In I see forever in the plans that you had, are Mako and Korra's ages around 40-50 when they finally decide to get back together?
That’s pretty close, on the low end! Thanks for asking about this though!Â
Tl;dr: I see them as in their late 30s/early 40s at the end of the fic.Â
Admittedly, it’s a little hard to keep track of their ages. I try to give some hints, but most readers aren’t going to sit down and add up the vaguely implied years between each section and the ending is particularly vague, so any confusion about their ages is on me. The math isn’t 100% solid, since we don’t know exactly how old they are when the show ends, but I came up with this when I was writing it:
First linear section (set a few weeks after the Finale): Mako is roughly 22 (I’m not sure how long the literal events of Book 4 last, but he’s said to be 22 at the beginning of B4). I tend to think of him as close to turning 23 when this scene is going on in the fic; Korra is roughly 21 or 22.Â
Second linear section (Mako meets Ayumi in the bookstore, after “nearly a year of being back at his desk”): Mako’s around 24; Korra’s around 23. (If anyone is curious, I think of Ayumi as about two years older than Mako, so she’s ~26 here.)
Third linear section (book scene with Mako and Korra): Alright this is a more complicated section regarding time. Mako is slightly over 28; Korra is slightly over 27. Here’s the breakdown: Mako and Ayumi dated for ~3 years (“We were together for almost three years.”) + 1 year of White Lotus Training for Mako (“even after a year of teachings and training”) + 3 months at his Earth Kingdom post (“He’s stationed at an Earth Kingdom watch center for the time being, has been for three months”).
Final linear section: We know we have at least 6 months apart at the end of the last section (“See you in six months, Mako.”) + 1 year (“one year closes and another begins”) + 3 years (“followed by another, or three”).  So that puts Mako at ~33 when he realizes he’s in love with Korra again (Korra ~32).  After this point, the time line is the most vague (i.e. i gave no indications of time lol) and no one would know it from the fic, but I don’t see him telling Korra he knows he’s in love with her again right away, so when this happens “It’s the moment he initiates a first kiss (a second first kiss, he supposes) instead of being kissed, in the darkness of a cave, after they’ve been fighting for the millionth time about the right way out, and the world around them suddenly glows a warm green,” it’s about two years after he realizes he’s in love with her, putting him at ~35 (Korra ~34).  Then I see them sort of trying to figure out if they want anything concrete between them, given everything in their lives, or if they just want to let things unfold as they will (which of course is a little messy between them at times), and that’s about 2 years of being really in love friends who sometimes kiss, sometimes cuddle, sometimes end up in bed with each other.  I see another three years or so of them being an exclusive, but not conventional couple (I suppose), before we get the final moment of them just being comfortable with what they are.  Viola: Mako’s ~40 and Korra’s ~39.Â
