White Knight
6.

The skies are deceptively radiant.

An infant enjoys the heat of the sun, her palms pressed into the grass. She clenches her fists around the blades, and tugs, tearing them from their roots. Opening her hands, she admires how the green scatters from her possession, and blows away in the breeze.

She has been here for some time, waiting.

Mama said she'd be back soon.

But it's been a while now.

'What're you doing here?'

Looking up, she sees a girl a couple of years younger. Arms folded, pouting. Deeply offended. 'I'm just waiting,' she replies. Nervous, but frustrated this girl be angry at her for no reason. 'Mama told me to wait.'

The girl frowns. Considers the situation, before shrugging. 'Okay!' She announces. 'I guess I'll wait with you.' With that, she sits down beside her, resting against a tree. She's a small thing, a round face and stubby little legs. Perhaps not much older than four.

'What's your name?'

'Me? I'm the Avatar!'

'Uh…'

The Avatar widens her eyes. 'You don't know who the Avatar is?'

'Papa told me the stories. Isn't the Avatar able to master all the elements?'

'Yeah!' She points to herself. 'That's what I can do! Wanna see?'

'Ah, I––I should wait for mama.'

'Fine.' She folds her arms, and quickly loses interest. This girl is the Avatar? Surely not. She's too small. She's only a little girl, and she's bolshy at that. Papa never described the Avatar as rude, or bolshy, or a desperate show off. The Avatar looks at her from the corner of her eye, and she looks away. 'Are you gonna tell me your name?'

'Asami. Is––is your name really the Avatar?'

She grins. 'My name's Korra. But I am the Avatar, and don't you forget it.'

'I won't. I promise.' Asami says nothing for a while, watching her. She tilts her head. 'You can really bend water and everything?'

'Pft––yeah. Easy.'

'Really?'

Korra nods, proud. But a pout slowly forms. 'Except for air.' She sighs, slumping shoulders. 'That's one's hard.'

'Why not air?'

'I dunno.' Suddenly, the Avatar's confidence disappears a little. Air is her weakest spot, but without the ability to bend air, she has no right to call herself the Avatar. Hugging her knees, she doesn't speak, staring ahead. It's a remarkable contrast to her cockiness beforehand.

'Maybe I can help?'

Korra looks at her with a peculiar expression. 'You're not an Airbender.'

'I know, but… That doesn't mean I can't help you.'

The Avatar stares, hesitating. For a moment, Asami thinks she might have won her over, but the girl narrows her brows. Unconvinced. 'Not even my teacher can help me,' she mumbles. 'Thanks, I guess, but I don't think you can help me. I don't think anybody can.'

'All right,' Asami sighs, disappointed. 'Then, tell me what you're good at.'

'Huh?'

'What else can you do, oh Master?'

Korra visibly blushes at Asami's mockery. She scowls. 'Don't make fun of me!' Asami giggles at her reaction. 'I––I'm good with water. And fire.' Immediately Asami's smile disappears, and she goes frighteningly pale. Korra frowns, but out of concern. 'What's wrong with you?'

'I… I…' She stands up, pulls at her sleeve. 'I don't think mama is coming back.'

Korra blinks up at her.

'I think––' Asami gasps, wide eyed, and starts to panic. 'I––I––I think I shouldn't be here. I––' And that's when she realises where she is. This isn't any place she's been to before. There are no people here. The skies are a peculiar colour, the grass is much too green, the trees talk, and––

––and spirits surround them, dancing around them. Friendly, smiling and kind.

This isn't home at all.

Asami doesn't know where she is, and she's terrified. 'I got to go home. Tell me how to get home!'

'What're you talking about?'

'Where's my mama?' She wraps her arms around herself, tears leaking from her eyes. 'Papa. Where'd they go?'

'Don't cry!' Korra scrambles to her feet, and runs over. Asami is a good few inches taller than she is, but she reaches for her hand. 'I'll stay with you until they come back.'

'I don't think they are coming back.'

'Oh.'

'And I don't know where I am.' A sob breaks from her, and she wipes her tears with the back of her hand.

Korra looks around, helplessly wondering where this girl's parents might have vanished to. But a part of her knows they won't be coming back. She looks at Asami again, and realises just how useless her bending abilities are in this situation. Asami doesn't care about the elements she can manipulate. She cares about her family, where they might have gone.

Just wants to go home.

'You're in the spirit world.'

'What? What's that?' Asami sniffs.

'Uh, it… it's kinda like inside the head. Where all our bad and nice thoughts are made real. I guess.' She shrugs, not too sure of herself. 'But, you're safe.'

'I am? How do you know?'

Korra realises she doesn't really have an answer. 'Um.' She thinks hard, tapping her finger to her lower lip. 'Well, 'cos I'm here to protect you.'

'Okay.' Asami wipes any stray tears, and inhales deeply. She calms down. The spirit world isn't scary anymore, and maybe her parents will return. She just has to wait a little while longer. The girl smiles sadly, 'Can you wait with me until papa comes back?'

Korra nods. 'Yep!' The little Avatar encourages Asami to sit back down again, beside the tree, and there, the two of them wait. They wait for two souls which will never return. Certainly not in this life, but in another life perhaps. When their own souls have departed from themselves and discover another vessel, waiting to burn with life for the first time.

Although she doesn't understand Airbending, the little Avatar is willing to protect this girl with everything she has. She knows this girl is important to her. Significant and completely crucial. So, the little Avatar waits, holding her hand, and hoping that Asami's mother or father might reappear. Return from wherever their souls have departed to. Where the mist is too heavy, too deep; lost.

Eventually, Asami falls asleep. The girl has waited too long, and she's exhausted. So the little Avatar stays awake, just for her. Alert for any potential danger, the sound of a mother's footsteps.

All is quiet.

Not a single sound is heard, and she watches the spirits dance around her; painted in all colours of the world. A dreamy smile reaches her lips, and she reaches out to touch one.

Eventually, Asami wakes up, except years have passed. She's taller, older, and when her eyes open, she knows they're not coming back. Her mother and father have dispersed from this world.

Her head rests in the Avatar's lap, and Korra's eyes are still open. Still guarding, still waiting. Korra, too, is older. Less confidence in herself. Tamed. The name Avatar nothing but a scar across her bruised body. And when Korra looks down at Asami, she smiles––apologetic, sad, but she smiles as if she's known this whole time.

'It'll be okay,' Asami whispers, smiling too. Tears rolling down her soft cheeks.

Not all of her family have gone.

Sunlight drags Asami out of her slumber. Her arms are still wrapped around Korra's middle, with only the sheet to protect them. Tears sting her eyes, and she scrunches them shut. A light sleeper, Korra stirs, but Asami only holds her tighter.

'Don't,' she says, voice quiet. 'I don't want you to go.'

Korra blinks; puzzled, concerned. 'I'm not going.'

'I dreamt about you.'

'Oh,' Korra cringes. 'And?'

Asami's heart flutters in her chest, and it's the most euphoric sensation. Pressed to Korra's body, she feels warm and safe; not a single thing can harm her.

She is loved.

She is unconditionally and maddeningly in love.

Nothing compares. This kind of love with Korra does not compare to any other. There are no buts, no ifs, no uncertainties, no guilt. It is solely their hearts, intertwined, and their happiness.

In this lifetime, and in the next, and then the next––it would be Korra. It would be Asami. They would choose each other every time.

Asami kisses her shoulder. 'I'm just glad I have you.'

'Heh.' Korra smiles crookedly. 'Cute.'

The Avatar turns, now able to look at her. She strokes her face; kisses her.

'You've got me,' Korra says, flicking Asami's nose playfully. She grins; eyes bright, and blue and wonderful. 'And I'm glad I have you.'

Without Asami, Korra wouldn't have been able to heal. Overcome a haunting trauma. Feel whole once again.

Discover the very thing which make her human.

They embrace each other, and Asami smiles, her family safe in her arms.

END.

author's note: I loved writing this story from start to finish. Thank you so much for the feedback received! I will undoubtedly continue writing for these two, so I'll see you all next time. Ta-ta!