Manchu Song
The market swarmed with people, going in and out, buying, shoving, kids underfoot, haggling, shouting. Livestock squawled, and the sun beat down on Manchu's already-tanned skin. The warmth lit the dusty roads and wooden stalls and the rainbow of nations and ethnicities milling down the paths.
Manchu darted through the crowd and underneath several people hefting a cart of cabbages. The boy's tiny frame was perfectly suited to twisting and turning and avoiding collisions, feet light and nimble. A toothy white smile stayed on his face as if plastered there. It lit his whole face up like a lantern. Something about his face was just very roguish: how the long brown hair raked over his jaw, how his eyes sparkled with naughty implications, how his slingshot hung loosely from his pocket. His chest was proudly puffed for the viewing benefit of any onlookers. Quite debonair, the boy who ducked through the crowd and weaved between legs like a little snake.
Or so Manchu would like to think. He was covered head to toe with dirt and his hair stuck up in all directions.
He knew Omashu pretty well. He'd been just chilling here for the past few weeks, and it was a good town. Plenty of hell to raise, plenty of stuff to nick. Plenty of fights to get into, too; Manchu liked that. Most importantly? The best thing that Omashu had to offer? Earthbender girls. Wow, what a woman! He let out a laugh. Now they were tough. Usually pretty though. Truthfully, Manchu loved the culture of Omashu. He loved the deep greens and dusty browns of the city. He loved the walls and the buildings, how seamlessly the stone flowed. The skies were always blue. Earth Kingdom animals, hybrids they didn't have back home, hopped through the grass. Somehow, the whole... zen-like atmosphere got Manny to calm down a bit. He wasn't really one to enjoy the scenery, but Omashu was just... splendid.
Manchu slowed to a walk, now panting from the exertion. He wiped his forehead with his sleeve and tossed his hair back (so un-functional; it got in the way but it was totally worth it). Though his face was red with heat, flesh clammy, he still grinned around at all the business. What a town!
Then out of the corner of his eye he saw a flash of white and the relaxation had gone in an instant.
Gone was the feeling of contentment. Something in his chest stirred when he saw the girl with the long white hair.
His fingers began to twitch.
Almost instinctively, his walk melted into the most casual of strolls as he let himself fall back, but keeping the girl carefully in his line of vision. His hand went to his pocket and casually slipped the bamboo slingshot deeper inside, so it was not visible. And making sure to stop, gander at the stalls, smell the roses, enjoy the sights, he followed her.
What an oddball! he marveled as she left the chicken stall, but he did not think on it for a long time. He brushed past a Fire Nation woman barreling into an earthbender official (he tucked his head down as he passed the uniformed man; didn't need the law getting involved) and waited until the crowd had thinned and the girl was looking at another stall. Only then did Manchu dawdle on up the same stall, taking his time, picking up an Earth Nation snow globe with one brown hand.
The other snaked out towards the white haired girl's staff.