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Asami sighed as she made her way toward her quarters in Zafou, the sun slowly starting to set over the horizon. It had been a long day of meetings with the metalbenders in Zafou, and she was ready to get home to see Korra, who she hadn’t seen all day. While that wasn’t unusual when she had endless meetings, usually when the two of them were away together from Republic City they tended to find each other more often than not. As she approached their room, she noticed that the lights were off outside of the door, and there was no light coming from the room itself.
Asami slowly pushed the door open, but no one moved behind it. Korra normally was in bed before her on nights she was up late working, but the sun hadn’t even set yet, and it was barely dinner time. It was unlike her wife to not be up and moving for dinner and it immediately had her concerned. She knew that Suyin had promised a real, home-cooked Water Tribe meal and Korra wasn’t one to pass up on such a treat. As far as she was aware, Korra didn’t have any Avatar duties planned for today, and there had been nothing to cause her to not be up and about at this time. Asami spotted her on the bed, light peaking through the closed blinds of the windows illuminating the lump that was her wife. A cloth was placed across her eyes, one arm thrown up past her head, the other clutching at the sheets beneath her. Immediately, Asami understood.
“Hey love,” she said softly, setting her briefcase down and crossing the room slowly. If it was a migraine, she didn’t want to make it worse by being noisy, but she had a feeling it was something worse than that. She knelt at the side of the bed, careful not to jostle Korra as she reached for her and carefully stroked her arm. “What’s going on?”
Korra groaned, moving the cloth, a damp one that was, off her eyes and blinking blearily at her. Her hair was sticking to her face, damp from sweat or the wet cloth Asami didn’t know, but it was freed from its normal ties that she’d adopted now that it had grown out to her shoulders. Asami reached up and placed the cloth on her forehead, frowning at how dazed Korra’s eyes were. It had been ages since it had been this bad.
“Korra, where does it hurt today?” she asked firmly but not unkindly, scanning her wife. Like always, there were no obvious injuries, but Asami had a sneaking suspicion she knew.
“Back,” Korra ground out, eyes fluttering shut in pain. “It’s been spiking for a couple of days but I can’t move today.”
Like most times, Asami was right. Despite it being years since Zaheer, Korra still had flare-ups from time to time, usually concentrated around her lower back. It had been nearly a year since her last bad one, and honestly, Asami thought they were slowly phasing out of Korra’s life. But as Katara had told them, she’d probably always live with this chronic pain.
“Let me get you the hot pad,” Asami said softly, pulling her hands back slowly from where they had intertwined with Korra’s and digging through their bags. When Asami had first created the hot pad, powered by electricity rather than bending or flames, Korra had been skeptical and downright refused to pack it with their traveling belongings. Over time though, she’d grown accustomed to making sure they always had something to deal with the pain. Asami unwrapped the pad and turned it on before approaching Korra again. She placed one hand on Korra’s shoulder, alerting her to her presence, and carefully shifted her wife so that she could slide the pad under her back. Korra gritted her teeth at the movement but sighed softly as the pad began to warm.
Korra glanced at Asami, her eyes seemingly impossibly blue in the fading light, a hint of a smile on her face.
“What would I do without you?” she joked softly.
Asami rolled her eyes, “Aparently sit in pain throughout the night.” She dropped a kiss on her wife’s forehead. “I’ll get them to bring us dinner and tea.”
“You’re the best.”
Asami smirked, “Don’t I know it.” She poked her head out into the hallway, flagging down a passing maid. “Excuse me, I was wondering if you could bring Korra and I dinner and tea tonight. We won’t make it to dinner with everyone.”
The maid stopped, eyes wide, before nodding quickly and dashing off down the hall. Asami turned back to her wife, who was watching her through lidded eyes.
“You had to say it like that didn’t you,” Korra whined softly.
Asami giggled, “We’re a married couple, they’d be stupid to think we didn’t get up to anything in our own bedroom, not like it’s stopped them before.” She sat slowly down on the bed, careful not to shift Korra too much. “Besides, I figured you didn’t want the whole household demanding to see you when they find out you’re not feeling well.”
“You know me so well ‘Sami,” Korra breathed out, patting the bed next to her. It spoke volumes about the journey her wife had gone through to accept this help so readily, and it made Asami’s heart swell with pride.
Asami slid into the bed next to her wife, sliding her arm under Korra’s head, leaving her to rest her head on her chest. Korra sighed softly, nuzzling her head into Asami’s chest, eyes closing.
“You make the best pillow.”
“Only for you love.”
She felt Korra leaving soft kisses on her collarbone, concealed by her shirt. Asami glanced down at the woman in her arms. To so much of the world, Korra was the Avatar first, a near spirit-like figure with power so immeasurable she had no numbers to quantify it. But to Asami, Korra was Korra, her wife with a heart larger than her chest, with a loyalty that ran deep to those around her. She was brash and headstrong, serious and wise, and silly and teasing. She was everything to Asami, her world narrowed down to just one person, the other half of her soul.
A knock signaled that dinner was placed in front of their door, but neither Asami nor Korra stirred, the latter having fallen into a shallow sleep after a day of pain. Later, Asami would extract herself from the bed and eat, but right now she focused her energy on gently running her fingers through her wife’s hair and providing care to the person who cared for the entire world.