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Lin was becoming tired of bending the earth around her as an outlet for her constant frustration. The earth was always something they felt connected with, something they could rely on. However, given the frequency they were beginning to use it, it was not surprising when the repetitive raising and kicking of earth became sickly.
Her recent break up with Tenzin was no surprise to anyone who had encountered either of them the past week. Their relationship had been on a strain given Lin’s constant and inconvenient work hours and Tenzin’s interest in Pema, a new young air acolyte who would probably be willing to pop out as many babies as Tenzin needed.
They would hate to say they were relieved that Tenzin broke it off, but if they denied it they would be lying. It wasn’t that they didn’t love Tenzin, it was just that they could never love him the way they were supposed to. She enjoyed the closeness she felt with Tenzin, the close caring male figure she could look up to. He gave what her father never bothered to, but she could not deny her disgust at the thought of going any further than kissing.
They always thought that’s how people were supposed to feel. Until she felt those feelings she was missing for a woman. An 18 year old Lin watching Kya train in the Air Temple Island courtyard, gracefully swaying her body as she controlled the water around her, her chest coverings falling a little too far down and showing a little too much cleavage. Lin was all of a sudden incredibly aware of how untidy she looked in the moment and swiftly ran back inside.
They had been dating Tenzin for 3 years at this point and felt more for Kya in that 3 seconds then they had for him in their entire life. Chief of Police and Legendary Inventor of Metal Bending’s child Lin Beifong, living wonderful heterosexual friends to lovers romance story with a close friend they grew up with, was a lesbian. The thought destroyed Lin. She couldn’t be a lesbian?! How was she supposed to live up to her mother when her sexuality was a disgrace to her family.
They chose not to think about how disappointed everyone would be to find out they couldn’t be the perfect bride everyone hoped for them to be. A man was an essential to a “woman’s” life. Without her attraction to men, who was she? So Lin pushed down their feelings, it was easy to fake with Tenzin when their relationship was so expected. Now she didn’t have that relationship to hide her true feelings, who was she?