He'd never forget the feeling he felt the first time he put on the mask. In the weeks prior to his banishment, he'd roam the halls at night, his left eye bandaged and his head shaved, all but for his topknot: the sign of his shame. He found the mask and dual swords in an empty room not far from his wing of the palace They were hanging on the wall, as if they were on display, and abandoned as if they were forgotten. He took them off the wall and returned to his room, planning to use them one day.
He forgot about them for months, until one day his ship docked in a tiny Earth Kingdom town. Frustrated and angry at not being able to find the Avatar so quickly, he stayed shut up in his room as his crew went ashore. He pulled the swords down from the wall where he had them displayed and played with them in his hands. They seemed perfectly weighted, and seemed to be cut from one sword, almost as if they were meant to be an extension of each other. He spent hours in his room, practicing with them. He had never really been that good at firebending, but when he had the swords in his hands, he felt that he was actually good at something for once.
The mask he had forgotten about until much longer, almost a year later. He had kept it hidden away, he knew the stories of the Blue Spirit. He didn't want to be caught with it. One night though, he put it on. The feelings he got from just a simple mask were unbelievable. He felt a power he had never felt before, and, when armed with the swords he had found, he felt unstoppable. Later that week, when his ship had docked for supplies in a nearby port not far from Ba Sing Se, he slipped out the window. The feelings were exhilarating. He frightened people, took the food and money they threw at him for sparing their lives. He loved it. This was how he should be living out his life, instilling fear into the minds of anyone who fought against the Fire Nation, not hidden away on a small outdated ship looking for someone who hadn't existed for over a hundred years.
At every port, he'd slip out. Demand any knowledge of the Avatar by day, and instill fear into the simpler folk by night. His skills with a sword had improved greatly now, and he would do anything for a sword fight. Often times though, he'd pocket the money the people threw at his feet, and slide them into his uncle's bag when he snuck back onto the ship later that night. His uncle never asked about the extra money in the morning, but he supposed that he never even knew how it got there.