Chapter 11

He came out of nowhere.

From out of the sky.

From somewhere he could not have been detected by seismic sense.

The sword he held in his hand was meant forher, but his feet struck the ground first.

Toph wrenched Lin out of the way and encased the attacker's legs in rock, but the blade still went straight through Toph's chest.

"NO!" Lin screamed, the sound of her own voice foreign to her ears as she caught her mother's crumpling form. She staggered backwards, carefully lowering herself and Toph to the ground, terror engulfing her and seizing her heart and mind, so that she could think of nothing beyond her mother's pained expression.

Toph's milky-green eyes were wide and facing towards the sky, her chest heaving as she fought for breath, blood gushing from the wound there with every exhalation.

"Beifong!" a voice called out from behind. "What the hell –?"

Lin whirled her head around and shouted at the now stunned officer, "GET A HEALER OUT HERE! NOW!"

"D – don't bother…kid," Toph wheezed, and Lin clenched her mother's hand tightly within her own. "I'll be g – gone before they get h – here."

"No," said Lin, shaking her head disbelievingly, her heart clenching painfully in her chest as she too fought for breath, but for an entirely different reason. "No, you're going to be fine, Mother, just stay with me, just a moment longer –"

"Forget it, Lin," Toph breathed, forcing her words out quickly, only to choke and splutter the next moment, blood spraying out of her mouth. "Your old mom ju - just got her a - ass kicked." Toph seemed to attempt to smirk, but it was more of a grimace.

Lin could feel tears building up behind her eyes, creating a pressure rather like a dam that was about to burst, and she choked on a sob, jerking her head away from her mother and looking back at the officers now surrounding them to demand, "Where's the damn healer?! What are you all just standing there for?!"

"Lin," Toph choked, reaching a bloodied hand up to touch her daughter's face one last time.

"Mom," Lin whispered, tears now flowing freely down her cheeks. "Please…"

"I l –l – love…y –" Toph drew in one last ragged breath, her whole body shuddering just before she became very still, her hand on Lin's cheek dropping to the ground and the faint vibrations of her heartbeat vanishing altogether.

Lin stared at her mother's limp form in open-mouthed shock, the tears coming to a sudden halt. She slowly lifted her head, seeing the solemn faces of her fellow officers standing around her. And then there was the face of the man still stuck to the ground and struggling to free himself, the man who had murdered Lin's mother.

Lin heaved in a breath of air, and it was like inhaling fire, her stunned body igniting as rage consumed her, a feral roar tearing from her throat as she clenched her fist and brought it down upon the ground hard enough to break bones. Yet she did not injure herself, because the Earth was still faithful to her, even though it had not protected her mother from death. And as the Earth suddenly seemed to drop beneath the three of them, the ground holding the murderer in place crumbled around him. Upon being set free and finding his feet, the criminal tried to run, only to find himself stuck within a crater with only Lin and her, now deceased mother, the rest of the Metalbending police force scrambling to their feet from above. And if any of the officers got up and looked down into the crater in time to see Lin Beifong strangling the Chief's murderer with her own metal cables…well, then they just looked the other way.

It was late in the evening, yet Lin had not returned home from work.

She had called a few hours earlier to briefly and hurriedly say that she would be late, but had not given an explanation. Somewhat concerned, Tenzin had trekked across the Island to have dinner with his parents, hoping that spending time with them would keep his mind off of Lin. He was not entirely successful, nor was he unsuccessful either. His parents, at least, were a slight distraction, and stayed awake with him to await Lin's return.

Unfortunately, the dreaded phone call came first, ringing loudly and ominously in the sudden silence and causing Tenzin's chest to seize up in panic.

That damn phone call, in the middle of the night - the one Tenzin had never fooled himself into believing he was prepared for, and which left him frozen in his seat, staring off into the distance with an expression of pure terror and his heart thumping loudly in his chest.

Katara jerked upright suddenly, as she had been dozing off just moments earlier. She too seemed frozen in place, so that Aang was the first to rise and rush into the room where the phone was kept.

Tenzin and Katara were on their feet an instant later, hurrying after Aang and coming to a halt just in front of him, each of them awaiting news they were not sure they wanted to hear.

Aang was facing away from his wife and son as he spoke with whoever was on the other end of the line, and Tenzin had missed most of the conversation, only catching his father's solemn, "Yes, I'll let him know, we'll be there soon…" just before he hung up the phone.

Then, Aang turned – agonizingly slowly – to face Tenzin and Katara, who both stared back at him anxiously. The devastated expression on Aang's face spoke volumes, yet the ensuing silence brought only a thousand and one questions that Tenzin could not ask all at once.

All he managed to choke out was, "Lin…?"

Aang sucked in a deep breath of air, and then his shoulders sagged as he turned his eyes onto his wife and said, "It's Toph."

Katara gasped, a hand flying up to cover her mouth and tears filling her eyes as her husband's grave words sunk in.

Tenzin was not at all relieved to hear this. He shook his head in disbelief, his brow furrowed and his voice heavy with emotion as he said, "Toph…she's…gone?"

Aang nodded slowly, keeping eye contact with Tenzin now, but reaching out to pull Katara into his embrace. Then, in a low voice, he said, "Lin…she needs you."

Having gone slack with grief, Tenzin instantly straightened, voice hardened as he realized what this meant. "She was there?"

"And apparently has no intentions of leaving," Aang confirmed, clutching Katara tighter to him, as if afraid to let her go. "It was one of her officers that called. They asked for you, said they can't get her to move away from…" he hesitated, a heavy breath of air expelling from his lungs, "…from her mother."

Tenzin opened his mouth, but Katara spoke first, pulling out of Aang's embrace and wiping tears from her face with trembling hands, "We have to go then."

Aang and Tenzin exchanged a glance, but neither of them argued.

"We'll take Appa," said Aang, his voice sturdy, but his posture belying his trepidation at going to the place where he'd find his murdered friend.

Tenzin could easily see a change in both his parents, and he was sure he was doing no better at hiding his own surprise and distress at Toph's sudden, unexpected death. He could not imagine how Lin was coping, and that thought only spurred him on, moving rapidly towards Appa in an effort to reach his wife's side more quickly.

It wasn't until Appa landed amongst a scene of chaos that it really hit Tenzin. Throughout the entire flight to the City, he had been thinking only of reaching Lin, of taking care of Lin, knowing that she needed him desperately now. Yet when he looked out at the disaster area before him, he found it difficult to breathe let alone move in Lin's direction. The entire street was a mess; water spouting from damaged, underground pipes; the ground ripped apart; homes toppled. A large battle had taken place here, that much was certain. And in the midst of all the ruin, a few police officers stood at the edge of a large crater, inside of which was Lin and Toph. One officer seemed to be trying to coax Lin from the hole, but she remained within, unmoving, her head bowed and her mother's head cradled in her lap.

To see it now, to be certain that Toph Beifong was gone, Tenzin found himself momentarily paralyzed, too many emotions warring within him. Yet when his mother gripped his arm and gestured wordlessly for him to move off of Appa, he knew what he must do. He put aside his own sorrows in order to focus on Lin.

Aang was already stood a few feet from the crater, his fists clenched and his body tense. He did not look up when Tenzin passed him, and he only moved slightly when Katara leaned against him, wrapping his arms around her and laying his cheek atop her head as they sought comfort in one another.

Once he had floated down into the pit, Tenzin was better able to survey the area. It was then he noticed that Lin and her mother were not alone in their crater, but that there was another man lying a few yards behind Lin. He was not moving though, his eyes wide and unseeing and metal cables wrapped tightly around his throat. Toph's eyes were closed and her body relaxed instead of contorted as the dead man's was, and if it weren't for the gaping wound in her torso and the pool of blood beneath her, it may have looked as if she was simply sleeping.

As Tenzin edged closer to the gruesome scene, Lin did not move once, nor give any indication that she was aware of his presence. Even when he kneeled at her side and quietly spoke her name, not one muscle twitched. Her gaze was focused solely on her mother. Reaching out slowly and deliberately, Tenzin gently gripped her chin between his thumb and forefinger, tilting her head up so that, at last, her gaze locked onto his. There were tear stains on her face, but her eyes were currently dry. Yet those once bright emerald orbs of hers were now dim and fraught with so much pain and sorrow that Tenzin wanted to look away. There were three thin streaks of blood down her left cheek, but she appeared to have sustained no injury, leading Tenzin to believe they had been left there by Toph's own bloodied hand. Whether or not Lin had been injured elsewhere, Tenzin could not determine when she remained covered in her mother's blood.

"Lin?" Tenzin repeated after some time, stroking some frazzled hair back from her face and keeping eye-contact.

"Tenzin?" she whispered in reply, her voice cracking.

"Yes, Lin," he murmured, "I'm here." He leaned forward then to place a short kiss on her forehead in the hopes of offering comfort, and when he sat back to look at Lin once more, something in her gaze had changed. While she had once seemed in a sort of trance, now she had hardened into steel, her entire countenance changing in an instant.

Dropping her gaze, Lin slipped her arms under Toph's limp body and rose to her feet, carrying her mother's lifeless form over to the edge of the canyon. Somewhat startled, Tenzin stumbled after her, floating up out of the pit after Lin had risen on a slab of rock and stepped out onto the crumbling street.

Lin paused for a moment then, and Tenzin returned to her side, reaching out his arms towards Toph as he offered, "Here, Lin, let me –"

"No," she instantly refused, "I can handle it."

Tenzin's arms dropped back down to his sides as Lin turned and walked away from him, and he followed her over to where a vehicle waited to take Toph's body. When Lin drew nearer to the transport, the healers and officers surged forward as if about to crowd around her, but Tenzin quickly waved them off, ushering people away as Lin carefully placed her mother's body upon a gurney. He kept his back turned from her for a few moments, allowing Lin a brief period of time alone with her mother. He waited until he heard her ordering the healers to load the gurney into the back of the vehicle before facing her once more. She didn't spare him a glance, but walked right on past him and over to one of her superior officers – if he could even be considered that.

Tenzin followed, but missed the first half of their conversation, the first thing he heard being, "– everything is under control here. Go home, Lin, take some time off. I'll call you when we need your statement but I don't want you back at Headquarters for anything else –"

"Captain, I'm fine," Lin said through gritted teeth, looking and sounding rather agitated. "My time would be better spent –"

"At home," the Captain insisted, "with your family. I don't want to see you at work tomorrow, Commander, and that's an order."

"Apologies, Captain," Lin seethed, her fists clenching and her posture stiffening, "but I do not agree with your orders and I believe it is my decision to –"

"Tell you what, Lin," the Captain interjected, raising a hand to stall further objections, "sleep on it, and if you can't bear to take a week off from work then come right in. Just remember that you have to meet with the shrink before you'll be allowed to return to the field, and don't look at me like that, it's a policy I can't change." The captain sighed heavily then, his expression softening as he reached out and placed a hand on Lin's shoulder. "I am so sorry, Lin, your mother will be sorely missed."

With that, the Captain pivoted on his heel and left. Tenzin, who had been observing Lin the entire time, noticed her cold exterior waver for just a moment when the Captain mentioned her mother, but in the next moment she had straightened up and turned stoic once more.

Suppressing a heavy sigh of his own, Tenzin wrapped a hand around Lin's bicep and leaned down to murmur close to her ear, "Come, Lin, let's go home."

Lin did not respond, but she did not protest either, allowing Tenzin to lead her over to Appa and lift her onto his saddle. His parents had not returned yet, and so the two of them waited there, both of them silent and Tenzin's arm holding her against him. Lin remained stiff in his embrace, but did not pull away.

Eventually, Aang and Katara clambered up onto Appa without any words of their own, and together the four of them returned to Air Temple Island.

None of them spoke until after they had all huddled together in Aang and Katara's sitting room with their own cups of tea, Lin being the one to break the silence by asking, "Did anyone tell Sokka? What about Kya and Bumi?"

"Yes, dear, it's all taken care of," Katara said reassuringly, reaching across Tenzin to grip Lin's hand. "Sokka was there, he said he'll come by in the morning; and we sent word to Kya and Bumi." Katara hesitated before continuing in an even quieter voice. "We, um, we weren't sure how to find Suyin… but Sokka said he knew how to get in contact with her."

Lin nodded in understanding, not even acknowledging the part about her sister, dropping her gaze back to the untouched tea in her hands. It was then that she suddenly realized she hadn't cleaned herself up yet, and that her skin was still stained red. Everyone else seemed to notice then too, as if they were all suddenly waking up from a comatose state all at once. Lin jerked suddenly to her feet, the teacup in her hands falling from her grip and shattering into a thousand pieces, the dark-colored tea creating a small puddle at her feet.

Katara, Aang, and Tenzin all lurched to their feet in surprise, and Lin quickly began to apologize, "I'm so sorry, I'll clean it up…"

She began to kneel down as if to clean it with her bare hands, but Katara stepped over to her and bent down to grab onto Lin's wrist. "That's all right," Katara insisted. "I'll take care of it, Lin…"

Looking a bit unstable, Lin stood upright once more, flickering her gaze around at the other occupants of the room before stammering out, "I should go get cleaned up." And then she fled from the house, Tenzin following closely behind.

When Lin stumbled through the door of she and Tenzin's home, she went straight towards the bathroom, stripping off her armor and under clothes quickly, leaving them in a pile in the middle of the room. As she began to run the water for her bath, Tenzin reached down to begin gathering up her bloodied clothes and uniform.

"I'll clean this stuff up for you," he told her, only to suddenly have her grab onto his wrist to stop him.

"No, I'll do it," she insisted.

"Really, Lin, I can manage –"

"I said, I'll do it," she hissed, yanking her things from his grasp and throwing them back onto the floor.

Tenzin sighed, taking hold of Lin's upper arms to gain her attention as he said, "Please, Lin, let me help you."

"There's nothing to help me with," she muttered, wrenching herself from his grasp and crawling into the bathtub.

Feeling useless and a bit dejected, but not at all surprised by his wife's behavior, Tenzin went into their bedroom and sat down on the edge of the bed, giving Lin some space, but remaining close enough to hear and see her in case she decided she needed him. He doubted she'd even admit it if she did though. She was retreating inside of herself, and Tenzin wondered if she'd ever be the same again.

The night of Toph's death was a horrible, horrible night.

But the funeral was worse.

Many citizens of Republic City filled the streets as if in a sort of depressing parade to honor their lost Chief of Police and City-Founder; women cried and men drank, and the front steps of Police Headquarters were covered in flowers, so that it looked more like a garden than anything. People from all around the world flocked to the City throughout the week to join in mourning of such a well-known and beloved hero, and a statue of Toph was erected on the outside of Headquarters almost immediately. The newspapers spoke of little else, and neither Lin nor the Avatar and his family could enter the City without being accosted by strangers wishing to convey condolences. While there had been a public sort of ceremony for Toph a week after her death, the actual funeral was a private affair taking place on the outskirts of the Southern Water Tribe.

Lin was practically bedridden for three days, her hardened shell having cracked the morning after her mother's death and leaving her in a lost, desolate state of grief. She didn't shed any tears, but rather, kept her emotions bottled up within herself, so that Tenzin worried fretfully over her health. She didn't break down until the night of the funeral, and Tenzin had stayed awake and held her close the entire night while she sobbed and screamed and cursed in despair. Afterwards, she seemed to return to her former self, yet less so, as if a part of her was missing, and though Tenzin could understand why, he vowed to himself that he would make Lin whole again if it was the last thing he did.

Sokka and Aang turned out to be worse off than Katara, who had likely pulled herself together as Tenzin had so that she could care for her husband and brother. In fact, besides Tenzin and Lin, the men in Toph's life seemed more distraught than anyone else. Kya was emotional but composed, whereas Bumi had been an absolute wreck. Fire Lord Zuko had not been much better off either when he arrived, though his calm and collected daughter – Izumi – was a comforting presence to have at his side.

Suyin showed up, alone but apparently with a ring on her finger according to Kya. Lin didn't even glance in her sister's direction, and made it clear to Tenzin that she wanted absolutely no contact with her. Ever the doting husband, Tenzin made sure his wife's wishes were carried out, informing his family that they were not to let Suyin near Lin, and acting as a human shield for his wife on the one occasion that Su attempted to reach out to her sister. Tenzin had felt some sorrow at the pained look on Suyin's face, but his duty was to his wife, and trying to coax her into reconciling with her estranged sister on the day of their mother's funeral was a recipe for disaster.

After the funeral, Lin, Zuko and his family, and the Avatar and his family returned to Air Temple Island together, while Suyin returned to wherever was home for her. They stayed there for the rest of the evening, reminiscing and seeking solace in one another. The next afternoon, everyone prepared for their departure, intending to return to their homes and their jobs, their hearts heavy but their minds slightly more at ease.

Just before boarding the ships, Zuko had one last discussion with Aang and Katara, while Bumi dragged Tenzin into a conversation with he and Sokka and Kya's husband Kole. Kya and Izumi were saying a tearful goodbye to one another, while Izumi's one year old daughter, Ursa, slept peacefully in her mother's arms. Having already said farewell to her family and friends, Lin had slightly removed herself from the group, preferring to stand and watch from a distance rather than get sucked into anymore formalities. She loved her friends and her family, but she couldn't bear another tearful embrace, or someone apologizing to her "for her loss," or looking at her like she was liable to have a mental breakdown at any moment. And she was sure to get more of that when she returned to the City the following day.

While all of the adults seemed to understand this and left Lin to her momentary solitude, the children were not quite so understanding, and sought her out once more before they were to leave.

Izumi's son, Iroh, who was now eight years old – the same age as Kya's eldest son, Koda – led the small group of four over to where Lin was standing. They each had their hands behind their backs, looking slightly mischievous and possibly a bit shy, which was rather uncharacteristic, considering Lin knew them to be far too brazen for their own good.

As the children came to a halt in front of her, Lin smirked, folding her arms across her chest and raising a brow in question. "What's all this?" she asked, eyeing them suspiciously. "Shouldn't the four of you be getting ready to go home?"

"We wanted to give you something first," said Iroh, looking quite serious, whereas Kya's children were grinning broadly, "to make you feel better."

Before Lin could think of a response, Akira – Kya's three year old daughter – giggled and thrust a fistful of flowers in Lin's direction. Suppressing a laugh at the state of the flowers, which were bent and slightly mangled, Lin knelt down to accept Akira's gift. She was once again unable to speak before Ashok – Akira's six year old brother – stepped in front of her to present Lin with a rather large rock.

"I found the biggest rock I could, Auntie Lin," said Ashok, smiling delightedly.

"And I got you some dirt!" Koda exclaimed. And indeed, his hands were filled with dirt, seeping through the cracks in his fingers, so that Lin was unsure of how to accept. "'Cos Aunt Toph liked dirt a lot, didn't she?"

Lin couldn't help it. She laughed, the first genuine laugh she'd had in weeks. Then, with a twitch of her fingers, she transformed the rock Ashok had given her into the shape of a bowl, holding it out for Koda to place the dirt inside. She then carefully positioned the flowers to stand in the dirt-filled rock-bowl and returned her gaze to Iroh and her niece and nephews.

"Thanks, kids, I appreciate the gifts," she said, still highly amused and silently wondering what she was going to do with said gifts.

"I've got one too," Iroh interjected, holding what appeared to be a metal coin twisted into the shape of a miniature ship in front of Lin's face. "Your Momma made it for me."

"Well if she made it for you then why do you want to give it to me?" asked Lin, genuinely confused by the boy's gesture.

"So it'll help you remember her," Iroh explained confidently.

Lin's eyebrows raised in understanding. She reached out, wrapping her fingers around the small boy's hand and closing her fist around the object he held, but she did not take it from him. Instead she said, "You know what, kid, I think you'll need this more than me. Why don't you keep it, so you can tell your baby sister about the greatest earthbender that ever lived, and if I ever start to forget, I'll come visit you and you can help remind me? How's that sound?"

Iroh smiled, looking slightly relieved that he got to keep his modified coin, and lurched forward to wrap his arms around Lin's neck. Unprepared for the sudden hug, she fell back slightly, catching herself just in time for Koda, Ashok, and Akira to lunge at her as well, so that the five of them all fell to the ground, the children giggling and peppering Lin's face with kisses. Then, as suddenly as their attack had come, they all jumped up and ran off, back to where their parents waited, calling over their shoulders, "Bye Auntie Lin!"

Sighing and chuckling a bit to herself, Lin remained where she was for a few moments, sprawled out on the grass, her gaze focused on the sky above but her senses taking in everything else around her. She couldn't quite figure it out at first, what had changed her mood so drastically, but then it had dawned on her – the children. They had brightened her mood, if only for a few moments, and even though she could feel it darkening again, felt that crushing weight creeping back around her heart and that empty void threatening to shroud her in misery, that little spark of happiness didn't extinguish itself quite so quickly. It was like the only glimmer of light in a dark, endless tunnel, giving her hope that she wouldn't always feel quite so empty. She was sure her mother's death would weigh heavily on her heart and mind for some time to come, but eventually, she would come to terms with it, like she did with everything else, this would just be something that took more time. And hopefully, maybe, sometime soon, she and Tenzin would finally start a family of their own. Having children had never been one of Lin's desires in life – everything that went into it just seemed far too daunting a task with little reward – but marriage had never been at the forefront of her mind either, yet she'd changed her opinion on that, as she was with the concept of children. And if her niece and nephews and little Iroh could make her feel better when she was at her worst, then surely her own children would brighten her days as well, and that tiny little hope helped her to forget all the possible downfalls she'd associated with having children.

Lin was shaken from her thoughts then, as Tenzin's form suddenly loomed over her. She reached up to take the hand he proffered her, and allowed him to pull her up onto her feet.

"They're leaving," said Tenzin, tilting his head in the direction of the nearby docks.

Lin nodded, watching as the boats began to depart, their occupants still waving goodbye to Aang, Katara and Sokka. "The kids gave me some gifts," she said, holding it up for Tenzin to see. He, too, chuckled at the sight of it. "It's to remind me of my mother."

"That was thoughtful of them," said Tenzin, draping his arm over her shoulders as they both watched the ships leaving.

Lin sucked in a deep breath, expelling the air from her lungs a moment later as she said, "I want that, y'know?"

"Want what?" asked Tenzin, looking down at her with furrowed brows.

"A family," said Lin, looking up at her husband to await his reaction.

Tenzin smiled softly, placing a kiss on her forehead and murmuring, "We'll have one, Lin. I promise."