...

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

Chonglong should have been happier. The tall and broad university student had finally ascended to the top ranks of the movement to protect his city. He was one of the Initiated now, with his own spirit mask in a cloth bag at his side. It didn't matter that Zhangyi and Jiang had balked at the last moment, after they picked up the masks and money the man at the restaurant had promised them. They'd been afraid of being arrested like the rest of their group. They were cowards. They would regret passing down this opportunity. Now Chonglong sat alone in a small bare room as shafts of reddening light slowly sliced up the shadowed wall.

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

There had been more of the Initiated present at the covert meeting than Chonglong had expected. Before, the organization's leadership had been reluctant to meet in numbers during daylight hours but now even the masters of spiritual masks were seeking safety in groups. Or perhaps they were simply too powerful to be threatened anymore. In addition to Chonglong's normal contact there were two twitchy looking fellows dressed in Middle Ring fashions and one other man who, though dressed in someone else's ill-fitting clothes, spoke with an accent that revealed him as a noble of the Inner Ring. This noble was clearly one of the commanding Initiated and he shared none of his fellows' nervousness. Chonglong tried to mimic that man and scoff at the constant news of clashes between factions in the street and mass arrests by the guards, but he couldn't quite close his ears to what the other two Initiated were nervously whispering.

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

The ragged noble had no such doubts. In a loud voice that had made the other Initiated flinch and glance around, he proclaimed that the Fire Nation had now provoked escalation. He said that the foreigners had sent assassins to the Inner Ring, and they were likely behind the arsons across this sector of the city. Chonglong had heard the rumors about the death of Sub-Minister Erliao and was grateful to hear this noble debunk the rumors that the attacker had worn a spirit mask. In fact the noble laughed at the whole thing. Chonglong tried not to be unnerved at how long that laughter lasted. The leading Initiated then proclaimed they would hand out all the new masks Chonglong had obtained and they would raise a godly army against those who were trying to corrupt the soul of their nation. Chonglong thumped his fist on the table and cheered along, trying to ignore the strange growling inflection that sometimes crept into the man's words seemingly without him noticing.

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

The last slivers of red light vanished as the sun dipped below shadow of the city wall, leaving Chonglong in a dark and empty room. He tried to shut off the thoughts that seemed to emanate from that satchel bag in the corner. The whispers of creaking wood echoed with a faintness beyond hearing, swaying trunks in an unseen gale from some imagined forest hiding behind the air. Zhangyi and Jiang were not going to return. They'd made their choice. He was on his own, and he'd gone too far to back down now.

It was time. Chonglong lifted up the mask he'd been given, dark brown and shining with streaks of painted red across its knotted surface. Then he pressed it to his face and remembered no more but the laughter of an inhuman mind.

...

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

"Yes? Come in."

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

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

Then Lili realized that she had been silent for several seconds of inner monologue while Mengre watched impassively. She jerked slightly as her mind snapped back into the conversation. "Oh, yes. Well, see them into the parlor and I'll be down to greet them in just a moment."

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

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

She hurried down the staircase from the woman's wing. Ever since her sisters had gotten married this half of the house had felt empty but right now she was glad there was no one around to ask her why she was moving about in such a rush. Her mother was still in her apartments recovering from the burden of entertaining some more guests last night. That was the agreed upon way to refer to the lady of the house nursing a hangover that would have felled a sizable percentage of an army regiment. It came up frequently.

Downstairs, Lili carefully peaked into the front parlor and then quickly jumped back, almost slamming her hip against the corner of an ornamental table as she did so. Zhangyi and Jiang were in her house. They weren't wearing the black and white student robes that she'd seen them in before but it was unmistakably them. Lili's heart pounded in her chest. They'd found her. That meant the Masks had found her. But how? She'd given them a false name and had been wearing a disguising costume the entire time they had seen her. Even if they had seen her face, there were over fifteen million people living in this city. How could they know who she was?

Xinfei. The university boys had known him and he was currently at servant's entrance. Zhangyi and Jiang must have followed him here and now she'd let into her house. The very house they had led a mob against a few weeks ago. She remembered broken lampposts and screeching madmen. She remembered the flames licking out of the window of the Miohuito train-yard factory behind earthbenders fighting with terrifying Masks who boiled with the energy of spirit possession. Now they were here.

Lili's chest pumped in and out as she tried to breath through her nose and stop herself from panting. Allies, she needed allies.

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

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

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

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

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

Xinfei was sitting on a low bench beside the back door. When he heard Lili enter he looked up. "Lili? Oh, good. Um, I was just coming to make sure you were all good and-"

"No time!" Lili hissed in barely contained panic. "Those nationalist boys, Zhangyi and his friend are here! In my front room!"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Lili felt her cheeks blanch a bit as Zhangyi let out one faint snort of bitter laughter, calling out her fake name. She quickly found her voice, abandoning any pretense of pleasant confusion in favor of directness and force.

"How did you find me?"

"A little hypocritical, that question?" Zhangyi added, raising an eyebrow surely at the memory of him asking her the exact same thing last during the festival.

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

"You only saw me once."

"Yeah, well..." Jiang trailed off in a way which made the corner of Zhangyi's mouth tick up.

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

"Don't worry about that. I set someone to watch the door and make sure no unwelcome ears come near." She neglected to mention that if Mengre or anyone else came back and Xinfei was standing there he'd probably be flung out of the house before he could do much of anything. However, her half truth did have the desired effect of shifting the balance of power back in her favor. The two men were reminded that this was her house and she was the one in the position of authority. They looked nervous and so Lili glared at them. "So how about you tell me why you tracked me down, to my family's home, and showed up unannounced? And while you're explaining, why shouldn't I have you seized and held for the guards as members of an illicit organization? Hmm?"

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

"Public Safety raided the our meeting on the festival night right after we left. I had someone go by to talk to the madam and she said you and your non-citizen friend left just before they came." The accusation was clear. They thought she'd ratted them out.

Of course, Lili had learned about the raid at the same time Zhangyi had but she wasn't going to admit that she and Xinfei followed them to that restaurant. "And you think I'm the informant behind those arrests. All right," and here she turned away from them as if looking out the window. "...then why come here? If I was informing to Public Safety do you really think I'd be unprepared here? This would be such an easy trap to spring on you."

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

Lili couldn't help letting out a quiet huff of disbelief at their nerve. Mizumi's waterbender friend had said just whose allies had been behind that. "Apparently someone thought that he would be more useful dead than alive. I heard what that killer was wearing on his face."

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

Was this doubt that Lili heard in his voice? She knew now that Tailang and his Fire Nation influence was behind all this, but they weren't ready to hear that yet. She glanced over at Jiang. At least, Zhangyi was not ready to hear it. But still, they had come here for a reason. They were looking for a way out.

"And yet you came over here to speak to me. I'm sure you also heard about those..." She paused over choosing the word for the Masks. "...Initiated fighting in Kuang Harbor. They started fires and killed people with their bare hands. Not Fire Nation or government agents. They killed ordinary people trying to save their neighborhoods. And there are stories of more masked men smashing through the Lower Ring, destroying places that have nothing to do with foreign trade."

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

They wanted her to know something. They'd found themselves trapped down a dark path of their own making. They wanted there to be another faction they could turn to, and Lili's family might offer that. Their university friends had been arrested by Public Safety and their leaders had proved themselves violent and unreliable. These young men were desperate for any sign of a way out.

Zhangyi wasn't looking at her as he spoke to a blank wall. "Chonglong went missing yesterday."

Ah, there it was; the last straw. Jiang took a single step forward and the angled morning sun illuminated dancing dust particles in the space he departed. "I don't think he's the only one. Things are getting bad and no one seems to be in control anymore. Something's going on and we need to know what it is. We need to..." He took a breath and then met Lili's eyes. "What have you found?"

Lili steeled herself and spoke with as much casual force of persona as she could summon up. "All right then, perhaps I will help you. I've been looking for your leader. The one who commands the Masks."

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

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

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

Both university students snapped their heads around as Xinfei entered the room but then relaxed slightly as they dismissed him just as quickly. Zhanyi muttered to himself, "And of course."

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

"What?"

"You did?"

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

"You recognized him?"

"Who was it? Tell us."

Lili couldn't help hesitating. This was a big risk, relying entirely on her estimation of how they would react and this was quite a bit different from navigating the politics of popularity. "Xinfei here will back me up. We never lost sight of the masked man for a moment after he left you in the restaurant. We saw him." She took a deep breath. "It was the Fire Nation Trade Representative Amantza Tailang."

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

Xinfei stepped forward. "It's true. I've seen that guy before. And he was definitely a foreigner. He was faking an accent with you guys. He is some sort of theater fan, apparently. Heard him say it once."

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

"What?"

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

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

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

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

Now it was Xinfei who spoke up, softly at first. "Well what the hell did you think was going to happen? You say you're all about protecting the people, but you guys weren't protecting the anyone. I've heard you guys over and over, you're more worried about some cultural purity than jobs and money and people living their lives."

As Xinfei continued more and more anger began to creep into his voice. His clenched fists were vibrating. "All your education, and you didn't think building a mob might lead to people getting hurt? You didn't even limit your message to just the Fire Nation. You were just yelling about foreigners. And now when you finally see what you've been doing, you won't believe it!"

Zhangyi was almost as tall as Xinfei, a good bit stronger, and held himself with the confidence of one born into wealth and power, but now he stepped back from the radiating righteous fury of a dockworker's son. Xinfei wasn't done. He looked up and spat his words in their face.

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

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

"And another thing!" Xinfei came around for one more pass. "It's not trade and machines that are the problem! You damn idiots! Of course we're going to build our own gas lines and mechanical factories and the trams are going to be coal trains, and, and...!"

Lili patted a hand on his shoulder. "All right, I think that they get it." Xinfei was trembling and looked to be in some strange halfway state between weeping and trying to rip out their eyes. Lili couldn't help but admire that passion. Then she looked back at these lost and browbeaten students. They were lost. They were being hunted by Public Safety and trying to defect from their own secret organization. She couldn't let them remain here, though. Where could she send them?

She tapped her finger on her cheek. "Xinfei, by any chance could your brother use some additional help down in the Harbor?"

...