gave his sister a one-armed hug before leaving to go train with the other airbenders. Kya was now bending the healing-water back and forth across their bodies, creating another small tide in the pool.
She had been at this for nearly thirty minutes before she paused for a break. Kya sat down on a bench to drink some water and take a breather. Most people didn't realize it, but healing was hard work. It took just as much mental effort as it did physical. If you wanted to maximize the amount of healing a person received, you had to concentrate on the flow of water around them. Most healers (herself included) strove to match the patient's heartbeat with the back-and-forth motion of the tide they created, which gave the person's natural healing systems a significant boost. Katara, on the other hand, was somehow able to make the patient's heartbeat match the tide, and the effects this had were dramatic. Kya had seen her mother mend a fisherman's broken wrist back to working condition in less than an hour, and even though that wrist still needed to be braced for a few days after that, it was still the fastest healing she'd ever seen. Kya desperately wished she could match her mother's abilities, but after years and years of studying under her, Kya had all but given up. Katara was just special, and there was no one else quite like her.
Her mother's abilities were a closely guarded secret among the Southern Water Tribe. Katara had enjoyed plenty of fame for her skills in her youth, but now that she was much older she had decided to settle down and live out her days among her people. That's why Kya, Tenzin, and Bumi didn't consider bringing Katara here to Air Temple Island to treat Korra and Asami. Above all, they wanted to respect their mother's wish. Besides, if Katara showed up here in the City to treat two people, it wouldn't take long for the word to spread, and sooner or later others would start seeking her out to heal them. Katara wanted peace, and her children had vowed to honor that.
Kya stood back, having rested for a few minutes, and she walked over to stand next the healing pool. She placed her feet shoulder-width apart in a balanced stance and began to bend the water.
She briefly looked down at the two young women's faces. Poor things, she thought. I hate to see them like this. Korra was the toughest and most headstrong person Kya had ever met, and that was saying something considering that she had grew up around Bumi. She also knew that Korra cared deeply for her friend, Asami. That was another thing she respected Korra for: her loyalty. Double-cross Korra, and you were asking for trouble. Befriend her, though, and she'd defend you with her dying breath. Kya had also noticed that despite her headstrong and can-do attitude, Korra sometimes sold herself short. In some situations, Korra lacked a certain self-assurance. Kya couldn't blame her, though. Growing up as the Avatar must have instilled a sense of duty in the girl at a very young age, and she was always afraid of disappointing anyone.
As Kya was pushing her artificial tide of healing-water back and forth across the young women, she sensed one of them begin to stir subconsciously. It was somewhat like a lightbulb trying to power on, but flickering due to a lack of power. Kya opened her eyes to see if one of them stirred, having had her eyes closed to concentrate. Neither girl moved, but she could still feel the slight stirring in the water. She began to work faster, still careful to keep as close as she could to their heartbeats, and she supplied her bending-tide with a little more energy, hoping to coax one of the girls awake.
Sure enough, Asami's eyes opened slowly. Her pupils were dilated, and she blinked several times very fast. Kya slowed the tide back down somewhat, sighing with relief.
Thank the spirits, she thought.
Asami tried to lift one of her arms, wincing and groaning from the pain.
"Uuuugghhh…," she moaned. "Where…?"
Kya softly shushed her, wanting her to keep still. "Asami, honey, it's alright. You're here at Air Temple Island. You're safe now," she said to the injured heiress.
Asami blinked a few more times, her vision coming back to her now. "Tenora, he's a…..Korra. Where's…." she trailed off, as she looked to her right and saw who she was looking for.
Korra was lying next to Asami in the healing pool, propped up into a half-sitting position like she was. They were both submerged up to their necks in the healing-water, which was thankfully drug-free, Asami noticed. Korra's eye sockets looked sullen, like she'd been awake for days, and her head had slightly tilted to one side in her sleep. Asami wanted to cry as she looked upon her friend, but quite frankly her body felt too good to even produce tears. This was what healing-water was supposed to feel like. She still felt pain, especially in her chest, but the sense of euphoria was too strong to worry about anything else.
Asami tried to speak evenly, but she was having a hard time breathing to get the words out. "Will….she be…fine?" she asked Kya.
"Yes, I promise," Kya replied. "Just try to relax, Asami. Korra's going to be OK, just like you. We're going to get through this, you have my word."
Asami settled her head back against the side of the pool, turning it to look at Korra. "Thank you," she said to Kya. "I want….her to….know. Korra….," was all she could get out before struggling to breathe again. Every breath hurt her chest, and it made her lightheaded to speak too much. She resolved to wait for her friend to wake up, too.
After breakfast, Ikki and Meelo had went with Jinora to train with the other airbenders. After their Uncle Bumi had rejoined them, they went through the various daily routines and obstacles. Meelo's favorite one to send new airbenders through was something he called "The Rookie Grinder," named after the immense amusement he got from watching them fail. Tenzin's three children had all been raised on airbending, having been born with the innate ability, so they all had assumed various leadership roles when it came to teaching the new Air Nation. Jinora, being the oldest of them, was "in charge" though, at least according to their dad. Meelo, however, had always seen himself as somewhat of a lone-wolf and a loose-cannon, and as such he rarely bowed to any authority. Least of all to his sister, fancy airbending-master-tattoos or not.
His own tattoos would come eventually, he reasoned. Then he'd show them. He'd show them all how he was the true master on this island. Except for his dad, of course. His dad knew everything. Meelo hadn't quite figured out how Jinora had tricked their dad into letting her get tattoos, but it didn't matter. Not when he had trainees to send through the Rookie Grinder.
After a few hours of meditation and stance-training, they broke for lunch. Which was Meelo's favorite time of the day, because after lunch the physical training began. Which could mean only one thing.
"Step right up, maggots!" he taunted them. "I had better see some improvement outta you weaklings today. This is the easiest thing on the whole island. If you can't master this, you might as well hand in your airbending."
The new airbenders never really gave much attention to what Meelo said, ever. But he didn't know that.
The Rookie Grinder consisted of three rotating platforms, with walls of increasing-height between them. The task was to mount the first platform while another airbender (in this case, Meelo) spun it around with wind. Then, you had to use your own airbending to launch yourself up onto the wall, which was very thin at the top, and then proceed to the next spinning platform, and so on until you dismounted the last wall after the last spinning platform. Also, you weren't allowed to use your hands to grab onto anything: the point was to be light on your feet. The walls increased in height each time, with the first wall being only five feet taller than the first platform, but the last wall was twenty-five feet tall. This obstacle was designed to promote keeping one's balance even in stressful situations, which is very important to airbending, but also very difficult. And Meelo never missed an opportunity to demonstrate the proper way to do it.
He did so just now, having Ikki spin the platforms for him, and he gracefully completed the whole obstacle in less than twenty seconds.
"See?" he said, pointing at the Rookie Grinder behind him. "Easy as pie. All you have to do is copy me exactly, and we'll have you beef-cakes in fighting shape in no time!"
Still ignoring whatever came out of his mouth, the other airbender novices began to attempt the obstacle, some of them groaning from their past failures.
There was nothing in the whole wide world that amused Meelo more than watching his recruits fall, stumble, and stutter through the Rookie Grinder.
Ikki floated down next to Meelo. "Stop pestering them, Meelo. It's not nice," she said. "Besides, I remember how much trouble you used to have on this one."
"As if!" he retorted. The mere suggestion that he'd ever had any trouble completing the Rookie Grinder was absurd! "Did you not just see me do it? Are you blind, woman?!"
Ikki made a face at him and blasted him off his feet with a gust of air, taking to the skies in her flight-suit. Meelo chased her, flying up to meet her among the clouds. His recruits' training would have to wait. Besides, there was no way they would ever master the Rookie Grinder, he thought. Plenty of time to laugh at them later.
The siblings playfully threw pockets of wind at each other as they soared through the sky, eventually tiring out and gliding side by side as they headed back for the courtyard.
"What's that?" Ikki said, pointing at a small black shape in the bay. They were flying high above Air Temple Island, and something had suddenly emerged from underneath the surface of the water, right up against the island's shore. Smaller black things got out of the original black shape, and Ikki and Meelo glided quietly in for a closer look. It was a submarine! Meelo had heard Uncle Bumi talk about these before.
As they got closer, they saw several people had gotten out of the submarine, all dressed in black. The sun was just starting to set, and these black-clad people were sticking to the shadows as they made their way towards the west side of the island: to the healing room.
Asami had been trying her best to stay awake, hoping that Korra would regain consciousness soon. She wanted to be the first one to reassure her friend, the Avatar, that they were both safe. The soothing euphoria of the healing-water, though, had been making it hard to stay up.
Poor Korra, she thought, as she examined her sleeping friend. She doesn't deserve all this.
Korra was hands-down the most inspiring person Asami knew. Even though they had gotten off on the wrong foot, due to the awkward love-triangle they had been in with Mako, she and Korra had grown close throughout their adventures together. Asami had always been slightly intimidated by Korra, though. Not in a fearful way, but in a way that sometimes left Asami wondering if she was good enough to be Korra's friend, but this minor intimidation pushed Asami to better herself at all times. Maybe 'intimidated' wasn't quite right, but she didn't know how else to explain it. She just knew that when she was around Korra, she strived to be the best that she could be.
Korra's natural grace and beauty had been obvious to Asami from the moment they had met. Korra had a down-to-earth vibe that Asami knew was highly attractive, not just to her, but to other people as well. Throughout their friendship, Asami had always secretly wondered what Korra would think of her bisexual orientation. She'd never brought it up before. Being from the Southern Water Tribe, a fairly secluded place compared to Republic City, Korra might not have been as exposed to openly homosexual relationships. Asami just simply didn't know, and the last thing she wanted to do was put off her best friend, like she had done to Giji—but no, Korra wouldn't treat Asami like Giji had. No, Asami was resolute: the memory of Giji Kirasito was absolutely not going to dictate her life anymore.
Kya interrupted her thoughts, as she was still bending the healing-water over both of them. "If she wakes up, I'll let you know, Asami. Try to get some slee—."
CRASH-BANG.
A black, rock-shaped object smashed through a window and came to a rest right under Kya's feet. As soon as it landed it exploded in a cloud of thick red smoke, filling the entire room. Kya screamed, and the smell of sulphur and black-powder crept into Asami's nostrils. She couldn't turn her head to see what was happening because her neck hurt too much, and she couldn't see through the veil of smoke. Panicking, she grit her teeth and scooted herself over closer to Korra, fighting through the pain to wrap an arm around her shoulders.
Why the hell is all of this happening to us, she thought, enraged at the world for allowing this.
Kya had recovered and was lifting up a stream of water, freezing it into a sharp lance of ice. But the assailants were already behind her. They moved as silently as clouds, and one of them gave her several well-placed jabs at certain pressure points, and the giant icicle she was bending had melted back into water and dropped to the ground in a splash.
Chi Blockers.
As if this wasn't enough, suddenly all the smoke in the room was sucked out through the broken windows. During Tenora's attack, Tenzin had blasted several large holes through the healing room's far wall, the one that had windows looking out over the courtyard. Since this was the only healing-pool on the island, they still needed it to treat Korra and Asami, and had placed several large tarps over the gaps until repairs could be made. Now, though, the tarps and every bit of smoke were sucked up and out of the healing room, bringing all the Chi Blockers into view.
There were six of them, all dressed in black and hooded, with what looked like gas masks on their faces. There was one right in front of Asami and Korra. When he came into view in front of her she yelped with surprise, which hurt her ribs tremendously.
Korra suddenly awoke in Asami's arms, looking around wildly. At first she didn't know if she was dreaming or not, but the sensation of Asami's arm around her brought her back to reality. She wanted to scream, but her throat was still dry from her long sleep, so she leaned into Asami's embrace for protection.
All of the Chi Blockers were momentarily stunned from the loss of their cover, and before any of them had moved several large shapes descended and plucked three of them right out of the room. This brought the remaining three to their senses, and they gathered around Asami and Korra, having already dispatched Kya. She was alive, but she was lying on the floor stunned, her bending being temporarily blocked. One Chi Blocker shoved a bag over Asami's head and was trying to lift her out of the pool.
"No!" Korra yelled, finally finding her voice. Her adrenaline kicked in, and she reached around Asami to hold her around the waist with both arms, preventing the Blocker from taking her. He tried to kick at Korra, but he never managed it. He was blasted off his feet, landing on the far side of the healing-pool face-down in the water.
The last two remaining Chi Blockers apparently had decided to make a run for it, but they hadn't taken two steps before Korra heard their muffled grunts as they too were blasted from above. Korra began to breathe heavily, the commotion around her becoming too much. This is one helluva way to wake up, she was a familiar whistling sound, and she felt several sets of feet alight on the floor. The bag was gently pulled off of Asami's head from behind, and Korra and Asami both couldn't believe who had saved them.
It was Jinora, Ikki, and Meelo, the last of which had his foot on one downed Chi Blocker's throat, keeping him pinned with gusts of air. Ikki helped Kya to her feet, as Jinora wrangled up the other two Chi Blockers with small tornados, trapping them inside. Kya's bending had returned, and she lifted up some water and froze all three Blockers to the floor, encasing them up to their necks in ice.
Kya sighed with relief, with a large amount of surprise mixed in. "Nice job, kids. But I saw six, where'd the others go?"
Meelo was busy slapping one of the frozen Chi Blockers, trying to get answers out of him. He bounded toward the broken windows, pointing outside.
"Behold!" he exclaimed.
The three airbender kids had swooped down and grabbed three Blockers after they had cleared the smoke, and they had thrown them outside into the courtyard. Down below, the airbender trainees had formed a circle around them, keeping them inside a giant whirlwind.
Korra was still holding tight to Asami, who was moaning softly in pain. Korra tried to let go of her, remembering her broken ribs, but Asami redoubled her own grasp, so she continued the embrace.
"Don't…let go," Asami struggled to say. Her breathing was short and ragged, and her voice was barely above a whisper.
"Asami," Korra said in her ear, still holding onto her injured friend, "your ribs, I don't want to hurt—"
"Please…..don't let….go," she interrupted. Asami was hyperventilating, but she also wouldn't let go of Korra.
Korra was glad that Asami couldn't see her face. As strange as the circumstances were (she had woken up to a Chi Blocker attack, of all things), she was blushing at being in such intimate contact with her. Asami's skin felt warm and soft, and Korra was embarrassed at the goose-bumps she could feel rising on her own back. Asami's breathing had calmed down considerably after a few moments, though it still came in short gasps, and Korra was lightly stroking her back with her fingertips. The airbender kids and Kya gave them some momentary privacy by interrogating the frozen Blockers, though Korra didn't hear a word of it.
The only sound that penetrated her thoughts was Asami's calmed breathing.
