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Post by nasrin on Mar 23, 2007 14:25:52 GMT -5
Almost a week of travelling had gone by since the Si Wong merchants had left Kei Lan after their scuffle with the town's traders. During that time they had passed through two smaller villages, unloading a few cheap goods for some furs, and crossed a river by ferry. Unfortunately, they couldn't fit all their mammoth-camels on just one of the large flatboats, so they had to shell out double the cost for two trips. That setback was aggrivating to the merchants who now felt the need to unload their goods quickly to finally turn a profit on this expedition. However, the presence of their extra passenger helped to soothe their monetary concerns.
Nasrin was walking alongside the lead mammoth-camel in the caravan, having ridden for several hours straight she felt the need to stretch her legs. The jug on her hip was nearly empty, having taken gulps of the potent liquor she'd acquired in Kei Lan quite often along the journey. Usually she would try to make something that strong last a while on a long trip like this one, but Manju had given her an excuse to drink a litle more than usual. The strange young woman, a traveler from the far off and virtually unheard-of Igni Islands, had been by her side for the duration of the journey. From her appearance to her accent to her mannerisms, there wasn't anything about the girl that Nasrin wouldn't call "odd" at best. Although, she brought with her a wealth of rare gems from her home that had overridden her normal judgement and convinced her to let her tag along.
And now, with the city of Omashu just over the next rise in the mountainous trail that the caravan was traversing, perhaps Nasrin would be able to turn the strange young women loose on the unsuspecting citizens and have a moment of peace for herself. 'Manju,' she thought to herself with almost a chuckle. What kind of name is that anyway? The sadbende glanced around, suddenly curious as to where the Igni girl had gone to.
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Post by manju on Mar 23, 2007 23:12:31 GMT -5
With the prior week of traversing the land, Manju had experienced a world of difference from what she was accustomed to, even thinking herself how different it was from her father's trade route. She wasn't feeling homesick, but maybe a bit lost, or out of place, or even a combination of the two with some other feelings thrown in for good measure. Impatience, hunger, and tiredness were a few of such feelings...
She walked a short distance behind the rest of the caravan, looking around at the scenic view of the mountains from the path. She kept falling behind the caravan walking beside the mammoth-camels earlier that day, becoming distracted with various things and happenings on the side of the road to which the desert merchants would never even give a passing thought. She had a feeling the merchants and sandbenders were getting fed up with her and the only reason they let her stay is because of her money.
Surely dey must be gettin' dere soon... thought the Igni, We've been walking forever... At that, Manju decided to try and catch up to the caravan. She spotted a mammoth-camel at the front that had no passenger and headed straight for it. She bolted over and walked near the creature's back half for a second, in synch with its walking pattern somewhat, and leapt straight onto the beast's back. Wobbling for a second, she caught her balance, then noticed the epicene woman known as Nasrin walking beside the mammoth-camel on the opposite side of where Manju climbed atop. After sitting on the creature for a moment, riding along the path, she reached out her leg as far as she could and poked Nasrin in the back with her toe.
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Post by nasrin on Mar 24, 2007 14:11:47 GMT -5
The slight pressure on her back caused Nasrin to look behind her, and she immediately realized the source of the prod. "Afternoon," she said with her usual apathetic tone, lifting up her hand to brush aside the Igni girl's dirty toes. Her eyes were the only thing left uncovered by her headdress and wrappings, and she turned those dark brown orbs up toward Manju sitting atop the mammoth-camel. "Keeping busy?" she asked, her lack of care fairly evident.
Ahead of them, the faintly worn rocky trail was beginning to level out. The rises of rock and scattered boulders that lined their path through the mountains were beginning to disappear as they came to the crest of a sudden decline toward the city gates. However, if Nasrin hadn't been looking to her side at the Igni, she might have noticed something terribly amiss about the Earth Kingdom city coming into view.
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Post by manju on Mar 24, 2007 18:04:42 GMT -5
Bouncing as the creature moved and smiling sardonically at Nasrin's apathetic replies without a verbal response, Manju was glad to be off her feet, which were now brushed with a fine layer of dirt.
Crossing over the next rise on the mountainous path, Manju caught sight of the the uppermost part of the grand city of Omashu. The Igni was amazed at the completely stone structure of the large city, but was perplexed as to why there was thick, black smoke emanating from different parts of the city.
Black smoke of that sort was something she saw frequently at the cities and towns at which she stopped on her father's trade route, but she had never, ever seen it in all her weeks here in the Earth Kingdom.
However, she could not be certain that it was that unusual. She saw a large number of tiny red dots peppering the city. They were probably flags. Manju had never seen a red flag in the Earth Kingdom, except in the towns that were Fire Nation-inhabited. But again, she could not be sure it was different than how the city is usually.
As she pondered it over, the caravan crossed over the highest point of the the rise in the trail. She saw what put the nail in the coffin, so to speak, confirming her wavering suspicions. The large banner bearing the Fire Nation insignia hung above what appeared to be the city's front gate proved that the city was overtaken by Manju's home nation. Seeing this, she at once kicked Nasrin in the back again and pointed to the city, exclaiming, "Look!".
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Post by nasrin on Mar 25, 2007 14:02:40 GMT -5
"Look! Manju exclaimed, her eyes fixed ahead of her. Nasrin stumbled slightly from her kick, but followed the Igni girl's gaze and looked down the trail ahead of them. There lay the city of Omashu, surrounded by an abyssmal chasm that encircled the city, save for a single retractable stone bridge. The sandbender remembered how untouchable that metropolis seemed on her prior visits, but she realized quickly that things had changed.
Fire Nation banners and flags adorned every high peak in the city and a massive flame insignis was draped over the main gate. She started to question how that was possible, but a heartbeat later she noticed the steel siege bridges anchored to the edges of the city's surrounding mountains that extended across the chasm. Apparently, the Fire Nation had found a way to do the impossible...
Nasrin stopped walking then, and she turned to look back at the rest of the caravan. Most of them had not come into view of the city just yet, but they would see for themselves soon enough. Nasrin stepped aside without saying a word to Manju, letting the lead mammoth-camel continue forward with her still atop it, and she looked around for her comrade or the leader of the caravan. "Gao," she called loudly, though not sounding too urgent, "Gao!" she repeated a little louder when she got no answer. A moment later, a man popped his head out of the litter being carried by one of the mammoth-camels in the middle of the line. He looked around for a moment, trying to find the source of the voice who'd called him, and he spotted Nasrin up ahead.
"What is it?" the man asked, straightening his ornately-wrapped headcloth. At that point, a few more of the mammoth-camels in the line had crested the top of the trail. The other merchants and dealers riding atop the animals were stunned at the sight and started shouting their own cries of alarm.
"We have a problem," the sandbending woman answered the merchant leader's question amidst the confused mutterings of the others.
"....What?" Gao responded after picking up a few words such as 'Fire Nation' and 'conquered' as well as multiple expressions of disbelief from his fellow merchants. Nasrin only gestured toward the city and let him see for himself as his own mount brought him into view. During that time, Nasrin's fellow sandbender had made his way to the front of the caravan from his position at rear guard. His own questions about what was going were lost as he saw for himself what had brought the whole caravan to a halt just over the hill.
"Well," Nasrin asked, breaking the silence that had seemed to come over the shocked men of the trading expedition, "What should we do?"
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Post by manju on Mar 27, 2007 20:43:22 GMT -5
The caravan's screeching halt didn't suprise Manju much. Of course, she actually was surprised, but only slightly, not enough for her to show any sort of change in emotion. She sat atop the mammoth-camel plain as day as the other members of the caravan caused a ruckus. She couldn't help but smirk at them. Of course, she didn't put herself in their position. It may be a big deal. It may have been a huge deal, in fact. Come to think of it, it probably was, but Manju didn't care. She still sat, smirking as her almond-shaped amber eyes followed different sandbenders and merchants, seeing their worried expressions.
She kept attempting to be nonchalant about the whole situation, trying keep a straight face, but she inevitably would fail each time she tried. It was simply too funny to see everyone clamoring like this. She kept assuming the same evil smirk despite trying to keep her face devoid of emotion, and at times, she let out a laugh soft enough so that nobody would hear. As she fixed her gaze on the city of Omashu, she still though that the was an amazing sight, overtaken by the Fire Nation or not...
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Post by nasrin on Mar 29, 2007 11:53:09 GMT -5
"We have to turn back," the male sandbender said, finally breaking his gaze off the captured city and looking at Gao, the merchant leader. "We'll find some place else to peddle your goods, but not under eyes of an armed Fire Nation occupation." The hefty bearded merchant sputtered at the very thought.
"There is no other town where we could move this much merchandise!" he said, sweeping his hand around to encompass the dozen or so mammoth-camels that were laden with goods. "And no other town would have enough of the supplies we're looking to buy... We should at least try bargain with them."
Nasrin's comrade glanced at her, but she merely offered a shrug. "I don't like it," the elder sandbender said, "They're just as likely to sieze all your goods and through you into the chasm. And since my payment hunges on the survival of this caravan, I say we leave before we're noticed."
"All men speak the language of commerce," Gao countered, patting a sack of coins at his waist. The two seemed like they were set to continue arguing for quite some time when Nasrin finally intervened.
"Maybe...!" she said loudly, cutting off her fellow bender's retort and drawing the collective focus toward herself. She paused for a moment until all had quieted before continuing, "Maybe there's another way..." She stepped back with her left leg and turned herself so she could look between the two men and Manju who was behind her on the mammoth-camel. "We have a citizen of the Fire Nation, sort of... travelling with us. If she can talk with the chief of the guard or whoever is in charge, maybe they'll let us in." The suggestion took a few seconds to settle in the minds of the others. Gao stroked his beard in thought and the other sandbender seemed to be nodding somewhat.
"Yes," her comrade mumbled, "And at the very least, if she can't gain us entry, then they're less likely to kill or capture one of their own." Gao furrowed his brow somewhat at that, apparently finding fault in the situation.
"We'll send the Igni girl," he agreed, "But one of you is going with her." He glanced at his two hired benders, both of whom raised skeptical eyebrows at that order. "I think you would be the best choice," he pointed at Nasrin, "Even the Fire Nation is more likely to treat a woman more leniently... Besides, I doubt your partner would even try more than asking 'please' if they say No the first time."
Nasrin folded her arms up slightly and looked at her partner who shook his head and waved away the suggestion. He started to walk off, apparently assuming that she would refuse. However, it occurred to Nasrin that if this caravan didn't finish their business here, she'd likely be stuck travelling with them for several more weeks. Honestly, she'd rather face the Fire Nation than spend another day with these greedy merchants and their pack animals who were beginning to stink quite badly from lack of bathing.
"Fine," she said at length, casting a look over her shoulder at Manju, whom no one had even bothered to ask if she agreed to the plan. "Whenever you're ready," she sighed.
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Post by manju on Apr 3, 2007 1:38:27 GMT -5
Manju snorted and rolled her eyes upon hearing their request.
Dey wanna send me... Manju sneered at them, but decided to go along with the plan either way. It could be fun...all dose people t' torment... she thought, thus changing her attitude toward the matter and subsequently her expression, shifting from a sneer to merely a look of being slightly perturbed.
"All right...I'll go..." she said, a slight grumble in her voice from being given orders, albeit indirectly. She walked ahead of the now-stationery caravan, and moved her flattened palm over the top of her head, brushing through her short, fuzzy hair. There would be strange happenings in Omashu, thought Manju as she played different scenarios in her head.
No matter...she may as well do it anyway, just so the sandbenders and merchants don't pester her even further. She looked back at Nasrin, the tallish, androgynous sandbender woman shrouded in sand-colored cloth, only her deep brown eyes and part of her suntanned skin visible.
The Igni now beckoned Nasrin, "Are y' comin' or not?" even though it had been but a mere moment since Manju walked ahead. Manju meant to sound impatient, though she wasn't actually, rather she did so merely to attempt annoying Nasrin before their short trek to the city.
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Post by nasrin on Apr 4, 2007 21:45:38 GMT -5
"Are y' comin' or not?" the Igni girl called to Nasrin as she started away. The sandbender gave a slight nod as she exhaled a long breath and took a step to follow. A hand on her shoulder stopped her from going right away, though, and Nasrin turned her head to regard whoever had stopped her. Her dark brown eyes settled on the partially hdden face of her male bending counterpart.
"Come back quickly if things get too hot," he said in a hushed voice, his eyes never actually making contact with hers. Nasrin said nothing but gave the slightest of nods and stepped away from her comrade's reach leaving him with the merchants as she used her long legged strides to catch up with Manju a short ways down the trail to the city.
Once more she let out a long breath as she fell into step beside the strange looking Igni girl. Was she really even related to the Fire Nation citizens she'd seen throughout her life? Never once had Nasrin met a man or woman of the supposedly 'advanced' Fire culture who had such wild hair, tattoos, or piercings. She wondered for a moment if Manju had been leading the merchants on the whole time, spinning her tales of an isolated island inhabited by abandoned Fire Nation settlers. She almost snorted when she considered the possibility that her bag of precious gems was nothing more than colored quartz or some other worthless, but colorful crystal.
With those thoughts in mind, Nasrin could resist the urge for a drink and she quickly hooked her fingers into the loop on her jug and raised the porcelain container up to her mouth. She popped off the cork and parted the bandages around her mouth in order to take a decent swig of what remained of her liquor from Kei Lan. It probably wasn't wise to drink before negotiating safe passage with the Fire Nation, especially on an empty stomach... But she had quite a tolerance for alcohol and it'd be a little while before she stated to feel the effects of her drink.
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Post by manju on Apr 5, 2007 14:51:45 GMT -5
Manju kept going forward, sandbender Nasrin at her side, as she made her light-footed strides to the city of Omashu. A slight smirk tugged at the side of her mouth again when she thought of all the mischief she had caused with Nasrin. Nasrin's increased drinking habits as of late lead her to think about this.
The sandbender never seemed like one to tolerate much of the personality traits that Manju possessed. Would these qualities wear on Nasrin's nerves? Manju concluded that, after seeing the effects she had seen on the woman, those traits would indeed. It was kind of funny in its own way, but Manju decided she would do her best to preserve the woman's sanity...at least until they got to the city.
It did cross Manju's mind how the Fire Nation inhabitants would react. Ignis were looked down upon by the mainlanders for several reasons. The Earth Kingdom inhabitants she had met thus far weren't aware of the superstitions held by those Fire Nation mainlanders. However, once she arrived at the city, she realized she could probably play those same inhabitants of New Ozai, both Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom, for they fools they are. That is, assuming there are still Earth Kingdom inhabitants in the city at this point in time.
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Post by nasrin on Apr 5, 2007 16:54:08 GMT -5
The two emissaries of the merchant carvan made their way down the hillside and toward the main gate of the city. Thankfully, Manju had remained silent along the way, but judging by the slight grin plastered on her odd face, Nasrin couldn't help but think the silence wouldn't last forever. The thought of what Manju would do once the negotiations started almost drove the sandbender to take another swig from her jug.
The bridge to the city's main gate, formerly a wide, thick walkway of solid stone, had been replaced by a steel-framed truss that was covered by sheets of metal on top. It was anchored securely into the stone walls of the chasm around the city with what appeared to be a retractable section near its middle that could leave a gap wide enough to prevent anyone crossing if the need arose. At the closest entrance to the bridge were two Fire Nation soldiers, benders by their uniforms, and they seemed to have been watching the two woman approach. Behind them and on either side of the bridge's walkway, a pole was stuck into the ground and Fire Nation flag waved from their tops.
"Halt!" one of them called as Nasrin and Manju came within 30 feet of their post. The sandbender did as instructed and whispered quietly to Manju, "Just stay quiet..." The soldier on their left took a stepped forward and announced, "You have entered the borders of the Fire Nation city of Omashu. Throw down any arms in your possession and state you name and business."
Nasrin slowly raised her arms, hands spread to show she ame in peace, and gently removed the jambiya tucked into the back of her sash. She moved the dagger out to arm's length and let it drop onto the dirt, all the while trying to study the soldier in front of her. However, his motionless stance and face-plated helemt made reading his expressions impossible. She let out a breath after having 'disarmed' herself and hoped Manju would be equally complient.
"I am Nasrin, representative of the Si Wong merchant Gao and his trading caravan," she said, lowering her hands back to her sides and speaking a bit louder than usual so her words could be heard through the bandages over her mouth. "They come peacefully to Omashu to trade their wares and resupply. All we ask is one day and night to conduct business within the city's marketplace." She paused for a moment to let that situation sink into the soldier's mind. "Do we have terms?"
The one solier glanced back at the second, and by their slight head bobbing, it appeared they were having a hushed conversation. After a few moments, the first soldier turned back to face the emissaries more directly and asked, somewhat accusingly, "What is a Sand-rat doing with an Igni?"
Nasrin's hand immediately rose to smack her forhead. Why did he have to say that? she thought hopelessly to herself.
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Post by manju on Apr 5, 2007 17:26:56 GMT -5
A bead of sweat trailed down the side of Manju's face as they asked her to disarm. She realized she had left her rucksack with the rest of the caravan, holding her spears, blowgun and darts within, but she also wondered if the soldiers would believe she was disarmed already. Besides, even if she had no weapons, she was absolutely reliant on them to defend herself. She was a capable user of hand-to-hand combat, and those Fire Nation soldiers probabaly knew that.
As Nasrin spoke, Manju slipped her hands into her own pockets and realized there was something inside. Her pouch of gemstones was in her right pocket, but she tried not to assume any expression of nervousness or something similar. Once Nasrin's introduction ceased, the suspicious guard said something that entitled Manju to much deceitfulness and creativity. What am I doing with a sandbender, eh?... Laughing inside while still attempting to outwardly remain stoic, she formulated a plan.
Unfortunately, this plan came out rather half-baked when she smoothly said to the soldier, "Why, I am an ambassador from de Igni Island, 'andsome. Dis lady 'ere and 'er caravan were escortin' me to the city so I can do...ambassadorial...t'in's...but yeah, I'm an ambassador." She kept up a pretense of sounding fluent, despite tripping over her tongue a few times, and her mental hand smacked her across the face for calling the man "'andsome". She shrugged this off and assumed a formal-looking smile, hoping her ruse would work.
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Post by nasrin on Apr 5, 2007 19:28:03 GMT -5
Nasrin groaned as Manju began to spit out a jumbled lie about being the ambassador of her people. The sandbender tried to keep herself looking collected, though, as she didn't feel like blasting the younger girl's claim to pieces if the Fire Nation soldiers found any sort of merit to it. She could see that such bold statement had been unexpected by the guards who once more shared a look.
"Ambassador?" the soldier repeated, his tone incredulous. However, even if he didn't think it was true, he didn't seem to come out and call Manju's bluff. That moment of hesitation sparked a bit of hope in Nasrin. Perhaps these soldiers were just as unfamiliar with the Igni's mysterious culture as she was.
"Yes," Nasrin suddenly spoke up, commanding the attention once more. "Ambassador Manju came by our caravan after we made a stop by the East. She payed us a fortune to take her across the desert in order to establish goodwill and trading relations with the recently conquered Fire Nation territories." Nasrin paused for a moment to let some of the implications of that settle in the soldier's minds. "She is wealthy and powerful and it does not please her people to have one of their most esteemed representatives delayed..."
A silent prayer was offered up to whatever spirits might be listening as the soldiers seemed to ponder the rather significant claim of Manju being an emissary of a protectorate of the Fire Nation. After what seemed like a eon of uncertainty, one of the soldiers told the other, "Find the Captain..." The other soldiers ran off across the bridge to fetch a higher ranking officer.
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Post by manju on Apr 6, 2007 22:20:59 GMT -5
The ruse had worked, at least from what Manju could tell. At this point, she hoped nothing would go awry, preventing them from entering the city. She tried suppressing all urges to commit bizarre acts for her own amusement for as long as it would take, which was a relatively simple feat considering she had been doing such since she and Nasrin were told to head to the gate of the city.
But only time would tell what the Captain would think. Would he also believe this fabrication? Would he humor her? Would he turn her away? Would he set Manju and Nasrin aflame and toss them into the gorge? These were a few of the possibilities that crossed Manju's mind. She had never known mainland Fire Nation soldiers to take kindly to Ignis, but she tried her best to look more "official", which in her case meant crossing her arms and raising her nose in a snooty manner. She wore a haughty smirk and kept up the charade as she heard and saw who she assumed to be the Captain approach.
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Post by nasrin on Apr 7, 2007 1:01:09 GMT -5
The Captain of the guard was lead across the bridge by the soldier that went to fetch him and trailed by an additional two armored men bearing spears. He wore no helmet, revealing a rather annoyed looking expression on a neatly trimmed face. His hair was pulled into a tight topknot pinned with a flame shaped ornament and he wore armor emblazoned with orange flames as well as an officer's robe. He didn't seem terribly pleased with having to come all the way to the front gate.
"Well, well..." the captain spoke as he came to a stop just past the end of the bridge between the two Fire nation flags. "It seems my men weren't just hallucinating." The man's eyes bored holes into the two woman standing before him, lingering for a while on Manju. "Now what is this about an Igni ambassador so far away from the homeland? Last I knew, your people were allowed near the Western ports. Perhaps this is this some new strategy of the Fire Lord's to spread a plague throughout the Earth Kingdom..." The captain smirked, amusing himself with the none-too-subtle implication that Igni's brought the diseases of their jungle home wherever they traveled. It was indeed a practical concern, but in over a century of trade with the island folk there had only been a small handful of outbreaks, and even then the sicknesses were mild.
Nasrin kept her eyes focused on the captain, trying to read into his words and body language for some clue as to how to convince him to let them pass. She held her tongue at the moment, though, considering the Captain had been summoned in order to speak with the "ambassador." If the sandbender escort suddenly started handling the negotiations, the Captain would likely know it was a lie. Nasrin's gaze shifted casually back and forth between Manju and the Captain, hoping the younger girl could pull off the ruse without incident. If absolutely necessary, the experienced sandbender felt she could whip up some cover and make it back to the caravan safely, but she really hoped it didn't come to that.
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