Empty didn't cover all the thing she felt, nor did alone, left behind, smashed or crushed. She was all of that in one human being, one last stand in a fight against itself. Her roots were pulled out of ground, literally, and she could feel herself drift away from the earth she was bonded with all her life. She couldn't feel her surrounding and she was scared of the darkness that came with that, of the unknown, of the blindness. Though her eyes could still see her surrounding, she couldn't feel it, she couldn't listen. All her communication she did with others was with her senses and – if she felt the urge to use it – her voice. Never did she understood how much she exactly used her sysmatic senses, but now she did, and she wished she never had founded out.

The flight to the south pole was harsh and cold and made the depression feeling in Lin's stomach only worsen. She felt heavy under the weight of something she couldn't place. The feeling was new to her and it caused her to lose her breath. She gave it soon a name after a few hours of flight: death. She felt to urge to crawl to the site of the basket and just throw herself over the edge, towards the ground below. That way she could end her life with the one thing she always lived for – and lived with – and that she couldn't bend anymore. She could become one with the earth again and end it all. She would never feel these afoul things again and she would stop think about what happened half a day ago.

Every time somebody looked at her Lin looked away, every time someone shove towards her, Lin shoved away. No one had touched her since they found her on airtemple island, and she was hoping to extend that a little bit longer. The last touch of a man had caused her bending to disappear and she got goose bumps just by thinking of someone touching her again. Only thinking about it made her want to vomit and she felt the wall she build around her growing thicker and higher, causing her to be separated from the group even more.

The fact that everyone around her was spending their time and energy in Korra, made everything only worse. Yes, Lin did understand Korra was the avatar and that her being was more imported than everyone else around, but she felt forgotten and shoved aside. Not only Korra's bending was taken away by Amon, also her bending, what could be even worse in Lin's opinion. Of cores, Korra also lost the one thing that she thought she would never lose, but she didn't lost her airbending and she didn't lost her sight. Lin was practically blind now, even though nobody would have agreed to that. She could still see with her eyes though, but every time of the day she was bounded with the earth, with the vibration going through it, with life itself. This bound with the earth was the one thing that kept Lin alive since she lost everything and everyone she loved…

There was one person who didn't took interest in the avatar, nor in the rest of the company. A few inches away from Lin sat Kya. She had her arms crossed over her upraised knees, her face halfway buried in her arms and skirt, leaving one eye available to look at her surrounding. Her torques eyes were focussed on Lin's bare feet, that hadn't been moving since they left the ground. Kya hadn't looked at Lin's face, knowing it would only push the fifty year old woman only further away, but she still wouldn't have done it if she could. In fact, she didn't looked at Lin's face because she would she how broken the woman was, how crumbled and shattered her face would look like, how less energy there was left in her eyes…

At first, Kya came along to look out for Tenzin, Puma and the kids, but when she found out Lin lost her bending to she couldn't help but only think about how horrible she would feel. Kya saw how Lin shivered and then closed her eyes, her lack of energy must have been to much for her to handle.. After a few seconds Lin was already asleep. Kya grabbed her bag and pulled out a thin blanked, which she wrapped carefully around Lin's slightly wounded feet, keeping them warm.

She just sat there, alone and forgotten, trying to pull of the protection covering her left underarm. with her fingers she tried to work her way out of her uniform, but they were trembling and her sight was blurred by tears. She didn't feel much except for emptiness and a black, suicidal feeling. Her breath was heavy and her threat itched with every inhale and exhale. She took a deep breath, trying to preventing herself to fall into the dark again.

After a while she gave up on freeing herself out of her own suit and just sat there, on top of a need made bed, back against the wall. Her hair fell in wisps around her face and the mud on her body had dried and started to fall off, making a mess of the room she was in. Her armour was black, making it harder to see that she had major injuries on her left side. The wounds were already healing but still bleeding a little. The smaller injuries on her body were healing as well, leaving her howl body itchy and irritated. Her feet were placed on the ground, but they were cold and useless after what Amon did to her. Never were Lin's feet as cold as on that moment, it was a painful reminder of everything she tried to push away the last day. In silence she looked down at her body, a vague voice wondering how to get out of her armour.

After a few hours Kya stepped into the room, seeing Lin sitting broken against the wall. Lin didn't noticed her, not even at the moment Kya sat in front of her on the other bed. Her gaze was somewhere else, back in time and at another place. Tears stopped streaming down her face, but the once that slipped over time had left her eyes red. Lin hadn't felt the urge to move an inch and her head was still leaning at the wall, her gaze forward. When Lin tried to get her gaze back to the here and now, she vaguely saw Kya, who looked at her with wide eyes and a worried look on her face.

'Lin-' Kya whispered, but stopped. Kya probably couldn't find a word how to describe the situation, how to get Lin thus far to let Kya help her, or only to let Kya in.

'Go away.' Her voice was a hoarse sound that came from far away. her throat was painfully dry and not used to talking after so many hours of silence. 'I don't want you here.' She had never let anybody in at a weak point in her life, not even Tenzin. At this point, her life could be described a lot worse than 'a weak point'. Some may call it 'near to death', what made clear how much Lin did not wanted to be helped by someone.

'I know.' And after that, silence took over. Kya just sat there, looking at Lin from a distance. Kya didn't move, she just sat on the edge of her bed, leaning with both elbows on her knees. She didn't looked Lin straight in the eye, but Lin knew Kya had all her attention pointed towards her. Every word she spoke, every move she made, every breath she took, Kya would notice.

After a while, Lin relaxed a bit, not knowing if it came because of Kya's nearness or because of the fact that her body and mind were burned out, but the relaxation was welcome. Her muscles loosened and she could feel how the itches of the pain were fading away.

As if Kya was playing on that, she moved a few inches forward, reaching out her left hand to place it on Lin's. Lin tightened again, looking at Kya with wide, scared eyes. Her first reaction was to pull her hand away, but Kya's grip was to tight and Lin didn't had enough power in her arm. After that, Kya moved forward somehow more, placing her other hand on Lin's metal arm plate, what was covering her underarm. Lin had tried to take it off with one of Sokka's old weapons (he had a lot, it must have been an obsession or some kind), and that had left some deep grooves and scratches. Lin still felt the urge to run and hide, but didn't surrendered to it. She knew, deep down below, that Kya would never hurt her.

Kya didn't stop there. With a tight grip around Lin's hand she started to loosen the metal around her arm, using her thin, long fingers and her sharp nails. With a lot of patient from both sides, Kya found a safety lock and pulled off the metal, leaving Lin's arm unprotected. Kya dropped it on the side of the bed and moved her hands slowly towards Lin's other arm, carefully, trying not to scare or heart Lin.

After what must be a long time, she got Lin out of the metal covering her arms and legs. She threw it all on the same pile, the pile of metal scrap that used to protect Lin but now - after Amon - only kept her imprisoned.

The two woman didn't spoke a word. In fact, they both didn't wanted to. Sweat was streaming down Lin's face, back and arm, making her almost slide out of the last piece of metal around her waist and shoulders. She was still scared, looking like a beaten, cornered cat. Kya, on her turn, was also sweating. Trying not to scare the fifty year old woman in front of her and getting the armour off of her body, made her almost sweat more than Lin, but she was a few steps away of freeing her best friend.

'You okay?' Kya asked, quietly, hoping not to push Lin further away. She already came so far; she didn't want to start all over again.

'No.' The answer came quick and soft, and made Kya tear up. She was shocked by the fact that Lin had admitted she was doing awful, that she didn't felt good at all. Kya knew her as the woman who always had a word ready, who always made her stand and never backed away from a fight. If Kya could only give Lin her bending back…

'Don't move.' Kya said, more as a question then as an order, and moved down on the floor, placing herself between Lin's legs.

If Lin could had moved she would have run away out of pure shock, but her muscles wear weakened and slowly giving up, making her more and more feeling like a puppet, left on a few strings that made her a living being.

Kya started by placing her hands under Lin's arm, on her sides. Lin could see the shock on her face when she felt half dried blood under her right hand, but Kya didn't said anything. Kya started searching for the safety lock on her upper armour, and Lin heard herself saying 'On the back.'.

Kya stopped searching, but kept her hands on Lin's sides. Lin was still looking down at Kya and their eyes met, leaving them both looked a bit surprised. Lin because she saw Kya had slipped some tears, and Kya because she saw Lin healing a bit beneath her gentle touch.

'Can you lay down, on the bed?' Kya asked, her voice trembling.

Lin tried, but soon Kya helped her, making sure Lin could see every move Kya made. Lin had excepted Kya, letting her in and letting her close, but she was still afraid Kya would start touching her face. If Kya did that, Lin would possibly faint out of pure angst.

But Kya didn't placed a hand higher than Lin's breast, trusting that when she didn't, Lin excepted her help and nearness. Kya and Lin knew each other since they were born, and Kya knew that when Lin was in shock, she would only let Kya come close (or at least, closer than all the others). Kya only saw her in shock three times; the first time when Tenzin and Lin broke up, the second time when her mother disappeared and the third time… The third time when she saw her laying there, in the basket on Oogi's back, exhausted and closer to death than she had ever been.

When Lin laid down on the bed, back towards the wall but leaving enough space for Kya to get started at getting Lin's armour of, she felt like she started to collected herself together a little. Kya had her worked out of the last peace in an instant. It snapped open and Kya tried to pull Lin up a bid, so she could shove the metal off of Lin.

Lin hadn't felt more free than now, free from the cold cage keeping her reminded by the fact she lost her bending. She also felt free because she finally saw that there was a person who was willing to help her and – above all- was able to help her.

'Thank you.' Lin mutter. If it wasn't for the cold, she would have fallen asleep from the moment she stopped moving her lips. Lin closed her eyes, but still heard that Kya was searching in the big closed that was standing against the short side of the room. Soon after that, she felt how something soft draped over her body, covering her scraped, red, itchy skin. After that, more layered followed and she felt the warmth getting a hold of her.

When silence started to take over once more, Lin whispered, prayed, 'Stay.'. Kya didn't gave an answer at first, but then Lin felt how the blankets were pushed away and soon, she also felt an arm slipping around her waist, gently pushing her chest against Kya's. Again, she felt how Kya made sure not to place her hands higher than her breast. Lin didn't felt the scary feeling she had felt the times Kya touched her before. Instead, he felt safe, warm and loved laying in her best friend arms. With her last bit of energy she moved her head a little forward, placing her face just in front of Kya's. She felt her warm breath gently blow against her skin, and the last thing she remembered before falling asleep was how lucky Lin was to have her.