Chapter I

May 1948

"I'm Kai. Eleven years old. I don't know my last name. Been living in this town since always. My parents didn't tell me it was wrong because they're dead. I stole these because I needed food. You would do the same if you lived the way I live. And I told you about this sack, I found it on the road."

The officer noted everything Kai said, after an hour of squeezing out the answers from his mouth. The boy looked to the floor, then to the ceiling in discomfort and annoyance, refusing to meet the policemen's eyes. For the first time, they got him and all the money he managed to gather by more or less orthodox ways. There went everything he planned and all the schemes he thought of. And the worst part of all, Skoochy was still somewhere around the city, free and away from all the stress. He wasn't going to be sent to an orphanage either, or whatever the officer had in mind for Kai. He was caught and there was no way out for the moment.

The man rubbed his chin, then brought the hand to his forehead, seemingly tired of everything he had to deal with for the moment. "Well," he said turning his face to the other policemen, "since we got back the money and have the boy, I know a place where we can send him for some re-education."

Kai's eyes widened and a wave of unsettlement and realization hit him full force. They were going to throw him into another bloody orphanage, or worse. It wasn't uncharted territory to him: he could name at least three times he had to live in that kind of place, running from one to another, but every single one was no better than the street. At least the street had no one to bother him, or shout at him. He even made allies, but, he reminded himself, Skoochy is free and I'm not. I have to get out of here quick.

The officer fidgeted with the car keys and got up to talk to the other men. When they tilted their heads sideways to get a better glance of him, they looked like shooting lava from their soulless eyes. Kai saw his belongings being taken away and stuffed aside, while the officer wordlessly took him to the car. He would've cherished the breath of fresh air when they exited the police section more if that hadn't meant that he was taken to another place that would bind him to be an 'obedient and respectful young man'.

Whatever was the place they were driving him to, he could manage to escape. He would sneak out quickly and without any pain or resentment, just like taking off a bandage. His right knee wore one of those, a battle scar, since when he had fallen into a ditch about a week ago, when he and Skoochy got out of Monsieur Varrick's bakery with hands full of pastry and heavier pockets. They had gotten into a brief fight because of the lost money, but eventually worked it out. Kai wondered if Skoochy actually had a plan of reuniting with him or at least an idea of where he was. He could have expected him to be in a police car: it wasn't the first time. While Kai was bundling his head with thoughts, the car stopped. The officer slipped off his chair, then opened Kai's door and took a grip of his arm, effortlessly holding him so he wouldn't run.

Kai took notice of the place they stopped by. It didn't look like an orphanage from outside, being a quite tall building with a spruced up yard full of roses opening up on one side, and a large alley on the other. The whole ground was locked up with an impressive-looking black gate with elegant swirled tips that could've rivaled the mayor's house's one.

A woman showed up behind the gate while he was still measuring the place with his gaze. He didn't, however, plan on having to stare at the surroundings for too long. He had a plan to pursue. If it wasn't for the woman's cold look, he would've thought it could be easier. Gray hair, pale green eyes, two pale crimson stripes on her right cheek that looked like scars: she did look almost like an orphanage maid, only her stature was more compelling. Her mouth formed a straight line with corners pointing downwards, a truly welcoming look.

"Miss Beifong, what a pleasure to meet you again," the officer bowed respectfully.

"Quelle surprise, Mako," the woman said dryly. "But let's cut it short: is this boy the reason you came here?"

"First of all, I would ask you how many children are in your custody for the moment."

"Nine. Six girls and three boys."

Officer Mako nodded in understanding. Now that they mentioned the children, Kai noticed a bunch of kids around his age or even younger gathered behind the gates. He shot them a bitter look for a second, then returned to staring at the pavement.

"So I guess you wouldn't mind taking care of a tenth soul, am I right?"

Miss Beifong moved her gaze to the dark-skinned boy held by Mako. Ruffled hair, grown in an undercut, messy clothes, messy everything. She supposed he was a delinquent, given that he had been brought there by the police. She didn't want to ask what the boy had done in the past. Her head was already too overwhelmed with the idea of having to take care of him.

"Doesn't he have any parents? My foster home isn't a re-education camp, nor a prison, Mako."

"I know, Miss Beifong. But this little nuisance," he said dragging Kai closer, "has been living on the streets for a long time when he didn't live in orphanages and had to steal to survive. I know you have a way with the kids and I know you are the right person for him. He needs some parental guidance."

The woman closed her eyes and rubbed her temples. Her rationing crashed with the loud whispers of the children glued to the gate. She knew without saying a word to the kid that he would be difficult to tame. That could equal more headaches and less quiet. Another part of her, however, reminded her of the notion of mercy. Poor kid must have had a tough time. If I don't step in, then no one on this planet would and he'd live his life as a pest. Miss Beifong decided to take up the advice from that particular part called 'conscience'.

"Fine. I'll take him. But that's as many children as I can afford to keep. He won't cause any problems anymore," she declared confidently.

Kai had wished the woman would turn him down, but realized that her foster home could be the most convenient option.

"Thank you so much, Chief. His name is Kai, by the way."

"My pleasure," Miss Beifong put on a polite grin, taking another look at the boy that now had a name. "But I thought I told you not to call me like that anymore a long time ago."

"It is hard to believe how time passed. But everyone at our section remembers Lin Beifong, Miss."

The conversation lasted one more frustrating minute before officer Mako stepped into the car and got away, leaving a thin streak of smoke behind.

Now aware of the fact that Lin knew they were there staring impolitely, the children group dissipated, leaving only Miss Beifong and Kai at the entrance. As the woman closed the gate, she grabbed Kai's arm and dragged him firmly into the house.

"First of all, you take a bath," Lin said sternly.

Kai groaned to himself in annoyance, now reconsidering the 'best option' idea. A lucky escape began sounding more farfetched, but he craved it then more than ever.

The hallway was tall enough to hide a willow in it and long enough to run freely through it, but seemingly it was a house rule that no one could do that as everything looked in its place and motionless. Rules over rules. Just like any orphanage. He despised having to follow a strict set of do's and don't's every moment of his life. He despised being there in particular. As he went down the hallway, he noticed a short-haired girl with pigtails and a bun fixing him with her eyes as he passed. He had forgotten about the curious faces and all the accommodation thing he had to get through, which made him despise his situation even more. Kai knew there had to be a way he could get out of the pit he was shoved in.

Jinora moved her eyes along with the new boy. For the briefest moment, she thought he looked cute for a street rat, but quickly shook of the thought from her head like droplets of lead. She didn't like to judge a book by its cover - she learned it mostly with the aid of real books - but she knew from what she had seen and heard that he was nothing but trouble. Hopefully, he wouldn't turn out to be a total jerk, she thought - the house was too peaceful and full of understanding to ruin it with a bad attitude and nature. She sighed and ran back to her room. She heard the other girls whispering suppositions about the newcomer, but she didn't want to talk about it until they knew better.

Lin struggled to comb Kai's damp hair so that it would lie flat, but the strands seemed to have their own mind. Although the boy didn't enjoy being suffocated with attention and kept his brow furrowed since his arrival, he knew better than to make a show out of himself, which would have only ensured his prolonged stay. His silence surprised Miss Beifong too, who expected him to be the 'nuisance' Mako had been talking about. He looked like finally finding his place.

Kai didn't think about this not even when Lin presented him his new clothes. He presumed they had been owned by another child who wasn't there anymore. Their smell, the light air of the house, everything seemed so bizarre and awfully inert.

"It's good. You look better," Lin said clapping her hands, her face still lacking in the slightest hint of a smile. "I'll show you your bedroom now. Remember: don't break or tear anything, don't do the furniture harm and keep it clean. If not, it's going down for you," she continued nonchalantly. "Understood?"

Kai groaned like a little child while Lin's hand on his back guided him through the complicated hallways. He began to grow tired of all the nagging, and tired in general. He just wanted to lie down to put his thoughts into order.

"That is not an answer," Miss Beifong insisted. "Stop frowning and being cold and give me an answer."

"Then why don't you do the same?" Kai dared to say, and the woman stopped and looked at him threateningly. He didn't break his gaze and didn't seem affected by her piercing, scolding eyes. She didn't say any word and returned to leading him in his room.

He's a clever little bastard.

When he entered the dining room after an hour, he encountered a long table covered in a shiny white sheet, girls on one side and boys on the other. He noticed that the children that were staring at him through the gate's bars when he was brought by the officer did the same thing in that moment. Their multicoloured eyes were studying him from all the angles and he could hear his internal self screaming Stop it!. Miss Beifong stormed out of the kitchen, but slowed down her pace when she noticed Kai standing in the doorstep with the same unimpressed figure.

"You're finally here," she muttered and took his arm to bring him closer to the table. He had been carried around in that way so many times that day that he wanted to simply wrest out the woman's grip.

"Children, I want to present you Kai. He will be staying with us from now on," she spoke with her most diplomatic voice. "Kai, meet Cara, Jinora, Elina, Adaline, Mimi, Tia," she announced the girls' names and each of them stepped up, "Basil, Jerome and Caleb." The boy saw a few smiles starting to creep onto several children's faces, but he had no interest in retaining her names or figures.

"Sit down," Miss Beifong gestured towards an unoccupied place. "I'm bringing you the soup in a moment," she assured the children. "Stay still."

Kai put two hands on the table and raised his tired gaze. He rolled his eyes to get a better outlook of the room. He realized that the inside was just as impressive as the outside, with the same high ceiling and fancy decorations that seemed to keep showing up. Meanwhile, the children exchanged a few awkward looks, collectively thinking how to get closer to the newcomer.

He wasn't exactly in the mood for talking.

"Uhm, hi," Elina started cautiously, and Kai slowly moved his emerald eyes to her. "Are you feeling good?" she tried.

Kai shrugged uninterested.

"You know," Jerome slid in, "Miss Beifong may seem a witch, but she is really nice once you get to know her."

"Maybe," he said with the same bored tone. He couldn't believe he was still locked there with that little army of headaches. As for them, they were content with finally hearing his voice. Kai leaned his elbows on the table and sheltered his head between his hands. Tia wanted to comment that he shouldn't lean in like that, but ultimately realized that he had plenty of time to learn the etiquette. He had just been ushered out of the street, and besides, he somehow looked intimidating.

Jinora toyed with the fork at her right for a few moments, then tilted her head to watch Kai again. She was already one of the older children and he seemed to be about her age, one year older at most. He doesn't seem very communicative, she thought and remembered seeing him walking down the grand hallway with the same expression, apparently not noticing she was around. "Are you shy?" she managed to make up a question.

"I'm not," he answered visibly irritated by all the unwanted attention.

Miss Beifong arrived with two trays of bowls of soup and promptly told Kai, "Elbows off the table." He hardly obliged.

The woman carefully placed a bowl of rust-coloured soup in front of every child and brushed away a few strands of loose hair from her face. "Bon appétit," she said smacking her hands together like dusting off flour. "We have dessert today, but only if you eat everything." The last phrase earned a timid cheering from around the table.

Kai looked at the mass of good-smelling liquid and it looked back at him, luring him. He put a hand on the silver spoon – he hadn't used such thing in a long while – and in a minute, the bowl was shiny clean.

Caleb and Jerome sipped carefully on the hot soup, squeezing their eyes shut. "Can't wait 'til Korra comes back," the former commented. "I think Miss Beifong forgot how to use the vegetables."

"I miss Korra too," Cara intervened. "Still, the soup is not so…" she cattishly wiped her mouth with a handkerchief, almost letting out a cough. "…not so bad."

"Eat it all, guys," Basil said between gulps. "I'd die for some cake."

Kai couldn't remember the last time he had such a pleasing meal, which was also warm. He rubbed his eyes and waited. He saw the other children fancy with small sips and handkerchiefs; moreover, they didn't look like enjoying the food at all. Patsies.

"Are you done?" Miss Beifong swiftly asked passing by. "This is all you get to eat until evening." She stopped when she saw that Kai had finished his soup, so she took his bowl and spoon back to the kitchen. A strange feeling of mercy brewed up inside her, which was a reminder that the boy didn't came from a place where he could get such meals on a basis. "Look, someone who knows how to eat properly," she commented teasingly. "Looks like he's the only one who's getting cake."

The other children picked up the pace, eager to get a plate of dessert. It was a rarity, given their precarious financial situation, but Lin didn't want to worry the children with such less important affairs. After a while, she returned with smoothly cut slices of chocolate cake, which were warmly welcomed. Kai rushed to place his fingers on the treasure, but Miss Beifong wordlessly pointed him the small spoon with the same pair of cold eyes.

It tasted like all the rainbows and all the freshly bloomed flowers, with a hint of the funny feeling when you get to lie on the soft grass after a long day. Skoochy would throw himself off a bridge for this, Kai thought and took another bite. They would have managed to steal cake from Monsieur Varrick too if it wasn't for the very short amount of time, in which they still worked like a fine watch. He could swear he had heard the man marvel angrily over the amount of food they managed to steal. Good times, he reminded himself. I'm going to find Skoochy tonight. I will.

"Now it's sleep time," Miss Beifong announced loudly.

Kai's brow furrowed at the thought of having to sleep in the afternoon, but ultimately decided to go to his room and lie down. A tornado of thoughts formed in his mind, but the fatigue proved to be stronger. He slowly closed his eyes and drifted into a deep slumber.

When he woke up, it was almost evening. He looked at the clock on the wall and saw various numbers and strange characters, but he recognized the position of the pointers: it was almost 18 o' clock.

He decided to walk down to the court to stretch himself for a bit. On the way down, he encountered the same girl with a bun that had stared at him when he arrived. She was holding a book on her knees, her head slightly leaned on. He tried to remember her name, and decided she was either Jinora or Cara. He settled with Jinora. Strange girl must have a strange name. He then remembered there was no use in keeping track of everyone as he was going to leave everything behind anyway. Slow but steady, that time was coming.

Jinora saw him walking lonely to the outdoors. He surely likes to sleep, she reckoned. She wanted to tell him something, but her mind didn't work quickly enough as he already disappeared behind the doors. Moving her eyes back to the lost paragraph, she decided she was going to have plenty of other chances, and besides, he was still in the accommodation phase. However, he already didn't look like a street rat anymore.

The air was warm and smooth, painted with a faint fragrance of lilac. His gaze moved to a stone fence covered in lilac which he hadn't remembered to notice in the first place. He scooted closer to the fence out of curiosity, making his way through a group of three girls who jumped the rope. The other two were drawing some indecipherable sketches on the ground with chalk.

A flying football ball barely missed him and crashed into the iron gate. "I told you not to kick it with the top of your foot, Jerome," one of the boys shouted and went on to recuperate the ball. He took notice of the new boy and approached him cautiously.

"You know, Miss Beifong doesn't allow us to rip these flowers. I bet she has a nice steel bat ready for exactly this kind of delinquency," he tried to lighten him up.

"I wasn't going to," said Kai uninterested and shoved his hands into the pockets of his new pants.

A few moments passed before the boy spoke again. "I'm Basil, by the way," he presented himself and offered a hand. Kai looked at him and noticed his blond hair and dark blue trousers held by white suspenders. His beige shirt wore a small stain of the dirt, possibly from the game they were playing. He reluctantly shook his hand and said, "Nice to meet you."

"Wanna join us? We'll have two teams of two now that you're here. You'll get to know Jerome and Caleb, too."

His doe-eyed attitude made Kai suspicious, but he decided to join in to kill the time. He managed to score enough so that he and Basil's team would squash the other one.

The children went to the bed with the sunset. Kai made a sack out of his bed sheet in which he stuffed everything apparently valuable form around his room. He thought of getting some food from the kitchen too, but scrapped off the idea out of his slight fear of waking up Miss Beifong.

Jinora never went to sleep when everyone did. She liked to stay in her blanket fortress with the lamp open until her eyes hurt due to reading so late, hence it wasn't unusual for her to go to sleep even close to midnight. Nevertheless, she always was among the first ones to wake up, and she liked to help Miss Beifong with her duties. That particular evening, she left the book she was reading aside – a long novel she had been thumbing through for a week – and turned around to gaze on the window. The magnetizing faint darkness of the late spring nights had always fascinated her, and she would find herself staring at the same street she had in view ever since she knew herself when the sun went to sleep. She started to see colours and lights that no one was able to discern. This time, she saw Kai. He was carrying a white sack on his back and seemed to have the intention of jumping over the gate. He wouldn't.

She slipped into her only trench coat and swiftly made her way outside.

Kai had jumped over countless fences during his lifetime, but the iron black gate he was facing was utterly nerve wracking. No slot to properly place his foot in, nothing to grab, and the worst part was that the gate was almost twice as tall as him. He tried once again, but stumbled halfway. When he heard footsteps coming his way, he struggled to get off, but his foot was stuck in the space between bars. He turned his face and sighed in relief when he realized it was only that strange girl, Jinora.

"What are you doing?" she naturally asked, even if she knew the answer.

"Getting away. Now leave me alone," he shut her out.

Jinora pursed her lips and gathered her thoughts. "So you can do what? Live on the streets like a cockroach for the rest of your life? I thought you would love to stay here, I mean, there are people who take care of you, so you don't have to live on the tight rope – "

"You don't understand," he said firmly.

"Yes, I do. Actually," she raised the tone of her voice slightly, "you can try to get out if you want. But those pointy tips will pierce your butt and you won't be able to get too far with that. And besides, Miss Beifong will wonder where you went and I will be the only witness. Unfortunately for you, I won't be able to lie about what happened."

Kai closed his eyes and sighed in annoyance. He would have never thought that the quiet book-loving girl would be able to talk that much and be so awfully persuasive. He rolled his eyes, not facing her.

"Why do you even care?"

Jinora scooted closer to him, trying to establish eye contact. "Because it's the normal thing to do," she spoke softly. "You simply have to care. Do you know what would happen if nobody cared? If Miss Beifong hadn't cared for us, we all would have lived our life on the streets or somewhere where we wouldn't have been taken care of, maybe without a roof over our heads or people to tell us what is wrong and what is right. She saved us because she cared. And you're here because of the same reason. Do you really want to ruin your well-being like that?"

Kai bowed his head, trying to put his thoughts into order. She surely is a meddler, he groaned and put a foot on the ground.

A light turned on inside the house, and Jinora quickly took notice of it. "It must be Miss Beifong," she whispered. "Let's get out of here fast, or else she will be really mad."

Kai managed to stick his foot out of the gate and followed Jinora behind the corner. She guided him around a few trashcans and the two hid in a niche. Miss Beifong was indeed awakened by the voices from outside, and she was surprised to hear Jinora staying outside so late. Her scrutinizing eyes skimmed the surroundings, but without finding any track of a sleepless child.

"Maybe we can jump to the balcony," Jinora proposed pointing upwards.

"Worth trying," Kai decided and carefully raised himself on one of the trashcans. When he heard a loud thumping of boots coming closer to the two, his legs failed him for once, making him lose equilibrium and gracefully fall over Jinora, knocking down the trashcan in the process.

Lin Beifong was merciless.

"What are you two doing here and now?" she stormed.

Jinora lifted herself slightly from the ground, staking herself with the arm that wasn't trapped under Kai. "We were taking out the trash in advance," she tried weakly.

If it wasn't for the thickening darkness, Jinora could've sworn Miss Beifong's features were starting to throw off steam.