Azula awoke with a groan the next morning. She blinked slowly then turned her head to see she was leaning against Ro, his hands still wrapped around her wrists. Azula immediately jerked away, caught off guard that they had slept so closely.

Ro opened his eyes and sat up, awoken by the feeling of her pulling away.

"Well, good morning."

Azula huffed, turning away from him to rummage through her bag. Ro frowned, moving over to sit beside her.

"Mai, what's wrong? If it's about last night, I was only trying to help."

"I don't need your help!" Azula snapped. "I am perfectly capable of handling myself."

Ro sighed. She was always so defensive. He knew something was wrong, but Mai continued to keep him at arms length. "Mai, I get it. Accepting help isn't your thing. But I know something is wrong. What you're experiencing, it isn't nightmares. You're awake. You're yelling at people who aren't there. You're scared, manic. My parents, they would get triggered by loud noises or people making movements they perceived as threatening and freak out too. It was like they were back on the battle field. It was scary, but when they'd finally snap out of it they would apologize. My grandmother told me that it happens to people who have suffered serious trauma."

Azula laughed bitterly, standing up and walking away. "Is that your nice way of telling me you think I'm crazy? I don't need your pity!"

"You aren't crazy." Ro stood up slowly. "You're just hurt. Mental scars are harder to heal than physical ones. Maybe if you talked about it, it would help. But I can't make you."

Azula froze in her tracks. That wasn't the response she had expected. In the institution the treated her like a lunatic. Always keeping her restrained for fear that she would cause harm to others. To be honest, she probably would have. But only to get revenge on her brother and reclaim her freedom, both of which she had succeeded in doing to some degree.

"You aren't afraid of me?" Azula finally asked, turning back to face him. "After all you have witnessed, you aren't bothered by my unpredictability?"

Ro shook his head. "No, I'm not afraid. Because I know when you are in that state, it is only your fear talking. Not you."

Azula smirked. "Well then I guess you have a lot to learn. Because I'm afraid of nothing."

Ro sighed as she grabbed her canteen and stormed off. She wore a strong mask, he couldn't deny it. But his grandmother had always told him the eyes were the windows to the soul. And he could see her's was broken.

He sighed and shook the thoughts from his head, beginning to clean up their makeshift camp. Pushing her would get him no where, he could already tell that much. Ro patted Hira's side, letting her know he was there before packing the bags hanging on her side.

"Our knew companion is a hard case to crack, huh girl?"

Hira huffed in reply, turning away from him.

Ro chuckled, crossing his arms. "Come on, she's not that bad. Mai is just a little rough around the edges."

Hira sniffed the air then the ground. She nosed her way over to Azula's bag then knocked it over.

"Hey!" Ro snapped, walking over to grab the bag. "That's Mai's, not yours."

He reached down and started cleaning up the mess Hira had made. Ro placed the items that had fallen out in the bag carefully. A hairbrush, a scroll, a rag, and.... Ro paused when he got to the remaining items. The first was a gold headpiece in the shape of a flame. He had seen people wearing fancy headpieces in their topnots before, but nothing this intricate. He then turned his attention to the remaining item, a small sack. He picked it up and heard a jangling from inside. Opening it, he found it was full of gold coins.

"Woah." Ro breathed. He had never seen so much money before. He closed the sack then stared at the two items in front of him. How had Mai acquired them? Was she from a wealthy family? Or had she stolen them?

Realizing some time had passed, he quickly put the items away and packed the bag up with the rest of their belongings. He had a feeling Mai would not be pleased to find him snooping, even if it was unintentional.

Outside....

Azula pumped the handle on the water faucet angrily as she filled their canteens. How dare he think he had the right to invade her personal space. How dare he analyze her like a problem to be solved. Ro was just like the shrinks and her brother. They all wanted to fix her. She didn't need to be fixed. She was Princess Azula. Rightful ruler of the fire nation and fire bending prodigy. She was perfect. Always perfect.

She closed the filled canteen, placing it on the ground before grabbing the next one. Azula grabbed the faucet's handle, only to pause when she felt a stern gaze focused on her. She sighed, putting her hand down and looking upward.

"What do you want?"

Fang sat coiled in front of her, watching intently.

Azula sighed. "Are we really going to just have another staring contest? Clearly you did something to the earthbender boy. What was it? How did you convince him to let me go?"

Fang came closer then touched a claw to her forehead. The memory of her talk with Avatar Roku played in her mind. Azula pulled away, unimpressed by the dragon.

"That's it? I thought a mighty spirit dragon could do something flashier."

Fang huffed looking past her towards the barn. Azula glanced behind her, seeing Ro bringing Hira out of the barn. She rolled her eyes and started filling up the next canteen. When she was done Azula started to put the cap on when a strong gust of wind knocked her over, causing the water in the canteen to spill all over her clothes.

Azula looked up and saw Fang's smug expression. "What is wrong with you?"

Fang flew around Azula the disappeared behind her. Azula picked up the canteens, turning around to find Fang staring at her expectantly.

Azula groaned. "Why couldn't Roku have a talking dragon? It would make things so much easier. Look, you wanted me to travel with Ro, so I'm travelling with him. That doesn't mean I have to let him get close. You can't trust anyone but yourself."

Fang touched her forehead again. This time, he showed her the events from the night before. Her maniac screaming, Ro's attempts to calm her down, him pulling her close, her crying herself to sleep, and Ro holding her the whole night.

Azula pulled away, shaking her head. "Why did you show me that? What's the point? He was protecting himself from me. There's no other explanation. You'll see. When the time comes he'll leave. Just like everyone else. I'm better off alone."

Azula stood up and stormed off back towards the barn, leaving Fang behind her. The spirit stared after her sadly. Azula would never heal if she didn't allow herself  to accept help.

A warm breeze blew around the dragon then a hand reached out to stroke his neck.

"You're doing well Fang." Roku told him. "Just give her time. Azula was brainwashed her whole life by Ozai. She will realize in time that not everyone is out to get her as she fears. Be patient old friend."