"It is important to remember that not everyone shows love in the same way," Iroh said. "Love means many different things to many different people, and how they show it can be very different. You must remember this when you are around people."

The guard he was talking to nodded solemnly, his eyes wide. He looked like he was trying to understand.

"I think I understand what you're saying. So, when I'm around my wife and daughter, I just need to understand they don't love me like I do them!"

"No, no, no!" Iroh said, setting his tea cup down and shaking his head. "That is not what I meant. I mean that even if their love is the same as yours, they will show it in a different way. That is just how human nature is!" Iroh calmed himself when he saw the guard nodding once more; he could only hope that he was starting to get it.

"Let me ask you this: how does your wife and child show love?" Iroh asked the man.

"Well…" he said, his voice trailing off as he lost himself in thought. "Well…to be honest, I don't really know. I guess I just—haven't thought about it."

"Next time you are with them, be aware of them. Be aware of how they act and how they feel. If you learn how they show love, you will find that they show love around you very often." Iroh sipped his tea once more, feeling like the conversation was over. When he finished swigging the hot jasmine tea, he found the guard staring down at his feet deep in thought…

…and the faint silhouette of Mai cloaked in shadows, waiting for them to finish talking.

Iroh quickly looked away from her, not wanting to draw attention her way. If someone found the Fire Lady sneaking around the palace dressed in black, all her weapons on her, the trouble it would cause would be immense. In deep thoughts of his own, he wondered what exactly she was doing…and what exactly she was thinking.

But that conversation would have to wait. For now, at least.

"You know, now that I think about it…" the guard said, "I have noticed that my daughter makes jokes around me…and she doesn't do that with other people…does that count?"

"I cannot say for sure. That is something you will have to determine for yourself," Iroh responded calmly.

"But—"

"I have never met them, so I could not tell you either which way. You must find that out for yourself—trust your gut instinct, it's more likely to be correct." Iroh placed a hand upon the guard's shoulder, an act of comforting him. Even as he did so, his eyes slid from the face of the guard back to the shadowy figure of Mai, waiting for their conversation to be done. He knew that she wanted to talk to him…

"You know what," Iroh said, a wide smile breaking across his face, "why don't you take the rest of the night off? Go see your wife? Spend time with your family?"

"Wha—?" the guard stuttered, clearly dumbfounded. "But—but I can't—"

"Of course you can. The next shift is about to change anyway. No one will notice if you slip away…and if they do, I will vouch for you."

"Really?!" The guard seemed jittery, excited. Like he couldn't believe his own ears. "Oh, that would mean so much to me—so so much!"

"Go!" Iroh gave him a small push, and he was off. Iroh watched the back of him become smaller and darker until it vanished completely from his sight. Steps still echoed nearby; Iroh counted them, and the far off sound waves that reached his ear like a distant ocean wave. He judged that it was far enough, and that he was safe to speak openly.

Mai appeared, climbing over the edge of the building and onto the covered walkway. The faint torchlight glowed on her face. Her lips were pressed in a thin line, and her eyes were serious, her focus complete and unwavering. Iroh regarded her just as steadily as she regarded him.

"Yes?" he asked, after a long pause.

Bringing her hand forward, the mask of the Blue Spirit hung from her hand.

Iroh's eyes widened.

"You have captured—?"

"No," Mai said, cutting him off. "I let her go."

"Why?" Iroh hissed, his voice lowering to a whisper. He tried to make himself remain calm, telling himself over and over again that she must have a good reason. But he just couldn't think of it, not with the overwhelming thought of a free Blue Spirit on the loose…

Well…no longer the Blue Spirit.

Iroh closed his eyes and took a deep breath, rightening himself once more. His calm demeanor reappeared, and Mai saw Iroh turn from powerful to a wise old man once more. She saw how he had conquered so much in his early years, how he had earned the name the Dragon of the West. It was quite incredible, she thought, now that she had seen the real, actual person instead of reading about it in some boring history book.

"Why?" he asked again. "Why did you let them go?"

"It seemed justified," Mai said calmly. She tucked the mask away again, hiding it within the blackness of her clothes.

That puzzled Iroh. Once the shock on his face cleared (back into a neutral expression he was trying to maintain now) he asked Mai, "Justified? How?" Even with the calm, there was an edge to his voice. He set his jaw and stroked at his beard, listening as she began to speak.

"I'll tell you what she told me.

"First of all, she is a waterbender; a waterbender who lives in the Earth Kingdom. I thought that was because of some strange reason or something like that, but it turns out she was born here. She and her siblings and all that…

"Then she went on to tell me that the end of the war didn't solve all the problem of Ba Sing Se. There's still trouble with this, and there's still trouble with that. There's always going to be trouble with the Dai Li. The Dai Li took her parents away, and she doesn't know much else, but she's hoping to find them."

Mai ended her speech. She looked at Iroh with bored eyes, as if he was stopping her from something she longed to do. But then again, Mai looked bored most of the time. Iroh usually saw past the facade, when she was near him.

"Why did the Dai Li take them?" Iroh asked Mai.

"Ethnic cleansing." Mai stated the two words bluntly, her voice curt. She let them hang in the air between them while Iroh absorbed what she had just said. Mai didn't know why, but she hated those words. Perhaps, somewhere deep within the caverns of her mind, in the subconsciousness of her memories, a young Mai witnessed ethnic cleansing within the Fire Nation. Perhaps she had hated it back then, too.

"There are other waterbenders in the Earth Kingdom," Iroh mumbled. He wasn't speaking to Mai, but to himself. "There were—are—waterbenders in the Fire Nation…somewhere out there. There are tons of firebenders within the Earth Kingdom, thanks to all the colonies…"

With a defeated sigh, he accepted the truth.

"So now what?" Iroh asked, looking back up at her.

Mai had walked back towards the edge, leaning up against the stone railing. She sighed herself, a gloomy sigh that she normally had waiting in her lungs, and crossed her arms. Her eyes peered out at nothing, but the blackness of the palace, the small orbs of light sprinkled across the gloom, and the stars far away in the vastness of space. A few clouds drifted across the sky, and very few guards walked in front of the orbs of light.

It was quiet, as normal. Things were always far too quiet in places like this; Mai knew that by heart. Everyone following their orders, fulfilling their duties. Sure, there was loudness and carrying on from time to time, but far too little of it. She hadn't taken place in parties and evenings around the table drinking date wine. No matter how much she had wanted to.

And now, the silence bugged her.

She wanted it to go away; she wanted to be off, to do what she wanted to do next. But she could sense Iroh's curiosity in the short distance between them, and Mai couldn't leave just yet. Zuko wanted so badly for her to get along with his uncle, so she tried her best. For his sake.

"So…I want to see if I have this story correct…

"There are many types of benders all over the world—who don't stay within their own land—so to speak—and this person is one of them. She—you did say 'she' right?—she is a waterbender. Her family has been in the Earth Kingdom, and they live here in the Earth Kingdom. Her parents were taken away by the Dai Li due to their part of ethnic cleansing, because the Dai Li is a problem with or without war."

"That's what I got," Mai said with a shrug.

"And so now," Iroh continued on, putting the final pieces in the puzzle, "she wants to find her parents."

"That's what I got," Mai repeated, her tone even duller than before.

"You let her go because of that reason?" Iroh asked her, knowing the answer before Mai even said it, before the word 'yes' passed her lips.

The quiet filled the air once more, neither of them saying anything. What was there to say? Iroh seemed deep in thought while Mai simply looked out at the night sky with boredom etched into her face. On the inside, she twitched, eager and ready. Her fingers were twitching slightly, and she kept tapping her toes upon the stone of the walkway, waiting.

Waiting to leave.

Mai knew that she could leave right now, jump down from the walkway and scale down the palace guard wall easily, using her knives to lower herself to the ground, and then disappear into the night without even having to say a goodbye to Iroh, not even having to cast a backwards glance at him as she left.

But for Zuko, she stayed.

"I think I agree with you," Iroh said at last.

Mai turned her eyes from the stars to Iroh's face, orange in the torchlight, shadows streaking across the right side of his face.

"I believe that letting her continue to search for her parents is the right thing. But the ends don't justify the means. She killed guards tonight, and now innocent blood is on her hands. Something like that cannot be excused by a tragic past." Iroh squeezed his eyes shut and turned away from Mai. "She should look for her parents, but she also needs to make amends for what she has done."

"And how do you expect that to be done?" Mai asked glumly.

"I am sure that this problem not only affects her. I will speak with Fire Lord Zuko, bring up the issue, and tell him to discuss this in the royal meetings he must attend. The problem of her parents will be gone…but still, she must—"

"Yeah, yeah," Mai said, cutting him off. It felt like the end of their conversation, and Mai was itching to leave. The nerves in her arms were sparking to life, wanting to feel the muscles beneath her skin moving and the sharp whip of the wind as she sped forward.

"One more thing, Mai," Iroh said to her.

All the nerves in her body seemed to groan.

"What?"

"Will you not be going to the meetings? You are Fire Lady, after all. Your presence is greatly valued there. Anything you say will have an impact upon everyone." A kind smile laid upon Iroh's lips, and a glimmer of happiness shone in his eyes. "Are you coming?"

"No." Mai sighed the word.

"I don't blame you," Iroh said with a small chuckle. "They can be quite boring…and so long at times. And because they are so boring, it makes them seem even longer."

Mai's features softened. "You're right on that account."

"Ah—just thinking of one fills me with dread. If you don't mind me asking, Mai, what are you going to do?"

The smile on Iroh's face was ripped away when he saw Mai take out the Blue Spirit mask once more, and hold it up to her face. A look of puzzlement was all that was left.

"I am going to help her," said Mai. "Or, the Blue Spirit is going to help her. I can't be see running around with a criminal." Azula was enough, she thought. A small pang hit her in the stomach, as she though of the old days she spent with her two friends.

Deep down, she missed Azula, no matter how cruel she had been to her and Ty Lee.

"I'll become the Blue Spirit, and I'll handle the woman—Isuke is her name." Mai whispered the last part, not wanting anyone to hear them. With deft hands, Mai tied the strings of the mask behind her head, securing it with one final tug.

Iroh had never seen the Blue Spirit stand so frankly in front of him before. Zuko, when he had the mask, had always hidden it from him. Even in Lake Laogai, when he had caught Zuko right before making the mistake of taking the flying bison, he had taken off the mask quickly. He had spoken straight to Zuko.

But now he spoke to the Blue Spirit once more.

It was a spirit that meant so much to him, filled him with emotions that he could not describe, and that there were no words for. His gaze cast downwards, not able to keep her in sight for much longer.

"I won't be the Blue Spirit for long," Mai promised him, as she stepped over the thick stone barrier once more. She clung to the stones with knives freshly protruded from her arsenal, and the eagerness in her voice was palpable.

Without another word, she descended the guard wall, leaving into the night and rushing to meet up with Isuke.

Iroh only sighed, watching her leave. Because of the darkness of her clothes, she blended in with the scenery around her so much that after a second he could no longer see her. Not even guess at where she was at.

"Such things haunt me," Iroh spoke aloud.

Please feel free to like and review!

Also, after this chapter, things should start heating up.