The two of you stare at each other for a long moment. After an uncomfortable amount of silence, he finally speaks up.
"These roofs are old, you should be more careful." He warns, his voice lacking emotion. Or was he mocking you? You honestly couldn't tell through his monotone demeanor.
"Ha. I should be careful? Remember what happened last time?" You remind him of your last encounter, where he was the one having roof troubles, requiring you to come to his rescue.
"I'm just returning the favour." He replies plainly, seemingly not sensing your joking tone.
"Thanks for… catching me." You've briefly dropped the casual banter to genuinely thank him, but now continue with the regularly scheduled teasing. "So what's your deal, 'Blue Spirit', up to anything more exciting than robbing local bakeries?" You ask casually, from one thief to another. You cross your arms, and shift your weight, only to feel the agonizing pain in your ankle again. This causes you to awkwardly buckle to the side, but the Blue Spirit quickly rushes to steady you. You shrug him off and stand yourself, wincing slightly at the painful injury.
Though you can't read his facial expression from behind his mask, you can tell that he is concerned about your ankle. He seems hesitant to let you stand on your own, but backs off reluctantly.
"Are you okay? Sure you don't need help?" He looks down at your ankle, then peers over his shoulder at at pile of trinkets you left on the roof, before turning back to you.
"Yes I'm fine. I was just heading home anyway. I'll manage." You try to push past him, but the pain is too much. You stumble forward, flying straight into the boy. He manages to grab you, but the sudden momentum of your body sends you both to the ground in a thud.
You roll off of him in a flash, slightly embarrassed that you've made a fool of yourself in front of the mysterious stranger. This time, though, you remain on the ground, not daring to put weight on your injured ankle. You watch the blue spirit sits up beside you.
"You'll manage?" he uncharacteristically lets out a small laugh from behind his mask and you feel your face grow warm. "Manage to hurt yourself even more."
You huff and turn your face away, surprised by his sudden sense of humor. You can't bear looking at that smug mask of his any longer. You turn your attention to the night sky, watching the stars twinkle in the distance.
"Sorry, I uh— take it back. But you're not going to get very far with a hurt ankle."
No matter how much you wanted to save your pride, he did have a point. How were you going to trek home like this? You sigh, hanging your head low in defeat. The Blue Spirit lean in closely beside you, and gestures to your boots.
"Let me see your ankle."
You eye him suspiciously, but don't sense any ill-will from the masked stranger. You finally decide to carefully unlace your brown leather boot. You slide your dagger in the opposite boot with it's pair. Continuing to remove the footwear carefully, you notice that your joint has swelled slightly. You watch as he cautiously reaches his hand out and touches your ankle. You flinch slightly at the contact. He examines the swollen area from all angles. After some time, he speaks up.
"Sprained, but not broken." He states simply. You groan to yourself, as you reach for your boot. Well, this is just great. How were you supposed to do anything with a sprained ankle?
"Where were you headed? Home? Do you live close?" He asks, as you lace your boot back up.
You find it strange to be parented by a fellow thief, but answer his inquiry anyways. "No... It's quite a ways away from here."
"I'll help you home." He offers, and he begins to stand up. "I can carry you on my back, just tell me where you need to go."
Your first instinct tells you to decline his offer, but logic warns that you're options are limited.
He offers you a hand and helps you to your feet, mindful of your injury. Once you're standing, he begins to remove the sheath on his back. You watch curiously, wondering what kind of weapon hides inside. He holds the sheath in his left hand, then lets you onto his back. You're taken aback by this unexpected kindness. To him, however, this is just his way of returning a small favour. You approach him cautiously, but don't climb on just yet.
"Just a second," You tell him, and you remove your bag. He watches as you proceed to empty it entirely. Once all your good are now left sitting out on this rooftop, you throw your empty bag over your shoulder again. Now ready, and carrying no unnecessary weight, you cautiously pull yourself up on his back. He lifts you with an impressive ease. You realise he doesn't know where to take you yet.
"Just head this way." You whisper, pointing in the direction of the tea shop. "I'll tell you when we're close." You say, trying your best not to talk loudly into his ear.
"Hold on." He warns, building up speed as he approaches the edge of the roof. He bounds over the gap and lands gently on the next building over and continues his sprint. You're shocked; the extra weight he's carrying seems to have no effect on his mobility,
For some time, the two of you remain silent. As he carries you towards your destination, let your eyes close and you listen to the sound of his footsteps. You open your eyes at the sudden sound of his voice.
"Why were you carrying all that stuff in your bag?" He asks, breaking the silence.
You scoff slightly, isn't it obvious? "I'm a thief, it's what I do."
"It's easier to just loot their coins, why take objects unless it's something you need?" You're not in the mood to explain your whole 'imports' operations, but you do have your reasons for stealing material object rather than just coins. You decide to give him the short answer.
"It's all about keeping a low profile. People tend to notice an emptied coin box more often than they notice something like a missing vase or some other expensive, yet useless item."
The Blue Spirit exhales sharply, as if he find this amusing. "Haven't you seen the posters? You're not exactly 'laying low'."
You consider this. You had actually forgotten about the wanted flyers that had been posted around, each displaying a fairly accurate depiction of your masked persona, 'The Red Spirit'. Normally you would have dealt with an issue like this in a timely manner, but you had been so caught up with everything over the past little while… it just slipped your mind.
"Yeah, I've been meaning to collect those..." You state, tightening your mask with one hand, feeling suddenly self conscious about your identity. You couldn't risk anyone figuring out the face behind the mask, not even your fellow masked crook. Though you were definitely injured and would regret the walk home, you plan to tell the Blue Mask to drop you off a block away from the tea shop, as a extra measure to safeguard your identity.
"You'd better be careful yourself," you warn him, continuing the conversation. "You're getting quite the reputation as my copycat, 'Blue Spirit'. The city guards are going to be extra watchful knowing there's two masked thieves running around at night."
"Those pathetic excuses for proper authority? They're no threat." He states simply.
"Turn right at that building with the red-colored roof." You gesture mid-conversation, feeling him nod, then you continue the discussion, "What about the Dai Li?"
He doesn't say anything this time, but you continue on the subject anyways.
"They've been getting involved more often now. Just yesterday they… I, uh, saw them intervene in a civilian brawl."
"At least they do their job." He comments briefly. You're finding it hard to keep a flowing conversation going with this guy. Well, he never did seem like the talkative type.
"In that commotion, I heard word that there were firebenders in the area. Pretty strange, huh?"
At this, he seems to tense up, but you're not prepared for what he asks next.
"Do you believe it?"
"...believe, what?" You ask for clarification.
"Do you think there's fire benders in the city?"
You think about his question, and realise what it means to you. Jet had accused the tea shop employees of being firebenders, but were they even fire nation? Let alone benders? Sure Lee is aggressive, usually angry, and ill-tempered, but that doesn't mean he's from the Fire Nation. Oh, and he's also a shockingly skilled swordsman, something that took you by surprise.
Then there's his appearance. He's got very dark black hair and pale skin. Definitely not a common look in the Earth Kingdom, but was it Fire Nation? You've never been outside the outermost wall of Ba Sing Se, so you just don't know. Furthermore, you can't forget the one thing you have in common with Lee; that trait that made you take such notice of him in the first place. You both have golden eyes.
Let's consider the unlikely: If Lee and Mushi really are firebenders, that would mean Jet wasn't crazy after all... and you let him down! But firebenders or not, now Jet's being held captive by the Dai Li because you weren't able to save him.
By now, this Blue Spirit is wondering what's taking you so long to answer his simple question.
"Well?" He breaks the silence.
"Whether there is or isn't firebenders living in Ba Sing Se, it doesn't concern me." You blurt out, no longer in the mood for conversation.
"I just thought that, since you're wearing a Fire Nation mask, you might know something."
Your heart skips a beat, your chest suddenly feeling heavy. You awkwardly adjust your hold on the Blue Spirits shoulders.
"This mask... belonged to my mother," you manage to mumble, "But I didn't know anything about it being from the Fire Nation..."
He pauses to think for a moment, then speaks again. "You don't know the meaning of your mask?"
"No, I don't." You answer, but suddenly realise you friend might know more than he's letting on.
"What do you know about it?" You inquire rapidly.
"I'm not certain..." He starts, "But you're mask reminds me of the ones used in a play called 'Love amongst the Dragons'."
"...I've never heard of it." You think hard, but the name just isn't familiar. "What's the play about? What part does my mask play?"
"'The Dragon Empress'… That's the role your mask reminds me of."
You bring one hand up to your face and touch your mask gently. All these years, the only remnant left of your parents was this mask. And only now, with some masked stranger, are you getting answers.
"What about your mask? It has a similar style to mine; what's it's meaning?" You decide to take the attention off yourself.
"I wear the mask of the 'Dark Water Spirit', from the same play."
"Where did you get yours? You're mask I mean. And how do you know so much about this play? Where this play fr—"
"I just happen to know." He blurts out. " Are you done asking questions?"
It seems like you've offended him in some way… You remain silent and he simply continues his movement across the rooftops. You only dare to speak again to let him know when to let you down. You tell him to stop a block away from the tea shop itself.
"Here? This... is the area where the Dai Li made their arrest yesterday," He comments as he starts to set you down. You gently lower yourself onto the street, and choose to ignore his inquiring comment.
"Thank you for the help." You thank, nodding your head respectfully. He returns the gesture and begins to turn away, but you catch his shoulder in your hand without thinking.
"If you know anything else about this mask, I'd be very grateful for any information!"
He pauses before speaking, you notice he does this frequently. He's one who is careful with his words.
"Why is the mask so important to you?" He questions, fully turning to face you again.
For the entirety of this encounter, you've been physically vulnerable around the Blue Mask, but now as you open up about your personal life, you feel it emotionally.
"Well… I grew up in an orphanage. They had no information about my parents or where I'm from, except for this mask. I'm told it belonged to my mother and she left it for me. Whether my parents are currently dead or alive, I have no idea. But this mask… It's my only lead."
He listens carefully to your story, and then you await his reply. In time, he finally speaks up.
"The play I mentioned, 'Love amongst the Dragons'" he begins, and you hang on every word. "It isn't from around here..."
"Where's it from?" You question.
"It's a Fire Nation play." He finally states.
"F-Fire Nation? I mean, I should've realised by the design but… Are you sure it's Fire Nation? Not some generic Earth Nation play mask? Why would my Mother have a mask from an enemy nation?"
"I've said too much already." He interrupts, then begins to leave again. "Stay safe." And with that, he ascends a nearby building and disappears. You linger for only a moment, then turn in the direction of the tea shop. You'll have to very slowly, but surely, limp your way home. Each step sends a new pain up your lower leg, but you eventually find yourself behind the Pao Family Tea Shop. You drag yourself to bed, and embrace sleep.