48 Reunion
"Lin." Tenzin said breathlessly.
She took a few steps toward him, "Aang said I could bring the bison. He said to tell you he'll be along in a few days." she clasped her hands behind her back, "It's good to see you."
Tenzin stood, just looking at her, Lin shifted uncomfortably under his gaze. Then, all of a sudden he went to her and scooped her into his arms. "It's good to see you. So good to see you."
Lin wrapped her arms around his neck. "For a second I thought you weren't happy to see me."
"I am thrilled to see you." he put her down and pulled her into a kiss. As his hand slid from behind her neck to her cheek he pulled away "Lin?" he pushed her hair away from her face to reveal two healing cuts from her cheek to her chin. "What happened?"
She took a step back, her hair falling back over the side of her face as she held her head down. "I told you the first version of the new cable system was a disaster. It's hideous, I know."
"No," Tenzin said pulling her back into his arms and pushing her hair back "Two little scratches could never take away your beauty. You will always be beautiful."
"Little scratches," she chuckled "these little scratches hurt like a bitch."
Tenzin smiled and pulled her into another deep kiss. "I've missed you so much…. I can't believe you're here," he said between oscillations "and I'll be right back…I have to…take a girl to see an oasis."
"What?!" Lin snapped snatching herself away from Tenzin.
"No, wait. I worded that wrong. She's an actual little girl, Lee's niece. She's the one who found the entrance and I promised her I'd take her to see it after I made sure it was safe."
"Oh. " Lin laughed, "Sorry. I kind of jumped to conclusions."
"Would you like to come along? There's a really wonderful story behind it."
"You can take me later. She found it. If I was her I would be pissed if you took some woman before I got to see it."
"But you're not just some woman."
She kissed his cheek "That's true, but fair is fair."
~.~.~.~.~.~.~.
Lin stood and looked at the statue of Avatar Yangchen when she heard giggling coming from the staircase. She turned her head to see Tenzin floating up with a little brown-haired girl hanging from his neck. He sat on the edge of the staircase an let her off.
"Well Miss Pim," he said "How did you enjoy your discovery?"
The little girl made a slight bow. "It was great. Thank you Master Tenzin." she said before she ran off to tell her family.
Lin stepped to Tenzin's side. "So, what's down there Master Tenzin?" she asked with a smirk.
"Come on." he pulled her close to him, held her around her waist and put her arm around his neck. She screamed a little when he jumped back into the staircase.
They landed softly at the bottom and stood in each other's arms for a few minutes before stepping out into the oasis. The air bender stood back and smiled as the earth bender explored in awe. Finally she turned around to him "It's amazing. Did an Avatar do this?"
"Yes. Yangchen made it. She was married here." he held his head down in reverence "And buried here, she and her husband."
"Oh," she said as she turned and walked toward the monument "is this them?"
"Yes, that's Jampa and Yangchen. They were only together a short time, but they loved each other very much."
Lin looked back at Tenzin. "There's no inscription. How'd you know that? Did you read it in a scroll?"
"No," he said, coming to her side, "Jampa told me."
"Oh. And what else did Jampa tell you?"
"Good things." he said, wrapping an arm around her shoulder.
~.~.~.~.~.~.~.
It was getting late so Tenzin walked Lin to her room. Once he made sure she had all that she needed, he said "Well…goodnight. I'll see you in the morning."
He stepped to her and planted a sweet kiss on her lips. Tenzin moved to step away, but Lin grabbed his cloak and kissed him deeply. "Couldn't you stay a little bit longer?"
"I really shouldn't linger on the women's wing," he said. "it's unseemly."
"But I've missed you so much." she said, pulling him closer still.
He put his hands on hers "And I've missed you, but the rules say-"
"I know what the rules say. Must we be such sticklers for the rules?"
"Yes." he said, gently taking her hands away from his clothing, then he whispered "People have seen me walk you here, I'll come see you later."
"I can't wait." she whispered back.
"We've waited this long, what's another hour or two?"
"I suppose." she whispered then her voice returned to its normal level "If you say so. I guess I'll see you at breakfast."
He smiled a wicked little smile at her, "Yes, breakfast it is."
~.~.~.~.~.~.~.
Lin rested peacefully wrapped tightly in Tenzin's arms as he watched the moonlight dance on her pale skin. His staff sat propped against the window he had flown in through two hours earlier while a trail of clothes led to the small bed he and Lin now shared.
She'd fallen asleep forty five minutes earlier, but he lay there awake, thinking. He thought about how much he'd missed her and how she'd just appeared after Jampa had given him his message. Tenzin's mind also went to places he tried to keep it away from. He thought about how they could have been married now and their child could have been in a cradle near them.
He tried to shake those thoughts from his head, after all, Aang had taught him that the monks said it's not right to dwell on what could have been, but those images kept coming to him. A little baby with green eyes, wavy brown hair and skin a shade or two darker than his. He'd have a strong Water Tribe first name and his mother's last name to show his Earth Kingdome roots. And of course their first child would have been a boy, all men hope for their first child to be a boy. He would have been the perfect mixture of all that he and Lin were.
The air bender inhaled deeply. He wanted to wake Lin up to talk about it. They had never talked about it outside of when everything first happened and that had accomplished nothing. Lin acted as if nothing had happened. As he dozed off, Tenzin decided to leave it alone. He would do as Jampa said, be patient. As Lin said before, they were young, they had time.
Lin's back. A little sweetness before the drama returns. See, I do like Lin. I actually love her, I think I'll write something from her point of view later.
Bryke's world, my ideas...