Tenzin woke up to his children kicking him in the stomach. Smiling, he rubbed Lin's stomach to calm them down, kissed her tenderly on the lips, then got up to shave.
"Was that thanks for last night?"
He turned around to find Lin sitting up, the sheets pulled over her body. Lin lit a fire deep inside him whenever he looked at her, but now, with her perfectly messy hair falling over sharp cheekbones and bare shoulders, she was positively intoxicating. Washing his head one last time, he came to the four-post bed and kissed her ardently.
"I'll take that as a yes," Lin said sarcastically, breaking away from his passionate kiss. "So what do you have going on today? Since I'm on maternity leave now I'll be working on some cases from home. You?"
"I have to go in soon for a council meeting, as Tarrlok has a problem with everything and everyone. If I have time, I'll run a couple errands, and then I was thinking we could go out on a picnic—we haven't done that in a while, and we're supposed to have nice weather today."
"A picnic? Sounds nice. Is it sans children or-?"
"Preferably. Just think about it—the two of us, outside, enjoying each other's company…"
Lin arched her back as he began leaving a trail of kisses down her neck. "Tenzin," she said breathlessly, her skin tingling with anticipation, "You have a council meeting."
"Mmm, the only meeting I have is with you, in bed, now."
With the flick of her hand, Lin closed and locked the bedroom door. When a disheveled Tenzin ran into his council meeting half an hour late, the other council members took one look at him and wisely decided against asking where he had been.
Lin was completing a cold case in her study when she head the picked up the ringing phone.
"This is Chief Beifong."
"Easy kiddo, it's just your mom. Listen, are you in your study? Is anybody around?"
The chief looked around. Though there was no one around, she locked the windows and put a Do Not Disturb sign on her door, which she then locked as well.
"Nope, coast is clear. Seriously, what's going on? Where are you anyways?"
"Back at the house in Republic City. We made a detour to Zaofu and now your sister and her family is staying over, so you and Twinkletoes Junior are coming over for dinner tonight. Anyhow, we've been tracing the bug men to this creepy and very populated training camp in the forests outside, because apparently that's where they all train. It's really strange—everyone's been trained to believe that benders are the cause of all the problems in the world, and that it's their duty to snuff them out like a candle, but they don't seem to plan attacks. Rather, they're sent to wherever they need to go."
Lin frowned. Mercenaries always made her uneasy, but to have an entire standing army of anti-bending mercenaries ready to go at a moment's notice? That really can't be good.
"You're telling me there's a standing army? But how on earth is that possible? Who could even fund such an organization, they would have to be as rich as—"
"The Satos? Exactly what I thought. So you can imagine my surprise when I felt him waltzing around the compound."
Lin nearly dropped the phone.
"What do you mean? I processed that crime scene, the amount of blood that was there guaranteed him to be-"
"Dead? Should have worked out that way. But come on, you never found it suspicious that there was a corpse was never found?"
Suddenly everything snapped into place for Lin.
"Spirits, he's one of the leaders! How could he, his wife is a firebender trained by Fire Lord Zuko himself!"
"Looks like it, dear. Explains how so many people were able to attack Korra's compound, but still doesn't answer who else is involved. For all we know, he could just be a financier as opposed to a ringleader."
"Are you sure it's him, though?"
"Positive. He has a very distinctive walking pattern."
Lin stood up and started pacing around the room, soothing her unborn children all the while.
"You don't think it's from the break-in, do you? That he became radicalized?"
"Could be. But also he could have been radicalized before, and just used the break-in as the perfect cover for getting away. Speaking of getting away, how is Yasuko?"
Lin sighed. "Yasuko is good. Her ribs have healed, and she has regained full control of her element, so she's taken Asami back to live with her at the Sato mansion. Should I ask them to move into Air Temple Island to be safe?"
"I'm having some old officer friends patrol the house. Anything more and we could tip off Hiroshi that we know something's up. Besides, Yasuko hired extra security after that break-in and I doubt Hiroshi would let anyone touch a hair on Yasuko's or Asami's head, lest he compromise himself. You, on the other hand, are coming back to my house. If Hiroshi's alive and financing anti-bending sentiment, I shudder to think what he would do to you, Tenzin, and the children. I've already let the Air Acolytes know, your stuff should be moved in within the hour."
"WHAT? I am a grown woman, I can handle myself!"
"You can, but you seem to forget that you are pregnant with triplets, triplets who are the next generation of airbenders no less. Besides, if there was trouble on the island, the fastest ship would still take half an hour to reach you."
"I guess I don't really have a choice, do I?"
"Nope. I've got to go kiddo, so I'll see you soon."
While one could always count on Tarrlok being problematic, one definitely couldn't count on who he'd pick a bone with or how long it would take to subdue him. Thankfully, his problems were so minute that everyone decided to call it a day at noon. Relieved to be out while the sun was, he flew towards the nicer area of Republic City with knots in his stomach. After dropping down, he nervously knocked on the door with the flying bison.
"Tenzin!" Suyin exclaimed, enveloping him in a hug. "It's so good to see you again! Please, come in, I just made a pot of tea."
Suyin showed a surprised Tenzin to the couch and rushed off to the kitchen. Her daughter walked in, sleepy-eyed from her nap, but ran to her uncle upon seeing him.
"I've missed you Opal," he said, settling her on his lap. "How have you been?"
The little girl happily babbled on about the new stories she's learned and the personalities behind each of her stuffed animals while her mother served her and Tenzin milky tea with dim sum. After she was done Opal happily bounced outside to play with one of her older brothers.
"I'll take you to Toph's study," Suyin said. "I figure you're not here to see the kids."
They walked in just as the metalbending founder ended her conversation with Lin over the phone. Suyin left in the hopes that they would have privacy.
"About time you came by, junior," she said without turning around. "I was beginning to wonder when I'd see you."
Toph swiveled her chair around as to face the airbender. Tenzin, slightly pale, sank down into the chair facing her.
"Hmmm, rapid breathing and an accelerated heart rate—you've come to ask for my daughter's hand, haven't you?"
Tenzin nervously nodded.
"Why now? You could have done this years earlier."
"Believe me, I would have. In fact, I was ready to by the time we turned 16."
Toph cocked an eyebrow. "Oh really?"
A box was produced from Tenzin's robes, which he motioned Toph to open. Her gaze slightly softened upon feeling the contents.
"You really do love her," she breathed, fingering the carvings on the betrothal necklace. "Have you had really this since you were 16?"
"I was 15, actually, though I had started to design it a bit earlier. Uncle Sokka taught me how to carve-poor guy spent ages just getting me to hold the knife correctly. I fully perfected it a couple weeks before her birthday. I was dead-set on giving it to her when I realized what the repercussions of such a gift would be. So I switched it out for some chopsticks, an anklet, and a book instead. She really seemed to enjoy it, but I still wonder what it would have been like to give the necklace to her."
They lapsed into silence, Toph still playing with the necklace.
"She still has them, you know. Every gift you ever gave her. The bookcase you gave her when she was 20 holds all the books, smoothed-out pebbles marking spaces where she left off. Her jewelry box is the same one you carved for her seventeenth birthday."
Toph put the necklace back into the box and handed it over to Tenzin.
"It's hard to believe that anyone is deserving of my Lin. But you've always been different, and not because of your airbending. Promise me you'll take care of her and love her and treat her like she deserves to be."
Tenzin stood up.
"I will."
"Good. Because if I hear one word to the contrary you will have to personally answer to me, and you know how I've been in need of a new sparring partner for metalbending practice."
Tenzin whitened and visibly gulped. Toph laughed.
"That's what I thought kid. Now go, your future wife awaits you on the island."
With a flourish of his robes Tenzin was off, eagerly anticipating what was to come.
