The palace was abuzz with life and energy and try though she might, Asami couldn't quite bring herself to feel the excitement of her guests.

Part of her was still plagued by thoughts of the night before, but mostly she was just anxious. This wasn't going to go well and she prayed to whatever spirits might be listening that everybody - Korra in particular - would walk away from this unscathed.

Asami had been so busy preparing for the party that she hadn't seen Korra all day. It may have been a tiny bit deliberate. The thought of seeing the southerner while those thoughts were still fresh in her mind… she shuddered as she made her way to the raised stage above the ballroom, anxiously smoothing her hands over the smooth burgundy fabric of her dress.

She was the first to reach the stage; Hiroshi would be announcing them from down on the floor, for which Asami was eternally grateful. It would be much harder for him to drag Korra away from down there. She paced anxiously back and forth, wringing her hands as she waited.

"My my," a voice said from behind her. "Aren't we the jittery one?"

Asami turned and cursed the heat that rushed to her face as her eyes met Korra's. "And you aren't?" she asked, trying to ignore it while resisting the urge to let her gaze flicker appreciatively over the other's figure.

Korra grinned, but it was strained. "I'm ready to soil myself," she said. "I'm about to walk into a room full of people who will probably want to kill me on sight."

"Did anyone see you?"

"I don't think so."

Asami nodded, drawing in a deep breath. It did little to steady her nerves.

"Hey."

She started slightly as she felt Korra's hand on her shoulder and turned to meet those steady blue eyes, taken aback by the gentle reassurance she saw there.

"It'll be fine." Korra tried another grin, and this time it seemed more genuine. "One of us might end the night with a knife in the back, but what's a party without a few stabbings?"

Asami laughed. "Not a party at all."

Korra's hand lingered where it was for a long moment before she finally let it fall back to her side. "Do you know how you're going to handle your dad… you know, after?"

Asami turned her gaze to the heavy curtains currently keeping them out of sight of the ballroom. "No," she sighed. "He won't be able to do a lot about it, but even so…"

"You don't want to disappoint him."

Asami smiled bitterly. "It's stupid, isn't it? He's spent almost my entire life disappointing me."

Korra shrugged. "Even the people we love are capable of being absolute idiots. I've been trying to talk my dad out of this war since I was thirteen."

Asami stared at her. "Really? Thirteen?"

"I was exposed to it from an early age."

Asami opened her mouth to pursue the subject, but then Hiroshi's voice boomed from the room beyond the curtain and she felt the blood rush from her face.

She turned to face the curtain, squaring her shoulders and breathing deeply while Hiroshi made his speech. She hardly heard it; her pulse was pounding in her ears and she felt light-headed. Was this what fainting felt like?

Then Korra was beside her, and her warm hand was clasping hers firmly. Asami found her fingers squeezing a little harder than they probably should have, but the southerner's sturdy presence at her side brought far more comfort than she could have anticipated.

"And now, dear friends and esteemed colleagues," Hiroshi announced, "your princess and my beloved daughter would introduce to you her betrothed!"

The curtain drew back and Asami strode resolutely out onto the balcony with Korra at her side. Almost immediately, a baffled hush fell over the crowd. Asami's friendship with Mako had not gone unnoticed; Hiroshi clearly hadn't been the only one to make assumptions.

"Friends," Asami started, and she was surprised by the steadiness of her own voice. "I stand before you tonight not only to announce my engagement, but also to appeal to your good hearts."

Korra's fingers tightened around hers, and she couldn't be sure for whom the hold was supposed to be reassuring. She kept her eyes determinedly away from her father as she continued.

"For as long as any of us can remember, our war with the south has taken loved ones from us at every turn, ripping our homes apart and leaving our land stained with the blood of generations." At the mention of the south, an uneasy tittering erupted among the guests, but Asami ignored it and pressed on. "Very recently, I made a trip to Air Temple Island, and there I met with Chief Tonraq of the Southern Tribes."

The tittering erupted into murmuring.

"And while I was there, I had the privilege of meeting his daughter, Korra." Here she spared a glance for the woman at her side and was surprised to find those eyes already upon her. Korra's lips twitched into a tiny smile, and Asami felt a rush of courage as she turned back to her guests, most of whom had apparently, by this point, figured out enough to appear outright scandalized. "Of all the things I expected to find on that island, I can assure you that love was not one of them. However, the best kind of love is often unexpected, hitting you hard enough to steal your breath away, and that, friends, is what has happened to me."

Finally, Asami let her gaze fall upon her father. Hiroshi's eyes were bulging, his jaw slack and his face growing redder with each passing second. She kept a level expression as she spoke, unflinchingly holding his gaze. "I hereby announce my engagement to Korra of the Southern Tribes, and will henceforth have it known that any attack on her home or her countrymen will be seen as a deliberate slight against her personally, and the perpetrators will be treated as traitors. However, I do not think it will come to that. I have faith in you, friends, and I know that I'm not the only one aware that it is past time for this war to end."

With that, she turned and led Korra from the balcony. The curtain dropped closed behind them and all of the fear and weakness that she couldn't show before washed over her in a flood; she leaned heavily against a wall, visibly trembling.

"So that seemed to go well," Korra said mildly.

Asami gave a weak laugh. "I'd watch my back, if I were you."

"No need to tell me twice." Korra seemed to hesitate briefly before moving closer. "Are you okay?"

Without thinking, Asami reached for her, taking hold of those reassuring hands. "I think so. They weren't happy."

"They'll come around to the idea."

"You think so?"

"Not really. You northerners are stubborn as hell."

Asami laughed again, and it felt better this time – fuller, more real. "I can't really deny that."

"Asami!"

Her blood ran cold as her father appeared in the doorway. "Explain," he said coldly, his infuriated gaze falling flat upon Korra.

"I thought I made it quite clear, father." Once again, Asami managed to pull up a mask of cool composure as she straightened. "Korra and I are getting married."

"What about Mako?"

"What about him? I didn't say anything about wanting to marry Mako. You arrived at that conclusion yourself."

Hiroshi gaped at her.

"I didn't want to lie to you," Asami said then, and her regret was clear in her voice. "But you never would have listened to me otherwise. You're so desperate for revenge that you can't see how this war is tearing both our kingdoms apart."

"But... Asami, this?" He gestured helplessly at Korra, who raised an eyebrow at him, but said nothing. "Surely you can't be serious. A woman? A daughter of the south?"

"I've never been so serious." Asami's fingers intertwined with Korra's and she reached her free arm over to grasp at the southerner's bicep. "After what happened on Air Temple Island, it was obvious that neither you nor Tonraq would ever see eye to eye. And Korra..." She swallowed a little, surprised by the honesty in her tone. "She wanted peace as much as I did, and we got to know each other, and then..."

"You're not saying... you really do love her?"

It was what they'd agreed on, Asami knew – convincing everybody that what they were doing was out of love as much as it was a desire for peace. Even so, Asami felt a guilty twinge as she nodded. "Yes." Whatever she felt for Korra – and she couldn't deny that she did feel something – she thought it far too early to consider it love.

"I've never met anybody like Asami, your majesty." Asami was torn from her thoughts as Korra's voice sounded for the first time in Hiroshi's presence and she turned to stare at the shorter woman. "She is, quite easily, the most caring, considerate, incredible woman I've ever known – or could ever hope to know," Korra continued. "Our marriage will carry with it certain political benefits that we both want, that's true, but there's absolutely no denying that on some level, it is a selfish act. There is nobody in this world I would rather pledge my life to."

Colour rose in Korra's dark cheeks as she spoke and she kept her eyes firmly upon Hiroshi, as if too embarrassed to look at Asami. Despite herself, Asami couldn't help but wonder if there was some measure of truth to those words.

Hiroshi stared helplessly between the two of them, and then he simply shut down. His expression stilled, his jaw set, and his eyes hardened. Asami's heart wrenched in her chest; she'd seen that look before, when her mother had died. Hiroshi was closing himself off from her.

"The law is clear," he said flatly. "There is nothing I can do to call off this engagement. I will pull my forces from the south at once – but," he said, his gaze turning back to Korra, "rest assured that if your father so much as glances toward the Reach, I will descend upon him with all my might, and then the fate of our kingdoms will truly be decided." With that he turned and walked stiffly back down the stairs.

Asami barely had time to let the tension drop from her shoulders before Korra's arms were around her. For a fleeting moment she was stunned by the gesture; but then the rush of emotion that Korra had somehow predicted hit Asami and she pressed her face into Korra's shoulder, clasped her arms tight around the southerner's middle, and wept.

She had no idea how long they stood there, but Korra's hold never once wavered, and when she finally lifted her head she avoided the other woman's gaze, carefully wiping her face. "Sorry," she murmured.

"Don't." Asami glanced up, surprised by the firmness of Korra's voice. "There's no need to apologise," Korra amended, her tone softer.

Asami only nodded, an embarrassed laugh breaking free of her lips as she tried to compose herself. "That could have gone better," she said.

"And it could've gone worse," Korra said. "I find myself remarkably lacking a knife sticking out of me, for one thing."

Asami laughed again. "How do you do that?"

"Do what?"

"Just..." Asami trailed off before shaking her head. "Never mind."

Thankfully, Korra didn't press. "Think you're ready to go downstairs?"

When Asami gave her an incredulous look, Korra grinned. "It's our party, remember? We can't leave our guests in suspense after that grand announcement. I'm sure they're all dying to ply you with mildly offensive questions and give me the dirtiest looks they can possibly manage."

It was a fairly accurate prediction. As they made their way into the ballroom, arm in arm, the looks that Korra received ranged from distasteful to boiling with hate. Mako found them almost immediately, and made a point to hover at Korra's back, glaring around like a thundercloud. Not for the first time, Asami felt a rush of gratitude for his constant presence behind her.

Very few people spoke to Korra, and when they did, it was perfunctory, like they'd rather lick the bottom of their shoe than acknowledge her presence. When they finally stopped lining up for a chance to speak with Asami and glare at Korra, the relief of both women was palpable.

"So," Korra said. "Care to dance?"

Asami arched an eyebrow at her. "You really want to prolong this torture?"

Korra's grin was mischievous, and despite herself Asami felt her lips pull into a smile. "We wouldn't want to deprive these good people the pleasure of my company." With that she pulled Asami onto the dance floor, leaving Mako to stare, bewildered, after them.

The dance was a traditional northern step and, of course, Korra had no idea what she was doing – but she took her clumsiness and ran with it, and Asami's stomach ached from laughing by the time the song ended. Korra was an absolute idiot, but an idiot who apparently knew how to cheer Asami up in almost any situation; Asami's heart fluttered wildly in her chest with that thought, and then the music started up again and Korra started to dance more seriously.

"You have a beautiful laugh, you know that?"

Asami's eyes snapped up to meet Korra's, suspecting a joke, and her own face burned beneath the southerner's serious gaze. She fumbled for a response, but before she could find one Korra was spinning her; the next she knew, her back was against Korra's torso, those strong arms looping around her waist.

"This isn't the step," Asami murmured half-heartedly, painfully aware of the heat in her face as their movements deviated rather obviously from the dancers around them.

"I know," Korra murmured, her voice close against Asami's ear.

Asami swallowed thickly, even as her hands moved to settle over Korra's arms. In her mind, a tiny voice of reason reminded her that they were supposed to be lying; that Korra was only putting on a show for their guests. An overwhelming urge to flee the room quite nearly overcame her, but she forced it back – how would that look?

Instead, she forced herself to relax into Korra's hold as the southerner gently guided her movements in time to the music.

"There you go," Korra said, her voice low and carrying the hint of that characteristic smirk.

Asami started to retort, but her words caught in her throat as she felt the gossamer-light touch of Korra's lips against the side of her neck. That voice quietly reminding her of necessary deception was abruptly drowned out by the sound of her own pulse pounding in her ears; her fingers pressed against Korra's arms in a tighter grip and she wasn't sure if she was breathing, but Korra's lips hadn't pulled away yet and spirits she didn't want them to –

Then they were gone, and Asami could breathe again. Barely.

"You okay, Princess?"

Asami turned her head to meet those damnably blue eyes. While the usual smug confidence was there, it almost seemed to be a mask, hastily pulled up to cover something else, something like... fear?

Without stopping to think, Asami leaned in to brush a soft kiss over the height of Korra's cheek. "Perfect," she said, and she felt a mixed rush of pride and delight as Korra's eyes widened and her skin burned bright red.

They didn't prolong their presence at the party; the longer they lingered, the more Asami worried that some overzealous idiot would try to stick a knife in Korra's back. Mako seemed to mirror her concerns and he stayed with them as they left to return to their rooms.

They were speaking in hushed voices as they walked the deathly still corridors when a familiar voice startled them from their conversation.

"I have to say, Asami, I did not see that coming."

The sound of Mako drawing his sword rang deafeningly through the corridor as Varrick stepped into view, idly polishing his nails on his powder blue waistcoat. "Put that thing away before you hurt yourself, kid."

"I think I'll keep it out, if it's all the same to you," Mako said flatly.

Varrick shrugged. "Suit yourself."

"What do you want, Varrick?" Asami's voice was firm, her dislike of the man giving her courage, but she subconsciously moved between Varrick and Korra, betraying her alarm.

"Will you kids relax? If I was going to try to kill your southern princess I wouldn't do it by standing here talking at you."

"Then answer the question." Mako's hold on his weapon was unwavering and Asami drew some strength from his steadiness.

"I just wanted to offer my congratulations. It's not every day a princess gets engaged – and certainly not with that much flair. I couldn't have put on a better show myself! I underestimated you, Asami. Never thought you'd pull a stunt like this." He turned his attention to Korra then, his expression serious. "Be on your guard, kid. You have good intentions, but if you think war is messy, you've got a nasty shock heading your way." With that he turned and left, the sound of his cheerful whistling following in his wake.

Asami and Korra exchanged a glance as Mako sheathed his sword.

"So he's pretty suspicious," Korra said.

"He's up to something," Mako said.

Asami snorted. "Varrick's always up to something. Come on." She turned and continued down the hall, looking considerably less anxious than she felt.