ah, dusting this off. i realize it will be quite different from the show, but that's the beauty of fiction... amiright? been having a crazy few months so if you review me, you might make my day a little better 3

The train ride to Republic City was long. Toph and Lin had to cross by boat to reach a port that would grant them access to the trains. Lin, who had lived and explored in the same four block neighborhood since birth, was terrified. Her mother sensed her uneasy nerves as the girl clung desperately to her hand. The seats were uncomfortable, fashioned poorly out of crude steel and flimsy cloth, and the tracks were rugged, having succumbed to weather and wear.

After the first ten minutes of a bumpy, uneasy ride, Toph had had enough. She stood up in the middle of the cart and thrust both fists forward and down, bending her knees with the stance. The bumpy metal of the track smoothed out under her command, and the ride instantly became softer. A few observant passengers offered tepid applause for Toph, and a nursing mother thanked her personally.

"This railway has been in service for only five years," the woman disclosed. "They're supposed to last another fifty. I doubt it'll get that far."

"Any idea why it's so bad?" Toph had an aversion to small talk, but she was genuinely curious. Based on the woman's slurred accent, Toph guessed she was an Earth Kingdom native, and the ride to Republic City was probably frequent for her.

"The officials use the allotted money for personal expenses." She carefully lifted her baby to her shoulder and rocked him side to side. "So when it comes time to build the railway, they have less money than they thought. They buy shoddy material from foreign markets and they buy it in bulk. So for the next fifty years, we're stuck with this rusting metal and these hard, cold seats."

Both of Toph's eyes were wide with disgust. "And no one stops these bastards?"

"I'm sure they try their best," said the woman hesitantly. "But the world has changed. The answers to problems like this aren't as direct as they used to be. Before, we could point a finger to the Fire Lord for our misery. Now we have to point to an entire bureaucracy, and the Avatar is at the center of it." The young woman sighed and held her child tighter. She laughed softly and this immediately endeared Toph to her – she sounded so young, and Toph was reminded of her own youth with a new baby. "We would have never guessed this would happen eight years ago when they were fighting to free the world. It's funny, no?"

"Hilarious," Toph agreed. She had expected as much. Leave a job to Twinkle-Toes and it all comes crashing down before it starts, she thought.

Raised with a blind mother, no one had taught Lin proper staring or pointing etiquette, and on the train, Toph felt the outcomes of Lin's upbringing bite at her heels. She pointed and stared at everyone on the train. She sang her school rhymes using her outside voice. She took off her shirt to show her mother how loudly her heart was beating from excitement. She burped into the nose of a nearby toddler and then pushed him down when he started to cry. Lin couldn't blame all of these behaviors on her upbringing – no, certainly it was genetics at work too. She was definitely Toph's daughter and moreso Sokka's. It was as if Lin was a freeze frame and composite shot of Sokka and Toph during their own respective childhoods.

Finally, the train halted at RCS, the acronym for Republic City Station, one of the busiest and newest in the world. Toph picked up her and Lynnie's modest luggage and headed for the exit. A young man offered to take Toph's bags for her for a fee, but – tired, sore, and sweaty from the trip – an irritated Toph shifted the ground under his feet and sent him flying. It was too busy for anyone to notice, and Lin was grateful for that.

"Mama you almost hurt that man!"

"You burped in that kid's nose. I get a freebie too."

"Where is Katara-and-Aang?"

"Two people, Lin-Lin. Katara and Aang. I know Sokka and I always talk about them like a matched set but when you meet them, you've got to know the difference between –"

"There she is! There she is!" Katara's soft, excited voice fluttered like a bird over the bustling crowds. Toph felt her rush towards them, holding two young children by the hand. As she led them into the crowd, Toph began to distinguish another child with Katara as well, this one strapped to her back.

"Are you all joined at the hip?" the earthbender inquired. Katara hugged her tight and Toph, despite herself, hugged back. She had missed Katara these past six years. There were certainly times where she almost came to Republic City herself, without invitation. And if she could've, she would have written to Katara asking for advice. The older woman was wise, and the two had shared a mother-daughter relationship that Toph didn't salvage with her own mother. Poppy BeiFong didn't know about Lin and Toph planned to keep it this way.

"You look incredible! This must be Lin! She's adorable! Oh, gosh! I can't take this. Aang! Aang, come over here!" As Katara gushed over Toph and her daughter, Aang clumsily made his way to the women, his arms laden with gifts. "I just got you a little something," said Katara, throwing a few of the boxes at Lin. "Oh, you are just the spitting image of your mother, aren't you, darling?" She scooped the girl up, leaving the boxes on the floor, and held her tight. "So light for an earthbender," she joked. "What's your secret?"

Much to her mother's surprise, Lin sang, "Pears and apples! Lychee nuts and melon, I ain't tellin'!" to which Katara happily ooh'd and aaw'd. Katara's own children looked at Toph expectantly.

"I haven't got fancy presents for you guys," she disclosed. The disappointed duo looked at their feet. "But Lin brought something to share."

Hearing her cue, Lin squirmed within Katara's grasp to reach her back pocket, where she had brought her collection of painted stones. She handed the first stone to the child strapped to Katara's back, a thin boy her age who Lin would later learn was named Tenzin."THESE ARE MY ROCKS LET ME SHOW THEM TO YOU," Lin announced. Tenzin looked up at her in wonder with his large, grey eyes.