Time for a change of view

Talking From The Heart

Korra loved watching Asami sleep. It was the little things, like the way her noes scrunched up when she was dreaming, her soft, almost inaudible snore and the way that she sometime sucked her thumb. Korra was happy to just sit and watch her wife in blissful slumber for hours, but it was something she hadn't had much of a chance to do of late, between children and the peace talks. That was why she was so happy that they were at last taking a holiday together, even if it technically was to attend Bolin and Opal's wedding in Zaofu.

Despite her best efforts, Asami had still found a way to bring her work with her: Future Industries was building a new factory complex at the bottom of the valley that was home to the Metal Clan, looking to take advantage of the rich natural resources of the area. But it wasn't just the factory they were building, it was houses, schools, shops, libraries, theatres, hospitals, parks, police and fire stations, a large airship port and all the other little bits and pieces that went into building an actual town. Suyin was fully behind the project; Zaofu and the area it controlled had come through the Earth Kingdom Civil War relatively unscathed, but that very same peace and security was attracting refuges from thousands of miles away, often arriving with little more than the cloths on their back. Varrick had proven to be a gift from the spirits, jumping in to the problem with both feet and organising almost everything, somehow managing what could otherwise have been a disaster, Zhu Li ever at his side, somehow keeping up with his seemingly boundless energy. Asami had redirected some of the workers, equipment and materials from the factory project to help, but not as much as she would have liked to if not for the Board holding her back. She had been furious when she received the telegram, and it had taken Korra almost two hours to talk her down from returning to Republic City so she could introduce them to her electrified glove.

In the end she'd dragged her wife into the bedroom so she could work off her frustration in a far more enjoyable, and less destructive, manner.

Once her head had cleared, Asami had talked to Varrick, and between them they'd come up with the idea of building the town to house the workers for the new factory and provide all the support structures it would need. They took it to Suyin, who eagerly signed off on it and set her husband Baatar to work planning the new settlement. Verrick had wanted to name it Verricksburg, but that had been quickly vetoed, and in the end it was a joke made by Bolin that had given the town its name; Asamivill. With the Metal Clan underwriting half the expense and providing all the manpower needed, it had been an easy sell to the board of Future Industries, even if they did complain about the relatively low profit the company would make from the project. Asami had been quick to turn their greed against them by reminding them of how well they'd done out of helping the Southern Water Tribe, both during their own Civil War and in the rebuilding afterwards. The Future Industries logo had been stamped on every freighter and airship that brought in supplies, every tent that house a disposed family, every piece of heavy equipment that helped rebuild their settlements and on the uniforms of the army of workers that had been brought in to help. While it had been intended as a purely altruistic act on Asami's part, you couldn't have bought that kind of advertising, and Future Industries was still expanding its market share in the far south. By pointing out that the Earth Kingdom was far larger a market, she quickly brought them around to her way of thinking.

Fortunately, once that was taken care of, Asami had handed the project over to Varrick, if nothing else then to keep him out of the way until the actual wedding, avoiding any possible embarrassments once President Raiko arrived, and they'd been able to spend some much needed time together as a family. Korra had hated not spending time with Asami and the children during the peace talks, and it had taken an amount of self-control she hadn't known she was capable of not to hurl a fireball at one of the participants if they caused a session to run over. But she was the Avatar, and as Asami had reminded her, that meant that she had responsibilities to the entire world, not just her wife and children. But once the talks were over, she had thrown herself into family life with gusto, spending every moment she could with them. Every task, no matter how biennial or disgusting was a joy because she was doing it with her family. Feeding the children, burping them, changing their nappies, bathing them, getting up in the middle of the nigh to sooth them back to sleep; it didn't matter what it was, so long as it was time spent with her children. Her relationship with Asami had been easy enough to repair; they had locked themselves in their bedroom for an entire weekend, only opening the door so food could be delivered and leftovers taken away, and they'd remained naked almost the entire time.

Korra had promised herself that that the first chance they got, she was going to take Asami back to Ember Island for a second honeymoon, just the two of them, so they could really reconnect without having to worry about keeping the noise down.

Guests from around the world had started to arrive for the wedding a week before the big day, and it had been a veritable Who's Who; aside from Korra, Asami and President Raiko, there had been Tonraq, Senna, Desna and Eska representing the two Water Tribes, Fire Lord Ursa and her husband representing the Fire Nation, the King of Omashu, Lord Zuko, Lin, General Iroh, Kya, Bumi, Katara, Tenzin, Pema and their children, as well as countless other dignitaries, friends and family. Mako was officially there as part of Republic Cities contribution to the security arrangements, but that was little more than a cover for the fact that he was the Best Man and had used up all his vacation days helping to look after his newborn daughters, and he had no actual duties. The wedding plans were several orders of magnitude beyond anything Korra had experienced before; the peace treaty had effectively turned Zaofu and the area around it controlled by the Metal Clan into a semi-autonomous kingdom in its own right, much like Omashu and Kyoshi Island, meaning that Opal was effectively a princess, and that made it a Royal Wedding. Fortunately, Suyin had everything running like clockwork, and had no intention of letting anything ruin her only daughters wedding.

She had missed out one thing, however, and two days before the wedding, a very nervous Opal had sort out Korra and asked to speak to her in private. After some coaxing, the young airbender had, blushing the entire time, admitted that she was still a virgin, Bolin and her having decided to wait until their wedding night. Korra could have been knocked down with a feather at that revelation; like everyone else, she had assumed that the two of them had long ago taken their relationship to the physical level, if for no other reason than just how affectionate they were with each other in public. But now here was Opal, just days away from her wedding, asking Korra just what to expect in the bedroom. Once the Avatar had realised just what she was being asked, it had been her own turn to blush, and admit that she had never actually been with a man like that; she had spent most of her life in the White Lotus compound near the South Pole, which had hardly been the best place to look for romance, and her relationship with Mako had mainly been missed dates due to conflicting schedules and arguing over said missed dates. She had actually been a virgin herself until her first time with Asami in the Fire Nation, and she very much doubted what experience she had gained since then would be of much use to Bolin and Opal. Still, she had sneaked into Tenzin's study one night and read some of the ancient Air Nomad scrolls he kept there for safe keeping, and some of them had been very insightful to the more... personal uses for airbending. She hadn't known what to do with them at the time, but they had proven to be very popular with Asami once Korra had regained her full mastery of the elements. So she had told Opal not to worry; that when two people truly loved one another, everything else would click into place, then quickly imparted some of what she had read in the scrolls before she became too embarrassed to talk.

Later that evening, she had found Mako sitting in the garden with a thousand yard stare, and it didn't take much wisdom to realise that he'd had a very similar conversion with Bolin, and the two of them had ended up drinking several bottles of rice-wine together in a bid to blot out the memory. Asami had found them, hours later, passed out on the floor. Covering them up with blankets, she had left them to it, and showed little compassion for them the next morning, until Korra had quietly explained just what they had been through the day before, at which point Asami had nodded understandingly and made them some fresh tea.

"Has it ever bothered you?" Asami asked as they lay in bed that night, "That you were a virgin when we got together, but I wasn't?"

"No, it's just a part of who you are. You grew up in Republic City, not some icy fortress in the middle of the Arctic tundra. You went to a regular school, rather than having carefully selected and vetted tutors. And you actually had a social life, where as I had my Avatar training." Korra had taken her wife in her arms and kissed her on the nose, "You simply had more chances to develop relationships than I did. I couldn't hate you for that any more than I could for the fact that you're a far, far better driver than I am, or the fact that you're taller than me."

"I wish you had been my first." Asami snuggled up against her, feeling the warmth of their bodies becoming one, "The others, even Mako... that wasn't love, not really; it was just physical attraction."

"Are you saying that you're not attracted to me?" Korra asked with mock alarm.

"Oh, I am very much attracted to you, Kor." Asami pinched her in a special little spot she had discovered on their wedding night; a spot she was sure was specific to Korra and Korra alone, "But it's more than just the fact that you're the most beautiful woman in the world; you're kind, honest, brave, honourable, giving, tenacious and a whole host of over things that I don't think they have words for. But you're also the one person in the entire world I have ever fallen completely and irreversibly in love with, and I wish I had been able to give you the same gift you gave me."

"You'd never been with a woman that way before, had you?"

"Spirits, no! Until you, I was sure I was as strait as an arrow."

"Well then, in that respect, you were a virgin, and I'm forever grateful that we lost our virginities to each other."

"You always know just what to say to make me feel better."

"I'm the Avatar." Korra had smiled as she kissed Asami softly, "Kind of my job."

The next day had brought a surprise in the form of Toph Beifong, the metalbending pioneer simply walking up to the main house and demanding to speak with the young man who thought he was worthy of her only granddaughter. It was hard to tell who was more shocked at her unexpected but none the less welcome arrival; Lin, Suyin or Bolin, who'd been forced to undergo a long interrogation by the intimidating former chief of police before she had put an arm around his shoulder, shoved a strong drink in his hand and welcomed him to the family. After reacquainting herself with her daughters, son-in-law and grandchildren, Toph had sort out Katara and Zuko, the three old friends soon laughing as they caught up on all that had happened since they had last been together. In many ways it had been strange to see the three of them together like that; their adventures together with the sadly absent Aang and Sokka were almost legendary, yet they seemed so... normal. Then it had been Korra's turn to be introduced to Toph, and she had found herself standing rigidly to attention as she was examined with sightless eyes and other senses far more acute.

"Suyin tells me you've been learning metalbending. That's good; I never could get Twinkle Toes to even try." Toph had snorted, "They also tell me that you helped teach Opal airbending. What's he matter; my granddaughter not good enough for Tenzin?"

"No, it was nothing like that!" Korra had responded instinctively, "We'd only just escaped from Ba Sing Se with the other airbenders we'd rescued, and Tenzin had to see them safely to the Northern Air Temple..."

"Where they were promptly captured by the Red Lotus, along with Opal!" Toph cut her off, pointing a finger at her accusingly, surprisingly accurate for someone who couldn't see, "Maybe if you'd been there, you could have stopped them?"

"I was trying to stop them from even reaching the temple!" Korra shouted, having overcome her intimidation, "I almost died stopping them!"

"Yes. Yes you did." Toph had smiled warmly and offered her hand, "And I'd like to thank you for making sure Opal came home safely."

"I..." Korra took the hand and was immediately pulled into an embrace so tight she felt sure her ribs would break, "Can't... Breath... Need...Air!"

"Ha, Avatars! I guess they don't make 'em like they used to." Toph released her from the hug but instead held her by the shoulders, "You did good, kid, damn good. And don't let anybody tell you otherwise. Hell, I'm not sure that even Twinkle Toes himself could have done any better."

"I have to ask," Korra looked at the other woman somewhat sheepishly, "are you ever going to call him 'Aang'?"

"Not in this lifetime." Toph slapped her on the shoulder so hard Korra was sure there'd be a bruise, "And not in the next, if I have anything to say about it."

The wedding itself was nothing short of spectacular; Suyin had pulled out all the stops, then found some more no one knew about and pulled them out as well. And at the middle of it all were Opal, who had looked simply radiant in her wedding dress, and Bolin, who looked like a million Yuan in the finely tailored suit Korra and Asami had bought him as an engagement gift. The two exchanged their vows with some difficulty, as they both kept breaking down in tears, but no one dared laugh at them once they saw the glares on the faces of Toph, Lin and Suyin. Korra and Asami were sat in the front row with the other close friends and family, promoted from mere 'honoured guests' further back. The seating arrangement had taken Suyin days of meticulous planning to work out, but even if Korra hadn't been the Avatar, or Asami the head of Future Industries, they would have been assured a place of honour due to their close friendship with the bride and groom. Korra held Asami's hand throughout the entire ceremony, remembering the love and joy she'd felt when they'd gotten married.

The reception afterwards went on long into the night, and Korra was grateful that her mother had agreed to watch the children, as it gave her time to relax with Asami. They had danced, or at least as close to dancing as Korra was ever able to get, and Asami had whispered in her ear and pointed to where Mako was dancing with Captain Kuvira of the Zaofu City Guard. It had already been announced that she was going to be taking part in an exchange program with the Republic City Police, and by the looks of things, she was getting a head start on cementing a close bond with a particular detective while she had the chance. Korra had just smiled and held her wife close; Mako could certainly do a lot worse, but if the two of them did become involved, it would mean moving up the timetable of an important question she had to ask her friend.

To Be Continued...