Title: Start of a Beautiful Friendship
Characters/Pairings: Meelo, Korra, Tenzin
Rating: K
Summary: Meelo notices a girl and her surly disposition, and he decides to act. Oh yes, this could be the start of a beautiful friendship.
Disclaimer: I do not receive money from this work of fanfiction.

A/N: GWRETUBXCGTUO! Legend of Korra is coming out next year! Woo! And so… I had to do some healthy fan specin'. Your guess is as good as mine as to who Meelo actually is. But playing around with friendships transcending lifetimes is too delicious to ignore!

Start of a Beautiful Friendship

It was just another ordinary day in Republic City. The sky was kind of clear, the bees were attacking a nearby flower merchant, and the birds were chirping merrily. Or, er, hacking is the better term. The smog does seem a little thicker today, Meelo noticed with disinterest. He should have been attracting customers for his father's shop, but from his perch on the store's railing, he could tell no one really cared anyway. The only people who wandered this part of the city were all the regulars, people with no money, and politicians who wanted to get a taste of the "common" life. And since there were no elections anytime soon, that just left people without money, and the regulars.

Frankly, Meelo was bored. The grass stalk he was twiddling between his thumbs proved more interesting than the perfectly ordinary people doing perfectly ordinary things in this perfectly ordinary city. He contemplated going back in and racking his mind for an invention or two, he had this great idea for a sort of easy candle lighter that didn't need spark rocks or firebending, but he knew without standing up that his dad would grumpily send him back out to sell their wares.

After nodding his head at a friendly face and checking the inventory spread out on a small table for the millionth time, he sighed. Meelo had always had a feeling he held a greater purpose than to just be a—

From a few yards away he noticed an exchange going on between an older looking man and a girl about his age. Well, it was more of a one-sided argument. A young woman looked very agitated while the man just brushed her off. She placed a hand over her face and sighed dramatically while the man headed inside a nearby fan shop with a happy smile on his face. Meelo was absently happy for the struggling store, though he still questioned their business plan. Who in their right mind would sell just paper fans?

The girl sighed again, redrawing his attention, and leaned against the outside wall of the fan shop. Suddenly, something compelled him to talk to her.

Pushing off his father's railing, Meelo sauntered across the mostly empty street to stand in front of her. "What do you want?" she sighed one more time.

"You know, you do an awful lot of sighing. But once you see what I have to offer, you'll be sighing in happiness!" he answered, putting on his best sales smile. She barely kept herself from rolling her eyes.

"And how do you know I have any money?"

"Easy, the man you were with went into the fan shop, which I imagine no one would care about unless they wanted to actually buy something," he countered robotically. He was used to calling potential customers' bluff. It came with the territory. "Plus, you're obviously not from around here, and judging from your clothes, you're not bad off."

She absently looked down at her Water Tribe clothes. "Well, how do you know I was even with that man? He could have stolen what money I had," she fired back with a glare.

"Then why would you be out here waiting for him? Why didn't you attack him right out?" Meelo shook his head with a lazy smile. "Wow, you're really not from around here. Judging by your responses to my questions, you've probably never lived in a big city." He moved to lean against the wall to her side.

Her glare intensified. "What of it?"

"You know, I'd feel bad taking advantage of a poor little naïve girl like you," he chuckled. "You wouldn't last a second. Out of the goodness of my heart, I'd be willing to give you a tour."

Her eyebrow rose as she looked him up and down. "Little naïve girl? I'm probably older than you," she scoffed. "Besides, I have Tenzin."

Meelo shrugged. "Have it your way. Don't come crying to me once you've been scammed," he said noncommittally. She snorted as he idly crossed the dusty street again. Hmm, slow day today, he noted as he glanced around the mostly empty street. He lifted himself easily back onto the old railing in front of the shack and mentally checked over his inventory. Meelo retrieved his grass stalk from his pocket and sluggishly let his eyes drift around the street, taking in the shops crowded against each other. Most of the owners had given up in the heat of the day, leaving just him, the girl, and a few other people lethargically standing around.

His eyes wandered back across the street and met her gaze. Normally, girls did weird things like blush or giggle nervously when they're caught staring, but she just held his gaze steadily and curiously.

"So. What's your name?" she finally called across the road, disturbing the awkward silence.

"Meelo. Yours?"

"Korra."

"Nice to meet you, Korra."

"Likewise." He gave her a short nod. She tossed back a small smile.

"So, uh, what do you sell, anyway?"

"Random knickknacks. I sometimes invent things myself, but Dad has this staunch policy of not ripping his customers off, whatever that means," he answered with a snort.

She snickered. "You? Ripping people off? Who would have thought?" He scowled.

"Hey, my inventions are great! Have you ever invented a shoe that you won't ever have to lace up?" Meelo countered hotly. This time she outright laughed.

"What? Do you glue them on your feet?" He blew a raspberry at her. After her snickers finally subsided, another short silence ensued.

Every time she spoke, his brain spun in circles trying to place that voice and face. You should know her from somewhere.As if they had run into each other before, or if he had known her from a past life. Apparently Korra was having the same thoughts.

"Have we met bef—?" Suddenly the man Korra had been with reappeared with a handful of fans. She sighed dramatically again as he secretively told her to follow him. She rolled her eyes as they briskly made their way back from where they came, her whining about him embarrassing and annoying her the whole way.

A thought struck him and he loudly called out to her retreating form, "Bye Korra!"

She turned her head and shot him her famous glare. However, this time, she could barely keep the small smile off her face.

Yes, Meelo could get used to bothering her. Oh, this was the start of a beautiful friendship.