DOUBLE POST DAY WOOOOOOOOOOH

(except, only for this fic. Haha, sorry Korrasami week fans)

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Chapter 13

Something

"Korra?" Asami wiggled herself around until she emerged from her position under a large piece of machinery. Her face was dirty with grease and oil and dirt and sweat, as were her clothes. There was a reddening spot on her cheek with the onset of swelling. She had a socket wrench in her slippery gloved hands and a small headlight on her forehead. Her expression was mixed between excitement and concern upon sight of the Water Tribe girl. "What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing. And I'm going to."

She sat up and wiped her face the best she could with the back of her gloves. She ran her palms over her pants to remove some of the gunk from her fingers. "We ran into some engine trouble on our way here. Tonraq was running the ship too hard and the whole system overheated. Quite a few bearings were misaligned and there were some electrical issues with the insides of the motors and generators. Some of stuff got fried, too, in an electric discharge from the overload. I might have to reroute and shut off most of the lights and other auxiliary equipment to power the engine room instead." Asami twisted around and grabbed a rolled up piece of paper. She stretched it out on her lap and retrieved a pen from behind her right ear. She scribbled something in the corner of the diagram. "I've been trying to work on repairs for a few hours now before rerouting the power to see just how much I have to take down."

"Is the damage that bad?"

Asami sighed and tossed the re-rolled sheet beside her. "It's not as cut and dry as that. First, we had to get to the nearest shore so we could dock and cool everything down. We got a leak in the cooling system and it caused everything to overheat, which was another issue that brought the ship down. Tonraq and Senna were Water Bending the boat while I was at the helm until the engine died completely. Lucky for us, we had some wind on our side. Not that we actually have sails, but it didn't hurt. We just got here not too long ago, though I'm not exactly sure where here is." She crawled back under the equipment and continued turning her wrench, each rotation backwards generating a small clicking noise. "I couldn't find the drawings right away and even after I did, it took some time to identify everything. I haven't done much work with engines and systems this large, and from what I gathered when I started making repairs, this boat hasn't seen a maintenance crew in quite some time. It must have been scheduled for some repairs before we took it, which is probably why it was still docked there. Plus, having to wait for everything to cool down before I –" A cough erupted from her chest, forcing her to stop.

"Are you okay?" Korra got down to the floor and looked under the cramped space.

"I'm fine. It's just really dusty and hot under here. I'm almost done putting this small turbine back together. It needed oil and a new shaft. There weren't many spare parts or tools on board, but I made do with what I had. They must keep most of the maintenance supplies in the building and bring it onboard when they actually need it." With a few more turns, the final bolt was in place. She exhaled in relief – thankful that she hadn't dropped her wrench on her face for a second time – and squirmed out of her spot.

Korra shifted so that she wasn't in Asami's way. She sat up just as Asami did.

"I still need to grease a few couplings and seal a few leaks in the steam pipes." Asami tossed the wrench into the top compartment of the small toolbox at her side. She brought her knees to her chest and rubbed her eyes, taking a moment to gather herself.

"You look tired, Asami. You didn't get a lot of sleep last night, did you?"

She shook her head and groaned her way to her feet. She eyed Korra before crossing the room for a ladder. "It doesn't look like you did, either."

Korra sighed and averted her gaze. "No, I didn't. I had another nightmare last night, but I –," she held her head at the onset of the too familiar pain, "– can't remember what it was about." She flipped onto her hands and knees so she could stand. "Is there anything I can do to help you out with all of this," she asked, looking to avoid discussion or even contemplation about her dreams.

Asami was already unfolding the ladder next to a pipe hanging from the ceiling. "Do you know anything about couplings," she called over her shoulder as she ascended the steps.

"Bubblings?"

"Couplings."

"Oh. I have no idea what those are, Asami."

She chuckled and steadied herself. "I didn't think you did. But that's okay. If you want to help, you can hand me that face shield and blowtorch. The crack isn't too big, so I don't think I'll need my filler rod; I don't have too much left in that rod anyway, so I'd rather save it incase anything happens on the rest of our trip. I've emptied this line already and this leak is small enough for me to weld if I use small circles." Asami ran her fingers over the damaged pipe to gauge it.

"I can do that. I think..." Korra looked around the room, scratching her head. "Where exactly are those two things, again?"

Asami pushed on the bottom of the pipe, adjusting it so that the two ends of the crack were aligned. "It should be around here somewhere. By the toolbox or by the water coolant pump in the corner. I thought I had to weld that flange, too, but it actually just needed a new ring and some tightening. Luckily, the parts were here. You're not supposed to weld those things shut, but if it stands in the way of us getting to the Southern Water Tribe... This little split up here, though, is just at the base of the connection, so welding it won't ruin the flange."

"Right," Korra replied, as if she knew a damn thing about what Asami was talking about. She stumbled around the grates until she found a grey-colored canister with a handle, a spout, and a lever on it. Next to it was a large rectangular piece of metal with a small horizontal slot on it and a strap on the back. "Does it look like a weird-shaped teapot sort of thing and a, um, metal mask?"

"That's the one."

Korra smiled and grabbed the equipment. She handed Asami the mask first and the torch second.

"Thanks, Korra. This shouldn't take too long." Asami held the pipe up with one hand and flicked the torch to life with the other. "I would take a few steps back, though. In case anything drops."

"Right." She did as she was told and observed Asami from across the room. Her eyes wandered along the curves of Asami's body, her cheeks reddening when she realized what she was doing. Korra turned away, one hand holding her elbow while the other held the side of her head, a nervous expression on her face.

Relax, Korra. Calm down.

Once the sparking finished and the hum of the torch stopped, Asami lifted her mask. Her eyes fell on Korra. "Are you alright, Korra?"

She spun around and scratched the back of her head. "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine! No worries here." She let out an anxious laugh and avoided eye contact.

Asami chuckled as she descended the ladder. She held the shield and torch in front of Korra's abdomen, prompting her to take them. "Keep an eye on these for me, would you? I have to grease the couplings and fittings on this pump, and then I want to double check the motor and check everything else to make sure they're tight. I might need that later when I run through the lines again."

"Yeah, sure, Asami. I'll hold them for you."

"Great." She grinned at her before grabbing her greasing gun from the toolbox. "I've already fixed the alignment issue, and I probably should have just done this earlier, but I wasn't thinking straight." She flicked her headlight on and bent over in front of the pump. A loud crash behind her forced her upright. Asami spun around to find a frozen, blushing Korra. She raised her eyebrow and put a hand on her hip.

It took Korra a moment to realize she even dropped the torch and face shield. When she did, her reddening worsened out of embarrassment. "Sorry about that, Asami." She gathered the items and held them tight in her arms. "I just – I, uh, I –"

Good job, Korra. Well done.

Your exhaustion is really messing with your mind, isn't it?

I think it is.

Or is Asami not the only one who wasn't thinking straight?

Korra's color intensified.

Wh – what? What do you mean?

You're not usually this nervous around Asami.

I know that.

Calm down. Relax.

Pfft, like it's that easy.

Asami smiled and shook her head before returning to her work. "Just be careful, Korra. That fuel is flammable. I wouldn't want it to get on your clothes or something."

"Right. Sorry. Won't happen again." Korra turned her head away, trying her damnedest not to look at Asami. "You're really smart when it comes to all of this stuff, Asami. Well, you're really smart when it comes to everything – I – anyway, did you learn about this stuff from your dad?"

She stopped greasing for a moment, her heart dropping just an inch. "Yeah. I did." Her tone was solemn as she went back to her work. As much as she wanted to get to the Southern Water Tribe, she had actually been thankful for the engine failure; she felt at ease when she was working with her hands, making repairs on equipment or building things up from scratch. Give her a wrench or a blow torch or a screwdriver and she'd be off to the races with whatever piece of machinery was in front of her. And if her hands were busy, then her mind was busy, and in all honesty, she could use a good mental distraction at this point. It wouldn't be the first time that she's gone to the workshop for hours, dirtying herself up to keep her less desirable thoughts at bay.

And at the rate things were going, she knew it wouldn't be the last.

Korra eyed her for a moment, noticing the change in her mood; she even looked different while she worked, not that Korra really knew what the hell it was that Asami was doing. She adjusted her hold on the tools in her hands and watched the engineer work in silence.

After Asami greased the couplings and fittings, she moved to the motor. Once she was done with that, she checked the coolant and steam pipes again for cracks and splits. She ran through the entire system once more, looking for anything she could tighten or fix with her limited supplies and tools. Her hands found her hips as a satisfied grin hit her face. "I've done everything I can do. If this works, the engine will be running again and I won't have to redirect power. It won't go nearly as fast, but it'll be enough to get us to the Southern Water Tribe in a day or two, depending on how quick we can actually go." She walked up to Korra and pulled the torch and face shield from her tan hands. "Thank-you." She smiled and spun around, placing the tools next to her red and black box by the staircase. "If you want, you can take this stuff upstairs for me. I'm going to unlock all the equipment down here and try to start the engine from the helm, if you want to meet me there."

"O – okay."

Korra needed two trips to carry all the various supplies that Asami had. Once she was done, she stood in the helm and waited for Asami's return. Her heart was racing and she couldn't explain why.

Just relax, Korra. Breathe.

She closed her eyes and inhaled, filling her lungs.

"Don't fall asleep on me, now." Asami smirked as she walked by, taking Korra by surprise.

"What? No, I'm not – I'm not sleeping."

She chuckled and approached the wheel. "Alright, fingers crossed that this works." She flicked a few switches and hit several buttons. With a twist of a knob, the engine roared to life. It was much louder and much more strained than before but it was working, and that's all that Asami needed it to do for now. She grinned and switched it off, allowing the boat to come to a dead silence.

"So, it works, right? We're good to go?"

Asami nodded. "We're all set. We should go find your parents and let them know."

"Oh yeah, I forgot to ask; where are they?"

Asami wiped her face with the back of her dirty gloves. "They went with Naga onto the island to find the nearest village and gather supplies. Hopefully the locals are friendly." She leaned her back against the edge of the console, her front facing Korra. She crossed her arms and smirked, an eyebrow raised and a subconscious confidence washing over her after her victory against the engine. "Care to take a walk?"

Korra felt… something. She couldn't explain it. But something inside of her riled up. Was it Asami's demeanor? Her body? Her smile and peridots that were laced with what she thought was excitement and adventure? Her tone? Korra's exhaustion? A combination of them all?

I must really be fucking losing it, aren't I?

There was no response in her head. She gave an internal shrug. Whatever it was, she went with it. "Absolutely."

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