...

"By order of Portmaster Seiran, the Gaoli Import Company's extra-national commerce approval has been suspended pending completion of the inquiry into the warehouse fire. At which time-"

After this line the rest of the message being read aloud was drowned out by a chorus of shouted complaints from the gathered longshoremen. This was not their normal work location, that having been by the site of the fire. They were now at the farthest downriver reaches of Kuang Harbor, docks and had hitched rides on boats or walked kilometers to get there. Now they were being told there was no work for them. Out on the water, other ships steamed in and out over the breadth of the dirty Kuang, mocking them. Xiaobao stood among his fellow longshoremen and though he was not yelling with them he had his arms folded as he simmered with similar anger. It looked like it didn't matter that Xinfei was nowhere to be found today. There was no job to be had.

Beside him an older man named Chouyu yelled out, "Come on, man! The boat's right there behind us! If the boss can't sell the shipment right away we can at least unload it! And get paid!" He gestured to the riverside behind them where just as he had said a large metal-hulled ship of foreign design and Fire Nation flags was lashed to a mooring spot clearly not designed for a vessel of that magnitude. It had come upriver several hours ago and its captain was just as unhappy as the men on the shore about this delay. But instead of waiting here he'd left to go be unhappy at Mister Miohuito, his Islander employer.

The man holding the notice of closure yelled back at the other shouting workers. He wobbled slightly at his perch standing on the low stone barrier. "Hey, I'm just reading! I got nothing to do with what it says. Take that talk up with Seiran!" This man had only been made the messenger when Foreman Jun Doe's reading skills proved to be far too slow for the patience of the audience, and so the substitute felt he didn't deserve this ill treatment.

Another worker behind Xiaobao spoke up. "Might be as well. You all heard what happened last night. Lower Ring folks got up in arms and burned down half the Boss's mansion for doing trade with the Islanders! I heard the Middle Ring's still on fire. They could come after employees next as, what you say, collaborators. I don't need my family exposed to that kind of danger for simple day-pay."

This man was immediately shouted down as a coward by the standard impulse of dockworker machismo. However, a few others nodded grimly at the sense in what he said. Even here at the tail end of the harbor town, past the Exclusion, their crowd had attracted unwanted attention. A few members of the unemployed rabble that fueled street-level politics in the city had traced the company's migration to these temporary quarters and were shouting out unimaginative insults at those who dared to derive an income from foreign sources. Most of the slurs were variations on words for traitor, but a few could be interpreted as unwelcome prophecies for the health and welfare of their families.

Jun Doe tried to regain control of his work-crew, but with no prospect of pay they didn't feel obliged to listen to him and the frustrated men began to very quickly divide into two camps. One side advised not presenting a target to the growing nationalist influences, the others said they should stand by their bosses and livelihood in defiance of the crowd. Both were calling the others stupid and cowardly, so if Xiaobao's experience was anything to go by it would be less than two minutes until the first punch was thrown and someone got tossed in the river. The ragged nationalists loafing down the road took this commotion as a sign to renew their shouted invectives.

Xiaobao was a sturdy young man. When he moved foreword even an angry crowd parted so it only took a few firm strides until he was through the audience and stepping up onto the low brick wall that was currently serving as a stage and podium. He pushed the message-reader aside with a rather rude shove which nevertheless seemed to be received gratefully. Being the focus of that crowd was not pleasant.

"Enough!" Xiaobao bellowed out. "Shut it! Hey! Shang, step back or so help me I will put my hand through your teeth! Huh!" To his own amazement the men actually stopped to listen to him and the brewing fight settled down. Xiaobao was always surprised when people listened to him. Somehow in his mind he had remained a skinny ten year old boy coming to work at the docks beside his father. His father still loomed too large in his mind for anyone to be seen under that shadow. Everyone else remembered his father but saw the Bao son, a man who would help anyone in trouble and who could deal out a great deal of trouble to anyone starting it. A young man who had continued to earn the renown his father had paid dearly for. There was respect along the water for that family.

"All right," Xiaobao said hesitantly, having suddenly found himself with an audience. "Um, if any of you are worried about the safety of your homes then beating on each other down here at the other end of the town isn't going to do anything. I doubt Portmaster Seiran's going to listen to anything we say here and just come cut the tape on this boat."

Someone yelled out. "Yeah, Xiaobao's right! We should go back and protect our places. Those Lower Ring nationalists could come this way tonight. We can form some kind of neighborhood guard. Show all those who aren't working for import that we're not going to be trifled with. Yang Shipping would probably be with us for another. A lot of our houses are together near the Sweetwater Line. We can protect them easy."

That neighborhood, a low rent area perched on the old river-bank right above the Bed, was home to a lot of the workers who were employed in the various foreign trade dependent industries. But even there the import dock workers made up only a bit more than half of the residents. Xiaobao raised his hand and nodded. "That's a great idea. There are always some folks looking to start trouble at times like these and a few men keeping watch over your houses in the street will probably scare them off good. But what about the other people on your street? Those who don't work on the docks or shipping houses? You guys are scared for your families. But all those folks who are angry at us and the Islanders, most of them it's because they're scared too. If they see us just gearing up to just protect our own then we definitely look like the enemy. That only makes us a target. But if we work to watch the whole neighborhood then no one trouble gets in and everyone sees that we're not what to be afraid of!"

"You're saying we should stay up protecting stupid anti-trade-idiots against themselves?"

Xiaobao raised his voice again. When he wanted to he certainly could. Those in the front row squinted their eyes and winced at his bellowing. "I'm saying everyone wants to be protected! No one who hasn't done anything yet should be treated like they have. Isn't that what we're mad about here?"

The men in the crowd heard the sense in this. The factions that had been on the verge of forming were now forgotten. These were men who prided themselves in being active. The prospect of jobless idleness and uncertainty had been worrying. Now someone was presenting a clear plan. Xiaobao had never asked anything of anyone before, so now everyone was ready to listen to him. Calls of agreement and support started going up for "Xiaobao's plan".

For his part Xiaobao was now feeling very nervous. It seemed that his coworkers had gotten a mistaken idea about his ranking. Even Forman Jun Doe was looking up at him expectantly. All he could think to do was get them moving. "Um, yeah. All right. So we should get moving back if we aren't doing anything here." Hopefully someone else would start talking as they walked and take control back. He spotted a man with fleck of grey in his beard. "Um, Ming, you're on Broken Bridge lane, right?"

Ming nodded his head in a distressingly respectful way. "Yep, I can start going around doors there. And Li's got three others with him at the dead end behind the dumpling shop. Hey and, um... Chang! Come over here! We're planning out street captains for the Xiaobao!" He clapped a calloused hand on Xiaobao's shoulder. "Don't worry, we can help you manage this. You just lead the way."

Xiaobao walked along the paved harbor edge but he felt like he was walking on uneven water. In his mind the ground was shifting beneath his feet but now there were people looking up at him from below. He said a prayer to the river and to his father's soul and hoped that one of them could hear him. Clouds of coal smoke from steam ships and factories wafted back in answer.

...

Mama Mua made her way across the dimly lit room to swing closed the latch on her front door. "Can't be having walk-ins while doin a thing like this." Ayika felt Mizumi scoot her stool slightly closer to her side. Even if the Islander doubted the reality of this whole process the thought of summoning a spirit was not something to be taken lightly.

As Mua crossed back she drew something from a dark corner of the room. It was a long and thin bar of iron about the length of her forearm, like something that might hold a cooking pot over a fire. She thrust it in the coals of the fire pit as she tossed on more fuel. Then there was a sudden rush of light as the fire-pit burst forth in new flames. For a moment Ayika had the absurd thought that this woman of the Tribes was firebending, so quick was the rush of heat. Then she noticed a small foot-operated bellows under one of her feet. Each pump sent air rushing up through the now building fire. The smoke drifted up to be caught in a blackened opening hidden in the roof above them.

Mua began talking, mostly to herself. "This'll be difficult. Spirits of the earth culture don't like listenin to those whose hearts belong to another place and here we are three people just like that. Hopefully some of the stronger Shu are payin attention."

Mizumi said, "I do not understand. I thought that Ayika said you had several spirits with you last night. And who is Shu?"

Mua gave brief laugh. There was the sound in it of bittersweet memories. "Child, listenin to you is like hearin Chen again. Question, question. But with none of his tact." She waved her hand with an illustrative sweep. "Spirits are innumerable in their own world. When life was born out of the world-soul they rose up from the depths and the waves as they also came down from the peaks and rivers. They exist in reflection of our world as our world mirrors them. The Shu are the most powerful, those few spirits who care about the humans who were born from sand. The Shu rule river and valley, grove and field. But the Shu of this land are strange. The forests are gone, the mountains have been torn down, and the rivers have been split and mutilated. However, still there are those that watch us. They dwell in a world transformed by humans and they have taken much of that humanity upon themselves."

Ayika nodded, she had heard words to this effect before. Grandma Aka had often cautioned her clients that the traditional rites of the People did not always work right in this walled land.

Mizumi said, "And that is good, right? That they have learned to behave human?"

Mua turned to her and the shaman's eyes glinted in the reflected firelight. "How much do yah know about humans, girl?"

Mua reached down and grasped the cool end of the long iron rod that stuck out from the burning pile. As she drew it forth from the coals of the fire its point was now glowing red and angry with imbued heat. Seen through the smoke and wavering air above the fire she looked like a god in a temple raising a burning sword before her. Mua held the thin rod close to her face and its glow blushed over her cheeks. Then she opened her mouth and quickly licked her tongue across the red hot metal itself. Mizumi yelped. Ayika could not help flinching and looking away as every instinct screamed out but Mua was somehow unharmed. She called out an incantation in her native language as she plunged the glowing iron into a water barrel with a sharp hiss of sudden boiling.

Ayika felt a sudden tug behind her heart. Something had shifted in the corners of the world.

Now Mua spoke in the language of the Kingdoms again. "A sign is given. Now an alignment of soul and body must be achieved."

Much to Mua's irritation Mizumi had something to say. She spoke more quickly than she usually did. This display of matters far beyond her understanding had shaken her and she was trying to make sure her voice did not squeak. In her fervor Mizumi lost some words. "I just trying to understand. So you lick...That display acts as command for the power of the spirit world to arrive? What time interval does that require to be effect?"

"Quiet, child of fire. Your mind with science and gears is little help here. Your companion's the one with the gift. Now, Ayika." Mua sank down onto her stool and swayed her body as she closed her eyes. "The Shu expend energy to manifest here so only the strongest can cross over for us who will offer them so little. That energy can take a long time to gather so they are particular in who they meet. We will have to ask our questions quickly. Spirits have difficulty remembering our bodies. Ha, they barely understand wether we are alive or dead! They see our souls. We must display our souls as something one of their folk would want to meet. It will be a challenge, In this city they're accustomed to the earth-priests not us of the Water Tribes."

She continued, "Find your center. You must feel the power of the world. I know ya hear it. Don't worry about the city outside, the spirits who live in our world already have no reason to answer our petty call. We want a visitor from the other side. You must feel the ebb and flow of energy between this world and the other. Find that current and move with it. Wrap yourself in it and direct the motion. You're the river as it wanders through a wide fen. There are many courses but through your will ya can choose a single one and slowly carve down a cannel for it. Remember last night when ya saw the spirits. Remember what ya felt; the power. Accept and guide it."

Ayika sat with her eyes closed and tried to follow these directions. Her grandmother had sometimes used similar words to describe the way of living life like water. Aka of the Bed had always spoken of guiding rather than forcing, of deflecting danger rather than protecting against it. Although in her mouth it had sounded a good bit more aggressive than one might think from that imagery. Ayika had never been able to grasp that mindset as a philosophy. In her experience those who tried to ride the system were trampled by it. She'd never gotten anything but by assertion of herself, never kept anything but by bowing down. At every crossroads you must either submit and let another move over you or stand firm and force others to acknowledge your path. Both were correct from time to time, but if you tried to simply wear a channel through constant suggestion you would get nowhere. Men in masks would plant themselves in your way.

Perhaps there were translation issues at work here. Both Mua and Ayika's grandmother had grown up speaking languages different from the tongue of the Kingdoms. Maybe the different but similar messages they tried to communicate were intended to have other words. Ayika decided to focus on Mua's suggestion of concentrating on the memory of the last night. The sensation she had felt in the fog. The idea of ten thousand doors flung open in every brick and stone. She centered herself and planted herself in this new place and time.

She opened her eyes.

Mua was speaking in a slow murmuring tone. "This'll take quite a while. Even with whatever the disturbance of the last week weakening the boarder in worlds is it took me hours to achieve communication with the spirit side to call on their help for..." Mua stopped talking and opened her eyes as well. "One day I'll learn that mah speakin only tempts the world to act against me."

There were now four people in the room. Someone was sitting cross-legged in the middle of the fire.

He was proportioned like a full grown man but very small. Though his frame was strongly built even Ayika had five handbreadths of height on him. His bare shirtless skin glistened with the dim outline of scales and the face on his small head was twisted and bestial like that of a painted lion. It was like one of the wooden faces worn by the Masks. Ayika could look straight through the sitting man's transparent form to see Mua's slightly obscured figure behind, but then he turned and his eyes were like two roaring bonfires on a distant nighttime hill.

The spirit was naked to the waist and he planted his hands on his knees. They were not the shape of human hands and the claws glowed like hot coals. "Well?" said a voice that was more a suggestion than a sound. "What's all this about then?"

Ayika was sure she did not know how to answer that question.

...