...
Xinfei leaned against a building corner across the street from the bustling Bridge of Fire and squinted in the bright sunlight. His bundle of matches was set at his feet and he held a sample box in his hand to wave at passers by. Here along the Kingdoms side of the Exclusion moat there were few buildings that showed anything other than blank brick and plaster walls facing this direction towards the foreign island of spires and gates. The shops that balked the trend were, in contrast to their squat and brooding neighbors, tall structures that punctured the solid native line and flung their contents open with blaring lights and large shutterless storefronts. These disloyal exceptions were doing a brisk business with the flurry of thing boats dancing across the water. However, on the road beside the moat Xinfei noticed that it seemed a large portion of the town's milling pedestrians were only waiting for something. Waiting just like him.
In the middle of a yawn, Xinfei's breath suddenly caught as he spotted an unfamiliar man moving towards him against the flow of traffic. The man might only be heading the wine-house a few buildings down or the exotic medicine merchant's beyond that but there was no harm in caution. The last week had proved right every paranoid instinct he had ever accumulated. Xinfei grabbed up his bundle of matchboxes and began to mill forward at an oblique angle in the opposite direction of the man's path. It would look like he was going to try selling to the boat merchants in the Exclusion moat. Come to think of it, he actually might try that. Then the man changed directions too, moving closer. That was more worrisome. Still he could easily slip into the crowd and...
"You, boy with the boxes!"
There was another man right behind him. Xinfei put on a dumb smile and faked being a speaker of some obscure country dialect as he backed up into the press of the traffic coming off the bridge. The two who had targeted him were still calling but Xinfei managed to scoot around a two wheeled cargo cart pulled by a shirtless hauler in a straw hat. Whoever these guys were they weren't going to catch a wharf rat like him down here in his own canals. In fact, he'd lost them all ready. He briefly stopped to take a breath and discern where his pursuers had gotten to only to; he discovered one of them right beside him. A hand landed on his shoulder.
Evasion having proved failure he tried a different tac. "Oh! Er, greetings mister!"
This earned him a shove back against the side of a passing foreign-style carriage. Back pressing into the vehicle's door, Xinfei wondered if he could drop down below the wheels and quickly roll over to the lip of the canal. He might be sick for a week after splashdown but even canal water was better than staying here where these men clearly wanted him to remain. Of course, at that exact moment something thumped him on the back of the head and then he was pulled backwards and up by a hand on his collar.
Xinfei looked up as he blinked on the carriage floor. The door had hit him when it opened outwards and now he was inside while Lili Gaoli in her green silk dress was looking down from her seat with curiosity and a modicum of concern. Xinfei gave her a rough simulation of a salute as from this position a bow would have been a sit-up. "Hey...you," he said. "Uh, um, Lili. Nice to meet you again."
Lili tilted her head politely. "Xinfei? Thank you for coming in. Ayika told me she thought you would be out here. Would you care to take a seat?" Xinfei, naturally suspicious, held silent for a moment as he considered this suspect courtesy. Lili raised an eyebrow and continued, "Perhaps a seat where it does not look like you're trying to peep up my dress?"
There was a lightning flurry of scrambling limbs and Xinfei was sitting in the carriage seat opposite Lili Gaoli, breathing heavily and trying to maintain his composure. Lili only smiled with worrying slyness and leaned out the open carriage door to where two very skeptical looking men were waiting. "Thank you, Mengre. We're all ready to be going again. I'll place my order with this urchin on our way to the terminal. You can hop back on up and tell the driver." Then she closed the door with a small click.
Xinfei fidgeted on the embroidered seat cushion in this luxurious cabin. He was starting to suspect that he had been kidnapped. Kidnapped by a thin, pretty, rich girl who was sitting across from him and smiling but kidnapped none the less. And Ayika had to be behind this somehow. There was no way a woman like this would have even remembered his name despite the crazy events of last night. He decided to test the theory of his captivity. He opened his mouth to speak and as was customary all his well-organized thoughts instantly became a jumble.
"Um, nice to see you Lili. You look, uh, well. But you see, there's a ship coming in soon and I need to get down to the water to help with the unloading so if I could just-"
Lili interrupted. She clasped her hands together in front of her in a jesture of pleading while her eyes still shouted command. Her skin was very smooth and pale. Xinfei remembered its feel from when he grabbed her hand in the headlong flight through the streets last night. She said, "No. Please, just stay for a moment. My father's making me leave Mizumi's and return to the house and that means I have absolutely no one with me who knows what we saw with benders and masks and witches fighting in the dark! All those crazy things!" Her eyes went wide as she realized how vulnerable she had sounded by the end and she sat back, shaking her hair slightly to regain composure. She breathed out. "I'm nervous, ok? You should be too. I'm not sure anyone who angered as many dangerous people as we did last night should be out on the streets alone."
"Um...ok." Xinfei said slowly and hesitantly. It was not like he really had any place to go that was not on the streets. He looked to the side and out through the tiny glass paned window set in the door. He was not entirely sure what this girl was getting at and everything about this situation was making him uncomfortable. Even the wood of this carriage felt expensive. "I do have to work the ship though. Down at the docks. Sort of soon."
Lili waved her hand and broke back into her normal rapid confidant chatter. "I wouldn't be so sure. You work for my father's company, right? Ayika said so? Last night he received word that all his operations were being suspended pending investigation on the harbor fire. Ugh, I know. Given the typical speed at which paperwork makes its way through the bureaucratic organs I would be very surprised if he'd gotten that waived yet. And that's even if the stupid conservatives haven't managed to play the attack on our house last night as a reason for an extension. Erliao at least should have enough other things to think about."
Xinfei blinked at this rapid onslaught of quick words. Lili said, "And anyway, I thought Ayika said you were out selling matches today?" Her eyes were curiously analytical and searching.
Xinfei couldn't help but give a dissatisfied grunt. "Yes to out, no to selling, despite my efforts." Amazingly, Lili did not seem primed to interrupt him. So he continued, "Ok, so I've focused on rebranding since people are getting mighty testy about Islander made products, but it isn't working. Haven't sold anything all day. Even if it's a long shot I have to go back and try and scrounge up a wage from Gaoli, er, your father." Wow, that was a weird thought. He was in a carriage with Gaoli's daughter. Alone in a carriage. His heart began to beat faster once more. Oh, he was very stupid. This was a very bad idea. She could literally say he did anything and he would be convicted instantly. You couldn't trust the inner rings people. He needed to get out of here.
Xinfei flinched at a sudden movement. Lili reached over a tugged one of the little matchboxes out of the tied bundle beside him as casually as if Xinfei had abruptly ceased to exist. She grabbed the box and with a practiced hand squeezed lightly to grab a lip before sliding the folded paper open. She then took a little stick from within and struck its painted head against a rough bit of decoration on the carriage wall. It flared and she flicked her wrist to extinguish it instantly. Then she waved the streaming line of smoke past her nose and sniffed. Another smooth motion shoved the spent match out a tiny hole in the vehicle door and she nodded in approval.
"Not nearly as sulfurous smelling as whatever brand the servants are using at the house right now. Whenever I move into a new room suddenly there is always that faint hint of eggs from them lighting the lamps." She looked at the little box again. "Oh, you just refolded the Islander packaging paper inside out. Clever. But my father has always said that cleverness and a good product are not enough, no matter how much it should be."
By now he had given up on understanding what was happening. "You're preaching, lady. These days if you're selling Islander stuff you're a traitor and if you don't then you're cheap. And no one knows enough to make up their minds for more than five minutes."
Lili twisted her mouth to the side in thought. She continued her monologue-like form of conversation. "Ayika and Mizumi are looking into that waterbender from last night, did you know? I wish I could have gone with them. Frankly, I'm sick of never knowing anything."
Xinfei had guessed that Mizumi must have been the one to provided Ayika an excuse to get out of work at the laundry but apparently Ayika didn't even feel the need to fetch him before they headed out on their investigations. That stung. Ayika had obviously known he was out here. Lili was looking at him with an unnervingly weighing expression. She seemed to be seeing something there that he himself was unaware of; something that she might have use for. Xinfei wasn't sure if he liked that or not.
Soon the carriage ground to a halt. The thought of bolting out and down the street briefly flashed into Xinfei's mind but there was a slight jostling as someone jumped down from the front of the carriage and then there was a hand at the door handle. Just as it began to open Lili was already in mid sentence.
"...will not do. No, I said before it was a goose-grey back with Yudao-fog stitching!" She looked to the side as if suddenly noticing that the door was open. "Mengre, this boy is impossible. He can not even understand a simple product order! And of course he can't read. I'm afraid I'll have to drag him along to continue this conversation on the tram if I don't have to shove him all the way to the house so the butler can show him a sample."
Mengre, a discomfortingly large man, gave Xinfei a very dark look. "I'm not sure that would be appropriate. Your father asked me-" Behind him Xinfei could see they were at the foot of the tram station.
"To bring me home safely," Lili finished, waving her hand in a dismissive manner as she continued in her best vapid chatter. "And you are doing so. Believe me I do not relish this option of continued proximity any more than you. But you see, while I was at the Miohuito residence I saw the most delightful Yai crafts-work products. And in such a variety! Patterns I've never been able to find. I've always wondered how the selection is perpetually picked over by the time it even first arrives in the Middle Ring, but Mizumi told me the trick. See, the best purchasers like the Miohuitos have people like this one who look through the shipments as soon as customs is done and put aside special orders before they ever arrive at the shops. But this boy can not understand the specifics of what I'm asking for! And I would write down what I want but, well, you can see how much help that would likely be." She pointed over at Xinfei as if he was a dog who could not understand a word being said. Even if this was all some sort of act Xinfei could not help feeling a bit of anger. Lili had far too much practice at it.
Mengre had the slightly glazed expression of someone trying to parse a very fast speech about the intricacies of a very uninteresting subject. Xinfei was sure that despite all Lili's efforts he was going to receive a clip to the head and be tossed into the street but Mengre grunted and nodded slightly in resigned acceptance. Arguing with Lili was the verbal equivalent of storming an entrenched army. Xinfei, lacking any choice here, followed Lili up the terminal stairs towards the tram-line while he in turn was followed by her two burly protectors. Lili was now explaining something very complicated about shoes and Xinfei felt like he had very little control over his life these days. In the middle of one long spoken paragraph Lili moved over a little closer as she gestured a sketch of something in the air.
She whispered at him, "Sorry about that back there. I needed some excuse to get you in the front car with me. Ladies can only display passion about a few things so fashion it was. No don't talk yet, not until they're in a separate compartment." Together they cresting up onto the tram platform where the conveyance was already loading passengers.
That came to pass soon enough once the two chaperones were stowed to the rear of the luxury transport car that Lili's golden passport opened up. However, there were still obstacles to free conversation. Namely that the Fire Nation Trade Representative Amantza Tailang was taking up half of the front tram car with his entourage.
It took Xinfei a moment to recognize the Representative as the last time he'd seen the man, back at Ayika's school, a recent beating from the city guards had seemed a great deal more important. Here the man was sitting on the far side of the car in his dark red formal robes with their strange flaring shoulders and stroking his pointed black beard as he appeared deep in thought. Lili jumped in surprise but quickly relapsed into her cover of attempting to describe to Xinfei the precise qualities of obscure products that he could supposedly obtain for her. Despite himself he found that the was actually listening carefully to her blather if only to prove to himself that he could figure out what she was actually talking about. He thought that this ruse would look better if he had some paper or a book to be making marks in but as it was all he could do was clutch his bundle of match boxes to his chest and nod submissively as Lili carried on.
"Aizhang Gaoli's daughter?"
The Fire Nation Emissary had recognized Lili. She jumped up from her seat and bent into as deep a bow as the compartment's narrow aisle would allow. "Honorable Trade Representative Tailang! It's good to see you. I would not dream of intruding on your important business."
Tailang gave a little clap of delight as he shook his head. "So mannered. Please, Miss Gaoli, there's no need for such ceremony here. This isn't one of your father's excellent dinner parties and I have already supped my fill of politics today. Some palette cleansing conversation would be lovely." The man was clearly a foreigner but his accent could have been straight out of one of the golden-blood Inner Ring families. He gave small hand-gesture waving off one of his clerks as he continued to address Lili. "I must say I'm surprised to see you out around the city so soon after last night's fearsome tragedy."
Lili held a hand in front of her mouth as she smiled shyly. Xinfei tried to resist raising an eyebrow. This was a far cry from the commanding girl who had nabbed him off the street. Her voice was soft and gentle. "I'm only returning home. Last night I fled to seek refuge at Tetzamatl Miohuito's house on invitation of his daughter, but my father has called me back."
She noticed Tailang looking at Xinfei with faint puzzlement as to why this warf-rat was in the Nobles' car. She quickly gave a dismissive flick of her hand and added, "Returning home and finishing up some fashion ordering. It's not often that I get to make a trip to the Harbor shops and they do frequently have a better offering than those picked over selections that make it to the Middle Ring." Lili stumbled slightly as the tram rumbled into operation. She quickly sat back down in the nearest seat while Xinfei tried to shrink into the decorated cabin wall behind him.
Tailang gave a polite chuckle as he rocked in his own seat. Presence explained, Xinfei's low-class form faded from his sight. "Oh, of course. I just spoke to Mister Miohuito and he told me of you and his daughter but I plain forgot. I'm afraid to say that the new curfew measures may cause a few more delays in restocking your Middle Ring shops. However, no sacrifice is to high to protect young flowers such as yourself from terrors like last night." He rubbed his brow. "Now if only I could be protected from bureaucrats and complainers. I have been riding this tram since first operation and I have been vexed at each end."
Lili leaned forward slightly with barely feigned casualness. "What peoples are giving you trouble? Vexed by Erliao and the other conservatives or by the King or the Fire Nation merchants or...?" There was the slightest hint of a space for a fourth party suggested. She was feeling out his knowledge of the Masks. Xinfei gulped at the abrupt boldness but he also couldn't help leaning forward a little too.
Tailang smiled wanly and gave no reaction to that bait. "Both the conservatives and my own honored Fire Sage Huitzlan, I'm afraid. At times I would prefer Erliao. The sub-minister at least doesn't blast holy fire around me as I sit in sweltering silence for an hour and a half of deification ceremonies for the late Naruhama."
He waves his hand. "Don't get me wrong, I loved the ambassador. He was a good man and a powerful firebender, but I was at his funeral even if we were all locked outside the door while Huitzlan burnt his body and mask. But how long can they drag these new city-god ceremonies on for? And all the while I have to listen to Huitzlan's sermons unsubtly expound on his wish for a return to the days of imperialism." Tailang's voice had a sour note as he spoke of the Fire Sage, though Xinfei thought that the Representative's problem was more with the priest's forthrightness than with the calls for conquest.
A thought occurred to the Representative and his voice grew more deliberate, "In fact, speaking of the man, did I not hear that Sub-minister Erliao helped you out last evening? Rescued you and Miss Miohuito off the street? Supposedly he'd just been visiting your father about the warehouse fire a few nights ago, is that correct? Or am I misremembering what I heard?"
Xinfei was sure that he should be able to hear Lili's heart beating from where he was sitting. Lili's play for information had backfired and Tailang was now curious about something involving their secret adventure.
But Lili's face betrayed nothing as she artfully shuddered in the performance of remembering mobs marching on the streets. "Ooh, it was terrible! Miohuito's daughter convinced me to flee to run towards the city guards but we got lost in the dark streets. And then Mister Erliao was there! Did you hear that story from the minister himself, sir? I only ask so that I might know he understands how grateful I am." That girl was inexhaustible, she was now pushing for information to determine if Erliao had mentioned the waterbender attack. The waterbender and whatever strangeness Ayika had been hinting at last night.
Tailang leaned back. "No I haven't seen Erliao yet, though I imagine it's only a matter of time. That poor man, quiet a few people are angry with him." His face held less sympathy than his words. "It was the murder of Chen Lizhen that finally began to convince the king's ministers. Erliao must have been so excited when the student nationalists suddenly became organized and effective but now he sees what his rhetoric and their enthusiasm has incited. Mobs in the street. There's a backlash brewing and in the face of his ruination poor Erliao seems to have now lost all patience for the subtitles of political negotiation. He continually talks about the Will of the People." Tailang gave a slight roll of his eyes. "What good is the support of the mob when the government is turning against you?"
"I see your point." Lili said politely, though Xinfei thought that she must have been thinking about the power of one particular mob that had lately been hammering on her houses gates. "So the nationalist movement is actually playing into your hands."
Tailang shook his head modestly while wearing the faintest suggestion of a wolflike grin. He seemed the sort who liked to brag whether he'd actually done it or not. "Oh, I wish I could claim anything so clever. No, I simply take advantage where I see it and try to solve problems." He quickly moved on to another topic, one with a subtler angle.
"Speaking of problems," he said. "I was distressed when I heard your father's import contract with Miohuito had been put on hold. Not only that, but someone has been spreading rumors about your father's warehouse having contraband technologies hidden in the walls? Perhaps someone misunderstood something they heard about the locomotive engines that were completely destroyed by a mistake in the Gaoli company's unloading process a few days prior. Miohuitao had mentioned that. People can be so deceptive with the truth."
Xinfei's mind jumped back to those Fire Nation branded machines he'd seen hidden behind Gaoli's secret wall the night of the wearhouse fire. Had the Islanders not know those things were there? The Masks sure had. What was Mister Gaoli up to? Was Mizumi's father in on it too?
However, Lili had not been at the warehouse that night. Tailang's sly hints now met a truly oblivious front. "Yes, my father is very worried about his business. He was just saying so to Mister Miohuito last night."
Tailang studied her face as he continued. "Ah, I suppose those rumors could just be wishful thinking. Some people here expect native industries to instantly catch up the development level of the Nation. There are always some who would prefer theft to honest partnership. Your father has the right of it by his continued commitment to trade over competition. Ambassador Naruhama always said that envy could be blinding. Or in the case of our dear Chao Erliao it can twist into self destructive anger."
Lili made one last push for information even as Xinfei silently pleaded for her to leave well enough alone. But she was right, a high level politician trapped on a tram and bored with no one but her to talk to was a chance that was not likely to present itself again. Especially an unmarried man who might be extra willing to talk to a pretty seventeen year old girl. It seemed all the rich were trained in this sort of thing. She made a show of glancing around, although the other Nobles' Car passengers were all already watching this conversation while pretending not to. She theatrically raised her hand to her mouth for a piece of gossip.
"Speaking of self destruction, I've recently heard the twitterings of a rumor about the sub-minister. Whispers of his involvement in something...well I am not sure what but the shape of it is...contrary to the station of his elevated office." That might have been vague enough hint about the attack from the waterbender last night to bait the hook. Most would consider a murder accusation contrary to the official description of a government minister, though Xinfei himself bitterly saw it the other way. As if to provide Lili with greater atmosphere, at that moment the outside illumination plunged into dimness as the tram passed into its tunnel through the city wall.
"My, you strike swiftly." Tailang said as his face reemerged from the shadows on the other side, lit with mock surprise.
He laughed. "I believe it was your poet Luzi Tang who said, 'like silken knives, women whisper in gardens'. I believe I've heard the same talk about the dear Sub-Minister of Culture and Worthy Expression. But though Erliao is an adversary to both of us it's still wise to go slowly. There are some who tried to make something of his past friendship with Chen Lizhen back when the professor fell out of favor but nothing came of that at the time. Erliao is an...interesting man. Now with the death of Lizhen there's only one who can confirm those other lurking stories. And it seems that Erliao has quite forgotten that one loose thread." His face was quite and composed but his eyes twinkles with eager malice suggesting that despite his assurances he did hold some trump card. One he planned to use to great effect against Minister Erliao.
Lili was hurriedly trying to think of some way to prolong this mysterious conversation but thankfully here Tailang sighed and glanced over as his assistant who had now for several minutes been clearing his throat and indicating to a document he wanted the Representative to read.
"I am sorry, Miss Gaoli, but I must now beg my leave from this lovely discussion." Here he stopped and held up a hand. "Ah, a thought occurs to me. Have I remembered to forward an invitation to your father for the theater performance taking place after the Festival of Autumn Veils? It's possible it entirely slipped my mind. It's at the Silver Snake playhouse. That's in Kuang Harbor, I know," he said apologetically. "...but the company is from the former colonies, excuse me, the United Republic in our modern speech, and of course foreign actor companies are not permitted within the city proper."
Lili said, "I'm not sure if such an invitation was received, sir. I will certainly extend these courtesies to my father."
Tailang smiled. "Thank you. I will write anyway but do encourage him to come if you can. I've heard the performer's costumes and masks in particular are exquisite. They have supposedly combined styles from the Earth Kingdom with traditions from the eastern Islands of the Nation. I have always considered myself a student of masked theater and this should be a special treat. When I was a boy I even made a fool of myself by performing some small pieces with my sisters. I was particularly good at affecting accents. I could speak like the citizen of any nation." Despite the subtle self effacement there was an undercurrent of confident pride in the Trade Representative's voice.
Lili gave every sign of enthusiasm and admiration. "Well, I will greatly enjoy any performance if there is the chance of a commentary by such a knowledgeable expert. Hopefully, I'll see you there. If you will excuse me now I wish to see if I can finish instructing this boy on my errand so I do not have to take him all the way back to the house."
Tailang generously gave his consent and Lili moved over across the aisle to rejoin Xinfei. When he tried to say something to her she quietly shushed him. For several minutes they rode in silence as the other riders gradually lost interest in the young woman who had been talking with the high ranking Islander.
Once the Trade Representative was again wrapped up in political considerations with his assistants Lili spoke softly. "Well, that was interesting wasn't it? Did you hear how quickly he brushed of the question of who was behind the riots last night? There was not one mention of the masked nationalists. Now the city government could be hiding those details from him or..." Her tone was thick with possibility. Now she looked out the tram window. "Shoot, we'll be reaching the Middle Ring soon."
Xinfei was confused. "And why's that bad? That's where you're going, right?" His mind was still back trying to piece together everything the Islander had said.
Lili caught sight of the approaching ring-wall and flinched slightly. If Xinfei had not been sitting right in the adjacent seat he wouldn't have spotted so small a motion. Lili spoke softly. "People attacked my house last night, people under orders. People with power. I'm going home but I am not going to feel safe until whoever behind that is caught. And that Representative Tailang...I need to write a letter to Mizumi. I have an idea."
Xinfei was too caught up in his own thoughts to hear the sad note in her voice. "He mentioned that play. Tailang did. Something about actors from the Liberated Territories. I think Mizumi said that the Masks reminded her of Islander theater props. The Masks are attacking Islander supporters...but they're not attacking Islanders. You know, frankly I'd given up on thinking about Mister Miohuito being involved in all this and was just needling Ayika about it but what if I was on the right track and it was someone else on his side?"
Lili was looking at him. She had not heard his mumbled thought-process. "Would you take it to her?"
That was the moment that the tram rumbled into the darkness of the Middle Ring tunnel. When they burst back into daylight on the far side of the wall Xinfei shook himself back down to the correct plane of existence. "Take what? Oh, your letter to Mizumi. Yeah, sure I'll take it." He stopped. "But, wait. Why not just zip down tomorrow and talk to her? I'm sure you'll at least hear about her and Ayika's adventure today which is more than I'm like to be told."
Lili glowered slightly, as if she half suspected he was mocking her. "Do you really think I'll be let out of the house again after running off last night? And I am not allowed to invite any ladies to visit without father's permission, which is far from certain since it sounds like he's starting to quarrel with Miohuito and the other Islanders according to whatever it was Tailang was hinting at. More cursed smuggling suspicion. Why did you think I was so keen to have a companion on this trip back? No, I'm to be locked in for a long while. I need someone to be my lifeline to the world."
Xinfei found himself looking at this rich girl again. Her skin was pale like new milk in brilliant contrast to her raven black hair. He knew that pallor was achieved by staying indoors instead of working out of the sun but for the first time it occurred to him that such a complexion might not be had entirely by choice. Lili Gaoli was still the spoiled daughter of an exploiting merchant and had never had a hard day of her life, but though her life was far far better than most there could still be a few bad parts.
He said, "Yeah, sure I'll take the letter, though Mizumi can just use the post to reply back. At least I'm pretty sure Islanders can use the post."
Lili shook away her gloom and came back to her chipper, peppy self. "That won't do. I am fairly sure my mother reads any mail I receive. You'll have to deliver it by hand. You know what I'll do? I'll give you a purse and we will actually act out the excuse I gave Mengre. You take the money and buy... oh I don't know, really any selection of fabrics or other goods and bring them to the trade entrance along with Mizumi's reply. Then I will just say I changed my mind on what I wanted and we can repeat the whole thing. Mother ends up doing things like that all the time and Father never says any more than a slight grumble at the expense."
Xinfei bristled at what he saw as presumption of further command over his time. "Hey, I agreed to help you, not become your personal delivery boy. Some of us actually have to make a living." He'd just barely worked himself out of the hole he had entered buying the matches in the first place.
"Well, my father's import license is temporarily suspended for the arson investigation so you would be out of work at the docks anyway. And you would not be doing it for nothing."
"I don't need your charity either. I've never looked for handouts." His family had gotten enough of them without looking. Xinfei's father had never taken handouts when he was alive and no son of his would owe his survival to them once again.
Lili arched one delicate eyebrow like a deft stroke of calligraphy. "Charity? I thought it was obvious what I intended. Ayika said your were a very mercantile fellow. Always selling something? Well, you buy whatever merchandise you want with my money and when I turn you away at the door you go sell them for a profit. If you really feel the need you can pay me back the base cost once the products are sold. There, now it's an investment, not charity and I still can receive my communications unmolested." Her head then twisted to the side like the motion of a bird as she looked out the window. "Oh, we're almost at the station!"
Xinfei was left with his mouth slightly agape as his mind whirred with the new realm of calculations Lili had just opened up for him. He had a financier. Hundreds of plans that had died in the conception stage were now branching out into the future before his eyes. An interest-free loan. Many had risen to greatness with less. The things he could do. This would mean he might not be able to watch over Ayika till things cooled like he'd hoped. But she had made it pretty clear today she didn't want him joining in in her adventures with Mizumi. Or maybe she just hadn't noticed him following her until she was already being taken across the Exclusion bridge. He had been pretty stealthy.
He quickly stole a look over at Lili beside him. Or maybe he was looking at it the wrong way. Ayika had trusted him with her sheltered new friend, or Mizumi's friend or however that worked out. That did sound more like the Ayika he had known all his life. Lili's face was still serene but her finger nervously tapped against the side of her thigh. Xinfei's thoughts hardened. No one could safely plan business in this city if masked men were raising mobs against anyone who got money from down the river. They were killing people. His father wouldn't have allowed this to go on. Xinfei silently pressed his teeth together. He had long ago sworn he would not make the same mistakes as his father; fall into the trap of other people's problems. The corner of his mouth twitched up. But blood will tell. Those Masks would come to know why the name Bao was remembered in Kuang Harbor.
...