A/N:

Uhm... hi?

It's been a while, hasn't it? Well, I owe you an apology for the ridiculously long delay. There has been a bachelor thesis among other things I had to take care of. But everything is back to normal again, so I hope updates will not take me as long again.

I have to give EvilFerret one HUGE (no, seriously, a fucking HUGE one, so huge, I cannot fit it into the size of these letters. It's huge. No, even bigger than that. No, still not there. Make it double. yes, that could be close.) shoutout for so many things, among which are reviews of the entire story in one sitting. Yep, you heard that correctly. The entire story. One review. And it was so much fun to read as well, I had such a blast. Keep rocking mate, you are the best! I mean it!

Anyway, I'll shut my mouth now, enjoy the next chapter :)

-/-

The group of friends, which just witnessed the probably most crazy 'political' development in the entire history of politics, left the earthkingdom's palace about an hour later. In that tense and quite stressful hour they agreed on meeting once a new earthking would have been elected, which would have to happen within a month's time. Once the new leader of the earthkingom would be chosen a great summit of all four nations would be held and the crimes of the now passed away Kuei would be discussed behind closed doors. A common political course would be decided then.

The hour of political discussion was spent with talking, mostly between the council of five and firelord Zuko, who showed a surprising talent for diplomacy.

The former hothead did change quite a bit over the last years, which might have been due to personal experience just as much as uncle Iroh's constant influence, and was quickly becoming a wise and patient leader of his nation.

For Zuko he had no other choice than to be calm in that particularly delicate situation and get this over with under controlled circumstances. Deep inside he was boiling because of what happened to his wife and her bodyguard -mostly because of Katara, obviously, but still- and the presumptuous, condescending way Kuei let them know about his oh so noble deed. He also perfectly understood why Aang chose to keep silent almost the entire time he conversed in a rather tense way with the five generals.

The man just learned his extinct believed people were held as the science project of a madman, who wanted to cleanse the world of unwanted, impure elements. Somehow that reminded Zuko of a certain someone, currently rotting away in the highest security prison the firenation had to offer. Deep down below Zuko wanted to tell them all how disgusted he was and how they should all burn in hell for what their nation had done, yet he knew full well that this was hardly the time or place for wild outbursts. Still, he would have liked the feeling of chewing everyone out.

But what Zuko wanted to do and what was the right thing to do in this situation were two entirely different things altogether. If this delicate matter wouldn't be handled carefully and with the utmost instinct, the world could very well erupt into another world war. And if something was worse than what already had happened, it would be another war. The world barely survived the last one and was finally starting to regenerate. Another all out war between the nations would seal the fate of all of them.

That was why they decided to discuss this matter in a council of all four nations, when the time was right. They all agreed it would be the best course of action to not inform the public about the events, which lead to that summit, fearing it would cause riots and uprisings.

A date was set for the summit and messenger-hawks sent to the representatives of the watertribes, Arnook and Hakoda, telling them about the meeting of the world-council as well as roughly outlining the problem. The other world-leaders were already present, Zuko of course and Aang, who was just assumed the leader of the new airnation for now, as well as all five generals of the council of five, among which the next earthking would be elected.

Zuko handled the situation like one would expect from a great leader of a nation. With a lot of quiet help from Toph, who basically enforced honesty, he got everyone to agree to the plan and avoided unnecessary verbal excesses.

Azula would have done things differently, she would have made use of the knowledge of the crimes committed by Kuei and would have forced everyone to agree to her terms, but the outcome of what Zuko did hardly left her room for disapproval. Besides, she was way too focused on her husband to really care for all the political talk in the background. The princess always had an easy access to his emotions, she knew how he ticked when they were still mortal enemies and it didn't take her long to figure him out completely once they were a couple. Now all it took for Azula to know exactly what was going on inside of Aang was a glimpse in his direction. From time to time she reached out and squeezed his hand, just to reassure him she was still there and that everything would be fine soon. It didn't take a lot to figure out why Aang was so stressed out. He was torn between the overwhelming urge to yell at everyone for what had happened and his destiny as the Avatar, his holy duty to keep the world in balance and peace.

His head was spinning, the room was getting smaller with the minute and all he wanted was to get out of here. Aang would have never had the nerve to keep calm while talking now and he was eternally grateful for Zuko to do it, because he certainly would have lost his shit the moment he spoke more than one sentence. Luckily for him, Azula was there as well. All it took for him to reduce his inner tumult by half was looking at her. Those calm, steady golden eyes which once filled him with fear now kept him in his right mind. His wife was always so collected, always thinking carefully and never impulsive. It was what kept his mouth shut and his body seated right next to her on that round table of the council of five.

Finally, after all the important matter have been discussed, Aang found himself following a servant thought he palace, before he was standing in front of the gates again, alongside his wife and friends.

There was a long moment of heavy silence, in which everyone looked at everyone.

"If you don't calm down, twinkletoes, you'll explode. Relax, would you? Everything is fine. I mean not ideally fine, but we aren't back to killing each other, are we? That's a big plus on my account." Toph stated dryly.

Aang breathed out a quick blue flame, which felt like it contained all his anxiety and stress of the last days. His level of adrenaline in his blood was starting do drop, the annoying ringing in his ears was getting more and more silent and the annoying itching of his skin was fading away. The fog in his head, which kept him from thinking clearly started to lift, as he was finally outside that palace again. The Avatar closed his eyes for a second to collect his thoughts again, as he started to feel like himself again.

Coming to think of it, Toph was right. This wasn't so bad. Everything played out rather nicely, didn't it? There was no war, the one responsible for everything was lying on the floor, dead, his people were alive and safe and could start a new life.

"Let's not repeat that," Aang said, shaking his head.

Azula leaned forward to give him a quick peck on the cheek. "How about this: We all go back to Iroh, have a nice cup of tea, calm down a bit and then we all fly to the eastern airtemple and see how you people are doing?" she suggested.

"Appa can't carry all of us" Aang replied, causing Zuko to shrug and chuckle

"What, you think I walked from the palace to Ba-Sing-Se? We take my airship." he said walking away in the direction of the Jasmine Dragon. The group followed him.

"Yeah, flying again. Because we all know how much I love that" Toph murmured to herself.

"You don't have to come along" Zuko shrugged

"That would mean missing on a chance to see twinkletoes all hyper and tease him all day because of it? No chance in hell am I dropping out of that one sparky. Ya all stuck with me" Toph laughed loudly.

Azula in the meantime had a close eye on P'Li, who closely followed Katara. The woman left a striking impression on the princess, for various reasons. The combustion-bender seemed strong willed, determined and absolutely loyal, all of which were character-traits Azula highly approved of. She still wanted to talk to her, so the princess walked right next to her

"You are Katara's new bodyguard?" Azula asked coolly, waiting for the combustion-bender to look over to her. Once she did that, cold, piercing golden eyes burned into red ones. P'Li almost felt a painful burn on the back of her head, simply from the way the princess stared at her. She gulped heavily.

"I am, Milady. Lieutenant P'Li" she replied, audibly uncomfortable. Suddenly she didn't have the least bit of a doubt left inside of her, why that woman had so many horrible nicknames. The red reaper's stare alone was enough to kill people, P'Li was sure of it. Her whole aura, the way she carried her body or how she spoke with such determination spread a feeling of superiority, the image of something divine crystal clear now. Somehow, the combustion-bender could slap herself internally. When she had met Katara she found her picture of the royal family as cold blooded wavering. Katara was warm and friendly, almost familiar and nothing like P'Li had imagined someone from the royal family. But Katara wasn't royalty, at least not strictly speaking. She was a girl from the watertribes, who had married the firelord. Azula on the other hand was exactly that. She was born the crown- princess of the firenation, the cold-blooded killer-machine of Ozai, which P'Li had heard so much of.

But no matter how burning Azua's stare was, P'Li held it. Somehow she felt like Azula was testing her and she needed to pass this to be allowed to keep on doing what she loved doing so much. A one sided smirk built up on Azula's lips, before let her gaze drift away from P'Li, ignoring the relieved sigh she heard from the combustion bender. The princess was well aware of her own appearance and the effect she had on other people. She also wasn't shy of using that effect she had on others to her advantage.

"Azula, don't do that to my bodyguard. You don't have to scare everyone new all the time, do you?" Katara said, looking over her shoulder. Azula smirked even more

"Balderdash!" Azula waved her hand dismissively "I'm not scaring her, I'm just checking if she has what she needs to keep you safe." the princess replied, before looking back at P'Li "You seem like a tough girl, so I guess you get to keep the job"

"First of all, that is hardly your decision!" Katara replied loudly "And second, I am not that hard to protect either!"

"Of course it's my decision. She is an IMIS agent. She does what Yamomoto sais, who does what Zuko sais, who does what I say." Azula smirked teasingly at Katara, who rolled her eyes. "Ergo, my decision."

"You didn't finish that chain, Princess" Aang intervened with a no good smile on his lips "since you do what I say, it's my decision in the end, isn't it?" Aang teased, kissing his wife on the cheek.

"Touché, Avatar. You win that one" Azula replied in good mood.

"Whatever!" Katara said annoyed "It still stands, I am not so difficult to protect, you don't need to measure P'Li up to your standards, Azula"

A laugh from Zuko at the front of the group walking back to the Jasmine dragon caught everyone's attention "You are a troublemaker, darling, and you know it" he said stone-dry.

"I am not!" Katara insisted.

"No, no. Not at all. Like the time I had to bust you out from a group of raging nobles you had aggravated because of what again?" Azula asked with her trademark smirk of doom on her lips "Help me, what was that again?"

"I forgot" Katara said meekly.

"She wanted to convince them to relinquish half of their landholdings so those who returned from the colonies could build their homes" Aang helped out.

"Yes, that was it." Azula giggled "Good idea Katara. You were lucky I showed up when I did, because they would have lynched you otherwise" the princess laughed.

"Or the time you felt like taking a walk at the port?" Zuko provided "It was way past midnight and my wife, the firelady, decides she wants to stroll around. But did she tell anyone? Nooo, why would she have done that?" he laughed. "Suki must have had a minor heart attack that night, when she found out you were gone and no one knew where you went to. It's not like assassination attempts on members of the royal family don't occur or anything."

Katara turned as red as a tomato "I didn't know it was a bad neighborhood" she squealed.

"No? You couldn't tell by all those worn down warehouses and the rotten stink everywhere?" Azula teased

"I'm not that bad..." Katara replied, her voice merely a shameful whisper.

"Do you want me to tell some stories from the time we were travelling together then?" Aang asked, he was rather happy for the casual conversation, it took his mind off things. "Like the time you absolutely had to stir up a rebellion on that prison full of earthbenders? When you-"

Aang was shut up by Katara, who pressed a hand over his mouth.

"Censorship!" Toph called out, pointing at Katara "Release him, or I will tell everyone how you and I ended up in a wooden cage because of some gambling!" she threatened with a laugh.

Katara's face was getting even redder, how that was possible was beyond everyone, but apparently it worked. "Alright! I admit it, sometimes my temper gets the better of me! Fine, there you have it! But don't tell P'Li all those stupid stories!"

"Why not?" Azula smirked "She deserves to know what she signs up for," the princess looked over at the combustion bender, who had a hard time hiding a smile. Maybe her evaluation of the princess was a little premature, she did seem like a likeable person, when she was among those she seemed to trust. "Still interested in the job? Doesn't blowing up criminals sound way more fun?"

"The firelady asked me to be her personal bodyguard. It is the greatest honor I could have ever hoped for and I will protect her with my life until I draw my last breath." P'Li replied with genuine seriousness.

Azula rose an eyebrow, exchanging a glance with Aang. "Well, what do you say to that" she shrugged.

"Welcome to our merry bunch of crazies" Aang laughed.

They reached the Jasmine Dragon a couple of minutes later and walked right in. Iroh had closed the shop for the time being on the pretense of company holiday, so their secret base of operation in the earthkingdom wouldn't be interrupted by random guests.

Naturally, there weren't any guests in the public room. But Kiyi was there, playing chess with Johanna, both had hot tea in an exquisite porcelain cup right next to them, while both seemed to be deep in thought. From the looks of things, Kiyi was winning. Jin was sleeping at Kiyi's side, her head leaning to the other girls shoulder, one arm wrapped around Kiyi's, while the other reached around her stomach. The white haired girl did sleep a lot and it started to worry Azula. That couldn't be normal.

"Who's winning?" Azula asked as they entered the teashop. Two heads shot up and looked at the entrance.

"You are back!" Kiyi smiled. "How did it go?"

"Everything is settled" Aang replied as he walked past Zuko to look at the chessboard. "Mhh, white seems to be kicking ass" he said.

"Yes, this is the third game, she is completely destroying me" Johanna sighed, shaking her head in defeat.

"Don't worry, I never managed to beat her sister either. Pai Sho? Any day. But chess? Watch my ass being handed to me on a golden plate." he laughed.

"That's why we never play Pai Sho" Azula teased. "Chess is the game of kings. It gives you an advantage if you have royal blood" she jested.

"You are terrible" Aang rolled his eyes.

"You love it" Azula smirked.

While the married couple teased each other, Kiyi carefully woke Jin up by gently stroking through her hair. "Jin, wake up" Kiyi whispered, causing the sleeping beauty to slowly open her eyes. "look who's back"

Jin's vision was blurry for a moment, before it sharpened up and focused on one certain princess.

"Azula!" Jin exclaimed, shooting up from her spot next to Kiyi and basically teleporting to Azula's side. There definitely was some airbending involved, at least judging from the sound the princess made upon Jin's impact.

"I'm back, dear. Everything is alright" she reassured, just holding the girl for some time.

"I'll search for uncle Iroh" Zuko announced, before he walked off.

Toph shrugged, she could see everything in the house through her feet. Iroh was in the garden, enjoying the sunset "He is in the garden, sparky" she said. "And since our two favorite dykes are currently rutting like wild Komodo-rhinos, I'll see how Molt is doing in that huge-ass library" she laughed a dry laugh. "Seriously, I wish I'd get that much action." and with that Toph was gone, leaving Katara and P'Li alone with the others.

"After that... interesting insight into Mai's love life, I'll go and feed Appa." Aang decided, leaving the Jasmine Dragon.

Azula was just shaking her head, that kind of dry and dirty humor was why she liked Toph so much. She just didn't give a fuck.

"Alright you guys, I believe you don't know each other" Azula decided to just keep on going like Toph never said anything. Jin looked up from the place under Azula's arm, where she had buried her head for the last minutes. She looked over to two women standing next to a table, the one wearing a deep red robe with lots of golden details. Her long dark chocolate hair was flowing like a silken waterfall over her shoulders and she had golden crown stuck into her topknot. The woman had tanned skin and eyes as blue as the water of the ocean rested in a face made from soft features. She had a warm smile on her lips and looked like a very kind and caring woman.

The other one was the total opposite. Predatory red eyes glared out of a stern face, there was no hint of warmness or kindness shown. She was wearing a simple green earthkingdom getup, which she wore with such apparent disgust, it made it unmistakably clear that she wasn't a citizen of the earthkingdom. The sides of her head were shaven and she had an intimidating tattoo of a third eye on her forehead. The red-eyed woman was rather scary, yet the way she was standing right behind the friendly looking one made Jin think of a protector.

"Girls, this is Zuko's wife, firelady Katara" Azula gestured towards Katara, who smiled and waved quickly "and the one with the cloudy expression is her bodyguard, P'Li" The combustionbender nodded once.

Johanna's mouth opened, only for her to close it again.

The.

Firelady.

Right in front of her. She had no idea what she wanted to say, or what she should say, or what she should do. Somehow meeting Zuko for the first time wasn't half as exciting, maybe that was because he introduced himself casually, like it was no big deal, while they were all having supper. But now? What was Johanna supposed to do? Getting up from that chair and kneeling would have been her first impulse, but Azula just continued, not giving her the option to do anything.

"And that is Johanna and Jin. Johanna is a friend of Kiyi, she picked her up somewhere, no idea how you meet peasants these days" she winked at Kiyi, who rolled her eyes. "Jin is one of the airbenders we rescued."

"She seems to like you" Katara said warmly.

"Oh, you have no idea" Azula replied.

-/-

the next day:

High above the clouds the firelord's royal airship glided through the sky with unmatched grace. The sun was setting down on the horizon, bathing the puffy white clouds below the mighty giant of the winds in warm, bright orange colors, reflecting shimmering on the dirigible's golden bow. The air was tepid and smelled wonderfully.

Taking a deep breath, Azula let her eye wander over the endless clouds and beautiful sunset. A soft wind was gently brushing through her hair, while she ruffled through Appa's fur. The sky bison was standing right next to her on the top deck of the zeppelin, while Aang was sitting cross legged a bit away from them and meditated. The Avatar had been doing that for some hours now and his wife had joined him at the beginning. Her spirituality obviously wasn't as well developed as his, for the fiery princess meditation was more a bending-calibration.

It helped her strengthen her connection with Agni, sort through her worries and concerns and keep the inner peace she had worked for so hard. Aang had taught his wife everything she needed to know about meditation and Azula had to admit that she indeed did enjoy doing it. True, she might have been able to perfectly function without it, but that wasn't the point. What made her do it was rather mundane. Meditation was a central part of Aang's life and Azula wanted to be a part of it. The fact that she was able to calm her massive intellect and readjust her grip on her immensely powerful bending was just an added bonus.

The only unfortunate thing for the princess was, that Aang was able to meditate for hours and hours to no end.

Azula wasn't.

She had always been brutally efficient and since her spiritual side was nothing she would have meditated about, simply because there was nothing to meditate about in the first place, she always regained her consciousness within an hour, while Aang still was lost deeply inside his own mind. Azula couldn't and wouldn't blame her husband for it. He was the Avatar, the short glimpse she had gotten of his mind all those years ago made it crystal clear to her, why his meditation was taking him longer than what the average human would expect. He carried all that wisdom and knowledge within him and Azula was sure it needed quite some time to properly make use of all these past experiences of all those long forgotten lives he had lived.

The beautiful princess had gotten up from her place right in front of Aang and had spent a moment or two simply looking at him, his peaceful presence, how he was sitting in front of her, cross legged, eyes closed and his tattoos glowing. His chest heaved and lowered at a slow pace. Aang looked so tranquil like that.

Her husband.

The man she loved more than anyone or anything else in the world, including herself. There was no way Azula could come up with the right words to describe what Aang meant to her.

A quick smirk pulled on her lips as she began to consider just how lucky she truly was. Without him, she'd been lost, not only in the proverbial but also in a shockingly literal way.

The princess quickly shook the thought off, not wanting to dwell on it further. She got up to pay some attention to the huge ball of fur lying on the top of the airship a little bit away from them, where the gentle bison was taking a nap with Jin sitting in his saddle. Appa staid on top and outside the airship, he didn't like close spaces. Azula could relate to that kind of irrational fear, she hated large bodies of water for reasons she didn't want to admit to herself.

"Isn't it nice to see that the airbenders are still alive and well?" Azula asked, while she ruffled trough Appa's hair in a playful manner. The mighty sky bison roared in agreement, causing the princess to smile.

"And who knows, maybe we someday find some more sky-bison as well" Azula hummed, elicting the peaceful bison a content burble. He liked Aang's companion, no matter how bad their start was.

Appa wasn't stupid, he knew full well how much the fierce princess meant to his friend and vice versa. At first he was wary of Azula, but ever since she and Aang had been together, she had been very nice to Appa. Her behavior was different to Aang's, her touch more decisive and her orders more demanding, but she was always respectful, brought him delicious treats more often than not and she smelled nice. No, Appa had no reason to not like and respect Aang's companion. And he had no problem to have her sitting on his head, ruffling through his fur.

"If the mess around Kuei dissolves itself nicely, everything will be the way it should be soon. Four nations, peace in the world and a whole new era," Azula couldn't believe herself as she spoke those words. Peace in a world I would have burned to the ground with pleasure if not for him. Azula looked over to Aang, who was still sitting unmoved in the middle of the airship.

She was quiet for some time, just looking at Aang, how he sat there, peaceful, connected to the world, his breathing slow and steady and his tattoos glowing. Azula could feel him inside herself, deep inside her mind, she felt his presence, the endless ocean of equilibrium, an infinite source of calmness. "I am a lucky girl, am I not?" she whispered, subconsciously touching her belly.

Azula hadn't been pregnant long, maybe a month or two at most, but she already couldn't wait until the day would come. Soon she'd be a mother. It scared her just as much as it got her excited. Sighing, Azula mused how long her journey had already been. She came a long way from how she used to be in the past to how she was now. And even though some people may disagree, she herself likes to think it was for the better. With the perfect husband, good friends and a finally working family, there wasn't really anything Azula could complain about. Not that the princess was one for ever complaining. She hadn't complained about anything in her life, no matter how unfair or cruel it was. Azula always had the pure willpower to suck it up and keep going.

Unfortunately that was the exact reason why she eventually broke into thousand pieces. Unpleasant memories came flooded back into Azula's mind, images and feeling she didn't want to experience again, so she shook them off.

Leaving out the demanding and stressful last days, things were actually looking rather good. And even those horrible days held something great within them. The return of a nation. It lifted a huge weight off Azula's shoulders. Now that she knew about her pregnancy, she didn't have to think about her child's bending anymore. During Azula's time in the hospital, when she still had no idea that Aang wasn't the last airbender by any stretch of the imagination, she had racked her brain trying to answer one question. What if I cannot give birth to an airbender? It was entirely possible, Azula's bloodline was one of the most powerful firebending ones in existence and it was said she herself was at the top of anyone else alive or dead. Her children would most likely be firebender, even when the father was another very powerful bender of another element. Aang was the Avatar, which meant he was very powerful, but it also meant he had the potential of all four elements within him. Thanks to Azula's training all those years ago, Aang's firebending was, apart from his airbending, his most powerful element, giving fire yet again an advantage. So what if Azula's child wouldn't be an airbender? How long would they keep trying until Aang had to consider other options? It was just natural, Azula understood that perfectly, he had a responsibility towards his people; Aang had to rebuild the airnation. So, what if?

Luckily, that was no issue anymore. Now their child could be whatever it was going to be. An airbender, a firebender or anything else (which was theoretically possible due to Aang being the Avatar, albeit close to impossible unlikely). The more Azula thought about it, the happier she got. The cruel truth of what King Kuei had done to the airbenders faded away, when she thought about how much good would come from the airnation being functional again.

Azula smiled to herself, such positive thoughts weren't really typical for her, but she just couldn't help it. Once in a while even the realistic (some may have called her pessimistic) princess was in the mood for some positivism.

Giving Appa a pat on his head, Azula climbed up his side to check on someone currently sitting in the saddle. Jin had her arms folded on top of the saddle's sides, gazing out over the endless ocean of orange clouds, bathed into warm light by the sinking sun. Her head rested on her arms and her white hair was swinging gently in the wind. She came along with Aang and Azula when they went to the top of the airship, but since meditation seemed rather suspicious to her, Jin preferred to sit in Appa's saddle and watch everything from a 'safe' distance.

"What are you thinking about, Jin? Missing your friend?" the princess asked almost in a whisper, when she climbed into the saddle next to the white haired airbender. Unfortunately Johanna couldn't come along with them, she had to attend university the next day, so the likeable redhead stayed in Ba Sing Se. Before Johanna left, Azula told her to write and gave her the secret address to the palace, which was used to forward correspondence directly to her desk. Letters addressed to her as the princess were opened by servants and mostly replied by them. The crown would drown in letters from their subjects otherwise.

Jin rose her head out of her arms and looked at Azula for a long moment. Her gray eyes peered into cold gold and Jin wished for nothing more than one day being as strong and determined as Azula was. Without the angel she wouldn't be here today, she wouldn't sit on top of an airship, sailing over the clouds like it wasn't the miracle which it simply was to Jin. The warm air was brushing over her nose and Jin felt alive. Up until recently, the airbender always had felt a strange weight on her chest, like she was suffocating. But the longer she stayed here, in this endless empire of freedom above the clouds the more this feeling faded away.

"She had to do important things for her future. I understand that. But I miss her" she replied before pausing. "Is that a bad thing?" Jin wanted to know, causing Azula to shake her head.

"No of course not. It's only natural to miss the people we like, once they are somewhere else. I miss Aang whenever he has to go on his Avatar-duties and I can't accompany him." she laughed "But don't tell him"

Jin merely nodded, staring over the endless forms of most beautiful clouds, colors shimmering and the fluffy ocean spreading over the horizon. Jin liked being up here, the wind and the sunshine, it gave her the feeling of freedom and something which reminded her of happiness. Not that Jin had a lot of experience with happiness in the first place, but what she felt now reminded her of the moment when Azula came in her life, it reminded her of her first day out in the city with Kiyi and Johanna and how her mood was starting to brighten up, how she found herself even laughing once or twice.

"Azula?" Jin turned to the princess, her large gray eyes looking lost and in search of guidance.

"Yes, dear?"

"Is it ok for me to feel happy?" the airbender asked with audible insecurity.

Azula took a moment to answer, the question catching her off guard. It was all too easy to forget where Jin was coming from and what she had been through. If you looked at her, it was easy seeing the beautiful, white haired airbender, who had such an mysterious charm to her and forgetting that the poor thing had been a sex-slave for her entire life. Jin didn't ask those things because she was overly philosophical or wanted to draw attention, Jin asked, because she truly didn't know any better and wanted to make some sense of her new life.

Azula couldn't blame her and she would of course answer her to the best of her knowledge. "Of course it is. You deserve it more than anyone" Azula replied, thinking she might not really be the best guide for these kind of questions. Maybe it would be a good idea to have a therapist talk to her for a bit, or at least someone with more wisdom when it came to these kind of questions. Questions Azula herself sought answers for the majority of her life. Questions, which were better answered by someone like uncle Iroh, Aang or even better Guru Pathik. But all those people were men, which didn't sit well with Jin. And maybe Azula's struggle to find her own answers for these kind of questions about life, happiness and purpose was what made her better fitting to answer them than anyone else. "Why do you ask?"

"Because I am happy. I don't really know myself, but..." Jin gestured over the never ending world in front and around them. "This all. It makes me feel free. Like I am alive. I feel so..." she didn't finish her sentence, the right word not coming to her mind, instead she opted for a quick and insecure smile, hoping Azula would understand, before adding "and you are here as well." like it was but an afterthought.

The princess inhaled sharply, not entirely comfortable with the role she was beginning to take for the young airbender. For Azula Jin over-idolized her and that would result in a huge let-down sooner or later. She chose to ignore Jin's last statement for now, until things were more normal for the badly abused girl. "You are an airbender, Jin. I think it's only normal for you to feel alive in the winds. It is where your people are at home" Azula reassured with a smile. Obviously she was no airbender, but she did spend the last years with one around her basically every day. The crimson princess had the airbender-mind pretty much figured out. Sitting around doing nothing was bad for their mood; at least Aang always needed to be in some sort of movement. "Are you looking forward to the airtemple?" she wanted to know.

"I'm not sure" Jin replied silently. "It scares me"

Azula gave her a supportive smile "there is nothing to be scared of, Jin. Besides, it's not like you are going to be alone, so don't worry."

Jin was quiet for quite some time after Azula had said that. The princess felt the airship change direction, most likely so they wouldn't fly past the airtemple. The group apparently was closing in on their destination. Luckily. Azula's bum was sore from sitting on that hard metal surface of the airship for as long as she did. Aang would have to do some kneading once they were settled in at the airtemple. Azula smirked at the thought, when she felt someone hug her from behind.

"Azula?" Jin asked again, her head resting on the princess' back.

"Yes?"

"If I don't want to stay at the airtemple, but instead want to come with you... would you let me?" she asked silently, her grip around the princess tightening a little further. Jin couldn't help it, she felt like she needed the fierce firebender around her, or otherwise she would be scared to death. Yes, there was Kiyi as well, who made her feel more at ease and of course Johanna, but neither of those two girls were the angel who had rescued her. Jin didn't want to leave her side. She couldn't.

"Jin, you are free to do what you want to." Azula said, touching the white-haired girl's hand "If you want to stay at the temple, I have no objections. If you want to come back to the palace with me, you can. Don't worry about it, ok?"

"Ok" Jin said and Azula felt the nod on her back. The princess was already sure to know how Jin's decision would look like.

-/-

A/N:

So, I know this was a short chapter, but I had to stop at this point and ask you guys something.

I have been playing with the idea of a pirate raid on Zuko's airship. We'd get to see some ass kicking made in Azula-land as well as some other action. But I am not so sure if it's a good idea.

Do you guys want to see that?

Tell me in a review or via PM, however you feel more comfortable.

Thanks for reading, apologies for the huuge wait and I promise the next one won't take so long.

Still do tell me what you think, will ya luv?

o7