This provincial life <Fire Nation>

[denshi]

Bearing his usual cheery expression, Denshi stood at his vegetable cart. His expression, however, was a superficial one, because for the past week or so, the weather had been just the sort that Denshi hates: dark, overcast, a bit chilly, with the occasional light shower. Not many people had been walking about on the streets in recent days because of these weather patterns, and Denshi had become accustomed to standing at his cart for whole days at a time without making any sale.

Denshi heaved a big sigh of boredom. After realizing that he wasn't about to make any sales anytime soon, he sat down on a nearby crate, and then took a shuriken out from his vest, where he usually stores his weapons. As he used his shuriken to scratch small grooves in the crate where he sat, he thought to himself "why am I such a fool to think that I'll ever make a sale on a day like today?"

Denshi then made up his mind. He packed his merchandise and began to wheel his cart away. Every so often, he would stop and look around to see if there were any people on the street. Nobody. There were absolutely no people on the streets of Yin Rei that day. Or at least on the same street as Denshi. He continued to wheel his cart down the street, looking down toward the fresh green pumpkins in front of him. He only looked up for a split second to see two soldiers walking down the street in the opposite direction as him. He quickly stopped and looked at the soldiers, hoping to catch their eye in order to make a sale. As the soldiers walked closer toward him, he smiled and said "hello, gentlemen!” The soldiers quietly walked right past. Denshi rolled his eyes and thought, "it's just going to be another one of those days..."

[royoka]

Another Fire Nation solider stood in the path of the cart, one that had a little more authority than the common foot solider. Aside from the common soldier, this one bore no helmet and had a different uniform consisting of black robes and hakama. The most notable feature was the unusually large Chinese Broadsword sheathed across his back. What was strange was this soldier was bearing a bit of a smile. This was Zhou Yu, a Fire Nation foot soldier that had just returned home for a brief period of time.

"Don't mind them, they're from a low-class unit." Yu walked alongside the cart, examining the produce and other wares that this vender was carting. It all seemed able to be bought, if not good quality, something Yu was looking for to resupply his ship. He would be heading to Ba Sing Se soon, and he needed his unit in top shape. To do that, he needed some good supplies.

"Come in here, and bring your wares; you may have something I wish to buy." He said in a polite tone. Yu kicked open a door to an empty warehouse, doing hardly any damage to the lock or door. It was warm inside, unlike the bleek weather the Fire Nation seemed to be having recently. It had to happen sometime, but right now was just not pretty for this time of year. It didn't really matter to Yu since he wasn't a firebender, but he supposed it did have an impact on the Fire Nation's army of firebenders.

[denshi]

Denshi wheeled his cart into the warehouse, following the soldier without a second thought. He immediately noticed the welcome change in temperature, it being much more comfortable inside the building than it was outside in the unpleasant weather. It was quite dark inside the warehouse, the only light shining through the open door and the few small windows of the warehouse. It occurred to Denshi as to why the soldier would choose such a place like this to make a sale, but he figured that the soldier had his reasons.

Slowly walking from one end of the cart to the next, checking for any visible problems with the produce, Denshi said, with his typical friendly tone, "so what would you like, sir? As you can tell, I sell only these sorts of vegetables. Still, I assure you that all the produce you see before you is fresh and of only the finest quality". Denshi smiled subtly, awaiting the soldier's response...

[royoka]

Yu looked over each of the vegetables, trying to find the best ones to add to his supplies for his ship. He had a squad he needed to keep in good order, and any contaminated food could weaken his unit. This Yu couldn't have, so he had to be careful. It only occurred to him why he chose to make a purchase inside a building while the vendor should be out on the street, but then he remembered that some vegetables had water-soluble nutrients that would spoil if they got wet. And since the weather wasn't improving, everything just seemed to work out nicely indoors.

"The cabbages look good, along with the carrots and the rest of your stock. I think I'll take the lot; it all looks good. My unit should be very pleased with this, and I'll be sure to tell some of the other squads where to purchase some fine produce." Yu said as he pulled out a large pouch full of coins, many silver and just as many gold, enough to pay for quite a bit of the stock. He set the bag down on the cart's end towards the vendor, wondering how he will react to such a large order. Hopefully he would remain calm, as Yu preferred to handle things as civil as possible.

[denshi]

Denshi stared at the pouch of coins. He looked at the soldier while attempting to keep his composure, all the while trembling softly. Denshi had not seen such a large sum of money in years, nor had his entire stock been purchased, but nonetheless, he was grateful. He was very grateful.

He picked up the sack, taking out a few coins and shuffling them around in his chubby hand. He dropped the coins back into the sack, crossed his arms, and looked at the soldier again, this time with a friendly smile. Calmly, he said, "Words cannot express my gratitude, sir. Due to this miserable weather, I have not made many sales lately, and my family has had to get by with very little means. My mother, brothers and sisters will no doubt be happier than I am when I tell them of this. Thank you."

While speaking, Denshi was overcome with emotion, blinking back tears in his eyes. He wanted to hug the soldier, but he had to restrain himself, lest the soldier think Denshi were insane. He also knew that this was just a business transaction, not a personal act of charity, since the soldier knew not of Denshi's personal life until it was just now mentioned.

[royoka]

Zhou Yu could not help but smile, seeing as though his purchase would benefit someone in the Fire Nation. He would be off to Ba Sing Se soon, and hopefully the war would end so all of the nations could return to peace, even if the Fire Nation would be the most important nation in the world. Yu turned back to his purchases, wondering how he would take all of the goods back to his ship. But then his mental hand came up and smacked himself in his mind, realizing that he had squad mates to help him transport the supplies. As he bowed with a slight nod to the vendor, he turned back to the door, starting to walk out.

"Give them my regards, and keep them in good health. This war will be over soon, and then we can all live harmoniously once the Fire Nation is in power." As Yu walked out the door, a couple of Fire Nation soldiers from Yu's unit came in to collect the purchases. All of the produce was put into boxes, and the soldiers took the boxes to their ship as the followed Yu in the direction of the sea port. Yu suspected that the bad weather would continue, and perhaps the stormy weather would develop into a lightning storm. It would be hard to sail in, so Yu decided that it would be best to stay in the Fire Nation until the weather showed signs of clearing up.

[denshi]

Denshi happily looked on as the soldier and his squad walked away with his entire stock in tow. He grabbed both handles of the cart and began wheeling it away, and since the cart was obviously much lighter now that it was empty, no struggle was involved in lifting it. As he wheeled the empty cart down the street, despite being caught in a sudden downpour, he was elated, since he would now be able to support his family well for the remainder of this depressing weather, which showed no signs of letting up.

He wheeled the cart around the back of his house. He opened the door leading into the back room, which was used mostly for storage. As he wheeled the cart in, he, at first, didn't notice a bare-chested Zhu, his sixteen-year-old brother, who was sitting on a spare crate, taking a break from training with his daos. Denshi placed the cart in its usual place, the corner of the room nearest the back door, then looked up and as he noticed his brother, he said "oh, hello, Zhu, I didn't even notice you there. How was your day?” Zhu wiped his brow, which was now sweaty as a result of his rigorous training, then said, "My day was fine, I guess. The weather's been kind of crummy, so I've basically been training on and off all day. There's nothing better to do, anyway. How was yours?" Denshi smiled when he replied, "Well, as you can probably tell by the empty cart, a generous soldier offered to buy my entire stock for his troops, and I got quite a bit of money from the deal. I'm just now going to tell mom and the kids."

Since Zhu was taking a break, he decided to follow Denshi into the house so he could see the reaction to this good news from the rest of the family. Their mother was boiling something for dinner in a pot, when she turned slightly to see her two oldest sons walking in the back door. "Hello, Denshi. Did you make any sales today?" she said, obviously assuming nothing of the sort happened.

Without a word, Denshi took out the pouch of coins, pouring out all of the coins onto the table, obviously going for the most dramatic way to inform his mother of this good news. She looked astonished at the pile of coins on her table. She then looked at her son, "h-how did you ever earn so much money on a rainy day like this?". Denshi proceeded to tell her the whole story, without leaving out a single detail...

[denshi]

The house was pleasantly quiet, all the children behaving themselves. Priya, the oldest girl, was combing the wavy dark hair of the youngest girl and child, Yuming. Zhu, the second oldest boy, was now playing a game of Pai Sho with Wenyan, his younger brother closest to him in age, as the youngest boy Isao stared out the window, longing to play outside, but he was unable to since the weather had worsened.

Denshi and the mother of the family, Miwa, were seated on the floor at the table. After relating the highlight of his day, Denshi noticed his mother tearing up, but not quite crying. She dabbed her closed eye with a silk hankerchief. Softly trembling with emotion in her voice, she said, "This is wonderful...for the time being, we don't have to scrimp and save just to make a living. I am very grateful for something this happening."

Denshi replied, "I am, too, mom. But I must remember, when this weather clears up, I must return to uncle's farm. After all, he grew the vegetables, so he deserves a share."

The rain continued to fall...

[denshi]

That night, after most of the family had gone to bed, Denshi decided to practice the accuracy and power of his skills with throwing weapons.

He dressed in his clothes used for travel or more casual occasions and not for work, as he had on all that day. He wore his usual maroon trousers, but instead of his longer dark gray yukata, he wore a short sleeveless salmon pink yukata with crimson trim. The hem reached to his hips, and the arm openings were about two inches wider that the diameter of his arms, and the garment fit quite comfortably. There was also a narrow crimson sash tied around his waist, underneath his belly. He didn't wear his hair up in a topknot. His wavy black tresses reached halfway down his neck when worn this way.

His stock of throwing weapons is kept in a leather holster. The holster itself is nothing more than a flat brown pouch made from thick material, eliminating the chance of any sharp objects cutting through the sack. The straps of the holster tie around his left shoulder and across his torso, a few inches under his pecs, hanging about six inches below his left armpit. The pouch itself is a foot wide and six inches in height, and is barely apparent, even when fully loaded, since it is hidden by his clothing and made less noticeable by his chubby stature. He wasn't actually wearing the holster this time, since he typically doesn't wear it when practicing.

He stood in the back room and faced his practice target. He had made it his goal this session to make at least one bullseye. His target was nothing more than a flat board of maple wood, approximately four feet tall, four feet wide, and six inches thick. The board leaned back at a 90-degree angle and was held up by two right-angled trusses nailed on the back. He places it atop a spare crate to keep it close to his height.

He held a six-pointed bronze hira shuriken in his right hand, between his index and middle fingers, then forcibly threw it at the target. It nicked the corner of the board. A miss. Denshi shrugged. He hadn't practiced a while, and he expected as much. He another shuriken, this time hitting in the top left section. Then, trying yet another time, he hit in the same section, but much more toward the center. Now he was getting in the swing of things. He attempted a few more times, each time just barely missing the bull’s-eye. His very last time, he threw an iron bo shuriken, which basically resembles a straight iron spike, hitting it, dead center.

"Great! Now I can go to sleep..." Denshi thought. He collected his weapons and put them in the holster, then went to take the target off the crate, when he noticed the crate was full of vegetables. "What?!", he exclaimed, "I didn't think I had any more produce left to restock. I suppose if it doesn't keep raining, I should attempt to sell the rest of these before returning to uncle's farm...”

He opened the crate and looked inside. He was taken aback just a bit when he saw a few little black beetles crawling all over the produce. "Oh, great, not again!" he lamented. He picked up a head of lettuce, examining it closer, and he noticed the insects didn't do much harm. Yet. He then searched the room for more crates, finding two more and opening them. There were no bugs of any sort in these. Denshi sighed, feeling relieved. Then he yawned and stretched. "Uhhh...it's too late for this..." he said, "I'll finish this tomorrow..." He went to bed and fell fast asleep.

[denshi]

After sleeping soundly throughout the night, Denshi awoke in the morning, feeling well rested. The sun shone through his window, and he heard the sound of birds chirping outside. He gave no second thought until five minutes later, when he realized the weather had been abysmal for a while. He rubbed his eyes and looked out the window. There were a few wispy white clouds in the sky, and the weather was beautiful and sunny. Denshi perked up and a smile came to his face.

He went through his morning routine, bathing, shaving, getting dressed, and the like. After eating breakfast, he went out to the back room to load up his vegetable cart for the day. He opened the first crate opened the day before, and noticed there were more beetles. He scowled. He examined the produce further, only to notice that the bugs had chewed up most of the vegetables quite a bit. He separated the suitable produce from the unsuitable and found very few vegetables actually worth selling. He then remembered the two other crates and opened them to find some vegetables that were in acceptable condition and put them on the cart.

He wheeled the cart out of the back door and down his street, where there were many people out and about. He got onto the main street of Yin Rei, which was pretty crowded that morning. This pleased the merchant. He got to the location where his cart is usually parked and set up everything, then stood at his place of business. He grinned at all the people walking past, starting his day hoping to make plenty of sales.

[denshi]

An elderly woman approached the cart with both hands tucked into the opposite sleeve. She wore an expression of cheerfulness upon her wizened face, with her almond-shaped golden-brown eyes narrowed into tiny slits and her mouth forming an engaging smile. This aged woman was Mrs. Lung, who had been frequenting Denshi's business for years.

"Good morning, young man! How is your family?" the woman said. "Everybody is doing fine, Mrs. Lung," He replied rather loudly to the hearing-impaired woman. "Oh, that's wonderful. You know, you remind me so much of your father when he was your age. I remember every morning..." she rambled on and on about her late husband and other things, while Denshi leaned against the side of the cart, his elbow up on the side of the cart and his open hand against his cheek, grinning subtly as he listened to the old woman reminisce.

"Oh, I'm sorry. excuse me for rambling," said Mrs. Lung, "but now I don't remember what I came here to do..." She looked upward slightly, tapping her finger against her chin, trying to recall her reason for her being there. "I remember now. I would like one head of lettuce, please." she said, then reaching out with some bronze coins in her hand. "All right, Mrs. Lung, here you go!" said the merchant, handing her a head of lettuce, then taking the coins from her hand.