It was as if she was watching a mover. Opal felt that the world was moving without her. Her brothers had arrived this morning and were busy making plans with her parents. Her mother had decided to allow Raiko to have a ceremonial funeral for Lin even though everyone had agreed Lin would have hated it. But both Tenzin and Mako had pointed out that the city deserved to say goodbye to their Chief and Su had relented to their judgment.
"Opal?" She turned her head to the voice at the door. She had retreated to one of the many sitting rooms at the temple. Bolin was standing in the doorway, his hands stuff in his pockets. His dark hair lacked its usual glow and polish. Instead the black strands of hair lay haphazardly on his head as if he hadn't run a brush through it in days. Pabu was draped across his shoulders.
"Hey…" she murmured and she curled up her legs beneath her to make room for him on the cushion. Pabu dashed quickly into her arms and nuzzled her face. Opal ran her fingers through his fur and let out a long sigh. A little pink tongue darted out to lick her nose and she tried to smile. Bolin wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. Pabu curled up in her lap.
"Do you want to talk about it?"
Opal glanced over at Bolin and asked, "Do you?"
"No," he replied swiftly. His grip on her shoulder tightened and he said, "But if you do, I'm sure I can find Jinora for you…"
Opal felt her heart warm at his words. He didn't always know what to say, but every once in a while, he said the exact right thing. "I love you, Bolin."
"I love you too," he replied and she snuggled into his broad chest. They sat like this for a while. Opal tried to relax to the steady rise and fall of Bolin's chest as he breathed. Everyone seemed to be moving so fast outside of this room and she wasn't sure she was ready to go back out there. For her mother, planning Lin's funeral was an outlet for her grief. But Opal just wanted to be alone.
Bolin shifted uncomfortably and she looked up at him to ask, "Are you ok?"
"My arm is falling asleep," he admitted and she let out a light giggle. Opal lifted her body away from him and instead, turned to face him. After shaking out his arm in a rather dramatic, but Bolin-like fashion, he told her, "Korra is on a warpath."
This Opal knew. Tenzin had relayed to her mother and Pema what had transpired in Raiko's office the day before. Korra had also already approached her and Jinora about organizing the airbenders to patrol Republic City. Opal had tried to ignore the fire in Korra's eyes as she talked about finding those responsible. While Opal wanted justice for her aunt, she wasn't willing to kill to get it. And the thought kept crossing her mind that Aunt Lin wouldn't want Opal to do anything she would regret.
"Korra just wants to catch whoever is responsible…"
A frown crossed Bolin's face when he replied, "She wants revenge."
He had a point. And there was a difference between revenge and justice, something she recalled Aunt Lin telling her before. "You should go with her when she goes out looking for answers. Mako is going to be out for revenge as well and Asami will probably need help keeping them from doing something they would regret."
"What about you?"
"I'm going to help organize patrols with Jinora. Tenzin has enough on his plate as it is…"
A minute went by as they sat across from each other, their hands linked across their legs. Hesitantly, Bolin spoke softly, "I don't think Korra and Mako are the only people who are out for blood."
"You mean Kya…" He nodded and Opal took a deep breath.
After she had witnessed Kya's breakdown when Tenzin and Bumi told her what had happened, Opal had tried to talk to the waterbender. However, other than when her mother had first arrived, Kya hadn't had much to say. Tenzin and Bumi had been worried that Kya wasn't eating and was sleeping too much, but Pema had chased away the worried brothers and told them to let Kya grieve.
"She's just not…" Bolin struggled to describe how Kya had changed, but ended up only saying, "…Kya."
It wasn't an eloquent sentence, but it was true. Kya wasn't herself. It had been two days and as worried as they had all been at her initial reaction, it was as if a flip had been switched. Gone were the tears and sobs; in their place was a mood more reminiscent to Lin Beifong herself. Kya's blue eyes that had once shown every emotion she was feeling (good or bad) were now dull and hard. Her entire body seemed to be brimming with tension. It was as if Kya had retreated so far from the outside world that she had left her body.
"She lost the love of her life," murmured Opal, but she knew that Bolin knew that as well as she did. "Everyone deals with death differently."
But she was worried about Kya. Opal was afraid that at any moment, Kya was going to snap and all that pent-up emotion was going to do more damage than anyone could think. Kya wasn't violent by nature, but the woman knew how to put up a fight. Living up to being the avatar's daughter was no small feat and many a person had underestimated Kya in the past.
"The Chief wouldn't want her to be suffering like this."
"No one would, but she's…" Opal trailed off, unable to formulate an ending to her sentence. Gone? Dead? No longer here? She knew her aunt would have done everything in her power to make sure that Kya never suffered. But they must all meet death someday and being chief of police wasn't the safest job a person could have.
Opal watched Bolin's eyes flicker towards the floor at the mention of Aunt Lin, even though he was the one who brought it up. A realization dawned on her: he did want to talk about what happened, but was afraid of upsetting her. It struck her that he probably didn't have anyone to talk to about it. Both Korra and Mako were obsessively searching for any clues to what happened at the station and Asami was busy keeping the rest of the world from falling apart.
"It's hard on all of us," she murmured and gave his hand a squeeze. "She meant so much to all of us."
"But she was your aunt, Mako's boss, Korra's mentor, and Kya's girlfriend…you have every reason to be upset, but she was just…well she was just the Chief to me."
"Oh, Bolin," she murmured. "You are part of Team Avatar…and Aunt Lin may not have said it, but I know she respected you. But you know her…she didn't have the best social skills. If she didn't think you were a good person, then she would have told me to break up with you."
Bolin gave a small sigh and agreed, "I guess."
"I mean, let's face it…Aunt Lin didn't really tell anyone what she was thinking."
"Except Kya."
"Yeah…except Kya…" Opal's mind drifted into the past.
Kya was in a great mood. Her smile was contagious and the airbenders at the temple were responding to her light and fun energy. Tenzin had been so serious since their encounter with the Red Lotus that that Air Temple Island had a constant feeling of anxiety. The only cloud in her aura was questions about Korra. Opal had gravitated to Kya's energy…it was as if she was a flower in search of rays from the sun.
So, after dinner, Opal had sought her out. Pema had informed her that Kya had offered to clean the dishes so Pema could give Rohan a bath. The four-year-old had gotten into a new airbender's paint set. Opal had avoided his blue hands and trotted down to the kitchen. But as she neared the door, it wasn't Kya's voice she heard; it was her Aunt Lin's.
"I swear, Kya, I work with five-year-olds all day. If I stop watching one to help someone else, they immediately lose their damn minds!"
Opal paused at the door, not sure if she wanted to interrupt. Kya's light laugh echoed through the kitchen. She was standing at the sink, bending water across the dirty dishes. Lin stood with her back to Opal at the door, arms crossed against the metal uniform.
"Of course you think this is funny…You're no better!" exclaimed Lin as she raised her arms in the air in frustration. "I spend all day with half-witted officers and then come home to you!"
Kya threw Lin an aghast look and accused, "Is coming home to me all that bad?"
"What? No! Of course not…That's not what I meant!"
Opal wasn't sure what part of the conversation surprised her more: Kya's implication that Lin and she were living together or her aunt's voice when she responded. Lin had been worried that Kya was offended by her words. Opal had never heard Lin speak like that before; she almost seemed afraid that Kya would take her words the wrong way.
Kya set down the dish she was holding and faced Lin with a smile. "Babe, you are wound so tight. I was just joking…"
Lin let out a sigh and uncrossed her arms to lean forward against the counter. Kya walked over to stand behind her and wrap her arms around Lin's waist. Opal would have thought the hug would have been awkward because of Lin's metal uniform, but it seemed Kya had done this before.
"I just feel like at any moment, everything is going to go wrong. Between the unrest in the Earth Kingdom and all of the idiotic politics in the City and Korra's recovery…I just know something bad is about to happen." Lin's voice was quieter than usual, but she seemed so comfortable sharing her fears with Kya. It was then that Opal realized that the couple had been together for a while to be this much at ease with each other. Lin didn't share her feelings with anyone.
Lin straightened up to lean back into Kya's arms. The waterbender whispered, "You need a break."
"Isn't that why you're here?" murmured Lin in response.
"I'm always here if you need me."
Turning in Kya's arms to face her lover, Lin whispered, "I'll always need you."
The two women closed the distance between them to kiss sweetly. Opal could feel tears forming in the corner of her eyes as she saw her aunt in a brand new light. As surprising as it was that Kya and Lin were a couple, Opal was so glad to be in on the secret. Her aunt had someone in her life that loved her and was taking care of her.
Thinking about her aunt and Kya brought fresh tears to her eyes, which she hastily blinked away. She was so tired of crying. Bolin sensed this change in her emotional state and tried to pull her in for a hug, but instead, she ducked his arms. Rising to her feet, she bent over to press a kiss to his lips.
"I'm going flying. I just need some space." Knowing her boyfriend understood, she left the room before he could reply.
Sweeping quietly through the hallways, Opal made it outside without seeing anyone else. Night had fallen and there was no one near the back door where several gliders had been stashed. She grabbed one and silently took a few running steps and pushed off into the air.
The wind greeted her warmly and she briefly closed her eyes in an attempt to block out the world. The currents of air swirled around her arms, legs, and body. Blinking her eyes back open she turned the glider to make a few laps around the island. There weren't many people out tonight. The mood of the City affected the Island as well. The young Airbending Nation couldn't forget that Lin Beifong had been part of their rescue team.
The garden was occupied by two people. It only took a moment for Opal to recognize her mother pacing back and forth in front of her father, who was sitting still on a bench. She couldn't hear them from how high she was flying. All the sudden, her mother dropped to her knees and started shaking. Her father rushed forward to gather her in his arms. Su's head was buried in his robes and her shoulders shook with sobs.
Opal had never seen her mother so broken. Even after Kuvira and Baatar Jr had betrayed them, Su had been strong; upset, angry, and even sad, but still strong. But tonight, she watched as her father held her mother close and rocked her back in forth in the moonlight.
Opal didn't want to intrude, but Baatar glanced up and saw her hovering above. Opal felt the need to fly down to be with her parents, so she landed softly a few yards away. Baatar's eyes didn't leave her when he tilted his head down slightly to whisper in Su's ear. Su took a few gasping breaths and raised shaking fingers to her face to wipe her tears.
Baatar opened one of his arms and Opal dropped her flying staff and ran to her parents. "Oh, my baby, oh my baby girl," cried Su as she embraced her only daughter. "Promise me you'll forgive your brother…promise me…"
"Su…" Baatar murmured, as if this wasn't the moment.
"You have to forgive him," Su cried again and she untangled herself from her husband. Still on her knees, she placed her hands on either side of Opal's face and said, "I walked away from my family once…I caused my mother and Lin so much pain. Lin was strong enough to forgive me. I need you to have your aunt's strength."
"I will, Mom…I have been trying," replied Opal genuinely as she began crying her own tears. Su kissed them as the dripped down her cheeks.
She could feel her mother's grief as she hugged her. Baatar held them both solidly, as if he thought he keep them from falling apart with an embrace. Su kept mumbling that she had messed everything up and that she had lost so much time with Lin; it broke Opal's heart as her mother sobbed that she had been responsible for the destruction of her family.
All Opal could think to say was, "I'll forgive him, Mom. He's forgiven."