“How did this stuff travel up here?” she asked. “For that matter, how did the people?”
“There’re unmarked passageways through the mountains,” Kirima said. “More trade secrets. The royal surveyors in Ba Sing Se don’t have a clue.”
That must have been a big part of why daofei were so hard to stamp out for good. Kyoshi reflected on what Jianzhu had told her, about the Earth Kingdom being too big to police. If underground networks like this one could thrive so near the capital, then the rot must be worse throughout the far reaches of the continent. A whole other community existed below the surface of the Earth Kingdom.
The moniker of the Fifth Nation pirate fleet suddenly took on a defiant meaning. We’re here, Kyoshi imagined their formidable leader saying with an ice-blue stare. We’ve always been here. Ignore us at your peril.
Wong’s foot caught on a brass oil lamp. The vendor it belonged to cursed before looking upward and silencing himself willingly. With his size, the Flitting Sparrowkeet didn’t need name recognition. First glances were enough.
“It’s crowded,” Wong repeated. He’d been f
ixated on that since they’d arrived.
Kirima and Lek took his complaint seriously. They lifted their heads higher, scanning the bazaar. Kyoshi tried to help, but she had no idea what to look for.
“East by northeast,” Rangi said. “They’re listening to someone speak.”
Sure enough, the people gathered in that corner of the bazaar had their backs turned, showing dao broadswords or other weapons strapped to their torsos. They nodded intently, absorbing whatever message was being preached to them. Someone found the leader a stool or a crate, because he stepped upward to reveal an ugly face bisected by a leather strap.
Lek and Kirima both swore loudly. “We’ve got to get out of here,” Lek said. “Now.”
“What’s the problem?” Rangi said.
“The problem is we shouldn’t have come here,” Kirima said. “We’ve got to leave town. As fast as possible.”
“Don’t make eye contact!” Lek said as Kyoshi tried to get one last glance at the man. The strap looked like it was holding his nose in place. His speech had reached a fever pitch, his jaws working up and down like he had a chunk of meat between them. Strangely, he had a moon peach blossom tucked into his collar.
She didn’t have time to see any more details. They hustled back the way they came. Only to run into someone in the exact same spot as the earlier encounter they’d witnessed. That blind spot was a death trap.
Lek’s face fell in despair. He backed up a few steps and bowed sharply using the same fist-over-hand salute from when he’d greeted Kyoshi for the first time. So did Kirima and Wong.
“Uncle Mok,” they said in chorus, keeping their heads lowered.
The man they waited on for a response was dressed in plain merchant’s robes. His spotlessness stood out in the dusty filth of the town. He was strikingly handsome, with narrow eyes resting over fine cheekbones. And there was a moon peach blossom tucked into his lapel.
He couldn’t have been older than Kirima. Kyoshi didn’t understand why they were calling him “Uncle.”
“Bullet Lek,” Uncle Mok said. “And friends. You made the long journey from Chameleon Bay.”
“It had been too long since we felt the embrace of our brethren,” Lek said, trembling. In the short time she’d known him, Kyoshi had never heard the boy speak with such deference. Or fear.
“And you brought extra bodies?” Mok eyed the two new members of the group.
Rangi had already matched the bows of the others, calculating that sometimes it was better to keep quiet and play along. Kyoshi tried to do the same, but not without Mok catching her using the wrong hands at first.
“Fresh fish,” Kirima explained, raising her head only slightly. “We’re still beating respect and tradition into them. Kyoshi, Rangi, this is our elder, Mok the Accountant.”
There was no mention of an “elder” Mok in the journal. As far as Kyoshi knew, her parents were the elders of the group.
“See that you do,” Mok said with what he deemed a warm smile. “Without our codes, we are nothing but animals, begging for fences. It’s fortuitous that you’re here, for I have business to discuss with you.”
“How lucky we are,” Wong said. If it rankled him, bowing to a younger man, he kept it to himself. Kyoshi noticed that Lao Ge had managed to disappear yet again. She wondered if it was solely so he didn’t have to call Mok “Uncle.”
“Let’s discuss it tonight,” Mok said. “Why don’t you join me as my guests at the challenge platform? When there’s this many people in town, blood runs high. Should be fun!”
“It would be our distinguished honor, Uncle,” Rangi said, beating the others to the punch. “Our gratitude for the invitation.”
Mok beamed. “Fire Nation. It’s wonderful how respect comes so naturally to them.” He reached out and knocked Lek’s headwrap to the ground so he could tousle the boy’s hair.