Unexpected Bond

One of the more peculiar aspects of being a bender was what happened when a bender met their soulmate. When that happened, the two individuals would end up sharing their bending with each other. This, of course, was not always helpful. Two non-benders would hardly notice a thing since neither of them could bend. Likewise, two firebenders wouldn't notice much of a difference either.

The people who generally benefited from this the most were benders whose soulmate was a non-bender and benders of different kinds. In the case of the former, a non-bender would most definitely notice a difference, and in the case of the latter, an earthbender suddenly being able to manipulate fire would definitely notice too.

As for the Avatar… well, there was no way their soulmate would miss that.

X X X

Korra had been so certain that Mako was the one. However, being the Avatar made things quite tricky. After all, she could already bend fire. But as several months passed with no sign of Mako suddenly being able to bend earth, water, or air, she was forced to admit that maybe he wasn't the one.

And then she met Asami.

Well, it was more like Asami ran her over, but after putting up with Councilman Tarrlok for months, she was just glad to have an excuse to skip another meeting with him. There was something very off-putting about him although she couldn't quite put her finger on it. The fact that Tenzin didn't trust him only added to her wariness. Tenzin could be a bit stuffy, but there weren't many people that he actually disliked, and Tarrlok was one of them.

An invitation to dinner to make up for the whole running over her thing turned into regular meetings. Asami was the heiress to one of the largest, most powerful corporations in the world, and she knew how to work the system as well as anyone. More importantly, she didn't seem to mind teaching Korra how all of this politics stuff worked, and all she seemed to want in return was someone who treated her like a regular person.

Korra could do that. Heck, she didn't know how else to treat people.

Before Korra knew it, she was spending more time with Asami than with anyone else. She even started reading books about mechanics and engineering because they were what interested Asami the most. Alas, she didn't get very far, but rather than be disappointed, Asami had simply grinned and offered to give Korra a few hands on lessons since she'd already realised that Korra learned better by doing something rather than by simply studying it.

And then everything changed.

X X X

Asami wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry. Her father – her own father – was in league with Amon. How much of the encouragement he'd given her to become friends with Korra was simply so he could report back to Amon? Her gut clenched. How many times had Korra been attacked and almost killed because of information that she'd unknowingly passed on to her father?

She wanted to throw up.

But more than that she wanted to hit something.

"Asami…" Korra murmured.

"Just go away," Asami muttered.

"Please…"

"Just go away!" Asami shoved one hand in the general direction of the Avatar… and a chunk of rock hurled itself at Korra.

Korra batted the projectile aside out of pure instinct. "Asami –"

Normally, Asami would have listened. But she was in no mood to talk. She'd just found out that her father had been lying to her for… for who knew how long. All she wanted was to be left alone.

"I said… go away!" A cloud of flame rippled outward.

Again, Korra diverted the attack, but this time Asami couldn't ignore what had just happened. She'd just thrown a rock and some fire at Korra.

"What?" Asami whispered. "What's happening?"

Korra stepped forward. "You just used earthbending and firebending."

"I'm not a bender," Asami murmured. "But the only way a non-bender can use bending is… is if their soulmate is a bender and… the only one who can bend more than one element…"

"Is me." Korra's eyes widened. "Do you know what that means?"

X X X

Author's Notes

As always, I do not own Legend of Korra. I am not making any money off of this either.

Heh. Obligatory soulmate AU. What do you guys think? This setting could definitely lead to some amusing situations like an airborne lavabender (i.e., Bolin).

As always, I appreciate feedback. Reviews and comments are welcome.