lizbee | FIC: The First Step (LoK, Korra, Lin, gen)

Title: The First Step
Summary: Lin offers Korra companionship in her recovery.
Rating: Mostly G with PTSD and allusions to suicide and Lin's time as a prisoner of the Equalists?
Notes: Spoilers through to the end of season 3.

Korra got Asami to take her out to the cliff that overlooked the statue of Aang in the harbour, but when she was seated on the ground, she asked to be left alone. The best thing about having Asami around was that she didn't argue. She just said, "Call me when you need me," and walked away.

The poison had left weird pains in Korra's hands and feet. They came and went, although the healers said there was no injury or damage there. Just pain, to go along with the peeling skin, the twitching muscles and the exhaustion.

The nightmares, Korra figured, were a different kind of side effect.

The problem with the pain was that it distracted her, anchoring her to her body at the very time she most wanted to meditate. Leaving her body behind while she drank tea in the Spirit world with Iroh would be perfect, but her body wasn't letting her get away so easily.

Footsteps approached behind her. A clink of metal. Beifong.

"I'm not going to jump," Korra called.

"I know." Beifong reached Korra's side. "Mind if I join you?"

"Are you going to tell me to 'hang in there, kid' again?"

"So I'm not great at this comfort bullshit." Beifong sat down. She pointed at the edge of the cliff. "You know, there used to be a great little spot here. The island went out another fifty feet or so, and there was a nice slope down to the water. Trees. It was pretty."

Korra looked at her.

"You smashed it, didn't you?"

"Yep." Beifong sounded satisfied. "Made a hell of a splash. You should have seen Tenzin's face. I thought Katara was going to murder me."

"I wish she'd been here today." Korra shifted carefully, pulling her legs up to her chest. She couldn't keep to one position anymore. "I thought -- you know, she's still the best healer in the world."

"I know."

"Growing up, she was my best friend next to Naga. I keep thinking, if she's too sick to come to Republic City, does this mean we're going to lose her?" Tears welled up in Korra's eyes. She couldn't seem to stop crying these days. "I wish I could go and see her."

"What did Kya say?"

"That I might be well enough in a month." Korra found a stone in the grass. Bending it into a perfect sphere took more effort than she liked to admit. "Maybe. If I don't push myself."

Beifong plucked the stone out of Korra's hand.

"Then stop pushing yourself," she said.

"But I hate not doing anything! I can't even hold Rohan for more than a few minutes. I'm taking more naps than Meelo and Grandma Yin combined, but then I can't sleep at night, so I just lie there, and when I finally do sleep--"

Korra stopped.

"They're not really dreams," said Beifong quietly. "And they're sharper than memories. You wake up, and you think it's still happening."

Korra's breath caught in her throat.

"Don't--" she swallowed -- "don't act like you know what I'm going through. No one does. No one alive, anyway, and my link to my past lives is severed, so I can't--"

A sharp pain shot through her left leg like an electric shock. She jumped, throwing her leg out like she could eject the pain from her body. But it clung on, spreading to her other leg and radiating up to her hips.

"I can't do this," she said, putting her face in her chapped hands and curling into a ball. "I just don't know what to do."

Beifong put a hand on Korra's shoulder and squeezed it gently.

"I spent days in an Equalist prison last year," she said. "You know what they do to cops in jail? I had no bending. No power. No control. They didn't chain me up and poison me, but … I know a little bit about what you're going through."

Korra wiped her eyes, but didn't move from her foetal position.

"The dreams?" she asked.

"They go away. Sort of. I've been … angrier, I guess, since it all happened, but I don't think anyone's noticed a difference."

She sounded slightly amused, but it was the sort of amusement that kept horrors at bay. Korra tried to match it.

"You attacked your sister," she said.

"And you and Bolin stood around watching like it was a pro-bending match."

"Well," Korra sniffled, "it's not every day you see two metalbending masters fight. It was educational." She sat up, pulling a piece of grass out of her hair. "I really want to try lavabending."

Beifong snorted. "Not in my city, kid."

"I've always wanted to go to the Fire Nation. Lots of volcanoes there."

"Yeah, good. Go trash one of the Fire Lord's cities."

"You trashed Air Temple Island," Korra pointed out.

"I was young and impetuous."

"And you trashed Suyin's garden."

"I was having a bad day," Beifong said. "And believe it or not, you helped me. So … thanks. I hope I can return the favour."

"You already have," said Korra. "I think."

"You have eyeliner on your nose."

"I'm not good at make-up."

"There you are!" Suyin appeared, Opal by her side. "I was just showing Opal where we grew up." She left the path and joined them, frowning at the cliff. "Wasn't there a hill here? Leading down to the beach?"

"Your memory's playing tricks on you." Beifong stood up and reached down to Korra. "Need a hand?"

"Yes -- no -- wait." Carefully, Korra climbed to her feet and -- painfully -- walked the few steps back to her wheelchair. "I'll need a push."

"You know," said Su thoughtfully, "when you're a bit stronger, you might be able to control your chair with metalbending."

"Don't push her," Beifong snapped. "She's already planning an expedition to learn lavabending."

"Oh, that sounds marvellous. In the Fire Nation? We'll take my airship. You should come too, Lin. Mom never mastered lava."

"Neither did Aang," said Korra. "I asked Tenzin."

"Not that it's a competition," said Beifong.

"No," said Korra, and she smiled at her. "But if it was, we'd probably be winning."

end