21

"Ready?" Hyen asked.

I nodded, the muscles in my face tight. I still didn't like the plan, but it was what we were doing. Our chance to help take down the Triad of Baima.

I started up the cruiser and we bumped our way across the city, Hyen keeping up a running monologue about my poor driving skills.

"You should have turned back there. If we got on the raised expressway-

"Slow down! Pedestrians.

"Look out for those vines.

"You realize this is a twenty-five zone, and you're only going twenty. We're going to miss the ferry."

I gripped the wheel, remembering the good old days when Hyen did all the driving. Three more weeks, and then the cast comes off, I reminded myself.

Up ahead, the ferry was pulling into the dock, the twisted remains of the bridge still rusting in the bay. I showed my badge to the officer directing traffic and we got bumped to the front of the line. While we waited for the boat to load and make its trip, Hyen stepped out onto the deck for a smoke, while I folded my legs up onto the driver's seat and tried meditating again for the second time that day.

####

We parked in front of a low, brick building, where we met briefly with our Baima counterparts, double-checked our equipment, and shuffled cars before making our way to Hen And Friends, Chikchi's sub-par greasy spoon.

I rode with Daisy, the Baima beat cop who had been volunteered to help maintain my cover. Rather than take our cruiser or one of the Baima cop cars, we used Daisy's personal satomobile, a small, nondescript blue-gray thing with cheap good luck charms glued to the dashboard.

Meanwhile, Hyen got a ride from his contact in Baima's Department of Investigations and some waterbending muscle, who would surreptitiously drop him off behind the restaurant and then keep an eye on the building from some hidden location.

Daisy had a handheld radio hidden in her oversized purse in case we needed to communicate with the stakeout group, and in theory we were in a great position to notice any disturbances—shouting or fighting in the back, weird behavior on the part of the staff—but there were two problems with the whole thing.

First: While Hyen was probably capable of smooth talking Chikchi into letting him speak with Ummaki's parents, it was possible that Chikchi might take issue with something my partner said and kick him out.

Second: I didn't know what was going on.

I knew the second point shouldn't have bothered me so much, but the feeling of being out of the loop on something I was supposed to be part of just rubbed me the wrong way. Hyen would fill me in later of course, but being told what happened was a pale shadow of actually living it.

But, there was no way Chikchi would meet with with the two of us, so after getting radio confirmation that Hyen was inside, Daisy and I pulled up to the restaurant. Everything about it was average. The reasonably clean windows, the boring blue-and-brown décor, the greasy film that clung to the walls and tables.

There were a few other customers inside. Every one of them was Water Tribe, which made me wonder if they were all Chikchi's thugs, or just a representation of the demographics of the neighborhood. No one gave us a hard time though, and Daisy and I snagged a booth near the kitchen. We took our sweet time in deciding what we wanted, and while we waited, Daisy did an excellent job of keeping a conversation going. Mostly she was blathering about the errands she'd run and the dreams she'd had, but I was grateful for it because it saved me the effort and let me worry in peace.

Our food arrived a little while later and Daisy and I picked at it, avoiding the more mysterious lumps of what was supposed to be fried arctic hen. The fake conversation continued and I made up a dream about finding a sea serpent egg that Daisy proceeded to interpret.

"Hey," a voice said. I looked up from the photos to see a Water Tribe youth leaning against the booth next to ours. He his head towards the kitchen door. "The chief wants to see you, fire guy."

I glanced at the sparse restaurant patrons, then pointed at myself. "Me?"

"Yeah, you."

I considered my options. If I declined, would that be keeping my cover, or blowing it? Since this kid was talking to me, our cover was probably already blown. Maybe I was just rationalizing my way into going because I wanted to know what was going on, and leaving, regrouping or giving up was the better choice. I glanced at Daisy, wondering what she should do.

"She stays," the youth said.

Maybe it was a bad idea, but I needed to know what was going on. I got to my feet, trying to find the right headspace for lightning. If this went belly up, I was going to need every advantage. Hopefully Daisy would do the smart thing and radio Stakeout and the Baima Headquarters to get backup en route.

The youth led me through the noisy, grimy kitchen to a back room, dark and hot and humid, with an ancient boiler in one corner and pipes slithering across the floor and burrowing into the walls like vines. He pulled back a curtain from a doorway near the boiler and jerked his head for me to enter. As I pushed past, I noticed the ring finger on the kid's hand was missing entirely. Just an empty gap where it should have been. I shuddered, remembering what Hyen had told me about Chikchi, and only now making the connection between that and the missing finger on Taufu's mother's hand. She had come through this doorway before, and that was how her son had known about the back alley healer.

The new space was like a throne room. There was a raised platform at the far end of the room, where an old man in a blue tunic sat on a stained velvet love seat, flanked by attending thugs. Wisps of smoke from the old man's pipe filtered through the air and one of the thugs subtly directed streamers of fog, halfway between art and menace.

Hyen stood in the middle of the room by himself, leaning on his crutch. Not knowing what else to do, I went and stood next to him, half a step behind, but Hyen didn't move, his gaze fixed on the old man.

I took another look at him. He looked different from the man in the dossier photo—he was older, white hair shaved to stubble and eye patch missing, revealing one blank, dead eye—but I could see now they were one and the same. Chikchi.

He seemed to be waiting for something, so I bowed, hoping that was it. Chikchi inclined his head back, barely enough to count as a bow.

"What are you?" he asked, his voice high and sing-song-y.

"Uh," I said, not sure how to respond to the strange question.

He raised one finger for me to be silent, staring off into the middle distance, his one functional eye unfocused.

"A proud and cautious thing," he mumbled to himself. "Lonely. Opaque. Tempered by fire and impure. A crucible? Not quite, but that'll do." He looked me in the eye. "You'll do."

I shuddered. I'd heard the phrase piercing gaze before, but I'd thought it was purely metaphorical, not describing a real physical sensation.

"My granddaughter was taken by a spirit," Chikchi said without prelude.

My heart skipped a beat, and I scrambled for my logbook as he continued speaking.

"The day of the full moon, on the bank of the river, where the water stills. I was teaching her the art, when a business matter arose, and I left her there to practice. As I returned, I saw a shadow descend from the air and pull her into some unseen space."

I jotted down the key words, hoping I could remember the rest later and looked up. Chikchi puffed on his pipe, looking bored. I couldn't see Hyen's face from where I was standing, but tension radiated off of him from the set of his shoulders and the way the muscles stood out in his neck.

"Where specifically was this?" I asked. "Do you know what time of day? Was anyone else with you?" I kicked myself mentally for the last question. The man was a triad boss. He wasn't going to like me pumping him for the names of his subordinates.

Chikchi took a long pull from his pipe before answering. Something in his dead eye twitched and my own eye twitched in involuntary response.

"Only Yue was there, on her way to the sea. We were near the old mine road, where it makes its crossing."

Yue: Person, moon or spirit? I wrote as I wracked my brain for the next question. Hyen wasn't saying anything, and I didn't know if this was because he wanted me to take lead, or if Chikchi had told him to be quiet.

"What makes you think this shadow was a spirit?"

Chikchi stared at me, disgust written on his face.

"You think I'm blind, Crucible? You think I cannot see the world folding in on itself? The runs, the snags. Put your ear to the ground and listen. Even the Frogman's foul tadpoles can hear it, if any of them are inclined to care." He tipped his chin at me. "You will see it soon, once the smoke clears from your eyes."

I stared at him. I knew I was supposed to be taking the man seriously, that he was an evil, mutilating gangster, but the way he sat there, smoking his pipe and talking like a spirit, I just couldn't.

"Frogman?" I repeated.

Just in front of me, Hyen made a noise, strangled and high-pitched. I peered at him, spotting something crusty and white at the corner of his ear. Salt?

Slowly, his head swiveled to look at me, his mouth packed with ice, his eyes open so wide I could see the whites all the way around.

"Guh!" I jumped, and in the same instant, a spray of water soaked me head to toe. From his seat on the platform, Chikchi clenched one fist and raised his arm. The water on me turned to ice, lifted me in the air in by the places where it stuck to my skin and clothes.

I took a breath to breathe fire and melt the ice, but before I could act, one of Chikchi's thugs moved and water filled my mouth, freezing solid and wedging my jaw open. For one crazy moment I was facing down Amon again and I reached for the cold emptiness of lightning. Nothing mattered. Not the fact that I could barely control my own body, nor that Korra, no Hyen, and I were about to, to...

Icy talons gripped my head, forced me to look Chikchi in the eye as he stepped off his platform. He stopped just in front of me, pulled his pipe from between his lips and blew a lungful of smoke in my face.

I coughed through my nose, throat prickling and my vision going blurry as my eyes filled with tears. While I struggled to control myself, Chikchi just stood there, swaying on the spot, like he was enjoying some hallucinatory music. I blinked, trying to clear my vision, the bright white of Chikchi's dead eye turning into foggy smears every time he moved his head.

"I've noticed," Chikchi said, "that benders tend to have a stronger affinity for the occult, but only rarely do we unlock or even notice this potential. At least in these heathen lands."

As he talked, my vision cleared, but the ghostly white smears persisted, something more than just a trick of the eye. A spirit, wound around his head and through it. Possessed. But no, he couldn't be. Aside from his dead eye, there was nothing wrong with him. Then what?

Chikchi laughed and the ghostly smears vanished. "Pathetic. You are not as blind as the Frogman, but you still cannot see the flood that is coming." He gave a nod to one of his thugs and I fell to the ground, sopping wet.

"You will go to the spot where the water stills and find nothing," Chikchi said as I found my feet again, bristling with anger. I extended two fingers, trying and failing to reach for the emptiness.

"Mako, don't," Hyen hissed, grabbing my arm.

"You will talk to my daughter and the pathetic sea slug she calls a husband and you will learn nothing. Nothing! Because you do not know your culture and you are lazy and allow illusions to rule your thoughts." Chikchi took a pull from his pipe and waved at me with a limp wrist. "You may go. Frogman, your debt is forgiven. Do not contact me or mine after this is done."

"Of course." Hyen tried to pull me towards the door, but I shook him off. I was not lazy. I had worked hard, so hard, to get where I was. I wasn't going to let Chikchi kick me out like some stray cat after he'd dragged me in here. I was better than him.

"Sir," I said, bowing to the crazy old man. "My partner and I will find your granddaughter."

"Fah." He waved away my words as he turned to go back to his seat. "The girl is gone, but her spirit will return to the tribe. If you want useless sentiment, talk with her father."

He handed a scrap of paper to one of his thugs, who stuffed it into my shirt pocket as he herded Hyen and I back through the boiler room and out into the alley behind the restaurant. The back door slammed shut behind us with a clang.

I stared at the door for half a second, trying to center myself, then gave up.

"What the hell was that?" I waved at the backside of the building, stray sparks spitting uncontrolled from my fingers. "What in blazes did you do?"

"Me?" Hyen pointed at himself.

"Yeah, you, Mr. Social Guru. Obviously you did something to piss him off, and you told him you brought backup!"

"Excuse me? Did you not notice the man's clearly insane? And I didn't say anything about backup! Someone obviously wasn't covert enough."

"Hey! I can't help it if I don't look Water Tribe. And since you didn't think that was a problem..." I reigned myself in, started pacing in the dirt lot behind the building to burn off some energy. "Why did you think this was a good idea?"

Hyen gave me an exasperated look. "It's a chance to take down the Aarluq-kaik."

"But you knew Chikchi's screwy and a bender and he might have crazy spirit powers, and you still went to see him by yourself, with a broken leg."

"Yup." He glanced between the building and some spot down the alleyway. "Let's get out of here. Lee's just parked behind those bushes."

"Why?" I asked as we crossed the alley.

"Because he's screwy and a bender and he might have crazy spirit powers. He's not a nice guy, Mako, and I thought my chances were pretty good."

"But he could have killed you!"

Hyen scowled. "And so could you." The way he said it made it sound like that was an actual, real possibility.

I stopped in the middle of the street, offended.

"Look," he said. "Maybe I pushed for this more than I should have if I had known all the details, and that's on me, but, honestly, Chikchi didn't used to be that crazy. I haven't exactly been in regular contact with him, but-"

"Hold up. I could kill you?"

Hyen looked me up and down. "Yeah, sure. I know you won't, but you could."

"How is that an excuse for you seeing Chikchi on your own?" I waved at the restaurant, again letting off accidental sparks. "Thinking that because I could kill you and I haven't, Chikchi won't either since he's a bender too?"

Hyen backed off a step. "Spirits, Mako! Calm down. No one got killed, no one got close to being killed. Things didn't go how we planned, but we basically got what we wanted."

Being told to calm down did not make me want to be calm. I was angry, mostly at Chikchi, but also at Hyen and I didn't know why.

"Lee's waiting. Come on."

Right. The case. I glanced at my fist, painfully aware of how close I was to losing control. I breathed, reached yet again for the emptiness to shut off the anger and feel nothing. We squeezed into the waiting car and while Lee drove us back to the Baima Headquarters.

####

"Alright, boys. What happened in there?"

Hyen's detective friend had gotten us a conference room at the Baima Headquarters and the three of us were in there now, drinking tea, smoking cigarettes and discussing what had just happened.

Hyen shook his head. "He's gone off his nut. I went in, just like we planned. Asked him about why he wasn't offering his services anymore, offer some help with whatever it was as a way to repay my 'debt.' He asked my how I knew about that, and I told him the truth—I heard it from some kid on the peninsula. Then he tells me he's been in mourning, and goes off on this rant about blindness. I figure he's upset more than crazy, and offer to help again. That's when he froze me and dragged Mako in." He snorted and turned to me. "Said we were gonna 'give you a scare.'"

"How did he know you were there?" Lee asked me.

I shrugged. "No clue. Maybe because Daisy and I weren't his regular clientele, or maybe that spirit in his eye told him we were there?"

Hyen and Lee stared at me. I looked between them, feeling the heat rise in my face. "What?"

"What spirit?" Hyen asked.

"I only saw it for a second. It was white and kind of foggy... Maybe a cloud spirit?" I didn't think that was right, but it was my best guess.

"Seriously?" Lee said, looking skeptical.

Hyen sighed. "Detective Mako has an affinity for spirits."

I rolled my eyes. "Seeing one spirit is not an affinity."

"It's been more than one, but whatever. What's the note say?"

"Right." I got out the note from where I'd tucked it in my logbook and read it for Hyen and Lee. "It's an address for Tara... I don't know these characters. Her surname? And Kumah. I'm guessing that's her husband. Next it says, 'Tell them Poppy sent you.' Then there's directions for how to get to... 'the place where the water stills,' and... Huh."

"What?"

"I think it's a coupon for one free intestinal parasite removal."

Lee snorted and Hyen waved at me to hand over the note.

"Anaxwa. It's the surname Chikchi bought for all his kids. And this doesn't say 'intestinal parasite,' it says 'internal wyrm.' See? He's used the old, pre-reform characters. You were close though." He looked me up and down. "Do I need to take you to the hospital? You are awfully skinny."

I snatched the note back to look at it again. "Very funny," I said, though my skin was crawling. Chikchi had to be talking about my possession. How could he know that? And more importantly, could he really fix it?

"Maybe the library then," Hyen teased. "Get you a dictionary."

I ignored the snipe and looked over at Lee. "Is there anything else you need from us?"

"Couple things," Lee said, and he walked me through my part of the encounter with Chikchi so he would have enough information for his report.

Once that was finished, Lee promised to call if he needed anything else, and to keep us in the loop if he heard anything new about Chikchi or Ummaki or the Aarulq-kaik. Hyen and I promised the same, and we set out to meet with Kumah and Tara Anaxwa.

####

"So. About what happened after Chikchi gave us the boot." Hyen asked as we drove through Baima's sprawling residential district. "I've never seen you lose control of your bending before."

I gripped the steering wheel. "It happens sometimes. Sorry. Angry at Chikchi, I guess."

Hyen nodded. "We'll get him eventually."

I muttered some kind of agreement and we drove in silence for a minute. It wasn't really Chikchi I was mad at—that part I'd gotten over, as much as I disliked being manhandled with ice—it was Hyen, for concocting such a dangerous plan.

"Next time, I'm going with you," I said as we came to a stop at yet another tree-lined intersection.

"Huh?"

"It's too dangerous."

Hyen snorted and rolled his eyes. "It's a dangerous job, Mako. I can't afford to be afraid of leads like Chikchi just because they're benders. Heck. His daughter's one too, and I'd still be going to see her if you weren't here. I gotta trust that benders are reasonable people and that they're smart enough to know that attacking a cop, even a fat, crippled, non-bender cop, is a bad idea."

"Mm." I didn't like Hyen's description of himself, but his reasoning made sense, I supposed. He had his badge, which carried a certain amount of weight and implications with it.

"Here, pull over," Hyen said, interrupting my thoughts. "This is the house."

Kumah and Tara lived in a nice house on a hill overlooking the bay. It was a standalone, with a ring of grass, shrubs and fences separating it from the neighbors, each of whom had a similar setup. And in front of each house, a car or the space for one. I supposed you would have to have one to live out here—there was nothing but houses for miles.

I parked the cruiser and walked up to the front door, slow enough for Hyen to keep up. I rang the buzzer and took a moment to read the sign posted on Mrs. Anaxwa's porch. Apparently she was a licensed healer.

I rang again and a voice sounded inside. We waited and a minute later a scarred, one-armed Water Tribe man answered the door.

"Tara's out with a client, but if you'd like to make an appointment-"

Hyen cut him off, holding out his badge. "Mr. Anaxwa? I'm Detective Hyen and this is Detective Mako. Can we come in? Poppy sent us."

All the color drained out of the man's face, shoulders pulled forward, eyebrows up in fear. He bowed, slightly. "It's Kumah. Just Kumah." He stepped away from the door, making space for Hyen and I to enter. It was a nice house, with a number of masks and charms pinned to the walls.

"Do you..." Kumah stammered. "I mean, you're here for Ummaki, aren't you? Here. Please sit down." He led us into the dining room, walking with a pronounced limp. "Would you like some tea?"

"No, thank you," I said. I could have used something to wash out the taste of mystery meat and dirty ice, but it was getting late in the day, and Kumah struck me as distractable. We needed to keep him focused.

"What can you tell us about Ummaki?" Hyen asked, his raspy voice as smooth and calming as he could make it. "When was the last time you saw her?"

"Uh, well..." Kumah lowered himself into one of the dining room chairs and began telling us his story. Apparently Ummaki trained with her grandfather every day, learning waterbending and healing and history. Or at least she had until the most recent full moon, nearly a week and a half ago. Kumah had no clue what had happened to her, just that she hadn't come home one evening, and when he called Chikchi, the old man had told him she was dead, then hung up the phone.

Kumah started crying at that point, and I took it upon myself to get up and find him something to blow his nose on.

"When we talked with him, Chikchi seemed to think she had been taken by a spirit," I said as Kumah worked to get control over himself again.

"She wouldn't be the first one either," Hyen added.

"Do you know if she or anyone close to her might have done something to anger the spirits?" I continued. "Or if she had any spiritual affinity?"

Kumah took a shaky breath and nodded, looking at me sidelong, like he couldn't quite bear making eye contact. "No, no. We always take care to honor the spirits." He nodded at the charms on the walls. "But, uh... Ummaki... You would call her an old soul. I don't know if that's an affinity, but..."

"What do you mean, 'an old soul?'" The phrase sounded familiar, but I couldn't pinpoint where I'd heard it.

"Oh! I'm sorry. I just assumed you were, you know..." He waved at me. "Fire Nation."

I gave him a stern look. "United Republic."

"Of course. Heh. I guess we all are, aren't we?"

I said nothing, waiting for him to explain the term.

"Right. It means she remembers her past lives. Pieces of them." He sniffed, then devolved into tears again while Hyen and I looked on, uncomfortable.

As we waited for him to calm down, I was struck by a memory. Weeks and weeks ago now, in the home of a stiff and formal Fire Nation man. Kazuo. He had called his son an old soul as well.

Tara Anaxwa returned home not too long after that, and corroborated her husband's story. But for the most part it was just like Chikchi had predicted. The girl's parents didn't know anything more than her grandfather did. Neither of them seemed very hopeful that their daughter was still alive, and given what I knew about the other Snatcher victims, I was inclined to agree by this point.

We of course thanked them both profusely, and Hyen gave Kumah one of his business cards, just in case either of them remembered anything else and so they could send us a photo of Ummaki once they had copies made.

"What do you think?" Hyen asked as we got back in the cruiser. "Do you want to look at this spot on the river now, or save it for tomorrow?"

I checked my watch. It would take about a half hour to get out there, then some indeterminate amount of time searching for clues, and then another hour to get back to the city...

"Mind if we save it for tomorrow? We can bring a whole search team, get a dog from Special Forces..."

Hyen grunted in agreement and I started up the engine.

"What do you know about past lives?" I asked as we made our way back to the Baima ferry landing. "It's not very common for people to remember them, right?"

"I honestly don't know. I've never met anyone who could. Or if they could, they never mentioned it. Still. One out of, what, thirteen now? That's gotta be more than usual."

"Two out of thirteen," I corrected. "Shiro was one too. I didn't realize it meant anything special when Kazuo mentioned it."

Hyen sighed. "Well, now we know. Regardless, we better call an expert unless you know anything."

"I'll ask Tenzin," I said and Hyen gave me an approving nod.

We stopped in the lot for the ferry and Hyen waited in the car, resting his leg, while I bought us some paper cones full of sugary fried dough from a woman with a cart.

"What do you think happened to Kumah?" I asked. "Work accident?"

Hyen grimaced and accepted his donut holes. "I think Chikchi happened."

"Oh." I pictured the old man in my head and decided it wasn't too hard to imagine him doing that to Kumah. I shuddered. "You said Chikchi didn't used to be so crazy. Cutting people up is pretty crazy."

Hyen tossed a donut hole out the car window at the winged rats foraging in the parking lot. "Different kind of crazy. He's always been sadistic, but never without some kind of justification. Punishments, revenge... Not like how he assaulted us out of the blue. Used to talk more coherent too."

"But the nicknames aren't new."

Hyen snorted. "No. I think that's him wanting to come off as inscrutable and insightful while still showing off the amount of trivia he knows."

"Uh-huh. So, Frogman?"

Hyen gave me a dead-eyed look. "You call me that and you're gonna wake one morning up short a few organs."

I shut my mouth after that, though I did want to ask if he was joking about the missing organs bit. It had been a long, stressful day and we were both on edge. Hopefully my evening would go more smoothly.