...

Mizumi had to admit, the water witch had risen to the occasion of the holiday. When Nia Mua entered Erliao's mansion not a single eye that landed on her did not stay transfixed. Her hips alone were enough to cause a scandal. Although Mua was taller than Ayika both women shared a certain characteristically Tribal set of measurements and here those features were magnified by layers of colorful ruffled cloth around the dress' waist. They swished above the shaman's thighs with each step. This was not a disguise. On a night when Mua could have hidden as anyone or anything she had chosen to magnify her foreignness. Her smooth dark skin was highlighted and exposed by as many slashes in the costume's brilliantly colored fabric as could be supported without giving way to total indecency. If Ayika was dressed as the moon, the sacred and true heart of the tribes, then Mua was every worst stereotype reclaimed, savage and lascivious and the object of terrifying longing. She stepped across the marble floor in open toed shoes, her leg sliding free of her dress with each stride.

The mask she wore was a tight net of blue beads held across her face by ribbon. It was stylized in the shape of a jawless skull. Tonight Mua had come dressed as beautiful death.

Mizumi looked away from Mua in sudden fear that someone had seen her staring that way but she need not have worried. The other party-going women were staring with comparable agog, while half the men seemed to be looking around expecting that this display was somehow a trap meant to test them. When Ayika saw their target she took a purposeful step forward towards the front of the mansion but Mizumi caught hold of her arm. Mizumi trusted Ayika and her judgement, usually, but she had proved to have a remarkably low tolerance for alcohol tonight. It might be best to encourage a pause before any decision was made. In fact Mua was rapidly striding through the halls in complete disregard for the planned weaving path of the party.

Mizumi pulled Ayika in close a if they were in huddled conversation. In the moments that followed, Mizumi felt her heart beating in her chest as the ripples of Mua's passing echoed though the party's population but still Mizumi tried to concentrate on that fearsome prospect instead of the heat and scent of Ayika who was proving to be very distracting even while standing perfectly still.

After a moment Ayika whispered, "She went on. We need to follow."

In a flash she managed to wriggle free of Mizumi's hand and confidently strode off after Mama Mua. Frozen for a moment, Mizumi noticed that Ayika sometimes also had a sashaying way of walking. Then she shook her head to focus on the potentially deadly matter at hand. With that liquor-induced blush creeping into Ayika's cheeks one of them needed to be clear headed. She hurried after Ayika, trying to stay just behind Mua.

The final large room of the party's winding course was centered around three long tables which would at any movement be covered with a dazzling display of edibles. The large concentration of guests attracted by this prospect was reigned over by the night's host, Sub-Minister of Culture and Worthy Expression Chao Erliao. The host had chosen the heavy yellow-gold robe costume option from among the appropriate noble's selections. In that last second before things changed, he seemed to be enjoying the party. although Mizumi saw him shoot a quick dark look at Mister Gaoli who had gathered his own little group over in the corner. Whatever rumors Goli had been spreading, Erliao did not appreciate them. Yet he did not have any more opportunity to dwell on this because that was when Mua broke out of the crowd and stepped forward into the center of the room.

Erliao had been deep in some conversation with a few guests but the instant he saw the tribal woman he stopped in mid sentence. His first look was one of pure disbelief. That expression then melted to confusion as Mua did not continue to stride towards him but instead swept through the party room and out a back door to the courtyard outside. Mizumi would have thought the minister would run for the hills at this first opportunity given how his last interaction with Mua had gone. However, instead she heard Erliao make a hurried excuse about seeing what this commotion was all about before he rushed out after her. The remaining party goers erupted into a flurry of mutters and whispers and many cast pained looks at the twice-used exit, wishing that the ironbound rules of etiquette did not forbid them from following that mysterious pair for at least five minutes. Fortunately, Mizumi and Ayika were not bound by local etiquette. Together they moved around the side of the room to sneak unseen out another exit a little ways away.

There were no lights lit in the outside courtyard but the mansion that surrounded it on three sides was filled with such vibrant illumination that what spilled out was enough to provide a reasonable facsimile of late afternoon. Despite Mizumi's emphatic gestures Ayika insisted on leading the way as they crept past shrubs and bamboo stands into eavesdropping position. She was still buoyed on by whatever amount of alcohol she had drunk, or possibly she simply did not understand Mizumi's tactical hand gestures. They really should have discussed a signal system. Fortunately, they did not need to creep far. Just ten meters away Mua was standing in the open beside an ornamental koi pond near the center of the courtyard. The two girls took up positions behind an large and pitted scholar's rock.

Erliao stormed up to Mua out of the long crossing shadows and instantly launched into a shouted whisper. "Nia?! How did you get in here? After your last ridiculous attempt to frighten me I could have you executed!"

Mua's languidly accented voice drawled out her reply. "Don't pretend ya haven't tried. It's not my fault ya couldn't find me, Chao. Fate has a way of working against murderers."

Erliao was now even angrier but there was also a small note of fear. However, it was still not as much fear as Mizumi thought would be reasonable given Mua's last attack. For some reason he was still convinced she would not really hurt him despite all evidence to the contrary.

"Again? Nia, I had absolutely nothing to do with Chen Lizhen's death and I don't know how you think I did. I am searching for those responsible! I've sent orders to comb every possible hiding spot for that villain. Now, stop this posturing. If you were actually intending to kill me in some misguided pursuit of justice you would have done so already." He spread his hands, his self assurance returning. "You're a bender, I am not, yet here I stand. You wouldn't have walked in through the front door where half the city saw you if you actually intended to commit such a brazen crime. There's nothing you could get away with here. So, Nia, with that settled I need you to tell me how you got into the Inner Ring!"

Mua evidently did not like that tone, or the minister's curious habit of addressing her by her first name. "I received an invitation," she snapped.

Erliao took a sudden step back. He looked around at the surrounding mansion walls and windows. That simple sentence was what brought him to the point of fear. He spoke quickly, mostly to himself. Mizumi could barely make out his muttered words from her hiding spot. "No. You're a planted distraction! Some adversary is going to use tonight as the opportunity to take me out of the equation! Someone must have known about our past and made use of that knowledge in their plans. You foolish woman, you were sent in to throw me off balance, get me alone! Gaoli? No, he's been making a public scene of himself here for an hour talking about you. He'd be the first suspect. But who else knew? Who else did Chao talk to before the end?"

Mua did not like being ignored, "Don't you say his name! You've no hold over me any more. Our past's finally irrelevant. I'm willin to pay for the betrayal Ah committed to Chen. And for all your scheming and politics there's one crucial thing ya missed in your calculations." A grin began to slowly slip onto her lips. "You've overestimated how much Ah care about leaving here alive." She opened her palms in front of her and strands of undulating mist began to rise from the pond-water behind her.

True terror finally began to dawn on Erliao. In an instant, a profound re-estimation of Mua flashed across his face and he realized he'd made a mistake. He turned and started to ran towards a nearby wing of the mansion but a whip of levitating water shot out and knocked him off his feet. He yelled out as he landed on the ground heavily, "Zhang! Help!"

A window slammed open somewhere in the mansion above but at that moment the courtyard abruptly exploded into an all-concealing fog. There was no chance of some archer or hired earthbender picking off Mua was a projectile now. She stepped forward. Erliao rolled over and tried to push himself backwards as his panicked words came tumbling out of his mouth "Nia, I've never done anything to hurt you! I never stole you away from Chen. You know that! We were just...it was a mistake on both our sides. We were young. And I never wanted Chen to die! Someone's twisted something and things are getting out of control-"

Nia Mua loomed over Erliao. In the thick fog she was a black shadow rising over a huddled form on the ground. "Given the time Ah'd love to find out just what you've done to tear apart the spiritual stability of this land. You and your filthy masks. Chen was trying to undo it. That's why you killed him. But that's for another to deal with now, Ah don't have time for questions anymore. In a choice between personal desire or even protectin this city, and justice for Chen, Ah know my answer. I'll choose Chen every time. I learned that lesson. And I'll gladly pay for my crimes against love."

Erliao was flat on his back with his gold costume grinding into the dirt as he darted his head left and right looking for any openings to escape. There were none. Ropes of water rose up out of the pool behind Mua like air-born snakes undulating to arcane rhythms, swirling faster and faster as they built up to cutting speed. Mua raised up her open palm to wind up the slicing final blow. Her hand jerked downward. Then she froze as she felt a knife blade press gently against her throat.

Mizumi whispered into Mua's ear. "Lovely holiday this city has. These costumes allow you to conceal so many things. Hello, Shaman Mua" The water ropes splashed down, free of their motive force as Mua halted.

No one could accuse Erliao of being slow to seize an opportunity. He was already on his feet and dashing off to the safety of the other wing of the mansion before he had time to even guess who Mizumi was.

Mua growled at Mizumi as she stood still, held by the biting metal against her skin. "You!"

"Yes, her." Ayika ran out to reveal herself. "Mua, please. You can still get away without this ending in tragedy. Erliao wronged you back then but you can't kill him. I know you still don't have any proof he's responsible for Lizhen's death! This isn't justice, this is just like what the Masks do!"

"Wronged me? Ha. You don't understand a thing you're talkin about." Her hands twitched up but Mizumi responded by pressed the knife blade tighter and Mua stopped struggling.

"I know that Lizhen wouldn't want you to be a murderer! He wouldn't have kept your picture all those years! He cared about you more than that, no matter how things ended between you two!"

Mua looked around as if seeing past Ayika. Then she closed her eyes. A smile crept on her lips. "You've got it wrong again, girl. I was the one who wronged him. Chao and I are both guilty. And now Ah mean to secure some small measure of forgiveness."

She suddenly stuck back with her elbow and pushed Mizumi off her. Mizumi yelled in surprise as she felt her knife slide across the woman's throat but Mua dashed off unharmed into the fog. Mizumi looked down and saw that the blade was now encased in a thick sheath of ice. She cursed loudly as Ayika ran over to check on her.

"Ayika! We need to get out of here or we will be arrested with her! No one else has seen us out here yet but that will change."

Ayika looked at the swirling vaporous white fog that had vanished Mua. This whole burst of violence had a very sobering effect which had left her head alarmingly clear. She nodded as she started to move back across the courtyard. "Right, we need to get back to-"

Suddenly a scream rang out from the other wing of the mansion. It was a man's scream and came from right where Mua had chased after Erliao.

Ayika was horrified. "She caught him."

Mizumi on the other hand was more perplexed. "Already? He had a head start and looked fit. Being able to bend does not make you run faster. If-"

Whatever else Mizumi had intended to say was cut off by the sound of smashing wood. Then it came again along with a cacophony of general destruction inside the building. Some powerful warriors were fighting fiercely. Erlaio's guards must have gotten to Mua and she wasn't going down quietly. As Ayika spun around she saw that Mizumi and her were no longer alone in the foggy courtyard. There was a hooded black shadow standing off to the side of them. Distracted by the cloud of alcohol still in her system Ayika could suddenly feel the reach of the spirit world. She realized who that had to be. The Nine-Step-Shadow had appeared to complete his announcement of Mua's death. The death omen had done it's work.

Ayika's neck felt tight as she watched the black shadow stand a few paces away. She wondered if Mua had seen the spirit in that final moment. She wondered if Grandma Aka had been right and it had provided some measure of comfort. Even as she felt the sinking feeling knowing what sad end Mua was coming too she couldn't help feeling relief. The death omen had not been meant for her or Mizumi.

Then spirit took one step forward and Ayika felt icy fear plunge through her veins. But in that same instant the night was shattered by a loud roaring howl that blasted from the direction Mua and Erliao had run to. Ayika jerked back to face this new threat so fast her neck spasmed. The touch of the spirit world retreated before one of primal danger. That was not a spiritual omen. It was a material, physical sound. This noise bounced across every wall of the mansion and vibrated through their very bones. The smashing sounds continued inside the building.

Mizumi stopped suddenly in the middle of her escape as she too spun to face the howl. "What was that?!"

Ayika felt a shiver run up her spine. She recognized that feeling, that sense of something at once beyond the material and yet all too physical. She knew what was back there. Power flowing across both worlds.

Suddenly there was a splintering crash and a thump in the ground several meters in front of them. This was followed by a human form rolling and sliding across the courtyard floor to settle near their feet. Then that form coughed and rolled over once more. Mama Mua raised herself up off the ground on scraped and bloody arms.

Panting, she said, "Hey. Your Masks are here. It seems ya were right, girl. Looks like they don't like Chao either."

Without Mua maintaining her water bending the fog was already dissipating. One gap in the wisps was now big enough for them to see a man step out through the hole of a splintered wood door leading into the mansion. The man was wearing a simple thin undershirt and light trousers but obviously he did not have to worry about the coming autumn chill. Red eyes glowed from behind the purple mask he wore and even now Mizumi saw him obscured by a shifting violet shadow-like smoke that clung to his back and limbs. It formed the suggestion of a second creature clinging to the back of each arm and leg, moving the human beneath like a puppet. Ayika had been right. The Masks were merging with hostile spirits.

How could anyone face that? Ayika could understand Mua's hatred from jilted love and festering guilt. She could even imagine Erliao's hatred of change battling with tradition. But within those carved sockets there was no hatred in the burning light, or any emotion that could be matched by a human heart. There was only power and unknown alien thought.

The frozen moment stretched. The Mask jerked and twitched slightly as he stood in the shattered doorway, as if his limbs were a new machine whose operation he was still learning. Then his head tilted back and he let out a laugh like grinding ice as he turned on the three women in the courtyard, his fingers curled like grasping claws.

...

Ayika panted as she ran through the mansion halls. Screaming guests fled in every direction around her. She was now terrifyingly clear headed. Few things were more sobering than fleeing for your life. The last few moments had been chaos. Ayika remembered Mua waving her arms to send the remaining courtyard fog flying together to solidify around the Mask in an imprisoning armor of ice. That man broke his arm free of his frozen bonds in a matter a second and laughed as he went about freeing the others. The three woman had run inside but the only reason they had escaped was by running into the very guards rushing out to defend Erliao against Mua. In that instant of collision the bashed and bloody waterbender hadn't provoked nearly as much alarm as the monstrous masked attacker racing up behind them. The Mask launched himself forward and proceeded to smash in amongst the mansion security. Ayika grabbed Mizumi and Mua's arms as they fled with the rest of the partygoers.

"How did the Masks get here?" Mizuni yelled as she ran down the hallway while still trying to support a battered Mua.

Mua gritted her teeth as the two girls accidentally half flung her into a wall while rounding a corner. "Ah don't know! Chao was running to hide in his bedroom or somewhere but someone must've been hiding in there already! Ah'd just saw the door close when I suddenly heard him scream bloody murder up ahead. It sounded like a bear was loose in there and then next thing that monster was bursting out through a solid wall! Ah couldn't hit the blasted thing more than once and when Ah did it was only 'cus he was a little busy throwing me through a door!"

"If part of the plan was for you to-?"

"Another time maybe, ladies!" Ayika was just concentrating on running. Her head may have been clear but as she panted she was noticing her feet were still a little more uncertain than she would prefer while running for her life. If she ever had another moment to think she would use it to curse Inner Ring alcohol.

Mizumi, however, seemed to have infinite breath to spend talking while running. "But why us? Erliao had to be their target, correct? The nationalists would have no reason to chase us? No one could even know we were going to be here!"

"And the nationalists shouldn't be attacking Erliao either but you saw that thing. That wasn't just a human in control!" By the end of that sentence Ayika could barely find air to push out the words. Screams rang out behind them. At one point they had to fight past green-badged men who were running towards the disturbance but no one questioned three more women fleeing from danger.

Ayika and the others made it out the mansion's front doors and halfway to the compound gate before they stopped to turn around. They could hear the clatter of a carriage rushing off down the outer road in a hurried escape. The driver could not be blamed. Mua braced her hands against her thighs as she tried to regain her breath. Ayika looked back across the carriage yard at the mansion's lantern illuminated facade. It looked so deceptively peaceful.

To Ayika's irritation and admiration Mizumi was barely winded. "Well, that was a disaster. Shaman Mua, your crazy quest is over. by now that assassin must concerned with his own escape. Let us find a servant. The coachmen should be just as eager to get away from this as we are to get to the station. We should be out of danger if we can slip out now before the guards arrive."

Mua was clearly in pain but she still chuckled mockingly even if it made her wince. "Fire Nation. Always so confident. Always sure ya know how the world works. Your people never really understand spirits. That was a possession. To spirits manifested like that in the material world shamans stand out like beacons. And we've got maybe the only two in this damn city standing right here."

Ayika was about to say something but it died on her lips as the main doors of the mansion were flung open. Or perhaps open was the wrong word. The righthand door was flung clear off. The three meter tall slab of thick wood pattered with embossed bronze briefly hung in the air before it crashed and screeched its way down the long slope of stone steps. Then Mask stepped forward, a dark shape casting a long shadow in the light that spilled out from the main hall. The purple aura around him was the most concentrated Ayika had ever seen it. It seemed almost like a transparent second body fastened to the man's back. There was blood on his fists and the mask tilted up as if it was sniffing the air.

She did not stick around to look any closer. All three women spun at the same moment and dashed towards the open gate to the road beyond the compound. Ayika glanced to the side and saw Mizumi once more held her knife in her fist, though what she planned to do with that against such a monster Ayika didn't know. Sneaking up on it did not seem like a wise prospect. Outside the compound wall it was dark. At least no one had tried to close the mansion gate. It was a tempting barrier now but would have taken all three of them to have any hope of moving the massive thing and from what she'd seen this Mask was likely to just jump over it or punch through it. That was not to say they had a better plan.

Thus far this flight had been directed purely by instinct. Now that they had gotten outside, it was clear that was not going to be enough. The carriage path wound its way across the stone bridge over a small stream and out through dark open fields and low grassy hills towards the distant lights of tram terminal. Right now that destination could have been outside the Outer Wall for all the good it did them.

Mua ran a few steps off the path and then stopped once more. So, she had seen their hopeless situation as well. Mizumi skidded to a halt beside Ayika. In a distant way Ayika managed to admire how the other woman's costume did nothing to obstruct her movements. She had also acquired yet another knife from somewhere.

Mizumi planted herself facing the gate behind them, a small blade held in each fist. "Ayika, run! Those Masks hate foreigners so I should be able to convince him to face me for a few moments. That can give you time to hide!"

Ayika grabbed Mizumi by the arm and spun her so forcefully that she nearly impaled herself on the knifes. She gripped onto Mizumi's arm so tightly her fingers hurt.

"No! You're not a damn hero! You're coming with me!"

Her throat hurt like she was screaming but for some reason she could barely hear her own voice over the blood pounding in her ears. A desperate fury like none she'd ever felt before raged through her chest. If the Nine-Step-Shadow had appeared in that moment she would have ripped off its ill-omened arms.

Mizumi looked up with pain-widened eyes behind her gold mask but somehow managed a smile. Backlit by the glow washing out from the mansion gate she looked like some ancient warrior out of legend. She was beautiful. "Like she said, that thing is after shamans. He will probably just push me to the side but that will still be a distraction." A roar echoed from inside the compound, breaking the silence of gurgling water and faintly chirping insects as it underlined the unspoken lie of Mizumi's words. "So run! Now! Ayika, please!"

In that moment Mua interrupted. "If ya all are done with the dramatic speeches, perhaps we could all get outa here? If ya don't mind."

Ayika and Mizumi both turned back to see Mama Mua standing in the middle of the little stream, floating on a small raft of ice. The two girls shared a look that confirmed that both had temporarily forgotten about the existence of waterbending. Both then ran and leaped out over the water as behind them the Mask darted out of the open gate behind them. Ayika found her traction on the little ice raft and grabbed hold to arrest Mizumi's slipping off that strange frozen construct.

Mua had other things to worry about. She raised her arms and the advancing Mask vanished to them as the whole world exploded into vaporous white. Mua then flung her arms forward and Ayika heard the faint sounds of fog bursting into existence down the path of the river, providing them with cover. The ice raft below their feet lurched and Ayika grabbed one arm around both Mua and Mizumi's waists as they rushed into waterbending powered motion down the stream. It was not until they burst into the starlight a moment later that Ayika noticed what had happened. Turning her head back she saw a line of fog stretching back in the opposite direction across the undulating landscape of the Upper Ring.

"You tricked it!" she said and immediately felt that such a statement was as painfully obvious as the night wind that was whipping through her hair.

Mua continued concentrating on her sweeping arm motions that carried them along the narrow watercourse at an incredible speed. "It won't last for long, even if spirits are easily distracted. But hey, what do Ah know? I've never seen a possession like that."

Mizumi chimed in through gritted teeth. "Just go!"

Their tiny raft of magical ice skipped and jumped as Mua guided it at bone-breaking speed along the narrow ornamental stream. They raced through night-shadowed green fields and rolling hills under the white moon. Behind them, the upper floors of Erliao's golden mansion stood happily shining out over the compound wall with their thousand twinkling lamps, oblivious to the tragedy within.

...