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"MAPS HERE! GET YER MAPS HERE!" A voice called out to the crowded marketplace from a small old man in ridiculous clothing. "I've got maps of the Earth Kingdom, maps of the North AND South poles, maps of that one part of town you just HAVE to visit, and even maps to the STARS!" The old man was standing in front of a poorly made stand out of the cart he lived in. It was filled with maps of all sorts and the gentleman was getting pretty tired of jumping like a performing hog-monkey to get people to notice him and buy something.
'Eh, your turn, Qiao' The old man mumbled to a young girl in a strange hat standing nearby as he shuffled himself into the cart for a nap. Qiao sighed and grabbed a handful of maps. She began waving them in the air and shouting as loudy as she could. "Off to a distant land? To adventure? To your In-Law's house? Don't waste precious time by geting lost on the way!" She looked around. Nobody seemed to be interested, but then again, they never really were.
Qiao mumbled some carefully chosen curses under her breath until she saw a girl in sandy-looking clothing. 'She must not be from around here. Maybe she'll buy a map! Or at least trade some of her jewelry... ' She thought hopefully as the only thing she loved more than money was exchanging items for different ones.
"You there!" Qiao shouted to the girl. "Interested in a fine map of the city?" She was wearing her best 'Buy something' face.

Qiao nodded, looking up at the girl eagerly. "Do I ever!" She beamed, turning to the cart and shuffling though a section of maps looking for something 'exciting.' She finally emerged with four different maps and opened one holding the others under her arm.
"Here's one my grandfather and I made when we hiked through the mountains. Pretty dangerous stuff there! And here---" the girl closed the first map and opened another "Is one we made going through a swamp. Sounds gross but it's actually MUCH grosser. And I've got some of the Fire Nation, a few deserts, this one creepy canyon...Take your pick!" Qiao wasn't very good at convincing people to buy things but if she got lucky, she might run into someone who would buy something if she cried. But Esen definately didn't seem to be that type.

"All the way out there?" Her eyes widened and her voice shook slightly. "We've...never been THERE. Smaller deserts, yeah but never Si Wong. That'd take ages to cross on that thing!' She jerked a thumb towards the cart which made a well-timed 'creeeeeeeeeeak.' But now Qiao was curious. None of her other customers were too specific. And Si Wong was a BIG specific.
"Why there, if you don't mind me asking?" Must be polite.

"Wow..." Qiao breathed. She'd never met anyone from the deserts she'd been in. She didn't think anyone could live in them. "That's pretty neat. Nobody seemed to live in the ones I've been to." She looked over her shoulder at the cart and could her her grandfather's snoring. "Yeah, that's him. He's much better at selling maps than I am."
Qiao stuffed the maps she was holding back in the cart and turned back to Esen."The stars? Oh yeah! See, my grandpa used to hike a lot. Up to really high peaks and biiiig mountains. He was so high up that he said you could almost touch that stars. So the maps are usually for serious hikers and really good earthbenders."

"Hmmm..." Qiao shrugged and dug through some of the maps. "The best 'treasures' we've ever found were like...really cheap restaurants or stands with lazy merchants that don't notice us taking things. But you know...." She leaned in extra close.
"I heard that there's an entire city of crystal under Ba Sing Se. Not like anyone lives there or anything like...I think it's the old city or something. I guess you could consider that to be a treasure. If it exists that is."

Qiao shrugged and dusted off her sleeves. "I dunno. I guess that's why they built over it. But I bet it's really neat if it exists. I'm guessing it'd be WAY underground and you'd have to be a really good earthbender to find it." She thought about it for a few seconds. What if it DID exist? What would it be worth? Enough so that she'd never have to sell maps again? That would be amazing.
After snapping out of her daydream she continued."And it was probably all rich people who lived in it. You'd have to be to live in a city full of crystals, right? But they probably thought the same thing you did and decided to find a more private place."

Qiao nodded. "It's true." She said. "I once saw this one woman wearing really fancy looking shoes but I guess they must've been uncomfortable. She was walking everywhere like she had to go really bad."
She looked at the map and began counting on her fingers, mouthing each number. 'Umm...five I think. Yeah. Five copper pieces."