The last chapter! I honestly cannot believe this piece came all the way around. It began as a tiny bit of imagery in my mind on my way home from work one day and it grew to this fully fleshed out piece! I love writing chaptered works and I am honored I was able to share this one with you all.

I would like to thank those of you who reviewed and gave me continuous encouragement. Untamableshipper, DesktopDrugs, Daimhin, pandamochi123, distswim13, LadyBeiFong, and numerous guests – thank you, sincerely. I looked forward to each and every review you left for me, and they always made my day brighter.

Now for something I don't typically do, but – if any of you have ideas for future stories please PM me here! I'd love to chat and brainstorm. I don't have any "fandom friends" for Avatar, and discussions that lead to inspiration have given way to some lovely things in the past for other fandoms.

Well, here we go…the final chapter. Enjoy!

Silence of the Sound

Chapter 9

Lin stood still, basking in the sunlight as it streamed over her face. She could hear Tenzin speaking tenderly to Oogi not far behind her, readying him for their journey home, but for the first time since they had come to this horrible place, she was not in a rush to leave.

As the days passed – they had stayed three longer than intended – she had slept more than she had in years. She had been able to wake on her own schedule, stretch and greet the morning, do yoga before moving into bending stances to practice with Tenzin the way they had in their youth, take lengthy runs through the forest. She felt free here, unbound by anyone else's demands on her time or energy, and, as it grew closer to their day of departure, reality had returned. She knew she would be walking back into chaos at the station, that her detectives will have been lost without her for so long. It was nothing she was not able to handle, and she certainly would, but it made her realize how different her life was compared to the dreams she'd had as a teenager.

Weyoun and Ku emerged from the house and walked across the yard, a modest lunch held in the old man's hands. He extended the food to Tenzin, giving him a small bow. "May the stars shine upon you," he said kindly in way of a farewell.

"Thank you, my friend. And thank you, as well, for letting us stay with you." Tenzin returned his bow with a smile. "You will always be welcome in Republic City if you ever decide to venture from your home."

Lin turned and watched from where she was, far enough away to be left out of the sentimental goodbyes Tenzin always gave. She kept Ku in her line of sight when the spirit spun up in the air, twisting around Weyoun and then into the sky. Though Tenzin had attempted to run interference on her behalf, Ku had been a constant thorn in her side. While she would miss the peacefulness that had fallen over her during her recovery, she would absolutely not miss him. Though she was returning to Meelo, the little devil of an Airbender. If she had to choose –

"Will you come visit?"

Ku darted down from the sky to her side, startling her enough that she almost tripped over her own foot. "Will you?" he asked again, not having noticed the growing agitation on her face. "I will miss you very much, Lin Beifong. You are my friend. Perhaps I will visit you instead. Yes, I will do that instead."

"No, I don't think so." She scowled at him, eyes glancing briefly to Tenzin long enough to see he was still chatting away with no intention of ending the conversation. Meelo was definitely starting to seem like the better alternative all of a sudden. "You stay right here with Weyoun living on your mountain. Got it?"

"But I do not like that option," Ku pouted – at least as much as he could through his featureless face, smooth around the deep recesses of his vivid green eyes. The pink near his heart chakra burned brightly with emotion. "You are my friend now. We are bound together."

Lin threw her head back and sighed. It was like talking to a wall. A wall that could talk back and argue without even understanding what was going on. This was a discussion they'd had at least eight times. "We," she started slowly, "are not friends. Weyoun is your friend. Tenzin? Sure, he might be your friend. Me? No, I am not your friend."

"You are my friend." Ku sunk lower to the ground when she looked away, finding her gaze again. Her lips pursed. "You helped me."

"Tenzin," Lin interrupted loudly as she walked away from the spirit. "Can we leave now? And you," she returned to Ku, "are staying here. Whatever bond we may have ends now. Really, thank you for bringing my soul back – but my life is already hectic enough without anything else added to it."

"But we are both earth," Ku tried again, swirling around her to stop her strides.

"So is Weyoun. Stay here with him."

"He is, yes," he agreed with a single nod. "You are stronger. I have not met a human so strong with your element before. I want to play with the earth with you. Can we play before you go?"

She squeezed the bridge of her nose, wishing Tenzin would stop talking and get Oogi in the air already. "I don't even know what that means."

"We are friends."

Lin opened her mouth to retort angrily, but Tenzin, having heard the growing commotion, came to her other side and touched her shoulder. "I think, Lin," he whispered to her, "he wants to bend with you."

"No." She shook her head at them both with a frustrated frown. "Come on, we should get going."

Tenzin grabbed her wrist before she could walk away again, an amused smile tugging at his lips. "It might appease him enough to leave you alone."

"You just want to see what he does, you liar." She narrowed her eyes at him. Ku hovered just behind him eagerly when he sensed her giving in. It was a losing battle, and she was on the wrong side. "You and your spiritual obsession, Tenzin, I swear…don't know how you got me involved in this…"

She jerked her hand from his loose grasp and slid back into a lazy bending stance, gesturing for Ku to move a ways away and shifting her foot a hair to forcefully move Tenzin out of her path. Ku flew backwards excitedly. Not calling out to check if he was ready, she raised her arms to bring a large chunk of rock up from the ground. She felt the power of it running through her veins, along her skin, and she grinned faintly as she used her energy to shove. The rock went sailing high into the air, toward where Ku had gone. The spirit rushed at the chunk and dove right into the center of it. She released her hold. The earth hung there in the sky, glowing with his colors of brown and green, before bursting into various shapes.

Lin took a step back, joining Tenzin to watch what happened. She couldn't deny her curiosity.

Ku spent several minutes flowing through and around the piece she provided, changing its shape or form, giving it color, raising it high into the sky to drop it with the intention of catching it a split second later. He was like a child with a toy. Suddenly he pulled the rock in on itself, turning it into a tiny pebble, and threw the piece at Lin. She caught it, the stone now small and smooth in her hand.

"For you, dear friend," Ku told her happily from the sky. "Goodbye."

She inclined her head at him before finally making her way to the bison waiting patiently under the trees. For all she had endured while she'd been here over the last three days, reality was already settling back on her shoulders. The time had come to leave.

xXx

Lin sprawled herself out on her back, knees bent so her feet could press flat against the saddle and one arm thrown over her eyes to block out the late-afternoon sunshine. They had just stopped for lunch and a quick break to stretch their legs, and home was swiftly approaching. With it, of course, were all the responsibilities of her life waiting in the wings for the moment she arrived.

She figured she should go straight to headquarters once they landed, check in and let her officers inundate her with questions, concerns, and work. But at the same time…she had left one of her best lieutenants in charge, surely he could handle one more evening shift alone before she waltzed in early the next morning. She wanted to check on her house, have a quiet dinner, make sure her thirty year old bonsai trees were still alive (even if she did sincerely trust Jinora to take care of them in her absence).

She took in a breath to sigh, though it turned into a yawn midway through just thinking about the chaotic mess she would be walking into when she returned to work. It was doubtful any progress had been made on the case with the Triads, she'd have to get that moving again as soon as possible.

"Everything all right?"

Lin shifted her arm away from her face to see Tenzin situating himself beside her, leaning against the side of the saddle, and she gave him a wry grin and dropped her arm completely.

"Just thinking about work," she huffed. "I'm starting to wish I had brought some of the files with me to look over during the last few days when I had nothing to do. Spirits, it's going to be a madhouse tomorrow."

"Surely it won't be that bad," Tenzin soothed, amused at her sourness.

"There's just going to be a lot of catching up to do, that's all." She ran a hand up her cheek into her hair to tuck a few errant pieces back into place. "I never intended to stay away for so long. Almost a week! What was I thinking, agreeing to those extra days?"

"You were thinking, Lin, that you needed those days to take care of yourself." She scoffed at him from her position on her back, not moving to make a face to go with her mocking. "You know you never would have rested if we had returned home the day after -" He cut his words short, not wanting to mention the event out loud. She raised a cynical eyebrow and he pushed on as if he hadn't stopped. "It's good we stayed the additional time, we both needed it."

She waved her hand in his direction dismissively, squinting up at the wispy clouds above them. "I'd have been fine. I just know I'm going to pay for my decision in the morning when I'm buried under papers and officers."

Silence fell around them, filled only by the wind and Oggi's peaceful grunts as he flew.

"Did it hurt?"

Lin pulled herself up into a sitting position. The question surprised her with how sudden and intense it was, and she glanced over at him with an unusually vulnerable expression. "Did what hurt, Tenzin?"

He studied her face for a moment before looking down at his clasped hands, swallowing. "Dying," he clarified as softly as he could over the wind around them. "The way you did. You just – you seemed like you were in pain before you…left."

"Oh." She averted her eyes as well.

They had spoken in short bursts here or there during the last few days about what had happened. Tenzin, for his part, showed his emotion over the ordeal by dragging his pillows and blankets into her room to sleep on the floor beside her bed. She had woken a few times during the night, whether from unsettling dreams or restlessness that invaded her sleep, to notice he had reached up to take her hand at some point. That, his touch, had never disturbed her from slumber and it always gave her enough comfort to doze again. It also told her more than his words ever did about how troubled he was about the entire situation.

"When Ku touched me," she explained honestly, "that hurt, very much. But my soul leaving my body once his took full control? No, that did not hurt at all. It was like – it was like letting go of a kite string when the wind becomes too strong."

Tenzin nodded silently, turning his focus to flattening creases from the fabric over his crossed legs. Lin grinned faintly and covered his busy hand with her warm fingers to still the motion. "I may have given you the impression earlier that watching Rala die was the last thing I saw before I followed him." He looked at her in uncertainty before she continued. "I could feel myself weakening and asked Ku to turn around. You were the last person I saw before everything faded. I wasn't asking for you to help me or save me in that moment, I simply wanted to see you. I wanted to bring that much with me, the image of the person I-someone I cared about.

"But Tenzin," she said firmly, noticing the tears forming in the corners of his eyes when he hurriedly glanced away and moving her hand to touch three fingertips to his cheek. The contact was feather-light though still unyielding enough to bring his gaze back to hers. "I do not blame you for anything that happened, not one thing. You need to let go of your guilt."

"I don't know if I can," he muttered, shaking his head sadly. "If we had just left the whole thing alone -"

"Rala would have come after you in Republic City, where things would have happened quite differently and we likely wouldn't be having this discussion because I would never have returned from the dead." She set him with a hard stare and he blinked, breaking it. "I am always going to throw myself in the line of fire for you, Tenzin. I always have. That is my choice, and one you do not have to feel fault or responsibility for."

"But…but why? After all these years?"

"Someone has to. You're too busy protecting everyone else to watch your own back." She gave him a gentle smile and withdrew her hand. "And besides, an airhead like you is bound to find yourself in trouble you'll need saving from."

"Lin, I – I don't even know how to begin thanking you."

She chortled, shrugging and leaning back again. "You don't need to thank me. You don't need to apologize, either – I heard that, too, by the way, and I will be remembering the "mercy for as long as you live" bit for a very long time." She raised a playful eyebrow when the tips of his ears turned red. "I might be cashing that chip when I need a few difficult favors, fair warning."

"You heard that?" he grumbled, rubbing a bashful hand over his bare head.

"First words I came back to. Thanks for the blackmail." Lin started to laugh when Tenzin's blush deepened, and she punched his knee with her fist in an effort to make him feel a bit better about her joke. It didn't work very well.

"I was beside myself, Lin," he tried in his defense. "I was devastated, I thought I had lost you, and then you -"

"Hush, hush, I get it." She grinned softly up at him again when he let his rambling fade off. "Ku explained – in his own strange way – how distraught you were. I'm just kidding about the blackmail, but I'll stop. I won't keep rubbing the salt into this one."

"Thank you," he whispered, and she more saw the movement of his lips than heard the words. He reached down to run his hand across her jaw until he could press his palm to her cheek.

She closed her eyes and turned her face, almost imperceptibly, into the caress. He had found every opportunity he could over their time together, even before the final clash with Rala, to touch her in some way and a part of her chest was aching, knowing this was nearly over. Another part was relieved to know her heart was almost allowed to beat normally again. They wouldn't be able to have this kind of closeness once they returned to the city. He appeared to be aware of this, too.

"It's going to feel a bit odd going home, don't you think?" he asked quietly, retracting his hand and seemingly pulling in on himself.

"No," she told him, even if it was a bit of a lie. It was what he needed to hear from her despite not what he wanted to hear. "We're returning to our lives, as we were always going to do one way or another. I'm sure your family missed you horribly."

He turned his distant gaze down to the land below them, which was quickly becoming familiar. "Yes. Yes, I'm sure they did."

xXx

"Dad! Daddy's back!"

Ikki sent the call up with air-powered lungs the moment she saw them nearing on the horizon. By the time Oogi landed in the courtyard, all three kids and Pema holding the baby were standing back, waiting patiently for Tenzin and Lin to gather their things to toss down. Meelo and Ikki dashed forward in a tussle over who got to catch their father's bag, and it ended up spilling across the cobblestones. Lin watched with lips pulled back in a small smirk before throwing her own to land on top of it.

The moment Tenzin's feet touched the ground, he was surrounded in grasping arms as his family came forward to embrace him.

"Daddy, daddy, Meelo broke a window!" Ikki immediately told him with gusto.

"Nuh-uh!" Meelo denied the blame, shaking his head wildly as he looked over at his sister. "You broke all the flowers in the garden with your tornado yesterday!"

"Did not!"

"Children, we've already discussed this," Pema intervened calmly.

Lin ignored the growing exchange, sliding off Oogi's back and patting his fuzzy leg affectionately in thanks for the trip. She took a deep breath, already letting go of the last few days and everything she and Tenzin had been through together, and took a step back to grab her bag from the ground. Her fingers collided with Jinora's, who had leaned down first to pick up her bag for her. Lin pulled her hand back, surprised, and the girl passed the rucksack to her with a smile. "Thanks," Lin muttered.

Jinora nodded, turning to match Lin's steps when she tried to walk away. Lin paused, looking at her again. Her face was open, unguarded, and it was obvious she wanted to speak but simply didn't know how to begin. "You okay?" Lin asked, hefting her bag higher on her shoulder.

"You seem different," Jinora offered timidly, shifting her weight into one foot.

"Different how?" Lin asked sharply. She cut her eyes quickly to the small group still huddled together in the center of the courtyard; they were all oblivious to both this conversation and her attempted departure.

The girl shrugged shyly. Her hair was still very short, and she crossed her arms to restrain herself from reaching up for strands that weren't there. "Changed somehow. Nothing physical!" she added quickly when Lin's expression turned tart. "And you're still very much yourself. I mean about…about your soul, almost. Did something happen to you?"

Lin was silent for a long moment, weighing the idea of telling this young spiritual master of the ordeal she had faced in such a short period of time. Having Tenzin, her closest friend, with her had been a lifeline, a reason to survive. But she still had questions – questions she wasn't sure he had answers to. Jinora might. This was also, however, not exactly something she wanted to continue talking about. She still had many things to come to terms with herself before she would be able to seek the wisdom of someone else on the matter.

She gave a lopsided grin and reached out one crooked finger to tap the knuckle under Jinora's chin. "Ask me again in a few weeks, kid."

Jinora beamed up at her.

"Here." Lin dug in a deep pocket of her jacket and withdrew the small marble of earth Ku had created earlier that day. She had no desire to keep it, but tossing it off Oogi's back while they'd been flying somehow felt wrong. "Would you like this?"

"Oh!" Jinora took the pebble gingerly from her fingers and let it roll into her palm, her eyes wide with excitement. "A spirit gift! This is lovely! Where did it come from?"

"Just a little side effect of the adventure I had with your father."

She curled her fingers tightly over the marble before throwing her arms around Lin's waist without hesitation. "I'm glad you're home," she mumbled against the heavy fabric of her coat, "and I'm really happy you're okay."

The innocent truth of her words and the way she so honestly meant them made Lin's eyes sting. She wrapped one arm around her slender shoulders, returning the hug as best she could. After a few beats, she began to step back. Jinora dropped her arms and stared up at her, a smile still on her face. "I'm going to head home," Lin said softly. "I'll see you again soon, I'm sure. Say bye to your dad for me."

Jinora waved cheerily as she made her way toward the docks to wait for the next ferry. It was only just after five in the afternoon, there still should be at least two more before the line closed at six. Plenty of time to get home and forget about the last few days as she came back fully into her life to prepare for everything waiting for her tomorrow.

"Lin!"

She pushed the breath from her lungs and lowered her eyes as Tenzin's voice floated toward her. He was sprinting down the path in her direction. The ferry was chugging along, nearing the dock. Just a few more seconds and she could ignore him, step on the deck and leave him behind…

"Lin, wait!" It was too late. He made his way onto the dock, nearly out of breath as he reached her side. She turned her head to glance at him from the corner of her eye, not quite willing to give him her full attention. Everything was too real, too cruel now as her world – and Tenzin's vastly different one – pressed in around her. "Were you really going to leave with saying anything to me?" he asked, the hurt vivid in his gaze.

The ferry glided in beside them, acolytes and White Lotus guards preparing the vessel for a quick turnaround when they saw it was only Lin to board on this end. She nodded to them in acknowledgement before finally turning to Tenzin. "You just looked busy, that's all," she explained halfheartedly. "I wanted to go home."

"I'll walk with you," he immediately offered, opening one arm in a gesture for her to board the ferry in front of him.

She opened her mouth to refuse, but he placed his hand on the small of her back to guide her forward and the words withered. Their short trip was mostly silent, and he stood as near to her as he could as they sauntered down the familiar streets of their city. It was significantly warmer here, down from the mountains on the coast, and she kept their light conversation focused solely on the weather until they finally arrived at her door.

As if knowing she was going to deny him entry, he followed behind her closely once she used her bending to open the lock and let herself inside. She narrowed her eyes at him when he almost stepped on her heel in his haste, though neither pressed the issue as she set her things down on the kitchen table and removed her coat to hang in the alcove in the entryway. Her armor needed some repair, so she would take off the pieces in her living room later to go over them with an oiled rag and her fingers.

"Would you like something to drink?" Lin offered out of habit, already moving into the kitchen to fetch herself a glass of water.

"No, thank you," Tenzin replied. He fell back into the foyer, watching her move as she filled a clean cup. "I suppose I just wanted to make sure that you are truly going to be all right."

She stepped back out into the main space, leaning one shoulder against the wall and setting him with a tepid gaze as she sipped her water. "You should be asking yourself that question, Tenzin. You've had the last three days to be with me and reassure that mind of yours that I'm quite fine now. It's time to let go and return to your family."

"I know, I just…" He swallowed and glanced away, toward the living room and the large window overlooking her small garden. "When I have those dreams tonight and reach for you, you won't be there this time."

"Perhaps you won't dream them," she suggested evenly, aware of the dreams he was referring to because she'd been having very similar ones. "You're home, things are back to normal. Right?"

He nodded, trying to believe her. "Right."

"Right," she repeated quietly, staring down at the glass held securely in her hand.

"I suppose I should go," he murmured. He was having a difficult time looking at her now, and shuffled away toward the door. The urge to touch her was burning, he needed to leave before he broke the boundaries they had placed here.

"Tenzin…"

He paused, turning back around before he reached the door to meet her eyes. She was biting her lower lip, trying to choose her words carefully, and he took the few steps closer to her again when she set her glass down on the table. "That night, under the mountain when I was unconscious, I heard you talking to me. Or rather, I could hear your voice. At the time, I just assumed you were trying to give me something to hold onto so I wouldn't die, but – it wasn't important, was it? What you were saying?"

"You heard me?" Tenzin asked softly, his heart suddenly beating so quickly he felt a surge of nausea. He had vaguely hoped at the time she would hear him, but now he was terrified at the thought. Whether that fear was because of what his admission would lead to or because he was shameful of giving it life, he wasn't sure – though he truly didn't regret it, how he felt about her.

"Not the words," Lin clarified once more, not looking at him to see the deep red that had colored his cheeks. "Just your voice. You sounded so…earnest."

He nodded, taking in a breath and releasing it when it became clear she truly hadn't heard. He wasn't sure whether the clenching in his chest was relief or sadness. "No," he answered her original question with as much a smile as he could muster. "It was not important at all."

She could tell he wasn't being fully honest with her, but she returned his grin nonetheless, not wanting to push the subject. "All right," she relented easily. "I just wanted to be certain, so I could be sure I didn't miss something serious."

"Of course."

Silence fell between them. Tenzin could tell from the somber expression on her face as he gazed at her that, even if she did not know the exact words, she had a strong suspicion of what he had said to her that night. She had given him an open opportunity to admit it again without repercussion, and he had not done so. He also understood that, once he left her here, this would never be brought up in the future. He was losing the one chance he had and he may not be given another.

Acting on impulse, he reached out and cupped her face with his hands. Her skin was warm under his, and his eyebrows came together at the sensation as he wished he could do more. "You know me so well," he whispered, both giving her a real answer and leaving it unsaid.

"Yes," she agreed. She covered his hand with hers to stop his thumb tracing the tips of her scars, dismayed by how familiar and pleasant it felt. After a long moment, she let out a soft sigh and took a step back, out of his grasp. She squeezed his fingers before letting them drop completely. "I think I should start getting settled back in here. I have a lot to do."

Tenzin lowered his head, half-turning toward the door and raising his arm to reach for the doorknob. He didn't open it yet, not quite ready to leave her presence after being with her for the last few days. "I suppose I have overstayed my welcome," he teased gently. It was time for him to leave, he understood that, and opened the door to let the fresh evening air into the entryway. "Have a good night, Lin."

She nodded, watching as he walked slowly outside. "Tenzin -" she called hesitantly, halting his retreat again.

He stopped, looking over his shoulder expectantly.

The words she wanted to say died on her tongue, and she gave him a small shrug. "If you ever need to talk about what happened out there, you know where to find me. I'm pretty sure I understand what you must be feeling about it all."

"Thank you," he replied, genuinely grateful for her offer even if it was something she fell back on when her original sentiment refused to come. "Will I see you tomorrow?"

This time her smile was authentic, reaching her eyes to make them sparkle. "I'm confident you will, even if you have to come up with a pathetic excuse to sneak into my office to bother me while I'm trying to work."

"Well, I look forward to the visit in any case."

"As you should." She came forward to lean against the doorframe as he took the final steps outside onto her stoop. "Hey," she began softly. When he glanced at her again, she rocked forward to put a hand on his shoulder as she raised herself on her toes enough to press her lips to the corner of his mouth. The kiss was chaste enough to be platonic, and she fell back again before he could respond. "You know you can come right up to my office, don't you? That you don't have to stop at the front every time?"

Tenzin's face was flushed and it took him a moment to absorb her question after the abrupt departure of her mouth from his. "I never wanted to overstep any boundaries," he flustered, meeting her eyes.

"Consider them abolished. You now have my expressed permission." She grinned slightly, the weight of the next day continuing to settle over her. "I may not be able to leave for lunch for a while, but you can always come pester me without calling first. I certainly won't hesitate to kick you out if I'm too busy for distractions."

"Perhaps," he mused out loud for them both, "if you are swamped in the afternoons, I can bring lunch to you."

"I think I would appreciate that very much," she said, the words quiet and lined with affection.

He kept his eyes on her a moment longer, the constriction in his chest easing somewhat with the knowledge he would be seeing her again so soon – even if they were home, surrounded and separated by their divided lives here. "Shall I surprise you with what I choose, then?"

"Please. Something to look forward to." She took a step back, reaching for the edge of the door to close it once he cleared the entry. He noticed her movement and moved away, out into the deepening evening. "Goodnight, Tenzin," she murmured with a small wave of her fingers.

"Goodnight, Lin."