“Of course he’s here,” Asami grumbled, pacing the office as Ren watched in worried silence. “Couldn’t have picked a better time...” The woman finally stopped her grumbling and heaved a sigh before turning to her aide. “Tell him to wait.”

  “How long?” Ren asked.

  “Not as much as I’d like,” came the annoyed reply.

  Ren hurried out of the office, giving Kai a ‘hold the fort’ look as he remained behind the desk, and then dashing for the elevator. Barely a minute ter, she was walking quickly into the lobby, taking no time at all to find the unfortunate receptionist who had sounded the arm. The woman was putting on a brilliant show of maintaining a cordial smile before a quintet of glossy, puffed up men.

  One of them had shinier and puffier clothes than the others, and the air of arrogant entitlement about him marked him as the unmistakable leader of the group.

  Ren finally could put a face to Butoq, scion of the Itiro dynasty from the Northern Water Tribe.

  Also one of the more persistent names on Asami’s shitlist.

  In their short time working for her, the aides have already burnt enough messages and cards from Butoq to create an ash pile rge enough to bury both of them. Ren had tossed prettily written poems, invitations to functions, and even the odd portrait of himself (or of Asami, which was creepier) into the fmes, wondering if the guy would ever take the hint.

  Seeing the primped, glossy-skinned idiot now, Ren understood the fvor of the man’s stubbornness. This was more than just a rich boy from a rich family, this was a delusional rich boy who never had his distorted view challenged. From Asami and even Mister Hiroshi’s rants, the Itiro’s were a family that had recently established themselves in Republic City after a lucky break in the whale oil and fur trading. They were unsubtle like a newly promoted triad captain, throwing money at everything as their first and only solution.

  Along with their ties to Councilman Tarrlok, they forced their way up into the upper crust of Republic City’s society, regardless of what people thought of their crassness or gaudiness.

  Butoq seemed to be a perfect representative of his family. He wore an assembly of silk, fur and leather that no doubt only shared an expensive price tag as their theme. To further assault the eyes, he wore gold neckces and bracelets and rings, with even more gold fangs and baubles hanging off them instead of the usual ivory or petrified wood talismans. Butoq’s exposed skin, from his face down to his arms, had the greasy sheen of ferret whale oil, one of the newer fads that the Northern Water Tribe merchants are trying to push. His hair shared a simir waxy sheen, with more gold rings wrapped around braids that bounced off his shoulders as he gesticuted at the receptionist.

  In the back of her mind, Ren wondered how long such a man would st if he ever stepped foot in the back alleys of the city. Unless everyone could get over their desperation to ransom him instead, anyway. The girl could imagine some of the more destitute gangs fying his body just to wring every drop of expensive oil for reselling.

  With that amusing thought buoying her resolve, Ren walked with intent towards the noisy intruder. Butoq and his cronies ignored Ren’s presence, even after she politely cleared her throat. They ignored the unsubtle look of relief from the receptionist that was directed to her reinforcement, and neither did Butoq stop in his yammering to allow the poor dy to shift his attention.

  “Excuse me,” Ren firmly yelled, and finally five pairs of blue eyes turned towards her.

  “What is it girlie?” Butoq instantly said, the immature whine of his voice grating to the aide’s ears. “Can’t you see we’re busy?”

  She should’ve dragged Kai along for this...

  Doing her best to hold back the twitch in her eyes and the tightening of his fists, Ren sketched a formal bow. “I am Miss Asami’s aide. Miss Asami is busy, and has directed me to guide you to the waiting room.”

  There was a second of blissful silence as Butoq gave his followers a confused look, and then he leveled a harsh gre at Ren. “Get lost, kid. I don’t know which idiot hired you, but I’m not stupid enough to believe that Asami Sato would employ riffraff.”

  Ren gnced at the receptionist, who then nodded and backed her up. “Ren here has indeed been hired by Miss Asami, sir.”

  “Truly?”

  Butoq’s incredulous gaze fell on the poor woman for a second, then shifted onto Ren for several more. The girl shrugged it off as best she could and gestured to the elevators.

  “This way, please, Mister Butoq.”

  “Huh.” The oiled man’s stupid gaze broke into a grin as he looked back to his friends. “Heh. It looks like for all her brilliance, dear Asami is still beholden to her emotional whims. Very well, lead on, little one.”

  Ignoring the grins that the five dolts exchanged, Ren guided the quintet to the elevators in silence. Thankfully the ride up was silent, though it was a challenge to remain still under the condescending attention.

  They went up to the comfier waiting rooms, and Ren stoically ignored the sympathetic looks of the Future Industries staff that she encountered.

  “Aren’t you tired, little girl?” Butoq suddenly asked from behind her. “This is a big building for your little legs, isn’t it?”

  Pausing to turn to him only because it was the polite thing to do, Ren somehow forced out a smile. “I’m used to it, thank you for your concern. The waiting room is this way.”

  After depositing him into a room with surprising ease, Ren finally allowed herself to shudder before going for the nearest telephone.

  “Kai. How’s Asami doing?”

  “She’s doing breathing exercises right now.”

  “Wanna swap?”

  “Since you’re asking? No.”

  “I’ll buy…I’ll give you a tenth of my next pay.”

  “That bad, huh?”

  “A fifth.”

  “Good luck, Ren.”

  “Coward.”

  Sighing in defeat, the abandoned aide returned to the guest room and weathered the patronizing looks of the five guests. “Miss Asami will get to you in a moment. She’s currently busy right now.”

  “I’m sure she is,” Butoq replied with a smile that Ren wanted to punch away. “Don’t worry, we’ll sit here all nice and quiet, alright? You can run off to py with your friends, I promise to call you when I need you.”

  “Maybe you can py tea dy and make us some tea?” one of the cronies remarked with a smirk, causing the rest of the group to chuckle.

  Not trusting herself to remain courteous, Ren instead left the room and called one of the other staff to wheel in the tea and snacks for the unwanted guests. She still had the presence of mind to seek out a man for the job; those five don’t look like they could be trusted with a woman. She heard the ugly cackles as she waited outside the room, as well as the unkind remarks Butoq directed at Asami.

  “So smart with all her inventions, yet her feminine side still causes her to do stupid things like hiring a child. Truly she needs a proper man’s guidance… Hopefully I can finally make her see some sense…”

  Rather than wasting time trying to poison their tea, Ren quietly remembered the words said about her employer.

  “Ah, Ren, there you are.”

  The girl shifted to greet Asami who was wearing a mixed expression of concern and apology. Behind her was a small squad of the building’s security guards.

  “They’re talking about you.”

  The heiress rolled her eyes as she leaned over to give her aide a pat on the shoulders. “Is it about bending again? Butoq’s always been pushing around his Northern Water Tribe stupidity.”

  “Bending?”

  “Oh, it’s not?”

  And Ren told her what she had heard so far, and she was treated to seeing the usually gentle dy darkening with anger.

  “Go back up and arrange lunch with Kai, will you, Ren?”

  “But-”

  “I’ll be fine.” The steely tone brooked no further protest, and Ren wisely nodded in acquiescence. She headed for the elevators, pausing only to follow the uneasy gnces of the floor’s staff towards Asami stomping towards the guest room, security in tow. She opened the door, and Butoq’s voice leaked out.

  “My dear Asami! Lovely as always! How’ve you been? With the tournament comi-”

  The door smmed shut as Asami disappeared into the guest room.

  “Don’t worry, she’ll be fine,” one of the staff nearby suddenly remarked, giving Ren a somewhat reassuring look. “But we’ll call you if anything happens.”

  “Probably to call the morgue,” someone else quipped. “Damned fools like the Itiro family give the Water Tribes a bad name…”

  Ren hurried up to Kai to figure out what sort of meal would soothe their employer after such a trying encounter. But first, she searched for the nearest phone, while her memory was still fresh.

  Xing would appreciate the accuracy of what was said.

  *****

  Despite the easy job given to him, Lidai still had to stretch his fatigue out as the day came to a close. His old eyes could only take squinting at the printed drafts for so long, and he was still getting used to sitting on a real chair instead of rocky ground.

  “How’s your day, Gramps?”

  The fisherman turned proofreader smirked at his young benefactor as he gave his usual reply as they left the building. “Far less hectic than yours, I’m willing to bet.”

  “A shame you can’t walk any faster,” Xing conically ribbed. “I could always use more runners.”

  “Hah, you sure you want the kids to pay for another round of broken legs?”

  “I’m sure you’re able to afford the healing with your current sary.”

  “Heh, I might as well go back to fishing.”

  A frown fshed across Xing’s face, reminding Lidai that the d had a soft spot despite the professional air he gave off.

  “It’s a joke,” the old man quickly added, not wanting to go down that topic again. Xing was bad enough, but if he got the two ruffians to gang up on Lidai…

  “A bad joke,” Xing replied, and Lidai huffed.

  “Not as bad as some of the things you’re asking the talents to record.”

  The media director tilted his head at his proofreader, his pace never slowing. “Which ones?”

  “I’ve seen the titles on the records you’re working on. ‘In the End’, ‘Numb’, ‘Throw Me Away’? When you put them together, it sounds like someone going through a depressive time.”

  Xing grinned at that. “That’s the point.”

  “Ain’t all that gloom and doom gonna chase away the customers?”

  The director shrugged. “Depends on who the customers are.”

  “If you say so…”

  They were just turning off from the main streets when Xing suddenly stopped, and before Lidai could ask why, the younger man’s arm shot out to gently push Lidai behind him.

  “Can I help you?”

  Looking over Xing’s shoulders, Lidai saw at least a dozen garishly dressed Water Tribesmen obstructing the narrower alleyway. They all wore rather intimidating scowls (almost on par with triad racketeers, or maybe a lieutenant with a tantrum…) and for some reason, they literally shone under the light of the setting sun.

  Already inured to city life, most other pedestrians around them swerved to take detours without blinking an eye, while a few had to be shoved away to take the hint.

  “You’re Xing, right?” the gold-specked leader of the group asked, stabbing a finger in Xing's direction.

  “If I’m not?”

  “Then you’re a fucking liar.”

  “Then why ask in the first pce?” Xing asked with a hint of exasperation.

  “Enough!” the man growled, and as one the wall of goons took several steps forward. “You might think that your promotion might be a big deal-”

  “It’s not, really.”

  “Don’t interrupt me!” The man’s eye was visible twitching. “I’ll give you just this one warning, Xing, of an insignificant family.”

  “I’m an orphan, but please deliver your threat.”

  Lidai hoped that his incredulity bore into Xing’s back. Why is he riling up the already frothing opposition?

  The man was practically growling now. “You will resign your ill-gotten directorship, and stay away from Asami Sato. Lowlives like you are too far beneath girls of her pedigree.”

  “I’d agree with you, but who are we to decide who she likes, or why she likes them?”

  The wall of men moved another couple of steps closer.

  “Xing…” Lidai cautioned, but as a response, Xing began to walk towards the enraged man and his goons, casting Lidai a clear look to stay where he was.

  “I don’t know what you did to seduce Asami Sato, but you will dispel whatever ensorcellment you have on her, and let her remain in proper society.”

  Xing paused for a moment, and tilted his head to one side. “Aren’t you a bit too bejewelled to be Southern Water Tribe?”

  Now the man looked like he was about to explode. “How dare you lump me in with those snow-plowing hicks! I am Butoq, son of the esteemed Itiro family! Apologize now, for your snder!”

  Xing shrugged as the wall closed into a loose crescent before him. “Misassumption is not snder. I just thought with all your talk about love hexes, that you were from the south.”

  There was a moment’s pause when the frothing man seemed to stammer in confusion, and then a half-shriek burst out of him.

  “Enough of your gibberish! Asami Sato doesn’t deserve scum like you! You will leave her, and Republic City!”

  “Or else?”

  The men swept their arms in unison, and water flowed out from behind their backs and hardened into glimmering spears of ice.

  “Or else I won’t promise you’ll survive this,” the man crowed triumphantly. “Or I might let you live, after I’ve frozen and broken off your limp dick, haha!”

  “Huh, Pakku’s sixth ice form, novice stance…” Lidai heard Xing mutter, but before Butoq finally had enough of his nonchance, he raised a hand. “But you do know who I am, right?”

  “Hmph. Who cares what a lowlife director like y-”

  “That’s right, a director,” Xing cut in, and then gestured behind him, where passersby were still doing an admirable job of ignoring the whole scene. “And you’re threatening me in public? Does your family control the metalbending police, that you’d get away with something so brazenly stupid? And you’re going to threaten a media director? Do you really want your family’s name to appear on every newspaper and radio news?”

  Xing then conically gnced over his shoulder to Lidai and the crowd of people trying to walk away from the scene. “You all heard that, right? Butoq Itiro was threatening to murder the director of Future Media. Has anyone called for the police yet?”

  Butoq’s eyes almost popped out of their sockets, but the ice spears melted into water along with the men’s resolve as they cast concerned gazes at him.

  “You…you…”

  The director returned his attention to the Itiro scion, and Lidai was pretty sure Xing was smirking. “Please, if you want to martyr me in public and drag your family’s name in the mud, please proceed with the killing and maiming.”

  “Perfidious coward!” Butoq spat impotently. “You’d stoop to hiding behind your title?”

  “Irony aside,” Xing said, “You’ve got me outnumbered, and have wielded your waterbending illegally to intimidate me, and I’m the coward? No wonder it’s so hard stamping out the Equalists, with idiots like you giving everyone a reason to join.”

  “I’m going to-”

  “Yes? Please, tell the public how else you’d like to hurt an innocent civilian just because you’re jealous, so maybe their testimonies reach Chief Lin Beifong.”

  Butoq responded with an enraged shriek, and then Xing shifted aside to narrowly avoid the spear of ice that buried itself into the street. Or not quite. Lidai felt a thrum of fear as he saw the cut across Xing’s sleeve, and the bleeding gash peeking out of the torn fabric.

  That fear morphed into something colder as he saw the young man raise his wounded arm to show off the wound, and heard the smile in Xing’s next words.

  “And there’s the clear attempt on my life. Everything I do now is purely in self-defense.”

  And suddenly Xing was repced with a soft explosion and a small cloud of dust and smoke, and Butoq’s shriek turned into a pained gasp as Xing just…appeared before him, shunting the Water Tribesman up into the air with his fist deep in his guts.

  With a snap of movement, Xing’s hand retracted, but before gravity could cim Butoq, the former’s legs sshed first in a sweeping arc, and then a violent upward kick. A trail of blood and spittle traced Butoq’s flight arc, and he crashed onto the ground with a crunch.

  Pausing as if to admire what he’d done, Xing slowly gnced at the startled comrades of Butoq. “Do I have to cim self defense against anyone else?”

  More than a dozen heads were shaking in earnest fear, and the media director gave a single nod of satisfaction. “I will not press charges so long as Butoq stays away from me…and Miss Asami. I am also going to assume that the next attempts to harm me or those close to me will be at least partly caused by Butoq and the Itiro family, and will respond accordingly. Am I clear?”

  Shaking heads quickly bobbed into frantic nods of understanding, and Xing gnced over to Lidai again. “We might still make it for dinner.”

  The wall of men quickly parted, allowing for a wide-eyed Lidai and a more unperturbed Xing to continue on their walk home. Lidai gnced over his shoulder to see Butoq’s limp body being carried away.

  “Can we make a quick detour?” Xing asked.

  “Huh?” Lidai was surprised he wasn’t stammering.

  “I need to make a report at the police station.”

  The old proofreader blinked once, twice at his younger director. “I…I thought you weren’t pressing charges?”

  Xing gave a slow nod. “Making a report doesn’t mean I’ll want to press charges. I’m told Chief Lin appreciates sticking to procedure… Can’t have her displeased with me when we still need the police’s cooperation for the coming tournament.”

  A thought then struck Lidai. “And it’s also just in case the Itiros go to the police after receiving their broken idiot?”

  Xing smirked at that. “Maybe. Plus having a verified bck and white report of what happened would give me something to work with…if I need to.”

  “I see…” An awkward pause settled between the two men as they took a turn to head for the city’s police headquarters.

  Lidai finally cleared his throat, and tentatively scratched his nagging curiosity. “So…do I want to know about the…you know…”

  Xing shrugged, though a nostalgic tint seeped into his voice. “When you’re sparring with the Avatar, you’re forced to learn how to adapt to deal with multiple elements at once. And remind her to control her bending’s severity. She liked using ice instead of snow, or compacted earth instead of loose soil…”

  The former Avatar’s minder stopped himself from breaking into full reminiscing, and they continued their walk in silence.

  Then another thought occurred to Lidai.

  “Since this is going into a report…you’ll be telling Asami?”

  Xing stumbled in his steps for a moment, and then looked to Lidai with genuine worry. “Will she be angry, do you think?”

  Lidai mulled that question over before offering a shrug. “If Ren’s call was any indication, Asami would either be angry that you risked yourself like that, or she’d be angry you didn’t turn the poor sap into a poorer heap of broken bones. It’s hard to tell with women.”

  “Speaking from experience?”

  The old man grunted. “I will not confirm nor deny anything.” She’d know if he was talking shit about her, even if she thought he was dead. And then Lidai would really wish he was dead.