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Chapter Text

City Comptroller Lin Beifong had barely set foot inside her office when the rotary phone on the side of her desk started ringing. She bent the plug out of the socket as she plopped down in her chair, rolling her eyes all the while. That was it; this was the last time she’d ever let her husband talk her into an impromptu holiday in the middle of the week. 

Even while she thought this, Lin’s lips curved into a small smile over the rim of her coffee cup as her mind drifted back to their antics on the beach in Harbor City. A hand instinctively drifted up to the series of love bites on the side of her neck she’d carefully covered with foundation that morning. 

She shook her head, casting out all impure thoughts, and turned her attention to the files and memos her assistant had arranged on her desk. She was in the middle of reading the latest update on a fraud investigation into a council member’s decorating expenses when a knock sounded at the door. 

With a sigh, Lin toed off one shoe and placed her foot flat on the ground. Her seismic sense revealed it was Zhu Li, a Republic City University student who’d been interning at the Bureau of Children’s Services. By Lin’s estimate the girl would be running the agency within the next five years if she didn’t get poached by the private sector. 

Lin bent the knob around from her seat and granted the girl entry.

She gave a quick bow and then closed the door behind her. “Good morning, Madam Comptroller.”

“Zhu Li.” Lin regarded her with a curt nod. “Look, tell your boss I can’t disclose the new budget until it’s been finalized. Sending you here instead of coming herself does not change protocol.” 

“Actually, she asked me to speak to you about another matter.” Zhu Li took a moment to adjust her glasses before continuing. “Given your relationship with the police department, I’m sure you’re aware of the spike in homicides recently.” 

The Agni Kais again, trying to scare the city back into the Sozinite Era. The force wasn’t doing enough to curtail them; if she were still there…Lin exhaled deeply through her nose. There was no point in what-ifs now. “I’ve kept up. What’s your point?” 

“Well, a few months ago a couple was murdered in the Dragon Flats. They had two sons, both benders—one earth, one fire—and we’ve been having trouble finding a foster home that will keep them together. We’ve tried placing them in separate homes twice already, but they just run away to find each other. It took the bureau and the police two months to find them last time. By then the older boy was running numbers for the triads to keep them fed.”

Lin rubbed her temples. Triad murders. High-risk kids. She was definitely back in Republic City, alright. “So your bureau chief wants more money for home-finding? Let me look into the funds; I think I can make it happen.” 

“Actually, she was hoping you and your husband might foster them, just for a few weeks—”

Lin figured her brain must’ve short-circuited. “She wants us to do what ?”

“The boys say they have family in Ba Sing Se, so they’d only be with you for long enough for us to contact them and make sure it’s a safe home.” Zhu Li pulled a file folder out of her briefcase and slid it across Lin’s desk. “Please consider it, at least. They’re good kids, Madam Comptroller.” 

Lin sighed. “I’ll let you know by the end of the day, if you all can manage to keep them in one place until then.” 

At this, Zhu Li gave a reserved smile. “Thank you, Madam Comptroller.”

“No thank yous, kid. I haven’t agreed to anything yet.” 

Lin went back to the fraud case after the intern took her leave. She read through the briefings, jotting down notes on a legal pad as she went, and gave her authorization to have the investigation continue. 

But before she could move on to the next item on her agenda, a pang of curiosity drew her towards the file Zhu Li had left. Despite her better judgment, Lin thumbed through it. Mako (9) and Bolin (7)—born to working class parents in the Dragon Flats borough, who were killed in a mugging last winter as they tried to deliver a rent payment to their landlord. The father, San from Ba Sing Se, was a taxi driver and the mother, Naoki from Fire Nation—unspecified, worked at a hair salon. 

As she parsed through the images, all blurred photos of photos, a distant memory passed through her mind—a slight, industrious teenager, barely older than Suyin, sweeping and serving and minding the appointment books at Yui’s salon. They were all gone now—Yui, her sister Yasuko, their mother—lost to a blood feud so absurd that she could never parse out all the details. 

Lin ran a hand down the length of her face. There had been so much death. And those kids, Mako and Bolin—what would become of them if the children’s bureau couldn’t find a placement willing to take them both? Inter-elemental families were more common in Republic City than anywhere else, but even when it happened here, one or both partners were usually nonbenders. A couple like her and Zoltan was a lot rarer than one would think.  

After one last look at the file, she plugged the phone back in and dialed her husband’s office. 

“How’s my Linny?” he asked after his assistant put her through. “Tired of working already?”

“Hardly.” Lin leaned back in her chair, running a hand through her hair. “I’m half a week behind on everything because you wanted to be spontaneous.”  

“Hey, you weren’t complaining when we were on the beach with a bottle of fire whiskey.” 

“No, I’m complaining now,” she said and smiled despite herself. “Meet for lunch in fifteen?”

“It’s 9:30 in the morning.” 

“Since when do you give a fuck?” 

“When you’re right, you’re right. I’ll meet you outside your office.” 

Although she'd said fifteen minutes, Lin knew he'd be there in ten because her husband—like every other industrialist working in the financial district—never had even the faintest respect for traffic laws. As she slid into the passenger seat of the deep red satomobile, she had to admit—albeit clandestinely—that it was nice not having to wait out in the chilly autumn fog. 

Zolt draped an arm around her shoulder and floored it down Republic Drive. He tapped his fingers against the steering wheel in time to the song playing on the car radio. 

“What’s got you in such a good mood?” she asked as she leaned back against his arm. 

“I’m married to Lin Beifong.” 

Lin’s face heated up, despite her best efforts of keeping it from doing so. “You’re ridiculous.” 

“We also closed the deal on the Northeast Railway.” 

“I thought they weren’t interested in selling.” 

“What can I say? They were persuaded.” 

“Legally, I hope.” Though he had parted with his Triple Threats years ago, Lin knew he was still a mobster in his bones. 

Zolt flashed an electric smirk her way. “Linny, the law’s just a line drawn by whoever has the pen."

Lin raised an eyebrow. "How long did it take you to come up with that line?"

"You know, it actually came to me this morning in the shower," he said. "I might write a book of them someday."

"Oh, fuck no," she laughed.

"So supportive, this one," he said, and leaned over to kiss her at the next red light. "So where are we headed? The Caldera Club or Old Yokoya’s?”

Lin shook her head. “Somewhere quieter. Maybe that teahouse on Szeto and Park,” she said and braced herself for the barely legal U-turn that was sure to follow.

“So what do you think?” Lin asked after a long sip of jasmine tea. It had taken her half a pot of tea and two barbecue pork-chicken buns to get through the story, and by the end she was surprised by the extent to which Zhu Li had gotten to her. 

“A firebender and an earthbender?” Zolt shook his head. “No one’ll have the two of them but the Triple Threats.” 

“I’m pretty sure that’s where they ended up last time.” Lin sighed as she read the faint smugness in his posture. “Yes, I do recognize the irony, and no, we’re not having this morality debate again; we both have to make it back to work at some point today.”

“As long as you see it, Linny,” he said, smirking as he placed another rice noodle roll on her plate. “So, what? We take ‘em?” 

Lin nibbled her lower lip. “I mean, it’s only a few weeks, until the bureau finds their family in Ba Sing Se. And we do have the space for it.”

“Your grandparents made sure of that one.” 

Lin chuckled a little as she recalled her Grandpa Lao’s colorful tirades against the notion of an upstart like Hiroshi Sato living in a nicer house than her. “Still, we don’t have kids for a reason. We’re always busy and we’ve got enough enemies between us to start another war.”

Zolt reached for her hand across the table, and squeezed it in a way that made a spark like lightning dance across her palm. “Since when are you scared of them?”

“I’m not, but that doesn’t mean I’m gonna put those kids in danger needlessly.”

“Is it any more danger than they’d find out on the streets?”

“Another morality debate.” Lin rubbed at the center of her forehead. “I hate when you’re right.” 

“I’ll meet you after work, and then we can go get them. Maybe drop by the stadium after. Kids like probending, right?” 

“I imagine so.” Lin smiled a bit as she pictured it, then remembered they’d have to make sure there was something nonalcoholic to drink up in their box...and in the house, for that matter. “And we could train them, I guess. They’d probably like that, too.”

When she got back to her office, Lin called the Bureau of Children’s Services to tell Zhu Li that they’d take the brothers, only to learn that they’d already disappeared again.

Chapter Text

This was the type of day Mako hated—cold and dark even though it was barely late afternoon, almost winter, but not close enough that people started hanging hats and gloves to dry on laundry lines. While he hadn’t yet reached the point where he would steal anything for himself, he’d made up his mind to grab the first hat he saw for Bolin, even if he looked at him differently afterwards. 

If his parents were still alive, Mako would be at home eating the ginger candies his mom always brought from the reception desk at the salon while he did his homework. He’d sit at the kitchen table doing math problems or transcribing ancient poetry next to the statue of the Painted Lady while his mom stood in the kitchen making fire noodles or sizzle crisps and chips, the smell of chili and ginger wafting through the entire apartment. Bolin would be sprawled out on the couch, drooling in his sleep because he was too tired to study, only to miraculously jolt awake the minute their dad came home and everyone sat down for dinner. 

But now they were gone. Now he was out in the fog, taking bets on a probending match he’d never be able to see, for a cut of the cash that would barely buy him a steamed bun to share with his brother. Smoke started to flow from his fingertips and he curled them into tight fists—extinguished. 

“Mako, are you sure about this?” Bolin asked for the umpteenth time, after he watched him pocket another twenty yuan banknote some office type put on the Tigerdillos. 

“I’m sure we won’t eat tonight if we don’t take some more bets.” As Mako said this, he eyed the adults going in and out of Central Station, looking for his next mark. “And watch dad’s scarf. You’ve got it dragging on the floor.” 

“Sorry!” Bolin picked the tattered red scarf up and allowed Mako to retie it around his neck. “But seriously, are you sure we should’ve left? Zhu Li said she’d find us a place to stay.” 

“That’s what the bureau said last time, and look what happened.” It had taken them weeks to find each other again.

“She said it’s different this time! It’s an earthbender and a firebender just like us, and they have no kids, and lots of money, too.” 

Mako sighed. “Would you wake up, Bo? There’s no rich couple coming to save us. We’re on our own. Now are you gonna help me take these bets for Shady Shin or not?” 

“Okay, I’ll help,” Bolin said in a small voice. He brought a fist up to his eye and rubbed it. “I just wish—”

“Yeah, me too,” Mako replied and then went back to watching the crowds. He spotted a shiny red satomobile park right outside the station—he was pretty sure people weren’t allowed to park there—and out came a couple that looked like money. The woman wore a dark green pantsuit with gold earrings and cuff bracelets and looked like she was already ready to go. The man was in a red suit jacket with gold trim and a nice watch like the ones he saw on the businessmen his dad used to drive around. He seemed to be trying to convince the lady of something, and the lady seemed to remain skeptical at best. 

“Go talk to them.” Mako nodded towards the couple and nudged his brother forward. “If they say they don’t gamble, play the cute card and ask for food money. If this goes right, we can have dinner at a noodle shop tonight.”

“Noodle shop! I can’t wait! I haven’t eaten since this morning!” 

“I know, Bolin.” He sighed, wondering if ‘cute’ would be enough. “Now go and work your magic.” 

In the next half hour, Mako accumulated 370 yuan in probending bets—20s from the salarymen and folks coming out of the power plant, 50s from the bankers and the factory formen. The foot traffic was starting to dwindle, and he dreaded what would happen if he went back to Shin with less than 500.  

When he looped back around to the front of the terminal, he saw his brother still in conversation with the rich couple. After another minute or two, he decided to intervene before he said something that made them call the cops—or worse, the children’s bureau. 

“Oh, Mako, there you are!” Bolin waved excitedly as he approached. “My new friends have season passes at the stadium, and they wanna know if we want to see the Tigerdillos play the Boar-Q-Pines!” 

Mako raised an eyebrow, all his weight on the back foot, in case he had to grab his brother and run. “Your new friends?” 

“Lin and Zoltan! They’re the ones Zhu Li was telling us about earlier! I even told them you’re a firebender and they’re cool with it, so we can sleep at their place after the match, and not on the trash piles again! Mako, it’s perfect!” 

Mako glanced up at them again, his brow creased in wariness. “Is that true? You want both of us?”

“We do,” the lady, Lin, said. “Now we should get to the stadium before the match starts.” 

Needing no further cue, Bolin bounded to the fancy car and slid into the back seat. 

Mako hesitated. “Wait…you guys seem really nice, but if I don’t get this money back to Shady Shin, bad things are going to happen.”

The couple glanced at each other, both looking like they were trying not to laugh. 

“Shady Shin?” Lin, asked. “Is that the one with the hair?”

“And the sandals,” Zoltan told her. 

Then they both laughed for real, though Mako had no idea what could be funny.

“I’m serious! That guy has connections, and he’s gonna want his 370 yuan.” 

“370? In half an hour? Kid, you’re good,” Zoltan said, nodding.

“Not the point here,” Lin said. 

“Right. Keep the money,” Zoltan told him. “If it’s less than a thousand, they won’t bother with it. Besides, that kid’s no one to be worried about.” 

“But this is your last run with the Triple Threats,” Lin said. 

“Understood,” he said, somehow knowing better than to cross her. 

Mako didn’t quite trust his luck, even as the evening unfolded—the ride to the stadium in the nice car, valet parking, private box. He knew enough by now to wait for the other shoe to drop. But eating sizzle crisps and fire flakes off gold plates was way better than air sandwiches, so he supposed there was no use in running off now.

Chapter Text

If there was one thing that mystified Lin about children, it was their inexplicable ability to fall asleep right after a heroic display of energy. One minute that Bolin was at the edge of his seat, stuffing his face with sizzle crisps and cheering his heart out, and the next he's knocked out in the back seat on the ride home. 

Lin stole a glance back at the boys—Bolin snoring as he snuggled the stuffed boar-q-pine they got him at the stadium shop, and Mako trying to read the season stats and facts book by the fleeting light of streetlamps and storefronts. 

"Just light yourself a torch," she said. "The strain is bad for your eyesight." 

"You know how, right?” Zolt asked as he continued to drive up Harbor Street. 

"Yeah, but…you guys don't mind?" 

Lin quickly registered the surprise on his face—previous foster parents hadn't allowed any firebending—and shrugged. "As long as you don't try to burn the car down." 

Mako lit a small flame, the type one would find at the tip of a lighter, and continued his reading, several degrees less tense than before. 

By the time they reached the house, Bolin was still out cold and even Mako had given up on his reading and started to doze off. 

Lin shared a glance with her husband as they pulled into the garage. She could admit it; they were kind of adorable. She might enjoy these next few weeks after all. 

"Let's get them up to their rooms."

"We get our own rooms?" Bolin asked, suddenly perking up. “Mako, did you hear that?”

“I heard,” the older boy said as he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. “Watch the door when you’re getting out, Bo.” 

“This is gonna be awesome!” Bolin went on as they walked up the path leading to the house. “Hey, do you guys have a pool?”

“Bo,” Mako warned. 

“Pool’s out by the training field,” Zolt told them. “Hot tub’s on the roof.”  

“We’ll give you the tour tomorrow,” Lin said.

Halfway to the front door, Lin noticed a cloaked figure standing in front of the house. She couldn’t quite make out the face, but she’d know that obnoxious cape and collar combo anywhere. 

“Uh, guys, is that your butler?” Bolin asked, while his brother crouched into a defensive stance. 

Lin sighed and rested a hand on Mako's shoulder to calm him. 

“What is it this time?” she asked the gray haired man. The last time the White Lotus had deigned to make a house call, the new avatar had been kidnapped. 

He drew a wax-sealed envelope from somewhere on his person and held it out to her. “Delivered by hand, as all our previous missives seem to have gotten lost in the mail.” 

It took everything in Lin to keep from rolling her eyes as she took it from him. “Thanks,” she said dryly. “Now if you’ll excuse us, these two have had a long night.” 

The White Lotus official’s eyes widened to the size of earth discs when he registered Mako and Bolin. The question was still forming on his lips when Lin stepped right around him to open the front door. 

“Good night, cape guy,” Bolin said before speeding inside the house. “Whoa, this place is huge! Mako, check it out!”

Mako eyed the official warily before following after his brother.  

“You need a ride to the harbor or something?” Zolt asked the man. 

“No thank you. Our delegation will be lodging on Air Temple Island for the duration of our stay,” he replied before turning his attention back to Lin. “Have a good night, Ms. Beifong. We hope to hear your decision before we return to the South Pole.”

“That guy was so stiff he makes Tenzin look like fun,” Zolt said as soon as the door was closed behind them. 

Lin swatted at his arm despite the little smirk tugging at her lips. “Don’t start,” she said, tossing the letter down on the table in front of the fireplace. “I’ll go make sure those two don’t get lost.”

By the time she returned, having ensured the brothers were comfortable in their rooms, her husband was seated on one of the couches with his feet up, reading the White Lotus’ letter. 

She watched him for a moment, one hand on her hip. “You know opening someone else’s mail is a felony.” 

“Wouldn’t be the first,” he said with a shrug. “Besides, you threw the first two out without reading them.” 

Lin rolled her eyes, but then plopped down on the couch beside him, enjoying the warmth emanating from his skin on the cold night. “So what do they want from me now? Another Zaheer interrogation?”

"They still have you doing that?"

"From time to time," she replied. "I take it that's not it." 

“Basically, the new avatar is about to finish her waterbending training, and they want you to be her earthbending teacher.”

Lin made a face. “How is she done with water already?”

“You’d know if you read the letters.”

She replied with a stony glare and arms crossed over her chest. 

“Well, you would,” Zolt told her, throwing an arm around her shoulder. “Anyhow, they say the kid’s some kind of prodigy and she’s already bending earth and fire.” 

“Not bad." 

“So, you gonna do it?”

Lin scoffed. “Hell no.”

“That was fast, even for you. Why not?”

“You want to move to a compound in the South Pole while I train the avatar?" She raised an incredulous eyebrow. "Because I sure don’t.” 

“She can’t just come up here?”

“After the attempted kidnapping, I doubt they’d let her out of there anytime soon.” 

“But they caught the guys.” 

“Only the four leaders—no one knows how many others are out there,” she said.

"Say they could be persuaded to let her come to Republic City?"

"Zoltan, your usual methods of persuasion won't work here," she replied. "And why do you want me to train her, anyway?”

“Who said I did? I'm a neutral party.”

“Bullshit. You've never been neutral on anything, not once in your life. So again, why do you want me to do it?"

“Training an avatar is like coaching the best probending team in the league. Lifetime bragging rights,” he told her. “Besides, if you say no and they ask your sister instead, you're going to be pissed about it for the next fifty years.”

“Well if Su trains her, we’ll have an avatar with awful stances.” 

“See, look at you already starting." Zolt shook his head. "And we have two kids here now, so it won’t be that different.”

“Three of them running around? It’s like you won’t be satisfied until it looks like Zaofu in here.”  

“I'm just saying, if you pass up this opportunity, you might regret it.”

“I’ll think about it,” she said with a sigh. “Honestly, how many new things do I have to try until you’ll be satisfied?”

“I’ll let you know when we get there,” he said and kissed her.

Chapter Text

For the first time in months—years perhaps—Mako did not rise with the sun. He slept in, waking only when his brother burst through the door to his room, wearing a guest robe sized for an adult and brandishing a massive bowl of cherries.

Mako shook his head tiredly at the sight. Though his sense of direction was questionable at best, you could always leave it to Bolin to find the kitchen on the first try.

“Good morning, brother of mine!”

“Morning, Bo,” he said, rubbing his eyes all the while.

“Why are you so tired? You always wake up earlier than me.”

“Some of us actually worked last night,” he said, part of him still thinking about Shady Shin and the 370 yuan they owed him. The Triple Threats weren’t nearly as bad as the Agni Kais, but they could still be scary, especially when they had been wronged.

Bolin plopped himself down on the bed and spread out as far as he could stretch, pulling Mako from his thoughts. “You know, Mako, I can get used to this life!”

“Don’t,” he replied, tugging the blanket from under his brother and starting to fold it. He’d fold the one in Bolin’s room too when he got the chance. “We’re only staying for a couple of weeks.”

“I know, I know, but—”

“But nothing. Look, dad’s family is from the Lower Ring of Ba Sing Se. Even if they decide to take us in, it’s not gonna be anything like this.”

Bolin waved him off. “All the more reason to enjoy it while it lasts. I’m gonna live in the pool and you…” He trailed off as both brothers’ eyes were drawn to the window. A massive bolt of lightning flashed before crashing into a target on the far side of the training field.

“And you’ve gotta learn how to do that!” Bolin said, bouncing on the bed in his excitement.

Mako’s gaze lingered on the training field as he watched Zoltan conjure streams of lightning broader than tree trunks and aim them perfectly at targets far away. He’d seen street fights and probending matches before, but nothing even came close to that type of power—the kind no one in their right mind would dare to cross.

He flexed his fingers and imagined electricity crackling across his palms. “Maybe.”

“That’s the spirit, bro! You go learn how to bend lightning and I’m gonna listen to the radio until breakfast.”

“You’re eating breakfast now,” Mako pointed out.

“No, this is a snack,” Bolin said between handfuls of pitless cherries. “You’ve gotta get into the rich people mindset.”

“Yeah, I’ll keep that in mind,” Mako said with an eye roll before his brother took his leave.

After getting ready in his bathroom—his own bathroom, a welcome novelty—Mako drifted downstairs. In the halls, he saw pictures of Lin with figures he’d learned about in school, Avatar Aang and Fire Lord Zuko and Chief Toph Beifong. Since the night before he’d had a creeping suspicion that their hosts were not the average couple, and this only confirmed it.

By force of habit, he drifted to the kitchen, half expecting to find his mother stirring a pot of congee or rolling and stretching dough for handmade noodles. Instead he found an opulent emptiness, world-class ingredients and state of the art equipment that he somehow knew had seldom been touched.

Mako blinked regret from his eyes and grabbed a wok, knowing it wouldn’t be long before his brother was hungry again.

Halfway through his preparations—fire noodles for four, the way he’d seen his mom make them a hundred times—Lin wandered into the kitchen wearing a white tank top and black pants.

“You’re cooking,” she said with a hint of a question in her voice. “I thought you would have tried to start training with my husband.”

“I woke up late, and my brother eats a lot,” he explained as he reached for the hot sesame oil.

“You don’t have to…I mean, we would’ve picked something up before we dropped you off at school.”

Mako shrugged. “I don’t mind cooking,” he said. “It reminds me of being at home.”

Lin cracked a little smile then and walked over to him. “Need any help?”

Mako smiled in turn. “Sure.”

Lin wasn’t half the cook his mother had been. She poured with a heavy hand and left the burners on high and relied on recipe books instead of muscle memory, but he had never seen someone use metalbending to chop vegetables before.

“I didn’t know you could do that,” he said as he watched her slide the ingredients into the wok.

“Bending’s not just for fighting,” she said. “Someone very wise taught me that.”

“Who?” Mako asked as he watched her take the plates down from the cupboard.

Her eyes went misty for a moment. “Avatar Aang.”

Mako was about to ask a million questions about what he was like and how she had known him when Zoltan came in through the side door.

“Do my eyes deceive me? Is that my Linny cooking?” he asked as he walked over to Lin. “I didn’t know you remembered where this room was.”

“Oh, shut up,” she said, rolling her eyes, but Mako could detect a fondness underlying her tone.

Zoltan wrapped an arm around her waist and pressed his lips against hers.

Mako turned away from the scene, trying not to make a face. Those two were nothing like his parents, except in this one gross sense.

“Ugh, you’re all sweaty!”

“You’re gonna train after this, anyway,” Zoltan said and, Mako assumed, kissed her again.

“It’s ready,” Mako said, mostly to remind them that he was still there, and started placing the plates down on the table. “I’ll go get Bolin.”

“It’s our first breakfast as a family!” his brother said as soon as Mako told him the food was ready.

The firebender sighed. “Bo, they’re not our family. They’re just doing the children’s bureau a favor. We had a family.”

“People can have more than one,” he said. “Come on, let’s eat.”

Chapter Text

After dropping Mako and Bolin off at their new school—the latter clambering to explore the grounds while his older brother glanced around warily—Lin made her way to her office. Much to her chagrin, the phone was already ringing when she stepped inside. 

With a pronounced eye-roll, Lin sunk into her chair and pressed the receiver to her ear. “Comptroller.” 

“Lin, it’s been so long!” her sister’s chipper voice reverberated over the phone line. 

Lin scowled. Only top city officials and her husband were able to bypass her secretary. “How did you even get access to this line?” 

“I have my ways,” Su said, and Lin could picture her inspecting her manicure with a self-satisfied smirk. “Although I wouldn’t have to use them if you actually returned my calls in a timely manner.” 

Lin brought her fingertips to her left temple, and tried to massage away the headache she felt coming on. “What do you want, Su? I have work to do.” 

“I hear that you and your gangster took in a pair of orphans.” Her playful emphasis on the word ‘gangster’ only caused Lin’s scowl to deepen. 

“Their names are Mako and Bolin. We’re fostering them for a few weeks, as a favor to the Children’s Bureau,” she replied. “What’s it to you?” 

“It’s an amazing coincidence. You’ll remember I took on a little girl as my ward and protege just last year.”  

Lin rolled her eyes. How could she forget? Su brought up the ‘heroic sacrifice’ she made in providing for her ward as often as she could. “How’s that going?” she asked despite her better judgment. 

“Oh, Kuvira’s earthbending is progressing magnificently. She’s about Huan’s age, but at this rate he’ll never catch up with her. Even mom says she’s a prodigy,” Su gushed. “So I was thinking, wouldn’t it be fun to set up a little spar—my student against yours?”

“Yeah, I don’t think so.” 

“Why not? Baatar and I have some business in Republic City in a few weeks, and I was thinking we could bring the kids and make a day of it.” 

“For one thing, Bolin’s only seven, and I haven’t started teaching him anything yet.” And if her sister was teaching this Kuvira to fight as dirty as she did, there was a good chance the kid would get hurt.

“Well, what are you waiting for?” 

“I don’t know, maybe for him to adjust to his new environment and get to know us?” Lin shook her head. “Let me guess, you started training Kuvira the day she arrived in Zaofu?”

“Of course. I couldn’t let her potential go to waste.” 

“Right.” Lin wondered if it was truly too early in the day to have a drink. “Look, I have to get back to work. Give me a call—on my house phone—closer to when you’re coming, and we’ll see about a visit.” 

“I never did understand why you insist on working a job,” Su said. “It’s not like you need the money.”

“Uh huh. Bye, Su.” 

“Talk to you later, Lin.” 

Once her sister was off the phone, Lin typed out a memo for her secretary, asking her to change her office number.

“Mako has a girlfriend! Mako has a girlfriend!” Bolin sang as Lin and Zolt walked into the living room, where the boys were supposed to be completing their homework. 

“Already? Nicely done, kid,” Zolt said, and Mako looked down, scowling.

“Had a good first day of school?” Lin asked, an amused grin tugging at her lips. 

“Mako did!” Bolin said. 

“Don’t listen to him!” Mako said with a pronounced glare in his brother’s direction. “Asami is just a friend. Barely.”

“You two were holding hands!” 

“She was helping me up after I fought that older kid.” 

“You got in a fight?” Lin asked, one eyebrow raised. 

“Technically, he got in three,” Bolin said. “And I did a still life painting of a cabbage during art class.” 

“Mako, what exactly happened?” Lin asked, concern creeping into her voice. 

“Is some kid bothering you?” Zolt asked. 

“It’s really not a big deal,” Mako said, scratching at the back of his head. “One guy tried to start something, I beat him, and then two of his friends tried to get payback. It didn’t work, and I didn’t even have to firebend. Rich kids can’t fight.” 

“Except Asami,” Bolin said. “She helped.

“And where were you during all this?” Lin asked Bolin. 

“I was taking bets,” the kid said with a bright smile. “I made a hundred yuan!” 

At this, Zolt nudged her with his elbow. “I told you they were naturals.”

She merely rolled her eyes in response. “I’m going to have a conversation with the principal tomorrow. There’s no reason you should have been harassed like that on your first day.” 

“You really don’t have to,” Mako said. “I doubt they’ll try anything else after today.” 

“Alright,” Lin said after a moment. “But if it happens again—” 

“Mako and his girlfriend will beat ‘em up!” 

“She’s not my girlfriend!” Mako growled. “And don’t you have math homework to finish?”

“But math is evil!” 

“Let me see it,” Lin told him. “I’ll help you.” 

“Thanks, Lin!” the kid said and then ran up to hug her. Lin froze for a moment, not having expected it, but then returned the embrace. 

“Yeah, yeah. Let’s get to work on those problems.” 

“Mako, finish up that history and then we’ll hit the training field,” Zolt said to the older boy. 

“Working on it,” he said and then turned to the book in front of him with renewed focus. 

Late that night, as she lay in bed after a long evening of homework, takeout, and introductory bending lessons, Lin rolled over to face her husband. 

“So I’ve been thinking.” 

“About?” 

“Avatar Korra,” she said. “I think I’m going to take her on as a student—at least in a limited capacity.” 

“What brought this on?” Zolt asked her.

“My sister.” She yawned. “I got reminded of what a terrible teacher she is.”

“You’ll be great at it,” Zolt said and wrapped an arm around her waist. “You just can’t go easy on her the way you do with Bolin.” 

“I do not go easy on him! He’s seven, and he barely has a sense of the fundamentals.” 

“Whatever you say, Linny.” 

“You’re ridiculous,” she scoffed. “Good night.”

Chapter Text

Despite what his personality might suggest, Zoltan was a strict bending master—much more so than Two-Toed Ping, who’d shown Mako how to make fire daggers on his first day, just to laugh when he lost control and set Shady Shin’s coat ablaze. 

For the first two weeks of his training, Mako had done little more than hot squats and stance practice. And reading. The other day, after finishing his homework, he’d been greeted by a twenty page treatise on proper breathing techniques by some Master Hei-Ran who’d lived hundreds of years ago. 

Now he was standing out on the training field, tasked with bending a flame above a candle without letting it light. He had been at it for over an hour now, and the pull of the flame towards the wick—overwhelming at the beginning—had faded to the point of negligibility. 

As he chanced a glance over at his teacher, who was knocking out a row of targets with lightning blasts, a theory he’d been building since the day he came to live with the Beifongs came to mind. 

Though he’d been a cab driver by trade, Mako had always thought his father’s true calling was that of a storyteller. In those brief hours between when he came home and when he’d have to leave again—during dinner or while he shaved—he would spin all types of tales about the people he picked up. Or he’d sink deep down into the couch, beer in one hand and newspaper in the other, talking about the people who ran Republic City—the council members and captains of industry, of course, but also the mobsters. 

Late at night, after Bolin was already asleep, he’d tell Mako about Yakone and the Red Monsoons, the civil war within the Agni Kais, Lightning Bolt Zolt and the rise of the Triple Threats. 

It was those stories in particular—the ones about a prodigious lightning bender who broke ties with Agni Kais to start a new triad, a man who held the city’s underground within his grasp, only to walk away from it—that had been running through his thoughts for the past few weeks. 

“What’s on your mind, kid?” Zoltan asked as he walked over to him. “Bored with the candle already?”

Mako glanced over at the back entrance of the house, where he spied Lin and Bolin in the living room, going over homework and eating snacks. If there was ever a good time to ask, it would be now. 

“Are you Lightning Bolt Zolt?”

“I was wondering when you’d catch on,” Zoltan said, shaking his head. “So does Bolin know, or is it just you?” 

“If Bolin knew, he’d never stop asking you about it,” Mako said. “He already can’t believe that Lin is Toph Beifong’s daughter.” 

Zoltan laughed and ruffled Mako’s hair. “It’ll be our secret, then. Now go ahead and ask what you’ve been wanting to ask. I know Viper and them must’ve told you some stories.” 

“Why did you leave the Triple Threats?” he asked. 

“I doubt you’d find the answer compelling at your age, but it was actually over a girl.”

“Lin?” Mako asked. He couldn’t imagine ever walking away from that kind of power, but if it was Lin he could almost understand. 

Zolt nodded. “She wouldn’t marry a criminal and I couldn’t do without her, so I took all my money and put it into railroads. Turned out to be a good investment.” 

“Do you ever miss it?”

“Sometimes. But running a company isn’t that different from running a triad,” Zolt explained. “I’ll bring you down to the office sometime so you can get the feel of it.” 

Mako nodded, taking in the information. “And does it ever get easier?”

“What part?” Zolt asked him. 

Mako sighed. “At school, all the kids are the children of politicians and bankers and industrialists. Bolin can’t tell, but they all look at us like we’re outsiders, or invaders. Does that ever get easier?” 

“Has anyone ever told you you’re too smart for your own good?” Zolt said, shaking his head. “Look, here’s the way you’ve gotta think of it. Those kids at school and their parents, they’d never survive a day in the Dragon Flats. But here you are, navigating their world like it’s nothing. You’re what, nine years old, and already twice as smart as they’ll ever be. Of course they can’t stand it.”

“I never thought of it that way,” Mako said. “Guess it doesn’t matter, since we’re heading to Ba Sing Se soon.” 

“Who is it up there, anyway? Your grandparents?” 

“I think so, and some aunts and uncles too.” He shrugged. “Never met any of them.” 

“Wait, really?” Zolt asked.  

Mako nodded. “Bo and I have never been out of Republic City.” 

“Let me ask you something. Do you even want to go to Ba Sing Se?” 

“I mean, I guess it’s better than getting split up again.”  He was about to say more, but Lin opened the sliding door and called out to them. 

“Wrap it up you two!” she said, metalbending a steel earring into place. “We’ve got reservations at Kwong’s for seven!” 

“Yeah!” Bolin said, sticking his head out. 

“Well, we’ve been summoned,” Zolt said, turning to Mako. “But let’s finish this talk later.” 

When they got back inside, Lin was in the living room, rifling through some papers for her job. Her eyes narrowed when she saw her husband. 

“You better not be working this poor child to death,” she said. 

“Relax, Linny,” Zoltan said, and leaned down to leave a few kisses along her jawline. “We were just shooting the breeze for a while.”

Lin’s no-nonsense scowl was broken by a smile that split her face. “Not in front of the kids,” she said when his lips drifted down to her neck. “Now go get dressed before we miss our reservation.” 

“I can get us to Kwong’s in fifteen minutes,” he said. 

Lin crossed her arms. “Without breaking traffic laws?” 

“I like to think of them as more of suggestions.”

“How did you even get a license?” 

Mako shook his head as he watched them bicker and flirt, and knew that he’d miss them on some level, despite his best efforts to not get attached.

Chapter Text

One of the things Lin most enjoyed about having a firebender for a husband was the capacity for having detestable things burnt to a crisp. It was mostly junk mail and letters she didn’t want to answer, which could just as easily be tossed in a wastebasket or left to collect dust at the edge of a table, but Zolt’s flair for the dramatic had rubbed off on her over the years. 

She held out the invitation to the council’s Harmony Ball—which both Su and Buttercup Raiko would be attending with their families—and waited for it to be set ablaze. However, instead of drawing on his firebending, Zolt took the envelope from her. 

“For the 50th anniversary of Republic City’s founding? Hey, we should—”

“We’re not going,” Lin said as she toed off her shoes and leaned back against the couch. “And if you’re not going to burn the invitation, at least give it back.”

“Why not?” Zolt asked as he looked up from it, his expression exuding the usual confidence that he’d get his way in the end. Well, not this time. Lin was certain. 

“Because I tend to try and avoid people who make me want to claw my eyes out.” 

“I mean, you married me,” he countered, smirking. 

Lin rolled her eyes, a smile tugging at her lips. “You don’t count,” she said. “But seriously, with Su and her family already coming to visit, I don’t want to see any more of her than strictly necessary.” 

“If you don’t go, you know it’s all she’ll talk about while she’s here,” Zolt told her. “Besides, the kids will love it.”

“Don’t you bring Mako and Bolin into this,” she said. “You only want to go so you can antagonize Tenzin.”

“Am I to blame for the fact that he never got over you?” 

“Entirely,” she said with a smirk. “You’re the one who broke us up.” 

“You two wouldn’t have lasted, anyway,” he said. “Don’t you want to be at this thing, though? Your family’s been part of Republic City since the beginning.” 

Lin sighed as she remembered her grandfather’s stories of the business council in Cranefish Town, all the negotiations and backroom deals that had gone into the city’s inception. There was something that irritated her about the idea of letting Su alone represent his legacy. 

“If we were to go,” she said, watching the grin spread on her husband’s face. “If. You’d need to get your tailor on all of our outfits before the week’s out.”

“We can take the boys to get their measurements done tomorrow.” 

“I didn’t say we were going.” Lin crossed her arms. 

Zolt leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. “And I won’t make you say it,” he replied. “Now did you wanna wear a dress or a pantsuit?”  

And that was how, ten days later, Lin stepped out of a black cab onto the red carpet leading into the ballroom of the Four Elements hotel, holding her husband’s arm as the press snapped their photos. Mako and Bolin walked just in front of them, the former looking straight ahead with an inscrutable expression while the latter beamed and waved at the cameras. 

The reporters called out to them from all sides, lobbing questions rapid-fire in the hopes that one would stick. 

“Madame Comptroller!” a bespectacled journalist in a trench coat said. “Do you feel that the RCPD has slipped in its effectiveness since you retired from the force?”

“Mr. Beifong,” another called out. “Do you think the Triple Threats have gone soft since you left the organization?” 

“Ms. Beifong,” a reporter in a red coat said, “Mr. Beifong, are these your children? Why are we only seeing them for the first time?”

“Hey, I’m Bolin!” he said. “I like probending and art class, and I love Republic City!” 

“Don’t talk to them, Bo,” Mako said with a sigh.  

“How did I let you talk me into this?” Lin asked her husband as they made their way towards the entrance of the hotel. 

Zolt took her hand and brought it to his lips. “We’re almost inside, Linny,” he said. “Besides, the camera loves you.” 

“Yeah, yeah,” she replied, though she had to admit the tailors did a good job with their clothes—the gold accents marrying the deep green of her and Bolin’s outfits to the bright red of Zolt and Mako’s—despite the wind making her regret the deep slit running up the side of her gown.

“This is the fanciest party I’ve ever been to!” Bolin said once they stepped into the ballroom and were immediately offered an array of appetizers. “Hey, Mako! Isn’t that your girlfriend?”

The older boy’s face immediately flushed a bit, and Lin couldn’t help but smile. “Bo, for the last time, Asami is not my—” 

“Hi Mako,” a young girl with wavy black hair—Asami, Lin assumed—said as she approached them. “I’m so glad you’re here! I’ve been stuck with my dad and his business friends since we got here.” 

“Hey Asami,” Mako said, making a face that Lin had long since identified as him trying not to smile. “I didn’t think we’d run into anyone we knew here.”

“Hi Asami,” Bolin said. “That was Mako-speak for he’s glad you’re here too!” 

Asami chuckled a bit. “It’s good to see you, Bolin.” 

“These are our foster parents, Lin and Zoltan Beifong,” Bolin said. “Guys, this is Asami Sato, Mako’s gi—” 

“Bolin!” Mako slapped a hand over his brother’s mouth, but tried to make it look casual.

Lin and Zolt exchanged a glance as soon as they heard the girl’s surname. If she was who they thought she was, they had both known her mother. 

“It’s nice to meet you guys,” Asami said. “Mako and Bolin always have great things to say about you.”

“Likewise,” Lin said, smiling at the girl. “Thank you for being such a good friend to them.” 

“They’re good friends, too,” she said before turning back to the boys. “Do you guys want to go hit the dessert table?” 

“Dessert?” Bolin repeated. “I love dessert! Why are we not there already?”

“I’ll keep an eye on him,” Mako said to Lin and Zolt before following his brother and Asami through the crowd. 

Once they were gone, Zolt took two flutes of sparkling wine off a tray a server was carrying and handed one to her. 

Lin took a sip of her drink. “I’ll need something stronger than this if we end up at a table with Su and Baatar."

Just then her husband pulled a flask out of the pocket of his suit jacket. “I anticipated that.” 

“You did not!” Lin laughed. “Put that away before someone sees!” 

“You know half the people here did the same thing,” Zolt said as he returned the flask to his pocket. “Now, do you see anybody here you won’t mind sitting with?”

Lin scanned the tables for a while until she noticed Izumi waving at her from across the room. The table was mostly filled with advisors and dignitaries, so they ran very little risk of being stuck next to someone she didn’t want to see. “Over there seems safe enough.” 

“You’re really gonna bring a former mobster to the Fire Lord’s table?” he teased. 

“You go wherever I go,” she said, and led the way.

Chapter Text

Mako’s mother had grown up in a village by the water smaller than the eye of a needle. Though she’d never even seen the Caldera, she kept a framed newspaper clipping of Princess Izumi on her wedding day next to the family photos. 

His father had made fun of it, saying she was just like his mother in Ba Sing Se, obsessed with royals who didn’t care if their people lived or died. But his mother had persisted in her royalist ways, lighting candles around the house on the anniversary of Fire Lord Zuko’s ascension to the throne and turning the radio on to Princess Izumi’s Summer Solstice Festival address every year. 

So if she could see him now, dining at the Fire Lord’s table, watching her pull hot chili oil out of her purse because the food wasn’t spicy enough, Mako knew that she would faint.

“Would you like some of this, Mako?” she asked, passing over the glass jar. “Lin mentioned you love fire noodles.” 

“Uh..thank you, your eminence,” he said, while his brain quietly short-circuited at the thought of the actual Fire Lord knowing what he liked to eat. 

“How long have you and Lin been friends?” Bolin asked, as casual as if he were talking to one of their mom’s customers back at the hair salon. 

“Oh, since we were kids. Our parents were family friends. I was even there the night those two met,” the Fire Lord said with a smile as she gestured to Lin and Zoltan.

“How’d they meet, anyway?” Bolin asked. 

“I’ve always wondered that, too,” said Commander Bumi of the United Forces, who sat to the Fire Lord’s left. “But no one ever had the gall to ask.” 

“No need to get into all of that now,” Lin said, but Fire Lord Izumi was already glancing around the table, her features animated as she prepared to tell her tale. 

“Lin had just graduated from the police academy, and Kya and I wanted to take her out to celebrate,” she said, then paused to take a sip of her drink. “We had to twist her arm just to get her out of the house and away from her RCPD officer handbook. But then we get there. I turn my back for five seconds to order a drink, and the next thing you know this one’s in the corner tonguing down some firebender.” 

“I think you’re skipping a few steps there,” Lin said, her face faintly flushed.

“Sounds accurate to me,” Zolt said and kissed her cheek. 

“So was this before or after Tenzin?” Bumi asked. “Or, you know, during? No judgment either way, obviously.”

“Nothing happened during,” Lin said sharply. “This was before.” 

“Way before,” Izumi confirmed. “When Kya and I took her out we didn’t even think she’d had her first kiss yet, so imagine our surprise when we found her there with her tongue halfway down some stranger’s throat.” 

“Not in front of the kids,” Lin said, her face now as red as Zolt’s jacket. 

The Fire Lord shot her an incredulous look. “I venture they’ve seen worse living with the two of you.” 

“They do kiss a lot,” Bolin confirmed. 

“I see some things never change.” 

“So where’s Iroh tonight?” Lin asked, once she’d recovered. 

“At home with his father,” Fire Lord Izumi said. “But you should bring the boys over to meet him sometime. He’s only a few years older than Mako. Maybe we can take a boat over to Ember Island this summer.”

“Oh, come on, Izumi." A new voice sounded just then. “We both know Lin will be childless and unbothered again before the spring.” 

Mako immediately noticed the way Lin tensed at the sound of her voice, and he sized the woman up for any sign of a threat. He noted the metal chevrons running up her forearms that could be easily bent into weapons. She was dangerous, clearly, and wanted people to know it. 

“Hello, Suyin,” the Fire Lord said. “You look well.” 

“As do you. Ruling seems to agree with us both,” Suyin replied, and then turned to Lin. “Lin, it’s been ages. You really must get out to Zaofu sometime. You might even run into mom; you know how she loves it there.” 

“Oh, I’d hate to impose,” Lin said and took a sip of her drink. 

“Nonsense! Baatar and I love visitors. Just the other weekend, we hosted the King of Omashu and a group of scholars from Ba Sing Se University. The conversations were just riveting.” 

“I’m sure,” Lin said, and Mako could detect a hint of sarcasm in her tone. 

“So you’ll come out?” Suyin asked. 

“I’m honestly too busy with work,” Lin said. 

“But not too busy to romp around the Fire Islands with your gangster?” the woman asked with a raised eyebrow. 

Lin’s eyes narrowed in a way Mako had never seen before. She opened her mouth to respond, but her husband beat her to it. 

“We’ll keep the offer in mind, Su,” Zoltan said as he wrapped an arm around Lin’s waist. “You might want to find a table before the dinner service is done.” 

“And I was so hoping we could all sit together,” the woman said, shaking her head. “So are these the two street children you took in?”

Lin’s face once again took on that scary expression, and Mako was convinced not even Zoltan would be able to stop her this time. But once again, she was interrupted. 

“Hey, I’m Bolin!” Mako’s brother said, oblivious as ever to the insult she’d just lobbed at them. “Who are you?” 

“I’m Suyin Beifong, Matriarch of the Metal Clan and founder of Zaofu. I’m also Lin’s sister.” 

“Really? She’s never mentioned you.” 

Lin, Zolt, Izumi and Bumi all exchanged a glance, and Mako knew if one of the adults started laughing, none of them would be able to keep it together. 

“I think Aiwei found us a place near Tenzin’s family,” Suyin said and squeezed her sister’s arm. “Talk more later, Lin.” 

Once she was gone, Lin buried her face in her husband’s arm, snickering.  

“When did she get like that?” Fire Lord Izumi whispered, glancing towards the table where Suyin and her family sat. “And what are those outfits?”

“The latest fashion in Zaofu, I guess,” Bumi said. “Looks comfortable, at least.” 

“But here?” the Fire Lord said, her disbelief plain as day on her face. “At a formal event?” 

“I mean, did she start a city or a cult?” Zoltan asked, bringing on a fit of laughter from the adults at the table. 

“At least a cult would’ve stayed home,” Lin said. 

Mako shook his head at the lot of them, and sipped his lychee juice.

Chapter Text

Despite the unfortunate encounter with her sister, Lin had to admit, the ball hadn’t been all that terrible. The food had been delicious—though not spicy enough for the firebenders surrounding her—the tribute to her grandfather and the business council had been moving, and she hadn’t even run into—

“Look, Mako! It’s Avatar Aang!” Bolin shouted as she and the boys moved with the crowd towards the exit. He was just loud enough that the tall airbender, dressed in his formal robes, turned around.

Fuck.

“Bolin, Avatar Aang died years ago,” Mako said.

“But he’s right there! Look!”

“It’s probably just an acolyte.”

“But he has tattoos!”

As the boys continued their discourse, Tenzin met Lin’s gaze, his eyes softening for a moment at the sight of her.

Lin gave a strained smile as he approached. “Mako, Bolin, this is Councilman Tenzin,” she said. “Tenzin, these are my foster kids.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you both,” he said.

Bolin’s eyes widened. “So you’re not—”

“He was my father,” Tenzin replied with a smile.

“So does that mean you’re an airbender?” he asked. “A real airbender?”

Instead of replying, Tenzin conjured a small cyclone in his hands and sent it in a careful arc around the boy.

“Thanks for humoring him,” Lin said as she watched her foster son ready to bubble over with excitement.

“Of course,” he replied. “You look well, Lin.”

“I have been.”

“Is it true that you’ll be taking Korra on as a student?”

It took everything within Lin to keep from rolling her eyes. Of course the White Lotus had reported everything back to him. “I’m seriously thinking about it.”

“She’s a good kid,” Tenzin said. “You’ll love her.”

“So everyone keeps telling me,” Lin said. “How’s the baby?”

She’d heard through the grapevine that Pema gave birth about a year ago.

Tenzin’s face lit up at the mention of his daughter. “Jinora’s wonderful. It’s like there’s a new milestone every day,” he said. “I’d love to have you on Air Temple Island sometime if you’d like to meet her.”

Lin was trying to generate a polite way to decline when she felt a familiar warmth behind her, and leaned back into it instinctively. Zolt draped her coat over her shoulders and left a lingering kiss on her cheek.

“Tenzin,” he greeted, and Lin could sense rather than see the smug look on his face. She nudged him with her elbow.

The airbender’s expression turned frigid. “Zoltan.”

He spoke her husband’s name like a foul curse word, the tips of his ears reddening with rage. At least it looked like he wasn’t going to try and fight him this time.

Lin could tell from Mako’s slightly wary expression that he had figured out exactly what the situation was between them all, and wanted to bend a hole in the ground to bury herself in.

Zolt quickly turned his gaze back to her, as though he sensed her growing unease. “Come on, baby. Our car’s waiting out front.”

When Tenzin spoke this time, his voice was free of any malice. “It was nice to see you, Lin.”

“Likewise,” she replied before acquiescing to the hand on her waist, guiding her away.

“Bye, Tenzin!” Bolin said, grinning and waving behind him as he walked in front of Lin and Zolt. “Thanks for the air!”

On the ride home, Lin let her head rest on her husband’s shoulder while she watched the boys fight off sleep with varying levels of success. By the time the cab pulled up in front of the estate, Bolin was completely knocked out.

“I’ll bring him upstairs,” Zolt said, and Lin couldn’t help but smile as she watched her husband carry the sleeping child.

Lin kicked her heels off as soon as she crossed the threshold into the house, and then slumped onto the couch.

Almost immediately, Mako righted the tipped over shoes and lined them up on the mat before placing his own next to them.

“You don’t have to do that, you know,” she said.

Mako shrugged. “Force of habit.”

“Come sit with me for a minute.”

He did, and Lin noticed that he chose to sit right next to her on the couch as opposed to on the opposite side of the room like he would when he’d first arrived.

“Listen, I’m sorry about what my sister said,” she told him. “Su can be incredibly ignorant at times.”

Mako clenched his fists at the mention of the insult, the faintest traces of smoke drifting up from his fingertips.

“It’s fine,” he said, and the smoke dissipated. “We won’t be street kids forever. I’ll make sure of that.” He gazed forward, as though looking at some grand future he’d conjured. “I’m going to be someone someday.”

“You’re already someone,” Lin told him. “You’re Mako, and you’re a great kid. Anyone who can’t see that isn’t worth your time.”

Mako sighed. “You have to say that. You’re my—” he paused. “I mean, you’re Lin.”

Lin smiled. “I am me, and I wouldn’t tell you something if I didn’t think it was true,” she said. “Now come on. I’ll make us some tea before bed.”

When Lin made it upstairs to her bedroom, she bent the zipper of her dress down and let the expensive gown fall to the floor and pool around her. She then crawled into bed next to her husband—who was already dozing, in classic firebender fashion—and pressed her cold feet directly against his shins.

Zolt woke up with a start. “Fuck, Linny!”

Lin chuckled in response and angled her body so she was pressed flush against him, absorbing his warmth.

“Did you have a good time tonight?” His arms encircled her waist.

“It could have been worse,” she said as her eyes drew closed. “Bolin had fun, at least.”

“Thanks for letting me talk you into it.”

“You always do, somehow,” Lin said, shaking her head. “But tomorrow, we’re doing what I want to do.”

“And that is?” he asked, and left a kiss on her earlobe.

“We’re sleeping in until noon, then buying custard buns from that bakery in Harmony Point.”

“And if your sister drops by?”

“We’re pretending we’re not home.”

Chapter Text

“Bolin, what are you doing?” Mako asked as he watched his brother walk back and forth from the living room carrying pai sho boards and playing cards. 

“I’m getting ready to entertain our foster cousins!” 

Mako had almost forgotten that Suyin and her family would be coming today until Lin started chain smoking out on the training field. “Foster cousins isn’t a real concept,” he said.  

“Is too!” Bolin argued as he arranged two pai sho boards that probably cost more than everything back home at their parents’ apartment on the tea table. “And it would be nice to have some help setting up.” 

Mako shook his head and closed the book on firebending techniques he’d been reading. “What do you need?”

“You could start by making some sizzle crisps or something,” Bolin said. 

“What for? Zolt’s already on his way to pick up the catering from Kwong’s.” 

“Store bought?” Bolin gasped. “When we’re hosting family?”

“They’re not our…” He sighed at his brother, who was already drawing in a breath to make his rebuttal. “Whatever. I’ll make some. Just lower your expectations of these people, for both our sakes.” 

Lin came in through the back door when he was dusting the sizzle crisps with a healthy dose of high-end Fire Nation spices that had never been opened. 

“You stress cooking again?” Lin asked. 

Mako shook his head. “Bolin insisted we greet your sister’s family with something homemade,” he said, his tone revealing exactly what he thought of the request.

Lin met his expression with a wry smile and grabbed one of the sizzle crisps, heedless of how hot it was. 

“Suyin doesn’t eat pork,” she said before popping it into her mouth. “More for us.” 

“More for us,” Mako repeated before taking one for himself. 

Just then, Bolin came back in with a notepad on which he’d been writing down the rules of some party game he’d invented. 

“You guys! Those are for our guests!” he whined, even as he grabbed one off the plate. 

“They’ll be alright,” Lin said, and then ate another one. 

By the time Zolt got back with the catering, all the sizzle crisps were gone and Mako was frying up another batch while Lin tried to teach Bolin the actual rules of pai sho. 

“You all seem to be in a good mood.” Zolt said as he set the trays of food down on one of the counters. “Did Su cancel?” 

“No such luck,” Lin replied when he came into the living room. She tilted her head up to meet his lips. “They’ll be here any minute.” 

The doorbell ended up ringing just as they finished off the second plate of sizzle crisps. Bolin bolted up and scrambled to the door, eager to greet their guests, while the rest of them dragged their feet getting off the couch. 

There were eight of them in total, Suyin, her husband—who could only be described as an aggressively harmless person—and six children who looked to range from a few years older than Mako to just barely old enough to be out of their strollers. They were all dressed in dark greens, with metal decorations adorning their sleeves and collars.

While the adults made small talk in the doorway—mostly Suyin telling Lin and Zolt about all the buildings her husband designed in Zaofu—Bolin ferried the three younger kids inside the house, greeting them warmly. He then signaled to Mako with a not-so-subtle set of hand motions that he should do the same with the older kids. 

He glanced at them—one tallish boy with round glasses, one long-haired boy with pierced ears, and a girl with a braid running down her back standing between them. All three looked less than pleased to be there.  

“Hi, I’m Mako,” he said, not expecting much of a response from any of them. “You guys wanna come in?”

“I don’t suppose we have much of a choice,” the older boy with the glasses said, and the girl gave him a look. 

“I’m Kuvira,” she said, and extended her hand to him. “These two are Baatar and Huan.” 

Mako shook her hand and took note of her firm, calloused grip. He had expected all of Suyin’s children to be idle and spoiled, but it was clear that she trained, and trained hard. “Nice to meet you.” 

He led the trio inside the house, where Baatar quickly plopped down on a chair and took out a book, and Huan looked around the living room making displeased faces at all the decor. 

“So you’re a firebender, right?” Kuvira asked. 

“Yeah,” he said, not wanting to think about what Suyin might have said about him and his brother. “Why?”  

Instead of turning up her nose or shrinking back in fear, Kuvira grinned. “Wanna spar?” 

“Huh?” Mako asked, not sure he’d heard right. 

“You have a training field, right?” she asked, and he nodded. “Good. Fight me, then.” 

Mako raised an eyebrow. “Why?” 

Kuvira shrugged. “Is there something better to do around here?”

“I mean, there’s a pool,” he said, still trying to get a read on her. “But yeah, I guess we can spar for a while.” 

Mako led her out the sliding doors to the training field and kept walking until the sparring ring was within sight. 

“Nice field,” she said, testing the weight of an earth disc with her bending. 

“I guess it is,” Mako said. It wasn’t like he had much to compare it to. “Is it a lot different from your mom’s?” 

Kuvira looked away suddenly, but Mako caught sight of her nibbling her lower lip. “Su’s not my mom,” she said after a pause. 

“Oh,” he said. There was clearly a story there. “Sorry.” 

“No worries. It’s a common mistake, once we leave Zaofu,” she said. “So how long have you been training with Lin’s husband?” 

“A little over a month,” Mako told her. 

“Alright. I’ll go easy on you, then.” 

Mako bristled at this. “No need for that.” 

“We’ll see.” Kuvira cracked her knuckles, and crouched into an earthbending stance. “Now, are we doing this or what?”

Chapter Text

Lin and Zolt had decided on the parameters of the game long before their guests arrived. The rules were simple—she would take a drink every time Su name dropped one of her famous friends, and he would take a drink every time Baatar mentioned architecture, and they’d both drink whenever Su talked over her husband.

Su and her family had only arrived half an hour ago, and they’d already leveled the bottle of moonpeach wine their guests had brought. 

“You two sure made quick work of that,” Baatar laughed, glancing at the empty bottle in mild alarm. “We should have brought more.”

“I’ll go break out the fire whiskey,” Zolt said, and Lin pinned him with a glare that screamed, ‘Do you have a death wish?’

“This reminds me of when I was at the King of Omashu’s court,” Su said, grinning. “Now that was one man who could hold his liquor.”

Lin merely sighed as her husband returned with two glasses and filled them both with whiskey. 

“You know, Omashu has an architectural style unlike any other in the Earth Kingdom,” Baatar added. “It’s truly fascina—”

“Oh, I just love the columns in the palace. You know, Buttercup Raiko had similar ones installed in her house.”  

Lin met her husband’s eyes and lifted her glass as he did the same. At this rate, neither one of them would be able to walk straight by the time this visit was over. 

She glanced over to the other side of the living room, where Bolin and Opal sat side by side, hard at work painting with the watercolor set she’d picked up one day on her way home from work. Huan stood over the two, giving them artistic notes, which they mostly seemed to ignore. 

“They seem to be getting along,” she said, changing the subject to gain some small reprieve from the game. 

“That’s Opal for you,” Suyin replied, her gaze softening. “Kind to everyone.” 

“Just like her mother,” Baatar said, and squeezed Suyin’s hand. 

Lin nearly choked. She tried her hardest not to make a face, but the two were so preoccupied with one another that she doubted they’d notice if she did. She deliberately tried not to look at Zolt, knowing that whatever expression he was wearing would make her erupt into laughter. 

A few minutes and several sips of fire whiskey later, Suyin turned to Lin. 

“So tell me, Lin, when are you heading down to see Korra?” she asked. 

“I don’t have anything definite planned yet, but probably soon.” 

“And you aren’t worried?” Su asked, taking a sip of her drink. 

“About what?”

“I only mean you haven’t been in the field ever since you left the police force,” her sister pointed out. 

“Your point being?” Lin asked, her eyebrows raised. 

“You’re out of practice,” Su said.

“Unlike you, you mean?”

“I command and personally train one of the greatest security forces in the world,” Suyin said. “You sit behind a desk and balance budgets all day. Do you really think you can still keep up with a young bending prodigy?” 

“I don’t know, Su,” Lin replied, putting down her drink and standing up. “Why don’t we step out onto the training field and find out?”

“I thought you’d never ask.” Su in turn stood up, despite her husband’s timid protestations. 

Lin and Su stared each other down with eyes like steel and iron, each sister proud and unflinching. 

“Linny, let me talk to you for a minute,” Zolt said, pulling her aside.

“Don’t try to talk me out of this,” Lin told him, crossing her arms over her chest. 

“Trust me, I know better than to stand between you and a fight,” he said. “I’ve just got some questions.” 

She sighed. “What are they?”

“First, can you walk in a straight line—”

“Yes.” 

“Care to demonstrate?”

After shooting him a withering glare, she walked from the living room to the kitchen, returning with a glass of water. “Satisfied?”

“Mmm. Walk by again. I love staring at that ass of yours.” 

Lin rolled her eyes. “Focus, Zoltan.” 

“Alright, alright. Second, are you drunk enough that you might fuck around and kill her by accident?” 

This Lin actually thought about. After a moment she shook her head. “No, her kids are here.” 

“And last, are you alright with doing this in front of the boys?” 

Lin chuckled. “Bolin’s in his own world, and Mako’s probably gonna get a kick out of it.”

“Alright, then,” Zolt said, and then leaned down to kiss her. “Beat her ass, baby.” 

“That goes without saying.” 

“If you two are finished, I’m ready when you are, Lin,” Su said. 

“Su, I really think you two should just talk through this misunderstand—”

“Not now, honey.” 

Lin and Zolt shared a look before both of them took a sip of fire whiskey. 

When they reached the training field, Lin caught sight of Mako, just barely holding his own against Su’s protege. The twins, Wing and Wei, had at some point made their way outside and were both watching the spar with rapt attention. 

“Kuvira, we’re going to be using the field for a while,” Su said to the girl, stopping her with a hand on her shoulder. “Make sure you watch closely.” 

“Yes, Su.” 

“Is everything okay?” Mako asked Lin, reading the tension in the air as he always did. 

“I’m fine,” she said, resting her hand on top of his head. “I’m just proving a point to my sister. Now, do you want to watch, or head back inside?”

Mako must have noticed something reassuring in her expression because he smiled. “I’ll watch with Kuvira,” he said. “Good luck.” 

In the end, it took under ten minutes for Lin to knock her sister flat. Soon after the defeat, Su made a hasty excuse to gather up her family and leave. 

Lin watched from the doorway as the kids said their goodbyes—Bolin and Opal trading sketches and watercolor paintings, while Mako and Kuvira exchanged phone numbers.

Bolin stood in the driveway, waving at the limousine that took the Metal Clan in the direction of their hotel long after it was gone. 

When the kids were back inside the house, Lin shut the door, a sense of peace washing over her as she locked it behind her. 

“I think that went well,” Bolin said, plopping down onto the couch. “What about you, Mako?” 

“It could have been worse,” he said with a shrug before putting the scrap of paper with the phone number in his pocket. 

“So when are we gonna go visit them in Zaofu?” Bolin asked, once they were all back in the living room. “Opal made us an invitation and everything!” 

He sifted through the artwork on his lap before coming across a hand-drawn image of Suyin’s dome covered city. 

“I think Linny deserves a break from her sister for a while,” Zolt said, wrapping his arms around her waist. 

“And I need to train more before my rematch with Kuvira,” Mako added.

“Aww, man,” Bolin said. 

“How about a trip to the South Pole instead?” Lin asked, her lips curved upward into a smile. 

“The South Pole? Really?” Bolin asked, bouncing on the couch cushions. Even Mako glanced up in interest. 

“Yeah. I think it’s time we met the avatar.”

Chapter Text

Mako had to admit that he felt a bit of apprehension when he first learned that they would be traveling to the Southern Water Tribe by ship. His mother had always described her voyage from the Fire Nation to Republic City as cramped and unsanitary—a wholly unpleasant experience that she wouldn’t have repeated if someone paid her. But within two minutes of setting foot on the luxury vessel, he realized that his wariness had been completely unfounded. He supposed he should have known better than to doubt Lin and Zoltan’s tastes by now. 

“More lychee juice, sir?” the uniformed butler asked as he approached them on the deck. 

“Yes, thank you,” his brother replied, smiling as the butler replaced his empty flute glass with a full one. 

“Will you require anything else, sir?” 

Bolin’s face lit up. “Can I have a moonpeach tart?” 

The butler couldn’t help but return his smile. “I’ll let the kitchen know right away.” 

“Thanks again!” he said and then turned to Mako. “Do you want anything?” 

“Just some peace and quiet.” Mako gestured at the book on firebending he’d been reading. 

Bolin rolled his eyes. “He’ll have papaya juice and a warm custard bun.” 

“Right away, sir,” the butler said before departing in the direction of the kitchen. 

Bolin sank even deeper into his cushioned lounge chair and gave a contented sigh. “This is the life that I’m meant to be living.” 

“Don’t get too attached,” Mako said. “We’re scheduled to reach the South Pole sometime this afternoon.” 

Bolin beamed at the notion of their arrival. “Great! What do you think we’re gonna do first, penguin sledding or ice skating?”

“Neither.” 

“Then how about shopping? I like shopping too!”  

“How many times do I have to tell you we’re not on vacation? The only reason we’re even going to the South Pole is because Lin has business with the avatar.”

“Do they know that?” he said, gesturing with his glass to where Lin and Zoltan were chatting and smoking cigars with their feet up on the other side of the deck. 

The couple shared a kiss, and Mako turned his head away from them. “Good question.” 

“Well, what if the avatar wants to go penguin sledding? Could we go then?” 

“Maybe. But I’m warning you now, she’s probably too busy to want to play around with us.” 

“Why?” Bolin asked, and then took a sip of his lychee juice. “She’s just a kid.” 

“Yeah, but she’s the avatar. She has a bunch of important training to do.” 

Bolin made a face. “Sounds like she needs a vacation more than we do.” 

When the ship finally arrived in the Southern Water Tribe, a throng of men and women dressed in white collars and dark blue capes were waiting for them at the main harbor, accompanied by a group of arctic camels. 

“I see the White Lotus are starting their nonsense early,” Lin grumbled as they all made their way down the gangway. “I said yes to a ride, not a procession.” 

“We could always give ‘em the slip later,” Zoltan told her. “Take the boys and the avatar and go sightseeing up in Wolf Cove.” 

Lin gave him a look. “You just want to cause an international incident, don’t you?” 

He grinned at her. “It’d be the first time in a while, wouldn’t it?” 

Lin rolled her eyes. “Just keep in mind that I’ve lost most of my sway with the worldwide law enforcement community.”

“Well, you’ve lost none of the sway in those hips,” he said, pausing for a moment to watch her walk. 

“You are utterly ridiculous,” she said, and tried to keep the smile off her face. “Come on.” 

Mako shook his head fondly at the exchange; it was always the same with those two. 

“Hey, it’s cape guy!” Bolin said, waving as he picked out the man who’d delivered the letter to Lin out of the crowd. “Hi, cape guy! Nice camels!” 

“Hello, Ms. Beifong,” the official said to Lin when they reached the group, paying little attention to his brother’s greeting. “We’re pleased you were able to make the trip.” 

“So where is this compound?” she asked, her features drawn into a no-nonsense expression. 

“A few miles outside the capital,” he explained. “We’ll have the avatar’s tutors and supervisory White Lotus Members brief you on her progress upon our arrival.” 

“That won’t be necessary,” Lin said as she pulled herself up onto an arctic camel. “I’d prefer to come to my own conclusions.”

“We get to ride those?” Bolin started petting one of the camels, and the beast bent down to lick his face.

Mako cringed at the sight and made it his business to stay as far away from the animals’ mouths as possible. 

“You can’t drive a satomobile over the back roads here. There’s too much ice,” Zoltan explained as he helped Bolin get up into the saddle. “Trust me, I’ve tried.” 

“It was the fastest he ever totaled a car,” Lin said, bending up the icy earth beneath Mako’s feet until he could reach the nearest camel on his own.  

The trek through the tundra was long and cold enough that Mako thanked Agni that he was born a firebender. He watched Lin’s patience diminish in real time as the White Lotus members peppered her with questions about relocating to the compound. He would wager that the only thing that kept her from telling them off was the steady stream of private jokes and jabs from her husband. 

When they finally reached the avatar’s compound, Mako was taken aback by the high icy walls and stately watchtowers. It seemed more heavily guarded than the police headquarters back in Republic City. He wondered what threat they could have been worried about, way out here, away from everything. 

When the guards up in their towers cleared them, they proceeded through a pair of massive, intricately designed doors and walked onto the edge of a training field bigger than the probending stadium back home. In the center of it, a girl who looked about his age was facing off against three adult waterbenders.  

“Mako,” Bolin said, his voice bubbling over with excitement. “I think that’s the avatar!” 

“Shh. I’m trying to watch,” he replied without taking his eyes off the fight. 

The avatar had tentacles of water surrounding her, allowing her to use them to both attack and defend. Then, with a series of quick jabs, powerful bursts of water shot out and knocked two of her opponents off the platform. The last remaining waterbender sent sheets of ice at her, and she punched through them, advancing until she was able to knock him off with a giant wave. 

After making quick work of her sparring partners, she leapt off the platform and pumped her fists in the air. “Woo! Wanna go again?” she asked her opponents, who were still prying themselves off the floor. 

“Actually, Korra,” one of the White Lotus members said as he approached her. “There’s someone we’d like you to meet. This is Lin—”

“Lin Beifong!” the avatar said and ran over to them, beaming. “You’re Toph’s daughter!”

“Hi, Korra,” Lin said, returning the girl’s smile. “This is my husband, Zoltan and our foster sons, Mako and Bolin.” 

“It’s great to meet you all!” she said. “Lin, are you going to teach me earthbending like your mother taught Avatar Aang?” 

“It’s a possibility,” Lin said. “But for now, how about you show me what you’ve got?”

Chapter Text

By her third day in the South Pole, Lin was convinced that Aang was nowhere present in the new avatar. No, this child was all Kyoshi and Yangchen—all power—with the strength of a storm and the sheer stubbornness of rock face. 

Lin truly had her work cut out for her with this one.  

She watched as Korra sprang back up after losing their latest spar, bouncing on the balls of her feet as she slid into a battle stance. 

“Rematch?” the girl asked with a hopeful grin. 

“Wait.” Lin crossed her arms and appraised the young avatar. “What did you learn?” 

“Don’t get caught in the cables?” Korra asked. 

Lin shrugged. “Well, you’re not wrong,” she said. “But you lost because you rushed in. In combat, you need to assess the situation before you come out swinging. You wait and you listen—neutral jing.” 

Korra’s face lit up. “Hey, I read about that when I was studying a treatise on earthbending,” she said. “It didn’t make any sense until now.” 

“I could tell you’re the type that learns by doing,” Lin said. “Why don’t we take a break and then start up again this evening?” 

“I wish,” Korra said, her shoulders slumping as she heaved a gargantuan sigh. “But now I have to go to spirituality class and water healing practice, and then political history and past avatar studies. It’ll be nighttime before I’m free again.” 

Lin made a face. “And you do this every day?” 

Korra nodded. 

Lin sighed. Protecting her from Zaheer’s organization was one thing, but this was excessive by any measure. “Let me see what I can do.” 

“Are you certain this is absolutely necessary?” the Grand Lotus asked, looking rightly appalled after Lin approached him with her request. “To disrupt the avatar’s daily routine is highly irregular.” 

“Most irregular, indeed,” another high-ranking White Lotus member said as he stroked his beard. 

Lin fixed them both under a stern gaze. “Unless Korra is permitted to travel to Republic City, my time with her is limited,” she said. “It’s important that we maximize the time spent on her earthbending training before I have to return home.” 

“Yes,” the Grand Lotus conceded, “but to have her leave the compound—”

“Is essential to her development as an earthbender,” Lin said. 

“I agree wholeheartedly,” Katara said. “You called Lin here because she’s one of the best earthbenders in the world. It’s important that we let her do her work. I know it’s what my late husband would have wanted.” 

Lin watched in real time as the White Lotus members capitulated at the mention of Avatar Aang, as Katara of course knew they would. 

“Very well,” the Grand Lotus said after a brief pause. “I suppose a few hours can be spared, but I trust I needn’t state that the avatar’s security during this training is paramount. Can you truly ensure her safety, Ms. Beifong?” 

“Trust me, I wouldn’t have suggested it if I couldn’t.” 

“This is so awesome!” Korra hollered at the top of her lungs as she slid down the hill, racing against Mako and Bolin. 

“Hey! No, snowbending to go faster!” Bolin shouted at her. “And Mako, no melting the snow! Am I the only one around here who respects the time-honored rules of penguin sledding?” 

“You just learned the rules five minutes ago,” Mako pointed out. 

“And I respect them!” 

“Hey, guys, while you were arguing I just took first place!” Korra said as she hopped off her penguin. 

“Wanna go again?” Bolin asked, once he and Mako had reached the bottom of the hill as well. 

“Nah. Let’s play probenders!” 

“Alright!” 

Mako raised an eyebrow. “What do you know about probending?” 

“Lots,” Korra said, grinning proudly. “I listen on the radio. Now, what should our team name be?” 

Lin shook her head as she watched the kids get into formation, and then pause to bicker over who the team captain should be. She took a sip of her hot tea, and then stole a glance at her husband, who was watching her with an amused expression. 

“What?” she asked, knowing with absolute certainty that his mirth was at her expense.

“I can’t believe it—my Linny, lying to the Grand Lotus.” Zolt smirked. “I couldn’t be more proud.” 

“I didn’t lie, strictly speaking,” she said. “Good earthbenders are well-rounded, and well-rounded kids play.” 

“I always knew you’d be good with them,” Zolt said, and put an arm around her waist. 

Lin rolled her eyes, but still leaned into his touch. “Don’t start,” she said and turned her gaze back towards the kids’ game. “Mako’s fire jabs look a lot faster. It’s almost like he has a good teacher.” 

“The kid’s a quick study,” Zolt said, shrugging off the compliment. “I just wonder if he’ll be able to keep up with it if he goes out to Ba Sing Se.” 

“If?” Lin asked, one eyebrow raising just a bit. 

“Well, it’s been two months already and we haven’t heard anything about their family.” 

“It’s a huge city, and the children’s bureau’s resources are limited,” Lin said. “You know, it’s possible they’ll never find them.” 

“And if they don’t?”

Lin let the question hang in the air for a moment. They’d never had the conversation, but she knew it had been on both their minds. “Well, they’re already here,” she finally said. “And Izumi invited them both out to Ember Island this summer.” 

“Linny, you can say the words, you know,” Zolt said with a laugh. “We could adopt them.” 

“We could, if that’s what they want,” Lin said. “But if they want to be with their family, we have to do everything in our power to reunite them.” 

“We can talk to them about it when we get back,” Zolt said. “But you know, Mako said they never even met these relatives.” 

“Really?” Lin’s brow furrowed as she considered the prospect of the boys all the way out in Ba Sing Se, without the comfort of a single familiar face. “We’ll have to figure this all out when we get home.” 

“But for now, do you wanna grab the kids and take them out to eat up in Wolf Cove?” 

Lin gave him a look. “If we want to bring Korra, that would involve stealing camels and evading the guards.” 

“It’s been a while since we pulled something like that off.” 

Lin merely shook her head. “I’ll invite Tonraq and Senna.”

Chapter Text

Mako was more than relieved to step inside the heated interior of the restaurant. He had learned the hard way that to spar with the avatar—let alone to engage her in a snowball war—was to end up drenched. Although Korra had bent the moisture out of their clothes before they left for Wolf Cove, the chill of the snow hadn’t left him. 

Instinctively, he glanced over to Bolin to check for any sign that he was also freezing his ass off, but his brother had already found a seat at the large table at the back of the restaurant and helped himself to some smoked arctic hen. By the way he had stripped out of his coat the first chance he got and started making small talk with the adults already there, Mako deduced that he would be fine. 

As their party filled in the empty spaces around the table—already covered in Water Tribe dishes—Mako watched as the adults exchanged greetings, trying to figure out as much as he could about the ones he didn’t know. 

“Hey, city boy,” Korra said, tapping his shoulder. “Get out of your head and come eat with us before the food gets cold.” 

“What she said, city boy,” Bolin chimed in before Mako could tell her to mind her own business.

“Bolin, we’re from the same place,” Mako said as he took a seat next to his brother.

“Yeah, but he’s not a city boy,” Korra said, sitting on Mako’s other side. “He’s just Bolin. You, on the other hand…” 

“Classic city boy,” Bolin said. 

“That doesn’t make any sense.” 

“It’s about attitude more than location,” Korra explained. “And you should try the seaweed noodles.” 

Throughout the dinner, Mako glanced between the adults—noting the way Lin’s shoulders relaxed when she spoke to Master Katara and Korra’s parents. Once he had ascertained that she was in good hands, he even agreed to the avatar’s request to go outside and make snow spirits while the adults had their after dinner drinks. 

By then, the sun had gone down and the wind blew with a bitterness that rivaled Lin’s sister after she lost that fight, but as Mako abandoned his snow sculpture of the Blue Spirit to help Bolin make the Painted Lady, had to admit he wasn’t having the worst time. 

“Hey, now that we made mom’s favorite spirit, let’s make Lin’s,” Bolin said. 

“I don’t think Lin is the type of person who cares much for spirits,” Mako replied. 

“How about we make her a badgermole, then?” 

“Sure,” Mako said with a small smile. “But take these first.” He took his gloves off and handed them to his little brother, whose knuckles had turned red and chapped as he sculpted the snow. Knowing him, he’d probably left his own inside the restaurant. 

By the time Lin came out to collect them, they were all laughing and out of breath, having broken into yet another snowball war.

“Ten more minutes, Lin?” Bolin asked, his eyes wide and pleading. 

“Please?” Korra added. 

The earthbender sighed, and Mako could tell for the sound of it that she’d already given in to their request. “Why not,” she said. “We’re already late as it is.” 

So they played, for what felt like mere seconds and much longer than ten minutes all at the same time, and by the time they got back to the compound Mako actually considered the avatar a friend. 

“That was so much fun!” Bolin said as they made their way back into their suite of rooms. “I want to play in the snow every day!” 

“I think your brother would rather hang out on a beach somewhere,” Zolt said, taking a seat on the couch. “Kid, you’re shivering. You alright?” 

“It’s just colder than I’m used to, but I’m okay.” 

“Do you want me to put on some tea?” Lin asked, a hint of concern creeping into her tone. 

“No, I’m just gonna head to bed,” he said. “But thanks.”

When he closed the door to his room, Mako slipped beneath the covers immediately, not bothering to change out of his wet clothes. A voice in the back of his head that sounded vaguely like his mother warned him that it wasn’t a good idea, but he was asleep before the thought had fully formed. 

“Mako? Mako, wake up!” Bolin said, shaking his shoulder in the unintentionally rough way little kids had. 

Mako rolled over and pulled the covers over his head. 

“Come on! We’re gonna be late for breakfast! Aren’t you supposed to rise with the sun?”

“I’m not hungry,” he murmured against the pillows. ”Let me sleep.” 

“Alright, but if they run out of puffin-seal sausages, don’t blame me.” 

When he closed his eyes again, Mako was back at home with his parents—his dad spinning stories while he shaved, and his mom lighting a tall candle with the Painted Lady printed on the front. As he walked towards her, the candle burned brighter and brighter, burning away the edges of the apartment until they were out on the street that night. 

The men who cornered them in the alley wore bright red coats and gold chains with double dragon pendants. They blasted his father first, after shaking him down for the rent money. The sound he made when his body hit the pavement was like the muted thump of a door closing forever. And then his mother, who always smelled like sweets and hairspray, smelled like charred flesh as her body shielded him.

And then it all burned—the row houses that lined the streets, the full moon in the starless sky, the shaving kit and the candle with the Painted Lady turned to ash and embers while Bolin slept upstairs. 

The burning didn’t stop when he opened his mouth to scream and couldn’t draw a breath, or when he turned back to the house to find Bolin. The front staircase turned to smoke and cinders, and he was trapped within the blaze—unable to breathe, unable to see, unable to find his parents’ bodies anymore.

Chapter Text

If there was one thing Lin Beifong understood as an older sibling, it was the desire to occasionally be left alone. So when Bolin reported that Mako wanted to sleep in instead of coming down for breakfast, it had registered as normal. With all he did for his younger brother, the kid had more than earned his rest. 

But when lunch came and went and he still hadn’t ventured out of his room, she decided to bring him a snack before her afternoon training session with Korra. Lin knocked on the door to his room, balancing a plate with a pair of steamed buns in one hand, but there was no response. 

Lin frowned—Mako was normally a light enough sleeper that even the faintest knock would wake him up—and decided not to wait for an invitation. 

When she entered the room, Mako was clearly in the throes of a bad dream—tossing and turning and murmuring something about fire. His face was flushed and his breathing sounded strained and ragged. 

Lin placed the food down on the bedside table and then went over to him. 

“Mako,” she said softly, resting a hand on his arm. 

The kid stirred at her touch and rolled over, coughing miserably into the pillows. Oh, fuck. Lin knew that sound well. That was the sound that always heralded Suyin bringing some fresh plague home to the whole house, and all her plans getting canceled for the foreseeable future. That was a sound that her strong sense of self-preservation and Toph’s example had conditioned her to avoid.

Instead of vacating the room as she might have in the past, Lin ran a hand up and down Mako’s back, trying to soothe him. When the coughing fit finally let up, he glanced up at her with glassy, unfocused eyes. 

“Bolin’s still in the house,” he said between wheezing breaths. “It’s gonna burn.” 

“Bolin is fine,” she told him, resting the back of her hand against his forehead. Spirits, he was boiling. “He’s with Korra. It was just a bad dream.” 

He shook his head. “It wasn’t a dream. They were there.”

“Who?” Lin asked, though she could guess. 

“The Agni Kais.”

Lin sighed and brushed the stray hairs off his face. “They can’t get to you now, Mako. You and your brother are safe.” 

As she went to the bathroom to pour cold water over a washcloth, Lin wondered—not for the first time—whether her staying on the force would have made a difference. Would the boys be at home with their parents, would any number of grief-stricken families sit whole around their kitchen tables had she chosen them over her own happiness? 

After returning to his bedroom, she placed the cool washcloth over Mako’s forehead and sat by his bedside. 

Minutes later, Mako blinked a few times, his gaze seeming to regain some clarity. “Lin?”

“I’m here,” she said.

“Don’t you have to train with Korra?”

“She’s probably enjoying her free time with Bolin,” she said.  “How are you feeling?” 

“I’m fine,” he said and started coughing again. Lin helped him into a sitting position and rubbed the space between his shoulder blades. 

“Yeah, you’re certifiably not fine,” she said. “Let me rephrase the question. What hurts?” 

Mako looked like he was about to say ‘nothing’ but Lin pinned him under a stern gaze. He sighed, his chest rattling on the exhale. “Just my head, throat, and chest. I’ll sleep it off.”

“More sleep might not be a bad idea,” she said. “I’m going to go get you some water and medicine. I’ll wake you up when I’m back.”

As soon as she left the room, Lin used her seismic sense to find Katara. The master waterbender was standing on a balcony overlooking the training field, keeping an eye on Korra and Bolin, who’d abandoned their stance practice to play with the avatar’s polar bear dog. 

“Their independent study seems to be going well,” Katara said with a smile, “though I’m not sure the White Lotus would quite agree with your methods.” 

“The White Lotus are the least of my concern right now.”

“I know that look,” Katara said. “What’s wrong?”

“Mako’s sick,” she explained. “He has a fever and a cough and he was delirious when he woke up and he still hasn’t eaten and I don’t know where they keep the medicine in this compound and—” 

“Lin.” Katara raised a hand, stopping her. “Do you want me to look in on your son while you train Korra?” 

“No, I should be there,” Lin replied. “He gets wary of people he doesn’t know well, and with the fever he might wake up confused again. Also, I’m not…I mean, he isn’t…he had a mother.” 

“It would seem that he also has you,” Katara said with a gentle smile. “I’ll get a sentry to keep watch over these two until Korra’s next lesson. Then I’ll bring my medical supplies and drop by your suite.” 

“Thank you.” 

“Of course, dear,” she said. “And Lin?” 

“Yes?” 

“Try not to panic—”

“I’m not.” 

“You are, dear, and it’s natural, but he’s going to be fine.” 

“Mako!” Bolin shouted as he came through the door of the guest suite a few hours later. “Mako, you’ve gotta come meet Naga; she’s so cool!” 

“Bolin, try to be a little quieter,” Lin said as she walked out into the living room. “Your brother’s sleeping.” 

“Still?” Bolin asked, his features twisted in disbelief. 

“He’s not feeling well, so we need to let him rest.” 

“Oh, okay,” Bolin said, and then started walking to the kitchen, a determined look on his face. 

Lin followed him. “You want a snack?” she asked, already reaching for the cupboards her husband had filled with fire flakes as soon as they arrived. 

“A snack sounds great,” he said, smiling. “No, wait. I have to focus. I’m here to make soup.” 

“Soup?” 

He nodded. “Pigchicken soup. Our mom used to make it every time one of us got sick. Do you want to help me make it?”

Lin hesitated for a moment, weighing the desire to help him keep this tradition alive against the reality of her culinary skills, when the front door opened once again. 

“Zolt?” she asked. 

Lin smiled when her husband drifted into the room, ruffling Bolin’s hair before leaning down to kiss her. “What do you need, baby?” 

“You can make pigchicken soup from scratch, right?”

“I mean, I usually just pick it up from Kwong’s, but yeah,” he said. “Why?” 

“Mako’s sick,” Bolin interjected, “and we have to make it so he gets better.” 

Zolt smiled at the kid in a way that warmed Lin’s heart. “Well, in that case, we better get started on the broth.” 

“Linny, what’s the matter?” Zolt asked, wrapping an arm around her waist as they lay in bed that night. “Katara said Mako’s gonna be fine, right?” 

Lin sighed, resting her forehead against his chest. “He was having nightmares about the Agni Kais killing his parents,” she said. “They’re on a fucking rampage in the city, and the police aren’t doing enough.”

Zolt carded his fingers through her hair. “Maybe I can talk to Aiko when we get back, see if she can deal with her people.”

Lin raised her head and stared him down. “No the fuck you’re not.” 

“Linny—”

“Doesn’t she still have a hit out on your head?” 

“That was back when we were rival bosses,” he said. “She has no reason to want me dead now.” 

“Except that you broke up with her,” Lin said.

“She can’t still be hung up on that.”

“I’d rather not test that theory.” She shook her head. “My ex is a pacifist and you don’t want him anywhere near me, but I’m supposed to be okay with you walking into the territory of a woman people call Arson Queen Aiko?”

“Alright, I see your point,” he said. “Though they used to call me something worse.” 

Lin brow furrowed. That was another thing. If the Triple Threats had stayed in control of the Dragon Flats, the boys’ parents would have never gotten mugged by the Agni Kais. “Do you think we did the right thing—not for us, but for Republic City?”

“The city’s more resilient than you think,” Zolt said, and kissed her forehead. “And so are the kids.” 

“You didn’t answer my question.” 

“I don’t think there’s really an answer to that,” he said. “We’ll never know. But even if I did, I’d still choose you.” 

Lin sighed, her eyes drawing closed. “You’re a selfish fuck,” she said with no small measure of affection in her voice. 

“Love you too, Linny.”

Chapter Text

Mako knew before he even opened his eyes that they were late. He could tell by the way the sun fell on his face that they were supposed to be at the port hours ago. In all likelihood, they had already missed their ship back to Republic City, but on the off chance that it had waited, he forced his leaden limbs to shed the covers and roll out of bed.

When he ventured out into the living area, Lin was on the couch, reading a newspaper with a look of disapproval on her face, while Zolt talked on the phone with someone, muttering curses under his breath about the faulty connection. 

“Oh, you’re awake,” Lin said once she noticed him approaching. “Are you feeling any better?”

“The boat back to Republic City was today, right?” Mako asked, his voice strained and rasping. “Do you think it waited? Where’s Bolin? We need to pack and—” He turned away from Lin and cut himself off with a deep cough that burned through his lungs. It continued on for a few moments, leaving him shaky and breathless. “We might still be able to catch it if we hurry.” 

“Mako, relax,” Lin said. “We’re not late; we’re rescheduling our trip back.” 

“Really? Why?”

“Because the last thing you need when you’re this sick is to be on a boat in the middle of frigid waters.” 

Mako’s brow furrowed. “I would have been fine. But the comptroller’s office and the railroad…don’t you guys need to be back at work?”

Lin rested a hand on his shoulder. “Don’t worry. We have contingencies in place,” she said. “Your health is infinitely more important than all of that, anyway.” 

“But—”

“Just focus on resting for now,” Lin said. “I’ll come check on you when I’m done training Korra.”

The next time Mako woke up, chest tight and eyes misty after a dream about his mother, Bolin was sitting at his bedside, face scrunched up in concentration as he doodled on a sketchpad with his set of colored pencils. 

He drew in a breath to ask what his younger brother was doing there, but it caught in his chest and he ended up burying a coughing fit into the crook of his arm. 

Bolin started at the sound and rushed to pour out a glass of water from the jug on the nightstand. A bit of water sloshed over the side of the cup, and Mako moved to wipe it up as soon as he could breathe again.

“Don’t get up,” Bolin said, handing him the slightly overflowing glass. “I’ll clean it.” 

Once he was finished wiping up the small puddle, Bolin narrowed his eyes, studying Mako. “Lin said to go get her if you got worse. Are you worse?”

“No,” Mako said, though the throbbing pain in his head and the heaviness in his chest seemed to suggest otherwise. “And you shouldn’t be here. Trust me, you don’t want to catch this.” 

Bolin frowned. “But you always stay with me when I get sick, like mom did.” 

“That’s different.”

“No it’s not. You’re being a hypno-crite.” 

“You mean hypocrite,” Mako said with a gravelly sigh. “And I’m not. It’s my responsibility to look out for you.” 

“Then you’re my responsibility, too,” Bolin said. “I think that’s how mom and dad would have wanted it.” 

Mako considered his brother’s words and thought back to his dream—to helping his mom make five spice duck to celebrate the summer solstice, while dad and Bolin decorated the apartment. “Fine. Stay if you want to,” he said after a pause. “Just don’t get too close. This cold would make you miserable.” 

When they finally made it back to Republic City—almost two full weeks after they were originally scheduled to arrive—Mako was surprised by the lightness he felt as he caught sight of the Mansion Row estate. 

“We’re home!” Bolin said, barreling through the front door as soon as Zolt unlocked it. 

The protest that hung on Mako’s tongue—a reminder that they were just visitors, that all of this wasn’t theirs—faded away when he spotted his probending stats book on the arm of the couch, where he’d left it. 

“I wasn’t sure we’d make it, the way this one was driving back from the port,” Lin said, glaring at her husband. 

Zolt grinned at her. “What? I got us here before the evening rush,” he said. “Besides, the kids like to go fast. Right, Bolin?”

“Right!” 

Lin rolled her eyes. “Just know that I’m driving when we come back from the Fire Nation.” 

“The Fire Nation?” Bolin said, bolting up from the couch he’d splayed himself across. “We’re going to the Fire Nation?” 

Lin shrugged. “Izumi did invite us to go this summer,” she said. “I thought I’d take her up on it.” 

“I can’t wait!” Bolin said. “Our mom always talked about how beautiful the beaches were, but I never thought I’d actually get to go!” 

Mako’s brow furrowed as he looked from Lin to Zolt to Bolin, all of whom had started talking about their next trip. “Will we still…be here in the summer?” he finally asked. 

Lin and Zolt exchanged a glance—her with a raised eyebrow, and him with a nod—some shorthand conversation that Mako couldn’t decipher. Then they turned to him and Bolin, looking more serious than he could ever remember seeing them. 

“Mako, Bolin,” Lin said after a pause. “Zolt and I talked about our situation while we were in the South Pole. We’re not entirely sure when the Children’s Bureau will find your family in Ba Sing Se, or what it’ll mean when they do, but you two will have a home with us for as long as you want it.”

Mako, too stunned to speak, could only stare, while Bolin started jumping up and down. 

“Are you sure?” Mako asked, once he found his voice. “Is it really alright if we stay?”

“Of course,” Zolt said. “We’re always happy to have you here.” 

In that moment, Mako allowed himself to picture a future he’d been too skeptical to imagine—attending school with Asami and his other friends, mastering firebending, going to dinners and probending matches and seeing the world with his…family. For the first time he allowed himself to entertain the word. 

And of course, as soon as he started to believe it, to harbor hope, the Children’s Bureau called with news—they’d managed to find their relatives after all.

Chapter Text

The call had come just before dinner, when Zolt and Mako were in the kitchen roasting komodo chicken while jazz music blared from the radio. Lin barely heard the phone ringing over the sizzling and the saxophones, but got up from the couch where she and Bolin were taking a lychee juice break after setting the table to answer it. 

“Hello?” Lin said, hoping it wasn’t her sister calling to spoil her mood. 

“Good evening, Madam Comptroller,” Zhu Li replied. “I’m sorry to call you so late.”

“It’s no problem,” Lin said. “I’m sure you have news. Tell me what it is.” 

“The bureau was able to get in contact with Mako and Bolin’s Uncle Chow.”

“Really?” Lin squeezed the receiver tighter than she’d intended to. “And what did he say?”

“Naturally, he was devastated to hear of his brother’s death, but he’s more than willing to take in his nephews. We can arrange for them to travel to Ba Sing Se within the week.” 

Lin chewed on her lower lip, an anxious pit forming in her stomach. “They’d be going alone?”

“No, someone from the bureau would accompany them. The director asked me to apologize that it took so long for us to locate a relative. We know they’ve been with you for much longer than we originally asked.”

Lin sighed and glanced behind her at Bolin on the couch with his juice, then heard Mako announce that dinner was ready. 

“Madam Comptroller?” Zhu Li asked. 

“Would it be possible to have the uncle come to Republic City instead? I’d like for the boys to get to meet him somewhere they already feel comfortable before any decisions are made.”

“Any decisions? Madam Comptroller…are you looking to adopt them?”

Lin took a deep breath. “My husband and I are open to the possibility,” she said after a brief pause.

“Oh—”

“But if the boys would rather live with their relatives, we wouldn’t pursue the matter.”

“I see,” Zhu Li said, and Lin could practically hear the intern’s wheels turning. “We’ll contact Chow and update him on the situation. I’ll be in touch tomorrow morning.”

Lin stood with the receiver in her hand for a few moments after the call disconnected, her thoughts rushing like floodwaters. 

Just then, Bolin padded over to her and tugged at her hand. “Lin, the komodo chicken’s getting cold.” 

Lin nodded and placed the receiver back on its cradle, then walked with him back to the dining room. 

“I got Lin!” Bolin said with a little cheer before taking his seat at the table. “Now, let’s eat!” 

As she found her own chair, Lin glanced down at her palm, remembering the pressure of his little hand in hers, and wondering if that was the last time she’d ever experience it. She tried to school her expression into something more cheerful when she felt Mako’s probing gaze on her. 

Zolt squeezed her knee when she sat down and spooned some chicken onto her plate.

“You feelin’ alright, baby?” he asked after a few minutes passed and she’d done little more than push the food around with her chopsticks. 

“Does your stomach hurt?” Bolin asked, all wide-eyed and innocent, and the weight of Mako’s gaze only intensified. 

Lin sighed, a voice in the back of her head that sounded suspiciously like her mother’s telling her it would be best to just get on with it. “Zhu Li from the Children’s Bureau just called,” she said after a moment. “Mako, Bolin, she said they found your Uncle Chow.”

A quiet fell over the table then, and Zolt kept massaging her knee under the table, soothing her. 

Mako’s mouth turned into a somber line. “When do we leave?” 

“You don’t,” Lin told him. “Not unless you want to. But I think you should at least meet your uncle before you make a decision.” 

“So, does that mean we’re going to visit him in Ba Sing Se?” Bolin asked. 

“We’re hoping he can come see you in Republic City,” Lin said, forcing herself to smile. “But if that isn’t possible, we’ll travel to Ba Sing Se with you.” 

“What if our uncle tries to make us go with him?” Mako asked. 

At this, Zolt raised an eyebrow, as if considering the possibility for the first time. “If that happens, we’ll handle it, kid,” he said. “I can promise you that.” 

Mako seemed to take her husband at his word, and sank back into his chair a bit. 

“How come nobody’s eating?” Bolin asked between bites of komodo chicken. “Did we not make enough for Zhu Li and our uncle?” 

“I think they’re just saving room for dessert,” Zolt told him. 

At this Bolin’s eyes went wide. “Dessert?”

“We’ve got some cherry ice cream in the fridge.” 

“Can we make sundaes?”

“Sure. I’ll show you how they make ‘em on Ember Island.” 

Once her husband had ferried Bolin back into the kitchen, Lin turned her attention to Mako. She got up from her seat at the table and moved next to him. 

“If I tell you something, do you think you can believe me?” she asked. 

Mako hesitated for a moment, but then nodded at her. 

“You and Bolin are going to be okay, no matter what happens. Whether you’re here or with your family in Ba Sing Se, we’re going to look out for you.”

“I know you mean it,” Mako said. “But anything can happen.”

“And you’ve seen the worst side of anything—been through grief like no one your age should ever have to deal with.”

He shrugged. “It is what it is.”

“I know,” Lin said, and reached out to squeeze his hand. “But if I’ve learned one thing, it’s that there’s a better side to ‘anything’ too. I used to hate it when people told me that, but it’s true. And one day, when you’re not even thinking about it, you’ll feel happy and safe again.”

“Lin—” His voice cracked a bit, and he paused to clear his throat. 

“It’s alright if it’s not true right now, but one day. I promise.”

“Time for ice cream!” Bolin shouted as he paraded back into the room, carrying two sundaes stacked high. “Ember Island style!”