"I've never seen mom so stressed before, and to be honest, it's scaring me a little bit. Last night, it was like I was her, a mom holding their crying kid. But I didn't mind staying with mom, as long as I knew she was okay, that was enough for me."
The next morning, Ally and Lin didn't show up for breakfast, Lin was off doing police duties, and Ally was tagging along.
"What in SPIRITS do you think you're doing right now?!" Lin yelled at two guards leaning up against the wall of a house. "Get back to doing your job!" She winced and grabbed her head, she had been nursing a headache all morning.
"Mom," Ally grabbed her mom's arm to steady her. "Please, I think you should lie down."
"Are you alright?" Aiwei asked he walked up behind Lin.
"My daughter is in danger and these buffoons aren't taking their job seriously," Lin snapped.
"Oh, it's alright," Aiwei put his hand on Lin's shoulder. "Zaofu is one of the, if not the safest cities in the world." Lin threw his hand off.
"I'm going to check every nook and cranny of this place," she said roughly. "I will make sure my kid is safe." She turned to walk away, but Aiwei stopped her.
"Lin, you don't have to do work while you're here," he said gently. "Please, you need to relax."
"I'm fine!" Lin snarled, but she winced again as pain shot through her head. Sweat beaded on her forehead as she grabbed the back of her neck.
"Mom," Ally's eyes were glassy from fear.
"Lin, you're under a dangerous amount of stress," Aiwei told her. "If you don't deal with your feelings, there will be consequences on your health and job."
"I don't want to talk about my feelings," Lin replied.
"You won't have to," Aiwei handed her a card for an acupuncturist.
"Hmm," Lin murmured. The acupuncturist was named Guo.
"Mom, please," Ally begged. "I need you to get better, I don't want you to get sick." Lin agreed to go to see Guo. She went without her armor, in just a simple white tank top. Guo had her lay down on a table, while he prepared the needles.
"How many of those are going into me?" Lin asked.
"I will place several in your acupoints, and this will help you," Guo explained. "Don't worry, it'll just help correct imbalances in your chi. Tell me if you feel pain or pressure anywhere on your body."
"I don't feel anything," Lin answered.
"Your chi is very blocked," Guo told her. He placed more needles into her skin as he explained what to expect. "This process may tap into old or hidden memories. These old memories can be painful or difficult."
"Sure," Lin scoffed, not believing him.
But he was right, she went deep into her past and saw a memory from a long time ago, it was Su. Lin saw her hanging with bad people and told her off, but Su snapped back and left. Lin started sweating, her lips moving as if she was talking. Ally stayed close as Lin started to quiver slightly, she went into another memory. She was speeding down the street in her car, responding to a robbery. She caught the people responsible and learned it was Su. Lin woke up and sat up, flinging the needles out of her body while sweat soaked through her clothes. Ally was using under the table, trying not to be impaled by several needles. She stood up and watched her mom walk out.
"Thank you!" She thanked Guo, and ran after her mother, supporting her. She was dizzy and weak, and leaving in the middle could make her sick. Ally took her back to their room and soaked a cloth to put on the back of Lin's neck, but the police chief waved it away. She put her hand on her head and sat down as Korra came in, telling Lin to apologize.
"Are you ok?" Korra asked. "You don't look very good."
"I'm fine, leave me alone!" Lin snapped and walked out, grabbing the door to steady herself. Ally ran after, her eyes glassy with tears. With Ally's help, Lin went back to Guo to finish the session. She went back into the memory of her catching Su. When she tried to bring her sister in, Su cut the wire and it whirled back and cut Lin's cheek.
"Mom," Ally touched her mom's wrist, as Lin started to quiver again. The memory continued, Lin was bandaged up and given a strict talking to by her mother, Toph. She reprimanded Su and Lin, ordered Su to leave town, and destroyed the arrest report. Guo took the needles out of Lin's body and told her to rest.
"No," Lin replied. "I need to do something I should have done 30 years ago." She walked out and went back to Su's house. She slammed her foot down, causing the earth to crack around where Su was. Lin's chest was heaving as beads of sweat formed on her body. Korra and Bolin, who were with Su, turned and looked at Ally.
"Don't look at me!" Ally replied.
"Finally, after 30 years," Su's tone was harsh as Lin walked up to her.
"That day, back in mom's office, you could have fessed up," Lin snarled. "You stayed quiet, took no responsibility and mom threw her career away."
"No, she didn't," Su sighed. "She retired as a hero the next year."
"She didn't want to retire!" Lin snapped back. "She felt like she didn't deserve her badge, because of what she did to protect you."
"Sure, I made some mistakes-" Su started.
"Some!" Lin laughed rudely.
"Lin, please, mom and I already mended things," Su said. "You could have gotten together with us and learned I am a much different person."
"You think you're different?" Lin scoffed. "Why? Because you have a fancy house and fancy food. The only reason I ever told you about my daughter was that I felt like I should. But you haven't changed. You can fool everyone else that you've changed, but you haven't. And you'll never fool me." Su's eyes narrowed.
"Who hasn't changed?" She asked. "You. You're bitter and lonely, and you've only ever cared about yourself. I guess I know why Tenzin ended things with you." That touched a nerve and Lin slammed her foot down, causing a rock to jump up. She threw it at Su and she deflected it almost lazily. She made a slicing motion with her hand and the earth rose up, causing Lin to get thrown back. She got up and they continued fighting, a battle of metal and earth.
"I think I should stop them," Korra said.
"Nah," Bolin chuckled. "This is what siblings do, they fight. Ally was grimacing the entire time, watching her mom and aunt fight. Lin got thrown back and she hit some stairs with her back, and she fell down on all fours, panting. But she got up with a growl and lifted a rock above her head, Su followed and they ran towards each other. Opal got in between them, blasting the rocks out of their hands.
"Stop!" She yelled. "Why are you doing? Why are you trying to hurt each other? Your sisters!" Lin was still panting, and her breathing increased. She fell backward and Ally caught her before she hit the ground.
"Mom?" Ally shook her mother's still frame. "Mom!" With some help, she took Lin back to her room and let her sleep, 16 hours and later, Mako, Bolin, Korra, and Ally huddled around her door.
"Who's gonna knock and see if she's ok?" Korra asked. She pushed Bolin forward and he stepped back.
"No way," he said. "Ally, why don't you do it, she's your mom."
"Because," Ally said bluntly. "I've been dealing with 18 years of morning mom, and I don't want to deal with it right now."
"Oh, for crying out loud," Mako walked up and knocked. "Cheif, you ok? You've been out for 16 hours." The door opened and Mako fell at the feet of a very different-looking Lin Beifong. She was wearing a dress with a metal necklace. The dress looked similar to Su's, dark green with big sleeves. She yawned and stretched, looking around at everyone.
"Good morning," she said in a sing-song voice. "How are you?" Ally's jaw dropped as she looked at her mom, and she had to do a double-take. She followed her into the dining hall and waited outside to make sure her mom was mentally ok. She was hiding when Opal came into the dining hall and talked to Lin.
"Oh boy," Ally whispered.
"Listen, Opal, I'm not super comfortable talking about these things like family and whatnot," Lin started. "But I'm really sorry for lashing out at you."
"It's fine," Opal looked down at the ground.
"No, it's not," Lin replied. "Your mom and I have a tedious relationship and I shouldn't have taken it out on you."
"It's okay," Opal told her. "I know it's probably hard being here."
"You're a bright young lady," Lin smiled. "And a wonderful airbender. I think you should train with the other airbenders at the Northern Temple, it'll be a good opportunity for you."
"I want to go," Opal said gently. "But I don't want my mom to be upset with me."
"You sound like my kid," Lin chuckled. "All she wanted to do was please me, and I never told her that all she needed to do was to be herself. When I was young, I wanted to please my mother too, and I'm afraid I passed that on to Ally. You need to figure out what you want. Don't do what I did, or what my daughter is doing now." Opal smiled, got up, and hugged Lin. The police chief returned it with a gentle smile, hugging the young woman gently. Opal decided to tell her parents about wanting to go to the Northern Air Temple. Su let her and she and Lin worked things out, and for the first time in a while, Lin smiled, a true smile.