This is for Day 1 of Bolinora week! Bolin is learning to live without his parents on the streets with Mako when he sees a pretty baby and makes a new friend.
Bolin watched as Mako rifled through the dumpster behind The Jasmine Dragon. His older brother had taken to wearing their father's long red scarf and what had looked dignified on the older man looked quite silly on Mako. Bolin shivered under the long overcoat Mako had found in an alley and covered him with. He missed his parents.
"Mako, when are Mommy and Dad coming back?" he asked. The angry-looking firebender had taken them away from him and Mako, and then all he remembered were flames. Mako had gripped his hand so tightly and shouted at Bolin to run. Every night since then, Bolin had tried to bring up the subject of their parents, but Mako had just shushed him.
"Bolin," Mako said, and his voice was gentle, "They're not coming back. That firebender...he killed them, little brother." Mako tried to stop the tears from flowing out of his eyes because he had to stay strong for Bolin, but he was only eight. He felt a pair of small arms wrap around him. It was Bolin, and there were tears in his eyes too.
"It's okay, big brother. They have each other, just like we have each other." With that, Bolin pulled the overcoat around him, and using one of his arms like a pillow, fell fast asleep with one thumb in his mouth. Mako sighed; Bolin hadn't sucked his thumb in more than a year, he must have missed their parents more than he let on. Mako shivered, and tried to use his firebending to light the cardboard boxes in front of him. After nearly igniting his floppy black hair, he gave up and curled up under the overcoat around Bolin, and went to sleep.
The next morning, Mako and Bolin woke up to what sounded like a parade. Bolin wanted to find out what was going on, but the rumbling in his stomach demanded his attention immediately. "Mako, I'm hungry," he whined, knowing that they didn't have any food.
"I spent the last of our money on that chicken yesterday morning," Mako reminded his fussy brother. Bolin ground his feet into the earth.
"I know, but I'm still really hungry," the little boy pouted. Mako rolled his eyes. Bolin was always grumpy when he wanted food.
"Okay, here's what we're going to do. You see that big crowd over there?" Mako gestured to a cluster of people that all looked pretty wealthy. Bolin nodded eagerly. "I saw some older kids the other day distract an old lady and take her wallet. They were long gone before she even noticed. We've already got a distraction, so let's see if we can grab some money out of their back pockets," Mako explained.
"But isn't that stealing?" Bolin asked, a worried frown forming on his face. Mako put his arm around Bolin's shoulders.
"Yes, it is. But we don't really have any other options right now. If I could get a job, I would. But people don't hire kids. So right now, we need to steal. I promise, though, I'll do whatever it takes to make sure we don't have to steal for very long, okay kiddo?" Mako said, lightening the mood by ruffling Bolin's hair. His little brother smiled slightly before maintaining a serious face.
"Let's split up and meet here in fifteen minutes," Mako suggested. Bolin nodded, and marched over to a small group. He was so short that Mako could barely spot him in the middle of the crowd. Mako turned his back on his baby brother for a few minutes to quietly rob the man in front of him. His small fingers were so deft that the man didn't even notice that he had been recently parted with his cash.
All of the sudden, the crowd went wild. Mako looked up, and saw a bearded man sitting with a very tired looking woman in a carriage pulled by sky bison. The woman was holding a bundle, and it took Mako a second to spot the tiny head peeping out of the blankets. The man had airbender tattoos, and there was only one man currently alive with those. The man was Tenzin, son of Avatar Aang. Mako's father had told him about the war when Mako asked him for a school project. Mako assumed that the baby was his newborn daughter. Her birth had been in the newspaper a few weeks ago. The baby girl's name had started with a J..Jinora! That was it.
It wasn't until that moment that Mako realized that he had forgotten to keep an eye on Bolin. His eyes scanned the area where he had last seen his brother, but Bolin was nowhere to be found. Pushing through the crowd, Mako had to burn a few people to get them to move. Standing with his face pressed against the gate was Bolin.
"Bolin!" Mako yelled, grabbing his brother's hand, "What were you doing?" He pulled them back down the alley where they had slept and looked expectantly at his little brother.
Bolin took a deep breath before launching into his story. "Well, I tried to take this lady's wallet but she felt me grab her skirt and I told her I thought she was my mom and then she said she would help me look for her, but I told her that was okay, I could see my dad near the front. So I stood next to this man and then I saw the blue arrow man and the baby ride by, and Mako, she's so little! Was I ever that little?" Bolin asked. Mako shook his head, trying to follow what his little brother had been rambling on about.
"Yeah, I kinda remember when you were small. 'The blue arrow man' is named Tenzin, and his dad is the Avatar. You know, the big statue. I'm pretty sure the little baby girl is named Jinora." Mako said kindly.
Bolin grinned. "That's a pretty name. Do you think she would be any fun to play with?" he asked his brother earnestly.
Mako smiled at Bolin. "Bo, she's a baby. She'd probably cry. Babies are cute, but they don't do much. Besides, all the airbenders live on Air Temple Island for now. Maybe someday, when we're both rich, you could invite her to our giant mansion," Mako said wistfully. "Now you wait here for me to come back, okay?" Bolin nodded, kicking his feet on the empty crate he was sitting on.
After briefing Bolin on everything he should and should not do while he was gone, Mako hurried back to the rapidly dispersing crowd. He managed to pilfer two wallets before members of the crowd started to realize that they had personal items missing. Figuring he'd better get out of their before the police showed up, Mako scampered down the alley where he'd left Bolin sitting.
The little boy was petting some bright red, rail thin creature. Mako was positive it had fleas, or worse. "Bolin, stay away from that thing! It's probably got rabies." Mako waved his arms, attempting to shoo the animal. Bolin just giggled.
"No, Mako, it's okay. It's friendly, see?" Bolin started petting the fire ferret under the chin, and Mako could swear it was practically purring. If fire ferrets could purr. "Can we keep it? Please? I'll feed it and clean up it's poop. Please, Mako, please?" Bolin begged, turning the puppy dog eyes on full blast.
"Absolutely not. We hardly have enough food for ourselves, much less an animal, Bolin. And it may seem friendly now, but what if gets too rowdy and bites you?" Mako shook his head, closing the discussion.
"Awww, but I've already named it. I'm gonna call it Jinora!" Bolin said happily. It was the bestest name he could think of.
Mako sighed. "We are not keeping it. And besides, it's a boy fire ferret anyway. You can't call it Jinora," he huffed.
"Then I'll call him...Pabu!" Bolin said, somehow knowing, despite Mako's protests that they weren't keeping it, that this was the start of a beautiful friendship.