Banking into an alleyway after weaving through the market crowd, Ren found herself panting heavily with a mix of apprehension and exertion. She gave one final peek out the alley's corner before heading into the relative safety of the damp and pungent confines.
"You think we lost him?" she asked with some concern.
"We better," her partner replied, equally jittery.
It should have been an easy mark; a wide-eyed White Lotus man who seemed to be lost in thought as he walked absently through the crowded marketplace. With how he looked around every now and then, and how he obliviously kept his purse openly by his side instead of hiding it away, it was clear that the guy was new to the city.
Yet, even with Ren playing the role of a lost child to distract him while Kai snuck in from upwind, the White Lotus still snapped his hand back to catch Kai's wrist, startling the boy into a yelp.
"Excuse me-" the mark started to say, but neither orphan bothered to draw out the encounter.
Kai quickly recovered, shaking off the man's grip and snatching the purse away before joining Ren in legging it. Neither dared look over their shoulder, knowing that the effort would slow them down. For minutes they slipped through shoppers and servants, splitting up and snapping into sudden detours with ease honed from their years surviving Republic City's shadowy side.
And now, back in their usual rendezvous between a butcher and a fishmonger, the two urchins huddled together behind a massive bin that droned with flies hovering around bones and entrails. Finally, safe from the outside world, Kai produced the purse and loosened its drawstring.
"That's not a bad haul," the boy said with a grin as he looked down at rolls of paper yuan instead of mere coins. "The guy's loaded."
"Yeah, shame we can't hit him again," Ren answered with a matching grin despite the future misfortune. No doubt the White Lotus man would be highly wary after this, and likely even hold a grudge. Might be safe to just avoid all White Lotus people after this, and return back to the usual jobs.
Still, it was an opportunity that neither Ren or Kai could resist, and with how much money they now were looking at, it was a risk well worth it.
"We can probably stretch it for a couple of months," she suggested, her hazel eyes locked onto the cash they now owned, and her partner nodded, his own honey brown eyes almost gleaming as well.
"Three, if we keep working."
"Urgh. I don't wanna. The triads are getting into another fight." And Ren didn't want to get caught in the crossfire, like how they almost got caught by the Agni Kai for a paltry pay (in hindsight) by the Triple Threat Triad.
Kai nodded again. "Then let's hope the turf war finishes quickly. Come on, let's grab some food."
Both kids broke into grins again. "Real food," Ren clarified, almost salivating at the prospect of a real bowl of noodles bought from the stall instead of making up whatever they could with scavenged scraps.
After both of them did some arithmetics, Kai took out a roll of yuans from the purse and counted out just enough for their meal, and then put the rest back into the purse and stashed the orphans' precious treasure away into the hidden hole in the wall that served as their vault.
Walking back out to the streets, the kids went straight to a noodle stall, putting on their best masks of outrage at the storekeeper's disparaging look. Ren relished the surprised look that appeared on the stout woman's face when Kai slapped the yuans on the stall's counter and placed their order.
"Enjoying your last meals?" she asked dryly in her hoarse voice, less annoying now that she wasn't screaming at them to chase them away.
Ren shared a glance with Kai, and then both of them just shrugged. "Maybe our hard work finally paid off," the girl replied with some smugness, causing the noodle vendor to scoff as she prepared the order.
"Yeah, right." Three clay bowls of steaming noodles appeared on a tray moments later, and Kai gingerly carried it with both hands. "I suggest you take your time and enjoy the food before the triads or whoever it is comes for you."
Ren rolled her eyes while Kai stuck his tongue out at the mean lady. With Ren protecting Kai and the precious cargo, the two young teens carefully made their way towards another alley, where makeshift shelters of scavenged boards and newspaper and rags hugged the walls like feeding milli-ticks. Greeting the greedy looks they received with a warding glare, Ren unsubtly brandished her shiv to keep the bums from even entertaining the thought of making a try for the food. They reached a small hut of waxed tarp and broken signboards, and Ren had to help Kai balance the tray as he crouched to enter.
"Hey gramps?" Ren softly called out as she slipped into her home. The old man curled in the corner rolled with a grunt. "Gramps, wake up. We've got lunch."
As Kai placed the tray on the bare floor, Ren woke Gramps up. Ignoring the lingering stench of fish from his night job, it took only a light push for the man to finally awaken with a snort. "Wha-?"
"Lunch, Gramps."
Gramps blinked at Ren, then at Kai, and finally at the bowls on the floor. It took him several long seconds before he spoke, and he did so with a disapproving frown. "I told you not to join the triads."
"We didn't," Kai reassured. "Honest. We just found a…"
"A quick job," Ren jumped in to help. "One that paid very well."
The children endured the old man's skeptical glare for a while, and Ren almost broke under her guardian's judging gaze. But then he finally let out a heavy sigh and shook his head before rising up.
"Just promise me you're not getting into trouble."
"It's no trouble at all," Ren replied with a bright smile. Outsiders, especially those guaranteed to be unaffiliated to the triads like the White Lotus, were not only easy marks, they didn't have the means or ability to navigate the poorer side of the city, let alone figure out how to track down one face in a sea of strangers. This was a one-time windfall, completely risk free, completely unattached to the triads, comple-
"Indeed so," a voice suddenly cut in, and Ren let out a yelp while Kai jumped a good foot into the air from his seating position as they saw a familiar cowled head poke in. The White Lotus man wore a genial smile on his sharp features, nodding like he was an invited guest at the three of them. His gaze settled on Gramps for a second longer than Ren liked, and both she and Kai got up, subtly going for their weapons as they formed a protective barrier between the intruder and Gramps.
The man noticed the movement, and his lips tugged up into a dry smirk. "I see I'm interrupting your meal."
"No," Ren replied flatly, staring at the White Lotus man with as much evenness as she could muster. "We can talk. Outside."
He gave her a look for a moment before nodding and backing away. Ren winced as she glanced back to see Gramps' arched brow and admonishing glare.
"I-It's nothing, really," she lamely offered, before she and Kai quickly scrambled out of the hut where their White Lotus mark stood passively and simply regarded them with an unreadable gaze. Peeking beyond the man, Ren caught sight of the other bums doing their best to pretend to ignore the man's presence. Beyond the alley, the noodle vendor's nosy head poked into view.
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It was Kai who spoke first after drawing in a breath. "Look, we're sorry, okay. Just…just let us finish our meal and we'll give you back your money, alright? It's not here, I swear."
"I know," the man said, and then produced the purse Kai had nabbed less than an hour ago.
As the urchins' eyes boggled at the object, the man broke into a wry smirk and opened his purse. "I've chased far more…persistent people before." The smirk vanished as he broke into begrudging muttering at something.
"How…"
A shuffle from behind them saw Gramps crawling out of the hut, dragging himself with his walking stick. Ren and Kai immediately made to help him up, but Gramps waved aside their assistance and prostrated himself before the White Lotus man.
"Please, sir, whatever the kids have done, please forgive their mischief. I will find a way to make it up to you."
Ren felt her stomach twist at the sight, hating that her guardian had to do this again. Kai too, judging from his appalled look. The two kids exchanged a look and then once more formed up between Gramps and the stranger in defiance. Before either of them could claim full responsibility though, the man shook his head.
"Relax, I'm not here to hurt anyone." There was a softness in his eyes that made Ren believe him, and a tension she didn't realize she had melted away. With a slight incline of his head, Kai and Ren moved away, allowing him to walk past them to help Gramps up. "Come on up, sir. The ground's dirty. I'm just here to talk with these two about their job."
Gramps slowly rose up on his twisted legs, and Ren noted how the White Lotus man frowned as he took notice of them. She grimaced as guilt shot into her guts and the scowling faces of the Agni Kai bastards flashed across her mind again.
"It's fine," Gramps said a touch grumpily, defensive as ever about his legs. "I'm not an invalid. Just old and tired." He leaned on his walking stick, giving the stranger a tired sigh. "But thank you for your concern."
"As you say, elder." There was an odd tone in his voice. Like he was…familiar?
"So…these two…did a job for you?"
The man offered a comforting smile as he nodded. "Quite so, elder." His eyes quickly flashed over to Ren and Kai, bearing the familiar message of 'play along', and then his smile grew. "Indeed, I'm here only because I found them to be most helpful."
"Uh… You're welcome?" Ren managed to say, and he nodded with a glint of amusement.
"Anyway, I didn't know I was intruding, so perhaps we can talk later? Wouldn't want your meal to go cold."
Ren wasn't going to argue with that, though to add more to her surprise, the man offered to host the three of them at the noodle stall's table, managing to somehow convince gramps to accept the aid of hobbling out of the alley.
As they experienced the novelty of actually sitting around a table for a meal, Ren and Kai exchanged confused but decreasingly wary glances between themselves, and shot puzzled looks at their not-quite-mark. The noodle vendor too, and practically every other vendor in the small square, regarded the White Lotus man with a mix of apprehension and confusion as he ordered a bowl of noodles for himself, and then went to other stalls for meat skewers and vegetables to add to the meal.
"Come, while the food's still warm."
Deciding that she had enough of confusion and wariness, Ren gave a final look to Kai before shrugging and enjoying the food on the table. She slurped down the noodles and tore through the skewers with gusto, deciding that if this really was going to be her last meal, she'd enjoy every bit of it. The man ate with far more restraint, matching Gramps' speed.
By the time they were done, Ren was only mildly surprised that he had not drawn a weapon or that his accomplices hadn't popped out of the shadows. Though sudden realization seemed to hit him once he finished his food.
"Ah. Apologies for my manners..."
The words made both Ren and Kai tense up instinctively, but instead of lashing out or snapping to call for goons, the man bowed at them from his seat.
"My name is Xing, an initiate of the Order of the White Lotus."
The tension fled again.
Gramps tugged his mustache and beard clean before giving a courteous nod. "Thank you for the meal, Xing. I am Lidai, a fisherman at the docks." Xing's smile faltered just a little bit. Weird.
Kai raised a hand for some reason. "Um… Kai."
And Ren gulped before nodding herself. "Ren."
A smile of satisfaction bloomed on Xing's face, and he focused his attention on the two confused kids. "Now then, could I interest you two in another…job?"
"Uh, what…what would you want us to do?"
"Something simpler than the…work you did for me earlier," he said, flashing a wink at Ren, who shrunk a little back at the reminder.
Xing surreptitiously produced a roll of yuans and rolled it towards her. "As you might be aware, I am new to Republic City, and therefore I'm aware that I'm quite…ignorant of the goings on here. I'm sure two well-acquainted people like yourselves might help brief me on what the city's like?"
"Why'd you want to know?" Kai asked, beating Ren to it. People like him normally stick to the 'brighter' parts of the city, and don't bother looking into the shadows.
Xing flashed a grin before leaning back a little on his stool. "Well, I have a…charge that I have to keep away from trouble. And it'd be easier if I knew what exactly trouble is over here. Whose toes that shouldn't be tread on, which places not meant to be entered, that sort of thing."
"Sounds like you're looking over quite a troublemaker," Gramps remarked with a short chuckle.
Ren did not miss the annoyance in Xing's sigh. "You can say that. Anyway, would you be interested?"
The two kids shared a brief look before nodding in unison.
"My thanks," Xing said and then slowly rose up. "Should I meet you here, or back where I first…offered you that job?"
"Uh, here's good?" Kai answered sheepishly.
"Excellent. I look forward to another companionable lunch. Good afternoon." Xing gave a final bow before turning to leave, but paused midway to smirk at Ren and Kai. "Ah, here's a tip: Look up, even if you're in an ice cave."
"Ice cave?" Ren couldn't help but say.
Xing her comment off. "I guess it's not pertinent in this environment, but the advice still stands. Anyway, good afternoon."
As he left and Gramps was guided back to their home, Ren and Kai were left exchanging confused glances at each other, both doubting that what had just happened really did just happen.
Xing had caught them and recovered his stolen money, but instead of a beating, scolding or worse, only bought them a filling lunch with a promise for more. The situation was only made more surreal when a spectator commented that Xing looked a lot like the guy on the papers who was standing beside the Avatar the other day.