I was going to wait a bit longer to publish this chapter, but since people are asking I'll put it up now. I have four chapters written and I plan to write many, many more, so don't worry about that, haha. Still searching for a title.
Korra did not wake until Lin stirred beside her. She lay in the older woman's arms, her face hidden in the crook of Lin's neck. It was Lin's heartbeat that roused her; as Lin awoke the beats became more frequent, quickening to a rush of thumps accompanied by ragged breathing ruffling her hair. Korra was still drowsy and kept her eyes closed, pretending to be asleep. Lin calmed slowly, and Korra felt her own muscles relax, realizing as they did so that she had tensed up along with Lin. They lay together like that for several minutes, and then with a sigh Lin rose. Korra hid her face from the onrush of light and whined into Lin's pillow, reaching out a hand to her. Lin took the hand gently and climbed back into bed, tucking Korra's hair behind her ear and stroking her cheek with one finger as the girl slowly became used to the light. When Korra had finally come completely out of hiding, Lin got up again and made for the door.
"Come on, you," she said, beckoning. "Get up."
With a groan, Korra complied, getting out of bed reluctantly and following Lin into the kitchen. Korra sat down at the small table and Lin began to pull things out of the icebox – eggs, bacon, butter, milk. Korra watched with fascination as Lin set a pan on the stove and began expertly to fry the foods she had chosen. Before long she set a full plate in front of Korra, who began excitedly to devour the meal. When Korra reached the bacon she exclaimed with delight and shoveled it even more quickly into her mouth. Lin raised an eyebrow at her, and Korra chewed quickly and swallowed so she could respond.
"They don't let us have meat on Air Temple Island."
Lin turned back to the frying pan, shaking her head, and Korra could have sworn she heard Lin mutter, "Airbenders." Louder, Lin said, "I'll make extra."
Though breakfast was supposed to be quick – Korra had airbending lessons back on the island and Lin had her many duties as police chief to attend to – the two became absorbed in a discussion of metalbending techniques and how they differed from traditional earthbending. They talked excitedly for over an hour, and by the time they had finished and were rising from the table, Lin had promised to clear a spot in her schedule as soon as possible so she could teach Korra metalbending.
Lin collected their plates and took them to the sink, glancing at the clock as she did so. "Damn," she hissed, and began to move more quickly.
"Here, I'll get those," Korra said, joining Lin at the sink.
Lin pulled away. "No, you're my guest. I'm not going to make you-"
"Lin, I'm a waterbender, this'll be easy for me. Besides, it's the least I can do after you let me stay here last night. Go get dressed."
Lin hesitated, then nodded and headed for her room. Korra did the dishes quickly and dried them off with her airbending. As she was putting on her boots Lin emerged from her room fully dressed.
"Ready?" Lin asked, and Korra finished lacing up her boot and nodded.
Lin motioned for Korra to follow her out the door with a jerk of her head, shut the door behind them, and set off down the street. Korra looked from Lin to the door and back again, then quickwalked to catch up.
"Aren't you worried about people breaking in?" she asked.
"The only person who has ever been able to get through that door without my permission was my mother, and an earthbender of her caliber has yet to exist since her death." Lin's jaw was tight, and Korra looked down, her face flushed with embarrassment.
Trying to make amends, she said to her feet, "I think you're pretty impressive." Lin's face relaxed, and she even smiled a small smile.
"That's because you never got to see my mother bend. It was... quite an experience."
Korra smiled back. "I always wanted to, ever since I was little. Besides water, earth is my favorite element." Lin nodded in approval.
"I'll show you some of my mother's techniques during our metalbending lessons, how about that?"
Korra's face broke into a grin, and she nodded excitedly. Lin smiled in response and they walked the rest of the way to the police station in an amicable silence. At the station they parted ways, Lin going to her work and Korra walking back to the docks through a city with which she was slowly becoming more familiar. She heard the clock at city hall ring out the hour as she neared the pier, and she picked up her step. She was going to be very, very late for morning practice. The ferry was at the dock when she arrived, so she hopped on rather than swimming across the channel. The sharp sea air felt fantastic after the fumes of the city, and she stood on the deck rail and leaned out over the water with her arms outstretched. To her surprise, Tenzin was standing on the island's dock when the ferry arrived. She disembarked, bracing for one of his angry lectures about her duties as the Avatar, but instead he smiled slightly at her.
"I'm very pleased to hear that Lin is finally beginning your metalbending lessons. It's a very important skill in this day and age, and I was worried she would never get around to it. However," and here he frowned, "I do wish she would pick a more convenient time for it. Impromptu lessons in the middle of the night are a little on the strange side."
"She said she was going to try to clear out her schedule some," Korra said, silently thanking Lin for her quick and clever thinking.
"Hm. Well," was Tenzin's reply as he turned and walked toward the temple.
They had the airbending lesson late that day, as Tenzin had waited to start until Korra's arrival. Though she had finally gained the ability to manipulate air, it was still difficult for her to do, and she was surprised when Pema called them all in for lunch. They sat down around the table, said a quick prayer to the spirits for granting them this meal, and then everyone dug in with gusto. Korra and Bolin had a spirited chopstick fight over who got the last cabbage roll as Mako and Asami – who were finally friendly again, at Korra's insistence – made faces at Meelo and Ikki across the table, trying to see who could make the two young airbenders laugh the hardest.
"Oh, Korra, a wire came for you," Pema said, her voice cutting through the din as if she possessed some strange power. "Lin says you should head down to police headquarters as soon as you're done with lunch for your metalbending lesson."
Korra's heart leapt, and she leapt with it, nearly banging her knees on the edge of the table.
"Hey, what about practice?" Bolin asked, putting his hands on his hips and doing his best to look angry.
"I'm sorry, guys. I'll make it up tomorrow?" Korra felt bad, but certainly not bad enough to cancel her lesson with Lin.
"Well, alright," Bolin said, dropping the mock-angry look and climbing to his feet. "We should probably get going, big bro. Asami, wanna come?"
"Sure!" she replied, and she and Mako rose as well.
"You owe us lunch for this," Bolin said, pointing a finger at Korra as they headed to the door. "You riding the ferry over with us?"
The ride over was fun – they talked and laughed and it all reminded Korra just how much she loved her friends. Still, as soon as they were out of sight in the direction of the bending arena, she set off at a run toward police central station, her heart fluttering in her chest and her face stuck in a giddy grin. The fact that she could not quite pinpoint the source of her happiness did nothing to diminish it.
She had managed to calm down some by the time she reached the police station and was certainly glad for this when she saw Lin sitting outside, eating a sandwich and tossing crumbs to the birds. She slid onto the bench beside the older woman and smiled at her, feeling something twinge in her stomach when Lin smiled back.
Lin ate the last bite of her sandwich, brushed off her lap, and stood. "Well?" she said, looking at Korra.
"Let's go!" Korra jumped up, and for a beat she was breathlessly close to Lin's face, close enough that she could see the pupils of Lin's eyes dilate suddenly, close enough to see the curve of Lin's cheekbone and the wet of the inside of her mouth.
Then Lin turned and walked away, Korra's breath resumed, and her heart made a strange motion toward her feet. Korra ignored it and kicked at a pigeon-duck that was pecking at the crumbs Lin had left.
"Well, come on," Lin shouted without even looking back, and Korra ran after her, toward her first metalbending lesson.