"Okay, why is everybody staring at us?" Troy asked as they walked through the town towards his house.
"People have been staring at us since we were little Troy," Kai replied. "I think you just got used to people not staring at us in Republic City. On top of that, we're traveling with the Avatar." Troy looks to Kai in surprise, and the earthbending teenager jabs her thumb back at Korra with an expression that says "duh."
"Why, exactly, would people be staring at you?" Bei Fong asked. Kai was pretty sure the Chief of Police was assuming she was just being arrogant.
"This is a small island, Mrs. Bei Fong," Azule told the woman. "The only thing that may have caused as much drama as my father's attack on us would probably be Dour Kao's custody battle."
"With who?" Lin demanded, scared of who he had gotten in a legal battle with.
"Eh, some rich old couple in the Earth Kingdom." Troy replied with a shrug, as if it wasn't important. Lin sneered, knowing exactly who the "rich old couple in the Earth Kingdom" was.
Lin had chosen Gao Ling to go to, because that's where her grandparents lived. While her grandparents weren't the most social of people, they had always been over joyed to see her. She knew this time would be no different, and so, she approached their front door with confidence that she enjoyed feeling after such an emotionally tasking couple of months.
"Who should I tell Master Bei Fong is here?" the servant that answered asked her.
"Lin Bei Fong," she told the man and his eyes grew wide for a second, before quickly flitting off.
"Master," she heard him call down the hallway, "A woman's here claiming to be your granddaughter!" At the finishing of that statement, the quick, clicking footsteps of her grandmother's sandals approached the front door quickly.
Poppy Bei Fong had aged well, which gave Lin no doubt in her mind that the woman had been beautiful when her grandfather married her. Her eyes were a bright, jade green that would sparkle with whatever emotion she was feeling at the time, with the barest amount of crow's feet at their corners. Her nose was slim and petite; her lips were full, voluptuously shaped, and a soft pink color. The woman had a flawless porcelain colored complexion, and a face that was adorned by the most delicate laugh lines Lin had ever seen.
Lin's grandmother had her long dark hair that was pinned up in an intricate, obviously Earth Kingdom fashionable hairstyle and wore and ornate headpiece with it. She wore an ankle length, soft green kimono dress with a dark green sash tied around the middle, and a pair of yellow-ish cream colored sandals that would click against the tiled floor of her and her husband's home no matter how she walked.
None of those aspects were more beautiful than the bright, ecstatic smile that Poppy had spread across her face at the sight of Lin, and Lin was about to smile back when a sudden wave of intense nausea washed over her. She held up a finger to her grandmother, and in the most inconspicuous spot in their front garden she could find, Lin lost her breakfast. "Lin!" Poppy exclaimed worriedly, and hurried over to the girl when she was done being sick and helped her into the house.
"I- I'm sorry," Lin muttered.
"Nonsense," Poppy hushed Lin as she walked the girl to the room they kept ready for her at all times.
Lin liked the room her grandparents kept for her. It was spacious, but not so big it made you feel like you were being swallowed. It had a large bed pushed up against the wall across from the door with ivy green sheets and a cream colored duvet that had a medium sized flying boar embroidered in the bottom left corner, which had been hand done by her grandmother.
"Now," Poppy spoke, sitting Lin down in her bed, tucking her into the covers like she was still a small child. "What do you think could have made you sick."
"I- I don't know." Lin stuttered out, leaning against the pillows sluggishly.
"You're an earth-bender so I'm going to rule out sea sickness, because you would have probably felt better soon after touching solid ground." Lin nodded at her grandmother's assumption, "Did you eat anything they served on the boat you took here?"
"Not since yesterday at lunch," Lin muttered.
Poppy raised her eyebrow at Lin, unimpressed, "Why not?" she demanded.
"I didn't eat dinner because just the sight of the food they served made me nauseous," Lin spoke. "And then I had some fruit from a stand I passed on my way here from the docks for breakfast."
Poppy furrowed her eyebrows, "How long was your boat trip, sweetie?"
"A week and a half," Lin replied.
"Did you feel nauseous or throw up a lot on the trip?" Poppy continued to gently question her granddaughter.
"Yeah, but I had chalked it up to sea sickness until now." Poppy nodded at Lin's reply, placing her hand to the young woman's forehead to check for a temperature.
"Well, you don't have a fever, hun. Which, begs the question that I know you'll probably feel uncomfortable answering, but did you participate in…um…any activities before or during the boat ride?" Poppy asked.
"N–" Lin cut herself off though, thinking back to what led up to her and Dour going into his room. "No! No! No! No! No! Spirits dammit!" Lin shouted through her tears. "That bastard!" She turned to her grandmother's opened arms and sobbed.
"I take it you had no conscious acceptance of the act," Poppy whispered.
"H-He got me drunk, a- and I don't remember actually doing it, b-but ih-its all th-that makes sense." Lin blubbered out, "Spirits, I'm such an idiot."
"Listen here, young lady." Poppy said sternly, taking Lin's chin in between her fingers gently, but firmly. "Don't you ever say something like that again, do you hear me? You are not responsible for how this happened, you are not an idiot because it happened, and you are not going to say anything remotely close to that within my household ever again, do you understand?" Lin nodded, sniffling obnoxiously like a young child would.
"Now," Poppy spoke, smoothing out Lin's blankets, "I'm going to have Leia bring you some tea, and go talk to your grandfather about this. While I do that, I want you to just rest. We'll have all of this figured out by dinner, tonight, okay?" Lin nodded at her grandmother's calm words and made herself more comfortable beneath her blankets. Her grandmother smoothed them out once more, and then left the room calling for Leia to have her fetch Lin the tea.
"We probably ought to begin planning our battle strategy once we get settled in. We only have a week until he starts to hurt Asami." Kao spoke.
"I agree." Lin told the group, and everyone else nodded in agreement.
Author's Note: Hey guys, sorry it's been so long. I joined my school's Winter Guard last year, and am marching Color Guard this year. So I've been up at my school from 7AM-4PM and then again from 6-9PM learning our marching show. I don't get home until 9:30 on a good night, so I don't have time to post anything if I want to get a decent amount of sleep.
On a different note, I know these last two chapters moved a little slow, but they're building up to the final battle scene, so it'll be a few more chapters before there's any full-force action and/or drama.