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Lin found herself tumbling head over heels as her unknown assailant tried to scratch and pummel her into the snow. Freeing an arm from underneath her, she snatched the collar of her attacker's shirt only to find…
A little girl?
She looked to be part of the Water Tribe, but she was wearing monk's beads and had fashioned her hair in the style of the Fire Nation. Holding her at arms' length, she still flailed about, and even managed to leave Lin with two nice, long, bloody gashes.
"KORRA!" Katara yelled. "JUST WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?"
"SHE TRIED TO TAKE MAMA'S NECKLACE! WHAT WAS I SUPPOSED TO DO?"
Lin's eyes flicked between the still-struggling little girl and the necklace on the ground. It was exquisite-a traditional betrothal necklace, it featured delicate carvings of the moon influencing the tides. Whoever this girl's parents were, they clearly loved each other.
How nice that must feel.
"You know this...child, Katara?" she asked dubiously, not even sure if the heathen she was holding qualified as a child.
"Of course I do-she's my student and the new Avatar!"
She had to do a double take. Aang, sweet-tempered, vegetarian-because-he-couldn't-hurt-a-fly Aang was reincarnated into her?
"Lin!" Tenzin ran over, face and head red from exertion. "What happened to your face?"
Using her free hand, she felt around for the gashes the little girl left. When she pulled away, her fingers were crimson with blood.
"Katara, is there any way you can maybe take care of this?" she said, lowering the child to the ground and gesturing towards her face.
"Of course. Stand still." Before she knew it, her face was back to its, normal, unmarred self.
"Necklace lady?" a small voice asked.
"Lin," she corrected.
"I'm sorry about hurting your face," Korra said, her head hung low.
Something in Lin softened. She had fight in her, but it was obvious how sweet she could be as well.
Kind of like her.
"It's okay, Korra, just try not to do it again," she said. "Here, turn around." Lin took the necklace from the ground and tied it around the little girl's neck. "There. You look pretty."
Korra looked down at her new pendant and smiled. Against her small neck it was comically large, but the little girl didn't seem to notice. She gave her a hug and then ran off to play with a large pile of snow.
"I've got to say, Airhead, your persuasion skills are top notch," Lin commented.
"How did you know I was-earthbending, right," Tenzin said. "Anyways, Mother said to get some of Korra's things. She's going to Republic City with us."
"Wait, who's going to Republic City? Korra or your mother?"
"Both. Now come on, Korra's house is right here."
They entered the tidy two-story house to find it empty and desolate. Climbing the stairs, they entered Korra's room.
It was cozy. The walls were painted a sky blue, with darker hues and scales painted on to create a mural depicting the moon spirit practicing bending with a young girl. The floors were carpeted with woven rugs, and the bed was hand-carved with furs for bedsheets. A carved dresser held her clothes, and a painted toy box (also carved) held everything she played with.
While Tenzin busied himself gathering what possessions she had, Lin's eyes fell upon an old photo album on Korra's nightstand. She flipped through the pages, watching Korra grow from a bald, toothless infant to a toddling tyke to the beaming five year old that she was now. Her gaze lingered on two family pictures. In one, Senna was holding Korra while Tonraq hugged both of them. In the other, Tonraq held a giggling Korra as he was tickling her. Senna was kissing her daughter's cheek.
"They look so happy," she murmured.
"That could be us one day," Tenzin said, awkwardly placing his hand on her shoulder.
"Maybe," she said, shaking off his hand. "We should probably go-we've been gone for too long."
Sighing, Tenzin took his bag of Korra's belongings and headed out to his air bison.
Sure enough, Katara was already there with her belongings. Korra was alternating between playing in the saddle with Katara and play-riding Oogi. Upon seeing Lin, she hopped down from the air bison and threw herself into the metalbender's arms.
"Hey there kiddo, I've missed you too," said Lin, pulling the little girl into her arms. "Say, have you ever been riding on a sky bison?"
Korra shook her head.
"Well, you won't be able to say that anymore, because you're going to Republic City on one!"
Korra then squealed and tried to drag Lin onto the saddle, but was lifted up by the earthbender instead. The minute Tenzin said "Yip, yip, Oogi!" and everyone lurched into the air, the tiny child's smile was so long it took up her entire face. She ran around out of sheer joy, using her golden fan to try and bend the wind to no avail. It wasn't long before the young girl crawled into Lin's lap and fell asleep.
"Tenzin," she called out softly. "Maybe we should camp out for the night? Korra's out like a light, and I don't think that's going to change anytime soon."
"Yes of course," he replied, looking fondly the picture before him. Before long, tents had been set up and a fire was roaring. Tenzin and Korra had retired to a tent, leaving Lin and Katara alone by the fire.
"Lin, what's been going on? You and Tenzin seem...tense."
"It's nothing, Katara. You don't need to worry about it."
"You can tell me things, you know. I won't tattle to my son."
"Are you sure you want to know?"
Katara nodded her head.
"I can't have kids."
