Chapter 34

Take a closer look

"Well."

"Yeah."

They stood outside of the entrance to their chemistry lecture. Class would begin soon. Neither of them wanted to take a step inside.

"We should probably…"

"Yeah."

Asami opened the door and helped Korra enter. Her steps were more firm than before, but her ankle wasn't stable enough to carry her own weight. She led them to the front row, but the Southerner stopped her.

"Let's sit towards the back today. I really don't want to deal with Sentai."

The engineer nodded. They crawled up the steps to the rear of the lecture hall. It was emptier than they were accustomed to, though they thanked the Spirits under their breaths. Kuru was nowhere to be found. Neither were several of the other larger men who took residence in these seats. The pair made their way to the last row and plopped into the corner. It was hard to see from so far away, but Korra didn't care; she didn't want to be there from the start.

"Hello, everyone." Sentai greeted his students as he entered the room. He had an unusual energy about him that neither of them could place. The professor faced the class and scanned the chairs. His eyes lit up when they hit Korra.

"Ah, look who's finally back with us."

Several students turned to the injured woman. She grit her teeth.

"Now that you're here, you can start the next step of the curriculum your friend was so desperate to enact a few sessions ago."

Korra and Asami's eyes met with equal confusion.

"If I do recall, Miss Sato, you requested that each of the students in this class name and draw just as many molecules as you did. Am I not correct?"

The engineer set her jaw, fire in her eyes.

"Come, Korra. And you, too, Sato. Your normal seats are so lonely up at the front of the room."

They glared at their professor, unmoving.

"As a matter of fact, everyone move closer to the board. No more of this scattered into the back nonsense."

Sentai twisted and retrieved a piece of chalk from the tray. He spun around.

"Do you think I'm kidding? Come on, move."

Each student rose from their chair with audible grumbles. Most were derogatory slurs about the pair. Korra and Asami returned to their usual spots at the front of the room.

"Much better, isn't it? I want everyone to be able to see the board as well as they can for Korra's drawings." Sentai stretched the calcite stick out to the Southerner. "To the board."

Korra examined the piece of chalk in his fingers but didn't take it. "I can't."

"Oh? You can't? And why is that?"

She raised her casted hand up in front of her and gave him an obvious look.

"Looks like quite the injury. Well, no matter, you can name them instead." He walked to the board and drew an organic molecule.

"What's this one?"

Korra squinted at the figure to buy time. Asami watched on with clenched fists, desiring nothing more than to whisper the answer to her friend.

"I better not see any help from Miss Sato." Sentai growled, as if he could read her mind.

"I… I don't know."

"Toluene. It's toluene." He drew another structure. "What about this one?"

"I don't know."

"And this one?"

Korra grit her teeth. "I. Don't. Know."

"And this o –"

"It's not going to matter how many structures you draw, I'm not going to know which ones they are."

Sentai turned away from the board to the dark tone of Korra's voice.

"And why is that?"

"Because I missed those classes."

He took a step forward. "And why is that?"

"You already know why."

"Do I?"

"Yes, you do."

"And what is it that I seem to know, Korra?"

"You know exactly what they did."

"I think I need some elaboration. My memory, it fails me."

Korra's damaged hands shook. Asami's were the same.

"I think – now correct me if I'm wrong – but I think it had something to do with you getting humiliated by some men a few weeks ago. Beat the shit out of you, from what I've heard amongst the students." Sentai took another step closer. "How far off am I?"

If her blue eyes could shoot fire, he would have melted where he stood.

He faced the board once more and examined his structures. "You know, Korra," Sentai paced to the tray, "if you can't even get these basic molecules," he returned the chalk into the metal compartment, "then you're not going to pass the final." He walked back to the sitting Southerner. "But you already knew you weren't going to pass, didn't you? You're a waste of time. I don't know why your parents were even stupid enough to ship you up here."

Korra was on her feet in a flash – a very painful flash that she ignored. She was face to face with her professor, noses mere inches apart, eyes boiling. They stared each other down. The students sat with dropped jaws.

"Korra." Asami tried to push herself between the pair. Her hand was firm on the Water Tribe girl's bicep.

"You can go fuck yourself." She pointed an angry finger at her professor and ripped away from the engineer's grip. The younger woman grabbed her bag from her chair and stormed out of the room in an angry, agonizing limp.

There wasn't a single sound in the room. Asami met her professor's eyes, which were laced with both anger and… satisfaction?

"Out." Sentai held her glower with one of his own and pointed to the exit.

Asami retrieved her carrier and left the classroom, muttering profanities under her breath.

(-)

"Korra! Korra, stop!" It wasn't hard for the raven to catch up to her hobbling friend. She grabbed her bare shoulder and spun the Southerner about face. "Do you want to fuck up your ankle even more?"

"I don't care."

"Come with me."

Korra wrenched away. "No."

Asami raised her eyebrow; the brunette wasn't the only one who was angry. "Do you want to broadcast this all to the college?"

"Do I look like I fucking care, Asami?"

"You should."

"Why? Why should I care? Please, tell me."

"Because you've worked hard to get here." She took a step forward. "Everything you've been struggling with these past few weeks, do you want that all to go down the drain? All that pain and suffering? All that money your parents spent? All those sleepless nights?"

Korra looked away and crossed her arms, though her gaze remained intense.

"Let's just talk about this in private." Asami placed a palm on Korra's shoulder.

The Water Tribe girl pulled away. "No, no, I won't talk about this in private. I'll talk about this right here and now." She unfolded her arms. "Why didn't you defend me? He was saying all that shit and you did nothing. And when I tried to do something, you tried to stop me, not him." There was a mixture of frustration and betrayal on her face. "Why?"

"Korra, please understand –"

"Understand what? That he can just talk about me like I'm, like I'm…" Korra threw her bag at the wall. It smacked against the stone and caught the attention of several passersby. They scurried away.

"We are walking on thin ice, Korra. Especially me, when it comes to Sentai." Asami took a step forward. She spoke in a low tone. "Or did you forget my little incident in his office the last time that I stood up for you? I'm not looking to get expelled after everything we've dodged and been through, and neither should you. We've busted our asses to get to where we are. Besides, the more people who see how ridiculous and awful he is, the more people will be convinced that he's the one at fault, not us."

"So, what you're saying is that I should just let him talk down to me and embarrass me in front of everyone because it will make him look bad?"

"Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying."

Korra overlapped her arms again and growled.

Asami moved closer and whispered. "Look, I'm not saying you can't get back at him." She tried for a third time to put her hand on Korra's shoulder. The shorter woman remained in place. "We definitely can."

This grabbed the brunette's attention. She raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

The look in Asami's eyes was dangerous. "We play his game. We play his game and beat him at it. Slaughter him." She tightened her grip. "Now go get your bag. We have work to do."

(-)

"Korra? I wasn't planning on seeing you until later tonight. Is everything okay?"

"I need to ask you something. How long do you think it will take to heal my hand?" She waved her casted hand in front of the Healer.

"A few days, but I should really focus on your –"

"Can you help my hand first? I need to be able to use it again."

Urkoma raised her eyebrow. "You're up to something, aren't you?"

The Southerner shot her a crooked smile. "Asami told me to get my hand fixed as soon as I could."

"To do what, exactly?"

She chewed her cheek. "Well, she didn't tell me yet, but –"

"Korra, take a look at yourself." Urkoma Bent a decent amount of water from the tap and froze it in front of the examination table, making a faux mirror.

Korra locked onto her own eyes. "Okay?"

"Take a closer look. What do you see?"

She inched toward her reflection and stared. Most of the marks on her face had gone away, along with the bruising, but some nicks remained. It was then that she realized she still couldn't open her lids all the way. There was minor swelling on her cheekbones, along with a thin scar across her left cheek. She trailed her focus down the rest of her body, which still had many more lacerations and contusions than she thought. The whites of her casts and wraps were stark against her tan skin.

"You're still recovering from the last run in that you were involved in. Now, I don't know for sure what happened, but I can't imagine that you two weren't some sort of agitators in all of this."

Korra opened her mouth to object but Urkoma raised a hand, keeping her other focused on the ice mirror.

"I'm not saying this is your fault, not at all. What I'm saying is, think about what you're doing. Do you want to hurt yourself even more by acting on impulses?"

The younger woman crossed her arms. "You have no idea what's even happening."

"You're right, I don't. I'm just saying," she sat beside Korra on the medical table, molding the ice chunk to stand on its own, "be careful." She put a hand on her patient's shoulder. "I'm your Healer, and frankly, I don't want to see you come in here worse than you did a few days ago."

Korra looked away and stared at the ice mirror.

"How long are you here for, Korra?"

Their eyes met. "For as long as you need me to be."

Urkoma sighed. "I suppose there's no convincing you. A spitting image of your father's stubbornness, you are. Well, let's get started then." She stood up and walked to the sink.

Korra watched her determined reflection fade as the Healer Bent the frozen water away.

"I'm going to warn you now; this isn't going to be pleasant. I've got a lot to heal in that hand of yours. And I better take a look at your ankle, too. Seems like you've worsened the injury."

How does she know?

She turned away from the tap and dried her now-clean hands. "If it starts to become too much, you need to let me know so you can take a break. And for your own sake, Korra, listen to your body."

"I will."