Hitch Pt. 2
Yee-Li woke from the pleasant dream with an unhappy groan through parted lips, free of lipstick. Hands and feet reached under the blanket yet she finds it hard to stretch them far. Her left hand hit something hard but soft while her right side hit something that's just hard and she hears the sickening pop of bones jamming. Limbs withdraw tucked safely close. The covers wiggle like a silky river as she flexes her fingers underneath. She looked to see what she had hit and had to rub the sleep that lingered.
There were no leaves on her sheets. The river was gone. Even Shu had shrunk down to size nestled against her with his misshapen snout. There was still the distinct scent of earth and sweat and all kinds of disgustingly ripe things wafting off the two bodies Yee-Li lay between. The sun had been the pure glow of the lights left on. Night still gripped the city.
A relaxed mouth snored in its daughters face with breath smelling like fish; very old fish. Hands tucked under her head Korra laid a top the covers the robe was gone and her hair was slick and unwashed. Yee-Li resisted the urge to reach out to try to lay down a spit curl. Instead she felt a weight on the bed behind her fidget. Her momma was on her back with a hand across her stomach the weight of the armor sunk the mattress which pulled Yee-Li in. A bulbous nose pressed against her temple as the snoring grew very loud in her ear. Korras teeth were mere inches from her daughter's ears and should she close them then...hard but not the usual hard that Yee-Li had come to associate with her mommas armor thumped the teen in the leg as Lin rustled to get comfortable on the overpriced bed.
Yee-Li pushed her mommy by the forehead. The woman's neck bent backwards and her mouth hung open as she snored away at the painful angle. Yee-Li took a peek over the sheets.
Korra chocked when she tried to swallow the drool hanging from her lips. Groggily she twitched some feeling back into her limbs and thought that her hands weren't working only to find out that they were still trapped under her head which felt heavy from sleep. A flash of silver drew a groggy eye blinking out of tune with the other till her brain could awaken fully. Korra saw her daughter with the blankets about her waist on her knees with her back to her. She's wearing those ugly flannel pajamas' my mother gave her. The blues are nice shades, but how is could she like the way they look? I know I never would of wanted to wear something like that when I was her age and I'm not even a tenth as girly as she is. Korra pushed herself onto her hands her lower half acting as dead wait.
Soft fists beat on the armors exterior unable to scuff it yet they are persistent for an answer. "What happened to your leg?" The teen shouted at the top of her lungs the room's expanse adding volume and intimidation.
"Beating on me isn't going to work, Squirt. I've been on the giving end of more than one interrogation." Lin said as she locked eyes with her daughter. The teen gave her momma a stern look. Before Lin grabbed at the boot on her leg and howled as the tender bout of pain coursed from it, "why'd you hit it?" Lin grit her teeth and seethed angrily as she pulled her injury close and tucked it against her body. The blood began to pound which only caused more pain so Lin let it stretch but kept her distance from her daughter who was on her knees with fists punching her hips and brow low enough to become lips. "Everything's fine..."
"It's not fine you're hurt. How did this happen, what were you two doing?" Yee-Li looked over her shoulder. Korra had made herself comfortable against the head board smothering the fox antelope with her head. There were cuts along her forearms and one of her sleeves was torn to a bandaged elbow which Korra tried to hide against her side.
The skin of Korras palms was scrapped and it hurt to flex, her healing had done some to ease the pain. Dark fingers with jagged fingernails touched a stiff shoulder. Korra was certain Yee-Li would take notice of how she had ruined all the work her daughter had put into making her nails look nicer. They had been filed down and painted glossy. She tried not to flinch when Yee-Li took her hand.
The teen sighed letting her head dangle, "what kind of fight were you in mom." Yee-Li murmured as she gently ran her thumb over the top of her mother's hand. Turning her eyes on her momma; Lin felt flush with shame.
"Relax squirt this wasn't from some fight we fell off a motorcycle." Lin rubbed the back of her neck. After all she was Lin Beifong. What were all those stories she had told her daughter about herself? Lies? She was suppose to be this cool woman who beat up bad guys.
Korra felt something smooth unlike her daughter's normal skin, it was cold as it rubbed against her skin as her daughter let go of her hand. The teen turned to Lin her eyes fell onto the cast. A solid white plaster, they must have taken a trip to air Temple Island first; on the cast was written get well soon from her Uncle Bumi.
"You never called. You've," Yee-Li looked between the two women, "been away for six days and you never called me. You always call." fear prevented the teen from reaching out and laying a hand on the cast to check to make sure that this wasn't some dream still. She really wished that it still was.
Arms encircled her thin body as Korra pressed against her daughters back. She applied a tight squeeze as she kissed the back of Yee-Lis head. A few strands of hair stuck to her lips.
Lin leaned forward with a low groan as her leg felt the weight of her body shift. Pale fingers found a hand so much warmer and gentler and smaller than hers, Lin gave it a squeeze. The older woman whispered an apology, leg screaming as she gave a peck to her daughter's forehead. Brushing some bed head aside locking eyes with Korra over their daughters maroon hair they each laid a hand across Yee-Lis scalp and interlocked their fingers with one another as their lips puckered.
Things stayed quiet the two were determined to stay glued that way for as long as necessary for their daughter to accept their apology. When they were pushed away Yee-Li crawled over the front of the bed. Adjusting her pajamas and fluffing her hair to make it presentable.
"I want to go home."
Those words were all that was needed. The bed creaked as Korra shifted over to Lins side the woman had already moved her feet over the bed a hissed as the cast struck the wooden bed frame. It was still taking some getting used to this level of vulnerability. Yes, she had her share of injuries. Most of them attributed to her job. Which was kind of funny if she thought about it because being the daughter of Toph Beifong, being trained by Toph Beifong in the art of earth and then metal bending; she should have been in a cast when she was a child. Never a broken bone like this, Lin had broken a finger once when she got it caught in the door of a Sato-mobile and yes that had been her own fault Lin was a big girl and could admit when she messed up. In defense she was upset at the time, not too sure on the specifics, had to do with her sister though so it was reasonable if she were to...throw, crush, break, or slam things.
As Korra's plumpish rump bounced her off the bed the woman suddenly turned to rest a hand on Lins shoulder stilling the woman. "I'll help her pack her things. You wait." She bent at the waist and aimed for Lins lips.
"I can help." Lin avoided the kiss as she struggled to be heard but her punishment for not accepting this affection Lin was shoved onto her back. The older woman's eyes pinched shut her wrinkles creasing. Korra gave an apology but did not help Lin back up leaving her to lay helpless as her wife and daughter to gathered Yee-Lis things. At some point Lin snuck Yee-Li Shu to stow safely and securely and unknowingly to Korra in her bag.
A shadow loomed over Lin's body its single braid whipping back and forth. Hands crossed over her chest Lin refused to look Korra in the face. The shadows arms grew large as till its physical body found Lins wrists and struggled to pry them apart. "Don't be so difficult Badgermole let me help you up." Korra said as she struggled to lift the combined weight of flesh and armor and jerked the woman's body off the mattress. Thankfully this time Lin had the sense to keep her injured leg from banging anything, as she did however, she unwrapped her arms and gave a pull as she fell back onto the mattress, Korra tumbled sliding along the other woman till her chest was against Lin's nose. A strong smell thick with earth and sweat assaulted Lin making her growl.
"Will you two stop fighting?" Yee-Li grumbled as the last of her school supplies was tucked away. Pulling on the string on her pack the teen surveyed all the things she had come with and noted everything was present and felt ready to go.
Red cheeked Korra climbed off Lin and waited for her to rise to a sitting position she offered her forearm. This made the other grumble as she knew that she couldn't do without help as her leg was still to tender to put weight on it for the next couple of days. Lin accepted the offer with an immense blow to her self esteem. She hefted herself using her wife who silently held in a grunt under the strain of supporting her wife still in heavy armor.
Once on her feet Korra wound a hand around Lins arm using the affectionate display to disguise her ulterior motive of helping her wife move around. Lin wouldn't allow herself to be completely helpless in such a situation as she insisted she hold onto her daughter's clothes.
Yee-Li turned off the lights and shut the door after her mother's walked out at a slow pace. Watching the way her momma leaned against her mommy made the teen feel weak. She couldn't heal like her mommy or Aunt Kya. All she could do was watch as her momma struggled to keep the boot off the ground. For each time she put any weight at all Yee-Li could see the armor flex on her back, metal folding and warping, cringing, into an almost pained looking face to express what her momma was unwilling to let show.
There walk was well lit. Even when her Aunt and Uncle went to bed the rest of the house still had all its lights on. Yee-Li wondered if her Aunt slept with the lights on in her room too; surely the woman didn't have a night light? The staff was asleep even Laurenz who the teen thought would of made some appearance to escort them out, but no, even he needed to rest.
Lin and Korra took the stairs one at a time. Korra held the banister tightly as she helped her wife.
"Thump-ow. Thump-ow."
Was the sound of Lin and her armor on the old wooden steps as one leg managed to make it to the next step the other slid and smoothly tap against it. The tender leg was on fire when they reached the bottom.
The faces of stone beauty saluted them with their electric torches as the family opened the door. They used the spare key Asami had entrusted to the two women.
Heavy and thick the platinum gates slide with a shriek. Two men of imposing size saluted the shorter women and teen as they walked over the threshold. They were all outfitted in armor similar to Lins except it was made from platinum, weighty but durable and unable to be used against them. The non-benders wore electrified gloves on their dominant hands. The new design was sleeker. Asami had shrunk the battery pack and sealed any parts behind a guard. They truly did seem to fit like a second skin.
One of the guards approached and addressed Korra with a sharp glance to Lin, taking in the woman holding onto the avatars arm and the cast on her leg. "Would you like me to call a cab for you Mrs. Avatar?" He had the good graces to address her using the right honorifics. At some primal and possessive degree Lin wished they would call Korra by her last name. Something about being known as Korra Beifong made the woman satisfied knowing that Korra was well and truly hers.
The guards closed the gate and the three waited in the bitter cold of night for their cab to arrive. They had no comforts to offer the avatar. No place to huddle for warmth during shifts. They came with their armor on their backs. There was a small box that wasn't heated or insulated so any meal would be a cold meal. Yee-Li could see the other men moving around the wall. There shadows elongated by the dazzling lights illuminating the gray stone. Jutting pieces hid the beautiful mansion behind intimidating walls.
Huddled against Korra Lin felt the heat leave through the cracks in her armor and a lot from her injured leg, the insulation proved inadequate for such a cold night in republic city. It could stave off the worst, but anymore padding and movement would be hampered. Lin wondered if Mako had asked his girlfriend to solve the problem. Maybe she had but Lin didn't keep in touch with anyone from that time. Even when she and Mako were in the same room she never allowed the subject to come up. She needed to sever all contact lest she be tempted to go back and that she wouldn't do. It was enough to keep her satisfied with the occasional fights that popped up when Korra and she went out to help with avatar related duties.
Yee-Li shivered in her thick and fur lined coat she had neglected to put on her mommas heavy bottoms. The chill cut through even her flannel pajama pants with ease, numbing knees from the pain as they rattled against each other teeth jingling in a mouth like loose screws. Fingers buried deep into her pockets with elbows glued to her sides to create as little friction against the wind as possible. Light and infrequent and when it blew there was not enough push to topple a house of cards. The bitter weather came from the proximity to the sea.
The wall was free of snow and the area surrounding it had been trampled flat by the guards on the outside. The road leading up to the mansion gates was barren the snow piled on the sides.
When the cab arrived the teen dove into the warmth of the cabin; lucky for them the cab the guards had called had a working heater. Korra assisted Lin into the back. Backing up and turning about in the narrow strip of road. The wheels glide smoothly until they reach the end of the estate. All three bottoms lifted off the seat as the cab dipped into the first pot hole. Lin howled from the backseat and cursed the man to keep it steady.
"Someone's injured back here." Lin slapped her hand on the cab drivers seat inches from his head while Korra shushed in her ear.
Plain stupid or blind to who he was escorting the man rolled his eyes in the rear view mirror. To him, they were some old lady and her kid, and a woman a long ways from the water tribe, whichever pole that was nor did he care as long as there was money in his hand at the end of the ride.
Falling back into her seat Lin sighed as she rubbed her thigh. All the while she had the feeling that she was being watched. She already knew Korra's eyes were on her as they hadn't left from the time she had fallen. Golden-brown, true eyes of a natural born fire nation, they watched Lins fingers sink into the muscle and massage it roughly, the treatment bringing less comfort than what she wanted. Lin avoided looking her daughter's way; instead she concentrated on the warmth of the cabin and the body beside her a thumb rubbing blindly on her bicep.
Scruffy unsavory people walked the streets outside the cabs window. Many with a past that Lin would have found tucked inside a file at the station. They were still people. Some trying to make ends. Others could blame their upbringing for the hand they were dealt. But the few who actually deserved this life did so for a good reason.
Darkened alleyways lead to dens of vile things that Lin hoped her daughter would never stray down. Shops were closed with the lights off but the street lights blazed. Chimneys puffed. Children slept in comfortable beds and Lin wanted to get her own family home to theirs. The thought made the woman reach out blindly and find a soft bony shoulder and tug it towards her.
"H-ey!" Yee-Li squealed as she was dragged across the uncomfortable cushion of the back seat. The teen felt a throbbing in her bottom and was sure it had chafed a nice rosy red. Her momma's armor creaked as she pulled her daughter close. Yee-Li rolled her eyes when the woman refused to look at her yet patted the shoulder she held.
A light snore, what would pass for normal to anyone else started, Korra had laid her cheek against the rounded bulge of armor on Lins shoulder. The sleep was deep as Korras eyes darted wildly behind closed lids. Not frantic seeming at least from the pleasant murmur of the name of the woman she clung too.
This got a laugh from Yee-Li who also felt the call of sleep.
"Don't worry about it, you can sleep in tomorrow." Lin whispered as she brushed a hand up the back of Korra hair catching it by the constant tangled mess, the action made Korra shiver and tuck herself closer.
"But," the teen yawned, "I have school."
Lin still avoided looking her daughter's way as she told her she could take the day off. An offer that was unheard of but the teen wasn't about to pass it up; she had history tomorrow.
The two mothers stumbled into the small foyer. Stray darkness lighter than inside the home streamed through the front door. Yee-Li held the door open so that her mommy could get her boots off, they were flung to the side and thudded against the worn wood of their cubby hole; she and Lin limped deeper into the house.
When the door closed, Yee-Li was plunged into darkness sounds and whispers floated from deeper inside. The voices of her mother's one calm the other grumpy; clothes ruffled as something hard hit the floor accompanied by a muted groan thereafter.
Hands felt blindly for the laces to her boots, undid them, then brushed against the wall. Wandering low till fingers not so subtly banged into a wooded edge. Her cry was answered when a light flickered on and she saw the long shadowed bodies hanging on the wall. Korra was leaning over the table a hand attached to the shoulder of her momma. Sweat and gentile murmurings were heaped upon the woman seated at the table. As Yee-Li came in sucking her finger Lin perked, lips drawn low.
"You ok squirt?" Leg outstretched upon her wife's blue cushion. Helpless Lin was unable to push herself up from where she had been placed.
The teen nodded with the finger still in her mouth; garbling an, "I'm fine."
The stove ignited with a subtle fwooooosh. Korra had pulled out a pot from the refrigerator. She removed the lid and peered inside. Pale green noodles with flecks of darker green which made them appear to be well past their expiration. They swam in a transparent green-brown broth. Though it had been in there longer than a week water tribe food was made to last even if it lacked in taste.
Her tight blue shirt had a few tears that showed slivers of Korras bindings and a bit more brown skin. Even though she had only stumbled barely a year into her forties there was nothing lost from her physic. Muscles tone. A flat stomach when she turned her silhouette to them sipping from a spoon to make sure the dish hadn't lost flavor; it must have because the woman added a few pinches of salt till it seemed satisfactory. The veins on the backs of her hands had become more prominent, which Lin loved to trace with her finger.
As the pot sat to cook Korra left the two alone, yet not before giving a sweat kiss to her badgermole before she vanished upstairs.
The table jumped as Lin banged her good shin trying to push herself closer. The pillow she sat upon sagged with a hideous scream. So too did Lin let out a silent scream as her foot fell off the pillow it was cradled in. Sucking her lip the woman managed to get a little closer to Yee-Li. Leg swung out behind the teen. "How did it go?" Tepidness wasn't unbecoming for someone who once was the head of the city's police force. The gray green of her eyes never strayed but the jittery way she tapped her fingers on the table only made Yee-Li's nerves spark.
A warm hand rested against Yee-Lis cheek. The teen averted her gaze when she felt it rub at the skin roughly.
"She hit you. I couldn't say it wasn't going to happen. How bad did it hurt?" Tone wet with sadness. Obvious was the strong way Lin tended to talk and the lack of subtlety was what made Yee-Li flee, covering the bruise that had been revealed, now a greenish purple.
There came a commotion on the steps, shouts that were clearly Korras calling after her fleeing daughter. The woman appeared again agitated and fuming about their daughter's safety habits. The complaints fell on a deaf and blissful looking Lin who despite the ache in her leg and heart had been able to drive both feelings away. The black round pendent hung from her wife's neck and the matching bracelet on her wrist. Both of which complimented tasteful dark skin wonderfully.
Lin licked her lips. The action, none so delicate, caught Korra off guard. A blush sprouted as a hand reached to touch the face of the necklace her tough fingers grated against the foreign rock. The stroke made Lin more aroused. Yet unable to move she made simple wanting stretches with her arms, Korra settled between them, careful, she draped her legs over Lins good one in a half straddle, arms holding loosely onto the woman's pale neck they barely touched the padded shoulders of her armor.
"I'm not made of glass little penguin." Lin nudged her nose against the woman's ear then proceeded lower till she found the flesh on Korras neck, already broken out in gooseflesh. A slow and languid kiss nothing to...passionate. After all Lin didn't want to start anything that she couldn't finish. A twinge of helplessness flared momentarily till the affection was returned.
Korra tapped her fingers along Lin's back, the armor rung with each fond blow. It was too much of a barrier between them so Lin shed the chest piece; Korra setting it aside. The arm guards followed so bare flesh could rub overtop that nice thick back and take in the feel, the smell, that pleasant beating of a heart as they hugged.
"I'm-glad...to be home." Korra whispered weak yet strong, sad yet happy she fisted her wife's beaten tank top not cleaned since day one of their trip.
Lin kissed a corner of Korras mouth. "Me too." She said quietly looking to the empty red pillow.
They held for a few moments more till they were satisfied. By the time Korra got up to get them both some food their batteries had been recharged each had their own version of a smile: Korras was large and overly genial, Lin's fainter and even friendly to those who knew how to spot it.
The bowl made a slight sound as it touched the wood perfectly occupying a square that was a prime space for defense on the Pai sho board. The duck spoon with its long neck and wide mouth was withheld dipped into the soup, noodles slopping over the side and broth dribbling as it was held it out.
Teeth clicked shut like the heavy gates of a castle Lin was stiff of lip as the spoon hovered in front of her face, "I can feed myself." She objected pushing the spoon away as it tried to make entry. A noodle fell to the table with a wet splatter the moisture locked inside oozed out.
"Come on Lin," Korra sat the spoon back in the bowl. Reaching around her wife and brushing her side against Lins as she took their daughters pillow and slipped it under the woman's injured leg and gave the thigh, thick of muscle, a nice caring rub. The fingers of a water bender were like magic; less so without the water but these still felt like they could heal any injury. As Korra continued her massage she picked up the spoon again.
The noodles were bland except for a bit of saltiness in the aftertaste, to Lin it was more flavorful than anything a vendor could make. Lin opened up more willingly for the next bite...and the next. Pausing between feedings Korra used the same spoon to feed herself from the same bowl. No words, only the slippery sounds of the pair slurping and eventually the spoon hitting the bottom of the bowl.
Korra got up for a refill.
In that time between, Lin felt the vibrations and hushed footsteps of someone trying to sneak their way back to the table. With a grunt Lin slid the pillow out from under her injured leg.
"Hungry squirt?" Lin asked as she stared at her cheek. The bruise was gone again. Yee-Li hung a braid over the spot and tilted her head away from her mother's.
A timid nod of consent as Yee-Li rung the braid that her momma was watching intently. Not a hint of apathy more of a nervous titter as Lins hand moved under the table to rub her leg.
Korra held the spoon to Lins lips the woman tried to speak as it went in. She coughed out a noodle onto Korras hand, the other of which patted her back deeply to clear out her lungs. As she wiped the spit from her bottom lip, Lin took the spoon from her wife's hand, "I'm taking over, "Lin said as she slid the bowl over, "get our kid something to eat." The command had Korra jumping for another bowl. She set it down and Lin slid it in front of her daughter.
The spoon swirled the noodles watching as they seemed to bob like sea serpents in the broth. Her bite was meager more broth and two noodles, sipping them, and swallowing without chewing and showing no pleasure of having tasted her meal. The spoon played again before she took another bite, an extra noodle this time to fill an un-hungry belly.
A lull, typical for the family when there was food around; eat first, talk later. Yee-Li nursed her meal while Lin and Korra made another bowl disappear between the two of them. The women would switch off after ever bite. Their bellies seemed like bottomless pits; true because they hadn't eaten much the last two days.
Lin's healer had been a brutish short woman with a sagging chest over a round belly. It gave Korra fears of what she might look like in the future. The nagging woman wouldn't let Lin leave till she was properly fit for the bumpy trip ahead graciously opening her own hut to the avatar and her patient to stay in while they recover. Korra and Lin fled in the night while the healer slept.
It was Lin who pushed for them to leave even though she knew her leg wasn't ready the cast had barely been on a day. She was insistent that they get home and Korra knew that there was no amount of convincing otherwise. A lesson learned long ago before Korra had even considered pursuing the older woman romantically. Never a reason given that was how Lin worked she just expected everyone to follow her without question. Which usually worked out alright but this, her being injured was different. Korra almost...she almost put her foot down unless Lin was going to explain why they needed to be home. Yee-Li could wait, she was safe, more than safe with Asami. She had said nothing, should have said something, yet here they were, back home. What was so important? Seems like nothing at all, she mused, as the three of them ate; quiet, tired...home.
Lin made a gesture, her lips moved. The sound of wet noodles muffled Korras ears, Yee-Li said something back that made Lin reach out as her daughter showed the woman her hand. Korra swallowed eagerly. The ring was nice, polished, nothing expensive looking.
Korra grinned at her daughter and set her spoon in the bowl wiping remnants from her chin on the back of her hand then on her pants leg under the table. "That another gift from Xiu?"
Yee-Li tried to tug her hand out of her mommas. The woman refused to let go. Intent on fingering the metal to feel how significantly responsive to her sense it was. It lit like a flare, so impure it might as well have been a clod of dirt pressed into a ring. Lin could feel the muscles go lax. The wrist obeyed whichever way Lin moved it. Silver twinkled in the lights over the table. Making the etching lively like it was wrapping itself tighter.
"Is that Raava?" Bones popped; the sharp feeling of nearly having a limb torn from its socket caused Yee-Li to suck a breath in order to fight the urge to shriek. Lin was studying the ring. Once over, twice over to make sure she saw what she did. It was there plain as day the Great Spirit the magnificent being of pure good; supposedly, even good guys had a bad day according to Lin.
"Ma-oooom!" Yee-Li did shriek this time as Korra took hold of her daughter's hand. With wide eyed disbelief she tried to pluck the ring when she saw that it was indeed Raava imprinted upon it.
"Where did you get that?" Korra asked when she already knew. Tugging again, but the ring wouldn't come off. She twisted her daughter's entire arm against the joint and the girl heaved herself against the table her stomach smacking the rounded edge.
Tears prickled as her mouth lulled. Yee-Li panted and gasped.
"Korra! Let her go." Lin bellowed as she saw her daughters face twisted in agony, mouth heaving and drool flowing. Seizing Korra she forced the others grip to relax.
Korra stuttered an apology as she weaved her fingers into the back of her head till it was knotted, and when she tried to pull free ripped some hair out. A feeling of guilt welled up doubled when she saw Lin feeling the muscles and rotating her daughters arm.
"Your ok." Lin seemed to coo in her own way not soft by any stretch of the imagination, "everything seems alright. Does this hurt?" She pushed a little forcing the forearm into the bicep. The teen shook her head. "Your fine," Lin said as she smoothed a hand over her daughters then let go. The teen drew it back and glanced at her mommy.
Korra felt her lips tremble as a hiccup caught in her throat. Rolling her shoulders she felt her back arch slightly, chest heaved forward. Her breasts come to rest on the cool wood. The swath of hair that mirrored the side with the braid fell over her eye tickling it. The woman fretted and blinked and rubbed till it felt raw and bloodshot.
Since her wife wasn't going to ask again Lin thought to, "So where did you get the ring," Lin said with the tinniest of glances to Korra whose eyes started to shift nervously.
Silver spun and so did Raava join for the ride. Yee-Li fiddled with the ring as she talked, "Aunt Asami made it for me."
"She made it for you huh?" Lin hadn't the least bit of skepticism to argue that truth. Asami was a woman who would do anything for her niece whether it need be purchased or crafted. Lin knew she had taught the teen how to drive behind her back and had an inkling that the woman was itching to buy her a car. She wouldn't even have to buy it. Asami could very well take one fresh off the line and drive it up the street to their front door.
In the distance Lin picked up the howl of some dog on the street trying to scrounge for a bite to eat in an overturned trashcan. The other two at the table seemed to not of noticed. Yee-Li was looking at her ring while Korra, keeled over the table, had begun to fiddle with her hands in her lap. As the darkness continued to crawl across the sky stars rotated unseen behind the smog of lights caste by the city.
"Who is Raava?" Yee-Li stopped turning the ring over and simply looked at the face. She couldn't tell but she felt that it was looking back, "Asami said she's the Great Spirit but how come she never visited republic city? I thought she would want to see you mom."
Korra had propped herself in her hands, the woman cracked a smile, bordering on a smirk, "Oh, I've met her once, ehhh twice. You know how they are when they get that old. There stuffy old croons"
Lin's eyes met Korras, amused by how her wife talked about herself. Yes, Raava was much a part of Korra as she was of her. They were inseparable but Lin didn't feel like there was cheating a foot on her part. Everything that was striking or otherworldly physically about Korra maybe, in a way, because of the spirit dwelling within, but the woman's mind was all her own and that was the part Lin was attached too. She wouldn't lie either and say she didn't enjoy the physical parts either.
"How old is she?" It was back and refreshing to see like an old friend; the childish exuberance Yee-Li showed squeezed Korras heart pleasantly.
"Oh...really old, like really really really..." Korra paused to suck in a breath, "really really really, really old. She'd older than the first avatar."
"How long ago was that?" Yee-Li was always interested in learning about history.
Korra shirked her shoulders, "Dunno?" Never too good with numbers.
"Tenzin should have tutored you more on your predecessors." Chin in her hand Lin wore a slight grin. The food was cold full anyway from the jovial chatter, "I doubt you would have listened." Lin snickered; her eyes crinkled as she saw how upset her wife got when she poked fun at her intelligence.
Korra drummed her fingers and near spit on the floor in indignation, instead rolling it with her tongue she swallowed thickly and audibly. A large gulp that resonated in the stillness she huffed afterwards out of the corner of her mouth the thin hairs that barely stuck out of her braid flutter. "So...your Aunt made you that. Stupid looking isn't it though?" The woman was casting a line into the water to get a bite, she wasn't expecting from who.
Yee-Li harrumphed in annoyance as she looked at her finger, "Well, what would you know about jewelry anyway mom?" The teen dared the woman to answer back, which of course Korra had none? The necklace around and the bracelet were the only real pieces of jewelry she had owned in her life. Beside some ceremonial pieces her mother would let her borrow for occasuions.
"Jealous, are we, little penguin? I'll make sure to make you a ring next."
"You don't-have to do that." Korra shied away; nervously she gripped the necklace brushing a thumb over the engraving. It felt nice and smooth and if she concentrated hard enough maybe, just maybe rather the thrum of the pulse in her thumb she could actually feel the metal calling. Shaking her head at the silly notion Korra relaxed when a hard hand rubbed her by the elbow.
Lin was in good spirits, better than before when she was tense and seemingly worried about what, Korra didn't know. So preoccupied to return to this kitchen and even though it was late and tea would keep her awake Lin wanted a cup to help enjoy the moment more.
Korra got up to boil the water. The woman was always so natural around the element but her hands shook as she filled the tea pot. Sloshing some into the sink accidentally before she set the pot on the stove and lit the flame.
Click-click-click-click.
Went the pilot with not a spark; Korra turned the knob again.
Click-click-click-click.
A flame bloomed, licking the underbelly of the tea pot, and began to warm it. Korra leaned her hands on the countertop nothing as rich as Asamis only simple wood with a light brown lacquer not a shine to it only the imperfections of rings growing within the grain that she drummed an indiscernible pattern using three of the rings closest to her. One as large as her fist, one smaller, and the other no bigger than her pinky a button to be pressed, she tapped it a couple of times in the hopes that it might make her do something, force her through mechanically to talk. She was silent till the water began to bubble and the tea pot whined.
When Lin had her tea she let out a pleased moan, her eyes wondered to Korra and were gracious in there lingering upon her face. Korra felt a hand squeeze her thigh under the table. It was hard and held promises. But could Lin fulfill those just yet? Korra rubbed her wife's hand. All rough, and peeling skin and protruding knuckles, a finger dipped between the crevices, feeling the hard bone under the skin that had been tempered by training. There was a little chunk of bone that she found probably not recent from the way Lin gave no response when Korra pressed upon it. The nerves were dead; Lin couldn't even feel the heat Korra was generating down there but she could feel the touch at least and responded by curling her fingers into her palm like a spider having trapped its meal Lin had her wife were she wanted her to be; close by.
The noodles were stirred but not touched. No growl stirring in her belly. Nothing at all really, the ache was gone. The pain was still in her head but it was left on an island that had hideous seaweed and sharp shells on its beach. Dead palm trees with gouged trunks. However, the island was in the middle of an ocean; calm with not an ugly cloud near it. As Yee-Li stirred the noodles in the broth the edges of her mouth creased.
"You ok?" Lin asked her daughter who in return muttered and stumbled and eventually said she was, "You should go to bed. We did wake you up." Lins hand brushed emptiness when she reached for her daughter. Used to this sort of treatment the woman only grinned before she laid the hand over top of Korra's thigh.
"We should have slept there." A yawn dotted the end of Korras sentence. A tough cheek fell onto Lins shoulder rubbing the stiff bone.
"That bed was uncomfortable, right?" Lin looked to her daughter who neither confirmed nor denied the accusation. Yee-Li sat and stirred her food eyes sinking a quarter of an inch lower as her brain built a small static charge that began to interfere with her thoughts. Lin saw her daughters head dip into her chest; a glaze on her face. She wasn't hurt at being ignored. Taking the bowl and nudging the spoon from a loose grip it slid into the bowl with a splash. Some broth rained on the table which Lin tried to mop up with the nonabsorbent skin on the side of her palm, leaving a slick smudge of watery green.
As she tried to move the woman's eyes bulged. Lin hissed and near dropped the bowl into her lap. Handing it to Korra with reluctance she began to massage the spot above the cast. The contents of the bowl wound up back in the pot. A good water tribe mother never wasted anything that hadn't been touched. Korra then placed the pot in the fridge. A sucking sound as the door closed sealing in the cold.
Lin had tried to get up on her own by using her arms and one good leg to flounder her way. It was like watching a new born sky bison taking its first sloppy and unbalanced steps. Korra forced the woman to let her help by gruffly grabbing her by the arm.
"Ahh-ahhhh." Lin ached; Korra was not sorry for her wife's bull headedness and her leg knocking into the table. The tight hold she had on Lin made to steer the woman to the steps. Lin was putting up a fight.
"Yee-Li get the lights will you?" Trying to stay a step ahead rather than be led to bed.
As Lin half pulled herself up the steps while ignoring the moderate hold on her other arm the lights went out behind them and they were plunged into a darkness thicker than earth. It felt like home to the woman who only need flex a toe on the creaking steps to attain visibility. Light breathing on their heels let the two women know that they were holding up the line.
"Night squirt." Lin addressed the hazy outline as it passed by. Korra was too busy trying to feel blindly for their door and hold onto Lin to say her goodnights.
"Night mom." Easily a goodnight meant for the two of them. Hinges made not a sound but the door did give a low hiss as air was forced through the cracks and the knob tinkled as it twisted closed. Not a light under the doors crack. Lin could see her daughter wander till her shins hit the edge of the bed causing her to fall into her blankets.
Air passed over the exposed patch of skin as Lin found the underside of her shirt lifted. A hand struggled to pass the waist band of her pants cinched tightly by her armor on her legs. The woman recoiled as cold fingers tickled over the crack of her rear hoping that might be a way in. Lin whined in her chest, angry that her body felt more exhausted rather than thrilled by the touch.
Lin limped over to the bed as Korra shut the door and the lock clicked. She stood before a bed left in a horrid state. The sheets were unfolded. Korra's pillow had a fading stain of drool from that morning they left. Their futon was well weathered with bad stitching on the tears near the bottom; Lin did not regularly trim her toe nails. Most of the feathers inside had lost their comfort, more of a thin sheet between them and the hardwood floor.
"It's about time we get a new mattress don't you think? This one has seen better days."
The voice in her ear purred like a cat in the warm sun, "We've had some very good memories in this bed. Remember? This was where you first found us." Hardly the appropriate time to make the woman recall the first time she ever laid eyes on her daughter when thumbs sunk deep like fish hooks into the waist band. Lin could feel Korra kneeling to pull her pants down. There was worship in those kisses, yet they wobbled and felt a little too moist. Korra was careful around the cast. Lin helped by lifting her leg, hand using a brown head to steady itself.
On the way back up Korra let her hands tickle Lin's sides. The flesh prickled and hair rising. It was wonderful if not chilly. A moon that was three-fourths full glowed illuminated the street before their windows as Lin looked out upon its nakedness while unthinking of her own. Fingers brushed the waistline of her panties. That was as far a line they were willing to cross at the moment.
Lin felt her injured leg throb so she tried to switch most of her weight to the other. She didn't want this to stop. Sparklers fizzled in her head when she felt a hand cup her breast. The woman moaned softly and shifted then yelped. Brown hands, illuminated palely by moon light against her body, withdrew.
"Did I hurt you?" Korra asked, as she settled both hands on either side of the woman's neck. Thumbs working into the bones on Lins shoulders, they were always stiff even when the woman was relaxed.
"I'm fine just," Lin paused to quickly think and not to let the mood slip away, "let's do it this way." Groaning as she eased onto the bed, back and head propped on their pillows. The cast thrown onto the sheets that had been bunched up in a hurry that morning they left. Hands held aloft Lin invited Korra into her embrace.
The naughtiness hadn't gone from those ocean blue eyes as that wonderfully taught body bared down. Fitting like puzzle pieces from two different sets. Korra's short frame only stretched so far, knees on Lin's thighs and head on Lin's chest the rest somewhere in the middle. It hurt the woman beneath as that blunt chin pressed into her breast bone. Korra felt along the shadows of Lin's jaw working upward till she felt hard bone protruding. There she rested a hand and tried to find purchase with her feet so that she may push herself up to give her wife a kiss. Intending it to be loving and sensual and hoping to spark the unconscious furry of desire to help guide the both of them into more.
But Lin became jittery. Teeth exposed in a grimace as the woman exhaled through them. Lin immediately reached down and seized Korra by the knee and moved it so that her foot no longer dug into the cast. Letting it drop to the side of her body where it shimmied away out of guilt.
Avoiding the same mistake Korra pushed herself off of Lin using the woman's stomach and slid her butt up till she straddled Lin by the hips. Their foreheads touched, the contact pleasant as an apology was whispered into a thin nose along with the bland smell the noodles. Korra curled her arms under herself trapping them between their bodies so that she might not cause her wife anymore pain that night she only wanted it to be pleasant.
"Well," Korra began with a moist kiss, "I hope this doesn't hurt my chances..."
Lin laughed down the others throat as she brought her arms around Korras back, "the mood is dead little penguin. And my leg is killing me. Lets hold off till...tomorrow night?" Lin said as both a promise and a lie, maybe she would be ready by then but at the moment she just wanted to relax as the fire in her belly which had only been embers when this had started had finally gone out.
They were both slack as Korra slipped off, lying on the other side of the woman without the cast felt strange as a whole new perspective was revealed. Seeing the room from this angle, the ceiling, the door, it was an uninteresting viewpoint from how she usually faced towards republic city and its night life.
Through the walls they heard footsteps. Lin immediately touched the sole of her foot to the floor just beyond the futon.
"What's she doing?" Korra asked in a hushed tone only for Lin to shush her words so that she might concentrate.
Her daughter's footprints left white smoky images on the floor and the steps as she descended them. Lin could see the stairwell light up, the foam of waves brushing the walls as the teen crept down them.
"She's heading down stairs."
"For a midnight snack?" Korra fancied a guess.
"No, that's only you," Lin said as her fingers dug into the others side, "she's heading for the door. Oh, she's getting her stuff-no-she's going through it." Lin paused when she saw what it was that her daughter had taken from her bag.
"What'd she get?" Korra asked, curious yet sleepy as she rested her head next to Lins nose prodding near the older woman's lower jaw.
Lin mumbled but it didn't reach the others ear.
"Huh?" Korra said loudly having snapped back from a small bout of slumber.
Lin held her tongue as she saw her daughter pass by their closed door. The teen clamored back into bed throwing the heavy blankets over herself and making sure there wasn't a crack for the cold to seep through.
"What was it?" Korra said as sleep tried to take hold.
"Huh, it was nothing. She was just getting some pajamas. Now quiet I want to get some sleep before the sun comes up." Foot withdrawing as she fixed the covers over them the last image her sense had shown her was still fresh behind closed eye lids. That of her daughter wrapped in blankets with a stuffed badgermole held tight in her hands.