Work Text:
I thought we were done / And young love would keep us young
(Mumford & Sons / Just Smoke)
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Izumi does a good job of keeping her nose clean of United Republic drama, but there are still days when Kya passes a news stand and finds several greyscale copies of a familiar pair of eyes on her. She's in the habit of buying them, if the headlines are interesting or the photos are particularly good. There's a collection of clippings of this kind in a box in the back of the closet of her room on Air Temple Island. Kya's not sentimental about a lot of things, so she indulges this one habit. Today's purchase is actually just a gossip rag asking questions about Iroh's legitimacy as an heir given that his ambitions all seem to lie with the United Forces. It's an old story, already chewed up and spat out by every journalist in the Republic and, Kya figures, probably the Fire Nation too, but the picture they've printed of Izumi is hard to look away from. It's the first time Kya's seen her wearing anything halfway like a smile in... well. It's been a long time.
She sits at the edge of her favourite pond on the Island, away from prying eyes and noisy nieces and nephews. The sounds of the waterfall that feeds it calm her. She scans the article. Iroh's forty-first birthday celebrations are apparently the reason for the revived curiosity about the royals. Forty-one. The boy doesn't look a day over thirty, if you ask Kya. Forty-one. Kya's been collecting newspaper pages for at least forty-three years, then.
"God, that sounds sad," she mumbles, aloud, because only the water can hear her.
"I don't even want to know, then," someone answers, and Kya almost falls off her perch in surprise. The waterfall has masked Lin's approach. What a rookie mistake.
Lin squats on a rock a few feet away.
"What do you want?" Kya snaps, because there's no hiding the paper she's reading. Lin's already seen it, and even if she hadn't, the detective is good enough at her job that she'd figure it out.
"Right now? A break from the meeting your brother is hosting back at the temple. I couldn't care less about the regulations they're debating. There isn't even any need for police input. I'm fairly certain Tenzin only invited me as a cruel joke."
And there it is—all the acknowledgement Kya needs to feel a little better. She's not the only one whose last significant romantic relationship ended decades ago.
"Rules that Lin Beifong has no interest in? I never thought I'd see this day," she jokes, and Lin just huffs in response.
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"Sometimes I just want to get out of this place."
"I can understand that," Izumi answers. "My father always encourages me to go and see the world. It's the reason I'm here at the Air Temple spending time with the Avatar, and with you, right now. Father says his travels shaped him into the best Fire Lord he could be. How can I be the best possible Fire Lord in the future if I don't even know my place in the four nations?"
"Sure, exactly," Kya agrees, even though doing everything for the sake of carrying on a legacy is really the opposite of what she means when she talks about running off. "But don't you also want to go and explore everything? Just for the fun of it? Do something crazy and spontaneous? Sure our parents had hard jobs to do when they were teenagers, but we're lucky. We get to be young."
Izumi smiles, a private little smile that's accompanied by the most adorable blush. She looks down at her hands where they fidget in her lap, flicking a tiny flame from fingertip to fingertip. Kya knows it should come as no surprise that the Princess, the future Fire Lord, is kind of awkward. She's heard all kinds of stories about Izumi's dad, after all, from her parents and uncle and aunt and Toph. She's met the man himself, too, but it sounds like his teen years were on a whole other level she can only imagine.
"What might this craziness and spontaneity consist of?" Izumi asks. She looks at Kya with her golden eyes, one brow cocked, and Kya can't help it, okay, she's resisted this temptation since Izumi came to stay with her family weeks ago, but she can't think of any good reason to resist it any longer. Not when it's obvious the other girl wants the same thing she does.
She leans over and kisses Izumi. Her lips are warm, warmer than the two other people Kya's kissed before this, not counting Lin because they agreed that was an accident. From the way Izumi kisses her back, Kya suspects her list is about two people longer than the Princess'. She's got a few things to learn, and Kya wants to teach her, wants to figure out how to keep Izumi with her.
"I've always wanted to see some of the more remote parts of the Fire Nation," she suggests. "As Princess you should be able to guide me through your own country, right?"
"There are quite a few places I need to acquaint myself with," Izumi says, and those fiery fingers press hot into Kya's hand. "I'd certainly like to do so with you as a companion."
Kya grins so hard she laughs. Moments ago she'd been stifled by the closed space of the room they sit in. Now the whole world is opening up before her.
"Everything will be so much better with your fancy commentary," she says, and presses another quick kiss—too much smile in it to be much of a success—to Izumi's mouth.
"I talk with as much formality as befits a Princess," Izumi insists.
Kya doesn't care why Izumi talks the way she does. She just wants to keep listening to her do it.
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IT'S A BOY! THE NEW FIRE NATION PRINCE HAS ARRIVED!
Izumi's all the way across an ocean and Kya still can't avoid her if she tries. News of Princess Izumi's marriage, pregnancy and now the birth of her son—Iroh, after the wise great uncle she always talked about—has been loud and clear no matter where Kya's travelled to. Sure, she wants to see Izumi's face in every unfamiliar town she arrives at, but not like this. She wants back the years they spent as nomads (more nomadic than Tenzin; Kya claims this part of their ancestry as her domain). She wants Izumi walking so close to her that she can't help but take Kya's hand in her own. Wants Izumi kissing her in the street and then going pink with embarrassment, only to forget herself and do it all over again fifteen minutes later. Wants Izumi rolling around in the too-small bed of whichever inn has put them up for the night, limbs splayed all over the place like some kind of crazy firebending octopus, the exact opposite of the orderly sleeper Kya thought she'd be.
The photo they've used of Izumi on the tabloid cover announcing the birth is somewhat outdated. The Fire Lord has changed her glasses since it was taken—Kya knows because she's seen the new frameless lenses in private pictures her mother brought back. Izumi had wanted the absolute best for the delivery, she'd said, and Katara had answered her call. She'd tried to convince Kya to come with her, and Kya doesn't know whether Izumi put her up to asking, but... no. It hasn't been more than three years since they ended things. Kya's been called crazy before, and on plenty of occasions she's revelled in that—but showing up possibly-uninvited to the delivery of Izumi's kid is crazy beyond her expertise.
Izumi's kid. Spirits. Kya can't imagine having a kid. Her entire body shudders in protest at the very thought of all that that would entail. Kya's still coming to terms with the fact she doesn't have a partner anymore, while that partner has gone and created a whole new human being to take up all of her attention.
The kid, Iroh, is gorgeous from his little dimples to his tufty black hair, to the bright smile the camera managed to capture. She can't feel bitter towards him at all, but it's going to take work to stop feeling bitter about all the things surrounding him. She fingers the crescent-moon pendant at her throat and tries yet again to decide whether or not she ought to take it off.
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"Alright, what's going on with you?" Kya asks. She's been doing her best, working up a sweat, but nothing seems to be working for Izumi tonight. Something's wrong, and by the spirits, Kya wants to fix it so that they can get back to their usual standards in bed. Those standards, in Kya's opinion, set international records. They've been kicked out of inns on four occasions. On a fifth, the innkeeper had recognised Izumi, turned as red as a lobster-parrot and shut their door again.
"The call I had with my father the other day... he said he definitely won't be having any more children."
Kya stops moving. "Well no wonder you're so turned off! Why are you thinking about your dad while you're lying naked on top of me?"
"It's... Kya, you have to know what a statement like that implies," Izumi says seriously, too seriously. She climbs off Kya and sits in the sheets beside her, eyes downcast. "I have responsibilities to my family, my nation. My conversation with Father reminded me of them. I've loved these years, and I love you, but..."
"Woah, stop right there," Kya holds up a hand. "I need a glass of water and some clothes before I can even think about having this conversation."
Izumi waits patiently. Kya gathers what she needs as slowly as possible, like stalling can save her from this. She decides she doesn't want to ask whether stalling is all this has ever been to the Princess.
"I've been making you something," Izumi says quietly, and reaches into her bag. What she pulls out is a necklace, a pale blue crystal fixed to a sleek stretch of navy ribbon.
"You do realise what that is, don't you?" Kya asks slowly, because the mixed signals she's getting right now are doing dangerous things to her heart. One moment Izumi is talking about the need to do her royal duty and produce an heir—the next she's holding up a betrothal necklace, slowly reeling Kya in so that she can tie it around her neck with shaky hands. Kya means to stop her, means to ask why, but she's too scared to question anything right now, in case all of it dissolves around her.
"It's only a crescent moon," she observes. "Traditionally—"
"I did a lot of research into both northern and southern water tribe betrothal necklaces, Kya," Izumi sighs. "But I can't give you a full moon. I want to give you everything, but my responsibilities come before my personal happiness."
Kya blinks. There's so much water ready to spring from her eyes, so much barely-restrained wobble in her lip she can only just manage the words, "then why?"
Izumi kisses her neck, right next to where the ribbon is wrapped. "I wanted you to know that what I was able to give you..." she says, "this is how much I meant it. This is what I wanted."
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Lin Beifong in tears is a terrifying thing. Tenzin has certainly come to that conclusion, because his sorry ass is nowhere to be found. Kya's been chasing after him for an hour because Dad wants them to go somewhere, do something, special airbender stuff, whatever. Kya finds Lin instead of her brother. She's sitting under a tree that's so full of metal pieces on one side it's probably in danger of toppling over. There's dirt on Lin's hand and it turns muddy on her cheeks when she gives them a rough wipe down. Kya had figured Lin would have left the island in a hurry, but obviously she hasn't made it that far yet.
"What do you want?" Lin growls. Kya approaches her the way she would a wounded animal. When Lin lashes out, she does it properly, and Kya doesn't want to be on the receiving end of that if she can help it.
Kya definitely doesn't tell Lin that she's actually out here looking for Tenzin. Tenzin, who's just broken the heart of one of the toughest people Kya can name.
"Nothing," she says, easing herself down onto the ground beside Lin.
"Then why do you have to be here?"
"I can leave if you want me to," Kya shrugs, because she won't stay where she's not wanted. She doesn't think that's what Lin really needs right now, though. More loneliness. It may seem like the answer for a while, cutting everyone off—but it's not, Kya's learned.
"No, don't go. Tell me, how'd you get over it?"
Kya raises an eyebrow and asks, "Over what?" even though she can guess well enough.
"Izumi," Lin clarifies. "How'd you stop it from feeling like all the ground under you was suddenly hollow?"
"I'll let you know when I figure it out," she gives a bitter chuckle.
"I mean, it's not like I could have asked him not to continue the air nation," Lin mumbles. "And there was no way I was going to end up with a bunch of snotty kids. It's not me. But..."
"Responsibilities," Kya sighs. "I'm glad I wasn't born an airbender. Otherwise that'd be me, a slave to expectations. Who'd want that life?"
Lin doesn't reply.
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Lin kisses stiffly. It's not a very nice experience, all in all. She's not soft and hot like Izumi, and Kya had thought she wanted this but in the two seconds her mouth has been pressed against her friend's it's become very clear that she doesn't.
Lin pulls away. "Nope," she shakes her head decisively.
"Nope," Kya agrees. She's relieved when they both laugh. "It's a shame. You know we would have been great together."
"We are great together," Lin says, jabbing Kya in the side with her elbow, a touch of rough affection that feels much more appropriate than the experimental kiss. "Just not that way."
Kya still misses having a girlfriend, someone she can be infinitely close to, physically and otherwise. But she and Lin have found a camaraderie that distracts from that hurt.
"Hey," she's struck by a bright idea. "You want to go to Kyoshi Island with me? I only got to spend a couple of days there last time, and it seems like the kind of place you'd find interesting. I've got a ticket to leave next week, but I can totally wrangle another one."
Lin looks thoughtful, but her thoughts end with a frown. "I've got a big case going on at the moment. If I disappear now I'll be passing up a shot at a promotion. I want to be a real detective, like mom was by this age."
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"Hey, what's the catering like back at that meeting even you're bored of?" Kya asks Lin.
Lin snorts. "Not worth your while or mine. You know, after the last few years I think I could use a vacation. Somewhere with no Avatar, no busy young detectives or Earth Princes, and certainly no Raiko."
"Vacation Lin?" Kya gapes, only partly for effect. "That has to be an even rarer sight than vacation Tenzin. Please, let me witness this miracle with my own two eyes. Where does Vacation Lin feel like going?"
Lin looks disgruntled, but doesn't retract any of what she's said. "What about Kyoshi Island?" she suggests. Kya hasn't forgotten that day all those years ago when she asked Lin to go with her, but she's very surprised Lin remembers it too.
"Sure, if you want to be snowed in the whole time," Kya says. "It's freezing down there this time of year. Pick somewhere warm. Somewhere with beaches; I like a beach holiday."
"Well, there's... Ember Island?" Lin ventures. And Ember Island's are the most famous beaches in the world, but Kya's been too many times to count.
"You know where I've never been," she says, before she's even fully sure she wants to say it. "The Caldera."
"The Fire Nation capital? You know that's—"
"Where the palace is," Kya nods. "I know." She takes one last look at the poorly printed picture of the face she hasn't seen outside poorly printed pictures in over forty years, and folds her newspaper up. "I've been thinking: it's high time I paid the Fire Lord a visit."