"And that's why I'm not allowed in Fire Fountain City again!"

Lin laughed despite the sheer absurdity of Bumi's tale. Maybe it was the sake—or the company, but it felt good for her sides to ache from laughing for a change.

"I recall you telling a similar story about a woman from Kyoshi Island," Kya teased.

Bumi had the gall to look insulted. "And that was also a true story."

Lin stepped over Kya's legs and slapped Bumi on the shoulder on the way to the kitchen.

"I'm getting another one, but you are cut off."

"True story," Bumi promised. "I swear. Both of them."

"Sure," Lin called over her shoulder.

"You going to tell our baby brother about the two of you?"

Kya laughed and gestured to the room around her—she'd moved in with Lin months ago—"I think he knows."

"That's not what I mean and you know it."

His tone caught Kya of guard; one quick look at his face and she was sure. Bumi was rarely serious, but he was now.

Kya sighed and swept the hair away from her forehead. "What am I supposed to say, Bumi? 'I'm glad you're okay that we're together now, Tenzin. But, by the way, I got there first'?"

"Kya!"

Lin stood in the middle of the room, a bottle of sake forgotten in either hand.

She'd pay for the "there" comment later, Kya thought.

"Sorry."

Lin's wide-eyed shock turned to a furious glare as she focused on the newly-minted air bender. Her fingers around the necks of the bottles tightened unconsciously.

"Why do you even know?"

And she'd definitely pay for that. Kya shook her head and mouthed "no"—both of which her grinning brother chose to ignore.

"She gets Lin Bei Fong, Little Miss-In-Control, to break a wall"—his eyebrow raised suggestively—"and you think she didn't brag?"

For a moment Lin looked like she had been punched in the stomach.

Bumi took the opportunity to rescue the bottles from Lin's grasp, as her focus rounded on Kya.

"You told him about that?"

She'd be lucky if she didn't end up buried neck-deep in the floor—as it was, she shrank back into the couch.

"Jeez, Lin," Bumi chuckled. "I haven't seen you turn this red since you were a kid."

Lin looked from Bumi to Kya again then slumped down on the couch without another word, burying her flushed face in her hands.

"You're such an ass," Kya said—which only made her brother laugh harder—and she felt like one. She moved next to Lin and braved a hand on the earth bender's shoulder, to be met with a sharp shrug.

"I promise he's the only person I've ever told," she said softly, leaning closer. "And obviously I should not have," she added loud enough to guarantee Bumi didn't miss it. "But if I were going to brag about something—which I wasn't-" She tucked a strand of Lin's hair behind her ear, whispered, "that moment's the one."

And it honestly hadn't been bragging or boasting or anything close all those years ago that she'd told Bumi. More like a desperate need to just have someone else know—after some formal affair that had brought them all together again, the Avatar and his family, after one too many off-hand remarks from people she couldn't even name about the future of the air-bending nation, all directed at Tenzin, at Lin. Her big brother hadn't been hard to convince to sneak off to a bar a few blocks away.

An ass he might be sometimes, but he did understand better than anyone else what it was like to be eclipsed by the golden boy who was their baby brother.

The longer Lin was quiet the more worried Kya became. No one could hold a grudge or sulk as well as Lin could.

"I was 15," Lin finally mumbled into her hands. "And seduced by an older woman."

Kya let out a relieved breath and heard Bumi snort across the room.

"A much older woman," Lin added, staring past her hands pointedly at Kya.

Kya dug her fingers into the back of Lin's hair. She was getting off lightly and she knew it.

Lin waved her hand away.

"And it was just a little crack in the wall," she said, measuring out the space between her thumb and index finger.

Beside her Kya opened her hands to a much larger size, at least two feet wide.

Lin looked scandalized. "You're lying!"

"Not according to what I heard," Bumi added sagely.

Kya pinched her fingers into Lin's hip to make sure she knew she was teasing before saying, "I feared for my life."

Lin crossed her arms over her chest and huffed, "Neither of you are funny."

"Well, he's never invited over for drinks again."

The corner of Lin's mouth quirked but her chin remained propped on her palm, elbow propped on the arm of the couch.

Kya dropped to the empty end of the sofa and stretched her legs towards Lin.

"We do have to talk to Tenzin," Lin said.

She poked her toes into Lin's thigh.

"Don't you think he's happier not knowing?"

Green eyes narrowed in her direction.

"Kya."

It was worth a shot. She leaned her head over the arm of the couch to stare at the ceiling. "I know."