Wandering Firebender

Eighteen: The Scholar

"Wow, this town looks way bigger than the ones I've seen so far." Cindra commented as they entered into the next town. Her eyes went up to a big house on top of a hill; it appeared to be the epicenter of the small city. However, Elio's eyes were focused down on their map of the Earth Kingdom.

"Eh, I've seen bigger." He said with a shrug. Cindra rolled her eyes.

"So what's the plan? Do we have anything we need to grab? Or are we just passing straight through?" She asked.

"That's actually what I was trying to figure out. According to this map, this is the last city before we hit the big bend of the trail that will turn us back towards Ba Sing Se. Once we hit that bend, we won't see any more settlements until we get to the other side of it."

"The end of the bend?"

"The end of the bend," Elio nodded. "So I think we should stock up on some more food and supplies just to be on the safe side." He recommended.

"Sounds like a plan. Let's get going," She said, taking the map from Elio and rolling it up. "You can have this back once you've relaxed a little bit." She stuffed the map into her bag before they began walking through the city.

"Well, it's kinda hard to relax. Apparently I'm a wanted man now." He pointed out.

"Yeah, we still need to figure that out. But overthinking it when there's no Fire Nation around us is not going to help." She said, tapping him on the arm. Elio nodded.

"Yeah, I suppose you're right. But I have to remain on edge. I'll ease up when we get out of town." He promised.

"Okay. We'll be quick. I promise." She said with a smile. He nodded and smiled back appreciatively.

Elio and Cindra quietly did their shopping in the market, picking out food to take with them on their journey. They also spent money on supplies that they would need for when they set up camp. Elio noticed that his money was starting to run a little low; he had about half of it left.

"We might have to take on some work when we get up on the stretch to Ba Sing Se. Our funds are about halfway drained now." He informed her.

"That's not good... We'll cross that bridge when we get to it." She decided.

"Alright. Let's just try not to spend money on anything we don't need."

"You say that like we were wasting our money before." She said with a chuckle.

"Oh no, that's not what I meant. I was just saying-"

"I know. I'm teasing you, dork." Cindra said with a smile. Elio brushed his hair back and shook his head.

"Right, yeah. Sorry, just feeling a little off." He apologized.

"I can tell. It's okay, let's get out of here." She said, gesturing with her head.

They began making their way through town with the intentions of passing through and exiting out the other side of the city. As they made their way towards the center, they passed by the entrance to that big house on the hill. They found a handful of people waiting in front of its outer gate.

"Whoa, that's quite a crowd." Elio observed. Analyzing each person waiting outside the gate, they all looked able-bodied and physically fit. He definitely wouldn't want to get into a fight with any of these people.

"What's going on here?" Cindra asked curiously. A young man heard her question and turned towards her.

"You don't know? Surely you must be joking." He said in disbelief. They both shook their heads.