A/N: Aaaaand, were back to first-person. These are all over the place, I know, but what can I say? I had the SOUR album on loop while writing this, and I think it might show :P

Lin never tells me anything. I mean, it's not like I'm really around that much even if she wanted to. However, when I came home from work that day and found our house torn apart from ceiling to floor—cushions ripped up, furniture overturned and broken glass strewn across the kitchen tile (which I was unfortunate enough to step in barefoot)—I knew I was getting an explanation if I had to beat it out of that girl.

The beeping feature I set up on our new telephone—the long-distance talking thing that got invented recently—lets me know that we have messages. I finish bandaging my foot before going over to it and hitting Play on the receiver. First there's a soft click, then the next thing I know Katara's flitting, panicked voice fills the apartment. "Toph, oh my goodness, pick up the phone! Lin was just here, at Air Temple Island, and this place looks like a tornado hit it! I know she's upset but you've got to get her under control…"

The other messages are her saying the same thing with slightly different words. She sounds pretty shaken, so I figure I'd really better check in with Lin now.

"Lin? Are you—" I start to call for her, but she comes storming out of her room before I can finish.

"I can't believe this, has he lost his mind? He left me for that spineless, doe-eyed wind-freak-wannabee? The nerve!" She screams, and whatever was in her hand goes flying across the room and shatters on the opposite wall.

"Whoa, hey! Lin, calm down, what's going on?" I ask, though I'm starting to think I already know.

And then, to my surprise, Lin tells me. Everything.

"Tenzin broke up with me today." She brings her voice down an octave to try and match his. "He said we were 'drifting apart' and that we had 'different goals in life.'" Lin scoffs. "I'm not stupid. I know he's been in love with that acolyte girl Pema since forever now. I always knew something was off about her. She thinks she can just come in here, bat her lashes, and take him away like he's public domain? What, is it her 'turn?' Who does she think she is? Have you met her, Mom? You go over there sometimes."

"No, I haven't," I say flatly. But I know what she means. I had a Pema once myself. Not something Lin ever needs to know about.

"Well, let me tell you about the amazing, lovely, and charming Pema. So…" she pauses, searching for the right words. "So sweet, and polite, and feminine. And she's pretty, too. Pretty like…like Grandmother's porcelain dolls, the heirloom ones." I don't even bother interjecting to tell her I don't know what those look like, since she's not finished.

"I never thought Tenzin cared about any of that!" Lin screeches, throwing her arms up in the air. "I though he loved me because I was tough and stood up for myself. Guess all he really wants is someone who will bend over backwards for him because believe me, she'd jump off a cliff if he said the word."

I don't need to see her to feel how tense she is, an anger I'm all too familiar with. Though, I'm more than a little surprised. If I taught my daughters anything, it was this: know your own value, because what the whole world thinks of you isn't enough. That was something I taught myself early on; my own parents raised me as a glass sculpture, grooming me to end up on some rich dude's arm because they thought I would forever need other people to take care of me. Sometimes I wonder, am I really the blind one, or is it them?

Despite being the recipient of all my tough love as a little girl, the young woman standing in front of me now has just learned what only experience can teach. "I'm sorry Lin. I'd go beat him up myself, but he's kind of my best friends' son."

Lin snickers. "Don't worry. I did enough of that myself. You should see Air Temple Island right now—that place has definitely looked better. And Tenzin's gonna have a black eye for weeks."

I roll my eyes. "I'll take your word for it." I know Lin when she's mad way too well, and I'm sure Katara is appropriately furious.

I feel her sit down in a smooth, heavy motion, like she's taking all her frustration down with her. "I've never felt this awful, Mom," Lin says quietly, and a feeling of dread pours into me as I start to realize she might need some kind of emotional support, which I am severely under-qualified to provide. I never got any when I was in her shoes all those years ago; I don't know the first thing to say.

Lin keeps going. "It's like…it's like I'm not enough, or something. I've never let anyone else dictate my worth, just like you taught me. I guess I didn't expect getting dumped would be the thing that got to me."

I move to sit next to her on the shredded sofa. "Well, if it's any consolation, he's an idiot for letting you go. You're a Beifong, Lin. And the Beifongs don't let anyone make them feel inferior."

Lin huffs. "Obviously. So what am I feeling right now, then?"

Yeah, I'm no good at this 'comfort' thing. But...I am good at telling it like it is. Maybe I just need to try a different approach. "On rare occasions, though, someone might slip through the cracks," I continue, and I can tell I've recaptured her attention. "And suddenly you're questioning everything you used to be proud of. You're looking for something about yourself to change—several things, even." She's silent in a way that let's me know she agrees. "But you don't have to change anything. I meant what I told you growing up; knowing your value is very important. But it doesn't matter if you don't feel like you're worth that same amount. And as easy as it is for some people to invalidate what you know to be true, in the end it doesn't belong to any of them to make you feel the way you feel right now. Especially not the children of twinkle toes and sugar queens."

"What?" Lin asks, and I remember I don't use their nicknames out loud so often anymore.

"Nothing. But Lin, listen to me." I take a deep breath, preparing my next words carefully. "I don't know if I've ever told you this before, but you are amazing. And I'm so proud of you. I always have been. And I know you're too smart to make a mistake like this. So don't ever think that just because Tenzin doesn't want you, no one else will either. He doesn't deserve you, if anything. Let him run off with Pima, or Petal, or whatever her name was. You're going find someone who loves you for you one day, and you deserve that over all else."

When I'm done, I have to sit back and process everything I just told my daughter. At some point I stopped thinking about the words before they came out of my mouth, and started speaking from a long-buried yet powerful emotion that I can't quite name. Even Lin is silent in a sort of shock. "Thanks, Mom…" she says quietly, the surprise clear in her words.

Then it hits me like a thousand pounds of stone. It's everything I wish someone had told me when I was Lin's age, nursing my broken heart all by myself. Maybe then I would've held on tighter when I found people who loved me for who I was. Maybe I would have believed Lin's dad when he told me "I love you" for the first time, instead of nodding awkwardly and walking home from the bar by myself. I might have even said it back, if things were different.

Maybe I would have said yes when Suyin's dad asked me to marry him, instead of lying and saying I wasn't ready to be that serious despite already being two months pregnant with Su. He left a few weeks later.

I let them both go, because I couldn't stop thinking about the very first time I ever wanted someone to want me, and he didn't. He chose a girl who was sweet, polite, feminine, and (I imagine) so much prettier than me. I wouldn't exactly call her spineless, but she sure had a lot more flexibility when it came to him than I did. I loved him before I even recognized the feeling, and well after my window to do anything about it had passed. I watched him choose her and decided that if he didn't want me—when he was the only person I'd ever thought could want me—no one would. It was the only explanation that made sense to me, and so many years later...it still does.

I've moved on, in a way. I had to. I've stopped wondering what my life could have been if he hadn't screwed me up so badly when I was only twelve years old. He's still my best friend, and the godfather of my children, and I can't imagine my life without him in it.

I still love him, even though I stopped loving him a long time ago.

It would be my fault if I let the same thing happen to Lin. It's the worst kind of empathy—to see your child walk the same twisted path, and still be unable to guide them.

A/N: Got this inspiration randomly while comparing Linzin to Tokka. Loose description of Suki at the end, I know, but I think she's very similar to Pema in a lot of ways, and I didn't miss any of them while watching LOK.

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