For some reason, the rain always seemed to announce itself on days like this.
Mayumi marched through yet another nameless alley, this one winding through a district of the Middle Ring whose wealth manifested in cleaner stonework and guarded courtyards. Shan, true to habit, have sealed himself inside his private quarters, lost to brushstrokes and ink. That routine made the intrusion effortless, the Dai Li agents could slip into the courtyard night after night without so much as a whisper of alarm.
Tonight, however, the Inquisitor had not marched out alone.
Six regular enforcers of Ba Sing Se's cultural heritage followed in measured silence, their presence heavy despite their restraint. At their head walked the face-painted Inquisitor, who had deemed tonight's endeavor important enough to warrant the inclusion of a Kyoshi Warrior, one who by all indications, remains deeply resentful towards what she consider to be her Avatar's greatest blemish.
"It seems whatever little trust remained between you and the White Scholar has begun to fray," the Inquisitor observed lightly, making Mayumi's jaw tightened in a silence burning with barely contained fury. "Trust is a fragile thing. In my line of work, I have seen many circumstances that tore asunder even the strongest of bonds between comrades, partners, and most unreliably, family."
"Don't test me, Dai Li," Mayumi muttered.
Unlike the six who trailed behind them like obedient shadows, she at least felt compelled to resist. It was then that the Inquisitor began to unveil the true purpose of her presence, not merely as additional muscle, but as witness.
She is here to be shown a deficiency. A trait the Inquisitor believed absent among Mayumi's sisterhood, and thus, a vulnerability.
"You told me your order is bound by unwavering loyalty to one another," the Inquisitor continued. "Naturally, that invites curiosity. How do you discipline dissenters? And how do you dispose of traitors?"
The very notion of raising a hand against a fellow Kyoshi Warrior was abhorrent. Mayumi cast a brief glance over her shoulder, wondering briefly whether the six Dai Li behind them felt anything resembling that same revulsion.
"At last, sedition wears many faces," the Inquisitor emphasized. "It is not uncommon to uncover a sibling conspiring against the state, bartering its downfall in exchange for personal gain. Fortunately, such treason can often be resolved with a most efficient remedy. The elimination of kin."
Mayumi's silence was deliberate, and the Inquisitor sensed it, chose to press further. Even with her upper body concealed beneath a dark veil and wide straw hat, the Kyoshi Warrior's distaste was unmistakable. Cynicism so casually applied to human nature is difficult to stomach for most.
"It is never easy to cultivate trust," the Dai Li remarked further, almost taunting her. "That scholar did not seem to appreciate your little gesture of kindness."
"I see word travels quickly," Mayumi retorted. "How are you lot any different, spying on him as you do?"
Surely, the higher ranks of the Dai Li are aware of Shan's arranged marriage to Te Gaogui, a politically delicate union meant to secure ties with the distant land of Zigan.
"I would advise you to temper your tongue, Kyoshi Warrior," the Inquisitor replied, neatly sidestepping the question. "But rest assured, those who endanger the secrets of the state do not meet pleasant ends. If necessity demands it, silencing a voice by severing its head is a task I perform without hesitation."
Her glare burned through the thin veil, anger difficult to disguise. The Dai Li paid it no mind.
"It is rare that I am generous enough to bring such an utter hindrance into the field," the Inquisitor continued, tone cloaked in feigned civility. "The least you can do is remain quiet and observant."
This is after all what adhered to their prior agreement, one that allowed Mayumi to better understand the Acolytes of San Bao, and how their insidious encroachments upon society were countered. Much as she despised these men clad in brocade, who are loathed for their existence as a blemish upon Kyoshi's immaculate legacy, it would be foolish not to learn from those who can fight an enemy that isn't beneath open skies.
"I do wonder how we are remembered by your kin," the Dai Li mused as they passed through another narrow corridor of stone and shadow. "Surely not favorably. I suspect our existence has been conveniently erased from both scroll and memory on that island of yours."
"As you all deserve," Mayumi replied coldly. "Those who brought shame upon our founder's name lack virtue and honor. You are unworthy even to speak her name."
The painted face twisted into a tiny smirk, almost exaggerated in its provocation.
"You believe we care about being worthy of offering incense sticks to an Avatar?" the Dai Li challenged, making it clear that even Kyoshi's name carried no weight here. "I do not fault your order for tampering history, for my predecessors were equally adept at it. But your rhetoric reminds me of sanctimonious Earth Sages, forever preaching virtue and loyalty while allowing such ideals to blind their judgment. How many of those so-called wise ministers have been executed for their foolish outspokenness? It is arrogance. Virtue is meaningless if it renders one weak before oppression."
Then, with deliberate precision, he returned to the matter that truly threatened her convictions. What would the eldest daughter of Akahana do if undeniable proof emerged that one of her sisters had committed an unforgivable betrayal? The thought had never once crossed her mind until the Dai Li had placed that damning journal right in her hands.
"And why should I doubt my sisters?" Mayumi replied firmly. "Blood does not bind us, but trust does."
She had trained many of the younger aspirants herself. The idea of harming them was unthinkable.
"Unfortunately, my colleagues and I are not afforded the luxury of guarding Kyoshi's modest holdings on a remote island," the Inquisitor said, a trace of sincerity seeping through his words. "In service to countless sovereigns, and as custodians of Ba Sing Se's tombs and treasures, there are inevitably those among us who fail to meet expectation. Worse still are those whose loyalty to the city falters. Morality becomes an indulgence when disposing of individuals who place personal interest above duty." He paused, choosing his words with care. "If the journal taken from that Firebending seditionist is to be believed, then I consider your mother's decision of disposing treacherous students as a necessary one."
"Slandering my family is underhanded, even for the likes of you," Mayumi warned, clinging to a slender hope there was truly nothing damming for her mother and the village elders to disclose.
"I was merely praising her decisiveness," the Inquisitor replied. "Not everyone possesses the clarity to act when those once trusted reveal themselves as traitors, threats not merely to common citizens but to the very lattice that holds a society together. Furthermore, if there is anyone I consider worthy of elevation, it would be those who possess the absence of hesitation in preserving institutional cohesion, especially when that preservation demands the purging of corrosive elements."
The urge to raise her hand and strike him was immediate and visceral. Yet restraint prevailed. Mayumi knew better than to provoke men clad in brocade, doing so would imperil not only herself, but Satchiko as well. Shan too would inevitably be drawn into the consequences, and the White Scholar's ambitions within the city's bureaucratic ascent would not have escaped the Dai Li's vigilant gaze.
"And how does any of this drivel relate to that renegade cult?" Mayumi demanded.
"Simple. By now, you must have observed that nearly all the so-called Acolytes of San Bao encountered within Ba Sing Se are locals who abandoned regional temples to devote themselves to a heterodox creed promising endless transcendence. Some are merely deluded. Others, however, choose ignorance deliberately, stoking this grand treason against the state for the sake of fleeting advantage." He paused, voice hardening. "Today, you will be granted the privilege of witnessing my colleagues and I dispose of those who turned against us, and the prime purpose of my title amongst the ranks of brocade."
Mayumi glanced behind her. The six accompanying Dai Li had lowered their helmets only slightly, but in unison. Traditionally, these men operated in pairs. Yet the Inquisitor with the theatrical black and white face paint stood conspicuously alone.
"So where is the other one?" she asked the Inquisitor specifically, as the procession dragged onward. "I was under the impression you lot operated in pairs."
"A perceptive observation. It seems you are not entirely ignorant of the order established by your beloved founder." Without hesitation, the Inquisitor revealed the truth. "As you may have surmised, he has been dealt with. Before assuming my present specialization, my duty was the same as ever. Delivering uncompromising reprisals against threats to the city's stability. Unfortunately, that resolve was not shared by the one to whom I was expected to entrust my life. I soon shed such childish notions of brotherhood and personally dismantled a would-be traitor's futile gambit, thereby preserving Ba Sing Se's harmony. Perhaps, it would be prudent if I spare you the details of what became of his sundered body."
Mayumi did not ask what crime had warranted such merciless execution. Perhaps this very disregard for fraternal bonds was what had elevated this cultural guardian above the regular Dai Li agents.
"There is no such thing as divine punishment," the Inquisitor continued. "In retrospect, oaths of personal loyalty and familial obligation are asinine constructs, fantasies borrowed from literature. Such unrealistic expectations yield only betrayal."
She felt nothing upon hearing this, no shock, no revulsion. Perhaps she should not have been surprised by his admission of fratricide. Yet the act remained a profound moral violation even absent of actual blood ties. One did not need to be an Earth Sage to grasp such truths, the notion of raising one's hand against a sworn sibling was utterly inconceivable to her.
"I cannot imagine myself replicating such… impulses," Mayumi said subtly.
"Do not pretend kinslaying is rare," the Inquisitor countered lightly, detecting her censure. "My actions pale beside history's truly abhorrent examples. Still, I would be most interested to see how you would act if placed in my position."
She reiterated her certainty that she would never draw her blade against a fellow warrior. His response unsettled her.
"Perhaps," he conceded. "In my opinion, you lack your mother's ironclad resolve. She adapted far more swiftly, an invaluable trait in leaders."
Mayumi withdrew into thought. If the journal penned by Huo's unhinged mother held any truth, then countless questions remained unanswered. Had Akahana truly slain a group of young Kyoshi Warrior trainees for abandoning the Avatar's worship in favor of an alien deity promising eternal bliss? Had there been a deliberate effort to obscure that unsightly episode, preserving the Matron's reputation?
One question lingered above all others. If such events of betrayal, bloodshed, execution had truly transpired, why were they not common knowledge on the island? Would it not serve as a warning to future generations? And if the elders were aware and then silence itself was a choice, one in which her mother may have played a defining role. It's almost as if there was a similar effort to ensure that a figure's reputation is also unblemished like their beloved founder.
"What a marvelous sight," the Dai Li remarked dryly.
Mayumi scarcely had time to gather her thoughts before their walk came to an abrupt halt. What lay before them resembled a school of some modest sort. Enclosed by the familiar residential walls of the city, it bore all the markings of a place devoted to learning.