The next morning, Korra and Ling woke up early, just as the tip of the sun was visible. The two dressed and quietly left the women's dormitory, heading towards the plaza of the island, where a messenger hawk from the mainland arrived without fail early every morning. Today, the two would intercept the bird, take the newspaper and tear away at the section where they worried the photograph of Ling and Bolin would be printed.
Sure enough, moments after the two reached the center of the plaza, they spotted the hawk circling above. Korra held out her arm for the bird to perch, and Ling untied the rolled up newspaper attached to its leg.
The bird flew off, and Korra held out her hand for the paper. "Okay, now hand me the gossip section to burn."
Ling was already leafing through the pages. "Hang on a second. I want to be prepared in case it was actually printed."
Korra leaned over her shoulder, and then pointed "there!" to the photo once she spotted it.
On the front page of the gossip section, just below the main story of some celebrity divorce, was the headline, "Pro Bender Bolin Caught With Mystery Woman."
"Oh no," Ling groaned. She continued reading, with the article's secondary headline saying, "Fire Ferret Bolin CAUGHT With Younger Woman in Rep. City Park Late Last Night. Is a Scandal Brewing?"
Korra was looking at the paper with a look of disgust. "This is bad."
"What's so bad?" a voice from behind them asked.
Both girls yelled in shock as they recognized Tenzin's voice behind them. Ling dropped the newspaper in her fright, to which Korra responded by attempting to ignite the page where the photo was printed. She only managed to burn the main part of the newspaper, the part that Tenzin read.
"Korra!" he yelled, picking up the remnants of the paper that had not been reduced to ash. "Why would you-" his voice stopped as his eyes fell upon the picture. "Ling," he said tersely. "What is this?"
Ling couldn't speak, she was so distraught. Now she had brought shame to her new family, just as she had to her old. Once more she heard her grandmother's voice, "You good for nothing child! You're nothing but a burden upon us!"
"I can explain," said Korra as she turned towards Tenzin. "Ling, the boys and I went out to dinner to celebrate her birthday and after Mako and I left, she and Bolin were hanging out."
"You left the girl alone with a boy? An older boy?" Tenzin asked accusingly.
Korra scoffed. "Yeah, like Bolin could hurt a fly. Anyway, from what I've gathered by talking to her and from the picture, I'm assuming they kissed, which was interrupted by some paparazzi snapping a photo and dramatizing it!"
Tenzin was scanning the story, his eyes widening as he reached the final paragraph of the article. "My word," he said hoarsely. "They couldn't have printed that, can they?"
Korra peered at the paper. Her mouth hung open as she read the words, "And, if the reporter's word is to be trusted, Bolin himself was heard referring to this seductress of a woman as "an airbender." Could it be true? A sixth airbender alive and well? While the girl certainly has Earth Kingdom characteristics, there is no denying that she resembles Avatar Aang himself. Does this mean that Tenzin, the well respected son of the previous Avatar, has been hiding a secret illegitimate child from the Earth Kingdom? Only the evidence will show."
Looking back up towards Tenzin, both girls could see that he had paled.
"This will be all over the city within hours," he said low. "And I have yet to tell anyone- even the council- that there is now a sixth airbender."
Her face drained of color. "This is bad," Korra breathed.
"Is there any way to fix it?" Ling asked, her voice meeker than she expected.
He thought for a moment. "We have to tell them," he decided. "Not just the council, but everyone. We can't let people think this."
Ling opened her mouth to protest, but no words came out. She realized he was right. Her existence would leak out sooner or later, and it seemed like sooner was closer than she had realized.
"Hey, Ling, can I talk to you for a moment?"
Ling looked up from the book of airbending techniques she had borrowed from Jinora. Her father was standing there, looking at her hopefully despite the worry that had engulfed the island.
"Yeah, sure," Ling told him, indicating that he should sit.
He sat down next to her, under the shade of an old tree with twisted roots. "So," Bumi began. "It's been an interesting day or two, huh?"
"Yeah, you could say that," she said, looking up at her father. He smiled back, and she laughed a little. Ling realized that if something to this magnitude had happened while she lived with her mother's family, she would be shunned, berated, even slapped. But here she was, speaking with her father about it reasonably, and surrounded by a family working to help her. It was a nice change.
"So, do you, uh, want to talk about it?" Bumi asked. "It's okay if you don't, since I'm just your old man who showed up in your life out of the blue."
"No, no, it's okay," Ling said. "It's nice, actually, to have someone to talk to without them judging me. But the thing that's been bugging me," she continued. "Is that I was this nobody hanging out with this athlete, and then all of a sudden we're ambushed in a pitch-black park. I really don't want to imagine what would happen- will happen- when people know who I am."
"Well, I never received as much attention from the public as my brother did," Bumi replied. "Well, at least between the time they figured out I wasn't an airbender and when I started rebel as a teenager. But I remember it. I still get photographed, sometimes, out in public."
Ling shrugged. "Still, not an ideal first kiss."
"Well, at least you were never caught kissing the daughter of a very powerful bender and leader of an entire nation by said leader," Bumi shook his head. "Yeah, not pretty."
Ling stared at him, perplexed.
"Yes, as a teenager I dated Princess Izumi herself, who's now number one in command of the Fire Nation. The things you get to do as the Avatar's son. Anyway, back to you and your problem. To me, it looks like you have two choices: ignore it and hope everything goes away, or let everyone know exactly who you are and what you can do. Neither is a bad option, and each has their consequences. So it's really up to you."
Ling hesitated, and took a deep breath. "I don't want to hide anymore. I can't keep pretending my whole life. Someone's gonna let it leak eventually, ands I want this to be on my own terms."
Bumi smiled. "I knew you had it in you, champ."
"Wait, I thought you said that either option was fine."
"Well, one's more fine than the other. And luckily for you, you chose the better one. C'mon, let's go tell Tenzin."
As Ling stood up to follow her father, she felt immense fear, with the slightest bit of excitement mixed in. Whether it was from revealing to the world that she was some kind of long lost airbender, or finally feeling comfortable with a family and group of friends, she had no idea. It didn't matter to her, either, since she had nowhere to go but up.