Lin looked around at the preparation going on all around her, acolytes and airbenders were helping transform the main dinning hall of air temple island into a party venue. They were celebrating both Katara and Zuko's 90th birthday. Neither had wanted to celebrate claiming they were far too old to indulge in that but their kids and mostly grandkids had convinced them that it was a great excuse to get everyone together for a happy reason instead of the normal end of world calamities. It had been a while since Lin had been to the island herself, in the few years since she regained her memory. Her and Tenzin had opted to leave Republic City and travel the world mostly training airbender at the other temples. He and her had talked about traveling the world together when they were young and they managed one or two trips before they had been caught up in work and life in the city. Now with her kid fully grown and most of Tenzin's kids teaching instead of learning they had much more flexibility to do that. They still came back to air temple island every month or two for a few weeks at a time so Tenzin could spend time with Rohan and Meelo. Jinora and Ikki often timed their visits with them. Lin would often leave them be and hang out with Rui and his wife. They had rekindled their friendship after her return from the dead.
In the beginning they had been here more often when the kids were younger. They had initially left with Asha and Jinora to get Jinora set up at the western air temple not too long after her return. It was also to cement the new family dynamic. It also gave Tenzin and her to work out their relationship again. In the end they fell back into fairly easily.
Lin Tenzin Asha and Jinora had gone back to the villages to get a few things before heading to the western air temple. Seeing as they had left without telling anyone and neither her nor Asha had taken much of anything with them. It was about time they went back. Chief Shun had been happy to see them again, and even happier to learn that they had been able to help Lin get her memory back. He also understood why they were leaving for good. Lin packed up their stuff while Asha said goodbye to her friends with Jinora in tow.
"Oh mom sifu Taho was asking about you." Asha said as she left with Jinora again.
"Your coworker?" Tenzin asked lightly.
"Mmm, he and I taught at the school together. We were are also ah friends with benefits." Lin told him watching his expression from across the room.
His expression was a little darker and he let out a half grunt at the news. "How long were you together?" His tone is almost hostile.
"We weren't together, no one knew. We were barely even friends with benefits." Lin rolled her eyes at him. He had always had an overprotective streak when it came to her.
"Are you sure?" He asked and saw and he should have stopped pushing while he was ahead.
"Yes Tenzin!" She snapped at him. "I'm fucking you now aren't I?"
"Yes"
"Then he doesn't matter because he's not you." He looks away and Lin counts it as a win. "You know you were married and I didn't have a problem with it."Lin grumbled at him.
Tenzin got up and moved to hug her from behind. "What can I say you're a better person than me."
"Get off me Ten" Lin grumbles half heartedly but she doesn't try to shake him off "You're slowing me down." but she leans back into him as she sorting through clothes. "Do you remember that school dance we went to right before the ember island trip?" Lin asked him after a beat.
He nodded into her shoulder. "You pouted the whole time because I was dancing with everyone else but never had the balls to ask me to dance. I was mad at you for being an ass the whole night."
"Yes but when I finally did tell you. You kissed me so I'd say I won in the end." He drops a kiss on her shoulder and can practically feel her roll her eyes.
"Doesn't the air nomads have some saying about worldly possession and all." Lin asks rhetorically.
"You are anything but worldly"
Lin stops folding clothes to twist in his arms at that one. "Really?" She asks, raising an unimpressed eyebrow. "Spirits I forgot how sappy you were." She rolls her eyes at him. He just grins at her and kisses her lightly.
She shakes her head at him. "Don't mention any of that to Asha I never told her about him." Lin warned, poking him in his chest.
"Believe me I want to forget he exists." Tenzin mutters.
"Don't worry he's not going to know you exist either." Lin says going back to her task.
She can feel him tense at that. "Why not?"
"Relax," she chides him. "I never told anyone here I lost my memory."
"Why not?" Tenzin's voice now filled with intrigue and a hint of concern and he stops her to make her look at him.
"I only told Chief Shun. Didn't want to show weakness" she mumbled and tried to turn back around.
But he tightened his grip on her waist. "You are the strongest person in the world for even surviving that explosion." He kisses her cheek.
"You're just saying that to get in my pants later." Lin chuckles at him.
Tenzin grins and drops his head to her ear and murmurs. "My dear, I was already going to do that anyways" he bites back a groan at the elbow that hits his ribs but Lin's laughing lightly so it doesn't matter.
They had returned after that Lin would mostly stay in the city and Tenzin joined her most of the time but she never minded him staying at the island and would occasionally stay too. Her and Ikki started off rough and had taken a year for either to figure each other out. She was unhappy with everyone over the whole ordeal. Tenzin and Pema for lying to her and then splitting up, Lin for being the reason, Jinora and Asha for being okay with it. Meelo was caught in between all of this, sometimes siding with Jinora and sometimes siding with Ikki.
Finally she had snapped and had it out with the twelve year old on the issue head on. Up until then Lin had deferred to Pema and Tenzin to deal with her moods. They had all the kids minus Rohan as he was too young at the southern air temple during the winter. Jinora and Asha had quickly become close during their time at the western air temple, but neither had spent much time with any of their younger siblings nor had Lin and now she was starting to see that as a mistake. Meelo was just happy to have fun and make fun of Tenzin as Jinora and Asha's favorite pastime was to team up on their dad, which Lin found hilarious. Ikki on the other hand was clearly left out of this. Asha was too old to get into it with the twelve year old and Jinora mostly didn't bother either but Meelo was a different story. She and Meelo had a huge fight finally, that culminated in both of them bending at each other. She had watched Tenzin handle it when the rest of them came running out to see what was going on. Maybe unsurprisingly Ikki threw him not being home as much in his face. That was when it was clear to her that it was about time she talked with the girl.
"Come on kid." Lin said when she opened the door to her room. "Let's go for a walk."
Ikki was lying on her bed bouncing a ball of the walk. "Dad send you here?" She muttered.
"Your father doesn't know I'm here and he won't. Get up." She says leaning casually against the door frame.
"Why? He already yelled at me. You were there you know." The girl mutters.
Lin shrugs. "Wasn't planning on yelling at you." she says nonchalantly. "Come on." Ikki makes a dramatic effort to huff and groan at every possible opportunity as she follows Lin down the temple to one of the lower, more out of the way balconies. Lin leans over the rail looking out at the snow covered valley below. Ikki crosses her arms and scowls.
"Did anyone ever tell you how I got my scars?" Lin asks, still looking out at the snow. She waits a beat for a reply but doesn't expect one and doesn't get one.
"My sister split my face open after robbing a bank." She turns around to see Ikki's face this time. Ikki knew Su before Lin came back and Ikki actually likes Su, so it is complete surprise that registers on her face at the news.
"What? Why did she do that?" She asks there no more hostility in her tone, only genuine curiosity.
Lin sighs, in truth she doesn't have that great an idea either, only a guess. "She was acting out to spite our mom, I think."
"Why would she want to do that?" Ikki asks. Lin knows the kids have mostly only heard about fun Toph as Lin thinks about her as not the reality of her as a mother most of the time.
"Our mom, she wasn't a great mother. I loved her but she had many shortcomings. She ran away from home younger than you are now and never had great parents either. She worked a lot, wasn't around much. She was fun but she didn't care if we went to school or behaved. The best parental figure we had was Katara and Aang when he was around." Lin explains to her.
Ikki narrows her eyes now. "I'm not acting out to spite you or dad." that wasn't Lin's point in telling her about the scars, but it was good to hear anyway.
"I know, " Lin says. "But that's neither here nor there. The point is I don't care what your brother says to you, it's not a reason to attack him. You want to fight then spar but you two were both actually fighting." Lin says firmly.
"Fine. I know." the girl mumbles kicking at the ground. "I'm still not talking to him though."
"One day you'll forgive him and everyone else." Lin says shaking her head and the corners of her lips tug upwards at the girl's navitae about grudges.
"Maybe" Ikki snorts clearly not believing her. "And I don't have a grudge against anyone else! Why does everyone keep saying that." she snapps going back to defensive and petulant.
Lin just raises an eyebrow at her. "I don't think you've ever really been mad at any of us. You were just hurt and felt like your world was changing too quickly. And you're more than welcome to hate me if you need to Ikki. I won't mind and I'll make sure your parents won't. Just don't ever take it out on them, they're doing their best." Lin tells her hoping that maybe one part of that would stick with the girl.
She snorts in responses. "Yeah I alright." she says doubtfully.
"Whether you believe it or not Ikki. I was the one most against Tenzin leaving your mother. Not that I don't love him but I raised a kid on my own. I raised my sister growing up. I never knew my father, my sister never knew her and my daughter didn't know her until she was twenty. Ikki that last thing a kid needs is an absent parent believe me I know that."
"And yet here you are," Ikki says dryly.
"If I still said no, your mother was going to leave anyway." Lin sighed. This was the conversation she had been avoiding having with the girl. "Tenzin,- your mother wasn't going to stay with your dad if he didn't love her the same way he had loved me." Lin said trying to find the words actually articulate it. "Look, like I said you can hate me. I hated everyone my mom slept with. Don't take it out on anyone else."
"I don't hate you. Weren't you listening? I just-" Ikki paused trying to figure out want to say and tried to calm down and not lose her composure.
Lin watches Ikki fidget trying to find words and a light bulb goes off for her. "You feel like you've been forgotten or ignored." she says. "That's what you meant 'you haven't been around.'" She quotes Ikki's words to her dad back to her.
"Well, you haven't none of you have. Hell, you might be the one that paid the most attention if what you said is true." Ikki said she was starting to get worked up but it wasn't anger rather pent up emotion.
Lin decided to ignore the swearing. "We left and in what, two weeks your life had completely changed." Lin nodded along with Ikki. "I'm sorry, kid."
"I don't mind you and dad together, well, I did at first but not now. It's just that Asha and Jinora have their own lives and Rohan and Meelo need a lot of attention and then there's me." She says looking down slightly.
"You're almost thirteen, too old to be babied and too young to be on your own." Lin nods in sympathy. She knew some Ikki didn't though her birthday was only two week away; they were going back to Air Temple island to celebrate with everyone. Tenzin was going to take Ikki to get her Bison by herself but that was a surprise. "Kid, I'm sorry. But one, tell me or your parents next time and two I promise you none of us forget about you. You just have to hang in there okay." Lin says patting the girls shoulder knowing that anymore comfort would likely not be welcomed. The girl had given her only a nod at the time before leaving, but two weeks later Ikki had caught her eye and smiled.
Her and Pema by contrast got on well after that initial trip away. Pema and her got on so well that Tenzin jokes he should worry about that. Pema had seemed to come into her own in recent years working with Bolin on an orphanage in the city. She also seemed to enjoy having a much quieter island with Korra and friends gone, not nearly as many airbenders and Tenzin and the kids self sufficient, she had told Lin that it was nice to do things for her occasionally. Lin still felt awkward around her sometimes, especially with Tenzin but Pema always assured her she was fine with it. The younger woman was much more intuitive than Lin had first given her credit for picking up on that. She knew her relationship with Tenzin had been different than the one he had had with Pema, nearly everyone had told her that. Tenzin was different, too, much more playful and affectionate with her. That was always how their relationship had always been. Pema however seemed thrilled with this as proof she had made the right decision not to stay and instead to be an independent modern woman as she had called it.
Lin went down to the docks with the rest of the family to greet the fire nation's first family. Katara and Kya had arrived yesterday, Lin was always happy to see them. No matter what Tenzin said Kya was fun to have around and it was always good to see Katara.
"Katara," Zuko called as soon as he walked slowly down the ram with his cane. "I see you brought with you the south's polar weather." he jested. It was early winter but the wind had a deep bite to it that said winter is here to stay.
"Well, I had to balance out whatever hot air you were bringing." she teased back as the two lifelong friends embraced.
"Personally, I was hoping for warm weather." Izumi mutters to Bumi, Kya, Tenzin and Lin as she greets them.
"I can always warm you up princess." Bumi quips lightly like when they were kids.
"Careful, it's firelord." she corrects him patronizing him mockly.
"Of course your royal fire, please forgive my brother's stupidity." Kya teases bowing low, playing along. Lin and Tenzin are laughing at them as Izumi shoves them both before giving Lin and Tenzin a hug.
"It's good to see you two normal people." She shot towards the oldest two. Her two kids Iroh and Ursa are standing off to the side with her and Tenzin's kids watching the older adults interact.
"Is everyone here?" Izumi asks after everyone finally finishes greetings.
"No, Su's late." Lin says crossing her arms. "Big surprise that is, but she was supposed to beat you here this morning."
"Well it's Su the world goes at her time." Kya says. They move up to the house just in time to beat the first snowflakes to fall.
It's almost dinner time when Su finally decided to grace them with her presence. "Well well look who finally showed up" Lin says coming out to greet them with Kya on her heels.
"Hey! it was the storm." Su said indignantly.
Lin looks to Bataar who shakes his head no, behind his wife's back, but wisely stays quiet. Lin and Kya share a look. "Uh huh" Kya says, not believing her for a second. They moved inside to the living room. Lin was standing behind the armchair Bumi was sitting in listening to the conversation going on when Tenzin came up behind her.
He puts a hand on her waist and hands Bumi and her the drinks he retrieved. "We should renew our vows." he says absently.
Lin had no idea where that came from and turned her head to give him a weird look as if to say why.
"We've been married for almost 30 years." He defended seeing the look he was getting from her.
Lin crossed her arms and rolled her eyes at him. "I think you're forgetting the twenty when I forget you existed."
Tenzin in turn rolled her eyes at her. "We've been together for 30 years though that's long enough." He says.
That was true, but Lin wasn't giving in that easy because she hated weddings including her own. "Wasn't it hard enough to get me to say yes the first time." She sniffs.
"Yeah, didn't it take you like five years to propose the first time." Bumi chimes in. He had been listening in the whole time occasionally making a face at something one of them said.
Lin narrows her eyes at him. "Wait, you had the engagement necklace for five years before we got married, you only said 'for a while'." she quotes back at him and hears Bumi snickering at getting his brother in trouble.
"Yes well, I never thought you'd agree seeing as you shot down the idea every time I brought it up." Tenzin says, returning her gaze.
Lin was aware that most of the people around them had begun to listen in on them now. Lin however wasn't going to let him get away with that "Hey! I was the one that proposed not you. You never did, remember." Lin reminds him.
"I'd hardly say that counted as a proposal." Tenzin says crossing his own arms.
Lin can hear Asha and Bumi snickering at their banter. "Well it's still more than you did." Lin shots back at him.
Tenzin seemed to take that as a challenge. "Well I'll do it now, then we can renew our vows." He knelt but he was smirking at her well aware of the game they were playing and he wanted to win.
"Your about thirty years and one kid too late." Lin said crossing her arms and glaring trying to be as unimpressed as possible. But she could feel a smile pulling at her own lips.
Tenzin's grin spread. "Thirty years? I thought you said the twenty you lost your memory didn't count." Lin nearly shoves him over at that, but he just laughs and pulls himself up and cups her face and kisses her. He pulls away and Lin turns to the slow clap that their siblings are giving them.
"Bravo" Su deadpanned and Lin scowled at her.
Tenzin pulls her into his side and she doesn't have to look to know he's smiling over her head. "I love you," he says.
Lin doesn't fight the smile this time but shakes her head anyway. "I love you too. Believe me, airhead that is the only reason I haven't off-ed you yet." He just laughs good naturally and kisses her temple. She sinks into his embrace and is content at watching everyone else going back to their conversation and is grateful to have this family back after twenty years on her own. She wouldn't trade these people for anything in the world.
*** The end. I hope you guys enjoyed it!