The room was large, scarcely furnished but with bright and colourful art on the walls, in the corner of the room there was a short wooden gated area with soft mats and plenty of toys that I had no interest in.

"-ink I wanted this! Sitting on this damn island pumping out kids for you!" The walls were not thin, despite that the sound of a familiar argument carried likely across the entire island. Of course, expecting things to be easy was too much, Being X had sent me to experience a disintegrating family.

How creative.

"You said-."

"I said I never wanted any! But you never stopped talking and talking! You never cared about me it was only what I could push out for you! You spend every moment with Tenya waiting for her to Airbend because that is all you care about!" There was a creek close to my room with the shuffling of soft footsteps.

"How dare you! I love you and our daughter! I-if she can't airbend I-"

"Will expect a spare! I was an idiot to think that this was real! What was the point of this? You could take any of the acolytes you want and they would love you for it! I have seen how they look at you!"

"I would never do that!" My bedroom door slid open and a large figure stepped inside before closing the door, careful not to make a sound. The dark figure approaching the crib with purposeful footsteps.

"Like hell! If I can't give you an Airbender than you would justify it as saving your people! Well, I am done pretending to be your wife! Find someone else!" The moonlight was obscured by the shadowy figure as strong calloused hands gently slid under me before I was lifted effortlessly into the arms of a man smelling of salt and brine.

"Lin! Don't walk away from me! LIN!"

"Still awake my little sour sprout? Yeah, I can't sleep either." I looked up into the soft blue eyes of my uncle as he began to hum a discordant tune. It did little to mask the sound of fighting from my newfound Mother and Father.

"Don't worry, mummy and daddy still love you, no matter what happens. Besides your uncle will always be here to protect you. Okay? I have plenty of leave so I can stick around until things settle down." I watched his eyes water as he smiled down at me, I must have been tired because soon enough sleep took me as he slowly rocked me in his arms.

"Grumpy already, you have your entire life to grow old what's the point of doing it while you're still shitting yourself?" I looked closely at the elderly woman hunched over my pram, she was facing slightly to the side of me her milky white eyes stared listlessly at nothing.

"Toph, language please." My father's complaints fell on deaf ears as the blind woman simply ignored him.

"Ah this frowny face is more curious, I like it better." Magic then, she could see me somehow. I knew full well magic existed in this world, I had watched my father float numerus things in his hands while he played with me. I did my best to play at being my age but it was difficult, at times I felt I was getting too much attention.

"It's good to see you Toph." The tired voice of my father sounded out from behind me as the old women shrugged.

"Just checking in on Twinkle Toes. Much better listener these days, gives me less of a headache." Her voice softened as she spoke. "You might feel better if you have a chat with him Tenzin."

"I appreciate the sentiment Toph…"

"Don't argue with me young man, besides it will give me some quality time with the little grump. I understand I am allowed to demand things like that. Get going before I kick your butt." My father sighed but relinquished the pram and strode past Toph, looking back at me with a smile that did not quite rich his eyes. There was a jolt as the pram started moving despite Toph walking next to it with her arms clasped behind her back.

"Quiet little thing, Katara said you were very bright. I don't know how exactly you can tell if one baby is bright and the other is dumb. Fair as I can tell they eat and poop and eat some more, lots of screaming of course. That might be what she is talking about, you don't scream much." She smirked.

"The screaming never bothered me with my girls honestly, it was the smell! Your mother was terrible! I had to change her at a distance with little bits of metal or she would try to piss on me. She did it on purpose I think. Heh, you know she will regret it in the end, kids ain't so bad in hindsight, better then regret, terrible thing regret…" She moved the pram so I was facing out towards the sparkling bay overlooked by the sprawling Republic City.

"This good? I hear it's an incredible view. I ask them to describe it and they go all blue this Red that. I don't even know what blue is!" I looked out across the water as the old woman continued to speak, I don't know how long I lasted before my young body needed rest and my eyelids grew heavy.

"Tenya, I would like you to meet Pema, you might have seen her around the island… Well, uh-." A young woman knelt down in front of me with a wide genuine smile. She was an Acolyte that had grown rather close to my father, I had seen her before so it was odd of them to present this as an introduction.

"Hello, I hope you don't mind if a steal your father away for an afternoon." I shook my head.

"I don't mind at all." I looked between the pair of them. "I am glad my father has found a girlfriend." My words were met by a furious blush from Tenzin and a bigger smile from Pema as she laughed.

"Getting a little ahead of ourselves it's just the first date after all Tenya. But I am glad I have your blessing." She gave me an overdone wink and in moments the pair of them were like schoolchildren, giggling and hanging off of each other.

I had to redouble my efforts to learn about the magic of this universe, so far, my efforts had been largely disappointing to my father and now as expected he was cultivating other hairs.

The apartment block was clean and orderly, well to do if the man carefully cleaning the halls leading though the building was any indication. He looked me over before leaning on his mop.

"You lost kid?" I rolled my eyes and shook my head.

"No, I am looking for apartment thirty-seven." I waved the wrapped packing in my hands as he nodded in understanding.

"Ah, well it's just up the stairs little miss. Did you walk here by yourself?" Hardly, there was the sea in the way of that.

"No, I'm fine. Thank you." He smiled and stepped aside as I made my way up the stairs. The halls on the higher levels had carpeting and soft electric lighting that gave off a quiet hum. I quickly found the right apartment and knocked. The city was hardly democratic despite its name, my father had a permanent seat on the council that ruled the city and the surrounding region. A republic ruled by an unelected oligarchy.

That was not to say that the city did not have any democratic trappings. It was a bastion of freedom and opportunity that was quick to adapt to problems and petitions raised by the citizenry. Still each seat was held by a 'nation' what amounted to an ethnic group. I was the only hair to the Air Nomads and therefore was next in line to sit on the council after my father.

Since he had little interest in the role and I had little affinity for Airbending I was sure I would manage to persuade him to focus on the children still on the way to maintain the traditions and lifestyle of his people. That left the position on the council one of the few things I could confidently offer to my household.

"Who the hell is it?" There was a click as a lock was disengaged from the door. "It's my day off I- Tenya?" The woman looked down at me dumbfounded as I smiled up at her.

"Happy Birthday Lin." She looked just as surprised as she was last year. It was only sensible of me to make such an effort. If I was going to enter politics then I needed to cultivate relationships with the power players of the City, Lin Beifong was one of the major power players in the city being the chief of the metal bending police.

"Uhh, Thanks." I passed over the wrapped gift. "Listen kid, you know you don't have to do this. I… never got you anything on your birthday." I waved a hand.

"Never mind that, I don't need anything." She frowned at me before glancing down into the hall.

"Are you on your own? How did you get here?"

"Got a ride with the Air Acolytes on a shopping trip, I need to be back at the dock in a few hours."

"Ah." She said leaning on one of her legs and looking at me like a deer caught in in the headlights.

"Well, I hope you have a nice day Lin."

"Do you want some tea or something kid? It's cold today." Lin asked quickly rubbing the back of her neck. I smiled up at her.

"That would be lovely, thank you."

"Come and meet your little sister, Jinora." She was small, and refused to open her eyes much at all. I was not sure what I was meant to say to her so I just held her while Pema rested next to me. She would shift and kick in my arms now and then.

She seemed so fragile, something that few people who truly knew me would ever allow me to hold. Hours past with her in my arms before Pema woke from her rest and took her back to feed Jinora. Days passed into weeks and Toph's comment about screaming proved correct, there is little Jinora did beside scream as much as she could keeping Tenzin, Pema and myself up at night.

Like Toph the screaming did not bother me much at all, sometimes feeding, changing and even giving attention was not enough to satisfy Jinora but it was hard to feel angry at a baby. This was the confluence of evolution, she screamed because screaming at this age had given so many babies a survival advantage.

The desire to survive was something I respected, at least this little girl could be a true daughter to the family while I could merely pretend. The time I could dedicate to practice and training the Airbending art had been massively reduced with Jinora requiring so much attention but despite that I had made more progress in the last few months then I had in years.

I stuck my tongue out at Jinora and tickled her chin making her shift from screams demanding attention to squeals of laughter.

"Don't worry Jinora, no matter what happens your big sister will be here to protect you."

Several lifetimes of waking up early had granted me what amounted to an internal alarm clock. I opened my eyes and sat up stretching my stiff body somewhat as I fought off fatigue and got to my feet. I was in my underclothes with a used robe neatly folded up on a soft chair next to the couch I had used to sleep through the night.

Moving over to an area of the apartment with more room I fell into the familiar stretches and stances that I had cobbled together from the health and fitness exercises in my first life and the Fire Nation Chi invigoration dance that my uncle swore by.

With that out of the way I moved to inspect the kitchen and found barren cupboards and an almost empty fridge. What little supplies that were still in date were cobbled together into a halfway decent meal. I had gotten rather creative in my second life in an effort to avoid tasting actual rations, still I would never be as talented as some of my men.

I cast away such bittersweet thoughts as I split my work into two portions and laid them out on the table and began to brew some tea. The kettle in the kitchen looked to have seen the most used out of all the appliances in the apartment.

"Sorry if I woke you up." I said softly as Lin carefully opened her door. It was odd that she was trying to be quiet in her own home. Did she have a headache? If that was the cause the noise I was making might have made it uncomfortable for her.

"Tenya, you don't have to cook for me." She protested as I set out a hot cup of tea for her before settling down behind my own meal.

"I don't mind, I intended to eat regardless and it seemed rude not to consider you. I will restock the supplies in the afternoon." I dug in as Lin walked over and took a seat.

"I had no idea there was even anything in the cupboards." She gave a short laugh before taking up the chopsticks I had set out and taking a bite. "It's good."

"Thank you." There was quiet after that as we both quickly worked though the basic meal. After it was done, I collected the plates and moved to clean them in the kitchen sink to weak protests that I countered by pointing out that we had a limited amount of time to get ready and she should get in the shower.

"Bossy." Lin said while shaking her head and getting to her feet. "I hope you slept well, you could have taken the bed if you wanted it."

I smiled and shook my head. "The couch is fine, thank you for accommodating me on such short notice." Even after everything I did sleep well. Memories of this life running though my mind, all proving that this life was worth fighting for. I glanced over at my robes, they were comfortable and easy to move about in but I was going to be working with the police for the foreseeable future.

I needed to pick up a change of clothes.