The great city of Omashu was a sight to behold. The Earth Kingdom city rose up amid rocky cliffs, a mountain among mountains. In the silence of a still afternoon, one could hear the sounds of bustling life from within the high walls echoing across the chasms before one even set foot on the zigzagging bridge of yellowed stone that served as the only way to the city gates. Triangular structures, like layers of a giant wedding cake, rose high above the smooth wall. Their peaks and might almost remind one of a giant triangular armchair, if they were looking at the city from far away. These tiers provided space for the many homes, businesses, residences, and palaces that all had to fit within the confines of the walls.
Upon the twisting pathway that led up to the entrance of Omashu walked many figures. Some had carts and some were on foot, some headed out and just as many were streaming back in. Among this latter group were two girls, walking close to one another. Both carried spears, and were dressed in shades of blue. The taller of the two, who was also the elder, was mostly quiet. She was engaged in staring up at the towering walls and the parts of the city that she could see above them. The former seemed to consume the latter as they drew closer, but that, of course, was a simple matter of perspective. The taller girl could only imagine what the city was like on the inside.
"We're finally here, Kerrora. I think the trip was definitely worth it, don't you agree?"
Not waiting for a response, she took her sister by the hand and quickened her pace slightly, hustling forwards to join the line of people that were making their way into the city. Several guards stood on each side of the gates, occasionally stopping passers-by to enquire who they were and what they were coming to Omashu for. Fortunately, they didn't seem to be too picky about people bringing weapons in, although she did hear one of them scolding a man who was trying to enter the city to sell a cartful of cabbages in the marketplace without a trade permit. She pulled her sister past the cart, not caring much about whether a cabbage merchant got into the city or not. She was way more focused on making her own way in.
Before they could get into the city, one of the guards stopped them. "Please state your names and business in Omashu." He eyed their spears as he spoke, and the elder sister, noticing this, clutched hers a little tighter. She cleared her throat, and as calmly as she could, said,
"My name is Koreal, of the Southern Water Tribe. I am visiting Omashu to study Earthbending fighting techniques. My sister, Kerrora, is traveling with me."
The man rose an eyebrow and unfurled a crisp-looking scroll. His eyes went down the lines of text, and the roughly sketched portraits next to them, before nodding and rolling the scroll back up. "You should be fine to go into the city. Please keep your weapons stowed while within the walls. I know spears are hard to tuck away, of course. Just don't point them at anyone and you probably won't get arrested." He chuckled. Koreal thought it a rather nasty laugh, and was about to move on and past the guard. He stopped them a moment longer, though. "If you're looking to watch Earth Benders in action, it's probably better to ask around outside the city, maybe in one of the villages. Most of the bending you'll see here are the soldiers running the mail chutes, or the guards." Koreal thanked the man for his advice, but went into the city anyway. She wanted to experience the city now that they were already here, even if they might have to leave again to find somewhere she could study Earthbending techniques.
Once inside the gates, Koreal found that the sounds of the city only got louder. Perhaps that was to be expected. Regardless, Koreal began wandering the streets. It was different from anything she'd experienced in her life thus far. It was unlike the glacial palaces of her homeland, the towering ice spires, the igloos, and the occasional animal skin acting as a door flap, a tent, or a sled. There, everything was blue, white, or brown, except for the orange flames of fires, the dark green of dried seaweed, and the occasional spot of color brought by ornamental beads. Here in Omashu, everything was colorful, at least in comparison. Alongside the earthy shades of the walls were brightly colored clothes, awnings, and window planters filled with bright flowers. Some of the walls had murals. Many seemed quite nice, but as the two sisters passed by, Koreal spotted a man scrubbing away at some colorful handprints and doodles on the side of a shop, and grumbling about 'darned kids these days' as he worked.
Granted, she'd seen similar architecture and decoration in some of the Earth Kingdom villages that they'd passed through on their journey to Omashu. But all this was... more. It was on a much grander scale. It was taller, wider, louder, brighter, and busier than all the other Earth Kingdom villages she'd been to combined. It was almost a little overwhelming, but she was enjoying the new experience on the whole.
After what had probably been about half an hour of walking through the city, navigating crowds, chatting with one another, and occasionally stopping to ask directions from someone who seemed like they knew the area, they came into a small market. It wasn't the main market of Omashu, but rather a smaller, more local one, convenient for people residing in that part of the great city. It saved time for many a local family, and perhaps even a little money. However, the options in the smaller markets around the city were comparatively limited when compared to Omashu's primary market, where one could find all kinds of things if one knew where to look. Still, the smaller markets were completely sufficient for Koreal's purposes. She and her sister had been traveling for weeks, so it had been mostly travel rations for them, except when they passed through towns and had a chance to get some fresh food. Now that they were here, Koreal wanted to try some local food, and eat something fresh. She moved straight towards a street vendor with steam and smoke drifting lazily from beneath the awning covering his stall. As she drew closer, the smell of cooking meat hit her nose, and her mouth began to water. Whatever he was cooking, it smelled good.
She strolled up to the man, and saw that he was grilling various vegetables and meats stuck together on skewers. Seeing her shadow fall onto his cooking surface, the man looked up with a smile. "Ah, welcome, welcome to Shen's Street Shish-kabobs! I have some right here ready to go," he gestured with one hand to a rack on the side where some of the skewers rested on a wooden rack, "or I can make them to order with whatever ingredients you'd like. We even have fresh Pheasant Duck meat, for an up-charge. Two apiece for ready-made skewers, three for custom, and today we're running a buy-three-skewers,-get-one-free deal! Now, what can I do for you, my lovely ladies?"
Koreal gave a soft smile. The man's cheerful attitude, the smell of good food, and the promise of a new experience had her in a happy mood. She wanted to try the custom skewers, but between the extra cost and the fact that her own preferences in food might take away from the authenticity of trying the local cuisine, she decided to go for the day's deal. "I'd like to go with that buy-three, get one-free deal. Could you please pick out some that'd you'd recommend? We'd like to try at least a couple different types."
"Yes indeed," the man responded, quickly flipping a couple of the shish-kabobs on the grill with an expert hand, "I'll give you two of my personal favorite, what I like to call the Hippogator Bait, and one each of the Zen Fowl and the Spicy Rhino skewers. All are frequently requested combinations." He turned to the wooden rack and began picking out the skewers he had mentioned, while Koreal handed her spear to her sister, slung the bag off her back, squatted down, and dug into it to find her pouch of coins. Once she found it, she dug out 6 small coins, drew the strings on the pouch tight again, and tucked it away inside her set of spare clothes. By the time she stood up with her coins in hand, the man was smiling with the four shish-kabobs, skewers held between his knuckles and his other hand free to take his payment. There was a brief exchange, and Shen dipped into a slight bow. "Thank you for your patronage, madams. Please come again soon!"
Koreal smiled at him as he went back to managing his stall. She took her spear back from Kerrora's hand, and gave her two of the skewers in exchange. Then, she carefully shifted her own skewers into the same hand as her spear, and bent down to retrieve her bag. Once she had maneuvered it safely onto her back, she used her free hand to grab one of the skewers and took a bite. It tasted wonderful. Sure, it was a bit of a different taste than she was used to (she was fairly certain that some kind of sauce she wasn't familiar with had been used on the meat in this skewer) but it was still warm, well-cooked meat and vegetables, with great texture and good flavoring. She idly wondered whether this was the Hippogator Bait shish-kebob, or one of the others, but quickly decided that it didn't matter all that much. She took another bite and moaned at how good it tasted.
"We have to get these again sometime, sis. They're delicious." She commented, glancing over at her sister to measure her reaction to the food as they started walking again. She took her time to savor her first skewer as they strolled around the marketplace, stopping once or twice to take a closer look at the vendors' offerings. They did get an odd look or two, including a sullen glare from an older lady at a fruit stall who looked like she had eaten one to many lemons and had her face stuck in a grimace since. Koreal supposed it was due to their outfits betraying them as members of another kingdom. She quickly moved on from that stall, though, not even sparing another glance at the woman's tasty looking apples.
By the time they left the market, Koreal had finally started on her second shish-kebob. This one was tangier, but she recognized the taste of the meat even beneath the sauce. She was confident now that this was the Zen Duck skewer. That meant she had either eaten one of the Hippogator Bait skewers before, or that her sister had gotten both of those. Whatever combination she had ended up with, though, it was good. The flavoring on the Zen Duck skewer was just a little strong for her tastes, but the tanginess was interesting, and she ate it with gusto.
Before she could find somewhere to dispose of the now-bare skewers, she heard a commotion nearby. It sounded like it was close, but she couldn't see anything on the street ahead of her. The noises swelled for a moment, then died down again. Koreal had paused in the middle of the street, skewers forgotten in her hand, listening. It wasn't long before the shouts got louder again, this time mixed with other sounds. Rattling stones, rumbling, footsteps, all could be heard beneath the shouting. It sounded like it was coming closer, too. Then, suddenly, a figure appeared on one of the rooftops and began running. It was going the same direction as the sisters had been walking, but it was traveling at a much faster pace. Koreal pointed up at the rooftop in case her sister hadn't seen what she had, then took off, shouting to Kerrora as she went. "C'mon sis, let's see what's going on!"
She didn't know what the figure on the roof was doing, or why they were running. Whatever was happening, though, Koreal had no thoughts of getting away from all the commotion. She wanted to know what it was all about. She ran quickly, but because the street they were on was much more condensed than the open rooftops, she found herself beginning to fall behind. She had almost reached an intersection between two streets when she heard another shout from the figure on the rooftop, and saw that they had fallen over. She then heard them shout about a bender attack, and saw that they were shooting stones down into the next street over. Looking down the street, she saw some kind of large animal race by, followed by a couple other people on foot. One of them was in a blue outfit, and Koreal guessed that they might be a water bender. They were quickly past where she could see them down that street, though, so she wasn't certain. She paused, unsure whether to keep running that way. She still wanted to know what was going on, but if benders were causing problems over there, it might be more wise to stay away. After all, there was no way Kerrora wouldn't follow her if she went. She breathed deeply, and turned to look behind her, where she assumed her sister would be, provided she hadn't gotten caught up in the crowd and slowed down.
"Kerrora, I want to see what's going on, but that person on the roof yelled something about a bender attack, so I think it'd be best not to get too cl-"
She was interrupted as stones began whizzing through the air. Most came from the street on the other side, it seemed, but a few came from some Omashu Guards on this street that Koreal hadn't noticed before. She now noticed that there were more people on the roof, either some who had caught up with the first person or joined while she'd been talking to her sister. There was still a lot of shouting, and it seemed like most of the people in the streets were pressing away to avoid the bustle or taking shelter in shops along the roadside. A few who were either braver, more curious, or perhaps more stupid than the rest were standing around or slowly following to watch the spectacle.
"Okay, we don't have to go, but I want to know what's going on. So if we go, try not to bend if you can help it? What do you say, sis?"
