Trigger Warning: Major Character Death(But it occurs 'off-screen')

"Tunneling," Lin began to tell her three little badgermoles. "It is one of an earthbender's most useful skills because he or she can disappear from sight instantly, like so!" Lin lifted her arms up and clapped them together and sunk into the ground, closing the hole immediately after.

"Woah!" the children looked around with shock.

"And then you can reappear somewhere unexpected," Lin said standing behind them. "We will start by tunneling horizontally," Lin said. She sand bent a massive block of earth out of the ground. She walked up.

"With a front punch, I want you all to make an indent in the block about a foot deep. Start of slow and easy. One punch. One step. Eventually, with good practice and greater range, you could get all the way through with one motion," Lin pushed with two hands and tunneled straight through fifty meters of earth exposing light at the other end of the Earthen slab.

"Woah!"

"First one to the other end doesn't have to help me with dishes this evening," Lin said bending a chair for herself to watch her babies.

"How's it coming?" Tenzin asked bringing Lin a cool glass of watermelon juice.

"Well enough I guess. They're learning quickly," Lin replied.

Hungjian punched quickly, making a little bowl shaped crop out of the stone along with a bunch of sand.

"Slow down! Focus, stupid and do it correctly or you'll never get through," Huifan yelled at him copying Lin's form perfectly creating a clean one foot deep punch out of the earth. While the two older children were preoccupied, Jinkun took a deep breath and moved a hand and a foot and managed to get five feet in with one punch to the thing. Tenzin glanced down at Lin who raised an eyebrow but said nothing. Let them figure out their own style of earthbending.

The next day, Lin and Tenzin decided to demonstrate extreme tunneling.

"Now, personally, I despise water because in it, I can't see with my feet or my eyes since the salt stings. Your father on the other hand loves water. He is half water tribe after all and finds great comfort in the sea as well as the air. So, he will dive into the water while I'll dive into the ground."

"But Mom. Isn't the ground hard? Won't you get hurt?"

"Yes the ground is hard, but I am a master earthbender. It's like falling into a feather bed to me, watch closely." Lin said as she launched herself onto Oogi who was waiting with Tenzin on his head.

They flew fifty feet up. Over the water, Tenzin dove in wearing only his swim trunks. Then over the earth, Lin jumped hands and headfirst plummeting towards the ground. She created a crater and a wave in the sand for effect and tunneled straight down at least twenty feet before stopping her trajectory and bending space for her to move around. Like a badgermole she dig herself out to find her three children looking down at her with pure admiration. Tenzin trudged out of the ocean dripping wet and smiling.

"So, hopefully by the end of today, you can fall down and not get hurt by your best friend, Earth," Lin said with her arms folded on the edge of her hole and her chin resting on the backs of her hands. Just then a White Lotus member appeared accompanied by an air acolyte.

"Master Tenzin, Lady Lin, we regret to inform you, but Avatar Aang has officially passed away this morning,"

Lin and Tenzin's faces both fell. Their children were present and for that, they were angry with the White Lotus sentry for not pulling them aside at least to grief.

"Daddy, what does that mean?" Hungjian asked.

Tenzin got down on one knee and took both of Hungjian's hands. Struggling to hold back his sobs in front of his children. "It means grandpa has gone to take a nap," Tenzin started before his vice broke down.

"And he won't wake up again," Lin finished for him, pushing her self out of the ground and, pulling her nearest child into her arms and squeezing him.

"But I thought naps were a good thing. When we take naps, our brain solidifies our memories and lessons from the first half of the day. At least, that's what Air Acolyte Tysha told me." Huifan said still looking thoroughly bewildered.

"Have you informed my brother and sister?" Tenzin asked the White Lotus Sentry.

"Yes sir, we sent sentries as soon as the event occurred," the White Lotus replied.

"Where are they holding the funeral?"

"There will be a state ceremony in Republic City and then a more private ceremony for family and friends at the Southern Air Temple, after, Master Tenzin," the man said.

Lin went to the Southern Air Temple with their three children while Tenzin went to Republic City.

The morning Aang's body arrived with Katara, they had a family ceremony. Bumi, Kya and Tenzin were dressed all in white then Katara summoned Lin and the children.

"You can always count on blood, Linny. Kya and Bumi will understand. I promise you," Katara said offering Lin a white hood to indicate her as a daughter in-law even though she and Tenzin didn't ever announce their marriage even to Tenzin's siblings. Katara tied a white piece of fabric around Hungjian's head while Lin did the same to Huifan and Jinkun's.

Lin carried the two year old while Huifan walked holding her hand and Hungjian walked holding Katara's as they entered the main temple

Lin started crying almost immediately as they approached the open casket.

"Lin!" Kya breathed. Rushing over taking Jinkun from Lin's arms, not the least bit surprised to find she had two nephews and a niece.

"Is this everybody, Master Katara?" the ancient Air Acolyte asked.

"Yes, you may begin the ceremony," Katara replied solemnly.

Lin knelt beside Tenzin and their three children knelt behind them. The children were good, copying their parents exactly. Kya and Bumi couldn't believe their patience but then remembered they were Lin's babies.

"Will the eldest grandson please rise?" a monk asked.

"Hungjian," Lin called in a whisper. The five year old waddled up to the monk and listened carefully as the monk placed a tray of fruit into his tiny hands. He invited his grandfather to eat with them and then rest and go in peace. He bowed the right number of times for the right number of seconds. He placed the incense in the pit of ashes correctly, and he listened carefully.

Then he was sent back to his place behind his parents and they moved on with the ceremony next with a part executed by the eldest son. Then they each went by one by one to pay their respects for the now deceased grandfather.

"Thank you, Lin for everything." Katara said putting a hand on Lin's shoulder. Tenzin draped an arm around her waist and held her while she broke down in sobs.

"Hi! I'm your Aunt Kya. What are your names?" Kya asked the children with a brave smile on her face, determined to distract them from their mother's grief.

"I'm Huifan and these are my brothers. Jin and Jiang," HuiFan replied surprisingly eloquent for a four year old.

"Hungjian," the eldest waved.

"Jinkun," the younger mumbled impatiently.

"How would you like to come explore the temple with me and Uncle Bumi?"

"We would love to, but Mama says not to go with strangers," Huifan informed her aunty.

"Huifan, Aunt Kya isn't a stranger. She's family. She is blood. You can trust her with anything," Katara said.

"Well, if Gran Gran says It is okay, I guess we can go," Huifan shrugged. Kya smiled and extended a hand to two of them while Bumi took the third.

"I've failed Aang. He had so much faith in me that I could help rebuild his nation and I couldn't." Lin cried.

"Don't say that! We still have time!" Tenzin replied.

"We already have three children and none of them are air benders!"

"We can have more-"

"Tenzin, it is not that easy. Do you know what having children does to the human body? Have you any idea what it has done to me? Huifan nearly killed me when she was born. It's too much!"

"Are you saying you want to stop? To just give up on me? On my nation?"

"No, Tenzin. I just need time to think. Aang died just a week ago! He was your father and the closest thing I had to a father— the closest thing I had to a parent. My own mother abandoned me every time I asked a question. It is just too early to do anything!"

"You're right. I'm sorry for pushing."

"Ma'am the guests will be entering soon," the monk said.

"I'll go relieve Kya and Bumi of babysitting duties," Lin said hurrying away, pulling off her white hood, hiding she was a daughter-in-law.

"Mama!" The three children ran over and hugged her shins. They were so small. She remembered giving birth to all of them. All of the pressure and pain. All the hope they'd bend air and all of the fear that Tenzin would leave if they didn't.

"Aunt Kya is a waterbender!" Hungjian exclaimed.

"Like GranGran!" Huifan added.

"We can play more with aunt Kya and uncle Bumi later. They're needed inside right now," Lin said.

"You'll be okay alone with them?" Bumi asked.

"They're my children, of course I will be okay with them," Lin replied staring blankly on the horizon while the kids slipped and slid over the icy surfaces and ice formations Kya made for them.

"Where's Linny? I heard her feet during the family-only ceremony!" Toph demanded.

"She joined us only because she had to leave for the city early and couldn't come to the friends ceremony." Katara replied.

"You're lying. I can feel her presence on the mountainside."

Lin found a cave and crawled in with her babies and worked on their seismic sense for a short while before leaning against the cave wall and falling asleep with one baby in her lap and the other two under her arms.

"Mama! Someone's coming!" Huifan shrieked shaking Lin awake.

No wonder Lin wasn't startled. The footsteps and tunneling technique was too familiar.

"Chief," Lin said sternly holding her children closer to her.

"I see you and Baldy have been busy," Toph said with a smirk.

"Why are you here?"

"To pay my respects to one of my best friends, obviously-"

"Then you should be in the temple doing just that. I mean, why are you coming after me?" Lin clarified.

"I needed to see with my own eyes or feet that what I was feeling in the swamp wasn't a dream. I can see everything from there. You and Su in Republic City and Zaofu. I saw all of your heart to hearts with Aang. All of them, I know how much he meant to you. And how hurt you are now that he is gone. I saw you give birth to Hungjian. I saw your water break at the station with Huifan. It is how I knew to come. I watched her fight through that fever. She will be the one to replace me as the greatest earthbender in the world," Toph said.

"Awwww!" Hungjian groaned as Huifan smiled excitedly.

"I saw conceiving Jinkun was hard for you but you managed—"

Lin was crying. "Why are you telling me this? Why didn't you come? What kind of mother is so content with seeing her child suffer and not come to help more often?!" Lin demanded.

"Because you were in no state to accept whatever help I had to offer. Lin, listen to me. Even though Twinkle Toes is gone, you must wait a little while longer. Time is an illusion and so is death. I've seen all that you've seen and almost all that you will see. You cannot give up on Tenzin. You cannot give up on the Air Nation. You WILL have airbending children—"

"But what if I can't!"

"You will. Trust me Linny—"

"Don't call me that! You lost that privilege when you LEFT ME!" Lin cried.

"Mama!" Huifan stood and wrapped her arms around her mother's neck and shoved her cute little face into Lin's knowing that she had a magic calming effect when her mother was distressed. Lin took a deep breath and kissed Huifan and regained her composure.

"You will have at least three airbenders in your future,"

"At least?" Lin asked shuddering at the mere thought of going through labor three more times.

"Some of the visions were unclear. Four more airbenders kept appearing after you birthed three,"

"Three?" Lin grimaced at the thought of pushing three more babies through her birth canal.

"Yes, three. Didn't think you could get out of motherhood that easy, did you?"

"When will I return to the force?"

"Unfortunately, sooner than you'd prefer."

"And who would watch my children?"

"With your level of paranoia, they will have to watch each other, because you won't trust just anybody with your offspring."

Lin looked down at her babies who were all completely awake and looking up at her with uncertainty on their round little faces. Jinkun gathered bits of her shirt in his tiny fists and Huifan and Hungjian held onto her arms.

"They're too small,"

"They won't be forever, Linny. You will have to hurry, though. The world won't be as patient as Baldy."

"The world doesn't control me," Lin replied.

"It will," Toph warned her.

Lin looked up with anger. "Why are you really here, Chief?" Lin asked refusing to call her mother 'mother'.

"Well I wanted to help you own up to the fact that you can't hide the truth forever. You can't hide these babies—"

"I can try!" Lin said snatching them all up in her arms at once fleeing the cave with her bending and heading back to their dormitories on the Southern Air Temple.

"Mama," Huifan asked that evening in the fire light while she read a newspaper and watched her children play on the area rug, waiting for Tenzin to come to bed.

"Yes? Love?"

"What is a burden?"

"Something really difficult to manage or deal with that you don't want to have to concern yourself with but must regardless,"

"Mama, are we burdens?"

"No! Why on earth would you say such a thing? You're the greatest thing in the world to me! Love you and your brothers with my entire being. I would do anything for you!"

"Can you make Daddy come back soon? Daddy and Grandpa Aang?"

"Daddy will return soon, but I can't do anything about Grandpa Aang. If I could, I would, definitely," Lin replied as another wave of grief came over her. She clutched her head in pain.

"Mama?" Huifan climbed up onto the couch and into her mother's lap and pried at her eyes trying to use the magic she discovered not long ago, but her mother's eyes wouldn't open.

Kya and Tenzin entered then.

"I got this," Kya said bending water out of the skin sling over her back. She wrapped Lin's head in it and eased the pain while Huifan watched on with admiration.

"How was your day?" Tenzin asked picking up Jinkun and Hungjian.

"Confusing," Hungjian replied.

"I bet. You'll understand more when you're older. Why don't we all rest now," Tenzin suggested tilting his head back and closing his eyes. The children agreed and they all went to sleep in the same bed as a family.

Once back in Republic City, Katara began packing for the South Pole.

"You're busy. I don't want to burden you with my presence."

"Katara, you're not a burden! You're a comfort. Please, don't go!"

"I'm so sorry, Lin," Katara sighed hugging the young earthbender for a long time before taking her leave.

The morning after Katara's departure, Lin found herself doing laundry alone while Tenzin helped the children get ready for the day.

She looked up when she sensed three vaguely familiar pairs of footsteps coming her way.

"Lady Beifong, we hope you have had an enjoyable moment so far," the first one spoke.

Lin wrung out the robes she was rinsing and tossed it into a basket destined for the clothes line and turned and stood. "Daiso," she said with a curt bow to the grand lotus.

"Lady Lin. How are you feeling?"

"Bereft, naturally," Lin replied returning to her laundry.

"As are we. With Avatar Aang gone, Tenzin is the last airbender left in the world,"

Lin sighed. "Is that all you care about?"

"The White Lotus's primary concern has and always will be the balance of the world. The world needs the Air Nation as much as it needs the Avatar, and you haven't had a child for two years, since Jinkun was born,"

Lin froze.

"If you don't have an airbending child within the next twelve months, then you must leave. Master Tenzin is getting older and if you cannot bear him the air benders that he needs then we must find someone who can," the White Lotus says.

Lin took a deep breath and sighed. "These things can't be forced. Please, Tenzin and I both just lost his father and his mother just left. We need time to grieve before jumping into anything!"

"The more time there is, the more risk!" Daiso said. "You have twelve months. Good day, Lady Beifong."

Lin threw the wet cape back into the basket and folded her arms over her face and cried.

On the other side of the island, Huifan looked up from their game. "Mama! MAMAAAAAA!"

"What's wrong?" Tenzin asked scooping up Huifan. "Are you okay? I'm here!" Tenzin said pushing the hair out of her eyes.

"I am okay, but Mama is crying I need to go to her! I can make it stop! Let me go!" Huifan yelled kicking and flailing her arms in the air making Tenzin drop her. She ran. Tenzin scooped up Jinkun and Hungjian and followed his only daughter.

"Mama! I feel you crying! What happen? You okay?" Huifan asked peeling her mother's hands from her face.

Lin enveloped the girl and just held her until her heart slowed.

"What happened? Is everything okay?" Tenzin asked.

"I'll talk to you later," Lin replied.

"Okay, now I have to finish the laundry my sweet. Why don't you go play with her father and brothers?"

"I can play later. Can I help you now?" Huifan asked, looking at the still-rather-full basket of dirty laundry.

Lin looked up at Tenzin who shrugged. "How about you hand me the clean laundry and I will hang it while Mama washes the dirty?" Tenzin asked.

"Okay," Huifan shrugged. Hungjian and Jinkun played together with a couple of pebbles while Tenzin, Lin, and Huifan finished the laundry together as a relatively content young family.