...

The light was low and flickering in the stockroom. It accentuated the rough scars on Ma'er's cheeks and made his eyes vanish in shadowed sockets. His dark green clothes melted into black. Ayika twisted in her stone bonds to see the rest of her friends hanging next to her, their patches of wall flipped by the same magic that captured them. The earthbender looked Ayika deep in the eyes and gave a similar glare to Mizumi who panted as her muscles strained against the hold on her arms and legs. Then Ma'er spoke.

"Really, this is getting to be annoying. How are you two girls at every single point of trouble in the city?"

Ayika was tired, bruised, winded and held captive by a ruthless bender while the guards closed down the city to shut them in with a riot. Masks were bestowing magical powers to people who hated her race and the streets were burning. She had to agree with him about their talent for finding trouble, not that she would admit it. Silence was probably the wise course here. However, whatever anti-instincts customarily governed Xinfei's behavior now compelled him to speak up and make a correction.

"Actually, I was at each of those places as well. You know, with Ayika and..."

As far as Ayika could tell Ma'er did not even look at Xinfei as he trailed off. Instead their captor focused on Mizumi who had realized that fighting the earthbending hold that fastened her to the brick wall was hopeless as long as Ma'er was maintaining it. She sagged slightly but met her captor eye for eye all the same with all the fierceness one hanging from a wall could manage.

Mizumi said, "I say that we might be lucky in that way. There are many interesting things in this city, at many places and times. It is after all, as you say, the center of the civilized world." Her accent was strong under her heavy breathing.

Ma'er gave an indecipherable snort. And they were still alive. By Ayika's calculation the fact that they were not already dead meant they were now unlikely to suddenly become so. In fact of the men she had come across in the last hour this one seemed a little less likely to murder her. This was the second time she had been at this man's mercy and she was still unharmed. In that case she had some questions of her own for him. She may have been manacled to a wall but after everything that had happened since Lizhen's final night she was owed answers by someone. Asking few questions could hardly worsen their position. She called out to Ma'er.

"What about you? You are a whole lot more suspicious than us, I think, huh? You threaten Professor Lizhen but then you attack the mask wearers who killed him. You are hunting them but to tonight when they run rampant you attack us instead. The murderer stole something you gave to the professor? And then you a here tonight with those super powered freaks and decide to capture us! Which side of this are you on?" As she spoke her voice grew angrier, confusion and fear mixing together into frustrated rage.

Ma'er looked at her with something that was almost pity under his steady eyed surprise at her outburst. "Sides do not come in pairs, remarkably well-informed girl. I am myself."

Ayika ignored Xinfei franticly shaking his head at her in the corner of her eye. "Then who are you with? Someone called you the Hunter, I presume of Masks, and yet those Masks are out there and you are doing nothing to stop them!"

Ma'er did not bother meeting her eye to answer. Instead he inspected each of the other captives in turn. "Those, persons, are currently clashing with the city guards. I acted too late tonight. That is regrettably becoming a trend." He exhaled sharply and turned his eyes to look into the vague distance of this cramped and dusty room. The rest was delivered as if answering Ayika's questions was utterly inconsequential. "I warned Lizhen the day he was killed. Warned him at the same time I asked for his...That is not important." Ma'er spoke haltingly as if he was used to being able to discus things in such a manner until some recent development. The bender stepped back slightly and the single candle on its shelf faded him to a dim orange figure in the shadow. When he spoke again it was in an absent tone. "When you are in a private war, expert help is greatly appreciated. I asked Lizhen to identify a mask I had taken from those fools, one that looked different. Like it was made in the Fire Nation style."

Mizumi spoke up. "Well, they all do in a way." Somehow she managed to shrug within her bonds.

Ayika twisted her head to the side, Ma'er momentarily forgotten. "Wait, what do you mean?"

Mizumi writhed against the wall to find a more comfortable position. "I said as much on the first time I saw the Initiated in the water-side building. The mask style looks like that I saw in traditional celebrations out the eastern islands of the Nation. Plays and such. You know, an actor's mask. But that might look like many other places as well. Ours are not emblems of great power, they are just costumes. Do your theaters here use masks too?"

Ayika turned back to Ma'er. "Yeah, and while we are at it why do those Mask guys keep getting stronger? When you fought the Masks in the warehouse they moved like expert fighters while just being normal people. Now they cab rip metal lamps out of the street! They punch through walls! Why?" She paused, her brain collecting things it had been receiving throughout this hectic night. "Does it have something to do with the colored shadows around them getting more pronounced?"

Ma'er was about to say something harsh before he stopped and asked, "Colors?"

From down the wall Xinfei piped up again. "Yeah Ayika, what colors are you talking about?"

Ayika was done dissembling. She needed answers. "Xinfei, now's not the time to play dumb. You saw them up close on top of the hill. I'm talking about the aura or whatever those 'Initiated' gain when they put on those masks. Like they are being possessed by colored shadows. I mean it is probably just the magical effect but..." She trailed off as she realized that she was receiving an unexpected reaction.

Ma'er was genuinely surprised. Xiaobao and Xinfei looked at her with concern and Lili was just confused. Mizumi was inscrutable.

Xinfei twisted awkwardly in his bonds as he hung from the wall. "Um, Ayika. I did not see anything like that and I was right next to a man who put one of the masks on. And anyway there must be something more going on. Whatever has been done to those people how could it be from a plain wooden mask?"

"What do you mean you didn't see anything?" Ayika said. It was night but there had been enough light to clearly see the insubstantial smoke boiling off those men's bodies. Or was it. Maybe she was just losing hold of her mind.

"That is enough." Ma'er decided that now was the time to regain some control of this interrogation. After all, these kids were the ones fastened to the wall. He began again, although this time his eyes were focused on Ayika. "You children are chasing leads on Chen Lizhen's death. That is dangerous. Tonight you saw the power that got aimed at the merchant Gaoli's house and what I need to know is..."

"Oh! Yeah, is my family ok?" It was apparently now Lili's turn to interrupt. "Did we lead off the crowd that was targeting them in time? They didn't break through the gate did they?"

Ma'er froze in the middle of his sentence. He looked at Lili, taking in her green silk robes now rather dirty from their headlong flight through the night. There were characters in the seal that decorated her cuffs. "And this is Gaoli's daughter," he said flatly, without inflection as if nothing could surprise him now. "Of course it is. I don't suppose one of you is my man Tian in disguise?" The sheer improbability of this group in front of him seemed more exhausting than keeping their restraints in place. He relaxed his clenched hand and the four of them found themselves able to stand under their own power as the wall released them.

The five of them stumbled to the ground as they regained their feet. Ayika resisted the urge to rub her wrists where they had been scraped by the magic stones. Instead she concentrated on keeping the relief out of her voice. "Tian. Is that your assistant's name? The one who came with you to see Lizhen at the school? No, I have not seen him since I cornered him the night of the warehouse fire."

Ma'er burst forward. Suddenly he was half a meter from her face and Ayika's heart began o beat with fear again. This man could tear through buildings with a flick of his wrist. His voice was deep and growling. "What?! He was there? Tian was at the meeting?"

Ayika took a half step back and bumped against the wall. There was nowhere else to go. "Yeah?" She swallowed. "He was trying to get something to you. Or no, wait. We had thought you were the man in the mask since we snuck into your house and found your secret room of masks, which I guess are trophies or just stuff you stole from the nationalists." There was the sound of a single nervous giggle, quickly suppressed. Apparently Lili found their kidnapper's reactions entertaining. Ma'er was now holding a knuckle against his forehead as he closed his eyes. Ayika continued as she tried to get her thoughts in order. "He... Tian you say I guess, arrived right before you burst in. He was talking about how he tried to stop someone from killing Lizhen but they were too strong. When you started fighting the Masks he was terrified, but I think he was scared of you as well. And then he just disappeared. By that point the building was on fire." That had been... had that only been three days ago? If she was in fact loosing her mind, then she had an acceptable cause.

Ma'er looked up at the dark ceiling of the storeroom. "Tian, what did I get you into?"

Mizumi was tapping her foot. She looked like she was ready to start trying to beat the earthbender with her bare hands. "Whatever you are referring to is, we are in to it too. Teacher Lizhen was killed. My father is suspected of his murder. Xinfei was beaten. Lili's home was attacked. Ayika has... In my estimation an explanation is owed. Something is going very wrong in your city."

"You are Dai Li aren't you?" When Xiaobao spoke it was a surprise. He had an expression of careful reflection on his face as he faced Ma'er. "Or you were. The old kind, before they became Public Safety. You retired but you still do the duties." Xiaobao's mind did not whirr and overheat like his brother's but he had a talent for looking at a person and instantly understanding the story of their life. On this occasion, as soon as Ayika heard it she knew it to be true.

Ma'er regarded the four of them wearily. He looked like he wanted to continue his own interrogation but some thought deep behind his eyes caught him. Eventually he appeared to decide that giving these five impossibly nosy young people could not possibly make matters any worse. "I watched the student nationalists in the early days. I watched over a lot of people. Some for Lizhen who found me through his government friends, for many others. I sympathized with those boys' mission. Patriotism. Protecting the city in small ways. In the days of Long Feng it was my mission. It is the duty of the gifted. I helped keep the government from cracking down on those boys in the secret ways I could. But then they received new leadership. The boy nationalists were joined by dangerous people, and they began to attract attention. Powerful attention. And those dangerous people began to do harm to the city."

"And so you went to war with them," Xinfei said. His tone was almost that of admiration.

Ayika began to recognize the timeline. Zhangyi had spoken of the days when then nationalists were only a student protest movement. "That is when the Initiated began. When they first saw the masks."

Ma'er nodded. "Tian had assisted my activities in small ways before. He volunteered to join the nationalists to learn more about their new leaders. And he did. He learned that the group had become secret society with membership rituals centered around those who were awarded the right to wear those masks. Someone was guiding them. Their methods were turning violent. Tian was rising in the ranks, secretly reporting back to me. He managed to tip me off to a meeting they said was very important and I broke it up, stealing several of they masks they were protecting in the process. I brought the most significant example to Chen Lizhen as he was an expert in many esoteric topics. Tian was going to meet the Initiates' leader and tell me his identity. And then Tian vanished and on that night Lizhen died. I had suspected Tian was dead as well. But if he was at the warehouse..." He trailed off.

Collecting himself, Ma'er said, "Lizhen instantly recognized the mask I brought him. He was terrified, but he would not tell me what it was. He said it implicated someone who could not possibly be guilty. I demanded he tell me but he said he did not want to start a war. He promised to tell me more once he neutralized the danger, whatever it was. But someone got to him first."

Ayika spoke up, more to herself than anyone else. "Lizhen knew what was happening. The Masks are getting stronger each day, they can already fight earthbenders. And there is something else wrong. People are... I don't know. Something feels wrong. This is not just some political fight. Lizhen knew how to stop all this somehow and the killed him. But they stole back the mask you had given him. If he was the only one who could figure it out then there would be no need."

Mizumi burst in. "Then that mask has must be evidence that will implicate the one who is leading the nationalists! And Tian was holding something that night at the waterfront. Something he kept hidden in the bag. It might be the key! We must find him!"

Xinfei shook his head against this enthusiasm. "Tian must be hiding. They had already killed the last person who held that mask and he is afraid. And we do not know where his true loyalties lay. If he did have it he was bringing the mask back to the nationalists not to the City or Ma'er."

Ma'er himself had heard enough of this chatter. "All right, this interlude has exhausted its usefulness. You children must forget your involvement in all this. The city is bristling with knives right now and people stronger than you are going to end up badly."

"No, stop!" Ayika said. "Who is leading the Masks? They ordered Lizhen dead! I need to expose them!"

Xiaobao put a hand on her shoulder. Until now he had seemed more concerned with mundane sensibilities than the unfolding interrogation. Once he determined Ma'er did not seem likely to be an immediate threat, he let the discussions of conspiracy flow over his head. Instead he had found an old hand lantern on a shelf and had been working towards lighting it. Now he said, "Ayika, be reasonable! This is not just about one death now. This is big politics. We need to do what this guy says and get out now."

Ayika could not bare to look at him when she felt he might be right. She yelled at Ma'er, "You have to know something! You have been hunting these people for weeks."

The earthbender had turned to gather up his candle holder. With its feeble light before him the rest of the room's occupants were thrown into the deep shadow his back cast. He turned and looked deep into Ayika's eyes. Mizumi took a half step in front of her as if she was ready to launch an attack against the strike she had been expecting all this time. But Ma'er only said, "Listen to caution. You are not ready for this new war. When I find the master I will provide justice. Let that be enough and revel in your peace. I have much more work to do tonight. Thank you for telling me of Tian but now your part is done." He moved to leave.

"Oh," He stopped as if something had just occurred to him. "If you ever break into my house again I will kill you all." The candle blinked out and hands of rough stone slammed into Ayika's wrists again as the world whirled in sudden disorientation. She blinked and they were deposited out on the dark street in the dim glimmer of the rising moon behind the growing misty haze. The brick wall was silent and solid. Ma'er was gone. They were alone in the alley.

"You know, that guy is starting to grow on me," Xinfei said. "At least he didn't set anything on fire this time."

"I do not like it." Mizumi had a greater fear of earthbenders than any of the others. To her they were something foreign and dangerous. Natives of the city knew them to be merely dangerous. Ayika noticed the other girl's hands were clenched into fists. When Mizumi got scared she found comfort in aggression. "We should run now. That man could plan to use us as a bait."

Lili raised her hand to speak, an odd gesture out of the classroom. "All right, I have obviously missed crucial details of what is going on but at this moment I definitely encourage running. We should do that."

"She is right," Xiaobao chimed in, his lantern sputtering to light after Xinfei produced a match from some hidden pocket. "We do not know if we have escaped the guard's cordon yet. They were raising up the barricades to seal off this quarter and we have no reason to believe they stopped. We need to get out of the Middle Ring before we get rounded up as rioters."

Mizumi nodded. "Lili can not go back to her house tonight. She can shelter with me at my family house in the Exclusion. But we should go now. Ayika?"

Ayika was still looking at the blank brick wall. From elsewhere in the city she could see the flickering orange light of fire and hear the clamor of watch-bells. Ma'er had been right. This was now greater than about justice for Lizhen. The order of the city was fraying. There was danger in the shadows. She turned around and looked off down the alley to where it connected with a street. A stray wisp of fog drifted across, faintly illuminated in the light of the moon just beginning to peak over the horizon. This crisis was bigger than the death of one man, but that did not mean Ayika would stop. This was her home. She nodded her head.

"Yes, we run for now."

Together the five of them rushed off into the night as somewhere behind them the city guards struggled to contain the nationalist protesters. Somewhere out there were the Masks and somewhere was the one making all this happen.

...

The fog was thick here off the slopes of the Fifth Hill. Half a block back there had barely been a haze to the air but now it felt like they were in the belly of a cloud. The light of the lamp Xiobao held was swallowed before it got more than an arm's-length from the wick. Ayika felt Mizumi close by her side, radiating tension as if daring any new ambush to leap on them. Buildings seemed to leap into existence as they neared and vanish behind like they never had been. Ayika was completely lost.

"This is odd," said Lili's voice from somewhere in the dimness.

"You're telling me," Xinfei said. "There has not been a single not-odd thing happening tonight."

Somehow Lili managed to make shaking her head audible. "That's not what I meant. I mean this mist more specifically. Fog forms when the movement of the air element can no longer succeed in separating the evaporated water element from coalescing into visible clumps. But the air has been very dry all day and there have been no sudden temperature changes that should have caused this rapid shift."

For a moment the only sound was their footsteps on the stones of the street. Finally Mizumi said, "Lili, how do you know that?"

"I have hobbies."

"Great. And now there is magic weather," Xinfei said. "Next the clouds are going to come falling down."

"Actually, fog is technically a type of..."

Ayika felt the need to interrupt her. "Not the time. We have to...wait, do you hear something?"

Xiaobao raised up the lantern, an odd reflex to amplify sound under normal circumstances. With the short carrying distance of light in these conditions it served only to shrink their field of view. "I think so." He stopped again. "It sounds like someone out there complaining rather loudly about...directions?"

Operating on the principle that when lost any direction is just as likely to be the correct one he took a turn when a general sense of emptiness indicated that there was a cross street to their side. In a few steps they were out of the fog and clear dark streets ran before them under twinkling stars. The change was so sudden that Ayika could not help shaking her head as her eyes were suddenly able to operate at their normal night-time capacity. She turned back to see the strange fog-bank hanging on the road behind like a dim and shifting wall. Lili and Xinfei were just bursting through that barrier like swimmers emerging from the depths.

Lili was so startled that she seemed to involuntarily let out a little exclamation. "Eep! Oh thank the King we are done with that!"

Xinfei looked over at her with a delighted smile on his face. "Did you just scream at a lack of fog?" he asked with enthusiastic incredulity.

"I just..." Lili stammered. "Shut up. I think I see the tram line up ahead." She wore a pout but even she could not stop the corners of her mouth from twitching up.

Xiaobao looked around. "It's nice to be able see but the guards could still be raising the blocks this far out. Until we leave this ring I think we need to be careful. We can follow the line to the gate."

Ayika was looking back at the fog bank they had been lost in. She might not have Lili's knowledge of weather but she had seen her share of fog. This was strange. Suddenly Ayika saw something. Back in the vaporous mass behind them she caught sight of a human figure, dark and cloaked before the person's motion or some drift in the air hid it from view again. She recognized the outline. It looked like they had managed to catch up to one of the people escaping the riot they had been following before their interlude with Ma'er.

She pointed. "Did anyone else see that guy?" Her friends turned around too slowly. "You know, doesn't matter. If people are generally moving in that direction then that means it will be away from the guards. And it is still the right general direction to the gate. Come on." When the others looked reluctant to give up their patch of clear air Ayika saw she needed to chide them. "Guys, it's just clouds like Lili said. And personally, anything that might hide me from the guards' eyes sounds pretty good. It is not like we can miss the Wall if we get near it." For a moment it looked like no one was willing to agree with her to follow the rest of the people fleeing the riot.

...

(Author's Note: Sometimes the natural breaks do not line themselves up for appropriate chapter lengths. This is one of those times. Bare with me, please. And for those who might have grown weary of the pace, the next chapter will close off this very long night. Although, perhaps not how you would expect.)