#saikon

Lin had only consumed too much alcohol one time in her life. The first and last time had been when her mother had decided she was old enough to join her at the bar and Lin had gotten in over her head. Toph had gone to break up a bar fight and Lin decided to get clever in her absence. The next morning Toph taught her daughter the proper cure to a hangover, but only after forcing Lin to practice metalbending for a full hour had failed to do anything besides split the inside of her head in two. Lin had never forgotten that feeling, and the memory made the pounding between her temples slightly more bearable.

Her bending was gone.

If she focused on the pain she might be able to identify what it felt like, but for now she focused on the memories of her mother, her mother's lessons, useless now--no, never useless, she had used those lessons to protect those around her more times than she could count--and anything else to ease the pain and keep herself from collapsing. 

The world lurched around her, and she staggered, feeling the swoop in her stomach as it prepared to eject Pema's cooking from the night before...

The dark blurs came into focus and she heard the clinking of metal armor and a voice.

"Keep your voices down, men...tell them nothing..."

"Tenzin?" she muttered. But no, the man ahead of her was not in airbender robes, he was in a metal uniform...her mother's badge glinted in the torchlight, but it wasn't her mother, because her mother did not sound like a man when she gasped.

"Chief?" Saikon's tone was shocked. 

"Chief." Hers was a reprimand. "You're...you're chief, remember. Sir. Call me Lin."

"Chief." Evidently he hadn't heard her. "What did they...? No. They didn't. Your bending..."

"They did." There was no point denying it, and talking seemed to help clear it up. "Took two airships and a sneak attack to bring me down--what's your excuse?"

They were almost beside each other. He was bound, ropes encircling his body, his hands tied at the wrists. "Classified information, citizen."

Saikon was the type who never joked unless he was terrified, which one would never be able to tell simply by looking at him. His heartbeat always gave the fear away, though. She couldn't feel it this time. She couldn't feel anyone's heartbeat besides her own. But because he joked, she could sense the fear.

"I'll order you to tell me later, Saikon." No title this time; if he was terrified, the most she could do was to command him not to be. "Hopefully they tuck us in a cell next to one another."

They were passing each other, and she heard his voice from behind her. "Doubt that, Chief, but here's hoping. Any last orders?"

Her heart was pounding in her chest, and she imagined for one second that she could hear his heart, too. 

"Yes. Don't embarrass yourself, don't embarrass me, and most importantly, see if you can bite his fingers off when he touches your forehead." She twisted her head around and added sharply, "With dignity, if you can!"

"With dignity, Chief!" he bellowed back. "Understood, Chief!"