...
Mizumi saw her father freeze when he came face to face with Minister Erliao inside the front gates of the Gaoli compound. The Sub Minister of Culture and Worthy Expression looked to be in a better mood than he had been at Teacher Lizhen's funeral. Mizumi did not trust that cheer. The minister was with a bearded man who Mizuni recognized from some of the parties her father had hosted in the Exclusion but she could not remember what his position was. It was something to do with the ships or customs. In any case if he was with Erliao then he was likely one of the conservative faction and thus an enemy. There were far to many enemies around.
When the minister saw who was entering on the left gate as he moved to leave through the right there was ever so briefly a glimpse of surprise. Then it melted into a smile. Mizumi trusted that smile even less. Erliao said, "Tetzamatl Miohuito, it is a pleasure to see you! And your daughter too, who I had the pleasure of meeting recently. As I promised to her then, I must compliment you on a beautiful offspring." He bowed ever so slightly. Foreigners did not warrant much formality or indeed even a 'Mister', Mizumi observed.
Her father was not in the mood to bandy unpleasant pleasantries. He adressed minster's companion first before turning to Erliao. "Harbor Master Seiran. Chao," he said, returning discourtesies. "How fortunate. Just today I received notice that Public Safety was requesting access to my house in the Exclusion for the purpose of their...investigation into the harbor fire an the other crimes against trade supporters. I am just a humble merchant so you will understand that I deferred the legal complexities of this to Trade Representative Tailang. I am sure he would be happy give your government whatever it wants to resolve the investigation into Chen Lizhen's death speedily."
"Of course," Erliao said. "Legalities must be respected. In the mean time I am sorry to hear that you have not yet received word on your petition to be given control of radial tram track number thirty-five for your..." Here he paused as if searching for a delicate term to represent something distasteful. "...coal-smoke train demonstration. But I am happy to be able tell you that you will be shortly receiving permits to allow installing the metal tracks. I am told that this is an important component of your plan."
Miohuito was stiff in his sarcastic response. "Yes, my plan to give your primitive stone cart system a signifigant upgrade at my own personal expense without any guarantee of approval for my own project. Excellent. Well, I will not keep you any longer. I am sure you will want to return to the Inner Ring. On my way up to the Hill I saw what looked like crowds of working-class people walking these streets below us." A twist in his voice implied the minister was likely to avoid such a thing like a plague.
Erliao waved his hand, "The citizens of this city have many celebrations. I am sure it must be honoring some neighborhood god for this Ring. I am sure you will understand the importance of local ceremonies, considering the ceremonies your people are currently giving the late Ambassador Naruhama. Of course our gods tend to be a little older." He gave a soft chuckle as if in response to a gentle joke. Then another idea seemed to occur to him. "In fact, the Festival of the Autumn Veils is arriving soon. I will have to remember to invite you to my annual party. It is nice to set aside politics once and a while and join in a celebration of spirituality."
"Hmm, yes. Autumn is coming." Miohuito said noncommittally. Searching for any response short of profane name calling he blandly continued on that inane subject. "As we were passing over the Lower Ring I saw the beginning of several lines of fog. There were even a few lines of it here in the Middle Ring. I suppose the city's canals do that with the changing seasons."
Her father was clearly trying to disengage himself from this conversation so he could get inside the compound to speak with Gaoli but Mizumi was looking more closely at the minister. Erliao was getting nervous. He wanted to leave quickly as well. But was it something more then the awkwardness of making small talk with political enemies?
Together the men stiffly said their goodbyes and parted. Mizumi and her father finally moved in across the Gaolis' courtyard. Inside the mansion's doors her father wasted no time. "Aizhang!" He called out loudly ignoring the servant who approached to offer him new slippers.
Another uniformed servant bowed low to Miohuito. "The master is in his reception room. I would be happy to..."
"Tetazamate'al! Get in here!" Her father's poorly pronounced name came booming through the house. That had to be Mister Gaoli's voice.
Mizumi's father strode forward ahead of the servants who sought vainly to formally announce him. With two hands he seized upon each side of a set of tall double doors and pushed. Mizumi quickly scurried along behind him, sliding in before she could be redirected to some waiting area until Lili was brought out. After all, she was the heir to Miohuito Shipping, she deserved to be at these meetings.
The high walls of the impressive reception hall were dim except for around the throne-like chair where Mister Gaoli sat. Gaoli was a vast and powerful man, usually more prone to laughter and bluster than brooding. However, now he sat scowling at a sheet of paper held slightly crumpled in his thick hand. Her father nodded respectfully as he entered but Gaoli did not look up. Instead he spoke loudly as if he was addressing his own hand. "Those conservatives are seeking to ruin us."
Miohuito sniffed at this understatement. "Sub-Minister Erliao indicated to me that my railroad demonstration is effectively dead in the water. Now they want me to pay for installing rails on the thirty-fifth tram line without any promise of even a trial contract. I have lost two of my most vocal supporters in the last week. Without Naruhama and Lizhen to speak on our behalf they are slowly strangling us!"
"Slowly?" Gaoli bellowed. "I have just been barred from conducting business in the harbor for an unnamed time frame! For a damned arson investigation! Your incoming shipment is going to rot on the docks if you can not leverage Tailang to burn this away."
"What! But that is..." Miohuito's eyes narrowed slightly. "Tailang is busy in his own way. Is that what Erlaio and Seiran came here to say? Did they say what direction this investigation is taking? I have heard talk that some are saying there were imported machines, motors and hydraulics, found hidden in the burned warehouse. Could they be trying to plant something on you?" So her father did not know about the engines they had seen the masked protesters uncover in Gaoli's warehouse. Then what was Gaoli doing with them? How did he get them if not from her father?
Gaoli gave this no significance. "Perhaps. Erliao's cronies would do anything to prevent me from modernizing our kingdom. From bringing domestic industry into the modern era."
"Through international partnership and investment." Her father reminded him.
"Yes, through partnership." Gaoli then reacted as if he had just suddenly seen Mizumi standing behind her father. "Tetz, perhaps you would like to send your daughter to go meet with my Lili. All this politics is a little much for such a beautiful young woman."
Mizumi bristled in affront and opened her mouth to show Gaoli just how much she did know about what was going on but her father turned and met her eyes. He said, "Maybe that would be for the best. Mizumi, Lili is probably waiting to see you. We must be good guests."
Mizumi bit her lip but she nodded in agreement. She bowed stiffly to Gaoli. "It was an honor to see you again Mister Gaoli." She raised up and met him in the eye, projecting her dissatisfaction at him belittling her.
He met her sharp gaze with a smile. "Ha! I am sure you will be gouging me on prices yourself in a few years, girl. Tetz, I envy your Fire Nation's fierce women." He nodded to Mizumi and gestured to the side with his head. "Lili will be waiting with her mother in the women's parlor."
Mizumi brought her fist to her spread palm in front of her in salute and turned with parade ground precision to exit out the indicated door, opposite the one she and her father had entered through. As she put out her hand to open it she glanced back, but her father and Gaoli were waiting until she leaved to continue their discussion. She sighed and opened the door quickly, striding through to close the door behind her.
"Is everything ok out there?" A voice spoke from inches behind her neck.
It was all Mizumi could do not to jab backwards with her elbow in pure surprise-based aggression. For someone who rarely stopped talking Lili could be surprisingly stealthy.
She turned to answer Lili. "Yes, they are just discussing Minister Erliao's...wait. Why are you standing here in the hallway?"
Lili waved this off with a fluttering hand. "No, I know about in this house. I mean outside the compound. Was your trip here from the Exclusion all right?"
Mizumi was confused by this concern. "No, it was fine. There was some disturbance in the distance but apparently it was some local festival." Now worry was beginning to settle in her stomach. "Why? Has Ayika not yet arrived?" It was a long way from the Harbor Town if you were a girl alone in this city.
"A festival? I am not sure of that. Oh, and no, she has not. I told the servant's entrance to let her in right away, but..." Lili glanced out the shuttered window at the view of the dark courtyard. She then turned away. "Come with me. I think I can show you better."
Lili dashed off. Mizumi followed, assuming that they were not rushing to any ladies' parlor. They took several odd turns through the halls and cuts through various unoccupied rooms and Mizumi elected to simply follow Lili and silently sneak when her guide abruptly stopped running for a bit before dashing off again. Then they were heading up a flight of stairs and after a few more rooms ascended another.
Now they entered a room on the third floor that opened out onto a balcony that gave a view out over the roofs of adjoining mansions on the Fifth Hill to the city that spread out below. Mizumi decided the time for questions had come. In part the motivation was the fact that hearing Lili be silent for this many minutes was unnerving. In the admittedly brief time she had known her Lili had maintained a near constant stream of whispered comments, even during the funeral. As Lili stopped on the balcony Mizumi came up and said, "Now what is it that you...Wait. What is that?"
"That is what I wanted to show you."
The Gaoli house sat perched at the top of a hill, allowing it to rise above the expansive metropolitan sea of the Middle Ring. This neighborhood had come to serve as an even better landmark for urban navigation in recent years since the elder Gaoli had installed a gas streetlamp system in this quarter, something the rest of the kingdom had been reluctant to advance towards. However tonight Mizumi could see down through the walls and roofs of other merchant mansions to where neighborhoods below the gas-fueled illumination seemed to be glowing with an even greater light. Out further in the sweep of the Ring it looked like there were patches of fireflies flowing forward but never moving. But those were not insects. They were a stream of lamps and torches on the streets below, glimpsed through gaps in the buildings. They were all converging on the Fifth Hill. It seemed purposeful.
"That does not look like a festival."
Lili exhaled sharply. "I didn't think so."
A trill of fear seized Mizumi's chest. "Ayika is out there! She was coming to meet us, she must be caught up in all that. That is why she is late!"
"Well, there is not much we can do." Lili raised one eyebrow. "A wise bet would say all those people are coming here. Between your father and mine I think they could have annoyed that many people." She snapped her fingers and gave a little hop. "The west wing has a bit which hangs out near the front square. If we keep watch there then if she manages to get her way to the compound gate we can quickly spot her and direct her inside."
Mizumi looked out at the darkness where distant lights stood out above the shadowed sweep of tiled roofs, tracing the tram stations and the heights of the encircling city walls. Tonight those walls felt like they were shutting her in instead of keeping her out. A breath of wind carried the sound of chanting up from lower on the hill. They were coming. She thought to herself, 'Please, Ayika. Get here soon.'
She turned to Lili. "All right, we will do that."
...
From up on the platform of the first Middle Ring tram station it had looked like the Gaolis had gone mad. In the distance the Fifth Hill was lit up like it was a grand festival night with hundreds of lanterns and torches in the streets adding to the illumination of the permanent gas lamps. If she had not observed the crowds moving on the streets below Ayika might have thought that the rich merchants who lived on the hill were throwing some absurdly opulent party. But though she was late to meet with Mizumi and the sun had set, there were still a great many people afoot. Many carried torches and lamps that cast rushing shadows on building walls and illuminated glowing clouds where the light fell on rising tendrils of unseasonably early fog near the Merchant's Wall.
As she descended down the wide stairs from the tram line station to to the square below Ayika also noticed that many of these late-evening travelers did not dress like they were natives of the Middle Ring. Nor was their urgent pace that of the typical nighttime travelers. Large numbers of people were rushing somewhere. She stopped below a hanging oil lamp outside a government post office, and huddled in that pool of light as she thought of how to get her bearings. Most of the strange street traffic was moving away from her location. A young man in a recognizably Lower Ring outfit jogged by and she flung out her hand to flag him down.
"Hey, you! In the south district butcher's getup! What is going on up here?"
The boy stopped and stuffed whatever instinctive reply he had intended to say back in his mouth when he saw what manner of person had yelled at him. See, she did not need any ridiculous counter girl uniform to get male attention, even if that fact made her feel very uncomfortable. The young man sauntered over, trying to cover exactly how heavily he was breathing from his run. He saw her clothes and skin that marked her as another resident of the Lower Ring or further out and thus a girl within his conceivable reach. Ayika hid her slight shudder.
The man said,"There is a huge protest march tonight! Some big merchant up in this ring has been selling out the King to those Islanders down the river! It's amazing! People have finally had enough with the foreign bastards and everyone joined up. People are still rousing neighborhoods down below the Merchant's Gate and there are more folks coming all the time."
Ayika blinked in surprise. Too late she realized that might look like fluttering her lashes but she had not time to consider that. "Wait, all these people marched up from the Lower Ring? Why would the guards let them through the wall?" The powerful of this city were not fond of trouble that spread between the rings.
He leaned close as if he was sharing a great secret. "I heard," he began theatrically. "...that someone figured out that this merchant was planning on blowing up whole neighborhoods with underground pipes from the Fire Nation!"
"What." Ayika said flatly. As if to punctuate the silence a fancy rickshaw came clattering down the street pulled by a grinning young man that she would lay money on not being the authorized operator. The whooping boys in the back encouraging him on were probably not fares either. As always protest was half a step away from looting. Disorder bred disorder.
Her own would-be-nationalist took her confusion for excitement. "I know! Apparently that Gaoli was tricking the ministers to let him put tons of explosive gas pipes down under the city. Says they are for new street lamps. Pshhh! That way, if anyone starts talking to bad about the Fire Nation then.." He snapped his fingers. "Fwoosh! Their whole neighborhood goes up!"
Ayika tried to wrap her head around this. This guy seemed like a latecomer to this night's commotion so if he was hearing this then it has already spread half way around the city by now. Some rumor had started about the Gaolis. That was not how gas lamp pipes worked at least. Well, she did not think that was how they worked. They had them down in the Exclusion. They would not do that if they could be used as weapons, right?
The young man saw his story was having an effect. "Yeah, apparently the Islanders have already been burning places down in the Harbor and murdering people up in this Ring. I heard a bunch of teachers got knifed in their offices. It is about time someone did something like tonight." He stopped and gathered his nerve, putting on what he probably thought was a charming grin. "But it might not be safe for a girl like you to be out on a night like this. I actually know about an inn near here that serves great...Hey! Where are you going!"
Ayika raced off into the night, leaving the disappointed young man behind. Mizumi was at Lili's house right now. Mister Gaoli was the target of this mob. They were at the center of all this. Ayika had seen the city roused before. It was not pretty. She had to help. Somehow.
...
"You happy?" Xiaobao yelled at his brother over the incessant noise of the growing mob. "Are we 'close to the action' enough for you? I...woah, hey! Watch it!"
One of the members of the throng had pushed into Xiaobao and was rewarded with a shove that sent him back into the press of the crowd. This kind of riotous march was proving hard to manage on the sloped streets of the Fifth Hill. Xinfei had to admit that riot might be the best word to describe this press of humanity. Zhangyi's march had grown far beyond hat he could have expected. It sounded like there were sill people flowing up from the Lower Ring and Xinfei had to doubt that most of these people even knew that the university boys had organized this march. The only fortunate thing was that violence had so far been constrained from erupting out by the general insecurity provoked by the obvious wealth of these mansions that surrounded them. As he glanced at the faces of this seething press of angry people, he had to assume many of them had never even been into the Middle Ring before. Everyone was still uncertain how to act and that was saving them.
Xiaobao chimed up again. "Hey, if Ayika did start to get caught up in all this she would have the sense to turn back. Right? I know she had an appointment up here but there are too many people on the streets for anything to end well."
Xinfei had to speak up to be heard over the chanting of the crowd. The demands covered the full gamut of experience in frustrating city life. Even Xinfei had to admit that some of those could hardly be blamed on wealthy traders. "Are you kidding? If she thought her new girl friends were at the center of this then she would be trying to rescue them!" He looked around but he had long since lost track of Zhanyi and the other university students who were supposedly leading this movement. His plan to push for caution and control had very quickly unraveled.
Xiaobao sighed, "You're right. Damn, we need to find our way back to the head of all this. These people, one wrong shout could turn this very ugly." He elbowed his way forward, trying to fight upstream to the top of the hill where Ayika might be. They had no way of knowing she was far behind them. The streets vibrated with the uneven steps of marching feet and the moon had yet to rise.
...
(Author's Note: If you like my story please follow, favorite, or post a review. And not just because I have a fragile writer's ego and feel comfortable that anyone who has read this far will not be turned off by crass begging. It is... uh...Vampires! Yes, doing so wards off vampires! This is true.)