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They had rented a cabin in the middle of nowhere. Taking a break from reality. Quiet lakeside two hours north from Republic City in early spring, with no neighbors on a thousand yard radius. Peace. Sound of the ice breaking as the lake melts. Otherwise quiet. The three of them.
They were laying in bed at night when Asami spoke: “Its weird.”
Korra turns to look at her. “What is?”
Asami turns to face her too. “Not hearing the traffic outside. No city noise.”
Korra laughs. “Welcome to the middle of nowhere.”
Asami only hums on response. Then suddenly she can see the thought enter Korra’s mind. Her eyes clearing, where there had been end of the day tiredness.
“Come on” she said, getting out of the bed, pulling the hoodie on from the floor. Then moving on to latching the braces.
Asami looks at her confused. “Where? It is almost 11 pm. And as you said, we are in the middle of nowhere.”
Even Naga is lifting her head in confusion as Korra clips the last strap on place of the first brace. “Outside. The sky is clear.”
“Okay” Asami said while actively not moving to get out from under the blanket.
Korra turns her head to look toward the taller woman who was looking far to comfortable. “You, my dear, have spent your whole life living in cities. I just realised that probably means you have no idea what a real starry night actually looks like. Come on.”
Asami was still not convinced. “For someone who has spent countless nights with me, laying on a roof of a car stargazing-”
Korra cut her off “Just come.”
Asami watches Korra get the second brace on, and pull sweat pants over them, before sighing and pushing the covers off. “It’s cold.”
Korra smirks. Victory. “Naga isn’t complaining.”
Asami looks unimpressed. “Naga, has fur made for cold climate.”
“The quicker we get out there, the quicker we can get back to bed. Even if I think you will forget about the cold in a moment.”
It takes them a moment to dress up, and little more complaining from Asami, before they are walking outside. Korra is walking them (read: dragging Asami) towards a clearing closer to the shore. Then she uses a remote to turn the yard lights off.
Asami was rubbing her hands together the cold already taking over. “So what did you drag me here for in middle of the night for? To be sitting ducks for predators?"
Korra shakes her head fondly. “Look up.”
Asami does with an exaggerated sigh, and freezes. Thousands of little lights looking down at them. Korra was right. She had never seen anything like this.
“Wow.”
Korra smiles. She looks at Asami. At the awe on her face. “Yeah. You kinda forget what’s out there when city lights take over.”
Asami has not looked down. “Is that the milky way?”
Korra huffs a laugh. “Yeah.”
“That’s the galaxy”
“Well what we can see of it from down here.”
“I- I thought people were exaggerating.”
“Nope. Very real.”
“Wow.”
“Yeah.”
They stand there in silence for a while. Then Asami speaks up again. “I don’t think I’ve ever felt this small.”
“Is that a bad thing?” She isn’t really worried. But she still had to ask.
“No. Just… different.”
Asami hasn’t taken her eyes off the sky. Korra hasn’t taken her eyes off her. She had grown up somewhere you could take a twenty minute walk and see all this. But the look on Asami’s face? You can only see it once. Because it is only once someone sees this for the first time. The awe might be there the second time too and every other time after, but it isn’t the same.
She can see the starts reflecting in her eyes. The awe that hasn’t left her features. The million little things that are making her fall in love again.
Asami breaks the silence again “Why the hell have you not told me it could look like this?”
“I don’t think you could really explain this. You have to see it.”
“I’m seeing it.”
Korra leans closer and presses a kiss onto her shoulder. Murmuring: “Yeah. I’m glad you are.”
Asami finally looks down at her. “Thank you. For dragging me outside.”
“Happy to deliver.”
Korra is still leaning on her when Asami looks back up. “You know night drives and stargazing won’t be the same.”
Korra looks up too for a second. “Why’s that.”
“Because now I know what I’m missing.”
Korra laughs. “Guess we have to get a redo of this sometime then.”
She has turned her face back towards Asami when the taller woman says: “I could live with this view forever.”
“Me too”
And she isn’t talking about the stars.
They eventually go back inside. Naga looks up from where she had been sleeping. Wags tail lazily and flops her head back down.
They are settling back to bed when Asami speaks again: “She missed out.”
Korra laughs “She, probably would not have cared. Only been mad she was not getting attention.”
“She would have been dramatic like that.”
Asami pulls her close. “It’s still cold.”
“And here I hoped you would have given up on that after getting once in a lifetime experience.”
“Nope.”