Beyond

The journey was shorter than they expected, the Spirit Portal was already in sight, Korra remembered they requested no party to great them, and trust Izumi to follow through, and no one on the other side would expect them. She felt like they were sneaking around, like back in Zaofu, when they broke into Aiwei's home.

"It's funny, we haven't even been walking that long, but here we are, half way around the world." Korra remarked, holding Asami's hand in her own.

"It is, isn't it? We can travel all the way around the world together...I like that." Asami said, turning to catch Korra gaze.

"Me too, it feels like we're...invading or something, though." Korra laughed, "At least there are a couple of guards to welcome us, though, now I less like we're invading."

"You've got property here, though; you are the Avatar, you can go wherever you want."

"I guess I'm not use to the quiet." Korra leaned against Asami, gazing up at the the green eyes focusing on the yellow glow ahead, "You know, I like when I don't have to step into the middle of a conflict, stability is starting to take form in the Earth Kingdom, and that's a big part of this free time we have."

"That, and most of my projects are small ones that I can trust someone else to handle." Asami turned to Korra and they stepped into the Spirit Portal, "So that gives me some free time."

Korra's smile got a little bigger and she fell into Asami's embrace, breaking away only out of necessity and even then, only after smiling directly into Asami's emerald eyes.


The drive from the Fire Nation Spirit Portal to the Avatar Beach House was easily passed as Korra lazily watched Asami.

"What are you looking at?" Asami wondered, catching Korra from the corner of her eye.

"I'm watching you, in the driver's seat...driving." Korra said, before yawning.

"Tired?"

"Not too tired, I can still avoid walking into walls and stuff, but I'm afraid we need to wait until tomorrow to move stuff around."

"Well, good thing the bed's already there."

"Yeah." Korra looked up as Asami started to get out of the car and noticed they were already there, "Wow, that was fast."

"And I wasn't even speeding." Asami joked, as the pair headed inside.


They arranged most of furniture, including the dining table, and arranged small tables with vases, then made up a list of what plants they wanted in them, and made their way to the bedroom.

The room had mostly been set up a little earlier with the dresser, which was directly in front of them a few steps into the room, and the bed, which was ahead of them and off to the right side of the room, by a window, between the two was a nightstand. Korra set a snow globe replica of the Southern Water Tribe Palace on the bookshelf, which was to the immediate right of the entrance, and empty, the latest edition of the Fire Nation Travel Guide resting on the top of the piece.

"I thought you wanted that on the nightstand?"

"I did, but I'd rather not...elbow it or something in my sleep."

"O-oh, yeah, I didn't think about that."

"It's okay...I've had a while to think about it, you know?" Korra stared at the carpet under her feet, when two arms wound around to her back and held her close, "Um, wake me up if I start...pummeling you alright? It's something I've been worried about for a while."

"You can't hit me if I'm too close to be hit, right?"

"Ha, ha, care to test that theory?" Korra chuckled.

"That was the idea." Asami smiled, glancing down to find two deep blue eyes gazing up at her dreamily, moving closer to her own. Korra stopped when she was close enough to bump noses.

"I love you, Asami, you're the most wonderful person I've ever met, I'll never know how lucky I am."

"Well, it's safe to say you're nowhere near half as lucky as I am."

"Oh, this kind of fight, then?"

"I love you, too, Korra." Asami interrupted that conversation and Korra, happy enough to have it derailed, leaned up to kiss Asami, but not before the nonbender muttered, "You half as lucky as I am girl."

Korra hummed thoughtfully and pretended to dismiss that notion.


Korra opened her eyes and found Asami still asleep, even though it was afternoon by now, it was funny to her, considering she always thought she would be the one who needed to be woken up, she chuckled as adjusted her pillow and blankets and prepared for an hour long nap, when she felt Asami's hand on her face, and the other hand that pulled her closer.

"About time you woke up, you lazy little Avatar. My lazy little Avatar." Asami muttered tiredly.

"Hmm, says you, lazily." Korra narrated, holding onto Asami, "I'm just going to fall asleep on your arm now, you cool with that?"

"I wouldn't mind...one of us has to make breakfast, though." Asami said, occupying herself with Korra's hair, "And somebody needs to see a hairbrush."

"It's not nowhere near that long...or did you mean yourself? I'm just going to say you meant yourself...despite the fact you seem to think your hand is my personal comb...not that I'd disagree on that point, of course." Korra turned to lay on her back and looked behind her at the headboard.

Closing her eyes she remembered how they tried to arrange the vase and table in the kitchen, and they still hadn't decided what kind of plant to set in it, but they made a list of a few Fire Nation plants they could set in it. The bedroom was easier to settle, a radio had already been set in place, in case Korra was needed for an emergency, so they put set it on the windowsill on Korra's side of the bed.

"Maybe both of us?" Asami said, watching the Avatar, "Taking a nap?"

"Nah, just remembering...last night...you know, we did a pretty good job of decorating the place."

"We're not done yet, though."

"Ha, ha, who said we were done?"

Asami said, her arm draped over the blanket Korra was under, "So, we're getting up then?"

"I don't know...depends...you seem pretty happy where you are right now, and I'm not against another couple hour's nap." Korra turned to face Asami and closed her eyes.

"Korra," Asami sang out, "do you want to build a sandcastle?"

"Maybe...do we even have buckets?"

"What do you mean, of course we have buckets, we left them here last time, remember?"

"Great, just give me another minute." she said, taking in the moment before letting Asami get up, then following her.


They ordered breakfast at a nearby cafe before strolling back to their home, and lounging on the beach together for hours.

"I could get used to this." Korra turned to find Asami building a large sandcastle and chuckled, getting the engineer's attention.

"What's so funny?" Asami asked as she carved what Korra guessed would be the moat.

"You're trying to add a moat now?"

"I know...I feel like we can add more to this, though, even if it's small enough for just me, but we can build another across from it tomorrow, if you like." Asami replied, working on a small canal leading to the shallow circle in the sand.

"What are you doing?" Korra watched curiously as Asami put a crater in the other end of the canal.

"Trying to get the water to the moat without damaging the castle." she replied, looking up as Korra sat in front of her.

"But the moat stops in front of the entrance to the castle, isn't it supposed to go all around the castle?"

"It just needs to be impossible to get in without the drawbridge." Asami started pouring the water into the lake as she replied.

"Oh, that makes sense...too bad you can't get a little bridge for this."

"Well, if you have earthbending, you don't need one."

"You're not going anywhere without me, then." Korra said, laying on her side, holding herself up with her elbow.

"I could get used to that." Asami said, setting her bucket aside and leaning over the canal that guided a flood of water to the moat. She leaned further down until their lips met, then shouted in surprise as her knee fell into the canal.

"Well that was unexpected!" Korra said, using her bending to remove the mud from Asami's knee.

"Sorry about that." Asami stepped over the canal and watched while Korra repaired it.

"It's alright...maybe next time I'll just draw water from the ocean for you." Korra sat up and leaned against Asami under the afternoon sky, calm, save for the cool breeze washing over them.

A/N: Alright, this has gone on long enough...this wait, I mean, so I decided I'd wrap it up, and look at this! It's finally up, which means that now I can reference the death out of this in any of my later fanfictions. Thank you so much to Maleficent, again, for everything, including that mention of a fourth Spirit Portal in the Fire Nation, which was all new to me!

Also, I'm always ready to take prompts, so if anybody has any ideas, let me know!