Legacy- Chapter 1

Lin thinks of her mother constantly.  She always has.  She has always possessed a secret, smug pride about her mother, not that she'd ever show it like she used to when she was young.  Being the Chief of Police requires, or required, a touch more restraint and gravitas.  But it is the thought of her mother, her pig-headed, boisterous, joking, fighting whirlwind of a mother that puts the steel in her spine, the stone in her expression, the flint in her eyes.  She raised Lin that way.  From the time Lin could barely walk, she knew what it meant to be a Bei Fong.  

Her mother would regale her with tales of her war-time adventures with her Uncle Aang, Uncle Sokka, and Aunt Katara.  She would sit in a loose semi-circle with her friends, with her cousins Kya, Bumi, and Tenzin.  Her mother and Uncle Sokka were the ringleaders, relaying their stories with exaggerated detail, punctuated by a sweet comment form her placid Uncle Aang, and an occasional visit back to reality from Aunt Katara.  Mostly, though, her mother and Uncle Sokka bickered over details.  Usually, this ended in a strong slug from her mother to Uncle Sokka's arm, and the debate ended right there.

Even at a young age, discriminating Lin knew her mother had a penchant for exaggeration.  But she also knew, from the look on her Aunt and Uncles' faces that, even as much of a braggart as she was, her mother's stories were never too far from the truth.  She could tell that her demand for recognition and admiration, her insistence that she was an earthbending genius, the greatest earthbender to have ever lived, was warranted.  She could tell in the way Uncle Aang, the Avatar, ducked his head in deference to her, the way Aunt Katara's ocean-blue eyes shone with love and respect, the way Uncle Sokka gave her playful, but admiring smiles.  Her mother was extraordinary.  Everyone knew it.  And whenever she finished one of her signature tales, she'd lean down to Lin and whisper in her ear, "Because that's what us Bei Fongs do," with a conspiratorial wink.

For a while, it made Lin rival her mother in how brash and reckless she was.  She was a Bei Fong.  She was Toph Bei Fong's daughter.  Her mother was the greatest earthbender to have ever lived, the inventor of metalbending, Chief of Police in Republic City, the head of the metalbending police.  But the day her mother found her at air temple island against her orders, having just earthbended poor Bumi, and even little Tenzin, halfway into the ground, her jawline clenched, teeth grinding like rough granite.

She had Lin's little foot earthbended to the ground in seconds.  Bumi and a tearful Tenzin watched, neck-deep in rock as their Aunt Toph stamped her foot and hurled them, none-too-gently, out of the earth.  Suddenly, the earth under Lin's foot rotated sharply, and she was facing her mother head on.  

Her mother kneeled down, nearly nose to nose with Lin, head and milky, sightless eyes canted slightly downwards as always, dark hair across her face, the angle of her head and stance making her look like a mountain ram about to charge.  Lin gulped, but didn't turn her head.  The only thing worse than disobeying her mother would be to cower away from her punishment.   Lin knew that Bei Fongs took what was coming to them head-on, whether they deserved it or not.  Her mother would give her hell if she so much as thought about flinching.

"Come with me," she had growled, releasing Lin's foot at the same time that her fist closed around Lin's wrist, hard and resilient as rock, dragging her back towards home.  Lin followed her until she spun and stopped dead in front of their front door.  Lin noticed that her mother hadn't bended her foot to the ground, had not attempted to stop any sort of retreat.  She could get away, if she wanted.  But she knew better.  Lin planted bare, grubby feet right to that spot, opposite her mothers'.  She seemed to nod a little in slight approval before laying in to Lin.  Lin made sure not to flinch.

"Why were you at air temple island when I told you no?  Explain.  And make it worth my time."

Lin took a deep breath, arms clasped behind her back.

"I was bored and wanted to practice my earthbending," Lin said, clear, confident, and honest.

"Any reason you decided to send Bumi and Twinkletoes Jr. halfway to the center of the earth?"

Lin shrugged.

"Don't shrug at me.  Give me a real answer."

"Because I knew I could."

Toph snorted at her like a disgruntled boar, clearly displeased.  Lin protested, scrambling to defend herself.

"Bumi challenged me!"

"Did he?" she quirked an eyebrow.

"Yeah!  He told me he could beat me even if he wasn't a bender."

Her mother shrugged.

"Well, he got what was coming to him, then.  Did Tenzin challenge you, too?"

"No."

"Then why'd ya put him in the ground?"

"He cried when I beat Bumi."

LIn's mother sighed, miffed.  To this day, she's not sure if her mother sighed at her pigheaded-ness or Tenzin's crying.

"So, pretty much for no reason."

"You punch Uncle Sokka for no reason."

"No, I punch Uncle Sokka because he's being an idiot."

"Crying like that means he's an idiot, though, right?"

"Lin, quit trying to get away with it.  You're in trouble."

"But I thought it was fine!  Bei Fongs are supposed to be tough, right?"

"Oh yeah, they are.  But you gotta learn that there's a difference between being tough and being mean, kiddo.  It was something I had to learn, too."

Lin had scoffed a little, thinking that Tenzin was just acting like a weakling.  As if reading her mind, Lin's mother interrupted the thought.

"Do I think Twinkletoes Jr. was overreacting?  Yeah, totally.  But he didn't challenge you and it looked like you were hurting him a little, short stuff.  You're gonna have to learn some restraint.  Just because you can doesn't mean you should."

"You sound like Uncle Aang," Lin muttered just a touch distastefully.

"Oh, come on, you love Uncle Aang.  His advice isn't all bad.  You can't hurt people and you shouldn't go picking fights with people who haven't done anything to you."

"But I thought earthbending was about-"

Lin's mother cut her off.

"A good earthbender waits and listens before she strikes.  And when you hear someone challenge you, then you can, and should, whoop their butt," she grinned the wide, cocky grin Lin loved.  "But not until, short stuff."

Lin frowned, skeptical.

"I don't get it."

"I think it's time I taught ya, then, half-pint.  But not until next week, because you're grounded this week."

"What?!  I'm grounded because I hurt stupid Tenzin?"

"A little.  But mostly because you disobeyed me.  If Republic City has to listen to me and follow my rules, so do you."

"I thought Uncle Sokka said you hated rules."

"Mostly, yeah.  Why do you think I made sure I was the one who got to make 'em?"

"Rules are dumb."

"Sometimes.  I tried to make mine as non-dumb as possible.  But you still have to follow them.  When you're as awesome as me, then you can make the rules.  But for now, you gotta answer to me," her mother had grinned widely.

Lin huffed to herself.  But she remembers that day.  That was the day that Lin learned that Bei Fongs use restraint;  Bei Fongs wait and listen before they strike, and strike hard.

Lin thinks often of her mother teaching her.  She remembers, in particular, that week after she was grounded.  When she learned what it meant to wait and listen.  She remembers walking for a long time down a hard-packed, dusty dirt path, watching a tiny, whitish butterfly flit along beside them.

"Mommy, a butterfly!  There!"

"Sorry, short stuff.  If it's in the air, I can't see it.  I'm sure it's very pretty, though."

"Why can't you see it in the air?  I thought you could still see.  With your feet."

"I see with earthbending, right?"

"Yeah."

"Well, if it's not touching the earth, I won't see it."

"Oh.  Can you see colors?"

"'Fraid not.  I don't see quite the same way you do, kid."

"Oh.  What do things look like to you?"

"That's what I'm going to show you."

"Really?"

"Yep."

"I wish I could show you how I see," LIn remembers telling her.  Her mother had laughed, good-natured.

"Don't worry about it, short stuff.  If I didn't 'see' the way I do, I wouldn't be nearly as amazing as I am."

Lin remembers having felt a bit suspicious as they approached what looked like a deep tunnel, burrowing into the mountainside.

"Are we going in there?"

"Yeah.  But before we do, stop right here."

Lin had obeyed without question.

"Close your eyes."

And suddenly, there was the sensation of a band of linen around her eyes.  And then complete darkness.

"There.  Now come with me."

"But it's all dark!  I can't see!"

"Oh no.  What a nightmare."

Lin giggled, recognizing the line from one of Sokka's stories.

"Sorry.  But how am I supposed to know where I'm going?"

"You're going to learn to see like me."

"Okay."

Her mother had led her along, deep underground.  Lin had long since lost track of how many turns they had taken when her mother let go of her.

"Mommy?"

Her mother's voice was suddenly very far away.

"Now, you're going to find your way out."

"You're leaving me?!"

"I'll be at the exit."

"But what if something happens?"

"I'll be able to see where you are the whole time.  You know I won't let anything hurt you."

"But-"

"Lin, if you're tough enough to put your cousins halfway in the ground, you're tough enough to figure out how to get out."

"But-"

"Come on, Lin!  Show some backbone!  Bei Fongs don't back down.  If you're scared, that's fine.  But don't you dare show it, and you better never let it stop you.  Now go.  Find your way out.  Just remember to listen."

Lin stood in the cool, damp tunnel, stock still.  She didn't move for a long time.  Just listened to the sound of her own breath reverberating in the space around her.  Then she heard a rumble far up the tunnel, to her left somewhere.  She couldn't tell exactly where, or exactly what it was.  Only that it sounded big and very, very frightening.  She could feel the earth under her rumble as it got closer.  In waves.  Every few seconds, vibrations, moving like the ripples her Aunt Katara and cousin Kya always made in the water, reached her and continued out past her, to the far reaches of the tunnel.  Lin remained motionless, too scared to do anything else.  And the vibrations were getting stronger.  The ripples were closer together.  Soon, they became a constant thrum until Lin could smell another presence close to her, could feel just in the way the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end that there was something close.  But she couldn't tell where.  The vibrations were there, but they were indistinct.  She couldn't sense them with the precision she needed to.  Lin had gasped audibly when she realized what she needed to do.  She kicked her shoes off with lightning speed.  The thrumming continued, but she could pinpoint it now.  The thing was to her right.  It felt like it was moving towards her.  It felt big.

It was there.  Lin remembers barely suppressing a little shout when the thing had started snuffling by her ear.  She stood, still but strong, hoping it wasn't hostile.  It was an animal, whatever it was.  Lin felt more vibrations, coming right from it.  It was earthbending, she realized, as the pebbles on the cave floor rattled with the animal.  The animal was earthbending.  Lin started giggling as it continued to shuffle at her and she realized what it was.  She had always thought her mother was joking, sarcastic as always, when she told Lin where she learned earthbending.  She thought she had been trying to make Lin and her cousins laugh.  But she had been telling the truth.

"You're a badgermole," Lin whispered to it.  She felt the thing continue to send out the vibrating waves with its earthbending.  It did it constantly.  Lin wondered why, deciding to try it out for herself.  She rumbled the ground beneath her feet.  Nothing.  She couldn't feel anything but the vibrations she was creating.  The badgermole noticed, shuffling for a moment, before sending its own little wave back at her.  It did it twice more, as if trying to tell her what to do.

"Yeah, you know I don't know what to do," she'd told it.  Suddenly she felt a hard nudge from the thing's massive paw.  It knocked her clear over, onto her hands and knees.  It continued to poke at her and rumble the ground under them.

"Okay!  I'm trying!" she rumbled the ground under her.  The badgermole barked, disgruntled.

"What?"

It sent more waves out.  She scowled, concentrating on them, trying to figure out what it wanted.  As the waves extended, she felt them reverberate across the ground, up the cave wall, farther down the tunnel, down the vast maze of tunnels spider-webbing off in an infinite labyrinth.  She could see it all.  Well, not really see.  She couldn't tell the color of the walls, couldn't determine texture.  But Lin could sense where things were.  She could feel outlines and shapes.  She tried sending out her own little wave.  A barely-perceptible tremor.  She gasped, feeling the outline of the creature in front of her.  It was enormous, with large paws and thick, blade-like claws, tiny ears, long snout, and wriggly bald tail.  She tried sending out a stronger one, stamping her foot, squatting in a horse stance with her fists at her sides, elbows back like she always watched her mother do.  She cackled as the network of tunnels blossomed before her as vibrations in the earth under her bounced against resilient rock and came back at her.  She felt the badgermole snort in approval.  She laughed, before jumping high in the air, propelled by earthbending, coming down, hard, on both feet.  She grinned when she felt one of the tunnels extend all the way to the surface and she felt a familiar shape leaning against the mouth of the cave.  She felt bare feet, crossed arms, a flowing tunic cinched with a strong belt, strands of hair hanging over an oval face and, if Lin scowled hard enough, she swore she felt a wide grin.  She stamped her foot again, trying to see how her mother saw other people.  Vague shapes.  Outlines, but surprisingly detailed ones.  She could feel clothing outlines, hair shapes, some facial features.  And she could definitely feel her mother's unmistakable smile all the way from the belly of the cave system.  She felt a vibration of a laugh, felt her mother's foot come down, playfully, in response to her.  She started walking towards the exit.

It was slow work.  Lin wasn't used to relying on her earthbending in order to see.  Sometimes, she misjudged and went down the wrong tunnel.  Sometimes, she tripped, or ran into things, unused to her new sight.  And sometimes, she noted annoyed, the badgermoles would change a tunnel and she had to alter her course completely.

But soon, her mother's outline, still, patient, and smiling, got closer and stronger.  The smell of her, of sun, and earth, and grass, and sandalwood, drifted down to her.  Soon, she was standing, tall and proud, in front of her.  She felt her lean down, chuckling.

"You made it."

Lin nodded.  She hesitated before reaching out and placing her small hands on her mother's face as her mother often did with her, her cousins, her aunts and uncles.  She ran her hands over her mother's smiling face, trying to see her like she saw Lin.  Mother had chuckled softly.

"Hey, kiddo."

"This is how you see me?"

"Yeah.  What do you think?  Cool or not?"

"Definitely cool.  Did I do everything right?"

"Did you make it out?"

"Yes."

"Then you did great.  You did a good job, Lin."

"I think the way you see is better."

A raucous laugh followed.

"Thank you.  Glad you like it.  Because all your earthbending training from now on is going to happen like this."

Lin couldn't even bring herself to pout about it.  She couldn't do anything but grin.  Her mother was proud of her and that was all that had mattered then.  That was when Lin had learned that Bei Fongs didn't see things the way others did.  And it was wonderful.