Book 5: Family

Chapter 4

CHAPTER WARNINGS: semi-public nudity, hot springs, fingering, hair-pulling. The next chapter will be a bit tougher for some people to read. There will be warnings. For now, enjoy the aquatic activities!

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No sooner had they seen the huge Deer-Spirit carrying their clothes than Korra took off behind it with a fury. "How dare you?!" she raged as she chased it, propelling herself forward and between the trees with gusts of air. Asami took off sprinting after her, knowing that it was futile given her woefully mundane body's constraints, but she wanted to at least close as much distance between them as was possible.

After a few minutes, Korra stopped to catch her breath, and it dawned to her that she couldn't see the Spirit anymore. They hadn't caught it. Instead, they'd just found themselves in the middle of the woods, completely naked.

"Asami, do you see it?" Korra whined, shading her eyes to hopefully see better. "RRRRRG I lost him..."

"Sorry!" she panted, hands on her knees as she tried to catch her breath. The forest had been rather kind to her vulnerable flesh despite running through it with no protection; a few surface cuts on her legs and arms that were negligible. "I... I was behind you, so if... you can't see it, then... what hope do I have?"

"Oh yeah," Korra mumbled a little guiltily. "Sorry." She spotted the small scratches on Asami's legs. "Hey, are you okay? I didn't mean to leave you behind, I..."

"Nothing too bad. I'm just worried about-"

"Wait." Korra held up her hand for silence, then gestured towards what she heard. "It sounds like... bubbling water. Do you hear that?"

"Yeah," Asami breathed as she took a step in its direction. "And not bubbling because it's running, either." Korra took Asami's hand and moved slowly through the woods, checking around each tree as they went. She didn't mind that Korra had been distracted from her cuts so easily; after all, they were far from life-threatening. After just a couple minutes following the sound, they were able to pinpoint its source. It was a pool of water, surrounded by rock and no bigger than a large bathing tub.

"Whoa," whispered Korra for what felt like the millionth time that day. "It's bubbling. And it's warm!"

"A natural hot spring," she said as Korra led her closer to the edge. The bottom was not visible, but she had no reason to believe that it was any deeper than up to their shoulders. "We... really should keep looking for our clothes, but that looks so nice..."

True, they should keep hunting. On the other hand, if the Spirit didn't want them to find it, then they probably wouldn't. Curiously, she dipped a toe into the water, using her Bending senses to probe its depths. After debating for a moment or two, she shrugged.

"Aw, what the heck - how often are we gonna be in the Spirit World?" Korra stepped into the spring and found the water to be no deeper than the bottom of her shoulder. "Heyy, this is pretty nice," she hummed, offering a hand to help Asami into the pool.

Half-laughing, half-sighing in exasperation, Asami also allowed her toes to hover just below the surface. The perfect temperature, one the owners of fine spas in Republic City toiled to maintain every day. And here it was, naturally occurring! Almost grateful, she sank slowly into the bubbling water until she was standing next to Korra, moaning quietly.

"Good gods, Korra, it's... what I wouldn't give for ready access to this in our world!"

"You're telling me," Korra agreed with a chuckle, putting her arm around Asami as she trailed her other hand through the water. Absently she began twirling one finger to make a tendril of water rise from the surface, spiraling lazily through the air. "Hey, don't you have something like this in your mansion though? If you don't, I bet you could."