A World Of Grey (Legend of Korra)

Chapter 11

The day was warm, bands of cloud stretching across the sky. The sun hung high at its zenith, and far below the streets of the Lower Ring buzzed with activity. As morning made way for noon, a pair of police officers stood near the edge of the road, a man and woman. The latter lifted a hand to push a fallen strand of dark hair beneath her cap, the thumb of the other tucked loosely beneath a thick, elasticated duty belt. The belt was a band of copper brown around the waist of her forest green uniform, matching her epaulettes, and the buttons of her jacket glinted bronze. Hanging from the belt at her left side was a truncheon, fastened securely so that a quick fingered passer-by could not prise it away without her noticing.

Smatterings of disjointed conversations flitted around her, a few moments later overtaken by the drone of a passing Robin. The engine of the small, boxy vehicle groaned loudly, pulling along its weight with evident difficulty and puffing black smoke into the air. The woman covered her mouth and nose as the Robin passed by, grimacing at the acrid taste of its exhaust fumes.

It did not take long for the advent of personal vehicular transport to take off in Ba Sing Se. Several years after the Hundred Year War's end, it was deemed ruinous to keep the city's mass transit service free to the public, and the cost of travel steadily increased over time as the post-war government sought ways to stave off the worst of its economic issues. Ba Sing Se's population was very much dependent upon the Monorail network, begrudgingly and with much complaint emptying their pockets for the necessity of commuting within the city. However, an alternative eventually emerged.

It had been eighteen years since the first car was made available to the common man, its design clearly pinched from that of the Satomobile, though it lacked the trademark quality of build and reliability. Yet still, its inception saw a boom across the city. A stagnant industry in the wake of the war was revitalised, and business after business reached out to partake of the plentiful fruit.

The oily grumble of cars passing by grated against the staccato of footsteps and the simultaneous chatter of a hundred voices as the woman cast her eyes over the heads of the people filling the walkpaths, smiling small and politely at those who caught her gaze. The raised stone surfaces were new concepts to the populace of the Lower Ring, who for as long as time had stood shared every inch of their streets with man, beast and drawn carriage. However, with the ever increasing popularity and ownership of motorised transport, heavy and rapid reconstruction of the streets of the Lower Ring had been conducted to accommodate.

It was not uncommon for stretches of housing to be lost in the process, the complaints of their inhabitants mere whispers to the powers that be, sitting comfortably in the more affluent Rings of the vast city. The Lower Ring was often the subject of experimental policy, to judge how it might affect those with a voice loud enough to be heard and pockets deep enough to warrant caution.

The woman's eyes were keen as she looked towards the opposite side of the narrow street. They were still technically on duty, despite her partner's insistence that a few moments taken for themselves would not harm anyone. He was presently waiting in a short line at a food vendor's stall, and she could not deny the tightness of her stomach as she basked in the rich aromas floating towards her. The owner was not the only one to have taken advantage of the foot traffic of this particular street, having to compete with several more vendors lined along both sides of the road.

"Serra," a voice called out, drawing her attention. She turned to find her partner approaching her, twin paper bags held in the grip of his hand.

"Here," he said, offering one of them to her.

"What did you get me?" she asked warily.

He nodded towards the bag. "Take a look."

When he had asked her what she wanted, she shrugged, feeling not so much hungry as peckish. However, once she took the bag and opened it, her eyes lit up.