This is based very, very loosely off an idea and character from my previous story Silence of the Sound, though you definitely do not have to read any of that one to read this. There is merely an overlap between the two, and this could possibly serve as a small prequel of sorts.

Set when Lin and Tenzin are quite young, twelve and thirteen respectively, so a while before the beginning of Korra. No spoilers for the show.

Enjoy!

Sticks and Stones

Lin looked up from her homework – she was nearly finished, filling in the mathematics chart was all she had left now that she had decided she would ask Tenzin about the history assignment tomorrow morning in return for her numbers, not wanting to do the reading herself – when she heard the front door open. She paused, setting down her ink brush, to listen in silence.

It wasn't her mother, surely. Toph wouldn't be home for hours yet, if she came home at all that night. And Suyin – well, Su was off doing Su-like things Lin had no interest in looking after. Whoever this was hadn't knocked, but it wasn't her family. She frowned, not anxious but certainly confused.

"Lin?"

It was Tenzin. She slid off her chair and padded from her bedroom out into the hallway, finding him in the foyer immediately. "What are you doing here?" she asked, but she could tell right away something was wrong with his hand by the way he was cradling it against his chest. His eyes were red, dried tear tracks marking his cheeks. "What's wrong with you?"

He started crying again at her question and her mood softened instantly. Without really knowing what she was doing, she reached out for his hand and drew it away from his robes. Along the back of it and all across his knuckles a large gash was gently gushing blood. Lin gasped, nearly recoiling from the sight, though she recovered herself quickly and turned his hand over to see his palm. The skin there was clean. She quickly started dabbing at the wound with her shirt to get rid of the mess, her twelve-year-old mind not sure what else to do.

"What happened?" she wondered aloud, her eyes wide as she tugged him toward the bathroom down the hall.

He followed her silently, sniffling and using his other hand to wipe at his eyes. He didn't argue when she started digging around in the well-stocked medicine cabinet for a salve to use, suddenly remembering what her mother did when she returned home from work with bloody wounds.

"Come on, Tenzin, answer my question!" she demanded, turning the tap on and shoving his hand under the running stream of water without giving him a chance to resist her.

He yelped, trying only once to pull away before giving up when she tightened her grip on his wrist. "It was Rala," he explained through his hiccups. "He-he shoved me and I fell. I cut my hand on a stone."

Lin scowled, her lips and eyebrows turning down together as fury pooled heavily in her stomach. "If he only pushed you, you wouldn't be crying. You would have taken the cut to your mom with some made up story about what happened instead of coming here."

Tenzin fell silent again, but that was all the answer she needed. Rala was a few years older than she was – a year yet older than Tenzin – and he had moved to Republic City with his parents the previous fall. He had, of course, started schooling with them in the only public school the city had. For some reason quite unknown to them both, the moment Rala set eyes on Tenzin, he had bullied him mercilessly. Tenzin, the kind soul he was, refused to fight back. Lin did what she could to stand between them when she was around, but that beginning quarter their classes had been divided by age when more teachers where hired; she and Tenzin were no longer taking all their subjects together, which meant he was at Rala's mercy more and more often.

"What did he say?" Lin pressed heatedly. She turned off the water and reached for the gauze she had prepared along with the ointment, being gentle with him despite her anger. "Was it something about the Air Nation? Something about Lord Zuko, or the Fire Nation?" she attempted to guess, going off of what Rala's last barbs had been about, random and mean-spirited as they were. "Did he say you looked like a sky bison again? I told you, Tenzin, the best response to that is to call him a -"

"He said my dad doesn't love me," Tenzin suddenly whispered.

She stopped rubbing the salve across his skin, too surprised by his response to continue. But then she shook her head quickly and pushed on mindlessly with a clean piece of gauze, almost at a loss. "What? No way, that is so not true, you know it's not true! I mean, really -"

"He said the only reason my dad pays any attention to me is because I'm an Airbender," Tenzin muttered, lowering his head. His tears stung his eyes again, running down over his cheeks, and this time they were too many for him to attempt to wipe away. "That he loves Kya and Bumi for being his kids, but me only for my bending. What…what if he's right, Lin? W-what if Dad really does only love me b-because I'm an A-Airbender like him?"

"Don't be stupid!" Lin said hurriedly, horrified as he began to sob harder. "Your dad loves you so much it's crazy. He loves all of us – you, Bumi, Kya, me, even Su. He loves us because – I don't know, because we're us, not because of the elements we can bend. Only my mom would do that. I'm pretty sure she wouldn't love me as much if I couldn't Metalbend, don't you?" She grinned at him to show she was joking – kind of – and he gave her a watery smile in return. "But really, your dad loves everyone for no reason at all."

He nodded slowly. "I guess you're right."

"I'm always right, and don't you ever forget it." She was quiet for a moment and, without Tenzin even noticing her shift in behavior, turned toward the hallway. "I was going to go pick up something for dinner, so why don't you wait here and eat with me?" she lied easily. "I'll be right back. You can lie down in my room for a while until you feel better."

"Okay," he agreed, his humor starting to lift slightly. He followed her down the hall, breaking off at her bedroom when she grabbed her shoes to head for the door.

It didn't take long to find Rala once she made her way onto the cobbled streets, her shoes still in her hands. He was in one of the parks near the schoolyard, one the students frequented when the weather was nice and the schoolwork lessened. Temper rising with each step, she broke into a run and rounded the corner to tear down the street, bare feet slapping the stone. She could see him, the muscular Waterbender sitting in the grass surrounded by three friends – friends he treated just as badly as those he bullied.

Rala saw her as she leapt the gate into the park, the easy smile fading from his face. The other boys glanced at one another, trying to decide whether they should leave or stay.

"Looks like the little Airboy's baby girlfriend has come to play," Rala said before the others could make a move one way or the other. They laughed nervously. "What do you want, Beifong?"

"I want you to quit," she seethed, coming to a stop a few feet from where they were sitting. "I don't know what your problem is, but it's getting really old."

"Is it?" He pretended to think for a second, looking around at the others in the grass with him, before setting his gaze on Lin again. "Nah, I don't think so. That kid is too easy – not to mention fun. Does he really go crying to you, a little girl? Wow, he really is pathetic. Aren't you, Airbaby?"

Lin spun around, dropping her shoes when she suddenly felt Tenzin's heartbeat through the earth and hating herself for not noticing it sooner. He was standing at the gated entrance to the park, his expression distressed as he took in what was happening. "Lin?" he whispered.

"Lin?" Rala mocked, holding his hands up on either side of his face and cocking his head to one side in an effort to appear effeminate. "Oh, this is just priceless. His liberator, coming to save the day! If only!" Lowering a hand, he flicked his fingers to send a short burst of water from the pond at the back of the park toward Tenzin. It hit him hard in the shoulder, catching him off balance. He stumbled, surprised at the hit, and twisted to the ground with a cry of pain.

Lin ran to his side, reaching out to help him, but his face was ashen and she pulled back. His ankle appeared to be broken, the bad angle of the fall having put too much pressure on it.

Her features contorted with unconcealed rage, she turned back just as Rala and his companions were attempting to sneak out the back of the park. Tugging enough on the earth to launch herself the distance between them, she soared through the air and pulled Rala to the ground. He screamed in brief panic, not having expected the attack to come so suddenly, and before she could stop herself, she had released her hold on the earth completely to punch him in the face when he rolled them both over. There was a crack as his nose broke, hot blood pouring out over his face and her small fist.

He reared back quickly, his hands going to his nose and then falling when it stung too much to touch. "I'll kill you, Beifong! I'm going to kill you!"

His eyes narrowed dangerously and he pulled back one clenched fist, aiming through tearing eyes for her, but, still on her back, she raised her knee swiftly into his stomach. His hand fell uselessly as he slumped forward, completely winded and unable to fight back – just like Tenzin felt every time Rala had him in his crosshairs and refused to release him unscathed. This was the first time Lin had ever acted violently toward Rala, though. Toward anyone. She scuffled to her feet, not bothering to wipe his blood off yet. Adults would have heard their brawl, she and Tenzin needed to get out of there.

"Stay away from Tenzin," she growled as she slowly backed away, "or next time I'll fight you the way my mother taught me."

Not waiting to see if he even responded, she ran back to her friend and hefted him to his feet despite his pained protests, grabbing her shoes as well. Time to take him to Katara. Scrapes were one thing, broken ankles were definitely not in the repertoire of injuries she could handle.

Plus, she wanted to be as far away as possible when an adult stumbled upon the teenager with the bloody nose she was leaving behind. At least within an hour she could play innocent. As soon as Tenzin was healed and she had a chance to stealthily dip her hand in the bay on the way to his mother…

"Why no, Ma, I have no idea what anyone is talking about, I was here with Tenzin on the island doing homework all night, I don't know how he broke his ankle or how what's-his-name broke his nose, really."

It would work. For maybe ten seconds. But Toph would never ground her for it, that much was certain. She didn't concern herself with her daughter enough to.

At least Rala would never dare hurt Tenzin again. That, truly, was all Lin cared about.