Behind the Flames .:H2OVanoss:.

.:Chapter 29:.

"Fresh fish! Two for only one silver piece!!" A man rang his copper bell above the lively marketplace chatter.
"Fruits and vegetables, grown locally by the wealthiest farmers!" A woman shouted into the faces of people passing by.
"Touch and feel the softest leathers and cloths in all of Omashu! My thick and sturdy materials can withstand the toughest of storms and are easily repairable!" Another woman waved around an intricately designed towel.
"Flawless jewelry! Pampered and polished daily for the greatest shine!" Another man held up a beautiful pearl string.
Three Earth benders with large straw hats made their way to the fish cart and handed the man three silver pieces. He happily wrapped them six fish, then waved them off to continue his advertising. The trio then split, two heading for the leather cart, and the other for the fruit and vegetable cart. With a few baskets full of food and materials, they slipped back into the crowd unsuspiciously. Keeping their heads down, they left the busy marketplace to avoid the watchful eyes of the patrolling guards.
Passing through a narrow alleyway, one of the Earth benders caught on to a nearby conversation, and held out his hand for the others to halt. They poked their heads around a house corner to watch two ladies complain at a nearby sign.
"More faces keep filling up this board every time I walk past it. People should stop committing these stupid crimes and be useful. Like fighting the war." One of them pursed her berry colored lips. Their simple dresses matched with the same dark green and black cloth.
"Absolutely- but look at those guys, they don't even look like Earth Kingdom at all." The other girl leaned a little closer to the posters.
"Who cares where they're from, as long as they aren't murdering anyone here." She dragged her curious friend away. As soon as the ladies turned a corner, the three hidden figures jogged up to the sign.
"I knew it." Tyler, Brock, and Brian pulled back their hats to study the pictures. Wanted posters decorated the wooden board with many unique kinds of people, but those layered overtop of the rest were the ones they had to worry about. A closely detailed drawing of each of their faces was on each picture. Even Marcel, Luke, Felix, Cry, Evan, Craig, Jonathan, and David made it onto the board. Different prices were labeled under each of their faces, with the highest, of course, on Tyler at nearly five thousand gold pieces. Brian's and Brock's followed, each with three thousand, whilst everyone else with two thousand or below.
"That's weird," Brian placed his finger on Evan's poster, "-they labeled him as an Earth bender." He looked over at Craig's and Luke's. "They did the same with them."
"And with them," Brock pointed at Marcel's and Cry's. "but David and Jon are still water benders."
"The Chief probably doesn't want the King to know that we escaped, or frighten the city by telling them fire benders are at large." Tyler checked around to make sure nobody was watching, then tore off a few of the posters. "If he did, the deal they made could be broken; but as much as I don't want that for our town, I'm not going to let them catch us so easily."
After pulling the posters down and shoving them in their pockets, they began their long walk to the city gates, then out across a great bridge of stone leading back to the forest. Within an hour they set foot back into a small makeshift camp.
          "Behold, the king returns!" Lui raised his hands dramatically.
"Ah yes, it is I, the king of the Garbage Kingdom. Master trash bender." Tyler waved his hand like a nobleman and set the basket next to the fire pit. "I thought I asked you and the others to clean up while we were gone. We've been here three days and it looks like we've been here for three years."
"We did clean!" David poked his head out of a nearby tent. "No thanks to anyone else! They're all a bunch of fat, lazy slugs drying up in the sun!"
"Hey, I helped!" Marcel shouted as he sunbathed shirtless over a rock. The day proved to be unusually warm and everyone was taking advantage of it.
"You threw a shirt into the wrong tent then tossed your own shirt right in the spot where you picked up the other one!!" David grabbed it off the ground and threw it back at him.
Tyler gazed around the empty camp. "Where is everyone, anyway?"
"Luke and Craig went to gather more firewood for tonight. Felix and Cry magically vanished as per usual, and Evan and Jon said they had some 'special training' to do." Marcel shielded his eyes against the sun's warming Spring rays.
"Probably teaching each other how to make out." Lui giggled quietly.
"Ewww." David scrunched his nose. "As much as I approve of their oblivious love for each other I hereby forbid them from ever making out when I am in the vicinity."
"When are those two girly teenage fuckers just going to admit they are so gay for each other?!" Marcel sat up abruptly. "I mean have you seen the amount of hand holding and cuddling they've been doing lately?! How do you hold a man's hand and not admit you're gay for him?!"
"You'd be surprised how high the level of comfort is between friends in the southern air temple, especially since it's all just guys." Lui shuddered. "Picture a bunch of grown men holding hands and kissing each other to show normal, friendly affection."
"..I worry for your wellbeing sometimes, Lui." David shook his head.
"They took a bomb with them, right?" Tyler quickly looked into the large bag of glowing green viles.
"Ya, but I wouldn't worry too much about it." Lui stood and stretched. "We haven't had an encounter with a shadow or anything since we left the swamp. In fact, in all my meditations, I haven't had any sort of bad vision since."
Tyler released the breath he was holding. "Alright. The sun will be going down soon, let's finish cleaning then get on to making dinner."