Jin opened her eyes blearily, another dim room, hazy figures moved about. People were talking softly.
"… There has been no missing person's report filed with the Watch"
"Just as well, we can't let her go now."
"Hush now, she's awake."
Jin felt someone lift her head and press a small cup to her lips. She almost choked on the strange, sharp liquid that burnt her throat. She was forced to swallow it all as the hand that held the cup held firm until it was all gone.
The hand gently brushed over her face, closing her eyes, "sleep again little one."
Later, Jin could recall waking up several more times only to be administered more of the foul medicine that sent her into fitful sleeps full of hazardous and feverish dreams.
People came in and out of the room looking over her; sometimes they seemed to argue at other times they merely pulled the blankets up more soundly around her. Only the old woman remained, she sat by for long periods of time when Jin was between sleep and wake, stroking her cheek, holding her safely when the tremors wracked her.
Only one moment stood out vividly in her recollections, a heated argument between the old lady who nursed her and the old man, though they kept their voices calm and low.
"There is no way that Kaori could have survived. I'm sorry, no matter how much I wish it was otherwise, no one escaped that night; Kaori died and the child with her. I saw the bodies, what was left of them. The Black Hana Family were completely wiped out as were everyone else who the Dai Li caught there."
"But look at her, she is a light bender, none of you can deny what you saw her doing. She had almost made her way out of the house not to mention that she was half poisoned with Ascorin at the time. How do you explain that?"
"Just because she is a light-bender doesn't mean that she is of the Black Hana Family. Bending skills can lay dormant through out generations until they manifest hundreds of years after the bender-ancestor died."
The old woman made a noise of disbelief before ordering her opponent from the room.
At last Jin woke with her head clear and her limbs no longer feeling heavy. She lay on a comfortable couch, woollen blankets were cosily tucked around her. She was in a room much like the one she had first woken up in, bare except for the couch she lay upon and a low table against a wall that held a tray of bottles and jars. She sat up slowly.
"Ah my little one, it is good that you are feeling better, yes?"
The old lady appeared at the door and set the tray that she held on the table causing the tray of bottles to rattle as she pushed them aside. She wore a simple, dark green robe, and her long grey hair was wound up in a bun. She turned back to Jin with hazel coloured eyes that gazed from a face wrinkled like an old apple.
"You have been quite sick but I have made you right again. You may call me Rima."
She held out a steaming bowl which Jin took eagerly. It was rice porridge and made her think of Mother Lu. Her heart sank.
"My dear, what is wrong you seem uneasy."
At a closed look from Jin, Rima sighed, "You don't have to tell me anything, just eat up while it's warm. I will be just beyond the door preparing a bath for you."
Jin was ravenous and finished the bowl quickly. The sounds of splashing roused her curiosity and she stood up slowly from the couch and inched softly over to the door.
Rima was pouring bucketfuls of hot water into a large tub. She sat the empty buckets into an alcove of the wall which closed off and disappeared only to open moments later again with the buckets brimming.
"Come here child, you will have to tell me your name; I can't very well keep calling you child forever can I?"
Jin obediently approached her.
"Arms up." Rima took hold of the hem of Jin's grubby dress and reefed it over her head
The jade combs and coins made a dull clangor as they fell to the floor.
Jin heard a sharp intake of breath. Horror clutched at the girl's heart, Rima was so nice and now she would hate her and give her over to the watch. Jin waited for the anger, for the accusations but none came. Instead Rima was gently running her hands over the old and new bruises and scar-marks along her back and limbs as though she could smooth them away. The legacy of her step-father.
Rima helped her into the bath. Jin had never felt anything as lovely as the warm water that caressed her. She felt her eyes grow heavy, and her body seemed to loosen and relax.
"So what is your name my little one?"
She felt safe with Rima she hadn't even mentioned the stolen items that lay still where they had fallen. She decided that she didn't mind answering her questions.
"Jin."
"Such a pretty name. And how old are you?"
"I just turned eight."
"Indeed?" Jin thought that Rima seemed pleased with her age. The old woman began to wash her hair, just as her mother used to do.
"What is this place Rima? Why am I here?" Jin turned to look up at her.
Rima paused while she considered her answer, "This is my home, some call it the House of Golden Petals because I love to grow flowers and my garden is always in bloom. We are in the Upper Ring."
Jin's eyes widened at this, people from the Lower Ring were not allowed this far within Ba Sing Se.
"What of your parents Jin, your mother, where do you live?"
She was not allowed to talk about Mother Lu. "My mother is dead. I don't know where the man she married went."
Rima noticed the vehemence in the little girl's voice as she spoke of the stepfather; she glanced uneasily at the scars across her body.
They were both silent for a while as Rima attempted to untangle the girls long hair.
"You must have loved your mother very much, tell me, what did she look like?"
Jin was quiet, why was Rima asking her about this?
"She had dark brown hair like me and brown eyes."
"Brown? I thought that she might have green eyes like you." Rima seemed to be prompting her, urging her for the answer.
"Her eyes were brown." She answered simply and looked up at the old woman who appeared as though she were disappointed.
She helped Jin out of the bath and into new clothes, loose trousers and a long sleeved shirt. They were too big for her but Rima rolled up the cuffs so that she could use her hands and walk more easily.
Jin yawned; the warm bath had made her sleepy.
"Rest again, little one, I will return later." Jin watched as Rima left the room, gently shutting the door.
In what seemed like moments later, Jin felt herself being lightly nudged awake. Rima leaned over her, "We are going to meet with Master Shiru now Jin. You have met him before, but very briefly and you made quite an impression on him."
She was led out into the dim, windowless corridors. They were much darker than they had been before though Rima held out her hand and suddenly, light blossomed encompassing them both in its sphere. Jin looked at the old lady in surprise who gave her a small smile back and a wink before she gestured at her to follow. Jin soon lost count of the turns they took as they passed through the blackness. Eventually Rima stopped and touched the stone wall in a certain place. A door slid open and Jin found herself led out into the bright hallway, lit with luminescent green crystals carved into fanciful shapes and set along the walls at intervals. Lacquered blinds covered the windows, though one had been left open and Jin could just make out the shapes of trees illuminated in the night by lanterns below in the garden. Rima let the light dissipate from her hand as she pressed it upon a door that slid open, "I must leave you here now, but don't worry, you are safe."
Jin found herself alone in a comfortable chamber. Flames rolled lethargically around a large log in the fireplace and spread an orange hue that flickered upon the furniture and the ornaments of one side of the room while the green crystals washed greenly from the walls over the other half.
Jin looked around, but there was no one there. She sat down on the low couch, puzzled, ready to wait for this Master Shiru's arrival.
Then she noticed him, leaning against the wall, arms crossed, studying her. At first it was just a glimpse as she viewed the room again, a fleeting shape that disappeared when she blinked. She stared at the spot again and sure enough, a man was there, for a moment, surprise glanced across his face before it straightened again.
"So you can see me." He stepped forward and threw away his concealment. He sat at the table and gestured for Jin to sit opposite to him.
"Do you know what it is that you do?"
Jin stared at him, confused, and then tentatively, she answered, "I go into the shadows."
"Wrong." He said simply, "You go into the light."
It had always been a thing she did without thinking about it, when she was scared, to keep herself safe, and then to work for Mother Lu. She had never spoken about it to anyone, though she knew no one else who could do the things that she did. Now here was this man, and Rima, and the man who had taken her from the street, all of these people were like her.
"You see Jin, you are a light-bender, like me, and a few others. We are a secret people, hidden for hundreds of years. Though we have never been many, there are now so few of us left that we are almost gone. For that reason, your coming is a blessing to us, a miracle. Although you did not know of us, although we did not know of you, you are a light bender therefore you are of our Clan. We welcome you home."
"The Clan?" Jin was bewildered by all of this, but she could feel something stirring, growing within her, a mixture of curiosity and though she tried to deny it, hope.
"The Hikari, a name known to few, though you must be a good girl and complete your training before you can truly be called one of us."
Jin was not too young to notice that she had been given no free choice in this matter. It was apparent that she would belong to this clan no matter what she thought about it. It puzzled her yet it also made her feel important, the way Shiru spoke of her, as a miracle. He stared calmly down at her, his eyes not unkind, yet she shivered inside, as though things were not at all quite right. Her feelings conflicted, she yearned for what he said to be true, she wanted to learn how to bend her element, she wanted to be of this Hikari even as doubts stole into her heart.
"But I can see that you are tired, you have been unwell, and you are still recovering. I will take you to where the other students sleep. We rise early so it would be best to rest some more."
Shiru stood and opened a secret door, in the stone wall, revealing narrow wooden steps leading down. From his hand, a bead of light blossomed and floated on ahead, illuminating the way. Down they went through the tunnel of rugged stone; the steps were smoothed with wear in the centre, though roughly hewn at the sides. Jin wondered whether they would ever end when at last they came to a doorway in the wall, though the steps led further down, Shiru halted and pressed the door which swung open,
"Though some of the Clan are earth benders, the doors are wrought so that even we can operate them. You will have to memorise the key-touches and they differ for each door. I will see you at daybreak, until then goodnight."
Jin nodded and followed the floating light into the black room; she saw the shapes of people sleeping beneath blankets on sleeping mats as it passed over them and directed her to an empty mat. She pulled up a blanket just as the light winked out.
She lay in the darkness, listening to the slow breathing of the strangers who slept around her. She curled up, feeling just as she had done after her mother had died and she had been abandoned in the crowds of Ba Sing Se.