Yì Suì stumbled into the alleyway — maybe there would be somewhere he could sit down in there, away from all the people, until the dizziness passed. Maybe it would even be a little dryer, a little warmer. He tripped, and almost fell, daydreaming about that. Someplace warm and dry, just for a few minutes… he'd stopped shaking a while ago, but he was still cold. It hadn't been this cold when they'd first made him leave — You're too old now, we can't keep you here anymore, you'll have to leave — but that was months ago, back when the city had been turned upside down — the big man, the one who made his shoulder hurt, he'd worked in the palace, he'd mentioned it. That was months ago. Now it was cold, and wet, and there wasn't any food in the garbage cans for him to scavenge.

He slipped and fell, and was too dizzy for a minute to get up.

Some yards away from the starving, freezing Yì Suì, a little girl moved quickly through the streets, hoarding a bag of coins and a smaller bag of quartz crystals close to her chest.  Whether her speed was due to fear of theft or due to the absolute cold was anybody's guess.  On seeing the boy, however, she stopped.  "Hello?"

He tensed, panic flinging him to his feet. He relaxed a little, seeing that the speaker wasn't a man — she was a girl, a kid, younger than him. He watched her, warily, not saying anything, then swayed and almost fell. Dizzy…

"You should sit down," she said with all the authority of a grown-up.  "You look hungry."

He did as she said, as much by accident as by obedience, not really feeling the cold puddle he landed in.  The girl noticed, however, and took his hand and partly dragged him out. "I didn't mean there."

He flinched a little at the contact, landing on his knees, unable to get his feet under him.

She stopped pulling and looked into his face for a moment, then abruptly ran off. He sank back, closing his eyes against the dizziness. He shifted so he was sitting and hugged his knees to his chest, trying to warm up and keep anyone from touching.

A sound of running feet, and the girl was back.  She pushed an apple at him.  "Here."  He stared at the apple for a minute, then shakily reached out for it. When it felt solid and real, he consumed it — quick as he could, to make sure it didn't vanish on him.

She clapped her hands, then bolted once more.

Yì Suì stared after her for a minute. …she didn't make me trade for it…? Then creeping nausea distracted him — maybe I ate too fast — and he closed his eyes again, willing it to go away.

More running; the girl was back again.

Before he could thank her for the apple or ask what she wanted him to give her in exchange — all he really had were the clothes he was wearing, and they weren't much — he threw up.

She made a noise of dismay and knelt at his side, rubbing his back.  "I think you ate too fast."

Again, he flinched at the contact. Too much, too fast, too soon… when was the last time I had food, anyway? He couldn't remember.

"Are you all right?" she asked now.

"Y-yeah," he managed to stammer out. Please don't touch me…

Her hand moved, but a blanket settled around his shoulders.  "It's too cold to stay out here," the girl told him.

"N-no place…"

"Then you can stay with me."

His eyes widened. "N-nothing to trade…"

She blinked.  "Huh?"

"F-for th'apple, or blanket, or place…"

"But you need them."

It was his turn to blink at her, confused. What does that have to do with anything?

She sighed.  "Look, if you wanna pay me back, you can keep me company."

"C-company…?"

A nod.  "Stay with me an' talk to me an' stuff."

"O-oh…" Yì Suì considered this for a moment. "Okay."

She smiled and took his hand.  "My name's Mi-Cha."

"Y-Yì Suì," he offered in return. Her hand was warm. It felt nice.

Little Mi-Cha's smile grew wider.  "Nice to meet you, Yì Suì.  Come on, I'll show you the way."

"'Kay." He closed his eyes to follow her — that made him less dizzy.

The route was long, but not too twisty — the little girl apparently lived just on the edge of the outer ring of Ba Sing Se, just outside the artisan's district.  The house itself was small by adult standards, but for two pre-adolescents, it was a good size.  Mi-Cha drew Yì Suì to the bed so he could lie down, and piled blankets on him to ward off the cold.

"Th-thanks," he said. After a few minutes, he'd warmed up enough to start shivering again.

She smiled at him again, then very carefully started a small fire to help warm the room up.  Remembering that he'd vomited, she also thoughtfully dragged a bucket by the bed in case he had to again.  Thankfully, he seemed to be done with that for the time being. By the time he stopped shivering, he'd fallen asleep.

Mi-Cha smiled, then took a few of the blankets since he was warmer now and made a small nest on the floor by the bed.  She nestled into it, then withdrew her bag of precious quartz crystals and took one of the bigger ones out.  She then narrowed her focus until the world faded out around her and all she was aware of was the stone in her hands; once this was done, she began to bend.

An hour or so later, the boy twitched a little on the bed above her and whimpered.

The noise drew her out of the tunnel of concentration she'd been in, and she shook her head and peeked back behind her.

He twitched again, and curled tighter. "Don't touch me…"

"Yì Suì?"  Mi-Cha rose from her nest and turned, now standing over the older boy.

He jerked awake with a little gasp, shaking again.  Hesitantly she reached for him, then drew back, remembering his sleeptalking plea.  "Yì Suì…"

"S-sorry… I-I sh-should go…" He started disentangling himself from the blankets.

She blinked.  "What for?"

He paused, halfway out of the bed, unsure how to answer.  Mi-Cha tilted her head at him, trying to hide her hurt and sudden panic — don't leave me alone! — from him.

"I d-don't have anything t-to pay with… f-for the bed an' stuff…" he reminded her. Except me, but… she's too young to ask for that, r-right?

"Dun hafta pay," she replied.  "Remember?"

And that still didn't make sense. Hafta pay for what you get, everyone knows that. "O-oh…"

"I just…"  She looked away from him.  "I've been alone since spring."

"M-me too… s-since they made me leave." You're too old now, we can't keep you here anymore, you'll have to leave.

"Stay with me then?" she asked, unable to keep the plea from her voice.  "We won't be alone that way…"

"I-I guess… okay…"

Mi-Cha brightened, and she hugged him.  "Thank you," she whispered fervently.

Yì Suì tensed when she hugged him. Don'ttouchmeplease…

She let go of him quickly enough, at least, still beaming.

Hesitantly, shakily, he smiled back. Then swayed, when another wave of dizziness attacked him.

"Yì Suì!  Are you all right?"

"Dizzy…"

She bit her lip.  "I bet you need food."

He hesitated. On the one hand, food sounded good. Other than the apple she'd given him earlier, he couldn't remember the last time he ate. On the other hand… "Don't wanna throw up again…"

"If you don't eat, you'll die," she told him primly, moving to a cupboard and removing a loaf of bread.  As she pulled a knife from a door, she added, "I won't give you a lot — that's prolly why you threw up before.  Papa—" her face closed, "—Papa used to say that you couldn't give hungry people lots of food at first 'cause it'd make 'em sick."  She cut off part of the loaf and tore that bit in half.  She gave one of the halves to him.  "Eat it slow."

"Okay," he said, a little uncertainly, then did as she said, eating as slow as he could. It seemed to work — he wasn't nauseous again, anyways.  She watched him, nodding to herself, then handed over the second half.  He hesitated again. "Y-you're sure…?"

"Yeah.  Just be slow again."

"O-okay…" He took the bread and ate it slow.

She watched him, beaming, for a few minutes, and cut a slice of the bread for herself, which she wolfed down in three bites.

He felt better — or at least steadier — after the bread. "Thanks…"

"You're welcome," she said brightly.  "You can have some more in a few hours."

"'Kay."

Another grin at him, then she put the bread away, carefully washed the knife, then settled down in the nest of blankets she'd built and picked up the piece of quartz she'd been working on.

He watched, cautiously curious.

Before he could ask what she was doing, someone knocked on the door.

Startled, Mi-Cha dropped her crystal; she quickly hid it in the nest.  "Who's there?" she called.

"I'd like to talk to you about some work we'd like you to do, Miss Mi-Cha," a male voice called from the door.

The little girl lit up, and she bolted from her little nest to the door, almost tripping on the blankets in her haste to get there.  Eagerly she opened it and looked up at her potential customer.

He pressed an odd-smelling handkerchief to her face, covering her mouth and nose.

Mi-Cha's eyes went wide, and she made a startled noise of protest, then slumped to the floor.

Yì Suì, hearing her fall, crawled out of bed and went to the door to see what had happened.

"Oh, hell…" the man muttered, then crossed over to the boy and pressed the handkerchief to his face, too.

The boy joined the unconscious girl on the floor.

The man poked his head out the door, summoning his partner. Each picked up a child, and, by the time Mi-Cha woke up, they were long out of the city.  She groaned as she came around, disoriented and feeling a bit sick.  "Wha…?"

"Oh, good, you're awake." This was a different man, not one of the ones who'd come to her home. He smiled at her. "Don't worry, Miss Mi-Cha, we're not going to hurt you."

Wary, she pushed herself to her knees and away from him.  "Who are you?" she demanded, imitating her father's We Are Not Amused face and voice.  "What do you want with me?"

"We're taking you somewhere where your gift will be useful."

Her eyes narrowed.  "I like Ba Sing Se."

"We're taking you someplace nicer. Less war-torn."

"I don't care!  I wanna go back!"

"I'm sorry, Miss Mi-Cha. You're coming where your gift will be useful."

She glared at him, using the most effective one she'd picked up from her father.

He sighed, and changed the subject. "Are you hungry?"

"No," she snapped at him.

"Well, if you are, let one of us know," he said, choosing not to respond to her tone. At least for now. Worse came to worst, the extra baggage his subordinates had brought him might be useful for ensuring her cooperation. The little girl was too great an investment to threaten her personally.

She crossed her arms over her chest and turned her back to him, clearly annoyed by her kidnapping.

He sighed, and left her to sulk.

As soon as Mi-Cha was certain he was gone, she dropped her attitude and began to explore, almost panicked.  Yì Suì, is he all right, am I all alone again, papa papa papa!

She wasn't alone. Yì Suì was with her, dropped in a little crumpled heap a few feet away, still unconscious.

"Yì Suì!"  She scrambled to his side, falling to her knees next to him and turning him over.  He didn't seem to be hurt, and he was breathing all right.  Mi-Cha sighed in relief and settled down next to him, drawing her knees up to her chin.  She wasn't alone.  Everything would be okay.

A little while later, he stirred.  She cried his name again, turned to face him, took his hand.

He groaned a little, and sat up. "Wh-what…?"

"You're all right!"

"Yeah…" He was dizzy again, but that was easy to get used to. "Wh-what happened?"

"I don't know.  A man put something weird-smelling over my face, then I woke up here."

"…Is that what made you fall over?"

"I… guess so?"

"I-I came out of the room, and you were on the floor, a-and then the man…" He shivered a little, remembering being grabbed then and being touched before, all of it coming at once. He hugged his knees to his chest.

"Yì Suì…?"  She uncurled more and laid a gentle hand on his arm, though all she wanted to do was cling to him.

"D-don't like being touched…"

Her hand snatched back.  "Oh.  Sorry…"

"I-it's okay, I just…th-that man…" He shuddered again.

"He grabbed you?"

He nodded. "I-I d-don't think he…touched me. B-but…"

Hesitantly, she put her hand on his arm again, ready to pull back again.  He was shaking again, but he didn't pull away.

"If he tries, I'll kick him," she promised him solemnly.  "It isn't right for them to scare you."

"N-not their fault. Men are scary."

"They still shouldn't've taken you too."  But if they hadn't I'd be alone stop it stop it stop it he's scared he shouldn't be here.

"Shouldn't've t-taken you, either…"

She scowled.  "The guy who was here said they were taking me where my gift could be 'useful'.  So they've got reason for me.  But not for you."

"Saw his face," Yì Suì said, dully. He shivered a little. It was cold out here, too. "S'why they took me. So I couldn't tell."

There weren't any blankets here.  Carefully, Mi-Cha shifted so that she was beside him instead of in front of him, then pressed her little body against his, trying to warm him up without holding on.  "Th-thanks," he said. She was little, but he wasn't much bigger, not after his months starving on the streets.

"Welcome," she said quietly, leaning her head on his shoulder.  Silence stretched for a moment, then: "I'll take care of you, Yì Suì.  I won't let 'em hurt you."

But I don't want them to hurt you either… "I-it's okay…  You don't have to…"

"S'my fault they took you too.  An' I want to."

"O-okay…" Guess I have to get between them an' her. Even i-if they want…

She said nothing further, just cuddled closer to him.