Asami stayed with Korra for as long as she could. She was at Korra's side for the signing of peace treaties and the declaration of surrender over the radio, and for the quick pick-me-up dinner from the one noodle stand still open in Republic City. But then the people at City Hall got down to the business of surrender. This was the province of the military leaders, and Asami was not one of them. Bolin and Mako had already left, to get Mako's arm looked at, and Jinora led her siblings to the train station to find Pema.
For Asami, it was time to collect her father's body. Or whatever was left of it.
She took a Satomobile to the site, which was only a mile or two up from where the Colossus itself had fallen. To her surprise, there were already police officers there, cleaning up the wreckage. They told her that the Police Chief had been and gone; she had personally cleared out the remains, such as they were, and said she would be at the crematorium on Cypress Street. Asami met Lin Beifong there, and they got down to the business of death.
Asami tried to thank the older woman for having retrieved her father's body. Lin half-raised a hand, as if to stop her, and said, haltingly, "I hope that I wasn't too forward. But I thought that no kid ought to have to handle their parents' remains."
Asami stopped. "I'm not—"
"You're not a kid. You're a woman of the world. But I take some of the blame, here, too. If I hadn't released your father on probation, he might still be alive. This is the least I can do." She closed her eyes. "Miss Sato, if you're angry at me, you have every right to be. You can be angry for the rest of your life."
"No," Asami said slowly. "I was... in Dad's last moments, it couldn't be clearer it was his choice. What he did. His choice. And so…" She looked away, unable to finish.
"Well." Lin cleared her throat. "He died with honor. You can be proud of him for that. If there's anything else you need that I can offer… well, you know where to find me."
Asami bowed deeply to the Chief, and thanked her again.
The First Municipal Prison delivered Hiroshi Sato's small personal effects, including the letters that Asami had returned to him unread. Asami kept them, but still could not read them. She did not have the strength to. So she put them away somewhere safe, for another day.
The funeral was exceedingly simple. Asami invited a few friends of her father's, and managed to track down the priestess who had said the funeral rites for Yasuko. The body was swiftly cremated, the ashes packed into a small urn, and the urn buried in the western garden, beside the one that held Yasuko's ashes. Asami stood as the chief mourner, wearing pure white.
When Yasuko had died, Hiroshi had told his daughter that there was no weakness in tears. He had cried openly. Asami believed this still, but refused to give in during the rites. She didn't want to miss anything, though tears poured down her face and her breath choked. She didn't cry until her father's urn was lowered into the ground.
Then she bent forward, and when the dirt closed over the urn she buried her face in a white handkerchief, sobbing. She heard the priestess say the prayers to purify Hiroshi's soul, and send him with speed to the Wheel of Rebirth.
When the ceremony was over Asami gathered her dignity around her again. She escorted the priestess out, and handed her a generous cash tip, with polite thanks.
The priestess looked at the money, and took it casually, as if it were a flower. She looked into Asami's eyes and said, "I'm truly sorry for all the grief that you've suffered. You are welcome to visit White Peak Shrine, where I live. Remember, you are young, and life has much more joy in store for you."
She laid a wrinkled hand on Asami's hair, like a benediction, and then left.
Then she was out of sight, and Asami was alone again.
000
The day after her father's funeral, Asami was ready to get back to work.
So she told herself.
She wore dove grey and tied a white ribbon around her arm to indicate mourning. She went into her garage, picked a car, and opened the garage door.
But someone was standing there, a short figure outlined by the morning light. "Hey, Asami," said Korra.
"Oh." Asami was glad to see Korra, and her heart leapt and stomach sank in a way that was familiar by now, but all of this just reminded Asami of how tired she felt. Too tired to deal with anyone, even Korra. She couldn't decide what to say. Perhaps Korra interpreted the silence as hostility, because she quickly said, "Cousin Ginseng showed me in... Told me you'd be here, and I wanted to catch you before you..." She paused. "Back to work already?"
"Yes," Asami said. "What is it, Korra?"
"Your letter." Korra stepped forward. "I wrote out my response..." She didn't meet Asami's eyes. "Here it is... Only eight months late."
She held out an envelope. Asami took it. She couldn't even remember what letter it was she had written. She knew it was important… but nothing else could get through that fog in her head.
"I'll see myself out," Korra said. She looked down at her feet. "Try not to hate me too much once you've read it."
"Hate you?" Asami repeated, but Korra had already turned to go. Asami didn't follow. She looked down at the letter in her hands.
And remembered.
000
Five minutes later Asami was driving down the 101 Freeway with all the windows rolled down. She drove right past the exit to take to go to Future Industries Tower, and instead turned North on Exit 6, for Zei University, which was still intact – mostly thanks to the humble height of its buildings. She found the Libraryand requested a private reading room.
Alone, she took a deep breath. That small letter was very intimidating. Despite what Korra had said on Air Temple Island – "I believe you," Asami could still remember it – she couldn't help being afraid. Maybe Korra thought Asami was insane. Maybe Korra hated her. Maybe trying to talk things out in a clear and rational manner had made everything worse.
No use putting it off any longer. With all her courage in hand, Asami opened the envelope, unfolded the paper, and read.
"Dear Asami,
I'm sorry that this letter is late. I didn't know what to write.
I believe you, definitely. You've always been so straightforward with me. You've had so many visions and dreams - and they're all the same, and they're so specific. It weirds me out to look back and think you must have been going through this, while I was right next to you and didn't have a clue.
But it makes sense. Maybe this is where your resilience comes from, the way that you could always stride forward no matter what happened to you. Or your compassion, or your curiosity – or maybe all that's just you, just Asami. I don't know.
This is what happened to me, though, and I warn you, it's going to sound weird…
The night after we had lunch together, and I saw you again for the first time, I had a dream. I dreamed that I was Avatar Kuruk.
I was hunting Koh the Face-Stealer, in the Spirit World. I was looking for Ummi - but also for you. In the dream, you were one person. Time was unstuck. One moment I had been looking for you for thirty years, all alone, and the next I'd been hunting for three days, and I felt red-hot with anger. But worse than the anger was the pain and loneliness.
I woke up and I genuinely couldn't remember if you were still alive in this world, or if I would ever see you again. Only hearing Naga wake up next to me let me know I was Korra, I was me.
I turned on a light, and I found the drawing that you did of your mother. It's still at Air Temple Island. I watched it while I meditated to calm myself down. Then I wrote the dream down, every detail. Later that morning, I went to the Southern Tribe Embassy and asked for my letters. There were so many! But I found yours, and I read it first.
I didn't know what to think. It was like you answered my dream before I'd even had it. I was so confused.
I meant to talk to you sooner. There are three earlier drafts of this letter in my room. But there was so much to think about.
I tried to figure out what Koh the Face Stealer has done – why would he release a face? That's never been recorded in history – but, then again, that doesn't mean it didn't happen. I still haven't had much interaction with spirits besides purifying those who've been corrupted – and Koh is not corrupted. Appetite and greed are his nature, that's his "normal."
Maybe he knew Harmonic Convergence was coming, and somehow it was going to affect him, so he decided to release some souls. Maybe it was his idea of balancing fate's books. Or maybe he was just a sadist, like you suggested. Sometimes I wonder if Koh was an aspect of Vaatu. But I didn't have time to figure it out, when the city was under attack. I put it on the backburner, but I meant to work it out with you soon.
But I remembered, suddenly, at the worst possible time. When we had Bataar Jr. captured and were trying to get him to talk, I flashed back to the dream I'd had of being Kuruk, chasing Koh. I knew what Bataar's greatest fear was. I knew because in that one dream, I had lived it all.
And so I used that threat on him. I told him that I would take him with me to the ends of the world, where he would never, ever see Kuvira again. I could see, in that instant, what that would be like - me, bending up a hurricane at the North Pole, dragging him behind me as we crossed the endless ice, where Kuvira's mecha can't go. And we were both old.
Asami, what I did to him was cruel. I'm ashamed to say it wasn't even the cruelest thing I've ever done, but it was the only threat I ever made where I knew the pain firsthand.
And it worked on him. And as soon as he gave in, I felt ashamed. I would have used Raava's power for the rest of my life on a spiteful mission, forever on the run. I would have become Koh.
Fifteen minutes later, we learned that threat did not work on Kuvira. That kind of made me feel better about myself, and my morals, by comparison, you know? But not a lot better.
[Here Korra drew a little frowny face]
The fact is, I don't know what to say. I'm back to swinging between being happy for Varrick and Zhu Li, and happy that there's peace again, and being deeply confused. I thought that my memories of all my past lifetimes were dead and gone. But one letter from you and I woke up from a dream of Kuruk.
Maybe it's not a memory, though. It could be an expression of regret from this lifetime. Kuruk couldn't protect Ummi, and he couldn't rescue her after all those years. I spent three years just trying to heal, and I couldn't be there for you the way that you needed. I'm so sorry for that. I guess neither Kuruk nor I turned out to be the heroes you thought we were.
Whenever you want to talk to me in person, please reach out. I hope you don't hate me too much.
All my love,
Korra"
Asami read the letter once quickly, twice slowly, and a fourth time in a jumble of phrases that leapt out at her. Finally she put the paper aside and walked around the little room, and came to look out the window.
So. That explained Korra's behavior this morning. She was ashamed - she thought Asami would hate her. That was absurd, but then again, an hour ago Asami had been certain that Korra hated her.
If Asami was not so tired, she might have laughed out loud.
Instead, she undid her neat bun and ran her hands through her hair. She got up and walked around the room. Something was filling her up, making her feel clear as a pane of glass, light as a leaf on the wind. It took her a moment to identify this feeling as joy. Joy, because Asami had trusted Korra and that trust had been rewarded. Joy, because she had shared her deepest, most secret self and Korra had accepted her unconditionally. Joy, arising from her love for Korra. And she, Asami, was safe in Korra's love for her. Master Katara had been right all along – love could heal, love could make clear.
Who was Asami? She was Ummi the Lost, and she had found herself again. She was the flickering human spirit who – for two lifetimes now – had dared to love the Avatar, whose handprint had shaped history.
History. Now there was another marvel. She looked out the window at the campus, the skyline, the mountains. History was everywhere: the layout of Republic City, born from three fishing towns, fused into a merchant's capital; the Air Nomad gardens of the university; every book on the shelves, every building on the streets; history was evident in the students of Zei University. They'd crossed the world to come here, and now were talking and walking side by side, enraptured by the future.
Korra was history, the spirit in her showing the way to peace and harmony for untold eons. The United Republic was history: the great healed scar of the Hundred Years' War, the nation that had shaped Asami in every way. Asami was history, she realized. She was her mother and father, everything they had taught her; every place she had been, everything she had created; she was everything she loved and remembered; she was the reincarnation of Ummi, and in a past lifetime, she and Korra had been in love.
And in this lifetime, in this moment, Asami was in love with Korra.
And Korra believed her.
It was like waking up from a dream, to leave the reading room and walk between the shelves, to say thanks and head out under the Republic City haze. How beautiful the world was! How good to be a part of it, even for a brief time! How wonderful to have found Korra, and that they understood each other so well!
Wait… they didn't!
Asami hurried to her car and pulled out a pencil and spare sheet of paper (she kept both in her briefcase). She wrote out a note. Next to a drawing of Korra, as fine and noble as a few strokes could manage, Asami wrote,
"Korra, thank you for your letter. Thank you for believing me. Let's talk more, soon. I could never hate you. All my love, Asami."
She delivered it to Korra in person, on Air Temple Island. Pema invited Asami for dinner, and Asami was glad to accept. Under the table, she found Korra's hand and squeezed it.
000
The wedding of Zhu Li and Varrick was magnificent. It was almost like being back at the Glowing Tide Festival, with the smell of stewed sea-prunes and saltwater caramel in the air. Asami thought, walking through the transformed Air Temple, that it might as well have been a marriage ceremony of Republic City and the Southern Water Tribe. Every detail showed a considerate melding of the two cultures. Every detail was touched with love.
But there was something missing. She moved among the people, acting like the girl that appeared in the newspapers – the glamorous, stunning socialite Miss Sato. But after a few dances, she was exhausted. Grief had taken its toll. She decided that the best way to spend the evening was to sit at her assigned table and sample various cocktails.
And then, by accident, suddenly it was just Asami and Korra, together, alone. And Asami didn't know if she dreaded this moment or wanted it more than anything.
Then, with a little beckoning nod, Korra said, "Wanna sit with me for a minute? I'm not ready to get back to the party just yet."
The talk that Korra and Asami fell into was light, sincere, casual, and would change their lives forever. Asami didn't bring up anything about letters or past lifetimes; she didn't need to. She talked instead about the recent past, the loss of her father. But pervading all of these thoughts was a deep and glowing gratitude for the woman sitting next to her.
"Let's do it!" Korra exclaimed, bringing Asami back to the present. "Let's take a vacation, just the two of us. Anywhere you want."
And like that, the future laid itself out. Only a part of it... A month or two... But it was enough. Asami found herself gazing at the Spirit Portal again. Now it was not a beacon of fear. There was a world of miracles beyond it, and so many strange and wonderful things, and the stories her mother had told...
She turned to Korra and said, with a shy smile, "I've always wanted to see what the Spirit World is like."
Korra grinned. "Sounds perfect."
000
It took three days to prepare for her vacation. Asami knew how to lay her affairs in order. She knew exactly who to leave in charge of what part of Future Industries – no, don't even try to call her, she was going completely off the grid. No, she didn't know how long she'd be away. But she had perfect faith in her people. Future Industries would be fine. The world would turn without her.
Asami and Korra were roommates on Air Temple Island for one more night. They woke up early in the morning, before sunrise. They suited up and headed out, Korra waterbending a small skiff towards the Republic City docks, and the Spirit Portal.
It was strange, Asami thought as they neared the beacon. When she had been alone and looking for Korra, the Spirit Portal had been forbidding and terrifying, a vortex. Now that Korra was here… well, Asami wasn't afraid at all.
They didn't say much after they left the Temple, and nothing at all as they stepped over the vines and toward the Portal. What would they have said?
Asami's heart pounded. A cold certainty filled her—certainty that this "vacation" would be different from anything she'd done before. She would not return to this world as the same girl she was now.
She glanced at Korra, and knew that Korra felt the same way.
It was a feeling close to dread, but Asami was serene. If she was going to be with Korra, it would be alright.
Without any word or sign, as they reached the Portal, Asami reached out, and Korra took her hand. They turned to each other as they passed over the threshold, and looked into each other's eyes –
For a moment, they were between two worlds, wordless but communicating – communing – understanding each other perfectly –
The world changed around them, and –
Korra's hands tightened on Asami's –
They leaned forward and kissed.
It lasted a few seconds, and then their feet touched the soil of the Spirit World, and they broke apart and looked at each other.
Nothing had touched except their hands, their noses, and their mouths.
But everything was different now.
They stared at each other, and then Asami's face broke out into a smile. She and Korra started to laugh, with sudden embarrassment and delight, and the spell of silence was broken.
"Hi," Korra said.
"Hi," said Asami, beaming. "Good morning, Korra."
Korra stepped back and gestured to the world before them. "Welcome to the Spirit World! No maps, no directions, nothing to tell us where to go – so where do you want to start?"
Asami looked around, and shook her head. She took Korra's hand. "Let's just start walking. See where the road takes us."
"What road?" Korra asked.
"Exactly."
Korra laughed, and they set off, across a caldera covered with purple flowers.
A/N: Ah, wonderful. A relaxing way to end the chapter. Now it's time for Spirit World Vacation Shenanigans! The story isn't over yet, folks. Thank you for reading so far, and thank you especially for each and every review. This is a shameless plug, pointing out (with no possible ulterior motive) that you might enjoy my Korrasami fanmix, "Vintage," on 8tracks. Also, if you like this story, please recommend it to others! Fandom is like nachos – best when shared.
One chapter and an epilogue left. What do you think might happen? See you next week~