Korrasami Jamboree

Summertime Sadness

Golden night settled on Republic City. Asami Sato sat in the waiting room, a cup of hot jasmine tea steaming in her hands. Tucked into her pocket was a bright pink coupon for the Dragon's Arm Salon, a downtown spa. With a vacant expression, she watched as half-naked men rubbed down old women, the soothing melody of a mandolin playing over the radio, as if they were in olden times. It was a contrast to the piercing and tattoo shop next door blasting its big brass music. Asami could hear the rebellion through the thin, bamboo walls.

"Asami Sato?" came an elderly voice. Asami stood to see an old woman with kind eyes and a warm smile, wrapped in a pink kimono. "Please follow me. I will be your masseuse tonight."

The old woman lead her through a pair of dark red curtains into a private room illuminated by soft candlelight. The curtains blocked out the radio and chatter of the other patrons, rendering them in silence.

"I'll give you a moment to undress. What kind of oils do you like?" the masseuse asked, turning to face a cabinet stocked with one thousand different scents and blends.

"Rose, please," Asami replied, folding her clothes into a neat pile and wrapping a towel around herself. "With a hint of hibiscus, if you have it."

"Of course, dear, of course."

Asami laid on the table and rested her forehead on her wrists. She closed her eyes in contentment as the masseuse's warm, leathery hands kneading the knots in her neck and shoulders, working her way down her spine. Asami inhaled, trying to relax; this was why she was here, wasn't it? To relax? Bolin wouldn't have given her the coupon if it wasn't going to work. She wondered if it would be any good, though, as she couldn't keep her mind off of off of

"Please relax, Miss Sato," the old woman said. "Your aura is particularly black this evening."

Asami opened her eyes and blinked. "My aura?"

"Why yes," the masseuse replied with an easy smile. "Your aura tells me you're depressed."

"I I'm under a lot of pressure, at the moment."

"I don't think so Stress is usually a yellowy color. This is definitely black, with hues of blue and green. Has something been troubling you?"

"You mean You can see what I'm feeling?" Asami asked in disbelief. She had heard of seers in the Old World, prior to the industrialization of Republic City. The woman looked old enough to have been alive in that time. At the same time, there were modern-day seers that claimed to see the future, but Asami knew it was nothing but a bunch of hog-monkey dung. "How can you do that?"

"Many years of practice."

"Oh, okay," Asami said. She wasn't going to press or question the woman's skills. She was being kind and sweet. "But no, there's nothing troubling me."

"You're lying," the woman said in a sing-song voice, and Asami blushed. "You can trust me, dear. I won't tell a soul. Promise."

Asami released another heavy sigh. "I don't know what's wrong with me. I can't sleep, I can't focus, and nothing interests me anymore. I've never felt like this. I don't know what to do."

"I think you need to let go of your frustration. Accept things that have happened, and that they are things that you cannot control."