When you heard that Unalaq, Tonraq, Korra, Mako, Bolin, Eska, and Desna were all headed to the center of the South Pole to open a spirit portal, you opted to count yourself in. Although there were several reasons for this – you thought it'd be cool to see the Southern version of the Northern Lights, as Unalaq mentioned, and you enjoyed any opportunity to see the Avatar in action – you couldn't deny that the main reason was that it was an excuse to spend time with Desna.
The two of you had spent the last couple days together, as Unalaq prepared for the trip to the spirit portal, and it had been nothing short of wonderful. He had taken you on a date each night to the nicest restaurants in the South, and you spent the entire evening in each other's company. In private, you had begun to see little glimpses of Desna that no one else ever got to see, like listening to him tell jokes (which definitely needed some work, but the fact that they were so awful made them funny), and hearing him laugh at yours, and you cherished every moment of it.
So, you found yourself beside an arctic camel, checking to be sure you had all the necessary supplies, bundled up and ready to head to the spirit portal. You had been curiously observing the exchange between Unalaq and Tonraq when Bolin sped up to the party, in a shiny new electric sled, which was apparently courtesy of Varrick. As Eska walked over to speak with him, you looked around and realized you were short one arctic camel. Conveniently, Desna had walked up to you as you came to this realization, having returned to his usual floor-length coat and loose hair for the day's activities.
"Hey Des, we're missing a camel. There isn't one for you and Eska."
"Correct. Eska informed me this morning that she would be accompanying Bolin on his sled, so I had hoped to join you – if that would be agreeable to you."
"Of course," you said with a grin. Desna then waterbent a few steps made of ice, to make it easier for you to board the arctic camel. You then held your hand out to him, which he took, as he situated himself behind you. The close proximity made a blush form on your cheeks, and you were grateful that he was unable to see it. With a small flick of his wrist, the small, icy staircase disappeared, and the company set out toward the spirit portal.
The trip was mostly silent, although you exchanged a few short conversations with Bolin and Mako, while Korra kept to the front of the brigade with Unalaq. Desna mostly remained quiet, although you had grown accustomed to his intermittent bouts of silence around others. At one point, in between chats with your friends, your camel momentarily lost its footing and lurched to the side. Reflexively, Desna grabbed your waist to maintain balance, before immediately withdrawing his hands as though he'd touched a hot stove. Considering the fact that he had touched your waist in private, you realized he must deem it an inappropriate form of public affection, or fear that you thought that.
You smiled before turning to him slightly to say, "You can leave 'em there, if you want. I don't bite. Well, unless you want me to, but that won't be happening for a little while."
Oh, how much you enjoyed seeing a blush on his face for a change.
Flustered and still silent, Desna gently placed his hands on either side of your waist, although his arms and body were still rigid, clearly still unsure of initiating such contact with you around others. Hoping it would get him to loosen up, you scooted backwards to negate the few inches separating you two, so that your back was against his chest, and you leaned against him a little. A few minutes later, you felt his posture relax, and he wrapped both arms around your waist, holding you close to him.
The party halted as Korra's polar bear dog Naga began growling at something in the distance. As the mist cleared, we realized all saw a handful of dark spirits watching us. Tonraq wasted no time in declaring that we should keep moving, and that we need to find a place to set up camp.
A short while later, we were all seated around a fire in a cave, sipping on warmed up soup, with the arctic camels and Naga resting just outside. As Korra asked Unalaq about the dark spirits, a frightened Bolin asked, "Can we not talk about dark spirits, please?"
"My brother doesn't like ghost stories," Mako explained.
"Don't worry, I will protect you, my feeble turtle duck," Eska stated, as Bolin hugged her arm.
"Thank you."
You unsuccessfully suppressed a snicker at Bolin's fright, before looking to Desna. "And will you protect me?"
"Of course," Desna answered simply. "I will always protect you."
You smiled warmly, before wrapping both your arms around one of his. He placed a kiss on the top of your head, quick enough that none of the others would notice the PDA, then returning his attention to his father.
"Sadly, this isn't a ghost story. This is real. The spirits are angry because he's here," Unalaq said, looking pointedly to Tonraq. "Haven't you ever wondered how your father ended up in the South Pole? Why he's never taken you to visit his homeland in the North?"
All of you listened intently as Tonraq told the tale of his banishment. Korra, understandably, expressed her distaste for her father concealing the truth from her, before storming off. Mako went to check on her as the rest of you set up camp for the night. Eska commanded Bolin to prepare her sleeping bag, which he did, before catching an icy glare from Desna when he attempted to lay his own sleeping bag down where Desna had been about to put his – which was, coincidentally, right beside yours. Bolin mouthed an "oh" when it clicked as to why he was receiving such a warning look from Desna, before moving his further away, to allow Desna to set up his place next to you.
You sat on top of your sleeping bag for a little while, discussing spirits with Unalaq. He certainly butted heads with Tonraq, but he was interesting to listen to, especially considering the fact that you knew nothing of spirits. After he turned to exchange a few, curt words with Tonraq about the plan for tomorrow, Desna noticed you shiver from the cold. Without the slightest hesitation, he removed the fur-lined overcoat from his shoulders, and wrapped it around you.
"I can't take this, you'll be cold," you argued, but he merely shook his head.
"I will be fine, do not worry," Desna responded. When you opened your mouth to protest again, he added, "My lady is cold. It would be heinously impolite of me to take the coat back. Keep it for the night, at the least."
You could tell he was determined to make you keep it, so you murmured a thank you, before smiling and wrapping it more tightly around your shoulders. Although you were worried about him being cold, you were secretly ecstatic that he insisted on you keeping it for the night, because it smelled like him. If you didn't think it'd be kind of weird, you'd have informed Korra that he definitely isn't the twin who smells like a grandma's attic. He smelled like warm, inviting mahogany, and it felt downright intoxicating to you.
Mako and Korra returned as everyone climbed into their sleeping bags, and they both silently made their beds, as Korra refused to so much as glance at her father. There wasn't much conversation for the rest of the night, and after everyone fell asleep, you scooted your sleeping bag closer to Desna, as quietly as you could. He smiled softly, before lacing his fingers with yours, and the pair of you fell fast asleep.
The next morning, you and Desna were apparently the last to join the realm of consciousness, because you were awoken by Mako loudly stating, "Aw, how sweet. They fell asleep holding hands," followed by a bit of laughter from the others. You really wished you had bending at that particular moment. You improvised by picking up a small rock that was beside your sleeping bag, and throwing it in his direction, deriving your satisfaction from the loud whack it made as it connected with the back of his thick skull, which earned even more laughter – even from Desna.
Soon enough, you were all on the trail again, heading toward the center of the South Pole. You were grateful that Desna was seated behind you once again, because that gave you the opportunity to lean back against him as you strove to fully wake up. You were also grateful that this time, he far more readily wrapped his arms around your waist, meaning he was getting more comfortable with you. During the remainder of the trip there, you and Desna discussed all the books he had back home that he wished for you to read, and you made mental notes of the ones he seemed the most interested in. You resolved to read those first.
"I think we're here," Mako called out, after a couple hours of travel. All of you stopped to gaze upon the intimidatingly vast Everstorm that Tonraq and Unalaq had been talking about.
It got impossibly colder the closer you got to the heart of the Everstorm, prompting everyone to put their hoods up, although that didn't help much. The foreboding sounds of spirits rang out from somewhere around you, and Bolin hesitantly asked, "Is that what I think it is?"
"We must keep moving," Unalaq responded without hesitation.
You couldn't stop the small gasp that escaped your lips when the noises got even louder, and you felt Desna's arms tighten around your waist in a comforting and protective manner. Bolin expressed some additional concern, and just as Mako tried to console him, dark spirits erupted from the ground below and began wreaking havoc on the luggage aboard everyone's modes of transportation.
Desna turned and used waterbending in an attempt to get one such creature off of your supplies, while you tried steadying the alarmed camel. Your efforts were successful, until a dark spirit popped up in front of the animal, and grabbed hold of its legs. The camel began to buck and rear upwards, easily tossing Desna off, as he'd let go of you to fend off the spirits. Despite your yells of protest, the camel took off running up the side of a mountain after ridding itself of your companion, eventually throwing you into a pile of snow.
You weren't terribly concerned about this – in fact, you were grateful for the soft landing – until a new, larger, more menacing dark spirit came to hover above you, extending two large, dark purple claws to seize you in its clutches. You managed to use both feet to kick it off of you so that you could get back up on your feet and draw your twin broadswords, but the impact only angered it, and it dove toward you with a feral, otherworldly screech. You braced yourself to swing at the creature, but it never had the chance to attack.
A thick wall of ice had blocked the spirit from reaching you, courtesy of Desna, who was speeding through the snow toward you. It attempted to dive around the wall to attack you again, but it was met with a tidal wave of water as Desna reached your side, driving it backwards and away from you. Before it could attack again, its attention was drawn away by Unalaq using his technique to soothe and send off a dark spirit. The spirit before you seemed to take the hint, and quickly disappeared into the sky.
"Are you hurt?" Desna inquired, giving you a once-over to search for any signs of injury.
"No, I'm fine, thanks to you," you said as you let out a breath you didn't realize you'd been holding, finally allowing the tension to leave your shoulders. Being face to face with an angry spirit was definitely more than a little nerve-wracking, especially for a non-bender.
Desna held out an arm to you. You took a few steps forward to stand next to him, and he wrapped his arm around your waist, then created a sheet of ice that the pair of you used to sled down the side of the mountain on. You rejoined the party at the same time Eska came sliding down the side of the opposing mountain, followed by Bolin, careening toward you all in his now-inflated snowsuit. Mako stopped him with his foot, before Eska drove spikes of ice through the suit to deflate it.
Mako surveyed the damage, as Tonraq, Unalaq, and Korra argued about whether they should leave or continue onwards. Korra quickly decided to carry on, and Tonraq left to return to the tribe. The party persevered, with Mako having joined Korra on Naga, so that Eska could take his arctic camel, which towed a begrudged Bolin in what was left of his sled.
Not long later, you arrived at the portal. Well, the ice-covered forest surrounding the portal, that is. After discussing a plan with Unalaq, Korra entered, seeking the portal at the heart of the dense, dead forest. The rest of you remained outside, and you leaned against Desna once again, appreciative when his arms wrapped around your waist in response, giving you some protection from the frigid wind. As seemed to be the general setting of the entire trip, the lot of you remained silent, eagerly anticipating the outcome of Korra opening the portal.
You were beginning to think she'd been unsuccessful, when a sudden, blindingly bright beacon of light shot through the center of the forest, up into the sky. You watched in awe as breath-taking bluish green lights began to fill the sky, and you then recalled what Unalaq said about the spirits dancing in the sky at the North Pole.
"It's beautiful," you whispered, more so to yourself than to anyone else.
"You are far more enjoyable to look at," Desna responded, and you turned to smile at him. He offered one of his classic, miniscule smiles in return. For someone as aloof and withdrawn as Desna, he was quite skilled with the occasional romantic remark.
In lieu of a 'thank you,' you leaned back and placed your hand on the back of his neck, guiding his face down to meet yours in a kiss. It had been torture to refrain from kissing him while surrounded by the others, so it was long overdue, and very much enjoyed. His arms around your waist pulled you closer to him as you both melted into the kiss, the lights dancing across the sky above you.
"Hey, Korra, you're back!" Bolin bellowed, drawing your attention away from the kiss.
After Korra had a brief exchange with Unalaq and Mako, you congratulated her on opening the portal, and she thanked you. The morning glow from the sun fell upon the snow-covered landscape as you began the last leg of your journey. It was definitely a worthwhile sight, made all the more enjoyable by Desna's arms around you, and the quick kiss he placed on your temple as you headed back to the tribe.