( korra was always the best bender he'd ever seen. not necessarily in terms of knowledge — there's no denying she had a lot to learn when she got to republic city — but in terms of... untapped potential. when he first met her, she was unformed. untempered. and maybe... that was what drew him to her at first. you could look at korra and see a thousand different tomorrows. you could look at her and see something limitless, beyond the known horizons of the world. there was hope in potential, and that was always the best and brightest of what she gave him, more even than the love.
he's never met anyone who learned as quickly as she did, and adapted what she learned to suit her. she took everything she ever learned and made it better for having done it. she could move effortlessly, seamlessly between elements without a shift or a break in her style. and mako would find little pieces of himself scattered in the way she did it, sometimes. bolin was in the lightness of her earthbending stance, mako was in the power and agility to her airbending, tenzin in the evasiveness of her firebending. and her waterbending became more and more like asami the closer they got too.
but of all her elements, he's always loved her airbending the most. maybe because it's the only one she struggled with, because the moment she used it first was also the moment she saved him. but more importantly than the love he had for air was —
his earliest memory is his mother pulling him into her lap and tucking a well-swaddled bolin into his arms, showing him how to support the head, her warm arms around him so there was no danger to letting a toddler handle a newborn. but the next memory he has is of fire.
he doesn't remember what he was doing, there was no firebending in his family for generations so there was no expectation that he'd have it. he just remembers conjuring flame to lick his fingers and laughing in the usual glee that toddlers have at something new and shiny, and his mother's face when she realized what she was doing. she could have been anything — afraid, or worried. but instead she was excited and proud. children at that age are a reflection of what their parents show them, so he'd been the same. they couldn't afford a firebending master, but his parents would take scrolls out on loan from the library and go over them with him while he learned.
and then they died. and fire transmuted from a thing of wonder into one where only horrors lurked. for a while, he'd resolved never to do it again, but even at eight years old he knew that was probably pointless. it was a tool, and it would help them survive, and if he was going to learn it he needed to be the best because of what happened the one time he wasn't. but he never liked bending, only the utility and practicality that came with it.
seeing korra use fire, knowing she'd never... had anything ill come of it. seeing the unfettered passion in it, feeling the warm little heartbeat that seemed to settle and pulse in the flames she called up from the heart and soul of her. that was what gave him back the love he'd had for it once. for a long time, what he carried was the idea that fire could only destroy, she's the one who let him relearn all the ways it could be soft and nurturing. not necessarily because she used it that way — it was her element of power, she almost always defaulted to it in an attack — but because she made him see it in himself.
and if he loved her for nothing else she's ever done, he would have loved her for that. she talked about broken bones, resetting them so they can heal? she broke what he'd been limping on for a decade and realigned his view of the world.
spirits, he loves her. he loved who she was when they met, and he loves who she's become even if he can mourn for what it took from her. it's nice to see her smile again, like the sun's peeked out from behind a wintry veil. )
Really? Bolin says I look stuffy.
( he's playful about it. his looks have never been something he needed his ego stroked about, mako knows he's attractive. and that his hair is fine. when korra dances around behind him on a gust of air, he flips himself to one side, pivoting so he's facing her when his feet touch the ground, a gust of fire at one heel to stabilize his landing just the way an airbender might. he crouches to swipe at her feet, a slicing arc of flame he knows she'll jump over just as easily as he does it. )
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he's never met anyone who learned as quickly as she did, and adapted what she learned to suit her. she took everything she ever learned and made it better for having done it. she could move effortlessly, seamlessly between elements without a shift or a break in her style. and mako would find little pieces of himself scattered in the way she did it, sometimes. bolin was in the lightness of her earthbending stance, mako was in the power and agility to her airbending, tenzin in the evasiveness of her firebending. and her waterbending became more and more like asami the closer they got too.
but of all her elements, he's always loved her airbending the most. maybe because it's the only one she struggled with, because the moment she used it first was also the moment she saved him. but more importantly than the love he had for air was —
his earliest memory is his mother pulling him into her lap and tucking a well-swaddled bolin into his arms, showing him how to support the head, her warm arms around him so there was no danger to letting a toddler handle a newborn. but the next memory he has is of fire.
he doesn't remember what he was doing, there was no firebending in his family for generations so there was no expectation that he'd have it. he just remembers conjuring flame to lick his fingers and laughing in the usual glee that toddlers have at something new and shiny, and his mother's face when she realized what she was doing. she could have been anything — afraid, or worried. but instead she was excited and proud. children at that age are a reflection of what their parents show them, so he'd been the same. they couldn't afford a firebending master, but his parents would take scrolls out on loan from the library and go over them with him while he learned.
and then they died. and fire transmuted from a thing of wonder into one where only horrors lurked. for a while, he'd resolved never to do it again, but even at eight years old he knew that was probably pointless. it was a tool, and it would help them survive, and if he was going to learn it he needed to be the best because of what happened the one time he wasn't. but he never liked bending, only the utility and practicality that came with it.
seeing korra use fire, knowing she'd never... had anything ill come of it. seeing the unfettered passion in it, feeling the warm little heartbeat that seemed to settle and pulse in the flames she called up from the heart and soul of her. that was what gave him back the love he'd had for it once. for a long time, what he carried was the idea that fire could only destroy, she's the one who let him relearn all the ways it could be soft and nurturing. not necessarily because she used it that way — it was her element of power, she almost always defaulted to it in an attack — but because she made him see it in himself.
and if he loved her for nothing else she's ever done, he would have loved her for that. she talked about broken bones, resetting them so they can heal? she broke what he'd been limping on for a decade and realigned his view of the world.
spirits, he loves her. he loved who she was when they met, and he loves who she's become even if he can mourn for what it took from her. it's nice to see her smile again, like the sun's peeked out from behind a wintry veil. )
Really? Bolin says I look stuffy.
( he's playful about it. his looks have never been something he needed his ego stroked about, mako knows he's attractive. and that his hair is fine. when korra dances around behind him on a gust of air, he flips himself to one side, pivoting so he's facing her when his feet touch the ground, a gust of fire at one heel to stabilize his landing just the way an airbender might. he crouches to swipe at her feet, a slicing arc of flame he knows she'll jump over just as easily as he does it. )