Hi, guys. Look, I actually have an update. Ha... ha. Ahem, anyway, just a fluffy drabble inspired by a prompt from the blog other-wordly over on tumblr. Nothing much else to say about it, really, other than it probably takes place a couple years after the end of Book 1. Usual disclaimers apply. Enjoy~

~Mistpouffer~

(n.) a mysterious sound heard over the ocean in quiet, foggy weather

Waves crashed along the shores of Yue Bay, the tides beating their constant rhythm on the sand as the ocean gradually lightened from deep ebony to soft gray. The sun was just climbing over the horizon, casting its early morning glow over the sleeping streets of Republic City. A cool breeze rolled off the water and over the harbor, carrying with it a layer of fog that blanketed the beaches and misted the city.

Mako sat on the edge of one of the loading docks that stretched out into the bay, his legs dangling over the side, the toes of his shoes skimming the surface of the ocean below. His weight was supported on his hands behind him, his fingers splayed over the wooden platform and gradually going numb from exposure to the chill of the dawn.

It'd been five months.

Five months and sixteen days, to be exact.

Korra had left for Ba Sing Se to deal with some trouble in the inner Earth Kingdom five months and sixteen days ago.

And Mako missed her.

More than anything.

She'd gotten word sometime in mid-spring that trouble was brewing between the old Fire Nation colonies near Ba Sing Se, and that the Earth King was requesting her presence to help resolve the issues. And of course, Korra being Korra, she hadn't thought twice about it. It was her job, after all, and she was always striving to prove herself as the Avatar to the world.

She'd told him she would be back before he even had time to miss her. A week, tops, she'd said.

Again, that was five months and sixteen days ago. Mako had been keeping track since day five.

Things had been alright at first. Bolin had kept Mako company, as usual, and his job on the police force had kept him occupied. But after about a week, coming home to an empty house every night had started to get depressing, sleeping by himself even more so. Korra had been a spark of life to brighten up his day, and with her gone, everything just seemed so much more… plain.

Mako heaved a sigh, lying back on the dock and staring up at the clouds overhead, their hazy forms dyed a pale pink from the rising sun. He'd been coming out to the bay every morning before work for the past few days, hoping to catch a glimpse of Korra's return. Her last letter she'd sent had promised she'd be back within a couple more weeks, at the most, and so naturally Mako had started waiting for that day ever since he'd gotten the message.

Obviously living with Korra had taken a toll on his ability to be patient. She was starting to rub off on him.

A groan tumbled from Mako's lips, and he threw one arm over his eyes, digging his fingers into the wood beneath him with his opposite hand. He needed to go back home and get ready for work soon. Chief Beifong expected him at the station bright and early to go over some paperwork on an arrest he'd made yesterday.

Of course, maybe that was just her excuse to keep him busy. She knew he was going insane without Korra just as much as everyone else did.

Shaking his head once, Mako resigned himself to the knowledge of the approaching daylight. He clambered slowly to his feet, brushing off the seat of his pants and straightening his scarf around his neck. Hands shoved in his pockets, Mako set his course back along the dock, his footsteps reverberating in the quiet air of the morning.

Suddenly, a low, almost indistinguishable noise — he couldn't quite put a name to it, but it somewhat resembled a ship's horn — echoed from somewhere out over the ocean, muffled by the fog. Mako froze in his tracks, one foot half-raised to take another step, his head tilting in the direction the sound had come from.

A beat of silence passed, and then the noise rumbled through the stillness in the air again, slightly louder this time. Mako spun around on his heel, hope flaring in his chest and warming him to the tips of his fingers and toes. It was definitely a foghorn, that much he was certain of now. And he wasn't leaving until he found out just who was on that ship.

His eyes scanned the gray horizon for some sign of the approaching vessel, squinting in a vain attempt to see through the mist. He rubbed at his frozen nose irritably, trying to bring some feeling back into it, his breath rising around his face in translucent clouds.

An eternity seemed to slip by in quiet; the morning felt suffocating now, rather than comforting, as anticipation seized Mako's chest and made it difficult to breathe.

Mako had counted forty-six drums of his pulse in his ears when, finally, a dark shape emerged from the fog, slightly blurred but most definitely a ship. His entire body stiffened, muscles locking into place and fingers curling into fists at his sides. The bellow of the vessel's horn reverberated through the harbor again, but Mako didn't dare approach the end of the pier, in case he'd worked himself up for nothing, and this wasn't Korra's ride home after all.

It wouldn't be the first time.

By the time the ship had actually reached the end of the harbor, and was mooring on the exact dock where Mako was standing, Mako's legs had started to go numb from staying in one position for so long. He wasn't sure when he's started holding his breath, but he was beginning to feel a bit light-headed, so it must've been a while. Even so, he kept the air lodged in his chest, his gaze fixed on the side of the ship as its colossal door was slid aside, and its passengers started to disembark.

He saw Naga first.

She was hard to miss, really, the way she came barreling onto the pier the second she spotted him, her excited barking ringing in the still morning. A rather strange yelp, half of surprise, half of joy, tore from Mako's throat as Naga pounced on him, knocking him to the ground. She stood over him and showered his face with licks, and he shoved her massive head away amidst his laughter, wiping the slobber off his cheeks with his sleeve.

"Well it's good to see you too, Naga."

The polar bear-dog barked again, sniffing at his hair affectionately as she stepped aside to allow him to rise to his feet. He straightened his clothes, reaching out to scratch Naga behind her fluffy ears. She hummed happily, her tail whipping back and forth with enough power to knock a grown man flat on his face.

Chuckling to himself, Mako glanced around Naga's hulking form, heart skipping a beat when he spotted a splash of blue making its way toward him along the dock. His fingers froze, still buried in Naga's fur, and he hardly registered her butting her head against him, begging for more attention.

A split second passed in which Mako's eyes met with those two pools of blue he'd been missing so much — and then Korra was running.

Mako barely had the chance to blink before he was being tackled again, though it was much easier to stay upright when it was from a teenage girl rather than a polar bear-dog. Korra threw her arms around Mako's neck, her face buried in his jacket, her familiar warmth sending jolts of electricity coursing through his veins. He picked her up without a second thought and spun her around, laughter bubbling from her lips and swelling in his chest.

He set her down gently, and then pulled her as close as physically possible, practically crushing her to him, her head tucked under his chin. Her scent wreathed around him, salt water and crisp winter winds and something so distinctly Korra that it made his knees weak and his heart melt.

The two could only bear to stay like that for a moment, and then Korra was stretching up on her toes, Mako was tilting his head downward, and they were kissing like they hadn't kissed since she'd left. Korra's fingers snaked their way up the back of Mako's neck and into his hair, and Mako cradled her face between his hands, running his thumbs over her cheekbones, molding his lips to hers like they were made to fit together.

All around them, the world seemed to fade away into blissful silence, until there was nothing left but just them. Everything else just ceased to matter, ceased to exist, because she was finally home.

Spirits, Mako had missed her.

The firebender had almost forgotten what air was when he and Korra finally separated, both breathing heavily. Mako leaned his forehead against hers, arms tight around her waist, a dopey grin playing around the corners of his mouth.

"So I take it you whipped the Earth Kingdom into shape?"

Korra snorted, tugging on his short hair teasingly. "Of course. Those old windbags on the King's council never knew what hit 'em."

A chuckle rumbled in Mako's throat, and he leaned down to press his lips to her neck; his next words ghosted over her skin, and the shiver that rolled through her only made his smile widen.

"Welcome home, Korra."