So! Idk if I already named it in the story or not, and right now I can't find it if I did but from now on Lien's shop is called Glass Menagerie and that will probably change again before the stoy is over and done with. ALSO I didn't plan on having the Ba Sing Se arc last this long at all! By now they were supposed to be well on their way elsewhere, so… yeah. Whoops? Tbh my stories really tend to get away from me, and this one is no exception.

Great i dea: Thanks!

Innieminnie: Sorta? More like psychic vision of another timeline.

DannyPhantom619: An excellent thing to ponder! That answer is, very!

Loser94: You're welcome! I really wasn't trying to make anyone hate Katara! I like Katara. Their conflict just seemed like it needed to come to a peak and that was natural, for me?

notsofrilly: eeeyup

AUareAwesome: I'll do my best!

Anonymous Legacy: Very true, but it's hard to say that I'd rather stay awake when I'm asleep, 'cause everything is never as it seems~

Wicked Neko: Everyone hates Katara now I feel so bad! I mean yes, but I wasn't going for that ^^' trauma is... unfortunate.

Gerbilfriend: Yes! I wanna write more about that timeline, but I figured I wasted enough of everyone's time with those scenes ^^'

akagami hime chan: Sorry! Yeah, I'll try to be more explicit if I pull something like that again!

AnimaQueen: ... is this quick enough?

swordworks: Just visions from another life!

ultima-owner: a question of perception, is it?

Guest from March 1st: Thanks!

Lightsbane1905: Why thank you! I do try ^^

Angelicsailer: Sorry!

Espied7: Here you go!

Guest from March 1st: Yes! I had a lot of fun with that one! That version of Lien was definitely more chill than actual Lien. Less stress maybe?

tylermech66: that's the frozen reference i made oh my fricking god. That would also be really cool! Two old masters, speaking of their gift/curse so differently. Because of one young upstart who uses it for art.

Guest from March 2nd: I love spiderman, seriously

faerybound: They're all such complex character and they all have so many issues. that's why it takes these chapters so long to come out, tbh.

Berghoult Stuttly Johnson: Thank you!

The-Weird-Muggleborn-Girl: Seriously! Talk about surreal! I do agree, Katara has so much more of a temper than anyone else on the team though, like I was rewatching the series while writing this and she is... not always good. I love her, but she really is multifacetted and not all of those facets are pretty.

Guest from March 22nd: The second one.

mouse: she's having a vision of an alternate timeline

Xlerons: Thanks!

Dein0kos: correct!

In the days the followed after Lien's awakening from the coma she spent most of her time sleeping. Well, pretending to at any rate.

She didn't have the energy just yet to deal with all the shit that had happened. Between Katara's attempted murder and the ensuing, bewildering dreams she had so much emotional and mental baggage to work through it was a miracle she hadn't lost her mind yet.

Lien finally understood how Zuko could get a fever that lasted for days from all of his emotional conflict.

Part of her wondered if it wasn't a firebender thing. They were already so full of volatile energy, it wasn't a stretch to say that that could affect their physical health.

It did not explain what the hell she had seen while she was dreaming.

Lien tried to focus on what happened and whenever she did something else came to her.

Everyone that had served under Zhao for more than a month knew better than to watch him 'train' his daughter. His training was strict, brutal, and as hot as his temper.

Somedays the only thing that kept Lien from jumping ship and swimming for it was the heavy weight around her neck and the knowledge that he would get what was coming to him.

'Strength through Endurance'.

"I am Gansu," she told herself, "I am of the Si Wong."

And she was done hiding under sheets.

Whatever she had seen, another lifetime or just a fever dream, it didn't matter. What mattered was that she was in a house with a girl that had almost been the death of her and Lien had had quite enough of that, thank you.

So, in the dark of the morning she picked herself out of the matt on the floor, grabbed her pack and went to walk out the door. She stumbled over a rock that had not been in the doorway before.

Her stomach was mostly fine now, no doubt thanks to Katara, but it still twinged painfully when she moved too fast. Like when she caught herself on the way to the ground.

"Fuck me sideways," she told the earth.

Toph snorted from where she was sitting on an elevated piece of land beside the doorway. Lien was only a little bit surprised that she was there. Sokka and Aang were still sawing logs in the other room, and Katara she still hadn't seen.

"You were pretending to be asleep for a long time. Twinkle Toes was worried about you," she said.

Lien shrugged, unapologetic. "I had some things I needed to think of."

"So your gonna leave then?" Toph didn't look to be upset but Lien could hear something in her voice. A note of fear.

"I'm sure not staying here."

"Yeah, can't say a blame you," Toph said. She stuffed a finger in her ear. Lien twitched at it but said nothing. "Still, Twinkle Toes does need a teacher."

"Then he'll have to find one with more classical training," she retorted. "I'm getting out of here."

"You must really be mad at Katara."

Lien contemplated that.

"I am. But, not for the fight. I've had time to think about it, and I shouldn't have brought up her mom. That was taking it too far. Everything else though, that's true. I'm tired of the others flip flopping between whether they trust me or not. So it's not just Katara. I… I'm going back to my shop. If you need me, you can find me there," she reached over to lay her hand on Toph's shoulder.

"Take care of yourself," she said, and turned to walk in to the night.

Someone was inside of her shop.

Lien knew that the second she put the key into the lock. She could feel the heat of their life through the walls. Two of them, they had lit the hearth and were sitting close to it.

If they were comfortable enough to start a fire then they probably weren't going to kill her.

Probably.

Lien turned the key and eased the door open slowly. She poked her head, looking around until she caught sight of a tall person and a small person, one of which had ild hair unbound.

"Longshot, Smeller Bee," she stepped in fully and shut the door behind her with a soft click. "What are you guys doing in here? I thought you had your own apartment across town."

"Lien!" Smeller Bee turned to face her. Lien was stunned to see redness around her eyes. Had she been crying? Lien didn't even know she was able to do that. She was always so tough, so willing to throw her to the ground and tell her what had gone wrong or fight tooth and nail alongside her friends.

The elder girl moved forwards to touch her shoulder.

"Hey, hey, what's wrong?" she quickly turned them around, back towards the dying fire. She waved her hand, making it grow enough to warm the entire room. To his credit Longshot only twitched away from it a little.

"It's Jet," Smeller Bee said, "He disappeared. After you left he got in a fight with that Lee guy. The Dai Lee took him away and we haven't seen him sense!"

"Oh."

That had been days ago. Almost a week. And in that whole week Jet had been gone, which meant he was somewhere under Lake Laogai, or maybe already wandering around looking for Katara. Damn.

"Oh? Is that all you can say?!"

Longshot put a hand on her arm. Smeller Bee, who had looked ready to start frothing at the mouth, let her shoulders dropped in defeat.

"Sorry. I'm just worried about him. Where have you been?"

"Me?" Lien rubbed the scar on her cheek. "I got in a fight. I've been comatose since the day after I last saw you."

Smeller Bee went from mildly upset to horrified in a second. Even Longshot paled.

"Seriously? Who'd you fight? Where are they? Are you still hurt?"

"I'm fine. Or, I will be. I'm still sore but that's it. I was fighting a friend. Or, not a friend. I travelled to Ba Sing Se with her, but now we've split up," Lien was too out of it to be eloquent or poetic. "Jet will turn up, I promise."

"You can't know that," she frowned up at Lien.

"I can. Jet's eyes… he's a survivor, isn't he? He probably just talked back to much and they kept him a couple of days longer," she lied through her teeth casually.

Longshot nodded from his place by the fire.

Smeller Bee sighed. "Yeah, you're right," she agreed finally.

"Of course I am. Now, why don't we go get something to eat? I'm famished," Lien threw her an admittedly weak smile.

She could tell it was going to be a long day.

Lien was wrong.

It was going to be a long week.

As soon as the sun was up the day after she got to her shop Lien found herself being abandoned by her two friends while they went off once more to look for Jet. With her employees finally relieved of their duties Lien was left alone in her store front.

It was a quiet day, with no one around to buy much of anything.

So Lien was left to her thoughts.

A smile played across her lips. Even though she had broken off from Katara and the others…

Longshot and Smeller Bee had come to see her. Even knowing what she was, even knowing she was one of the people that they had fought so hard again in the past, they hadn't shied away from her. They had even set up their own base in a place they knew she would be.

It warmed her to know that she still had friends.

They were walking around town a few days later, gathering groceries for dinner. The three of them were officially living in her store front. It wasn't that hard when one of them could cook dinner in their hands and the other two were used to living like wild children in the woods.

Lien had been looking at dirt cheap apartments, since they were no longer allowed back in their own. She decided she didn't want to ask.

Lien had been telling Longshot about how she got colors into the glass when Smeller Bee dropped her squash and bolted.

"Geez, if I was that boring she should have said something."

Longshot shook his head at her and they took off at a run after the smaller girl. It was easier said that done, Bee was swift and nimble, she moved faster than anyone that Lien had ever met in this life or the last. She would have been a damn good free runner if they were still in New York.

She and Longshot skidded around a corner, managing not to tumble into each other when they rounded it and found Bee hugging Jet for all she was worth. Standing next to him was the one and only Katara.

Lien felt her face twitch into something bland and indecipherable. Her plan had been to just never see Katara again and she wouldn't have to deal with the image of bright blue eyes storming with fury or the sight of red slowly seeping across an icicle that stuck in her stomach.

She was going to violently suppress those memories. Now, she didn't have much of a choice.

"I thought you didn't have your gang anymore," Katara turned accusing eyes on him.

Jet looked down at the girl in his arms, bewilderment clear on his face. "I don't."

"How'd you get away from the Dai Li?" Smeller Bee asked, finally pulling away to look up at the leader.

Katara swung to face him. "The Dai Li?!"

"I don't know what she's talking about!" Jet gestured wildly towards Smellerbee, panic starting to set into his face. Lien had kept mostly behind Longshot for the time being. Her hands were shaking.

"He got arrested by the Dai Li a couple of weeks ago. We saw them drag him away!"

"Why would I be arrested? I've been living peacefully in the city!" If only he knew the trouble he caused. Lien looked up at Longshot, who made a face and turned back to the pair of them. Toph got between the two of them and lay her palm on the earth. Her brows furrowed together under her mess of bangs.

"This doesn't make any sense. They're both telling the truth."

Katara frowned deeply. "That's impossible."

"No it's not!" Sokaa jumped in. Sometimes Lien forgot just how smart he really was, when he wasn't acting like a good ball. "Toph can't tell who's lying because they both think they're telling the truth. Jet's been brainwashed!"

Jet took a weary step away from them. "That's crazy! It can't be!" he looked wildly around at all of them, the whites of his eyes showing. He was scared. "Stay away from me!"

Lien reached out and took his hand, gently. Her fingers shook when they circled his.

He looked at her, straight into her amber eyes.

"It's okay," she said softly. "We're your friends here, right?" She waited until her nodded, slowly. "Then let us help you. Come on," she tugged his hand until he took a step towards her, "We're all shacked up at Glass Menagerie. We can go there."

Lien pretended that she didn't feel Katara burning holes in the back of her head as they walked. Longshot and Smeller Bee flanked Jet, trying to offer as much comfort as they could. Lien dropped his hand not long after they started walking, she didn't know how much of her he remembered. The Gaang put up a funny formation around them, Sokka to her right, Katara on the other side of Longshot with Aang not far behind her, and Toph behind Sokka and towards the back.

"Sooo," Sokka began, "Haven't seen you in a few days."

Lien gave him a Look. He cringed and tried again.

"How'd you meet Jet?"

"Mmm, I ran into him outside of a teahouse, and started hanging out with him when I had time. How did you meet Jet? And uh, why does your sister look like she wants to do to him what she did to me?"

"It's a long story. She and Jet were… something, and then he tried to drown a whole town of people and she froze him to a tree," Sokka said. He was a bit too casual about it, if one asked Lien.

"Wait," Smeller Bee picked up her heels so she was at Lien's elbow. "What did you mean about Katara? Was she the one that hurt you?"

Longshot's normally impassive face twisted.

Lien pressed her lips in a thin line. "This isn't the time. I'm fine, we need to be more worried about Jet right now."

Lien unlocked the door and ushered everyone inside, towards the back room. The corner was where a straw mat had been pushed towards the wall, and there was a set of chairs, a table, and some dishes by a vegetable crate. Their clothes were hung up on a line along the opposite wall, still dripping some water from the wash this morning.

I got five roommates in this one studio but I never really see them. We came America, trying to get a lap dance from-

Nope. Not the time.

Longshot cleared off the table without being asked and Smeller Bee ushered Jet to sit in one of the chairs. Lien pulled the curtains closed and lit an oil lamp that looked like it belonged to Aladin. With a little bit of light flickering across the room, a flame a smidge too high to be natural, they turned their attention on Jet. He was still twitchy, still nervous. She had never seen him backed into such a corner.

Sokka drummed his fingers on his arms.

"The Dai Li must have sent Jet to mislead us, and that janitor was part of their plot, too!"

Aang nodded solemnly. "I bet they have Appa here in the city. Maybe he's in the same place they took Jet!" he spun towards the poor freedom fighter, "Where did they take you?"

"Nowhere! I- I don't know what you're talking about!" His voice got high. It was all Lien could do to keep from sweeping in and hugging him. Jet had a magnetism about him, a carisma that made it easy to see why people were so easily drawn into his gang and their cause. Lien was old enough and weary enough of the world that she could recognize that it was there, and keep from being drawn in. Their friendship had been real, for as long as it lasted. She was certain it would be over by the end of the night.

Aang looked around at the rest of them. "We need to find a way to jog his real memories."

Sokka looked half under his brows at his sister, mouth curving in a mocking grin.

"Maybe Katara should kiss him. That should bring something back!"

"Maybe you should kiss him, Sokka!" she snapped immidiately. Lien let his head fall back to the wall. And people thought Zuko was short tempered. Sokka raised his hands placatingly.

"Hey, just an idea!"

"A bad one."

"Ooh, wait! I've got it!"

Sokka plucked a straw from the mattress, poked it into Jet's mouth in his trademark fashion and regarded him thoughtfully.

"I don't think it's working," Jet spit it out in the corner, frowning.

"Try to think of something from your past that triggers your emotions," Toph suggested. She still didn't sound very invested in what was going on.

Smeller Bee made a face even as she said, "The Fire Nation. Remember what they did to your family?"

"Close your eyes," Katara added, "Picture it."

Looking decidedly uncomfortable Jet closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Lien's heart went out to him when sweat started to bead down his brow. His eyes, so wide they were rolling, snapped open and he sat ramrod straight.

"No! It's too painful!"

"There may be another way," Lien pushed off of the wall. Everyone looked at her, Jet more wearily than anyone. "Come here, lay down on the table and close your eyes."

Jet slowly moved to stretch out on her table, his eyes never leaving her face.

Lien lay her hand on his shoulder and tried to smile in a way that was reassuring.

"Close your eyes," she repeated. "It'll keep you from panicking too much."

She just hoped this worked. She couldn't quite remember how it had been done the first time. So, here was hoping that this worked. She'd never tried it on a human before.

Very slowly Jet let his eyes fall shut.

Lien motioned for the others to back up as far as they could before she started this. She looked straight at Jet's two friends.

"Please stay still, and trust me," she pleaded. Longshot looked her in the eye for a long moment before he dipped his chin an inch. With him on board, she knew Bee would follow suit.

Lien stretched her fingers out a foot or so above Jet's back, moving back and forth slowly. Her own eyes closed and soft light flickered at her fingertips. She felt the heat in his body. Felt, more faintly, the sparks of electricity that followed the paths of his nerves.

A change of focus brought about a sharp clarity of his chakra's. They mapped out in her brain, an inner image not unlike closing her eyes after she'd looked at a fire for too long. She started at the bottom, the chakra at the base of his spine.

She would talk to him about the intense imbalance another time, if he would still speak with her after learning her truth. For the time being she nudged the energy a bit with her own, just enough to get it flowing properly in the second chakra.

She moved from earth, to water, to her own fire. She paused over her stomach and with a vague flick of her wrist the energy there was released so fast Jet sucked in sharply. He didn't start shouting though, so she assumed that he had kept his eyes shut and moved on to the air chakra. That one was… very troubling.

Talk about issues with love. There was so much grief just touching down on it was painful for her. Still, Lien had dealt with losing everything she had once upon a time. Not only her family, but her friends, her coworkers, her neighbors, her business. Her life. She had dealt with that grief and she used her own centered heart to nudge his energy along as best as she could, sharing with him some measure of her own tranquility.

Gathered around the fire, her mother's hand on her. Warm tea sitting across from Iroh. Rubbing paste on Zuko's cut cheek. Sharing food with Jet. Doing chores with Longshot and Smeller Bee. A piece of glass that cooled just right.

Love was everywhere, if one allowed themselves to see past their loss.

She expected, with the brainwashing, the largest block to be at the crown of the head, or even the forehead where insight was clouded by illusions.

She was wrong. The energy had cut off it's flow at the sound chakra, sitting at the base of his throat. His truth choked by lies, keeping his real voice hidden.

Jet was an honest person, really. To the point of fault. He had never hidden any of himself from her, though he didn't like to talk about his past he didn't lie about it either. She could count on one hand the number of times she had heard him tell a fallacy.

Here, it was choking on a damn of lies that he hadn't put there himself. The illusion of not being able to breath came upon her.

"This may sting a bit," she warned, and surged her own chi right through the blockage, a hot knife through a plastic net. The lies melted away.

Lien opened her eyes and was only marginally surprised to see a flame diagram laid out in the air of his chakras and the messy state they were in.

Jet lunged upwards and it was only her own reflexes that called the flames away from him to wrapped around herself, stinging her hands and arms. All eyes were on her as her skin reddened and the fire disappeared. No one was staring at her so hard as Jet himself, his black eyes wide and clear.

Lien forced her chin up, staring straight into them. Come what may, she had done it. There was no taking anything back, not for any of them. Life didn't work that way.

The muscles in Jet's neck tensed and he choked the first time he tried to say something. He coughed and spit something black out on the floor. It looked suspiciously like burnt meat, but he wasn't acting like he was in pain. Just staring at her with an intensity that she very definitely did not like. Finally, he got his mouth working.

"This explains a lot."