Suyin Beifong

Suyin Beifong, or Su for short, is a dancer and the leader of Zaofu. As the daughter of Toph Beifong, Suyin is a powerful metalbender with many talents and skills. Although a troubled past strained her relationship with her older half-sister, Lin, Suyin is happily married to an architect named Baatar, with whom she has had five children, and considers family of utmost importance.

Early life
Born six years after her older half-sister Lin, Suyin also inherited the earthbending prowess of her mother, Toph Beifong, and eventually mastered the art and its sub-skills. Due to Toph's childhood being one of constant restriction, Suyin's mother gave her and her half-sister Lin much more freedom. However, Toph's carefree approach to raising the two led Lin and Suyin to act out more in hopes of getting her attention. At some point in 140 AG, Suyin and Lin had a falling out, making Lin refusing to speak with Suyin since.

In 142 AG at the age of 16, Suyin left her home to travel the world. Her adventures included sailing on a pirate ship, joining a traveling circus, and taking part in a Sandbender commune. Eventually, she came to decide she simply wanted a family and bought a large plot of land where, with the help of her future-husband Baatar's architectural skills, created the city of Zaofu. Suyin went on to have four sons and a daughter, as well as create a successful dance group.

171 AG
After Harmonic Convergence, Suyin gave shelter to Varrick, who was on the run from Republic City. Also, her daughter Opal developed airbending abilities. Learning that other airbenders were emerging, Suyin contacted Avatar Korra to help training her daughter. Upon Team Avatar's arrival, Suyin was rehearsing with her dance troupe for a performance to be held the following month, but ended practice when she noticed the team's arrival. The matriarch already had known who was coming in advance as she always researched who was visiting Zaofu. Aiwei quickly informed her that the Avatar had lied about how many people were in her group. To Suyin's surprise and delight, Korra confessed that Lin had also came to Zaofu. When asked by the Avatar how she knew Lin, Suyin revealed that the two were sisters, which Lin later clarified as half-sisters.

Suyin and the group ventured to the police airship Lin had not yet disembarked from. She hoped for a simple hello out of her half-sister after being able to see her for the first time in thirty years, but Lin answered by saying she had nothing to say to her. Suyin claimed to Korra that she had been trying to mend relations, to which Lin responded by accusing Suyin of tearing the family apart, prompting Suyin to counter that Lin had kept it that way.

Desiring not to argue about the past, Suyin decided to bring Korra's group to her estate to meet her family, beginning with her twin sons Wei and Wing. The matriarch explained that the two had invented a game called Powerdisc and were in the process of playing it at that moment; Wei scored on Wing, to which Suyin congratulated the former before saying she was proud of both of them. She next led them to Huan, her son who made art through metalbending, and asked him to meet the Avatar's group and his aunt. Finally, Suyin introduced them to an excited Opal, though when Lin grew impatient to leave with the airbender, Suyin described her half-sister as "the woman apparently trying to abduct [her]". Afterward, she explained that the rest of the group was set up for their stay while insisting that Korra train Opal. A nervous Korra believed that Opal should get training at the Northern Air Temple, but Suyin remained insistent, believing that it could be done right at home. The Avatar ultimately relented, and tried to explain Lin's impatience by saying that four criminals were after the group. Suyin assured them that there was plenty of security around before telling them to prepare for dinner, saying that her chef would prepare an appetizing meal.

Just as they started dinner, Suyin's husband, Baatar, alerted her that he and their eldest son would have to skip on eating with them due to a major breakthrough in the remodeling of a tram station. Suyin let her husband head off, not desiring to stand in the way of success. She subsequently expressed what a blessing it was to have five children, to which Lin remarked that their mother said the same thing but never really meant it. Suyin later asked Korra about the search for new airbenders, which the Avatar answered by explaining that recently, she had to free a bunch of them from the Earth Queen. The metalbender promptly chastised the queen, calling her a woman who believed she could whatever she wanted, and referring to the monarch's rule as outdated. She asked Korra what she thought about the monarchy, and after hearing that Korra had not thought much about it, Suyin advised her to gain an understanding of it due to the evolving world, which she believed was reason enough for the queen to step aside. Lin responded by making a facetious comment about Suyin's apparent expertise in global affairs, to which Suyin challenged her sister to say what she wanted to say to her face. They are promptly interrupted by the arrival of Varrick and Zhu Li. Suyin explained to the group that Varrick was heading up the technology division. When Lin lashed out at her sister for harboring a criminal, Suyin defended the industrialist by saying that he did not deserve to be imprisoned for the rest of his life and reasoned that her own chef was once a pirate, declaring that people could change. Lin coldly stated that her half-sister had not changed at all and stormed out of the room.

After dinner, Suyin found Korra observing a model of Zaofu in her office, and explained why she built the city. Korra thanked her host for giving them a place to stay and apologized for Lin's behavior. When asked by Korra what had happened, the matriarch explained hers and Lin's difficult childhood and the many occupations she held before settling down. Though the Avatar commented that she had created the perfect life, Suyin remarked that it would have been as such if Lin had been a part of it, but she gave up attempting to reconcile with her long ago.

Personality
A direct opposite of Lin's uptight and blunt personality, Suyin is a more carefree and upbeat individual. She enjoys many hobbies as a means to express herself. She is also very open with her opinion, showing personal distaste for political control to revolve around royalty. She also has a deep love for family, even for her estranged half-sister.

Abilities
Like her mother and half-sister, Suyin is a proficient earthbender capable of defending herself against a series of earth projectiles. In addition, she is proficient in the use of metalbending, to the point where she was able to construct an entire city out of metal. As a dancer, she is rather graceful, maintaining both her balance and posture while swinging down a metal cable in synchronization with her troupe.

Trivia

 * Suyin and her sister are the first known siblings in The Legend of Korra to be half-siblings.
 * Suyin highly dislikes Earth Queen Hou-Ting.
 * Neither Suyin nor Lin know the identities of their respective fathers.