...

Out in the city the streets were erupting into fights out even as the increasingly orange sun dipped lower in the sky. The Masks and their power were now open knowledge. Even if the precise details of what had happened were not clear, everyone knew that the city's nationalist sons had gained the ability to wield the strength of the land's guardian spirits and stand up to the corruption plaguing their home. However, there were many people who responded to what should be good news with terror and suspicion. Nationalists and the so called modernists clashed at every street-corner and the government laid down arbitrary force against both sides.

Chonglong should have been happier. The tall and broad university student had finally ascended to the top ranks of the movement to protect his city. He was one of the Initiated with his own spirit mask in a cloth bag at his side. It did not matter that Zhangyi and Jiang had balked at the last moment, shying away from the cost they had always known would have to come for any systemic change. They would regret passing down this opportunity. Now Chonglong sat alone in a small and bare room as shafts of reddening light slowly sliced up the shadowed wall.

In defiance of Zhangyi's pathetic pleas, Chonglong had met with his Initiated contact earlier that afternoon, bringing with him the supply of masks the highest leadership had gifted him with. In a corner of his mind he was not willing to admit, Chonglong was glad to hand over the masks. As long as he had held them he had felt like he was being watched, like the Public Safety Agents who had arrested Changping, Tianzi, and the rest of the Student Committee for Nationalist Action were lurking in every shadow and behind every corner. He only wished that his now fellow Initiated had showed the least bit of concern for their captured allies.

There had been more of the Initiated present at the covert meeting than Xiaobao had expected. Before, the organization's leadership had been reluctant to meet in numbers during daylight hours. Now, even the masters of spiritual masks were seeking safety in groups. In addition to Chonglong's normal contact there were two nervous looking fellows dressed in Middle Ring fashions and one other man who, though dressed in ill-fitting clothes, spoke with an accent that revealed him as a noble of the Inner Ring. This noble was clearly one of the commanding Initiated and he shared none of his fellows' nervousness. Chonglong endeavored to mimic this aristocratic man and scoff at the constant news of clashes between factions in the street and mass arrests by the guards, but he could not close his ears to what the other two Initiated were nervously whispering.

Those men muttered about waking up in the Lower Ring, not able to remember what they had done last night. They spoke of the power of the masks taking control as they moved forward in their search, until they could not remember who they were searching for and only felt drawn onward towards some mysterious destination deep in the warren-streets of the Lower Ring. What they did not want to mention was what Chonglong had already heard. Parts of the Lower Ring looked like a war-zone. Buildings had been smashed, homes invaded, and fires had spread so quickly that the only explanation was enemy action from the Fire Nation, no matter how much the city government denied it. It had to be enemies who had done all that; the alternative was too unsettling.

The noble had no such doubts. In a loud voice that had made the other Initiated nervously glance out of their private meeting room in the back of an small empty restaurant, he had proclaimed that the Fire Nation had provoked an escalation. He said that the foreigners had sent assassins to the Inner Ring, and they were likely behind the arsons across this sector of the city. Chonglong had heard of the death of Sub-Minister Erliao and was grateful to hear this leading Initiated debunk the rumors that the attacker had worn a spirit mask. The noble proclaimed they would hand out all the masks Chonglong had obtained and they would raise a godly army against those who were trying to corrupt the soul of their nation. Chonglong cheered along, ignoring the strange growling inflection that sometimes crept into the man's words, seemingly without him noticing.

But that had been hours ago. Chonglong had been thanked, given his orders, and left to wait for sunset while the presence of his mask in its cloth bag slowly gnawed at his awareness. The other Initiated had split off to spread the word across the rings. All the patriots of the city would see they did not have to fear the Fire Nation or their puppets any more. The Initiated were doing what was right. Chonglong had to believe they were doing what was right.

The last slivers of red light vanished as the sun dipped below shadow of the city wall, leaving Chonglong in a dark and empty room. He tried to shut off the thoughts that seemed to emanate from the hidden artifact. The whispers of creaking wood echoed with a faintness beyond hearing, swaying trunks in an unseen gale from some imagined forest hiding behind the air. Zhangyi and Jiang were not going to return. They had made their choice. Chonglong lifted up the mask he had been given, dark brown and shining with streaks of painted red across its knotted surface. Then he pressed it to his face and remembered no more but the laughter of an inhuman mind.

...

It was late morning and Lili was pacing back and forth in front of her writing desk attempting to burn off some nervous energy in the sitting parlor outside her room. There had been more news of scattered violence across the city last night and she felt very isolated even in her family home. Mizumi was nearly confined to the Exclusion, Ayika stood little chance of getting through the ring gates, and despite the temporary employee passport Lili had given him Xinfei had not been back to visit his investor. Then there was a knock on the frame of the open door.

She answered while turning to face the entrance. "Yes? Come in."

The butler Mengre entered. "Excuse me, mistress, but there is a young man at the door for you. He says his name is Li and he has a...friend with him. He says he was speaking with you during the festival last night and would like to offer a brief apology."

Lili thought to herself, "Who is Li? Could that be Xinfei under an alias? Why would he start using a false name now?"

But Mengre had said the visitor was at the front door not the back entrance. Lili did not know why would Xinfei be coming through the main gates, or who was with him. It could not be Mizumi as Mengre would have mentioned her first. It could be Ayika or Xinfei's brother but Mengre would have clarified if this friend was female so the tribal girl could be ruled out. And what could Xinfei be apologizing for? Lili had managed to get back to her house on the festival night without her long absence being noticed. With the excitement her father had experienced at Erliao's party she could just have easily been arriving home just now and she still would have gotten away with it.

Here Lili realized that she had been silent for several seconds while Mengre watched these thoughts run through her head. She jerked slightly as her mind snapped back into the conversation. "Oh, yes. Well, see them into the parlor and I will be down to greet them in just a moment."

Mengre nodded. Then just as he was turning to leave he looked back as if he had just remembered something. "Oh, there is also a delivery at the back. That...erm, personal shopper you picked up in the Kuang Harbor at Miss Miohuito's suggestion. I can send him away until your callers have left."

"What?" Xinfei was at the back? Then who...? Lili collected herself. "No! Um, no, just have him wait below stairs for a moment and I will...um, just have him wait for a moment." What was going on?

She hurried down the staircase from the living apartments in the woman's wing. Ever since her sisters had gotten married this half of the house had felt empty but right now she was glad there was no one around to ask her why she was moving about in such a rush. Her mother was in her apartments recovering from the burden of entertaining guests last night. That was the agreed upon way to refer to the lady of the house nursing a hangover that would have felled a sizable percentage of an army regiment. It came up frequently. Sneaking back into the house without her parents noticing had almost been easier than Lili would have preferred.

Downstairs, she carefully peaked into the front parlor and then jumped back, almost slamming her hip against the corner of a small ornamental table decorating the hallway. The two young men in there were the nationalist university students Jiang and Zhangyi. They were not wearing the black and white student robes that she had seen them in before but it was unmistakably them. Lili's heart pounded in her chest. They had found her. That meant the Masks had found her. But how? She had given them a false name and had been wearing a mask the entire time they had seen her. Even if they had seen seen her face, there were over fifteen million people living in this city. How would they know who she was?

Xinfei. The university boys had known him and he was currently at the back of the house being let in through the servant's entrance. Zhangyi and Jiang must have followed him. And now followers of the Masks had been let into her house. The very house they had led a mob against a few weeks ago. She remembered the flames licking out of the window of the Miohuito train-yard factory behind earthbenders fighting with terrifying Masks who boiled with the energy of spirit possession. Now some of the people who had been behind that were here.

Lili's chest pumped in and out rapidly as she tried to keep breathing through her nose to prevent herself from panting. Allies, she needed allies.

Quickly, she turned around and rushed to the back of the house, her silk slippers making barely a whisper on the polished stone floor. The door to the servant's staircase popped open in her familiar hand and she rushed down the steps to the lower floor. The below-stairs had its own version of ground level due to the varying elevation of the Fifth Hill and it was at that street-side entrance that Xinfei was waiting.

A maid was humming a tune and absently knocked two shoes together while carrying them down the hallway. When she saw the young lady of the house in the corridor looking around the poor maid nearly dropped them in surprise.

"My Lady! I didn't...I was just..."

Lili forced herself to smile gently. "Don't worry, Qingling. I am the one who snuck on down here and interfered. I just wanted to say something very quickly to the shopper boy before I forgot. He is in there?"

Qingling nodded quickly as Lili pointed and darted off. The maid then gave a brief relieved sigh and hurried down the narrow hall in the opposite direction.

Xinfei was sitting on a low bench beside the back door. When he heard Lili enter he looked up. "Lili? Oh, good. Um, I was just coming to check that you got..."

"No time!" Lili hissed in barely contained panic. "The nationalists Zhangyi and his friend are here! In my front room!"

Xinfei's eyes went wide. "What? How did...Damn! They must have followed me. Damn it, damn it! I wasn't careful enough! I should have known something like this would..."

His growled self flagellation was interrupted by Lili grabbing hold of his wiry arm and tugging him out of the room towards the servant's stairs. As they moved Lili whispered out of the corner of her mouth. "They never saw me without my mask. There is still a possibility that all this is just a vague suspicion. I may be able to convince them that you are simply my employee, and we have no political connection. After all my father is one of the most prominent reformers, why would his daughter be at a meeting of conservative vandals? But if they are here to try something you will be able to get away and call the rest of the house to help. I need someone to watch my back."

Lili left Xinfei carefully waiting in the hallway as she gathered her poise, straitened her dress, and walked gracefully into the sitting room where the enemy was waiting. Jiang and Zhangyi both hopped from their seats in front of the carved window shutters to stand as she entered. She smiled.

"Ah, my apologies. I have kept you waiting for quite a while. What can I do for you two? I'm afraid I don't remember where I made your acquaintance. Ha, the Festival of Veils is awfully confusing that way! Everyone is in disguise and you can never be certain who you are talking to." Even if they had followed Xinfei here Lili was not about to give them final conformation that she was in fact the Yushin Song who they had met last night. Any little bit of uncertainty could be the factor that saved her family.

The taller man, Zhangyi, parted his lips as if he were about to speak but then halted and let his more portly fellow take the lead. Jiang looked nervous as his eyes darted around the room.

"Are any of your servants is a position to hear us in here?"

Lili took a quarter step back before she could help herself. She did not let her polite composure crack but her heart was starting to beat quickly again. Her voice was firm. "I can assure you that if I were to call out someone would come running very quickly. Now, please I am afraid I have not had the pleasure of proper introduction mister...Li was it?"

"Yes, Jiang Li, and that really is my true name Miss...Song."

Lili felt her cheeks blanch a bit as Zhangyi let out one faint snort of laughter though he otherwise remained quiet. She quickly found her voice, abandoning her pretense of pleasant confusion in favor of directness and force.

"How did you find me?"

"A little hypocritical, that question isn't it?" Zhangyi added, raising an eyebrow surely at the memory of him asking her the exact same question last night.

Jiang on the other hand actually started to blush a bit in embarrassment. "I recognized you. From a party about four years ago or so. My father knows yours through some distant family connection or something and I came over here for an informal get-together your father was holding. You were probably around twelve." He saw that there was no recognition flickering in Lili's face. He looked down. "I'm not surprised you do not remember me. I was just some chubby teenager you only saw once."

"You only saw me once."

"Yeah, well." Jiang trailed off in a way which made Zhangyi struggle to hold back a smile even in this serious situation.

There was the sound of someone clearing their throat from the entrance to the parlor. Zhangyi and Jiang jerked with sudden anxiety of being found out. However, Lili knew what that sound was. Xinfei must have gotten impatient.

"Do not worry about that. I have set someone to watch the door to make sure no unwelcome ears come near." She neglected to mention that if Mengre or anyone else came back and Xinfei was there he would probably be flung out of the house. However, her comment had the desired effect of shifting the balance of power back in her favor. The two men were reminded that this was her house and she was the one in the position of authority. "How about you tell me why you tracked me down to my house and showed up unannounced? Why should I not have you seized and held for the guards as members of an illicit organization? Hmm?"

The two men looked at each other as if they were not entirely confident themselves why they had come. Eventually, Zhangyi cleared his throat and settled into darkly serious voice

"Public Safety raided the meeting after we left. I had someone go by to talk to the madam and she said you and your non-citizen friend left just before they came."

Lili had learned about the raid at the same time Zhangyi had, but she was not going to admit that she and Xinfei had followed them to that restaurant. "And if you think I was an informant behind those arrests then why did you come here? If I was informing to Public Safety do you think I would be unprepared here? This would be an easy trap to spring."

Zhangyi narrowed his eyes but Jiang just turned around and looked through an open doorway that lead to another small sitting room. He said, "They say Sub-Minister of Culture and Worthy Expression Chao Erlaio was killed that night."

Lili could not help letting out a quiet huff. She had heard from Mizumi's waterbender friend just who's allies had been behind that. "Apparently someone thought that he would be more useful dead than alive."

"No!" Zhangyi's hand was clenched into a fist. On his face was the pained expression of an ardent believer finding his cause to had failed him. "No, that makes no sense! Erliao was one of the most vocal nationalist ministers. With him dead... he won't be a martyr, the other ministers will just slink back into their holes out of fear of any conflict with the Fire Nation. No, the Initiated couldn't have done that."

Was that doubt that Lili heard in this young man's voice? She knew that Tailang was behind all this, but they were not ready to hear that yet. She glanced at Jiang. At least, Zhangyi was not ready to hear it.

"I am sure you also heard about the..." She paused over choosing the word for the Masks. "...Initiated fighting in Kuang Harbor. They started fires and killed people with their bare hands. Not Fire Nation or government agents. Ordinary people trying to save their neighborhoods. And there are stories of more masked men smashing through the Lower Ring, destroying places that had nothing to do with foreign trade." There was a reason these two had come here alone like this to talk to her. They had sought her out for reasons unconnected to their violent superiors.

Jiang sighed. "When I heard the rumors about how Professor Lizhen had died I tried to think that it was just gossip. Then I tried to think that it is an accident. But things have gotten out of hand. Something is messing with the Initiated's heads. Something about the power of those masks." He looked at Lili. "And you knew that, don't you? That is why you came to find us last night."

They wanted her to know something. They had found themselves trapped down a dark path. Their university friends had been arrested by Public Safety and the leaders they had sought to join had proved themselves violent and unreliable.

Zhangyi was not looking at her as he spoke to a blank wall. "Chonglong went missing yesterday."

Jiang took a single step forward and the angled morning sun illuminated dancing dust particles in the space he departed. "I don't think he is the only one. Things are getting out of hand. The daughter of the reformist merchant Gaoli has been investigating the nationalist movement. What have you found?"

Lili took a breath to steel herself. "I have been looking for the leader. The one who commands the Masks."

"Hrmph. I would like to know that too. Those 'Masks' abandoned us. Abandoned our friends! We met with our contact to tell them about Public Safety's raid but all they cared about was that we got more..." Jiang caught himself. "...supplies. It's been months since they have only been concerned with petty power struggles within the organization. We started the Student Nationalist Committee to protect the people, why are we putting people in danger? Something has happened to Chonglong, he wouldn't just drop out!"

Off to the side, Zhangyi ground his teeth. "None of it makes any sense!"

Lili felt a metaphorical catch in the tension of the air. This was her chance. But she needed help. She turned around. "Xinfei, come in here."

Both university students snapped their heads around as Xinfei entered but then relaxed slightly as they dismissed any threat he represented. Zhanyi muttered to himself, "Of course."

Xinfei opened his mouth to say something but Lili quickly shot him a look pleading for him to remain silent for a moment longer. She turned back to Zhangyi and Jiang. "We were searching for the leader of the Masks last night. And we succeeded."

"What?"

"You did?"

"You were right, we did leave the meeting shortly after you guys did. Because we followed you. We saw you meet with the Initiated who was providing you with more masks. And then we followed him until he removed his disguise."

"And you recognized him?"

"Who was it? Tell us."

Lili could not help hesitating. This was a big risk, relying entirely on her estimation of how they would react. "Xinfei here will tell you the same. We never lost sight of the masked man for a moment after he left you in the restaurant. We saw him." She took a deep breath. "It was the Fire Nation Trade Representative Amantza Tailang."

There was a moment of silence. Then Zhangyi furrowed his brow and said, "What?"

Xinfei stepped forward. "It's true. I've seen the man before. And he was unmistakably a foreigner. He was faking an accent with you guys. He is some sort of theater fan, apparently."

This explanation did not appear to solve Zhangyi's confusion. He looked over to Xinfei and then back to Lili, as if he had somehow missed a large portion of a long conversation.

"What?"

Behind him, Jiang took a sudden and sharp inhalation. Bits of the puzzle were clicking together in his head. "Oh. Oh no. The financier. Our first contact with the larger organization, the one who was giving direction, Li, he said he was from the Lost Territories. We would have been suspicious his ethnicity otherwise. That man last night said Li was his man. All the targets he had us go after in those days, all the demonstrations that had any real risk, were against city merchants, stores, and government sites. We were told told avoid all foreign targets, and the organization, at least our part, did until last night with the Kuang Harbor thing that the man we met did not know about."

Zhangyi looked at his friend. "You had said...you had said that Tailang was benefiting from the fear of violence. The more angry the citizens got the more frightened the minsters became and ran right into the arms of the Fire Nation. But...No, no, that can't be true!" He spun towards Lili.

Lili stood firm against his advance. "It is true. I swear. He has been tricking everyone. It was also one of the Masks who killed Erliao. I know two women who witnessed it."

Zhangyi slammed his fist down on a nearby high table. He turned to his friend. "Jiang, you can't actually believe this." It sounded like he was pleading.

Now it was Xinfei who spoke up. "What did you think was going to happen? You were calling for the city to turn on everyone who did business with the Islanders. Did you not think that was going to involve violence? You say you were all about protecting the people, but you weren't protecting the people. I heard you and your friends talking, you are more worried about some abstract concern of cultural purity than jobs and money and people living their lives."

As Xinfei continued more and more passion began to creep into his voice. His clenched fists were vibrating. "All your education, and you never thought that building a mob might lead to people getting hurt! You didn't even limit your message to just the Fire Nation! You were yelling about expelling all foreigners. And now when you finally see what you have been brought into doing, you won't believe it!"

Zhangyi was almost as tall as Xinfei, a good bit stronger, and held himself with the confidence of one born into wealth and power, but now he stepped back before the righteous fury of a dockworker's son. Xinfei was not done.

"You've been duped! Admit it! A Fire Nation politician has played you for fools, and you were fools before it even started. Ha, my brother and his neighborhood watch have done more for this city in two days than you ever have! That is what it means to protect the people. To stand by their side and let them protect themselves, not turn them against each other."

Here Xinfei finally ran out of steam. The room was silent for a long moment as the two students and Lili stood in stunned silence. After a long pause Lili said, "Well..."

"And another thing!" Xinfei came around for another pass. "It's not trade and machines that are the problem! It's that we aren't as good at either as them, so we need to get better! Of course we are going to build gas lines and mechanical factories and the earthbender trams are going to be trains, and, and...!"

Lili patted a hand on his shoulder. "All right, I think that they get it." Then she looked back at these lost and browbeaten students. They were being hunted by Public Safety and trying to defect from their own secret organization. She could not let them remain here. Where could she send them though?

Then an idea occurred to her.

"Xinfei, could your brother use some additional help down in Kuang Harbor?"

...