"I love you baby girl," Toph told her small daughter, a smile on her lips as she brushed her fingers through little Lin's hair. Her eyes never fully on her, but the woman tried as she felt for every move of her little girl through the vibrations of the earth beneath her feet.

"Love you to, mommy!" Lin happily exclaimed as a happy and bubbly expression was worn on her face.

Toph continued to smile, though she felt something stir in the earth that day that warned her about the upcoming trial she was to attend. She was nervous, but at the same time she couldn't let little Lin know about this, because she was a Beifong! A Beifong is never supposed to feel fear! But that… was a lie.

The legendary Toph Beifong of course had her fears, and frankly it wasn't as if she just let everyone know about that. She was afraid of fire benders, and she was afraid to die… but most of all she was afraid of losing her daughter.

Lin blinked curiously up at her mother, she could see that something was bothering the bender with the way that she stood so still. "Momma?"

No answer.

"Momma okay?"

Toph twitched a little, then brought a small smile to her lips that was good enough to wipe the confused look off of Lin's face. "Mommy's all right, don't worry honey." She lowered to the ground on one knee, and reached out blindly as Lin grasped her hand, causing the woman to smile a bit more.

Lin sucked on her right hand's thumb, and with her left she hugged her mother's hand to her face happily. "Do I really have to stay at the island today mommy? I wanna go with momma."

With a light sigh the renowned earth bender closed her blind eyes, and gave a light nod. "Yes, honey."

"Why?" Innocent green eyes looked at her mother, and dropped her right hand from her mouth as she clutched her platypus-bear plush even more.

"Because mommy has to make sure a bad man doesn't escape his sentence," Toph told her as a sense of urging crept up on her. "Or mom will have to kick his ass." A grin appeared on her lips suddenly.

Lin giggled, and nodded with a bright smile. "Yeah, momma can do it."

"Of course she can," came an all too familiar voice.

"Hey, Twinkletoes," Toph grinned as she stood back up, and Lin gave a small wave with her fingers of her right hand that clutched her plush. The woman held onto Lin's other hand still, "Guess it's about time we get over there, huh?"

Aang sighed at the mention of his nickname, but nodded a bit. "Yes, we should probably hurry along before it starts." He shifted a little, and moved his hand from his robe as he raised it to his lips to whistle his call for Appa.

Lin made a small sound, and quickly clutched her mother's thigh as she dropped her platypus-bear on the ground. "Don't go mommy…"

Toph was surprised at first, but then she sighed heavily. "Don't worry, I'll be back afterward, Lin. Mommy promises."

The little girl's eyes creased, there was a look of worry and fear in those green eyes but Toph couldn't see it. She could only feel it.

"Lin," she said as her voice got tougher. "Don't cry, a Beifong never cries."

Lin bit her lower lip a little, and let her mother go and took a small step back, giving her mother a light nod. "N-never cries."

"I will be back afterwards, I promise. Mommy never breaks her promises." Toph told her daughter as she leaned down, and hugged her daughter close. "Just remember that if anything happens, no one can defeat your mother. Beifong's are undefeatable." She smiled lightly, and kissed Lin on the head.

"A Beifong never loses," Lin said with a nod. She might have been little, but so far she believed that it was true because her mother always came back no matter what happened while she stayed on the island.

"Now," the earth bender started, "Mommy loves you, and I want you to be a good girl for her, all right?"

Lin took a deep breath, and nodded, "Lin will be good! I promise!" She chimed, and stood up straight after picking up her plush from the ground.

"Good, now I'll see you later, kiddo." Toph moved over to Appa and Aang when the air bison landed on the ground.

The little Beifong stood there, and watched as her mother left with her uncle Aang, wanting to stand there until she returned.

Late at night Aang returned to the island, but he was alone. And the others, like Katara for one example, knew just from the expression on the avatar's face that something went wrong.

Lin came running out towards Aang, and looked for her mother while calling out, "Mommy?" But when she didn't see her those innocent confused eyes looked up at her uncle. "Where's mommy?"

Aang glanced towards Katara, but in his heart he knew that Toph would want him to tell her. But he didn't want to, because it was too painful for him to even admit to himself. "Lin, dear…"

She looked at him intently, waiting to know where her mother was and she reached out to grab his robe but she received a tight hug from her uncle instead.

"You're mommy isn't coming home," Aang told her, keeping the young earth bender close. "She…" He was having a terrible time trying to figure out how to tell her.

"Mommy's dead." Lin connected the dots herself, and she could feel her heart painfully racing, but from all the years of facing the training she received with her mother she remembered something her mother said. And it made the young girl's head hang, and she went silent, all the while Aang's arms hugged her tighter with a silent nod.

"I'm sorry, Lin." The avatar's voice was low, painstakingly guilt ridden.

Lin silently pulled away, and dropped her plush as she walked back indoors. She knew that her mother would probably yell at her for crying, but she couldn't help it. Silent tears slid down her face as she quietly crept back to her bedroom, and curled herself up under the blanket.

"A Beifong never cries, Lin."

She clutched her blankets tighter around herself, and shut her eyes tightly in hope that this was just a bad dream.

"No matter what happens, I love you Lin, and I will always be will you. Be strong, no matter what."

Taking a deep breath she didn't let those tears continue to fall for more than five minutes after she got back to her room, and from that moment on she knew she had to be strong. She had to be, for her mother's legacy.