Hey everyone! This is Linzerj here! First, I'd like to let everyone know that this story is a collaboration between me and Ava Miranda Dakedavra. It involves lots of cute fluff, fire ferrets, and interdimensional travel. Also, we plan on it definitely NOT being a one-shot. So there will be more chapters to come!
I don't want to bore you guys or anything with more of my ramblings, but I am very glad that you decided to give this fic a try! So without further ado, here you go!
For the Love of a Fire Ferret
Bolin sighed as he trudged down the streets of Republic City, Pabu perched on his shoulder. Mako and Korra were on a date...again; and Asami was helping Pema with the airbending kids while Tenzin and Lin were at yet another council meeting. The lonely Fire Ferret sighed again as he patted Pabu absentmindedly.
Then, his green eyes widened. Standing in the crowd was a girl around his age, maybe a year or two younger. It wouldn't have been that interesting, except for her striking hair. It wasn't black or brown, or even white like the hair of Princess Yue who had become the Moon Spirit. It was a light yellow color, unlike any color he'd ever seen before.
He was drawn to the hair, and before he knew it, the lonely earthbender and his fire ferret were next to the girl. She was smiling at them, and suddenly he was mesmerized by her silvery-grey eyes, a color usually only found with airbenders.
"Oh, hello," her voice sounded dreamy, making Bolin look around to make sure that she was talking to him, "Would you mind telling me where I am? I'm not one hundred percent certain I'm where I'm supposed to be, so if you could tell me if I'm supposed to be here or not, I'd really appreciate it."
He blinked, finding her accent strange but not unwelcome before smiling back, "You're in Republic City."
"Excellent," she nodded before she stuck out her hand, "I'm Luna."
"Ahh," he glanced at her hair again, remembering that Mako had once said that 'Luna' was another name for 'moon.' Maybe the Moon Spirit had taken on a human form? But if that was so, why wasn't she in the form of Princess Yue? This was all very strange, but he turned his thoughts back to Luna and found himself grinning in what could only be a silly way as he shook her hand, "I'm Bolin."
"Hello, Bolin. Nice to meet you." She still had that dreamy edge to her voice, and the way she seemed confused about her location coupled with her strange accent made Bolin wonder where she had come from. This prompted him to ask.
"So...where do you come from, anyway? And, uh...what's with your hair?"
Luna smiled at him again, "I'm not from around here, obviously. And blondes are pretty common where I come from."
Blonde. Bolin had never heard the term, but he supposed that was what her hair color was called. "Alright...but, again, where do you come from?"
She giggled, "You'd never believe me."
"Try me."
Her dreamy silvery eyes bore into his green ones for a second, and Bolin wanted to look away...but he couldn't. After another moment, she answered, "I come from Hogwarts, which is a school for magic in Scotland, which also happens to be in another dimension."
He blinked. "OK...you were right, I kinda don't believe you."
She shrugged, like she didn't care if he believed her or not, like she was used to it, "Alright then." She blinked when Pabu leaned as far as he could towards her, his little nose wiggling as he sniffed her. She gaped, her eyes going wide as her mouth hung open in a little 'o' shape.
"Oh, right, Luna, this is Pabu," Bolin introduced with a smile as Pabu settled back on his shoulder, scratching behind his fire ferret's head, "Pabu, this is Luna." He then looked curiously at Luna once more, "Is there any reason you're staring at my ferret?"
"Ohh," Luna breathed, reaching forward and petting Pabu's head, although Bolin was the only one who froze when he realized that she was invading his personal space, as Pabu was eating the attention up. Then Bolin figured out that he rather liked Luna's attention too, and relaxed, smiling at her. "He's so…."
"Cute? Adorable? Red?" Bolin asked, pulling up the lists of girls who had said those things about Pabu.
Instead, Luna only smiled up at Bolin, "Soft. And sweet." Bolin glanced back at his shoulder and found Pabu licking Luna's fingers, making her grin wider at both Bolin and his little buddy.
Bolin chuckled. "Heh, yeah; it looks like he likes you, anyway." Pabu continued licking Luna's fingers, making her giggle even more.
"That's the whole reason I came here," she told him. "I wanted to see a fire ferret for myself."
Bolin's smile grew into a wide grin. "Well, there you go! You not only got to see a fire ferret, you were affectionately licked by one too."
She giggled even more at his statement, and Bolin grinned even wider. He decided he liked this strange girl.
"So how long are you staying?" Bolin asked, a hopeful lilt to his voice.
She spread her arms out and tilted her head, what could've been a shrug, "As long as I want."
"Awesome – I know somewhere amazing we can go get some food," he beamed, "Interested?"
"Very," she nodded, following Bolin along the street.
This "somewhere amazing" was really back on Airbender Island, where Bolin snuck Luna along into the kitchen, thinking that they had miraculously evaded Tenzin and his family when he stopped in the doorway, gaping at Pema, Jinora, Ikki, and Meelo.
"So much for sneaking in," Bolin sighed as the kids rushed towards him, Jinora hanging back with her mother for a moment before going as well.
"Hi Bolin! Who's that girl with you?" Ikki asked, smiling at them with her head tilted, making Luna copy her actions.
"You have pretty hair," Meelo told her, making her giggle at him.
"Thank you," she smiled.
"Ahh, Bolin?" Pema asked uncertainly, standing from the table.
"Relax, Pema – this is Luna, I just brought her here to get her something to eat," he reassured with a smile, "And if it's anything, Pabu likes her too."
"Yeah, mommy, I like her too!" Pema sighed at Meelo's declaration; he liked pretty much everyone who wasn't obviously an Equalist. But she nodded.
"Alright, then," she consented, making Bolin grin in victory. "But you should know, Luna, that the island is purely vegetarian."
"That's fine," Luna replied, looking up from whatever Ikki had been saying. "Bolin says it's good, so I'm sure it must be."
Pema smiled and motioned to the low table and cushions. "Here, you two can have a seat, and I'll whip something up for you."
Bolin smiled. "Thanks, Pema!" She nodded, and then turned to her kids.
"Alright, children, leave Bolin and Luna alone now."
Three sighs filled the air before the younger two rushed off, looking to find Korra or their father to annoy. Jinora trudged after them, hoping to ditch them somewhere for a quiet spot to read her book.
"I like it here," Luna smiled, looking around the room as Bolin smiled at her, "Its aura is excellent."
"Alright. Yeah. Good aura. Cool," he shrugged, still smiling as Pabu poked his cheek to make sure he was okay before deciding he wasn't and hopping off and flying towards Luna, which made both of them lurch forward to grab him. Bolin blushed as his hands covered Luna's, looking up into her unfazed eyes.
"Umm…you caught him!" he grinned and threw his hands up in the air, "Good job!"
"Are you alright, Bolin?" Luna asked, setting the fire ferret up on her shoulder and tilting her head the other way, Pabu doing the same.
"Um, uh, yeah," Bolin stammered, drawing his hands back all too suddenly. "Yeah, yeah, totally fine, totally fine..."
Luna's eyes closed, and the smirk on her face made Bolin think that she was on to him. "Of course, Bolin..."
"Really! I'm fine!"
"Uh-huh. Sure. Well, when you want to talk, please feel free."
There was a pause, and Bolin felt the urge to say something - anything - to break the silence. But within the next few seconds, Pema reentered, carrying a plate of Bolin's favorites; Air Nomad desserts.
"Well, I'm just going to set these here and walk quickly away to let you talk," she said, hurriedly, setting the plate down and dashing out of the room. Pabu immediately dived for the treats as Luna smirked knowingly at Bolin, who was doing a combination of paling and blushing at the same time.
"Umm…pie?" He offered with an uneasy grin.
Sure," she said, happily accepting the slice he offered her. He took his own and immediately began to eat it, no doubt hoping to avoid any further conversation. But with her, that wasn't an option.
"So, are you an earthbender?" Bolin stopped his hasty chewing and swallowed before answering.
"Oh, yup! I'm a pro-bender, too. If Amon didn't destroy the arena, I'd ask if you'd wanna catch a match of mine sometime, but..." he sighed, "well, it got destroyed."
She smiled and munched on her pie before merrily announcing, "I'm a witch."
Bolin, who had been drinking some leechee juice, sputtered and spat it out in a marvelous spit-take. "Excuse me?"
Luna laughed lightly. "A witch. I can do magic. Wanna see?"
"Umm…it depends," he admitted, watching warily as she happily brought out…
A stick.
Bolin wondered if Luna hadn't gotten some cactus juice somewhere. She shoved the pie into her mouth, her cheeks bulging as he grinned at her before she shattered the plate on the floor. He gaped at her, thinking Pema was going to kill them both with some leftover pregnant-lady-hormones when she choked down the pie and happily said "Reparo" with a flick of her wand. She then pointed it back to the floor, "Wingardium Leviosa." The plate was floating as she set it back on the table, smiling happily at Bolin before taking a swig of the leechee juice.
"Oh you're cool," he finally told her, "Really really cool."
She beamed, "Thank you."
He laughed, and she giggled along with him. Finally the laughter died down, and they were left in a comfortable silence.
Bolin hadn't felt this happy since his 'date' with Korra.
After a few more minutes, both were finished and had cleaned up to the best of their abilities. "Now the fun part," Bolin whispered to Luna once they were done. "How would you like to watch an earthbending pro in action?"
Luna's grin returned, spreading across her face as her eyes sparkled. "I'd love to!
"Excellent! I'll show you," he smirked, leaning in a little closer, "Tomorrow."
She huffed and pouted at him, Pabu peeking up over her head and chattering his annoyance as well, "Well that certainly isn't nice to do to somebody."
"I'm sorry," he chuckled, "But I think you need your sleep. After all that food and all that walking, not to mention how far you must've traveled? I think you need it."
She sighed, smiling up at him, "You're more than likely right. Thank you for looking out for me, and for everything else as well."
"No problem," he grinned, walking her towards where he was sure there would be a spare room. Pabu leapt up to Bolin as she slid open the door, smiling at her new room before turning back to Bolin and wrapping him up in a hug.
"Thank you," she murmured into his shirt, "Nobody's ever believed me before, on anything."
"Hey," he patted her hair – Spirits, it was soft too – and smiled at her, although she didn't see it, "It's alright. And you're welcome."
She pulled back and smiled at him again before stepping away and into her new room, "Bolin?"
"Yeah?" he asked, noticing that she was smirking again.
"Whenever you want to talk," she reminded him before sliding the door shut.
He stared at it for a few moments before walking away in a daze, Pabu chattering his goodnights to Luna as they left. The Earthbender shook his head, smiling up to the fire ferret, "Just another new adventure, huh, Buddy?"
