Chapter Text
Lin, for as long as she could remember, had loved watching Kya waterbend.
She noticed every graceful curve of Kya’s fingers as the streams of water were expertly pushed and pulled through the air, every elegant movement of her honey coloured arms as she twisted and twirled the clear water around her body, noticed how as Kya swayed, the flowing sprays seemed to sway with her in an intricate dance between a master and her element.
Kya was the human embodiment her of element, and Lin thought that Kya being born any other type of bender would be a contradiction to her very nature.
Like a river, Kya was fluid and adaptable, rushing through the fields of life, flowing wherever the current saw fit, versatile and resilient enough to make a life wherever she went.
Like the tides of the ocean, she was molded by blustering winds and the hypnotising push and pull, the Tui and La, of the moon and the sea, following the primal instinct within herself to explore the world, a need to flow everywhere, be everywhere at once.
She was like a wave that quietly lapped at the shore in times of peace as she smoothed over the sharp parts of life for others, healing injuries caused by circumstance, and in times of turmoil, her emotions causing her to crash and break against the steep cliffs she faced.
Lin could draw comparisons between Kya and water all day, but what she loved most about Kya, is how she treated Lin like the streams of water she bent so effortlessly through the air, - reverentially, delicately, and assuredly with her capable hands.
When Kya bent water, she felt the flow of the liquid as fluidly as if it was a part of her own body – she was not in control of the water, but its’ equal: the two were almost one – pushing and pulling in an endless rhythm until Lin could hardly tell where one ended and the next began.
*******
Lin was five, Kya seven. It was a spring day, a warm breeze blowing over Air Temple Island, the beginnings of buds on the pink and white cherry blossom trees starting to peek out after the harsh winds of winter that always battered the island relentlessly.
Toph had left Lin in the care of Aang and Katara for the day, as she was currently heading a case involving Yakone, a gang leader, and more concerningly, an alleged bloodbender.
Lin, being five, was eager to spend the day in a world of Uncle Aang’s enthralling stories and his steady knee, and Aunt Katara’s warm, comforting hugs and delicious cooking, and, best of all, exploring the island and running around, gallivanting with Kya and Tenzin.
The three children, always in sight of Katara’s watchful eye, ventured down to the beach, Lin eager to make the sand swirl around her in a desperate attempt to mimic what Kya was able to do with the water of the ocean that met the shore.
Lin watched as her friend raced into the water, her short legs running as fast as she could, shouting first with glee, then with shock from the sudden cold of the water.
Once the initial cold of the freezing water was thrown off, Kya began to giggle joyfully as she skipped and hopped and danced over the gentle waves, flinging her arms wildly around her head as she pulled and splashed and manipulated the water under her frenzied, childish command, without control, without grace, just with pure, innocent happiness.
The bright sunlight was glinting off the darting waves, causing the entire expanse of the bay to gleam and shimmer with seemingly thousands of sparkling lights, with Kya at the centre of this heavenly sight. Lin was filled with an urge to do something, anything, so her friend would look over at her.
She watched as Kya skipped through the water, cheering and whooping at her infectious joy, before filling her little lungs with air and shouting,
“Kya! Watch this!”
Kya heard Lin’s thin voice cut through the roaring sound of the water splashing around her, and turned her small, dark head around to see her friend bending the sand particles on the beach much like she had been moving the water – with no sense of discipline or control, just with pure, unadulterated joy.
The sand flew in soft waves around Lin’s small body, twisting and turning just as the water had been, the particles then catching on the wind and being carried away, dancing towards the ocean.
Kya shrieked with joy and laughter, and sprinted out of the water back towards Lin, her mother and Tenzin, still carrying a small stream of water behind her as she ran.
Little, five-year-old Lin giggled with glee as Kya ran, knowing she’d never seen anything more delightful in her short life as her friend in the water, joyfully swiping at the waves.
******
Somehow, Kya and Lin had always been the best of friends, despite their two-year age gap. Although that had never had any consequence to their friendship when they were younger, but somehow now they were teenagers, the two were almost closer than ever.
To outside eyes, the girls were an odd pairing, seeming to be complete opposites – Kya had the smooth, darker skin and tall, slender figure typical of the Southern Water Tribe, deep blue eyes that seemed to wink and glisten like the ocean underneath the sun, and long, so long, shiny, dark brown hair that was ordinarily pulled back into a traditional ponytail.
She had a mischievous, playful and nurturing spirit, always bringing light and laughter to all that surrounded her.
Lin on the other hand, was slightly shorter, but compared to Kya, that wasn’t hard, and had the beginnings of muscle to her lithe body. She had very fair, almost porcelain-like skin, the kind of skin that quicky betrayed any sort of blush, and her hair was shorter, almost uncontrollably thick so it was usually pinned back, and jet black, like her mother’s.
She possessed narrow, inquisitive, deep green eyes and a steely, intense stare that could almost pierce metal.
Lin had a much more serious disposition than Kya, responsible, competitive and intelligent, but strangely, there was something about the two that just effortlessly complimented each other.
They provided balance for each other – Kya was one of the only people in the world that could force Lin to actually relax, and Lin helped Kya bring some stability and structure to her sometimes all-over-the-place life.
Similar to their contrasting personalities, they each had their own style of bending.
Kya had a way of guiding the water around her body that was mesmerising to watch- she treated it almost as a friend, allowing the curve of the water to become an extension of herself, bending the water so fluidly it could adapt to anything.
Lin was an earthbender, her element far more stubborn, rigid and structured, as was Lin’s own nature. The earth grounded her to reality, kept her anchored, and Lin had always felt deeply connected to her element. She bent earth firmly, steadfastly and purposefully, as her mother taught her, always waiting, and listening before taking action. Every small flick of her wrist and tiny twitch of her fingers had a purpose.
Even though the two friend’s bending styles were so different, they were always very evenly matched, and Lin always enjoyed watching Kya spar with her siblings, and especially enjoyed the many hours that she got to spend sparring with Kya.
Lin told herself that she was just interested in waterbending, that it was healthy to take an interest in element’s that weren’t one’s own, and that the cause of the hot, flustered feeling that would settle over her body like humid air as she watched Kya spar was just that she was very invested in the match.
But her supposed interest in the art of waterbending couldn’t explain the burning sensation in her lower stomach as she watched the curve of Kya’s lean arms, gleaming with sweat, powerfully blast a jet of water dangerously near Tenzin’s head, or the subtle quickening of Lin’s breath and the slick feeling between her legs when she drank Kya in, as, with a flick of her delicate fingers, she wrapped a tendril of water around Tenzin’s ankle and pulled him to the ground.
Lin pushed herself off the ground, flinging herself to the side as she dodged a jet of water. The jet has hurtled towards her from the side, and the corners of Lin’s mouth twitched up, forming her usual lazy smirk. Had Kya forgotten who she was dealing with?
“Whoa!” she yelled involuntarily as a huge wave suddenly crashed over her from the other side, knocking her roughly to the ground.
There was no way Kya was letting Lin get up this time, so she careened at full speed into Lin, tumbling on top of her with a heavy “Oomph!”, before freezing Lin’s wrists to the ground with a blast of ice.
“You done yet, Linny?” she drawled teasingly, Lin’s despised nickname dripping off her tongue like honey.
Lin’s breath hitched in the back of her throat, and Kya raised an eyebrow as Lin scowled up at her, but her narrow green eyes had a look that Kya wasn’t used to. Could that be – lust?
It couldn’t explain the urge Lin sometimes got, as she lay in her bed on hot summer nights, thinking back over the intense sparring match her and Kya had engaged in where Kya had stumbled on top of her and landed flush against Lin’s chest, her breasts pressed hard against Lin, to ease the ache in between her legs.
It didn’t explain the way these thoughts would end with one of Lin’s hands shoved down her underwear, and one hand clamped over her mouth, stifling her soft sighs and needy moans. She thought of Kya’s soft, full lips, merely millimetres from her face. She thought of the soft pressure of Kya’s breasts against her own, the sensation of Kya’s hardened nipples digging into her skin.
She thought of the hungry look in Kya’s darkened eyes as she straddled Lin’s hips, preventing her from leaving the ground after knocking her off her feet. She shivered as she remembered the freezing sensation of the ice against her wrists.
It didn’t explain the way Lin would arch her back, bucking her hips against what she imagined was Kya’s deft, practised hand.
And it certainly didn’t explain the way she would finish in a euphoric rush as her body untensed, how she would flop back onto her soft pillows, her chest flushed and heaving and her body sweating.
Fleeting images of Kya’s lean body, covered in sweat, blasting daggers of ice and jets of water in every direction were the last thoughts that lingered on her mind before sleep overtook her.