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“Noatak! Hey, welcome back!” Tarrlok exclaimed. He beamed as Noatak stepped into the living room.
“Hey, Tarrlok,” Noatak replied, mustering up a weary smile. His head ached and his eyes felt gritty, but it lightened his heart to see his brother’s smile. “Any trouble today?”
“No. Everything was quiet. Are you expecting trouble?” Tarrlok frowned as he got to his feet and supported Noatak into a chair.
“I don’t know. Dad’s been getting more and more demanding. Every day I wait for him to say he’s had someone following me and he knows what I’m up to.” Noatak rubbed his face and sighed. “I just don’t want you to get in the middle of things.”
“You can’t protect me forever,” Tarrlok said quietly. Noatak wasn’t looking at him, but he could imagine the worry on his face.
“I’ll protect you as long as I can,” he said firmly. There wasn’t much else he could say. They both knew Yakone too well for reassurance to feel anything but false. Their father would keep pushing them deeper into his web of corruption and crime until they were as warped as he was or one of them killed him.
What a hopeless situation. No matter how much Noatak thought about it, the only thing he could see in their future was violence.
“You should get some rest, Noa,” Tarrlok finally said. “I know what you’ve been doing.” Noatak heard him sit back down and pages rustled as he went back to reading.
“Aww, but mom,” he complained and chuckled. “Fine, but make sure you don’t study for too long. You’ll be up for your tutor early in the morning again.”
Levering himself up, he ruffled Tarrlok’s hair on the way past. Tarrlok knocked his hand away, but not before Noatak saw him smile. The kid was only twenty, far too young in Noatak’s eyes to be dealing with people like Yakone.
It was darker in the hallway leading to his room. Noatak shook his head and opened the door. “Who am I kidding?” he said to himself. “We’re both going to die horrible, bloody deaths no matter how much I try to protect Tarrlok.”
“Blood isn’t always a bad thing. Sometimes it’s the only thing that makes people listen,” said a voice from the darkness of Noatak’s room.
Instantly, his heart began pounding. The aches and weariness from a day of healing faded away, replaced by a shaky eagerness to fight. It took a truly brave or stupid competitor of Yakone’s to try attacking his sons in their own home, but it had happened before. It seared his tired senses to do it, but Noatak reached out to check the vase of flowers on his desk to make sure the water in it hadn’t been emptied to deny him a weapon.
Deliberately, he closed and locked the door. If it came to a fight, he didn’t want Tarrlok walking into the middle of it. His brother was an effective combatant – Yakone wouldn’t have allowed anything else – but Tarrlok hated fighting. Best to keep him out of it.
“I’m listening now, no blood required,” Noatak said in a voice of forced calm and attentiveness. Inwardly, his mind raced. There was something familiar about that voice and he couldn’t figure out why. Easily as deep as his own, it sounded slightly muffled.
Light flared from the lamp beside his bed. A slim figure stood by the window, dressed in black. Anything else about him – definitely a man from the voice – was obscured by the mask on his face. Noatak took a moment to appreciate the snarling face of the Blue Spirit, though he wasn’t sure this person understood its historical significance.
He relaxed slightly. Whatever the stranger’s intentions were, they weren’t going to fight. The coiled stillness of his body told Noatak that if he wanted to fight, he wouldn’t bother speaking first. This was a dangerous man, just not to him at the moment. He could live with that, since he usually occupied the same role.
A chuckle came from under the mask. “I’m not sure you are listening. You said wear a mask and here I am.”
“You’re the rogue chi-blocker,” Noatak realized. The last of the tension drained out of him and he dropped into the chair at his desk. “I’m sorry, I never actually learned your name. Please, make yourself at home.” In a way, he was glad the chi-blocker had come back to see him. Noatak had been impressed by his skills and the intelligence he used to employ them. It was not because he was handsome and brave, he mentally told the voice in his head that sounded too much like Tarrlok.
The chi-blocker removed his mask, a tiny smile relieving his serious features. “My name is Sun,” he said, stepping away from the window and seating himself on the truck at the foot of Noatak’s bed.
Noatak strangled a regret that he wasn’t on the bed. There was no way he could start a relationship with Sun, no matter how incredible he might be. Even if, by some miracle, Sun wasn’t disgusted by the very idea, Yakone would never allow it. After what had happened last time, Noatak knew better than to let his heart get away from him.
“I approve of the mask, Sun, but what are you doing here? Yakone doesn’t live here and you won’t be able to lie in wait for him to visit. Considering how much he spies on us, it’s dangerous for you to be here.”
“I’m here because you said if there was a way, you’d join me,” Sun said. Pride kindled in his pale blue eyes. “I found a way. That’s the beauty of the mask, you see. If no one can see the man under the mask, he could be anyone. So, will you join me in fighting against the corrupt benders of the city, or will you stand by and do nothing?”
Noatak felt a tingle of excitement, despite himself. He had toyed with the notion of wearing a mask to prevent some of the more sickening crimes he’d heard being plotted, but common sense had kept him from doing it. Yakone wasn’t stupid; he would know that the vigilante was someone with inside knowledge of the organization and set a trap. If Noatak wasn’t there, then Yakone would have a strong suspicion and Tarrlok would be in danger. If there were two people sharing the mask, the risk was lower.
“I don’t know, Sun,” he said out loud. “There’s a lot of promise to your idea, but I can see some problems. How would we coordinate? I’ve seen you in action and you’re good, but can you get out of the same things that I can? Not to mention, people would be awfully confused if sometimes the Blue Spirit can waterbend and other times he can’t.”
Sun slouched and smiled with too many teeth. “Yakone never gave you any freedom, did he? Or are you simply too scared to seize an opportunity you want to take?”
Noatak bristled. “Yakone did a lot of things,” he said coldly, mind flashing back to icy nights and fiery pain. Instantly, he regretted speaking. “I’m sorry,” he said to Sun. “That was rude. Yes, I will help you.”
Saying it out loud gave him a chill, as if he had just sealed a pact he couldn’t back out of.
Sun’s grin was so smug Noatak wanted to slap it off his face. He controlled the irrational impulse and reminded himself that letting his emotions get the best of him was a good way to get himself killed.
“I’m glad you’re on board,” Sun said and got to his feet. “We’ll work out coordination later; I’m hitting the streets. There’s a payment collection going in the east quarter.”
“Payment in the east quarter is organized out of a theater in Ember Sands Square,” Noatak said automatically. “If you hang out in the area, you can pick them off coming or going.”
Sun slowly looked him over and the smug grin slipped back onto his face. Noatak felt a blush rising in his cheeks and wished he knew how to make it stop. Unluckily, Yakone had never taught him much about moving his own blood.
“I believe we’re going to make an excellent team,” Sun said and pulled the mask back on. Noatak didn’t stop him from leaving. A chilly breeze swirled through the room after Sun was gone from the window.
A knock on the door made him jump.
“Noa, I know you’re tired, but you really should eat something before you go to sleep,” Tarrlok called.
“You’re lucky I love you, Lok,” Noatak grumbled as he pulled open the door, just as Tarrlok would expect. There was no way he could let on to what had just happened. If anyone found out what he was doing, knowing the truth would put his little brother in danger.
Tarrlok wrinkled his nose, showing no sign of fearing for his life after disrupting his brother. Noatak ruffled his hair again as he accepted a bowl of food, just to annoy him.
Maybe, if he was lucky, working with Sun would give Noatak an idea for how to permanently deal with Yakone. Then Tarrlok would have a bright and happy future in front of him, never having to worry about the dark underworld of the city or the people who thrived there.
That would be worth shutting his own heart away forever, fighting ugly battles against people who enjoyed causing pain, and even risking the life of a person he was quickly coming to admire.