Chapter Text
He blinked and started. The sun shimmered over head and the book in his lap tumbled to the ground. A woman’s voice tutted from beside him.
“Careful now Lee.”
She was an older woman, wrinkled across her face even with the smile stretched across her face. She turned to him handing back the book. “What an air head nephew I seem to have! Come let’s get some dinner.”
She stood up tugging on his arm. Lee looked around at the garden and the rosy sunlight shimmering through the tree branches. The woman, his Aunt wrapped her arm through his and he stumbled after her looking around. His throat closed up and he tried to probe for answers. He was in Ba Sing Se, after that a black void of hazy impressions.
He glanced at the woman, “Excuse me…?”
The woman, his Aunt raised an eyebrow, “Yes Lee?”
“I don’t…”
She sighed, “Your family warned me you were airheaded. Don’t you listen? You’ll make your poor Aunt Joo Dee go gray before my time!”
Lee glanced around at the long shadows as Joo Dee tugged him down a street. Large fences bore down oppressively from either side. The green trees barely poking the tops of their head over the thick earth walls.
“I have a job for you at this new tea shop that just opened up.” Joo Dee said, “They are looking for new servers.”
Lee swallowed as one of the shadows moved wrong. His head snapped forward the hairs on the back of his neck prickling. The shadows felt like eyes he suppressed a shiver. Joo Dee tugged on his arm, “I’m just happy you’re settling in well. I know it’s a big change here in Ba Sing Se with your aunt but your safe now.”
“That’s,” he looked at Joo Dee, “I don’t know you.”
“Lee, the Earth King has invited you to Lake Laogai.”
Lee felt his knees wobble his eyes burned as a wave of nausea washed over him. He hiccupped hands flying to his mouth. He blinked.
His eyes opened to a green room and the smell of strange flowery perfume. Joo Dee placed down a title on a game bord. He looked down at the Pai Sho. His gut churned and his eyes were watery. He blinked away the tears shocked. A sharp pain in his hand had in unfurling his cramped hand. A white Lotus title was nested in his hand. The tiles of the tile now pressed into the flesh of his palm.
Cold sweat rolled down the back of his neck. Lee and that wasn’t quiet right either, swallowed. He sucked in a deep breath fixing his expression.
Joo Dee smile was back on her face. Lee glanced at the board. He picked up a red crane placing the tile down as he slipped the white lotus tile into his slipper.
If Joo Dee had noticed anything she didn’t show it. He remembered the garden, leaving and then nothing. A prickle of fear kept his back straight and the expression in his face mild. His mind left to fill in the gaps. Wandering the Earth Kingdom trying to go home to his aunt Joo Dee, arriving, and taking the train to the Upper Wall. Splotches of memories leapt to fill the games but the nausea was back. It… something was off.
Lee glanced around at the green walls. He felt when Joo Dee noticed his wandering eyes. His heart pounded in his chest.
“We should get a plant.” He spoke. “It would brighten the room up nicely.”
Joo Dee hummed and get a tile down, “That would be nice.”
Lee watched out of the corner of his eye. His ear strained listening to the pattern of her breathing. Her shoulders were slumped and eyes slipping to the paper on her lap. She wasn’t watching carefully.
Lee glanced around the room as if trying to place the best spot for a plant. His eyes slipped to the open windows. The balcony looked back from the inside. A shadow shifted.
Lee felt his throat tighten but he fought the feeling. Rocking forward he peered down at the Pai Sho table. He placed down a tile trying to stop his hand from shaking.
Joo Dee glanced up at the board. Her grin nearly seemed to slip as it strained like meat sagging on a rack, “You certain don’t play well for how much you wanted to play this game.”
Lee let the words wash over him. Glancing at the window he reconsidered. Calculating the sightlines and hidden corners he decided.
“What if we put a plant there?” he pointed to the window ledge in the middle.
Joo Dee looked at where Lee was pointing. She smiled brighter, “We are getting a plant.”
It was subtle, he nearly didn’t catch it but his mind stuck to the tightness rolling down Joo Dee’s shoulders and his argument died in his throat. He swallowed it down shifting his weight. The tile in his slippers pressed against his foot like a warning. He held his tongue. The seconds slipped by and none of the shadows moved.
“What are you reading Aunt Joo Dee?”
Her eyes narrowed over the big smile. Lee schooled his expression carefully.
“Notes from work nephew.”
Lee bowed his head keeping his eyes down on the game. Out of the corner of his eye, Joo Dee tucked the notes away into her sleeves. He waited for the shadows to move. Clicking down a tile without any real thought, Joo Dee didn’t make any movement. Nothing came out of the shadows. Lee had passed that test too.
Joo Dee looked over the game and scoffed before the smile came back onto her face, “I’m afraid dear nephew you have lost the game.”
She clicked down a tile. Heart pounding Lee bowed brushing down his robes, “I’m tired.”
When nothing leapt from the shadows with clacking hands Lee hurried off into the next room quickly tugging off his robes. He looked through his chest counting each non descript piece of clothing. Reaching to the very bottom he pulled out a pair of baggy pants tugging those on. Placing his slippers close to his hands he crawled into the futon. He turned off the lantern and waited. Fear prickled the back of his mind at the thought of sleep. He blinked and held his breath staring up at the ceiling. It stayed in place after each blink.
Patting the floor, he tugged a slipper closer fingering the tile. His hand curled around the tile and he focused everything on feeling the smooth grain of the tile. The little indents of the lotus flower printed into the stone. His breathing evened out. He closed his eyes. He didn’t sleep but to anyone watch it would look like he was. All night long he brushed his hand against the tile and counted his breathing. The echo of a man’s voice ringing like a phantom in his head.
“I only nag because I worry about you nephew.”
No matter how he turned the voice over in his head, it didn’t sound like Joo Dee.