Chapter Text
Korra and Huǒ hitchhiked back to the villa the same way as they’d left it. The sun slipped back down toward the horizon heralding what little light was left for training before it would be time for dinner and turning in for the night. Along their travels back they came across a checkpoint of Earth Kingdom soldiers. It was nothing major, but Huǒ suddenly froze. “Is something wrong?” Korra asked. “It can’t be… Yanshi, is that you!?” Huǒ called out. A young man rummaging through something quickly shot up and banged his head on the underside of a table. “Ow! Princess Huǒ, do my ears deceive me?” Yanshi called back. He hurried out of the small building and stopped when Huǒ came within view.
“Wow, you got tall,” Huǒ said as she looked the nearly 6’4 Yanshi up and down. “And you’re still tiny,” Yanshi teased, patting Huǒ on the head to emphasize his point. “How do you two know each other?” Korra raised an eyebrow and glanced between the two. “Once upon a time, Izumi got tired of dealing with me and shipped me to the Earth Kingdom to train with the Kyoshi Warriors with the hopes that they could instill some discipline in me. It was fun to hang around them, and for once I actually did fall in line and do as I was told. Obviously, Izumi never got the same behavior out of me they did, but while I was going through their training I would explore Kyoshi Island and met Yanshi. We got up to all kinds of shenanigans on the island but unfortunately had to separate for obvious reasons. He’s certainly shaped up quite nicely though.”
“You have no idea how often my mother and sisters would tease me because of you. It’s nice to see you again though. What brings you back to the Earth Kingdom?” Yanshi added with a chuckle. “I- heh- funny you should say that-” Huǒ stuttered and stumbled over her words. “I’m the Avatar. Huǒ taught me firebending and we came to the Earth Kingdom so I could learn earthbending and Huǒ came along to help me refine my firebending.” Korra stepped in and answered on behalf of Huǒ. Yanshi froze for a moment and stared at Korra blankly. “You’re the Avatar? Why didn’t either of you lead with that!? I’d love to help with your training if at all possible. I’m on a rare deployment here, but you can find me in Omashu most days though. I prowl around and will likely end up finding you one way or another. It’s not like Huǒ is hard to miss anyways.” Korra thought for a moment then shrugged, “Sounds good to me. I need all the help I can get. My first earthbending lesson was not great to say the least.” Korra sheepishly averted her gaze followed by Huǒ specifying, “She punched herself in the sternum with a stone pillar because she shifted her foot and inch wrong.”
Yanshi struggled to contain his laughter. “That sounds about right. That’s the one problem with being as strong as we are,” Yanshi gestured to himself and Korra, “It makes the big heavy attacks easy, but the fine control is difficult because our little shoves are so much more than what a lightweight like Huǒ would put out. It’s as much about steadying yourself so much that you restrain your own movement and thus clamp the power you put out to make sure your inputs don’t overcorrect or over react.”
“So I need to unlearn myself, is what you’re saying?”
“Habits, Korra, habits. You will only be as good as they are. They infect everything you do for better or worse.” Yanshi gave her a pat on the shoulder. “It’s getting late. You two should continue on your way. I have some matters to attend to anyways.” The two girls continued on their way and returned to the Beifong villa a little later than intended and missed out on the opportunity for any further training, instead heading directly to get dinner.
“Where were you two?” Lin asked without paying too much attention to them. “We went and wandered Omashu to sight see and get lunch. We also met an old friend of Huǒ’s named Yanshi.” Korra replied. “I see. You two got back just in time. Any later and I would have made you go without dinner.”
“So, Huǒ, who is this Yanshi friend of yours?” Suyin asked to make some conversation.”Nobody important. We trained together on Kyoshi Island, but nothing more,” Huǒ answered simply. “Really? He sure seemed like more than a friend with the way you were looking at him?” Korra teased. “Hey hey hey, don’t you dare go there!” Huǒ retorted. “Your first comment to him was that he was tall and strong followed by looking him up and down.” Korra pressed with a slight smirk. “KORRA-!” Huǒ exclaimed with a tinge of pink flooding into her cheeks while the others in attendance began trying and failing to stifle their laughter.
“Somebody’s got a crush!” Kuvira piped up to join in the teasing. Huǒ fumed but couldn’t bring herself to fire back at Kuvira for fear that her temper could flare like an uncontrolled flame. “I don’t think so. She seems to have more of a thing for Korra,” Bolin chimed in. “I wish that I could agree, but tragically we are both heterosexual.” Huǒ averted her gaze and turned her embarrassed focus to her food. Korra nearly choked when Bolin made his comment and Huǒ’s reply had her on the verge of falling out of her chair.
“Hey, it’s only funny when the teasing is focused on Huǒ and doesn’t include me-” Korra’s interjection elicited some raised eyebrows. “Did Bolin strike a nerve?” Mako suddenly perked up and engaged fully in the conversation rather than being only half-focused.
Korra’s face went pink. “No! I just—look, can we please not turn dinner into ‘Make Fun of Korra Hour’?”
“Aw, sweetheart,” Suyin said with a smirk, “in this house, that’s every hour.” The table erupted in laughter, everyone except Huǒ, who jabbed her food aggressively to avoid eye contact with anyone. Lin finally cut through the chaos. “Alright, enough. You all have training at dawn. Korra, you’re meeting with Toph. Huǒ, you’re helping Korra with stance work afterward. No more distractions.”
Huǒ froze for the second time that day. “…Yanshi said he’d find us tomorrow,” she whispered under her breath. Korra glanced sideways. “Is that a problem?” Huǒ’s knee bounced under the table; she forced herself to stop. “…No. It’ll be fine.” But the way she wouldn’t look Korra in the eye said otherwise.
The next morning was a bit of a spectacle. Korra and Huǒ were stretching out the early morning soreness from the prior day’s training when a booming voice announced itself at the gate. Yanshi strode into the courtyard with early exuberance that juxtaposed the two tired young women. “You two ok? You look like you’ve been through the wringer. I hope I didn’t get a day of leave approved for nothing,” Yanshi greeted them both with a joking tone and uncanny casual ease.
“Not all of us are early birds like you, Yanshi,” Huǒ commented with a groan. “Huǒ, you sleep until noon most days. You might as well be a vampire with pyromania.” Korra tried to hide it but couldn’t conceal the snicker Yanshi’s taunting invoked. “Whatever you say, smartass.” Yanshi glanced between the two and shifted the subject to more pressing matters. “Do you two have plans today?” “Toph is allegedly coming to give me earthbending lessons, but Huǒ is free!” Korra quickly answered and deliberately pushed Huǒ into an awkward position to see how she would handle it. “If that’s the case, perhaps I could help you warm up and give some tips then me and Huǒ can go back to Omashu and catch up?” Yanshi’s expression softened and his intentions were in no way subtle in the way he looked at Huǒ.
“I—uhm—” Huǒ stumbled over her own words. “I suppose it couldn’t hurt.” Huǒ trailed off toward the tail end of her sentence. Her cheeks were as red as her clothes. She could only pray that no one would pass by or pick up on the conversation that transpired.
Yanshi clapped his hands together, entirely too energized for the hour. “Great! Korra, let’s see that earthbending stance again. No punching yourself this time.” Korra groaned. “I said one time.” “One time too many,” Huǒ muttered, still hiding behind her hands. Yanshi winked. “Don’t worry, I’ll fix that today.”
He dropped his pack and stepped into the training circle, feet shoulder-width apart, posture rooted and immovable. Korra mirrored him, steadying her breathing, trying to ignore how flat her hair was from sleep.
“And Huǒ?” Yanshi said without looking away from Korra. Huǒ, who’d been attempting to invisibly slide away, froze mid-step. “...Yes?” “Don’t wander off. We’ll leave in about an hour.” Korra’s eyebrow shot up. “Already planning the second half of your day together?” Huǒ’s soul left her body. “Korra—!”
Yanshi smirked. “She’s always been fun to tease. Now, Avatar, try shifting your weight forward without letting your heels lift.” Korra planted herself and gave Huǒ one last wicked grin before focusing. Huǒ crossed her arms, cheeks blazing. “I should’ve let you punch yourself a second time…” But underneath her embarrassment was something Korra didn’t usually see in her: nervous anticipation.
Yanshi walked Korra through some basics with his own flavor of earthbending mixed in that had some sharp differences from Bolin in that it was more uncompromising and carried an all-or-nothing feel that Korra found quite comfortable and more suiting even if it was unorthodox for most earthbenders.
They’d barely finished their warmup when the ground hummed, like the whole courtyard was clearing its throat. A familiar voice followed: “Move it, soldier boy. You’re hogging my student.” Yanshi and Huǒ both startled as Toph Beifong strolled through the gate like she owned the continent.
Toph walked right up to Korra, pointing her walking stick past Korra’s face. “It’s been a while, Twinkletoes. Good to see that even in a brand-new body you’re still the same airheaded disaster.” She cracked a grin. “Now lighten up. I’m about to ruin your morning.” Yanshi leaned toward Huǒ and whispered, “And that’s my cue to leave.” Huǒ sighed. “Mine too.” Toph waved them away without looking. “Yeah, yeah. Go flirt or whatever. The adults are talking.”
Yanshi chuckled at the jest, but Huǒ seemed like she would melt into a puddle at a moment’s notice. Toph wasted no time getting to her teaching. “Lesson one,” with a quick stomp, two pillars shot up under Korra’s feet and flipped her onto her back. “Ow! Come on! You blindsided me!” Korra protested from her now sprawled position in the dirt. “And I am blind. Adapt.” Toph flicked her wrist and the pillars receded back into the ground. “Ready for lesson two?” Korra slowly got back to her feet and dusted herself off. “Is this one also going to hurt?” Korra asked. “Most definitely,” Toph tapped her walking stick against the ground and the stone warped like a riptide rolling toward Korra. She was prepared this time and grounded her center of gravity to keep herself upright albeit barely.
“Better, but you’re still thinking like a bender.” Toph scratched her chin in consideration. “But I am a bender?” Korra was taken aback as to how thinking like a bender was a bad thing. If Toph had said waterbender specifically she would have understood more. “And I’m the inventor of metalbending, Sweetheart. Try again.” Toph sent a more violent wave this time, launching Korra into a tree.
It was a lovely day out with clear skies and a breeze just strong enough to keep cool but not overwhelming. The vast forests loomed on either side of the road that Huǒ kicked a stone down. “You didn’t have to take a whole day off to come see me,” Huǒ said softly to break the silence. “Yes, I did. Otherwise you would have disappeared without saying goodbye again.” Huǒ’s eyes flicked up to the much taller male. “I did not vanish. I got sent home.” Yanshi scoffed at the excuse. “You didn’t write to me either.” Huǒ rolled her eyes, “I can’t write kanji that fast, ok?” Huǒ grew increasingly flustered with every passing word.
“You had no issue writing love letters to my sisters,” Yanshi retorted. “They bullied me into it!” Yanshi’s hearty laugh reverberated off the trees and echoed through the forest. Huǒ tried to glare at him for laughing, but it ended up as a meek, cutesy pout that Huǒ quickly retracted in favor of averting her eyes to the dirt beneath her feet again. “Come on,” Yanshi said, nudging her shoulder. “Let’s get lunch. You always said Omashu dumplings were better than Fire Nation ones.”
“I never said that.”
“You heavily implied it.”
“I DID NOT—!” He just grinned, walking backwards as she sputtered after him.
Korra braced as Toph circled her like a shark. “You rely too much on force,” Toph lectured. “Being strong isn’t a strategy.”
“Oh yeah? Tell that to the giant rock you threw at me!”
“That wasn’t a giant rock. This is a giant rock.” Toph raised both hands. The courtyard floor buckled as a boulder the size of a sky bison slid out of the earth. Korra’s eyes widened. “Toph, no. NO. I’m not ready!”
“You’re the Avatar, you’re always ready.” She launched it. “MOVE!”
Korra didn’t try to block. Instead, she remembered Yanshi’s words: “Habits. You’re only as good as they are.” She sidestepped, not with force, but timing. The boulder thundered past and shattered behind her. Toph smirked. “Finally. You learned something.” Korra panted. “…Learned to run away?”
“Running is just moving correctly with confidence.”
Yanshi led Huǒ through the bustling Omashu market. Merchants yelled, children darted between stalls, and somewhere a cabbage vendor wailed in despair. Huǒ stole glances at Yanshi, annoyed with herself every time she got caught staring. “You’re doing it again,” Yanshi said without looking at her. “I am not—doing what?”
“Blushing.” Huǒ nearly combusted. “I’m a FIREBENDER. My face is just… warm!”
“Sure.”
They reached a quiet overlook above the city. Wind rustled loose strands of Huǒ’s hair. Yanshi softened. “I missed you, Huǒ.” Her breath hitched. “…I missed you too.” He stepped closer, slow enough to pull away, close enough that she didn’t. “Is this… a date?” Huǒ muttered. “Only if you want it to be.” Huǒ’s heart hammered. “…Maybe I do.” He brushed his thumb along her cheek, just shy of her scarlet blush. “Then it is.”
Korra braced again, panting, arms trembling, covered in dust and bruises. Toph tapped her staff on the ground. “I’m done.”
“That’s it?” Korra wheezed. “For today. You’ll actually live if I stop here.” Korra collapsed in the grass. “Thanks… I guess.” Toph smirked. “Don’t thank me yet. Tomorrow we try real earthbending.”
“…Real?”
“Yep.” Korra’s eyes widened in horror. Toph grinned. “Should’ve died young, Twinkletoes. I’d go easier on a ghost.”
Huǒ tucked her hands into her sleeves, continuing to be ever so shy. “So… what’s the plan? Tea? Lunch? Making fun of my terrible earth stances?” Yanshi chuckled. “Tea. And no teasing. Much.” He slowed his pace just enough that Huǒ could feel he was matching her steps deliberately. “But just tea. I know you’ve got responsibilities here.” Her shoulders loosened. Relieved. Maybe a little disappointed. “Tea sounds perfect,” she said.
Yanshi nodded, gentlemanly as ever. “Good. Then afterward I’ll walk you back. I don’t want anyone thinking I kidnapped the Fire Nation princess.” Huǒ snorted. “You wouldn’t survive the paperwork.” They shared a comfortable laugh that was nice and warm, lightly charged, but safe. As they made their way toward the sky bison platform, a breeze lifted the loose raven black strands around her face.
For a moment, they looked at each other.
And then both of them looked away.
Perfectly in sync.
Perfectly aware.
Perfectly not crossing the line.