◢ looking for light ◣
kei is used to traveling in duur. he comes often enough that he knows where all the best places to stay are, though he makes sure not to frequent the same inns too often -- he doesn’t want to make it too easy for people to follow him. however, it’s still not necessarily a bad thing to keep up good relationships with innkeepers and other locals: not only will they usually be willing to give him a drink or two on the house, but he can at least trust them not to sell him out if he ever does find himself in trouble with his home nation, which, in his line of work, is highly possible.
he’s on his way to one of his favorite inns now. the woman who runs it has been his friend for a while, and kei truly does enjoy staying there when he can. as he walks down the familiar street, he zones out a bit, thinking about the rendezvous that’ll happen later with someone from the coalition. he’s never met this particular messenger, so he’s a bit worried about it -- newbies are always cautious around him, and he doesn’t blame them. he’s a fire bender, a suryan noble who should have no reason to want to support the coalition.
he pulls himself out of his thoughts when he looks around and realizes that the inn is not where it should be. he’s confused for a second, before he realizes that nothing looks like it should, and on closer inspection, he realizes that he’s on the completely wrong street. he must have taken a wrong turn at some point while he was zoned out.
he mutters a curse under his breath, then turns around and starts staring around, wondering how to get to the inn, though it’s hard to figure that out when he isn’t even sure where he is. sighing, kei starts walking, figuring that even if he can’t find the inn on his own, he might run into someone who can help him. not for the first time, he’s thankful that he had the sense to change out of his suryan clothes when he arrived in town, because while duur is technically a neutral country, after what surya pulled at the festival of the leo kei isn’t surprised that people here view the fire nation with quite a bit more animosity than before.
after about ten minutes of wandering up and down unfamiliar streets -- he must have gotten even more lost than he thought -- he finally happens upon a young woman playing with some kids in front of one of the many buildings that line this street -- in kei’s eyes, the people are the only thing that makes this street look any different from all the others. he approaches them slowly, then stands at the edge of the yard and waits patiently for the woman to notice his presence. when she does, he bows politely, not giving himself a chance to take in her features before he faces the ground. “hello, miss. sorry to bother you, but i’m a traveler and i seem to be lost. i was wondering if you could give me directions.” when he straightens up, he notices that the woman does look familiar, and he silently tries to remember where he might have seen her before as he waits for her response.