Her airship was being prepared, her things were being thrown into her bags with amazing force and speed, Su and her escorts were going back to Zaofu right now. As she continued through the suite, looking for anything she might have missed, she caught the lock on her door turning on it's own. In a fraction of a second, her mind could only draw conclusion 'Kuvira'. She really hadn't thought the 'great uniter' would sink to such cowardly measures. But if this was how it was going to be, then Kuvira's assassin was going to get the surprise of his life.
"It's just me, Su." an unarmed woman said evenly as Su's arrows curved and planted themselves in the door frame with a single gesture.
"Lin?" Su slowly got out of a fighting stance, "For Spirit's sake! Knock! I could have killed you!" Her big sister met her claim with a raised eyebrow,
"Not likely." she took a second to look at the haphazardly packed luggage,"I don't suppose you talked your friend into stepping down?"
"She's not my friend!" Su quickly corrected, "And she's not going to step down."
"There's a shock." Lin deadpanned.
"I don't know why any of us expected her to." she closed her suitcase with a slam, "I got to go home, she's coming after Zaofu. And she has my son on her side, he was even bragging when he saw me, can you believe that?! She was my son whipped, Lin."
"I saw that. Looked like a nerd trying to act like a thug." Lin crossed her arms. She'd actually stopped by the hotel to welcome her sister and saw the whole exchange between mother and son, but had been called away before she could say anything. Honestly, the boy's smug tough-guy act was ridiculous, he was embarrassing her for Kyoshi's sake...and she hadn't even given birth to him.
"Ha." Su laughed without humor, "He didn't pull it off, did he?" she felt tears well-up in her eyes, "That's not who he is, Lin. Kuvira...she's changing him, and for the worse. How long will it be before he really is a thug like her?" A sniffle and her big sister wrapped an arm around her, pulling her close as the tears started fall,
"Want me to knock some sense into him?"
"Would you?" Su laughed through her pain, knowing that Lin was only half serious. "No, I don't think so. No beating you ever gave knocked sense into me when I was young and in with the wrong crowd. And Baatar Jr. has hearts in his eyes for the monster."
"I heard that too, want me to kick her ass?" the eldest offered, but in all seriousness. It wouldn't be the first ass she kicked to make Suyin feel better. That's what big sister's were for, to beat up the bullies and wipe the tears away.
"Please." that offer she'd take in a second, if only she thought that Lin wouldn't die trying, "I don't know how you'll get past her army."
"Twenty-to-one says they're all a bunch of musclebound sissies. It's all for show, I can take 'em."
"Then she'll," all humor left her, "she'll have a knife to my son's throat."
"She told you that?!" Lin let go of Su with every intention of going to the presidential suite, bending a weight to Kuvira's feet and throwing her into the ocean.
"No." Su grabbed her arm, "But why else would she have my son in her claws if not to use him as her leverage?"
"To get 'Beifong' behind her name."
"I didn't even think about that." Su backed towards the couch to slump down on the cushions, "Even if we are illegitimate children, we have full rights of inheritance so she still gets linked to a noble line."
"A rich noble line." Lin pointed out as she sat next to Su, slumping over in a similar fashion.
"One of the last since the Earth Queen fell. Oh, no!" The matriarch's head shot up with a sudden, and dark, realization.
"What?"
"When you die, I inherit the title, when I die..."
"Baatar Jr. does. She'll be Lady Kuvira Beifong, and she'll have the support of the loyalists. I thought of that. What the-" Lin was roughly grabbed by the shoulders and turned to face her sister.
"Be careful, Lin." It wasn't a worried suggestion, it wasn't even a demand, it was an order.
"You too, it doesn't matter which order we die in and she's coming for your city."
"How could it come to this? This is all my fault." no argument, "You know, dear sister, this is the part where you tell me that it's not."
"Well, it kinda is. You trained her, you taught her to question the authority of monarchs." Alright, so maybe Lin should be a little more sensitive, but this is what happens when someone self-righteously rants about things they know nothing of, at least to the wrong people. Lin warned her to keep her mouth shut about world politics unless she was planning on getting involved, but she hadn't, "Now Kuvira's using the principals of Zaofu to blindside and conquer half the world."
"Couldn't you lie to me for once?" Su groaned, she hated when Lin was right.
"I'm not a liar."
"Alright, fine! It's all my fault." The youngest of the two threw up her hands, "I should have stepped up and done something sooner. You would have beat me into submission if I became like her, right?"
"Are you going to sit here and mope around or are you going to do something about this?" The eldest asked with a bite in her tone.
"What can I do about this? Kuvira has an army too large for Zaofu to fight."
"Run then."
"What?"
"You heard me," She sneered, "Run. Hide. Seek enlightenment like Mom did; make it sound your not ducking out like the quitter you are."
"I'm not ducking out!" Su stood with clenched fists, "I'm not a quitter!"
"No?!" Lin stood up and got in her face,
"No!"
"You get caught up with the Terra Triad, you ran!"
"Mom made me!"
"You get caught up with pirates, you ran! You built a city with walls so you can hide away from your mistakes and your problems. So, what's one more ti-" A right fist stopped her from finishing her sentence, a left fist knocked her to the floor.
"That's my family she's threatening! That's my city! I have to protect them!" A left leg swiped Su off her feet, two strong hands and a torso pinned her to the floor. She tried to break free, but Lin's grip was too strong.
"There you go." Her little sister up in utter confusion. She forced Su's upper body up into a hug, "Keep that fighting spirit, you're gonna need it."
"Su!" her guards burst into the room to find the Beifong sisters hugging on the floor,
"It's alright." Su waved them off, "Just a little tough love. Or Toph love, right?"
"You still tell the dumbest jokes I've ever heard."
"We're ready to leave, Su." They were still standing awkwardly at attention while the sisters sat on the floor. The matriarch drew a long breath, her sister rose and offered her a hand up.
"So am I."
A request for Anonnim. Hope you enjoyed it.