It took longer than Kari was proud of to gather the determination she needed to approach Azure.

Why is this so hard?! I've done lots of brave things before! Sure, they'd been out of a feeble need to project masculinity so I could cover what was hidden in the closet, but still!

Perhaps she should have been satisfied that she managed to talk to Azure at all, especially considering she'd had no choice but to do it while watching Gavinor. "I'm sorry our conversation at the market was cut short," was what she led with, approaching Azure as the woman stared out at the sea of beads.

Azure didn't seem to react at all to Kari's approach, eyes still focused on the horizon. It was amazing how the woman never seemed surprised by people approaching her from behind, she's never seen Azure flinch. "Your son was crying for you, princess. I understood the urgency. That said, I was starting to worry we'd never pick up where we left off."

The rumble of the older woman's husky voice sent shivers through Kari, and she was glad her freehand was taken by her son's as he shakily stood on the deck of the ship. Otherwise, she wasn't sure what she'd do with it, aside from nervous motions that would give away her anxiety. "What was that topic, again? I seem to have forgotten exactly where we left things."

"You were talking about how glad you are to have me around." The highmarshall's face was still stoic, but Kari could swear she heard a smile in her voice.

Flushing at the reply, Kari tried to think of something to say. "I suppose that is true, but merely because...um..." Are my social skills getting worse? Or is it just a side effect of being around a pretty woman? "Yes, I am, uh, happy. That you're here." Unsure where else to go from there, she admitted quietly, "I like it when you call me 'princess'."

That did actually cause Azure to smile. "That so? Isn't that your title?"

"It is, but...when you say it, it feels...fond." Her sleeved hand clutched the railing, her fingers idly tracing the safepouch inside. "From other people, it can sound mocking. Like what I am is a joke."

Which is fair. After all, I am a joke, in every sense of the word. Not a particularly funny one, either.

"Those sound like people who need to learn the wisdom of silence," Azure practically growled through her clenched teeth.

It took Kari a moment to realize what Azure was implying. Oh. She's being protective of me. Why does it feel like my chest is on fire?

Kari opened her mouth to reply, when she suddenly heard the sound of running feet on the deck, the spren sailors heading to the higher deck to see what was going on. Azure moved to follow them right away, and it took Kari an eyeblink or two before she realized she should go too, leading Gavinor there slowly.

What happened after that was a blur.

Fused on the horizon. Coming for them. No chance of winning a fight.

Kari moved without thinking, following Shallan and Adolin. They had to escape. They had to get away. She wasn't going to put her son in danger, not again.

It was only until once they were preparing to jump off the ship that she realized Azure wasn't coming with them. Kaladin tried to reason with her, but she didn't budge.

For a second, Kari considered offering to stay behind with Azure. She could trust Gavinor with Adolin, after all. A better parental figure, by any stretch of the imagination. Wouldn't this be a good death? Fighting side by side with a beautiful woman who might reciprocate Kari's feelings? There were worse ways to die.

Kari wasn't sure if she still believed in the Almighty, or the fight in the Tranquiline Halls. But she was no true warrior. She would almost certainly be sent to Damnation.

But even as she considered the topic, she felt her son squeeze her hand, saw him quietly looking up to meet her eyes. He needed her. And Kari couldn't abandon him, not again.

Giving up on the possibility of a romantic suicide mission, Kari instead looked at Azure, gazes locking. "Please, come with us?"

It was a pitiful plee. Kari hadn't tried to utilize any of the logic that Jasnah had thus far tried to drill into her head. Four words, basically meaningless. If Kaladin Stormblessed couldn't pull Highmarshall Azure onto their path, then why would Kari expect that she could do anything different?

When the time came, she jumped down into the beads, carrying Gavinor with her. And then, as the room formed out of beads for them to stand in, she felt someone clutching her other hand.

Clutching her sleeved safehand. Kari looked, and was astonished at who was standing at her side.

Azure didn't look happy, but she was there. "If that's what you want, princess," she said, answering the unspoken question on Kari's lips, "then I'm here. No matter how stupid the destination or dangerous the journey."

They had to move, had to escape the fight soon to break out on the ship and get to the land nearby, but the entire way Kari and Azure held hands.

"Why did you come with us?" Kari finally asked, as the group settled in for the evening.

Azure considered the question, lying on her back and staring at the black sky. "I've got no clue. I should have stayed. I can't stop thinking about the spren we left behind. But I made my choice, so now I'm going to stick with it."

Her son fast asleep beside her, Kari felt brave enough to reach out with her freehand, and brush Azure's gloved fingers. "Thank you."

Turning her head, Azure just looked at Kari, seeming to search her face for something that Kari couldn't even begin to guess. "Your eyes are the lightest shade of green I've ever seen. It's almost hard to believe they're real." Then, the warrior closed her eyes as seemed to fall asleep.

A decision that left Kari to blush in the dark and ponder exactly how gay she was.