A/N: Are you ready for some shit to go down? I AM! Brace yourself.
TW! there is misgendering and transphobia in this chapter. It's done out of ignorance, not malice, and Korra has kind of been unknowingly misgendering this whole time, but yeah. If this is something that could upset you, please skim or skip to the end of the chapter for a brief summary.
Additional note: I am cis, which is to say, I identify as the gender I was assigned at birth. I am getting information from blogs run by trans/non-binary people and my brother, who is trans. Regardless of that fact, I will not be doing in-depth POV's of their experiences as non-cis people, to avoid fucking up entirely. The characters' genders will be addressed. Their issues with others learning of/rejecting their genders will be addressed. But it will be done from an outsider's perspective. Sorry if this upsets you, but as a cis person I do not feel like I would be able to accurately portray a trans/NB person's thoughts on their gender.
NB Pronoun Conjugation: he/she/ze (EX: Ze has brown hair), his/her/zir (EX: Zir favorite color is purple), him/her/zir (EX: I saw zir at the mall last week)
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Korra had been waiting for months for reinforcements from the Earth Kingdom – months – and all she wanted to do was crawl into bed and stay there.
Asami – her friend Asami, Bolin's friend Asami – was an Equalist. Korra didn't know how to react. She didn't know how Bolin and Mako were still functioning. She'd have shut down long ago if she'd found out one of her closest friends was a terrorist.
Maybe that was why the White Lotus kept her so far from other children.
Korra stood in the meeting hall, the council members, Mako, and Bolin around her, (well, she assumed Bolin was somewhere in the room; he was really good at remaining out of sight until fighting broke out), as they waited for the promised warriors.
Who would the king have sent? Dai Li? The Council of Five? The Terra Team?
The door opened and a figure stepped in. The people around Korra bowed and almost as one, said, "Your Majesty."
This is the Earth King? But–
The first thing Korra noticed about the King was that… well… she was a woman. A stern woman, to be sure, with hard green eyes and a deep scowl, her traditional silk robes substituted for metal armor and her royal crown conspicuously gone.
"Stand up, you idiots! We don't have time for formalities!" she barked, stomping her way to the platform. Twin scars stretched wickedly across her cheek.
"Lin," Tenzin greeted calmly, "you're looking lovely as ever."
"Cut the crap, Airhead. Let's get down to business." 'Lin' let out a loud whistle and a small squadron marched through the double doors, roughly twelve people in all. Some wore metal armor similar to the queen's. Some wore flowing robes similar to the Dai Li. A few even wore snug cat suits similar to the legendary Blue Spirit's. All wore a mask, and all looked straight ahead, standing at attention in perfect rows. "These are my Elite. You may address them by the code names given to you. They will be under the command of myself and my sons, but under certain circumstances they will bow to other's authority in combat situations."
…Sons?
Mako walked up to the monarch, a thick folder in hand. "I have compiled a brief for you of the information most pertinent to the situation."
"Thanks, kid." The queen took the folder and patted Mako on the shoulder, matching grins – small as they were – on both nobles' faces.
Ho-ly-no.
Korra didn't hear the rest of the meeting. She didn't hear the councilmen talking or the Elite leaving, she didn't hear Tarrlok pound his gavel and announce the meeting adjourned; all she heard was a ringing in her ears until Bolin hopped down from wherever he was perched, pulled the queen into a platypus bear hug, and happily chirped "Hi, Mom!"
She was so. screwed.
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Korra stood quietly for once in her life as the adults talked around her.
"Lin, it's nice to see you again," Tenzin said amicably as the other council members filed out. The queen scoffed.
"What did I say about cutting the crap?" She turned to Korra. "So you're the Avatar, huh? I hear you tried to break into my bedroom."
Korra chuckled nervously. "I'm really sorry about that…."
"I'm sure." She turned back to Tenzin. "You have the number for the estate if you need anything. Tomorrow, you and the Avatar come over and we'll talk." She turned to leave, her sons – sons! – trailing behind her, calling back to Tenzin as they left, "And don't invite that Tarrlok guy. I get enough people crawling up my ass in Ba Sing Se."
Korra could like this woman.
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Lin had seen the dumfounded look on Avatar Korra's face. Ze'd seen it many times before. Ze knew what it meant.
"No one explained me to the Avatar, did they?" ze asked once ze'd changed into pajamas and met up with the boys in the sitting room. Zir sons shared a look.
"…Oops?"
"I thought Bolin did it!" Mako insisted. "He's always spending so much time with her."
"I thought Mako did it! He likes lecturing her!"
"I do like lecturing her, don't I?"
"Stop it, both of you!" Lin said. Ze picked up Mako's briefing folder and started flipping through it. "We all know Tenzin should have done it." That asshole.
(How dare he? How dare he force himself – however indirectly – back into zir life and not even have the decency to tell his proxy how to address zir? Ze should punch him. Ze would punch him, once all the terrorist crap was over and ze could afford to punch allies, and ze would yell at him for his mistake. Ze would yell at him for caring so little about zir comfort and identity.)
(Ze would yell at him for throwing zir away.)
"I have a seismic sense training session with her tomorrow," Bolin said. "I'll explain things to her before she and Master Tenzin come over."
"Thanks, kid." Ze turned a page and froze. This can't be right. Ze read over the entry three times, each time trying to make the words mean something else. This can't possibly– "Mako?" ze said, not taking zir eyes off the report. "What's this part about the Satos?"
Mako sat down beside zir. On zir other side, Bolin put his hand on zir shoulder. "Mom…." Ze looked up and saw his heartbroken face, turned zir head and saw Mako's heartbroken face, and pulled them both into zir arms.
"I'm the one that brought them into our family." Ze held them tighter, ignoring the tears that stained zir shirt. "I'm so sorry."
The family stayed like that long after the tears passed. There would be time later for not-your-fault's and can't-have-known's, but until then, they would have each other's comfort.
And then, ze would have revenge.
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When Bolin arrived at Air Temple Island the next day, he wasted no little amount of time hunting down Tenzin. Because really, Korra was his ward and Mom was his friend and he definitely should have given one of them a heads up.
"So." Bolin crossed his arms and glared at the airbender, who deliberately looked just over Bolin's shoulder. "You sent Korra to see the Earth King and didn't tell her zir pronouns?" Tenzin slowly turned his head slightly left. "Do you realize the international incident she could have caused?" He turned his head some more. "Do you realize how awful Mom would have felt?" He was looking directly over his shoulder. "Do you realize how awful Mom feels now?" Bolin swore Tenzin was going to turn into a catowl and fly away. Or maybe just fly away. Bolin sunk his feet in the ground, just in case.
Tenzin sighed heavily, pinched the bridge of his nose (almost in that the spirits are testing me way Mako sometimes did, though Bolin was sure that wasn't how Tenzin meant it), and finally looked into Bolin's glaring face.
"Would you believe that it genuinely never occured to me?" Bolin lifted an eyebrow. Tenzin sighed again. "Lin was never very shy about zir gender once ze realized it, especially after accepting the Earth Crown, as I'm sure you know." Bolin nodded in acknowledgment. Mom threw out reporters that called zir 'her' and there was a rumor – a totally true and hilarious rumor– that ze threatened to bury any council member who tried to convince zir to just 'pick already, are you a boy or a girl'. "I know Korra was kept fairly secluded, but I had no idea it was bad enough that she'd never heard of Lin's famous 'I'm not a woman' speech."
Bolin grinned.
("I'm not a fucking woman and I'm not a fucking man. I'm a fucking experience, and I can be a bad experience; do I make myself clear?")
He and Mako saw three council members cry that day.
"So you just assumed someone else had already told her?" Bolin tried and failed to look stern. "I guess I can let it go, then, considering Mako and I did the same thing."
"Thank you," Tenzin said. "I will be sure to apologize to your mother as well."
"I think ze'd like that." Bolin smiled. "Now, where's my student?"
"At the spinning gates with Jinorra."
"Great! See you later!"
Bolin waved to Tenzin and walked off.
He wondered how long before Tenzin realized his feet were still sunk in the ground.
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Right as Korra was getting ready to announce break time, she spotted Bolin headed her way.
The universe hated her.
"Hey, Korra!"
"Hey, Bolin!" She tried to smile – because he was awesome and he deserved a smile – but wow did she not want to go through another seismic exercise. She'd reached the point where she could tell when someone was sneaking up on her. That had been her goal. She was totally fine with stopping, now. "What've you got in store for today's lesson?"
"Today we will be working on fine-tuning your senses to find earth in strange places – such as smeared on Meelo's face or tracked across wooden floors – and respecting people's pronouns." Bolin clapped once and got into his stance. Automatically, Korra did as well.
"What was that second part?" And what does it have to do with earthbending?
"You're about to get a lesson in language," Bolin told her seriously before suddenly brightening. "Hey! Mako told you to do that, too!"
And Bolin no longer deserved a smile.
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"So when Mako called the king 'zir'it wasn't just a royalty thing?"
"No."
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"So wait, how does that even work?"
"I don't know because I'm not non-binary, but Mom doesn't feel like a boy and ze doesn't feel like a girl so that's just how it is."
"But how?"
"Well, do you feel like a guy?"
"No."
"Well that's how Mom feels, just also about being a girl."
"…."
"I can't explain it any better than that. Just accept it and move on."
"How?"
"Korra, I swear on Oma and Shu–"
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"If your mom's not a man or a woman why do you call her 'mom'?"
"…."
"Zir! I swear I meant 'zir'!"
"We're gonna work on that. Anyway, Mom didn't tell us ze's non-binary until after ze found out I'm transgender. We were already calling zir 'mom' by then, so ze said to just keep on because ze didn't really care."
"…'Transgender'?"
"Ok, let me explain to you a thing…."
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"So not only is Tarrlok a Grade-A ass kisser, he's manipulating the council?"
"I don't have any hard evidence at this point – my source has family – but I hope to gain some by the time this debacle is over." Mako didn't want to deal with kicking out a dirty politician and ending a fucking civil war at the same time.
"You won't be expected to do any fighting, if you want to leave the war stuff to me and Bolin, get some digging done now," Mom offered.
"Thanks, but as far as I know, he hasn't actually done anything harmful," Mako said. "I'd rather not split factions at the moment."
"Good thinking, kid."
Mako got approximately six seconds to bask in parental approval before Bolin stormed through the house and up to his room. Mako and his mother shared a look. Should you or should I?
Mom nodded and crept up the stairs, Mako close behind zir.
"Bolin?" Mom knocked gently on the door, opening it just a crack. "Kid? You wanna talk about it?"
"No."
"Then do you wanna hug, 'cause I know a guy?"
Mako heard a suppressed snort from his brother's room before he felt more than saw Bolin gain control of himself and look down sadly again.
(Mako may not be an earthbender and he and Bo might not be twins, but damn it all if he couldn't tell what his brother was feeling.)
Mom stepped into the room. Mako peeked from the doorway as ze sat next to Bolin and placed an arm on his back. He didn't look good – a little sick, a little angry, a little like his body was made of glass. "What's wrong, boy?"
For some reason, that simple question caused him to break. Bolin buried his face in his hands and began sobbing uncontrollably, his breaths coming in short gasps as Mom tried to talk him through some breathing exercises to calm him down.
What could possibly have done this? What had hurt his brother so badly? Mako hadn't seen Bolin like this since they first moved to Ba Sing Se and one of those useless servants–
A servant had….
Wasn't Bolin supposed to tell Avatar Korra about Mom, today?
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"Miss, as I have tried to explain–"
"I'm not a 'miss' and I'm not wearing that ugly dress!"
"I really must insist–"
"I'm a boy and you're fired!"
Mako only barely dodged the servant who suddenly flew from Bolin's rooms. The servant crashed painfully against the wall and slid down into a pathetic heap. Mako, who had heard the end of their argument, simply looked down at him.
The servant – ex-servant, Mako would make sure of it – slowly pulled himself up and saw Mako.
"Sir," he said weakly, "you must speak with your sister–"
"Mom's adopted another one?" Mako said, his tone one of feigned surprise. "I'll have to tell Bolin; he'll be so excited!"
"Sir–"
"Speaking of Bolin, didn't he just fire you?" Mako glared down at the injured man – the injured man who was starting to realize Mako was not going to be his ally. "So you should probably be leaving now, right?"
The man stared at Mako in shock, not sure if the teen was joking or not.
"You have half an hour to get out. Your things will be sent to you."
The man continued to stare blankly.
"Twenty-nine minutes."
The man hurriedly pulled himself the rest of the way up and began to make his way down the hall, leaning heavily on the walls as he went. Mako entered Bolin's room.
Bolin was crying – no, not crying – he was broken-down, out-of-breath sobbing and Mako regretted not doing something himself to the servant who had inflicted this on his brother. Mako pulled Bolin into his arms, shushing and making soothing sounds as he remembered their mother – not Mom, but mother – doing so long ago.
"I'm a boy," Bolin gasped out whenever he could gather the breath, and each time Mako would nod and say "Yes you are" in his most resolute tone.
"Yes you are."
"Yes you are."
"You're my brother."
And I'll never let someone hurt you like this again.
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Mako had failed.
Avatar Korra would not get away with it.
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Korra pulled her hair back up and went outside to meet Tenzin. Practice was over, she was freshly showered and changed, and it was time to go meet with the royals – or, as Tenzin had told her, the Beifongs. Yeah, as in those Beifongs. As in Toph Beifong. Korra hoped this meant that Toph's daughter – child, Toph's child – would forgive any accidental 'she's Korra might let slip or any awkwardness from her situation with Bolin.
Bolin who had a crush on her.
Bolin who'd asked her out.
Korra wasn't gonna lie; Bolin was awesome. It was an established fact. Lord Zuko was scarred, Tenzin was tattooed, and Bolin was awesome. But she didn't want to date him.
Sure, if she was going to describe her ideal boyfriend, she would be pretty much describing Bolin – funny, friendly, great sparring partner, doesn't care she's the Avatar, can eat his own weight in noodles and still have the energy for a burping contest – and even yesterday, had someone asked her if she would ever consider dating him, she would have shrugged and smiled a little smile and said yeah-sure-maybe-whatever and earthbent them the fuck away from her because really it was none of their business, but after what she'd learned… well…. She wasn't into that.
She couldn't be blamed, really, for not being attracted to someone. It was hardly her fault. What, because someone liked her she was obligated to like them back? The world didn't work that way. Korra could like whoever she wanted and anyone who had a problem with that could go get punched in the face. Repeatedly. By her.
Korra explained this to Bolin – "I'm really flattered, but I'm not really… you know… into…." "Me?" "That." – who smiled politely if a bit sadly and announced that his mother was expecting him back he should leave now bye.
Korra figured they would do a few days of well this is awkward and then get back to the whole Amon situation and have moved past the whole thing by the time the terrorist was brought down.
"Avatar Korra."
Mako's arrival was her first clue that she was wrong.
"Lord Mako," Tenzin greeted, "we were just on our way to your home."
"I'm afraid, Master Tenzin, that our plans have changed."
Mako using a contraction should have been her second clue, but Korra was distracted deciding the best way to try and nip this in the bud.
"Mako, I get that you want to defend Bolin or whatever, but do you really think now is the right time?"
"There's never a right time for a conversation like this, but here I am."
"Mako–"
"Shut up."
Korra blinked. "Excuse me?"
"Oh, I'm sorry. Are you still not used to the world outside of your little commune?" Mako said meanly. "Then let me be clear; shut the fuck up."
And there was clue number three.
"Lord Mako, I must protest–"
"Shove it, Airhead, this is a family matter." Mako glared at Tenzin briefly before turning back to Korra. "I always knew you were a brat, ya know, but the amount of bitch in you makes me glad I never tried very hard to scrape together any respect for you."
"You did not just–"
"Clearly I did, Avatar. I recommend you get that hearing looked at," Mako continued spitefully. "What, you're supposed to keep the peace and you can't even bother with some basic human decency? What the fuck were they teaching you down at the bottom of the world? Not social skills, obviously."
"Just because I don't want to date Bolin–"
"Just because he's not a 'real man'!" Mako screamed. Tenzin's family and the Air Acolytes had long since gathered around the scene, Pema holding her husband back from interfering. "Just because you're not into 'that'. Just because you called my brother a 'that'." To say he glared at her would be a vast understatement. Korra felt she would need to come up with a new word for the look of anger and hatred he directed at her. "Just because you had the unmitigated gall to tell him to his face that if he weren't trans, you might have said yes."
Korra looked around at the wall of people surrounding them. She couldn't read the expressions on their faces.
"I didn't–"
"Think. You didn't think," Mako filled in for her. "My mom and I have fought for years to get people to treat my brother as my brother, passing laws and firing servants and putting the fear of Koh into councilmen. Years building up Bolin's self-esteem, reaffirming to him that he's a man, he's always been a man, people were just confused for a while but they know better now – people know better now. The world is changing, getting nicer, getting more accepting, and then you come along and put an fucking asterisk by his name. A little footnote reminding him that he may be a guy, but there will always be people more concerned with whether he has all the 'right parts'. Reminding him he's some fucking puzzle the manufacturer mixed up."
("'That'?"
"Yeah… you know, like, that…."
"Oh.")
She'd wanted to spare his feelings. Wanted him to know it was nothing to do with him as a person – he was amazing – but all she'd done was make it clear it had everything to do with him as a man. Or, as Korra was only just realizing, how she didn't really see him as such.
Tui and La, what had she done?
"I–"
"Exactly how many times do I have to tell you to shut up?" That last one was sufficient, Korra decided as Mako more-than-glared once more. "By order of Zir Majesty, all interactions with the Avatar Korra shall henceforth be strictly professional in nature, in the presence of Councilman Master Tenzin, pertaining only to the terrorist threat of Amon and the Equalists. Exceptions shall be determined at the discretion of the King. Should these demands not be met, Zir Majesty and all related personel will return to the Earth Kingdom city of Ba Sing Se until such a time that the terrorist Amon crosses borders into the Earth Kingdom or allied territories."
Mako passed a scroll to Tenzin, who quickly unrolled and read it before sighing in defeat and bowing his head. Mako did not once look away from Korra.
"Until next time, Master Tenzin, Mistress Pema, have a good evening."
Mako finally left. Tenzin went back inside. Pema waved her children and the Acolytes away.
"Korra?" she asked gently, but Korra did not respond.
She had ruined everything.
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"Shake a leg, little brother! I come bearing noodles and whiskey!"
"Hot damn!" The call came, not from Bolin, but from Mom, who grabbed the whiskey bottle and made zir merry way to the kitchen for some glasses. Bolin came down a little slower, his eyes still red but his expression no longer having to try so desperately to cling to his usual cheer.
"Thanks, Mako, but aren't we supposed to meet…?"
"That's been postponed," Mako told him gently, leading him to the sitting room where Mom had already poured them all a healthy dose of alcohol. "We're having a pajama night. I'm gonna get changed, you help Mom divvy up the food." Mako ruffled Bolin's hair and made his way to his room, thankful Mom seemed to have foreseen his plan and gotten zirself and Bolin into their bed clothes while he was gone.
When he and Bo were on the streets, Bolin always insisted on taking some time to just enjoy something – spend some time at the park, sneak into a play, climb onto the roof of the tallest building they could and make up stories about all the constellations. He always managed to convince Mako to go along with it by saying 'what's the point in fighting to survive if that's all we do'. Bo somehow managed to bring the tradition into the Beifong household and then to the Hou Ting palace and now it was all Mako or Mom could think of to cheer Bolin up.
They would have tonight. They would gorge and get drunk and hate everything even more under the weight of their hangovers come morning, but tonight would be the best they could possibly make it.
Tomorrow, everything changed.
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Council meetings. Lin fucking hated them. Ze hated them when zir mother dragged zir to them ("No time to find a babysitter, Linny!"), ze hated them when ze was on the force and had to do guard duty (it was worse than getting stuck with the drunk tank, ze swore it; at least the drunks were amusing), ze hated them when ze was dating Tenzin and they kept him away late into the night (biggest mistake of zir life, dating that man), ze hated them hated them hated them. No council meetings was the one perk to being overlooked for that promotion to chief that ze'd earned a fuck ton more than Saikhan the little brown-nosing fuckwit and even then that got ruined when ze finally learned the identity of zir father.
Lin fucking hated council meetings. And ze fucking hated Tarrlok.
"…illegal to be an Equalist…"
Fair.
"…or even be associated with them."
Less fair.
"…curfew for all non-benders…"
Fuck that.
Lin watched as Tenzin argued against the measure, feeling strange to be agreeing with him after so long. (Don't yell at him, he's on your side. Don't yell at him, he's on your side. Don't yell at him–) Ze watched as Tarrlok called justice cowardice and tried to call for a vote before proper debate could be had.
Fuck that, too.
"That's the dumbest thing I ever heard."
"Excuse me?"
Ze could feel Tarrlok's anger, just as ze could feel Bolin's amusement and Mako's this bitch nose pinch.
"You – a bender – are going to call for this council – of benders – to restrict the rights of non-benders out of paranoia, exactly like Amon said you would," Lin pointed out matter-of-factly. "Why stop there? Why not just round them all up and put them in internment camps until Amon's taken care of? I know; let's head on down to the schools and see which kids can't bend so we can lock them up now, while they're less of a threat. That'll show those Equalists we mean business. Sure, it'll show the non-Equalist non-benders that Amon's right and the government will abuse it's power when it comes to non-benders, but I'm sure the increased Equalist recruitment numbers will just be a coincidence."
Tenzin smiled at zir and ze wanted to punch him. Ze wasn't doing this for him, ze was doing it for the people. Because ze cared, despite popular belief. (Don't punch him, he's on your side.)
"Every non-bender in Republic City has the potential to be an Equalist," Tarrlok said. "Until we can be clear which ones will use that potential, we must be wary of them all."
"I call for all waterbenders to be jailed until we can be sure which ones are bloodbenders."
"Your Majesty–"
"Oh, so we can't generalize when it affects you? Ok, good to know." If Bolin didn't stop snickering he would lose his grip on the wall. "Look, you can argue your bigotry any way you want to, it doesn't stop it from being bigotry. So either lock up all the waterbenders – yes, including you – until we can be sure none of you are the next Yakone or admit you're prejudiced and let us move on with our meeting. Either way, you pass that law and you will not have any of my Elite supporting you. In anything."
There was no rational argument Tarrlok could make, not without a fair bit of time to try and find a way around this new development, and it seemed Tenzin would not allow him that time.
"All in favor?" the airbender called.
No one raised their hand.
I win this round. Your move, pretty boy.
And, it looked like zir boys were right. Tarrlok did know something about Yakone.
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It was a simple stroll down memory lane. That was all Bolin wanted. A quick nostalgia tour with his family. Not too much to ask, despite what Mako would have normally tried to claim if he weren't so set on doing anything to make Bo happy since the Korra debacle.
Bolin was only slightly above using that for his own gain.
They'd been walking past the apartment building they'd first lived at – the one near the police station before Mom decided it was healthier for he and Mako to have some room to roam and moved them all into Grammy's house – when they saw several police cars and paddy wagons take off down the street.
"That can't be good," Mako said as the vehicles disappeared.
"No it can't," Mom agreed, shooting cables up to the metalbenders zipline. "Let's check it out."
Mako hopped on Bolin's back and they were off.
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"Why's it so dark?" Bolin asked quietly as they returned to solid ground. There was screaming and crying and a single bit of light in the chaos, a white tent lit up on the safe side of a police barrier. Metalbending officers stood in a line, their expressions stoic in the face of the desperate pleas being hurled at them.
"You can't do this!"
"We have rights!"
The family approached the barricade.
"Return to your homes immediately!" an officer – a captain, if Lin could read his badge correctly – ordered from atop a paddy wagon.
"Sure, right after you turn our power back on!" a man in the crowd replied, any other comment lost in the agreement of the people around him.
"You benders can't treat us this way!" a mother called out, clutching her child to her breast.
"Look, mama, it's the Earth King."
The civilians turned to Lin as ze approached the line of officers.
"Please," said the mother from before. "I know we're not your people, but please help us."
"What happened?" Lin asked.
"Ma'am–"
"I didn't fucking ask you," ze said, barely wasting the time to glare at the impudent metalbender before turning back to the woman who'd addressed zir. "What's going on?"
"My family and I were just sitting down to dinner when the electricity went out," she said. "I went out to speak with our neighbor to see if she would let my children stay in her home where it was warm while I looked at our fuse box to try and fix things and saw that the whole neighborhood had gone dark. Some of us gathered to discuss what to do, then the police arrived, so we went to them to ask for help and they set up this barricade and ordered us back inside!"
"Did they say anything about your power being fixed?"
"Nothing! We asked and asked and they yelled at us, so we yelled back and then you arrived."
Lin turned to the captain on the paddy wagon. "What's being done about their power?"
"I don't know, Your Majesty."
"Do you know that it's below freezing?" Lin asked mockingly.
"Yes, Your Majesty."
"Do you know only advanced firebenders and North or South Pole natives can survive in this weather without some type of outside heating?"
"…Yes, Your Majesty."
"How many of you are advanced firebenders?" Lin asked the crowd. None replied. "How many of you are native to one of the Poles?" Again, nothing. "Thought so."
Lin turned to the lit up tent. Ze could guess who was in there.
"You!" ze yelled to the officer who had called zir ma'am. "Do you know where the power substation for this neighborhood is?"
"Yes, Ma-ajesty."
"Good, go see what the problem is."
He stood there.
"I said move your ass!"
He took off over the cable network. Lin whispered to Bolin "Follow him" and turned back to the civilians.
"I'll handle this," ze promised. "Once the officer figures out what's wrong, I'll make sure it's fixed. For now, I want you all – especially you with children – to return to your homes where you'll be more sheltered from the cold. Those of you with small families, group together to share body heat. Anyone who wishes to stay until this is sorted out is welcome to, though I don't recommend it."
Several people broke off and went into the houses closest to the barricade, mostly elderly people and those with kids, including the mother who'd spoken to Lin. Everyone else – the majority – stayed.
"Mako, go to the houses and help them organize," Lin said. "I doubt they've dealt with something like this before; calm them down, keep them inside where it's safer."
"On it." Mako walked off, only stopping for those who had stayed to tell him he was welcome to get the blankets from their homes for the people who had retreated. Lin made zir way to the tent.
"Tarrlok!" The councilman stepped out into the cold at Lin's summon. "Just the man I wanted to see."
"Your Majesty," he greeted, a polite political smile on his lips. "What brings you here?"
"Oh, you know." Lin waved zir hand vaguely. "The house got boring so I figured I'd check around for some police brutality. Always a good way to kill a few hours."
"Brutality?" Tarrlok gestured around him, his smile never slipping. "Who here is injured?"
"I was talking about the soon-to-be frostbitten civilians, though I suppose the officer whose feelings I hurt might count," Lin replied.
"We can ask him, if you'd like?" Tarrlok offered.
"I'm afraid I sent him on an errand," Lin said. "He's going to the power substation to see what's caused this blackout."
"If you had spoken with me first, you could have saved him the trip."
"But then I would have had to talk with you longer." Lin finally smiled back. Zir grin was even less cheerful than the councilman's. "So you know why these people are freezing? Do you also know why police officers are here in riot gear?"
"I do," Tarrlok said. "A few hours ago, I called for an emergency council meeting. I'm sorry you were unable to make it, but we couldn't reach you and had to go on ahead." Translation: Tarrlok had someone watch zir house until they left, then tried to call. "After brief debate, it was decided to implement a citywide curfew for all non-emergency personnel – doctors, police officers, and the like – effective immediatly," he informed her. "By refusing to return to their homes, these people are in direct violation of that order."
Interesting loophole, Lin begrudgingly acknowledged. Most officers were earth and metalbenders, most doctors waterbenders. Even first-responders were made up mostly of firebenders for their ability to sense and raise the body heat of survivors to catastrophes.
"And their power?"
"A minor issue, I assure you," Tarrlok answered. "It will be fixed as soon as the power plant manager returns for work tomorrow."
Tomorrow?
"And until then, what is being done to help these people make it through a negative thirty winter night?"
"Like you did, we have ordered them to return to their homes," Tarrlok said. "They will be more protected from the climate and we won't be forced to arrest them for breaking curfew."
"That's it?" Lin asked. "I offered that as a temporary measure until official ones can be made and you're not going to make any? You can have the officers form firepits in the houses or put them up in a hotel for a night or distribute some blankets and tea and you're not going to?"
"It's for a single night," Tarrlok said, his voice an oily caricature of a soothing tone. "They'll be fine."
"They'll freeze," Lin insisted. "And I will make sure the city knows their deaths are solely on your head."
As the two stared each other down, the lights flickered back on. The remaining civilians cheered and happily made their way back to their homes, calling thanks to the King as they left. Mako returned to Lin, who carefully noted the flash of surprise on Tarrlok's face when the electricity came back.
"Well," Tarrlok said hurriedly, "it appears the point is moot." He turned and left, calling for the officers to pack up their things. Lin and her son watched them leave, each vigilant for any corrupt cop that may have stayed behind.
As Tarrlok and his officers – his offficers, not Saikhan's the filthy lap poodle monkey – disappeared out of both eye and seismic range, Bolin returned, landing lightly by the King.
"Report," Lin ordered.
"It was a simple fix," Bolin said. "There were some severed wires I fused and some switches I flipped and everything turned back on."
"Severed?"
"Yeah."
That wasn't a malfunction. Someone deliberately sabotaged the power substation to cut out in that specific neighborhood.
That lower income, non-bender neighborhood.
"Mako, did the people you spoke with mention a curfew?"
"No, Mom."
Cut off the power to cause a riot, don't tell the people about the curfew, arrest the dissenters for violating a brand new law they hadn't even learned yet.
Tarrlok wanted to fight dirty? Fine. Lin was a Beifong. No one knew dirty better than zir.
-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-
Korra looked out over the bay at Republic City.
Tenzin had told her what Tarrlok had done to those non-benders. He'd told her King Lin had rescheduled their meeting for the next day and reminded her of the rules the monarch had set. They would be discussing how to bring Tarrlok down and only that. No jokes, no anecdotes, no burping contests. Just Tarrlok.
Korra's first exception. She'd hoped for better, but she'd take what she could.
How can I fix this?
Well, step one would probably be apologizing, but she doubted Mako or the king would let her near Bolin, so she'd have to skip to step two; back up her words with actions.
What actions could she take? Date Bolin? Because that wouldn't be fair to anyone. Even now, even knowing better, Korra couldn't say she wasn't uncomfortable with the idea of dating a man with 'female parts'. That was her hang up – ("We all have our hang ups")– and it would be cruel to lead Bolin on while trying to get past it.
What else could she do?
Bolin cared about people. Korra had learned that he was the one who'd argued her case to get reinforcements sent to Republic City. Helping the citizens could…. Well, no. What, she showed her remorse by doing her job? She would have to go above and beyond. Do something no one else could do as quickly or efficiently as she could. Something that would help everyone, not just benders or non-benders. Something like….
I can take out Tarrlok.
"Naga." She nudged her friend.
She would earn Bolin's forgiveness and take out a corrupt politician in one go. Who said she was bad at this Avatar stuff?
"Let's go."
-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-
The sun was shining, the birds were singing, and someone was about to lose their hands for waking him up.
"Bolin! Bolin, boy, come on!"
He grumbled and turned around, burrowing back into his covers in a feeble attempt to fall back asleep.
"Kid, it's an emergency! Avatar Korra's been kidnapped."
His eyes snapped open.
Shit.
-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-
-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-
Brief Summary: Non-binary Earth King Lin Beifong, adoptive mother of Mako and Bolin, arrives with an elite team of fighters. Bolin explains "non-binary" to Korra, in the process telling her that he is transgender. He asks her out, but she turns him down, because despite having the beginnings of a small crush on him before, she isn't "into trans people". Mako flips shit, lectures Korra, and informs her and Tenzin that by order of the Earth King, all their interactions from that point forward will be strictly professional or Lin will take zir forces and zir sons and leave.
Lin attends a council meeting where ze thwarts Tarrlok's attempt to force a curfew on non-benders, but he calls a second meeting when he knows ze can't make it and passes a curfew on non-emergency personnel – personnel that mainly consists of benders. Lin and zir sons find a group of non-benders demanding their power be fixed and confronts Tarrlok while zir sons check the power substation (Bolin) and calm the masses (Mako). Tarrlok reveals the second council meeting and that he has no plans to lend aid to the non-benders because "it's just for one night, until the power issues can be fixed by the workers, they should be fine". The power returns during their confrontation and Tarrlok and the police officers leave.
Bolin and Mako return to Lin, where Bolin informs them the power substation was sabotaged and Mako informs them that Tarrlok didn't tell the assembled non-benders that there was a curfew in effect. Lin realizes Tarrlok set up the events to get an excuse to arrest the non-benders and informs Tenzin so they can work together to bring Tarrlok down.
Korra, seeing an opportunity to try and get back on the family's good side, decides to take Tarrlok out herself and is captured as in canon.
A/N: This is where all the fun shit happened! Who saw this coming! Lin is the non-binary Earth King mother of Bolin and Mako. Bolin is transgender. Korra is transphobic. Shit has gone down.
1. I skipped the Korra-Tarrlok confrontation because it was basically the same, minus the whole "you arrested my friends" thing. So yeah.
2. Though I have written Lin as NB in this story, I do not normally headcanon zir as such, and thus may have misgendered zir myself. Please tell me if I have. I went through a lot of editing when I decided to make zir NB and then a lot more when I decided to use ze/zir instead of they/them because it was less confusing.
3. I just can't picture Lin in anything but armor. Feel free to picture the armor in any design you like, but I just cannot imagine zir wearing anything as impractical as elaborate royal robes, especially into a war zone.
4. Korra is transphobic. Sorry. She's been really sheltered her whole life and this is what came of it. She doesn't believe trans people should be attacked or sent through conversion therapy or denied basic rights, but she does – passively, so she didn't even realize it at the time – see a difference between trans men and women and "real" men and women. Allow me to walk you through it.
Korra is attracted to men.
Korra is attracted to Bolin.
Korra finds out Bolin is trans and is then no longer attracted to him.
The only thing that changed was that she found out Bolin was transgender. She's still attracted to men, she still really likes Bolin, but she's squicked by the idea of dating a guy with a vulva and then comes right out and tells him she has issue with his genitals. Not him as a person – not, oh sorry, I just don't see you that way – but him as a man. Oh sorry, I'd see you that way if you had a dick.
Korra is fully entitled to date who she wants, but to say she's attracted to men – is attracted to a particular man – and then take it back because he's not the "right kind" of man, equates gender to genitals, which is transphobic and hurtful as fuck.
The Beifongs aren't pissed/sad because Korra doesn't want to date Bolin; they're upset she doesn't see him as 100% a man anymore and actually told him as much to his face.
I tried to do both POVs justice – why Korra initially thought she did nothing wrong and why Bolin got so hurt and Mako got so pissed – so tell me your thoughts.
There will be no Korra/Mako kiss, so I had to find some way to kill Bolin's crush and I figured I had to do it in a way that felt just as upsetting as watching her kiss his brother.