Kya let out a breath she didn’t know she had been holding when she stepped off the airship.
The Metal City was even more glorious than she remembered it, with its gleaming spirals and other equally captivating structures.
Suyin pulled her out of her awe and into a tight hug. “Kya, it’s been so long! It’s good to see you again.”
The water-bender smiled. “Yeah, you too. You got my message, right? I hate to get right down to business, but Zaheer is not a threat to be brushed off.”
The matriarch nodded, taking on a more serious expression for the moment. “My guards are on high alert, and Lin has stopped her sulking for the time being.”
”Lin’s here?” The healer asked. “Did you guys make up?”
The younger woman winced slightly. “Not quite. I don’t think it’s something she’s ever going to let go. Enough with that, it’s almost lunch and my chef is one of the best in the Earth Kingdom! You haven’t followed the air-nomad diet, have you?”
Kya shook her head and smiled. “I’d like to speak with Lin, too, if that wouldn’t be a distraction.”
“She’ll probably find you after dinner and interrogate you about Zaheer,” Su replied with a dismissive wave of her hand. “She certainly hasn’t mellowed with age.”
The older woman chuckled to herself. Even as older, respected women, the Beifong sisters were still just that to each other - sisters.
pWell, she hadn’t actually seen Lin in quite a few years, but she could imagine how the woman had matured over the time.
Briefly, her mind wandered to the physical side of the maturing rather than behavioral, and she wondered if her muscles were still as defined as she remembered.
The two benders seated themselves at the large dining table, and Kya decided to put herself between the quarreling sisters. She knew that both had quite the temper, though Su seemed to have learned to control hers, and it was better safe than sorry.
For some strange reason, the water-bender felt her heart flutter when Lin entered the room, and Ai-Wei choked on the tea that he was drinking.
The elder metal-bender greeted her in a manner that would be considered warm for her standards and sat down, making some comment about being sure to talk later.
The chef entered the room with a cart of trays in tow, and the quiet conversations died as he revealed his creation for their lunch meal.
Lin was knocking on the door to Kya’s temporary room shortly after lunch.
“Chief Beifong has decided a chat with me is more important than a number of other tasks,” the water-bender teased. “I’m flattered.”
“Don’t be,” the younger woman replied gruffly, entering the room. “It was either talk to you about your fight with Zaheer or visit the stupid acupuncturist Ai-Wei recommended.”
“Still, you came to see me,” the silver-haired woman replied.
“You were injured during the fight,” the officer interjected, cutting past the playful banter the other woman was trying to maintain.
“Was that a question or a statement?” Kya asked, feeling a flicker of pain in her ribs as she remembered being so ruthlessly blown into the stone wall.
“A statement,” Lin responded, briskly walking over and taking her waist, guiding her to a seat. “You’re holding yourself far more rigidly than usual.”
The healer sucked in a deep breath. The woman she’d been thinking of for so long was holding her and basically just confessed that she payed close enough attention to her to realize when her posture was different.
“At least tell me you’ve worked on yourself,” the woman muttered, running her hand along her old friend’s toned midsection to check for serious injuries.
Avatar Aang’s daughter gasped lightly. Her touch was warm and gentle. It was muffled by the fabrics of her dress, but still.
Lin pulled away quickly. “Did I hurt you?”
“No, no, you didn’t hurt me, I just... Agni, you make this so difficult for me,” the water-bender murmured, hands halfway to pulling the other woman back toward her. “Oh, fuck it.”
The look of alarm on the earth-bender’s face was quickly replaced by one of shock when Kya pulled her down and kissed her.
The police chief struggled to find the right words. “I-I’m not... I can’t... this isn’t... we shouldn’t....”
The water-bender pulled the startled woman down to sit next to her. “I like you, Lin. I like you a lot, and I have for a long time. I’ll understand if this isn’t something you want to pursue, but you seem more confused than anything else. Why don’t you let me help?”
The paler woman nodded slowly and tried to collect her thoughts. “I’m not attracted to women.”
“Did you like the kiss?” The older woman asked.The officer nodded almost shyly, feeling a heat begin to rise in her cheeks.
“Well, then you like women,” the healer reasoned. “Welcome to the club! Was that your only misgiving?”
“There’s too much going on right now,” the Beifong responded dutifully. “You would be a distraction.”
Gently, Ky leaned forward and kissed the beautiful, utterly confused woman in front of her. “How about you catch Zaheer and his gang, and then you give us a shot?”
Lin watched her with a stupid expression on her face, lips still parted from the brief kiss. “I think I can do that.”