AN: Part of alyssalui's Pro-Bending Circuit 2016.

Task (Waterbender): Write about someone trying to decide between three choices.

Prompts: (Character) Opal, (Location) Ember Island

Word Count (Excluding Author's Notes): 2,596

Three Sides of Separation

They were older, all of them, they were all older but they were still together. It was in the heat of summer and all five of them had done like so many before and had taken a trip to the luxurious Ember Island; Fire Lord Izumi offering up her family's inherited summer house for the team to use for relaxation and the five members of Team Avatar were gathered on the beach for an afternoon of sports. They were older, but they were still the same men and women that had saved the world four times over, and no doubt many times remained.

"Take this Avatar!" Opal shouted as she launched the volleyball high into the air with a gust from her palm and then another as she leaped up to meet it. The leather made ball soared over the net and downward towards Korra in the back half of her side of the court, Asami in the front to counteract the strong earthbender Bolin in his back half. Korra struggled to remain on her feet as she pumped the ball back up with her fisted hands, passing it over to her girlfriend in the front so she could deliver a deadly blow toward Bolin; she was in many ways his kryptonite in the game.

The CEO did as planned, bumping the ball high up into the air and the slapping it back down to gain some distance. "Bending's illegal Beifong!" The Avatar shouted out after her partner had done her job. Opal merely laughed as she repelled the ball while it made its way to her boyfriend, sending it back to Asami with a grunt.

Again Sato slapped it back to the rear end of the opposing half. Bolin this time filled his roll but not by using his hands; instead the sturdy male lifted a pillar of stone from below the sand to force the ball back into the air, then he performed his signature move by lifting a smaller stone and kicking it towards the ball, propelling it extremely fast back to the Avatar and her girlfriend. "Tell it to the judges Korra!" He yelled in retort as Asami tripped on the sand in an effort to stop the ball, falling into the sand in her two piece and getting the dry dirt all over her body.

In a quick reaction Korra snapped her natural element to her fingertips with the whip of her wrist. A blob of water raced from the sea to her arm and then to the ball, carrying it up and and the slapping it back to the other side of the course, giving herself time to breathe a pout at the unfairness and time for Asami to get back to her feet. It was hardly fair considering the poor duchess couldn't bend and both members of team Beifong could.

"Judge are you blind?!" Korra shouted back to the sidelines. They had all elected that Tenzin play judge to the match, considering Mako was inside on account that he hated the tropics and that Lin and Kya were out around the island with Ikki, Meelo and Poki. Jinora was also enjoying a separate walk with Kai, Pema was having some more time with Rohan out in the sand along the beach and Bumi was continuing his knitting with Bumju indoors. Thus the old father was the only person to be an effective referee; and he had fallen asleep ages ago. "Tenzin!" The Avatar boomed again.

The old man squirmed in his deck chair, shaking the sunglasses from his eyes and the book from over his face in a flurry of 'whats' and 'whos'. "I'm awake!" He shouted into the air around them, nevertheless Opal and Bolin were hellbent on not stopping.

"Heads up Water Girl!" Opal shouted and launched the ball back their way.

Before Korra could take her scolding eyes away from Tenzin and focus on the ball that was heading her way Asami was already in front of it and sending it back to the sender with as much force as she could muster, revenge for getting sand in her flattering two piece. Opal was too flustered, too focused on Korra missing that the ball shooting passed her and bouncing before her to win the round went completely over her head, incurring the first out of a maximum of two losses for Team Beifong and the first of two wins for Team Sato.

Asami leaped up with a cheer, clapping herself with a gleeful grin while Korra let rip a contained 'yes' with a fist pump. "Heads up Air Girl!" Asami mocked, sticking out her petite tongue in playful retort. The CEO then turned and ran for her girlfriend, containing herself in the two piece. Korra caught her and lifted her into the air, swinging her around and kissing her passionately, loving the feel of her perfect waist line in her hands as she set the duchess down.

"Great shot" Korra praised her woman and Asami blushed somewhat. She was good at sports, that was a given to her personality, but being praised by the one person whose opinion really mattered to her, made Asami Sato slightly weak at the knees. "You having fun?" The Avatar asked in her usually goofy way with her smile full extended and her sapphire eyes glistening.

Asami hummed in sweet affirmation and then kissed her Avatar again, somewhat surprisingly, not out of character just out of the moment, as if she were about to leave on a business meeting or there was another splendidly happy occasion going on and she wanted to make Korra feel more special than any other woman.

Korra herself with bemused, taken aback. "Wow, what's the occasion?" She asked in a surprised yet happy tone.

The duchess blushed again, something slightly wavering about her. All of her stone was gone as it was as if the two were suddenly alone and it was night time or they were back in the Spirit World on their vacation. "No occasion" she stated in a blissful breath. "What's the Avatar doing tonight?" She asked quickly changing topics.

"Well I had dinner plans with Raava and Bumju," she began sarcastically and with a smile on her face. "But if the CEO of Future Industries had other ideas I could bail I suppose."

Asami kissed her again, laughing into it as did Korra. "Let's win this thing first" she bargained and walked to take her position in the front half of their half of the court.

Korra was intrigued, hooked too. "Absolutely Miss Sato" she breathed to herself as the game looked to start once again.

The second round wasn't as nearly as long. Bolin took to the front half of Team Beifong and Opal completely threw caution to the wind and decided that bending should be fully incorporated into the game, causing the ball to miss Asami multiple times and forcing her to her knees and elbows in the sand as Korra had to scramble to catch the leather sphere with sap after sap of waterbending while Bolin would intercept it with more and more rock and stone. Their plan was genius; completely bypass the CEO and send the ball as fast as possible towards the Avatar so she could barely handle it.

With another stream of water Korra cradled the ball back over the net as Asami got to her feet only for Bolin to send up a small pillar, sending back up except this time he sent it backwards over his court, towards his powerhouse girlfriend. Opal then launched herself into the air with another gust from her feet to meet the leather and with another powerful blast of air she sent the ball hurdling towards the floor, passed Asami and Korra and winning the round for Team Beifong.

The airbender did the same as Asami and leapt into the air and landed in Bolin's strong arms in a kiss. Korra made sure Asami wasn't too roughed up or annoyed at the enemy's tactics; the CEO simply smiled and kissed her lover again.

Korra went to fetch the ball from Beifong territory, meeting Opal at the net. "Korra what are you guys doing later?" The quaint Earth Kingdom beauty asked.

"Well, I don't know, kind of nothing yet but-"

"Great. Me and Bolin were wondering if you guys wanted to spend the night in while Auntie Lin and Kya take Tenzin and Pema to the mainland," she began, smiling blissfully as ever, the main thing that made Opal one of the cutest things around. "I was thinking the four of us could watch a mover and then take a late night walk on the beach."

"What about Mako, Bumi and the kids?" Korra asked skeptically; a midnight beach walk with Asami, Opal and Bolin sounded wondrous but the thought of Mako made things slightly awkward even now.

"Mako's agreed to take the kids for the night and I think Bumi is catching up with Iroh on the mainland as well" she finished, smiling afterwards.

The whole idea sounded pleasant, great in fact; a nice night with Asami lying on her chest completely ignoring the latest Nuktuk Adventure and then proceeding for a lovely walk along the beach, they hadn't thought of taking one since they had all arrived. Maybe Asami had the exact same idea.

"I'll talk to Asami about it" Korra replied, before taking the ball and smiling her departure from the net.

The third round was more intense than the previous two; Korra moving to the front of Team Sato's territory and Asami using her height advantage to its fullest potential in the rear, stopping when she could to admire her girlfriend in her body suit that made her look like a million yuans with the sun catching her tanned skin just right and her body fully filling out the suit.

"Alright guys bring it on!" The Avatar shouted to her opponents and in a leap she punched the ball downward to their side of the pitch. Opal sent out a wisp of air to catch the ball and bounce it backwards where Bolin knocked it up and forward where Opal was already prepared to rocket the ball to the far end of Team Sato's court. Asami leapt into action and intercepted the ball, knocking it forward to Korra who in turn sent it back again.

It remained like that for several minutes in a volley, the sweat really beginning to drip for their collective brows and dampen the sand around them until finally Bolin interjected with his earthbending pillars of doom again, bouncing the ball up and up again before launching himself up and kicking the leather back down again with some fury.

Korra had no choice but to snap a veil of water around her face to protect herself, causing the ball to bounce off of the stream and back to Asami, who sent it back up and launched it to Opal. The airbender backflipped, sending small gusts of air from her feet to carry the ball back up before it hit her. Then she soared up to reach it again and blasted it back down with an air infused punch towards Korra. Now the Avatar knew she couldn't hold back.

She snapped her wrists again and called another stream of water to her arms, catching the ball in the blue and flowing it around her back and up. She raised herself up in a pillar of swirling water as well, bringing the ball to her her chest in another glob of the blue. She laughed, knowing that her next trick would be beyond cheating but it was funny.

Korra deviantly slipped into the Avatar State and with a blast of the water, sent the ball hurdling towards the ground between Opal and Bolin, ensuring there was no way they could intercept it and making their defeat all the more hilarious.

The ball landed at the same moment; game, set and match to Team Sato as Korra smiled. Opal and Bolin were gobsmacked but still willing to laugh it off because it was the most seriously hilarious thing they had seen. Korra had used the Avatar State to win a match of beach volleyball all because Opal had cheated first by airbending.

"Wow!" Two young voices cried out. "Korra teach us to do that with airbending! Oh, please?" It was Ikki and Meelo returning with Kya and Lin from their outing. The two were now clutching at the Avatar's legs with a mass of demanding enthusiasm.

"Uh oh. Looks like your adoring fans are here Korra" Asami laughed to herself as the two babysitters made their way to the sleeping judge in his deck chair. Again Tenzin shook the book from his face and the sunglasses from his eyes.

Korra was caught between a rock in the form of Meelo and a hard place in the form of Ikki. "Korra, can you watch us tonight instead of Mako?" Meelo asked in a childish cry.

"Yeah Mako's no fun anymore" Ikki reinforced with a pout.

The young Avatar now had three choices for her nightly plans; all of which she loved to do. Asami was her girlfriend and partner in everything so of course spending time with her was always appealing but Opal and Bolin really got any time to join them, and Bolin was like a brother to her, Opal like a sister over the past months. And then there were the airbending kids, whom she adored and always enjoyed looking after because it made her feel in the smallest of ways like a mother; which she really longed to be. She loved all involved. It may have been a tough choice for the time she spent thinking about it. There pros and cons to all three but the appeal lay in particular choice.

She searched herself, deeply inside herself and thought of what she really wanted, it wasn't too hard really but she had to be sure. Ember Island was not the place to make a choice one wasn't devoted to and in legend the Island was said to reveal ones true self. Of course her true self wasn't that hard to see even without the island.

After the rest of the day to think about it the choice became perfectly clear to her, as it always did whenever a conundrum like that ever put itself at her door. Yes she loved the airbending kids and yes she enjoyed taking care of them very much. Yes Bolin was like a brother to her and the thought of watching his movers was appealing considering how bad they really were but in the end there could only ever be one real choice for Avatar Korra. They were on Ember Island for a week and then back to Republic City so she was not going to waste the beautiful weather, lovely heat and gorgeous scenery with anyone else to get in the way.

Korra spent her evening, and every evening while the family was there with Asami Sato, in their own little secluded spot of the island where no one could possibly find them, at least without the help of Naga who had been spending all of her time in the courtyard of the summer house chasing and playing with Pabu.

"So Korra" Asami sounded one night as the pair looked up at the mass of stars and constellations. Korra hummed in retort. "Just for future reference, I know it's not possible now but if it ever if, which would you rather have?" She paused and Korra looked at her inquisitively. Asami's emerald eyes swirled in the moonlight. "Boy? Girl? Or both?"