Shila, noticing the waterbender Kalani, gave a cheerful smile and a wave as Kalani passed, but made no move to follow her or make conversation. She knew that Kalani disliked her to say the least. After all, she was an ex-Dai Li. The epitome of everything everyone in the Rising hated about the Phoenix Kingdom. And the waterbender seemed to hate the Kingdom with more fervor than most. However, that didn’t mean she had to be as hostile as Kalani was to her. At least, not unless the waterbender did something they all would regret. Still, she would achieve nothing by leaning against the wall and idly amusing herself. Keeping her little flame halo alive above her finger, Shila walked towards where she assumed Uquo was going to be giving his speech to the new recruits. She had always liked Uquo. With his wit and charm, how could anyone dislike him? While she had never met his brother, Ukoda, she suspected one of them would have died if she had gone to him with her offer of assistance. Stories of his war fueled mind abounded, offset by stories of his ability to be persuasive when he needed to be. Regardless, she believes that Ukoda will not be pleased to learn that an ex-Dai Li member was allowed into the Rising, assuming she doesn’t die before they meet. If they ever even meet.

Shila strolled through the halls of the Undercity, now remarkably empty since she had left most of the people up front, concentrating on controlling her little halo of fire, slowly changing its shape and size. Finesse had been important to her master, and a favorite saying of his that he had beaten into her head was ‘Using Fire without control is like swinging wildly and powerfully at the enemy with your allies next to you. You might hit and severely injure your opponents, but you’d eventually kill one of your friends.’ Quite the talker, her master had been, but his lessons had hit home. Power was nothing without control, which was why the Dai Li were created. They were the control of the power of the Phoenix King. That is, before he started brazenly and blatantly betraying everything the Kingdom stood for. Shila was loyal to the ideals of the Kingdom, not the King. Hence why she was here, with many people who would rather see her dead than her helping. Shila smirked as she walked towards where she thought Uquo might be. [i]I never claimed to be all that bright at making the right choices…[/i]