Chapter Text
“Chief, can I talk to you for a sec?” Mako called out. Lin looked up from where she stood hunched over Detective Chimlin’s desk. She was stuck on a case, still new to the job, so Lin had taken pity and was currently helping her.
“What is it, Mako?”
“We got a signal about a mass brawl in the Dragon Flats Borough clinic.” Mako said as he approached the two women.
“Anyone injured?” she replied calmly.
“One healer was caught in the fight while trying to break it up but is otherwise unharmed.”
Lin raised an eyebrow at him.
“I just thought you might want to look into it,” he said sheepishly.
The Chief shot him a suspicious look. What did he know about that? She had made Korra swear not to tell anyone about her and Kya’s relationship.
“Alright Detective,” she said, addressing the confused Chimlin, who had noticed the obvious hint in Mako’s voice, but didn’t know how to interpret it. “Hope this is enough for you to go on,” Lin added as she stood up.
“Let’s go!” she called out to Mako, while making her way towards the exit. He had to jog to catch up with her.
In the Satomobile, Mako had to discreetly hold onto the handle above the passenger door. The Chief was usually a very careful driver, even with the extra speed granted to her by the screeching sirens. Now, however, her driving reminded Mako of testing racing models with Asami.
“So,” he started, unsure of how to breach the topic. “Uhhh,” his attention was diverted after they took a turn he was sure would be unsuccessful and would smash them against a building. He took his eyes off the road and looked at the Chief. Her brows were furrowed in a concerned frown.
“Um, Kya is fine, really, from what I got. I’m sorry if it sounded as if she’s badly hurt.” His voice escalated in pitch at the last part because they overtook a Satomobile and nearly crashed into another.
The Chief pursed her lips. Her knuckles were white. She kept her eyes trained on the road.
“I’m not worried,” she said finally. She was aware of the disbelieving look Mako gave her but refused to acknowledge it. To drive her point across, she forced herself to breathe in deep and expel the haste with which she was driving.
“What makes you think I am?” she asked and turned to glare at him.
“Well, I…” Mako started to say something about how he had noticed the closeness between his boss and the waterbending master. How he had noticed a correlation between the Chief being in a good mood and her spending her lunch breaks with Kya. How she had started leaving work at a human time since Kya moved to Republic City. Oh, and that time he called the Chief at her apartment late in the evening, and Kya picked up, saying that Lin was in the bathroom so he should call later.
Of course, all of that led him to the conclusion that they were really good friends. Until he caught them kissing against a tree on Air Temple Island, and he had to revisit all of his previous assumptions about his boss.
He said exactly none of that, because the Chief was glaring at him in a way that clearly told him he wasn’t supposed to know.
“I know you and Kya are close friends, Chief. I would be concerned about Korra or Asami too.” Belatedly, he realized maybe his analogy with Korra and Asami wasn’t the most appropriate to convey purely platonic relations. But he met the Chief’s gaze steadily, calmly, and she seemed to let it go.
They reached the clinic in about five minutes, despite Dragon Flats being decently far away from the centre. The commotion was visible from outside the clinic where they left the Satomobile. From afar there was ruckus, an indistinct mix of people talking, shouting, screaming, huffing and puffing. As they got closer, they could see a crowd of people pushing and shoving each other in the small parlour of the shabby building that housed the clinic.
“Police! Everyone, stop fighting!” Lin roared, as the two of them entered through the front door. The fighting crowd collectively jumped from surprise. Mako observed with interest how they immediately complied with the Chief’s order. If he had told them to stop fighting, they would probably just ignore him. He could only aspire to have such a commanding (if intimidating) presence.
“What are you dunderheads all doing? This is a hospital, not a communal wrestling event.” She scolded everyone with her hands on her hips. The fighting crowd retreated to the corners of the small room, leaving an annoyed Kya in the middle. Mako saw the moment the Chief’s eyes landed on Kya. She clenched her jaw at the large bruise on the side of Kya’s head, the scratches on her chin, and the smoke coming from the tip of hairs framing the left side of her face.
“What is wrong with you, people?” Lin shouted angrily. “These people treat and care for you for free, from the goodness of their hearts, and this is how you express your gratitude?” If looks could kill, Mako was sure everyone in the room who was currently cowering on the sides of the parlous would crumble instantaneously.
“Mako, call for back-up and arrest every single one of these idiots. None of you resist, or else –“
“Not so harsh, Chief,” Kya intervened, voice small, sounding exhausted. “It’s not their fault. They’re upset because we don’t have the capacity to see all of them.”
Lin studied her carefully.
“You’re right. My apologies, Master Kya,” she said, bowing her head in respect. “If I may take your statement…?”
Kya nodded and led her through one of the doors. From behind her shoulder, Lin glared in the general direction of the crowd, and followed Kya inside.
“How are you?” Lin asked after closing the door. Kya had leaned against the desk in the far corner of the small office. Her arms were crossed, and she was staring at a spot on the floor.
“It’s bad, Lin.” she sighed in response. “It’s really bad. After all the chaos of Kuvira’s invasion, there are so many people that need healing. Not to talk about the psychological effects. As always, the poor and vulnerable are suffering the worst. We don’t have the budget to help even a third of them.”
“Yes, but I mean… how are you?” Lin asked gently, standing in front of Kya. Kya felt Lin’s eyes probing the side of her face. She remembered, dully, the pain of being caught in the face by a stray fist.
“Oh, that?” she said and waved her hand casually.
Lin wasn’t satisfied with that answer. Kya continued to stare at the floor, lost in thought.
“How come you never told me things in the clinic were bad?” Lin asked quietly after a few seconds. “Kuvira’s invasion was months ago. Have you been struggling with that all this time?”
Kya finally looked up.
“I didn’t want to worry you. You have enough going on as it is.”
Lin inhaled sharply. She had to fight back against the wave of guilt that hit her. She had noticed Kya’s fatigue, but whenever she asked, Kya would always shrug it off. She trusted Kya to tell her the truth, so she didn’t push. And she should have. How could she have been so careless and selfish as to not dig deeper? She was careless, selfish, and an awful partner.
Her spiraling was interrupted by a gentle hand on her cheek.
“And I am mostly dealing with it. Today was just an exception. I’m sorry you had to waste your time by coming here.”
“I’m not wasting my time, Kya.” Lin replied and grasped Kya’s hand on her cheek. “I wish I could help you more.”
Kya rested her forehead against Lin’s shoulder, and Lin embraced her. She cleared her head. This was not about her. She knew what was bothering Kya the most. Loving, generous, caring Kya. She was feeling guilty she couldn’t help all the people in need. And Lin was feeling guilty for not supporting her partner better.
“I will sort this, Kya. I promise.”
Kya broke off the embrace and gave her a tired smile.
“I should go back to my patients.”
Lin nodded, still gazing at her with concern.
“Okay. I will let you go back to work, then,” she said, reluctantly retreating.
“Aren’t you going to take my statement, Chief?” Kya asked with a teasing tone. “Since when are you so sloppy with the admin?”
Lin scoffed, annoyed but secretly pleased at Kya’s playful banter.
Kya smiled at the annoyed little eye roll Lin made. She found Lin so adorable when agitated.
“You’ve always been so thorough with my statements all the times you’ve arrested me” Kya added when she walked up to Lin and pecked her cheek. That seemed to finally work in making Lin relax – her shoulders sagged, and her frown dissolved mostly.
“Very funny,” she said in mock-annoyance. She reached for the handle of the office door. “I’ll get out of your way. But please get that healed,” she gestured towards Kya’s face.
“Okay,” Kya said and watched Lin go through the door and back into the parlour. More police officers had arrived. Kya heard distantly as Lin ordered them to let everyone go but stay until everyone was seen, and to prevent further trouble.
Which meant there were police officers guarding the clinic for the next couple of weeks. Kya became accustomed to them after the first few days, once the shock of seeing them wore off. They were always friendly and nice towards the patients in the clinic. In other parts of the world, law enforcement treated poor people as scum. In the Earth Kingdom, especially in Ba Sing Se, police officers tended to abuse their power and exert unnecessary and uncalled for force over the people in the Outer Ring. In the Fire Nation, police officers were often overly suspicious of anyone but the nobility and the petty bourgeois, which led to more trouble than it prevented. As far as she remembered, things were similar under Toph in Republic City too. She was most concerned with fighting bad guys for the sake of fighting.
But Lin was different. She prioritized protecting people and ensuring everyone’s wellbeing. She had installed multiple reforms in the way the Police operated, and constantly screened for abuse of power among the officers. This was one of the reasons Kya loved her – that and the fact she had apparently instructed the two police officers in the clinic to bring her and her staff lunch every day.
Which was nice, because she could only go back home late in the evenings. Without lunch, this pace would be impossible. Even having had lunch, it was late enough that Kya was still quite hungry. Her stomach grumbled from the smell of food welcoming her at the door of Lin’s apartment. Or their apartment, she thought, since she lived there permanently now.
“I’m home, babygirl,” she called out cheerily while taking off her shoes in the entryway. She made her way straight to the dining room. Where she found Lin sitting at the head of the table, Korra and Asami sitting next to her.
“Oh, hi ladies!” she greeted them. She caught the coy smiles the couple exchanged at her term of endearment for Lin. Lin just crossed her arms in front of her chest and glared to hide her embarrassment.
“I didn’t know we were expecting guests,” Kya said after giving both Korra and Asami a hug.
“It’s okay,” Lin said, pink still tinting her cheeks. She cleared her throat and added, “have a seat.”
“How are you guys doing?” she asked the young couple as she sat down in her place opposite Lin.
“Not too bad,” Asami said amiably, “business has been good lately, so I’ve found some time to tinker with a few inventions of my own.”
“She’s brilliant!” Korra chimed.
Lin tuned them out as she set food, drinks, plates, glasses and cutlery on the table.
“Thanks, dear!” Kya said earnestly as Lin served her rice and Elephant Koi Shui Zhu Yu from the plates in the middle of the table.
“Eat,” was all Lin said in response.
Korra, Asami and Kya made small talk while going through their meals.
“Wow, Chief, I wouldn’t have guessed you were such a good cook!” Korra exclaimed after getting her third serving of the fish.
“Guess there are many things we didn’t know about you, Chief,” Asami added playfully.
Lin just raised an unimpressed eyebrow.
“That’s right,” Kya piped in, “She seems all tough and scary, you would never guess she’s the little spoon!”
“Kya!” the Chief groaned as everyone else giggled.
The stress of the day had by now completely melted away. Kya was feeling warm and content.
“Not that I don’t appreciate it, but to what do we owe the pleasure of your visit?” she asked the girls.
Both of them looked not-so-subtly at Lin, who rolled her eyes.
“Well,” Asami took the initiative, her tone now serious, “I wanted to pick your brains about some features of the new building for the clinic before I submit the plans officially.”
“The new building?” Kya asked, confused.
“Yeah? For the clinic? For the program the Council started for the enrichment of Dragon Flats Borough?” Asami replied, equally confused.
“What?” Kya looked Lin, who stared back with her eyebrows raised.
“Kya, have you not read your letters recently?”
“No. I haven’t had the time,” Kya replied slowly, trying to understand what was going on.
Lin closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose.
“Zhu Li wants to help the people in the Dragon Flats, so she gathered the Council and made them plan a way to improve the situation there,” Korra hurried to clarify.
“The Council is investing in new services, as well as improving existing ones,” Asami added. “They’re building new schools, libraries, community centers, and will be expanding the clinic significantly. It will have six times the capacity it currently has: a bigger budget, more healers…”
“Really?”
“Yes,” Korra said excitedly, “I’ll be leading a campaign to recruit more healers!”
Kya gasped. This all sounded too good to be true.
“Did you know about this, Lin?” she asked.
“Yes. I’m consulting the Council on services to reduce crimogenic behaviour.”
Kya couldn’t believe she had missed this. She had founded the clinic years ago with the intent to help as many people as she could. It’s why she poured so much of her energy into it, to the extent that she sacrificed her free time and health. It meant the world to her that her effort would help more people and make things better. She started to tear up.
“It’s gonna be great, Kya.” Korra said as she got up and hugged Kya. Kya nodded, feeling hope and happiness bloom inside her.
Korra and Asami stayed for another hour. Kya advised Asami on all the facilities she had always envisioned for her clinic. An inviting and accommodating waiting room. An inner courtyard with a pond. Rooms that suited types of healing she had discovered on her journeys: a sauna that allowed firebenders to manipulate hot air; an office for a metalbending acupuncturist, a hall where patients could heal through the ancient Air Nomad practice of singing bowls. She would join Korra in recruiting healers from across the world, reach out to old friends, and train a new generation of multidisciplinary healers. Her dream would come true – she would have established a proper hospital. One that not only matched but rivalled the one her mother had founded before her.
“Alright, that’s enough for today,” Lin interrupted Korra as she was asking how the Air Nomad singing bowls worked. “We’ll iron out the details later. Let Kya rest for now.”
Kya was grateful to Lin for the intervention. She realised she was overwhelmed. Not in a bad way, but tired, nonetheless.
“I will talk to you both about this as soon as I catch up on my correspondence,” she said while the young couple were putting on their shoes. “And thank you both so much. You can’t believe how happy you’ve made me.”
“You’re welcome, Kya” Asami said warmly and hugged Kya. Korra didn’t hesitate to join the hug.
“Talk to you soon,” Korra told Kya. Then she grinned mischievously and added, “See you soon too, Chief Babygirl!”
Before Lin could respond, Korra had grabbed Asami’s hand, and they ran out giggling. Kya closed the door with a smile.
“I’m so happy,” she said and collapsed in Lin’s arms.
“You’re finally getting the support and appreciation you deserve,” she replied as she hugged Kya tight, “I’m so happy too.”