A/N: Thanks to Black Dragon Master, MagatsuIza, Sharpe, Tertius711, Guest, Doctor Mau, IrishDreamer4, StevenBodner, Lightbrightfury, Raider, FireLordAziz, devilfiredog18, and Aquamirra for reviewing!

Time check: Spring, 177 AG (2 years and 7 months post-Book 4)

56. Since the return of her stay on the moon, she listens like spring and she talks like June

Asami lands the airship smoothly.

"Here we are," she says as she unbuckles her seatbelt. "Back in Republic City."

He looks out the window and sees the familiar skyline of the city he calls home. It feels almost surreal to be back after a full month in the Fire Nation — and the discoveries made there. Republic City is exactly the same, but so much has changed for him.

"Do you guys need to be anywhere?" he asks.

"I'm meeting Opal at Air Temple Island tonight, but I can spare a few hours," says Bolin.

"Same," says Asami. "Uh, not the 'meeting Opal' part."

"I'm free," says Korra. "Why?"

He smiles. "Let's go for coffee."

They wind up at Elemental Coffee, where he and Zoya had had their first date (he does not mention that to the others, because this place has good coffee, okay?).

Once they've placed their coffee orders, he offers, by way of explanation, "I needed a little normal."

"I don't blame you," Asami agrees. "After the trip we've had…and I'm sure there was tons going on during the twelve days before I showed up, too."

"Not much, actually," says Bolin. "It was mainly heart-to-heart conversations and looking through documents for our mom — and trying to convince Varrick that Fire Lord Izumi would not appreciate vendors within the palace grounds."

"Did Izumi agree to let him establish a subsidiary of Varrick Global in Caldera?" Asami asks curiously.

"Eventually, with certain conditions." Bolin arches an eyebrow at the businesswoman. "Thinking of expanding Future Industries?"

Asami winks. "You never know what might happen in the future, right?" She laughs. "I don't have plans to expand to other countries right now, but it's something to keep in mind for five or ten years down the line."

"I'll just be thankful if there are no major world crises for the next five years," Korra says fervently.

Bolin gasps in dismay. "Don't jinx it!" he exclaims, tapping the table earnestly. "Touch the wood, people — touch the wood right now!"

Nonplussed, the other three trade bewildered glances, but nevertheless obligingly lay their hands on the wooden surface of their coffee table.

"What exactly is this supposed to do, Bo?" he wonders.

Bolin grins a little sheepishly and takes a sip of his coffee. "It's for good luck — actually, more specifically, it's to avoid bad luck. When you say something you hope for, you're supposed to touch wood to prevent any bad spirits from messing it up for you."

"How on earth does touching wood keep bad spirits away?" Korra questions incredulously.

Bolin holds up his hands. "I know it doesn't make logical sense. It's just something that's sort of catching on among people. Look, at this point, people can bend air, water, earth, fire, metal, lava, lightning, spirits, plants, and blood, right? Wood seems to be one of the few natural things that can't be bent these days, and it's readily available — so it's kinda like…a source of stability, y'know? Something unbendable and unchangeable — so you touch it so that nothing changes what you just said you wanted to happen." He shrugs broad shoulders. "It may sound a little silly, but better safe than sorry, right? Especially with our luck."

When put that way, he supposes it makes a strange sort of sense. It also occurs to him then that out of the four of them, Bolin is probably the one most involved with ordinary people — regular folk, so to speak. Korra deals with dignitaries and politicians and crazy benders; Asami's world revolves around inventions, investors, and upper-class citizens; and his job limits his interactions with anyone who isn't in Team Avatar's circle, the police, or triads.

Bolin, however, works on the ground and meets all sorts of people everyday. Unlike Future Industries, which focuses on technology and infrastructure, Varrick Global is a mercantile enterprise that targets a massive consumer base all around the world; Bolin has to be in touch with the current social and cultural trends.

From being an innocent, gullible child whom he kept sheltered from as much as he possibly could, Bolin now has more worldly experience than any of them. Fate has quite the ironic sense of humour.

Korra's hand comes to rest on his thigh under the table, and he's reminded that the most ironic twists in his life have brought him the most happiness. He decides that if this is what fate has in mind, he will take what he gets.

They spend a merry hour conversing casually, covering any lighthearted topic that comes to mind — from Korra's progress with lightningbending to Asami's idea for temperature regulation systems in buildings to Bolin's hilariously failed attempt at pranking Meelo. It's marvellously refreshing not to have to discuss earth-shattering revelations or angst-ridden emotions, and he revels in this sense of normalcy. His life may be anything but normal, but moments like these are a welcome respite from the crazy twists of reality.

Presently, Asami checks her watch and announces, "This was really nice, but I have to get going."

"Where are you off to?" he asks curiously as she stands up.

Asami tosses her hair over her shoulder. She looks positively radiant. "I have a date."

"A date?" Bolin repeats with glee. "Well, looks like somebody's been busy while we were away."

Asami smirks. "Yes, we started talking while you three were in the Fire Nation, before I headed over. We made plans to meet when I came back."

"Who's the lucky guy?" he queries.

"Or girl," Korra puts in.

"It's just the first date, guys," Asami says calmly. "If it goes well, then maybe I'll tell you about it."

"Tell us about it even if it doesn't go well," Korra requests. "Nothing eases the disappointment like disparaging a bad date with friends, right?"

Asami makes a face. "All you three are happily coupled up," she points out. "When was the last time any of you had a bad date?"

Touché.

Korra blinks. "Um, well, I just meant…"

Asami laughs, bright and amused. "I'm kidding — of course I'll tell you about it. I have high hopes, though — so we'll see." She waves cheerily and strolls away.

"I hope it's a good date," Korra mutters.

"Me too," he agrees. No one deserves happiness more than Asami; it's about time she finds someone who can stick with her through thick and thin.

Bolin looks between the two of them with amusement. "You guys know she's been on other dates since you got back together, right?"

No, as a matter of fact, he hadn't known. Judging from the look on Korra's face, neither has she.

"Oh, come on," says Bolin. "It's been half a year and Asami's not one to mope. She's been playing the field for a while."

"She never brought up any dates during our lunches," he protests.

Bolin shrugs. "So maybe there's something special about this person. I wouldn't worry too much about it — things have a way of working out."

He meets Korra's twinkling eyes and returns her knowing smile.

Yes, he thinks, I suppose they do.

A/N: Bit of a filler chapter today, but after the momentous Fire Nation narrative we needed a bit of a wind-down to close out the arc. Yes, this is the end of the Fire Nation arc. I have two more arcs planned (with smaller moments in between), and then I think that will be it.

Not sure how many of y'all are familiar with the phrase 'touch wood', but it's very common where I'm from. There is no firm consensus about how the phrase originated, but generally speaking it seems to derive either from: 1) the idea of touching trees (where pagan spirits supposedly resided) to seek their blessing or prevent them from hearing your wish in case they wished to disrupt it; or 2) the idea of touching Jesus's Cross, which was - big surprise - wood. I had fun putting an Avatar spin on it.

Song for today is 'Drops of Jupiter' by Train. I'll save the full analysis for my blog (which should be going live next week!), and some beats will only become clearer in later chapters - but feel free to speculate!