#fluff2022

They hadn’t crossed another vehicle for at least two hours. The remote trail was cutting a thin line through an endless spruce forest. It was just them girls, trees, and the wind that made the side windows tremble and howl. 

After a quiet moment, Asami became suddenly serious: “It’s starting to snow a lot… do you… would you like me to drive?”

Visibility was decreasing steadily, and it was nearly evening. Korra tried to sound as reassuring as she could convince herself to be: “I’m okay, Asami. Harbor City’s just forty minutes away. Strange though. I didn’t sense a blizzard coming at all when we left this morning. I usually feel it in my knees, you know… since the fight with Zah— anyways, I’ll be careful.”

“Okay, but I can take over if you need me to,” insisted Asami.

“You should rest,” said Korra, smiling tenderly. 

Asami took her up on the offer, repositioning herself sideways in the stiff old passenger seat, to face Korra. She closed her eyes. A few minutes later, half-asleep, she mumbled: “If the tires start to slip, pump the brakes, don’t slam, pump… you got this my love.” She let out a sigh of contentment.

Korra smiled to herself as she drove along the repetitive landscape. Trees, snow, trees trees, snow. It had a calming effect on the Southern Tribe native.

Naga suddenly burst into a series of loud barks, uncontrollably. It startled Asami, who screamed: “KORRA, LOOK OUT!” as a large, white mass of muscle and fur became visible, right in the middle of the road.

Korra slammed the brakes.

The snow leopard caribou turned its head and stared, unmoving. He raised his panache defiantly higher than the truck, his bright gold eyes reflecting the headlights. 

The truck began to skid sideways, completely disobeying the driving wheel, to Korra’s dismay. “What do I do?” she asked rather pointlessly as she frantically turned the wheel, to no effect. They skidded right by the proud buck, who stood his ground, immobile.

The rear of the vehicle was already stuck in the ditch when her level headed wife deadpanned: “I suggest giving up on driving entirely.”

The white beast, apparently satisfied with winning the staring contest with a truck, calmly turned its back on them and vanished into the woods.

Korra burst out laughing, soon joined by Asami who couldn’t ever hold a straight face very long. Naga kept barking at the forest for a minute.

Once the laughing and barking died down, some amount of worry filled the silence. 

“What now?” asked Asami. “Any chance your dad would have a portable radio stashed in his truck, so we can call for help?”

Korra chuckled. “The chance of my dad having high tech gadgets stashed away in his truck is pretty close to zero, my love. Did you need a harpoon? He probably has one or two in the back.”

Asami stared, unamused.

“But don’t worry,” Korra flexed her arms, pointlessly as the bulge didn’t make any difference under her thick coat, “Naga and I can get us out. Take the wheel. When I give you the signal, give us some gas, will you?” She turned and jumped out of the truck rather quickly, to hide the lack of confidence on her face. 

The wind now came in squalls that painfully froze the exposed skin of Korra’s cheeks and nose. As the storm intensified, visibility dropped to less than a few meters. A few minutes later and we’d have collided with that beast. At least, no one’s injured… This is bad, though. The sun is coming down fast. I should have refilled the tank before leaving. Fuck, we don’t even have a quarter left… it wouldn’t keep us warm for long… This HAS to work. I need to get the girls home. 

Korra waded through the ditch, waist deep in snow, fighting against the wind to reach the back and let Naga out. The large animal bounded, giving a joyful lick to her best friend before hopping about the curbside, rolling and eating playful amounts of snow. At least one of them girls was enjoying the situation.

Korra rummaged through her dad’s stuff. Tonraq did have a good supply of sturdy rope, so there was that.

She fastened it to the front of the truck, called Naga and had her sit quietly while she tied the truck to her harness. “All right girl,” she placed all her faith in the animal, “when I say now, you pull us out of this mess. I’ll owe you all the tomcod you want, forever, yes, because you’re the best, yes it’s you Naga, the best girl of all, just wait till I give you the signal…” Korra scrunched her face against Naga’s white fur.

After regaining her post in the ditch, Korra took a wide stance, relaxed her shoulders, and yelled: “Girls, NOW!”

Naga pulled with all her fluffy might and Asami gave the motor some gas. Korra bent the snow and ice in the ditch, forming a soft-ish battering ram, to push the vehicle out of trouble. The tires spun in an infuriatingly hopeless wail. The wheels just slid in place, more obtuse than a stubborn hippo cow. Asami gave the gas pedal a few more tries, on and off, while Korra shifted her focus to bending the snow beneath the tires, but the ground was frozen hard and the ice impossible to melt in this cursed weather.

Shit. We can’t stay stuck here, in the middle freezing nowhere, with Asami in her condition and mom worrying at home… because of course mom guessed, and now she’s worried and… ug! If I could just get some traction. I HAVE to get us out. 

Naga was visibly losing power from the prolonged effort. Asami opened the window and  asked: “something something okay?” but the wind covered her voice as it savagely whipped her hair around. The snow was falling almost horizontally now, in bursts that felt like buckets of small nails violently crashing on her face. 

Desperate to get results, Korra bent the snow around her into a series of short ice spikes, shoving her echinated carpet aggressively under the back wheels. “Asami, hit the gas, NOW!” she requested.

The wheels spun again, and with one last hefty pull from Naga, caught on the sharp ice, propelling the old truck forward. Asami quickly regained control, Naga running alongside. She pulled over like an ace, and Korra and Naga climbed aboard.

“Phew,” Korra grinned with triumphant relief as she sank into the passenger seat. 

“Um, Korra, we have a problem,” hesitated Asami.

“Yeah, the blizzard’s pretty bad. Just drive really slowly. We’re not too far from home, we should have enough gas to get there by nightfall, just be careful…”

“No, I mean, yeah the gas tank is pretty low, but… we have a flat tire.”

“Wha—” Korra stared blankly at her girlfriend. 

“It’s ok, I know how to change a tire!” Asami flipped her hair, and got out of the truck. 

Korra joined her outside. She heard the Republic City girl mumble to herself: “What the actual fuck? I can feel the exact position and size of my own lungs in my body, because they freeze over completely each time I breathe? What frozen ring of hell is this?”

“We’ll get home soon, don’t worry…” encouraged Korra, trying to keep faith in her own words. 

Asami went around the truck and Korra opened the door at the back for her. While Naga nuzzled into Asami’s hair, making her giggle, Korra opened the spare tire compartment, and cursed. “Blizzards! DAD! Can you for ONCE… Ug.” She slammed her palms in the empty compartment. And also kicked the absent tire, for good measure. 

Asami seemed to find the situation hilarious. Naga tried to calm her own human down by placing her nuzzle on Korra’s shoulder and whining. Korra took a deep breath. Then another. It didn’t help. 

“Urh, Asami! We can’t be stuck here in the middle of freezing nowhere. I have to get you home. I HAVE TO.” Deep breath. “In your condition, I—”

“Korra, we talked about this…” her wife’s tone was soft, but Korra knew she was treading on very thin ice. 

“Asami, I’m sorry, but—”

“If you say ‘in your condition’ again I will need you to open the glove compartment in the front and pass me the shock glove, please, so I can slap you with it.”

Korra laughed, if a little nervously.

“Seriously, Korra,” she went on, “pregnancy isn’t a ‘condition’. I’m not weak! I’m carrying a child! It’s the most natural thing!” 

“Yeah, I know,” Korra made her stop with a stolen kiss. Asami reciprocated, slow and long. It quelled Korra’s racing heart considerably. 

“I can handle myself,” declared Asami, breaking into a warm smile. 

Korra nodded.

“Now look at me,” said the engineer, ever practical. “Where are we?”

“In the middle of the South Pole’s endless spruce forest.”

“Be precise.”

“We’re like 30-40 minutes from home in clear weather… but… right now we’re in a blizzard, on a super isolated road where three cars pass in a whole week, if we’re lucky?” The question mark was thrown in at the end because Korra felt that wasn’t what Asami wanted to hear.

“All right,” she replied nonetheless, remaining pragmatic, “so waiting for help is not a good option. We don’t even have enough gas to idle for three hours in this temperature. Okay. So, what do we have?” 

“Uh… Naga? But Asami, in your cond— Uhhh, I mean, really Asami, it’s NOT a good idea to ride out in this weather! And the sun’s going down, and—”

“I agree,” Asami nodded. Phew! I’m not getting slapped with a shock glove! How is she so freezing calm? “I know our girl would take us home in a storm if we asked, yes she would, cuz she’s a good girl, yes,” Asami had developed the most adorable dog mom voice, over time. “But risking it is probably not our best option.”

“You have an idea?”

“Not yet. But thinking out loud with you usually helps… what else do we have?” 

Korra melted a little, knowing she’d just received what constitutes a high compliment, coming from a Sato. “I help you think?” she grinned.

“Focus!”

“Well, we have dad’s covered pickup, a few old blankets, some rope… I don’t know… but I mean, without gas we’ll freeze to death if we stay stuck here overnight, Asami, I—”

Asami shushed her softly, with another peck on the lips. “Korra, we have something else. I want you to say it.”

“Fish?”

Asami burst in laughter. “Yes, we have some little fish. And?”

Korra blinked. “Uh, problems?”

Asami laughed some more. “We also have The Avatar…”

Korra smiled. “I’m not half as useful as a radio transmitter would be right now.”

“Could you firebend a flare in the sky? Get someone’s attention in a nearby village?”

“Asami, this is the South Pole: it really is just woods all the way to Harbor City. I’d only scare away that snow leopard caribou, wherever he is, that big white bastard … ug.” Korra passed a hand in her hair. It was getting too long. Maybe she should let it grow and wear her wolf tail again, as a Water Tribe Avatar, maybe she ought to… 

The wind howled and rattled the flimsy whale skin cover on the back of the truck. As it had a habit of doing in the South Pole, darkness fell as quickly as a diving seabird. Korra bent a small flame in her palm. Asami’s tall but thin form naturally cuddled into Naga, her body seeking heat on it’s own. 

The baby bump wasn't even visible yet. They’d meant to announce it to her parents at dinner tonight. Although Senna’s reaction to the surprise visit from her daughter had indicated she suspected something. The ice fishing trip in the afternoon had been nice: a self-indulgent break from the World and its endless string of duties. More of which were to come… 

Korra’s affection for Senna was different now. What are moms, even? Heroes? Divine beings? Regular girls just… filled with love and… doing what they can? 

“Fuck the Avatar!” exclaimed Korra, startling Asami.

“Okay…” Asami grinned. “Like… now?”

Korra felt herself blush. “Shut up! I meant… ug! Asami! I meant that’s not our biggest asset right now! You know what else we have?”

Asami simply raised an eyebrow, the teasing smile never leaving her face.

“Two Southerners! Born and raised in this shit climate!” Korra declared, proudly hitting her chest with a fist, then rubbing Naga’s face. “And a brilliant engineer! I think the three of us can survive a night in the woods.”

“A night… in the woods? In the middle of winter? HERE? Korra, your mom will worry herself sick!” Korra smiled at what genuinely seemed to be Asami’s main concern in this situation. 

“Yeah, you know mom well enough! But the storm will pass and we’ll get back to her tomorrow morning. Better than freezing to death… right?”

Asami pulled a hairband from her coat pocket and put her hair up in a high ponytail: thus entering problem solving mode. She glanced around at the contents of the truck. “Well, we do have all that fish you caught. I sure hope it’s as good as you say because I’m starving!” 

A slanted grin appeared on Korra’s face. “Let’s go!” she said, grabbing a travel pack and stuffing the few dirty blankets that lined the bottom of the truck for Naga to lay on. Somehow, the moment she’d given up on even trying to get the girls home, all of Korra’s anxiety had vanished, making space for the here and now. Here. In a storm. On a wild camping trip. With her clever wife and her ever faithful Polar Bear dog. 

Tonraq was also with them, in spirit: he might not be a man to drive around with fancy radio transmitters, or a spare tire (he had probably meant to replace that thing for weeks or months now, ever pulled away from simple maintenance tasks by community matters he cared about… Korra understood… and even caught herself acting like her dad sometimes… which felt a bit disturbing, and wram); but the man did stash two pairs of snowshoes in his truck. In case.

Korra gave Senna’s snowshoes to Asami and took the pair that obviously belonged to her dad, which was way too big for her. She’d have to walk like an otter-penguin, but that was still better than sinking waist deep in snow to their doom. Once she’d properly fastened the cooler and backpack to Naga, all three girls jumped off the truck. 

Darkness covered the Pole. Korra had to bend a flame in an exposed palm, frozen red, so that they could see anything. The wind was cruel, slithering into any slit in their coats, freezing their necks. The ice pellets it carried pinched the skin. Securing the snowshoes to their boots meant taking off their gloves for a few seconds, the cold sinking its fangs into their hands. Korra wrapped an extra blanket around Asami like a cape, bundling her up, fastening the extra layer with rope. Asami let her.

Naga, excited for the adventure with her human family, got across the ditch first. She waded through snow up to her flanks, sometimes deeper, the blizzard prickling her sensitive nose, making her sneeze. The two women left the truck abandoned on the curbside and followed. The ice and wind kept extinguishing Korra’s fire. Again and again she bent it back to life, again and again the flame went out. The blizzard fought their every move, pushing them forcefully back towards the road. Thankfully, they only had the ditch to cross to make it to cover. 

Not even twenty steps into the forest, the world went still. It was as if the blizzard raging right behind them had only been a vague dream. 

Korra’s fire reflected in Asami’s eyes, which filled with child-like wonder. “It’s all so quiet in here,” she whispered, reverently, as if not to disturb the old trees, swaying at the tops, creaking in the violent wind, high, high above, “we’re only ten meters away from the open road. It’s like we stepped into a different world!” 

Korra smiled. “Stay close,” she recommended. “This is wild Polar territory. Humans and animals are guests here. This place belongs to the trees.”

They snowshoed a few clumsy paces in silence, treading on the respectable amount of fresh powder that did get to the ground even through the intricate net of spruce tree branches above. After ten minutes, they came upon a tiny clearing: probably a group of fallen trees sleeping under the blanket of snow there, maybe eaten away last summer by bark-eating insects. The space was just wide enough to make an ice shelter for five or six people (or two humans and one polar bear dog). 

Korra extinguished her flame and shifted her stance to waterbending. Absolute darkness caressed the space. The treetops kept creaking in the wind, shyly, like a group of introverts afraid to disturb anyone. There was no difference between having their eyes open or closed. She heard Asami shift beside her.

 “Korra, wait,” she said, “I can help!”

“I’ll bend a shelter, it takes a bit of work to do it properly and it’s all dark now, so just hold—” Korra stopped herself in surprise. Asami had just lit… an oil lamp? Which… she had made with a rag, a small glass jar, and… motor oil? When had she… 

“I thought this would come in handy, to free up both your hands,” she explained, lighting four more. “I made them while you were loading our supplies on Naga.” She tied the jars to ropes, threw the other end with a stone over high branches, and lifted them all up around the clearing. It looked… magical. 

Naga ran around in circles, looking up at the artificial lamps, casting five long, deep blue shadows on the snow in the clearing. Asami gave Korra a satisfied smile. “They should last us two hours at least.”

“Wow,” muttered Korra, distracted from her own mission. She stared, mouth open, at Asami for a good ten seconds (to Asami’s visible delight) before shaking herself back to her own task.

The ice shelter took some skill and precision to build. Korra had learned from her mother, who had learned from her own. It was Asami’s turn to stare at her wife, mesmerised by the ancestral movements. Trying to memorize the steps. To be able to show, perhaps, her own child one day… 

“Come inside,” Korra invited, when she was done. For better protection from the bite of the cold, the entrance was made low: a short tunnel that had to be crawled through. Naga was trapped inside already. The Polar Bear dog knew the drill. Tomorrow morning she’d break free, destroying the shelter in the process.

Korra laid out what blankets they had on the compacted snow. Asami sat cross legged and leaned her back on Naga. “Okay, Korra, I’m impressed. I didn’t expect the interior of a shelter made of ice to be this… comfortable!” 

“I’ll make a fire,” promised Korra, smiling tenderly. “You two must be hungry! Just give me a minute, I’ll gather firewood.” She went back out. The engineer’s lanterns were still glowing softly, making her task a lot easier since she had both hands free. She found a fallen aspen, chopped it up with an ice saw, gathered a few dried up fir branches to start the fire up, and bent her haul back to camp on an ice sled.

Fir and aspen, even a bit wet, were easy woods to burn: in no time, Korra had a fire dancing joyfully beneath the chimney in the center of their tiny ice castle. 

Both Naga and Asami started drooling when the smell of grilled tomcod filled the intimate space. Korra wrapped each small fish in a sheet of dried seaweed from Tonraq’s stash. As far as she could remember, Tonraq had kept these traditional Water Tribe snacks in his glove box. Her mom usually seasoned fish with sea salt and snow lime-berries, but… the salty snacks would have to do.

“This one’s your catch, you should have it,” Korra handed her starving wife a tiny fish. 

Asami, usually hesitant with unfamiliar food, gobbled it up almost as fast as Naga ate her own share of Korra’s catch. “Korra, this is so good!” she said in tears, reaching for more.

“Holy Raava, Asami, is my cooking causing these two shiny wet streaks on your cheeks?” she teased. 

Asami looked at her, only half smiling. She ate three more fish, then looked at her again, her bottom lip trembling. To Korra’s dismay, she broke down in a torrent of sobs. 

“Korra! What am I going to do?” Sob. “You have all these skills your mom taught you, you can catch fish and make little ice houses and cook and I… I can’t… I don’t…” Big sob. “How am I supposed to be a good mom when I don’t even remember my own!” Hitch. “I don’t know what her voice sounded like anymore, and I… I… I’m not…” She fell apart into a puddle on the smelly blanket full of Naga’s hair.

Korra lifted her wife’s shoulders, delicately. She leaned her back against Naga and straddled her. More sobs, and sniffles came out. Korra searched for her eyes. “Hey! Hey… who made those amazing lanterns out of, like, almost nothing?”

“That’s nothing.” Asami avoided her eyes.

“Okay, then what genius thought a carpet of really sharp ice spikes was a good way to get everyone out of trouble?”

“You did what?” giggled Asami, through rolling tears. Korra had learned that laughing and crying weren't mutually exclusive with Asami, especially in her cond— especially, uh, now.

“Asami, we’re going to be moms. And yeah, it’ll be weird, and fun, and hard, and extra tiring, and full of little joys… it’s… it’s like the weather! You can’t predict the weather. But you get through it, right? And the sun always comes back. Asami, look at me,” she begged. Asami swiped her messy face on Korra’s coat before looking up. “Imagine there’s a storm coming,” Korra smiled, rubbing Asami’s tummy. “A terrible, adorable little storm. And we don’t exactly know how to handle it. Now think! What do we have?”

Asami stared into Korra’s eyes for a long moment. She got lost there sometimes. Then she replied: “Each other?”

Korra burst out laughing. “I was gonna say The Avatar and flex my arm muscle at you to cheer you up, but once again, your answer is like, eight hundred times cleverer than mine!”

Asami laughed again. “Eight hundred times?”

“Raava help me, if our kid is as clever as you are, I am so fucked.” 

“That you are,” smiled Asami, brushing her lips.

They kissed. It tasted fish, tears, salted seaweed, and love.

Naga curled up around them. All three girls spent the night huddled in each other’s warmth.

⚙⚙⚙

Asami brutally woke up to an avalanche of snow covering her entirely. She broke free in a start, frantically digging herself out to the sound of Korra’s… tinkling laughter.

“Sorry love, Naga really needed to pee,” Korra explained. The ice shelter had crumbled to a sorry ruin around her, and Naga was indeed bounding like a happy girl in the forest. Under a blue sky and bright sunlight. 

Asami stood up, shook the snow off her hair, and fastened her coat: she had learned by now not to trust these deceitful sunny days of the Polar Winter: they tended to be the coldest. Her breath produced visible white puffs in the air. She navigated the ruins of their camp, ‘freshened up’ however she could in the woods, and joined Korra around a small fire she had going.

“Breakfast is also fish,” she said with the cutest apologetic face. 

“I love you,” replied Asami.

The morning sun had brought a surprising volume of lively sounds to the forest. Sparrows were chatting curiously about the human visitors. The fire was crackling joyfully. Large bundles of snow fell here and there from the coniferous trees, all bent and heavy with the weight of fresh snow. The air carried frozen ice particles that glinted in pastel colors like powdered precious stones fluttering about.

“This is magical,” whispered Asami, looking up at the silent treetops, spellbound.

Korra was the practical one this morning. She had tied two short locks of hair in front with blue strips of fabric, Water Tribe style. Asami smiled to herself. She’s proud to be from here again. I'm glad she is. The South is amazing! 

After breakfast they packed up the blankets and supplies. Korra even recuperated the makeshift lantern-jars, cutting the ropes holding them up with ice daggers. “These were super useful! Thanks!” she beamed. “Now that the sun’s out, we can ride Naga to the city, we should be there in less than two hours.”

“Korra?” asked Asami.

Korra looked up, ever so open. “Hm?”

“The universe never gives us a break. I have the company to run, and you have… the brazen World to balance. But yesterday night, it’s like the Spirits let us stop for a minute… and… appreciate what we have. Korra… I’m so happy to be here, now, with you.”

Korra simply smiled and enveloped Asami in one of these muscular Southern Water Tribe hugs that never ended and made you feel like you belonged to their ancestral tradition, forever.

A loud crack!In the forest startled them apart. Korra bent a long swirl of melted snow around them, protectively. Naga bounded with joy and barked as happily as when she smelled Korra come back home. 

“Oh thank the Moon you’re safe!” roared a reassuring voice, passing under a fallen tree nearby, coming into view.

“Dad?” asked Korra, her water dropping to the ground. Kya also showed up right behind him.

Asami soon found herself in another Water Tribe hug, this time lumped in with her wife. Tonraq’s hugs were even more powerful and endless than Korra’s. 

“Dad! Don’t crush her!” Korra chided.

“What’s wrong with Korra?” Tonraq addressed the question to Asami, confused, and still hugging.

Kya gave Asami a devious smile. Oh, she talked to Senna. She suspects it. Asami winked at the older woman, and put on her fiercest face to reply to her father in law: “Who said something was wrong with my wife? I want names. Now.”

Tonraq burst into a hearty laughter and released the girls from his bear arms.

“How did you find us here?” asked Korra. 

“You aren’t far from the road,” Kya chuckled. “Plus, if you wanted a little privacy, maybe you shouldn’t have tied Future Industries business cards to branches every few meters. Tied with electrical wire, too!” She flipped one of said cards between her slender fingers, “Asami Sato, C.E.O. It’s a bit of a giveaway,” she winked. 

Korra gave her a look, her mouth open. 

“What?” Asami defended herself, palms up. “It’s all I had in my coat pockets!”

Tonraq beamed with pride at his daughter in law.

“Okay, not only did you have the sense to leave a trail, while starving, in the dark, in a freezing blizzard, but… you have electrical wire in your pocket? I mean when is that ever going to come in handy? Oh look, Korra, we’re saved, I have… Ha ha ha! ” Korra burst out in hilarity, for no valid reason (when is wire not useful?), but she crumbled into a pile of laughter on the snow, the stress from having been in survival mode all along suddenly released into the air.

“Kya,” Asami took over the role of practicality, “I assume you drove Tonraq here? You wouldn’t happen to carry a spare tire in your car, would you?”

“Who doesn’t?” scolded Kya, fists on her hips, staring at Tonraq. He blushed, adorably. 

“Let’s get that flat tire replaced,” declared the engineer, already moving ahead. Naga opened the way, beating the trail and pushing aside the frozen bushes for her. 

Asami’s family followed, ready to go home.

—  —  —