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Mok slapped his thighs and burst into laughter.
“A future boss in the making!” he said. “Dine with me tonight. I’ll tell you the plans I have in store.”
“How could we refuse, Uncle?” Rangi said with the biggest, sweetest, falsest smile Kyoshi had ever seen.
Attendants carried chairs for everyone up the ladder with great difficulty, followed by a table, and then food and drink. Unlike the large manors of legitimate society, there was no servant class here. Junior toughs and swordsmen did the task, their weapons clanking in their scabbards as they juggled trays like rookie maids.
No one let on that they’d already eaten. The meal was an attempt to mimic a wealthy sage’s table, with more than one course. Shaped flour paste substituted for ingredients that would have been impossible to get in the mountains, and yellowing vegetables made up the rest. There was plenty of wine though.
Mok sat with his back facing the edge of the balcony. The fights no longer interested him. Judging by the clash of metal coming from below, the challenges had moved from unarmed combat into the weapons section. The occasional scream and gurgle made it difficult to concentrate.
“Have any of you heard of Te Sihung?” he asked, dropping the endless displays of puffery and dominance. As foolhardy as Rangi’s fight had been, there was no denying she’d changed the energy of the meeting.
Te Sihung. Governor Te. Kyoshi had never seen him in person at the mansion, but the last gifts she remembered him sending to Yun were an original, unabridged copy of Poems of Laghima, and a single precious white dragon seed.
“Governor in the Eastern Provinces,” she said. “Likes to read and drink tea. Certainly isn’t hurting for money.”
“Very good,” Mok said, impressed, even though she could have been describing half of the rich old men in the Earth Kingdom. “Te’s a little unique among prefectural leaders. He’s not so quick with the axe when it comes to sentencing crimes.” He made a hacking motion to the back of his own neck. How lighthearted they were being.
Mok took a sip of wine and smiled when Kyoshi refilled his cup without being told. “He keeps prisoners instead,” he went on. “His family inherited an old mansion dating back to the Thirty-Somethingth Earth King, complete with a courthouse and a jail where criminals could serve out their sentences instead of facing swift modern justice. I believe the romantic notion of mercy went to his head.”
“Sounds nice of him,” Rangi said, a bit insouciantly. Her face had begun to swell, her words slurring as her lip grew puffy. The other members of their company had willingly retreated into the background, letting her and Kyoshi do the talking. They were playing the tiles they’d been dealt.
“Don’t go putting up statues just yet,” Mok said. “He’s had one of our own locked up for eight years.”
Behind him, Wai positively vibrated, his body thrumming with rage. “We need to get our man out of Te’s cells,” Mok said. “That’s what this job is about. A jailbreak on a fortified position is going to take a lot of bodies, more than the Autumn Bloom has sworn members. So we’re calling in our associates. Every favor will be repaid in one night.”
“This prisoner—is he important?” Rangi asked. “Does he have information you don’t want leaking?”
For the first time tonight Mok looked displeased with her. “This mission is about brotherhood,” he said. “First and foremost. My sworn brother has been rotting in the hands of the law for almost a decade. It’s taken that long for the Autumn Bloom to grow strong enough to attempt a rescue mission, but Wai and I have never forgotten him.”
His passion was real, carved into his spirit with deep grooves. He resembled Lek when the boy talked about Kyoshi’s parents. Propped up by an iron framework larger than himself. Kyoshi wondered if she’d appear the same if she ever spoke about Kelsang at length to anyone. She hoped so.
“Apologies, Uncle,” Rangi said. “I thought knowing the facts would be helpful to our cause.”
“The only facts I need you concentrating on concern how your group is going to help spring my man out of Governor Te’s prison,” Mok said.
“Our group?” Kyoshi preemptively tilted in apology for not understanding. “It sounded like we were to band together with the Autumn Bloom in this mission.”
“Originally, yes. But after giving it some thought, that would be a waste of an elite team of benders such as yourselves. A two-pronged assault should double our chances. I have numbers at my disposal but not stealth or bending prowess. While my men beat down the doors in a frontal assault, I want the Flying Opera Company to take the quiet route. Whoever succeeds first, it doesn’t matter to me.”
Rangi was still in professional, intelligence-gathering mode. “Are there plans to Te’s palace? Layouts? Staff schedules? Any inside people we can count on?”
Mok’s face darkened. He kicked the table away, sending dishes clattering to the floor. “What do you think this is, a robbery?” he snapped. “Figure out your approach on your own!”
Kyoshi realized why he was so angry. Rangi’s questions had exposed him as not much of a tactician. He knew nothing of leadership besides making demands and doling out cruelties when they weren’t met.
Control by tantrum, Kyoshi thought. She had a label for the way Mok wielded power.
He stood up and dusted himself off. “I plan on being at Governor Te’s palace thirty days from now with my forces. I know how swift the Flying Opera Company tends to be, so if you arrive early, you should have all the time you need to prepare yourselves. But! I don’t want you acting on your own before we arrive. Do you hear me?”
I hear many things about you. “Of course, Uncle,” Kyoshi said. The clash of steel and a scream filled the air as she bowed.
The five of them stood outside their inn, not knowing what to say to each other. Fresh distance had come between them. Self-consciousness reigned supreme.
Kyoshi broke the silence. “Can we agree to leave this forsaken town first thing in the morning?”
“Yes,” Wong said. “I’m going to drink myself stupid until then. If I run into any of you, I’m going to pretend I don’t know you. Even if you challenge me.” He frowned. “Especially if you challenge me.” Wong stomped off into the darkness, disappearing beyond the glow of the nearest lantern.
