In 120 AG Lin Beifong was born unexpectedly to the world renown Chief of Police of Republic City, Toph Beifong. The baby girl wouldbe equally known around the world as the daughter of the Greatest Earthbender in the world and inventor of metalbending, and the granddaughter to Lao Beifong, the founder of the first joint business venture between an Earth Kingdom Citizen and a Fire Nation Citizen. The baby girl instantly became heir to a legacy, and a fortune with a last name that would never be able to escape.
In 126 AG Suyin Beifong was born unexpectedly to the world renown Chief of Police of Republic City, Toph Beifong. The baby girl became the daughter of the Greatest Earthbender in the world and inventor of metalbending, and the granddaughter to Lao Beifong, the founder of the first joint business venture between an Earth Kingdom Citizen and a Fire Nation Citizen. The baby girl seemed to only inherit her mother's last name. Her six year old big sister was already promised the family company and fortune, expected to master earthbending by the age of eleven, and make appearances at the annual celebration commemorating the end of the war.
127 AG
Little Lin was secretly relieved when Suyin was born, but she wouldn't admit it. Emotions were a weakness, a waste of time and energy that she could use to practice her forms and do an extra round of sparring. She could save her energy for another dreadfully boring meal with an ettiquette tutor because the Spirit world would sooner be engulfed in flames before Toph was ever witnessed by anyone being polite ever softest the Police Chief ever became was civil, and even that was an incredibly generous term. Lin looked forward to being able to share some of her mother's expectations with her little sister.
"We could train together and braid hair and go to the parks on the afternoons that Mom has to pull a double shift. We could be best friends, you and me, what do you think?" Lin asked her baby sister.
"Come on, kid. It is time to get back to training." Lin took a deep breath and followed her mother outside lazily. Her mother tied a blindfold around her next.
"Remember to feel the earth. It is only with the heart that one can see rightly, what is essential is invisible to the eye.[1]" Toph yelled raising a rock out of the ground for Lin to pounce on like a human version of whack a mole. Lin ran after earth mound after earth mound. Then when she pounced on the next, Toph bent it up, striking her child softly enough in the face to not break anything or bruise too badly, but enough to hurt.
"Ow!" Lin cried out ripping off the blindfold, rubbing the bridge of her nose and her forehead, tears stinging her eyes.
"You should have seen that coming!" Toph scolded. "Tell me what you did wrong!" Toph barked sternly with her hands on her hips.
"The rock was levitating! How could have possibly seen it with my feet. Seismic sense deals with vibrations IN the Earth!" Lin cried out loud.
"Earth is earth, Lin. Whether or not it is floating shouldn't make a difference! And ENOUGH crying! This is the third time this week! I thought I birthed an earthbender, not a tearbender. Get your act together, or you will never reach your full potential. Are you a Beifong or did the healers switch my real daughter with someone else at birth?" Toph asked.
Lin's body shook with fury. Her lip quivered and her lower eyelashes grew heavy with tears, but her dusty hand wiped them away before they could fall. Toph smirked.
"DO IT ALREADY!"
Lin's heart rate had increased drastically. Her faced turned red, but Toph wouldn't have been able to see.
"EARTHBEND, LINNY! LIKE YOU MEAN IT! PROVE TO ME YOU'RE NOT WEAK!" Toph yelled trying to encourage her girl to fight more courageously and more liberally.
Lin raised a rock almost as big as herself and launched it at her mother who effortlessly slid to the side on a mastery level earth wave with her hands folded neatly behind her back. It became a chase. Lin was out for revenge, but her six-year-old's attacks were pathetic against the Greatest Earthbender In the World.
Lin finally fell on her hands and knees in fatigued delirium. "I give up! You win!" she cried letting her tears fall freely, looking up with pleading eyes at her mother who still wore her armor, until the minute she had to shower and then sleep.
"Lin Beifong, listen to me, for I will only ever say this once, and I shouldn't ever have to say it again. Never give up. You are not weak. You just need to learn when to wait and listen. I know earthbenders are supposed to face things head-on, but if you know I am going to run you into the ground, It would be smarter to wait until I wore myself out before striking," Toph said crouching down on the ground, lifting her daughter to her feet again, gently.
"It's not fair. You never tire."
"Well you know what, Linny? Life isn't fair. I'm not going to lie to you ever. I won't falsely lead you to believe anything worthwhile will come easy. I won't risk your heart breaking when you're faced with reality," Toph explained. "Now, lets go inside and have dinner. I had Gong pick up pork chive dumplings."
"Dumplings aren't healthy, Mom."
"I got steamed, not fried this time. Now shut up and be grateful you have food on the table and sweet earth beneath your feet."
"What about a bed in which to sleep and a roof over our heads?" Lin asked smartly.
Toph frowned and lifted her hand, bending a bed, and then both hands to make two walls of a tent. "Lin, the earth is all you will ever need."
Notes:
I thought I might explore how Lin may have become the jaded, cranky, sad, cynical Chief of Police that the show portrays her as. The Chief of Police whose heart is bigger than the sun, but is hidden behind a wall of cold, neglected steel. Why does this woman sacrifice herself for others after they hurt/betray her time and time again, lie to her face, and disrespect her openly.
Let me know what you think! If I should continue or not... because I am not really good at writing emotions... and I think if this continues, it might include some heavy stuff... I honestly don't know if this idea is worth pursuing... All criticism is welcomed and greatly appreciated.
[1]"The Little Prince" by Antoine de St. Exupéry
