Save me from the Light and the Dark for I am afraid of both.


Waiting for their friends, Asami and Mako were sitting in comfortable silence. Mako stared ahead to the ride where there was a mass of people waiting outside the barriers. His concentration was caught by a sudden movement from one of Asami's shopping bags falling off the bench. He grabbed it just in time. Asami muttered a quiet 'thank you' and laced his fingers around his.

"Do we tell everyone were kind of back together or what?" Asami said.

There really was no point in just leaving the question hanging any longer/

She shook her head not really meaning to do so. What was she supposed to do? Asami tried to remember a few weeks ago when she admitted to Korra that she wasn't ready for any kind of a relationship yet. Now, that statement hadn't exactly been true. It was so unexpected sometimes.

She had sworn to herself before to never get involved with Mako again because of the mess it caused before but here she was, willing to try again. Their first few days were composed of them talking it out. They had a lot of time to talk back at the compound clearing all the bad air. There had been a few shouting matches but also quiet talks about their relationship, the past and a potential present. All of it had led to this.

"A trial run?" Mako asked.

Asami smiled. "Something like that."

"Why not?" Mako replied.

"I just, what if they don't like it?" Asami voiced her worries. A considerable amount of their fights always pertained to Mako's feelings about Korra. Were they still there? Were they not? Sometimes, Asami had wondered whether to believe him or not. She was afraid to admit it but, she was absolutely terrified.

"I don't know, Asami." Mako said. "Half the time, I don't know what to think about this."

Asami sighed. She agreed, however, knowing what he meant.

Mako covered her hand with his and she just stared. Looking up, she could see him staring fiercely unto her in concentration like she was some sort of puzzle to solve. "All I really know is that I want this, us." He smiled weakly.

She did too.

In the end, it would be worth it.


After his' grandfather's ship had departed, the general was instantly bogged down by a million thoughts, not of which he could process. And since there was no sea to stare out towards, Iroh settled for walking around the town hoping that it could help clear his head.

The city had brought Iroh to different places as he had never imagined existed. He followed the shore line to the end and found a group of small houses nearby. Iroh turned around to go back to the main square but then caught his attention on a small path going around the houses and decided to go through there. The roads weren't very wide like those in Caldera or highways in the United Republic and couldn't accommodate more than a few vehicles. There really wasn't any need, anyway. The only reason why anyone would need a car is if they didn't reside in Harbor City, which weren't very many people.

The houses he passed by were similar to the chief's house that he had visited a few days prior and he smiled lightly remembering their conversations.

This time off was proving to be more of a pilgrimage than a vacation, Iroh thought to himself amused. Lately, he had been thinking more and more, thoughts that he had been avoiding by burying himself deep into work. There was a reason he was the best at his job and that was simply because he ignored anything else. Now, walking around had reinforced it, thinking. He was even considering going back to home, seeing his parents and sisters. A few weeks ago, it probably wouldn't have even crossed his mind.

About half an hour later, or so he thought, Iroh had found himself behind the main square where they had located the festival grounds. Perfect, just the thing to distract him from himself. Iroh walked into sync with the rest of the festival-goers. He was enveloped into a crowd and the sound of murmur and the laughter surrounded him. He had politely excused himself from a man who was persistently trying to sell him a trinket or something of a similar sort.

Iroh's attention was suddenly caught by a screams coming from behind him. He glanced behind him and saw a large ride and wondered how he had not noticed it before. A man no older than him shot through the clear pipes and screamed at the sheer rush of the water. Iroh shook his head amused and turned his head back to the path.

He had gone through a stream of people. Iroh was simply taking his time while everyone else seemed to be in a rush. Where to, he suddenly wondered.

Amongst all the crowd goers, Iroh recognized a familiar raven haired pair and approached them. Asami and Mako were sitting very close together, Iroh thought, closer than appropriate for friends. Yet again, Iroh felt as though he had missed something.

He had cleared his throat loudly trying to get their attention and buried his hands buried deep into his pockets.

They both turned around and were surprised to see General Iroh standing near a rubbish bin.

"Hello." Iroh said.

Asami looked up to see Iroh staring at her hands which were interlaced with Mako's. She smiled weakly knowing what it must have looked like. Neither of them wanted to see anything.

"Did you guys have a good day so far? Lots of shopping, I see." Iroh said looking pointedly at the bags and nowhere else; perfectly polite and neutral is always the way to go.

Mako nodded and felt grateful that Iroh hadn't brought it up. Sometimes, Mako wondered why he didn't like Iroh.

"Korra and Bolin went on the rides." Asami finally said.

"Okay." He replied quietly. The silence was somewhat deafening and there was nothing to talk about. Finally, Iroh excused himself muttering something about food.

Mako let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding.


Seeing the reaction from Iroh, Asami had become somewhat conscious. Iroh had been polite enough to ignore it but she very much doubted that anyone else would. She discreetly tried to pry herself out of Mako's arms. Mako had felt Asami distance herself from him and felt hurt but ignored it knowing her reason. Thankfully, their discomfort was halted when they saw Korra walking towards them.

Asami grinned as she saw Korra smiling brightly. There was obviously no need to ask her if she had enjoyed it. She looked at Bolin catching up to Korra, stopping short from them.

"So how was it?" He was looking a distinct shade of green.

Bolin spoke up first. "I'm not going anywhere near that thing now."

Mako was instantly amused at his brother's expense. Bolin looked like he was about to be sick. Mako stood up and helped Bolin gain his sense of direction towards the bin, still feeling dizzy from the ride.

Korra rolled her eyes at Bolin's dramatics and said, "Well, I'm going back at least one more time."

Korra turned to Asami who was still sitting on the bench. "Do you guys want to come with?" She asked.

Asami quickly shook her heads. "No thanks, Korra."

Korra shrugged, "Suit yourselves."

They watched for a moment as Bolin ejected all the food that he stuffed himself with earlier. Mako looked at Korra questioning.

"It honestly wasn't that bad." Korra said smiling sheepishly.

Asami shook her head with a small smile and launched into a conversation about the pelts that she had purchased earlier. Mako had tried to console Bolin but eventually gave up. Maybe another time, then.


He could officially confirm that there was just about everything sold in the markets, he thought as he fed himself another mouthful of fire flakes. Close to the recipe at home but it just wasn't right. Iroh snorted. Nothing's ever close enough even compare to home. Walking back to the bench from earlier, Iroh noticed that there was even more people around the ride. His curiosity grew even more. Korra had gone on the ride and was apparently done as he saw her waving at him gaining his attention.

"Where have you been all morning?"

"I just saw grandfather off." He replied. "Do you fancy some fire flakes?"

Korra was surprised. "He left?" she asked as Iroh filled her hands with the treat. They were very hot, a good way to heat up her hands after the ice cold water at the end of the ride. She quickly placed them in her mouth and shut her mouth before she spat it out. They were spicy as well!

"Grandfather just departed for the earth kingdom."

"Oh." Korra exhaled going a bit red. "I didn't realize he wasn't staying for the festival."

Iroh shrugged. He wasn't so keen to talk about it now. Iroh finally noticed Bolin who was still leaning across a bin and seemed to be emptying his insides. "What happened to Bolin?"

Bolin stopped from his retching and said, "That screaming metal death trap is what happened." gesturing to the ride.

Iroh blinked. "What?"

Korra rolled her eyes and said, "He's exaggerating. We went on the water slides. Well, it's more ice slides but apparently Bolin doesn't like them." She pointed out a huge structure at the end of the park. He could see it more clearly now. There were several thick ice tunnels hoisted very high up from the ground that was going through several parts of the grounds. At the end of the slides, the riders seem to end up splashing into a large pool of water.

"How do you get to the top?" Iroh asked. "Would it be weird if I said I wanted to go on?" He was a fully grown adult. It was a valid question to ask.

"Finally, someone whose actually fun around here." Korra beamed at him and grabbed him by the arm. "You can come with me."

"Rest in peace, General Iroh." Asami said chuckling lightly as Iroh did a tiny jog to catch up with Korra. Mako was also laughing but not for the same reason. He found it funny that Korra was so eager to go on the ride that he and Asami was so hell bent on avoiding. He watched as Iroh and Korra walk away from them disappearing behind the crowd of people.


A/N: I survived all my exams? It's a miracle? I realized I haven't had an update on this since January, sorry. At this point I'm not really sure about this? This chapter was supposed to be longer but I decided to cut it off and get around to finally publishing it. Let me know what you guys think?