B R E A T H I N G U N D E R W A T E R

3: The Beginning

Korra woke up numb
The last thing she remembers is hanging on to a tree branch and flapping her wounded wings so her fall wouldn't be as drastic.
When she tried to push herself up, not realising how weak she is. Her wings protected most of her body, but she had horrible bruises and cuts all over her legs from the fall. Leaning on one arm, she turned around to see a woman.
Her silky black hair was fanned out and her big red lips were pouting like she was having a bad dream.
The strangest thing wasn't that she was a human, but the fact that she was naked. Korra blushed, she had never seen anything like this before, except for when she had gone skinny dipping before with Jinora and Opal, but that was dif-
"Oh Opal..." she said to herself
Now that her adrenaline had slowed, she felt the gravity of what had happened today.
'Everyone could be dead...' she thought to herself
"Oh spirits," Korra whispered, a few tears fell down her face.
She sighed, and thought about standing to get some leaves to cover this woman up. She moved her legs a bit, and discovered, besides the bullets that hit her wing, her bruised shoulder and the newly found sprained ankle, she was going to be fine. She stood, and limped over to grab a few palm leaves to cover the beautiful human before awkwardly sitting down my the water to clean her wounds.

'Saltwater heals right?..'

☆☆☆

Asami woke to the sound of splashing water. To her left small waves rolled against the sand, almost touching her, and gasped as she saw a dark a skinned wingèd, though she didn't seem to notice her. Asami sat up slowly, trying to not draw attention to herself. Merpeople and Wingèds aren't enemies, Asami just had never seen one in person.
She was about to ask for help into the water when she looked down and saw... legs
"AH! W-what?" Asami yellped,
"Oh.. your awake. You okay?" Korra said
"M-my fin! It's gone? What happened to my fin? I'm not supposed to have legs!" Asami yelled
Asami was facing Korra, who was blushing and looking away "Did you do this?"
"N-no! Wh- do what?" Korra asked, taken back
"I'M A MERMAID!"
"Ha, funny... I know you humans think all other species are savages, but I'm not stupid." Korra snarled
"No, no no please, look!" Asami held up her wrist to show the bracelet her mother gave her "that's the royal family crest! I'm not supposed to be like this! I'm a princess!" Asami pleaded
"Oh... Princess, I'm sorry... my name is Korra" the wingèd said, bowing awkwardly from her sitting position
"Im Asami..." The mermaid said before getting distracted by her legs. She slowly spread them, still facing Korra, who had now turned into a tomato. Asami slowly ran her thumb up her thigh, higher and higher until she jumped in surprise "Oh! That felt weird"
"Um... I-ah.. I know you're not used to having legs and umm... yeah, but you're supposed to keep some places covered..." Korra mumbled flicking her eyes towards the leaves
"Oh sorry, I know..." Asami said closing her legs "Oh No! My sea shells! Oh spirits, where are they?" Asami said covering her chest and looked around her
"Is that them?" Korra asked, pointing to white seashells behind Asami
"Oh, good" she said dragging her fully capable legs as she crawled towards them
"You can probably walk." Korra chuckled after Asami put her top on
"Oh you're right... could you help me?"
"If you help me... my ankle is sprained among other injures... you know anything about healing?"
"Well, I could wrap your ankle with pieces of your pants... and the bad cuts we could figure out some makeshift bandages"
Korra grabbed vines, and Asami, then wobbly crawled over, still not using her legs properly.
"What happened?" Asami asked, beginning to work
"Humans." Korra sighed. "They ran my tribe out of our home, and chased my two friends and I out here."
"Are they okay?"
"Ones dead... but I think Jinora is okay"
"I'm so sorry" Asami said sincerely finishing a gash on Korra's arm
"It's okay. Thank you." Korra sighed "why are you out here? And what's up with the legs"
"My father tried to make me marry a pervert who almost killed me and when I ran away I was chased by sharks...and the legs... are a mystery"
"You wanna go back?"
"No...Oh Spirits! My head!" Asami gasped touching the numb spot
"We both need to get to a healer. Let me wrap your head. Help me take off my shirt" Korra requested
"Um okay"
Korra leaned down, and Asami lifted her shirt off. Asami saw Korra's six pack and defined biceps and wondered why she put a shirt on in the first place
'Okay...at some point I was straight...'
She thought and smirked
Korra ripped off a strip of fabric and wrapped it around the mermaid's head. "Here" Korra handed her the tattered top "more uhh..coverage"
"Oh thanks.. Let me do your ankle... so, do you know if there is a healer anywhere?"
"My home. There might still be people there. It's not a far walk once we get up the cliff." Korra stated
"How long will it take to get up the cliff?" Asami asked, worried
".... well, our injuries aren't fatal, we'll just need to keep our wounds clean until my wing heals, then I can fly us up."
"We should find clothes and a better place to stay" Asami suggested
"You're right... maybe there's a little town nearby, you could pretend to be human and get us clothes"
"Oh, good idea. I do look like one, don't I?"
"Ha, yeah."
Together, the limping Korra and the wobbly Asami, began their journey.