#asami sato
korrasami screencap redraw! this might be my favorite moment in tlok ✨ thanks to everyone who voted in the insta poll!
A little drabble for Memorial Day here in the U.S.
Inspired by this ficby@bumizumii, which opens with Izumi visiting her son Iroh in the healing center before going to check on her best friend, Bumi. But what happened to Iroh?
***
Iroh let the book fall heavily to his chest, frustrated. His right arm ached. His left was barely useable at all. The healer assigned to him said in addition to the burns he’d torn something in his shoulder, probably either from when he’d grabbed onto the first plane or when he’d jumped from the last. That, plus the concussive force of the controlled fall from the statue, the shock from the electric fence, and his near drowning the day before, meant Iroh was to be shut up in the healing center for at least a couple of days. For observation, the healers said.
He hated it.
Deep down, Iroh knew he should be grateful. By all rights he should be dead. A lot of people were. So many, in fact, that he’d used most of his considerable powers of concentration not to think about it. There would be time enough to both mourn the fallen and deal with the consequences after he was well. But in the meantime all Iroh was allowed to do was lie here. He’d secured one of the few private rooms, his rank and background had required that, but that meant no one to talk to. His chief of staff had denied him any work. He’d had few visitors besides his mother, and she had a whole diplomatic schedule besides. And, as Iroh had just found out, his arms hurt too much to even read the book she’d left him. It seemed he was doomed to do little more than count the imperfections in the ceiling tiles.
Just then there was a quiet sound at the door. Iroh turned to see two pale green eyes peering through the crack in the door. His heart sped up a little. What was she doing here?
“You’re awake?” Asami asked.
Iroh nodded. “Please, come in.” He briefly wondered exactly how disheveled he looked.
Asami smiled as she pushed her way through the door. She was just as gorgeous as ever, her long black hair pulled back today in a simple tail. It looked sleek and soft and very touchable. Actually, all of her did. Brilliant. Brave. Kind. Dammit, it had been a long time since he’d been so thoroughly smitten.
“How are you?” he managed to ask.
Asami blinked. “Me? You’re the one in the healing center.”
He shrugged, then winced as hot pain shot through his left shoulder. As he did the book his mother had brought started to slide to the floor. Iroh tried to move but Asami darted forward, lightning quick, snatching it just before it tumbled off his body.
“Whoops,” she said, holding it out. Iroh tried to move his arm again, then shook his head.
“You can put it on the stand,” he said.
A crease appeared between her eyes as she set the book aside. “And how are you?”
“Fine,” Iroh said, and tried to sit up. He couldn’t, not quite. His chest ached from where he’d hit the water.
Asami’s little frown deepened as she set the book aside.
“Is everyone else alright?” he asked. Unharmed as she was, Asami must have come to the healing center to visit one of her friends.
“Yes, fine.” Something flickered across her face. It was clear neither of them were including her father in that statement. “I just came from Air Temple Island, actually. Your mother dropped by and mentioned you were here. It was nice to meet her.”
The fact Asami said “nice” and not “terrifying” was a point in her favor. Iroh loved his mother, but she could be rather indimidating.
“So what brings you by?” he asked.
She cocked her head slightly, as if puzzled. “I came to check on you.”
“Me?”
A faint pink rose to her cheeks. It was very pretty. “Yes,” she said. “It’s the least I could do. After everything.”
Iroh felt a heat rise to his own face. “I feel much better now that you’re here,” he heard himself say.
Smooth, real smooth. He could have kicked himself.
Asami, however, only smiled. It was a beautiful smile, both genuine and slightly embarrassed. It looked good on her. Iroh wouldn’t mind seeing it more often. Not at all. Then her eyes fell on the book.
“Do you want me to read to you?” she asked. “Your mother told me about your shoulder. It must be hard to hold that up.”
“That’s a lot of trouble,” Iroh said.
“Nonsense.” Asami slid into the chair next to the bed and picked up the book. “A History of the Mo Ce Peninsula from 1000 BG,” she read. Then she looked up and laughed. “A bit of light reading?”
Iroh smiled back at her. “I find I like Republic City,” he said. “I thought I may as well learn more about the people here.”
Asami met his eyes steadily. “Good.”
