Round One, for the Pro-Bending Circuit!

Promts used

ornament, "Someone's sensitive, the third promt is the quote in the summary.

She shot up from her bed, covered in sweat and gasping for air. The metal frame of her bed creaked and groaned as it was bent out of shape.

Lin raised a shaking hand up to her face, pressing her palm against her forehead. The other cluched the covers tangled at her waist. Trying to take some calming breaths and erase the nightmare from her memory, she threw the covers to the side and swung her legs over the mattress. This was the first time she had had that nightmare in years, the nightmare where she got her bending taken away. Why now of all times, would she think of it?

She sat there for a few minutes, taking everything in, when she heard a soft knock on her door. "Lin? Are you all right? I heard you call out." Without waiting for permission to enter, Suyin opened the door and walked in. Her worried eyes landed on her sister and she tried to give her a smile when they met each other's gazes.

"Go back to bed Su.. I'm fine, I just had some trouble sleeping." Lin let her shoulders fall and her elbows rest on her knees. She placed her head in her hands but the nightmare was still clear in her mind; it was like it happened just the other day. That simple thought made acid rise at the back of her throat and she tightly shut her eyes. Her body was on edge. When Suyin sat down next to her older sister, she flinched at the mere movement of the mattress, "Su..." She had tried to warn. Her little sister didn't pay attention and just shifted closer, laying her head on her shoulder while her arms wrapped around her waist.

They sat like that for a few minutes, until finally Lin was able to calm down. "When Korra first came to Republic City we were having some trouble with this group called the Equalists. They thought that benders were oppressing the non-benders of the world..."

Suyin took the new information in without saying a word. Lin took a shaky breath and continued. "Their leader was this man named Amon. He claimed that he was able to take away anyone's bending. He said that he was cleansing them of their impurities, and he proved it time and time again..."

"Then one day I was on Air Temple Island. Korra and her friends at this point had gone into hiding. I was trying to protect Tenzin's family when the air ships came. Chi-Blockers came down and started to attack. We got away in time, with the help of Tenzin's bison. However, two air ships were chasing us down. They shot a net at us and tried to take us out of the sky."

Suyin was seething with anger at the mere thought that her friend and sister had gone through so much danger and she didn't even know about it. "I was able to catch one of the wires they were shooting at us and I pulled myself on board. Taking out the first air ship was easy, the second one not so much… I guess I wasn't paying attention and they got me. Right when I was about to destroy their tail they came up from behind me and shocked me. It's all a blur after that… All I remember is that I passed out and woke up back on Air Temple Island."

Suyin tightened her grip on her sister's waist, scared of what she was going to hear next.
"Amon was there when I woke up and he demanded that I tell him where Korra was. He said that he would let me keep my bending if I told him..." The silence that followed her words was heavy and was something that Su never wanted to experience again.

"Lin, please don't tell me he took your-" Her voice was cut off when she felt Lin turn around and pull her into an embrace. She buried her face in the crook of her neck.

"He took away my bending and at that moment I felt so helpless. I couldn't feel the earth any more. It felt like I was just there… hanging on by a thread. I tried to fight it, but I couldn't. It was too much, I was so tired and all I wanted to do was let go. At that moment everything came rushing back. In a blink of an eye I saw you and mom and all I wanted was to go back home." Lin pulled her sister tighter, taking comfort in the familiar act.

Then suddenly she felt something wet hit her shoulder. She pulled back to see her little sister furiously wipe away at her tears. "Why are you crying?" She questioned.

"Oh Lin I'm so sorry!" Suyin let the tears fall and she lunged towards her sister, wrapping her arms around her neck. Lin, shaking her head but with a small smile on her face nonetheless, moved to stroke soothing circles on the small of her sister's back.

"Someone's sensitive..." Lin said, trying to kill the tension in the air with the snarky remark, but that only made the younger woman tighten her grip on her sister.

"And you aren't? Lin you lost your bending and you're acting like it's not a big deal!" Her voice was shaky from the tears and Lin pulled back, looking at her sister as she wiped away the tears with the pad of her thumb.

"Korra was able to give me my bending back...and in the end Amon disappeared… it's all an ugly nightmare. I'm fine now, so stop crying."
Suyin glared at her sister and slapped away her hand. She knew what Lin said was true but behind her green eyes she knew that there was something deeper than a recurring nightmare. She didn't want to push her big sister any further then she already had, but she was still worried.

Then, Lin's eyes fell on Suyin's chest when she caught sight of a small little ornament hanging by a gold chain. "You still have that thing after forty years!"

Suyin looking at her in confusion, followed her line of sight until she saw that the little flying boar had came out from under her night shirt. "Of course I still have it! You gave it to me on my fifth birthday. I don't remember it well, but not once have I taken it off." She smiled at the tiny ornament with fondness. "Whenever I was feeling sad I would look at this and then I would think of you and mom." Fresh tears made her eyes shine in the dull light of the room.

"I'm glad we were able to make things work out between us." Lin smiled and pulled her sister into another embrace.

"So am I. Now I don't have to worry about being alone anymore, because now I know you have my back."

"We're family Lin, that's what we do."

She smiled and fell back on the bed looking up at the ceiling. Suyin got up and looked at the bent metal frame. "It must have been some nightmare," she whispered after she moved her hands in the air and bent the metal back into its original form. She jumped back onto the bed, making Lin roll over to give her sister some room.

After a moment of silence Lin closed her eyes, content to just lie there with her sister and drift off to sleep, but when she heard her sister's voice she knew that that was not going to happen anytime soon.
"Lin...I want you to live in Zaofu with me."

The demand was so sudden that for a moment, she didn't know what to say. Was she ready to leave her home? The place that she had vowed to protect?

But then she thought of all the pain that the city had caused her, and how all she had gotten in return was trouble. Maybe a new start was just what she needed. A new place, new faces. The thought made her a little hesitant, but she was excited at the idea of something new and unknown.
"You can be the head of my security, then I won't have to worry about the safety of my family." Suyin's voice was begging, her arm falling on her sister's stomach. Lin let a small chuckle escape her lips. Maybe leaving Republic City was what she needed…

"Alright, when do we leave?"