"So," Linhua asked, "How do you like your new job so far?"

Azula was off at her morning training session, and Linhua had come to clean her room while she was away. Suyin was glad to see her again, and so she stayed, wanting to spend some time with her. So perhaps they weren't friends, but Linhua was certainly the friendliest face Suyin had met so far. She'd been looking for her lately, trying to find her in the servant's quarters, hoping to eat their meals together, but fate so had it that they always missed each other. This was the first time they had seen each other since that first night, when she'd introduced her to the princess, already over a week ago. Linhua stripped the bed of its sheets, tossing them unceremoniously on the ground to pick them up later.

"It's nice. You know, I heard so many horror stories about the princess, but it's really not so bad. I mean, she's a little intimidating, but she's just a kid."

"A kid you can't discipline. Which makes her a spoiled brat. If my daughter behaved like that, oh, I'd give her three swift-"

Suyin frowned, "You shouldn't hit your kids."

"I don't." Linhua assured her. "But I would, if they were so spoiled. Did you know, the other day, she sent back her dinner, because it was too similar to what she'd had for lunch? I know this because the cooks complained. The only repeated ingredients had been rice and carrots, both of which are staples. I don't know what she was expecting."

Suyin couldn't help but laugh. "She's the princess. Of course she's spoiled."

"I suppose." Linhua looked up at Suyin from her work. "And so are you! If you're hanging around me anyway, then make yourself useful and help me with the sheets."

"Okay, okay."

She reached out for the bedsheet, and together, they tucked it taunt against the mattress. The cover was next, and Suyin worked on two corners, while Linhua worked on the opposite two.

"I didn't know you had kids."

"I don't look it, hm? That's very nice of you to say." Linhua grinned. "But I do. My daughter is five, and my son is three."

"That must be nice. Those are very cute ages, aren't they?"

"For sure. Annoying, too, but I don't spend all that much time with them. I leave for work early, and I'm not home until late evening. But they're always excited when they see me. They run to me and yell mama! and hug me and it's the best part of my day." Linhua smiled. "I have two days off a week, so it's not bad. I get to spend those days with them."

"It must be hard, having a job and a family at the same time." Especially for a woman. Men were used to it, Suyin supposed – at least society expected it of them, and so they rather got used to the idea quite early on in their lives - but it must surely be different for a mother.

"It's not easy." She agreed. "But it's alright. My husband got injured in the war, and he can't work anymore, so he stays home and takes care of them, and does some odd jobs sometimes, for some extra cash. This job is stable and pays enough for us to get on."

"More stable than mine."

Linhua gave her a wry smile. "It's why I wouldn't take the position up myself. I was here before you, and I'll be here after you. You're still young."

"You're still young!" Suyin shot back. Really, Linhua couldn't yet be thirty. Sure, she was older than Suyin, but it was hardly enough of a difference to warrant such elderly wisdom.

"I mean," Linhua continued with a laugh, "You can afford to take such risks. It's different once you start a family. You'll see once you settle down and get married."

"Yes, I suppose." Suyin mused. She didn't tell her that she had no plans to settle down any time soon, that she had no interest in finding a husband at all. "But I'm glad you didn't take the position. It's because of you that I could, instead."

"You're going to regret it still."

"But it's really not bad, so far!" Suyin protested. "Given what I'd heard, I thought she tortured her handmaids, or something. And it's really not like that."

"It's not torture, no. But you've only been here a few days. You'll catch her in a bad mood, and she'll take it out on you, and then you'll see." Linhua promised her. "It's not that she's a terrible person. You know what teenage girls are like; you're one yourself. But when she's mad, oh… And when she wants something, she'll stop at nothing to get her way."

Suyin shrugged, "Well, it's my job to give her what she wants, so I don't see why I'd ever try to stand in her way. The soldiers must have more trouble with that. I watched her spar with them for a while, and she's amazing, but Agni, I hope I'm never on the receiving end of her fire."

"I wish you the same. But be careful. Last year or so, the princess was having a nightmare, screaming and thrashing and all that, and the handmaid at that time, Ai, came in to check on her. The princess was half asleep and Ai must have frightened her; she panicked and attacked her. You know- shot fire her way. It mostly missed her, but her hair caught on fire and nearly burned her scalp off. Now, her screaming woke half the palace. Burning hair smells awful, I still remember it." Linhua scrunched up her nose. "And cleaning the room of all that smoke and soot was a terrible pain."

Suyin raised her hand to feel her hair. She could almost imagine it catching fire, she could almost imagine the smell, the heat of it against her scalp. It made her shudder. "That's a terrible story. Why would you tell me that?"

"I'm just looking out for you." Linhua assured her. "The princess has nightmares fairly often. If you hear her crying at night, I'd advise you just leave her be. Pretend that you're asleep and can't hear her. She hasn't burned any servants on purpose, but that accident…"

Suyin understood, she understood very well. It felt rather… cruel to ignore her crying, should it come to that, but she would rather do so and avoid injury. They finished dressing the covers now, and Suyin helped Linhua make the bed neatly, smoothing out the covers and plumping the pillows.

"I'm going to mop now, so shoo." Linhua waved Suyin off, albeit with a friendly smile. "Take these down to the washroom, would you?"

"Sure." Suyin agreed, and took the dirty bed sheets from Linhua, who'd gathered them from the floor. It wasn't part of Suyin's duties to deliver laundry, but she'd do this as a token of her friendship with Linhua. It would take all of five minutes, and it's not as though Suyin had anything else she simply had to do at this moment. "I'll see you around?"

"Yeah, of course. Thanks for the help. And Suyin-?"

"Hm?"

"Take care, okay?"