'Daddy, now that everything is over...will you finally tell us about your adventures with aunty Lin? Pretty pleaaseee.'
Tenzin huffed at Ikki's question. He couldn't believe that his children would just not quit asking these utterly annoying questions. For him it was hard to understand why the children were so obsessed with this topic, how they were not even slightly uncomfortable when asking him out about his former lover, especially right in front of their mother, Pema. Unconsciously, he furrowed his bushy brows since he did not want to talk about this while they were dining, or anytime else for that matter.
'Oh yeah! And can you pleaasee tell her to visit us? It's been sooo long since we last saw her!'
That was Meelo's voice, ripping his father back into reality. Tenzin gave his son a forced but patient smile.
'I'm sorry guys, but I guess your aunty... has still so much work to do.'
Pema just calmly continued eating her vegetarian dumplings and feeding a smiling Rohan while listening to her family. Even she wished for Lin to visit them again. Everything had changed for her when she saw the older woman she barely knew sacrificing herself for her family's safety. It was obvious that Lin, in the first place, did this to save the last airbenders, wanting to fulfill her promise she gave the late Avatar Aang, but for some reason Pema felt as if it wasn't only about that. According to her, Lin had actually reserved a big place in her heart for their family. Besides, she was more than sure that there was nothing left between the witty chief and her loving husband. Therefore she trusted both of them. There was not even a small drop of bad blood between her and her lover's ex, at least from her point of view it was that way.
'Tenzin, dear, I agree with Meelo. Lin should come over as soon as possible... She did so much for us... I don't even know how we could repay her for her brave actions... the least we could do is to open our door for her... you know her apartment was destroyed...I.. I think she should stay with us.'
Tenzin exhaled, not sure if he should be happy about his family liking Lin this much, but honestly, he just wasn't able to say no this time.
'It seems as if all of you wish for her to be here... alright...I will call her, but I can't promise that she'll actually stay.'
The second after these words left Tenzin's mouth Jinora and Ikki squealed with joy while Meelo was running around screaming, Rohan eventually joined them and Pema laughed. This was not the reaction Tenzin expected, but he was fine with it. He decided not to question it any further.
After being somehow convinced by his rather enthusiastic family, Tenzin decided to make their request come true, so he dialled the esteemed chief's number while stroking his beard in a nervous fashion.
She did not pick up.
He figured that she was probably working on important files concerning the modernisation of Republic City's security system. After all that had happened with Kuvira, Lin had taken it upon herself to make extra sure that their city could endure any kinds of similar attacks or catastrophes. She wanted to keep everyone safe as best as she could. After all, she had dedicated her entire life to the sole purpose of erasing all the danger and crime. It had always been that way and even though Tenzin admired her for this, he also sort of wished that she wouldn't stress herself as much as she does. Yes, he still really admired her, he realised...though he would never use the word 'admiration' in front of anyone in context with, how Korra called her, 'Chief Crankypants'.
The air bender decided to call her again. Unfortunately she, continuously, didn't pick up, so he thought it would be best to leave it at that. Maybe she just didn't want to be disturbed.
This didn't work out as well as he thought it would. His brain and his family kept nagging him about it until the night. So 4 hours later, Tenzin was ringing Lin's Office phone the fifth time on the same day. The councilman really didn't want to annoy her, but he was seriously beginning to worry about his childhood friend, who was a workaholic anyway and often tended to mercilessly work herself into a complete shutdown of her own body. He was scared of this and feared any other possibilities that could prevent her from hearing his calls. Because of this, Tenzin thought about going to visit her in order to personally make sure that she was alright and then grab her by the wirst to drag her into his home. Not actually though since this would be too impolite and harsh for Lin's liking and the consequences for Tenzin would most likely be a violent slap in his face and an insult thrown at his head.
Lost in his thoughts, Tenzin exhaled and lazily ran his hand over his long beard. His mind began playing tricks on him. He found himself entering rooms and immediately forgetting why he did it in the first place. His thoughts just kept drifting to Lin. This didn't go unnoticed by Pema who hugged her husband from behind, wanting to make his worries disappear into thin air, as usual.
'Darling... maybe you should really go and check on her... she has nowhere else to be than in her office...plus, her work must've come to an end an hour ago...it's already so late...'
Tenzin stroked his wife's upper arm while she was yawning, looking incredibly adorable while doing so.
'Dear...I know you don't really know Lin that well...But she never managed to stop working. You should keep in mind, she won't even let sleep get in her way... that's why I'm so worried. She will work herself to death if she continues like this.'
Pema smiled at her husband's attempt to make her laugh. Tenzin just kept getting more nervous as the seconds passed. His lips began to dry.
'Pema, if it... if it is ok with you... I would like to go to the police station...'
His partner looked at him lovingly, gave him a knowing and reassuring smile and responded by softly pressing her lips onto his. The airbender smiled warmly before pulling away. He thanked his lucky stars that his wife was so understanding and it was no longer a problem to talk with her about the delicate topic that was Lin Beifong. He had been repressing this topic for far too long anyway.
When he went outside and felt the cold night's breeze blowing gently through his robes, he felt like a teenager about to sneak out to visit his best friend. He was never the type to do this on a regular basis though since he had always been pretty reasonable and not much of a rebel, especially not compared to his older siblings who were professional troublemakers.
Tenzin took a deep breath, closed his eyes, then spread his glider out like it were a pair of wings, leaped off the cliff of Air Temple Island and flew away gracefully.
Even though it was already after midnight, Republic city's lights (at least at the parts of the city which weren't destroyed) were still shining, filling the night with life. Everything seemed so calm, safe and sound... Judging from this view probably nobody would have guessed that the 'Kuvira incident' had just happened a few weeks prior.
Tenzin was thankful, he had missed this, but he was aware that he couldn't stay up here forever. It hurt him. Not even flying had been the same without his best friend. Tears stung his light blue eyes when the realisation of how much he really missed Lin hit him and he allowed them to fall in order to calm down.
5 Minutes passed and he managed to land on the street, right in front of the police station where the statue of earthbending prodigy and old family friend, Toph Beifong, was seemingly watching over him.
Tenzin exhaled and narrowed his eyes, feeling nostalgic. He imagined having his Aunty here with him, holding a conversation.
'I...I promised to protect her...no matter what.'
He gulped.
'I-I failed... more than once even.'
He lowered his head in shame, sadly, being very well aware of the damage he had caused Lin during all the years, the worst being their break up nearly two decades ago. Squeezing his eyes shut he fidgeted with his fingers, the same way he had done when he was just a little boy, clueless of what life had in store for him.
'Aunt Toph... you... you confided in me, you left us and...and trusted me enough to be by your daughter's side and to care for her...but I failed.'
He was dangerously close to crying know. A lump had formed in the back of his throat.
'First I broke her heart... then... she got abducted by Amon and lost her bending because she wanted to save my family... she sacrificed herself... And now she is distant... Aunt... please come back... I need you and Lin- oh Lin... she needs you even more than I do...'
He felt like a child, helplessly begging for forgiveness. And at that moment he wished for nothing more than to be able to turn back the time to when everyone was still alive, when he was just a child.
After a while he managed to regain his composure and stepped into the building where he immediately came face to face with a rather surprised looking guard. The young man did obviously not expect to see Tenzin there, especially not this late. He was tired but still somehow able to smile politely, knowing exactly why the master had chosen the police station for a late night's visit.
'Chief Beifong is in her office. I will take you to her, Master Tenzin... but I can't reassure that she'll welcome you, she demanded that we shouldn't let anyone in without her permission today.'
Tenzin cleared his throat, being slightly embarrassed at the fact that the guard knew what his intention of coming here was and asked himself whether it was really a normal thing to just burst into the place in the middle of the night for no apparent reason. He did not want to think about it any longer. There was no going back now.
'Thank you... uh... did she mention any specific reason as to why she would ask for such thing?'
The man just shrugged and cocked his head toward the corridor that led to Lin's room, a sign for Tenzin to follow him. They walked together without saying a word, the guard just smirking the whole time. The corridor was cold and silent. The airbender could not decide if he liked this or found it unsettling...It was strange, he was tense and he didn't even have a clue why he was so nervous.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, they arrived at Lin's huge, suddenly very intimidating looking metal door. Now the younger man also seemed to have lost a bit of his confidence and knocked cautiously.
'Uh...Chief?...You have a visitor.'
a/n: alrighty, that's the first chapter of a story I have been wanting to write for a long time now. Feel free to give thoughts, ideas, constructive criticism etc.
But PLEASE be kind while doing so.
Also, sorry if the characters are out of character, I'm still trying to get used to them.
See you in the next chapter (hopefully). Bye!