...

Xinfei and Lili were getting close to the site of the fires. The epicenter of the commotion seemed to be in one of the small manufacturing districts that were scattered throughout the Harbor Town. Because of this, Xinfei had hoped that the streets would be relatively unoccupied but it seemed many of the other Harbor residents had the same idea to head towards the disturbance as part of a persistent instinct towards spectating that infected most of the city's population.

While Xinfei could only think about reaching his brother, Lili was using what little spare breath she had to interrogate other people in the crowd pushing forward to watch whatever was going on some blocks ahead. Startled by the sudden appearance of a pretty girl with a smooth Middle Ring accent most of them replied involuntarily and instantly.

One volunteered, "There's some big fight, there is. Monsters and earthbenders all fighting it out! I hear even Public Safety was routed!"

Another would be spectator pushed closer in the rushing crowd. "Nah, Public Safety never even showed up. Its the nationalists, they're here to kill everyone whose ever taken a foreign coin! And I hear they've raised a spirit army!"

Lili, not conditioned by physical labor, was struggling to keep up with Xinfei but she still managed to reply between panting breaths. "If...that's true...then...why are you...running towards that!?"

The man shrugged as he jogged. "Might be something to see, isn't it?" Others around him nodded in agreement.

As they got closer, the crowd slowed and people began to cough from an invisible haze of smoke that now filled these streets. Above the roofs thick dark plumes reflected lamplight as they rose to merge with the black sky. Then as they neared their final destination Lili caught sight of a name painted in clear block characters on the wall encircling an industrial compound.

It read: Miohuito International.

Lili groaned, "Oh, my father is not going to like this. Or Mizumi for that matter. Xinfei, for the love of...wait, I..."

Xinfei had been slowly pulling away from her, driven by the heavy pit in his stomach that was each thought of his brother. Somewhere far behind them, Lili had heard what sounded like several city guard members trying to force their way through the crowd, though they were making no better headway than anyone else. But now there was a change in the flowing, converging traffic of the street. There were screams ahead and half the would-be watchers were attempting to flow upstream back the way they had came. Someone slammed into Lili and for a moment she thought she was going to fall but then Xinfei's hand clamped around her wrist and hauled her back to her feet. Both Xinfei and Lili were rather slight but they were also both tall and were able to leverage that to their advantage in fighting their way through the swirling human current to get closer to the site of the fires. Then they broke though the final skin into the uncrowded halo that surrounded the entrance to the train-yard.

The first thing Lili noticed was the wooden fire brigade cart smashed against a far brick wall and spilling out its load of dirt onto the street. Rather, the very first thing she noticed was the burning factory building whose harsh heat beat against her chilled cheeks but that black and blazing tower of construction was too big to fully take in. It melded into the background of the scene in the way the fiery sun melds into the blue sky and the crackling roar was loud enough to be inaudible. The next thing she noticed were the explosions.

Three earthbenders had set up an ad hoc set of defenses formed from the paving stones off the street and fragments of the now rather dismantled brick wall even as they loudly dismantled more. Of them only one was wearing a government uniform and that was that of a fire brigade captain. Another was dressed in a now rather ragged festival costume. The third was only wearing simple dark robes but he was obviously in command as he shot out rock after rock at a blistering pace at their attackers. Their stand might have started as an attempt to protect the property here was now, in the interest of survival, they were doing nearly as much harm to the landscape as the fire.

The attackers they battled were just as fearsome. At first it seemed the earthbenders were firing their attacks at a small army because as Lili's eyes darted back and forth to each resounding crack of shattering stone there was always a different form darting away from it to meld with the smoke and dust and now the rising nighttime mist. Then she came to recognized that these masked men were moving faster than she would have thought possible. Terrified, she realized that they were not men. These things glowed with dim shadows clinging to them and strange lights shining out through the holes in the masks on their faces. Lili was beginning to admit that Ayika might have been talking sense when she had mentioned spirits.

Then one of those men or spirits or monsters made a dash for the panicked crowd of spectators up the street and the earthbenders were too hard pressed to stop it. Fortunately there was another group out on that street. Between the fire and magical battle and the crowd innocent spectators who were trying to escape stood a small band of men. They were clearly nonbenders, and their clothes and costumes were of the poorest sort but never the less they stood firm as that glowing, growling, masked monster charged.

"Hold and strike!"

The leader of these men yelled out as his front ranks hefted crude but heavy metal clubs with two hands while those behind them threw bricks that the Mask easily dodged. Dodged for the most part. No matter how light that glowing monstrous man was on its feet there came a time when there was simply nowhere to go and a brick still clipped it as two metal clubs came down inches away from its head. It jumped back, tilting its masked head from side to side as if analyzing this problem before it.

The tall young man leading the street defense yelled out again, his height and his black headband aiding in picking him out of the group. "That's right guys! Put the fear into them! We got this! Just need to hold off a few moments more and the guard will be swarming all over this!"

"Xiaobao!"

The young man in the black headband whipped around as he heard Xinfei call out.

"Xinfei? Why the hell are you here?!"

Xinfei ran forward and stumbled to a halt before his brother amid the crowd of armed nonbenders. "Me? I came to get you, you idiot! Why are you still here? Run!"

"I can't. There's still...Xinfei, who's this?"

Lili had run up beside Xinfei but now she was hunched over gasping to get her breath back as she reached up to undo her green lace festival mask, cursing how much time she had spent making sure the thing was securely attached to her hair. Eventually she managed to look up.

"Hi, Maolin."

Xiaobao looked back at his brother with an expression of disbelief greater than any Lili had ever seen before.

"You brought Mister Gaoli's daughter here? You...!"

Someone yelled behind him. "Incoming!"

Xiaobao spun around to see that down the street the earthbending Fire Captain was now lying flat out on the dirt. Ma'er and the one earthbender who had run out of the crowd to help fight the Masks were not looking much better. Ma'er was now only using one arm in his magical gestures and attacks. That meant they were less interesting opponents and there were now two of the Masks focusing on Xiaobao's augmented neighborhood watch. Xiaobao looked up at them with very little of the fear that painted the faces of his comrades, only an expression of determination. Lili now noticed that while Xiaobao wielded the same long length of metal that many of his fellows bore he held his in only one hand. The orange light of the fire washed over his bare arms as his muscles flexed in the exertion.

When he opened his mouth his voice roared out over the thunder of the burning building. "Stand against them! Protect your homes!" As both Masks began to creep forward Xiaobao burst forward to meet the one on the left and prevent them from joining up together. Behind him the other men also roared their challenges. A few more volunteers even ran up from the crowd down the street to join them in providing protection.

Xiaobao ran at his chosen foe, sparing only one glance down the street at something. "Let's have it you monster!"

The Mask met him with a wild swing to the left that Xiaobao firmly blocked with his arm but nevertheless still sent him sliding to the side by its incredible force. Xiaobao tried to use that moment to take a swing at the Mask's knees with his club but the thing saw this attack coming and jumped up to avoid it. Behind the mask that man was grinning but now Xiaobao was grinning too as he suddenly dug his feet in and transferred his block into a grab that allowed him to spin and throw the Mask. For a brief moment the Mask was in the air and all his strength was useless. Then a man-sized slab of stone came out of the darkness to erase him sidewise from view.

The Mask and his stone slab met a brick wall with a smash. Down the street Ma'er finally fell down to one knee, the exertion of bending catching up to him. The lone earthbender standing beside him was looking as if he sincerely regretted his decision to help as three Masks advanced on him, colored shadows boiling with images of wings and tails and tentacles. The situation looked hopeless and all Lili could do was look up at the dark sky in a silent prayer to the spirit gods of the city. Then there was something rushing through the air high above her.

There were seven Masks scattered around the street and now exposed factory yard engaged both in battle and in random destruction. Within a single second each one was driven to the ground by something smashing down on their heads from above. Their supernatural strength had them getting up to their hands and knees with in a moment but at that same time there were six sounds on the tile roof of the building opposite Miohuito's train yard. Six dark robed figures rose up to stand against the starry sky and silver moon and as their hands darted out in violent gestures the ground burst into surging ropes that sought to wrap around the Masks and drag them down to an earthen tomb.

"Thank heaven! It's Public Safety!" Lili yelled out and was only dimly conscious that this was probably the first time those words had ever been uttered in that precise order.

Several of the Masks managed to burst free of the magically animated stones that clutched at them but the others were caught fast. This display of earthbending power seemed to penetrate into whatever minds these inhumanly acting Masks might have had left and those that could darted away on glowing limbs before leaping off to escape. They swung and bounced their way between the rooftops of the town, making their way toward the direction of the Wall as three of the Public Safety agents broke off to chase after them. The remaining Public Safety dropped down to the street level, the ground gently rising up to cushion them. In unison they thrust their fists downward and the captured Masks were wrenched further down under their confining bounds of earth and stone. The Masks roared and wailed as they thrashed in attempts to escape. The nearest agent actually stepped back in surprise, a rare reaction from the stone-faced secret knives of the government.

Then a fourth Public Safety Agent emerged from some shadow as if it had birthed him whole. Unconcerned by the destroyed street, gnashing teeth of possessed captives, or the large and growing blaze that lit the whole display he smoothly walked over to the center of the torn ground where Ma'er was panting and clutching at his injured arm.

Ma'er looked up as Inspector Yang stopped beside him.

"It seems that your assessment of their magically enhanced threat was correct. It might be assumed that there are more than eight of these masks still in circulation? We have received word of another single sighting in the Inner Ring tonight as well as possible action in the Lower Ring."

It was all Ma'er could do to nod, even if that sent stabbing pains through his dislocated shoulder.

Yang gave the slightest grimace. "So four captures will not lessen their capability. It is always dreadful to have a capable enemy."

The Public Safety Inspector then strode across the rubble tossed street, the weighted hem of his dark robe flowing over the rocks and torn slabs like liquid mercury. In the rising mist mixing with the smoke and fire, his calm and composition was just as terrifying as any other monster. He stopped before the nearest captive Mask being watched over by one of his agents. The Mask had fallen silent now and seemed almost resigned to his captivity.

Yang ignored all the supernatural signs which bubbled off this confined man and instead bent down to grasp the blue wooden mask by its edge and yank it off. It did not budge. Yang frowned. He could see the back of this man's head despite whatever aura was clinging to him. The securing strap that held the mask on had long since been cut and yet it adhered strongly to his skin. Yang did not understand and he did not like things that he did not understand. Then the confined Mask surged forward with sudden strength and broke one arm free from the imprisoning earth, clutching at his captor. Yang snapped more bonds into place but he was shaken.

The Mask twisted his head up too look at Yang. Those were not human eyes within those wooden holes. The words he spoke were the roar of a distant hurricane of fire.

"Until next time. The crossing grows ever easier. The next challenge will find us stronger still."

After that the captive mask would say no more despite how much the agent squeezed his bones with the stones that held him.

Inspector Yang spared a glance at the crowd of civilian spectators. Normally Public Safety's first priority with such a strange case would be containment of information, but with hundreds of witnesses who arrived before the Agency that option was not available. Within two hours half of the city would know some version of what had happened here.

Ma'er leaned back onto his heels as he sought to stand up without reigniting the smoldering pain in his arm. With this nighttime fog beginning to clog the air, the chances of the dispatched agents catching their fleeing prey was low. Those Masks would not be caught by a surprise attack for a second time tonight. The mists that were rising off the canals reflected the light from the burning factory and began to seem even more concealing than they would if the night were completely dark. Barely visible tendrils slowly flowed up side streets built up towards the site of the fight, now bringing their haze towards the fallen combatants. In the distance Ma'er heard the howl of a single dog. It was a sound distinct from the strange sounds made by the possessed masks but somehow not different enough for Ma'er's comfort. He saw Yang turn around as if he too was concerned by that lone beast's commentary.

Suddenly there was a clatter on the ground behind Yang and the inspector spun back to see the captive suddenly unmasked and coughing violently, wide eyes and confused by his nearly complete burial.

"Ahh! What!? Ahh! Somebody help! What happened? I...How did I..." At this point the man managed to look up and recognize the dark green uniform of the man looking down at him. He recognized Public Safety and that apparently answered a lot of the questions he had. After that he hung his head and fell silent, although now he responded to the interrogative shiftings in his makeshift prison with the traditional screams.

Ma'er did not understand what had happened but right now he could not bring himself to care. His arm shot out lancing bolts of pain. Let Yang try to solve this. Ma'er had tried following hunches and instinct tonight and it had gotten him into an outnumbered fight to protect some idiotic harbor dwellers. Well, one of them had shown some sense. That tall fellow in the black headband had done all right for himself, and even managed to instill some modicum of order among the rest of the rabble which was the only reason no more of them had died. He had been with the Miohuito and Gaoli girls on the night of the Fifth Hill riot too. For a moment Ma'er considered the possibility that the boy had been some plant of Yang's but no, the Inspector would have wrapped this up much more quickly if he had some better reason to trust the reports of spiritual involvement.

Apparently, Yang had decided he had more important matters to attend to than a retired Dai Li so no one was paying much attention to Ma'er. The other agents were involved in preparing the bonds of the newly released unmasked combatants and constructing double-security evidence containers to transport the suddenly inactive masks they had retrieved. Off to the side, one agent saw to holding back the crowd of spectators who had very suddenly forgotten their previous fear the instant the fighting had ceased. As Ma'er began to limp off down the hazy street he felt the temperature rapidly shift from the radiating heat of the burning factory building to the chill of the night mist.

Suddenly someone drew up next to Ma'er who did not move like Public Safety. Ma'er's defensive instincts were dulled by bone deep weariness but fortunately he recognized Xiaobao quickly enough. Beside the young man were the other urchin kid, now dressed in a fake jeweled vest and furry armbands for some reason, and the daughter of the merchant Aizhang Gaoli. How she had fallen in with this crowd Ma'er was no closer to understanding but of all the chaos gripping this part of the city some inexplicable class mixing was the least of his concerns.

The retired agent nodded to Xiaobao and then concealed the pain this motion provoked. The young lunk nodded back respectfully and said:

"I've got to thank you, mister. You saved us back there."

"Rrm. Where's your tribal friend? The girl. She was seeing the magic on these people before I could. If she has some special sensitivity she could be key to solving this crisis." Ma'er felt distantly uneasy about the prospect of handing over some young foreign girl to Yang, even if it was the sensible choice. He had been out of government employ for a long time now. Unhelpful instincts of mercy were creeping in.

The skinny boy interjected himself into the conversation. "Hey, we're not saying nothing to someone who obviously lied to us when you told us you weren't working with Public Safety anymore. You've clearly been following my brother since that night you nabbed us off the street. Our friend is going to stay safely away from you. Even if I knew where she was."

Lili Gaoli stepped forward. "She's with Mizumi at the party right? Mizumi told me she was going to invite her along but I suppose she might have kept that as a surprise."

"Lili, don't tell him anything!"

"Relax, 'the party' is hardly a direction on this night. If he wants to search ten thousand festival parties across the whole city he is welcome to."

Ma'er's tired mouth replied almost without his intending to, "So she is in the Inner Ring near the Kuang tram line gate. Sub-Minister Chao Erliao lives there."

Lili suddenly blanched at the thought that she had given away far more than she thought possible. "...No! How...?" The other two boys blinked in surprise, evidently they had not known to begin with.

Ma'er sighed. The deduction had been simple enough once you recognized the strange patterns in which the world often moved. "Mizumi is a Fire Nation name, there are not many in the Inner Ring who have any contact with those, whether positive or negative. Also, Public Safety had reports of another Spirit Mask attack up there and by now I expect you kids to be at every source of trouble in this sector. Since there were two crisis points tonight I guess you had to split up."

All three kids stopped, frozen, as Ma'er continued his hobbling. He was not looking forward to the trip back to his Lower Ring house especially since he now remembered that the Harbor Tram had been discontinued for passengers. His assistant Tian would not be there to welcome him with a drink and bandages this time. The young man was still missing somewhere out in the city, thrust into something far over his head by Ma'er's own ego. But distracted as he was he still heard the whispered conversation being held behind him.

"He's hurt."

"What of it? He's government. They'll take care of him."

"I don't think so. That Public Safety Agent hardly looked at him. Look at him, he needs to see someone."

"Well, who would we even take him to? Ayika's grandma Aka isn't around anymore."

"What about that Mama Mua? Isn't Ayika training with her? She's a healer if Mizumi's letters are right."

"I guess, but Ayika sounded like she had some reservations about that woman. And I still don't think we should hang around this guy. And anyway, we should focus on getting Maolin out of sight. The government doesn't like people who start organizing things like his neighborhood watch."

The muscular young man in the black headband took control of his feuding friends. "He saved me, Xinfei, we're helping him. Um, sir?" He now addressed Ma'er with the curiously soft voice of a large boy who had tried to learn to hold back every aspect of his strength. "We know of a healer who's fairly nearby. She's a waterbender."

Ma'er stopped walking. He had heard about the Water Tribe healers before, and under the expected disparagement of foreign actors what he had heard had sounded complimentary. Also, his shoulder did really hurt. And in the end, what would it really matter if he followed these kids? There was a time when Ma'er would have considered such a fight as tonight a learning experience. After all these years, he had learned enough. He tried to remember his training regarding waterbenders and then quickly resolved himself to not caring. His own city was sprouting spirit possessions, who was he to judge foreign magic?

He looked Xiaobao in the eye. "All right," he growled. "Lead the way."

...

The night was black in this outer edge the Harbor Town that pressed up against the City Wall. The sudden and strangely far reaching fog that had risen up across miles of the city in complete disregard of the walls was already dissipating, leaving only a quiet gloom. This near the wall, some of the canals, sewers, and aqueducts that were destined to return to the chained and splintered Kuang River bubbled up into existence in large dark pools. These waters had spent long hours traversing through the criss-crossing tunnels that carried them through airless paths under the massive city wall and now they rushed upwards propelled by the speed imparted through their compression. Ba Sing Se, as always, was only impenetrable from one direction.

This one particular pool which birthed this particular canal was now behaving strangely. If anyone had been out at this late hour of night they would have been surprised to see the ripples representing the central upwelling of water begin to change and vanish. Then they would have been even more surprised when a single massive bubble lifted up the whole surface in a black hemisphere and then broke, spitting forth a narrow canal boat risen from the depths, populated by two women clinging to both the wooden slat seats and each other while a third stood erect in the middle with her arms spread open-palmed. The waves of their appearance splashed over the edge of the pool and canal that led off between buildings as the rebounding ripples crashed back and forth.

One of the seated women, dressed in red and gold, stood up so sharply she almost toppled out into the water as she nearly lost her balance.

Mizumi spoke loudly into the night.

"Under two ring walls of Ba Sing Se. Crushed and bashed through dark water-filled tunnels in a bubble of stale air supported only by the magic of a woman who introduced herself by trying to kill me. I am never doing anything like that again."

As soon as it was clear that her boat was not going to capsize Mama Mua collapsed down into a sitting position.

"It got ya past the gates, didn't it?"

Ayika slotted the canal boat's motive oar into its rear mounting since it seemed that she now had command of this vessel. "Let's get Mua back to her house for now. We can worry about the rest later." Neither of the other women seemed prepared to argue with her right now. Ayika gripped onto the oar and began to dig it into the black water as her arms worked back and forth, guiding them in what she could only hope was the true direction of Mua's dwelling.

Mua was deposited in her house with a minimum amount of fuss. Ayika managed to extract a promise that the woman stay put until they could coordinate a plan to deal with all the developments of that night but Ayika was also pretty sure that Mua would have agreed to let someone take her arms at this point. The woman was exhausted and had come to the end of both her spiritual authority and her quest for vengeance. There was little left to animate her.

Ayika felt drained as well as she ushered Mizumi outside and closed Mua's door behind them. It was difficult to call tonight a victory by any stretch. Erliao was gone, by the hands of the Masks who were apparently now attacking conservatives as well as reformers. Not that Ayika was sure the purple masked thing that had chased them was capable of understanding politics. The Masks had been borrowing strength from the spirit world, but now it looked like the spirits were in control once the masks were on. And the Nine-Step-Shadow was still approaching one of the three women. What had Blind Dog Lord said? Someone was casting a ritual of life and death over the city. Right now it felt like it was the city its self that was weaving this spell and Ayika was trying to stand up to the full might of a hostile Ba Sing Se. It was all too big.

Ayika looked over at her side where Mizumi was regarding her with concern from behind her gold mask. Mizumi's deep red costume was disheveled and marked with dirt in a few places but somehow that only made her look more beautiful. Ayika had to get her back to the Exclusion safely. That task was small enough to concentrate on. They walked out into the night.

Closer to the center of the town the streets were crowded with pedestrians but that was not surprising on a festival. What was surprising was the energy that those crowds exuded. This was not the same atmosphere they had passed through during their departure a few hours ago. Even Mizumi, a foreigner, quickly caught wind of the rush of huddled conversation and suspicious looks. Ayika decided to find out what had occurred during their absence. She chose one woman who was talking much louder than the others about her speculations on the credibility of someone's news.

Ayika caught her attention. "Hey! Yeah, you. We were in a party but what's going on that apparently everyone else seems to know? Sounds like something happened."

The woman blinked as she turned around to face Ayika. Whatever angry response she was about to belt out got swallowed as she reconsidered. "Who...Um, yeah. Er, apparently there was some big brouhaha over near the assembly yards. Public Safety even showed up but a bunch of buildings were already up in smoke."

It took Ayika a moment to understand what had caused this woman to refrain from the traditional insult portion of street conversation. Then she remembered her costume. She was still wearing the dress of purple or blue and the silver disks that showed a clear presence of money and therefor authority. All that on a girl of the tribes would be confusing but anyone growing up in the city would have learned to show respect for money first and then wonder how they got it.

Now one of the woman's friends wanted to join in. "Yeah, I heard that it was a big old fight. A bunch of the city conservatives got down to that Islander Miohuito guy's metal engine factory and the whole thing is gone."

Behind Ayika, Mizumi breathed in sharply. "Miohuito?"

The first woman broke back in, "Yeah, I think that's the one. That or some other of those foreigners. But the point is that those ring-dweller folks are down here trashing the place and they've got some weapon. Some new bending technique or spirits or something. Even all the guards are scared!"

"Yeah and now they're all at the Bridge of Fire protecting the Exclusion instead of us their own neighbors. I heard a bunch of the people fighting with Public Safety got away. Believe that? Ming said that they were beating the agents bare handed! Wearing masks made of living monsters!"

"That sounds like..." Ayika was not sure what to say. Things were worse than she had thought. The Masks were not hiding their power at all anymore. And they had specifically been targeting Miohuito property. She looked at Mizumi. There was a full and frightened guard detachment between her and her home now, and violent Masks lurking in the streets hunting Islanders.

The gossiping woman continued, "This city's been going downhill for years but this is just too much. The ministers get to live in their fancy rings but they've got a responsibility to make sure we're protected. Now we've got people out tonight looking to beat up any Islander caught out or anyone who's too friendly with the such. And I'm sure there'll be just as many of the other sort fighting back."

Her friend stamped her foot for emphasis. "Hey now, all this trouble wouldn't be here if it weren't for those damn Islanders trying to drive everyone out of work! They've bought off enough merchants to shovel all their stuff into our shops and now the only jobs are going to be off in the Fire Nation!"

"Oh come on now! That's just ritzy stuff. Who's going to buy a basket from across an ocean? I say that..."

These women were once again involved in their personal debate and had forgotten about Ayika and Mizumi. For her part, Ayika looked over at Mizumi who was unconsciously touching the mask on her cheeks as if to reassure herself it was still there. Even after that woman had mentioned the guards at the Bridge of Fire Ayika had been entertaining the thought of bribing some boatman to sneak them across the exclusion moat, with some of this costume jewelry if necessary. But they were right, if the Masks were now open knowledge then there would be supporters of their supposed ideology who would be emboldened. And tonight they would all be wearing disguising costumes, a boon to the heart of any coward. It was too far to the Exclusion.

Mizumi had obviously been thinking the same things but in her traditional fashion had elected to ignore those worries with bluster and confidence. "All right, there are thugs on the street. Well, it is good that we are already in disguise. And after the other things we have faced tonight no conservative supporter is anything to us, right Ayika! Lead the way, I am...I am a small bit turned around on these streets."

Ayika nodded and grabbed her hand, leading Mizumi off the main streets and down a snaking path of back alleys and makeshift paths bolted to the sides of backstreet waterways lit by the shreds of light spilling out back doors and rear windows. However, soon enough even Mizumi noticed that something was wrong.

"Ayika? I...We are not going in the correct direction to arrive at the Exclusion. I know enough to know that this is west."

"Right."

"Ok," Mizumi paused to process this answer. "All right then. Is this some secret way to the Exclusion?"

"No."

Ayika did not to look back at Mizumi to recognize the trusting but irritated expression on her face.

"Would you mind terribly telling me where you are taking me then?"

Together they crossed one last makeshift bridge that was in fact a single brittle board laid across the narrow water-channel that flowed below them, reflecting in its black flow the few stars able to burst through the city's light pollution. Then they squeezed between two houses built of crumbling grey brick and were now on a small dirty street that seemed to abruptly vanish into thin air twenty meters in front of them. A sea of distant candlelights gleamed up from the darkness below, while great stone bridges stretched out over the vast, jumble-filled depression. Even in the city of ten thousand gods there were some places that got overlooked, and a great many people.

Ayika gestured out at the buildings below them. "You can't go home right now. Not safely. So you're going to my home instead. Welcome to the Bed."

...