Mako still found it strange sometimes how Korra was not the Avatar that he remembered.
The brash, loud, quick-to-act, heart-on-her-sleeve girl who hated being patient
Oh, she could still be loud and brash and quick-to-act, but she'd also gotten very good at hiding that side of herself. Maybe it was maturity, maybe it was practice, but she didn't let her impatience or her feelings show like she used to.
She barely glanced at Mako in the aftermath of the day's attack.
A quick once over to make sure he was still standing. A few minutes to fix his shoulder—he'd dislocated it in one of his earliest probending matches and now, if you hit it just right, it popped out of place all over again. Face impassive, she manipulated the joint back into place quickly and efficiently and then she left him to deal with the pain while she tended to the other's who'd been injured.
Transforming the Earth Empire into the Earth Nation was not going as well as everyone would have wanted, but then, things rarely did.
Even with the majority of Kuvira's army surrendering in Republic City, here they were, six months out and having to quell the occasional scuffle when they discovered small bands of troops that had been left behind. Or villages that still hailed the Great Uniter and insisted on causing trouble for the new Earth Nation.
Today was supposed to be a peaceful mission. Instead they'd been ambushed. They're small group nearly overtaken, but they'd managed to regain the advantage.
When the spots stopped dancing across his vision, he got up and joined Korra to help settle everyone.
"We'll have to camp here for the night," Korra told one of the diplomats that had been traveling with them to help work the treaties between the different cities in the Earth Nation.
"But those men, they just came out of nowhere." The older man looked frazzled, his eyes darting wildly around. His hands clasped and unclasped. "What if they come back?
"I understand you're frightened," Korra said, "but it's getting dark and it's better to stay here than to risk another ambush on the move in the dark. And we have wounded, we have to make sure it's safe to move them."
"But Avatar Korra…"
"I'm sorry," Korra said, not ungently, "but the decision is made."
The ice queen they called her. Nothing phased Avatar Korra, people were saying. She could take any hit and keep on going. She was unstoppable. Unshakeable. You couldn't knock her down. They all respected and revered her. Mako supposed that when you single-handedly turned a death ray into spiritual portal that was bound to happen.
They worked their way through the camp, both of them stopping to speak with certain people. He was getting used to this, being the Avatar's right hand man. Which was ironic, since that was his better hand. They'd managed to get him almost full use of his left hand, but sometimes when he was tired or overworked, it still tingled and went a little numb. Korra wasn't sure if that would ever heal completely. Didn't stop her from trying though.
At last, they talked to everyone. Shelters were raised. People were fed.
Mako crouched with Korra in a quiet corner, reaching out to lace his fingers through hers. She sighed.
"Are you okay?" she asked. The Avatar melted away and there, before him was the amazing, crazy, strong, selfless woman he was learning to love all over again. Different from the girl he'd known and yet still the same. Her eyes clouded over with concern. "How's the shoulder?"
"Alright," Mako said.
Gently, she put her water-coated hand on his right shoulder. His skin tingled in the way it always did when a water bending healer did an examination. Gradually, the sensation worked deep, into his tissue and bone. Relief spread through the injury. Mako sighed.
"Well, what's the diagnosis, will I make it?"
"It looks optimistic," she said, smiling.
The rest of the world got the Avatar. But Mako? He got moments like this. Moments where she worried or raged or cried or laughed. Mako got Korra. And he was starting to think, that maybe, just maybe he'd get Korra for the rest of his life.
I have to admit that it's so strange writing post-finale Mako. Before the finale, I would have said that Korra was the one that would need the most convincing when it came to restarting their relationship, but over the last two days, Mako has become the hesitant one. Not because he's afraid (or not solely because he's afraid) of what might happen if they try again, but because he's happy and comfortable with where they are now and he's not sure that that should change.
Of course, you don't see that in this fic, but I'm devoting three whole chapters of my A Hundred Ways fic to this little evolution of Mako's character.
Got one more coming for you tonight. It's short, but I like it.
Reviews are lovely!