The glittering moon illuminated the yard as Korra slowly walked through the grass. Aside from the soft rustle of leaves in the wind and the distant rush of the bay, the island was silent. Korra looked up at the moon; she felt like she could feel Yue's eyes on her. At least her girlfriend hadn't turned into the moon, that would be rough.
"It's such a beautiful night out. If only we could see the stars like at home." Her father's voice was husky, but his words weren't slurred, to Korra's relief.
She turned to see her parents, Tonraq resting one hand on Senna's shoulder while he looked up at the stars, Senna glancing from him to Korra with a warm look in her eyes. "I miss the Southern Lights," said Korra, stepping forward into their embrace, her head resting against Tonraq's chest as their arms encircled her.
"You know we'd love for you to come visit more often sweetie," Senna said.
"I know. I wish I could more often."
"We're so proud of everything you're doing here," said Tonraq. They passed a moment in warm, comfortable silence, then stepped apart. "Korra, how have the Earth Kingdom negotiations been going? I heard rumours there was some trouble."
Her mind was not on the Earth Kingdom negotiations and Korra stammered as she searched for the right words, "Yeah, there was some trouble, but nothing we couldn't handle, Lin and I were there, and Tenzin too, and Wu and Raiko, but they don't really count, and there was an Earth Empire attack, but we stopped it."
"Honey, I don't think she brought us out here to talk about the Earth Empire negotiations," Senna said, patting Tonraq's arm, "Korra, sweetie, what's on your mind?"
Korra gave her mother a grateful look. "Mom's right, I actually wanted to talk to you about someone I'm dating," she said, hesitating slightly on the last word.
Tonraq and Senna shared a brief surprised glance before Senna said, "Are you telling us you've met someone? It must be getting serious if you think it's important to tell us."
"I wouldn't exactly say I've met someone, I mean, I've known them for a long time, but I guess I only just realized what they mean to me."
"Is it that Mako boy again? You know I don't like how he treated you the last time you two were together," Tonraq said and puffed up his chest with a glower.
"She may be our little girl, but Korra can make her own choices," Senna said to Tonraq, then looked back at Korra. "As hard as it is for us to admit it, you've grown into a strong, independent young woman. You know we trust you to choose the right person."
"No, no, it's not Mako, we're just good friends, really," Korra said. She took a deep breath. "I'm telling you because I'm dating Asami."
The words hung in the silence. The night air felt like it dropped to a sudden chill. The grass shivered in the wind and the bay crashed against the island. Korra had only taken a few steps away from her parents, but the gap felt like a thousand miles. In her father's eyes, she could see shock had burned away the relaxed buzz into hard-edged sobriety. A hundred reactions crossed his face in a passing moment. Her mother too had frozen, eyes downcast and guarded, searching for something she could not see.
She felt an icy hand close around her heart. This was a mistake. She should never have told them. Asami was right. They were going to reject her. She had to run, get away. There was nowhere to run. Anywhere would do. "Aren't you going to say anything?" Her voice was cracked and shaky. It felt like someone else was speaking.
Her mother looked up slowly, weariness bringing out the age in her face. "Korra, sweetie," she started as her eyes met Korra's, seeing the fear creeping in at the corners. "Korra, I want you to know that we're both so happy you've found someone that makes you happy. I can see in your face how much she means to you."
The cold fingers loosened. Korra took a shallow breath, trying to calm her racing heart. "You don't hate me? You're happy for me?" Her tone drifted between questioning and confused, unsure whether she was reassuring herself of something she knew or confirming something she didn't.
"We love you Korra. We're overjoyed that you found someone that makes you this happy."
"Then why do you both look like your polar bear dog died?" Korra felt like she was pleading with her parents to let her into their heads.
"When we found out you were the Avatar, we knew that you were going to grow up distant from your tribe. But we knew you would always have a home because the South was proud that they produced the next Avatar. They didn't really understand what it meant for you to be the Avatar; it had been hundreds of years since the last time there was a Water Tribe Avatar. But they still knew what you represented."
"What are you saying? Just because I'm dating Asami doesn't mean I'm no longer the Avatar," Korra said, growing wary of her mother's direction.
At last, her father spoke. "We want you to have a happy life Korra, that's all we've ever wanted for you."
"So how is dating Asami a problem? You said yourself how happy she makes me!" Korra's voice rose, cracking slightly as her breath shortened.
"Being a part of your tribe, your heritage, is also important to your happiness," Tonraq said.
The words hit like a hammer and the night froze once more into silence. Her father had just given voice to her second-worst fear. It was exactly as she'd thought; even the Southern Water Tribe, that self-proclaimed bastion of progressivity, would draw a line in the snow.
Then Asami's face flashed through her mind. She thought about the quiet moments they spent together between hours of back-breaking work rebuilding the city. She thought about the letters Asami had sent, three years of letters with never a month between them, even when Korra had let them pile up in silence. She thought about how Asami had held her when she woke up shaking with fear, stroking her hair, and helping her be strong until she could find fitful sleep. If this was the cost she had to pay, then she was ready to pay it.
Her face grew resolute. "Mom, dad, it doesn't matter whether you approve of it, and it doesn't matter if the whole tribe doesn't like it. I love Asami and that's that!"
Yet more stunned silence. It dawned on Korra that she'd just declared that she loved Asami. It almost went without saying that she cared about Asami, but she'd never used those words before, with Asami or in the privacy of her head. And now she blurted it out in front of her parents.
Her father started to speak multiple times, and each time the words died in his mouth. Finally, he managed, "Korra, I'm sorry, I just need some time to think." He paused, starting to turn away, then finished, "I love you sweetie." With that, he walked away into the dark.
Senna walked over to Korra and pulled her into a tight embrace. "Korra, I'm so happy that you and Asami have found each other. I'll go talk to your father – he's not upset with you, I'm sure it just took him by surprise. Okay sweetie?"
Korra nodded dumbly.
"I love you sweetie," she said, giving Korra a squeeze. Then she released Korra and followed Tonraq into the darkness.
Korra stood alone for a few moments until a quiet voice broke her reverie. "Korra?" Asami seemed to melt out of the darkness as she walked towards Korra.
"How much did you hear?"
"I couldn't really hear anything, I wanted to give you some space to talk, but I could see how they reacted, and your expression pretty much tells me anything else I need to know."
Korra turned, walking to the cliff edge. "They said they love me. Mom even said she's happy we're together." Her voice was flat and weary as she sat down, listening to the sound of the waves against the island.
"That's good then," Asami said and sat down beside Korra, pulling Korra into her side with one arm. It felt more like hugging a bag of flour than a human being.
It took a long time for Korra to stir. The hurt echoed in her voice as she said, "Did they really mean it though?"
"I obviously don't know your parents as well as you do. But they were by your side every day while you recovered. You didn't see how worried they were when they came to Republic City expecting to find you here and you weren't."
"You said we shouldn't tell them, and you were right. I'm so stupid!" Korra slammed a fist into the ground, causing a few pieces of the cliff apart from where they were sitting to fall into the ocean.
"Korra, I never meant to say we shouldn't tell them. They're your parents and they deserve to know. I just meant we should be ready for however they react. But none of that matters! They love you Korra. And neither of them seems like the type to tell you they do if they don't."
Asami saw the faintest hint of a smile return to Korra's face. "No, Dad never was one to let a sleeping lion bear lie."
"See? I promise, they just need time to come around."
Korra could still feel hints of frost in her chest, but being around Asami, being in her arms, warmed her enough that the icy fingers had melted away. As the rest of the world came creeping back, she realized how long had passed since she left with her parents and bolted upright. "Asami! Everyone will notice we're gone! What are we going to do now?"
"Don't worry, Tenzin and Pema must have figured out what was happening because they've managed to cover for us by showing everyone to their room. They told everyone that they would provide breakfast in the morning, so we can still tell people then."
The momentary panic passed and Korra relaxed back into Asami's shoulder. "What would I do without all of you?"
"You'd be a complete mess, clearly."
Senna could've found her husband without a shred of moonlight to guide her. Whenever he didn't know what to do and needed to think, he always did the same thing. She quietly left her shoes at the edge of the rocks and walked out into the warm, shallow water of a cove near the back of the island. At home, the icy water bit at a person's skin like a rat snake, but here, the water invited you in like an old friend arriving for dinner.
Tonraq stood a few steps out, water barely covering his knees. He had stripped down to nothing but his undercloth, its edges dipping gently in the water. With each slow breath in, the tide rose, swirling around his thighs. With each breath out, the waves pushed into the bay and left his legs exposed.
She stepped closer behind him, hands reaching out to gently touch his back. Even now, the years had not eaten away the muscle. Her fingers traced the scars that told the story of a hundred battles past, running down to his hips. She pressed her cheek against a strong shoulder as her hands circled his waist.
His head turned, wordlessly acknowledging her presence as his hands found hers, strong fingers interlacing with thin. Her breath slowed to match his and though they could not tell, their heartbeats settled into a loving echo.
"You worry too much honey," she said, getting a heavy sigh in response. She took a few steps, curling around to his front, letting herself sink into his muscular arms, and feeling their strength and warmth around her. With all the work he did as chief of the Southern Tribe, she would have understood if he hadn't managed to keep himself as trim as his warrior days. But that didn't mean she was upset that he had.
"All I want is for our little girl to be happy. So why do I feel like I'm doing everything wrong? Wouldn't it have been easier to meet a nice Water Tribe boy, who would eventually carve her a betrothal necklace, get married, and start a family together?"
Senna chuckled softly. "In case you haven't noticed honey, Korra doesn't do anything the easy way. If she did, she wouldn't be our little girl," she said, feeling the rumble of Tonraq's matching laugh in his chest.
"No, I suppose Korra does like to take the route less sailed," he said.
"Seems like it runs in the family," Senna said, lifting her head to smile up at her husband. "I remember being told I should find a nice, local boy, and stop slinking around with that outcast Northerner."
"Oh really?" Tonraq gave her a lopsided smile.
"Oh yes, don't you remember? My Gran-Gran kept telling me to watch myself around you, she said Northerners are always sneaking around and trying to seduce poor, innocent Southern girls."
Now Tonraq laughed aloud. "If I ever meet an innocent Southern girl, I'll let you know. I happen to remember things a little bit differently. After all, I wasn't the one who suggested we go for a weeklong trek alone only a few weeks after we met, and then just happened to 'forget' her sleeping furs at home."
She gave him a look of mock indignity, making a big show of pushing him away as she turned to walk back to shore. Once she was a few steps away, she looked over her shoulder, giving Tonraq a smile, then bending the water to splash him in the face. She laughed as he sputtered, breaking into a run, bending the water out of her way to move faster.
But he was faster still, moving through the water like hunting hog shark. She almost made it to the shore when he caught up to her, grabbing her around the waist, lifting her into the air, and spinning her around. He carried her the few remaining steps, then set her down gently on the rocks. She sat down, dipping her feet in the water, and patted the ground next to her.
"Was it really that scandalous, dating the outcast?" he said, joining her on the rocks, one hand idly rubbing her back.
"It was at first. My parents had already found the boy they'd hoped I'd marry."
"Really? Anyone I know?"
"It was Janno."
"Little Jan-Jan? I would never have guessed. Could he have kept up during your rebellious period?" Tonraq said, raising an eyebrow.
"You make it sound like I was a cranky teenager."
"Well you were out running around with 'that outcast Northerner' as you put it," he said, giving her a playful nudge in the side.
"That's what all my friends assumed. They loved the drama and scandal of me dating 'the mysterious outcast,' but they never thought it was going to last. But that wasn't why I fell in love with you."
"And what was?"
"Remember early on, probably just a few days after we met, that little boy got trapped on the ice that broke away from the shore?"
Tonraq's face was pensive and his eyes gazed out over the water, but he saw the frigid waters of the South Pole, rather than the cove in Yue Bay. "There were so many waterbenders there, but they couldn't agree how to pull the boy back in without risking him falling into the water."
"So you decided the best course of action was to jump into the water before anyone could move and swim a half-mile in the freezing cold to bring him back yourself."
"I didn't really think about it; if I hadn't acted, we might not have saved him at all."
"And that's exactly what I'm talking about. Everyone else saw some hothead jumping into the water, nearly getting himself hypothermia, and being laid up sick for a week afterwards, but that's not what I saw. I saw the kindness behind all your standoffishness. I saw a man willing to risk his life to save someone he didn't even know. I fell in love with you because of who you are, not what everyone saw you as. That's why it didn't matter whether anyone approved at first. It lasted because you're a man worth loving and when my family saw that, they came around, even Gran-Gran."
Tonraq seemed to glow as they looked into each other's eyes, then they leaned in to share a warm and passionate kiss. When they separated, Tonraq paused and sighed once more, then said, "We're not just talking about our relationship, are we?"
Senna gave him a warm smile and patted his cheek, "You've seen how Korra and Asami are around each other. You remember how much it meant to Korra to receive all those letters from her when she was healing. I honestly wonder whether Korra would ever have chosen to recover if she didn't have those letters to encourage her. If Korra says she loves Asami, then I trust that it's for the right reasons."
"You're probably right," Tonraq said, his voice heavy and still somewhat sad. "I should go tell her I'm sorry and let her know that I have her back." He paused, then added with a quiet voice, "I guess there goes the grandkids."
"You never know what might happen. Strange things seem to follow the Avatar – and the Avatar's parents." She leaned in, slow kisses giving way to deeper, passionate kisses.
"What would I ever do without you?" Tonraq murmured against Senna's mouth. She laid back against the rock as Tonraq gently pushed her down, arms reaching around to caress the muscles on his back. Going to find Korra would have to wait a little longer.