...

"Three more fires in the Lower Ring and two additional break-ins tonight, one of which quickly became the third fire. No suspects apprehended. This is in addition to the unusually high number of disorder incidents even correcting for holiday trends. Agent Chang is also investigating a newly reported possible break-in but from an initial glance it seems to follow the new pattern we have been seeing in that area."

Inspector Yang nodded as his agent bowed and retreated back to the rear of the room. This was the third such report from the patrols this night. The lower twenty-sixth radial sector was going mad. If Yang was mentally plotting the other reports correctly, then the disturbance of the last few weeks was now spilling over from the Lower Ring into the Middle Ring and the Kuang Harbor, the pattern utterly ignoring the walls and placement of the gates. The festivals were always an unpleasantly chaotic time but there was something different tonight. There was a viciousness in the air. The agent who had just finished giving his report sported a nasty red scratch on his cheek. A woman had lashed out at him when he moved in to stop a potential political demonstration. The agent had of course broken her arms before she was sent off to the holding caverns, but the fact that a citizen had struck an Agent of Public Safety at all was incredible. Something was wrong, this was more than the unusual civic discontentment. People were acting unpredictably, even from the perspective of the Agency. For Yang this was the most unsettling factor.

The Inspector looked at the reports on his desk once again. At first glance those break-ins in the Lower Ring did not seem at all related but Yang saw a thin thread of connection. They were not neat affairs. Gouges in the floors, twisted metal, things smashed through walls, and the odd fatality. If his agents had been as ready to include hearsay in their reports as the city guards were then Yang was sure he would see mention of masked 'monsters' there too. Someone was using this holiday as cover to tear apart the Lower Ring looking for something. And they were not being gentle about it. His men were as well deployed as their numbers allowed and their response times had managed to get down to a matter of minutes but still no suspects had yet been apprehended.

Yang remembered what pensioner Ma'er had said. Could spirits really be involved? He had not yet received any analysis on that mask the ex-agent had given him. To Yang's great annoyance the sector's government-approved consulting specialist on occult practices turned out to have been Professor Chen Lizhen of the Royal University. In an unforgivable lapse, the records had not been updated to reflect the man's ouster from the University or indeed his much more recent death. Yang was left with a wooden mask and no answers.

At least there were some concerns that Yang could guard against tonight. The reporting agent was still waiting at the back wall of the office. Yang spoke up. "Our political superiors have cautioned that any harm to Fire Nation citizens at this time would be deleterious to the international climate. Station a patrol at the Bridge of Fire."

"The order will be sent."

Yang let out a heavy breath. He could see that the final talley of tonight's incidents was going to reflect poorly on his branch. That would only invite more political interference which would in turn render maintaining safety completely impossible. As much as he hated to do so he would have to act hastily to preemptively salvage the future of his men. He had no choice but to rush things.

"Prepare a rendition team for immediate departure."

"Sir?" The questioning tone was as unavoidable as it was unprofessional. The unspoken questions filled the room. The Agency for Public Safety always got their targets, but to attempt an apprehension on a festival night when the entire city was in disguise was stretching that reputation to the breaking point.

"Do it."

Inspector Yang didn't like this prospect any more than that agent. He had already waited over twenty-four hours after receiving the information to act on it, and had planned to wait longer so that he could use an easy win to secure his branch more goodwill from higher up. But events tonight had forced his hand. His men needed a success, some action to feed the politicians. The student nationalist committee would end the night in Public Safety cells deep underground. Douli Ma'er was watching over them no longer.

...

Out on the tree lined streets of the University quarter, Zhangyi and his two friends had left the other boys to continue their aimless planning in the sing-song house. As they wove their way through the lamp lit festival crowd, Xinfei glimpsed Chonglong looking back at the brothel with an expression that said he would rather be taking part in the remaining nationalists' planned provocation than going out to meet with mysterious superiors. The other boys' talk of escalation seemed more to his taste than Zhangyi's moderation. As Xinfei's clumsy efforts in concealed tracking led to him stumbling past yet another roadside cart selling moon cakes, he once again considered suggesting to Lili that they get her back to her house right away. However, one glance at the look on her face showed that such an effort would be pointless. All he could do was follow her as she continued to down the street after the three student nationalists.

He and Lili were not the best spies. Lili's extravagant costume drew stares from everyone who caught a glimpse of it and with both of them rather taller than the city's average for their respective genders they stuck out still further. Costumes were the general order of the night but it did no good to wear masks when their targets had already seen them up close. However, as Xinfei tried to keep track of Chonglong's head moving through the crowd ahead and internally panicked, Lili had a plan. Once again, shopping came to the rescue.

Xinfei felt like he blinked for a single second and Lili had managed to negotiate the purchase of a large hoodlike brown hat with earflaps that suddenly materialized on his head replacing his costume's gold colored cap. Now he even felt like a monkey. Lili herself was now wrapped in a large shawl of some semi-transparent material in muted earth tones. Somehow it even matched her costume which peaked through from below like sprouts emerging from a tilled field. Her silver coins were still rattling on the shopkeepers' table as Lili grabbed Xinfei's wrist and to tugged him off in their continued pursuit.

Fortunately they didn't have to go far. They had trailed behind the three boys for eight blocks when Xinfei caught a glimpse of them ducking into the open doors of a large restaurant. He grabbed Lili's shoulder to get her attention and then snapped his hand back as if from a hot stove when he remembered she was a high class rich-girl and not one of his friends from the Bed. Fortunately, Lili didn't appear to notice that she should be offended. Indeed she manhandled him much more severely as she rushed forward in her enthusiasm to keep track of their quarry.

The restaurant was a well-apportioned yet packed and noisy place with twenty tables in a central room that reached up two stories to a high ceiling held up by painted columns that lined the edges. The air was thick with the smell of pipe-smoke and the sound of clinking cups mixing with the rattling of dice. Every one of the numerous patrons, mostly men, seemed to be talking and laughing and yelling all at once while any elusive gap in the noise was filled by the sound of a bow against instrument strings and a warbling voice that sang out from behind the backlit screen on the small stage at the head of the room. On a normal night such a setting would be chaotic but on this, the Festival of Veils, the gathered masked crowd looked like the full colorful throngs of the Spirit World had descended down to the earth. It was madness.

The student nationalists were already sitting down at a table halfway across the room but Lili waved paper money at the restaurant staff who quickly cleared a nearby table of some men who had been dicing for too long after only paying for a few drinks. The gamblers were angry but there are few things less sympathetic than an overworked waiter who no longer sees you as a customer. Lili made a point of ordering several random dishes as soon as they sat down to ensure the waitstaff's approval of their spying mission.

From their seats Xinfei and Lili were fairly hidden. They were far enough back to not attract the students' immediate attention, but close enough that they could understand nearly every word that their targets said. The small alterations to their costumes seemed to have done the trick. At one point Xinfei felt Zhangyi's eyes pass over them while scanning the room and he stopped breathing. But Zhangyi didn't see them. Many of the other customers were wearing costumes too so they blended in quiet well.

Lili leaned in close to Xinfei and he felt the by now familiar mental prediction that someone was about to burst in and arrest him for making advances on a Middle Ring rich girl. She murmured:

"Keep your eyes open. With most of these people in disguise it might be difficult identifying who their contact is. You've seen more of the Initiated's special masks than I have. Is there a style that you would recognize if you saw again?"

Xinfei was uncomfortable. He'd barely had a chance to see Ayika in the last few days but one of the few things that exhausted girl had managed to tell him was some very unsettling things about spirits. Xinfei didn't want to believe her. He would have thought that her overfull schedule was allowing that crazy Mama Mua to addle her brain, but he'd also seen the tailor put on that mask on the Fifth Hill. He'd seen what those men in masks did to the father and son earthbenders. He'd been close enough to hear the Masks rip up a metal lamppost. There was power at work there beyond simple disguise. But Lili was still waiting for an answer so he jusg said, "Maybe? I'm also not sure they'd risk using those masks here."

Lili gave him a searching look as if wondering if he too had been infected with talk of spirits. Xinfei hurriedly continued.

"But you're right. Let's keep alert. In a secret meeting like this they could be communicating by dead-drops, or a message covertly passed between two hands, or even hand signs flashed across the room. We should be examining every person who comes in here to see if-"

Lili interrupted. "How about him?"

She was pointing at a tall man in a full face mask who had just walked up to the three student nationalists and clapped Zhangyi on the back.

"What ho, brave conspirators! I see my message found you well."

The students were equally surprised by this entrance and spun around, whipping their heads back and forth for a moment, convinced that the guards would be rushing in after hearing that. The tall man was unconcerned as he claimed a chair at their table. He wore a plain brown robe and seemed bundled up below it against the slight autumn chill. His mask was a simple hardened paper affair, contoured to his face and painted in vertical stripes. Xinfei saw the tip of a narrow black beard bobbing below it as the man spoke to settle the three boys.

"Calm yourselves, on a night such as this much can go unnoticed. But it is good to meet you in person after our communication has been interrupted for so long." The tall man had a distinctive Lower Ring accent, so broad as to almost be comical, like an actor in a play. Far from being circumspect, he seemed to almost dare someone to notice this meeting.

Zhangyi started to say something but Jiang interrupted. "What do you mean a long interruption in communication? We received orders from the Initiated the day of the march on the Fifth Hill. Are you not one of the Initiated?" At this final sentence Chonglong began to bristle and curled his large hands into fists as he glared at the tall man in the mask. He was clearly ready to start trouble if it came to that.

The man replied lazily with a scoff. "The Initiated. They are competent street-captains but they have grown unfocused since the organization lost Li in such an untimely fashion."

Zhangyi said, "Li's been gone for almost a month. Why..." Then recognition flashed across the boys' faces."You're from Li's old patron. The one who was financing our organization for all that time."

Jiang burst in. "Wait, is Li dead? When he stopped showing up three weeks ago we thought he might have gotten nabbed by that rogue Public Safety earthbender who has been hunting us. Other people have disappeared too like, who was it, that Tian guy who made Initiated so quickly. Do you mean they are all...?" he trailed off in horror.

Chonglong was less concerned. "Dead, in a cell forever, doesn't make much difference to us. We can't help them either way. But at least we don't have to worry about them torturing information out of Li about us. Wait, they didn't get that info already did they? Did they?" He might try to look tough but he was no more immune to anxiety than the rest of his friends.

The tall man waved his hand. "Do not worry, Hir...Li died in a mugging. He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time in this city. As for any other losses, that might have been expected to come from listening to unwise voices who seem to have been advocating for needlessly dangerous measures. You boys were doing a great job of grasping public opinion with your posters and demonstrations back before these Initiated started taking...liberties. It's not your fault that the organization went off the rails when it got out of my hand. And speaking of your good works..." He produced a yellow envelope from within his robes and slid it in front of Zhangyi. The envelope was fat with something that looked an awful lot like money.

Zhangyi felt at the thick stack and even though he seemed to know what it was, slid open the flap to glance inside before quickly closing it up again. There was a moment of what would have been silence if not for the din of tables yelling loudly for a server and the thrumming notes and warbling song of the hidden musician. Zhangyi turned back to the tall masked man. "The mystery patron continues to be generous. We will certainly continue to administer the message to this district as well as we can."

It took Xinfei a moment but then he realized what Zhangyi was implying with that unusual emphasis. Back at their hiding spot in the brothel Lili had identified herself as Yushui Song, daughter of the district administrator. Zhangyi was taking her sudden appearance on the night he was scheduled to meet with his patron as a sign that Administrator Song was the sponsor. It was a reasonable deduction and only fell short by virtue of being completely wrong.

Their contact didn't appear to notice Zhangyi's awkward double meaning. The masked man habitually stroked his pointed beard once before he continued. "Certainly you will. In fact it saddens me to hear you men refer to yourselves as lesser to those Initiated. When I provided those masks I never dreamed that you founding members would be kept permanently on the outside by those fanatics. If anyone deserves to be called Initiated it's you three! You have clearly demonstrated that you know the best and most reasonable direction for the movement to proceed. After all it was your public displays that got the ministers to see the way opinion is shifting!"

"You mean... We're going to receive the true masks?" Chonglong's last word was pronounced with equal measures fear, reverence, and desire.

"Of course you can. What is a movement without its symbol? They are distinctive, are they not? You are surely doing the good work of this city's guardian spirits. Let everyone who sees you know that. I'm sure I can get you as many masks as you want. In fact, if the current leadership does not accept you, then you can raise additional Initiated that you can trust."

Xinfei frowned. There was something strange about how the mystery man had delivered that last speech. It was too casual. From what Xinfei had seen those masks were the most terrifying weapon ever unleashed on this city. Who was this man to sound so unconcerned? How powerful was someone who didn't fear those tools? He glanced over at Lili but could not read the expression behind her mask.

Chonglong was ecstatic at the prospect of entering the ranks of the Initiated. Xinfei thought that Jiang might have seemed less eager but he stayed silent as muscular friend spoke. "Your sponsor will not regret this gift! We know to respect the power of those masks. I just wish we could've had this meeting earlier. The other non-initiated students were thinking of making some demonstration up here while the Initiated are busy with their mission down in Kuang Harbor, but whatever they come up with is likely to be nothing compared to the other plan. Damn it, even if we got the masks right here there's no way we'd be able to get down to the Harbor before all the action is over."

The tall man's easy-going behavior suddenly vanished to be replaced with hardness. "The Harbor? What is happening there tonight?"

The students were taken aback. Zhangyi hesitantly said, "Oh, we thought you would know. The word went out to tell all Initiated not involved in the Lower Ring search that they were going to make a big display down at the property of that Islander who wants to force a filthy train system on us." Even behind the striped paper mask it was clear that their contact was not happy. Zhangyi looked a little uneasy now. "Don't worry, things won't go wrong like on the Fifth Hill. No one will be down in the industrial area on a holiday night. They can just destroy the place and no one will be hurt. To tell the truth I think the head of the Initiated has some personal grudge against that Miohuito. If-"

Zhangyi was interrupted by the tall man abruptly standing up. The boys stood up too and were about to say something when they suddenly twisted at the sound of a disturbance coming from the entrance. Xinfei turned around with much of the rest of the restaurant and was surprised when he recognized one of the other student nationalist they'd left behind at the brothel. He was panting and in a red-faced blind panic as he charged forward through the front tables of the restaurant searching for someone.

Chonglong ran forward to grab him by the shoulders. "Xiansen what's wrong? Tell us!"

Xiansen managed to control his breathing enough to let out two words. "Public Safety!" The mass of restaurant customers abruptly became very deliberately uninterested in the drama unfolding amidst them. No one wanted to be even tangentially involved in something that was connected to the Shadows Under Earth.

Xiansen continued, "I was just out pacing in the street. I'd felt I'd been drinking too fast so I was just trying too... But then I glanced up and I saw shadows on Flower House roof! Holes appeared in the tiles below them and they dropped down. I heard women scream from the bottom floor of the building too! It was all over in a second and then the guards started coming up the street and I just ran! Zhangyi, we have to do something! Changping was in there, and all the others! We have to-"

The tall man in the paper mask broke through Xiansen's increasingly incoherent blubbering. "Unfortunately, I think this means we have to part ways for tonight. We cannot offer the government another easy target. If this is true there is nothing more we can do for those boys. But I will not abandon you to the predations of the state. Do you remember the old message site at the Fountain of Poetry? I will have a message left in the usual spot detailing how to collect the rest of the operations money and the masks you wanted. Good holiday to you."

Before any of the boys could stop him he was threading his way out of the restaurant. None of the young men looked willing to follow him out onto the street that in their imagination might be swarming with Public Safety. Xinfei thought he might stay and listen to what more the university boys had to say but when he glanced across the table there was a pile of money for the ordered dishes which had not yet arrived and no Lili. It was all he could do to catch up with her before she vanished into the foot-traffic outside the restaurant.

"Come on Xinfei, we have to follow him. That man is the lead we have been looking for!

However, it looked like all their efforts were going to come to naught. After over a kilometer of haphazardly stealthy chasing, their masked target was nearing the open square below the University tram station. Xinfei and Lili weaved and pushed through constant knots of revelers in hurried pursuit. If he got on a tram car without them onboard they would lose him forever. But just as Xinfei was ready to risk running and potentially exposing themselves the tall man gave a slight glance to each side and then ducked in between two canvas awnings of a couple of street-side stalls. That space was flush against a building wall and though there was space to hide there was no other exit.

Xinfei hurried to take up a position on the opposite side of the street and gently moved Lili in front of him so he could steel glances over her head and still look like he was in close conversation with her. Lili scowled up at him for not giving her room to spy as well but she understood the reasoning.

She murmured to him, "Do you see him? What's he doing?"

"No, he's still back there. And if we...Wait! He's coming out now...No, shoot, that's someone else. Maybe he was meeting with...No! That's the same guy!"

Xinfei had thought that the man in the restaurant was curiously bundled up for the moderate climate tonight. He was right, it turned out the guy had been wearing that brown robe over a separate and complete outfit of rich black and gold cloth. The crude paper mask was now discarded and Xinfei saw the man's black goatee and narrow calculating eyes. He didn't look like the Lower Ring local his accent had suggested. In fact he looked foreign and strangely even a bit familiar. Xinfei struggled to place the memory.

Then it came to him. "Wait. Isn't that the guy from the tram? You know, the foreigner who you were-"

Lili spun around with the speed of crackling lighting, her hair slapping across Xinfei's mouth in her haste.

"Tailang?! Fire Nation Trade Representative Tailang?!"

This was the loudest whisper Xinfei had ever heard. Fortunately, the retreating Islander was far enough not to hear, as Lili now launched into a series of hurried exclamations in the barest pretense of hush. "Oh my... that is! That's him but...what? The Fire Nation Trade Mission's sponsoring the Masks?! How does that even make sense? I mean, I'd noticed that Tailang was benefiting from the backlash against the conservatives but this is beyond what I was considering! And does that mean that those masks actually are some sort of artifact of foreign magic? Gah! Who even knows what they get into out there? I don't know. Wait. There's no way Mizumi already knew this, right? Is there? No, of course not."

Xinfei was just as confused by the Fire Nation involvement, if less surprised that an official of any government was complicity in illicit deceptions. He'd voiced his various suspicions before but now face to face with them he had to admit he hadn't really believed they were true. However, there was something else this night that he suddenly found himself focusing on instead. A few words said back at the restaurant. It was one of those little realizations which incubates in the back of the mind and slowly grows, independent of any conscious consideration. He should have noticed it back in the conversation with Tailang and Xinfei'd been too obsessed with the mystery of identifying the man in the mask to pay that loose fact any attention. Now Xinfei opened his mouth in an absent way that hid a growing undercurrent of terror.

"Lili, Zhangyi said the Masks were busy tonight down in Kuang Harbor," Xinfei muttered distantly. "Maolin's out with his neighborhood watch to tonight. What kind demonstration are the Initiated making down there? They said it was a big show; like a lot of them. And wouldn't...wouldn't he try to stop them?"

He watched confusion melt into horror on Lili's face as fear settled into his stomach like a lump. He'd seen what those Masks could do when they were interested in making a display. Their strength, their power. Of course his brother would confront the Masks if anyone was in danger. And tonight there certainly would be danger. And if Maolin tried to match strength with the Masks... Xinfei was already running before he recognized what he was doing. Dimly he sensed that Lili was dashing along behind him but he couldn't focus on that. He had to warn his brother to stay away from whatever was about to happen. Tonight would-be heroes were already dropping like flies.

...