theknghtherself (theknghtherself) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2012-09-27 20:15:00 |
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"You might like this place," Lin was saying, as she got out of the car. "It's relaxing."
Jasmine Dragon appeared to be open, but Lin hoped Korra wasn't in. That girl confused her on too many levels.
Aveline looked at the tea house. She'd never been in one of those, but she'd learned to enjoy tea from spending time with Alice.
"Relaxing sounds good right now," she said.
"I bet." Lin walked inside, holding the door for her partner and then glancing around. Please don't be here, Korra.
Lin was about to be gravely disappointed. Iroh and Zuko were nowhere in sight, neither was Mai. Instead, a young woman who was entirely familiar to Lin walked up to both of them and picked up some menus.
"Welcome, do you want the usual booth?" Korra said to Lin.
Lin sighed, "Yes, same booth, Korra." She gave Korra a look over, then folded her arms. The uniformed seemed new, but complemented Korra well.
Aveline raised an eyebrow.
Korra grinned, "Right this way then."
She lead them to a booth in the back where Lin could keep an eye on most of the house. The new uniform had been Zuko's idea, and since he wasn't there to implement it, she had.
"We've still got the White Jade tea, we've also got a cinnamon orange spice blend in which... is probably not traditionally chinese, but seems to be selling very well. And pumpkin tea cakes this month."
"I'll try the cinnamon orange spice blend," Aveline said. "And a pumpkin tea cake." Both sounded delicious
"Same. That sounds good to me." Lin nodded her head as she slipped into the booth.
"I'll bring over a kettle, it should serve both of you with plenty of cups left over," Korra nodded, then winked at Lin and headed off to take care of a few more tables and put the orders in.
There were only a few other waitresses working that day, and it was hard to believe it but it looked like the woman serving them might have been in charge.
Lin's eye twitched at the wink, but otherwise she pretended to ignore it, "She can be a punk, but she's a good kid."
"I take it you come here fairly regularly," Aveline said, leaning back against the booth seat. The waitress certainly seemed like she could have some spirit to her.
"Yeah. I know the owner a bit, and it's about the only place that serves decent tea that I've found. Besides, I like to keep an eye on her."
Korra was just glad she'd actually been paying attention when Iroh had instructed her on proper brewing technique. She sometimes wondered if he'd seen these days coming.
She approached the table with a tray stacked with tea cups, cakes, plates, and a kettle, then set it down and started setting everything up for them. She set cups in front of them and then, with a wave of her hand, the tea started floating out of the kettle, making its way into one cup and then the other.
No one had touched it, and Korra grinned like she was the most amazing badass ever.
Lin stared at her like she was an idiot, "Korra!"
Aveline's eyes widened. Was this Korra girl a mage? Or was she something else? This was...unexpected.
"What? No one's even watching." Korra shrugged off Lin's concern. She had the awesome ability to manipulate water, and she was going to use it whenever she could. Bending was the most amazing thing in the world.
Lin hissed, "You're bending water in public, someone could come and lock you away!"
“...bending? I suppose that means she’s not a mage, then.”
“Mage?” Lin glanced at Aveline, “As in wizard? Magic?” She’d never thought of it that way, but wasn’t that all it basically was, “It’s manipulating the elements. I suppose that’s magic.”
"It's awesome, is what it is. Why should I hide that? This isn't the dream world, where people are all freaking about non-bending equality and stuff," Korra folded her arms and then threw one of her hands up, "You're overreacting."
"If Amon shows his ugly face I think I might have a heart attack," Lin admitted. She glanced at Aveline, wondering how she was going to explain all this. And why her partner had jumped straight to mages.
“I’m not too shocked. It’s different from the sort of magic that goes on in the...world that I dream about,” Aveline said, “but it’s similar enough not to be alarming. I wouldn’t recommend doing that in front of just anyone, though.”
Lin gave Korra a 'duh, what she said' look, about using her powers. Then she glanced back at Aveline, "Do you do that, there? Magic?"
Aveline shook her head. “I was a soldier there, then a member of the city guard, then Guard Captain. Sword and shield. Not an easy place to handle, Kirkwall. Corruption, demons, and foreign invaders.” She took a sip of her tea. “Mm. This is nice.”
"My mother was an earthbender. A hero. I inherited her power to manipulate earth, and then metal," Lin explained. She didn't bring up the police chief thing.
"She was totally the most asinine rule-following rigid as a stick woman in the city," Korra informed Aveline, with a grin on her face. The rest of what they'd said - the warnings about bending in public, especially - went in one ear and out the other.
"Enjoy your tea!"
“...she reminds me of a friend of mine,” Aveline said, taking another sip of tea.
“Punk?” Lin asked. “Or just a little abrasive.”
“A little bit of both, really. Older, though.” Aveline chuckled.
“How the hell did you deal with it?” It being..what exactly? Lin wasn’t sure, “She’s worse in the dreams. The Avatar. Special little person who can control all the elements, and bring balance.” She gestured in Korra’s direction, “That look balanced to you?”
Lin would pick that moment to pay attention to Korra, who was a little bored in the kitchen and was playing 'tea conductor orchestra' like she was the sorcerer's apprentice.
“Mostly I left her to her own devices. She was useful in mopping up some of the rabble, and some of the larger, more organized threats. Good fighter, too.” Aveline took a few bites of tea cake. “I helped her out with a lot of it. She...was sort of like family, in a way.”
"She sounds like a good person," Lin replied, quietly. She didn't like the concept of operating outside the law, though. "Do you know her here?"
“Not as well, but I do,” Aveline replied. “And she was a good person. Extraordinary horrible things, she’s dealt with.”
Maybe there was hope for Korra here too, Lin thought. She wouldn't wish horrible things on her, but something to help solidify her core wouldn't be amiss. She wasn't Aang, though.
"It feels like I'm..drawn to people who I've dreamed of," Lin admitted, candidly.
“I think that makes sense,” Aveline said.
That was all it is, Lin decided. A draw due to the dream. She rubbed at her temple then sampled the tea. It was very good, and the cake was even better.
"I wish I could do more than make a lock move."
“That would be handy,” Aveline admitted. “Could you stop bullets, if you could do all you could in your dreams?”
"We didn't have guns," Lin replied. "We had cars, and electricity, but there was never any need for guns. Even the electricity was powered by people who could bend fire and lightning. But I probably could prevent a bullet from being fired."
She looked down at her wrists, "On the police force, we had coils of metal rope that we used as weapons, and to move around quickly."
Aveline raised her eyebrows. “Bending was very common in your world, then? Clearly they weren’t considered...dangerous if they made up the police force.” Different from mages, that was certain.
"The entire force was metalbenders. There was a council too, of benders and non-benders." Lin replied, nodding her head, "There were tensions, of course. But benders made up a huge percentage of the population. The city was an attempt to have a place where benders of all four elements and normal people could all live in peace."
Aveline poured herself some more tea. “It sounds like a more peaceful arrangement than what my world had for its mages.” She still didn’t think there would have been any way of letting mages live freely, without any sort of supervision, though. Things had been the way they had been for so long, after all.
"There was a man. Amon. I just remember his name, and that he led a group that thought things weren't equal between benders and non-benders," Lin replied, shaking her head. "He wasn't much, at least from what I remember."
Maybe it didn’t even matter. That was there, and this was here. Lin decided to just concentrate on her tea.