I spun softly on my heel to see the bed, relief and concern flooding my senses at the sight of Lin watched me through heavily lidded eyes. "You're awake," I stated lamely.

Lin's chest shuddered in a soundless, brief bout of laughter. "Yes," she rasped, "Water...throat dry."

Her request seemed too swift, my reaction too slow. Clumsily, I hurried over to the small sink and filled up the small cup. I blushed when I spilled nearly half the cup's contents on the floor on my way back to Lin's bedside.

"Steady," Lin chided faintly.

"Sorry," I replied, and slowly guided the cup to her lips. Lin drank deeply, taking greedy swallows, and coughed violently when she downed the cup's entirety. "Steady," I repeated wryly, and smirked when Lin tried to intimidate me with a quick glare. After she drank another glass of water, I told her, "I am going to find a healer to look over you. Will you be all right while I am gone?"

Lin sighed in latent irritation, "Knew it was too good...and I don't need babysitting."

I gave her a sympathetic smile, being not fond of healers and hospitals myself. With a newly found vigor, I approached the front desk of the ward. "Chief Beifong is awake," I announced, relief apparent.

"I'll send the next available healer in to see her," the clerk assured me.

I came back into the room to find Lin struggling to sit up in her bed. "Easy," I murmured as I went to bedside. I hooked my arms under hers, and carefully pulled into a reclined position against the small horde of pillows.

"Didn't need...help," she panted stubbornly.

"Of course not," I concurred in patronisation.

The healer who had healed my own injuries came gliding through the open door. "Chief Beifong, Miss Hsiao," she greeted us, nodding slightly. Lin grunted noncommittally in response, which caused the former to roll her eyes in good nature. She performed the physical with detached, clinical professionalism, and then executed a brief healing treatment. "Your injures have set properly, for the most part, but some of the more serious in nature require more time to heal. I am going to have you stay in hospital for a few more days," the healer explained smoothly.

"Thank you," I said in turn, but Lin only scoffed and narrowed her eyes. I once more dropped onto Lin's bedside, and looked out at the window as the healer left. Sometime between talking with Korra and Lin awakening, night had fallen.

"Is it true?"

"Is what true, Lin?" I asked belatedly.

"About...your bending," she yawned faintly.

"Yes," I answered, and exhaled tremulously. Many memories were coming to the forefront of my mind at the recollection of a time in my life I had little to enjoy. I threaded my hands together as I sagged forward to rest my forearms against my thighs.

"My mother was taught in a similar fashion," Lin explained softly, "Her parents, too, thought her fragile."

I grinned wryly and remarked, "Fragile, indeed."

"Where is Tenzin? I heard him, too..."

The inquiry caught me latently off guard, and I silently wondered why the airbender was the first person Lin asked after. There was an unspoken depth to their cautious relationship- a history which seemed undeniable. "Asleep, or very nearly," I wagered.

"At first, I thought you were him pacing," Lin admitted, "You have exceptionally light feet for an earthbender."

"I know," I stated. I rubbing my aching head, and sighed faintly. I could feel Lin's eyes on me. "I haven't slept well since the attack under the Sato Mansion," I divulged, knowing better than to tell Lin about Korra's intention to confront Tarrlok.

"You wish your father would have complied with Hiroshi Sato's demands-"

"-If it meant that he would live- yes!"

Lin's lips thinned and her peridot eyes glittered dangerously. "Your father knew what the loss of your bending would have done to you," she growled, "He knew it would have destroyed you. Do not waste his sacrifice with your petty self-loathing."

"Self loathing?" I repeated in breathless incredulity. The back of my throat burned as I swallowed back the tears, "How can you be so cold?" I stiffly rose to my feet, and wordlessly left the room.

"Kail-" Lin was cut short by the door slamming behind me. I left the hospital, dutifully ignoring the inquisitive eyes that followed me. The crisp air eased the ache, but only just. I shoved my hands in my pockets to ward off the biting chill as I aimlessly wandered the streets. I kept walking until I reached the park in the city centre, and leaned against a large tree. A thick layer of ice covered the pond, the only indication that life still went on being the blurred shadows of the fish milling about below.

"Now what has Miss Hsiao out at such an hour?"

I smiled faintly at the voice and replied, "She wanted to get lost for a short while, and the same can be said about you, Gommu. It isn't safe for you out here."

"The police have bigger fish to fry than a little vagabond like me these days."

"A single grain of rice can tip the scale," I argued softly.

"Proverbs don't scare people much these days...as much as they need to," Gommu agreed, and kindly offered me his coat. When I held up my hand in polite refusal, he shrugged his shoulders and said, "You can't stay out here all night- your ol' man would haunt me 'til the end of my days...this way."

We left the park and slipped into an alley, narrowly missing a patrol of Tarrlok's task force. When Gommu verified we were unnoticed, he heaved up a manhole lid. "Ladies first," he teased.

I rolled my eyes and dropped into the darkness. I frowned when I landed on metal, and thus found myself truly blind. Gommu slid in and shut the entrance, and then I heard him fumble in the dark.

"Ah, here is it," he said cheerily, and a beam of light shone from his recently acquired torch, "Follow me."

Two right. One left. Up the ladder- then two more lefts. I mentally charted the route, to be used in case of need in the future- also, it helped distract me from the smell.

"Welcome to my humble abode," Gommu announced, and I found myself amazed at the sight before me.

It was Republic City's own city of ashes- a place for the desolate and downtrodden to find shelter and kindness. It was breathtaking in its shabbiness, and yet brought an otherwise unfound comfort to my heart. I smiled at the distant sound of children laughing amongst the mismatched buildings. "Gommu," I trailed off, and gesticulated at the establishment before me.

"Maybe Amon should take a look at what's going on down here, eh? There are benders and nonbenders living together harmoniously just find down here- that's the equality he needs to be promoting," he mused.

"Exactly."

"Come on- let's find you a spare mat," Gommu said as he rifled through the little things he still possessed. He snapped the bed mat to shake off any dirt, not that it did much good, and then meticulously placed it near the small fire burning in a metal barrel.

"Thank you, Gommu," I murmured once I had settled beneath the thin linen covering.

"Anything for you, Miss Hsiao...but what brought you out at such a time anyways? I thought ol' Beifong was watching you?"

"She is," I admitted flatly, "But she brought up things I don't want to remember more than I have to."

"Memories of her, huh?"

I rolled over, my back to Gommu, and I mumbled, "Yes."