Korra's heart was in a puddle on the ground of Air Temple Island. And it could stay there, she didn't care.
"You are good at that" she mouthed to Asami playing with Rinzen. Asami stared back at her with a warning written in her face. Korra knew not to push further.
"We missed you guys" Opal said with a smile, a dumpling cooling between her chopsticks.
"We missed the extra hands" Bolin said, and was immediately met with his wife's elbow on his ribs.
"I didn't think you'd be short of helping hands in Zaofu with all your brothers" Korra said while slurping five-flavour soup.
"It takes a village, and it happens that the air nomads are a bigger more mothering village than the Beifongs" Bolin said mockingly.
"Well, we certainly don't mind helping out, no we don't" Asami said with a childlike voice, making faces at Rinzen, who chuckled.
"Speaking of brothers, any news on Mako?" Korra added mindlessly, extending her hands towards Asami, who carefully placed the child on Korra's legs, who then began bouncing him.
"I last saw him about a month after Rinzen's birth" he stopped to think "He said something about upping his ranking on the United Forces, but I forgot" Korra gave him a skeptical look "What? I was too sleep deprived, you guys have no idea-" Bolin cut himself short before Opal could, and Korra couldn't help but wince.
Her and Asami had spoken at lengths about children, before and after marriage. Asami was adamant on not having them, saying their lifestyle wasn't compatible with one of parents. She said it was too hectic, too busy to accommodate a child properly.
Korra suspected hectic was the word Asami used instead of dangerous, to protect her feelings. To be honest, Korra didn't know how she felt about having kids. She knew, however, how she felt about Asami not wanting kids. She felt guilty.
The conversation came to a halt, but it was quickly interrupted by some commotion happening inside the temple.
"Someone call Korra!" they heard a voice in the distance that sounded like Tenzin's. Korra handed out Rinzen to Bolin, the three women standing up and running towards the temple.
Some of the air benders were already jumping onto their bisons when they came to the base of the stairs, where they met Tenzin.
"Lin called, they need back up" she said, short of breath "She only briefed me about an ambush on a new triad blowing out of proportion" Opal was blowing impatiently her bison whistle "They have hostages" that last sentence echoed in Korra's head. Luckily Juicy had responded to Opal insisting calling quite quickly. Both her and Korra airbended their way into the saddle.
"Care to join, for old times' sake?" The Avatar said to her wife, extending a hand out for her to grab.
"Told you they'd burn the city down when you weren't looking" Asami said as a response, climbing up the bison.
They followed the rest of the airbenders to the crime scene. It wasn't hard to spot from afar, as there were flames involved, but it was harder to paint a clear picture of what was going on. Korra didn't wait for Juicy to land, instead she grabbed Asami by the waist and they both jumped of the bison's back, cushioning the landing with a ball of air.
She could see the scene better without the smoke clouding up her view. It seemed like the police had barricaded the remaining outlaws sealing the outpost's only exit with a wall of fire, flames already starting to engulf parts of the building.
"What the hell, Lin, why the fire? there could be hostages still in there" Korra pulled water out of a gutter and guided it towards the flames, but the fire didn't ease up.
"I'd appreciate if you didn't tell me how to do my job" Lin yelled over the sound of earthbenders trying to smother the fire with piles of dirt "It wasn't us, it was one of them"
"That makes no sense" Asami yelled as well, arming herself with an electric glove given by an officer "Half of the triad is still in there" she was right, the black uniform together with the eerie black and red drawings in their faces now smudged with sweat made spotting the members of the triad an easy task. They were climbing up the building and jumping of the roof if not burrowing themselves deeper into the building, desperate to escape.
The hostages, it was one of the hostages. Korra thought to herself.
"Where are the hostages?" Korra asked, but was already bending a bubble of sewage water around herself, preempting the answer.
"Some of them escaped, some of them were used as shield by the fugitives, I suspect most of them are still inside" Lin run up to Korra, who let her into the bubble.
But before they could step into the building, they heard more screaming and flames from a few blocks away. Korra let out a groan in frustration.
"I got it" Asami said, running towards the commotion with a bunch of police officers.
"Be careful!" Korra screamed before entering the building in flames.
The water, fire and smoke made watching where they were going pretty impossible.
"Where to now?" Korra asked Lin, who was trying to focus on her seismic sense despite not being able to walk barefoot on the collapsing floor.
"Straight, careful with the overhang ahead" she said, her eyes closed, forehead scrunched up. "If Mako hadn't left the force" she murmured under her breath with spite. "I could use a firebender right about now" she let the metal wire from her suit lanch forwards beyond the bubble, and someone screamed as a result, a bunch of wood crumbling when the wire ventured right, dragging the triad member along with it.
"Good catch" Korra praised "And hey, you got me, I'm four in one"
"Careful now, left and down some stairs" she warned before she kept her complaining "Oh but you don't seem to be so good at waterbending and firebending at the same time, do you?"
Korra stepped on a loose plank of wood going down the stairs and almost lost her balance, the bubble trembling around them as she regained composure. "Careful I said!" Lin scolded.
"Oh sorry if I'm too focus on keeping us raw!" Korra protested as they walked the long hall following the staircase. Korra didn't need Lin's instructions now, she could see the door in front of her through the water, the corridor free of flames so far. She let go of the bubble, and Lin earthbended a wall of earth right behind them, just in case.
"Everyone back down, I'm coming in" Korra scrunched the metal door, and let herself into the basement.
Her heart skipped a beat when she saw what was inside.
