Chapter 7: Prisoners in their own city

The ensuing weeks passed her by in a state of complete numbness. Jin did get in trouble for missing her shift at the laundry. Luckily, she got to keep her job. Her boss, Mrs. Xú was satisfied with her work, although Jin felt like she was moving in slow motion now most of the time. Drenching the fabrics and folding the linens kept her hands occupied. It held her back from irrevocably burying herself in self-pity.

Jin woke from her trance when the fire nation seized Ba Sing Se. Everything changed over night. The city wasn't conquered in brutal battle. Apparently, the Dai Li had betrayed the people they were supposed to protect and had collaborated with the princess of the fire nation. The last stronghold of the earth kingdom had fallen and Ba Sing Se's inhabitants were prisoners within the walls of their own city. Little information was passed down to the lower ring but the Avatar was said to be dead. With him all hope was gone.

Life in the lower ring had never been particularly easy but the occupation took it to a completely different level. Prices for essential goods like rice or bread quadrupled, other more extravagant goods were sheer unattainable. The fire nation generals claimed a significant share of the food available for their troops as they considered themselves to be the superior race. Jin and her mother barely made enough money to get by but they were lucky having two breadwinners providing for the family. Jin had stopped attending school about 2 years ago, at 14. She had a quick wit and studying never used to bother her much. She would have liked to get a higher education but they were struggling financially at the time. She always wanted to but somehow missed the opportunity to get back to it. The occupation meant she had to bury her dreams or any higher aspirations for that matter for good. Her sister Satsu still went to school, or so she thought, but it was probably only matter of time until the fie nation would use the schools in Ba Sing Se to indoctrinate children with their perfidious ideology. They had immediately installed a new set of guidelines for the treatment of opponents of their regime after they took over. Basically anyone challenging their rule or even publicly questioning it, was outlawed. It seemed, people could randomly be declared accomplices and were consequently persecuted as well. The intelligence apparatus of the Dai Li probably carried out a fair share of these "investigations". It was still labeled as an institution that ensured public safety but the agents deliberately overlooked the terrors caused by the oppressors. None one dared to intervene when fire nation soldiers harassed civilians. It would have been suicide. Not all, but some of the soldiers were sadists, glorying in the fear they instilled in their victims.

Jin kept her face down. It was better to lay low. Be just like everybody else, invisible in the masses. It felt like a nightmare, a paranoid delusion, but it was real.

The routines at work started to change, too. It was a simple laundry, hardly of interest to the fire nation. Jin occasionally helped out with the bookkeeping, so she got aware of the shrinking revenues early on. For most people in the lower ring money had always been tight. No one was prepared for what they would face during the occupation. When regular customers stopped coming in, they had to look out for other clients. Instead of cleaning bed sheets from inns or clothes of day laborers she tasked to wash and mend the undergarments of fire nation soldiers and personally deliver the clean laundry to their quarters afterwards. It was degrading.

Mrs. Xú, wasn't happy about it either but she sucked up her pride and put up with it, sporting a fake smile, while actually clenching her teeth, every time one of the soldiers showed up. The old, stubborn, chainsmoking shrew with a helmet of a hairdo, knew when she had to throw her ideals overboard. A maxim Jin had adopted from her over the last weeks. Officially it wasn't even Mrs. Xú's laundry. It belonged to her husband, but he rarely ever visited the place. Mrs. Xú was in charge and it was probably for the best. She had seen everything and her pragmatism helped her stay afloat even when almost all of Ba Sing Se's business life was collapsing.

"They didn't break us, when they tried to starve out the city with the blockage during the siege eight years ago. They're not going to now", was the doctrine she recited to keep the employees going.

And it kept Jin going, going through hell.

…

Apart from work Jin didn't go out much anymore. She passed Pao's tea shop practically every day on her way to work but she hadn't entered the shop in weeks. It was too painful. But she also had another excuse, meeting up with others in the evenings wasn't an option anymore. The curfew implemented by the fire nation prohibited leaving the house after sunset unless one could produce a special permit. So Jin either worked or spend her time trapped at home, save for one afternoon a few weeks after the fire nation had taken over.

Jin and Emi finished work early. It was the first time in ages the girls were free to spend their time wherever they wanted. To Jin's dismay Emi proposed to visit Pao's tea shop. She almost begged her to go somewhere else but chose to hold her tongue worrying that arguing might cause a series of uncomfortable questions. She had never disclosed to Emi, what had actually happened in the span of those short weeks right before the Firenation took over but she was certain Emi was aware it had gone awry.

Jin tried to prolong the walk to the dreaded place. Looking down at the muddy street, slowly dragging her feet, one step at a time. Her companion must have notice her unnaturally slow pace but she didn't address it. Emi was a couple of steps ahead of her and only darted a cursory glance at her every now and then.

They finally arrived in front of the shop. Jin couldn't put off confronting old memories anymore and raised her head. She faced the front of the single story building, spotted the familiar wooden sign above the door, the same old lanterns framing the entrance and the same untended flowers standing in front of the shop. Some things hadn't changed. She took a deep breath and entered.

Jin glided to her usual table, but she chose to take the stool facing to the wall this time. She felt Pao suspiciously eyeing her as she sat down. Not being able to watch the counter, where she felt like Mushi's grey head could peek over the top any second, made being in the tea shop bearable. Instead she gazed out the small window. The green lantern outside was still leisurely dangling from the canopy, its contours being blurred through the smeared glass. The shop generally seemed more run down ever since Lee and Mushi had left. The lantern with its bleached fabric matched the overall shabby state of the shop but its somewhat steady movements had a soothing, almost hypnotic effect on Jin. At least it helped to ignore the ache in her chest and the numb pain in her back. Her back ached from the increased workload at the laundry and sitting on the wobbly stool brought it out.

Pao had hired a new server. He was a gawky teen with curly hair. Thankfully, he didn't look like his predecessor. She wouldn't have been able utter a word, had he resembled Lee… no, his real name was Zuko.

Emi engaged her in harmless small talk. She had a talent to keep the conversation flowing, even when her companion evidently was a little tongue tied. It was endearing. Although Jin's wasn't ready to talk about her troubles, she truly appreciated Emi's efforts pull her out of her sorrow. She listened to Emi's anecdotes about her senile grandmother and watched how she gestured wildly with her hands trying to impersonate her mother and aunt.

Emi was in the middle of recounting how her grandmother got lost at the train station when something else caught Jin's attention. Two men behind her were talking about the siege. The truth about what actually had happened was blurry, people knew of such things only through the vaguest of rumors.

"Zu… Zo… something. I don't remember his name exactly, something starting with an Z or an S", she heard one ponder aloud.

"Almost all of their name include sharp consonants like Z or S", said the other.

"Zuko!", the first said a little too boisterous. The surrounding customers craned their necks to catch a glimpse of the source and potentially learn more about the mysterious collaborator of the firenation princess. Jin didn't turn around, but she pricked up her ears, even though her stomach twisted at hearing his name. She couldn't be sure they were actually talking about him, but in that moment she didn't doubt that he had betrayed her, and the people she loved. And the moment of this realization, the realization that he inflicted that much evil on defenseless civilians, was the worst. The man behind her must have noticed his mishap and continued in a damped tone, "Anyway, rumor has it, it was her brother who helped the fire nation princess to seize the city. He …"

They were interrupted by Pao hissing. "Spread your stories somewhere else. I won't risk becoming suspect of the fire nation or the Dai Li just because you couldn't keep your mouth shut."

"But Pao… you know, they actively try to conceal what happened that night…", the first man protested.

"Which is why I won't have you put my name and my tea shop on their shit list. Get out.", his words to the two men sitting at the table behind Jin's back were final.

Jin and Emi watched as the two men left. She felt sick and it must have shown, as Emi asked: "Are you ok? Your face is drained of color."

Jin fingers clasped the cup in front of her in an attempt to gather herself. She exhaled slowly and met Emi's concerned face "I'm fine, or …I will be."

…

They left the tea shop shortly after. The main streets were now lined with fire nation soldiers overseeing the passing pedestrians. Their faces were hidden behind their white skull masks. Their uniforms bereaved them of any humane streaks.

"I can't even tell if they're all males or if there are also women hidden behind those masks. Does the firenation also allow women to join their military?", Emi whispered and stepped a little closer to Jin.

"I guess they do, if they let the princess conquer the capital of the earth kingdom basically on her own", Jin replied cluelessly. Emi failed to suppress a sardonic snort at that.

Jin darted a perplexed look at her companion.

"Well, there we've got one point, that speaks in they're favor. A hundred years of war and slaughtering innocent people but at least they're not misogynists."

Jin's confused expression turned into a smirk. "Oh dear." It must have been the first time in weeks that the corners of her mouth were pointing upwards. Emi leaned over and encouragingly patted Jin's shoulder, when she rolled her eyes.

…

The two girls walked a little further until they reached Emi's house. Emi had told her she lived with her mother, aunt and uncle, her two little cousins, her grandmother and her older brother. Jin stopped before entering and briefly scanned the front of tiny barrack as she stood in front of it. The house definitely didn't look like it could accommodate that many people. Jin had never met Emi's father. As far as she knew, Emi's father was missing as he actually had joined earth kingdom forces fighting in the war. Something she had also claimed to explain her own father's absence.

They were greeted by two little identical boys screeching and chasing each other, running through the poorly lit kitchen space. Jin and Emi sat down at the table in the middle of the room.

"Is the rest of your family still at work?", Jin asked politely.

"Yes, finances have been a little tight. Even gran is helping out and tries to make some money", smilingly she pointed with her thumb over her shoulder towards her grandmother sitting in a dark corner using a spinning wheel.

Jin hadn't noticed the old lady in the turmoil caused by the two little rascals playing fetch. She probably hadn't noticed them either as she hadn't acknowledged the girls when they entered. Emi explained she didn't mean to offend. The old woman just didn't see very well and had lost her hearing almost completely over time.

Emi and Jin were startled by one of twins hitting a rack, clearing the shelves of any pots originally placed on them. Jin expected the little boy to cry out or at least to whine after the collision but instead he immediately startled giggling joining his brother who almost died of laughter. It seemed like this happened regularly.

"Uugh, what would I give to spend five minutes in silence. I mean, there are people everywhere, no matter where you go in this cursed cauldron of a city!", Emi groaned supporting her head with her hands.

Jin nodded and directed her gaze on table they were sitting at, examining the grain of the wood. Emi probably hadn't expected her to interject when she finally spoke up. "I might know a place."

Emi raised her head. "You do?"

Jin suddenly felt small. Showing Emi the warehouse meant she'd have to go back there herself. Jin nodded and shrugged her shoulder. "There is this warehouse, not far from here… Last time I was there, it was abandoned."