"In what world did you think that was a good idea?"
The two sisters retraced their steps to the very street upon which Shan's siheyuan stood, which is a place for Mayumi that had gradually become something of a second home. They walked side by side along the broad avenue, searching for the modest residence that seemed almost anomalous amidst the surrounding affluence. As they approached, Mayumi made certain that her sheathed dao remained plainly visible to any passing observer.
Satchiko attempted to explain herself, or perhaps merely to convince both her sister and herself that the matter was not nearly as grave as Mayumi believed. Yet no justification, however earnest, could assuage the elder sibling's mounting concern.
"But big sis, the four people I regularly meet aren't dangerous," Satchiko insisted. She could not fathom why Mayumi was so vehemently opposed to her visits to the small temple nestled near the royal palace. "They're Earthbenders too, skilled ones. They've even offered to teach me how to use that stubborn element."
Mayumi stopped abruptly, forcing Satchiko to nearly walk into her before halting as well. Fortunately, the street remained deserted.
"Sister, you have no idea how recklessly you're courting disaster," Mayumi said, her voice edged with unmistakable severity. "Even if I concede that Shan is far too scholarly to serve as an Earthbending instructor, of all the places in Ba Sing Se where you could have learned the element, you chose the one place I pray you had never set foot in. You do not understand what those people would do if they discovered you had been associating with their trainees."
Stunned, Satchiko fell silent. Never in her life could she recall being the target of such stern reproach from Mayumi. Yet innocence and ignorance were poor shields against uncomfortable truths.
"Mayumi," Satchiko ventured cautiously. "Those people at the temple, they're actually connected to us. Apparently Kyoshi herself once—"
The sentence died unfinished. Mayumi raised a hand, that gesture alone was enough to instill silence.
"Sister," she said even more solemnly. "Do not say that here."
The younger woman's bewildered expression softened Mayumi's resolve, if only slightly. After a long pause, the latter relented enough to explain that there are certain chapters of history that were never spoken of openly, especially not to the youngest of Kyoshi Island. The fact Akahana's eldest child had been entrusted with even a sliver of those jealously guarded secrets were solely because they are journeying to Ba Sing Se, where there exists a genuine risk of crossing paths with those whose actions had brought profound shame upon the Avatar who founded their homeland.
"What about those four?" Satchiko pressed, desperation creeping into her voice. "They weren't there today. I'm worried something may have happened to them."
Even then, Mayumi offered no quarter. She implored her sister never to return to that solitary temple and never to seek out those Earthbending youths again.
"This city is not our home," Mayumi replied, tempering her admonishment with reason. "The rules are different. You've already seen what can happen to those who broke them."
At once, the image of the severed head inside the Lower Ring courthouse resurfaced in Satchiko's thoughts. As a warrior who had honed the arts of combat before she could scarcely form complete sentences, she was far less susceptible to horror than some sheltered aristocratic heiress. Blood, death, and violence were unfortunate realities of the world she inhabited and experienced in excruciating detail on the way to this city. Yet it was one thing to witness brutality inflicted upon a condemned reprobate and quite another to imagine it befalling those who had shown her kindness.
Could any reasonable Kyoshi Warrior truly bear the thought of others suffering punishment because of her own transgressions?
Satchiko briefly considered arguing that a shared heritage might earn some measure of leniency, and that perhaps those who traced their origins to the same founder would prove more forgiving. Yet the notion withered almost as soon as it formed. In a city as vast and unforgiving as Ba Sing Se where staunch laws carried greater weight than the whims of a backwater village, it is naive to believe that something as inconsequential as ancestry could shield anyone from harsh reprisal.
After all, she is a student under a scholar of Legalism. Ignorance on the impartiality of penal code could hardly serve as an excuse.
"But they have helped me," Satchiko stressed. "I do not mean to disrespect you or Shan by acting behind your backs, but it is true that my Earthbending has improved, if only slightly." She glanced toward Mayumi once more, searching for leniency and perhaps some alternative they had yet to consider. "Should we not strive to follow the example of Kyoshi herself?"
At that, the older Kyoshi Warrior could only sigh inwardly. The entire matter was truly lamentable. Even if the improvement amounted to nothing more than hurling smaller stones with greater speed and precision, it was still progress. Yet such gains seemed trivial when weighed against the peril lurking beneath them. Those who dealt with these shadowy denizens of Ba Sing Se remained blissfully ignorant of the consequences awaiting anyone foolish enough to pry into the secrets of the Dai Li.
In the end, blood remained thicker than water. Though Mayumi bore responsibility for training the younger peers, there was never any doubt where her loyalties lay. When forced to choose, she would safeguard her own people without hesitation, placing the well-being of those closest to her above that of mere strangers, however deserving they might be.
"Do not play with fire," Mayumi warned as Shan's courtyard residence came into view. Her voice carried a weight that left little room for argument. "The last time we drew attention to ourselves in Yi Province, we invited enough trouble as it was. I admire your courage and your desire to help others, but never forget that we stand alone here. We have no support from our other sisters."
That final remark struck deeper than Satchiko cared to admit. Perhaps they had assumed their journey to Ba Sing Se would pass without incident, and that life within the walls of the world's greatest city would be peaceful compared to the war-ravaged lands throughout the fractured Earth Kingdom.
As the hopelessly optimistic saying went, what harm could come from a small adventure?
Had any of them, or even the village elders themselves, foreseen the trials awaiting them beyond Kyoshi Island, perhaps an entire company of Kyoshi Warriors would have accompanied them on this venture. The expedition might then have resembled the legendary exploits of their village's late hero, who had crossed distant horizons and even had the privilege to fought beside a living Avatar.
But such precautions had seemed absurd before their own departure. Why would a privileged teenager, blessed with an opportunity delivered upon a silver platter, require an escort of seasoned warriors merely to pursue her mastery of Earthbending?
"Lay low, Satchiko," Mayumi warned, her voice softened into something perilously close to a plea. "You assured me you would not invite further trouble. As for the four you mentioned, not a word must be spoken. Whatever fate or consequence awaits them, let it be settled among themselves. It is not our place to intervene."
Satchiko had indeed made that promise, though it had seemed far simpler to keep when she believed that within Ba Sing Se, nothing would ever truly compel them into conflict. But can they genuinely leave this unaddressed?
"Avatar Kyoshi wouldn't want this," Satchiko insisted, imploring action for the four missing Earthbending trainees, who had in good faith shared their knowledge on a modest yet precise form of bending.
"She wouldn't," Mayumi conceded. "But you do not understand these people as I and Mother do."
Satchiko fell silent, now listening with greater intent, as though being ushered into a mosaic of carefully guarded truths belonging to her own kin.
"These people," Mayumi continued solemnly, voice sharpening with restrained disdain. "They have no allegiance to kin, no sense of moral restraint. They have brought disgrace upon Kyoshi's legacy and will become our undoing if we so much as allow ourselves to be seen by them. So do not place your faith in heritage alone. It has been centuries since Kyoshi herself walked the Four Nations, and even kings and war heroes are not beyond the reach of their ilk."
As an old Earth Kingdom idiom warned, there are those so consumed by ambition that they forget even the bonds of the six familial relations.
Seeing the quiet collapse of resolve in her younger sister, Mayumi placed a steady hand upon Satchiko's shoulder.
"Please understand," she said more gently, imploring her sister to consider the difference in their age and varied responsibilities. "The likes of Orihime and I must first account for those under our charge. We still help where we can, but only where we can afford to." The older Kyoshi Warrior allowed the weight of that thought to settle before continuing. "And consider what it is you are tempted to do. Confronting the servants of this city is not like dealing with roadside brigands. You would be fortunate merely to survive."
No rebuttal came. Both had already witnessed too much of the world's brutality to underestimate the scale of what such adversaries could unleash if directed at them. For now, at least in Satchiko's mind, the robed figures with their spiked conical helmets had not yet turned their gaze upon them. The four Earthbending trainees, however, might not be granted the same mercy of obscurity.
"I may be the one who put them in danger," Satchiko admitted at last, burdened by her involvement.
Though Mayumi suspected as much, she remained firm. "Then leave this matter be," she said. "Let them resolve their own affairs. Return to your quarters at the university, and keep yourself from drawing attention."
The nod from Satchiko came slowly and reluctantly. If they remained unseen, they might yet escape unscathed. But the same could not be said for the four missing trainees, who may already be subject to whatever castigation the city deemed appropriate.
Here, law differed sharply from that of a rural Earth Kingdom village. The codes of Ba Sing Se often struck outsiders as draconian, their logic opaque to those unversed in the city's intricate governance. What might pass as a minor indiscretion elsewhere could become the very reason one's fate was sealed at the edge of an executioner's blade.
"Let them settle this amongst themselves," Mayumi implored one final time. "They may be Kyoshi's creation, but it is not our place to meddle in how they choose to govern their own affairs."
This time, Satchiko offered no reply. Her gaze fell instead to the ground, as though the weight of unspoken thought had grown too heavy to sustain. As much as they had fashioned themselves in the image of Kyoshi's enduring legacy and those who had once stood beside successive incarnates, she understood even with her youthful inexperience that not all who claimed heroic lineage bore its purity. Still, she did not fault Mayumi. Rather, she found herself quietly unsettled by her older sister's apparent indifference toward the four lives that may now have been placed in jeopardy.
Yet then again… had she, the self-proclaimed defender of the weak, not once done the same? Had she not, with far less justification, cave in to utter fear and turned away from the needy when the city of Hao Jing stood on the brink of ruin beneath the advance of marauding forces?
"Is there… truly nothing I can do?" Satchiko asked quietly.
Before Mayumi could answer the unease gathering in Satchiko's expression, the doors of Shan's siheyuan slid open with unhurried grace. Mayumi, ever cautious, had spoken in measured tones, careful to veil specifics. It is an instinct born not only of prudence, but of survival in a city where a loose tongue could become a liability. This is especially true outside Shan's residence, and indeed, just about anywhere within Ba Sing Se.
"I hope yours truly did not interrupt," Shan said, the scholar's courtesy as habitual as breath. "It is not my intention to pry, though it is understandable that certain laws of this city are not always easily interpreted by those from beyond its walls."
As was customary, Mayumi took the lead, offering a composed account that their discussion had concerned nothing more than minor complications. Whether Shan believed her fully was impossible to discern. Even if the explanation struck him as little more than polite obfuscation, he gave no indication that he intended to press the matter further.
"Yours truly trust that is so," Shan replied vaguely before turning the attention to his student. "Pupil, in our next lesson I shall elaborate upon the most severe penal codes that have governed various dynasties of the Earth Kingdom. The written laws of the past may appear ironclad in the naive lens of those sages, yet it would be indispensable to comprehend the subtleties and fine technicalities that have determined the fate of the condemned and entire fallen kingdoms. In the meantime, ensure you do not appear neglectful towards your primary studies under Zhu Xi."
Many students of the Earth Sages, even as Satchiko had often observed within the Middle Ring's most prestigious academy, tended toward an excessive and uncritical devotion to rote learning. Their studies leaned heavily on memorization and recitation of ancient texts, yet rarely ventured into inquiry or interpretation. Even by the modest standards of rural education, many appeared to give little thought to the principles underlying those doctrines, as if the words of antiquity required no justification beyond their own age. Some still clung to a rigid, almost reverential belief that even the most senseless decrees of long-dead ancestors demanded unquestioning obedience.
"Understood," Satchiko replied, carefully concealing the lingering unease that had taken root within her regarding the fate of those Earthbending trainees. At that moment, she wondered whether Shan might offer some form of assistance in this delicate matter, given that the White Scholar is essentially the sole student and likely successor to the outwardly amicable Han Fei himself. But in truth, the young warrior could not discern how much influence a mere museum director truly wielded within such affairs.
Her elder sister watched as Satchiko turned away alone from the residence's doorway, beginning the return toward the Middle Ring. The posture betrayed uncertainty as much as apprehension. Before Mayumi could offer further reassurance, Shan spoke first, his counsel measured and unhurried.
Whether intentional or not, the scholar's words addressed the dilemma in a manner that subtly discouraged any course of action that might place the young warrior in jeopardy.
"Pupil, heed the words of yours truly and do not miss your next lesson," Shan said. "Those of us who were not raised under the tradition of the Earth Sages are not bound by their pedagogical lineage. For that reason alone, my loyalty rests with the city and the law itself rather than inconsequential whims."
Satchiko inclined her head, interpreting his statement as a tacit admission that even he could not intervene in matters that might carry consequences of tremendous scale. And yet, given the unsettling Legalistic philosophy he espouses, one that often diverged sharply from conventional notions of loyalty and personal obligation, there lingered another implication beneath his words. It was also a quiet warning that circumstances could one day compel the White Scholar to place the interests of the state above all personal ties, without hesitation or remorse.