Bolin's life was defined by a balancing scale.
On one hand, he had a place to stay. It wasn't so bad, really. Shady Shin made sure he and Mako got clean clothes and blankets, and Hiroko, Shady's main girlfriend, made sure they got at least one meal a day.
Things could be worse.
On the other hand, there was the work.
At first, Bolin had a relatively easy task. He was a lookout, making sure Republic City's police stayed away. Then he got promoted. From noon to sunset, he dashed across the streets of the district and passed out silk pouches in exchange for bundles of yuans.
Every morning, Hiroko helped stuff his bag with the silk pouches after breakfast and pinched his cheeks. Bolin liked Hiroko, for the most part. She was pretty, with light brown skin almost like the color of weak tea and large honey colored eyes. Every afternoon, she told him to be careful and that he was a good boy.
Bolin didn't question what exactly was in the pouches. Once, he'd overheard Shady refer to it as "product" and he had asked Mako, but Mako just shrugged.
The people who bought the "product" were strange. Some looked very nice and sophisticated, like they came from the better districts of Republic City, and others looked gaunt and worn down, almost hungry. Not hungry for food, though, hungry for something else that Bolin didn't understand.
The woman approaching him fit in neither category.
She was tall and well-built, obviously a bender. She walked somewhat stiffly, which led Bolin to think she was either nervous or angry. Her clothes were fitted, but she still seemed out of her element-
Bolin snickered at his own joke-
He looked up in her face and saw three scars on her cheek, which sat below vibrant green eyes. She looked down at him and cleared her throat, "You're a little young to be out here by yourself."
"I'm ten," Bolin said and shrugged. Mako had been driving since he was ten and Bolin had hoped that Shady would let him do it, too.
The woman pursed her lips and Bolin pulled the straps on his bag. She would not be making a purchase from him. "You're always out here."
"My brother told me not to talk to strangers," Bolin said and shrugged, taking off down the sidewalk. He knew she wouldn't pursue him- that would be a bad idea. Bolin thought it was weird that Mako had told him not to talk to strangers, and now it was his job to talk to people on the street.
Talking to strangers had gotten them into this mess in the first place, but they'd been hungry.
As he slowed his pace, Bolin caught sight of a large group of people. There was one man standing on an empty crate, fist up in the air. He was surrounded by relatively older people, people that gave off the impression of being parents or grandparents.
"Get poison off our streets!" The man on the crate shouted, "destroying our homes and families, poisoning our bodies and minds! Down with Jumsum!"
Bolin didn't know what Jumsum was, but he figured that it had something to do with the silk pouches. And Bolin didn't exactly know why, but he began to feel sick. He knelt down and put his head between his knees, breathing deeply.
His palms pressed against the sidewalk and Bolin instantly felt the sick feeling reside. The earth rippled under his fingertips, every impurity becoming visible underneath his eyelids. The earth felt good to him, it felt comforting and natural. Like a paradise he could always have access to.
"Psst, kid!" A sharp voice caught his attention from behind a fruit cart. It was a scraggly looking boy, barely older than Mako. "You got somethin'?"
Bolin shrugged his backpack off as the boy crawled over to him, holding out a fat wad of yuans. Bolin accepted them and passed the boy two silken bags. He watched as the boy scuttled away and for a long while, Bolin sat on the sidewalk with his hands pressed to the ground and counted the poor souls that passed by him.