Kai swiped his forehead with his sleeve, his arms were starting to ache and the heat wasn't helping him at all. Making these small parts for a flintlock were so difficult, how did Hiroshi Sato even come up with something like this? It was all very impressive. He had been working on this small piece all morning, this was his second attempt. He knew what he was doing, he just couldn't get it right yet. Kai lowered a piece of hot metal into a bucket of water, he left it in there for a while so it could cool down. Whilst it was doing that, the blacksmith moved over to the smelter; slipping on his leather gloves in the process. With the clamps in his hands, he gripped tightly onto the metal that had been resting in the hot smelter for a few minutes. He swiftly placed it onto the anvil and started hammering away, like he normally did. Moulding the melt into a shape that he needed.
Suddenly, the door to the workshop flung open. The loud noise made the man jump, the hammer almost hitting his own hand in the process. Kuvira quickly stepped inside, slamming the door shut as she pressed her back onto it.
"Kuvira! How many times do I have to tell you!" Kai shouted, placing his hammer down.
"You'll break my door if you keep doing that."
The taller woman tossed a small bag onto the wooden table, taking the blacksmith off guard completely. Inside the bag, the gold coins clinked together as it dropped onto the wooden structure. Kai's eyes widened at the sound.
"Where did you get that?" He asked, it didn't look like a lot of money but it was certainly enough for the two of them.
Kuvira huffs, the heat from the smelter already started to make her sweat. She hadn't slept yet, she had been trying to get the coins all night. She had come to the conclusion that there wasn't a lot of coin in Zaheer's office than she thought; only this bag and a few expensive pens and quills. She didn't bother with those obviously. Zaheer seemed to keep all of it in his room, there was no way she was risking that when this bag had enough for them.
"We need to go before Zaheer finds out."
Kai gasped and pointed to the bag of coins.
"You stole from Zaheer!"
Kuvira rushed over to the man and clasped a hand over his mouth.
"Keep your voice down you twit."
"Sorry." Kai responded, his tone of voice was a lot quieter now. Kuvira took a seat, finally letting her legs rest after a long night.
"How much is in it?" He asked, taking a seat opposite his friend.
"I've not counted it yet, but it seems to be enough to atleast rent a room for a week or two." Kuvira said as she stretched out her legs, satisfied when she heard her joints pop.
Kai took the bag in his hands and tipped the coins out onto the table. He flicked the coins towards him, couting each and every one. There wasn't much at all.
"I know an Inn that has cheap rooms.. but it's located in town." Kai explained as he begun to start placing each coin back into the bag.
Kuvira nodded.
"We should go there, get a room until we can earn enough money t-"
"Kuvira you're not thinking about this properly. I will have to get a job. You can't. You're a wanted woman remember?" Kai said.
"We need to be smart about this."
Kuvira clenched her jaw and slammed her hand onto the wooden table.
"I don't care! We just need to get out of here and fast!"
A knock was heard at the blacksmith workshop, which caused Kai to groan in annoyance.
"Not now, come back later." He called, crossing his arms. However, the door opened without his permission. Kuvira got to her feet as Zaheer stepped through the door, she stood inbetween him and the bag of coins so he couldn't see.
"Oh, I'm sorry sir I didn't know it was you." Kai apologised, flashing him an awkward smile.
Zaheer completely ignored him, his eyes fixated on the taller woman.
"Kuvira, I would like a word with you."
Kai slips the bag onto his lap as Kuvira takes a step towards Zaheer. The woman nodded, looking over her shoulder to her friend before she left the room, shutting the door gently for once. The two walk through the halls, she occasionally was given glances from the other guild members as she passed them. They were worried, no. Shocked? Was she in trouble or something? Did Zaheer find out about the missing coins already?
Zaheer opened the door to his office and stepped in, he didn't bother to hold it open for the woman behind; which resulted for the door to swing back into Kuvira, making her stumble slightly. She regained her composure and wandered in, taking a seat at Zaheer's desk. Doing so, she let her green eyes roam around the room. They were alone and she didn't see any guards outside either.
The older man sat opposite her, taking his quill from out of a pot of ink so he could scribble over pages.
"Eska and Densa have been having some trouble trying to complete their contracts. Asami Sato has been ridiculously hard to reach."
Kuvira stiffened a little. She remembered what Opal said to her at the market that day. About how Yasuko was still alive and well. Did Zaheer know that?
"How do I tie into this?"
"You've recovered quite well."
Zaheer said, dipping his pen back into the pot of ink that was placed in the center of the desk.
"And since you're a wanted woman, we could use that to our advantage."
Kuvira rose a brow. This was something Korra would've been up to doing. Something so stupid and childish it was almost funny. So risky. This man really was crazy.
"You want to use me as bait?"
"Precisely." He answered.
"You can lure a good amount of guards away from the Manor. That will create an opening for Eska and Desna."
Go to Hell.
"My apologies sir but I don't think I've recovered to my full strength. It's only been a few days."
Zaheer slowly turned his gaze up from his papers to meet the woman's eyes.
"Can you run?"
"Well.. ye-"
"Can you jump?" He asked, leaning over his desk.
"Can you climb?"
Kuvira sighed and slumped back into her chair. She was completely fine, great in fact. But, she couldn't lie and escape out of this one. She wasn't a liar like the man in front of her was.
"Just keep your distance from them." Zaheer added.
"You'll be fine."
His words begun to infuriate the woman. He could say all of these things but, she had never even seen this man go upstairs before. He always stayed either in his office or his quarters. He had never had to complete a contract from what Kuvira knows. This man hadn't done anything. He always had people to do it for him. And he had the nerve to say that she would be fine? She would be fine whilst she was risking her life to complete another one of his contracts? The woman bit onto her tongue in an attempt to suppress her boiling fury to explode out into words. She clenched her hands onto the ends of her coat and inhaled a deep calm breath. It worked but, if the man in front of her begun to speak once more she might lose it.
Kuvira watched as he dipped his quill into the ink once again, so slowly, almost like he was somewhat annoying her to an extent. She bit onto her tongue again, cringing at the scrape of the pen onto the paper. She knew he wasn't doing it on purpose but everything this man did made her angry. Really angry.
"I'll consider this job done then." Zaheer announced.
"You should talk to Eska and Desna, they'll give you the deta-"
The man's speech halted as black ink splashed against his face. Kuvira stood with the now empty ink jar clutched in her hand. Zaheer choked as the dark ink dripped onto his tongue and trickled down his throat. He frantically rubbed his eyes, trying to wipe the darkness away from his vision. He couldn't see a thing. The ink had completely blinded him.
Kuvira dropped the ink pot onto the desk, it surprisingly didn't smash into a million pieces but that was the least of her worries right now. She turned around and bashed out of the office, the sound of Zaheer's unpleasant gagging begun to get quieter as she ran away through the halls. She had just done that. She had just attacked the leader of an assassin's Guild. She had just done that. Why would she do that? He deserved it, he deserved much worse actually. They had to leave this place now before Zaheer could catch them. If she was caught, there was a high chance that she would be dead. Very high chance. Kuvira shook her head, shaking her thoughts away as she quickly opened the door to the blacksmith workshop. This door had been through a lot that was for sure.
She slammed the door shut, making the poor blacksmith jump again.
"Kai! Get your stuff together! Now!"
<->
Asami wakes up feeling overheated. Her chest felt tight and it made breathing a bit of a struggle. Once her green eyes opened and tuned in with her surroundings, she sees the cause of her struggles. Korra had managed to shuffle herself even closer to the Sato in her sleep. Her muscular arm was draped over the woman's stomach as her head lay onto her chest. Asami's cheeks darkened into a red colour, her heart pounds at this. Seeing Korra so close, so relaxed; hair all over the place. But the fact that Asami had woken up next to her assassin made her flustered even more. Korra had actually stayed with her, instead of leaving her in the morning to wake up alone like before. The Sato softly brushed her hand through her assassin's hair, moving the strands out of the way so she could see Korra's sleeping face. She slept with her lips slightly parted, the rings under her eyes weren't as bad as before. Her legs were tangled together with Asami's like a knot.
Asami smiled as she pressed her lips against Korra's forehead. Korra had managed to get some sleep at least and Asami hoped that she helped a little.
Asami decided she'll leave Korra to sleep a little more, she did need it after all. The Sato gently removed the arm that was wrapped around her stomach. Moving as little as possible, she slipped herself out of bed before covering Korra up with the quilt. She took one last look at her sleeping assassin before closing the door to the bedroom.
Jinora was awake. That wasn't unusual since it was morning, the woman was always up at early hours of the morning.
"I see that Korra has made herself at home in your room." She said as Asami sauntered into the living room. Jinora hides her smirk by placing the book she was reading higher over her face.
Asami took a seat near Jinora after pouring herself a glass of water.
"Korra had a nightmare of some sort." She explained, taking a sip.
Jinora sighed at this information, placing her book down onto the table. So that was the problem as to why the assassin wasn't sleeping at all.
"I'm glad she's finally sleeping."
"Me too." Asami hummed. She was thrilled actually.
"Korra has never slept in this long before." Jinora said, earning a chuckle from the tall woman.
"Where's Katara?" Asami asked, looking around the room to search for the old woman.
Jinora shurgged. Her grandmother was quick to leave this morning after frantically looking around in each drawer for some sort of ingredient. Probably something for Korra.
"She said she was going to get some tea leaves. Something to help with sleeping I think, I can't remember."
Asami chuckled as she brought the cup of water to her lips once more.
"I see."
Jinora smiled, letting her eyes wander around the room. They soon landed on a door. Not just any door. The door to the room that held Korra. The asleep Korra.
"It's strange to think that I was scared of Korra when we first met at the lake." Jinora said with a sigh.
"Now, I trust her with my life."
"She's not like the others in the Red Lotus." Asami said, putting her empty cup down onto the table.
"Kuvira is a Red Lotus assassin, not Korra."
"What do you think about Kai?" Jinora questioned, not quite sure where her own feelings lay with this one. After what happened last time he was here, she was confused. Kai said some horrible things but, Korra had also pulled out a blade.
Asami sighed, she had the same thoughts as Jinora. Kai had clearly infuriated the woman but, there was obviously a reason behind it that the two girls didn't understand yet.
"I'm not sure, he doesn't seem like an assassin. He wasn't carrying a dagger."
Jinora nodded in agreement.
"I noticed that too. Kai mentioned that he's known Korra since they were little, perhaps there's a reasoning behind what happened."
"I agree." Asami said.
"I just want poeple to see that Korra is on our side."
"We can't go bellowing out around town about her though, it's too risky." Jinora stated.
"Not everyone will believe us. Take your superiors as an example, they didn't believe that Korra saved your father."
Asami rolled her eyes in frustration. She didn't understand why the Sato superiors didn't believe the Hiroshi Sato's words. She leant forward onto the table, clasping her head into her hands.
"I know you're right Jinora, it's just frustrating knowing that everyone has her pinned wrong."
"I feel your frustration too Asami. But for now, we have to be patient." Jinora said, placing a reassuring hand onto the taller womans shoulder.
"Things will soon balance out."