When Kya and the others came to the clearing, the fight had already begun. She could pick out Korra easily. Her eyes searched the area in front of the compound. Tenzin had drawn much of the fighting to himself. The dark hair next to him had to be Jinora. At first, she didn't see Opal.
Su ran up beside her and pointed behind Korra. There was a sphere of air encasing something; or in this case, someone. It then dawned on Kya that Opal was guarding Lin. Lin wasn't in the compound, she was already outside. Su had come to the same conclusion she had and was already running toward the sphere of air.
Bumi, Ikki, and Meelo flew overhead to assist Tenzin and Jinora. Wei and Wing had led several of the metal benders into combat with the people flooding out of the compound. Asami, Mako, Bolin, and Soraya made their way past Kya to join Korra. Izumi came up behind her and placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Let's go get her," Izumi whispered in her ear.
Kya gritted her teeth and sprinted after Su. She could hear Izumi close behind her. As she neared the fight, Kya drew water from the pouch at her hip, but she wasn't interested in fighting. All she could see was the whirling air that she hoped contained Lin. Su had been forced to stop and fight off a few attackers. Kya tried to side step around them, but a rock was hurled in her direction and she had to use ice to slice it in half before it collided with her head.
Su stepped beside her and together they pushed back the two nearest men, but were quickly overrun by new assailants. Out of the corner of her eye, Kya spotted Izumi moving swiftly toward them. Blue fire rested in the palms of her hand and she side stepped and dodged the flying debris.
"Get to Lin!" Izumi called out over the chaos. They were only about thirty meters away from Opal's ball of air. However, there was plenty of fighting between them and their goal. Su had barely gotten two steps in that direction when water blasted her back to Kya and Izumi.
"There's too many of them," cried Su her hand moving swiftly and the earth following her command.
Izumi narrowed her eyes and stepped forward. The bright blue of her flames began to swell from her hands, forming a ring around her waist. Glancing at her old friends she nodded in the direction of Opal and Lin, urging them on. Before Kya could protest that there were too many, the Fire Lord swept her hands forward and the ring expanded.
Su grabbed her sleeve and pulled, leaving Izumi a blaze of flames and the screams of those around them who found themselves on the wrong end of Izumi's furry. Kya took one final glance at her old friend as Izumi leapt acrobatically through the air, her feet meeting the ground in a blue explosion.
Running on, the air began to feel thin and Kya felt her throat constrict trying to feed her lungs. Opal's whirlwind not only protected her from view, but also kept anyone from getting too close. Kya raised a hand to shield her face from whipping wind.
"Opal!" shouted Su over the noise. "It's your mother! Let us in!"
At first, it didn't seem that Opal had heard them. But just as Kya was about to try her own voice, she noticed that the sphere of air was shifting. Slowly, a hole began to open from the ground. After a few seconds, it was large enough for Kya and Su to slip through.
Opal was tirelessly keeping the air moving around her. Kya's breath hitched when she saw the figure curled up at Opal's feet. Lin's graying hair covered her face as she laid on her side, knees tucked awkwardly to her chest. Her thin body was covered by an ill-fitting brown jumpsuit that was stained by sweat and blood.
Kya felt her knees hit the dirt as she knelt next to Lin's still body. Her hand hovered inches from Lin's unusually tangled hair, almost afraid to touch her. Su knelt beside them both and asked, "Is she…is she…?"
"Breathing? Yes," replied Kya as drew in a deep breath. Focus, Kya. Lin needs to you to be strong right now, not fall apart here in the middle of the battle field. She automatically reached for the water pouch at her hip and pulled the water over Lin's body. Broken bones, bruises, lacerations, dehydration, and malnutrition flowed off of Lin's body in waves of pain.
Su reached out to grab her sister's hand and looked up at Kya desperately. "Is she going to be alright?"
"Mom, I don't know how much longer I can do this!" cried Opal, sweat dripping down her face.
Guiding the water over Lin's body, Kya tried to focus on treating Lin as her patient not as her lover. Opal probably couldn't keep up the shield for much longer. She needed to triage Lin's injuries, so they could get her safely out of the fight. They had predicted that Lin would be injured so they had already planned to extract her during a battle. But Kya needed to make sure it was safe to move her so they didn't hurt her more.
Besides being unconscious, Lin had several broken ribs which could potentially puncture a lung. Lin's left knee was a mangled mess; there was no way she was walking off the battlefield on her own. The lacerations were superficial and could wait until Kya could spend the proper time to heal them. Thank spirits, there was no internal bleeding. The broken collarbone was also a concern for a later time. Right now, she needed to mend the broken ribs into a better position and make sure there was no damage to her brain.
"How long before we can move her?" asked Su as she stroked a tangled piece of hair out of Lin's face. "Can you wake her?"
"Just a few minutes," replied Kya as she moved the healing water over Lin's torso. "I need you to slowly turn her on her back. I have the ribs in position, but it'll be easier if she isn't curled up."
Su rolled her sister over, her hands carefully guiding her shoulders flat on the dirt. Kya didn't have time to heal the broken bones, but she was confident she could get them set. What she hadn't predicted was Lin waking up. Pale green eyes snapped open with a gasp and Lin immediately tried to push herself onto her feet.
"Lin, you're safe! Don't move!" Su quickly tried to steady Lin, but bumped her shoulder causing Lin to growl in pain. "Lay down, lay down…"
"Lin," cried Kya as Lin tried to sit up again. Opal's air sphere shuddered around them, but the girl repositioned herself and held it steady again.
Su moved to her head, placing her hands on either side of Lin's face. "Lin! Look at me! It's Su! We're trying to rescue you!"
"Su…" gasped Lin as she stopped struggling long enough to make eye contact with her sister. "I don't…."
"Hush, you're pretty banged up. Kya needs to stabilize you."
"Kya?" Lin tried to move again, and Kya's heart leapt. Just a day ago, she was trying to imagine the idea of never hearing Lin's voice again. Hearing the strained, thick voice call her name brought tears of joy and pain to her eyes.
Kya paused in her ministrations to lean forward into Lin's view to whisper, "I'm here, love. But I need you to be still. We're going to get you out of here."
Lin nodded and leaned back against Su, who was battling her own onslaught of emotions. It had been one thing to hear Mako's theory that Lin had lived through the attack; it had been another to learn that she was being held at the compound. But seeing her, awake and alive, no matter how injured, was overwhelming. Days ago, Kya was facing the rest of her life without her lover; now she had the chance to bring her home.
"Mom!" cried Opal as the poor girl's legs gave out beneath her. Somehow, she kept her hands raised, the air around them continuing to spin. Lin seemed to have just noticed her niece, her eyes widening with concern. Kya felt Lin's heartbeat increase in worry about Opal. It was suddenly dawning on her what a rescue operation meant: people Lin cared about putting themselves at risk for her.
"Su, we need to get ready to move her," ordered Kya as she secured the last rib into place. "There's no way she's going to be able to walk, let alone run. Can you make me a splint for her knee, so we don't make it worse?"
"Hang in there, honey," Su told her daughter as she pulled a piece of metal from her back and thinned it out.
Working quickly, Kya took the metal and told Lin, "This is going to hurt." Lin's dirty face grimaced in pain before Kya even got her hands on her knee. She pulled a few bandages from her belt and together, Kya and Su rapidly tied to metal to Lin's leg, causing Lin to cry out in pain.
Nodding to Su, Kya helped heave a pale faced Lin to her feet. Kya didn't even realize her hands were shaking until she held Lin completely in her arms, against her own body. Lin was alive. Lin leaned into her, holding her injured shoulder, but as soon as Kya had both arms around her, Lin reached up to touch her face.
Lin's voice was hoarse and tired, "Kya…"
"I'm here," replied Kya as she held Lin close. "And I love you, but we're not safe yet."
Lin was staring at her intently, as if the rest of the world had disappeared. Then she pulled gently on the back of Kya's neck to bring her closer, so she could kiss her. Kya was caught by surprise, but adjusted Lin in her arms to return a kiss with just as much fervor. Kya's heart soared. Everything was going to be alright; together they could do anything.
When they broke apart, Kya could see Su grinning from ear to ear before turning to her daughter, "Ok, Opal, you've done great. Let's get out someone to help you out."
"Ready?" Kya asked Lin and she watched as Lin's eyes darkened and her jaw set to give firm nod.
Opal dropped the air shield and they were thrown into the chaos of the battle around them. Kya took in the area directly around her; it seemed that Mako and the other officers had moved in around Opal's sphere. The clearing outside was crowded and fire, water, earth, and air hurled around them.
Bolin raced up to them to lift an exhausted Opal off the ground. Once her daughter was in the safety of her boyfriend's arms, Su moved back to Lin and Kya to help support them. Su called out into the fighting, "Bumi! We've got her!"
From somewhere nearby, Bumi let out a loud howl. Kya wasn't sure how that ended up being the signal for Meelo and Ikki to come get them on Oogi. But sure enough, the sky bison appeared above them, making a circle to find them. Mako shot a line of fire straight into the air to mark their position. However, as Oogi and Tenzin's children began their descent, a flash of color darted between the sky bison and the ground.
"Spirits," gasped Su, the memory of their recent time in the spirit world still fresh on their minds. Kya watched in horror as spirits began infiltrating the battle. Above them, Ikki and Meelo had bailed off Oogi to fight one off. Jinora rose quickly to help them.
"Time for a backup plan!" shouted Tenzin, suddenly appearing behind them. A crooked smile came across his face when he saw Lin. "Always good to see you looking so alive."
"Shut up, Tenzin." Kya smiled in spite of herself at Lin's sharp reply. These bastards hadn't taken her spirit.
"You have a backup plan?" shouted Su over the roar of the fighting. Kya's grip on Lin tightened. She couldn't lose her now.
Izumi walked up behind Tenzin and Kya was once again amazed at Izumi's ability to look perfect under any circumstances. "We need to spread out the fighting. It doesn't seem that there are that many spirits helping them. If we can stretch their forces, we stand a better chance."
"Izumi, you can't-" coughed Lin, her eyes dark with concern. "You shouldn't be here. They'll have us both!"
"I don't think they even realize I am here," Izumi reassured her. "They can't stop us when we are all together."
"We've got this, Lin," added Kya, sounding surer of herself than she felt. She looked up at the sky again, hoping to see Oogi with a clear path to the ground. Instead she saw a blur of flying spirits and red jumpsuits.
Then something else caught her eye. At first, she thought it was more airbenders because of the red color. But it was flying like a spirit, not someone with a glider. When it finally dawned on her what the slithering shape growing larger on the horizon was, her heart soared. They were going to get out of this alive. Izumi was right: together they were unstoppable.
A true smile appeared on Kya's face for the first time in almost a week when she heard someone cry out in terror: "Is that a dragon?!"