At the Sign of the Jasmine Dragon
By monkeymouse
(This scene happens six years after the death of Avatar Aang, and twelve years before Book One of The Legend of Korra)
When he told her to meet him at the Jasmine Dragon, most people in Republic City would have thought it was a joke. Originally, there was only one Jasmine Dragon, and it was in Ba Sing Se. It had been started by Fire Lord Zuko's Uncle Iroh, as a way of doing good to the refugees displaced by the war. Once Zuko ascended the throne, Iroh started another Jasmine Dragon teahouse in Republic City. When he passed away, Zuko wanted to try to keep it going for his uncle's memory, but his duties were too demanding. He ended up selling the shop, and the name, to Gan Lan of Cabbage Corp.
Gan Lan was an aggressive and visionary businessman, and within a decade had turned the teahouse into a franchise; there seemed to be a Jasmine Dragon on every other streetcorner in Republic City. Gan Lan also came up with the mascot, a cartoon dragon named Jazzy. Iroh's friends and family may have thought such crass commercialism was not what Iroh had in mind, but Iroh was gone and the Jasmine Dragon teahouses were popular, comfortable, and served the best tea on the continent.
Tenzin was sitting in the very back of "their" shop, nursing a cup and waiting. He had asked her to meet at two o'clock, and now it was just a bit after half past three. He wasn't surprised. He expected something like this. Either she would show up or she wouldn't. Tenzin took another sip. Being the last Airbender on earth—at least, the last until the child Korra came into her own as the next Avatar—he had learned to live a life of patience.
The bell on the shop door jangled and metallic steps clanked across the teahouse floor. She was finally here.
Lin Bei Fong, daughter of the Chief of Police of Republic City and herself a rising star on the force, landed heavily into the chair across from Tenzin. Her face was as yet unscarred by combat; her hair was raven black and not yet slate gray. He was always a bit surprised that she controlled the force of her movements; he expected her to demolish furniture on a regular basis.
"It's been a long time, Lin," Tenzin smiled.
"How long? Gods, I haven't seen you in about a year!"
"Haven't been in the city much. I had to go to the Northern Water Tribe to look in on Korra."
"The next Avatar? I thought you had the White Lotus taking care of that. And you can't have been there a year."
"They can't take care of everything. I was able to get away and spend a week there."
"So, how's she doing?"
"She was born a Waterbender, of course, and has pretty much mastered Earthbending. Fire is next."
"I'd heard she already knew it."
"Oh, she knows it, but not well enough to be a Firebender. Right now she's more like an untamed dragon. These things take time."
"That's your specialty, isn't it?" Lin made the simple question sound like an accusation. Tenzin looked down at his cup. Lin didn't miss the gesture, and took a sip from her water glass. Lin went on: "That was one week; how about the rest of the year?"
"The bison. You know about that."
Everyone in Republic City knew about the sky bison. Ten years before, when Avatar Aang was still alive, he started exploring some very esoteric magical spells. His goal was simple but also complicated. Aang had grown up with Appa, a sky bison he had come to know and love at the Southern Air Temple. Aang had married the talented and lovely Katara, who gave him three children. Of those three, only Tenzin was a Bender; an Airbender, in fact.
Knowing this, Aang focused his remaining energies over the years on making sure that, somehow, Appa also had offspring. He could not imagine his son Tenzin growing up as a proper Airbender without the loving companionship of a sky bison. As Aang grew older, he felt that he had let down Tenzin, depriving him of the one gift that really mattered to an Airbender.
Lin intetrrupted Tenzin's thoughts. "You don't think he was just indulging you?"
Tenzin seldom lost his temper, but that didn't mean he couldn't be pushed to it. "Come on, Lin; how could he indulge me in something I never wanted?"
"So it was all his idea?"
"It" was Aang's strange quest: to find a way that the only sky bison left on the planet could reproduce. Toward that end, Appa was taken to doctors, scholars, zookeepers—anyone who knew anything about animals. Most of them had never seen a sky bison, but they studied as much as they could and made some rather outlandish suggestions.
Finally, it came down to Aang himself. Years before, he had found a way to enter the spirit world; this time, however, he opened the gate and sent Appa through alone. Appa was gone for more than thirty days; when he finally returned to the world of the living, he had lost a lot of weight and was exhausted. He was also accompanied by four young sky bison. Nobody could explain it.
They were all somewhat sickly, and were relocated as soon as possible to the Western Air Temple. Aang and Katara spent years there tending to the sky bison, one of whom died early on. This also coincided with Aang's last illness; after he was gone, Katara felt that she had to stay with the bison to make sure they thrived. Finally, about a year ago, she summoned Tenzin to the Air Temple so that he could take a sky bison back to Republic City.
"So, what'll you call it?"
"I tried out some names on the one I really wanted, but it didn't react to any of them. At last I was down to making random noises, and it still didn't react to anything. Finally I said 'oogi', and it seemed to recognize me."
"Excuse me for saying it, but that all sounds pretty half-assed to me."
Tenzin was seething now and trying not to show it. "Excuse me for not getting your approval in advance. It's not as if the air temple ruins left sky bison manuals behind!"
"So why are you taking it out on me?!"
"Because!" Tenzin quickly checked himself and dropped his voice. "Because we've been friends for years, Lin. You know my situation."
Lin drained the cup of tea in front of her in one gulp. She then poured herself another cup and drained it as well. Then she spoke: "I know. And I'm sorry. It's just that, well, you had more to do with your father than I ever had with mine. Guess I still have a problem with that."
"The way you two were when you were growing up, someone might think Aang was your father too."
"I'll take that as a compliment." Lin smiled and reached to touch Tenzin's hand. He wasn't about to pull away from her grasp, but he wasn't about to let go, either. After a minute, Lin looked at Tenzin, who was looking down at the table. "Were you just off airbending someplace?"
Tenzin tightened his hold on Lin's hand, as if she might disappear when he said what he'd asked her here to tell her. "Lin, do you know what you want out of life?"
"I know I have most of it right now: metalbending with the police, keeping Republic City safe from the triads."
"I know. But, what about, well, beyond that?"
The temperature in the room seemed to drop. "This is about what you want, isn't it, Tenzin?"
"You make it sound selfish."
"How can I make it anything? I don't even know where you're going with this!"
She probably didn't know, Tenzin thought; if she did, this would all be a lot easier. "Have you ever thought about what would have happened if your mother hadn't had you?"
"Happened to me or to metalbending?"
"They're kind of the same, I guess."
"My mom would have found some earthbenders to train, which is what she did."
"Lin, I don't have that kind of luck. When Aang and Katara were doing their globetrotting together, my father chased down every rumor of anyone who might possibly be an airbender. He didn't find one. They had three kids, and I'm still the only airbender after Aang. Now that he's gone, I'm the last airbender in the world."
Lin kept listening to Tenzin, although she could tell already that she didn't like where this was going.
"He even started a school for airbending, just in case others came along from somewhere. But so far, I'm it."
"Tenzin…"
"Just give me one more minute. I've been stuck with this, this legacy I have to fulfill. I either spend my time chasing around the world, in what I know will be a pointless search for other airbenders, or face the fact that there won't be any airbenders unless they're mine. Unless they're my children."
Finally; there it was, out on the table.
"So you're talking about marriage?"
"Aang was able to bring some sky bison back from the Spirit World, but I'm not the Avatar and that's not the way it works for airbenders. So, yes, this is about marriage."
"Why?"
"Why what?"
"You're not as old as you act, Tenzin. Just go out and sow some wild rice…"
"And then what?" He pounded the table; a rare display of emotion that scared Lin. "Trust the White Lotus to knock on doors a year from now to see if any of the girls have given birth to an air bastard? How am I supposed to feel about that?"
"Not this upset."
"Not all of us want to repeat your…"
Lin interrupted; "DON'T you DARE drag my MOTHER into THIS!"
Tenzin downed a cup of tea in a gulp, and tried to control his breathing. Finally, he spoke. "Lin, I am who I am. This won't work for me unless I get married."
"When we were kids, we thought we'd marry each other," she smiled.
He smiled too. "It was a nice dream. But a dream is all it is. I couldn't ask you to quit the police force and be a wife and mother. I know you'd hate that too much."
Lin started to say something, then stopped, then sighed. "You know me that well, anyway, old friend. I can't imagine myself home all day taking care of little kids. I don't know how my mom did it with me."
"She did it very well," Tenzin said, placing his hand on hers. "I just hope I can find a wife who would also be as good a friend as you've been."
"I'm not worried; you already have."
"Already have what?"
"No games, Tenzin. You wouldn't have asked me here if you hadn't already made the decision. You've been working up the nerve to tell me."
"You are good."
"Haven't I told you that all along? Now: who is she?"
He waited a minute. He was no longer in a rush to tell any of this to Lin. "Her name is Pema. She's from the Earth Nation, but she's not a bender. She left Ba Sing Se University and came to the Air Temple to take some courses in bending. She couldn't do it, of course, but she's interested in the nomads and the bison and the temple…"
"And you?"
Tenzin actually blushed. "I like to think so, yes."
"So, you're not even going to ask me?"
"I think I already have. And I think you already gave your answer."
Coins clattered on the counter by the door; one of the other customers coughed. The tea shop had gone very quiet.
"Tenzin? You're not going to come out and ask, are you?"
He shook his head. "Would you say yes if I did?"
"Not a chance."
Tenzin stood up. "Good, because it would hurt too much to hear you say no."
Lin took Tenzin's hand and held it tight. In a voice that barely carried past them she said, "I have always been amazed by your hands. So soft, so gentle. Not an earthbender's hands at all."
"Lin, if you keep me here one minute longer…"
"Fine. Go. I'll see you around, old friend."
Tenzin slipped his fingers out of her grip, gentle but tenacious, and headed for the door.
Lin cursed herself as she watched him leave. I knew it would be like this; I knew what we'd both say. So why…
She rose, went out of the shop, and took a quick look up and down the streets. He was gone already.
Lin turned the corner, ducked down an alleyway, leaned her forehead against a brick wall, and wept. She hadn't wept like that since she was a child.