-Cover image of the Linzin kids by the marvelous jv2en3. Link: jv23 tumblr com/post/176338782512/heres-my-take-on-leia-rayn-storms-linzin-kids

Chapter 1

It was in the middle of Republic City's worst ever rainstorm when Lin Beifong decided to grace the world with her presence. Her mother, luckily, had agreed to stay on Air Temple Island about a week prior to her child's birth so that, when the time came, Toph could easily reach Katara without taking a boat across the Bay, and wouldn't be forced to – in Toph's own words – "have some strange woman stick her head between my legs." So the process went relatively well. Toph and Katara shut themselves in a previously prepared room, while Aang and Sokka took Kya and Bumi and Tenzin to the sitting room on the other side of the house…which did nothing to drown out the sounds. It seemed Toph was determined to do anything she could to somehow relieve the pains of labor, which included cursing loudly and shaking all of Air Temple Island with her earthbending.

Within only twenty minutes of Toph being in labor, Sokka had created a game. Though Aang had shook his head when Sokka had asked him to play, Kya and Bumi – despite being only eight and four years old – had happily accepted the challenge. So as the storm outside raged on, the three of them playfully argued over whether it was the thunder rattling the roof, or Toph's earthbending.

Until, at long last, the storm outside calmed to a drizzle and a baby's first cries were heard. Leaving the kids with Sokka, Aang went to check that everything was all right, and there he met Toph's newborn, a baby girl named Lin who had a thin tuft of ebony hair and bright green eyes.

A little while later, once the new mother and her newborn had rested, Kya, Bumi, and Tenzin were allowed to meet the new baby, which they had excitedly anticipated all day. Kya had squealed, "She's pretty!"Bumi had added, "She'stiny!"And Tenzin, being only a year old, simply stared at the little baby in awe, and then reached out curiously to touch Lin's cheek before quickly withdrawing his hand.

From that point on, a friendship grew between Lin and Tenzin. For the first few years of their lives, when Toph would need someone to babysit Lin, or when the two Beifongs would simply come to Air Temple Island for a visit, Lin and Tenzin would be together almost the entire time due to their closeness in age. Bumi and Kya were much older and more hyper, and always ran around together, while Lin and Tenzin were content to be entertained by their parents or whatever ridiculous toy they found nearby. Sometimes Lin and Tenzin fought over who got what toy, but usually Tenzin would just hand it over before Lin became too enraged.

However, once they were around seven and eight, they could finally keep up with Kya and Bumi, and their friendship became a bit estranged for about a year. No one was really certain on the reason why. Lin had become distant ever since the year before when her baby sister, Suyin, was born, but Tenzin was one of the few people not fawning over the newborn. Perhaps it was because they had finally gotten sick of each other, or maybe it was because they were both in the middle of learning their own bending techniques and therefore much more competitive. Either way, the strain between them eventually resulted in a broken nose – Lin's – and a broken arm – Tenzin's. After their bones were mended, instead of making up, Tenzin had started spending all his time in Air Temple Island's meditation pavilion, while Lin would run off causing mischief with Bumi, and sometimes Kya – though not as often because at that time Kya had officially moved into the "dating" stage of her life.

For a while Katara was very worried – worried that Tenzin would become a loner, Kya would run around with teenage boys in Republic City, and Lin and Bumi would create enough mischief to destroy all of Air Temple Island. Aang had spoken sincere, reassuring words to his wife in an attempt to convince her otherwise, while Toph had nearly fallen off her chair laughing at the thought of it. When Sokka came to visit, his reaction had been similar to Toph's. Katara was not amused though, and had started up conversations with Tenzin and Lin at separate times in an attempt to put the two young friends back together. Katara had made a bit of an impression on the pair, but both were still too stubborn to talk to one another.

In the end, it was Yakone's trial that finally brought Lin and Tenzin back together. The four older children had heard of the man who was supposedly bloodbending people, and while they were horrified, none of them had admitted it, and so had gone about their day as usual on the afternoon they knew Aang, Toph, and Sokka were in trial with the potentially dangerous man. Lin had been determined not to get too worked up over the situation. After all, her mother risked her life all the time, so she was used to it.

However, everything changed when a severely serious-looking Aang returned to Air Temple Island, with a trembling Sokka trailing behind and an unconscious Toph in the Avatar's arms.

The mini explosives Lin held in her arms tumbled to the ground as her arms came to hang at her sides. She did not notice when the explosives went off at her feet, or when Bumi began hopping around and screeching and trying to drag Lin away from the mild danger. Instead the young girl stared at her mother's limp frame in shock. Never had Lin seen her mother look so frail, so weak, so…vulnerable. Not even after Su was born. At eight years old, Lin was convinced her mother was practically invincible, especially after hearing all the stories from when Toph had helped the Avatar and his friends end the Hundred Year War.

When Lin was capable of movement again, she ran as fast as her now blistered feet would carry her, refusing to allow the tears that were stinging her eyes to fall down her face. She chased after Aang and Sokka's quickly moving forms, following them into Aang and Katara's home. When Lin finally caught up to the adults, she was out of breath. Her chest heaved and her throat was raw as her deprived lungs fought for air, but she ignored it and slipped into the room Aang had taken Toph into.

Sokka was standing in the doorway, leaning heavily against the wall, and noticed Lin's tiny frame streak past him. He reached out and grabbed her sleeve, pulling her back and crouching down to be eye level with her as he said, "Lin, you shouldn't be in here."

Lin looked into Sokka's worry-filled eyes, wondering if she had ever seen that look in his eyes before. She couldn't remember, but it scared her. Sokka was like the father she never had, and he clearly cared for Lin and Toph and Su as if they were his family, so in most cases, Lin was inclined to listen to him. But right now she was determined that no one was going to keep her from her mother. Sokka noticed the fire in her eyes, and with a slight bow of his head, he released her.

Lin quickly spun around and focused her attention on the bed across the room, where her mother now lay, with Katara leaning over her. Katara and Aang were speaking in hushed tones, but Lin heard them just fine.

"What did he doto her?" Katara whispered while moving her hands over Toph's unresponsive frame. "No one else is like this?"

Aang shook his head and replied. "No, everyone else is just shaken up. I don't know what Yakone did to her. He had her unlock his cuffs, and then he knocked everyone unconscious, but when everyone else woke back up, Toph didn't."

Lin could take no more of this. With a barely suppressed sob, she rushed over to the bed and crawled up beside Toph, careful not to jostle her mother. Katara gasped. Lin looked up at the Avatar – another father figure to her – with tear filled eyes and desperately asked, "Will momma be okay? She's gonna be okay, right?" Turning to Katara she added, "You can fix her can't you?"

Aang and Katara exchanged a look, and Aang answered, "Katara's doing her best to help your mother, Lin. You shouldn't be in here, why don't I get you some tea?"

"No!" Lin cried, gripping her mother's limp hand tightly and burying her face in the mattress space between Toph's forearm and ribs.

"She can stay," Katara said quietly, and Lin wondered why they were talking in such hushed voices, but she didn't bother to ask.

"Are you sure?" Aang said skeptically.

"Yes, she won't get in the way, and it'll only upset her more if you move her. Why don't you get Sokka some of that tea? He looks like he needs it."

There was a pause, and then Aang said, "You're right."

Soon Aang and Sokka had gone, and Lin felt suddenly alone. Katara was there, but she was focused on healing Toph, so Lin did not want to distract her. So the small girl lay against her mother's weak form, while the well-practiced waterbender silently worked on the fallen earthbender. Lin squeezed her eyes closed, biting her lip as tears streamed down her cheeks and she sniffled quietly. She was not sure how long she lay there, or how long she was out of it when she somehow managed to fall asleep, and so she was horribly confused when at last she woke up.

She sat bolt upright, casting her gaze quickly around the room as the memories flooded back to her and she realized that Katara was no longer present. Instead, Tenzin was kneeling on the floor, his hands placed atop one another on the bed and his chin resting on his hands. Besides Toph, they were the only two in the room.

Tenzin looked up at Lin with solemn gray eyes, slowly lifting his head and – somehow even more slowly – rose to his feet. "My mom said yours should be okay soon," he told her.

Lin looked down at her mother, whose eyes were clenched shut and whose complexion was a bit too pale, but her chest rose and fell in a normal pattern, assuring Lin that here mother was simply sleeping at the moment.

Tenzin's voice broke through Lin's thoughts. "Lin? Can we be friends again?"

She looked at him for a moment, thinking about what he said, though not for very long. And then she smiled a little and nodded an affirmative.

Tenzin sighed in relief. "Good. I missed you."

Lin then allowed Tenzin to envelope her in a hug, only for them to spring apart when a weak voice spoke up from beside them. "It's about damn time you two kissed and made up."

Tenzin's cheeks turned red, but Lin merely grinned and crawled further up the bed to hover over her mother's face. "Momma!" she said excitedly. "You're awake!"

"Yeah I am," Toph said. "C'mere, kid."

Lin was only too happy to oblige, laying her head gently atop her mother's chest and reveling in the familiar comfort of her mother's arms around her.

"Focus, Tenzin," Aang murmured, his eyes remaining closed to continue his meditation, all while knowing that his youngest son was not meditating.

"Huh? Oh! Sorry…"Tenzin sucked in a breath and then slowly breathed out.

A moment later, though, Aang was still very much aware that Tenzin was not meditating. This was normal for Tenzin's older sister, Kya, who had already chased after Bumi long ago, and often argued that as a waterbender she didn't need to be meditating with a couple of airbenders. Tenzin, on the other hand, was usually rather good at keeping his thoughts on meditation. Today, however, the ten year old's mind was elsewhere, and Aang had a feeling he knew why.

Squinting one eye open, Aang quickly observed his son, who was sitting in the proper meditative stance, but his eyes were not closed and his head was turned slightly to the right, his gaze focused on the Bay.

Aang smirked, opening his eyes fully as he asked, "Something on your mind, Tenzin?"

Tenzin jumped slightly, looking back at his father with a sheepish expression as he replied, "I guess so."

"Would you like to share what's bothering you?" inquired Aang.

Tenzin shook his head. "Nothings bothering me, I'm just…excited, I guess."

"About Lin?"

Tenzin, who had looked back out at the Bay, returned his gaze to his father with an expression of surprise, his cheeks turning pink. "No!" Tenzin said quickly, then he frowned, shaking his head. "I mean…well, yes, I am glad that she and her mother and Su will be here today. It's strange not seeing them for so long."

Aang nodded his agreement, a knowing smile on his face that Tenzin astutely ignored. In truth, Aang was rather excited about the Beifongs' return as well, as they had been gone for nearly a year now. After the disaster of Yakone's trial, Toph had grudgingly admitted to feeling rather weakened, and once everything was squared away and back to normal, she had decided to take a bit of an extended vacation from her sometimes stressful job, leaving her most trusted officer in charge of the Metalbending Police Force while she was away. So Toph and her daughters had set off to Gaoling to visit with Toph's parents, and then moved on from there to get some relaxation away from the bustling streets of Republic City. Aang's family had received a few letters from Lin, discovering that they had stayed a bit longer than planned so that Toph could spend some extra time teaching Lin more about earthbending. Aang could hardly imagine how advanced Lin would be when she returned, considering she was already a nine year old prodigy when it came to earthbending. She wasn't a master yet, of course, but she was a hell of a lot closer than most earthbenders twice her age.

A few days ago Katara had received a letter from Lin and read it aloud to the family at dinner. The letter explained that Lin and Toph had decided it was finally time to return home, and listed the date and estimated time of arrival, as the two of them, along with Su, would be stopping at Air Temple Island to visit their friends for the first time in nearly a year, before they went to their own house in the City. Katara had been cooking all day in preparation, while Kya and Bumi decorated the island in balloons – or rather, went around sneaking up behind people to pop the balloons in their ears and scare them. Despite knowing that Lin, Su, and Toph would likely be arriving within the hour, Aang had decided to get the day's meditation in with Tenzin, but it seemed attempting meditation was futile when Tenzin was too anxious at seeing his best friend.

"We've had enough meditation for today," Aang said, rising to his feet and holding out a hand to Tenzin, who looked up at his father excitedly before taking the proffered hand and jumping to his feet. "How about you be our lookout and let us all know when the Beifongs get here?"

Tenzin smiled and took off, calling over his shoulder, "Thanks, Dad!"

Chuckling and shaking his head, Aang left the meditation pavilion to go find his wife.

Meanwhile, Tenzin positioned himself on one of the higher rock edges of the island, watching Yue Bay anxiously. He had not seen Lin in so long it was almost unsettling. The two of them had grown up together, only a year apart in age, and had become rather close friends. They understood each other better than anyone else, and could spend hours together without running out of things to talk about. They also argued a bit, and Lin never passed up an opportunity to tease Tenzin or kick a rock at him, but he was pretty sure they were best friends now that those few months of estrangement were behind them.

Tenzin didn't have to wait long before he saw the approaching boat that marked the imminent arrival of Toph, Su, and Lin Beifong. Excitedly jumping up into the air with the help of some airbending, he went off to alert the rest of the family before running back out to meet the Beifongs.

Tenzin was the first of his family to arrive at the docks just as the boat came to a stop. Tenzin briefly glanced in the direction of his siblings – who were sprinting in his direction, pushing and shoving one another and cackling wildly – before looking up and meeting Lin's bright green eyes. He grinned up at her and waved. "Hey, Lin!"

Lin smiled and hurried off the boat, and the moment she landed on the dock she jumped straight into Tenzin's arms. He caught her easily, though her tiny frame did manage to make him stumble back slightly. They laughed and embraced, both of them glad to see one another after so long.

Lin pulled back quickly, excitement in her eyes as she said, "Tenzin, watch this!" She held out her open palm, displaying to him what looked to be a normal metal coin. But with an intense look of concentration and a twitch of her fingers, the coin transformed into a triangular shape.

"Wow!" said Tenzin, eyes wide in awe. "You're a metalbender now?"

"She sure is!" Toph answered, stepping up beside her eldest daughter and ruffling the young girl's hair. While normally Lin would cringe at her mother ruffling her hair, today she seemed too excited, and instead smiled up at her mother proudly. Even more surprising, Lin's smile did not waver when she looked over at her baby sister, who was perched in their mother's arms, and whom Lin hadn't had much fondness for ever since she'd been born. It seemed Lin and Toph and Su had bonded while away, and though Tenzin had missed Lin, he supposed the vacation was good for them.

Suyin had gotten bigger since Tenzin had seen her last, but she was still very much a baby. She had turned two years old while the Beifongs had been away, and Tenzin wasn't sure the toddler even recognized him.

"LIN!" two voices shouted then, and Tenzin nearly fell off the dock as Kya and Bumi pushed past him and wrapped Lin in a bone crushing hug.

Toph, who had sidestepped just in time, reached out to grab Tenzin's arm before he fell into the water. He gave her a grateful look and then, remembering she couldn't see it, said, "Thanks, Toph."

"Don't mention it, kid," she said, punching him in the shoulder and nearly sending him flying off the dock yet again. With a bit of airbending he kept himself on the dock this time, and stepped back from Toph, Lin, and his siblings so no one would knock him over for a third time.

Toph carefully stepped around Kya, Bumi, and Lin to go greet Katara and Aang. Tenzin stood back for a few moments and watched his siblings attack Lin before he decided to intervene. With Tenzin and Lin in the middle, Kya beside Lin, and Bumi beside Tenzin, the four children walked, arm in arm, up to the Avatar's family home. Aang, Toph, and Katara trailed along behind the children, Su now bouncing in Katara's arms. All the way back up to the dining room where Katara's feast awaited them all, Lin showed off her new found talents while Toph cheerfully gloated about what a great teacher she was and how her daughter was going to be the next greatest earthbender.

Lin and Tenzin spent nearly the entire evening together, catching up and completely resolving whatever estrangement they had had only a year earlier.

But the defining moment in Lin and Tenzin's friendship did not come until a couple years later.

It was Lin's thirteenth birthday, and Sokka and Toph had set up a small birthday party for her in the backyard of Lin and Toph's home. The three of them, Su, and the Avatar's family, were the only people in attendance, which they knew Lin would prefer. The afternoon went great, and Lin truly seemed to enjoy her day despite a few hiccups. Kya had brought along a new boyfriend, and Lin and Tenzin had delighted in teasing the obviously nervous and uncomfortable young man. Bumi and Suyin had accidentally shot some fireworks into Lin's pile of gifts, but she had simply laughed and punched Bumi in the shoulder, thereby saving the older teen from his mother.

Now six years old, Suyin was getting into just as much mischief as the older kids, if not more so, and the relationship she had with her older sister grew more strained every year. Lin was beginning to mature, while Su was acting out, and since Toph often left them together to spend so much of her time at work, tension was growing between the two sisters. Lin was trying too hard to keep Su in line and the younger girl was resisting. It seemed the only thing keeping them together for the moment was Sokka, who looked out for the girls while their mom was away at work, and remained one of the only people both sisters would listen to. Sokka, who somehow managed to drop Lin's cake halfway through the birthday party, which earned him an earful of scolding from Toph, but Katara had simply offered to make a new one and the night of fun continued.

Things went downhill later that evening. Lin and Tenzin were in the middle of an intense, yet controlled, argument about something that, once he was older, Tenzin wouldn't even be able to remember. All he really remembered about the night was what happened after the shouting started.

It came from inside, and everyone in the backyard went silent and started casting confused gazes around the yard. It was then Tenzin noticed that Toph was the only one missing. Lin seemed to have noticed too, and as soon as she did, she sprinted inside. Concerned, Tenzin hastily followed after her, ignoring his parents when they told him not to.

Tenzin came to an abrupt halt when he reached the sitting room, eyes roving over the scene before him with worry and confusion. A man Tenzin didn't recognize stood just inside the front doorway. He was a scrawny, ill-looking man, but with worn features that hinted at a once handsome face. The man was currently looking at Lin with a pitiful expression on his face as he begged the teen to forgive him. Forgive him for what?Tenzin wondered.

Toph was standing a few feet from this mysterious man, her fists clenched and a furious expression on her face that Tenzin wasn't sure he'd ever seen before, only heard about. And then there was Lin, who stood in the middle of the room, staring at the man begging for her forgiveness with a completely unreadable expression on her face. Her eyes, though, gave her away completely. She was hurt, and scared, and angry, and the way she dug her toe into the floor beneath her showed that she was uncomfortable.

Tenzin yearned to ask what was going on, but he was much too afraid of what would happen should the occupants of the room become aware of his presence.

"I told you to leave," Toph hissed at the man.

The man looked back at Toph with a venomous glare as he responded, "She's mydaughter, and if I want to see her on her birthday I should be allowed to see her!"

Tenzin nearly gasped. Was this Lin's father? Tenzin had never heard anything about him, and he hadn't asked. Yet as he looked the man over once more, Tenzin noticed that he did indeed show some similarities to Lin. While Lin's chin, nose and eyes were purely received from her mother, her high cheekbones had undoubtedly come from this man.

"Then why the hell weren't you here for all her other birthdays?" Toph demanded. "You have absolutely no right to see her whatsoever. Nor do you have any right to be in my house right now. So leave, before I lock you up in jail again."

Seemingly regarding Toph as a lost cause, the man who was presumably Lin's father turned to the young girl and said, in a much nicer voice, "Lin, you know I love you, right? I've just been…out of sorts…confused. But I want to make up for it, I want for you and I to be close again, don't you want that, Lin? I'm your father, please, just give me another chance. Your mother has no say in this, you can decide all on your own!"

"The hell I don't!" Toph shouted, stomping her foot on the floor so that rock shot up from the ground and knocked over a side table. "This is myhouse and she is mydaughter, not yours. You gave up the right of fatherhood when you left us before she was even born, and you stomped on any other chance you had left by continuously manipulating her into thinking you were going to come back and take care of her!"

"I'm not leaving," the man said stubbornly, and Tenzin considered intervening, but he knew it was not his place. "Not until Lin tells me to."

Lin, who had remained unusually quiet throughout all of this, stepped forward and, in a low voice, said, "I want you to leave."

Lin's father looked at her in shock. "Wh-what? You don't mean that, Lin. I know you don't."

"Please," Lin said, and she sounded as if she was begging him. "Just go. Leave me and my mother alone."

"You're the one that manipulated her!" the deranged man said to Toph while pointing at Lin.

"I haven't been manipulated by anybody!" Lin shouted back, stepping closer to her father and pushing him backwards so that he stumbled out of the door. "Just go! Leave like you always do! I don't want you here anymore!"

Lin's father was furious now, and he stomped forward, reaching out in what seemed to be an attempt to grab Lin's arm. Tenzin went to take a step forward, but the man's hand never reached his daughter's, because Toph slid her foot across the ground and a rock wall came up to intercept the outstretched arm.

"Don't you dare touch her!" Toph seethed, sliding her foot back around in front of her so that the rock wall flew forward with the intention of hitting Lin's father.

But the man formed a fist with his hand and obliterated the oncoming rock wall with an ease that only an earthbender could possess. Tenzin became even more worried about the situation as Lin's father lowered himself into a defensive stance, and Toph went to stand protectively in front of Lin. Tenzin moved to take a step forward, intending to stand beside Lin just in case, but he stopped when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Looking back, Tenzin saw his father shaking his head at him, a grave expression on his face. Further back the hall, Katara was holding back a frightened Su, while she and Kya were doing their best to placate Sokka and Bumi and keep the two men away from the conflict. Despite the fact that Bumi was the most carefree and less serious person of the family, he was fiercely protective of his family and friends.

Tenzin returned his attention to the scene in the sitting room, which had not changed in those few short seconds that he had averted his gaze.

"Leave," Toph said calmly, but with an underlying threat in her voice that warned Lin's father against any sort of defiance.

Lin's father continued to glare at Toph for a few moments, and then he glanced back to where Aang and Tenzin stood. The man did not seem afraid of the Avatar, but instead, smirked at the two airbenders and looked away from them, his eyes falling on Lin this time as he said, "If you ever decide you want to see me, Lin, you know where to find me."

And before anyone could say anything else, Lin's father was gone.

There was a moment of tense silence.

And then Toph whirled on her daughter. "How do you know where to find him?"

"Does it matter?" Lin retorted, her saddened expression turning to anger in a heartbeat. "It's not like I'm going to go see him."

"Have you gone before?" Toph questioned.

"No," said Lin, but Tenzin knew she was lying, and so did Toph.

"Don't lie to me, Lin," Toph said, her hands coming to rest on her hips.

"Then don't get angry at me for something I did two years ago!"

"How can I not be angry that my eleven year old child was apparently running off to who knows where without me knowing? Do you even realize what could have happened to you? Do you knowthe kind of people he hangs around with? You could have been killed!"

"I was well aware of the risks, Mother. Besides, I only went twice." Lin folded her arms across her chest with an air of finality, as if this made it all better.

Toph scoffed. "Oh, just twice? Is that all? I guess I shouldn't have been worried at all!"

"No, you shouldn't have," said Lin hotly, completely disregarding her mother's sarcastic tone. "I can take care of myself."

"And where was your sister during all this?" Toph demanded. "Did you drag her along with you?"

"Of course not," Lin said derisively. "She's the reason he doesn't come around anymore!"

Toph opened her mouth to retort, but Lin had already turned and stomped out the front door.

Toph went to follow, but Aang stepped forward and placed a hand on Toph's shoulder. "Just give her some time," he said. "She'll be back."

"It's the middle of the night!" Toph exclaimed.

Whatever was said afterward, Tenzin did not hear, because he rushed outside to follow Lin. At first he stayed a few feet behind her, keeping a distance while knowing that she was completely aware of his presence. He did not tell her to come back to the house, or ask if she was all right, because he knew she just wanted to be alone at the moment, that when she was ready she would talk to him. He was worried about her, but he kept those thoughts inside of him because his concern wasn't what she needed right now. They walked along in silence for several blocks. The sidewalk cracked under Lin's feet, and her shoulders trembled slightly from both anger and the cool night air. Tenzin watched the surrounding area for any sort of threats, while also keeping an eye on Lin. And as they walked he edged closer to her, so that eventually he was walking beside her. He glanced over at her, and he had to look down slightly to really see her face – he had sprouted upwards when he hit his teen years, so that now he was a tall, lanky teenager rather than the short skinny kid he had once been; Lin wasn't much shorter than him though, and for a while, before Tenzin grew so much, the two of them had been competing over who was actually the tallest.

At the moment, Lin's lips were pursed and her eyes narrowed, her fists clenching and unclenching. To most she would simply look angry, but Tenzin knew better. She was very upset, and trying very hard not to let it overwhelm her. Tenzin could not stand the silence much longer, knowing that she was hurting and he wasn't doing anything. And so, even though he knew it might earn him a rock to the face, he reached out and grabbed Lin's hand, intertwining his fingers with hers and giving her hand a quick, reassuring squeeze. He felt her tense, and her hand twitched, as if she was about to pull away, and Tenzin braced himself. But she continued to walk, and she didn't comment on it or pull away from him, or even give him a dirty look. And after a few tense seconds, her fingers curled around his and she squeezed his hand back, as if in thanks. Tenzin allowed his lips to curl up in a small smile and glanced down at the girl beside him again, but she was still focused on what was ahead of her.

Eventually they came to a halt, and Tenzin realized they had arrived at the coast of Yue Bay. Here Tenzin could see the lights from Air Temple Island twinkling in the distance. The water was calm, but intimidatingly dark. Tenzin turned to Lin, who was finally looking at him, the lights from the city illuminating her face, which showed that her angry expression had finally relented and turned to sadness.

Neither of them said anything for a few more moments, though their hands did stay clasped together.

Tenzin was the one to finally break the silence, asking her the obvious. "So…that was your father?"

Lin smirked and rolled her eyes, dropping her gaze to her bare feet. "Biologically," she responded in a strangely thick voice, "yes, he is my father."

She looked back up at Tenzin, who said, "You never told me about him…I didn't even know he was around."

Lin shrugged. "He hardly ever was. He only came around when he needed something. When I was younger he'd come in with some new toys for me to play with and then a week later he'd be asking my mom for money or to get out of trouble with the police. Usually she would refuse, but he always asked when I was around and…well, I was young and stupid and I thought he loved me, and I wanted him to be happy, so I'd beg my mother to help him. I never told you or anyone about him because I was…confused, and embarrassed. My dad didn't live with me like everyone else's did, and he didn't come to all my birthdays or tuck me in at night. He didn't love my mother like fathers do, and I never actually knew if he would ever even come see me again.

"He was nice enough, I guess – to me at least. When he actually was around, he'd always tell me how strong and smart I was, and how great of an earthbender I'd be, and he'd read me stories, which was something my mom couldn't do. He made me…selfish, I think, because I could show him the pictures I drew and he'd say how proud he was, and I knew that he could see what it was. My mom would always tell me she didn't have to see the picture to know it was the best picture ever, but I guess getting the compliment from someone who could actually see made me feel a bit better. Unfortunately, I think my mother always knew that, which was why she let my dad stick around, so that I could make my own opinion of him and at least get some praise from a parent who could see."

Lin sighed, hanging her head in shame. "But then a few years ago he just got worse. He was angry about Su, and his drug problem was only getting worse. He stopped complimenting me. Started insulting my mother any chance he got and saying cruel things about Su. He got good at insulting me too. He'd always wait until my mother was too far away to hear, and then he'd start telling me I wasn't going to amount to anything if I kept following her around. He'd tell me most of her old war stories were lies, and that hewas the only reason I was alive, because she hadn't wanted me. I knew he was lying of course. I knew my mother loved me, but it was still painful to hear.

"He used to be handsome too, but he started getting uglier. The drugs made him angrier and annoying. He'd blame all his problems on me and my mom, and I just kept trying to help him. I'd act extra nice so maybe he'd see that somebody cared about him. And then one day, about a year and a half ago, my mom had to run to the station and she left me and Su with him. She couldn't see the crazy look in his eyes, so she thought it'd be okay, and usually it was, but…" Lin looked away for a moment, rubbing her forehead and grimacing at the memories. "Something in him just…snapped. He started yelling and screaming – terrible things – and earthbending in the house. He was destroying my home and there was nothing I could do to stop him. It's not like I'm a master earthbender yet, and he didn't have any defined stance or attack, he was just…going insane. I had to protect Su…we ran down the street, with him chasing after us. He almost hit us with his crazy earthbending quite a few times, but we managed to make it to the police station. My mom had already rushed outside when she heard the commotion and recognized us as being a part of it. She arrested my father, but he promised he'd get off the drugs, so the council let him go a few weeks later. He was smart enough not to come around though, and other than tonight, I haven't seen him since then."

Tenzin had been shocked into silence, and could think of nothing to say. Lin was staring out at the Bay, and when he heard her suck in a shuddering breath, he was sure he saw a tear slip from her eye. Deciding that actions spoke louder than words, Tenzin pulled Lin to him, enveloping her in a tight hug that she fiercely returned. The two of them had hugged before, but not like this. This wasn't the innocent, excited greeting of two young children who had been apart for a while. This was a hug full of meaning. It was a sign of their long friendship that they did not need to speak what was on their minds to know what the other was thinking. From this hug, Lin was assured that Tenzin would protect her and care about her, and Tenzin knew that she, in turn, would be grateful for his efforts and make sure to reciprocate the gesture if ever it should be needed. They were in deep now, because no matter what happened between them, they wouldn't ever forget this moment, this friendship.

And as the wind whipped Lin's hair around the two teens' faces, Tenzin whispered, "I'm so sorry, Lin…I'm so sorry that your father couldn't see what an amazing person you are."

Lin did not respond, but hugged him tighter, and after a few more moments of silence between them, she said, "Thank you, Tenzin, thank you for following me."

"If you need me, I'll always follow you."