No prompt this time, just adding some Kyalin to the finale.
"So what's a beautiful woman like you doing standing all alone while everyone else is out on the dance floor?"
The corner of Lin's mouth twitched.
She didn't even look in the interloper's direction before growling, "Date's in the bathroom powdering her nose."
A body settled too close to hers.
"Do I need to make a scene at a wedding I wasn't even invited to?"
The playful twitch turned into a full-blown smile when Lin turned her head to meet laughing, wonderfully familiar, blue eyes.
"What're you doing here, Kya?"
She watched the water bender smile in return and carefully consider her answer.
"I left as soon as I heard that they'd been captured," Kya explained finally, glancing out at the dance floor where Huan was reluctantly being twirled by his mother. "But it isn't easy to get into Republic City these days."
"What's left of it."
Kya's smile faded and Lin wished she'd chosen her words more carefully. But the response was automatic. The extent of the damage to the city was still surreal.
"Are you—"
Lin cut her off before she could finish.
She wasn't exactly "okay" or "alright"—nor was she physically "hurt" any more than usual. The truth was that she hadn't had time to figure out exactly what she was right now.
"Lin. I'm—"
She waved her hand to curtail the waterbender again and realized she was still holding a half-eaten kabob.
They'd talk about it all eventually—the city and the politics, Kuvira, and Toph and Khanto. They'd talk about them—but not now.
"I was just thinking I could use a little less . . . all this. Want to get out of here?"
"Technically I'm crashing anyways."
Lin threw the skewer down on the nearest table and grabbed Kya's hand.
"Come on."
When the music from the band had faded to nothing more than a murmur, Lin let go of her hand and dropped down to the grass with a tired sigh.
Kya could only stare.
It was like watching the sun set over the ocean.
Waves of golden light washed across the city, dancing across rooftops, glittering sharply here and there then disappearing.
"It's beautiful," Kya whispered.
It was frighteningly easy to let shadow hide the broken walls and to pretend the glitter was something more than broken glass.
"I know."
They were sitting shoulder to shoulder when Lin broke the comfortable silence they had fallen into.
"I'm sorry."
"Hey." Kya bumped her shoulder against Lin's. "I came a long way to say that."
The column of light reaching to the sky turned the night into a perpetual dusk.
The earthbender's chin was tilted unconsciously in its direction, her eyes closed. With her head laying in Lin's lap, Kya watched as it cast strange, rippling shadows against Lin's cheek.
Her fingers flit against Lin's skin when she reached up to chase them.
"I'm never going to be good at staying in one place," she admitted.
Lin caught her hand, kissed her palm.
"I can't say when I'll be ready to retire."
Kya's hand dropped back to her side to trail lazily over the spikes of grass. Lin shifted beneath her, laying back against the ground with one arm folded beneath her head.
She was almost lulled to sleep by the steady rise and fall of Lin's chest, by the subtle metallic scent that clung to her even when her uniform was put away, when Lin spoke again.
"I have about a year of vacation time saved up. Have any suggestions on how I could spend it?"
The knot at Lin's waistband gave way to nimble fingers.
"I'll start making a list."
Kya leaned back on her elbows and let the first rays of the sun warm her face.
Beside her, Lin was fastening the last button on her tunic and scanning the ground around her.
Laughing, she roused herself to hand Lin her belt.
"Did I tell you how amazing you look in this?"
"A few hours ago you seemed to prefer me out of it."
"I've never seen it before." At Lin's raised eyebrow, she clarified: "The outfit."
"You can thank my niece. She picked it out. Half the city's rubble but the damn mall's still standing."
"Then there's hope."
Maybe it was the fact that the city was still practically deserted that was disorienting her, but Kya could swear they were walking in the wrong direction.
She pulled Lin closer as they walked arm-in-arm.
"Where are we going?" she finally asked.
"The island."
"Tired of me already?"
She stopped suddenly.
"Lin, I didn't even ask. Your house—"
"Is mostly fine. The windows were blown out. It's a little dusty right now—and not high on the list of priorities when it comes to things that need to be repaired in the city. I'm more concerned about clearing away the building that fell on headquarters."
She could have kept going, listing the myriad details of a cleanup that was going to take months, but Kya wound her fingers through hers and squeezed.
"We're staying with the airbenders. I'm sharing a room with my sister."
A week ago she couldn't have imagined herself saying that.
"And I thought the spirit portal was miraculous."
Obviously, neither could Kya.
Her hand dropped to the small of Kya's back when Pema caught sight of them.
"You two are just in time for breakfast," she beamed.
"Aunt Kya!"
Lin dodged out of the way as two short airbenders with sticky hands launched themselves at the woman beside her.
"Pay up, Su." Bumi grinned at the woman sitting across from him and held out his hand. "I had 30 yuans on Lin getting lucky."
"Sorry, Lin," her sister teased. "But who wouldn't take those odds?"
"I had faith," Bumi bragged. "Her theory was you'd burrowed your way into your office and started filing reports."
"You're both very funny this morning."
Lin took a careful sip of the just-this-side-of-too-hot tea that the acolytes made so well. She was happy to see her sister smiling again but Su really didn't have to look so smug.
"You need to find somewhere else to sleep tonight, Su."