Before I came up with this idea, I'd never even thought of how to write Bolin in fanfiction. His personality is completely different from the style I'm comfortable with. But there's a first time for everything, I suppose. And this idea really appealed to me.

The knock at the door was tentative and Lin knew it couldn't be one of her officers (unless they had some really bad news to give her) so she slid the metal panel on the bottom of her foot back, giving her seismic sense a chance to see who was outside her office and whether she should tell them to go away. In times gone by, she might have snapped at them and told them that if they had anything worth her time they'd have knocked like they really meant it, but between her renewed friendship with both Tenzin and Suyin, she was less abrasive and less likely to send a young cadet away from her office in tears.

It was the earthbending boy, she was almost certain. The one who could lavabend, something she was not so much envious as curious about. Bolin, she thought his name was. Petty thief on the streets turned pro-bender turned member of Team Avatar. Lin remembered being annoyed by him on several occasions; he had a knack, she recalled, of saying things whenever he could even if the situation really didn't call for them. At first she was immediately tempted to say that she was busy, but then she remembered that he was good-as-dating Opal, and decided that she should be merciful just this once. If Opal liked him then he couldn't be that bad – she trusted Opal's judgement. So she counted to ten, firmly swallowed any sign of abrasiveness about her person and before he could knock again, she called 'come in, Bolin' in a voice she specially softened to be slightly kinder to the ears than granite.

The boy opened the door in the typically nervous way in which he knocked and already she resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Don't make him even more nervous, Lin, she chastised herself mentally.

'Um… hi?' Bolin said. 'Beifong… uh, I mean, chief?'

'Is this a professional matter?' She asked him in a brisk and slightly unwelcoming tone and groaned inwardly at her quick lapse back to Chief mode. 'I mean, have you come here to address me as Lin Beifong or the Chief of Police?'

'Lin Beifong, I guess.' By now he had wormed his way round the door and was standing awkwardly in front of it.

'Shut the door.' Lin said, and then as an afterthought, 'Please.'

He quickly shut the door and she invited him to sit in the only chair in the office besides the one at her desk. His mouth was clamped shut and evidently he was not going to start talking, so Lin lent him a hand.

'If you came to see me as Lin instead of as Chief, then what do you want to talk to me about?' She said in her straight-to-the point manner. He cringed backwards slightly as though she'd hurt him. 'I really don't bite, you know, whatever the receptionist may have told you.' She said and sighed. The sigh was barely perceptible but unfortunately he noticed and apologised instantly.

This is going to take patience, Lin. He's sensitive, like Opal. How did you approach Opal?

Opal. She knew how to handle him.

'Congratulations on becoming such good friends with Opal.' She said, and her tone of voice automatically softened further, the corners of her lips hinting at a smile, when she mentioned her niece. Bolin immediately lightened up.

'Thanks!' he said enthusiastically. 'She's so great, and we like the same food, and we're both bad at talking on the phone, and did you know she's coming to Republic City in a few weeks' time as soon as Suyin can make it back and they're planning to stay a few months and-'

'You would be referring to my sister.' Lin said. 'I do communicate with her, you know.'

Suyin had left to go back to Zaofu shortly after Jinora received her airbending tattoos but was planning to return very soon and stay for an extended period of time leaving Captain Kuvira temporarily in charge. Lin had been taken aback by just how much her sister wanted to spend time with her. It was quite touching, actually…

She was drawn back to earth by the feel of Bolin's heartbeat racing through the roof. Before he could apologise for no reason whatsoever apart from being slightly carried away by his ranting, she pointedly interrupted with a 'So. Why have you decided to come calling at my office? Is it about your brother?'

'If it's about Mako,' she said, 'I've tried as much as I can to get him to go back to the Island before the last ferry leaves, but he just keeps-'

'It's not Mako.' Bolin said quickly and then looked bashful for interrupting. Lin quirks an eyebrow at him as a motion for him to continue. 'It's actually about me. I… oh no, that sounded selfish, didn't it? I didn't mean it like that, you see I have this habit of saying the wrong kind of thing and-'

Lin bit back an 'I've noticed' with great difficulty. 'Don't be silly, it doesn't sound selfish. Where did you get that idea from?'

He muttered something about how stupid he was with words.

'You're very self-conscious for a pro-bender and a mover star.'

He contemplated whether this was an insult for a moment, and then decided it wasn't.

'Yeah,' he said, jabbing a thumb to his chest. 'That's me.'

There was a silence. As though he wanted to prolong the delay between now and the time when he said what he came here to say. He liked life, after all.

'Come on, boy.' Lin said finally. 'Out with it.'

'It's just… Mako's spending all his time here and when he does get home he's really tired and grumpy and Jinora is always hanging out with Kai and Ikki and Meelo are always training with each other. Korra and Asami are always locked away in Korra's room 'talking' or whichever excuse they give to get rid of me and my pro-bending career and my career as a mover star have gone down the drain and I've got nothing to do until Opal arrives so…' he paused to draw a deep breath. Spirits, why had he ever agreed to do this?

'I want to offer you a deal.' This came out as a squeak. It seemed impossible, but Lin somehow raised her eyebrow even further and her expression briefly flittered from disdain to disbelief and back to the normal impassive mask. She had to admire this boy. He certainly had guts.

'A deal?'

'Yes.' He whispered. 'You know how I learned lavabending?'

'Mhm.' Lin nodded. She was impressed by how the boy taught himself, but she didn't show it. Bolin realised that while most other people gasped or squealed or at least grinned and admired his new talent, nothing seemed to impress Lin Beifong.

'Well…' he continued. 'Since I don't have a career anymore and Mako's supporting us both which I don't like, I thought that maybe I could join the Metalbending Police Force? As a cop?'

'You can't metalbend.' Lin answered, stating the obvious.

'I can lavabend.' Bolin said, slightly defiantly.

'Listen, Bolin.' Lin said, remembering the way she had talked to Opal about doing what she wanted and not necessarily what her parents wanted, about going to the Northern Air Temple even though Suyin didn't want her to. She tried to adopt the same tone of voice with Bolin now. Not patronising, just explaining.

'Bolin, do you know why the Metalbending Police Force as the primary way of catching criminals around the city?'

Bolin shrugged. ''Cause your mother invented it?' he guessed.

'Then why not an earthbending Police Force?' She paused. 'Did Korra ever tell you about how she got arrested on her first day in Republic City?'

'She's mentioned it.'

'Korra got arrested for being a vigilante. She stopped several members of the Triple Threat Triad from burning down a man's store but in the process, she destroyed several stores herself with bending. She also messed up one of the primary travelling roads in the city. The reason why we have a Metalbending Police Force is because it's a lot harder to… well, to destroy the city, I suppose… with these metal cables-' she allowed a few centimetres of cable to slither onto her desk for Bolin to see, '-than it is to destroy the city with earthbending or firebending or waterbending. These cables are the most efficient way of apprehending criminals without messing up peoples' property. The Metalbending Police Force isn't a force of the best earthbenders. It's not a Dai Li where you have to take numerous physical and mental tests. Your lavabending is a great skill, believe me.' She smiled and Bolin felt a glow of pride in him. 'But it would cause even more damage to the city than earthbending.'

Bolin's hope was crushed under a very grey metal steamroller. His face showed it, too, and Lin was surprised to find herself feeling sorry for him. The kid had great potential and lavabending was an almost unique gift, but to be on the Metalbending Police force you had to be able to metalbend, simple as. An idea invaded her mind, disintegrating the wall of cold steel she put up to protect herself. Damn you, Lin. You're too nice for your own good. The idea wouldn't go away. In a last ditch effort, she suggested something else.

'You could always go to the Metalbending Academy.'

She knew his answer before he said it. 'We don't have the money, Mako and I. Besides, if I couldn't learn from listening to your sister and Korra I don't think I'd be able to learn in a class of thirty. Thanks for your time, but I get it. I was being stupid.' He made a motion as though to leave.

'No, wait.' She said quickly, then cursed herself. The idea was growing and she just couldn't shake it off.

Bolin watched the Chief. Her forehead was knitted in a scowl of thought and she was repeatedly running her hand through her grey hair, turning it into a haywire mess. In another situation where he wasn't so nervous, he might have laughed at how the normally organised-to-a-fault woman before him looked like she'd just come in from a ferocious gale. Eventually, she looked back at him with a resigned expression on her face.

'No Metalbending, no Metalbending Police Force, but if you're that desperate I'd be willing to teach you myself. I can't say I'm a good teacher and I know what Suyin said about me but her 'you have great potential' approach doesn't work with everyone.'

He gawped at her, open-mouthed, as the offer sank in. Be taught metalbending by Lin Beifong, one of the greatest earthbenders in the world? Suyin was very encouraging and all, but what she had said about believing in yourself hadn't really helped in the way of metalbending for him. Su had said that Lin would be a horrible teacher and he was sure that there would be a lot of pain if he agreed, but Su had also said the last time they spoke that Lin was the best metalbender since her mother or perhaps even better. He had watched her in awe before, how the metal flowed through her fingers like a living thing. He'd never have dreamed of being bold enough to ask her, though. And here the offer was on a silver platter. There was no real choice.

'Awesome! Oh, thank you, thank you!' He cried, and made as though to hug her. Lin sprang back quicker than lightning, an almost comical expression of terror on her face. Oh yeah. He forgot. This was Lin Beifong, not Korra.

'Sorry.'

Lin shook her head, but prowled back to her desk like an animal wary of further attack.

'You become my student on one condition, though.' She said. 'You don't quit. Even when Opal comes and you would much rather be spending the afternoon with her than with a short-tempered sabre-toothed moose-lion like me, you still come. Even if I make you cry, and I probably will, you come. Even if you think you're rubbish, you come.'

'Deal.' Bolin said, all seriousness, and wondering what she would do to make him cry. Trap him between two sheets of metal and crush him until he bent his way out? He could imagine the pain now. It would be worth it if he could learn metalbending.

'Thanks… Lin.' He said. 'I can call you Lin, right?'

'It's Sifu Lin when I start teaching you.' Lin corrected him as he stood up to leave. 'And Bolin…'

He paused at the door, all his nervousness gone, with a smile bigger than any he'd smiled since he last saw Opal. 'Yes, Sifu?'

'Don't tell any of the officers. If you tell Mako, swear him to secrecy or threaten him or something. Don't let them know I'm giving you private training.' Lin wasn't asking, she was commanding. Bolin nodded, still grinning wildly, and slipped out of the room. There was a brief moment of silence in the office that could be mistaken for an interrogation room if not for the paperwork on the desk, and then Lin smiled and shook her head, wondering what Suyin would say when she heard. Then her mountain of paperwork nosed itself into her consciousness again and she continued to work.