A/N: Since it's my cake day I thought I'd post a chapter for both my fics, as a thanks to you guys for reading them.
I apologize if it seems kinda slow but I tried to wedge in some character development along with some fluff to tide you guys over. Don't worry though the plot's gonna start picking up soon, so buckle up!
As always thanks to all of you who have followed or favourited this already. I hope you all enjoy and tell me what you think in the reviews.
"Korra, sweetie, wake up."
She groaned and buried her face in the delectable warmth within her arms, inhaling the scent of jasmine and vanilla as she tried to return to realm of unconsciousness. She felt the warmth giggle as she wrapped her arms tighter around it.
"Korra, come on, we're almost at the Western Air Temple."
"Fine," Korra says with a dramatic sigh as she opens her eyes. She looks up to be greeted by Asami, whose viridian eyes twinkle with mirth as she smiles that beautiful smile that makes Korra's heart leap knowing she's the who caused it. She lifts her head and lays a soft, sweet kiss on the engineer's lips.
She pulled back slightly to lean her forehead against Asami's, trying to imprint the image of her smiling, slightly flushed, face in her mind forever.
"Morning, Sunshine."
"Can you guys cut out the lovey-dovey crap before I get sick." Said Opal from her place next to her mother.
"Opal, leave them alone." Said Su teasingly. "I think it's sweet."
Asami could feel Korra's face heating up as they sat up and she buried her face in the raven-haired woman's neck.
"Besides," Said Kya with a chuckle, "you and Bolin aren't much better."
Opal's face instantly turned cherry red as she tried to stutter out a response while everyone else laughed. Once the laughter died down Kai stuck his head over the side of the saddle to look at them from his place with Jinora on Pepper's head.
"Hey guys, Jinora says we're about to land."
"Really?" Asked Opal, "I don't see the temple anywhere."
Beneath them was a large stretch of land that ended in a canyon several miles across that stretched into the horizon. Asami was about to ask if maybe Jinora was mistaken when they started to descend into the canyon. She felt Korra poke her shoulder and turned to see her pointing back towards where they came. She squinted as the blanket of fog lifted to reveal several large buildings hanging down from the cliff like giant stalactites.
"Looks like Lord Zuko's already here." Said Su from behind them.
Sure enough they looked down and saw a familiar red dragon perched on one of the many balconies.
Minutes later and they were landing and handing their bags to the Air Acolytes. Asami giggled as she watched Korra mutter, crimson-faced, to one of the acolytes that her things were to be put in the same room as the engineer's.
"Avatar Korra, good to see you again."
They turned and were greeted by Lord Zuko. He wore traditional Fire Nation robes as he smiled and put his hands together before bowing to them.
"It's good to see you too, Lord Zuko." Korra replied as they returned the gesture. "And please, just call me Korra."
"Only if you call me Zuko." The older man said with a smile. He turned to address the rest of the group, "It's good to see you as well Asami, and it has certainly been too long since I've seen you two." He opened his arms towards Su and Kya and embraced both women warmly.
"It's good to see you too, Uncle Zuko." Kya said as they separated. "How is Izumi?"
Zuko chuckled. "She's eagerly awaiting your arrival in the capital." He turned his attention to the youngest members of the group, "Hello, Jinora. It's a pleasure to see you again."
Jinora, Kai, and Opal bowed to the Fire Lord before answering. "It's good to see you too, Lord Zuko." Jinora turned and gestured to the other two air benders, "This is my boyfriend, Kai, and this is Opal."
"It's nice to meet you two." Zuko said.
"It's nice to meet you too, Lord Zuko." Opal said with a smile, "My mother has told me about you."
"So, Zuko," Asami said, "why did you want to meet us here, instead of at the capital?"
"Yeah, I thought we were being called for some sort of emergency mission." Kai added.
Zuko sighed. "While the situation is dire, there is nothing that can be done at the moment."
"So why call us down here?" Asked Korra.
"Well," Zuko began, "as the Avatar, it is in your best interest to travel around the world, and I thought that while you're here, I could be your guide and show you around the Fire Nation."
"Really?" Korra asked, unable to hide the excitement in her voice.
"It would be my honour to show the Avatar my homeland." Zuko answered with a smile on his face. "This is where I first joined Aang and the rest of our friends, so I thought it appropriate to start your journey of the Fire Nation here as well."
"That sounds awesome!" Korra exclaimed.
Zuko chuckled at the Avatar's enthusiasm, "We will set out tomorrow, give your bison time to rest."
"That means you can come watch Su hurl rocks at Korra's head with us, right Uncle?" Kya asked with a grin.
"And why would you be doing that?" Zuko asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Korra asked if I could help her continue her earth bending training-"
"-So she's gonna blindfold me and throw rocks at my head." Korra interrupted.
"Well that is how Aang trained." Replied Zuko.
"You mean Grampa Aang did all of his earth bending training blindfolded?" Asked Jinora.
"Well, it makes sense," said Opal. "Grandma Toph was the one who trained him, and her blindness helped make her the best earth bender in the world."
"That's quite right, Jinora." Zuko said warmly. "But it wasn't just earth."
"It wasn't?" Asked Asami.
"Oh no, eventually Aang would spar against all of us blindfolded. Sometimes even at the same time."
"Wow." Kai said turning to Jinora, "Your grandpa was awesome! I see where you get it from."
Jinora smiled and looked at the ground as her cheeks adopted a rosy hue.
"That reminds me!" Korra exclaimed before turning back to Zuko. "I've got Su training me in earth bending, Jinora and the pupils are helping me with air bending," this earned her a teasing slap on the arm from Opal and a half-hearted glare from Kai, "and Kya's been letting me knock her around with water bending. So I was wondering if, maybe, you could help me with my fire bending." Asami giggled at the almost sheepish look on her girlfriend's face as she made her request.
"It would be my honour to train with you Korra." Zuko said warmly.
Korra's eyes lit up and she wrapped the elderly Fire Lord in a crushing hug as she thanked him over and over.
"Well now that that's out of the way," Su said. "Why don't we get to training, Korra?"
"Yeah," Korra replied while nodding enthusiastically.
She followed Su through several ornate hallways while the rest of the group dispersed to explore the temple or find some other activity to occupy themselves. They came out on a large balcony that over looked the canyon and was directly attached to the cliff face. Unlike the other grounds that were decorated with various air themed mosaics, this balcony was completely bare except for a symbol depicting the four elements sitting in each corner and a large fountain in the middle.
"Uncle Aang had areas like these built at all the Air Temples so the Avatar could have somewhere to train should they come visit." Su explained as she turned to Korra.
"So how's this going to work? Are you just gonna blindfold me then chuck rocks at my head?" Asked Korra. She had meant for it to be light and teasing, but she couldn't help the hint of worry in her voice. She wasn't a fan of getting hit with giant rocks if she could avoid it.
"Not right away," Su said as she removed her belt and shed her robes to reveal the dark green combat suit beneath. She tossed the belt to Korra and laid her robe on the ground away from where they were going to be working. "Take off your boots and out that over your eyes."
Korra followed the instructions and once she was barefoot and blind she turned to where she assumed Su was standing. "Okay, now what?"
"Now I want you to feel the earth. Feel as it shifts and moves when I start bending. Listen to it, and use it as you guide."
Korra took a deep breath, getting into her stance, and focused on the feeling beneath her feet. She felt the vibrations as the earth moved and heard the scraping as Su bent a large rock out of the ground. "I felt it!" She exclaimed.
"Very good, no, I want you to extend your senses, feel the rock I'm holding. Once you've done that, expand it to the surrounding earth."
She took another deep breath and focused. She allowed the familiar feeling of the energy in the earth to surround her, she quickly found the rock Su had bent out of the ground and proceeded to extend her focus to the earth she could feel nearby. She gasped as her surroundings became clear in her mind's eye. She "saw" as Su started to walk around her, each footstep sending out a pulse of information about her surroundings. She listened as the rock beneath her feet shifted and scraped, felt the vibrations in the ground as Su entered a fighting stance. The hair on the back of her neck stood up and she moved to the side, feeling the air on her face as rock flew by where she had been standing less than a moment before.
"You catch on quick!" Su exclaimed. "Now, in the same way you felt the energy in the earth, allow the energy in your surroundings to flow through you."
With another deep breath, Korra expanded her sense to include the air and water nearby, pausing as she noted the differences between the three elements. As an experiment, she bent a quick puff of flame and noted that it felt different from the other three as well.
"Whoa…" She breathed.
Su bent another rock towards her, only this time Korra decided to block it and send it back towards the matriarch.
"Well done, Korra. Pretty soon you'll be able to spar against anyone blindfolded."
"Thanks."
They soon fell into a rhythm while Su spoke.
"My mother learned this from badger moles. They taught her that earth bending is much more than a martial art."
"Really?"
"Oh yes. Earth bending is all about interacting with and manipulating your surroundings. Using them to your advantage. The key to earth bending is waiting and listening. You wait for your opponent to move, and you act accordingly."
Korra didn't have time to respond as she dodged a boulder aimed at her head. The two women continued to increase the intensity, moving faster and striking harder, and Korra lost track of time as she devoted all of her attention to fighting the younger of Toph's daughters.
Eventually they were interrupted by an acolyte who came to tell them that dinner was ready in the dining hall. Korra removed her blindfold and tossed it back to Su before picking up her boots and hobbling back to her room to change and examine the numerous bruises she was sure to have.
*(0OoO0) *
Asami spent most of the day wandering the air temple, examining the architecture and studying the carvings that seemed to decorate any available surface. She ended up passing Jinora and Kai who were sitting on the edge of a balcony, heads together and smiling as they spoke softly to each other.
"They're so adorable," she heard Opal say from behind her. "It's kinda gross."
"You're just bitter because you didn't get to bring Bolin." Asami replied with a smirk.
"Yeah, well at least I don't look like a lost puppy when Korra's not around."
"I do not!" Asami could feel the heat rising to her face already. "Besides, Korra's training is important to her, I don't wanna distract her."
"Are you sure it's not the fact that you wouldn't be able to keep your hands off her?"
"What? No!" Asami exclaimed, she was sure her entire face was crimson by now.
"Are you sure?" Opal teased. "Even when she's all sweaty and moving around the way she does?"
The heat in Asami's face moved all over her body before settling in Asami's abdomen. Opal smirked at her before laughing triumphantly.
"Ha! I knew it! Tell me, does she really have an eight-pack?"
"I-uh-I wouldn't know…" Asami looked down at the ground in embarrassment.
"Why not?" Asked Opal.
"I've never seen her without a shirt on."
"Really? With all those looks you two give each other, I'd have thought you'd been going at it like dragonfly bunnies." Asami and Opal jumped as they saw Kya approach.
As if this conversation wasn't embarrassing enough. Asami thought before turning to the water bender. "Uh... no."
"Why not?" Asked Opal.
"Well, I've tried to take things-ahem-further, but she freezes if I touch her skin."
"Could she just be nervous?" Kya asked.
"N-no. It's not that," Asami couldn't believe she was having this conversation, especially with someone who was essentially her girlfriend's aunt. "At least I don't think it is. I think it has to do with her scars."
"Korra has scars?" Opal asked with a raised eyebrow.
"You would too if you went through what she has."
"Are they all from her fights?" Asami asked.
"And her training, among other things."
"But why wouldn't she want people seeing them? I would've taken Korra for the kind of person to show them off." Opal inquired.
"I think she sees them as reminders of her failures." Kya answered.
Asami opened her mouth to answer but was interrupted by the bell signaling dinner.
"Oh well," Kya said turning to Asami, "Don't worry too much about it. If she wants to talk, you know you're the first person she'll find."
"Thanks Kya." Asami said before leaving to head to her room to change before dinner. She wasn't going to make Korra talk to her, she was just going to be there for when her girlfriend was ready. Besides, she was in no hurry to pressure Korra into anything anyway. She wanted their first time together to be special, unlike prior experiences.
She had just pushed thoughts of past disappointments out of her head as she opened the door to her room and was made aware of several things at once.
She and Korra were sharing a room.
Korra had been training all day.
This was also the room she would use to change.
Korra was topless in the middle of their room. Wearing only a pair of dark maroon pants that stopped just below her knee and her chest bindings.
She allowed her eyes to rake over the pronounced muscles of her girlfriend's back and cringed internally at the scars that marred her flesh. Asami had expected a few around her torso, but as the Avatar turned to face her girlfriend, it seemed like they were giving a detailed description of every injury the younger woman had ever sustained. When she looked up and saw the terrified look in her eye as well as the crimson painting her cheeks, Asami knew that they really didn't have a choice but to address the elephant rhino in the room. She took a few steps closer to her girlfriend, closing the door behind her, moving slowly to give Korra the time she needed to regain the ability of speech.
She turned back and smiled patiently.
"A-A-Asami! What are you doing here?" Korra asked before chuckling nervously.
Realising how skittish the other woman was being, Asami decided to approach this more carefully and beat around the bush a bit. She took another step towards Korra and gingerly grabbed a lock of hair and moved it out of the dark-skinned woman's face, forcing herself to focus on the pair of nervous sapphires in front of her and not the burn near her right shoulder or the jagged line on her on her waist. "It's my room too, remember?" She said gently.
"R-right. I forgot for a second."
Asami smiled and stroked her cheek soothingly before turning her attention to the brown tresses framing her face. "I hadn't realized how much your hair had grown." It was true, when Korra had returned to Republic City after three years her hair was cut in a short bob, reaching only slightly past her chin. Now it had grown to almost reach her shoulders.
"You think I should cut it again?"
"No, you look great the way it is."
"You think so?"
Asami smiled. "Definitely." She heaved a great sigh before adopting a more teasing tone, hopefully keeping the conversation light will help keep Korra comfortable. "Now, please tell me you have a good reason for hiding all this from me." She let her hands trail down Korra's side, taking the time to appreciate both the size of her bust, especially considering it was wrapped, and the rippling muscles underneath. She smirked as she felt Korra shiver when she let her fingers trail over swells of her abdominals.
"W-well, it's just… it's embarrassing."
"What is?" Asami asked in feigned ignorance.
"Well-I mean… look at you." Korra brought her hands up and gestured at Asami's body. "You're just so beautiful and curvy and-and perfect and…" She heaved a sigh and took a seat on the bed. "…and I'm not. I'm all muscle and rough looking and I'm covered in these scars."
"What's wrong with your scars?"
"It's just-I look at them and all I can think is how they're reminders about the times I messed up, or failed, or was weak." She heaved a sigh before continuing, "And I'm the Avatar! I'm supposed to be seen as some sort of all-powerful being, not someone who looks like they've been getting beaten up their whole life."
Asami sat in silence for a moment before taking Korra's hand in hers and squeezing it gently. "You're absolutely right Korra."
This made the blue eyed girl look up in surprise. "I am?" Asami smiled warmly.
"Yes you are. You are the Avatar, but, you're also Korra. You may be this all powerful being, but you're also human, and that means you make mistakes." She took a deep breath before continuing. "You wanna know something about scars?"
"What?"
"Scars are made out of a different kind tissue from regular skin. It's stronger and less likely to get damaged again, the same thing happens when you break a bone, when it heals it comes back stronger than before. Yeah, you messed up, failed, and sometimes you were weak. But your body learned from it and got stronger, as I'm sure you did." She squeezed Korra's hand and stood up, bringing her girlfriend up with her. "As for how you look, from what I've seen, you are someone who gets beaten up throughout their life. But the important thing is you get up, and that's what you do."
"You really think so?"
"Absolutely. Besides, if the Avatar didn't have a scar or two on them, I'd be worried they weren't doing their job. Plus," she smirked before kissing her heatedly. "You make them look good."
Korra face flushed as she looked away, choosing not to answer.
"I'm serious." Asami said, bringing Korra's attention back to her as she leaned down slightly, and placed a soft, lingering kiss on the star shaped scar just above her collarbone near her left shoulder. "You're beautiful."
She caught a glimpse of the tears in Korra's eyes as the younger woman gasped softly and pulled her into a tight hug. "Thank you." She felt more than heard the words whispered against her neck.
Judging by her reaction, Korra probably didn't get a lot of compliments on her looks growing up. Everyone was always too focused on how the girls training was going, or praising her strength or her bending prowess.
As she wrapped her arms around her gorgeous girlfriend she resolved to remind Korra as many times as she could.
"Korra?" She felt the shorter woman hum against her neck in response. "I'm going to need you to put on a shirt, otherwise I don't think I'll be able to control myself during dinner, which is not something I want happening in front the old Fire Lord, the leader of the Metal Clan and someone who's basically your aunt."
She felt Korra chuckle before removing her arms to grab a fresh shirt. "Not to mention Opal and Kai will never let us live it down." She said as she threw her shirt over her head. Once she was changed, Asami wrapped her arm around her waist and they walked back to the dining hall.
