So, when did you know you were in love with Lin? Bolin asked.

At that, Toph and Lin both perked up. For the last few hours, Bolin had been relentlessly questioning Zari. Most of it had been small details about his life and his relationship with Lin. Until now.

Zari hesitated before saying, "Well you know there were so many moments."

"Oh come on, man. Everyone has one moment where they realize that they're with the one."

Zari glances over at Lin, who he could tell was trying to keep a neutral expression, before saying, "Well...um...I guess there was one moment."

Lin raised an eyebrow at that and Toph raised both of hers, but both stayed quiet.

He clears his throat trying to ignore Lin's look, and he felt a brush slowly creep up his cheeks, "It happened a while ago. Lin and I were hanging out, just to get to know each other. I had chosen the location of the date before, so it was her turn to choose. She had to pick an odd place…"

"We're going to Air Temple Island?" Zari asked surprised that this is where Lin wanted to take him. It had been about a week since he had taken her to the abandoned building and they had decided to hang out. They both had groan bored so, Zari had suggested a change of scenery, but he did not think the island would be the place she picked.

"You took me to a place that was special to you, so let me return the favor. If it makes you feel better, no one's going to know we're there."

"Oh, so we're sneaking on to the island. Great."

She rolled her eyes as she grabbed her jacket, "There's no earthbenders there who will be able to sense our presence. Now come on, the last ferry leaves in ten minutes."

He shook his head as he followed out the door.

When the got to the dock, Lin steps off to the side away from the view of the White Lotus.

Zari gives her a confused look, "What are you doing?"

She raises her eyebrow, "Do you trust me?"

"Yes?"

She grins and goes to stand by the waters age. It was a surprisingly concealed spot.

"A lot of trafficers in the city try to use this spot to hide from my officers. It's a small beauty it the criminal underground."

"So, why are we here?"

She gives him a genuine smile as she says, "For fun. I can be mishevious on occasion."

She then launches her cable onto the side of the ferry that had begun moving. She grabs Zari with her other arm and jumps off of the dock. Zari's eyes widen as they begin to fall but suddenly he feels earth beneath his feet.

He looks at Lin and she has a smirk of her face, "What, you've never been surfing?"

He laughs and shakes his head, "Never like this. Did you come up with this?"

She shakes her head no, "My mother and Uncle Sokka did."

"Ah," he says as he refocused on the waves hitting the side of the earth Lin pulled up. The rest of the ride to the island they spent in silence as Lin steered and Zari observed. She had a peaceful look on her face.

Once they arrived on the island, Lin used the momentum from the boat to swing them over to a shallow part of the shore.

Zari looked over at her, "Ok, where too now?"

"Follow me."

They started walking towards the back of the island, but keeping close to the water even though the shoreline was starting to become steeper. After walking for maybe fifteen minutes, Lin gestured for him to follow her on the rocks.

Zari raised an eyebrow, "You want me to climb in the water with the rocks?"

She nods, "Yep. Don't worry, you'll be fine."

She gently starts to climb down and balances on the wet rocks. He copies her exact movements until they are almost in the water. She stops and waits for him to catch up. Once he's there he sees a small cave entrance inside the corner of the island. Lin begins walking towards it and he follows.

The cave was amazing. The water went into the center of the cave but it was shallow. In the top of the cave, light from the moon shone through and reflected on the water, giving the cave a tranquil feel.

Lin sat down on one of the dry parts of the cave, and he realized there was a fire pit there.

He sits next to her and asks, "What is this place?"

"My mother and Sokka's hideout. Sokka showed me a long time ago. I used to come here whenever I wanted to relax or escape."

"It's peaceful here. Like the eye of a storm."

She nods, "Yeah. Plus, it's great in the summer."

Zari chuckled, "Yeah it would be great." Some of the water splashed against his ankle and he get's an idea.

Zari reaches down and splashes Lin with the water. She looks up at him in surprise. Her expression quickly changes, and she shoves him so he falls off of the ledge and into the water.

"...and that's when I realized I loved her," Zari said finishing his story.

Opal turns around from Juicy's head, "When she shoved you off of a ledge?"

Zari nods, "Yep," he said glancing at Lin as he continued, "I looked up from the water and the moonlight was shining directly on her. The water I had splashed on her was glinting off of her and she was laughing. It made her look angelic. I knew then that I didn't want the moment to end or the feeling I had when I looked at her."

"Aww!" Bolin squealed, while Zari blushed not really looking at Lin.

"Bo, you need to step it up," Opal said jokingly.

"Aww honey! It's not my fault your aunt is dating the perfect guy!" Bolin said.

"True," Opal said as she looked at Zari, "my mom's going to love you! Speaking of which, we're here."

Zari looked up and saw the giant metal of domes of Zhao Fu. They were gorgeous, but equally intimidating. Not for the first time in the past few days, he wondered what he signed of for.


"Oh my goodness Lin! It's so good to see you," Su greeted her sister as Lin slid off of Juicy.

"Hey Su," Lin said hugging her sister back.

"What about me?" Toph asked as she grumpily got off of the bison.

"Mom, you know it's always good to see you. How was the trip?"

"Great," Opal said as she hugged her mother, "Aunt Lin's boyfriend told the most romantic story."

Zari blushed as Su's eyes turned towards him, "It uh… wasn't that romantic. Hi, I'm Zari Yang. Nice to meet you."

Su gives him a polite smile as she shakes his head, "You too. Although, Lin has told us absolutely nothing about you."

"Su…" Lin warned and her younger sister shrugged.

"What? You haven't. Anyways, Lin can show you where you guys will be staying. Dinner will be in an hour, where you will meet the rest of the family. Mom, I'll take your stuff."

Toph nods as she and Su start to walk off towards the main house where Toph would be staying. Opal and Bolin went off to find the twins, so it left Zari and Lin alone.

Lin gestured towards the right, "My room's that way. It's off of the main house and it will give us a little more privacy."

Zari nods as he grabs both of their bags. Lin begins to protest but Zari says, "We're dating remember? Also, there's the other thing."

She gives him a small glare but allows him to carry her bag.

As they start walking, Zari says, "You know, you haven't told me much about Su's family. Is there a lot of kids?"

Lin nods, "Well they're not kids anymore but yeah. The oldest is Baatar Jr. He was dating Kuvira and helped make the spirit cannon. He's on house arrest here. Then there's Huan. He's a supposed artist. Opal's next, and then the twins, Wei and Wing. Don't expect to tell the apart. Wei, Wing, and Huan are earthbenders. Opal's and airbender, and Baatar is a non-bender."

"Ok then. You're sister and her husband were busy."

She nods, "Very."

She gestures to the carved out area they passed, "That's Wing and Wei's play pit. They invented some sort of game."

They continue walking and she points to Huan's art area, "Those are Huan's sculptures."

Zari eyes them, "Art is in the eye of the beholder."

Lin snorts at that as they approach her room, "And here is where I stay when I visit."

She opens the door to reveal a nice sized apartment space. The bed was huge and the room also had a couch, desk, and sitting area.

"Nice," Zari says as he places the bags down.

Lin shuts the door as she says, "You can have the bed if you want."

He shakes his head, "The couch is fine. It looks comfortable anyways."

Lin nods as she begins to unpack. They're silent for a while before Lin speaks.

"I'm going to do some bending. I'll be back to change before dinner."

He nods, "Ok. I have some sketching I need to do anyways."

She nods and heads for the door. She stops there and asks after a moment, "Did you mean what you said on Juicy?"

Zari hesitates, not really sure how to respond.

She shakes her head, "Never mind. Forget I asked. Good job with how you answered the question.
Before he even had the chance to respond, Lin was out the door.

Zari sighed internally and pulled out his sketchbook. He looked the guidelines a painting a client had asked for before deciding to keep flipping. At the back of his sketchbook, was a drawing he started the night Lin took him to the cave. He had meant what he said; he hadn't wanted the moment to end. Not even the slightest bit.