The stars meant a lot to Azula.

More than they ever used to.

They never really mattered at all to her before. They were just there in the sky casting faint light…nothing the moon couldn't do. They had always just been pretty little things to marvel at, but otherwise useless. Sometimes she pondered whether or not she had become just like them.

But with nowhere else to go and no real roof to sleep under the stars became something of a far of sanctuary. So long as it was nighttime she could look up and pretend that she was somewhere else. Somewhere pleasant. Pleasant, glittering, and warm. That's what she had come to imagine the land where the stars lie looked and felt like. That place—however deep it was within her imagination—kept her distracted from the sudden twig snaps and howls that put her on edge every night. That place…the stars, drowned out her louder more intrusive thoughts.

Yes, Azula came to love the stars in some sort of unique way. But all the same she came to love them in just the way everyone else had. They truly did have their charming allure, their calming beauty. No wonder so many people found themselves distracted by them.

The princess would often wonder how things so high up could keep her so level-headed, so grounded. And she couldn't quite say why she never had answer when Zirin or one of the others would ask her why she didn't sleep in their makeshift shelter anymore.

Naturally this led Azula to consider that—if somehow she made it home—she wouldn't even sleep in her room. She would probably find herself sleeping on the roof where she could continue to bathe in starlight.

Home was just another area in which the stars offered her comfort. No Azula didn't have any desire to go back to the palace. But the knowledge that she could find her way back to it with ease was a settling thought.

It was a particular star—the one to the way left. The one that seemed to glow the brightest. She could swear that it hung right over the palace. That it could take her home if she ever felt the urge to do so.

If she was ever feeling lucky.

Lucky or daring.

Azula didn't feel particularly unlucky but somehow it just felt right to just stay where she was, under the stars with Zirin and the others.

With her friends.

Yes, she could indeed call them friends.

Real friends.

Of course they would never hear of these sappy feelings. But they were there all the same.

With her face to the sky she decided that she'd invite them all to just watch the cosmos dance. She'd give them a break from their duties. They had earned one anyhow. And besides, something in her wanted to share the view.