"This vacation is bound to be less eventful than the spirit world," Korra assures.
She airbends another bag of supplies up onto Oogi's back. With this mode of transportation, they're able to pack more thoroughly than they had for their previous adventure. There's enough luggage for three people again – just Asami and Mako will be accompanying Korra on this trip, barring any last-minute changes.
"You say that," Mako responds cautiously. He's standing in front of Oogi, allowing the huge flying bison to sniff at his hand as if he were acquainting himself with a dog.
"It's a full day's flight over nothing but the ocean. We'll stop at a couple islands for potty breaks, but the plan is to rest overnight at the Water Tribe Sacred Island, halfway to the temple. It's another day's flight to the Southern Air Temple," Korra explains. "I trust Oogi to only need a handful of pitstops. He's flown this route with Tenzin before." She approaches Oogi's front, patting him on the nose. He huffs happily at her, blowing a gust of bison breath in their direction.
Mako rests his hand on Oogi as well, just briefly. "And you can steer this guy?"
"Tenzin let me take the reins before. Oogi won't throw me off, at the very least." The bison tries to lick at her hand with his oversized tongue, but Korra and Mako pull away simultaneously.
Her airbending mentor was initially resistant to the idea of letting Korra take his personal bison for a joyride. But after she explained that she needs to see the Southern Air Temple for herself, to see the statues of her past lives, Tenzin relented. One week and no longer, he said. Indeed, Oogi is an ideal candidate for this task: having traveled much of the world, he is unlikely to become lost, even if Korra doesn't guide him at all.
Planning ahead, after her fire chakra is opened, the next hurdle will be the air chakra. Located near the heart, it deals with love and is blocked by grief. Korra wants to confront her past lives face to face. Even if their countenances are made of stone and not soul, she wants to study them, to learn more than just their names and trivia from history books.
Mako said the biographies they read within the spirit library deprived each individual of the context of their time and culture. Now she begins to understand what he meant. There's more to discover from each of them, even if it's just memorizing their features, their height, their garb, their places in the line of reincarnation. The grief of not knowing them will not restrain her after this.
She turns to Mako then, appreciative that he's willing to assist her in this matter once again. Even if he is prone to poor judgment calls in his personal life, she underrates his wisdom often. Much of the friction between them comes from differences of perspective. She needs to learn from that.
"My fire chakra is nearly open, I can feel it," she tells him, holding a hand just below her ribcage. "I want you to meditate with me on the way. Show me how you keep your fire chakra open."
"I'm not sure if it is," Mako disagrees. "I can generate lightning but that's about it. That doesn't mean much."
Mako mimics her posture, however, touching his abdomen. It's in the same spot where his secondary burn had been. The flow of chi in that area felt strong, even so, as if it had resisted any disturbances.
"Then teach me what it takes to lightningbend," she offers instead. "If Iroh was right about shame blocking the ability, and if the fire chakra is affected by shame… And opening a chakra seems to be connected to gaining a sub-skill, such as lightning…"
He capitulates with a sigh. "I'll do my best to teach you. Lightningbending is dangerous though, and has to be done with a clear mind. I haven't attempted it since the Colossus."
It is uncertain whether he will be able to generate lightning if the chi circuits within his arm are still somewhat weakened. The hardest part of lightningbending involves controlling the direction the energy flows. Poor control is explosive, and kills.
"Just guide me through the thought process and motions," Korra says. "We'll try it for real once my fire chakra is fully open."
There are reins looped around Oogi's horns, but Korra was correct in assuming he didn't need much in the way of guidance. When all land masses disappear beyond the edge of the horizon, she releases the reins and tells Oogi she trusts him to fly to the bazaar located on the eastmost island of the Fire Nation. He groans some sort of reply, tail swishing enthusiastically.
Korra crawls back into the saddle. It's surprisingly spacious and flat, roomy enough for all three of them to lay down and nap if needed. The wind is strong up here, though, blowing their hair around if they don't slouch down. Asami has tied her hair into a braid. When Korra requests it, Asami helps to tie Korra's hair into a bun. It's grown a bit longer, but Asami leaves the front pieces down in a style familiar to the Avatar.
"You wore it like this at Varrick's wedding. The first time I kissed you," Asami says with fondness. Her fingers toy with the baby hairs at Korra's neck, remembering. "It's a gorgeous look. You should wear it like this more often."
"I'll wear it at our wedding," Korra tells her, and the way Asami coughs and draws back in surprise makes Korra cackle. Korra chases after her, leaning in to smooch that shocked expression off her face. "I'm joking! Sweetie. We've been together for like, two months. I promise I'm not making plans."
Asami puts both hands on Korra's face then, capturing her to give her a stern expression. It immediately fizzles into a grin. "No joking about that, or else," she chastises. "Give it a few years and I'll hold you to that."
When Korra is released, she lets herself fall back against the edge of the saddle, dazed.
All she can think about is Asami's crimson dress from the night Varrick and Zhu Li were married, with her golden bangles and necklace, those lips painted lovely and dark. Asami was surely the most beautiful person in the world at that moment, save for the bride.
Asami remained beside Korra for the last hour of that event, holding her hand when they returned to a table. Korra had just enough courage to caress Asami's thumb with her own. Asami had been bolder, finding a secluded corner to kiss her once, twice, before they had to part ways. Pressing their foreheads together, she wordlessly made her feelings known, in no uncertain terms.
In no time at all, they ventured into the spirit world, where they could hold hands and kiss without hesitation or care. No one but spirits could judge them there. It's a shame they didn't have longer, a year or a lifetime, to spend together in that place, just the two of them.
But there's too much to do. Too much to resolve before the next dictator or dark spirit comes to threaten their world.
Asami's wearing a burgundy dress today, covering her neck but exposing her shoulders, with black leggings below. It feels like one of the last days of fall before winter truly strikes and Asami's making the most of the season before it departs. She has a mind for fashion, whereas Korra and Mako both tend to fall back into their routines.
Mako is wearing gray again, boring as ever but comfortable for him. He is sitting on the opposite side of the saddle with feet resting flat and knees drawn up. A book is settled in his lap but he doesn't seem to be wholly focused on reading it.
Korra sends a little shot of air in his direction, folding the book forward into his chest. "Are we gonna open my fire chakra or what?"
"I told you I don't know how to do that," he says, closing the book. It's the one from Tenzin's library that explains chakras, though, so Mako isn't entirely disinterested in learning more. "From what I can gather, it's odd that your fire chakra is closed at all. This seems to happen to people who are emotionally closed off and pushing others away." He looks between her and Asami, raising his eyebrows. "It doesn't feel like you're doing that, Mrs. Sato."
Nervous laughter bubbles out of her, and not at his jest. She's certainly pushing people away. Mako, specifically, is being held at a distance. Even as she's invited him on this journey out of respect and camaraderie, knowing he's an honest friend who will help her in any way he can, she's intentionally resting opposite him and several feet away.
Korra isn't letting herself be bogged down by guilt now. Her heart can feel however it wants. It can be confused by the memory of him, long at the sight of him. She still wants to keep her distance, knowing how anxious she feels when he's too close and too damnably charming.
Thinking over it, Korra realizes she keeps other people at a distance too. Even when discussing feelings of guilt with Asami, the conversation circled around her hesitation in being honest. There are still walls built up in her heart and mind meant to bar anyone from witnessing her truth.
"I thought it was blocked by shame," Korra points out, uneasy that she may have to continue exposing her deepest insecurities. "I remember that's the word we wrote down in the spirit library. It's what Iroh said troubled Lord Zuko, too."
Asami searches through one of their packs for her notebook. When she finds it, she flips through a few pages before landing on more information about the fire chakra.
"It could very well be blocked for you," Asami says. "It manifests in a feeling of powerlessness, a lack of direction. Quickness to anger."
"I'm quick to anger?"
Both Mako and Asami give her a look.
Korra sighs. To clarify the status of her chakra, she lets herself meditate again. Legs crossed, knuckles resting together in her lap, she closes her eyes and tries to focus on the third tier from the bottom. With practice she's becoming much more adept at finding their locations. Chi can be felt swirling around it quite slowly, as if it were more like a partially clogged drain than a whirlpool.
"It could be more open," she relents. "Okay… So how can I be shameless?"
"I know how to be shameless." Asami teases Korra by squeezing her cleavage together. Payback, perhaps, for making Asami lose composure a moment ago.
Korra doesn't protest. Instead, she lets her gaze linger, not letting Asami win this one.
"I'm sure the more chakras you open," Mako says casually, drawing their attention back to the topic at hand, "the easier the rest becomes. They're all tied together. Less fear spells less anxiety. Less guilt means less pushing people away. Without shame, you're more open. It makes sense they're like a ladder from bottom to top. You can't tap into pure cosmic energy or whatever while being burdened by the rest."
She did convince herself to invite Mako to ensure guilt couldn't hold her captive anymore. That, in turn, lessened how much she's pushing him away. One chakra is linked to the next.
"Everything is connected," Korra agrees hesitantly. She explored this logic before, not long ago. "Toph told me about that. She spoke about the connectedness of all things, and taught me how to see through the vines and roots that run all over the world. She was more in touch than anybody, even while living in a swamp. 'Nothing is truly separate.' Toph learned how to metalbend with that mindset because she realized metal has earthen impurities. Teaching me to look beyond the illusion of separation allowed me to feel metal still inside me."
She scratches at an arm, feeling itchy at the memory of how it burned, drawing particles out from deep within herself. With Toph's help, she was able to metalbend with more skill than Suyin, somehow.
Asami's memory is sparked by something. She flips to another page in her notes, furrowing her brow as she scans for something crucial.
"Illusion," she says at last, pointing to a note she made there. "Toph may have opened the light chakra in you. It deals with insight, and is blocked by illusion. It sounds like her teaching you to look past the 'illusion of separation' did this."
Light chakra. It's high up on the ladder, second to last.
"That would mean I opened this one out of order, though," Korra says with uncertainty. "The light chakra is number six."
"I'm sure it's possible," says Mako. "I can't say I'm not held back by fear or guilt. If my fire chakra is open, then I skipped opening the two before it."
They're silent for a while, speculative. This feels much more complex than they bargained for.
Bending is so much more than mere elemental gifts from the lion-turtles. It's cosmic, spiritual. Transcendental.
If one's emotional wellness directly translates to one's flow of chi, and thus their ability to bend, then it's no wonder Korra has a history of struggling with it all.
Korra starts to get a headache and presses fingers between her eyebrows, near where the light chakra should be. Closing her eyes, she tries to meditate upon this area.
It isn't blocked at all.
She doesn't feel wise, nor intelligent, but she's somehow predisposed to insight in a manner her predecessors were not. She's the first metalbending Avatar, as Suyin said. She certainly isn't the first Avatar to open their light chakra, but she is the first to use it to its full potential in this way.
"Aang never learned how to metalbend," Korra voices after some consideration. He had lived for sixty-six years, ignoring his time in the iceberg. Toph was one of his dearest friends and resided in the same city as him. Surely he tried to learn the skill as it became more commonplace. "Tenzin said he opened all of his chakras. The last one was difficult for him – the thought chakra, not the light. But if the light chakra is responsible for metalbending, then why couldn't he do it?"
"Maybe it had something to do with his personality," Mako offers. "They say he was kind and forgiving to a fault. He was the type to take someone's bending away rather than kill them, even if that person would have destroyed everything. You're more of… a realist, I'd say. Does that have something to do with seeing beyond illusion? Trickery, falsehoods? Disingenuity?"
"Then Bolin couldn't learn how to metalbend because he's not a realist," Asami says. She closes her notebook, setting it down with a saddened expression. "I imagine every earthbending Beifong can metalbend because none of them are naive. Blind faith, unending trust, or however you want to word it… That trait may be what prevented both Avatar Aang and Bolin from learning how to metalbend."
'Realist' is a nice way of saying Korra wouldn't hesitate to kill someone when duty calls. Unlike Aang. Unlike sweet Bolin.
But she remembers Kuvira falling into her arms, then scrambling away from her, furious in disbelief that her life was spared. Crying, crumpled and clutching at herself, voicing the despair that comes from abandonment and abject failure. It was not naivete but empathy and temperance that made Korra deflect the spirit energy away. Korra was not blind to reality, and did not spare Kuvira because she opposed death as a consequence. She could see the truth within Kuvira that they were two sides of the same coin. Two traumatized soldiers desperate to complete the impossible to achieve peace of mind again.
Kuvira knew the ugly truth of the world, like Korra. Disillusioned as all metalbenders are.
Kuvira would do the same in Korra's shoes, if she were the Avatar denied access to her past lives. Until her dying breath, she would fight to restore peace and safety to her people. She would do anything to prove her worth.
Korra drops her hand from her head, trying to relax and feel the breeze across her face. Her fingers find the wooden rim of the saddle. She fingers the wood grain there, trying to imagine what it was like to be Aang. Patient, gentle, and forever empathetic, to a fault.
"Aang," she says, calling to him as if he could hear. "You were so powerful. What stopped you from metalbending? Was it the best parts of you that held you back?"
Nothing carries on the breeze. It is silent, save for the whisper of wind past them and the swishing of Oogi's legs and broad tail.
Korra wonders if there's a flaw in her so great she'll never accomplish this goal. Lavabending, lightningbending – none of it matters when compared to the restoration of her past lives.
Even something that could be considered an objectively positive trait may hinder abilities. A full heart held Aang back. Love held Zaheer back, for a time, until he let his beloved go.
Asami crawls directly beside her, wrapping an arm under and around Korra's.
"What is stopping you from lavabending?" Asami asks, gentler now as she senses a change in Korra's demeanor. "Maybe we all favor specific chakras in the same way we favor emotions, and being insightful comes easier to you than others. That is why you can do one specialized type of bending and not another… Just as the fire chakra with its willpower and courage comes easier to Mako. If that's an innate trait, it would explain why he was able to learn lightningbending so easily, without any 'paradigm shift', as Iroh called it."
"Willpower," Mako echoes. He shakes his head. "It's a nice thought, but I'm not sure that's a strength of mine."
Since they're sitting down, demonstrating the full-body movements that lightningbenders utilize is a bit difficult, so Mako instead explains the technique behind the skill once again.
There's positive and negative energies in all of us, and their interaction together is what makes chi. Lightningbenders are able to parse the difference between the two energies, carefully deconstructing positive yin from negative yang. The energy desperately tries to reconnect, however, and in the moment it snaps together, it explodes into lightning.
There's more to it, like preventing lightning from reaching anywhere near the heart. Lightning redirection is a whole separate skill from lightning generation, Mako explains, and most lightningbenders would not be able to safely redirect a strike. A mecha tank once electrocuted Mako and it took all of his might to push the electricity into his stomach and back out through an arm. He had never redirected before that moment, and only knew of the procedure thanks to his stint at the power plant. Operational safety guidelines, or something.
Before they're able to get much further into the lesson, Oogi groans again and starts sinking downward. Korra jumps up, rushing over to see what's the matter, but instead is delighted to find islands appearing in the distance.
"Good boy, Oogi!" she cheers, sliding back over the saddle and settling herself behind his big head. The reins are airbended back into her hands. "Smart boy! Yes, we're going there."
Mako rests behind her in the saddle, watching their target come into view. "We'll practice more tomorrow," he promises.
It's midday, maybe an hour off from sunset. They're only stopping here for a short while before continuing on until they reach their second checkpoint. They should have more time today to practice. It's an extremely exciting skill to learn more about, and bending lightning seems more up her alley than any other sub-skill.
Korra reluctantly agrees to wait, not wanting to exhaust the poor man already.
The bazaar is tucked between two mountains peeking up from the ocean. White buildings line both sides of a paved avenue, with red, pointed roofs gleaming in the sun. There are ships and even some small bi-planes docked here, all trading goods or traveling through.
She lands Oogi far enough away from the settlement so no villager will bother him. The flying bison is happy to receive plenty of food to munch while he waits for them to return.
"You're not tied, so just fly away if anyone bothers you," she tells Oogi. She holds Tenzin's bison-shaped whistle up from a string around her neck. "I'll call for you if you go anywhere."
Oogi grunts through a mouthful of cabbage, and she thinks he understands.
The bustling bazaar is filled with numerous shops, market stalls, and vendors eager to hawk their goods. Lanterns adorn the fronts of every establishment, with some still flickering orange even in the light of day. Nearby, a forge crackles, smelling of flame and soot and iron, while a weapons merchant sits proudly in front of her display of blades. Other stalls boast a variety of exotic spices, shimmering silks and other fabrics, perfumes, charms and figurines, and an abundance of street foods.
The metalwork here is intricate and delicate, something the Fire Nation is renowned for. Asami stumbles across a fine jewelry merchant that specializes in gold and silver. Mako and Korra help to find a necklace that suits her. When Mako places a thin, golden choker around her neck, she touches the tiny garnets fastened in the front of it, considering this one longer than the rest. Korra tells her she always looks beautiful in red, so Asami buys it.
Mako runs his fingers between scarves at one stall, then carries on without purchasing anything.
They collectively ignore the newspaper vendor. Any of their names may be found in the news, even here, and none of them want to know what is said.
Korra is resistant to buying anything until she finds a pair of cloth hand puppets resembling a youthful Fire Lord Zuko and Avatar Aang. Zuko looks nothing like the kind old man she knows, and Aang looks like a painted egg, so she obviously has to buy the pair.
One vendor is shouting about fire whiskey. They sell shots openly on the street here and the cultural difference is enough to grab their attention. Asami holds Korra's hand and leads her over to the stall to say hello.
"Is it spicy?" Asami asks, peering at the variety of bottles the vendor has on display.
"Is it legal to drink in public?" Mako mutters behind them.
"Yes and yes!" shouts the vendor before excitedly showing Asami what he has in stock. Some seem spicier than others, and some are certainly more expensive than others. Asami ends up buying his so-called smoothest bottle of dragonfire whiskey, which Korra doesn't believe could possibly be smooth.
The Fire Nation, though. It's the first time any of them have been here, save for Korra who only met a handful of fire sages after washing ashore nearby. The cuisine and architecture are beyond interesting, much of it recognizably similar to what she's seen in parts of Republic City. Mako discovers a type of sweet curry his mother would make in his youth, so of course they all have to try it.
After a while, they're eating some sort of kebab, various pastries, and sipping fire whiskey as they walk and talk.
When they finally return to the bison, Korra helps both of her friends into Oogi's saddle with her airbending. Asami is a little wobbly and Mako has a flush creeping into his cheeks that wasn't there an hour ago. Korra can feel the alcohol tingling in her extremities. None of them are trashed, having just had a couple sips each, cautious to not get sick on the next stretch of their flight. If they're not going to study anything for the rest of the day, they might as well relax.
Korra takes Oogi's reins and tells him the next location to head to. Four hours or so south will be an island called Water Tribe Sacred Island. It was historically used as a meeting point for both Northern and Southern tribes to seek counsel and settle disputes between one another. Most seafarers make it a goal to plant their feet on the island sometime in their life, and this is Korra's opportunity to do the same.
When Oogi is settled into the flight, with the Fire Nation's islands fading into the orange sky behind them, Korra climbs back into the saddle to join her friends.
Mako amuses them with the puppets. He isn't great at creating new jokes on the spot, but calling Ozai the Fired Lord is apparently so funny Asami breaks into tears. She's drunk, maybe.
Korra lets them goof off while she settles back into a meditative stance. She can feel the element churning in her gut now, hot and alive, but perhaps it's just the whiskey radiating its fire through her. She senses the slowness of her chi collected there, focusing on it, trying to detect if there's any part she could energybend open as she had done with Mako's arm.
Asami eventually draws her knees up to her chest and hugs them, letting herself rest for a while. If she's not giggly and playful when she drinks, she's sleepy. There is a gentle sway riding atop a flying bison that easily lulls you into a state of drowsiness.
Mako watches the sky for a bit. It's dark now, a half-moon reflecting off the clouds and the deep waters below. There's the barest suggestion of rain on the horizon as clouds thicken. He relaxes with an arm thrown back against the edge of the saddle, facing away from the wind and letting it ruffle his hair. Korra wonders what he's thinking about.
When she realizes she's been looking too long, she makes herself resume meditation to clear her mind.
Korra contemplates what needs to be acknowledged within herself. Shame, but not shame – pushing people away, the anxiety roiling in her gut, the self-doubt that lingers still. She needs to embrace her individual will, embrace connection and stop holding others at an arm's length. Despite being fully connected to Asami, there's still something holding her back. She needs to let down more walls in her heart.
She only gets more tense upon further consideration of what that could mean. Any clarity of mind slips away from her then.
She can feel Mako, too close and too far, and she doesn't like what her heart is telling her.
Half an hour passes before Mako slides closer to Korra, quietly asking if she wants a meditation partner. The frustration is clear on her face.
She can meditate alone, but she wants to know how he feels, with his fire chakra forever open. Is he truly better with willpower and establishing a sense of self?
She isn't sure if he pushes people away in the same manner. If the history of this trio is anything to show for it, Mako draws too many people to him, unintentional and chaotic as that might be. If he is a flame, others are moths. She felt like that from the first moment she saw him pro-bending in the arena.
He's such an anxious person Korra isn't sure he's being empowered by his connectedness with others. Maybe it is willpower that makes him hold people at a distance, contradictorily. As if he holds people in his heart but has the strength to hold them at bay simultaneously.
"What does your fire chakra feel like?" she asks, wondering if it is indeed fully open for him.
"I don't know." Mako touches his abdomen again. "This is where the strength to firebend comes from. The 'breath' is here. I don't know any more than that."
Korra ponders how this spot could have deflected the spirit energy from the Colossus' power source. That injury only maimed flesh and hadn't impacted his ability to bend.
"Can I feel for it?" Korra asks, unsure if it's too forward of a request. "I'm wondering how the impact of spirit energy to your stomach didn't disturb the area. We found so much documentation on injuries forcibly opening chakras, but a direct hit didn't affect your fire chakra at all."
Mako allows her. He lays down flat so Korra can hold her hand above the spot just below his ribcage. With an inch of distance, it's hard to get a read on what's going on with his chi beyond the flesh. She focuses hard, eyes closed, and senses the pool of energy here. It's the vagueness of what she's detecting that frustrates her now.
She apologizes when she has to lift his shirt a bit to feel it closer. Fingertips find the burn scar there and he recoils, maybe just because her fingers are colder than him. This scar is located precisely in the same spot as his chakra, as if it had been a lightning rod that drew the spirit energy right to it. If his strength in firebending comes from this spot, then the spirit energy flew to it like a beacon.
With her fingers laid directly on his skin, she can sense the flow better. She detects a disk of energy inside of him, swirling smoothly, burning hot and lively. It always feels warm like this when she touches him, and maybe it's not simply because he's a firebender; this heat and passion are intrinsic to his person. If this chakra is innately open to him, it shows in the entirety of his being.
Korra allows her hand to rest there, feeling his energy thrum. It's like his life source, more intimate than anything she's ever felt with him. She isn't sure which words could be used to describe this.
"The spirit energy was drawn here," Korra murmurs. "When you were lightningbending, the energy must have been attracted to your own power source."
"So, this one is open?"
"Yes," Korra affirms, her tone gentle. "I can feel the fire inside you here. Not the element, but you."
His hand moves up, tentative yet determined, seeking to grasp for this invisible part of himself. He doesn't seem to be able to detect what she's describing.
They both look up as Asami shifts position. Back to rummaging through their packs, she digs into one of Korra's and withdraws the pendulum. When it's handed over, Korra worries about her reaction to their close proximity. This could be a warning.
"Check them all," Asami says, surprising them with her understanding. She looks sleepy, but just as interested as they are.
Mako's hands fall back to his sides. Korra holds the pendulum above his stomach, and it swings readily, clockwise, showing this fire chakra is open as expected. There's the sway from the bison to account for, but the strength of this pendulum is beyond question.
She moves it up a bit, to his air chakra, signifying love. Closed.
Sound chakra, signifying truth. Closed.
"I don't want to know," he says suddenly. Sitting up, he pushes the pendulum back toward Korra. "I'd rather not psychoanalyze myself right now. This trip is about you."
Dejected, Korra retreats slightly, her heart heavy with understanding and disappointment. "I'm sorry," she says, unsure what caused this discomfort. "You're right. Thank you for showing me. I feel like I understand better."
"Thank you," Mako returns. His hand rubs over his chest before he retreats to a safe distance.
As Korra moves to sit beside Asami, the pendulum is returned to her.
Asami looks at it intently, running her fingers over the smooth sides and edges of it, watching it glisten blue in the moonlight.
"Do you want to check yours?" Korra offers.
Asami shakes her head, a small smile playing at the corners of her lips. "No," she says softly. "I agree with Mako. It's not that I don't want to know. I know how I feel, but I don't want to address all of that, quite yet."
Water Tribe Sacred Island is little more than a bumpy outcrop of stone, maybe a few hundred feet long. The rocks are slick and black, possibly volcanic, in the same way the Fire Nation is built upon black stone and sand. There's minimal vegetation here beyond things that grow in the sea. It's underwhelming and stinks of sulfur, but it's historically significant to her people, so Korra tries to find some appreciation for it.
There has to be something supernatural to Oogi's navigational sense. Beyond his ability to fly, he has a perfect sense of direction. He found this tiny place with minimal adjustment and no guidance at all from Korra.
He grumbles happily as Korra feeds him the last of the pastries they got from the bazaar. He deserves it for being this skilled. There's no way he's ever had sugar-filled sweets before, knowing Tenzin, so she wants to spoil the big lug while she can. This time she isn't able to dodge Oogi's appreciative lick.
It's beginning to sprinkle rain. There's no shelter on this island beyond some wooden structures that look like they were built hundreds of years ago, left to rot in the ocean spray and collect barnacles. Korra bends some of the stone to form three walls and a roof to fit on top. It's large enough to shield even Oogi from the sea spray and the rain as it begins falling in earnest.
They all rest sloped against Oogi's tail, exhausted from a full day of flying but seeing so little. All they've done is talk, and think, and talk about thinking. Oogi is a little damp and smells like wet fur, but his presence is enough to ward off any chill. They have ample blankets this time, as well.
Asami finds a comfortable spot curled against Korra's side, one of Korra's arms wrapped around her shoulders.
When Korra rests her head against Mako's shoulder, their backs against Oogi's tail, it feels like the moment they slept with Naga at their back so many years ago. It's hard to resist the memories that flood her mind then. Despite the ample time and distance she's had to forget how much she loves him, the ties that bind have proven unshakable.
Their hands are naturally close to one another, beneath the blankets. Maybe it's Korra's hand that finds him in the beginning, but her fingers are still cold, and he corrects that with his own.
She wonders if this is what sort of connection her mind and body need so desperately. This is grounding, like the earth chakra. Intimate, like water. Bold, like fire. Each aspect adding to a sense of fulfillment she hadn't realized she was missing, culminating with the physicality of his touch.
She discreetly feels for the thrum of his chi again, here in his good arm. It's accentuated with his heartbeat, pounding. She can hear him swallow, too, and feel the tension in him as he resists sleep. And as minutes pass, he finally begins to relax.
When she's on the edge of consciousness, she hears him speak at last.
His words hang in the air, heavy with uncertainty. "What are we doing, Korra?"
She isn't sure what to say and can't bring herself to say anything.
Instead, Korra just exhales deeply, finding solace in the quiet and hoping Mako will do the same.
When she falls asleep, his head is resting against hers, their fingers entwined.