Deep within the heart of the Earth Country was a large city known as Ba Sing Se. It had two legendary figures that belonged to it. One was a female called the Painted Lady. She healed the sick, supplied food to the starving and cut down any authority figures that abused their power. The second legendary figure was a male know as the Blue Spirit. He did the exact opposite of the Painted Lady. He stole from people and used two dangerous blades to take whatever he needed. The similarity the two figures held was they did all their deeds at night.
As the sun slowly rose upon the city a girl in the city's Upper Ring stirred in her bed. She sat up and stretched her arms; brushing a stray brown bang from her face she climbed out of bed and did her morning exercises of water bending and Tai-Chi stretches. Her muscles were still sore from her nightly escapades but after rubbing some soothing cream on them they weren't much of a bother. She pulled off her blue nightdress and washed her body with water from a water basin by her bed before slipping on a white sundress. She ran a brush through her long wavy brown hair taming it of its night-time tangles. She braided part of it neatly while letting the rest cascade down her back. After grabbing a small bag she made her way out of her house were she was greeted by her kind and elderly neighbor; Toya. The elderly woman walked over to her with a smile.
"Good morning Katara," the elderly woman greeted.
"Morning, Toya." Katara nodded.
"Did you hear?" Toya asked. "The Painted Lady appeared again last night. She went to the lower ring and healed the people there that were suffering life threatening illnesses."
Katara hid her smile and shook her head in naïve manner. "Sounds wonderful," she played along.
"I tell you, that Painted Lady sure is a real sweet person. She really cares about people. You don't see people showing much compassion for the sick and the poor." Toya went on.
"She sure is amazing," Katara said in a dazzled manner.
"But also, it seems the Blue Spirit made an appearance last night as well." Toya piped up as if just realizing it.
A frown graced Katara's face; the Blue Spirit was a menace. She had yet to run into him on her nightly venues but she'd heard much about him. He was a thief! He stole money, items and other objects for his own selfish reasons. Katara swore that if she ever happened upon him; she would end him.
"What did he steal this time?" Katara asked trying to hide the bitterness in her tone.
"Oh he didn't steal anything, he saved a child." Toya exclaimed.
Katara was confused. "What do you mean?"
"Yes, a few days ago some ruthless men kidnapped a little girl from her family who lived in the lower ring. It turns out the Dai Li weren't going to get her back so the Blue Spirit appeared last night and saved the child from her captors and returned her safely back to her family. He then apprehended the captors and tossed them on the front steps of the Dai Li building where they are being thrown in jail." A happy smile grace Toya's face as she told the story. "Well I should be going now, lots of chores today."
"Do you need any help?" Katara offered.
"No thank you dear I'll be fine. Well good day Katara." Toya waved.
As Toya disappeared into her house Katara stood in confusion. The Blue Spirit actually did a good deed? She scoffed to herself and shook her head. That wasn't likely. She made her way away from her house and towards the train station. She paid for her ticket and climbed aboard. As the sites passed by the windows Katara closed her eyes deep in thought.
On the other side of the city's Upper Ring a boy was awakening to the day as well. He closed his gold eyes before opening them again to adjust to the new light. He climbed out of bed wincing when an injury in his side burned at the movement. He cursed himself for letting himself get caught off guard last night. The little girl had fallen from his arms when he was running from the men and as he dove to catch her one of the men came up behind for an attack. He had just barely made it away only to be nicked in the side. He grabbed a small vile of lotion used to treat cuts and scrapes and rubbed it on the wound before performing his morning fire-bending mediation exercises.
Once he finished he made his way into the bathroom for a shower before beginning his day. Walking out of the bathroom again he pulled on a pair of black pants and green earthy shirt. He toweled his wet brown hair before running a brush through it to tame it but sadly it refused to straighten and stayed messy. Sighing he ignored it and made his way out of his house. He smiled slightly at passing neighbor and made his way to the train station. After paying for his ticket he climbed aboard and seated himself on a bench across from a girl who appeared to be sleeping.. He glanced at the person next to him and saw that is was next door neighbor; Ran. The man noticed him and smiled.
"Good morning Zuko," he greeted.
Zuko nodded a good morning and glanced at the newspaper on the man's lap. "Can I see that?" he asked politely.
Ran nodded and handed him the paper. On the front cover was a headline in big bold letters. 'They Struck Again!' it read. Frowning Zuko glanced at Ran who quickly elaborated.
"They're referring to the Painted Lady and the Blue Spirit. It seems the Painted Lady healed the sick down in the lower ring and apparently the Blue Spirit saved a little girl. It must have been one heck of a night last night for those two." Ran said passionately.
Zuko smiled slightly; he new that Ran really admired the Blue Spirit and the Painted Lady. He had come over for some tea made by Zuko's uncle and Ran had poured out that he loved to read about those two even though the Blue Spirit was usually a thief. Ran loved legends.
"Hey, do you think the Painted Lady and the Blue Spirit have ever met?" Ran asked turning to him, Zuko could have sworn that he saw the girl across from him tense but ignored it.
"I don't know, maybe." Zuko lied; he had heard about the Painted Lady and wondered what she was like. Sometimes on his nightly escapades he would go looking for her but he had yet to find her.
The train stopped and Zuko waved a goodbye to his neighbor as he stood to file off the train. Once off the train he sighed deeply. It's a wonder that Ran hadn't figured out that his next door neighbor was the Blue Spirit but shrugged it away and headed towards the shopping district.