Posting twice today because I CAN.
snowflake
Not for the first time, Bolin woke with snowflakes on his eyelashes.
"It's time to get up Bo." Fourteen year old Mako was tall. As tall as their father was. He sprouted up in the course of a few days, it seemed like, though if Bo was being honest, he'd lost count of the days, even the years, long ago. Mako always knew though.
Bo pulled the scarf from around his neck and held it out to Mako, shivering a little in it's absence but determined to give it back. Mako cherished very little as far as material possessions went, but Bolin noticed he seemed to relax whenever he wore their fathers scarf. Mako's nose was red and running a little and Bolin worried, very briefly, if his older brother was getting sick. Not that Mako would ever admit it. Bolin saw these things but was always helpless to do anything.
The morning had brought a fresh snow shower. It fell around them, under the tree, in a peaceful blanket. When Bolin was much younger he'd relished snowfall. Now it made him nervous. Now it represented hypothermia and amputations. Neither of which the brothers could afford.
"There's a soup kitchen on the west side. I figure if I sneak in I might be able to steal us enough to last the week." Mako mused, scanning the horizon. He fiddled with the scarf idly, a rare nervous habit.
"Hey Mako." Bolin said, standing with his stout little legs and brushing off snow from his coat.
"Yeah Bo?" He couldn't seem to pull himself from the calculations in his head.
"Do you think the Avatar knows about street rats?" It was an innocuous question. People had been talking about the new Avatar all over the city. He and Mako even sneaked into one of the moving pictures to see some footage of her water bending. Bolin had remarked she was kind of like a deranged blue otter-hog but Mako had merely scoffed and left the theater dissatisfied. People, Bo had noticed, we're not particularly fond of the new Avatar. Not because of who she was necessarily, but because Aang was gone and now Republic City was losing its edge while she continued to train in the Southern water tribe.
Mako grimaced. "No, Bo, I doubt she does."
"But do you think if she did that she'd try to help us? That's what the Avatar is supposed to do, right?" Bo didn't really know what the Avatar was. He grew up without one. But he liked the idea of the Avatar. It seemed quite brilliant. He liked the idea that one day maybe he and Mako wouldn't have to keep fighting to survive. He liked the idea of seeing Mako happy some day. Maybe, he mused, the Avatar could make that happen.
"I don't know. Maybe." Mako mused skeptically. He hoisted their bag onto his shoulder and gestured for his brother to follow. "Come on, Bolin, we need to get moving if we want to get to the soup kitchen before breakfast is over."