When she was six years old, she realized she could shift the earth beneath her feet, and since then she has never stood still.

Until that point, she passed her time as many children did, playing games and drawing pictures. She learned to read at a very young age and had a nightly storytelling with her mother. The two were close, inseparably close, but it pained Lin to know that every picture she drew, every painting she created could never be seen by her mother's pale eyes.

She discovered her bending accidentally, by throwing rocks into a pond. Lin sat next to her mother in their Republic City estate, passing time in the summer heat. Toph was lying next to her daughter in the grass and listened to the faint splashing sounds.

Tossing another pebble, Lin noticed something strange. That one took longer to fall. She tossed another. It suspended even longer in the air. Lin jumped up, startling Toph.

"Hon, are you alright?"

Lin reached forward and focused with all the intensity she could muster. She felt a tiny quake, and her mother gasped. A pillar, no more than a foot high, sprang up from the ground.

Toph pulled her child close, jumped up, and tossed her in the air. "You did it!" she shouted. "Baby girl, you did it!" Lin clung onto her mother's neck, and they fell in a mess of laughter. Toph felt tears falling down her cheeks, and Lin's voice became alarmed.

"Mommy, what's wrong?"

Toph held onto her tighter. "I'm just so proud of you, Lin. I'm just so happy."

All of a sudden, Lin tensed. "Mommy… did you see it?"

Toph cried into her daughter's shoulder, combing her fingers through Lin's soft hair. "Yes, baby, I saw it. I saw it."

Right then, Lin knew that there was nothing else she wanted to do for the rest of her life, to create what her mother could see.

Ironically, Toph blindfolded Lin the next morning at her first lesson.

"But Mommy, I can't see anything."

"Wow, that must be awful." Lin scowled at her mother. "Wipe that look off your face, termite, we've got work to do." Toph sat in the grass and patted the ground next to her. "Come here, but don't you dare take off that cloth. I'll know."

Lin extended her arms and clumsily thrashed about, trying to find her mother. Several minutes later, Toph continued. "That was a good first try, and you're going to get better," she encouraged painfully gently, as Katara had taught her.

"I don't like it," Lin complained about the blindfold.

"You're not supposed to like it. You're supposed to learn how to deal with it." She reached out and stroked her daughter's cheek. "Lin, I've never been able to see the way you see. I see with the earth."

"Like Digger?" supplied Lin, referring to her beloved stuffed badgermole.

Toph laughed. "Just like Digger. Everything on or in the earth is connected, and I can feel that. I can see the tree across the lawn, I can see the bird on the branch, and I can see you right here." She tickled Lin, making her giggle. "And you, my little mud pie, have very special eyes. You have seeing eyes, and that's great! So I'm going to teach you to see the way I see, and you're going to use your kind of sight. You are going to be unstoppable, kido!" Toph tossed her in the air. "But first you must learn."

"Tenzin doesn't have to wear a blindfold," she pouted.

"That's because he's a quitter," replied Toph as she stood. "You're a girl. You're inherently stronger than he is."

Lin giggled. "Kya doesn't wear a blindfold."

"No, but Kya's weird. Don't be Kya. Eat meat. Now, stand up."

Lin obeyed.

"Now breathe."

Every day she practiced, and every day she grew stronger.

And afterwards she would run as fast as her little legs could carry her, all the way to Yue Bay, where the ferry would take her to Air Temple Island.

She loved the sound of the wooden boat scraping against the sandy shore. It sounded like Aunt Katara's chiding sighs and like Uncle Aang laughing. It sounded like the shells Kya wove into her hair and like Bumi running away after putting a worm down her dress.

It didn't sound like Tenzin.

Climbing out of the boat, she heard footsteps pacing toward her, and she smiled.

"Good morning, Lin."

That sounded like Tenzin.

She had known him as long as she could remember. According to Aang, they met the day she was born. Toph allowed Kya to hold her, and Tenzin held onto his sister's leg, trying to see the face in the bundle of blankets. Kya, ten at the time, sat on the floor to allow the toddler his view. Bumi peered over her shoulder.

"It's so… small," he commented.

"She's a baby, not a thing, and you're an idiot," replied Kya in her soft, low voice.

"She's like," he held his hands a few inches apart, "this big."

With a free finger, Kya summoned water from a nearby glass and bent it near his face. "I can fix your eyes, if you want."

Bumi summersaulted away and shouted, "Nope!"

His yell woke Lin, and she began to fuss.

"See what you do?" demanded Kya, but she was giggling. She flung the water at his shoulder.

"Kya, gentle," reminded Katara.

"We do not abuse our bending while holding infants," added Aang.

"I'm pretty sure that's a rule," his wife agreed.

Toph was beginning to wake. "Please don't break my baby, Twinkletoes," she murmured. Immediately, the adults rushed to her side. Was she feeling well? Did she need anything?

The toddler slowly walked back toward Kya. "Do you want to see her?" she asked sweetly.

Katara liked to say that baby Lin grabbed his tiny wrist and never really let go.


"Ready?" she asked.

He didn't answer; he never did. Tenzin took his stance, locked eyes, and nodded.

"Go," Lin shouted. Before she finished the signal, she was launching a boulder. She struck hard, fast, and first. Like always.

And he easily dodged her. As usual.

They certainly had a routine, but that didn't make their sparring any less exciting, or any less special.

Or any less difficult.

Within minutes, Lin was panting, and sweat was beading on her brow.

"We could call it a day," called her opponent, perching on a rock spire she constructed only seconds ago.

"In your dreams, airhead," she barked back, flinging him from the tower. He gave her a small smile as he dodged the disks she spun at his chest. For six years, they had practiced together. They had independent training with their parents, but their one-on-one battles were much more exciting. Neither refused to recognized they had reached an impasse.

Although older, Tenzin had little more training than Lin, and no more raw skill. After six years of combat and twelve years of friendship, they knew each other far too well to have much more progress.

Where she made walls, he glided over them. She struck, he swiftly evaded. He never attacked, and she never let him rest. She was headstrong, and he was insufferably patient. Neither would let the other win. It would boil down to a millisecond's advantage, a trip, a blink that lasted too long. Exhausted, they would fall to the ground, laugh, and restore order to the demolished field.

Sweat was falling into her eyes. If she left them open, she'd be blind, so she shut them tightly and used her seismic sense. Her mother's rigorous training was paying off. Her "blind sight" was still foggy, but she had made exceptional progress. Soon, Toph told her, she would practically be a badgermole.

However, Tenzin saw her close her eyes, and immediately pushed himself off the ground, floating several inches above the grass.

"That's cheating!" she yelled, wiping sweat on her sleeve.

The next thing she knew she was on her back, with Tenzin's foot on her chest. "No, it was a tactical advantage." He moved his foot and offered her a hand. She gave him half a glare but accepted. She brushed the dirt off her clothes, and she felt a cool breeze on her neck.

"Thanks, Tez," she sighed. He took a long drink from a canteen then offered it to her. "It's so hot today," she groaned taking a drink. "I wish I was a firebender."

"Why?"

"I would reverse all of the sun's heat! Send it right back to the sky!" she took another gulp.

"I don't think it works like that."

"Well, it should. Up for a swim?"

"Well, my parent's aren't here-"

She gripped his hand and tugged. "But, Tenzin, it's so hot! Just a little dip in the lake, please?"

"Lin, I really-"

She dropped his hand and walked away. "I was asking for your benefit." He sighed and followed.

"I take no responsibility if you drown."

She glanced over her shoulder. "You wouldn't let me, would you?"

He smiled. "No."

When they had crossed the island to the small, clear lake, Lin was ecstatic and physically drained. She ripped off of her sweaty dress and jumped into the cool water. Her braid quickly came undone, spilling black hair over her shoulders. Tenzin rolled his eyes, but slipped off his tunic and into the water after her. He completely submerged, rinsing sweat and dirt out of his hair. When he came back up, Lin was nowhere to be seen.

"Lin?" he jumped on a nearby rock, eyes scanning the lake. "Lin!"

In less than an instant, he heard a ripple of water, felt a heavy weight on his side, and felt the water cover him completely. He swam up and heard her laughter.

"Not so graceful now, are you?" she teased. He sent a wave over her head. She ducked, swam beneath him, and tugged his legs down, laughing again.

"Lin!" he coughed.

"Tenzin?"

If Bumi or Kya had tossed him into the lake, splashed him, and dragged him under, he would have been furious. He would have yelled at them to stop and leave him alone.

But he couldn't be mad at Lin.

He had more cuts and bruises at her expense than he could count, but she never made him angry. Frustrated, yes, but never angry.

He launched himself in the air, quickly dried, and sat on the rock. Lin slowly swam up and rested her crossed arms near his feet.

"What's it like?" she asked.

"To be almost drowned by your best friend? Well, it's a bit frightening, but-"

"Hush, not that. What's it like to…" she looked for the right word, "to fly?"

"I can't really fly without my glider."

She gave an exacerbated sigh.

"Oh, you mean just airbending?" he supplied, quelling her irritation.

"You just look like you're having so much fun. You look so free." Her tone was laced with envious longing.

He smiled. "It makes me who I am, same as you."

Lin smirked. "You mean earthbending makes me who I am, or I make you who you are?"

"Both."

She propped herself on the rock. Water dripped from her hair and arms onto him, but Tenzin didn't mind. She had a peculiar look in her eyes, a very Lin look. While very extroverted, Lin kept herself bundled in thick layers, like someone from a water tribe in the coldest winter. Everyone could see the furs. No one saw the skin.

Lin was inexplicably open with him, maybe even more than with her mother, and he respected and appreciated the trust. He saw her the same way. Tenzin knew he was unusually reserved; Lin liked to say "stoic and serious." But he knew he could be open and honest with her. Lin knew him better than anyone.

"I feel so… restricted," she confessed.

"How so?" he guided.

She bit her lip and looked at the sky, and he smiled. It was a very Lin expression, thoughtful, trying to fashion her words perfectly.

"My mom doesn't see the way we do; she can only see what's on the ground. And she's an amazing bender, and I'm really grateful to learn from her! But…"

"She's limiting you."

Lin nodded. "And I don't know how to say that without sounding so ungrateful, but her movements are so rough and sudden. I want to be more like, well, you."

Tenzin smiled, "I can teach you airbending techniques."

"Would you?"

"I'd love it! Lin, you're not your mother, and she'll understand. You need to be more liberated, that's all."

"And you can teach me that?"

"I can try. It'll make our practices more interesting."

She leaned her head on his shoulder. "Thanks, Tez."


UPDATE: I merged chapters one and two, and I can't fully explain my actions. I just have it in my head that I shouldn't have posted so much at one time, and because this is a new project I want the chapter count to be smaller. In the words of an admirable starfish, "The inner mechanisms of my mind are an enigma."

Thoughts? Comments? Concerns? Please let me know!