A faint gasp escaped Satchiko. Mayumi heard it immediately but also noticed something in her sister's expression that had not been there before, a genuine disappointment at scholarly failure.
"A reasonable punishment, considering Yuko here isn't from a state hostile to us," Han Fei conceded without revealing these two warriors are from Kyoshi Island, which isn't even on most maps. "Frankly, I suspect such an exile would have a greater effect upon the young scions and heiresses of the Upper Ring, or maybe those accustomed to the privileged districts of Omashu." The faint smile he had worn faltered slightly at the latter half of his sentence.
Even so, those gathered in the garden received the verdict with a mixture of approval and quiet shock. Expulsion from Ba Sing Se's most important districts was, by any ordinary measure, a punishment considerably preferable to death. Some may dismiss the dishonor inflicted onto one's personal reputation, family honor and name. But more pragmatically, this banishment also meant being severed from the illustrious institutions of learning that had bestowed credentials, influence, and prestige upon generations of scholars. For an ordinary student that aspires to advance and work in the bureaucracy, such a sentence essentially shattered an entire future, a wound that even Satchiko can feel despite not being a local.
The teenager could find no further words. Strangely, she felt almost more disappointed than relieved by the exchange, despite Mayumi being considerably more receptive to the relatively generous arrangement. If the younger sibling could no longer attend Ba Sing Se University, then what meaning remained in all the suffering they had endured just reach this city?
What had any of it been for?
"No," Satchiko whispered at last. The word emerged almost unwillingly, relieved and confused. She expected to escape from this ordeal alive, but never had she imagined the alternative punishment would diminish her in the eyes of her own people.
In the young girl's mind, there would be no triumphant homecoming on Kyoshi Island.
"And what of the four aspirants who made no initial attempt to correct your student's trespass into forbidden grounds?" Han Fei asked Shan once more, but probably a message also reserved for Satchiko herself. "Do not be modest, Shan. I am hardly ignorant of your surprising tendency toward leniency, especially when it comes to law-breaking juveniles."
Mayumi watched the exchange with some unease. Her time as the White Scholar's retainer, as well as through the occasional errands she had performed for the White Scholar, she had gradually come to understand that Shan did not particularly enjoy having his charitable acts known to others. Whatever strange reason he has to conceal such generous acts does warrant some kind of attention, including those who may have reasons to spy on the newest Zhuangyuan.
"A common civilian, particularly a mere juvenile hailing from one of the more distant and unfortunate remnants of an unjustly dissolved nation, may reasonably be expected to possess some ignorance of Ba Sing Se's rigid code," Shan began, even glanced briefly toward Satchiko, using her circumstances as a convenient measure against which to judge the other youths beyond this city's great walls. "Yet, the young initiates of this city's most elite peacekeeping order are another matter entirely. They have been afforded clear instruction in our laws far beyond what even the moralistic tangents of the Earth Sages could provide. As for why the four youth did not exercise their instilled duty by enacting sensibilities to protect the state's secrets, yours truly possesses considerably less understanding." Shan brought his hands together and inclined his head in the restrained, almost ceremonial bow expected of a dignified scholar. "Do not mistake my tolerance toward my pupil, who possessed the meagre possibility of one day serving this city, as an act of senseless compassion. As for the four who have demonstrated themselves unworthy of becoming assets to Ba Sing Se, yours truly propose to whip them harshly to your heart's content."
The sheer callousness of that final remark sent a small disturbance through the garden, even the two sisters exchanged a brief glance, wondering whether Shan's intervention have some hidden, cynical motive.
"Shan," Zhu Di stammered, addressing the scholar while Han Fei watched with the detached amusement of an audience member observing an interesting performance. "Those four can still learn. Do not encourage any more of this—"
"Instructing the newest members of the Dai Li is not the responsibility of someone in your station or yours truly," Shan replied with the usual effortless civility. Not even the slightest hesitation was used to contradict Ba Sing Se's most notorious enforcers.
Naturally, Zhu Di along with the other Dai Li agents tried to hide their shock. Some exchanged glances surprised that someone who technically possessed no government office in the public eye spoke so brazenly to these infamous kingmakers. But at last, slight chastisement isn't worthy of treason, and this scholar certainly did not spoke with masqueraded authority.
"Hold on, Shan!" Satchiko cut into the conversation. "I am the one who sought their help. It isn't fair that they should receive harsher punishment because of me."
"You are not responsible for the security of this city, pupil," Shan's manner did not soften as he addressed his own student, the severity in his gaze remained far sharper than that of any ordinary scholar of Ba Sing Se. "Both my own judgment and a reasonable penal code demand greater accountability from those officially in service to the state and its secrets. Yours truly would expect no less expectation from you, should you one day find yourself standing at the threshold of such a role."
Satchiko took a moment to digest his words. There was no malice in them, nor even any particular concern for her sentiment on the entire ordeal. They were simply an observation of law and judicious punishment coldly employed without favoritism. Reasonably, there is a strong distinction between an ignorant country bumpkin and those entrusted with the affairs of the state, the latter afforded far fewer excuses when they failed.
Eventually, the two Dai Li agents were ordered to free Mayumi from the solid earthen cuff, allowing the swordswoman to sprang free at once and immediately dashed to her sister's side. Her eyes remained fixed upon Han Fei with a fury scarcely concealed. The director, meanwhile, merely savored his tea, appearing utterly untroubled by the fact that the Kyoshi Warrior stood only a table's breadth away, close enough to send a blade through him.
"I suppose this arrangement is the best outcome for both sides," Han Fei remarked, apparently unmoved by the wrath radiating right across the table. "Perhaps my personal experience is different, but I don't actually mind for it to be natural for the eldest among siblings to concern themselves with the mortal safety of those placed under their charge."
"You don't say," Mayumi growled, patience finally snapped. With a sudden, vicious sweep of her blade, Mayumi struck the porcelain flask containing the treasured wine. The vessel shattered against the floor, its contents splattering across wooden tiles and mingling with the glittering fragments. Another source of her anger, silenced. "I detest that you lot fulfilled my expectations of you."
None of the Dai Li present appeared particularly insulted, Zhu Di included. If anything, Mayumi's scorn was quite restrained compared to the seditionists who wish to see Ba Sing Se burn. But had the White Scholar not intervened, the matter might have ended in something considerably less forgiving.
Right now, at least for the younger sister, the consequences of disgrace and banishment would be for the living to endure.
...
"Why would you even do that?" Mayumi demanded, questioning Satchiko about the decision that had nearly ended the latter's life, the inexplicable willingness to drink from a cup they knew contain poison.
The Dai Li had never needed to force the younger Kyoshi Warrior to consume it. That was perhaps the most maddening part, as Satchiko had taken the cup herself with scarcely a moment's hesitation. Obviously, this seriously prompted Mayumi to interrogate her sister's unthinkable motivation. Now Shan had withdrawn to his residence, they alone at least have a moment to reckon with what had happened.
"I'm sorry, big sis." Satchiko lowered her gaze. There was a soft, defeated misery upon her face, as though shame had finally caught up with every reckless decision that had carried them to this point. "I wasn't thinking straight. I was desperate not to be a further burden to you."
"That is not how you repay me!" Mayumi's voice rose sharply, the words cracking through the air like a whip. "Such an act spits in the face of everyone who cares about you. You are reckless, foolish sometimes. But do not ever again convince yourself that you are a burden to me."
Satchiko dares not to nod. The much-needed rebuke had struck deeper than any punishment the Dai Li could have imposed. Shame is now compounded by the grim knowledge of what she had nearly done to Mayumi's own dedication.
She had retained her life. But life is not the same thing as walking away unscathed. Her goal to fulfill her mother's wish to fully master Earthbending had been dealt a grievous blow. To be expelled from Ba Sing Se's most prestigious institutions is itself a permanent humiliation that would follow her home. This city might cast her out with little ceremony, but Kyoshi Island would certainly remember that one's of its village chief's daughter squandered a massive opportunity at one of the world's most prestigious learning institutions.
"Then, what happens now?" Satchiko asked without a sense of direction, almost childlike as she clanged on to some faint hope of somehow redeeming this shame. She did not regret trying to save those four trainees, but now, she is bereft of the strange courage that had possessed her moments before reaching for the poisoned wine. "Are we just going to leave?"
For a moment, Mayumi could only stare at her. The question seemed almost absurd to the older sister, but nonetheless relented. Frustration faltered as she too knew what returning to Kyoshi Island empty-handed would affect Satchiko far more.
"Perhaps, in a more peaceful time, we would never have needed to come to Ba Sing Se at all." The bitterness in Mayumi's voice softened into something closer to grief, acknowledging her sister's lament about the entire futility of their quest to this city.
Their journey had never been undertaken merely for prestige. Their mother's wishes had been at its heart, the hope that Satchiko's innate Earthbending should be cultivated into something greater. It is always better to allow an ability dormant within Satchiko's might to be finally given the chance to flourish.
Mayumi reached out and placed a hand upon her sister's armored shoulder. "We will find another way."
It was a simple promise. And mercifully, a vague one with enough room for detours or distant bending teachers, all unforeseen opportunities beyond Ba Sing Se alone. Surely, even upon a continent scarred by endless wars and disasters, there would remain at least one Earthbending master living in relative safety along the former Earth Kingdom coastlines.
But their search would absolutely not be in Ba Sing Se's Lower Ring or Agrarian Zone, as Mayumi has firmly stated, citing the close proximity with the Dai Li. But admittedly, even an alternative route to finding an Earthbending teacher is no full replacement to the scholarly prestige one can earn from Ba Sing Se's most prestigious learning institution. While Satchiko is certainly no fan of Zhu Xi's lengthy and wordy lectures, the status of expulsion itself carries quite a stigma recognizable even in rural lands.
"We will depart tomorrow," Mayumi said. Han Fei and the Dai Li had granted them two months of grace, a surprisingly generous concession intended to give those sentenced to exile enough time to settle their affairs before departure. But for the older Kyoshi Warrior, not another extra day should remain here.
Satchiko obliged, having little choice in the matter. In truth, she ought to consider herself fortunate. Had her peculiar status not been shielded by that narrow technicality in the law, she would not have been left with so much as the luxury of regretting the chain of decisions that had brought her to this expulsion.
And what of the four trainees who had been gracious enough to teach her how to bend earth with greater refinement? Even if Shan possessed the eloquence necessary to navigate the far stricter expectations imposed upon those four Dai Li aspirants, the cynical scholar showed not the slightest inclination to concern himself with whether they lived or died.
"I will gather my belongings," Satchiko said without enthusiasm. The thought of returning home with little more than what she had arrived with left a bitter taste in her mouth, especially after all the horrors they had endured merely to reach this city. "I should at least explain to the people in class why I have to leave."
"Yours truly would caution against such an act." Shan interrupted the conversation as he emerged through the entrance of the siheyuan, his familiar white paper fan resting between his fingers. When delivering the reasoning, he is still languid, as though the events of the day had amounted to little more than an unpleasant interruption. "While the city's contemporary laws have been amended from the far more draconian customs of past dynasties, association with the condemned will inevitably draw attention."
Once again, Shan demonstrated his superior understanding to the ways of great cities, and of the courtly perils that so often accompanied their splendor. As with the infamous executions of ministers, officials, and sages in dynasties long since buried beneath history, neither friends nor family were necessarily spared when punishment extended beyond the individual.
"Understood," Satchiko assured the White Scholar. She added more quietly that this time she would not repeat the fatal mistake of judging Ba Sing Se's laws through the provincial lens of her own homeland.
After expressing her gratitude for Shan's earlier intervention, Satchiko excused herself once more. Having come perilously close to losing her life, she was at least wise enough to truly heed his warning. The scholar merely watched her depart with that same detached demeanor. No visible satisfaction was present after saving his first student, nor any pride in the accomplishment. For a man who is not part of the traditional sagely tradition of scholars, perhaps the preservation of a single life simply did not carry the weight one might expect.
"Yours truly perhaps underestimated how those from backwater villages cultivate such fearlessness toward rules and punishments," Shan remarked openly once Satchiko had vanished from sight. He appeared calmly perplexed by the girl's recklessness, particularly by the possibility that even after today's harrowing dance with death, she still failed to comprehend the true gravity of what she had just survived. "Mayhap, the dignified end of drinking poison remains a difficult concept for one so… pedestrian." His words finally shifted toward the swordswoman. "Takeko, surely an armed retainer such as yourself could illuminate the ignorance of someone born within the confines of Ba Sing Se."
Mayumi tensed almost imperceptibly at the use of her false alias. Han Fei had apparently yet to inform his so-called star pupil of their true identities, as was customary with anything remotely connected to the Dai Li.
"My sister is brave," Mayumi replied carefully. "But she can be hasty from time to time. As you have correctly deduced, she may simply not have regarded a cup of wine as sufficiently threatening compared greater dangers beyond this city's walls."
Shan accepted the answer with silence, his fan moving lazily before his face. Considering that he and Mayumi were of the same age, the calligrapher had little reason to alter his mannerism too much on account of the difference in their supposed stations. Such deference might have been necessary when addressing figures as prominent as Director Han Fei or the distinguished members of society who frequented the Upper Ring, but Mayumi was merely a retainer, or at least, that was what she had claimed to be. After all, the swordswoman still not found an opportunity to unequip her lacquered armor nor the unmistakably genuine sword she had previously passed off as a theatrical prop. To continue maintaining such a fragile fiction before a Zhuangyuan rank scholar of all people would have bordered on insulting.
"Did you seriously believe yours truly had unironically accepted your little story before?" Shan finally asked it after all this time, eyes remained fixed upon the street rather than turning toward her.
Mayumi took a moment to formulate an answer. Whatever that shall be said, she wanted to avoid diminishing Shan's intelligence with some transparent excuse. An apology for the deception seemed preferable to a convoluted attempt.
"To boldly claim that I have always known you were intelligent enough to see through my facade would be dishonest, nor would such a claim honor the time I spent working as your bodyguard." Mayumi allowed the words to settle before continuing. "Yet I believe you would understand that even within a system governed by such staunch adherence to law, there must occasionally be room for leeway."
"Yours truly did not argue for leeway earlier," Shan corrected her firmly. "Your genuine sentiment is acknowledged, but it would be imprudent to confuse my intervention on your and Yuko's behalf with the fulfilment of some moral expectation. If the narrow technicality of the penal code had not exempted those falling beneath the broad umbrella of diplomatic protection, do you seriously believe yours truly would have bothered?"
Mayumi could still not fully grasp his intentions. Perhaps this was precisely what made Shan so formidable and stubborn, his cynicism was not merely a habit of thought but an architecture within which every action possessed a dozen possible motives, none of them necessarily sincere. Whether or not his motivation stems from an irritational adherence to Ba Sing Se's laws or the disregard at the state of Yi's wanton governor might perhaps be irrelevant to an older sibling who only wants their younger kin alive.
Would the pedantic details truly matter at this point?
"Shan," Mayumi began, slowly choosing her words. "The way I deceived you about my real identity—"
"You need not apologize for such a trivial inconvenience," Shan interrupted with the customary calm of a refined scholar. His gaze is detached, as though concerned nothing more consequential than an error in bookkeeping. "Listen closely Takeko. Just as how a sovereign regards their ministers, the latter deliberately underselling their own abilities invites greater scrutiny. This city is hardly short of household guards who embellish their past exploits. So long as their actions do not directly threaten the ordinary lives of the populace, there is little reason for the penal code to concern itself with them."
Laws governing death and punishment could be severe, even bewildering. Yet beside the capricious whims of those born into power, be them kings, nobles and even Avatars, the scholar openly professed that he found something strangely comforting in the cold certainty of written law. A parchment could be cruel, but at least its cruelty was legible. Favor from those above is another matter entirely.
"Even so, I hope you understand that I remain truly in your debt," Mayumi placed particular weight upon those words. She knew better than most that Shan's paranoia ran deeper than that of the average young scholar, deeper even than many of the city's more cautious scions. "Since my sister is about to be banished, I suppose that also means the termination of my position as your armed retainer."
Shan inclined his head. Being expelled from the Upper and Middle Rings was, comparatively speaking, a lenient punishment. Many who trespassed upon forbidden grounds would have faced something akin to beheading instead. Yet the arrangement had an obvious consequence for another person. Once Satchiko was forced to leave Ba Sing Se, Mayumi would almost certainly accompany her younger sister home.
"Yours truly sees little reason for you to remain indebted to someone you may never meet again," Shan replied, bluntly despite the refined mannerism of Upper Ring speech. "From the lens through which yours truly perceive the world, deception may always cut both ways. I did not assist either of you because of some archaic devotion to morality. It was merely—"
In the midst of reminding them both of his contrasts with so-called benevolent Earth Sages, Shan's two hands are suddenly held by the swordswoman.
"Shan, you don't realize how much your help meant to me," the unexpected gesture made the White Scholar to turn and look at her.
The grasp was gentle for someone accustomed to regularly wield a sword. However, within the rigid etiquette of the Upper Ring, such an unrefined display of familiarity would hardly have been received with generosity. Contact between strangers, particularly across differences of rank is not something lightly performed. Between two heiresses of equal standing and friendship, perhaps it might have been overlooked. Being an occasional traveler to the less formal Lower Ring and Agrarian Zone, Shan did not immediately recoil.
"My sister could have died in that garden," Mayumi lamented, suppressing the quiet torment threatening to latch itself to her voice. "So please. As your armed retainer, I implore that you. Do not downplay your own generosity."
The White Scholar's expression remained one of usual nonchalance while Mayumi's fingers shifted slightly around his palm. Obviously, the harsh philosophy demands those who occupies positions of power to conceal themselves from others, cultivate masks rather than succumb to something so trivial as unconditional trust.
Yet Mayumi's hands remained firm, even audaciously squeezes his hands more tightly. Then, her arm trembled.
Only slightly.
All of this inevitably confused the scholar. Han Fei had likely still not disclosed the full extent of the danger posed by the person standing before an otherwise defenseless calligrapher. Kyoshi Warriors were known along portions of the southern coasts of the mainland, but the knowledge of their existence did not necessarily travel northward. To the ordinary inhabitants of Ba Sing Se, such warriors might be little more than fanciful rumors unless one happened to be a high-ranking official or a well-travelled merchant.
Perhaps, Shan considered her trembling arm as nothing more than fear, especially if he had arrived at that historically inauspicious garden a few seconds too late.
"Once again, your gratitude is acknowledged," Shan's voice remained perfectly composed, honed through years of interaction within the Upper Ring. He waited a moment before subtly indicating that she should release the grasp. Through a more cynical lens, this insignificant gesture might have been the single most vulnerable position in which the Legalist had found himself to be in. His pale robe and scathing rhetoric are absolutely powerless against an armed individual.
Eventually, Mayumi let go of his hands, allowing Shan to resume his familiar self.
"Yours truly advises you both to make for the docks," he said. "Ba Sing Se, in this age of endless wars, is a city easy enough to enter but exceedingly difficult to leave. Considering your priority is protecting Yuko, it would be prudent to avoid the same obstacles that await beyond our walls."
As if summoned by the very mention of war, the quarrelsome states of Jian Xin and Xiao Zhong had once again turned upon one another. News had recently reached the city's locals of another impending clash between the two warlord states. Before long, Ba Sing Se or one of their other neighbors would inevitably seize upon the opportunity.
Mayumi heeded Shan's advice. But this time, she intended for herself and Satchiko to board a vessel that would carry them further from the mainland and its endless wars. The waters themselves were not without danger as naval battles occasionally stained even those distant routes with blood.
Still, sailing around the Fire Nation seemed preferable to remaining within reach of the conflicts consuming the mainland. Perhaps the longer journey would also prove the less frightening one.
Shan watched until Mayumi had finally excused herself, claiming that she still had another benefactor to thank before departing. The scholar waited until the swordswoman fully disappeared from view, and only then did the scholar lower his gaze, absently inspecting his palms that remained faintly warm.
His own words, meant for more than one person.
"You overstepped yourself."