Toph Beifong relocated to Republic City before her daughter was old enough to remember the move. Increasingly renowned for her metalbending capabilities and her capable metalbending students, Avatar Aang had personally invited Toph to the City, offering her the position of Chief of Police. It was well known that Aang was interested in exploring new styles of policing the city's inevitable, regrettable, insatiable criminal element. Several major cities in the world had already adopted metalbending police forces—and had founded their own metalbending academies—under the direct oversight of the mother of metalbending.
These police forces were known for being clean, efficient, fair, and disciplined. It seemed that no matter where she was or how old she had become, Toph Beifong had a prodigious talent for shouting people into shape.
Toph had been greatly pleased and flattered by the Avatar's invitation, and she said that her daughter would now have a perfect position to aim for if she grew up seeing her mother in action. Of course it was only natural that she was asked to fill the position, Toph also had said, and of course only her marvelous powers would serve.
Toph moved for other reasons that were also on behalf of her daughter. If the girl's father insisted on stalking her to Republic City, Toph could and would finally have the authority to toss his butt into jail. Up until then he had been so good at being a sneak, there was not enough proof to have him convicted, and his family's money and influence hadn't exactly hurt his innocence either. Her own family was also insisting that she come to Gaoling; though they couldn't force the Great Toph Beifong to do anything she didn't expressly want to do, they were getting better and better at applying more pressure on her, and at being more annoying. They were getting older, feeling acutely what their lack of an heir would soon entail. As she saw it, she wouldn't be around to be bending any graves for them.
Also, Toph's daughter was an earthbender. Staying in one spot, being stable, would certainly make her training easier. Lin would flourish.
So they had moved. And, soon enough, their moving had more positive consequences for both of them than Toph had hoped for.
It was nice for Toph to have her longtime friends back in her life. Loneliness never had been a problem in the years that she had been away, but once she was no longer without her friends, she realised how profoundly alone she had been without them.
And the first time Sokka had greeted her, with so much audible feeling, her heart had hurt, her chest had hurt. Her face had hurt because she smiled so much as he hugged her.
"Jeez, it's not like I ever said I wasn't going to see you again," Toph had said when she pulled back from Sokka. She made a show of straightening her green and brown cotton tunic. "You didn't have to miss me that much, or pretend as though you did."
"It's been a long time, Toph," Sokka had said, and both of them had been aware of the warmth of his hand on her arm, his long fingers wrapped fondly around her shoulder.
"I guess it really has been," she had said, thinking of the beloved and beautiful two year old girl she now had along with her.
Things had had enough time to change; for one, there was no longer only one airbender in the world. And the stakes for all them were now different.
.
Sokka was so fond of Lin that anyone who saw them together did not think to doubt that she was his daughter. People who did not know him or his history thought of him, What a cool dad he is. People who knew him and his history thought, Has he returned to a childhood sweetheart, and had a sweetheart with her? Sokka's father was proud of his son, and often joked that Sokka had snagged himself a woman noble enough to correspond to his princely status, finally.
Sokka was expecting a joke somewhere along those lines that day, if today were to be the day that his father finally made it back from visiting with family in the Northern Water Tribe. Unseasonably cold autumn weather in the north had created enough ice to cause problems.
Together, he and Lin had come down to the harbour to watch the shipping traffic. Lin had no schooling this Saturday, and Toph was working through the weekend down at the station.
They stood on the quayside, back just enough so that Lin was out of the range of the cold, sparkling spray that came up off of the water because of the wind. Sokka kept a tight grip on Lin's hand, partially loving, very well aware that Lin was a little spitfire who was bound to chase off after something interesting unless she were held in place by her mother's iron boundaries. And these were pure iron boundaries, Sokka would joke to himself, because Lin cannot bend them yet.
The little girl was very well-behaved though, very much taken by the interesting sights. News ships came in practically every three or four minutes. They excited her young imagination with stories she made up for each one, tales about possible treasures and secrets the ships might've carried. She was bundled up in a thick blue fur-lined coat that Sokka had given her. Lin loved the coat for its softness and coziness, and Toph was delighted by it because of its blue colour, and by the knowledge that her daughter appeared as if she could have had parents who hailed from anywhere. This pleased Toph, even if she couldn't see Lin for herself.
At one point Lin pulled on Sokka's hand. He looked down at her. She looked up at him, very serious.
"Sokka?"
"Yes, Lin?"
"When I'm fifteen, will you please take me icedodging?"
Sokka smiled and laughed, growing proud, both of his heritage and of Lin. "So, you think you'll be tough enough for that rite of passage? It's a hard one, you know."
"Hah! I'm definitely tough enough! Mama said that if I could do it, I could be a member of the Water Tribe with you," Lin said.
Sokka got down on one knee, leveling his eyes with Lin's. He patted her head once, and her shoulder once. "Well, my brave little warrior, we'll just have to see when you're fifteen if you have the stuff for the Water Tribe."
Lin leaned forward, some of her loose, windblown hair falling into her eyes. She looked like her mother. "Really?"
"It's a promise."
"All right, yes!" Lin hugged him excitedly then, and then pulled back to punch him in the shoulder. "You better not be lying."
And he wasn't—he meant it. Having Lin so interested in Water Tribe culture was a pleasure, especially when it meant that he could tell her all the long, hyperbole-ridden stories of his raids and adventures in the South Pole. Those entertained her for hours. She also took an endearing liking to his traditional and time-honoured weapon, Boomerang. That it actually did come back with absolutely no use of bending was fascinating, and fun.
One ship that they saw that day happened to be Southern Water Tribe, but it was not one of the ships Sokka was expecting and hoping to see. Seeing it did remind Lin of her decision to one day board one and travel to the South Pole on her own, if Sokka and Auntie Katara didn't take her, or if she didn't sign onto a pirate ship first. No matter what, she was going eventually. Whether or not that was with family, it didn't effect the reality that she would go.
When by the afternoon no hoped-for ships had appeared, Sokka sighed to himself, disappointed, feeling that vague, nagging worry for loved ones still at sea. He and Lin rambled around downtown for a while. He let her pick out where she wanted to go, meaning a short trip to the park and a shop selling armour like her mother's, a definite favourite spot of hers.
Then Sokka took advantage of the Southern Water Tribe tone of the day and suggested that they go eat at a restaurant serving traditional dishes at the edge of the city. The restaurant sat on a vantage point near the base of one of the encircling snow-capped mountains, with a view of the bay that he was a fan of. The sun would be setting shortly, too, so they would have a view of the vast cityscape bathed in twilight, of the windows sparkling with pink and orange and red light.
Lin agreed that eating there would be a pretty great idea.
.
The two of them had a good meal, both ordering meat-centric dishes. That was another thing that endeared her to him: she liked meat. Not just liked it, she loved eating it. Loved the way it tasted, loved the way that she could play with it and sometimes get away with having juices running down her chin at the dinner table with her mom, loved when her mom couldn't see her lack of manners and Sokka just laughed.
Though fog had started to settle in on the bay, Lin could still see Air Temple Island. Several times through the meal she imagined Uncle Aang and Auntie Katara sitting down to dinner with their own kids. She also looked out at the city, and said, "My mom's out there right now, beating up some bad guys."
"Yes, she definitely is," Sokka said.
"She's really strong, you know," Lin said, crossing her arms. Talking about how awesome and strong her mom was was one of her favourite topics of conversation at the table.
Though it didn't exactly count as bragging because everything that she said was true. "Yes, your mom is that. She's the greatest earthbender, you know, and it's really quite awesome how she single-handedly invented metalbending." Sokka smiled.
"Hmm, yeah. That's why she can't be with me all the time. She said she wants to be really, really badly. But I understand," Lin added. Then she turned back to her meal. She picked up a vegetable garnish on her plate, examined it, shuddered disgustedly at it, flicked it across the table at Sokka.
"Lin, you know," Sokka said. He stopped for a moment to look at her and make sure that he had her full attention. "You know, your mom loves you a lot."
"I know."
"I love you, too."
"Yeah, I know that, too." Lin said. She rolled her eyes. Sokka laughed once at that, remembering all of Toph's failed attempts at that simple, exasperated gesture. "It's pretty obvious." Lin sounded positively bored. Like mother, like daughter. It's nice, Sokka thought fleetingly, dealing with a whole family not that great at being emotionally complicated.
Sokka said, "Well, your mom and I have been thinking about seeing each other—"
"But she's blind. How many times do you have to be reminded of that, Sokka?" Lin groaned, happy to adopt her mother's long-standing exasperation with him.
"Well, you—Sorry. What I meant is, Toph and I have thought about spending time together—more time together." Sokka paused, smiling at her before he continued. "And you're lucky! You'd get to hang out a lot me. I was wondering, would you want that?"
"I know." Lin's head was slightly cocked. And then she had said, "What I want is to know, when do I get to call you dad?"
…
The first time that Lin gets to visit her family on Air Temple Island on her own, the only people she can visit with are Katara, Tenzin, and stupidhead Bumi. All three are waiting on the quayside to greet her, though Bumi seems more interested in his little brother than her, with a glow about him that suggests he's got a prank thought out. Lin thinks that if Bumi wants to shove Tenzin into Yue Bay, then Bumi is going to get his butt kicked over the moon.
But everything ends up pleasant. Katara hugs her and Bumi hugs her too, and Tenzin bows to her so Lin bows back.
Then, because she can, she rolls her eyes at him and tackles him. "You're too serious," she says, and before Tenzin can say anything back Bumi hugs them both, and the three of them end up racing up to the Air Temple compound.
Katara smiles and follows closely after, forty-three years old.
When the kids get to the top of the hill Bumi remembers that he has to practise earthbending forms. So he goes off to practise so that he can get them down before his dad comes home. He says, "I'll smell ya later," to Lin, though he doesn't think that Lin has any particular scent to smell, appealing or otherwise.
Lin brushes her hair out of her face and says to Tenzin, "So. What are we doing to do today?"
"I don't know."
"Do I get to pick, then?"
"No," Tenzin says, pouting a bit. "No, you don't get to pick because you picked what we did the last three times you were here."
"Well yeah, because just 'meditating' for hours isn't doing something, Airhead. We should climb trees today."
"We did that before, though."
"Yeah, but how many trees have you got on this island? More than a thousand, I bet."
Tenzin says, "Father said he's planted more than five thousand. And Bumi and Kya and I've planted some too."
Lin smiles. "Do you think I may plant one, too?"
"You should ask Father. I am sure that he would say yes." Tenzin nods. He then notices that Lin's gaze has gone from him to the Air Temple to the large padoga on top.
They look at each other, and Tenzin can feel that Lin wants still go climbing today, but climbing somewhere she hasn't climbed before. Lin touches her hair again, pushing back more drifts that have gotten out of the plait her mother or someone worked her hair into this morning. It's a nice plait, but not enough time was spent on it to make sure that it was woven tight and neat. Lin scratches her neck.
"The only people aloud to go up there are people who belong to the Air Nomads," Tenzin says.
So Lin smiles and takes his hand and says, "Lead the way, Your Airiness."
Tenzin obviously can't see any reason not to, for he leads her into the paper-and-wood temple. The ceiling opens high over them, and there is plenty of room for air in here. Several scrolls hang on the walls with Air Nomad sayings and teachings painted in delicate, light characters. Some of the scolls bear the triple swirl insignia of the Air Nation, too. It's a symbol that makes Lin a little bit proud when she sees it, proud for the two airbenders and proud to be family and friends with them, too.
And here she is, being led up to the highest point in the newest Air Temple. On each storey they stop long enough to look out at the bay and the city and the mountains that seem to be getting shorter the higher they climb. When they are on the top storey Lin says, "Let's go all the way," so they climb one storey higher than the attic and go up onto the roof.
The view is magnificent. They can see the city and mountains still, but in the other direction the sea stretches out so wide that Lin figures that some of the water she is seeing is the Mong Ce sea. She has never crossed the sea. Because of her mom and her condition, Lin has only ever travelled by land. Her mom hates ships because she is completely blind on them unless they are made of metal, and even then she's only able to see as far as the ships extends. Though she has this hateful aversion to ships, she often tells Lin of the times she travelled on Appa and explained that air travel isn't that all bad, once you get used to it.
And that's one thing that Tenzin has that she doesn't. Air, and the freedom of it.
"It's really nice up here," Tenzin says.
He moves to take a step forward. Lin grabs out and latches onto his arm, drags him to a halt
"Don't look at me like that, Airhead. It's just—high."
"If I fall I'll be all right, Lin," Tenzin says. He tries to shrugs off her grip. He sometimes does find that Lin can be overbearing or over-controlling, but when she doesn't let go and only grips his limb tighter, he's quick to realise that this is about something else.
She is looking down, eyes glued to the pretty blue tiles bright in the afternoon light.
Lin is not afraid of heights. She is afraid of being unsecured.
"Lin," Tenzin prompts, moving to hold her hand. He smiles at her when she looks at him. She blinks hard, but she no longer seems scared enough to have scattered wits.
"Thanks, Tenzin."
"Sure. Though next time, you ought to think a bit before going somewhere." Tenzin frowns. "And don't come up here without me."
"Would you like me to push you off this tower?"
"And then how would you get down, Lin?"
Without letting go of his hand, Lin shoves him a bit and waves her other hand dismissively at him, but otherwise Tenzin wins that point. "Hnnn. I was going to ask if I could go travelling with you by air, but I don't think so anymore. I'd probably die of boredom, if you didn't drop out of the sky first."
And Tenzin frowns again. "What! That's not fair at all."
"Maybe," Lin says before shrugging. She sits down and pulls Tenzin down after her. He stumbles a bit but is happy to simply sit next to her once they are settled.
He thinks about it for a while, thinks about his adventures to the South Pole, and about the other adventures around the world that his father has promised he will take him on one day soon. Tenzin asks, "Would you really not like to go on a journey with me?"
Looking at him over her shoulder, Lin shakes her head. "Nah. It'd be fun, I think. But you'll have to ask me. I'd say yes, though." She pauses. Smiles. "Probably."
"Good," Tenzin says, and that's that for a while. They sit there for a time, shoulder to shoulder, hand in hand. A breeze picks up, dies down. Lin starts to drift to sleep.
But eventually Tenzin thinks that his mother might wonder where he is or need him, so he and Lin descend from the roof. Halfway down, out of the window they see two sky bison approaching the island. That must be Aang, though he is home rather really. Too early, as it is.
"Something isn't right," Lin says, and Tenzin tells her they need to hurry.
No-one had been looking for them, they find out. When they reach the courtyard Aang is there. But so are Sokka and Toph and several others, all of them bent and twisted in strange marionette poses. Lin's mother isn't a puppet though, so that can't actually be her.
Lin goes white. Tenzin is confused, too. He holds onto Lin's shoulder as his father comes up to them and falls to one knee and his deeply scarlet cloak flutters around both his son and Lin.
She looks up and Aang says, "Something's happened."