What History Remembers
Korrasami & Yangvik (yes, both)
Summary: While sorting through a pile of past Avatar artifacts, Korra and Asami stumble upon a sketchbook filled with drawings of Avatar Yangchen -- in ways they've never seen her depicted before. Desperate to find out who the artist (and Yangchen's mystery lover) is, Korra is more than a little disappointed to be told their identity has never been confirms, despite the many suspicions surrounding Kavik, her lifelong companion.
Surely, with just a bit of sleuthing, she can find out the truth? And no, she is not taking this personally.
(Warning for implied/referenced sexual content)
Also posted on Ao3!
Word Count: 4673
~~~~
When Asami opens the heavy door to Tenzin's office, the first thing that greets her is the strong scent of dust and ancient ink, a cloud of it rolling over her and making her eyes water. Beside her, Korra coughs into her arm, blinking furiously as she follows her girlfriend inside the room.
The office, normally kept the epitome of neatness and order, is now stacked wall-to-wall with boxes and cases, spilling over with rolls of parchment, piles of letters, mounds of cloth wrapped around mysterious objects. From somewhere unseen within the chaos, a voice calls out, "Don't touch anything!"
"Hey Jinora," Korra calls back, glancing bewilderedly around the room. "Asami and I just came to check how everything was going."
The younger girl finally makes herself known, popping up from behind a stack of boxes that must be twice her height. "You missed the drop-off."
"We were caught up with something," Asami explains before Korra's sheepish expression can give them both away. She continues before Jinora can attempt to pry, "Did everything go smoothly?"
Korra's latest Avatar Decree, finally coming to fruition. Ever since her past lives were lost (stolen, Asami prefers to put it), she's been desperate to regain whatever knowledge she can about the former Avatars. A few months ago, she decided to have as much of the material consolidated as possible, and requested (demanded) that anything so much as containing a mention of a past Avatar be sent to Air Temple Island. Expediciously.
As it turns out, the Order of the White Lotus has been sitting on a mountain of information. Which is why Tenzin's office now resembles the Future Industries loading docks.
"Smoothly enough," Jinora replies with a shrug. "Dad got overwhelmed just looking at it and had to go meditate about it or something. I'm trying to make a bit of a dent in it before he pops a blood vessel."
"Well, put us to work, Captain," Korra says with a goofy salute. Asami is sure she can see a hint of a smile behind Jinora's fond eye-roll.
The teenager doesn't waste any time, guiding her new sorting minions to the section she's been working on and explaining her system. It's bare-bones for now, hastily-scribbled on boxes denoting different Avatars and the kind of material the box contains — scrolls, books, artifacts, et cetera. They'll do a deeper dive for content later, Jinora informs them. For now they're just separating everything out.
She hands them both a box with a wide, exaggerated grin. "Have fun!"
"Certainly an interesting way to spend the afternoon," Asami chuckles as she and Korra find a seat on the crowded floor. With both of their massive boxes to sort through, they're cramped into the small office alcove with their legs touching. Which of course, Asami is not complaining about.
Korra bumps against her shoulder with a laugh. "Don't pretend that 'sorting things' isn't one of your ideal dates, you nerd."
"And don't pretend like you're not going to get distracted the moment you find a scroll with a cool story in it," Asami retorts playfully.
Opening up the first scroll, Korra's only response is a sigh. "Which isn't likely to happen. This is another grain treaty by Avatar Szeto."
"Another?"
Her girlfriend fixes her with a thousand-yard-stare. "He wrote so many grain treaties, Asami. So. Many. My first firebending master used to make me recite them from memory." She takes another glance at the scroll in her hands. "I think I actually remember having to recite this one specifically."
Asami steals a glance at the scroll in question, raising an eyebrow at the sheer amount of text crammed onto the old document. "Szeto sure loved his words, I guess."
"You don't know the half of it," Korra sighs in amusement, carefully re-rolling the scroll and setting it to the side before grabbing another. "Maybe it's a Fire Nation thing, honestly. Avatar Roku could write some pretty excessive filler when he wanted to. I always preferred studying things written by Kyoshi and Yangchen; they would get straight to the point, no nonsense involved."
"Point proven," Asami agrees, showing off her own scroll with a quiet laugh. Avatar Yangchen's signature lies clearly at the bottom, the text above it written in plain, neat handwriting, with the wording of the document itself stating the terms of its ancient agreement in clear, precise language.
Korra delicately takes the scroll from Asami's hands, laughing softly. "This is exactly what I mean. I always liked Yangchen's writing style — she seemed to have a good head on her shoulders. I feel like we might have gotten along."
She stands up, stretching as she does so, the scroll still delicately gripped between her fingers. Bending down, she grabs a few more that she's already sorted, carrying them over to Jinora's carefully laid boxes. Asami doesn't bother to hide her gaze honing onto the curve of Korra's shoulders.
Placing the scrolls in the correct boxes, something seems to give Korra pause. She stands up again, this time with a thick, ancient book in hand. "Jinora, what's this in Yangchen's box? It looks like a journal, but I've never seen any personal writings from her before – the White Lotus told me none existed."
The younger airbender's eyes widen, cheeks turning ever so slightly pink. "Oh! It's not one of her personal writings, but —"
Too impatient for an explanation, Korra flips the book open. Asami watches, thoroughly intrigued, as her girlfriend's face assumes a similar blush to Jinora's. "Woah."
"What is it?" Asami asks, standing up herself to join the gawking. Glancing over Korra's shoulder, she too finds herself in a similar state of surprise. Woah doesn't even begin to cover it.
Sprawled across the ancient parchment in charcoal pencil faded with age is a well-drawn depiction of Avatar Yangchen. A depiction that is a far cry from any other way Asami has seen her — holy, almighty, the genius airbending Avatar too good for this world. Instead, sketched out on this page, Yangchen is shown stretched out in a relaxed pose, half-lidded eyes tilted towards the viewer.
She is also shown completely naked.
"Where did the White Lotus even get this?" Korra asks Jinora, gingerly shutting the book again. She carefully scans the outside, likely looking for the name of whoever the book belonged to.
"It came in a box with a few other similar items supposedly attached to different Avatars. They had a whole packet of notes for each thing talking about its history, because apparently the histories and authors are all highly contested."
"Do they have any idea who made this one?" Asami questions. Korra passes the book to her wordlessly, and she similarly begins scouring for any hint of a maker, or at least an owner.
"Well," Jinora takes a deep breath, her usual precursor to a long ramble, "It was given to the White Lotus sometime during the era of Kyoshi by the head of the Western Air Temple, who was given it by a man named Daiyu, who was given it from a man named Jujinta, who got it from a man named Kavik, who was known as one of Avatar Yangchen's lifelong companions."
Korra holds out her hands, and Asami passes the book back once more to let her try again at finding something. "Kavik — that name sounds familiar. Didn't he have something to do with the White Lotus?"
Jinora nods. "He was a Grand Lotus; they have records of his name."
"So how come the White Lotus didn't just get it from him directly? Why did it have to go through all those people?"
"No idea," Jinora shrugs, "That's just the information they had. Probably why the origins are so contested."
Korra carefully opens the book once more, eyebrows raising. "These are just. Wow. I did not know Yangchen got down like this."
Jinora tsks, snatching the old book — gently — from Korra's hands. "Not too fast. Technically this book doesn't prove anything about Yangchen's activities and proclivities, or the nature of her relationship with Kavik."
Asami bites her lip to hold back a giggle at Korra's deadpan stare. "Jinora. You are open to a page labeled 'the Avatar's orgasm face'. How does that not prove anything?"
"Because we technically can't prove any of these sketches were based on real events, Korra."
"How could this not be from a real event?!"
"Maybe the artist just had a really active imagination!" Jinora argues back.
Korra just snorts. "I've got an active imagination, but this is something else." Proving her point, she gestures at yet another page Jinora has flipped to, which includes a highly detailed, up close sketch of a pair of parted thighs, complete with winding, shaded Air Nomad tattoos.
"The caption literally reads 'I dream of this'," Jinora sighs, with an extra eye-roll for emphasis.
Asami can't help herself. "Man after my own heart."
"Except we don't know if it was a man who drew it."
Korra seems as though her eyes are going to bulge out of their sockets. Asami tries desperately not to laugh. "You literally just said the book was made by Kavik, who is well known for being one of Yangchen's lifelong companions."
“There’s no evidence that their relationship was ever romantic or sexual in nature,” Jinora sasses back, bathed in an air of teenage superiority. “Literally every historical text, including first person sources, refers to them as companions and nothing else.”
Korra points furiously at the book. “How is that not considered a first person source on the subject?!”
Jinora gives only a shrug in response. "Kavik is just as far back as the White Lotus's records go. Somebody else could have drawn these and given him the book. It's not like there's a name anywhere to prove it."
Asami can't decide if she should step in or if watching Korra and Jinora run intellectual rings around each other is more entertaining. Though, Korra's ears are starting to turn red. Maybe time to help her out. "What about the handwriting? Surely there's a sample out there to compare to what's written in here?"
"Yeah, in over five hundred years since Avatar Yangchen's death, nobody has thought to maybe compare the handwriting."
Leaning over to make a show of whispering in Korra's ear, Asami murmurs, just loud enough to hear, "When did she become such a smart ass?"
Korra makes a similar exaggerated move to whisper back, "Literally day one. She just knows bigger words now."
Jinora's unimpressed stare could melt the spirit glaciers of the South Pole. "Har-har. Really mature, you two."
"Okay, but seriously," Asami tries again, "The handwriting's already been looked at?"
"I mean, there's not much to even compare it to," Jinora explains. "Hardly any letters, a few rough drafts of some treaties here and there. And what little writing that can be confirmed as his doesn't match the writing on the paper well enough to call it."
"It's odd that so little record survived," Korra adds softly. "Especially for someone known to be close to her. Whatever the connection was."
Jinora nods. "It is. And we might never know why, however much we speculate."
"Can I hang onto this for a bit?" Korra requests, glancing back down at the now-closed book. "I promise I'll be very careful with it. No fingerprints on the ancient ink or anything."
The younger girl offers a lopsided grin in return, gently pushing the book into Korra's hands. "All of this is yours, Korra. You don't have to ask."
Though, before the three can finally return to their sorting task, Jinora does pin them both with a final glare. "But seriously, not a smudge."
~~~~
Asami wakes, bleary-eyed, to the sound of furious scribbling and muttering next to her on the bed. A soft glow pulses behind her half-closed lids, the tell-tale flicker of candlelight on the bedside table. Confused, she pulls herself up to sitting, scrubbing at her face. What time is it?
"Hey," Korra's voice, gentle and scratchy from her own clear lack of sleep, greets her. "Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you up."
"It's okay," Asami mumbles, shifting closer to tuck herself against Korra's side, nice and warm and solid. Blinking a bit more, she finally takes in just what her girlfriend is doing up so late. "Are you… drawing?"
Korra grins sheepishly down at her, as though she's been caught in the act. "Yeah. It's not exactly turning out like it was in my head, though."
Asami strokes a hand down Korra's arm reassuringly. "It never does. What were you drawing that couldn't wait 'til morning, my love?"
Her girlfriend doesn't answer for a moment, giving Asami time to take a look for herself. A sheet of paper and a charcoal pencil are positioned in Korra's lap, but her gaze is drawn away before she can take in the actual drawing. Instead, she looks a bit further up the bedspread, to where the ancient book from the afternoon lays open, yet another drawing of Avatar Yangchen facing up for all to see.
Korra clearly notices her line of sight, shifting slightly from where she's half-buried beneath the covers. "It's not just smutty stuff, you know. I mean, a lot of it is, but not the whole book."
She pulls the book in question towards them, placing it in her lap, covering up the drawing before Asami can get an actual glance. Instead, she gets a better view of the older drawing, each line marking the page with a purpose.
Long day, the scratchy handwriting in the margin reads. On the page, Yangchen sits in a bathtub, elbows resting on the edge with her head on top of them, dark hair draping over one side. She looks asleep, eyes closed, tiny, gentle scribbles of pencil marking out the relaxed features of her face.
"It's not signed," Korra sighs quietly. "None of them are. Not dated, either. And the drawings aren't in the right order in the book, but as far as I can tell the pages haven't been moved around."
Asami glances back up at her girlfriend, at her furrowed, puzzled brows. "What does that mean?"
"I think whoever drew these did everything they could to conceal their identity. I don't think they wanted to be known as Yangchen's lover. Or maybe she didn't want them known? I can't figure it out. And I can’t understand why."
Carefully, Asami reaches a hand out to thumb to the next page, silently taking in the next set of sketches. "Whoever the artist was, they had some real talent."
This is another full-page spread, picturing the Avatar in bed, blankets tucked up tight to her chin. The gentle curves and dips of her body beneath the covers present an image of her curled up tight, fast asleep with her knees nearly pressed to her chest.
Korra gives a soft chuckle as she observes too. "This one says ‘blanket hog’ in the corner."
"You clearly didn't get your sleeping habits from her," Asami remarks with a playful nudge. Korra likes to sprawl across the bed, only half-covered by the sheets so she doesn't overheat. Glancing back down at the page, she's struck by just how different this image — all of the images, actually — are from every other depiction she's ever seen of the former Air Avatar.
Korra clearly recognizes it too. "She looks so peaceful in these. And I always thought her statues and paintings were the epitome of peace."
Asami nods, unable to keep herself from turning to yet another page, despite the sleep tugging at her eyes. "She just looks so… human."
This new page proves her point even more. Although the Avatar's lack of clothing makes it a bit more raunchy, the focus of the drawing doesn't seem to be on her body at all. It's practically part of the background, everything else fading around the focal point — Yangchen's lips spread in a wide grin, caught in the middle of a hysterical, full body laughing fit. Asami can even see a tear in the corner of her eye, every detail lovingly captured.
"No description," Korra murmurs. Asami can see why. The picture speaks for itself.
Another page. Yangchen mid-conversation, scratching a flying lemur under the chin. The page after it shows her sitting up in bed, sheets pooled in her lap, a satisfied grin at the viewer with dark marks painstakingly placed along the line of her collarbone and breasts. ‘I think she slept well’. The next page has her fast asleep at a desk, a trail of drool leaking from the corner of her mouth. The next pictures her topless, arms crossed, glaring unamusedly at the viewer, the caption reading ‘she's so cute when she pouts’.
Both of them break into laughter when another page shows her, clearly younger than in many of the other sketches, flipping a Pai Sho board off a table. ‘Beat her again!’ another scribble in the margin declares.
"I learned so much about Yangchen when I was younger," Korra manages between giggles, "but nobody ever told me she was such a sore loser!"
"I think she hid it pretty well," Asami replies with a snicker of her own. "But maybe she's where your competitive streak came from."
She can't stop looking through the sketches, fascination and wonder overtaking her. The stories of the previous Avatars didn't have too much presence in her upbringing, but from everything she's seen and heard about Yangchen, this is not who she was. Gentle but formidable, intelligent and merciful, composed and soft-spoken, far too pure and holy to even consider taking a lover.
Except, here she is. Flipping tables, making faces, drooling in her sleep. Spread out here on the page, back arching off the bed, mouth wide open in a clear noise of pleasure. There's little more than a shadow sketched between her thighs to depict the person responsible for all this pleasure, and Asami gets the feeling that's the point.
"I don't think he wanted to be known," she tells Korra, catching those beautiful blue eyes with her own. "He didn't want it to be about him. All of this is about her, and how he saw her."
Korra nods in agreement, tracing the slightest tip of her finger around the edge of the pages. "I don't think this was ever meant to be seen. If Master Kavik really was the artist, he sure went to a lot of trouble keeping it out of the hands of the White Lotus."
"Only for it to end up with them in the end," Asami sighs.
“I just…” Korra shifts in place, confusion clouding her voice, “Why? Why go to all that effort to keep himself and his relationship with Yangchen such a secret? No name, no signature, pages used out of order, writing with what was probably his non-dominant hand, never picturing himself once. Especially when it’s so obvious how deeply they cared for one another?”
“Why does it bother you much?” Asami asks curiously. “I mean sure, it’s a bit odd they kept it so secret, but what’s the issue with that if that’s what they wanted?”
“Because they didn’t have to. Not the way others have. Not the way people want us to.”
And suddenly it’s so clear why Korra has become so fascinated with finding out this truth. “They didn’t have to hide how they felt for each other, but they did anyway.”
Korra sighs deeply, sagging back against the headboard. “Exactly. And despite all of this, I’m probably never going to really know why.”
Asami hears the unspoken words in her voice as she thumbs the corner of one of the pages. Because I can’t ask Yangchen anymore.
It’s an uncomfortable reality to sit with, to have so much and so little, and yet no real answers. And know there probably won’t be any, no matter how hard they want them.
“We just can’t know,” Asami says gently.
“We can’t,” Korra agrees reluctantly. “But if they chose how they wanted the world to see them, then we can do the same.”
Beside her, Asami can feel Korra take a deep, steadying breath as she finally shuts the book, gently removing it from her lap. Below it, she can finally see the paper she was so reluctant to let her view. It's smudged, the paper a bit crinkled, but the picture is clear as day.
"You were drawing me?"
Korra swallows nervously, giving her an awkward grin in reply. "Trying to draw you."
A swell of affection rises in her chest, the sudden wave of it almost bringing tears to her eyes. "Korra, that's so sweet. But why did you need to draw me at two in the morning?"
"All of this just got me thinking," she explains, "there's so much of history we'll never know, because nobody ever bothered to write it down. Or because it got destroyed, or lost to time, or somebody decided they didn’t want it known. So there's all these historical discussions and… controversies, about who did what and with who and what they actually meant and —"
She pauses for a breath, at last fully meeting Asami's gaze for the first time that night. "I don't want that happening to us. I don't want people to have to guess how I felt about you."
Oh. That is a tear. When Asami tries to laugh, it comes out with a sniffle. "You don't want somebody to find a whole collection of smutty drawings of the two of us five hundred years after we die and realize maybe we were into each other?"
Korra snorts out a laugh of her own, reaching up to wipe the tear attempting to escape Asami's eyes with a gentle thumb. "No way. I want somebody to find those smutty drawings of us and go 'oh, another one?'"
Asami threads her fingers with Korra's against her face. "You're such a dork."
"Your dork," Korra replies instantly, leaning in to plant a peck against her nose. "Your dork who's gonna make a million shitty drawings of you and label every single one with 'this is Asami Sato, my girlfriend, who I am in love with.' If anybody tries to deny we were together they'll just look stupid."
Their laughter fades away as they look at each other, basking in the full weight of the other's gaze. "I love you, Asami," Korra finishes, "And I want the whole world to know it forever."
Asami can hardly stop smiling long enough to let Korra kiss her, grinning ridiculously as they try to meet each other's lips. "I love you too, Korra."
Tiredness rapidly fading, Asami is tempted to melt into Korra's kisses and let herself get carried away with them. But she's been reminded of something, and if there was any time to reveal it, it's now. She places a final kiss to Korra's cheek, starting to extract herself from the blankets. "I need to show you something."
Tucked inside the drawer of her vanity is a thick roll of blue paper, pushed to the back to keep it away from prying eyes. This is a surprise she's been planning for a while.
"What are you building now?" Korra asks as she returns to the bed, easily recognizing the sight of blueprints.
Asami doesn't answer. Instead, she unrolls the paper, letting the design speak for itself.
She watches Korra's gaze flicker over the drawings, reading the little notes, taking in the details. She can pinpoint the exact moment she spots the title of the new building project, blue eyes widening, blinking as if she can't quite believe it.
Her voice cracks when she speaks. "The Avatar Korra… Avatar Museum."
"The name is still a work in progress," Asami admits. "I just know it's going to be named after you, somehow."
"A museum of me?"
"A museum of all of you," she confirms, drawing her fingers down the paper hallways, spaces perfectly marked out for each and every exhibit. "All of the Avatars, as far back as we can go."
Korra's mouth hangs open, rendered speechless for once.
"You're right that there's so much history out there," Asami continues. "History that you deserve to have access to. Knowledge that the Avatar, that humanity, shouldn't forget. This is a place where all of the past lives can be preserved."
Now it's Korra's turn for tears. Asami returns the favor of wiping them away as her girlfriend struggles for words.
"You're trying to bring the past lives back to me," Korra at last settles on, voice scratching with emotion.
"I won't be able to make it how it was before," Asami admits quietly. "But this way, the burden of remembering won't be left only to you."
"Did I mention that I love you?"
Asami's only response is to kiss her again, deeply and thoroughly, until neither of them can breathe and they have to pull away for air.
"Okay, now I just realized something," Korra laughs out between kisses, "I didn't even show you one of my favorite drawings in the book."
Asami pulls away, curiosity piqued. "Oh?"
Korra laughs again, carefully pushing the blueprints to the side to make room for the sketchbook once more. "It's not like what you're thinking."
Snuggling back up against her side, Asami watches Korra carefully flip through page after page. When she finally settles on one, it is indeed, not at all what she thought it would be.
This drawing is from a much later time period than any of the others she's seen. In it, an elderly Yangchen stands in front of a mirror, completely nude, braiding her hair. Her age is evident from the way her hair is drawn gray rather than black, and further evidenced by the wrinkles rendered over her skin, sketched in the same loving, reverent way as every other picture in the book.
"I've never seen Yangchen pictured being old," Asami says, eyes roving over the details of the piece.
"Me neither," Korra replies. "I knew she was old, but never once have I seen her shown that way. I know her public appearances dwindled when she was older, but it just seems like nobody could even picture that she aged. That she was human."
And yet, the sketch seems to say, she was.
"I hope this is us someday," Asami declares. "Old and wrinkly and still so in love it's sickening."
"That's why I like it so much," Korra chuckles. "You can see her eyes in the mirror — she's looking back at him, just out of frame, and smiling. They're still together after all those years. It makes me believe that we'll have that too, when we're their age."
Asami grabs her hand and squeezes. "I know we will."
They admire the picture together for a few more minutes, flipping through a few more pages for good measure. However, Korra's yawn brings things to an end. She moves the blueprints and her own sketch to the nightstand, then closes the book and holds it between them, the weight of the pages and the past strung together in a single, compact package. What were the odds of this finding its way to them after so many years?
"Do you think we should put it in your museum?" Asami asks, resting her head on Korra's shoulder.
She can feel Korra's head shake in response. "I don't think so. At least, not on public display. I don't think anyone was ever supposed to see this. I might not be connected to the past lives anymore, but I still want to respect Yangchen's wishes if I can."
"Then we won't," Asami shrugs, "simple as that."
Head still against Korra's shoulder, she's struggling to keep her eyes open. She senses her girlfriend place a kiss on top of her hair before rolling over to add the book to the nightstand and blow out the candle that's burning low.
Korra's voice is soft in the darkness of the night. "Thank you for letting me know you, Yangchen."
~~~~
Thanks for reading!
