"Stop that, Runa! You'll make the kitchen smell horrid" warned mom. I then purposely burnt the remainders of my charred toast to ash.
"uhg, why do I have to wait for dad? I'm starving mom!" I complained. "I've been sitting here for ages!" I stared at the pile of tea muffins placed in the center of the breakfast bar. I glanced at mom, her back was to me. It wouldn't hurt to nibble on one muffin, would it? I reached for the top muffin.
"oh no you don't little Missy!" a hand shot out and caught my wrist. "Listen to your mother" I turned and scowled at my dad. "Asami, I think it's feeding time, she looks like she's about to take off my hand." he joked. I grumbled.
"okay, Runa, here's your breakfast. Iroh! Those are for my tea with Korra today, don't you dare touch a single muffin, I want everything to be perfect! She, Mako and the twins have been gone an awful while!" mom placed a plate in front of me, and slapped dad's hand away from the tea muffins.
I quietly munched breakfast. I couldn't believe that Korra, Mako, Lou and Jace were coming back from their visit with Korra's parents and the White Lotus leaders. They'd been gone almost 5 years. "Runa!" my dad said loudly, apparently he'd been asking me a question. I looked up from my plate.
"What?" I asked, tracing the outline of the plate.
"How's school" he asked, and looked at me in anticipation.
"Uhg, I don't want to talk about school, dad!" I sighed and looked at the far wall, spotting the clock. I jumped out of my seat "Damn, I'm going to be late!"
"Runa, language!" my mom said sternly. I shrugged.
"I have to get ready!" I ran to my room.
I bounded out of the bathroom, grabbed my keys of their hook, and opened the door.
"What no goodbye for your old man?" my dad got up from his chair and hugged me. "Have fun at practice, be safe" I hugged him back.
Then raced out the door before either of my patents could delay me further. I had to get to probending practice or Kai would have my head on a platter.
I just pasted the park and actually might have made it to practice in time. If a polar bear dog hadn't crashed right into me and my scooter.
"Ahh! Now I'll never make it to practice!" I shouted as I tried to wriggle myself out from under the massive animal. I just wondered where it came from, because this wasn't Naga, Korra's polar bear dog, this one was smaller and younger.
"Turk, get up! Your crushing the poor girl!" yelled a familiar figure, standing over me. 'Turk' rolled over, and the figure reached out a hand to help me up. I ignored the hand and got up on my own. I brushed myself off, and glared at my scooter, which lay broken on the ground.
"My mom's going to MURDER me!" I cry. Shaking my head.
"Really sorry 'bout that, Miss. Turk's not quite accustomed to riding yet" I turn towards the boy, he looks familiar, but I'm really pissed so I don't really care.
"Well maybe it's not his fault!" I say accusingly to the boy. Taking off my helmet and letting down my black curls, I glare at the boy who's now looking me over carefully.
"Your name wouldn't happen to be Runa, would it?" He asks calmly, as if I didn't just insult his riding skills.
"It just so happens that, my name is Runa, what's it to ya?" I ask him.
He laughs, "You turned out to be quite a beauty, Miss Runa. You may not remember me but I'm Jace. Korra and mako's son. Its nice to see you again!" he stuck out his hand and I shook it politely, giving him a quizzical look. I took a step back.
I'd never would of thought scrawny little Jace, would fill out to be quite a dapper young man. I mean he was handsome 5 years ago, but like a little boy cute, now he was teenage crush swoon worthy. Jace had grown much taller, almost 6' 4" tall, a sky scraper compared to my 5' 3", he'd also allowed his hair to grow out a bit, it was carelessly tousled and reached half way to his shoulder, curling inwards towards his neck, his bangs were swept over his forehead in a stylish way, shading his sea green eyes. His build was lean and sinuous.
He saw me looking him over and chuckled, making me blush and look away.
"Well this is quite a surprise, isn't it Runa? I've missed you a terrible lot!"
"Yes it is, I was on my way to practice, actually, and I should get going! We should catch up some time!" I say as I pick up my broken scooter, wheeling it down the street with me. Jace looks disappointed. I continued wheeling my way down the street, feeling his eyes on me.
"RUNA, WAIT!" I turn to see him and Turk racing towards me.
Jace caught me in a big hug, this was a good thing because if he hadn't hugged me, I would have toppled to the ground after he tackled me. Turk whined and looked excited, as soon as Jace let go of me, Turk licked my face repeatedly, and I ended up coughing and laughing at the same time. Grabbing Jace's arm for support, he laughed petting Turk and telling him to take it easy.
"I'm sorry Runa! He's still just a cub, he gets over excited easily." swiping his hands over my cheeks using his waterbending to get the polar bear dog slobber off my face.
I laugh, "Not a problem, your forgiven Turk." I close the distance between me and the polar bear dog, Reaching up on my tippy toes, scratching the backs of his ears. Turk closed his eyes in blissful pleasure, and he made a pleased sound. Jace chuckled.
"Now the reason I stopped you was, uhh, do you want a ride to practice? It'll be faster than wheeling that all the way to practice." he said pointing to my scooter. I considered, he was right but I didn't know, Turk was just a cub... Jace saw my hesitation and chuckled. "It'll be a bit of a bumpy ride, but I promise I won't let anything happen to you" I reconsidered.
"Okay, but I'm still not sure, Jace" he laughed grabbing my broken scooter and placing it on the back of Turk's saddle.
He helped me up onto the saddle, getting on after me.
"Come on Turk, get moving" he encouraged the cub. Turk slowly started jogging down the street. All I had to hold on to was Jace's coat witch I was gripping lightly so I wouldn't fall off. Jace chuckled.
"You can do better, buddy." Jace said to Turk "Come on speed it up!" Turk started to run faster, startling me I didn't expect him to go so fast, I almost fell off. But Jace caught me and helped me get seated again, all while still maneuvering Turk down to street.
"watch out gotta hang on tight Runa" explained Jace. So I wrapped my arms around him in an awkward backward hug.
Turk stopped in front of the probending arena, Jace hopped off Turk, then helped me down, holding my had even when my feet were safely on the ground.
"I gotta go, my teams probably waiting for me." I smile.
"Yeah I remember my parents saying something about you and your friends forming a team, what's your team name?" he asked curiously.
"The Dancing Dragons, we actually just started last year" I explained. Jace smiled, started walking back to Turk.
"I'll drop your scooter off at your house for you" he called over his shoulder.
He was just mounting Turk when I called to him:
"Jace, wait!" He turned and looked at me, "you don't have to leave, you can, um stay and watch us practice, or..." Jace chuckled and hopped down. He walked towards me.
"That sounds fun." he smiled then turned to Turk. "Stay buddy, I'll be back in a bit" He smiled and touched my shoulder, and I lead him into the building.