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The Meditations of A Young Woman Chapter Twelve
🕑 Added 2025-01-18 10:31:42 +0000 UTCI will have the chapter as links to download at the bottom of the post. As well as a link to the Google Document page.
Tenya Beifong
The game had been put aside with the addition of three other guests to entertain with the table hosting a small spread of sweets and drinks as the small crowd slowly warmed up to each other with polite inquiries and small talk.
“You don’t realise how much work goes into digging out and leveling a foundation. It has to be perfect, one little bump and you have to do the entire thing again.” Bolin grossed before sipping his tea. “Don’t get me wrong, it is a great workout and the pay is pretty good but it is just so slow and boring.”
“Working at the power plant isn't a walk in the park either.” Mako intoned, filling a plate with finger food as he did so, I made a mental note to have more food brought in for the hungry duo who were likely budgeting food.
“It’s not a competition Mako.” Korra lightly chided Mako who shrugged in response.
“I had no idea you had day jobs. I suppose I never thought about how athletes go about their daily lives.” Asami said.
“Sometimes the winnings for matches can be pretty big but with fees and everything they don’t last very long, the real money makers are exhibition matches but you have to draw in a crowd consistently to get them and we don’t have that kind of crowd draw yet.” Bolin said before stuffing some honey bread into his mouth.
“You guys don’t have sponsorships or anything?” Asami asked.
“A few but Nothing big, most major sponsors like to control a team outright and no one has made reasonable offers, they just want to own us.” Mako said into a cup of tea.
“But with your day jobs you are on track to earn enough for the entrance fee?” I inquired.
“Uh, I think so, it was looking good when Bolin had some work lined up on the other side of the bridge for Cabbage Corp but the site is entirely shut down now. But with our bank account we should have just enough to afford the fee.” Mako replied.
“What is going on with Cabbage Corp?” It was odd for Cabbage Corp to delay any construction project. They were an Earth Nation company and Earth Nation companies took construction projects very seriously. I was aware of the expansion of their automobile lines with a new factory on the other side of the river. Any delays on that product would mean the stock I was holding would stagnate and would likely be better invested elsewhere.
“Some Equalist stuff right?” Korra said. “I heard from Tenzin that Lin arrested a bunch of Cabbage corp people.” WHAT?! What was going on? Cabbage Corp was a stable company, a sureshot for anyone looking for a buy and hold strategy. It had been my least risky investment.
“When did this happen?!” I shot upright as Asami and Korra gave me concerned looks.
“When you were recovering? I was surprised that Cabbage Corp was associated with those thugs.” Asami said. “But I know Lau, he is a sweet old man and I know he never hated benders, there is no way he was directly involved, once the Equalist infiltrators are found I am sure there will be a rebound from Cabbage Corp.” I felt a wave of claustrophobia and placed my hands on the table in front of me to steady myself.
“Are you okay Tenya?” Asami asked, offering a concerned expression.
“I just need some air, uh, Korra can I have a quick word please?” I looked over at Korra who pointed at herself before nodding and following me outside.
“Are you feeling okay? If it is a hot flush or something I ca-.” I shook my head at Korra and cut her off.
“No, no it’s nothing like that. Korra I... I need to go into Republic City.” With my family keeping a close eye on me I doubted I would be able to just slip away like I normally would. Everyone had become rather oversensitive to my safety since the whole assassination attempt incident and while that was understandable to a degree it was quite overdone.
This was hardly the first time I was assassinated after all. I had just grown careless in my old age.
“I don’t think that would be a good thing, you still need time to rest. Just because everything has been knitted back together does not mean that your injuries are healed properly.” Korra explained.
“It is just a small errand, just in and out, you can come with me it won’t be a problem.” I quickly replied, trying to keep my voice even.
“What about the Equalists? Tenya I don’t like the idea of you, or, well any of your family going to Republic City at the moment, there are crazy people trying to kill you just for airbending!” Korra crossed her arms and I felt a wave of frustration that I quickly settled. Korra was not being unreasonable right now, she simply did not understand the importance of the errand.
“Korra this is very important, we can even take some of your white Lotus guards, we can’t take any of the Air Temple staff since they report everything to my father an-.”
“Woah, hold on, why are we keeping something from your father?” Korra probed.
“It’s nothing important, just a difference of opinion. You don’t have to worry about it at all, we can just go do the errand and be back as soon as possible, half an hour at most.” I pressed.
“Okay this is seriously strange Tenya, you don’t act like this, what is going on? Why do you need to go to the City so bad?” She took a step forwards to punctuate her question and I tapped my fingers together.
“It’s just a little investment Korra, nothing big, this is just a personal... Just a personal investment I made, Tenzin does not approve totally of... well day trading in general, mostly due to misunderstanding of the practice but I just need to go to the city, make some trades and pick up my portfolio. Nothing to worry about and we are going to a very safe part of town.” I inched the back of my neck and glanced over at the skyline of Republic City as I explained what I needed to do.
“I don’t get it, you just need to go to Republic City and buy something?” Korra frowned.
“Did they not? No, no I suppose they never taught you about the economy.” I rubbed the bridge of my nose to sooth the frustration and indignity of needing to ask Korra about this in the first place. “No, I need to go to the city to sell something.” I corrected.
“Well just give it to me and I will sell it for you.” Korra held out her hand as if I actually had something on me.
“No, it’s. The portfolio is in the city, so I need to go to an office and tell them to sell what I own the moment the market opens tomorrow.” I explained. I had no doubt that the stock price of Cabbage Corp must have taken a lot of damage, getting my money out as soon as possible so I could recover whatever I could was vital at the moment.
“Tenya, I don’t think that...” Korra began.
“Korra, this is very important to me.” I elucidated clearly, she paused for a moment before nodding.
“What about your new girlfriend Asami? I bet she knows about this stocks stuff, why are you asking me?” Korra offered in a huff, setting her hands on her hips.
“Korra, I barely know Asami, it would be very strange to ask someone I just started dating to do anything related to my finances. I like Asami but trust is built over time and our relationship is not at that level yet.” I pointed out, Korra very likely lacked a healthy perspective on relationships due to her isolation. I would have to keep that in mind with her courtship of Mako and offer what advice I could to make sure she would not do something premature she would regret later.
“Okay, I will help you Tenya.” I let out a sigh of relief as she spoke, she suddenly seemed very happy and had a wide smile on her face.
“Good, now the office is open at night so we can go later on together, thank you Korra.” I let out a sigh of relief. I was still worried about my portfolio but I was somewhat diversified that even if one of my investments likely failed the others could take up the slack.
“If I snuck you out with me your Tenzin would kill me.” Korra said in an amused tone. “Just tell me what to do and I will go do it myself.” She seemed to consider the problem for a moment as I stared at her dumbfoundedly.
“Korra this is... a very serious thing for me. I need it done properly.” I pressed, trying to keep the frustration out of my tone.
“That is a good point, look if you write down exactly what I am meant to do I can just go do it, Tenzin is not mad, you get your stock things sorted. Problem solved right? I promise I will take this very, very seriously.” She stepped forwards and gently put a hand on my good shoulder. “I promise okay? I know I have been a pain before but I get how much this means to you.” I was reluctant to trust Korra with this alone even if it was a rather simple job. Just going to an office and putting in a stock sell order that would be carried out by contractors tomorrow while picking up an update on my portfolio.
But she was not wrong that Tenzin would be keeping an eye on me and would likely feel unnecessarily aggrieved if I were to sneak out to the city so soon after waking up from my injuries. From one perspective this was a perfect chance for Korra to show some maturity and follow through with a promise but I did not want to be the aggrieved party if Korra were to decide to neglect her word again.
I carefully weighed the options availed to me and decided that Korra going alone was... acceptable. If only barely. But nevertheless I would be a lot more satisfied with the situation if I was to go with her.
“Korra I-.” Any further protests were silenced as the door behind me slid open and Asami stepped out into the cool sea breeze.
“There you are. Are you feeling okay Tenya?” Asami asked as Korra took a step back and rubbed the back of her neck. I did not want to give Asami the impression that I was in some sort of financial problem. I would have to risk Korra going with instructions.
“Yeah I feel fine now. I just needed to have Korra run an errand for me in the City.” I explained as Asami gently took my hand and gave a brilliant smile.
“You were staying in the City before the attack right? I hope it’s not a pet or anything.” Asami said with a smile.
“No, thankfully, just some paperwork. I just need to write some instructions for Korra and we can get back to our game. How are the brothers?” I began making my way back to the house with Asami at my side and Korra following behind with her arms crossed behind her head.
“Oh good news! I sponsored them!” she exclaimed.
“You did?” Korra and I spoke at the same time, causing Asami to giggle.
“Yep! Well, I am planning to anyway, need to run my own errands to get all the paperwork sorted but the Fire Ferrets will be competing in the Tournament with Future Industries branding. It’s going to be so cool!” The heiress to a business empire did a little fist pump before blushing and covering her mouth with a hand.
“Lucky us.” Korra intoned from behind us as we entered the Air Temple once more.
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Lin Beifong
The harsh yellow sun played across scattered puddles on the street. Blinding light turning all the shadows into harsh lines and deep inky darkness. The city cast into light and darkness with no gradient between.
The truck rolled to a stop and I pressed the whistle between my lips giving three sharp blasts. A moment later a dozen boots touched the road kicking up muddy water that clung to armoured boots and legs. Metal bending police surged across the street towards the unassuming radio shop as what appeared to be nothing more than a harmless store clerk grabbed a hammer and began to strike a bell on his desk just as the first officer threw himself though the glass storefront.
I did not wait, did not hesitate. I followed the first officer through the scattered display and threw myself over the counter just as the door behind the Equalist clerk burst open and a trio of masked figures threw themselves into a fight they were unprepared for.
The clerk slammed his fists against my back only to cry out in pain as steel plate armour without gaps and moved only with the potency of bending held firm while his bones did not. I drove my elbow into his midsection in response before moving on from the neutralised Equalist and towards the trio blocking the door to the illegal chi-blocking dojo.
While the officer in front of me tried to get a firm grip on any of the chi blockers to restrain them I did not have any such mercy. I threw myself forward casting out the steel cable attached to my armour in a mechanical spool just a short amount and driving the tip of the metal forwards with enough force to fill the shop with a sharp CRACK.
One of the Chi Blockers let out a shout of pain as the thick metal wire broke his arm and left a shallow laceration in a single attack. The ferocity of the blow caused the other Chi Blockers to pause in shock as the other officers with us pushed forwards to overwhelm them.
Chi Blocking attacks played uselessly off metal armour as the four Equalists were ripped from the shop and dragged out to wagons prepared for transporting prisoners. But the raid was not over just yet. With the shriek of tires and sirens more Metal Bending police arrived on scene as I led a push into the dojo finding dozens of prospective Equalist students in a panic as they tried to escape through windows and doors that would lead them into the clutches of the police.
We set upon them, heedless of any lie they spat or any chi blocking they employed. Our shouts for their surrender, for them to cease resistance were automatic at this point and we were quick. We were eager to break bones and knock out teeth to enforce compliance. It was when the dojo appeared pacified, when the rush of adrenaline that spurred on the raid began to fade that the Terrorists retaliated.
There was a BANG that made my ears ring before a cloud of smoke filled the room. Blinded, I settled into a loose stance only to be thrown off my feet and onto the ground as someone thundered into me and grabbed my midsection. I fell painfully, bouncing off the matted floor of the doko and tried to twist slightly to drive my elbow into the back of whoever was pinning me down but found I did not quite have the mobility in the armour.
My struggles were cut short as a hand grabbed my wrist and I felt the sudden shock of thousands of volts playing over my body. I screamed in pain and rage alike as the figure that knocked me to the floor let me go, convinced that the other person was able to disable using what I presumed to be a shock glove.
My body was wracked by spasms as the Equalist continued to drain the gloves power cell into me volt by agonising volt. But with furious purpose I slowly moved my free arm up and around through the pain to clasp the wrist of the Equalist. They had a moment to panic before I used my metal bending to command the gauntlet to squeeze.
They let out a shriek as flesh was pulverised and bone snapped, ending the torrent of electricity attempting to paralyse me. Freed from the restrictions I sat up and slammed my wrist into the nose of my assailant sending them down onto the mats as I threw myself to my feet.
The police raid had become a disaster, as the smoke cleared I could see officers scattered about, set upon by Equalist forces pinning them to the ground with shock gloves and cattle prods while some tried to pry open the steel armour. I moved forward, swaying from the twitches that still plagued my muscles and planted a steel boot into the back of the closest Equalist sending them sprawling.
The half a dozen masked terrorists turned towards me as if incredulous that I was still standing, in response I adopted a fighting stance keeping all of the Equalists within my vision.
“You are under arrest.” I said, sounding haggard and worn down. “Stop resisting.”
Predictably, they failed to listen.
I cast my steel cable out in a whip forcing the trio who charged at me to jump back or risk a nasty laceration. I took the ground offered to me by the delay to bring my heel down onto the ground, sending up pillars of loosely formed stone to my left and right, boxing me in. I carried forwards the momentum into a second stomp, kicking up a malformed disk of loose earth and bringing my fist down upon it, sending out clumps of earth as rapid projectiles in the general direction of the terrorists.
Some dodged, others were impacted by rapidly moving earth and staggered as I continued to bring my fists, elbows and feet down upon hastily collected earth ripped from the property around me. One of the Equalists, unwilling to simply be hammered from the front, tried to dart around behind my impromptu defences and hit my at my vulnerable back.
I skipped back with agility only possible with decades of moving about in steel armour that demanded metalbending for each and every motion and drove my elbow into the brick wall behind me. Chunks of shattered brick pulled forwards as I motioned towards the Equalist approaching on my right, pulverising and lacerating the attacker as he tried fruitlessly to dodge.
The rest of the attackers refused to stand idle as I crippled their fellow Equalist and tried to push forwards, some throwing bolas and other projectiles that I defeated by stomping into existence a thin stone barrier in front of me that served as more ammunition to send hurtaling into the five remaining terrorists.
The air became hazy with dust kicked up by my aggressive earthbending but I saw with total clarity. Electrified gloves, prods and tonfa were the only means they had to actually take me out of the fight, any chi blocking they attempted would play uselessly over uncaring steel. They moved with that understanding, with a clear objective but it was clear that they were not as competent with their weapons as they were in typical martial arts.
A tall Equalist woman with a pair of crackling electrified tonfa threw herself forwards to strike at me, as I pulled dust and clumps of brick towards me to coat my arms in a thick layer of non-conductive material. I blocked her attack and threw my head forwards to bring my helmet down upon her masked face, shattering her goggles and sending her to the ground wordlessly.
The advance from the remaining four wounded Equalists stalled and the lot of them held back just out of reach of me as I fought to drive air into my overworked lungs. The furious pace of combat slowed for a moment as the terrorists seemed uncertain as to how exactly they were going to attack me.
“Come on then!” I taunted the pack of malcontents. “Who’s next?!” I prepared to draw more earth from the ground in a barrage of ranged attacks only for another team of ten metalbending police to burst through the dojo door behind them causing the four of them to sag and after a moment, slowly kneel on the ground putting their hands up into the air.
I was grateful, not for the first time. That the structure of my armour meant that I could sag weightlessly without falling to the ground. I stood encased in steel, my entire body burning from the strain of battle as officers moved into the dojo to restrain the Equalists and help the officers that had been hurt during the frenzy of action.
I focused on controlling my breathing, slowing down my thundering heart. Days of constantly scouring the city for Equalists and endless raids with nothing but short, insubstantial naps in the rare downtime weighed down upon me.
“You okay their chief?” My eyes snapped open and though the tiny slits in my helmet I saw Saikhan stalk over with his helmet hanging by his hip as he looked around at the dojo, restrained Equalists and the scattered pools of blood and teeth.
“Just fine.” I snapped, standing ready and sliding the faceplate off to give myself room to breathe. “I want the Equalists tagged and processed within the hour. This is the biggest nest we have struck yet. We keep this up and Amon will be behind bars and awaiting trial in no time.” I said without much passion. Saikhan for his part looked about at the dojo again and sighed.
“You sure did a number on them chief. We are running out of kids able to keep up with you.” He said, watching as a young metalbending officer that had been with the breach team lent on a wall and emptied the contents of his stomach.
“They will walk it off. The sooner we put down the Equalists the sooner they can relax by handing out tickets for noise complaints and poor parking.” He chuckled at that but his heart was not in it.
“When was the last time you had a good night's sleep?” Saikhan asked at last.
“What are you, my mother?” I snapped.
“I’m serious chief. I am all for the warpath but... you don’t have to be in every raid. Things are escalating. Look around, they almost got us this time.” He said quietly, glancing around the room to make sure no one was eavesdropping.
“I’m fine.” I pushed past Saikhan and ended the conversation making him stagger back somewhat before letting out a groan of frustration.
“Chief you gotta slow down, it aint’ a joke.” Saikhan called out as I marched out of the dojo and into the ruined storefront. It was a mess with bits of glass and radios scattered about the shop and kicked to the sides to allow for a narrow corridor for the police to drag out restrained suspects bleeding onto the hardwood floor.
I stepped over the mess and out into the cool evening, the sun cast in a brilliant orange by the slowly setting sun. I let the faint warmth of the sun play over my face for a moment as Saikhan trudged out of the Equalist dojo after me.
At the ends of the street officers were setting up roadblocks and holding back groups of civilians eager to get a look at the bloodsport. I sighed and grabbed a steel water flask from a police car and guzzled down the metal flavoured water with a desperation that shocked even me.
It was only when the flask was emptied that I pulled away. Gasping for air once more and pouring out what little dregs remained in the container onto my forehead and finding that it did little to cool me down from the flurry of activity that I was getting far too old for.
Speaking of too old, I turned about, leaning back on the car as the wind was kicked up by Tenzin descending from the sky clad in orange. His sudden appearance seemed to take a number of officers by surprise until they began to recognise him and relaxed. I affixed the man with a stare, arms crossed as Saikhan greeted the monk.
“Lin, I am glad I found you.” He said, looking... content for the first time since...
“What’s going on Tenzin!?” I demanded. “You better have a good reason for barging into a crime scene.” He seemed taken aback by my words and glanced about as if it had only just occurred to him that we had busted a nest of terrorists just moments ago. His eyes lingered on the destroyed storefront, the battered state of the Equalists being dragged out and the bloodstains on my armour.
“What?” I asked. “Got a problem with taking out the trash?” I let the venom slip with ease, a part of me wanting him to bite, to argue. I don’t understand why.
“It’s about Tenya.” Tenzin said at last, ignoring the provocation and the question. A part of me was genuinely curious if he supported the raids against the Equalists, the violence, but I probably never wanted to know. “She is going to be okay, she woke up and...” He smiled, despite it all. “She is okay.” he said again, probably to himself.
“Of course she’s okay.” I said, rolling my eyes. “She’s Tenya, she’s always okay. Is there anything else?” Tenzin stared at me for a moment with a shocked expression before he collected himself.
“I thought you had a right to know.” He said in his condescending tone. It seems that seeing me spoiled his good mood. I was fine with that. “You have the right to see her, Lin.” He said stiffly.
“You don’t want me crawling around your little paradise, Tenzin don’t give me that crap. Knowing Tenya I will see her as soon as you let her off that island to actually get some work done.”
“I have NEVER kept her on Air Temple island against her... how dare you make that accusation.” Tenzin jabbed a finger at me as I set my jaw to bite back again only for Saikhan to step between us.
“Enough with the damn domestic in public.” Saikhan hissed, spiking a wave of anger that caused me to ball my fists as Tenzin looked around embarrassed about his image as always. “Chief. Go and see your damn daughter.” He demanded.
“Yeah! Take out the Equalist scum for us!” A shout came from one of the barricades, a group of men in open Triple Threat colours were hanging around cheering on the police from the sidelines. “Bout’ time you metalheads did something for the city! Damn Equalist, think they can tell benders what to do!” The pack of cheering criminals whose faces I had picked out from more than a few lineups began clapping along with most of the other people on the other side of the barricades as beaten and bloody Equalists were led into water wa- just wagons.
“I think I should go home and see my son.” Saikhan said in disgust. “Remember why we are doing all of this.” He looked back at me and sighed. “I’m serious chief, go see her, take tomorrow off and get some actual sleep. We got it from here.” He held my gaze for a while before I looked away.
“Fine! Fine, if it will get you to stop pestering me!” I glanced at Tenzin who looked at the blood on my armour again. “And I will get cleaned up before I reach your precious little island Tenzin. Happy?”
“Lin.” He began before sighing and shaking his head. “I will have a boat ready to take you over at the docks.” He said before extending the wings on his glider staff and throwing himself into the air with little fanfare.
Saikhan watched him go for a moment before nodding to the car. “Come on Chief, I will drop you off at the station, then take you to the docks once you are changed.”
“Great.” I deadpanned, earning me a frustrated sigh from Saikhan as we both got into the police car and he began to drive down the street causing police to begin managing the crowd to clear the road for us.
We sat in silence as the light of the day grew dimmer and dimmer and the streets were lit by the dull yellow flickering gas lamps set at regular intervals. Despite the silence I felt more and more uneasy as the station approached.
Why was it so hard to not snap, to dig and pry at old wounds. Why the hell was I like this, why did Tenya even put up with me. Was it even real or was it just an obligation. I pushed her out into the world and suddenly she owed me or something?
It all seemed so stupid. So wrong. I never should have agreed to go to that damn Island.
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This was the chapter voted on to be my focus for the December Pateron vote! I hope it meets your expectations. Obviously this took a little bit longer than expected to get done. Going over deadlines does not feel good but I am pretty happy with how this chapter turned out.
It has been a long time since the last Meditations chapter but hopefully the next one will be with us much sooner than expected. You can join a public discord where my stories can be discussed if you would like.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1uAV_BVkCMUVuo9jHhgkkHeXG2K4Clx13i_TYvol89Z8/edit?tab=t.0
Comments
Old Hammer
Great chapter reread 10 and 11 to kick start the old memory. The raid was badass great action scene really shows how much of a badass on a warpath Lin is. Looking forward to seeing her and Tanya interact when she visits
Old Hammer
Holy moly I did not expect to see an update for this story. A most welcome surprise. Gonna need to reread the rest of the story before I drop a comment on the contents of the chapter but I am excited to do so!
