Authors Note:Thank you for editing TheToasterMarketingBoard you always bring the chapter together at the end!

Zhou Rhen rose with the sun, as he did every morning, in spite of how little sleep he'd had the previous night. He hadn't gone to bed too much later than usual. The send-off party had died down close to midnight, and the temple quickly fell quiet and dark. Once Zhou Rhen had tucked himself into his bunk, he'd been unable to get his eyes to close. He was too anxious thinking about the meeting he had planned with Master Jinora. He wasn't sure what to expect from their training session, but she had made an offhand comment that he was going to need a lot of work.

Zhou Rhen looked at himself the best he could in his reflection in the window of his dorm room. He had quickly learned that the pious Air Nation felt that mirrors were not a furnishing necessity. If he wanted a mirror he'd have to wander to the mens' baths, which would be pretty full at this time of the morning with acolytes and benders fighting over the best view to shave their heads. The conditions of being an underling in the White Lotus weren't half as archaic.

"Maybe I can talk to Master Tenzin about at least getting my own room at some point?"

Zhou Rhen met Jinora in the courtyard by the gazebo, as per their agreement. The young bender was seated on a flat rock, and pointed to a similar one beside her.

Zhou Rhen gave a little nod and sat down. He slipped a hand into his robe to retrieve his notepad and pencil.

Jinora didn't wait for him to settle before starting. "If you're going to build a relationship with Korra, you need to start working alongside her. Talking about thoughts and feelings are not really her uh, strong points. She's more of the jock type. We're all a part of her team, I'm sure you've heard someone throw around 'Team Avatar.' That's how it works around here, and she's not going to feel comfortable opening up to you until she feels like you are a part of this team."

Zhou Rhen nodded as he feverishly took notes.

"And you should probably lose the whole notebook thing, at least for now. Write up your White Lotus reports at the end of the day. Be in the moment."

Zhou Rhen's lips moved as he silently repeated Jinora's words as he wrote them, but stopped when Jinora put a hand on the book, and slowly started to lower it away from his face.

The young man blushed and pulled the book the rest of the way down, then slid it into his robe pocket. "Right."

"Do you meditate?" Jinora asked, cocking her head.

"A little…" he replied hesitantly. "The White Lotus encourage it, so I try but… I just close my eyes and well, sit there. It's relaxing enough, a good opportunity to think."

Jinora shook her head. "Reflecting while meditating is fine, but I bet your mind is going a mile a minute when you do it?"

Zhou Rhen smiled sheepishly. Jinora noted it was the first time she had ever seen anything resembling a smile come from the counselor since his arrival.

"C'mon, let's try a session," Jinora said, ushering him inside the gazebo. "You know, meditation was something Korra had a hard time learning too."

The pair made their way up the gazebo's small steps. Jinora pointed to a spot for Zhou Rhen to sit at, then took a seat beside him. She adjusted her legs into the lotus position, and watched to make sure Zhou Rhen did too.

"So what would you like to meditate on?" Jinora asked curiously.

Zhou Rhen put a hand to his chin to consider.

"Nothing to do with Korra. I want this session to be about you," Jinora urged.

"I would like to quiet my mind more… I feel like I have so many questions, and ideas and words in my head…"

Jinora nodded and faced seaward. "Okay, so bring your hands to your lap. Make them into fists, and bring those two fists together, interlocking your knuckles."

Zhou Rhen clumsily mirrored her position, looking towards Jinora as he waited for further instructions.

"Eyes forward and closed. Now let your mind go blank."

The young man moved to push the bridge of his glasses back up his nose.

"Just take those off, seeing isn't important," Jinora commanded, not opening her eyes.

Zhou Rhen blinked a few times and obeyed, setting his eyewear beside him. His eyes closed and he waited. He could hear the sounds of air bison bellowing and a few male voices in the courtyard behind him. His body itched to turn and look, but he remained still.

"Let the lingering thoughts in your mind come to their natural conclusion. If you're thinking about a situation you cannot control, acknowledge that it is out of your hands and let it go… Imagine you are a tree…"

Zhou Rhen tried to imagine a tree, and found himself picturing the old camphor that was in the courtyard of the White Lotus temple he had trained at. It was his prefered place to sit and read old scrolls. His favorites were the adventures of young Avatar Aang, as told by Sokka. Sokka hadn't written the scrolls, but he was interviewed several times because he was the most enthusiastic recanter of the Avatar's traveling companions.

"Here I go, wandering off again..." Zhou Rhen forced himself to focus on the words of the young master beside him. Jinora was still softly speaking, but now he could hear a hitch in her voice.

"Let your problems, preconceived notions, even expectations slowly drift away like leaves from your branches," Jinora said, her words wavering.

Zhou opened his eyes and turned to the girl beside him. A small tear had crept through her closed eye, and dashed down her cheek.

"It is fall, you must shed your old worries. You must enter the winter bare so you can be re-born in the spring."

The sun was high in the sky as Korra, Bolin, Opal and Mako stood outside the spirit portal. Unconsciously Korra had stepped apart from her three friends, and currently stood them down with her arms crossed.

"I think we can take him," Korra repeated for the fifth time.

Mako let out a long sigh before replying. "We're lucky he hasn't swiped a massive paw through the portal and flattened us. He's blocking the door, he has the upper hand, it is not worth it."

"Well then, will you at least come back with me later? He can't stay there all day."

"He's practically been there all day," Opal added. "And I'm sure all last night. I don't think time is an issue for him."

Korra groaned and stomped her foot. She could still see the tigerpillar's big angry face resting inches from the portal from this morning. Korra had been the first one to enter the Spirit World. She had asked the group to go back with her just to make sure everything was fine after their encounter the previous day. When she entered she had nearly walked into the tigerpillar spirit's growling mouth. Korra fortunately noticed right away, backpedaled and knocked the rest of gang back into the physical world. Four hours later and the tigerpillar was still camped out in front of the portal on the Spirit World side, blocking the group's way in.

"What if we meditate in there and-"

"But Bolin and I can't do that," Mako said, cutting Korra off.

"And if we could, aren't we not able to bend that way?" Bolin added.

Opal crossed the distance between her and the Avatar and put a hand on her shoulder. "I think we've accomplished what we set out to do Korra. Varrick and Zhu Li were probably the only ones wandering around in there, and they're out. We don't want anyone else going inside, and the tigerpillar will for sure keep anyone out."

Korra bit her lip and stared at her feet as she listened to Opal. Her head turned at the low rumble of vehicles approaching.

Bolin pointed his thumb at the encroaching trucks. "Who sent for reinforcements?"

Three trucks bobbed and weaved over the massive tangle of vines towards the portal. They stopped a few feet from the group. Men and women in jumpsuits exited the vehicles. A rather tall, middle aged woman of what looked like Earth Kingdom descent sprinted ahead of her group, halted in front of Korra, and gave her a salute. The others behind her stopped and mirrored the action.

"Avatar Korra, we are here on behalf of President Raiko to build a fence around the spirit portal per your and Miss Sato's request!"

Korra felt her face start to redden at the mention of her and Asami together. Awkwardly she saluted back. "Uh, yeah, thank you."

The woman lowered her saluting hand and turned to her crew. "Alright, let's get started."

"Raiko never moves this fast on anything," Korra murmured to Mako, Bolin and Opal as they watched the new arrivals start to unload pieces of metal fencing from the back of their trucks.

Korra suddenly had a thought and she cupped her hands and called out to the tall woman who was supervising the crew unloading. "Hey, uh, chief, you weren't planning on putting any fencing on the inside of the portal, right?"

The woman turned around and smiled "Peizhi, ma'am, and no, should we?"

Korra shook her head furiously. "No, do not let your crew go in there, or even close to it. It's not safe."

Peizhi dipped her head for a slight bow. "Thanks for the heads up."

"Alright Korra, I think this means we can go now," Mako urged.

The Avatar nodded and was the first of the four to step away from the portal.

Mako drove the group back towards the dock in a police cruiser borrowed from Lin. Bolin was seated in front with him in the passenger seat, while Korra and Opal occupied the back. Mako watched the Avatar gloomily stare out her window in his mirror.

"So what are we gonna do now? Any more Team Avatar stuff, or is it cool if I go over to Asami's office?" Bolin asked aloud to no one in particular. "She's going to hook me up with some more clean-up work. Korra, it's earthbending if you wanna do it too?"

Bolin turned back to grin at Korra, but she kept her chin in her palm and eyes out the window. "Manual labor is a little below your Avatar paygrade. You prolly got some meetings or something you need to go to."

Bolin shifted awkwardly in his seat as his companions continued to not respond. "So Mako, you gonna go back to work for Lin? Bet there's plenty of hoodlums to wrangle since the destruction."

"Yeah, I'm actually going over to the station after I drop you guys off at the docks," Mako replied.

"Oh, could you drop me off at Asami's office then?"

"Sure."

"You guys are going to come back with me tomorrow though, right?" Korra asked, finally looking away from her window.

The brothers exchanged glances.

"If you want to, sure…" Bolin stammered.

Mako rotated the wheel, taking the last turn to enter the docks. "Is it really necessary? We did our sweep, the portal's closed to the public, what else needs to be done?"

Korra wrinkled her nose. "I dunno, make sure that big spirit isn't still sitting there? We still don't know the causes of the time anomalies. I wouldn't consider this 'cased closed', detective," she said, making air quotations.

The Satomobile stopped, but the group remained seated.

"The tigerpillar spirit did say that humans' presence has an effect on the Spirit World. Maybe we should leave it alone for a little while?" Opal said, with a shrug of her shoulders.

"I was thinking the same thing. I mean Korra, you didn't notice something was wrong until you… you and Asami were in there," Mako added.

Opal nodded. "And for a considerable amount of time too. I wasn't around for harmonic convergence, but I doubt you guys spent days in there?"

Korra furrowed her brow as her eyes darted around her companions. Bolin wiped at the sweat forming at his brow and then held his hands out defensively towards the Avatar.

"I don't think Opal and Mako are suggesting you're the cause, but I think they might be onto something. Why don't we let the Spirit World cool off for a bit and check back in a few weeks?"

"Fine," Korra said with a pout. She unbuckled herself, and pushed the door open. She slammed it behind her and marched off towards the boats.

Opal and the others stayed and watched her go.

"Maybe I'll stay with you for a bit Bolin…"

Aasmi was slumped over her drafting desk as she attempted to figure out how to apply her current road structure system over the new vines entangled around the spirit portal, the area her and her team were now referring to as 'ground zero'. She placed a large piece of vellum over the current topographical map of the downtown area and drew a large circle in the middle to represent the problem area. She circled it a few extra times with her pencil as she thought.

"Perhaps a raised roundabout that surrounds the portal's perimeter… We can then salvage the area above the vines, and still leave a space for the portal…"

Asami looked up when she heard a knock on her office door. "Come in."

Kali poked her head through the door. "Miss Sato, Bolin and Opal are here to see you."

"You may let them in," Asami replied, leaning back into her seat. She pulled herself up by the shoulders, noticing how badly she was slouching before.

Bolin and Opal entered her office; both gave her a small sheepish wave. Asami rose to meet them.

"What brings you two here? I hope everything is alright?" Asami sat back down, and swiveled her chair away to face the pair. Bolin claimed a seat at the larger meeting table and Opal followed

Bolin waved his hand and made a little pfft. "Your girlfriend's a little mad at us, but that's not exactly why we're here."

Asami quirked an eyebrow

Bolin grinned sheepishly. "We wanted to see if you were ready for that double date we promised this weekend."

"You want to do this while Korra is mad at you?"

"I think this quarrel can be resolved by stuffing our faces together," Bolin replied as he puffed out his belly and gave it a few pats.

Opal rolled her eyes as she watched her boyfriend play with his stomach. "We were thinking we'd find nice restaurant downtown that's operating again, get some dinner and then experience a little bit of the culture."

"Take her mind off the portal," Bolin added.

"Has something else happened there?" Asami asked.

"That big spirit is still guarding the portal, and Raiko's got a team working on blocking it off to the public. We think now's a good time to let the place cool off for a bit while we work on other problems," Opal replied.

Asami leaned back in her chair. "There is so much to do, it's overwhelming. If we could knock that off our plates temporarily, I wouldn't mind either. What do you need our Avatar for?"

Opal and Bolin exchanged looks.

"Nothing, we just feel like we're needed elsewhere. Mako too," Bolin said.

"So you want out of this adventure?"

"Temporarily yes, and we told her that, but she took it really hard for some reason," Opal replied with a shrug.

Asami bowed her head to put her chin in her hand. "Jinora has been appointed by Raiko to oversee Spirit World relations, and I spoke with her about the need for data before we can make any real assessment. I can encourage Korra to work with Jinora during this research phase. It's not high action, but it is very time consuming."

"And if they discover something, if the problem is real, we are there, one hundred percent," Opal said, holding a hand to her chest. Bolin feverishly nodded beside her.

"I'll let you be the ones to reassure Korra over our dinner," Asami sighed.

After exiting the Satomobile, Korra headed towards the docks but stopped right before the steps when she heard Mako drive away.

"What am I going do back at the island? Tenzin's just as unconcerned about the Spirit World, and I don't want to bug Jinora today, she must be sad that Kai left…"

The Avatar looked around her and took note of a cluster of large crates by the water's edge. Each one was about half her height, and stacked up two or three high. There was one single crate, facing the water with the rest like pillars around it. Korra walked over to it and climbed up to sit on the single crate. The other crates created an alcove so anyone on the other side could not see her sitting there. She closed her eyes and put her fists together.

The afternoon sun was pleasantly warm on her face and the lapping of the water against the pier helped to ease the tension in her body. Korra soon found herself slipping away, at first she thought to sleep until she noticed her world was becoming brighter, not darker. The Avatar's feet touched down onto the lime green grass of the Spirit World. It was not a place she was familiar with, but it did not seem threatening. Just one of the many open plains of the Spirit World.

In the distance she could see a herd of quadruped spirits grazing. Above her a spirit flew lazily in the sky, circling the area. It reminded her of one of the first days of their vacation.

They had traveled out to the plains, before they had gotten any sort of direction from the spirits, before she had given up hope of finding Iroh and before she told Asami how she felt.

They had been walking all morning in a seemingly endless open field. There was a path carved out through the tall grass, but no sign of any creature with that ability. The path just seemed to have always been there, like part of the landscape. It happened to guide you under every occasional tree that was sparsely scattered among the plains. One of them wondered aloud if it was intentional so you could get a little shade.

Asami suggested a rest, so they stopped below the next tree they passed under. Over the course of their trip, the pair had settled into a wordless routine when they took a break. Korra would lay out her thick woolen blanket, then do a quick check of the area to make sure there were no dangerous spirits lurking about. Asami would pull out their provisions and lay out a small snack and a waterskin.

More often than not they sat in silence. They had talked so much their first few days, about Kuvira, the attack on Republic City, Prince Wu's future plans, the wedding, but very little about themselves, Korra was able to note now as she thought back.

It wasn't an uncomfortable silence, quite the opposite. It was as easy as the quiet she enjoyed right now. It was the comfort of being alone, but she wasn't alone. Korra had never felt like that with anyone before. She had always felt some pressure to say or do something when around another person. The Avatar hoped Asami felt it too. During that time she hoped the taller girl felt many things.

As they sat in silence, they exchanged glances and shy smiles. Korra remembered being so distracted that she didn't notice a spirit had crept up besides them and started poking its snout into Asami's bag. The spirit had a shrewish face, with a long snout, and a shelled body. The girls both jumped, startling the spirit in turn. It shot out its long tongue, circling it around a small food sack about its size and pulling with little effect.

Korra giggled. "They're just looking for a snack."

"Do spirits eat real food?" Asami asked, moving to reach for the sack. The spirit saw her hand coming and pulled harder, just barely moving the bag an inch.

Korra shrugged. "Why not? Give it a hand."

"I'll give it some, but I'm not letting it go off with the whole satchel."

Asami lifted up the sack, and the spirit reluctantly recoiled its tongue back into its snout. She reached in and pulled out a small pita and offered it in her hand. The shrew spirit warily darted its tongue over the flat circle, trying to grasp an edge. Asami folded the pita into a half moon, and the spirit was able to get its tongue around it. Then like a spring trap, it pulled back its tongue and the pita to its face. The spirit darted off down the path without looking back.

"You're welcome!" Korra called out to the spirit as it disappeared behind a curve in the path. The two girls broke into a giggle and exchanged glances. After their laughter died down, Asami inched closer and rested her head on Korra's shoulder.

"I'm so glad we're doing this," Asami sighed.

Korra's face flushed, both in her memory and in the present. The fluttery nervous feeling she had in her stomach at the time washed over her too.

Suddenly the spirit herd broke into a gallop. Korra looked around to see what might have disturbed them, but she saw no new presence. Then she felt the quivering of the ground below.

"It feels like that damn tigerpillar again."

Korra didn't wait to find out, and allowed her spirit to slip out of the Spirit World and back into her body. As soon as she was reunited with the physical world Korra's eyes flashed open. She rose from her seated position, scaled the crates until she was on the tallest stack and looked towards the portal. She could hear in her head the conversation she'd had with the tigerpillar yesterday.

"As the Avatar you should know WHY I am angry. And you should be angry too!"

"What am I guilty of?"

"Using the Spirit World as your personal vacation spot. You can't just loiter about the Spirit World with no purpose, thinking there won't be consequences."

"How could what Asami and I did in the Spirit World be wrong? He's just a grumpy old spirit, unless Varrick and Zhu Li did something far worse than I caught…" Korra let out a groan and pinched the bridge of her nose. She eventually let her face go and turned to face the horizon over the water. The sun was starting to set; she had been gone way longer than she thought. The stiffness she felt in her joints told her that it wasn't a spirit time-jump, but she really had been meditating that long. She clumsily hopped down from the crates and ambled to the docks to catch a ride back to the temple.

When she arrived, it was a stark contrast from the previous night. The grounds were empty, save for a small group of airbenders practicing some stances. She almost did a double take when she saw Jinora sitting with Zhou Rhen, talking as they observed the airbending group's practice.

Korra kept walking, daring one more look back at the pair. She scratched the back of her head and headed towards the main temple building. Sliding open the dining room door, she found Ikki setting the table.

"Hi Korra!" the young airbender said gleefully. She walked the perimeter of the table, laying down cloth napkins, and stopped mid placement. "Oh! Asami wanted me to tell you that she's going to be a little late, but is coming over here, so eat without her."

Korra pouted. "Why? Where is she?"

"Asami said she had some things she needed to do at her old house, didn't say what. I offered to help, but she said she needed to do it alone." Ikki sighed, laying the last napkin in her hand down.

"That's weird…"

After a few hours of impatient waiting, Tenzin suggested Korra should just go check on her. Korra touched down on the front walkway leading up to Asami's family mansion. She retracted the wings of her staff and held it to her side. It dawned on Korra that even though she had been here a few months ago dropping Prince Wu off, she couldn't remember the last time she had actually gone inside the building.

Korra tried the door; it was unlocked, but still took some effort to open given its size. The large atrium wasn't lit, but a few random rooms down the hall were. The sun likely had set after Asami had come in, and she was turning lights on as needed.

There weren't many signs that Grandma Yin and company had ever been there. Korra had noted that the mansion had always lacked a lot of personal effects on display, looking more like a public building than a home, so why would it be any different now?

Korra checked all the rooms downstairs with lights on, and went back into to the atrium, right before the lavish staircase to the next floor.

"Asami?" Korra called out, realizing she could have done this from the start. "You in here?"

The Avatar strained to hear what she thought might have been a sound from upstairs. She called out again and started to walk up the many steps. Korra's hand found the rich oak bannister, and effortlessly slid up it. The feeling made her heart skip a beat and she stopped.

"A-Asami?"

"I'm here! I'm in my bedroom!" Asami called back.

Korra's heart then began to double its pace and she suddenly felt very nervous. She swallowed hard before replying, "Okay!"

Korra made it up the last step, onto the second floor foyer and paused.

"Why does this feel so familiar?" she wondered, eyeing her surroundings.

At the end of the of the hallway, a soft light peeked out from the open door, highlighting a slice of the deep red carpet. As Korra moved closer she could hear music playing softly. The song was ending, and as she broached the door Korra heard the soft click and scratch of the needle leaving the record.

Korra made it to the open door frame and peered in. Asami was seated in front of her vanity, slowing brushing out her hair. She watched for a moment as Asami's delicate pale hands guided the bristles through her thick black mane.

Asami broke the silence, as she swiveled in her padded stool to meet her girlfriend's eyes. "Hey."

"I uh… got worried," Korra managed to murmur.

"I'm sorry. I got kind of caught up here… I don't even know what I'm doing, I just felt like I needed to come back. It's strange, now that this house truly is mine … He's never coming back here."

Tears began to sneak out of the corners of Asami's eyes and down her cheeks. Korra finally moved from the door frame and knelt down beside the stool. Asami's hands reflexively moved towards her face to catch the tears, but Korra's hands intercepted and brought them to her chest.

"I'm so sorry about your father…" Korra started.

Asami weakly smiled and shook her head. She leaned down and placed her lips on Korra's forehead.

The Avatar closed her eyes at the contact. "Right, no talking about the past."

Asami moved her lips along Korra's forehead, placing them on her temple, and down her left cheek, quickly moving to her right.

"Shouldn't I be the one comforting you with kisses?" Korra murmured. She released Asami's hands, and moved her own to her girlfriend's face. Korra eased Asami's head back far enough so they could meet each other's eyes.

Korra examined Asami's face, and really tried to see what her girlfriend needed. She was almost startled to see Asami's olive green eyes were searching right back. The Avatar's heart began to race under the intense gaze and she found herself blurting out, "Do you want to sleep here tonight?"

Asami looked down, breaking the contact. Korra looked around the room. It was clearly Asami's; elegant furniture mixed with technical drawings tacked to the wall. In the middle of the room was a large bed, with tall posts covered by a silky red canopy "I didn't realize you didn't take any of your furniture to your apartment… I guess I've never really been in this room."

Asami cracked a smile. "I never figured out a way to get you up here," she said, wiping clear tear stained cheeks with her newly freed hands.

"Really, would you like to stay here for the night?" Korra asked again.

"And you'd stay with me?"

Korra gave her a crooked smile back. "I wouldn't want you sleeping in a big house all by your lonesome."

Asami wiped her eyes a few more times, while she looked around the room.

"Okay, but you better call Pema so no one else comes looking for me."

Korra tapped her finger on the receiver as she waited for someone to pick up.

"Wang's fish fry, you kill em' we'll grill em'," a young male voice said casually over the line.

"Meelo?"

"Yeah, what'll it be?"

The Avatar rolled her eyes as she switched hands. "It's Korra, can you put your mother on?"

Meelo groaned and called out to his mother. "Mom! Korra's on the phone. She's coming."

"Great."

There was a brief pause between the two. Korra imagined Meelo was likely sitting in the phone room, carelessly picking at his nose.

"So, whatcha doing?" the young airbender finally asked.

"Uh, at Asami's house."

"Doing what?"

Korra's heart began to pick up its pace again. "N-nothing! You know what, you can just take a message-"

"Here's Mom," Meelo said, cutting her off. The line went silent for a moment as it passed hands.

"Korra, is everything alright?" Pema asked.

The Avatar slapped a hand to her face. "Yes, I feel silly for dragging you to the phone. I just wanted to let you know, so no one would worry, that I'm not coming home tonight."

"Oh, that's fine. Thank you for checking in."

Korra could feel Pema waiting for her to respond with a sign off. Something kept the Avatar on the phone. The words were in her mouth, but they wouldn't move, she could only chew on them.

"Anything else, Korra?"

Korra nervously put her other hand to the bottom of the receiver, cradling it as close as possible to her face. She cleared her throat before speaking.

"Pema... Were you... Were you scared your first time?"

Korra winced once the words were out. She wanted to throw the phone on the floor and get as far away as possible from the question she just asked. Her hands shook the receiver against her ear. Pema's few seconds of silence felt like an eternity, so Korra moved to abort.

"Never mind I don't know I'm asking-"

Pema cut her off. "I was, but I think everyone is honey."

"Yeah…"

"But if you're with someone you trust, and they trust you, it will all work out."

Korra stared down at her feet as she considered Pema's words. She wasn't sure what kind of answer to expect, especially from Pema. It was a simple response, but what else could anyone really say?

Pema cleared her throat. "Well, I need to get back to Rohan, it's his bedtime."

"Yeah, yeah. Thank you Pema."

"You're welcome. Good night."

"Night." Korra slowly lowered the receiver and disconnected the call. "It's going to be so awkward the next time I see her…"

Korra could hear music starting again in the hallway. She walked to Asami's room to peek in, but her girlfriend was gone.

"Asami?" the Avatar asked, already shuffling down the steps.

"I'm downstairs, just grabbing a bottle of wine…" Asami called back.

Korra found her in a large lounge. Asami had changed into her red silk robe. It was loosely tied shut, covering just enough of the important parts that if anyone walked in she wouldn't be too embarrassed. She had a drinks cabinet open, and a hand on either side of the glass doors.

"Apparently you should drink different varieties of wines in different types of glasses," Asami offered, not turning around. "That's a tidbit I picked up at my last fundraiser gala. A business partner told me the ones we were offered were incorrect for red, completely ruined the evening."

Asami turned her head around and winked. "You want some wine? I bet you don't care what kind of glass it's in?"

Korra moved closer until her body was behind Asami's. The Avatar wrapped her arms around her girlfriend's waist, and rested her chin on her shoulder. Asami let her hands fall from the cabinet doors and to the countertop below them.

"Or maybe you're not interested in wine at all?" Asami asked, her voice a little shaky.

Korra squeezed a little tighter, burying her face so when she spoke her words were a bit muffled. "Not really, but I might need a little liquid courage."

Asami smiled and reached up for a glass. "Maybe I'll just pour one glass, and we can share it."

Korra nodded into her. "Come with me upstairs?"

Asami used her free hand to squeeze back. "Yes."

Hand in hand Korra and Asami ascended the elaborate staircase of the Sato family home.

To be continued...