The Ally (Open)

Lady Yuan dozed in a dank ally between two of the buildings. Without the ability to read maps or signs she had no intimate details of her location. Her toes curled a bit in her sleep at some unknown phantom in her dream world, though she still planed as she slept. Lucid dreaming was it? She stayed that way for some time curled into an ally until the sudden coolness told her that the sun was down. She stood up and dusted herself off as best she could for being in such a filthy place and started to move through the city.

She still didn't have much of a goal in mind as she knew little of the world outside of the caravan, but she was confident that he path was the right one. Leaning heavily on her staff she moved through the dark passages of the city pondering what she was to do for food. She had a special way of hunting but there were too many people in the city and she was liable to kill someone with her method so hunting was out. With a sigh she inched along searching for life giving necessities.

A couple days earlier Mei had been attacked by some man. She was still contemplating the situation, as well as thinking of the little boy her savior had mentioned. Her goal was to find him again, her savior that is. And help him. But as of the past few days her one, and true goal. Was still to find the damned library. She wasnt used to big cities. Nor navigating them. The air temple was a lot more direct, and the nomads friendlier. But this didnt bother her that much.

The sun had gone down, and Mei's stomach had begun to growl. She decided it was a good time to pull out one of her two bento boxs' she always had prepared. Her cooking, was to die for. Or so she had been told. Kozu would have to wait until they got out of the city later in order to eat. She felt bad, but Mei simply couldnt afford to feed him. He was just too big. "OM!" With a large audible bite Mei began eating her supper. Shortly after taking a few bites she noticed a lady. She had a strange elegant air to her. It was hard to depict. But Mei shrugged it off.

"yoooo hooo!" Mei called to the lady. She jumped off the side of Kozu and began to approach the lady from the ally. "Hello! My names Mei, its nice to meet you!" Mei gave her a big smile, and waited to see if this lady was going to indeed be nice, or hopefully not, sinister.

Lady Yuan could tell that that odd noise was directed at her, so as the young air bender came toward her she slipped a band over her eyes to cover the disturbing wax and burn scaring. No need to scare someone with the appearance of her eyes at this late hour. Especially a bubbly sounding thing like that. "Hello?" Who is there. She asked trying to keep some distance. She didn't know where she was or who was calling, but she wouldn't let them come near until she at least felt she was in no danger. With no eyes she was practically defenseless at close range. "Who is calling?" The Lady said in a polite but guarded voice. Her ear turned toward the newcomer.

As the air nomad got closer she would be able to see that Lady Yuan's clothes where shabby from travel and her hair was slightly unkempt. She was also visibly dirty from sleeping in the ally. The only thing on her that looked of value was her staff. It was iron and looked expertly crafted, almost as if it where intended to decorate a room rather than feel ahead of a blind woman's path.

Dirt clung to the lady. Mei could tell that this lady was in some sort of trouble. And with a closer look she noticed that this lady was blind. Her voice showed no sign of ill will or dis contempt so Mei decided to be as nice as possible.

"Hello ma'am, My name is Mei, im an air nomad from the northern Temple. I was just passing by and i happened to notice you. First i would like to ask you if you are hungry. And second. What are you doing here? Oh oh and do you know where the library is? For the love of me i cant seem to find the dang place." Mei realized she was beginning to ramble like she normally did then stopped herself and waited for the lady to atleast answer a couple of her questions. If not help her with some food, as she could tell this lady was definitely in some kind of trouble.

Ah an air nomad. As far as she knew they where harmless folk so she let her guard down for now. "I am Lady Yuan of the Si Wong desert Caravan. And yes I am quite hungry. I usually hunt, but I can tell there are many people around. Its difficult for me to tell if what I am killing is human or not. I'm am traveling to learn. Believe it or not I was the best they had to go out on my own. Sad lot aren't we?" She said with a chuckle. "As for the library I can't help you. I have maps of most of the major cities. Benefit of being born in a traveling market. If only I could read." Looking a bit embarrassed she took a moment looking like she was struggling with something. The suddenly she blurted it out as if afraid she would lose her nerve. "What city is this even?"

Mei walked over to kozu and grabbed the other bento box she had packed. She tried to hand it to the women. "Here this is a bento box i made." Mei laughed with the women. "We are in the dark empire. The dark nation capital. And i have one other question. Are you too a scholar? seeking knowledge?"

Mei really wasnt worried about this womens ability. Or how she had come to this place. But she was interested in this womens past. Her story. Or even some of the stories stored in her head.

"Scholar?" Lady Yuan laughed as she took the box. As if someone would mistake someone like her as a scholar, a criminal like her. "No no, not a scholar. Treasure hunter. Sell sword. I do festivals, make the occasional firework. I collect old legends and stories because of the treasure hunting and to entertain festival goers, but that's about it." She had a bit of a wistful smile. "I was a far cry more important in the caravan then what I told you would suggest." She said sitting down on the ground, her bare feet crossing one over the other. "Anyways, no need to dwell on something like that. What are you doing way out here?" She asked not actually knowing if it was far or not.

Mei sat and listened to what the lady was saying. It had perked her curiosity, and she self noted to perhaps bring it up later. But as of this instant the women had asked her a question.

"I left the temple in search of knowledge. I wanted to travel the world. And learn what each of the nations had in there history, what each says about the other. Just to know and learn as much as i can. That is my goal. And the dark nation is one i havent been to before. So i'm here to learn the cities secrets." When she finished Mei began stuffing her face with the bento box as kozu came and curled up behind mei. Mei leaned against him and waited to see what the lady was going to say about her 'knowledge sh-peel'.

A man kneeling on the rooftop above the two women, sat along the ledge with a leg hanging of the side and a knee posting up an arm. He just sat and listened to the peace of the alley below.

"I know this might be a silly question then, It being called the dark nation and all," Lady Yuan said opening her gifted bento and nibbling at it. She had no intention of finishing the entire thing today. The wastelands of Si Wong had tempered her to the importance of rationing. That and she wasn't used to eating civilized food anyways. "Do you think that a library would be open past dark. I imagine it is not good to read in the dark. You may end up borrowing this if you do," she said tapping the blind fold. "Not that I can say I know much about it." She cut herself off with another bite of the bento. "Oh and on a side note, this is much better than the field game I have been living on.