The Gray Area || Korrasami - The Legend of Korra

Questions

"Wait, you can't stay late at the library even if you are someone who studies mostly at night?" I asked Mako, the student counsellor who was supposed to answer all our questions, for what felt like the hundredth time.

And by the look on his face, he was at the last thread of his patience with me, which obviously made me want to annoy him more.

"No Korra, you can't!" he replied, exasperated with my questioning. 

"What if I have a permission slip from the professors to stay late?"

"Well, they won't give you one because no one is allowed to stay out after midnight, university rules. There are far too many criminal attacks and since they are responsible for the safety of all students, they are unauthorized to give anyone a slip to stay past midnight." 

His answer was exactly why I needed to stay out past midnight, so I asked Mako another question in hopes of finding a loophole.

"Ugh, alright. And if by chance, I end up stuck outside a minute later than the curfew, what should I do? Doesn't letting me in fall under the responsibility of the professors? For my safety?"

"1. There is a regular announcement throughout the campus at 11:50 PM to reach back to your dorms, so you will be considered aware and responsible enough to have heard it.
2. If you do find yourself stuck out a "minute" later than the curfew, you will be allowed in, but after 3 strikes of an incident like this occurring, you will be warned, 3 more strikes and you will be removed from the scholarship position. So it would be best not to find yourself in a position like that.
3. You are not the only one with questions Korra, so please move to the next booth to collect your books. You are holding up the line" his tone implied that it was the end of the conversation and that he was suspicious of me questioning him around this topic, so with a heavy sigh, I let it go. But I had to get in the last word, so...

"Alright, my man. But if I end up scoring less, I will blame you!" Sticking my tongue out, and catching Mako roll his eyes at my antics (thankfully throwing his suspicions off), I moved on to annoy the person handing out the books at the next table.

"Flameo Hotman! Are these the books for the Avatar and Politics major?" I asked Bolin, reading the nameplate of the man surrounded by books. I handed him my scholarship letter as he pushed up his glasses to glance through it.

"Uh... Flameo! Ah, yes, Korra, the scholarship student of this year. Here you go!" He responded by giving back my letter and handing me around 5 heavy-ass books that would've buckled my knees and had me on the floor, if not for all the heavy lifting I did for practice and work.

"Thanks! By the way, what's the policy for getting books from the library? Mako over there won't allow me to study overnight!" I said loud enough for Mako to hear over the chatter of students.

"IT'S NOT IN MY HANDS KORRA!!" He yelled back scaring the kids in front of him, which obviously had me laughing out as loudly as possible.

"I know. Just teasing!!" I replied before turning back at Bolin. 

"Well, you can borrow 3 books at a time. You can obviously return one and borrow another one in its place, but the maximum you are allowed to have in your dorm room is 3. The librarian will issue your card if you head over there after placing these books in your locker if you choose to. It's too troublesome carrying them all in one go, so a lot of students tend to do that." He responded helpfully.

"Thank you! That's actually a wonderful idea. That way to the lockers, right?" I asked pointing my head towards a long hallway.

He nodded with a smile, and I hobbled along with the books towards where Bolin pointed.

"By the way, Bolin. If you wish to, I would love to come back and support you and Mako. You guys look swamped!" 

"We would love that. Thank you. But go and look around the campus for the day. Looking at this huge line of students, we will be here for a while." Bolin replied with a smile. 

Okay, you know what, he doesn't get annoyed for the day. He seems like a friendly dude.

Heading towards the locker, I placed the books in, carrying the history of Avatars with me, so that I could read it back in the room. It was something that I had already read while preparing for the exam here, and it was a fairly popular choice to start your learning on this subject, which meant the teachers here would probably focus on the details for the coming semester. 

If I wanted to get any closer to those forbidden books as quickly as possible, this would be the fastest way to do so. Making a mental note of the chapters that would require special attention, I roamed around the campus.

For a city as chaotic as Republic City, the campus still held on to the past era that was focused on nature. There was a mini forest at one edge of the campus that was donated and cultivated by Aang and Tenzin.

I could see a lot of contributions that were made by the Gaang, as Katara loved to call it. There was a small security detail installed by Toph within the campus, there were weekly poetry and drama sessions that were set up by Sokka and surprisingly by Firelord Zuko. Katara had a healing centre where she sent the best healers of the South pole to help the students follow their passion without hurting themselves.

While these little tidbits were like attraction points that everyone on the campus enjoyed, these remnants and reminders of a team that once helped my past life, just left me feeling lonely on this big campus.

In the hope to remedy that, I quickly moved through the rest of the campus tour, getting my library card printed and sending a thank you out to the thoughtful student who printed many copies of the campus's map. Making my way to the dorm room to keep the book and other things I picked up from across the campus, I held on to the map and walked back to the college.

There was no sign of Asami throughout the day, and maybe it was for the better. You know, distance and all.

But that distance or any notion of it, turned torturous pretty quickly, because right where I was supposed to meet Mako and Bolin, there she was, glorious and beautiful as always, having the most lively conversation with Mako.

Brushing aside the deep twinge of an emotion that was too hard to name, I walked toward the 3 people, who would soon be the biggest triggers of change in my life.