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Korra had her feet up on Asami's bed, toes wiggling as she examined the cards in her hand. Asami's face was neutral, well, as neutral as it could be with a painfully swollen broken nose, as she waited for Korra to make her move.
"hmmm..." Korra looked up at last and grinned. "Three threes, and jack to ace." She lay the cards down with a grin on the little tray table. Asami groaned and threw her hand down in disgust.
"I thought you didn't like take advantage of the mentally rattled," she complained as Korra claimed the pot. "Hey, quit eating the winnings!"
"Wof the poin' o' gummy rears if 'ou an' ee em?" Korra managed through a mouthful of the gummy bears in question. She swallowed. "Your deal."
Asami was still scowling as she picked up the cards.

Asami was spared another defeat by the arrival of an orderly bearing gifts. Or rather, dinner. Asami gathered up the deck as two plates were set down.
"Hungry, Asami?" Korra asked. The orderly pushed one plate towards Korra.
"Kya swung it so you could get dinner too."
"She shouldn't have."
"Oh it's really no trouble..."
"No," Korra eyed the plate, "she really shouldn't have."
"She warned me you might say that," the man chuckled. "And she said if you did I was to remind you that you already blacked out once today so she'd totally be justified in keeping your ass in overnight, so eat the damn food."
Korra picked up her cutlery reluctantly, trying to ignore the look Asami was giving her. She lasted less than a minute.
"Really? The kicked puppy look?"
"You didn't tell me."
"Well, it kind of pales into insignificance compared to the whole," Korra gesticulated with her fork irritably, "not breathing thing! I just pushed myself too hard. No," She corrected herself. "I pushed myself exactly as hard as I needed to because otherwise somebody would be dead right about now. Maybe multiple. I'm ok with a little adrenaline-crash wooziness in exchange!" Korra noticed the look of alarm and sat back a little. "Sorry. I just...I couldn't..." Korra rubbed the back of her neck, looking away from Asami. "I couldn't leave anyone down there, ok? I'm Water Tribe for crying out loud." Her face twisted into a peculiar grimace. "We don't leave people to drown."
Asami's brain might have still been on the fuzzy side but she caught the edge to Korra's voice. She cleared her throat, bringing Korra back to the present.
"Korra, what..."
Korra just laughed and shook her head. "Oh no, we are not even touching that tonight." Asami thought about objecting but this angle she could see the bags under Korra's eyes. "Now come on, eat your...soggy rice slop with mystery meat...before it gets cold."
Korra dug in with gusto, if not enthusiasm. Asami watched her more a moment before resigning herself to following suit.

It was a small comfort that the food was not as bad as it looked. At the very least, as Asami would privately admit, it was better than her last attempt to cook.

Lin wished Kya wasn't working. She found her presence rather less grating than the White Lotus guard currently serving as her personal submarine. She paced around the minibus, her feet squelching in the mud. The vehicle was still lying on its side, the grille and bonnet mangled from the impact with the crash barrier, one side crumpled in from contact with the other van. It had definitely been a close one.
"Well?" she asked Mako, who just shrugged.
"I don't know enough about cars to even begin to guess. That said..." He swallowed as Lin's eyebrow arched up ever so slightly. He fumbled out his notebook. "Sato's got extensive driving experience. I can't see this being a simple case of driver error."
Lin nodded in agreement and Mako relaxed.
"You're still missing the obvious," she told him.
"I am?"
Lin sighed. "Detective of the year, you. Tell me, Mako. How many wheels does a vehicle generally have?"
"I...oh. Huh." Mako stared at the spaces where the nearside wheels should have been. The metal ended in a jagged point, as if the wheels had been snapped off. "That's...unusual."
Lin rolled her eyes. "Understatement of the year. Don't worry, I'm sure you would have caught it eventually."
Mako felt slightly mollified, until she added, "Unless they were hiding in a woman's underwear drawer."
Mako would have been quite happy for the White Lotus to just let him drown right about then.

Asami looked up at the sound of passing footsteps but the door handle didn't turn. Korra had stepped out to make a quick call and still hadn't come back. It was childish but Asami hoped she'd be done soon. She really didn't like hospitals.

Korra leaned against the high top of the nurse's station, phone in hand.
"Yes I...no, I don't understand. What?" She looked around the room, wishing there was somewhere else she could have this conversation but Kya was off somewhere actually doing her job. "That's...that's a development, at least. Yes. Yes I'm aware this would have been easier on my mobile. BECAUSE IT'S FULL OF RIVER SLUDGE, LIN!" One of the nurses gave Korra a disapproving look. "...and yes, I'm glared at now. Thank you for that. Look," she dropped her voice. "can you just pass this all along to Tenzin? I...No, Lin, I'm fine. I'm just waiting for Sato senior to show his moustache. You'd think his daughter nearly dying would light a fire under his ass but last I checked they still hadn't got through to him. You will? That'd be great. No, that wasn't sarcastic. Really. Good luck." Korra hung up the phone, rubbing her eyes.
"You're Kya's whatever, right?" The nurse at the station asked.
"That's me." Korra answered warily.
The nurse pointed at a door. "Staff coffee point. Go get yourself a cup. It's better than the sludge in the machines."
Korra bowed reverentially. "You are a wonderful person."

Korra dropped into her seat, set the coffee down and picked up her cards. She used them to cover her mouth as she yawned and Asami felt guilty all over again. She had managed to persuade Bolin and Opal to go home but Korra was proving rather more stubborn. Asami knew it was selfish, and she was reminded of that every time Korra hid a yawn, but she couldn't bring herself to really try to get her to leave. She didn't want her to. She tried to tell herself she was being stupid, that she was twenty one, an adult, that she didn't need someone here to hold her hand but her chest hurt and she felt sick every time her breath snagged in her chest, every time her ribs throbbed. There was no comfort in the crisply laundered sheets and this impersonal room, and the noises and the lights and the smells...
"Hey," Korra couldn't reach her hand from her current position so she squeezed her knee through the blanket instead. "Breathe, Asami. You're ok."
"Sor-"
"Don't you even try it." Korra said evenly. "What's up?"
"I just..." Asami's lip wobbled. "I'm being stupid. I just...I really want to go home, ok? I don't want to be here. I just want to go home and curl up and pretend this never happened!" she dragged her hand across her eyes, wiping away tears of frustration. Korra decided sympathy via kneecap was not doing the job. She set down her cards and scooted up, putting a hand on Asami's shoulder. Asami looked up with red rimmed eyes. "I'm being ridiculous, I know I..."
"You're in a shitty situation and you've got every right to feel sorry for yourself." Korra said patiently. "And if I had a driving licence...and a car...I'd take you home right now, except..."
"Except they want to keep me in here overnight." Asami finished miserably. Korra squeezed her shoulder gently.
"I know it's a bit trite to say it but, well, it really could be worse."
Asami bit her lip and nodded, still a little watery eyed. "At least it's just for the night. Besides, look at the setup you've got here! Your own bed, all the gummy platypus bears you can eat," there were rather few of them left by now, "and fantastic company!"
"Fantastic company?" Asami repeated. "Where?"
Korra's hand went to her chest. "You wound me!" she spluttered, in mock indignation.
"Good thing we're in a hospital then."

Korra jolted awake. Someone, probably the same person who had put a blanket over her and tucked Asami in, had turned down the lights. There was another figure in the room, sat on the opposite side of the bed to Asami. Korra staggered upright, nearly tripping over her blanket, but then her brain caught up.
"Mr Sato?" she asked quietly, so as to not disturb Asami.
He turned to look up at her. He looked older in the half-light, and tired, sat there in a crumpled shirt.
"Please, call me Hiroshi. You've more than earned that."
Korra sank back into the chair, rubbing sleep from her eyes. "When..."
"I got here about half an hour ago. It's almost midnight."
Korra tried to work out when she had nodded off but gave up.
"I had my phone off," Hiroshi said, and there was no venom in his voice. It sounded more like despair. "I was in a meeting in Omashu and I had my phone off and Asami..." he swallowed. "You must think I'm a terrible father but I swear, as soon as I found out..."
"Have they told you everything?" Korra asked, cutting through his self recriminations a little rudely, but in her defence she was barely awake. Besides, she wasn't the one he needed to justify himself to. Hiroshi nodded.
"How is she?"
Korra looked down at the sleeping figure between them.
"About as well as could be expected," she said truthfully. "So she's bloody shaken up and doing a damn good job of pretending she's absolutely fine."
Hiroshi gave a small laugh.
"Sounds like Asami."

Korra settled into the back seat of the taxi Hiroshi had insisted on calling and paying for her rather than letting her walk over to the docks. She had barely dissuaded him from calling his chauffer, or letting him have the rather sad looking bag of soaking clothes she'd been wearing that morning professionally cleaned. The White Lotus man was mercifully quiet as he steered the boat across the short stretch of dark water, not commenting on the fact Korra had taken a seat on the middle bench rather than her usual position.

Naga was waiting for her at the docks, and Korra was only too grateful to heave herself onto her back and let the polar bear dog take the strain of the climb. She need no prompting to carry her exhausted master to her room, stopping by the bedside. Korra didn't dismount as much as fall off onto the mattress with a groan. Naga whined and nosed at her until Korra sat up again, removing her still-damp shoes and kicking the squelchy bag off the mattress before it could leak. She looked at Naga's concerned face and sighed, shoving the bedside table away about two feet. The dog wiggled into the gap, resting her head up on the mattress as Korra burrowed down into an actual bed at last.

Korra's dream were full of water. Not the murky sludge of the river but the crystal clear water, so cold it burned her skin, stung her eyes, burned her throat. Her legs kicked sluggishly and she went under, once, twice. She flailed blindly, lungs on fire, finding the needle sharp broken ice. She saw the shadow above and crack...

Korra woke to a wall of soft white, clutching at her wrist. She sat up, pressing back against the side of the bed she'd toppled off. She wrapped her arms around Naga's neck, burying her face in the fur as she tried to slow her racing heart.
"That was a bad one, hey?" she tried to joke, but her voice was shaky, her chest painfully tight. "Sorry girl, didn't mean to land on you like that."
Naga did not seem comforted. Korra loosened her grip, rubbing at her wrist, unsure just how real the pain radiating from the limb was. "I'll be right back, ok?" She promised Naga, getting unsteadily to her feet. Naga watched her go.

Korra stumbled down the hall to the kitchen, lighting the lamps with an irritable wave. She fetched the little step and retrieved the little tea caddy from its nook right on the top shelf. He opened the tin, inhaling the sweet, heady scent. It would have been faster just to smoke it, but Tenzin had views on that. Besides, her chest was already burning. She fetched the little mortar and pestle instead, following the recipe Kya had explained to her.

She became aware of the presence behind her as she heated the mixture between her hands but she didn't turn around until she was finished, making sure to return the caddy to its high spot out of the reach of the younger acolytes. She sat down at the low table, trying not to trust her now twice injured arm with any weight, and motioned for Tenzin to join her. He did so, and they sat in silence as Korra sipped at her tea, feeling the knot in her chest finally begin to loosen.

"Lin called me." Tenzin told her. She nodded in acknowledgement. "It doesn't look like an accident."
Korra snorted into her cup.
"I could have told you that."
"Is there anyone who you can think of that might have wanted to do this?"
Korra considered this and shook her head. "No way to predict who was going to be in what bus. Asami wasn't even down to drive; that was a last minute thing."
"I'll relay that to Lin." Tenzin looked troubled. "Could somebody be targeting the students?"
"Why? I mean, yes, ok, if you believe the Daily Republic we're a bunch of drunken, drug-addled, lazy, incompetent, self-righteous fuckwits..." Korra saw Tenzin's slight frown at the word and pressed on hurriedly, "but that's really not a reason to try kill us, surely?"
"I doubt it."
Korra set down the now empty cup and went back to rubbing her wrist.
"One to worry about tomorrow," she decided. "I should really get some rest."
Tenzin gestured to the cup.
"Do you need another? You still look a little..." He hesitated. "Out of sorts?" he suggested. Korra raised an eyebrow.
"You trying to tell me I look like hell?"
"...yes. But politely." Tenzin extended his hand and, after a moment's consideration, Korra extended the teacup. Tenzin rose, tightening his dressing gown about him.

"I thought you didn't approve?" Korra asked as Tenzin ground the buds.
"My mother has used this for years, Korra."
"Then why..."
"I do not approve of smoking on the temple grounds." He said, as if this was obvious. "It taints the air. Here," Tenzin handed it to her to heat. "I do appreciate you and Kya switching to drinking it."
"We decided baking it into brownies would only go terribly," Korra admitted. "We figured Meelo would get his hands on them and then spirits only knows. Probably end up with an army of stoned flying lemurs and that seemed like a bad idea."
Tenzin had gone a little pale.

Korra shuffled back into her room and fetched an old handset from her beside drawer. She always left it charged; she lost way too many phones in her unofficial line of work. Korra flopped onto her bed, Naga settling her head across her midriff. Korra reached down to give her a reassuring scratch behind the ears as it rang.
"Hey, mum."
"Korra? Sweetheart, it's very late in Republic City, isn't it? Are you ok?"
"It is. And I'm ok." Korra sighed, closing her eyes. "I've just had one hell of a day."
Korra heard the scrape of a chair and a rustle as her mother sat down.
"Do you want to talk about it?"

When Ikki came to fetch Korra for breakfast the next morning she found her still sound asleep, her phone still sat on the pillow beside her head. She closed the door quietly, leaving Korra to sleep.


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