The pair of them sat on a bench on the outskirts of the festival. The partying and games did not seem the same after the ships arrived and Eska and Bolin seemed to have a similar feeling that games were not meant to be played now even though the lights littered the night and the music moved across the snow.

Bolin had no idea where Desna was but he was happy to finally have Eska to himself. The silence was eerie and unnatural to a talkative person such as Bolin. His nerves were thankfully soothed by being able to just stare at the very beautiful face of Eska's. Her features were softly lit by the nearby lanterns. Bolin was definitely feeling the love though he was sure his female companion was nowhere near feeling that. Her face was as expressionless as it usually was when she was silent.

"Eska…" Bolin breathed softly, saying it more for himself than to get her attention.

Unfortunately, her sharp ears caught the noise and she looked over without moving her head. Bolin stiffened. He had no idea what he should do and he was mentally panicking. Eska continued to gaze over and it made Bolin realize that she might have a horrible bark, but she had never truly bite him, right? She was different, but why should he treat her any different than another girl.

Risking this perfect night to be destroyed, Bolin leaned over the foot of space between them and gave her a tentative kiss on the waterbender's cheek. When he pulled back, she did not seem fazed. Bolin relaxed. Even though there was no positive reaction, there was luckily no negative response either. It would be something he would need to get used to.

He moved back to sitting up straight and stared out at the festival.

"The lights are really pretty, right?" he asked, not expecting a response.

"You are strange."

Bolin quickly turned and looked at Eska confused, "What do you mean? You're the weir-. I mean, um…What do you mean?"

She furrowed her eyebrows.

He scrambled for words and they rushed out of his mouth, "I didn't mean to insult you. You're really beautiful. Please don't hit me."

Eska looked away with a small smile on her face, "You continue to amuse me…Why are you even here though?"

"Huh?"

"Why would you be interested in me?"

"Well, you're really pretty, for one thing-"

"You have already made that clear. Are you simply obsessed with my physical appearance?"

"No, of course not. But it's not like you talk that much, so how am I supposed to know anything else?"

There was silence. Bolin sighed. Eska had made a very good point. He didn't know anything about her and was kind of glad he had only just kissed her on the cheek.

Dramatically sliding of the bench and into the snow below, Bolin groaned, "I'm such a loser."

He lied down and put his face into the cold snow.

A laugh came from a few feet away. Mako and Korra walked over.

"What are you doing, Bo?" Mako said, rolling his eyes.

Bolin picked up his head for a moment to speak, "This girl is…uhh!"

He put his face back into the snow.

Mako looked over to Eska, but was too sheepish to ask what was going on.

Korra frowned, "Do you want to play a game before they close, Bolin?"

"No, thank you," he muttered through the snow.

"Oh, ok. We should go then, Mako."

Korra dragged him away though he seemed to want to stay.

As they walked away, Eska spoke up, "Why do you insist on being childish?"

Bolin muttered, "I'm not being childish."

There was a long silence.

"…You are lying in the snow."

"So?"

With a grunt, Eska reached down to grab his hood and yanked him up.

"Ow!" he yelled, more from surprise than pain.

He was now up on his knees as he stared at Eska, who had returned to her previous position.

Bolin had an abrupt realization, "Wait a sec, you're like twenty times more childish then me!"

She reacted the way he thought she would. Eska just sat there.

"You just sit there! Not saying anything! Are you acting like you're ignoring people or are you really ignoring them?"

Silence.

Bolin groaned, "You're not even listening to me now…"

He felt tears well up in his eyes from feeling so stupid for falling for another girl. After giving her one last look, he went back into the snow.

Moments pasted and Bolin suddenly felt something touching his hand. He looked up expecting it to be Pabu, but it wasn't. It was the familiar hand of Eska's. It lay in the snow next to his. His eyes followed her arm to see that she was lying in the snow with him. Her face was buried deep in the snow.

Bolin was in complete disbelief, "…You're…lying in the snow."

Eska tilted her head up and spoke with a small voice, "So?"

He couldn't help but smile widely and become excited.

"It's refreshing, right?" he questioned, putting his hands under his chin to continue looking at the top of her head.

"Not exactly. It is snow."

"Oh, right. You've lived with snow your entire life. Well, if you ever come to Republic City, we'll lay on some cobblestone or something together."

Eska lifted her head slowly. Bolin didn't know why he expected to see a smile, but he only got her usual straight face.

"Why don't you smile?"

"What is there to smile about? There is a war and I am wet in the snow."

Bolin frowned slightly but then his face lit up, "Well, if you're not going to smile…I'll smile enough for the both of us."