They had seen their first iceberg, but it had been the girls who had dragged Asami to the side of the ship to point it out, not Korra. Despite the fact she and Korra were sharing their tiny cabin, they hadn't said two words to one another for the whole trip, beyond things like 'pass the rice'.
Some of that was because Asami wasn't sure how to deal with Korra and Mako. Korra was her friend and a good person and she wanted to be happy that she had someone… but it was hard to be happy for Korra having a boyfriend, when he had been Asami's boyfriend. Korra also had Tenzin and his family looking out for her, and the radio operator had told them that Korra's parents would be meeting them when they docked close to the White Lotus camp that Sifu Katara was staying at.
Asami had Bolin, who was still trying to make her laugh, and the airbender kids who kept asking her to play with them, and Pema trying to be a mother to the entire ship… but she didn't have her family any more. Her father was still alive, but knowing that he was willing to hurt her friends… was willing to support people who would hurt a father in front of his children, hurt children… once she had learned that, it was hard to see the man who had read her bedtime stories, or taught her how to drive, or praised her the first time she was able to help him repair a satomobile. She sometimes wondered if it would have been easier if he had died, because then she wouldn't have to decide if she could forgive him.
She did want to forgive Korra and Mako, though, but not yet. Because… because there was a difference between being an idiot or having a crush on someone who was taken than being intentionally cruel. And, they were still her friends, the people who had taken her in when she had lost her home. Asami didn't know how to not feel sick around them, though.
Maybe she should have stayed home, and thrown herself into working on the company. She remembered it was what her father had done, after they'd lost Mom: though he'd always made time for her, he'd also spent his free hours in his workrooms or drawing plans at his desk. On the other hand, she didn't want to turn into her father, and let her grief poison her life so much that all benders became the one awful man who had killed her mother.
Asami did use their time on ship to learn about the engines driving them south, to listen to the sailors talk about hull shapes and the effects of saltwater on metal. An earthbender on board even told her one of her jobs was to use metalbending to check for weak patches, and she and Asami spent an afternoon chatting about metallurgy, long enough that Bolin had to come find her for dinner.
They had run into a bank of fog after dinner, and Tenzin, Lin and Pema were distracted keeping the girls and Meelo from leaving the ship to sculpt shapes in the air. It was Bolin and Mako's turn to clean up after their meal. Asami wandered towards the bow to see that Korra was already there. She had been staring out into the mist, one hand out. Even in the low light, Asami could see she had been airbending, but the shapes in the fog relaxed as Korra stood up. "I'm sorry. I didn't see you there. I'll go now."
Asami shook her head. "It's all right. I didn't mean to interrupt."
They both stood there awkwardly, neither wanting to force the other out. It was pretty stupid, actually, a part of Asami thought. She was hurt and Korra knew it, but she didn't want Korra to do anything about it because it wasn't really Korra's fault. "So, um… you're practicing airbending?"
Korra nodded. "It was why I went to Republic City to live with Tenzin, after all. And I've bent fog before, only…"
Only that was when she had been a waterbender. Asami wanted to apologize… but people had done the same thing when her mother had died. Before she left, people in the company were starting to speak about her father in the same way, like they couldn't bring him up without making her collapse into tears. Asami hated that. So she'd let Korra set the tone; if Korra was upset, Korra was good at telling people. Asami hoped that hadn't changed. "Is it that different? I know, that's probably a stupid question from a non-bender."
Korra looked surprised, like she hadn't expected Asami to say that. "Yeah, it's…" She looked away. "I keep trying to waterbend it instead of airbending it. It makes it easier to focus on the airbending without getting distracted but-"
"But it reminds you about what should be there," Asami said. About holes that never really got fully filled, just worn so the edges didn't catch you as much. She had her friends, but they didn't replace her parents. Korra had kept her airbending, but it didn't replace the other three bending arts.
"Yeah." Korra didn't say anything else, and Asami didn't press her. Instead, the two of them just watched the fog until they heard Tenzin trying to get Meelo down from the radio antennae.