My mother always told me to be strong. She told me that while a lot of earthbending's power came from strength, it also came from the willingness to protect. She told me that a great earthbender needed to be like the Earth itself: strong and tough, but that even the Earth had cracks and that these weren't necessarily a weakness. Every person had them: things they wanted to protect, people they loved, places they valued – these things weren't weaknesses but rather motivators.
I have a city I want to protect, I have friends I care about and a man I love.
These cracks in my armor aren't weaknesses. They are motivators.
I had him once. We were together, but all good things come to an end eventually.
Do I feel bitter? Yes, yes I do. But she does what I could probably never have done. I can't imagine myself staying at home with kids. I can imagine myself not out here, helping the city in some way or another.
My mother protected this city. I will protect it too.
My mother had been blind her whole life, but she could see better than most people I met. She could tell when I was even slightly upset. She could tell when I was struggling. She saw what most people ignored. I saw what people ignored, too, namely what she ignored. She was tough as steel and a force to be reckoned with, but my mother was not so much different from myself.
She was in love but ignored it. The way she had acted around the councilman gave her away. Most people wouldn't be able to tell, but I knew what my Mother did. Sometimes you must close your eyes to really see.
She is a good woman. She makes him happy. She gives him children. She gives him the family he wants. I have resigned myself long ago that he and I can never be.
He may be insufferable sometimes, but he is a good man. I will not let Amon have him.
I will not allow him to take away the bending of the last airbenders. I will not falter. I am a resolute shield. I will protect him. I will protect his family, no matter the costs.
No matter the...costs...
Amon is a menace, but I will not let him have Korra, Tenzin or any of the others. I will not falter. I am resolute. I will protect those most important to me.
Only when you close your eyes do you really see.
But it is hard to see now. The world feels empty. I can not feel the same connection to the Earth as I used to. It feels as if part of me has been taken away. It feels as if I am incomplete.
But a shield is still a shield as long as it has something to protect.
Only when you close your eyes do you really see.
But only when you open your eyes and open your heart do you really live.
I am still a shield. I am still alive.
I will protect them all, no matter the costs.
No matter...the costs...
A/N: I just have a lot of Lin Bei Fong feels okay.