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[sub][color=2e2c2c]_______________________________[sub].....[sub].[/sub][/sub][/color][/sub]
[/cell][cell][color=white][sub][sub][sub][sub][sub][img]https://i.imgur.com/vWXdBkm.png[/img][/sub][/sub][/sub][/sub][/sub][sub][quote][color=2e2c2c]_______________________________________[/color] University of Ba Sing Se. [@canaryrose][@Fiber].[/quote][/sub][/color][quote][sup][color=2e2c2c]____________________________________________________________________________.[/color][/sup]
[color=777777]

[color=a63f4b]“You know, An, you really didn’t need to do this.”[/color]

The semester was fully underway at the University of Ba Sing Se, but one wouldn’t have known by the look of campus. Banners were hung all around campus with phrases like ‘Welcome Back!” and “We’ve Missed You!” Students were laughing and embracing in the commons, shouting and smiling. To An, it all seemed rather jarring. Classes had been cancelled for nearly two weeks after the explosion, and to her, everyone looked… fine. As though nothing had happened. But An didn’t feel that way, and the girl next to her certainly didn’t.

An turned her head to the girl beside her: Jie Yuan, Chu’s little sister. She looked anxious, in the way that people resigned to their 
fates did. Jie was taller than An, not a difficult feat, but shorter than her elder sister, and a bit darker. After much cajoling, she had decided to go and finish out the semester and see what could be done about her attending the next. An had considered paying for it out of her own account, but she would see first if it came to that. For now, here they were. The sun was shining, the grass was green and the campus sprouted around them, shiny and modern.

[color=a63f4b]“It’s really not a big deal,”[/color] An said, walking alongside her. [color=a63f4b]“It’s nice to be back here. I know I’ve bored you with all my stories of my college days, but…”[/color] It brought a smile to her face to think of it. [color=a63f4b]“Don’t worry about it. I can’t say no to your mom anyways.”[/color] 

Jie half-smiled. “I know. She’s… well. Persuasive.” She rolled her shoulders, coming to a stop in front of a shiny glass building with a throng of students streaming in. “This is my stop. I’ll see you… well, some time.” 

Jie gave An a hug, and that was it- she went inside, and An was left alone. She checked her phone for the time, a habitual gesture. She had plans to grab tea, maybe, and then walk around in a building where she’d had class once, and then go home and do more work… an internal sigh. She couldn’t stop thinking about what Chu’s mom had told her, at dinner two days ago. [color=a63f4b][i]Firebending. Since she was six years old. No wonder…[/i][/color] But her sisters didn’t know, or her father. How could they keep that secret for so long? From An too? But her work wouldn’t stop for her musings. Not her work work, nor her… other, more clandestine work.

An turned, resolving to go to the tea shop she had once frequented and then go straight back to the Moon residence. She had little time to waste.

Zhen saw An in the hallway from distance and adjusted her path through the building so they would just happen to brush by one another. It was important to look natural, but even the most innocent encounter might still be brushed off; that party would surely leave a sting for a long time. With careful spatial awareness, Zhen made it look like she wasn’t paying attention as she walked, a head fake one way, then another, and then she came close to running into An before stopping herself mere inches away. Faking a startle, she said

[color=6ecff6]“Oh, Mrs. Tamura, I’m sorry. I wasn’t watching where I was going. I meant what I said in the note that came with the flower arrangement, I hope it was well received. I don’t want to trouble you further because I know these past weeks have been a trying time for you.”[/color]

The arrangement arrived to the Moon household, the courier had the signature at least. That was all Zhen knew, it could’ve been tossed out by Vyska’s security for all she knew. That would have been a shame. She had picked the flowers in it carefully, Aster, Chrystanthemum, Plum, and Lotus, to those who had spent countless hours in classes meant to acculturate them to the upper class, they had a meaning over their own. The note attached had been simple. “I’m sorry. I sent this because I knew my husband wouldn’t.” 

An looked briefly startled at the sighting- [i][color=a63f4b]it’s the university, of course she’d be here, idiot[/color][/i]- her mouth parted, her eyes hidden underneath dark sunglasses. She recovered fast, pulling the glasses up her nose and into her hair. [color=a63f4b]“Dr… Mie Lun, yes? It’s, erm, Ms.”[/color] It didn’t really offend her, but the reminder stung a bit all the same. [color=a63f4b]“Yes, yes, I got the note. It was well-appreciated. The arrangement too. Very nice.”[/color] 

She had liked the arrangement, and the note. She had thought it sweet, even if she knew to be wary of the prosecutor’s wife. An had put the arrangement up on her desk. The flowers had started to wilt already, but they were bright. 

[color=a63f4b]“The apology was kind, but unnecessary. You can’t control your husband if he chooses to be a certain way, can you? Men will be men. That's why I don’t particularly care for them.”[/color] 
She flashed a wry smile, a clear joke. 

Zhen said 
[color=6ecff6]“I understand that sentiment. When I was in these very halls many years ago I had the great luck meet the esteemed physicist and mathematician Vo Nui Man before he died. There’s a saying of his that is one of my favorites, ‘All stable processes we shall control, all unstable processes we shall monitor.’ I thought it unwise to ask him what category male impulses fell into, even though they have baffled me so often. “[/color]

Zhen let out a large sigh and shifted a little bit, then said
[color=6ecff6]
“In my life I have many causes that I care about that, causes that I am willing to sacrifice for because I know it will benefit the world at large, things like life extension research, ending food insecurity, public health initiatives, free access to education. There are also many things I do not like but I find I have to tolerate because they are expected of me if I am to remain in a position where I have the power to do the maximum good for the causes I do care about. Faculty meetings, reporters asking for comment, donor appeals, tax paperwork, strategic planning meetings, public ceremonies, lazy students.  I believe you can infer which category my husband is in. “
[/color]
Zhen talked a lot. Just like her husband… was she trying to get something out of her? Or, maybe, it was just a trait of professors, An mused. Someone who lectured so much might just like to lecture. Her professors had liked to drone on and on, but it had just been about math, and An had been at the very least mildly interested. The philosophy… well, she hated the one course she had taken. So had most students, though. 

[color=a63f4b]“There’s something sad, under all that philosophizing, if you don’t mind me saying,”[/color] An said. [color=a63f4b]“No offense. I just couldn’t imagine being with someone I considered a chore. Or someone who I didn’t like, though I guess those come hand in hand. Can’t be for the greater good, if you ask me.”[/color] 

[color=a63f4b]“Not to get in your business, Dr. Lun. I’m hardly a person anyone should take advice from. Or a person who has much experience with men. Still, though. He’s hardly worth much.”[/color]

Zhen said.

[color=6ecff6]
“I am one person and my happiness or unhappiness is worth no more than that of anyone else’s. My current position allows me to affect the welfare of millions of equally valuable lives in the present, countless more in the future. If it takes my unhappiness to assure that the status quo remains and I can continue to do maximum good, I will choose that option over risking some mess of a divorce and the distractions and reputational damage that may come with it.”[/color]

Zhen had some resignation in her voice. She said[color=6ecff6]

“That is one of the challenges of being a public figure, it gives  me the ability to do good in the world, but only if I behave in certain ways. My private life has less restrictions, but the times when I can enjoy it are rare due to my demanding schedule.”[/color]


[color=a63f4b] “I’m not so sure that’s relevant,”[/color] An said, cocking her head. [color=a63f4b]“I’m no public figure, but I can’t imagine being married is a requirement. Well, actually…”[/color] Her mouth quirked, in an ironic, almost-angry smile. [color=a63f4b]“I suppose I was on my way to it. Or that I was married to one, or almost-married. Sports stars are very different from… philosopher activists. Still. It’s a modern world. If they can accept women being married to women, they can accept a single one.”[/color] She shrugged. [color=a63f4b]“Again. I don’t mean to be rude. I hardly know you. I’m just tired of excuses. We live in an unfair world, why not just do what you’d like if it doesn’t hurt anyone or truly compromise the greater good?”[/color]

Zhen looked down the hallway, into the distance and said

[color=6ecff6]“In another world, in another timeline, it may have been possible. I suppose I could gotten where I am without being married to a man; I’m not a modal realist so I don’t spend much time thinking about those flights of fancy. Standing where I am now my ‘idyllic marriage’ is part of my image, or so the marketing consultants that the charity board insists I hire have told me. If our next fundraising drive delivers 20% less revenue, because of distractions or reputational damage; statistically, that could be as many as ten thousand children who were unable to get live-saving medical care because of a decision that was in my control. Everything we do effects everyone else, it is what we are cursed with. It’s not unfair, it’s just a brute fact of existence”
[/color]
Now Zhen decided it was time to take a riskier line of questioning.
[color=6ecff6]
“Forgive me what I am about to ask, I am somewhat addicted to questions and I know this might be sensitive, so if you don’t want to discuss I apologize and we can end it here. I cannot help but be curious about what Chu was like, and how it was to find out that she was bender. I may have written about Benders, but I have never known one well, there have been a few occasions where the authorities have asked me to speak with a bender in custody, but those were limited and hardly organic interactions. I am always eager to reexamine my own conclusions. And before you ask, I will keep anything you say private, especially from my husband. ”[/color]

She also made a gesture towards an empty classroom, in case An wanted to say these words in a place where there were less people to overhear.
[color=a63f4b]“Hm. I…”[/color] An struggled for a moment. It was a personal question… but people might as well know. There was no reason to lie. [color=a63f4b]“I was overly familiar, too, so I suppose it’s only right… No, no. It’s okay. I was actually about to go get tea.”[/color]

[color=a63f4b]“No one knows if she’s dead or alive, you know, so I prefer the present tense. There are all these fucking people on the TV trying to say this and that, profit off of knowing her. Most of it isn’t true. If she was a firebender before, which isn’t likely-”[/color] - [i]she was[/i]- [color=a63f4b]“then I don’t think there’s some sort of bender psyche like they say. She’s a good person. Kind and sweet. Passionate and ambitious. I’m not sure I’ll find someone better, so I really do hope she’s alive.”[/color]

[color=a63f4b]“Finding out was a nightmare. I won’t elaborate too much more. That day is a bit fresh.”[/color]

Zhen said
[color=6ecff6]
“Difficult times are when character matters the most, and I have nothing but praise and sympathy for the way you’ve been dealing with it. We don’t have to talk any further. I could use some tea myself, I don’t know if you had a place in mind, but if you don’t, there’s a spot close to here that I really like. Much better than the campus dining hall.”
[/color]
Zhen learnt a lot from that conversation. Was any of it about the Moons and where the sympathies of Vyska may lie? No, but there was no need to rush into any of that. If there was any intelligence benefit to talking to An, it would come later, and if there wasn’t, then at least it helped give Zhen a rare refuge from her duties that weighed on her every day.



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