Chapter Text
They felt dreadful for days, but today…today was much much worse.
Because today they had to tell her. Of course they had to tell her. Her eyes were failing, and their baby girl needed to know why it was happening so quickly.
Toph and Kanto spent the past few days processing the information, trying to come up with a game plan of how they would tell her, how they would help her, and how they would manage Lin’s impending blindness. It wouldn’t be terrible, after all, Toph knew what it was like to live a life without vision. But it was still an adjustment. An adjustment that even the Greatest Earthbender in the World, a blind woman, never wanted for her kid.
And she couldn’t stop shaking as she sat on the couch with Kanto, waiting for Katara to bring Lin home from school. She shouldered the blame of Lin’s disease, because how could it not be her fault? Toph was the blind one, not Kanto or his parents or even her parents suffered vision loss.
Just Toph.
Well, Toph, and soon, Lin.
Kanto’s warm hands wrapped around her clenched fists, and she relaxed ever so slightly.
“It’s gonna be okay,” he whispered soothingly into her ear. Toph sighed, leaning her head onto his. “We’re gonna be okay, Toph.”
“You don’t know that.”
“But it will be. You’ll teach her everything you know, and I talked with the school about resources for her…we can do this.”
She closed her eyes, letting the tears fall now. “She shouldn’t have to deal with this. I—I did this.”
“No you didn’t, Toph.” Kanto’s voice turned desperate, and his hands tightened around hers. “This isn’t on you, baby. It’s not.”
Just as she was about to open her mouth to speak, the door opened, and her heart sank.
This was it.
Katara led Lin into the living room, and once she was situated between her parents, Toph and Kanto took her hands in theirs.
“Hi Mama hi Baba.” Lin squeezed her parents’ hands, her tone indicating she was unaware of the tough conversation ahead.
“Hi baby girl,” Kanto replied. His voice sounded sweet, but Toph knew he was struggling to sound upbeat. “How was school?”
“It was fine. We got ice cream for lunch so that was fun!”
“That sounds nice, baby,” he said, kissing her temple.
“I’ll leave you guys so you can chat,” Katara interrupted before the talk began. After giving Lin’s forehead a kiss and Toph’s spare hand a squeeze, she whispered, “Talk tomorrow?”
Toph nodded. “Yeah. Thanks, Sugar Queen.”
Without another word, Katara slipped out of the Beifong house.
Together, Toph and Kanto took a deep, shaky breath, and began the hardest conversation of their lives.
“Linny,” Toph began, swallowing a lump in her throat. “Baba and I have to talk to you about something important.”
“What is it, Mama?”
“Well, you know how I see differently than y—than Baba?”
“Mhm. You see with your feet.”
Toph couldn’t help but smile at how smart her baby girl was. “That’s right, Lin. I see with my feet, because I can’t see with my eyes.”
She took another deep breath in, then out. “Well, it turns out that not being able to see with my eyes is—it’s something I can pass onto you. It’s something I was born with, and something you were born with.”
“What do you mean?” Lin asked.
“You—you know how your eyes are getting blurry, Lin?” Kanto began. “Well, you’re slowly losing sight in your eyes. Because, it’s something you were born with, like Mama.”
Toph shut her eyes as Kanto explained this to Lin, shame building up in chest.
Lin’s voice still sounded confused by the situation, and it broke Toph’s heart trying to explain this to her child. “I’m losing my eyesight?”
With a quiet, shaky sigh, Toph took Lin’s hand in hers. She had to tell it to her daughter straight. She had to face this mountain head on. “Yes, Lin. You’re losing your eyesight. You’re going blind.”
Silence filled the room, and Toph could feel Kanto’s heart break all over again. And the longer Lin was quiet, the more dread Toph was filled with. Her daughter hated her, it was plain and simple. Of course, it wasn’t the end of the world, being blind, but in Toph’s heart and mind, she failed Lin. She failed to protect her, and losing her eyesight as a kid… that was a fate much worse than being born blind. At least, it was in Toph’s mind.
“Linny?” Kanto finally asked. “What are you thinking? Do you have any questions? Do you understand what’s happening?”
“I understand.”
Another tear fell into Toph’s lap.
“Does,” Lin began, but then paused.
“Yes, baby girl?”
“Does this mean I get to be like Mama?”
Toph’s head straightened, and she sat on the couch confused. “Wh—what?”
“Will I get to be like you, Mama? I get to see like you?”
The breath that Toph had been holding left her lungs in a rush. Was Lin… okay with this? She… she didn’t hate her?
“W—well, I’ll teach you everything I know about seeing with your feet,” Toph said. “I’ll—I’ll teach you so you can be better than me.”
“Really?”
Much to her surprise, Toph found herself smiling. “Really.”
Lin wrapped her arms around Toph’s neck, and relief flooded her entire body. Everything would be okay, and Lin would be okay, and she was excited to be more like her mother.
This wasn’t what they expected for their daughter, but they could adapt. Toph and Kanto would give Lin the best life, and it didn’t matter how soon she’d lose her eyesight, they’d get through it together as a family.
And for the first time since they learned that Lin was going blind, Toph Beifong felt hopeful.