Hey, welcome to the next chapter! Hope you enjoyed the first one and are ready for this one! There's just gonna be a lot of angst in this story (as if that wasn't obvious enough already) with everything that's built up to the end melting into a calmness.

Also, I apologize for any time wise confusion (switching between present and past tense). I do it without realizing it.

...

~'Cause you can't take back what you didn't say

If I could do it now, do it now, I would do it now...~

Her hand is shaking. She can't stop it, either. Holding her wrist just makes her other hand shake.

Open it, what are you waiting for?

'For someone to tell me I'm dreaming. For someone to come and yank it out of my hands.'

Asami stares at the letter in her hands, the baby blue Southern Water Tribe seal pulsing against the white paper as if it were taunting her. Korra's scrawl is etched out on the front of it. Asami must have run her fingers over it a hundred times in the ten minutes she's had it.

Yes, she's had it for ten minutes. Don't judge her.

She doesn't know what to expect the letter to contain. Like she should worry. This letter is from her best friend. And it's been six months since she threw away that first letter she couldn't bring herself to send. Two full years without hearing from Korra, and now she's afraid to open a damn letter.

She could almost hear Korra laughing in her ears.

Asami let her hand blindly search for her letter opener on the nightstand by her bed. It feels hot in her hands. She guides the blade through the paper and tearing of it grates on her nerves. She places the letter opener beside her on the bed and takes a long, shaky breath as her fingers slide into the envelope and close on the paper inside.

Asami was afraid. It's the umpteenth time that she's been afraid in the past two years, and it always circles around to the same reason. This time, it's stronger than before. What would she read? What would she see? Would Korra say that's she's coming home, or would she say that the treatment isn't working as well as they'd hoped? That there's too much damage done to fix?

Would she be this afraid if she'd heard from Korra sooner?

Asami took the paper from the envelope, knowing that if she was a firebender she would've incinerated the letter by now. She's thankful for not being one. She unfolds it and takes a breath before beginning to read:

Dear Asami,

I'm sorry for not writing to you sooner, but every time I tried I never knew what to say. The past two years have been the hardest of my life. Even though I can get around fine now, I still can't go into the Avatar State. I keep having visions and nightmares about Zaheer, and what happened that day. Terrible ones, you know? Katara thinks that a lot of it is in my head, so I've been meditating a lot (wouldn't Tenzin be proud), but sometimes I worry that I'll never fully recover.

Please don't tell Bolin and Mako I wrote to you and not them. I don't want to hurt their feelings, but it's easier to talk to you about these kinds of things. I don't think they'd understand.

Anyway, it's good to hear that you're doing so well. I'm sure the city appreciates what you're doing. When I come home, you can show me everything you've done. I would love to see it. Consider it me paying my debt for being gone so long, making it up to you. We can even call it a Girls Night Out. Go out for food or whatever while we're at it. Don't get me wrong, I love my mom's cooking but I kinda miss Republic City cuisine.

Mom and Dad are doing fine, they say hi. Oh, and Naga really appreciated that belly scratch you asked me to give her. As soon as she heard your name she got all excited. I wouldn't be surprised if she misses you as much as I do.

Sincerely, Korra

Asami doesn't bother to stop the tears that build and fall within a few seconds. She reads through the letter twice more, upset with the point that Korra left it on but satisfied that she finally wrote to her. Her eyes trail along the paragraph about her and her heart skips a beat. She runs her finger under each sentence to make sure she read it right.

Is she asking me out? Asami questions and her eyebrows lower in confusion. Stop, you're looking too deep into this.

She grabbed a tissue from her nightstand and wiped her eyes, sniffing once and smiling to herself. Regardless of what Korra meant by what she said, it was nice to think that they could have a night on the town with Asami showing Korra all the improvements she's made to the city in her absence.

Thinking of improvements, Asami stands and goes to her window. She scans the city and her eyes come to rest on the park a ways over from her home. Her mind kicks into gear at the sight of the large empty grass area by the bridge in the center, in front of it a perfect opening in the sidewalk. Scales and numbers possess her and she grins excitedly.

Asami neatly returns the letter to its envelope and grabs the sketchpad she keeps nearby (just in case) and a pencil. She spends the next couple of hours sitting, standing at the window, all the while stealing glances at the scene before her as her newest plan is laid out on paper.

...

It's finished. It took over a month, but it's finished. Asami takes a step back and shields her eyes from the remaining sunlight to admire her latest work. She sighs in relief and smiles warmly.

She'll love it.

Asami knew it would be one of her greatest challenges to capture Korra's likeness in a giant, stone replica of her but the result and risks were worth it. She pulled it off. Now, Korra towered over the park looking of into the distance, her expression determined and strong. It almost feels like she's home again, albeit as a twenty foot tall (give or take a few feet) statue.

It took a week of convincing, but Asami managed to get President Raiko to rename Republic City Park in Korra's honor, now known as Avatar Korra Park. Raiko didn't think it was a good idea since it was where Korra made her first (bad) impression as the Avatar when she arrived but Asami knew it was the perfect place.

She stays to watch the construction workers she hired pack up their tools and take down the walkways from around the statue, placing them on a flatbed. She hands the check to the head worker, earning a tip of his hardhat and a smile before they all get into their vehicles and drove away. Asami then turns her attention back to Korra and steps up to it, looking at the words engraved on the plaque placed on the very front.

~Avatar Korra

Friend to many, Avatar to all ~

She laughs softly to herself and lays a hand on the edge of it. "I miss you..." she whispers, and her eyes sting. She looks up at the statue's face and smiles a little. "Come home to me soon, okay?"

It's silence doesn't do much to help ease her pain, but it makes her laugh as she walks to her car and returns home for the night.

...

I wasn't intending on this story ending up like Silence Hurts, but I guess that's where it's going. Hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I hope to see you in the next one!

Thanks for reading!