Chapter 37
At twenty-two weeks, with no complications, Lin finally began to accept that she really was going to have another baby.
Which was precisely when the panic began to set in.
She was good at hiding it from her family, pretending that everything was perfectly fine, but internally she was having a very slight meltdown. What on Earth were they thinking? Having a baby at their age? In the middle of a triad crisis?
Then again, when had they ever done anything properly? Lin could hardly remember a time when their wasn't an impending turf war or triad expansion. Even before Aang and Toph had died, there had always been tension in the city. And Lin might not have been quite as young as she'd once been, but she was no less strong or capable. She was still just as spry as the new recruits and a lot wiser. Carrying a baby was tedious, but not the worst thing she'd ever done.
So she panicked for three days before she convinced herself that everything was mostly fine again. Being optimistic wasn't a typical trait of hers, but the older she got the less time she had to waste on worrying over every little thing.
She still wasn't about to let her guard down, though, which meant taking every precaution to ensure that all four of her kids were protected. She wore her armor everywhere she went when she was in the city, and Tenzin often flew her to work on Oogi, despite the baby's ever persistent hatred for flying. Ronen and the twins weren't taken into the city for anything, and Lin and Tenzin had mapped out several plans for escape should something happen on the Island. They had relayed those plans to the kids' babysitter, Acolyte Nira, who was responsible for getting the kids to safety if Lin and Tenzin were not around to do so themselves. Until Chen and Shira were recaptured, Lin considered them a threat to her family's well-being, and they had to be prepared for anything.
Ronen began to talk with a specialist shortly after his panic over the fire cracker explosion, and the boy seemed to be better off for it. His nightmares had mostly diminished and only one other panic attack had occurred. The therapist came to the island once a week, and after only a few sessions, the man had confidently told Lin and Tenzin that Ronen's recovery would likely be short. The boy was young and optimistic, and he had a support system large enough to sustain him. The therapist had only to provide Ronen with the tools to manage any remaining trauma. Tenzin and Lin were still on the lookout for any unusual behavior, but they quickly surmised that Ronen was going to be just fine.
Suyin, along with about half a dozen of her metal clan guards, showed up on the Island, unannounced, shortly after Lin and Tenzin had revealed to the appropriate people that they would be having a fourth child soon. Their families already knew, so they only had to inform a few people on the council and in the police force. Unsurprisingly, the news had spread through the city fast, so that even Su heard about it out in Zaofu, and she had chosen that moment to check in on her sister and her family. Su was apparently worried about an attack now that Lin had revealed a possible weakness, but Lin suspected that her little sister was more interested in finding out who Shira was. Su had still been very young when Lin had stopped speaking to her father and Shira, so she had little to no memory of Lin having another half-sister, and she questioned Lin incessantly about it. When Lin and Tenzin were at work, Su divided her time between checking and rechecking the moderate security on Air Temple Island – she harassed Lin for days about how beneficial it would be to install a metal dome –, and scouring the city as if she expected to find Shira herself. Lin knew Suyin would never find Shira, but she didn't dissuade Su from trying. The mental image of her two half-sisters battling it out was admittedly quite hilarious.
After about a week and a half, Su must have decided that she'd been away from her own family long enough, and that she wasn't going to solve the Shira problem as easily as she'd hoped. She announced to Lin, Tenzin, and the kids at dinner one evening that she would be returning to Zaofu the following morning. All three of the kids went to engulf their aunt in sad hugs, but Lin struggled not to cheer in delight – she could only handle her sister in small doses, and nearly two weeks of being badgered was more than enough. Su did insist on leaving behind her metal clan guards as extra security, and begged that Lin and Tenzin keep her up to date on the goings on in Republic City, which Lin considered a small concession to make to get rid of her suffocating sister. But then, Su had ruined it by promising to return when Lin was close to having the baby, despite Lin's vehement protests to the contrary – the last thing she wanted was Suyin around when she went into labor. Lin had very nearly begged her sister not to bother, but Su could not be reasoned with once she had made up her mind – and she had the nerve to say Lin was the stubborn one.
About a week after Su's departure, Lin was ironically wishing her sister had stuck around a bit longer, because it was around that time that a flu epidemic swept through Republic City. The hospital was filled to the brim and the city's leaders had to call in extra doctors and healers from around the world to help out. Within a week, they were running low on medical supplies too, and Lin had to delegate several officers – ones that weren't out sick with the flu – to the task of coordinating mass shipments and ensuring the medical supplies made it safely to the hospital. Criminals must have been affected by the flu too, though, because there was a noticeable decrease in major conflicts for a few weeks.
Lin was nearly ordered into seclusion by her doctor during the whole outbreak, but Lin was confident in her immune system and, by the time the wave of illnesses had finally begun to slow down, she had managed to go the entire time without so much as a sore throat.
Tenzin, however, was not so lucky. The flu snuck up on him and hit him hard. He was bedridden for two days, and generally unwell for over a week afterwards. Lin did her best to make him comfortable, while stretching herself thin trying to be everywhere she was needed at once, but Ronen, thankfully, was a lot better at caring for his sickly father, and helped Lin tremendously on that front.
Ronen, too, managed to avoid getting sick, but shortly after Tenzin began feeling more like himself, both Sora and Yunjin started coming down with what appeared to be the beginnings of the flu. Neither of them were as bad off as Tenzin had been, but he and Lin didn't waste time in calling the kids' doctor.
Unfortunately, the doctor couldn't get to the Island for a home visit for at least three days, and Lin and Tenzin didn't want to wait that long, in case the twins got worse. So they made the decision to risk traveling into the city with Sora and Yunjin for an appointment. They left Ronen on the Island with Nira and Suyin's metal clan guards, promising to return shortly. Then Tenzin flew Lin and the twins on Oogi to the city, landing safely atop the building that housed the kids' doctor's office. Lin did a precautionary perimeter sweep, while Tenzin went to check the twins in.
Upon seeing the doctor, both twins were diagnosed with the flu as expected and given medicines to counteract the affects. As the four of them were about to leave to head home, both Sora and Yunjin began pleading for a frozen treat they'd seen one of the vendors selling down the street. Lin thought it was a bad idea, but both kids were looking up at her with such pitiful expressions, their noses red and eyes watery from the illness. She knew they were feeling pretty awful, and if a frozen treat would cheer them up for a little bit then she wanted to do that for them. She tried offering to have Tenzin go and get the treats while they waited on Oogi, but the twins were insistent that they go to choose their own flavor.
With a long, drawn out sigh, Lin relented, and the twins cheered briefly before it diminished into coughing fits.
Lin was on high alert the whole way across the street, but none of the other passerby looked particularly menacing so she forced herself to breathe. She watched their surroundings while Tenzin ordered the treats for the twins, as well as something for Ronen that wouldn't melt on the way home, and then the four of them started the short trek back to where Oogi waited for them.
They were halfway there when Lin sensed something happening, and she came to an abrupt stop, throwing her arm out to halt the twins and shouting, "Stop!"
Lin started backing up immediately, pushing the twins with one arm and holding the other at the ready to deflect an attack. Tenzin seemed to catch on even though he had no idea what Lin had sensed, and mirrored her movements, so that both of them were shielding the twins.
From out of the alleyway just beside the family of four, a figure stepped out of the shadows and halfway into the sunlight.
It was a woman, with long grey hair, dark green eyes, and sharp cheekbones. She wore a tight, custom fitted black suit and was bedecked in shiny gold jewelry, some etched with Earth Kingdom symbols, and one bulky bracelet with the official emblem of the Triple Threat Triad on it. She smirked at Lin and Tenzin's surprised faces as she strutted out to meet them, and casually slid her hands into her pockets as she looked straight at Lin and said, "Hello, Sister. Long time, no see."
Lin didn't waste time with a response, pushing Yunjin back against Tenzin, who had already clutched Sora to him, and lashing out with one of her metal cables.
Shira kicked her heel into the ground without concern, and a rock wall erected to intercept Lin's cable. The metal whip shattered the rock into pieces, but lost its forward momentum and flopped to the ground.
Shira swiped the crumpled stone aside and held both hands up peacefully, "Hold on there a second! I'm not here to fight."
"Sure you're not," Lin snorted, retracting her cable in preparation to strike again. "That's why you brought eight people with you."
Shira glanced around with a shrug, and Lin could see Tenzin's head swiveling to take in the other figures that were now surrounding them. Two up on the roof above them, two across the street behind them, two lingering in the shadows right behind Shira, and one to the left and one to the right of Lin and Tenzin and the twins. None of them lashed out or stepped too close, but they were waiting, ready to attack at a moment's notice. Lin didn't want to give them that chance.
"They're only here for security purposes," Shira said with a dismissive wave. "They won't attack so long as you don't."
"We can take them," Lin said to Tenzin, who nodded resolutely and adjusted his stance in preparation.
"Perhaps," Shira interjected, "but do you really want to risk it?" Lin whipped her head back around to scowl at her half-sister, who gestured to Yunjin and Sora and added, "Do you really want to risk them when I'm not even trying to start a fight? I just want to have a quick chat, Lin. One I think you can benefit from. And then we'll all be on our way."
"On your way back to jail," Lin growled. "I'm taking you in."
Lin ignored the dizzying déjà vu that statement gave her while Shira laughed. "Putting me back in jail won't solve your problems, Lin."
"It'll solve one of them," Lin proclaimed. "Enough talking –"
"Oh just wait," Shira huffed in annoyance, rolling her eyes. "Spirits, you're just as impatient as you were when you were five. You know, we haven't spoken in decades, can't you give your sister five seconds to speak?"
"You're not my sister," Lin spat. "And I've heard enough."
"So you're not at all worried about what Chen might do to your family?" Shira questioned, folding her arms and looking skeptical.
That got Lin's attention, and she stilled for a second, glancing quickly back at the twins and Tenzin. Sora was holding onto her melting treat – Yunjin had dropped his – and both were staring up at Shira; Sora with wide eyes and confusion, and Yunjin with a narrowed gaze and angrily pursed lips. Tenzin held both of them tightly against him, ready to yank them out of danger if necessary, and he met Lin's brief gaze with a furrowed brow.
"I think we should let her speak," Tenzin quietly suggested.
Lin squeezed her hands into tight fists and suppressed a growl, glaring at Shira as she demanded, "Speak."
"Finally," Shira said with an exasperated sigh. "Look, I just want to give you the heads up. Somethin' big is coming, and if you don't want you and your great big happy family caught up in the middle, you'd better get out while you can."
Lin barked out a humorless laugh. "Thanks for the warning, but I already figured you and your new buddy Chen wanted to finish the job after Deak failed."
Shira scoffed. "Deak was an idiot. I had to escape prison just so I would never have to hear his voice ever again. I spent months listening to him go on and on, about how you ruined his life. I would have killed him myself if you hadn't. We used him as a pawn, nothing more. Whatever he did once he was out was his business. Chen has more…ambitious plans."
"But they still involve me," Lin said with an eye roll. "What's the difference? Why are you even bothering to tell me this? Does your boyfriend know you're here?"
Shira smiled slyly. "What he doesn't know won't hurt him. And I've got nothing against you, Sis…well, other than your unfortunate lifestyle choices."
"Then why bother to team up with Chen? He is trying to get to me, right?" Lin questioned, deciding that if she was going to entertain this conversation she might as well try and get some information out of it.
"He's not as obsessed as Deak, but yeah, he wants revenge," Shira freely admitted. "Personally, if you had killed our father, I would have thanked you, but you know men. They can't handle their daddy issues like we can."
"Cute," Lin muttered, deadpan. "So then what do you get out of all this? Why go behind his back to warn me?"
"I'm just here to settle a debt," Shira said. "Your mom helped me out a few times back in the day and I never got to pay her back before she died. So here I am, giving you a warning, in honor of her. Our plans will go through whether you're here or not, so it doesn't affect me, and once we're finished, Chen will have more important things to do than go ransacking the world looking for you. If I were you, I'd take my advice and get yourself and your family out of the city."
Lin snorted and shook her head bemusedly. "You know we aren't going to do that. You can't run us out of here that easily."
Shira shrugged, unconcerned. "Suit yourself. As far as I'm concerned, my debt is paid. I told you what was coming. What you decide to do with the information is your choice."
"You've told me next to nothing," Lin argued. "How can I judge whether or not your threats are serious without more information?"
Shira tipped her head back and laughed. "Do you really think I'm that gullible that I'd tell the Chief of Police our plans?"
Lin shrugged, unsurprised by Shira's response. "It was worth a shot."
Shira looked past Lin to where Tenzin stood with Sora and Yunjin, and then she dropped her gaze to Lin's abdomen, which was covered by her metal armor, but still clearly rounded to accommodate her growing stomach. "I gotta say, Lin, I never saw you as the family type."
"Are we done here?" Lin snapped.
Shira grinned. "Same old Lin. Well, hey, since I know you won't do the smart thing, I guess we'll see each other again soon. I look forward to finally putting those skills of yours to the test."
Shira didn't wait for Lin to react, winking at her half-sister and then stomping her foot into the ground to propel herself upwards with the earth. Lin threw her cables up in an effort to stop Shira, even though she knew it was for naught. Her half-sister was already sprinting across the roof tops in the opposite direction. The eight others had scattered and were escaping from different directions, and the blast of air Tenzin directed at two of them didn't stop them either.
Lin didn't bother trying to chase any of them, but she did use the radio in the doctor's office to briefly notify her officers of the altercation. Shira and her minions were probably long gone, but the police could still search the surrounding area just in case. Lin would have to go into the office now to make a report, and with the twins sick she was even more unhappy about that fact.
After Lin had talked to Saikhan over the radio, she and Tenzin ushered the twins back up onto the roof.
As soon as they were all stood beside Oogi, Lin crouched down before the twins and said, "Listen, I'm sorry you guys had to see that. I don't want you to worry about what that crazy lady said, okay?"
"Is she your sister?" Yunjin asked. "I thought Aunt Su was your sister? Do we have another aunt?"
"No," Lin said firmly. "That woman is not your aunt. She's a criminal that we're trying to arrest."
Sora rubbed her eyes, teary and cranky now as she sniffled pitifully. "Is the bad lady and her friends gonna hurt you, Mama?"
"Of course not," Lin assured her. "I have a lot of very good police officers. We're going to catch them."
Tenzin was right behind her when he added, "We're all being very careful, sweetheart. You don't have to worry. We're all safe."
"The lady made us lose our treats," Yunjin complained, folding his arms across his chest grumpily. "I don't like her."
"I have to go into work for a little bit, but I'll be home for dinner. How about I bring you guys something for dessert?" Lin offered.
"Why you gotta leave?" Sora whimpered.
"I have to, Sora, to try and find the bad lady, but I'll be home early, I promise."
"But you're never home early," Sora pouted.
Lin sighed, feeling guilty but not seeing any other option. There was no easy way out of this.
"I'll go pick Mama up," Tenzin interjected, reaching out to squeeze Sora's hand. "So she'll have to come home early, okay?"
Sora shrugged, but started crying anyways, and Lin had to spend the short trip to the police station consoling the girl. Detaching herself from her upset daughter wasn't easy, and she told Tenzin to pick her up in two hours whether she was ready to return home or not.
She stood on the roof to watch her family depart, a hand coming to rest over her abdomen without conscious thought, and then she shook her head, dropped her hand to her side, and went inside to work.
Most of Lin's pregnancy flew by in such a whirlwind that, by the time she was at twenty-nine weeks, she began to wonder where the last seven months had gone. Soon she would be giving birth for the last time. She would have another son or daughter, and despite the fact that she had been a mother for ten years already, the whole experience of it felt just as new and foreign as it had the last two times she'd been pregnant. She could hardly remember the person she'd once been, back when she was twenty and full of ambition, but with little to no desire to have a husband or children at all. She had been so laser focused on work and achieving greatness and pleasing her mother that having a family never even occurred to her.
But then she had fallen in love with Tenzin at twenty-one years old – though she suspected that she had loved him long before she ever realized it – and suddenly marriage hadn't seemed like such a bad idea. She had still been opposed to kids though, because kids were wild and unpredictable, messy and annoying. She couldn't fathom putting her career on hold to let her body be warped into something unrecognizable, not when she had so much work left to do, a city to protect, her mother's legacy to uphold. Back then, that was what it often came down to; whether or not her mother would approve.
Toph hadn't wanted Lin to follow directly in her footsteps, but she also hadn't deterred Lin from doing so. Toph had always boasted her legendary greatness, had proudly declared that she would pass all of it on to her daughters, so that the world would always have some form of Toph Beifong. Lin had taken that to heart, had done everything exactly as she expected she should, exactly as she thought Toph would want her to. She had thought that Toph wanted her to be exactly like her, to become the next Chief of Police. But Lin's life choices hadn't made Toph happy, and it had taken a long time for Lin to realize that and, also, to come to terms with it.
Lin had loved her mother despite the neglect and the pressure to excel, but she had hated her mother's methods. She hated even more that the responsibility of raising Suyin had mostly fallen onto Lin's shoulders. Others had helped of course. Sokka and Katara and Aang had been around when Toph was busy with work, but they weren't Lin or Su's parents and they had their own lives to live. Once Lin became old enough to take care of herself and Su without an adult present, it had mostly just been the two sisters left to fend for themselves. Lin had hated every second of it. Had hated raising a little sister that rebelled at every turn. Hated being trapped at home watching Su and then being teased later in life by her mother and sister because she hardly had any friends to speak of. It hadn't been Su's fault, but Lin had resented her for it anyway. And Su had resented Lin for trying to be her mother. And then, of course, in her final act of defiance, Su had broken the law helping some triad thugs, Lin's face had been forever scarred, and Toph had torn the arrest report to shreds. Su was sent off to Gaoling and Lin remained behind to deal with the aftermath, as per usual.
In truth, part of Lin had felt somewhat responsible for how Suyin had turned out back in those days. Before Su got her head together, built a whole city from the ground up, and started a family, it had been anyone's guess what she would do with herself, if she would succeed somehow or end up in a different prison. So while Su was off playing pirate and circus freak, Lin had been raging…and mourning. In the span of one day, she had lost a sister, her face had been forever damaged, her relationship with her mother had become strained, and there was a shredded arrest report laying heavily on her conscious. She had considered herself a failure. If she could not even keep her sister in line then how would she ever be a good mother?
However, that day had also been a wake up call for Lin. It had shown her, once and for all, that everything she'd once believed about her career and legacies and pleasing her mother had all been a lie. A lie just like the one they'd been forced to carry to protect Su. Lin had started evolving that day, even though she hadn't yet realized it.
She still hadn't wanted kids, but she had wanted Tenzin more than anything else in the world and so she had tried to consider it. Because she knew he needed them, because she wanted him to have them. She would never have tried to persuade him against having kids, because she knew that it wasn't an option for him, and she knew also that him not having children would be devastating all around. He would die as the last Airbender, and then none would ever walk the Earth again, and he would have been miserable with grief at having failed his father and his people. So Lin had always known that, if she wanted to marry Tenzin and be with him forever, then she would have to bear his children. And if she could not accept that, then she would be forced to let him go.
She had almost let him go once or twice, had considered it the only logical course of action for a million different reasons. Except she had been selfish and in love and, in the end, it was scarier to consider her life without him than it was to consider having children. Even then, though, she hadn't wanted to have kids for that reason alone. She didn't want to have them out of obligation, or because she simply didn't want to have to break up with Tenzin. To have them for those reasons would not be fair to any child, and she certainly couldn't do it to her own. Kids always knew when they weren't their parents' main focus.
Lin had always known that she was not Toph's first priority – she definitely wasn't her father's –, and even at forty-five years old she had barely come to terms with that old neglect, because it was so deeply embedded into who she was. But Toph had loved Lin – in her own way – and Lin had been given some of the sort of love and acceptance she hadn't always gotten from her mother, because Sokka and Katara and Aang had never let Lin go without. They had loved her with abandon, showering her with the type of affection that her mother loathed and which, by extension, made Lin extremely uncomfortable. Yet she had appreciated it more than the three of them could ever have known.
So, somewhere along the way, the stars had aligned and Lin had given the topic a great deal of thought until, finally, she made up her mind. And when Lin made up her mind about something there was no changing it. She had been terrified at the thought of being a mother, of failing her kids like she failed Su, of being too distant like her mother had been, of generally not knowing what to do and simply ruining her kids – Tenzin's kids – in some unfixable way. She also was supremely uncomfortable with the sort of affection kids needed and with the mess that would come with them. And yet she was also determined, to have the life with Tenzin that part of her had always wanted, to give him the family he'd always dreamed of, to be a better mother than her own. Determination and a great yearning to be free of the restrictions she'd placed on herself were what helped her to move past her reservations and create a life with Tenzin.
The journey there hadn't been easy, of course. Getting pregnant with Ronen had been next to impossible, which was incredibly ironic now that Lin had managed to somehow accidentally get pregnant at forty-five. Then there had been the baby that never was, its life snuffed out before it was ever truly theirs. And then the twins had come shortly after, and Lin had been trapped in a depressive state, tormented by her own mind and unable to care for her two newborns or the rest of her family.
But in the end, everything had worked out, and Lin did not regret any of her children for a single second. Where before she could not fathom being a wife and a mother, now she could no longer imagine what her life would be like without her family. Everything could have turned out so differently, but she was so glad that it hadn't. She had panicked a few times about having a fourth kid, but in the end she was not worried. She was going to love that kid like she did the other three no matter what age she was. Yes, there would be days where the four of them drove her nuts, and days when she would disappoint them because she wasn't a perfect mother and she never would be. But at the end of those days she would still go to sleep knowing that she loved them with all her heart and they loved her too, and that was really all that mattered.
Of course, the last pregnancy was no easier than the first two, and perhaps the worst of all. It had started out so smoothly, and Lin had been uncommonly optimistic, but as with everything, there were eventually complications she could not prevent.
With every week that the baby grew inside of Lin, the Triple Threat Triad grew along with it. With the triad growing strength, the nonbender organizations were growing too, with more and more citizens enraged by the damage benders were causing to the city and to their lifestyles. The Triple Threats were stoking the flames too, organizing strikes against the nonbenders nearly as often as they spread their own propaganda against the police of Republic City. Anti-police sentiment was at an all time high, and with all the turf wars and civil unrest going on, the police were already stretched dangerously thin.
Kane's supposed son, Chen, had still not been caught, nor had Lin's older half-sister, Shira. But they had been spotted several times fleeing the scene of a crime, and it was no secret that the two of them were at the head of the pack of Triple Threats. Several of the triad's members had been captured, but all of them so low on the food chain that they didn't even have a clue about what Chen and the others were planning. Lin had the police force on high alert, but without proper foreknowledge of what might take place, it was difficult to plan for Shira's vague warning. All they could really do was prepare for the worst and wait it out. A few of their undercover operatives had infiltrated the Triple Threats, but most had to be pulled before they made it anywhere, and even the ones that remained had not gotten high enough access to be privy to the triad's mystery plans. Whatever they were gearing up for, they were keeping closely guarded.
There was also the matter of the leak somewhere inside the police force, which was another barrier they had yet to topple. There had been a few suspects, but no substantial evidence to confirm one way or another. That part was the most frustrating for Lin, because to know that one of her own officers was betraying the entire force made her sick to her stomach, and it wasn't because of the pregnancy for once.
As for the baby, Lin had been doing everything she could to ensure its continued survival. Even when she worked long hours she always made sure to hydrate and eat properly, and if there was a chair nearby she'd sit even if she didn't want to. It wasn't equivalent to the bed rest her doctor was straining not to put her on, but she really was trying her best. Jeia and Saikhan were a tremendous help, pulling even longer hours for the time being, which she swore she'd make up to them for after the baby was born. A day which would likely be much sooner rather than later.
At only twenty-six weeks, Lin had experienced a moment of sheer panic, during which there had been some abnormal bleeding and sharp pains in her lower abdomen that felt an awful lot like contractions. She had gone immediately to the doctor, who had put her on an IV drip that stopped whatever was happening, but made Lin feel like her chest would explode. She hated being drugged, but she endured it for the baby, terrified that it would be born too early for it to survive. But whatever treatments the healers and doctors had used on her had worked, and the pain had subsided along with the bleeding. The baby's heart rate returned to normal and its chi remained strong.
Lin had been kept overnight for observation, which worried the kids a little, but Tenzin had told them it was just to get the baby ready for when it would be born and that there was nothing to worry about. Ronen and the twins had been too thrilled about the prospect of a sleepover with Nira to worry much more after that. Tenzin had been pale and shaky the whole night, staying dutifully by his wife's bedside, and Lin hadn't been much better off. The medications made her feel awful, and also made it difficult for her to retain her thoughts for longer than a few seconds at a time. She felt like she was going crazy the whole night, watching her thoughts vanish and desperately reaching out to try and catch them. Tenzin told her later, when she was feeling more like herself, that she had laid very still the entire time, eyes wide open in what appeared to be an expression similar to fear, her body twitchy and restless and her mouth clamped shut tight. She thought she remembered him holding her hand and stroking her hair the whole night, while murmuring reassurances he could hardly believe himself, but it was mostly a blur so she couldn't be certain.
Lin ended up being held for another night, but they took her off the medication so she was slowly able to come back to herself. By the third day, she was able to think straight once again, and her heart no longer felt like it was beating out of her chest. She went home with a prescription to aid in the baby's growth, in case premature labor was unstoppable next time, and was ordered into bed rest for at least a week, which Lin maintained for about two days before she started going insane. Tenzin had been too afraid that her anger would be more harmful to the baby than her walking around, so he didn't protest as much as she thought he would. After six days, she went back to work, despite Tenzin's clear misgivings and her doctor's concerns. She simply wasn't capable of sitting around doing nothing, and she also feared she might be replicating her last weeks of being pregnant with the twins, when she'd sat at the South Pole bored out of her mind and ended up with postpartum depression. She knew that being idle couldn't have been the leading cause, but she didn't want to take any chances either.
Nevertheless, she was careful at work, and she tried to take it easy. The city was still a disaster most days, but her officers were working diligently to put it back into order. She knew whatever Chen and Shira were planning with the Triple Threats would be coming soon, and she had an increasingly bad feeling about it. She and Tenzin had spoken after Shira had cornered them to give her so-called warning, and had considered sending Ronen and the twins to Zaofu until the whole thing was over. They'd be safe there with Su's family, but ultimately they were safe on Air Temple Island too, and could be swept away in plenty of time if someone tried to attack. Besides that, Lin doubted that the Triple Threats would really try anything against her kids. They seemed much more concerned about antagonizing the nonbenders and attacking the police. Going after three harmless children would be a waste of resources. While that didn't necessarily mean the kids were in no danger, it at least meant that Lin felt okay leaving them on the Island for the time being. She didn't like the idea of sending them away from home for an unknown, extended period of time, nor did Tenzin, and they both knew the kids wouldn't like it at all either. So they decided that they were a family and they were going to stick together.
On the sixth day of the twenty-ninth week of Lin's pregnancy, Tenzin had early morning meditation with the twins, and then settled them into the kitchen with a groggy Ronen and a quickly prepared breakfast. While the kids began to dig in, Tenzin wandered back to the room he shared with his wife, intending on waking Lin. It had become a routine of sorts since Lin had become pregnant. She was often too tired to wake on her own in time for work, but too irritable to put up with the alarm, so Tenzin would wake her gently nearly every morning for breakfast once he had finished with meditation.
On that day, however, when Tenzin opened the bedroom door, he found the bed empty.
Lin was already awake and dressed in her work clothes, minus the metal armor. She stood before the window, one hand resting on her protruding stomach, and the other grasping a cup of what he presumed to be tea, heat still emanating off the top and forming a small pocket of steam on the window. It was a dreary day outside, foggy and cloudy, and damp even though it had not yet rained so far. Lin's gaze was riveted to the grey, muggy outdoors, but Tenzin could tell that her mind was elsewhere.
He approached her carefully, softly calling her name before settling his hands on her shoulders from behind.
Lin startled slightly, almost imperceptibly had he been anyone else, and she blinked away whatever thoughts were troubling her.
"Tenzin," she said in a quiet voice, husky from disuse so early in the morning. She cleared her throat before continuing, "Meditation over already?"
"Yes," Tenzin murmured, lightly massaging her tense shoulders. "The kids are eating breakfast. Would you like some?"
Lin shook her head. "No, tea is fine for now."
She was still staring out the window, and he could see her furrowed brow in the reflection of her face. "What is it, Lin?" he asked her in a hushed tone, as if afraid that raising his voice would send her running.
Lin shook her head and breathed in deeply, blowing the breath out on a sigh as she muttered, "Nothing."
"It's clearly something," Tenzin carefully argued.
Lin was silent for several moments, seeming to mull it over, and Tenzin waited patiently. Eventually she said, "It's just a feeling."
"And what feeling is that?" Tenzin encouraged.
Lin chewed on her bottom lip for half a second before admitting. "I'm not sure. Something just feels…off."
Tenzin was instantly on high alert, one of his hands sliding down to lay over Lin's stomach, searching for a sign that the baby was all right and wishing that he had seismic sense to feel its heartbeat. "The baby?" he questioned, almost frantic. "Is something wrong?"
"No," Lin assured him hastily. "Not that."
"So the baby isn't what's troubling you?" Tenzin sought to clarify, still not entirely relaxed.
"No," Lin repeated, but she shook her head again a second later and added, "I mean…not entirely. I think…I think it's bigger than just that, but…it could include the baby."
Tenzin was more than a little confused now and not at all placated by Lin's words. "Lin, what are you talking about?"
"I don't know," she huffed. "I just have this bad feeling…"
Tenzin let her words sink in for several seconds before firmly suggesting, "Perhaps you should stay home today."
Lin snorted half of a laugh, which was not at all an unexpected reaction. "Yeah, right. Too much needs to be done before the baby gets here. Besides, if something is going down today I need to be at the station to coordinate at least."
Tenzin knew a losing battle when he saw one, and he sighed in resignation without bothering to fight his wife on the issue. "Can you at least promise me that you'll take it easy? And call me if it gets to be too much. Please, Lin."
Lin turned finally to face him, giving him an annoyed look as she asserted, "I know what I'm doing. I'm not taking any unnecessary risks. I'll be at headquarters all day."
Tenzin relented, "I know, dear. I just worry is all."
"I'll be fine," Lin gruffly promised, and he knew that was all that he would get.
Even so, after he had dropped Lin at work and arrived at City Hall, he directed his secretary, Jun, to keep an ear on the police scanner and notify him if anything came up. Jun obliged without question, and Tenzin buried himself in work to keep his mind off of worry for Lin and the baby.
After only maybe two and a half hours, Jun entered Tenzin's office with news from the scanner.
"There are reports of a major Triple Threat Triad attack in the Dragon Flats borough," Jun told Tenzin grimly. "Nonbenders are being rounded up, along with several police officers that tried to intervene. Numerous reinforcements are being sent there now."
So Lin had been right to have a bad feeling about today, Tenzin thought grimly. He considered going straight to police headquarters, just in case the situation worsened, but as Jun gave him the details, it sounded like the police had the situation mostly under control. Not to mention that Lin would very much not want him there, getting in her way while she tried to coordinate a defensive strategy. So he would wait just a bit longer, and have Jun inform him if things changed.
It was hardly thirty more minutes later before Jun came rushing back into his office, looking stricken this time and beyond terrified. Tenzin did not even have time to rise out of his seat before she breathlessly exclaimed, "We've lost nearly all contact with police headquarters. No transmissions are getting through, but short wave radio chatter has confirmed that there were several explosions nearby or possibly even inside the station. Numerous reports of heavy triad activity in the immediate vicinity. I'm afraid…Councilman Tenzin, I'm so sorry, but…I'm afraid that police headquarters have been compromised."
Acolyte Nira had been the caregiver for Lin and Tenzin's three children for nearly a decade.
Before that, she had been born in a small, remote village in the Fire Nation that few had ever heard of. She had been the only child of two loving parents, both of whom were firebenders, like ninety-five percent of the rest of the villagers were. Nira had been a late bloomer…or so they thought. She was eight years old before her family started to realize that she would likely never bend, and it was two more years after that before they were forced to accept it.
Growing up assuming that she was a firebender, it had been a crushing blow for Nira to find out that she was, in fact, a nonbender. She was one of only maybe three others in the village, and because it was such a small village, everyone knew everything about all of its occupants, and so everyone knew that she was inadequate. Nonbenders in Nira's village were often mocked and ridiculed, because the majority of its citizens were old fashioned and still lingering in the time of the Hundred Year War, when firebenders were considered far superior. Even before Nira discovered her lack of bending, she hadn't always felt like she fit into her home village, and afterwards she felt like a complete outsider.
By the time she was sixteen, Nira had dropped out of her schooling and snuck away in the dead of night, leaving behind only a brief note for her parents as an explanation. She promised to write them, but she needed to get out and seek her own path, to find her place in the world, because she would not become stuck like all those others that never left her village for generations.
Nira had been determined to find great success and travel the world like she'd always dreamt of. Except she had been raised in a tiny village and the great big world was just that…huge, and scary and completely foreign to her. Basic necessities were also much more expensive than she imagined, considering that in her home village people had purchased things mostly by use of an outdated trading system. So Nira had quickly run out of money and essentials and was forced to settle down after only a few months, getting a job as a bar maid somewhere in the southern part of the Earth Kingdom. She had ended up back in a small village not unlike her old one, and it was a source of great frustration for her.
Nira scrimped and saved for over a year before a small group of people with shaved heads swept into her tavern. They were dressed in oranges and reds, the typical Air Nomad robes that she had only ever seen in school books. She had instantly been drawn to them, and studied them from afar all throughout her shift. They were quiet and serene, sipping water from dingy glasses without a care in the world. One of them caught her staring, and had beckoned her over to them.
Later that night, Nira left a note of resignation for her boss, gathered up her few belongings, and set off into the night once more, this time with a purposeful direction. The Air Acolytes had invited her to join them in their journey to the Eastern Air Temple, promising that she too could learn the ways of the Air Nomads if she wished. Nira had been eager to do something worthwhile and had jumped at the chance, even if she hadn't known then what it truly meant to be an Air Acolyte.
Shortly after arriving at the Eastern Air Temple, Nira was assigned a teacher, along with a handful of other new aspiring acolytes. She quickly discovered that she was far behind the other students, who had arrived at the temple with former knowledge of the Air Nation. She had been taught only from outdated textbooks and old propaganda from the war. Nevertheless, she was determined to succeed, and put all of her effort into catching up.
Within a few short months, Nira had fallen in love with both the Air Nation and her instructor, Azu. Finally she had found her place in the world, the place she truly belonged.
After two years of living at the Eastern Air Temple, Nira married Azu. The first year of their marriage was blissful, and they quickly decided that they desperately wanted to have children and grow their family. It was two long years of no results before they were forced to conclude that something was not right. They discovered shortly after that Nira was barren, and would never be able to provide her husband with children. Yet Azu was not deterred for a single second, and soon they began to talk of adoption.
But then tragedy struck.
Azu fell ill during their fourth year of marriage. Within eight weeks he was dead.
Grief stricken and lost, Nira fled the Eastern Air Temple the night after her husband's funeral and ran straight back to the small village that had been her home for sixteen years. She moved back in with her parents and spent the next year cut off from nearly everyone and everything. She hid from the world and from her grief, wondering how she would ever go on. She had had everything, and in an instant it had been taken from her.
It was Nira's mother that convinced her to go to Republic City and try for a spot on Air Temple Island. Nira's mother hadn't wanted her only child to go again, but she knew how much the Air Nation meant to Nira, and that it might very well be the only thing to pull her out of her grief.
Nira had been skeptical, but after so long in solitude, she craved some connection with her dearly departed Azu, and she still loathed her home village. So she packed her things one last time and made the long journey to the infamous Republic City.
Arriving on Air Temple Island was overwhelming for a number of reasons, not least because it brought back so many memories of Azu. But meeting Avatar Aang and his son Tenzin, the last two Airbenders, was everything she and Azu had ever dreamed of. They were the reason that the Air Acolytes existed, and though her heart had burned at the agony of Azu not being with her, it was still one of the most fulfilling moments of her life as an Acolyte. She had known instantly that she had found her new place in life. She still missed Azu desperately, but she could at least find some sense of fulfilment once again.
Tenzin had been only a few years younger than Nira when she joined the Island, and she had instantly seen in him the same spark of unbridled love in his eyes that she had once possessed. The entire time he and Avatar Aang had been introducing the new acolytes to the old, Tenzin's gaze had been darting off in a different direction, his serious face twitching with the effort to hold back a radiant grin. Nira had curiously glanced over her shoulder to find what – or rather who – he was so besotted with, and found the young Lin Beifong lingering nearby. Nira hadn't recognized her as such at the time. She had seen only a young women with dark hair and bright green eyes, naturally beautiful and physically very fit, with a confident air that Nira had always aspired to possess. Lin had worn on her face the same impatient joy as Tenzin, a smirk curling her lips as she leaned casually back against a large, conveniently placed rock.
Nira had spent the next two decades dedicating her life to Air Temple Island, the Acolytes, and the Avatar's family. Simultaneously, she had watched Lin and Tenzin's love grow and change, until it was so blinding a force that Nira could hardly reconcile it with the first glimpse she'd seen when they were young and uninhibited. She had seen their early relationship at its highest point, had been at their wedding and prayed that their marriage would outlast all of time, as she had imagined her own would when she'd married Azu. She had watched from afar as first Lin's mother and then Tenzin's father had died and sent the two of them spiraling. She had witnessed the all too familiar struggle the young married couple had faced when trying to conceive children, and Nira's heart had ached for Lin.
Nira had struggled not to intervene when she observed a young Acolyte named Pema becoming steadily more infatuated with Tenzin during the time that his marriage with Lin was on uncertain ground. Tenzin had been aching in his own way and desperate for a friend and Pema had gladly offered herself up. Nira did believe that the girl had approached him innocently in the beginning, but Nira also knew that a schoolgirl crush could expand rapidly into something much more complicated. When she saw just how close the situation was to becoming disastrous, Nira had warned Pema against getting any closer to Tenzin. Pema had not heeded the older acolyte's advice, and had gotten her heart broken instead. Nira had wanted to be relieved that it wasn't the other way around, that it hadn't been Lin whose heart was shattered, but in truth she had been sympathetic to all sides. She did not think Pema was right to confess her love to a married man, but she could understand what it was to be young and in love and unfettered by consequences.
Nira had hardly been more pleased than she was when she heard the announcement of Lin's first pregnancy. She hadn't quite been such good friends with Lin and Tenzin then, but she had become a close confidant of both of them shortly thereafter. A few weeks after Ronen had been born, Tenzin had brought the boy to meet some of the acolytes, and the beaming pride and sheer joy on his face had been heartwarming on its own, but holding Ronen had been otherworldly. Nira had been besotted with him from the first moment she met him.
Ronen was two years old before Lin and Tenzin approached Nira to request that she be their son's caregiver when they both needed to be away from the island. Katara was moving to the South Pole and, though Tenzin was still working mostly from home back then, they would still need someone they trusted to look after Ronen and the babies Lin was carrying in her womb. Nira had instantly agreed without one iota of hesitation. She loved Ronen and, if she could never have children of her own, then spending time with Lin and Tenzin's would be rewarding enough.
It had taken much longer than planned for Tenzin and his family to return from the South Pole, after traveling there so that Lin could give birth to the twins. When they had returned, something had been different, but Nira hadn't wanted to pry. She only learned of Lin's postpartum depression when Lin herself revealed it to her several months later.
It was a few more years before Tenzin returned to work full time, and both he and Lin had worried that Nira would not wish to care for all three children for such long periods of time. Nira had scoffed at their concern and insisted that there was absolutely nothing she would rather do. She loved Ronen and Sora and Yunjin as she would her own family.
Even from the beginning of her time as caregiver, Nira had always been given a basic game plan in case there was a kidnap attempt or some other attack that endangered the kids. She hadn't thought much of it, because she knew Lin and Tenzin were planners, and they were popular and sometimes hated, so it only made sense that they were prepared. The plans had changed often over the years, so that now the main thing Nira had to focus on was getting the kids to their Aunt Su in Zaofu, by any means necessary. However, Nira had never considered that something might actually happen that would require her to whisk the kids to safety.
But ever since returning from the Fire Nation vacation that had been cut short, Lin and Tenzin had been even more paranoid about attacks. They strengthened security on the Island and gave Nira a list of things to look out for. They told her that it was possible that she may not be given a warning and would be forced to make the evacuation call herself, which gave her immense anxiety. She wasn't a fighter and she had no idea what she would do if it ever came down to her to decide what to do with the kids. She only hoped that it would never come to that. She was certain after all those years that no one would dare come after Beifong's kids.
So when the phone rang in the middle of the afternoon, she had not expected anything dire. She had assumed Lin or Tenzin just wanted to check in – which both of them had been doing more frequently lately – and had not imagined that the words spoken would be as scary as they were.
She had been playing a game inside with the kids when the phone rang, blaring and shrill in the relative quiet, and it took her several seconds to detach Yunjin from her arm before she could get up and go get it.
"Hello?" Nira eventually answered, slightly out of breath from rushing to catch the phone.
"Nira?" an equally breathless Tenzin replied.
"Tenzin," Nira said cheerfully, not immediately recognizing the tremor in his voice. "I told Lin earlier that things were fine he – "
Nira's words were cut off when Tenzin interjected, "Nira, listen to me, where are the kids? Are they all with you? Can you see them?"
Tenzin sounded frantic and, as a result, Nira's heart rate sped up in concern. She stretched her head around the wall to peer down the hallway, and confirmed that all three kids were still playing in the living room.
"They're fine," Nira said, a bit defensively, before amending, "I mean, yes, I can see them. All three. Tenzin, what is going on?"
"Nira, I need you to listen to me very carefully, because I can only say this once," Tenzin said rapidly, and Nira could faintly hear some sort of commotion coming from his end of the line. It sounded like someone was shouting some kind of orders. "I need you to gather up the kids right now. When you hang up, do not hesitate for even a moment. Do not stop to pack any belongings. Get them coats and shoes as fast as possible and get them onto a bison. Take them straight to Suyin. Do not allow anyone near you and do not tell them where you are going. Trust no one until you reach Su. Do you understand me?"
Nira's pulse was thumping so loud in her ears she could barely hear him, and she had to swallow forcefully before she could croak out a frightened, "I understand."
"Tell Su that police headquarters have fallen," Tenzin said briskly, and Nira nearly dropped the phone in shock, "and that the Triple Threats have the area blockaded. I'm going there to search for Lin, can you get the kids to safety?"
"Y – yes," Nira stammered. "I will, but Tenzin, please be careful!"
"I'll contact you in Zaofu once I've found Lin. Leave now, Nira," Tenzin said shortly, and then the line went dead.
Nira could only stare down at the phone in her hands in shock for a second, and then she slammed it back down onto the receiver as if frightened it would bite her. Or rather, she tried to slam it down, but her hands were slick with sweat and her aim was off and it clattered noisily before flopping off and hanging by its cord. But Nira didn't give it a second thought, because she was already sprinting down the hallway, slowing to a less frantic pace when she reached the kids in an effort not to frighten them. It would be much easier to get them off the island if they thought everything was okay.
"Who wants to go for a bison ride?" she exclaimed, trying to sound cheerful and clapping her hands as she walked briskly to the entryway where their coats and shoes were. She gathered all three coats and six shoes in one armful and turned back around to return to the children. All three of them were staring at her with similarly perplexed expressions, and she realized belatedly that she had probably sounded a little too chipper. That, and a quick glance out of the living room window reminded her that it was pouring down rain.
"It's raining," Sora said, face scrunched up in displeasure.
"Mom said we can't fly the bison in a thunderstorm," Ronen added.
"I'll go," Yunjin chimed in after a brief moment of thought, jumping to his feet and smiling delightedly.
"You can't," Ronen said with some annoyance. "Mom said –"
"Actually," Nira interrupted him, while handing Yunjin his coat and shoes, "I was just on the phone with your mother. She said it was all right this time."
"She did?" Sora asked skeptically.
"Yep, she sure did," Nira confirmed, crouching down to start helping Sora into her shoes without bothering to ask.
"You're lying," Ronen said with a frown. "Why are you lying?"
Sora and Yunjin stilled at their brother's accusatory tone, but Nira flashed them both a soft, reassuring smile, and it was a testament to how much the kids trusted her that the twins decided not to side with their older brother this time.
Nira let Sora put on her own coat while she took Ronen's things to him, bending over slightly to be eye level with him and lowering her voice so that Sora and Yunjin would not be able to make out what she was saying. "It's an emergency. Your parents called. Have to get your brother and sister to safety."
Ronen's eyes widened with surprise and some fear, and Yunjin loudly asked, "What did you say?"
"Just told Ronen that the first one on the bison gets a treat!" Nira declared, spinning around to force another bright smile for the twins. "But don't run off yet!" Sora and Yunjin went still, both of them stretched into a runner's pose and shaking with laughter and anticipation. "We have to be fair. Let Ronen get his coat on –"
"I'm ready," Ronen cut in, and Nira turned to see that he had already pulled his shoes on too. "I just need one thing."
Ronen took off running down the hallway, and Nira gasped, "Ronen, no! We have to go now!"
Nira took one of each of the twin's hands and started pulling them in Ronen's direction, but they had hardly made it halfway down the hall when the boy came sprinting back with an old knapsack in his hands.
"Let's go!" he cried, and the twins let go of Nira's hands to go racing after their brother.
Nira whirled around and followed the three of them, realizing too late that she hadn't bothered to grab her own coat, though she thankfully still had shoes on. The rain was biting and cold from the moment the four of them went stumbling out the door, and it was coming down hard. Nira could hardly see through the fog and the heavy downpour, and she hastened to keep up with the kids, grabbing onto the backs of Yunjin and Sora's coats to keep contact. Ronen had fallen back just enough to keep pace with his siblings, still leading the way to the bison stables, but not running nearly as fast as he probably could have. The boy must have understood the necessity of staying close together. The twins were still laughing and treating the whole thing like the game they thought it was, but Ronen looked grim with determination.
Because of the dreary weather, nearly all occupants of the island were indoors, so the four of them managed to make it almost all the way to the bison stables before they ran into anybody. The did pass two of Suyin's metal clan guards, but Nira had waved them off and shouted an excuse about getting the kids lunch. Su's guards might have been helpful, but Nira would have trouble telling if they were imposters or traitors, so she didn't risk asking for their help. Tenzin had told her not to trust anybody.
Nira and the kids had just stumbled through the fenced in stables when two men stepped directly into their path, and all of them were forced to slide to a sudden stop, mud sloshing up over their shoes, though they hardly noticed at that point. They were already covered in splashes of mud and soaked to the bone.
The two men were dressed in acolyte clothing, but Nira didn't recognize them, and Nira knew all of the acolytes on the Island. Heart hammering in her chest, but outwardly portraying what she hoped was an attitude of unconcern, she wrapped one hand around the necks of both twins' coats and pushed them to the right, where one of the bison still wearing a saddle was stood, its head tilted up towards the sky and its long tongue lapping at the rain water.
She gripped Ronen's shoulder tightly with her other hand and shoved him in the same direction as she smiled warmly at the men and said, "Hello there, gentlemen. What are you doing out here in this rain? Better get inside and get warm."
The taller of the two men simply stared unnervingly, while the shorter smiled slyly, his eyes tracking the kids, but Nira had all three of them behind her now and she'd die before she let either men get near them. She had never considered such a thing before, but now that she was faced with the situation she knew it was true with all her heart. She would do anything for those kids, no questions asked.
"Could ask the same of you," the short man replied casually, as if they weren't all standing in the middle of a torrential downpour. "Where you's headed? Can't be thinkin of going out in this…hey, kids!" Nira looked quickly over her shoulder, relieved to see that Ronen had already ushered the twins over to the bison, and they were about to start climbing atop the saddle. "Why don't you get away from there and come inside? Your parents wouldn't want you flying in this weather, eh?"
Ronen said something to the twins, but Nira couldn't hear it over the roar of the wind. Afterwards, Sora and Yunjin exchanged troubled looks, but used their Airbending to float up into the saddle, while Ronen began walking slowly back towards Nira. She tried to shake her head at him, to tell him to go, but the boy's gaze was focused resolutely on the two imposters. He was pulling something out of the knapsack he'd had to grab, but Nira didn't see what was inside before he shouted a startled, "Look out!"
Nira whirled around just in time to dodge the large rock coming straight at her head. She dropped to the ground and landed hard on her stomach with a soft splat, and despite the adrenaline and fear pumping through her veins, she still grimaced at the feel of mud soaking through the front of her robes and splashing into her mouth.
The tall man had been the one to lash out at her, and he was gearing up to send a second boulder flying, this one in Ronen or the twins' direction. Nira screamed in distress, hastily trying to lift herself out of the sticky, slippery mud, cursing the rain and her inability to bend, knowing all the while that she would be too late…
Except she needn't have worried, because something went whirling around the stone lightning fast, barely visible in the mist and headed straight for the earthbender. The object struck the tall man directly in the forehead, and a second later he dropped, landing on his back in the mud and not moving again. The rock he'd sent hurtling lost its momentum and went slamming into the ground a few feet from Ronen, sending up a blinding spray of mud in all directions, which hit the shorter man in the face and sent him stumbling away spouting curses. Ronen was momentarily blinded too, but he still managed to hold up a hand in preparation to catch the object that had hit the earthbender, and which was now hurtling back in Ronen's direction. That was when Nira realized that it must have been the boy's boomerang, and she afforded herself a short moment to be glad that he had gone back to get it before they left.
Nira was finally able to rise to her feet in the brief stillness, and went practically skating over to Ronen, who was still wiping the mud from his eyes with one hand and holding his boomerang aloft with the other. The short man was still spitting mud from his own mouth, but Nira knew that they wouldn't have long before he came for them, and she had no idea what bending he might possess.
Nira had just grabbed Ronen's hand when the twins came running up to them, their footsteps too light to hear over the cacophony of sounds, and she had a hard time stifling the curse that rose on her tongue. They must have been worried for their brother and Nira and leapt off the bison to offer their assistance, but they really should have stayed where they were. Sora looked petrified and Yunjin looked determined, but Nira was certainly not about to let them duel with a fully grown man.
"Back on the bison!" she shouted at the twins, while pushing Ronen in the same direction.
But the twins didn't listen, and before Nira could force them, the second man had recovered.
"Nobody's goin anywhere!" he shouted over the storm, and Nira turned just in time to see flames hurtling straight towards Sora.
Nira didn't think about it for a single second. If she had, Sora might very well have been caught in the blaze. But Nira stepped in front of the girl, and directly into the fire ball's path. She had half a moment to consider the irony of it all before the fire was whirling in front of her face, hot and bright and unforgiving.
But the flames never reached her, because a small, muddy orange blur leapt in front of her just in time. Before she could even register what was happening, the flames were being blown back in the direction of the firebender. And there Yunjin was, waving his arms and letting out a deep bellied roar, his airbending saving both him and Nira from the attack.
Ronen threw his boomerang again, having finally regained his sight, but the firebender dodged it. The short man turned his attention onto Ronen, and it was all the distraction needed to take him down. Sora leapt out from behind Nira, and aided her twin brother as they both blasted their attacker backwards with sharp, purposeful bursts of air. The man went splashing into the mud, but was still conscious. However, as he was scrambling back up onto his knees, Ronen's boomerang came spiraling back the way it had come, and hit the firebender in the back of the head with an audible clunk.
The man went face first into the mud and did not move again, and the boomerang landed safely in Ronen's palm once more.
"Onto the bison, children!" Nira immediately urged, her voice coming out strained. She felt like she was going to be sick with fear, but she swallowed down the bile rising in the back of her throat and pushed the kids back towards the bison. Nira made sure all three kids were settled in the saddle before taking the reigns, squeezing her fists tight in an effort to stop the tremors. "Yip, yip!"
As they were taking off, the earthbender rose unsteadily to his feet and started pelting boulders in their direction, but by that time they were already too high in the air, and Nira flew them high above the clouds until they could no longer see anything below.
Nevertheless, Nira didn't breathe a sigh of relief until they were miles from Air Temple Island, and even then it was a choked sigh. Her chest was still tight and her breath short, and she kept throwing surreptitious glances back at the children to ensure they were still there. They had found a blanket in one of the saddle packs and had huddled up together underneath of it. Their cheeks were pink and their hair still dripping wet, but they were alive and unharmed and smiling as they discussed their get away. Nira was shivering violently in her soaked clothes as the wind whipped around her, but she didn't let up on the reigns for a single second. She would be warm when they reached Zaofu. As long as she made it to Zaofu with the children intact, that was all that mattered.
-I probably could have cut this chapter in half, but with the big showdown next chapter I decided I wanted to keep these parts together, so you get a bit of a longer one this week, hope you don't mind lol. Back to Lin at police headquarters next chapter. Does she make it out before the attack or does Tenzin have to enact a rescue? Looking forward to hearing your thoughts, and thanks again for all your reviews and the requests some of you sent. Feel free to send anymore prompts you can think of.. Until next time!-