DISCLAIMER: LoK and all associated stuff belongs to Nick and blah blah blah, let'sgetonwithit.

SPOILER ALERT: This fic was written shortly after the release of Book 4, Chapter 3. It is safe to assume that you'll run into spoilers if you haven't gotten up to this point. This fic takes place sometime after Korra's return to Republic City (whenever that's going to be), so it's also safe to assume that i'm making up a bunch of stuff. You have been warned.

/

"You want to do what?"

Korra didn't have to look at Tenzin to know that her mentor's face was frozen in an expression of shock. She shoveled another mouthful of stir-fried vegetables and chewed. "I said I want to disband the White Lotus."

"Are you sure that's wise?"

That question came from the other side of the room. Korra glanced up and saw Iroh, who sat next to his grandfather and regarded her warily. Iroh's face was filled with doubt, but Zuko only looked on with amusement. Korra waved her chopsticks dismissively. "No," she admitted.

"Then why do it?"

"Because it's the right thing to do," said Korra. She turned to Jinora without missing a beat and asked, "Hey, could you pass the dumplings?"

The young airbending master handed her the basket of dumplings and Korra plucked two from the small pile. She popped one into her mouth and smiled. The room fell into an awkward silence and she turned her attention back to her audience. Tenzin, Pema, and their three other children sat on the opposite side of the large table. She was flanked to the left and the right by Iroh and Zuko, Tonraq, Kya, and Lin. Korra noticed that even though the chief of police had so far remained silent, she appeared more curious than critical.

Tenzin pulled at his beard. "I think what the general means to say is that the White Lotus has become a pretty large force. They've been very useful, especially when it comes to serving the Avatar," he said.

Korra set down her chopsticks and put both hands on the table. "That's exactly the problem. Look, I've had a lot of time to think about this," she insisted. "Zaheer's crazy, but he was also right about a few things. One of those things is that the White Lotus has strayed from its true path. It used to be a neutral force dedicated to philosophy and the pursuit of truth. Then it became Aang's private little army, and that's not right. The Avatar shouldn't have an army." She sighed and leaned back. "I want it disbanded by the end of the year. If the council and Grand Lotus decide they really want to stick around, that's fine, but I'm absolving them of responsibility towards me and all future Avatars."

No one seemed willing or able to argue against her. It was clear she had come to this decision a long time ago. The awkward silence threatened to return, but it was chased away as a gravelly chuckle slowly built up and drifted across the room. All eyes turned toward Zuko.

"Well, this certainly isn't something I expected to happen during my visit," said the former Fire Lord. "Though I must say I'm quite glad to bear witness. You are nothing if not a harbinger of change, Avatar Korra. Now, where's dessert?"

/

Korra took a quick stroll around the island to stretch her legs and clear her head. Her announcement over dinner had gone much more smoothly than anticipated, but she was still a little worried about how everything would play out. She turned back toward the dining hall and tried to let go of her worries. A flutter of orange and red caught her eye and she saw Jinora sitting on the temple steps, gazing wistfully at the stars.

"Uh oh. I know that look," Korra teased. She plopped down next to Jinora and nudged her with an elbow. "Did you get another letter from Kai?"

Jinora blushed shyly. "Yeah. He said he and Opal will be back here in a few weeks."

"That's great. I hope your dad doesn't make him sleep in the guard shack again."

"Oh, spirits." Jinora hid her face in her hands. "You heard about that?"

Korra grinned. "Oh yeah. Kya told me aaaaaalllll about it."

"Ugh. I'm going to die of embarrassment," the girl groaned, making Korra laugh. "It's not like we did anything!"

"That's not what I heard."

"I swear, we just kissed. That's all!"

"Calm down," Korra said with a smile, slinging an arm around Jinora's tiny shoulders. "It's okay. I'm just giving you a hard time."

Jinora immediately relaxed. "I know. Sorry. I guess I'm so used to Ikki and Meelo bugging me about it. Dad's gotten so overprotective. And then just the other day…" her voice trailed off and her face contorted into a mix of horror and mortification. "Just the other day, mom gave me the talk. The talk, Korra! I'm fourteen and I have three younger siblings. I know. I don't need the talk," she hissed, gripping Korra's arm.

Korra held her stomach and doubled over, laughing until she was left gasping for air. Eventually, she caught her breath and looked over at the exasperated young airbender. "If it makes you feel any better," she said, "Katara's the one who had to tell me where babies come from."

"Woah. Awkward"

"Yeah. 'Awkward' is kind of an understatement," said Korra.

Heavy footsteps thudded on the stone steps behind them. "Excuse me, Avatar Korra?"

She looked back over her shoulder and saw Iroh standing nearby. "Hey," she said.

Iroh clasped his hands behind his back. "I wanted to say I'm sorry to have questioned your judgment in front of everyone. I spoke without thinking."

Korra raised an eyebrow. "It's okay Iroh, there's need to be so formal around here. And anyway, I'm glad you said something," she said. "No major decision should go unquestioned, especially when it will affect a lot of people."

Iroh appeared to take a moment to mull this over in his mind. Finally, he smiled and his posture loosened slightly. "You've grown quite a bit since we first met, Avatar Korra. Miss Sato is very lucky to have you. Please tell her I send my regards."

Korra watched him disappear down the covered walkway. "Wait, what was that about?"

Jinora looked as puzzled as Korra felt. "I have no idea."

/

The mid-morning sun beat down on the back of Korra's neck, promising to deliver another sweltering summer day. For the tenth time in as many minutes, Korra smoothed invisible wrinkles from her shirt and ran a nervous hand through her hair. She raised a fist to knock on the large wooden door in front of her and hesitated. It had been three days since she last saw Asami and she hadn't heard a single word from her. The lack of communication made her nervous. Korra sucked in a deep breath and raised her hand one more. This time, the door swung open before she could muster the nerve to knock.

Wei greeted her with a curt nod. "Good morning, Avatar Korra," said the short butler. "I wasn't aware you were coming by. Is Miss Sato expecting you?"

"Uh, no. But I was hoping I might be able to talk to her anyway," she said.

"Well, lucky for you, she's in her office as we speak. Please, come in."

Korra stepped inside, grateful to be out of the sun. "Thanks."

"Please wait here. I'll go see if Miss Sato is busy," said Wei.

Korra watched him hustle off down a hall and hoped she didn't look as uncertain as she felt. By the time the butler returned and motioned for her to follow him, she had managed to calm down enough to look somewhat composed. She willed her feet to move and walked toward a set of dark-stained wooden doors. Wei held one open and Korra entered. The smile waiting for her made her heart skip a beat and she couldn't help but smile in return.

"Korra, what a surprise," said Asami. The taller woman stood behind her desk and walked around to give her a hug. "It's so good to see you."

Korra barely registered the sound of the door closing behind her. All she could think about was the warmth of Asami in her arms. "Hey. I was passing by and I thought I'd stop to say hello," she said.

Asami pulled back and gave her an indulgent smile. "I live on the far side of the city."

"Okay, you caught me," Korra said with a grin. "I just wanted to see you."

"Well then, here I am." The engineer leaned back against her desk and tilted her head to the side. Her flirtatious smile faded and she toyed with a stack of papers that sat next to her desk lamp. "Actually, I've been meaning to call, but I heard that you had some visitors at the island and I thought you might be busy. I didn't want to interrupt anything, so I thought it might be best to wait until the weekend."

Korra remembered the previous night's strange encounter. "Funny you should mention that. Lord Zuko is here to meet with Tenzin about the Fire Nation's offer to help with the restoration project at the Western Air Temple. We were expecting him to come alone, but General Iroh is in town, too."

Asami paled. "Oh, is he?"

"He, uh, sends his regards."

"Ah." Asami crossed her arms and refused to meet Korra's gaze. "Well if you see him again, tell him I responded in kind."

The tone in her voice made Korra's mouth go dry. "I was kinda surprised to find that he knew, actually."

"Knew what?"

"About us."

"Oh. Yeah." Asami shifted her weight from one foot to the other.

"I mean, not that I thought it was some deep, dark secret." Korra rubbed the back of her neck and had the uneasy feeling that she was about to make a horrible misstep. "I didn't realize you and Iroh were so close."

"We're not. Not really," said Asami. She looked up at Korra, eyes silently pleading for her to stop digging.

Korra ignored the warning. "Oh. I thought the way he mentioned you was a little weird. You know, kinda out of the blue. I mean, I knew you guys had met before and it would make sense he'd remember you since you're pretty hard to forget and - "

"I slept with him, Korra."

There. It was out in the open. The suspicion she didn't even know she'd harbored had just been confirmed. Her heart froze and she felt as if a stone was lodged in her throat. Asami's admission echoed in her ears and Korra reached for a chair to steady herself. "When?" she asked.

Asami stared at the floor. "While you were gone," she said. "It was about a year after you left Republic City. I ran into him at the United Republic Founding Day gala. We started talking, got drunk, and one thing led to another."

"More than once?"

"Yes, more than once," Asami said defensively. "It was only a fling. Sex with no emotional entanglement. We ended it after a few weeks. It never got serious."

Korra gripped the chair, suddenly feeling faint. She ran a hand through her hair and blinked back tears. "And you didn't think to tell me about any of this?"

"What good would it have done, Korra? What was I supposed to do? I wrote to you. We all did. No one had heard from you in over a year and we even started to doubt that you would ever come back. And…" Asami's shoulders sagged and she finally looked up at Korra. "I was lonely," she confessed.

Blood pounded in Korra's ears as memories of desperate kisses and hushed moans raced through her head. "So everything that happened between us… Was that because you were lonely then, too?"

"No, of course not."

"Was I just another 'fling' to you? Is that why you pushed me away when we were in the garden?" she asked.

Asami stiffened. "Spirits, Korra. That's not fair. You know that's not the case."

"How lonely did you get? Who else did you sleep with?" The pointed questions slipped out of Korra's mouth before she could stop herself. She had only a moment to register the hurt in Asami's eyes before it was replaced with an icy anger.

"I think you need to leave," she said.

Korra dropped her forehead into her hands. "Crap. Asami, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to - "

Asami shook her head. "Get out."

Wordlessly, Korra slipped out the door and blindly rushed down the hall, pretending not to hear the sobs she left behind.

/

Korra was trying to meditate. Trying and failing. Miserably. She sat in the center of the meditation pavilion and willed herself to focus. She tried starting with the basics, concentrating on her breathing and cultivating a sense of awareness. It didn't work. She was just about to give up when a gust of wind whipped her hair into her face.

"Korra!"

She cracked open one eye. "Hello, Meelo."

"Mako wants to know if you can have visitors."

"Not now," she said. "I'm meditating."

"No you're not. I can tell because you're face is all scrunched up and frowny," he insisted.

Korra closed her eyes again and corrected herself. "I'm trying to meditate," she said. "Tell Mako I'll call him back."

Someone stepped up onto the pavilion and stood next to her. "Not gonna happen," he said. "I'm already here."

Groaning, Korra slumped and opened her eyes. "Hey, Mako," she said.

The firebender sat down next to her and crossed his arms. He glowered at her for a moment, then sighed. His expression softened a little, though not entirely. "Bolin said Asami called. I guess she seemed pretty upset," he said. "Wanna tell me what happened?"

"Not really."

"Korra…"

Korra huffed and looked over her shoulder. "Hey, Meelo? Would you mind checking on Naga for me? I bet she's ready for a snack."

Meelo saluted and then hopped on an air scooter with a loud whoop. Korra watched him speed off before turning back to Mako. She stopped short of making eye contact. She couldn't quite bring herself to do it.

"So…"

Korra took a deep breath. "I screwed up, Mako. I said things that I shouldn't have."

"Haven't we all?"

"This is different. I said things I didn't mean. Horrible things." Korra shook her head. She flicked a pebble and watched it skip off the pavilion with a frown. "I don't know if I can fix it."

Mako leaned forward. "Look, if there's one thing I know about you and Asami, it's that you're both stubborn. But both of you are also very forgiving. I'm sure that it'll all work out if you talk to her."

"Are you sure?" she asked hopefully. "You're not just saying that to be nice, are you?"

"I mean it," he said. "With that said, there's something else you need to remember."

"What's that?"

Mako grew serious. "I know you had a really difficult time after everything that happened to you. I get it. But you're not the only one who was hurt. You didn't make it easy on us when you left everyone wondering what the hell was going on. I know you had your reasons and Asami understands that, too. But look at it from her point of view. You can't just blow back into her life like some damn leaf on the wind or whatever the heck Tenzin always says." He hesitated and shrank back. "Sorry. That came out more harshly than it was supposed to."

Korra sighed. It hurt, but he was right. "It's okay," she said. "I probably needed to hear that from someone."

"I'm glad I could be of service," Mako said, replacing his frown with a good-natured smile.

Korra almost laughed, but stopped short. "Wait. You know about me and Asami?"

"Uh, yeah. It was pretty obvious." Mako scratched his head and turned a bright shade of red. "That, and my room was next to yours."

She raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"On the airship," he clarified. "You two were… kinda loud that night."

Korra buried her face in her hands. "Oh, spirits. This just got really weird and embarrassing."

"Get over it," he said with a shrug. "I have."

"I am an idiot."

"No, Korra. You're just human."

/

Woah, you guys. Woah. A few things here:

I have this head cannon in which Jinora looks up to Korra like a big sister. I think it works.

Korra's definitely matured, but I don't think we've seen the last of her impulsiveness and short temper. Another thing to consider is the fact that she did pretty much cut everyone out of her life. Yes, she was in the process of healing, but she undoubtedly (if unintentionally) hurt some feelings. I'm sure no one was hurt more than the people who cared about her the most, and that's something she's going to have to deal with.

One thing i find interesting is that even though we've seen (so far) that Korra knows the world did not stop revolving when she left Republic City, we don't know whether or not she really understands it. Knowing on a cognitive level is one thing, but understanding on an emotional level is sometimes very different. I'm really interested in seeing how Korra reacts to realizing that her friends moved on without her, even though they all genuinely missed her.

Haha. Imagine Mako unable to sleep because he couldn't block out the sound of his ex-girlfriends going at it in the room next door. The visual makes me laugh so hard i might pee myself.