[center][img]https://img.roleplayerguild.com/prod/users/26f16045-6356-41aa-8cbe-d241d0cb2fc7.png[/img][/center]In the bustle of Lazhou, it was easy to miss things. 

People missed the mice stealing back and forth in the shadows underfoot, missed the seagulls flying overhead, missed that they paid a copper more - or less - than they should have for their goods. The people in the Black Eel missed the bartender’s funny looks, missed the busker cheating at his own game, and often missed a clever move at Pai Sho. In these times, maybe they missed their homes, their loved ones, or just the way things used to be. 

Another thing that was easy to miss was a stranger passing by. He wasn’t tall or short enough to stand out, and he looked like any fisherman after a long haul; his clothes were dull and damp, and the way he stooped under his tiny sack of belongings spoke of a long, hard day of working. A straw hat obscured his eyes, fraying a touch around the edges, but there were a hundred other labourers around town who looked about the same. 

That was how Zai liked it; nothing to attract any curious eyes. Not that it was any intentional effort on his part - he really [i]was[/i] out at sea all day, he really [i]did[/i] reek of fish guts, and he’d have loved nothing more than to collapse out of sight somewhere for a nap. Problem was, he had a small matter to attend to first. 

[i]Grrrrr.[/i]

He clutched his growling stomach as he stalked through the market, scowling under his hat at the crowds. It was easier back when he was a stablehand; mucking out ostrich horse stalls wasn’t as hard as hauling in nets, and he didn’t need to get up before dawn to do it, either. Back then, he’d be off after nightfall and he’d have his pick of food merchants; now, he put in a full day's work before it even struck noon, and he was stuck waiting in lines no matter where he went.  

Not like it mattered, though. When the guy in front of him finally stopped chatting with the merchant - the tall, bald, totally-not-an-airbender dude was just asking for trouble looking like that, if you asked him - Zai really had only one option. 

[color=FC5E04]“Whatever’s cheapest,”[/color] he ordered, flicking the merchant a copper piece. 

The merchant nodded and scooped a fist-sized clump of plain rice from a large, steaming pot into a cupped seaweed leaf, handing it over as he retrieved the money. Zai took it with a quick bow, eager to get on his way. 

He only walked far enough to get out of the street before digging in, sliding down the wall of a nearby shop to sit in the shade at the roadside. Rice and seaweed weren’t much after a day of hard labour, but it was cheap, and it was hot, so it would do. The metallic lump under his shirt reminded Zai that he really could afford better, but that was a lie; he also could have gone home today with two fresh fish from his employer if he wanted to, but he got paid more if he left emptyhanded, and he needed every copper he could scrape together if he wanted a snowball’s chance on the Boiling Rock of getting on that ship. 

As he ate, careful not to drop a single grain of rice, Zai found himself fiddling with something in his pocket - a new habit of his, although he wasn’t sure if he liked it. For the hundredth time at least, he pulled the object out, looking it over pensively as he chewed. It was the only trinket he possessed: a single Pai Sho tile, the white lotus, received in the strangest of circumstances. It had puzzled him since the day he got it. Why was it given to him? What did it mean? Was it worth something? He would have tried to pawn it ages ago if it was, but something kept him from parting with it - something aside from the probable worthlessness of the least useful tile in Pai Sho, anyway. 

It seemed like he just sat down when a commotion on the street commanded Zai’s attention, and he jumped to his feet, quickly hiding his lotus tile away. He finished off his meagre meal in one bite before he dared poke his head out to see what was going on. 

What he saw made him retreat back into the shade as quickly as he’d come out: Earth Kingdom soldiers swarming the Knotweed Fishery, looking for fugitives. Zai’s heart thudded against his chest; he could kiss that old woman who told him to steer clear of “Old Bido” and his “queer doings” when he first showed up looking for work, because it was on her advice that he never got wrapped up with Knotweed, but it was little comfort when the soldiers were within a few yards of him either way. He couldn’t risk getting caught when he’d made it so far - what he needed to do was get away, quickly. 

But he didn’t move. Everything in him screamed at him to get the heck out of dodge, but he couldn't tear himself away. He was rooted to his spot in the alley, just out of sight, eyes fixed on the situation forming at the fishery as the tall airbender from before stepped up to the soldiers with nothing but a stick and some obsequious words. What did that pacifist lunatic think he was doing?