There's a picture of a girl on the front page of the newspaper.
It catches Bolin's eye, crumpled to the side in the trash can, as he digs through for scraps of food. There is something noticeable about her; maybe it's her smile. She looks so tiny, surrounded by solemn and important looking men on both sides, but she's still grinning toothily, broadly, fearlessly.
Bolin doesn't find anything to eat in the trash, but he takes the newspaper home with him.
'Home' is a little makeshift shack Mako built out of stacked boxes, broken sticks and pieces of wood, rags and abandoned blankets, just big enough for them both to lie down side by side to sleep at night. Bolin doesn't mind, because home is where Mako is, and so he pushes back the dirty quilt that functions as their front door and crawls inside with his prize. Part of the roof is broken, so the sunlight trickles in just enough for him to look at the pictures.
There are another two pictures of the girl on the second page, and a fourth on the third. The words on the front page are very big, so she must be important, but Bolin can't read it. Mako tries to teach him, but it's hard to remember how all the letters come together to make words. Mako is much better at reading, but that's because Mako's really smart, maybe the smartest person in the world. Mako will be able to read the paper to Bolin later, but Mako is still gone at work, the kind of work that makes him come home looking tired and sad, the kind he won't tell Bolin about no matter how many times he asks.
Bolin turns his attention back to the paper. The first picture on the second page is of the girl, sitting in the lap of a woman who looks a lot like her, with a man standing next to her with an arm around the woman's shoulders. They're all smiling widely. Maybe that's why the girl's so happy; she still has a mom and a dad. Bolin is pretty sure he would smile like her if his mom and dad came back.
The girl is smiling in every single picture, and Bolin can't explain why it makes him feel happy to look at her.
Mako comes home just as the sun starts to set and Bolin's tummy starts growling. He brought bread and some kind of jerky, but he looks tired and sad as always, so Bolin shows him the paper as soon as they finish eating.
"Oh," says Mako with surprise, after he looks at the front page.
"What's it say? Read it to me, Mako!"
"Try it yourself first, Bo. Just take it slow, one letter at a time, like we practiced."
Bolin huffs impatiently, but starts on the first word anyway. "N…neh...neck…t…next? Is the first word 'next?'"
"Very good!" Mako says, and Bolin feels his chest swell with pride. "Want to try the second word? It's a harder one."
"Ah…av…av…at…this one's too hard."
Mako ruffles his hair to take the sting out of the failure. "It says, 'Next Avatar Found In Southern Water Tribe.'"
"Really?" Bolin feels his eyes go wide. "The little girl in the picture is the Avatar? But she's tiny!"
"Avatar Aang was tiny once too, you know."
Bolin has a hard time imagining the giant statue of the last Avatar as a little boy, but Mako is smart and so Bolin takes his word for it.
"What's her name? How old is she? Read more!"
Mako frowns over the bulk of the article. "I'm looking for it. Calm down." Bolin fidgets impatiently until Mako finds what he's looking for: "It says her name is Korra, and she's seven years old."
"Just like me!"
Mako's smile is warm and soft. "That's right. Just like you, Bo."
"I wish she lived in Republic City. I bet she'd help us. The Avatar is always supposed to help people."
"We'd probably never meet her, even if she lived here." Mako's voice has gone distant. "The Avatar is too important to talk to people like us."
"But Avatar Aang had lots of friends," Bolin persists, "and they weren't important people when they first met him! I bet Avatar Korra would be our friend if she lived here. She looks nice."
Mako manages a small smile. "I think she looks more wild than nice."
"No, she looks fun!" Bolin argues with a frown. "I'd play with her all the time if she was my friend. I'd be her best friend!"
"Well, who knows. Maybe she'll come here one day, and you two can be friends."
"And you too, Mako! We can all three be best friends."
Mako doesn't look sad at all anymore when he gives Bolin a little pat on the head. "That sounds good. We should get to bed now. Just think about that while you're falling asleep. It'll give you good dreams."
Bolin obediently curls up in the little nest of rags and blankets with a sigh. "Night night, Mako," he murmurs as his brother stretches out by his side. He turns his head just a little to the left and smiles at the newspaper. "Night night, Avatar Korra."