View Full Version : Midnight Dancing
“People, there are so many… people!” As much as he’d have liked to, Nin could barely take all of the sights at once. He could feel his senses stimulated beyond anything he ever imagined, especially the smells. The only thing he could remotely compare the flurry of activity in Knife’s Edge to, were the yearly harvest festivals in the village. Even then, it paled in comparison. Stone buildings were everywhere as well! It wasn’t that Nin had never seen one, but he simply had never seen so many in one place. A light squeeze on his hand made him refocus onto the girl in front of him.
“Sheez, I can’t leave you alone for a second here.” A pair of irritated, brown eyes stared intently into his lilac ones. Nin leaned back and away with a sheepish grin. At that, the girl’s expression softened to a grin as well. “I swear you’re still a child.”
“Sorry Li, it’s just I’ve never been to Knife’s edge before.” It took some effort, but Nin wiggled his hand and fingers loose, just in time to dodge around a rather large and distracted man.
“Oh, that’s right. I keep forgetting that.” Grabbing onto Nin’s hand once again, she squeezed past an oncoming crowd.
“W-where are we going?”
“To a place with lots of people.”
“But there’s lots here!”
Laughing, Li picked up her pace and dragged Nin along behind her. “You’ll see.”
It was another fifteen minutes, or so, until the pair arrived in one the many marketplaces in Knife’s Edge. There were vendors as far as the eye could, selling anything from dried meats, fruits, clothing, various sorts of jewelry, baskets, chairs that folded, chairs that folded by themselves, jars of all sizes and shapes, hair accessories, children’s toys and on and on. It was just Nin’s luck that he spotted a vendor stall of a large collection of crystal hairpins. Any color that the young man could dream of was present, and then some. One particular pair pin stood out to him, a white crystal flower with delicate silver chains entwined about a single thin pin, about 6 inches long. He looked up to ask the pair attending the stand, about pricing, but then something else caught his eye.
“Alright Nin! We’re-” Squeezing the hand that should have been holding onto Nin’s, she felt nothing. Turning about, she spotted him glossing over a stall tended by a pair of dwarves. If anyone had paid attention, one could have seen a shudder run down Li’s back, but with no choice she approached. What Nin said next, would have had her grabbing her sides in laughter, had the situation not actually involved the pair of dwarves.
“Li, look, a bearded child.”
Nin’s face was a mixture of awe and surprise, but also of intense interest as he pointed to the dwarf with a light copper beard. Li, out of sheer embarrassment, palmed her face and shook her head with a mumble, “Nin…”
The dwarf that Nin had pointed to was just as surprised, but in a much different manner. He couldn’t believe his ears. A human of all things, had the stones to call him a bearded child. The very thought made his rage boil over as his hand reached for his axe. “I’LL SHOW YE A BEARDED CHILD YE DERN DANCIN DIMWIT!” but the heavy hand of the other dwarf stopped him.
This dwarf had a goaded look, but also of bemusement plastered into his features. His beard was of a darker copper than the other, and by looks, was slightly older. “Well, ye do act like a child… at least she didn’t forget de beard.”
Annoyance painted the other now as he turned to his partner and spat, “Ah, shut up ye sona' va bastard. An’ leggo of me. Was just gonna scare her...”
“Ye moron, me father’s YER father too.” Turning with a roll of his eyes as he spoke, he began, “Anyweys, how can… where’d dey go?” Searching the crowd, the two quickly spotted the violet haired “girl” being lead away by the ear. At the sight, the two roared in laughter.
“Ow, ow… ow… ow, Li, ow… stop!” Squirming in Li’s hold did little to comfort Nin’s ear. It wasn’t the first time Li had done something like this, but each time it made Nin feel like a small child. He couldn’t help but notice that a few people tried to hold their laughter, while some just obliged to it. Finally, the two came to a halt with Nin rubbing tenderly at his left ear.
Li, on the other hand, proceeded to slap lightly at Nin’s face with both hands. “Damn it Nin, focus yourself for once!” But it was clear that either Nin wasn’t listening, or paying attention, as he was more preoccupied with fending off the flurry of slaps. A sudden growl from both their stomachs made Li stop her hands. “I suppose we should find somewhere to eat first.”
At the mention of food, Nin brightened up as he reached into a pocket to produce two small pieces of candy. There was a look of disapproval from Li, but she took one anyways and popped it into her mouth. Nin did the same with another sheepish grin of his. “You know I have a sweet tooth…”
At that, Li threw her hands to the heavens in mock despair, “I know! But I meant we need an actual meal. You can’t live on candy.”
“But the coin we have is for meeting- hmrph!” Finding his mouth covered by Li’s hand, he tried to continue anyway with incoherent sounds.
“Shhh, I know. That’s why we’re going to put on a performance.”
“But-”
“You want to eat or not?”
“…okay...”
“How’s your singing?”
Nin rubbed the back of his neck in discomfort. “You know you’re the better singer…”
“Yeah, but you remember the words. Scratch that then. How about your fire knife dancing?”
“I caught my sleeve on fire in the village, remember?”
Li frowned. “That was a year ago, I mean now.”
“I… could try… after some practice…” Nin managed to mumble out.
“Well, you can juggle right?”
At that, Nin broken into a smile and nodded his head vigorously. “Six things at once and I’ve gotten a lot better at rolling.”
“Well… I think we’ll only need three objects. I’m thinking of tomatoes…”
“To show off your knife throwing?” Nin asked with a smirk.
“If it gets us fed, yes.”
“I could keep them juggled while you get them. We don’t have a board though…”
“We’ll improvise something.” Nin didn’t look convinced. “It’ll be fine, now come on!” Not taking no for an answer, Li grabbed Nin once more by his hand and dragged him along, back to the market place. A gamble was forming in her head… one that might just work.
“Liiiii… where are we goinngg?” Nin whined as the girl dragged him by his hand through the market.
“We’re going to visit your two friends.”
“But I don’t have any friends here in Knife’s Edge,” was the confused reply. The two stopped in front of the hairpin stall once again which only resulted in Nin staring at the pair of dwarves dumbly, while the two did the same.
The dwarf with the lighter beard was the first to speak up, “Da hell are YEH back ‘ere for?” Nin shrank away and hid behind Li. The darker bearded dwarf just shook his head and wacked his brother in the back of the head with a hand.
“Nin, get out from behind me.” The stern voice and the threat of another ear pinching was enough to make Nin spring out and stand next to Li once more, though he still shied away from the glare of the dwarf with the light copper beard. “Now apologize.”
Nin stood there as equally dumbfounded as the pair of dwarves who looked to the two humans in shock. However, Nin was beginning to catch onto Li’s plan, and bowed his head deeply for a few seconds, then raised it with a humble, “I’m sorry for mistaking you two for a younger generation, master craftsmen.”
The two dwarves continued to stand there with their mouths gapping wide open. A human was apologizing for something in broad daylight, to a dwarf? The older one recovered himself first and kicked his partner in the shin under the table. That brought the younger to his senses with a grunt as he muttered, “Yeeh… alright, alright. ‘m sorry for losin me temper...”
The older one then gave a cough and spoke up, “Name’s Dorrid.” Putting a hand on the other’s shoulder, he continued, “And he’s Dorain.” With a bit of pride, he puffed out his chest and pointed to the sign above their stall, “We’re the Orak brothers.”
Li fought off prejudice thoughts and smiled to them. “I’m Li Uura,” she said making a motion to herself. Waving to Nin, she said with a bit of a chuckle, “and she is Nin Uura.” Nin only smiled timidly to the two dwarves and nodded.
“Right, dat’s all?” Dorain asked with a gruff tone, still not completely over the insult.
Dorrid shook his head with a sigh and offered quickly, “What he means is, ya need us ter ‘elp with something? Perhaps a nice hairpin?”
Nin and Li looked to each other and both nodded at the same time. “We’re traveling performers from a village nearby but we’ve seem to have forgotten some supplies.”
“Now wait here a second missy-” Dorain began, but his brother cut him off with another kick to his shin.
“We can buy most of what we need, but we’re lacking a large board and decorative flair,” Li said quickly. She gave Nin a glance and a jerk of her head, and he seemed to understand what she wanted and rushed off to another stall.
“What’s dat gotta do with us?” was Dorain’s exasperated response and look of disbelief.
Dorrid shook his head and muttered, “Ye dumb ding bat, dem’s lookin for a sponsor.” Still, even after the realization, Dorrid was feeling mighty awkward being asked for help, from a human. Rather, he wasn’t used to being asked to help sponsor a human for anything. Curiosity got the better of him though as he hesitantly asked, “What’s it dat ye have in mind, young miss?”
The two dwarves had consented to the two traveler’s wishes. Dorain wanted to see them fail, while Dorrid was genuinely interested in their idea. Done well, it could earn the brothers’ stall extra business and even if it didn’t go well, they’d still get their name out to more people.
In the center of this marketplace, there was a raised platform provided for weary travelers, children to play on, or performers to use. There had been a few children running about the area, a couple of music players, and an old man napping. The platform was large enough that Nin and Li found a place easily to set up. Dorain and Dorrid helped move their own store sign onto the stage, having been made out of a sturdy maple block.
As Li and the two dwarf brothers propped the sign up, Nin had gathered a group of children about himself. He was telling a small story of a field mouse and his love, adding in small sleight of hand tricks to impress the children, when Li spotted him. For a moment, Li thought about pulling Nin over to help until she saw Nin and all of the children put their hands on top of one another in the center. With a one, two, three count, they all ran off to different directions. After, Nin returned with a grin plastered to his face.
“Do I even want to know, Nin?” Yet, even as Li tried to scowl, she couldn’t help the grin in the corner of her lips, having a guess as to what Nin did.
“Getting help to spread the word?” was what Nin eventually returned as a hesitant question. Peeking over to see the board standing, displaying the name outwards and the back of the board facing where the two were planning to perform, he ran past Li quickly to take a look.
He was greeted by Dorrid with a hearty, “Dis might just work…”
Dorrain only scoffed and mumbled something along the lines, “Women and their plans!”
Nin paid no attention to him and instead ran over to Dorrid to shake both his hands. “Thank you for letting us borrow the pins too.” Touching a hand quickly to the white crystal flower pin, he flashed a brilliant smile that made Dorrid grin in embarrassment.
“We’ll ah watch from over at our stall. Jus dun forget to mention us like ya promised.”
“Come come, everyone give a hand for my little sister!” Li was yelling above the small cheering group that was steadily growing. There was a sudden blast of heat from behind her, nearly singeing her hair as a ball of fire plumed past her into the air. Some in the crowd roared in laughter at the near accident while others clapped wildly, thinking it was part of the act.
Fire breathing wasn’t exactly Nin’s specialty, but he had learned to do it a little back at home. It wasn’t until now, with the adrenaline flowing high, did he attempt the feat once more. Dorrid had even offered to help with a bottle of his own homebrewed “liquid courage” to use. Nin had declined politely and opted for a bottle of high grade mineral oils for safety sake.
Normally, Li would have slapped Nin for nearly blasting her head off, but the show had to go on and Nin was holding a flaming jutte. He twirled it about in a haphazard fashion, and at times, seemed to nearly burn himself, but the young man held on. He had remembered why his sleeve caught fire and had made sure to bind the loose ends of his clothing. It was no surprise that his performance improved now that he had nothing to hamper him and he was even able to complete a forward flip.
Meanwhile, Li arranged a row of tomatoes behind Nin to use for the juggling. In hindsight, they should have finished off with the fire dancing, but as the current situation stood, they might as well finish how they planned. Soon enough, Nin cast the jutte into a pail of water nearby to extinguish the flames. Nin took a quick bow as he also wiped his brow of sweat.
“Think fast!” Li called out as she tossed the red fruits towards Nin. Catching them with a startled expression, the crowd laughed a bit as one dropped and caught onto his foot. With a silly grin, he began to juggle the three he had as he stayed balanced on one foot. Suddenly, with a small hop, he kicked up the last tomato to add a fourth item into his juggling routine. At that, those that had gathered began to clap.
A gasp a few in the crowd alerted Nin to glance at Li. From the corner of his eye, he could see her holding the throwing knives. As quickly as he could, he moved into position near the Orak brother’s sign board at the same time as he maintained his routine. Without warning, the first knife flew and impaled a tomato and embedded into the board.
Then a second.
Finally a third.
And since Li was out of throwing knives, Nin caught the last one and tossed it to a child in the front row. Coming together, they held a hand together and then took a bow for the crowd.
“Hey! Where am I supposed to put this?” Someone yelled as they held aloft a coin.
Moving quickly, Nin dumped the water out of the pail and set it near the edge of the platform. People moved forward to drop their coins in to show their appreciation. With every coin, Nin parted with a small, “Thank you!”
Remembering their promise, Li announced quickly, “And if you’re wondering who helped us get a start and where these lovely pins came from, look no further than the Orak brothers!” She then pointed towards the dwarven brothers who now stood awkwardly behind their stalls. Never have they had so many heads turned to focus on them. Furthermore, the brothers were struck again with surprise as women of all ages, and even a few men, made for their stall to inspect their wares and goods.
“Not bad at all, Xue Lian,” a male voice said with a chuckle. Turning, Nin blinked his eyes to see the lavender ones staring back.
“Uncle!”
After the crowd had dispersed, Nin’s uncle sat on the edge of the platform with Li as they waited for Nin. They had cleaned up their small portion of the stage and now talked about how the village was and how the relatives from home were doing.
When Nin finished talking to the Orak brothers, he gave a bow and hurried back over with an excited look. In his hands, he held two wrapped packages and when he reached his uncle and Li, he handed one to Li.
“What? No gift for me?” Nin’s uncle asked in joking disappointment.
After the package was unwrapped, Nin showed the crystal hairpin he had been wearing earlier and then presented it to his uncle. “You can have and wear mine if you want, Uncle.”
The man laughed and stood up to put a hand around his nephew. “Come on you two, I’ll take you back.”
“Nin, you didn’t tell me you had an uncle.” Pushing off the edge of the platform, Li had folded the wrapping of her pin and kept it in a hand. The pin she had was a brilliant blue crystal and already adorned her hair.
“He didn’t?” His uncle asked in surprise. Immediately he turned to Nin. “You didn’t?”
Nin at this point shrugged with a confused expression of his own, which might as well have been his constant state of being. “Master Oba didn’t say who it was that we were supposed to meet. He just said, ‘You’ll know,’ and I guess I do now.”
The uncle scratched at his chin in thought back to the slip he received. “I suppose that makes sense now. All I got was, ‘Look for pretty things in the market. You’ll know who.’ That old bastard is still silly as always isn’t it?”
Li snickered at the comment the uncle made before clearing her throat quickly. “You still haven’t told me what I should call you. I can’t just keep calling you, ‘Nin’s Uncle,’ now that I'm of age.”
The man thought a moment and then shrugged with a grin. “You can just call me uncle too then.”
Li rolled her eyes before focusing them on Nin in an accusing fashion. “Is your entire family like this?”
“Like what?” was the innocent reply.
“Oh the spirits, never mind!” Both Nin and his uncle laughed a bit at the girl’s frustrations and after a moment, even Li couldn’t help but smile.
Quite suddenly, both Nin and Li’s stomach grumbled in hunger. The uncle looked to both and then with an intense look of concentration, made his own stomach grumble. Nin and Li looked to the man with astonishment as he shrugged. “What? I didn’t want to be left out.”
Li let out an exasperated sigh before saying, “Well where should we eat? We can’t live on the candy that Nin keeps on him all the time.”
“I can!” was the reply from the young man as he took out another piece from a hidden fold in his clothing.
“Where the hell do you keep them? You don’t even have pockets!”
The uncle roared in laughter and steered to two in earnest now with his arms. “We’ll eat at my home. How about that?”
“What? So we can eat more candy?” Li was clearly not expecting much as her two companions were obviously related in more ways than one.
The uncle only laughed again and shook his head. “Of course not! My wife is a wonderful cook.”
“Oh my little Lian!” As the group of three entered a small hovel off the main street, a woman with vibrant violet hair hurried over from the stove to give Nin a crushing hug.
“Spirits woman, you’re gonna kill him.” The uncle stretched his arms and back before making for the back towards another door. “Li, want to go wash up?”
“After Nin nearly lit me on fire? Of course.”
The uncle laughed while the aunt looked to Nin with a frowning face. “You didn’t now, did you?”
Wriggling out from her grasp, he shook his head violently. “No, Aunty Xing.”
Li rolled her eyes and the uncle laughed once more. “I’ll go pitch some water up for dinner then.” As the uncle hurried out with a large bucket, he stopped suddenly and looked about the rafters. “Where’s Toby?”
“I let him out. Oh and Ling, do you mind getting a few heads of cabbage?”
“Cabbage?” The uncle whined. “I wanted lamb.”
“We are having lamb, but I know Li doesn’t like lamb so go and get some cabbage.” Seeing her husband about to argue, she shut the door quickly in his face and returned to the stove. “Men.”
“Aunty, would you like some help?” On the table was an assortment of fresh vegetables (missing cabbage) and meats (presumably lamb), still waiting to be washed.
“Oh no that’s fine Nin. You go wash up with Li.”
Nin bit lightly on the inside of his lower lips while humming out in thought. “Do I have to with Li? She hogs all the hot water.”
“Li!” Aunt Xing suddenly yelled out.
“What?” The reply was muffled by the door separating the washroom and kitchen.
“Don’t steal all the hot water from Nin.”
There was silence for a few minutes, save for the sound of something sizzling in the pan, before Li edged the door open to peek her head out. “You mean Nin’s going to wash with me?”
“That’s the plan.” Stirring the contents of the pan quickly with a pair of wooden sticks, she looked back to Li. “What’s the matter?”
“Nin’s the one that steals the hot water from me!” Li suddenly said with a frown and glare at Nin.
“Oh stop fussing you two. I’ll boil more hot water then.”
It was Nin’s turn to frown as he edged towards the door of the washroom with a mumble. “I do not…”
“Just hurry up and get in here. It’s getting cold.” Not wanting to squabble, Nin ducked inside the door and closed it.
“Remember to wash behind your ears you two!”
The response from Nin and Li was simultaneous, “We’re not kids!”
Dinner was a pleasant affair with the scent of braised lamb with carrots, stir-fried cabbage with leek and peppers, pickled vegetables, and a large pot of wheat noodles all mingling together. For Nin's Uncle Ling the obvious choice was the lamb and it was only under the stern eyes of his wife did he even pick at the vegetables. Nin balanced his portions with a careful amount of everything while his Aunt Xing and Li were content to stay with just the vegetables dishes.
"And then, Nin just ran!" Li managed between a fit of giggles. Ling slapped the back of his nephew with a hearty laugh of his own while Xing cast a disapproving look at Nin.
"I really was sorry! I just... forgot to say it before I ran..." was what he managed to mumble, his face sinking to hide behind his bowl of noodles.
"So what then? What did the man do?" Ling asked as he reached for another piece of lamb.
"Well, what would you do if someone dumped hot soup on your head without saying anything? The guy chased him!" Ling just laughed once more.
"I'm guessing the man gave up trying to catch Nin, since he's here in one piece?" Ling finally asked as the last of his chuckles dissipated.
"Sort of."
"What do you mean, sort of?" Xing asked as she began to gather the dishes from those who were done, which was everyone except for Nin who continued to pick at his noodles with a slight frown of embarrassment.
"The man had Nin cornered and lunged for him!" exclaimed as she made a motion with her arms to imitate it. "Except Nin threw the first thing he grabbed at the man's eyes."
"Now that wasn't very nice Lian, considering you started it," the Aunt huffed as she returned with a rag to wipe the table.
"I got scared!"
"Oh it gets better - Nin threw a jar of hot pepper oil." Ling sucked in air through his teeth, imagining the pain himself as Li continued, "So, as guy is crashing about the restaurant, he knocks down an oil lamp and that sets his hair on fire."
Ling roared out in laughter as Nin shrank a bit more as he feebly defended himself, saying quickly, "That one isn't my fault."
"Regardless, I don't think we're welcome at that road side la-mian anymore."
"Why? Did the owner tell you two so?" Ling pressed on.
This time Nin answered, "More like I'm too embarrassed to ever go back, and that guy may have been the owner's son - "
"Actually," Li cut in quickly, "it was the owner."
The frown on Nin's face was stretched longer than a horse's face as he finished the rest of his noodles and brought the bowl to his aunt.
"I still don't see why you find that poor man's misery so funny, Ling," the aunt said as she took Nin's bowl to wash.
He pouted at his wife while offering tentatively, "Our line of work calls for humor in all things, doesn't it?"
"Speak for yourself dear. I don't always enjoy taking down my marks." Placing the last dish on the rack to dry, she turned to the small group. "Speaking of which, we should all head to bed soon. Tomorrow'll be a long day."
"But, I haven't even gotten the slip yet," Nin said quickly.
"That's Toby's job. He'll be back in the morning with it."
"Your cat?" Li asked with a hint of doubt.
"He's not our cat," Ling said with a matter-of-fact tone. "He's the primary source for jobs for our kind operating in Knife's Edge. No one suspects a cat to mingle with foxes."
The morning light that fluttered into eyes of Li did little to help wake the girl up. Instead, a grouchy groan grumbled out as she pulled the covers over her head. The reprieve was short lived as a loud bang from down stairs shook the entire house. With or without the scream that followed, Li tumbled out of bed and landed haphazardly on an arm and part of her face. Nin’s airy laugh followed soon after, prompting Li to pick herself up and stomp out of the room.
When Li entered the living/dining/kitchen room, she could see Nin still laughing and a very perplexed Uncle Ling with most of his face blackened with soot. Aunt Xing shook her head in disapproval as she stirred something in a frying pan. Li’s temples throbbed in barely contained anger, but it was thankfully whisked away when she realized how hungry the smell of whatever Xing was cooking, made her.
Nin was the first to spot his friend as he waved quickly. “Good morning! Sleep well?”
A wide yawn escaped from Li as she descended the rest of the stairs and sank into an empty chair. “I was until whatever just exploded.”
“It did not explode. I just messed up a gesture of the technique, is all,” Ling managed as he wiped his face with a cloth from his pocket.
“It exploded dear.” Xing’s calm reply only made Ling’s face stretch with a frown. “Anyhow, Nin received his slip this morning and it seems to be a rather complicated assignment.” She finished the last word as she walked over and placed down a bowl of hard boiled eggs, a plate piled with fried dough and cooked vegetables in a pot for the group.”
“Odd, they don’t usually give complicated ones to those just starting out,” Ling said quickly before grabbing one of the eggs. “I suppose it’s because we’re expected to help?”
Li arched her back and popped a few loose bones back in place before propping herself on the table. “I can’t imagine they want Nin to dive right in head first.”
At that, Nin shifted uncomfortably in his seat as he reached for a piece of fried dough. “Actually, they do. It’s a white slip assignment.”
“What’s that supposed to mean? Aren’t all the slips white?” Li mumbled through a bit of chewed greens.
“The paper for white slip assignments is on different parchment. But yeah, you’re right in that all assignments come on white paper. They usually have a single color dot to tell of the assignment,” Nin said as he reached for a cup of water.
“So what’s so special about white slip assignments then? The elders never told me anything.”
“It just means Nin has to kill someone,” Xing answered before anyone else could. As she did, she nibbled on the corner of an egg as she picked up the slip to review again.
“Come again?” Li asked as she turned her eyes to Nin.
Nin only writhed in his seat and slid down to avoid Li’s gaze as Xing repeated herself casually as she read the slip, “Nin has to kill someone.”
A nervous laugh welled from Ling as he patted Li’s arm to reassure her. “It’s bound to happen sooner or later. Better soon so you get used to the idea right away. Besides! Nin’s us as his help.”
The uncle’s comment made Li choke on a bit of dough. Grabbing a cup of water, she downed it quickly and managed to eke out, “You mean I’m helping too?”
For a long while, silence was the dominant feature of the meal as everyone focused their eyes on Li. The girl only squirmed in her chair as she finally groaned out, “Finnnne. Don’t expect me to stab anyone though.”
Ling laughed and ruffled her hair lightly, making a mess of her already disheveled hair. “That’s Nin’s job. We’re just providing logistics support. Scouting and the like if you will.”
Nin frowned as he picked at his meal slowly. “I can carry through when the time comes. The target sounds like a pretty horrible person. Body trafficking, right? Mostly in the market for young women and children.”
Xing sighed out softly as she stared into a bowl of warm water. “Yes. If we could exchange roles, I’d gladly break this one’s neck.” Li stiffed in her chair at those words and gave a slightly nervous laugh.
“We’re uh… not going to be using anyone as bait, are we?” All eyes turned to her again.
Ling spoke up first with a horrified stare as he realized what she meant, “Goddess’s tits, no, we weren’t thinking of anything like that. Spirits cut my balls off, you’re crazier than I thought.”
His wife cast a stern glare at her husband before softening up to speak to Li, “No dear. We’ll just be surveying the place. You and Nin can put shows on near that area to draw a crowd. Ling and I will be doing most of the legwork.”
“What about Nin?” Doubt had made a home in Li’s heart. Part of her was convinced that everything would be fine. However, the other half couldn’t believe her childhood friend could be capable of killing another living person. He was far too gentle!
“I already have something figured out…” was what the young man mumbled. “Believe me I want to get this over with as quickly as possible; both for myself and the victims.”
Li collapsed back into her seat as she rubbed lightly under her right ear. “Won’t someone else just take over after the person's gone?”
At that, Ling shook his head. “I have contacts near those of power in Knife’s Edge. After I give the go ahead, they’ll be notified and the city guard should be able to take over. Without leadership, they’ll be easy to take down.”
“Leadership?” Li sat up again, “I thought it was just one person Nin is killing.”
“It is just one person. The man we’re after is a local crime lord and has most of the economy in that area under his thumb. Businesses pay a protection fee to him for the right to conduct their own illegitimate trade, but his primary source of income is what we mentioned.”
“Why hasn’t the city guard acted yet?” Li’s question stirred a laugh from both the uncle and aunt.
“Dear child,” the woman began, “the world unfortunately isn’t black and white. It’s a mire of grays.”
The uncle nodded sagely. “From what we know of him, a few of the politicians that can act against him are part of his clientele.”
“I don’t understand what good your contacts will do then.”
Before Ling or Xing could reply, Nin spoke up and took the group by surprise. “That’s something not for us to figure out. We have a mission to complete and other facts will just distract us.” With the moment of gravitas escaping the young fox, he gave a coy smile, “Besides, this is probably part of a larger picture we can’t see. We’re just the agents that do the dirty work and not the thinking.”
Ling roared out in laughter as Xing absolutely beamed at her nephew. “Well said!” Ling practically yelled as he slapped Nin on the back. "Secrets are secrets. We just do what we have to do."
“Any other questions?” Xing offered the table as she began to clear away the plates.
“Just one more.” All eyes turned to Li once again to see her with a fluttering grin. “What act are we going to put on?”
Powered by vBulletin® Version 4.2.5 Copyright © 2024 vBulletin Solutions Inc. All rights reserved.