Seeing Jinora carrying around an armful of books was such a common sight around the island that few noticed or commented on it.
But seeing her carrying an armful of books from the boy's dormitories was more unusual, so when Korra witnessed this, she was rightfully curious. She walked over and asked, "Hey, Jinora, what're you doing down here?"
"Korra!" several books fell from the crook of Jinora's right arm: she had been buried in a separate text that she held with her other hand. Korra bent down to help her pick them up. "You startled me," Jinora muttered, clearly upset about having to put down her reading.
"Sorry," replied Korra, failing to hide her grin as she gathered books, "but seriously, why are you coming from the men's dorms? With a pile of books, no less?"
"I-I just let Mako borrow these from me a little while ago," stuttered Jinora, tactfully avoiding Korra's gaze, "and he's done reading them now. I was dropping off a few more for him and picking these up, that's all."
So that's it, Korra mused. It had seemed peculiar to her that Jinora would take such a shining to Mako. Korra thought the only thing the two had in common was an annoying habit of believing themselves to be smarter and more sensible than anyone they associated with. Huh, so Mako likes books. Korra froze momentarily, a copy of Origins of the Harmony Restoration Movement hung in the air from her hand, then repeated her thought aloud, "Wait. Mako likes books?"
"Yep," Jinora brightened, "he's already tore through a fifth of my collection. And he's finally agreed to read one of my favorite light novels!"
Korra blinked and, when the absurdity of what she had just discovered finally hit her, burst into raucous laughter. Folding her arms and tapping her foot to the ground, Jinora huffed, "What's so funny?"
"It's just," Korra wiped her eyes, clutching her stomach, "Mako. Reading. It's just so..." she struggled to find word suitable to relay to a child, and settled on, "namby-pamby!"
Jinora rolled her eyes, "Is not. Y'know, a lot of these books have stuff about you in them."
"You mean my past lives. Not me," Korra retorted, turning over a text to look at the cover. "Hold on a second, this book..." she examined the others she held, "these are all non-fiction! He's reading history books for fun?"
"You know, some of us like learning," countered Jinora, snatching the book from her hand.
"Dweebs, maybe," Korra mumbled until she saw Jinora's fallen face. Reading was such a big part of the little girl's life, and Korra had clearly hurt her feelings. "Sorry," she hurriedly apologized.
The two awkwardly stood proximate to each other for a few moments. It still felt bizarre to Korra that Mako would find an interest in books. "These are all non-fiction!" She paused. It occurred to her that Mako probably never had a formal education. She wondered if he regretted it, or felt embarrassed by his lack of knowledge. Jinora had tried to be pretty dismissive when Korra first asked why she carried the books from Mako's room; maybe she was in his confidence on this subject.
Korra felt even worse than before. "I'm sorry, Jinora," she murmured.
Jinora shook her head. "It's alright. I know books aren't really something you're into." She put on a smug look. "I feel the same way about pro-bending."
Korra grinned. "Now wait just a second!" Jinora chuckled.
All was forgiven; the two hugged and departed, and Korra promised herself not to tease Mako when she next encountered him. Which, as it turned out, would be extremely difficult; when she finally saw him at dinner that night he was animatedly chatting with Jinora about the plot intricacies of Love Amongst the Dragons. She decided that there was no big conspiracy when it came to this subject.
Mako simply liked reading.