Many Steps Behind

[xun]

A massive shrub in a top hat, Xun strode across the courtyard of the Bei Fong's residence to the main gate. Given who this family was, it was only proper to appear before them in just as proper livery presenting his own station as an imperial magistrate. The symbol of that office, a bright jade orb carved with the imperial crest and filled in with gold, bobbed and weaved against his chest as he walked while the midday breeze tugged and toyed with his ankle length wide sleeve tunic/robe of forest green color, buttoned in the center with brown buttons, and wide yellow trims along the edges, cuffs and collar.

"That much gold," pulling the forest green gat, a partly transparent and cylindrical wide brimmed hat with yellow trim.

This was slowly feeling all too incredulous for Xun, but given enough time to process today's incoming information since his hectic arrival in Gaoling yesterday evening atop an exhausted moa-horse with a possibly poisoned victim, he was certain it would all become more sensible and rational. Perhaps over tea and lunch, presuming to himself. Maybe it would alleviate the sting of Lao Bei Fong's accusation that Avatar Aang had kidnapped his daughter, Toph Bei Fong, along with the box of neatly stacked and arranged coins to reinforce that belief. And ensure the child's safe return.

"Hard to blame him," muttering to himself, "I would do the same for any of mine," half looking back at the estate's resident as a servant held the gate door open.

Xun could've declined payment. Could have. But he did not believe himself to be that noble of a person. Besides his wives and mother would never let him live it down to turn away that much money, the majority of which he requested Lao arrange to be sent to his family in Ba Sing Sei while a bit for the road bounced against his thigh as his boots tapped off the cobblestone walkway of the Bei Fong courtyard and into the dusty streets of Gaoling.

[linhyan]

Lin-Hyan was thoroughly enjoying herself for no other reason than the fact that people were staring. Most people would be annoyed by the open astonishment ,and sometimes, disgust on people's faces. She could only laugh silently. It was one of the few things she had turned into a game about herself.
Lin was leaning against a small building with low eaves, which made her look that much larger to passer-by. Her arms were folded across her chest loosely but they showed off her muscles anyways invoking many double-takes.
In a weird way, she enjoyed the small amount of chaos caused by her presence. Lin straightened up suddenly making several people jump. With a soft chuckle she stretched her arms outward and walked out into the street. He should be down this way any minute.
"Speak of the devil..."Lin muttered. She spotted Xun's tall profile about 20 feet down the road.
"XUN!" On impulse she waved her arm realizing after-wards it was a little dumb. She was kind of hard to miss with the current crowd walking the streets. Lin walked back quickly to scoop up her almost forgotten bag then made her way back out into the street to meet with the law man.

[xun]

An amused "hmph" took hold of his face at Lin's appearance. He was infinitely grateful that the young woman was healthy after their run-in with a poison blowdart welding, antagonizing sociopath just yesterday. Though there did come from the encounter the bright side of selling the unknown, maybe foreign, poison residue left in the phial to the apothecary to do with whatever apothecaries do when it comes to playing with concoctions.

"Poor child," Xun muttered, thinking about the possibly kidnapped Bei Fong daughter whilst tapping a rolled length of "Missing Persons" parchment against the flat of his other hand. Glancing back at the Bei Fong residence behind, Xun felt there was no amount of sympathy he was unwilling to spare towards Lao. Why if one of his own children...

Xun shook his head, not wanting to think about such a thing happening to his own family.

"Visiting the post office?" He questioned. "Your father would more than probably like to hear from you," suggesting almost nonchalantly and trying to hide the tone of a father in his voice. "About," shrugging his heavy shoulders, "what you have been up to and such and where you have been."

[linhyan]

Again, the look. Lin snickered a little and smiled widely detecting the 'father' voice a mile off.
"I visited the post office while you were in there." She nodded her head in the direction of the mansion before snickering.

" I decided to leave out the bit about the spider on the road. No doubt mother would have my hide hanging in the den for my actions." Lin winced slightly looking at Xun apologetically. She hadn't heeded his advice and he had been right. Even if the poison had been so old it was unusable, she had taken a risk with her own life.
"Anyways, I doubt it's really a good idea to tell them too much. I don't want to burden them with a grown woman's problems. Although ,granted, I do attract more trouble than a usual person of my age."

She hitched up her pack a bit higher before giving him a sideways glance. There was a definite change in his expression.

" Something botherin' ya Xun? You look a bit depressed."
Before waiting for an answer she pointed out the nearest tea shop.
" Tea's good for lifting the spirit! So is good food for that matter. This place smelled great earlier. C'mon!"

Lin-Hyan started walking off to the small shop without asking if he was hungry or even wanted tea. She had gotten a whiff of something baking when she had been waiting for Xun. Whatever it was that bothered him it could be discussed over what that sweet smell was.

[xun]

The full rundown of matters swirling about them ended with Xun staring at the wooden table for a moment. Not for its craftsmanship but he used it as a focus point whilst he mentally sketched out a map of the Earth Kingdom's western half. It would be far better with a real map, thinking to himself upon removing his eyes from the table.

The gist of the situation he explained to Lin being the distraught attitude of the Bei Fongs at their daughter's disappearance--kidnapping as the patriarch put in, by the Avatar himself no less. Along with handsomely requesting Xun's aid and authority to rescue his daughter there were the missing child posters dotting town of Gaoling. Maybe further in time. As per what information he sifted through from members of the local citizenry earlier before his meeting at the Bei Fong residence, the Avatar didn't so much as kidnap Toph as she was caught up between in a skirmish between the Avatar and Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation. The supposed kidnapping likely was an attempt to protect her--yet why has she been returned yet? Maybe the prince if not the rest of the Fire Nation were so doggedly on the Avatar's tail that it made it impossible to turn around. Let alone leave a blind girl somewhere to find her own way back home.

As for what any of this meant to Xun? Well, his search for the dispossessed princes of the Fire Nation, Iroh and Zuko, were something of a side hobby to him. Hunting them down for the sake of the Earth Kingdom as their capture would be unfathomable import to the war effort.

Xun's body readjusted, attempting to find comfort in (what was to him a small) chair as the two of them sat outside under the cafe's veranda. "Where the Avatar goes, Zuko would follow," he said. "My greatest conclusion for now, is that the former is headed towards the capital, Ba Seng Se. Yet I what route either of them will take to get there is nothing but blind guessing for the time being."

[sun]

Just a couple of feet away from the pair was a window that allowed natural light into the tea house and sticking out of it was the end of a brightly colored staff. The cudgels previous owner had used it to break the legs of prisoners and criminals as a form of interrogation or torture, or “enhanced interrogation” as some of the more brutal higher ups had called it. It’s current owner however was of a more peaceful nature and though he had broken a number of legs with it, they weren’t strapped down at the time.

Violence was in fact quite far from his mind as he was currently trying to subtlety listen to the conversation going on the other side of the window, although to him ‘subtlety’ was a seasoning you used on fish and was drawing a number of amused looks from the other patrons. Just a day or two earlier he had returned to Gaoling to see his family and found a half dozen missing child posters nailed to his house. Though, looking and smelling like an anthropomorphic macaque, he was denied entry.

[linhyan]

The Avatar did all of that huh? Lin finished off the sweet bun in one bite and washed it down with some green tea before considering the idea.
"Well," She said cautiously," I know how my mother would have felt, although she never really had to worry about me not being able to get out of messes. I don't think their giving the kid enough credit." She shifted in the small wood chair feeling all to aware of her size and the distinct creak of the wood.

"He IS the Avatar after all. From all of those old stories, I'd think that the Avatar wouldn't pose a threat to her." Lin looked at Xun over the table as he seemed to be attempting to burning a hole in it with his thoughts.

" But..." She tilted back the cup draining the last drops and placed it back down,"The whole Fire nation's on his tail, that can't be safe...."Lin sighed outwardly, shifting slightly she saw something sticking out behind her.What the....? It looked like a pole....
Her frown only lasted for a second then she smiled widely.

" I'll help you old man! I owe you after all."Lin said loudly. She stretched her arms backwards and moved her head in that direction as well. As she sat back up she raised an eyebrow indicating the weapon sticking out the window.
The worst eavesdropper I've ever seen. If it had been some random happen stance the pole would have moved with the owners movements of eating or would have at least been moved out of the way. A staff sticking out the window like that would be an easy target for a thief, Even in an illustrious town such as Gaoling. Lin wrinkled her nose as the wind changed direction. And what's that smell?

[xun]

Suddenly, nearly about to choke on his tea, Xun's attention upon the pole floating about Lin's head was redirected.

"Now," holding up a hand close to him as he cleared his throat. "Now hold on just a moment. There is no need whatsoever for you to go through the trouble of helping me. Just you being safe--and maybe staying out of further trouble--is adequate enough action for you to repay me, Lin-Hyan," attempting to convince her otherwise in an effort for her not to join him on his self-incurred mission.

"My task is dangerous enough as is," believing he was convincingly getting the point across to her. "What with the sort of hooligans that travel the roads nowadays, the fact that I will be facing off against members of the Fire Nation. Furthermore, I rather not hire a woman like yourself given the sort of characters fate will push into my employment.

"I've already tried to recruit four so far," he shook his head, "Back in Kei Lan. Jun, supposedly among our kingdom's greatest bounty hunters never showed--women like her seem more than capable enough to take care of themselves--while the three other men...

He wanted to vault his face into the palm of his hand at how those three turned out. "One practically ran off on the spot at the likelihood of facing down members of the Fire Nation, let alone the Dragon of the West. The second was slain in a brawl the night before I set out. And the third... in jail for slaying the second guy for a larger share.

"This use to be a proud kingdom once," his body exuding defeat. "I don't believe I'll find anything better than cutthroats and hooligans to enlist aid from. And those are not the sort of people I want around you or anyone like you."

[sun]

"He IS the Avatar after all. From all of those old stories, I'd think that the Avatar wouldn't pose a threat to her."

As the two conversed, a scruffy head rose above with a look of pure innocent curiosity. Other than the occasional amused glance, nobody paid the figure any mind. The locals had long since gotten used to the mans antics and in some cases had watched him grow up from a hyperactive kid into the personification of irreverence and free will.

"My task is dangerous enough as is,"

The man was now blatantly leaning out the window just behind the large girl. Normally this would draw anybodies attention but the man had an unnatural ability to be overlooked like wallpaper.

"Back in Kei Lan. Jun, supposedly among our kingdom's greatest bounty hunters..”

There was a thud moments later as the man, who by that time was balanced on the window sill like a see-saw landed face first next to them. He had practically been looking over the girls shoulder when the Man had mentioned the leather clad bounty hunter that still caused him to think dirty thoughts whenever he saw a whip.

Unfortunately this caused some blood to change direction allowing gravity to catch up with the end result of the man balanced on his face in the shape of a backward C.

[linhyan]

Lin could hardly believe what she was hearing. Okay maybe a little... They had only known each other for a few days.
"Xun... You don't need to protect me. I'm 24 years old. I've been traveling on my own for 5 or 6 years. " She leaned forward a little with a small smile on her face."And I already have a father I don't need another one." She was about to say something else when she heard something hit the ground.
Lin moved out of her seat so fast she bumped her knee into the small rickety table causing it to fall over. She cursed a few choice words while she rubbed the hurt spot on her knee. Lin glared at the small man who was now sprawled on the ground at her feet, he had the pole she had seen briefly over her shoulder earlier. She had been focusing so much on Xun that she hadn't noticed him sneaking up behind her.
" It seems we have a problem here, Xun. An eavesdropper maybe?"
She bent over and grabbed the front of the weird smelling mans tunic and with very little difficulty pulled him up to eye level. Her grip on his tunic was loose so she wouldn't choke him but firm so he was certain she wasn't to be taken lightly You've already lifted him a foot off the ground, He probably gets the point.
" I really, REALLY don't like being sneaked up on. Mind explaining yourself?"

[xun]

Whoever this was proved a useful distraction from Lin's point of view. Admittedly he was immediately uncertain as how to respond to Lin's assertiveness in her desire to join but still brought no halt to his concern of her safety. Paternal his concern may have seemed, or authoritative as he perceived it himself but the level of danger of this... adventure, he believed as Lin likely saw it, was no less real. Both from the employees he would likely have to round up, the travel itself and the targets he was after.

"Enough Lin...," Xun halted her in a voice of calm defeat. Xun then reached towards one of the wooden chairs at an empty table then placed it next to their own table. "Toss him in," he told her.

"Now then stranger," Xun clasped his hands atop the table and looked the man over. "Share with us. How much have you heard? And how much does it interest you?"

[sun]

" It seems we have a problem here, Xun. An eavesdropper maybe?"

After exhaling a mouthful of Gaoling dust and a very surprised beetle, the man felt himself being lifted up by the collar of his shirt till he was face to face with the girl. Despite the fact that he was swaying in her grip like a broken store sign he had wide grin slapped across his face.

" I really, REALLY don't like being sneaked up on. Mind explaining yourself?"

Instead of doing so the man took the chance to examine Lin up and down, seemingly naïve of any possible danger. “Wow,” he announced cheerfully, “you’re a whole lotta woman” his grin expanded until the top of his head threatened to fall off. Any further courting was prevented when he was dropped into the chair with no tenderness whatsoever. The man balanced on the back legs of the chair for a moment as the male of the duo took on a business-like tone and posture.

"Share with us. How much have you heard? And how much does it interest you?"

The man cocked his head as if confused, after a brief look of concentration he began to repeat the duos entire conversation complete with background noise from start to finish, radiating innocence the whole time.

[linhyan]

A little annoyed that Xun was more willing to interview the strange man then allow her a chance, Lin plopped him into the other chair and sat back in her own with her arms crossed over her chest. After a while she had to smile, his retelling of everything they had discussed was entertaining. The 'dropped dishes' sound was particularly amusing to her. If Xun needs a ventriloquist, I think he found his man.
When he finished Lin looked back at Xun quite amused with this odd smelling person. Besides the womanizing traits he had demonstrated so far, he was obviously a bit off his rocker and a few bricks short of a house. Of course, it means nothing if he can fight well. That's what he's looking for I bet.
She stayed silent much preferring to hear how the older man would deal with him, she could argue her piece later. What was more important at the moment was discerning a friend from foe.

[xun]

"Rmmm." Xun's lips tightened following a furrow of his brow.

Wiseass, he wanted to call the man. Though... his ability was impressive.

Xun's shoulders slumped once the man was finished with his memory and voice talent. "Interesting," he stated unamused. "But not exactly what I had in mind for an answer."

Xun next gave a cursory scan of the window from where Lin-Hyan had pulled this stranger from, briefly taking note of the staff sticking out the window.

"What I am referring to," Xun began more sternly, "is how much of my current task do you now know of--and given your recent display I can safely assume you know all of it, right?" He gave the stranger no time to really respond. "Good, that saves me the trouble of explaining it all over again.

"So now, that leaves of with how much of my task actually interests you. No doubt you can possible imagine the accolades and rewards that await you on two fronts should you so decide to aid me. If you are capable of doing such."

[sun]

“…If you are capable of doing such."

The mans smile shrank a fraction for the briefest moment but returned in full.

“I‘m more than capable of helpin‘ ya,” he announced, “I’ve been across every inch of the southern kingdoms and if we run into trouble..” Pausing for a second he reached through the window and pulled the red staff from it’s resting place, subconsciously doing so slow enough to keep from alarming the other two.
“..I can handle anything that comes around.”
As a form of exclamation he dropped the cudgel across the table, it landed with an unusually loud thud that caused the table to jump as if a man had slammed his hands on it. The impact also caused Xun’s cup to bounce off the table and shatter.

Almost instantly a serving try shot out of the window and collided with the mans head like an unforgiving pie. As he once again landed in the dirt a middle aged waitress poked her head out.
“Bags Sun! I don’t need you harassing my customers this early!” she tossed a large nut at his skull, “and that cups goin on your tab!” The shutters closed.

After a few seconds of awkward silence Sun sat up and grinned as if nothing had happened.