Korra glared at Tarrlok's smug face, hands poised to break Asami out if she had to. "Let her go!"
The councilman smiled and shook his head, "Absolutely not. Her father is a known Equalist leader and she's a nonbender out past curfew, I have every right to take her in for questioning."
Korra shifted her stance forward, hands bursting into flames. The task force stepped back- bringing their hands up and readying a variety of elements. "You know she's innocent."
"I don't, actually. And neither do you."
She scowled, but a low moan stopped her from attacking. Looking behind Tarrlok, Asami was fixated on Korra's flame. She was sweating, eyes glazed over and breathing heavily. Her head drooped to the side and her body emanated a low aura of heat. Korra frowned- running past the councilman before he had a chance to react.
Korra extinguished her fire and whirled to look at Tarrlok. "What the hell did you do?"
"I didn't do anything." To his credit, Tarrlok did look equally confused. His eyebrows knitted together and with a flick of his wrist he signaled for Asami to be released. The earth prison retracted and she fell with it, dropping into Korra's arms.
The Avatar held her tight, uncomfortably aware of how feverish the other woman's skin was. Asami breathed heavily, struggling to speak. "I-I need.." She reached into her bag and pressed something into Korra's hand before going completely limp.
Korra slipped it into her pocket before scooping her up and glaring at Tarrlok in case he tried anything. After a pause he stepped aside with his hands raised.
"I'm not the enemy, Korra. I'm still holding out hope that we can work together."
The Avatar snorted and stalked past the councilman without a word. Mako was already in the driver's seat of Asami's car, ready to go as Bolin helped her carefully into the back.
The drive back to the Air Temple passed in a blur. At some point Asami opened her eyes, making no move to shift her head out of Korra's lap. The Avatar bit her lip, gently brushing strands of hair out of the other woman's face as Mako broke the city speed limit. "It's okay, you don't have to speak. We'll figure this out."
As soon as they reached the island Bolin ran ahead to find a healer. Mako helped Korra lift Asami out of the car and carry her slowly towards the main building. They were met halfway by a worried Tenzin who hurried them into the nearest spare room.
Asami pushed herself out of Korra's arms and stumbled forward to sit on the bed. She looked barely lucid. Flushed, sticky, and sweat-soaked skin- a far cry from the poised and elegant figure she usually presented. She looked vulnerable.
Bolin came back with the healers- a pair of waterbenders who quickly ushered everyone out of the room. As she stepped away the Avatar could have sworn she saw the tiniest flicker of a candle flame snaking between Asami's lips, but of course, that was impossible.
The wait was excruciating. Nobody spoke, nobody knew what to say. Bolin tried to joke a few times but his attempts to make light of the situation fell flat. Everything had happened so fast- One moment Asami was up and fighting with the rest of them, the next she was barely conscious and the worst part was nobody knew why.
After a few minutes, Tenzin gave the group a disappointed stare. "Is somebody going to tell me what happened, or are you all going to keep standing around in silence?"
Korra threw up her arms in frustration. "I don't know! We were fighting, then the task force showed up and they lumped Asami in with the Equalists and suddenly she was all weird and sick!" The Avatar looked away, visibly upset. "She was staring at my fire like I was going to hurt her."
Bolin raised a hand. "She went to the pharmacy before we left. Maybe she was already sick?" He looked downcast. "..Do you think we're bad friends not noticing something was wrong?"
"No, she's always been good at hiding things that were affecting her," Mako said, guilty. "Especially if she thought there was something more important going on."
"I'm just really worried. Whatever happened, she went from completely fine to barely conscious- what if it happens again? Or gets worse?" Korra shoved her hands in her pockets, expression more than worried. After a second her fingers brushed against the bottle Asami had given her and realization seemed to dawn, she pulled it out and handed it to Tenzin. "She um, gave me this before she passed out the first time. It's empty... but maybe it's what she needs to recover."
Tenzin examined the label, raising an eyebrow at the golden cog of Future Industries printed boldly across the side. "We'll see. I can't say I know much about this sort of thing, but I'll send word to the pharmacies- they should at least be able to tell us what it is."
"Thanks, Tenzin." She smiled weakly. "I'm going to check in with the healers, see if there's anything I can do to help."
"Bolin and I should head back into the city- the Equalists aren't going to stop attacking just because one of us is sick. Plus," Mako looked sheepish, "I don't think we're going to be much use with, you know.. medical stuff."
"Yeah we suck at that!" Bolin grinned and punched the air as he walked out, "Much better at hitting bad guys, so don't worry about the Equalists while you're here okay?"
He winked and Korra laughed. "Alright, thanks guys." She waved as they shut the door and ran off towards Asami's car. Once they were out of sight she turned back towards the spare room. Occasionally shuffling could be heard from inside, but for the most part, it was quiet. The door opened smoothly and she peeked inside. Asami was lying on her back as one of the healers (a man in his late thirties, he had brown hair and a kind face) guided water across her temples. At the window, a younger woman in the same uniform flicked through a book and made the occasional note. Korra sighed in relief, they seemed calm at least.
"Ah, Avatar." The older man looked up. "Can I help you?"
"Is she going to be okay?"
He frowned. "With the right precautions she should be fine. It's an odd condition though, I've never seen anything like it." The waterbender took Korra's hand and placed it over Asami's forehead, gently moving a blue tendril so it wrapped around her index finger. As soon as the water connected the Avatar could feel her friend's rhythmic heartbeat as if it were her own. The flow of energy as it spread out along its natural pathways and then.. Stopped.
"Firebenders have additional arteries to control their flow of chi," the waterbender kept talking through Korra's stunned silence. "But in Ms. Sato's case, she has the equivalent of a blood clot- layers of blocked chi that after several years are only now beginning to break down."
"But Asami isn't a bender, she doesn't have chi!" None of this made sense.
"She most certainly does. It's possible she wasn't even aware of it herself, but biologically the evidence is there." He sighed and rubbed his eyes, "The problem of course is that even with blockers in place, your friend's body has kept producing it at a normal rate. With nowhere to go, that power is like a dam waiting to burst- and I'd hate to be in the blast radius when it finally happens."