struggling to understand why Fourier basis is orthogonal
Just use the formula for the geometric series (I use $l=h-k\neq mN$):

$$\sum_{n=0}^{N-1}e^{-j\frac{2\pi}{N}nl}=\frac{1-e^{-j\frac{2\pi}{N}Nl}}{1-e^{-j\frac{2\pi}{N}l}}=\frac{1-e^{-j2\pi l}}{1-e^{-j\frac{2\pi}{N}l}}=\frac{1-1}{1-e^{-j\frac{2\pi}{N}l}}=0,\quad l\neq mN$$