Crossroads of Fate: Friends and Foes I

As the sun rises on Zuko's twelfth day of riding, he stops Nala outside a dry and barren farming village scorched by the sun. A few Earth Kingdom soldiers playing dice in the street as Zuko dismounts Nala and leads her to a feed shop...

"Excuse me, how much is your grain?" Zuko calls to the aged shopkeeper.

"Good afternoon young man, a bag of feed is 1 silver and 2 copper pieces." The shopkeeper says while wiping down a cooking pot.

"That much? A sack of feed was only 4 coppers in the last village I stopped in... Why's it so expensive here?" Zuko says giving the shopkeeper a quizzical look.

"Well, you see..." The shopkeeper trails off while looking at the soldiers playing dice before continuing with a whisper, "Since the war spread to our province the 'soldiers' have raised all the taxes for the sake of the 'war effort.' But if you ask me, they're just trying to line their pockets while avoiding the front." The shopkeeper says while giving the soldiers a sideways glance.

"I see, then give me two bags of feed, and thanks for giving what you can," Zuko says while placing 2 silver and 4 copper pieces on the counter.

"No need lad, I should thank you for stopping at my shop." The shopkeeper says as he heads deeper into the building to gather the grain. As Zuko waits by the stall, a strange sight draws his attention to the entrance of the village. Some teens in blue water tribe clothing are being surrounded by the soldiers...

"You heard me, there's a 1 silver toll to enter the village." The lead soldier who is dual wielding two hefty metal hammers cockily says.

"But we only have water tribe money!" The girl shouts with exasperation. Slightly tanned, she has a rather kind face and her hair is pulled back into a loop on each side of her face.

"Don't worry little lady. I'm sure there's something you could do for us to pay." The soldier begins to lick his lips as he places an iron grip on the young girl's wrist.

"Hey! Get your hands off of my sister!" The young man with his hair in a ponytail and a club at his side was pulled out from his hip holster, with a conspicuously barren back sheath.

"Watch it welp, don't want to be charged with assaulting an Earth Kingdom soldier!" The soldier shouts as the rest of his cronies begin to laugh. Not noticing Zuko approaching from behind.

"Excuse me sir, but I don't remember paying a toll when I entered the village. Is there a reason you're targeting these two foreigners?" Zuko says appearing beside the lead soldier, almost like a specter...

Jumping back out of surprise, the soldier quickly straightens his uniform before scowling at the idiot who dared to interrupt his fun.

"Mind your own business, peasant!" The soldier shouts at the wanderer. No longer paying attention to the two water tribe kids.

Zuko gives him a knowing smile, "But, this is my business. They are in fact my Dad's dear friend's children and we were supposed to meet here, but I had no clue there was such a tax. Would you mind allowing me to pay for it? It was 1 silver piece, correct?" He says while pulling out his coin purse.

"That's 2 silver pieces, one for each of them." The soldier says while giving the boy a smug look, because only an idiot would pay such a ludicrous price for people they didn't know.

"Here you go. Come on guys, Dad's been waiting so long to see you." Zuko says as he tosses the coins to the soldier who looked at him dumbfounded, wraps his arms around the two, and drags them back to the store he was buying the grain from.

The two siblings unwrap themselves from his embrace as they approach the stall.

"Hey, um thanks for helping us and all... But why did you do it?" The girl asks with a bit of a confused look on her face.

"Yeah, what's your angle?" The boy looks at Zuko with a distrustful glare.

Zuko gives them a quizzical look before shrugging and saying, "Do I need a reason to help those in need?"

"Oh... Well, thank you." The girl says with a smile before elbowing the boy.

"Yeah, thanks." The boy says while guiltily rubbing the back of his neck.

"No problem, I was just acting how my dad raised me. If you don't mind, I was about to brew some tea and have lunch, I'd be happy to share with some fellow travelers?" As Zuko asks the siblings he notices a couple of children hiding by the stall and one launches an egg that lands squarely on the lead soldier's head.

The children snicker in the shadows before the soldier howls in rage.

"Who did that?!" Scanning the street he locks on to the stall where the smooth talker and the foreigners are.

"Hey, you! Did you see who threw that egg?" The man with twin war hammers shouts at Zuko as he draws near.

"Nope, I didn't see anything." Zuko says while turning to the man.

"Well, the egg had to come from somewhere!?" He says while raising his voice in an accusatory manner.

"Perhaps a hog-chicken flew by?" Zuko responds causing the water tribe boy and a few of the man's subordinates to laugh.

The lead soldier scowls before noticing the bags of grain on the shopkeeper's counter and moving over to grab it, "Thank you for your donation to the war effort valued citizen." He snorts grabbing the bags of grain and sauntering off with the rest of his comrades.

"He's nothing more than a thief." The water tribe girl mutters under her breath.

A young boy pops his head out from behind some alleyway goods, "Thanks for not ratting me out, those soldiers are nothing but bullies!"

"No problem kid, I don't like bullies either. Try and not get caught next time." Zuko says smiling as he takes Nala's reigns and begins to leave when his stomach growls.

"I know! You and your friends can come to my house! We've got plenty of food and I need to thank you for saving me earlier. Come on! This way!" The young boy shouts as he grabs Nala's reins and leads the group to the farm.