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Of all the inane and stupid items to come across in her wanderings...

It stood about chest high on her with little grips on either side and buttons at it's base with familiar faces on it. Tentatively she pushed one of the buttons and sure enough a little doll popped out with her face.

It was far more beautiful a face then she remembered, but then again the game had been designed by people who were loyal to the Fire Nation. And there was no greater hero to the Fire Nation then their princess...except of course the Fire Lord.

Another button press brought her a doll of her brother and she placed them in the pegs on top of the small tower. Their feet clicked into place perfectly. It was like not a day had passed.

With a sullen and half hearted smile she tapped the button once, twice, three times watching the little doll punch her brother in the face. It was oddly soothing.

But how to get it back to the air temple from the city?

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"Yes, I think you do! And when I know that makes no sense it doesn't stop me from thinking it."

A few deep slow breaths her eyes closed tightly before her muscles were able to unwind. "If you want to help me, you have to be pickier about what you say. Because half the things you say make me want to melt your face to the bone." The sweat beading on her skin was a solid indication that she was doing her very best to hold back this time.

Azula was not the only one holding back, of course. Kaya never wanted to think about having to kill a human being if she helped it, but she had a pretty intense knowledge of the human body, coupled with her Bene Gesserit teaching, to make Azula have a very uncomfortable death.

"See, why don't you think about what you just said? Melting my face off the bone. You keep saying you think I'm going to attack you, but you're always the one coming up with these threats. I never wanted to hurt you, even from when you were pod popped. But half the time, I never understand what you mean anyway. You want to die, you want to severely injure your enemies...it contradicts most of the time. And just like you, I have to deal with self restraint so I don't say something like melting people's faces off. What exactly is it that you want?"

"I want you to feel how I feel so you stop acting like this is something I'm doing on purpose!" She fired back her calm shattered once again by Kaya's speech. "I want you to go from feeling like the most unstoppable perfect creature to being turned into an out of control broken monster and then have someone tell you again and again to stop doing the things you can't control."

Well at least that made sense. Kaya had to admit that, among other things, it was hard to really know how she was doing with her talks with Azula since, really, the only other person she knew talked to Azula from her world was Nima. So it was possible, without knowing it, that she was being too rough on someone like Azula.

"You have a point. I really don't know what you're going through, so it isn't like I can comment on what you can and can't do. I don't know anyone who's gone through what you have. But even I have to be careful around you, and you know why."

Apparently Azula had been expecting more argument because she was surprised. But she relaxed slowly, very...very slowly. "Nima has seen it, she's felt it. She was inside. That's the only reason I allow her to help." A lie. Nima and Azula had a...complicated arrangement.

Her dark eyes met Kaya's, sleepless rings under them on what had once been a flawless face. "I still can't understand why you would even bother with me or any of this other then a foolish hope that I won't betray you when the time comes."

"I didn't have to do that with anyone," Kaya admitted. "Nima did mention it to me before though. I could see that whatever you two had been through, it shook her up a bit. Whatever she saw, it was something she wasn't used to. So I should make sure I don't push too hard."

A good question. "Because I don't believe you're beyond saving. I never did. I know all the stuff you did in my world was horrible, and I was told what you would do, but you're still a teenager, just like me. You deserve the chance to be one after all of this. Well, if we survive it."

That actually seemed to amuse Azula and she chuckled and shook her head leaning into the machine.

"I tried the normal teenager thing before, I wasn't any good at it."

Kaya looked startled. "Really? Tell me about it."

Azula sighed and had to close her eyes to focus.

"We were all there. Zuzu, Mai, Ty Lee and myself. We decide to mingle amongst the commoners. But I suppose we were just too...mature for them. In the end their childish entertainments were boring, their lack of respect frustrating and rude." She smirked a wicked smirk remembering the revenge they had taken.

"I think they probably would remember that party till the Ohm destroyed them."

That sounded disturbing of course, and she figured there was probably more to it than that, but it was Azula's version, wasn't it?

"Maybe things will be different this time. You'd be surprised how you'd look at things after being on a ship like this for so long. Then again, that depends on if we get out of here."

"I don't really think there will be an end to this war." Azula dismissed without much care in her voice. "I believe that it is the hope that keeps our undisciplined in line. We will either die on this ship or some planet. Perhaps we'll find a new home. But to hope things will return is inviting a crushing disappointment."

And she'd had enough of those.

"Of course there'll be an end to the war," Kaya said. "It'll end when we defeat to the Ohm, or they kill us. Unlike some people though, I'm not content in thinking my skills are good enough to defeat them. I'm going to continue to train and learn and grow stronger. When the time comes for the war, I'll be ready to win or to die trying."

"You're thinking about traditional wars though. This is a war unlike anything we have ever known. Even after all this time. The brightest among us can only imagine what the ext world will be like, what technology or magic holds this ship together. It stands to reason that this war is different too."

Reason, oh how she missed reason.

"I've already seen several battles, including an invasion by the Ohm," Kaya said. "I'm not ruling out what you say though: there's no doubt that this fight will be one to end all fights. I've spent a vast amount of time looking up different battles, watching what happened in them. Whatever worked in other worlds won't work easily here."

Kaya had thought about this a long time. "But we should prepare ourselves too, for anything."

"Including a war with no end? Or that we may never get our worlds back?" Azula offered with spite in her voice.

"Everything ends eventually. As for never getting our world back...I've prepared myself for that end. I'm not someone who's going to ever allow themselves to be miserable just because I live in an unfamiliar place. I'll find a way, don't you worry. And I think you would too, in time. But there will be an end to the war, I promise you that."

"I'm not going to argue with you about every little thing I believe." Azula sighed the perpetually nosy watertribe girl working her willpower to exhaustion. "At this point the question of who is and isn't sane on this ship is too hard to settle."

"I wasn't arguing, but if you say so," Kaya said. "But I think I can agree with you on the last part, mostly. I think for you to say that, you might actually want to meet more of the people on the ship. It's much more diverse than you think, and you'll be surprised at what you find."

Almost instinctively, her hands fumbled around Pactio card.

"I've met and seen more then you might imagine." She shrugged. "Probably more then I remember..." She didn't want to focus on the time she's lost to this point. "But every new face feels like a threat."

"Not to me," Kaya said firmly, remembering all the people she'd met and all the ways they had touched her and made her happy. "But maybe you see that as an asset somehow. If you don't get attached to any of them, you don't have to feel bad if they disappear."

"Of course." Azula lied fairly easily but settled her eyes on Kaya, "One of the benefits of being a selfish monster. If you're already disappointed with humanity as a whole then they can't keep disappointing you." Though it still bothered her in ways she didn't want to think about to know Mai was gone...again.

"I'll miss them," Kaya said quietly. "It's getting to the point that all I can do is just miss the people that leave anyway. But at least Zuko is still here, and you and Nima. We can still keep our world alive in our own way."

And she didn't believe you for a second, Azula.

"Oh yes, thank goodness my brother, the one person I loath more then anyone from home is still wandering about in sullen silence while my former friend and he only one out of all of you with any sense is back in a slimy covered pod." Azula rolled her eyes inadvertantly tipping her hand.

"Oh right, the whole we should have killed you thing, I forgot," Kaya said, rolling her eyes right back. She was very VERY tempted to tell Azula exactly what else Mai had done before being put back into the pods, but something like that would have sent her emotions in a tailspin.

"He's still family, no matter what you say. You must feel something besides hate for him."

"You could at least PRETEND to have some respect for how much of a threat I am." Azula grumbled feeling a fresh wave of disrespect come crashing over her from the eye roll.

"I feel pity for him." She answered blandly, "He was never meant for the pressures of leadership. Ad he'll never be able to forgive himself for his mistakes. He may claim to be free of his need for validation but he lies."