The True Story of Lin Bei Fong
The story you are about to read is the truth. It is a truth that some may wish to forget and a truth many wish had never happened – but it is the truth, as it is known by those who lived it and that can not be changed.
In an office in Republic City sits a woman in uniform. Upon her face a scar remains and behind her green eyes hangs a determined mind dedicated to duty and service. Beneath her neat pressed sleeve a bracelet made of unearthly material presses to her skin and this is the most important thing because it is there where the truth of this story sits. Bracelet of a material found by her father and once passed to the friend who called her "daughter" but she rebuked because she knew that was not the truth.
This is the story of Lin Bei Fong, of her parents who saved her and of the friend who would raise her.
And it is all true.
Part 1
Seven years after the war, a new world was emerging and at the centre of it a new jewel was being set. Nestled between the sea and the mountains the first foundations of Republic City were being laid. Those thousands displaced were already beginning to flood to this new sanctuary and with them came new trade, art and culture. Over all of it stood Avatar Aang, guiding all with the wisdom of a thousand lifetimes and the almighty power placed within him.
But not all was well. As nations crumbled and others replaced them there were dark mutterings in the shadows. Strange movements and cults formed, recruiting those left unfulfilled, bitter and damaged after 100 years of war. Nobody knows who eventually decided to come for the Avatar. Many have their theories: some say Fire Nation extremists, others talked of zealots who sought the Armageddon they believed the war should have delivered.
Whoever it was it was clear the Avatar was their target. So it was in the dead of night with information beaten or bribed from innocent travellers they tracked the Avatar to a prosperous island in the South Sea – Kyoshi Island. There with his beloved companion Katara and their ally the infamous metalbender Toph, the Avatar was visiting two old friends for a celebration.
Sokka, warrior of the Water Tribe, and Suki, leader of the famous Kyoshi Warriors, were married and with their joining had come new life. Bouncy and blue eyed, Lin's natural strength and energy was already obvious. To wrestle a wanted toy from her was like trying to pull a stubborn thorn from a skybison paw, as Aang discovered to his surprise. The laughter echoed all across the village.
The assassins watched and listened, faces hidden among a crowd eager to catch a glimpse of the Avatar. It gave them pause. Ambushing the Avatar was a difficult prospect by itself – to attack him surrounded by his allies, each known as effective warriors and powerful benders would be pure suicide. So a new plan was hurriedly formed. If they could not attack the Avatar himself, they could still send him a message.
They waited, as predators do. Night fell and with it the Avatar and his friends had to take their leave from the happy family. Hugs, blessings and wishes were exchanged between everyone except Toph, who nearly knocked both Sokka and Suki to the ground with a playful shoulder punch in spite of her light frame.
As the Avatar left on his old and faithful skybison the sky clouded over the moon and the assassins took their chance. Both may be famous fighters but the parents were now off the guard and the mother still unlikely to be back in in her best form after carrying a child. Neither had bending powers. As long as they were quick and quiet they assumed it would be easy.
That was a big mistake.
Part 2
They dealt with the passing guard in absolute silence but still found Sokka and Suki alert and armed, the rustling on a bush enough to tell them something was wrong. In the ensuing fight the assassins were outmatched despite their numbers, the superior skill of the two warriors felling several of them but it was still too much. Suki was run through then Sokka knocked unconscious, the house set aflame as the survivors fled. Aang, Katara and Toph saw the smoke and returned fast. The blaze was extinguished in a matter of seconds but it was too late. Suki was dead and Sokka mortally wounded Even Katara was unable to heal him with all her power as he lay coughing ashen blood and struggling for air. Nearby Toph felt his heartbeat finally stop and her heart broke with it.
But as Sokka faded she felt a new heartbeat. A faint but rapid rhythm that came to her even through the crack of the fire and the heavy feet of panicked villagers. She followed it around the blaze. The heat scorched Toph's skin and the sharp twigs of the foliage pricked her feet but she didn't notice. Focusing, she plunged into a deep bush and there thickly wrapped in what blankets had been at hand lay Lin, frightened and confused after being hurled to safety. Her face was badly scratched, her hair partially bleached by the heat of the fire, but she was safe. Toph took the little one in her arms and went solemnly and silently back to the group.
The assassins vanished without trace despite a massive manhunt. Everyone was distraught. The whole of Kyoshi Island went into mourning. When he heard what had happened Firelord Zuko placed a massive bounty for the heads of the ones responsible. It would never be collected. The chiefs of the Water Tribe came as soon as news reached them. Under the setting sun the bodies of Sokka and Suki were laid to rest together in the deep sea waters, each borne by the warriors they had lead and defended.
Aang cried for not having been there for his friends, racked with guilt knowing the assassins were surely after him. Katara berated herself for not having the powers to save them. Toph did not cry and did not speak. She sat silently in the corner listening to the child wailing in her arms until it's future was decided. The Kyoshi Warriors would care for Lin – each was an orphan, like the Avatar that had first founded them. If she was anything like her mother it was obvious she would become one of the greatest of their kind. She would be well cared for. She would have a home and guardians.
But Toph had other plans. She felt the child's small strong hands grasp hers and knew that this would not be enough. The Kyoshi's had already failed to protect her once. She would have to give the child the means to protect itself.
In the very early morning Toph disguised herself in a long peasant robe and with the child in swaddling she boarded a ferry to the mainland. There she would take Lin to see the ones who had gifted her the skills to survive.
Toph took Lin to see the badger moles.
Part 3
She had not been to that cave since she first learned to Earthbend yet still she found it easily. It was as if she had never left, the damp scent of the walls and cool rock beneath her feet more homely to her then her any bed she had ever slept in. She found them not far from the entrance, a trio of badgermoles huddled close together in apparent anticipation of her arrival. They greeted her, snuffing and tickling her face with whiskers that made her giggle as if she was still the little blind girl they had found all thosey years ago.
Toph did not know how they might react to the child as she laid it at their feet, wailing in the dark. All they had between them was trust. The badgers moles examined Lin closely. Toph felt their feet shuffle and scratch the dirt contemplatively and resisted the urge to snatch Lin back for fear of an accident.
What happened next even Toph would never be sure of. Without warning the entire cave seemed to burst into motion, a thousand cracks and splits from deep within the many layers of earth and dirt and rock shifting violently yet minutely in a thousand different directions. Toph was on her feet but totally unable to see, the shifting earth flooding her senses until it seemed the whole cavern was a single blaze of light, a white noise rattling every fibre of her body as her mouth hung open in a soundless scream. All was confusion and pain. In front of her she could see the silent silhouette of the baby, a dark patch of horrifying stillness with it's arms outstretched fading into the light.
And then it was over. The light in Toph's head receded. The earth was still once again. The badger moles nuzzled their old friend gently and left, disappearing deep into to the rock. Lin seemed to be peacefully asleep, her gentle breath reassuring Toph as she knelt down to her. Toph had no idea what had just happened but there was something familiar about this spirit magic, this ritual, whatever it was had taken place. Something was ringing at the very back of her mind, the note of a memory from long ago. She felt a small patch of rock scrunch beneath the child and put her finger to it – in the smooth hard rock where Lin had rested her hand five little indents, finger prints, had been made. The surface was folded like the surface of a bed sheet. It was what Toph was hoping for.
She and Lin shared a gift now.
Part 4
When she returned with Lin to Kyoshi Island the others were furious, worried sick by her & Lin's disappearance. They demanded to know where she had been and what she had done, questioning why she had disguised herself and why she had stolen away in the middle of the night. There was even the threat of arrest for abduction but Toph wasn't going accept it.
She told them frankly what she had done and why, pointing out that if this was going to be the way the world was then all their idealism wasn't going to be enough. Lin now had a power which she didn't before and that was going to keep her safe – not having to rely on the protection of others her whole life. Not having to live in fear of what might still be waiting in the shadows in every bush, around every street corner, in the dark of every night.
The argument went on for hours but in the end everyone saw it. What had been done had been done and Toph's logic made sense. So a new fate was agreed for Lin - Toph would carry the responsibility that she had taken upon herself. She would raise Lin as her own, her mother, guardian and teacher in all things until she was old enough to make her own way in the world. Katara's spirit was still raw from loss and she was reluctant to let another family member go, even to a friend. Still she saw her niece could not come with her and Aang, their travels often fraught with danger. She hugged them both even as the tears rolled down her cheeks.
It was a sombre parting. The friends all embraced before Aang & Katara set off on yet another in the light of a new dawn. Toph felt the sun upon her face as Lin wriggled awkwardly in her arms as if eager for an adventure of her own. She was already so full of life and strength, just like her parents. Lin gripped at the bracelet which had slipped down to Toph's wrist, stretching it as her new power took effect on the mysterious space earth. Between her finger and thumb Toph took a small slither from it and with deft touch fashioned a new ring around Lin's wrist.
Toph never kept Lin's parentage a secret though it was not often discussed between them. She gave her the privilege of her family name and taught her the skills of the metalbenders. They often had arguments and struggled to connect; Lin was always acutely aware that her origins lay elsewhere as her hair stayed a lighter shade and her figure evolved into something rather different. Their personalties were simply too different, Lin growing with a serious outlook despite Toph's best efforts to engage her in "some good old fashioned fun." Their natural skills and their eyes were the only things that seemed to connect them, both with the same ethereal green hue.
As the years progressed she grew begrudgingly to accept Toph as she began to understand all that she had given her. From time to time Katara came to visit and would tell Lin of her mother and father and how they would have been so proud of her. Aang was rarely able to visit, always away on one mission or another. The one time he did visit Lin refused to talk to him and whenever he approached she would simply walk away to another part of the room, silent and sullen. She never mentioned why but everyone guessed and chose not to challenge her.
Lin was a model student. She grew athletic and powerful with a dedication to duty and a gift for leadership, exactly like her mother. It seemed predestined when she joined the newly formed Police of Republic City and rose through the ranks to become it's Chief in just a few short years. Such a rapid rise earned few friends but much respect within the force, her hard determination for peace and justice making her popular with the citizens going about their daily lives without fear of robbery or attack.
Today Republic City is a busy modern metropolis and her skills and leadership will be needed more then ever. Toph has passed on. The Avatar has been reincarnated once again and a sinister band bent on violence has infiltrated the streets. Hidden beneath her uniform Lin wears the bracelet, fashioned from the meteor piece first given to Toph by her father. To her it is a reminder of the ones who loved her, the one who gave it to her and the ones she never knew.
Chief Lin Bei Fong will do anything and everything to keep the people of Republic City safe – even if that means supporting the one who failed her parents a lifetime ago.