<span style="font-family:Palanquin">The way his voice sounded when he realized that they were being followed - that she wasn’t lying when she’d said that much - sounded like how Jinora felt. He sounded exhausted and exasperated. He sounded like he’d already been running for his entire life. Jinora <i>had</i> been running for so long already and their running had only brought back the feeling of what it was like to be on the run and to try and escape from things that were inevitable. Then again, Jinora didn’t know what truly was inevitable anymore. Had her father had to die for her to live and to see again? She liked to hope not, but it wasn’t possible to be certain anymore. <br/>
<br/>
He was right, too. Jinora wanted nothing to do with any of them. <br/>
<br/>
Despite that truth, her face curled into objection when he said he wasn’t going to run anymore. Typically, when one stopped running, they shifted to fighting and Jinora knew he wouldn’t stand a chance against them. His eyes didn’t quite match that theory, though, and Jinora could feel it as they were pulled into the shadows. She wondered if her eyes still glowed with an odd sort of glaze. Would that give her away? She wasn’t sure. <br/>
<br/>
“Why are you helping me?” she asked him, keeping her voice to a whisper as no one had quite surrounded their area yet. “You don’t know me at all. You don’t know what I am.” And he didn’t. <br/>
<br/>
However, before much more could be asked, the men stumbled into the alley and looked around, seemingly dumbfounded. <span class="fixed-color" style="color:crimson">“I could’ve swore they were just here,”</span> one of them remarked. <span class="fixed-color" style="color:crimson">“We were just following them and I know I’m not the only one who saw them. And the girl… she can’t… she’s not the disappearing act type.”</span> <br/>
<br/>
<span class="fixed-color" style="color:dodgerblue">“She wishes she was the disappearing act type. You’re forgetting that she can’t run.”</span> This man pulled out a phone when he spoke and then he started tapping a few things on its touch screen. It wasn’t quite apparent what he was doing, but Jinora knew well enough. <br/>
<br/>
She still didn’t want to get him caught if she could help it. Squeezing his hand hard, she tried to think of something - anything at all - that she could say that might get him to actually listen to her. “They can track me. Running with me isn’t going to get you anywhere. If you run now, though, and I run the other way, they can’t chase you. You <i>have</i> to run, Sly!” Releasing his hand, Jinora took off running. Her brief speech had already given them away, and she was right. A majority of the pursuers took off after her; a few did remain behind to see if they could grab her newfound friend, though.</span>