lilacmooon

"As are you." Izumi concurred, nodding slowly but only once. 

The firebender settled down on the nearby dock...now that she'd been unceremoniously allowed. Free of the intensity of her friend's steely gaze, she continued to take Lin in — critically but not critical. 

The earthbender seemed a bit more subdued than when she'd tried to speak with her this morning. Quiet yet still incredibly heavy. Stilled but as if she were vibrating at a laden frequency that Izumi couldn't see or feel the wavelengths of only knew they must be there. Her thin pants were rolled to just below her knees. Shins dusted with sand and splashed droplets of seafoam. Though, both skin and linen were in danger of imminent submersion anyway with high tide pulsing steadily in. A faint gleam pulsed steadily in and out as well, coming from whatever Lin was still turning over in her hand as it caught the cinders of dusk and the light of the rising moon.

"What is that?"

"I don't know. It's, like, a rock." Lin murmured, sullen and raspy.

"Wow." Izumi said dully. 

A new conversational bare minimum had been reached for the earthbender, it seemed. The standard now sub-terrestrial. 

"Or something." Lin shook her head with a frown as she looked down at the sand and then back over the water, seeming to suddenly be very annoyed with her own reticence. "Kya sent it to me this summer. She said it was a moonstone."

"Oh."

"What?"

"Nothing."

"Alright."

If Izumi had been talking to Kya, her friend wouldn't have hesitated to say that the firebender's face — or aura — was telling her something different. Lin? She took it as it was. If she suspected anything further, she didn't dig. Never wanted anyone to dig at her. Maybe she got enough of that at work. And enough of that from people in her personal life that she didn't want to speak with. Which lately seemed to be everyone.

"What are you doing out here?" Lin asked, faintly agitated and plainly done already.

"Came to see you. Just wanted to make sure my favorite narc didn't drown or die in a ditch somewhere."

"You're hysterical." Lin said, continuing to turn the reflective rock over in her hand. "As you can see — I'm fine. So."

"Mm, I think your a little bit broken."

"What!?"

"Very much a broken record."

"Oma and fucking Shu. I'm not in the mood, Izumi." Lin growled.

"Are you ever anymore?"

"...not really." Lin muttered angrily after a moment, more muted now.

Well, that was definitely not nothing. Farther than she thought she'd ever get with the earthbender this evening.

"So that rock...you, uh — " Izumi ventured.

"If you crack a joke that has something to do with me 'getting my rocks off' I swear to the spirits — "

"I wasn't gonna!" Izumi assured quickly, barely holding it together. Her fatal mistake was continuing to look at Lin as her friend glowered at her. And though she truly tried, Izumi broke. "But that's really fucking funny, Lin."

Laughter, both gravelly and brassy, crested between them all at once, far louder than the crashing ocean waves even or the cadenced sound of Kya's skiff thudding lightly against the dock.

"Agni!" Izumi wiped at her eyes. "Did you come up with that yourself?"

"No. As funny as I do objectively find it now? I can't take credit." Lin said, her small smirk falling into something more serious again, closer to a scowl, as she turned back to the water. "Assholes used to say shit like that to me when I was a kid. Not as funny back then."

"For real?"

Lin nodded, turning the moonstone idly in her hand once more.

"Like at school?"

Lin nodded again, still staring at the sea which had risen to just above her ankles on each pulse in.

"Damn. Kids suck."

"You said it. Not me. But you also got one so..."

"Yeah, I don't know...he can kinda suck sometimes too, though."

That got Lin looking over again, staring at the firebender in poorly wrangled surprise.

"I'm not serious. Don't ever tell him I said that. I love him so much. Like, to a stupid degree. It physically hurts sometimes — how much I love him."

"...yeah that's what I'm afraid of."

Izumi didn't even try to manage her own surprise in the slightest.

"We're not talking about that."

"Okay." Izumi accepted easily.

The firebender wasn't gonna dig either. Not when she'd been expressly told not to do so. She did have limits. And a boundary was a boundary. Besides that, while Izumi couldn't be precisely sure what Lin had meant, she certainly had an idea already. She herself understood the pressures of feeling like you needed to have children. Heirs in her case. Except, at least Izumi knew she'd wanted her kid. Lin never seemed sure of what she wanted. Or needed.

"So. That stone." Izumi corrected prudently, venturing again.

"What about it...?" Lin eyed her warily, half facing the sea half facing her friend. As if part of her had been pulled into their conversation unbeknownst to the other.

"You...carry that around with you?"

"When I remember to."

"And you're Lin Beifong so. Everyday then. You remember it everyday."

"I guess." Lin frowned, almost grimacing. Izumi nodded, pressing on.

"You carry that stone around everyday. The one that Kya gave you. And whenever you get all...moody and broody, you take it out of your little pocket — "

"I would never buy pants without adequate storage."

"You take the stone out of the very adequate pocket of your men's slacks then. And you just...hold on to it." Izumi looked at the earthbender. Mild but clearly waiting for the requisite answer.

"Was that a question...or?"

"Yes. Question mark — at the end of that sentence up there. Thank you."

"Yeah, I do." Lin mumbled, facing forward again. "It helps me think."

The earthbender wasn't looking at her anymore but she wasn't looking at the ocean either. Instead she almost appeared to be forcing herself not to look down at the point of contention held within her hand. Before then pushing back again, whipping over to glare at Izumi.

"Yes. It's basically a fucking worry stone or whatever people call it, okay? Is that what you — you wanna go ahead and start making fun of me now? Go ahead. I don't care."

"I think you would care. Which is exactly why I would never." Izumi stated evenly, honest and fair. "We all need something to cope, Lin. It's good for us."

The importance of coping mechanisms hadn't really been the thesis of her original statement, however. 

"It's...a very nice rock." Izumi tried to appease.

"Glad you think so. Cause you might be eating rocks real soon, Zum." Lin threatened with no real purpose, continuing to turn the moonstone over in her hand as she returned to looking at the sea.

"Kya's never given me anything that nice before."

"Didn't she send you some fan that turned out to be from Avatar Szeto's era which was appraised at, like, three hundred thousand yuans in the Republic?"

"Apparently you can find a lot of wild stuff out in the desert. Point is — Kya gives me things that she thinks I'd like. On occasion, things that might remind her of me. But never things I need." 

Or things that would explicitly remind Izumi of Kya...

"So what?" Lin challenged wearily, almost even bored.

"Perhaps you can tell me...?"

"Don't know how I possibly could." Lin argued distractedly, stone still turning slow and steady in her hand. "I'm not a mind reader like she is."

The firebender snorted.

"What?"

"I was literally just getting on her about that." Izumi commiserated, leaning forward on the dock with a smirking shake of her head. "That 'intuition' of hers can be so damn insufferable. She's lucky she's so lovable."

"Tell me about it." Lin muttered, still sounding far off — tone vague.

Izumi raised a brow. Lin stared at the sea and held on to her stone.

"...I asked you first."

"I don't know, Izumi!" Lin insisted, irritated, glaring over at her again.

"I think part of you does." Izumi couldn't be bothered that Lin's glare turned perilously incredulous. Now, she was too locked on like a whole damn shirshu to the way this entire situation positively reeked. "You give her things she needs too."

"The best gift you can give someone is something they need." Lin said it almost like an unintentional recitation.

"And who told you that?" 

"Katara." Lin told her after a moment of stony staring.

It was clear the earthbender wasn't lying, her voice quieter and her glare breaking as she turned back to the horizon.

"Oh." Izumi deflated. Damn. Freaking waterbenders. Those mushy healers are way too alike sometimes. "I thought you were gonna say Kya."

"Guess you can't know everything."

"Win some, lose some."

The firebender watched as her friend stood by the sea, her amber gaze drawn to the glinting gemstone. The edges were uneven but they looked smooth nonetheless. The sheen shimmered rhythmically with each slow, steady turn of it in Lin's hand. While perhaps not everything, Izumi was pretty sure she knew something.

"Moonstone."

The earthbender didn't look at her, seemingly unhearing or lost in thought after the brief silence. Izumi went on anyway. 

"A stone for the moon. A stone of the moon's..."

Lin stared over at the firebender as if she'd started chewing sand.

"Did she get that in the desert too?"

"...Southern Water Tribe."

"Wow." Izumi scoffed, figuring at this rate their friend should've simply put it on a fucking necklace.

Lin turned completely toward her finally, waves breaking against her shins — looking at Izumi like she'd swallowed every last grain on the spirits damned beach right in front of her.

"I just wanna...make sure I'm following." Izumi said, shifting to sit up straighter on the wooden dock.

"Following what!?"

"So, Kya. Sends you this gift. With the intention — " Izumi cut herself off, revising. "Sorry, the hope — cause let's be real, it's Kya. With the heartfelt hope that you will hold it with you. Whenever you need it. To cope with all the majorly screwed up stuff that's happened to you. As well as, to a lesser extent, all the shit you're now putting yourself through — cause let's be real, it's you."

"What is your problem!?"

"One second. I'm almost done. Though, fair warning, the answer to that question's gonna take us a whole lot longer than a second."

"Why am I friends with you?"

"So Kya sends you this gift in the hopes that you will carry it with you, hold it close to you whenever you need it — whenever she can't be there for you in the way that she always wants to be for you. And this gift happens to be a moonstone. A stone of the moon. From the Southern Water Tribe. Her tribe."

"What the fuck are you trying to say to me right now!?"

"You really don't know?" Izumi asked dryly, disbelieving.

Lin glared at her. A stormy stare that then clouded over in calculation. Hold on, did she actually not?

"You don't see it?" Izumi faltered, now questioning whether she herself had been unclear.

Lin's gaze flashed back to hers, sharpening. But evidently out of aggravation only. The glare was back now.

"You don't feel it?" Izumi asked flimsily, wondering if maybe whatever the waterbender was being so weird about earlier went both ways. 

"I feel irritated. As well as concerned for your mental wellbeing."

"You're really about to piss me off." Izumi muttered, pushing up from the dock to stand.

"Then you're in good company!"

"Arguable!" Izumi bit back, pacing. "Spirits, you really don't — ?"

"I have no idea what you're on about. If you wanna explain yourself, I think I might have a small little piece of my brain left that's not permanently deadened as a result of this conversation!"

"You know what!? No." Izumi inhaled deeply against her ire, measured. She didn't need this or to get into it. None of her business at the moment and she hoped it never had to be. "Better if I don't. Just incase I'm wrong."

"Wouldn't be the first time." Lin said witheringly, not quite under her breath.

"I know!" Izumi shouted, nearly growling. She was suspecting things she hadn't suspected to suspect and she didn't fucking like it. It was much too overwhelming. "Allowing myself to be convinced to come out here and give this a go being the biggest thing I've been wrong about in recent history!"

The earthbender stared up at her, standing in the sand and the advancing ocean, and Izumi determined she just had no fucking clue what to do here.

"I don't know how to do this shit. And neither do you. You need to talk to Kya."

Izumi always talked to Dezmin. Before him it was pretty much only Kya. Fairly frequently, her Uncle Iroh — since passed. Occasionally her parents. Rarely Bumi. Almost never Lin. Not about things like this. They were both ridiculously ill-equipped.

"I don't need to do anything." Lin ground out.

"I suspect you might need to do a lot of things, actually. A lot of things differently. But the first thing you need to do is talk to Kya." Izumi maintained firmly, working to stymie her anger.

"Why!?"

"Because she's upset. Because she's worried about you. Because you are shutting her out when all she wants to do is help you. Which only hurts the both of you." Izumi concluded with level fury. Then exasperated weary laughter overtook her. "You have to talk to someone, Lin." 

Her friend, who had turned tempered and almost even downcast at the initial mention of Kya's own doleful state, then instantly attempted to argue with Izumi for her last statement. The firebender refused to let her.

"I know you think you don't. But you do. You just do. You need that."

Izumi took a breath. Lin appeared to be taking an entire moment, staring down at the ocean waves with a tightly knotted brow. The silence that settled in around them felt like it was sizzling with their retreating tempers. Dense with all that had already been said. Still, the firebender needed her friend to hear a few more things yet.

"I'm here if you ever want to talk to me." Izumi reminded Lin. "I might not know everything, sometimes I'm wrong, and I'm often not any good at it but I'll always try for you. If you want me to. We all want to talk to someone. We all have to want that. We all need to want that. It's just a part of being human, babe. So, talk to someone, please. Anyone. But for what it's worth, for you? I think it needs to be Kya. You might not want to need that...but you do. So allow yourself to have it. You've already had to deal with enough — stop fighting yourself too."

Night was very close to fully fallen now. A hazy darkness well and settled in — interspersed with steady moonlight. The world felt both aglow and dim somehow. Easy and hard to see Lin in it. Her face was shaded by the shroud of her short black hair, head hanging just a bit as she took it all in. Then she looked up at Izumi again, green eyes still a little narrowed and brow still somewhat knotted, but more staid and somber now. Lin nodded, only once.

Satisfied, yet regrettably strung out herself now, the firebender nodded in return and moved to return to the villa as well. After a few steps she slowed and turned back around to see her friend turning back to the sea. 

"Hey, meathead." Izumi said, pulling Lin's focus once more. “Love you."

"...you too, Zum." 

"Good. Now, when you're done getting your rocks off — come back inside. We all miss you."

"I've changed my mind. I actually hate you."

“I still say that event alone should have earned Linny her earthbending mastery early.” Kya laughed into her tea, her older brother scowling at both her and the memory. “What were you, like, twenty damn years old? She took you out!”

“Twenty-one…” Bumi grumbled into his own tea.

Kya and Izumi were easily lost amidst their snickering at that, leaning into each other — their shoulders shaking with laughter. Even Aang and Katara were chuckling lightly — though trying to hide as much behind moon peach slices and cups of tea.

“I don’t think I’ve ever heard that story.” Zuko remarked as he walked over with a fresh pot of black tea and settled down beside his friends and wife — highly but still subtly amused.

“Certainly would’ve remembered that one.” Mai agreed, smirking slightly.

“Oh it’s hysterical.” Sokka piped up from the nearby kitchen as he finished cooking the last round of eggs. “That’s when ‘The Mighty Badgermole’ first earned her Earth Rumble fighter name — if not her mastery anyway. You wanna tell it, Linny, or should one of us?”

He looked out over the breakfast table, grinning back at all the smiling faces (apart from Bumi’s, naturally) until his gaze finally settled on the champion fighter in question. Only, Lin wasn’t smiling — Kya quickly noticed too. Nor was she flashing that typical crooked smirk she was known for, so similar to Toph’s, as she so often did whenever she was feeling confident in herself and her bending prowess. 

In fact, her friend didn’t seem to be tuned in to the conversation at all. Not any single part of it. Kya realized now that the earthbender hadn’t laughed along with her and Izumi at Bumi. Or looked annoyed at all three of them for their initial ribbing in regard to the new bulk up of her unarguably impressive arms. No glare or snarky comeback shot across the table at her friends at all.

Nothing but the tiniest tired twitch of her mouth. Something like the barest hints of a smile but not even quite that. And Kya knew immediately that something wasn’t right. Even before Lin’s steely gaze met hers, hardened but still swirling like the green-grey sky of a severe summer storm. Her short black hair was wind swept and wild — choppy even as it fell in closely to cover most of her face. Her long, thin scars impossible to miss regardless. Just as plain as her suddenly edgy, effervescent aura and how it seemed to positively sizzle. 

Lin must have seen something in the waterbender’s concerned blue gaze that she simply could not contend with because all at once she was standing. Chair pushed back and scraping against dark wood. She plucked a strawberry from the table and took a bite, turning away.

“I’m going to shower.” Lin mumbled only — before she was gone.

Everyone looked around at each other, confusion clouding densely between them like the mist had this morning outside. Since scorched away in the later sun. 

“Nice one, Bumi!” Tenzin ground out once he was certain his girlfriend was out of earshot.

“What did I do!?” Bumi protested instantly, aggrieved at the accusation.

“Look around!” Tenzin maintained his measured sort of shouting. “Who’s missing here!? Think about it for a second and then think critically if you can manage it! Particularly before ever speaking again if at all possible. Otherwise you might be eating bricks again fairly soon and I won’t be doing anything to stop it either.”

Bumi looked over at Kya for an airhead translation only to see his sister staring at the open archway through which Lin had disappeared. One arm was crossed in tightly to herself and her other hand was pressed wearily at her mouth, head shaking softly. She felt sensationally foolish herself right now. Then the waterbender sighed, dropping her hand to pick up her tea again.

“Su.” Kya clarified for the room incase anyone else was lost as well. “That story is also about Suyin.”

“Spirits…” Aang breathed out remorsefully. Though, he himself had said nothing during the moments Lin had arrived and soon departed anyway. “I'd forgotten.”

“She can’t even speak about her?” Kya asked her younger brother for her own clarification. 

When she had left Lin eight months ago, everything had still been so fresh for her. Yet even then, in the softer more settled moments after her friend had confided in her, Lin had been talking to Kya about her little sister — quietly and carefully reminiscing. She would’ve hoped that her friend had been able to continue on reflecting and healing from all that had happened to her after she’d had to go. But it was all too clear that hadn’t been the case now.

It was hard for Kya to be sure, from letters alone, just exactly where Lin’s head was at — with anything. When her friend wrote to her, Kya had to take all of what she told her mostly at face value. There were little tells here and there — ways she could determine the earthbender was teasing or perhaps holding something back — in her verbiage and imparted tone. They had been writing each other long enough and had been so close to one another for even longer that Kya was always going to be able to get a feel for how Lin was from what she shared with her in letters — even if things were left unsaid. 

Still, it was just not at all the same as how it felt when she was with her. Able to sense and see and feel so much more from Lin whenever they were together. She’d had her suspicions that the earthbender had still been struggling in the time since she'd last been with her. But Lin had also written just as many letters as always and though she'd never once mentioned Suyin or Toph it also wasn’t all that surprising considering. 

Kya hadn’t taken it as a sign that Lin wasn’t facing any of it at all — turning away from it and forcing it down so completely. She'd worried about such a thing, of course, even while hoping that her friend had also found some quiet way to cope. Relied on someone else in the city and took comfort from all the letters Kya sent her — honestly more than double the usual herself. 

Lin didn’t like to openly harp on things and Kya understood that about her friend. Had tried her best to support her steadily and unwaveringly from afar. But now? She was wishing, so much, that she had tried harder for her. Done more. Asked Lin directly about all she’d been worried the earthbender was burying within herself. Tried to talk to her and be there for her. Went to visit her again so she could've been sure and sense herself that Lin was doing okay — attempting to heal. 

Even so, Kya didn’t want to harp right now either. She hadn’t done enough. So now she would going forward. Kya would find a way to be there for her friend however she was needing her. Lin was strong. She was going to be just fine.

"Well, as you can imagine, Ky. It's a pretty sore subject." Tenzin replied smartly, his tone sharp.

"Alright, no need to be a little jerk, Ten." Bumi defended immediately.

"Cut it out you three..." Katara warned lowly.

"This place holds a lot of memories for all of us." Tenzin continued more evenly. "But especially for her considering the glaring absences as well. There's a reason Aunt Toph isn't joining us this trip either. These things are just touchy for Lin right now. That's all."

Kya turned to her uncle who was still standing in the kitchen behind her, leaning on the obsidian countertop heavily with both palms pressed to volcanic glass. He appeared to be feeling very foolish and wracked with guilt himself. 

"Toph figured..." Sokka sighed, meeting Kya's gaze and standing straighter — crossing his arms with a stiff shrug. "The kid could use some time with family. Alone."

"Heavy." Izumi said, Bumi nodding beside her.

After a long quiet moment, Kya's father poured himself another cup of tea, looking contemplative and quite heavy himself.

"I suppose that is what these trips are for, after all." Aang seemed to ponder aloud, everyone looking to him then. He sat back in his seat, teacup settled soundly at the arm held loosely across the chest of his robes. Almost serene despite his solemnity. "Nice, easy time with family. Opportunities for self-reflection and recuperation by the sea. Lin is strong. She will be just fine. In fact, I'm certain this stay will be good for her and all of us. Needed."

───────── ❍☯︎❍ ─────────

Overall, the earthbender appeared to be doing okay in most moments of the island stay so far. Instances like they’d had that first morning well avoided and prevented by everyone now. Even so, Kya worried for her. Might never not, if she were being honest. She just cared about her friend too much. Wanted her to always be okay despite knowing that she just couldn’t possibly be right now. Kya could only hope that this time by the sea would be good for Lin — healing and settling. Today, at least, that seemed to be true. 

A part of all their Ember Island routines, as always, was to head down to the beach beyond the villa after breakfast. All together and ready to make an entire day of it. Kya, of course, usually spent much of her time swimming but as soon as the sun was nearly at its highest and hottest was when she liked to sunbathe on the sand with Izumi. Napping if she could in order to make up for waking so early — particularly this stay around. Which was precisely what she was attempting to do in this current moment.

Only, all she could hear — apart from the normally soothing and relaxing sound of the rhythmic ocean waves — was her older brother’s loud mouth as he regaled Lin, Tenzin, and Sokka with one of his outrageous stories while they all waded in the shallows. Wild tales of his escapades in the forces that the waterbender swore got more and more outlandish as the years went on. Still, they never failed to entertain — she’d give him that. Kya even, most of the time, found them incredibly amusing. Right now, however? She could maybe go without.

“I swear.” Izumi hissed out beside her, also attempting to snooze in the sun it seemed. “Your damn brother is secretly a dark spirit who was sent to fucking torment me for my whole entire life.”

“You’re five months older than him — so not your whole life.” Kya pointed out, smirking.

“You too. You’re one too. I don’t know what I did in a past life to deserve either of you.”

“Something really good I’d gather.”

Izumi’s brassy laughter sounded out beside her despite what Kya knew had likely been the firebender’s best efforts. It was loud yet had a pleasant timbre, making her smile easily. And it almost overtook the more faraway sound of equally familiar and just as pleasant laughter that had never not made Kya want to smile either. She opened her eyes instantly, pushing up to her elbows on the blanket.

“Ow! That's my hair, Ky!”

“Fuck, sorry. But look!”

“I am sleeping.” Izumi argued, though she rose up from where she lay now too with a miserable sigh. “Or I’m fucking trying to anyway. What am I meant to be seeing?”

“Linny — she’s laughing.”

“Oh shit.”

“I know. Turns out that big brother of mine is good for something. Dark spirit or not."

“Never would've guessed.” Izumi said, watching for only a second longer before sinking back down into the sand. "Can I get back to having my sleep spiritually disturbed now?”

"Whatever you want, love."

"Thank you."

Tui and La, it was good to see Lin beginning to warm, unfurl, and settle. Almost like before again but even better because it meant that she was really here with them. Just as she'd always been and despite what she'd been going through. 

Linny would be fine. All she needed was some time to reflect and heal. Some time with the people who cared about her. Things were going to turn out okay, Kya felt it. She could see it in the way her friend seemed so content right now and even happy. Could hear it in the sound of her raspy, gravelly laughter when she laid back down and closed her eyes once more — smiling softly and feeling so quietly happy now herself. Spirits, it was such a relief to hear her laugh again.

Kya had just begun to drift off on the beach, time passed indeterminable and blissfully unmeasured, when a scorching body settled down beside her on the blanket in the sand. At first slow waking instinct, she thought it had to be Izumi but the firebender was still over on her other side. Her presence a steady sort of heat as they lay together on the beach blanket — same as always. Stirring, Kya turned her head and opened her eyes to see Lin laid resting there beside her.

Her skin held a distinct glistening sheen from sweat and from the ocean both. Her black hair was wet but only at the tips, clinging together with saltwater and dusted a little bit with sand. When Lin brushed Kya's long brown waves aside to move closer on the small blanket, her fingers grazed the skin of her bare shoulder. And Kya shivered but felt set aflame all at the same time. 

The sudden sensation of then having so much of Lin's searing body pressed soundly against the length of hers was something that immediately stole all of Kya's breath. Her friend's skin felt like a burning bell that had just been rung. And quickly Kya realized that hers did as well — her own skin singing at that same fiery frenetic frequency. The feeling was pulsing out from Lin in waves but also coming from within herself now too. Or so it seemed to be anyway — what all she seemed to be sensing. What had her feeling almost frozen and what reverberated through her in a blaze. Yet Lin seemed to be feeling...none of it at all. 

Her eyes were closed, slim fingers twitching softly at the skin of Kya's hip. Her face expressionless and even nearly serene as she lay resting in the sun beside her — all while burning like a sun herself. A small star in the sand with sonorous solar flares, resounding and cadenced. Carrying a clear tone and flaming wavelength that were coming from Lin, yes, but calling out to something of the same in Kya. 

This was what she'd heard and felt in the fog while out swimming in the ocean earlier this week. The morning she'd first seen the earthbender training on the dock at the shoreline of the island. It had to be. And she sensed it to be. Only overwhelmingly amplified with so much of them touching and also burning to the touch. Would Lin be warm beneath her fingertips if Kya touched her? As overheated as they both felt to her in this moment? 

The earthbender looked hot but no more than normal after a long morning, now approaching midday, out in the sun. Nose and cheeks pinking with their lingering summer freckles. Sweat pooling light and lovely at the hollow of her throat. Kya hadn't been aware of just how long or how liberally she'd allowed her gaze to wander. Until she now became acutely aware of her friend's full and pouty lips, dry from sun rays and seawater, and how she longed to soothe them. 

Kya shut her eyes tightly, turning her face instantly to the sky overhead — forcing steady measured breaths. Fuck, no. Nope. Not a chance. She needed to drown that thought and let it sink deep down inside of her to die there. Never gonna happen. Once she'd gathered herself enough and purged the conflicted and confusing feelings from her entire being as best she could, Kya finally rose and fled to the ocean.

With the cool water around her and the sun beating down to warm her dark hair, Kya tried to clear her mind and focus on anything other than her sudden unfortunate attraction to one of her best fucking friends. Which she found quickly just wasn't going to be possible. So, instead she pivoted tactics, choosing to process despite the way her pulse continued to pound almost painfully — erratic and wayward. 

It didn’t have to mean anything. Matter of fact, it didn't mean anything. It just meant that Kya wasn’t blind. Nothing needed to come of whatever that had been. It had happened. It happened all the time. Kya found Izumi attractive as well. She was even pretty sure the firebender felt the same sometimes. But nothing had ever happened and nothing was ever going to happen. Because Kya didn’t want it to — hadn't ever. Same went for Zumi. They were friends and that was that. She'd been attracted to plenty of friends before. It was sometimes unavoidable. And it didn’t mean anything. 

This weirdness with Linny was simply the same sort of thing. There was no need for things to change and no need to panic. Kya just wished her damn heart would fucking act like it and cease its rampant racing.

"I did. That was me — asking. If you must be here, then get changed into something else. You reek." Lin maintained gruffly as she watched her friend retrieve her bag and start digging through it. 

"That's the Earth Kingdom from end to end you're smelling, actually." Kya beamed in the way she knew would have Lin instantly rolling her eyes and avoiding her gaze lest she be enthralled by that indisputable levity herself. The earthbender always tried so hard to remain stoic and hard. Kya enjoyed trying to get a rise out of her. Felt a surge of pride and delight whenever she succeeded. It would never get old. "Should be banished away to my duffel once I'm in something more comfortable, don't worry. I came prepared."

As Kya dressed, Lin lingered in the new warmth she'd left behind in the bed. Along with the comforting and familiar smell of her, which in actuality wasn't anything close to an affront at all, of course. A scent like saltwater and lilies, same as ever. And maybe now, too, an iciness. Like fresh snow or a winter wind. 

"Prepared for what?" Lin asked as she listened to the swish of clothes against skin, Kya's footsteps over the woven rug above slate, the melodious sound of her low, thick voice. 

"I don't know. Just a nice, needed, normal night, I guess. Where we simply lay around, hanging out. I talk too much, you don't talk nearly enough but still a lot more than usual, and then I head out whenever you get sick of me. Like old times."

"Hm." Lin grunted noncommittally. Which was as good as agreement when it came to her surly friend but Kya was going to play it up regardless. 

"Come on! Please?" Kya implored, shuddering against the sudden, pervasive cold that was pressing in along her bare legs. She smirked when she heard the creak of the radiator valve succumb to metalbending. "It'll be fun."

"I can hear your teeth chattering, hurry up." Lin ordered, but she too leaned into the weak, faintly teasing, protestation. "Don't you think we're a little past sleepovers, Ky?"

"Um, never!? I told you when I first left home, I was constantly going to be dropping back in to crash at yours for proper Lin Time." Kya vamped, pulling her long hair free from her fresh shirt. "The letters are great, don't get me wrong. Your tone is undeniable, it's like having you right there with me. But also, how could I ever pass up seeing that judgmental green glare in person?"

"Beats me." Lin answered dryly. 

 "Exactly." Kya punctuated her conviction with a metallic snap of her bag's zipper after stuffing all her shed clothes inside. Then she climbed back into bed with Lin, this time under the covers, her voice shaking with her shivers as she waited for warmth to return to her. Her very smirk was positively radiant, though. "Anyway, if you believe I won't be swooping in unannounced to hog your bed all the way into our sixties and forever after? You are sorely mistaken. I'll be following you all the way to the spirit world, babe."

"If you can find me."

"Don't think I won't. All I'll have to do is sense that earthy, broody, adorable aura and I'll locate you in no time flat. You won’t ever be rid of me, meathead. I'll find you in the spirit world or afterlife and every life. So don't plan on getting past me that way either. Cause I'm always gonna be there."

That finally earned Kya the smile she'd been after. It spread slowly like a sunrise across Lin's face, tugging at her pouty pink lips — gracing a mouth now half-laureled with scars. So beautiful. All of her. In every way.

"Good." Lin nodded, gaze dropping to their hands, close together on the bed. She moved hers nearer, twining their smallest fingers together. Kya met her reach on the same breath, near instant.

"Yeah?" Kya smiled now too. Their easy, usual teasing forgone for a suspended, tender moment.

"You know I always want you with me...right? Like, truly?” 

Lin wanted to be sure, suddenly. Needed to be certain that Kya understood how much she meant to her. That she wouldn't know how to get by without what they'd always had together. That no matter how unable she seemed at times to express such things, she always tried to show it in the ways she could. Tried to let Kya feel it. Just as she felt it herself. All the time. In every way.

"I know, Linny." Kya promised. She wasn't sure who grasped tighter first, her or Lin, but now their hands were pressed sound together — wound between them. "Me too."

"Okay." Lin sighed and it sounded like a release of immense proportions. A relief infused unwinding as she squeezed Kya's hand and then let it go. "We can have a 'nice, needed, normal night'. That sounds, well, nice actually."

"Spirits, bless." Kya groaned theatrically as if she really had been caught up in some divine, hard-fought battle just now. She pushed up to lean casually on her elbow, head propped in her hand. "Cause I could also use it right now, I think. Not only do I not want you to have to entertain me in any traditional sort of manner so unexpectedly, but I am additionally exhausted. So, I'm not up for much more than our usual. Plus I have to leave in the morning. I could use the rest."

"I thought you just got back into town." Lin said, pushing up into a lean now too so that they were on the same level again. 

"I did."

"Wait, so...why are you here then? Back in the city, I mean."

Lin tried to determine for what reason her friend could possibly return for only one day. Or, spirits, only one evening, it sounded. And why, also, she would possibly chose to spend such a limited timespan here of all places. In Lin's bed talking about...nothing?

"I'm here for you, boy genius. I wanted to see you." Kya laughed. "Was that not apparent?"

"You drove, for two whole days, across an entire country. To see me." Lin said it as a statement despite the unmistakable disbelief in her gaze. 

"Pretty much." Kya nodded, then squinted an eye and tilted her head as she considered that, her dark freckle nearly disappearing in the charming crinkles there. "Well, I pulled over near the desert and slept in the sato last night for a while before dawn but, yes. I did that. Feel special yet?"

“Why!?"

"I don't know! Cause clearly I care about you a ton? That would make me feel — "

"No, Kya. I meant why would you do that?"

"Oh." Kya chuckled lightly at herself. Then she fixed Lin with a wry grin, her blue eyes shinning. "Same answer. I did it because I care about you a ton."

"Okay..." 

"And for the third time, I missed you." Kya prefaced, her voice growing more serious as she fidgeted with the comforter — avoiding her gaze. Which was unnerving. Worrisome. Lin took her hand so she would look at her and just tell her already. Kya held back, thumb swiping softly. "Also, I knew you were struggling and I wanted to come be with you. Even if just for a little while."

"How did you know?" Lin asked, clipped, abandoning her friend's comforting grasp.

"Sokka." Kya sighed, short and huffing. She knew better than to mince words when the earthbender got like this. 

All at once, Lin seemed to wall herself away. Lying warm beside Kya in bed, her friend had also turned stony still and silent. That usual Lin silence — thunderously loud and full of electric, dangerous things. Things Kya wanted to help her let go of but that Lin only wanted to deny were there at all.

It was hard for her to stomach that Kya was so obviously here just to check up on her. Had been sent at that. It made Lin feel uncomfortable. Exposed. Part of her couldn't help but wonder how much Kya knew. Because Lin didn't know what anyone knew. She hadn’t told them anything. Hadn't explicitly discussed any of this with any of them or her own mother and so couldn't be certain of what might have been exchanged there. 

Her boyfriend's calls were getting harder and harder to ignore. In the sense that she knew she should answer Tenzin. Not that she actually wanted to. She didn’t want to talk about it with him or anyone. Didn’t want to know what they knew. Didn't want to hear their continual pleas for her to talk about what happened or see the way they all now looked at her. Except...Kya was looking at her in the same way she always did. 

Blue gaze compassionate and open. The flickers of frustration at Lin's hasty and complete withdraw were there and strangely comforting in this moment. Normal. Her expression was patient. It told her that Kya could easily be content to just continue joking around with her. Lay with her and talk with her about what she had been up to instead — out in the world. Lin had missed hearing from her. But she also hadn’t known how to get back to the normalcy she needed and the normalcy she knew would never be again. Everything had changed now. There was just before and after and…everyone she cared about was stuck back in the 'before'. She didn’t want to face them in the 'after'. 

Yet, Kya was here. Right now. Right in front of Lin. Holding her hand between them once more and looking at her with deep blue eyes. No pity or expectation. Just care and attentiveness. Same as always. So, Lin told her why she was so afraid. Why she had been pushing everyone away. Even if, for now, she couldn't bring herself to tell Kya what had happened. She wanted to at least explain why this was so hard for her. That she didn't intend to shut Kya out but she also didn't know how to cope on her own, let alone with anyone else. After everything? How could she?

"I know that must sound absurd." Lin finished, voice strained and head shaking. "It just feels impossible to contend with the reality of this 'after' part. Talking about it...with anyone? I don't know how to do it, Ky."

"It's not absurd." Kya spoke lowly, firmly. Her brow knotted in a way Lin wasn't sure she'd ever seen. Eyes distant and foggy and...pained? Then she looked at Lin, softening even in her slight sorrow. "I know exactly what you mean..."

Lin listened to the sounds of Kya's weighted breaths, then watched as she sat up in bed — the wall at her back.

"I'm going to tell you something. Not as a bartering chip to get you to tell me what you went through too. Definitely not because I'm trying to eclipse whatever it is that happened to you with this thing that happened to me but..." Kya swallowed hard, breathed deeper, allowed herself to look at Lin. "Because I want you to know that I do understand. And that what you're feeling is valid — all of it, even the parts I might not ever know."

Lin waited, desperately trying to preserve her state of neutral jing despite the onset of her quickening pulse. 

"I want you to know this part of me because I want you to know, really know, that I'm here for you. Would that be alright?"

Rising up to sit across from Kya, Lin nodded.

"Remember that summer we ran into each other in the marketplace in Ba Sing Se? When we went camping together?" Kya began finally. Lin nodded again. "Something...happened to me. Earlier that year. Something that very much cut my days into 'before' and 'after'. Exactly how you just described."

Lin remained quiet. But then so did Kya. So she took the waterbender’s hand, fidgeted anxiously with her long, lithe fingers — twirling the little silver rings she always wore there. She wanted so much to be steady for her but…silence from Kya? It was unsettling to say the least.

A woman who looked to be about her age, relaxing by the water with her face to the sky and her legs in the ocean, a few tiny docks down from Kya. An empty dock. Actually, they were all empty. Apart from the one she'd just tethered her own skiff to. 

"Who's asking?"

Kya snorted. The woman still hadn't moved an inch. Wasn't looking her or any way at all.

"Nah, you're right. That wasn't very nomadly of me. Or, well, in the spirit of anyway. You get it."

"Do I?" Kya laughed, walking over then. 

"I guess I don't know."

"I'm Kya."

"Sera."

"So, how do we get up there — to the temple — if we aren't airbenders and don't have bison?" Kya asked, sitting next to her. "It's so weird that I've never considered this..."

"With a sky bison." Sera answered, still not even once opening her eyes yet — face turned toward the sun.

Kya looked at the woman closer then. Since evidently they had all the time in the world. Air acolyte robes for sure. Though the outer layers had been shed to account for her persistent lounging at the peak of day. Dark sandy hair and tan freckled skin that both seemed seasonally dependent — going off the sun streaked braid and pinking nose. Which were also consistent with one of the only two things that Kya knew about her so far. Being that she was unable or unwilling to answer simple questions and that she liked to sit and sunbathe by the sea.

"That's a pretty great looking skiff." Sera said when she finally peered ahead.

"You sail?"

"Used to. I miss it."

"I know what you mean. I'd been living in the desert this past year. Then Ba Sing Se for a bit and now a land locked village. I was desperate to get back to that baby after so long. I missed her something crazy."

"What's her name?"

"Huh." Kya tilted her head and stared over at her softly bobbing boat, leaning back on her hands against sun soaked wood. "I never gave her one."

"But you know it's a she?"

"Aren't all boats 'she'?"

"They should be."

"That's what I always say." Kya shrugged with a wry smirk, at last pulling a proper facial expression from the woman.

"So what are you gonna name the skiff?" Sera asked, smirking back as she looked over at Kya fully for the first time.

"Do I gotta?"

"Do you have to ask?"

"Okay." Kya scoffed, chuckling lightly. She paused, thinking for a second. "Um...what about 'The Mighty Badgermole'?"

"What for!?" Sera laughed, thready and skeptical, once Kya's snickering got her going. "That beauty's clearly Water Tribe. Can't you come up with something better? Something else?"

"What's wrong with that one!?" Kya asked, still laughing at the thought of it.

"It doesn't make any sense!" Sera protested.

"It's for one of my best friends." Kya explained, voice full of mirth. "That's the nickname our families used to call her when we were kids."

"She likes to sail?"

"No, she hates it. That's why it's so funny."

"Oma and Shu..."

"Aha! You're an Earth Kingdom girl yourself then, right? So what are you doing shaming the new name of my boat?"

"I'm from right over there." Sera pointed north across the sea to someplace neither of them were even able to see currently, rolling her eyes with an exasperated smile. "All the way across the water on the claw of Chameleon Bay. Right at the tip. So Earth Kingdom barely."

"Where's 'over there'?"

"Qingtao. Where I grew up with my mom."

"What about your dad?"

"You just got all the questions, don't you?"

"Sorry..." Kya smiled sheepishly. 

Now that she'd finally gotten the woman speaking to her properly, Kya had gotten caught up in the straightforward yet snappy back and forth all too quickly. To the point of prying apparently. But she couldn't help it. Sera was easer to talk to than first anticipated. Kya liked it and her. Though she'd like both even more if she'd also tell her how to get up to the fricking temple already.

"He lives in Omashu." Sera told her and sent another slight smirk her way, shaking her head. "I spent my time split between the two but when my mom died, years ago, I moved here. To the temple. This part of the world has always felt more like home to me than anywhere else."

"Do you like it at the temple?"

"I love it. Wouldn't have come otherwise. The acolytes were always around in Qingtao. Offering aid and...seemed like a good enough life."

"Have you been to any of the other temples?"

"Been to all of 'em. You?"

"Same here."

"But you aren't an air acolyte?"

"Waterbender. Healer. And I travel a lot."

"Sail everywhere?"

"Anywhere I can. But as previously stated, I been a little land trapped as of late. Gonna be that way for a little while longer too."

"How long?"

"Winter solstice. I'm visiting my brother up north and then after that...?"

"Going home?"

"I guess? Or...I don't know. I've been really missing another friend in the Fire Nation. Plus, she's going to be having her first baby this winter. I wanna be there to spoil that kid first thing. So, it's settled then, I'll sail back out there for a while."

"What are you gonna do with your skiff until then?"

"Call her by her name." Kya intoned, almost singing.

"You're something else."

"Right back at ya." Kya grinned as Sera very clearly quelled her own. "But, um, I'm not sure yet. I left it long term at a river port this last year. But that was kind of...pricey. And I'm a little short on savings at the moment. Might have to break my own heart and arrange for it to be sent back home for a while. It's not my favorite thing to do. Only done it once. Even if my skiff's not nearby exactly? I at least like to know it's where I left it. Where I can always return to it whenever I need to."

"You could leave it here..." Sera suggested, for the first time sounding something other than serene or snarky. More like desperately hopeful, barely contained. "No one's gonna charge you and I could look after it. Promise to take good care of it as long as maybe I could also take it out sometime?"

"You must really miss sailing if you're offering to take care of a complete stranger's boat just for the chance to take it out for a season."

"You must really be way too sweet and trusting to allow a complete stranger complete control of your completely gorgeous boat for an entire season...or maybe forever."

"Hm."

"Did I blow my chances?"

"With me or the skiff!?" Kya laughed incredulously.

"The skiff, woman."

"I'll think about it. Now I gotta figure out if I can trust you with it or not."

"Fuck..."

"Give it time. I'm leaning in your favor anyway because, to be honest, that would be a pretty sweet deal for me."

"Then I'll not say anything else about it in the meantime. Don't wanna mess this up for me. You just let me know what you decide."

"Will do. You ever been to the Fire Nation?"

"No. How come?"

"My friend lives in Imperial City and she always wants me to work there when I come visit her. So I can be nearby. Especially lately."

"Okay..."

"Only, I just spent so much time in Ba Sing Se. I don't know if I can do a city that big again for a bit. Might have to find me a small quiet beachside village somewhere instead. Close, so I can still see her — but keep my peace."

"Ah. Sorry, can't help you there. Wouldn't even know where to begin."

"Any maps of the Fire Nation up at the temple? I lost my last one and it's been a while since I've been there anyway. All I have are Earth Kingdom ones right now."

"What are you just gonna pick a town on the map and go there?"

"I was thinking about it..." Kya nodded. When Sera continued to look at her flatly, she let out a chuckling sort of sigh. "Or maybe I'll just check in with some old colleagues out there. See what they might know of as far as jobs for me."

"Seems reasonable."

"Psh. Yeah, I guess. But also where's the thrill in that?" Kya shook her head, crossing her legs as she turned to the acolyte. "Don't you ever just...get that feeling?"

"Don't know. What's it feel like?"

"When you're feeling like you just need something else? Something that feels sort of...not risky but, like, just on the edge of indulgent? Something that's sort of just for you? And feels thrilling somehow because of that?"

"Maybe...? I don't know."

"Mm...oh, okay — you're a sailor. You ever go out to the open ocean before?"

"Uh huh."

"Spend a whole day out there?"

"Miss it all the time."

"It's like that feeling when you're out in the middle of the sea and you realize you should probably start thinking about heading back before dusk falls. You're feeling relaxed, it was a good day, you're a little tired and it’s definitely getting to be time to go. Except, you don't want to. Not yet. So you just...jump off the boat instead. Into the water. Dive down deep and stare at all the blue. Come back up and float around, drifting a bit on the waves. For as long as you want to."

"Yeah but, you always have to head back eventually. Return to the boat and go to shore. You can't hang around in the waves forever, as much as we all want to."

"True, but for a little while it feels like you could. Right? Like you could do anything despite it all."

"I see."

"That's the feeling. And you've had it too so you know how good it is. I get that same feeling every time I just pick a place on the map. Go there and see it for myself. Act like I could remain there forever."

"Until it feels almost like you could..."

"In the most peacefully thrilling way? Just. Pure joyful contentment. At least to start."

"But you never actually stay?"

"We all have to head back eventually, you said it yourself."

"The feeling never stays so why should you..."

"Precisely."

"And going to a town where the job is wont give you that feeling?"

"Occasionally. Often even. But no, doesn't feel like it this time." Kya determined, looking out over the Eastern Sea again. Then she gestured to her skiff. "This time, I think I need to jump off the boat. So to speak."

"Come on. There are maps in the temple archives."

"Cool! But also, how are we getting up there!?" Kya said with a laugh, hopping up to follow the acolyte. "You never said!"

"Sure, I did. Sky bison."

"Uh, we aren't airbenders? So we don't have bison. And I know for a fact that neither of them are up there to come down and scoop us either." Kya faltered for a quick moment, still walking the inner main dock with Sera. "Or at least...I don't think they're here right now, anyway. Last I heard, they were both in Republic City."

"There might not be airbenders up there but there are bison."

"How are they ridden if they aren't bonded?" 

"Carefully. The herd has been domesticated for decades. Originally wild but rescued from poachers as calves. This herd is where all the other bison that take the acolytes to and from the temples come from. We only work with 'em to get up and down. Not for cross world journeys. That's just not possible. Like you said, they aren't bonded. Only airbenders can bond with bison. But we feed them and take care of them. They have free reign of the stables where we do that if they want but mostly they seek the skies, pastures, and caves of the mountains. And we rotate handlers so they know that we understand we don't own them. In fact, we owe them."

"Interesting...I can't believe I never asked my dad about any of this."

"Who's your dad? An acolyte at one of the temples?"

"Oh, no. He's Avatar Aang?"

"What!?"

"Yeah, I'm gonna have to apologize to Appa sometime soon. Guess a girl can really take a bison for granted, huh?"

“I want you to.” The first woman replied breathily before kissing the other deeply all over again.

Lin looked out at the water once more, in order to accommodate their painfully plain need for privacy even if they didn't seem to care in the slightest, her mind working fast. It couldn’t be. Could it? Last she'd heard, her friend had been living on a tiny island in the western Fire Nation. Lin turned slowly again, trying to be discreet as she attempted to identify the second woman. But between the cloud and sea glare, the juxtaposing shadows, the way that they were standing, and the kissing that would never end, the effort to distinguish a face was futile. Suddenly the ferry horn blared loudly, almost serving to startle her but definitely, at least, calling her silent suffering to an end. 

“I should get going.” The first woman admitted, sounding reluctant. The two of them traded several more kisses anyway, the entire time she slowly stepped back down onto the docks. The ferry horn sounded again, indicating it — and Lin's — impatience to depart. “You better come see me later!”

The bay bound woman only waved as the deck shuddered beneath their feet, swinging the wooden gate shut as the ferry started slowly on its way. Then Kya turned and faced Lin, breaking out into an immediate grin.

“Linny!?” Kya exclaimed as she walked over to the earthbender. “What are you doing here?”

“Watching you climb down some girl’s throat, apparently.” Lin answered dryly as her friend hugged her. 

“Oh what else is new?" Kya waved her off breezily with an easy smirk.

“So what are you doing here?” Lin asked the waterbender, subduing the first of many eye rolls this night likely had in store for her now — in order to delay the inevitable tension headache, of course.

“Well, I met Zuri when I was visiting Izumi in Imperial City. But she’s actually from here. Small world, right?”

“You would know better than me.”

“She was sitting at the table next to us when we went out to dinner in Hari Bulkan one night. I swear, Izumi snagged herself a top notch future husband cause that man knows the best restaur — “

“Zumi is getting married!?”

“Oops. That’s not formally announced yet. Keep that to yourself.”

“No one tells me anything…”

“The fire freak wasn’t about to tell me either!” Kya assured her, laughing. “If I hadn’t been working an island over? I probably wouldn’t have known before the royal family announced it to the nation.”

“Doubtful. You two are too close. I  would’ve been the one hearing about it in the news.”

“Hey, now. Don’t be like that. Izumi was drafting you a letter when I left, honest.”

“Yeah, cause you made her.”

“Even so…” Kya chuckled — Lin had always been able to see right through the both of them. “When I went over there to visit her on some down time from work, I thought I was just meeting a recently secret boyfriend. Turns out they’ve been dating for over a damn year. Can you believe that!? I was livid.”

“Why all the secrecy?”

“He’s not a noble.”

“Oh…”

“Yep. She met him on Ember Island the stay before this last one. He’s a writer and was there doing research for an article on some seaside bistro or other? Had no clue who Izumi even was when he asked her out for drinks.”

“And now he’s about to be a fucking prince...”

“I know right? It’s like a love legend or something. Disturbingly cute. They’re really crazy about each other.”

“Hopefully the rest of the status minded Fire Nation feels the same way…”

“Hence the long time tight lips.”

“Interesting.” Lin replied thoughtfully, looking out over the water as she considered that.

“Seriously, though? If she doesn’t write you soon? Just radio her and talk to her about it. Tell her I told you — I can take the heat. Anyway, I think she could use the heart to heart. She’s been really concerned about this all. Keeping it a secret even after it had developed into something much more serious. Worried about how her nation’s going to take the eventual engagement news. And then now with all the…well, just talk to her. At some point.”

“I’ll think about it. Maybe in a couple weeks. If she doesn’t send me the letter.” Lin nodded. Then she looked over at Kya. “Even learning all of that, though, I find it harder to believe that talking to you wasn’t helpful for her. I’m not sure how I’m supposed to do any better…”

“Listen, you’re right — my advice is unrivaled. Usually. And I undoubtedly tried. I'll never not show up for Izumi. But I think in this case, she could really benefit from commiserating with…a similarly reserved individual.”

“Ah, and that is most certainly not you.”

“No.” Kya agreed, lightly amused.

“Despite knowing so already, that fact is all too clear to me now. Given the unfortunate display I witnessed just moments ago.”

“Yeah, Zuri is…intense. Incredible. I feel incredible when I’m with her. She was getting ready to come back home and I wasn’t ready to say goodbye yet so...” Kya shrugged, leaning against the railing as they sailed across the bay. “I made the journey with her. Now, I’m off to check in with the family. As are you, obviously.”

“You followed a girl across what is essentially the entire Fire Nation and then all the way over the sea to home?” Lin scoffed.

“Firebenders.” Kya smirked. “So hot. And so worth it.”

The two of them talked, catching up since their last letters, until the ferry docked at Air Temple Island. Kya had been blessedly vague about the details of her journey home which was all she’d really had to fill Lin in on anyway. And the earthbender didn’t really care to know the particulars of all of that after the brief glimpse she’d just inadvertently gotten already. Yet, it seemed the universe and her friend’s eternal antics had other plans in mind.

“Hey, Ky…?” Lin sighed as they walked down the dock toward the cliffs.

The shawl the healer wore wrapped around her had fallen off one shoulder in the wind only to reveal something dark and deep purple on her collarbone. And her neck. The hollow of her throat now too. Lin bit back an incredulous laugh, a monumental feat. The signs of which did not go unnoticed by Kya, regardless.

“What!?”

“You might wanna do something about yourself before we head up there or your mother's sure to have a fit.”

“What are you on about?”

“You have hickeys all over you.”

“Oh, spirits.” Kya muttered, swiftly bending some water from the bay to heal herself. The earthbender smirked at her, a marginally judgmental expression that had Kya laughing nonetheless. “Good looking out, Linny. Thanks”

“Don’t mention it.” Lin droned as they kept on walking up the cliffside path to the courtyard. 

Tenzin was sitting outside in the gazebo when they got there — a pile of books he needed to return to Lin stacked next to him. Kya left them to it, needing to catch up with her parents before dinner anyhow.

They definitely weren’t going to be pleased about the manner in which she'd come home. Especially after she'd sent her skiff ahead of her to the temple using a sailing service. An informal announcement of her decision to make the journey with skiff shy Zuri instead. As well as her unspoken refusal to have herself or her beautiful boat loaded onto a metal monster of a ship to be escorted back to the Republic. That, among other things, had definitely not been in the ‘royal’ travel plans they'd discussed before she'd left Imperial City. 

Her father had wanted to come fly her home himself but she'd talked him out of it. He wasn't going to be happy with her. Never once angry but instead solemnly disappointed. Which was always worse to be honest. And as Kya unequivocally shared her mother’s occasional temper, there was also a good chance of some hasty airbender diffusion tactics in her dad's near future as well. Still, Aang and Katara had always been nothing if not understanding. And no matter what, more than anything, the three of them were simply going to be relieved to see one another again. Kya would accept any lecture she was about to receive regarding her trip home as long as it ended with one of her mom's signature healing hugs. She’d been needing one desperately this past week.

As she headed toward the temple, Kya watched Lin laugh all too easily at something Tenzin said when he greeted her in the courtyard. The two spoke closely, exchanging books. They walked together to the stone wall that lined the cliffside nearby, sitting down together too.

Hm. Had Kya really missed that much while she was away? When had Lin gotten so chummy with the airhead!?

Falling back onto her friend's bed, the waterbender savored the breezy ocean air that coasted into the large room of the villa, fighting through her breathy, disjointed chuckles. 

"I just got so swept up in it all." Kya defended weakly with an easy grin, the memory of it effortless and vivid. Even a month later.

"Classic Kya." Izumi snorted as she continued dressing for the beach. "Regardless, neither of you were ever going to be in any real danger. You were obviously making each other far too hot to possibly freeze anything, let alone each other."

"Hei Bai, Zumi!" Kya laughed incredulously, chucking a pillow at her friend just as Lin entered the bedroom on the staccato of her now redundant announcement knocks. Then Kya shrugged, lying back down and crossing her arms at her stomach, faintly smug and with a sunny smile. "True, though."

"What is?" Lin asked, appearing more uninterested than she sounded as she lowered herself to the nearby rattan window seat. 

Immediately Izumi turned to Kya, one eyebrow raising over an unrestrained smirk. She shot the firebender a look. A soundless yet vociferous 'don't'. They both knew if Lin were apprised of her most recent heedless hijinks, the earthbender would spend more time lecturing Kya about the ill-advised experimentation than ribbing her about the girl-crazy behavior with Izumi like the fire freak so obviously desired. 

"How hot Izumi looks. But for why, I wonder." Kya mused sonorously, propping herself up on her elbow and tilting her head — exaggeratedly ponderous. "When all we have before us is a day by the shore with family..."

Izumi's glare was positively infernal — incensed. She felt perilously close to reconsidering the unspoken vow of silence involving the waterbender's misdemeanors. Lin looked between them, expression steely and unamused. With an admirable, illustrious sort of self control, the firebender infused calm into her practiced breaths and pulled on her sheer black beach wrap with only a minor, reticent huff. The near shimmer of the fabric and the glint of the golden trim paid perfect tribute to the gorgeous color of her swim suit — the same shade as Bleeding Heart petals. 

Kya had only been kidding, teasing as always. And yet, fuck, Izumi did look good. Too good. Her lightly mischievous air gave way to one of stark inquiry then. The avalanche shift of it impossible to miss. Izumi's brow knotted, uncharacteristically nervous in the wake of Kya's tireless intuition

"Hm." Lin examined their friend critically now as well. There was an investigative glint in her green gaze that had Kya smiling again through her sudden confusion. "She's wearing that ostentatious royal head piece too. Suspicious."

"Good catch, officer." Kya nodded, studying Izumi with a dramatized analytical eye. "What do you think that could be about?"

"Huh!? No!" Izumi stammered, hands flying to her topknot. "Should I take — I probably wasn't gonna keep — I don't want him to — "

"Him!?" Kya intoned eagerly, perking up with the rush of delight that coursed through her at the unforeseen victory. Her eyes flew to Lin who had risen to her feet amidst similar emotions it seemed. "We cracked the case!"

"Confess." Lin ordered briskly, not even breaking her stringent eye contact with the firebender as she leaned over to clasp hands with Kya in triumph.

"I might head over to the public beach later, alright!?" Izumi fumed, tearing the contested twin flame headpiece free and dumping it unceremoniously onto her bamboo dresser. "Or maybe I'll just go now and save myself the headache of hanging out with you two!"

"Who's the guy, princess?" Kya interrogated, refusing to let her friend blaze past the urgent point of inquiry here.

"I have no idea what you mean." Izumi said, checking her reflection one more time. Her palm smoothed over already flawless jet black hair before she leaned casually against the vanity, staring down the waterbender.

"You sure about that, love?" Kya prodded obnoxiously, grinning.

"I don't know, Kya. Are you sure that you've nothing to tell us about?" 

"Uh..."

"No arctic escapades we should all hear of?"

"So how about that beach!? We should get going before the morning turns too hot!"

Kya cursed her own word choice when Izumi cackled deeply behind her while she made her clumsy escape, both friends trailing in close suspension. 

“How was your time in the north, Ky?” Lin asked as they descended the large dark wood staircase. All of the families had gotten in late last night — the nomadic healer arriving the latest and apart from the rest of them on her skiff. Lin hadn’t even had the chance to catch up with her at all yet. “I bet the climate of Ember Island is a bit disorienting in comparison. After being up there for so long?”

“I heard they had a heat wave in Agna Qel’a actually.” Izumi commented flatly

“I heard there was about to be an attempt on the future Fire Lord's life.” Kya hissed.

“Okay…” Lin droned, now bored of whatever covert contention that was clearly going on between the two. She led them all to the front of the villa. “Everyone is already on the beach, I think.”

“Not me!” Bumi declared cheerily, appearing to join them just as Lin was opening the front door. He was carrying a pair of heavy wooden sparring sticks with intricately carved bone handles. “Well, I was. But Uncle Sokka wanted to see my new staff so I came back to grab it. We’re gonna train later.”

“Staff?” Lin asked, frowning.

“Oh, yeah. Check it out!” Bumi jogged backwards in the grass a little to make room away from the three women. Then he held the wooden sticks out in front of him, end to end, slamming his fists together and twisting until the handles interlocked. He spun the broad staff around a few times, losing his balance a little at the end of his maneuver — not used to the added weight of such a large weapon. “Definitely need to practice a bit more. How awesome is that, though!? Thanks again, Ky!”

“You got him that?” Izumi asked the waterbender, chuckling dryly as she watched Bumi struggle with disconnecting the center handle of the staff now.

“In Agna Qel’a.” Kya nodded with an amused smirk as he continued to wrestle with the thing. “An early birthday present since I don’t know if I’ll even see him next month. I think to separate them again you gotta turn it the opposite way, Bum.”

Lin stepped over to him and took the staff, taking a quick look and then releasing the sticks easily. She held them in her hands. Sturdy and obviously well crafted. Polished and, honestly, gorgeous. Very high quality.

“This is a pretty incredible gift.” Lin noted, looking up at Kya and flashing a crooked grin. “Any souvenirs for me?”

“Just the pleasure of my presence.” Kya insisted lavishly. “Besides, it didn’t really put me out that much. I know a guy.”

“You know a guy?” Izumi scoffed.

“Probably better if I don’t know any more myself then.” Lin droned as she handed Bumi back his sparring sticks, rolling her eyes at Kya. “I don’t wanna have to arrest you.”

“You have no jurisdiction there.” Kya said pointedly.

“Or here in my nation for that matter.” Izumi reminded her.

“Exactly. So be cool, Beifong!” Bumi insisted impishly.

“If I don’t worry — “

“You mean nag?” Izumi cut in.

“ — about the state of the three of you, who will?” Lin argued as they continued their walk to the shore ahead.

“Tenzin.” All three concluded — and then instantly burst out laughing.

“Agni, two years on the force and she’s already a drag.” Izumi teased with a dull groan, slinging an arm around the earthbender’s shoulders.

“Yeah! Where’s the girl who I caught sneaking cigarettes out on the beach at fifteen?” Kya layered on.

“Or the trip right before you finished at the academy? When we all got you to smoke some lilyweed with us by the fire one night?” Bumi recalled, grinning. “Good times.”

“We? You mean Kya.” Izumi corrected, snickering. “‘Please, Linny. Be bad, like, one time. For me?’”

“I do not sound like that!” Kya protested, shoving the firebender across the sand. “And see if I smoke you up later now — how about that?”

As they all reached the shore, only the barest hints of fog lingered — wispy and sun-soaked — above the ocean waves. It was still early in the morning but already that fickle fall chill seemed to have left them entirely. Late autumn on the island could turn the weather just as evanescent as the season itself. Just as ephemeral as the mist over water it invoked — constantly rising and falling and transitioning between states. So multifaceted and always changing before one could even attempt to define it. Days just as scorching and sultry as the hottest summers and chilly misty nights in the absence of the sun.

Their morning was spent more or less the same as always on these usual family trips to Ember Island. Swimming, sunbathing, catching up with one another. Their sparring tournament had been cut short by Zuko after Izumi had bent lightning and Lin had pulled the resulting, sizzling fulgurite from the sand in a move that was very nearly as thunderous and explosive. The two benders were likely to argue endlessly over who the reigning champion was now for the entire rest of the stay. All of them forever determined to dethrone Izumi — who didn’t usually resort to underhanded techniques but evidently Lin was getting too good for her.

Around midday, after hours of languishing in the sea — still wonderfully warm with the previous season's steady, torrid heat — Kya waded through the waves back to the beach. Her skin felt tight with salt and sun, ocean water dripping from her long brown hair. And she would eternally swear there was no sensation better. 

The sand was burning hot as she walked across it, noon sun feeding it high overhead. Toph snored on a woven blanket nearby, Zuko adjusting the umbrella behind her to account for the shifted position of the sun so that his friend didn't get scorched as she slept assumedly. Though the Fire Lord's resulting eye roll carried a singe all its own. 

Sokka and Bumi had been training for as long as Kya had been swimming, it seemed, and Suyin was still working at twining together a threaded bracelet as she had been all morning. The same sort that Mai had also taught all of them how to make years ago — when they were around her age. Kya paused for a moment to inspect Su's winding. Pretty good. A design a lot more complicated and involved than Kya was capable of, that was for certain. 

Curious about where everyone else had ended up and desperately thirsty, Kya made her way back to the royal villa. The sandy dunes soon gave way to silty earth, beach grass clinging loosely to the soil beneath her feet. Inside, she quickly found Lin and Tenzin flanking Aang in the large receiving room. Her younger brother still committed to his best impression of a flying lemur with its tail between its legs apparently. 

"Sheesh." Kya cringed as she looked at Tenzin and then over to her father who was trying to repair a severely tattered glider. She flashed Lin a wide, impressed grin. "You really destroyed that thing didn't you, meathead?"

"I wouldn't have had to if Tenzin would've just quit circling me sooner and come down to fight me like a man." Lin retorted, speaking of their sparring tournament earlier. "He was refusing to attack! Someone had to start our match."

"I was not!" Tenzin blustered, reddening. "I was just...biding my time!"

"Biding it all the way to your defeat!" Lin scoffed, bristled. "By the time I had you pinned you'd already given up! That is not how I like to win my fights. You should be ashamed and I want a rematch!"

Aang looked up from his meticulous work to meet Kya's gaze, eyebrows rising as they shared a knowing smirk. Clearly Lin and Tenzin had been bickering for a while now. It was plain by the way her brother continued to flush and huff and stumble over every other word. Kya lay a hand on her father's shoulder as she left them to it, urging him to hang in there.

In the kitchen, she found her mother and Izumi discussing Fire Nation business. Or rather, the tiresome nobles her friend loathed dealing with so regularly now that she had begun taking over even more responsibilities from her father. In preparation for her own rule one day. 

"I don't envy you that, sweetheart. I couldn't do it." Katara commiserated empathetically. She led Izumi over to the open archway Kya had walked through. "Well, you just go have fun with your friends now. You deserve it. Time for yourself is probably just what you need."

"Do I get to meet any of these 'friends' any time soon?" Kya batted her eyelashes theatrically as she leaned on the enormous obsidian countertop, smiling at her glaring friend. 

"If you stop acting like an ass, sure." Izumi shot back with a stupendously sarcastic grin. 

Kya's jaw dropped, indignant even as she couldn't stop laughing. She turned immediately to Katara for backup.

"Sorry, honey. I think I agree with her on this one."

"You don't even know what's going on!" Kya pointed out incredulously.

"Yes, but I know you." Katara maintained cheekily, smoothing a hand over her daughter's sea-tangled hair as she sat down beside her.

"Rude." Kya said. "Both of you."

"Thanks for the talk, Aunt Katara." Izumi called out as she left, throwing an arm out to her friend in additional farewell. "Bye, babe."

"Bye, love you, make good choices." Kya recited, waving the firebender off as she began pouring herself some ice water from the pitcher on the counter.

"So nothing you would choose to do then. Right?" Izumi popped back in to add just before dipping around the corner again, effectively dodging the stream of slush Kya sent her way. 

"Clean that up." Katara said, gaze already trained to her novel once more. 

Lin leveled Toph with an absolutely withering look — steely and sharp even as she smirked. It had never mattered that her mother couldn’t ever be subjected to endure her truly atrocious expressions. Lin’s silences always spoke volumes enough. Or rather, screamed at them.

“What!? They will realize it eventually.” Toph claimed in amused indignation. “And when they do? At least we still have your sister to sic them on.”

“Spirits.” Lin muttered dryly, shoving her near cackling mother further into the lavish house. Then she looked at Kya. “Hei Bai, help us all.”

Later, Lin mused that her mother had been right. Kya had brought such joy to the evening. A levity and comforting familiarity that Lin hadn’t realized she’d been missing greatly — during her time at the estate, yes, but also back home in Republic City too. A homesickness grounded in the personal and so which could only be soothed by a certain person in particular. 

Kya was unlike anyone else Lin knew. As such, her absences proved stark. In the chances they found time to spend together again, that was when Lin usually had to contend with how much she'd missed her friend the most. Along with everything else she unfailingly enjoyed about having Kya right there with her, of course. A bittersweet mixture of feelings that were further weighed down by the fact that such moments were fleeting as of late. A fact that Lin was frustratingly aware of in this moment now too. 

Running into the waterbender in the marketplace had felt like such a needed, pleasant and thrilling surprise. Lin was reluctant to say goodbye. Even as she knew they were drawing close to the part of the night where Kya was going to be off on her way again. At the thought of her friend’s departure, Lin was growing swiftly sullen and withdrawn. She could already feel the beginnings of that dreaded boredom and air of convention which would sink back in around her once their guest was gone. Tonight had been one of the most normal, relaxing, and still extremely enjoyable evenings Lin had been able to have since arriving at the estate for the summer visit with her grandparents. She wasn’t at all ready for it to end. 

Sensing the earthbender’s shift in spirits, almost like she had some sort of emotional seismic sense of her own, Kya pressed her shoulder into Lin’s — a silent but comforting nudge for her friend to keep her chin up. When they looked at each other, Kya had to stifle her laugher at the positively pouty expression on her friend’s surly face.

“Don’t worry.” Kya eased quietly, even while knowing that for Lin in particular that was typically easier said than done. “I might have a plan. If you’re into it.”

“Huh?” Lin spoke lowly, matching her friend’s hushed tone, thoroughly lost. 

“Please assure us you have a proper place in the city, dear.” Poppy inquired as they all rose from the table. "Otherwise we would be happy to host you and any of our granddaughter's equally lovely friends."

"Yeah, cause I got so many of those..." Lin muttered dryly under her breath and it felt like a fearsome feat for Kya to keep her face appropriate while still being appraised.

“You could stay here as long as you need.” Lao seconded the offer with cordial sincerity. “It’s been a delight having you.”

“Thank you for welcoming me in so warmly tonight.” Kya bowed her head politely and then flashed her best dazzling smile. "Dinner was wonderful and your estate is truly stunning. It was incredibly kind of you both to allow me to share in a family meal so unannounced."

Quickly, Kya quelled the impulse to elbow Lin beside her when her friend scoffed gruffly. She could practically feel the way the earthbender was violently rolling her eyes at her. Seemingly the only ones immune to her ways, Lin and Izumi had never not lived to mock her endlessly for her antics instead. But hey, if you got the charm? Might as well use it, Kya figured. And at the moment, it was about to come in handy for her trapped and testy friend — if she could play this right.

"Oh, cut the shit, kid — you are family."

"Toph Beifong!"

"Mother, relax." Toph sighed severely, barely heard over all three girls' loud laughter now. "If I didn't nip it in the bud, we'd all end up slathered in that saccharine nonsense to the point of suffocation. Trust me, these healer types are all alike. Though, Sweetness Supreme here could give Sweetness Sr. a run for her damn money, it seems. Sickening..."

“I have rooms rented in the middle ring." Kya stated once she'd rapidly composed herself again. A behemoth effort with her aunt's attitude and Linny still shaking with quiet laughter beside her. "I've been here for a few days already. But I appreciate the hospitality immensely, thank you both again."

As they all walked to the foyer, Lin shot her a look that all but shouted ‘get out while you still can’. Which, Kya was trying. But she was also trying for something else here as well. If Lin could stop being entirely too distracting for one second in order for Kya to navigate these elderly nobles — without being pulled to pieces by snickering laughter while she was at it.

“How much longer will you be in the city?” Toph asked. “Lin's been a broody bore these past few days. Maybe you can take her off our hands. Get her to lighten up a bit."

Lin's looking to bend herself into a sunless hole and die right about now, was more like it actually. She gritted her teeth and grabbed her mother’s arm to demand that she please stop speaking. Kya probably had much more exciting things to do than run around with her. She likely had plans. Other people to see. The last thing she wanted was for Kya to feel obligated to entertain her.

“As it turns out, I'm going camping outside the city for the next couple days." Kya explained to the group. Then she turned to her friend. “Lin, you are very welcome to join me. I would be grateful for the company. If your gracious grandparents could spare some of their time with you, that is.”

At first glance the waterbender's demeanor appeared to remain fixed in the formality of bidding her antiquated hosts farewell. But just beneath that polished glimmer, Lin could see something warmer, more familiar, and almost surreptitious shining in her blue eyes. Lin’s spirit itself leapt in her chest. A chance to truly get away then!?

These past few weeks had been chipping at her slowly. She needed to be alone. And to be able to spend more time with her friend as well — out of the city? Lin turned to her grandparents in silence, desperately asking for permission to excuse herself from the summer visit for a day or so. 

As she watched her grandfather deliberate and heard her mother chuckle to herself, Lin felt hope flutter briefly. It was impossible to care that she knew for certain Toph must sense the way her heart was about to crack a damn rib right now. All that mattered was that Lin could practically feel those haunting dresses she would be expected to wear over the next few days trampled under her feet as she mentally ran away through the wilderness with Kya. 

“I suppose we could allow it.” Lao said with a small smile. “We wouldn’t want you to have to camp out there all on your own."

Lin hugged her grandfather and then her grandmother, thanking them.

“Have fun, you two." Poppy said.

“Excellent!" Kya's smile was radiant. She squeezed Lin's hand, pulling her attention. “I’ll meet you in the market tomorrow morning just after sunrise.”

“What about me?” Toph snarked. “My allowance means nothing? I’m the one who had to carry the brutal badgermole — still got the bruises from the rib kicks.”

“Oh! Please, forgive me for my horrendous manners. You are so absolutely correct.” Kya played up exponentially, getting her instantly shuffled to the door by her aunt for her efforts. “Could Lin’s most magnanimous mother ever possibly find it in her heart to — “

“Beat it, Kya.” Toph growled.

“Persistent internal injuries should be taken very seriously, you know. Perhaps we should have you sit for a healing session before I depart? Or should we save you the repeated breath and instead I’ll simply tell myself to kick rocks?”

“Damn, that was honestly a really good one.” Toph snorted, shaking her head in defeat. “You might be worse than Sokka.”

───────── ❍☯︎❍ ─────────

Spirits, she was so late! Kya pushed through the already packed marketplace, bustling with the early morning crowd. She hadn’t meant to sleep in. It was just that, she hadn’t been sleeping well at all, as of late — spending too many restless nights awake and hanging with Yue more often than not. Evidently, it had caught up with her. Now, ‘just after sunrise’ had turned out to be hours after the fact and she still had to find Lin somehow. Fortunately, she spotted the earthbender relatively quickly — standing nearby where they had run into one another the day before. 

“I'm so sorry.” Kya apologized, nearly out of breath. “I accidentally overslept.”

“I should have guessed.” Lin teased. She handed over a paper bag with a still warm sweet bun inside as she finished off her own. “Got you breakfast. Figured you’d be rushing.”

“What do you mean?” Kya asked with a smirk. Then she registered the last bit of her friend’s statement, accepting the pastry gratefully. “I was. And I’m starved — thank you.”

“Every trip to Ember Island with our families, you’re always the last one up. Barely catching breakfast.” Lin explained further, crossing her arms as she leaned against a stall — smirking right back. “Sauntering across the sand to sunbathe and snooze some more before you come over to interact with any of us.”

“I do not saunter.” Kya laughed incredulously, shoving her friend and then turning to set off.

“Do so." Lin asserted, following the waterbender back out into the crowd. 

“At least I let myself relax on vacation.” Kya rolled her eyes with a smile. “As opposed to training myself down to the sand grains like you — such a meathead.”

“Water ballerina.” Lin snipped back instantly.

“You always say that as if it’s a bad thing.” Kya countered, hands over her head, pastry bag thrust into the air as she did a little twirl. Then she shrugged, grinning. “I like it.”

“You would.”

“Don’t make me regret dragging you along, Beifong.” 

Tearing herself off a piece of the bun as they walked, Kya led them in the direction of the train that would take them through the lower ring and to the gates of Ba Sing Se. When she noticed her friend had stopped ribbing back, she looked over to see Lin appearing a bit sheepish in her silence.

“None of that.” Kya intoned, pursing her lips knowingly. She smiled and shook her head at the earthbender. “I was only kidding, cross my heart. You have no idea how glad I am that we ran into each other yesterday? I've been needing a friendly face. Plus, I wasn’t even sure if I was gonna go camping on my own or not. So, you’re really doing me the favor, if you think about it.”

“I said nothing.”

“Didn’t have to." Kya smirked, popping another piece of sweet bun in her mouth. "It’s always etched right into your too tough stony face.”

“I should probably see a healer for that.”

“On it.” Kya nodded with a grin, once she herself had recovered from almost choking on her breakfast. “However, in my professional opinion? It’s a hopeless case. Chronic. Probably lifelong. I’ve suspected it for years, I’m so sorry.”

“Is that how you deliver dire news to all your patients?”

“Just my favorite ones.” Kya beamed.