Chapter 4

With a deep breath

"Alright Korra, balance this." Asami slid the girl a piece of paper with a basic redox reaction written on it.

The Southerner's face was about a half-foot away from the paper, pen tight in her grip. She started scribbling underneath the formula. First the electrons, then non-hydrogens and oxygens, then add water…. She went through each step with care, her tongue sticking out of the corner of her mouth. She slammed the pen on the desk when she finished and sat up with a smirk.

The engineer took the paper with a chuckle and checked it over. "Good job, Korra. You balanced it perfectly! You're going to do great on this exam, I know it."

She sighed in relief. The Water Tribe girl was convinced that her hair was starting to gray from this class, even though Asami checked for lighter strands multiple times and found none. She just wanted this exam to be over with.

"Now, remember what the professor said," Asami dropped her voice to sound like the old, grumpy teacher, "if you don't show up on time for the exam, you don't get to take it." Korra joined in at the end and nodded in response. She did not care for her chemistry instructor at all. She was pretty sure the feeling was mutual, even though she wasn't sure why. They laughed together from the imitation.

Asami put a pale hand on Korra's shoulder. "You'll do great."

The younger woman smiled and choked down her anxiety. For once, she felt confident about this whole "college education" thing.

(-)

She almost fell out of the bed from her alarm clock. She hated that damn thing. But as much as she wanted to chuck it through the window, she knew it served a purpose. The Water Tribe girl crawled out from her light pelt and smacked the ringer off. She rubbed her eyes, smashed into the doorframe, swore, and climbed into the shower. Mornings were not her thing. Chemistry was not her thing. And with as little sleep as she'd gotten, almost nothing was her thing right now.

The hot water helped jar her awake. One thing that was her thing was this shower. She could stay there forever. Like a plague, thoughts of her exam just kept coming back. She sighed and shut the valve.

Of course I forgot it, she cursed inside as she stepped into her double to retrieve her towel. Lucky for her, Opal was still sleeping and hadn't seen the naked Southerner. She got dressed, threw her hair into her normal three wolf tails, and sulked out of the dorm. She made sure she left with an extra twenty minutes to spare to "Make sure I show up on time to the exam", she mimicked the professor in her head.

Korra was almost to the building when she heard a cry for help. Without thinking, she ran towards the noise. The low voice repeated the plea.

"What's going on? What's wrong?" The Southerner threw her bookbag off of her back.

"It's my daughter. We were taking a walk and all of a sudden, she fell to the ground." The older gentleman was desperate.

"Did she hit her head when she fell or injure her neck at all?" Korra asked as she dropped to the concrete and examined the unconscious woman; the medical training she got from the Master Healer of her Tribe was kicking in.

"N-no, she didn't at all. We were walking and she told me she started feeling light headed and short of breath, so I let her lean on me, and without warning, she collapsed. I kept her against me and laid her on the ground so that she wouldn't get hurt during the fall." The man was frantic beside his daughter, his hand wrapped around hers.

"Was she eating anything before she collapsed?" The Southerner placed her cheek next to the woman's face and listened for a breath. Her eyes were on her chest to check for movement.

Nothing.

"No, not at all."

Okay, good. The airway is clear then.

She placed two fingers on the side of the woman's neck to test for a pulse.

Nothing.

"I need someone to contact the police or the medical department or someone. Get an ambulance here as soon as you can! Let them know that this woman fell unexpectedly and is undergoing manual resuscitation!" She barked an order out to the few passersby. Two of them turned to her and nodded before bolting into a building for help.

Korra put the heel of her hand on the woman's chest and lined her arms up. She pumped thirty times, using her hips to pivot her body, and tilted the unconscious head back. She plugged the girl's nose and exhaled into her mouth, observing her chest rise with the expulsion. The brunette breathed into her lungs once more. She tested for a heartbeat again and found none. She lowered herself to the woman and continued the resuscitation. After several rounds of compressions and assisted breathing, the woman gasped. Her breath came back and settled down to a normal rate, though her eyes were still closed. A faint rhythm could be felt in her neck.

"My sweetie, my darling, are you okay?" A crowd of people had gathered around the three of them. Korra stepped back from the father and daughter. She instructed the gazers to do the same.

Her lids separated and she blinked several times. "Yes daddy, I'm okay." She nodded and sat up, with the help of the man holding her. He turned to the Water Tribe girl as a medical crew arrived.

"Thank-you, thank-you so much. You saved my daughter's life. She would have died if you hadn't shown up."

A gentle smile planted itself onto Korra's face. "You're welcome, sir. Anything to help."

"Please tell us what you did." A member of a medical team approached them and took notes on her description while another woman examined the girl on the ground. Korra finished as the eight o'clock bells rang.

Oh shit.

"Sorry, I gotta go!" She sprinted, her hand flinging her bag on her back. She ran as fast as she could and reached the door just as it shut in her face.

"Dr. Sentai. Dr. Sentai, please let me in!" Korra banged on the door. Her eyes met Asami's through the window. Both were frenzied.

He walked to the door with hands crossed behind his back and a domineering look on his face. "You know the rules." He shut the blinds behind the glass to cut off her view of the classroom.

"Please, please sir. I studied so hard for this exam. I left my dorm early to get here, but then this man's daughter was unconscious on the ground and I had to resuscitate her and I saved her and then the medical crew wanted information on what I did and then the bells went off and I ran here and – " Korra was out of breath and Dr. Sentai was out of patience.

"I don't care what your excuse is. You know the rules. You know the consequences. And you are disturbing the rest of my class. Leave."

Asami fought back her anger. She could hear Korra pant and quietly drop outside of the door. She hated this man, hated what he was doing to Korra, and hated the fact that she couldn't do a damn thing about it without getting thrown out of class too. She knew better. She knew that Korra wouldn't want that, wouldn't want her to risk her education as well. So she buried her face in her exam and tried not to think about the injustice that just occurred.

(-)

Korra was seething. She was shaking. She was defeated.

That exam is thirty percent of my grade. All that studying, all that work, all those nights staying awake, for nothing. She slumped against the wall by the door to her chemistry lecture hall and buried her face in her knees. If I had just kept going – no. No, don't you dare think that. You did the right thing. You saved a life. You made a difference. The professor is the one doing wrong here, not you. You saved a fucking life. The Southerner felt very warm and flustered. Her vision was watery with hot tears. Then why am I being punished?

"Well, hello there."

She lifted her head to the familiar voice. The Southerner scrambled to her feet and rubbed her eyes before they leaked. "Hello, sir. How's your daughter?" Korra asked as she shook the hand outstretched to her.

"She's going to be okay. She has a heart condition that's been getting worse these past few years." His voice was heavy as he replied. "But she has another chance to beat it, thanks to you. She's in the care of the medical crew at the hospital nearby with her mother."

The Water Tribe girl frowned. "Her mother is hurt, too?"

The man shook his head. "Oh, no! She's just tending to our daughter. She's a member of the crew that responded to the scene."

Korra sighed in relief.

"So why are you out here, crying?"

Korra huffed. "I wasn't crying." She met his knowing expression and sighed. "Fine, I was almost crying. Was it that obvious?"

He nodded. She exhaled again and dropped her shoulders.

"I was on my way to my chemistry exam when I saved your daughter. My professor has a rule that, if you don't come on time for an exam, you don't get to take it. I was late, so he locked me out, even though I told him why I was late."

The man folded his arms over his chest and had a stern look on his face. He knocked on the door behind him. Korra panicked.

"What are you doing?!"

Dr. Sentai opened the door to find the other man looking down on him.

"Dr. Suri. Hello." He offered his hand but the other man did not return the shake. Sentai shrugged it off and continued. "May I ask why you're here?"

"Are you denying this student access to the examination you're giving?" Some of the students, Asami included, began peering at the trio in the doorway.

"Yes, I did. She knows the rules. If you're late to an exam, then you don't get to take it."

"And you're aware that she was late because she saved my daughter's life, correct?"

"She never mentioned that it was the daughter of the Dean of Students that she saved."

"She shouldn't have to. Saving a life is saving a life, regardless of whose."

Korra was flustered. "Wait, you're the Dean?" The Dean sent a nod her way.

"What is your purpose for this rule?" He still hadn't uncrossed his arms.

"Punctuality is important. Especially for important events –"

"If I do recall," the Dean interrupted, "you have arrived late for two of our past staff-board meetings, have you not?"

Korra could feel the fire in her professor's eyes. Every student had stopped their examination and was looking her way.

"This rule you have is hypocritical. And as of right now, it is no longer valid. You will let this student in and give her the full examination time – including what she has missed – to take her exam. Understood?"

Sentai walked to his desk without a word and returned with a test. He handed it to the Southerner with malice in his eyes.

Dr. Suri placed a hand on her shoulder. "Good luck, Korra." He smiled to her as Sentai sulked back to his desk.

How does he know my name? Did I mention it when I was talking to the medical crew? The Southerner wandered to her seat, avoiding the eyes that followed her across the room. She shot Asami a smile before sitting beside her in front of a rather muscular, familiar-looking black-haired man. With a deep breath, she pushed everything but chemistry out of her mind. She was ready. She could do this.

And with a deep breath, Sentai glared at Korra, stabbing her with invisible daggers that she was too focused to see.