Archive of Our Own

Lin knew she was ragged and solid. She was taught that as she grew up. Could someone soft do her job? Of course not!
It caused her to butt heads with quite a few people. Her wife not excluded. After all, Kya was flowing. She was always moving and if she was stationary, she was filling and trying to overflow and move back to her flow. She learned that from experiences and took from her own desires.
People say air and earth are enemies with the constant blowing and then the always solid with neither letting up. Lin thought water was the same. She saw how Katara and her mother had conflicts over the years when she grew. She knew her mother was hard-headed and set her mind fast. Katara liked to think things through and she could reshape her perceptions of people.
Lin felt she would become a barrier Kya would eventually overcome as they grew. She knew Kya could just rise above her and go. She knew she had become Tenzin’s barrier and why he had left. She swore she had a heart of iron but it felt like it was like glass. She reacted only in rage but in isolation she reacted like any woman was depicted to act under such incident. She disgusted herself.
She felt so stupid to fall for not one, but two friends of hers. Tenzin she was able to get through, but she still was angry over the fact he cheated on her.
Kya had flown the nest by age seventeen. Lin was fourteen and figured that would be the last she saw of the girl. The girl flowed in and out of her life, more like a breeze than a stream that could go through channels. In those years Lin felt herself almost grow to resent the woman. Still, she felt the water of a woman rushing and crashing against her when they would interact. Slowly, even if Kya wasn’t trying, she smoothed down the earth that seemed unmovable or malleable.
Lin tried not to dwell on the years of uncertainty when it came to Kya nowadays. It had been decades. It took until the recent years for her to look back on the stories that led her to the ring on her finger made out of a material that could save her life if she was desperate.
She hadn’t put much thought into again until the nosy young Avatar basically interrogated her during a party to honor the re-election to Reiko. She was without Kya for the woman was spending the rest of the month with Katara in the Southern Water Tribe and wasn’t returning until Bumi’s birthday, hoping to make a trip with her mother.
Lin sat alone nursing a drink called the Fire Ferret that Bolin had invented. He had gotten everyone to try it. Most people spit it out whereas Mako was able to choke back about three. It was hot chili pepper flavored vodka mixed with sweet vermouth. It was utter shit but Lin was too stubborn to not finish it.
She was spaced until Korra sat next to her. The girl was previously dancing with Asami. Hell, they had been at the hip all night. Lin kept quiet, picturing the scenario that if her wife was there, she would croon and point out how they used to be like that.
“You taking a break from dancing?” Lin asked. She noticed Korra’s heartbeat was elevated and the girl seemed troubled.
“How did you know Kya loved you back?” Korra asked, looking at the police chief.
Lin fumbled with her meteorite wedding band. “Well, she was always protective of me. Why I fell for her. She paid me more attention than my mother sometimes. But one point she transcended what was platonic if not sisterly protection.”
“What was this point?” Korra looked at her close. Her aqua eyes were strikingly like Kya’s. Hell, the girl looked as if she were Kya’s copy. The water tribe had some reoccurring features.
Lin sighed. She knew why the girl was probing. She didn’t point out that she knew. She remembered hating how her mother called her out on her emotions when she was around Korra’s age.
“I was twenty-three and was rising up a rank. It was before my ma resigned so the chief was still in her prime. I wasn’t a detective yet but I was taking some risks to make sure that was my next job. I had been trying to catch some high ranked Agni Kai members. Kya was twenty-six and in this fire nation island that I can’t even begin to name. She had some contact with us, sending telegraphs about her location so her parents and siblings could reach her…”
****
Young Lin was alone on a mission. She hung by one police cable from a roof, hovering and poised to lunge. She had gotten a lead on a hangout of the Agni Kais. She had one target though. Kei Lin was a fire bender. He was a hitman and felt so uncatchable that he left corpses with his signature. It was a branding of KL on their faces that was meant to prevent the cadaver to be buried open casket or be a reminder to those who survived. Survivors have never agreed to testify against him. Those who did…were gone. No body and no sign of them being taken were present in the handful of cases.
She knew just any small charge could get her into his custody. Technicalities could give her a day to crack him. Her mother would’ve advised against this, but justice sometimes allowed the bending of the law within reason.
Kei Lin stepped out of the bar and got into the new invention, a satomobile. Lin recognized the flashy red bowler hat he adorned himself and the black blazer draped over his shoulders. They were one of the most expensive things and the force had a few for the purpose to keep up with the mobile crime. There were laws around the satomobile. One of which was driving while intoxicated. Bingo.
She shot down as the car took off. She wrapped the cable around the back wheels to prevent a getaway and approached the driver’s side. “Have you been drinking…”She noticed the man in the car was not Kei Lin. He was years too young and his skin was shaded darker.
“I had a feeling someone was watching me.” Lin whirled around and saw Kei there. He wore a wicked smirk. He had scars all over his hands from burns over years of training and murder in his eyes. Lin cut the stuck cable and used the other to try to gain upper ground. As she moved fast she felt heat lick up her leg. Her metal armor heated quickly and she felt burns from the contact be what injured her. She growled and she thrust her hands apart and tore the armor off. She was left in a tank and a pair of slacks that were under the armored boots and the plates that covered her thighs. Kei was known for his ability to only hit his target and having all his heat focused on the center of his attacks. Is flames glowed blue like Azula’s did, burning hot.
Lin briefly studied the burns on her arms that were already red. She cursed and pounded her feet into the pavement, lifting the ground around Kei to send the man off his feet. It worked, but the man took the momentum and jumped up. He fired two fire balls at Lin.
Lin quickly raised her hands and pulled rock to wall her off from the blow. She tensed to keep it there as she noticed the force of the continuous assaults starting to crumble the wall. She thrusted out her arms and sent the wall flying full force at Kei. It sent the man sliding back and against the wall. He pounded his fists against it, flames firing and raising the temperature. He heated the pavement. “I know you Beifongs like to see with your feet!” He hollered as he did. He was able to withstand his own heat. He grinned while watching Lin struggle to keep her well-rooted footing without the armored boots he had warped. She cursed herself over and over as she created a pedestal for herself to get away from the heat. She kicked up a pillar and took hits at it, sending off disks flying at him.
Kei rolled and jumped away from a few and others he shot aside. He had plenty of run ins with the metal benders Beifong sent. He had killed a few. The brat daughter of the chief wasn’t going to best him. Why? He cheated. He let himself be hit and faked pain. He held his side, keeping the heat up to prevent Lin’s sense of vibration. He had the platinum throwing knife gripped in his fist as the woman approached. He threw quick before she cuffed him with a stray of armor. He smirked when it made its mark into her gut. He got her down and pulled the knife. A few quick slashes had her incapacitated and he was able to burn her up. He relished in her cries that would not be known due to their seclusion the bar he left was in. He left the woman passed out and for dead. He heated up his branding.
“Would hate to hurt such a pretty face. Hm…why not on your ‘eyes?’” He pressed it to Lin’s foot. “Shame you’re not awake to scream.” He chuckled and got into the back of the vehicle after getting the police cable off the wheel. “Drive newbie.” He snatched his hat back from the bait he put out and sat back. He lit a cigarette as they left.
****
Toph stepped out of her office upon hearing knocking. She sensed the energy of her trusted subordinate that led Lin’s division. “Problem Maka?” she questioned.
“One of my officers hasn’t reported in. It was Lin. I wanted to see if she had stopped by to visit you,” the woman said.
“She isn’t…Where was my daughter heading?” Toph tightened her hands and anyone around could sense the world seeming to tremble at will around her.
“She said she was patrolling an Agni Kai meetup with three other officers…but those she claimed to be with have all returned. Not Lin.”
“Shit. Get Katara from Air Temple island. We’ll most likely need a medic. Get me a vehicle and some damn backup. I’m going to find her myself.” Toph stormed off. Each touch she searched for her daughter’s presence. Part of her hoped just to find Lin stowed away somewhere in the station, but that was a pipe dream.
She figured the hangout as the damn Fire Lily bar. She knew her daughter had a case eating at her and the idea of promotion catching her eye.
She stopped a half click away from the hangout, wanting to get bearings she couldn’t in their mobile. With a slide of her foot she sensed the disturbance in front of the bar and the faint energy of her daughter. With a quick movement she had her cables dug into a building and she zoomed through the air. The cable grounded her to the world and send message to her other thriving senses of her daughter’s struggle and the dying heat of an attack. She landed swiftly and sank down next to her daughter. She felt others arrive.
“Mother of Raava…”A rookie gasped. “She’s been beaten to a pulp.”
“Where is that medic!?” Toph spat. She felt her daughter to still be alive. She felt the pool of sticky blood around her and the hot warped armor meant to protect her daughter from harm’s way scattered around as if they were damn petals around a body.
“The ferries aren’t working.”
“Who here is a water bender?” Toph muttered and she picked her daughter up. She grunted as her bones ached. Lin wasn’t a little girl anymore nor she a woman in her prime. She still was there to carry her daughter, damn it.
“Right here, ma’am. But I don’t know how to heal,” a man called. He was young but strong she could sense. She moved towards him, other cops stepping aside to let her past.
“That doesn’t matter. Take me to Air Temple Island,” she ordered.
“But chief you won’t be able to sense a thing—“
“Take me to there now or you’re out of the job,” she hissed. She heard him gulp nervously.
“Yes, chief.”
*****
Tenzin enjoyed meditating on the shore with his father. It was quiet and his father’s calm and steady breathing became almost like a metronome for him to follow.
It was calm until he heard the water crashing. They both opened their eyes to see a water bender aggressively riding waves with who one could make out as Toph riding with him. The chief held someone in her arms.
“Get your mother,” Aang breathed, seeing something Tenzin didn’t. Tenzin ran fast into the house. He tripped over himself and crashed into the common room where his mother was.
“Tenzin? What’s going on?” Katara questioned.
“Dad needs you. Toph is coming to shore with someone. I think a cop got injured…”He was able to relay. He stepped aside as his mothered drifted past him.
Tenzin sighed and ran his hand over his head. Bumi approached, home for the week. He had a paper in his hand. “Kya sent something…what what’s going on?”
“An injured cop,” Tenzin shrugged.
“Toph wouldn’t be flipping shit over any cop. It’s gotta be Lin,” Bumi reasoned. “I know I’m right because nothing gets past this mind!”
“No…”Tenzin ran back out.
Bumi looked at the telegraph and then went to the communication room. He tapped out a reply to Kya. ‘PROGRESS AT AIR TEMPLE ISLAND: LIN BEIFONG IS INJURED ON JOB. ALL HANDS ON DECK. BUMI REPORTING.’
Bumi walked off, thinking not much of the update. He knew that Kya waited around for replies wherever she sent from.
Katara got to the shore just as a frightened young cop stopped Toph. She made out a moment ago the woman was carrying her daughter. “Help her…”Toph begged. It was the most broken Katara had ever heard her.
“Take her and lay her down in the guest room, Aang,” Katara told.
“No! I’m not letting her go!” Toph cried and backed away from Aang as he stepped to grab Lin from her arms.
“Alright…come on Toph.” Katara led her lifelong friend to the guest room and had her lay down Lin. Katara silently got water and worked on healing Lin. “She’s suffered burns and stab wounds. She’s lost a lot of blood, Toph.”
“Will she make it?” Toph took her daughter’s hand. She could feel the toughened hands, her mind making her remember years ago how they used to be so small and soft. Training and years of fighting hardened them. Hardened her daughter and put her here.
“I’ll try.” Silenced filled the air. Aang and Tenzin stood outside the door silently. Bumi was in the room and looking out the window. He didn’t want to look at the woman who used to kick his ass when they were kids so weak.
“Katara I need you answer me honestly. Is there a branding on her face?” Toph asked.
“No, Toph…her face hasn’t been messed up besides some bruising.”
“She was going after Kei Lin. I didn’t think she would ever go alone…”
“She fought Kei Lin? Of the Agni Kais?” Aang paled.
“Is there any other man by that name who would do this!?” Toph spat.
“Her feet seemed burned…”Katara whispered. She watched Toph visibly wince and heard her choke on a sob.
“No…”She gripped her seat, cracking the wood. “Aang check her feet.” She was tense, knowing but not being able to look.
Aang slowly approached and he gingerly held the ankle. He saw the branding he had seen on numerous corpses. “It’s there…this was Kei Lin.”
“Uh…we got another water bender comin’.”
“What does that mean?” Tenzin muttered at his brother.
“I see a lot of waves!”
“It’s probably that cop leaving, honey,” Katara reassured.
“It’s coming closer to here. Really fast…”
“Go check then and go!” Tenzin hissed. He hung his head and mumbled an apology when his father looked at him. Bumi left and went to the beach. He strained his eyes and he realized who was coming.
Kya. She was coming in like a tsunami.
***
Kya sat idly in the shop. She was counting what money she had left after coughing up half a yuan per word from either way of the wire. She considered taking a month on the island to get some money. She tried to avoid sending home just for money at most costs. She had managed to live off land and deeds rather than money. But the real world beckoned to her every once and a while. And the real world used money. She had just sent to her family about how she was okay and how she was still at Ember Island. She got herself weak tea from the counter and poured over maps of the island. Her mind wandered and she extracted a folded up photo. In it was her, all her siblings and the children of her parent’s friends. That meant Izumi, Suyin…and Lin. It was a few years old, around the time Tenzin had left Lin and Lin joined the force.
Lin was hardly a woman when the picture was taken. She was about nineteen. Kya remembered being annoyed at Lin when they were younger, for she felt above those younger than her. Plus the girl was really rough around the edges. She was set in her goals and she was annoying about her crush on Tenzin. What was annoying started to just hurt. As they all matured, well Lin just grew into her maturity, Kya started to feel some attractions towards the girl she had grown up with who blatantly liked Tenzin.
Though she was left uncertain. She would be around the girl and see her laugh louder, smile, and sometimes flush. Tenzin wasn’t around and he wasn’t the subject at those times. Kya tried to treat Lin with all of her affection. Lin years later thanked her for being a good older sister figure. Kya decided to avoid coming back for a while. She had spent years trying to keep herself from desiring the woman who didn’t want her.
She was failing at that while looking at that photo. She touched the face of Lin and felt her cheeks heat up. She considered sending at least a letter to Lin. They had exchanged letters for years. Lin usually spoke about training and work. She would bring up what was happening in town that Kya was missing. She would sometimes tease saying that she could return and still find adventure. “Telegraph for Kya!” The clerk called, snapping Kya back to reality.
Kya got up and grabbed it from him. She was expecting to get a well-wishing and love from her mother. But she didn’t exactly get that.
‘PROGRESS AT AIR TEMPLE ISLAND: LIN BEIFONG IS INJURED ON JOB. ALL HANDS ON DECK. BUMI REPORTING.’
She dropped the paper. She slapped down what she owed on the counter and scrambled to pack up. She stormed out and ran to the beach. She pumped her arms roughly as she propelled herself through the water. She wasn’t going to take the week trip by boat. She pushed herself through reasoning to get there.
She approached the island just to see Bumi on shore.
“Kya!” He called. She approached.
“Take me to her now,” she said darkly. He led her through the quiet house. He led her to the room where Katara was still working on healing Lin. The woman hadn’t so much as twitched.
Everyone paused to look at Kya.
“You’re home…”Aang said dumbly.
“Bumi sent me word of what happened.” Kya dropped her sack down and moved towards the bed. She looked at the strong woman she had seen grow. She looked pitiful. She was patched up and pale. She saw Toph crying. The sight didn’t bring the desire to cry. It filled her with more anger to see a woman she grew up looking up to so broken. “It was that gangster wasn’t it?” She recalled Lin mentioning in a letter about the gang problem and the one member she had her sights set on. She took silence as yes.
“Come help me Kya,” Katara suggested.
“No…” Kya stepped back. She looked at Toph. “Do you know where the bastard is?”
“If I knew, do you think he would be alive right now?” Toph muttered. She harshly wiped her eyes with the back of her hand.
“Did you bend yourself all the way here?” Tenzin asked Kya.
“Yes. I’m going to get you some salve, mom…”Kya turned and walked out. Her mind raced and her vision blurred. Lin had been left for dead by someone and he was still out there. No…that wasn’t acceptable.
***
Agni Kais had something to distinguish themselves. It was an armband with the fire nation symbol on it in the respective color of their element. Non-benders simply had black ones. Kya had learned that years ago. It was meant to be a warning of who to avoid on the streets in Republic City. Now it was her ticket to information.
She walked the streets after slipping away from home. Her mind forced her to think of Lin’s state. Each thought made her blood boil. She looked at everyone who passed her, watching for those bands.
She saw a black one. She removed the cork on her bladder of water. She casually shoved him into an alley and pinned him against the wall and held a shard of ice to his neck like a knife. “Who in your gang attacked Lin Beifong?” she hissed.
“I…I…do not know what you’re talking about.” The man looked around nervously.
“Liar!” Kya pushed him harder into the wall. “Who?”
“K-Kei Lin!” The man cried nervously when he felt the knife-like tip of the shard press into his pulse point.
“Where can I find him?” She kept the shard there.
“Fire Lily bar. He wears a red bowler! Please don’t kill me.”
“I won’t.” Kya knocked him out with a simple pressing into a pulse point. Her mother taught it as a way to put down someone hysterical. It worked in numerous other ways, though.
******
“Wait!” Korra cut into the middle of Lin speak. “You’re telling me that Kya threatened a non-bender?”
“You have, Korra. When lives are at stake, morals hold no ground,” Lin told her calmly, if not condescending.
“You weren’t in danger at that moment. It’s not like Kei Lin took you. And how do you know every side of this? And why wasn’t Suyin there if she hadn’t left yet?”
“Everyone involved over the years had something to add. I was out the majority of this. And Su wasn’t always in the loop even when she was still in the city. Do you want me to finish the story or not?”
Korra huffed. “Continue.”
“Thank you.”
***
** Kya arrived at the bar just as the devil himself rolled out. The full moon gave her enough light to see him while the darkness of night covered her. He held in his hand a paper he looked over. Kya took the distraction and lunged. She emptied the bladder of water and willed it to her actions, encasing Kei Lin in a snake of water. Kei hissed and kicked up flames at her.
“What the fuck? Who are you?” He growled.
She iced over the water and pulled water from the stream that ran through the whole city. “No need to know.”
“How about you let me out and we have a fair match?”
“The stab wounds on Lin’s body didn’t indicate you treated her fairly.”
“What are you? A fangirl of the blind chief’s daughter?” Kei smiled wryly. He busted out with a burst of lightning. He pulled a knife afterward. “Come at me then, waterbrat.”
Kya willed the liquid to her bidding, encasing and tossing the man aside. She heard the metal clattering and she quickly got the knife away from Kei Lin. She slipped it in her belt. “Know it’s an even match.”
Kei Lin got off the ground, soaked to the skin and shivering. “You bitch.” He moved and got too close for comfort, concentrated flames coming from his fists like daggers as he swung at Kya. Training with her father and Tenzin had created a variation in her movements for evasion.
One wrong move got her a burn down her back. She yelped in pain. A moment of assessment showed her chestnut hair had been singed half a foot shorter and she had an already weeping burn on her left shoulder.
“C’mon! Come closer and see what else I can do,” Kei Lin teased. He had his arms up and bounced, not grounded in one place. His movements were impatient and unpredictable much like a flame in the wind. His hits were heated minor attacks, toying with Kya to get her to her to move. She knew he was trying to set her up.
She looked around the area. It was tight and she wasn’t getting out of there. She didn’t want to without this man upright. She caught the moon in her eyes. She cracked her knuckles and prayed that her mother would not have her head for her next action.
She pulled out the only skill she promised to never use. She held her hands up. Kei Lin smirked and prepared for the next attack. But he saw no water rose from the ground. He dropped his lips and quickly moved to zap the woman with lightning.
His muscles didn’t let him move. Every part of him screamed in pain. It was near impossible to speak let alone bend. His muscles trembled and he was left to fall to his knees. He panted as nothing allowed him to stand.
“Y-you sick...bitch!” He spat with a growl of pain.
“You scar those you leave for dead. I’m not the sick one,” Kya said lowly. She willed him to his feet with the raising of her arms. She was pouring her focus and anger into this to keep her control. He was fighting with all of his will. She moved slowly, guiding him to follow. She watched him cautiously even if he was unable to move by his own will.
She dropped him for a moment to cuff him with ice. He had not chance to compose himself before he felt the taught claim over him. Kya moved close to him and pressed into the spot in the crook of his neck to knock him out. She picked him up with an arm of water that she moved easily as her own limbs. She carried him back to Air Temple Island. She arrived on the ocean and fatigue pulled at her muscles.
Kei Lin was just waking up as she put more ice around his hands and then his legs. “Where am I? Are you going to kill me!?” He shouted. He fought against his restraints. “Help! This crazy bitch is going to kill me!”
“No. Though I should,” she said darkly. “And shut your mouth.” She made a line of ice and pulled him along it.
She hadn’t gotten far before the majority of everyone had run to shore. She guessed Lin must be stable if they were willing to leave the woman. Pema must’ve been watching over her like she did for her mother.
“What the hell is this?” Bumi questioned. The sight of seeing his calm sister with a man looking traumatized and encased in ice was worrying.
“It’s Kei Lin,” Aang mumbled.
“What did you do?” Katara berated.
“I got an assassin caught who almost killed Lin.” Kya slid him to Toph’s feet. “I’m sure you want this.”
“How did you beat him?” Toph asked. She put her metal cuffs on the man. She kept a tight grip on him, wanting to hurt him. Though she sensed his energy was off. Much like… “Is it a full moon?”
“You didn’t,” Katara hissed. She looked at her daughter. “Where did you even learn to blood bend?”
Kya looked aside. “I taught myself. I’ve never used it on a human beside him.” She glared at Kei Lin. The man avoided eye contact and flinched when Kya raised her arms. All she did was pull his knife from her belt. “Here, Toph. It should be something in his trial.” She held her palm open as the knife drifted from her hands and into Toph’s.
“You’re crazy,” Kei Lin muttered.
“Hey, shut it flameo,” Toph ordered and tightened her grip on his shoulders, pushing his forearm up his back just to hear him cry out.
“It’s illegal, Kya.” Aang looked at his daughter, disappointment filling his dark eyes.
“I couldn’t let him go free for what he did,” Kya said. “No one hurts the people I love.” She brushed past everyone and went to where Lin was. She saw Pema sure as hell was there and putting fresh bandages on Lin’s arm. She dismissed the woman.
She pulled up a chair and took Lin’s hand. She stroked her fingers over the back of her hand. That part was always soft, unlike the calloused palms. “Oh, Lin…”She kissed the back of her hand and intertwined her fingers. She rested her head on the edge of the bed. “Please open your eyes.”
Tense hours passed in the temple. Katara was in and out of the room. The first one Katara didn’t talk to her daughter and merely went through the motions on checking on Lin. The second time she noticed the wound on Kya’s shoulder. “Kya…”She whispered. “He got you?”
Kya didn’t make eye contact. “I went a little overboard today,” she sighed. She tensed when her mother peeled away the cloth that clung to the edges of the wound. She didn’t relax until cool water touched with her mother’s gentle hand and some healing water.
“We all do crazy things for ones we love.”
Kya blushed. “About that…”
“I know what you meant. Love is love, Kya. And I know you’ve loved Lin for years. She may not see anything romantic in your actions.”
“It’s not entirely for that. She was my friend before my love interest.” Kya looked down at Lin.
“It’s the best way to start. It’s filled with uncertainty…but it creates a strong relationship,” Katara reassured.
“You’re still mad. I can tell.”
“Look…the only time I did it; it was to protect your uncle and your father. I’m resentful over the fact you had learned it and kept it secret, but—”Katara paused to sigh. “—I see where you came from.”
“Thanks.” Kya looked at her shoulder. She saw that it was nothing more now than some tender and sore skin.
“You’ll watch over her for tonight I sense.” Katara grinned and held back a chuckle when her daughter blushed.
“I want to be with her.” Kya looked back at Lin. “Did Toph head back to the city?”
“She had to get Kei Lin into custody. She didn’t want to leave, but she had to. Your father is taking her on Appa.”
“Okay. Goodnight mom.”
“Night my little polar bear dog pup.” She kissed Kya’s head and left.
Kya rested her head on the edge of the bed and eventually was out.
***
Kya woke up to feeling someone patting her head. She opened her eyes slowly to see emerald eyes looking back at her. “Your hair is burnt…”Lin mumbled. “You look terrible with short hair.”
“Lin!” Kya lunged and took the other woman into a hug. “I was worried you wouldn’t wake up. I got the news from Bumi, and I just…had to come to you.”
“You arrived a few hours ago?”
“Last night. I got myself here and…I may have gone a bit crazy.” Kya laughed nervously. She saw Lin’s face harden.
“What did you do exactly that was crazy?” She sat up, ignoring the ache in her muscles.
Kya looked at her and grinned, deciding to tell her what happened with Kei Lin later. “I went crazy by how in love I was with you,” she flirted. They had lightly flirted since they were young.
She got the blush from Lin like usual. It was nearing red instead of pink because of its directness. “Do you mean…”
“Lin, hearing you got hurt broke my world. I love you. I was terrified I was going to lose you,” Kya confessed, feeling less confident. She kissed Lin briefly on the lips and then recoiled. She felt hot in the face as well. “I’m sorry…I know I wasn’t the person you fell for in my family-“
“Tenzin wasn’t my only childhood crush. Not everyone is your parents with a one and only from age twelve.” Lin took Kya’s hand. “I just thought you saw me as a friend. You protected everyone one of us younger than you. You didn’t treat me any better than you treated Izumi or Su.”
“Suyin and Izumi are like sisters to me.”
“And I’m not a sister to you?” Lin arched an eyebrow.
“No! Well…when we were little. I don’t want that to be our only relationship. I want to be your lover and not a “family.””
“Jeez…”Lin sighed and pinched her nose.
Kya opened her mouth to apologize but was cut off by laughter. “What?” Kya scrunched up her brow.
“You went monkey bat shit insane for me? I mean riding all the way here from an island a week away on a boat. I think that for one is illegal because you’re crossing international waters and it’s dangerous as hell.”
“Oh shut it with the legalities! I swear that’s what all you people care about. Do I have to kiss you to shut you up?”
The corner of Lin’s mouth quirked up in a smirk. “Maybe.”
Yeah. That was the girl Kya had grown up with and come to love. She leaned in and kissed Lin, being gentle and didn’t push Lin back down. She merely cradled the woman’s cheek, fingers stroking down her neck lightly before they parted again. The kiss was tender and brief, but not chaste. It couldn’t satisfy a decade of silence and settling.
“When you heal, I’m taking you out. And I think I’ll be staying in Republic city a bit. Maybe I can go on those adventures you mentioned within the city.” Kya grinned.
“I wouldn’t be opposed…”Lin looked aside.
“Of course not, badgermole.”
“Watch it. Only chief calls me that.”
“But it’s cute. Suits a cute girl like you.”
“Kya!”
“Heh, come on, I’m right.”
***
Lin finished up her story and then the rest of her drink.
“So that’s it?” Korra asked.
“That’s it. I knew because she told me.”
“You didn’t cue in? There isn’t any giveaway?” Korra pressed.
“Look, kid, you don’t know until you take action or someone else does. Actions are hints and sometimes they can speak louder than words, but only if you know the words that person wants to convey. I didn’t know what Kya did for me wasn’t platonic until I knew her feelings weren’t. I know this is about Asami so I say buck up and tell her. Or else you’ll be left waiting until she does.” Lin got up and left the flustered avatar to think of what she’s done, or rather hasn’t done.
She got a part of the help to show her to a phone and she got herself connected to the phone she knew Katara kept and was one of the two phones in the tribe.
“Hello?” She heard. She could tell it was her wife in a second.
“It’s Lin,” she answered calmly.
“Well isn’t it just peachy that the woman of my dreams is calling.”
Lin sighed as she felt her cheeks heat up. “Right…”
“C’mon. You’re blushing. I know you are,” Kya chuckled.
“Whatever. I’m just calling because….I wanted to say something.”
“Well go on Beifong.”
“I am looking forward to having you back. Thank you for our years together and being the one to confess.” She got silence for a moment. “Did we lose contact?”
“Oh no…”Kya’s voice was a bit high. Lin knew that meant the woman was flustered. “Where did this come from?”
“I was just made to think of us. Made me miss you.”
“Did you not miss me before?” Kya asked quizzically.
“Obviously I do. I married you because I like your presence.”
“Funny, I thought it was for the sex.”
Lin heard chatter from the other line. It was a moment before she was certain Kya was there. “Did Karata berate you?” she questioned.
“Just a little comment of how that’s not how one talks and comments about their marriage, and other stuff.”
“That’s just you.”
“And you love me.”
Lin leaned against a wall. “I do,” she replied without hesitation.
“Well, I’m going. I love you too. See you when I look at you.” The line cut off and Lin hung up.
She fumbled with her ring. She was happy she had been worn down smooth.