Chapter 14

Jagged

The pair searched around for the nearest restroom so they could wash up.

Asami was able to clean most of the grime from her face and neck, but she couldn't get it out of her clothes. She played with her raven locks, shaking the dirt out and attempting to style them with her hands. She adjusted her jacket and collar, ignoring the small sting in her back from her baton injury.

Korra ran her fingers through her loose brown hair, wishing she had a tie to put her rear wolf tail back up to match the front two. She tried washing the dried blood from her shirt with no luck. The small scar on her right bicep from the Triple Threat Earth Bender caught her eye. She traced over it, looking at the jagged mark for the first time in actual light.

"I've gotten a lot of scars these past few months," she muttered to herself, her pupils targeting the horizontal line on her left cheek.

And not just physical ones, either.

Asami glanced over to her with sadness in her peridots. "Is there any way for Water Benders to get rid of scars?"

She shook her head.

"They can heal bones and other intense injuries, but not scars?"

"Water Bending Healing is more about speeding up the body's natural healing process. They don't make the cells. They direct the energy to move the process along at an accelerated rate."

"That… actually makes sense, from a scientific point of view. If they help the cells get more energy, the cells can divide faster."

"Exactly." Korra smiled and turned to her. "How do I look?" She grinned, holding her arms out at her sides as if putting herself on display.

Asami held her chin in fake contemplation and raised her eyebrow. "Spin around for me?"

She rotated in her spot, limbs still outstretched. "So? Do I look okay or do I look like I just crawled out of the ground?"

Their eyes met and neither of them could hold their laughter in. They both bent over, gripping their abdomens as they giggled. When they straightened, their pupils connected once more. They somehow managed to get closer to each other during their gleeful bout. The pair was motionless for a while, getting lost in the colorful, yet tired, irises before them. When they realized just how close they were, deep blushes hit their cheeks, forcing them to turn away in embarrassment.

"We should get going."

Korra scratched the back of her head, a sheepish look on her face. "Yeah, let's go."

(-)

They stepped onto the cold, sandy shore with a bit of wobble in their footwork. Each of them was exhausted, and the texture of the grains under their feet came at a bit of a shock to their bodies. They crossed the beach and approached the winding path that split two mountains on either side. Their advanced slowed to a stop at the same time.

"Well, I think this is our only option. I don't see why my parents wouldn't go this way."

"Do you think one of the dock workers over there know where they went?"

Korra rotated to squint at the two men, dressed in blue robes, sitting by the shore. "It wouldn't hurt to ask." She led the way. "Hey, um, excuse me? You didn't happen to see two people from the Water Tribe and a giant polar bear dog pass through here, did you?"

They stopped and glanced between the two women in front of them; one was covered in dried blood, the other dried oil. Both had tired eyes and tired postures.

The older of the pair, a man with light skin and dark grey hair, responded, deciding it best to hold his comments and questions. "We did. Gave them directions to Shili, a small village down that path right over there. It's a bit of a hike, but it's the closest one to the shore if you need a place to stop."

"How long of a walk is it?"

"Not too long. An hour or two, at most."

"Just make sure you take the beaten trail at the fourth left bend," the other man spoke up, a bit of concern in his eyes. "If you only go straight, you'll just get stuck in the mountains. And you don't want to get stuck in the mountains this time of year."

"Why?" Asami stepped forward from behind Korra.

"The wildlife gets a bit finicky when it gets cold. They start hunting more, making sure they've got enough fat for the winter and food for their young, though most of their babies are almost adults at this point. If you're not careful, the cougar bears will get ya."

"Cougar bears? I've never heard of cougar bears before."

The older man nodded. "Body of a bear, minus the tail and claws and teeth, temperament and hunting skills of a cougar, except for the whole hibernating thing."

She narrowed her eyes. "Hmmm." She hummed in contemplation before focusing on the task at hand. "Okay, so, down the path, fourth left bend. Look out for cougar bears. Is there anything else Asami and I need to know?"

He shook his head. "Nope, that'll do."

Korra bowed to the pair. "Thank-you for your help."

"You're quite welcome, stranger."

When the women were out of earshot, the younger man faced his companion and whispered. "What the hell do you think happened to them?"

The older man shrugged. "It isn't any of our business to know or ask, now is it?"

"I suppose."

(-)

They returned to the path ahead of them and halted at its entrance. "You ready for this, Asami?"

She nodded and stepped forward.

Korra increased her stride until she was beside the Asami again.

They moved at a slow pace, too tired to go any faster. The sun was still high in the sky as they made their way to Shili. The breeze picked up as they travelled, the air shifting from that of the somewhat warm, salty ocean wind to the cold chill of higher elevation.

It wasn't long before Asami started shivering.

"Here," Korra unlatched her pelt from her waist and handed it to her, "warm up."

She smiled and took the offering. "Are you sure? I don't want to get it oily."

"It's fine. I've got another one at home."

Asami hesitated for a moment before wrapping the fur around her torso. "Thank-you."

Korra grinned, feeling a bit more at ease. She took a step closer to Asami.

She could feel the heat radiate off of Korra and wanted nothing more than to be wrapped up in that warmth. After her kiss last night, though, she stuck to her logical side and refrained from touching her at all. "Have you ever been here before, Korra?"

"You know, I think I might have. I don't remember it all that well, but I think it was when I was younger. It was a lot warmer then, I think. But I'm not sure. This place does seem familiar, though."

"Did you and your parents ever go here on vacation? Or maybe you stopped by on your way up to Republic City for school?"

She shook her head. "No, this was different. It was a different time. It had to be when I was younger, though. Everything was so much taller than me."

"And everything isn't taller than you now?"

"Hey, I'm tall! I'm taller than you are!"

Asami stopped and raised an eyebrow. "Korra, I'm taller than you by at least two inches."

"No, you're not!" She took a step forward. The closer she got, the more she realized Asami was right. "Wait… you are taller than me. When did I get so short?!" Korra exaggerated her exasperation as she bent down to look at her legs.

She couldn't help but laugh. "Korra, I've been taller than you since the day we met in chem lab."

"Really?" She thought back to that afternoon, standing in the hallway as they made plans to get dinner that evening and study for their lab quiz. She could still see herself smiling up at Asami, thinking 'Wow, she's taller than me.'

A pout crossed her face, prompting Asami to giggle further.

"Dammit, Asami." She folded her arms over her chest.

"Come on; let's keep going," she replied through her amusement. "We don't want to get eaten by cougar bears, now do we?"

"No, I guess not."

They started walking again, closer to each other now than they were before.

"It would be interesting to see one, though. I've never even heard of cougar bears before." There was a gleam in Korra's eyes that Asami didn't notice right away.

"Maybe they made them up to scare us."

"I don't think so. They gave us a description of what they looked like and how they acted. They've got to be real. Are you thinking what I'm thinking, Asami?"

Asami caught the ocean irises beside her.

Oh no.

"We are not going to go looking for those vicious beasts, Korra."

"Why not? It would be an adventure! Besides, you took on some hog monkeys, you can take on a cougar bear, too."

"You greatly overestimate my abilities."

"What, is Asami Sato scared of a little cougar bear?"

"Korra, you've never even seen a cougar bear before. From the description, it doesn't sound like they're all that small." She tightened the pelt around her torso to combat an oncoming chill. "Besides, we have to get to your parents, remember?"

"Fine. We won't go delving into the forest to look for one. But if it happens to get dark –"

The look on Asami's face was enough for Korra to reconsider her plan of faking an injury, and her backup plan of getting them lost on purpose.

"–then I'll make sure we get to the village and meet up with my parents and Naga right away and don't go looking for the cougar bears."

Asami smiled. "Thank-you. If it was warmer and I wasn't so exhausted, I would definitely be on board for it. But right now, we should focus on getting to shelter and getting some food."

Korra's stomach growled on cue; she had forgotten that it had been so long since she ate. "You're right, Asami." She frowned and looked away.

"Afterwards, if we aren't too tired, then we can go out and look for some cougar bears. We'll bring Naga with us in case we need to make a quick getaway. How does that sound?"

"Perfect." She smiled, though the mention of being tired brought her fatigue back to the foreground of her mind. Korra yawned and stretched her arms out. She almost hovered one of them over Asami's shoulders, but pulled away at the last second.

Asami observed her, hesitant in her question. Her curiosity got the best of her; she fixed things – that was just what she did, and right now, she had some pieces to Korra that she wanted to try and put together, just like that engine on the ship they stole. She couldn't tell if she was running off of confidence from her last project under the machinery or plain enervation, but she went with it. "So you don't remember anything about your dream last night? The nightmare?"

Korra rubbed her head. "Not really. It's all just a blur. It's been happening a lot lately, ever since I got in that stupid earth prison. Everything is just getting hazy, like something is clouding my mind and taking over." She gritted her teeth to the small amount of pain that shook her skull.

"I wonder if they're related."

"What? The earth prison and my issues?"

"No. The dreams."

"Ohhh." She paused for a moment in contemplation. "Maybe they are. I – I don't know, though. The more I dream, the harder it is for me to remember the old ones."

"Do you remember the first one you had?"

"Kinda?" Korra closed her eyes and inhaled. "There's this one dream I had right before the Triple Threats attacked me. But it feels real, like it happened before, or maybe I heard a story about it and put myself there or something. There was some sort of battle. I couldn't see it, but my mom was there with me in the room while it was happening. She was holding me. I think I was young; my hands were really small. When the noises stopped, my dad came in and hugged us." She massaged her temples, the throb worsening.

"Did anything else happen?"

"Not really. The part I don't understand is that Master Zuko and Tenzin were –" She growled and staggered a bit, her head swaying.

"Easy, easy." Asami faced her and held her shoulders up. "We'll talk about this later, okay? I don't want you to fall over and roll down the mountain."

Korra looked up and gulped at the sight before her, the only thing standing between her and what she saw being Asami's exposed back. "A – Asami… I think that's going to be the least of our problems right now…"

(-)