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Kya slipped out of the crowded healing hut in search of air, and stumbled upon one Lin Beifong, sitting in the snow.
“Hey, kiddo,” she teased. “Too many people?”
Lin hugged her legs to her chest, then immediately pushed her knees away. “Don’t worry about it.”
Then Kya remembered what her brother had told her. She sat next to the defeated ex-metalbender. “Lin, what’s wrong?”
“I said don’t worry about it.”
“That doesn’t work on me,” Kya said. “Don’t worry about it is Lin-ese for very much worry about it.”
Lin huffed a sigh. “Stop.”
Kya set her hand on Lin’s shoulder. “I know there’s a lot going on in your head,” she said, “But pick one thing to tell me and I’ll let you be.”
Lin pouted. “You don’t get it.”
“I know I don’t,” she said. “But try me anyways.”
Lin focused on her hands, palms up in her lap. “I can’t take my armor off.”
Kya squeezed her shoulder. “I can help with that.”
“What?”
“Water expands when it freezes, kiddo,” she said. “It’ll break—but it’ll be off.”
Lin sighed. “Sounds good to me.”
“Alright, think about this.”
“I don't care if it breaks,” she said. “It’s not like it matters.”
Kya bit her lip at her own suggestion. “Okay. Come inside though—it’s freezing out.”
She stood and pulled her childhood friend to her feet. She set her hand on Lin’s cheek. “I promise it’ll be okay. I know it doesn’t feel like it.”
Lin stood still for a moment and let the tears rise in her eyes.
Kya took her hand away. “Don’t say no just yet.”
She knew Lin didn’t care to be hugged or touched—that she’d manage to box all this up and stick it somewhere in the back of her mind. She’d learned a rotten lesson a long time ago about that being a better choice.
Kya took Lin around the little hut to her own home. No people, no pressure.
She didn’t ask questions while she carefully slid water between the seams of the armor. She froze it quickly, the force just enough to pop the pieces apart. Kya didn’t want to destroy the armor—but she didn’t know how it all worked and thought maybe it hadn’t broken at all.
Lin took a sharp breath when the seams at her sides released. Kya carefully lifted the armor away. A thin black shirt underneath didn’t hide the purple bruises on her back. Or the half-healed burn on her shoulder.
“Some fight you got into,” Kya said. She gently grazed the burn but stopped when Lin cringed. “How’d you get this?”
Lin didn’t answer.
Kya pulled more water from her bag. “Can I have a look?”
“Fine.” Lin peeled the shirt off and balled it up in her hands.
Kya very carefully set glowing water on Lin’s shoulder. Immediately something didn’t feel right. Was Lin just that tense or did Amon mess up everything when he blocked her bending?
The burn slowly melted away. The bruises on her back followed. There were more on her arms, some fresh purple and others fading yellow and every color in between.
“Long couple weeks?”
“Yeah.”
“I know talking isn’t how you like to handle this stuff,” Kya said. “But I’m here if that’s what you want.”
“I think I just want to go home and sleep for a few days.”
“Okay, kiddo.” Kya pulled the water away from Lin’s pale skin. “Anything else broken or bruised?”
Lin shook her head. She slipped the shirt back on and folded her arms over her chest.
“Let me get you a coat,” Kya said.
Lin pouted at the thought of wearing blue, but Kya retrieved a much different coat. She held out a brown trench coat with gold buttons. “I think I missed a few birthdays,” she said. “That’s what I bought this for. When I went to Ba Sing Se—before Dad died.”
Lin felt the leather between her calloused palms. “Why did you keep it?”
Kya shrugged. “Because you’re Lin Beifong and you own forty-six coats.”
She slid the wool-lined coat onto her arms. “Fifty-two now.”
“What about the boots?” Kya asked.
Lin looked to the gray and gold metal still encasing her feet. “Yeah,” she said. “Please.”
Kya popped the cork out of her water skin. “I better not find any more bruises.”
“I can’t promise.”
Kya broke apart the boots, and nudged them the way of the other pieces. “Anything else I can fix?”
Lin hugged her legs to her chest. “No, thank you.”
“How about some tea?” Kya asked. She grabbed a pair of boots from the closet and handed them to Lin. “I brought back some fancy stuff from the Fire Nation not too long ago.”
“I thought you stayed here with your mom,” Lin said.
“I go where I want,” she said. “Plus we need our apart time.” Kya retrieved a red tin from her cupboard. “This one is Izumi’s favorite.”
She glanced over her shoulder to find Lin’s face buried in her knees. She set the tea down and got down on the rug. “Hey, kiddo,” she said, running her hand between Lin’s shoulders. “What’s wrong?”
Lin hugged her legs tighter. “I want my mom.”
Kya pouted, confused.
“She’d say the exact most wrong thing,” Lin mumbled. “But I don’t care.”
Kya awkwardly wrapped her arms around Lin. “I’m sorry, sweetie.”
Lin took a shaky breath.
“Honey.” Kya set her cheek against Lin’s shoulder. “It’s okay if you’re upset.”
She could feel Lin’s muscles tense up. She hugged Lin a little tighter and patted her arm. “What’s bugging you?”
Lin let go of one sob, and it was like someone unlocked the gate. Kya felt awful, but she knew Lin needed this.
Kya didn’t try to fix anything. She just held onto her old friend and let her cry.
“I—I retired,” Lin said. “I quit and then I lost my bending to that—that monster. What am I supposed to do? I don’t know anything.”
Kya stroked her hair.
“Everything I had I threw away over one stupid criminal,” she cried. “What was I thinking?”
“You have more than your job and your bending,” Kya said.
Lin pushed the heel of her palm across her cheek. “This hurts—like someone is squeezing my chest. Forever.”
“Hey,” Kya said. “It won’t hurt forever.”
“It’s just—what am I going to do? I don’t have a job—I don’t have any bending.”
“Lin,” she said. “You still have us, you still have your family. Korra’s friends seem nice, too.”
“You don't get it,” Lin snapped. “I don’t have bending. I had it ripped from me. I feel completely hollow, and there is nothing anyone can do about it.”
She started into heavy sobs, and Kya brushed the hair from Lin’s face. “I’m so sorry, honey,” she breathed. “It’s okay to be upset.”
Lin didn’t say anymore, just cried and shook and sniffed. She calmed down after awhile. Leaned on Kya.
“Better?” she asked.
Lin nodded.
“Still want tea?”
“Yeah,” she breathed. “Thank you.”
Kya squeezed her in one more hug. “I’m so proud of you.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re a protector, and you’re way braver than anyone I know.” Kya ruffled Lin’s hair. “And you’ll find a way to keep doing it.”
Lin was quiet while Kya made the tea. She brought over two steaming cups and offered one to Lin. “Hey, promise me you won’t box up any of this.”
“What are you talking about?”
“You. When bad things happen to you, you lock them away somewhere and pretend they don’t bother you.” Kya set a hand on Lin’s elbow. “Do not do that this time.”
“Okay.”
“No,” Kya said. “Promise me. That when all this comes back up, you let it. Write me a letter if that helps—you don’t even have to send it, just write it. But do not push all these feelings away because it’s easier.”
Lin pouted. “I promise.”
“Thank you.”
Lin sipped at her tea. Kya focused on her friend’s pink cheeks, dry from the cold air and tears.
“Don’t get lonely in that big city, okay?” Kya bumped her elbow against Lin’s arm.
“I won’t.”
The front door opened, and Kya perked up. “Who is it?”
“Kya,” Tenzin answered. “Have you seen Lin?”
“She’s right here,” Kya hollered as she got up. “What do you want?”
Tenzin stood in the archway between the hall and kitchen. “Korra got her bending back—she said she saw Dad—and she can fix Lin, too.”
“What?” Kya asked—instead of snapping that Lin wasn’t broken without her bending.
“I don’t really know—she said she could show us on Lin.”
Kya looked back to Lin. The tea cup shook in her hand. “Lin?”
She nodded. “Give me a minute.”
Tenzin’s eyebrows knit together. “But, Lin—”
“I know,” she snapped. “Just. One minute.”
“Okay, we’ll be outside,” Kya said. She pushed the heel of her palm into her brother’s shoulder and forced him back out.
Outside, Kya jabbed Tenzin’s arm. “Fix Lin?” she said. “She’s not broken.”
“That’s not what I meant—”
“I just spent the last hour taking care of her because you were all too busy freaking out about Korra,” she said. “I know the Avatar losing her bending is a big fucking deal, but Lin’s in a bad place, too. You especially know what happens when she gets down.”
Tenzin sighed. “Okay, you’re right.”
Kya folded her arms over her chest. “Korra can for sure restore her bending? This isn’t a thing she thinks might work?”
“She seemed pretty certain about it. You know, Avatar power stuff,” Tenzin explained.
“If this doesn’t work, I’m going to—I don’t even know. But you will not start this spiral all over again,” Kya said.
“That bad?”
“She lost her bending ,” Kya said. “Yes, that bad.”
Tenzin pouted.
“And I don’t care what Korra can do,” Kya argued. “Before this there was nothing anyone could do. How were you going to deal with that?”
“I hadn’t thought yet—we’ve been so worried about Korra.”
“Korra’s a big deal but we can’t lose Lin in the shuffle,” she said. “She’s never going to say she’s upset—so whatever happens, do not just go back to the city and lose touch with her.”
“Alright. I'll keep an eye on her.”
A moment later, Lin came outside. Kya could see her eyes were bloodshot all over again. She smiled. “Ready?”
“Yeah,” Lin answered.
Kya set a hand on Lin’s shoulder as they walked.
“This coat is really warm,” Lin said as they approached the little healing hut where Korra and her friends stood. “Thanks.”