A busy street in the lower circle of Ba Sing Se, crowds of people pressed together, evening was falling and many were hurrying home even as others spilled out into the streets for the city never really stopped. Stalls were being dismantled, vendors packing up what wasn't sold even as new booths were being set up for the night trade. The cloying and spicy smells of hot food stands filled the cooling air as did the cries of hawkers and the grumble and whine of heated bargaining. Buskers with their strange, lilting music and the antics of acrobatic street performers caused small groups of people to congregate around them disrupting the flow of movement. The Lamp Lighters were making their rounds so that the warm, orange glow of the lamps spread a sphere of brightness across the faces of the people that passed and flickered on the wares of the stalls close by. In the chaos, a girl slipped unnoticed through the throng, wrapping her self in the shadows, her light touch relieving many of their purses or their jewellery.
She sidled up to a stall where an argument was erupting between the neighbouring merchants over how much room the other was taking up. She took advantage of their distraction to pilfer several of the bangles that were on display. She disappeared into the shadows again and emerged nearby a stand where a boy was selling sweet-rolls. He was busy serving a customer when she suddenly reached out and swiped one from the corner and ran off. He didn't notice her. Few ever did. She was ravenous and tore into the roll as she veered down another busy street then darted into a side alley and scrambled up over a wall into the next. There were no lamps and it was dark but the haphazard warren that was the backstreets of the lower circle was her home and she knew it well. She slid through a narrow aperture that existed where a wall met the street and found herself in a dinghy basement piled unfathomably high with odds and ends; broken furniture, damaged statues, moth-eaten silk hangings and rugs, huge cracked vases, split barrels full of rusting armour and weapons, crates held dusty scrolls or chipped porcelain. And in the middle of this was Mother Lu. She sat on a low cushioned chair before a small wood stove in the centre of her domain, a tiny, wiry old lady covered in layers of tawdry brocade; pawing through a box of silk skeins with one hand, in her other was a sharply glinting needle while she rested her embroidery on her lap. She was listening as a green-looking youth with eyes downcast was reporting to her.
"What?" Her voice was rich and earthy. She had stopped rummaging to look at the boy who quailed beneath her glance.
"I'm sorry Mother Lu I couldn't find him I looked everywhere but he ain't comin' out of what ever hole it is that he's found either that or he's been taken by the Watch but no one's heard nothing or they ain't talking."
The hand holding the needle whipped down and stuck the boy in the arm. He yelped and clutched at his arm.
"Understand Yei, if that ingrate is not found by tomorrow morning, I will hold you personally responsible for the necklace he took with him."
"But…"
"If you want to find him before tomorrow morning than I suggest that you start looking now."
She looked back at her embroidery as he ran up the rickety steps that led to the rooms upstairs.
"And what have my little magpies brought me today? Hmm?"
The girl and a few other children emerged from their refuges in the shadows of the room taking it in turns to offer up their days work. Mother Lu rocked and cooed, often grabbing at scrolls to unfurl then and study their quality or snatching up jewellery to hold out to the light. The inhabitants of the lower ring were never wealthy so she was particularly impressed by a particularly heavy silk purse that the girl withdrew from within her grubby robe.
"Look at this all of you. Jin here is the youngest yet once again she has outshone you all." Mother Lu patted the girl on the head then began to count out the fat, clinking silver coins into piles. She groaned as she got up from her chair and went over to the stove where she began to dole out rice into small bowls. When the children were eating contentedly she moved around the room secreting her new treasures into various nooks and crannies. Only Mother Lu knew the extent of the treasures that she camouflaged amongst the worthless articles.
Jin was the youngest of Mother Lu's foundlings at eight, and the other children ranged in age from there up to seventeen though the older youths had not yet arrived home.
"The naughty one has not yet returned. We will not mention his name under this roof until he does. Suffice it to say that he will be punished severely for his wrong doings. Ah he has broken my heart, to think that I have fostered a snake in my house! That one of my own should betray us all. It is too much." She said this absently as she moved around the room.
Jin looked around at the other children as they scoffed down their meal. She knew that Mother Lu was talking about Yoli and stopped herself before she sighed or worse cried. She liked Yoli. He was one of the older boys and had always been nice to her. He often shared sweets with the younger child that is before he ran off. No one was allowed to leave Mother Lu for good all her foundlings knew that. Worse still, he had stolen a necklace from her as well. She hoped that Yei would never find him even if it meant that he had to take Yoli's punishment. Jin didn't mind so much about that. Yei was cruel and often went out of his way to torment those younger than him.
The children were finished eating and had begun to crawl into the small alcoves amongst the piles of things ready for sleep. Jin curled up in a crate of sour smelling robes that had once been quite fine.
Mother Lu pulled across a ragged curtain so that the light from her lamp and the stove would not bother the children as they fell asleep. She clucked motherly as she helped arrange the blankets around them. She stroked Jin's cheek gently before she returned to her chair.
Jin's eyes were heavy and though she was worried for Yoli, she was warm, snug and content and her eyes soon closed.
A loud scuffling noise woke her. She peeked through a rent in the curtain and saw Yei and another teenager holding onto a bound and gagged Yoli who struggled as they gripped him. Yei handed over a coin bag and Mother Lu weighed it consideringly in her hand. She stood before the captive, slightly shorter than he though terrifying in her bearing. She held a cane and whipped it threateningly in the air.
"So nice of you to come back to me my darling, we were all so worried about you when you failed to return, why we thought that you might have been caught by the Watch."
At her direction, Yei and the other forced Yoli to his knees.
"I seem to have lost a necklace Yoli; do you know where it might be?"
She pulled off the gag even as he shook his head furiously, "I don't know what you're talking about. I know nothing. And I didn't run off I was coming back, honest."
"You know, I'm not sure I believe you. In fact I think that you had decided to leave Mother Lu. I think that you took my necklace and sold it to fund your poor decision to flee me."
The whip came down and thwacked into his back. Yoli arched in pain but managed to hold in his cry. The whip came down again this time across his shoulder.
Mother Lu began to hit him so swiftly that Jin couldn't see the whip move she could only see the red lines that erupted where ever it struck.
Yoli wailed as the cane bit into him but Mother Lu was in a frenzy and soon, not even his whimpers could be heard, his head lolled forward, and when Mother Lu was finally finished and the boys relinquished their hold on him he fell bonelessly to the floor.
Mother Lu casually wiped flecks of blood from her face; with her toe she nudged Yoli's head, "Take him upstairs, Red will clean him up."
She locked the shutters that closed over the apertures that the children used to go in and out of the basement than went up the stairs herself, locking the door behind her.
Jin realised that she had been holding her breath, she looked around, and realised that none of the other children had woken. She wondered what they would have thought of Yoli's punishment. It reminded her of the man, her new father who had married her mother. He used to hit her with a cane too. She felt sick, worried about Yoli, worried that Mother Lu had acted like that man, that ogre from her past who still haunted her nightmares. Would Yoli ever get better after such an attack? Her mother would always rub special ointment into her sore back whenever she was hit. Would Red do the same for Yoli? Her mother had begged her not to make him so angry but she didn't know what she did to provoke him. He always said that she deserved what she got and Mother Lu had said that Yoli deserved such a punishment. Mother Lu had never hit her like that before. Sure she would get the occasional slap when she came home empty handed but she deserved it then. Mother Lu took care of her. Before Mother Lu she could remember coldness and hunger. Her mother had died, and the man had abandoned her in the crowds that first day in Ba Sing Se. They had to leave their village. Bad men were coming, Fire Nation soldiers. Her mother had grown ill, and had died days before they arrived in the city and then Jin had found herself alone. Coldness and hunger filled those days and fear until she had found the shadows. She had wrapped herself in them so that none could see her unless she wanted them too. And then she had found the children of the street and some of them led her to Mother Lu. She hoped Yoli had learnt his lesson. She didn't want him to be hurt again. Mother Lu would never hurt her like that. She was good at what she did. She always came home with more than any of the others. When she wrapped herself in the shadows none could see her. If she pleased Mother Lu always than she would be safe. She would be. Troubled thoughts chased sleep from Jin and she lay awake the night through until Mother Lu ambled down the stairs and woke the others up with the clanking of her cooking pot on the stove as she made them breakfast.
"Jin my love? Take this up to the boys upstairs will you?" Mother Lu handed the girl some bowls of rice porridge and she managed them up the rickety stairs. She emerged into a room as cluttered as the basement with odd, broken furniture and objects as the basement. The older children slept upstairs as did Mother Lu's brother Red.
Jin's eyes were drawn to Yoli who lay on a pallet by the wall seemingly asleep; grimy bandages wrapped around his body.
Jin handed out the bowls to those who were just waking. She didn't like to be up here. The older children often teased her. Red was sitting at a table in the next room, polishing a silver vase. He nodded at her to leave his breakfast on the table. Unlike his sister he was massively built. He hulked over his work with a rounded back. Jin, was backing slowly away from him when he suddenly called out to her, "Girl, give this to Lu." He thrust a slip of paper at her. It was well known by all in the house that neither sister nor brother directly spoke with each other as they were locked in a feud that had run on for years. She nodded hastily, her heart beating faster. She wrapped herself in shadows before she walked through the room of boys, not wanting to be seen by any of them but especially not Yei. She past by unnoticed, and cast one final, worried look at Yoli before running down the stairs to give Mother Lu the note.
The old woman snatched it out of her hands and squinted as she read, "So, he thinks the boy needs some Kota Root Ointment does he. Oh and he censures the heaviness of my hand when I meted out such a punishment as well. Well we'll just see about that." She spoke under her breath as she screwed up the paper and threw it into the stove.
"Very good, Jin dear, now once you've finished this it's off to work with you. Bring me home something shiny." Jin took the bowl and retreated to a corner of the room to eat.
She was the last to leave and crawled out into the filthy alley way. Weak sunshine managed to find its way down to nourish a few weeds that poked weakly from between the cracked stone paving. Jin took to the shadows as she left and slipped into the streets.
It was the afternoon, the sun was thick warm, and made the world lazy. Jin emerged from a shop with a set of carved jade combs. She had taken them from under the nose of the officious shopkeeper himself. Feeling buoyed by her success she ventured further into the part of the lower ring that was closer to the inner wall. Mother Lu had warned them all not to come here to often. The watch was far more vigilant and the risk not worth it despite the richer pickings that were offered. She gazed at the buildings that were larger; the streets were cleaner too as were the people who moved along them. She noticed two finely dressed ladies delicately clutching embroidered purses. They rang the bell outside of a gate and Jin slipped through when they were allowed in by an elegantly dressed servant. Jin found herself in a peaceful courtyard of cool grass and clipped hedges where the sounds and bustle of the street fell away.
The servant led the two ladies inside to the loveliest room that Jin had ever been in. Sheer silken curtains fluttered in doorways, the mosaic floor capered colourfully underfoot, graceful hangings decorated the walls of what Jin guessed was a tea shop, though it was certainly like no teashop she had ever been near. The two ladies settled down at a table and the servant disappeared with their order.
Jin, still wrapped in her shadows watched them from the corner; they did not see her of course. She looked at their white faces, so clear and clean, their long hair was arranged in artful styles. Their robes were made of delicate fabric and complicated patterns of embroidery ran riot across them. They even smelled nicely, like fresh fruit or flowers. She avidly noticed as they set their purses aside, she waited for the disruption of a servant arriving with their tea and crept over picked up one of the purses, reached in and clawed the coins out, they were all silver and she slipped them into her robe. She did the same with the other purse before slipping from the room as the servant slid the screen door open to leave. Jin slunk down the hall and back out into the courtyard. The gate was closed of course but she climbed up one of the statues and jumped across to the wall. She almost missed and slipped a bit as she fought to gain a foothold. Her momentary fear caused the shadows to fall away from her and she found herself in plain view on top of the wall. Servants and guards shouted out as they saw her, and high pitched cries from within signalled that the two ladies had noticed their money missing.
Heart thudding, Jin jumped from the wall and landed painfully in the street below. But she was unable to stop and dwell on her pain for long as the servants and guards poured from the gate calling out for the Watch and began to chase her through the street. She dodged people as members of the crowd tried to take hold of her.
The coins in her robe jingled as she ran down one street and into another. She sought the shadows again and her heart calmed when she realised she had wrapped herself safely and unnoticeably away. She stopped in an empty ally way to regain her breath and was thankful once again for her strange ability to slide out of sight. No one else she had ever known could do what she could and even at her young age knew not to tell anyone about it. No good could come of anyone knowing especially Mother Lu. Who knows what they would make her do then.
She waited as guards from the teashop and members of the Watch ran past her alley way. Despite her near-invisibility, she waited until they were all gone before she began her way back.
The sun was beginning to set, throwing long shadows across the streets from buildings and people passing that were so easy to hide in. Jin was heading back to Mother Lu's when she noticed a man that looked like an easy touch. He was sitting at a grilled eel stand, his head in his hands, and a money bag at his hip hung temptingly. Wrapped safe in her shadows, Jin sidled over and reached out to take it, but he suddenly reached out for it himself and paid the stall owner. He walked unsteadily away, and Jin wondered whether he was drunk. She followed closely behind as he veered into a street that was deserted. She reached out and took hold of the bag, just as his hand closed around her wrist. She looked up at him in shock, he couldn't see her surely, she was wrapped safely in shadow. But sure enough, he looked directly at her with an amused smile.
She tried to break his grasp, to get away but his grip only tightened painfully around her arm.
"Let me go!" she cried as fear filled her, "I wasn't doing anything!" What if he took her to the watch?
"You little girl are coming with me."
Jin bent her head and bit his arm hard, he yelped in surprise and loosened his grip just enough so she could wriggle out of it.
She took off down the street and turned into the next one, she kept on running taking twisting turns, fearful that he would follow her. At last she was certain that she had lost him and was almost in the most familiar section of the lower ring, in the vicinity of Mother Lu's house. She relaxed and slowed to a walk, but kept the shadows around her.
She past by a Lamp Lighter just as the lamp she was lighting burst into beautiful flame. Jin threaded through the grubby though familiar crowd happy to back within her element. She decided that it would be a long time before she ventured to far from her own territory again. She turned into a narrow, dark lane, hungry, tired, impatient to be home. She hoped that Yoli might be back on his feet.
Later, when she was looking back at the moment Jin wondered whether she would have noticed him if she hadn't been so overcome by pensive thoughts.
She failed to hear the sounds of a man drop from the roof of the low building beside the alley; he followed her softly as she turned into another empty, crooked street.
She gasped as he suddenly loomed out of the shadows; it was the man who had caught her before! He lunged at her and she tried to jump aside; too late, he had caught her around the middle and held her struggling.
"You were quite hard to find again little girl." He said in what sounded like a genial voice. "But you actually are coming with me this time." He forced something bitter tasting into her mouth and clapped his hands over her mouth and nose until she was forced to swallow it. His triumphant but almost apologetic face swam before her eyes before all turned black…