Satchiko could feel the silence the moment she returned to this place. It hung over the small temple like an unspoken command, bidding her tread more softly than usual. A scattering of unswept leaves had gathered beneath the trees in the courtyard, and that small irregularity alone sharpened her caution when she noticed the great hall's doors standing slightly ajar.
The wooden door groaned as she eased it open.
Though she had helped restore and clean this once disheveled sanctuary during previous visits, the conspicuous absence of those ordinarily tasked with its upkeep stirred an uneasy suspicion within her. Had their activities somehow been discovered?
Stepping deeper into the hall, she soon noticed that the incense offered before the newly restored effigy had long since gone cold. The sticks had been neatly extinguished, their severed tips clean. Nothing about the scene suggested a pious visit.
At that moment, she became acutely aware of the murals lining the walls. The painted figures seemed to gaze down upon her, silent judges contemplating her bewilderment and the furtive anxiety of someone caught trespassing where she did not belong.
A shadow fell across the floor.
She sensed it before she turned. A figure had stepped into the path of light spilling through the temple entrance, reducing the hall's dim illumination even further.
"Where are they?" Satchiko demanded without thinking, the question escaping her lips more as an accusation than an inquiry.
The stranger stood cloaked beneath layers of dark veils, their features entirely obscured.
For Satchiko, such uncertainty left little room for contemplation. It awakened an instinct honed back on Kyoshi Island.
Fight first. Think later.
A golden war fan snapped open with a sharp metallic flourish. Its polished surface caught the meager light and gleamed defiantly within the gloom. Even concealed beneath the veils, the stranger's posture betrayed a flicker of surprise at the sudden appearance of the iconic weapon.
Satchiko lunged. Her fan cut through the air with practiced momentum, only for the stranger to intercept her wrist with startling precision. Her free hand immediately shot forward in a punch, but that attack was also swept aside just as effortlessly.
Adjusting her approach, Satchiko pivoted and lashed out with a kick, forcing the stranger to answer in kind.
Their boots collided with a resounding crack that echoed throughout the empty hall.
Satchiko staggered back, a dull ache flaring through her right foot. Recovering quickly, she slashed downward with the metal fan, only to feel her wrist seized once more after the strike was effortlessly evaded. The stranger turned her own force against her, twisting gracefully and sending her tumbling several paces across the floor.
The familiarity of the technique did not escape her.
"Mayumi," Satchiko said, wincing as she pushed herself upright. "You never told me you had a new outfit."
The stranger removed her straw hat and pulled away the dark veils draped around her face. Without their customary armor or face paint, neither woman resembled their armed profession. To any passerby, they would appear as little more than ordinary travelers.
Mayumi offered an apologetic glance. "I should not have approached without warning," she admitted. "But this is Ba Sing Se. The rules here are far less forgiving than those back home."
Then the expression hardened.
"Sister, there are forces at work in this city far too dangerous to meddle with," she warned, with a tinge of urgency. "I will explain everything once we leave this place."
"But I still have to—"
Before Mayumi could employ the firm authority that had so often ended such arguments, the doors of the hall swung open once more.
Two Dai Li agents entered.
Their gradual footsteps echoed across the stone floor as they surveyed the chamber. One cast a cursory glance through the spacious hall, his gaze drifting over the restored effigy before traveling upward to the ceiling.
After a moment's inspection, he exchanged a look with his companion. Without a word, both turned and departed.