Ba Sing Se was beautiful at dusk. As the sky darkened, the paper lanterns hanging above the streets flickered to life, bobbing lazily up and down on their wires like thousands of little green fish in a vast purple ocean. With the arrival of spring it was now warm enough for the nightlife to become active, and people began to trickle out onto the cobbles, chattering loudly amongst themselves.
"...Oh yes, yes, I hear it's all the rage!" drawled a tall woman.
"You don't say? I hear it was involved in a few rather scandalous affairs a few weeks ago... I can't say for sure, as my husband had taken me our villa by the seaside." Though the second woman was as tall and thin as the first, she had a distinctly more cheerful expression.
"Indeed, my dearest, I was here! I heard about the whole thing!"
"No!"
"Yes!"
"No!"
"Yes! Of course, not directly... I heard it through the servants. I know they tend to gossip, but there were a few gentlemen at Jai Wong's party last Saturday who positively confirmed the rumours! Every word!"
"Oh, how gorgeous! I do wonder if they may in fact be there tonight!"
"Of course, darling! And you'll never guess who owns the place-"
"-Oh, I heard, I heard! Apparently he's quite handsome..."
"I take it the seaside didn't go well then." The woman flicked a hand over her ear dismissively.
"As can be expected. He's a dirty old man!"
"I say! Yet it seems you have a taste for dirty old men!"
"Oh how dare you! But, it's true, of course."
"Here we are..." The women shuffled delicately up the last of the sandstone steps. The street levelled out into a neat stone courtyard, with a still square pool in the centre. On the opposite side of the pool stood an elegant green building with large round windows. Only a single lantern hung above the otherwise dark and empty doorway, and the low stub of a candle flickered behind one of the blinds.
"Oh bother," pouted one. "It's closed."
"And we walked all that way too!"
"My best shoes are practically worn at the toes after that trek!"
"I do declare, next time we must call a little earlier, and perhaps not be quite so foolhardy as to walk!"
"Hear hear, my dear." With that, the two ladies descended the steps, noses high in the air, leaving The Jasmine Dragon out of sight and mind.