after party debriefing at camp, Zo went back to Fire Nation army encampment, spent night there in attempt to maintain cover
played games and chatted with the other junior officers, trying to surreptitiously get information from them, in order to see how they felt about Capt Sheng and how things have been changing recently
two groups of junior officers: those like Zo who came from relatively priveleged backgrounds, had been trained but never really served, and those from lower classes who have served in the military their whole life and worked their way up. the first group was all new, had come to Laoshu with Capt Sheng. the second group had been here under Capt Shori and didn't like the changes: things had worked well under Shori, now Sheng was pressing all the villagers harder, there was more work involved in keeping them complacent, and things were tense
Atka flipped through his book Siqniq's fables to see whether he could find any information about the Dragonfly Bear he saw in the mosaic in the bathhouse. the book was written a while ago, but different members of Atka's lineage have been adding to it over the years with stories they've learned. in one of the newer stories, found a drawing that looks identical to the mosaic he found, and a story about a spirit of the forest, Mutan, who would provide for the village but would turn vengeful if the balance was disrupted. this story had been recorded by Ukyuk
Atka and Bao asked around town and found Old Wen walking out of the bath house, wanted to ask him some questions, talked as Old Wen walked over to haul some wood to the kilns
Atka quickly revealed he was from Northern Water Tribe
Old Wen used to be the mayor (appointed position), and has consistently viewed it as his job to keep everyone safe. he had come to an agreement with Shori where they had hit some reasonable quotas and she didn't bother them too much: no arrests or violence. they were still occupied, but there was an uneasy peacd
things changed when Capt. Sheng came, pushing them much harder: quotas higher, everyone worked harder and the soldiers are more violent
they asked why isn't anyone fighting? Old Wen: you sound just like my daughter, Kim
things have been getting worse, but Old Wen doesn't know what to do, feels like pushing back will worsen the situation
Atka asked about the spirit Mutan, if there's been any strange happenings. as part of this, brought out the book of Siqniq's fables, which Old Wen asked to see. after handing it over, Old Wen flipped through it, mentioned that he knew Ukyuk when he had visited, many years ago
in response to asking about any signs of Mutan's anger? Old Wen mentioned that people out late at night by themselves had been seeing weird things, could ask Lingmin, and that Fire Nation soldiers had been getting injured when out in forest at night alone
Atka: there could be an accident with the wood being transported, wink wink.
Old Wen then pointed out that the last time someone dropped the wood while moving it, Capt Sheng had locked them and their family up in the garrison for three months.
Atka: oh that sounds nice, didn't have to work, got fed, etc.
Old Wen: I hope you never have to enjoy Fire Nation hospitality.
Atka: oh I have, it's quite nice.
Zo's table at breakfast had a person missing, others gossiped that Wang had been on patrol duty last night and had been injured, as so many have been recently.
Zo then asked around about injured soldiers, methodically working through the roster of soldiers who had been on night patrol in the last week, talking to those who hadn't been injured and found the negative space, the location where none of them had been but she knew that patrols would've been sent. thus deduced that injured soldiers were pretty much all around where the clearcut area ran into the treeline, and had been by themselves
the soldiers had a variety of injuries, no consistent pattern, and none gave specific details to their rescuers when found. all seemed terrified.
decided to head to infirmary and try to talk to Wang
end with Atka and Bao exploring town, trying to find Kim, Old Wen's daughter. eventually, they find her, as it's getting dark, gambling in a seedy bar.