My Fire Was Fate With You

The next morning, the two women woke up from the most peaceful sleep they’ve had in years. The waterbender woke up first and admired the earthbender gently sleeping next to her. Kya gently tapped Lin’s nose. “Good morning,” she said with a yawn. 

Lin groaned. “Good morning.” The two simply laid together for a minute. “Thank you for everything,” she said softly.

Kya placed her hand on Lin’s face. “If anything, I should be thanking you. I’m happy to be here for you, no matter what,” she said gently. The two looked at each other, desperately wanting to confess but too afraid to make a move. 

Lin reluctantly got up. “I have to head to the station,” she said with a yawn. She then looked at the clock and cursed. “Spirits, I’m late,” she muttered. 

Kya watched with amusement as Lin frantically got ready for the morning. “Enjoying the view?” the earthbender asked.

She whistled. “Very much so,” she said, happily noting that Lin’s ears turned red. 

Lin rolled her eyes, desperately trying to hide how much Kya’s words affected her. “I’ll see you after work, try not to sleep the day away,” she said, rushing out the door.

“No promises!” Kya called out after her. Lin chuckled and headed towards the station. When she walked in the door, Saikhan was there to greet her. 

“Chief,” he said with a simple nod. “We have an update on the Triad case. We’re having a meeting in fifteen, if you want to attend.” He held up a bag. “I figured you were running late, so I grabbed you some breakfast.”

Lin looked at him with gratitude. “If you weren’t already married, I’d marry you myself just for this,” she said grabbing the food from him.

“Speaking of, how did last night go?” he asked.

Lin stopped eating her egg custard tart. “It was interesting. We slept together last night,” she said, taking another bite. Her ears turned red at Saikhan’s whistle. “Not like that! We just slept in the same bed, no sex,” she said.

Saikhan smirked at her. “Whatever you say Chief.”

“Watch it Captain or I’ll demote you,” she threatened, taking another bite of the pastry. 

“Ah, so at first it was marry me and now it’s demoting me? You wound me,” he said dryly.

Lin rolled her eyes and continued eating. “I’ll be there, if only to make sure you don’t try and make a plan to murder me at the meeting.”

Saikhan laughed. “No promises.”

Lin walked to the bathroom, splashing her face with cold water. She looked in the mirror, determined to pull herself together. She walked into the meeting and sat down. 

The meeting took much longer than she expected, she was thankful for the pastry Saikhan got her. By the time the meeting was over, it was lunchtime. She decided to go to one of the market stalls nearby and grab some lunch. She grabbed some meat kebabs and cucumber-aloe water, thankful that she remembered to always keep spare change in her office for hectic days like this.

Lin finished up her day relatively quickly and decided to head back to the apartment. On her way there, she ran into Tenzin. “Hey,” she said.

Tenzin turned around. “Lin! It’s good to see you,” he said warmly.

“Same to you, airhead,” she said with a smirk, knowing his hatred for the nickname. Tenzin simply rolled his eyes. “Are you still planning on moving to the Southern Water Tribe for the Avatar?” she asked.

Tenzin sighed. “No, there’s too much division within the city. There have been some...developments that make me afraid of chaos.” 

Lin nodded, knowing they couldn’t go into specifics in public. “I’ll hold the paperwork then. No need to process it if you aren’t moving,” she said.

The two gave each other a nod and left, knowing the other was busy. Lin continued on her way home, stopping at Narook’s Seaweed Noodlery to pick up some of Kya’s beloved seaweed noodles. She unlocked the apartment door, placing the food on the counter. 

Kya popped her head out of her room. “Hey, how was work?” she asked. She then noticed the noodles Lin had brought. “You got me Narook’s? Okay that’s it, I’m going to marry you,” she said.

Lin laughed, pushing away the thoughts that told her she wanted that. “I can’t marry you, I already promise I’d marry Saikhan.”

“Ah the betrayal! What did he do?” she asked, getting the tea ready.

“He realized I was running late and picked up an egg custard tart for me. I told him I’d marry him, then he was being Saikhan and I told him I’d demote him,” she said, eating the noodles.

The waterbender laughed, her voice sounding like music to Lin’s ears. “I’m glad you and him are close. It’s hard to find people outside of work, especially with a job like yours.”

“Isn’t that the truth?” she said dryly.

The two continued eating and fell into easy chatter about the day. Kya visited this store that was quickly becoming her favorite, the Winter Bison. “It’s so amazing! Ialli has so many Southern Tribe things and Air Nomad stuff! It’s one of the best places I’ve ever been to,” she said.

Lin smiled, enjoying how Kya’s face lit up talking about the shop. “Spirits, I don’t know why I’m so exhausted,” she said yawning.

Kya punched her in the arm. “Go to sleep you old woman,” she said.

Lin swatted her in the head. “You’re the old one here!”

“Only in age. You, my dear Lin, are older in spirit.”

Lin rolled her eyes. “I’ll see you in the morning. Goodnight Kya,” she said.

“Goodnight Lin,” the waterbender said, deciding to do the dishes. 

The two quickly fell into a steady routine together. Kya would spend her days either exploring Republic City or helping out Pema with the kids while Lin went to the station. If they had time, they would eat breakfast together. They almost always had dinner together, and once Kya even brought her lunch. The women began to feel themselves fall further for the other. 

This steady routine changed when the Avatar came to the city. Lin’s normal day was disrupted when Saikhan burst into her office. 

“I think we just arrested the Avatar,” he said.

“What?” she exclaimed. 

“She was trying to help catch some Triad members and caused a bit of damage in the process. She then ran away while I tried to arrest her for damage to private and public property. It’s been a mess,” he said with a sigh.

Lin noticed him wince. “Go to a healer, I’ll take care of the Avatar. Let me know if anyone comes in,” she said. Saikhan nodded.

Lin walked into the room, seeing the young girl in the chair. After a brief interrogation and some anger management on Lin’s part, Saikhan popped his head into the room. 

“Councilman Tenzin is here Chief,” he said. Lin nodded and Tenzin walked into the room.

Tenzin and Lin had a brief conversation and he left with Korra. Lin sunk into the chair with a sigh. So much stress has been added onto her plate lately with the Equalist movement gaining traction and the feelings with Kya. She rubbed her temples, trying to stop the growing stress headache.

Lin went home and collapsed on the couch. “Are you okay?” Kya asked. 

“I didn’t murder the Avatar, so that counts for something,” she said dryly. Kya raised an eyebrow. “I know she had good intentions, but she can’t dole out vigilante justice! We have laws in place, even Korra has to follow them,” she said.

“I can tell this is stressing you out. Come here, let me help,” Kya said, bending some water between her hands. Lin allowed her to place the glowing water on her. “I’m going to try and ease some of that tension in your body, which should hopefully help with stress.”

The two sat in comfortable silence, simply enjoying the feeling of being together. Lin sighed. “Look, I get a feeling a lot is going to happen. Please, know that I care about you, even if I don’t get to see you a lot,” she said, placing a hand on Kya’s.

Kya smiled. “I know,” she said, those words holding more weight than Lin realized. Kya pulled the water off of Lin’s shoulders, feeling the tension melt away in the earthbender. The two prepared for bed, each wanting to hold the other like they did a few weeks ago.

“Goodnight Lin,” she said softly.

“Goodnight Kya.” Lin stood up and walked away before she did something stupid, like confess that she was in love with the waterbender. “I’ll see you in the morning.” 

Kya nodded and went to her room, preparing for sleep. The healer knew sleep wouldn’t come to her easily though. She was worried about Lin. She would never admit it, but Kya could tell that Lin had been stressed out for the past few weeks. In fact, the stress had started after...after they slept together. 

Spirits, what if she doesn’t want me to be with her anymore? Kya pushed the thought away, not wanting her heart to break. Get it together. You can do this. Kya looked at herself in the mirror, determined to confess her feelings for Lin in a few days. Just wait until this stress with the Equalists is over and Lin is used to Korra being in Republic City. Kya had seen how the young Avatar just desperately wanted to help the world, reminding her of how a certain police chief at that age. She smiled, realizing Lin’s determination had only grown over the years. 

While helping Pema with her nieces and nephew, they had some more conversation about her feelings for Lin. Pema helped her ease into the idea of confessing her love, and even helped her prepare what to say. She felt more at ease confessing her feelings, especially when Pema told her that she believes Lin likes Kya as well. Pema helped her get over her insecurities and get used to the idea of being more vulnerable and open with the woman she’s been falling in love with. With the thought of the beautiful earthbender on her mind, Kya fell asleep.