Despite the supposedly increased security around the Impenetrable City Legacy School for Young Ladies, Mizumi and Ayika managed to walk through the gates two hours after the start of classes without a single comment. The two porter boys with clubs Headmaster Gang had stationed in front of the gate saw a girl in uniform and that was enough for them. Honestly, Ayika felt like reporting their laziness to Mrs. Jiangsu until she remembered why she had come here.

The city guards had cleared out the makeshift storeroom where they had piled professor Lizhen's papers after the fire. They must have been taken somewhere underground to the Public Safety's secret headquarters. Ayika knew that this had been the likely outcome but had somehow held out hope that for once the slow speed of city bureaucracy would have worked in her favor and them given a chance to sift trough some of the evidence before it was collected. Mizumi was still new to the school building so she was looking around as if she was not even sure that this was the same room where they had been imprisoned while the guards beat Xinfei. When Ayika shook her head Mizumi followed her back out.

Together they crept up the stairs to the second floor. Mizumi in her school uniform did not look out of place but Ayika would have some explaining to do if they were caught. Fortunately, the only sign of life they heard was from one classroom where a teacher could be heard droning, punctuated now and then by chorused replies from the students. Ayika smoothly eased open the door to Lizhen's office and gestured for Mizumi to enter. Once they were both inside, she turned and closed the door until it registered a final faint 'clunk'.

"All right, we do not know what we are looking for, but for some hint of what Lizhen was involved in before his death," Mizumi said though she did not sound hopeful.

Ayika had to agree. There was very little left after the guards had been through here. The bookcase was empty and the partially burned desk had been shoved over to one wall so someone could start to scrub at the blackened area the fire had scorched into the floor. However, these efforts had been abandoned at the half-way stage. Ayika could not blame whatever servant had gotten the cleaning job only to desert it. Everyone knew that ghosts had power until the funeral was finished and if normal practice was followed then the professor would not be at peace until tomorrow. Until those rights were performed, ghosts were known to linger in the place of their death, particularly if their death was violent. A ghost could effect emotions to incite discord and could even attract troublesome spirits. Ayika shivered at the thought.

Desperate to think of something else she joined Mizumi over against the shelf-covered wall whose assorted knickknacks constituted most of what had been left undisturbed. Mizumi was currently inspecting a metal mirror set in a red lacquered wooden frame carved with dragons.

"This is a Fire Nation spirit mirror," she said, confused and curious. "You set them pointing out at the four corners of a funeral to keep the spirit world away until the burning is complete. Why would a Kingdom teacher have this? And this is a ghost bell." She pointed at a small metal sphere on a light wood handle.

Ayika joined her. "When the professor was at the univeristy he studied something to do with the temples of the different cultures." A sad smile stole across her face as she brushed her hand past a weathered medallion with engraved with three spirals and over to a rounded stone carved with a toothy mouth. "Over here he has a shark-charm weight stone. For when you sink the body." Mizumi was looking at her oddly. "Water Tribe custom."

The other girl shrugged. "It is all slightly morbid but I do not think any of this is going to give us a hint as to who arranged for his death." Mizumi grabbed a stack of large painted cards. "I mean, these appear to be sketched illustrations of many kinds of tribal totems. At least I think that they are tribal. They are covered in teeth and fur and vines and such. How did he go from this to being involved in politics?"

Ayika gazed around the room that had been burned then ransacked. She could not bring herself to look at the corner where she had found the professor lying so still, but even as her eyes skipped over it she shivered again. The air seemed oppressively stuffy. To ease her mind she spoke of the first thing that came to mind. "I heard him talking to one of his classes once. He said while spirits do not usually interact with humans, each region and culture has their own spiritual allies that have learned to live in its shadows and secluded corners. They have been shaped by the thoughts and rituals of mankind. What he was talking about is when one nation begins to mix with another. Some people did not like what he had to say."

Mizumi nodded. "Yes, I have heard about that sort of event back in the Nation. The spirits of the dominant culture drive out those that are less securely allied with their humans. Loss of spirits causes harm to the psyche of the population and leaves them vulnerable to outside influence. My teachers used the examples of Zhao's rogue north fleet and Sozin's victory at Taku."

Ayika wrinkled her nose. "That is not exactly what Professor Lizhen was saying. He was insisting that spirits do not like being organized into factions. The the spiritual conflict only happened if the humans wanted it to. He said it takes a great deal of effort to rouse the spirit world." It felt good be talking about the professor's theories in his room. It made her think she could feel him smiling on her. As soon as he was safely buried, she would make offerings to his soul without accidentally empowering his ghost. She heard the suggestion of murmured speech behind her.

She turned back to find out what Mizumi had said. "What was that?"

Mizumi looked up from the painted card she was looking at. "Huh? I was n... This card among the pictures of totems has a portrait of a woman. She looks tribal, maybe the idols were hers?"

Ayika moved over to take a look. The small card of stiff paper was deftly painted, the features of the woman laid down with thin, precise lines. Her look was mysterious and dangerous while still managing to appear coy and enticing. The painter had included many small bangles hanging in her braided hair. "She does not look like she is of the kingdoms, but she is also not of the North. She could be of one of the lost tribes from the hot lands, or some mixed-blood maybe. Whatever she was she is beautiful. I wonder how he knew her?" As she held the card she knew in her heart that this woman had sat in Lizhen's. The hairs on the back of her neck were prickling. Again Mizumi whispered just below her hearing.

Ayika looked up. "What?"

Mizumi was confused. "What?"

"You just whispered something."

"No, I did not."

"I just heard you..."

Mizumi interrupted, putting a finger over her lips. "No, wait! I hear something now!"

It took Ayika a moment to locate the sound Mizumi was talking about but eventually she recognized the faint muffled sound of heavy uneven breathing. There was no one else other than the two of them in the office but someone was nearby.

The noise was not coming from inside this room, but Ayika thought she might know the place. She motioned to Mizumi and together they silently and slowly crept out the door. Ayika inched down the hall to the classroom adjacent to Lizhen's office. No teacher was using it today yet there was someone hiding in it and this time it would not be Mizumi. They took their stations on opposite sides of the door and nodded before quickly opening the door. To Ayika's relief there was only one person inside eliminating some of the more salacious explanations for heavy breathing that had occurred to her. In fact it was someone Ayika knew doing something she would not have expected of them.

Mizumi gave voice to the thought. "Lili Gaoli? Are you crying?"

The ever fashion-conscious student tried to shield her face when the door opened but her eyes were red and puffy and her cheeks shone with a telltale moisture, however much she tried to hurriedly blot it.

Lili made efforts to regain her normal composure, "What are..." her voice caught. She breathed in and tried again. "What are you doing here fire girl? I thought you had the sense to stay gone once you saw all the trouble your presence caused here."

Mizumi smirked, easily falling back into the pattern of verbal sparring. "You can not get rid of me that easily. What is the matter with you, did someone you and your little fashion posse try to bully finally fight back?"

"Shut up. I don't need to talk to you. And what are you doing with one of the maids out of uniform?"

Ayika was impressed that Lili had recognized her. She would have put Miss Gaoli down as one of those wealthy people who could never even see the faces of those who served them, only their color coded outfits. Of course, critiquing everyone around her could not fit with total self absorption. In any case, this was an opportunity to finally show that girl that not everyone was in love with her lovely peppy presumption. She could not be fired twice. "Why were you crying? I heard that your father's warehouse burnt down last night. You afraid papi lost enough money that he isn't going to be able to afford you a new set of silk robes for each festival like last year?"

Lili turned her tearstained eyes on Ayika and she was surprised to anger and revulsion in them. "How dare you! You ungracious little... Professor Lizhen was murdered in this very building! How could you think that I would be worried about something so petty! I am sure someone like you can just shrug off the death of a great man like that but I...!"

"Hey!" Mizumi interrupted, full of indignation. "Do not talk to Ayika like that! As far as I can tell, she is the only one in this whole city who is actually working towards justice for the teacher! I have seen more morality from her than any of you other kingdomers!"

Ayika's head was spinning. Lili Gaoli was showing real human emotion and concern for others. To Ayika's side Mizumi was loudly defending her and declaring her virtues in a voice that might actually be loud enough to risk them being discovered. Ayika made a mouth shutting hand sign to Mizumi to get her to lower the volume of her voice but since the Islander mouthed back the word "Bird?" in confusion something must have gotten lost in translation.

Luckily, Lili had seen none of this exchange as she had taken this interregnum as a chance to dab her eyes with her lace kerchief again. She was now muttering instead of yelling, always in the habit of having an audience. "Ugh, you didn't hear what the headmaster said yesterday. 'We are are so very fortunate that the Public Safety Authority has taken up the investigation'. Like that is supposed to reassure us. Everyone has already heard that they are just blaming it on the closest Islander they could find to the crime scene. Which in this case was unfortunately your dad."

Ayika blinked in surprise. "Wait, you don't believe that Mister Miohuito had anything to do with it?"

Lili gave her a pitying look. "Tetzamatl Miohuito is my father's best trading partner. I have been hearing all about him and his precious genius daughter for years. The government's accusation does not make one bit of sense." It was now Mizumi's turn to be surprised. Lili turned to her and gave a bitter half smile. "Oh yes, I know you Mizumi. Your father was always bragging about you in his letters, but I guess mine did not bother to mention me. My father always says women do not have a place in business, at least as long as it is in his own family. " She suddenly realized just how much personal information she had been sharing and blinked rapidly, searching for another topic. "Wait, you said you were doing something about investigating Professor Lizhen? What did you mean by that?"

The question was addressed to Mizumi, Lili not yet being comfortable addressing a servant of the school, but since Mizumi appeared involved in processing that sudden mass of abruptly disclosed personal information Ayika took to responding. "There were clues that the guards were not interested in following. People they were not looking for. Miss Mizumi and I ran into each other searching after them out in the city. You see, I was..." Here her voice surprised her by catching. "...I was there in the office when... when Lizhen...he..." Ayika's voice betrayed her, and exposed weakness in front of Lili Gaoli. She looked down at the floor, her stomach filling with frustration.

Suddenly smooth hands grasped her own. "Oh you poor thing!" Ayika looked up into Lili's eyes in surprise and Lili herself looked slightly surprised with the speed she had leapt out of her seat to console a servant. She took a step back as she released Ayika's hands and tried to smile. "I suppose that those manners lessons have been drilled fairly deep into me. My apologies, um, Aye'yakya was it?" Here something occurred to her and she suddenly looked excited. "Hmm, so you are attempting to conduct your own independent investigation. Bold. But wait, if you were in the office then you saw who...!"

Ayika shook her head and Mizumi spoke up to give her a moment more to regain composure. "Masks. The killer was wearing a mask. Apparently many people are doing so in this city these days. Ayika can not be sure who it was even if she saw them again. The teacher was fearing something or someone the day he died. We came here to see if there were any clues left in the teacher's office but your Public Safety Agency appears to have taken everything useful away."

Ayika had control of herself again and she waved away a kerchief that Lili reflexively offered her. "It is like someone is wiping away every trace of his life. All that is left in his office is a few religious icons from the Islands and the Tribes while outside people are driving the kingdom the the foreigners even farther apart. Everyone is forgetting what he was and what he worked for."

Lili said, "You want to know who might be an enemy of the professor. Well, there is the funeral." A thought occurred to her. "Are you two going to the ceremony? It is tomorrow in the Underpit and my family is going. If you are looking for people who might know things about Professor Lizhen then that is the place I would start."

Ayika could not help but laugh, "Go to the funeral? Are you kidding?" She gestured to her face. "There is no way they would let me into the Underking's Pit and I doubt Islanders are allowed..." She stopped. "Wait. You aren't related to the professor. How did you get invited to the funeral?"

Lili waved a hand while fluttering her fingers to say this matter was the simplest thing in the world. "My father's printing subsidiary published Professer Lizhen's last book, so he was a family friend. Truth be told I think friends were all the professor had. There is no family that I am aware of." She was staring out into the vacant distance with such quiet revery that Ayika jumped when she suddenly clapped her hands together. "Well, that settles it. You two will come as my guests! We will be able to get to the bottom of his death together. As you said, someone has to. Oh, I have always wanted to do something like this! At the funeral I will help by pointing out anyone who might know things. This will be so exciting!" Both her approval of Ayika's actions and her desire to help seemed genuine. The change was disconcerting.

It seemed that Lili had already attached herself to this investigation with a speed that left Mizumi feeling unseated. The girl who had been so nasty to them before seemed to completely replaced that attitude with sincere desire to join in. All Mizumi could do was stammer, "But what about the restrictions that Ayika mentioned for the burial pit?"

Lili rolled her eyes. "With how much money my father gave to the priests last year I doubt it will be a problem. Besides, as long as you look the part, people will let you walk in most anywhere. Which being said, I will need to get you two suitable outfits. Mizumi, I doubt that you have any Kingdom style funeral garments, and of course whatever the serving girl has would be completely..." To her credit Lili managed to catch herself when Mizumi's brow furrowed at these comments. Recovering quickly she said, "...Would probably include tribal accents that would draw unnecessary attention at such a traditional function." Inwardly, Ayika had to faintly applaud the speed of this course correction.

In fact, Lili seemed to only be gaining energy and determination. Ayika and Mizumi found themselves unconsciously creeping nearer together for support as their newly self-assigned companion paced back and forth and chattered speculation about what hair ornaments were appropriate for murder investigations. Lili had never actually asked for them to accept her help but at this point Ayika was ready to let that go. The funeral was the best lead they had open to them at this point and without Lili they would never be able to find their way in. She met eyes with Mizuni and smiled with excitement of actually receiving eager support, even if it was from Lili Gaoli. The professor had more friends than she had thought. They had an open path before them and one more member of their little squad. The odds were improving.

They made arrangements to meet the next day at Lili's house in the Middle Ring. Ma'er and the Masks were still out there, lurking somewhere in the teeming and unending city, but if Ayika could figure out Lizhen's connection to them then she knew she could figure it out. She looked back in the direction of Lizhen's office one room over and once again felt a shiver of excitement. For one moment the terror of the last two nights felt far away.

(Author's note: Account is all better. Whatever the problem was went away.)