Tenzin wasn't sure what to expect when he got to the village. Jinora had been brief and vague on the radio. She had only said that he needed to come because they had found a new airbender and something else but she wasn't really sure what. He thought maybe a spirit thing, Jinora and Korra were still a little unsure about some spiritual matters or maybe some artifact. Jinora and Opal were the most responsible pair of young adults he knew and Korra had grown up a lot in the last few years and Kai well was Kai. They should have no problem when anything else they could possibly encounter on this mission. It was very straightforward to go to the village and help the resistance there defeat the earth empire soldier and install the resistance as the temporary police force there. When he landed there that afternoon, he was confused to see the village cleaning up from what looked to be a small battle. He saw the earth empire jeeps and equipment piled up to one side. They had clearly been successful, why did they need him? Kai was the first one to come running up to him.
"Master Tenzin, glad you made it." He said skidding to a stop in front of him.
"Kai, it looks like you've got this and you didn't need me." Tenzin said looking around.
"Yeah the mission was easy, um that's not really why Jinora called you." Kai hesitated, clearly unsure about telling Tenzin something.
"What is it then?" Tenzin asked.
"I'm um not really sure," the boy scratch the back of his head nervously. "Jinora and Opal will tell you. Come on this way." He led Tenzin to a small house on the outskirts of town.
It was empty when they arrived. "I'll grab them. Wait here." Kai said before ducking out quickly. Tenzin sat down at the wood table in the corner. Whatever it was it must be something strange or rare, he thought.
"Dad" Jinora greeted him as she entered with Opal and Korra on her heels.
"How are you? I see that you were successful." Tenzin greeted them all with a smile.
"Oh yeah the mission was easy." Jinora nodded. "We didn't really have to do anything."
"Then why did you call?" Tenzin asked.
Opal and Jinora exchanged a look. Korra and Kai were standing off to the side silent. Clearly they had decided that whatever this was about would be best coming from Opal or Jinora. "Um dad, I don't really know how to ask this," Jinora said unsure.
"What is it, honey?" Tenzin asked, confused now.
"Dad, if I said there is someone here that is very likely a Beifong, a metalbender and know some airbending form. Who would you think I was talking about?" Jinora almost winced as the words came out.
Tenzin sank into his chair, his eyes closed. "No one" he muttered. "There's no one that fits that description anymore." He tries very hard to keep his voice even and he mostly succeeds.
"Tenzin me and Jinora wouldn't have called you here. If we didn't think it was possible." Opal said gently.
"No" Tenzin growled at them, his hand coming down hard on the table. "She is dead."
Kai jumped in surprise as Korra twitched in the corner of the room. Jinora winced but Opal ever the Beifong stared straight at him unflinching. "Tenzin, this woman is 50 years old. Master earthbender and metalbender fights like Mom and grandma Toph. Looks like a paler slightly shorter version of my mom and was able to teach her airbending daughter, partial form of airbending. You tell me what to think?" Opal told him.
Tenzin eyes blazed though, he knew somewhere that Opal didn't deserve his anger. "I buried her 20 years ago. My Lin is dead." he ground out at her.
"Tenzin, she goes by Kyra, she claims she's never met an airbender but there's no way for that to be possible and know what she knows. She has old republic city police armor. You can't tell me that's a coincidence." Opal argued right back at him.
"It must be!" Tenzin snapped. "What else could it be?"
"Well then you should have no problem meeting her and telling me I am wrong." Opal challenged channeling far too much of her mother for Tenzin's liking.
"She has scars" Jinora finally spoke up. " I didn't think of it before now but didn't Lin have scars too?"
Tenzin rubbed his face in his hands, trying not to let the emotion overcome him. "Yes, she did." He said.
"She'd got two of them on her right cheek and one above her eyebrow." Jinora told him.
Tenzin shook his head looking up at the ceiling. "No it can't be" he mutters to himself.
"Tenzin?" Opal asked gently now.
"On her right cheek, one that stops just before it reaches her cheek bone and the other goes just past it?" Tenzin asked, closing his eyes. "They're almost vertical with only a slight curve to them. Thin and deep looking." He describes them easily, he can still picture her face perfectly. It was something he memorized when he was still a teenager and had never let slip his memory.
"That's her Tenzin" Korra spoke up for the first time. "You just describe Kyra." Tenzin didn't want to believe them. Lin was dead. He had buried her two decades ago, there was no way. There was no way.
"Would you meet her?" Opal asked quietly. Tenzin nodded mutely. It was about all he could manage right now. Too many things were swirling around in his head, all of them painful. Lin, he tried most days not to think about her; it was too painful. He really didn't want to hear about some ridiculous notion that she was still alive. He looks up to see a young woman enter first and he nearly chokes on air. She looks just like Lin, not a perfect match but he could see Lin in the shape of her face and her eyes. Then he sees a ghost.
Jinora isn't sure what she wants out of this. She has very little idea of who Lin was other than a conversation she had with her grandmother when she was five. Her dad has only ever brought Lin up once when she was eleven. Opal seemed fascinated with her late aunt but she too knew better than to ask her mom about her. Opal had only ever seen the pictures and story from when Lin and Su were children and Jinora had only seen one picture briefly of Lin as an adult. The one of her father and Lin, that her grandmother had pointedly moved when Jinora had gone back up there later that week. She didn't know if she really believed that Kyra was really long thought dead Lin Beifong but she knew that Kyra was strange enough to warrant another opinion. So she had called her father, but watching how her father was now taking the question about the idea of Lin being alive was making her doubt that. She could see the clear pain written all over his face about the idea of her being alive. She tried to think back going over every bit of information she knew about Lin and cross referring it against Kyra. She knew it had been an explosion that had killed Lin one of the edge of the Republic, Kyra had scars that could be from such an explosion. Lin had scars though too. The thought jumped into her mind. The old picture her gran gran had taken, it was grainy but she had seen just the start of one long thin and striking scar going down 30 year old Lin's right cheek. Kyra had the same scar.
"She has scars," Jinora spoke up, interrupting Opal and her father. " I didn't think of it before now but didn't Lin have scars too?"
"Yes" Her dad said and then went on to describe Kyra's scars almost exactly. She could practically see her dad's wall crumbing as the coincidences that had stood out to them were painfully clear to him. She went with Opal to find Kyra, Asha was with her as well.
"We have someone who wants to meet you." Opal told them. "Tenzin he's the leader of the air nation. We think you might know him." Opal seemed to be the least affected by any of this. The true Beifong toughness and determination shining through her now.
"I doubt I would know him." Kyra said evenly but Jinora saw Asha tense and glance at her mother. She was the one to watch Kyra wouldn't give them anything she didn't want them to know but Asha would tell them a lot more. Jinora studied the girl's face, she got a lot from her mother that was for sure. They shared the same eyes and shape of the face but the mouth and nose reminded her more of her father's. She could only see her father's reaction as they re-entered the house. Her dad's eyes widened, and he mumbled something under his breath. He stood shakily and walked towards Kyra slowly as if he was afraid she would disappear if he startled her.
"Lin" His voice was hoarse and cracked at her name.
Kyra shook her head at him and took a step back when he reached out to her. "No." she said firmly. Her eyes cutting away from Tenzin to locate her daughter. More likely than not, Tenzin's daughter, Jinora, realized her half sister.
"No Lin." Tenzin said again a little louder and firmer this time. "You're Lin. I know you are."
"No I'm not. I'm Kyra." Kyra said but there was now a waver in her own voice.
"I know you. I've known you all my life up until 20 years ago." Tenzin told her shaking his own head now at her words. "You are Lin Beifong. You are my wife."
Kyra had felt wary of the airbenders since they got here. She could care less about the boy and the avatar but the other two girls she was inexplicably drawn to. The master air bender was young but respectable and the other girl had a head on her shoulders. She hadn't doubted their abilities on the battlefield but she had doubted their abilities to work with what they had here. She had thus far been impressed they seemed willing to work with her and had gone along with her plan rather than insisting on doing it their way. She liked that, it had been her concern about working with them.
Asha enjoyed having them around too. They were close in age to her and all of them airbenders. She had done her best teaching Asha how to airbend, she knew a little something of other forms of fighting beside earthbending. But there was only so much she could tell her. Some of the techniques she used with her own metal cables was what had worked best but she didn't know much more than that. Kyra knew she generally fought a lot lighter on her feet than most earth benders and that most of her metalbending forms were not purely from traditional earthbending teaching but where they were from she like everything else couldn't remember.
The earth empire didn't send their heavy troops something that greatly evened the playing field. The mech tanks were hard for everyone to fight, only she with Asha's help were good at defeating them. They only sent 10 jeeps full of soldiers, that was about 40 men. She only had 5 earth benders and 3 nonbenders, not counting herself, her daughter and the airbenders. It was lighter than normal maybe Kuriva's defeat had spread them thin, Kyra thought. They were pretty good at defeating the non benders had gotten them where she wanted and the earth bender had been ready to help the avatar and airbender with the ones guarding the village. She had spent the rest of the morning helping to clean up the mess they had made and going through and moving earth empire captured equipment. Most of the soldiers had run once it had been clear they couldn't win, fine by her prisoner was a headache she didn't want to deal with anyways.
"We have someone who wants to meet you." Opal told them. "Tenzin he's the leader of the air nation. We think you might know him." Opal self assured, the girl seemed to go between being supremely confident in herself and shy, Kyra had noticed.
"I doubt I would know him." Kyra said evenly. She sensed Asha shift beside her and glanced up at her mother. Asha was always flighty about her past, Kyra had long since gave up caring. Still she followed them to the house that Shun had given them to use. When she entered after Asha and Opal she saw a tall bald man with the air tattoos that the airbending master had. He was about her age she guessed and stood jaw slack and staring at her like he had seen a ghost. The color had drained from his face and he looked like he was about to fall back into his chair. He mumbled something under his breath. He walked towards her slowly as if she was a wild animal.
"Lin" His voice was hoarse and cracked at the name.
Kyra shook her head at him and took a step back when he reached out to her. "No." she said firmly. Her eyes cutting away from Tenzin to locate her daughter. She wanted to know where she was if need be.
"No, Lin." He said again a little louder and firmer this time. "You're Lin. I know you are."
"No I'm not. I'm Kyra." She said but there is a waver she can't keep out of her voice. She doesn't know why but she can't explain the tugging in her gut. She can't decide if it's trying to tell her to run or something else she can't place.
"I know you. I've known you all my life up until 20 years ago." Tenzin told her shaking his own head now at her words. "You are Lin Beifong. You are my wife."
Kyra freezes. It can't be. She had wondered for a long time if someone from her old life especially after the old blind woman but no one had ever. Now she couldn't decide if it was relief or dread she felt at the fact that it had happened.
"Mom?" Asha asks, seeing her stunned expression and inching closer to her.
"Lin." Tenzin says again, taking his own step towards her. His voice is a plea and again it twists her gut.
"I don't remember you." She says this time trying very hard to keep her own voice calm and even.
Tenzin's expression is pained. "I do know you. I know everything about you, at least up until 20 years ago." he tells her his voice is low. "What- what happened?" he asked, trying to keep his own emotions in check.
Kyra can't decide what to say. "I don't know. You tell me how would I know you?" She finally settles on.
Tenzin face twist again. She didn't know why she had such a strong reaction to him. "You and I grew up together." Tenzin starts slowly. "We were together since we were 15 up until you died, when you were 34." Tenzin asked, stunned. "You really don't remember anything? Me, Su, your mom, my parents, Bumi, Kya,? Anything?"
Kyra just shook her head. She didn't know what to say, what could she say. "Mom, could he be right?" Asha asked she was now standing next to her having inched up to her. "He could have known you."
"What does she mean?" Tenzin asked, catching on to what Asha was saying. "Why don't you remember me?"
Kyra sighed glancing around the room. The others had made themselves as unnoticeable as possible sitting in the corner clearly trying not to stare at this. "I don't - I don't remember anything before waking up hurt in the earth kingdom." She admits her voice is shaky this time.
Tenzin's eyes widen. "Where is the earth kingdom? On the coast of the western edge of this province?"
Kyra just nods at him, unable to answer as the reality of he could actually know her really began to set in.
"That's where you supposedly died. Well on the United Republic side of the border but still." Tenzin told her. He studied her and must have seen she was still unsure. "What do you want me to tell you that will make you believe me?" He asked.
Kyra shrugged. "I don't know if anything will. I only know the past 20 years, nothing more."
"You have a birthmark behind your right ear just inside your hairline." Tenzin told her. "There is a scar on your knee from when we were six and Bumi threw a vase at you. The scars on your face are from when you were 22 and your little sister Su cut you with metal cables." Kyra reached up to touch her face unconsciously. All of what he said was true.
"I have an Idea" Korra spoke up finally. "The swamp. If there is one place where you can regain your memory, it's the swamp."