...
"Ayika! You're safe, thank the gods and spirits! We need to get away, now!"
Xiaobao hugged her with great relief as Ayika huddled near him both against the pushing and shoving of innumerable other protesters. She was incredibly glad to see him and Xiaobao but also here in the middle of this square, against the press of so many people, the only way Ayika was able to resist the flow of the mob was to shelter in the lee of Xiaobao and that equally large Chonglong guy. Her strategy of finding Xinfei by rushing towards the worse possible place to end up had worked out well however now she was stuck with them on the top of the Fifth Hill. To one side she could hear yells and the thumps of angry people assaulting the gates to Lili Gaoli's mansion.
At least she assumed the sounds she was hearing were coming from those gates. All Ayika saw was a sea of chests, backs, and heads. Even if she tried hopping in place she could barely get a brief glimpse over the uneven ranges of shoulders. Sometimes being short was very inconvenient. Also inconvenient: an army of rioters trying to get to Mizumi while being exhorted by mask-wearing figures illuminated stark against the glowing orange haze of the night sky above the lamp-lit hill. Oh, and the road itself was on fire. The fact that she couldn't tell why that steady jet of fire was there made it only more worrisome.
Xinfei wrapped her tight in a bony hug. "I'm so glad you aren't inside that mansion! Maolin's right, this has all gone to chaos. We need to run! The guards'll be here any minute and they're going to show no mercy!"
Ayika wanted so much to follow him away from the danger but instead she gently shook him off. She had come here tonight for a reason. "No! This mob's going to break through those doors long before any help can arrive! Mizumi and Lili are in there! There's got to be some way to help here!"
Across the square, the rioters had already somehow gotten through a set of gates to another merchant's mansion compound before Ayika arrived. A man in a mask stood perched high on the wall beside the open gate looking out at the seething mass of angry people below. The illumination of half-a-hundred flickering fires below gave him a dappled hide and made his movements assume the jerky motion of an unoiled puppet. Then Ayika saw him out of the corner of her eye and the impression of strangeness grew stronger. When she had seen the nationalists don their masks in the warehouse fight all those nights ago she had felt a great sense of uneasiness. Tonight there was not the same sense of pervasive pressure behind the air, nor were the fires behaving strangely in the accelerated dancing motion she had first seen the night of Lizhen's death. But there was a similar kind of strangeness here. There was motion in the shadows.
The masked man on the wall was alone. His fellow Masks had split off to run down other streets drawing off some of the crowd. To Ayika's eyes those masked people were driven more by an inability to remain still than by any grand design. The remaining member of the Initiated up on the wall was in constant motion, flinging up his arms to urge on his followers as he crouched and stood and paced back and forth in frantic energy. But his bloodthirst was stymied. No matter how acrobatic this fighter had suddenly become he could not get pass the mob that filled the square to reach the Gaolis' gates but he could also not bring himself to remain still.
Ayika blinked as she stared up as this Mask. In a photographic impossibility he cast a shadow of dim color onto the night air behind him. This shadow mirrored his movements, only a moment before or after the man himself performed them. It was connected at his wrists and the place where the mask met his head. Ayika marveled that no one else was remarking on it, but since they could be torn apart by a mob at any moment these strange sights may have been given a lower priority. A constant shiver raced behind her spine.
Wait. If she'd seen Chonglong here then Zhangyi should be right...
She saw the leader of the student group leaning against the edge of a fountain next to his friend Jiang. Ayika pushed over to him. He'd once been at the head of the nationalist protest movement, maybe he had a chance of seizing some control over this crowd. Anything that might give her a chance of leading them away from the command of whoever was wearing the masks. Or was wearing the mask wearers.
"Zhangyi!" She saw him and grabbed at his black student-robe's sleeve. "This is crazy! You have to stop this! People are going to die if you don't!"
The young nationalist blinked in astonishment as he looked up to see Ayika, but then his face fell into a dazed and bitter smile. "They aren't listening to me. The Initiated have taken over tonight and they have no intention of deescalating. Next to them I have no power. What I saw here... I don't even know if I believe what I saw."
Jiang grabbed at Zhangyi's sleeve. "She's right. This violence is ruining everything! Come on, you have to try to lead this off before they commit any more crimes! Whatever trick the Initiated are playing we can still try to-"
"Trick?!" Zhangyi interrupted with incredulous fury. "You saw the same thing I did! You saw what they... What are we next to monsters?"
Chonglong burst in. "Monsters? Don't you see? This is the power we have been waiting for! The strength is in the masks and it's getting stronger! Power any citizen can hold! I won't pretend to understand but this is glorious!"
Ayika could see that there was little hope of help to be found here. Zhangyi had checked out and Chonglong seemed to be genuinely enjoying the disruption. A quick glance confirmed the primary Mask was still standing on his wall but that would not last. If he chose to fight his way through his supporters he would reach the Gaoli's gate in moments. Mentally, Ayika tried to cast herself back in time to the last time she had seen this neighborhood, to see if she could gain any insight from the landscape that the mass of people was now hiding from her. Xinfei tugged at her again, pleading with her to get out of danger but she might have thought of something.
These rich people's houses did not like to touch. They didn't even share compound walls. In most cases these gaps formed alleys that tonight were probably also filled with more of the same roused populace but on one side of the Gaoli place the hill dropped off rather steeply. The alley space was replaced with a small cliff but along there she thought she remembered seeing...
"Come on, I might have an idea. I think I might know how to reach her." She yelled as she grabbed onto Xiaobao and his brother's arms. In truth she was using Xiaobao as a plow to till the crowd before her so she might slink through the furrow behind. Undignified, but now that she was fighting the mob's direction of motion this was the only choice for someone of her size. Then, finally, they reached the edge of the square. Thankfully, these side streets were much less crowded. Down the hill she saw a crowd of torch-carrying nationalists following another masked figure as they ran down the street and around a corner to some other target. Behind them came the flickering light of rising flames from wherever they had visited previously. Things seemed to be fragmenting but not quickly enough for Mizumi and Lili trapped within that mansion.
Ayika muttered to herself. "I think it's...Ah, ha! I was right."
Here on this sloping street the wall of the Gaoli compound was above and to their right but a small cliff that occupied the gap between the next mansion below was broken by a line of stones half way up, perhaps built to keep the hill from collapsing further. To most considerations the difference between this and a sheer slope would be academic but if you were desperate enough then the top of that narrow support wall looked like a broad highway to the backside of the mansion.
"This way!" She yelled as she jumped from the downward sloping street to the edge of the retaining wall and proceeded to run along it. The Bao brothers followed but lacking some of her goat-like sure-footedness they shuffled along at a reduced speed. They were now away from the lamp-lit streets and well into the dark. Light glowed up over rooftops below but here the three of them were deep in shadow which made seeing difficult as Ayika peered up at the mansion.
It looked like the Gaolis valued security somewhat less on this side of the compound. Above her was the mansion proper rather than an outer wall. She thought she could see windows puncturing the stone just a few meters above her. They should probably be able to climb up there. Ayika had plenty of experience climbing buildings but usually she had something more to work with. She reached up and pressed her hands against the tightly fitted stone blocks. Perhaps if she stood on Xiaobao's shoulders? Then her reaching finger tips brushed and end of fabric laying loosely against the vertical stones.
What? She just had time to register confusion at this hanging object when someone landed on her from above.
Two different yelps of surprise range out as Xinfei yelled, "Look out!" He took an energetic shuffle forward along the narrow wall-top as he rushed to take a swing at the attacker who had pounced down on Ayika in the dark. Then he was yelping himself as a fist parried his wild blow and returned a sharp strike to his nose. Xinfei teetered back but his brother managed to stabilize him before he fell off the ledge. He managed to say, "Ayika! Get free, I will try to...!"
The attacker paused. "...Xinfei?" The female voice was heavily accented.
Xinfei managed to seamlessly transition from ferocious heroism to resigned exasperation in less than a second. "And of course it's you. Mizumi, could you maybe help Ayika up before she falls to her death?"
Ayika had managed to prevent herself from rolling off the edge in that first moment of confusion but as she sat there with her back pressed to the rock behind her, trying to calm her furiously beating heart, she appreciated the consideration. She found Mizumi's reaching hand in the dark and accepted the help up. Once she was standing securely Mizuni wrapped her in a tight hug that for a moment threatened to send the both of them toppling back off the ledge into the shadows below. "Tza, Ayika! I am so glad you are all right!"
The moment was broken by another voice from above. "Is anyone going to tell me what's going on down there? I'm assuming it's not murderers but some confirmation would be nice."
Lili was leaning out the window with a candle holder in her hand. Next to her was a makeshift rope of some sort of cloth that must have been how they were planning to climb down. Lili squinted down as she reached out with the candle before she suddenly brightened in recognition. "Oh, Ayika! We were just looking for you!"
Mizumi sprang back from the embrace and Ayika managed to find her voice. "Uh, yeah. Um, let's let Xiaobao get under that so he can help Lili down. Mizumi, Xinfei, scoot this way."
It took Lili a few moments to gather up her nerve and lower herself out the window. Even so she made several small cheeps like a young bird every time she slid the smallest bit and a much louder cheep when Xiaobao unexpectedly reached up and grabbed hold of her legs to help her the rest of the way down. Once she was securely back on her own feet she pressed herself against Xiaobao's chest as she murmured, "Oh dear. That was terrifying. I..."
She stopped as she realized that she was in fact pressed against a strange man's chest. She suddenly pushed herself back in embarrassment. However, it was not as much embarrassment as might have been mustered since her hands were still comfortably resting on his considerable pectorals.
"Oh! Um! You must be the one called Xiaobao. Mizumi...wow, Mizumi did not describe you sufficiently." Beneath her mortification there was an audible tone of appreciation.
"Um, yeah." Xiaobao muttered uncomfortably. Further back Xinfei faintly groaned to himself and Ayika smiled. Xiaobao tended to make impressions like that. Ayika supposed she couldn't see the appeal since he was like a brother to her but the man had a habit of such meetings even if those attentions frequently made him very uncomfortable. On the subject of cheek-reddening personal contact Mizumi was still clutching tightly at her hand. Those Fire Nation girls were big on touching. Ayika squeezed back to get her attention.
"Mizumi, it's really bad out there. You need to get back to the Exclusion as quickly as possible. The four of us should be able to make it safely. Lili, you..." She stopped. For a moment she had completely forgotten that this was Lili's home that was being attacked. She was probably in almost as much danger Mizumi.
Mizumi sounded offended at the suggestion that she might run. "I am not fleeing. I saw that the Student Conservatives are here. We might convince-"
Xinfei interrupted. "We already tried. Those guys are out of the loop. The mask-wearing guys are in charge tonight."
"Um, guys?" Xiaobao said uncertainly. "Could we have this conversation somewhere a little more horizontal. I, wha wha woah! Almost fell there. Could we move it a bit?"
By some miracle this side street at the end of the retaining wall was still mostly clear. Down the slope, Ayika thought she could see people moving around bend in the road but it appeared that for now everyone who wanted to be at the Gaoli's doorstep was already in the square. When she stood up on the end of the retaining wall and leaned out to put a hand against the street's gas-lamp she could see up into the square clearly. The problem was how to get those angry rioters to leave and she saw no way to do that.
"Lili," she said as she jumped back down to the street. "You and Mizumi got out this back way through the window. Could the rest of your family make it out this there? Get people out before the mob break through your gates?"
Lili flinched at another round of cries from the crowd seeking to get into her house. She shook her head. "Father would never do that. And there are too many people! In addition to Mister Miohuito and my parents the servants and staff are eighteen people! You can't sneak out a crowd like that!"
Ayika looked back at Mizumi. The other woman was staring up at the violent protesters. Shoot, she had forgotten that Mizumi's father was going be here as well. No wonder Mizumi had been unwilling to run. Now there was not even fear on her face, only narrow-eyed determination. Ayika saw a subtle shifting in her stance as Mizumi reached into a pocket and drew forth a string or ribbon. Without looking away from the top of the hill she gathered up some of her black hair tinged with threads of rust to tie it back. Maybe she was preparing to run after all.
Xiaobao was talking. "All we'd need to do is buy a little time until the guards arrive. Those Masks might break through the doors in half a second but I think he can't get to them for the crowd and the crowd doesn't seem to be able to dent the gates so they're stuck for the moment."
Xinfei said, "We'd need to draw them off. Get their attention with something they were more interested in than Gaoli himself. " He had a weird tone to his voice and when Ayika looked at him he seemed almost guilty. His eyes quickly swung away like the had been looking at something.
"We have that." Mizumi said. Ayika turned and saw that she had climbed up to take Ayika's previous position on the wall by the lamppost. Standing on that perch the gaslight illuminated and colored her, turning her hair into gleaming copper and her clothes into living blood. On her head she now wore a foreign topknot like the Ozai puppets in street-side shows. She looked the living incarnation of a proud Fire Nation woman. She was beautiful.
Ayika realized what she was planning. She hissed, "Mizumi, no!"
Mizumi smiled down at her. "Be ready to run. I will give them something to chase." She turned back to the square crowded with foreigner-hating rioters. From her lamplit pedestal she must have seemed floating into view as an infernal icon of their ire. Not one was looking in her direction but soon she fixed that.
"Fire Nation! Fire Nation!" She screamed in a lyrical chants. Then she unleashed a blistering stream of her native language. "Nuata zai tetlanama oso nai zemi! Tzanara! Nuata zai!" It was an incredible volume that she managed. This close to her, Ayika saw Xinfei and Lili flinch at the sheer noise of what had to be some pretty terrible profanity. All Ayika could think of was that this brave girl might be signing her own death warrant.
"Nazuana Fire himeotla ne!" Mizumi now had to pant for breath. She looked down at her friends. "I think that did it." She glanced back up at the scene near the mansion gate. "Oh, that really did it. Run!" She jumped down from the wall and stumbled slightly as she was already running before she hit the ground. The other four bolted after her as a human dam broke overhead and let its roaring tide of anger spill down the street. They had succeeded in causing a distraction. Now they just had to live through it.
...