Yuko surveyed the bustling market place. She wrinkled her nose, this place always had the smell of rotting fish. She caught sight of an easy mark, a wiry guy who looked like it was his first day in town. She smiled and confidently made her way through the crowded streets, bumping roughly into him. "Sorry" her hands deftly reached into his pocket...

Northeast Dockside

From her perch on a crate of tiger koi, Sora could see... well, not very far, but far enough to know that it was a busy day. Most days were busy at the different market "centers," but this one was her favourite because it overlooked one of the canals going through Republic City. From time to time someone, adult or child, homeless or well-to-do, would notice her and say hello. She enough of the people in her city; after all, her family had been the voice of the common people since they had moved to the city nearly 60 years ago.

Sitting on fish crates gave her another particular advantage. She wasn't as sensitive to the smell as most people were, given her age. People might stop to say hello, but they never tried to shove past you. People were clumsy, in general. A significant enough distance away from Sora (and the fish), a young girl bumped right into a wiry guy, muttering "Sorry." Sora sighed and then chuckled a little. She'd seen pickpockets work their craft in a similar way, often working in pairs, one guttersnipe running into the target and then the other filching loot while the first one distracted with an apology. It wasn't worth stopping any of them; they needed to eat and live too. In fact she'd donated to them before. A few memorable young acquaintances of her loved the game so much that she let them pretend to pickpocket her every week in the same place. She could afford to be generous.

Yuko darted away from the wiry looking guy, before he caught on. She felt a pair of eyes on her. Paranoia set in and she scanned the crowded streets making sure there were no cops. She breathed a sigh of relief, when she saw the old lady. She dodge her way through the crowd to stand slightly agitated in front of her. Yuko burst into a smile.

"Busy day today, huh Granny? I almost got knocked over, can you believe some people?"

Northeast Dockside

"You're very amusing, sweetheart," Sora quavered with a kindly grin. "I certainly hope you got enough from him. You'll have to be on your guard. Chief Bei Fong is said to be increasing the number of patrols in downtown due to problems from the Triads." She patted a fish crate next to her, inviting the youngling to join her, and then gestured to the crowds still passing by behind Yuko. "If you'd like, I can help you find another low-profile target."

As she spoke, her brow wrinkled — even more than normal — with concern. Republic City had once been a bustling center of nothing but great minds and radical advances in technology and culture. But crime had moved in, as it always did, and lately it was taking a turn for the worse. Not the silly crimes like pickpocketing for a living, of course... bigger problems. Kidnapping, ransom, exploitation, blackmail, protection rackets. A child had a right to make a living, but no men had the right to decide they had power over anyone else.

Northeast Dockside

This place smelt of death.

Having just left the boat that had docked here, Nirav had wandered along the dockside with the crowd of people that were swarming around, unable to get free of the press of bodies. When he could finally move more freely, he had found himself in a place that stunk of corpses. Looking around, Nirav could see the remains of many water creatures placed on display on wooden tables.

The tribesman was not learned in water-craft; there was little need for such skill in the Wild Mountains where he used to live as there were no lakes or seas in the high places he had roamed. But even to his untrained eye he could tell that there was more water creatures on some of these tables than some hunters caught prey in their entire lives. The lack of respect to their dead prey was shocking to Nirav. They left the corpses out in the sun to rot. He even saw one or two of the men and women behind the tables throw away some of the dead creatures for some unseen defect.

Shaking his head in disgust, Nirav walked on, attracting more than a few funny looks due to his outlandish appearance. His sleeveless hide was worn unbuttoned over his bare upper body, revealing his sinewy chest and arms. Plain cloth trousers and a fur wrap adorned his lower body, but what caught most peoples eyes was the numerous necklaces he wore around his neck. Some held various odd metal or wooden shapes and some had the ears of animals laced onto them. The ears were also stitched randomly into most of his other garments too. some looked human, but the way they had been preserved made it impossible to tell.

While pausing to look up at some amazing flying metal structure in the sky, Nirav felt something bash into him and mutter something before leaving in a hurry. The wiry man followed the person with his eyes, his normally bleak expression changing to one of mild annoyance. He had felt the fingers grabbing in the pocket he kept the shiny metal disks people used to get things. He knew that the person had stolen them, a concept he had not known about until he was banished from his tribe. The person had taken what had not been theirs.

He would take it back.

Nirav began tailing his new prey, one hand finding one of the many talismans on his neck and bringing it to his lips for luck in the hunt and the other hand falling onto the handle of his kukri. It was not long before the thief stopped to speak to an older woman sitting on a box. He approached silently until he was directly behind his prey.

"Give back the shiny disks", Nirav said in his deep, monotone voice, his mouth struggling to form the words of the unfamiliar language. A frown creased the brow under the trapper hat he wore, wrinkling the large claw mark that scared his face.

Even before Yuko spun around, she had a feeling of dread. Her eyes widened slightly in panic. He couldn't have noticed her pick his pocket, no one ever noticed her pick their pocket. That was what made her so good at what she did, her deft hands. She turned slightly, and was greeted by a grizzled visage. She did what she always did and read him. He wasn't tall or imposing, but her being as short as she was made it seem like he was. He was clearly a hardened warrior, his scars and eyes spoke to that. But his eyes, there was something she could read in his eyes. Yuko panicked for an instant. Would he call the cops? Would he simply ring her neck? She took a deep calming breath before speaking.

"Sorry," she handed back the small score that she had lifted from his pocket. "Their called Yuans by the way." Maybe if she adopted her normal bubbly personality he'd be less likely to retaliate. She smiled brightly at him. "You must be new here, I'm Yuko. I really am sorry about picking your pocket, why don't I make it up to you somehow. I can make dinner for you, or something." She extended her hand and waited for him to shake it.

Northeast Dockside

Sora's eyes opened a tiny bit wider as the man's voice caught her attention. Unless her eyes deceived her — an occurrence more common than she preferred — it was the same fellow that the young pickpocket had nicked some yuans from. He seemed considerably foreign, certainly not from the Fire Nation or the Water Tribes. The loops of ornaments around his neck were distracting for a moment, but... She was certainly not too old to appreciate the play of skin and muscle that he had casually on display. Even if she had no intentions of making a move.

With the inanity of old age, she suddenly laughed out loud, at her own sly thoughts, though her company wouldn't realise that. "Well, isn't that fine!" she trumpeted, but then her face took on a somber look. "Young lady, you have more courage than most of those I know who make a living that way." She turned to face the outlander. "I'd take her up on the offer. She's streetwise, is this one. Maybe learn you a thing or two about our 'fair' city." She laughed again at her own joke, the smell of fish rotting coming up from the crate she was still sitting on.

"Well, I'd best be off then, I suppose. Have a pleasant day, you two. Enjoy the sights and sounds." She almost stood up, caught herself before sitting down again, and then pushed herself back up and snagged her canes. She'd left behind, on the crate itself, several medium-sized coins as if they'd fallen out of her pocket.

Yuko heard the familiar clatter of coins fall as the old woman left. She turned taking her eyes from the man in front of her to check, and sure enough the old woman had left several yuan for them. She turned back and watched the slowly retreating figure of the old woman, tempted to call out, to give her back her money, but Yuko knew on some level that the old woman would just say that the money wasn't hers. Yuko was a thief, but she had rules, never steal from old people, never steal from those who looked like they couldn't spare the coin, and try to make sure that they other street kids got into as little trouble as possible.

Yuko made herself a promise to pay the old woman back if she got the chance. She walked over to the crate and picked up the coins, enough for rice and fish, not much but it was enough. She stole a glance at the hulking man who was still standing there. The air had quite the chill in it and she shivered, she noticed how much skin that he was showing and her eyebrow raised slightly. "Aren't you cold? And the offer still stand for dinner big guy. What do you say, Forgive me?" She flashed him a bright smile.

Nirav had expected a chase, even if it was to be a half-hearted one, but the girl-thief turned and offered the metal disks back to him. He blinked down at the coins before snatching them from the open hand. Giving them a quick glance to make sure that they were all still there, Nirav slipped them back into the pocket that the girl had taken them from without speaking. He did not take the hand she offered; he had no understanding of the convention of shaking hands.

The elder one started to speak as well now and Nirav frowned once more. They were speaking too quickly for him to follow what they were saying, his limited understanding of the common tongue stretched to the limit. Evidently the elder one had been bidding them farewell, as she proceeded to slowly heave herself off the crate she had been perched upon and walked away on a pair of sticks. The girl-thief turned to watch her walk away.

Nirav's grip on his kukri tightened, drawing it free from it's sheath about an inch. Now would be the perfect time to show her what happened to those who took what did not belong to them. He remembered the first person who had tried to steal from him. He had jumped upon him from an alleyway with a knife, threatening him with unskilled jabs. He had snapped the man's wrist and had been about to start work on him with his kukri when some villagers had seen him. Unable to explain what had happened, Nirav had been forced out of the village with thrown rocks and pitchforks.

The memory made him pause. If he was to attempt to do the same thing here with the thief, would the other people nearby react the same way as the people from that village? If called upon to justify himself, he knew that his limited vocabulary would not be up to the task. The girl went to the box the elder had been sitting upon, taking something that had been on it's surface. Nirav made his choice and slid the blade back into the sheath.

The girl-thief turned to face him once more, asked him some questions. Now that there was only one person talking, Nirav had a much easier time figuring out what she was saying. He clutched at one of the talismans that rested on his bare chest in the hopes that it would help him communicate better as he thought of how to reply.

"No cold. No big either", Nirav said haltingly, letting go of the talisman and letting his hand rest at his side.

He was still having difficulty figuring out the last thing that she had spoken of. It seemed as if the girl-thief wanted to purchase something for him. Perhaps in an attempt to steal from him again? Or a possible attempt to make amends for her act of theft? Nirav knew from his experiences in the last few years that the few coins in his pocket was not going to last him for very long in the city. If she was going to give him some free food, he was unable to pass up the opportunity. He did not know how long it would be before he would be able to eat again.

In answer to her question, he simply glared at her for a few moments before gesturing with his arm and grunting, indicating her to lead on to wherever she wanted to purchase him food.

Yuko let out a laugh, "Well, You're bigger than me anyway, so unless you tell me your name, it's big guy." She made sure to speak slowly. She had noticed that his voice was gruff and a slight flicker of confusion passed his face and he clutched one of the things that hung from around his neck. Suddenly his strange cloths and appearance made sense. He was not from around here. She had no idea where this man had been living that he didn't speak the language but it was clear that he was going to get into some trouble if she didn't look after him.

She left the docks and ambled through the crowd, she was tiny, no one noticed a barely five foot tall 18 year old darting about in the throngs of shoppers. She slowed her normal pace, not sure if the 'big guy' could keep up. Years of wandering these streets made her quick, light on her feet, she sometimes thought of it as a dance, but he on the other hand was new and she couldn't expect him to flicker about the crowd unnoticed as she did.

She was surprised that she wasn't a little more concerned about the 'big guy' retaliating. He had terrified her to start, she knew his muscled arms could crush her with very little effort, but she was not concerned. Her mother had always told her that if you are kind, people would be kind in return. This may not have always been the case living on the street as she did, but she held to that belief, it was really all she had left of her mother, and this idea of pervasive kindness had shaped who Yuko had become.

She stopped at a stall. She knew the proprietor and knew that she could get some fresh fish for cheep. She bantered with the old man for a moment before moving on, the 'big guy' shadowing her every step. She stopped them in an alley way, just to the east of the market. The building they were standing next to was a butcher shop but at this hour was already closed for the day.

Yuko found her target, a small fire escape, fifteen feet up, it's ladder slightly dangling. She turned and handed the fish to her 'shadow' and jumped up her feet lightly bracing themselves on the brick wall before she flung herself back out into the alley. She grabbed the dangling ladder with the crook of her knee, and angled her body back towards the ground. She braced her impact with her hands, back flipping away from the falling ladder, which hit the ground with the clang of metal. She said a prayer of thanks that her mother insisted that she learn the art of Chi-blocking. Not only was it a decent protection form some of the gang affiliated benders, but it was a very agile form of fighting so it made her nightly acrobatics to get home easier.

"Come on big guy," she said righting herself and climbing the fire escape. She lead them to the roof where she had a makeshift shelter set up. It had been a storage shed at one point, but no one ever came up here so it made a great place to sleep. She didn't have much, a futon mattress, a couple of blankets and a small fire pit. Yuko started a fire and waited for it to get hot enough. "So what's your name?" she said slowly to him

The girl-thief spoke again, this time speaking more slowly. She had caught on to the fact that he was not used to speaking the common language and was trying to compensate by speaking more clearly. It did make it somewhat easier for him to understand her so he was grateful, although he did not say so or let it show on his face. Such things just were not done where he came from.

The girl took off down the crowded streets, evidently wanting him to follow since she had offered to make amends for trying to steal from him. She moved through the press of bodies easily enough. Nirav did not have many problems with this either, but that was mostly due to the fact that those close to him pulled away upon seeing the grizzly items dangling from his neck. It was still tough going but nothing that the young tribesman could not handle. He slipped passed those that had no room to squeeze by him without much effort.

After a brief stop at a stall where the girl picked up a fish, they went down an alleyway and Nirav almost bumped into her when she stopped. She paused for a moment, looking up at the wall at a metal structure before handing him the fish (an odd sensation for him to say the least as he had never held one) and jumping off nimbly and landing on it. He had been about to follow when she came back down on the metal structure itself, which apparently extended all the way to the ground.

It was a ladder. How... quaint.

Nirav climbed the ladder after the girl without much difficulty, getting to the top in a matter of seconds. To someone who had grown up climbing mountains, it was hardly a challenge. The rooftop that he found himself on was sparsely decorated; a few seat scattered around with his companion starting a fire. Sitting down on the ground cross-legged, he stared into the flames as he waited for the fish to be cooked, lost in thought until the girl spoke again. She was asking him his name and he looked at her from across the fire.

"Nirav. Of the Wild-Mountains", he replied shortly. He was not one for casual small talk, even with those who spoke his own language.

Thinking the conversation over, Nirav eased his pack off his shoulders and unwrapped a long mat which he proceeded to sit upon. Pulling out various other items (a bone plate, a small string instrument and even more odd symbols on necklaces), he sat back down on the mat and closed his eyes, clasping one of his talismans in his long fingered hands and muttering something to himself in his own tongue.

Rooftops

Yuko watched as Nirav lay down on a mat that he had produced from his pack. Well, she thought, at least I don't have to offer my bed to him. The Wild Mountains, she had heard stories but never in her life had she thought she'd meet someone from there. She shrugged, more to herself than to him and went about making dinner. She speared the fish on some spits and set them to roast. The merchant had been kind enough to scale and clean the fish so she had little to occupy the silence as Nirav muttered to himself in an odd language.

She produced a pot, rinsed the rice and nestled it in the flames to cook. She spared a glance at her odd companion, she was a little off put by how quiet he was. She was incredibly talkative by nature and expected some sort of chat from him. She hoped it was his inexperience with the language that halted their talk and not that he found her irritating. She started talking, more to keep herself occupied than anything else, she really did hate the silence. She babbled on about nothing really, the different stalls, the new blanket that she wanted to by for the oncoming winter, a funny story about her late mother when they had first gotten into the city-before she had been killed, the excitement about the pro-bending tournament that was going on.

She heard someone call her name suddenly, she looked over at Nirav who seemed to be listening-or perhaps not-to her inane dabble, and realized that it wasn't him who called her. She heard it again, and walked over to the buildings edge and looked down. Three thugs from one of the lesser gangs were standing in the alley way looking up at her.

"Come down," one of them hollered. She winced, she hated dealing with the gangs, they were the reason she was alone, the reason her mother died. She threw a quick glance back at Nirav, tempted to ask him to come down for back up, but she thought better of it. They were most likely here to hassle her for protection money so it wouldn't be that bad. She leapt landing on the ground gracefully in the center of the group.

"What's up?" she asked tiredly. That was when the first fist collided with her temple, an attempt at a knock out punch. She was able to lean with the momentum of the punch to avoid massive damage-but still yelped out with the pain, and then struck out with a few well placed jabs of her own, effectively knocking out thug one's firebending.

But before she could do the same to thug two and three, she was grabbed around the throat, coughing and struggling to breathe, "You gave us bad intel on that last match," thug two whispered in her ear, "cost us quite a bit of money when the Ferrets won." Yuko was starting to go limp, like a rag doll and felt herself get hurled backwards. She felt her body crash into something hard and heard a sickening crack and then the whole world seemed to go dark.

Rooftops

As the girl-thief set about making the meal she had offered him, she started chattering away to herself non-stop. She seemed unable to share simple silence with another, compelled for some reason to speak without pause. She went over several different topics; the market, some sort of sport she enjoyed and her deceased mother to name but a few. Nirav watched her with a raised eyebrow for a moment or two before going back to staring into the fire. The creature the girl had bought from the stall was starting to cook nicely and it smelled pleasantly enough. He had not had anyone make his meals for him since he was a child. The thought brought back memories he had long since buried and he frowned into the flames, itching at the missing chunks in his ear.

As a result, he did not notice that his companion had got up until he heard a voice commanding her to come down. Glancing up at the girl, he saw her cast a worried look back at him before jumping down to meet her new guests. Turning back to the fire, Nirav hoped that that she would not take too long. He knew nothing about how to cook fish. The thought then struck him that her guests might join them, a prospect he was not overjoyed by. He was not one for crowds.

His head jerked back up when he heard a squeak of pain coming from the direction that the girl had jumped down to. Pushing himself up to his feet, the short tribesman walk over to the ledge and looked over it to see what was going on.

He noticed that there were three strangers down on the street with his host, one of which had fallen on the floor and was cursing as he tried to get back on his feet, without much success. The other two were surrounding the girl-thief, with one of them gripping her throat. Pulling his kukri free from its sheath, Nirav casually jumped down from his position on the rooftop. There was a crunching noise as he landed squarely on the man strangling his host, the momentum pushing the man all the way to the ground and throwing the girl-thief against the wall of the building they were squatting upon.

"What the-" said the other man in surprise, before the wind was knocked out of him by a powerful kick to his solar plexus. Stumbling back and gasping, he looked up with murder in his eyes and pulled back a fist. The hand appeared to shimmer as flames began to ignite at his command and he prepared to send a blast of fire at his new opponent.

However, these sparks swiftly blinked out of existence when Nirav's kukri flew through the air that separated the two, burying itself hungrily in the meat of the gangster's shoulder. Hissing in pain and sharply stepping backwards with the force of the attack, the man accidentally kicked the man the girl had taken down in the head as he struggled to get up, knocking him unconscious. Losing his balance, the man fell when Nirav closed the gap between them and pivoted, sending the heel of his foot crashing into his skull. He collapsed on top of his friend's recumbent body.

Surveying the street, Nirav knelt down and pulled his kukri from the man's shoulder. Blood dripped from the blade of his weapon as he walked up to where his host had fallen, nudging her with his foot to see if she would stir.

"You dead?" Nirav asked in his normal monotone, jabbing at her with the tip of his foot again when she did not reply straight away.

Alleyway

A sharp pain stirred her from unconsciousness, and Yuko winced and looked up to find Nirav standing over the unmoving bodies of the three thugs. She shook her head, trying to clear her spotty vision and surveyed the alley, she noticed the blood dripping from the weapon that Nirav held in his hand and the blood seeping from a wound on thug two's shoulder.

Yuko hissed a curse and got unsteadily to her feet. She looked up and scanned the sky to see if the police had found them yet. Seeing nothing she darted back up the ladder calling for Nirav to follow her. They had to get away before the cops found them. Three unconscious gang members wouldn't go unnoticed for long, and she didn't want the police taking them in for questioning. She grabbed a bag, tossed the roasted fish to Nirav and pulled the pot of rice from the fire. She doused the fire grabbed, a blanket and hoped that the wild man would get that they had to bug out.

Once again she scanned the skies and saw, in the distance, the police airship, she cursed again and ran, barely aware of Nirav's steps behind her. She slid down the metal ladder and landed in the alley, seeing that the thugs had still not stirred. Yuko popped her head out of the alley and checked the streets, no one was even paying attention. She ran back to the docks, it was as good a place as any to lay low for a while, and no one would notice them amid the throngs of homeless and vagabonds that hung around the docks after dark.

Alleyway

Nirav raised an eyebrow as the girl-thief rose unsteadily to her feet, surveyed the sky and ran to the ladder to gain access to the roof, gesturing him to follow after her. Confused, he sheathed his kukri and went after her uncertainly, not sure why she had started to act so panicky. Her violent guests were no longer a problem. All he had to do now was send them to the Long Sleep and move the bodies into the water. After he had taken an ear off each of them, of course. It would not do to have their spirits return to curse him from the Beyond.

The girl looked into the sky a second time and spoke a curse, her actions becoming even more hasty. This time Nirav squinted into the clouds but was distracted by the cooked fish she threw at him. He caught it bemusedly, watching as she packed her camp up as swiftly as she was able. He was no student of human nature but he was proficient in reading body language in animals, and it usually translated well. The girl was afraid of something, something big that she thought was coming here.

Gathering that she must know something that he did not, Nirav calmly put the things he had pulled out of his pack neatly back into it, throwing it over his shoulder. This time, however, he pulled out his crossbow. Whatever the girl was afraid would not catch him without a fight. Noting that she had jumped back down to the alleyway, Nirav followed suit, sliding down the metal ladder smoothly and padding silently after her.

After a few twists and turns, the short hunter noticed that they were heading back to the docks. Hoping that the girl had a plan and was not just fleeing blindly, he caught up to her so that they were running shoulder to shoulder and glanced at her with a disapproving look.

"You din't let me ease them to the Long Sleep", he said, his annoyance evident in his voice despite his difficulty in forming the words. "They were broke, defeated. Their pain last longer now. Should have let me ease them".

Docks

Yuko stopped dead in her tracks at Nirav's words. "Long sleep," she said pretty sure he meant killing the thugs. "You can't just send them to the 'long sleep', not here." she yelled. She took a deep breath and calmed herself, it wasn't his fault, he was new to the city and likely didn't understand the severity of the situation. "Nirav," she said placing a small hand on his arm, "Here we have the police, they try to keep the peace. If we were caught anywhere near the thugs, we'd be arrested, and if you had killed them, you would have gone to prison, likely forever." She paused hoping that he understood what she was saying.

"We just have to lay low for the night," she continued. "I know somewhere we can stay." She walked to a small fishing shack filled with tackle. She opened the door and the smell of bait hit her nostrils. It smelled awful, but it would have to make due. She knew the owner and he wouldn't think twice about her sleeping here tonight. "I hope you still have the fish," Yuko said. "I'm starving."

Yuko sat down on the floor, pulling the small pot of rice out and scooping some in to a bowl before handing it to Nirav. She sighed sadly. She had really been out numbered tonight. She wasn't sure if the thugs had intended to kill her but it sure felt that way. She glanced and the man next to her, "Thank you," she said her voice barely above a whisper. "You may have saved my life tonight, and after I picked your pockets and everything. You really didn't have to, so thank you."

Docks

When the girl-thief raised her voice at him, Nirav narrowed his eyes. She obviously did not understand what she had interrupted when she had forced them to leave the alleyway before he could perform the final rites on the men that they had defeated. With those rites gone unobserved, bad luck would soon begin to dog their footsteps; twigs would snap underfoot at the worst time, the wind would pick up inconveniently while trying to line up a shot or a cut would not be deep and clean. Whatever happened would be a manifestation of the ill-fate received from not granting the thugs a quick death.

She tried to explain how that there was some sort of force that dealt with such people here, the 'police', but Nirav ignored it. You had to sort out your own problems in this world or you would be fated to live in the debt of others forever. This would not happen to him so long as he could still move his limbs and breath the air.

The girl-thief proceeded to lead him to some kind of shack that stank of more of the dead creatures. Nirav's nose twitched but he said nothing. He was unsure if he liked this city any better than any of the others he had the displeasure of travelling through. All of them seemed to have no respect whatsoever for the animals that they killed, leaving many of them to rot and barely using their remains.

Passing the fish back to his companion and laying out the mat on the floor once again, he accepted the bowl of rice she passed to him with a grunt, scooping a pile out with his fingers and shoving it unceremoniously into his mouth. It did not taste of much,but taste was never something that he held of high importance when it came to food. Getting another handful of rice and shoveling in, he noticed that the girl was whispering something to him. He raised an eyebrow, an act that would seem to be becoming a constant trait with him, as he heard what she was saying. Chewing slowly on the rice in his mouth, he swallowed it before speaking.

"Did have to", the hunter said casually. Eating another handful of rice, he finished the thought as he wiped some food off his chin.

"I know nothing on cooking the water-creature".

Yuko burst out with a laugh. "Water creature?" she asked handing him one of the now cold fish on its roasting spit. "Fish," she corrected, feeling bad that she had just laughed at him. She took the second fish and bit down, tearing a chunk of. The fish wasn't actually bad cold, though it would have been better if they'd been able to eat it warm.

She quietly ate and thought about her odd dinner guest. Did he have family in the city? Was he planning on finding work? He'd insisted on saving her, and now she really did owe him big. It may have been an old fashioned idea, but when you live on the street it's best to pay any debt as soon as you can, otherwise it just means more trouble. "So," she began. "What are your plans? Do you have some place to work or stay? I do know a couple of people who may hire you on as an enforcer or body guard."