Korra had been going back to practise for a few days now. Every day she asked if I wanted to go with her. Of course, I did, but Uncle Tenzin had been laying on the chores, something I've never had to do, in the hopes that I'd give up and go home. Little did he know, I actually didn't mind chores.
I knew the Pro-Bending championship was coming up, and I really wanted to be there for Korra. I'd only seen her in action once for a brief moment. This was something that was important to her.
So I did chores after chores in between task force raids which we now took on carefully and refused to comment to the press afterwards since Korra's previous blow-up almost cost her her bending, and every other day Uncle Tenzin trained me.
Now, he knew I wasn't a bender, but he said that Grandmother had been right to say that I moved like an airbender. He told me that getting the movements down better could help me protect myself if I was going to stay in the city.
Overall, I wasn't sure what would happen with me staying. Uncle Tenzin had written Mother immediately after I was found out, and today we'd received a reply. But I was too afraid to read her letter. Instead, I handed it off to Uncle Tenzin immdediately and told him to not read it aloud. Pacing the room as he skimmed through her words, I let my mind wander through the possibilities of what she would say.
Finally, Uncle Tenzin said, "Well, she isn't surprised that this is where you are. In fact, she basically already knew, and she figures that you will return home once you are ready. She loves you and wants you to be careful."
"She knew?" I asked in disbelief.
"Well," Aunt Pema started. "Mothers know everything... MELO, GET OUT OF THE PIE. THAT IS FOR DINNER TONIGHT, YOUNG MAN!"
I jumped at her sudden explosion, and Melo's disappointed sigh echoed down the hall.
"See?" Aunt Pema smiled and continued folding clothes fresh off the line and using her bulging belly as a tabletop for smaller things like dish rags.
Korra walked in then in her pro-bending training gear. "You coming, Zuri?"
"Go," Uncle Tenzin told me. "You've made a couple friends that probably want to see you. Go on."
So I did.
In the arena's training area, I read a book as the three Fire Ferrets fired attacks at each other. They kept going for what seemed like hours, and occasionally I'd peak up at Mako and think about the drama that I just knew we'd see in the future. Right now he was with Asami Sato. And it didn't look like they were going to break up any time soon. Then there was Korra's undying love for him. And me? I wasn't sure what I felt, but there was something in the way he moved that made my heart skip a beat. There was no way things would end happily.
Finally, they stopped for the day, and I was looking forward to doing something with Korra since we've hardly hung out since I'd come.
"It's been great having you at so many back-to-back practises, Korra," Mako said, taking off his helmet.
"Feels good to be back! Although Tarrlock isn't too happy about my leave of absence," Korra told him.
Yeah, I thought. He probably couldn't be more than happy to be rid of me though. A nonbender wasn't exactly welcome in a task force fighting against a nonbender rebellion. I felt like all of them saw me as a spy. Who could blame them though?
"Hey, you joined the Fire Ferrets before you joined his task force," Bolin said, with a tinge of jealousy in his voice. I stood up then and walked half way over.
"Okay, come on. Team huddle time," Mako said as the three of them gathered around each other closely. "Um, it's our first match of the tournament tonight. I know the three of us haven't been a team for very long, but even so the Fire Ferrets have never been this good. Are we ready?"
"We're ready!" Bolin and Korra said in sync.
Asami strode across the floor during the team huddle. She shot me an angry look and a disgusted one towards Korra's back. "Not quite," she said sweetly. "You'll need these."
She held up the Fire Ferrets team uniform with the Future Industries logo sewn on the chest. "Hey, Asami," Mako said, walking over to her immediately.
"Good morning, sweetie."
"These new uniforms look great!" Mako said, taking the uniform from her.
"You look great, champ!" Asami replied, and the two of them rubbed noses.
Bolin, Korra, and I all had a look of utter disgust on our faces, but we wiped them away when Mako turned to face us and say his goodbyes before his lunch date with Asami.
"Alright, we'll check you guys later. You know, we'll see you when we see you," Bolin was saying as Asami and Mako walked out the door.
Bending over, I grabbed Korra's bag, tossed it to her, and suggested we go eat something. Just as she threw the bag over her shoulder, Bolin appeared at her side. "So... Korra," he started. "There they go. Here we are. All alone in the gym. Just you and me. Two alone people. Together. Alone..."
"Bolin, I'm here, too."
"Uh, yeah, I knew that. Totally knew that. Yup."
"Oh, and we gotta head back to the Air Temple and do some training with Tenzin. Right, Zuri?" Korra asked, looking at me with an awkward gaze. I nodded. "So, see ya!"
Korra ran over and grabbed my wrist to pull me out behind her, leaving a disappointed Bolin brooding in the shadows. The walk to the water was rather awkward. Korra kept wondering aloud why Bolin was being so weird. I just wanted to smack her a little. The poor guy was obviously crushing on her majorly. But I didn't think Bolin would appreciate my sharing the information, so I kept quiet for most of the way back.
"And, oh god, Mako and Asami!" Korra said as she waterbended our boat across the water.
Finally, something I could talk about... "I know it must be awful to have to watch that."
"You should know. You saw how gross they are around each other... All lovey-dovey and... Ugh."
"Korra, you know... You know that I know. I know you like him. Don't even try to deny it."
Her face flushed. "Well, I - uh, I'm not even interested in Mako! That has absolutely nothing to do with anything."
"Didn't I just tell you? Don't deny it. You know it's the truth!"
"Well, what if it were? What would I do?" She asked, a hopeful glint in her eyes.
I wished more than anything that I had advice to give her, more so that I would have that advice for my own use. Until I came to the city, I was too absorbed in training and my education. Mom and Dad would have killed me for even thinking about possibly being interested in a guy.
"I don't know," I told her, sadly. "Never been in the situation before. Maybe Aunt Pema would be more helpful."
In a way, I didn't even want to refer her to Aunt Pema, who sort of stole Uncle Tenzin away from Chief Beifong years ago. It was bad of me to want to see my best friend fail at something. But she was the avatar. She was a top-class bender, she was famous... Why should she get the guy, too?
"You're no help," she whispered.
"Sorry!"
By then we were across the water, and even though I'd gotten the morning off, I still had chores to do. Korra had some herself, so we parted ways for the time being. I waved bye to her, suddenly glad that we'd come back to the temple rather sitting through a dinner together. She would have wanted to talk about Asami and Mako more, and I would have wanted to say something that I shouldn't.
That's when it started snowing. It was really romantic feeling, and I really hoped that Mako and Asami weren't enjoying it together.
I was late to the opening match of the pro-bending tournament. Luckily, this time, I knew my way around the arena pretty well, and the grumpy old man from my first visit waved at me this time. I ran into the arena just in time to see the Fire Ferrets' big finish. They had won all of the rounds and were obviously advancing up the bracket. Quickly, I turned back out of the arena and made my way to their locker room.
Apparently, I didn't know my way around as well as I thought. By the time I found the locker room, Korra wasn't even there any more. Instead, Mako and Asami were there talking in whispers. Probably about how much they loved-loved each other.
"Hey, where's Korra?" I asked as I came through the door. I was more than happy to interrupt.
"She, uh, went on a date with Bolin," Mako told me.
"I think they would be so cute together!" Asami gushed. "Now we need to find you a boyfriend. I think you should find a waterbender. They're usually more calm and collected like you, right? That would be perfect! Which water tribe are you from? The Southern one, right?"
"Nah, waterbenders aren't exactly my type. And I'm a princess from the Fire Nation, so I typically go for the firebenders," I told her angrily before leaving and slamming the door behind me. Who was she to suggest I get a boyfriend? Why had I even thrown out the p-word?
I didn't even get to ask where Korra and Bolin went. But if they started dating, and Mako and Asami were together, then what was I going to do? Scrub floors at the temple all day? Maybe I'd become a hermit. Could girls even be hermits though? I could be the first.
I stayed completely away from Korra and the others until the day of the quarter-final. I couldn't make myself miss it. They were all still my friends, even if I was the odd duck.
They were pretty out of it though, but Bolin kept them together as a one man bending battallion, as the announcer called him. He single-handedly won the match. Afterwards I followed Korra outside.
"Hey, you," I called out to her. She didn't turn around. "A lot on your mind?"
"A lot on my mind? A lot on my mind? Maybe there wouldn't be so much if you would have been around any! So much has happened! I told Mako how I felt and got rejected, then Bolin took me on a date. Now Mako's angry, and Bolin's got the wrong idea. What am I supposed to do?"
"Why would you go out with Bolin if you knew you didn't feel that way? Korra, that's just cruel!"
"Look, don't judge me, okay? I felt like the loneliest person in the world, and he said all these things that made me feel better! I just wanted to feel dateable."
"Dateable? You're the freaking avatar, Korra. No one in the world is more dateable than that. You know, sometimes you just need to get over yourself!"
"Zuri, what are you talking about?" She screamed at me. "I think you need to get over yourself!"
"Hey, woah!" Mako's voice said.
"You stay the hell out of this," I told him.
"No, don't talk to him like that. What has he done to you?" Korra said, growing angier by the second.
"Whatever, I don't have to deal with either of you right now."
I could feel Korra boiling behind me as I walked away. I didn't get far. In front of the arena, I sat on the steps by myself wondering when exactly I could leave for home. I was more than ready to tell Uncle Tenzin that I was sick of the city. I missed my country home and my strict parents. And I missed only seeing Korra on holidays.
I stood up after a while, and suddenly Bolin came rushing past me, dropping a bouquet of flowers on the ground as he ran. Mako was right behind him. "Bro!"
"What happened?" I asked, but Mako dodged the question.
"I guess I'll have to go after him."
"No, let me," I said, walking over and picking up the bouquet of flowers that he'd dropped. Pabu hopped on my shoulder as Mako turned around and went inside, yelling where I'd probably find him over his shoulder.
It was the Water Tribe restuarant that the two brothers had brought me to when I'd first come here. Bolin was sitting in the first booth in the corner, eating noodles and crying loudly while all of the other customers glared at him for disturbing their meal.
Pabu and I sat across from him, and I told the waiter that I wasn't eating. Bolin ignored me for while as he continued sobbing and snotting into his food. Yet he still ate it anyway.
It took a lot not to make a disgusted look at that, but I tried to keep a warm smile on my face. I could guess that Korra and Mako maybe had a little romantic moment, and Bolin's heart was broken after he'd witnessed it.
"Hey, Bolin," I whispered. "Crying like that isn't very manly. Come on, suck it up. You've got another match tomorrow, right?"
"There's no way I'm playing with those traitors!" He said through snotty sobs.
"Now, come on. Mako's your brother, and Korra's your friend!"
"No, that's just what I thought they were! They're both traitors!"
"Bolin, will you tell me what happened?"
It took him a while to recount the short tale through his loud whimpers, but eventually it came out that he'd seen Mako and Korra kissing.
"I thought we were so good together!"
"Well, maybe she's not as good for you as you thought, Bolin." But my words were anything but reassuring. "There's plenty of pretty girls here in the city. And you're a handsome pro-bender. I mean, you were on fire at that match tonight! You tore it up out there, Bolin. You were amazing! What girl in her right mind wouldn't be impressed by that?"
"The avatar," he said, still sobbing. "Obviously."
"Hey, we're not talking about the a-word, okay? And no girl would! I was blown away. Watching you out there made me jealous that you asked Korra out and not me!"
"Really?" He asked. I nodded quickly. "Well, I am handsome and a pro-bender with amazing talent..."
He seemed to feel better, but then I realized that even though I was boosting his spirit, I was doing the same thing that Korra had done to break his heart. I was telling him all of these things that weren't true and leading him to believe that I had feelings for him. But he was smiling a little now, and I couldn't stop.
"That was obvious though, right?" I asked, smiling at him as much as I could.
The next day, I went straight to the locker room as soon as I made it to the arena. They'd already started playing, and things were not looking good.
Bolin took a zinger to his shoulder, and it hit pretty hard. In the end, Korra made an amazing comeback and knocked out her three opponents just in time. She really was amazing. How could she ever lose confidence in herself?
She came over and the three Fire Ferrets had their moment together deciding to remain teammates and friends despite the confusing circumstances.
Then the next players walked into the room. The one who was obviously the leader waved his hand in front of his face as he walked past me as I leaned against the wall. He commented on the smell of the locker room. Obviously aiming the comment at the Fire Ferrets since I was practically invisible unless I was speaking.
I couldn't help myself. The pro-benders weren't allowed to fight out of the ring, but I could. I walked up behind him and threw my leg into the air, kicking the side of his face with as much force as I felt neccessary. His body flew into the wall and onto the ground.
I gave him a moment to recover and stand up. He held his head and looked at me angrily. "Maybe," I started. "What you're smelling is your own egotistical rank. I'm looking forward to seeing the Fire Ferrets singe that pretty hair-cut of yours."
"Who are you?" He asked.
"If you've got another word to say about my friends, then I'm your worst nightmare, sweetheart."
He was already backing away, but I decided to jump at him a little anyway. He flinched, then snorted and turned away, walking out to the platform that extended to the arena.
"So y'all are good. What about us?" I said, motioning to all of us including Asami who had just walked into Mako's arms. They were still together, I noted.
"Yeah," Korra said, glancing back at her teammates. "We're good, too. I've missed my best friend, you know."
"Yeah, well, you were right to miss me. I'm awesome."
We shared a laugh as she offered to heal Bolin's arm, and I walked over to watch the chaos unfold before me. In the first round, these guys, the Wolfbats, got a knock-out in the first round within two minutes of entering the ring. The Fire Ferrets were in some serious trouble.