To stay any longer would have been certain death. And so, we began to swim upwards, which was only probable death.

Korra slid effortlessly into the darkness, sleek as a sealbird.

I pushed off after her- but a misjudged angle slammed me into into a steel bracket on the edge of the porthole. The sudden jolt made me gasp in surprise- and my mouth was suddenly full of brackish seawater. I lost track of Korra as the world spun around me. I lost track of everything.

That's when I knew when I was going to die.

I clawed at the water, fighting my way towards the surface, but the cold grip of the ocean slowly choked me, dragging me downward. I couldn't see anything, I couldn't feel anything, save the burning of my lungs. For all I knew, I'd already died, and I just hadn't noticed yet.

A hand reached out from the darkness and grabbed the front of my jacket. It was so dark I could barely make out the outline of Korra's face. Her cheeks bulged with held breath- I would've laughed at how ridiculous she looked, if I had the air to do it.

Korra shook me, insistent. Desperate. I grabbed at Korra's wrist and tried to shake her free- she still stood a chance, if she didn't have me dragging her down. But, weakened as my hands were, my fingers just slipped off of Korra's taut arm.

A look of panic went through Korra's eyes- and then she pulled me even closer and mashed her surprisingly soft lips against mine. She forcefully blew a mouthful of air into my lungs.

Then the world began to spin- not metaphorically, either.

Korra worked her free hand in wide circles, churning the water around us in a twisting vortex. It spun faster and faster, pushing the two of us upwards- we broke the surface a few seconds later, and I instinctively gasped, sucking as much air into my burning lungs as I could.

We sailed through the air in a wide arc. Korra switched from waterbending to airbending to slow our fall, but we still smacked into the concrete with bone-jarring force. We rolled in an awkward, wet, foul smelling jumble, until I finally came to rest on my back, staring up blankly at the night sky. My heart pounded like a racer's engine, which is an entirely valid reaction to nearly dying.

It was just the adrenaline. That's all.

"Asami? Asami!" Korra's face filled my field of vision again. She grabbed hold of my jacket and yanked me up into a sitting position. "Are you okay? Tell me you're okay. You've got to be okay."

I stared into Korra's worried blue eyes, and tried to smile.

Instead, I threw up in her lap. Seawater doesn't sit well, especially after one gets cannoned through the air.

"You're okay!" Korra beamed, and pulled me into a hug (which only got me dirty as well, but in retrospect, I deserved it). She must have had a far different definition of 'okay' than I did.

"Relatively speaking." I managed, and tried to wipe my mouth out as subtly as I could.

Korra squeezed me tight enough to make me worry about the state of my ribs. "Are you sure?"

"Very."

"I'm sorry- I thought I...I don't know what I was thinking."

"Neither do I." I managed a smile. "Still, it...wasn't so bad, despite the almost-drowning. Any landing you can walk away from, right? Or, uh, sinkings you can swim away from."

"I think I get the idea. Now c'mon, let's get out of here." Korra pulled me to my feet, and then scooped me up with effortless ease.

"Hey!" I squeaked in indignant protest. "You don't have to do this."

"Actually, I kind of do." Korra said- and then her airbending-boosted leap carried us up into the air. I instinctively tightened my arms around Korra, which might've been pleasant if it didn't feel like I'd left my stomach back on the ground a block or so away.

We landed not too far from my roadster, and Korra finally set me back down. "You okay to drive?" She said.

"Uh. Probably?" I managed not to throw up again. Barely.

"Good, because I don't really know how."

"Remind me to teach you sometime."

"Deal."

The doorman didn't so much as bat an eye as two bruised, foul-smelling, soaked to the bone young women slipped into the elevator at an ungodly hour of the morning. I wasn't sure if this is a tribute to the professionalism of Sato Heights' staff, or if I'd just developed a reputation.

"Wow," Korra said as soon as we walked through the door. "I knew you were loaded, but not like, you know, penthouse loaded."

I shrugged as casually as I could. "My office is only a few blocks away. I stay here a couple nights a week, whenever I've been working an all nighter. One of the perks of owning the building, I guess. I'll put on some tea." I headed for the kitchen. "Why don't you get cleaned up?

"You go first."

"You're the guest, you first."

"You almost died, you go."

"I threw up on your shirt. You need a shower more."

"Thanks for reminding me." Korra said. "But you don't look so hot yourself."

"No, you first. Not like we can share." I blurted.

"Ha!" Korra said, "You're right. That stupid mecha suit was crowded enough." She turned away from me before she could see me blushing. "Asami, you're loaded, can you have your butler do a load of laundry this late?" She casually peeled herself out of her top and tossed it to the side as she headed towards the bathroom. "I mean, my clothes smell like seaweed and barf." Korra's back was turned to me, so all I could see was the statuesque curve of well-muscled shoulders.

Not that I was looking.

"Sorry about that." I said, and headed for the kitchen. Quickly. "Just leave your clothes in the basket over there, and they'll be laundered in the morning. In the meanwhile, there's a robe in the closet."

"Thanks!" Korra said from within the bathroom. I heard her fiddle with the knobs, and soon enough she was humming the Secret Tunnel Blues, loud enough so I could hear it across the penthouse.

Not that I was listening.

I busied myself with making tea in the kitchen. The routine was simple enough, comforting, a reminder of the fact I hadn't died over the course of the evening's adventures.

I had to remind myself to put out two teacups, though. I wasn't enough of a snob that I couldn't make my own tea- it's just that whenever I did, I usually only brewed up a small amount for myself; just a brief refresher between projects, or at the end of an invariably long day. I wasn't used to having company.

I poured myself a cup, and, aftter savoring the fragrant smell, drank deeply of the steaming hot tea. It warmed me from the inside out, and I felt the evening's stresses slowly begin to melt away. Of course, as my body realized nobody was trying to kill me, the aches and pains from the night's adventuring came creeping up on me. It felt like I pulled a muscle in my left leg, and I was pretty sure my shoulder would show a nasty bruise come the next morning. And on top of that, there was the network of little cuts across my knuckles, which I wouldn't have noticed if it weren't for the saltwater.

I promptly forgot all this as soon as Korra walked out of the bathroom. She wore one of my silk bathrobes, which was easily too long for her. The bottom hem trailed on the floor, and the sleeves hung nearly past Korra's fingers, reminiscent of a little girl playing dress up in her mother's clothing. That is, until the robe's ill fit revealed a swath of brown decolletage, or a length of muscled leg, which would be enough to remind anyone of Korra's real age.

Not that I was looking. Again.

"Next!" Korra shook the dampness from her hair in a gesture that was either a subtle waterbending technique or an imitation of Naga.

"Ah. Right." I said, and quickly downed the rest of my tea. "It won't take me long to clean up. In the meanwhile, make yourself at home, okay?"

"I don't know if that's even possible." Korra padded on bare feet across the penthouse. "It's just so … fancy. You do know I pretty much grew up in igloos and ancient temples, right?" She smiled, crookedly.

"Oh." I said, quiet, and poured myself another cup of tea, and then a second for Korra.
"I didn't realize- I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable or anything."

"It's fine." Korra took the tea, and sipped gratefully. "The only one you should be worried about is me getting spoiled and just moving in. I mean, it's great on the island and all, but...well, there's something to be said for the...finer things." Korra flopped down onto a couch, and sprawled out languidly. "Seriously, I think Tenzin doesn't believe in upholstery."

"I...guess it's an airbender thing?"

"Must be." Korra said.

"Hey, Korra?" I broke the silence before it could become awkward. More awkward. "Before I forget, or before one of us passes out...I just wanted to apologize."

"Apologize?" Korra's eyebrows angled downwards in confusion. It was honestly kind of cute. "For what?"

"For everything. Everything tonight, at least. I mean, I just thought it'd be a nice...girl's night out? Give you the chance to just, y'know, have fun. Not as the Avatar, just...as Korra, you know?"

"Are you kidding me?" Korra leaned forward. "This was the most fun I've had in ages! Okay, sure, the bigfish wasn't that great, but I got to pick a fight, and I drank snake wine, and then we fought crime, and we got away before the cops showed up, so I don't have to explain it to Lin or Tenzin or anyone!"

"Well, when you put it that way..."

"Heck, I should be the one apologizing to you. I just kind of dragged you along, didn't I?"

"I'm not sure if 'drag' is the right term. I mean, technically, I drove you." I smiled, and idly ran a finger around the rim of my teacup. "I'm not sure if I should put 'Avatar Chaffeur' on my resume, though."

"You're right, Naga's better at carting me around."

"Hey!"

"But at least you smell better?"

"Thanks. I think."

Korra slurped down some of her tea, and looked over at me. "Now, go clean yourself up already. You look like you got run over by a truck."

I smiled, despite the multitude of pains making themselves known throughout my body. "I think getting in a car wreck is the only bad thing that hasn't happened to me yet."

"The night's still young."

"I'll stick with the shower."

"Good call."

The mirrors were still fogged from the warm water when I got into the penthouse bathroom. I didn't bother wiping the mirror to take a look at myself. I wasn't sure if I could handle it. I left my sodden clothes on the floor and staggered into the shower. I braced myself against the marble wall with one hand and fiddled with the controls with the other. I swore beneath my breath as the resulting spray of cold water stung my skin, even if it paled in comparison to the abuse I'd taken earlier in the evening.

I needed a cold shower anyway.

It's good for your circulation. Really.

With the sheen of sweat, blood, salt, and whatever other best-unknown grime rinsed from my skin, I wrapped a decadently fluffy towel around myself, and then another one around my hair. I still didn't dare look at myself in the mirror, and I still felt halfway dead, but at least I'd die clean.

"You know Korra, you could've told me you used all the hot water." I said as I stepped out of the bathroom.

No response.

"Korra?" I tried again.

Nothing.

Just in case, I picked up a formidably heavy statuette from a little sideboard along the wall. It wasn't a shock-glove, but the polished wood weighed heavy enough in my hand to serve as an improvised weapon. Not to mention the humiliation whatever unseen assailant would feel at getting clobbered over the head with a statuette of a turtleduck.

I crept through the penthouse, statue-club at the ready. Thankfully, no ninjas leapt out at me. Instead, I saw Korra sprawled out on my couch, snoring softly. She hadn't even finished her tea; the half empty cup steamed away on the table beside her. I couldn't blame Korra, at least- after all we'd been through, I wanted nothing so more as to curl up in my own bed myself. Or heck, my bed was all the way on the other side of the penthouse, and Korra looked more than comfortable enough on the couch...

I shook the thought out of my head and rubbed at my eyes- between the snake wine, the fights, and the near death experiences, I wasn't thinking straight. I forced myself to keep playing the good host, though, and draped a blanket over Korra, just in case.

She murmured what might've been thanks under her breath, took a handful of the soft blanket, and curled up on the couch. Such a normal, even vulnerable gesture made Korra look like...Korra. Not the Avatar, but just a tired, damp, and possibly slightly drunk young woman.

The realization was enough to remind me that I was also tired, damp, and possibly slightly drunk, so I finally headed back towards my bedroom.

"Hey, Asami?" Korra said, her voice heavy, tired.

I turned at the doorway to my bedroom. "Is everything okay? Are you okay?"

"M'fine." Korra tugged the blanket tighter around her. "Just, before I forgot...I just wanted to say thanks. For the fish. And everything else, I guess."

"You're welcome, Korra."

At least I fell asleep smiling.