Lin didn't believe in kangaroo policing, like her mother when her mom decided to do things willy-nilly because she said so. Or addicts should be jailed when they just needed support, or rich people with powerful families should get away with crimes, but that was the Beifong family, and Lin hated it.
Lin wakes up in bed sandwiched between the cozy bodies of Kya and Izumi. Kya looked at Lin, full of worry. Lin felt the room spin. She felt so groggy. Izumi stoked Lin's face with a sigh. They realized she recalled what had happened to get her here when the last thing she remembered was leaving.
She remembered it though she went to Zolt's villa. He mentioned going to his second home in the fire nation while republic city cleaned itself up. Some time had passed, and Lin was still gone, so they looked. Lin caught her, red-handed with Zolt, in his villa. They walked in on the pair passing out in bed and all the tools to do big O on the table and other illegal substances and intoxicants. Lin ran cold, knowing this was the end of the line. She lost it. She realized she had fully relapsed, nobody's fault but her own.
"Lin, are you okay? You gave us a scare." Izumi said. She pushed Lin's flattened hair out of her face. Lin tried to look past her stomach in knots, feeling sadness and regret.
" We are so worried about you; please talk."Kya pressed gently. Seeing Lin in that state was horrifying. Lin looks down, feeling as stupid as her decisions were. Her mother was right.
"I'm sorry. I'll go to jail." Lin's words were slurred. It took a moment for them to understand what she said. She didn't believe that needing help was a crime, but those were the laws that would take her punishment.
"Lin, I'm not throwing you in jail. You need help." Izumi comforted. She hated that Lin was in this mess, that she felt the need to do something so dangerous.
"Those are the laws thought, even here. You have to arrest me. It's the right thing." Lin slurred more.
" Izumi isn't a cop, Lin." Kya tried to joke. Lin laughed a bit until she sniffled.
"She's the Fire lord thought. She is the law."
"And I am pardoning you. Like it or not, Lin, you need to get help, though."Izumi said sternly. She spoke like she would address the public.
Lin sigh and decides to tell her friends. Talk to her friends and tell them what happened. Something Lin should have done earlier.
"I relapsed a few days ago. After, they. attacked me." Lin couldn't look at them. She didn't realize how slurred her words were either. "It was. It just brought me back to when I was seven. I'm so stupid." Lin sighed. She let this happen again.
"It's okay, Lin. You didn't fail." Kya assured her, remembering working with addicts and trying not to judge. She empathized with Lin. She never got help for all the traumatic situations.
" You got sober before. You can do it again." Izumi encouraged.
"It's just weird. Last time it was Kya that saved me."
" wait, so that day, no wonder aunt Katara was furious." Izumi hugged her friend more. She was vaguely familiar with what they were discussing.
Lin shook a bit. " It was my fault. I should have stopped them," Lin felt overwhelmed by memories. Kya was about to speak, but they were interrupted.
They heard a knock. Tarrlok came in when they said he could go in. He had food. Lin's favorite food aromas filled the room. She could tell he made them himself. He suggested she eat something before offering his support if she ever needed it. He decided not to look at Lin. He knew it hurt her, and he didn't want to do that, but he wanted her to know he saw her the same. Unlike the others, who were bashing her downstairs, harsh judgments were being passed, but he, of all people, knew it wasn't simple. She thanked him, and Lin watched him leave with sad eyes. She wondered if she would ever have something like that again, if she could forget.
Kya and Izumi watched her struggle to eat. Her urge to vomit when she felt rounded in the belly. How badly she needed a solid meal. Eventually, she finished, and they decided to take her downstairs to feed turtle ducks. Lin kept her eyes away from anyone's stares. She heard a few snarky comments from her mother and Pema. It was a nightmare that her mother would get decent with her of all people. On top of that, the self-consciousness that her belly was exposed and huge despite Kya assuring her she was okay.
Su sees the three of them approach the pound and scoffs, getting up. Su walks off, angry about her sister. She started to wonder if she should never have tried so hard to reconnect with her. the more she learned, the angrier she felt at Lin's hypocrisy, but she was also confused about her mom. How ugly that relationship was, why she never noticed all these things. Lin had sheltered her for a long time. As she remembered it, she started drifting from Lin when she was 10, when she had to go to Air temple island. She felt a chunk was missing, but she was too mad at both of them to ask. She decided to go to the beach to think about it.
The trio sat in the garden; the air was crisp and renewing. They knew Lin wasn't hip on nature due to her allergies to flowers, but the turtle duck ponds didn't have many flowers, if any. Kya threw food into the pond. It felt serene and like years had not passed.
"So, the kids are scouting the cave Toph found out the targets are in." Izumi broke the silence softly, she knew she shouldn't indulge in work information to Lin in her state, but it was easier just to let her know.
"We should be helping, not laying here," Lin said, feeling guilty.
"You need to relax. You barred from anything unless shit hits the fan" Kya handed Lin some bread to toss. She was amazed at how cold her hands still were.
"And yes, those are orders from the fire lord. We will focus on you until we are needed." Izumi said to Lin in a commanding tone, like she would order her children. She missed having someone to watch.
"Is, Zolt okay?"
"He was fine, and you insisted on us not harming him, so he still is in his villa," Izumi teased a bit. It was nice to know one of them was getting tons of partner attention.
Lin sighed, figuring it must have been a sight. She felt embarrassed again.
"Toph pushed you over the edge, your human. She had no right to treat you like that," Izumi said " I should've stopped her. She withheld information until she got what she wanted. My mom and her almost fought." Kya chimes in.
"I wish Opal and the other kids didn't have to be exposed to this; Toph is their hero." Lin was back to blaming herself
"They were worried about you, Korra and Mako especially. I think they just are learning things are more complicated and that everyone has flaws and they are old enough for that." Kya said, her eyes noticing something in the foreground, a deep red skin-tight outfit. Tenzin decided to go out there. Kya made eye contact with him. He didn't back down. He wanted to comprehend how this happened and figured a talk between him and Lin was long overdue.
