Previously: Korra has been working hard on her Mindbending precision. Bloodbending was still hard on her. It took 10 days for Korra to Bloodbend herself out of suspension and the sensation was so traumatizing, that she refused to try again, let alone move forward. Yue tried a different approach. She showed Korra how to bend for fun, on a micro level, something that feels therapeutic while also helps with precision. It shifted bending from being something useful, to something enjoyable and recreational, a form to create something completely new. Yue pointed out that Korra's issues with Bloodbending are psychological, and she hoped that letting Korra do something meditative with her element, and help her discover more layers of it and find a whole new level of comfort with it, will help Korra's psychological block when it comes to Bloodbending. She told Korra that Mindbending water is compiled of 4 factors: Shaping, precision, amount, and motion.

They also went on Asami's first cloud seeding experiment which was semi-successful, and learned how Yue met Tui when she helped delivering her and used Bloodbending Healing for the first time to save Tui's mom after the rough birth.

Their experiment gave Yue an idea of how to make Korra feel comfortable with Bloodbending. Rather than trying suspension again, she pricked her finger and asks Korra to start small, with healing. Yue realized that if Korra can breakthrough her psychological barrier, everything else will come way easier. Korra was hesitant, but she felt safe enough to try, and after Yue instructed her to treat the blood as its own liquid, Korra managed to create a scab. And it didn't feel wrong. After weeks of torment, Korra finally got excited about the prospect of Bloodbending.

Chapter 5

It was a warm night, but their close proximity to the sea brought a pleasant breeze and created the perfect temperature for a good night sleep.

Except that Yue felt moisture on her face. She woke up slowly to find herself nuzzled by a bison's wet nose. The deep darkness indicated that it was still very late. Or very early. It also indicated that her tent was gone.

She groaned, feeling icky and disoriented, but sat up. Looking around her, she saw that in effort to squeeze her head into Yue's tent, Tui trampled it.

Tui nuzzled her again.

"What? What is it girl?" she asked groggily. Tui indicated with her head towards somewhere in the distance. "Oh. I can feel it now. Thank you for letting me know," she scratched the fur below Tui's chin and the bison growled in pleasure.

Yue crawled into Korra and Asami's tent as quietly as she could, and found the sleeping couple cuddled. It made her smile.

"Korra," she shook the Avatar's shoulder softly. "Wake up."

Korra blinked a few times, rubbed her eyes and sat up. "What… what is it?" Her voice was raspy and concerned. "Is everything okay?"

"What are you sensing? Go beyond our camp."

Korra understood what was asked of her. She nodded and concentrated. "There's…. there's an isolated signature, in a meadow not far from here. I can sense a pool of water by its side, growing by the second. Something isn't right. Is that… is that a pool of blood? I think it's a deer."

"It is," Yue confirmed. "Let's go. I'll meet you outside in five minutes."

"Okay," Korra nodded, now determined.

Yue left the tent, giving her friend a chance to dress up quickly.

It's only been a week since Yue helped her through her tiny first act of Bloodbending Healing. Since then, they spent every day working on Mindbending precision and every evening working on small scale Bloodbending.

Yue's theory was proven to be right. Breaking out of the suspension was much easier now that Korra performed an initial act of Bloodbending she felt comfortable with. And even though said act was performed on someone else, the Avatar wasn't willing to talk about trying the suspension technique on Yue just yet. She felt bad enough that they didn't stick to their witness rule the first time she Bloodbent Yue.

Korra came to crave and dread that time of the day when they worked on Bloodbending in equal measures.

"Did you find a wounded animal?" Asami asked, apparently also awake despite the Waterbenders' best efforts to not disturb her.

"I think so. Sorry we woke you up, Babe. Go back to sleep. You'll be okay here with Naga."

"I'm coming too," Asami announced and sat up, way more alert than her girlfriend.

"Asami…" Korra tried to object.

"I'm not gonna think less of you if I see you Bloodbend. Especially if you're going to save another living being's life." She knew exactly what her girlfriend was thinking, and she knew she had to quench that fear as early on as possible or it'll grow into something hidden that stands between them.

"Okay," Korra seemed unconvinced but turned to grab her clothes.

Asami was quick to grab her wrist. "Hey, look at me," she ordered. "Saving others is what you do. It's one of the most beautiful things about you. This is a big moment for you. I never wanna miss those. Okay?"

"Okay," Korra repeated, this time much more certain.

"Good." Asami leaned in to plant a kiss on Korra's forehead. "Then let's go and acquire a new useful skill for you, superstar."

They took Tui to make sure they made it to the deer as quickly as possible.

"So wait, Tui barged into your tent?" Korra was trying to piece together the timeline of their weird early morning.

"Tui has murdered my tent, technically," Yue clarified. "Gotta get a new one when we get to Omashu next week." She knew she'll have to snuggle between a bison and a polar bear dog until then.

"Why did she do that?" Korra twitched her nose.

"She wanted to inform me about the deer. It's not her fault that she's too big for tents, is it girl?" Yue rubbed Tui's head and got a happy growl in response.

"You trained her to locate wounded animals?" Asami asked, impressed.

"I only trained her to let me know. She can hear the howling from afar. We can't."

"But we're much closer now and I still hear no howling," Korra pointed out.

"That's because it stopped. It's too weak," Yue explained, tone grave. "It already lost a lot of blood. I hope we're not too late. You can sense it, right?"

"Yeah," Korra confirmed. "I can tell it's still alive, but there's so much pooling beside it, and it's still spilling."

"Are we far?" Asami inquired.

"No. Maybe five minutes in our current speed," Korra provided. She could tell by sensing that they were closing in.

Yue looked over her shoulder. "Are you ready for this? Because if you're not, it's okay. You can always just watch."

"No, I want to do this, it's just… we only treated paper cuts and really tiny injuries. I don't want to…" she looked at Asami and then back at Yue. "I don't want to make it worse."

"Korra, you're not going to kill it," Yue promised, knowing what 'worse' meant. "At this point it'll certainly die unless we intervene. You can sense it, so you know I'm not just sugar coating it for you. You can't make it worse because it's already really bad."

Korra nodded, knowing that nothing will reassure her until she'll be on the other side of this, hopefully successfully. "There!" she pointed, trusting only the sensation of water. The stars shed bright light, but it was still hard to locate a silent, unmoving dark animal in a dark meadow.

Yue sensed it too and pulled the reins for a descent. Tui flew quickly, understanding the urgency. "Good girl," Yue commended as they touched the ground. She sprinted right away to close the short distance between them and the deer, Korra and Asami hot on her trail.

"This is really bad," Korra's voice cracked once they arrived at the scene and took in the damage.

"Poor thing," Asami added in horror. There were bite marks right below the deer's neck.

Yue could tell Korra was overwhelmed and unsure where to start, or if there was event a point. "We'll do whatever we can for it," Yue said, realizing Korra needed the encouragement. She got down next to the animal and sensed the blood to assess the damage. "Miraculously, no damage to internal organs, but it'll bleed out soon. Korra, can you feel it? Can you feel nothing is spilling out of the organs?"

"Yeah," Korra confirmed and knelt next to her. "Whatever did this hit some muscle and tissue."

"Which we can rejuvenate with regular healing once we've dealt with the blood loss," Yue noted.

"What can I do to help?" Asami asked. "If anything at all."

"You can absolutely help. Hold his head, caress his face," Yue instructed. "He's in pain. Any sort of comfort would help."

Asami nodded and knelt by the deer's head, putting his face in her lap. She started caressing it softly. The deer closed his eyes, clinging to the feeling like a beacon of hope.

"Korra, look at me," Yue ordered. "You're going to pick up the blood, make sure it's the only thing you pick up, we don't want to cause an infection. Start to put it back in gradually, and as you do, clot the edges of the wound so it doesn't spill as much, but you can still put some more blood in."

"That's like five levels beyond where we're at!"

Yue could hear the fear in her friend's voice. "Try. I'm here to help. You're not alone, but I want you to try."

"You can do this, Baby, I know you can," Asami urged with confidence. "You've been so diligent and methodical. You care so much about this. I have complete faith in you."

Korra nodded and brought her hands up, breathing in and out to trying and clear her mind.

"Korra, I can feel your heart racing. Relax," Yue soothed. She saw that Korra's hands were shaking and grabbed both her wrists. "Hey, you've done this before. Here," she led their hands to hover over the pool of blood. "One breath at a time. I'll start, you take over." Yue pulled her palm up, and dark liquid came off the ground. "Can you take it from me and put it back in?"

"Yeah," the Avatar said, slightly hesitant, new to the Bloodbending movements that were required for something more than just clotting a sting. But this was about water, and water was her element. She bent the blob from Yue, exhaled, closed her eyes and sensed the water within the deer's body. As she put the blood back in she redistributed the water equally.

"Good," Yue squeezed her shoulder. "Now shrink the wound around the edges so it doesn't all just spill back out. Leave about a quarter of the size of the wound open."

Korra did as she was told and the animal howled quietly, puzzled by the weird sensation.

Encouraged by the initial success, Korra bent the majority of the blood that was still pooled beside them. With the wound being smaller now she had to reshape her blob to something more narrow.

"That's great, Korra," Yue commended when she saw the reshaping. "Nice precision work."

"Sweetie, this is amazing," Asami chuckled, "you're doing it!" She softly placed her fingers to the deer's chest. "His pulse is getting stronger."

Korra smiled. She was still shaky, and sweat was dripping from her forehead to her nose, but now there was also optimism. She was so in the moment, that she didn't even stop to question how it all felt.

She bent the rest of the blood, made the blob even narrower than the previous one, and put it back into the deer. Towards the end it became harder, as if the recipient was full.

"You can split your blob and do a drop at a time," Yue provided, knowing exactly what obstacle her friend encountered. "And if a little bit is left out, it's okay. The majority is back in and it makes a huge difference."

Korra nodded and tried to put back in as much as she could, looking at the deer's eyes for signs of discomfort. The deer twitched his ears. It was a good sign. Korra started shaking again, sensing a resistance from inside. The water was telling her there wasn't much room left.

"It's okay, Korra. It's enough," Yue assured. "Seal it."

And Korra did. The moment she was done she sat back, butt sunk onto bent legs. She wiped sweat from her forehead.

"We're not done yet," Yue reminded. "But the rest is regular healing. Bring it home, Avatar."

Korra smiled. She was exhausted, but this she could do. This was falling back to something familiar and easy. She didn't need to ask Yue where to get water from. She quickly used condensation and wrapped the water around her hands that were now glowing.

A fuzzy feeling spread throughout her body, knowing that the hardest part was behind her. It made her smile again as she located the injured areas and applied rejuvenation. Everything felt so heightened since she could actually sense the water. She couldn't see the internal results of her work, but she could feel it.

And then she was done, and suddenly, without any warning, the deer was up on his feet. It licked Asami's face and leaned in to rub his cheek with hers.

"Oh, of course Asami gets the all the love," Korra scoffed. "I supposed I don't blame you pal."

Asami grinned at her and caressed the deer's neck.

"He has no idea that what we, and mostly you did, has saved him. What he does know is that he got sweet caresses from Asami," Yue chuckled.

He tried to take a step but he was a little wobbly.

"Whoa there, friend," Korra wrapped her arms around him gently. "Maybe take a minute?"

But he didn't listen, he didn't have to, because once he got his bearings he was off, running.

Asami laughed with joy, grabbing the attention of the person who loved nothing more than to look at her when she was happy. "You did it Korra! You saved a living creature! He was as good as gone. You're a freaking miracle worker. This is incredible. It must feel so… profound."

Korra could feel her eyes sting, but she didn't say anything, she was too overwhelmed and the face looking at her made her entire body tingle with warmth. She fell into Asami's embrace and felt arms wrap around her, making her feel safe and loved.

Over Asami's shoulders, she found Yue smiling at her. Cerulean eyes locked with proud, steel blue ones, and Korra knew that Yue knew, that Yue understood what this meant in ways no one else could. She had a weird sense of déjà vu, but she shook the disorienting feeling, realizing how overwhelming the moment was. She tightened her hold over her girlfriend. "We… we actually did it. And it felt…" She broke away from Asami.

"Yeah?" Yue encouraged in anticipation.

"It didn't feel wrong, or dirty. At all."

They were sat comfortably in the saddle, watching the sun coming up. Korra placed herself between Asami's stretched legs and Asami held her close, wrapping her arms around her protectively. "You're quiet," she observed, planting a kiss on Korra's neck.

"Just… absorbing," Korra hummed.

"You okay?"

"I think I'm kinda… thrilled," Korra admitted with a smile. "By the possibilities, by gratitude for the fact I learned another way to help."

"You amaze me," Asami spoke the words softly, close to Korra's ear, making her shiver.

"Is it weird that I already want to do this again?"

"Not at all. I'm glad that you at peace with it."

Yue turned her head and sent them a grin over her shoulder. "You guys can nap if you want. I know we had a very early start. We have about twenty more minutes before we're back at the camp."

"I think I'm too wired," Korra chuckled. But Asami's hand found its way under Korra's shirt and onto her stomach, drawing soothing circles on the smooth skin. Korra started to drift almost immediately and Asami followed a moment later.

By the time they got back to the camp it was almost 7 AM.

They found no point in going back to sleep. They knew it would be a relatively short day and that their early morning will catch up with them by early evening. But they didn't feel any guilt over a short day of training. The day's greatest accomplishment was already behind them.

They finished eating their breakfast in comfortable silence, then Yue stood up, stretched, and spoke. "So I'm gonna go now, for a long walk, and won't come back for at least an hour," she gave them an innocent look and took off by foot, letting Tui rest after an adventurous morning.

"Did she just…" Asami turned to Korra.

"Encourage us to have sex? I think so."

"She could probably sense the vibe," Asami snorted.

"What vibe?" Korra asked, oblivious.

"The 'my girlfriend just saved a living being's life, which is a huge turn-on, which makes me wanna do some naughty things to her' vibe," Asami deadpanned.

"Ohhhh, that vibe."

"I guess she could also tell you have some pent up tension to release," Asami teased.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Is this whole being on the road thing, without any privacy, suit you any better?"

"I mean, she might be gone, but we're still… very much out in the open," Asami gestured around them. "What sort of people does she think we are?"

They exchanged looks.

"So, you wanna…?" Korra started, cautiously.

"Oh, absolutely, a 100% yes."

Yue made sure that she was far enough from their makeshift camp (and the sounds that may have been the result of physical activity that had nothing to do with Korra's training.)

She found a comfortable looking boulder to sit by and lean on, and looked around to confirm that she really was alone.

"Paco?" almost instantly, the cute spirit popped right in front of her. "Hey cutie," she chuckled. "Sorry for the early call." He was quick to rub his cheek against hers to let her know that she was forgiven. "Can you connect us?"

Paco squeaked and nodded, placing himself on her bent knees.

"Thank you." She gave him a kind smile and put her hand right through him, finding herself in the familiar safety off her purple sanctuary. She had to wait a few moments, but eventually Mara showed up before her. In their visions they were both always standing, even though in reality neither was.

"I was having the best dream when I felt you," Mara yawned. "It's a little early, my love."

"Sorry. We had a little bit of an early start."

"Well, I'm still in our bed, all by my lonesome, with no beautiful woman next to me."

"You said you had the best dream," Yue reminded with a hint of suspicion.

"Not vivid enough, though," Mara winked. "This version is much better," she gestured at Yue who chose to ignore her.

They both knew very well that Yue loved these comments just as much as she loved pretending to ignore them. "How is my baby doing?"

"I'm okay, I miss you," Mara yawned again.

"That's nice, but I was talking about Silo," Yue clarified.

"You're an asshole. And your pup is fine."

Mara always referred to Silo as a pup, even though he was a fully grown polar bear dog long before the two of them even met.

"I'm sorry we missed each other in the last few days. Are you back home?"

"Yes. I took a few commissions, so I'm gonna stick around for a while."

"How was the temple?"

"It turns out that temples aren't as interesting without you. But I did climb beyond like you suggested."

"And?" Yue almost hated herself for suggesting it. She knew Mara was capable, but the thought of the woman she loved traveling on her own still worried her, even though they both had their fair share of individual travelling before they met. Still, that mountain top was gorgeous and she couldn't stand in the way of Mara experiencing it.

"I sat at the peak and meditate and it felt…"

"Devine?" Yue provided with a sweet smile.

"You did that too, didn't you?"

"Great minds think alike."

"I'm always honored when my mind is being put on the same level as yours."

"Mara…"

"What? It's true. You're the smartest person I know. And my favorite one, too."

Yue hummed. "Yeah well, I think we've established that you're my favorite person."

"What? I wasn't replaced by the Avatar?" Mara feigned shock.

"You're irreplaceable, my love."

"Glad you haven't forgotten. So where are the kids?"

"I may have left them to… do as they please. And I do mean please."

"Oh?"

"Korra Blood healed an animal for the first time this morning. That's why we were up so early."

"Oh, I see. Finally!"

"Mara…"

"I'm not criticizing! I'm appreciating! I'm glad you finally got her to do it."

"I didn't get her to do anything," Yue objected, sensitive when it came to the subject of Bloodbending usage.

"I know that, Baby, I'm sorry. What I meant is that you managed to get her to see all the good that can come out of it and she's better for it. She has no idea how lucky she is to have you."

"Thank you," Yue bit her lip. "Anyway, the way Asami looked at her afterwards, well…"

"Well?"

"Well… it made me remember the first time you saw me Blood Heal an animal, and how you looked at me afterwards, and what that look led to."

"Yes, you were smart to leave," Mara agreed with a smug smile. "And kind."

"At least we had a cabin to go back to, I'm not sure what these two are gonna be doing, but I have no need to find out."

"Where are you anyway?"

"About a week away from Omashu."

"Did those girls realize you're taking them around in circles already?"

"I am not taking them around in circles! We're training! It takes time! And they know full well what our route is. Asami is constantly with her head in the map, and Korra is more… going with the flow."

"Sounds like a very familiar dynamic," Mara smirked and got a scoff in return. "So Omashu in a week, huh? That's enough time for me to come and meet you there. I doubt Korra and Asami are the only ones who need some tender love and care."

"Not sure how tender it's going to be if I'm honest."

"Yue!" Mara gasped, scandalized.

Yue rolled her eyes. "You wanna come to Omashu? So much for sticking around for a while," she snorted.

"It's just one night, my love," Mara reminded. "I'll be back home in no time."

"Exactly, it's just one night. Are you sure it's worth it?"

"I haven't seen you in 2 months, Yue. Just give them some time off and come spend a night with me."

"So you're saying you're devastated without me?"

"Don't get smart with me," Mara huffed. "That said, obviously. Should I book us a room?"

"I kinda wanna sleep outside, a little out of the city."

"You've been sleeping outside for 2 months," Mara pointed out.

"It's different when I'm with you."

"So you're saying you're devastated without me?"

"I walked right into this one," Yue shook her head.

"Yes you did, Darling."

"Bring a tent, will ya?" Yue requested sheepishly.

"What happened to ours?!"

"Tui trampled it when she woke me up this morning."

"Oh man. It's the fancy one that we really liked, too."

"You can leave one with me and buy a new fancy one in Omashu. Better safe than sorry."

"Anything else you want from home?"

"Umm… could you bring me my thermal sleeping shirt? Nights will start to get chilly soon."

"Will you be okay down south?" Mara asked in concern.

"Yeah. My travelling clothes are totally fine. It's just my undershirt."

"Okay. You got it."

"Can you also make me some dumplings?" she pleaded sweetly, her mouth started watering at the thought. Mara was an amazing cook.

"Anything you want, Moon Girl."

Asami and Korra were picking leaves out of each other's hair.

"We did not think this one through," Korra noted.

"Totally worth it," Asami smirked. Getting alone time wasn't easy when travelling with a companion.

"Oh, you'll hear no complaints from me," Korra pulled Asami down for a kiss. "Except for maybe this mark I now have on my butt from a branch," she snorted.

"You look different," Asami bit her lip.

"Oh no, do I have something on my face?" Korra started rubbing her face frantically.

"No, Babe," Asami laughed, grabbing her girlfriend's hands, removing them from Korra's face to her own. "I meant… you look, you feel… more carefree than usual."

"I guess this morning was a sort of a long overdue release," Korra provided. "And what we just did was definitely a long overdue release," she sent her girlfriend a suggestive smile.

"It's Yue," Asami smiled sweetly.

"Um, not really sure I want to talk about my teacher right this very instant," Korra gestured at her naked body.

"What I mean is - she's really good with you. Good for you."

"Does that… bother you?" Korra pushed herself up, now visibly concerned.

"Not at all," Asami soothed, and she meant it.

"I just… I don't want you to feel left out. It's the last thing I want. But if you do, then we can pack our bags and be out of here in no t…"

Asami cut her off with a kiss. "I love that you care enough to turn your back on something that means a lot to you so easily. Though I never want you to feel like you should. But not only do I not wish for you to give up on things that you love, I also don't find it necessary. At all," Asami promised. "Because here's the thing. You two are kind of going above and beyond to make sure that I don't feel left out. And I really don't. I'm so glad you have a bender friend who's a girl, and around our age, who can enrich your learning in this way. You have the bending, and her and I have other stuff. And she helps you find out these things about yourself and I'm really happy to be here and experience this with you. I'm so proud of you."

Korra starred at her for a few long moments without saying a word.

"What?" Asami scrunched her eyebrows in concern, thinking she may have said too much.

"I just really fucking won with you," Korra licked her lips, putting a hand on Asami's cheek. "You make me feel lucky beyond belief."

Asami grabbed Korra's hand from her cheek and placed it on her chest, right on her heart. "The feeling is so mutual."

They walked out of their makeshift hideout and found Yue standing right in front of them.

"You two had a good nap?" she quirked an eyebrow, not missing the leaves that were still in their hair.

"Yes, yes. Very…. restful." Korra bit her lip, not seeming even remotely apologetic.

"Good," Yue smirked. "Then you should be full of energy for our new weight exercise."

"What weight exercise?" Korra pouted.

"You made a huge progress with Blood Healing today. Now let's shift gears. We're gonna up your Mindbending training. Amount, remember? One of our four factors."

"How are we gonna do that?"

Yue looked back at the lake behind them. She Mindbent two blobs of water, placing each on different side of her face. She Mindbent to add water to each blob. "This is about a litre each. See? The size of a human face?"

"Okay, and?"

"You already did a rainbow which weighs way more than this. So I'll say…" she added even more water to each side, making Korra's eyes grow in concern. "Why do you look so worried? That's pretty much the equivalent of what you already lifted with your rainbow. I'm just presenting it to you in a different way."

But Korra seemed unconvinced.

"You're gonna start with this weight," Yue explained. "Think of it as mind bench-pressing." She Mindbent both blobs up and down repeatedly, showing Korra the motion she wanted her to practice. "Sets of fifty, three times a day. When you wake up, before lunch, and before you go to bed. And after three days of this, you'll add five more litres to each side. And so forth," she added the aforementioned amount for good measure and repeated the lifting motion with her mind. "Got it?"

Korra turned to Asami, looking absolutely miserable. "I'd like to go back to our very restful nap please."