a/n: this is my response to the prompt for the first round of the probending circuit. have some feels.
Prompt: Someone returning to their lover after a misunderstanding.
Key words: Ember Island, postcard, and jasmine (the scent of it, specifically).
Word count: 1899.
Characters: Chief Lin Beifong, Tenzin, Kya.
Pairing: Linzin.
The ballroom where they celebrate his parents' wedding anniversary is packed with people, nobles and generals and politicians from all over the world. Sokka is making his usual speech to a crowd of onlookers (so familiar that Tenzin can recite it by heart) about how Aang and Katara's relationship went so well because it started with an icebreaker, Suki stands beside him laughing, and last he'd seen Toph she'd been having fun escorting the drunks outside to vomit. Everyone's dressed in their best, the front entrance is crowded with reporters trying to get pictures of Zuko and Mai and Izumi, and somehow in the commotion he's managed to lose sight of Lin.
Tenzin weaves around the tables that have baskets upon baskets of fruits piled upon them, nearly bumps into the chocolate fondue fountain (that would've been a pain to get out of his robes), and once he sees Bumi and his latest flavor of the month approaching, he turns and walks in the other direction. He doesn't want to hear the latest tales of the platoon that Bumi commands tonight. He cranes his neck, trying to spot Lin over the crowd. Who he does see is Kya chatting up a girl in a pretty blue dress—he hopes this ends well for her, seeing as not many people share Kya's preference in companionship.
He's debating the benefits of airbending himself up to try and find her when someone taps him on the shoulder, and he whirls around, and then looks slightly downward.
"Looking for someone?" The speaker is a girl that looks about twenty or so years old, nearly fifteen years his junior. She smiles at him, but not cattily, and brushes a bit of her brown hair to the side.
He smiles back. "Yes, uh, I was looking for Lin Beifong. Have you seen her?"
"No, sorry," she says apologetically. "It's not a big room, I'm sure you'll find her." She sticks out her hand. "I'm Pema, by the way. And you're Tenzin, right? Avatar Aang's son?"
He shakes her hand. "Yes, that's me." After she'd told him her name, he'd recognized her: she was one of the newest Air Acolytes that had recently emigrated to the Island. "How are you liking being an Air Acolyte so far?"
They end up chatting for a while, and Tenzin finds himself relaxing, despite the fact that she seems to laugh at every other sentence of his and she always finds some way to touch him—a pat on the shoulder, a brief touch of the arm. Just as he's getting ready to ask her a question about her family life, Pema's eyes widen and she leaves, the skirts of her dress trailing behind her.
He turns around to see Lin, who's holding two champagne glasses and her grip is so tight on them that if she's not careful, they'll shatter. "Hey!" he says, happy to see her. "Where've you been, I've been looking everywhere for you!"
"I can see that." Her words come out through gritted teeth, a sure sign that she's angry, although Tenzin doesn't know what she's angry about. She bends a chunk of metal up from the floor and sets the drinks on it, despite a table being a foot away from her. "I'm going home."
"Oh." He moves closer to her, trying to put a hand on her forehead but she catches it with her hand. "Are you feeling alright? Do you need me to get my mother?"
Instead of replying, Lin storms away in a huff. He assumes it's something she'd eaten, maybe she'd had too much to drink and needed to go home. Either or, Bumi comes over to him and starts regaling him with tales of his latest promotion to first lieutenant, and Tenzin doesn't get the opportunity to think of his long-time girlfriend for the rest of the night.
The next day, Lin won't speak to him. She locks him out of their apartment, and he spends over an hour banging on the door looking like a fool, yelling for her to let him in.
"Not until you apologize!" is her constant response. He hasn't felt this frustrated since his family had vacationed on Ember Island and Bumi and Kya had insisted on going through their 'I know you are, but what am I?' phase again.
"Apologize for WHAT?" he asks impatiently, banging on the door with both fists. If he still had hair he'd probably pull it out in frustration. "Lin, what do I have to apologize for?"
The door swings open so suddenly that it nearly whacks him in the head, so he jumps backwards to avoid it. Lin leans on the doorframe, her arms crossed over her chest and a frown etched so deeply on her face it looks painful. "When you figure it out, come on back," she tells him.
The door slams shut in front of him again.
Tenzin relocates to a park bench outside and goes over the last forty-eight hours in his head, trying to think of anything that could possibly make Lin so angry with him. He can't think of anything, and that's when he decides he needs outside help.
Bumi is out of the question—even though he has a lot of experience with women, this is still the same person who can't keep a girlfriend for longer than three months. He'll be virtually no help, and will probably run around singing "Tenzy's got girl problems, Tenzy's got girl problems!" for everyone to hear. He'd have better luck talking to Oogi.
His parents are definite no-no's—they've been with each other practically their whole lives and rarely fight. Sokka and Suki are the same way, Zuko's too stoic to approach, Izumi will most likely be too busy with Fire Nation politics to help him, and frankly, he's a bit terrified of what Toph will suggest. He'd always wondered what had happened to the last guy she'd dated…Kanto something or other. Maybe he'd gotten into a fight with her and she drowned him in Yue Bay.
That leaves him with one option—and he saunters over to a payphone to make one of the most important calls of his life.
He and Kya decide to meet up in a small tea shop that Zuko's uncle would've probably fawned over. The scent of jasmine is heavy in the air, but Tenzin doesn't mind, it's always relaxed him. The shop is quiet, seeing as it's only midday and most of the customers come in at night. Soft flute music plays in the background, and as Kya returns with their tea he takes a moment to look at all of the postcards and posters from different towns smothering the walls—Omashu, Capital City, Gaoling...The owners must really enjoy traveling the world.
"So," Kya says, cracking her knuckles as Tenzin takes a sip of his tea. "What's going on with you and Lin?"
"I don't know," Tenzin admits. Tue and La, he really hopes Kya will be able to help him. "She left early during Mother and Father's party and now she locked me out of our apartment and won't let me in until I apologize for something. I don't even know what I did!"
To her credit, Kya appears sympathetic. "What exactly happened? Was she mad before the party?"
"No," he says slowly. "No. See, I lost her at the party and I was looking for her, but then I started talking with someone and I lost track of time. Next thing I knew she ran away and Lin was angry with me."
"She?" Kya's brows furrow. "You were talking to a girl?" Suddenly, her eyes widen and she leans forward. "Was she pretty?"
Tenzin is pretty sure his face turns a noticeable shade of red. "Uh. Yes? Why?" He pauses. "Kya, I don't think that she has the same preferences in companionship as you."
"You can just say that she's straight, y'know, you don't have to twist your words into some fancy—not the point. Was she young?" Tenzin nods. "Do you see what the problem is now?"
"Ah—yeah, of course," he lies. Then his fib cracks. "No. I don't see the problem. So? I was talking to someone pretty and young. What's the big deal?"
"Spirits, Tenzin," Kya groans, connecting her palm to her forehead with an audible snap, "I have had bowel movements more observant than you."
Tenzin doesn't know which is more surprising—the fact that his sister had swore, or the fact that his sister had compared him negatively to a bowel movement. Either or, the expression he's wearing probably makes him appear discombobulated. "...excuse me?" he finally splutters.
"Do I have to spell it out for you? Lin saw you and this girl talking and got jealous because it looked like you were having a good time without her. Good work, Tenzy. Did you tell the girl you were speaking with that you're practically engaged?"
Tenzin's cheeks flush again. "We aren't engaged," he says. Then the rest of what she had said registers. "Wait. Lin was jealous? Lin never gets—she knows that she and I—that I—"
"Sometimes we all need a bit of reassurance," Kya explains, her voice patient. At that moment she sounds like a mother explaining to a toddler that one and one were two. "And you weren't planning to run away with that girl, were you?"
"No." The memory of Pema flirting with him last night comes back at full force. He stands up suddenly, slamming his hands on the table. The other two customers in the tea shop look up in alarm. "And I'm going to go and tell Lin just that!"
After giving Kya a quick kiss on the cheek, he runs off.
He knocks on the door three times, smoothing his sweaty hands on his robes. He hasn't been this nervous since he'd first asked Lin out and Toph had listened in on their conversation. Spirits, what if Kya had been wrong and Lin was mad about something else entirely?
The door opens and Lin stares at him, arms still crossed over her chest. "Well?" she says, raising a single eyebrow.
Tenzin takes a deep breath. "I'm sorry."
"For?"
Of course she's going to make him spell it out. Of. Course. "I'm sorry for not telling off the girl who was flirting with me."
"And?"
"For not realizing you were jealous. I should've reassured you that I love you and would never run away with anyone else."
The corners of Lin's mouth quirk upward into her usual half-smile. "Apology accepted, Airhead." She grabs the collar of his robes and pulls him forward, pressing their lips together in a quick kiss. "I love you too."