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Lin was tired. She had hardly slept for the past three days. Her whole energy had been invested in solving a complicated embezzlement case connecting a member of the council, a steel magnate and the Triple Threat Triad. This required more liaising with politicians than she would ever be able to endure. But they had finally made the last arrest, and she had finished all the paperwork to officially close the case earlier that night.
She was exhausted to the bone, and she would never endanger her fellow citizens by driving in that state. So she swung by her cables in the direction of her apartment building. She landed on its roof a little less than graciously, but no one was there to see, so she didn’t care. The last manoeuvre, grabbing the edge of the roof and dropping onto her apartment’s balcony, would take a little more effort. She decided to catch her breath and sat down.
The Republic City skyline was beautiful. Household lamps were shimmering tea candles littering the night, swallowed by the sea. The moon shone bright over Yue Bay, bathing the city in gentle silver light. It seemed full from what Lin could tell, its power emphasised by the lapping of the waves on the shore in the distance.
This inevitably made her think of Kya. She would get so restless during a full moon. Her body would bristle excitedly, and she would find a seemingly endless desire for conversation, which Lin didn’t mind. She could hardly reciprocate, but Kya didn’t mind that either.
They had found comfort in each a couple of years ago – what began as a drunken night-stand became a reoccurring event whenever Kya was in town. Which wasn’t often. Lin thought she would love at that moment to hear whatever crazy travel story Kya had to tell. Even if the full moon exacerbated her enthusiasm, which would drain Lin of the last of her energy.
A heavy weight settled into her chest and stomach. Lately, she found herself thinking of Kya frequently. A whiff of a stranger’s perfume on the street reminded her of smelling the same orange blossom and jasmine mix on Kya’s neck. A few weeks ago, something rattling in the back of Lin’s nightstand turned out to be a comb, left behind by Kya. Seeing it made Lin picture running her fingers through Kya’s long dark hair – something she had never done and probably would never actually do, but she thought about it, nevertheless.
She was so deeply annoyed by these thoughts, because Kya wasn’t there, and who knows when she would be. So all this longing was torturous, and stupid – Lin was perfectly fine on her own, she didn’t need anyone or anything, especially something she would never get.
Now the moon taunted her with its kind, silvery glow. It reminded her too much of Kya, whose presence felt likewise light and soothing. Annoyed at herself for missing Kya, she pushed herself up, then over the ledge of the building and down on her balcony. She skipped superfluous frivolities (like eating something and showering) and went straight to bed.
It wasn’t that Lin didn’t believe in spirits. Rationally, she knew they existed. Her Aunts and Uncles had told many stories about interacting with them: a forest spirit, angry about the destruction of its habitat; a mean spirit who steals people’s faces; a benevolent spirit, who healed an entire village. She was aware of their presence in the world, it’s just that her line of work did not afford her many opportunities to meet them personally, and she had little spare time to dabble in the occult.
One spirit story, however, seemed to have stuck.
She came to Lin in a her sleep. Her silvery white hair flowed long over her back. She was beautiful; even though Lin couldn’t see her face, she knew so. She was glowing, a silvery-blue light filling up the space of Lin’s dream.
It was Yue, the Moon Spirit. Uncle Sokka had told Lin many stories about her. They would talk often in his sleep, and he said he always felt calmer and happier after seeing her. And this is what Lin felt now: the pain of missing Kya was replaced by a feeling of being seen and cared for.
***
Yue presented herself to Lin many times over the years, keeping her company quietly when no one else did. It happened mostly in Lin’s sleep, but sometimes also when Lin was high on caffeine and ruminating over a case in her office. Yue never said anything; she was just there, in all her shiny, beautiful glory. Lin always understood her, though. Have you eaten today, she would ask. Have you slept enough lately? Have you been kind to yourself, Lin? Of course, Lin was made uncomfortable by the implication that there was something wrong with the way she was living her life. She had a very, very demanding and responsible job after all, and she couldn’t compromise it. But she couldn’t be mad at Yue. Her presence was gentle and unobtrusive, and Lin didn’t mind it at all.
Her visits became even more frequent when Kya moved to the South Pole to help Katara in training the new Avatar, and Lin was more alone than ever. They hadn’t seen each other in years at that point. Lin already held a grudge against the Avatar for keeping Kya away from her for so long.
The next time Lin encountered Yue was unlike the previous ones.
She and her officers had been following an especially vicious criminal. He had attacked a crowd in a public square, murdering multiple civilians. Lin was under immense pressure to find and catch him, yet he somehow managed to evade her.
The traces that led her team to a warehouse in Dragon Flats Borough seemed promising. It was only after she noticed a fleeting shadow duck behind a corridor that she realised that was a trap. She screamed at her officers to get out. An explosion delayed them, and she had to stay behind to help one of the younger recruits out of the fire.
This is when she was captured. They decided to torture her, just for fun apparently, as they didn’t try to get any information out of her. After electrocution and battery bore them out, they moved onto suffocation. Lin’s brain was clearly so deprived of oxygen at that point: she felt Yue’s presence and saw her silvery-blue light before passing out.
When she woke up, her eyes were assaulted by an impossibly bright and aggressive white light. She had to close them again.
“Lin? Lin, are you awake?” a voice called out.
She could only groan in response. A second afterwards, she recognised the voice, so she forced her eyes open.
Kya’s face swam in her field of vision. Shallow wrinkles crossed her face, and her dark hair was streaked with gray. Her blue eyes, full of concern, sparkled in the shitty hospital light. She was so breathtakingly beautiful. Lin’s chest contracted painfully and a dry cough forced its way through her lungs.
“Hey, take it easy. You were pretty roughed up” she said gently and placed her hand on Lin’s chest. A blue glow in her peripheral vision signified to Lin that Kya was working her healing magic on her. The pain in her chest eased up a little bit.
“Thanks,” Lin choked out.
“No worries.” Kya’s usual jovial demeanor was nowhere to be found, replaced instead by somber concern.
Lin let her head sink into the pillows. She tried to recall what had happened, and as the memories came back, she felt the pain from every wound she had sustained.
“Drink this” Kya said, having sensed her discomfort. Lin downed the liquid she had been handed, and tried to focus on something else.
“I didn’t know you were in town.”
“I wasn’t.”
Lin was too tired to decipher what that meant. She let Kya’s familiar presence and the scent of her perfume calm her down, and fell asleep shortly.
The next time she woke up, she was still lying in the same bed. She looked around and saw Kya, asleep on a chair. She tried to get up, to move, but apparently her body had not recovered yet. A sharp pang cut through her chest, and she couldn’t suppress a groan. Kya stirred up.
“Where do you think you’re going? Lie back down.”
Lin at least had enough strength to protest.
“No, I need to go.”
“Where?”
“I need to know what happened with my men and that bastard, I need to-“
“Your officers came back with back-up and arrested all of these monsters.”
Lin started to ask, but Kya got there first.
“None of them was hurt, don’t worry.” Kya pursed her lips and looked at the floor.
“But?” Lin asked, sensing she had more to say.
“You were so badly hurt, Lin. It was just… so painful to see.”
“I’m alive though, aren’t I?” she tried to assert.
“Yeah, barely!” Kya finally looked up to meet her gaze, and Lin felt uneasy to see the concern in her eyes. “If we hadn’t arrived just on time, who knows what could have happened!” she raised her voice, and Lin cringed.
“Sorry”, Kya added.
Lin wondered why Kya sounded as if she’d been there. That was impossible – civilians weren’t allowed on missions, and she knew her people had enough common sense not to allow that.
“That young officer, he said you saved his life,” Kya offered, changing the topic. “That’s so noble of you.”
“Yeah, Song, he’s a good kid.” Lin brushed off the compliment.
They stayed together in silence until Kya settled on the bed next to Lin. She reached out and squeezed her hand.
“I’m just glad you’re alive,” she said earnestly. She leaned down and placed a small kiss on Lin’s temple. Then she let her head rest lightly on Lin’s shoulder.
“Yeah,” she said after a while, “me too”.
***
Lin was so busy, that she only had the opportunity to analyse this situation a couple of years later. She was at the South Pole, and Katara had just told her that she could not restore her bending, after Amon took it away.
She had to preserve her dignity, especially in front of Tenzin and his family, so she maintained she was completely fine. She resisted the urge to run away and bury herself in the snow, like Korra had. Instead, she had her breakdown in the privacy of Katara’s bedroom.
This is how Kya found her, folded in half on the floor with her head between her knees.
“Hey, I was in Wolf Cove when I heard what happened, I came as fast as I could.” She sat down in front of Lin on the floor.
Lin didn’t say anything. She couldn’t. She leaned forward, motioning to Kya that she could touch her. She didn’t hesitate to wrap her arms around Lin. Kya held her tight and whispered reassuring sweet nothings in her ear. With anyone else, Lin would hate being coddled. But Kya’s care was gentle and unobtrusive, and she didn’t mind it at all.
Lin’s gaze fell on the silver pendant hanging loosely at Kya’s chest. A crescent moon. Slowly, Lin looked up to take all of Kya in. Her hair was now silvery white, contrasting her dark skin beautifully.
“I never asked how you knew to find me that time I was after the terrorist,” Lin asked suddenly.
Kya blinked, not expecting the question.
“Oh, well…” she said, worrying the moon pendant between her thumb and index finger absent-mindedly. “I was thinking about you, wondering if you were alright, and I had this inexplicable, strong feeling you were in trouble. So I had to come and check up on you.”
It was at this moment that it dawned on her. Lin had always idly thought Kya was like a spirit. She possessed a magical ability to always make Lin feel good; when she smiled, she was otherworldly; she was kind and sweet and everybody loved her. But it was more than that – it had been her that saved Lin from suffocating in that warehouse. It had been her, thinking of Lin and willing her to eat, sleep and take care of herself. It was never just Yue; in fact, it had been Kya all along.