It was dangerous, she knew, but she had to do it.
The all-encompassing boom made her jump five feet into the air. She floated down quietly enough, placing her hand over her chest in an attempt to control her skittering heart rate. A few feet away, the woman watched Jinora's jump with shock before shooting her an apologetic look and picked up the heavy book she dropped.
Over the last few years, Jinora's lived the glamorous life of an airbender-in-training. There was even beginning talk of her tattoos (*squeal*). She loved her hair, currently fashioned in her favorite bun, but she wouldn't mind shaving a little bit of it for the tattoos.
To put it lamely, Jinora's run out of books. Normally, her father gets her books from around the world but he hasn't traveled anywhere lately. So here she was alone, on the wrong side of Republic City, in a small library she found by asking around. Her father would never let her leave the house alone but she couldn't wait for him to finish work. She's already had three days withdrawal symptoms without a book.
Besides, she's faced Equalists and she can handle herself. Nope, there's no reason for her to be worried at all. She'll be back with a good supply of books before they know it.
She walked up to the librarian and whispered, "Excuse me, but I can't seem to find the romance section."
The older woman fixed her glasses and, blushing, pointed to a bookshelf at the corner of the library. Jinora wondered a little at her reaction but didn't think much of it. She picked out about four or five books, barely glancing at her choices (she'd read anything so long it was romance), from the top shelf and made her way back to the front desk.
She breathed a sigh of relief once the natural sun hit her. Time to get back home and pretend none of this happened.
Books cradled in one arm, glider in the other, she waved a hand to create enough of a gust to get her into the air. The second she started flying when lightning struck.
She screamed as she fell, unwilling to let go of her books. In that split second of falling, flames, lightening, and water roared around her. She hit the ground, but not as hard as she thought she would. Braving a glance, Jinora found that she was… still in the air? She was saved by a large floating rock. She could only imagine the earthbender controlling it.
She flew from the Triad battle towards an alley a block away. The rock dropped unceremoniously all of a sudden. She barely caught her breath when he grabbed her. She dropped her books before she could do anything else.
He threw her against the brick wall and pounded his fists on either side of her head.
Earth brown eyes squinted in suspicion. "Who're you?"
The first thing she noticed was the long untamed, dark strands of his hair, deep tanned skin, and lips parted in displeasure. It was almost like all of him was too close. She was practically hyperventilating, unsure of the wild emotions brewing inside. Was it fear or love at first sight? Was it hatred or anger? She had no idea; she only knew it demanded action.
"What're you? Mute?" figuring she was in the wrong place, at the wrong time, he allowed a more indulgent examination of her. He glanced to her lips and back up to her wide doe brown eyes. "Girl like you alone in these parts isn't safe."
Finally, when it seemed like she would never speak again, she found her tongue, "My name's Jinora."
"Where you from, Jinora?" the intensity of his question in his deep voice made her shiver.
Breaking the prolonged eye contact, she dropped her vision to her feet. Something told her not to answer that. Instead, she mumbled, "Are you one of them?"
He smirked easily enough. "Wouldn't you like to know?"
She flushed just as he let her go. Jinora wondered what she should do. Her glider was burnt but she could walk the distance. Before her were two choices: make a run for home or try to figure out this boy.
He made a move to leave but she shouted at his backside. She said the first thing that came to mind. "You can't just leave me here without a way back home and a battle going on the street down! That's not what the Prince of Kaline would do!"
He froze at the accusation. Turning around slowly, grin spread on his face, he strolled back to her. Folding his arms, he looked her up and down. "What would he do?"
She thought back to her favorite story and replied, "He'd escort me to safety… and tell me his name."
"Escort you? Well, then, guess I better live up to expectations. Milady, the name's Skoochy," he mock bowed. "So you won't tell me where you're from but you'll take me there?"
"I only said to safety. If you get me to the pro-bending arena, I can make it the rest of the way."
"What's in it for me?"
She was flabbergasted by the show of selfishness. All her studies in airbending were for the path of selflessness, compassion, and passivity. She didn't really need his help but she had wanted to get to know him. She tried, "A sense of pride at having done a good deed?"
"Nah," he rejected the offer. Suddenly he was too close to her. "I take cash," he said as he leaned in.
His lips were on hers in a flash. The warm tingling sensation that trailed through her told her that this is what she wanted all along. They moved against hers in a surprisingly gentle manner compared to his prickly attitude.
All too soon, he pulled away, smirk fixed on his face. She instinctively wrapped her arms protectively around her stomach to keep the strange, unfamiliar emotions in. That was her first kiss to top it all.
He turned and picked up her books. "You just gonna stand there all day? C'mon."
Jinora nodded dumbly as she retrieved her glider.
He examined the burnt object, "Hey, how'd you get that thing to fly?"
"It had a machine part but that was burnt off," she lied. She couldn't reveal her identity. It was obvious that he was poor and if he found out that she was part of a special family, any chance of friendship was ruined. "I was testing it for Future Industries."
"No way, how old are you?"
"15."
"Two years younger. That's not fair that you got a job and I don't. Man, if I were a firebender, I'd get a factory job no problem," he mulled.
"Why don't you try for pro-bending?"
"You gotta have money to make money in that. Like with everything else. Don't worry 'bout me, bird. Say, never seen a girl wear clothes like that or have this many books. You're a weird girl, aren't you?"
Bird suited her better than he could imagine. She liked the sound of it. She giggled a yes as they continued along the way. Thinking about it, she had lied to herself when she thought she wanted friendship from him. No, Jinora wanted so much more from Skoochy.