Dragonfire | Mako

TWENTY-THREE

She was gone. There was no sight of her in the trees nearby and the moonlight did nothing to aid their search. Kaida was gone, as simply as that, and no one could guess where she had disappeared off to.

They had been searching for hours now but there was no luck. His eyes were weary, his posture rigid, a hand raised in the air, a flame dancing in his palm as he tried to observe any difference in the landscape that could indicate they were on the right path. Beside him walked a woman, a flame similar to his in her palm as she looked around, bright eyes like the ocean appearing troubled as her gaze jumped from the landscape to her companion. He had been quiet for a long time, now.

"Mako," she muttered with a frown as she took in his rigid posture, "we'll find her. Asami and Bolin are in the air looking for any signs. They can't have gotten that far."

He didn't spare her as much as a glance as he kept walking forward and she hurried after him with a small sigh. "It wasn't your fault."

He stopped abruptly as he turned to face her, his lips pursed with such pressure they were almost the same tone as his pale skin. "If something happens to her, Korra, I'll never forgive myself."

"Neither will I, we should have protected her, I know," she sighed as they kept walking forward, through the dark forest. "I have faith in our friends and ourselves, though. Asami and Bolin will see them from above if they're still close by and we'll track them down."

"You can't be certain," he shook his head, "they could be everywhere in this place."

"Then we won't stop looking until we've found her."

Mako stole a glance at her at the tone of her voice, carrying more confidence than he felt at the moment, and despite the situation, he couldn't help but send her a small, relieved smile. "Thank you, Korra. I'm glad you're here."

"Of course, the more we are the quicker we'll find her," she returned his smile and focused on her surroundings. He mimicked her moves and for the next few minutes they looked around in silence, until Korra spoke up once more. "You care for her, don't you?"

"Of course I do," he stole a glance at her. "She's our friend, she helped us find Wu even though she didn't need to and I think she's a good person."

"Right," she smirked, "that's all."

Mako looked away. "Now's not the time."

"I know it isn't. But when we get her back you'll have to tell us. Everyone is curious to know. We'll distract Kaida so she doesn't have to listen."

"That won't be necessary," he cleared his throat and in the light of his fire, she thought he was nervous. "I won't be telling something she doesn't already know."

Korra's eyes widened. "Wait, what? You and Kaida-"

"Yeah," he cut in hurriedly as he cleared his throat and pointed at a few short ways ahead. "Come on. The forest ends there."

Korra and Mako crossed the short distance to the end of the forest (he barely managed to ignore the looks she sent his way), where the trees were growing less and less until they found themselves in a clear space. It was a road, they realised, a part of dirt leading to the mountains. They looked closely, and it wasn't a long time before they caught sight of track prints on the ground. They exchanged a look as they looked around and a short while later, Mako found a clue.

There was a patch beside the road, the plants turned to ash, the soil darkened. He leaned closer as he examined the clue closely, his lips set in a tight line. It was burnt.

"Korra," he called out, sure this was a message. The Avatar was behind him in a second, her eyes widening in realisation as she took in the batch of dead plants.