( whatever he was expecting, it wasn't. that. she's lucky she's not looking at him, because his expression goes from concerned to angry in the span of a heartbeat. but it doesn't last. it's just there, and then it burns itself out, and he's left with something guarded and neutral, because korra could've easily stopped him from kissing her, and she didn't.

it's just. one more element in the cycle of how they are with each other. everything's good, and then it hurts. something aches in his chest and all the happy lightness he'd felt just moments earlier have curled into ash like burnt paper.

korra and asami. dating? he's not sure what to make of that. but it. explains a few things. like why korra wrote to her and not him. that takes an old wound and twists the knife in the slick messy ichor of it, and mako drops his attention to the ground where it's charred with the dance of firesign. )

I see.

( a year ago, he would have yelled at her. maybe even just a few months. but he'd never tasted death as closely and as intimately as he has now, and it. changed him in a few impossible, irrevocable ways. the anger is a coiled thing somewhere deep beneath his ribcage, but he can calm it. it's like bending the water around a spirit and changing its nature as an act of will. until he can, he'll guard it closely. )

Well, you already know I think Asami's great, so... I hope it goes well for you both.

( but he's not going to. sit here. and he doesn't want to talk to her any more, or spar, or do much of anything. so he gets to his feet. )

I'll see you back at the temple, Korra.