The voices grew louder as she drew near. Cautiously sliding down a sloping rooftop, she knelt behind a rough chimney, eyes drawn towards the barely visible shapes below. Her pretty eyes narrowed as she judged their position, measuring her distance from the unfortunate girl. At least the men wanted their prey alive, but the relief to that statement was short lived when another voice boomed through the fog. She gripped the chimney and ducked deeper into the shadows. Ghosts! With some regret, she thought of the small bronze mirrors in her home, destined to ward off visitations such as this, and grimly counted herself lucky for her precautions.<br/><br/>The men in the alley seemed hardly impressed and Jaio-Jie shook her head in faint annoyance. The infidels disrespect to the spirits would surely invoke a response, and although she didn’t mourn their inevitable fall, she hoped her interference wouldn’t drawn the ancestor’s eyes towards<i>her</i>.  The ghostly voice boomed through the fog, from a different angle now, and Jiao-Jie watched from the shadows and waited till the one separating had finished its threat. She drew in a quick breath and crawled a bit closer.<br/><br/><i>If not a spirit..</i>, the suggestion had taken root. And she too scanned the rooftops for another’s presence. The one had moved, ghost or real, and she eyed that one bold man, considering the bandit’s courage. If given motivation, would he split from the pack?  Possible…very, very possible.<br/><br/>Her eyes scanned the fog dimmed alley for a suitable hiding place, close to where the voice had sounded last… No.. Wait… Man or spirit…It had been moving! She scooped up a handful of dirt and waited first for the reaction of that bold, solitary man. If he needed some incentive to investigate the voice, she was more than willing to help… But he’d be as blind and silly as the lack of respect to the elder spirits suggested…. She’d prefer to remain hidden and aid the fates with a surprise appearance.<br/>