Author's Note:

It's been a while since I last wrote any fanfiction, least of all something LoK related but Lin is perhaps my favourite character and I wanted to at write one more piece about her. This involves the other characters we know and love but it's mainly a Lin focussed piece.

Critique, comment and reviews welcome. Flames not so much.

I do not own LoK, all rights belong to their respective parties.

There comes a point in everyone's life when someone just gets under the skin and worms their way into your heart without you really realising that they have and that was the situation Chief Lin Bei Fong found herself in now that fight was finally over with Kuivra.

Republic City, the place she had sought to protect lay in ruins and many of the citizens had been evacuated prior to Kuivra reaching the border but not everyone had been so lucky and those that had remained behind had made themselves known throughout the coming days but it was the ones who were now listed as missing having not been on any mandatory evacuations that had her concerned or at least one name in particular did 'Haruka Yamato' the kid was a promising Earthbender but misfortune had plagued her since the death of her parents some seven years prior and the soon to be eighteen year old had been arrested far too many times that Lin had slowly lost count but nothing she had ever been arrested for stuck and when she promised the Chief on numerous occasions that it would the last time the elder woman saw her it would always come back to haunt her some months later. It wasn't that Haruka was a bad kid, quite the contrary she was always doing deeds to help others less fortunate than her; only she was the one getting caught doing it and despite the numerous attempts Lin had given her to settle in one of the City's orphanages Haruka had never stayed more than a month before skipping out much to the Chief's dismay.

But the last she had heard before Kuivra had marched on Republic City was that Haruka had finally found an orphanage that she had settled into giving her the stability she needed just before she turned into an adult and the woman in charge of the orphanage had told the Chief that Haruka had finally knuckled down and was attending school as well. So to read she was on the list of missing people did not sit well with the Chief.

But why the concern, how had a street rat gotten under the Chief's skin to the point that the elder woman was worried about her whereabouts; sighing deeply she stared at yet another pile of papers on her desk the criminals for once laying low as the city was rebuilt.

"I need to see the Chief, its important." came a voice from outside her office, not that it was unusual for someone to come here to speak with her but it was voice that she didn't recognise,

"Chief isn't seeing anyone so why don't you stop wasting time and get out of here." came the gruff response of one of her detectives who seemed less than impressed to be dealing with whomever was out there,

"She'll want to see Me." again that voice spoke with a little bit more conviction this time but still the detective she was speaking to wouldn't budge,

"Look kid, Chief doesn't speak to street rats now on your way." the gruff voice countered causing the Chief to actually shift from her seat at the mention of the word 'street rat' for it was something Haruka had been called more often than not in all the years she had been dealing with the Republic City Police Department,

"Please, its important." The voice countered but by this point the detective had heard enough as he placed a hand on her shoulder and began to march her out of the squad room, "She needs her help." she added with a sense of finality as Lin finally stepped out of her office, "Wait." she called causing the detective to stop and turn on his heel pulling the girl with him,

"Who needs my help?" she asked eyeing the young woman before her who was covered in dust and looked like she could use a nice warm bath and a hot meal, "She said to come to you, and you alone." the girl replied unwilling to say any more.

Lin nodded and signalled for the detective to let the girl go, "Might want to spill kid, I don't have all day." she chastised lightly knowing that it needed to be important or else the kid would be spending some time in a cell for wasting police time,

"Haruka sent me, well told me to come and find you if she didn't show up after a couple of weeks and it's been a couple of weeks." the kid managed her head dropping from Lin's gaze as the Chief led her back to her office so they could talk in private.

Once the door to Lin's office was closed she moved towards her desk before turning to face the girl that had come on Haruka's instructions,

"Spill kid." she repeated knowing that she needed to get the information before the girl clammed up again knowing that she was perhaps being more intimidating than necessary but when it involved that kid, she just couldn't help it,

"I think she's in trouble, all the kids from the Orphanage she was staying in have turned up but none of them will say where she is or what happened and I'm just worried and it's been week's since the invasion and nothing; no sightings nor well for you I guess arrests and I'm concerned. It's not like Haruka to just disappear." she managed her head dropping once more, unable to keep her gaze locked with that of the Chief of Police.

It was true, Haruka was unlikely to just disappear without reason and she hadn't been sighted on the streets nor had she been arrested lately which if she was safe would no doubt have happened by now as the City was in such turmoil still that didn't mean to say that the kid hadn't been smart and gotten out of the City before things went south.

"You make a good point, kid. All right I'll see what I can do." she replied knowing it was probably little for if the kids wouldn't talk to other kids then she highly doubted they would speak to a police officer but she had to try at least.

"Thanks, Chief." the girl replied before heading out of the Chief of Police's office and away from the station leaving Lin to ponder just what to do next, and to question again why she cared so much about this one kid when there hundreds out there in the world that needed help, the answer perhaps was more obvious than she realised as she let out a slow breath; there was only one group of people she could ask for help as she picked up the phone and dialled Air Temple Island.