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Chen Beifong is the only daughter of Lin Beifong and Tenzin. Born after the implosion of her parents' relationship, she was raised without her father until she was 13, at which point Lin informed both of their relationship to each other. A prodigious metalbender, she is noted for preferring to use her skills for the arts instead of combat.
History[]
Chen Mei-yin Beifong was born in the spring of 158 AG at the Beifong estate in Gaoling. Her mother discovered her pregnancy shortly before her father became engaged to the Air Acolyte Pema and chose to hide her pregnancy and instead retreat to the Beifong estate for its duration. Many factors contributed to this decision, chief of which were her desire not to jeopardize the future of the Air Nation and her desire to raise Chen free of the pressures being her and Tenzin's child would create. She and Lin lived at the estate for the next six months after her birth before returning to Republic City.
An only child raised by a single mother, she spent most of her time at her mother's office when not at school. She took her first steps in the precinct's nursery (something that Lin learned about after the fact) and improved her reading skills by reading her mother's procedural reports. Once she became of school age, she entered the public school by her family's apartment; however, after some unfortunate name-calling experiences, Lin switched her to private school, which both far preferred. There she flourished, easily making friends and excelling in her studies.
While the daughter of the Chief of Police of Republic City, she spent a significant portion of her time outside the city. Her aunt, Fire Lord Izumi, hosted her and her mother for every winter vacation, while her mother took her to the ancestral estate in Gaoling for every spring break and summer vacation. The estate has also served as a haven of sorts, especially during key points in Republic City's history; when Lin discovered that Tarrlok was a bloodbender, she sent her away to the estate for the foreseeable future, the young girl returning only after the Equalists had been solidly dealt with and Lin's bending completely restored. It was while Lin was hiding her from the Red Lotus that she first met Avatar Korra and her father, Tenzin.
First Encounters[]
Chen was participating in her first stint of summer music camp in Gaoling when her mother called to inform her of her and the Avatar's imminent arrival at the family estate. While her mother assured her that there was nothing to worry about and that they only wanted to watch her end-of-camp performance, she knew that her mother's phone call so soon after the demise of the Earth Queen meant the situation was far graver than her mother was letting on. She and Korra spent the next three weeks under her mother's watchful eye, doing everything from helping Korra improve her metalbending skills to practicing musical accompaniments with her mother, and would have continued to do so had her Aunt Suyin not arrived at the estate. Her aunt, expecting to find only Korra and Lin, was shocked at the presence and existence of her niece; however, she quickly covered it up and readily accepted her as she was thrilled to have a niece to spoil. The Red Lotus threat ever-looming, it wasn't until Asami arrived after her airship was attacked by P'Li that the group migrated to the Northern Air Temple to help protect the fledgling Air Nation.
Northern Air Temple[]
Upon arriving at the Northern Air Temple she met Bolin, Mako, and her cousin Opal; all were shocked to learn of her existence, but quickly accepted her as part of the group. She joined them for a strategy meeting in the temple's pagoda, where she met Tenzin and was assigned as his children's bodyguard.
Inbetween[]
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Korra's Return, Trip to the Swamp[]
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Battle of Zaofu[]
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Abilities[]
Earthbending[]
The daughter and granddaughter of earth- and metalbending masters, Chen is herself a master in her own right. Though she began shifting the earth when she was in her mother's womb, she first began earthbending at the age of three when she accidentally broke a set of terracotta animals in her nursery using her bending. After that, her mother personally taught her how to bend, taking great care to instill a love of earthbending in the young girl.
Chen is a naturally powerful bender, able to lift large boulders simultaneously and even manipulate mud without direct contact with the ground. The latter ability, in particular, has allowed her to beat her legendary grandmother in a spar. Unlike her mother and grandmother, however, she is not a naturally confrontational bender; this is reflected in her combat style. Rather than directly attack an opposing move, she instead utilizes the more defensive movements of her father's airbending. Her unorthodox bending forms combined with her prowess make her nearly impossible to beat in a spar.
In addition, she is adept at not only using seismic sense but evading it, having taught herself as a child how to use her footsteps to cancel out her heartbeat. While rarely utilized, she has been able to sneak out from under her family's care by using the technique.
Metalbending[]
Chen mastered metalbending by the age of 11, making her at one point the world's youngest metalbending master. She began metalbending at the age of seven using her mother's meteorite, preferring to make statues out of the material. Once her mother deemed her control over the meteorite proficient enough, she made Chen a mini metalbender uniform and taught her how to fight in close combat using the suit's retractable greaves. It was Lieutenant Saikhan, however, who first taught her how to metalbend using metal cables as Lin couldn't stomach the thought of the cables breaking and scarring Chen on her watch.
To assuage Lin's concerns over the metal cables, Saikhan and Lin decided to teach Chen control over metal by having her disassemble an old metalbending suit, progressing to smaller and smaller pieces as Chen's fine control became greater. Eventually, Chen was able to disassemble a singular strip of metal without disturbing the rest of the suit. Her true ability to control metal, however, was not realized until she accidentally tuned her instrument using metalbending. Lin, floored by her daughter's control, shortly thereafter certified her mastery.
Though she was certified a master, both Saikhan and her mother still made a point of refining her metalbending through allowing her to spar the new cadets at police headquarters; by the time she was 13 she was undefeated in the headquarter's dojo. As with earthbending, she easily incorporates her father's airbending moves into her metalbending forms. That, combined with her control over her metal cables and her suit's retractable daggers, makes her impossible to beat on the mat. Like her mother, she almost exclusively uses her metalbending; unlike her mother, she uses it for her music rather than for combat.
Musicianship[]
Having played the guzheng since she was a young child, Chen is a conservatory level musician and aims to enter Republic City's conservatory for university. Though still young, she is noted in the music world for using her metalbending to play her instrument, and for her delicate yet masterful interpretation of both traditional and contemporary pieces. Due to her skill, she is first chair for her instrument in her private school's orchestra, a position she has held since she was in the sixth grade.
It should be noted that, despite being skilled in metalbending's combat forms, she almost exclusively uses her skills for her music. Originally playing her guzheng using traditional silk strings, it was her idea to change the silk out for metal--a move that all but secured her place as a metalbending master, and one that significantly improved her skill on the guzheng as well. Her ability to manipulate strings using metalbending has allowed her to play other instruments, such as the pipa and qinqin, though she overwhelmingly prefers to focus on her guzheng.
Relationships[]
Lin Beifong[]
"Chen is everything to me. Protecting her is what I care most about in this world." -- Lin Beifong to Pema about her daughter
Tenzin and his Family[]
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Korra and Team Avatar[]
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Zaofu Beifongs[]
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Kuvira[]
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Saikhan and Alta[]
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Personality[]
"I've always been a bit brusque, but somehow I get the sweetest kid." -- Lin Beifong
Chen is a naturally kind and warm-hearted person, and easily makes friends with whoever she meets. Having been raised free of familial pressures, she is notably even-keeled as compared to her parents' tendencies towards hotheadedness. Due to the significant amount of time she has spent at the ancestral estate in Gaoling, she is well versed in the mannerisms of the Earth Kingdom's landed nobility; this has given her the ability to blend in seamlessly at society events in both Gaoling and Republic City.
She keeps her friends and family close, and can often be found either in the company of her closest friend Alta or with her family. She tends to "adopt" people, and in this way has come to regard Team Avatar as siblings. As such, there is nothing she would not do for those she loved. While naturally nonconfrontational, she will fight if the situation calls for it. This has led her to jump into dangerous situations without thinking, such as challenging Kuvira to a fight on Zaofu's soil or even attempting to stop an errant spirit cannon from destroying Gaoling; the latter event, in fact, temporarily trapped her spirit in the Spirit World.
Trivia[]
- Her favorite type of food is noodles, while her favorite cuisine is that of Gaoling.
- Her mother taught her how to bake when she was eight years old.
- For the first 14 years of her life she was the shortest student in her class; after a growth spurt one month before entering high school, she finally hit average height and is slated to grow more.
- She loves pro-bending, and loves watching games at the arena with her mother.
- Chen's guzheng is a family heirloom that's over three centuries old; though unconfirmed, she believes it was a gift from Avatar Kyoshi.
- Her fine motor control over metal has also given her some basic jewelry making skills; she once made a diadem for her aunt Suyin Beifong through manipulating the throwing knives the woman usually wears.
- Like her grandmother, she too can sense if someone has metal in their body.
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