“It’s a form of punishment the lawmen use over by the Si Wong Desert,” he said. “They hang you in a cage, high up on display as a warning to other criminals. During the dry season, it’s a death sentence. You can’t last more than a couple of days until thirst takes you.”
“Lek, I didn’t mean to dig up—”
“No,” he said gently, raising his hand. For once he wasn’t angry with her. “You should know.”
He sank back into the chair, throwing his legs over the arm-rest, and stared out the window. “I was living in the streets of Date Grove, a settlement near the Misty Palms Oasis. My brother—he wasn’t my family by blood. He was my friend. We’d sworn to each other. We were copying the tough guys and swordsmen who came in and out of town looking for work. A regular gang of two, we were, ruling our patch of gutter.”
No wonder she and Lek didn’t get along. They’d shared too much, had the same stink. “What was his name?” she asked.
“Chen,” Lek said. He bounced his foot, the chair squeaking with the motion. “One day Chen got caught stealing some rotting lychee nuts. We’d done it hundreds of times before. Sometimes in broad daylight. The townsfolk never cared. Until one day they did. Enough to put Chen in a gibbet.”
The shaking of his foot grew faster. “It might have been a new governor trying to throw his weight around. Or maybe the villagers got sick of us. They clapped him in those bars before he knew what was happening.”
“Lek,” Kyoshi said. She couldn’t offer him anything but the sound of his own name.
“I held out hope though!” he said with a little hiccup. “You see, the gibbet was old and rusty. It had a weak hinge, or so I spotted. I gathered every rock I could find, and I threw them as hard as I could at that weak point, trying to bring the cage down.
“The villagers, the abiders, they laughed at me the whole time. Especially when I missed. I could have knocked a few of their teeth out, but it never occurred to me. I couldn’t waste a single stone. After a few days, Jesa and Hark found me passed out under that gibbet. Chen must have died before they got there, because I woke up on Longyan’s back as we flew away. I couldn’t use my arm for two weeks afterward, my shoulder and elbow were so swollen.”
Lek swung his legs off the chair, unable to stay in the same position lest the memory catch up to him. “The funny thing is, Date Grove doesn’t exist anymore. It was running out of water, on its last legs while I was there. It’s been swallowed by the desert. The people of the town killed my brother to uphold the law, and it meant nothing in the end. If the law was there to protect the village, and the village didn’t survive, then what did they gain?
“I always wondered if those people felt satisfied about condemning that one boy, that one time, while they fled the sandstorm that buried their houses,” Lek said. “I always hoped Chen’s death was worth it to someone.”
Kyoshi bit the inside of her cheek until she tasted blood.
“So anyway, Jesa and Hark saved me, I learned how to earthbend, and I swore an oath that I’d never miss a target again,” Lek said. “That’s how I’m so good at throwing rocks.”
There wasn’t a right response. The right response was undoing, going back, reweaving fate to arrive at a different outcome than him and her in this room.
Lek smiled halfheartedly at her silence. “Did you ever consider that your parents might have left you where they did so you wouldn’t have to live that kind of life?” he asked. “That maybe they were protecting you?”
The notion had crossed her mind, but she’d never given it credence until now. “The way I figure it, Jesa and Hark assumed the abiders could treat you better than they could,” Lek said as he wiped his nose. “You were their blood. Priceless. Me, I was useful. As good as the next kid with fast hands, and just as replaceable. I sufficed.”
“Lek.” She thought about what truth she could tell him in return. “I believe, as usual, you’re wrong.”
Kyoshi spotted the twitch in the corner of his mouth. “And I’m glad that if my parents couldn’t be with me, they were with you,” she added.
A long time passed before Lek sighed and got to his feet. “I’ll tell Rangi you’re up and coherent.” He paused by the door. His expression turned hesitant. “Do you think . . . once things settle down, I might have a chance with her?”
Kyoshi stared at him in astonishment.
Lek held her gaze as long as he could. Then he burst into laughter.
“Your face!” he cackled. “You should see your—Oh, that has to be the face you make in your Avatar portrait! Bug-eyed and furious!”
And to think they’d shared a moment. “Go soak your head, Lek,” she snapped.
“Sure thing, sister. Or else you’ll do it for me?” He waved his hands in mockery of waterbending and made a drowning noise as he left the room.
Kyoshi’s cheeks heated in frustration. And then, like a glacier cracking, they slowly melted into a grin. She noticed what he’d called her for the first time.
THE AMBUSH
In Jianzhu’s opinion, it was good to be home in Yokoya. No matter how many awkward questions the staff had about the team he’d left with. Where were Saiful and the others? What happened to them? Were they okay?
Dead in the line of duty. Daofei ambush. And no. By definition, no.
He owed Hei-Ran better answers though. Not only did the lie go a level deeper with her, he needed her input. After shutting the doors of his study on the faces of his troubled servants, he dumped his missed correspondence on his desk while she sat on the couch.