Azula opened her eyes and looked around, it was somewhat darker than in the noon hour. She soon saw Maitri sitting besides her on a stool reading a book. "How long was I out?"

Maitri quickly discarded her reading material and leaned in towards her charge with her typical smile but with eyes full of tender concern: "A few hours I would say. Everyone came to see you, I told them you needed your rest. But some of them left you trinkets, Shen even brought you flowers from his personal garden, says their smell and sight is health improving. Isn't that really sweet of him?"

Azula sat up on her bed and saw a bouquet of white, red and blue flowers neatly arranged on her bedside. They did smell and look quite nice... not that she cared about these things. Still... She then looked at Maitri and said:

"I suppose... does he suffer from an even worse kind of compassion fever than the rest of you people?"

Maitri couldn't help but snicker heartily with her hand before her mouth: "You are not very used to the attention of boys, are you?"

Azula looked down for a quick moment: "No, they usually run away from me when I approach them or stay far away from me in the first place. Someone once told me I intimidate them."

"Well, Shen might not look like it on first sight but he's actually a very brave and strong young man."

"Was he a soldier in the war?"

"No, but he used to make his living by hunting fierce and wild animals until his mother made him join us. I guess he really enjoys the thrill of a good chase."

Azula didn't quite know what to make of Maitri's words, she at once felt flattered and insulted: "So what if he catches me, will he try taming me and make me his pet or just eat me up?"

"Well he does have quite a reputation in the village but I'm sure he'd never do something that would make you feel uncomfortable or unsafe."

Azula was reminded of Ty Lee's romance novels she of course never read and wondered if that was the way they started.

"He better not, Lao told me he'd hurt him if he ever hurt me. But... suppose... I wanted to play this game with him, how should I start?"

"Don't you worry too much about your part, allow him the pleasure of winning you over. Besides, I'll be around to help you two out. This kind of game isn't for just two people, I myself had help when I fell for Lao."

Azula couldn't deny her sense of relief at Maitri's words just as she could no longer really deny the part of herself that craved these kind of things.

"Speaking of him, where is he?"

"He's preparing everything for the evening meal and the meditation."

Azula started leaving her bed at those words but Maitri stopped her. "No, you need to rest some more, I don't want you to overexert yourself. I will bring you the food and perhaps when you feel better we can do or talk about some exercises together. I just hope you didn't have any nightmares just now."

"No, I suppose your little gift helped, in my dreams I saw Guan Yin."

Maitri's eyes brightened with excitement: "That's wonderful Avida, I really do hope her image will replace the image that bothers you so. Just keep practicing until it becomes a permanent and irreversible change."

"I'd be a fool if I stopped now, getting rid of her was why I came here."

"But even if she dares coming back, remember, me, Lao, the rest, we'll take care of it. You can stay with us as long as you feel the need."

"I don't think I have anywhere else to go but there is something I really want to do too. I want to see someone and I don't think you can help me with that."

Maitri listened keenly: "Perhaps we can. If you want to see someone there are other means than just seeing them in person."

"What do you mean?"

"The Mother's teachings are immeasurable. One of her ancient techniques is contacting people you love through their dreams."

Had Azula not witnessed for herself the power of Guan Yin to chase away her demon she would have considered Maitr's words absurd but now she was way more than just curious. She asked for details.

Maitri spoke: "The technique is connected to the exercise of sending peace to the person you care about and you have to stay aware of yourself while you sleep. Both practices are very advanced but they are far from impossible to achieve. I'm of course not as good as Lao in them but I'll teach you what I know."

Azula opened her ears as far as she could trying to catch every word and store it in her memory. Perhaps now she could have her other desire as well, to see her father again, to help him and most important of all confront him on the still painful wound, the fact that he left her alone when she needed him the most.