"Korra?"

She turned to the familiar voice, dropping her bag on the floor of the Air Temple. He looked startled, his eyebrows lifted and his stance uncertain, hovering by the entryway to the dining hall.

"Mako," Korra replied. "What are you doing here?"

And then he had that dorky half-smile on his face he wore only when he was going to try to make a joke. "Well, my old apartment is kind of rubble-y, and I don't think my new apartment has been built yet, so…"

"So Tenzin offered you a room," she finished.

"Yeah."

There was an awkward pause.

"So how were the spirits?"

Korra shrugged. "Mostly agreeable, actually. They seem grateful that I stopped the whole Kuvira fiasco, so we only got attacked once or twice." She grinned. "Asami didn't find the scarcity very comforting, though."

He let out a huff of a laugh, and then there was another loaded pause.

Korra took the moment to steel herself.

"Hey, you, uh, wanna take a walk with me for a minute?"

He hesitated for a second. "Sure."

The waves were rough on the beach, the sky slightly overcast. The two of them stopped at the end of the path, standing a familiar distance from each other.

"I'm sorry."

"What?" he said, caught off guard again.

"Sorry I didn't write. I know I already said it, but, you know. It needed to be said again."

Mako took a moment, staring at the ground, avoiding her gaze.

"I forgive you. I know it was rough for you. Just… don't do it again." There was a waver in his voice at the end.

"I won't," Korra promised. She tried to smile. "I'd apologize for the last month, too, but I have a viable excuse for this one."

"No post in the Spirit World?"

"No post in the Spirit World."

The silence that followed was more comfortable, with both of them looking out at the bay, but there was still something in it. Anticipation for something.

"That wasn't all I wanted to talk about."

He looked back at her, meeting her eyes.

"I've been thinking a lot. Especially over the last few weeks," she rushed to get the words out. "About you, I mean. About, you know… us."

He waited, holding her gaze, suddenly determined not to shy away.

"I think… maybe we should give it another shot. I think we've both grown up a lot since last time. I think we can work-"

"Korra."

He took her hand, and she stopped abruptly.

She was staring at him and seeing him emerging from the wreckage of downtown with half his arm burned off, and waving goodbye from the dock with Bolin, Asami, and Tenzin, and pledging his loyalty to her at a billionaire's wedding, and following her straight into the Spirit Wilds, and pulling off his probending helmet to the roar of the crowd.

He hesitated, again, wanting to find the right words.

"You know I think you're amazing. You're selfless, and brave, and kind. I've never met anyone else like you in my entire life," he was rushing too, now, and stopped himself again.

"What I'm trying to say is..." and his face broke into a real, full-blown grin as the right words finally came to him. "I really like you and I think we were meant for each other."