Chapter Text
Lin Beifong came home to a quiet house. This wasn’t unusual. It was late again, and a full moon lit her way to the door. Katara was most certainly in bed by now, and Kya would be reading in bed, or listening to the radio, waiting for her.
She smiled inwardly. This was the best thing. Every day at work was one crisis or disaster after another, but since she and Kya were together now, she was always there when she got home. It was the perfect antidote to the rest of the world’s madness. Stable and predictable, safe and secure, soft and warm.
She entered the darkened building. Perhaps Kya had already gone to bed. She silently moved through the rooms of their home and checked for her in the bedroom, but Kya wasn’t there.
Okay, “always there” at home wasn’t absolute. Sometimes she went out to Air Temple Island. Sometimes she went to the Kyoshi Island Women’s Club. Lin had said from the very beginning that she would not do anything to restrain Kya’s free spirit. The magic of promising her that freedom was that Kya always did come home, and yes, that “always” was absolute. She could depend on Kya’s love.
Still, also from the beginning, Lin knew that Kya had a policy to always make absolutely plain what her plans were. Back from her youth, when a kiss could seem like a promise, Kya had learned to tell people what her intentions were, to avoid confusing someone about whether she intended to stay.
Indeed, when she’d failed to show up for their first lunch together, at the very start of their relationship, it was a sign that something had gone wrong.
Lin tried not to think about that right now. Maybe Kya was still around the place… it was an unusually warm fall evening, and she might be wandering around the garden. It was a full moon, after all, and Kya might be practicing some esoteric waterbending forms using the moon’s pull to aid her.
She remembered with a growing smile how Kya had used her bending to win a little competition with her: Lin could not resist the combination of Kya’s beautiful body and the graceful shifting movements of the waterbending forms. She’d lost all resolve to keep her hands off Kya, and when she’d forfeited the game, Kya touched her first, technically losing the game herself.
Lin felt the curl in her stomach, that familiar feeling of warmth and excitement, when she thought of what happened after. Now it was important to find Kya… it was a perfect time to reminisce about that particular evening’s events.
She went out the back door, into the garden, but Kya was not on the swing. She wasn’t walking the garden paths, and she wasn’t practicing forms in the moonlight. Lin was puzzled. She moved out into the garden, through the hedges, looking. She called out. “Kya?”
“Here,” her soft voice said.
Kya was floating, unclothed, in a pool of water. Her silver hair spread out around her like a great halo, under the lily pads, drifting gently with eddies in the water that she stirred by slowly moving her hands.
Lin was relieved, but completely baffled.
“What… Kya, what are you doing?”
“Nothing,” Kya laughed, dreamily. Her eyes were half shut and she smiled broadly as the water lapped over her skin.
Something was odd about Kya’s voice. Lin knew her well by now, so the gentle, lazy tone of her “Nothing” struck Lin as very odd.
“Are you all right? What’s with the water?”
“Floating, baby…” Kya said, strangely slowly. “Feeling the mooooon. Come and join me!”
“Are you hurt?”
“Noooooooo,” Kya drawled, and then she laughed again, as though half asleep. “I feel reeeaalllly gooooooddd.”
Lin frowned.
“Have you been drinking?”
“Nooope.”
“What on earth has come over you?” Lin said, knowing her anxiety was coming through her voice as irritation.
“Loooove,” Kya laughed again. “Come with meeee!”
“It’s time for bed, Kya.”
“Okay,” she said, like a child. She sat up in the water, and looked a little lost. “Where are we?”
Lin took her hand, and pulled her up out of the water, grateful for the late hour and the tall hedges. Kya was still so strikingly beautiful, and the moonlight on her long, silver hair, hanging straight, made Lin almost forget her concern.
She bent and picked up Kya’s clothes, carelessly shed at the edge of the pool. Kya stood there, dreamily, not assisting, not speaking.
Lin took her hand and guided her back into the house, and through their bedroom to the bath. She started a shower, to wash off the bits of fallen leaves and algae from the pond, and had to gently push Kya in. Kya stood under the running water, her face uplifted, seeming to enjoy the sensation, but she made no effort to wash.
Lin didn’t know whether to be terrified or annoyed. She had no idea why Kya was like this. Had she been taken over by a spirit? Was she sick and didn’t know it? Katara was home, and sound asleep, so why was Kya out gallivanting in the garden without a stitch of clothing on?
Lin handed her soap. Kya stood, smiling innocently, but then, her expression changed, and she pulled Lin into the shower with her, and moved to kiss her.
“I’m still dressed!” Lin protested. But it was too late. She was soaked, and Kya’s lips and gorgeous body were right there in front of her. She gave in to the kiss, still not understanding, but glad that Kya was aware enough to trust Lin with taking care of her. Kya was going to be all right, she supposed, but in the morning they were definitely going to talk about what was going on. She stripped off her own things, throwing them out onto the bathroom floor, took back the soap and washed Kya, who turned and raised her arms as instructed, and was washed completely clean. She briskly washed herself, and then led Kya back out, and found towels for them both.
Kya said nothing the whole time, and then, finally, after Lin had dried her hair and combed it, she climbed into the sheets that Lin lifted for her, and lay down, like a small child being tucked in.
She went around the bed and climbed in to join her, pulling the chain to the lamp, and in the darkness, she looked at Kya’s eyes. Kya was rapidly falling asleep.
“Luvvooo,” Kya murmured, and she was out.
Lin lay there, sleep eluding her, and watched Kya in the moonlight from the window, mystified.