Alysia was well accustomed to hooded, secretive individuals coming into the air nomad center in search of assistance.  When the figure entered her little storefront, she immediately greeted him.

"Welcome!  What can I help you with today?"  He ignored her, apparently, and left an envelope on her desk before hustling out of the shop.  She called after him, "Please! Sit down and we -" but he was already gone.  The envelope was very intriguing, but she had a job to do.  She slipped it into her desk's only drawer and locked it, but its strange and sudden arrival buzzed at the back of her mind as she went about her day.  Frustrated by the distraction, Alysia sat on the floor with her legs crossed to meditate, but found that her mind quickly wandered back to the nondescript envelope awaiting her attention.  

She placed a sign on the door that said she was closed for lunch, shut the door, and slowly opened the envelope.  She immediately recognized the symbol of the Order of the White Lotus, and her hands trembled slightly as she read the letter.  When she had finished reading, she shoved it back in its envelope, replaced it in the desk drawer, and locked the drawer again.  

While Alysia was accustomed to strange requests and offers of favors, none had been quite like this one.  An elderly gentleman offering his life savings so that his grandchild might be rescued was a very different sort of request, and typically made without an understanding of what motivated the air nomads.  The Order of the White Lotus, however, was sure to be informed about her culture.  

She sighed, and lifted the phone in the corner of her shop.  It was the most valuable thing in the whole storefront, and stood out rather jarringly among the chairs which had been reupholstered and patched too many times to count and the rickety desk which seemed as though it might collapse at any moment under the weight of the short stack of papers atop it.  She dialed the northern air temple and waited.  A new initiate answered after a brief wait, and Alysia said,

"This is Alysia, the representative in Republic City.  I need to speak to Milo right away, please. It's rather urgent."  

After a long fifteen minutes of waiting, Milo picked up the phone, and Alysia explained the situation.  Milo, though surprised, was much calmer than his protege.  Eventually, the two decided that Alysia would attend the meeting, and report back immediately to determine whether she would participate.  

With that settled, Alysia reopened the shop, knowing that a long night awaited her.