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Her blood sang in her ears. Her hand went to her belt. The man and woman would certainly interpret that as the signal to attack. She was aware of Rangi leaving her seat.
Only by moving faster did Kyoshi prevent complete disaster. She slammed one of the war fans on the table, its ribs spread wide to reveal the golden leaf. The Waterbender and the big guy stopped in their tracks. The boy looked like someone had reached into his chest and seized his heart.
“Spirits above!” Lao Ge said. “That’s Jesa’s fan!”
The sudden appearance of the old man at the table startled both sides equally. He’d managed to squeeze in between Rangi and Kyoshi without them noticing, and he leaned inward, giddily examining the details of the weapon.
The boy leaped out of his seat. “Where did you get that?” he shouted.
“I inherited it,” Kyoshi said, her pulse racing. “From my parents.”
The Water Tribe girl looked at her with wonder. “You’re Jesa’s daughter?” she said. “Jesa and Hark were your mother and father?”
Kyoshi didn’t know why she was getting more worked up over simple facts than the prospect of a brawl earlier. “That’s right,” she said. It felt like her mouth had become her stomach, unwieldy and sour. “My parents founded this group. They’re your bosses.”
“Our baby has come home!” Lao Ge crowed. “This calls for a drink.” He stepped back so
he could have room to pour a third bottle into his gullet.
The boy was still angry, but in a different flavor now. “We need to confer for a minute.” He snatched up his rock from the table and pointed accusingly at Kyoshi. “In the meantime, I suggest you get your story straight, because you have a lot of explaining to do.”
“Yes,” Rangi said. “She does.”
Lao Ge perched on a table off to the side with his containers of booze, like a strange bird arranging shiny objects in its nest. The rest of the gang filed back to the kitchen without him. Given that they seemed to treat him like background furniture, Kyoshi could only do the same. She turned to Rangi and found the Firebender giving her a critical stare.
“What?” Kyoshi said. “This happened exactly the way I said it would. We’re in. This is the first step to gain access to this world.”
Rangi remained unmoved.
“I told you everything before we landed,” Kyoshi said. “The truth about my parents being daofei smugglers who abandoned me in Yokoya. Rangi, you came in here with me knowing this.”
The words poured out of her in a churning waterfall. Her knee was jogging rapidly up and down. The motion did not escape Rangi’s notice.
“As bizarre as it is for me to say this, your secret family history is not the issue,” Rangi said. “Don’t you think you played that situation a little . . . aggressively?”
That was news to Kyoshi, coming from her “burn it first and ask questions later” friend. “It’s the kind of behavior these people respect,” she said. “Tagaka knew we were calm and rational, and look what she tried to do to us.”
Rangi’s teeth clicked. “You didn’t see yourself back there. It was like you were begging them to attack you. There’s being brave, and then there’s having a death wish.”
She reached out and clamped her hand on Kyoshi’s leg to still the shaking. “We’re not in our element,” Rangi said. “You might have the keys to certain doors, but this is not our house. You have to be more careful.”
And if I back down from a few daofei, I have no chance of standing up to Jianzhu. “I’m sorry, all right?” Kyoshi said. This argument wasn’t going to resolve anytime soon, and the gang was coming back. The last thing they needed was to show a fractured front to the criminals they were trying to coerce.
Rangi let it go, seeing the same value in unity. The Si Wong boy, Water Tribe woman, and bulky man arranged themselves in front of Kyoshi with great formality. She had often stood that way to greet important guests, always in the back of the group due to her height.
The man made a gesture with one open palm down, and the other hand clenched into a fist on top. It was unlike any other greeting Kyoshi had witnessed and made it seem like his right side was smashing the left for trying to steal food off a table.
“Flitting Sparrowkeet Wong,” he said, bowing slightly. If he seemed embarrassed by having such a delicate-sounding nickname, he didn’t show it.
The lithe Waterbender stepped forward and made the same pose, though in a slouchy way to let everyone know she thought the concept of professional names silly. “Kirima,” she said. “Just Kirima.”
“Bullet Lek,” the boy snapped with great pride. He had rearranged his headwraps behind his ears to a more dignified, indoor style. “Though some call me Skullcrusher Lek, or Lek of the Whistling Death.”
Kyoshi made sure not to mirror the faces that Wong and Kirima made behind Lek’s back, or the boy would have certainly been insulted. “Kyoshi,” she said. “This is my associate, Rangi.”
Rangi made a little snort of disapproval that Kyoshi took to mean: Oh, so we’re giving them our real names now?
“How did you come to us tonight?” Kirima asked. “Start as far back as you can.”
