Blades and Fans

The Village

When Suki and Zuko rode back to camp, the Kyoshi Warriors were almost done having things packed and ready to leave. Suki greeted her warriors with a smile as she approached them, loading her kill into the cart and helping them finish packing.

While Zuko helped where he could, he mainly secured his own stuff on his Ostrich horse, but as he did the bird whined and he could see the weight of the goods starting to really weigh down on his mount. Zuko knew he had no choice, next stop he would need to get rid of his stolen goods. He didn't like seeing the animal in pain, especially if it was his doing.

When everything was ready, they started to ride off traveling down the dirt road. As Suki lead the way she told everyone that their next stop would be a town called Chong Sheng. She stated it was a bit far off, but at least if just tonight they would be sleeping at an inn instead of camping out. The girls were glad to hear this. Most of them were glad to get some relief from sleeping on the floor, and a nice warm bed sounded like heaven to them. Zuko just simply nodded showing his approval as they continued their journey. By the time the town was in sight, it was midday.

They entered Chong Sheng village. It was simple and appeared untouched by the war, a small peaceful little place The townspeople roamed around doing their shopping and daily tasks as kids played around in the streets. But when the Kyoshi Warriors and the Blue Spirit rode further into town most of the people stopped and gazed at the warriors as they whispered and gossiped to each other about the strange travelers. Zuko didn't like the stares and the soft words the people spoke to each other, even though he was wearing a mask he hated when people talked about him, especially behind his back.

Suki had led them to the Inn in town she was able to get a few rooms for them and room in the stables for their mounts. Suki decided to give the girls a bit of a day off and they eagerly got themselves settled in. Kikki quickly going to take a nap while Tam took Ami and Aikio to go do a little shopping and exploring and Suki simply followed along. Seeing this as his chance, Zuko unpacked all this plunder and headed to one of the stores to pawn off most of the stuff he had stolen.

Zuko entered the general store a few people doing their regular shopping, but when they spotted the Blue Spirit they seemed to quickly retreat from the establishment. The store owner was a middle-aged man and seemed rather nervous as Zuko approach him as he gave an uneasy smile. "How can I... I help you today?" he asked and Zuko gave a quick glance to make sure the Kyoshi Warriors weren't in sight before he spoke. "I wanted to sell a few things," He said softly but in a deep tone for the mask distorted his voice. He hefted up the large sack onto the counter. The man raised his brow curiously as he watched the Blue Spirit open up the sack to reveal what he had. "You got quite an a...interesting collection," he said examining each piece that was in the bag pulling out a gold tea set, some ornate jeweled statutes, a few boxes with necklaces and rings, a gold-encrusted Tsungi horn and several more things he knew he could never afford. "Look I'm sorry, I can't buy any of these things," he said plainly.

"Why not?" Zuko said a little surprised that he wouldn't buy anything he had to offer. "Well simply put, I can't afford any of these things," he said trying to explain. "These things are probably worth more than anything I own, I couldn't afford to buy one let alone the whole collection. Besides even if I could buy this stuff, no one would be able to buy it from me. No one around here needs these kinds of things. I would lose money." He said apologetically and Zuko simply nodded. "I understand, sorry for wasting your time," Zuko let out a sigh as he grabbed his bag and stuffed everything back in before leaving the store.

This is not going how Zuko wanted, he needed to get rid of this stuff and the few stores he went to they wouldn't buy from him. As he roamed around town needed to figure a way to get rid of this stuff he definitely wasn't going to continue to carry it around till they find another town that may or may not buy from him. Zuko then walked over and dropped himself to sit against the wall of one of the shops he just left. He sat there trying to think of what to do as he watched the townsfolk glanced at him. Zuko then finished through his bag pulling out one of the statutes. He looked it overrunning his fingers over the golden figurine of a dragon, but then he raised his gaze up as two young boys approached him.