Ephemera
Their meeting, when Mai finally stumbled upon him, was more than a little surreal. Azula burned to cast long shadows and Mai had lurked in every one. She was not used to sharing.
The contents of a wanted poster leered at her in the half-light. Mai shifted on the balls of her feet so that she would not lose her balance on the rafters. A throng of Earth Kingdom aristocrats chatted obliviously below them, drunk on pomp and circumstance. Their sandalwood perfume and aged rice wine bespoke such ordinary luxury that Mai paid the gathering little mind.
The Blue Spirit crouched low with swords at the ready. Mai trailed the tips of her manicure across the inside of her sleeves.
They both leapt at the same time. Knives flew. Swords flashed. Steel slid sinuously against steel. There was no thunderous clash of armaments. It was over almost before it began, which was the way of such things in the places where benders did not tread.
Mai ended their conflict two stilettos lighter and three support beams closer to Long Feng than she'd been thirty seconds before. If she'd hit the Blue Spirit he did not show it. In the background, someone important told a rather banal joke and his corner of the room erupted into laughter.
"Who are you, really?" Mai asked.
"A ghost," the bandit replied, after a moment's deliberation. His voice was scratchy and hollow like the inside of a mask.
Mai watched the Blue Spirit slip out into a service hallway. Chasing around rabble was not a fitting activity for a lady of Mai's station – especially not when it would compromise her intelligence-gathering mission.
Life went on below her.
"Me too."
- - -
Author's Note: Written for theavatar100lj, challenge #65 – "half sick of shadows".