Can we talk? by larissa
"Can I talk to you?"
Lin Bei Fong was in her office, trying to fill in the paperwork about the events that had taken place on the pro-bending arena the previous night. She had been so lost in her thoughts that the matter of locking her door hadn't even passed through her mind.
Looking up from one of the reports, she regretted not doing so.
"What would you have to talk to me?"
The bitterness in her tone made the woman at the door flinch, but she didn't leave.
The two brunettes stared at each other in silence for a moment.
"Tenzin told me about last night."
Turning away from Pema and back to her work, Lin scoffed.
"Of course he did. He is your husband, isn't he?"
This time, the venom in her tone wasn't even masked and the younger woman clenched her fists, trying to control the anger rising in her chest.
"I'm trying to talk to you, can't you at least try and be civil, Lin?"
Pema's outburst was sudden and the Police Chief stood up, glaring at her, before bending her metal ropes to close the office door.
"It's Chief Bei Fong to you. Don't you forget that."
Despite the rude response, her tone was softer than before. Lin set back down, grabbing one of the reports and skimming through it as if there was no one else in the room with her.
Pema felt her annoyance subside. She had been expecting a much more violent reception than this, yet, the coldness she was receiving only served to make her feel guilty. Well, Lin had always been very good at getting what she wanted.
Unfortunately for her, though, so was Pema.
The air acolyte walked to the chair in front of the chief's desk and sat down, waiting for some reaction from the other woman.
"We used to have so much to say to each other, Lin." She lowered her caramel eyes to her intertwined hands. "What happened?"
There was a sharp sound as Lin's metal pen hit the desktop. She took her eyes from the paper she'd been signing and glared at the woman before her.
"Stop making yourself into the victim, Pema. We both know what you did." Her words were pure ice as she fixed the other with a sharp look. "Just because it's been a while, it doesn't mean it doesn't hurt. It's not that I need him, I never did, but he was all had left."
She paused, pressuring her lips into a thin line.
"And you knew it."
Pema blinked, feeling herself diminish with such an accusation.
"You didn't love him, Lin. Tenzin was your punching bag, much more of a brother than a boyfriend. The only thing you did was hurt each other. You were turning him into a mess!" She took a deep breath, calming herself down, before bringing her eyes to meet Lin's. "You didn't love him, but I did."
The Chief shifted her gaze to the wall behind Pema, a remarkably still expression on her scarred face.
"That might be true, but it still didn't give you the right to do what you did."
The other made an exclamation of incredulity.
"I confessed my feelings for him! Nothing more, nothing less! I didn't force myself on him, I didn't seduce or steal him away from you." Pema scowled at Lin, crossing her arms over her chest. "You were already broken."
This seemed to do it, because Lin smashed a fist against her desk, startling the pregnant woman.
"Yes, we were broken! My mother had died, Lin, and you had been there! You knew what it had done to me and what it had done to my relationship with Tenzin. I had to take her position here, as Chief." She waved a hand to indicate the Police Quarters. "And that meant that I couldn't stay with him at the temple, that I couldn't be what he wanted me to be, a wife. My career and the safety of this city, the city my mother and his father helped built, were too important for me."
Lin closed her eyes, trying to suppress the memory of Toph and Aang.
"You had always been there, hadn't you? His first acolyte student, the little girl with brown eyes that had this admiration for Tenzin; an admiration that I, at first, didn't think about too much. You grew up with us, turned into my friend, and you still had the audacity to fall for him!"
Pema closed her eyes, trying to block out the effects of Lin's words.
"I didn't want to. I didn't mean for it to happen, but… The more time we spent, the more I realized how wrong the two of you were for each other. You were friends, almost siblings, not lovers. And the two of you knew that, in a way, but were too scared to do anything about it. Because of how much you had already lost, specially after Bumi and Kya left, you were afraid of losing each other too."
A bitter laugh came from Lin, as she watched Pema with disdain.
"And we did. We lost each other. Yet, Tenzin had you. I was alone."
They looked at each other for a second, before Pema reached across the desk and gripped Lin's hand.
"It's not too late, you know. He told me about last night, about your promise and how you agreed to let things go for a night in order to help securing the arena." The acolyte leaned closer to the desk, furrowing her brows in worry. "We are preoccupied about you. I don't know what Torlock might do after yesterday. He is a vile, greedy man, but, above it all, he likes to be the center of attention. If he thinks punishing you as an example will help his image, that is what he'll do."
Lin stared at Pema's grip at her hand, her jaw set as she heard what the other had to say.
"He won't dare to mess with me. I don't need yours, nor Tenzin's worry." And she pulled back her hand, spinning her chair so that she was looking out the window, instead of at Pema. "If you don't mind, I have much to do. And, if I heard correctly, Tenzin doesn't like when you exhaust yourself. It isn't good to do so in your condition."
The other frowned, looking down at her swollen belly before getting up. The woman bit back her usual retort to people's concern about her activities while carrying.
I'm not helpless, I'm just pregnant.
She hadn't talked to Lin in so long, almost twelve years, but it still felt so wrong to have to watch her words around an old friend. Pema knew it was her fault too, but it had been her happiness on the line as well. Sometimes, though, the woman wished she had dealt with the matter more carefully.
"Tenzin misses you. I wish I had done things differently, talked to you before going to him, because I miss my friend as well." She looked back at the chief, while holding the door open. "I remember the days we had each other's backs, how much fun we had, how much good we did. I wish we could get that back."
Pema sighed, a sad smile on her lips. She took a step, getting out of the office, when Lin turned to her, finally replying.
"I'll think about it."
So, I watched the sixth episode of LOK yesterday and I gotta say, I totally called it. Linzin happened guys, it happened. Anyway, this is a mix of Linzin, Pemzin and Pemlin friendship, because I felt like it. I hope people like it.