After a 16 hour day at the police station, Chief Lin Beifong wanted nothing more than to sleep for the next week. The thought of collapsing into her bed was the only thing on Lin's mind as she walked home. But when she arrived at her apartment, Lin found Kya cooking something in her kitchen.
"Hello, Lin!" Kya greeted her cheerfully. She smiled wide at Lin as she stirred something in a large pot.
"Kya, how did you get in here? No, don't tell me. I don't want to know." Lin knew that Kya's method of entry was certainly illegal. And she was not in the mood to arrest her sometimes girlfriend. It was too late for Lin to want to deal with the paperwork. She had had enough of that already.
"How was work, love?" Kya asked. She leaned across the tiny kitchen to give Lin a peck on the cheek. "Arrest any bad guys?"
Kya was definitely in a girlfriend mood, Lin decided. She did not have the patience or energy to deal with that at the moment. Even though Kya was cooking something that smelled like heaven. "Work was long, and I am exhausted, Kya. Now, will you tell what you're doing here, so I can go to bed and sleep for a week." Lin massaged the bridge of her nose.
Kya pouted at her. "I'm here to take care of the woman I love because I know that she doesn't do a good enough job of it herself." She turned her back on Lin and continued cooking, but her movements were stiffer. She was mad at Lin.
Lin sighed. She needed to apologize to Kya, but it was too late, and she was too tired. Apologizing to Kya for every brutally honest thing she said didn't sit with her. So in typical Lin fashion, she left Kya in the kitchen and went into her bedroom. To call it a room would be generous, it was just the corner of her studio apartment with her bed hidden behind a curtain. Lin bended her armor into her wardrobe and collapsed onto her bed.
Lin loved Kya, but that woman could be such a pain in Lin's neck. She had little regard for the law and flitted in and out of Lin's life as she saw fit. It was infuriating, and Lin knew she should just end it with Kya, but every time that she showed up on Lin's doorstep it was impossible to not let Kay back into her life. Like now, for example. Lin could hear Kya singing in the traditional Southern Water Tribe language. She knew enough of the language to know that Kya was singing a traditional monster ballad. These were sung by the Water Tribe shamans of old to rid villages of angry spirits. They were eerie songs and always gave Lin goosebumps.
"Would you quit singing that infernal monster ballad?" She called to Kya. "I'm trying to sleep, not get rid of angry spirits." The singing stopped, and Lin nodded her approval and rolled onto her side.
"I was singing that because an angry spirit in the apartment could be the only reason why you're being so cold to me." Kya whispered, her face inches from Lin's.
Lin jumped. "Shit, Kya! Do you want to give me a heart attack?"
"No, I just wanted to give you this soup. You need to eat, Lin. You look far too pale." Kya sat down on the bed next to Lin and put the back of her hand on Lin's forehead. She made a tsk noise and shook her head. She lightly touched a greenish bruise on Lin's collarbone. "Do you even have the healers at the station look at you after a fight, or whatever it is you do to injure yourself all the time?"
Lin shrugged as grunted as she wolfed down her soup in minutes. It was delicious, like all of Kya's cooking. She felt much better with a full belly and took advantage of a moment to survey Kya. She looked as good as she ever had. Her hair had more gray in it than before, but Kya was still a very beautiful woman. "You got rid of your dreadlocks. It looks much better this way." Lin commented.
"Yeah. I decided it was time to grow up a little. So the locks are gone, and Mom hated them anyway. I was worried she would shave my head while I was sleeping, just to get rid of them."
Lin chuckled at the thought of Katara shaving her daughter's head. "She would." Lin wanted to keep talking with Kya, but she was overcome by her exhaustion. "I'm sorry Kya. I need to sleep." She yawned and laid down on her bed. Lin was asleep instantly.
Kya sighed at Lin. She worked herself to the bone and did not take any time to recover. Lin was such a hero, a self-deprecating one, but still a hero at heart. She removed the soup bowl from Lin's grasp and began to move around the apartment, tidying up. Absentmindedly, Kya started singing another monster ballad. The sounds of her song penetrated Lin's sleep, and she dreamed of spirits and snowy landscapes and a beautiful woman just beyond her reach.