Shao looked up at the sky, never noticing how blue it was up to that point. Clouds drift across lazily, as if they were bobbing up and down in some great sea, arms behind their heads as the sun lit them up. He wondered what it'd be like. To just sit above everything and watch time crawl by. He imagined it must be pretty peaceful. He had thought his life was like that, but the fact that he was now on his back, face bloodied told a different story.....
It had started innocently enough. He woke up, ate, got dressed and ready for work. Today the market was open, so he'd have to set up shop in order to make his money so that he'd live to see next month while under a roof. He had a cart that contained his most recent works. Even though it wasn't very big, he didn't need it to be. Most of his works were small, and never stayed long enough to be a hinderance. He was growing in fame for having exquisite sculptures, and not only were new customers coming by word of mouth, but he also had recurring ones checking to see if his latest work suited their tastes. No two works were the same, since it ruined the creativity of the object. He preferred to make each one special, and Shao was pretty sure that's what made him unique among the other artisans in the market.
He looked at himself in the mirror of his tiny bathroom before deciding to head out, pleased by his appearance. Shao lived in a small room that was only part of a large building that housed many others besides him. The rent was low enough so that his wages were more than enough, but the quality of the building was still top quality, since it had been done by Earth Bending, and that was never done hastily. Shao had personalized his room, adding intricate designs all over whenever he was bored. However, he found he had less time for such things, with him having to do more sculptures to keep the money flowing.
He wheeled his cart out, a tarp having covered it to keep it from attracting others, though in this part of the city there weren't many thieves, and not many were interested in sculptures. As Shao was pushing it over to his slot for the market, one of the wheels hit a rather large stone on the road. After maneuvering the cart around it carefully, he picked it up. Finding he liked the weight and feel of the rock, he decided to sculpt it along the way. Usually his works took no more than 20 minutes, though his finer and grander ones took longer. However, this one was just a small one, and took little effort. He placed it on his cart and focused on it while pushing, occasionally looking up to see if anyone was in his way, moving slowly just in case.
The rock, initially the length of his forearm and about 3 inches across, soon became thinner and a bit shorter, the rock just falling away as if a chisel had cleaved it off. However, Shao's earth bending was much more natural and smooth than any chisel could be, peeling off the rock like a hot knife through butter. His goal was an eagle, with wings outstretched. Soon he had the basic shape and began to make the finer details, dust falling away from the sculpture as he made the engravings of the feathers on the eagle's wings and body. Soon the work was finished, one of his better works despite doing it so quickly. He smiled, surely he was improving daily.
Shao looked up and found he had barely made any progress. With the sun raising higher into the sky, he knew that, should he take too long, most of his customers wouldn't be there. Looking around, he remembered a shortcut passing by the gate that would get him where he needed to go. He normally didn't take it because he preferred a more scenic route, but today he had no such luxuries. As he pushed his cart past the gate, it exploded from a blast of heat. The force knocked him over, sending his cart smashing into the wall of a building and making his goods strewn across the dusty road. The eagle that he had just made hit the corner of the building and was cleaved in too.
Shao found himself on the dusty road, looking up at the sky, a cut on his forehead from a piece of the gate cutting it dripping blood down his face. He thought of the clouds and their peacefulness and realized that the days of peace that he had previously took for granted were over, and that he would no longer be floating along with the clouds.
