Several hours later Zari and Lin wandered out of their room to find the kitchen full of people talking and half full plates.
As soon as they entered the kitchen Opal's face split into a huge grin, "Aunt Lin! You guys are awake!"
"Afternoon to you too kid," Lin mumbles as Zari cautiously looked at the food Su cooked.
Su looks up from her plate, "What?"
"Nothing," he mumbles while still eyeing the concoction on the stove. He looked back up and Su was staring at him. He smiled sheepishly.
"It's just that…you can cook?"
Wing snickered and Su smacked him on the back of the head, "I can cook just fine."
"Can you?" Lin says, eyeing the food just as suspiciously as her boyfriend.
Su rolls her eyes, "Everyone else is still breathing and they've eaten it. You two are dramatic."
"No, I've just tasted Lin's cooking and the two of you grew up together. It's basic deductive reasoning," he says as he grabs some fruit from the fridge, knowing that Lin would prefer that to whatever he or Su cooked.
Baatar laughs, "He's got a point honey. Although this wasn't too bad."
Su glares but decides to say nothing.
Zari hands Lin a bowl of cut up fruit which she accepts with a smile popping piece into her mouth.
Opal looks up, "So what are we doing today? Wei and Wing's match doesn't start until tomorrow."
Zari glanced at Lin, "We don't have any plans. Technically she's still on bedrest. She's allowed limited movement, though."
Opal nods before pausing to think of something to do.
"Can we see some of your art?" Huan asks suddenly. Everyone was surprised that he had spoken.
Zari shrugs. "Um...yeah. If you want. I converted the sunroom at the back of the house into a small studio. There might be a few pieces there."
"Cool," Huan says before staring back into space.
Su claps her hands, "Well then Zari, lead the way."
He nods, grabs his own bowl of fruit, and helps Lin up before he heads to the back of the house.
Lin looks at him, "I don't actually think I've seen what you've done to my backroom."
He smiles, "You haven't. Don't worry, it's not that bad."
They enter the large sunroom and Su's jaw drops in surprise. Zari had reorganized the room to hold paint, canvases, and clay. There was a potter's wheel in the corner where there were a few unfinished pieces by it. On the easels were mostly finished pieces.
"Zari, wow, these are really good!" Su says looking at a painting of Republic City.
He smiles, "Thanks. Most of these are for fun. I haven't worked in a bit."
Huan glanced around at the clay, "You do sculptures?"
"Some. You can look around."
He glances at one of Zari's half complete sculptures, "What is that?"
"Oh, it's the beginning of a miniature of the avatar Aang statue."
Huan looks back to him, "It's crap. None of this is real art."
"Huan!" Su says shocked at her son's behavior while Opal hits him. Lin raises her eyebrows in amusement.
Zari waves them off, "No, it's fine. Care to show me what real art is?"
Lin could hear the challenge in her boyfriend's voice and knew that this would be entertaining afternoon.
Huan looked around, "Do you have any metal?"
"There are some scraps outside."
Huan opened the patio and stepped outside. The rest of them followed. In the corner of the backyard there was a huge pile of scrap metal.
Lin glanced at Zari, "Why is there a pile of scrap metal in my yard?"
He gives her a sheepish look, "I had projects to finish and I didn't want to leave you alone for that long. So I brought the stuff here to work on it but I haven't had a chance to move it since I've finished the sculpture. I swear I was going to move it."
"Uh huh," Lin says.
He shrugs, "Now there is a perfect opportunity to use it. Right Huan?"
The boy nods, "You make your sculpture and I make mine. They can say who's better."
"Um...aren't your parent's biased?"
"No," Su says.
Lin looks over, "Su, have you ever criticized your children?"
"Yes!"
"Name one time."
"Uh, um…aren't you biased towards Zari!"
"No I'm not."
"No she's not," he says at the exact same time.
"How are you not biased towards your boyfriend!"
"She criticizes plenty of my work. Why do you think my workshop is back here instead of closer to our room?"
"I'm not that bad!"
He kisses her cheek, "Yes you are but it's ok."
Lin glares but decides to go sit down on the side with Su, while the kids egg the two artists on and Baatar goes back inside.
As they sit and watch the sculptors begin Su turns to Lin, "So, you and Zari are serious?"
"What? No."
Su gives her a look, "Are you serious? You're having two babies and live together! He takes care of you and you let him."
"That's...that's just because I'm pregnant," Lin stutters out.
"Sure. And the looks you give him mean nothing, right?"
Lin could feel a blush slowly growing on her cheeks, "I thought you didn't like him?"
"I didn't like the fact that he knocked you up on a one night stand. I never said I didn't like him. Plus, now I kind of have to cause he's apparently is my brother. Truth is, he seems a thousand times better than Tenzin ever was. He sees you Lin, not someone who he needs to breed his children or is with out of obligation. He loves you Lin."
Lin stutters at that, "Well...I don't...he doesn't…"
"And you love him. It's ok if you two don't admit it, yet, but you do."
Lin's silent for a moment before changing the subject, to the latest politics in the Earth Kingdom.
After a while, Lin says, "Let's go see how the sculptors are doing."
Su offered her sister a hand and they walk over to the rest of them. Huan was intricately bending the metal into shapes while Zari was using welding tools to make his.
Su raised an eyebrow at him, "Can't you bend metal?"
Zari raises the mask and turns off the torch, "Yes."
"But your using metal working tools?"
"Yes," he answers simply.
Huan looks up, "See Mom, he's not a real artist."
Zari looks over at him, "You can make art without bending. Most real artists do."
Huan glares and goes back to making his abstract structure.
Lin looks over, "So what are you making?"
"Made," he says walking over to Lin and wrapping an arm around her. She leaned into his side and he could tell she was tired, "It's a tree."
Lin glanced over and smiled. The tree trunk was intricately would upwards to create the branches. On the branches were small metal leaves creating a full tree. Is was beautiful.
"Wow. I haven't seen you do a sculpture like this."
He smirks, "Had to show up the kid."
"Of course," Lin says with a smile.
Opal walked over, "Wow, how'd you do that without bending?"
"I pour the metal in a mold and used tongs to twist into shapes I wanted. Like metal bending for non-benders."
"Cool," Wing says.
"Do you ever use bending for art?" Opal asks.
"Depends on the project. Growing up, my parent's forbid to use bending while I was doing art with them. They wanted me to experience it like I would experiencing bending something. I guess the habit stuck."
"Maybe you should've done that with Huan," Wei says glancing at his brother's creation, "I know who I'm voting for."
"Me too," says Wing.
Huan glares at them angrily, "You two don't know real art. That is not real art!"
"Huan…" Su starts to say.
Zari cuts her off glances at Huan's creation that looked like random pieces of metal thrown together, "There are more than one type of art kid. Yours is…abstract. It appears to the deeper souls. That's not for everyone. I think your art is way better than mine, anyways."
"That would be a compliment if you were a real artist," he says before turning back to sculpture.
Zari shrugs looking at Su, "I tried."
She waves her hand, "It's fine. He's temperamental. I'm glad you gave him a run for his money. He needs it."
Zari shrugs, "My pleasure. I don't like it when children insult my craft."
Su chuckles and walks toward her son. She mumbles underneath her breath, "They are definitely made for each other."
After Su leaves Zari glances at Lin, "Would it be rude if we didn't eat dinner with them?"
"Well, Huan's pissed and the rest will probably try to mend their relationship with him. So, really, it would be rude if we stayed."
Zari smiles, "I agree. I have an idea of what we can do."
Lin winces, "Does it involve going anywhere?"
He chuckles, "No. I know you're not feeling well. There's a reason Kya barely let you off of bedrest and I'm pretty sure that's because you begged and threatened to bury her underneath the earth."
"Probably," she says.
"Come on, let's go before they notice we're gone."
She nods and they slip into the house.
"This is so much better than spending time with my family," Lin mumbles around a spoonful of the ice treat Zari had brought with them upstairs. They were laying on the couch on the balconing outside the bedroom watching the sunset.
"I thought you would prefer it," Zari says with a smile. The final moments of light were perfectly highlighting her face and she looked beautiful.
They stayed in silence for a moment watching the sky. At some point Lin started watching Zari. He looked content and relaxed, with a small smile on his face. She could stay like this forever. At this moment, he was the only thing she needed in the world. Maybe Su was right...maybe she did love him.
At that moment Zari looked back at her and found her staring, "What?"
She blushed slightly, "Nothing."
He raises an eyebrow.
She sighs, "Su's got me in my head. She mentioned some observations about our relationship. She um..said that you...um...you know…"
Zari chuckles, "You sound like a teenager."
She glares before shutting her mouth, "Nevermind. Forget I brought it up."
She turned back to the sunset.
After a few minutes Zari leans forward, pulls her closer to him, and whispers in her ear with a hint of amusement in his tone, "By the way...I do...you know..."
She can't help but smile. She turns her head and finishes watching the sunset with him.