A/N: Apologies for taking so long to update. And apologies for making this chapter much shorter than intended.
In the darkness, everything was spinning. It wasn't until she could feel something that felt like lips press against her forehead, that she really started to awaken. Warm fingers caressed her cheek softly and something deliciously cold was placed on top of her head. She could feel her hair itch the skin on her neck, which meant someone had pulled the pins out. She wasn't on the ground, or the bench she could faintly recall she'd been sitting on before losing consciousness; it was soft beneath her. She must be lying on a bed.
When Lin opened her eyes, Tenzin sat beside her with a bowl of water in his lap, changing the wet cloth on her forehead occasionally.
She opened her mouth to speak and tried sitting up, but he shook his head and forced her down with a hand on her shoulder before handing her a glass of water. She sat up again, slowly this time, her lips dry, her mouth feeling like a desert. She took the glass from Tenzin's outstretched hand and gulped the coolness down.
Coming back with a tiny gasp of air, she placed the glass on the nightstand beside the bed and fell back against the pillows, waves of fatigue pulsing in her body.
Tenzin placed a new cloth on her forehead quietly and she flashed him a small, grateful smile. She knew he was going to give her a lecture any second, but she was grateful he took care of her this way. Tenzin's appearance softened at her smile.
"Do I even need to tell you how stupid and careless you are sometimes, Lin?" he asked her then and she pouted stubbornly, unable to be angry at him, feeling completely as ease.
"I'm a grown woman." She muttered and Tenzin sighed, putting the bowl away on a dresser behind his chair.
The room was small and had wooden walls and floor. The only furnishing was a closet, the dresser, the nightstand and the bed, except the chair Tenzin was sitting on. It was simple, to reflect the spiritual beliefs of the island. The Air Nomads didn't believe in material possession besides what was absolutely necessary. Above Lin's head the window was opened, and the soft yellow light in the room told her the sun was setting. She hadn't been out for too long.
"You may be your mother's daughter Lin, and Chief of Police, but neither you nor Toph are immortal. How much water and food have you consumed today?" Tenzin continued.
Lin pursed her lips in annoyance and looked away, crossing her bare arms over her chest. She stared at the scars littering her skin and started stroking one in particular with her right thumb. It was a nasty one, bulging, pink and jagged. She couldn't remember when she got it.
"I had a rough day. No time for eating." She huffed, rolling her eyes at herself; she sounded so childish, but just when Tenzin was about to reply, the door opened and Korra popped her head in.
"Are you alright Chief?" she asked, and actually looked a bit worried to Lin's surprise.
"Yes, I'm fine." she answered brusquely, instantly her cold and steely self, swinging her legs over the edge of the bed, the thin sheet that had covered her falling to the side, exposing her also bare legs.
She sucked in a deep breath, and it only took a second for her to do the math. Processing, she shot an absolutely life-threatening look at Tenzin, realizing that he must have been the one pulling her pants off, leaving her with only underwear and her white tank top on.
Tenzin gulped loudly and instantly looked terrified, confirming her suspicion, and Korra muttered 'Oh shit' before shutting the door behind her quickly with a loud bang. Lin could hear the Avatar sprinting down the hallway.
If she in that moment had lashed out with a metal cable in the room, it would have sliced the tension hanging in the air, and left a red mark on Tenzin's cheek. But she was left with only her hands, and she refused to give him the satisfaction to see her stand up in minimal clothing, her figure just as gorgeous, if not more well-muscled, than she had been when she was 20 years younger.
Redirecting her gaze back to the trembling airbender that seemed to try and scramble together some sort of control over his emotions, she stayed in bed and roughly pulled the fabric over her lap to cover her thighs.
"You do realize that I could arrest you for sexual harassment!?" Lin hissed in her most intimidating, pissed off Chief-voice.
Tenzin lost all color in his face but regained his composure, a finished argument on the tip of his tongue.
"Don't be unreasonable Lin!" he argued loudly and stood up. "Those pants were too warm, and I've seen your legs millions of times!" he continued, gesturing towards the folded garment that lay on top of the dresser.
Lin laughed out loud, her eyes almost bulging out of her skull with bafflement.
"You're impossible! You had no right to do that without my consent!"
"Well then would you rather still be unconscious?" Tenzin fumed; face slowly turning red with annoyance at her stubbornness.
Lin opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. Perhaps he did have a point, but she was still angry at him. Ridiculously enough, it felt like he had passed some sort of secret boundary; he wasn't in the right place to see her undressed the way she was, friend or not, good intentions be damned.
"If you do it again, no matter what situation or condition I'm in, I swear on my little finger I'll drag your sorry ass to jail!" She grunted in defeat through gritted teeth.
"I will make no such promise!" Tenzin bravely snarled, and Lin gaped at him in disbelief. Few people, including Tenzin, had the guts to fight with her at this point in an argument.
She was just about to throw a legit tantrum, pants or no pants, and maybe slap him, when he howled:
"Let me explain for Spirits sake!" and she had to force herself to stay in bed, keeping quiet. Dealing with Destruction of Property caused by no other than herself of all people, was not appealing at the moment.
When Tenzin noticed she was silent, he sighed, obviously annoyed with her request and its apparent flaws.
"If we find ourselves in a situation where you get seriously injured, or I see fit that some of your clothing needs to be removed, I will not stick to that vow. However, if there is someone else that is available and well enough for the task, I'll ask them to do it, alright?" he finished with a groan, dragging a hand across his face, looking tired when he emerged again.
"Fine!" Lin growled. As much as she hated it, he was right, and maybe she wasn't prepared to die or lose a limb just because she didn't like the idea of him seeing her without fabric covering her.
Tenzin, that had paced anxiously in the room during their conversation, headed for the sliding doors to let her change in peace. He opened one of them slightly, but there paused looking back at Lin.
"We have some things to discuss, will you join me and the family for dinner?"
The first word that almost, almost, spilled from Lin's tongue was 'No!' because she was so infuriated with him, but once again, he was right, they did need to talk about Korra's training, and she was hungry, so she gave him a nod, and with a look of relief at her self-restraint, he left.
Dinner had gone as smoothly as it could, Lin guessed. A hyper Meelo and Ikki, a fuzzing Rohan, an exhausted Pema and a no-show Jinora, along with Korra that tried to interfere with Lin and Tenzin's debate, had left the metalbender utterly fed-up with social interaction.
Feeling a warm breeze blow in her face, despite that it was in the middle of the night by now, she enjoyed the silence the ferryride provided her with. She was on her way home, not quite content yet with her upcoming trip, but too tired to muster any strong feelings towards it. After her, to say the least, rough day at work, arresting the leader of the Agni Kai Triad and passing out right in front of Tenzin, her body was sore and strung out, head pounding with pain.
During dinner, Tenzin had proposed an alternative after making his and his eldest daughter's plans clear, explaining Korra's airbending and spiritual progress, and that he wished her to join, for a number of educational reasons. Korra had immediately and vehemently refused, claiming that Lin could help her with the spiritual part, while simultaneously learning metalbending, and besides, Ikki and Meelo could teach her one or two things about airbending while they were away. Tenzin had kept his calm during her speech, but afterwards came up with exceptional arguments and reasons to why her idea was inadequate.
Lin offered little advice on the matter, as she would like nothing more than postpone Korra's training, or rather, not do it at all. She might be like an unmovable mountain when it came to most things in life, but be forceful and energetic enough to put the young, hot-headed Avatar in place, and learn her to bend metal, was somehow very unappealing.
It wasn't until Tenzin's suggestion that she opened her mouth, voice hinting of that dangerous sharpness that could cut through the strongest of will. By this moment, the children and Pema had left Korra, Lin and Tenzin to discuss in peace. Not that there was much peace nearby. With the children gone, and the trio passionately arguing for their cause, appropriate language seemed to even escape Tenzin once or twice.
While Korra easily accepted the idea of combining her air, metal and spiritual future, Lin had a hard time being comfortable with the idea of leaving her job and Republic City for a teenaged Avatar, her ex and his daughter on a worldwide trip to all the Air Temples.
Now, she hadn't seen all the temples, and had planned on traveling after her retirement; what she hadn't planned to was doing it like this. She'd planned to go alone. She had it all figured out perfectly; Gaoling, Kyoshi Island, Cave of Two Lovers, Ba Sing Se, the Royal Court of the Fire Nation, Ember Island and then the Southern Water tribe. If she could find a way, maybe she was going visit one or two of the temples, but now, she knew she'd see them all.
A heated argument took place, Lin defending herself against Korra and Tenzin's pleading without difficulty. After all, Toph and Sokka had been her parents. Arguing, and doing it well, had been a crucial part of survival in her upbringing.
In the end, they had all come to being as open to their agreement as possible.
Lin had negotiated like the pro she was with Tenzin who couldn't deny her demands, seeing as they were reasonable and wouldn't delay them much. Secretly he was grateful for those seven days Lin had required, because they would give him enough time to prepare the Council of his absence, time to prepare himself with a lot of meditating, and make a detailed plan for the following month, calculating how much money they would need and so on.
It had taken the group of three the entire evening to settle and agree, but finally they had managed.
They gave themselves one week to do what needed to be done. Lin would make sure that the Police Force was to be run smoothly while she was away, Tenzin would make sure that the Council wouldn't collapse and that his family would be taken care of, and also prepare Jinora, while Korra was going to just keep practicing and spend time with her friends.
Reaching the docks of Republic City, Lin was shook out of her thoughts and stepped of the boat, greeting the two Acolytes that had offered the transport. With tired smiles they opened a hatchway in the wooden deck that led to the undercroft. They would be spending the night there.
Making her way through the empty streets, her metalprotected feet left echoes in her wake, their clattering against the pavement somewhat loud in the seemingly dead metropolis. She only saw a few people on her nightly walk home, none of them seeming to be up to no good. She figured they were just on their way home from a lover or a bar or a very late shift at some factory. Other than that, not even the pigeonrats seemed to have recovered yet after the day's warmest heat wave recorded in the City's history.
After 15 minutes, Lin started nearing her quarters and despite her body protesting wildly, surges of burning fatigue gripping her muscles, she sped up her steps, eager to get home.
