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She had been in the med bay for two people: one of them was Negi, someone she hadn't seen in a long time, to make sure he was all right. Miraculously, he had overcome whatever darkness had enveloped him, and was surrounded by a lot of his friends. She planned to see him again, but right now she wanted to see the OTHER person in the med bay. She had been reluctant to leave him, abut after assurances from the doctors in med bay (along with blank stares, she WAS in this department from time to time), she'd done so.

But coming back now, she just wanted to make sure he was ok. All the self loathing she had right now, the loneliness and the pain in watching him hurt, she pushed it aside.

"Hey," she said softly. She was already looking over him. "How are you coping?"

Hearing Katara - no, not Katara, the girl they thought was Katara - speak just reminds him of that other complication to their current state of affairs.

Something about this girl had him convinced she was Katara, when all of a sudden, it's perfectly clear to him now that she isn't. She's . . . clearly a lot like her, but she's someone else.

It might be fortunate for her that Azula arrived when she did, because despite the confusion about the girl's identity, she's proven one thing very definitely - she's an ally, and she's a good one. And Zuko wants her around if there's ever a fight with Azula again.

"I'm doing all right." He lifts his face up a little bit from his pillow to glance at her. "But - we have to talk about something else, don't we?"

She had been worried, but then there was this conversation, one that Kaya was not looking forward to. She had been explaining to all of the people on the ship since she popped again that she was different, that she was Kaya but it would be different telling the Gang. They had knows her as Katara for a long time, and now they knew she wasn't.

What was more, she knew her role with them, but they didn't know who she was, or remember. It was like when Zuko had been brought to the ship as he was looking for Aang, instead of at the end of the war like most of them.

"Me?" She asked. "Yeah, you wouldn't believe how many people have been getting an earful of that today. I wanted to tell you guys, but then I saw Mai and Azula fighting each other so I was a little interrupted."

She fidgeted a little. "I'm not Katara. My name is Kaya, and I'm from the Northern Water Tribe. I do join with you guys, but its after Aang puts down your father. As best as I can figure, because Katara and I shared many similarities, and I trained under her, Stacy thought I was her and planted those memories in me. I've been thinking I was her until about several hour ago."

Sokka had been on his way to visit Zuko, make sure his Jerkbender friend had been alright. And walked in on something a bit. . .confusing. It was Katara--except it wasn't Katara, his mind was telling him. And he was beginning to noticed the differences in her face, the way she stood, her hair. She looked similar, but she wasn't the right person. And yet she was familiar. He tried to dredge the name up when she spoke and it came back to him in a brief flash. Kaya, one of Katara's students from the Northern Water Tribe. She'd been with them for a little while, attending the lessons.

But then. . .why had he thought she was sister? He reeled, shook his head as he tried to figure it out.

"Kaya. Not Katara." That's all he can manage. Where's his real sister? Still in the pods?

Aang still had red, puffy eyes as he walked in too, and he was still sniffling slightly.

"Okay, now--now that there was Azula, and--and another Airbender, while I try to stop crying constantly, you really, really need to explain how this happened. I caught the first part."

He wiped at his face, which was still sticky.

"When did she do this? Why did Stacy do this?"

It was true. Now they had no real way of knowing that they were who they thought they were.

Except that they all more or less agreed that they were who they thought they were, but . . . clearly that wasn't foolproof.

"We already knew she could mess with our memories." How did they even know they'd won the war at all?

She didn't like the implications any more than Zuko did, but really, she didn't really trust Stacy all that much these days. Now, on to answering Aang's queries.

"A little over a week ago, I was podded. Some of my friends noticed, and thought I was repodded for good. The the pod pop happened and I was told only a week or two had passed. When I woke up, I remembered my memories with all of you, starting when I was Katara's student."

She shook her head. "But I don't know the answer to why, or even how. Why get it wrong in the first place, and why take two years to realize it? I just don't know."

She had her head down a moment. She was still mortified with what happened back with Azula, in more ways than she wanted to think about.

Edited 2011-04-03 05:18 (UTC)

"But. . .why?" Sokka is still in shock. He sits on the floor with a heavy, almost audible slump, staring at Kaya in dumbfounded incomprehension.

"Why would she make me think you were my sister?"

Aang was clenching his hands into fists, clenching and unclenching, his stomach filled with a cold, squirmy uncomfortable feeling that was probably something close to fury. He didn't like the feeling. It was one he had to choke back down like a bad sea prune to feel comfortable again, to feel like himself.

He'd kissed her.

It was a relief that it wasn't Katara because of how she'd hurt his feelings, but he still had kissed her, kissed someone other than his girlfriend, hugged someone other than his girlfriend, loved someone other than his girlfriend.

Stacy could change love? Put it places where it didn't belong between people, take it away on a whim?

"Why don't we ask her?" Aang said, sitting up straighter on the chair he'd slumped into, expression a little too serious for him. Since they found him again, his face sometimes looked a little too serious, it was sometimes a little too frowny or sad than it should have been. "Stacy! Why did you do this to us?"

Edited 2011-04-03 05:38 (UTC)

|| I apologize. Kaya was given Katara's memories by accident, due to their connection and similarities. I did not realize the mistake until recently. ||

"So what other mistakes have you made, that we should know about before, what, two years have passed? Is my sister really not crazy? Is that war we won just a lie to make us more eager to do what you say and hope we can get our worlds back?"

Zuko pours out his sudden aggression towards the ship's voice, letting fly words that he's spoken quietly before or only considered in his mind.

Kaya quietly regarded to crew, and she could see what was in their minds: Zuko wanted answers. Sokka wanted his sister and had been lied to about having her. And Aang, he had been tricked into kissing a stranger, at least, to him, being hurt by someone not Katara. She still knew them all and had wanted to get be closer with them, even before the Earth Kingdom attack.

She felt...hurt. To them she was just Katara's student, someone who just happened to help them out. =

Kaya swallowed. "Look, I can tell this is going to be a hard thing to adjust to: it isn't easy for me either. I just want to know what you guys need from me. Wherever Katara is, she's not here yet, and you need a waterbender. I'll be happy to lend a hand."

It hurt still. She looked at them and saw people she cared about and respected, but all they saw from her was an impersonator. This day just seemed worse and worse.

Mai had ducked out - she'd needed to get something to eat, even some slop. She overhears the end of the conversation with Stacy as she slides back into the room on quiet feet. For a moment, she takes everything in. Zuko, Sokka, Aang and-

Not Katara. Someone who looks quite a lot like her (but who can tell one Water Tribe girl from the other, really), but it isn't her. She doesn't remember her very well at all and Kaya just gets a blank look before she turns her attention back to the people who deserve it. Or person, rather. Aang.

"As fantastic as it is to learn that we've all had our memories messed around with, I think we have a more immediate problem. And it's currently locked up in the brig instead of being where it should be."

"That's. . .it's really not what's on my mind right now, Mai, no offense. I'm more concerned about how much of what I remember from home is true or not." He rubs his face, looks over at Kaya. She's familiar--but strange.

"And why would she make a 'mistake' like that? Was it really a mistake? How can we trust anything Stacy tells us now?"

"Both are a problem," Aang said, his gaze shying away from Mai, "but maybe we can solve both problems at the same time. I'm going to talk to Leon, about what Stacy did to us. Zuko and I need to talk to him about what to do with Azula, too, and keeping her imprisoned like she was back home. We might not be able to do anything about Stacy, but he and the Council should know. As for Azula, they need to be warned about how dangerous she really is, that it goes even deeper than what she did today, so they figure out the best course of action to take."

"I already told them about her on the omnicoms," Zuko puts in. "I'm not sure if anyone on the Council actually paid attention or not."

Well, this went about as well as she thought it was going to go. She realized she was more of a problem here, just as Azula's appearance was an issue. Well, no, it was really a catastrophe, but details, details.

She shook her head. She needed to leave, give them time to think. There was no point in being here while they puzzled over how Stacy could have tricked them all. She could already see that her part, healing, helping to stop Mai, that was over now.

"Right," she said. "So, I'm going to go and let my friends know what's happened, all right? Some people still think I'm in the pod. Better stop them worrying."

She headed for the door out.

"Kaya," Aang said, turning to her before she left. "Kaya, we may not remember you, and right now--right now we have a lot to take care of, to figure out. But I want you to know you're welcome to be friends with us--as you. For real this time. I know I'd like to get to know who you really are, and it's not your fault Stacy did what she did to all of us. It's not your fault what she did to you."

Basically, they had no ill will towards her for this and even wanted to be friendly, just...after they'd taken care of all the problems that'd been suddenly dumped onto their laps.

"So when you take care of your friends..."

Come on back to them.

Edited 2011-04-04 03:26 (UTC)

"Come back when you're done talking to them."

Zuko finishes what Aang started. For one thing -

"We're probably going to need a good waterbender if we're going to keep Azula under control. You've got an investment in this, too - you know her, you know what she's capable of."

For another thing - Zuko knows what it's like to half that half-in, half-out feeling, with one voice telling him he's supposed to be part of a group, and another - an inner one - telling him he's not.

He remembers that sense of displacement, when he came to the Gaang on the ship expecting to have to convince them of his goodwill . . . and hearing that they'd already been convinced, and had befriended them for actions that he didn't yet remember making. He can only imagine that what she's going through now is hugely more disorienting.

"We need you."

Whoever she is.

Whatever. Mai didn't really care if someone else got added to the little group or not. Even if they had thought she was Katara for the longest time. The part about having her memories modified? That disturbed her. That bothered her. But she was more worried about Azula. She waited for Kaya to leave before she finally turned on Aang.

"If we're completely finished with dealing with that..."

She didn't jab a finger at him. Or point. Or anything so dramatic. All she did was talk. The tone of her voice got her point across clearly enough.

"If you're inability to act and do the right thing gets Zuko hurt again, I'll do it for you. And next time, I'm not going to miss."

It was reassuring, at least, that Aang and Zuko said those things. She had always wanted to be more than just at arms length with the Avatar crew: it had taken her awhile to realize that. It had always started as a need to protect the nations, that it was the duty of anyone in this world to join the Avatar. It was that need that had her seek out Katara as a Master.

And gradually, she envied their close bond.

But Mai's words snapped her back to reality. She wanted to believe it was the best plan to prevent Mai from being shut in the brig. But if she had, Zuko wouldn't even be here.

She has chosen wrong. But that wouldn't happen again, if that chance came back. She would have to make a decision that protected her friends.

And with that thought, she headed towards the City, intending to go straight to Billy and Ronnae's.

"Lay off, Mai. Even Zuko thinks he did the right thing. And look, I kind of agree! But she's not a threat to any of us now that she's locked up. And if we talk to the captain, I bet he'll make sure she stays locked up." Sokka crossed his arms, finally clambering back to his feet.

"Aang is the Avatar. And I trust him to make the right decisions. Even if he needs a bit poking and prodding in one direction or another sometimes." He grinned over at Aang.

"No, Sokka, she has a right to be angry."

He'd promised. Even if maybe Zuko was the type to make that promise hard to keep.

"But it's my job to protect life--all life if that can be done. That included Ozai. That also means Azula. Even if I wasn't respecting the sovereignty of the Fire Nation on this and the Firelord's right to handle Fire Nation war criminals the way he sees fit," his eyes darted to Zuko and back to Mai, "I'd still have to do it this way."

The expression on his face that he gave Mai was sympathetic. His resolve on this was unbending, though.

"If it ever comes to that, if one of us is caught in some horrible moment where we have to kill her to save lives, then...then we'll do what we each think is right. But killing her in cold blood or after surrender or when she's unconscious on the floor..."

"If it's done, it needs to be life or death, right at that moment. Because of the laws of this ship, because her life is not worth imprisonment or Stacy's Punishment. And...because it's a life. Because she's sick."

She was insane. Dangerous, yes, but insane. Not faking it. Genuinely mad, sick in a way that no person every should have to be. Maybe there was no way to fix it, maybe she should be punished for her crimes, but to punish her for that, that was more difficult.

"Evil, definitely...but sick."

Edited 2011-04-05 07:12 (UTC)

"I'm not talking to you, Sokka," Mai's voice was quiet, but there was still that edge of steel and cold anger. "Be quiet."

She listened to Aang, half-tempted to interject every time he spoke. But she waited. She listened. And once she was sure that he was finished, she began again.

"Well, that's fascinating. I hadn't noticed that she was insane."

Ah, sarcasm. A wonderful tool.

"I don't care if she's sick. I don't care if she's faking it. Either way, she's still a danger - an immediate danger. If she's conscious? She's going to be trying to kill us. All of us. Do you really think she'd care if any of us tried to surrender? If we were helpless in front of her, you know what she'd do. You all do!"

And for once her anger comes to bear on the rest of them.

"None of you seem to get it - showing someone mercy who'd never show you any? Isn't smart. It isn't moral. It's just weak and it's going to get one of you killed one day!"

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