"Pabu! Stop!" A muscular teen with vivid green eyes and a mop of brown hair races through the farmer's market after his fireferret. The swift little beast is racing ahead of him into the area housing all the different food stalls, hungry as a sabertoothmooselion after an angry rampage and searching for something good to sink his teeth into. Bolin is left chasing after him, quickly running out of breath as he tries to keep up amidst dodging various people and carts. He trips over a pile of folded handmade blankets that a woman is arranging on her display counter and sends them flying across the sidewalk. "S-sorry, ma'am! PABU! Come back here, you little troublemaker!"

Pabu merely squeaks his opposition and continues on his hunt, having caught a whiff of something utterly delicious. He can't quite decide if it's freshly baked bread smothered in something sweet or a cake, but he knows for certain that he wants it in his growling belly. He dodges several more pairs of feet and leaps into the basket of a chocolate-skinned woman, ducking under the cloth covering and sinking his teeth into the tasty treat.

"Ahh!" The basket falls from her hands, Pabu and all within, Bolin finally catching up to end the chase.

"Miss! Have you seen a little red fireferret?" Bolin's green eyes are wide and desperate.

"Fireferret? My word, I thought it was a tigerdillo!" The girl laughs softly and kneels to her fallen basket. She lifts the cover and smiles down at the little rascal nomming away at her pastries. "Well, if he chose my basket of all the stalls before he reached me, he must have good taste! He's eating all my ash banana bread!"

Bolin colors a shade of red to rival Pabu's and scoops him up. "I'm so sorry! We woke up late for practice, and I didn't have time to feed either of us. Then when we started heading this way for lunch, he just took off!"

The girl giggles softly with her hand over her lips, eyes sparkling with humor at seeing the boy gesturing wildly with his hands. "It's quite all right! If he's that hungry, he can just have the bread!"

"He can… have it?" Bolin stares at her incredulously. "Even though he ate it without asking and scared you?"

"Yes, of course," she says with a warm smile. "I'm Victoria, by the way."

"I'm Bolin," he smiles sheepishly then lifts up Pabu with both hands, holding him out as the fireferret nibbles on the bread. "And this troublemaker is Pabu!"

Pabu gives her a chattery squeak then continues to eat his hard-earned treat, earning another laugh from the pretty young girl. "It's quite a pleasure to meet you both! And since you mentioned not having breakfast, here!"

Bolin's jaw drops as she hands him a full loaf of ash banana bread rather than just the sliced heel she'd been planning to eat herself… before Pabu got to it, anyway. "Wow! Thanks, Vicki!"

"Vicki?" The girl tilts her head and smiles. "Vicki… yes, I like it."

Bolin's teeth are already sunk into the side of the loaf up near the end, which he breaks off for Pabu once squeaked at. "MMM! This is great!"

Even if it does come out more like, "MMM! Dif if gway!"

Vicki simply laughs again. "I'm glad you like it! I'm hoping to do well here today with it!"

"How come you're here in the farmer's market?" Bolin asks after swallowing his mouthful. "Your bread is fantastic! You should open your own bakery!"

"That's my dream!" Her eyes swirl with her happy imaginings. "But first, I need to have a loyal clientele, or I won't make it more than a couple months."

"Are you kidding?! You'll never have any food on the shelves!" Bolin proclaims wildly with his mouth and arms, leaving Vicki with a puzzled look. "Isn't it obvious?! People will keep buying it all, and you'll never have any leftover!"

"Oh goodness! That would certainly keep me busy! But I'm also doing this to raise the funds to open my bakery," her eyes shine with joy as she speaks. "And I never want to do anything but bake and make people happy through baked treats!"

"I'm sure happy!" Bolin gives her a wide grin as he rubs his stomach, making his new friend laugh again. "What I wouldn't give to have a free loaf of your bread every day!"

"Well, maybe we could work out a deal!" Bolin looks at her with excited interest.

"What did you have in mind?"

"I'll tell you what! If you can recommend me to people, I'll do it! Every day that someone comes in, makes a purchase, and says 'Bolin sent me', I'll give you a free treat!" Bolin's jaw drops wide open.

"Really? What's the catch?"

"No catch!" She smiles warmly. "I mean it! You can come by in the evening or following morning, depending on when you want your treat! And the more people that buy things from your reference, the better your treat will be!"

Bolin laughs and swings Pabu around. "Little buddy, I knew you had the nose of a shirshoo!"

Pabu tilts his head and squeaks happily before squirming out of Bolin's bands and winding around his neck to sit, not unlike his brother's scarf. Vicki smiles warmly as she speaks again, "So I can count on you guys to spread the word?"

"Yes ma'am, general baker ma'am!" Bolin snaps into a salute, rather enjoying that he can make her laugh so easily. "Sergeants Pabu and Bolin, at your service! And you know, we wouldn't mind taste-testing new recipes either!"

"Of course," Vicki smiles warmly at them. "You'll be the first ones I call!"

Extended ending

Vicki smiles as she looks out the window of her shop while she kneads a pound of ash banana dough to the perfect consistency. So many things have happened to get her shop open so quickly…

And it's all thanks to Bolin and that Pabu! She giggles to herself as she works. The shop will open soon, and the steady flow of customers will keep her busy all day. But before she can open and serve the masses, she knows she needs to have extra dough prepared and rising for the second baking period of the day, as she refuses to sell anything that isn't fresh or up to her standards.

She looks up as the bell chimes and sees Bolin and Pabu coming in, a huge grin gracing the face of the earth-bending cutie and happy squeaks filling the otherwise quiet shop from the furry creature that started it all. "Bolin, Pabu, welcome!"

"Good morning, my lovely baking friend!" Bolin greets her happily, drawing out his words slightly. Pabu jumps onto the counter and squeaks his own greetings. "And what do you have for me today?"

"Sixteen people, Bolin!" Vicki exclaims in delight as she lays the dough on a pan with other identical balls to rise. "Sixteen new people came in yesterday because of you!"

Bolin's eyes widen as she reaches beneath the counter and heaves up a large covered basket, which he finds is filled with all sorts of goodies, including the ash banana bread he's so fond of as well as cakes and pastries and cookies galore. "W-what's all this?!"

"My sincere gratitude to a dear friend, who I couldn't have done this without!" Vicki smiles brightly at him over the counter. "You guys are the greatest."

Pabu squeaks and jumps onto the handle of the basket then onto her shoulder, giving an affectionate lick-kiss to her cheek in thanks. Vicki giggles softly as he does while Bolin gets a cheesy grin.

"You know what, Pabu? I think you have the right idea."

Vicki looks up as he leans across the basket and lightly kisses her flushing cheek, giving her a gift sweeter than anything she could ever bake.