They stood together for hours it felt like, foreheads pressed together. Lin loved Kya. Kya loved Lin. They loved each other. And it felt so right. So, so right.

In reality, they had only been there for ten minutes.

"Um, excuse me?" Keodara said softly, poking her head out the door.

The two women startled slightly at the voice interrupting them.

"I'm so sorry to intrude," Keodara continued, "but my mother's asking for you, Master Kya."

"She has?" Kya asked, raising an eyebrow. "What did she say?"

Keodara reddened instantly. "She said, and I quote, 'Please get the lovebirds back inside so that we can finish our healing session for tonight. There's other things they should be doing until sunrise.'"

Lin's face instantly heated up as Kya died of laughter. "Your mother never misses an opportunity! Come on, Lin."

The couple walked hand-in-hand to the healing room. Ketsana set her hand on her hip, a smug smile on her face. "You two have fun out there?"

Kya rolled her eyes and play-nudged Ketsana to the side. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let's do a chi-check on Chen, okay? And then Asami. Poor girl, I haven't even gotten to her yet. Thank goodness her chi paths aren't as touchy."

"Hmm, quite." Ketsana replied, an undercurrent of mirth in her voice. "We might actually get some sleep tonight. And by we, I mean me and Keodara. It's certainly not going to be you two."

Lin, who had just sat down, sank even lower in her chair. "Oh, fuck me," she muttered.

"Directed at the wrong person, my dear," Ketsana said to Kya, who didn't even try to hide her smirk.

Lin hid her head in her hands. She was sure people could still see she was red from embarrassment. Kya shook her head and chuckled. "Alright, time to do a full check of Chen. Keodara, the water."

The youngest healer bent water towards Kya and her mother. Kya took one half while Ketsana took the other. "What are you seeing?"

"Exhaustion and occluding around the Fire chakra. You?"

"Exhaustion and occluding around Air and Sound." Kya stole a look at Lin, who was peeking out from behind her hands. "Most people have occludements. I would say you probably do too, but it's not a probability, it's a certainty. In Chen's case, it's not bad. A conversation with Asami and a couple sessions with us should clear that right up. Keodara, time for Asami?"

"Yes, ma'am."

Lin's head shot out of her hands. "Wait, what? Are you saying that all of this could have been handled with talking ?"

Ketsana snorted as Keodara undid Asami's pajamas down to her bindings. "Sure, Lin. Chen ground Asami into a pulp, but that could have been handled with a song and dance."

Kya's mouth tugged upwards. "Rundown, please?"

"Yes, ma'am," Keodara said, nervously beginning to rattle injuries off. "Bruising across chest and abdomen, mainly concentrated around the ribcage. Multiple bruised ribs on right side. Bruising from the nape of the neck to the tailbone, mainly concentrated around the spinal cord and upper back. Welts and bruising on the upper back mainly concentrated around the shoulder blades, most likely from repeated slamming on a hard surface. Cuts on upper back, from slamming on a hard surface. Black eye over right eye. Busted lip. Wrenched right shoulder, moderately dislocated right shoulder. Bite marks on left hand."

"Sounds worse than what Chen had despite the size differential. Beifongs always give better than they get." Kya closely examined Asami's shoulder, the now-faded black eye, and the bruised ribs Keodara had pointed out. The bruises were only faintly there-a far cry from the angry splotches they had originally been. Her lips quirked upwards. "You have your mother's touch."

Keodara pinked with praise as Ketsana threw an arm around her shoulders. "Thank you so much, ma'am!"

"Oh kid, don't call me ma'am. Not even your mother does that," Kya said, throwing a wink to Ketsana. "Speaking of your mother, Ketsana, chi-check? Keodara, stay and watch."

Ketsana removed her arm and nodded to her daughter to fetch the healing water. She and Kya both took different halves of Asami's body, using the water to check her chi points and flow. Kya pointed out the different chi points and the chakras that were their sources. Lin watched Kya with love and awe. Kya was so kind, and caring, and she was hers. She couldn't dream anything better.

Well, she could. Asami and Chen wouldn't have beat each other senseless.

"Alright, I think I've seen what I needed to see," Kya said, returning the healing water to its container. "Ketsana, you?"

"Same here." The healer returned her water as well. "Exhaustion and occluding around Fire chakra."

"Thought so. She has exhaustion and occluding around her Air and Sound chakras, same as Chen."

The two healers nodded in silence, having each come to the same conclusion. A conclusion that Lin was clueless about. "What does any of that mean?"

"May I?" Keodara asked. Kya smiled and gestured for her to continue. "Chakras are places in the body where chi is heavily concentrated. It can overflow, leading to people to act based on their strongest emotions. They can also be occluded. In this case, it was both."

Lin raised an eyebrow. "Both?"
"The Fire chakra deals with willpower and is blocked by shame, the Air chakra deals with love and is blocked by grief, and the Sound chakra deals with truth and is blocked by lies," Ketsana explained, pointing at the location of each chakra on Asami's body. "If you have an overflowing chakra, it means that you're more likely to act based on that chakra. Of particular note is how on both girls the Fire chakra is exhausted and starting to build up occlusion."

"I'm not catching your drift-"

"They threw their willpower aside to fight each other, Lin, and they're both ashamed of it," Kya clarified quietly. "They're not even awake yet, but chi doesn't lie. That's why there's small occludements for both of them. It was so against their nature that they're subconsciously trying to block their chakras to ensure it doesn't happen again. They're ashamed, and they don't want to acknowledge that they did it. That's why we need them to talk to each other, Lin. If they don't, they might actually block their own chi. And that's much more difficult to ameliorate."

"But it can be fixed, right?"

"Of course," Kya assured her. "But let's hope that it's not necessary. We just need the girls to talk to each other, to get whatever is that motivated them to fight off their chest."

Lin sighed and ran a hand through her hair. It didn't sound good, but helping them sounded doable. Just have both of them talk to each other. She could do that. "What's next?"

"Let them sleep. There's nothing more that we can do at this moment," Ketsana said, redressing Chen and motioning for her daughter to do the same for Asami. "Keodara and I can stay in the next room to make sure that they don't need anything during the night."

"You sure, Ketsana?" Lin asked hesitantly.

"Yeah, I'm sure. Now go. You two have more important things to do," Ketsana said, a glint in her eye as she shooed them out and shut the door behind them.

The two women looked at each other, a buzzing in the air. Lin took Kya's hand. "Come with me."

Time didn't exist as Lin led her love through the healing courtyard, into the main house, through the hallways, into her room. Into their room.

"Well, here we are."

Kya smiled. "Here we are."

And then.

And then.

Lin barely breathed the night.