Once they had finished their dinner and Mako had paid, they walked out of the restaurant, Korra wrapped her arm around Mako's.
"Do you want to go for a walk?" he asked.
"Sounds perfect," Korra replied, her hair was blowing behind her due to the gentle wind.
Chez Narook was located just a couple blocks away from Yue Bay, which was where Mako was leading them. They walked in a comfortable silence. Neither of them feeling the need to speak.
When they arrived at Yue Bay, Korra was in awe looking towards the water. Mako was more distracted by Korra, she looked so happy.
"I hadn't seen the bay at night before," she spoke quietly.
"Really? I would have thought you were down here all the time," Mako said looking towards the water. He had to admit it did look rather stunning. The reflection of the moon in the water wavered due to the small waves, Air Temple Island could be seen from a distance.
"I've come down here during the day, but its always just for a quick ferry ride. I never got the chance to just look at it. It reminds me a little of home actually,"
Mako couldn't tell if she were feeling homesick or not, but it couldn't hurt to ask her.
"Why did you decide to suddenly move to Republic City?"
Korra looked up at him and laughed, causing Mako to think back to what he said, trying to figure out what she found so funny.
"You haven't realized? But you're a cop!" she stopped laughing and turned her gaze back to the water, frowning, "I would have thought you already knew."
"Knew what?" Mako asked.
Korra sighed and took her arm from his, she took a step forward and waterbended some of the water from the bay into the air.
"You're a waterbender? That's not really a surprise," Mako said.
Korra turned back to face him and held her hand out, a small flame in her palm.
"And a firebender.." Mako said. Suddenly he understood. When they first met, Mako thought he was simply named after her not that she was "the Avatar, you're the Avatar."
Korra nodded her head, dropping her hand to her side and looking at the ground. Mako took the needed step forward and took one of her hands in his.
"What's wrong, Korra?"
Korra took a deep breath, "everyone treats me differently as soon as they find out I'm the Avatar, I thought you already knew, which is why I was so excited for tonight."
Mako chuckled, "so if I knew, you'd be less excited?" he hoped she would laugh at his comment. She didn't laugh but she looked up at him and grinned.
"I wouldn't say I'd be less excited, just more nervous," she now had a full smile on her face.
"I met you as Korra before I met you as the Avatar, so you won't have to worry about me treating you differently. Besides, from all the things the Chief has said about you, I think I might like Korra better anyways,"
Korra let go of Mako's hand and for a split second he thought he said something wrong, until he felt her arms wrap around him.
"Thank you, Mako," she mumbled into his chest.
He wrapped her arms around her. When they let go, he grabbed her hand and held on as they continued to look onto Yue Bay.
"Is that why you came to Republic City?"
Korra nodded, "Master Tenzin is the only airbender left, well the only one capable of teaching me, anyway," she smiled as she thought of the air babies, "I do miss home though,"
"Your family?"
"Yeah, it's just my mom and dad. But we're close. It was actually them who suggested I move up here since Tenzin couldn't leave Republic City while his term as councilman was still going on.
It was hard to think about leaving them, but I am 22, already an adult. And I figured that if I didn't leave the South Pole soon, I wouldn't be able to when I really needed to. I mean I get invited to important events in other nations, I dont always go, but when I do it's only for a couple days.
It was kind of scary to just move here, but I thought that if I could do it for a month, I would be fine. And now it's been a year!"
"At least you've gotten to see more of the world, I've never been outside of Republic City,"
"Well you being a firebender, I don't think you would like the South Po-" Korram stopped talking abruptly and let go of Mako's hand, she ran to the edge of the bay and seemed to stare out into the water.
Mako was surprised she could run in those heels but ran up next to her, "what is it?"
She pointed out into the Bay and Mako followed her finger. When he squinted he could tell there was a white dot in the water, "what is that?"
"That's Naga, my polar bear dog. I woke up in the middle of the night a couple weeks ago but she wasn't home. I didn't worry much because Naga tends to do that, but always comes home. At least now I know what she's been doing," Korra chuckled. It seemed like she wasn't the only one that missed home. She raised two fingers up to her mouth and blew a loud whistle sound.
Mako didn't expect it and jumped a little. They heard a bark and the white dot in the water began to swim closer. Mako knew polar bears dogs were supposed to be big, but he hadn't anticipated how big. Suddenly there was mammal larger than he standing in front of them.
Naga shook all the water off of her, only for it to land all over Korra and Mako. Both of them laughed at each other drenched in water. The water was cold so it didn't take very long for Mako to start shivering. He tried to hide it but Korra quickly noticed and giggled as she waterbended the water off of them.
Naga was sitting in front of them with her tongue out, she seemed to be waiting. Korra reached out her hand and scratched Naga behind her ears, Mako did the same to the other ear and Naga leaned into his hand, then got up on all fours and bumped her nose into Mako's stomach. It wasn't hard, but enough to knock the wind out of him for a little bit.
"I think she likes you," Korra said.
"I thought polar bear dogs were supposed to be hostile," Mako thought back to all the books he had read as a child.
"They are, but I found her as a newborn when I was just a little kid. I gave her food and made a home of snow for her. I visited her everyday and we've been friends ever since,"
Mako looked at her wide eyed, "impressive!"
Korra smiled at him, "You're impressed by the fact that I tamed Naga more than you are by the fact that I'm the Avatar?"
"I guess that does seem a little odd, but from what I've read, they can be vicious,"
"Oh they can be, we used to have to fight some off when we'd go for runs. Not anymore though, there aren't any other polar bears dogs in the city,"
"Thank the Spirits for that," Mako said laughing. He never thought he would have to audibly say he was thankful that Republic City lacked polar bear dogs.
"Wait," Mako began, "how were able to bring her here? And how is she allowed to live in your apartment building?"
"I'm the Avatar I pulled some strings," she seemed offly proud of herself, "and it just so happened that the owner of the building is a waterbender whose family originated from the South Pole, so everyone else thinks he's my uncle and that's why I get special treatment."
"No one knows you're the Avatar?"
"My status as Avatar is being held on the down low until I can actively start performing my Avatar duties. That's part of the reason I don't go to many parties. Everyone attending needs to have a background check and have to swear they wont reveal my identity. Not to mention I need like 20 White Lotus to accompany me everytime I go somewhere, and I find it too much of a hassle,"
"Is that why we always hear about you attending parties but never see you in any of the pictures?" Mako had never really thought about that until now. All the people in the newspaper pictures were always of the hosts, none of them ever of Korra.
"Exactly, I'm almost done with my airbending training though, and then I won't have the luxury of running through the park every morning because photographers will probably start to ambush me," she sighed deeply.
Mako didn't want to have to stop seeing Korra everyday, to be quite honest, he looked forward to their runs, "then I guess we'll just have to find a different running route everyday."
Korra smiled at him, she thought she wouldn't get to see Mako anymore once her identity was revealed, so she was glad to know they could still run together.
Naga yawned loudly, and laid on the floor, "I think it's time we head home," Korra said looking down at her sleeping polar bear dog.
He nodded back at her but then glanced at Naga, "how?"
"It's a short walk, she can make it." she bent down towards Naga, "come on girl, let's go home."
Naga's ears perked up when she heard
Korra's voice, at the mention of home she jumped up as though she just been brought back to life.
"Umm, Mako, can you turn around?"
Mako didn't understand why, but he thought it best to just turn around. He heard a rush of air followed by Korra telling him it was ok to turn back. He expected to see her where she was before, but now she sat on Naga. She had both her legs on one side of Naga since she was wearing a dress and patting the spot next to her.
"You want me to get on Naga?" he asked, raising one eyebrow.
"Yeah, it's faster, and it's not like she can't handle it," Korra petted Naga.
Mako sighed and walked around, trying to figure out how to get on without looking like a total idiot or falling, suddenly there was a gush of air underneath him and he was propelled into the air.o
"Ahh!" he landed on top of Naga on his stomach with his arms extended on one side of Naga his legs on the other. He realized he was in an embarrassing position so he quickly sprawled around until he was sitting with his legs on either side of Naga.
"Let's go home Naga," Korra giggled. Naga seemed to be excited because she took off running, Mako was sure he was going to fall off so he threw his arms out in front of him and wrapped them around Korra's waist. He hoped she would be enough to keep him on the over excited polar bear dog.
Korra looked down at Mako's arms around her, she liked the feel of his arms. She felt protected, which was strange for her since she often was the one that had to do the protecting. She liked how he was so warm. She had grown up on the South Pole and she knew cold. When she experienced her first summer in Republic City, she thought she knew hot, but this was a different kind of heat. She wanted to stay in his arms and continue to feel his heat,
She looked over at Mako and laughed, he looked scared out of his mind and his eyes were closed, "Naga, girl, walk. We have someone new," Naga slowed down until she was walking at a leisurely pace, "sorry about that, Naga gets excited when it comes to new people,"
Mako still had his arms around her, he liked holding her like this and she didn't seem to be bothered by it, he figured if she wasn't ok with it she would have had him thrown off the dog, so he kept his arms there, "it's fine, just sudden," he realized he had his eyed closed and opened them slowly.
He didn't realize he had gotten so close to Korra. She was turned towards him, their faces only a few inches away. They stared into each other's eyes for a brief second before they both began to lean it. Mako closed his eyes again as he felt Korra's soft lips press against his. She had wrapped her arms around his neck by now, making the kiss even deeper.
Mako liked how their lips felt, it felt natural and, although he hadn't kissed many girls, he had to say this was the best kiss ever.
Korra felt his tongue on her bottom lip and she parted her lips slightly, giving him entrance. Their tongues danced and she moved her fingers up to tangle them in his hair.
They parted for air and Mako pressed his forehead against hers, both of them breathing heavily. They were like that for only a few seconds before Naga stopped walking completely. They leaned back from each other, but not so much that their arms still weren't around the other, and realized they were in front of Korra's apartment.
"Well, this is me," Korra said softly, "down, girl," she said to Naga. They untangled their arms from each other as Naga laid on the ground, making it easy for Mako to get off. Once he was on the ground, he held a hand out to Korra, who giggled and grabbed his hand, taking the little jump necessary to meet him on the ground. His arms found their place on her waist, she snaked her arms around his neck once again.
"I had a great time tonight, Mako," she said.
"I did, too" he smiled down at her.
Korra used her arms around his neck to bring him down a little so she could kiss him again. She could feel his smile against her lips and saw it when they parted. She returned his smile and was bringing him down again when they heard Naga yawn again.
"I should probably get Naga upstairs,"
Mako nodded and dropped his arms from around her waist, only to grab one of her hands in his. He lead the way to her apartment, as soon as she opened the door, Naga ran in and curled up on the carpet, falling asleep as soon as she laid down.
"I should get going, too," Mako said before leaning down to give Korra another quick kiss.
"I'll see you tomorrow?" she asked
"Bright and early," he smiled at her before releasing her hand. She walked inside and closed the door behind her.
Mako was barely out the building when he decided he really, really liked her. He couldn't wait until tomorrow morning when he would get to see her again.