Curiosity rippled through the students, and Satchiko followed suit, merging into the anxious hush of the gathered crowd. Murmurs passed between the locals, fragments of speculation, unease, and condemnation. Some spoke in lowered tones of the occupants falling into disgrace, others suggested crimes severe enough to warrant the city's own judgment.
"Hey Yuko, where are you going?"
The call barely registered as Satchiko entered through the crowd, slipping past shoulders and shadows until she emerged from its density. But before she could take another step toward the condemned school, a soldier's voice cut sharply through the air, reminding her once again that a Kyoshi Warrior carried absolutely no authority here.
"Halt." The shaft of a halberd barred her path. "This area is off-limits. Scurry off."
Unwilling to provoke unnecessary trouble, Satchiko complied, easing back without protest. Yet a second voice followed, gentler and markedly more refined, tempering the soldier's brusqueness with measured courtesy.
"Please forgive Captain Huang," the newcomer said, a departure from the rough-looking soldiers that guarded the premise. "He means no malice." The speaker inclined his conical and helmet slightly, though the headwear noticeably has a small spike facing upward. "I implore your patience and understanding, as handling matters of the state are by no means a leisurely duty."
Satchiko turned to regard him, instinctively schooling her expression into something as composed and unreadable as Shan's rigid expression. The man before her wore an attire familiar from the city's upper administrative circles, the same austere elegance she had glimpsed near the Royal Palace and among the silent sentries guarding its more secretive grounds and courtyards.
"My name is Zhu Di," he continued. "We don't often reveal our names to members of the public. But rest assured, your safety isn't treated lightly. I see that you are not only affiliated with one of Ba Sing Se's esteemed institutions of learning, but also a guest from afar. For that reason, I extend to you a fair welcome to Ba Sing Se."
The Dai Li's massive sleeves connected, and inclined his head in a restrained, almost perfunctory bow. It is an act that might have been courtesy or simply a calculated performance for public reassurance. Whether it was practiced diplomacy or habitually polished indifference hardly mattered to the student. To Satchiko, the situation already carried a weight that felt precariously balanced, as though a single misstep might tip it into something far worse.
For all their civility, and despite appearing far less encumbered by armor or overt weaponry than the nearby soldiers, she could not suppress the faint tremor in her hands beneath the folds of her student's robe. Instinctively, she shifted posture, subtly drawing attention away from unease as she addressed the officer and his entourage, inquiring what transpired with the walled establishment before them.
"I am from a village," Satchiko began, forcing her voice to remain steady. "South of the Earth Kingdom, or what is left of it. We don't usually stick papers to doors, not that we have doors for our little huts anyway. But what is happening here?"
It was in truth a reasonable question, despite nearly stuttering. The intricate penal codes of great cities such as Ba Sing Se and Omashu are far more elaborate than the blunt, immediate judgments of rural settlements. Justice in backwater settlements often bore the shape of custom rather than statute, varying widely across cultures and peoples.
The Dai Li agent responded with an almost eager courtesy, while Captain Huang exhaled through his nose, as though enduring the familiar burden of provincial ignorance.
"This property, once an Earthbending academy, has been seized by the state," Zhu Di explained with measured clarity. "The proclamation displayed upon the gate serves as official notice. The public must be informed of the crime committed here, as well as the judgment rendered."
Captain Huang cast a sidelong glance at the informative Dai Li while idly drinking from a waterskin. "Well, you lot are becoming rather more transparent these days, aren't you?"
Unperturbed, the Dai Li allowed Satchiko to approach the notice. The other Dai Li is still attempting to affix it properly to the wooden door, but the adhesive glue proved less dependable than intended. The girl's eyes traced the inked characters, fragmented but legible enough to suggest accusations of grievous collusion with elements seeking to bring down the city itself. As a result, the entire household had been stripped of its rights and removed from the premises.
"I thought the local magistrate handled such matters," Satchiko said, genuine confusion edging into her voice. The mechanisms of governance in great cities still eluded her, intricate and layered like the winding streets of Ba Sing Se itself.
To that, Zhu Di inclined his head slightly in response, proclaim when the threat is deemed severe enough to endanger the stability of the state, authority is elevated beyond the magistracy. Thus, the city's cultural guardians intervene directly to seal the premises, enforce judgment, and mark the site as a symbol of profound shame.
"W–what usually happens to people like these?" Satchiko asked hesitantly, the question trembling at the edge of propriety. A part of her feared even voicing it might invite the suspicion her sister had warned. In no uncertain terms, it is always better to be careful with words in places like this.
Zhu Di exhaled through his nose, discomfort flickering across his features before he answered. In an era scarred by fractured realms and lingering wars, he explained, the city's fragile harmony is maintained through consequence as much as civility. Those accused of endangering Ba Sing Se or consorting with external factions could face a spectrum of punishments. There are imprisonment, exile, or even harsher fates that will bring permanent shame to an entire bloodline.
"The gentleman means execution, kid," the soldier captain cut in bluntly, stripping away Zhu Di's careful restraint. His voice carried without hesitation, as though he were discussing weather rather than mortality, heedless of the small crowd gathering nearby. But most of the onlookers, one can reasonably assume, probably already understood what was to come. "Beheading, waist-chopping, just take your pick. And then there's the whole slowly dripping water over the face business that our long-coat colleagues favor. Yet, those squatters from the western lands got the nerve to call me and the lads for putting down Xiao Zhong pillagers quick and cleanly."
The Dai Li agent, probably not too accustomed with bluntness, did not deny the informal yet surprisingly accurate description. When he finally spoke, he tried to be as diplomatic as possible. "We only employ such measures against those who deeply compromised the secrecy and integrity of the state," he rectified, knowing it wouldn't be safe for his neck if the reputation of Ba Sing Se and its diplomatic effort is tarnished in front of the students gathered from afar. "Surely your own homeland or village enforces comparable laws? Treason, after all, is universally condemned, regardless of region or custom."
For a moment, Satchiko remained frozen. The Dai Li's words pressed down on her thoughts like damp stone, heavy and suffocating. She murmured an apology for her interruption, bowed with practiced haste and excused herself from the gathering.
Neither the Dai Li nor the soldier captain paid her departure much mind. Both had larger matters to attend to than a student who is too curious for her own good.