Lin as a Teacher
Lin learned earthbending and metalbending from her mother,
the greatest Earthbender of all time. However, Toph wasn’t the
most gentle, nurturing, or flexible of teachers, and Lin herself
ran out of patience for everyone and everything long ago. She
believes martial practice should develop precision and sensitivity alongside physical endurance, prioritizing observation techniques like seismic sense to bolster the bodily aspects of training.
Lin’s go-to methods aren’t designed to make you feel good
about yourself or Lin. She hasn’t got time for that kinda thing—
and besides, she thinks emotional adversity builds character.
With certain students, though definitely not all, she’s right.
Lin Beifong works long, difficult hours, and loves doing it.
She’s not exactly freely available to teach students…but she is
highly protective of her police force and her allies. Anyone who
starts to work with her and help her may find themself a recipient
of her hard lessons, whether they wanted the tough love or not.
Students must adhere to the same level of professional and
martial discipline Lin demands of police cadets. Training involves a lot of doing the same difficult thing over and over until
a student figures out on their own how to make it work. She
doesn’t expect them to be a natural at it, but, well, it sure helps.
Lin’s mastery conditions emphasize both that same kind of
willful obstinacy in the face of difficulty and group training. Lin
herself strongly prioritizes group training, both practicing in step
with others and learning to work together to execute combined
maneuvers. In camaraderie with others, her students can often
find the moral support she herself prefers to delegate.
