A.N.: In my head-canon, Asami and Tenzin bond over the smallest of things and have dozens of moments like these.

Tenzin had just bid Kai and Ryu farewell on their first solo mission when he spotted Asami. It was midday, meaning the inventor and new contracted re-designer of Republic City should have been at her office reviewing plans or in meetings about the plans for making the spirits feel at home in the city. But here she was, stalking angrily across Air Temple Island's courtyard, her heels clacking loudly on the stones, heading for a secluded outlook that provided a view of Aang Memorial Island. Normally Tenzin wouldn't have followed her. But the engineer looked so furious, so different from her normal, level-headed self that the father in him wouldn't let her be alone.

The Air Master followed at a respectful distance, making sure he made enough noise that the non-bender would be alerted to his presence.

As he stepped past the screen of bushes that hide the outlook from the rest of the island, Tenzin spotted a letter on the ground. It was unopened and stamped with a crude thick red seal with no discernible markings. Asami was sitting on the edge of the cliff, her knees pulled up to her chest, staring determinedly at the statue of Avatar Aang.

"Asami?" Tenzin called to her as he stooped to pick up the letter. "Are you alright?"

The inventor didn't turn to face him, she didn't even respond to his question. But he could see her shoulders trembling. Whether from anger or tears he couldn't tell.

The air-bender stepped up next to the girl and held the letter towards her. Asami continued to stare straight ahead, right at the statue of his father.

"I don't want it." She said quietly with a stubborn edge to her voice.

Tenzin didn't move the letter. "May I inquire why?" He asked her.

Asami lowered her head and Tenzin saw the telltale sheen of tear tracks on her cheek. "It's from my father…" She whispered.

"Ah." Tenzin pulled the letter back and examined it. "Is this the first time he's written to you since what happened?"

Asami nodded softly, her head barely moving.

Placing the letter down on the rocks, Tenzin sat down next to the heiress, his robes billowing around him. He let his legs dangle over the cliff as he silently watched the memorial of his father across the bay.

"You know, as much as I loved him, sometimes I resented my father."

Asami's head snapped around to look at him. "You resented…you?" She sounded shocked.

Tenzin nodded wearily. "My entire life, I strove to be the son my father dreamed I should be. The father of the new air nation, the continuation of his legacy. I was his only child born an air-bender, the only hope for the skill not dying out. And as much as he loved me, I always felt like I wasn't enough. Like I had failed him. And I resented him for causing me that life-long feeling of inadequacy.

"I don't blame my father for the burden he left me. How could I? It was a noble cause and one he died without seeing fulfilled. And that left me feeling worse than when he was alive."

Tenzin took a deep breath, gazing out at the statue as the inventor listened with rapt attention. "But while I was in the spirit world, trapped in the Fog of Lost Souls, I realized something. I couldn't be my father. Nor should I ever try to be. My father's triumphs and failings were not my own, they were his. I could not continue to carry them and shoulder my own. I couldn't live up to all his expectations. As much as I had wanted to be him, I wasn't. And I shouldn't try to be. That was when I truly forgave him."

Asami was quiet, mulling over his words. Tenzin had a sudden flash of sadness fill him. Sitting here with the young woman made his heart twist with nostalgia. How many times had he spoken to Korra this same way? Assured her of her own importance and ability?

"But your father was the Avatar." Asami pointed out quietly. "He wasn't a…a villain. He didn't go around murdering people and helping a madman." She pulled her knees tighter into her chest, her hands clenching the fabric of her pants tightly.

"Just because he was the Avatar does not mean my father was perfect." Tenzin replied. Kya and Boomie had certainly helped him see that. "Wise and compassionate though he was, he still had his mistakes and shortcomings."

"But nobody expected you to be exactly what your father was." Asami said, surprising Tenzin. "He was the Avatar, nobody could live up to that. My whole life, I've been expected to follow in my father's footsteps. And I very well could. I could even go beyond them."

She shifted, drawing her legs even closer to herself, glaring over the top of her knees at nothing in particular. "I'm just sick of everyone comparing me to my father. They say I have an eye for business 'just like my father' and it makes my stomach turn. I don't want to be like him. I don't want anything I do to be associated with him. And now he goes and writes to me thinking that it'll just...!" She bit her lip and looked away, trying to hide her anger from him.

"You have already proven that you are more than he was." Tenzin told her gently. "You've helped save the air nation and you have rebuilt his company into something of your own. Even before that, when you made your decision to stand beside Korra and us after your father turned on benders, you proved you were not him. Asami, you have a kind heart and you're a friend to benders and non-benders alike. This city owes you so much…"

He saw a tear slip down the inventor's face and he fell silent, giving her time to compose herself. She barely got a moment without the press hounding her for one thing or another, especially whenever she showed some kind of weakness. She deserved the chance to have some time to herself, especially in this fragile state.

"I wish Korra were here…" Asami finally said, in barely more than a whisper.

Tenzin nodded gravely. "I know."

They were silent for a long time, so long that they could see the shadow of Aang's staff cross his face. Although neither of them said anything, they both knew they were thinking of the Avatar and when they would see her again. Korra had left for the South Pole two weeks ago. They'd heard nothing from her since.

As the shadows lengthened towards late afternoon, Tenzin climbed back to his feet. "I'm going to go help Pema with dinner." He told Asami. "But stay out here as long as you need to. You are always welcome here."

Asami offered him a grateful smile. "Thank you Tenzin. For everything."

Making a decision, Tenzin picked up the sealed envelope again and held it out towards her. Asami made no move to take it.

"Burn it." She told him, her gaze dark.

He didn't move. "I don't think that is wise."

Asami tensed, her eyes flashing dangerously. "I don't ever want to hear from him again!" She shouted, startling several lemurs in the trees.

"He may have made some terrible choices in the past but he is your father." Tenzin reminded her. "He's not perfect."

Asami shook her head. "I still cant forgive him…"

She was just as stubborn as Korra when she wanted to be. Tenzin placed a gentle hand on her shoulder, remembering all the times he'd done the same with his protégé. "Forgiveness does not come overnight, Asami. It is a long, slow process of tiny steps." The two of them watched a leaf fall from the tree at the edge of the cliff and tumble slowly through the air towards the bay below. "You don't have to take that first step now, you may decide you never want to. But don't close yourself off to the possibility of starting that process."

Tenzin placed the letter down next to her, just far enough away that she couldn't reach it without moving. Then he bowed slightly and left the inventor alone with her thoughts.

Asami sat motionless for a long time, staring at the letter with the wax seal. It was broken of course and then glued back together because all of the mail coming to and from the prison had to be read by the guards. But she had not cracked the resealed note. She did not want to. Even now, over a year after all the horrible things her father had done, she still wasn't ready to talk to him.

Opening that letter would only mean subjecting herself to further pain from the only family she had left.

The only family she had left…

She thought of Avatar Aang, alone until his friends came along. She thought of Lin and Su BeiFong and their 30-year feud. She thought of her mother and that last bedtime story she'd never been told. She thought of Korra and that goodbye that had lacked the hug she had so desperately wanted.

Asami leaned over and picked up the letter. Then she stood, turned on her heel and walked back to her room. The same room Korra had showed her too all those months ago when her father had betrayed her and uprooted her entire life.

A desk drawer was opened, which one exactly she made no point to remember and the letter was unceremoniously dropped inside. Shoved away. Until she was ready to face it.

The inventor sat at the desk, pushing a few spare blueprints and tools out of the way to clear a space. Then she pulled a sheet of paper towards her and uncapped her pen.

The words flowed easily, their effect therapeutic as she communicated with the one person who she really wished to talk to at this moment. The only person who might possibly understand and sympathize with the way she was feeling. The only person who needed and deserved emotional support more than her at this moment.

Dear Korra,

I miss you. It's not the same in Republic City without you…

A.N.: I'm on an Asami kick right now. Gotta show this badass lady some love.