Chapter 26

“Chief Engineer Hyung sent an update - the new Satomobile models should be ready in a couple of months’ time, four at most, if there are issues with the assembly line. We’ll get our fifteen advertising models as promised.”

Xing gave a nod, tapping his fingers absently on his desk as he reviewed another document.

“Any issues on our end?” the new director asked, still as distracted as he was ever since the day started.

Mozi shrugged lightly. “Until we can finalize the date, we can’t be sure whether there’ll be issues in booking the venues, though with no festivals anytime soon, City Hall should let us use the sites without much hassle. It’s the same for the reporters - many have shown interest, but until we can provide a definite date we can’t be sure of their attendance. On the other hand, we secured backup butchers for the moo-sows, on the off chance of any complications with those we’ve already contracted. And training for the demonstrations are proceeding smoothly.”

The last part was probably the most important to Xing. He had felt that it was a precarious thing to figure out just how much information of the new Satomobiles’ features should be revealed to the presentation staff. Too little, and they might not be prepared for questions and hiccups. Too much, and there’d be a risk of a leak, prematurely revealing the new innovations to Cabbage Corp or other rivals.

Some might call it paranoia borne out of pressure to truly impress, but Mozi knew that his director would not see it as a personality flaw. After all, this was not only going to be a massive new feature for Satomobiles going forward, but the means of advertising it might be game changing as well. The director was shifting away from traditional newspaper and radio advertisements to draw initial attention, and instead intended to rely on spectacle and word of mouth.

It was a novel idea, and one that could easily be rendered impotent if the competition picked up on it too early and preempted it with their own copy of the idea.

Hence the need for obfuscation and secrecy, and why the selected staff for the big day were being drip-fed information of the demonstration they’d be presenting. Right now, all they knew was the fates of the moo-sows that’d be sitting in the new Satomobiles, and were grasping the concept of dampening impacts to increase survivability. The exact features - the seatbelts and crumple zones - were still kept from them.

“Hm,” was all Xing said.

Mozi watched the director for a moment before coughing politely. “Sir, perhaps you should return to deal with the previous issue first?”

“What? Oh, this.” Xing looked back down at the paper in his hand, containing Hanh’s report. The very public announcement of the Avatar joining with Tarrlok’s task force was understandably a big deal for Future Industries. While it might be good for optics to have a crime-busting Avatar in the Fire Ferrets, one couldn’t ignore the inherent risks of taking part in anti-Equalist raids.

“It’s a minor annoyance, but it’s Korra’s problem,” Xing simply said, finally letting the report fall away from his fingers. “Admittedly, I should have expected that there’d be more than just businesses who’d want to lionize the Avatar. We’ll make adjustments going forward, but for the task force, we’ll just let things play out.”

“Are you sure, sir?” Mozi wasn’t so convinced, even when his director nodded his head. “Forgive me for my impertinence, but you don’t seem as…certain as your words.”

Xing stared at him for a second before some sort of understanding dawned on him, and he broke into an embarrassed chuckle. “Ah. I’m really not worried about the Avatar. Trust me, Mozi. She’s free to play hero as much as she wants, so long as she abides by her contract. And whatever my misgivings of her, I trust Korra to be a capable combatant, and not do anything stupid like get herself maimed by Equalists. Her pride wouldn’t allow her to. In any case, I have the martyr card ready if she somehow manages to get herself too injured to take part in the tournament.”

“If you’re sure…”

The director nodded as color crept into his cheeks. “I am. I’m just…” He fell silent, and then stared appraisingly at Mozi for a moment. “Mozi, you and Li Ming… Do you two go on dates a lot?”

Mozi blinked at the sudden change of topi- Oh. Oh.

“Uh, well… I try to, when the oppor-” Hurried footsteps mercifully interrupted him, and the door to the office opened shortly after to reveal a rather worried Asami Sato.

“Xing?”

“Korra?” he simply replied. The heiress nodded once, which was then answered by a mild shrug. “I’ll be drawing up responses for the probable outcomes of her involvement in the task force. But beyond that…” He shrugged again as the words trailed off.

Somehow, the response surprised Asami, and she slowly walked into the room to regard Xing thoughtfully. Mozi, already standing up, offered her a seat, which she took with an instinctive ‘thank you’. The secretary then glanced at his superior, and Xing subtly nodded his head. Mozi silently shuffled out the door and closed it, and then headed to the side table to prepare the tea.

All the while he kept an eye out, ready to turn away anyone before they got too close to eavesdrop, while he himself kept an ear to the voices leaking through the door.

“Are you sure, Xing?” Asami spoke, seconds later.

“Korra’s actions are beyond what our contract with her and the Fire Ferrets has established. It’s something to amend later, for sure.”

“I meant more for the fact that you were her minder.”

“I was.” Mozi could hear the shrug in Xing’s voice. “But not now. I’ll leave it to the White Lotus to figure out if they want to attach an escort detail.”

“Oh,” she breathed out, and Mozi could hear the smile in that brief sound.

So she’s worried about the whole Avatar situation as well, except that…she’s not?

There was a brief silence before Xing replied. “I am aware of my responsibilities, Asami. I am the director of Future Media, not a White Lotus guardian anymore.”

So that bit of rumor was true then? Mozi didn’t think the White Lotus fostered entrepreneurs…

“I know,” came her sheepish reply. “But…but with all the nonsense you went through, I’d thought that you might…feel…obligated…”

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

That was a lie, Mozi realized. The Sato heiress was clearly a little antsy...

So this bit of rumor was true as well. There went the hopes of the girls down at the design team at hooking a rich husband.

Anyway, Asami wasn’t really worried about obligations. This visit didn’t have anything to do with business considerations.

She was jealous.

Xing finally coughed to break the awkwardness. “My obligations only extend to my work…and the people…currently in my life.” Well, at least he seems aware of it.

Mozi stood by the office door, holding onto the tray of tea and waiting patiently for the right time to enter. Hopefully he needn’t intervene too quickly before another scandal for Future Media was created..

“Well. Well, I…” Asami aborted her sentence, and then tried again after a soft gulp. “I’m sorry for presuming…”

“Think nothing of it,” Xing replied. “It’s an understandable concern. I hope that I can fully…dispel any doubts about my…commitment.”

“I look forward to it.”

Mozi gave them another second before finally knocking on the door.

“Tea, Miss Asami?” he asked as neutrally as he could, and noted how both of them remained seated across from each other, with blushing faces and awkward gazes. Both heiress and director instantly snapped their heads in his direction, and oh how they both squirmed in their seats as Mozi walked up to the table between them to deposit the tea.

“Thanks,” Asami softly said, while managing a sheepish smile.

“Yeah, thanks Mozi,” Xing echoed before clearing his throat. “Now, moving on to other matters… Um, since you’re here Asami, could I get your thoughts on radio advertising? I was talking to Dao and some others last night…”

Seeing that they were being far more professional than Shu Ling had been, Mozi left the office once again without another word, trusting his superiors with their restraint.

*****

Enjoying the day off, Ren enjoyed herself walking through the streets of Republic City. The main ones with the shop fronts, not the gloomy back streets. It was liberating to be able to windowshop without pedestrians and shop owners keeping a suspicious eye on her. Thanks to Xing and Asami, Ren now only felt the occasional curious look towards a well-dressed kid enjoying some window shopping, and the people behind the counter actually regarded her with eagerness, as if anticipating a purchase.

It was a nice change, just like practically everything else since meeting Xing. Getting a job - a real job - with a very pleasant, non-triad, employer like Asami was great. Gramps was now able to take the tram to the same office where Xing worked. Ren now got to pick between multiple sets of clothes…and for different occasions, too. And the soft bed and pillows were so dangerously inviting.

All that was required of Ren in exchange was to do her job, less Asami fuss over her a little, and listen to Xing’s very sensible advice. And maybe endure the patronizing glances of adults who treated her as a novelty, but that’s much better than being seen as prey.

Yes, life out on the bright, happy face of Republic City was very nice.

So long as you knew who to avoid, at least. There were invisible lines that most upper classes were oblivious about. The triads weren’t so brazen in their operations, but their influence was still present in how the beggars and street cobblers were stationed. The roadside food vendors along the main streets smiled a lot more freely in exchange for higher prices, but they were no less controlled by the gangs as their contemporaries in the alleyways.

Ren was pretty much safe where she was, though. The shops here were deep in Triple Threat Triad territory, so she only had to worry about scams and pickpockets, and not stepping on anyone’s toes. There’s no Wenli or any other Agni Kai who might want to milk out more yuans out of her.

“Ooh, pretty…” With (almost) no care in the world, the girl stared at a lovely satin dress displayed in a boutique shop. It was a deep red, with bright blue highlights and a green sash. It’d probably cost her most of her month’s salary, and Asami would probably go ahead with her threat to take Ren out to one of the balls the filthy rich people spent their evenings in.

Still, to wear that would be nice…

“Ren! Hey Ren!”

Kai’s voice, and the pattering of his feet, broke her away from her daydreaming, and Ren turned to see the boy approaching her. Now that he was done with the salon, he looked a little different.

“You look almost rich,” she remarked.

Kai lightly patted the top of his oiled and slicked back hair with a mix of annoyance and wonder. “Yeah. They really put me through the works. Did my hair, earthbending rolling massage, even cut my nails and shaved it for a few minutes! See?”

Ren regarded with amusement the hand he presented her, now free from dirt and calluses. “Well, at least you look better now.”

“Yup.” Kai restrained his excitement, and then gave the display a glance. “You haven’t bought anything?”

“Nah, couldn’t find anything I really want, you know?”

Kai gave a non-commital shrug, and then his head shifted a bit and his gaze widened in surprise. Ren turned around to follow it just as he began to comment. “Hey, isn’t that Ping?”

And true enough, the girl found herself looking at a dead person come alive again. Ping was a tea shop attendant who collected a bit more bruises than the other girls, but was still raking in enough yuans for her to continue working there. She was one of those few who’d been genuinely nice to Ren and Kai, offering the occasional bits of yuans for easy jobs that were basically charity cases. She even bought them a few meals during that one particularly lean time.

Then a few years back, news was that she tried running away. The Agni Kai launched a manhunt, and last anyone heard was that her body was floating out of Yue Bay. Some of the Agni Kai’s tea shops had to be closed for a few days after the ‘celebrations’ that followed.

Yet here the lady was, not as dead as everyone thought she was, and just as pretty as she was (when not bruised up, anyway). And she was out in public, selling baubles of all things.

Without a word, the two interns ran up to the pretty vendor, and any possibility of a mistaken identity was banished as those striking green eyes filled with recognition as they saw them approach.

Kai held Ren back with a hand, opting to let Ping finish her transaction with a customer. They waited patiently as the older girl barely broke her composure, nodding cheerily at the elderly woman as she traded a water tribe trinket for some yuans. Only once the woman left did the two interns approach their supposedly dead friend. Ren noted some scars on her porcelain-pale skin, particularly on the forearms and one peeking out of her shoulder.

“Hey there, little ones,” she greeted first, her husky voice utterly hollow and unconvincing. “Where are your parents?”

“Ping?” Kai asked, to be sure, and they saw the nervous smile form on her face.

There was a moment of hesitation, and then Ping seemed to internally sigh. “Come on, let’s go find them.” She quickly packed up her stuff - just a sack containing her wares and the tray to display them - and turned about. Understanding the act, Ren and Kai followed after her into the mouth of an alleyway, just out of sight enough from the main traffic, and not too deep to gain the attention of the back alley denizens.

“I didn’t expect to see you two here,” she said in a near whisper.

“We could say the same for you,” Ren replied with a smirk. “Everyone said you got cut up for the fishes, or flung into the sewers…”

“Or stuffed in a crab cage,” Kai helpfully added.

Ping chuckled softly, the familiar throaty laugh that provided almost half the comfort Xing’s words and actions did. “Well, it’s not so dramatic…”

Except that it was. She’d dove into the main sewers, braving the constant stream of shit and piss and industrial waste for a week to wait out the Agni Kai. Then Ping swam out to the other side of the Bay, and cut a deal with a water tribe merchant. A nice one too, at that, seeing that the merchant hasn’t been snooping around for Ping’s background. That all sounded like something out of the radio dramas.

“I thought you’d have left the city by now,” Kai remarked, as they stood comfortably by the alleyway, their eyes shifting easily to scan the surroundings just like old times.

“Too expensive,” Ping curtly answered. “Unless I find a…husband, I’m not making enough to live by myself. But getting any attention is dangerous, so…” The pretty lady (maybe prettier than Asami?) gave a light, resigned shrug. “I’ll live with what I have now. Better safe than rich, at least for the time being. Maybe I’ll find a better opportunity later.”

The epiphany must have struck at the same time, as Ren and Kai shared a look between themselves, and Kai urged Ren on with a subtle nod.

Ping was good people…

“Uh, Ping, how’d you like a chance for a different job?”

The lady folded her arms and regarded Ren with a dry smirk. “Do it involve ‘serving tea’?”

“Nah, don’t think so. But I gotta warn you, Xing’s already got a girlfriend, so maybe you’ll want to not, uh, play too nice.”

That got Ping to quirk an eyebrow up. “Oh? I’m listening…”