Chapter Text
He had never, in his life, met someone who could run their mouth like that damned Beifong woman.
She'd given him notice she was coming, the way she always did. He had to give her that, at least. After the first time, when she'd shown up in all of her expensive businesswear, with those ridiculously high and delicate heels of hers, she'd come dressed appropriately. Oh, she was still stylish. Her hair was done and her makeup on, her lipstick a glossy red that mirrored her name, her fingernails polished to match. Who named all of their daughters after flowers, anyhow? He'd thought the Beifongs were fond of gemstone names for their daughters.
He'd taken her on a quick tour, the boots he'd borrowed for her clearly too big, simply ludicrous. She'd worn them like a queen, however, obstinate little chin held high. She was an unreasonably tiny woman, not much taller than a child, with a slim figure and dainty hands and feet. And that accent! The Beifongs had been first tier under the old queen and you could hear it in her voice. She just wasn't someone you'd expect to show up at a mine. He'd walked her through, the miners staring at her, and had tried not to seethe as she asked him questions that proved she'd done her homework. She'd stopped to ask Big Chen a question about the process of grading the ore when Chunso swaggered up, chest thrust out aggressively, giving her a lascivious up and down that had no place at all in his mine, damn it. He'd opened his mouth to say something to the man but Chunso beat him to it, sneering at her.
If it ain't one of them Beifong little girls. You here to fix shit? Kind of like your uncle did, back in the day, huh girlie? Him and that Great Uniter. Your uncle was a right fucking bastard, he was. Chunso spat to the side. Most of the miners shifted, clearly uncomfortable, but she just flicked up an eyebrow at the man as she met his gaze head on.
Well, there's not much any of us can do about family, is there? After all, your mother clearly fucked a wolfbat and here we are. There was a dead silence for about three seconds and then the cavern exploded in whoops of delight as Chunso turned a furious shade of red and tried to shout the rest of his coworkers down. And just like that she won them over to her side.
She'd been in his office two weeks ago, going over one of the reports, a slight frown on her face, when she leapt up, scattering the papers and running out the door. He'd blinked and then gone after her, his query trailing away as he saw her standing there on the bare dirt of the courtyard, the metal soles of her boots retracted, her eyes closed. Without a word she shifted her stance, pulled up her arms and then, to his eternal astonishment, sunk down into very earth itself.
"Miss Beifong," he shouted, as the earth swallowed her. "The fuck?" It was then that he felt the ominous rumbling, curses spilling out of him as he ran for the mine itself, the harsh blare of the emergency klaxon starting its inexorable warning. "Where?" he muttered, running into the mine itself, seeing his assistant foreman, Hoon, at the cage, directing miners who were already coming up to the surface. "Where?"
"Section 26 or 27, not sure, maybe both." Hoon grabbed a miner coming out of the cage by the shoulder. "Jin! You're in charge of this lot, get them to the southern evacuation point. You got me?"
"Yessir," Jin replied, and then shouted for her co-workers to follow her.
"How many people do we have there?" His mind was racing as he grabbed a hardhat from the spares that were always neatly lined up near the cage.
"In that section? Not many, only seventeen today."
He threw himself into the cage. "Send me down."
"Boss..." Hoon shook his head and grimaced. "Yessir."
It was the last place he wanted to be, going back down into the mine, but what could he do? That damn Beifong woman had somehow bent herself into the mine and how he was going to explain it to her family he had no idea. Why would she do it? What the fuck was she thinking? Damn stubborn, difficult woman! Who the fuck would go into a mine that was having a collapse instead of out of it! She had no brains at all! No sense of safety or self-preservation! What the fuck did she think she was going to do down here, she was the size of a damn dragonfly!
The cage made its way to the bottom level, where another group of miners were ready to evacuate, one of the newer ones crying but trying not to show it. It was him that he grabbed, shaking him just a little to get his attention. "Wen! Everyone's being sent to the southern evacuation point. I want you to be ready to lead them there. Can you do it?"
Wen gulped and nodded. "I can do it, Boss!"
"Southern evacuation point, everyone," he shouted. "Wen here will lead you there!" He glanced back at Wen. "Where's Jisu?"
The man pointed. "Down there, making sure we all get out."
"Okay. Go!" He closed the cage behind Wen and the rest and hit the button to send it back up before running down the corridor, the klaxon still blaring in the distance, already smelling the rank, murky stench of freshly moved earth and rock, toggling the light on his hardhat. It was dark down here, the power having obviously failed. "Jisu," he called, keeping his tone even and fairly low; no point in triggering another cave-in. He called a few more times before she answered.
"I'm here. Watch yourself." His foreman came into view, grim and filthy, her arm around a miner who was stumbling, clearly dazed, headed towards the cage. "What the fuck are you doing down here?"
"Miss Beifong-" he started, and then Jisu pointed. He looked past her to see that damned Beifong women standing in a clearance she was obviously holding about her, stance rooted and strong, arms above her head. She opened her eyes.
"What kind of leg-humping moronic fuckstain actually comes into a mine that's had a collapse?" She flicked up that galling eyebrow.
"What kind of damned bullheaded woman sinks through the fucking earth itself to do it?" He was shouting. He shouldn't be shouting. Damn the woman anyhow. He took a deep breath. "How do you propose to get out of here? And how long do you think you can hold it?"
The look she gave him was full of disappointment and he felt an absurd need to apologize. "I'm a Beifong."
He stared at her, apology making its way into incredulity. "That's it? That's your entire fucking plan? I'm a Beifong?"
"It's worked for a few generations now." She closed her eyes and shifted her feet.
"I can't believe-"
"Quiet!" she barked, and he swallowed what he was going to say, his heart pounding. Her eyes opened again and for the first time, he saw worry on her face. "You've still got one person down here."
"Where?"
She moved her head and pointed with her chin. "Alive, but not moving." She focused inwards for a moment. "I can get you to them, but you'd better do it quickly."
"Just tell me where to go."
She took a deep breath and did a sort of move with her hips that in a different time and place he probably would have found very intriguing, but now was neither the time nor the place. An opening ground its way through the tumble of rock to the left of her. "In there. Shout if you need me to enlarge it."
"Miss Beifong..."
She opened her eyes and glared. "I can hold the fucking thing. Now move!"
He moved, quickly making his way through the rough tunnel, the light on his helmet not doing much to dispel the blackness, trying not to choke on all of the dust. There, in a pocket barely large enough to hold him, was Yejun, one of their youngest miners. He was a sickly green color, covered with sweat, not moving at all. "Yejun. Yejun. Wake up." He tried to crouch near him and that's when he saw the boy's arm was at an angle it was never meant to be, caught under a boulder. "Ah fuck. This isn't good." He reached out to touch the rock; there was no way he could move it on his own, he'd need to use his bending. He was afraid to do it, however. He had no room to maneuver, for one, and no idea how stable the area was for another. He wasn't confident that his bending could keep the rest of the rock from smashing the both of them into dust. He cleared his throat. "Miss Beifong?"
"Yes?" Was her voice fainter, or was it just because there was rock in the way?
"He's got his arm caught under a rock. I can move it with my bending, but I have no idea what kind of a chain reaction it will set off or if I can hold it all back, quite frankly."
There was a pause and he wondered if she'd heard him. "Okay. I've got the rest stable. Go ahead and move the rock and get him out of there."
"I..."
"Please, Jai. Just trust me."
He took a deep breath. "Okay. Moving the rock on my three. Three, two, one..." He heaved with his bending, struggling to do it without being able to complete his normal stance. It moved enough that he was able to reach out one arm and awkwardly drag poor Yejun out of the way, the boy groaning, his eyes fluttering. "I've got you, I've got you. I know it hurts, but I need to get you up and out of here. Can you do it?" The boy's eyes closed again and he sagged back down. "Shit." Trying to be as careful as he could, he half-dragged/half-carried the boy back through the opening and into the space where the Beifong woman still held the rock steady. "I've got him, but he's lost consciousness."
She nodded, opening her eyes again. "That's it. There's no one else in the vicinity, your pit boss has already evacuated. You'd better go now."
"But what about you? I can't just-"
"I'm fine. I'll get myself out when you and the rest are free and clear."
"Miss Beifong, I can't-"
"So what's the plan here, hmm?" She scoffed. "Are you going to stand there flapping your gums at me while I just, you know, hold up an entire few tons of rock? Because I have to tell you, that plan can kiss my ass."
"Poppy," he whispered, not even realizing he was using her first name. "Poppy, please."
She smiled at him through the dirt smeared across her face, her lipstick a gritty mess, those dimples of hers suddenly appearing. "I've got this. Now haul up that poor kid and let me do my business. Can you get him to the evacuation point quickly?"
"Once I'm on top, yes. I'll need to carry him, but I can run."
She nodded. "Okay. Then you can help me out by turning off the emergency alarm. Once I hear that go off I'll give you and anyone else a couple of minutes to get there and then I'll come back up."
He wanted to argue with her, plead with her, but there was no point. If she let go of the rock now all three of them would be crushed. Instead he took a deep breath. "Okay. I'll turn it off and then make sure we're all at the evacuation point ASAP."
"Good plan," she said, and closed her eyes again, shifting slightly. "Now go."
He hauled the boy as carefully as he could over his shoulder before making his way quickly to the cage, trying not to think of all the things that could still go wrong. The electricity could give out before they got topside, gas could start to emerge, so many variables out of his control. His luck held, however, and when he reached the top Jisu was there, waiting.
"I'm the only one left. Miss Beifong?"
"I'm to turn off the emergency alarm, and she'll give us a few minutes after that to get to the evacuation point before letting it go."
"Well, we best move our asses then. You take him and get a bit of a start on me, I'll turn off the alarm and follow."
He ran the entire way, knowing he was jostling poor Yejun more than he should but it was the only way. Jisu caught up with him and paced him until they got to the evacuation point, where Hoon had organized them and was distributing water, blankets and bandages. "Is everyone accounted for?
Hoon nodded. "Now that you're here, the only one missing is Miss Beifong."
"She's on her way." Please let her be on her way. "Is there a healer?"
Hoon shook his head. "Not yet, but I sent Jin in the jeep to the village for him as well as help. He'll be back as soon as he can." He grimaced. "Here, get him down, I've got some blankets, let's cover him a little, at least."
He had settled Yejun onto a cot and covered him with a blanket and was trying to give him some water when the ground shook beneath them, hard enough to send people sprawling, the noise of it tremendous. "There it goes," someone shouted, and he stood, taking a few stumbling steps before the earth settled back down, a plume of dust billowing into the air in the distance.
"Do you think she..." Hoon trailed off. "Hey now there, Yejun, you just lay quiet there, healer's coming."
He waited, bile souring his mouth, mind racing, scanning the horizon for her, but it was others who saw her first, a cheer rising into the air. He shoved past several miners to get to her, walking towards them all like she didn't have a care in the world. She was filthy, her curls, normally carefully pomaded and styled, disordered, her clothes disheveled. Upon closer inspection he could see what looked like blood soaking through the torn left shoulder of her jacket. "You're hurt!"
She grinned at him. "Yeah, something caught me on the way up. It's fine." She laughed, patting at herself. "I don't think I look my best, though."
"Miss Beifong! You okay, Boss?" One of the miners called to her and she waved.
"Just fine, everyone. How are you all doing?"
"Right as rain, Boss! You held that all up by yourself?"
She bowed with a flourish. "What can I say, people? Beifongs have a reputation to uphold as well as the rock."
His breath exhaled all at once and he leaned closer to her, his words coming out in a hiss. "You think this is funny?"
"The fact that we just had a cave-in at the mine that's already struggling the most? Not particularly, no. Why, do you think it's funny?" That damned eyebrow scrolled up again. "I have to say, Jai, that at first I thought you had no sense of humor at all but now I'm beginning to think it's just a weird one."
He wanted to throttle her. "You can't just do that, do you have any idea how dangerous that stunt you just pulled was?"
"I do, yes." With that, she turned away from him to go to Yejun, kneeling down next to him. "It's Yejun, right?" She carefully took his uninjured hand into hers. "Looks like you got a little banged up back there."
"Sorry, Miss Beifong." The boy's voice cracked. "Oh ma'am, all the equipment..."
"Equipment can be replaced, Yejun. People can't." Her voice was gentle. "Now I'm sure there's a healer on the way. We'll get that arm all taken care of."
"Healer's coming, Miss Beifong." Hoon hovered anxiously, which wasn't like the man at all.
"Good to hear." She smoothed Yejun's hair away from his face. "I'll just bet you've had better days, hmm?"
"Miss Beifong, what'll I do? My Ma and my sisters, they depend on me." Tears were dripping into his ears and she pulled a handkerchief out of her pocket and wiped at his eyes.
"You have sisters, hmm? How many? I have three, and they're all older than me."
"Four of 'em, ma'am. I'm the oldest."
"Four! That's too many sisters." She gazed at him for a moment, still wiping his eyes. Her hankie had what looked to be a poppy embroidered on it. "Now I don't want you to worry about a thing. We'll make sure your mother and sisters are taken care of while you convalesce."
"Conva...what, ma'am?"
She smiled, and her dimples deepened. "While you get better. I don't want you to worry about that, okay? You are a Beifong worker and the Beifong family takes care of their own. I give you my word, you and your family will be taken care of no matter what. Do you trust me?"
"Yes..." Yejun sucked in a breath, groaning with pain. "Yes, ma'am."
"Good." She adjusted the blanket a little. "Now why don't you have a drink of water and I'll tell you a funny story about my sisters."
"Ma'am, shouldn't you have some water-" Hoon started, but she caught his eye and shook her head slightly before turning back to Yujen, starting in on what he'd normally find a hilarious story about her oldest sister's perfume getting swapped out for fertilizer spray before a school dance. Yujen had even chuckled a few times during the telling, despite the pain.
"But ma'am, didn't you get in trouble?" Yujen was gazing at her like she'd hung the moon, despite all of her dirt.
"Oh, terrible trouble. Not to mention I don't think my sister spoke to me for a month. At least." She glanced over at the sound of the jeep returning. "Ah, and here's the healer, I bet. Good."
"Ma'am! I just remembered!" Yujen's face fell. "In two weeks we're supposed to have our power disc game against the Blue Hills mine! I can't play!"
"That's certainly true." She cocked her head to the side, thinking. "Can anyone replace you?"
"Just has to be someone who works for the mine."
"Ah, well, that's easily settled, then." She winked at him. "I'll replace you." She leaned close. "I am a very, very good power disc player. One of the best, in fact."
"Yes, ma'am," he said, his eyes shining. "I bet you are, ma'am."
"Well now, young Yujen, what seems to be the problem here?" The local healer bustled up, bag in his hands, letting out a low whistle. "Got yourself in a bit of a scrape, didn't you?"
She got out of the healer's way, and gratefully took the water that Hoon practically shoved into her face, drinking it down in a few swallows, smiling at him as he immediately refilled it. "Thanks, Hoon. Are there any other injuries?"
"Nothing worth writing home about, Miss Beifong. Plenty of bumps and bangs but nothing that won't heal."
"Good." She turned to him and spoke quietly. "I meant what I said to him. I want to make sure his salary's paid while he's healing. And the mine needs to cover any healing expenses as well. And I guess we need to get a team down there, find out the extent of that damage-"
"No," he replied, hands to his hips. She blinked up at him.
"No? What do you mean, no? I can assure you, the Beifong family will make sure-"
"No, you are not going to do any of this, not no it isn't going to get done. You are going to sit your ass down and drink some more water and let someone take a look at that shoulder."
"I beg your-"
"No. I am the general manager here, and it's my job to see to all of this." He glowered down at her. "Please sit down, Miss Beifong."
She narrowed her eyes. "Listen here, I don't-"
"SIT DOWN," he bellowed, tried beyond patience, and to his surprise, she actually sat, her eyes wide. He took in a deep breath. "Thank you." He turned. "Hoon, can you find Won and tell him that Miss Beifong needs some first aid? I don't want to disturb the healer right now."
"You got it, boss." Hoon took off.
He nodded once, decisively, before pointing at her. "You, sit still, and wait for Won to take a look at that shoulder. I'm going to go and do my job." Running his hand through his hair, he strode off, calling for Jisu as he did.
He didn't see much of her after that; he found out later from Won, the mine's medic, that the wound on her shoulder was just a graze, good-sized but nothing serious. She'd ended up going home that night after putting a call through to her mother, taking the private train car that always accompanied her. She'd managed to leave a note in his office before she left, however, letting him know that she would take care of things on her end and urging him to contact her if he needed anything else from her. He'd found himself oddly disappointed. Not that he thought she should stay; the mine had protocols in place for this sort of thing, of course, and he would have point blank refused to let her be a part of the team that went down to investigate what went wrong. She might be a Beifong and a shockingly powerful bender but she had no actual experience in mining and wouldn't have the first idea what to look for.
She'd remembered her promise to Yujen, however, and had called ahead, letting him know she'd be there to play in the match. She'd shown up in a team uniform perfectly tailored to fit her, lipsticked within an inch of her life, throwing back taunts faster than the other team could manage to lob her way. Yujen, who was sitting in the bleachers with his mother and sisters, his arm securely swathed in bandages, was practically levitating with fervent, worshipful love. She stood down there, cocky as fuck and drop dead gorgeous and shit alive, that woman could, indeed, play power disc.
He guessed being the daughter of the man who had invented the sport did count for something.
She did things he'd never seen an earthbender do before. She spun; she pirouetted, she practically sailed through the air, moves that flew in the face of all of the traditional, rooted forms. He knew that her great-grandmother, Toph, had created metalbending, of course. Everyone knew that. But he'd read once that her grandmother Suyin had grown up in the newly formed Republic City and he had to wonder how that had influenced her bending.
About twenty minutes into the game a family arrived, taking their seats on their side of the playing arena. The matriarch and patriarch; a younger man and his fierce looking wife, and two women about Poppy's age. One of them, heavily pregnant, was a true beauty and the other was bespectacled and seemingly quiet. The heavily pregnant one had a toddler with her whom she handed over to the man he assumed was her father. The middle-aged woman turned to say something to the pregnant daughter and he thought he saw hints of Poppy in her dark eyes and the curve of her cheekbones. The mischievous grin on her husband's face was all Poppy, however. Raava fucking save and bless him, the Beifongs had arrived. He was still trying to process this when another woman hurried up; this one absolutely channeling the mother's fierceness despite her clear resemblance to her father, squeezing herself between the other sisters. She was followed by a man who so closely resembled the father that he had to be a twin, escorted by very large Water Tribesman as well as an Airbender Master from the same middle generation and a smiling man who was holding her hand as well as the hand of a young girl and looking absolutely delighted to be there.
He found himself wondering which one of the sisters had been the recipient of the fertilizer perfume.
"MOVE THAT TEENY TINY ASS, BEIFONG," shouted the severe sister, and for the first time Poppy glanced up into the bleachers.
"FOR FUCK'S SAKE," Poppy bellowed in return, shaking her head as she took in her family and then returning her focus to the game.
Their team won, to the surprise of pretty much no one. Poppy was in a class by herself; she could have easily carried the entire game on her shoulders but made sure she was playing as part of the team itself. She accepted the traditional winning fan and then, with a smile on her face, bent herself into the bleachers to present it to Yujen while the entire staff of the mine cheered. Her grandmother followed her, introducing herself to Yujen and his family, chatting to the boy's starstruck mother like they were old neighbors having a good gossip.
"So. You must be the Jai we've heard so much about."
He turned to see the beautiful sister, the severe one at her shoulder, the bespectacled one hovering nearby, looking the other direction but clearly listening. He bowed. "Guilty as charged. And you must be the rest of the infamous Flower Garden?"
The beauty chuckled. "Guilty as charged. I'm Orchid, this is Iris, and that's our Rose over there." The bespectacled one raised a hand in a little wave.
"So which one of you was the one that got the fertilizer as perfume?"
The beauty - Orchid - started to laugh in earnest. "That was me. She was a fucking terror."
"Was?" Iris said with a snort. They all glanced over at Poppy, who was currently being hugged and kissed by the happy looking man and the young girl. "She'll be a fucking terror until the day she dies."
"Good luck with that," Orchid said, patting his arm with what appeared to be genuine sympathy.
He was duly introduced to all of them; the venerable matriarch of Zaofu and her surprisingly pleasant husband; Poppy's parents and her aunt and uncle and their granddaughter, arriving from Republic City on the aunt's air bison. He was getting introduced to the Water Tribesman - who apparently was a very well-regarded healer and who planned on taking a look at Yujen's arm - when a small girl ran up, practically dancing with excitement, to address the aunt.
"Oh, Lady Airbender, does your air bison bite?"
The aunt smiled and crouched down to her level. "Only if you're a melon. Do you want to pet him?" At the child's enthusiastic nod, she laughed. "Well, go right ahead. He likes that. Don't let him sneeze on you, though, or you'll be sorry."
"You'll come back with us, won't you?" The father put his arm around the aunt. "At least for a day or two. Wei and Sitiak said they would."
"Don't ask me, talk to Bolin, you know how his schedule gets. Emerald and I can, though." The two of them wandered off, still talking.
"So, you're the one they hired to bring this mine back into shape, hmmm?" He turned and looked down at the infamous Nuo Beifong. He'd heard stories about her. Born in what was then the Lower Ring, educated, worked as the secretary to the then Earth King, married a Beifong and practically took over Zaofu. She was described as a very intimidating woman.
"That is what they hired me to do, yes."
"And how's that going?"
"Are you looking for numbers, Madame Beifong, or would you prefer a general report?" He was polite, of course. But not deferential. He'd gotten the job because he had the education, credentials, and experience to do it, not because he was a brown-noser.
She tilted her head and narrowed her eyes in a way that was instantly familiar. "A general report would do."
He gave her a single nod. "I don't estimate we're going to make a profit this year. The changes that I've implemented are too new for that. That being said, however, the loss will be substantially less than it was last year, even. We've cut the turnover rate from a highly unacceptable rate of fifty-seven percent to thirty-three, which is still far too high but is a notable improvement. The cave-in will, of course, cut further into profit and has hurt production and we're still determining who or what is at fault there. However, since my time here has been relatively brief I won't speculate on the causes without more information. Your daughter and I have been working on a long-term plan that will include an ore processing plant which will boost numbers for this mine as well as the two nearest, but as I said, that's long-term. In short, Madame Beifong, the mine as it stands today has made some fairly radical improvement but the bottom line is that it is not yet profitable. Your daughter thinks the risks are acceptable. Whether you and the Matriarch do is, of course, another thing entirely."
She shook her head. "Oh, my mother-in-law and I have nothing to do with it. The mine is entirely in Poppy's hands. She has full autonomy."
"Miss Beifong is extremely capable and knowledgeable. I have full confidence that she will pull this mine out of the mud if given the time and resources." He might want to kick the woman's teeny tiny ass on a regular basis but he wasn't a fool. He knew by now that she had vision and the business chops to follow through.
Her mother's mouth curved into a very slow smile, dimples appearing in the exact same place as her daughter's. "Oh, I think you are going to do very, very well." She patted his arm much the same way as her eldest daughter did. "You should come to dinner."
He blinked. "I...I beg your pardon?"
"Come to dinner, dearest. You can come with Poppy on her train."
Dearest? Did the woman just call him dearest? He glanced in the general direction of his office. "I appreciate the offer, Madame, but now's not a very good time, what with the ongoing investigation and all."
The smile broadened. "Did you just politely decline me? Oh, you really will do, won't you?" Another pat. "I'll have my secretary make the arrangements. No worries, we'll send the airship, we can have you back to the mine within a couple of hours, you'll be ready and raring to go the next morning, you won't miss a thing." The conversation was apparently over as far as she was concerned and she clipped off in heels as impossibly high as her daughter's.
"That woman just railroaded me," he said to no one in particular and was rewarded with a laugh.
"She railroads everyone." Poppy came to his side, watching her mother with what was clearly affection. "That's what she does."
"She called me dearest," he very nearly sputtered, and her laugh intensified.
"She likes you, then."
"She invited me to dinner and when I told her I couldn't right now because of the mine she just...just..."
"Didn't hear you? Yeah, she does that." She patted his arm in exactly the same way.
He turned to glare down at her. "What if I don't want to go to dinner with your family?"
"Too late now," she said with a shrug and snickered.
"You know, I really couldn't envision anyone else in this entire world more infuriating than you. Yet there she was."
She put a hand to her heart and batted her eyelashes. "Why Mister Jai, the flirtatious things you do say." She continued to bat her eyelashes as she backed away from him before throwing her head back and laughing uproariously, swinging around with a flare of her hips to walk towards her sisters.
"I wasn't being flirtatious," he growled after the woman, but she just kept laughing at him, damn her anyhow.
Damn her anyhow.