Chapter 12: Colonial Town - 96 AG

A beautiful sunset cast a shadow upon the forests that surrounded Iroh and Sozim, its orange light calmly shining from the sky. They could now see the town in the distance, its pink walls reflecting the lights of the sun, and some lanterns were now visible on the side of the road.

"It's from a distance but it's looking beautiful," Iroh stated. "It smells like home already."

"You're from the mainland, old man?" questioned the man who owned the carriage.

"Oh, yes. But it's been a while since I came home," answered Iroh. "What about you, friend?"

"Lived here all my life." the man answered. "But you know, we got a lot of mainland visitors all year during the festivals."

"I see…" Iroh hummed. "Business booming, I assume?"

The man just sighed. "Not really. The army had just retreated from Ba Sing Se, people seldom traveled around the colonies for that reason. Fearing… you know."

Iroh shook his head, he didn't say anything further.

"I thought the siege was last year?" Sozim stated. "Why is that still a problem?"

"Armies travel much slower than individuals," Iroh said. "Not to mention, they often leave a trail of fire on their path… to replenish their supplies."

"Oh…" Sozim simply said. "Well, their general is missing, must've been a confusing mess to go home."

Iroh chuckled, but a trace of guilt could be seen in his eyes.

As the carriage drew closer to the town, passing the gate of the walls, Iroh suddenly jumped from it, landing on the paved road below. Seeing this, Sozim followed suit, and the man who owned the carriage looked confused.

"What's wrong?" questioned the man.

"Nothing's wrong, friend." Iroh smiled. "You go on ahead, we'll want to see around first."

"Oh, I see." the man nodded. "I suggested you go to the town square, a lot of things are happening there a lot of the time. My inn is just south of it, you can ask around for Tu Men's inn."

"Alright." Iroh nodded.

"Do you want to buy my things?" Sozim offered, pointing at the meat and the leather. "I'll give you a cheap price, I don't have the storage to put more money in right now."

"Oh? I can give you half a pouch for each boar." the man offered back. "So that'll be two pouches of silver coins."

"Deal." Sozim hummed. After that, the man threw Sozim two pouches of the silver pieces of the fire nation, which he promptly caught. "Well, see you this evening, old man, young man." said the man, before he signaled his ostrich horse to move once again.

As the carriage departed away from the duo, Sozim turned to Iroh. "What do you want to do?"

"I want to buy some things first," Iroh answered, rubbing his beard. "But… hmm… yes… I need help."

Sozim raised his brow. "Help?"

"You mentioned that you don't have storage to put more money in right now, correct?" Iroh smiled. "Then maybe… I could help with that."

Sozim sighed. "You want to borrow money?"

Iroh nodded. "Yes."

"Fine…" Sozim hummed, shoving one of the pouches into Iroh's hand. "Here, you owe me this much, remember that."

"Of course, of course. You can trust me to return all of it." Iroh laughed. "Thank you, friend."

—

Now, Sozim was alone, traveling through the streets of this colonial town. The architecture was distinct, with red paint dominating the color of the place. Red lanterns with a fire lit inside them were placed all over, on strings that stretched from to buildings, and the shape of the houses was similar to the fire nation houses of the mainland. It's truly a cultural center of the colonial towns of the earth kingdom, where the fire nation culture is the strongest.

In his hands were a couple of street foods that he had gotten earlier, exploring the streets of this town. Iroh wandered off towards the marker, he didn't know what he was going to do, but Sozim just split off with him, buying the food in his hand.

While it is not the time for festivals, the streets are still pretty busy. Children were running around left and right, playing chase with each other, scouring through every corner of the town; young women with traditional dresses walked beside one another, talking with giggles coming out of their mouths, seemingly finding something amusing from their words; and old men and women, also walking side by side, peacefully conversing with each other.

Then, Sozim noticed that there was a particular street shop on the corner, it was a mask shop. The clerk is shouting at the passersby, trying to convince them to buy his items.

"Hey, kid! Come here! These masks look cool, don't they?!" called the clerk, looking towards Sozim directly.

Sozim stopped just right in front. There are a lot of masks, with different colors.

"I suppose…" Sozim murmured.

"See? See? You can pick one. It's cheap! It costs only a couple of copper coins!" the clerk continued to try to sell his masks.

Sozim just hummed. He crouched down towards one of the masks and took… one of the unpainted ones. It was simply a white mask with a human face, no motives, no nothing, just a plain old face mask. "How much is this?"

"T-That?" The clerk was surprised. "I-I don't think—"

"I want this." Sozim insisted.

"R-Right." the clerk cleared his throat. "Then it's two copp–"

"I'll give you one." Sozim threw a single copper piece toward the clerk. "It's unpainted. It must be cheaper."

The clerk clicked his tongue. "Fine, kid. Just go away!"

Sozim hummed, already walking away. "Thanks."

As he kept walking, he suddenly stopped again as he looked at the darkness above. Sozim turned to the direction of the town square. "I guess it's time to go to the inn."

—

Standing in front of the inn that the locals said was Tu Men's, the boy opened the wooden door, entering the place calmly. It seems to be busy, with people talking and drinking together on the tables, definitely in contrast to the man that owned the carriage's description of 'business is not booming'.

Sozim walked through the room, arriving at the counter where he could recognize the man who had brought him here using his carriage, wiping the counter with some cloths.

"I thought you said that business isn't booming," Sozim said, turning the man's attention to him.

"Oh! Young man." the man smiled. "Today's my lucky day it seems. a band of mercenaries just arrived here and booked every single room! My mother was so worried that I had to ask some guards to watch over these folks!"

Sozim frowned. "Booked every single room? What about my room?"

"Ah… about that…" the man chuckled nervously. "I can only give you two one room. I hope you don't mind."

Sozim sighed. "Then where's the old man?"

"Already in the room." answered the man. "Brought some interesting stuff. He bought a lute for some reason. An old man and his hobbies, I suppose."

"A lute?"

"Yeah, and some food in a basket as well." the man shrugged. "The room is upstairs, first door to the left."

Sozim nodded. "Thanks."

And with that, Sozim walked towards the stairs, climbing it slowly, with the noise of the downstairs quickly disappearing the more he climbed. When he reached the floor above, he turned to the left just as the man said, and when he was about to knock on the door there, he stopped.

There was noise inside, the sound of a lute being played. He could hear Iroh's voice from the inside, singing along with the melody he created. His voice is… cracking like he is crying. Sozim recognized the lyrics, and he knew what Iroh was doing. He could smell the incense through the door, and Sozim could only sigh, lowering his hand that was about to knock, before walking back downstairs again, trying to spend some time.